Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Friday, 1/27/2012 12:55 pm
On Wednesday, Newt Gingrich held a conference call with faith leaders during which he declared that the push for marriage equality is an example of "the rise of paganism" while his supporters warned that failure to elect Gingrich would quite literally spell the end of America and Western Civilization.
On Thursday, the Mitt Romney campaign held its own conference call with its own faith leaders who ripped Gingrich for his arrogance, recklessness, and "despicable behavior":
The Mitt Romney campaign held a conference call this morning with social conservative Republicans in Florida, touting the former Massachusetts governor's integrity and values and contrasting him to Newt Gingrich. Leading the call were Pastor David Janney of Orlando Baptist Church, the largest church in Orlando, former U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon of Indialantic, and Jay Sekulow, the chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice and a prominent advocate for religious freedom.
Pastor Janney said he's watched Romney being vetted and noted his marriage of 42 years, five children and 16 grandchildren: "When I look at his life I'm not concerned about being embarrassed or distracted by his personal issues."
Weldon said he was one of the members of congress who tried to oust Gingrich as U.S. House Speaker. "With Newt it was kind of like every day we didn't know what he was gonna say, we didn't know what he was going to be doing, he was just a little bit unpredictable," Weldon said. "It worries me the idea of him being in the oval office."
...
State Rep. Dennis Baxley, former leader of the Christian Coalition of Florida, also spoke on the call, saying Romney "shares our Christian values and will protect our religious freedom."
"When your choosing a leader it's about integrity. The hardest thing to maintain in any leader is those essential qualities of humility and purity. ... I'm very concerned about Newt Gingrich on that front." Baxley called Gingrich "very arrogant on his moral failure - calling the press despicable for covering him instead of humbly seeking the forgiveness of his former wife and others for his own despicable behavior."
Submitted by Brian Tashman on Friday, 1/27/2012 11:20 am
After first going after Girl Scout cookies, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins is now attacking the game Star Wars: The Old Republic for allowing same-sex relationships. Stephen Reid of Bioware announced that players in the MMO (massively multiplayer online game) could have “same gender romances with companion characters” as part of “a post-launch feature.” But enabling players to be in same-sex relationships is too much for Perkins, who in a radio bulletin entitled “Rebel Fleet Surrenders to Gay Empire” slammed the game for having “gone to the dark side.” He said that parents are angry “that their kids will be exposed to this Star Warped way of thinking,” urging members to “join them by logging on and speaking up. It's time to show companies who the Force is really with!”
In a new Star Wars game, the biggest threat to the empire may be homosexual activists! Hello, I'm Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. In a galaxy not so far far away, Star Wars gamers have already gone to the dark side. The new video game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, has added a special feature: gay relationships. Bioware, the company that developed the game, said it's launching a same-sex romance component to satisfy some complaints. That surprised a lot of gamers, since Bioware had made it clear in 2009 that "gay" and "lesbian" don't exist in the Star Wars universe. Since the announcement, homosexuals have been celebrating the news, but parents sure aren't. On the game's website, there are more than 300 pages of comments--a lot of them expressing anger that their kids will be exposed to this Star Warped way of thinking. You can join them by logging on and speaking up. It's time to show companies who the Force is really with!
Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 1/26/2012 6:52 pm
PFAW: PFAW Statement on Ocean City Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast.
Faiz Shakir @ Think Progress Security: West Point Defends Decision To Invite Islamophobic General Because Cadets Deserve To Hear ‘Broad Range Of Ideas.’
Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 1/26/2012 6:42 pm
After inundating Ohio legislators with heart-shaped balloons and teddy bears, Janet Porter has now turned to roses in an effort to get her "Heartbeat Bill" passed.
Liberty Counsel is now threatening to sue the Wisconsin high school that pulled a student op-ed opposing adoption by gay parents that repeatedly cited Biblical passages calling for gays to be put to death.
Brent Bozell delivers a ridiculously bombastic warning to the media.
Randall Terry says NBC Chicago is refusing to run his Super Bowl ad ... and, of course, it is all President Obama's fault.
Finally, we imagine that this quote from Gary Marx will come in handy the next time the Right starts screaming about some bogus campus outrage: "No university should be forced to put in place an institutionalized formal entity on a campus that would specifically undermine the values that that campus is committed towards teaching."
Submitted by Brian Tashman on Thursday, 1/26/2012 5:30 pm
Pamela Geller yesterday returned to The Janet Mefferd Show to discuss her claims that the Muslim Brotherhood is “infiltrating” the Department of Justice. In her last appearance, she accused President Obama and the DOJ of attempting to restore “the universal caliphate.” Now, Geller says that “we see an Islamization of the Department of Justice,” which she claims is working with “Muslim groups” to try “to impose Islam on a secular society”:
Where is the line to the Muslim community, reaching out to the jihadists and calling the problem what it is; what the problem really is. I mean I don’t see any of that being done, everybody is blaming the messenger, if you talk about this Janet you’re going to be smeared, you’re going to be defamed, and anybody that talks about it—but what about the it? What is being done about it? This is what I find so confounding and bemusing that nobody will address the jihadists, nobody. My contention is these Muslim groups are very much in line with the objective and the objective is to impose Islam on a secular society and we see it, we see an Islamization of the Department of Justice.
But Geller wasn’t done. The anti-Muslim activist went on to claim that Obama may start a war as an “election ploy,” and derided the media as a “propaganda arm for the über-left and Islamic supremacists”:
Obama, people don’t think he’s going to be re-elected, but you know I’m sure you’ve heard of these movements, the troop movement in Kuwait and he may very well go into Iran, and I do believe it would be an election ploy and I think that it would work, I really do, I think that it would work if we removed—and I’m a big believer, just so you know huge supporter of removing nuclear sites there. So the country really is under attack from within and I think the first thing people really need to do is first learn everything, you must learn everything, because there is so much disinformation and the media is just criminally negligent, they have absolutely abdicated their role in the dissemination of news and information and have become a propaganda arm for the über-left and Islamic supremacists.
Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 1/26/2012 5:09 pm
Yesterday, Newt Gingrich held another conference call for Religious Right supporters, seeking to mobilize them ahead of the Republican primary in Florida.
The call was hosted by Jim Garlow and featured several other of the Gingrich campaign's Faith Coalition leaders explaining why they had decided to support Gingrich ... and the consensus was that if President Obama wins re-election, it means the end of Western Civilization:
Mat Staver: I believe that if Speaker Gingrich wins Florida next Tuesday, he wins the nomination. If he wins the nomination, he beats President Barack Obama and we have not a cloud hanging over us in November and December of 2012 but we begin to see the clouds dissipating and some ray of sunshine of hope return to this land.
Jim Garlow: At the risk of sounding melodramatic, the United States as we know her will cease to exist as will, then, Western Civilization. Those who are discerning, those who are intuitive to what is happening morally and economically in our nation understand the truth.
George Barna: As you mentioned Jim, for the last twenty years I have steadfastly refused to endorse any individuals or organizations or products. But as I've analyzed the severity of America's situation today, I've come to believe that such self-restrictions are a luxury that we can no longer afford. So after carefully studying all the candidates in regards to the needs I just described and assessing their ability to win in November, I concluded that Newt Gingrich is the best man for the job.
Jim Garlow: We are in a situation that is so crisic in America, I'm actually stunned that President Obama could do this much destruction to the nation in a three year span. I never anticipated that this much harm in the moral and economic arenas of our nation could be brought on by one particular president.
Don Wildmon: This is not a typical election. This is an election unlike any ever held in our country. We're not just voting for a president; we're voting for the continuation of Western Civilization. If those who are listening think that what we enjoy, the freedoms we enjoy, the right to practice our Christan faith, is merely an accident and is there, it's not, people paid for it. And we can lose it, and we will lose it, if we lose this next election. What's at stake is everything that the human race, Western Civilization, has fought for for the last two thousand years.
When Gingrich joined the call, the thrice-married candidate served up some red meat to the audience by declaring that efforts to grant equal marriage rights to gays and lesbians are "pagan behaviors":
It's pretty simple: marriage is between a man and a woman. This is a historic doctrine driven deep into the Bible, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, and it's a perfect example of what I mean by the rise of paganism. The effort to create alternatives to marriage between a man and a woman are perfectly natural pagan behaviors, but they are a fundamental violation of our civilization.
Finally, Gingrich explained that he didn't really have any interest in being president but decided that he had to do so because all the other Republicans are so terrible so that he had a moral obligation to step up and save this nation and that he would just magnanimously have to suffer the insults that come his way:
I want people to understand, I'm a volunteer. Callista and I had very long talks for over a year and then we talked with our two daughters and our two son-in-laws because we knew if we tried to offer help the country that we would be subjected to news media assaults, we'd be subjected to vicious gossip, we'd be subjected to people on the web saying horrible things and we'd be subjected to negative ads from our opponents. And we concluded that we are in so much trouble and we are in such grave danger of losing the America that we grew up in and the lack of Republican ability to articulate and communicate and defend is so great that both of us - this was a dual decision - we both concluded that we had a moral obligation to endure whatever comes and to at least offer, as citizens, to try and be of service.
Submitted by Brian Tashman on Thursday, 1/26/2012 4:15 pm
Newt Gingrich’s campaign announced today that Dutch Sheets, a self-appointed apostle and a major figure in the New Apostolic Reformation, will join his Faith Leaders Coalition as a National Co-Chair. As first reported and confirmed by Rachel Tabachnick of Talk to Action, Sheets endorsed Gingrich and warned that America “cannot survive another 4 years of the current leadership”:
Dutch Sheets has endorsed Newt Gingrich for president, and will be joining the Gingrich Faith Leaders Coalition.
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“Newt Gingrich is only one that I can confidently say has the heart, experience, backbone, Constitutional brilliance, and intellectual strength to defeat Obama and lead America back to greatness” said Sheets.
“The America we know and love—indeed, the America God and our founding fathers dreamed of and birthed—cannot survive another 4 years of the current leadership in Washington.”
Sheets will join the coalition led by Christian market researcher, George Barna. It also includes, Pastor Tim LaHaye, Beverly LaHaye, Dr. Jim Garlow, the California pastor behind the Proposition 8 Battle, Congressman J.C. Watts, Don Wildmon of the American Family Association, Dr.Michael Youssef, Pastor Richard Lee, and Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel.
Sheets is an avowed dominionist and at a recent event, The Gathering Eagles, he said that while he doesn’t think “that we’re going to take over everything and rule the earth completely for the Lord…we’re supposed to try.” While holding up a gavel in one hand and the word ‘family’ in the other, he said that Christians have become weak by emphasizing the ‘family’ and are now “lazy sheep,” calling on Christians to become “kingdom warriors” for dominion:
Sheets and another major NAR figure, Chuck Pierce, also believe that their prayers during a tour of the country led to the capture of Saddam Hussein.
He also has called President Obama a “Muslim president” and said his election is bringing the judgment of God, saying, “God has now turned us over to our enemies for a season”:
According to Sheets, America is about to face divine punishment over the promotion of “homosexuality, abortion and socialism” and the “toleration of immorality and perversion”:
If God brought corrective but serious judgment to Israel, we are horribly deceived if we think it will not happen to us. If something doesn't happen to lessen this judgment—and it can be lessened—we are headed for very difficult times. The economy is going to be devastated. The stock market will go well below where it went a few months back—a crash is coming, and soon. More terrorism and violence will occur in our land, perhaps even war. In my spirit I've seen buildings crumbling and cities burning. Devastating natural disasters will take place. In general, hard times will be prevalent. Why is this so? Because we have turned from God and His ways. Consider the true condition of America. This assessment is bleak but accurate.
1) Our government is in decay. The current leaders of Congress promote homosexuality, abortion and socialism, while arrogantly ignoring God and the wishes of the people. They are proud, power-hungry, self-serving, career politicians, not the statesmen/women we so desperately need. Our President fits the same description. Along with the above, while honoring—in the White House—the Muslim day of prayer, homosexual activists and a coalition of atheists, he refused to honor the time-honored traditions surrounding the National Day of Prayer. And along with Congress and the President, we have many Judges with no regard for God's Word, the Constitution or our true history. The predictable verdict is in: America is in a moral and spiritual crisis of such magnitude that it is almost unbelievable.
2) What does this look like practically? From my grandparents' day until now, we have gone from 65% of Americans having a biblical worldview to now 4% of today's young people sharing these beliefs. This is staggering! Apart from an absolute miracle, which I believe is still possible, we have lost a generation of Americans to satan and secular humanism. Generally speaking, we are a narcissistic, self-loving nation that has accepted a culture of death, perversion, drugs and violence. We have murdered 51 million babies in the womb, and to satisfy the cry for a toleration of immorality and perversion, we are ready to throw away 6,000 years of honoring God's definition of marriage and family.
Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 1/26/2012 3:12 pm
As we have said before, it is remarkable that media outlets continue to turn to Richard Land for political prognostications given his laughable track record.
During the last election, Land could not stop talking about how Fred Thompson was a "Southern-fried Reagan" who possessed "a tantalizing combination of charisma, conviction and electability," while gushing that to "see Fred work a crowd must be what it was like to watch Rembrandt paint.”
Voters, of course, did not see it that way.
Not too long ago, Land was publicly predicting that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would resign her position so that she could launch a primary challenge against President Obama and that she would do so within thirty days.
That was in October of 2010.
But still, media outlets continue to turn to Land to provide "insights" into political races and so I guess they get what they deserve .... such as pieces like this in which he compares the Republican candidates to the cast of "Happy Days":
For those of a certain age, the remaining GOP field reminds them of some of the cast of the fabulously successful TV series “Happy Days.” Santorum is Richie Cunningham, the bright, earnest student body president who will grow up to be a solid citizen and probably president of the Rotary Club. Romney is Mr. Cunningham, Richie’s father, a stable provider and businessman. Gingrich is the Fonz, Arthur Fonzarelli, who steals the show and the series. It was originally intended to be Ron Howard’s (Richie Cunningham) star vehicle, but from the Fonz’s first appearance all eyes were on him. He was the hot ticket, and the series often revolved around him and his escapades.
While Gingrich is ahead in the polls, the majority of likely Republican voters — according to Rasmussen — still believe Romney is going to be the eventual nominee. Why? Well, I think it is clear that while the Fonz is the most charismatic character on “Happy Days,” Richie and Mr. Cunningham certainly appear to be more stable and successful husband material. And picking a president is in some ways similar to picking a spouse. You’re going to be living with that person and his or her decisions every day for at least four years. Gingrich’s unfavorability rating (56 percent) more than doubles his favorability rating (27 percent) with the general populace in a Fox News and Opinion Dynamics poll.
Gingrich’s challenge will be to get a majority of Americans to believe in his potential to settle down to the task and be the president they need him to be. After all, in “Happy Days,” Mrs. Cunningham always saw more potential in “Arthur” than the other characters. And as we all know, mothers often know best.
Later in the interview with Mefferd, Gingrich once again equated secular Americans with radical Islamists. “We are under attack from two directions: we have secularists who want to eliminate all reference to God in public life, and we have people in the radical Islamic world who want to find a way to impose on us a world that we don’t want to live in,” Gingrich said, “I think both of those are very genuine threats to us”:
Gingrich also told Mefferd that Obama has a “destructive” attitude towards Congress and is “pretty willing to capriciously break things up” because he doesn’t “respect anybody but his own judgment.” Such remarks are especially ironic coming from Gingrich, who is not known for modesty and has a long history of ethics troubles:
Mefferd: Many people think that there has been a flagrant abuse of power in the executive branch under this president, how will you conduct yourself differently if you end up being elected?
Gingrich: Well first of all I am going to try to work with Congress, not just run over it. I think that he has adopted an attitude which is very destructive. So start with that. I was in Congress for twenty years; I respect the Congress as an institution. My sense is that Obama doesn’t actually respect anybody but his own judgment and he doesn’t understand the idea of a larger system that has lasted for 230 years and that has an importance and a power beyond any one fight or beyond any one person and so he is pretty willing to capriciously break things up.
Mefferd’s show is a curious platform for Gingrich, as Mefferd in the past has claimed that “The Enemy” has LGBT people in “bondage,” defended countries that criminalize homosexuality and maintained that homosexuality is “an excuse of the pagan mind” to “wipe out Christianity” and “destroy marriage.” Mefferd has also attacked Mitt Romney over his Mormon faith, defending the labeling of Mormonism as a cult while warning that Romney may not care about facing scrutiny during the campaign because he thinks he will “one day rule [his] own planet as a god” and claiming that Romney has a “bias against evangelicals.”
Romney, once a stalwart defender of Roe v. Wade, said President Obama shows a “disregard for the sanctity of human life [that] is absolutely appalling” and is leading an “assault on life” by rescinding the Mexico City Gag Rule, which bars the government from funding NGOs that use their own finances for family planning which include abortion services or referrals. Romney also distorted Obama’s statement marking the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, claiming that the President thinks pregnant women “can get rid of the child and therefore have an equal opportunity,” when actually Obama concluded his statement by saying that “we must also continue our efforts to ensure that our daughters have the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities as our sons to fulfill their dreams.”
He went on to say that Obama is conducting an “assault on religion” through the administration’s opposition to employment discrimination on religious grounds and attempts to ensure that women cannot be refused birth control coverage in their insurance plans or medical procedures because of loopholes, calling it “an assault on religion unlike anything we have seen.”
Romney concluded his diatribe by attacking a push for equal rights for gays and lesbians as an “assault on marriage,” and pledged to promote the Federal Marriage Amendment and stop Obama from paving “the path to same-sex marriage.”
Romney: I think he is detached from reality when he says that he wants to ‘reclaim American values.’ There has been in my view an assault on American values since the beginning of his administration. Clearly from the beginning the assault on life with his abandonment of the Mexico City Policy and with the Vice President being sent to China and saying we understand the one-child policy there and of course the abuses associated with that policy are alarming and disturbing, and then on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade just a couple of days ago he said that the wonderful thing about Roe v. Wade is that it provides an equal opportunity for girls to equal boys, meaning that they don’t have to have a child anymore, if they become pregnant they can get rid of the child and therefore have an equal opportunity. The disregard for the sanctity of human life is absolutely appalling.
Then of course there’s the assault on religion. I think a lot of people were surprised that he felt that the government should be able to determine who is and who is not a minister and fortunately the Supreme Court disagreed with him on that, but now he’s gone forward and said that religious institutions, universities, hospitals and so forth, religious institutions have to provide free contraceptives to all their employees, even if that religious institution is opposed to the use of contraception, as in the case of the Catholic Church. Even in that regard, fighting to eliminate the conscience clause for health care workers who wish not to provide abortion services or contraceptives in their workplace, in their hospital for instance. It’s an assault on religion unlike anything we have seen.
There’s been an assault on marriage. I think he is very aggressively trying to pave the path to same-sex marriage. I would unlike this president defend the Defense of Marriage Act. I would also propose and promote once again an amendment to the constitution to define marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman.
