Prop. 8 hoax flies through the Net

It came out of the blue on a Facebook feed, a link from ABC’s web site saying that gay marriage had been affirmed by the California Supreme Court. Within minutes everyone remotely concerned with the issue was cross posting it across Facebook. We were about to post it to the site when suddenly we realized it was either a hoax or the product of over enthusiasm.

Common sense, not fact checking, revealed that the link was to the second page of an ABC Report from 5/15/08, exactly one year old. Since the year was left off on the second page of the article and the url everyone blindly assumed it was new. Without that critical bit of information, social networks lit up and passed the information along without digging any further. The story reached a fever peak around 11:37 this morning when Perez Hilton posted it.

See Prop. 8 hoax flies through the Net

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This is how weak the GOP is today: for some, Virginia Foxx, GOP Hero

Virginia Foxx is decent church-goin’ woman with a mean, pinched, bitter evil face and she is the GOP’s parliamentary superstar, handling the Rules Committee and the familes of hate crimes victims with the same grace.

The Rules Committee is one of the most important committees in Congress. It decides amendments, debate length, and basically determines when and how bills get to the floor. So Virginia Foxx’s role, as a member of the minority party, is to be as big a pain in the ass as possible. Which is why she keeps making other members cry!

In January, Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) was testifying on the stimulus bill but left the committee room and did not return after Foxx drew a comparison between his handling of the bill and his habit of fiddling with a pencil.

Now this is not too terrible, because Dave Obey can be kind of a dick himself.

But:

She has also been an effective attack dog on the House floor. In March, Foxx caused freshman Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Ohio) to become so flustered after an exchange about Kilroy’s vote on the American International Group Inc. bailout that Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) soon held a parliamentary boot camp for Democratic freshmen to avoid future incidents.

Once again, not too bad. Parliamentary dickery is a time-honored House tradition, and the Dems could probably use a toughening up.

But where is the anecdote that basically proves that this is a small-minded, hateful, simplistic, miserable excuse for an elected official? Oh, here it is:

Foxx’s most public gaffe came last week during debate over the hate crimes bill. One of the pieces of the bill is named for Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old man murdered in 1998 because of his sexual orientation. Foxx said naming the bill for Shepard was a “hoax” because his murder “wasn’t because he was gay.”

It should be noted that Foxx said this while Matthew Shepard’s mother sat a couple feet away from her. It should also be noted that Matthew Shepard was, in fact, tortured and murdered because he was gay.

See Virginia Foxx, GOP Hero Gawker

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2 little 2 late? Rep. Foxx Sends Apology Letter To Matthew Shephard’s Mother

U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx has written a letter of apology to the mother of Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming man whose name is on a bill adding sexual orientation to federal hate-crimes legislation.

During recent debate on the bill, Foxx, R-5th, called attempts to label Shepard’s 1998 murder a hate crime “a hoax.” She said that he was killed during a robbery and not because he was gay.

Shepard, 21, was robbed, beaten and left to die on a prairie fence near Laramie, Wyo., in 1998. Two men pleaded guilty to killing him and testified that they singled him out because he was gay.

Foxx’s remarks caused an uproar, and she later issued a statement saying that her use of “hoax” was “a poor choice of words.”

See Virginia Foxx Sends Apology Letter To Matthew Shephard’s Mother

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Rep Foxx: Shepard murder a "hoax"

Rep Foxx: Shepard murder a “hoax”

Bigoted GOP Rep blames ABC News For Calling Matt’s Death a “Hoax”

For the second night in a row, Countdown’s Keith Olbermann has blasted North Carolina Congresswoman Virginia Foxx as the Worst Person in the World.

Last night she won for saying on the floor of the house:

“We know that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn’t because he was gay,” Foxx said during debate. “The bill was named for him, the hate-crimes bill was named for him, but it’s really a hoax that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills.”

Shepard died several days after he was found tied to a remote fence in Wyoming, severely beaten and robbed of $20. Prosecutors said he was lured from a bar by two men, including one whose defense attorney said reacted violently after Shepard made a sexual advance.

Tonight Keith told Foxx to “apologize sincerely” To MAtt’s Mom – who was sitting in the gallery of the house when Fox spoke – or resign her seat in the US House of Representatives.

Who knew such bigotry as Foxx’s was alive and well in the Winston-Salem area of North Carolina?

Check out the video here.
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Wyoming murder “really a hoax,” congresswoman

As Congress approved legislation to expand the legal application of hate crimes, cosponsor Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., proclaimed on Wednesday that “We have
declared America to be a hate-free zone.”

It may not be that easy.

During debate on the legislation, a Republican congresswoman from North Carolina questioned the decade-old Laramie, Wyoming murder that galvanized a national drive to impose penalties on hate-driven crimes.

Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., used the word “hoax” to describe the killing of Matthew Shepard, a young gay man who was tied crucifixion-style to a fence, repeatedly pistol whipped and left for dead. He later died in a local hospital.

“. . . We know that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery,” Foxx told the House. “It wasn’t because he was gay This — the bill was named for him, (the) hate crime bill was named for him, but it’s really a hoax that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills.”

The “hoax” argument is directly contradicted by court testimony by girlfriends of the two men who murdered Shepard. Both girlfriends testified that the killers set out to find and rob a gay man. They befriended Shepard in a bar. The slight Shepard asked them to give him a ride home.

Foxx was not alone in her heavy prose. “Pedophiles and other bizarre sex orientations given protection by Congress,” headlined a release by the Traditional Values Coalition.

The legislation extends to women, gays and the disabled provisions of America’s existing hate crimes law. The law already singles out for special punishment violent crime based on race, religion and/or national origin of the victim.

Asked about Rep. Foxx’s “hoax” allegation, McDermott replied with a Latin maxim: “Res ipsa loquiter.” Translated, it means: The matter speaks for itself.

See Wyoming murder “really a hoax,” congresswoman Seattle Post Intelligencer

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WATCH GOP Rep: Story of Matthew Shepard’s Murder A “Hoax”

As the House of Representatives debates an expansion of hate crimes legislation, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) has taken the rhetoric to a new level, claiming that those who say Matthew Shepard was murdered in Wyoming for being gay are perpetrating a “hoax” on the American people.

“I also would like to point out that there was a bill — the hate crimes bill that’s called the Matthew Shepard bill is named after a very unfortunate incident that happened where a young man was killed, but we know that that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn’t because he was gay. This — the bill was named for him, hate crimes bill was named for him, but it’s really a hoax that that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills,” said Foxx.

A Foxx spokesman didn’t immediately return a call. The Matthew Shepard “hoax” notion is a popular meme on right-wing blogs.

The Matthew Shepard Foundation is dedicated to reducing hate crimes.

The New York Times reported in 1998: “According to the local police and prosecutors, the two men lured Mr. Shepard out of a bar by saying they were gay. Then, the Laramie police say, the pair kidnapped Mr. Shepard, pistol-whipped him with a .357 Magnum, and left him tied to a ranch fence for 18 hours until a passing bicyclist spotted Mr. Shepard, who was unconscious.”

“She should be ashamed,” said Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), himself a victim of a hate crime during the struggle for civil rights. “That is unreal, unbelievable. The law enforcement people and almost every reasonable person I know believes he was murdered because he was gay.”

WATCH GOP Rep: Story of Matthew Shepard’s Murder A “Hoax”