Robert Gates

• A father and son have been arrested with threatening to kill Rep. Bart Stupack for voting for health care reform, saying they would "paint the Mackinaw [sic] Bridge with the blood of you and your family members."
• The Duggars will receive the first ever "Pro-Family Entertainment Award" at the Family Research Council's fifth annual Values Voter Summit.
• Speaking of FRC, they are launching a new website that "tracks state legislation related to issues of importance to families, including religious liberty, abortion, homosexuality, domestic violence, the sanctity of marriage, embryonic research, pornography and education."
• Patrick Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition seems to think that he ought to have the right to protest on private property ... and is threatening to sue.
• Behold what sort of nonsense passes for political analysis from Gary Bauer.
• Do you know what the AFA's Tim Wildmon doesn't like?  Political Correctness.
• Finally, I would just like to tell Rod Parsley and his Center for Moral Clarity that "Bill Gates" is not our Secretary of Defense.  That job belongs to Robert Gates.

Here is a rather novel argument as to why Don't Ask, Don't Tell cannot be repealed:  doing so would be a violation of the separation of church and state and amount to an establishment of religion.

Even more amazingly, this line of argument is being put forward by the Alliance Defense Fund, the Religious Right legal organization founded by James Dobson, D. James Kennedy, and others, which has traditionally focused its efforts on claiming that there is no separation of church and state and defending government expressions of religion.

But not any more: 

A team of top-drawer civil and religious rights lawyers is accusing President Obama of establishing a religion for the U.S. military through his demand to promote open homosexuality in the ranks.

"If chaplains with beliefs that contradict the proposed policy are kept from roles that are likely to generate conflict – like preaching or counseling – then they, the faith groups the represent, and the soldiers whose religious beliefs they serve will all be marginalized," a letter today from the Alliance Defense Fund to Obama said.

"The military would effectively establish preferred religions or religious beliefs," the letter said. "That is a constitutional offense that carries a very pragmatic consequence: just what will happen to recruiting efforts if Christians become second-class soldiers, sailors, airmen, or Marines."

The letter, addressed to President Obama and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, referenced Obama's campaign to allow open homosexual behavior in the U.S. military. While that behavior is formally forbidden under current law, the military acts under a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy adopted by President Clinton.

The letter was signed by Gary McCaleb, senior vice president and senior counsel; Jordan Lorence, senior vice president and senior counsel; Austin Nimocks, senior legal counsel; and Kevin Theriot; senior counsel.

...

"Military chaplains who have volunteered to defend the liberties protected in our Constitution shouldn't be denied those very same liberties," said Theriot. "Forcing chaplains to deny the teachings of their faith in order to serve in the armed forces is a grave threat to the First Amendment and to the spiritual health of Marines, soldiers, sailors, and airmen who depend on them."

He said if the military is forced to promote homosexual behavior, "for the first time in American history there will be open conflict between the virtues taught by chaplains and the moral message delivered by the military."

"In such a conflict, it's obvious who will win and who will lose. If the state favors the demands of the homosexual activists over the First Amendment, it is only a matter of time before the military censors the religious expression of its chaplains and marginalizes denominations that teach what the Bible says about homosexual behavior," he said.

Yesterday we noted that columnists for WorldNetDaily were attempting to find ways to cope with fact that Barack Obama was now President of the United States and that, for his part, WND founder Joseph Farah has settled on a plan of actively praying that Obama will fail miserably.

That didn't seem to be a particularly sound political strategy ... but it must be working because Farah writes today its already been two whole days and Obama is already failing:

Two days into the Obama administration, I wonder if Obama's excited minions have figured out nothing has changed.

Gitmo isn't closed.

The war in Iraq continues.

Robert Gates is still secretary of defense.

Farah goes on to proclaim that his "predictions about Obama have proven true thus far," and is therefore convinced that Obama's presidency will be an abject failure that will, in turn, eventually bring about the re-birth of the "pro-God' movement:

This man does not have any answers for the deep problems besetting this country. That will become ever more apparent over the next two years. It will be critical for those who understand what made America great – personal responsibility, devotion to God, limited government – to remain true to those principles ... We know Obama's plans will not succeed – at least not in the sense of expanding prosperity and liberty.

That leaves only one alternative – distinguishing ourselves and our pro-liberty, pro-God, pro-prosperity agenda from the policies of Obama and the Democratic Congress.

Since the failure of socialism is assured, we need to be ready to pick up the pieces when the opportunity avails itself in 2010 and 2012. There should be no compromising between now and then.

Just for the record, Barack Obama has been president for less than two days.  If Farah is this nuts already, I am actually kind of terrified of where he is going to be heading from here.