Civil Liberties

Last month I wrote a post regrading a group of people in West Bend, WI who are trying to get books that they considers to be obscene moved from the section of the library designated "Young Adults."

That fight caught the attention of Robert Braun, head of something he calls the Christian Civil Liberties Union, who then filed a lawsuit seeking $120,000 in damage for having been allegedly caused emotional distress by the book being in the library and the right to publicly burn the library’s copy of the book "Baby Be-Bop"

The entire bizarre battle was picked-up by CNN the other day and so Alan Colmes invited Braun onto his radio program to discuss his lawsuit.

It was, needless to say, highly entertaining.

Braun apparently doesn't understand the difference between racism and censorship, because when Colmes accused him of engaging in the latter, Braun's response was, and I quote:  

Let me tell you who's involved in this suit.  One of the gentleman with me is Black, his wife is Indian, she's a Comanche, the other one is ... I have Jewish blood in me.

And it just went downhill from there, with Braun declaring that he's going to burn a copy of "Baby Be-Bop" no matter what - not the library's copy, because that would be illegal, but the copy which, for some reason, he apparently owns.  Considering that he is suing the library for causing him emotional damage by simply having it in the stacks, it seems odd that Braun would have a copy of the very same book in his own house. Braun went on to admit that he doesn't even live in West Bend and that his Christians Civil Liberties Union has a grand total of zero members.

At one point, Braun accused Colmes of not being a good Christian, which Colmes readily admitted (he's Jewish,) and claimed that Colmes was now causing him emotional distress as well.  When Colmes asked him to explain how anyone has been "damaged" by this book's inclusion in the library, Barun responded that he and the other plantiffs "are elderly and it has damaged our moral views."

Frankly, I think the entire thing can be summed up by simply noting that this interview might just contain a world record for the greatest number of mispronunciations of the word "library" in any seven minute interval:

Sometimes it is just important to remind ourselves that the right-wing groups we monitor here do sometimes care about issues beyond gays and abortion ... issues like preventing the use of fluoride in our drinking water:

Unless it’s the gold standard, few issues draw out the hard-core libertarians like the issue of fluoride in the water.

And Nevada, particularly the older and more settled northern part, has a strong contingent of those individuals who tend to liberally connect the dots on issues.

So the hearing room for testimony on Senate Bill 311, which would require the fluoridation of water in Washoe County, filled up quickly Monday.

...

Janine Hansen, head of the libertarian group Nevada Eagle Forum and president of the Independent American Party, testified about the dangers of fluoride, saying they include a risk of suicide. “Brain function is vulnerable to fluoride,” she said. “This is about civil liberties, medicating people through their water,” she said.

And thus the crux of the issue — this is government ordering you to ingest something even if you don’t want it.

It was just last week that I noted that the prospect of passing hate crimes legislation was making various Religious Right leaders even crazier than normal and among those I cited as evidence was Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission proclaiming that passage of such legislation would lead to Christians being imprisoned.

It seems that in the intervening days, Cass's paranoia has not abated ... in fact, it seems to actually gotten worse:

When is the last time you saw $10 Million dollars being spent on special programs in schools that taught school-age children about Judeo-Christian values and why they are important in our laws today? Better yet, funded by the Government? Well, I can answer that for you. Never!

But, the Government sure is interested in getting some bills passed that will do just that for certain select minority groups such as homosexuals while putting Christians in prison. $10 Million dollars in funding will be allocated annually for the administration of hate crime prevention including special programs about this in our schools. IF...the most recent David Ray Richardson Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 (H.R. 262) coupled with the David Ray Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 (H.R. 256) are passed!

So, besides the double-standard, why should you be fuming and taking action before you even finish reading this? Because these two bills that are going to be sent to President Barack Obama's desk will silence Christians from speaking against homosexuality or teaching our children that it is wrong. You would quite literally be committing a Federal crime and convicted. If these bills get passed, not only will Christians be silenced -- but, the government is scheduled to swoop in with $10 Million dollars to drive a stake right into the heart of Christians by making sure your children hear and are taught everything against Judeo-Christian beliefs ... These two bills CANNOT get to President Obama's desk! No way Christians! You must act now if you want to continue practicing your Christian faith and teaching it to your children.

And, as if that wasn't over the top enough, Cass then goes off for some reason against the Anti-Defamation League, calling it one of "the most anti-Christian proponents in the public square today":

It is quite possible that this "$10 Million dollar giveaway" will go to liberal, anti-Christian groups like the Jewish Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith (ADL). The ADL describes itself as "the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice, and bigotry." But that's not all they do. The ADL is also one of the most anti-Christian proponents in the public square today. Allied with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has done more harm to Christian liberties in America than any other group, I shutter to think what will happen to our children, our families, our churches, and our freedom of speech at the hands of these two groups and their well-funded regime.

Considering that Barack Obama has been president for exactly two days and right-wing leaders are already going off the deep end, I think it is safe to assume that it is going to be a long four years.

Tony Zirkle’s 15 minutes of swastika-draped fame were widely reported last month, when the Indiana congressional candidate spoke at an American Nazi Party celebration of Adolf Hitler’s birthday. Zirkle, whose campaign warns of a link between Jews and pornography, offered the comical explanation that, despite the oversize Hitler portrait and Nazi flags directly behind him, the swastika armbands of the men on either side of him, and the words “Seig Heil” on the cake, “he didn't believe the event he attended included people necessarily of the Nazi mindset, pointing out the name isn't Nazi, but Nationalist Socialist Workers Party.” The candidate was duly reviled by his opponent in the Republican primary race, as well as by everybody else, as an isolated racist crackpot.

However, the report on the matter by the right-wing WorldNetDaily—a product of the anti-Bill Clinton Arkansas Project that now hosts columnists such as Ann Coulter, Pat Buchanan, and Chuck Norris—offered an unusual twist. After reviewing the story and printing a number of random comments from other websites (a common journalistic technique at WND), the article tried to put it in a kind of context: "Other congressional candidates have raised eyebrows with their speeches, too," it stated. But its only example was a quote from Rep. Keith Ellison comparing the time after September 11, 2001, when the Bush Administration asserted new executive privileges, to the time after the burning of the Reichstag, when Hitler consolidated his powers.

While Ellison took heat for using the metaphor, there is, to put it mildly, a pretty obvious distinction between making a rhetorical comparison of your opponents' tactics to historical events in Nazi Germany, and actually forging an alliance with present-day Nazis based on apparently shared values. So why did WND choose this as its only attempt at context?

Ellison, of course, was the first Muslim member of Congress, and after his election in 2006, the Right launched an effort to portray his presence in Washington as a dire threat to the nation. WorldNetDaily offered obsessive coverage through dozens of flimsy, paranoid articles with titles such as “Doubts grow over Muslim lawmaker's loyalty” and “Muslim congressman called 'security' issue.”

Since WND is so desperate for an example of an anti-Semitic political figure, it’s fortunate that Ted Pike provided a timely reminder. Pike, head of the National Prayer Network, has been a frequent source of quotes for WND whenever the site covered proposed federal hate-crimes protections, most recently in December.

Pike is best-known, however, for pushing out anti-Semitic propaganda along with his father, a radio talker in the 1980s. As People For the American Way reported in a press release from 1989, Pike was warning that there was “a tendency toward Jewish domination of society,” that “Jewish international bankers” were behind the Bolshevik Revolution, and that the state of Israel was “the first stage in Satan’s plan to take this world from Christ and give it to the Antichrist.” Twenty years ago, Pike was warning that the Jewish motivation behind hate-crimes legislation was to silence churches; today, he warns of the “homosexual agenda.”

We were reminded of Pike—and his place as a privileged WorldNetDaily commentator—after he sent out an e-mail alert two weeks ago complaining that the Southern Poverty Law Center had cited the National Prayer Network as a hate group:

Jewish activist groups want to increasingly broaden the terms "hate" and "anti-Semitism" to include evangelicals. …

Jewish activists thus display a truly hateful intent—to harm Christians and deprive them of freedom. Such activists work to warp public and government perceptions of Christian conservatives—demonizing us as potential sources of “homophobic,” anti-Semitic bigotry and possible violence. SPLC alleges a 48 percent increase of threat from the "radical right" since 2000. Jewish attack groups such as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, American Civil Liberties Union, and People for the American Way, smear “homophobic” evangelicals as being part of this “threat.”

After defaming Christians as "haters," Jewish supremacists want to actually outlaw Christian political activity and evangelism. The ADL created hate crime laws that will particularly outlaw reproof of sodomy and evangelism of non-Christians, especially Jews.

(Photo: The Times of Northwest Indiana.)

As we noted last week, Mike Huckabee has been complaining that he has been subject to an “unusual level of scrutiny” because of his religious beliefs.  But since his current campaign strategy seem to be largely based around playing up his standing as a “Christian Leader” it only seems fair – even his ideological allies admit as much:

Huckabee sometimes has bristled at questions about whether he would use the presidency to impose his religious views. But even some of Huckabee's longtime friends say he invited such questions by running an ad that promotes him as a Christian leader.

"If a candidate makes his faith a part of his campaign, it is fair game," said Richard Land, who has known Huckabee for 28 years and is president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.  

So it should come as no surprise to him that people are taking a look at his record and finding this like this:  

"I didn't get into politics because I thought government had a better answer. I got into politics because I knew government didn't have the real answers, that the real answers lie in accepting Jesus Christ into our lives."

With that sort of approach to government, it only makes sense that Huckabee would use his use his government position to promote his religion, as he did when he was lieutenant governor – though he had to wait until then Governor Jim Guy Tucker was out of the state to do it:

Clerics, ACLU hit 'Christian' week in Ark.

The Commercial Appeal

3 February 1994

Lt. Gov. Mike Huckabee's proclamation of a Christian Heritage Week cheapens and trivializes the true meaning of being a follower of Christ, several theologians said Wednesday.

The American Civil Liberties Union called the proclamation part of a national attempt by the religious right to prove America was founded as a Christian nation, but the group said it will take no action.

Huckabee, acting governor during Gov. Jim Guy Tucker's absence, signed documents in the Capitol rotunda Wednesday declaring the week of Feb. 27 to March 2 Christian Heritage Week in Arkansas. He said he was "somewhat surprised if not startled" that anyone would oppose the action.

"When I took the oath of office in this state, my hand was placed on a Bible, my oath was made, 'so help me God,' the very document we sign here says 'in the year of our Lord,' " Huckabee said. "I don't think any of us need to fear there is some inappropriate action taken when we simply acknowledge that which our forefathers did when they created this country and declared our independence that . . . all men and are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights."

Tucker distances self from Christian week

The Commercial Appeal

4 February 1994

Gov. Jim Guy Tucker said he rejected a request to proclaim a Christian Heritage Week but had no authority to stop Lt. Gov. Mike Huckabee from doing it.

"We were asked to make such a proclamation several months ago, and I declined to do it because I didn't think government should be in the business of promoting any one religion over the other," Tucker said Thursday.

"This is obviously something Lt. Gov. Huckabee feels very strongly about. But under our state constitution, as we know from painful experience a year ago, the lieutenant governor is free to do what he wants to do."

When the governor of Arkansas is out of the state, the lieutenant governor is acting governor and has all the governor's power.

Christian Heritage Week wasn’t the only time Huckabee invoked God to push his political agenda – in fact he had a tendency to do so on a variety of public policy issues – as he did when he dismissed those who care about the environment:

Following the death of its longtime leader, D. James Kennedy, Coral Ridge Ministries decided to focus it efforts on "increasing its worldwide audience to 30 million by 2012, mainly by expanding its Internet, TV and print presence.”

But in order to do that, CRM needs money and so they have sent out this email seeking donations:

I invite you to follow in the footsteps of the Pilgrims . . . to consider those who huddled inside the Mayflower and faced an icy winter that would claim half their number. I’m asking you to honor the heritage they handed down to us at such tremendous cost.

You see, the freedoms you and I enjoy today were born aboard their dimly lit ship, as 102 stalwart souls signed the Mayflower Compact. They began with these words— “In the name of God, Amen.” They wrote of making their voyage “for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith….”

Thanks to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and modern revisionists, the faith of the Pilgrims is disappearing from our textbooks . . . and being erased from our national consciousness.

Want proof? New York University professor Paul C. Vitz studied 90 of the most used public school history textbooks. He found up to 30 pages devoted to the Pilgrims, yet not a word about their devout faith in God. “It is common in these books to treat Thanksgiving without explaining to whom the Pilgrims gave thanks,” Vitz writes. One textbook even described Thanksgiving as a time “when the Pilgrims gave thanks to the Indians.”

Americans are forgetting who we are—and drifting from our Creator. That is why Coral Ridge Ministries intends to broadcast the truth on The Coral Ridge Hour. We want to reveal that our freedoms have their roots in the Bible and Christianity . . . and expose the false claim that this nation is not and never was a nation under God.

With your support, we’ll use television, radio, the Internet, and our vast library of print and multimedia resources. We will share the truth that God has blessed and guided our country since her earliest days . . . and still longs to bless her today if we will only return to Him. Armed with the facts, Christians can help teach America her godly roots . . . and guide her destiny. By God’s grace, you—like the Pilgrims—can help make history . . . and God may still bless America!

In his book “Persecution: How Liberals Are Waging War Against Christianity,” David Limbaugh likewise cites this study by Vitz and helpfully provides an endnote explaining that the information was taken from Vitz’s book “Censorship: Evidence of Bias in Our Children's Textbooks” … which came out in 1986.  

If CRM is going to try and raise money by scaring it supporters with tales of “modern revisionists” erasing the religious heritage from our national consciousness, it might be useful for them to actually find some “modern revisionists” who are doing that instead of relying on a 20 year old study based on textbooks that are most likely no longer in use.  

As we noted last week, pseudo-historian and right-wing propagandist David Barton was traveling around Iowa with Republican presidential hopeful Sam Brownback.  

Further, [Barton] said, "you can also tell a guy by his enemies," and cited [Brownback’s] 19 percent rating from the American Civil Liberties Union and an "F" grade from the National Education Association, which drew applause from the crowd.

"Socialists just don't care for Sam much," said Barton, president of the Texas-based WallBuilders group, which seeks to give insight into the Christian values the founders of America possessed.

Brownback is likewise infatuated with Barton:  

"David is well known across the country for his research and his knowledge on really the heritage, and particularly the spiritual heritage, of the country. His support I think is a signal to a number of people that this is somebody that understands the Constitution and also understands the role of faith in the United States ... and doesn't try to run it out of the public square," Brownback said.

Barton is indeed known across the country for his research – research that is often staggeringly slanted, openly partisan, and tellingly incomplete.

For good measure, Brownback also discussed his own views on the intersection of faith and politics:

While Brownback thinks faith belongs in government, he said he does not want the church to control the government, or vice versa.

“I’m opposed to a theocracy. I think it would be bad for religion. I also think it would be bad for government,” he said.  

So Brownback is opposed to theocracy mainly because it is bad for religion … and, oh yeah, not so good for the government either. 

With views like that, it’s not hard to understand why Barton would be out there stumping for Brownback:

Barton said the United States’ Christian heritage is one of the reasons for the country’s stability, while other countries get new governments every 20 to 30 years.

“You’ve got to have God-fearing leaders to have God-honoring leaders,” he said.

Barton also seemed to have an ominous warning to those who might be considering sitting out the upcoming election:

Barton said evangelical Christians number nearly 60 million and they should be engaged politically. "We get to choose our leaders, and we'll answer to God," he said.

This was the same message Barton was delivering last year before the mid-term election. At least he hasn’t begun threatening to break fingers in order to get people to vote for Brownback yet.  

While Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has been under attack from politicians from both sides of the aisle over the firing of the U.S. attorneys, and while groups ranging from People For the American Way to the conservative American Freedom Agenda have called for his resignation over the abuse of civil liberties and other issues, the Republicans running for president have, for the most part, stayed mum. Now, two long-shot candidates are speaking out against Gonzales – albeit for different reasons.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee suggested Gonzales should resign so as to “not force the president” to make the decision, since the attorney general “is clearly creating a major distraction for the president and for the administration and for the Republican Party.”

And anti-immigrant firebrand Rep. Tom Tancredo said Gonzales should go because he “didn't fire enough” prosecutors – in particular, the U.S. attorney in Texas who “went after” border-patrol agents involved in the shooting of a fleeing Mexican.

Amid the ever-widening scandal surrounding the purge of several U.S. attorneys, now involving everything from subpoenas to bipartisan calls for Attorney General Gonzales’s resignation, one interesting bit of information has so-far gone unnoticed:  the fact that several of the fired attorneys had previously been involved in supporting White House and Justice Department efforts to secure passage and renewal of the Patriot Act.  

As Legal Times reported back in August 2004:

The Justice Department launched an unprecedented nationwide campaign in 2003 to boost support for the USA Patriot Act and beat back opponents. Recently obtained internal DOJ documents reveal just how organized and aggressive that push has been.

…

"Your role is educational only. You must not encourage citizens or public officials to make congressional contacts or to attempt to influence any vote concerning the USA Patriot Act," one DOJ memo states.

To avoid ethical pitfalls, Main Justice instructed the 93 Senate-confirmed U.S. attorneys, who are exempt from the Anti-Lobbying Act, to contact Congress members personally, not through staff.

Apparently, not every Attorney was eager to participate: