Archive for religious right

PhotOH! Well, come on, if a**holes can get married…

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Being an asshole is part of my manly essencegay if choice so what, people choose to be assholes, they marry

This photo (H/t: @GaryBlackmon) comes to us courtesy of the Stop Gay Bashing page on Facebook, which features these messages:

It’s time to put a stop to Anti-Gay Bullying and Harassment in life. We are here to give hope and advice to those who need it and to stop this nonsense once and for all.

Just a reminder to everyone: This is a page where hate, bigotry & ignorance is NOT TOLERATED and will get you permanently banned. If you don’t have anything positive to say, then please by all means Unlike the page. No one is forcing you to linger here. Remember, LOVE conquers EVERYTHING. So with that said, PEACE & LOVE from all of us here at Stop Gay Bashing.

Promoting equality, as illustrated by the aptly named Equality House below, is truly American. I not only “Liked” that Facebook page, I loved it.

Topeka, Kansas house across from the Westboro Baptist Church.

Screen grab from video of Topeka, Kansas house across from the Westboro Baptist Church.

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Maryland trolley company halts wedding rides after marriage equality law

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gay trolley

It’s nearly 2013, yet some people can’t seem to stop living in the past. And by past I mean 2012. Same-sex marriage is about to become legal in Maryland, but discrimination trumps equality and apparently, income. Specifically, the owner of Discover Annapolis Tours has decided to forgo $50,000 a year because his “Christian convictions” somehow make him believe that icky gay people getting hitched will somehow affect straight couples. Or something.

He’d rather shut down a source of income and avoid legal hot water (and legal gay married people) than allow any loving couple– gay or straight– to ride on his Straight Love and Lifelong Monogamous Commitment Only wedding trolley cars. Waving good-bye to revenue works better for him than allowing married gays and lesbians to enjoy a wedded bliss jaunt on his anti-gay rights, anti-civil rights wedding vehicle.

 

Via the L.A. Times:

 

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A company whose old-fashioned trolleys are iconic in the city’s wedding scene has abandoned the nuptial industry rather than serve same-sex couples. [...]

While most wedding businesses across the country have embraced the chance to serve same-sex couples, a small minority has struggled to balance religious beliefs against business interests.

Frank Schubert, the political strategist who ran campaigns against same-sex marriage in Maryland and three other states, said, “The law doesn’t protect people of faith. It simply doesn’t.”

Protect them from what exactly? Gay cooties? Same-sex couples’ magic ability to abruptly turn opposite sex partners gay?

Discover Annapolis Tours owner Matt Grubbs:

“The law exempts my minister from doing same-sex weddings, and the Knights of Columbus don’t have to rent out their hall for a gay wedding reception, but somehow my religious convictions don’t count for anything.

Don’t be silly. Your religious convictions count for a lot! Like seeing some people as less equal than others, f’rinstance.

Prospective client Chris Belkot responded to Grubbs:

“It is your right to run your business any way you see fit, but let’s be honest here, you drive a trolley up and down a street. Not exactly God’s work.

Amen.

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Former Sen. Alan Simpson Calls Rick Santorum Homophobic & Disgusting. How About Christian Ayatollah?

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For background, our post of the CBS interview with Alan Simpson is here.

Now, your Daily Dose of BuzzFlash at Truthout, via my friend Mark Karlin:

…Santorum has the pedal to the metal when it comes to viewing Jesus as America’s commander in chief – and the “man on dog” driver appears to be on a Holy Spirit brand of methadone. [...]

Did we also mention that the GOP candidate who makes the Pope seem like a liberal secularist recently implied that the US under Obama’s presidency is akin to the rise of Hitler? And what about the former Pennsylvania senator telling a university audience in 2008 that “Satan has his sights on the United States of America”?

Rick, who appears obsessed with denouncing homosexuality with fire and brimstone, also appears to renounce having sex for pleasure. In fact, he is not just horrified by gays; he appears wrathful about any sex that is not for procreation [...]

Isn’t it ironic that Santorum would turn the US government into a religious police state, a theocracy similar to Iran’s, just a different religion?

Please read the whole post here.

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VIDEO: Pat Robertson Warns of “Atheist Dictatorship”

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He says this like it’s a bad thing:

Every time I hear my former employer* speak, all I can think of is Jim Ward’s impression of him.

Here’s a comment from under the video at YouTube:

Hey, lets start an atheist paradise, a haven if you will & make sure it’s a gated community who’s sacred edicts are reinforced by capital punishment, banishment, flame ,or torture.

Wait a second…

EntinludeX

*I was hired by a production company at CBS to do some work for The Family Channel, writing hundreds of jokes for an alien character who visits, and is confused by, earth (these were to be used as bumpers for TFC). One of the things I thought would perplex him was a roll of unfurling toilet paper, so I submitted a joke to that effect.

It was rejected. Why? The words “toilet paper” were unacceptable to Pat Robertson.

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Authoritarian Right Wingers Want Government to Impose “Moral Values” on Us — And Call It “Freedom”

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Your Daily Dose of BuzzFlash on Truthout, via my buddy Mark Karlin:

There have been a few surveys over the years that reportedly conclude that many conservative voters, in general, have lower IQs than liberals. [...]

What may be at work here, however, is the issue of openness to new ideas and reason. Clearly, one thing distinguishing progressives from the populist right wing is their support of secularism over authoritarianism. While this split is not absolute (the Tea Party won’t accept authority from a black president because they regard him as illegitimate based on race, but did accept authoritarianism from Bush and Cheney because they were white), it is, generally, a noteworthy distinction. [...]

For the religious fundamentalists, for example, this plays out in women’s subservient role to men as wives, and in a rejection of the sexual revolution… Their acceptance of this way of life is due to a biblical “framing” of the world. [...]

What could be more hierarchical than electing leaders who claim that God is providing them with their mandates?

In addition, when there is deep uncertainty and economic discomfort in the world, authoritarianism and the promise of “simple solutions” appeals to those who don’t care or don’t have the ability to think beyond immediate needs and self-identity (determined by categories such as race and religion). This explains why many poor or working-class whites (think Tea Party) support simplistic notions of public and economic policy and look to demagogues for narrow-minded leadership (think Glenn Beck and Newt Gingrich, neither of whom are stupid, by the way).

Add to that the patriarchal and military reverence for authority of the South – which goes back to the Confederacy and a plantation-based society powered by slavery – and you have a pretty steroid-powered tilt toward authoritarian solutions among the right wing (which is pretty much the Republican Party, nowadays). [...]

Secularism offers an opposite alternative. [...]

There are many more nuances and uncertainties, an outlook that is itself anathema to those who embrace authoritarian and simplistic solutions at odds with the facts.

I highly recommend reading the entire thing here.

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Rick Santorum’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad English, but Christian conservative leaders back him anyway

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I have a pet peeve. When I see public figures (Okay, and not so public figures. Okay, and sometimes even friends.) use egregiously bad grammar or mispronunciate (yes, that was intentional) or invent words, like “misunderestimate” or “pundints” or “nu-kew-lar”, it drives me a little nuts.

I can’t help it, it’s been ingrained in me since I was a kid. I had an excellent education, and for that I owe my teachers a huge debt of gratitude. And while I am, admittedly, critical, I make plenty of mistakes, too, and often use twisted grammar or invented words as a writing device.

But I expect more from certain people, especially leaders who hold themselves up as role models or stress their own superiority and that of those who are just like they are over Americans who they imply are “less than.”

So anyway, there I was, minding my own business, reading a couple of CNN articles about how Christian conservative leaders voted to support Rick Santorum and how Rick Santorum’s latest pitch was to warn voters that President Obama would “destroy” Willard Romney in November. I got to the end of the second piece and the following jumped out at me:

[Santorum] plans to make Romney his main target.

I think there are difference between me and Gingrich but frankly there are bigger differences between Romney and I than Newt and I,” he said.

Between me and Gingrich“? “Between Romney and I… Newt and I“?

Well, this may explain one thing: Why Santorum attacked the president for suggesting that American kids going to college was a good thing… although you’d think after earning three degrees of his own, he would have learned to speak English properly. Especially if he thinks it should be the official language of the United States.

And by “English” he means lousy English. You know, like the kind Rick Perry uses.

Keep ‘em uninformed and uneducated, right Ricky? That’s the only way the GOP can win… other than through enormous undisclosed corporate donations, fixing voting machines, and voter suppression, I mean.

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Herman Cain: “Not that I had anything against foreign doctors–but it sounded TOO foreign.”

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Is this a spoof post? Because Herman Cain is so crazy, I wouldn’t put these comments past him.

Religious television station Trinity Broadcasting Network runs a Christian-themed amusement park called The Holy Land Experience, and Herman Cain made a campaign stop there.

For a measly $35 you can watch a reenactment of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ… and meet St. Hermie! And, wowzers, you can even have your picture taken with Jesus on a Harley. Holy political donations, Batman! Via Chris Moody:

“Crucifixion’s at 2:30,” a robed disciple/greeter says as I walk in, pointing toward an amphitheater. “You’ll want to get there early to get good seats.”

“Will we have time to see Herman Cain?” I ask.

“Definitely,” he replies. “Cain won’t start until Jesus returns, which will be after the resurrection.”

Who knew Jesus was on such a strict schedule?

You can’t make this stuff up. Are you taking notes, SNL?

Then Hermie got his moment in the spotlight. Hold on to your togas:

He begins with a story about how he knew he would survive when he discovered that his physician was named “Dr. Lord,” that the hospital attendant’s name was “Grace” and that the incision made on his chest during the surgery would be in the shape of a “J.”

And the hole in his head was the size of the Crystal Cathedral.

But then, just when he was getting all Jesusy and holier-than-thou, there was a glitch: one of the surgeon’s name was “Dr. Abdallah.” There goes the neighborhood.

“I said to his physician assistant, I said, ‘That sounds foreign–not that I had anything against foreign doctors–but it sounded too foreign,” Cain tells the audience. “She said, ‘He’s from Lebanon.’ Oh, Lebanon! My mind immediately started thinking, wait a minute, maybe his religious persuasion is different than mine! She could see the look on my face and she said, ‘Don’t worry, Mr. Cain, he’s a Christian from Lebanon.’”

“Hallelujah!” Cain says. “Thank God!”

Thank GOD the surgeon wasn’t “too foreign”! Imagine the cooties he’d have left at the incision site! Ew!

And even if Dr. Abdallah had avoided that kind of catastrophe, just breathing the same air as him would have infected Hermie with all kinds of “too foreign” germs and stuff. And then he would have turned NOT CHRISTIAN! And then he could never run for office, because unless you believe in the right Christian god, you’re simply. Not. Qualified.

But Cain’s not qualified anyway, so he’ll never be president.

Hallelujah!

H/t: @TheAndreaGail

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