Oh, that Bill James. He never lets the facts get in the way of a good argument - and he likes an argument!
But in his zeal to paint homosexuals as predators, and those who disagree as hypocrites, he stirred up some opposition from a fellow Republican (and former chairman of the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners where James now sits).
James said in a recent e-mail that the Dowd Y has a red phone for people to sound an alert about being ogled by homosexuals. He said: "Go down to the Dowd YMCA and let them show you the 'red phone'. They had to put it in to stop homosexuals from ogling straight business men in the showers and changing rooms. The same upper-crust of Charlotte who claim to be for diversity have to install special equipment to protect themselves from the predatory behavior of homosexuals in a place that should be safe, if homosexuals were not predatory. "
But former commissioner Tom Cox begs to differ. In a letter to us on Monday, he wrote:
"Bill James' email today talked about red phones installed by the Dowd YMCA to 'stop homosexuals from ogling straight business men.' I am a regular Dowd customer so, after spin class today, I looked for red phones. There are red phones all over the Y - not just in the mens' locker room. There are also these 'emergency' plunger things that presumably ring bells and light lights. The embossed plastic signs next to them say things like 'EMERGENCY' and '911'. None of the signs say 'use this phone if a naked person ogles you.' The woman at the membership desk told me that the red phones automatically call 911 when the receiver is lifted. I have been a Y member since 1985 and have witnessed three fatal heart attacks. Thanks, Bill. Now I know where the red phones are located so that I can get help pronto - the next time someone collapses and grabs his or her chest."
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Bill James and the Y's Red Phones
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18 comments:
Spare us your self righteous indignation, Ed Board.
The more you embarrass our city by trumpeting his missteps the faster we will take our steps to the voting booth to reelect him.
You lack credibility. Your disdain is a badge of honor.
You know, this latest utterance from Mr. James has me wondering if he has been afflicted with some type of medical condition. Seriously...no one in their right mind would honestly believe such idiocy. Did it even occur to him to try CALLING the "Y" to get the truth? Geeze, Bill, I'm a 57 year old Republican and even I'M wishing you could just...stop.
To be unaware of and even proud of your specific ignorance, small mindedness and lack of awareness of others, one must first be generally ignorant, globally unaware and untouched by the reach of education.
Your "honor" is earned by exclusion and righteousness. Your sanctimony is your shelter. It is your only defence.
Reggie you sound kind of intolerant
and angry. Sounds familiar.
Bill James makes me want to puke. Can't anyone remove that pathetic POS from the county government?!
His stupidity is disgraceful.
If he actually reflects the views of Mint Hill voters then they are by far the ugliest and dumbest voters in this county. When is someone going to slap him down for these idiotic attacks on huge segments of our population? He needs to gets what's coming to him soon for spreading such bs, fear, and hatred. What an utterly pathetic politician.
James' only "crime" is the tone and choice of words he uses to get his point across.
There is inherently no difference in his opinion or point of view than there is with Cogdill lumping every other person in Mecklenburg County believing HIS point of view.
I personally don't subscribe to either of them.
Also, for those of you like Craig who use worse tone and rhetoric to condemn James, might want to remember that when it comes to "gay rights", Obama dn Hillary Clinton are against gay marriage.
So Chris, you must think Obama and Clinton are also "pathetic, stupid worthless POS" for opposing one aspect of "gay rights".
Wiley, Chris didn't say anything about gay marriage. I am straight, but not narrow. I believe that the USA should stop marriage and give EVERYONE (gay and straight alike) civil unions. Then, if you can find a church that wants to marry you, you get married.
Wiley, stop being a tool.
Very sad that Bill James must resort to fabrications in order to make his argument. I'm an independent who has voted for an equal number of republicans as democrats. I'm relatively new to Charlotte, and I must admit I was stunned to read the comments stated by Bill James. For a straight, married man, he seems to have an unusual fixation with "the gay." Just an observation.
Reggie, you must live in an alternate universe. It is very telling that you so easily reduce facts to "Self-Righteous Indignation."
You are entitled to your own opinions, but not your own set of facts.
The fact is that Bill James told a whopper about the Y's Red Phones. Plain and simple.
I, for one, am glad that someone fact-checked him. We need to do more of that, on both sides.
Funny how James can say something and certain members i.e. Roberts makes sure she gets the word out, then gets the citizens upset!
And for the record I may agree (sometimes) with his politics but NOT the way he goes about expressing them.
But let Vilma spew her "my people" (and we all know who her people are, she describes them all the time. By the way I would not be "one of her people" even though she "supposedly" represents me (yeah right)!
But not a word is said to her or Dunlap....if you want to censor one you better censor them ALL!
And you may want to let Vilma know she needs to re-new that bogus lease in District 2 as well. If she is going to lie and BOCC is going to let her, I at least want it to cost her!
I've considered both James and Leake to be embarrassments to the community for years now. It never ceases to amaze me that they continue to get reelected time after time.
Perhaps it isn't just them I should find embarrassing; maybe the community as well.
I am reminded of Mayor Marion Berry of Washington, DC who managed to get reelected after a video of him smoking crack surfaced. I would assume the citizens applauded his representation. Definitely a man of the people.
So is James, apparently.
J. Patrick,
Thank you for continuing to prove my point.
I suggest you use get a tool to help you comprehend the analogy of my comments, because they went right over your head.
I don't agree with Mr. James' politics, or opinions, and since I don't live in his district I can't do anything about it. However, he does have a right to his opinions and speak his mind.
Mr. James has held his office for over 10 years, which makes me feel that he is a representation of the people in his district. People who not only vote for him, but fail to find a candidate to run against him.
His district has many well funded and well educated residents. I challenge them to find a better representative, and am willing to bet they will never do so.
Trust me when I say when it's only a matter of time before we see and read about Bill James (pretty sure the initials are no coincidence)getting caught in a umm, compromising position with one of these "sexual predators".
Homophobic rhetoric like his is most often a front for repressed and latent feelings, be they homosexual or otherwise.
I am from Mint Hill. I do the website www.MintHill.org
I wish I could read so I could understand what Chris said below and the Observer let stay on the site:
Chris said...
Bill James makes me want to puke. Can't anyone remove that pathetic POS from the county government?!
His stupidity is disgraceful.
If he actually reflects the views of Mint Hill voters then they are by far the ugliest and dumbest voters in this county. When is someone going to slap him down for these idiotic attacks on huge segments of our population? He needs to gets what's coming to him soon for spreading such bs, fear, and hatred. What an utterly pathetic politician.
January 4, 2011 8:42 PM
This is a joke, right? Mr. James you lack total credibility and you have no business serving on the board any longer. You are also wasting valuable tax dollars and time. As a long term resident of the area that you represent, I have seen the tactics that you use to cause those who run against you to lose as well as an embarrassment to those of us who live in this area and do not support your narrow-minded, hateful, unforgiving ways. I was taught that Christians were supposed to be loving, forgiving and accepting but from what I read from your own statements, you give Christians a bad name with your prejudiced, hard-hearted opinions.
With the economy being as it is, this article shows that the time has come to request an audit as to how our tax dollars are being spent.
The time has also come to initiate a term limit on board members.
This is a typical Observer ploy. They will continue to play up the Bill James comment with story after story hoping to make district 6 voters question their choice. Remember how many stories we were subjected to about obscure Judge Bill Belk who defeated a Dem Observer favorite?
Bill James is clearly a knucklehead and inserts his foot in his mouth too often. He isn't good at being PC which is a Democratic specialty. But he is very smart and informed on the issues. (Compare him to Vilma Leake and George Dunlap in the intelligence category.) Without his distractions he could be an effective foil to the liberals.
While his comments are unfortunate, the damage James has done with them pale to the damage the Liberal/Dem/Tax & Spend board has done to Charlotte - Mecklenburg.
The liberal press has a history of emphasizing gaffs from conservatives and ignoring worse ones from their liberal allies. Hopefully voters will keep sending James back to haunt the Dems and the Observer.
While I have enjoyed the Pontificating by Mary and others there is a problem with this story and that is that Tom Cox, when he was Chairman of the County Commission discussed the Dowd Y situation and the 'red phones' (and other security devices added later)while the two of us were drafting and revising a parents rights policy that prohibits counselors from instructing kids that homosexual behavior is 'ok' or 'normal' without first getting the parents permission. It was during this discussion that he (at lunch one day at the CMGC restaurant outlined the problems occuring at the Dowd Y from homosexuals who were ogling heterosexual business men. Why he now says that not so I can't say. But I had that conversation with him (and others at different times).
As I recall, there was a particularly nasty number of incidents that led to the adding of additional security (over and above the 'red phone').
As to why Tom Cox doesn't remember this - I will leave it to Mary Newsome to get to the bottom of that.
Bill James
BOCC - R, District 6
I personally love the poor grammar in Mr.James' response. Perhaps more time spent on properly managing our City and allowing adults to police themselves would be a better use of time.
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