MAX BLUMENTHAL

Just another day spreading democracy in Iraq. 

Killing in the Name Of...
''There are some people that you just have to kill if you want to live in a civilized society.''
-- Richard Land, President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention

My latest is up, a report on the National Religious Broadcasters Conference. Here's a little excerpt:

Perhaps the most influential figure appearing at the NRB conference was Focus on the Family (website) founder James Dobson, a moral mongering child psychologist who transformed a family help line broadcast on over 3000 radio stations into a political army with local chapters in 36 states.

On Friday evening a crowd of a few dozen fawning followers and activists gathered to meet Dobson and his 20-something son, Ryan, in a stuffy conference room decked out like a VFW hall, replete with red, white and blue ribbons and furnished with ping-pong tables and a hot dog stand. The only thing that kept me from believing I had walked through a time warp to the 1950s was an announcement by a guy in a striped referee jersey that Dobson and son would give iPods to the two contestants deemed suitable to face them in ping-pong.

Before the games began, the referee sat on a stool next to Dobson and son for an informal discussion of some of their favorite topics: family, culture, and the homosexual agenda. Dobson was uncharacteristically reticent during the event, seated in a hunched posture and speaking only when spoken to.

He did not seem anything like the kingmaker who answered a post-election thank you call from the White House by demanding that Bush get "more aggressive" or "pay a price in four years." Nor did he seem like the draconian uber-dad who, in his best-selling parenting handbook, "Dare to Discipline," advised parents to spank their children with "sufficient magnitude to cause the child to cry genuinely."

One of few times Dobson spoke out of turn was to make a clarification he had apparently wanted to issue for some time. "I did not say SpongeBob was gay," Dobson told the crowd, responding to media ridicule of his attack on the popular cartoon character:

"All I said was he was part of a video produced by a group with strong linkages to the homosexual community that's teaching things like tolerance and diversity. And you can see where they're going with that. They're teaching kids to think different about homosexuality."

The Christian Right Spreads Overseas
Looks like the "direct action" tactions of the anti-abortion movement's militant wing have spread across the Atlantic:

A MILITANT evangelical Christian group plans to target pregnant women and medical staff at abortion clinics as it steps up its campaign against what it calls a tidal wave of filth, The Times has learnt.

An MP will make a written statement to the House of Commons next week calling on the Home Secretary to investigate the activities of Christian Voice, which shot to prominence with its campaign against Jerry Springer — The Opera. Adopting the tactics of American fundamentalist Christians, the group pickets buildings and posts the home addresses and phone numbers of its targets on the internet.

Last week, a cancer charity turned down a £3,000 donation from the show after Christian Voice threatened to picket its clinics if it accepted “tainted” money from the show.

Abortions in Britain have reached a record level. In 2003, the total number of abortions was 181,600, compared with 175,900 in 2002, a rise of 3.2 per cent. The number of girls aged 14 and under having abortions is above 1,000 a year.

The group, led by Stephen Green, gained notoriety when it circulated the home addresses and telephone numbers of senior BBC figures when the musical was screened on BBC Two last month. Some people on the list received calls threatening them with bloodshed.

The Scotsman has seized on this news and published an interesting analysis of Chrsitian Voice suggesting its increasingly ambitious tactics are signs of the ascent of a viable Christian Right in Great Britain that could someday amass political influence on par with their US counterparts:

I doubt if Christian Voice and its fellow pressure group, the anti-abortion UK Life League, are worth the publicity they have received, but they are part of a trend which we need to be aware of. In its campaign against the BBC, which screened a TV version of Jerry Springer, it circulated the home telephone numbers and addresses of senior BBC executives to its members. Now it is exerting similar pressure on regional theatres which are considering staging the show. It is campaigning against abortion by proclaiming that it is the equivalent of the Holocaust, and accusing those who practise it of being Nazis. And it uses its website to attack the police for recruiting homosexuals.

This is the tip of a very worrying iceberg which, in America, has come to infiltrate politics and social life at the highest level. Right-wing evangelical groups, which insist that the Bible is literally true, and which use their enormous resources to pressurise teachers, doctors and politicians into accepting their views, are, under a Republican presidency, the most powerful lobby group in the country. The extent of their influence is remarkable. A recent Gallup poll showed that one-third of the American people believe the Bible is literally true, while a CNN poll found that 59 per cent of the US electorate are convinced the prophecies in the Book of Revelations will be fulfilled.

When I was a kid, my uncle took me to a "freak show" somewhere in Philadelphia's outermost suburbs. As we arrived on a muddy fairgrounds, my mind filled with images of all the bearded ladies, midgets and firebreathing contortionists I thought I would see. But when we walked into the tent where the show was, all I found were a bunch of hicks waiting in line for a chance to ogle a morbidly obese guy sitting in a lawn chair, reading a copy of Stephen King's "The Stand." And there was a boa contstrictor nearby in an aquarium that the hicks kept dropping pennies on, apparently for good luck.

It's no coincidence that when I heard "Jeff Gannon" had started a blog, this memory was triggered.

So Weadie snitched on us, huh? Why don't we take him down to the docks where nobody can hear?
What I want to know now that Wead has crawled back into the weeds, is what have Bush's cronies threatened to do to him? I mean, there are 9 more hours of Bush on tape Wead hasn't yet released, and there's no way the contents aren't far more incriminating than what has already been leaked out. Here's a thought: the reborn Wead has a checkered past of his own.

Dear Mr. Matthews,

I am so sorry to cancel your show. It was very gracious of you to allow me a chance to share my heart and regrets about recent events. It seems the better part of wisdom for me to forgo television for a time. It would only add to the distraction I have caused to the president's important and historic work.

Contrary to a statement that I made to the New York Times, I have come to realize that personal relationships are more important than history. I am asking my attorney to direct any future proceeds from the book to charity and to find the best way to vet these tapes and get them back to the president to whom they belong. History can wait.

Thanks for your consideration,

Doug Wead

 

Here's a fun fact about evangelical international mission organizations: According to the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, they spend twice as much of their money on proselytizing as they do on actual humanitarian work. Oh, and 10% of all grants to evangelical non-profits go to groups that campaign against gay rights but bill themselves as "pro-family." Do IRS rules for 501 c-3's and 4's allow proselytizing and politicking? I don't think so.

Mike Tidmus has the back story on USA Next's demagogic anti-AARP ad campaign, including the group's ties to Christian Right senior citizen front groups.

A Homophobe Echo Chamber
This would be hilarious if it wasn't so sad: two anti-gay groups down in the heart of Texas, one "moderate" and the other, "extreme," will debate one another on topics including,

the relationship between homosexuality and child molestation; the arrest and trial of four Philadelphians for preaching against homosexuality in public; homosexuality in schools and universities; benefits of gay marriage and civil unions; how the church is responding to homosexuality and how it should respond; homosexuality on campus; and how the average person relates to the gay agenda.

One of the groups involved is an obvious coterie of emotionally deformed closet cases called Straight Pride.
Mouse Words has a post on the debate that's worth seeing.

"Gannon" and the Thune Bloggers
Jan Frel has penned what seems like the authoritative piece on how "Jeff Gannon" carried water for two bloggers covertly working for the Thune campaign, and how they bullied South Dakota's press into pumping out anti-Daschle stories. This is a topic that has deserved the kind of thorough investigation Frel provides for some time, but all anyone had to subsist on was some neutered CBS news article. Check it out:

The blogging efforts on behalf of Thune's Senate campaign didn't cause greater civic participation or bring in piles of small donations. Instead nine bloggers -- two of whom were paid $35,000 by Thune's campaign -- formed an alliance that constantly attacked the election coverage of South Dakota's principal newspaper, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. More specifically, their postings were not primarily aimed at dissuading the general public from trusting the Argus' coverage. Rather, the work of these bloggers was focused on getting into the heads of the three journalists at the Argus who were primarily responsible for covering the Daschle/Thune race: chief political reporter David Kranz, state editor Patrick Lalley, and executive editor Randell Beck.

Led by law student Jason van Beek and University of South Dakota history professor Jon Lauck, the Thune bloggers tormented and rattled the Argus staff for the duration of the 2004 election, clearly influencing the Argus' coverage. They also appear to have been a highly efficient vehicle for injecting classic no-fingerprints-attached opposition research on Daschle -- most of it tidbits that perhaps might never have made it into the old print media -- directly into the political bloodstream of South Dakota. What they did may turn out to be a "dark side of politics" model for campaign-blogger relations in 2005-06 -- made all the more telling by the fact that the Thune bloggers relied heavily on now-discredited Jeff Gannon/James Guckert of Talon News for many of their stories.

Calling the Kettle Black: Ethically Challenged GOP Front Move America Forward Accuses the UN of Corruption
Looks like Move America Forward, the PR front created by a cabal of right-wing political has-beens and never-will-be's to promote themselves in non-election years, is at it again. You might remember them from their campaign to intimidate movie theatres into not showing Fahrenheit 9/11, or even be aware of their smearing of nuclear technician Wen Ho Lee as a "domestic enemy" -- after he was exonerated on charges of spying.

Now, Move America Forward has launched a campaign to discredit the UN in the wake of the mock "Oil for Food Scandal." The campaign includes a petition to "Get the US out of the UN," John Birch-style, and the airing of some loud commercials that "The UN doesn't want you to see." Most recently, MAF has focused its vitriol on two former Kerry aides contracted to handle the UN's new blog:

The employment of Kerry aides to "rescue" the U.N. "shows the United Nations is just like the Kerry campaign – it's failing," said Howard Kaloogian, co-chairman of Move America Forward.

"As the American people learn more about the rampant fraud and corruption occurring by the U.N. and it's top officials they are coming to realize that the UN is a failing institution. It's time wake up from the dream that this organization is capable of bringing us world peace. What was supposed to be an institution that promoted freedom and security has instead degenerated into an anti-American organization that coddles terrorists, dictators and despots."

If Kaloogian wants to fight corruption, he should get up, turn the light on, and take a look in his own slimy bed. After all, Move America Forward's "Chief Strategist," Sal Russo, who handled Bill Simon's hapless 2002 gubernatorial campaign, is knee-deep in unethical business dealings and scandals.

Russo is infamous in California political circles for what one Sacramento Bee once described to me as his ability to "lose campaigns while he's lining his pockets." One instance of this was in 1996, when Arthur Laffer contracted Russo to spearhead his flat-tax ballot measure. Now we turn to a revealing report from the LA Weekly's Bill Bradley:

Republican sources informed the Weekly of Arthur Laffer's successful lawsuit against Russo for his management of a proposed 1996 statewide initiative to institute a flat tax. (The judgment called for Russo to pay less than $20,000 and return about $200,000 to contributors from the campaign firm he controlled.)A onetime USC professor turned consultant, Laffer was Reagan's economic guru as well as a family friend.

Reached at his ranch outside San Diego, Laffer spoke at length about Russo and Simon. "He [Russo] caused a lot of damage to the [flat tax] issue. I don't trust him. I don't know why anyone else would, either. Sal was after one thing, making money. There was no dream, none of that stuff." (Russo seemed stunned when asked about Laffer's lawsuit. "God, I don't know," he told the Weekly. Didn't Laffer win a breach-of-contract judgment against you? "Yeah." Long pause. "I don't remember much.")

Laffer expressed shock at the state of Simon's campaign. "I was very close to his father [former Treasury Secretary Bill Simon Sr., a champion of the American right whom many true-believer Reaganites wanted to be the Gipper's running mate], but I could never support him. Because his campaign is a mess under Russo. The whole campaign shocks me. Wouldn't they think these things, the tax shelters, the fraud case, would come out?"

That's right. Move America Forward's Sal Russo ran tax shelters and bilked campaign donors out of $200,000. Oh, and then there's the little thing about Russo and Simon being in bed with a major drug trafficker, something they still can't explain:

Simon struggles with an explanation for why he, a former federal prosecutor, did not know that the company president with whom he was going into business, Paul Edward Hindelang, was in fact a convicted major drug trafficker....

The Weekly engaged in an amusing e-mail exchange with Russo, who finally refused to answer when asked why Simon was not suing Deloitte for failing to red-flag Hindelang's criminal past in its report.

(Deloitte is Simon's accounting firm, by the way). So why is a guy who bilked donors, did business with drug traffickers and was successfully sued by his former clients coordinating a demagogic campaign accusing the UN of corruption? Could it be, um, money? Nah.

As for Kaloogian, his motives are pretty simple. Bashing the UN, Michael Moore and immigrants -- the Racist Right's favorite punching bags -- is the only way a nebishy former one-term backbencher in the state assembly who can't get elected to dogcatcher (Kaloogian was smashed in the 2004 GOP senatorial primary) can keep himself in the limelight.

Joseph Farah hates my friend Joel Pelletier's "American Fundamentalists" painting, which is hanging on my living room wall. Farah came across the painting's site when he mistakenly believed he'd been intentionally "Googlebombed." In fact, there are just a lot of negative references to him on the web. (I hate people who Google their name all the time).

Raw Story on the missing link in Guckertgate, Bruce Eberle, Bobby's dad (I think):
Bruce’s firm, Bruce W. Eberle & Associates, is also a top corporate sponsor of the Conservative Political Action Conference. Vice President Dick Cheney and top Bush advisor Karl Rove spoke at the conference Thursday.

Both Rove and Bruce worked for Attorney General John Ashcroft; Bruce took over for Rove when Rove sold his consulting firm to join Bush’s presidential campaign. Both made much of their money in direct-mail fundraising...

Bruce’s fundraising has drawn ire and repeated charges of ethical misconduct, even from Republicans.

In the mid-1990s, it was discovered that some $1.9 million of $2.2 million raised to “rescue” Vietnam prisoners of war was spent on “fundraising expenses” paid to Bruce’s firm. No prisoners of war were ever rescued, or, for that matter, even reported.

Senator John McCain (R-AZ)–who was once a Vietnam prisoner of war himself–called Bruce and his associates “criminals and some of the most craven, most cynical and most despicable human beings to ever run a scam.”

Negroponte on Celluloid
In light of Bush's nomination of John Negroponte for National Intelligence Director, I want to recommend Haskell Wexler's 1985 film, "Latino," which tells the tale of a US Special Forces soldier who travels to Honduras to train a group of US-backed, right-wing Nicaraguan exiles based on the notorious Battalion 316. A character based on Negroponte appears in a scene in the US embassy in Honduras to brief the soldier on a mission to destroy a Sandinista cooperative farm deep in Nicaragua.

Like all of Wexler's movies ("Medium Cool" being his most well known), "Latino" is a fast-paced mix of cinema verite and theatrical satire. There is a whole lot of history to support Wexler's version of events in Honduras and very little to discredit it.

Tancredo's Latest Bill: A White Nationalist Subterfuge?
During an interview I conducted two years ago with by far the most virulently anti-immigrant member of congress, Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO), I asked him if he was concerned that someday the descendants of Latin-American immigrants would someday outnumber whites in the US. He replied, "I don't care what color the immigrants who come to this country are. As long as they assimilate and show allegiance to Western Civilization, I don't care."
Western Civilization? What an abstract concept, I thought. Tancredo wouldn't clarify what he meant, but I think I get the cut of his jib now. He was talking about the same thing William Regnery II referred to when he named his Occidental Quarterly, "A Journal of Western Thought and Opinion." OQ is one of the premier white nationalist, anti-Semitic publications in America and Regnery, well, he's still working on raising money for his whites-only dating service. Two of OQ's editors, Wayne Lutton of Social Contract Press and Brent Nelson of the American Immigration Control Foundation, have taken funds from John Tanton, a friend of Tancredo's who lavished money on his re-election campaign last year.
The term "Western Civilization" figures centrally in the lexicon of a proto-fascistic mythology that simultaneously upholds white, Anglo-Saxon tradition as the greatest contribution to civilization and its only hope. As Council of Conservative Citizens co-founder Robert Patterson said,

"Western civilization with all its might and glory would never have achieved its greatness without the directing hand of God and the creative genius of the white race."

Considering Tancredo's ties to the white nationalist movement (which go far further than I care to demonstrate in a blog post) and the similarity of his rhetoric to that of leading racialists, it's impossible not to view his latest bill "Recognizing the Importance of Western Civilization" as a Trojan horse for the white nationalist agenda. Check out the bill's language:
Whereas the teaching of Western civilization and our common
heritage deserves greater emphasis;

Whereas if young people are taught to understand and appreciate
the common values and culture shared by the people
of the United States, the United States will become less
vulnerable to social division, mutual distrust, and animosity;
Whereas immigrants to the United States should be provided
an understanding of the national political and civic institutions
of the United States as derived from Western civilization,
so they will be able to participate fully and
equally in the process of self-government...

This is a bill that would mandate the teaching of "Western Civilization," whatever that is, in public schools and to immigrants during their naturalization process. I take comfort in knowing that Tancredo has only authored one successful bill in his entire career, which mandated the creation of a monument in Arizona for a park ranger who was allegedly killed by Mexican drug smugglers. Tancredo doesn't care about public policy; he uses his congressional seat as a platform for racial demagoguery.
I've always wondered what motivated Tancredo's anti-immigrant activism. I'm sure he was always something of a bigot, but this excerpt from an interview he did with David Horowitz's FrontPageMag lends a little insight into his political beginnings:

Frontpagemag: What initially prompted you take up immigration as an issue in your political career?

Tancredo: Well, it could go all the way back to my days as a state representative in Colorado. In 1976, I was elected and started working on the issue. (Previously I was a teacher in a public school in Jefferson County.) Colorado had just passed the first bilingual education act in the nation and I thought it was a bizarre situation to take children out of my class, where they were learning English, and put them into classes where they were being taught only in Spanish. They weren’t being taught very well, and so we ended up with people who were illiterate in two languages. That caused me to wonder why anybody would do such a thing; what was the purpose of such a bill, to do something that impeded a child’s ability to learn. It then became apparent to me that it was much more of a political idea than an educational idea, and that’s what really got me interested in the whole issue.

Earlier in 1975, as a teacher I remember attending a rally on bilingual education. It was being conducted on the steps of the capital in Denver by a guy in a red bandanna and long black hair, ripped jeans and a megaphone. They were handing out leaflets, one of which read, "Return to Aztlan." It gave a series of steps to be taken to re-establish Aztlan, and the first one said, "Be sure the mother tongue is retained in the school system." That’s when it really hit me that this was about politics, not education. So I ran for the state legislature. I won and began trying to attack that whole concept of bilingual education. By the way, the same guy who was on the steps of the capital also ran and won; he cut his hair, got a suit and went on to become the minority leader in the Colorado House of Representatives. His name is Frederico Pena. He later became mayor of Denver and eventually state Secretary of Transportation and Secretary of Energy.

The question now is, how many other members of congress actually believe bilingual education is part of a chicano/Mexican government conspiracy to re-establish the mythical land of Aztlan in the southwestern US? We'll know by the number of ayes Tancredo's Western Civ bill gets.

I just came across the authoritative "anti-Chomsky blog," written by some apparently sad and probably lonely character in Israel who, according to the blog, is "dedicated to the permanent and total discrediting of the work of Noam Chomsky and his fellow travelers. VIVA LA COUNTERREVOLUTION!" He's Benjamin Kerstein, a cadre of David Horowitz, obsessed with proving through guilt-by-association tactics that Chomsky is an anti-Semite.
Unless Kerstein thinks Israel is the US's 51st state (something Doug Feith might agree with), I fail to see what gives him the moral authority to accuse Chomsky and Ward Churchill of "treason."

It's interesting that an anti-Chomsky blog is as popular as Kerstein's seems to be, or that anyone would spend so much time on Chomsky. I tend to disagree with many of Chomsky's analyses, particularly on US politics, but generally find him an interesting and engaging thinker and a heroic iconoclast in an era of intellectual uniformity (which is often enforced by thugs like Horowitz).

The fact is, Chomsky may be an intellectual celebrity, but his "fellow travelers" are not very influential. They tend to exist far to the left of the progressive wing of the Democratic party and many have eschewed politics altogether. My read on a guy like Kerstein, and on Chomsky haters in general (including Leon Wieseltier), is simply that Chomsky's work hurts their feelings. By forcing them to debate the US and Israel's most violent policies as well as the myths that undergird such policies, he denies them the the luxury of an uninterrupted celebration of imperial excess. How frustrating that must be.

Lowering the Bar
A friend inside the CPAC conference told me during Ann Coulter's speech on how liberals are lowering the bar on civility in America, she also declared,

"Liberals always cry that they're being opressed, so let's actually oppress them."

I also hear Michael Medved got into a dust-up with Al Franken, who was seated opposite John O'Neill on his radio show, and that a representative from the Alliance for Iranian Freedom (or something like that), an Iranian exile group, claimed June 17th will be the day the Iranian regime is toppled. He said 100,000 Iranians were scheduled to spontaneously pour into the streets, Kiev-style. Let's wait and see.

Hard Proof of JD Guckert's Hard Pass
Here's "Gannon" with that blue hard pass Milbank was talking about.

Washington Post staff writer Dana Milbank, a former White House correspondent, tells a leading blog there remains reason to believe that, contrary to statements from the White House, ex-reporter James “Jeff Gannon” Guckert, may had a "hard" (long-term) press pass rather than a daily pass.

Milbank said on Keith Olbermann’s MSNBC show last week that he thought he had seen Guckert/Gannon with a hard pass. Both the disgraced ex-reporter for Talon News and White House press Secretary Scott McClellan have denied this.

But Milbank affirmed, in an interview posted today at the popular blog Daily Kos, “A hard pass has your photo and news org and name on it. A daily pass is just a brown and white striped pass that says, ‘Press,’ on it and comes on a dog-tag style chain. Note that the one Gannon wears in the footage on TV is a blue lanyard - not the sort of thing a day pass comes on.

The photo comes courtesy of a hilarious Free Republic thread in which someone reminds "Gannon" that in White House press briefings, he must,

"Be Prepared:) You'll get called on every day. And could make the big time!"

That advice proved prescient in a way James Guckert could have never imagined. 
I've been informed ex post facto that the photo of Gannon may have been from the Republican Convention, which means that his blue lanyard may be different from the one Milbank described. I think it's best to be safe with this one and avoid slipping into some conspiratorial netherworld.

"From tax cuts to Medicare, the White House gets what the White House really wants. It never really wanted the 'poor people stuff.'"

- David Kuo, former deputy director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

A little historical context on "Gannon."

You Are A Jew?
Rabbi Hillel said, "If Beyonce is me, then who am I?" Or something like that. From Jerusalem Post (sign-up required):

Beyonce Knowles is Jewish. So is Leonardo DiCaprio.

Or at least they're ready to go on-air and say they are, to help fight anti-Semitism.

Several stars of the pop charts and the silver screen have agreed in principle to film public service announcements denouncing worldwide anti-Semitism and identifying with the Jewish people. MTV is donating studio time for filming the ads, which are to appear in Europe, the US and even Israel.

The "I am a Jew" ads are the latest idea from the New York-based Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, which works to promote cross-cultural dialogue.

Why do I get the feeling these ads will only increase anti-Semitism?

I got this from Gary Bauer today. Sometimes Gary tends to take things too seriously:

Howard – Call Your Office

While Howard Dean makes his much-publicized push to appeal to
evangelical
voters, he might want to take a hard look at the Democratic National
Committee (DNC) members he now leads. According to the New York Post
this
morning, the “hot” lapel button at the DNC meeting this past week was
one
that read, “Dear Jesus, please protect us from your righteous
followers.”

So which is it? Do the Dean-led liberals want Christian votes or do
they
see Christians as a threat to democracy? And, by the way, in a country
that witnesses newborn babies thrown in trash cans and an increasingly
debased culture, we could use a few more “righteous followers” of
Christ!

Sean Hannity is taking name suggestions for his new puppy. I suggested "Goebbels" although another good name might be, "Guckert, the prostie pup."

The Washington Note survey finds a few counter-revolutionaries:

Asked to choose between George Washington and George W. Bush, Republicans in the survey supported Bush by a margin of more than 2 to 1, while Democrats and independents overwhelmingly favored Washington.

The Far-Right Agenda, From Illinois to Israel
Here are two parallel examples of how far-right movements which become culturally and politically marginalized can capitalize on lack of public and mainstream media attention to regroup and re-emerge through sophisticated tactics. First, in Israel:

A shadowy quasi-organization aims to usurp the mainstream settlement lobby by launching a series of controversial demonstrations, moderate and radical settler leaders said Tuesday.

On Monday evening, the group surprised the police and the media when it deployed several hundred protesters to some of Israel's busiest intersections during rush hour. They brought large swaths of the country to a halt as they scuffled with police and burned tires in protest of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip.

While some have dubbed it the "Jewish Tanzim," unofficial spokesmen for the mysterious group, affiliates of the right-wing groups Jewish Leadership and Kach, claimed Tuesday evening that the group is so secret it does not have a name.

"Those people," said Kach activist Noam Federman, referring to the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, "cannot handle such a struggle because they receive their funding from the establishment.

"We expect them to clear the way for good Jews who can handle a real struggle against these tyrannical laws," he told Channel 10 on Tuesday, expressing his support for the fledgling far-right-wing organization.

One far-right activist, partly affiliated with the new organization, crowed Tuesday that "we showed that we could be successful in launching an entirely secret operation. The beauty in this was that even the Shin Bet and the police had no idea that this was about to occur."

He commended the organization for "not falling prey to infiltration by the Shin Bet. That in itself is a success."

Kach was formed in the 1980's by the "Rabbi of Hate," Meir Kahane, a former associate of Irv Rubin. Rubin, a former FBI operative who penetrated the John Birch Society in the 1970's, created the Jewish Defense League, a militant, Los Angeles-based Zionist group that made a name for itself in the 1980's by confronting anti-Semitic white supremacist groups in the street, often violently. (Rubin recently committed suicide in prison after his arrest for plotting to assassinate Arab-American GOP Rep. Darrell Issa). It's ironic how similar Kach and the JDL and anti-Semitic groups like the Vanguard, especially in terms of tactics.
The Aryan National Vanguard, a US white supremacist group, along with the National Alliance, are spearheading a sophisticated recruitment campaign designed to raise their movement's public profile after years of dormancy. To start, the Vanguard will go right to the heart of white, patriarchal culture, NASCAR rallies:

On Sunday, February 20th, shortly before the start of this year’s Daytona 500, the 200,000 fans in attendance will look up and see a small plane towing a banner that reads, "Love Your Race, visit natall.com." The Tampa Local Unit of the National Alliance is hiring the plane and will be on hand to distribute literature. We need your help.

To see the potential for White awareness in this event, please take a look at my article "Whites Support Race Day." NASCAR racing is the premier White sport, and the Daytona 500 is for action-minded Whites what Mecca is for Muslims and Lillie Langtry was for Judge Roy Bean (well, I'm only slightly exaggerating).

As the LA Times noted, the National Alliance, a sister group of the Vanguard, has its own sophisticated recruitment plan:

The National Alliance, which calls for ridding the U.S. of minorities, has led the drive to raise the profile of white supremacists.

The local chapter spent $1,500 on MetroLink ads here in St. Louis last month, plastering nearly every commuter train car in the city with a blue-and-white placard that declares "The Future belongs to us!" and lists the group's website and phone number. The same chapter bought airtime on local talk radio last fall, urging whites to unite and fight for the survival of "white America." One member of the chapter, Frank Weltner, has long hosted a radio show that advocates a white supremacist viewpoint....

Some of the National Alliance's ads and websites make it look "like the focus is on mainstream conservative issues," said Karen Aroesty, the Midwest director of the Anti-Defamation League. The Las Vegas billboard, for instance, urged: "Stop Immigration." The one in Salt Lake City declared: "Securing the Future for European Americans."

Although no one offers hard numbers, white supremacists contend — and their sharpest critics agree — that the recruitment strategy is working.

A cruder form of white supremacist propaganda has reared its head in a small town in Illinois in the midst of a racially charged mayoral contest:

Calumet City police said that on Wednesday and Saturday of last week, someone hung a mannequin attached to a noose from a billboard on Michigan City Road just west of Burnham Avenue. The mannequin was painted black, and racial slurs were spray-painted on the billboard, NBC5's Darren Kramer reported.

Mayor Michelle Markiewicz Qualkinbush said her opponents have been taking unfair shots at her about race, and she thinks the hate crime was designed to hurt her. There is primary election in two weeks, and Qualkinbush said the crime had as much to do with politics as race.

Which brings us back to Israel, where far-right settler groups and their allies are using the same tactics as American white supremacists to intimidate Ariel Sharon (who has the dubious and highly ironic honor of being responsible for their creation and empowerment):

Graffiti has sprouted in Israeli cities threatening Sharon's life and comparing him with Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, all reminiscent of incitement that preceded the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by an ultranationalist Jew.

Sharon has been vilified by ultranationalist Jews ever since his turnaround from being the darling of the Jewish settler movement to a leader determined to pull out of occupied land he says Israel has no intention of keeping in a final peace deal.

Check out David Neiwert for more on the latest phase of the white supremactists' recruitment push.

Here I am with a guy who introduced himself to me as "Merle." I must have mistaken him for a smart, young Jewish boy from a long time ago. By the way, don't ask me where my left hand is. 

I desperately wanted to get a picture of myself with the President's social policy director, James Dobson, but couldn't get past his security detail. So I had to settle for this one with him playing ping-pong in the background.  

Here's a photo of the hate bus parked in the Anaheim Hilton's parking lot right outside the NRB's main hall. The bus includes a handy dispenser of pamphlets informing readers that the average homosexual has an average of 500 sex partners in a year. That seems like a good recruiting tool for sexually deprived heteros. I considered stealing this bus and driving it across the Deep South so I could get free room and board anywhere I went and free meals at Waffle House.  

This is one of the most bizarre sights I saw at the National Religious Broadcasters' convention. James Dobson and his faux-punk son Ryan hosted a ping-pong tournament with Focus on the Family followers. In the process of decimating two geeky guys, they hugged each other after practically every winning point. I suppose Jim was giving Ryan "positive reinforcement," a technique he advises in his book, "Dare to Discipline." I didn't see him pinch the nerves between Ryan's collarbone and neck, though; that's another technique he advocates for parents. I'll be writing more about Ryan Dobson in article form. Let's just say he's an interesting guy. 

The NRB Conference and the Grammys: A Tale of Two Jesuses
I had to leave the NRB conference early today for two reasons: One, I wanted to see my friend John Stephens, aka John Legend share the stage with Mavis Staples at the Grammys. We became friends in college and I have watched, and in a very small way, participated in his journey on to the national stage, where he is finally getting the attention he deserves. Knowing where John came from, what he represents and how hard he worked to get where he is is helps keep my flickering faith in the possibilities and promise of America alive. I hope I'll soon have the time and opportunity to write in more detail about John and some of the people around him I came up with.

The second reason I left the NRB early is that I simply do not have the emotional or mental stamina to withstand total immersion in an atmosphere that erodes my hope in a democratic future for this country. After one and half days in which I witnessed sermons, speeches and presentations from the likes of Janet Parshall, Michael Medved and Ravi Zacharias (who is by far the most sophisticated and complex figure I've seen among the Christian Right's intellectual elite), I have concluded the obvious: they is still on the march, still gaining grassroots strength and political influence, and if there is a counterweight to them, it is paltry and confused. Though the whole conference is riven with massive contradictions -- yesterday I witnessed the Israeli Tourism Minister kiss pre-tribulationist author Kay Arthur on the cheek right after she invoked an image of Jesus sitting above Jerusalem on a throne while pale horses descend from the sky -- the attendees are irrevocably bound together by their sheer will to power.

Ultimately, Sunday was a day of intense contrast. My morning was spent in a self-contained steel and concrete megaplex of paisley-carpeted hotels, cavernous conference halls and labyrinthine parking structures in Anaheim, just miles south of Los Angeles but a world away from its cultural vibrancy. There, in the NRB's piousphere, the theme of the day was the Book of Paul, the only book in the Bible in which Jesus appears violent and wrathful. Speaker after speaker invoked an angry, macho Christ lashing out against cultural and spiritual infidels who bore more resemblance to Braveheart than any long-haired, barefoot prince of peace.

When I came home, I watched my friend John Legend sing the gospel standard "I'll Fly Away," with the Five Blind Boys of Alabama. It is a song that presents death in a profoundly human way as an unpleasant but inevitable phenomenon that is to be accepted with dignity. There is no rapture to be relished, no hell to be feared; there is only a short life to be lived -- vigorously and fully. This humanistic theme carried over into the Grammy acceptance speech of Legend's producer, Kanye West, who described a car accident which hospitalized him, shattered his jaw and nearly ended his career. "I realized the only thing that's guaranteed in life is death," he proclaimed. "Tonight I'm going to celebrate and scream and pop champagne, because I'm at the Grammy's baby!"

West has cut out a niche as one of hip-hop's most overtly religious performers, but at the core of his popular and most Christian-themed song, "Jesus Walks," is a message of liberation theology:

To the hustlers and the killers,
drug dealers, even strippers
Jesus walks with them

To the people on welfare,
'cause we livin' in hell here
Jesus walks with them

The notion of hell as an escapable social condition rather than a scary afterlife destination figures centrally in the lyrics of another group which appeared at the Grammys, Los Lonely Boys. Listen to their hit single, "How Far is Heaven," which they performed last night:

Save me from this prison
Lord help me get away
'Cause only you can save me now
From this misery
I've been lost in my own place
And I'm getting' weary
How far is heaven?
And I know that I need to change
My ways of livin'
How far is Heaven?
Lord can you tell me?

In their eyewitness account of hell on earth, which could be told from any ghetto or supermax prison cell, Los Lonely Boys presents the struggle to reach heaven as private and ponderous. And in an implicit rejection of the evangelical principle of "infecting the culture" and spreading the Gospel, the Lonely Boys' protagonist is "lost in [his] own place" and determined to "change [his] ways of livin.'" Not only does he take responsibity for correcting his own flaws, thus preventing him from self-righteously proselytizing others, he questions whether God is also flawed. "How far is Heaven? Lord can you tell me?" he asks, almost taunting God to appear and justify his plight. He is no humble servant, no Job; he is just another person willing to pursue the means to escape an oppressive situation as if he is his own God.

This kind of person would be ill-suited to exist within the rigid social order the Christian Right uses their macho Jesus to enforce.

Despite the Grammys' liberation theology themes, I wouldn't expect groups like Concerned Women for America to criticize it as stridently as they do the Oscars. After all, the Grammys always features fewer liberal Jews on stage and hasn't served as Hollywood's political platform in the way the Oscars has for the past four years. It is a far more complex target. However, this doesn't mean that the Christian Right should view the Grammys as any less threatening to their agenda than the Oscars.

The performers most prominent at this year's Grammys -- Kanye West, John Legend, Los Lonely Boys -- are consciously promoting a humanistic image of God to more people than Christian broadcasting could ever reach. Their God is not only great, but good. He is an agent of healing and even personal empowerment, but never a demagogic political tool. The belief in this kind of God, the Christ figure who appears throughout most of the Bible healing the sick and helping the poor, is far more threatening to the Christian Right than any manifestation of so-called "secular humanism."

From the NRB
It's been a long evening at the NRB and I don't have much time for blogging. I actually have to get up in the wee hours to make the Israeli Tourism Ministry's press conference. Benny Elon, ultra-right-wing member of Knesset who favors "transferring" the Palestinians somewhere else, is set to denounce the Gaza pullout with evangelical radio host Janet Parshall and token Jew Michael Medved by his side.
I just left the Regent University film festival. One film of note featured a young Nazi SS soldier as its protagonist. The young SS man, a devout Christian, is on a mission to assassinate two American soldiers on the run. Unfortunately for him, the Americans are devout Christians too. He is conflicted and when he hesitates to pull the trigger on the Americans, a fellow SS man shoots him for betraying the Fatherland.
Of course, our young SS man and devout Christian had no problem joining the SS to kill the Jews. He apparently had no problem with the indoctrination process which taught him that Jews, gays, Gypsies and the rest were untermenschen. His conflict only arrived when he was ordered to kill other Christians. The audience seemed to have no problem with this theme. In fact, the only element of the film that seemed to startle anyone in the audience was a scene in which a soldier falls and utters, "Shit!"
There's much more, but that will come out in whatever article I churn out this week.

I'm on my way to the National Religious Broadcasters Conference, where I will spend the next few days reporting and hopefully doing some blogging, as well. Tonight, I'll be meeting Dan Stein of the Institute for Democracy Studies, a New York-based think tank that has one of the largest archives of right-wing literature and research material around. And I hear the NY Times' Chris Hedges is there gathering material for his next book, about the Christian Right.
I can't wait for the Regent University (Pat Robertson's flagship school) film festival tonight.

Feel the Heat
I received this heartwarming, or should I say arm-warming, message from Richard Shakarian of the Full Gospel Businessmens' Association. You'll see what I mean:

FGBMFI - AN ANOINTING FOR THE MARKETPLACE
RICHARD SHAKARIAN

Sorry to be late with this report, but after 3 weeks of travel and the
ncredible things that God is doing here, quite frankly we could not
keep up.

Washington D.C.
Assistant to President Bush Tim Goeglein spoke at our D.C. Convention.
WOW what a message. He spoke of several intimate moments when the
President was not ashamed to give glory to Jesus Christ.

Several of us went over to the Bethesda Naval Hospital to visit the
wounded Marines. We felt very humbled in the presence of such courage and
honor. Our group included Jim Priddy, Ron Weinbender, George Duggan,
James Rogers, Bob Bignold and myself.
Jim tells me that the Lord really made special provision for us to be
able to go, and we were treated like V.I.P.S.

As we were having lunch in a restaurant Bobby Bassler who God is using
to change the State of Indiana laid his hand into my arm and silently
prayed for me. Immediately the heat of the presence of God went from
Bobbys hand to my arm. You could feel the heat. Later Doug and Marsha
Woolleys child Isaac, who is having some real physical challenges was
curled in a fetal position, suffering from incredible migraine pain.
Bobby went up to the room, laid hands on young Isaac, and immediately, the
pain left.

Needless to say, our USA Board Meeting was one of the best ever.

A Culture of Giving: Every one of the Directors yes, to a man
determined in unity to create a Culture of Giving to the International
Headquarters. Yes, from our members, chapters and directors, all of us in
unison giving every month - that, the incredible work of God through the
FGBMFI Headquarters will be properly funded.

Dr. Emir Caner, Associate Dean at Wake Forest University, moved the
audience as he spoke about being raised in a Muslim home, until he found
Christ at age 12. His new book tells many stories of the Man in White -
Jesus Christ - appearing in dreams to people from Bangladesh to Syria.

FBI Chaplain Steve Davis spoke on Leadership. He was very funny as he
told of many experiences, but again and again, he gave the main points
to become a successful leader.
He spoke of obedience, support, and of speaking encouragement. His
message was so outstanding that we are making it available. You may
purchase this tape by faxing or emailing your credit card information and
requesting FBI Chaplain Steve Davis audiotapes. The price is $10
including shipping and handling.

Following the Washington D.C. Convention, I had the privilege of going
to Tulsa and speaking to the business school of Oral Roberts
University, then to a special combined FGBMFI meeting and on to speak to Victory
Church, which is one of the greatest Churches, pastured by Billy Joe
Dougherty. They were thrilled to hear the amazing stories of salvation
and changed lives. Yes, FGBMFI is truly bringing an incredible anointing
to the marketplace.

I tried to find out who this guy whom God is using to change Indiana named Bobby Bassler is. Apparently he's some CEO and not the second coming of Larry Bird I thought he might be.

Jeff Gannon, Bible-Thumper
Above, a pious Jeff "m4m" Gannon reads before a packed house at Faith and Action's 2004 Bible-reading marathon
Who knew Jeff Gannon aka J.D. Guckert had teamed up with former Operation Rescue activists for a pro-theocracy PR stunt? Well, apparently Gannon was a featured reader at Rev. Rob Schenck's wet and wild 2004 Bible-reading marathon on the Capitol steps (scroll down for photos). I can just hear him intoning, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." Or better yet, let he who is a covert GOP operative attack a real reporter for being "politically biased." As the Bible says, a double-minded man is unsteady in all his ways.

The organizer of the Bible marathon, Rob Schenck, is a fringe player who set up shop on the Hill after his anti-abortion "Spring to Life" protests in 1992 in Buffalo provoked the assassination of Dr. Barnett Slepian by James Kopp. Schenck also gained ignominy (or fame, depending on whom you ask) by dangling an aborted fetus in Bill Clinton's face. Oh, and then there's the time he threatened Clinton's afterlife at the National Cathedral, which led to his temporary detention by Secret Service. Most recently, he organized protests outside the Alabama Supreme Court against the removal of Roy Moore's Ten Commandments monument. It's all in my 2003 profile of Schenck. Check it out.

Now I wonder how Schenck and Gannon met, and whether Schenck would like to have Gannon over again now that he's been revealed as a covert web-pimp.  

Even Divisive Issues Finish Last
Somehow, abortion ranks in 10th place among issues of import to evangelical leaders, yet it is still cast as a church priority by the pollsters. Spin away:

Abortion is the 10th most important issue today’s churches must address, according to a LifeWay e-business survey of ministry leaders from around the world. During a three-month online research project, more than 1,300 evangelical leaders from Europe, North America and elsewhere were asked to rank the issues most important to their churches.

“After 30 years of legalized abortion in America, it continues to be a critical topic for the church to address,” LifeWay reported.

The other 9 issues facing "today's church" remain a secret. Will poverty show up in the top ten? I'll be on the edge of my seat waiting.

The Missionary Budget
While the poor are likely to get hungrier under the new Bush budget, the Christian Right will be getting even fatter feeding at the federal trough.
Wait, maybe there's a connection there. More desperate poor people + more proselytizing faith-based "charities" + no social safety net = more glassy-eyed, right-wing evangelicals willing to vote against their economic interests. Brilliant.

WHITE HOUSE While President Bush is proposing budget cuts to many domestic programs, he's seeking more funding for his faith-based initiatives.
Jim Towey (TOO'-ee), who heads the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, says Bush has asked for an additional 150 (m) million dollars -- a 63-percent increase -- for five programs. The money would be used for maternity group homes and programs for drug treatment, prisoner re-entry into society, mentoring the children of prisoners and the Capital Compassion Fund

.

The GOP/XXX Nexus
While every Christian Right pressure group was howling about GoDaddy.com's "Wardrobe Malfunction" ad, many of their constituents were enjoying the fruits of GoDaddy founder Bob Parson's labor.

The man behind the most talked-about Super Bowl commercial, which features a buxom young woman whose flimsy top repeatedly comes undone while testifying before "broadcast censorship hearings," founded a software company that produced one of the most popular Bible-study programs on the market.

Bob Parsons is the founder and president of GoDaddy.com, the domain-name registration company that spent $2.4 million on the controversial ad that poked fun at last year's Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction" scandal and parodied television content regulation.

According to Parsons' bio on his blog, BobParsons.com, he founded Parsons Technology in the basement of his home.

"Parsons Technology went on to be quite successful," writes Parsons. "The company grew to almost 1,000 employees and had a 4 percent share of the North American software market."

Part of that market was in selling Bible software to Christians, including QuickVerse, a popular Bible-study program that was actually written by Parsons' vice president, Craig Rairdin. The product includes a Bible verse search engine, Bible commentaries, theology books, study notes, a Bible atlas, word-study guides and other resources.

Pam Sheppard, a columnist with Christianity Today, praises QuickVerse and credits Parsons.

"Thanks to the initial work of Bob Parsons and to continuing advances in technology, churches, pastors, nonprofit organizations and individuals are able to preach, teach and reach more efficiently using software products from FindEx.com," Sheppard writes.

This is all part of a wider phenomenon of GOP/right-wing reliance on smut money. For instance, Adelphia just introduced XXX programming. And everybody knows Adelphia gives generously to the right side of the aisle:

Adelphia's programming decision is being applauded by the adult film industry.

"I think they made a really smart business decision," said Tim Connelly, publisher of Adult Video News, the trade journal of the adult entertainment industry. "So today Adelphia, tomorrow Wal-Mart."

While the corporations generate millions in profits from providing adult content, their political contributions are often given to those elected, in no small part, because of their stance on "moral values."

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Comcast Cable has given millions in political donations since 1998. The national Republican Party committees are its biggest organizational recipient, with donations totaling $851,000. President Bush is its biggest individual recipient with $109,000 in donations.

Adelphia has given $166,000 to Republican committees, $17,000 to conservative Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., and $12,000 to Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., one of the most conservative members of the Senate.

Of course, Santorum was the first Senator to introduce legislation forcing schools and libraries receiving e-rate subsidies to install filtering software so kids can't view content from his biggest donors.
Then there's JD Guckert, AKA Jeff Gannon, who just quit Talon News. The sad thing about this one is that Gannon ostensibly quit not because he was revealed as a covert GOP operative posing as a journalist to give Scott McClellan some cushion during press conferences, but because he is now the subject of a sex scandal of sorts. Apparently he has ties to web sites that pimp out gay military studs. If you haven't seen this by now, you probably need to get out more; my blog is always going to be more a forum for what I think the larger blogs are missing (that's why I hardly ever mention Social Security). So I'm discussing Gannongate only in the greater context of GOP/smut collaboration.
Anyway, now that Gannon's gone, it's important to get behind Rep. Louise Slaughter in demanding an explanation for Gannon's credentialing:

I was already concerned about what appears to be an organized campaign to mask partisan propaganda as legitimate news by your Administration. That we have now learned this same type of deception is occurring inside the White House briefing room itself is even more disturbing.

That is why I am asking you to please explain to the Congress and to the American people how and why the individual known as "Mr. Gannon" was repeatedly cleared by your staff to join the legitimate White House press corps?

Mr. President, your Administration has driven the so-called "values" debate in this country. But the most important value for those of us in public service should always be honesty and integrity, particularly when considering the manner in which we conduct our affairs of state.

Worth the Fighting For?
Here's the ornery weirdo 1500 US troops died to bring to power in Iraq. Let's see, he's against playing chess, against men becoming platonic friends with women, against shaking girls' hands, against wacking off, and seems to be opposed to leaving your head under a shower nozzle for more than one minute. But he's for anal sex. Is that what's worth the fighting for?

Yesterday I found a really fascinating site about the Pyonyang Metro, North Korea's showcase subway system and one of its most guarded state secrets. The site has some of the only known photos of the subway as well as explanations of its possible military functions.

The Remaking of the Founding Fathers
Fred Clarkson has a really disturbing post up about a provision on a bill in Virginia's legislature that would essentially reverse the 1786 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and in effect, allow for proselytizing on public property and in public schools. The provision advanced out of committee with only four dissenting votes. Moreover, it's only one element of a bill that would enshrine a same-sex marriage ban in the state Constitution. As always, those spearheading this reactionary campaign have excerpted an array of quotes from the Founding Fathers' writings, taken them out of context and distorted them for their own purpose. This is from an AP piece on the bill:

"The religious-freedom resolution found wide support for remedying what its sponsor, Del. Charles W. Carrico Sr., contends is a growing bias against Christians."

"He said other nations upheld their founding religious tenets and compelled respect for them, specifically noting the Muslim culture of Arab countries as an example. Then, he quoted Patrick Henry in appealing for greater leeway for Christianity."

"I want to quote this phrase... [Henry] was a five-term governor of Virginia (who) once said, 'It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was not founded by religionists but by Christians,' Carrico said."

But as Clarkson makes clear,

This latest outrage is part of a widening assault on foundational ideas of religous equality and religious freedom, coming primarily from Republicans who are part of, or pandering to the Christian Right. Thier attack is premised in part on a crafty mix of selected quotations from leaders of the founding generation, and outright crackpot history. But their efforts are not going unchallanged. For example, Dr. Bruce Prescott, writing on his Mainstream Baptist blog, wrote a devatasting expose of U.S. Senator James Inhofe's (R-OK) recent claim that global warming is "the second largest hoax ever played on the American people, after the separation of church and state."

"Despite what theocrats like Inhofe and David Barton say," Prescott explained, "the idea to separate church and state came neither from the constitution of the Soviet Union nor from Thomas Jefferson's letter to Danbury Baptists, it came from Baptists like Roger Williamsand John Leland. James Madison, the chief author of the U.S. Constitution and the First Amendment, knew that well. Before the constitution was ratified, he wrote a letter to James Monroe discussing opinions about Patrick Henry's bill to provide government funding for religion in Virginia. Here's what he said:

'The Episcopal clergy are generally for it. . . . The Presbyterians seem as ready to set up an establishment which would take them in as they were to pull one down which shut them out. The Baptists, however, standing firm by their avowed principle of the complete separation of church and state, declared it to be 'repugnant to the spirit of the Gospel for the Legislature thus to proceed in matters of religion, that no human laws ought to be established for the purpose.'"

Henry's bill failed in the face of ideas that were incorporated into Article Six of the Constitution as well as the First Amendment. But it now appears that Virginia Republicans want to refight that battle in a not-so-covert attack on the, historical, legal and constitutional foundations of separation of church and state.

Definitely pay a visit to Bruce Prescott's blog and read his take-down of Oklahoma's other demon possessed senator, James Inhofe.

Why does Michelle Malkin hate America?

The lesson of Jacko and Snoop Dogg's America is not that this nation is too intolerant, but that it is not nearly intolerant enough.

Two Superbowl Predictions
1. Of course I'm pulling for Donovan McNabb to make Rush Limbaugh's racist ass eat his words. But I'm no fool; the Patriots will win this game in a walk, by at least ten points. I hope I'm wrong.
2. The Paul McCartney halftime show will suck.

The Marcavage File
Mike Tidmus has stripped the moral veneer from Christian Right poster boy and homophobic thug, Michael Marcavage, and exposed his dark side for all to see. For those who don't know, Marcavage and the so-called "Philly 11" were arrested after attempting to intimidate participants at the Philadelphia Gay Pride Parade this year. Take it away, Tidmus:

The religious right and their flocks have embraced Marcavage and his Repent America followers as heros branding them, the “Philadelphia Eleven.” The American Family Association, of Tupelo, Mississippi, dispatched a team of trial lawyers from AFA’s legal division, the Center for Law and Policy, to defend the group.

But, what the AFA and the religious right would prefer went unnoticed is the long history of this good “peaceful” “Christian” group and their charismatic young leader, Michael Marcavage, and Marcavage’s ongoing association with Donald Wildmon, the American Family Association and its legal defense arm....

Michael Marcavage grew up in Simpson, a small town near Scranton, Pennsylvania. His mother died when he was three years old, an event he describes as propelling him “to search for meaning in my life.” That search took him from Catholicism to radically-fundamentalist Christian views.

As a high school senior, Marcavage so vehemently protested a teacher’s intention to show the ground-breaking episode of the sitcom Ellen, in which the main character comes out, that the school’s principal was quoted in the local paper calling Marcavage a “religious zealot.”

In 1999, when the Temple University Theater Department staged playwright Terrance McNally’s Corpus Christi, a play with a gay Christ-like character, Marcavage protested. He demanded that the university provide Christian speakers and produce a Biblical play as an alternative. During a 2 November 1999 meeting with the university’s Vice President, William Bergman and Carl Bittenbender, Director of Campus Safety, Marcavage became so distraught that the school officials ordered a psychiatric examination at the Emergency Crisis Center of the university’s hospital and confined Marcavage for several hours.

The AFA’s Center for Law and Justice lawyer Brian Fahling said at the time, "This kid is as solid as a rock … [He is] a good Christian kid who wanted to stand up for Jesus, and instead was handcuffed and dragged to a mental hospital as if he’d been seeing pink elephants.”

But according to University officials, a distraught Marcavage began sobbing and shouting “It’s over” before he retreated into a restroom for fifteen minutes. Bittenbender claimed, according to Marcavage’s lawyer Fahling, that Marcavage demonstrated a clear and present danger to harm himself and others, and that he has threatened others and threatened suicide.....

Marcavage moved to Lansdowne, Pennsylvania in 2001, apparently unaware that the city had a growing gay community. Marcavage, who works full-time on Repent America activities and supports himself with income from three rental properties and donations to his ministry from other Christian organizations, has had a series of run-ins with local residents, including being kicked by a woman when Marcavage protested at a Methodist church, claiming the pastor’s teachings were “false.”

Describing Marcavage’s disruptive actions, the Reverend Timothy Thomson-Hohl, pastor of Trinity Lansdowne United Methodist Church, said, “It’s such an unconscionable, unethical way to live. For someone who’s supposed to be Christian, it’s appalling....”

Tidmus goes on to describe Marcavage's lengthy criminal record, which is full of bizarre arrests like this one:

On 29 July 2004, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Marcavage, returning from protesting at the Democratic National Convention in Boston on Interstate 95, was stopped by local police while riding in a truck plastered with large, highly-graphic pictures of aborted fetuses. The police officers, responding to complaints from several motorists, claimed that Marcavage’s slow moving panel truck was creating a traffic hazard.

According to Sergeant Roger Beaupre, Michael Marcavage, a passenger, got out of the vehicle to videotape the incident and walked on the highway. He was arrested after repeatedly refusing to get back into the vehicle for his own safety, and he was charged with interfering with police and reckless use of the highway by a pedestrian. Marcavage and his AFA trial lawyers claimed afterward that Trooper David Febbraio berated him as a “Jesus-freak,” a “wing-nut,” “brainwashed” and an “extremist.” With the AFA’s Center for Law and Policy’s assistance, Marcavage filed a lawsuit against the arresting officers.

And Tidmus details Marcavage's role as the street-preaching poster boy of white collar Christian Right interest groups:

A number of other radical religious right groups including the Traditional Values Coalition and Concerned Women for America, have rushed to Marcavage’s defense claiming the “Philadelphia Four” are being prosecuted solely for voicing their religious beliefs.

Robert H. Knight, Director of Concerned Women’s Culture and Family Institute, chimed in, “Their crime was to cite Bible verses, which a prosecutor called ‘hateful,’ and to urge homosexuals, like other sinners, to repent. It’s frightening to see religious persecution on American soil, especially in the birthplace of the Declaration of Independence. The Justice Department needs to step in and investigate this civil rights violation by the city of Philadelphia.” Knight added, “Even if Repent America infringed on the law, they don’t deserve three felony counts totaling 47 years in jail.”

Note : Mr Knight, who once quipped, “I’m not a homophobe … but I play one on television,” left the ultra-conservative Family Research Council, when FRC’s newly-installed leadership decided to focus less on the homosexual agenda.

“This homofascism [sic] has come to our doorstep; it’s in America,” says Ralph Ovadal, head of Wisconsin Christians United, who also runs a website called Homofascistwatch.com, in a recent radio program. “Christians need to wake up and realize how quickly the walls are closing in on their religious liberties, on their religious duties to preach the gospel.”

But Marcavage’s most enduring support comes from Donald Wildmon, President of the American Family Association, and his top-gun lawyer Brian Fahling, of AFA’s legal arm, the Center for Law and Policy.

Marcavage, Wildmon and Fahling’s relationship goes all the way back to Marcavage’s psychiatric exam at Temple University. It’s almost as if Wildmon and Fahling have invested years nurturing and grooming Marcavage expressly for his role in the proceedings in Philadelphia.

And finally, Tidmus describes the puffing of Marcavage in the right-wing media. I excerpted some of Tidmus's best bits, but it's worth reading the entire entry. And it would be an outrage if this sort of expose was not followed by more critical mainstream press coverage of Marcavage highlighting his organizational ties. This guy may be nuts, but with the Christian Right's most powerful outfits behind him, he's dangerous.
The Philadelphia Inquirer has done a decent profile on Marcavage, by the way.
And Sarah Posner at the Gadflyer was perhaps the first to do a critical post about him. 

The Limits of Compassionate Conservativism
In Maya Keyes' most recent post, she details how her father callously kicked her out of the house. Oh, by the way, Maya Keyes is Alan Keyes' gay daughter:

Well, it's happened. Finally and officially.

A couple days ago I got my official two-week warning that I have to be out of this apartment; so finally for real I'm getting cut off. I got no severance or anything like that from my sudden termination of employment (don't I have freedom of speech? the right to protest Bush without losing my job? Hehe... most people would think that working under a parent would be security but for me it's quite the opposite.) and so I definitely don't have anywhere near enough cash to find a new apartment; not even one room rented from someone anywhere. I've been searching craigslist but even places where I'd have enough to pay the first month's rent on some room I never have enough for the deposit as well, so so far I've had no luck at all finding a new home, since shelter requires money. Sad boo.

After all the arguments and tension over the years, I always hoped it would never actually get to this point, although I suppose given our vastly divergent political beliefs it was inevitable.

My A n j u l s say no, no, it was not inevitable at all and this should never have happened. They say that parents have some modicum of responsibility to their kids - at least so far as making sure they are not homeless and starving - especially if their kids have done nothing aside from thinking for themselves. They say that different political beliefs should not lead to parents kicking kids out of the house. They say most parents would be thrilled to have a child who doesn't smoke, have sex, do drugs, hardly drinks; more thrilled to have a child who additionally does well in school, is active on all sorts of extracurriculars, gets good grades, gets into the Ivy League; even more thrilled to have a child who on top of that goes regularly to church, spends free time mentoring kids and serving food to homeless people; even more thrilled to have a child to on top of that is not only politically aware but actively going out to try and fight for the causes she believes in, considering the political apathy of most teenagers. They say that if all the above didn't cause parents to be thanking God every day for the child they were blessed with, that they certainly would be after the child puts off college for a year (wait, no, for ANOTHER year, since said child already deferred one year to go teach in India) to go support her father in his work. They say that I'm a good daughter, that I changed around my whole plans just because I thought it would be nicer for my dad if after the end of working all the time on the campaign trail he could come back to someone who loves him rather than an empty house. They say that it should be a source of pride, not of shame, for my parents that I'm so passionate about my beliefs, and work for what I believe in; even if they are not the beliefs my parents hold. They say that the only possible cause for shame anywhere in the whole situation is in the fact that after all this I am being cut off, jobless, soon to be homeless, and that although I have intelligence and motivation I won't be able to go to Brown after all because I have no money.

So my Anjuls say.

My parents say otherwise.

 

In case anyone's been following the trials and tribulations of professional homophobe Michael Marcavage and the so-called "Philly 5," David Neiwert (aka Ornicus) has brought to light Marcavage's bizarre, pathetic personal history, and his role as a front-man for the American Family Association. AFA's backing of a certifiable lunatic like Marcavage -- who has known ties to anti-abortion terror groups -- is a case study in how the Christian Right's white collar interest groups which have become part and parcel of the Republican establishment have managed to maintain a proxy army of street-level shock troops to do their dirty work.

David Corn versus Mark Crispin Miller.
I will keep my thoughts to myself on this one.

Want to get sea sick with Jerry Falwell?

What the hell was D. James Kennedy talking about?

"Communistic evolution, according to the Senate committee that examined it, is responsible for 135 million deaths in peacetime. There's no religion that has a tiny fraction of that many deaths on it conscience.... There are scientists who will admit that there's not one iota of scientific evidence to support it."

Which Senate committee examined "communistic evolution" and found it to be responsible for a death toll equivalent to half the population of the US? I'm drawing a blank.

The Culture War: Toward a Violent Confrontation?
I'm used to hearing about FBI agents visiting mosques to question Imams about controversial sermons. So it's really a shock to see that the FBI is taking notice of those Imams' Christian counterparts, who also advocate violence against Americans, only within the context of the culture war. This story, from the Southern Baptist Convention's newswire, is clearly sympathetic to the pastor in question, Randy Steele:

MOUNT VERNON, Ill. (BP)--Nov. 23, 2004, started out like any other normal morning for Randy Steele, senior pastor at Southwest Christian Church in Mount Vernon, Ill., a town about 80 miles southeast of St. Louis. One of the longtime members of his church was on her deathbed and he planned to spend the day consoling her family. Then the phone rang.

It was the FBI. Steele said they wanted to meet with him personally. After agreeing to a time later that same afternoon, he said his first thoughts turned to his congregation.

“I was wondering what somebody in my church might have done,” Steele said. “So I was in a lot of prayer asking God to give me the right words to say.”

When two FBI agents arrived at the church, Steele said they traded small talk for a few minutes before the suspense got to him and he asked about the nature of their visit.

Their answer stunned him.

“One guy opened a file,” Steele said. “And he said, ‘This is pertaining to a sermon that you preached on Memorial Day.’”

On Memorial Day 2004, Steele was in the middle of preaching a sermon series he called “Life Issues” dealing with controversial cultural issues from a biblical perspective. One such sermon was about abortion and Steele chose Memorial Day to preach about it.

“I shared the number of people who have died in wars versus the number who had died through ‘legal’ abortion since 1973,” Steele said. “I stated that we are in a different type of war that is being fought under the 'presupposition of freedom.’”

Steele said that he went on to name an abortion clinic in Granite City, Ill., a city just outside St. Louis, and pointed out that they perform as many as 45 abortions per week.

Somebody in the church that day apparently misunderstood Steele’s “different type of war” comment to mean that he was actually calling his congregation to a physical war against abortion clinics, so he or she placed an anonymous phone call to the FBI.

The informant allegedly told the FBI that in addition to Steele calling for a war against abortion clinics, he also said he was willing to go to jail over such a cause.

Steele said that he had spoken about his willingness to go to jail, but that he made those remarks in a different sermon that dealt with homosexuality from the same sermon series.

“I had mentioned a pastor in Canada who had been arrested for speaking about homosexuality in his church,” Steele said. The pastor said he went on to tell his congregation that “if speaking the truth means that we go to jail, then by golly, that’s where I'm going to be and I’m going to save you a seat next to me.”

“That was the major gist of why [the FBI] felt like they could come here and look through my sermons,” Steele said....

With the president speaking the language of the culture war so routinely, it is easy to lose perspective on what it is really about. As much as so many of the Christian Right's white collar activists would like to cast