Undercover video exposes Bachmann anti-gay therapy
ABC News presented undercover video Monday that confirms the clinic owned by Michele Bachmann and her husband Dr. Marcus Bachmann does indeed try to "pray away the gay."
The Nation reported last week that Andrew Ramirez's mother took him to the clinic in 2004 at the age of 17 because he said he was gay.
"[One counselor's] path for my therapy would be to read the Bible, pray to God that I would no longer be gay," Ramirez said. "And God would forgive me if I were straight."
Undercover video from the pro-gay group Truth Wins Out provided further evidence that the Bachmann clinic practices gay-to-straight therapy.
John Becker, who visited the clinic with two hidden cameras, was told that he could be completely free of his homosexual urges.
"You're in the midst of a storm, in the midst of a battle," a therapist explained. "I think it's possible to be totally free of them."
"The truth is God, God as designed our eyes to be attracted to the woman's, to the woman's body, to be attracted to, you know, everything. You know, to be attracted to her breasts," he added.
"He seemed to believe genuinely in his heart of hearts that, somehow, my homosexuality could be cured and could be eliminated," Becker told ABC News.
The American Psychological Association has said that there is no evidence that therapy can change sexual orientation.
I really wish that ABC News, in their report, would have made an issue of the fact that Bachmann got his PhD on line. And that he is not licensed to practice psychology in Minnesota. The guy is a gigantic fraud who is raking in Federal reimbursement while his wife talks out of the side oer her mouth about wasting tax dollars. Assholes, the both of them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Institute_...
If what you say were provable, I'd think her handlers would have dropped her off the radar by now.
Humpty Dumpty was pushed.
Not necessarily... they've shown an amazing ability to double-down on the crazy when called out on said crazy... no matter which "candidate"
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
"double-down on the crazy"
That's what sells to their theo-con base...
StreetWisePundit
http://www.streetwisepundit.com/
Where are the Tea Party screamers?
A former award-winning journalist and lifelong class warrior, keeping a jaundiced eye on the Washington elite.
But the Bachmanns sure need rehab---now! They are dangerous frauds.
"We will find fulfillment not in the goods that we have, but in the good we can do for each other."
Robert F. Kennedy
and way to use the same tactics the anti-american groups use.
about time, we start to play this game by the same rules.
"You can't fix stupid." Ron White
you can pray it away
The therapist wears glasses even though the Bible claims the faithful can have vision problems restored through prayer?
that he's flirted with his private parts. he hasn't gone blind, so he hasn't actually done the devil's work down yonder... but his poor vision can only mean one thing: he is a sinner
i'm just hoping that one of the uber-christians who is able to divine mystical prayers from the bible can discover the prayer that can anti-obese people. now THAT would be useful.
I've noticed that Michelle Bachmann wears Granny glasses, too, also. Maybe she needs to pray harder?
It's too bad that we can't return the favor to republiscum and teabaggers by praying away the stupid...
Oh, some of us do try... you don't hear about it because we believe in doing as the Carpenter said... in private for the right reasons...
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
Or you could be constructive and try to teach them critical thinking and logic...
Hmmm... not going to get into it with you Met... suffice it to say that the two methods are not mutually exclusive, to my way of thinking.
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
And, of course, that also depends on one's definition of "prayer"
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
A:
The data show that homosexuals aren't that way by choice, and also that they don't cause the negative effects on society claimed by detractors. In addition, we see throughout nature that different species engage in homosexual activity, so it's pretty clear that it's as natural as anything else we do. Finally, giving others freedom and rights in no way takes away your freedom or rights. Making gay ok does not mean you have to be gay too.
B:
I know your pastor told you to interpret this section of your story book this way, but if you interpret this other part this way, you can see your skydaddy actually thinks gays are a-ok!
Totally the same approach... Yeah, rationalization is really an amaizing thing.
Dude... If that was directed at me, I don't have a pastor (hell, I'm not a Christian), am about as left-of-center as one can imagine... this is Paul the Sax Guy, man... you ought to know better than that.
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
Prayer is almost always an appeal to emotion and/or an appeal to authority. As long as people rely on those mechanisms, they are vulnerable.
I know some Buddhists and not a few Pagans that might just take issue with your definition.
I would posit that as long as a particular definition of Christianity is allowed a monopoly in the marketplace of ideas, definitions such as yours flourish.
An example would be the Shasta Abbey Soto Zen Church... they call their place a church, the songs are called hymns, and the mantras prayer... and not a one of those definitions is anywhere near what you define --- Zen, by its definition, is non-theistic.
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
So they are neither appealing to emotion or authority? From whence flows "truth" then?
If by "authority" you mean clerical authority or some hierarchy, then no... if by "authority" you mean looking to experiences someone else has had and are worthy of study, then yes... as is with any process of education, unless one is a Tea Party member... then education's the enemy.
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
Testimonial is a pretty bad source of information...
How do we pass down knowledge, met? Call it testimonial, but someone had to figure out how to start fire and teach others to do the same.
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
Demonstration is not the same as testimonial. Nor is recorded cumulative data.
My friend, if you will recall, you are the one who chose the word "testimonial" and are apparently finding it difficult that I'm not subscribing to that particular word...
And, many of the Buddhist sutras are looked to for their keen insight into human psychology... the "inner world," if you will --- which inner world can be studied, but never truly quantified, and, if I choose to term this as spirituality, what would you call it? Certainly not a study of material things, but would you deny its usefulness?
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
Psychology is an abstraction of neuroscience, which is an abstraction of biology, which is an abstraction of chemistry, which is an abstraction of physics. At a fundemental level, they are not different domains, just ways of undestanding systems of too great a scale or complexity to be effectively studied at the lower level. I would fundementally disagree with your assertion that the "inner world" could never be quantified either. Just because we haven't yet doesn't mean it can't be done.
C'mon, man... that we haven't yet and more than likely will not be able to do so in the foreseeable future is, granted, not the same as my original statement that it cannot be done, but for all practical purposes, it has the same effect. If it is possible the universe is infinite, just because we haven't penetrated far enough doesn't mean it can't be done... or can it?
Seeing things in strictly material terms may be quite comforting, my friend, but it seems to me to be just as limiting as seeing things in strictly spiritual terms.
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
But there's no evidence for anything beyond the material, whereas there is more and more evidence every day that everything we define as immaterial is actually a direct consquence of mundane material interaction. I don't concider it either limiting or depressing, or for that matter comforting, to restrict the bounds of what we concider to exist to those things we can actually prove do.
My point is that whenever there is a blog posting regarding anything of a religious nature (and, no.... I'm certainly not defending Bachmann... his "practice's" reason for being is a glaring example of mental rape and abuse of the vulnerable), either you or one of our other outspoken atheists jump in to use the opportunity to slam religion.... and straw men ill-become you, with whom I tend to agree on every other subject.
What some term "spirituality," others term "psychology," or any other of a number of non-faith-type labels.
I know many Wiccans and followers of other Pagan paths that are decidedly non-theist, and apply certain labels as useful descriptions for natural forces or psychological constructs. And yet, this is deeply spiritual in the truest sense of the word.
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
How is it a straw man to say that religion promotes magical thinking, and magical thinking is dangerous to a modern society? You've yet to raise a single example of how one could "pray" or be "spiritually guided" without an appeal to authority, emotion, or the use of some other logical falicy. My position is that the human is merely a good-enough detector to reproduce, and relying on purely direct non-repeatable, non-externalizable, verbally or even textually conveyed human experience is possibly the worse way to understand the universe there is. Further, I would state that any and all religions are definitionally magically-oriented, and thus religion in any form is built upon the promtion of this sort of thinking.
Well, I'll agree to disagree and end my part of this discussion here... with one parting thought:
It was Arthur C. Clarke who wisely noted that, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
belies your true lack of understanding about what Paul is saying...give it up, dude.
They're really sick bigots that are so damn ignorant and intolerant.
Look, if Marcus Bachmann isn't gay, then gay doesn't exist.
He got into his line of work so that he could have close proximity to young gay males.
Harry Chapin wants you.
I can see why Marcus Bachmann would want a wife who is "subservient" to him. A more assertive wife might ask her husband why he occassionally locks himself in the spare room with his Blu-Ray copy of the director's cut of "300" and then cries himself to sleep.
...that "counselor" has a master's degree from an online university.
Any takers?
Beware of anyone promising a future full of yesterdays.
...Bachmann's last statement in the clip -- that should could not speak to what therapies they provide due to client confidentiality -- is patently false. Therapists routinely (and as a matter of ethical practice, I might add) make it clear which treatments they are trained to provide, and this is a common feature on most credible therapists websites and advertisements (e.g., cognitive-behavioral therapy, insight-oriented therapy, psychodynamic therapy, etc., etc., etc.), along with which disorders/concerns they address (e.g., OCD, ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, etc., etc., etc.).
Not that this should be a shock to anyone, but she is full of sh*t.
Beware of anyone promising a future full of yesterdays.
so if you pray to Crom, will he make you not a moron?
Is anyone actually suprised by this? She's a right wing dittohead. She's a religious nut. Those 2 we already knew. When you combine those 2, you inevitably get a gay-hating know-nothing. In other news, today, the sun rose in the east. Experts predict it will set in the west.
My question is: How much does Bachmann and her Husband charge for all this Bullshit?
Nothing is free, in her eyes. As a good loyal Republican, it is her duty, to make sure she rips
of the Public of whatever, she can get...no matter how Little or how Big, the monetary value is.
I wonder which has a higher efficacy, de-gay-ification 'treatment', or homeopathic 'medicine'.
Which is the higher number? Zero or Zero?
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
No, I'm sure the desired results are found occasionally. To paraphrase an idiom, even a broken treatment is right 2 times out of a million.
homeopathy, however placebo-ish, will always be more efficacious than de-gay-praying. why? because homeopathy at least attempts to target a real affliction, not made-up ones.
the maximum Medicaid payout for this class of therapy. Once the max is reached you're cured!
everyone should just shut the f up until after the Repig convention. Let them pick the looniest toon they can, and then tear them to shreds. There isn't any fun in reporting this stuff so early. Most Americans have the attention span of a gnat, and will probably forget about this story completely.
Sandbagging, the only solution to teabaggers.
"Sandbagging, the only solution to teabaggers."
A better, and more appropriate, solution for teabaggerism is involuntary confinement to a mental health facility.
yep , give em a backless gown , a butterfly net and some high top sneakers .
"The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all."
Cause 150k a year in the congress plus all the perks isn't a Primary source of income. That news guy needs better writers. And maybe live down below the poverty level for a year.
A turkey burger is not vegetarian
is this accepted therapy? No.
And looky:
4 June 2010 Bachmann’s Christian counseling clinic receives state funds
6 July 2011 Questions mount about Marcus Bachmann's 'ex-gay' practice
And from the WaPo, 5 July 2011, Michele Bachmann’s husband shares her strong conservative values
Special--they 'share conservative values,' so he's against Medicare/Medicaid too? That must mean, like farm subsidies, SHE doesn't mind cashing in on something which she thinks shouldn't exist. After all, they share the same values.
Mrs Asshat is against social safety nets. Why is Mr Fatty McClosetCase getting paid by the govt to spread the word of The Lord? What a fucking racket.
From TPM 9 Feb 2010
Bachmann: 'Wean Everybody Off' Social Security And Medicare'
Including the paycheck the 'doctor' (which he isn't) brings home? Let's talk farm subsidies too while we're at it. "Yep. Me an' Pa are agin it, but we're gonna use til it goes away!"
What a steaming load these two are.
me-oww!
This is actually an extremely good point. How is this guy getting government funds not a flagrant violation of the 1st Amendment?
How is this guy getting government funds not be investigated for fraud? He is not a licensed psychologist and yet he is "counseling" patients? Really? For a malady that is not recognized by the APA? What the fuck?
The story noted that in his state, you can legally practice as a shrink without a license, so any legal practice would be eligible for state funds. That is, of course, unless it conflicts with some other law, especially any in the Constitution.
of psychotherapy. And I don't think Jesus therapy is in there. Religious or not, it's experimental. Are taxes supposed to pay for experimental therapies? I don't think so, because I see fund raisers for people who need promising experimental therapy. The govt does not want to pay for off label usage of drugs. I don't see how some flimflam man's unsubstantiated ideas, shit based on some screwed up 'faith teaching' qualifies as being worthy of payment by taxpayers. Show me how that works.
When it comes down to it, the state is paying for 'Christian' conditioning by a charlatan. If the guy was pressing Scientology/l Ron Hubbard beliefs or if he was, [Lord God Jesus Who Reigns in Heaven Above Forever and Ever, Amen] forbid, was espousing the teaching of Mohammed instead, would Medicaid be paying for it as 'psychology?' I don't think so.
me-oww!
Well, Bachmann's made it obvious that any hack can call himself a psychologist... a psychiatrist is an MD and actually went to medical school.
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
and have performed inverse conversions, where they turn straight men gay, as controls.
CTHULHU 2012 "Why vote for a lesser evil?"
Oh most certainly. When they go to the churches to get volunteers for the study, they get more people than they can handle.
Michele (I'm Bachmann!) needs to pray away the fey.
Yet another fat headed, fat-assed, stupid white man with a song and dance routine pulled straight out of his bloated colon. Would rip your eyeballs out of it's sockets if they weren't held in by muscles. Dear gawd, if you're really out there, could you please remove this monstrosity from our mist? And, if it's not asking too much, his ignorant wife too?
Their homeworld was a place called Earth, located in an uninteresting part of the galaxy. They had an expression: pride goeth before a fall. Their pride was their undoing. I know. I was there....They did not listen, of course. Arrogant men never do.
So if a blind woman receives eyes from a male donor, she's going to turn into a Lesbian???
* There are two types of Republicans: millionaires and suckers.
"Mugsy's Rap Sheet": Recording history for those who seek to rewrite it.
That's IT! The devil must have given gay men women's eyes in the womb! You've solved it!
So then I guess what we have to do is start taking lesbians and gay guys and transplanting thier eyes. Who's first?
Well, we could arguably start with Mr. "Dr." Bachmann's...
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
Wacko Christian nutwonkery. Probably don't have a prayer, but I'll try.
Dunno, but it may have the opposite effect... I know some folks say that the worst prayer they ever prayed was to be taught patience... this might turn out the same way... or maybe it already has... *chuckle*
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
Think I'll just slam some beers and play Buddy Guy real loud.
I'm embarrassed for you ALL every time she opens her maw.
far left loon >.<
Minnesota Lutheran , Oral Roberts University , grade A nut job . The bigger she gets and the more exposure she gets the less her chances . For me personally this lunatic / snake is a nice change from Palin , a breath of fresh air . LOL .
"The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all."
I'm not sure how this remotely works when I know gay guys that like tits. Is this what the Bachmann's want, more gay guys with implants?
Reality has a known liberal bias.
Comments are closed on this entry