Christianist Hate at NEM

The only unpleasant moments at the National Equality March yesterday occurred shortly after the beginning of the March when the boyfriend and I found ourselves face to face with hate merchant extraordinaire and murder advocating anti-abortion loon Randall Terry (at left). Terry was yelling nastily at marchers with a megaphone and calling us freaks and sinners. Quite a few of us had words with this man and even the boyfriend yelled back at Terry - who I deem to be one of the leading false Christians today which is quite an accomplishment given the number of vile professional Christians one encounters. Other than this unexpected face to face encounter, the entire mood yesterday was one of determination and good cheer. The ONLY hateful language we heard all day came from Mr. Terry - something that is all too typical of the most visible Christianists.
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In contrast, retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu had a beautiful letter read at the March in full support of full LGBT equality both within and outside of the Church.

Freeper and Christianist Extremist Randall Terry Condemns NEM

It was only a matter of time before the loons and haters of the far right began to hyperventilate and convulse over the National Equality March and Obama's appearance at the HRC dinner tomorrow evening. Randall Terry - yes, the same Randall Terry who supports the murder of abortion providers - doesn't disappoint with his crazed and hate-filled press release. The man is about as un-Christian as one can be and continues to be a poster boy for why one might prefer not to be a Christian, or at least Terry's style of Christian. Here are some highlights via PR Newswire for Journalists of Terry's screed:

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Christians will gather at two key locations to remind homosexual marchers that God loves them, and they can be redeemed, but society cannot "normalize" a self-destructive behavior that can rob a human being of their eternal soul. Christians will bear witness to the truth: God made marriage to be a sacred covenant and sacrament between a man and a woman, and His Laws and order cannot be nullified - not by them, not by the Courts, and not by President Obama.

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[W]hen they try to force the rest of us to create a right to "homosexual marriage" where none exists, and to say that an objectively evil behavior is good and even desirable, we must fearlessly oppose them with all our might. The child-killing movement and the 'homosexual marriage' have formed an unbreakable bond - a 'cultural axis of evil' - because they both spring from the same root: the rejection of God's Law and Natural Law concerning human sexuality and procreation.

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"President Obama does America and the nations of the world a great disservice by legitimizing this self destructive, degrading behavior by speaking at the HRC banquet. On one day he speaks at Notre Dame, talking about the common good, and then proceeds to attack life and marriage in his policies, thereby destroying the common good. It is shameful."

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Those attending the National Equality March who seek to avoid Mr. Terry's form of "love" should avoid the following locations where gay-haters are supposed to be gathering:

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1. Saturday Evening, Oct 10, 6:00 PM: Location of Human Rights Coalition Banquet, at which President Obama is the keynote speaker. Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. 801 Mount Vernon Pl NW, Washington, DC.

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2. Sunday, Oct 11, 12:00 Noon: National Equality March Parade route, Southeast Quadrant of Lafayette Park, across from White House.

Operation Rescue Reportedly Needs Money, Close to Shutting Down

According to the wingnut news site CNSNews.com Operation Rescue, founded by pro-life extremist Randall Terry, is close to running out of money and shutting down. Could it just perhaps be because would be donors do not want to be associated with an organization whose founder and former leader has never denounced the murder of abortion providers and who has in fact comp licitly condoned the actions of the murders? The most recent example is the murder of Dr. George Tiller and Terry's extremist remarks at the time. While most folks do not know that Terry and Operation Rescue have parted ways some years back. Like it or not, Randall Terry - who is also an extreme homophobe - continues to be the face associated with Operation Rescue. The other irony is, of course, that due to their opposition to contraception, birth control and sex ed education, groups like Operation Rescue actually cause the number of abortions in the USA to fail to fall to rates similar to those in Europe where there are comprehensive sex education and birth control projects. Here are some story highlights:

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Wichita, Kan. (AP) - Operation Rescue, one of the nation's highest-profile groups in the anti-abortion movement, has told its supporters it is facing a "major financial crisis" and is very close to shutting down unless emergency help arrives soon. The group's president, Troy Newman, blamed the economic downturn for its money woes in a desperate plea e-mailed Monday night to donors. But the Wichita-based organization has also been under attack from both fringe anti-abortion militants and abortion rights supporters since the May 31 shooting death of Dr. George Tiller.

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Tiller's killing has also been a public relations nightmare for the group - despite its public condemnation of the slaying - since the name and phone number of the group's senior policy adviser was found in Roeder's car when he was arrested. A television crew zoomed in on the scrawled note inside the car in images that made their way to the Internet.

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The Internal Revenue Service revoked Operation Rescue's tax-exempt status in 2006 for prohibited political activity during the 2004 election. That means donations to the group are no longer deductible on taxes. Newman has said the IRS revocation did not affect donations. Meanwhile, other groups in the abortion fray have not noticed a similar decline in contributions.

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"They have publicly denounced his murder, yet they move their headquarters to Wichita and spend years harassing and trying to put him out of business," Saporta said. "And people involved with Operation Rescue had also been in communication with Scott Roeder so their hands aren't necessarily 100 percent clean in this scenario." Abortion rights supporters contend some of Operation Rescue's activities contribute to the atmosphere that encourage people like Roeder to take the law into their hands.

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Operation Rescue's fundraising letter hinted at a secret project it hoped to launch in the next 30 days that would be a "new phase in the pro-life fight." But while the group's fundraising efforts are often tied to some new anti-abortion activity, its latest letter had an unprecedented tone of desperation.

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Sometimes people and organizations reap what they sow and Operation Rescue has historically taken extreme positions and engaged in over the top actions that have now apparently come back to haunt it. I will not shed a tear if the organization shuts down.

TheCall and Christian Extremists Declare War - Part 2

A reader left a comment that perhaps I am "too paranoid" in terms of the threat posed by Christian Right extremists and the prospect that some of their minions might resort to violence either at the unofficial bidding of the professional Christian set or as rogue independent operatives. Lest readers forget, in my by gone Republican days I met a few of these extremist types face to face: Pat Robertson, Ralph Reed and numerous Christian Coalition functionaries for example and some of them were pretty frightening.

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Whether they and those like them would intentionally incite actual violence is open to debate. That their rhetoric might be construed by the unbalanced and fanatics as a green light to act is less open to debate. One need only look at the relatively recent murder of abortion provider Dr. George Tiller and the incitement that preceded it to realize that words do have consequences and that there are Christianist with martyr ideologies. On the issue of abortion, Randall Terry continues to speak out in language that seems to encourage violence. Here are some highlights as reported by Think Progress:
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Randall Terry, founder of the right-wing extremist group Operation Rescue, warns that his supporters may engage in violent acts of terrorism unless Congress prohibits abortion services from being covered in the new health reform legislation:

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[T]e sheer horror and frustration of such an evil policy will lead some people to absolutely refuse to pay their taxes. And I believe — if my reading of history from America and around the world is correct — that there are others who will be tempted to acts of violence. “If the government of this country tramples the faith and values of its citizens, history will hold those in power responsible for the violent convulsions that follow.”

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Terry is probably the first public figure to raise terrorism as a potential response to a health bill which allows Americans to keep the same access to reproductive care that they currently enjoy.

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I'd rather be guilty of a little paranoia rather than be blind to the fact that violence is a possibility when dealing with those to whom the rights of others and freedom of religion are meaningless. I've been threatened by an aide to a GOP Congressman in the past and the players in that instance were far less crazy than Terry and extreme Christianists like him.

The Increasingly Vile GOP Messengers

Conservative columnist Kathleen Parker has a column in the Washington Post that looks at the growing problem for the GOP that those who most loudly shout its message are nutcases who increasingly cause moderates and the non-insane to run for the Democrat Party. Some years back the powers that be in the GOP decided to sell the party's soul to the Christianists in order to win elections. Now, the Christianists more or less control the party and rational thought and moderation are a thing of the past. Oh yes, candidates like Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell try to masquerade as moderates but they are anything but that. Listen to the fanatics in the party and there you will see the true agenda of its candidates. Unless and until the GOP totally disavows these nutcases and ejects them from places where they can influence party platforms, the GOP needs to rejected by voters. Here are highlights from Parker's column:

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Before recent events, I intended to write about the GOP's message problem with the headline: "Shoot the Messenger." Sunday's fatal shooting of abortion doctor George Tiller makes my title inappropriate, but the idea remains relevant. . . . By grotesque coincidence, Tiller's murderer furthers the point.

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It has long been a problem for the GOP that some of the party's cherished positions are embraced most enthusiastically by people whose grip on reality is sometimes . . . tenuous. This is especially true with regard to abortion.

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Rather than persuading people to think differently about abortion, the Terry-Keyes act makes one want to write checks to Planned Parenthood. And smart Catholics, who were perfectly capable of articulating their objections to the president's invitation to America's premier Catholic university, were suddenly stuck in the frame with rabble-rousers who demean the message. Such is the continuing dilemma of the GOP: How do you get out the message when the messengers keep getting in the way?

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[F]ire-breathers on the right don't help, whatever the cause. They may warm the base, but the Republican base is becoming a remote island in mainstream America. Everyone else is paddling away.

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Accurately or not, the right-wing wacko contingent increasingly dominates the public perception of the GOP. And, fairly or not, that perception makes it easier for characters such as Scott Roeder, the suspected shooter, to become associated with the party.

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Some Internet commentary even refers to Roeder as a "Christian terrorist." Let's see: Christian, pro-gun, anti-government, pro-life. Sounds like a Republican, right? Oh, and he's suspected of being an assassin. Connect them dots.

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One can convincingly argue that the media have a hand in perpetuating the conservative caricature, but the Republican Party has contributed to the distortion by pandering to its less rational elements. Still fresh in our minds is the last presidential election -- a strange season that might be attributed to GOP desperation if not for a prior history in times of political prosperity.

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Two words: Terri Schiavo. During that 2005 Operation Rescue debacle -- complete with death vigils and lamentations -- Bill Frist, then the Senate majority leader and a practicing physician, lent credibility to the circus performers by diagnosing Schiavo's condition via video and challenging other medical opinion that she was in a persistent vegetative state.

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[U]ntil the Republicans marginalize those who belong in the margins, they won't be attracting many new recruits. And the messengers will continue to obscure the message.

Dr. Laura son linked to lurid Web page

Why is it that some of the folks who most think the rest of us should live according to their child-rearing and other dictates seem to have no business directing others since their own children are either truly f**ked up or the exact opposite of what their parents are marketing? In terms of gays, Dr. Laura is only one of many who condemn homosexuality and often try to blame bad parenting and bad home situations for people being gay. Yet they themselves have gay children or children who obviously are not models of normalcy in other ways. Others include Randall Terry (Operation Rescue), Beverly LeHaye (Concerned Women for America), Phyllis Schlafly (Eagle Forum), Alan Keyes (former political candidate), all of whom have gay children, but want to tell parents how to raise children that will be straight. Shouldn't they be the last ones to give advice since they obviously failed under their own standards in properly raising their own children? Here are some highlights from a story involving Dr. Laura's son (http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5934072):

The soldier son of talk radio relationship counselor Laura Schlessinger is under investigation for a graphic personal Web page that one Army official has called "repulsive." The MySpace page, publicly available until Friday when it disappeared from the Internet, included cartoon depictions of rape, murder, torture and child molestation; photographs of soldiers with guns in their mouths; a photograph of a bound and blindfolded detainee captioned "My Sweet Little Habib"; accounts of illicit drug use; and a blog entry headlined by a series of obscenities and racial epithets. The site is credited to and includes many photographs of Deryk Schlessinger, the 21-year-old son of the talk radio personality known simply as Dr. Laura. Broadcast locally on 570 KNRS, "Family Values Talk Radio," the former family counselor spends three hours daily taking calls and offering advice on morals, ethics and values. She broadcast a show from Fort Douglas, in Salt Lake City, last week.

Deryk Schlessinger's Web site indicated the 21-year-old soldier is stationed in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where, the site's author writes, "godless crazy people like me," have become "a generation of apathetic killers." The site indicated Schlessinger's team has survived numerous mortar, rocket and roadside bomb attacks. It also included several graphic cartoons. In one of the stick drawings, a top-hatted man laughs as he rapes a bound and bleeding woman in front of her family. In another depiction, a man forces a boy to perform oral sex at knife point as the child's mother pleads for her son's life.