John Oliver turns his attention to Vice President Mike Pence. Poor Mike Pence. Update!

Courtesy of the AV Club: 

With the chaos at the Trump White House mounting every single day to what seems like an inevitable flashpoint involving a constitutional crisis, impeachment, indictment, diversionary declaration of war, or simply a White House staffed with no one but Trump relatives and their wedding planners, it’s tempting to look ahead to the theoretically more stable prospect of President Mike Pence. But, as John Oliver lays out in the main story of Sunday’s Last Week Tonight, be very fucking careful what you wish for.

Oliver, calling Pence “the opposite of whatever a silver fox is” (settling on “ashen weasel”), takes a hard, typically incisive and hilariously pissed off look at exactly how extreme the positions of the (current) Vice President are. From his vocal opposition to women in the military, his prayer-based non-response to an HIV outbreak in Indiana when he was governor, to his ongoing abetting and excusing of literally every ignorant, hateful, or outright lunatic and untrue thing that dribbles out of his boss’ mouth, Oliver presents a portrait of a man whose outward appearance of un-Trump-ian sanity barely conceals the frothing, right wing loon within. Especially when it comes to the LGBTQ community, where Pence’s long history of bigotry includes overt, verifiable support of one James Dobson and the organization Focus on the Family, your go-to zealots for “shock ‘em ‘til they’re not gay anymore” “conversion therapy.”

Of course the point Oliver is trying to make is that Mike Pence is a fucking three car pile up, which we all seem completely oblivious to because he is always standing next to the human train wreck.

Look I want Trump out of office at least as much as the next guy, probably more actually, but if we take him out and leave Pence in place we may simply find ourselves exchanging one walking nightmare for another.

Update: So apparently John Oliver's bunny book is outselling Mike Pence's bunny book.

Courtesy of The Daily Beast:  

On Sunday night John Oliver announced on HBO’s Last Week Tonight that A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, a children’s book about a gay bunny, named after a pet rabbit owned by the family of Vice President Mike Pence, would be available immediately. That meant it beat a rival children’s book, Marlon Bundo’s Day in the Life of the Vice President, written by Pence’s daughter, Charlotte, and illustrated by his wife, Karen, by mere hours to the digital shelves. 

As of Monday afternoon, Last Week Tonight’s book—which was written by Jill Twiss and illustrated by E.G. Keller, an artist from Pence’s home state of Indiana—was the No. 1 seller on Amazon, with the Pences’ book lagging noticeably behind at No. 6. With over 1,200 user reviews by that time, the Last Week Tonight book earned a rare five-star rating. The Pences’ effort had less than 50 reviews, and a woeful one-and-a-half-star rating.

I swear John Oliver is a national treasure. 

Outspoken Brits don't want Franklin Graham and other American hate mongering Evangelical ministers anywhere near them.

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

Several British pastors and politicians are voicing concerns about a controversial American evangelist’s plans to preach in the U.K. next year. 

Franklin Graham, a prominent evangelical pastor who has made blatantly homophobic and Islamophobic statements in the past, is scheduled to headline the Lancashire Festival of Hope in Blackpool in September 2018. Graham’s three-day event — similar to the “crusades” once led by his famous father, Billy Graham — is reportedly taking place with the blessing of more than 300 church leaders and members in England. 

But not all residents of the area are enthused about Graham coming to town. Some have urged the U.K.’s home secretary Amber Rudd to ban the preacher from entering the country altogether, the Guardian reports. 

Nina Parker, the pastor of a church in Blackpool, told HuffPost in an email that she’s worried that Graham’s visit could embolden those who are prejudiced toward Muslims and queer people to express that hate. 

“It will give oxygen to those who hate as they will be aware of hatred being expressed by a man of high status in the Church,” Parker wrote to HuffPost. “It will portray a Trump style, hard line, hate filled version of Christianity devoid of understanding of and acceptance of ordinary people. It will destroy the reputation of Christianity in this region as it will be assumed that this man speaks for all. It will bring Christians into disrepute.”

Parker has more than 60,000 signatures on a petition to block Graham and his merry band of trouble makers from poisoning the UK with their hate speech. 

Personally I wish we could start a petition here in America to kick Franklin Graham and his toxic crew of evangelicals the hell out of this country.

But it wouldn't help.

Even if they left they would be quickly replaced by more just like them, some perhaps even worse.

You know it seems these days that all America exports anymore is stupidity, racism, and intolerance.

I guess that's what MAGA really means.

Evangelical church urges members to commit fraud so that they can continue tithing.

Courtesy of Raw Story:

An evangelical church already under investigation for luring foreign believers to the U.S., where they were kept as virtual slaves, has been accused of encouraging parishioners to file fraudulent unemployment claims so they could keep tithing. 

According to an Associated Press investigation, the founder of the Word of Faith Fellowship reportedly encouraged church members to defraud the government so that they could keep filling her coffers at Sunday services, saying it was “God’s plan.” 

In an interview, contractor Randy Fields related how he appealed to church founder Jane Whaley to allow him to scale back his tithing because his business was faltering, only to have the religious leader encourage him to file fraudulent unemployment claims in the names of his employees. 

According to the report, Fields was not alone, with multiple other church members — and fellowship employees – also admitting they committed fraud in the name of the church. The report goes on to note that the allegations are being investigated by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. 

Detailing years of fraud, former church adherents estimated that the fake claims — including “some filed by the business owners’ wives and other family members” — would have diverted hundreds of thousands of tax dollars to the church over a six-year period.

Tax fraud AND slavery?

Damn!

You know I love it when people try to convince me that we cannot be moral without religion.

I personally think that being truly moral can only be accomplished by ignoring religion.

And ESPECIALLY self serving religious leaders.

Breitbart celebrates Trump's decision to repeal DACA while the rest of the country recoils in disgust.

Oooh, a brown skinned person! How'd he get in here?

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is still notching policy wins after his return to the right-wing website Breitbart. President Donald Trump’s decision to end Obama-era protections for undocumented immigrants brought as children to the U.S. by their parents is a major victory for Bannon and Breitbart — and they know it.

“This is a huge step in the right direction for the Trump administration, and for Breitbart as we cover the stories that most of the rest of the media ignore on immigration like crimes committed by illegal aliens including so-called Dreamers, the economic and cultural effects on American workers of large scale legal and illegal immigration, and the forgotten man and woman President Trump honed in on during the 2016 race and in his inauguration speech,” a senior Breitbart editor who was not authorized to speak on the record told HuffPost. 

Breitbart was a primary source of the push to repeal DACA, which covers approximately 800,000 people. The site has sometimes published multiple stories per day promoting repeal and praising DACA opponents, while attacking Democrats and Republicans who support the program. At one point on Tuesday, nine of the site’s 10 most popular stories were about Trump’s DACA repeal (or, in one case, about Hillary Clinton’s DACA support). It’s no surprise that Breitbart sees a victory here: The site has served for years as the most prominent platform for anti-immigration organizations and politicians to promote their views.

However while Steve Bannon and the racist visitors to Breitbart are partying like it's 1899, the rest of the country is having a completely different reaction.

Courtesy of Politico:  

Voters overwhelmingly support allowing undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children to stay in the country, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, placing President Donald Trump’s decision to wind down the controversial Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program at odds with public opinion. 

A majority of voters, 58 percent, think these undocumented immigrants, also known as Dreamers, should be allowed to stay and become citizens if they meet certain requirements — a sentiment that goes well beyond the existing DACA program. Another 18 percent think they should be allowed to stay and become legal residents, but not citizens. Only 15 percent think they should be removed or deported from the country.

I guess most of these folks are not fans of Breitbart.

And then there were the protests: 

Thousands marched across the Brooklyn Bridge Tuesday evening in protest after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the Trump administration is ending the DACA program. 

At least 13 were arrested, including one New York council member, adding to the 34 who were arrested hours earlier outside Trump Tower. 

Earlier in the day, hundreds of immigrants and advocates from across the tri-state demonstrated in Manhattan and in Washington, D.C. 

There were also other protests in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, just to name a few.

But what be most troubling to Trump is that this decision has created a rift between him and many of his evangelical supporters.

Courtesy of the Washington Post:  

Religious leaders, including some of the evangelicals who have remained steadfast in their support for Trump, expressed their disappointment that Trump would reverse the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. 

In a strongly worded statement, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called the decision “reprehensible.” 

“Now, after months of anxiety and fear about their futures, these brave young people face deportation,” they wrote. “This decision is unacceptable and does not reflect who we are as Americans.” 

The Catholic Church’s ties to dreamers are direct. About 1 in 4 U.S. Catholics are foreign born, and 34 percent of all Catholics are Hispanic, according to Pew Research Center. Still, the overall Catholic vote in 2016 was split between Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, though Hispanic Catholics overwhelmingly supported Clinton. 

The criticism was echoed by local Catholic leaders, including Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington, who has a close relationship with Pope Francis. He called the decision “very regrettable and harmful.” 

The United Methodist Church was even sharper in its rebuke, calling the efforts to “rescind these protections, not only unconscionable, but contrary to moral work and witness.” The Evangelical Lutheran Church, a major mainline Protestant denomination, wrote that its members would “pray today for those that will suffer undue repercussions due to the end of this program.” 

Even some of the faith leaders closest to Trump urged him not to end the protection for young immigrants. Some prominent evangelicals signed joint letters compelling Trump to leave the program in place while Congress works on a more permanent legislative solution.

This decision has essentially only satisfied the most racist fringe of Trump's base, the neo-Nazi/KKK branch if you will.

No wonder Trump sent Jeff "The Keebler Elf"  Sessions out to make the actual announcement, while Trump himself hides under his bed.

It almost seems as if Trump is trying to get as many people as possible to hate him before he leaves office. 

Evangelical group releases document detailing "ethical" Christian sex practices. Spoiler alert: Gay sex is not on it.

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

Evangelical Christians are up to something new. 

At least that’s the position of many criticizing the “Nashville Statement,” a controversial document championing “biblical” sexual ethics that was penned this past week and signed by roughly 150 prominent evangelical leaders. The document, divided into 14 articles and released by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW), mostly parrots denunciations of LGBTQ identities and relationships common among right-wing evangelicals. But it drew added attention for doing something unusual: extending their condemnation to Christians who affirm queer people. 

“We affirm that it is sinful to approve of homosexual immorality or transgenderism and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness,” Article 10 of the statement reads. “We deny that the approval of homosexual immortality or transgenderism is a matter of moral indifference about which otherwise faithful Christian should agree to disagree.” 

The statement triggered outrage almost immediately, especially among LGBTQ and LGBTQ-affirming Christians who saw it as a direct attack on their understanding of the faith. Within hours, several progressive Christian groups issued their own counter-statements refuting the evangelical document point-by-point, with some deriding it as “anti-LGBTQ bigotry.” Faithful America, an online advocacy organization for progressive Christians, already has thousands of signatures for a petition rejecting the statement.

Essentially this "Nashville Statement" is just an excuse to attack teh gays and attempt to shame Christians who are not interested in vilifying their lifestyle.

By the way despite what many Christians have been taught the Bible only makes mention of homosexuality about six times, and it is not so much condemned as simply misunderstood.

It is this kind of repressive mindset that is pushing people away from religion.

Young people simply do NOT want to be told how and who to love.

Personally I enjoy watching the church prove that they are a primitive superstitious entity dedicated to shaming and manipulating their congregations. That has been my position since I was about ten years old.

However if the Christians really want their faith to survive, they might want to do a little thing called "evolve."

I know, ironic right?

Things must be bad if it has driven Donald Trump to prayer.

Source

Let's be clear, Donald Trump is NOT a religious man.

Though he will play the part of one in order to fool the Evangelicals into voting for him.

The story behind this photo is that it was a "laying on of hands" by evangelical leaders invited into the Oval Office.

Now why does this seem so familiar?

Oh yeah, that's right.

I wonder if this will be as big of a fail for Trump as it was for Palin way back in the day?

Vice President Mike Pence reminds us why we may not be in such a hurry to impeach Donald Trump.

Courtesy of Vox: 

Vice President Mike Pence popped into the 40th anniversary celebration of the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family to remind members he’s a devout Christian politician who has his back. And, he says, so is President Donald Trump. 

After the group’s president Jim Daly introduced Pence as “one of us,” the vice president spoke for 30 minutes on Friday, on both foreign policy and domestic issues. Unsurprisingly, Pence focused quite a bit on abortion, reiterating the Trump administration’s commitment to what he characterized as the "timeless values” Focus on the Family advocates first. 

He repeatedly referred to the president himself as both an “unwavering ally" of Christian evangelicals and a believer himself — calling him “a leader, a believer, a timeless defender of the values that will make America great again.” He described Trump as someone who “advocated in the public square for values our public needs to hear, now more than ever.” 

Pence’s comments are hardly surprising: after all, his evangelical faith and religiously-motivated stances on abortion and LGBTQ rights are well-known. But the intensity in expressing them on Friday was striking. Pence announced that he would donate an ultrasound machine in his own name to a faith-based crisis pregnancy center. (These centers, which are marketed like typical abortion clinics, but are set up to persuade women to avoid abortions, make up a major part of Focus on the Family’s efforts).

By the way Pence's assertion that Trump is an "unwavering ally of Christian Evangelicals" is the very definition of fake news.

Donald Trump is the unwavering ally of Donald Trump, and ONLY Donald Trump.

Mike Pence on the other hand is a tent revival attending, evangelizing, self proclaimed warrior for the almighty, and he would love nothing more than to return this country back to the days when women stayed in the kitchen, black folks stayed in the fields, and gay people stayed so deep in their closets that they needed to stuff mothballs down their pants.

I mean the man donated an entire ultrasound machine just to stop women from aborting their babies for fuck's sake.

That is why Senator Al Franken suggested that folks might want to think long and hard about trying to get Trump impeached.

Courtesy of the International Business Times:

“Pence ran the transition and some of the very worst nominees, I felt — [EPA chief Scott] Pruitt, [Education Secretary Betsy] DeVos, [HHS Secretary Tom] Price, [Budget director Mick] Mulvaney — were Pence selections, clearly, I think,” Franken told IBT. “He's ideological, I consider him a zealot, and I think that in terms of a lot of domestic policy certainly would be worse than Trump.”

Look I still think that Trump is a criminal, who had help in stealing this election, and I want him to either quit or be impeached.

But if we don't come up with some way to take Pence down with him, I fear that we may well go from the frying pan directly into that fire and brimstone.

Leading Evangelical magazine denounces Donald Trump and those voting for him.

Courtesy of the National Post:  

Now, the flagship magazine of evangelical Christianity is blasting the Republican presidential nominee – and criticizing the Christians who vote for him. 

“Enthusiasm for a candidate like Trump gives our neighbours ample reason to doubt that we believe Jesus is Lord,” Christianity Today editorial director Andy Crouch wrote Monday in an editorial. “They see that some of us are so self-interested, and so self-protective, that we will ally ourselves with someone who violates all that is sacred to us.” 

Christianity Today was founded by evangelist Billy Graham in 1956 and today serves as a major voice of evangelicals, who make up about more than a quarter of the U.S. population. 

The publication does not endorse candidates because it is a nonprofit organization, Crouch wrote in the editorial. But Monday’s editorial, which devoted a paragraph to criticizing Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton (mostly for her use of a private email server), hammered Trump for about 1,000 words.

Well it seems that there are at least SOME Christians who recognize the tenets of their faith.

However this split among the religious right over Donald Trump have some predicting that this could be the end of their influence on politics.

I have to say that if that were to happen I would be walking around on a cloud, and it might even signal the end of the Immoral Minority.

After all when I started this blog it was to give voice to all of those who were not part of the "Moral Majority" and to point out their hypocrisy while also revealing their negative impact on politics in America.

If they suddenly are no longer a serious problem, then IM's inoculation of truth may no longer be necessary either.

Boy wouldn't THAT be something?

Evangelicals still supporting Donald Trump after release of sexual harassment tape.

Courtesy of Buzzfeed:  

“Voters of faith are voting on issues like who will protect unborn life, defend religious freedom, create jobs, and oppose the Iran nuclear deal,” Faith and Freedom Coalition president Ralph Reed said in an email to BuzzFeed News. “Ten-year-old tapes of private conversation with a television talk show host rank very low on their hierarchy of concerns.” 

Asked if he had any comment on the tape itself and if he was definitely standing by Trump, Reed said, “I think the statement is self explanatory.” 

Tony Perkins, who leads the Family Research Council, also did not reject Trump in the wake of the revelations, but indicated that he doesn’t share Trump’s values. 

“My personal support for Donald Trump has never been based upon shared values, it is based upon shared concerns about issues such as: justices on the Supreme Court that ignore the constitution, America’s continued vulnerability to Islamic terrorists and the systematic attack on religious liberty that we’ve seen in the last 7 1/2 years,” Perkins said in an email to BuzzFeed News. 

“The comments are obviously disgusting and unfortunate,” Bauer said in an interview with BuzzFeed News. “But Donald Trump did not run as a evangelical or as somebody who ran the kind of campaign that a Pat Robertson would run.” 

“We’ll still support him, still work hard for him,” Bauer said. “His policies are 100% better than Hillary clinton’s for the country.” 

“I don’t see how any values voter that is sensible would take a tape from 11 years ago with totally inappropriate language and says somehow that leads me as a voter to stay home or vote for Hillary Clinton or throw your vote away on a third party candidate,” Bauer said. 

To be clear NONE of what is said above surprises me in the least.

In fact the entire reason this blog exists is to call out the hypocrisy of the conservatives and the so-called "Moral Majority." I knew the evangelicals were full of shit when Jerry Falwell was leading them to support Ronald Reagan and then George W. Bush, and they are just as full of shit today.

Just imagine the level of outrage that would have been directed at Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama if even a portion of the disgusting comments voiced by Donald Trump had been uttered by either one of them.

Simply put it would have ended their campaigns months ago, and the entire Democratic party would be tainted by those statements for decades to come.

But, if a GOP candidate says all that and much worse....ho hum.... no big deal....let's move on.

CNN now has a treasure trove of disgusting comments that Donald Trump made on the Howard Stern show, some much much worse than the "grab her pu**y" comments, and those will not change the minds of the evangelicals either.

By the way CNN's John King pointed out quite rightly that Donald Trump did not just make lewd and lascivious remarks, he essentially admitted to a crime.

But that won't make any difference to these people either.

Trump once said that he could shoot a man on Fifth Avenue and it would not cost him any support, apparently he could also rape a woman on that same street and the so-called "Christian" majority in this country would simply turn a blind eye.

In fact Trump is predicting that he will emerge unscathed.

So many self-righteous hypocrites. Watch their poll numbers - and elections - go down!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 9, 2016

Well my fellow heathens, it looks like it is up to us to take this son-of-a-bitch down. 

Pastors try to drum up support for Donald Trump by promising that God is going to whack him once he takes office.

Metaphysics aside, source presented this as the rationalization many disaffected PA evangelicals are using to justify their Trump vote.

— Todd Zwillich (@toddzwillich) October 5, 2016

Courtesy of Politicususa: 

The idea that maybe God will kill the Republican presidential candidate is one of the most tortured rationalizations one will ever hear for casting a vote for Trump. Evangelicals and Republicans of all varieties are contorting themselves into some very strange positions to justify supporting a man who is an insult to all that they claim to believe.

I am typically NEVER on board with the evangelicals, but if they are encouraging God to smite Trump before he damages the country, I think I could go with that.

Except in MY version of events it happens BEFORE the election, and no way does it involve Mike Pence getting near the White House.

I just wonder how Trump feels about God using him this way?

I think I sense a Twitter rant heading this way.

Evangelicals bless Donald Trump to keep Satan away. Pretty sure it's too late for that.

Courtesy of HuffPo:

Donald Trump is locked in a war with Satan. 

At an event in Cleveland on Wednesday, an evangelical pastor warned the Republican presidential candidate that he was fighting none other than Lucifer himself. 

Pastor Darrell Scott said that five years ago, an unnamed “nationally known preacher” claimed that if Trump ran for president, he would come under a “concentrated satanic attack.” Scott said the preacher warned of “a demon, principalities and powers, that are going to war against you on a level that you’ve never seen before.” 

What’s more, Scott affirmed that this satanic attack was taking place right now. 

Okay first of I would like to say that if there WERE a Satan that he is absolutely a Trump support, hands down.

No questions about it. 

Secondly, does this seem eerily familiar to anybody else?

Holy shit!

You know I have made this comparison between Trump and Palin a number of times now, but this is getting ridiculous!

Flood of "biblical proportions" destroys home of president of anti-gay Christian group. Really the jokes just write themselves.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

Tony Perkins, president of the anti-gay Christian group Family Research Council, revealed this week that his home and been destroyed in a flood “of near biblical proportions.” 

During a Monday broadcast on Family Research Council radio, Perkins called in from Louisiana to explain that he and his family had escaped his flooded home in a canoe. 

“This is a flood, I would have to say, of near biblical proportions,” the Christian lobbyist announced. 

Perkins said that he and his family were new living off of “God’s provisions,” and had relocated to their RV, which had been spared.

Seriously? Noah gets an entire ark, and Perkins has to make due with a shitty little canoe?

Hardly seems fair.

You know the thing about this that is so irritating is that you KNOW if the Louisiana headquarters for LGBT rights was washed away in a flood that every half baked Christian televangelist in the country would be thrusting their Bibles into the air and declaring that this was proof positive that God wanted to stamp out homosexuality in the world.

But if the house belonging to one of the foremost anti-gay crusaders gets washed away in the flood, the response is "Well shit happens sometimes."

I swear if every religious leader in the country suddenly woke up with leprosy tomorrow they would call it a coincidence and turn the anti-gay rhetoric up to eleven.

Evangelical preacher John Hagee warns his followers that God "will not hold them harmless" if they do not vote for Donald Trump.

Courtesy of Right Wing Watch:  

After mangling Dietrich Bonhoeffer's famous "not to speak is to speak" quote and falsely attributing it to Martin Niemöller, Hagee informed his viewing audience that "God will not hold us harmless" and so they have an obligation to vote. 

"I'm going to vote for the candidate that's going to make the U.S. military great again," he said. "I'm going to vote for the party that is going to solve the immigration problem, not the one that has created the immigration problem. I'm going to support the party that brings jobs back from China ... I'm not going to vote for the party that has betrayed Israel for the past seven years." 

"If you can read a newspaper, you know who I'm talking about," Hagee said. "No candidate is perfect, but I want you to go vote and may God give us a leader who has the courage to put America first and stand up for we the people." 

You know I have been watching these televangelists for years, ever since the glory days of Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggert, and Jim and Tammy Bakker.

And I have to say that their level of hypocrisy has never failed to take my breath away.

Trump with Jerry Falwell Jr. at Liberty University

But damn they are really outdoing themselves this time around.

They refused to accept John McCain back in 2008 until he saddled himself with Caribou Barbie, but they are completely willing to accept this twice divorced, biblically ignorant, almighty dollar worshiper without even breaking a sweat.

You know, it's almost like they were completely full of shit all along. 

Creationist Ken Ham takes to Twitter and preacher man-splains the Reason Rally and what Atheists actually believe.

So the Reason Rally is getting ready to start on June 4th, in Washington D.C. and people could not be more excited.

Well not all people.

The "Reason Rally" 2016 advertised as "world's largest atheist party" is really a worship service--they worship man pic.twitter.com/InBNlhIYOg

— Ken Ham (@aigkenham) May 15, 2016

I really don't think "worship" is the correct word in this context.

Atheists at Reason Rally 2016 are really worshipping the god of self--they exalt reason--they're faith is they arose by natural processes

— Ken Ham (@aigkenham) May 15, 2016

Okay that's a little closer, but I think the word "faith" is once again being misused.

We need to be calling atheism for what it is--a religion-an anti-God religion--a religion that exalts fallible human reason-a worship of man

— Ken Ham (@aigkenham) May 15, 2016

Okay seriously, worship, faith, and religion are all words that simply do NOT apply to Atheists.

Atheist Lawrence Krauss speaking at Reason Rally 2016 says "Forget Jesus...the stars died so you can be here.."--He is worshipping the stars

— Ken Ham (@aigkenham) May 15, 2016

Okay well now we're just being silly.

Atheists work hard against Christianity cause they're putting their hands over eyes & ears and shouting "I refuse to see and hear truth!"

— Ken Ham (@aigkenham) May 15, 2016

Atheists believe universe & live arose by natural processes--that's their religion--it's a blind faith religion--it's an anti-God religion

— Ken Ham (@aigkenham) May 15, 2016

Yeah well it kind of goes on from there. And on, and on, and on, and....well you get the point.

Essentially the problem seems to be that there are more and more people thinking for themselves, and not looking for purpose in any of the books sanctioned by any organized religion.

And that REALLY seems to agitate folks like Ken Ham who depend on people NOT thinking for themselves for their livelihood.

Gee, maybe it's time to start making an honest living Kenny.

I think at this point we can officially say that Sarah Palin has made the transition from politician to pastor.

Yes I recognize that Palin has not been ordained, and really does not live a Godly life, but I really think that with this new book she has for all intents and purposes slipped into her new role as Christian evangelist.

Take a look at this interview on Right Wing Watch:  

“You talk about how we’ve turned our back on God’s definition of marriage, how we’ve absolutely trampled underfoot this principle of the sanctity of human life,” Parshall said. “And some might say we’ve gone too far, God is no longer going to shed his grace on us. Do you think it’s too late for America?” 

Palin responded that she didn’t think it was “too late” because “we know where the answers are and we know that God has so blessed this land with resources and with intelligent workforce and everything that God has blessed us with and our founders knew to dedicate that all to him when America came to be.” “We need to do that again,” she continued. 

“We need to not be afraid to even tell our elected leaders that that’s what they need to be doing too, on our knees, rededicate this land to God as our founders did, though some want to deny that truthful history, as our founders did and get back to God and quit kicking him out of the public square, otherwise, yeah, you wonder how long he is going to be patient with us but, no, it’s not too late.” 

"Rededicate this land to God." That sounds EXACTLY like something one would hear from the pulpit on a Sunday morning in the Bible Belt.

Palin went on to blow the Fundie's favorite dog whistle about Christianity being under attack in this country, which of course is well traveled terrain for Sister Mary Hypocrisy.

Also from Palin's Facebook page we have this today: 

One of the truly great things about Christianity is that it reminds us that everyone—rich or poor, black or white—is created in God’s image. ‪#‎SweetFreedom‬

Sure she's still hawking her stupid book, but that is really no different than Robert Tilton's prayer cloths or Jim Bakker's "Apocalypse chow," and THEY call themselves preachers.

Of course this is an evolution that most of us have been predicting for at least six or seven years now, and in fact Palin has used religious language since her earliest days in Wasilla politics.

Even before Pastor Muthee inoculated Palin against witchcraft, and she faked the birth of her pro-life prop, her fundamentalist creds were already in place. There are even stories of Wasilla prayer warriors laying hands on the outside of city hall in order to bless Palin during her time as mayor.

So yes, it is perfectly reasonable to assume that after being fired from her Fox News gig, after her short lived Sarah Palin channel died of neglect, and with her career as a book author clearly in the crapper, that Palin will move on the easiest gig of all, fleecing the faithful sheep.

And with her very convenient cancer "survival" story making the rounds on the internet she is positioned perfectly to glue that halo to her wig and start passing the collection plate.

Essentially it's what she has done all along with SarahPAC. Only now instead of teasing them with the possibility of running for President she will grab them buy their cankles, turn them upside down, and shake the loose change out of their pockets with the power of the Lord.

I imagine her sex scandal and fall from grace will occur any day now.

Opponent of Planned Parenthood admits that it is not really about abortion. It's about enjoying sex.

Courtesy of Politicususa:  

When Republicans and their evangelical base were desperate to restrict women’s access to any form of birth control, one of the complaints was that just the idea of a woman, married or not, having “consequence free sex” was an abomination that religious Republicans would not allow or condone. In their minds there has to be a severe, usually an 18 year and nine month, “consequence” for any woman who has sexual relations; even when their “man” demands being serviced” and the woman is ill. Now, a representative of one of the anti-choice cabals planning to harass Planned Parenthood clinics around the nation this weekend has admitted that the crusade against Planned Parenthood is a purely religious assault founded on ending the corrupt sexual ethic of promoting sex not intended for procreation. 

The spokeswoman for Citizens for a Pro-Life Society explained why evangelicals, the personhood movement, anti-choice fascists, Catholic bishops, and their Republican facilitators are so intent on destroying Planned Parenthood, and it is not about banning abortion or protecting zygotes and fetuses. Monica Miller is one of this weekend’s ‘harass Planned Parenthood” rally organizers who was honest and angry when she said, 

“Planned Parenthood from the top to the bottom is a corrupt organization… corrupt in its view of the sanctity of life and corrupt in its view of human sexuality. I say even if Planned Parenthood didn’t perform one single abortion, just the mere fact that its sexual ethic is corrupted means right there, should be the reason right there, that they should not receive any federal money. The kind of sexual ethic that Planned Parenthood promotes is sex for recreation, sex for mere pleasure.”

It has NEVER been about protecting lives in the womb, it is about making sure that the sexual organs of women are used only for procreation and not recreation. 

Which of course means that every woman who stands on the street corner outside of a Planned Parenthood clinic, waving a placard and viciously yelling at those walking through the front doors, are fighting to keep themselves, and others of their gender, oppressed and forever relegated to human breeding stock.

In his efforts to court the Evangelical vote Ted Cruz calls on over 100,000 pastors to join him in his fight to defund Planned Parenthood.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who has assiduously courted evangelicals throughout his presidential run, will take a lead role in the launch this week of an ambitious 50-state campaign to end taxpayer support for Planned Parenthood — a move that is likely to give the GOP candidate a major primary-season boost in the fierce battle for social-conservative and evangelical voters. 

More than 100,000 pastors received e-mail invitations over the weekend to participate in conference calls with Cruz on Tuesday in which they will learn details of the plan to mobilize churchgoers in every congressional district beginning Aug. 30. The requests were sent on the heels of the Texas Republican’s “Rally for Religious Liberty,” which drew 2,500 people to a Des Moines ballroom Friday. 

“The recent exposure of Planned Parenthood’s barbaric practices . . . has brought about a pressing need to end taxpayer support of this institution,” Cruz said in the e-mail call to action distributed by the American Renewal Project, an organization of conservative pastors. 

The push comes as Cruz seeks to grab a decisive edge in a crowded primary-within-a-primary, with half a dozen GOP contenders battling for what he has referred to as “the evangelical bracket.”

You know it is a fallacy to suggest that pro-choice advocates are pro-abortion. There are virtually none of us that fit that label.

However in the case Ted Cruz as a fetus, I think I might personally have made an exception.

This guy is a complete waste of oxygen, and I seriously doubt there are very many positive results that have occurred due to his existence.

President Obama speaks out against anti-gay policies in Kenya.

Courtesy of the Obama Diary.

Courtesy of CNN:  

President Barack Obama on Saturday lectured Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta about his country's gay rights record. 

"When you start treating people differently not because of any harm they are doing to anybody, but because they are different, that's the path whereby freedoms begin to erode," Obama said at a joint press conference with the Kenyan leader in Nairobi. "And bad things happen." 

Under Kenyan law, sexual activity between men is illegal and punishable with a maximum imprisonment of 14 years. Many Kenyan leaders had encouraged Obama not to discuss gay rights on his first trip to the country as President. 

But Obama equated legalized discrimination of gays to legalized racism in America. 

"And when a government gets in a habit of people treating people differently, those habits can spread," Obama continued. "As an African-American, I am painfully aware of what happens when people are treated differently under the law."

The president of Kenya did not exactly welcome these remarks, saying in effect  "It is very difficult for us to be able to impose on people that which they themselves do not accept."

However the fact is that President Obama undoubtedly feels a great deal of responsibility for the anti-LGBT sentiment in the continent since much of it is due to American evangelicals coming over and spreading their hatred among the people of Africa.

The President also visited with some of his family members while in Kenya which will quite likely start a whole new round of "Obama was born in Africa" conspiracy talk among conservatives.

By the way here is President Obama doing a little dancing in Nairobi.

And for those who doubted President @barackobama 's step - the #LipalaDance #SuraYangu is his new favorite Kenyan dance! Thanks @ukenyatta and First Lady Kenyatta for joining in the dance! Our performance at State House is Everything!!! @fancy_fingers @iamchimano @fancy_fingers @bienaimesol #ObamainKenya #ObamaReturns Tag the world!!!

A video posted by BEST GROUP NOMINEE 2015 MAMAs (@sautisol) on Jul 25, 2015 at 12:00pm PDT

Damn I am going to miss this man!

Americans are now more comfortable with a gay president than with an evangelical president. That sound you hear is Jerry Falwell spinning in his grave like a top.

Of course Obama was our first gay president, in the same way that Clinton was our first black president.

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

More Americans feel comfortable with a presidential candidate who identifies as gay or lesbian than with one who identifies as an evangelical Christian, according to a new poll. 

The latest WSJ/NBC poll listed a series of qualities in a potential presidential candidate and asked respondents whether they'd "be enthusiastic," "be comfortable with," "have some reservations about" or "be very uncomfortable with" a candidate with each of those qualities. 

The results revealed that Americans are actually quite open to having a gay presidential candidate. Sixty-one percent said they would be either enthusiastic about or comfortable with a gay or lesbian candidate, while only 37 percent said they would have reservations or be uncomfortable. 

By comparison, respondents were a little less comfortable with the prospect of a candidate who is an evangelical Christian. Fifty-two percent said they'd be enthusiastic about or comfortable with an evangelical Christian running for president, while 44 percent expressed some degree of hesitancy about the idea.

Damn I love this!

Take just a moment to remember that Karl Rove used the issue of gay marriage to turn out the evangelical vote in 2004 which helped George W. Bush to win re-election, and you realize what an incredible change has taken place in this country in a relatively short period of time.

Just think, if the Millennials start turning out to vote in huge numbers we might see the first black president replaced by the first female president who will then be replaced by the first gay president. 

Man wouldn't THAT be amazing?

Thank God I'm dead.

Well yeah, not for everybody I guess.

Ted Cruz's new commercial "Blessing" and the political strategy that just might work.

Okay is Ted Cruz running for President or an open job as a televangelist?

Here is more about the Cruz strategy courtesy of Politico: 

The Texas Republican senator’s strategic play for Christian conservatives comes into even sharper focus this weekend as he rolls out the first television ad of the 2016 race. Titled “Blessing,” the commercial is aimed directly at evangelical and social conservative voters in early voting states, timed for Easter weekend and slated to air during popular Christian-themed programming.

It’s an exercise in narrowcasting that telegraphs exactly how Cruz intends to win the GOP nomination against better-funded and better-known rivals. His advisers say the Liberty University backdrop, the TV ads and even his recent two-day tour of Iowa are all part of a detailed blueprint designed to tap into the power of two distinct GOP wings — evangelicals and the tea party movement. 

With establishment voters breaking toward former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker — and libertarian-oriented conservatives likely to go for Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul — the Cruz team believes the Texas Republican must flat-out win the tea party set and finish either first or second among Christian conservatives, a bloc that dominates the GOP base in Iowa and South Carolina. 

“I don’t think he could have had a better strategy, all the way from his launch to his swing through Iowa,” said Bob Vander Plaats, an influential social conservative leader in Iowa. “He’s had a strong announcement, and he’s going to be a strong candidate.” 

I have a hard time believing that this strategy can actually be successful enough to garner Cruz the nomination, but I do know that it worked pretty well for a certain George W. Bush.

What I can say for sure is that I would welcome Ted Cruz as the GOP candidate, because that would energize the progressive base of the Democratic party like crazy.

But then again so would a Jeb Bush for that matter.

Actually we're ready to rock the vote no matter who they nominate.

However in the case of Cruz he may not even be that concerned about winning the nomination. His ultimate strategy might be something else entirely.

This from Salon:

It is an error to dismiss the Cruz candidacy as quixotic. Political observers make the mistake of thinking that he and his ilk are simply at the far right of the same political spectrum that the rest of the country reflects. They are not. Most Americans, Republicans as well as Democrats, accept some version of the New Deal. They believe the government must regulate modern capitalism so that hard-working individuals can rise. Republicans and Democrats often disagree on how to accomplish that goal, but members of the two parties share a basic view that the government has a role to play in society. Many Republicans believe they can work together with Democrats to hash out legislation. These are the people Cruz disdains as “the mushy middle.” In contrast, Movement Conservatives like Cruz believe that rich businessmen are society’s proper leaders and that any government activism to level the economic playing field destroys freedom. They believe their view is absolutely right; to compromise on anything would lose everything. 

Cruz does not have to win the White House to win the war. So long as he can grab headlines and whip up voters, Movement Conservatives can continue to hold enough congressional seats to continue to block legislation and defund the government. 

They keep telling us he is smart. 

And a smart conservative with this agenda, is a very dangerous conservative indeed.