DOWNLOADS: (207)

PLAYS: (1767)

Embed

A Tennessee pastor on Sunday told his congregation that the number of mass shooting were escalating because of schools were government "mind-control centers" that taught "junk about evolution" and "how to be a homo."

Old Paths Baptist Church Pastor Sam Morris began speaking about last week's school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut by warning that "this sermon will not be pleasant."

"We get all up in arms about 20 children being shot in a day care but we don't give one good-glory rip about the 4,000 that were removed violently from the wombs of their mothers [in abortion procedures] the same day," he explained. "I believe they use children and Christmas and all that to pull on our heart strings about gun control. That's what it's all about."

Morris asserted that equal rights was a "sham" because it's "equal immorality" and that authorities should take the body of the suspected shooter, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, "and string him up in public and set his body on fire and leave it out there to let the birds pick his bones."

"We're going to see more of this," he continued. "Because notice, the first thing in America we start yelling about is gun control is gun control. Have you noticed that? Gun control. No one's even thought about the fact that these shootings only happened at places where guns are banned. Have you noticed that? They have never had a mass shooting at a gun show, where you can find over a thousand loaded guns at one time."

"Why do you still send your kids to the governmental schools?" the pastor asked the congregation. "What's behind this shooting that we saw on Dec. 14 in Newtown, Connecticut and the other one's like it? What's going on. Well, number one, deception... I got news for you, when you kicked God out of schools, you're going to be judged for that."

Morris insisted that "humanism" in schools taught Lanza that he was God and "he can just go blow away anybody he wants."

"When I got in high school, man, I started learning all this kingdom, phylum stuff, all this junk about evolution," he recalled. "And I want to tell you what evolution teaches -- here's the bottom line -- that you're an animal. That's what it teaches. So, you're an animal, you can act like an animal. Amen."

"So, here you are, you're an animal and you're a god! So, what are we going to teach you about in school? Well, we can teach you about sex, we can teach you how to rebel to you parents, we can teach you how to be a homo! But we're definitely not going to teach you about the word of God! Amen."

He added: "They think homeschoolers are a bunch of crazies, man. But I'm going to tell you something, I've never seen a police officer or a medal detector at a home school. Never. Amen. Now, there's plenty of guns at my home school. Amen. I guarantee you we're not going to have a mass shooting at any of the schools that are represented in this building today. I guarantee you, if there is a shooting, it won't last very long. Amen."

"I guarantee you there's at least six or seven guns in this place right now. Amen."

(h/t: Good As You)

DOWNLOADS: (123)

PLAYS: (972)

Embed

If anyone wanted to know where wingnuts Mike Lee and Rick Santorum got their talking points in opposing this United Nations treaty that just got voted down by the shameless Republicans in the Senate who were too afraid of the crackpots among their ranks to do the right thing, look no further than this guy -- Michael Farris.

CNN's Anderson Cooper did a nice job going after Sen. Mike Lee the other night when he was trying to defend leading the opposition to the treaty. This Monday evening, Cooper brought on the Home School Legal Defense Association's Farris to defend his position as well. Despite Cooper continually reminding Farris that the treaty would not directly impact United States' law or force parents of disabled children here to do anything, Farris continued to maintain that the opposite was true and that it has already impacted cases in the United States.

After he went off the air, Cooper did some follow up with their chief legal analyst at CNN, Jeffrey Toobin, who basically said that Farris was full of it. Farris continually challenged Cooper during the interview as someone who had no idea what he was talking about and painted himself as an expert because of his experience teaching law at the school he founded, Patrick Henry College. After reading a bit about it, it pretty well sounds like just another Liberty University, designed with the purpose of pushing home schooled evangelicals into the government and positions of power.

Here's more on that from Daily KOS: German reporter goes underground at Patrick Henry College:

Amrai Coen, a writer for the German weekly Die Zeit, wanted to visit Patrick Henry College, but the college administration refused her visit since the school had "bad experiences with foreign journalists." Undeterred, Amrai posed as a prospective student and showed up on campus on "Visitor's Day". Her piece on her experience that day provides a rare inside glimpse of life at America's Madrassa,

Nearly all of the students at Patrick Henry College have been home-schooled by ultra-conservative evangelical Christian parents. At Patrick Henry these young people can complete their christo-fascist indoctrination before joining right-wing think tanks and media groups in Washington. Students are taught to kneel before images of Jesus and Ronald Reagan; they attend lecturess on how America can waterboard its way to global dominance. Professors are dismissed if they actually teach science, since students are taught that the earth is only 6000 years old and baby Jesus frolicked with dinosaurs.

(Note: my translation from the Zeit piece)

The college has one mission: to save America from its downfall, from the abyss into which Barack Obama has steered the country in the past four years. Young conservative Christians are the soldiers in this wa. At Patrick Henry College they will be trained to fight one day on the front - as politicians, filmmakers, or entrepreneurs they will win back American society. Some have rejected Harvard or Yale in order to study here.

I'm sure much to the dismay of their founder, an LGBT group has also been making the public aware of how the school treats their students: Patrick Henry College, Homeschool Bastion, Has LGBT Group.

Here's more background on Farris from Right Wing Watch as well: Michael Farris Warns that the UN might 'Get Control' over Children With Glasses:

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (102)

PLAYS: (762)

Embed

As we already discussed here and as Jon Stewart rightfully mocked this week, Republicans have gone off of the rails with their opposition to this United Nations treaty that they just shamefully voted down in the Senate, because the homeschooling crowd is scared to death that the U.N. is going to somehow impose agreements from international treaties onto the citizens of the United States.

This Friday evening, CNN's Anderson Cooper decided to actually do his job and pushed back at wingnut Mike Lee, who was one of the leading voices in the Senate who made sure the treaty wasn't approved.

As Hullabaloo's David Atkins rightfully observed on that topic:

We shouldn't have to hit rock bottom for CNN to start actually doing its job. But at least we've found a level of insanity that will actually prompt some legitimate journalism.

As Raw Story noted, Cooper pretty well destroyed most of Lee's arguments about why he opposes the treaty. I'll be surprised if he's back on there any time soon. Cooper was polite, but he managed to show Lee for the dishonest embarrassment that he is along with the rest of them that voted with him during the interview.

Full transcript and video of Cooper's interview with Lee below the fold.

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (546)

PLAYS: (7142)

Embed

Jon Stewart took his audience through the entire, disgusting "Senate day of shame" with Mike Lee and the home schooling crowd objecting to the passage of the U.N. disability treaty. After asking how the treaty failed and what the hell is wrong with "these people," Stewart said he guessed it was time for a new segment: "Please Tell Me This is Rock Bottom."

Sadly Jon, I'm fairly sure we haven't hit it yet. He got into the meat of their real objection to the treaty a bit later in the segment, which Dave wrote about here and their fear that the treaty might be used to interfere with American sovereignty, and somehow "threaten the rights of parents." Except, as Stewart noted, there are no enforcement mechanisms. That of course, was one of wingnut Lee's objections to the bill.

The Republicans in the Senate are bound and determined to make themselves look like as big of clowns who want to constantly embarrass this country as their counterparts in the House. It would be a lot easier to laugh at a lot of it, if it weren't also so dangerous.

DOWNLOADS: (537)

PLAYS: (6867)

Embed

From this Friday evening's Real Time With Bill Maher, a reminder during Bill's New Rules segment of just what we get to look forward to if we're unfortunate enough to find ourselves with a President Mitt Romney in the coming weeks -- a return to the days of Terry Schiavo, Congressmen heading committees that don't believe in science and as Maher called them, "a fresh can of nuts" with free reign under a Romney administration.

I've got to say, I completely agree with him here. This election has been feeling like George W. Bush redux for some time now. A vote for Romney is going to be a vote for a third Bush term.

DOWNLOADS: (185)

PLAYS: (2149)

Embed

A Georgia couple was arrested this week on charges of child cruelty and false imprisonment after their 15-year-old daughter told authorities that she was forced to live in a chicken coop and wear a remote-controlled shock collar.

The 15-year-old, who was home schooled, reportedly said that her adopted parents, Samuel and Diana Franklin, punished her for not finishing school work by spending up to six days at a time in the chicken coop behind their house in Butler over the past two years.

Chicken coops are known to have high levels of ammonia (PDF) which can be dangerous to both humans and animals.

Authorities said that the girl was also forced to do manual labor and spend time in a 4-foot-wide outhouse.

"I've never seen anything like this personally," Georgia Bureau of Investigation Agent Wayne Smith explained. "If the allegations prove to be true, it's a very severe case."

A shock collar was found at the home when the parents were taken into custody on Tuesday. The girl said that a device similar to one that remotely locks and unlocks cars was used to activate the collar and punish her with jolts of electricity.

Authorities said the device appeared to match the description provided by the girl. The collar and a leather belt were being examined at a crime lab for DNA evidence.

Diana Franklin told one neighbor that she was "doing what the Bible says" by punishing the girl for not doing chores the "right way," according to KLTV.

Diana Franklin was charged with four counts of false imprisonment and 12 counts of cruelty to children. Samuel Franklin also faces charges of 8 counts of false imprisonment and 8 counts of cruelty to children. Both parents were released on bond on Thursday.