Alvin McEwen: Why won't One News Now tell us what 'Miss Beverly Hills' said about gays?
Alan Colmes: Gun Paranoids Believe ObamaCare Is Step Toward Refusing You A Gun.
Finally, as Steve Benen says, there is a key difference between the quality of our health care system and our health insurance system and if would be nice if Republicans could recognize that simple fact.
Today was James Dobson's final broadcast for Focus on the Family, and to show there are no hard feelings, Focus donated $1 million toward his new venture with his son.
A collection of Religious Right leaders have sent a letter to Congress asking it to stop DC's march toward marriage equality.
"Atheism and Secular Humanism" were to blame for The Holocaust, not Christianity. Good to know.
The CADC's Gary Cass, who continues to insist that the murder of two street preachers in Florida was an act of anti-Christian violence despite an utter lack of evidence, declares that "we need to send a message that this kind of violence against Christians cannot be tolerated in our culture."
Finally, quote of the day from WorldNetDaily columnist Robert Ringer attacking Mike Huckabee for interviewing First Lady Michelle Obama: "Mike Huckabee's Slick Willie cleverness makes him hard to pin down, but his interview with Michelle Obama connected a lot of the dots for me. I once speculated that Mike Huckabee could possibly get the Republican nomination without the support of the Republican Party's conservative base if he could put together a coalition of evangelicals and disenfranchised independents and liberal Democrats. Today, I'm here to tell you to forget about that theory. It won't happen. By interviewing Michelle Obama on his show – apparently without concern for Rush Limbaugh's recent chest pains – he lost any chance he may have had for gaining the Republican nomination."
Let's say you have several minutes to fill before your featured guests, Mike Huckabee and Iowa gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats, arrive at your event and take to the podium to speak.
Christians can’t “tolerate” same-sex marriage because to do so would be to give up beliefs and accept the homosexual lifestyle as “healthy and normal,” radio host Jan Mickelson said while introducing GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bob Vander Plaats and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at a public event Wednesday.
Mickelson was addressing a fundraiser for the Iowa Family Policy Center. The influential social conservative organization has formally endorsed Vander Plaats’ campaign and vowed to sit out the November election if he’s not the candidate.
“Personally, I think two guys pretending to be sexual mates are making a mistake,” he said. “More than that, they are violating the design of their bodies. More than that, they are sinning against their maker. More than that, they are likely to shorten their lives in this world and impair their destinies in the next.”
...
Mickelson quickly turned his attention to the current situation in Iowa, saying that because a “a liberal court, a liberal legislature and a liberal governor” are standing up for same-sex marriage, groups like the Iowa Family Policy Center, and candidates like Vander Plaats, must resist.
“I’m really up for it,” Mickelson said. “I’m really up for this ruckus.”
Earlier this week it was reported that, back in January, a teacher at Roberto Clemente Middle School in Germantown, Maryland had publicly reprimanded a student who refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and even called the school's security officer to escort the student to the counselor's office when she continued to refuse. This, despite that fact that the "Supreme Court ruled in 1943 that students cannot be forced to salute the flag [and] Maryland law explicitly allows any student or teacher to be excused from participating in the pledge."
The ACLU got involved and now the teacher has agreed to apologize, but Robert Morrison of the Family Research Council is outraged about the whole thing, holding it up as evidence that the ACLU is creating "future American Talibans":
Is the Montgomery County school case too trivial to merit national attention? No. It illustrates how classroom discipline and American patriotism are under constant assault by the ACLU. Our tax dollars are funding this radical outfit. Thomas Jefferson said “to require a man to provide contributions of money for the propagation of opinions he disbelieves is sinful and tyrannical.” Surely, the fact that the ACLU uses our tax money against us is a gross violation of our rights.
Does it matter? John Walker Lindh is currently sitting in federal prison. He is the so-called American Taliban who was convicted of fighting against Americans in Afghanistan. Young Lindh was educated in Montgomery County Public Schools. Was he taught anything about why he should be loyal to his country? Why jihadism is a threat to all our rights? I seriously doubt it. By punishing a teacher who simply tried to give students the opportunity to express their patriotism and support for our country during a time of war, the Montgomery County public schools are doing nothing to avoid future American Talibans.
When I saw this article this morning reporting that Obama Administration aides were scheduled to meet with representatives of the Secular Coalition for America today, I wondered how long it would take for some Religious Right group to throw a fit that the Administration was meeting with atheists.
The advocacy group In God We Trust today ripped the Obama administration for meeting to plot political strategy with 60 atheist activists representing organizations comprising the Secular Coalition of America.
"It is one thing for Administration to meet with groups of varying viewpoints, but it is quite another for a senior official to sit down with activists representing some of the most hate-filled, anti-religious groups in the nation," says In God We Trust's Chairman Bishop Council Nedd.
...
"President Obama seems to believe that it is a good idea to have a key senior aide plan political strategy with people who believe faith in God is a disease," Nedd says. "Some of the people in this coalition believe the world would be better off with no Christians and no Jews and they aren't shy about it. The fact that this meeting is happening at all is an affront to the vast majority of people of all faiths who believe in God."
...
"The President should tell the American people whether he believes these groups' hate-filled views to be 'mainstream' and worthy of his supposedly inclusive administration," Nedd says.
Outrageous!
President Bush would never have met with anyone who esposed "hate-filled views" ... would he?
For the period April 2001 through June 2006, Focus on the Family Founder and Chairman Emeritus James Dobson visited the White House 24 times; 10 of those visits were to President Bush.
Andrea Lafferty, Executive Director of the Traditional Values Coalition, made an astonishing 50 visits to the White House starting on February 1, 2001, and continuing through March 16, 2008. Six of those visits were to President Bush.
Wendy Wright, President of Concerned Women for America, made 43 visits to the White House between May 2001 and August 2006. Four of those visits were to President Bush.
Gary Bauer, President of American Values, made 10 visits to the White House, starting with a January 6, 2003 visit to Vice President Cheney and ending with a July 20, 2006 visit to President Bush.
The late Jerry Falwell, of Jerry Falwell Ministries, made eight visits to the White House between May 2001 and September 2004. Three of those visits were to President Bush.
Tony Perkins, President of Family Research Council, visited the White House 14 times between February 2001 and June 2006, including two visits to President Bush.
Louis Sheldon, Chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition, made 19 visits to the White House between March 2001 and September 2006, including two visits to President Bush.
The late Paul Weyrich, the Founder of Free Congress foundation, made 17 visits to the White House between May 2001 and July 2005, including six visits to President Bush and one to Karl Rove.
Donald Wildmon, Founder of the American Family Association, made three visits to the White House between July 2001 and March 2003, including one visit to President Bush.
Of course, this is different because it is Obama Administration officials who are meeting with the Secular Coalition of America today at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building while these Religious Right leaders only got to meet with President Bush at the White House.
I have to say that the American Family Association's decision to promote Bryan Fischer from the head of the Idaho Values Alliance to the AFA's Director of Issue Analysis for Government and Public Policy last year has been a real boon for this blog as be has since become a constant source of good posts.
Today he weighs in on the news that the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins had his invitation to speak at a Andrews Air Force Base prayer luncheon rescinded with a complete and utter meltdown, declaring it proof that the Constitution is on the verge of collapse and likening it to Dred Scott and McCarthyism:
The homosexual agenda represents a clear and present danger to virtually every fundamental right given to us by our Creator and enshrined for us in our Constitution.
Start with freedom of religion and freedom of speech, the first two of our inalienable rights secured for us in the Bill of Rights.
As a culture, we must choose between the homosexual agenda or the Constitution because we can't have both.
Further proof comes from the abjectly pathetic decision of the chaplains' office at Andrews Air Force Base to rescind a long-standing invitation to Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council. Perkins had been invited to give a non-political talk at a prayer luncheon on the base yesterday, but was abruptly dis-invited for one simple reason: he supports the current law which makes homosexuals ineligible for service in the United States military.
...
The days of Dred Scott have returned. Christians now are the ones are being confined on the plantation, and warned about being too uppity ... McCarthyism has now struck the U.S. military with a vengeance. The question now that the military is asking is this: "Are you now, or have you ever been, a supporter of traditional morality?" If the answer is yes, you go on our blacklist, and we deprive you of your freedom of religion, speech and military service.
Realize the ominous portents here for the future of our military. Perkins' view represents the view of the vast majority of Americans, especially those considering military service. The new standard appears to be that, even if you are heterosexual, you must embrace the homosexual agenda or you will be banned from the military. That's where this is going, and at Andrews Air Force Base, we're already there.
Just when you start to think the Right can't get any more ridiculous, they prove you wrong.
The city of Beverly Hills wants to make it abundantly clear that anti-gay beauty queen Lauren Ashley has no ties to the city and "does not represent Beverly Hills in any capacity."
Ryan Dobson says the only real difference between him and his dad, James Dobson, is a matter of style: "My dad and I believe virtually identically across the board, I think. Stylistically we have some differences, but as far as political, theological and sociological belief systems, we're fairly identical."
Rifqa Bary insists there is no chance of any sort of reconciliation between her and her parents.
You know, I don't think Newt Gingrich has ever had a "real job," for that matter.
FRC's Tony Perkins says he was uninvited to a prayer luncheon at Andrews Air Force Base because of his opposition to repealing DADT, and Bill Donohue is demanding an investigation.
Finally, a related quote of the day from Tony Perkins opposing repeal of DADT: "People who are HIV-positive are not permitted to enlist in the military. But if someone on active duty becomes infected, they cannot be deployed in combat -- yet current policy also forbids them from being discharged. Since scientists have said that homosexuals and bisexuals are fifty times more likely to contract HIV, it is inevitable that welcoming them into the military will increase both medical costs and the number of personnel who are essentially dead weight within the force."
By now, we are all used to out-of-state Religious Right groups descending on places like Maine, Washington, DC, and elsewhere in order to set up shop in their nonstop effort to fight marriage equality ... but I have to admit that I never expected them to start exporting their efforts abroad.
In response to a move to institute same-sex marriage in the Federal District which includes Mexico City (on March 4), more than 120 pro-family/pro-life leaders from 35 countries have signed the "World Congress of Families Leadership Petition To Save Marriage In Mexico City."
The Petition notes that "Mexico's Constitution defines marriage as between a man and a woman." Further, that all social ills begin with the decline of the family. Also "marriage substitutes ... undermine marriage and the family." The Petition observes that "children need both a mother and a father" and that those raised by two men or two women are "psychologically and socially disadvantaged."
The Petition calls on the government of Mexico City to refrain from implementing same-sex marriage and demands that the issue be decided at the national level, "with due regard to the nation's religious traditions, the wishes of the Mexican people and the needs of children and families, and consistent with Mexico's Constitution." Click here (www.worldcongress.org/special/wcf.mexpetsig.1002.pdf) to access the full Petition along with a list of signers.
U.S. signers (signing as individuals) include: Gary Bauer (American Values), Allan Carlson (World Congress of Families), Tom DeLay (former Majority Leader, U.S. House of Representatives), Joseph Meaney (Human Life International), Tony Perkins (Family Research Council), Michele Velasco (Priests for Life), Don Wildmon (American Family Association), Wendy Wright (Concerned Women for America), Maggie Gallagher (National Organization for Marriage), Dr. Paige Patterson (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary),Yuri Mantilla (Focus on the Family) and Dr. Jerry Newcombe (Coral Ridge Ministries).
I can't decide if this is evidence that Janet Porter is becoming more "mainstream" within the Religious Right movement or evidence that James Dobson is moving further out toward the fringe, but Dobson has recorded an audio message on behalf of Porter's upcoming "May Day" prayer rally at the Lincoln Memorial:
Hello everyone, I'm James Dobson and today I hope you'll give some serious though to participating in a very important event this spring; it's called "May Day 2010: A Cry to God For a Nation in Distress." Our nation faces what is perhaps the most serious moral crisis since the Civil War as we've turned our backs on God and have clearly displeased him.
May Day 2010 is a time to come together and proclaim what God has done in the past, to pray for forgiveness, and to plead for God's mercy on all of us. It will be held Saturday, May the first at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.
We're looking for thousands of pastors and churches to get involved. Call (405) 796-PRAY or log-on to Mayday2010.org to find out how you can participate or volunteer.
A few weeks ago I noted how Lisa Miller's lawyers at Liberty Counsel and her supporters at the Protect Isabella Coalition were quietly trying to wash their hands of her after she kidnapped her daughter and disappeared.
Concerned Women for America (CWA) of Virginia joined the Protect Isabella Coalition and other conservatives, who traveled from as far away as Suffolk, Harrisonburg, and Roanoke, and as near as Bedford and Lynchburg, at the Bedford County Courthouse on February 17, to support Lisa Miller and her daughter, Isabella, in prayer.
While we were disappointed not to be allowed in the courtroom — the judge had honored an ACLU request to deny access to the public— it was a privilege to join Pastor Wiley Drake of Buena Park, California, and others across the country on the Telephonic Prayer Line to pray during the court proceedings.
Mat Staver, chief attorney for Liberty Counsel, briefed our group before and after the hearing. The opposition wanted the Virginia court to find Lisa in contempt of court for failing to follow a Vermont court’s order to relinquish custody of her daughter, Isabella, to Janet Jenkins, who was Lisa’s homosexual companion before Lisa’s conversion to Christianity. It should be noted that Miss Jenkins is a Vermont resident who has no biological ties to Isabella and has never sought to adopt her, but has been awarded full custody by a Vermont court merely on the basis of Lisa and Miss Jenkins’ brief “civil union.”
Judge Harrison did not issue an order for Lisa's arrest, because she cannot be found for papers to be served. The judge also denied Janet Jenkins the opportunity to testify by phone, because there was no one present in Vermont to swear her in as a witness.
The next hearing on this case is tentatively scheduled for May 19, 2010. Please continue to pray for the three judges of the Appellate Court of Virginia; pray that their decision will put up a firewall between the laws of Vermont and Virginia to protect Isabella and allow Lisa to return to her home state.
This post contains a relatively important revelation: everybody who has been involved in this case insists that they have no idea where Lisa Miller has gone and that they have had no contact with her since she disappeared ... so why is CWA and the Protect Isabella Coalition praying that she will be allowed to "return to her home state"?
That suggests that she is not in Virginia at the moment ... and how would these supporters know that unless they know where Miller actually is?
So here is a simple question: Does CWA or the Protect Isabella Coalition know Miller's whereabouts? If so, why aren't they informing the authorities? Are these groups protecting and hiding Miller as she run from the law and violates her court orders?
Renowned social conservative and self-proclaimed "Christocrat," the Rev. Rick Scarborough of the Harvest Point Church in Nacogdoches led 15 pastors from multiple denominations in a candidate forum on Tuesday.
Behind closed doors of the fellowship hall of the First Christian Church, the church leaders interviewed dozens of elected state officials and dozens more local candidates, all seeking to be elected or re-elected to office this year.
"This is the first time we've ever gotten involved in the primaries, so because of the wide range of candidates from supreme court justices to the lone candidate for county surveyor, we had to divide them up into three groups and issue them our questions," Scarborough said. "We first compiled the questionnaire that we had them fill out for us that covered a range of things, including the Mandate to Save America'"
Scarborough and other culturally conservative leaders from around the nation helped draft the Mandate to Save America, which is a 10-point list of ideals that they believe elected leaders should commit to in order to "break the bonds of tyranny and give birth to a new nation of freedom, justice and hope."
The mandate calls for the nation to oppose same-sex marriages, give parents control over their child's education and demands the right to publicly acknowledge the existence of God.
After the candidates turned in their various questionnaires, they were then presented with several more questions from the pastor groups.
"We had them answer eight questions personally on issues ranging from taxes, a couple of social issues, and we discussed their feelings about allowing Intelligent Design to be taught alongside evolution in public schools," Scarborough said. "This is a way for us to ascertain their positions on not only specific issues, but more importantly character issues. We encourage people to vote their values."
...
"We believe Christians have a real responsibility, and we pastors especially, to find out where the candidates stand and what they believe, and then give those answers to the people," he said. "We want them to vote not as Republicans or Democrats, but as we like to say, followers of Jesus Christ. We're trying to mix church and state God's way."
Scarborough will reportedly make the findings public before primary election day next week and has plans, though this newly created Nacogdoches County Pastors Roundtable, to host a debate in September and is also launching an effort to "register a record number of Christians in Nacogdoches County to vote in the November elections."
Is it too much to ask that right-wing groups who are going to be supporting Lisa Miller's criminal actions to at least have some understanding of what is actually going on?
Lisa Miller was living in Vermont in a lesbian civil union with Janet Jenkins. During this time Lisa became pregnant with a little girl through artificial insemination. But before little Isabella was born, Lisa left her partner and moved to Virginia where civil unions are not recognized.
Soon thereafter Lisa became a Christian and renounced homosexuality. But her former partner Jenkins is now fighting for custody of Isabella, even though she has no biological relationship.
A Vermont court has ordered Lisa to turn over her daughter to Jenkins, but Lisa did not comply. Now there is a warrant out for her arrest in the state of Vermont and Lisa and Isabella are in hiding.
This is what happens when mankind corrupts and confuses the laws of nature and nature’s God. Society suffers, particularly the children.
First of all, Lisa and Isabella aren't "in hiding" because there is a warrant out for her; there is a warrant out for her because Lisa kidnapped her daughter and disappeared rather than abide by court orders and custody arrangements. That is an important distinction.
Secondly, the claim that Miller left Jenkins before Isabella was born is fundamentally false, as Isabella was nearly a year and a half old when the women split. In fact, Jenkins continued to pay child support and see her regularly until Miller declared herself a born-again Christian and sought to completely cut off Jenkins' contact with Isabella.
If Religious Right activists are going to defend Miller's actions, it would be nice if they could be bothered to actually know the facts before doing so.
Here's the video of Ellison's comments on Haiti and introduction of Marshall:
"From a spiritual standpoint, we think the Dr. Robertson was on target about Haiti, in the past, with voodoo. And we believe in the Bible that the practice of voodoo is a sin, and what caused the nation to suffer. Those who read the Bible and study the history know that what Dr. Robertson said was the truth."
It is not an accident that Marshall and Ellison echoed one another and Pat Robertson. They all believe that God exacts vengeance on those who do not follow their peculiar and ultraconservative interpretation of the Bible.
Ellison may like to believe that Robertson's comments merely "angered a lot of the so-called, in my opinion, liberals." But the truth is that Americans overwhelmingly reject such views, just as they reject Marshall's views on disabled children and abortion – including a not-so-liberal Governor named Bob McConnell.
And for those of you who missed it, here’s the video of Bob Marshall claiming that disabled children are God’s punishment for abortion:
Sometimes I wonder if the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer ultimate goal is just to make his organization look foolish by writing pieces like this one claiming that the death of a trainer at Sea World yesterday was the result of a failure to abide by Biblical mandates.
What about the term "killer whale" do SeaWorld officials not understand?
If the counsel of the Judeo-Christian tradition had been followed, Tillikum would have been put out of everyone's misery back in 1991 and would not have had the opportunity to claim two more human lives.
Says the ancient civil code of Israel, "When an ox gores a man or woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner shall not be liable." (Exodus 21:28)
So, your animal kills somebody, your moral responsibility is to put that animal to death. You have no moral culpability in the death, because you didn't know the animal was going to go postal on somebody.
But, the Scripture soberly warns, if one of your animals kills a second time because you didn't kill it after it claimed its first human victim, this time you die right along with your animal. To use the example from Exodus, if your ox kills a second time, "the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death." (Exodus 21:29)
If I were the family of Dawn Brancheau, I'd sue the pants off SeaWorld for allowing this killer whale to kill again after they were well aware of its violent history.
If Fischer thinks we ought to be following Scripture here, then why isn't he calling for Sea World's owners to be put to death instead of merely sued? After all, he's the one who cites Exodus 21:29 which mandate a death sentence for the animal's owners.
Virginia Del. Robert G. Marshall took to the floor of the House of Delegates on Wednesday to dispute reports that he said women who have abortions run the risk of birth defects in later pregnancies as a punishment from God ... Marshall denied saying that disabled children are a punishment from God or even having suggested such a thing. But that notion, he said, "has been repeated endless times in print and in the electronic media without anyone producing the smoking-gun tape."
"Of course, if some wish to make their own inferences, that is their prerogative," Marshall said. "However, they should acknowledge that is what they are doing. Furthermore, it is no one's prerogative to claim I spoke words which never came from my mouth, have never been in my heart and have never been in my public record."
Marshall also called for a correction from Capital News Service, which is produced by journalism students at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Mass Communications and whose report ignited the controversy. Jeff South, an associate professor who oversees the program, said the service stands by its report.
And Marshall has posted video of his statement on his website, which he somehow believes will exonerate him. In his accompanying statement, Marshall insists that he never made this comment, and then provides video and a transcript of his remarks that proves he said exactly what Capital News Service quoted him as saying (emphasis added):
A February 22nd Capital News Service story claimed, “Western Prince William Del. Bob Marshall (R-13th) says disabled children are God’s punishment to women who have aborted their first pregnancy.”
I never made this statement. I believe that all children, no matter their background are a blessing from the Lord, not a punishment. Capital News Service never called me about these alleged comments.
No other reporter who attended the same February 18th press conference regarding Planned Parenthood funding made the same claim for the simple reason that I never made such a statement about disabled children.
A video of the press conference bears this out. (May be accessed in its entirety at the end of this article)
Furthermore, my personal and public life show a respect for unwanted or disabled children, including our adoption of three children, my bills to provide for health insurance for autistic children, and my bill this year requiring that women be informed of possible problems in future pregnancies from abortion.
I acknowledge that my extemporary remarks could have been better chosen to explain the medical research findings which show a high incidence of complications following induced abortions.
I understand how disability groups could react, but they are reacting in part to words I never said, never meant, and don’t believe. But I apologize to all for the misuse of my words especially to disabled Virginians or others offended.
My purpose was to show how authentic medical findings demonstrate that abortion has consequences beyond the death of the child being aborted. That is why I have proposed HB 334, which passed the House of Delegates 95-2, and which requires women undergoing abortion to be offered medical articles concerning possible complications in future pregnancies.
I take my oath of office seriously, and believe it is important to protect my constituents by ensuring full transparency about a procedure that may adversely impact their future reproductive health. That is why I strongly believe that Planned Parenthood, which performs one-fourth of abortions nationwide and opposes protecting women with this vital information, should not be funded by Virginia taxpayers.
Children, whether wanted or unwanted, intended or unintended, “normal” or disabled, are blessings from a loving God, and I will continue to fight on their behalf and on behalf of the courageous families who care for these wonderful children.
Fighting for you,
Delegate Bob Marshall
13th District Delegate
FULL TRANSCRIPT:
Verbatim. The TRT is 2:05:
“Thank you very much for coming here today. We are dealing with an attempt to defund, frankly, a malevolent organization. And I say that because you know people by their fruits. In 1960, 65, the out of wed-lock birthrate for blacks was 25 percent. I think it was about 23 percent in 1960 – it was 5 percent for all races. Now it’s 40 percent. It’s 72% for blacks, 51% for Latinas. These are the fruits of planned parenthood. OK. Nothing else. More heartache. More guys who are completely irresponsible and think that women have one function and one function only for a few minutes. OK. But this just isn’t affecting our families, our inner cities, our communities and our state. This poison animates a world-wide population control program that the United States funds and which is unnecessarily making us enemies overseas. We are attacking traditional family structure in a way that no country should be doing. These aren’t my words. Go read a book by Denesh DeSouza [sic]. Ok. He’s looking at it from a cultural, historical perspective. This organization should be called Planned Barrenhood cause they have nothing to do with families, they have nothing to do with responsibility. One-fourth of all abortions are done by Planned Parenthood in the United States. Ok. The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion who have handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first-born of any, Nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children. In the Old Testament, the first-born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There’s a special punishment Christians would suggest, and with the knowledge they have from faith has been verified by a study by the Virginia Commonwealth University. First abortions of the first pregnancy are much more damaging to the woman than latter abortions. None of these are good for anybody but this organization has had its time. They have failed in their efforts and we need to defund them and not have them receive a dime of public money.”
Marshall insists that he was making a point based on science and medical findings and that focusing on the "vengence," "punishment" "Old Testament" and "Christians would suggest" language is taking his words out of context in order to make it look like he said something that he never said.
Of course, as Marshall's own video proves, he did make these comments and, in fact, all the "science" stuff at the end is meant to bolster his central point that women who have abortions are subsequently punished with disabled children later on.
But instead of just admitting that that is what he said and apologizing, Marshall continues to insist that he never made this comment and is instead lashing out and attacking those who dared to report it.
Allow me to quote Steve Benen: "So, let me get this straight. Prominent conservative voices don't mind [Glenn] Beck's deranged conspiracy theories, his humiliating ignorance, and his hatred for those who don't think as he does. But these conservative voices mind a great deal if Beck notes that Republicans have an embarrassing record when it comes to deficit reduction, the national debt, government spending, and increasing the size and scope of the federal government's powers -- an observation that happens to be true. What an odd movement."
Finally, in the annals of idiotic right-wing lying hypocrisy, this is hard to beat.
How long before Lauren Ashley becomes the next right-wing hero?
James Dobson's time at Focus on the Family officially ends this week.
Mike Huckabee pleads for civility after right-wing bloggers savage him for interviewing First Lady Michelle Obama, saying "it seemed [they] wanted me to bring her on my show only if I yelled at her. Or it seemed they wanted me to hit her."
I have to say that the orchestrated manner in which Liberty University is pressing for its own polling station ought to be enough to give one pause regarding the school's impact on future elections.
Finally, the Quote of the Day from AFA's Bryan Fischer: "And why is it that defenders of natural marriage are always the ones who get told to shut up? If advocates for special rights for homosexuals would just shut up, this controversy would go away tomorrow. If they would take their behavior back to the bedroom instead of demanding approval for it in the streets and at conservative conferences, they’d be left alone and this conversation would be unnecessary."
CBS has an article on GOProud and CPAC that revolves mostly around Ryan Sorba's attack on the group from the stage and the boos it elicited from the audience which quotes Liberty Counsel's Mat Staver saying that GOProud free to be part of the conservative movement so long as they don't expect the movement to actually support their agenda. How kind of him.
But he was also asked about his views regarding the negative reaction Sorba elicited with his attack, and Staver said that this year's CPAC was dominated by libertarian Ron Paul supporters, suggesting that if it had been dominated by social conservatives, Sorba would not have been booed:
Mathew Staver, dean of the evangelical Liberty University School of Law and founder and chair of the Liberty Counsel, says that he and his allies "certainly don't support the idea that anybody would be eliminated from the political process because of their sexual orientation."
But he said Liberty University School of Law felt compelled to pull its sponsorship from CPAC over GOProud's support for the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and other policies.
"Those are not conservative policies, and they are not supported by the Republican Party," he said, noting that the GOP continues to oppose a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal as well as same-sex marriage and hate crimes protections based on gender identity. "I welcome all people being part of the conversation, but I also think that just because of your individual orientation, it does not mean that we change the values that conservatives support."
Asked if he was disappointed with Sorba's reception, Staver noted that Ron Paul won the CPAC straw poll of 2012 presidential candidates - evidence, he suggested, that those in the room were not "reflective of the conservative movement or the Republican Party."
Really!? So if those who booed Sorba "are not reflective of the conservative movement or the Republican party," then isn't Staver saying that "real" conservatives wouldn't have booed Sorba for his anti-gay rant?
MassResistance, which has the distinction of being one of the few organizations classified as an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, just sent out an email bragging that the organization was invited to attend a breakfast meeting with Sen. Scott Brown earlier this week which included this photo of Brown with MassResistance head Brian Camenker :
US Senator Scott Brown held an impromptu breakfast Feb. 20 in South Boston to connect with representatives of his grassroots activist supporters. It included key Republican activists, Tea Party activists, and others (even some Democrats). South Boston activists invited MassResistance to join the event as the major pro-family action group.
The Brown people seem well aware who his base is, and he genuinely wants to stay connected with them ... The meeting was at the Playwright Restaurant and Bar on West Broadway. Brown strolled in a few minutes early with just an aide.
Sen. Brown mingled and spoke individually with people for quite a while. He talked about a range of topics. And he wanted us to feel comfortable contacting his office if we needed to, and said that he would represent the average person's interests. Then everyone sat down and had breakfast. Later, he gave a short speech and left for his next appointment.
...
A meeting like this in Massachusetts is really quite astonishing. Although the liberals get this kind of meeting all the time (e.g., the current governor regularly meeting with MassEquality), the idea of a U.S. Senator (or any major politician) sitting down with real conservative activists is simply unheard of. Certainly no recent Republican governor - Bill Weld, Paul Cellucci, Jane Swift, or Mitt Romney - would have ever done this. They often met with liberal activists, but they were uncomfortable around conservatives and kept them at a distance.
But Brown's message was that he's willing to listen to us and take us seriously. And despite years of politics and sudden national fame, he hasn't become elitist or condescending -- which also makes him an oddity among politicians here.
Yesterday, the West Virginia House of Delegates killed an effort to press for a constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality in the state.
And, of course, that means the right-wing, anti-marriage equality groups are trotting out their standard "let us vote" rhetoric for a press conference tomorrow to complain about it:
The Family Policy Council of West Virginia will hold a press conference during its "Let Us Vote" marriage rally featuring Maggie Gallagher, President of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), Randy Wilson, National Field Director for Family Research Council (FRC) and Jeremy Dys, President and General Counsel of the Family Policy Council of West Virginia. Several West Virginia lawmakers have also been invited to speak.
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WHAT: Almost half of West Virginia's state senators have signed on as sponsors to a marriage protection amendment resolution promoted by the Family Policy Council of West Virginia. The West Virginia Senate is sending a strong message that there is no legitimate reason to prevent the voters of West Virginia from settling the legal definition of marriage.
WHY: The proposed amendment, which a recent poll indicates is supported by at least 78 percent of registered Democrat voters, was introduced with broad bipartisan support, including the chairmen of three major senate committees and the vice-chairman of a fourth. If approved, the resolution, SJR 14, would allow West Virginians to settle the legal definition of marriage at a special election in 2010. It proposes a simple 19-word definition of marriage: "Only the union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as marriage in West Virginia."
Vision America is prominently featuring this rather unexpected video on its website featuring Rick Scarborough voicing deep regret over his appearance on "The Daily Show" earlier this year, saying he made a "snide, off-handed" remark during the segment that was clearly offensive and lamenting that he did not handle the situation well, declaring that he does not want "people whose lifestyle I oppose to think I oppose them."
He goes on to say that people have not rejected Christ, but have rejected "those of us who represent Christ," and vows to move away from that, saying he wants to be a "loving, kind, gentle man of truth":
I have to say that the Scarborough in this video is utterly unlike the Scarborough we are familiar with here at RightWingWatch. If he is indeed serious about changing his tactics and rhetoric, it would be a most remarkable and welcome change.
Mathew Staver, Miller’s attorney from Lynchburg-based law firm Liberty Counsel, said neither he nor his office has had contact with Miller since last fall.
“We don’t know where she is and we don’t know anybody who does know her whereabouts,“ Staver said in a phone interview Tuesday.
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Staver said efforts are currently under way to track down Miller through a locator service.
Staver also said that arrest warrant issued for Miller in Vermont will not have jurisdiction in Virginia, Miller's last known place of residence, unless it is recognized by a VA court, which just last week refused to hold Miller in contempt on the grounds that she had not been notified to appear in court due to the fact that nobody can find her.
Amazingly, even while this saga was unfolding, Liberty Counsel was waging the same fight in a similar case out of California ... and losing:
In a case that reached the U.S. Supreme Court, a Bay Area woman has won the right to parental status and visits with the daughter of her former lesbian partner, who moved out when the girl was 3 months old.
The high court denied review Monday of an appeal by the birth mother, identified only as Kristina S., who challenged her former partner's right to be considered a parent. Kristina's lawyers, from the religious conservative group Liberty Counsel, argued that recognizing parental status after a few months of care violated a mother's right to control her child's upbringing.
The court left intact a June 2009 ruling by a state appeals court in San Francisco that said Kristina's partner, identified as Charisma R., had been fully involved in conceiving and taking care of the child and was legally her co-parent.
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Liberty Counsel representatives were unavailable for comment. The group's chairman, attorney Mathew Staver, told the Supreme Court that the California appellate court had "ordered the breakup of the autonomous, natural family comprised of Kristina and her daughter ... in favor of a new, judicially created 'family.' "
Watch Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall claim at an anti-Planned Parenthood press conference that disabled children are God's punishment for abortion:
After his remarks set off a national controversy, Marshall tried to claim that he had somehow been misunderstood:
A story by Capital News Service regarding my remarks at a recent press conference opposing taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood conveyed the impression that I believe disabled children are a punishment for prior abortions. No one who knows me or my record would imagine that I believe or intended to communicate such an offensive notion[.] I regret any misimpression my poorly chosen words may have created[.]
But the video speaks for itself. Marshall explicitly stated that he believes God punishes women who have abortions by giving them disabled children. And then he backed up his claim with what he evidently considered to be evidence (and the gentleman to his left nodded in agreement).
Marshall is entitled to his offensive views, but he should not run from them.
He said this about abortion in the case of rape: "[T]he woman becomes a sin-bearer of the crime, because the right of a child predominates over the embarrassment of the woman."
And he said this about contraception: "[W]e have no business passing this garbage out and making these co-eds chemical Love Canals for these frat house playboys in Virginia."
Marshall was not the only one at last week’s press conference to say something completely ridiculous and offensive, or as Marshall calls it – creating a “misimpression.”
Rev. Joe Ellison said he agrees with Pat Robertson’s comments that Haitians brought the recent devastating earthquake on themselves by striking a deal with the Devil and practicing voodoo:
From a spiritual standpoint, we think the Dr. Robertson was on target about Haiti, in the past, with voodoo. And we believe in the Bible that the practice of voodoo is a sin, and what caused the nation to suffer. Those who read the Bible and study the history know that what Dr. Robertson said was the truth.
And let’s remember. These guys aren’t just some sideshow attraction in Virginia’s state capital. They hold sway with top Virginia Republicans, including Gov. Bob McDonnell, and are making gains in their war on the reproductive rights of Virginia women.
Concerned Women for America is accused of being insufficiently pro-life.
Prosecutors are worried they will be unable to find jurors who don't have an opinion about murdered anti-abortion activist James Pouillon as they make their case against Harlan Drake because Pouillon's protests and antics had made him notoriously unpopular.
Apparently, Ken Blackwell got a book deal. The title of his tome? "THE BLUEPRINT: Barack Obama’s Secret Plan for an Imperial Presidency and a Permanent Liberal Government."
Finally, Quote of the Day from Gary Cass: "Thankfully, many principled Christian organizations pulled out of CPAC and they should be commended for standing up for truth. We cannot allow anti-Christian groups like GOProud to infiltrate and corrupt the conservative movement."
Back in 2008, the Freedom From Religion Foundation filed suit against the National Day of Prayer and named White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, and National Day of Prayer Task Force Chairwoman Shirley Dobson in the lawsuit.
The case is on-going, and Dobson is being represented by the Alliance Defense Fund (which just so happens to have been founded by Shirley's husband, James Dobson, and others). As such, the case was the cover story of the ADF's latest issue of its publication "Truth and Triumph" ... and I have to say that ADF's attempt to liken the lawsuit to a hostage-taking episode that unfolded at Focus on the Family headquarters more than a decade ago seems a bit over-the-top:
The receptionist for Focus on the Family had just come back from lunch when she heard the disturbance at the glass doors in front of her. She looked up into the very intense face of a man demanding to talk immediately with Dr. James Dobson, head of the ministry.
Graciously, the receptionist began explaining that Dr. Dobson was with his wife, Shirley, in Washington, D.C., that afternoon for National Day of Prayer observances …but she quickly became distracted.
The man, she realized, was holding a gun. And tied around his waist were what appeared to be some kind of explosives.
The Dobsons had just returned to their hotel room when the phone rang with word that the receptionist and three others were being held hostage at the ministry in Colorado Springs. The couple immediately paused to pray for the Focus staff and the gunman, and began asking others around them to pray, too.
Soon, word came that the gunman had surrendered, without hurting anyone – though he did fire his weapon, tearing a hole high on the wall behind the receptionist’s desk.
When Mrs. Dobson enters the front doors at Focus, she walks right by that gash. It remains unrepaired – a reminder of God’s powerful intervention one long, frightening afternoon nearly 14 years ago.
These days, though, it’s also a quiet reminder of something else. For these days, it is the National Day of Prayer itself that’s endangered. And it’s Shirley Dobson who is under the gun.
Several weeks ago, two men who were preaching Boynton Beach, Florida were murdered and ever since Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission has been convinced that this was an anti-Christian hate crime, claiming without any justification or evidence whatsoever that the crime is proof that a "violent anti-Christian spirit is growing in America" and that the two men were killed "for preaching the gospel."
Cass eventually got Pat Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition involved and the two groups held a press conference/vigil for the victims last week at which they demanded Attorney General Eric Holder "launch a federal investigation to see if these murders broke federal laws or federal civil rights statutes."
"The gruesome murder of Tire Sifra and Steven Ocean while sharing the Word of God in their neighborhood has raised some very serious civil rights issues," said Dr. Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission. "If they were targeted for their exercising their religion then their murder is not simply routine gang violence but raises important matters of civil rights. We have sent a letter to US Attorney General Eric Holder asking for an investigation."
"We are pleading with the city of Boynton Beach, do not sweep the faith issue under the carpet," Rev. Pat Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition. "We want the police to ask questions about religious issues involved here. We just don't want them to say this is just another episode of gang violence."
Faith not a factor, police say ... The shooting suspect, Jeriah Woody, 18, turned himself in last week. And a local history of gang violence and revenge killings makes for an attack scenario that requires much less imagination.
One of the dead preachers, Ocean, was arrested outside the Boynton Beach Mall four years ago with a loaded automatic pistol. He was with three other reputed gang members, one of whom was shot dead in the mall a month later on Christmas Eve.
"We have spoken with numerous witnesses, as well as the suspect," Boynton Beach Police Chief Matt Immler said Friday in a statement, "and at this point we have no reason to believe that the victims' religious activities or beliefs factored into the commission of this crime."
So basically, Cass and Mahoney have decided for themselves that this was some sort of anti-Christian hate crime. And based entirely upon their own say so, they are now calling for a Department of Justice investigation in hopes of finding some actual evidence that might justify their groundless claims.
And when the DOJ refuses to carry out the investigation requested, you can rest assured that Cass and Mahoney will declare that decision to be further proof of the Obama administration's antipathy toward Christians.
A Vermont judge has ordered the arrest of a woman who has refused to turn over her 7-year-old daughter to her former lesbian partner.
Family Court Judge William Cohen found Lisa Miller of Forest, Va., in contempt of court during a hearing Tuesday and issued the arrest warrant.
Miller was ordered to surrender custody of her daughter on Jan. 1 but failed to do so and has since disappeared. Their daughter is now considered a missing person.
Will her lawyers at Liberty Counsel now find the time to finally make a statement acknowledging their star client's kidnapping and disappearance?
Yesterday we wrote a post about VA state Rep. Bob Marshall's statement that that God punishes women who have had abortions by giving them disabled children.
Of course, that statement outraged a lot of people and so Marshall backtracked and issued a statement claiming that he would never say something like that and that it was poorly chosen words that were responsible for this "misimpression":
A story by Capital News Service regarding my remarks at a recent press conference opposing taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood conveyed the impression that I believe disabled children are a punishment for prior abortions. No one who knows me or my record would imagine that I believe or intended to communicate such an offensive notion. I have devoted a generation of work to defending disabled and unwanted children, and have always maintained that they are special blessings to their parents. Nevertheless, I regret any misimpression my poorly chosen words may have created as to my deep commitment to fighting for these vulnerable children and their families.
“The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children,” said Marshall, a Republican.
“In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There’s a special punishment Christians would suggest.”
If he doesn't "believe disabled children are a punishment for prior abortions," then why did he say that they were a "special punishment" from God?
Marshall ought to either stand by his statement or apologize for it, because he's not fooling anybody with his claim that he never meant to suggest what he explicitly stated.
As I was reading through Cliff Kincaid's latest anti-gay column, I had to ask myself if he had always been obsessively anti-gay or if this was a relatively new development. But then a quick search through out archives made me realize that Kincaid has a long history of militant hostility toward all things gay, which puts his recentobsession with defending Uganda's "Kill the Gays" bill in perspective and explains why he's dedicated his latest column to attacking CPAC for allowing GOProud to participate and praising Ryan Sorba for attacking them from the stage, bizarrely claiming that gay conservatives want to use the military to overthrow anti-gay regimes:
California Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) chairman Ryan Sorba generated a media controversy when he was shown at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) denouncing the organizers for inviting a homosexual Republican group, GOProud, into the event as an official sponsor. In "controversial" remarks, Sorba said homosexuality was unnatural and that he welcomed more debate and discussion about the subject from his political adversaries.
But what many people don't realize is that Sorba's "outburst" was provoked by a speaker who preceded him, Alexander McCobin of Students For Liberty (SFL). McCobin went out of his way to use valuable time from the podium to thank the American Conservative Union, the main CPAC organizer, for making the controversial decision to approve GOProud's participation.
David Keene, a lobbyist, is the chairman of the ACU and personally approved GOProud's involvement in CPAC.
Sorba told AIM, "I think CPAC went overboard this year. I don't think he [Keene] should be sitting at the top of CPAC." He noted that CPAC over the last several years has also allowed groups such as the ACLU to have exhibits at the event.
"What's next?," Sorba asked. "Are they going to have Republicans for Obamacare? Republicans for free abortions?"
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GOProud, the organization at the center of the storm, claims to be "conservative" but supports the Obama policy of putting active and open homosexuals in the military, supports homosexual marriage, and even advocates a foreign policy of promoting acceptance of sodomy abroad. The latter is referred to as "Standing strong against radical regimes who seek to criminalize gays and lesbians."
These "radical regimes," such as the Christian-dominated government in Uganda, are trying to prevent the spread of AIDS and protect traditional moral values by toughening laws against homosexuality.
Under these "gay conservatives," one can imagine gay soldiers being deployed to overthrow "homophobic" regimes.
I guess it should come as no surprise that the establishment conservatives are dismissing Ron Paul's victory in the CPAC straw poll as meaningless.
While Paul sees his victory as "significant," others do not:
Jason Mattera, spokesman for the Young America's Foundation (YAF), was a speaker at the event where more than half of the attendees who voted were between the ages of 18-25.
"Ron Paul, his supporters almost have a cult-like allegiance to him," Mattera comments. "They are a vocal minority. It was, I believe, less than 3,000 people who voted in the straw poll, even though there [were] 10,000 people at CPAC. It means nothing in terms of a favored candidate."
According to the YAF spokesman, the big draw at CPAC is not the politicians and their "canned speeches," but rather the "culture warriors" like Andrew Breitbart, Ann Coulter, and Glenn Beck, who "really inspire the crowd to take action." Mattera says he wishes Ron Paul would retire because he "has some very wacky, wacky ideas."
Keep in mind that Mattera is the one who spent his speech at CPAC accusing President Obama of using cocaine and called him "scrawny street agitator" and "jack-ass."
But it's not just Mattera dismissing Paul's win ... Gary Bauer is as well, arguing that Paul's supporters are Truthers and that Paul's views encourage that sort of "dangerous and deranged mindset":
[T]hen came surprising news that Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) won CPAC’s 2012 straw poll, which according to one report elicited “a cascade of boos” from the audience.
Let me add some perspective to this. First, not every attendee voted. The number of total votes cast was around 2,500, and Paul won 31% or roughly 775 votes out of the eight to ten thousand people there.
Second, it’s difficult to consider Ron Paul within the mainstream of American conservatism. While his views on limited government have some appeal, his voting record on values issues is abysmal. Paul opposed the marriage protection amendment, has voted against key pro-life legislation and critical national security issues, such as military tribunals for terrorists.
The producer of the Bauer and Rose radio show was at the CPAC convention all weekend, and he gave me this disturbing report: The Paul supporters were overwhelmingly young. That’s great. But Paul supporters of all ages were often “9/11 truthers.” That’s very bad. Many were openly spouting conspiracy theories that were favorites among leftists during the Bush years, accusing our own government of attacking us on 9/11.
Paul’s rhetoric and his many appearances on alternative radio shows often encourages this dangerous and deranged mindset. It is way beyond time for Ron Paul to publicly denounce the 9/11 truther movement and reject the support of those who adhere to such nonsense.
Paul was interviewed on CNBC this morning and said, “Why should we be looking for a war with the Iranians? What have they done to us? What are they capable of doing to us?” Let me remind Rep. Paul that Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. We know Iran is responsible for the deaths of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Its leaders routinely refer to the United States as “the great Satan.”
When the CNBC hosts said that the regime was pursuing nuclear weapons, Paul denied it three times, adding “Nobody’s proven that.” Somehow convinced that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s apocalyptic views will lend themselves to rational dialogue, Paul repeatedly insisted that we should follow Obama’s policy of reaching out diplomatically to our enemies, including the Iranians. This degree of delusional thinking is on par with that of European leaders who thought they could negotiate in good faith with Adolf Hitler.
I cannot fathom how any Ronald Reagan conservative could share these views, but I’d be happy to hear from those who think Paul is right.
If it's "difficult to consider Ron Paul within the mainstream of American conservatism," then how did Paul just win CPAC's straw poll, which Bauer himself describes as the quintessential gathering of mainstream American conservatism?
"It's a free country and a free conservative movement," Mr. Bauer, a Christian conservative leader and former White House domestic policy adviser, told The Washington Times. "The people at CPAC represent the three legs of the conservative coalition - traditional values, economic- libertarian and strong national defense."
It seems that even Gary Bauer doesn't seem to know what to make of the fact that the conservative movement appears as if it is being taken over by right-wing fringe activists.
Predictably, VA state Rep. Bob Marshall says he was taken out of context for his statement that disabled children are punishment for women who've had an abortion. You can listen to the statement here and judge for yourself.
Utah state Sen. Mark Madsen wants to combine Martin Luther King Day with "John M. Browning State Holiday" to honor the gun manufacturer.
Speaking of Utah, a bill passed by the state House and Senate and waiting for the governor's signature will make it a crime for a woman to have a miscarriage.
I, for one, do not buy Molotov Mitchell's claim that he has gay friends for a second.
Wow, XPAC turned out to be even lamer than predicted.
Finally, remember last week when the Right was up in arms over the revelation that there were books about socialism in the White House library? Turns out, they were Jackie Kennedy's.
Tomorrow, a Vermont judge will decide whether to issue an arrest warrant for Lisa Miller if she continues to refuse to come out of hiding and hand over her daughter.
Bishop Harry Jackson will reportedly be leading a rally on Wednesday at the Capitol Visitors Center to try to step up the pressure on Congress to intervene in his DC marriage battle.
Columbus, Ohio police are investigating whether anyone involved in helping Rifqa Bary flee to Florida may have broken the law. The man who drove her to the bus station has already retained legal representation from the right-wing Thomas More Law Center.
Finally, the Quote of the Day from Gary Bauer: "Here is the dirty secret the Left doesn’t want you to know. Joseph Stack’s 'philosophy,' to the extent he had one, was closer to the left-wing drivel at Daily Kos and moveon.org than it is to the patriots who are in the Tea Party movement. Joseph Stack printed his manifesto on his business web page yesterday as he took off to try to kill IRS employees. In it he rails at the wealthy, GM executives, drug companies and insurance companies. His rhetoric sounded like Obama style populism – heavy on class warfare ... No, Joe Stack wasn’t any conservative – he was a left-wing populist!
Despite Falwell's efforts, he couldn't deliver the state for McCain but a year later Liberty was able to take credit for delivering a Republican to the House of Representatives.
“We have documented a clear pattern of partisan intervention orchestrated by top Liberty officials,” said Americans United Executive Director Barry W. Lynn. “I believe the evidence is clear that Liberty officials have violated the law.”
AU’s letter – the result of more than three months of investigating – makes the following allegations:
• Falwell and other university officials used Liberty Champion, ostensibly a student publication but one that is actually subject to university control, to run a series of articles attacking Valentine and endorsing Garrett.
• University officials twice arranged for a “voter guide” published by the Virginia Family Foundation to appear in the Champion. The guide distorted Valentine’s views and was stacked to endorse Garrett. Copies of the Oct. 27 issue of the newspaper were mailed to all Lynchburg residents.
• On Election Day, Ergun Caner, a top university official, drove around campus with the College Republicans, rounding up voters.
• Falwell and other Liberty officials later boasted that their actions had swayed the election to Garrett. They have vowed to intervene in future elections.
“This is one of the most blatant and dishonest attempts to influence an election by a non-profit religious organization I have ever seen,” Lynn said. “We hope the IRS acts swiftly to stop Liberty’s overt partisan politicking.”
In semi-related news, due to the massive increase in voters in the district due to Liberty's annual registration drives, LU has been pressing the Lynchburg City Council to move the polling place to somewhere that can better accommodate the crowds - i.e., somewhere that Liberty owns, like Thomas Road Church or a local LU-owned shopping center.
But the city council does not appear particularly keen to place the polling place in Liberty U's hands and so, of course, Falwell and LU students are outraged:
Liberty University Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. is denouncing City Council’s recent rejection of two LU-backed polling place sites as a “travesty” designed to suppress the LU student vote.
“It’s obvious to me the goal was to discourage as many Ward III citizens from voting as possible,” Falwell said, renewing LU’s concerns that Lynchburg First Church of the Nazarene, the current leading contender for the new voting location, is inaccessible and unsafe.
“You have to ask yourself what is the motive of the five Democrats on council in choosing a difficult-to-find church on a residential road that is not equipped to handle this kind of traffic,” Falwell said. “Something smells bad.”
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Falwell, who said his students were angry and offended over the way this has been handled, said Nelson’s motion was nothing more than a “little game.”
“It was all designed to kill it (LU’s recommendations) without coming out and saying it,” he said. “It was transparent, and our students see through it.”
“I think you’re going to see much more turnout among the students in May than you would have if they had just chosen a safe, convenient polling place … The site they did choose does just the opposite. It makes it more difficult and more unsafe for people to vote.”
LU’s Student Government Association sent out a notice and set up a Facebook group urging students to attend the hearing Tuesday.
In those messages, the association described the upcoming City Council elections as the most important in LU history and said the “anti-Liberty folks” on council appear to be trying to dilute their influence by choosing a bad polling place to discourage them from voting.
“It is important you attend this meeting. This outrage must be stopped,” read the e-mail, which noted that buses will be provided to take students to the hearing.
Anyone want to place any bets on whether Liberty decides to use its local voting power in future city council elections to try and take out council-members who won't do its bidding?
I don't know if Mike Huckabee intends to make another run for president in 2012, but if he does, I have to say that I find his strategy of attacking and alienating conservative groups rather confusing.
As we noted earlier, for this first time in the last several years Huckabee skipped CPAC and explained that he did so because the event was becoming too pointless, corrupt, and libertarian.
The organizers of the Conservative Political Action Conference are hitting back at former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who argued over the weekend that the annual convention's influence among conservatives is waning.
CPAC is becoming "increasingly libertarian and less Republican," Huckabee told Fox News on Saturday, one reason he said he decided not to attend this year.
But that claim is not true, said David Keene, the chairman of the American Conservative Union, which has organized CPAC for 37 years.
"We were frankly a perplexed by Governor Huckabee's comments about CPAC given our long and cordial relationship with him and his family," Keene said in a statement provided to CNN.
Keene said Huckabee could not appear at the conference due to a scheduling conflict with his television show. At no point, he said, did Huckabee express concerns about the legitimacy of the event.
"We offered him several time slots, but on December 18th received an email from his scheduler saying essentially what the Governor's daughter told reporters over the weekend," Keene said. "The email from Kristin Dulin, the Governor's Director of Scheduling, said that he wouldn't be able to join us because he would have to be in New York to do his show, but assured us that he 'appreciates the invitation and hopes that you have a wonderful event.'"
Huckabee, who finished a disappointing tie for sixth place in the CPAC presidential straw poll, also accused the conference of being a "pay for play" event, not "truly grassroots."
Keene said the governor "has been misinformed."
"Many of those invited are from groups that are neither co-sponsors nor financial supporters of the conference itself," he said in the statement.
Since he lost the GOP primary to John McCain, Huckabee has attacked several high-profile Religious Right leaders and organizations by name, accusing them of being sell-outs and fundamentally irrelevant.
Of course, Huckabee lost to McCain due in large part to the fact that he couldn't get the support of these influential groups and individuals. As such, it is rather hard to understand how he expects to be able to get their support next time around, should he decide to run again, when he's intent on spending more time attacking them than trying to win them over.
Last week we noted how Pat Robertson, Jonathan Falwell, and other right-wing activists in Virginia are targeting Gov. Bob McDonnell and other top elected officials to cut off any state funding for Planned Parenthood.
Western Prince William Del. Bob Marshall, R-13th, says disabled children are God’s punishment to women who have aborted their first pregnancy.
He made that statement last Thursday at a press conference to oppose state funding for Planned Parenthood.
“The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children,” said Marshall, a Republican.
“In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There’s a special punishment Christians would suggest.”
Marshall was among more than 20 people, mostly Christian pastors and clergy, who gathered for the press conference in the General Assembly Building ...The press conference was held by a group called Virginia Christian Action. Its members presented a petition calling on Gov. Bob McDonnell, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to stop funding for Planned Parenthood. All three top officials are Republican.
The petition was signed by a number of prominent Christian leaders, including the Rev. Jonathan Falwell of Lynchburg and the Rev. Pat Robertson of Virginia Beach.
UPDATE: It looks like Marshall has quite a history of making outrageous statements.
Last week we posted this video of California Young Americans for Freedom's Ryan Sorba blasting CPAC organizers for allowing the gay conservative group GOProud to serve as a conference co-sponsor:
I am so proud of this young man, Ryan Sorba of California Young Americans For Freedom, for having the guts to hold CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, accountable for allowing a homosexual activist group, GOProud, to sponsor its conference. Organized homosexuality has no part in a truly “conservative” movement. We need a few dozen more Ryan Sorbas in our pro-family movement to put the “queer” activists on their heels for a change – instead of constantly being put on the defensive by a perversion lobby that equates sexual misbehavior and gender confusion with “civil rights.
Sorba showed the courage of his convictions by simply declaring the truth. Said Sorba, "Civil rights are grounded in natural rights, and natural rights are grounded in human nature...and the intelligible end of the reproductive act is reproduction...civil rights, when they conflict with natural rights, are contrary..."
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Sorba was certainly right to condemn CPAC for this move. The bottom line here is if conservatives are looking for an annual convocation of genuine conservatives - those who are fiscal, national security and social conservatives - the place to be is the Values Voter Summit.
VVS, sponsored each fall by the Family Research Council and the American Family Association, will never waver on the truth that protecting one man - one woman marriage is the most fundamental conservative value of all.
Justine Sharrock has a long article on The Oath Keepers in the latest issue of Mother Jones that notes the organization's ties to Tea Party and 9/12 activists and, by extension, figures like Ralph Reed, groups like the Eagle Forum, and members of Congress:
Founded last April by Yale-educated lawyer and ex-Ron Paul aide Stewart Rhodes, the group has established itself as a hub in the sprawling anti-Obama movement that includes Tea Partiers, Birthers, and 912ers. Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs, and Pat Buchanan have all sung its praises, and in December, a grassroots summit it helped organize drew such prominent guests as representatives Phil Gingrey and Paul Broun, both Georgia Republicans.
There are scores of patriot groups, but what makes Oath Keepers unique is that its core membership consists of men and women in uniform, including soldiers, police, and veterans. At regular ceremonies in every state, members reaffirm their official oaths of service, pledging to protect the Constitution—but then they go a step further, vowing to disobey "unconstitutional" orders from what they view as an increasingly tyrannical government.
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It was while volunteering for Ron Paul's doomed presidential bid that Rhodes decided to abandon electoral politics in favor of grassroots organizing. As an undergrad, he had been fascinated by the notion that if German soldiers and police had refused to follow orders, Hitler could have been stopped. Then, in early 2008, SWAT received a letter from a retired colonel declaring that "the Constitution and our Bill of Rights are gravely endangered" and that service members, veterans, and police "is where they will be saved, if they are to be saved at all!"
Rhodes responded with a breathless column starring a despotic president, "Hitlery" Clinton, in her "Chairman Mao signature pantsuit." Would readers, he asked, obey orders from this "dominatrix-in-chief" to hold militia members as enemy combatants, disarm citizens, and shoot all resisters? If "a police state comes to America, it will ultimately be by your hands," he warned. You had better "resolve to not let it happen on your watch." He set up an Oath Keepers blog, asking soldiers and veterans to post testimonials. Word spread. Military officers offered assistance. A Marine Corps veteran invited Rhodes to speak at a local Tea Party event. Paul campaigners provided strategic advice. And by the time Rhodes arrived in Lexington to speak at a rally staged by a pro-militia group, a movement was afoot.
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Rhodes has become a darling of right-wing pundits. In a column last October, Pat Buchanan predicted that "Brother Rhodes is headed for cable stardom." Glenn Beck has cited the group as a "phenomenal" example of the "patriot revival movement," while Lou Dobbs declared that its platform "should give solace and comfort to the left in this country." Conspiracy-radio king Alex Jones even put an Oath Keepers segment, including footage of the Lexington speech, on his hit DVD Fall of the Republic. "I can't stress enough how much your organization is scaring the globalists," he told Rhodes on his show.
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On the conference's final day, National 912 Project chairman Patrick Jenkins stepped up to talk about the National Liberty Unity Summits his group was organizing in cooperation with Oath Keepers. They would provide a chance, he said, for patriots to forge a common agenda and a plan to carry it out. At the first summit, in December, attendees included representatives of groups from FairTax Nation to the Constitution Party to Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum. On hand were Ralph Reed Jr. (former director of Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition and recent founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition), Larry Pratt (head of Gun Owners of America), and Tim Cox (founder of Get Out of Our House, an organization praised on Fox News for its goal of replacing business-as-usual incumbents with "ordinary folks"). Most notable were representatives Broun and Gingrey, who according to summit organizer Nighta Davis have expressed willingness to introduce legislation crafted by summit attendees. (So, Davis says, have Steve King [R-Iowa] and Michele Bachmann [R-Minn.]. None of the representatives agreed to comment for this story.)
While watching CPAC last week, I was wondering to myself why Mike Huckabee wasn't participating? Did organizers decide to snub him by not inviting him or did he snub the convention by refusing to attend? After all, Huckabee had been given a speaking slot in the main auditorium each of the lastthreeyears.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee blasted the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Saturday as outdated, nearly corrupt and unrepresentative of the conservative movement.
Huckabee, a 2008 Republican presidential contender and potential 2012 candidate who had spoken at the conference for years, said the reason he blew it off this year was that the meeting has become dominated by libertarian activists.
“CPAC has becoming increasingly more libertarian and less Republican over the last years, one of the reasons I didn’t go this year,” Huckabee said in an interview with Fox News, where he is a paid analyst and has his own show.
He was responding to a question about whether he was upset by his single-digit showing in the conference’s straw poll, which was won by libertarian-leaning Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).
But it wasn’t the only criticism the Arkansan leveled at CPAC.
Huckabee said the rise of the tea party movement had “taken all of the oxygen out of the room,” rendering the venerable conference far less relevant than it had been in previous years.
“Where CPAC was historically the event, the tea parties are having their own events all over the country and a lot more truly grassroots people are getting involved because of the tea parties,” said the former governor.
And, goaded by Fox Host Geraldo Rivera, Huckabee went even further.
“Because of the way that it solicits sponsors, it’s almost becomes a pay-for-play,” he said. “It’s kind of like, who will pay money to be able to be a sponsor and get time in the program. That’s one of the things that has hurt its credibility in the last couple of years.”
For the last three years, the poll has been won by Mitt Romeny with Paul hovering around10% ... and this year Paul beat Romney by almost ten points. In recent years, Paul has largely been treated as a sideshow by the conservative establishment which viewed him as far outside the mainstream of the movement but tolerated him because he had a relatively small but extremely dedicated base of support that somewhat overlapped with the movement in general.
The fact that Paul could pull in 10% of the vote at CPAC in previous years was generally a source of embarrassment to organizers. This year, Paul won (and organizers were utterly mortified.)
If that doesn't signal that the conservative movement has completely lost it bearings, I don't know what does.
When I saw this Crooks and Liars video of Newt Gingrich's entrance to CPAC today, walking from the back of the auditorium to "Eye of the Tiger" while being mobbed by the audience, I thought C&L must have made some sort of mistake:
David Weigel: At CPAC, Tea Party Movement Re-Enters Conservative Fold.
Sarah Posner: As inflammatory tea party rhetoric gets toasted at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, Focus on the Family's advocacy arm tries to show a softer, gentler side of the religious right.
Media Matters: CPAC has always been a welcoming venue for the far-right fringe.
Think Progress: CPAC audience boos former GOP Rep. Bob Barr for saying waterboarding is torture.
It tells you a lot about LifeSiteNew's agenda when it runs headlines like this: "Lisa Miller Safe for Now: Virginia Judge Refuses to Issue Arrest Warrant."
Is anyone surprise that Gary Cass and Bill Donohue flipped out over Elton John's comments?
The FRC needs money to save DADT and not let "homosexual rights extremists invade the U.S. military and destroy it from within."
Earlier this year when it was announced that the conservative gay group GOProud would be serving as a co-sponsor of this year's CPAC conference, some Religious Right groups threatened to boycott though, in the end, only Liberty University Law School actually followed through.
Now that the event is underway, CNN is reporting everyone is playing nice:
GOProud has a booth at CPAC just two spaces away from the exhibition for the National Organization for Marriage, which wants the government to define marriage as between a man and a woman.
...
Chris Plante, who is running the booth for the National Organization for Marriage, said being two booths away from GOProud wasn't an issue.
As cameras rolled, he introduced himself to Barron.
"I hope we'll have more time to talk over the next four days. Maybe we can have a beer later," Plante said.
"We can have a beer summit later. It worked for Obama," Barron joked.
A meeting, yes. But don't expect a meeting of the minds.
"Gays and lesbians have the right to live as they choose, but they don't have the right to redefine marriage for the rest of us," Plante said.
But off camera, things look a little different, as NOM felt it necessary to send out a far less friendly statement to reporters on GOProud's participation in CPAC:
Many reporters, including Politico, have asked us how we feel about the fact GOProud is just a few booths over from us. We welcome everyone's right to participate in the democratic process, but we have a message for GOProud on marriage: If you try to elect pro-gay-marriage Republicans, we will Dede Scozzafava them. The majority of Americans, and the vast majority of Republicans, support marriage as the union of husband and wife, and NOM is here to make sure these voters and their voices are heard loud and clear.
These days, the group is particularly concerned with gays in the military. Beyond opposing the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, the organization of lay Catholics would like to see all homosexuals banned from the military, according to a white and green pamphlet they were handing out. The case against gays in the military is laid out in a book, displayed prominently, called An American Knight: The Life of Colonel John W. Ripley, USMC, yours for just $14.95.
While I was flipping through the autobiography, a woman approached the booth. Catherine Sumner, it turned out, was part of GOProud, a group of openly gay Republicans and conservatives that for the first time is taking part in CPAC. “Is this your flyer?” Sumner demanded, waving the white and green pamphlet. Thus launched a debate about gays in the military that pretty much ended when the booth attendee told her that homosexuality is a sin and she's going to hell.
“It's insulting,” Sumner, 31, who edits a military magazine, said turning away. “Across the board the reaction to GOProud's presence here has been positive, but then you have guys like this. Even Dick Cheney came out and says he supports us. Conservatives have to be more inclusive, they have to be.” In fact, just one group, Liberty University, boycotted CPAC over the inclusion of GOProud, though the Catholic crowd weren't the only ones unnerved by their presence: one booth down from GOProud's set up in the fourth row, those manning the National Organization for Marriage, which works to ban gay marriage, kept casting nervous – and slightly envious – glances at the somewhat larger crowd surrounding GOProud's booth.
Considering that a who's who of right-wing leaders, including David Keene of the CPAC-founding American Conservative Union, joined TFP for a press conference yesterday supporting DADT at CPAC itself, its hard to imagine that GOProud or its supporters could have felt particularly welcome at the event:
UPDATE:Via Sarah Posner we see that GOProud's Jimmy LaSalvia is not at all impressed with NOM's tactics:
Imagine, for a moment, that there was a court case involving something like the posting the Ten Commandments in a government facility or opening of government sessions with Christian prayer or marriage equality and that the case was being heard by a judge who was reported to be a rather devout and committed Christian.
Now imagine what the reaction would be from the Religious Right if liberals started demanding that said judge publicly acknowledge their faith and recuse them self from the case because their deeply-held personal beliefs constituted a conflict of interest.
Do you think that the Right would throw an absolute fit and start screaming about bigotry and discrimination?
Prop. 8 was approved by California voters in November 2008 to overturn an earlier state Supreme Court ruling that legalized homosexual "marriage," but a San Francisco newspaper recently "outed" Judge Vaughn Walker as a homosexual. Matt Barber, attorney and director of cultural affairs at Liberty Counsel, believes Walker ought to resign from the case if the allegation is true.
The Liberty Counsel attorney cites from federal law that "a judge shall disqualify himself when he knows that he has a financial or any other interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding," and he argues that if Walker is a homosexual and overturns Prop. 8, he would benefit by granting himself the right to marry a man. Given that effect, Barber decides that hardly represents impartiality.
He goes on to report that Judge Walker has been silent since the newspaper claim was published. "Well, the judge has said, 'No comment' when asked about his sexual lifestyle," explains the Liberty Counsel attorney. "I think he needs to comment. If in fact he is engaged in the homosexual lifestyle, there is a clear conflict of interest here under federal law."
Changes certainly are afoot in the state of Virginia with the election of Gov. Bob McDonnell, who recently moved to strip away anti-discrimination protections for gays.
Some of Virginia's most influential Christian leaders asked Gov. Bob McDonnell and other top officials Thursday to block state funding for Planned Parenthood because the nonprofit organization provides abortions.
The Virginia Christian Alliance presented a petition signed by the Rev. Pat Robertson, the Rev. Jonathan Falwell and dozens of others asking Republicans McDonnell, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to help defund the organization.
The pastors cited what they called the "unethical, immoral and racist practices" of Planned Parenthood, the nation's No. 1 abortion provider.
Virginia's top three elected officials -- all Republicans -- expressed support Thursday for an effort by religious leaders to eliminate any state money that goes to Planned Parenthood, a health care organization that provides abortions.
Here are some responses from their offices:
"Lieutenant Governor Bolling does not believe that public funds should be used to pay for abortions, nor does he believe that public funds should be used to support organizations that provide abortions, such as Planned Parenthood. In fact, in 2007 the Lieutenant Governor cast the deciding vote in the Senate to withhold public funds from Planned Parenthood. His position has not changed."
Ibbie Hedrick, spokeswoman for Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling
"Attorney General Cuccinelli supports withholding state funds for Planned Parenthood. It is Constitutional for state money to go to third party contractors, but just because it is Constitutional does not mean that it is a good policy and state funding of Planned Parenthood is a bad policy. Attorney General Cuccinelli supports the overall goal of this group, but does not plan to sign a petition." Dan Dodds, spokesman for Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli
The petition referred to in the response from Cuccinelli's office is a document the religious consortium is circulating.
Among its prominent signatories are Virginia Beach-based religious broadcaster Pat Robertson and Jonathan Falwell, son of Liberty University founder Jerry Falwell.
Another noteworthy public figure who plans to sign the petition is Gov. Bob McDonnell, a spokeswoman for the governor said Thursday evening.
Rep. Steve King told the CPAC audience that it was vitally important that they know their enemies ... and then proceeded to list them all: Liberals, Progressives, Che Guevarians, Castroites, Socialists, Gramscites, Trotskyites, Maoists, Leninists, Stalinists, Marxists, and Democratic Socialists, which is what President Obama is:
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty tells the CPAC audience that conservative "can learn a lot" from the Tiger Woods saga, saying they "should take a page out of [Tiger's wife's] playbook and take a 9 iron and smash the window out of big government in this country":
Here is a rather novel argument as to why Don't Ask, Don't Tell cannot be repealed: doing so would be a violation of the separation of church and state and amount to an establishment of religion.
Even more amazingly, this line of argument is being put forward by the Alliance Defense Fund, the Religious Right legal organization founded by James Dobson, D. James Kennedy, and others, which has traditionally focused its efforts on claiming that there is no separation of church and state and defending government expressions of religion.
A team of top-drawer civil and religious rights lawyers is accusing President Obama of establishing a religion for the U.S. military through his demand to promote open homosexuality in the ranks.
"If chaplains with beliefs that contradict the proposed policy are kept from roles that are likely to generate conflict – like preaching or counseling – then they, the faith groups the represent, and the soldiers whose religious beliefs they serve will all be marginalized," a letter today from the Alliance Defense Fund to Obama said.
"The military would effectively establish preferred religions or religious beliefs," the letter said. "That is a constitutional offense that carries a very pragmatic consequence: just what will happen to recruiting efforts if Christians become second-class soldiers, sailors, airmen, or Marines."
The letter, addressed to President Obama and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, referenced Obama's campaign to allow open homosexual behavior in the U.S. military. While that behavior is formally forbidden under current law, the military acts under a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy adopted by President Clinton.
The letter was signed by Gary McCaleb, senior vice president and senior counsel; Jordan Lorence, senior vice president and senior counsel; Austin Nimocks, senior legal counsel; and Kevin Theriot; senior counsel.
...
"Military chaplains who have volunteered to defend the liberties protected in our Constitution shouldn't be denied those very same liberties," said Theriot. "Forcing chaplains to deny the teachings of their faith in order to serve in the armed forces is a grave threat to the First Amendment and to the spiritual health of Marines, soldiers, sailors, and airmen who depend on them."
He said if the military is forced to promote homosexual behavior, "for the first time in American history there will be open conflict between the virtues taught by chaplains and the moral message delivered by the military."
"In such a conflict, it's obvious who will win and who will lose. If the state favors the demands of the homosexual activists over the First Amendment, it is only a matter of time before the military censors the religious expression of its chaplains and marginalizes denominations that teach what the Bible says about homosexual behavior," he said.
As we mentioned yesterday, Virginia governor Bob McDonnell recently signed a decree taking away protections for gay and lesbian state workers in Virginia. The executive order, signed by McDonnell on February 5, nullifies a similar order of former governor Tim Kaine, who had specifically included sexual orientation as a part of his non-discrimination policy.
It would be nice to say that this comes as a surprise, but a measure like this isn’t really a shock when one looks back to McDonnell’s long record of involvement with the far right (to say nothing of his collegiate thesis at Liberty University.) Back in September, Kyle described the thesis as “a blueprint to change what [McDonnell] saw as a liberal model into one that actively promoted conservative, faith-based principles through tax policy, the public schools, welfare reform and other avenues”. Although McDonnell said during his campaign that he regretted much of the language in his work, it seems like it was pretty accurate after all.
Via TPM, Hari Sevugan, Former Governor Kaine’s spokesperson, said.
It says a lot about the Republican party that they would anoint as their 'rising star' someone who in 2010 is actually stripping away from Americans legal protections against discrimination. Bob McDonnell is proving his critics right.
For some reason, Mike Huckabee thought it necessary to remind everyone that he is "unequivocally" pro-life.
FRC praises VA Gov. Bob McDonnell for making it easier for employers to fire gay employees.
Does anybody care what Ted Nugent thinks about Don't Ask, Don't Tell. If so, here you go.
Answers in Genesis' Ken Ham delivered his "State of the Nation"address last night. Guess how he thinks the nation is doing?
Gary Bauer calls The Mount Vernon Statement "a seminal document reflecting both the past and the future of intellectual conservatism."
The Susan B. Anthony List and dozens of other right-wing groups have sent a letter to President Obama and Minority Leader John Boehner demanding there be no "taxpayer funding of abortion on-demand" in any health care reform legislation.
LifeNews.com, National Clergy Council, National Pro-life Religious Council, Operation Outcry, Priests for Life, Susan B. Anthony List, Wallbuilders and others are joining forces to launch a series of "Voter Registration Sundays."
Quote of the Day from the AFA's Bryan Fischer: "Our first order of business is to identify candidates who will be guided by the moral law of God in forming public policy, whose worldviews align with the value system found in the Judeo-Christian tradition, and help them become our 'ministers of God,' secular priests exercising sacred authority in the public square."
Janice Shaw Crouse of The Beverly LaHaye Institute joined the EagleForum's Phyllis Schafly and Tim Goeglein of Focus on the Family for a CPAC panel entitled "Saving Freedom from The Enemies of Our Values."
While Schlafly spent most of her speech rambling on about the internal enemies of the conservative movement, namely RINOs and Rockefeller Republicans, and Goeglein spent most of his time quoting other people, Crouse got right down to business, explaining that the those who are undermining our families, our morals, and our values are making today's children susceptible to becoming the next Hitler Youth:
Colin Hanna, president of Let Freedom Ring, while serving as emcee of CPAC, makes the case that the Mount Vernon Statement which was released yesterday is "the foundation of the entire [conservative] movement" and, as such, a perfect vehicle for which the Tea Party movement can unite with the established conservative movement:
Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice was scheduled to introduce Mitt Romney at CPAC, but ended up turning that task over to a surprise guest: Sen. Scott Brown, who was greeted like a rock start by the audience (and yes, Brown assured them, he arrived in his pick-up truck):
It was without a hint of irony that Liz Cheney smugly spent her entire speech at CPAC blasting the Obama administration's national security policy as fundamentally dangerous, harping on the Christmas Day/Underwear Bomb attack as evidence that Obama's wisdom and judgment cannot be trusted and that the administration's incompetence is getting people killed.
Then, at the end, she brought out her father (who just so happened to be Vice President on the day of the worst terrorist attack in US history) as an example of someone with the proper foreign policy and national security expertise (I didn't include any of Dick Cheney's short remarks because, frankly, they weren't very interesting other than his assertion to Barack Obama would be a one-term president):
I have to say that it is more than a little ironic to watch Dick Armey of all people unleash an attack on President Obama at CPAC, blasting him as nothing more than a self-righteous, self-indulgent, shallow, arrogant, incompetent ideologue who doesn't know anything about anything:
Sen. Jim DeMint's speech at CPAC is pretty much the entire conference in a nutshell. After spending the majority of his address bad-mouthing the other Republicans in the Senate for not being a true conservative like he is, DeMint turned to the 2012 election, noting that the next president has to be more than just a good speaker, saying that "just because you're good on TV doesn't mean you can sell socialism to freedom-loving Americans."
The next president, DeMint asserted, had to be willing to tell Americans the hard truths, meaning that the federal government was going to do less and refuse any more bailouts while protecting the "faith of our Founding Fathers" and refusing to "give away our precious constitutional rights to foreign terrorists who want to destroy us":
It is worth noting that David Keen, president of the American Conservative Union which is the host of CPAC, noted in opening the conference that DeMint was the only Senator to receive a 100% on its last congressional scorecard.
Now let’s talk a minute about the Presidential race in 2012. I hope Americans will expect more from their next president than a great speech.
You can't govern from a teleprompter.
Just because you are good on TV doesn't mean you can sell socialism to freedom-loving Americans.
We need a leader who will remind Americans how we became the greatest nation in history and what we need to do to make sure we’re still the greatest nation in the future.
This will require telling Americans the cold, hard truth … which is … if America is going to survive and thrive in the future, the federal government must do less, not more.
No more false hope and empty promises based on more failed government solutions.
We need to get back to the basics.
That means no more bailouts.
That means we will not spend money we don’t have.
It means we won’t throw out the faith of our Founding Fathers.
And it definitely means we won’t give away our precious Constitutional rights to foreign terrorists who want to destroy us!
Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio has recently become the daring of the conservative movement, so it is no surprise that he was given the opening speaking slot at this year's CPAC.
And it is also no surprise that he gave the gathering exactly what it expected, declaring that Democrats are systematically redefining our government, our economy, and our country and the American people will not accept it any more, which is what gave rise to the Tea Party movement and the election of people like Scott Brown to go to Washington DC and put a stop to it:
Yesterday, I wrote a post noting it was a little odd that a Virginia judge had ruled that he could not hold Lisa Miller in contempt of court because nobody knew where she was. Now the article has been updated with more details which explains the reasoning a bit more:
She's accused of running away with her seven-year-old daughter to avoid sharing custody with her former lesbian partner, but a Bedford County judge has decided not to press charges against Lisa Miller.
The judge could have held her in contempt of court, a charge she's already facing in Vermont, where this legal battle began. But a judge says he can't do the same here, because Miller was never notified of the pending charges, and she's nowhere to be found.
...
Because officials couldn't locate Miller to notify her of her court appearance, the judge said he couldn't hold her in contempt.
But the most interesting piece of news contained in the update is that it contains the first statement on the case from Mat Staver since Miller disappeared. Staver, who is apparently still her lawyer, used the court appearance to attack Janet Jenkins:
While Miller may be the missing party now, her lawyer says it was her former partner who was missing most of Isabella's life.
"[She] never came to watch her at church functions or school activities- in fact refused to come to Lynchburg," Miller’s attorney Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel said.
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Staver says he doesn't know his client's whereabouts or knows anyone who does.
The American Principles Project is coming under fire from anti-immigration groups for its efforts to win Hispanics over to the conservative movement by supporting immigration reform.
Quote of the Day I from Richard Land: "If God will send the Jews into a Babylonian captivity, He will judge America. I believe we have seen some of that judgment, but it is but a harbinger, it is but a warning, it is but a mere shadow of that which will come" if Christians do not return to God.
Quote of the Day II from Ken Blackwell: "What we are witnessing right now is an anti-Christian programmatic pogrom. What is a 'pogrom' it’s the word that describes anti-Jewish raids by Cossacks and others in czarist Russia, but a programmatic pogrom best describes what is happening right now. These are not isolated attacks. And while we no longer have Cossacks to threaten, we now have left-wing bloggers who actually call themselves Kossacks."
Earlier today I wondered just what Richard Viguerie's name was doing on The Mount Vernon Statement since, on Monday, he called it embarrassing pablum. But today he went ahead and signed it and even issued his own statement praising it as a good first step:
"I am pleased to be a signer of the Mount Vernon Statement.
"I feel it's a good first step, and I applaud those conservatives who have provided the leadership to produce this statement of conservative principles.
"In the coming weeks, I look forward to working with all principled conservatives, including the newest branch of the small-limited government coalition, the Tea Partiers, to take the steps necessary to maximize our victories in 2010 and beyond.
This doesn't really make any sense; why would he dismiss the statement as a meaningless joke on Monday only to turn around two days later and add his name to it?
I wonder if it might have had something to do with the fact that initially it looks like he wasn't asked to sign on.
The first mentions of this statement appeared last week, first on The Atlantic and Politico, both of which listed key signers but didn't include Viguerie:
The Atlantic - "Some key conservative luminaries will be in attendance at the Collingwood Library and Museum in Alexandria, VA (an original part of George Washington's Mount Vernon properties): Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, David Keene of the American Conservative Union, former Reagan policy adviser Kenneth T. Cribb, Kenneth Blackwell of Coalition for a Conservative Majority, and Federalist Society co-founder David McIntosh."
Politico - "The big names attached to it include former Attorney General Ed Meese, Heritage Foundation President Edwin Feulner, Family Research Council head Tony Perkins, Media Research Center leader Brent Bozell, Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist and David Keene, head of the American Conservative Union, which is putting on CPAC, among others."
And guess what? The very next day, Politico wrote another article about the statement and guess who's name appeared in the list:
The statement's drafters, who will sign it near George Washington's Mount Vernon home Wednesday afternoon, include figures from differing wings of the movement: former Attorney General Ed Meese, Heritage Foundation President Edwin Feulner, Family Research Council head Tony Perkins, Media Research Center leader Brent Bozell, Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, direct-mail guru Richard Viguerie and David Keene, the head of the American Conservative Union, sponsor of this week's Conservative Political Action Conference, with which the signing of the Mount Vernon statement is meant to coincide.
This list is nearly identical to the list Politico provided last week, with the exception of the sudden inclusion of Viguerie.
So what happened between Monday, when Viguerie was telling the Washington Times the whole thing was a pathetic joke, and Tuesday when he name was being listed among the statement's primary supporters?
I'm guessing that organizers reached out to him and asked him to add his name, which was all it took to make this embarrassing pablum into a demonstration of conservative leadership and principles.
I have to say that I find the reasoning as to why Lisa Miller, who disappeared nearly two months ago in order to avoid granting custody of her daughter to her former partner, cannot be held in contempt of court to be a little suspect:
A Forest woman accused of running away with her child rather than share custody with her former partner will not face criminal charges in Bedford County.
On Wednesday morning, a Bedford County judge said he cannot hold Lisa Miller in contempt of court because deputies have not been able to locate her.
So Miller can't be held in contempt for violating court orders by disappearing with her daughter because she's disappeared with her daughter and nobody can find her?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but that sort of ruling doesn't seem to provide much incentive for people to abide by court orders now does it? In fact, it sort of seems to do exactly the opposite.
In related news, members of Jerry Falwell's Thomas Road Baptist Church insist that they are not hiding Miller (and Mat Staver still refuses to comment):
Former colleagues at Liberty Christian Academy say they have no idea where she and her daughter are.
Austin Buckley worked with Miller at LCA. "Thomas Road Baptist Church is not hiding Lisa or Isabella. We don't have a secret bunker under the sanctuary or anything like that. People are- I think that there are friends of Lisa's that are praying. But as a whole, Thomas Road is not supporting her financially or anything of that nature," he said.
Miller's lawyer, Mathew Staver of Liberty Counsel, has not commented on the case.
In my earlier post about the absurdly anti-gay Tradition, Family and Property "report" opposing the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, I wondered who would be joining them at their press conference tomorrow to unveil it at CPAC.
* Elaine Donnelly, President, Center for Military Readiness
* Tom Minnery, Vice President, Public Policy, Focus on the Family
* Tony Perkins, President, Family Research Council
* Frank Gaffney, President, Center for Security Policy
* David Keene, President, American Conservative Union
* Penny Nance, CEO, Concerned Women for America
* Matthew Staver, Dean, Liberty University School of Law
* Jordan W. Lorence, Senior Counsel, Alliance Defense Fund
* Adm. James A. “Ace” Lyons, USN (Ret.), Flag & General Officers for the Military
Leaders from other prominent organizations, such as Eagle Forum, Let Freedom Ring, the American Family Association, Traditional Values Coalition, and Tradition, Values & Property (partial list) are lending support to the Military Culture Coalition, an informal network of individuals and organizations who support the 1993 law regarding homosexuals in the military (Section 654, Title 10, U.S.C.).
Yesterday I noted that efforts to offer "Trust Women/Respect Choice" license plates in Virginia had been been subverted with state legislators in the House passed a bill directing any money raised from their sale to the Virginia Pregnant Women Support Fund instead of Planned Parenthood.
Well, the state Senate has now passed its own version of the bill which explicitly rejected that attempt:
The Virginia Senate, controlled by Democrats, has passed a measure that would create a specialty state license plate with the message "Trust Women/Respect Choice." Some of the application fee money paid by drivers who select the plate would go to the Virginia League of Planned Parenthood.
Drivers in Virginia, which loves its vanity plates, already are allowed to select one with the logo "Choose Life."
Today's action put the Senate's bill on the issue in conflict with one passed by the Republican-controlled House of Delegates on Monday. Delegates chose to strip out Planned Parenthood funding and send the application fees for the plate to a state fund to help pregnant women instead.
Democrats in the Senate fended off an amendment to the bill from state Sen. Mark Obenshain (R-Harrisonberg) that would have followed the House's lead, allowing the creation of the plates but without sending money to Planned Parenthood.
Every so often, an obscure but well-heeled group called the American Society for Tradition, Family and Property pops up on the scene to make its case for ... well, tradition, family, or property.
Today it is out with a press release announcing a press conference tomorrow where it will release its lengthy defense of keeping gays out of the military
Reacting to the current push to force the U.S. military to accept open homosexuals in the Armed Forces, the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) published a well-documented study today, providing hard-hitting reasons to reject the proposal.
The group's statement is titled "To Keep Our Honor Clean: Why We Must Oppose the Homosexual Agenda for the Military."
News Conference: Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, and leaders of several major organizations will participate in a Thursday press conference to announce their support for the 1993 law regarding homosexuals in the military. The news conference will be held at the Marriott Wardman-Park Hotel (room 8216) in Washington, D.C. at 2:00 PM.
[D]uring wartime, men are in continual contact with each other’s blood. Therefore, the well documented increased disease rates of homosexuals would cause them to be perceived as a risk rather than an asset to unit survival.
This increased disease rate should not be underestimated. As Colonel Ronald Ray pointed out: “Despite the fact that they account for less than 2 percent of the total American population, a compilation of recent health studies shows that homosexuals account for 80 percent of America’s most serious sexually transmitted diseases.”
This increased disease rate has led some to refer to the homosexual lifestyle as a “deathstyle.” Inclusion of this deathstyle in our Armed Forces is a dangerous proposition, indeed.
TFP's citation for that 80% figure is "Colonel Ronald D. Ray, USMCR, Gays: In or out? (Washington: Brassey’s (US), 1993) p. 46." I can't find the report itself ... but it doesn't matter because it is obviously nonsense. To get a picture of the sorts of insanely anti-gay things Ray has written, just check out this essay he wrote entitled “Lifting The Ban On Homosexuals In The Military: The Subversion Of A Moral Principle,” especially the conclusion in which he warns to any effort to allows gays to serve in the military will cause God to destory America just like he did to Sodom and Gomorrah.
But the real reason that TFP opposes the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell is because it would destroy the honor of our military:
It is these values of uprightness, self-sacrifice and strength that project the military into a superior order of things. In a word, they confer an honor upon it, which is so identified with the archetype of the American soldier that our nation’s highest military decoration is called the Medal of Honor.
However, homosexual vice represents the opposite of this military honor. It violates natural law, epitomizes the unleashing of man’s unruly passions, undermines self-discipline and has been defined as “intrinsically evil” by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church on numerous occasions.
That is why, in order to advance, the homosexual movement must blur the distinctions between virtue and vice; truth and error; good and evil. If this vice is imposed on our Armed Forces, it will necessarily bring this relativistic spirit with it.
In turn, this mentality would undermine the direct and straightforward mindset, so necessary to the military.It would sully the honor of all who serve and weaken society’s notion of the incompatibility between good and evil, so well represented by our Armed Forces.
I am really looking forward to seeing who those other "leaders of several major organizations" will be that will be joining TFP and Elaine Donnell at their press conference releasing this document tomorrow.
Supporters of The Mount Vernon Statement are calling it the "definitive statement" regarding the central principles of the conservative movement, claiming that it represents a "significant moment as social, fiscal, and national security conservatives come together to declare the importance of partnering to defend our nation's founding principles."
The statement itself is pretty underwhelming, but if you want to get a sense of just how utterly meaningless it is, just note that its unveiling was timed to coincide with the beginning of the annual CPAC
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