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WATCH: Gwen Moore Slams GOP Over Abortion and "Black Babies"

Wisconsin Democratic Rep. Gwen Moore slammed Republican colleagues during the debate on anti-gay Indiana GOP Rep. Mike Pence's amendment to defund Planned Parenthood. 

Moore said, "I was filled with rage. These same people who accuse Planned Parenthood of 'targeting' African-American children, they care about you only while you’re in the womb. The minute you crown, you’re on your own."

Watch Rep. Moore AFTER THE JUMP ...

Only two weeks ago, you may recall that Moore led 32 Democratic members of Congress in asking the Defense Department to allow all service members discharged under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to apply for honorable-discharge status—which would make them eligible for veterans' benefits. 

Transcript via Akiba Solomon at Colorlines:

I am really touched by the passion of the [opposition] to want to save black babies. I can tell you, I know a lot about having black babies. I’ve had three of them. And I had my first one when I was 18 years old… An unplanned pregnancy.

I just want to tell you what it’s like not to have planned parenthood. … You have to give your kids ramen noodles at the end of the month to fill up their little bellies so they won’t cry. You have to give them mayonnaise sandwiches. They get very few fruits and vegetables because they’re expensive. It subjects children to low educational attainment because of the ravages of poverty. ...

I heard some of you talk about sexual predators. It subjects them to sexual predators as when you try to go out and do a little work you have to leave your kids with just anybody because you don’t have $800 to $1,200 a month for childcare. And let me tell you, you know the public policy has treated poor children and women who have not had the benefit of planned parenthood with utter contempt.

Moore had been bound for Radcliffe College when she became pregnant. Instead, she ended up on welfare.

The House of Representatives voted 240-185 Friday to cut all funding for Planned Parenthood. Only 11 Democrats voted with Republicans. Only seven Republicans defected.

Can a sista rock the mic? Watch Rep. Moore AFTER THE JUMP ...

 

Rick Warren on Gay Executions in Uganda: "I Can't Take Sides"

There are more developments on the extreme, anti-gay hysteria sweeping Uganda, encouraged by conservative American Christian missionaries and partially funded by your tax dollars. Anti-gay and anti-choice conservative mega-church Pastor Rick Warren's extensive ties to Uganda are being questioned. Warren, one of the leading supporters of Proposition 8 in California, drew considerable fire last year when he was invited to give the invocation at President Barack Obama's inauguration. Warren refuses to condemn the proposed Ugandan legislation that would make gay sex punishable by death.

The Daily Beast's Max Blumenthal extensively documented Warren's ties to the leading anti-gay clerics in Uganda. Warren was recently forced to distance himself from the East African nation's most prominent evangelical, Martin Ssempa, who made numerous appearances at Warren's Saddleback Church and whose own church was accused of organizing a rash of anti-gay riots in Uganda. Ssempa backs the "The Anti Homosexuality Bill" that calls for the death penalty for those guilty of "aggravated homosexuality" which includes having gay sex if they are HIV positive.

Rick Warren was questioned about the proposed bill and refused to denounce it, notes Newsweek's Lisa Miller:

"A request for a broader reaction to the proposed Ugandan anti-homosexual laws generated this response: 'The fundamental dignity of every person, our right to be free, and the freedom to make moral choices are gifts endowed by God, our creator. However, it is not my personal calling as a pastor in America to comment or interfere in the political process of other nations.' On Meet the Press, he reiterated this neutral stance in a different context: 'As a pastor, my job is to encourage, to support. I never take sides.' Warren did say he believed that abortion was 'a holocaust.' He knows as well as anyone that in a case of great wrong, taking sides is an important thing to do.""

Warren did not have a problem "interfering in the political process" in California's Proposition 8. Appearing on Sunday's Meet the Press, Warren minimized his role promoting the ballot initiative and refused to rule out whether he would re-fight the issue when a Prop 8 repeal appears on the ballot. Watch Warren's response on Uganda and marriage equality on Meet the Press, as well as the television commercial where he was "taking sides" during Prop 8, AFTER THE JUMP.

More on the international backlash against Uganda: Over the weekend, we reported the prime ministers of Britain and Canada formally protested the Ugandan proposal. Uganda is lashing out to its critics in the international community: "The government yesterday responded strongly to international criticism over the proposed anti-gay law, saying the process would continue uninterrupted. Speaker Edward Sekandi told Daily Monitor that it was necessary 'to do whatever we can to stop' homosexual liaisons in Uganda. 'We don’t support that practice,' Mr Sekandi said yesterday."

Meanwhile: The Obama Administration's Global AIDS Cooordinator Eric Goosby, who is responsible for administering some $287 million in your taxpayer money to Uganda for HIV and AIDS programs, also takes no position on the proposed law that would execute HIV positive gay men: "My role is to be supportive and helpful to the patients who need these services. It is not to tell a country how to put forward their legislation. But I will engage them in conversation around my concern and knowledge of what this is going to do to that population, and our ability to stop the movement of the virus into the general population."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice and President Obama have said nothing on the proposed Ugandan law that would execute gay men.

WEHT Thou shalt not kill? Warren's response on Uganda and marriage equality, as well as his commercial endorsing prop 8, AFTER THE JUMP.

Daily Beast: "Anthony Woods Life Reads Like a 'West Wing' Script"

Anthony Woods' star is rising. Benjamin Sarlin at The Daily Beast talks to the black, openly gay congressional candidate and writes a glowing profile. Sarlin says the highly decorated Iraqi War veteran and West Point graduate has "the" biography of this election cycle. "In 2004, it was Barack Obama; in 2006, it was Vietnam vet Jim Webb. Anthony Woods' biography—he’s a gay, black Iraq vet with a Harvard degree—reads like a West Wing script Aaron Sorkin threw into the wastebasket for being too over the top"

Woods’ résumé seems perfectly tuned to attract national attention. One of his top issues is repealing the military’s “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy, an issue that seems to be gathering steam as liberals try to hold President Obama to his campaign pledge. Woods has already received an endorsement from Dan Choi, a fellow West Point graduate whose recent discharge for being gay made him a rallying point for activists, and popular blogger Andrew Sullivan recently took note of his campaign as well.

For Woods, the issue is deeply personal. He was forced to leave a promising Army career after he came out in 2008. He received an honorable discharge under the Don't Ask, Don't Tell rules. “I knew getting into it that if I took a stand, it would be a costly decision and it certainly has become one,” Woods said in an interview with The Daily Beast. "But people have to take a stand for what's right. There's a reason this policy is on the front burner now... We're a country fighting two wars, having trouble recruiting, yet we want to turn away some of our most talented, most well-trained soldiers?"

Woods said that he “agonized” over the decision to come out for several months while he was studying for his master's in public policy at Harvard. In addition to his military career, his choice ended up costing him his military scholarship as well as several friends. "As I grew more comfortable with who I was, the less comfortable I was with lying about it," Woods said. "It was a real struggle because I absolutely love the military. I still do today. I would gladly serve, I would love to teach at West Point, I had no problem deploying again."

Woods is running in a special election in California's 10th Congressional District where he grew up. The seat is being vacated later by Rep. Ellen Tauscher who has resigned to become the Obama Administration's Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security.

If elected, Woods would become the first openly black gay person elected to Congress, and, only the second gay man who was elected to Congress while fully out of the closet. The first was Colorado's Rep. Jared Polis.

AFTER THE JUMP, watch Anthony Woods' campaign video. Donate to Anthony Woods' campaign here.