AUDIO: Leader of Hutaree Christian militia rehearses for rally

By GottaLaff

From the Department of Guess Who's Not Coming to Dinner:

David Stone rehearses for militia rally:

What a guy. Just the type you'd want to bring home to Mom and Dad.

Federal court officials today released a secret recording of David Stone, the leader of the Hutaree Christian militia in Lenawee County, made as he practices a speech to supporters during a Feb. 6 car ride to a national militia meeting. [...]

"We outnumber them, " Stone said. "They forget, they live in our neighborhoods. They shop at our grocery stores. They eat at our restaurants. We are the ones who control everything in this nation from preparing the food that they eat to running the power stations. … "

Is the media ready to call them terrorists yet?

This post is dedicated to those who incite violence and hate speech, and/or stand by as others do either or both.

I'm talking to you, Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Michele Bachmann (and other conservative Congress members), and any extremist who may have momentarily slipped my mind.

This kind of behavior should not be the new normal, but unfortunately, that seems to be the case.

"This country, I think, will be brought down into violence."

From the April 19 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Glenn Beck Program

H/t: T1theinfamous

The Potential Domestic White "Christian" Terrorists in Our Midst are Locked and Loaded

By GottaLaff

Your Daily Dose of BuzzFlash, via my pal Mark Karlin:

Through the confused feeling of progressives about a White House that has confounded expectations and tipped corporatist, we appear to be underestimating a serious and real threat to our nation: sedition, violence and assassinations. [...]

[T]he GOP, the likes of Dick Armey, some religious right groups, Aryan nation cells, the Tea Party, and Neo-Confederacy advocates, have poured the gasoline on our Constitutional democracy and lit the matches. They are the same threat as Al-Qaeda, perhaps a more serious one, because they operate from within the United States and are urged on by the right wing corporate media. [...]

This isn't a parlor game; it's a nascent stage of sedition: the open and violent challenge to a legitimate government.

When the likes of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh challenge the validity of the U.S. government (it began with the "birther" movement, claiming that Obama was illegitimately in the White House), along with virtually the entire FOX propaganda and seditious network, we have what amounts to the beginning of an insurrection. The Neo-Confederates have also been given license to come out of the woodwork and join with the Sarah Palin [...]

Challenging the legitimacy of a government to rule is the most basic form of sedition. Violence comes from an uprising of those who believe, with each passing day, that they are living under an "oppressive" form of government, and hearing that confirmed from their favorite right wing talkers and politicians. [...]

Remember Timothy McVeigh? There are tens of thousands of white "Christian" males out there now, potential and actual domestic terrorists in our midst.

Please go here for more.

President Obama criticizes Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill

This is why he should have gone to the breakfast, throw their hateful bigotry in their faces. Kind of weird that Hillary would criticize them since she's been known to spend quality time with "The Family".

Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama strongly criticized controversial anti-homosexuality legislation being considered by Uganda's legislature during an appearance Thursday at the National Prayer Breakfast.

The organization which sponsors the breakfast, the Fellowship Foundation, has been associated with efforts to pass the bill, according to the ethics group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

The measure would punish sexual activity between persons of the same sex with long jail terms or death.

It is "unconscionable to target gays or lesbians for who they are," Obama said.

The measure being considered in Uganda is "odious," he added.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also criticized the bill during an appearance at the breakfast.

Relax, Dems, 2010 isn't 1994

By GottaLaff

Nancy L. Cohen* has a terrific op-ed in today's L.A. Times that points out the differences between 1994 and 2010. This is a relatively detailed piece, but I'll boil it down to the basics:

What is the source of this breathless hysteria? Memories of the 1994 Republican midterm landslide. But everyone should take a deep breath: The 2010 midterms will not be a repeat of 1994. Why? Because almost everything we think we know about the 1994 election is wrong. [...]

[I]t's essential to get history right, and what was most important about 1994 politically won't make or break the 2010 elections. Congress changed hands in 1994 because the Christian right recruited new voters and white Southerners shifted en masse to the GOP.

Neither evangelicals nor white Southerners can swing this year's election, because they are the Republican Party.

In November, the GOP needs to pick up 40 seats in the House and 11 in the Senate to win control of Congress. It needs to broaden its constituency significantly but nothing suggests there are sufficient numbers of additional voters who can be recruited to its cause.

But what about the "tea party" movement? [...]

There is no good evidence -- in surveys or reporting -- that they are anything other than disaffected conservatives who have previously voted Republican. At this moment, the odds are better that they'll split the GOP than that they'll sweep the Democrats out of power. [...]

In 2010, Democrats will lose some seats, as have all but three incumbent parties in midterm elections since the New Deal. But the demographics are clear: 1994 won't repeat itself.

It's time to calm down.

The only question I have after reading all that is, what about independent voters?

*Nancy L. Cohen is a historian and the author of "The Reconstruction of American Liberalism, 1865-1914" and "The Social History of the United States: The 1990s."

VIDEO: “Pray for Obama” Psalm 109:8 more like biblical death threat

By GottaLaff

As Frank Schaeffer told Rachel Maddow on Tuesday, the anti-Obama religious rhetoric is “trawling for assassins:”

If you did happen to watch The Rachel Maddow Show the other day, you've been well-informed about the appalling sales pitches, er, threats, um, prayers of some very misguided, very destructive religious extremists:

Diana Butler Bass at Beliefnet explains that Psalm 109 is one of the “imprecatory” prayers, “a lament in the form of petition to destroy one’s enemies.” While perhaps intended to be a joke, she notes that the psalm actually “entreats God to destroy the president”

Zazzle had the good sense and taste to remove the items from their site. However:

CafePress has been carrying the Psalm 109:8 items but pulled the items from their website yesterday, though it appears that as of today they have relisted several items, issuing this statement:

We initially pulled the Psalm 109:8 content from our products today because broader media dialog indicated that these designs potentially suggested violence towards the president. Based on current public discourse and further review of the actual content, we have determined that it is fair political commentary and we are in the process of reinstating this merchandise. As with all of our content, these designs will continue to be reviewed and if at any time their meaning is construed as advocating violence we will revisit our decision.

Based on current public discourse and our determination of what it is fair political commentary, Psalm 109:8 products are still featured on our site. Anti-presidential gear has been a mainstay at CafePress since we were founded in 1999 and has become a key component of political discourse. Our site has become a cultural barometer of public opinion and as such designs often come into question. In managing our content we are trying to protect self-expression, while making sure we are not advocating violence.

Sometimes it's better to consider common decency and the safety of the president than it is to make a quick buck. Sometimes disclaimers just don't cut it. Sometimes the priority should be concern over that one person who could snap after being egged on by your product line.

UPDATE per Xero in Comments, they took them down:

"General consensus has proven that the design does point to a broader interpretation of the Psalm and thus has been deemed inappropriate for sale at CafePress."

H/t: FreeRangeTalk

Gingrich Mobilizing Christian Conservatives

By GottaLaff

The era of change never happened for the Rushpublics: Newt is energized "like never before"!

Newt Gingrich is stepping up his efforts to attract conservative Christians "like never before," reports U.S. News and World Report.

"Gingrich has launched an organization devoted to bringing conservative evangelicals and Catholics into the political process and to strengthening the frayed alliance between economic and religious conservatives... This spring, Gingrich will speak to a handful of large gatherings for politically conservative clergy... And this fall, Gingrich is planning to release a movie about the role that Pope John Paul II's 1979 trip to Poland played in bringing down the Soviet Union."

I'm not so sure the country has the stomach for either Newtie or his desire for another surge of Christian conservatives. In fact, enough with surges in general. We've had our fill.

Tony Perkins: HHS nominee Sebelius "extremely pro-abortion"; other religious leaders out to thwart nomination

By GottaLaff

A few religious groups are out to get HHS nominee Kathleen Sebelius, and also hope to hurt President Obama with Catholic voters. That Obama. He's such an abortion-loving party-pooper. Why... why... he's so darned anti-life that he's trying to... end a war! Why did we ever vote for him?

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), President Obama's choice to head the Department of Health and Human Services, has touched off criticism over her association with a Kansas abortion provider.

Sebelius vetoed a late-term aborition law in 2008, and in 2007 she held a reception at the Kansas governor's mansion that included Dr. George Tiller, a Wichita doctor whose clinic provided late-term abortions. Tiller was under investigation for violating that state's restrictions on some forms of abortion.

The reception, which Sebelius office said Tiller won at an auction, has nonetheless ignited a furor among anti-abortion groups and activists.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins called Sebelius an "extremely pro-abortion" pick to head HHS.

Sebelius is a cavalier baby-killer! What a bad, bad woman! She's nothing like Perkins, who simply palled around with KKK Grand Wizard David Duke. Why can't more people be like Tony?

Patrick Mahoney, executive director of the Christian Defense Coalition, said within an hour of the news of Sebelius' nomination on Saturday night, he had been in touch with many social conservatives about formulating a strategy to oppose the nomination. One facet of that strategy will be to hold a news conference this week, he said.

Mahoney acknowledged it will be extremely difficult to thwart the Sebelius nomination in a Democratic-controlled Senate, but claimed that Obama's selection will hurt him with Catholic voters.

Along those lines, Mahoney said, the Sebelius confirmation process could be hampered if Catholic leaders speak out against Sebelius. Mahoney said he will be in touch with such leaders in the coming days.

Speaking ill of others: That's not very Christian of him.

Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, said his group will make sure that senators are provided information about the connection between Sebelius and Tiller.

The pick of Sebelius shows the "radical nature of Obama," Newman said. [...]

In 2006, Joseph Neumann, the archbishop of Kansas City, said Sebelius should refrain from receiving communion until she changed her views.

Sebelius has won backing from several pro-choice organizations who point out several steps Sebelius has taken they say have reduced abortions in the state. Catholics United even launched a website -- CatholicsForSebelius.org -- backing her nomination.

But no worries. Sebelius will be just fine:

Barring complications that have plagued other Obama administration nominees, though, Sebelius is expected to sail through the Senate. Top Republicans in Washington expect Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) to take the lead in opposing Sebelius.

Let's hope she paid her taxes.

Disgraced in sex-and-drugs scandal, fallen pastor Ted Haggard returns to public eye

Ay yi yi as Rick Sanchez would say. Sometimes you just can't escape this stuff.

Earlier this month, a guest took the pulpit at Open Bible Fellowship in Morrison, Ill., a 350-member church surrounded by cornfields. The speaker was an insurance salesman from Colorado named Ted Haggard.

The former superstar pastor, disgraced two years ago in a sex-and-drugs scandal, had returned — this time as a Christian businessman preaching a message that was equal parts contrition and defiance. Haggard linked his fall to being molested in second grade and apologized again.

His two sermons were posted, fleetingly, on Haggard's Web site under one word: "Alive!"

While his exact plans remain unclear, Haggard is unmistakably making himself a public figure again, nine months after his former church said he walked away from an oversight process meant to restore him.

Public figures get public scrutiny there Ted. You ready for that?

Religious extremism OK if it's Christian

This is the kind of crap millions of people see every morning. Personally, some of us do have a problem with extremist views like speaking in tongues, exorcisms and healings.

Bachmann to environmentalists: Jesus already saved the planet

By GottaLaff

Another Scooby Doo "wha-a?" moment: Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, the Christian Righter from Minnesota, thinks the planet has already been saved, so put away those green light bulbs, solar panels, and Priuseseses:

"[Pelosi] is committed to her global warming fanaticism to the point where she has said that she's just trying to save the planet," Bachmann told the right-wing news site OneNewsNow. "We all know that someone did that over 2,000 years ago, they saved the planet -- we didn't need Nancy Pelosi to do that."

Ummm... speechless.

Other recent Bachmannisms include the claim that there isn't actually any wildlife in the areas of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge where she wants more drilling, and the allegation that Democrats want high gas prices so as to force people to move into "inner cities" and "the urban core."

Apparently she made these statements while taking a break to disprove evolution.