Ben Nelson and Carrie Prejean-- A Story Of Corruption, Greed, Bigotry And Tragedy

My original plan for this morning was to do a post on where the most reactionary Democrat in the Senate, Nebraska shithead Ben Nelson, gets all the money to finance his career. It wasn't difficult, since his hysterical-- almost Republicanish-- opposition to health care reform offered some pretty glaring hints. But it turns out our friends at Public Campaign did a really thorough job calmly making the connection between Nelson's positions and Nelson's unparalleled corruption. Short version: Nelson, a former insurance executive himself, sold his ass to the insurance and "health" care industries for a couple million bucks. His office has one of the worst records of revolving doorism when it comes to predatory insurers and "health" care lobbyists. The paymasters have nothing to complain about when it comes to their investment in Ben Nelson. In fact, his health care plan is a virtual carbon-copy of the insurance industry's proposal. So I decided to leave it at that and go to on to something more people seem interested in. Everyone just seems to say "leave it-- it being everything-- to Barack; he'll do what's best. So I just move don to TMZ.com.

I didn't realize that TMZ covered serious news; I thought it was a fan site for Republican congressional closet queens. But, was I wrong! It turns out they do track down real news as well. And do they ever have some sad news about what turned Miss American pageant sore loser Carrie Prejean into a homophobic bigot! See, people aren't born that way; they're made that way by a bad environment, like being in the Mormon cult or something horrible like that.

In Prejean's case it was the trauma over her parents' "absolutely hideous" divorce. TMZ speculates that it was the divorce that turned her into the hatemonger she's decided to offer the GOP as a face for their anti-gay hysteria.

Carrie's parents filed for divorce in 1988 and the divorce and custody fights went on for more than a decade -- it was a divorce filled with homosexual allegations hurled by both sides.

In one of the docs, Carrie's dad describes a confrontation he had with her mom in 1996, in which he recounts an argument in a restaurant parking lot, where "Ms. Prejean accused me, in front of our daughter, of homosexuality."

The papers also quote a court-appointed doctor who said "The mother questioned [within hearing of the girls] whether [her father] was a homosexual or had a homosexual roommate."

Carrie's mom says the "gay" allegations went both ways. In court papers dated May 16, 2000, a report from the court-appointed counselor says "The mother also alleges the father told the girls their stepfather was gay, that all men with mustaches are gay." The father's response: "The father acknowledges talking with the girls about the stepfather's brother being gay, not the stepfather."

Also in the docs-- a handwritten letter from Carrie's older sister, in which she recounts a weekend stay with her dad: "One time my sister & I went in the hallway of my dad's apartment, & his roommate's door was open all the way & we saw [the roommate] in bed with another man. I don't think it's right for my sister & I to have to live that way."

Prejean, who lied to the Miss California pageant about having been a pornography model is on the verge of being stripped of her crown after half a dozen not-for-prime-time photos were published on the internet. That's what happens-- you grow up around all this bigotry and hatred and you turn into a porn star, a homophobe, a religionist nut... and Lord only knows what else is going to come bubbling up from the sewers about this person!

Of course in Wingnuttia she's a hero of the counterrevolution:

She's young, she's beautiful, she's famous and, one way or another, she'll soon be very rich. Her future's so bright, she's got to wear shades. She'll get a book contract for at least a million dollars, and the publisher will pay a ghost-writer $75,000 to actually write the book. There will be speaking engagements, magazine interviews and TV appearances. She'll fly around the country first-class, stay in five-star hotels and eat at the finest restaurants, all of it at someone else's expense.

And good for her, right? OK, so a bunch of grouchy gay militants are calling her ugly names, but they call me ugly names, too, for which I have not the consolation of either beauty or wealth. (You can help remedy the latter by hitting the tip jar, by the way.)

And what else matters in the land of Hatred and Greed?