New Insanity from the "Godly Folk" - the Gay Muslim Conspiracy

Seemingly mentally disturbed David Lapin

Only in the GOP base and in particular in the "family values" organizations is it possible for someone who needs a serious mental health intervention to become a "star" - e.g., Sarah Palin - or lead spokesman.  How else to explain Family Research Council's David Lapin who claims that liberals are sexually attracted to the "masculinity" of Islamic extremists.  Seriously, this man needs a straight jacket and padded cell!  One truly has to wonder (i) how someone gets this crazy in the first place, and (ii) how they are allowed to spew such batshitery to national media outlets. A piece in Crooks and Liars looks at Lapin's lunacy and the larger issue of the insanity of the far right:

[R]eligious right extremist Rabbi David Lapin opined this week that liberals are sexually attracted to the "masculinity" of Islamic extremists. Via Right Wing Watch: 

There are countless studies showing that feminine-type behavior produces an excess of estrogen in men and vice versa. Essentially, the left has fallen in love with the masculinity of Islam…Today, after a 30- or 40-year epidemic of leftism that has swept its sordid stain across America, we've become much more feminized and we are attracted to the masculine strength and brutality of Islam. This is the girl in the high school being attracted to the bad, tough guy and that's really what's happening. 

Remember just the other day when I half-jokingly wrote about right wing conspiracy theories that connect marriage equality issues with Islamic extremism? The humor in that piece was that I used the actual words of actual wingnuts to show that this is how they actually think. Rabbi Lapin is not an outlier, he's expressing a widely-held view on the right. It doesn't matter that they have no evidence to support it; as with the president's supposed Kenyan birth certificate, belief is the only evidence such people need.

Because Christianity no longer represents the dominant moral force in American politics, right wing culture warriors explain the changing American cultural landscape to themselves as a sinister, secret plot. American military power not only failed to end Islamic extremism, but seems to have made it orders of magnitude worse, so the right wing mind searches for an explanation which blames their ideological enemies. This process of rationalization is far more palatable to their conscious minds than a potential revision of their violent theology would be, or than it would be to admit their bigoted world-view has deterred young people from religion altogether. Just look at Dick Cheney.

The trick, as Lapin understands, is to convince yourself and others that the liberals are the real fanatics. If the liberals seem determined to treat Muslim, Christian, and Judaic radicals as mirror-images of each other rather than choose between their various destructive and homophobic visions, it's merely further proof that liberals are secretly gay-attracted to the other side's violence.

One can never admit that conservative reactionary forces are the bane of a free society - or that liberal religious movements, such as those which hold gay weddings, are vitalizing forces in a free society. That conclusion requires hard work, contrition, and a diminution of one's ego as inflated by a sense of godly mission. It's much easier to answer unwelcome intrusions of reality by impressing your belief-system on the young and unwilling with force, again using your god as the excuse to do so, while rationalizing all contradictory evidence under the rubric of ‘belief.'

Antonin Scalia Suggests "Hand-Held Rocket Launchers" Are Protected Under Second Amendment

As noted a number of times on this blog, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia strikes me as increasingly untethered from reality.  Indeed, the man seems to have lurched so far to the far right in his ideology that he makes some in the Tea Party seem sane and lucid.  Scalia's latest burst of insanity involves the renewed debate over gun control and the limits of the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms.  In Scalia's bizarre world, apparently hand held rocket launchers are fine and dandy - as if the Founding Fathers ever anticipated a dim witted citizen ever having ready access to such a lethal weapon that surely isn't intended for defending one's home in the rational snse much less hunting game for sport or food.  Think Progress looks at Scalia's latest batshitery.  Here are highlights: 

This morning on Fox News Sunday, Justice Antonin Scalia reiterated just how extremely his Constitutional originalism can be applied. Referring to the recent shooting in Aurora, CO, host Chris Wallace asked the Supreme Court Justice about gun control, and whether the Second Amendment allows for any limitations to gun rights. Scalia admitted there could be, such as “frighting” (carrying a big ax just to scare people), but they would still have to be determined with an 18th-Century perspective in mind. According to his originalism, if a weapon can be hand-held, though, it probably still falls under the right o “bear arms”:

WALLACE: What about… a weapon that can fire a hundred shots in a minute?

SCALIA: We’ll see. Obviously the Amendment does not apply to arms that cannot be hand-carried — it’s to keep and “bear,” so it doesn’t apply to cannons — but I suppose here are hand-held rocket launchers that can bring down airplanes, that will have to be decided.

WALLACE: How do you decide that if you’re a textualist?

SCALIA: Very carefully.

Scalia - who clearly views himself as a Republican - is another example of why I walked away from the GOP.  Or more to the point, when the GOP lost its mind and wandered off into insanity. 

The Rational GOP vs. the Rogues

In the wake of victories in Virginia and New Jersey earlier in the month in the races for governor, some in the GOP see a possible formula for a come back in 2010. Their biggest obstacle, however, is to the Democrats but the lunatic "rogue" base of the party that seeks a constant culture war. These birthers, teabaggers and, yes, the signatories of the "Manhattan Declaration" will do all that they can to push for extremists candidates and a focus on their pet issues: abortion, stem cell research, gays and immigration. In short, subjects not relevant to the majority of voters and certainly not moderates and independents who are needed to win elections. Fear and hate are the staples of the persecution complex that drives the wuingnuts and they fail to grasp how unattractive it makes them and their preferred type of candidate appear, especially to increasing numbers of Hispanic voters and younger voters who eaach election cycle are replacing the dying off older generation. A column in the Reid Report looks at this civil war of sorts within the GOP. Personally, I hope the birther/teabagger faction wins out because it will mean the GOP will be unable to field winning candidates and that perhaps will lead eventually to the birthers and other batshit crazy elements in the GOP being forced back into the swamps where they belong. Here are some highlights:

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The Republican Party has two, mutually exclusive, strategies for picking up seats (and governorships) in 2010. One the one hand, they have the Palin/teabagger strategy, which is being pushed by the media wing of the party — people like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, the winger netroots and Fox news. That strategy involves blowing up government itself, and even the Republican Party, in order to whip the jihadi base into an anti-Obama frenzy. You see it in the signs depicting healthcare as the Holocaust, the president as Adolf Hitler, and Michelle Bachman as sane.
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On the other side, are the pragmatists: people who actually run Republican bureaucracies, and who see the model for victory in the newly elected New Jersey and Virginia governors. In short: run moderate, and avoid the jihadis at all costs. From Politico: The shorthand: run on economic policy, downplay divisive cultural issues, present an upbeat tone, target independent voters and focus on Democratic-controlled Washington—all without attacking President Barack Obama personally.
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Such a strategy has made Virginia’s Bob McDonnell a certified star among the GOP establishment, but that dog just won’t hunt with the jihadi base, which wants Obama’s head on a platter, along with all-out war against his administration. The base of the GOP blames the safe route for the nomination of John McCain, and believes that had the McCain-Palin ticket been flipped, they would have won the election. (No, seriously, they believe that.) With Beck, Limbaugh, Fox and the RedState jihadis driving the public debate over the future of the GOP, the pragmatists’ strategy is having a hard time gaining ground, even after the Virginia and New Jersey wins. . .
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Which side will win out in 2010, and 2012, is still up in the air. In Florida, the jihadi strategy is exemplified by Marco Rubio, who has taken the teabagger base and run with it. The pragmatic strategy is personified by Charlie Crist, although he has been giving serious nods to the nutters, just to stay viable. If Crist wins the Florida primary, it will be a victory for the RGA/Barbour wing. If Rubio wins (and that’s still a longshot, in my opinion,) it will release the jihadis to blow up the Republican Party.
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And it doesn’t stop there. The jihadis are targeting big fish in 2010, including John McCain, who many in the qaida blame for the de-Reaganization of the GOP (since they really can’t bear to blame George W. Bush, and their heads would explode if they really examined Reagan’s record) and Olympia Snowe of Maine, who they’d like to see replaced by an un-electable wingnut.
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How a once conservative, yet rational political party like the GOP has sunk to the level of the current insanity is baffling in some ways, but as a former GOP member and activist, from my perspective the lunacy directly tracks with the rise of the Christianists within the party. Those who first courted the Christian Right sold their souls and now are faced with a Frankenstein monster of their own creation.

Onward Christian Soldiers - Bush's Daily Briefings

GQ of all publications has published a series of top secret daily intelligence briefings from Donald Rumsfeld's office at the Pentagon for the Chimperator a/k/a President George W. Bush early in the Iraq war. What is both startling and frightening is that all are adorned with militaristic Bible verses perhaps further proving that for 8 years the USA was headed by a delusional religious nutcase. Bob Felton aptly describes it over at Civil Commotion:
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I don’t suppose we’ll ever really know how much this sort of thing influenced Bush’s thinking but, increasingly, the more we learn the more he appears to have been out of touch with reality, believed himself invested by God with a great work, and certain that everything would come right in the end so long as he held inflexibly to the cosmic instructions given him.
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I urge readers to watch the GQ slide show here and to ponder long and hard whether we can survive more of this kind of lunacy in our elected officials and political policies. Remember too that this is the mindset that controls the opponents of gay rights and candidates like Bob McDonnell who are able to grasp objective reality because of their extreme religious beliefs. I am not anti-religion per se, but at some point some connection with reality is required. Obviously, George W. , the leadership of the Christian Right, and the GOP base do not have that much needed connection with reality.

Sexual Abuse of Minors OK But Not Floral Sales to Gay Couples

There are some days when the lunacy and disingenuousness of the Roman Catholic Church just simply goes off the charts. Here we have an institution that has (i) a worldwide problem with the sexual abuse of who knows how many thousands of minors, (ii) paid out literally billions of dollars in damages to abuse victims with no end of finacial hemmoraging in sight, and (iii) to date still failed to discipline any of its hierarchy that enabled and/or covered up the abuse of minors. But what are the Catholic Bishops in Connecticut worried about? Oh the horror! That with same sex marriage now legal in that state that florists might be forced to sell flowers to same sex couples getting married. I kid you not. Here are highlights from the Hartford Courant:

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Concerned that the state's new same-sex marriage law would infringe on religious liberties, the Connecticut Catholic Conference today proposed some broad exemptions which it believes are necessary to protect those rights.

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The law does not require Catholic priests -- or any other clergy member -- to preside over same-sex weddings.

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However, the church is seeking additional exemptions. For instance, it wants to ensure that a florist opposed to gay marriage on religious grounds not be forced to sell flowers to a same-sex couple.

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"Same-sex couples have their liberties protected fully. Religious people are wondering 'how is this going to effect me?"' David Reynolds, lobbyist for the Catholic Church, told members of the legislature's judiciary committee.

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How about weeding out all predator priests and doing justice to their victims first before worrying about florists who in this economy ought to be happy to sell flowers to anyone who will buy them? The Church just becomes more ridiculous by the day. Why does anyone listen to its bishops whatsoever?

The Distorted Standards of the GOP

One of my sisters and brother-in-laws sent me an e-mail of something he came across that neatly sums up the distorted mindset that is now mainstream with in today's Republican Party where truth, honor, and integrity have no meaning whatsoever. Years ago when I was an active republican, I truly though the Party respected truth and integrity, but not anymore. Only those living in some alternative universe, fanatical Christianists, and/or who are totally self-centered seem able to find a place in today's GOP. Here's what my brother-in-law sent me:

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I'm a little confused. Perhaps I need to watch a little more Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO. Let me see if I have this straight....

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If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different, not a real American." Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, a quintessential American story.

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If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim. Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

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Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable. Attend 5 different small colleges before finaly managing to graduate, you're well grounded.

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If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the firstblack president of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drivethat registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district withover 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representinga state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

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If you first got your passport at age 42 and if your total resume is: beauty queen, local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 6,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

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If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters in Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian. If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a real Christian.

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If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society. If, as mayor, your police department charges women for their rape kits and you consider banning books from the local library, and as governor,you believe abortion should be banned, even in cases of rape, and you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

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If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's. If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DUI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and was until recently a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family values represent America's.

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As I had said over and over, to belong to today's Republican Party, its a requirement that you be totally detached from objective reality and have had a lobotomy.

Loony Pat Robertson Runs His Mouth Yet Again

With all the things going on with the economy and the financial markets, you'd think Pat Robertson, Hampton Roads' own resident lunatic, would have plenty of things to talk about other than fear mongering and pontificating about nuclear war in the Middle East or even here on the Atlantic coast of the USA. But then, Robertson hasn't been dealing with a full deck for many years now. As far back as September 1985 he claimed he "prayed away" Hurricane Gloria which was bearing down on Hampton Roads (just as successfully as we can "pray away the gay" no doubt). Here are some highlights from the Virginian Pilot about Robertson's latest verbal diarrhea:

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Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson is urging prayer before Election Day to stave off an imminent Middle Eastern war he said could bring nuclear attacks on the United States. In a letter on his Web site, www.patrobertson.com, Robertson said his opinion was that Israel would bomb Iranian nuclear sites between Nov. 4 and the inauguration of the United States' new president. Robertson tied his warning to biblical prophesy.

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In the letter, Robertson said that "what is clear is this: The Israeli strike against Iran will be the trigger. From then on, dramatic events will follow in quick succession." "It all will conclude when God has rained fire on the islands of the sea and on the invading force coming against Israel." Rob Boston, a spokesman at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said Robertson had a history of "rather outrageous statements" forecasting natural catastrophes and disastrous conflicts that didn't occur.
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"His off-the-wall predictions and bizarre statements tar all fundamental Christians with an extreme brush, and that's nfortunate for those Christians who are conservative but don't follow Pat Robertson," Boston said. "I guess he believes he has a direct pipeline to God," Boston added. "Given the number of false predictions he's given, I might question who's at the other end of that pipeline."

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With that kind of bullshit coming from Robertson, it's no wonder that the local economic development agencies have a hard time attracting progressive companies to relocate to the area.