AK Tea Party Candidate Joe Miller's Guards Handcuff Reporter

Alaska Tea Party Senate candidate Joe Miller's security detail handcuffed the editor of the online site Alaska Dispatch yesterday following an event at an anchorage school because the editor was reportedly trying to interview Miller:

"Tony Hopfinger was handcuffed by the guards and detained in a hallway at Central Middle School until Anchorage police came and told the guards to release Hopfinger. Hopfinger has not been charged but the owner of the Drop Zone, the private security firm that's been providing Miller's security, accused Hopfinger of trespassing at the public event, a town hall sponsored by the Miller campaign. The owner, William Fulton, also said Hopfinger assaulted a man by shoving him. Anchorage Police who responded to the call said they would leave it to the District Attorney's office to decide whether to prosecute. They spent more than an hour taking statements, then left."

Also:

"While Hopfinger was still in handcuffs, the guards attempted to prevent other reporters from talking to him and threatened them too with arrest for trespass. A Daily News reporter interviewed Hopfinger anyway. No other reporters were arrested, though a few shoving matches and chest bumps ensued as the guards attempted to cordon off Hopfinger and block photographs and videos from being taken of the bizarre school scene."

DailyKos reports that Hopfinger was trying to question Miller about his ethics, and that last week…Miller said that "he will no longer answer reporters' questions about his background and personal life."

Miller blames the incident on the "irrational blogger."

Watch a brief clip of the action going down, AFTER THE JUMP…

]]> http://hindgrindr.com/blog/2010/10/18/ak-tea-party-candidate-joe-millers-guards-handcuff-reporter/feed/ 0 http://hindgrindr.com/blog/2010/10/14/watch-christine-odonnell-compares-serving-openly-in-the-military-to-committing-adultery/ http://hindgrindr.com/blog/2010/10/14/watch-christine-odonnell-compares-serving-openly-in-the-military-to-committing-adultery/#comments Thu, 14 Oct 2010 14:00:06 +0000 Sniffer http://hindgrindr.com/blog/2010/10/14/watch-christine-odonnell-compares-serving-openly-in-the-military-to-committing-adultery/

Watch: Christine O'Donnell Compares Serving Openly in the Military to Committing Adultery

During last night's debate between Delaware GOP Senate candidate teabagger Christine O'Donnell and her opponent Chris Coons, O'Donnell was asked about the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".

Here's what she had to say (via The Wonk Room):

"A federal judge recently ruled that we have to overturn Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. There are a couple of things we need to say about that. First of all, judges should not be legislating from the bench. Second of all, it’s up to the military to set the policy that the military believes is in the best interest of unit cohesiveness and military readiness. The military already regulates personal behavior in that it doesn’t allow affairs to go on within your chain of command. It does not allow it you are married to have an adulterous affair within the military. So the military already regulates personal behavior because it feels that it is in the best interest of our military readiness. I don’t think that Congress should be forcing a social agenda on to our military. I think we should leave that to the military."

During another moment, O'Donnell was asked if there have been recent Supreme Court opinions to which she objects. O'Donnell was stumped:

Um, I'm very sorry, right off the top of my head, I know that there are a lot, but I'll put it up on my website, I promise you." 

Watch both clips, AFTER THE JUMP…

The Supreme Court:

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Rachel Maddow: Paladino's Campaign Shows The True GOP Anti-Gay Agenda

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Whatever It Takes

"Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance," – John McCain, February 2000.

McCain, this weekend:

Speaking at the 2nd annual Tucson Tea Party rally Saturday, McCain was greeted with a warm reception. And he proceeded to compliment the right-wing base for “changing America.” McCain also proudly celebrated the Republican accomplishments of obstructionism, borrowing a line from his former running mate Sarah Palin. “You know the President says that, quote, we’re the party of no,” McCain told the tea partiers. “No, we’re not the ‘party of no.’ We’re the ‘party of hell no.’” In his opening remarks, McCain also thanked Fox News for its strong support of Republican causes, endorsing Fox as “the best place to get your news.”

(Photo: U.S. Sen. John McCain hugs supporter Kathi Korth during a visit to a campaign office one day before Arizona's primary election on August 23, 2010 in Tucson, Arizona. By Eric Thayer/Getty.)

]]> http://hindgrindr.com/blog/2010/10/13/whatever-it-takes/feed/ 0 http://hindgrindr.com/blog/2010/10/12/las-vegas-evangelical-pastor-arrested-for-molesting-teenage-boys/ http://hindgrindr.com/blog/2010/10/12/las-vegas-evangelical-pastor-arrested-for-molesting-teenage-boys/#comments Tue, 12 Oct 2010 19:31:25 +0000 Sniffer http://hindgrindr.com/blog/2010/10/12/las-vegas-evangelical-pastor-arrested-for-molesting-teenage-boys/

LAS VEGAS: Evangelical Pastor Arrested For Molesting Teenage Boys

In a case highly similar to that of Atlanta’s “Bishop” Eddie Long, a pastor in Las Vegas has been arrested and charged with 11 felony counts of molesting teenage boys. According to police, Pastor Billy Eskstine McCurdy used biblical verses to coerce the boys into sex.

North Las Vegas police arrested Billy Eckstine McCurdy, 57, following an eight-month investigation into allegations that he sexually assaulted teen boys at his home. McCurdy is the pastor at Revival Temple Church of God in Christ at the intersection of Tonopah and Vegas drives. At the church Friday night, men in all black suits said no church officials were prepared to comment on the arrest. The new charges involve two teen boys who said McCurdy forced them into sexual relationships with him. They told police he used his position in the church and Bible scriptures to force them into sex acts, authorities said. Both boys testified at a grand jury, which indicted McCurdy Thursday on six counts of sexual assault and five counts of open or gross lewdness. He was being held at the Clark County Detention Center without bail.

Police expect other victims to come forward. Five years ago a similar charge was brought against McCurdy, but the case was dropped because prosecutors felt they could not prove their case. Back then McCurdy’s parishioners rallied behind him. The historically black (and virulently anti-gay) Church of God in Christ (COGIC) has long been accused of covering up sexual misconduct by its pastors.

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The Polyamorist Who Killed Marriage Equality

There are hypocrites, and then there's this guy:

[I]n 2006, [Washington State Supreme Court justice Richard B. Sanders] signed an opinion denying marriage equality to gay couples—because they have “more sexual partners” and because other courts have found that monogamy is “the bedrock upon which our culture is built.” Meanwhile, he’s been divorced twice, and this election season it became clear he has multiple simultaneous girlfriends. He doesn’t see anything inconsistent in any of that.

I'm sure David Vitter, Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich don't either.

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Religion And The Beating Of Homosexuals

Cody J. Sanders argues anti-gay bullying is a theological issue:

If this were a hostage situation, we would have dispatched the SWAT team by now. And in many ways, it is. Our children and teenagers are being held hostage by a religious and political rhetoric that strives to maintain the status quo of anti-gay heterosexist normativity. The messages of Focus on the Family and other organizations actively strive to leave the most vulnerable among us exposed to continuous attack. The good news is that we don't need a SWAT team. We just need quality education on sexuality and gender identity in our schools and more faithful and courageous preaching and teaching in our churches.

I don't think the teaching can always be so easily equated with violence itself, but I do think indirect rhetorical responsibility is real. The following, for example, was written in 1986 by a man who is currently the Pope:

The proper reaction to crimes committed against homosexual persons should not be to claim that the homosexual condition is not disordered. When such a claim is made and when homosexual activity is consequently condoned, or when civil legislation is introduced to protect behavior to which no one has any conceivable right, neither the Church nor society at large should be surprised when other distorted notions and practices gain ground, and irrational and violent reactions increase.

My italics. Here, in his 1986 "Letter On The Pastoral Care Of Homosexual Persons," the current Pope is clearly saying that the gay rights movement is responsible for violence against homosexuals and that if gay rights advance, we should not be surprised when "irrational and violent reactions increase". This shifts the moral responsibility for violence from the thug to the victim. And when that message is sent from the very top of the church, those far less scrupulous can find moral justification for torture, beating and murder.

Gladly, Ratzinger is not the only voice in the church on anti-gay violence. Catholic theologian M. Shawn Copeland  via Cody Sanders:

“If my sister or brother is not at the table, we are not the flesh of Christ. If my sister’s mark of sexuality must be obscured, if my brother’s mark of race must be disguised, if my sister’s mark of culture must be repressed, then we are not the flesh of Christ. For, it is through and in Christ’s own flesh that the ‘other’ is my sister, is my brother; indeed, the ‘other’ is me…”

More context on the image above here and here. The tattoo was worn by a friend of a man who beat a homosexual to the point of a fractured jaw, rib fractures and a lacerated spleen. The beating was captured on tape.

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Video: The one where social conservative compares trans kid to KKK, blackface

American Vision‘s Gary DeMar:

“A crazy world indeed,” Mr. DeMar.

]]> http://hindgrindr.com/blog/2010/10/12/video-the-one-where-social-conservative-compares-trans-kid-to-kkk-blackface/feed/ 0 http://hindgrindr.com/blog/2010/10/12/iowa-pastor-effort-if-this-isnt-direct-campaigning-its-certainly-its-common-law-spouse/ http://hindgrindr.com/blog/2010/10/12/iowa-pastor-effort-if-this-isnt-direct-campaigning-its-certainly-its-common-law-spouse/#comments Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:00:28 +0000 Sniffer http://hindgrindr.com/blog/2010/10/12/iowa-pastor-effort-if-this-isnt-direct-campaigning-its-certainly-its-common-law-spouse/

Iowa pastor effort: If this isn’t direct campaigning, it’s certainly its common law spouse

A brief overview of IRS guidelines concerning churches and the extent to which they can enter into campaigns:

Issue Advocacy vs. Political Campaign Intervention

Like other section 501(c)(3) organizations, some churches and religious organizations take positions on public policy issues, including issues that divide candidates in an election for public office . However, section 501(c)(3) organizations must avoid any issue advocacy that functions as political campaign intervention . Even if a statement does not expressly tell an audience to vote for or against a specific candidate, an organization delivering the statement is at risk of violating the political campaign intervention prohibition if there is any message favoring or opposing a candidate . A statement can identify a candidate not only by stating the candidate’s name but also by other means such as show- ing a picture of the candidate, referring to political party affiliations, or other distinctive features of a candidate’s platform or biography.

All the facts and circumstances need to be considered to determine if the advocacy is political campaign intervention

Key factors in determining whether a communication results in political campaign intervention include the following:

■ whether the statement identifies one or more candidates for a given public office;

■ whether the statement expresses approval or disapproval for one or more candidates’ positions and/or actions;

■ whether the statement is delivered close in time to the election;

■ whether the statement makes reference to voting or an election;

■ whether the issue addressed in the communication has been raised as an issue distinguishing candidates for a given office;

■ whether the communication is part of an ongoing series of communications by the organization on the same issue that are made independent of the timing of any election; and

■ whether the timing of the communication and identification of the candidate are related to a non-electoral event such as a scheduled vote on specific legislation by an officeholder who also happens to be a candidate for public office .

A communication is particularly at risk of political campaign intervention when it makes reference to candidates or voting in a specific upcoming election. Nevertheless, the communication must still be considered in context before arriving at any conclusions .

…

Voter Education, Voter Registration and Get-Out- the-Vote Drives

Section 501(c)(3) organizations are permitted to conduct certain voter education activities (including the presentation of public forums and the publication of voter education guides) if they are carried out in a non-partisan manner . In addition, section 501(c)(3) organizations may encourage people to participate in the electoral process through voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives, conducted in a non-partisan manner . On the other hand, voter education or registration activities conducted in a biased manner that favors (or opposes) one or more candidates is prohibited .

Like other IRC section 501(c)(3) organizations, some churches and religious organizations undertake voter education activities by distributing voter guides . Voter guides, generally, are distributed during an election campaign and provide information on how all candidates stand on various issues . These guides may be distributed

A careful review of the following facts and circumstances may help determine whether or not a church or religious organization’s publication or distribution of voter guides constitutes prohibited political campaign activity:

■ whether the candidates’ positions are compared to the organization’s position,

■ whether the guide includes a broad range of issues that the candidates would address if elected to the office sought,

■ whether the description of issues is neutral,

■ whether all candidates for an office are included, and

■ whether the descriptions of candidates’ positions are either:

- the candidates’ own words in response to questions, or – a neutral, unbiased and complete compilation of all candidates’ positions .

The following are examples of situations where churches distribute voter guides

*SOURCE: Tax Guide For Churches and Religious Organizations [IRS.gov]

Okay, so basically, churches can inform about specific candidates, but not specifically advocate for or against the political figures. Which is pretty straightforward in most elections, where candidates for office spar with a defined opponent, and partisan lines are clearly spelled out.

But now consider Iowa, where the equality-hostile Iowa For Freedom coalition is waging the highly partisan, highly faith-motivated effort to oust three of the seven judges who unanimously determined the state’s civil marriage laws to be discriminatory against same-gender couples. These judges are on the November ballot. The decision to retain them or not is 100% based around the issue of marriage equality for gay couples. The attempt to label these justices as “activist” because of this decision is an undeniably non-neutral position. Yet a coalition of Iowa pastors have launched a website and outreach effort that’s solely designed to persuade voters to get rid of these judges, with direct advice on how to do exactly that:

(H/t: Joe.My.God)

Here are just some resources from the IowaPastors.com site. A flyer:

Another video:

And in describing the judges, the site says this :

“Our judges, even more than the elected representatives, have changed the climate of our nation, especially in the area of religious freedom. Children can no longer read the Bible or pray in the name of Jesus because of judicial decisions. Marriage is no longer considered a sacred union between a man and a woman because of the opinions of several judges.” [SOURCE]

This is not a simple educational of GOTV effort from Pastor Mullen and associates: This is pure, undeniable advocacy against these candidates for retention! There is a clear position that’s designed to bias the process, using personal faith (or “values”) against a matter of civil law. Which is even more egregious considering that this whole Iowa For Freedom campaign is built around the straw man idea that it’s one co-equal branch of government that’s working to usurp the role of faith.

Yet another example of our political opposition’s definition of “religious freedom”: An America where they have freedom to do anything they want in the name of God or “values” or “tradition” or “we-the-people-iness,” and any person, group, branch of government, or tax law that says, “yo, wait a second!” is painted as a “militant.” It’s tired. It weakens us. It’s taxing (to the wrong side).

]]> http://hindgrindr.com/blog/2010/10/12/iowa-pastor-effort-if-this-isnt-direct-campaigning-its-certainly-its-common-law-spouse/feed/ 0 http://hindgrindr.com/blog/2010/10/12/carlsbad-elementary-gunman-%e2%80%9ckill-obama-and-kill-all-the-little-fags%e2%80%9d/ http://hindgrindr.com/blog/2010/10/12/carlsbad-elementary-gunman-%e2%80%9ckill-obama-and-kill-all-the-little-fags%e2%80%9d/#comments Tue, 12 Oct 2010 14:30:36 +0000 Sniffer http://hindgrindr.com/blog/2010/10/12/carlsbad-elementary-gunman-%e2%80%9ckill-obama-and-kill-all-the-little-fags%e2%80%9d/

Carlsbad Elementary Gunman: “Kill Obama and kill all the little fags!”

A lone gunman burst onto the playground at Kelly Elementary school in Carlsbad, California last Friday. Two girls were shot, but neither of them were seriously injured. Brendan Liam O’Rourke, 41, was restrained by witnesses as he fumbled to reload the weapon. He was arrested and charged with six counts of attempted murder.

The San Diego CBS affiliate covered the schools’ back-to-school rally today to begin the healing process for the shaken students, including the two girls who were wounded. They also interviewed Stephanie Durkee, a campus monitor, who was instrumental in restraining O’Rourke. She told CBS8 what O’Rourke said as he entered the playground:

When he first came over the fence and was shooting the kids, he was screaming, “Kill Obama and kill all the little fags! Death to them!” That’s what he was saying as he was in amongst the kids shooting.

O’Rourke’s neighbor said that he used to repeat a slogan, “‘Christians Unite to Destroy.” The phrases “Christians” and “To Destroy” were found in his apartment bedroom. Of course, we’ve known that some pretty horrific rhetoric has been floating out there, and it has been becoming much louder very recently. But watch then feign surprise and shock when someone takes their hysterical rantings to their “logical” conclusions.