Former GOP candidate and Right Wing blogger arrested for sending a bomb through the mail.

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

A former Republican political candidate in Indiana who authored a right-wing blog was arrested this week for allegedly mailing a pipe bomb and a threatening letter containing a bullet to two of his political opponents. The pipe bomb exploded at a post office, leaving a pregnant postal worker with “cuts, abrasions and bruises to her head, legs, and feet.” 

Eric Krieg, a 45-year-old resident of the city of Munster, was charged with knowing possession of a destructive device and transporting explosive materials. He was arrested on Thursday after the FBI executed search warrants at his residence, his work and on his vehicle. The Justice Department put out a straightforward press release about Krieg’s arrest, but a FBI agent’s affidavit offered a lot more of an interesting backstory. 

The package containing a pipe bomb that exploded at a post office in East Chicago, Indiana, on Sept. 6 had been addressed to an attorney who the feds labeled “Victim 1.” The lawyer had represented a person who filed a defamation lawsuit against Krieg that was settled for around $60,000, which led Krieg to declare bankruptcy, according to the feds. 

The feds say Krieg was a blogger who went by the nickname “buzzcut” and wrote a blog, “Blue County in a Red State,” which is no longer active. The blog’s tagline said it was about “Life in the most corrupt county in America: Lake County, Indiana.” But Krieg, who was described by a local columnist as “the unofficial mud-thrower of the Lake County Republican Party,” has run for county council and as country surveyor in Lake County.

Look at this guy trying to give bloggers a bad name. 

As for his also being a GOP candidate, well this is actually the kind of behavior I expect from that crew these days.

Indiana Republicans request "Obamacare Horror Stories." It does not go as expected.

After this appeared on the Indiana Republican's Facebook page the responses started pouring in:

• My children with significant health issues were able to obtain coverage regardless of their pre-existing conditions. Oh, the horror.
• I have several pre-existing conditions and was stranded in a job I hated because it provided good insurance. The ACA gave me the freedom to quit that job and try to do something with my days that made me much happier without worrying that I would lose.
• My kids had health insurance until they were 26. Two of them had a hard time finding jobs that offered benefits, and since they could stay on my plan, they were able to take some jobs that did not offer insurance. This gave them experience for other, better jobs. Thanks ObamaCare!
• Nothing changed for us and we kept our doctors.
• Our good friend in his early 40's was diagnosed with kidney failure and thanks to the ACA was able to have transplant surgery and is living life again instead of stuck at home on dialysis multiple times a day.
• Let's see ... had not had health coverage since getting cancer while on COBRA back in 1997, and finally got coverage again from ObamaRomneyHeritageCare in 2014. OH THE HORROR IN HAVING HEALTH COVERAGE!
• The Horror story is that the IGNORANT TRUMPsters want to take away health care from people who are basically happy with it. Why can't we have the health care that these corrupt politicians have while we work harder than they do to pay for their healthcare.
• My niece Karla had seizures, all her life. Obamacare let her be on her parents insurance until 26. The Dr. gave her a needed operation and paid for her child. That she would not have been able to have or live through. Thanks Obamacare for her and baby Zozie. 
• Wow. I came to this page to find out what Republicans voters in Indiana are finding about problems with Obama care. I couldn't find a single post unfavorable to Obamacare. What do the Republicans who want to repeal the ACA think about this? Are there any among those who vote Republican?

I actually went quite a way through the comments looking for some that support the repeal and replacement of Obamacare.

I'm sure they must be there someplace but I certainly did not see them.

You would think this might convince the Republicans that touching Obamacare is a bad move.

But if they realized that would they really be Republicans?

Indiana man fatally shoots nine year old daughter while teaching about gun safety.

Courtesy of Time: 

An Indiana man has been charged for fatally shooting his 9-year-old daughter in the head while teaching his two sons about gun safety. 

On June 10, Eric Hummel, 33, from Hobart, Indiana, was telling his sons about the dangers of playing with guns when his daughter Olivia walked into the room, People, citing court documents, reports. Unaware that the gun was loaded, he said he pointed it toward her and fired. 

Hummel has since been charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in death, battery resulting in death to a person less than 14 years old, reckless homicide, and, in addition, two counts of neglect of a dependent, People reports. Hummel, who has entered a not guilty plea, faces 20 to 40 years on the neglect of a dependent resulting in death charge, which is a Level 1 felony, according to People. 

"She’s dead, she’s dead. I thought it was empty, you can kill," Hummel told the police officer who arrived on the scene, according to a police report obtained by People. 

"I was showing the boys the gun and told them not to ever play with it because it can kill someone, then she walked in in the room and I pointed it at her and pulled the trigger, thinking it was empty," he continued, according to People.

Now see, this guy is simply too stupid to have ever been allowed to own a gun.

Anybody who would point a gun at ANYBODY, much less a child, and pull the trigger does not know the first thing about gun safety. 

Despite the pain this man feels at the loss of his little girl, he absolutely deserves to be convicted of every one of the charges against him.

And perhaps even more.

VP Mike Pence discussed classified issues on a personal email account, and it was hacked. How do you perform CPR on an irony meter?

Oops?

Courtesy of The Guardian:

Vice-president Mike Pence used a personal email account to discuss security issues as governor of Indiana and was hacked last summer, it was reported on Thursday. 

Pence’s AOL account was compromised by a scammer who sent an email to his contacts claiming Pence and his wife had been attacked on their way back to their hotel in the Philippines, losing their money, bank cards and mobile phone, the Indianapolis Star reported. 

“In response, Pence sent an email to those who had received the fake communication apologising for any inconvenience,” the paper said. “He also set up a new AOL account. Because the hacker appears to have gained access to Pence’s contacts, experts say it is likely that the account was actually penetrated, giving the hacker access to Pence’s inbox and sent messages.”

Here is more from Indy Star:  

Emails released to IndyStar in response to a public records request show Pence communicated via his personal AOL account with top advisers on topics ranging from security gates at the governor’s residence to the state’s response to terror attacks across the globe. In one email, Pence’s top state homeland security adviser relayed an update from the FBI regarding the arrests of several men on federal terror-related charges.

AOL? What is this 1991?

Here is Mike Pence back in October of 2016 attacking Hillary over her private server, while the crowd yells "Lock her up!"

"Truth is a force of nature, and truth has a way of making its way out."

It certainly does, doesn't it Mikey?

Yeah I don't just want Donald Trump impeached I want this asshole taken down as well.

POS!

Hey kids let's go to the parade! I hear there's a really fun float featuring Donald Trump electrocuting Hillary Clinton.

Courtesy of WCPO: 

Residents in Indiana are up in arms over a parade float Saturday that depicted Donald Trump throwing the switch on Hillary Clinton in an electric chair and President Obama as a Easter Island figure with an oversized head.

A public protest started when an Aurora mom posted a photo of the float on Facebook and condemned it as sexist and racist. Most commenters agreed with her, but others defended it. "Who thinks this is appropriate for a fair parade where children, some of them minorities and girls, are marching and playing instruments and watching? 

Who thinks this is something to laugh at or be proud of?" Penny Britton said on her Facebook post. "This is disgusting. This makes me embarrassed to say I live here. This is Aurora, Indiana. Congratulations."

The float was part of the Aurora Farmers Fair Parade Saturday morning in the small Ohio River town 35 miles west of Cincinnati. It's sponsored by the Aurora Lions Club, according to its website, and touted as Indiana's oldest street festival. The theme of the parade was "Celebrating the Past, Embracing the Future."

And that's really the key phrase here, "embracing the future."

Because if Donald Trump were really to be elected President this is exactly the kind of future for which this Indiana woman and all of us need to prepare ourselves.

Increased racism, misogyny, and anarchy will rule the day.

Someday this woman might look back on this incident as a quaint reminder of when people could still feel outrage at its disgusting lack of sensitivity.

Ted unleashes on Donald Trump after Trump accused his father of being involved in the JFK assassination.

Courtesy of CNN:  

Ted Cruz on Tuesday unloaded on Donald Trump, accusing him during a news conference of being a "pathological liar," "utterly amoral," "a narcissist at a level I don't think this country's ever seen" and "a serial philanderer." 

"He is proud of being a serial philanderer ... he describes his own battles with venereal diseases as his own personal Vietnam," Cruz said, citing a decades-old Trump appearance on "The Howard Stern Show." 

"This man is a pathological liar, he doesn't know the difference between truth and lies ... in a pattern that is straight out of a psychology text book, he accuses everyone of lying," Cruz said as Indiana voters headed to cast their ballots. 

"Whatever lie he's telling, at that minute he believes it ... the man is utterly amoral," Cruz told reporters. "Donald is a bully ... bullies don't come from strength they come from weakness." 

Of course Cruz's rant came in response to these words from Donald Trump earlier:

“His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald's being — you know, shot. I mean, the whole thing is ridiculous,” Trump said Tuesday during a phone interview with Fox News. “What is this, right prior to his being shot, and nobody even brings it up. They don't even talk about that. That was reported, and nobody talks about it.” 

“I mean, what was he doing — what was he doing with Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before the death? Before the shooting?” Trump continued. “It’s horrible.” 

Charges of helping to assassinate JFK, talk of venereal disease, and both sides calling the other "pathological liars?"

Okay seriously how did Alice get back up through the rabbit hole again? 

Update: Well Cruz just dropped out.

As Trump would say, "Another one bites the dust."

Indiana Primary Open Thread. Update!

Courtesy of Slate: 

The Democrats 

There’s not much more to say at this point: Hillary Clinton is the prohibitive favorite to win her party’s nomination, and nothing that happens in Indiana—or anywhere else for that matter—is likely to change that. In fact, Clinton is a good bet to leave the Hoosier State in an even better position than when she arrived. Polling in Indiana has been a little hard to come by, but recent surveys show Hillary with a lead in the mid–single digits in the state, and Nate Silver and his FiveThirtyEight team peg her chances of winning Tuesday’s primary at 86 percent or better. 

Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, is already acting like a candidate who knows he won’t win the nomination, and a loss Tuesday—or even a narrow victory that nets him a handful of delegates—will make it that much more difficult for him to pretend otherwise. 

The Republicans 

Despite the sparse polling, nearly all of the data we do have points to a Donald Trump victory in the GOP primary, and potentially even a blowout. The celebrity billionaire is currently up by an average of more than 9 points in the RealClearPolitics rolling average and seems to be gaining steam. The two most recent major state surveys—taken after Ted Cruz and John Kasich announced their we-swear-it’s-not-an-alliance alliance in the state—found Trump up by 15 points or more. Based on the polls, Nate Silver and his FiveThirtyEight team peg Trump’s chances of winning Tuesday’s primary at 97 percent.

There are 83 delegates up for grabs on the Democrat's side, and 57 on the Republican side.

Of course I don't think the outcome will change much of anything as both Sanders and Cruz seem to have no real concept of reality.

Bernie is too damn stubborn to quit, and I don't think Ted knows what else to do with his time.

However after today I imagine that the pressure for them to get the hell out of the race will increase on both sides.

Which means that we actually are going to end up with a presidential contest between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Holy crap!

Update: As predicted Donald Trump has won Indiana.

However between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders it is being called too close to call, though currently Hillary is in the lead.

Update 2: The votes separating Sanders and Clinton right now are so very few that it really does not matter which one wins as they will likely split the delegates right down the middle.

If the Sanders campaign gets the victory, even such a slim one, they will use it to challenge the idea that they are finished, while if the Clinton campaign ekes this one out they will simply continue to make the case that the bloated corpse of the Sanders campaign is now starting to reek a little.

Update 3: Well I was wrong. Cruz just "suspended" his campaign.

Now it is all Trump all the time.

Lucky us.

Update 4: Bernie Sanders has won this particular primary, but only with a few percentage points over Hillary so the delegates will be evenly split, as I mentioned earlier. 

Indiana Governor Mike Pence signs bill making it illegal to get an abortion based on fetal abnormalities.

Hey I don't care how deformed your baby might be, I'm telling you to have it anyway.

Courtesy of Fox 59:  

Gov. Mike Pence signed a bill Thursday that prevents women from aborting a fetus due to Down syndrome or other genetic abnormalities. 

The measure also prohibits abortions sought on the basis of gender or race. 

Abortion providers could face wrongful death lawsuits or professional sanctions if an abortion is performed solely on the basis of a genetic condition.

First off I want to say that I could not imagine feeling that I had any right to insist that a woman give birth to a child with birth defects, Down syndrome, or any other disability.

Secondly does Mike Pence not realize that the children born with these challenges also place a heavy burden on the states in which they live, and on the government as a whole?

It is NOT only the families of these children who are forced to meet what can sometimes be overwhelming challenges, but they also need Medicaid to help them pay for services, the public schools to accommodate their child's educational needs, and access to mental health facilities, nurses, physical therapists, caregivers, physicians, and many other services the bill for which the federal or state government must pay.

Now of course THAT is no reason for a woman to choose abortion over taking her baby to term, but for a so-called "fiscally conservative Republican" you would think that might factor into forcing a woman to give birth to a baby she may be unfit or unable to care for effectively.

I'm sorry, was I being too logical again?

Here is what some schools are resorting to in order to protect their students from gun toting killers. Update!

Students participate in drills as a precaution against a school shooter.

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

“I know it sounds politically crass,” said Mason Wooldridge, the co-founder of Our Kids Deserve It, a group that works to promote what many might consider aggressive school safety standards. “But if Sandy Hook Elementary or the college in Oregon had what Indiana is promoting in their schools, nobody would have died.” 

The safety standards Wooldridge is working to implement in Indiana schools are no ordinary measures. 

They’ve already been implemented at Southwestern High School, a small school in rural Shelbyville. There, not only do children perform “active shooter drills” alongside fire drills, teachers wear special key fobs that alert police faster than a 911 call. Classrooms have “hardened doors” that lock automatically and “hardened exterior glass” windows to deflect both bullets and brute force. Cameras in the school have “shooter detection technology” — tools created for the military — to help law enforcement more quickly locate suspects. And if the suspect is trapped in the hallway, smoke cannisters can be detonated to slow down the shooter. 

Wooldridge thinks these measures could have prevented the deadly outcomes of shootings like Sandy Hook and last week’s incident at Umpqua Community College in Oregon. 

“The reason he was able to carry out the killing was because he was able to walk up to the door and walk right in,” he said, referring to Sandy Hook. “With this system, a sensor on the glass would have said someone is trying to break in, and that would have gone to the administrative area and the local police department. So he would have been by himself, stuck in a hallway. In Oregon, the same thing would have taken place.” 

In addition, Wooldridge says the doors at Southwestern High School lock automatically — a concern for fires, but a safety measure so teachers don’t have to remember to lock the door behind them. Wooldridge said this would prevent situations like the one during Sandy Hook, when a teacher told a 911 dispatcher that she had to go outside to lock her door while the shooter was active in the hallway.

These measures are incredibly expensive, costing as much as  $400,000 to $600,000 for a thirty five classroom school. The upgrade for Southwestern High were paid for with a donation from a security company and a government grant.

So is this really going to be the new normal in American schools?

Do we actually have to install the kind of security cameras,  hardened doors, and bullet proof glass that are usually found in federal prisons to keep our kids safe?

How can this be what we have come to?

We are now locking our children inside bulletproof cages becasue we are too fucking stupid to restrict access to the weapons which make that necessary?

Do we remember this from the Declaration of Independence?

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." 

Well how happy do we think our children are to be terrified on a monthly basis with active shooter drills. How much liberty do they feel locked in a school that could just as easily house the most dangerous felons in the country? And how is their right to life preserved by living in a nation where guns take the lives of hundreds of their peers every single year?

The 2nd Amendment may have been written to protect us, but the way it is interpreted today it is placing all of us in the gravest of danger.

And it is poisoning the very essence of what it means to be an American.

Update: A few of you suggested that I include this photo of kids from the 1950's participating in "Duck and Cover" drills in anticipation of nuclear attack.

 It looks like we have been terrifying our school children for generations.

But these days we are not "protecting" them from attacks from foreign governments, today we are trying to keep them safe from attacks by their fellow Americans.

Woman gives up on men, marries Jesus. I forget is necrophilia a sin?

Courtesy of News.com: 

After years of soul searching, a 38-year-old theology teacher has decided to wed the son of God. 

Jessica Hayes married Jesus Christ in a festive ceremony at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Fort Wayne, Indiana on Saturday. 

While it wasn’t the wedding day she’d imagined as a little girl, the consecrated virgin still grappled with the big question facing brides-to-be: what to wear. 

“I’ve seen so many wedding dresses over the years that I think I’ve probably changed my mind very many times. I had to really consider the appropriateness of the occasion for my dress,” Ms Hayes told WANE.com. 

“I wanted my shoulders to be covered, and I would have to lie prostrate before the altar, so I really wanted to make sure that I was well-covered in a way that still shows the beauty of a bride.”

Yep, nothing crazy about marrying a guy that's been dead for over 2000 years. And, spoiler alert Christians, probably was never alive in the first place. 

Oddly enough his woman is not the first who chose to be the "Bride of Jesus" as there are apparently 230 "consecrated virgins" in the United States and 3000 world wide.

And yes, before anybody corrects me, I do realize that she is not technically a necrophiliac unless she can find the body of Jesus and then give it the time of its un-life.

Of course if she found the body she would also completely destroy Christianity.

But hey, at least it would have gone out with a bang. 

Florida couple uses Bible to justify the sexual abuse of teenage girl left in their care.

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

A 21-year-old Indiana woman has accused a couple who she lived with in Port St. Lucie, FL of physically and sexually abusing her for five years and using scripture from the Christian Bible’s Old Testament to justify it. 

WPTV News reported that the accuser says that she was sent to live with Rob and Marie Johnson after the death of her mother nine years ago. The then-13-year-old was sexually abused by Rob Johnson virtually from the day she arrived in the home. 

Rob and Marie Johnson reportedly believe in Old Testament law regarding marriage, under which a man can have many wives who are ultimately his property. The girl was ordered to call Jeff “Master” and to submit to his and Marie’s sexual advances whenever they ordered her to. 

The Johnsons reportedly preyed on the young girl’s fear of being abandoned by telling her that if she wanted to be part of their family, she had to have sex with them. 

“If she did not, the threat was that she would be turned over to state custody,” Herrington said. 

Marie and Rob Johnson are charged with two felony counts of sexual assault against a child. They were arrested on Tuesday and released on bond Wednesday morning.

Isn't it great how religion can be used to justify just about every terrible thing you want to do?

And that boys and girls is why we do not base our laws on biblical teachings. 

Republican Indiana governor Mike Pence launches investigation into state's Planned Parenthood clinics, comes up with nothing.

Courtesy of the Journal Gazette:  

The Indiana State Department of Health has cleared Indiana's three Planned Parenthood abortion clinics of any wrongdoing related to a national controversy. 

GOP Gov. Mike Pence called for an investigation earlier this month after an undercover video raised concern over harvesting organs for donation from aborted fetuses. 

Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky said from the beginning that it didn't participate in a tissue donation program. But Pence went ahead with an investigation and has talked extensively about it in various interviews. 

Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky said this morning it received official notice from the Indiana State Department of Health that its health centers in Merrillville, Bloomington and Indianapolis were found compliant with state abortion clinic licensure regulations.

Gee don't you hate it when you launch a witch hunt and it turns out there are no damn witches? 

Tuesday morning cartoon.

Indiana woman sentenced to 20 years in prison for feticide. The inevitable result of aggressive anti-abortion laws.

Courtesy of New York Magazine:  

In a ruling that’s already caused uproar across the country, Purvi Patel was sentenced on Monday to 20 years in prison for committing feticide. Patel, a 33-year-old woman from Indiana, was accused of illegally inducing her own abortion and subsequently having a baby she allowed to die. Last July, Patel visited an emergency room with severe bleeding and eventually told doctors she’d miscarried. When questioned about the location of the fetal remains, she said she was unsure what to do, so she wrapped the fetal remains in a bag and threw the bag in a Dumpster. Patel was then living with her conservative Hindu parents and in a relationship with a married co-worker, which helps explain why she felt it necessary to hide the pregnancy and dispose of the remains so quickly. 

While Patel has maintained that she miscarried and delivered a stillborn baby, prosecutors insisted that she induced a late-term abortion with pills she ordered on the internet and gave birth to a living fetus that died almost instantly. A toxicology report produced no evidence of such drugs in her system, but prosecutors pointed to texts Patel exchanged with a friend in which she claimed to have ordered pills from a pharmacy in Hong Kong. Because the age of the fetus was heavily contested, it’s possible that had she gotten a prescription for the pills in the U.S., the pregnancy termination (if that’s what happened) would have been legal. It remains illegal to order such pills online. 

If Patel did self-induce an abortion, it’s essential to understand the legal restrictions she faced as a resident of Indiana. The state has only 11 abortion clinics and an exhaustive list of abortion restrictions. Indiana prohibits certain qualified health-care professionals from performing abortions, restricts young women’s access to abortion by requiring parental consent, subjects abortion providers to targeted (and burdensome) regulations not applied to other medical professionals, subjects women to biased counseling and mandatory delays, has passed unconstitutional bans on abortion, prohibits certain state employees and organizations with state funding from referring women to abortion services, restricts access to other reproductive health care, and restricts low-income women’s access to abortion.

The article goes on to question the case against Patel, including expert medial testimony that at 24 weeks the fetus was not viable, and would have died even if born alive. 

What we as a country need to recognize is that if the Republicans get their way this will become a much more common occurrence, and soon women will be arrested for miscarriages that happen even during the first trimester of their pregnancy, without any evidence of wrongdoing on the mother's part.

In the conservative world women were created to give life. And failing that biological imperative, they have no real value.

And in their world the fetus is the most precious of all lives, far more important than the life of a woman who cannot even manage get pregnant or give birth correctly.

That is why their focus is not only making it impossible to get an abortion, but even doing away with birth control itself.

Pro-gay Christian choir sings outside of closed pizza parlor in Indiana to demonstrate compassion. Sadly compassion not returned.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

A gay-friendly Christian choir called “The Ripple Effect” is attempting to heal the small town of Walkerton, Indiana, which has been torn apart since the owners of Memories Pizza declared that they would discriminate against the LGBT community. 

The pizzeria closed after allegedly receiving “death threats” that turned out to be overblown online rhetoric, but that has not stopped its owners from pocketing nearly $1 million from a GoFundMe page set up for them. 

Although the intent behind performance by “The Ripple Effect” was not to condemn the behavior of the O’Connor family, the contrast between O’Connors’ actions and those of the choir could hardly be more stark. 

Some of the members of the choir are gay, and WSBT’s James Fillmore said that “the issue is tearing Walkerton apart, so they wanted to do something to try and fix it.” 

Standing in front of a giant rainbow flag, the choir’s director, Sherry Klinedinst, told WSBT that “we are not here to condemn or condone the establishment — we’re here to show them and the community that we can show love in spite of our differences.” 

Gail Bannister, who is both a Christian and a lesbian, said that she was singing in front of the closed pizzeria because it allows her to show the community that people can live together despite their differences. 

“We just have different opinions,” she said, “but that’s OK. We’re supposed to have different opinions. That’s what diversity’s all about.”

Aw that's nice, trying to demonstrate that not all religious people are bigots, and trying to bring a little light into the darkness of discrimination. 

I'm sure they were received by their fellow Christians with open arms.

Or not:

Oh well, it was a nice try.

Georgia florists don't need no stinking law to tell them to discriminate against gay couples. Their Bible is more than enough.

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

Days after the owners of Indiana's Memories Pizza made headlines for declaring they wouldn't cater to same-sex weddings, other companies have followed suit, this time in Georgia. 

Flower shop employee Jennifer Williams told CNN's Gary Tuchman that she "couldn't" serve a same-sex couple who sought arrangements for their union. 

"It doesn't mean that I love them any less, because I don't," Williams said. "You can still love someone even if you don't serve them."

So much for that whole "Tell them you love them with flowers" idea.

A second florist, Melissa Jeffcoat, felt similarly. 

"I would respectfully tell them that I'm sorry, I just don't want to do it because of my beliefs," she said. "[Jesus] died on the cross for me, so that's the least I can do for him." 

So to honor Jesus supposedly dying on the cross you would honor his sacrifice by discriminating against others? I think somebody skipped a chapter or two of the New Testament.

Interestingly, she said that she would willingly serve a customer who committed adultery, but not a gay person: "It's just a different kind of sin to me, and I just don't believe in it." 

And there you have it. This has NOTHING to do with faith, and EVERYTHING to do with homophobia.

Jeffcoat's son, Carlton, echoed those sentiments, noting, "I serve a God who's higher than any Supreme Court judge."

Unlike Indiana, Georgia's so-called religious freedom bill died in the Congress. 

Of course as demonstrated by these two florists, people don't need the state's permission to discriminate against others.

 But hey, who needs legislation? After all according to them, it's God's will. 

Indiana pizzeria owner goes on Fox News to clarify that she doesn't hate teh gays, just teh gay weddings.

So to apparently the other day Crystal O'Connor went on the Fox Business Network to make the following point:  

“They are welcome in the store, anyone is welcome in the store, but it’s against our belief to condone, to cater to their wedding. We’re condoning that if we do that, and that is against our religion. That is against our faith,” she said. 

Asked how serving gays in the restaurant was different than catering a wedding, O’Connor was at first confused, before explaining that it isn’t a sin to serve gays in the restaurant. 

“It is not a sin that we bring gays into our establishment, and to serve them” she said. “It is a sin, though, if we condone — if we cater their wedding. We feel we are participating. We’re putting a stamp of approval on their wedding, and we cannot do that.” 

Pressed by Cavuto to explain how that is not discrimination, O’Connor said that it wasn’t “hateful.” 

“It’s not all hateful, we show no hatred towards them,” she said. “We just — we ask that they respect as we have to allow the way they believe — we just ask that they respect the way we believe.” 

O’Connor stated that the restaurant will open again but was unsure exactly when, saying, “We're not sure when. I'm still shaken over this and I’m the one who will serving the customers and answering the phone, and I’m not ready to face that yet. But it will be soon.”

I have to admit that I am not exactly a biblical scholar but I am having a hard time understanding where in the book is says that one may serve gays who come into your store, but catering a gay wedding is a sin before the eyes of God.

I mean according to Leviticus 18:22 - "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it [is] abomination."

And in Leviticus 20:13 it says "If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them."

However nowhere does it seem to indicate that you cannot serve a gay person a slice of pizza, or cater their weddings.

As for "condoning" their lifestyle, unless this Crystal person is willing to follow the guidelines in the Bible and put them to death, I would think she is already doing that. At least that is the way the passages were interpreted for over a thousand years.  

However once again let me reiterate that if in fact these people received death threats then that is inexcusable, and ultimately self defeating because it only helps to make them a martyr in the eyes of people who think like they do.

Texas Republican's new budget amendment would pull 3 million dollars from HIV prevention and apply it to abstinence education.

Worst Texas doctor EVER.

Courtesy of ABC News:  

Texas would cut $3 million from programs to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases and spend that money instead on abstinence education under a contentious Republican-sponsored measure tucked into the state budget Tuesday night. 

The GOP-controlled House overwhelmingly approved the budget amendment, but not before a tense exchange with Democrats that veered into the unusually personal. 

Republican state Rep. Stuart Spitzer, a doctor and the amendment's sponsor, at one point defended the change by telling the Texas House that he practiced abstinence until marriage. The first-term lawmaker said he hopes schoolchildren follow his example, saying, "What's good for me is good for a lot of people."

My favorite part of the article is this exchange:  

Democrat state Rep. Harold Dutton asked Spitzer if abstinence worked for him. 

"It did," Spitzer replied. "I've had sex with one woman in my life and that's my wife." 

"Is that the first woman you asked?" Dutton replied. 

Shouts of "Decorum!" soon echoed on the House floor as the back-and-forth intensified. Efforts by Democrats to put the debate in writing for the record - usually a perfunctory request - failed.

I wish I could have been a fly on the wall for that exchange.

Once again here are Republicans taking money from a prevention plan whose effectiveness has been proven, and attempting to apply to a program that is doomed to fail.

And the fact that his amendment was sponsored by a doctor, just makes it all the more egregious.

According to the article this amendment is far from being passed, but I would suggest to these Texas lawmakers that before they put it to a final vote they give Indiana a call and find out how things worked for them when THEY took the focus off of HIV testing.

First Indiana business to come out and say they would refuse to provide food for a gay wedding, forced to temporarily close their doors in face of backlash. Update!

Courtesy of TMZ:  

Memories Pizza -- the first Indiana business to declare it would refuse LGBT business -- got blasted on the Internet and by phone, but the owner says there's been a huge misunderstanding ... sorta. 

Kevin O’Connor tells TMZ he's had to temporarily close his business after he told a reporter he would refuse to cater a gay wedding under Indiana's new Religious Freedom Restoration Act. 
O'Connor says he was immediately flooded by threatening phone calls, and social media postings. 

O'Connor wants to clear up one thing: He says he would never deny service to gay people in his restaurant. However, due to his religious beliefs, he does not believe in gay marriage ... and that's why he wouldn't service one. 

Meanwhile, he says the threats have been serious enough that he's closing his pizza joint ... at least until the dust settles. 

I have to say that this kind of aggressive response is not okay in my book.

I would support a boycott, or even ridiculing online, but to actually threaten these people is stepping way over the line. This kind of thing leads to that whole "gay mafia" meme which is ridiculous, but which is reinforced by these actions.

Personally I thin the whole thing is moot.

I mean who in their right mind, gay or not, has a pizzeria cater their wedding?

I mean Bristol and Dakota maybe, but who else?

Update: Damn it looks like it really pays to be homophobic assholes.

Coming soon.