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.
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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”.

January 23, 2016::End of the day round-up (pg 2)

Mike Huckabee Throws A Fit While Defending Duggar Family In Iowa

"You’re accusing me of supporting child abuse," the Republican presidential candidate shot back. "I’m gonna take you on on that because that hurts my feelings."

When the woman persisted, Huckabee said, "You have no idea what you're talking about. You don't know that family and I do."

He added: 

"I never supported anything that happened to those daughters. I supported the fact that those daughters were maliciously and savagely abused not just by their brother, but by the news media who exploited them for their own purpose without regard for what it was doing to those young ladies."

Huckabee then accused the woman of abusing "the reputation of a godly family who had been through hell."
"I'm going to ask you to stop talking about them unless you personally know them," Huckabee said, before accusing her of trying to "make a scene."

"We're finished with you... You're done," Huckabee said. "You can either stay and be quiet or we're going to ask you to leave."

 Martin O’Malley Brings Workers’ Chaotic Schedules Into The Presidential Race

Some of them are familiar ground for his fellow Democratic hopefuls, such as calling for paid family leave, equal pay, and reducing the burden of college debt. But he also surfaced some ideas that haven’t gotten much traction in the campaign thus far.

Two of his so-called rights address the chaos many people who work in service jobs like retail experience: erratic schedules and the inability to get full-time positions. Under the banner “The Right To A Predictable Weekly Schedule,” O’Malley promises to “lobby for, pass, and implement the Schedules That Work Act.” That’s a bill that Democrats in Congress introduced to require that employers give at least two weeks notice of schedules and pay workers who are told to be available for an on-call shift but not asked to come in or who get sent home before the end of their scheduled shift.

Scheduling has become a more prominent issue given that at least 10 percent of the country’s workforce is given irregular or on-call shifts, and the share is even larger among retail employees — more than a quarter. “Erratic and constantly changing schedules leave many workers—especially in growing low-wage industries—unable to plan ahead to make ends meet,” O’Malley says.

In response to my query - Why is O'Malley the only candidate broaching this topic* - I received the following.  But here's the thing, I am not completely sold on either Clinton or Sanders, but O'Malley is a complete unknown to me at present.  This election is too important (just taking into consideration possible SCOTUS appointments) to "waste" my vote.

[* I believe the press/media briefly mentioned Sanders interest in this topic as well but for some odd reason it does not stand out in my mind.  Why possibly O'Malley's comments caught my attention.]

So this political ad - Hello Dem’s…. ‘Lookin’ for Fun and Feelin’ Bernie?’ — Not me. Here’s why. - courtesy of Nick Kelly, has me pondering,,, Is a outlier candidate a viable challenge within the Democratic Party? What about on the national stage against the Reich?

David Barton Removes Claim About Chaplains at the University of Virginia in New Edition of The Jefferson Lies

In the new edition of The Jefferson Lies, Barton continues to assert that Jefferson wanted to establish a “transdenominational” school but he leaves out the chaplains story. From the new edition:

4. DID JEFFERSON EXCLUDE RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION FROM THE ACADEMIC PROGRAM?

As already noted, in 1818 Jefferson and the university Visitors publicly released their plan for the new school announcing that it would be transdenominational and making clear that religious instruction would be provided to all students. But Jefferson insisted on additional steps to ensure that religious training would occur at the university.

Barton, David (2015-12-22). The Jefferson Lies: Exposing the Myths You’ve Always Believed About Thomas Jefferson (Kindle Locations 1997-2000). WND Books. Kindle Edition.

I am surprised that Barton left this story out because in February 2015, Barton told the same story to Jack Hibbs, pastor of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills. He told this story as evidence that he is positively revising errors of academic historians.

Sadly there is not much more that can be said in regards to cases such as these. Like ALL the cases prior, the Giffords lost because they knowing violated the law(s).  Add to that, they , like the Kleins, have become cash cows for the firms representing the Reichs agenda.

New York Wedding Venue Loses Appeal To Refuse Serving Same-Sex Couples 

Liberty Ridge Farm in upstate New York just lost an appeal in its effort to justify discrimination against same-sex couples. An appeals court unanimously affirmed the State Division of Human Rights’ determination that the couple who owned the wedding venue, Robert and Cynthia Gifford, violated the state’s nondiscrimination law when they refused to host a wedding for Melissa and Jennifer McCarthy back in 2012.

Represented by the conservative legal juggernaut the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the Giffords argued that because their farm is private property, they should not be considered a public accommodation. They also argued that they did not actually engage in discrimination based on sexual orientation, and that being compelled to host a same-sex wedding violated their freedoms of religion and speech. The court rejected these claims outright.

Because Liberty Ridge is open to the public as a venue for wedding ceremonies and receptions, its facilities “fall comfortably within the broad definition of ‘place of public accommodation,'” the court wrote. “The fact that the wedding ceremonies occur on private property and pursuant to a written contract does not, as petitioners contend, remove Liberty Ridge’s facilities from the reach of the Human Rights Law; the critical factor is that the facilities are made available to the public at large.”

 

U.S. Supreme Court rules Florida's death penalty system is unconstitutional

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down Florida's unique capital sentencing system on Tuesday in a ruling that found the state gives too much power to judges, and not enough to juries, to impose the death penalty.

In an 8-1 opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing for the majority, said that the state's sentencing procedure is unconstitutional because juries play an advisory role in recommending life or death. State law requires judges to make the final decision, after giving "great weight" to jurors' recommendations.
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In Tuesday's opinion, Sotomayor wrote that the central problem with Florida's law is the lack of authority it allows jurors, who are not required to give a specific factual basis for their recommendation. Judges must consider the jury's vote, but they can act independently, sentencing defendants to life or death regardless of the jury's advisory opinion.

"The Sixth Amendment requires a jury, not a judge, to find each fact necessary to impose a sentence of death," wrote Sotomayor. "A jury's mere recommendation is not enough."

The opinion was joined by six justices, with the exception of Justice Stephen Breyer, who wrote a separate concurring opinion, and Justice Samuel Alito, who was the lone voice of dissent.

Show Notes:: Not So Fast - Dred Scott

So, I wasn't going to do this to myself so soon but we are going to revisit the Kim Davis Affair - sorta.  If you remember, in my first contribution to the fracas  I talked a bit about special pleading or Christian exceptionalism; the "I'm special" mentality. 

Today I want to look at one specific argument that has been flaunted in Davis' defense:

,,,the Dred Scott decision of 1857 still remains to this day the law of the land which says that black people aren’t fully human,,,. Does anybody still follow the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision?  [:43]

Now I am certain the various analyses I read prior (for what I shall now call part one) have been correct, that Dred Scott  was overturned by the 13th and 14th amendments (1865 and 1868, respectively). So, no, it is no longer the law of the land.  And as I said previously, Huckabee was an ass, constitutionally speaking, in citing it as support for his cause.  But, something has been nagging at me,,,

I know the Reich is getting desperate, they are embracing scary levels of radicalism to seize power in any way that they can.  So, is,,,Huckabee "just" pandering to his base?  Or,,, is he really that stupid?  Personally I think I already know the answer, especially if one takes into account his statement in June regarding the King ruling concerning Obamacare, the other thorn in the Reich's side:

Today's King v. Burwell decision, which protects and expands ObamaCare, is an out-of-control act of judicial tyranny. Our Founding Fathers didn't create a "do-over" provision in our Constitution that allows unelected, Supreme Court justices the power to circumvent Congress and rewrite bad laws. The Supreme Court cannot legislate from the bench, ignore the Constitution, and pass,,,

Notice his verbiage, the talking points of the Reich,,, this is what is bothersome.

 

Nestled in a article, by contributing writer Danielle Allen over at WaPo, is a discussion of the underlying issue of both the DS and Obergefell rulings, the "question of property rights."

In referring to Kennedy's opinion, Allen asks,

,,,if marriage is just a mode of organizing property rights and attendant duties and privileges, why couldn’t gay couples be given access to those rights via another organizational form, for instance, civil union?

She then immediately reminds us,

But this would have been to permit the re-emergence of a world of separate but equal, where there is no justification for the separate vehicles other than animus and discrimination.

With his arguments about dignity, Kennedy reminds us that this world of “separate but equal” is firmly closed off,,,

Did you catch it? "But this would have been to permit the re-emergence of a world of separate but equal,,," [and we all know how well that worked out].

In other words, the ole Us vs Them mentality. Or "I'm special" because "I hold to the '"traditional' (religious) definition of marriage and you don't." 

Which brings us to the important word in Allen's concluding thought, "animus".

I have written about the UvT mentality a few times and how it is woven into the Reich's agenda.  It's importance was imparted on me via a Diane Benscoter TEDTalk titled  "How Cults Think" where she speaks of extreme religious batshittery as a brain virus (much like Dr. Darrell Ray in the God Virus, The: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture).

,,,the most dangerous part of this is that is creates "us" and "them," "right" and "wrong," "good" and "evil." And it makes anything possible. Makes anything rationalizable.

Benscoter expands that idea in a blog post where she talks further in regards to memeplexes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memeplex (groups of memes which have been used to understand, in this case, the phenomenon of religion).

This concept gives us a means to view, from an evolutionary perspective, how and why we have tended to clump together into groups with highly polarized ideologies. We can start to understand the pull to view the world from a “Us” versus “Them” perspective,,,.

And that my dears fits into the Reich's agenda like a hand fits a glove. 

Let me explain,,,

Two years ago, at the height of the Cliven Bundy v. BLM stand-off a writer for Truth Wins Out (TWO), Bruce Wilson, "discovered" the money behind the Reich.  An annual conference called – The Gathering, that gives away up to a billion dollars a year with much of the money given to Christian organizations (Alliance Defending Freedom, The World Congress of Families, Family Research Council, and American Family Association). The largest donor at this conference is the National Christian Foundation – which last year gave away $670 million dollars to various right wing causes.

Now unless you have been living under a rock, these are not only the main purveyors of hate (in the US and abroad - Uganda and Russia) but also the main driving forces behind ALL the faux religious liberty cases we have witnessed in recent years.  The take away, and why I mention this, as Wayne Besen (also of TWO) points out,

It is critically important to understand that the main goal of many of these extreme Christian fundamentalist groups is to take over nations and turn them into totalitarian theocracies. This includes the Untied [sic] States of America and helps explain why our politics are so polarized.

Do you get it now? 

What Besen did, is "come up with 10-Point Playbook that these homegrown Christian extremists use when they attempt to accomplish their frightening goals."  You will recognize this list as I have mentioned it before,

1) Find inflammatory wedge issues and scapegoats to divide people and force them to choose sides  [Marriage equality]

2) Persuade people to join your righteous “team” in its effort to purify society. Demand absolute loyalty and obedience to that team’s leaders (even above allegiance to the state) [American Family Association, Family Research Council]

3) Identify and cultivate key major donors to fund mission. To reward their support, back conservative economic policies [Koch Brothers, Greens (Hobby Lobby), Waltons (Walmart), John Schnatter (Papa Johns)]

4) Create parallel infrastructure and institutions (i.e. private education, conferences, think tanks, and charities)  [John Birch Society, Heritage Foundation, The Gathering]

5) Build an insular media cocoon to disseminate propaganda. This vast echo chamber is contemptuous of contradictory facts, suspicious of reason, and impervious to mainstream media scrutiny  [Fox News, BarbWire, Glenn Beck, WorldNetDaily]

6) Infiltrate society’s major institutions in a clandestine effort to undermine, influence, and ultimately control (See 7 Mountains Movement: government, education, family, religion, entertainment, business, and media)  [Texas State Board of Education]

7) Facilitate the decline of secular government by deliberately and persistently creating crises in confidence and eroding trust in venerable institutions  [GOP/TP, Gov't shutdown over Debt Ceiling, IRS and Benghazi]

8) Oppose all gun control laws and tacitly encourage local militias, so in the event of insurrection fundamentalists are the most well armed sector of society  [NRA, Gun Owners of America]

9) Constantly agitate and manufacture havoc, because theocracy can only be attained amid chaos. Without a functioning central government, the shadow infrastructure created by fundamentalists makes them the best situated to fill a vacuum, restore order at the price of liberty, and install their regime  [Racism,, see #7]

10) Export model abroad: Send influential emissaries and dedicated missionaries; deploy basic services to create dependence; and dispense money to acquire strategic local alliances; while organizing key international gatherings and fostering opposition at The United Nations…we’ve seen the manifestation of these efforts most notably in Uganda and Russia – with both nation’s veering far to the right, restricting freedom, and passing draconian anti-gay laws [Uganda, Russia]

So, I ask again, is Huckabee's use of this analogy, along with the rest of the Reich's cadre, incidental; based on just plain ignorance or stupidity.  Or is he, in a not so underhanded sort of way, stating "I have this plan you see. I really have no problem discriminating against a distinct class of people in order to carry this plan to fruition"

You have to remember, the Reich does have a plan, it begins 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. 

I fell into a rabbit hole so maybe a part 3,,,

UPDATED::David Barton’s New Project: What is Keep the Promise Super PAC?

An addendum of sorts:: Ted Cruz Speaks At David Barton’s Legislative Conference

As Throckmorton notes concerning Barton's appointment to head Keep the Promise PAC, "Cruz can’t be criticized directly for the fact that the PACs supporting him named Barton as the head of day to day operations. However, Cruz can be criticized for lending his credibility to Barton’s work when he speaks at Barton’s pastors briefing.   Cue Alan Noble’s article on how to revitalize young conservatives."

What interests me about Noble's piece, besides that it was written two years ago, it's spot on and still pertinent today.

But Cruz has chosen to associate with David Barton and speak at his conference, a conference with a very specific worldview which has been defined by Barton. Whether he likes it or not, this action by Cruz signals something to voters. It signals that he believes Barton to be an ally and a legitimate political figure. By participating in this conference, he is implicitly lending support to Barton and his work.
,,,
Barton is a fraud and a hack, as is Beck and Boykin. These figures should not have direct influence on conservatives and evangelicals, but they do. They do, in part, because politicians like Cruz don’t have the integrity and boldness to ignore them, which is what they must do if they want conservatism to have credibility,,,. The problem is that in this case, established conservative leaders are the ones who support and promote these fools. Barton continues to have influence in conservative politics, especially in Texas, in part because politicians respect him, listen to him, and participate in his political events.

_____

So earlier this month, Warren Throckmorton passed this little tid-bit along,

Bloomberg news is reporting that David Barton has become leader of a Super-PAC with ties to Ted Cruz.

Keep the Promise PAC raised more money in the first half of the year than any other Super-PAC besides Jeb Bush’s, according to Bloomberg.

Well, to me, this mean Ted Cruz would rather be president of the Wallbuilders’ Fan Club than the U.S. It has sometimes been hard to get media to pay attention to Barton’s wild claims but this appointment may now make it easier.

Later that same day, Throckmorton delved a bit deeper 

Bloomberg broke the story today that David Barton has been appointed to lead the umbrella Super PAC Keep the Promise. The PAC supports Ted Cruz but is structured in a curious manner. There are actually several PACs which supported Cruz, four of which named Keep the Promise. It is not completely clear to me that Barton will lead all of them.
,,,
The Wilks brothers sound like they have attended a David Barton seminar. They are wasting their money preaching to the choir. People outside the bubble don’t buy it. They also run a church called Assembly of Yahweh which sounds like a 7th Day Adventist style church.

What some may not be aware of, the Wilks bothers, are low key versions of the Kochs,

Farris and Dan Wilks, billionaires who made their fortunes in the West Texas fracking boom, have given $15 million of the $38 million that the pro-Cruz super PAC, Keep the Promise, will disclose in election filings next week, according to sources outside the super PAC with knowledge of the giving. 

The siblings earned their riches with the sale of their company Frac Tech for $3.5 billion in 2011, and since then have shuffled large contributions to the leading social conservative nonprofit groups that aren't required to reveal their donors. But they will no longer be able to avoid detection after giving a historically large and early donation that now make the brothers two of America's most prominent political donors.

"Our country was founded on the idea that our rights come from the Creator, not the government. I'm afraid we're losing that," Farris Wilks, a 63-year-old pastor in the small town of Cisco, said in a statement to CNN. "Unless we elect a principled conservative leader ready to stand up for our values, we'll look back on what once was the land of opportunity and pass on a less prosperous nation to our children and grandchildren. That's why we need Ted Cruz."

But here is where things get interesting,,, 

As we all know, both Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz are pandering to the "reliosheeps" in regards to the Kim Davis Affair.  Towing the "partay" line as spouted by Huckabee that basically says, "The Supreme Court cannot overrule God."  A reaction of the Reich since the Obergefell ruling this past summer.

BUT, as Antiphon Freeman, writing for Addiction Info very nicely points out,

With Ted Cruz just now appointing David Barton as his main man at his super PAC, though, it’s going to be hard for them to keep saying that the courts have no authority in the matter. Why? Because Barton has for a very long time tried to use the power of the courts to argue that traditional marriage should be between a man and a woman – because they said so.

He cited an obscure 19[1]3 Texas Supreme Court ruling called Grigsby v. Reib, which he said proves we shouldn’t accept gay marriage.

Now that the highest court in the land has ruled on the matter and upheld it several times on appeal, he wants to conveniently forget that he once thought their opinion mattered.

You can’t have it both ways,,,

Freeman is correct and maybe (I know wishful thinking) Barton will quit with his drivel in regards to this bit of case law.  As Right Wing Watch notes, going beyond the point Freeman makes concerning the above double-standard,

Contrary to Barton's claims that this case enshrines divine principles about marriage into our civil laws, the court repeatedly notes that marriage is a nothing more than a civil contract that requires "neither license nor solemnization of religious or official ceremony" to be legally binding.

​Barton claims that this case was about trying to create a secular alternative to marriage, which the court slapped down because there can never be any legal marriage that does not correspond to "God's definition." In reality, the case addressed the issue of whether a supposedly secret verbal agreement to become husband and wife constitutes a legally binding and recognizable common law marriage and whether the relationship between Stallcup and Grigsby qualified as one under the law, with the court ruling that it did not because it didn't meet the most basic requirements.

David Barton’s New Project: What is Keep the Promise Super PAC?

Cult NewsDoes Kim Davis believe Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz are condemned to hell? - Cult News

Well this is interesting and Rick Ross does pose a vital question, "Does the newly anointed martyr for religious freedom really believe in religious freedom? Or is Kim Davis only posing as a mainstream Evangelical when she is really from a fringe Pentecostal group that condemns Christians who disagree with its doctrine?

Let's take that one step further and also throw into the mix this comment,

You miss the point of both Christianity and the First Amendment. To the prior: “… and in all things – charity”, and to the latter freedom of religion and expression is NOT limited to only that which squares with one’s own position. So there is no Constitutional nor Christian justification for Cruz and Huckabee to NOT support this lady, even if they don’t agree with her brand of theology. This is what TRUE tolerance is about,,,

 Oh really?!  Then please explain this,

See here for a full description of the interview in question.

Huckabee and Cruz should be all over this complaint by the logic presented by the comment.  But, alas, only the "right" GOD counts, ",,, By that I do not mean Allah, Buddha, etc., but rather I mean the YHWH – the great “I Am”, the God of the bible, Judaism and Christianity."

[Please note that I only use this complaint as a counter example of the Rights hypocritical stance on "religious freedom".  I have yet to read the complaint nor any documents or articles concerning this complaint other than a precursory view.  I provide Cenk Uygur's, host of the The Young Turks, break down as a preliminary overview but I do not necessarily agree with him without further examination.]

But I digress,,,

Kim Davis apparently has become a Christian martyr to some Evangelicals, including former governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee and United States Senator Ted Cruz. Both men are Southern Baptists seeking the office of President of the United States.

However, what Huckabee and Cruz don’t know about the Kentucky county clerk recently jailed for her stand against gay marriage is that she believes that all Christians that don’t subscribe to her sect’s specific beliefs will be denied salvation and apparently spend eternity in hell.

Davis belongs to the Solid Rock Apostolic Church in Morehead, Kentucky. Solid Rock is a member of Apostolic Pentecostal Churches and Ministries and is listed at its directory for Kentucky.

The Apostolic Church website lists “60 questions on the Godhead,” which specifically deny the existence of the trinity as believed by the overwhelming majority of Christians, including Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz.

The Apostolic Church website also explains “Why We Baptize in Jesus’ Name,” which excludes the efficacy of any other baptism formula, such as those done in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit., which represents what Apostolic Churches consider the false doctrine of the trinity. This “formula of baptism” is essential for salvation. As the Apostolic Churches website states, “Out basic and fundamental doctrine shall be the Bible standard of full salvation, which is the absolute essentiality of repentance, baptism in water by immersion in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, with the initial sign of speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance.”

The Apostolic Church further concludes, “We believe the Bible teaches that the above statement to be essential and not subsequent to salvation.”

What this means is that anyone, including Evangelicals like Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz, are required to meet these requirements or they have no salvation and will apparently be condemned to hell. According to Kim Davis’ beliefs the pastor and former governor of Arkansas and the United States senator must renounce their false beliefs about the trinity and be re-baptized only in the name of Jesus and thus become true believers. Anything less is unacceptable to God according to Davis and her church.

Cult NewsDoes Kim Davis believe Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz are condemned to hell? - Cult News

Ooops,,,I said it again

Jim Bakker Preparing To Go To Jail Again, This Time Because Of Jade Helm 15 

Jim Bakker, the televangelist who served time in jail for fraud in the 1990s, declared on his program earlier this week that he may very soon wind up in jail again … this time as a victim of the made-up Jade Helm 15 federal takeover of Texas.

Bakker discussed Jade Helm 15 with Rick Wiles during a series of programs in which the two floated a variety of unhinged conspiracy theories. The two pastors agreed that the military exercise is meant to foment civil strife and, according to Wiles, target Texas because the state is trying to subvert the Federal Reserve system through its gold depository.

Glenn Beck's Network Is 'Almost All God Now Because We're Out Of Time'

"We, as people, I believe are seeing a red line put down by God," Beck said, "and He is saying we are a covenant nation; the only one that has ever been this is ancient Israel ... We will be His people if we choose Him as our God. He has made these things so clear that people must stand together and choose him as our God."

"We choose light over darkness, we choose God over Satan every single time," he continued. "I am a secular broadcaster and I am almost all God now because we're out of time."

Seems that Pastor Jeremiah Johnson is causing a bit of a shit-storm in Christendom.  Even the folks over at World Net Daily aren't sure what to make of it.  (Interesting critique BTW)

Prophecy: Donald Trump Shall Become the Trumpet

The Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, "Trump shall become My trumpet to the American people, for he possesses qualities that are even hard to find in My people these days. Trump does not fear man nor will he allow deception and lies to go unnoticed. I am going to use him to expose darkness and perversion in America like never before, but you must understand that he is like a bull in a china closet. Many will want to throw him away because he will disturb their sense of peace and tranquility, but you must listen through the bantering to discover the truth that I will speak through him. I will use the wealth that I have given him to expose and launch investigations searching for the truth. Just as I raised up Cyrus to fulfill My purposes and plans, so have I raised up Trump to fulfill my purposes and plans prior to the 2016 election. You must listen to the trumpet very closely for he will sound the alarm and many will be blessed because of his compassion and mercy. Though many see the outward pride and arrogance, I have given him the tender heart of a father that wants to lend a helping hand to the poor and the needy, to the foreigner and the stranger."

This is not the first time Mike Huckabee has objected to abortions for underage victims of sexual assault.

Mike Huckabee: 10-year-old rape victim should be forced to carry rapist’s baby

“Creating one problem that is horrible — let nobody be misled, a 10-year-old girl being raped is horrible — but does it solve a problem by taking the life of an innocent child?” Huckabee said. “And that’s really the issue.”
,,,
“When an abortion happens, there are two victims,” he insisted. “One is the child, the other is that birth mother, who often will go through extraordinary guilt years later when she begins to think through what happened, with the baby, with her.”
...
“I just come down on the side that every life is precious. I don’t think we discount the intrinsic worth of any human being, and I don’t know where else to go with it.”

If you say so,,,

Prosperity gospel preacher: People who don’t understand why I need a jet don’t understand God’s word

Atlanta “prosperity gospel” minister and megachurch pastor Creflo Dollar briefly addressed his desire for a multimillion-dollar Gulfstream G650 jet over the weekend, saying people who criticized him didn’t have a godly worldview.

“See, don’t get upset when the world says stuff and talks about stuff, and all that. They’re just looking through the wrong lens, they don’t understand,” Creflo said in a sermon uploaded to his ministry’s website.

“‘What does a preacher need with an airplane?’ They don’t know,” the preacher added. “They’ll never know because they’re not looking through the Word. They will never know, never never know.”

Huckabee Floats Plan To Deploy U.S. Troops To Stop Women From Getting Abortions | ThinkProgress

Huckabee said he would “invoke the 5th and 14th amendments for the protection of every human being.” The Fifth Amendment states, “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger.” This suggests a Hucakbee presidency would unilaterally make all abortion illegally by deeming all fetuses are people.

He repeated a conservative line that there is now scientific proof that “unborn babies are human beings,” and the Supreme Court may not have known that when they ruled on Roe v. Wade in 1973. Many anti-choicers have pointed to a recent study that said a small percentage of 22-week fetuses can survive outside the womb and have used that as justification for earlier and earlier abortion bans.

As noted by, The Topeka-Capital Journal, Huckabee is clueless as to our own history,

Jesse Choper, professor emeritus of public law at the University of California-Berkeley School of Law, said in a phone interview Friday that Huckabee’s statement was “way off-base,” adding, “it does rival Donald Trump.”

“I think he’d better more carefully examine what he’s saying, because it is totally unprecedented,” Choper said Friday.

No matter how much the Supreme Court’s decisions over the years were disliked, Choper said, presidents did very little to fight them. He pointed to civil rights decisions of the 1950s as an example.

“It was simply noncompliance,” Choper said of previous presidential responses. “That’s very different than calling out the troops for abortion.”
,,,
Choper noted that President Dwight D. Eisenhower called out troops in 1957 to enforce the Supreme Court’s desegregation order in Little Rock, Ark., “despite the fact that it’s well known that President Eisenhower was not terribly sympathetic” to the desegregation decision.

“He did what he believed he had to do,” Choper said.

Huckabee also said the Roe v. Wade decision was wrong to cite the right to privacy as a reason for abortion being permissible.

“Privacy doesn’t allow you to take a life,” he said.

Huckabee Floats Plan To Deploy U.S. Troops To Stop Women From Getting Abortions | ThinkProgress

Addicting Info – Mike Huckabee: Josh Duggar Is Totally Forgivable For Molesting His Sisters (VIDEO)

“What I was standing by was the fact that there were innocent people, including his sisters and others, the victims, who were exposed, humiliated,” Huckabee opined. “And there was no sense in which their concerns and their own dignity was respected. I found that the process by which this was released, it was utterly illegal.

Huckabee touted his time as governor of Arkansas as proof that he’s right about how the documents were obtained by In Touch Weekly. The problem is that the magazine legally obtained the records by filing a Freedom of Information Act request with the Springdale Police Department, which had to comply as long as sensitive information about the victims was redacted, which is precisely the case. You can even see the copy In Touch received by clicking here.

In the end, Huckabee continued to stand by his pal and said Josh Duggar’s crimes, which he was never punished for under the law because his parents hid his crimes to help him escape prosecution, are not “unforgivable.”

“So was I standing by someone who did something wrong? No. I said that what he did was absolutely unconscionable, but nothing is unforgivable.”

[,,,]
The hypocrisy of Mike Huckabee is immeasurable. especially when you consider that he wants everyone to forgive a child molester and move on while he himself refuses to move on from his crusade against consenting gay and lesbian adults who have committed no crimes whatsoever. In addition, both Huckabee and the Duggars have portrayed gay people as a threat to children while supporting a real threat to children in their own camp.

Addicting Info – Mike Huckabee: Josh Duggar Is Totally Forgivable For Molesting His Sisters (VIDEO)

Mike Huckabee once addressed the white supremacist group that influenced the Charleston shooter

Lest we forget amongst all the good news of the past 7 days, do we really want such a man as president?

According to a 2008 report by the Huffington Post, then Lt. Gov. Huckabee was invited by the nationalist group to speak at the 1993 convention but was unable and instead “sent an audio/video presentation saying ‘I can’t be with you, but I’d like to be speaker next time’.”

A 1993 newsletter by the group which was recently obtained and read, “Ark. Lt. Governor Mike Huckabee, unable to leave Arkansas by law because the Governor was absent from the state, sent a terrific videotape speech, which was viewed and extremely well received by the audience.”

Huckabee was invited again to speak in 1994 and after originally accepting the invitation, withdrew after a human rights group informed him the organization denied the holocaust happened. Huckabee said he would not do business with holocaust deniers.

“I will not share the stage or platform with someone who thinks the Holocaust didn’t happen,” Huckabee said at the time, as quoted by The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

However, Huckabee then told the paper he was unfamiliar with the nationalist group, despite the fact he addressed them only the year before.

“It’s such a rare thing that we have such an organization like this, and usually there are people on the program that we know,” he said, as quoted by The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “This is one we may not have known enough about.”

Mike Huckabee once addressed the white supremacist group that influenced the Charleston shooter

Huckabee On Transgender People: I Wish I Could've Said I Was Transgender In HS To Shower With The Girls - BuzzFeed News

While reading this a few disconcerting thoughts came to mind:

He openly fantasizes in public about showering with "underage girls" and then at a later time defends Josh Duggar.  Granted the "girls" would have been in the same age bracket as him;  but not something you would consider as an adult even upon reflection.

It's not about "feeling like a woman" during shower time. It's about feeling like a woman all the time. But as Huckabee understands it, the primary reason that a transgender person would submit to the trials and tribulations  of a lifelong transitioning process is to be able to catch glimpses of chicks in restrooms and locker rooms. 

My very sage friend, Callie Wright of The Gaytheist Manifesto put it this way in response to similar thinking: 

It's my favorite thing in the world when people who very obviously have zero understanding of a community but have gobs of opinion about it. You wouldn't feel like a woman if you had surgery because you're not one. Imagine how fucked up and wrong you would feel if you woke up with a vagina and tits tomorrow. Think honestly for a second about how fucked up that would feel. And you might have something approaching an understanding of what it's like to be trans.

I cannot tell you how disgusted and angry this makes me. This bloviating idiot is making jokes about gender issues that for some are the cause of much pain and ridicule, that they chose death over life.  It is not a "decision" anyone should be forced to make.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee joked earlier in the year he wished he could have pretended to be transgender in high school “when it came time to take showers in PE.”

Huckabee made the comments at the 2015 National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, earlier this year but the comments were uploaded to YouTube over the weekend by World Net Daily.

“For those who do not think that we are under threat, simply recognize that the fact that we are now in city after city watching ordinances say that your 7-year-old daughter, if she goes into the restroom cannot be offended and you can’t be offended if she’s greeted there by a 42-year-old man who feels more like a woman than he does a man.”

Huckabee continued saying saying he wished someone told him in high school he “could have felt like a woman” and shower with the girls.

Huckabee On Transgender People: I Wish I Could've Said I Was Transgender In HS To Shower With The Girls - BuzzFeed News

Mike Huckabee: Next president must obey ‘Supreme Being’ instead of Supreme Court on gay marriage

According to the GOP candidate, the United States would be operating under “judicial supremacy” instead of judicial review if bans on same-sex marriage were to be struck down.

“Presidents have understood that the Supreme Court cannot make a law, they cannot make it, the legislature has to make it, the executive branch has to sign it and enforce it,” Huckabee said. “And the notion that the Supreme Court comes up with the ruling and that automatically subjects the two other branches to following it defies everything there is about the three equal branches of government.”

“The Supreme Court is not the supreme branch,” he added. “And for God’s sake, it’s not the Supreme Being.”

He really doesn't understand "judicial review" or the fact that SCOTUS is not making "new" law but interpreting laws that are already in place, ie the Fourteenth Amendment:

[T]he courts were designed to be an intermediate body between the people and the legislature, in order, among other things, to keep the latter within the limits assigned to their authority. The interpretation of the laws is the proper and peculiar province of the courts. A constitution is, in fact, and must be regarded by the judges as, a fundamental law. It, therefore, belongs to them to ascertain its meaning, as well as the meaning of any particular act proceeding from the legislative body. If there should happen to be an irreconcilable variance between the two, that which has the superior obligation and validity ought, of course, to be preferred; or, in other words, the Constitution ought to be preferred to the statute, the intention of the people to the intention of their agents.

Mike Huckabee: Next president must obey ‘Supreme Being’ instead of Supreme Court on gay marriage

Mike Huckabee: Chapel Services In Public Schools Will End School Shootings | Right Wing Watch

“Because we were bringing Bibles to school people weren’t bringing guns to school, except for the deer hunters who left them in their trucks,” Huckabee said. “What has happened to our culture? What’s happened is we have lost our landmarks. When we reject the Bible as the objective word of truth, when we say that the Bible is no longer the standard by which we live and we make it whatever we feel, what we think, what we believe, then we have no landmark at all because that landmark is always being moved to accommodate our lifestyle rather than make our lifestyle accommodate the word of the living God and the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Mike Huckabee: Chapel Services In Public Schools Will End School Shootings | Right Wing Watch

Mike Huckabee: I'm Not Homophobic, Just Applying Biblical Rules On Gay Rights | Right Wing Watch

Mike Huckabee, doing his best to channel Dr. Jenna Jacobs, said in a recent interview with televangelist Jim Bakker that he doesn’t have any personal animus towards gay people, explaining that he opposes gay rights merely because that is what the Bible commands him to do.

Huckabee, who once called homosexuality “an aberrant, unnatural and sinful lifestyle” and demanded that the government quarantine people with HIV/AIDS, said he is offended that anyone thinks he is homophobic.

“The way that we’ve allowed words like tolerance, bigotry — what has happened to us, we allow ourselves to be called homophobic or bigoted, we’re not,” Huckabee told Bakker in the latest segment of their interview recent interview to be posted online. “We are just people who believe that there is a standard that was not ours, it was God’s, it was given to us and for us to change it we have to get his permission.”

This led Huckabee to rant against the public schools for undermining “core moral values” and teaching that America is an “evil, imperialistic nation,” telling Bakker that “it’s pretty frightening in that there are so many ways in which the education system is not educating but indoctrinating, it’s why we see so many parents who are going to homeschool or pulling their children out of government-operated school.”

Mike Huckabee: I'm Not Homophobic, Just Applying Biblical Rules On Gay Rights | Right Wing Watch

Continuation of,,,Hyperbole gets you no where

H/T: Dave Foda for this story

NY pastor: Justin Bieber is trans and ‘cut off his breasts’ because Obama’s ‘evil spirits’ misled him

“We’re talking about young girls, 6 to 10 years of age,” Atlah World Missionary Church Rev. James David Manning said in a YouTube video that was posted on Friday. “They can be led or influenced to cut off their breasts once they get into puberty. They can be led to have operations — like Justin Bieber — they can think that the best choice for their life is to cut off their breasts.”

“And then by the time they reach the age of 20 years old, they say, ‘I wish I had never cut off my breasts, I wish I had never mutilated my flesh, I wish I had never cut off my penis, I wish I had never done that, I was just young. And the people in the church or the people in the media said or gave the impression that I had a right to choose any kind of sexual orientation that I wanted to choose, and so I cut off my penis or I cut off my breasts.’”

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest::Shit on the Floor

The Little Mermaid - Under The Sea

 Creationists Freak Out Over Evolutionary ‘Back To The Sea’ Super Bowl Commercial (VIDEO)

99 Bottles Of Beer On The Wall by Atticus

Rick Perry's Comparison Of Homosexuality To Alcoholism Is Nothing New From The Anti-Gay Right

 Then Rick Santorum jumped to Perry's defense. The problem with that, Santorum once said, in regards to "redefining" marriage, "It’s like saying this glass of water is a glass of beer. Well, you can call it a glass of beer, but it’s not a glass of beer. It’s a glass of water. And water is what water is. Marriage is what marriage is."

Which later morphed into this inane analogy:  “I can call this napkin a paper towel,” the former Pennsylvania senator explained. “But it is a napkin. And why? Because it is what it is. Right? You can call it whatever you want, but it doesn’t change the character of what it is.”"

Now we have Mike Huckabee throwing his two-cents into the ring, Huckabee compares being gay to drinking, swearing,,,

Human Rights Campaign statement regarding Rick Perry's comparison of homosexuality to alcoholism.

Others that suffer from head in ass syndrome

Republican National Committeeman Dave Agema recently got in trouble with his own party after he, among other offensive remarks, compared gay people to alcoholics. So did top Religious Right leaders Mat Staver and Tony Perkins. Robert Jeffress, a Texas pastor close to Perry, also “equates being gay with alcoholism or a genetic proclivity toward violence,” according to the Dallas-based D Magazine.

Stories I will be contemplating for next week::Unicorns, War On Little Free Libraries, Evidence that Jonah was Swallowed by a Whale, and another Bad Analogy

Mike Huckabee Plans To Run For President To Fight The Secular Theocracy | Right Wing Watch

There's that phrase "Natural Law" again. And please do tell what "fundamental rights" have been "robbed" from you?

"We've divorced ourselves from an understanding that we cannot survive as a republic if we do not become once again a God-centered nation that understands that our laws do not come from man, they come from God," Huckabee said. "It is the natural law of God."

After insisting that he is not intending to create a theocracy, Robison piped up to declare that "we have a theocracy right now; it is a secular theocracy" and Huckabee readily agreed.

"That's it!" Huckabee said. "It is a humanistic, secular, atheistic, and even antagonistic toward Christian faith, and that's what we need to understand. Our basic fundamental rights are being robbed from us, taken from us piece by piece."

Secular Theocracy? Dictionary much,,,

Mike Huckabee Plans To Run For President To Fight The Secular Theocracy | Right Wing Watch

Jim Bakker Tells Mike Huckabee That Christians In America Are Like Jews Under Nazi Dictatorship | Right Wing Watch

Huckabee pointed to Phil Robertson’s temporary suspension from “Duck Dynasty” following his notorious comments about homosexuality and Jim Crow as proof that Christians are now victims of intolerance. Bakker is so worried about anti-Christian animus that he even tied the plight of Christians in America to Nazi Germany’s anti-Jewish persecution: “If we all took a stand just like the Robertson family did, they can’t put us all in jail at the same time, unless they did something like they did to the Jews.”

Jim Bakker Tells Mike Huckabee That Christians In America Are Like Jews Under Nazi Dictatorship | Right Wing Watch

Mike Huckabee Reiterates Opposition To Marriage Equality: God Has Already Ruled | Right Wing Watch

“I don’t know how anyone could actually read the chapter and come to the conclusion that I have sort of changed my view on same-sex marriage,” Huckabee said. “When people read the chapter, I think they’re going to get a clear understanding that the reason that I hold to the view that I do is it’s not just stubbornness, it’s because I haven’t been given permission from God to change what he said.”

Of course, that was the exact same argument used by many pastors who supported laws banning interracial marriage.

Mike Huckabee Reiterates Opposition To Marriage Equality: God Has Already Ruled | Right Wing Watch

Wash, Rinse and Repeat

This is the same dude that said that Jeb Bush is "unworthy" to even be a nominee,,,

Tea Partier: Bar Gays From Marriage Since They're A Minority

South Dakota Tea Party activist Bob Ellis railed against a federal court’s decision to strike down his state’s ban on same-sex marriage today, arguing in a BarbWire column that gay people simply aren’t suited for marriage.

Just like an aspiring fireman has to fulfill certain requirements before getting job, gay people have not met the requirements for marriage, Ellis explains: “You don’t get to call yourself a fireman just because you want to be one.” The anti-gay commentator also likens marriage equality for gay couples to passing off fake currency as real money.

After all, Ellis writes, “less than 3% of the population self-identifies as homosexual,” so they aren’t eligible to the same rights as others.

GOP Rep: Gays And Obama Attacking Society, Bringing America Down

Before posting a bizarre tweet linking President Obama to Adolf Hitler, Rep. Randy Weber appeared on “Washington Watch” with Craig James of the Family Research Council to promote his anti-gay State Marriage Defense Act. The Texas Republican told James that President Obama and the gay community are launching an attack against traditional American values in order to bring the country down.

“We live in tough times, our society is under attack,” Weber said while criticizing the recent string of court victories for gay couples seeking marriage rights.

He said he hoped that Sen. Ted Cruz, the legislation’s sponsor in the Senate, would push for a vote to send the bill to the White House and expose “Barack Hussein Obama’s” anti-American agenda,,,

Tony Perkins Links Gay Rights Supporters To Charlie Hebdo Assailants

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins has compared conservatives in the U.S. to the victims of Nazi Germany and ISIS, claiming that LGBT equality advocates are channeling the two groups in their purported persecution of their political opponents. So now, naturally, Perkins is comparing U.S. conservatives to the victims of the terrorist attack on the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris.

,,,

“Look. What happened there in Paris was designed to intimidate and silence,” he said. “What happened here in Georgia, it wasn’t terrorists, it was a mayor; it wasn’t a gun he fired, but it was the chief he fired. And the intent was the same. It was to silence and to intimidate people of faith.”

Atlanta Mayor's Moves Reminds Michael Youssef of Dictatorship

Like Chief Cochran, other Bible-believing Christians such as myself hold no hatred toward homosexuals, or toward all people who choose to live their lives their way. And yet, if you believe in biblical truth, the thought police will brandish you as a "hater."

For the sake of America's future, please do not try to marginalize or destroy those whose only crime is following the clear commands of God. By all means, you should be free to disagree, even vehemently. In fact, I will defend your right to disagree with God's Word.

But to terminate someone's employment and deprive them of their livelihood? That is something worthy of ISIS. Members of ISIS may chop off the heads of Christians, but to chop off someone's voice or identity originates from the same desire for control through cruelty.

Beck: Our Founding Principles Require That Christianity Receive Preferential Treatment

"We are clearly a Judeo-Christian nation," he said while warning that society has now begun to "coddle those who disagree with Judeo-Christian values."

"We are becoming openly hostile to our own foundation," Beck said. "We have tolerated and excused and embraced the ideals that are in direct opposition to our founding principles."

Ron Paul Is Just Asking The Question: Was The Charlie Hebdo Attack A False Flag Operation?

In an appearance today on the Newsmax show “Midpoint,” former congressman Ron Paul defended a conspiracy theorist’s article published on the Ron Paul Institute’s website this week suggesting that the attack at Charlie Hebdo’s offices, along with 9/11, was an American false flag operation designed “to cow France and place France back under Washington’s thumb.”

According to Paul, neither he nor the author believe that the Charlie Hebdo attack was actually a false flag.

Instead, Paul claimed, the author was just asking the question and “determined to try to get truth out” about the attacks, and since he was just asking the question, he shouldn’t be held responsible for the contents of the allegations.

Mike Huckabee: Support The Fair Tax Because 'Giving Proportionately Is Biblical'

After lamenting that America is no longer a place where women who use profanity are considered to be "trash," Huckabee made his case for the "fair tax," which is a proposal to scrap all federal taxes and replace them with a 30% tax on consumption, because that is what is biblical.

"I believe in the biblical understanding of stewardship," Huckabee said. "Everybody should have something invested. God doesn't say, 'Oh, you're too poor, don't give anything.' He says, 'Everyone give a tithe.' ... I'm telling you something, giving proportionately is biblical."

Huckabee added that an additional bonus of the fair tax is that "we would get rid of the I.R.S.."

"They would be gone," he said. "Done forever and forever!"

Huckabee compares being gay to drinking, swearing - CNN.com

What is it with politicians and bad analogies? "First" there was Rick Perry:

“Whether or not you feel compelled to follow a particular lifestyle or not, you have the ability to decide not to do that,” Perry said. “I may have the genetic coding that I’m inclined to be an alcoholic, but I have the desire not to do that, and I look at the homosexual issue the same way.”

Then Rick Santorum jumped to Perry's defense. The problem with that, Santorum once said, in regards to "redefining" marriage,

It’s like saying this glass of water is a glass of beer. Well, you can call it a glass of beer, but it’s not a glass of beer. It’s a glass of water. And water is what water is. Marriage is what marriage is.

Later that analogy morphed into napkins v. paper towels,

“I can call this napkin a paper towel,” the former Pennsylvania senator explained. “But it is a napkin. And why? Because it is what it is. Right? You can call it whatever you want, but it doesn’t change the character of what it is.”

Now we have,,,

Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee says expecting Christians to accept same-sex marriage is "like asking someone who's Jewish to start serving bacon-wrapped shrimp in their deli."

He also called homosexuality part of a lifestyle, like drinking and swearing.

The former Arkansas governor, winner of the 2008 Iowa caucuses and likely 2016 contender's comments came during an appearance Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union," as he defended an excerpt from his new book in which he says he has friends and associates who are gay.

"People can be my friends who have lifestyles that are not necessarily my lifestyle. I don't shut people out of my circle or out of my life because they have a different point of view," Huckabee told CNN's Dana Bash, while deflecting a question about whether he believes being gay is a choice.

Once again it is the same ole "pray away the gay or you can change -that- mentality."  A point responded to by the HRC in regards to Perry's assertion.

Many right-wing religious groups promote the concept that an individual can change his or her sexual orientation, either through prayer or other religious efforts, or through so-called "reparative" or "conversion" therapy. Research on such efforts has disproven their efficacy, and also has indicated that they can be affirmatively harmful. Beyond studies focused solely on reparative therapy, broader research clearly demonstrates the significant harm that societal prejudice and family rejection has on LGBT people, particularly youth. Furthermore, there is significant evidence of harm to LGBT people resulting from attempts to change their sexual orientation. Based on this body of evidence, every major medical and mental health organization in the United States has issued a statement condemning the use of reparative therapy.

Oh and Mike, no one wants to "close someone's business down." If the business that chooses to break the law can't afford the punishment, that is on them - not the victims of their wrong-doing.

Huckabee compares being gay to drinking, swearing - CNN.com

Two Presidential candidates who have no qualms about pandering to anti-gay bigots

First up in Mike Huckabee promoting his new book God, Guns, Grits and Gravy on American Family Association's "Today's Issues" radio program.

In the first part of the call, Huckabee explains the premise of his book, normal middle-American people should not be ashamed of what they value in everyday life.  What he calls Bubbleville (the three cultural bubbles of NY-DC-Hollywood) vs Bubbaville (hence the title of his book).

That is well and good although his line (3:40 mark) concerning the book being a "Sunday school teacher's or Pastor's delight because you're going to get a lot of illustrative material out of it" is very troubling considering some of his past statements: conservatives should not accept the rulings which strike down gay marriage bans, there should be a "massive outcry" against the decisions; wanting chapel services in schools and his idea of foreign policy, "if we don't fear God, nobody will fear us."

But, what I find ironic, maybe even a bit comical, is Huckabees's response to Tim Wildmon's question (4:06 mark) as to why he left FOX, "there was a thresh-hold I couldn't cross and that is as long as I was still on television, I couldn't really have that honest conversation and say will you support me; will you help me.  Because that would be inappropriate and I knew where that thresh-hold was."

Let's think a bout that for a minute,,,

I'm beginning to think that Joseph Williams in his piece What Does Mike Huckabee Really Believe? wasn't to far off the mark.  Williams cites Dean Obeidallah who "compares Huckabee’s record as Arkansas governor with his more, shall we say, extreme persona on Fox News and his so-far underestimated political strength" calling it a Jekyll-and-Hyde premise.

While Huckabee is thinking about his run for president, I thought it was time to think about Huckabee. And I’m talking both of them.  What do I mean? Well, there’s “Governor Huckabee,” a genial, compassionate person.  And then there’s “Mr. Huckabee,” his callous, rightwing alter ego.

[,,,]
Bottom line: Huckabee is for real.  At least from an electoral point of view. But who is the real Huckabee is another question.

There’s the kindly Governor Huckabee who championed an increase in the minimum wage, hired more state employees and even expanded government services with programs such as “ARKids First” that provided health coverage for thousands of Arkansas’ children.

As Williams points out,"Obeidallah goes on to compare Governor Huckabee’s Arkansas record and his populist cred with Mr. Huckabee’s tack to the right, presumably in service of pursuing high ratings and/or a Republican presidential nomination."

So back to the "honest conversation" bit.  Which is Huck, are you standing with and pandering to your bigot supporters?  Or are you just trying to sell a book,

"The claim that same-sex marriage is destroying society is actually greatly overstated," Huckabee writes. "Christians who themselves abandoned the primacy of lifelong marriage to follow the divorce and remarriage customs of a secular society have as much to answer for as those who militantly push to redefine marriage."

He later adds, "Marriage as an institution is not so much threatened by same-sex couples as it is by heterosexuals' increasing indifference to it."

Maybe Glenn Beck is correct, "He is a liar to your face. He is a very disingenuous man."

Up next is Rick Santorum who according to Liberty Counsel, will be speaking at The Awaking 2015:

,,,a unique and inspirational God and Country event bringing people together around our shared values. The theme this year is “Rebuilding The Wall.”

,,,an in-depth Prayer and Patriotism event where people are united by love for our country’s freedom and our faith in Christ. We hope to educate, motivate, and activate you to make a difference in your community in 2015. As our nation’s honor is deteriorating, now is the time to take a stand and restore our country’s strength and dignity!

Huckabee is slated to speak as well, 'magine that.