Archive for June, 2011

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Requiem for a Rodeo Clown

June 30, 2011

Good news: Glenn Beck’s FOX News show goes off the air today. Bad news: Beck is considering moving to Texas. Really horrible news if Beck’s serious: he told Gov. Rick Perry he may run for governor if he moves to Texas.

As America’s most beloved tin foil hatter departs from FOX News, the watchdog group Media Matters has prepared a YouTube video of Beck’s greatest hits, including this one:

“Do you really believe that I could, or anybody here at FOX News, could just make things up and remain on the air?”

Well, I guess not, but they gave you waaaaay more than three strikes. Enjoy:

Posted in extremism, FOX News, Glenn Beck, religious right | 6 Comments »

Rationality 4, Leo Berman 0

June 30, 2011

When the Texas Legislature finally ended the session on Wednesday, a little bit of sanity won out and a Texas-size rebuke was handed to far-right lawmaker state Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler.

Berman, perhaps the Legislature’s top inciter of anti-Muslim hysteria, attempted during the regular and special legislative sessions to pass a measure banning Sharia law (which is already barred, along with other religious laws, by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution). He failed not once or twice, but four times. The law could not gain approval as a stand-alone bill, and each of the three times Rep. Berman succeeded in amending it on to other bills, reasonable heads prevailed and stripped it out of the legislation later.

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Posted in Islam, Leo Berman, Texas Legislature | 5 Comments »

Honk if You Love the Confederacy

June 29, 2011

Texas may be getting ready to honor the red, white and blue flag. No, not that one. No, not that one either.

The Houston Chronicle reports the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles license board is one vote shy of giving its blessing to a state license plate adorned with the Confederate flag.

Texas is often referred to as a Petri dish for bad ideas (see State Board of Education) but this time, while we’re no less embarrassed — we’re actually a little bit late to the party. Texas would be the tenth, and by far the biggest state to slap a symbol of slave ownership on a license plate (or a symbol of “states’ rights,” if you want to accept the arguments of some SBOE members and others who downplay the role of slavery in causing the Civil War).

The license board took a vote on the plate earlier this month, but the result was a tie. The potential tie-breaking vote will come from the person appointed to fill a vacancy created on the board when one of its members died. Guess who gets to make the appointment? C’mon, guess. Yep, Gov. Rick Perry, who has flirted with secessionists.

The Chronicle mentions the appointment will likely happen in the fall. We’ll find out then if Texas once again joins the Confederacy.

Posted in civil war, State Board of Education | 39 Comments »

Gov. Perry’s Cynical Call to Prayer

June 28, 2011

Since the day Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced that he had invited the nation’s governors to Houston to pray for America (so far only two have indicated that they will come), the signs have pointed to yet another cynical attempt to use faith as a political weapon. On Monday Gov. Perry essentially confirmed that assumption. His gubernatorial campaign office blasted out an email to supporters and other political activists, calling them to the Houston event.

“I sincerely hope you’ll join me in Houston on August 6th and take your place in Reliant Stadium with praying people asking God’s forgiveness, wisdom and provision for our state and nation,” Gov. Perry wrote. “There is hope for America. It lies in heaven, and we will find it on our knees.”

That’s a wonderful message for people of faith — but its delivery through an electoral campaign office by a politician apparently preparing for a presidential run reveals it as little more than a cold and calculating political tactic.

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Posted in American Family Association, Rick Perry, Texas Restoration Project | 8 Comments »

The Unusual Suspects

June 26, 2011

Many of the hateful, sometimes highly political comments some of the people connected to The Response — the Gov. Rick Perry-hosted and supposedly nonpolitical prayer rally in Houston later this summer — are anti-LGBTQ, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, anti-Home Depot, anti-Barney the Dinosaur, anti-you name it.

And also pro-violence?

The event’s info packet lists  Pastor Stephen Broden as one of the endorsers of The Response. Broden, of Dallas, ran for Congress as a Republican in 2010 but was defeated in the general election. A few weeks before the election, a Dallas TV reporter confronted Broden about comments he has made from the pulpit, including that the violent overthrow of the government was “on the table” if elections did not produce the results he wanted. Vote for me, or else?

From Broden:

We have a constitutional remedy. And the Framers say if that don’t work, revolution.

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Posted in John Hagee, religious right, Rick Perry, Stephen Broden | 12 Comments »

The Week in Quotes (June 19 – 25)

June 25, 2011

Here are some of the week’s most notable quotes culled from news reports from across Texas, and beyond.

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Posted in The Week in Quotes | 1 Comment »

An Anti-Immigrant Group’s ‘Biblical Mandates’

June 24, 2011

The Texas Freedom Network does not work on immigration issues. But we do monitor the deepening extremism — both in rhetoric and action — on the far right in Texas. So let’s take a closer look at an anti-immigrant group behind a Texas Capitol rally during which a speaker expressed her frustration over the fact that voters have elected Hispanics to the state Legislature. The Immigration and Reform Coalition of Texas (IRCOT) has some interesting policy positions and supporters.

IRCOT appears to base its anti-immigrant positions on what it calls a “Biblical mandate for secure borders.” A number of articles on the group’s website try to make a scriptural case against “illegal immigration” and “high immigration.”

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Posted in immigration, Immigration and Reform Coalition of Texas, Peter Morrison | 14 Comments »

Talking Points

June 23, 2011

From today’s TFN News Clips:

“If you want to know why we can’t pass legislation in Texas, it’s because we have 37, no 36, Hispanics in the Legislature. All of the states that have passed legislation have a handful and I mean literally, some of them have NO Hispanic legislators, well, maybe 3 or 5 or something. So that’s, umm, part of our problem and we need to change those numbers. . . . So the problem is these Hispanic legislators . . . is that it’s too close to them and they, umm. . . simply cannot vote their conscience correctly.”

– Tea Party leader Rebecca Forest, complaining at a rally at the Texas Capitol about the difficulty in passing a bill barring so-called “sanctuary cities” (which don’t exist in Texas anyway). (Video available at the link.)

Stay informed with TFN News Clips, a daily digest of news on issues involving religious freedom, civil liberties and public education. Subscribe here.

Posted in immigration, Talking Points, tea party | 7 Comments »

Leo Berman to the ‘Rescue’

June 22, 2011

Well, I feel safer. Do you feel safer? We should all feel safer given the latest valiant effort by state Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, to keep us all safe from the phantom menace of Sharia law and its impending attack on the Texas court system.

Rep. Berman took to the Texas House floor Wednesday afternoon and successfully added his anti-Sharia law legislation as an amendment to a judiciary matters bill that was approved in the lower chamber and has been tossed to the Senate for its consideration.

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Posted in Islam, Leo Berman | 6 Comments »

You Need Only One Guess

June 21, 2011

Let’s play fill in the blank. Check out the following quotes from two Texas legislators about the potential mingling of public funds and a religious doctrine. The first is by state Rep. Sid Miller, R-Stephenville, followed by state Rep. Wayne Christian, R-Center. See if you can guess what religion they’re railing against.

“Apparently it’s (involved in) indoctrination of _____.”

And:

“If it’s true — and I don’t know that it is — if they’re teaching _____, that’s a problem.”

Have a guess? Here’s a clue: it isn’t Christianity.

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Posted in religious right, Texas politics, Wayne Christian | 1 Comment »

Group: No Muslim Prayers at Perry Event

June 20, 2011

Organizers for Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s prayer event in Houston this summer claim people of all faiths will be welcome (so long as they’re open to converting to Christianity, apparently). Now a Christian-right group is worried that Muslims might show up to pray at the event, which supporters claim is an opportunity to bring Americans together in support of their country. An email from the Pray in Jesus Name Project  to far-right activists is warning that Muslims might try to disrupt the August 6 event at Reliant Stadium in Houston. From the email:

Sadly, although the stadium was rented by non-denominational Christians, it may be interrupted by Muslims who are already demanding to share our stage to pray to Allah.

But if you attend, and the Governors of all 50 States attend (none of whom are Muslim), it will signal our greatest public statement of all–that American is returning to its Christian roots.

Could the hostility toward Muslims, not to mention Jews and other non-Christians, be any clearer? It’s shameful that the governor of Texas insists on associating with intolerant groups that oppose religious freedom for anyone who doesn’t share their views.

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Posted in American Family Association, Gordon James Klingenschmitt, Rick Perry | 15 Comments »

The Usual Suspects

June 19, 2011

Gov. Rick Perry and his spokespeople have for a couple of weeks continued to claim that The Response, a Christian prayer and fasting event organized by the hate group the American Family Association and the governor, is not a political rally.

Gov. Perry can continue to make that claim, but the people he’s partnered with have no reservations about mixing religion and politics.

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Posted in John Hagee, religious right, Rick Perry | 3 Comments »

It Rings a Familiar Bell

June 18, 2011

The ideologically motivated battles over science and history that we’ve witnessed over the last few years at the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) can be exemplified by a 10-second sound bite by a certain former governor of Alaska and the resulting revisionist attacks on the Wikipedia page for this man: Paul Revere.

If ever you’re hanging out with friends from out of state and they ask you about the culture wars in Texas, point them to the Sarah Palin-Paul Revere dust up of a few days ago. Though it didn’t happen in Texas or involved anyone associated with the SBOE, it’s a perfect example of how far-right revisionists on the board have operated, how they abhor facts and how they’re willing to flippantly manipulate history for political ends.

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Posted in State Board of Education | 8 Comments »

The Week in Quotes (June 12 – 18)

June 18, 2011

Here are some of the week’s most notable quotes culled from news reports from across Texas, and beyond.

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Posted in The Week in Quotes | 7 Comments »

The Hypocrisy of a Hater

June 16, 2011

The American Family Association, identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group, is lashing out at its critics. On his radio program Monday, AFA talking head Bryan Fischer claimed that criticism of AFA’s extremist rhetoric and its role in organizing Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s August prayer event in Houston is actually a hate crime. And he blames gay people specifically.

“(What) homosexual activists want to do to me and the AFA is a hate crime. In other words, what you are watching, ladies and gentlemen, you are watching the slow-motion commission of a hate crime. You are watching a hate crime in action. Because the definition of a hate crime is harassment, intimidation that is based by prejudice, motivated by prejudice against somebody’s religious beliefs. So this intimidation, this harassment, and remember one of the definitions in a hate crime of harassment is derogatory terminology, derogatory language, so you can see all kinds of epithets that are going to be thrown at us, that meets the definition of a hate crime.”

So Fischer thinks he and AFA are being “harassed” because of their religious beliefs? We’d like to know which religious teachings led Fischer to call the African-American president of the United States a “boy.” What religion taught him that gay people were responsible for the murder of millions of Jews during the Holocaust? What religion told Fischer it’s okay to smear– in truly vile terms — African-American women who are on welfare?

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Posted in American Family Association, Bryan Fischer, Rick Perry | 5 Comments »

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