Josh Glasstetter's blog

Bryan Fischer Sounds the Alarm on Muslim Turkeys Invading Americans' Dinner Tables

Submitted by Josh Glasstetter on Wednesday, 11/23/2011 5:34 pm
Red-blooded Christian Americans, consider yourselves warned. The American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer has discovered a plot to secretly infiltrate America’s ovens with Muslim turkeys:

I want to talk a little bit about Butterball turkeys. And I want to let you know [that] every single Butterball turkey sold in the United States of America has been sacrificed to Allah.
 
Every single turkey that Butterball sells has been ritually slaughtered according to Islamic practice and has had an Islamic prayer prayed over that bird while it is being slaughtered.
If your Thanksgiving turkey starts speaking Arabic or insists on wearing a hijab, now you know the reason. But this is no joking matter to Fischer, who raises the possibility of a pressure campaign against Butterball this Christmas.
 
In reality, the process that Fischer is decrying is no different than the typical way turkeys are slaughtered. It just means that observant Muslims can eat the turkey, and Butterball can sell more food here and abroad. It’s common sense and smart business. It also respects diversity without changing the product in any way whatsoever.
 
We’ll keep you updated on Fischer’s crusade against Muslim turkeys. In the meantime, here are some other non-Christian food products for Fischer to rail against:
 
 

 

“Mormon Issue” Keeps Romney out of Weekend GOP Debate, Highlights Religious Right Schism

Submitted by Josh Glasstetter on Friday, 11/18/2011 1:59 pm

The next Republican presidential debate – the Thanksgiving Family Forum – is tomorrow in the crucial early caucus state of Iowa. The elephant in the room will be the elephant not in the room – frontrunner Mitt Romney who is avoiding the event, presumably to prevent the “Mormon issue” from heating up again.

The Thanksgiving Family Forum is being sponsored by three right-wing organizations: Focus on the Family’s CitizenLink, the National Organization for Marriage, and the Family Leader, an Iowa-based Christian conservative organization. On the face of it, Romney fits in rather well with this crowd. He has called homosexuality “perverse” and “reprehensible” and has signed on to NOM’s pledge against equal rights for committed gay and lesbian couples. So far so good for Mitt, but there’s a theological snag.
 
Many Religious Right activists and organizers care first and foremost about supporting a “real” Christian. However, according to a recent poll by the Public Religion Research Institute, “nearly half (49 percent) of white evangelical Protestant voters do not believe that the Mormon faith is a Christian religion.”
 
Romney desperately wants to avoid a repeat of the Values Voters Summit, where high profile Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress introduced Rick Perry and then claimed that Romney is not a "true, born again follower of Christ." The attack captured national headlines and greatly hindered Romney’s efforts to woo the Religious Right.
 
After Romney bowed out of tomorrow’s debate, which will feature all the other top GOP candidates, Family Leader founder Bob Vander Plaats went on Fox News to denounce the decision:  “Mitt Romney has dissed this base in Iowa and this diss will not stay in Iowa[.]This might prove that he is not smart enough to be president.” Earlier Vander Plaats said that “should Romney decide to show up, there is no doubt that the hidden question on Mitt Romney has been his Mormon faith.”
 
Despite Romney’s deeply  conservative social views, the “Mormon issue” will continue to haunt him, and no amount of pandering can overcome what appears to be a deep-seated theological objection. Look no further than Religious Right radio giant Focus on the Family.
 
Focus’ CitizenLink made headlines in late 2008 when it pulled an interview with Glenn Beck over his Mormon faith, as the Deseret News reported:
 
James Dobson's Focus on the Family ministry has pulled from its CitizenLink Web site an article about talk show host Glenn Beck's book "The Christmas Sweater" after some complained that Beck's LDS faith is a "cult" and "false religion" and shouldn't be promoted by a Christian ministry.
 
The controversy reportedly began when the group Underground Apologetics issued a press release on Christian Newswire attacking the Mormon faith:
 
While Glenn's social views are compatible with many Christian views, his beliefs in Mormonism are not. Clearly, Mormonism is a cult. The CitizenLink story does not mention Beck's Mormon faith, however, the story makes it look as if Beck is a Christian who believes in the essential doctrines of the faith.
 
Shortly after, Focus on the Family caved:
 
We do recognize the deep theological difference between evangelical theology and Mormon theology, and it would have been prudent for us at least to have pointed out these differences. Because of the confusion, we have removed the interview from CitizenLink.
 
Earlier in 2008, Tom Minnery – CitizenLink’s executive director and an organizer of tomorrow’s debate – was quoted in Time saying that “Mitt Romney has acknowledged that Mormonism is not a Christian faith.” However, he acknowledged that “on the social issues we are so similar.”
 
Minnery appeared somewhat conciliatory on Wednesday, saying that “There is room for people who do not hold an orthodox Christianity, we prize Thomas Jefferson, but I don’t think anybody would say he was an orthodox Christian in his beliefs.” However, that begs the question of whether the Religious Right views Romney as a non-orthodox Christian or a non-Christian. Minnery himself seemed to answer that question four years ago.
 
As for Romney, he will continue to tout his social conservative credentials while doing his best to keep his religious views out of the limelight.

 

GOP State Rep: Actually, Americans Are Pretty Lazy

Submitted by Josh Glasstetter on Thursday, 11/17/2011 12:20 pm

Republican State Rep. Josh Byrnes of Iowa took to Politico’s Arena today to say exactly what President Obama did not. The president is under attack by Rick Perry and other Republicans for supposedly saying that Americans are lazy. However, he never said anything of the sort, as even Rick Perry surely knows. He was talking about efforts to win foreign investment, not the American people.

That hasn’t stopped Iowa Rep. Josh Byrnes from bravely agreeing with the president on what he never said. Byrnes does in fact think Americans are lazy, or at least the tens of millions of American unemployed:
 
I might have to partially agree with President Obama on this one. I don't think Americans as a whole are lazy, but we have some pockets of Americans that appear lazy. Ironically, the president has helped enable some of these pockets by doing things like extending unemployment benefits.
 
In other words, the president is “enabling” lazy Americans by providing unemployment benefits. In reality, the nearly 10% of Americans who are unemployed are living on the edge of ruin, struggling to pay mortgages and put food on the table while looking for work from companies that are slow to hire and governments that are being forced to lay off more and more workers. But Byrnes thinks we’re coddling them. He also seems to think that unemployed Americans could get jobs if they really wanted to, but unlike our “immigrating ancestors” they’re too proud:
 
There are jobs out there and I think the problem is that some people think some of these jobs are beneath them. When you are unemployed I don't think there should be any job "below" you. In truth it's probably more of an ego or perception issue than being lazy. Thank goodness our immigrating ancestors to the United States didn't have that attitude.
 
Byrnes cites a less than impressive array of evidence in making his case:
 
We have a huge skills gap issue in this country and there is absolutely no reason why some of our able bodied unemployed can't take these jobs. In good old Riceville, Iowa (population 900), they had an ad for 40+ welders. They make garbage trucks and cement trucks and they can't find enough welders.
 
Note to Byrnes: With all due respect to the good people of Riceville, the US economy is a bit more complicated than that.

VIDEO: Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli Worried about the Government Tracking His Son – Told Crowd He Might Not Get Social Security #

Submitted by Josh Glasstetter on Monday, 3/15/2010 3:28 pm

When Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli isn't speculating about whether or not President Obama was not born in the United States, he apparently worries about the federal government tracking his family.

In an overlooked recording from the campaign trail, candidate Cuccinelli told a crowd that he was considering not registering his son for a Social Security number because "it is being used to track you." He also claimed that many others are not registering for Social Security numbers for the same reason.

Watch:

We're gonna have our 7th child on Monday, if he's not born before. And, for the very concerns you state, we're actually considering – as I'm sure many of you here didn't get a Social Security number when you were born, they do it now – we're considering not doing that. And a lot of people are considering that now, because it is being used to track you.

If the newly unearthed "birther" comments didn't establish Cuccinelli as a bona fide member of the paranoid, anti-government Tea Party movement, this video should do the trick.

VIDEO: Does Bob Marshall Agree w/ Rev. Ellison that Haitian Earthquake Was God's Punishment for Voodoo?

Submitted by Josh Glasstetter on Thursday, 2/25/2010 2:45 pm

Rev. Joe Ellison introduced Del. Bob Marshall last week as a "warrior who will fight for our cause." Ellison – with Marshall at his back – agreed with Pat Robertson and said that the Haitian earthquake was God's punishment for practicing voodoo. Two minutes later, Marshall said that disabled children are God's punishment for abortion.

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."

Does Marshall stand behind Ellison and his remarks on Haiti? Or will Marshall blame the Washington Post for first reporting Ellison's comments, just as he has blamed the Capital News Service for first reporting his own?

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:

VIDEO: Does Bob Marshall Agree w/ Rev. Ellison that Haitian Earthquake Was God's Punishment for Voodoo?

Submitted by Josh Glasstetter on Thursday, 2/25/2010 2:45 pm

Rev. Joe Ellison introduced Del. Bob Marshall last week as a "warrior who will fight for our cause." Ellison – with Marshall at his back – agreed with Pat Robertson and said that the Haitian earthquake was God's punishment for practicing voodoo. Two minutes later, Marshall said that disabled children are God's punishment for abortion.

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."

Does Marshall stand behind Ellison and his remarks on Haiti? Or will Marshall blame the Washington Post for first reporting Ellison's comments, just as he has blamed the Capital News Service for first reporting his own?

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:

Video of Bob Marshall Proves He Said What He Meant, Meant What He Said

Submitted by Josh Glasstetter on Tuesday, 2/23/2010 7:20 pm

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.

It's worth noting that Marshall has a history of saying offensive things – or being “misinterpreted.”

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.

Obama Death Threats, Available in a Variety of Shapes, Sizes, and Colors on Zazzle.com

Submitted by Josh Glasstetter on Friday, 12/11/2009 1:42 pm

12/14/09 UPDATE: We did it! Following our report on Friday, bloggers and activists spread the word about products on Zazzle.com that threatened President Obama and his supporters. Zazzle heard from many of us and got the message. As of today, the products are no longer available. Chalk one up for the good guys!

Let’s say that you’re a run-of-the-mill teabagger looking to set yourself apart from the mob. Nazi/Hitler signs tend to go over well, but that’s so not original. You could strap an assault rifle to your back – like this guy did outside an Obama speech – but that’s so not subtle.

Do not fret. Thanks to Zazzle.com, you can find just the right product to push you over the edge from workaday winger to racist extremist.

Want to encourage, or joke about, President Obama’s death? Check out this line of “Bullet holes anti Obama Bumper Stickers:”

Don’t forget to pick up a t-shirt for that special woman in your life:

Maybe you’re a little paranoid about the Secret Service and would rather joke about killing the president’s supporters rather than Obama himself, no problem:

Or maybe you’d prefer to have your dog joke about killing the president instead. What’s the Secret Service gonna do, arrest Fido?

If you’d prefer to be a little more oblique about threatening Obama, while no less offensive, these are for you:

The above designs are all the handiwork of a single user of Zazzle named NOBAMAMAN (thanks go to the Active Art blog for discovering them). Bad taste isn’t against the law, but many of these designs are clearly beyond the pale – especially in an environment of heightened threats against the president.

Last month Zazzle banned a line of products which called on people to pray for Obama’s death. The company said the so-called Psalm 109 products “may be interpreted in such a way as to suggest physical harm to the President of the United States.” In light of this, we should be sure to call Zazzle’s attention to some of the above products.

Worst. Book Burning. Ever. (VIDEO)

Submitted by Josh Glasstetter on Thursday, 11/12/2009 6:55 pm

The Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Canton, North Carolina grabbed headlines in mid-October when it announced a "Halloween Book Burning." It was going to be anything but your typical book burning, assuming there is such a thing.

To be sure, they planned to burn heavy metal music and smutty movies. But they also had country, gospel, and Christian contemporary music and videos about Jesus in their crosshairs. Most shockingly, they said that they would burn all non-King James versions of the Bible -- aka "Satan's bibles."

They also announced a long list of "Satan's popular books written by heretics" which would be burned. And to top it all off, they offered "fried chicken, and all the sides."

But when the big day came around, a combination of rain, protesters, and a state law against burning paper all conspired against them. Here's what happened:

And here, in their own words, is what Amazing Grace said about their quote-unquote book burning:
We wanted to say that the Book Burning was a great success[.] We wanted to thank all the Bible doubters who prayed for rain with us. All the protestors and media got wet; we were inside where it was nice and dry[.] We are not glad people got wet, we are glad that His Word was honored. Some have written praising God that he intervened and stopped the Book Burning because of the rain, protestors, and state laws about burning paper. Nothing was stopped. Our goal was to destroy garbage as noted below, and we did just that. We didn't care how it was destroyed; only that it was destroyed. These same people must have never heard about "Paper, Rock, & Scissors." Scissors cut paper, and paper tears real easy. We destroyed everything as planned. Praise God! God answered every prayer that everyone prayed, but they don't like the answer.

Flashback: Bill O'Reilly Hearts Kevin Jennings' GLSEN and ‘Patriot’ Hilary Duff [video]

Submitted by Josh Glasstetter on Wednesday, 10/7/2009 2:36 pm

Fox News was against anti-gay bullying before it was for it. Or so it would seem.

Anyone who’s been watching Fox lately knows that GLSEN – which promotes tolerance and safety in schools and was founded by Obama school safety “czar” Kevin Jennings – is supposedly engaged in a secret plot to turn straight kids gay. That’s why right-wing blogger Michelle Malkin was so surprised when she saw a GLSEN ad on Fox yesterday:

Interesting. (Un)safe schools czar Kevin Jennings's GLSEN is running public service ad on...Fox News.

But she shouldn’t have been surprised. Just a year ago Fox News headliner Bill O’Reilly lavished praise on the group’s anti-bullying ad campaign and ‘patriot’ Hilary Duff:

But now that Kevin Jennings has a political target painted on his back, Fox is making GLSEN out to be public enemy #1. That’s just hypocritical nonsense.

GLSEN’s work is crucial and straightforward. It promotes tolerance and safety for all children, regardless of sexual orientation. Nothing more, nothing less. Even Fox has recognized the value of the group’s work.

Meanwhile the bashing of Kevin Jennings goes on, with Fox, the Washington Times, Limbaugh, and right-wing blogs taking turns. But the Obama Administration has given Jennings its full support. And the only way to defeat bullies is to refuse to give in to them.

[Jason Linkins at Huffington Post also reported on this story]

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