New Quinnipiac is devastating news for Donald Trump.

Trump's approval numbers have been dropping in every single poll that comes out lately, but this poll is perhaps the worst one thus far.

Courtesy of Quinnipiac: 

President Donald Trump is doing more to divide the country, 62 percent of voters say, while 31 percent say he is doing more to unite the country, his worst score on this question, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today. 

President Trump gets a negative 35 - 59 percent overall job approval rating, down from a negative 39 - 57 percent rating in an August 17 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN- uh-pe-ack) University. Every party, gender, education, age and racial group disapproves except Republicans, who approve 77 - 14 percent; white voters with no college, approving 52 - 40 percent, and white men, who approve by a narrow 50 - 46 percent. 

American voters disapprove 60 - 32 percent of Trump's response to the events in Charlottesville. 

Oh yeah it gets worse.

59% pf Americans believe that Trump has encouraged white supremacist groups.

55% say there is too much racism in the country these days, and 50% say prejudice against minority groups is a "very serious problem."

And all of this is laid directly at the feet of Donald Trump with 65% of those polled said that "the level of hatred and prejudice in the U.S. has increased" since he was elected.

"Elected on his strength as a deal-maker, but now overwhelmingly considered a divider, President Donald Trump has a big negative job approval rating and low scores on handling racial issues," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. 

And these numbers will not exactly thrill Trump either:  

President Trump does not provide the U.S. with moral leadership, American voters say 62 - 35 percent. Voter opinions of most Trump qualities remain low: 

61 - 36 percent that he is not honest; 
61 - 37 percent that he does not have good leadership skills; 
57 - 40 percent that he does not care about average Americans; 
68 - 29 percent that he is not level headed; 
59 - 38 percent that he is a strong person; 
55 - 43 percent that he is intelligent; 
63 - 34 percent that he does not share their values.

But possibly the number that is going to REALLY get under Trump's skin is the 49% of Americans who think we would be better off with Hillary in the White House.

Personally I think that number is much too low, but I have every confidence that it will be going up soon.

You have heard of being arrested for "Driving while black?" Yeah well in Texas you can get arrested for "Learning while Muslim."

Courtesy of CNN: 

When Ahmed Mohamed went to his high school in Irving, Texas, Monday, he was so excited. A teenager with dreams of becoming an engineer, he wanted to show his teacher the digital clock he'd made from a pencil case. 

The 14-year-old's day ended not with praise, but punishment, after the school called police and he was arrested. A photo shows Ahmed, wearing a NASA t-shirt, looking confused and upset as he's being led out of school in handcuffs. 

"They arrested me and they told me that I committed the crime of a hoax bomb, a fake bomb," the freshman later explained to WFAA after authorities released him. 

Irving Police spokesman Officer James McLellan told the station, "We attempted to question the juvenile about what it was and he would simply only tell us that it was a clock." 

The teenager did that because, well, it was a clock, he said. 

On Wednesday, police announced that the teen will not be charged.

"Will not be charged." Well that's mighty white of them.

One guy on Twitter pointed out just how incredibly unfair this was.

#IStandWithAhmed When a white kid builds nuclear fusion reactor it's cool but when a Muslim builds a clock it's not pic.twitter.com/TFwfg1lUf4

— wiss.➶ (@BUCKVBVRNES) September 16, 2015

Ahh Texas. Will you ever NOT be a hot bed of racism and Islamophobia?

Well at least the kid has the President on his side.

Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It's what makes America great.

— President Obama (@POTUS) September 16, 2015

Of course in Texas that will only make him seem more suspicious.

This seems like a good place for this.

Apparently not yet convinced that he has destroyed his candidacy Jeb Bush decides to support discrimination against gays based on religious faith.

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

Likely Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said that Christian business owners should not have to provide services for gay weddings if it goes against their religious beliefs. 

“Yes, absolutely, if it’s based on a religious belief,” he said when asked by the Christian Broadcasting Network in an interview Saturday if businesses should be able to decline services to same-sex weddings. 

The former Florida governor justified his position by claiming that not providing a service does not count as discrimination if business owners feel that it violates their religious rights. 

“A big country, a tolerant country, ought to be able to figure out the difference between discriminating someone because of their sexual orientation and not forcing someone to participate in a wedding that they find goes against their moral beliefs,” he said. “This should not be that complicated. Gosh, it is right now.”

Damn what is Jebbie going to do next, strangle a kitten?

By the way this "moral beliefs" argument is the slipperiest of slippery slopes in that it can be used to discriminate against all kinds of people.

If you're a pharmacist who doesn't like abortion.  Refuse to fill prescriptions for the morning after pill.

If you are a pharmacist who doesn't like people having premarital sex, don't fill birth control scripts.

A wedding planner who is morally outraged by infidelity? Don't help plan the second marriage of a man who cheated on his wife with his secretary.

A cake decorator who takes Deuteronomy 7:3 and 7:4 literally and doesn't believe a Christian should marry a non-Christian can simply refuse to make their wedding cake, based on their "moral beliefs."

And it goes on, and on, and on.

Simply put if you are a business providing a service to the community, then you are supposed to treat ALL customers the same despite your deep seated prejudices or holier than thou attitudes.

For instance I myself am morally opposed to starting wars based on lies that lead to the deaths of thousands of American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of people in other parts of the world, but I am not against Jeb Bush for simply being related to his brother.

No I am against Jeb Bush because he is a fucking moron and I would not trust him to watch my dog over the weekend much less lead this country.

FBI would like to hire computer experts to help fight cyber crime, if they could only find some that don't smoke pot. Good luck with that.

FBI Director James B. Comey

Courtesy of The Wall Street Journal:  

Monday was a big day for the nation’s cyber police. The Justice Department charged five Chinese military officials with hacking, and brought charges against the creators of powerful hacking software. 

But FBI Director James B. Comey said Monday that if the FBI hopes to continue to keep pace with cyber criminals, the organization may have to loosen up its no-tolerance policy for hiring those who like to smoke marijuana. 

Congress has authorized the FBI to add 2,000 personnel to its rolls this year, and many of those new recruits will be assigned to tackle cyber crimes, a growing priority for the agency. And that’s a problem, Mr. Comey told the White Collar Crime Institute, an annual conference held at the New York City Bar Association in Manhattan. A lot of the nation’s top computer programmers and hacking gurus are also fond of marijuana. 

“I have to hire a great work force to compete with those cyber criminals and some of those kids want to smoke weed on the way to the interview,” Mr. Comey said. 

Mr. Comey said that the agency was “grappling with the question right now” of how to amend the agency’s marijuana policies, which excludes from consideration anyone who has smoked marijuana in the previous three years, according to the FBI’s Web site.

Let's face it, the new methodology for fighting crime in the 21st century, has less to do with marksmanship and kicking in front doors, and more to do with killing viruses and finding the backdoor that leads past computer security systems.

And the people who are best trained to do that are not likely to be a straight arrow, g-man type as played by Efrem Zimbalist Jr. in the old FBI television series and instead be more like this guy.

 In other words our ability to defend ourselves against devastating cyber attacks from Iran, China, and of course Canada, may be put at risk by the idea that marijuana is a dangerous drug like heroin instead of a socially accepted mood modifier like beer.

Boy Scouts ban gay troop leader. Local pack refuses to force him out, so the BSA revokes their charter. Just like Jesus would do.

Courtesy of TPM:  

The Boy Scouts of America has revoked the charter of a Seattle troop over its refusal to remove an openly gay troop leader, according to Scouts for Equality. 

Geoffrey McGrath, believed to be the first openly gay troop leader, was banned from the Boy Scouts at the beginning of April. 

Rainier Beach United Methodist Church's Troop 98 and Pack 98 defended their Scoutmaster, however, and refused to force him out. 

"Based on our religious principles, we will continue to act as an autonomous church that does not discriminate," the church's Rev. Monica Corsaro said in a statement to Scouts for Equality. "We will continue to have our Troop meetings here, every Thursday night, with business as usual."

So to be clear the BSA wants this guy discriminated against becasue of his sexuality, and the church that sponsors the local troop refuses to do so.

Well let's hear it for the Rainier Beach United Methodist Church of Seattle, for being so open minded and accepting.

You know it so rarely happens that I am moved to give a positive shout out to a church or religious group that this feels pretty cathartic for me.

Nice to know that not everybody's Bible tells them to hate gay people.

Atheist group volunteers to work in soup kitchen, executive director says she would resign before letting that happen.

Courtesy of Go Upstate:  

A group of Upstate atheists plans to hand out care packages downtown this weekend after the Spartanburg Soup Kitchen wouldn't let them volunteer. 

"I told them we wouldn't wear our T-shirts. We wouldn't tell anyone who we are with. We just want to help out," Brannon said. "And they told us that we were not allowed." 

According to the Soup Kitchen's website, the organization is dependent upon volunteers, having more than 600 community volunteers with a mission to serve the hungry in Spartanburg. 

Lou Landrum, executive director of the Soup Kitchen, told the Herald-Journal she would resign from her job before she let atheists volunteer and be a "disservice to this community." 

"This is a ministry to serve God" she said. "We stand on the principles of God. Do they (atheists) think that our guests are so ignorant that they don't know what an atheist is? Why are they targeting us? They don't give any money. I wouldn't want their money." 

Brannon said the group has worked with Christian nonprofits, such as Habitat for Humanity, in the past. 

"We can all work together to achieve something positive regardless of religion or lack thereof," she said. "We've raised money for March of Dimes, worked with the Generous Garden Project, done community park clean ups, adopted a highway, and sponsored local foster children for Christmas." 

She said the group is used to its share of animosity within the community, but the exchange with the Soup Kitchen was unlike anything she had experienced. 

"They are the only group that denied us the opportunity to volunteer," Brannon said.

Yep can't have Atheists helping out the poor and destitute, after all they might get infected with critical thinking skills. 

I wonder how the media would respond if this were how a Muslim group, or Jewish group, or Christian group were treated?

But of course it wasn't. it was just those lowlife, good for nothing, atheists.

Air Force Trainee challenges having to swear an oath to God in order to graduate and wins. Fundamentalist freakout in 3..2..1

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

Air Force Trainee Jonathan Bise and others will be offered a chance to recite and sign a secular oath as part of their graduation ceremony on Tuesday, after officials noted that they had erred in including the phrase, "So help me God" as mandatory in both written and verbal versions. 

"Our previous legal advisors were mistaken in advising us that it was required," Maj. Stewart L. Rountree wrote in a letter, addressing the planned revision. "Our current legal advisors made me aware and we will ensure it reaches all corners of our program." 

Bise, of Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, had earlier contracted the help of the American Humanist Association’s Appignani Humanist Legal Center and the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, asking them to step in on his behalf after allegedly being forced to sign a pledge contrary to his "deeply held beliefs" last month. 

“A non-religious person cannot be forced to affirm the existence of a God,” said Appignani Humanist Legal Center Coordinator Bill Burgess in a statement. “The law is clear that such demands violate the constitutional mandate of church-state separation and the right to freedom of conscience. This officer-to-be must be allowed to omit theistic language from his commissioning oath.” 

A letter to Air Force officials at Maxwell from the group similarly warned that the initial language of the oath was a violation of Bise's constitutional rights, and that a failure to offer Bise a secular option would subject the base to a suit in federal court.

As you know I view protecting the rights of the non-religious in much the same way I do protecting the rights of the LGBT community, and hope very much that we can have a movement equally successful in the years to come. 

Remember Atheists and Humanists don't want to take anything away from religious people we simply do not want religion or God forced upon us, or used as a way to oppress or isolate us.

Judge disapproves of lesbian relationship so he will not allow mother to have her children unless she evicts partner. That is justice Texas style.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

A Republican Texas Judge has ordered a lesbian couple to live apart or give up custody of their children. According to Think Progress, Judge John Roach of McKinney, Texas has given Page Price 30 days to move out of the home she shares with Carolyn Compton and Compton’s two children from a previous marriage because he does not approve of Compton and Price’s “lifestyle.” 

Roach has placed a “morality clause” in Compton’s divorce papers, which forbids Compton from having anyone she is not related to “by blood or marriage” in her home past 9:00 p.m. if the children are present. Same sex marriage is illegal in Texas, so by law, Compton cannot live with Price if she wishes to retain custody of her children. 

Compton said that she and Price have been together for three years. Compton’s ex-husband rarely bothers to see the children and was previously arrested on charges of third-degree felony stalking in 2011, charges that he was able to plea down to criminal trespassing, a misdemeanor. 

In a post on Facebook, Price wrote that Roach had inserted the morality clause into the divorce agreement when Compton’s ex-husband Joshua Compton attempted to gain custody of the children in 2011. The judge wrote that he disapproved of the two women’s “lifestyle.” 

“Our children are all happy and well adjusted. By his enforcement, being that we cannot marry in this state, I have been ordered to move out of my home,” Price wrote.

Now do people understand WHY we have to have a federal marriage equality law passed in this country?

Just imagine if this were the case of a mixed race couple because less than fifty years ago it WOULD have been. I am old enough to remember the argument that the "mixing of the races" was also "immoral," and a sin in the eyes of God.

By the way I love how these idiots are always going on about morality, while almost exclusively working from a Christian perspective, as if the idea of a nuclear family had ALWAYS been a Christian tradition.

When in fact it had not.

Anybody else notice a pattern?

Just watch it for a few minutes.

Interesting don't you think?

Who do you think is LESS likely to be elected President of the United States, a Muslim or an Atheist? You might be surprised!

Courtesy of Gallup:

While more than nine in 10 Americans would vote for a presidential candidate who is black, a woman, Catholic, Hispanic, or Jewish, significantly smaller percentages would vote for one who is an atheist (54%) or Muslim (58%). Americans' willingness to vote for a Mormon (80%) or gay or lesbian (68%) candidate falls between these two extremes.

You know I am not at all naive about how people in this country perceive Atheists, but even I was a little surprised at this.

Now I am not lumping all Muslims into one group, but let's face it THAT is a religious group of which many Americans are VERY suspicious, and one that has become synonymous with terrorist bombings including the largest terrorist attack on American soil, and they are STILL more likely to take up residence in the Oval Office than the guy (or girl) who simply says that there is not enough evidence to convince them of the existence of any god, gods, or goddesses.

That is incredible to me.

What exactly is it about being an individual who demands evidence before accepting the existence of something which makes THAT person the least trustworthy, and least likely to be given the opportunity to hold such a high office?

Seriously, I want to know.

P.S. And please don't anybody try to twist this into a slam against Muslims, I have no more, or less, respect for them than I do the adherents of ANY religious group. Except perhaps Scientologists, because you know...really?

There are ongoing House Homeland Security Committee hearings on the radicalization of Muslim-Americans. Leading one Congressman to ask why no “hearing on the radicalization of Christians?

Courtesy of Raw Story:

Texas Congressman Al Green (D) says he wouldn’t mind Rep. Peter King (R-NY) repeatedly calling hearings on “radical Islam” if he would also conduct a “hearing on the radicalization of Christians.” 

During a Wednesday House Homeland Security Committee hearing on “The Radicalization of Muslim-Americans,” Green wondered why the chairman had only focused on one religion. 

“If you agree that radicalization exists within all religions to some extent, would you kindly extend a hand into the air,” Green, who is the grandson of a Christian minister, asked the witnesses testifying before the committee. He noted that “all the hands are raised.” 

“I don’t think that most people oppose hearings on radicalization,” the congressman explained. “I do not, not — N-O-T — oppose hearings on radicalization. I do oppose hearings that don’t focus on the entirety of radicalization. And if you agree that we have Christians, as has been mentioned by more than one member, Christians who become radicalized, they become part of Islam and they become radicalized as is being said, why not have a hearing on the radicalization of Christians?” 

He added: “I do think that it is a problem of perception. People who see the hearings and never hear about the hearing on the radicalization of Christianity have to ask themselves, ‘Why is this missing?’ Why don’t we go to the next step and ask, how is that a blue-eyed, blonde-haired, white female in the United States of America can become radicalized to the point of wanting to do harm to this country? We don’t have that type of hearing. That’s the problem.”

Okay well THAT has now become my favorite question of the day.

Anybody want to chime in?

BTW for any of you who don't think there are ANY radicalized Christians, I present exhibit A:   

Two burglaries and two fires at Atlanta-area women's clinics and a burglary at the the main office of the Georgia Obstetrical and Gynecological Society are being investigated by the FBI as possible acts of domestic terrorism or civil rights violations. 

Four of the five offices targeted are run by doctors who had voiced concerns — sometimes publicly, sometimes privately — about the so-called fetal pain bill, which shortened to 20 weeks the time frame during which women can have an elective abortion.

Somehow I doubt that THESE  dangerous terrorists were radicalized in a Hindu temple or Jewish Synagogue.

Just to clear up any mythology about the Founding Fathers having created a perfect country, THIS was still considered okay to give to school children a hundred years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

(Just in case you are not horrified enough by the cover, you can see the contents by clicking here.)

You know whenever I hear the Republicans talking about taking this country back to the days when it better reflected the image of the Founding Fathers, this is the kind of ugliness it conjures up in my mind.

This book was printed in 1876, exactly one hundred years after this country, the land of the free and home of the brave, was founded, and only ten years after slavery was finally abolished.

This was a time when the white male citizens had ALL of the rights, blacks knew their place, women were little more than property, and the Bible was an accepted textbook in the American classroom.

These are the "good old days" that the GOP waxes poetic over in their speeches to the American people. A time when only those of a certain ethnicity, or gender, were allowed to control the direction in which this country is headed. If they had their way, there would certainly NOT be some uppity, oddly named, Hawaiian born Socialist occupying the Oval Office.

Essentially everything they say is code for taking this country back to a time when the idea of "white makes right" was accepted with little or no challenge.  And while I am well aware that President Lincoln was a proud Republican, this is NOT his party anymore.

Today's Republican presidential candidates seem for all the world like hood-less KKK members rather than agents for societal progress in the United States.

From Ron "racist newsletter" Paul, to "Rick "Niggerhead ranch" Perry, on to Newt "have poor students (i.e. black students) clean school bathrooms" Gingrich, and Rick "I don't want bla..people's lives better by giving them somebody's else's money" Santorum, right up to Mitt "My church would not allow black priests until 1976" Romney, the field seems to be only one giant cross, a can of gasoline, and a match away from admitting to African American voters exactly what they think of them.

Personally I would like to look to a future where people who love each other can marry, regardless of their gender, ALL people's religious beliefs are recognized and respected equally, and children are raised seeing a person's character before they notice the color of their skin. 

And that is definitely NOT the future that will be available to us if one of these arrogant, racist, backward thinking pricks get into the White House.

Despite any residual disappointment I might feel, for me the choice was never in question:

Barack Obama for President in 2012!

Orange County racist offers WORST apology ever! Update!

From TPM:

Orange County Republican party official Marilyn Davenport has sort-of apologized for sending out a racist picture of President Obama depicting him as a chimp being held by his chimp parents.

Here is the "apology" in its entirety:

I'm sorry if my email offended anyone. I simply found it amusing regarding the character of Obama and all the questions surrounding his origin of birth. In no way did I even consider the fact he's half black when I sent out the email. In fact, the thought never entered my mind until one or two other people tried to make this about race. We all know a double standard applies regarding this president. I received plenty of emails about George Bush that I didn't particularly like yet there was no 'cry' in the media about them. One only has to go to Youtube or Google Images to see a plethora or lampooning videos and pictures of Obama, Bush and other politicians. That being said, I will NOT resign my central committee position over this matter that the average person knows and agrees is much to do about nothing. Again, for those select few who might be truly offended by viewing a copy of an email I sent to a select list of friends and acquaintances, unlike the liberal left when they do the same, I offer my sincere apologies to you--the email was not meant for you. For any of my friends or acquaintances who were the recipients of my email and were truly offended, please call me so I may offer a sincere verbal apology to you.

Here let me see if I can translate that for you.

 "I am sorry that anybody with a conscience saw that e-mail. I was hoping that ONLY my fellow racists would see it and laugh right along with me at the idea of our President depicted as a lower life form than all of us Christian white folks. So of course I won't resign from my job over this silly misunderstanding, which has been blown way out of proportion by the socialists and commie sympathizers in the Democrat party. The only way you will get this job away from me is, in the words of my hero Charlton Heston, 'if you pry it from my hands, you damned dirty apes!""

"Again I only expected this to be seen by a select few of my fellow KKK members and I am frustrated that I have to apologize to a bunch of elitist, race mixing, liberals who don't know a good joke when it swings from a tree right in front of them. Dammit, the e-mail was NOT meant for you!"

"And if any of my ACTUAL friends were offended by this e-mail let me know, and I will call you and explain the joke to you, because it is freaking hysterical!"

Obviously I don't buy for an instant that this sorry excuse for a human being did not know that what she was sending out was racist.  She absolutely knew what she was doing, she just never thought she would get caught.

The sad fact is that the Republican party is filled with this kind of blatant racism, in fact the whole Tea party and Birther movements were inspired by it, and the only time they feel any sense of embarrassment at all for their hateful prejudice is when it is exposed to the general public.

Update: This second apology is a little better, but it is also too little, too late.

And does anybody REALLY believe that she was threatened?

A tribute to the NOH8 campaign by DC Douglas.

Mayor Sullivan do you consider this "quantifiable evidence" of hate toward the gay community in Anchorage?

From KTUU:

Investigators say the cause of a Friday morning fire in Mountain View is suspicious, while neighbors fear it might be a hate crime. A gay pride float caught fire, days before its debut in the 4th of July parade.

The fire scorched the sides of two houses, destroying a garage and the adjacent float. But those who built the float say they won't let the incident damage their pride.

"Our parade float is here in their driveway, where we build our parade float every year for the gay pride parade for the Imperial Court of All Alaska," said float builder Scott Koeller. "The float is gone. It's all burned up, toasted."

It took 10 long days to build the gay-rights float, and now there's hardly any time to get a new one by the 4th. Despite that, the plan is to make a statement by rebuilding the float using ashes and charred pieces from the old one. They'll call the new creation "Phoenix Rising."

"It will be amazing, I'm sure, because everything was destroyed, everything," Butner said. "All the signs and stuff we had, all of the boas, everything is gone."

Every year, Butner and her husband help build the float -- with the tools now destroyed in the garage fire.

"Why hate? I mean, you know, what people do in the privacy of their own home, it's their business, not -- you know, I guess I just don't understand some of these people," Butner said.

Last year Mayor Sullivan vetoed an ordinance that would have banned discrimination against gay people in Anchorage. He gave the following reason:

"My review shows that there is clearly a lack of quantifiable evidence necessitating this ordinance"

I wonder if THIS would serve as evidence to change the Mayor's mind about discrimination toward the LGBT community?   Adding this incident to my loss of work after it was learned of my support for the gay community and that is two pretty clear incidents of property damage and financial harm due to discrimination in less than a week.

Somehow I think that there are many, many more that we will simply never hear about.

Violent racism is still alive and well on the streets of Anchorage.

With their video camera rolling, a young white couple threw eggs at an Alaska Native man and kicked him, slinging slurs in what appears to have been a racially motivated assault, police said Thursday. During the attack, the victim held his hand out trying to shake the hands of his aggressors, police said.

The assailants, who were arrested Thursday night, recorded the downtown assault in two short clips and posted them on the video-sharing site YouTube, where detectives downloaded them after getting a tip Aug. 5, police Lt. Dave Parker said. The only apparent motive for the attack was that the man was Native.

"Apparently they were targeting a Native individual," police Lt. Dave Parker said. "They found him and he became the object of their ire."

This kind of aggression toward Alaska natives is not new.

I can remember hearing about teens in my school going downtown and "rolling drunks" way back in the seventies. It saddens me to realize just how little things have changed since then.

But wait! Things have changed.

Back in 2001 there was another videotaped attack on Alaska natives, only that one was with paintballs. And it resulted in the House of representatives passing Joint Resolution 22 naming that attack, and future aggressive attacks motivated by race, as hate crimes.

It also elicited THIS response from "best Governor ever" Tony Knowles.

The incident inspired governor Tony Knowles to appoint a 14-member "Commission on Tolerance" which reported back to him with over 100 recommendations for improving race relations in the state of Alaska. This list included more new hate crime laws, increased funding for schools in rural villages, and even adding new verses to "Alaska's Flag" (the state song) to recognize contributions of aboriginal natives.

So now I await the response to this egregious action from our spanking new Mayor Dan Sullivan, and Sean "I still can't believe I am the governor" Parnell. And I have a feeling that the native population is watching for their response as well.

The Mormons are cowering in fear of the GAYS. Now that is an interesting turn of events isn't it?

For the past two weeks, Sacramento leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been on high alert.

They are hiring extra security to watch over the Folsom temple, and asking members to drive by church buildings late at night. Mormons in law enforcement are keeping track of Internet chatter to find out where protests will be held.

"Our members in law enforcement know where to look for this kind of stuff," said Lisa West, spokeswoman for the church in the Sacramento region. She added that they are doing this on their own time. "There's a lot of volatility in the air, so we're asking people to keep their eyes and ears open."

Mormon leaders have been staying vigilant since the Nov. 4 election and passage of Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage.

Aww, I feel so bad for the Church of Latter Day Saints.

I mean what kind of a country is it where a group of people cannot work hard to oppress another group of people without that first group of people getting all snippy? Hardly seems fair if you ask me.

Here is my favorite quote from the article that inspired this post:

Many Mormons believe they are being unfairly targeted and compare the anti-Mormon sentiment to a witch hunt.

No irony there. If only the Mormons could find another group who understood how heartbreaking it is to be vilified and misunderstood to share their feelings with. But where, oh where, would they find anybody like that?

Update: Of course it could always be worse. The Mormons could be like that other big fundraiser who helped pass Prop 8, Focus on the Family, which is now having to layoff more then 20% of its workforce.