Sunday, June 06, 2010

Whistling past the Bradlee Dean

You can run but you cannot hide, indeed. That is the name of the band — You Can Run But You Cannot Hide — for which our Wagnerian friend over there is the frontman. The “heavy metal” — which seems a kind of light weight aluminum, at best — band’s name is taken from the notion that Jesus, like the Mounties, always gets his man. It is a charming notion, and it has served both Jesus and the Mounties pretty well. (Photo from Newsvine)

You know, in looking closer at the picture, I think maybe that’s a scarf or kerchief on his head with a pair of goggles; that still doesn’t entirely explain the metal bustier around his, er, chest. Maybe it’s more of a Mad Max look, but I’m sticking with the original imagery.

It seems odd that a person whose best trait is perhaps picking up used costumes at opera company garage sales would have achieved a moral voice in America. I’m sure stranger things have happened; perhaps readers will offer examples in the comments.

If the band concept is a stretch, the fact that Tom Emmer is a fan is not. Here’s a picture of a couple of Sigfried’s sidemen with candidate Emmer. (Photo from the MInnesota Independent) It’s from the recent Republican State Convention.

According to the Minnesota Independent, the Emmer campaign made a contribution to Dean’s, um, ministry; the campaign says it was just for “dinner tickets.” At all events, when the Minnesota Independent brought it to light, the Emmer campaign decided it better bring the matter up with the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board.

If you go to the Minnesota Independent link, you’ll see that it’s also reported that Emmer visited Dean’s house, attended a You Can Run But You Cannot Hide fundraiser, etc. & etc.

Sadly, there is now trouble in paradise. Our Gantry with a Guitar, in the act of being himself, uttered some haunting words:

“Muslims are calling for the executions of homosexuals in America,” Dean said on YCR’s May 15 radio show on AM 1280 the Patriot. “This just shows you they themselves are upholding the laws that are even in the Bible of the Judeo-Christian God, but they seem to be more moral than even the American Christians do, because these people are livid about enforcing their laws. They know homosexuality is an abomination.”

“If America won’t enforce the laws, God will raise up a foreign enemy to do just that,” Dean continued. “That is what you are seeing in America.” [For such a young fellow, this Bradlee Dean sure reminds one of Pat Robertson and Fred Phelps.]

“The bottom line is this… they [homosexuals] play the victim when they are, in fact, the predator,” Dean said, before going on to make a claim that has no basis in fact: “On average, they molest 117 people before they’re found out. How many kids have been destroyed, how many adults have been destroyed because of crimes against nature?”

A lot of Republicans naturally got the vapors, and everyone, including the Emmer campaign itself, is employing the Pope Benedict defense. “Met a lot of people in my life,” says Emmer, “Bradlee Dean might have been one of ‘em. Hard to say.” Even — well, maybe not evenMitch Berg penned an apologia.

Spot’s question is: Why bother?

One of Tom Emmer’s first ideas as a legislator was to castrate sex offenders. Well, okay, not all sex offenders. No word on his view of amputating the hands of kids who nick DVDs from Target.

He also wanted to cut funding for MN Aids Project because he didn't like an organization that deals with a sexually transmitted disease talking about sex.

He supports whatever limitation on abortion rights, regardless of the constitutionality, offered by MCCL, and brags about it.

He supported pharmacists getting to decide which drugs that were actually prescribed to you that they would dispense. (Spot wrote a little ditty about that one, Onward, Christian Pharmacists!)

He voted against the Final Wishes bill that would have permitted a gay or lesbian person to direct the disposition of a partner’s remains after death.

Last year, he voted against the anti-bullying bill.

Both bills passed the Legislature, by the way, but Governor Gutshot vetoed both of them. The anti-bullying bill was directed, but only in part, at preventing the bullying of gay students.

So, is it so hard to believe that Emmer has the instructions somewhere on how to roast gay people on a spit?

Thanks to MNO for the links about Emmer’s positions on these social issues.

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