Federal Officers Question Anti-Muslim Film Maker

It seems more and more certain that Christian extremists were behind the making and Internet promotion of the vile film "Innocence of Muslims," that denigrates Islam and the Prophet Muhammad and which has ignited violence across the Arab world.  The Virginian Pilot has coverage on the questioning of one of the principal players in the making of the anti-Muslim screed - a self described Coptic Christian and felon, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.  As seems to always be the case, "Christians" like Nakoula apparently has no problem lying, defrauding people and trashing the Gospel message in general.  It's truly a perverted example of "living one's Christian faith" and is yet another strong example why anyone truly moral would not seek to wear the Christian moniker.  Here are some story highlights:

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, was interviewed at the station in his hometown of Cerritos, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Don Walker said.  Federal officials have said they were investigating the activities of Nakoula, who has been convicted of financial crimes. If the probation department determines Nakoula violated terms of his release, a judge could send him back to prison.

 

The probation department is reviewing the case of Nakoula, who was previously convicted on bank fraud charges and was banned from using computers or the Internet as part of his sentence. The review is aimed at learning whether Nakoula violated the terms of his five-year probation.

Karen Redmond, a spokeswoman for the administrative office of the U.S. courts, confirmed Friday the review is under way.

Federal authorities have identified Nakoula, a self-described Coptic Christian, as the key figure behind "Innocence of Muslims," a film denigrating Islam and the Prophet Muhammad that ignited mob violence against U.S. embassies across the Middle East. A federal law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Thursday that authorities had connected Nakoula to a man using the pseudonym of Sam Bacile who claimed earlier to be writer and director of the film.

While it was unclear what might have provoked authorities' interest, the filmmaker's use of a false identity and his access to the Internet through computers could be at issue, according to experts in cyber law and the federal probation system. Nakoula, who told the AP that he was logistics manager for the film, was under requirements to provide authorities with records of all his bank and business accounts.

The probation order authorized in June 2010 warned Nakoula against using false identities. Nakoula was told not to "use, for any purpose or in any manner, any name other than his/her true legal name or names without the prior written approval of the Probation Officer."

There are indications that "Innocence of Muslims" may have already been under way as a film project when Nakoula was arrested. A casting call for actors and crew for a film called "Desert Warrior" ran in Backstage magazine, based in Los Angeles and New York, in May and June 2009. The casting call described the film project as a "historical Arabian Desert adventure" and listed a "Sam Bassiel" as producer.

One notice identified "Pharaoh Voice Inc."as the film's production company. California state records show Pharaoh Voice was incorporated in September 2007 by a "Youssef M. Basseley." The principal address for Pharaoh Voice in Hawaiian Gardens, a southern California community, is the same location where Nakoula lived until 2008, according to state records.

 Needless to say, I'd love to see this douche bag go back to prison.  People like Nakoula underscore that far right Christianity is a cancer on society and a threat to both domestic and international peace.  It's really little better than Islamic extremism.  Just less violent - at least so far.

Anti-Gay Manhattan Declaration Author, Watergate Felon, Chuck Colson Dead at 80

I know it's not supposed to be good form to speak ill of the dead, but over his career both in the Nixon White House and later as a leading anti-gay homophobe and self-styled right wing extremist, Chuck Colson - at least in my view - perpetrated much evil.  He certainly did all in his power to denigrate LGBT citizens and to push a theocratic agenda that made a mockery of the U. S. Constitution's promise of religious freedom for all citizens.  The so-called Christianist Manhattan Declaration is but one of many examples of Colson seeking to subvert the Constitution and the nation's civil laws while demanding special rights for Christianists.  Colson had best hope that he isn't judged as he judged others or else his life in the hereafter may be far different that what he expected.  The New Civil Rights Movement looks at Colson's foul legacy.  Here are some highlights:

Chuck Colson, the virulently anti-gay theocrat, Evangelical Christian Prison Fellowship founder, Watergate felon, and Manhattan Declaration co-author, died today at the age of 80, after a brain hemorrhage earlier this month. President Richard M. Nixon’s self-described “hatchet man,” Colson — who turned to religion just before he began serving a prison sentence as one of the Watergate Seven — had the reputation of a “dirty tricks” man, but later became highly-regarded within the ranks of the radical religious right. Colson in recent years was a chief religious flag waver falsely claiming the rights of Christians are being compromised.

 

Colson co-authored the Manhattan Declaration with National Organization For Marriage (NOM) founder Robert P. George, whom Colson routinely praised.

The Los Angeles Times described Colson’s Manhattan Declaration as incautious, “apocalyptic,” “disingenuous,” “irresponsible and dangerous,” and chastised its “Christian religious leaders who, even as they insist on their right to shape the nation’s laws, are reserving the right to violate them.” The Times also labeled the Declaration’s attack on same-sex marriage as a “canard,”.   .   .   .  

Colson repeatedly attacked same-sex marriage and homosexuality. He wrongly stated “homosexual behavior” is more “dangerous than smoking, it lowers the life expectancy dramatically.” Colson also falsely stated that legalizing same-sex marriage was “sanctioning behavior known to be dangerous.” And, again falsely, stated that gays and lesbians “don’t want marriage; they want their sexual choices affirmed as normal and moral.”

And as late as last year, despite years of research to the contrary, Colson was publicly advocating that homosexuality was both a choice and avoidable if parents “properly” raised their children.

Author Jeff Sharlet, who has researched and written extensively on the radical religious right, upon learning of Colson’s passing, today wrote via Twitter: Chuck Colson was a cruel, vain, and arrogant man in all phases of his life, a dissembler & a hater to the end. RIP.

Frankly, I find it difficult not to believe that the world is a better place now that Colson has left it.  From all I have read on Colson, I believe Jeff Sharlet summed it up well.  Yes, that's harsh, but in the end, I believe the truth.  Like so many in the Christian Right, Colson should be best known for the hate, intolerance and bigotry that were his daily stock in trade.

Chuck Colson Seeks to Spread His Toxic Version of Christianity

Given Chuck Colson's history, I've always questioned whether or not he had a "religious conversion" or merely latched on to Christianity as a ruse to restore his reputation and make a good living in his post penitentiary days. Where else other than in a so-called "ministy" can a convicted felon find an easy route to the good life financially and find gullible sheep to give him money freely (I've seen ads on Christian sites about "incorporation one's ministy for $99). Colson strikes me like as so many in the "ex-gay" industry - largely unemployable psychologically disturbed drug users and alcoholics who found Jesus as a route to financial susccess and respectability - at least among the simpleton set. The Washington Post has a piece that looks at Colson's effort to "metastasize" society with his intolerant and exclusionary for of Christianity. Ironically, metastasize is the correct word given that Colson and his followers are, in my view, a form of cancer on society. One has to wonder about the mental health of anyone who would want to be one of Colson's "centurions." I sincerely hope that his efforts fail. We clearly do not need more members of the Christian Taliban in this nation. Here are highlights from the Post article:
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Charles Colson assembles the newest members of his Christian army at a Loudoun County convention hall on a winter Saturday. . . . . They’ve spent the year — and as much as $4,000 — reading the books Colson reads, watching the movies he watches, praying the way he prays. It’s all part of an ambitious effort by Colson to replicate his spiritual DNA and ensure that his vision of Christianity doesn’t die when he does.
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“This is the time for us to metastasize and impact society!” the gravelly-voiced former Nixon aide tells his rapt audience. “And this is a really, really urgent hour.” . . . . They are called Centurions, a name that conjures battle-hardened Roman soldiers. They number 640, and their marching orders from their commander are clear — to expand Christ’s kingdom. “What this country needs,” Colson declares, “is a movement.”
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Colson, who lives in Florida full time after years of dividing his time between the Sunshine State and Northern Virginia, hasn’t lost his taste for politics. He works against measures to legalize gay marriage and served as an informal adviser to former George W. Bush aide Karl Rove. . . . . [He] is treated like a rock star at Christian events.
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“The point was to get more people to be like Chuck,” says Chip Mahon, a retired financial services executive who sits on the board of BreakPoint, the umbrella group for Colson’s various ministries, including the Centurions, which began in 2004.
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Regardless of how traditional evangelicals describe themselves, they are facing some discouraging trends. Polls show that young evangelicals are more concerned about poverty and environmentalism than same-sex marriage or abortion and other “sanctity of life” issues. A few months ago, Apple booted an iPhone app for a conservative Christian manifesto that Colson co-wrote called the Manhattan Declaration because the company deemed the document’s opposition to gay marriage and other “immoral sexual partnerships” to be offensive. Just one of the original signers was under 40.
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Centurions are required to create a three-year ministry plan. Most involve grass-roots evangelizing to work colleagues, neighbors or people at church who think they know Christianity but don’t.
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I find Colson and his followers frightening. Should they ever succeed on a large scale, this nation will be a scary place for anyone who doesn't fit the Christianist mode. At the risk of being called horrible, I see the only positive note in all of this is the fact that at 79, Colson's days of disseminating poison may be limited.

Tom Delay Convicted of Money Laundering

Sometimes the wheels of justice move slowly if at all. But in the case of Tom Delay the man is finally reaping the fruits of his arrogance and illegal activities. The irony is, of course, that Delay could go to prison for life, yet many in the GOP are likely doing precisely what he was doing - even Virginia Thomas, a Supreme Court justice's wife, who is receiving large money donations from unknown parties. In short, Delay is likely just the tip of the iceberg. We hear the GOP (and its Christian Right allies) whine about the rule of law and judicial tyranny, but they want to be fully exempt from the law themselves. The hypocrisy is unbelievable. Personally, I hope Delay gets slammed in his sentencing so that just perhaps others may think twice before doing engaging in the same shenanigans that he did. Oh, and WTF was Dancing with the Stars thinking when they had this felon on the show? Here are some highlights from the Washington Post:
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Former House majority leader Tom DeLay, the Texan architect of Republican power in Congress, was convicted Wednesday of illegally plotting to funnel corporate contributions to home-state legislative candidates in 2002.
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A jury in Austin found DeLay guilty of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Punishment for the first ranges from five years to life in prison, but the former congressman from the Houston suburb of Sugar Land could receive probation.
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"This is an abuse of power," the former congressman said outside the courtroom. "It's a miscarriage of justice, and I still maintain that I am innocent. The criminalization of politics undermines our very system, and I am very disappointed in the outcome." The conviction follows years of investigation of DeLay, 63, who came to symbolize the intersection of money and politics in Washington. He made a mission of solidifying the Republican majority in Congress, and his ability to raise campaign cash was part of his power and eventual downfall.
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They said a political action committee that DeLay started in Texas solicited $190,000 from corporate interests and sent it to an arm of the Republican National Committee. They said that group then distributed the money to seven legislative candidates in an effort to skirt Texas law, which forbids corporate contributions to political campaigns.
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"There is nothing wrong with Republicans trying to dominate the political world," prosecutor Beverly Mathews told jurors when the trial opened. "But the means to achieve that gain must be lawful."

Washington Post Slams McDonnell's "Jim Crow" Voting Rights Ploy

As someone who campaigned - admittedly falsely, in my opinion - as a reformed moderate, Bob McDonnell seems to continually demonstrate that he is anything but what he claimed. First he screwed gay state employees, then he was soft on slavery, and now he's trying to keep blacks disenfranchised if they were ever convicted of non-violent felonies. Something that is not all that difficult to have happen in Virginia's highly flawed and racial bigoted (and homophobic) judicial system. Now, the Washington Post has called McDonnell out on his revisions to the process to restore voting rights which likely will slow the process rather than expedite it in the manner McDonnell claimed to support as a candidate. As I have noted before, voters need to recognize that GOP candidates who emulate his false campaign are not moderates no matter how much they lie on the campaign trail. Here are highlights from the Post's editorial taking McDonnell to task:
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AS A CANDIDATE last fall, Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell earned praise and reinforced his carefully nurtured image as a moderate by pledging to streamline the cumbersome process by which nonviolent former felons may regain their voting rights after completing their sentences.
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We take the governor at his word. But his initial attempts to expedite the process have come with a fat asterisk that casts doubt on any claim to fairness and decency, let alone moderation: Mr. McDonnell is also requiring ex-offenders -- who have already paid their debt to society -- to pass what looks like a character test before they can cast a vote.
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In 48 other states and the District of Columbia, voting rights for most felons are restored automatically once their sentence is fulfilled. Only Virginia and Kentucky insist that some sanctions last indefinitely -- until the state, in its infinite wisdom, grants what the U.S. Constitution regards as the inalienable right to vote. In the Old Dominion, the result is that huge numbers of people are disenfranchised. Although the powers that be in Richmond regard former felons with such contempt that they don't even bother counting them, voting rights advocates estimate that some 300,000 ex-cons in Virginia remain barred from voting. African Americans account for just a fifth of Virginia's 7.8 million citizens but are thought to constitute about half of those ineligible to vote. This is Jim Crow by another name.
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Now Mr. McDonnell may be compounding the damage by insisting that nonviolent former felons -- people convicted of shoplifting and other property crimes, for instance -- must do more than just apply to the state if they wish to vote, a process that until now has been time-consuming but generally successful for those who stick with it. Mr. McDonnell would have them submit a letter making the case that they have contributed to society since their release -- an utterly arbitrary standard. What's more, they are asked to explain why they think they should get their rights back.
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Mr. McDonnell is transforming the process into a kind of literacy test -- as obnoxious in its own way as the literacy tests of Jim Crow, which were intended to exclude blacks from voting. Whatever the intent, the likely effect will be to dissuade thousands of people who might otherwise apply.
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We would forgive any Virginians who do not feel grateful for this patronizing offer. It should not require applications, essays or the approbation of condescending bureaucrats to restore the vote to people who have paid for their wrongdoing. It is a matter of equity and democratic fair play and should be treated accordingly.
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McDonnell knows that black Virginians who have their voting rights restored are unlikely to vote for his party and, therefore, he appears to want to make it as difficult as possible for such individuals to ever have the right to vote again. Yet another example of the screwed up values of today's Republican Party. The party of Lincoln is now the party of racists, bigots, tea baggers and birthers.

McDonnell In Hot Water Over Nonviolent Felons' Rights

For someone who claims he is "against discrimination of any kind," Gov. Bob McDonnell has a strange way of showing. Particularly after his "Confederate History Month" debacle earlier in the week. In Virginia the sad reality is that blacks make up a disproportionate number of convicted felons - a group that automatically losing its voting rights - often in my view because of lack of legal counsel and bigoted judges. With blacks being, therefore, disproportionately disenfranchised the issue of restoring voting rights is a perennial issue with blacks and civil rights activists seeking to speed up a slow and cumbersome process while the GOP controlled House of Delegates opposes changes because - God forbid - those re-enfranchised blacks might vote for Democrats. Perhaps I am being too cynical, but I suspect not. In today's Virginia GOP, blacks, gays, Hispanics, non-Christians and immigrants are not only unwanted in the state but also not welcome at the polls if truth be told. The Washington Post has a story that looks at McDonnell's latest gaff. One would think he was getting his PR advice from the Vatican in light of the self-inflicted wounds. Here are highlights:

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For the second time in a week, Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell has angered black leaders and civil rights groups, this time when they learned of his plans to add another step for nonviolent felons to have their voting rights restored.
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McDonnell (R) will require the offenders to submit an essay outlining their contributions to society since their release, turning a nearly automatic process into a subjective one that some say may prevent poor, less-educated or minority residents from being allowed to vote. "It's another roadblock," Sen. Yvonne B. Miller (D-Norfolk), a member of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, said when she was told of the change.
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McDonnell has not restored any felon's rights since he was sworn into office Jan. 16, although applications have started to be processed. The new process is still being developed and is several weeks away from being implemented. Polarek said she does not know whether she will need more money or staff to read the essays or speed up the process.
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Under Virginia's constitution, people convicted of a felony automatically lose the rights to vote, serve on a jury and own a gun. About 300,000 felons who have served their time do not have those rights. A governor can restore those rights to felons who appear to have redeemed themselves.
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Only Virginia and Kentucky require an act of the governor to restore voting rights to felons. The vast majority of states, including Maryland, automatically restore voting rights after a sentence is completed. The District allows felons to vote upon their release from prison.
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[Gov.] Kaine restored the civil rights of a record 4,402 felons during his term, and Warner restored rights to 3,486. Republican predecessors James S. Gilmore III and George Allen restored rights to 238 and 460 felons, respectively. In the past, Republicans have asserted that Democratic governors have restored voting rights to more felons than have Republican governors because felons are more likely to vote for Democrats.

The Few, the Proud, the Convicted Felons

Sara Whitman has a good editorial at Gaywired that looks at the Pentagon's pitiful and insulting policy of rejecting qualified and honorable LGBT citizens from military service yet now accepting increasing numbers of convicted felons. One can be a criminal thug or gang member and that's fine, but be gay and you're unacceptable and/or out the door. What makes matters worse is that the whole DADT policy foisted on us by Billary actually only serves the Christianist agenda of stigmatizing and doing everything possible to publicly brand gays as less than full, equal citizens. The whole policy is wrong and disgusting. Here are some highlights from the column:

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The military doesn’t want gay men or lesbians serving in the armed forces but they are actively recruiting convicted felons. Rape, manslaughter, arson, kidnapping on your record? No problem. Just don’t be queer.

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On April 21st, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee shows that in 2006 and 2007 Americans who were convicted of serious crimes including sexual offences, manslaughter, "terrorist threats including bomb threats", burglary, kidnapping or abduction, aggravated assault and sexual assault were allowed into the military under moral waivers granted by the services. same in Iraq.

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If morals are at stake when a gay man is next to a straight man in the fox hole, as is so often described, how will that straight man feel sitting next to a child rapist? The military has gone to a new extreme to find soldiers and yet they continue to dismiss honorably serving gays and lesbians every day. People with no criminal records and, in fact, people who tend to be highly sought after linguists. More than one in ten new Army recruits have criminal and violent records.

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And we’re not talking about some teenage kid caught with a joint in his pocket. It is beyond me, as a lesbian, to think that an arsonist is more welcome to serve our country than I am. A kidnapper is more highly regarded by General Petraeus than my wife. A rapist gets a paycheck and a gun from the government.