Gambling

On Saturday, openly gay teenager Jamie Hubley, who chronicled his experiences with depression and anti-gay bullying on his blog, committed suicide at the age of fifteen. Bill Keller of LivePrayer.com knows just who to blame for Hubley’s suicide: “the homosexual community and media who promote this lifestyle to society,” including “Anderson Cooper, Rachel Maddow, Ellen DeGeneres” and pastors who don’t condemn homosexuality. “Homosexuality is a bondage like alcohol, drugs, gambling, or anything else people get addicted to,” Keller writes in his chilling statement on Hubley’s death. “The fact is, suicide is exponentially higher amongst those who choose the homosexual lifestyle, and while those in the media want to blame people like myself who take a Biblical stand on this issue, the fact is, they are the ones most responsible.”

Keller writes that Hubley’s sexual orientation was “destructive,” calls openly gay people “brainwashed,” and claims that it is those who “glorify this deviant, unnatural, and unhealthy choice of sexual activity, who are most responsible for Hubley's death”:

Bill Keller, the world's leading Internet Evangelist and the founder of LivePrayer.com, with over 2.4 million subscribers worldwide reading the daily devotional he has written every morning for 12 years on the issues of the day from a Biblcial [sic] worldview, is calling out Anderson Cooper, Rachel Maddow, Ellen DeGeneres, the media, and gutless pastors for the suicide of a Canadian teen who claimed to be "gay."

Last Friday, a 15-year-old Ottawa boy Jamie Hubley, committed suicide after documenting his hardships of being "gay." Liveprayer's Bill Keller said that while the media wants to demonize anyone who dares call this CHOICE of sexual activity what God calls it in the Bible, a sin, it is those in the media who glamorize and promote this choice as normal and acceptable, along with gutless pastors too afraid to speak out against this sin, along with faux churches that glorify this deviant, unnatural, and unhealthy choice of sexual activity, who are most responsible for Hubley's death.

Keller stated, "Sadly we deal with the loved ones of those who commit suicide every day. Suicide is a desperate and selfish act that is ultimately the sole responsibility of the person who made the choice to end their life. Everyone who commits suicide has reasons that led them to make such a horrible decision. The fact is, suicide is exponentially higher amongst those who choose the homosexual lifestyle, and while those in the media want to blame people like myself who take a Biblical stand on this issue, the fact is, they are the ones most responsible!"

Keller goes on, "A 15-year-old has no real understanding of sexuality, and most are still trying to figure out life and how they fit in. It is the homosexual community and media who promote this lifestyle to society, forcing it to validate legally and ethically this choice of sexual behavior and relationships to our children as normal, even desirable behavior!" He adds, "The Bible says in the last days the truth will become a lie, and the lie the truth."

Over the past 20 years, Liveprayer has helped thousands of men and women make the choice to turn from the sin of homosexuality. Keller says, "Homosexuality is a bondage like alcohol, drugs, gambling, or anything else people get addicted to. The great lie the homosexual community has successfully sold is that people are 'born gay.' There is absolutely ZERO legitimate studies to support this claim. People are born with black skin or white skin, with blue eyes or green eyes, taking off your pants to have sex is a CHOICE!"

Keller concluded, "It is the God in the Bible, not Bill Keller, that calls homosexuality a sin. It is sad to see children, those who don't even know what sex is, being brainwashed by our modern society that engaging in sex with a person of the same sex is a wonderful thing. God created sex between a man and a woman in the bonds of marriage. All sex outside of God's plan is not only a sin, but destructive. We are fortunate to see God's grace daily working in the lives of men and women who have been in bondage to the lie of homosexuality, as they find freedom, true joy, and true peace, living as God created us."

Televangelist James Robison hosted Daniel Lapin of Toward Tradition on today’s program Life Today. Lapin is promoting his new book, “Thou Shall Prosper: Ten Commandments for Making Money.” Lapin should know something about making money, as he was intimately tied to disgraced lobbyist and convicted felon Jack Abramoff (a past chairman of Toward Tradition) and his illegal financial schemes. The Washington Post reported that Lapin and Abramoff used Toward Tradition to funnel bribes from a gambling company to a top aide of then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Abramoff later became rich through his illegal lobbying practices – he and a business partner received over $82 million from the Indian casino firms they defrauded – before ultimately pleading guilty to charges of “fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials.”

Today on Robinson’s show, Abramoff’s close friend Lapin told Robinson that “money is a spiritual measure of what you have done for other human.” Accordingly, Abramoff must be one of the most moral, ethical and spiritual men in Washington.

Watch:

Richard Land was one of the dozens of speakers Ralph Reed lined up for his Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference, so it makes sense that he would have some nice things to say about him ... but his ill-informed gushing over Reed's supposed brilliance is downright embarrassing:

"Ralph invented the game and how to play the game. He's got a PhD in political science," said Dr Richard Land the head of the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Church, the nation's largest denomination with 16 million members.

"He's one of them. He's and evangelical. He understands the evangelical and the conservative Catholic positions. He understand what rings their chimes and what doesn't."

"Any time Ralph Reed is involved in something it's going to make a difference. If I were running for office the very first thing i would do is hire Ralph as a consultant," Land said. "Ralph knows how to do this."

...

"Most evangelicals who know about it, view Ralph as a victim and that he was victimized by Abramoff like so many others," Land said adding, "Conservatives don't have any problem with people making money."

First of all, Reed received his Ph.D in history, not political science.  And secondly, only in the intentionally myopic view of the Religious Right was Reed in any way a "victim" of Jack Abramoff. 

Reed was a knowing participant in Abramoff's scheme to use the Religious Right to protect his client's gambling interest and Reed, as such, went out of his way to conceal the source of that money from his Religious Right allies. 

Abramoff and his colleague Jeff Scanlon called Reed a "bad version of us" and yet, to this day, Reed maintains that he "proud" of the work he did for Abramoff and insists that "it advanced sound public policy."

Hardly the words one would expect from someone who was "victimized by Abramoff."

• What does Liberty University have in common with companies like Microsoft and Google?  A AA rating which allowed it to raise $120 million through the sale of bonds yesterday.
• Al Mohler says that claims that Jesus will return on May 21, 2011 is an "embarrassment" to the Christian Church.
• Ralph Reed says President Obama betrayed his principles with the tax cut compromise. Of course, Reed exploited his Christian allies on behalf of Jack Abramoff and gambling interests. 
• Mike Huckabee is still mad that he gets pigeonholed as the "faith candidate."
• Finally, mark your calendars because it looks like the Freedom Federation will be hosting another Awakening conference in April 2011.

Ever since he was anointed as "The Right Hand of God" fifteen years ago, Ralph Reed has enjoyed a reputation as the Religious Right's leading political operative. 

So influential is Reed, in fact, that even his work exploiting his Religious Right allies on behalf of disgraced criminal lobbyist Jack Abramoff's gambling clients could not sink his career, as he returned last year with a new group called the Faith and Freedom Coalition, which he touted as a more hip, more strident "21st Century version of the Christian Coalition on steroids, married with MoveOn.org, with a sprinkling of the NRA." And the rest of the right-wing movement eagerly embraced him once again.

But at heart, Reed is just another right-wing political hack, and a pretty blatant and unoriginal one at that.  And nothing better demonstrates that the FFC is spending half a million dollars to run a more absurdly over-the-top radio ad than you could even imagine: 

The Faith and Freedom Coalition will announce Tuesday evening that it is launching a $500,000 radio ad campaign to increase evangelical and conservative turnout next week.

The socially conservative group, led by Ralph Reed, will target 18 House and Senate races with the independent expenditure effort.

At the top of its list is the Nevada Senate contest, where Republican Sharron Angle is trying to unseat Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid. The group will also debut ads bolstering the Republican nominees in the tight Colorado and Washington Senate races.

Incumbent House Democrats being targeted by the group are Ciro Rodriguez (Texas), Paul Kanjorski (Pennsylvania), Jerry McNerney and Loretta Sanchez (California), Tom Perriello (Virginia), Sanford Bishop and Jim Marshall (Georgia), John Spratt (South Carolina), John Boccieri (Ohio), Allen Boyd and Ron Klein (Florida), John Salazar (Colorado), Leonard Boswell (Iowa) and Lincoln Davis (Tennessee).

Here is ad Reed is running against Harry Reid and its theme is literally "us vs. them" - you really need to listen to it in order to fully understand just how truly awful it is:

It's Us versus Them. Big government versus a big belief in faith and freedom. Sharron Angle versus Harry Reid.

Reid is a "them," like Obama, like Pelosi. He voted for their stimulus plan that only wasted our money, civilian trials for foreign terrorists, and government-run health care.

Angle is one of us. She says it is faith in God and the freedom to become all we want that made America great.

We must choose an "us." Someone who gets it, will protect our freedom, and defend our faith.

Please, vote faith, vote freedom, vote Angle.

It's Us versus Them.

The various other versions of the ad can be found here.

The Right truly has become a parody of itself.

Last night I watched "Casino Jack and the United States of Money," a documentary all about the shady dealings of Jack Abramoff and his cronies.  One of those cronies was Ralph Reed, who just so happened to be on Alan Colmes' radio program last night pitching his new novel "The Confirmation."

First, Colmes asked Reed about his infamous "I do guerrilla warfare ... You don't know it's over until you're in a body bag" quote, which Reed claimed was simply a poor choice of words for his method of taking on the boring, ground-level grunt work like knocking on doors and turning out voters - it is not sexy or flashy, but it wins elections.

Colmes then turned to Reed's work with Jack Abramoff exploiting his clout within the Religious Right to protect Abramoff's client's gambling interests, which Reed defended on the grounds that he made it clear that he would not accept any money that was derived from gambling and never was. 

Of course, as I explained several years ago when I wrote a report of Reed and his ties to Abramoff, this explanation is entirely self-serving and frankly rather pointless, as Reed was fully aware of why Abramoff was working on there and where the funding for the effort was coming from, which is why it had to be routed through Grover Norquist in order to hide its origin:

In 1999, Abramoff subcontracted Reed’s firm to generate opposition to attempts to legalize a state-sponsored lottery and video poker in Alabama, an effort that was bankrolled by the Choctaw Tribe in order to eliminate competition to its own casino in neighboring Mississippi. Reed promised that Century Strategies was “opening the bomb bays and holding nothing back” and his firm ultimately received $1.3 million from the Choctaws for this effort, which included engaging the Alabama chapter of the Christian Coalition, as well as influential right-wing figures such as James Dobson, to work to defeat the proposals.

The strategy had one small problem: the Alabama Christian Coalition had an explicit policy that it “will not be the recipient of any funds direct or in-direct or any in-kind direct or indirect from gambling interests.” (Emphasis in original.) Knowing this, Reed and Abramoff worked to hide the source of the $850,000 paid to the Christian Coalition for its anti-gambling efforts by funneling money from the Choctaws through Americans for Tax Reform, a Washington, DC anti-tax organization headed by their old College Republican friend Grover Norquist. When asked why the tribe’s money had to be funneled through conduits such as ATR, a Choctaw representative stated it was because Reed did not want it known that casino money was funding his operation: “It was our understanding that the structure was recommended by Jack Abramoff to accommodate Mr. Reed’s political concerns.”

Nonetheless, Reed repeatedly assured the Christian Coalition that the funding for its work was not coming from gambling interests. This was technically true as the Choctaws were paying for it out of their non-gambling revenue, though their objective was obviously to protect their own gambling interests and revenue. According to emails obtained during a Senate investigation into Abramoff’s activities and reported in the media, Reed was well aware of who was paying for this anti-gambling effort. When the information began to surface in the press and the Christian Coalition learned of the source of the $850,000 it had received, it demanded an explanation from Reed who apologized in a letter saying he should have “explained that the contributions came from the Choctaws,” thus admitting that he had been fully aware of the source of the funding. But by the time Reed offered his “after-the-fact apology,” the gambling initiative had been defeated and the Christian Coalition had been duped.

When word of Reed’s work for Abramoff first broke, Reed claimed that he had “no direct knowledge of [Abramoff’s lobbying firm’s] clients or their interests.” But according to the report recently released by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee on Abramoff’s bilking of the tribes, Reed was informed by Abramoff as early as 1999 that the money that was funding his anti-gambling operations was coming from the casino-owning Choctaw tribe.

The report published an email Abramoff sent to Reed instructing him to “page me with a page of no more than 90 words ... informing me of your completion of the budget and giving me a total budget figure with category breakdowns. Once I get this, I will call Nell [Rodgers] at Choctaw and get it approved.” A subsequent email to Reed asked him to send “invoices as soon as possible so I can get Choctaw to get us checks asap.”

Thus, Reed was clearly aware that the funding for his anti-gambling work was coming from the Choctaw and that he was indirectly working to protect the tribe’s multi-million dollar gambling interests. Despite the repeated references to the Choctaw in Abramoff’s emails, Reed continued to publicly insist that he did not know the source of the funding.

Reed told Colmes that he would not accept this sort of work today, which is not surprising given that it was this very work which caused him to lose his race to be the GOP nominee Lt. Governor of Georgia, but insists that he did nothing wrong and that the work he did for Abramoff "was outstanding, I'm proud of it, and it advanced sound public policy":

Yesterday I noted that the explanation for why Texas bus driver Edwin Graning refused to transport a woman to Planned Parenthood keeps changing.

First he said that his wife called the facility and heard a message directing callers to call 911 in case of abortion complications and so he refused to go.  Then he said that he called the facility and heard abortion listed among the services they provide, so he refused to go.  Both of those claims turned out to be demonstrably false, as no such messages exist.

So that left Graning's ACLJ attorney with no choice but to admit that his client really had no idea what reason this woman may have had for wanting to go to Planned Parenthood, but he assumed it was for an abortion, so he was justified in refusing to transport her. 

And that seems to be where we stand today:

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) represents Edwin Graning, a former driver for the Capital Area Rural Transportation System (CARTS), which is a nine-county transit service that often provides transportation in rural areas surrounding Austin, Texas. Senior attorney Edward White tells OneNewsNow the driver was dispatched in January to transport two women to a Planned Parenthood clinic.

"He called up his supervisor and said, 'You know, I'm an ordained minister...and Planned Parenthood does abortions. And I don't know if this lady's going there for an abortion. However, if she is, I want nothing to do with that,'" White accounts. "And so in effect, he was asking for his supervisor to just get one of the other CARTS drivers to pick up this woman."

Graning's own attorney admits that he had no idea why the woman was going to the facility, but he decided not to take her because she might be going to have an abortion.  Of course, she might have been going to get a pregnancy test or abstinence education - the point is that Graning had no way of knowing, as his attorney freely admits.

Frankly, Graning has no way of knowing what any of his riders intend to do at their destinations. 

Can he refuse to transport someone he thinks might be going off to have an affair? Could he deny service to someone he thinks might be going to a gay rights rally?  Could he refuse to take someone to the airport because he thought they might be flying to Las Vegas to engage in gambling and prostitution? Where does it end?

Does the ACLJ really believe that Graning ought to be able to refuse service to anyone based entirely on his own speculation about the intentions of his riders?

A mysterious group is poised to spend a $1 million on anti-gambling ads in Alabama's primary election and nobody seems to have any idea who is behind the group, where the money is coming from, or what they want: 

Something subversive is afoot in Alabama's Republican primary.

A shadowy outfit called the New Sons of Liberty Inc. is poised to launch a major, statewide advertising campaign in connection with the race. The group has committed more than $1 million toward the purchase television air time on networks in the state's five largest media markets, beginning May 21.

The Mobile Press-Register's George Talbot says "the group apparently is related to a grass roots organization called New Sons of Liberty Society," which is a Birther group formed recently in Illinois, but the organization's website provides no information at all, consisting solely of the ad, links to email various candidates running for Governor (except Roy Moore because, as the site says, he "opposes all forms of gambling,") and this message: 

Only when the true corrupting effects of gambling, alcohol, and drug use are widely known will the children of our nation be free to turn away from their lure. Our elected officials hear from those who promote and profit from these so-called industries. Our courts are full of lawyers who are hired to do their bidding.

But when do the people get heard?

Before you support a candidate for governor, make sure you know where he stands. Take just a minute to send an e-mail asking for a clear statement from each candidate. Make them know you are paying attention. Put them on the record.

If you don’t, we all must live with the consequences.

Randy Brinson of the Christian Coalition of Alabama says their research shows that the money is coming from out of state interests though Connecticut, but wouldn't say more, while press investigations have turned up only bits and pieces:

The Associated Press has reported that the New Sons of Liberty was organized April 29 in Washington as a charitable group that can engage in political activity. Listed as directors were Jenny Ann Hunter of Arlington, Va.; Emily Kay Stephenson of Bentonville, Ark.; and Robert Price of Tallahassee, Fla.

Hunter and Stephenson told the Press-Register that the group is a "health care organization." They declined further comment.

Strangely, the address used on the website registration is the same as the headquarters of Concerned Women for America:

The website is registered to a Robert Adams of Washington, D.C., and lists the same address as the Conservative Women of America, which supported Moore's efforts to display a 10 Commandments monument in the lobby of the Alabama Judicial Building.

You know how just earier today I was saying that Peter LaBarbera was on an "are you now or have you ever been gay?" witch hunt against every public official? 

Well, that is exactly what he is doing, launching an effort via his Republicans for Family Values targeting specific individuals, demanding to know if Elena Kagan, Reps. David Dreier and Patrick McHenry, and Gov. Charlie Crist ar (or were ever) gay under the guise of eliminating potential blackmail efforts and conflicts of interest, saying "homosexuals' privacy interests simply do not outweigh the public's right to know":

Peter LaBarbera, founder of Republicans For Family Values (www.rffv.org), urged potential Supreme Court pick Elena Kagan , Republican Reps. David Dreier and Patrick McHenry, and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist -- each the subject of wide speculation that they practice(d) homosexuality -- to answer the question: "Are (or were) you a practicing homosexual?"

"In an era of ubiquitous pro-gay messages and pop culture celebration of homosexuality, it's ridiculous that constituents should be left guessing as to whether a judicial nominee or politician has a special, personal interest in homosexuality," LaBarbera said. "Speculation is rife over whether potential Supreme Court nominee and Solicitor General Elena Kagan is a practicing lesbian. Kagan has a radical pro-homosexual record, including fighting to keep military recruiters off the Harvard campus because the military bars homosexuals. So Americans certainly have a right to know if her activism is driven by deeply personal motivations that could undermine her fairness as a judge."

In a similar vein, Rep. Dreier (R-CA) was "outed" by alternative publications years ago. (In recent days, his staffers twice hung up on calls from RFFV inquiring about the Congressman's sexuality; in 2007, Dreier switched to support the pro-homosexual Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and was quickly congratulated by gay "outing" activist Mike Rogers.) Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) also has been targeted by Rogers and "gay" activists, as has Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who just left the GOP.

"Especially in the wake of the Eric Massa (D-NY) and Mark Foley (R-FL) scandals, these men need to honestly answer the question about whether they are or were practicing homosexuals," LaBarbera said. McHenry is getting married in June, but that does not settle the question, as there is a history of "closeted" homosexuals entering into sham marriages to cover up their illicit lifestyle, according to LaBarbera.

"Given the important homosexual-related issues coming before the Supreme Court , Kagan should say so if she has a personal interest in lesbianism. Similarly, any politician -- especially those representing conservative districts -- should come clean on the homosexuality question if it is an 'open secret' like Foley's homosexuality (years before the page scandal) or becomes the subject of wide speculation.

The Foley scandal demonstrates the political dangers for Republicans of covering up for covertly homosexual members. Duplicitous homosexual legislators can become extortion targets or be pressured to make pro-"gay" votes like Dreier on ENDA. But generally, constituents have a right to know if their representative secretly practices any immoral behavior -- including homosexuality, but also if he is a skirt-chaser, gambling addict, etc.

"We appeal to Kagan, McHenry, Dreier, Crist, and all potential 'hiding-in-the-closet' politicians or appointees to answer the question: 'Are (or were) you a practicing homosexual or do you consider yourself homosexual (gay)?' Homosexuals' privacy interests simply do not outweigh the public's right to know about potential conflicts-of-interest in the lives of their representatives and judges," LaBarbera said.