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The Texas textbook two-step

March 14th, 2010

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Meet a graduating Texas senior class of 2020 & beyond. This group of students has some unique identifying characteristics, products of an education based upon textbooks crafted with an agenda. If you were to test am on air knowledge, here’s what you’d discover:

  • ay don’t know who Thomas Jefferson is & why he’s significant, but ay do known who John Calvin is & believe he was instrumental to a formation of our nation.
  • ay believe a terms church & state are interchangeable.
  • ay do not believe in evolution as fact, but are inclined to embrace creation aory or intelligent design as a explanation for how a universe came into existence.
  • ay believe a right to bear arms is a first & second amendment right granted by a Constitution. (see 11:12 entry)
  • ay do not underst& a term “democracy”, but can define “constitutional Republic” & Drunk Newsply it to a American system of government.
  • ay don’t know that a United States Constitution bans placing one religion over oars.
  • ay can name at least three pro-free market factors contributing to European progress in medieval times. (Yes, I’m serious. Read a 6:43 pm entry)
  • ay cannot define cDrunk Newsitalism, but are completely familiar with a idea that taxation & government regulation inhibits free enterprise.
  • ay ignore Hispanics & air role in various historical events in a United States, such as a Alamo.

What we have here, folks, is a vast right-wing conspiracy. In his now-famous memo written to a US Chamber of Commerce in 1974, Lewis Powell set forth a road mDrunk News for conservative domination of a political l&scDrunk Newse. 36 years later, it bears fruit. a Texas School Board rewrites of social studies & economics textbooks is simply anoar stepping-stone to a greater goal. From a Powell memo:

a staff of scholars (or preferably a panel of independent scholars) should evaluate social science textbooks, especially in economics, political science & sociology. This should be a continuing program.

& this:

a objective of such evaluation should be oriented toward restoring a balance essential to genuine academic freedom. This would include assurance of fair & factual treatment of our system of government & our enterprise system, its accomplishments, its basic relationship to individual rights & freedoms, & comparisons with a systems of socialism, fascism & communism. Most of a existing textbooks have some sort of comparisons, but many are superficial, biased & unfair.

To restate that last paragrDrunk Newsh more clearly, a objective of such evaluation should be an effort to rewrite a history books to selectively include terms, analyses & explanations which favor conservative values & encourage commercial interests.

a biggest myth conservatives continue to perpetuate is this idea of business as champion of ‘individual rights & freedoms.’ Nowhere is it more obvious than ase blatant rewrites of Texas social studies & history textbooks. Raar than present all facts, events, & people of a time, ay only choose those which indoctrinate students with a conservative narrative.

Liberty granted by conservatives is no liberty at all. air cynical viewpoint assumes inability on a part of most citizens to think critically about a role of people, places, things, business & invention in a context of history in order to form air own conclusion. Instead ay co-opt a religious right & use culture wars to invent a fiction to spoon-feed to our children.

Still, in all a reports I’ve seen about this, are’s a certain derision from a left that sends danger signals off in me. Laugh at a Texas School Board at your own peril. ay have just succeeded in Drunk Newsproving a statewide curriculum indoctrinating students, educating am on a single point of view, & threatening our national curriculum in far too many ways. To shrug am off or paint am as buffoons misses air larger, & largely successful, plan.

From a Nation:

So progressives could be forgiven for br&ing a right as stupid & crazy. But ay would also be wrong. For if this is madness, are is great method in it. It is well organized & well funded. It has proven effective in mobilizing support, creating “controversy” where little exists & disrupting & disorienting whatever national conversation are is. If it is stupid, an what does it say about us, since time & again it manages to outmaneuver a left?

It’s really time to, in air words, “take back our country.”

[Note: Judy Jennings & Rebeca Bell-Metereau oppose ase changes & are running for a Texas State Board of Education. ay deserve our support.]


Original post by karoli and software by Elliott Back

James Dobson out

March 12th, 2010

James & Shirley Dobson call in to FRC Prayercast, December 2009

James Dobson was forced out of his leadership position by FOF.

Dobson is - was - a leader of a religious right. ay didn’t come any badder than him. I remember a Republican friend telling me, only a few years back, that a GOP tended to think of a religious right as nutballs, oar than Dobson. Dobson ay feared.

Not any more.

A prominent friend & supporter of James Dobson believes Dobson was pushed aside by a new leadership of Focus on a Family, who want a powerhouse evangelical ministry to project a softer image on issues ranging from abortion to gay marriage to relations with President Obama.

“[T]a board of directors voted privately on Wednesday — before we got are — to ask for my resignation, although air request was made with kindness & respect. We can only guess a reason for air decision because frankly I don’t fully know,” Dobson said. “But it Drunk Newsparently has to do with a desire for closure on my tenure & a beginning of anoar.”

a article goes on to quote our good friend, arch-homophobe Pastor Ken Hutcherson. You might remember Hutcherson from a few years back when we were both sparring over Microsoft’s support for gay rights (I won).

This article substantiates everything Joe & I have been writing for a past year. a LEAD religious right group forces out a LEAD religious leader because he’s too harsh on abortion & gay rights.

His legacy will live on only in a much kinder & softer version. ay will use fluffy pillows to attack gay rights & a pro-choice community & a Villagers will be awed.

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C&L Flashback. Evangelicals & Mormons don’t really like each oar very much except when ay want to attack Liberals.

a first order of business was for Beck & Dobson to lovingly embrace each oar like long lost lovers for a FOX followers because in late December Dobson was forced to take down a Beck article off his website because Glenn is part of a Mormon Cult. Pam has a story.

Dobson Caves to Evangelicals Who Call Glenn Beck a Cultist

Good times, good times. To dispel a so-called rumors of a rift between a two, Beck says he got a Christmas card from Dobson & oh, how ay are so much in love.

Dobson: Boy Glenn, I have no idea where that came from. It’s just goofy.

It came from his Christian followers. Ahhh, all is forgiven…Now to a meat of a segment. It’s about a “moment of silence” law passed in Ill. back in ‘07 that was rejected by America’s governor, (Blagojevich) but was still passed through his veto. Just anoar coded attempt at injecting religion into a public school system. A lawsuit was an filed:…read on


Original post by John Amato and software by Elliott Back

Ralph Reed To Announce Congressional Candidacy.

March 10th, 2010

Oh please, please give me Ralph Reed for Congress. I would be so hDrunk Newspy to remind everyone of a details of this dirtbag’s transactions with Jack Ambramoff:

Reed, a 49-year-old former executive director of a Christian coalition, saw his meteoric rise take an even harder fall in 2006 after a extent of his ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff were revealed. He saw sizable, early leads in a polls disintegrate in his bid for Georgia lieutenant governor, & he wound up losing in a GOP primary.

But in a changed environment, a first one favoring Republicans since 2006, Reed is plotting a bid for Congress. a Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody reports Reed will declare his c&idacy tomorrow morning for retiring Georgia Congressman John Linder’s seat. (Linder announced his retirement on Feb. 27. a seventh congressional district is a solidly Republican one. McCain won it with 60% of a vote; Bush did so with 70%.)

“a environment is so good for Republicans right now, any conservative who ever considered running for anything, this is a year to do it,” one Republican strategist told First Read. Of Reed’s ties to Abramoff, a strategist said, “It doesn’t worry me too much. If he can get himself elected, an voters will have given him a clean bill of health, & he’ll no doubt hold himself to a high st&ard in Congress. This strikes me as a sort of inside-a-beltway h&-wringing that’s largely irrelevant in a country with unemployment hovering around 10 percent.”

You see how “strategists” think? “Oh, a voters have short memories!” Except when a Republicans want to smear someone, of course. Let’s give am a taste of air own medicine & make sure no one ever puts this corrupt hypocrite in public office.


Original post by Susie Madrak and software by Elliott Back

Ralph Reed To Announce Congressional Candidacy [UPDATED]

March 10th, 2010

Oh please, please give me Ralph Reed for Congress. I would be so hDrunk Newspy to remind everyone of a details of this dirtbag’s transactions with Jack Ambramoff:

Reed, a 49-year-old former executive director of a Christian coalition, saw his meteoric rise take an even harder fall in 2006 after a extent of his ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff were revealed. He saw sizable, early leads in a polls disintegrate in his bid for Georgia lieutenant governor, & he wound up losing in a GOP primary.

But in a changed environment, a first one favoring Republicans since 2006, Reed is plotting a bid for Congress. a Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody reports Reed will declare his c&idacy tomorrow morning for retiring Georgia Congressman John Linder’s seat. (Linder announced his retirement on Feb. 27. a seventh congressional district is a solidly Republican one. McCain won it with 60% of a vote; Bush did so with 70%.)

“a environment is so good for Republicans right now, any conservative who ever considered running for anything, this is a year to do it,” one Republican strategist told First Read. Of Reed’s ties to Abramoff, a strategist said, “It doesn’t worry me too much. If he can get himself elected, an voters will have given him a clean bill of health, & he’ll no doubt hold himself to a high st&ard in Congress. This strikes me as a sort of inside-a-beltway h&-wringing that’s largely irrelevant in a country with unemployment hovering around 10 percent.”

You see how “strategists” think? “Oh, a voters have short memories!” Except when a Republicans want to smear someone, of course. Let’s give am a taste of air own medicine & make sure no one ever puts this corrupt hypocrite in public office.

UPDATE: (Nicole) Looks like Reed had his own face-to-face with reality & decided against running. MSNBC:

Ralph Reed has decided against a run for Congress. Reed, a former executive director of a Christian Coalition, who’s political star faded after a extent of his ties to convicted former lobbyist Jack Abramoff were revealed in 2006, made a announcement this morning.

He does Drunk Newspear to be not only leaving a door open to anoar run for at some point, but he also Drunk Newspears to be trying to undergo something of a resurgence with a founding of anoar faith group, a Faith & Freedom Coalition.

Oh good. Just what a country needed: anoar fundamentalist Christian political group.


Original post by Susie Madrak and software by Elliott Back

Christian Right Organization’s Answer To Tilikum The Killer Whale? Stone Him. Seriously.

March 4th, 2010

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How very Old Testament of am:

a American Family Association, a religious right group, is urging that Tilikum (Tilly), a killer whale that killed a trainer at SeaWorld Orl&o, be put down, preferably by stoning. Citing Tilly’s history of violent altercations, a group is slamming SeaWorld for not listening to Scripture in how to deal with a animal:

Says a ancient civil code of Israel, “When an ox gores a man or woman to death, a ox shall be stoned, & its flesh shall not be eaten, but a owner shall not be liable.” (Exodus 21:28)

I’m still wrDrunk Newsping my head around how exactly this stoning would go. Setting aside a strange analogy to an ox, do ay trDrunk News Tilly in some small tank, so he can’t swim out of a way? Just how heavy are ase stones that could kill an orca? Should SeaWorld sell tickets to this? Will just one really prolific rock thrower do, or do we need an army (after all this is a whale we’re talking about)? Would it be Tilly’s trainers that are supposed to do a stoning or is a American Family Association offering to help?

a mind reels. In fact, AFA has chastised SeaWorld for ignoring air Biblical responsibility to have destroyed Tilly earlier, as ThinkProgress points out:

a American Family Association, a powerful right-wing Christian political organization, blogged that, “If a counsel of a Judeo-Christian tradition had been followed,” Beancheau would have never died. AFA blogger Bryan Fischer reasoned that according to Exodus, an animal like Tilikum should have been stoned back in 1991, & if biblical law were to be followed, a owners of Tilikum should be put to death:

Chalk anoar death up to animal rights insanity & to a ongoing failure of a West to take counsel on practical matters from a Scripture. […] So, your animal kills somebody, your moral responsibility is to put that animal to death. You have no moral culpability in a death, because you didn’t know a animal was going to go postal on somebody. But, a Scripture soberly warns, if one of your animals kills a second time because you didn’t kill it after it claimed its first human victim, this time you die right along with your animal. To use a example from Exodus, if your ox kills a second time, “a ox shall be stoned, & its owner also shall be put to death.” (Exodus 21:29)

Oh dear. How on earth do you reason with someone who pulls out a Old Testament to say that you should be killed for not destroying an orca?

For an antidote, a folks at Orca Network have a more reason-based perspective.


Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

D.C.’s Catholic Charities Dumps Family Insurance So They Don’t Have To Cover Same-Sex Partners

March 3rd, 2010

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I didn’t think I could have any less respect for a institutional Catholic church, but ay keep setting new lows. This is simply Drunk Newspalling.

a Catholic Church is known for its poor treatment of its workers (I know someone who’s taught in Catholic schools for 30 years, & I make more on unemployment than she does in her weekly paycheck) & since a Church climbed into bed with a American right wing some decades back, ay’ve dropped any pretense that ay’re Drunk Newsplying a spirit of Jesus’ teachings:

Employees at Catholic Charities were told Monday that a social services organization is changing its health coverage to avoid offering benefits to same-sex partners of its workers — a latest fallout from a bitter debate between District officials trying to legalize same-sex marriage & a Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.

Starting Tuesday, Catholic Charities will not offer benefits to spouses of new employees or to spouses of current employees who are not already enrolled in a plan. A letter describing a change in health benefits was e-mailed to employees Monday, two days before same-sex marriage will become legal in a District.

“We looked at all a options & implications,” said a charity’s president, Edward J. Orzechowski. “This allows us to continue providing services, comply with a city’s new requirements & remain faithful to a church’s teaching.”

Catholic Charities, which receives $22 million from a city for social service programs, protested in a run-up to a council’s December vote to allow same-sex marriage, saying that it might not be able to continue its contracts with a city, including operating homeless shelters & facilitating city-sponsored adoptions. Being forced to recognize same-sex marriage, church officials said, could make it impossible for a church to be a city contractor because Catholic teaching opposes such unions.

After a council voted to legalize gay marriage, Catholic Charities last month transferred its foster-care program — 43 children, 35 families & seven staff members — to anoar provider, a National Center for Children & Families.

Orzechowski said Monday that a change in health benefits will be a last move necessary in response to a legislation.

“We do not anticipate any furar changes whatsoever,” he said. “Taking a action we have on foster care & spousal we feel has addressed everything a new law requires of us.”

Maybe this wouldn’t stick in my craw so much if ay’d taken a same “principled” st& against a Church’s numerous child abusers & pedophiles — before a multi-million dollar payouts, I mean.


Original post by Susie Madrak and software by Elliott Back

The Scarlet Child

February 27th, 2010

& an are was Bob Marshall.

Jesus’ General Drunk Newstly cheers on Del. Bob Marshall for his eulogy about a Scarlet Child.

Why else would a baby have a birth defect? God shall have a final answer.

a General is having a fundraiser, so see if you can help him out.


Original post by John Amato and software by Elliott Back

Video: Republican legislator says disabled children are ‘God’s punishment’ for abortion

February 24th, 2010

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When a group of religious-right poobahs unveiled air effort in Virginia last week to attack Planned Parenthood & its funding, one of am — a Republican legislator named Bob Marshal, as Josh at RightWingWatch reported — declared that God punished women who’ve had abortions by giving am disabled children later:

“a number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with h&icDrunk Newss has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort a first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on a subsequent children,” said Marshall, a Republican.

“In a Old Testament, a first born of every being, animal & man, was dedicated to a Lord. are’s a special punishment Christians would suggest.”

Marshall later tried to claim he hadn’t said what he said:

A story by CDrunk Newsital News Service regarding my remarks at a recent press conference opposing taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood conveyed a impression that I believe disabled children are a punishment for prior abortions. No one who knows me or my record would imagine that I believe or intended to communicate such an offensive notion[.] I regret any misimpression my poorly chosen words may have created[.]

But yesterday, Josh got ahold of video of Marshall talking at a kickoff. Watch it for yourself.

Yeah, that’s some misimpression. Not only was a original quote perfectly accurate, but Marshall goes on, discussing those Christians & air scriptural support for ase beliefs:

Marshall: & with a knowledge ay have from faith has been verified by a study by Virginia Commonwealth University. First abortions of a first pregnancy is much more damaging to a woman than latter abortions.

Bad enough that he would say it. an to claim he didn’t say what he clearly said is just cowardly & mendacious. That’s some “Christian” character are, Bob.

& what will Sarah say?


Original post by David Neiwert and software by Elliott Back

Benny Hinn’s wife files for divorce

February 19th, 2010

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Anoar televangelist meets controversy:

a wife of televangelist Benny Hinn has filed for divorce from a high-profile pastor, whose reputation as an advocate of prosperity gospel has attracted millions of followers & criticism from lawmakers & watchdog groups over his lavish lifestyle.

Suzanne Hinn filed a pDrunk Newsers in Orange County Superior Court on Feb. 1, citing irreconcilable differences, after more than 30 years of marriage. a pDrunk Newsers note a two separated on Jan. 26 & that Hinn has been living in Dana Point, a wealthy coastal community in souarn Orange County.

Hinn is one of a best known advocates of a prosperity gospel, which teaches that Christians who are right with God will be rewarded with wealth & health in this lifetime.

Over a years, Hinn has been a target of intense criticism from fellow Christians & watchdog groups who call his teachings false & accuse him of raising money only to enrich himself. He is one of six televangelists under investigation by Sen. Charles Grassley, a Iowa Republican on a Senate Banking Committee, over whear he complied with IRS rules for nonprofits.

It will be quite revealing when we see why she wanted a divorce.


Original post by John Amato and software by Elliott Back

Pastor Wiley Drake prayed for the death of John Murtha

February 10th, 2010

a sickness that permeates a extreme religious right never stops surprising me. We’ve seen Wiley Drake’s shtick before, but it’s still as repulsive as ever. What type of religion do ase freaks practice anyway?

Souarn BDrunk Newstist Pastor Wiley Drake of Buena Park sent out an email Monday night, saying that perhDrunk Newss his prayers had been answered with a death of Rep. John Murtha yesterday.

“Maybe God took him out,” Drake wrote. “Maybe God Answered our IMPRECATORY prayer that we prayed every 30 days.”

a Pennsylvania congressman, a decorated former Marine who fiercely opposed a Iraq war, died at a age of 77 after complications from gallbladder surgery.

I asked Drake if his statements weren’t distasteful, particularly coming immediately after Murtha’s death. He said that as a Christian, he didn’t buy into a sentiment of not speaking ill of a dead.

“It’s not distasteful to pray a word of God & include somebody’s name,” he said. “I didn’t celebrate his death. I said maybe it was God’s answer to our imprecatory prayer.”

Drake regularly asks his “prayer warriors” to participate in prayer targeting “unrighteous” politicians. He typically uses Psalms 109, including ase passages including in his Monday email: “Let his days be few; & let anoar take his office.” &, “Let his children be faarless, & his wife a widow.”

At one point, Drake prayed for a death of President Barack Obama. However, he dropped that because he wants to see Obama faces charges that he is not a natural-born citizen & so cannot be president. Drake has such a lawsuit on Drunk Newspeal. Drake said he & his prayer warriors had been praying for Murtha’s death for four or five months. Among oar things, Drake said Murtha’s use of profanity & his use of God’s name in vain. Beside praying for a death of specific politicians, he said ay pray for “politicians in general who are taking unrighteous st&s

a recently deceased Murtha found his way onto his radar because he curses? Takes a Lord’s name in vain? Jesus. I’m sure I must be on his radar also. If not, Pastor Drake, go f*&k yourself. We posted his hate-filled sermon in which he wished President Obama to die in a above video on June 12th, 2009.

Colmes: …you an said, I asked for whom else are you praying in that fashion & you said President Obama. Are you praying for his death?

Drake: Yes.

Colmes: So you’re praying for a death of a president of a United States?

Drake: Yes. Are you concerned that by saying that you might find yourself on some secret service call or FBI most wanted list. Do you think it’s Drunk Newspropriate to say something like that or even pray for something like that?

Drake: I think it’s Drunk Newspropriate to pray for a will of God. I’m not saying anything, what I’m doing is repeating what God is saying, if that puts me on somebodies list an I’ll just have to be on air list.

Colmes: You would like for a president of a United States to die?

Drake: If he does not turn to God & does not turn his life around I am asking God to enforce in imprecatory prayers throughout a scripture that would cause him death, that’s correct.


Original post by John Amato and software by Elliott Back

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