Religious right blackmailing Bush - links gay marriage ban to Soc Security plan

They're now blackmailing President Bush. If he doesn't push hard for a the Gay-Bashing Amendment, then they're not going to support his Social Security overhaul plan.

Think about it. They're blackmailing Karl Rove and President Bush the first week of Bush's new term. If Rove and Bush cave, they're toast. These people will own them. Hell, they already do. Let this be a warning to the entire GOP, Frankenstein just woke up, and it's alive. Read More......

Open thread

How's your faith? :-) Read More......

Religious right now questioning Bush's faith!!!

Make my day!!!!!!

LOL I love this. You lay down with dogs, you wake up with fleas. Bush stoked the flames of these intolerant bigots for the past four years, and now they're turning on him with talk of "just what kind of faith does he have?" I.e., Bush isn't a real Christian because he mentioned the Koran nicely, and because the RNC appointed a pro-choice co-chair to serve alongside the ambiguously-gay Ken Mehlman.

This is from the American Family Association's propaganda organ AgapePress, and note that I have NEVER seen the AFA publish stories it doesn't agree with. This story was published to raise questions about Bush's faith in view of his waffling on issue of concern to the religious right. Love it.

Of course, the incredibly offensive thing is that they're actually questioning his faith because they disagree with him on like 2 or 3 things, including a job appointment and a mention of the Koran. So what do they do? QUESTION HIS FAITH. Man, if any liberal groups have money and a brain out there, please grab this and get it to the White House and the media. Bush will be PISSED.

...Some conservative Christians are asking questions regarding the faith of President Bush based on his recent actions. Christian social commentator John Lofton is upset over some things the president has done lately, including the chief executive's praise of the Koran during his inauguration speech last week. "It was deeply distressing to hear President Bush mention the Koran, which is a vehemently anti-Christian [and] anti-Jewish document, in the same breath with the Old and the New Testaments," Lofton says. The columnist also notes that in his Christmas address, Bush failed to mention the name of Christ -- yet he honored Ramadan and an Indian holiday that features an eight-legged elephant god. And today's (January 24) March for Life in Washington, D.C., follows on the heels of the president's approval of a pro-abortion woman for the number-two spot on the Republican National Committee. Lofton has written a column wondering just what kind of faith President Bush has.

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My president, my congress, why hast thou forsaken me?

Today's papers suggest that Bush and Frist are both getting cold feet on on the Gay-Bashing Amendment to the US Constitution. First, Bob Novak slams the president for all sorts of not-family-values policy decisions in DC, including his announcement he isn't going to push for the Gay-Bashing Amendment this term (forget the fact that he ran on it during his re-election). Then Frist refuses to include the amendment in the Top 10 list of GOP congressional priorities for this congress, just released today.

Now, don't get me wrong, the religious right will squawk, and then Bush and Frist will respond with something anti-gay to make them happy - thus the amendment still could come up again, or something equally nasty. But both Bush and Frist are signalling that they don't think this issue is a winner for them at the national level (they'd likely rather use it in particular red states to rev up the pro-slavery wing of the party come election day). Still, this is not a good sign for the religious right, who thinks that Bush is back in office because of them.

One final note: Ken Mehlman. Don't put ambiguously-gay people at the head of your party and then wonder why the party isn't family-values enough. Read More......

Update on the DNC race

From Daily Kos. Dean still has the lead, but I still think the powers-that-be may find a way to derail him. Read More......

Frist and Allard reintroduce Gay-Bashing Amendment in US Senate

The GOP bigots have reintroduced the Gay-Bashing Amendment in the US Senate. I think a round of phone calls is in order:

1. Call Ken Mehlman at the Republican National Committee. Ask how Ken feels about the amendment, and tell them you demand to know whether Ken's sexual orientation is an affront to heterosexual marriage.

RNC main phone: 202.863.8500

2. Call Senator Frist and ask him how he feels about the fact that we don't even know if Ken Mehlman, the head of the Republican party, is gay or straight, yet Frist is supposedly concerned about the gay agenda?

Frist main phone: (202) 224-3344

3. Call Senator Allard, ask him about Ken Mehlman and you might want to ask as well why he has gay staffers yet publicly bashes gays? Aren't those staffers' relationships a threat to heterosexual marriage? (And yes, Allard DOES have gay staffers, I've met one.)

Allard main phone: (202) 224-5941

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Odd and Interesting

This guy is running for president in 2020 because that's when he'll be old enough to run. Read More......

Why does the religious right like wife-beaters?

This story hasn't gotten NEARLY enough attention. It spells MAJOR trouble for the anti-gay "marriage" people. Where is our side in pushing this? Their amendments are being used to defend wife-beaters. Now THAT'S a defense of traditional marriage alright. Ah for the days when a man could beat a woman with impunity...

Toledo Blade Editorial: The amendment strikes back

When it comes to Ohio’s new marriage amendment, we hate to say we told you so. But we’re going to do it anyway.

Before voters approved state Issue 1 on Nov. 2, this newspaper, as well as Governor Taft, the state’s two Republican U.S. senators, and its attorney general, warned that the constitutional amendment could have legal consequences beyond the simple ban on gay marriage its sponsors claimed.

Well, the amendment took effect Dec. 1 and sharp lawyers already have found devious ways to employ it, including a dangerous end run on domestic-violence statutes.

In two cases in Cleveland courts, the Cuyahoga County public defender’s office has asked that domestic-violence charges be dismissed, citing the amendment’s prohibition against any legal status for unmarried couples that approximates marriage. Ohio’s domestic-violence law, the public defender pointed out, applies to a “person living as a spouse.”

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More on the religious right tsunami wackos - this is really bad

Remember those two poor American women who were arrested by the Taliban for trying to convert the Afghanis to Christianity. Well, guess what? Their church in Waco, Texas is one of the groups causing an uproar in Sri Lanka by using the tsunami relief to try to convert the heathens. Even better, they're practicing faith healing with the locals, AND are denying that they're missionaries, claiming only to be relief workers when they're clearly not (deny me three times?). Not to defend the Taliban, but the heroes welcome these women got when they got back to the US, well, I wonder if they were perhaps involved in a little more troublemaking than they admitted.

Read this entire NYT article, it's got way too much good and outrageous information to quote - seriously, read the entire thing. Read More......

Damn Parisians

I swear, every day is a holiday for those people. Chris, where are you? ;-)

Open thread. Read More......