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The Tennessee state Senate on Monday considered a bill that would allow counselors to discriminate against LGBT students, sexually-active students or anyone else based on religious objections.

Republican state Sen. Joey Hensley encouraged fellow senators to pass SB 514 to "prevent an institution of high education from discriminating against a student in the counseling, social worker, psychology programs because of their religious beliefs."

According the The Tennessean, the bill was inspired by Julea Ward, a Christian student who was expelled from Eastern Michigan after she refused to "engage in gay-affirming counseling" by helping an LGBT student who wanted to be treated for depression in 2009. Arizona has already passed a law based on the case. Similar bills have also been proposed by lawmakers in Michigan and Georgia.

Hensley's bill would protect any student who "refuses to counsel or serve a client as to goals, outcomes, or behaviors that conflict with a sincerely held religious belief."

State Rep. John J. DeBerry Jr., who had been a defender of Tennessee's so-called "don't say gay" bill barring the discussion of homosexuality in schools, has introduced a version of Hensley's bill in the state House. Both bills were written with the help of the conservative Family Action Council of Tennessee.

Jake Morris, the head of the counseling program at the Nashville-based Christian Lipscomb University, told The Tennessean that he objected to the bills because student counselors needed to be available to treat all clients.

"I want my students to be able to help anyone who walks in their door," he explained. "For example, if a student thinks divorce is sinful, that student still needs to know how to treat clients who have gone through a divorce."

"We are health care professionals," Morris added. “We need to act like it.”

The New Civil Rights Movement's David Badash observed that the bill seemed to be using religion as a "door to hide and cower behind."

"The concept of so-called 'religious liberty' as it’s being (mis)used is faulty," Badash wrote on Tuesday. "If anti-gay people want a reason to not help gay people, they should have the personal courage to do so, and accept the consequences."

The Tennessee state Senate tabled discussion of SB 514 until next Thursday to give senators a chance to discuss amendments. A House subcommittee was expected to consider DeBerry's version of the bill on Tuesday.

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Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) says constituents are telling him that high-capacity magazines should not be banned because people need "at least 50 rounds" to shoot down government drones.

During Thursday interview on Freedom 107 radio, host Jeff Akin asked the Texas Republican how he felt about using unnamed aerial drones for domestic law enforcement.

"It's pretty offensive to most of us," Gohmert opined. "Most of us think if you're going to use a drone and fly over our homes to analyze what's going on in our backyard -- not a lot of talk's been given -- but if you can fly over in the backyard, you can use all kinds of technology to see what's happening inside the home as well. And I know there's been a judge, and this former judge sure thinks you ought to have a warrant to do that kind of thing."

"But I had somebody last week in Washington from either Georgia or Alabama that was saying, 'Look, this goes back to we have got to have at least 50 rounds in our magazines because on average that's about how many it takes to bring down a drone.' I hope he was kidding, I don't know for sure."

"It is serious when the government decides, let's just watch every little thing Americans are doing," he added. "It's big brother taken to a whole new scale."

While they were on the topic of guns and the Second Amendment, Akin also wondered what bills liberals were planning "that could violate that amendment."

"They want the elimination of firearms in America," Gohmert declared. "Some of them have the idea that the Second Amendment was there to allow hunting, not true. You know, it is for our protection -- and the Founders' quotes make that very clear -- including against a government that could run amuck."

"You know, we've got some people who think that Sharia law ought to be the law of the land, forget the Constitution," he asserted. "But the guns are there, that Second Amendment is there to make sure all the rest of the amendments are followed."

Gohmert said that he understood the emotional nature of the issue because one of his friends had lost a husband due to gun violence, but he insisted that "we've got to let our head be what prevails."

"Sometime when you run in with your heart, you make bad laws."

(h/t: Think Progress)

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Now that Saxby Chambliss has decided he doesn't want to have to face a primary race for his Senate seat, Rachel Maddow took her viewers through the list of potential replacements that would like to succeed him, and it's a doozy.

Georgia's Saxby Chambliss to retire:

Just a few months ago, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, a two-term Republican incumbent from Georgia, started facing credible primary threats in advance of his 2014 re-election bid. In a bit of a surprise, the senator has said there won't be a re-election campaign -- Chambliss is retiring at the end of his term (via James Carter). [...]

The news was not widely expected, and Chambliss was expected to win re-election if he sought another term.

What's especially interesting now, however, is the field of Republican candidates who may try to succeed Chambliss in 2014. One of the leading GOP officials to watch is Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.), who said just this week that was considering taking on Chambliss in a primary, and with the incumbent stepping down, the congressman is that much more likely to run himself.

That would set up quite a campaign -- Broun is one of Congress' more ridiculous members, and a Senate campaign would create an Akin-in-Missouri situation in which a candidate may simply be too nutty to compete on a statewide level, even in the South. In this case, Broun is perhaps best known for arguing that that cosmology, biology, and geology are, quite literally, "lies straight from the pit of Hell," and that President Obama only believes in supporting "the Soviet constitution."

In other words, even among loony extremists, Broun is almost a caricature of himself.

This matters because Georgia could prove to be far more interesting than expected. In 2008, when Chambliss sought a second term, he won by a narrow margin after being forced into a runoff when he won 49% of the vote on Election Day. Since then, Georgia's population has only grown more diverse.

If a strong Democratic candidate faced off against a ridiculous right-wing extremist, could this become a blue-to-red pick-up opportunity? Quite possibly, yes.

We've got more on Broun here: Is Paul Broun the dumbest member of Congress? Signs point to Yes and here: Rep. Paul Broun: Evolution, Embryology, and the Big Bang Theory are 'Lies Straight from the Pit of Hell'.

And as Rachel mentioned, another potential candidate is Karen Handel whose anti-abortion views are so extreme they just about took down a cancer charity: Former Susan G. Koman Exec May Run For Senate In Georgia.

And then there's Todd Akin's buddy Phil Gingrey: Republican Congressman Backs Akin’s ‘Legitimate Rape’ Comments: ‘He’s Partly Right’.

Steve Benen's article also mentioned Herman Cain, but Rachel informed her viewers that alas, Cain has said he's not running.

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The Newton County Sheriff's Department in Georgia is investigating flyers that North Carolina's Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) say were distributed in as many as nine states on the East Coast to "counteract Martin Luther King's birthday."

"They need to get a life, really," Georgia resident Hadiyah Abdul-Mateen, who received one of the flyers even though she is black, told WGCL. "I hope it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that President Obama was re-elected."

The racist flyer received by Abdul-Mateen urged her to join the Klan because "Our Aryan Heritage, Our American Culture, Our Christian Religion, Our White Homelands" were under attack by the so-called Zionist Occupied Government (ZOG).

Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Imperial Wizard Chris Barker told WGCL reporter Steve Kiggins that the effort was "more of a recruitment drive" than an effort to intimidate residents, adding that he wanted to "let the neighborhood know that the Klan is there and that we're not going nowhere."

Barker claimed that his group had timed the distribution of flyers in states from Florida to New York to coincide with Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.

"We just told our members to go out pretty much to counteract Martin Luther King's birthday, who was a known communist," he explained. "And we decided to put out Klan literature."

There is no law against KKK recruitment in Georgia, but the Newton County Sheriff's Department has urged anyone who received the flyers or felt threatened to call the department at (678) 625-1400.

(h/t: The Blaze)

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A pro-Second Amendment group in Georgia has partnered with a gun shop in the state to give away a free AR-15 assault rifle -- like the one used to slaughter 20 children in Newtown last month -- in an effort to oppose new gun control legislation.

In a press release obtained by Mother Jones on Monday, Georgia Gun Owners said that it would be providing one AR-15 courtesy of Armistead Arms in Alpharetta "to alert, activate and mobilize gun owners in every corner of the state to oppose the Feinstein Gun Ban and others being touted in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere across the country."

An entry form for the giveaway explains that "[f]irearms prize winners must meet all legal requirements and will be subject to a dealer’s background check."

In addition to opposing Sen. Dianne Feinstein's (D-CA) proposed assault weapons ban, Georgia Gun Owners also recently encouraged its members to support a Georgia bill that would allow gun owners to have a concealed weapon without a permit.

Savannah-Chatham Metro Police Chief Willie Lovett told WTVM that he was "totally opposed" to doing away with concealed-carry permits because it just made things "easier for criminals."

"To confront someone who shouldn't have a weapon at all, yet, not know if they have a permit for that weapon puts us in a bad situation," Lovett explained.

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A small town in Utah is responding to the recent mass shooting of 20 children in Connecticut by pushing through a resolution that calls for every home to have a gun, and the town wants to provide free concealed carry training for all elementary school teachers.

"The first recommendation was that we require, or we recommend, every household have a gun and be properly trained to use it," Spring City Councilman Neil Sorensen, who authored the resolution, told KSL on Monday.

But some residents -- including the Sanpete County sheriff -- were a little uncomfortable with requiring all residents to be armed so Sorensen agreed to dial back the resolution.

City officials are hoping to quickly get the ordinance onto the city books. Little resistance is expected at a public hearing next month.

"Law enforcement, that's a big expense for us," resident David Sedlak explained. "So if we can do our part, then it will be a better place."

Resident Michelle Chandler said she was "very impressed" that that the City Council "had the foresight to recommend" such the resolution.

Sorensen recalled that he had the idea of arming teachers after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School last month. Spring City will be sponsoring concealed carry permit training courses for each elementary school teacher in the town on Friday.

"I think if they would have had guns in there and the teacher would have had a gun, they wouldn't have killed so many kids," he insisted.

"I would like to see the people have guns to protect themselves, be trained and qualified," the councilman added. "I just feel it's a step in the right direction."

The city of Kennesaw, Georgia claims that crime rates there dropped after a 1982 law required "every head of household to maintain a firearm together with ammunition."

(h/t: Think Progress)

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DeKalb County police are investigating the death of a man suspected of shoplifting after three Walmart employee reportedly wrestled him to the ground and placed him in a choke hold.

WSB-TV obtained a police report that indicated that that two employees and a security guard attempted to physically detain a man in the parking lot of a Walmart in Lithonia, Georgia because he was seen leaving the store early Sunday morning without paying for two DVD players.

"When police arrived, they found the employees on top of the man," according to the station. "The officer put the man in handcuffs and said he noticed there was no resistance from him."

"The officer had the employees get off the man, and noticed the man was unresponsive and bleeding from his nose and mouth."

The suspect was taken to DeKalb Medical-Hillandale Hospital and later pronounced dead. An autopsy will attempt to determine if a choke hold allegedly performed by one employee contributed to his death.

WXIA reported that the two Walmart employees had been place on paid leave and the security guard was no longer working for the company.

"This is truly a sad situation," Walmart spokesperson Dianna Gee said in a statement. "Our associates are trained that the safety of our customers and our associates is our first priority. No amount of merchandise is worth someone’s life. Associates are trained to disengage from situations that would put themselves or others at risk."

Gee promised that Walmart would take the "appropriate action at the appropriate time" if an investigation determined the employees did not follow company policy.

[Photo: Shutterstock.com]

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Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) says that Republicans are willing to compromise on a deal to reduce the deficit, but a "balanced approach" would include no increases in tax rates.

"A real solution includes both revenue increases and spending reductions," Price told CNN's Candy Crowley on Sunday, adding that higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans "don't solve the problem."

"We need to look at increasing revenue through pro-growth policies," the Georgia Republican explained.

"But not through tax hikes?" Crowley wondered.

"No," Price insisted. "Tax revenue, which means broadening the base, closing the loopholes, limiting the deductions, limiting the credits and making sure we identify the appropriate spending reductions so that we have, indeed, a balanced approach."

"But we're still at the place where everything gets hung up: No increases in tax rates," Crowley noted. "That is still the position of House Republicans, correct?"

"It doesn't solve the problem," Price replied. "We want a real solution, which means increasing tax revenue through pro-growth policies."

(h/t: Talking Points Memo)

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Georgia state Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers recently convened the Republican caucus at the Georgia State Capitol to discuss an alleged conspiracy between President Barack Obama, non-governmental organizations, state government entities and chambers of commerce to create a United Nations communist dictatorship.

Mother Jones' Tim Murphy on Wednesday reported that the meeting had included a presentation by Field Searcy, a conservative activist who was booted from the Georgia Tea Party over conspiracy theories about Obama's birth certificate and the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The main focus of the event was something called Agenda 21, which conservatives warn is move towards dictatorship by "expanding public transportation routes and preserving open space as part of a United Nations-led conspiracy to deny property rights and herd citizens toward cities." Former Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich even "explicitly repudiate[d] what Obama has done on Agenda 21" during a primary debate last year.

The meeting of Republican lawmakers in Georgia was held on Oct. 11, but Bryan Long of the progressive group Better Georgia told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that his group delayed release of the video because of media focus on the presidential campaign. Better Georgia was able to record about 52 minutes of video before being escorted from the building.

The event also included Fox News contributor Dick Morris, who cautioned lawmakers that Obama would "force everyone into the cities from whence our ancestors fled."

"Our own governments are doing this," Searcy said of the Agenda 21 "conspiracy to transform America from the land of the free, to the land of the collective."

Searcy explained that the government was using "a process known as the Delphi technique" to convince suburbanites to move into the inner cities.

"The Delphi technique was developed by the Rand Corporation during the Cold War as a mind-control technique," the conservative activist insisted. "It's also known as 'consensive process.' But basically the goal of the Delphi technique is to lead a targeted group of people to a pre-determined outcome while keeping the illusion of being open to public input."

One slide presented at the meeting compared Obama's alleged plot to "Stalin's Five Year Plan" and "Mao Tse Tung's Great Leap Forward."

Georgia Senate Majority Leader Rogers introduced legislation in January to recognize "the destructive and insidious nature of the United Nations Agenda 21."

That bill stated that "according to the United Nations Agenda 21 policy, social justice is described as the right and opportunity of all people to benefit equally from the resources afforded by society and the environment which would be accomplished by socialists and communist redistribution of wealth."

(h/t: Addicting Info)

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Controversial Rep. Paul Broun of Georgia who ran unopposed in his deep red district was going to get re-elected but that didn't stop a lot of voters from expressing their displeasure with being represented by this type of person.

ATHENS, GA (CBS ATLANTA) - The elections may be over but the controversy continues for U.S. Rep. Paul Broun from district 10 in Athens. The Republican gained notoriety for comments he made on a YouTube video that said evolution and the Big Bang theory come "straight from the pit of hell."

Broun easily won re-election on Tuesday, but thousands of voters showed their displeasure with him by writing in their own candidates.

The election supervisor in Clarke County had never seen a write-in report as lengthy as the one she saw this year.

"I did not feel that I could in good faith vote for Mr. Broun," said voter Leslie Swann. "I wrote in a candidate of my choice."

"Who's that?" asked CBS Atlanta reporter Steve Kiggins.

"That would be the devil because I would vote for the devil himself before I would vote for that man," replied Swann.

Swann wasn't alone - nearly 4,000 people wrote in votes for the Origin of Species author, Charles Darwin.

But Darwin wasn't the only write-in candidate found on the ballots; Sesame Street's Big Bird made it a few times, and so did Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert. Also making the list was Eve Olution - plus one vote for Star Trek's Captain Sulu, George Takei.