The religious right isn't anti-semitic, really

From the American Family Association propaganda organ:

A Jewish author says it isn't anti-Semitic to note that Jesus was handed over to the Romans for crucifixion by Jewish leaders. In his new book -- Why the Jews Rejected Jesus: The Turning Point in Western History -- David Klinghoffer quotes the Talmud, which says that "on the eve of Passover they hung Yeshu (Jesus)" on charges that he "performed magic, enticed and led astray Israel." The Talmud also claims that Mary conceived Jesus in adultery and that Jesus suffers eternal punishment. But Klinghoffer says fear of Christian persecution caused Jews centuries ago to relegate such materials to footnotes in tiny type or delete them altogether. Anyway, he says, the real dispute between Jews and Christians concerns whether Jesus was Israel's messiah and the Son of God who properly exercised authority to reinterpret divine law.

Ah, well glad you cleared that up. Read More......

Arrived and well in NYC

As I'd mentioned, I'm hosting Mike Signorile's radio show on SiriusOUTQ Wed through Fri of this week in NYC. You can listen to it live online from 2pm to 6pm EST at http://www.siriusoutq.com, and you can call in, the call-in number is on the site. Tomorrow we'll have Brad Friedman of BradBlog talking about the latest in all the scandals he's uncovering regarding the election, Melanie Sloan from Citizens for Ethics (a kick-ass group that's been taking on Tom DeLay and just did a recent study showing how so-called anti-porn members of Congress are in bed with the porn lobby), and then my good friend and fellow AMERICAblogger Michael Giltz (aka Michael in NYC) who will be talking about the latest hot books, movies, TV shows, music and theatre (i.e., his beat for his published columns).

Hope you guys will drop in. Read More......

Call Tom DeLay: The Pope's Not Doing Well

AP's reporting that the Pope is not responding to his medication and has "overall weakness."

Calling Dr. DeLay...Calling Dr. DeLay...Congress may have to step in to save him. Read More......

Open thread

So, I sneezed today and didn't hear boo from Tom DeLay. Read More......

www.tomdelay.god

Apparently, at least in his own mind, Tom DeLay has become our new national moral and spiritual leader. He, like other famous religious figures, is being persecuted for his beliefs. At least that's what he told the Family Research Council according to today's New York Times:

On Friday, as the leaders of both chambers scrambled to try to stop the removal of Ms. Schiavo's feeding tube, Mr. DeLay, a Texas Republican, turned his attention to social conservatives gathered at a Washington hotel and described what he viewed as the intertwined struggle to save Ms. Schiavo, expand the conservative movement and defend himself against accusations of ethical lapses.

"One thing that God has brought to us is Terri Schiavo, to help elevate the visibility of what is going on in America," Mr. DeLay told a conference organized by the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group. A recording of the event was provided by the advocacy organization Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

"This is exactly the issue that is going on in America, of attacks against the conservative movement, against me and against many others," Mr. DeLay said.

Mr. DeLay complained that "the other side" had figured out how "to defeat the conservative movement," by waging personal attacks, linking with liberal organizations and persuading the national news media to report the story. He charged that "the whole syndicate" was "a huge nationwide concerted effort to destroy everything we believe in."

The very ethically challenged Majority Leader has tried to pretend morals are at the centerpiece of the Schiavo debate. Fact is, for him, it has been a political issue.

This "moral crusade" is not new for DeLay. An Associated Press piece analysis titled "DeLay Under Fire for Ethics" chronicles the growing list of ethical problems, and includes these key paragraphs:

DeLay fights government regulation at every turn, a position hardened during the years before he came to Washington when he ran a pest control business and railed at "Gestapo" environmental regulators. He's also a leader among religious conservatives, pushing for a more God-centered nation.

Ahead of the 2000 presidential race, he outlined a vision where "we march forward with a biblical worldview, a worldview that says God is our Creator, that man is a sinner, and that we will save this country by changing the hearts and minds of Americans."

What a heavy burden for Tom DeLay. Next thing you know, he will have a new URL: www.tomdelay.god. Read More......

Federal judges says, no way, I'm not intervening

Re Schiavo. I can already hear it coming, now the "activist judges" are going to be judges who DON'T intervene and try to tell you how to live (or die). It's all so confusing being a lying Republican fundamentalist. Read More......

New episode of DemsTV.com is up

I'm hosting. You can see it here. Read More......

Largest gay paper accused of hypocrisy for killing "Mehlman is gay" story

So, the Blade tried to find out if Mehlman was gay, allegedly confirmed he was gay, then killed the story even though they thought they had him, then wrote an editorial endorsing outing, then said they'd never out Mehlman because outing him would be wrong, but then they pretty much outed him anyway, and now they're saying "don't accuse us of killing the story, of course we tried to out him." But you just got done telling us that outing Mehlman would be wrong, now you're defending yourself by saying "but we tried." Color me confused.

From RawStory.com

Current and former staff members of the nation’s largest gay newspaper chain say the company’s top editor thwarted efforts to run a story reporting now-Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman was gay, RAW STORY has learned. The editor denies killing the story.

These staffers assert that the part-owner and chief editor for the company’s five newspapers including The Washington Blade, Chris Crain, refused to print an article regarding the sexual orientation of the then-campaign manager for President Bush’s reelection campaign.

One staffer said Crain told others that he had confirmed Mehlman was gay, but refused to provide his sources to other reporters.

“Chris would confirm it,” the staffer said, “but he wouldn’t give out any names.”....

Crain has been a vocal defender of the media’s right to question gays who work to undermine gay rights, even going so far as to rebuke the gay lobby Human Rights Campaign for opposing outing.

“It is the antithesis of journalism to hide such hypocrisy when the facts can be clearly ascertained,” he penned in an editorial last July....

Crain refutes charges that he sought to keep Mehlman out of print. He says he has aggressively pursued the story of the RNC chairman’s sexuality.

“If you talked to people on my staff,” he said, “you know how many times I’ve brought up in meetings that I wanted to nail this story. And I don’t want anyone to get it before me.”....

Crain asserts that he wouldn’t report on Mehlman even if someone confirmed they had sex with him.

“I would not go with that even if I had it,” he said. “I don’t think that is justification for printing the story.”

Even so, the Blade all-but-outed Mehlman in May of last year when they ran a photograph of him next to an article titled “Bush campaign mum on any openly gay staffers.” Crain says the photo was placed next to the article because Mehlman was asked the question, but some took it as a tacit outing....

Crain also told RAW STORY that he declined an opportunity to hear evidence about an anti-gay congressman’s gay liaisons a year before the tapes of the congressman leaving public messages on a gay personals line appeared on the Web.

“I turned it down,” Crain said, “because I think that is invading someone’s privacy.”

This came as a surprise to Brune, who covered the case for the Blade when the congressman, Rep. Ed Schrock (R-VA), resigned....

Crain says reporting on public figures’ sex lives has given him pause as to whether such reporting should be done at all.

“The whole way this has played out has made me give serious second thought to whether outing should ever be done,” Crain remarked. “Some things can make sense in principle but in practice are just too difficult to do right.”

Signorile disagreed.

“Just because things are difficult to do right in practice, doesn’t mean you don’t do them,” the longtime activist and reporter said. “If you can’t take on the responsibilities of journalism or are afraid of reporting what needs to be reported, you should get out of the business.”

Read More......

Surprise. Bush LIED AGAIN about last week's EPA rules weakening Mercury protections

How many times do they have to lie before people ask what the hell is going on? Remember that these are the people who lied to the people of NYC immediately following September 11, telling them that the air and water had been tested and everything was a-okay. No tests had been done.

When the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a rule last week to limit mercury emissions from U.S. power plants, officials emphasized that the controls could not be more aggressive because the cost to industry already far exceeded the public health payoff.

What they did not reveal is that a Harvard University study paid for by the EPA, co-authored by an EPA scientist and peer-reviewed by two other EPA scientists had reached the opposite conclusion.

That analysis estimated health benefits 100 times as great as the EPA did, but top agency officials ordered the finding stripped from public documents, said a staff member who helped develop the rule. Acknowledging the Harvard study would have forced the agency to consider more stringent controls, said environmentalists and the study's author.

Read More......

The Ethically-Challenged John Bolton, Bush's UN pick

Steve Clemons has been doing a great job of tracking the Bolton nomination. Check out the latest ethics questions about this man here. Read More......

David Brooks on the "sleazo-cons"

Brooks in the NYT:

Ralph Reed, meanwhile, smashed the tired old categories that used to separate social conservatives from corporate consultants. Reed signed on with Channel One, Verizon, Enron and Microsoft to shore up the moral foundations of our great nation. Reed so strongly opposes gambling as a matter of principle that he bravely accepted $4 million through Abramoff from casino-rich Indian tribes to gin up a grass-roots campaign.

He takes on lots of others too. Yikes. Read More......

Ukraine joins the Coalition of the Going

It's getting crowded in this new, fast growing camp. Read More......

Corporate America CEOs still cashing in

It doesn't seem to matter how terrible their performance is or how many people they've sacked. Their total compensation just keeps going up, up, up. All of this while average Americans are getting stuck with more and more medical costs, which is essentially a tax on working families. Why in the world do we tolerate this? Read More......

McCain campaigns for 2008 presidential bid

Doesn't he know that there's another Bush coming who is going to take the reigns? Read More......

Holy shit - San Diego Bishop apologizes for banning gay funeral, overturns decision (basically)

You, the other blogs that picked up on this, and the hundreds of people, if not thousands, in San Diego who turned out to support this family and this young man, are responsible for making this happen. And who says you can't change things by speaking up. This is wild.

The head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego apologized Monday to the family of gay nightclub owner John McCusker, less than a week after decreeing that McCusker couldn't have a Catholic burial because of his "business activities," according to a statement released by McCusker's family.

In a stunning twist to a controversy that has created an uproar in the San Diego gay and Catholic communities, Bishop Robert Brom also promised to preside at a mass in memory of McCusker at The Immaculata Catholic church on the campus of the University of San Diego....

In a statement released by McCusker's family Monday night, the bishop was quoted as saying: "I deeply regret that denying a Catholic funeral for John McCusker at the Immaculata has resulted in his unjust condemnation, and I apologize to the family for the anguish this has caused them."

Also more here from the NBC affiliate. Read More......