Bill Berkowitz: The Christian Right's world wide
anti-gay crusade

post from BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash on 11 March 2009 01:51:39 PM. © BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Bill Berkowitz

In between battling the homosexual menace in the U.S., hawking his notorious holocaust revisionist book "The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party," and declaring war against the Southern Poverty Law Center for refusing to remove his Abiding Truth Ministries from its list of hate groups, Scott Lively president of "Defend the Family" -- a service of Abiding Truth Ministries -- has once again taken his anti-gay crusade on the road.

In late February, UGPulse.com reported that the Family Life Network "has organized a training seminar to equip Ugandans with information and skills to fight what it calls spiraling promotion of homosexuality in the country." Stephen Langa, executive director of Family Life Network, "says that Uganda is now under extreme pressure from homosexual groups to de-criminalize homosexuality," UGPulse.com noted. "He says homosexuals in the country were boosted by a December 2008 Court victory which declared that it is unconstitutional to discriminate against homosexuals and that they should enjoy the same rights as enjoyed by other Ugandans."

Lively, who has spoken at previous African events organized by Langa, was joined in early March at the Hotel Triangle in Kampala by Don Schmierer from International Healing Ministries and a board member of Exodus International, and Caleb Lee Brundidge, who works with a ministry that "rehabilitates homosexuals and lesbians."

According to Don Burroway, writing at Box Turtle Bulletin, Schmierer, "the author of five books related to ex-gay counseling" -- including "An Ounce of Prevention," "Celebrating God's Design," and "What's a Father To Do?" -- has been "quite a globetrotter lately, having traveled to Seoul, South Korea, in March of last year, as well as to the Ukraine last summer." According to Burroway, all of Schmierer's books "have been translated into several languages, including Russian and Ukraine."

Brundidge is a staff member at Richard Cohen's International Healing Foundation, "which advocates the controversial 'holding' or 'touch' therapy to cure homosexuality," Burroway pointed out.

At the Kampala conference, Lively is quoted by Ugandan activist Kasha Jacqueline from Freedom and Roam Uganda as saying that "The gay movement is very evil and we must stop it immediately." Lively went on:

Bookmark/Search this post with:

buzzflash |

delicious | digg

digg |

yahoo |

technorati

Technorati Tags: Guest Contribution Bill Berkowitz anti-gay hate group

Read The Full Article:
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/contributors/1926

Digg this

POST-RACIAL.

post from Ezra Klein on 11 March 2009 01:48:00 PM. © Ezra Klein

By Dylan MatthewsWhen the GOP appears set to dump its first African-American leader mere weeks into his tenure in favor of a member of an all-white country club, it's hard for schadenfreude not to turn into genuine pity and concern. Obviously, this was[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein_archive?month=03&year=2009&base_name
=postracial

Digg this

DNI Blair: Iran Undecided on Nuclear Weapons

post from Taylor Marsh on 11 March 2009 01:40:47 PM. © Taylor Marsh

The disagreements inside the Obama administration on Iran’s building nuclear capabilities were on display recently when Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mullen said yes, but Secretary Gates said no. Dennis Blair joins in on the side of Gates, with[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.taylormarsh.com/2009/03/11/dni-blair-iran-doesnt-have-nuclear-capabili
ties/

Digg this

Jon Stewart gets the last laugh

post from Daily Kos on 11 March 2009 01:40:04 PM. © Daily Kos

Jim Cramer picked a fight with the wrong guy...then again, it's not like anybody is accusing him of being all that bright.

Links: Also on DKTV

Between Cramer and Rick Santelli, it kinda' puts a crimp in the winger's argument that NBC is the Fox of the left.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/2qBxyOmo02k/707071

Digg this

Poll: Voters view Rush Limbaugh negatively by a
two-to-one ratio.

post from Think Progress on 11 March 2009 01:35:00 PM. © Think Progress

In a new survey conducted by Democracy Corps and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, 53 percent of voters said they had a negative opinion of hate radio talker Rush Limbaugh, compared to just 26 percent who view him positively. In all, nearly half the country, 45 percent, view him “very, very negatively.” In their analysis, the pollsters note that “Limbaugh?s rating has deteriorated among moderate Republicans since November?s election, with his unfavorability rising from 37 to 46 percent.”

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/03/11/poll-limbaugh-negative/

Digg this

Let's See More Austan Goolsbee

post from MyDD on 11 March 2009 01:32:02 PM. © MyDD

From First Read: Desperately seeking another spokesman: As voices from the left -- especially Nancy Pelosi's -- keep alive the chatter about a second stimulus, the White House is looking for another spokesman to talk about the economy. White House aides[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mydd/~3/8lEJQxbTFgs/8161

Digg this

RNC Tries Again On Web Design Doc

post from TPMMuckraker on 11 March 2009 01:32:00 PM. © TPMMuckraker

If at first you don't succeed....

In what looks like a second bite at the apple, Michael Steele's RNC has put out a new Request-For-Proposal for the redesign of its website -- after its original two-page effort was widely panned as sketchy and unprofessional.

That first RFP, which was circulating earlier this week, was so lacking in detail that one prominent right-wing blogger suggested it could mean Steele already had a favored contractor in mind, and was just going thru the RFP process for show. We offered a suggestion for who that favored contractor might be here.

The new RFP, posted by the site Tech President, is a bit longer -- five pages -- and a bit more specific about what the committee is looking for.

One interesting detail: the RNC says it wants a site that, in Tech President's words "functions as the backbone of a distributed network of sites populated by state parties and campaigns -- nonetheless connected back to the mothership at RNC headquarters." It's unclear whether that means it might subsume the state party sites, which currently are independent.

And, unlike before, there's a budget: $250,000 for the main site, plus $200,000 for the network of sites.

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TPMmuckraker/~3/Zuxi7FM_r1s/rnc_tries_again_on_web
_design_doc.php

Digg this

Michael Winship: Oh, What a Lovely Class War!

post from BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash on 11 March 2009 01:30:51 PM. © BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Michael Winship

My goodness, how they howl when the proverbial shoe is on the proverbial other foot. You'd think the Red Army had just left Moscow and was preparing a frontal assault on the Federal Reserve.

So what are conservatives, Wall Street, and financial television commentators shouting? Socialists! That's right. Spread the word: Socialists are swarming over our nation's capital, and making off with the means of production, otherwise known as campaign contributions and the Federal budget. You got trouble, my friends.

The hysteria started during the campaign retreated a bit, but was back full throttle by the day after the inauguration. President Obama's left hand was barely off Abraham Lincoln's Bible as Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) told the January 21 edition of The Wall Street Journal, "What I'm looking to do as a conservative leader in the Senate is to identify those Republicans, and even some Democrats, and put together a consensus of people who can help stop this slide toward socialism."

Newt Gingrich, resurrected yet again, proclaims his Contract on America has been canceled and replaced by Barack Obama's "European socialism." Josh Bolin, founder of the conservative Web site Reagan.org is quoted in The New York Times, saying, "Socialism is something new for us to hit Obama over the head with," and a panel at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference was titled, "Bailing Out Big Business: Are We All Socialists Now?"
Bookmark/Search this post with: buzzflash | delicious | digg digg | yahoo yahoo | technorati Technorati Tags: Guest Contribution Michael Winship Barack Obama socialism tax rate FDR

Read The Full Article:
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/contributors/1925

Digg this

How Many Seats Will Mindless Obstructionism Cost
The Republican Party

Americans may be evenly divided between reactionaries and progressives, in terms of self-identification but they overwhelmingly favor progressive solutions to the problems the country faces.

? By a margin of almost nine to one, Americans agree that ?government investments in education, infrastructure, and science are necessary to ensure America?s long-term economic growth,? (79 percent agree, 12 percent neutral, 9 percent disagree).

? More than three in four Americans (76 percent) also agree with the president?s argument that ?America?s economic future requires a transformation away from oil, gas, and coal to renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.?

? Nearly three in four Americans believe that ?government regulations are necessary to keep businesses in check and protect workers and consumers,? (73 percent agree, 15 percent neutral, 12 percent disagree).

? Nearly two in three Americans (65 percent) agree that ?the federal government should guarantee affordable health coverage for every American.?

But while the Grand Obstructionist Party is trying to figure out who will lead them into ultimate irrelevance in the 2010 and 2012 reduxes of 1934 and 1936, their strategy has been eloquently explained by a junior Republican leader, North Carolina congressional closet queen Patrick McHenry. Their biggest name (sorry Lindsey) senatorial closet queen can spin it any way he likes for the media-- while obstructing every single thing the president does to try to rescue the country from a Depression caused by 8 years of Republican misrule-- but it is McHenry who really laid it all out bare for everyone to see.

McHenry's words are clear. He will not help rebuild the economy, create jobs or make America more secure if it means working with the Democrats. This, he believes, will lead to the unthinkable-- Congress remaining in the hands of the Democrats another two years and possibly a second-term for President Obama.

With his vote against the president's economic recovery package, McHenry has thwarted efforts that could create or save 105,000 jobs in North Carolina, help responsible homeowners stay in their homes, cut taxes for hardworking Americans and put North Carolinians back to work.

"Rep. McHenry's brazen disregard for the well-being of hardworking North Carolinians is stunning," said Jessica Santillo, Southern Regional press secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

We agree. McHenry's words and actions in Washington show he cares little about the people of Catawba County and the 10th District. It seems to us his only concern is maintaining his seat in Congress and discrediting the Democrats.

McHenry-- unlike McConnell-- should at least be commended for his straight talk. And he does, at least when he says this kind of stuff, speak for the entire right wing of the Inside-the-Beltway GOP Establishment. So why do I think that the 2010 and 2012 elections will be more like the 1934 and 1936 elections than like the 1998 and 2000 elections? (And keep in mind, after the 1936 first re-election of FDR, the obstructionist Republicans-- who were playing by the exact same playbook Little Patty McHenry is singing from-- were left with 16 senators and 88 House members.)

Polls show that a majority of voters like Obama?s attempts to establish bipartisan cooperation and say McConnell?s Republicans are playing politics. In a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey, 56 percent said Republicans were opposing Obama to gain political advantage; just 30 percent thought they were standing on principle.

McConnell?s stated willingness to work with Obama so far hasn?t matched his actions. He voted against the president on the $787 billion economic-stimulus plan, opposed an expansion of a children?s health-care program and refused to support Obama?s nominees for Treasury secretary and attorney general.

Well at least their party's chairman is yappin' his head off and proving to the world that... he really wants to look cool and pro-choice-ish. Not workin' for him; not even a little. Toast? Toast crumbs?

Read The Full Article:
http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2009/03/how-many-seats-will-mindless.html

Digg this