Archive for August, 2011

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‘Tired of the Crazies’

August 17, 2011

It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s refreshing to see a person in a high position of power stand up to the hysterics, even if some of those hysterics are the same people who voted for him.

“And I’m tired of dealing with the crazies.”

So are we. The above is how New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie recently reacted to criticism of Sohail Mohammed, an attorney Christie appointed to a state judgeship. Mohammed is a Muslim, so the far right immediately pounced with the math of hysteria: Muslim + Judgeship = OMG! Sharia Law!!

Credit Gov. Christie, as he was having none of that nonsense at a recent press conference:

“Sharia law has nothing to do with this at all. It’s crazy. It’s crazy. The guy’s an American citizen who has been an admitted lawyer to practice in the state of New Jersey, swearing an oath to uphold the laws of New Jersey, the constitution of the state of New Jersey, and the Constitution of the United States of America . . . This Sharia law business is crap. It’s just crazy. And I’m tired of dealing with the crazies.”

Here’s video of Christie’s comments in full:

This is the kind of anti-Muslim hysteria we’re all too familiar with here in Texas. Just this last legislative session, state Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, lead the charge to outlaw the use of Sharia Law in Texas courts with a piece of legislation that essentially said the U.S. Constitution should be the supreme law of the land. Because that wasn’t already obvious?

Thankfully, though, Berman’s bill taking a nasty swipe at American Muslims didn’t become law. But if we were to bet, we would put some money on another attempt by Berman or another legislator to get the obvious enshrined into law when the Legislature reconvenes in 2013. And when they do, they’ll try to do so with no evidence to back up their hysterical claims of a subversive Muslim plot to take over the country, much like they did in attacking Gov. Christie’s appointee and much like Berman and his supporters did during this year’s legislative session in trying to get the anti-Muslim measure passed.

Posted in Islam, Leo Berman | 5 Comments »

Rick Perry’s Problem with Science Education

August 16, 2011

The culture wars will feature prominently in Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. The Texas Freedom Network has put together a primer on Gov. Perry’s record in the culture wars at www.tfn.org/rickperry. Here, for example, is what the governor says about teaching “intelligent design”/creationism in public school science classes. From a letter to a Texas constituent:

“Recognizing that evolution is a theory, and not claimed by anyone to be more than that, the governor believes it would be a disservice to our children to teach them only one theory on the origin of our existence without recognizing other scientific theories worth consideration. Intelligent design is a concept that is gaining greater traction because it points to a notion that most people believe to be true: that we were created by an intelligent being who designed the human race with great detail and complexity….”

From a newspaper interview:

“I am a firm believer in intelligent design as a matter of faith and intellect, and I believe it should be presented in schools alongside the theories of evolution.”

The governor has also appointed — in 2007, 2009 and this year — three creationists in a row to chair the State Board of Education, which guides what public schools teach nearly 5 million Texas kids.

Read more about Gov. Perry’s record in the culture wars here.

Posted in creationism, evolution, intelligent design, Rick Perry, science, science and religion | 34 Comments »

A Final Victory for Science

August 15, 2011

That sound you hear is the collective heads of the anti-science lobby exploding. That other sound you hear is their two-year effort to undermine science education in Texas going down the drain.

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Posted in creationism, evolution, Science adoption (2011) | 71 Comments »

The Week in Quotes (Aug. 7 – 13)

August 14, 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 | 2 Comments »

Perry Campaign Aide’s Anti-Gay Smears

August 11, 2011

It looks like Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been staffing up for his soon-to-be-announced presidential campaign. The Texas Tribune reports that one expected member of the campaign’s press office is Robert Black, a former Texas Republican Party spokesman with a history of incendiary anti-gay statements.

In 1998 the Texas GOP barred Log Cabin Republicans, a gay Republican organization, from setting up a booth at the party’s state convention. (The state GOP also refused to allow the nonpartisan Texas Freedom Network to have a booth, by the way.) When asked to explain, Black — the party’s communications director at the time — called Log Cabin a “deviant group” and compared it to the Ku Klux Klan. And he didn’t stop there:

“We don’t allow pedophiles, transvestites and cross- dressers, either.”

Black was unapologetic and even dismissive of gay voters in a news article a few months later:

“Considering the traditional Republican principles against the homosexual lifestyle, we do not consider the gay vote to have that much of an effect on Republican politics.”

Perry should fit right in with other Perry associates. Last weekend Gov. Perry hosted a Christians-only prayer rally in Houston organized (at his request) by the American Family Association. The Southern Poverty Law Center has identified AFA as a virulent anti-gay hate group. One of AFA’s spokesmen has even suggested that gay people were responsible for the Holocaust.

Posted in Rick Perry, Robert Black | 6 Comments »

Fischer Is Too Much to Bear

August 9, 2011

Bryan Fischer, who serves as hater-in-chief for the American Family Association, is developing a hate list rivaled in length only by Mr. T’s pity list.

Now on Fischer’s hate list: bears. Right alongside Muslims, homosexuals, Jews and poor people sit grizzly bears, which should be shot on sight, Fischer says.

Writing on the AFA’s blog on Wednesday, Fischer wrote of the recent bear mauling death of a man and other bear attacks at Yellowstone National Park, you know, where a lot of grizzlies live.

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Posted in Bryan Fischer, religious right | 12 Comments »

Saving America from Marxists and Progressives!

August 9, 2011

“Saving America from Marxists and Progressives” is just one of the sessions at an upcoming right-wing confab being promoted by Eagle Forum and its far-right affiliate in Texas. The group promises that Eagle Council XL in Virginia next month (September 16-17) “will be a tremendous experience in training to accomplish our legislative and political goals.” Some of the other sessions participants can attend:

  • How to Stop Liberals from Stuffing the Ballot Box (But what about right-wing efforts to limit ballot access for minorities, the poor and the elderly?)
  • How to Keep Foreign Laws Out of U.S. Law (Sharia hysteria!)
  • How to Be a Delegate to the Republican National Convention (What about the Democratic National Convention? Looks like Eagle Forum is playing fast and loose with its tax-exempt, nonprofit status.)
  • How to Stop School Tax Increases and Bond Issues (Education is overrated anyway, right?)
  • Will Agenda 21 and U.N. Treaties Steal Your Property? (Black helicopters!)
  • Saving College Students from Leftwing Indoctrination (Once Eagle Forum is finished with defunding public education, who will be going to college anyway?)

Participants also get a two-hour tour of the U.S. Capitol led by Texan Rick Green from David Barton’s historical revisionist outfit WallBuilders. But will Green explain how his experience as a former two-term Texas legislator with no degree in history qualifies him as an expert who can really instruct his tourists about “the rich history of faith behind our nation’s founding”? While he’s at it, actually, maybe he can also explain why he thinks torturing detainees isn’t any worse than his sister teasing him when they were kids. (Green appears to have removed that pro-torture post from his website, but nothing ever really disappears from the Internet.)

Most Eagle Council XL attendees probably won’t care, of course. They’re more interested in learning how to save America from Marxists, liberals and public schools.

Posted in Rick Green, Texas Eagle Forum | 4 Comments »

Our Day at The Response

August 8, 2011

After months of anticipation, protests, failed litigation, a constant guessing game about who — and how many — would be on stage and in the stands, Gov. Rick Perry’s and the American Family Association’s purportedly nonpolitical prayer and fasting rally, The Response, at Houston’s Reliant Stadium came and went on Saturday.

TFN was there, not to protest or anything of the like. We were there to observe and spent the day inside and outside the stadium.

While politics were for the most part left off the stage, the event was not completely devoid of politicking. What follows is a brief recap of our day at The Response and what we took away from the day of prayer and some fasting (there were some very long lines at stadium concession stands throughout the day).

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Posted in The Response | 13 Comments »

The Week in Quotes (July 31 – Aug. 6)

August 7, 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 | Leave a Comment »

Follow Our The Response Coverage

August 6, 2011

We are at Gov. Rick Perry’s The Response to observe. Follow our updates at Twitter.com/tfn and watch for #theresponse.

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »

Rick Scarborough Rides Again

August 5, 2011

We haven’t heard from the president of the far-right, Texas-based group Vision America for a long time. But today Pastor Rick Scarborough sent out an email blast blaming the nation’s debt on immorality and promoting Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s Saturday prayer rally in Houston as a step toward solving the problem:

“Billions of dollars are required every year to assist in paying for the lack of responsible behavior in our nation, whether it is in fighting various sexually transmitted diseases, welfare, various assistance programs for those in poverty, etc. I lay the blame at the feet of both the politicians and the preachers, for their unwillingness to address the moral disintegration of our nation. Add to these indisputable facts that our courts have declared war on God. Seldom has a day passed in recent years that someone, somewhere, does not file a lawsuit seeking to ban any mention of the God who gave us our freedoms from the public square. Tragically, few if any, even among Christians, truly fight to end this madness.

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Posted in Rick Agosto, Rick Scarborough, The Response, Vision America | 6 Comments »

10,000+ Sign Open Letter to Gov. Perry

August 4, 2011

The Texas Freedom Network just sent out the following press release.

THOUSANDS SEND MESSAGE TO GOV. PERRY: STOP USING FAITH AS A POLITICAL WEAPON TO DIVIDE AMERICANS

More Than 10,000 Sign Open Letter Calling on Governor to Respect All Faiths and  End His Office’s Association with a Hate Group

The Texas Freedom Network today sent Gov. Rick Perry an open letter signed by more than 10,000 Texans and others who are concerned that the governor’s prayer rally in Houston this weekend is more about promoting his political career than faith.

“Gov. Perry leads a diverse state in which not everyone shares the same religious and political beliefs,” TFN President Kathy Miller said. “It’s simply wrong that he would share a stage with extremists who use faith as a political weapon to divide Americans instead of working to unite us in support of our nation.”

The governor asked the American Family Association, which the Southern Poverty Law Center calls a hate group, to organize The Response at Reliant Stadium on Saturday. Other organizers and endorsers have a history of using incendiary anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic rhetoric. Some have called Oprah Winfrey a precursor to the Antichrist and the Statue of Liberty a “demonic idol.” Another endorser, former congressional candidate Stephen Broden of Dallas, last year suggested that violent revolution might be justified if the 2010 elections didn’t bring the changes he wanted.

The open letter calls on Gov. Perry to make the Houston event “open to speakers and attendees of all faiths, as well as welcoming to people of good will who are not affiliated with a faith tradition.” It also urges him to respect the diverse beliefs of all Texans by ending the association between his office and the American Family Association.

The open letter and signatures are available here. As of 9 a.m. today, the letter included 10,410 signatures.

Gov. Perry has a long history of using faith as a political tool. The year before his 2006 re-election campaign, for example, he and his supporters in the Texas Restoration Project hosted thousands of conservative evangelical pastors and their spouses at “briefings” that promoted the governor and his policies. Lodging and food for attendees were covered by Perry campaign donors whose identities were not made public at the time. Speculation is growing that Gov. Perry will run for the Republican presidential nomination next year.

Posted in Rick Perry, The Response | 13 Comments »

Gov. Perry Left at the Altar

August 3, 2011

RSVPs just aren’t what they used to be. And for Gov. Rick Perry, that might mean he’ll be left at the altar (pun absolutely intended) this Saturday at Houston’s Reliant Stadium.

The latest word out of Kansas is that its governor, Sam Brownback, may not be coming to Texas for Gov. Rick Perry’s prayer and fasting rally at Reliant, after earlier telling Perry “That sounds awesome! I’m totally there!”

OK, so that last quote was completely made up. Here’s how the Topeka Capital-Journal reported it back in June when The Response was first announced:

Sherriene Jones-Sontag, Brownback’s spokeswoman, said the governor will pay his own expenses to attend the event.

But now, according to the Houston Chronicle, Brownback’s appearance is “not a sure shot.” Here’s what Gov. Brownback’s office is saying now:

The governor is on vacation and it will be at his discretion and expense if he goes.

That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement of what has become an increasingly controversial event, largely because of the extremists helping organize The Response.

So if Gov. Brownback does in fact drop out as it appears he is trying to do, that will mean the total number of governors at The Response will be (forgive me if I’m wrong, I’ve never been good at math) one. Just one: Gov. Perry, who sent RSVP requests to the nation’s other 49 governors and got back perhaps none. And given that it’s still unclear what role Gov. Perry will play at the event, his recent comments attempting to distance himself from the extremists organizing it, and comments he made about same-sex marriage that didn’t sit well with those same extremists, we’re not willing just yet to put any money on Gov. Perry making it to his own event.

This event is starting to look like a textbook example of buyer’s remorse. Some of the big players, probably anxious about the cynical use of faith for political purposes, are already looking for the exits, and the doors to Reliant Stadium haven’t even opened yet.

Posted in Rick Perry, The Response | 11 Comments »

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