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MI Assistant AG suspended over gay-bashing blog - UPDATE

Andrew Shirvell with photo shopped picture of Chris Armstrong

UPDATE: It appears that Attorney General Mike Cox didn't suspend Asst. AG Andrew Shirvell. Shrivell says reports of his suspension are untrue, and that he has merely taken a voluntary leave of absence from his job.

Joy Yearout, a spokeswoman for Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, said this morning that media reports saying Cox suspended Shirvell were inaccurate.

If that's the case, then Cox should be fired!

Clearly these two anti-gay, Tea Party state employees should not be the leading law enforcement officials in the state.

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Finally, some good news! If you hadn't heard the background on this story, the Assistant Attorney General in Michigan -- Andrew Shirvell -- started a blog for the sole purpose of harassing University of Michigan student leader Chris Armstrong. So why would a presumed adult take the time to stalk and harass a college student? Chris Armstrong is gay.

Another Michigan blogger described Shirvell's behavior this way:

You would think the guy working for the republican Attorney General who lectures in schools about how to stop cyber bullying would know better. But Michigan AG Mike Cox's Asst., Andrew Shirvell just can't keep his teabagging, gay hating, religious zealot mouth shut.

College student Chris Armstrong is the President of the University of Michigan's Student Assembly. And he's been politically active, or as christian teabagger Asst. AG Shirvell might put it, "using his Nazi-like anti christian cult to lure innocent heterosexuals into accepting the evil gay." Evil, anti christian things like campaigning against tuition hikes, and working for safe housing for transgendered youth on campus.

Michigan's Attorney General has been reluctant to do anything, citing Shirvell's First Amendment free speech rights. All of Shirvell's blogging activity has allegedly taken place after hours.

Shirvell had recently stepped up his harassment of Armstrong by stalking the college student near his residence, and at local clubs where Armstrong was known to hang out. The actions caused Armstrong to seek a personal protection order against Shirvell.

I began this post by saying there is finally some good news! Well, after (cough) careful consideration, MI Attorney General Mike Cox has had a change of heart and suspended Shirvell.

Attorney General Mike Cox changed his stance Thursday, suspending Andrew Shirvell after the assistant attorney general attracted national attention for a controversial blog that ridicules and denounces a University of Michigan student leader for his gay advocacy, religious beliefs and character.

The suspension came a day after Cox told CNN he didn't intend to fire Shirvell, citing civil service rules that protect government employees from being "fired willy-nilly" for exercising their rights of free speech.

Cox said he hadn't earlier read all of Shirvell's blog, "Chris Armstrong Watch," that dogs Armstrong, the 21-year-old, openly gay president of U-M's student government and accuses him of "anti-Christian behavior," "mocking God," promoting homosexuality and trying "to recruit your sons and daughters" into the gay lifestyle.

"I'm at fault here," Cox said. "I've been saying for weeks that (Shirvell's) been acting like a bully, that his behavior is immature, but it's after-hours and protected by the First Amendment."

Republican (Tea party supporter) Cox couldn't leave it at just suspending Shirvell. He had to take a shot at Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who posted on Twitter that she would have fired Shirvell.

"I don't know why she's so freaking irresponsible. ... she went to Harvard Law School," Cox said. "The civil service rules are a huge shield for free speech and she knows that."

As governor, Granholm enacted policies applying to state workers that bar discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation -- but those rules apply to the workplace, not to what employees say or blog after-hours. The rules allow political appointees like Cox to fire employees for "just cause," including "conduct unbecoming a state employee," said Matt Fedorchuk, a spokesman for the state department of civil service.

What determines that conduct isn't explicitly described. [...]

Larry Dubin, a professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, said he doubts that Shirvell can effectively perform his job representing the public, when he's forcefully expressed his "biblical" views condemning homosexuality as the work of the devil. "My real concern is whether as an attorney for the Michigan Attorney General's Office, he can competently represent gay people in our state," Dubin said.

"Perhaps that raises a legitimate question as to his competency to hold this job, rather than examining his right to speak his brand of hate."

It doesn't stop there for Shirvell. Also on Thursday, Diane Brown, a spokeswoman for the campus police, confirmed Shirvell is subject to an ongoing investigation of "harassing or stalking" and banned from campus. Shirvell was read a trespass warning on Sept. 14 that bars him from setting foot on campus, Brown said. Shirvell is appealing the order, but no hearing date has been set.

Armstrong may need a body guard now that Shivell has been suspended.  Judging from the way Shivell has escalated his harassment of Armstrong, he's probably not safe.

We've heard a lot about kids bullying other kids lately. Is it any wonder this behavior takes place, when adults -- in positions of authority -- act this way!  Shivell needs to be fired, to send a strong statement that this behavior is not acceptable.

Full of Hate and No Place To Go

Troy Newman, the president of Operation Rescue, has a problem. Seven years ago he moved his family and his entire hate-filled movement to Wichita for the express purpose of harassing Dr. George Tiller. Newman did such a good job inciting people to violence that one of his terrorists took a gun into a church to kill Dr. Tiller. Now the group is all full of hate, with no place to go.

For the first time in years, only a Wichita police car has been waiting outside the abortion clinic of Dr. George R. Tiller, who was shot to death a week ago. Gone are the trucks bearing enormous images of bloody fetuses, the signs offering the home addresses of clinic workers, the crowd of protesters yelling to women as they enter.

Over almost 20 years, a vocal, diverse constellation of anti-abortion forces has grown up in this conservative city with an intensity rarely seen elsewhere, converging around Dr. Tiller’s practice. With his death, its future suddenly seems uncertain, too.

This city of 358,000 people, once the focal point of protests because of four abortion clinics — most significantly Dr. Tiller’s, which provided rare late-term abortions — last week had no abortion facility open for business, no target in chief, no immediate reason for this network of anti-abortion forces to be based here.

“I don’t know what the future holds,” said Troy Newman, the president of Operation Rescue, one of the most well-known anti-abortion organizations. Seven years ago, Mr. Newman moved his organization’s national headquarters, its leaders and his family from Southern California to Wichita to focus a national spotlight on Dr. Tiller, whom he described as “the flagship” of the country’s abortion business.

“I think it’s too early to say what comes next,” he said.

If your community has a physician who provides abortion services be on the lookout. Operation Rescue extremists might be heading your way.

The only question left to ask is how long Justice and the Department of Homeland Security is going to allow this domestic terrorist ring to exist?

Our Terrible MSM is the Reagan Legacy

One of the terrible legacy's of the Reagan administration is the decimation of the Federal Communications Commission.

Before the Reagan years there was a limit on the number of radio and television stations one corporation could own. There was a "fairness" doctrine, which meant that broadcast stations had to give equal time for opposing points of view.

Clear Channel would not exist without Ronald Reagan, and there would be more than five corporations who owned the media in this country.

All the broadcast outlets that air programs featuring hate mongers like John Gibson, Rush Limbaugh, and the cast of FOX News would have to provide equal time for the Keith Olbermann's, Rachael Maddow's and the Air America gang.

The previous post revealed the hate filled speech of John Gibson. Bill Press is also calling out the bigotry of radio talk show host Bob Grant.

From Bill Press:

Who says racism is dead in America?

It’s alive and well – on talk radio – WABC in New York – and talk show host Bob Grant.

Grant’s record of racist, hate-talk is as old as he is.

He once complained about New York: “Minorities are the Big Apple’s majority, you don’t need the papers to tell you that, walk around and you know it. To me, that’s a bad thing. I’m a white person.”

He hated the fact that Magic Johnson was still alive: “Why is it taking so long for the HIV to go into full-blown AIDS?”

And he was disappointed in Ron Brown’s plane crash: “I have a hunch Brown might be the lone survivor. But then, I’m a pessimist at heart.”

Radio & Records magazine announced plans to honor Bob Grant at their March meeting in Washington, but changed their mind after complaints about his hateful comments.

Get this. So now conservative talkers Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Neal Boortz are threatening to boycott the meeting because, they say, Grant’s First Amendment rights are being violated.

I say let the assholes stay home!

UPDATE: Speaking of the presidents we hate and their legacy, Dr. Zaius has a GREAT post up about George Bush. It's a must read.

Stop the Hate, Stop the Lies

In order to get radio stations and television networks to do the right thing a proven method is to target their advertisers. Let them know that as a consumer you would prefer they not support radical right hate-mongers.

Fear of losing their customers (read dollars) will cause them to put pressure on the media outlet to drop controversial personalities ... like Michael Savage, and other right-wing nuts featured on WIND, a Chicago area radio station.

Driftglass has put together a comprehensive list of advertisers, complete with contact information. Driftglass writes:

This is more in the nature of an experiment based on the simple fact that for the last two decades, Right Wing liars in the media have been able to get away with spreading their evangelism of hate ... Advertising revenue is the life's blood of radio, and is what makes it possible for bottom-feeding moral CHUDs like Michael Weiner Savage to exist and enjoy a handsome living.

The question advertisers need to ask themselves is: "Do I want to promote garbage, or do I want to sell my product?"

Make them decide!