Stephen Miller's Uncle Unleashes on Miller's Racist and Anti-Immigrant Hypocrisy

Stephen Miller - who reminds me of Josef Goebbels - and Der Trumpenführer.  

One of the goals of this blog is to expose hypocrisy.  Nowadays, thanks to the Republican Party and its "conservative Christian base," the Trump/Pence regime, and, of course, the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, there is almost an unlimited supply of material.  Interestingly, Stephen Miller, seen by many as the guiding force behind Der Trumpenführer's anti-immigrant jihad - Mike Pence likely applauds it while pretending to "know nothing" - today finds himself being lambasted for his hypocrisy by his own uncle in a piece in Politico.  Miller's uncle recounts the immigrant history of Miller's own family in America, which is hundreds of years shorter than that of many blacks and Hispanics, and calls Miller out as a foul hypocrite. Yet, Miller's hypocrisy is no less than that of many Trump supporters whose families came to America as immigrants far more recently than the ancestors of many of those whom they hate and deride.  Here are highlights from the Politico piece (as you read the entire piece, think of similar hypocrites in your own social circles): 

Let me tell you a story about Stephen Miller and chain migration.  It begins at the turn of the 20th century, in a dirt-floor shack in the village of Antopol, a shtetl of subsistence farmers in what is now Belarus. Beset by violent anti-Jewish pogroms and forced childhood conscription in the Czar’s army, the patriarch of the shack, Wolf-Leib Glosser, fled a village where his forebears had lived for centuries and took his chances in America.

He set foot on Ellis Island on January 7, 1903, with $8 to his name. Though fluent in Polish, Russian and Yiddish, he understood no English. An elder son, Nathan, soon followed. By street corner peddling and sweatshop toil, Wolf-Leib and Nathan sent enough money home to pay off debts and buy the immediate family’s passage to America in 1906. That group included young Sam Glosser, who with his family settled in the western Pennsylvania city of Johnstown, a booming coal and steel town that was a magnet for other hardworking immigrants. The Glosser family quickly progressed from selling goods from a horse and wagon to owning a haberdashery in Johnstown run by Nathan and Wolf-Leib to a chain of supermarkets and discount department stores run by my grandfather, Sam, and the next generation of Glossers, including my dad, Izzy.

In the span of some 80 years and five decades, this family emerged from poverty in a hostile country to become a prosperous, educated clan of merchants, scholars, professionals, and, most important, American citizens.

What does this classically American tale have to do with Stephen Miller? Well, Izzy Glosser is his maternal grandfather, and Stephen’s mother, Miriam, is my sister.

I have watched with dismay and increasing horror as my nephew, an educated man who is well aware of his heritage, has become the architect of immigration policies that repudiate the very foundation of our family’s life in this country.

I shudder at the thought of what would have become of the Glossers had the same policies Stephen so coolly espouses— the travel ban, the radical decrease in refugees, the separation of children from their parents, and even talk of limiting citizenship for legal immigrants — been in effect when Wolf-Leib made his desperate bid for freedom.

The Glossers came to the U.S. just a few years before the fear and prejudice of the “America first” nativists of the day closed U.S. borders to Jewish refugees. Had Wolf-Leib waited, his family likely would have been murdered by the Nazis along with all but seven of the 2,000 Jews who remained in Antopol. I would encourage Stephen to ask himself if the chanting, torch-bearing Nazis of Charlottesville, whose support his boss seems to court so cavalierly, do not envision a similar fate for him.
 True, Jews were excluded from many occupations, couldn’t buy homes in some towns, couldn’t join certain organizations or attend certain schools or universities, but life was good. As in past generations, there were hate mongers who regarded the most recent groups of poor immigrants as scum, rapists, gangsters, drunks and terrorists, but largely the Glosser family was left alone to live our lives and build the American dream. Children were born, synagogues founded, and we thrived. This was the miracle of America.
 Acting for so long in the theater of right-wing politics, Stephen and Trump may have become numb to the resultant human tragedy and blind to the hypocrisy of their policy decisions. After all, Stephen’s is not the only family with a chain immigration story in the Trump administration. Trump's grandfather is reported to have been a German migrant on the run from military conscription to a new life in the United States, and his mother fled the poverty of rural Scotland for the economic possibilities of New York City. (Trump’s in-laws just became citizens on the strength of his wife’s own citizenship.)
 These facts are important not only for their grim historical irony but because vulnerable people are being hurt. They are real people, not the ghoulish caricatures portrayed by Trump. . . . I meet these statistics one at a time through my volunteer service as a neuropsychologist for the Philadelphia affiliate of HIAS (formerly the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society), the global nonprofit that protects refugees and helped my family more than 100 years ago. I will share the story of one such man I have met in the hopes that my nephew might recognize elements of our shared heritage.
 In the early 2000s, Joseph (not his real name) was conscripted at the age of 14 to be a soldier in Eritrea and sent to a remote desert military camp. Officers there discovered a Bible under his pillow which aroused their suspicion that he might belong to a foreign evangelical sect that would claim his loyalty and sap his will to fight. . . . “They smashed my face into the ground, tied my hands and feet together behind my back, stomped on me, and hung me from a tree by my bonds while they beat me with batons for the others to see.”

Joseph was tortured for 20 consecutive days before being taken to a military prison and crammed into a dark unventilated cell with 36 other men, little food and no proper hygiene. . . . When he was too weak to stand, he was taken to a civilian clinic where he was fed by the medical staff. Upon regaining his strength, he escaped to a nearby road where a sympathetic driver took him north through the night to a camp in Sudan where he joined other refugees. Joseph was on the first leg of a journey that would cover thousands of miles and almost 10 years.

Before Donald Trump had started his political ascent promulgating the false story that Barack Obama was a foreign-born Muslim, while my nephew, Stephen, was famously recovering from the hardships of his high school cafeteria in Santa Monica, Joseph was a child on his own in Sudan in fear of being deported back to Eritrea to face execution for desertion. He worked any job he could get, saved his money and made his way through Sudan.

He endured arrest and extortion in Libya. He returned to Sudan, then kept moving to Dubai, Brazil and eventually to a southern border crossing into Texas, where he sought asylum. In all of the countries he traveled through during his ordeal, he was vulnerable, exploited and his status was “illegal.” But in the United States, he had a chance to acquire the protection of a documented immigrant.

Today, at 30, Joseph lives in Pennsylvania and has a wife and child. He is a smart, warm, humble man of great character who is grateful for every day of his freedom and safety. . . . He hopes to become a citizen, return to work and make his contribution to America. His story, though unique in its particulars, is by no means unusual. I have met Central Americans fleeing corrupt governments, violence and criminal extortion; a Yemeni woman unable to return to her war-ravaged home country and fearing sexual mutilation if she goes back to her Saudi husband; and an escaped kidnap-bride from central Asia.
 Trump wants to make us believe that these desperate migrants are an existential threat to the United States; the most powerful nation in world history and a nation made strong by immigrants. Trump and my nephew both know their immigrant and refugee roots. Yet, they repeat the insults and false accusations of earlier generations against these refugees to make them seem less than human.
 Most damning is the administration's evident intent to make policy that specifically disadvantages people based on their ethnicity, country of origin and religion. No matter what opinion is held about immigration, any government that specifically enacts law or policy on that basis must be recognized as a threat to all of us. Laws bereft of justice are the gateway to tyranny. Today others may be the target, but tomorrow it might just as easily be you or me.
 As free Americans, and descendants of immigrants and refugees, we have the obligation to exercise our conscience by voting for candidates who will stand up for our highest national values and not succumb to our lowest fears.

From time to time, all of us find ourselves in situations where we must choose between supporting good or supporting evil.  Sadly, the Trump/Pence regime and its Republican enablers and sycophants now are the face of evil.  If one is decent and moral, there is no option but to oppose their agenda and vote to defeat Republicans in order that a Democrat controlled Congress can blunt the worst of the Trump/Pence/Miller evil.  If one choose to nonetheless vote Republican, than you deserve to be viewed by others with contempt and deemed a hypocrite. 

Anti-Gay Bigot Sarah Sanders Booted From Restaurant

One thing about the Christofascists and evangelical Christians is that they can dish out bigotry and discrimination toward others yet they typically take great offense if they receive treatment like what they give to others.  Indeed, they act as if they are being persecuted.  They believe that public accommodation laws are a one way street that apply to everyone but themselves. Cite real or feigned religious belief and voila, one is exempt from the law.  Last week, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, White House press secretary and daughter of homophobe extraordinaire Mike Huckabee deliciously found herself on the receiving end of what she believes is fine for gays: a restaurant, Red Hen, in Lexington, Virginia, refused to serve her and she was forced to leave.  Make no mistake, Sanders is a liar - she lies daily during press briefings - and a hypocrite.  A piece in Vox looks at Sanders receiving what she advocates is fine for others.  Here are excerpts:

I feel for Sarah Huckabee Sanders. I’d be miffed, too, if I sat down with a group of friends to a spread of cheeses at a charming farm-to-table restaurant only to be asked to leave by the owner. 

I happen to believe that food establishments should offer their goods to anyone willing to pay for them. Sanders does not. She thinks it’s OK, for example, for a business to hang a sign in their window saying they won’t serve gay couples. This is why, on one level, her very public dig at the owner of the Red Hen, which set off a torrent of hate tweets and threats her way, is ridiculous. It’s hypocrisy.

On another level, restaurant-gate is an example of the Trump administration’s unique commitment to courting divisiveness. Donald Trump doesn’t even pretend to speak to or for all Americans. Rhetorically, there hasn’t been a more disrespectful administration in 150 years. But when Sanders wants dinner, the White House is all for mutual respect. Either way, the base laps it up.

This disregard for all kinds of people has had real consequences in their lives including for gays, transgender people, migrant children, victims of domestic violence or police brutality — and the list goes on. When Sanders, or any Trump official, tweets indignantly about a slight, it’s just added insult.

The irony of restaurant-gate is that Sanders supports the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, Jack Phillips, who refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple in Colorado. The owner of the Red Hen, Stephanie Wilkinson, told the Washington Post one reason she asked Sanders to leave was because of Sanders’ stances on gay rights. The staff includes several gay workers. The staff was also deeply upset about Sanders’ defense of Trump’s family separation policy, she said.

“I would have done the same thing again,” Wilkinson told the Post. “We just felt there are moments in time when people need to live their convictions. This appeared to be one.”

When the high court heard oral arguments in December, Sanders went as far as to say it would be fine for a business to hang up a sign announcing it denies services to gay people.

Sanders sees a constitutional right under the First Amendment to chose who to serve and not serve in a business. But on Friday, she made no mention of this context. She made no attempt to distinguish the two. Instead, she took an opportunity to fan divisions between the White House’s base and everyone else.

Sanders has backed Trump through all of this, defending his comments, his counter-attacks and his policies. Maybe she was disappointed about dinner on Friday. Maybe she really did feel wronged. But her decision to take to Twitter and spark a divisive feud between Trump supporters and liberals feels familiar. It’s almost like she wants to have her cake and eat it, too.

I view most evangelical Christians and the Christofascists as far worse than the Pharisees so frequently condemned in the New Testament. If they want to refuse to serve gays for being sinners, the rest of us should be able to treat them the same way. They are an abomination and cancer on America. 

The Christian Right Is Sleeping With the Enemy

As regular readers know, I view conservative Christians as some of the most selfish, self-centered and hypocrisy-filled people one will ever meet.  They are nothing less than modern day Pharisees.  But this is particularly true of what I call the "professional Christian" crowd that seeks power while fleecing the gullible and ignorant.  They make the money lenders in the Temple that Christ supposedly decried look ethical and upstanding.    Indeed, their embrace of Donald Trump puts a glaring spotlight on their hypocrisy and hunger for power.  I came across a column from some time back that takes aim at these dangerous hypocrites, including Jerry Falwell, Jr., James Dobson and Franklin Graham, all foul individuals in my estimation.  Here are some column highlights:

To paraphrase P.T. Barnum, “There’s a sucker born again every minute.”

This week, according to a roomful of dewy-eyed pastors and fawning televangelists who met behind closed doors with GOP Presidential candidate Donald Trump, he has accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior and is apparently now suitable for Christians and church leaders to fully and passionately support.

Never mind that Trump has made no such claims himself, nor given any indication by word or deed that would lead anyone to believe such outrageous proclamations. And disregard Trump’s growing legacy of ignorant rants against Muslims, Mexicans, women, immigrants, and almost any groups who aren’t wealthy or white—or both.

As a Christian and a pastor, it’s all been equally fascinating and infuriating watching supposed men and women (well, mostly men) of God engage in all sorts of embarrassing theological gymnastics to try and connect the most convoluted and disparate of dots in order to justify hitching their ministries to Trump’s toxic wagon.

This is a revelatory moment for we who claim Christianity, one that crystallizes how much Dobson and the rest of these folks have lost the plot and how faithfully they now serve only themselves.

It turns out, when it comes to power the Evangelical Right will go to bed with just about anybody. They’re that easy.

The truth is, Donald Trump is a fairly horrible human being if you’re going to use any measurement of morality. He’s neither done nor said anything that one could categorize as remotely resembling Jesus. Lots of smart people understand this. But this isn’t about him. He’s doing what most of us expect him to do: try and court a valuable and much-needed voting block without self-awareness, shame, or decency. This isn’t a surprise.

[T]his about supposed representatives of Jesus whoring themselves out just to have what they hope will be the next President’s ear and pretending it’s the work of God. It’s about discarding faith to keep power in their party. It’s about a Christianity that no longer has need or use for Jesus. They themselves are the bloated golden calf they’re bowing down to and Trump is just a means to this end—and it’s exactly what is killing the Church.

Every day people tell me that they’re finished with organized Christianity; that they’re walking away from the American Church for good, and it isn’t because of gays or cultural decay or materialism or lust or whatever these preachers like to lift while in the pulpit. These millions of honest, wise (and yes faithful) people are making their exodus because they see Dobson and Falwell and people like them and they realize the absolute absurdity of it all.

It’s a compete disconnect undermining the very bedrock of their core beliefs, and so they’re choosing to leave instead of being associated with such a blatant power lust move. They’ve run out of patience with a spirituality that’s for sale. They’re through with a Christianity that only needs to win.

One of the most startling ironies, is that these are the same self-professed “defenders of the faith”, who for the last eight years have ruthlessly persecuted a President who has not only repeatedly professed personal spirituality, but whose conduct, marriage, and family are everything they claim they’re for. This was never good enough for them to support or pray for him—or even call him a Christian.

Yet Donald Trump, in all his philandering, materialistic, racist, bigoted, misogynist glory is somehow worthy of reverence because somewhere deep down (in a way that only these leaders see), he loves Jesus. If you believe that I have some swamp land in Alabama for you.

If Trump’s version of Christianity is the hateful, politicized, bullying, opportunist variety these Right Evangelical extremists have been living for the past few decades—I’ll pass.

I continue to believe that it is the "godly folk" themselves who are accelerating the well-deserved death of Christianity.   Expect the exodus from organized religion to continue if not accelerate. 

Pope Francis' Disingenuous Statement on the Orlando Massacre

If nothing else, I hope the bloodbath in Orlando will wake the LGBT community and its allies up and make disingenuous words of sympathy and feigned sorrow no longer acceptable.  As the sayings go, "talk is cheap" and "actions speak louder than words."  Applying either standard, Pope Francis' statement in the wake of the murder of nearly 50 LGBT individuals and their friends   falls within the category of rank hypocrisy.   First, nowhere in Francis' statement did he acknowledge that the murder victims were predominately gay.  Second, nowhere did he apologize for the Church's continued anti-gay jihad or the Church's continued categorization of LGBT individuals as "inherently disordered" and "inclined toward evil."  Until the Church changes its demonization of gays and its efforts to deprive us of our civil rights, his words in this statement have less value than a piece of toilet paper that someone has used to wipe themselves.  It's all window dressing and filled with rank hypocrisy.  Here are excerpts of the bullshit filled statement via Radio Vatican:

The terrible massacre that has taken place in Orlando, with its dreadfully high number of innocent victims, has caused in Pope Francis, and in all of us, the deepest feelings of horror and condemnation, of pain and turmoil before this new manifestation of homicidal folly and senseless hatred. Pope Francis joins the families of the victims and all of the injured in prayer and in compassion. Sharing in their indescribable suffering he entrusts them to the Lord so they may find comfort. We all hope that ways may be found, as soon as possible, to effectively identify and contrast the causes of such terrible and absurd violence which so deeply upsets the desire for peace of the American people and of the whole of humanity. 

Like the  meaningless statements of numerous Republicans, Francis overlooks his own and the Church's culpability in fanning the flames of homophobia and making LGBT individuals the targets of hate and derision.  If Francis really meant what he says, he'd note the fact that the victims were LGBT and he'd immediately reverse the anti-LGBT language of his predecessors.  His failure to act speacks volumes.  

Prosecutors Give Details on Dennis Hastert’s Sexual Abuse of Teenagers

As is often noted on this blog, if one is worried about stopping sexual predators, the focus should be on anti-gay Republican politicians (and conservative religious leaders), not gays and/or transgender individuals.  Over and over again we see GOP politicians with anti-gay voting records who espouse "family values" being caught having affairs, seeking gay sex, or in the case of former Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, sexually molesting minors.  The Washington Post has details on Hastert's sexual misconduct that set the state for his attempts to pay over $3 million in hush money to one of his former victims.  Here are excerpts:

Federal prosecutors on Friday detailed some of the lurid allegations of sexual misconduct against former U.S. House speaker Dennis Hastert and asked a federal judge to subject the Illinois Republican to a sex offender evaluation.

In a memo in advance of an April 27 sentencing hearing, prosecutors spelled out in graphic detail how Hastert sexually molested or inappropriately touched five teenagers who trusted him as their wrestling coach. And as Hastert rose to power, believing that his wrongdoing would never be made public, his victims struggled with the effects of the abuse, prosecutors wrote.

“He made them feel alone, ashamed, guilty and devoid of dignity,” prosecutors wrote. “While defendant achieved great success, reaping all the benefits that went with it, these boys struggled, Hastert, 74, pleaded guilty last year to violating federal banking laws, admitting in a deal with prosecutors that he withdrew money from banks in increments low enough to avoid mandatory reporting requirements. Thatcharge, though, always belied the case’s actual underpinnings.and all are still struggling now with what defendant did to them.”

A federal law enforcement official has said Hastert withdrew the money so he could pay off someone he sexually molested decades ago. And after the first victim emerged, more people came forward alleging that they or their relatives were also victimized by the Yorkville, Ill., high school teacher and coach.

Prosecutors detailed remarkably similar stories from each of the now-grown men.

One — who said he was a 14-year-old freshman when the abuse occurred — alleged that Hastert told him to get on a table so he could “loosen him up,” then massaged and performed a sex act on him. Another — who said he was 17 years old when the abuse occurred — alleged that Hastert offered him a massage to help him cut weight, then performed a sex act on him. That victim said Hastert kept a chair in direct view of the locker room shower stalls.

“The federal and state statutes of limitations have long expired on potential charges relating to defendant’s known sexual acts against Individual A and other minors,” prosecutors wrote. “With this case, the government seeks to hold defendant accountable for the crimes he committed . . . . 

Sadly, Hastert is the poster boy for the hypocrisy of anti-gay Republicans who make a mockery of the professed devotion to "family values."  I have zero sympathy for Hastert.

Pope Francis Talks Out of Both Sides of His Mouth on Gays

The National Catholic Reporter - which is not controlled by the Vatican and one of the few sane Catholic news outlets - is reporting that Pope Francis has explained his "who am I to judge" statement on gays which, if one looks at only his words and not his actions, sounds positive.  Meanwhile, of course, the Church has opposed gay rights and supported the repeal of same sex marriage in Slovenia.  Sadly, Francis' duplicity and dis-ingenuousness is typical of the Church hierarchy.  Until the Church makes doctrinal changes and apologizes for centuries of homophobia and horrors inflicted on gays, Francis' words are meaningless, in my view.  Indeed, the word hypocrite springs to mind.  Here are story excerpts:

Interviewing Pope Francis in July, Italian journalist Andrea Tornielli asked the pope how he might act as a confessor to a gay person in light of his now famous remarks in a press conference in 2013, when he asked: "Who am I to judge?"

Francis' reply appears in a new book The Name of God is Mercy to be released Tuesday.

"On that occasion I said this: If a person is gay and seeks out the Lord and is willing, who am I to judge that person?" the pope says. "I was paraphrasing by heart the Catechism of the Catholic Church where it says that these people should be treated with delicacy and not be marginalized."

"I am glad that we are talking about 'homosexual people' because before all else comes the individual person, in his wholeness and dignity," he continues. "And people should not be defined only by their sexual tendencies: let us not forget that God loves all his creatures and we are destined to receive his infinite love."

"I prefer that homosexuals come to confession, that they stay close to the Lord, and that we pray all together," says Francis. "You can advise them to pray, show goodwill, show them the way, and accompany them along it."

Keeping gays second class citizens, opposing CIVIL LAW marriage for same sex couples, and championing license to discriminate laws seems utterly inconsistent with Francis' statement that gays should not be marginalized.  If one is gay and Catholic, the best thing one can do is to leave the Church as quickly as possible and to encourage friends and family to do likewise.

Pope Francis Secretly Met with Kim Davis and Reveals His Duplicity

While Pope Francis seemingly tried to use his visit to America to present a kinder, gentler face on Catholicism and to score a PR triumph, news that Francis met with four times married, serial adulterer Kim Davis shows that nothing has changed in the Church leadership other than a matter of style.  Whatever good I thought of the man is gone and I again say that, in my view, gays who remain Catholics are delusional masochists.  As for Francis, if the Gospels are to be believed, while Christ met with prostitutes, he had little good to say about Pharisees who were selectively  (and falsely) pious - a description that well describes Davis and her professional Christian class supporters.  A column in Huffington Post reflects my views of con man Pope Francis.  Here are excerpts:

After first refusing to confirm nor deny it, the Vatican has confirmed that Pope Francis met with the Kentucky clerk Kim Davis at the Vatican Embassy in Washington, where Davis' attorney -- who made the news public after the pope's trip ended -- said Francis told her to "stay strong." And that simple encounter completely undermines all the goodwill the pope created in downplaying "the gay issue" on his U.S. trip. 

The pope played us for fools, trying to have it both ways. As I noted last week, he's an artful politician, telling different audiences what they want to hear on homosexuality. He did that in Argentina as a cardinal -- railing against gay marriage when the Vatican expected him to do so -- and he's done that since becoming pope, striking a softer tone on the issue after Benedict's harsh denunciations were a p.r. disaster for the Catholic Church in the West. But this news about Kim Davis portrays him as a more sinister kind of politician. That's the kind that secretly supports hate, ushering the bigots in the back door -- knowing they're an embarrassment -- while speaking publicly about about how none of us can judge one another. 

[B]y meeting with Davis secretly, and then at first having the Vatican neither confirm nor deny the encounter -- and now having the Vatican say it "won't deny" the meeting while it still won't offer any other details -- the pope comes off as a coward. 

He shows himself to be antithetical to much of what he preaches and teaches. He talks about dialogue and having the courage of one's convictions and the courage to speak out. But he swept this Davis meeting under the rug, seemingly ashamed and certainly not wanting to broach the subject. Even Davis's supporters should find that insulting to them.

[B]y telling Davis that she should "stay strong" -- if her attorney's account of the encounter is to be believed -- the pope is only encouraging the bigots, even if he's doing so quietly.  

Rather than moving us forward on LGBT rights ever so slightly, as many viewed the pope as doing, he now, with this meeting, emboldens the haters in the church who will be pushing to make sure church doctrine continues to call homosexuality "intrinsically disordered." And it sends a message to all those people who've experienced anti-gay discrimination . . . . that this pope is not going to end that discrimination any time soon. Rather than stopping that discrimination, he welcomed, with open arms in the Vatican's own embassy, the bigots who promote that discrimination but who've turned themselves into the victims.

The Arab Gulf States - Missing in Action in the Refugee Crisis

While Saudi Arabia, not Iran, is the number one financier of Islamic terrorism and foments unrest as it pushes its extremist version of Islam, it has been missing in action when it comes to aiding the refugees fleeing chaos it has had a hand in creating.  The same goes for other wealthy Gulf States.  In relative terms they have done nothing, leaving European nations and poor Muslim states to do the heavy lifting.  A piece in The Atlantic looks at the abject failure of these nations, most of which are in theory allies to America even as in many ways they support our enemies.  Here are excerpts:

[F]ew in the media or diplomatic circles have asked the more important question: Where have the rich Arab countries been over the last few years, as the Syrian civil war has raged and millions of refugees have fled to neighboring countries? The only Arab countries to have accepted Syrian refugees are Jordan and Lebanon, two weak economies with very limited means. To be sure, rich Arab countries have sent some aid to refugees in Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon, but no major plan has even been offered that would appear to be aimed at making a serious difference.

Consider the financial means at the disposal of five energy-rich Arab countries: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain. Their combined GDP is about $2 trillion a year, and their combined population is under 55 million people. That translates into a per capita annual income in the poorest member of this group, Bahrain, of more than $21,000 and a per capita gross national income in the richest, Qatar, of $90,000.

Arab countries could have offered well-financed safe havens on the vast stretches of land they control, or they could have offered major financial incentives to other countries to host the refugees.

But, arguably, expectations ought to have been low to begin with. For a Syrian, Iraqi, Lebanese, or citizen of any other average Arab country, it is next to impossible to get even a temporary visa from some of these rich Arab countries, the same or worse for a work permit. Still, many people are prepared to criticize Western countries for not readily offering safe haven to Middle Eastern refugees.

While many NGOs and large numbers of Westerners have urged their governments to act to help or accept the refugees, public responses have been more muted among rich Arab states. There have been no reported demonstrations to pressure those governments to accept refugees or find other, fundamental solutions.

They have also appeared concerned about possible political instability if Arabs from other countries arrive and swamp their relatively small populations. While Indian or Pakistani guest workers will always remain foreigners because of their linguistic differences with Arabs, Arab migrants speak the same language and can communicate and influence local populations, especially in volatile societies like Saudi Arabia.

Even recognizing all these concerns, though, it remains puzzling why five countries with a combined national income of $2 trillion have not offered credible assistance to solve the current refugee crisis. After all, they have all more or less been involved—directly or indirectly—in the Syrian civil war by virtue of having either encouraged or armed various groups.

Western nations need to accelerate the use of alternate fuels so that in time - the sooner the better - these nations that are as hypocritical as American Christofascists can slide back into backwaters with little economic power over the rest of us. 

Anti-Gay Cardinal Dolan Blames the Media for the Church's Obsession with Gays

The lies and hypocrisy of members of the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy remains stunning.   A case in point?  Cardinal Timothy Dolan, a/k/a Porty Pig, the Archbishop of New York, who has a well documented history of gay bashing and homophobia.  Time and time again Dolan has reaffirmed that gays are disordered and that same sex intimacy is sinful.  He's even gone so far as having gays peacefully protesting outside of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York arrested.  Yet Dolan has the nerve to blame the news media for the impression that the Church is obsessed with gays.  Chicago Pride has details:

New York City — Cardinal Timothy Dolan, also the Archbishop of New York, on Friday blamed the Roman Catholic church's obsession with gays on the media.

Dolan, who was among the Cardinals vying to replace Pope Benedict XVI, appeared on CBS This Morning to discuss Pope Francis saying that the church should pay less attention to its rules on abortion, gay marriage and contraception.

"We have to find a new balance; otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel," Francis said.

"Do you agree, has the church spent too much time talking about abortion, gays, homosexuality, and contraception?" co-anchor Norah O'Donnell asked.

"I wonder if we all spend too much time talking about that. I mean you guys would admit that's usually the things you ask me about, right? So, I don't know if it's just the church that seems obsessed with those issues. It seems to be culture, society," Dolan answered.

However, Dolan, as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has made opposing gay marriage a central tenet of the group. The USCCB hosts the website Marriage: Unique for a Reason, which calls on Catholics to support efforts to define marriage as only a heterosexual union.

Dolan also vocally opposed passage of New York's gay marriage law, calling it "Orwellian social engineering."

Personally, I find Dolan to be a very foul and dishonest human being.  Oh, and did I mention his hiding money from victims of sex abuse by priest in Milwaukee?

UK Cardinal Admits to Sexual Improprieties

I have long maintained that those most outwardly homophobic and who verbally attack gays are typically the worse self-loathing closet cases.  Indeed, a University of Georgia study founded that it was the homophobes, not the gays, who were most aroused when viewing gay porn.  And this rule  of thumb seemingly holds true both in and out of religious institutions.  One need only recall Virginia Congressman Ed Schrock who had one of the most anti-gay voting records in Congress yet dropped his re-election campaign after it was exposed that he was using a gay hook up site to arrange trysts with men.  Now we can add Cardinal Keith O'Brien to this list of self-loathing hypocrites and liars.  Until recently, O'Brien was the highest ranking Catholic in the United Kingdom.  That is to say that was until accusations were leveled by five past and present priests that O'Brien had engaged in sexual improprieties with them.  O'Brien quickly resigned and was barred from participating in the conclave to elect a new Pope.  Now, O'Brien has admitted that the allegations were true.  One can only wonder (i) how many in the Church hierarchy knew of O'Brien's improper actions and (ii) how many more O'Briens there are among the ranks of the Church's bishops and cardinals.  I suspect that the answer to both issues is that many knew and many others have engaged in similar actions.  Pink News looks at O'Brien's admission that the claims against him were true.  Here are excepts:

In the statement, released on Sunday, the Cardinal apologised, and asked for forgiveness, as well as admitting that, despite previously contesting the allegations, some were true.

It read: “In recent days certain allegations which have been made against me have become public. Initially, their anonymous and non-specific nature led me to contest them.

“However, I wish to take this opportunity to admit that there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal.

“To those I have offended, I apologize and ask forgiveness… To the Catholic Church and people of Scotland, I also apologize.”  He concluded by saying that he would retire, and would have no involvement in the Catholic church in Scotland, going forward.

He said: “I will now spend the rest of my life in retirement. I will play no further part in the public life of the Catholic Church in Scotland.”

Also today, one of the priests accusing Cardinal O’Brien of inappropriate behaviour came forward to call for transparency within the Catholic church, which he said would “crush him” if it could, for speaking out. 

Last November, Cardinal O’Brien was named ‘Bigot of the Year’ by a gay rights charity due to his staunch opposition to marriage equality.

In 2012, he stated that same-sex relationships were “harmful to the physical, mental and spiritual well being” and compared equal marriage to slavery and child abuse.

In an editorial on Friday, British Catholic newspaper The Tablet said:“When Cardinal Keith O’Brien called gay marriage a ‘grotesque subversion’ and ‘madness’ it attracted widespread censure. No wonder the accusations of inappropriate behaviour as a younger man – strenuously denied – were so damning. If true, it made him look a hypocrite. For the church this was a public relations disaster.”

I suspect that the college of cardinals will elect yet another right wing, reactionary homophobe to replace Benedict XVI and that nothing will change within the Church.

Anti-Gay Homophobic Pastors and Politicians Who Turn Out to be Gay

This YouTube posting is a convenient complication of self-loathing closet cases who worked against gay rights yet in the end were outed themselves.  The written narrative notes: "These men are hypocrites who repeatedly discriminated against homosexuals and passed legislation to withhold the rights of gay people. The pastors and politicians mentioned in this video are as follows: Ted Haggard, George A. Rekers, Richard Curtis, Roy Ashburn, Albert Odulele, Mark Foley, Christopher Lee, Eddie Long, Jim West, Paul Babeu, Ken Mehlman, and Larry Craig."

Given how vociferous some of the leading Christofascist hate merchants are in denouncing gays, one can only wonder how long it will be before more of them join the ranks of the outed hypocrites.

House GOP To Spend $3 Million+ Fighting Gay Equality

To listen to House Speaker John Boehner the highest priority for the nation is to reduce spending - even if it means leaving grandma with reduced medical care and subsisting off of dog food.   But as is the norm with today's GOP, only certain spending must be cut, namely that which benefits the poor and less fortunate or which would rebuild the nation's crumbling infrastructure.  In contrast, there's plenty of money to be spent defending a laws struck down by two of the U.S Courts of Appeal and a number of federal district courts.  The law in question?  DOMA, of course, which seeks to force the federal government to discriminate against LGBT Americans who are legally married under state law.  Think Progress looks at John Boehner's and the House GOP's willingness to squander taxpayer money furthering anti-gay bigotry.  Here are excerpts:

Late Monday, House Democrats learned that the Republican leadership had once again secretly renegotiated its contract with attorney Paul Clement to defend the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act at the Supreme Court. This is the third time the contract has been adjusted, raising total costs to $3 million from the original $500,000 cap.

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) both sit on the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG), the House body intervening to defend DOMA in court in lieu of the Department of Justice’s decision not to. However, they did not find out about BLAG’s new agreement with Clement until after it had already been finalized. They wrote to Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to decry the increased spending:

Let us be clear: these steps do not reflect the will of the House or the consensus of the BLAG. Democrats do not support any decisions to invest taxpayer funds in defense of an indefensible law. We remain united in our opposition to any effort to preserve, protect, and defend discrimination in our country.

From the start, the Republican-led campaign to defend DOMA has been a practice in futility and a waste of Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars. The Republican-appointed, taxpayer-funded legal team has lost in every case. Courts across the nation have stood on the side of justice and equality for all Americans. DOMA is on its way into the dustbin of history.

It would be bad enough if Republicans were losing in court and accepting the result. Yet it is the height of hypocrisy for House Republicans to waste public funds in one breath then claim the mantle of fiscal responsibility in the next.

 Despite the apparent hypocrisy, Boehner has not backed down from his intent to fund the defense of DOMA. In December, when the last increase was discovered, he was asked about the spending at a press conference. He angrily responded that if the Department of Justice won’t defend the law of the land, Congress will, before storming away from the podium.

Let's be clear.  John Boehner is a bigoted asshole.   It is also telling that Boehner considers himself to be a good practicing Catholic.  A Catholic whose silence has been deafening when it comes to demanding a house cleaning of the Church of those who aided, abetted and covered up the rape of minors.  Hypocrite is the most apt word that springs to mind that doesn't involve four letter words.

Hampton Roads' Resident Buffoon, Pat Robertson Gives Petraeus a Pass for Adultery

Is it just me or is the frequency of Pat Robertson's outbursts of verbal diarrhea increasing?  The man has always been an embarrassment to this region (and actually carries a very high negative view with locals) and made many of us groan.  Now, the man who proclaims that gays should suppress their sexual orientation and remain celibate or better yet pray away the gay says that David Petraeus' adulterous affair is excusable.  After all, he's a man and a sexy woman through herself at him.  RightWing Watch looks at Robertson's latest batshitery.  Here are highlights:

Yesterday on the 700 Club, televangelist Pat Robertson seemed to portray CIA Director David Petraeus as the real victim of the growing sex scandal involving him and his biographer, Paula Broadwell. He described Broadwell as an “extremely good-looking woman” who is a “marathon runner, she’d run Iron Man triathlons and so she’s out running with him, and she's writing a biography,” and Petraeus simply couldn’t help himself: “The man’s off in a foreign land and he’s lonely and here’s a good-looking lady throwing herself at him. He’s a man.”

"Anti-Gay GOP Arizona Attoney General Caught After Hit and Run Accident While Having Affair

Just yesterday this blog looked at the hypocrisy of an anti-gay marriage supporter in Maine who was arrested as part of a prostitution ring sting.  Now, we have the rabidly anti-gay Attorney General of the State of Arizona who has been caught having an affair with a woman not his wife.  Worse yet, he left the scene of an accident while rendezvousing with his mistress.  Like Donald Fortin in Maine, Attorney General Tom Horne (pictured at right) doesn't really give a damn about "protecting marriage."  He's just a flaming anti-gay bigot and a total hypocrite.  The Arizona Daily Star has details on Horne's affair and hit and run offense.  Here are highlights:

PHOENIX - Tom Horne caused more than $1,000 worth of damage when he clipped another car in a parking garage and just drove off, in order, according to FBI agents, to conceal an affair he was having with his passenger.

Phoenix police records obtained Tuesday include detailed witness accounts by FBI agents who were following Horne, Arizona's attorney general, on March 27 as part of a campaign finance investigation. They said they watched him back his borrowed vehicle into a white Range Rover in the parking garage of a Phoenix residential complex.

FBI agents said that after the fender-bender, Horne and the woman, since identified as Carmen Chenal, who works for Horne, walked off and entered the residential area of the complex where Chenal lives.

The FBI report details how Chenal left the Attorney General's Office that day in a Volkswagen she'd borrowed from Linnea Heap, another employee at the office. Five minutes later, Horne left in his own gold Jaguar. 

According to the report, they met up at a parking garage and emerged several minutes later with Horne, now wearing a baseball cap, driving the Volkswagen.  From there, they went to the residential parking section of a garage at 202 W. Roosevelt St.

FBI agent Grehoski made it clear in several of the interview transcripts released that he believes Horne was hiding something.

"You know, we've heard that Tom is supposed to be honest to a fault," he told Heap during an interview about a month after the accident.  "But he isn't," Grehoski continued. "He's driving someone else's car, crashed, and left the scene of an accident. Having some rendezvous with Carmen in her apartment. I mean, that's not ethical. That's not honest. That's slimy."

And in an interview with Amy Rezzonico, the spokeswoman for Horne's office, Grehoski says outright, "You've got a guy having an affair."

From there, they went to the residential parking section of a garage at 202 W. Roosevelt St.

The Message Romney/Ryan Supporters Are Sending to LGBT Frinds and Neighbors

Click image to enlarge

A while ago I posted this image on Facebook because I was dumb founded how supposed "friends" were voicing support for the anti-gay team of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.  I wondered whether they were simply uninformed as to what the GOP ticket agenda would do to many of us in the LGBT community? Or are they showing what they truly believe about us?  Or are they more concerned about paying less in taxes than they are about their friends, family members and neighbors being afforded the same civil rights that they themselves enjoy?  Whatever the cause, I am going to find it difficult to forget.  You don't claim to care about someone and then vote for politicians who have pledged to keep us inferior citizens without basic non-discrimination protections, inheritance rights and a host of other rights and protections.  I don't need or want "friends" like that.

Cardinal Timothy "Pory Pig" Dolan to Deliver Democrat Convention Benediction

Perhaps realizing that his appearance at the GOP Convention was being seen by many as a blatant political endorsement of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan - which might get the IRS on the Catholic Church's case - the ever dishonest, anti-gay and porcine Cardinal Timothy Daily has now agreed to give the closing benediction at the Democratic Party convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Part of me would have preferred to not see his face in Charlotte at all.  After all, this is the same man that helped protect child rapists and who many believe hid money while heading up the Milwaukee Diocese to avoid making payment to sex abuse victims and who has been an architect of the Catholic bishop's dishonest mantra that the Obama administration is threatening the "religious liberty" of American Catholics.  Frankly, a sleazy whore would make for a more honest speaker.  Dolan is in perfect company in Tampa, but the Democrats should not have sullied their event with this foul pig.   The Catholic News Herald is spreading Dolan's disinformation propaganda.  Here's a sampling:

CHARLOTTE — Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has accepted an invitation to deliver the closing prayer at next week's Democratic National Convention, according to a statement from Archdiocese of New York spokesman Joseph Zwilling.

He will give the concluding benediction prayer on Thursday, the final night of the GOP convention, where Mitt Romney is slated to accept the presidential nomination for his party. 

It was made clear to the Democratic National Convention organizers, as it was to the Republicans, that the cardinal was coming solely as a pastor, only to pray, not to endorse any party, platform, or candidate.

The cardinal has not endorsed either candidate in the 2012 presidential race.

However, he has been an outspoken critic of a mandate issued by the Obama administration to require employers to offer health insurance plans that covers contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs, even if doing so violates their consciences.

Numerous dioceses, non-profit organizations and Catholic-owned businesses have sued the Obama administration, arguing that the mandate violates the First Amendment by forcing them to compromise their deeply-held religious convictions.

Obama has also voiced support for abortion and is the first U.S. president to openly advocate a redefinition of marriage to include homosexual couples.

 There's nothing non-partisan about Dolan.  My money is on the fact that if he publicly endorses candidates or a particular political party, the Church's tax-exempt status might go bye bye.  Hence his decision to appear at the Democrats' convention.  The man is a snake and most certainly NOT a man of God.

Ann Romney - A Whining Hypocrite

Some people can dish it out but don't like it when they and their spouses are on the receiving end.  Even when the things being said about them is pretty much 100% accurate.  A case in point? Ann Romney who is whining that Barack Obama wants to "kill her husband."  Ms. Romney benefited from her husband's rapacious business practices and financial dealings that appear to have hidden assets around the world in order to avoid paying taxes in America.  But God forbid that Barack Obama and Democrats expose these dealings to the public.   And God forbid that Obama remind Americans that her husband wanted to let two-thirds of the U.S. auto industry go bankrupt.  Yes, the woman has been through a lot with her battles with cancer and multiple sclerosis.  But those trials do not give her a license to be a whining, lying bitch.  A column in the Washington Post looks at Ann Romney who clearly doth protest too much.  Here are highlights:

Recently, the Republican presidential candidate’s wife told the Miami Herald that what she most wants the public to know about her is “that I am pretty direct and pretty honest and I don’t pull any punches.’’ Message received, Mrs. R! After your latest remarks about President Obama wanting to ‘kill Romney,’ though, you might consider dialing back on the “kapow.”

But was Ann Romney’s over-the-top assertion that Obama’s campaign strategy can be summed up in two words -- “kill Romney’’ – even an oopsie? I don’t think so, because later in the same joint CBS interview with her husband, she interrupted him to repeat herself.

Asked about the president’s suggestion that Romney lacks compassion, she said, “It makes you realize they’re going to do everything they can to destroy Mitt … I feel like all [Obama’s] doing is saying, ‘Let’s kill this guy.’ ’’

Goodness, madam, didn’t we agree to demilitarize the language of politics after Gabby Giffords was shot last year? I don’t think that Ann Romney was being intentionally incendiary so much as gleefully clueless.  .   .   .   although nothing is more natural than taking criticism of one’s mate to heart, has she so soon forgotten her guy’s own take-no-prisoners handling of his fellow Republicans during the primary season?

So far, nothing the president has said about Mitt matches the meanness of his fellow republican Newt Gingrich’s Florida robocalls accusing Romney of denying kosher food to Holocaust survivors in nursing homes.  The worst the Obama campaign has said, in the ad that pegged him as a “vampire capitalist,’ was on a par with, and in fact inspired by, Rick Perry calling him a “vulture capitalist.”

But Ann Romney distinguished herself Thursday, saying, “Early on, we heard what their strategy was; it was ‘kill Romney.’ That was the memo that came out from their campaign. It’s like, ‘Not when I’m next to him, you better not.’  

In the Thursday interview, the Romneys shared a good long laugh over her response.

Candidly, the more I get to know about both Mitt and Ann Romney, the more I dislike BOTH of them.  She's had some tough things thrown at her, but overall she's a spoiled child of privilege who has no clue what life is like for the rest of us.  Worse yet, I suspect that she doesn't even care.

Maureen Dowd Slaps Down the Catholic Bishops

As noted in prior posts, I believe the shrieks of the Roman Catholic bishops that their "religious liberty" is under attack by the Obama administration are utterly disingenuous.  Instead it's all about (a) distracting the news media from the constant stories of sex abuse by priests and (b) inflicting their 12th century beliefs on all Americans.  In a New York Times column Maureen Dowd give the bishops a much needed slap down and comes to calling them hypocritical liars.  It's a great read.  Here are highlights:

I wasn’t surprised to see the Gallup poll Tuesday showing that 82 percent of U.S. Catholics say birth control is morally acceptable. (Eighty-nine percent of all Americans and 90 percent of non-Catholics agreed.) 

The poll appeared on the same day as headlines about Catholic Church leaders fighting President Obama’s attempt to get insurance coverage for contraception for women who work or go to college at Catholic institutions. The church insists it’s an argument about religious freedom, not birth control. But, really, it’s about birth control, and women’s lower caste in the church. It’s about conservative bishops targeting Democratic candidates who support contraception and abortion rights as a matter of public policy. And it’s about a church that is obsessed with sex in ways it shouldn’t be, and not obsessed with sex in ways it should be.

The bishops and the Vatican care passionately about putting women in chastity belts. Yet they let unchaste priests run wild for decades, unconcerned about the generations of children who were violated and raped and passed around like communion wine.

They still have not done a proper reckoning, and the acrid scandal never ends. In the midst of a landmark trial in Philadelphia charging Msgr. William Lynn with covering up sexual abuse by priests and then recirculating the perverts, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced Sunday that two priests in their 70s who worked in parishes and hospitals had abused minors at some point and were unfit for ministry.  This follows five priests sidelined earlier this month.  .  .  .  . plus 17 others suspended after last year’s sickening grand jury report on rampant sexual abuse in the Philadelphia Archdiocese. 

[T]he pugnacious Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York rejected the compromise and charged that the White House is “strangling” the church.    Interpreting the rule in the most extreme way to scare Catholics, he said: “They tell us if you’re really going to be considered a church, if you’re going to be really exempt from these demands of the government, well, you have to propagate your Catholic faith and everything you do, you can serve only Catholics and employ only Catholics.”

The Archdiocese of Washington put an equally alarmist message in the church bulletins at Sunday’s Masses  .   .   . 

The church leaders headed to court hope to undermine the president, but they may help him. Voters who think sex is only for procreation were not going to vote for Obama anyway. And the lawsuit reminds the rest that what the bishops portray as an attack on religion by the president is really an attack on women by the bishops. 

Are Evangelicals Sure They Want to Claim the Bible is Inerrant?

One of the ironies is that evangelical Christians scream the loudest about "protecting Marriage" from the gay agenda, yet meanwhile they have the highest divorce rate of any religious group in America. And they also use the Bible - which they describe as the "inerrant Word of God - to regularly condemn gays and others who they deem to be sinners. As the image above suggests, they apparently do not know their Bible very well. Otherwise, executions of women should be widespread across the South's Bible Belt. As I have noted many times before, the ignorance and hypocrisy of the Christian Right knows few limits.

The GOP Presidential Clown Car Lurches On

The Obama campaign must be sitting back and laughing their butts off as the GOP continues to engage in a circular firing squad. With Rick Perry withdrawing from the race today, that leaves the constantly flip flopping Mitt Romney (he's about to give folks whip lash) in contention with Christianist extremist Rick Santorum whose wife had a 6 year affair with an abortionist, Newt "I want an open marriage" Gingrich who now claims to champion marriage, and the racist and sometimes reality untethered Ron Paul. Adding to the fun is are the attacks on Romney and his rapacious form of capitalism at Bain and his stupid remark that the $350,000+ per year he makes in speaking fees "isn't much." Obama need only sit back and let the GOP contenders make the case for Obama's re-election. Seriously, is the GOP slate the gang that couldn't shoot straight or what? Here are some highlights from the Washington Post on the non-stop batshitery:

Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced Thursday that he was ending his bid for the GOP presidential nomination and endorsing Newt Gingrich. Perry’s announcement was on the heels of reports that former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum actually won more votes in the Iowa caucus than Mitt Romney.

And despite having Perry’s support, Gingrich faces criticism following claims by his ex-wife Marianne that the candidate asked for an “open marriage” during the time he was advocating family and religious values in speeches around the country.

Adding to the bizarre alternate universe feel to the GOP slate's world view is Rush Limbaugh blathering that Gingrich was the victim in the context of his request to his second wife that she consent to an "open marriage." Limbaugh, who rants against gays and claims to support "traditional marriage" is on his fourth marriage himself. That anyone in the Christian Right listens to anything Limbaugh or Gingrich has to say is dumbfounding. Especially given their opposition to any legal recognition being afforded to long term. monogamous same sex relationships. Think Progress said this:

Newt Gingrich’s ex-wife . . . . reveals that the former Speaker asked her for an open marriage so he continue to see his current wife, Callista. Not surprisingly, some conservatives and Gingrich himself have attacked ABC for airing the “tawdry and inappropriate” interview, but shock jock Rush Limbaugh took things to another level on his show today by outright defending Gingrich on the matter.

Limbaugh went on to read a “great note” from a “good friend of mine,” which posits that Newt and not Marianne — whom Gingirch left shortly after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis — is the real “victim” here. Moreover, the fact that Gingrich asked for “permission” to cheat on his wife is “a mark of character, in my book,” Limbaugh continued:

LIMBAUGH: I got a great note from a friend of mine. “So Newt wanted an open marriage. BFD. At least he asked his wife for permission instead of cheating on her. That’s a mark of character, in my book. Newt’s a victim. We all are. Ours is the horniest generation.” [...] That’s from a good friend of mine, “Newt’s slogan ought to, ‘Hell, yes, I wanted it.’” (laughing) I’m sharing with you how some people are reacting to this.

It’s worth noting that Gingrich had been having an affair for several years before he asked “permission” to cheat on his wife. Rush Limbaugh married his fourth wife in 2010.

The Republicans and far right like to accuse the left and liberals of being morally bankrupt. However, the more one sees, the more it appears that the conservative accusers are looking in the mirror and seeing their own reflections. Hypocrisy and dishonesty are the hallmarks of the GOP and the Christianist who support that party.