Fear we go again…

Taking a short break from the usual domestic cultural issues such as abortion, gays rights, school prayer and vouchers, top Religious Right leaders have found a new organization to drum up support for George W. Bush’s failed Iraq foreign policy. Gary Bauer (American Values, Family Research Council), Tim LaHaye (Council For National Policy, Left Behind novels), Don Wildmon (American Family Association), Pat Robertson (Christian Coalition, American Center For Law and Justice, Regent University, 700 Club), Beverly LaHaye (Concerned Women For America), Daniel Lapin (Toward Tradition), Lou Sheldon (Traditional Values Coalition), John Hagee (Christians United For Israel), Rick Scarborough (American Vision), Paul Weyrich (Free Congress Foundation) and others have founded the ‘Forgotten Americans Coalition’ and, prior to General David Petraeus’s report on Iraq to Congress earlier this month, released the following standard pro-war neocon rhetoric:

As leaders of the conservative movement and concerned citizens, the undersigned wish to make our fellow Americans aware of the tragic consequences of a precipitous U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.

Historically, conservatives have always been cautious about foreign intervention and the concept of nation-building. Moreover, conservatives have always viewed national security as the principal reason for foreign intervention.

Still, regardless of what one thinks of the president’s decision to overthrow Saddam Hussein and to try to bring representative government to Iraq, we have been engaged there for the past four years at a cost of over 3,600 American lives.

Our military leaders warn us that a withdrawal under fire would be a geopolitical disaster.

The Iraq War must be seen in the broader context of Islamo-fascism’s war on America and Western Civilization. It is one front in a global conflict fought from Europe and the Middle East to Africa, the Balkans, the Indian Subcontinent and, finally, to the streets of our cities.

If we pull out now or announce a timetable for withdrawal, the region will be destabilized and Israel further endangered. Iran and Syria, two legs of the axis of evil, will become far more powerful. Reformers in the region will be correspondingly weakened — perhaps fatally so.

Whoo, scary! I think it’s at least worth noting that the region is very unstable (because we invaded Iraq and are still there), Iran and Syria are more powerful than ever (because we invaded Iraq and are still there) and reforming nations in the region are very much weakened as a result (because we invaded Iraq and are still there). This is the same argument used by President Bush, Vice-President Cheney and other top war supporters, including Republican presidential candidates such as Mayor Giuliani, Senator McCain and Governor Romney. And lo and behold, the vast majority of Americans don’t trust a word they say. Anyway…

It took 20 years to recover from the demoralizing experience of our failure in Vietnam. How long will the post-Iraq malaise last? How will we convince young Americans to enlist in the next effort to combat terrorism, if — by withdrawing now — we tacitly admit that more than 3,600 of our serviceman and women died in vain?

What will we say to the veterans, the returning servicemen and the families who lost loved ones in Iraq? We accepted your sacrifices but lacked the determination to back you up?

We can certainly start by giving them the health care they deserve. Bauer and the rest of these clowns aren’t going to find it any easier to persuade the American people that Walter Reed is a good thing. In any case, I was just in one of my classes, and our professor made a reference to weapons of mass destruction. Everyone was laughing, so I couldn’t hear what was obviously someone else up closer to him making a joke about the war in Iraq. He got rather serious at this point, mentioning that a student he was close with has just been forced out of college for his third (third!) fucking rotation in Iraq. I have a few friends myself in Iraq (or in training) right now, and I’m scared for them as all hell. We will not committ to an open ended conflict while the Iraqi government has been sitting on its ass for years. The American people spoke in 2006, and they will speak even harsher in 2008, and there’s no way the Religious Right can suppress people this time. No more Ken Blackwell or Katherine Harris, no more people being fooled by fearmongering and partisan accusations of unpatriotism, false questions of heroic war records…This is an ideologically driven war driven by ideologues such as Mr. Bauer and Reverend Robertson and Pastor Hagee and Mr. and Mrs. LaHaye who have a mad-on hatred for Muslims (moderate, extremists and otherwise). These are the men and women in charge of the White House, in charge of George W. Bush, and in control of the most powerful weapon in the world: The United States military.

Reading straight out of the Bush Administration’s 2004 playbook (which, since 2006, is only fooling people who would vote for hard-Right Republicans anyway), Bauer added: “Values voters also recognise that the battle against Islamic extremism, with Iraq as its central front, and their decades-long battle against materialism and cultural relativism are in fact two fronts in the same war for our survival…In a very real sense, victory in Iraq is inextricably linked not only with victory in the larger war on terror but also with our ability to protect our cherished values at home.”

Americans United’s Rob Boston also aptly connected the founding of Forgotten Americans Coalition to the 2008 presidential election. “Gary Bauer undoubtedly also wants to use the war on terror to energize the far-Right base in advance of the 2008 election. They need some new issues. You can only pass so many constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage in the states, and the immigrant-bashing is getting a little tiresome,” he noted.

I don’t believe Iraq fearmongering is anything new. In fact, I’m kind of glad Bauer’s on to it, if he has to open his mouth at all. Bauer and the other Religious Right leaders involved in this scheme are wasting time, money and influence on religious voters, who are growing more and more disillusioned with George W. Bush and his failed administration. Bauer and co. are a bunch of drunks sitting in a pile of puke at a party that everyone has since left screaming for everyone to come back, yet no one is in ear shot.

Sekulow behind John Roberts and Samuel Alito nominations

Jay Sekulow works for Pat Robertson as the director of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a Religious Right legal organization Robertson founded in 1990 (one year after he founded the Christian Coalition) to counter the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and advance the Religious Right’s Dominionist agenda through the courts. But a Chicago Tribune article shows that Sekulow had a particular role in George W. Bush’s choice of nominees to the Supreme Court, John Roberts and Samuel Alito Jr.

“He is, I think, more responsible than any other person for John Roberts being chief justice,” said Peter Irons, a constitutional scholar, civil liberties lawyer and author of the recently published “God On Trial: Dispatches From America’s Religious Battlefields.”

Sekulow said he was invited soon after President Bush took office to join what came to be called “the four horsemen.” The group, which also included former White House counsel C. Boyden Gray, Leonard Leo of the conservative Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies and former Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese, was formed “to be a kind of outside counsel on the judicial nomination issues, particularly the Supreme Court,” Sekulow said. He also worked on the nomination to the Supreme Court of Samuel Alito, which the ACLU strongly opposed. Alito took the bench in 2006.

Another dead Kennedy, but it’s not who you think

D. James Kennedy, a Florida-based televangelist Dominionist wingnut who is of no relation to our beloved Kennedy family, has died at the age of 76. I expected this, as he suffered a heart attack late last December. Kennedy is the founder of Religious Right organizations Center For Christian Statesmanship and the Reclaiming America For Christ Conference, both of which have disbanded since his heart attack. He was the pastor of Coral Ridge Ministries in Florida.

I don’t really wish death on anyone, even Kennedy, but it’s worth noting that if there is a god, hopefully he or she will treat Kennedy with the same respect he showed others; which is really none. Kennedy, like all Religious Right wingnuts, has made a living off of spreading homophobia, Dominionism, historical revisionism and, most of all, claims that the Holocaust was caused by the theory of evolution.

Here are some of his quotes, as documented in the Hall of Shame and in an article about him by Americans United For Separation of Church and State.

“Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost. As the vice regents of God, we are to exercise godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors — in short, over every aspect and institution of human society.”

“The two most notorious and blood-soaked political movements of the twentieth century, Nazism and Communism, both rejected God and were animated by the idea of evolution. It was Darwin’s theory — carried to its logical conclusion — that led to the death of nine million people in Nazi Germany.”

“Christians did not start the culture war but…we are going to end it. That is a fact, and the Bible assures us of victory.”

“Not all the educators in our public schools and universities are deliberately deceitful, not all of them want to destroy this nation, but many do. The major teachers’ unions certainly do.”

“But the fact is, the United States of America was conceived and brought forth by Christians, and history tells us that story in no uncertain terms….Anyone who reads about the values upon which this nation was founded understands perfectly well that this was, from the start, a Christian nation.”

“Just a few years ago, there were as many as ten thousand Communist professors in American universities. The average person never saw any of them, and many would doubt the truth of that statistic. But I can assure you it is true.”

“Modern secularists and agnostics do not want to admit that the Christian religion is true, because that would mean that they are sinners; and they have no intention of giving up their right to sin.”

“Teachers in many of our public schools have acceded to the policies of the liberal teachers’ unions to make sure that students from kindergarten through high school will be stripped of any sense of moral or ethical absolutes. Right and wrong are non-issues in our public schools.”

“Every new advance and every step taken by science confirm not evolution but the Genesis account of creation. Yet evolution still continues to be taught as fact….Thus, the honorable place that had been given to human beings by God is surreptitiously aborted, and they are dragged down into the slime.”

“If we are committed and involved in taking back the nation for Christian moral values, and if we are willing to risk the scorn of the secular media and the bureaucracy that stand against us, there is no doubt we can witness the dismantling of not just the Berlin Wall but the even more diabolical ‘wall of separation’ that has led to increasing secularization, godlessness, immorality, and corruption in our country.”

“God forbid that we who were born into the blessings of a Christian America should let our patrimony slip like sand through our fingers and leave to our children the bleached bones of a godless secular society. But whatever the outcome, one thing is certain: God has called us to engage the enemy in this culture war. That is our challenge today.”

“This is our land. This is our world. This is our heritage, and with God’s help, we shall reclaim this nation for Jesus Christ. And no power on earth can stop us.”

“How much more forcefully can I say it? The time has come, and it is long overdue, when Christians and conservatives and all men and women who believe in the birthright of freedom must rise up and reclaim America for Jesus Christ.”

Oh, and the Religious Right is still not dead. Jerry Falwell, Rousas John Rushdoony, Bill Bright and now D. James Kennedy may all be deceased, but leaders and organizations come and go. The Religious Right will be around for a long time, and they must be fought and stopped every step of the way.

Silver Daddies

Wow. Larry Craig gets around.

Connecticut voters are secular, poll shows

Here’s a neat poll taken among Connecticut residents asking their views on religion and politics, compared to the disturbing results for views on the same issue nationwide.

Connecticut voters want God off the campaign trail, out of the voting booth and away from the halls of government.

That’s according to a new poll on religion and politics sponsored by The Courant.

The poll, conducted earlier this month by the Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut, found that 44 percent of state residents said organized religion has too much influence on American politics.

Moreover, 68 percent said they don’t like it when politicians rely on their religious beliefs to make public policy decisions, and 54 percent said their own religion plays no role in deciding whom to support in an election.

It’s not that people in the state aren’t religious - 62 percent said religion was an “extremely important” or “very important” part of their lives.

But even the state’s most devout residents draw a clear line between religion and politics: 51 percent of those who said religion was “extremely important” to them said religious leaders should stay clear of politics.

“One of the things that make Connecticut distinct is that even the most religious residents believe that religious leaders shouldn’t get involved in politics,” said Monika McDermott, research director of the center and an assistant professor of political science at UConn.

[...]

The survey provides further evidence of just how different Connecticut’s political culture is from that of the bulk of the nation. A Newsweek poll of 1,004 Americans conducted in March found that only 32 percent of the respondents said religion has too much influence on public policy - and 31 percent believe it has too little influence. Only 17 percent of Connecticut respondents said religion has too little sway.

The results don’t surprise David A. Roozen, director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research at Hartford Seminary. Though evangelical Christians are the dominant voice of religion in American politics these days, their views are sharply out of step in a socially liberal state such as Connecticut, he said.

“Here in the Northeast, we’re blue states,” he said. “The perception of religion in politics is that it’s this conservative, reactionary evangelical Christian movement. … That’s not our religion.”

That’s not most people’s religion in America overall, either. Good for Connecticut.

It’s not over yet, Iowa

Exciting news coming out of Iowa.

Thursday afternoon, Polk County Judge Robert Hanson temporarily cleared the way for same-sex couples across the state to apply for marriage licenses in Polk County.

He ruled that Iowa’s 1998 Defense of Marriage Act, which allowed marriage only between a man and a woman, violated the constitutional rights of due process and equal protection of six gay couples who had sued.

County attorney John Sarcone promised a quick appeal, and he asked Hanson to stay his ruling until the appeal was resolved.

A dozen gay and lesbian couples were waiting at the county recorder’s office when it opened Friday morning.

By late morning, 20 had applied for marriage licenses when Recorder Julie Haggerty announced that she had been instructed to stop accepting the applications. Hanson later said the judge that he had formally stayed his ruling.

The judge’s stay means the recorder’s office is not permitted to accept any more marriage applications from gay couples until the Iowa Supreme Court rules on the county’s appeal.

Congratulations to the 20 couples in Iowa. There’s no way of knowing which way the state Supreme Court rules, but this is nevertheless exciting. I can imagine the hair on the back of people’s necks standing on end (from both sides) over what the Court will say.

Republican House Minority Leader Christopher Rants, said the ruling illustrates the need for a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

“I can’t believe this is happening in Iowa,” Rants said. “I guarantee you there will be a vote on this issue come January,” when the Legislature convenes.

Gov. Chet Culver left open the possibility of state action.

“While some Iowans may disagree on this issue, I personally believe marriage is between a man and a woman,” the governor said.

Yes, legislative action should obviously be expected. Iowa is no Massachusetts, but I have confidence an amendment to the state Constitution will not pass. I don’t think Rants is going to be able to get enough votes. While there are certainly enough state representatives and senators opposed to same-sex marriage, I do not believe there will be enough who believe that there should be a constitutional amendment. The reason the Federal Marriage Amendment failed was because of opponents of same-sex marriage voted against the FMA because they don’t believe amending the Constitution is appropriate. John McCain, for example, is opposed to same-sex marriage but voted against the FMA because a Constitutional ban is unneccessary. Also, Democrats have a majority in both chambers of the Iowa legislature, unlike in Congress when the FMA was up for vote.

I would still like to see same-sex marriage legalized by legislation as well. New York is very, very close to doing so, but not quite there. It would rob the fundies of their arguments of how the courts legislate from the bench.

John Warner to retire

Sen. John Warner (R-Virginia) has announced that he is retiring from the Senate. While I think this is a great opportunity for the DSCC to try picking up another seat (Warner practicly can’t be unseated because he’s so popular), I’m somewhat saddened by this news. I’ve been expecting Warner to retire, but I’ve also been hoping that he wouldn’t. I have a lot of respect for Senator Warner, even though we disagree on a great deal. I think he’s done a great job in the decades he’s spent in Washington, and I know that his wisdom and presence will be deeply missed. Senator Warner is not your average politician.

In any case, I’m all for former Governor Mark Warner running. He’s also popular, he’s got near-perfect name ID in the state, and with a strong campaign, he could win. I would have never thought that with Tim Kaine and Jim Webb, the big three Virginia offices would all be held by Democrats.

Another GOP sex scandal!!!!

Ah, the irony. This week’s traditional values politician in a sex scandal is U.S. Senator Larry Craig of Idaho. Craig was in a bathroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and got a little carried away in a bathroom stall.

According to Roll Call, the arresting officer alleged that Craig lingered outside a rest room stall where the officer was sitting, then entered the stall next door and blocked the door with his luggage. According to the arrest report, Craig tapped his right foot, which the officer said he recognized “as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct.”

The officer alleged that Craig then touched the officer’s foot with his foot and “proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall divider several times,” according to the arrest report cited by Roll Call. At that point, the officer said he put his police identification down by the floor so Craig could see it and informed the senator that he was under arrest, before any sexual contact took place.

Yes, Mr. Craig is the typical socially conservative halfwit…

In recent years, Craig’s voting record has earned him top ratings from social conservative groups such as the American Family Association, Concerned Women for America and the Family Research Council. He has supported a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, telling his colleagues that it was ” important for us to stand up now and protect traditional marriage, which is under attack by a few unelected judges and litigious activists.”

In 1996, Craig also voted in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act, which denies federal recognition to same-sex marriages and prevents states from being forced to recognize the marriages of gay and lesbian couples legally performed in other states.

Craig has also opposed expanding the federal hate crimes law to cover offenses motivated by anti-gay bias and, in 1996, voted against a bill that would have outlawed employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, which failed by a single vote in the Senate.

You swore your allegiance to The Jesus Monster, Mr. Craig, but you have betrayed him with your anti-family foot sex in a bathroom airport with a cop. Better watch your back.

Texas School Board won’t be causing trouble

Good news, but very surprising.

AUSTIN — A majority of State Board of Education members said the theory of intelligent design should be left out of the science curriculum for public schools.

The board will rewrite the science curriculum next year and some observers expect backers of intelligent design to push for the theory’s inclusion.

In interviews with The Dallas Morning News, 10 of the board’s 15 members said they wouldn’t support requiring the teaching of intelligent design. One board member said she was open to the idea. Four board members didn’t respond to the newspaper’s phone calls.

Proponents of intelligent design contend that life is too complex to have occurred by chance, requiring instead the guidance of an unnamed supernatural being. Critics say it’s a ploy for introducing creationism — the biblical account of the origin of humans — into science classes.

Observation: “Life is too complex” for evolution to be proven. Conclusion: The origins of our planet and species required the “guidance of an unnamed supernatural being.” Any holes in that?

McLeroy, R-College Station, said he doesn’t want to change the existing requirement that evolution be taught in high school biology classes. But he joined several of his colleagues in arguing that biology textbooks should cover the weaknesses of the theory of evolution.

Certainly. However, they must find evidence that there are weaknesses in the theory of evolution. That may prove difficult, because there really aren’t any.

Board member Pat Hardy said she was open to the idea of intelligent design curriculum, but she added that she doesn’t advocate putting any religious teachings into science classes.

“I am open to having intelligent design in there because there is a large body of evidence unanswered by the theory of evolution. We first need to hear from science educators and experts about whether this should be done,” said Hardy, R-Weatherford.

Right, well Intelligent Design is a religious teaching, and you can’t just fill a void of unanswered scientific questions regarding evolution with a story from a book that isn’t backed by any scientific evidence whatsoever. You can’t say “We don’t have the answers to this yet, so in the meantime, just believe…”

Anyway, the majority (two thirds, at the least!) are siding with the pro-facts side of this silly debate, so it looks like that’s a wrap. If only Texas elected more people who had this much common sense!

Roy Moore to represent clowns who disrupted Senate prayer

Former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore, removed from the bench for refusing to comply with a court order, will provide legal representation to the three fundamentalists who disrupted the Hindu prayer by Rajan Sed in the Senate chamber last month. The three wingnuts will face criminal charges in a DC court.

Roy Moore compares the “discrimination” against the three to the September 11th terrorist attacks and the Battle of Plattsburgh in the War of 1812. Yeah, really. Take a look:

[J]ust as the sun rose over the eastern mountains, the American guard-boat on the watch was seen rowing swiftly into the harbor. It reported the enemy in sight. … [Y]oung McDonough summoned his officers around him, and there, on the deck of the Saratoga, read the prayers of the ritual before entering into battle. . . . “Stir up thy strength, O Lord, and come and help us; for thou givest not always the battle to the strong, but canst save by many or by few.” It was a solemn, thrilling sight, and one never before witnessed on a vessel-of-war cleared for action. . . . Of the deeds of daring done on that day of great achievements, none evinced so bold and firm a heart as this act of religious worship.

The battle that day near Plattsburgh, New York, would be one of the crucial and decisive battles of the war, preventing the British from entering and controlling northern New York.

When we were attacked 187 years later on Sept. 11, 2001, the president, Congress, and many in our land again turned to God in prayer. Now six years later, on Sept. 11, 2007, we will witness another tragic offensive on our country when criminal trials will commence for three brave individuals charged with allegedly disrupting Congress. Their so-called “crime” was that they spoke in protest as the United States Senate recently opened with a Hindu ritual and prayer to an unknown god.

And then going on with the supremacy rhetoric…

Edmund Burke, a well-known British statesman and orator, once said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” A number of good men and women serving as United States senators did nothing as Rajan Zed for the first time in our history sprinkled “holy water” from the Ganges River around the Senate rostrum and then uttered a Hindu prayer to an unknown god. In fact, perhaps because of timidity or apathy, very few senators even bothered to attend, and none voiced an objection to this official government recognition of a false religion.

For whatever reason, it was left to Ante, Katherine, and Christan to stand for our country and our faith in God and face the raging fire of criticism, intimidation, and persecution which has followed. For my part, I admire and appreciate their courage. I believe that God who saves “by many or by few” answered the prayers of Commodore McDonough and our forefathers, and He has heard those of Ante, Katherine, and Christan. May their example encourage and inspire others to take a stand.

Well, I hope all this will make it into Moore’s argument in court. I’m sure his “Christian Nation” fantasy world as a justification for the actions of the three protesters will convince the judge to drop the charges against them…or not.

Here’s the video again of what happened that day. Pretty clearly a criminal violation of law, if you ask me just about any lawyer.

I hates teh fraudsters!

An Ohio-based anti-gay hate group claims it has enough signatures to put a question of whether Cincinnati’s anti-discrimination law should be upheld or repealed by ballot vote. However, the group, led by State Rep. Tom Brinkman (R-Etard), has been caught with election fraud! Names of non-existant people, as well as people who don’t live in Ohio (or even America) were written on the petition (a certain number of people must sign up for the question to be placed on the ballot). (365):

(Cincinnati, Ohio) A Cincinnati judge has renewed his call for state Rep. Tom Brinkman to be charged with election falsification over an unsuccessful bid to repeal Cincinnati’s ordinance protecting gays from discrimination.

Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman was sentencing two women who worked for Brinkman collecting names to have a repeal measure placed on the ballot in 2006.

The women working for Equal Rights Not Special Rights, headed up by the Republican lawmaker, pleaded guilty last month to election falsification.

They were accused of knowingly placing names on the petition that were fraudulent.

Equal Rights Not Special Rights had collected thousands of names on petitions to have a repeal measure put to voters last November.  But when it emerged that many of the signatures were fake the group voluntarily withdrew the measure. (story)

More than 7,600 signatures that were validated by the Hamilton County Board of Elections but the phony names were discovered during a second check before a challenge from Restore Fairness, a pro-gay rights group, was to begin before the Board of Elections.

Among the phony signatures were “Fidel Castro” and Cincinnati Reds owner “Bob Castellini.”

The women were sentenced on Monday to probation and 200 hours each of community service.

Ouch. “Fidel Castro?” Wow, that’s very unsuspicious. In any case, I’m puzzled as to why Brinkman and his clowns would feel the need to cheat. Ohio has been trending blue lately, but there are still thousands and thousands of wingers in the state who would be thrilled to sign that piece of shit. Brinkman should face charges and be expelled from the House.

Bobby Jindal: Asshat

Sigh. Another Religious Right pol unsubtly advertises his lunacy. Rep. Bobby Jindal (R-Louisiana) is the wingnut this time around. Bible Belt Blogger has the scoop:

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A political ad from the Louisiana governor’s race is drawing a storm of criticism for accusing Republican Rep. Bobby Jindal of calling Protestants “scandalous, depraved, selfish and heretical.”

Democrats say the state party’s 30-second TV spot - running in heavily Protestant central and north Louisiana - simply explains Jindal’s beliefs with his own words, using portions of the Catholic congressman’s religious writings through the 1990s, before he was an elected official.

Jindal, who is running for governor, said the ad distorts his writings.

A lawyer for his campaign has sent a letter to nine television stations saying the commercial is defamatory and asking them to stop showing it. Fellow Republicans and the head of a national Catholic organization called the ad a smear campaign.

State Democratic Party officials said they won’t drop it.

A spokeswoman for the Democratic Party said the ad is slated to run for about a week. It features an actress saying Jindal doesn’t respect other people’s religions and directs viewers to a Web site with links to several articles Jindal wrote on Catholicism.

“He wrote articles that insulted thousands of Louisiana Protestants,” the narrator says.

Good. The Democratic Party shouldn’t drop the ad. It’s “macaca” all over again. Louisianans have a right to know that the wingnut who wants to be their governor and currently represents one of their U.S. Congressional districts is a crazed lunatic.

Oh, and the Catholic organization who fired back at the Louisiana Democratic Party for the ad? Well, it’s Bill Donohue and the “Catholic League”, of course!

Catholic League president Bill Donohue blasted the ad today: “This is one of the most scurrilous smear jobs we’ve ever seen. When Jindal dropped the term ‘scandalous’ in his article, he was referring to the sad historical chapter that witnessed a division within the Christian house. To be exact, he made reference to the ‘scandalous series of divisions and new denominations’ that marked the post-Reformation period. Regarding the terms ‘utterly depraved,’ ‘selfish desires’ and ‘heresy,’ Jindal was citing Calvin. It was Calvin who warned against random interpretations of the Bible. As individuals, Calvin instructed, Christians were burdened with ‘utterly depraved’ minds and ‘selfish desires.’ According to Jindal, what concerned Calvin was a ‘subjective interpretation which leads to anarchy and heresy.’ “This is a fairly unremarkable exegesis. But to the twisted folks who lead the Louisiana Democratic Party, this is proof of bigotry.  

Oh, the spin!

Huckabee campaign slaps Wiley Drake

Mike Huckabee’s campaign has rightfully denounced insane pastor Wiley Drake of the (Southern Baptist Convention) for his calls for the deaths of particular members of Americans United For Separation of Church and State after the organization asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate Drake’s church for violation of federal law, namely endorsing a political campaign (Huckabee’s). (Arkansas Democrat Gazette):

Huckabee was campaigning Thursday. Alice Stewart, a campaign spokesman, said the campaign did not coordinate with Drake on any of the material he’s distributed regarding the Americans United complaint.

“We certainly don’t condone the evil comments he’s made,” she said.

Rep. Patrick Murphy endorses Obama

Congress’s only Iraq War vet endorsed Obama yesterday!

The only combat veteran from the war in Iraq serving in Congress endorsed Barack Obama yesterday, a major coup for the Illinois senator as he seeks to persuade voters he’s best equipped to be the next commander in chief.

Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.), who served as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division in Baghdad in 2003-’04, said Obama is “absolutely our best chance to change the direction of our country.”

“I’m inspired by his call to action to change how business is done in Washington,” Murphy said. “I believe Sen. Obama believes, as I do, that we need to fight a smarter, tougher war on terror.”

The endorsement is a blow to Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), who has worked with Murphy on a variety of issues, most notably co-sponsoring legislation this spring to enact a new G.I. bill for the 21st century. On Monday, she mentioned Murphy in her speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Kansas City.

A spokesman for Clinton declined yesterday to comment on the endorsement.

Obama is coming to New York today, revving up an effort to become more competitive on the front-runner’s home turf.

He is expected to pick up the endorsement of City Councilman Albert Vann (D-Brooklyn), the Daily News has learned. Vann joins a small coterie of New York officials bucking the state’s junior senator to back Obama.

Murphy wrote his views here.

As for the New Yorkers, Obama picked up the endorsements of Senator Eric Adams (D-Brooklyn); Assemblyman Michael Benjamin (D-Bronx); Suffolk County Legislator Jon Cooper (D-Suffolk County); City Councilwoman Helen Diane Foster (D-Bronx); Rev. Wendell Foster (Christ Church, Bronx); Rev. Clinton M. Miller (Brown Memorial Baptist Church, Brooklyn); Senator Kevin Parker (D-Brooklyn); City Councilman James Sanders, Jr. (D-Queens); and City Councilman Al Vann (D-Brooklyn).

In addition Assemblyman Karim Camara (D-Brooklyn), Suffolk County Legislator Elie Mystal (D-Suffolk County), Senator John L. Sampson (D-Brooklyn), and Suffolk County Legislator Vivian Viloria-Fisher (D-Suffolk County), endorsed Barack Obama today though they were unable to attend the event.

State senator Bill Perkins (D-Manhattan) endorsed Obama awhile ago.

Chip Pickering to leave Congress

Good riddance.

Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Miss., is announcing he’s resigning from Congress to work on K Street, becoming the latest House Republican to either vacate his seat or decide not to seek re-election in 2008.

This news — reported by the Cook Political Report and shared with First Read — comes after word that former Speaker Dennis Hastert and Rep. Deborah Pryce will not seek another term in office.

Pickering was seen as the heir apparent to the next GOP Senate opening in Mississippi. Does this mean that Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., has hinted to Pickering that he’ll be seeking re-election?

*** UPDATE *** The Cook team is getting conflicting signals over whether Pickering is resigning or whether he won’t be seeking another term (however, with Pickering heading to work on K Street, he might want to leave Congress before the lobbying/ethics reform legislation is signed into law). But one thing is clear: Another GOP-held House seat is being vacated.

K-Street, great. Good luck lobbying Democrats. Pickering’s district is, of course, a Republican stronghold, but it’s a good thing Pickering is out. His voting record is says quite enough.

• Voted NO on expanding research to more embryonic stem cell lines. (Jan 2007)
• Voted NO on allowing human embryonic stem cell research. (May 2005)
• Voted YES on restricting interstate transport of minors to get abortions. (Apr 2005)
• Voted YES on making it a crime to harm a fetus during another crime. (Feb 2004)
• Voted YES on banning partial-birth abortion except to save mother’s life. (Oct 2003)
• Voted YES on forbidding human cloning for reproduction & medical research. (Feb 2003)
• Voted YES on funding for health providers who don’t provide abortion info. (Sep 2002)
• Voted YES on banning Family Planning funding in US aid abroad. (May 2001)
• Voted YES on federal crime to harm fetus while committing other crimes. (Apr 2001)
• Voted YES on banning partial-birth abortions. (Apr 2000)
• Voted YES on barring transporting minors to get an abortion. (Jun 1999)
• Rated 0% by NARAL, indicating a pro-life voting record. (Dec 2003)
• Voted YES on Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage. (Jul 2006)
• Voted YES on Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage. (Sep 2004)
• Voted YES on protecting the Pledge of Allegiance. (Sep 2004)
• Voted YES on banning gay adoptions in DC. (Jul 1999)
• Rated 13% by the ACLU, indicating an anti-civil rights voting record. (Dec 2002)
• Voted NO on allowing Courts to decide on “God” in Pledge of Allegiance. (Jul 2006)
• Voted YES on allowing school prayer during the War on Terror. (Nov 2001)
• Voted YES on allowing vouchers in DC schools. (Aug 199
• Voted YES on vouchers for private & parochial schools. (Nov 1997)
• Supports requiring schools to allow prayer. (Jan 2001)
• Rated 18% by the NEA, indicating anti-public education votes. (Dec 2003)
• Supports a Constitutional Amendment for school prayer. (May 1997)
• Rated 0% by the LCV, indicating anti-environment votes. (Dec 2003)
• Rated 92% by the Christian Coalition: a pro-family voting record. (Dec 2003)
• Voted YES on banning physician-assisted suicide. (Oct 1999)
• Voted NO on redeploying US troops out of Iraq starting in 90 days. (May 2007)
• Voted YES on declaring Iraq part of War on Terror with no exit date. (Jun 2006)
• Voted YES on treating religious organizations equally for tax breaks. (Jul 2001)
• Voted YES on responsible fatherhood via faith-based organizations. (Nov 1999)

Update: According to The Hill, Rep. Pickering is not vacating the seat; he’s not seeking re-election in 2008.