Townhall

Kagan: A Fake John Roberts, A Radical Homosexualist, and a Sign of The End Times

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 6/29/2010 9:58 am

As the questioning in Elena Kagan's confirmation hearing finally gets underway, right-wing groups are busy releasing statements and reports claiming she is everything from a "clear and present danger to the Constitution" to a sign of the end times.

The Judicial Crisis Network's first day write-up is particularly confusing, as they seem convinced that Kagan is trying to "disguise herself as the next John Roberts" 

The Senate Judiciary Committee just concluded the first day of Elena Kagan's hearings to replace Justice Stevens on the Supreme Court. Our summary of Day 1: She may not be a Constitutionalist, but she sure plays one on TV.

As we expected, Kagan followed in Justice Sotomayor's footsteps and disguised herself as the next John Roberts, and Democratic Senators did their best to help her hide from her record of extreme activism on abortion, 2nd Amendment rights, and the scope of government power. According to Kagan, "what the Supreme Court does is to safeguard the rule of law, through a commitment to even-handedness, principle, and restraint." In the immortal words of The Who, "Don't get fooled again."

Seeing as it was John Roberts who "disguised" himself as a umpire who would just call balls and strikes and then, once confirmed, revealed himself to be a blatant judicial activist, that is a pretty ironic criticism for JCN to level.

But at least the JCN's complaints are at least coherent, unlike those of Gordon Klingenschmitt:

Chaplain Klingenschmitt has contracted with a team of investigative journalists including Brian Camenker, Amy Contrada and Peter LaBarbera to investigate and report breaking news about Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan.

While serving as Dean of Harvard Law School, Kagan's administration demanded and forced Blue-Cross, Blue-Shield to cover sex-change operations as an "equal right" paid benefit, harming gender-confused students, as confirmed in 2006 and 2008 by Harvard Crimson newspaper articles.

Kagan also offered sympathetic ear to lesbian group Lambda's Transgender Task Force demand to force all women to share public bathrooms and locker-rooms with cross-dressing men, which is now part of Harvard's dormitory policy, according to the report.

"This is further proof Elena Kagan cannot be trusted to impartially rule on Obamacare or bathroom bills like ENDA, since she believes sin is a Constitutional right," said Chaplain Klingenschmitt, "but rights come from God, who never grants the right to sin."

Because if anything is going to clarify these confirmation hearings, is a report written by a bunch of militantly anti-gay activists like Klingenschmitt, Camenker, and LaBarbera ... and now that is exactly what we have:

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan is committed to the radical campaign pushing acceptance of homosexuality and transgenderism as “civil rights." Her unprecedented activism supporting that view as Dean of Harvard Law School (2003-2009) calls into question her ability to judge fairly and impartially on same-sex “marriage” and other homosexuality- or transgender-related issues that may come before the nation’s highest court.

Kagan’s record while Dean of Harvard Law School (HLS) demonstrates her agreement with the goals of the radical GLBT (gay lesbian bisexual transgender) movement and her solidarity with those activists. Working hand in hand with students to expel military recruiters in protest over the Armed Forces’ ban on homosexuals (a “moral injustice of the first order,” she wrote) is only the most obvious example of Kagan’s passionate dedication to this controversial and immoral agenda.

Kagan’s celebration and active promotion of the radical homosexualist and transgender worldview has profound implications. As a Supreme Court Justice, she could be expected to overturn traditional law and understandings of family, marriage, military order, and even our God-given sex (what transgender radicals call “gender identity or expression”). She is a most dangerous nominee who must be opposed by all who care about religious freedom, the preservation of marriage and traditional values.

There should be grave concern over Kagan’s issues advocacy concerning “sexual orientation.” Even before her nomination to the Court, her enthusiastic and committed pro-homosexuality activism at Harvard (including her recruitment to the faculty of radical “gay” activist scholars like former ACLU lawyer William Rubenstein and elevation of radical out lesbian Professor Janet Halley) was highly significant for the nation. Now, it is imperative that Senators and the U.S. public gain an accurate understanding of the radical, pro-homosexual environment that was Kagan’s home at Harvard – and the GLBT legal agenda that Kagan herself helped foster as Dean.

But that is actually quite reasonable compared to this statement from Tim LaHaye and Craig Parshall claiming that Kagan "presents a danger as old as the book of Genesis" and that her confirmation could be a sign of the End Times:

First, if she becomes a Supreme Court justice, she could be the all-important fifth vote in favor of interpreting our Constitution, not according to the vision of our Founding Fathers, but from an international law standpoint, a concept that would have seemed treasonous to our Founders. Three justices on the Court have already relied on foreign law in their opinions: Justices Kennedy, Breyer and Ginsburg. Recently-installed justice Sotomayor has praised Ruth Bader Ginsberg's penchant for international law, so we can assume she will be a legal globalist as well. Five justices create a majority and with Kagan on board they could begin radically steering us away from view of the Constitution that honors our Judeo-Christian heritage and founding.

Second, if this happens, it will usher America into a new age of global law. With Elena Kagan on the Supreme Court, international legal standards could well be imposed on Americans by the High Court's legal globalists, even without the Senate approving a specific international treaty. In our new novel, Edge of Apocalypse, we show how this trend might create a modern-day legal nightmare for conscientious Christians. We need only to turn to Genesis chapter 11 to see how God opposed the ancient attempt at global unification: the Lord declared the tragic result that would follow if a centralized group of fallen men were to consolidate an unlimited, unrestrained power over the planet.

Keep your eyes on the Supreme Court's view of global law. It could be one of the most telling 'signs of the times.'

Daniels Says He'd Reinstate Mexico City, But Stands By His Call For a Truce

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Friday, 6/18/2010 11:10 am

When the story first broke last week that Gov. Mitch Daniels was calling for a "truce" in the culture wars in order to focus on economic and national security issues, he was asked if he would reinstate the Mexico City Policy if he became president, to which he replied "I don't know."

Needless to say, that did not go over well with the social conservatives, so it comes as no surprise that Daniels is now telling Michael Gerson that he would, in fact, reinstate it immediately: 

"I would reinstate the Mexico City policy," Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels told me, removing an uncertainty of his own creation. Promoting abortion with international family planning funds is one of "a thousand things we shouldn't be spending money on."

But despite his backtracking on this one issue, Daniels is standing by his original call for a truce:

Daniels' clarification on Mexico City shows his realism. But his continued insistence on the idea of a truce shows his stubbornness -- a defining characteristic. "If there were a WMD attack, death would come to straights and gays, pro-life and pro-choice," he told me. "If the country goes broke, it would ruin the American dream for everyone. We are in this together. Whatever our honest disagreements on other questions, might we set them aside long enough to do some very difficult things without which we will be a different, lesser country?

...

Daniels admits, "No one may take the offer. ... But I'm not prepared to give up on the idea we can address this thing. If we can't -- well, the cynics were right. But somebody has to try."

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 6/16/2010 5:32 pm
  • The Illinois Family Institute "needs to raise $80,000 to survive the summer."

  • Rep. Michele Bachmann received the 2010 Conservative Leadership Award from the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute.

  • An interesting look at the ties between Jay Sekulow, Deacon Keith Fournier, Rob and Paul Schenck, and the American Center for Law and Justice.

  • Maggie Gallagher is not happy with the way the Prop 8 trial appears to be going.

  • Janne Myrdal, State Director for CWA of North Dakota, is honored to be "one of those prayer warriors who provide [Sarah Palin's] prayer shield."

  • Ralph Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition is busy training "Tea Partiers, home schoolers and other conservatives to give them the tools they need to turn out the identify, educate and turn out conservative voters in their area."

  • Sadly, Pat Robertson is refusing to make a comment on the large statue of Jesus that was struck by lightening and destroyed. 

Backwell: Paul a Victim of a "High Tech Lynching"

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Monday, 5/24/2010 10:36 am

Ken Blackwell has come running to Rand Paul's defense, desperately trying to explain away Paul's post-primary claims that he didn't support the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the idea of the government combating discrimination in private enterprises in general.

Or at least that seems to be Blackwell's goal, though it is hard to say as his "defense" is utterly incoherent:

[Rand Paul] a grilling from one end of the chattering class to the other about his supposed opposition to the great Civil Rights Act of 1964. It is a fact that he stumbled in some of his answers to questions about individual titles of that act. Dr. Paul was not alive when the act was debated in front of the whole country in 1964. He needs to bone up on his history.

But the high tech lynching that is taking place now is of a piece with what the liberal media put Clarence Thomas through in 1991. Because Judge Thomas is an original construction jurist, he was seen as a threat by liberal activists. Because Justice Thomas is black, he is vilified by leftists who believe that all minorities must support their left wing causes.

I have literally no idea what that is supposed to mean ... and it only gets worse, as this is the best "defense" of Paul that Blackwell was able to come up with:

Dr. Paul is an opthalmologist. He is expert on astigmatism. What we can clearly see is the moral astigmatism of the left. For example: As a state senator in Illinois, Barack Obama voted not once but repeatedly against giving civil rights protection to newborns who survived abortion attempts. Many of these newborns were black. We know that the abortion license has produced a shockingly disparate impact in the black community. The rate of abortion is 3:1, black-to-white.

The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is one of the three post-Civil War amendments (along with the Thirteenth and Fifteenth) that deserve to be regarded as a Magna Carta for black Americans. The Fourteenth Amendment says that all persons “born in the United States” are citizens of the United States and of the states in which they reside.

This clear intent of the framers did not matter to state senator Obama. He voted against his state’s version of the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. Was Obama hauled before media tribunals to explain his radical position? Not in the least. The liberal media--which views Obama as “a sort of God” (in the words of Newsweek’s Evan Thomas)--not only did not grill him on this shockingly radical position, they actively covered up his voting record.

You can see the moral astigmatism in the premises of all these liberal interrogators of Rand Paul.

Again, what relevance this is supposed to have to the statements made by Paul is utterly beyond me. As is Blackwell's conclusion that "Paul needs to learn history" simply so he can "avoid 'gotcha' journalists like Rachel Maddow" but that he doesn't need to do that by "reading most U.S. history textbooks" which take a "grim and oppressive view" of America's past.

Blackwell then claims that is was "conservative Republicans [who] joined with liberal Democrats to pass the great Civil Rights Act of 1964" (huh?) and that "the liberal media is trying to sandblast Ev Dirksen’s name from the Senate Office Building named for him" (double huh?):

We can’t let them do it. And helping Rand Paul is one way to stop the left from re-writing history.

Normally, when faced with a column full of falsehoods like this, I'd attempt to set the record straight ... but in this case, Blackwell has written a piece so fundamentally incoherent as to make any such effort absolutely impossible.

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 5/20/2010 5:40 pm
  • According to the new Coral Ridge Ministries "documentary" on socialism, the whole country is going to end up like Detroit if President Obama has his way.

  • National Association of Evangelicals has announced its willingness to partner with groups that offer contraceptive services and other programs aimed at reducing the number of abortions.

  • The ACLJ is demanding that the Department of Justice allow volunteers to erect a replacement cross Mojave Desert World War I memorial.

  • Mike Huckabee is taking his Fox News show to Las Vegas.

  • Liberty Counsel says Dont' Ask, Don't Tell must be retained because "the military should not be used as a pawn to promote a political agenda, nor should it be used for a social experiment to deconstruct the family." Huh? 

  • I continue to be amazed by rigorous logic displayed by the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer.

  • Finally, the quote of the day from Maggie Gallagher: "Sarah Palin had me at the word 'Trig.'"

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 5/13/2010 5:30 pm

Harry Jackson's Religious Test: Kagan Must Be Defeated Because She Is Not a Protestant

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 5/12/2010 5:24 pm

We are not supposed to have religious tests for public office in the United States, but apparently reverse religious test are okay.  How else do you explain Harry Jackson declaring that Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court must be defeated specifically because she is not a Protestant, claiming that a Court made up only of Catholics and Jews is fundamentally unable to "create an atmosphere for true justice": 

The nomination of Elena Kagan for Supreme Court should outrage evangelical Protestants. The reason is not simply her legal perspective, her lack of judicial experience, or her personal view of faith and religious liberties. Devout Christians of all denominations and races are in danger of experiencing what blacks in the late 1960s and early 1970s called “institutional racism” or “institutional discrimination.” Blacks of that era saw that there was a pervasive attitude that prevented black achievement among the national leadership, who ran many of our nation’s most influential institutions. Civil rights laws had been enacted but the effect of those laws was nullified by the personal prejudices of high-ranking gatekeepers - everyone from judges to CEOs, policeman to professors, and other individuals who exercised personal power over our lives.

Many evangelicals and other Protestants felt like they woke up and discovered they were suddenly deemed the “bad guys” by many segments of our society. The cultural swing by a militant anti-faith minority is certainly not Elena Kagan or President Obama’s fault. Nonetheless, the composition of America’s highest court will determine our national spirit, values, and destiny. Therefore, the faith of the prospective judicial candidate matters.

...

Although Catholics are well represented on the Supreme Court, there will likely be important cases that will need the insight of unbiased evangelicals to create an atmosphere for true justice. Failure of the faith community to engage in the world of politics and processes like the selection of judges could hurt the Christian community decades from now.

Protestants must take action today! We should return to the foundations that have made the US great. Further, we must not just act on behalf of our needs, alone. We must lead the country back to the safety of its guiding principles. At the same time, despite our personal views, we must act on behalf of the entire American family – religious and secular alike. Further, we must continue to encourage religious diversity and even atheists to remain true to their beliefs as it relates to the political process. The repression of minority points of view is un-American and petty.

Therefore, let your senators know that you want them to stand up for the rights of the American faith community. Specifically, your senators must be urged to stand against the appointment of Elena Kagan. A failure to act at this critical juncture will be tantamount to surrendering to the enemies of faith and personal freedom.

 

Early Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Friday, 4/23/2010 12:24 pm

I'm going to be off until next Wednesday, starting this afternoon, so here is an early wrap-up of today's right-wing miscellany:

  • Jesse Lee Peterson declares Michael Steele to be a RINO for saying that Blacks do not have a reason to vote for the GOP.

  • Now Tom Tancredo going after the SPLC.

  • As is the Traditional Values Coalition's Andrea Lafferty, who also claims that PFAW is a "leftist hate group".

  • The Institute on Religion and Democracy is calling on churches to "confront Islamic law" here in America.

  • Finally, Tim Tebow was drafted by the Denver Broncos, which will make his future collaborations with Focus on the Family that much easier.

Jackson and Innis Are Back With Another Energy Front Group

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Monday, 4/19/2010 1:38 pm

Back in the summer of 2008, we produced a series of posts about an effort called "Stop the War on the Poor" that was led by Harry Jackson and Niger Innis, claiming to be a campaign to claim that "extreme environmentalists" who oppose increased domestic oil drilling are enemies of the poor.

In essence, the group's message was that high energy prices disproportionately impact the poor and that domestic oil drilling was solution to keeping energy prices low. Not surprisingly, the effort was heavily supported by pro-drilling and other energy business interests. 

Now Jackson and Innis are back with a similar message, but with a new group called the Affordable Power Alliance:

The mission of the Alliance is heart a humanitarian one. Thousands of Americans become sick and die each year because high energy costs that prevent them from adequately heating or cooling their homes; buying the medicines they need; and practicing better health prevention measures. Millions more lose opportunities to better themselves and their families because rising energy costs eat away at a large portion of their disposable income.

That is why we consider public policies that raise energy costs to be dangerous and immoral -– especially given that higher energy prices hit middle-income families the working poor the hardest.

Last week, Jackson and Innis took their pro-drilling energy front-group message to a Tea Party in Colorado:

Last Wednesday on “tax day,” I had the privilege of attending my first Tea Party event. Standing on the steps of the Colorado State Capitol building in Denver, I addressed several thousand people concerning the impact of wrong-headed energy policies on all Americans – especially the minority community ... Scores of people thanked Mr. Innis and I for both the information we shared and our presence at the rally.

They recognized that the findings of a new report on the economic and employment impact of current CO2 restrictions endorsed by the EPA will be detrimental to all Americans. The study I am referencing estimates that the US GDP will be reduced by at least $500 billion over the next two decades by this one factor alone. This translates into the loss millions of jobs over the next 10 years. Third, there will also be a significant reduction in the average household income but it will regressively affect poor and lower middle class families the most.

Jackson's "findings" come out of this study prepared for his Affordable Energy Alliance by an organization called Management Information Services, Inc. (MISI) which "provides economic, financial, energy, and environmental research services and litigation support to clients in private industry."

And who might some of those private industry clients be, you ask:

American Electric Power Company
Bruce Power, LP
Chesapeake Energy
Commonwealth Edison
Energy Corporation of America
Energy Resources International, Inc.
ExxonMobil
Ontario Power Generation, Inc.
Peabody Energy
The Southern Company
Washington Gas Company
World Oil Magazine

So MISI produced a report on behalf of the Affordable Energy Alliance finding that carbon dioxide restrictions and other environmental regulations would be detrimental to the nation's poor. 

Presumably, the fact that MISI also just so happens to provide research and litigation services to several energy companies is purely coincidental.

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Monday, 4/12/2010 5:30 pm
  • Rep. Michele Bachmann and Rep. Steve King are BFFs.  Why is that not surprising?

  • Why is Sen. Scott Brown's daughter now a contributor to "The Early Show"?

  • Rick Santorum says the only reason he endorsed Arlen Specter last time around was because Specter promised to support President Bush's SCOTUS nominees.

  • Focus on the Family has kicked-off a 12-city tour aimed at educating couples on how to strengthen their marriage, parenting skills, and family life.

  • Harry Jackson defends Michael Steel, saying Steel deserves more time to get things organized.  Seriously.

  • Quote of the day I from Dave Welch on standing up to gays: "We must stand boldly, declare God's standard of morality for the good of the people and take back the ground that has been yielded to the forces of spiritual darkness by cleaning house at every level of government, education, media and the arts. However, as it will be with God's judgment, we must start in the house of God. "

  • Quote of the day II comes from those who don't want to see Rick Green on the Texas Supreme Court: "Let’s not jeopardize that good work by electing someone who is likely to attract criticism and ridicule for himself and our entire judiciary."

Star Parker Is Running For Congress

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Monday, 4/12/2010 10:03 am

In her latest column, Star Parker announced that she is running for Congress in order to fight this nation's slide into socialism:

I’ve often been approached to run for public office. However, I always deferred because I felt I could make the greatest difference delivering my message as a free agent, outside the formal structure of politics.

But things have changed and now I’ve decided to run.

We’ve totally reversed the direction we started in after we reformed welfare in 1996.

As I wrote a little over a year ago: “I thought we were on the road to moving socialism out of poor black communities and replacing it with wealth producing American capitalism. But, incredibly, we are going in the opposite direction. Instead of poor America on socialism becoming more like rich America on capitalism, rich America on capitalism is becoming like poor America on socialism.”

And this does not appear to be a mere vanity run aimed solely at raising Parker's profile, but a serious attempt to run a full-fledged campaign:

[T]he question today before us: are we going to be a free nation under God? Or are we going to be a welfare state?

For twenty-five years I have carried the message of freedom, and my life's story embodies the greatness of America: that as long as there is a rule of law and protection of private property, any one from any background or any ethnicity or just in need of a fresh start and new birth can live free and prosper.

This is why I'm running.

I hope you will support me in this bid to the US House of Representatives for the 37th California Congressional district in Los Angeles County which includes Compton, Carson, Signal Hill and Long Beach.

I would love the opportunity to share my ideas inside the Congressional Black Caucus to help turn these neighborhoods as well as this nation towards our founding principles of traditional values, limited government, free markets, and a strong national defense.

I wonder if she'll make the claims that marriage equality leads to the spread of HIV and that it should "concern every American as we watch our nation's capital city transform officially into Sodom" a part of her campaign ... or if she'll just focus on her standard craziness:

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 4/7/2010 5:48 pm
  • Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann paired up for a campaign event today in Minnesota.  Somehow the universe did not implode.

  • The AFA's Don Wildmon will be a featured guest at the Florida Family Policy Council's 5th Annual Policy Awards Dinner where he will receive the FFPC's Lifetime Achievement Award, the Daniel Webster Award for Principled Service to Public Policy.

  • For some reason, Phyllis Schlafly is really focused on preventing a second Constitutional Convention. Is anybody calling for a second Constitutional Convention?

  • Peter LaBarber hops aboard Matt Barber's "the Left is just like Fred Phelps" bandwagon.

  • Thomas Sowell accuses President Obama of exploiting polarization, just like what happened in Rwanda.

  • Finally, it seems appropriate that Alan Keyes will be speaking at Tea Party rally that will be held at the Nutter Center.

Matt Barber: I Know You Are But What Am I?

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 4/6/2010 2:51 pm

Matt Barber's latest column is quite a work of art. 

Still upset about the fact that the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled his good friend Peter Labarbera's Americans for Truth a hate site, Barber begins by attacking "progressives" for their use of ad hominem attacks ... by likening them to pig farmers: 

“Progressives” are like pig farmers. In an effort to bury opposing viewpoints they sling pejorative slop, labeling as “bigot,” “hater,” “wingnut” or “racist” those with whom they disagree. It’s the height of intellectual sloth.

The ad hominem approach – chief among logical fallacies – undergirds an effort to both marginalize conservative viewpoints and avoid arguing on the merits the controversies of the day. For liberals, to set sail in fair debate is to navigate treacherous waters.

Apparently unaware of the irony of decrying ad hominem attacks by launching ad hominem attacks, Barber then moves on to making a point that is actually semi-reasonable, at least by his standards, in which he agrees with the SPLC's designation of Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church as a hate group:

Cult leader Fred Phelps and his Westboro brood of “God hates F-gs” fame are infused to the marrow with pure, unadulterated hate.

Phelps hates homosexuals. He hates the military. He hates America. He apparently hates everyone. But he also hurts people. Intentionally, I believe.

The point Barber is trying to make is that it is people like Phelps who are the "real haters" and it is unfair to lump people like LaBarbera or Barber in with these sorts of bigots ... and then Barber proceed to proclaim that it is really "leftists" who are the Phelps-like bigots: 

So, Fred Phelps aside, every time you hear some lefty like Anderson Cooper or Keith Olbermann despicably refer to Bible-believing Christians as “homophobes,” or who call grandma a “teabagger” (slang for a vile homosexual act), consider who the real haters are.

Whenever Mark Potok, Rachel Maddow or some liberal politico in Congress attempts to equate conservative Joe to a “right wing extremists” or a “domestic terrorist,” contemplate who the true bigots are.

The palpable irony is that leftists – with their slanderous name-calling, harsh judgments and ad hominem attacks – are, in truth, more like Phelps than those they falsely accuse.

So, to recap:  Liberals engage in ad hominem attacks when they equate anti-gay activists like LaBarbera or Barber to bigots like Fred Phelps, and that is unfair ... because it is liberals who are bigots just like Fred Phelps.

Isolated, Unsolved Murder in Arizona All President Obama's Fault

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 4/1/2010 2:28 pm

When we released our latest Right Wing Watch In Focus, "(P)reviewing the Right-Wing Playbook on Immigration Reform" a few weeks back, one of the tactics we highlighted that the Right has used in that past to oppose any effort to reform our immigration laws is to try and "portray immigrants as criminals and terrorists":

An important part of the far right's anti-immigrant rhetorical tactics during previous immigration debates at both local and national levels was portraying undocumented immigrants as criminals responsible for new waves of crime (a persistent portrayal not backed up by crime statistics) or as potential terrorists. Rep. Steve King, for example, has called "illegal immigration" a "slow-motion Holocaust," and a "slow-motion terrorist attack on the United States."

To see this tactic in action today, one need look no further than the recent murder of Arizona rancher Robert Krentz, who was shot to death while tending his land on Saturday.  Nobody has been arrested and authorities have no idea who may have killed Krentz, though various theories are floating around:

One, a drug cartel scout. The Chirachua mountains in southeast Arizona are 11,000 feet tall, rugged and remote. It is a popular drug corridor and the killer may have been clearing the way for a load of drugs moving north when Krentz surprised him.

Two, the suspect belonged to a band of thieves terrorizing the remote ranches spattered around the area — an idea supported by other ranchers.

"Two days earlier a 9mm and a 9mm Glock had been stolen from a home in Portal," said rancher Roger Barnett. "There is no way to know for sure it was the murder weapon. But the bullet the killed Rob and his dog was a 9mm."

Three, retaliation. The day before the killing, Krentz's brother Phil stopped a caravan of illegal immigrants carrying 280 pounds of marijuana. All eight were arrested by the border patrol and the pot was impounded.

But just because nobody has any idea who killed Krentz or why, that is not stopping anti-immigration activists from blaming President Obama:

Tom Tancredo happened to be visiting Cochise County (Arizona) when the shooting occurred on Saturday. Longtime rancher Robert Krentz was found shot to death in his all-terrain vehicle, with the engine still running. Investigators believe he was attacked by a single perpetrator, probably an illegal immigrant.

Tancredo, who now serves as chairman of The Rocky Mountain Foundation, believes the border is clearly not secure.

"Anybody that tells you that is a liar," he contends. "And the people who have been ignoring this problem for now years have blood on their hands."

The Foundation chairman says several things must be done, including resuming work on the border fence that President Obama halted.

The former U.S. lawmaker suggests that "a layered barrier -- a fence, a road and another fence" be constructed. "That's a strong barrier. Not just vehicle barriers -- that's all they've got around on the Krentz ranch. This guy wasn't driving a car. He was walking, and he killed Bob Krentz. We need a physical barrier, and we need the National Guard," Tancredo urges. "It's a war zone. People are dying."

Tancredo adds that now that Obama and Napolitano are talking openly about pushing a new amnesty program, the border invasion has resumed.

Ken Blackwell likewise dedicated his latest column to the topic, using the murder as a justification to blame the Democrats and oppose their efforts at reform:

The tragic murder of Robert Krentz shows just how abysmally the federal government has failed us all in this regard. Secretary Napolitano needs to admit that the system did not work. And President Obama had better drop the hyper-partisanship to address immigration in a way that meets Republican demands to uphold the rule of law and not reward illegal behavior.

This is not the time for far-left pandering or promises of amnesty in the galling hopes of political gain. Nor is this the time for cramming through a law instead of beginning a long, slow, deliberate conversation with the opposition party and the American people. This is the time for addressing a serious problem for this country, a problem that quite clearly includes a deadly threat to our citizens.

Let me note again that nobody has any idea who committed this murder or why ... except those on the anti-immigration Right, who already know that it was an illegal immigrant and it was all Obama's fault.

Does David Vitter Pass Perkins' "Values" Test?

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 4/1/2010 1:13 pm

Following up on the last post regarding Tony Perkins' declaration that social conservatives should stop donating money to the Republican National Committee and instead "give directly to candidates who you know reflect your values," the Louisiana Democratic Party asks a good question:

The Louisiana Democratic Party asked Perkins if he believes conservatives should contribute to David Vitter’s re-election campaign.

“If Tony Perkins thinks his followers shouldn’t give money to the RNC because they held a fundraiser at a sleazy, but legal, strip club, then it’s hard to imagine that he would condone contributing to the campaign of a Senator who has admitted breaking the law, adultery and engaging the services of prostitutes,” said Louisiana Democratic Party spokesman Kevin Franck.

If people donate to FRC's PAC instead of the RNC, would their donations end up going to help re-elect Sen. David Vitter, even though he has admitted to engaging the service of prostitutes, a revelation which Perkins called "very disappointing" back in 2007?

For a while, there was even talk that Perkins was considering challenging Vitter in the GOP primary, but he ultimately passed, announcing that "I support Senator David Vitter’s bid for reelection in 2010."

Since then Perkins and Vitter have become regular pals, appearing together on FRC's radio program and webcasts, and even at a townhall event in Louisiana.

Perkins says right-wing activists should stop donating to the RNC because the RNC does not reflect their values and should instead donate to the "FRC Action PAC which can support candidates who will advance faith, family and freedom!" 

Candidates like David Vitter?

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 3/31/2010 5:45 pm
  • Bill O'Reilly has offered to pay the cover $16,500 in legal costs for the father of a fallen U.S. Marine who sued Westboro Baptist Church for picketing his son's funeral.

  • PFOX is now targeting Pepsi.

  • Molotov Mitchell once again defends Uganda's "kill the gays" bill.

  • Harry Jackson's astroturf "Stop the War on the Poor" effort is back, but now known as the Affordable Power Alliance.

  • Gary Bauer says "there just can be no doubt here that this is the most anti-Israel president of the United States that we have seen in the history of our country."

  • Finally, allow me to make a few small changes to this assertion from the AFA's Bryan Fischer to highlight its ridiculousness: "Despite the ACLU's contention that Ms. McMillen was being treated unfairly, in point of fact she was being treated with absolute equality. She had exactly the same right to bring a white date to the dance that every other student had. The same rule applied to her and to everyone else. You can't get any more equal than that. The ACLU and civil rights activists are not after equal rights, since Constance already had that. No, they're after special rights, rights based exclusively on race."

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 3/25/2010 5:42 pm
  • Matt Barber continues to attack the SPLC for labeling Peter LaBarbera's Americans for Truth a hate website while LaBarbera takes pride in the designation.

  • Rep. Michele Bachmann spoke at a Susan B. Anthony List fund-raiser last night where she declared that she was among the first to highlight President Obama's "anti-American views ... and now I look like Nostradamus.”

  • Speaking of the Susan B. Anthony List, Sarah Palin will be headlining their "Celebration of Life Breakfast" in May.

  • Operation Rescue says that it has been inundated with hateful messages and death threats for its opposition to health care reform.

  • Not surprisingly, the Family Research Council does not like the new Don't Ask, Don't Tell guidelines.

  • Concerned Women for America claims that "thousands of women we represent cannot and do not feel safe with AG [Eric] Holder directing the Department of Justice."

  • Finally, behold Pat Robertson's birthday cake:

Can Anyone Be Too Radical For Today's GOP?

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Friday, 3/12/2010 5:52 pm

I just have to ask if there will ever come a time when Republican members of Congress will be held accountable for the Religious Right activists with whom they willingly associate:

On Tuesday, March 16, at 8:30 p.m. EST, Family Research Council's legislative lobbying arm FRC Action will host a live webcast, "National Townhall on Health Care: Stop the Government Takeover." The webcast will mobilize tens of thousands of supporters only days before an expected vote on "The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act," a health care reform bill that the United States Senate passed on Christmas Eve, 2009.

...

Who:

Tony Perkins, President, FRC Action
Rep. Tom Price, M.D. (R-GA)
Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN)
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)
Marjorie Dannenfelser, President, Susan B. Anthony List
Kristan Hawkins, Executive Director, Students for Life
Douglas Johnson, Legislative Director, National Right to Life
Bryan Fischer, American Family Association
Tom McClusky, Senior Vice President, FRC Action
More to be announced...

So that is three GOP members of Congress who are going to be joining with the AFA's Bryan Fischer who, in recent months, has declared that all Muslims should be banned from the military, homosexuality should be illegal and all gays should be treated like criminals, praised Ryan Sobra for his anti-gay rant at CPAC, and called for the stoning of a killer whale at Sea World.

Just how utterly radical does a Religious Right activist have to be in order to become toxic to Republican members of Congress, considering that one who openly calls for the criminalization of gays is deemed perfectly acceptable? 

Maggie Gallagher Is In Love ... With Marco Rubio

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 3/10/2010 1:46 pm

In her latest column, the National Organization for Marriage's Maggie Gallagher openly declares that, having met Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio at a Council for National Policy event over the weekend, she is now madly in love: 

I met Marco Rubio in Naples, Fla., this weekend, where he gave the keynote speech at the Council for National Policy.

Never fall in love with a political candidate, I tell myself; they will break your heart. Besides, expecting more than one Reagan in a lifetime is just plain greedy. Not to mention stupid.

And then I heard Rubio in Naples, and what can I say? I fell in love.

Now that is kind of creepy ... but not as creepy as the final paragraph in which she warns Gov. Charlie Crist that he had better not sully her fantasies about Rubio:

I don't know what dirt he has on Rubio -- or thinks he has -- but, Charlie, I'm telling you: Don't kill our dream. The political blood on the floor will be yours.

When she said she had fallen in love with Rubio, I didn't realize that she meant that literally.

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 3/9/2010 7:00 pm
  • Tomorrow, Ralph Reed will announce whether or not he has decided to run for Congress in Georgia.

  • Last week, Marco Rubio joined Tony Perkins, Harry Jackson, and others for a Watchmen on the Wall event in Florida entitled "iMPACT 2010: Unleashing the Voice of the Church."

  • It looks like WorldNetDaily's conference is out to bring all of the right-wing crazies together under one roof.

  • Someone is running robocalls in Iowa accusing Rick Santorum of being a "pro-life fraud."

  • Ken Hutcherson blasts Focus on the Family for supposedly forcing James Dobson out and for not hiring him to take over, even though he wouldn't have taken the job anyway.

  • Quote of the Day I from the Liberty Counsel's Steve Crampton regarding LC's fight to prevent a lesbian high school student from taking her girlfriend to the Prom: "In all candor, while we know nothing about the complaining student here, we believe this is part of a larger agenda to implement homosexual rights in the schools."

  • Quote of the Day II from Janice Crouse on gay marriage: "In actuality, homosexual unions have a very short lifespan; many of the same-sex “marriages” in Massachusetts are already being dissolved. Further, the health risks associated with homosexual practice are very real and very much in evidence in the emergency rooms of hospitals. There is no denying: Homosexual sex is dangerous and destructive to the human body. Both HIV and HPV are epidemic among homosexual men. Domestic violence is a common problem — twice as prevalent among homosexual couples as in heterosexual ones. Indeed, legally creating a union does not enable two men or two women to become “one flesh,” nor does a legal ceremony give the union sanctity. Instead, the ceremony creates a sham that will devalue all marriages."
Syndicate content

Townhall Posts Archive

Bozell: Kids Are “Targets” of “Gay Propaganda” on TV
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Friday 01/28/2011, 3:00pm
Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center talks a lot about “balance,” consistently railing against the media for not giving sufficient time to conservative viewpoints. While the MRC wants “balance” in the media, apparently it could not tolerate “balance” at CPAC as the group decided to boycott the conference over the participation of the gay-inclusive organization GOProud. Now, Bozell is upset the media isn't more critical of gay teen characters on television, particularly Glee. He laments the success and portrayal of Glee actor Chris Colfer and the... MORE >
House GOP Looks to Overturn Marriage Equality in DC
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Tuesday 01/25/2011, 12:16pm
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) said that his Republican Study Committee, the ultraconservative group that counts a majority of the GOP caucus as its members, told The Hill that he supports congressional action to reverse Washington DC’s marriage equality law. “I think RSC will push for it, and I’m certainly strongly for it,” the Ohio Republican said, “I don’t know if we’ve made a decision if I’ll do it or let another member do it, but I’m 100 percent for it.” Jordan voted against every major piece of gay-rights legislation and recently... MORE >
House GOP Looks to Overturn Marriage Equality in DC
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Tuesday 01/25/2011, 12:16pm
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) said that his Republican Study Committee, the ultraconservative group that counts a majority of the GOP caucus as its members, told The Hill that he supports congressional action to reverse Washington DC’s marriage equality law. “I think RSC will push for it, and I’m certainly strongly for it,” the Ohio Republican said, “I don’t know if we’ve made a decision if I’ll do it or let another member do it, but I’m 100 percent for it.” Jordan voted against every major piece of gay-rights legislation and recently... MORE >
Right Wing Leftovers
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Thursday 01/13/2011, 6:19pm
Gary Bauer says Sarah Palin's "blood libel" speech "very Reaganesque." Bryan Fischer praises Tim Pawlenty for vowing to reinstate DADT. John Thune is unmoved by the CPAC boycott and will still attend. Kay Bailey Hutchison will not seek re-election ... and based on no evidence whatsoever, I am going to predict that Rick Green of Wallbuilders decides to make a run for her Senate seat. I have to say that the people paying Harry Jackson to shill for energy interests are getting ripped off. Norm Coleman, Jeb Bush and other Republicans... MORE >
More Right-Wing Spin on Tucson Shootings; Malkin Sees Campaign to “Criminalize Conservativism”
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Wednesday 01/12/2011, 1:46pm
While Sarah Palin tries to make herself out as the real victim of the shootings in Arizona, even going so far as to compare herself to Jewish victims of “blood libels,” the right-wing echo-chamber has been busy spinning the shootings in Tucson. After Tea Party Nation head Judson Phillips called Jared Lee Loughner “a liberal lunatic,” conservatives eagerly promoted his claims. NewsMax claimed that Loughner has links to “left-wing politics” since his favorite books include “‘The Communist Manifesto’ by Karl Marx, Adolf Hitler’s... MORE >
Schlafly: Overturn Birthright Citizenship Just Like We Overturned Dred Scott
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Tuesday 01/11/2011, 5:48pm
Opponents of birthright citizenship have mobilized in Congress and in fourteen state legislatures to pass legislation that would reinterpret the 14th Amendment to deny birthright citizenship. At a forum of state legislators who support scrapping birthright citizenship, Republican State Rep. Daniel B. Verdi of South Carolina compared illegal immigration to “the malady of slavery” and Republican State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe said such legislation would help “bring an end to the illegal alien invasion.” Eagle Forum’s Phyllis Schlafly praised their efforts in a column... MORE >
Right-Wing’s Dupnik Pile-On Continues
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Tuesday 01/11/2011, 12:30pm
After calling for politicians and political commentators to tone down violent and hateful political rhetoric, Sheriff Clarence Dupnik is now experiencing himself the force of right-wing hostility and rancor. Dupnik never suggested that the deeply disturbed shooter was directly influenced by political debate, but called into question the use of vicious rhetoric and violent imagery that has become all too commonplace in political discourse today. “The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country,” Dupnik said, “is getting to be outrageous.... MORE >
Right Wing Leftovers
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Monday 01/10/2011, 6:26pm
Tom DeLay was sentenced to three years in prison today. Apparently, people like Mike Huckabee. Archbishop Timothy Dolan will be joining Alveda King and other "Black prolife leaders" for a rally in New York. Harry Jackson tries to connect the President Obama-Michael Vick story to his shilling for energy interests.  Finally, Ken Blackwell tries to convince us that the Constitution did not condoned slavery. MORE >