NC lawmakers, magistrate want to defend gay marriage exemption – LGBTQ Nation

Trying to digest this narrative.  But it comes down to one thing - money, "The request marks the latest incidence in which the Republican-led General Assembly has hired private attorneys to defend legislation, spending several million dollars."   And of course, my usual cash-cow, Alliance Defending Freedom,is in the midst of things.

Two North Carolina lawmakers and a magistrate have asked a federal court to let them defend a religious exemption law involving civil marriages challenged as discriminatory against gays.

They largely blame their request on Attorney General Roy Cooper, who is personally opposed to the law but whose office represents the state in the litigation.

Senate leader Phil Berger, House Speaker Tim Moore and Alexander County Magistrate Brenda Bumgarner filed motions this week to intervene in the lawsuit as additional defendants, represented by private attorneys. They contend that Cooper cannot adequately defend a law that he is known to personally oppose.

NC lawmakers, magistrate want to defend gay marriage exemption – LGBTQ Nation

February 2-5, 2016::End of the day round-up

Oregon woman fights Idaho faith healing laws

A former church member, Linda Martin, is trying to convince lawmakers in Idaho to do what Oregon did.

“These are not things children die of in our time, this is what children died of back in the 1800s, not in the 2000s,” says Martin. Martin grew up in Idaho as a member of the Followers of Christ. Now, she lives in Oregon, but often travels to Boise to lobby lawmakers to remove faith healing protections that prevent parents from being prosecuted for the death of a child.

This is her third attempt to reach lawmakers like Lee Heider. The Republican is chair of the Idaho Senate Health and Welfare Committee.

“If someone approaches me wanting to carry that legislation, then yes, I’ll hold a hearing. I can’t guarantee the outcome of the hearing. I can’t tell you what the other members of my committee would choose to do with that legislation but if someone chooses to do that I would be the first to stand up and give them the right to bring that legislation forward,” Heider says.

Huckabee Drops Out Of GOP Race

BREAKING: Rand Paul Suspends Presidential Campaign

CNN: Rick Santorum Suspending Presidential Campaign

Tony Abbott's speech to far right group in US not 'intentionally secretive'

"For us, it was never intended to be a public event.

"It was a dinner ADF was having and Tony Abbott aligned on some of these issues, and I think they thought he would be an interesting fella to hear from, so they invited him to come."

Mr Abbott is also reportedly scheduled to meet News Corp executive chairman Rupert Murdoch in New York.

The ADF is surprised by the media interest in their event.

"It is going to be in New York, we have invited variety of people," Mr Trent said, declining to detail who would attend.

"It's a private gathering and Tony Abbott will be there."
,,,
Mr Abbott's sister, same-sex marriage campaigner Christine Forster, said his decision to address the group was "disappointing".

Kevin Andrews skips Parliament to address conservative lobby group in Washington on defence

Established in the 1970s, the Foundation was a key policymaker for Republican president Ronald Reagan and was a loud supporter of the original Iraq war. In recent years it has campaigned aggressively to defund Obamacare.

The Foundation's current president is former Republican senator Jim DeMint, a leading figure in the Tea Party movement and a pro-lifer who opposes same-sex marriage.

According to the Foundation's invite, Mr Andrews will cover Australia's key defence challenges, including in the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.

"Australia is in a unique position, straddling the line between Asia and the West. It faces global security and defense challenges from the perspective of an Alliance partner with the United States. It, also, focuses on the challenges that confront both nations, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region – especially the China Seas – and the Middle East," the Foundation said in promoting Mr Andrews' presentation.

The Foundation lists its mission as "to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense."

Trump Touts Endorsement From ‘Reverend Jerry Fallwell Jr.,’ Who Is Not A Reverend

While Falwell is certainly a prominent figure in the evangelical community, he is not actually a reverend, a title specific to members of the clergy who have completed religious training.
,,,
Fallwell, who helped parlay his late father’s televangelism career into running one of the biggest Christian colleges in the country, fits into a category of religious figures known as “entrepreneurial evangelicals.” Falwell appreciates a good business sense and has been candid about his admiration for Trump.

In a statement announcing his decision to endorse the hotel mogul, Falwell referred to Trump as “a successful executive and entrepreneur, a wonderful father and a man who I believe can lead our country to greatness again.”

Former Pentagon chief Robert Gates: Republicans’ grasp of national security is at a child’s level

"The level of dialogue on national security issues would embarrass a middle schooler,” Gates said of the Republican contenders at a Politico Playbook event in Washington on Monday . “People are out there making threats and promises that are totally unrealistic, totally unattainable. Either they really believe what they’re saying or they’re cynical and opportunistic and, in a way, you hope it’s the latter because God forbid they actually believe some of the things that they’re saying.”
,,,
Gates, promoting a new book, A Passion for Leadership, said “one of the greatest, most appealing aspects of Ronald Reagan was his optimism about this country and about the future, and these guys all make it sound like we’re going down the drain.” All the candidates, he argued, should “try to communicate better to the American people that these are complicated, difficult problems that are going to be difficult to solve and are probably going to require some sacrifice”.

February 1, 2016::End of the day round-up (pg 2)

Waiting on follow-up to this visit,,,

Tony Abbott jets to US to address abortion and gay-marriage opponents Alliance Defending Freedom

Fresh from giving new hope to disaffected conservative Liberals by staying in federal politics, Tony Abbott will fly to the United States on Tuesday to gee-up one of the religious right's most reactionary bodies, the Alliance Defending Freedom.

Mr Abbott, who is being accompanied by wife Margie, will give a speech on the topic of "the importance of family" to the pro-Christian, Republican-aligned lobby, which opposes abortion, wants to end gay marriage and is pushing to roll back some feminist advances.

The speech comes as the primary race for the presidential nomination approaches fever pitch, with contenders on the Republican side scrambling to secure the overwhelmingly Christian "Tea Party" base.

The linked Fairfax article just mentions that the ADF has an anti-same-sex-marriage stance, but the ADF's work against LGBTI people goes much deeper than that,

• * More on the ADF's international work :
• bit.ly/DangerousLiaisons
• bit.ly/CriminaliseHomosexuality
• * 10 Facts about the ADF :
• bit.ly/10factsADF
• * The ADF's attacks on trans students :
• bit.ly/ADFattackTrans
• * Creation of "religious freedom" laws to attack LGBTI people :
• bit.ly/ReligiousAttacks
• * The ADF in Latin America :
• http://bit.ly/ADF_LatinAmerica

(Note: sharing this post won't automatically share these links and info, you'll need to copy/paste text if you want to share them)

H/T https://www.facebook.com/paulinepantsdown666/posts/691847187623607

 

Niagara Falls is going to go dry – again - City & Region - The Buffalo News
 
Happy 77th birthday Del McCoury! Listen to his first record with Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys from our collection: http://bit.ly/1RVFfSO More McCoury in our collection: http://s.si.edu/1nZw47D The Del McCoury Band

CASE WATCH::Atlanta Refusing to Bow to the Name of Jesus — Charisma News

When one reads the hyperbole surrounding the Cochrane case keep in mind, "it was not because of his religious beliefs, but for his poor judgment in distributing his self-published book that condemned homosexuality. Atlanta has sexual orientation nondiscrimination protections and Cochran was fostering an unwelcoming working environment that did not represent the city’s values. Moreover, while Cochran was suspended for a month to investigate complaints about how he distributed his book, he openly promised to continue engaging in such actions, which Reed felt seriously undermined his 'judgment.'"

Think Progress also notes, "Reed was adamant during Tuesday’s press conference that Cochran’s religious beliefs were not the reason he was fired. His book, Who Told You That You Were Naked?, was published in violation of Atlanta’s Standards of Conduct, which requires approval from the Ethics Officer and the Board of Ethics. According to Reed, Cochran’s 'actions and decision-making undermine his ability to manage our fire department' because employees need to feel that they are 'a valued member of the team and that fairness and respect guide employment decisions.'"

In the 2013 book, "Who Told You That You Were Naked?", Cochran called homosexuality "vulgar" and "the opposite of purity." He was fired early this year after employees complained to city council members about the book's content, Atlanta city attorney Robert N. Godfrey said.

"The city of Atlanta has a policy of non-discrimination," Godfrey said in court. "This book runs completely afoul of those principles."

U.S. District Court Judge Leigh May said during Wednesday's hearing that there had not yet been time for depositions in the lawsuit filed in February, suggesting she was not ready to throw it out. But she did not immediately issue a ruling.

Cochran is seeking to return to his job with back pay.
,,,
Theriot noted that most of the books that Cochran gave away at work were to employees who asked for copies.

So my question would be, if "'[t]he fire chief wasn’t passing the book around, except to people who asked for it,”' how offensive is what he wrote that someone that received said book felt the need to report it? 

Atlanta Refusing to Bow to the Name of Jesus — Charisma News

See also::  Lawsuit: Fire chief terminated because of Christian faith for more Reich hyperbole

When in Doubt, Religify! Fear Mongering about Religious Liberty | Political Research Associates

I have been sitting on this article for almost a month now.  Not quite sure as to how to introduce it, or where exactly the issue addressed falls in the grand scheme of thing.  But Clarksom, in his initial write up, mentions two recent rulings:

The Institute draws on detailed understandings of recent Supreme Court cases as sources for this legal groundwork against the coming siege. They point particularly to the 2012 case of Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which disallowed a discrimination complaint by a teacher, declaring that her role was part of the ministry of the church, and her employer therefore was exempt from employment discrimination laws. The decision is widely seen as having opened the door to a wide range of religious exemptions from civil rights and labor laws. The Institute also points to the 2014 decision in Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. & Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Burwell, which for the first time endowed “closely held” for-profit corporations with religious rights under the First Amendment.

And, that took my mind back to something I wrote last year in regards to the Hobby Lobby ruling:

When one looks at the decision rendered by SCOTUS it has to be through the lens of the Reich's overall agenda -  starting with a "reformed" interpretation of the Free Exercise Clause or an outright repeal of the First Amendment,  continuing with the abolition of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ending with the implementation of dominionist ideology in order to govern by theocratic control.  With the ruling in Hobby Lobby, the Reich will "now" be able to exempt themselves from any laws that they don’t like; that they find “religiously objectionable.” 

As Clarkson notes, "most of our attention is directed to larger-than-life marriage equality dramas being played out in courtrooms, legislative chambers, and major media outlets, the foundation is being laid for massive resistance to marriage equality and much more."  The faux persecution complex, the so-called fight for religious liberty, and so on.

What has gone unnoticed in all this, the Reich has realized that they are losing in the court of public opinion.  They may not admit it but as Clarkson states in his companion piece for LGBTQNation "they foresee as a long siege against conservative Christian churches, businesses, and organizations."  Hence the issue at hand:

Major Christian Right legal agencies have begun issuing manuals for conservative churches and other organizations to inoculate themselves against private lawsuits and government enforcement of civil rights laws.

The national Christian Right legal network Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF, one of the primary groups behind the legislative agenda to redefine religious freedom into an affirmative right to discriminate) joined forces with the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention to issue one such handbook, and the Texas-based Liberty Institute has issued a similar manual.

The ADF and Southern Baptist handbook (titled, “Protecting Your Ministry from Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Lawsuits: A Legal Guide for Southern Baptist and Evangelical Churches, Schools, and Ministries”) anticipates needing to “engage a hostile social and political culture… amid the gathering spiritual darkness.”

The Liberty Institute sees it as “not a matter of if but when religious institutions will be faced with damaging, anti-religious legal attacks.”  To prepare, the Institute advises institutions from churches and synagogues to fraternities and for-profit corporations to “religify.”  [Emphases in the original.]

Both manuals urge religification by revising all of their institutional documents, from employee job descriptions to facility rental agreements. Workers and volunteers are reclassified under a broad redefinition of “ministry”; and institutional functions are cast specifically in terms of religious doctrine. The goal is to be seen by the courts as qualifying for broad “ministerial exemptions” from the law in as many ways as possible.

As I mentioned last July, Hobby Lobby was a test and as the Rev. Terry Fox declared, in regards to what has now amounted to a renewed push for state RFRAs, "We are not going to let it die. We are very committed. The Body of Christ is a powerful movement when it comes together."

And just as Fox asserted, "These manuals demonstrate that Christian Right leaders of the culture war intend to fight LGBTQ Rights and marriage equality in the states, in the towns and cities, and in many kinds of institutions, no matter what the federal government and the courts may say."

When in Doubt, Religify! Fear Mongering about Religious Liberty | Political Research Associates

It's exactly as they want

I am not sure how I missed this but,,,

What We're Up Against 

Recently, the news reported that David Koch—the conservative boogeyman of the left—will be interviewed by ABC's Barbara Walters for her "The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2014" special scheduled to air on Sunday. [And yes this is David Koch of Koch brothers fame.]

In the interview, he unequivocally states, "I'm basically a libertarian, and I'm a conservative on economic matters, and I'm a social liberal." It harkens back to a 2012 Politico article where he said, "I believe in gay marriage," pointing out that he openly supported legal abortion as a Libertarian party candidate in 1980.

Marriage Supporter, this is exactly the problem. Millionaires and billionaires are lining up in support of this radical social agenda... even on the right! And I need your help to stop it!

Another perfect example of ceremonial Deism,,,

Pastor to deliver Capitol sermon Sunday amid controversy

Some Democratic lawmakers are criticizing the plan for a controversial pastor to deliver a sermon at the state Capitol Sunday, while Republicans participating in the sermon defended his inclusion as a matter of free speech.

The Rev. Matt Trewhella co-founded Wisconsin-based Missionaries to the Preborn in 1990, and will deliver the Election Sermon at the Capitol Rotunda at 2 p.m. Sunday and give a talk at the Lewis and Clark Library at 3:30 p.m. Monday. Both are sponsored by Project Liberty Tree under the Covenant Community Church in Whitehall.

Trewhella is pastor at Mercy Seat Christian Church in Milwaukee.

The scary part, is this is exactly what he and his ilk want,,,

Rick Wiles: Nuclear Holocaust Will Kill Us All Thanks To Gay People

End Times broadcaster Rick Wiles is upset that Western nations have imposed sanctions on the Russian economy, contributing to the country’s recent financial crisis, since Wiles is a big booster of Vladimir Putin and especially the Russian government’s anti-LGBT policies.

On his radio show “Trunews” this week, Wiles predicted that the U.S. will provoke Russia into using nuclear weapons “and just obliterate us while we sleep at night.”

And when this happens, Wiles warned, God won’t come to America’s aid: “We are on the edge of World War III and this time the United States of America does not have divine protection because we’ve become a nation of homosexuals and atheists and lesbians and God-haters.”

Ben Carson's Bizarre Explanation Of Why Obamacare Is Unconstitutional

The likely GOP presidential candidate explained that the law helps some people while hurting others, so is therefore unconstitutional: “Your solution should be something that represents all the people. The Constitution says one of the purposes, in the preamble, it says is for the ‘promote the general welfare.’ What that means is that we do things that help everybody, we don’t pick this group and say, ‘We’re going to help you at the expense of this group over here.’ That’s not promoting the general welfare so we’re actually violating the Constitution in that sense.”

In that case, a whole host of laws could be considered unconstitutional since nearly everyone can point to a law that they think affects them negatively while helping others. “It wasn’t really about health care, it’s about control,” Carson said of the health care law.

Staver: Ex-Gay Therapy Bans Are 'An Assault Against God Almighty

"These whole issues of homosexuality is a direct assault on gender, on family, on marriage," Staver said. "As a policy matter, if you were to sanction homosexuality in the law, you are sanctioning harmful activity to individuals. It is patently unhealthy, both physically and mentally ... We cannot recreate the natural created order and assume that there are no consequences; there are consequences to children. So Liberty Counsel is involved in these strategic areas, these areas of assault against the family, against gender, against marriage and family; they are an assault against the very foundation of our society, they are an assault against God Almighty and his created order. This is an assault against all of the Judeo-Christian values that we hold near and dear and that's why we must be involved in these cases, we must win these cases": 

California Pastor Warns America Is Turning Into Nazi Germany Unless Pastors Get Involved In Politics

"We were at Auschwitz and Birkenau at the death camps and we came to realize thirty two SS guards killed nine hundred thousand Jews," McCoy said. "You're either committed or you're compromised and we stood there, a hundred and ten pastors, realizing that if we don't speak up, we're going to watch those rail cars just annihilate our culture and we're going to be held captive by a minority and we have a responsibility to speak up": 

Camenker: Gay Student Clubs Love To Recruit 'Kids From Christian Backgrounds

"I have seen over the years, a movement of, in general, where you have kids who are very vulnerable, maybe having troubles at home, maybe having their own issues and the gay clubs will say 'the reason you're not fitting in is because you're really gay,'" Camenker said. "And they will take them under their wing and they will persuade them to come out because this is who you really are. And pretty soon these kids are getting involved in these really horrible behaviors, horrible things at the meetings. We've seen it up close and we've seen the anxiety that the parents go through when their kids are suddenly taken over by this."

"Yes, they love getting kids from Christian backgrounds," he continued. "That seems to be something that they particularly enjoy to do":

ADF Lawyer: Gay Rights Opponents May Soon Be 'Put In Jail For Standing For Marriage'

Austin Nimocks of the Alliance Defending Freedom, which wants to make gay sex a criminal offense, said in an interview earlier this week that gay rights advocates are planning to throw their opponents in jail.

While speaking to “Washington Watch” guest host Josh Duggar about the legal case of a Washington florist who was held in violation of the state’s Consumer Protection Act for denying service to a same-sex couple, Nimocks warned that “the persecution is only going to ramp up and it’s going to become more fierce.”

Read: ADF creates fake 'victim' superbook; misapplies business matters to churches - Good As You:: Gay and Lesbian Activism With a Sense of Humor

Many of you have heard and or read of my concerns regarding Alliance Defending Freedom. Once again they are showing just how dangerous they can be.

When legal outfits like Alliance Defending Freedom take up the cases of bakers and florists and photographers who try to skirt local nondiscrimination law so that they can refuse service to LGBT customers, they most always lose. That's because public accommodations cannot just flout fairly and reasonably enacted policies just because the owners hold exclusionary ideas about society and its deserved participants. That's not how it works.

But this is a movement that needs all of the straws it can possible grasp, which is why the ADF is now trying to convince American churches that these stories of businesses needing to carry out commercial exchanges with gay people (the horror!) are somehow just part of a larger plot to destroy churches. And to make the case, they've put the fear-claims into a lengthy new document that essentially frames those of us who support equal rights and fair service in accommodation (i.e. a majority of Americans) as the number one enemy of faith communities. Take a look:

Read: ADF creates fake 'victim' superbook; misapplies business matters to churches - Good As You:: Gay and Lesbian Activism With a Sense of Humor

Watch This ADF Attorney Call Matthew Shepard's Murder A Hate Crime Hoax | Blog | Media Matters for America

During the presentation, ADF attorney Erik Stanley told the audience that "the end game of the homosexual legal agenda is unfettered sexual liberty and the silencing of all dissent." After lamenting the fact that television shows like Modern Family had "normalized homosexual behavior," Stanley went on to claim that the "narrative" of Matthew Shepard's brutal murder had been "debunked":

Denying the story of Matthew Shepard's murder is a popular tactic for conservatives who want to deny that gay people face harassment, discrimination, and violence. It's also a talking point that's been thoroughly debunked by experts familiar with Shepard's murder.

ADF has been at the center of nearly every major media story about the supposed threat LGBT equality poses to religious liberty over the past several months. The group frequently represents business owners and individuals suing for the right to discriminate against LGBT customers, making it Fox News' go-to source for anti-LGBT legal commentary.

Oh and I think I finally found the "gay agenda" as per Stanley, After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90's. I may now have to purchase this book to see exactly what my role in this agenda may be. Although I think it may be a much simpler act of gay persons coming out of the closet than an assumption of massive organization and strategy. (From my brief digging into the matter of said book, the consensus seems to be that the enclosed article was expanded to "make" the book.)

Watch This ADF Attorney Call Matthew Shepard's Murder A Hate Crime Hoax | Blog | Media Matters for America

See also:

Debunking Stephen Jimenez's Effort To De-Gay Matthew Shepard's Murder

ADDENDUM::Mat Staver Resigns As Dean Of Liberty School Of Law - KATV - Breaking News, Weather and Razorback Sports

In my initial posting concerning Staver's resignation from Liberty School of Law, I tendered two possible extenuating reasons. The first being action in regards to the Jenkins/Miller custody case, specifically the civil RICO lawsuit. Or, possibly something to do with the leviathan that is Alliance Defending Freedom..

As of yet I haven't been able to confirm (in the works as I write)** whether the RICO lawsuit is still pending or if it was dismissed (Liberty Counsel was neck deep in this debacle), BUT there has been movement in the case as a whole:

Business owner Philip Zodhiates is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday on charges he brought Lisa Miller to Buffalo in September 2009 and helped her and her daughter, Isabella, cross the border into Canada.

Zodhiates, Miller and missionary Timothy Miller were charged in a federal indictment LAST MONTH with international parental kidnapping and conspiracy, but only Zodhiates is believed to be in the country and available to answer the charges in court. He did not return a call for comment Tuesday.
,,,
According to the New York indictment, Zodhiates, Lisa Miller and Isabella traveled from Virginia to Buffalo on Sept. 21, 2009. Zodhiates, the indictment said, spoke by phone with someone in Canada who agreed to helpMiller once she crossed the Rainbow Bridge into Niagara Falls, Ontario, the next day.

As for my speculation concerning ADF, it was in part based on information contained in two oft cited articles: The 800-Pound Gorilla Of The Christian Right and Not the ‘Illuminati': How Fundamentalist Christians Are Infiltrating State and Federal Government. From the latter article concerning ADF:

Suppose further that this plan had a scary simple strategy: Recruit bright, young law students; put them through an intensive indoctrination program; place them in plum internships across the country; and watch as they swim upstream until they reach the top of the legal system, where they can create, enforce, and interpret laws according to a legal philosophy infused with fundamentalist Christian theology.

Welcome to the world of the Blackstone Legal Fellowship, an annual program established in 2000 by the Alliance Defending Freedom, an Arizona-based nonprofit that is swiftly emerging as a major behind-the-scenes player in many of the nation’s most controversial legal cases involving reproductive rights, sexual justice, and a vast range of other moral and social disputes.
,,,
While participants hail from various denominations, they all commit to using their legal careers to “reorder society” according to a “christendomic” worldview, in which there is no separation between church and state.

BUT an interesting piece of information (attached article) was dropped in my lap the other day after my initial post, that MAY lend credence to my speculation.

The timing of the resignation comes at a time where the law school's resident enrollment is on the rise - up 25%.

However, the percentage of students passing the Virginia bar exam continues to decline.

In the July 2013 bar exam, just under 64% of Liberty Law students who were taking Virginia's exam for the first time passed it, ranking it 7th out of 8 law schools. In February 2014, the first time exam pass rate dropped to 60 percent, with LU's overall pass rate of 43 percent ranked last in the state. The most recent exam in July 2014 saw just half of first time test takers pass Virginia's bar.

These numbers do not include numbers for graduates who take the bar exam in other states and jurisdictions.

Staver's resignation could be as simple as his wife's health, but the demon on my shoulder is screaming NO!! There are multiple problems here:  the Jenkins/Miller kidnapping, declining test scores, his cash cow is in failing health (marriage equality is now legal in his "home" state), the rise of ADF, and Goodwin's resignation.

Now consider one point lost in all this that adds even more intrigue; it was mentioned in passing in a "non" press release concerning Goodwin and the Benny Hinn mess.

"The University will continue to rely on Dr. Godwin’s breadth of academic and administrative experience,” Falwell said in the release, which appeared on www.liberty.edu on Friday but was not sent to media outlets. “He will spend the next few years grooming his successors and guiding the team responsible for Liberty University’s pending ten year accreditation reaffirmation report.”

Liberty is up for recert on their accreditation in 2015. Lose accreditation, you lose all that lovely money that comes along with it; something I have highlighted extensively concerning the for-profit school racket. The fall-out experienced by the for-profit industry (Corinthian Colleges) would also be felt by Liberty.

Yes, they are cleaning house before the blizzard hits.

Mat Staver Resigns As Dean Of Liberty School Of Law - KATV - Breaking News, Weather and Razorback Sports

**Whilst I was putting this piece together, I was waiting on confirmation as to whether Jenkin's civil RICO lawsuit was still pending or if it had been dismissed.  Thanks to the work of a friend, I am able state that it was dismissed:

OPINION AND ORDER Defendant Douglas Wright's 40 Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction is granted (defendant Wright is dismissed from case and Count Five of the Amended Complaint is dismissed)); Defendant Andrew Y oder's 62 Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction is granted (defendant Yoder is dismissed from case); Defendant Christian Aid Ministries, Inc. 63 Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim upon Which Relief C an be Granted and for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction is granted for lack of personal jurisdiction (defendant Christian Aid Ministries is dismissed from case); Defendant Kenneth Miller's 56 Motion to Dismiss, or in the alternativ e, 56 Motion to Change Venue is granted in part and denied in part; Defendant Linda M. Wall's 109 Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction, Improper Venue, and/or Failure to State a Claim Upon Which Relief Can Be Granted is granted in p art and denying in part; Defendants Liberty University, Inc., Thomas Road Baptist Church, Inc. and Victoria Hydens' 66 Re-filed Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction, Lack of Venue and Failure to State a Claim is granted in part and denied in part (defendants Liberty University and Thomas Road Baptist Church, Inc. are dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction); Counts Two and Three are dismissed against all defendants for failure to state claim; Count Four is dismissed with leave to move to amend within 60 days; Defendants Philip Zodhiates and Response Unlimited, Inc.'s 57 Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction and Improper Venue are denied in part and denied in part as premature (plaintiff shall have 60 days to conduct jurisdictional discovery with respect to Response Unlimited, Inc.); Defendants Liberty University, Inc., Thomas Road Baptist Church, Inc. and Victoria Hyden's 67 Motion to Change Venue is denied. Signed by Judge William K. Sessions III on 10/24/2013. (law)

Joe. My. God.: IDAHO: Hate Group Sues City For Right To Discriminate Against Gay Couples

An interesting story from Joe Jervis over at Joe.My.God. Take a look at who is involved, "[t]he owners are being represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom. News of the lawsuit comes, unsurprisingly, from Todd Starnes."

As Joe points out via http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2014/05/want-to-deny-same-sex-couples-ministers-then-dont-sell-deluxe-wedding-packages-for-profit.html Good As You, the Hitching Post is a for-profit business that also performs civil ceremonies, it is not a church but a business entity.

Joe. My. God.: IDAHO: Hate Group Sues City For Right To Discriminate Against Gay Couples

Wingnut Nurse Sues Family Planning Center For Not Giving Her Job Just Because She Says She Won’t Do Job | Wonkette

"If I were a rich man,,," oops wrong childhood memory. "The hills are alive,,," nope still not quite right. Hmm, how about "I prefer not to." There we go, it seems that this Sara Hellwege person has herself confused with Bartleby the scrivener. You know the Melville character who starts off his new job with a bang but decides after a time that he no longer prefers to do said job.

I'm not sure if she came up with this scheme all by her lonesome - ya know being a warrior for Christ the pro-life agenda. Or if as Gray states. "No, she is the willing pawn of the Alliance Defending Freedom — which describes itself as (don’t laugh, I am not kidding) “a servant ministry building an alliance to keep the door open for the spread of the Gospel by transforming the legal system and advocating for religious liberty, the sanctity of life, and marriage and family.”

Regardless of whose brilliant idea this lawsuit was ADF is involved and one of their arguments is,

Sara “possesses beliefs against prescribing hormonal contraceptives in certain circumstances,
which she believes have the potential to act in a manner potentially threatening the lives of embryos after their conception/fertilization.” That’s nice. It has no basis in actual scientific fact, of course, but who would even want a health care provider to rely on dumb science instead of “beliefs”?

This was a side note in the Hobby Lobby case, competing scientific claims. but should be front and center in this current mess as science is the basis for medicine. What one "believes" to be true should be trumped by what science says is true; this is not a 50/50 controversy or even 60/40. Ninety-five percent of science says not abortifacients and that should rule the day.

So I have to work later today, think I will tell them my "lack of religious" belief do not allow me to get my hands wet. Wonder how long it would take them to show me the door? (If it were only that easy for me,,,ha!!)

Wingnut Nurse Sues Family Planning Center For Not Giving Her Job Just Because She Says She Won’t Do Job | Wonkette

Religious liberty belongs to everyone, not just the religious right | TheHill

These attacks on religious liberty involve conservative academics, pundits, politicians, and a variety of Religious Right organizations. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty has provided legal counsel for the Hobby Lobby case, and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF, formerly Alliance Defense Fund) is one of the architects of the bills in Arizona, Mississippi, and other states. ADF attempts to soft-peddle their radical redefinition of religious freedom as a defense of the conservative religious beliefs of business owners, who are legally barred from discriminating against LGBTQ or other customers to whom they might object—or what ADF calls “coercing [them] to violate their sincerely held beliefs.” The Religious Right’s campaign to redefine religious liberty was conceived and designed as a back door to limit the reach of marriage equality, employment non-discrimination laws, and Roe v. Wade. However, their Orwellian inversion of the meaning of constitutionally protected religious freedom more broadly threatens the rights of individuals and communities. Once codified, exemptions to laws can beget more exemptions.

If corporations enjoy exemptions from federal laws in the name of religious freedom, the rest of us may be compelled to cede our personal liberty to the views and whims of our employers—forcing us to choose between our livelihoods and our consciences.

[,,,]
The Becket Fund, ADF, and many other leaders of the religious right portray themselves as avatars of religious liberty and faithful adherents to the original intentions of the Framers. But despite their rhetoric, the battle for the meaning of religious liberty is not between Christianity and secularism but between pluralism and authoritarianism. However strong their convictions may be, the Religious Right leaders’ campaign is less about religious liberty than winning the government-backed right to impose their religious beliefs on others. The Framers called that tyranny.

Religious liberty belongs to everyone, not just the religious right | TheHill

Christian Baker Ordered to Bake Cakes for Same-Sex ‘Weddings’ Files Appeal | Christian News Network

Remember this post where Matt Barber and Peter LaBarbera were gloating about what Hobby Lobby was really about? Well it appears that Jack Phillips or should I say Alliance Defending Freedom is ready to argue that state laws do not apply to Christians when Christians disagree with said state law, "[i]n May, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission upheld Spencer’s ruling, stating that Phillips violated the state’s civil rights law."

It is just this issue that Barry Lynne of Americans United for Separation of Church and State was concerned about in regards to the Hobby Lobby case. Lynn stated that the primary concern is contraceptive coverage under the ACA; but the agenda of the Religious Right is the right to opt out of ANY federal or state law(s) they do not like because of actual or alleged violation of THEIR religious principles.

As with Elane Photography (also represented by ADF), Phillips is going to argue that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission's ruling violates his First Amendment rights by compelling him to engage in "speech" he doesn't believe in. This is the tactic ADF hopes to use, a "conservative social agenda in terms of protecting religious freedom instead of enforcing “family values — a subtle but profound shift in the culture war that deliberately moves the religious right from offense to defense for the first time in decades."

With that said, all the legal mumbo jumbo aside, Phillips and the ADF are still blatantly asking to be allowed to break a law because they are special. They are asking for a special privilege because they are religionists. Even if one where to take religion out of it, they are still wanting to break the law.

"The anti-gay, anti-freedom to marry crowd, having largely lost the argument on gay people and on marriage, are resorting to a distraction argument that is aimed at tearing a hole in the longstanding protections we have in this country against public accommodation discrimination,” said Evan Wolfson, head of the pro-LGBT rights group Freedom to Marry. “Their quarrel is not really just with marriage, it’s with the whole idea of non-discrimination law that we’ve fought hard for over decades through many difficult chapters of American history.”

Entering the commercial marketplace means having to abide by its rules against discrimination. In other words, you can not offer a "limited menu" based on your preference(s). If you open a business, ALL services must be available to ALL consumers. It falls under the general purview of the public accommodation section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Adam Serwer, in his piece cited above, sums up quite well the precedent opened by the Hobby Lobby case and the agenda behind it, "Cases like these aren’t just about legal precedents, they’re about shaping how society decides which freedom it wants to protect with the force of the law—the right not to be discriminated against, or the right of individual entities to decide whom they want to serve and how."

Christian Baker Ordered to Bake Cakes for Same-Sex ‘Weddings’ Files Appeal | Christian News Network

For those of you who say apathetically that both parties are the same, I beg to differ

"When one provokes in a child a fear of the dark, one awakens in him a feeling of atavistic dread. Thus this child will be ruled all his life by this dread, whereas another child, who has been intelligently brought up, will be free of it."

Adolf Hitler,  "Table Talk" discussions on the night of July 11-12, 1941, p. 12

__

I've been thinking about what I wrote above concerning the SCOTUS decision - regarding Hobby Lobby - being a Reich wet dream and the possibility that their grand scheme may backfire.  I really didn't pull those ideas out of my ass, others have been pondering this thought as well.  Just maybe not in the same colorful language.

When one looks at the decision rendered by SCOTUS it has to be through the lens of the Reich's overall agenda -  starting with a "reformed" interpretation of the Free Exercise Clause or an outright repeal of the First Amendment,  continuing with the abolition of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ending with the implementation of dominionist ideology in order to govern by theocratic control.  With the ruling in Hobby Lobby, the Reich will "now" be able to exempt themselves from any laws that they don’t like; that they find “religiously objectionable.” 

Now here's where it gets a bit tricky.  I have more or less insinuated on various occasions that nothing done within the ranks of the Reich are individually motivated. Green's personally held religious convictions no matter how "sincere" they may be, have an agenda attached.  That agenda, "Hobby Lobby-related entities are some of the biggest sources of funding to the National Christian Charitable Foundation." 

According to Eli Clifton, the National Christian Charitable Foundation then funds "a range of causes including climate science denial, charter schools, free market and pro-life advocacy."  One of their biggest grant recipients,  Alliance Defending Freedom, one of the bulwarks behind Arizona's failed SB 1062 legislation. And their mission, "'[making] certain that governmental laws cannot force people to violate their faith unless it has a compelling governmental interest–a balancing of interests that has been in federal law since 1993.'”

So what does this have to do with Hobby Lobby and the Reich's agenda.  First Steve Green has a personal agenda.  One I have highlighted before.

That’s our goal, so that we can reintroduce this book to this nation. This nation is in danger because of its ignorance of what God has taught,,, Someday, I would argue, it should be mandated.  (Starting about the 4:28 mark)

Book? Mandate?  WTF you talking 'bout?

For those unaware, one of the goals of Mr. Steve "Hobby Lobby" Green,  is to have a 4 year Bible curriculum, that they (the Green Scholars Initiative) write, be mandated in all public schools.  Currently, the Mustang School Board (OK) approved Green's curriculum although it is still in draft.

I won't harp too much on the obvious (besides the legalities) but is this the "re-education" that Richard Mourdock, Tony Perkins, Austin Miles  and Rick Santorum are talking about?  In my mind, this curriculum is the gateway to theocratic rule with "its primary intent the conquest of the land — of men, families, institutions, bureaucracies, courts, and governments for the Kingdom of Christ.”

Christians have an obligation, a mandate, a commission, a holy responsibility to reclaim the land for Jesus Christ — to have dominion in civil structures, just as in every other aspect of life and godliness. But it is dominion we are after. Not just a voice. It is dominion we are after. Not just influence. It is dominion we are after. Not just equal time. It is dominion we are after. World conquest.

As Leah Burton explains, "This notion of having to 'reclaim' something that they truly believe they lost is pervasive. In order to understand that they must convince you that we always were a Christian Nation and now it must be reclaimed by them in order to save our country from moral decline."

And what better way to indoctrinate the notion of Christian Nation ideology, "Give me just one generation of youth, and I'll transform the whole world."  Sound familiar?  It should, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Steve Green said that, "We're working on 4 year public school bible curriculum.  The first year will be a summary of all three of those section. It's history, it's impact and it's story.  Then the next 3 years is going in depth in each of those -- a year for the history, a year for the impact and a year for the story -- in some order,,,."

“We're working on 4 year public school bible curriculum.  The first year will be a summary of all three of those section. It's history, it's impact and it's story.  Then the next 3 years is going in depth in each of those - a year for the history, a year for the impact and a year for the story - in some order,,, The nation is in danger because of its ignorance of what God has taught,,, If we don’t know it, our future is going to be very scary,,, we really want to get,,, be into the,,, high school level because we want to reach as many as possible.  Someday, I would argue, it should be mandated.  Here's a book that's impacted our world, unlike any other, and you're not gonna teach it? There's,,, something wrong with that."

We all are well aware that there is a slippery-slope in regards to the decision in favor of Hobby Lobby's demands.  Many writers are taking the high road of optimism.  I on the other hand, I see things getting more tumultuous  before they get better.  And this is where the Reich's agenda comes into play (keeping in mind Green's Bible curriculum takes care of the implementation of the dominionist/theocratic ideology) . From Clifton's article cited above,

'Individuals and entities with religious objections to certain laws that protect others are seeking to use their religion to trump others,' Brigitte Amiri, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union’s Reproductive Freedom Project, told Salon.
,,,
Center for Arizona Policy president Cathi Herrod heralded the Hobby Lobby lawsuit as a rare example of a 'business willing to step out in faith and literally risk it all to hold fast to their faith,,,'

Clifton then goes on to discuss how Green/Hobby Lobby is the poster child of the Reich by outlining some recent cases.  Cases that where funded by or through the National Christian Charitable Foundation:  McCullen v. Coakley, Elane Photography v. Willock, and the various "religious liberty" bills similar to SB 1062 that appeared in 13 other states.

Think of that as our starting point, testing the water of the SCOTUS if you will.

Remember what I said about the First Amendment?  Here is what the Hobby Lobby ruling has done by placing too much emphasis on the phrase "closely held."

The corporate plaintiffs' argument that they enjoy free exercise rights under the First Amendment and RFRA is in conflict with the text, history, and purpose of the First Amendment's free exercise guarantee. Amicus submits this brief to demonstrate that throughout our nation's history, corporations have been treated differently than individuals when it comes to fundamental, personal rights of conscience and human dignity. The First Amendment's free exercise guarantee has always been viewed as a purely personal liberty, guaranteeing the right of individuals to worship and exercise religion consistent with the dictates of their conscience. It has never been considered a right possessed by secular, for-profit corporations. Indeed, in the more than 200 years since the First Amendment's ratification, this Court has never held that secular, for-profit corporations may assert rights under the Free Exercise Clause. 
,,,
The Hobby Lobby case, of course, deals in part with the question whether the federal [Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)] was or is intended to benefit the owners of large, for-profit, nonreligious corporations. Hobby Lobby's interpretation that it does would open the floodgates to exempt every business owner in the United States from the anti-discrimination laws, because there is no real middle ground. The forces behind Hobby Lobby have tried to argue that the Court should hold for Hobby Lobby because it is "closely held," but that would not limit the holding to a few instances, because over 90% of corporations are "closely held." If the Court sides with Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood, it will open the Pandora's box of corporate law.

As for civil right, please consider this in regards to the LGBTI community:

The Associated Press reported this weekend that social conservatives believe they have an opening to bring the state's religious freedom bill back in 2015. The legislation failed this spring; it passed the House, but stalled in the Senate after significant backlash from business groups. It would have prevented businesses from being sued if they refused to serve LGBT people for religious reasons.

"We are not going to let it die. We are very committed," Rev. Terry Fox, a leading Southern Baptist minister, told the AP. "The Body of Christ is a powerful movement when it comes together."

Gay rights advocates and social conservatives alike had watched the Hobby Lobby case to see how it might influence their cause. The Court's decision was decidedly narrow in its language, and some legal experts pointed TPM to Justice Anthony Kennedy's concurring opinion in the case as evidence that he would not support discrimination against LGBT people on religious freedom grounds.

But others warned on the day of the ruling that conservatives would likely take Hobby Lobby's win as their chance to resuscitate religious freedom legislation.

"The opinion really doesn't really resolve the question of whether for-profit businesses can seek religious exemptions from anti-discrimination law," Douglas NeJaime, a law professor at the University of California-Irvine, told TPM. "If I'm one of those groups, I'm going to pursue this."

Or this in regards to women:

At a time when women make up more than half of the workforce, the ruling also further denies women equal rights in the workplace. “By setting women’s reproductive health care apart from all other forms of health care the Roberts’ Court has legally enshrined a new kind of gender-based inequality where only women are specifically subject to interference from their employer when it comes to personal medical choices,” continued Cotler. “We hope that the President will explore ways to ensure that women who will otherwise be denied reproductive health care by their employers are not left without coverage.” 

And what about an individual employee's religious beliefs:

The First Amendment's establishment clause prevents the government from requiring people to bear the burden of religions to which they do not belong and whose teachings they do not practice. To be sure, the U.S. government should accommodate religious beliefs and practices but only when doing so does not impose significant burdens on others. We accommodate, for example, those who object for religious reasons to sending their children to public school; no one is hurt if these families opt for a private school or home-schooling.

On the other hand, the Supreme Court consistently has condemned government accommodations that shift the cost of practicing a religion from those who believe it to others who don't. For example, the court struck down a state law that gave employees an absolute right not to work on their chosen Sabbath because of the burden it imposed on others. If most employees were Christian and took Sunday off, the statute would have forced the remaining, non-Christian employees to work every Sunday. This, the court said, violated the establishment clause: "The First Amendment ... gives no one the right to insist that in pursuit of their own interests, others must conform their conduct to his own religious necessities."

If the court grants these businesses the religious exemption they seek, it essentially would be directing the women who work for these businesses to bear the cost of the owners' anti-contraception religion.

And for shits-and-giggles, consider this bizarre case that is pending in regards to individual employee's religious beliefs:

To explain, the Supreme Court’s decision in Hobby Lobby did more than simply allow religious business owners to ignore a federal rule requiring them to include contraception coverage in their employees’ health plans. It tore down decades of law protecting workers from bosses who, in the words of one Supreme Court decision, would “impose the employer’s religious faith on the employees.” Prior to Hobby Lobby, that same Court decision held that “[w]hen followers of a particular sect enter into commercial activity as a matter of choice, the limits they accept on their own conduct as a matter of conscience and faith are not to be superimposed on the statutory schemes which are binding on others in that activity.” Today, that is no longer the case.
,,,
Should Eden Foods prevail, however, it could shatter what may be the most fundamental assumption of any law protecting the free exercise of religion — religious exercise laws protect religious exercise, they don’t protect the right of an anti-government CEO to make a federal case out of every single thing the government does that he disagrees with.

Don't be lulled into believing that this "concern" for your religious liberty is mere coincidence.  This is a well thought out and implemented plan beginning with the take-over of the GOP in the 1990s by the Religious Right:

The formula they've concocted has been called the "15 per cent solution" by the Christian Coalition. Even in a well attended presidential election, only 15 per cent of eligible voters determine the outcome,,, "We don't have to worry about convincing a majority of Americans to agree with us," Guy Rodgers, the Christian Coalition's national field director declared at the 1991 Road to Victory conference. Most of them are staying home and watching Falcon Crest."

,,, "What the Christian right spends a lot of time doing," says Marc Wolin, a moderate Republican who ran unsuccessfully for Congress from San Francisco last year, "is going after obscure party posts. They try to control the party apparatus in each county. We have a lot to fear from these people. They want to set up a theocracy in America."

"They have acquired a very detailed and accurate understanding of how political parties are organized," says Craig Berkman, former chairman of the Republican Party in Oregon:

Parties are very susceptible to being taken over by ideologues because lower party offices have no appeal to the vast majority of our citizenry. Many precincts are represented by no one. If you decide all of a sudden because it's your Christian duty to become a precinct representative, you only need a few votes to get elected. Increasingly, they have the key say so on who will be a delegate at the national convention, and who will write the party platform and nominate the presidential candidate,,,

And if that candidate wins, guess what?  We have a SCOTUS filled with the likes of Kennedy, Scalia, Thomas, Alito and Roberts.

Not a single justice appointed by either President Bill Clinton or President Barack Obama sided with Hobby Lobby. It was indeed only the justices appointed by socially conservative presidents who voted to keep women trapped in a bygone era. This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, because both sides of the aisle have been saying for the last few election cycles how important it is with our aging Supremes to have someone in the position to nominate justices of an ideological bent they agree with, and the proof of that concept is in Citizens United, McCutcheon v. FEC, and now the Hobby Lobby case. These narrow decisions will have a lasting impact on American society, and they are decisions made by men who have not been in power for decades in some cases, a half decade in one case.

So for those of you who say apathetically that both parties are the same, I beg to differ.  For those that say your vote doesn't count, yes it does; even if it is not for your ideal candidate.

Tony Perkins Says Gay Rights Advocates Want Anti-Christian Holocaust, Will 'Start Rolling Out The Boxcars' | Right Wing Watch

So Tony, are you talking up a Vietnam type setting where one spends upwards of 3+ years under government controlled conditions? Or are you speaking of what occurred in Europe during WWII? You see your friend Richard Mourdock is of the belief that we are headed the way of Nazi German:

“The people of Germany in a free election selected the Nazi Party because they made great promises that appealed to them because they were desperate and destitute. And why is that? Because Germany was bankrupt. The truth is, 70 years later, we are drifting on the tides toward another beachhead and it is the bankruptcy of the United States of America.”

By your by use of "re-education camps" you are implying the latter.. Are you studying history under Barton again?
__
Perkins reacted to the discrimination case by offering a comparison to the Holocaust: “I’m beginning to think, are re-education camps next? When are they going to start rolling out the boxcars to start hauling off Christians?”

Tony Perkins Says Gay Rights Advocates Want Anti-Christian Holocaust, Will 'Start Rolling Out The Boxcars' | Right Wing Watch

Not the 'Illuminati': How Fundamentalist Christians Are Infiltrating State and Federal Government

The Blackstone Legal Fellowship an offshoot (I would call it a front) of sorts of the Alliance Defending Freedom. They are Dominionists; they are theocratic. And only they are right.

Imagine that a little-known but increasingly powerful group of ideologues had hatched a plan to transform the United States into a Christian theocracy harkening back to the Dark Ages of Europe, a time when society was governed by the laws and officials of the Catholic Church.

Suppose further that this plan had a scary simple strategy: Recruit bright, young law students; put them through an intensive indoctrination program; place them in plum internships across the country; and watch as they swim upstream until they reach the top of the legal system, where they can create, enforce, and interpret laws according to a legal philosophy infused with fundamentalist Christian theology.

Welcome to the world of the Blackstone Legal Fellowship, an annual program established in 2000 by the Alliance Defending Freedom, an Arizona-based nonprofit that is swiftly emerging as a major behind-the-scenes player in many of the nation’s most controversial legal cases involving reproductive rights, sexual justice, and a vast range of other moral and social disputes.

“[T]he Blackstone Fellowship inspires a distinctly Christian worldview in every area of law, and particularly in the areas of public policy and religious liberty,” states the Alliance’s public tax filing. “With this ongoing program, it’s [the Alliance’s] goal to train a new generation of lawyers who will rise to positions of influence and leadership as legal scholars, litigators, judges—perhaps even Supreme Court Justices—who will work to ensure that justice is carried out in America’s courtrooms.”

While participants hail from various denominations, they all commit to using their legal careers to “reorder society” according to a “christendomic” worldview, in which there is no separation between church and state.

Not the 'Illuminati': How Fundamentalist Christians Are Infiltrating State and Federal Government

The 800-Pound Gorilla Of The Christian Right | ThinkProgress

This is a thorough look at the Alliance Defending Freedom organization mentioned in numerous postings I have made,,,

Formed two decades ago, the Arizona-based ADF has used its steadily-growing resources to advance a conservative evangelical Christian legal agenda, fighting against what it calls the “concocted” “constitutional ‘right’ to abortion,” laws that promote “social approval of homosexual behavior,” and the “myth of the so-called ‘separation of church and state.’” ADF has had a hand in many of the most prominent legal battles of the past 20 years. In some cases, such as the Citizens United v. FEC, that consisted of filing an amicus brief in opposition to the challenged campaign finance restrictions. In others, including Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Group of Boston (which affirmed the right of St. Patrick’s Day Parade organizers in Boston to exclude LGBT groups) and Boy Scouts of America v. Dale (which affirmed the right of some private organizations to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation), ADF provided funding and/or organized moot court preparations for the attorneys handling the cases. In the high profile Terri Schiavo case, ADF reportedly gave six-figure funding to the attorney representing her parents in their efforts to keep Schiavo on life support.

As it has grown enormously, other similar organizations have seen their own finances stagnate or have withdrawn from the legal arena entirely. And while ADF’s success has been mixed, allies and opponents alike agree that it has become the most powerful force fighting for its agenda.

The 800-Pound Gorilla Of The Christian Right | ThinkProgress

Trial begins on Bible-themed monument in Bloomfield | ABQJournal Online

"Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other Religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other Sects? That the same authority which can force a citizen to contribute three pence only of his property for the support of any one establishment, may force him to conform to any other establishment in all cases whatsoever?"

James Madison; Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, 1785

What the Reich and Alliance Defending Freedom fail to understand, the issue is not whether it was erected by a private party but rather whether the display on government property suggests to a reasonable person that the state is favoring a particular religious view. The courts have been very clear on this matter. And yes they where slick in their thinking by including this phrase “to erect historical monuments of their choosing" as their "out-clause" to deny others. Think about it, what other minority religion holds historical "value" withing our country?

No matter how you slice and dice it, the Ten Commandments are a religious symbol and do not belong on Government property. Not everyone has a Judeo-Christian belief system and the display of the Ten Commandments favors that view. 

A federal judge this week will consider whether a 3,000-pound monument inscribed with the Ten Commandments on the front lawn of Bloomfield City Hall violates the religious freedoms of two of the city’s residents.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit against the city on behalf of two plaintiffs who practice the Wiccan religion and says the monument conveys the message that the city endorses a particular religious belief.

“In my opinion, it says that anybody who doesn’t agree with this monument on city grounds is an outsider,” Jane Felix, the spiritual leader of a Wiccan group in the Bloomfield area, testified during the first day of trial in U.S. District Court of New Mexico. “It has no place on City Hall property.”

Felix described Wicca as an Earth-based religion that recognizes both male and female deities.

Attorneys for the city of Bloomfield contend that “private parties” erected and paid for the monument under a 2007 city resolution that allows members of the public “to erect historical monuments of their choosing.”

[,,,]
“We see that private parties are the driving force here,” Scruggs told Senior U.S. District Judge James A. Parker during opening arguments on Monday. Bloomfield had a “secular purpose” of allowing private speech by erecting historical monuments, he said.

Trial begins on Bible-themed monument in Bloomfield | ABQJournal Online

Why do they lie?

This is just one of those things that is super fascinating about the Christian right, which is that they have this deep-to-the-core disrespect for the truth that manifests in telling really obvious fairy tales and fantasies. The pleasure derived from demonizing abortion providers or Planned Parenthood [you can also insert atheist, humanist, or any individual/group not agreed with] outstrips any concerns about the immorality of lying about people, but it also outstrips any concerns about people realizing you’re a sleazy, no-good liar. Robertston and Calhoun [and Starnes] don’t worry about being caught in flagrant lies, because their own people will never hold them accountable for it,,,

I think the problem is that because they’ve convinced themselves they’re the only moral people left in the country, they, perversely, feel entitled to do any immoral thing they want without consequence. “Morality” is a tribal identity issue, in other words, and not a result of your actual behavior. They’re convinced they’re good and pro-choicers [insert group individual of choice] are bad, and so that means that everything they do is good and everything we do is bad, even if they’re lying and we’re telling the truth. (The Christian Right’s Ease With Lies And Dishonesty | The Raw Story)

Oh, how true this observation/opinion is.  I have lost count of the numerous faux outrages, based on lies, I have posted about.  Yet it still continues as the following (headlines) will demonstrate,,,

First reported by Charisma News with the headline Atheists Work to Block Charity From Feeding Starving Kids:

Students at the School of Engineering and Arts recently visited Calvary Lutheran Church to participate in a volunteer program sponsored by Feed My Starving Children, a nonprofit organization run by Christians that seeks to eliminate world hunger for children. As part of the program, students prepared prepacked meals that would be sent to malnourished children across the globe and did not engage in any religious activities.

[,,,]
“It’s shameful for groups like the American Humanist Association to attack charity groups that provide impoverished children with help they wouldn’t otherwise receive,” says senior legal counsel Jeremy Tedesco. “We hope that our letter will help Robbinsdale Area Schools understand that they can continue to allow students to participate with Feed My Starving Children and other worthy humanitarian service programs for the benefit of the needy.”

The next day, the master of hyperbole, Todd Starnes states once again claims of anti-Christian persecution, American Humanist Association demands students stop feeding starving kids:

The humanists got their britches in a bunch after the family of a student at the School of Engineering and Arts objected to the project being held at Calvary Lutheran Church.

[,,,]
The humanists took special offense to biblical terminology used to describe the mission to feed starving children.

[,,,]
How the atheists must have trembled at the sight of the cross as they tried to avert their eyes lest they soil themselves and spontaneously combust.

What I find so telling and why the highlighted statement above is spot on, Starnes continues:

I called Latisha Gray, the spokesperson for the school district – a very nice lady who seemed rather perplexed by the controversy and said they don’t believe they violated the U.S. Constitution.

“We believe that this activity was a service learning activity,” she told me. “There was absolutely no evangelizing or religious activity in the event.”

In other words, she is a nice Christian lady, who has no personal understanding of the First Amendment and what legal ramifications it entails.  Her misguided thinking concerning this issue,

the project was held during school hours as part of a community service project.  [AND] It’s the second year the school has partnered with “Feed My Starving Children.”

is fed by the "we believe" faction that holds to "their interpretation of the law is the only correct interpretation," and the atheists are bad, therefore wrong.

What is so infuriating is the blatant mis-characterization of what is at issue.  Spinning a possible SOCAS violation as, atheists trying to block the charity itself is dishonest and unnecessary.

The first point that Starnes et al choose to ignore in this case, "Christian" exceptionalism.

"Gray said the school is aware that a parent had complained about the event,,,The AHA said the parent also complained about the event last year."  So the school, knowing there was a previous issue with this project, chose to ignore it, "it is even more egregious that, after the parental complaint was made last year, you did nothing to remedy the problem, but instead suggested that the parent was misguided for complaining."  What Starnes leaves off, "We therefore seek immediate assurance that activities such as those complained of herein will cease immediately and not be continued in the future."  So the nice Christian lady, Latisha Gray who "seemed rather perplexed by the controversy" is full of shit.  She knows exactly what the problem is and so does Starnes.

A second point, trivializing the obvious

Further down in his diatribe, Starnes gives us this statement, "AHA said they don’t have a problem feeding hungry children. They just have a problem doing it inside a “theologically-charged environment.”  And concludes with, "This is a new low even for humanists. It takes a special kind of godless thuggery to take food out of the mouths of starving children."

Dude, I should say dudes as Jeremy Tedesco (ADF) alludes to this as well, I think you missed the point.  The AHA is NOT trying to stop the charity from feeding children, they are trying to prevent religious indoctrination of young impressionable children

1]  As we all know, charities such as Feed My Children (why is it MY Children?) depend on volunteers.  These kids were NOT volunteers, this was part of a school requirement for community service.  Hence why it was deemed a field trip and performed during school hours.

2]  Just the fact that this field trip occurred at a church implicitly supports a connection between church and state.  Church implies religion, specifically, Christianity.  I know of no 6,7 or 8 year old that would be able to separate the connection. 

3]  The goal of Christianity, proselytization (the Great Commission).  "The website of the church in question (the Calvary Lutheran Church) describes its mission as “to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ."

4]  The mission of the charity in question, "We believe God answers the prayers of His people and ask you to join us in praying.”

So yes Mr. Starnes it was a "theologically-charged environment" to insinuate otherwise is disingenuous.  For me to think that proselytizing to a "captive" audience was not the main focus of such organizations, I would have to ignore this and this:

Brannon, 25, said they decided to hand out care packages to the homeless after being told they could not volunteer at the Spartanburg Soup Kitchen.

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

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

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

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

And,

The bad news is that we aren’t likely to have a volunteer event. The reason is unfortunate: Kansas City Rescue Mission has decided to use the meals they deliver as a chance to proselytize to its recipients by inserting religious literature into the meals. They informed us that we “would not be a good fit” (emphasis theirs) for volunteering with them, and declined to respond to any further inquiries. We can only speculate at their motivation behind this,,,

So why do they lie?  I have no clue.  The author of the original article couldn't answer it succinctly either:  "With the religious right, however, the tendency to put fantasy in front of fact is the dominant cultural imperative. Conspiracy theories about Planned Parenthood are the norm. Entire laws are being passed based on the lie that legal abortion is dangerous. For other interest groups, being a bunch of dishonest hacks is a legitimate obstacle, and understandably so! It’s interesting how much the Christian right is an exception.

But do you see the pattern, the formula and how well it works [insert ACA, gay marriage, atheist, humanist, or any individual/group not agreed with.]

Anti-gay activist found guilty of filming child porn | Gay Star News

 Gay or straight, Bible  thumping believer or not, 25 years is not enough for what this POS did to her own child,,,and for the ADF to act as if nothing happened by removing her name (if what the SLPC reports is true) is despicable,,,

The attorney, associated with reactionary Christian anti-gay firm Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in November last year.

She was accused of eight felony counts involving the videotaping of men having sex with her 14-year-old child, taking a teenage girl to Canada and forcing her to engage in sex on Camera.

Biron also allegedly made a phone video of her having sex with her daughter as well.

[,,,]
According to the Southern Law Poverty Center, the ADF removed all mentions of her from its website and Facebook page, and said Biron was never an employee.

In March of 2011, she was listed by the ADF as an ‘Allied Attorney Success Story’.

Anti-gay activist found guilty of filming child porn | Gay Star News