May 9, 2015

Christian Right leaders escalate anti LGBT threats

FREDERICK CLARKSON
Senior Fellow, Political Research Associates

As marriage equality has advanced around the country, and the U.S. Supreme Court is set to rule on the issue in June, threatening language is escalating on the Christian Right. If these culture warriors actually follow through with their threats, the story of our time may turn on terms like civil disobedience, martyrdom and even civil war. The operative word here is, “if.”

In recent years, we have repeatedly heard threats of civil disobedience from Christian Right Leaders – everyone from the signers of the historic, 2009 Manhattan Declaration (which included top Roman Catholic prelates and evangelical and organized Christian right leaders), to Rick Warren.

We have heard predictions of civil war, revolution, and martyrdom from the likes of Catholic thinker John McCloskey, theocratic evangelical intellectual Peter Leithart, and even Christian Right electoral activist David Lane. We have also heard calls for political assassinations and secessionist civil war from White Southern Christian Nationalists, Michael Hill, David Whitney, and Michael Peroutka.

Most recently, some 200 Christian Right figures signed a renewed pledge of resistance to the anticipated Supreme Court decision favoring marriage equality.

more
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2015/05/christian-right-leaders-escalate-anti-lgbt-threats/

May 9, 2015

California attorney general granted more time to stop ‘shoot the gays’ ballot initiative

Source: LGBTQ Nation

SAN FRANCISCO — California Attorney General Kamala Harris on Thursday received an extension to the deadline her office faced next week for processing a proposed ballot initiative that advocates killing anyone who engages in gay sex.

Harris asked a state court in late March for permission to reject the measure, calling it obviously unconstitutional and “utterly reprehensible.” But since a judge has not yet acted on the unusual request, she said in legal papers filed Wednesday that she would be legally bound to clear the initiative’s author on Monday to start pursuing the 366,000 signatures needed to put the law before voters in November 2016.

Judge Steven Rodda in Sacramento agreed to give the attorney general until June 25 to prepare an official title and ballot summary for the initiative, which would amend the California penal code to make sex with a person of the same gender an offense punishable by “bullets to the head or by any other convenient method.” The attorney general plans to move then to have her original request to quash the measure granted by default. Her office said in its appeal for more time that the Orange County lawyer who paid $200 to submit the initiative, Matthew McLaughlin, has not attempted to defend his so-called Sodomite Suppression Act in court.

The filing included a copy of a letter signed by a Matt McLaughlin and mailed from the same Huntington Beach address used for the initiative saying that McLaughlin did not intend to respond to the case.

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Read more: http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2015/05/california-attorney-general-granted-more-time-to-stop-shoot-the-gays-ballot-initiative/

May 8, 2015

Arkansas pastor’s wife turns him in after finding ‘tens of thousands’ of child porn files

An Arkansas youth pastor is facing child pornography charges after his wife reportedly found images of underage girls on his computer and turned them over to police.

According to KAIT, an affidavit filed in Jonesboro District Court on Wednesday alleged that 39-year-old First Assembly of God Pastor Tony Waller “had tens of thousands” of photos and videos of “nude or scantily clad pubescent girls” on a laptop that he shared with his wife, Angela.

Waller’s wife told detectives that she was searching for a file when she came across a folder that she did not recognize. The folder contained “thousands of images of prepubescent girls either completely nude or scantily clad,” the affidavit said.

When he was confronted by his wife, she said that he admitted having a child pornography addiction for more than 20 years. The laptop and two hard drives were turned over to police, who arrested Waller.

Senior Pastor Matt Smith told KAIT that Waller was fired as soon as the allegations came to light. He had worked at the church since 1999.

more
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/arkansas-pastors-wife-turns-him-in-after-finding-tens-of-thousands-of-chld-prn-files/

May 8, 2015

Top DC-Anti-Islam Group: Texas Takeover Hype Distracting From Sharia Law Threat

Jade Helm 15 better watch its back.

Being the hottest thing in conspiracy theories has made it the target of a group whose own fringe theories may have felt a little neglected in recent weeks.

The anti-Muslim group known as the Center for Security Policy published an article on its website on Thursday telling people not to worry about whether the military training exercise known as "Jade Helm 15" is a secret plot to institute martial law in conservative states like Texas.

Instead, the group's director of state legislative outreach, Tommy Waller, recommended that people worry about "the ACTUAL conspiracies that are firmly rooted here in America." Namely, that the Muslim Brotherhood is bringing creeping Sharia law to the U.S.

The fear-mongering about Sharia law and the Muslim Brotherhood has been the pet issue for the Center for Security Policy, which was founded by anti-Muslim activist Frank Gaffney.

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/jade-helm-15-sharia-law

May 8, 2015

Carson Warns 'More Groups' Will Want Marriage Equality If Gays Get It

Source: TPM

Republican presidential candidate and former neurosurgeon Ben Carson warned that if the definition of marriage were changed to include gay couples, it would also have to be changed to incorporate other types of unions.

But Carson, in an interview with CBNC's John Harwood, wouldn't elaborate on what other "groups" would be allowed to marry. Carson started out saying if you "change the definition of marriage for one group, what do you say to the next group?"

"What is the next group?" Harwood interjected.

"Do you say, 'well we changed it for this group but that's it, we're not changing it for anybody else?" Carson asked. "Does that seem fair?"

"Well, but what other groups are there?" Harwood asked.

"There are more groups, I guarantee," Carson said. "I think you know there are more groups. Everybody knows there are more groups."

"Honest to God, I don't know what you're talking about," Harwood said.

-snip-

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ben-carson-gay-marriage-groups-legal

May 8, 2015

Nation's Wealthiest Congressman: Poor Americans Are ‘Envy Of The World’

Source: TPM

California Rep. Darrell Issa (R) told CNN Money on Thursday that poor people in America are “somewhat the envy of the world."

Issa, the wealthiest member of Congress, told the outlet that while the nation still has a way to go with income inequality, it's doing pretty well. “America is the richest country on Earth because we’ve been able to put capital together and we’ve been able to make our poor somewhat the envy of the world,” Issa said.

He also said that because we have to compete with the rest of the world, comparing conditions in Third World countries was an appropriate barometer for our performance in the global economy.

“If you go to India or you go to any number of other Third World countries, you have two problems," he said. "You have greater inequality of income and wealth. You also have less opportunity for people to rise from the have not to the have.”

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Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/darrell-issa-income-inequality-poor

May 8, 2015

The socialist revolt that America forgot: A history lesson for Bernie Sanders

In 1978, the Left was fed up with Jimmy Carter and looking for an alternative. If only they had followed through.

ERIC LEE

Bernie Sanders is a singular figure in modern U.S. politics, the lone self-identified socialist to serve in Congress, at a time when mainstream American attitudes, if not actively violent towards socialism as they have been in the past, remain nonetheless fundamentally suspicious. As such, his plans to run against Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primaries represent something of an anomaly. What bears mentioning about Sanders’ run, however, is that it is not the first time a prominent socialist has considered a bid for the Democratic nomination. To understand the significance of Sanders’ candidacy, it’s worth flashing back to the summer of 1978, as liberal Democrats were growing increasingly disillusioned with Jimmy Carter’s presidency.

Jimmy Carter was never going to be the left’s favorite candidate. On the eve of the 1976 elections, Michael Harrington, the leader of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee had called on leftists to vote for Carter “without illusions.” We expected very little and that’s exactly what we got.

In his lone term in office, Carter failed to pass a national health insurance program, failed to reform labor laws, and disappointed liberal Democrats on a wide range of issues — in particular, full employment.

So as the 1980 presidential election drew near, many were hoping that Senator Edward Kennedy would step in, as his brother Robert had done a decade before, and run against a sitting Democratic president. But Kennedy was cautious, despite some polls that showed him with a significant lead over Carter.

At the time, Harrington, a social critic and author of “The Other America” – a book widely credited with convincing President John F. Kennedy that poverty was still an issue in America – was trying to build up an explicitly socialist wing of the Democratic Party. Harrington and his supporters had won over the venerable (and tiny) Socialist Party a decade earlier to the view that if they were serious about politics, it was time to stop running independent candidates. Their argument was a simple one: The Socialist vote had declined from a peak of around a million in the years around World War I to just a couple of thousand by the 1950s. If socialists were ever going to leave their mark on the country, it would have to be done through the Democratic Party.

more
http://www.salon.com/2015/05/08/the_socialist_revolt_that_america_forgot_a_history_lesson_for_bernie_sanders/

May 8, 2015

Megachurch pastor rejects his father’s bigotry: Jesus would want you to bake a gay wedding cake

The head of an Atlanta megachurch has rejected his pastor father’s hateful views on homosexuality and says the church should be the “safest place on the planet” for gay young people.

Andy Stanley, who has turned North Point Ministries into one the nation’s largest churches, said Christians must stop driving gay teens away from the church – saying that politics should not overrule biblical teachings, reported Project Q.

“There is not consensus in this room when it comes to same-sex attraction; there is not consensus in this room when it comes to gay marriage,” Stanley told a gathering of church leaders last month in California. “We just can’t continue to look into the filter of our politics at our spirituality. It’s got to be the other way around — and specifically when it comes to this issue.”

His views stand in stark contrast to his father – who once hired armed security guards on horseback to protect his church from Atlanta gay pride marchers.

Charles Stanley, pastor of the First Baptist Church Atlanta, has said AIDS is God’s punishment for America’s acceptance of homosexuality – which he describes as “destructive behavior.”

more
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/megachurch-pastor-rejects-his-fathers-bigotry-jesus-would-want-you-to-bake-a-gay-wedding-cake/

May 8, 2015

Conservatives insist billboards against same-sex marriage have nothing to do with ‘the gay community

A religious right group is raising money to set up anti-gay billboards across Michigan as the U.S. Supreme Court considers arguments in a case that could overturn state bans on same-sex marriage.

An electronic billboard reading, “Homosexuality is a behavior, not a civil right,” with references to Genesis 2:24 and Matthew 19:5, has already appeared in Dearborn Heights – with more expected in Flint, Grand Rapids, and Lansing.

The group “Restrain the Judges” paid for the sign and held a rally late last month at the Michigan State Capitol.

“Join us in calling upon Congress to use the authority granted by the U.S. Constitution to restrain federal judges and the Supreme Court from undermining marriage any further!” the group urged supporters. “Defend The sovereign vote of the American People, Our State Constitution, the Sacred Institution of Marriage between One Man and One Woman, and Our Constitutionally protected First Amendment Rights.”

Mark Gurley, a spokesman for the group, said the billboards were not intended to offend anyone or even to be anti-gay. “I believe in America it’s pretty hard to say anything without somebody being offended,” Gurley said. “The issue here doesn’t have anything to do, at the end of the day, with the gay community. It has everything to do with protecting freedom of religion.”

more
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/conservatives-insist-billboards-against-same-sex-marriage-have-nothing-to-do-with-the-gay-community/

May 8, 2015

Geller gets paid pretty well to demonize Muslims. I’m talking to the tune of $200,000 a year.

Muslim-Bashing Can Be Very Lucrative

Dean Obeidallah

Why do Pamela Geller et al. do it? Sure, they believe it. But they get bankrolled to do it—and on a major scale.

People keep asking me why does Pam Geller spew so much anti-Muslim crap? Is it part of her work as a pro-Israel activist? Did she once get food poisoning at a Middle Eastern restaurant? Is it simply because she really, really hates Muslims?

Probably all the above, but one other thing is certain: Geller gets paid pretty well to demonize Muslims. I’m talking to the tune of $200,000 a year. True, that might be walking around money for Donald Trump (who actually bashed Geller this week for her draw the Prophet Mohamed cartoon contest) but that puts her in her top 5 percent of all Americans in terms of annual income. Now, $200,000 doesn’t make a person rich these days (although the $9 million in combined divorce settlement and life-insurance payments she reportedly got certainly qualifies her). But for what she does, it’s handsome pay.

In fact, many of the people identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Center for American Progress (CAP) as the leaders of anti-Muslim industry in America are well paid for their efforts. I’m talking so much money I almost want to start hating on Muslims-and I’m Muslim.

In Geller’s case, her salary is paid from her organization the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), a group listed by the SPLC as an active “anti-Muslim organization.” In 2013, the AFDI reported $958,800 in gross receipts and paid Geller a base salary of $192,500 plus $18,750 in other income (PDF).

Not bad for a group created, per AFDI’s tax returns, to act “against the treason being committed by the national, state and local government officials, the mainstream media and others in their capitulation to the global jihad and Islamic Supremacism.” This is truly one step removed from tin foil hats and claims that the government has bugged your cheese.

more
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/08/muslim-bashing-can-be-very-lucrative.html