This Is The BIG ONE! It Even Beats Eddie Long!: The Hypocrisy of the Year Award Goes To ...

An Anti-Decadence Pastor 
Accused Of Public Masturbation
And Pedophilia!

From WDSU in New Orleans:

METAIRIE, La. -- Grant Storms, a conservative pastor who has staged protests against New Orleans' Southern Decadence Festival, was arrested Friday on accusations of masturbating in a public park.

Great hypocrisy stories, like income tax refunds, should always be treated as windfalls. Journalists and bloggers have to take advantage of them because it would be ridiculous to waste a great story by relegating it to ho-hum regular news. And this one is a gem. 

Storms told deputies he was just having lunch at the park when he had to go to the bathroom, so he relieved himself in a bottle.

Imaginative stories like that can be the mark of desperation: two women were witnesses and they precisely testified that he wasn't urinating in any bottle!

Every day, dozens of google-alert "Pastor arrested"s fill my email box. So why is this one so special? Because of the adjoining copy:

Storms is known for staging protests against Decadence, an annual gay celebration in the French Quarter. In 2003, he organized a march in opposition of the event, calling it "nasty" and "depraved."

"Nasty." "Depraved." WTF? 

OK, let's step back: 

• Pastor
• Anti-gay activist
• public park
• children
• play ground
• masturbation
• urination. 

Couldn't get better on the hypocrisy scale, could it? Then there's his name: Storms. It can (and will) be linked to the story in a myriad number of ways. I'm trying to think of one now, but my head's still trying to fathom how stupid this guy is. Maybe he hated Southern Decadence because it was not the kind of "playground" he enjoyed. Maybe a long time (months or years, who knows?) of ogling kids in public parks has changed Storms' mind about what is "nasty." 

The REAL Southern Decadence

Alright, I'll eschew the sarcasm. It's just that I feel so giddy. 


Campaigning against immorality has been the stock-in-trade of the Christian Right for centuries. The tactics haven't really changed, it's just that today's media has made it closer. The media has also highlighted the faults of extreme religionists who do practically nothing but campaign against morality. The stridency of some people creates suspicion. Oh, the public may not always want to recognize hypocrisy, but covering it up has gotten increasingly hard to do. There are, of course, hypocrites who think that their titles and Bibles will shield them, but they are delusional. Eddie Long, the I'm-David-and-I-haven't-thrown-a -rock-yet pastor found out the hard way. But hubris is a drug to which many pastors become addicted and they tend to do stupid things with abandon.

Stupid things like masturbating in a public park, after you've become known as the most vocal enemy of a gay event that calls itself "Southern Decadence."

If you look up "decadence" in the dictionary, you're apt to come up with this definition: "a luxurious self-indulgence". Self-indulgence, however, is very relative: while most people think of self-indulgence as being sheer love of the body, e.g. sexual gratification, self-indulgence can be had by "luxuriating" in just about anything. Grant Storms was luxuriating in self-righteousness when he spearheaded protests against Southern Decadence. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council luxuriates in demonizing people:

• Almost all child sexual abuse is committed by men; and 
• Less than three percent of American men identify themselves as homosexual; yet 
• Nearly a third of all cases of child sexual abuse are homosexual in nature (that is, they involve men molesting boys). - - This is a rate of homosexual child abuse about ten times higher than one would expect based on the first two facts. 

Actually, Perkins luxuriates in lies and is completely decadent with them: in 1992, A. Nicholas Groth, (then a major researcher of sex offenders) complained about his work being totally distorted by FRC:

Since your report, in my view, misrepresents the facts of what we know about this matter from scientific investigation, and does not indicate that my studies on this topic reach conclusions diametrically opposed to yours, I would appreciate your removing any reference to my work in your paper lest it appear to the reader that my research supports your views.

So, the Southern Decadence of Grant Storms' beautifully hypocritical scenario should not be lost on the public. And Eddie Long? Well, at least he didn't get caught with his zipper down and his eyes on little kids.

Eddie Long's All-Male Pajama Prayer Party: "Bring A B-i-i-i-g Offering!"

This one escaped me. I think Google Alerts isn't doing its job!


It's not nerve - it's sheer stupidity! A lot of people in Eddie Long's congregation are probably scratching their heads right now and murmuring "what was he thinking?" He's not fully returned to the pulpit, but he has surfaced in a video showing him promoting an all-male, overnight, prayer vigil. Yes, that's right, a ... (snicker, snicker) "prayer vigil." 

And what kind of offering does he REALLY want the twinks, ooops, I mean men, to bring? This is beyond the pale of the ridiculous. Doesn't he ever listen to advisors? Oh, that's right: the sure way for people to know you're not gay is by sponsoring an all-male meeting! 

Reverend Dan's Christian Crimeline

And to all the David Bartons and Rick Santorums out there: I'm not making this sh*t up!!

Let's get one thing straight: while I'm not trying to bash Christianity, the fact is that Christianity has never sufficiently apologized for its own sins. And while I consider myself a Christian, it's galling to me that some people paint Christianity's history as a (sometimes) misguided but devoutly focused, evangelizing mission, persecuted relentlessly along the way.


The picture of devoutly-driven Founding Fathers by David Barton, and the recent tongue lashing given out by Rick Santorum concerning the Crusades and the early Church's treatment of Muslims (everyone else is "anti-Christian) are both totally off the mark. 


Through the years, I have been researching what could be called a "Christian Crime Line." Yes, that's a bit nasty, but there's no other way we can look upon the actions in a different light, especially when stacked up on upon the other. True, the eras in between may have had some ameliorating qualities, but the fact remains that non-Christians were persecuted, and killed on a scale of much greater proportions than Christians were under the Romans, even before the Crusades. By the time Urban II gave his fateful speech, whole cultures had been wiped away "in the name of God."* 


So let's look at some aspects of Christian history most people have never been taught before:


313 - 
Constantine unites the Empire after the Battle of Milvian Bridge and officially recognizes Christianity as a legitimate religion and bans persecution of Christians  
314 - 
Christians begin to massacre pagans in Egypt and Palestine

319 - 
Christian clergy receives tax-exempt status

319 - 
Arian Heresy starts to spread throughout the Empire

325 - 
Council of Nicea is convened by Constantine to discuss date of Easter and deal wiith Arian Heresy. Approx. 300 bishops attended (out of 1800 in the entire empire, most of whom were in north Africa)

325 - 
Approx. 3000 pagans are killed immediately after the Council of Nicea

327 - 
"Christian" Constantine executes his son Chrispus in belief that he had sex with his step-mother, Fausta. He didn’t. After Constantine finds out the truth, he has Fausta boiled ... in her own bathtub.

330 - 
Constantine outlaws Christian conversion to Judaism

335 - 
Magicians and astrologers (astronomers as well) are banned and executed

336 - 
Arian Christians are persecuted

337 - 
Constantine is finally  baptized as a Christian … on his deathbed

350 - 
Riots break out between Arian Christians and Orthodox Christians

354 - 
Emperor Constantius orders all pagan temples closed

355 - 
Clergy exempt from being tried in secular courts

359 - 
Christians build world’s first “death camps” in Skythopolis, Syria for pagans and unconverted Jews**

391 - 

The Great Library of Alexandria is burned by a Christian mob

360  - 
Pagan sacrifice is declared punishable by death

412 - 
Augustine of Hippo, supports war against heretics

415 - 
Female philosopher Hypatia is brutally murdered

435 - 
Emperor Theodosius II order the deaths of all non-Christians except Jews

476 - 
Rome falls to the Goths

528 - 
Emperor Justinian outlaws the Olympic Games (considered pagan)

529 - 
Justinian closes Plato’s Academy and Aristotle’s Lyceum.

590 - 

After Pope Gregory I decrees celibacy for the clergy, infants are murdered

632 - 
Byzantine-Arab war

782 - 
Charlemagne orders the beheading of pagans

850 - 
Eastern Orthodox Empress Theodora orders execution of Paulicans (heretics)

1095 - 

People’s Crusade

1095 - 
First Crusade: Pope Urban II calls for a “Holy War” to "save the tomb of Christ from the heathen”

1096 -
During the People’s Crusade (as in all official nine Crusades) Jews are killed en route

1101 - 
Crusade of 1101

1144 - 
First “Blood Libel” used against Jews in England

1145 -
 Second Crusade

1189 - 
Third Crusade

1193 - 
Northern Crusade

1201- 
Fourth Crusade

1209 - 
Albigensian Crusade

1209 - 
The Inquisition as institution of Christianity is officially established

1212 - 
Children’s Crusade

1217 - 
Fifth Crusade

1228 - 
Sixth Crusade

1232 - 
Northern Crusades

1248 - 
Seventh Crusade

1251 - 
First Shepherd’s Crusade

1270 - 
Eighth Crusade

1271 - 
Ninth Crusade

1281 - 
Aragonese Crusade

1320 - 
Second Shepherd’s Crusade

1348 - 
Jews, believed to be the cause of the Black Death were massacred in Mainz, Germany

1365 - 
Alexandrian Crusade

1396 - 
Nicopolis Crusade

1398 - 
Crusades against the Tartars

After the last "Crusade," a variety of complex factors entered into the picture. Too many to go into detail here, so please forgive the next seemingly sweeping generalizations. 


Witch-burnings took hold in Europe and, along with The Inquisition, for the next 400 years killed approximately 1 million people. Auto de Fes (burning as many as a dozen "witches" at a time) were very popular in France, Germany and even England. Men and children were also burned as "witches." Then in 1492, Jews and Muslims were expelled from Spain just before the colonization of the Americas, India and Indonesia. When Cortez landed in Mexico, there were approximately 25 million Meso-Americans (Natives from California down to Peru). In the year 1650, it is estimated that there were less than 1 million. And while disease may have been a major factor of depopulation, slavery and forced-conversions played roles as well. Within a period of 800 years (not counting the Crusades), Europe's countries were involved in 782 wars, most of which were sanctioned by the Church. The Tai Ping Rebellion in China (supporting a man who claimed to be the brother of Christ) took over 20 million lives.*** 

Does the above make me seem incredibly anti-Christian? Of course. Most will think that I couldn't possibly be a Christian after reading such a litany. But I am steadfast in my beliefs and, in them, I remain a Christian. And I will not fill in the obvious blanks in the Christian history of the above because so many apologetics have done that before me. 


But, being human, I can't begin to forgive the past, until I hear a very loud apology.

*I think that killing anyone for any reason "in the name of God" is the height of blasphemy. Sorry.
** While the evidence for this is very, very slim, the concept of "concentration camps" was not new. Also, take into account the volume of pagans still in the Roman Empire: a minority, yes, but one that, at the time, still was the religion of at least 10% of the Empire.
***And at no time did any Christian entity try to stop it.

Fischer: The Constitution Allows Us To Be Absurd

When Bryan Fischer REALLY gets to fuming about gays, Obama, Muslims, etc. etc., he becomes a talking head telling everyone what he thinks is "absurd."* The irony is that Obama's "DOMA Dump" has made Bryan Fischer look "absurd." He is also obsessed with the word "animus" in Obama's statement about DOMA. Given how much he thinks the Constitution, like the Bible, was mandated by God, Fischer argues for our God-given right to hate people if we want to. 

*The comedian Steve Allen was also a philosopher with some substance and he wrote a book about the Bible. With clarity and reason, he criticized most of the Old Testament with his favorite word - "absurd." There's an irony there somewhere as well.

It's Really Hit The Fan!: How Obama's "DOMA Dump" Brought Out The Self-Righteous, The Insane And The Just Plain Stupid

Did you know that homosexuality is the REAL cause of "dead beat dads"?? Mike Huckabee says so!!

Yesterday, I could smell the explosion of fire and brimstone here in San Francisco (where it was a cool and beautifully clear day, totally devoid of God's wrath). I could even sense the gnashing of teeth, ripping of garments and tearing of hair. And I'm evil enough to say that I enjoyed it all. The Christian Right, in full force, came out in its totally self-righteous mode, entertaining the whole country. 

So what the hell did people expect? My fingers were glued to the keyboard the moment I read the news about Obama, the Justice Department and DOMA. Then I thought, "Sit and wait, rev." The deluge of self-righteousness was overwhelming: so many people were "appalled" at the "outrageous" and "unthinkable" act "radical element" Obama has done, all-but-declaring DOMA to be null and void, "abandoning his role as President." Some diatribes were (relatively) short, others long-winded and others too flabbergasting to be coherent. The panoply and intensity of outrage was - to use their own words - "staggering":

I first went to Family Research Council's Tony Perkins since he has become, after all, the country's Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler of the Royal Order of Righteous Rhetoric:

"This decision by President Obama and the Department of Justice is appalling. The President's failure to defend DOMA is also a failure to fulfill his oath to 'faithfully execute the office of President of the United States.' What will be the next law that he will choose not to enforce or uphold? "Marriage as a male-female union has been easily defended in court and overwhelmingly supported by the American people.

Ahem. That "overwhelmingly supported by the American people" has changed a bit since the Dark Ages (before Prop 8), but Perkins is well known for skewing numbers to the point that some researchers are thinking of suing him and the FRC.

Matt Staver, Liberty Counsel:

“This is outrageous and unthinkable ... Today President Obama has abandoned his role as President of the United States and transformed his office into the President of the Divided States. He has been the most divisive president in American history.

Staver's bluster is countered by the fact that Obama has always been a lawyer first, a President second and a constitutional scholar third when it comes to matters of law. He would not have made such a statement if he hadn't thought it out with all of the legal ramifications it might entail.  The "divisive" adjective may go along with Perkins' "overwhelming" statement, but people are beginning to think differently about same-sex marriage... and Staver knows it.

Maggie Ghallagher, NOM:

“We have not yet begun to fight for marriage. The Democrats are responding to their election loss with a series of extraordinary, extra-constitutional end runs around democracy, whether it’s fleeing the state in Wisconsin and Indiana to prevent a vote, or unilaterally declaring homosexuals a protected class under our Constitution, as President Obama just did. 

Maggie Ghallagher is no John Paul Jones, but she is definitely on a sinking ship: the "crowds" at her rallies can all fit into my bathroom.

As always, Bryan Fischer:

[This is] "a wake-up call to all conservatives that fundamental American values regarding the family are under all-out assault by this administration. It ought to represent a clarion call to man the barricades before we lose what is left of the Judeo-Christian system of values in our public life."

"Assault" and "man the barricades" reinforce more than Fischer's penchant for militaristic rhetoric: it's his evocation of the myth of the masculine privilege. Fischer is being the forceful "man" he thinks Jesus Christ was, all Rambofied and armed with tough love. This gives us the feeling that Mr. Fischer is compensating for something.

And Mike Huckabee:

"There is a quantified impact of broken families," Huckabee said. "[There is a] $300 billion dad deficit in America every year...that's the amount of money that we spend as taxpayers to pick up the pieces because dads are derelict in their duties."

This is genuinely a WTF? correlation. Is Rev. Huckabee losing it? Maybe no more than Pat Robertson who was last seen helping to conduct a faith healing that looked more like an episode of Jerry Springer.* What is a "dad deficit"? Do we now have a shortage of fathers because gay men are luring them away with their wiles? Some women should be so lucky! Point of fact: some women would rather have a gay husband. Totally apropos sentiment from one wistful woman: "I long for the old days, when the good ones were either married or gay. Now they're both!"

 

Rick Santorum:

"President Obama's refusal to defend a law that was overwhelmingly supported on both sides of the aisle and signed into law by a president of his own party is an affront to the will of the people." 

(h/t Joe.My.God)

Yes, the accompanying photo is a rather cheap shot, but I couldn't resist it. Santorum is still trying to get his name re-googled.

OK, I'll stop being giddy about the situation and stop to breathe a more serious note: the problem we now face is that of a circus trainer trying to put his tiger back in its cage. The Christian Right, with its power behind the Republican Party (and some Tea Partiers) will not only be ferocious in its onslaught against Obama, but against anyone they feel is not backing their agenda 110 percent. They've already begun to peel some moderate skin off the Republican Party with their claws.  

When pseudo-historian David Barton recently spoke to the Connect 2011 Pastors Conference, he said that Christians needed to take control of the culture and media so that "guys that have a secular viewpoint cannot survive" because Christians will "chop that kind of news off." I don't think Barton's talking about viewpoint. 


I'm serious.

Mike Huckabee: "Now Queers Will Cause More "Deadbeat Dads!!"

Mike Huckabee just might be losing it:

"When the voters are so overwhelmingly [supportive of DOMA] what does the president believe he knows that citizens in all these other states don't," Huckabee said. Huckabee opposes gay marriage on the grounds that, according to him, it destroys traditional families. "There is a quantified impact of broken families," Huckabee said. "[There is a] $300 billion dad deficit in America every year...that's the amount of money that we spend as taxpayers to pick up the pieces because dads are derelict in their duties."

The connection? Are gay men luring straight men away from their families to the point that we spend $300 billion on single moms? 

Sorry girls, take a good look at that husband of yours!

Rotten Rhetoric? What Rotten Rhetoric? David Barton Does Not Want "Seculars" To Survive

In other words, David Barton, the pseudo-historian and USA-must-be-Christian-only freak wants to do away with people who are "secular."


From Right Wing Watch:

Barton cited a time in the past when the Chicago Tribune had published a new version of the New Testament and lamented that something like that could not happen today. The solution, Barton asserted, is for Christians to take control of the culture and media so that "guys that have a secular viewpoint cannot survive" because Christians will "chop that kind of news off":

Star Trek and Religion: "We're Not Having Any Part of It!!"

Just stumbled on to this. And it makes a lot of sense (unfortunately).

Holy Rollers Do Exist - Unfortunately (And Pat Robertson Is One)

We should be careful with these people. They might multiply. If they do, then we should all check out.

Why Can't I Be More Like Benny Hinn? He's Scandal-icious And Keeps On Making Money!

Book Publisher

says televangelist

Benny Hinn violated

morality clause

Strang Communications

wants $250,000 

"Hinn acknowledged to

his publisher 'his

inappropriate relationship'

with [Paula] White in

August, according to the

suit, and agreed that the

publisher should get

back its money, but he

has yet to pay up." 

by Rene Stutzman

Orlando Sentinel

From the website:

In worldwide ministry more than 30 years, Pastor Benny Hinn has preached the Gospel face to face and through television to more than a billion people. Through Holy Spirit Miracle Crusades, Training for Ministry Conferences, TV broadcasts, the Internet, printed page, and audio-video recordings, this evangelist’s straightforward and uncompromising message of God’s love has inspired hundreds of millions to a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Pastor Benny’s ministry is also engaged in crisis relief, children’s homes, and feeding programs, as well as hospital and emergency care. During the past year alone, not only did his ministry help provide food, clothing, shelter, education, and religious training for 46,368 children around the globe (including partnerships with 31 different missionary and relief agencies), but it also continues to underwrite the free care expenses of such powerful outreaches as a hospital in Calcutta, India, where over 200,000 patients are treated annually, and My Father’s House children’s homes in Mexico and the Philippines.

ACCORDING TO MANY SOURCES:

This is ALL BULLSHIT!

One commenter put it best:

She saw the dollar signs in Benny's eyes...love at first sight!

Below are two great videos including takes on Benny Hinn (as well as others). I love the hilarious song from BerthaBangers.com: "Tax Free"

Oooooh! We're Scared! Westboro Baptist Church Is Mad At Anonymous!

We sincerely hope that this spurs Anonymous to act right away! 

Sorry the print is so lousy to read. Suffice it to say, this is one ungrammatical, poorly written public response. How did the Phelps clan ever get through college with this stuff?


Some highlights: 


"Anonymous is a puddle of pimply-faced nerds ... because they hate Westboro Bible preachments." Alliteration is not one of the Westboro gang's strong points ("puddle of pimply-faced nerds" really makes no sense). "Preachments" is an odd word - I looked it up: "preachment" is a sermon of sorts that is odious or "tedious." Sort of unintentionally self-deprecating, wouldn't you say?


Then there's: "
"Let us tell you how it will go: rebels will build a full head of steam based on false hope; the media will do much breathless anticipating while giving another tsunami of coverage to Westboro's message ..."


"A tsunami of coverage"?? Maybe the media will cover it gleefully, but to purport a "tsunami" of coverage is hubris. Also, Westboro's message is one of hate and not one from God. They're two different things.


Then last:


"All your draconian blather changes nothing." Boy, aren't we the learned ones!  Irony here: "draconian" is one of the first words we think of when we think of Westboro "Baptist" church.


Go! Anonymous! Go!

 

The Uterus Police?

Look who has uterus on the brain:

THU FEB 17, 2011 AT 06:08 PM EST

GA Legislator Wants to Create 

Uterus Police to Investigate 

Miscarriages

Go! Anonymous! Go! God Knows They Deserve It!!

This just in: 

We, the collective super-consciousness known as ANONYMOUS - the Voice of Free Speech & the Advocate of the People - have long heard you issue your venomous statements of hatred, and we have witnessed your flagrant and absurd displays of inimitable bigotry and intolerant fanaticism. We have always regarded you and your ilk as an assembly of graceless sociopaths and maniacal chauvinists & religious zealots, however benign, who act out for the sake of attention & in the name of religion. [snip]

ANONYMOUS cannot abide this behavior any longer. The time for us to be idle spectators in your inhumane treatment of fellow Man has reached its apex, and we shall now be moved to action. Thus, we give you a warning: Cease & desist your protest campaign in the year 2011, return to your homes in Kansas, & close your public Web sites.

Should you ignore this warning, you will meet with the vicious retaliatory arm of ANONYMOUS: We will target your public Websites, and the propaganda & detestable doctrine that you promote will be eradicated; the damage incurred will be irreversible, and neither your institution nor your congregation will ever be able to fully recover. It is in your best interest to comply now, while the option to do so is still being offered, because we will not relent until you cease the conduction & promotion of all your bigoted operations & doctrines.

The warning has been given. What happens from here shall be determined by you.

WE ARE ANONYMOUS. 

WE ARE LEGION. 

WE DO NOT FORGIVE. 

WE DO NOT FORGET. 

EXPECT US.

Ciavarella Is Convicted, But The" Kids For Cash Scandal" Does NOT Come To An End

Progressives aren't perfect, but this situation sounded like something the oh-so-righteous side would do: sending kids to detention centers for profit. But I delved into the situation of former juvenile court judge Mark Ciavarella, who was convicted today of racketeering and extortion charges and received a shock when I read TWO searing accounts:

SCRANTON, Pa. — A former juvenile court judge was convicted yesterday of racketeering in a case that accused him of sending youth offenders to for-profit detention centers in exchange for millions of dollars in illicit payments from the builder and owner of the lockups.

And this:

Maybe the Luzerne County Democratic Committee can explain these donations from former Judge Mark Ciavarella to their party during his retention campaign. Sitting judges should not be making political donations according to the judicial cannons.

LUZERNE COUNTY DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE 10/31/2005 $500.00
LUZERNE COUNTY DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE 4/19/2005 $6,000.00
LUZERNE COUNTY DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE 9/30/2005 $6,000.00

And some of the donations were under the auspice of HIS OWN "retention committee"! 

Now back to the real cause celebre:

Ciavarella insists that he is innocent of the "kids for cash" scheme, but has pleaded guilty to charges of racketeering. Over $2 million in bribes and extortion were culled by the former judge who sentenced kids to the juvenile detention centers built by his cronies. 

Amidst all of the pleas of innocence in the "kids for cash" scheme, Ciavarella only admitted that he "neglected to report the payments on his tax returns and hid them from the public, but he denied any plot to take kickbacks or extort money." And while the trial wa strictly to concern itself solely with the aspect of bribes and extortion, the prosecutor did state that the kids were "pawns in a scheme to enrich himself."

Over 4000 convictions of young adults were dismissed when the state's Supreme Court ruled that Ciavarella had "complete disregard" of their constitutional rights. 

You can listen to some of the testimonies of the young victims HERE.

The irony that the verdict was mixed and at Ciavarello was not immediately incarcerated and let go on his own recognisance was not lost on Sandy Fonzo, the mother of one of Ciavarello's victims:

"My kid's not here anymore!" yelled Sandy Fonzo, whose son committed suicide last year at age 23. "He's dead! Because of him! He ruined my ... life! I'd like him to go to hell and rot there forever!" Ciavarella glanced at Fonzo, then turned his back.

Fonzo's son, Edward Kenzakowski, was a 17-year-old all-star wrestler with no prior record when he landed in Ciavarella's courtroom for possession of drug paraphernalia. She said her son never recovered from the months he served at the detention centers and a wilderness camp.

The court also noted the amount of donations Ciavarella gave to the Democratic National Committe - presumably helping him to keep his elected position on the bench. Sentencing will be next month, and although Ciavarella could receive a sentence amounting to the rest of his life, sources say that he will receive the minimum: 12 1/2 years. 

Ms. Fonzo would obviously like it to be a lot longer.

Two years ago, one comment about Ciavarello's donations to the Democratic Committee:

So there are corrupt Democrats? I suppose that means that the financial debacle the Republicans just brought us to means nothing, because there are are dishonest and greedy Democrats as well. That is a classic Republican response. Face it, Republicans have brought us to financial ruin, NOT Democrats.

I give up.

Laughing at Equality: Murdered David Kato Openly Mocked At U.N. By Authors of "Kill The Gays" Bill

Thanks to Joe.My.God: 

According to U.S. embassy cables released by Wikileaks, Ugandan panelists at a 2009 United Nations seminar on human rights openly mocked activist David Kato as he attempted to deliver his speech denouncing his country's still-pending "kill the gays" bill. Attending the meeting were the bill's author, Ugandan MP David Behati, and Pastor Martin "Eat Da Poo Poo" Ssempa.

This is typical of moralizing morons: openly mock the ones you are targeting for elimination. Behati has said that if  he ever thought his own son might be gay, he'd kill him. And "Eat Da Poo Poo Ssempa was close friends with Rick "Whatever it takes" Warren.

Throw REAL Sodom and Gomorrah Brimstone at Queers!!

  It's pricey, but it's worth it!!

Yes, they're selling this kind of stuff now. Somehow I don't think it will be displayed in the LGBT History Museum. 

BE PREPARED! And BEWARE! Of Those Family Values Scout Masters!!

Turning a hallowed institution into a 
Gordian Knot!

It's time to get real: one of the most time-honored institutions in our country, (in the world, in fact) has had a history of child sexual abuse: the Good 'ole Boy Scouts of America. The extent of it has parents worried: do they need to prepare the kids with condoms? Or do they need to prepare the scout masters for some serious investigations?

From Conservative Babylon:

The gigantic scumbag — and we do mean gigantic, at a reported six-foot-four and 400 pounds — is Kenneth D. Tomlinson II, former police chief of Fredericktown, Missouri, firefighter, and Boy Scout leader.Said scumbag, we are very happy and relieved to report, just received life in prison — actually, “three consecutive life terms plus plus 22 years” — for sexually abusing two boys, ages 11 and 13, who were members of Tomlinson’s Scout troop.

First, it was priests. Then it was youth pastors. Now it's boyscout leaders.

Well, sort of.

It's actually a kind of when-it-rains-it-pours situation: Our great friends at Conservative Babylon have been compiling/monitoring the antics of scout leaders (as well as former scout leaders) and the results during the last two weeks have really thrown us for a loop (or a knot, whatever).

wikipedia:

There have been more than 2,000 US cases of abuse within the Boy Scouts of America prior to 1994 by Scout leaders, yet abuse is still occurring ...

That wiki entry is old and has not been updated since 2009. So to accentuate the problem, I've chosen seven of the most recent and salacious stories about scout leaders/oh-so-family-values men for the reader to ruminate about:

Feb. 3, 2011: Arrested: Steve Wise, Orange County, FLA
A former TV production teacher at the local high school, Wise was charged with 10 counts of possession of child porn. Thousands of pictures of young boys were discovered on his home computer.

UPDATE: Wise has just been hit with 1,557 counts of possession of child pornography - enough to send him away for a very long time!

Jan. 6, 2011: New charges: Michael J. “Mike” Cimmino, Braintree, MA.

Besides being a Cub Scout Leader, Cimmino was a religion teacher for the First Congregational Church. He was originally charged with kidnapping and assault with intent to rape a child and eight counts of indecent assault and battery, all of which he pleaded not guilty. However, new charges arose from an alleged second victim. The case is still ongoing.

Nov. 9, 2010: Arrested: Peter Stibal, Burnsville, MN
Stibal, a scout leader, was accused of molesting two boys during the span of years 2002 to 2008. Parents were concerned and shocked because he was also involved with children in the church and a school bus driver!

February, 2010: Charged: Scott Thomas Hartman, Dallas, TX

Hartman was a Boy Scout and Cub Scout leader when he was charge with aggravated sexual assault on both a 10-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl. When the boy told his mother about the assault, his mother refused to believe him, hence when his school reported his bruises, child protective services removed him from his home and placed him an his siblings in foster care! The boy finally was able to set the record straight with the principal of the school.

Jan. 27, 2001: sentenced: William Arther Hoefling, Plymouth, MI.
Hoefling was a scout master at the Catholic church, Our Lady of Good Counsel when he was convicted 50. Hoefling is now serving his 3 to 20 for repeatedly molesting two 16-year-old boys in his troop

January, 2009: arrested: Jeffrey Claude Bartleson
NOTE: As of this writing, nothing has been written about this case since January of 2009. This may be explained because of the position of Bartleson and his relation to Sen. John McCain.

Conservative Babylon:

Claims to fame: Republican political consultant; Pueblo, Colorado, presidential campaign manager for fellow Conservative Babylonian Sen. John McCain (2008); youth counselor, King of Kings Lutheran Church; Boy Scout leader; sponsor, Parkview Medical Center Chemical Dependency Unit; multiple-child molestation suspect

Since his arrest in January, 2009, more accusers have come forth, the most interesting being that he molested a 5-year-old boy while babysitting him so that his mother could attend a Palin rally!*

Another example of bad (or lack of) vetting in the McCain campaign: Bartleson had been investigated 5 times since 1982 for similar charges (although not convicted).

And last but not least: Dennis L. Radar - also known as the BTK Killer - was a cub scout leader.

And lest you think otherwise, all of the above identified as heterosexual. 

The Boy Scouts. Who knew?

*Being a good scout leader, however, he warned one boy to be prepared: if the boy talked about the incident, he would kill him.