After saying that the Republican party needs to "stop being the stupid party" as part of his solution to revitalize the GOP after the beating they took in the last election, it seems Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has decided to double down on his own advice that the party is just not wingnutty enough. Bobby Jindal: Republicans Can Continue Discriminating Against Gays And Still Win Elections:

Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) — a possible Republican candidate for president in 2016 — rejected former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman’s argument that conservatives must embrace marriage equality for gays and lesbians if they want to survive as a party and reiterated his support for “traditional marriage.”

“Look, I believe in the traditional definition of marriage,” Jindal said during an appearance on Meet The Press on Sunday, and went on to claim that Republicans don’t have to make the case on social issues to attract young voters and win future elections and instead should continue focusing on economic issues. “We lost [the 2012 election] because we didn’t present a vision showing how we believe the entire economy can grow, how people can join the middle class. We’re in aspirational party and we need policies that are consistant with that aspirational private sector growth.”

In an essay for The American Conservative entitled “Marriage Equality Is a Conservative Cause,” Huntsman — a Mormon whose previous support for civil unions set him apart from Republican presidential candidates in 2012 — argued that if the Republican Party wants to survive, it must enhance its appeal to gay Americans and the growing majority that supports marriage equality.

As the post at Think Progress noted, polls show most Americans now support marriage equality. Jindal and his ilk are determined to keep dragging us backwards.

This Wednesday evening's The Daily Show was recorded before the first presidential debate and rather than focus on what was depressing a lot of us with the sheer volume of lies Mitt Romney was allowed to get away with that night, they were still talking about the previous day's drummed up non-controversy over at Fox.

Jon Stewart and his "great American black panel" did a really good job of making a mockery of Hannity, Carlson and Drudge for their over the top, naked race-baiting and the treating five year old footage of President Obama like it's "breaking news."

As Stewart noted, President Obama was just echoing the same sentiments of the "notorious black liberation theologist George W. Bush" when it came to his remarks on the response to the hurricane in New Orleans they were freaking out about.

I'll just add one last note and that is thank you to The Daily Show and your panel for calling Hannity and Carlson out in no uncertain terms for being exactly what they are:

STEWART: Watching that Hannity piece, watching that Hannity, it's almost unbelievable to see such naked race-baiting on television. Black people talk wierd. What is that?

CENAC: It's some bulls**t.

WILLIAMS: Yeah, f**k Hannity. Your October surprise is that the President is black?

WILMORE: They are some desperate mother f**kers.

Desperate about sums it up with that clown show.

What's that saying about when you're in a hole? It looks like Todd Akin hasn't learned that lesson yet, because he just keeps on diggin'. Todd Akin Suggests Employers Should Be Able To Pay Women Less:

Todd Akin appeared to endorse allowing employers to pay women less than men at a town hall on Thursday.

Gender discrimination in compensation has been illegal in the United States since the passage of the 1963 Equal Pay Act. But in video provided by Sen. Claire McCaskill's campaign, Akin responded to a question about the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act -- which made it easier for workers to sue over unequal pay -- by suggesting that employers shouldn't even be barred from paying women less in the first place.

Here's a transcript:

AUDIENCE MEMBER: You voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Why do you think it is okay for a woman to be paid less for doing the same work as a man?

AKIN: Well, first of all, the premise of your question is that I'm making that particular distinction. I believe in free enterprise. I don't think the government should be telling people what you pay and what you don't pay. I think it's about freedom. If someone what’s to hire somebody and they agree on a salary, that's fine, however it wants to work. So, the government sticking its nose into all kinds of things has gotten us into huge trouble.

The McCaskill campaign condemned Akin's remarks. Read on...

Yes... freedom! Freedom to take us back a generation or two. I wonder what else he thinks employers should have the "freedom" to do. Child labor? Elimination of the minimum wage? Frankly, I'm afraid to ask in his case because I'm sure I'd get some answers that made me shudder as badly as his statements here or worse.

A group of pastors in Alabama says that they are not racist even though only "white Christians" were invited to their three-day conference, which will include a cross burning and be attended by Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members.

Residents in Guin, Alabama became outraged earlier this week after they noticed flyers posted around the town that read, "Annual Pastors Conference All White Christians Invited." The groups Christian Identity Ministries and the Church of God's Chosen told WIAT that they just didn't have the "facilities" to accommodate non-whites.

"We're seldom ever have been invited to black Muslim events and we never have been invited to NAACP events and we never have been invited to join Jewish synagogues events and stuff," Christian Identity Ministries Pastor William J. Collier explained.

"It has nothing whatsoever to do with any kind of racism or hate or anything like that," he added. "And anybody who would brand it as that would be a racist and a hater themselves, you know."

Collier insisted that the "Sacred Christian Cross Lighting Ceremony" to be held on final day of the event symbolized an "opposition to tyranny."

"We are not burning a cross, look at the word is says it says light a cross," Christian Identity Ministries Reverend Mel Lewis told WIAT. "If you light a light in your house do you burn down your house. We often use fire. Our ancient fathers said fire was a cleansing element. Even the Bible says the earth will be purified with fire what purer element can we use as a symbol of our worship."

But the president of the NAACP's Birmingham Metro Chapter could not recall any past cross burning that had not been associated with racism or hate.

"The only context that I'm familiar with is one that is not very positive," Hezekiah Jackson said. "And one that really symbolizes an era that many of us have hoped to put behind us. And that is this whole era of Jim Crow, this whole era of white supremacy, this whole era of discrimination and racial hatred."

"I think it's really hard to clarify what's going on, but it seems to be some vestiges of what we call white supremacy here in Alabama. We just have to be honest about it."

The "Annual Pastors Conference All White Christians Invited" event ends on Friday. It is the fourth year that the whites-only conference has been held in Lamar county.

(h/t: Think Progress)

Tea party favorite Rep. Allen West (R-FL) is denying that LGBT people face employment discrimination in the U.S.

On Thursday, Think Progress' Scott Keyes asked West if he would be willing to support a law that bans hiring or firing of people based on their sexual orientation.

"That don’t happen out here in the United States of America," West insisted.

"You don’t think people get fired because they’re gay?" Keyes wondered.

"Well, I don’t see that as being a big issue with small businesses," West replied. "I sit on the Small Business Committee. You know what they’re concerned about? They’re concerned about onerous tax policy, regulatory policy, and lack of access to capital because Dodd-Frank is absolutely decimating small community banks."

West may be right that the issue isn't the top concern for business owners, but it is a real problem for the up to 43 percent of gay men and lesbians who have reported workplace discrimination or harassment.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, it's legal to fire someone for being gay, lesbian or bisexual in 29 states. And 34 states allow businesses to fire workers for being transgender.

In the past, West has said that he believes homosexuality is a choice.

"Let me explain something to you," the congressman told a conservative crowd in Tampa last year. "I can't change my color. People can change their behavior, but I can't change my color."

Earlier this week, The Daily Show decided to take on the Tucson Unified school board and their decision to outlaw Mexican-American studies in their classrooms.

Here's more from the LA Times on the board's decision -- Mexican American studies: 'Daily Show' segment strikes a nerve:

After that stint on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” the Tucson Unified school board is probably wishing it had hired a media consultant before trying to explain its position on the district’s controversial Mexican American Studies program.

Normally, when people are featured on a television show, they call family and friends and let them know the time and channel. That might not be the case for board member Michael Hicks, who appeared in a segment about the ethnic studies controversy.

The Tucson school board voted to end the program after Arizona's education chief had ruled the district in violation of a controversial state law banning classes designed for a particular ethnic group or that "promote the overthrow of the U.S. government."

Defenders of the Mexican American Studies program have said it does no such thing. Some board members said they voted to discontinue the program under duress because the legislation allowed the state to withhold funding from the district unless it complied with the law.

The law and the board's vote -- and protests by Latino students -- have prompted fiery discussions in Tucson and across the state. Into that atmosphere stepped Hicks when he explained his vote on "The Daily Show."

"My concern was a lot of the radical ideas that they were teaching in these classes," Hicks is quoted as saying.

"Telling these kids that this is their land, the whites took it over and the only way to get out from beneath the gringo — which is the white man — is by bloodshed."

The segment quotes him as saying he has never gone to any of the classrooms and based his opinions on "hearsay."

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I think we will never have an honest discussion about race or about whether gestures -- verbal, images and physical -- imply white superiority over people of color. I just don't think it's possible because no matter how hard one might try to keep the discussion neutral, it just degenerates into a defensive, angry pile on the floor.

Megyn Kelly was just breathless and wider-eyed than ever on Monday over the mere suggestion that anyone could possibly think Arizona governor Jan Brewer's finger in the face of the President and disrespect shown to the office, much less the man, could possibly be construed by anyone as racist.

Enter David Webb, creator of Tea Party 365 and BigGovernment.com contributor, who takes a dim view of anyone calling Brewer's contrived gesturing racist. Jehmu Greene rounds out the panel for Megyn, where they hash out the issues.

Greene has a strong point when she points out that whether or not it was overt racism (she doesn't believe Brewer is racist), it had racial undertones that played out for people viewing that image. Combined with Brewer's claim that the conversation left her feeling 'intimidated', there's no question that the dog whistles were sounding loud.

David Webb is Andrew Breitbart in the body of an African-American man. He loves meanness, just like Breitbart does. It's not enough to dislike someone if you're Webb. Dislike is too kind. It must be hateful and mean, spewed with sneer and squinty eyes. I saw him give Sally Kohn a hard time last week, and today he actually managed to get the usually unflappable Jehmu Green close to livid with his repeated references to the "black mafia" and denial that there could possibly be racist overtones to the Brewer incident.

Webb leads off his argument with this question: "Did Jan Brewer's finger have the N-word written on it? That would have made it racist." He follows that up with this: "Or is this a case where the President and his acolytes need to call out the Black Mafia, which is what they are, to turn it into racism?"

I understand the need on these 24/7 networks to be outrageous in order to garner attention, but these comments were stomach-turning to me, not only for their obtuseness, but for the sheer joy he gets in trying to criminalize President Obama and other respected members of the black community like Greene. The fact that he, too, is black doesn't give him free license to spew racism on the airwaves, even if he thinks it does.

This exchange is particularly difficult, starting at about 3 minutes in.

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Police in Westchester County, New York Tuesday arrested about 15 members of the Muslim community after a scuffle broke out over a ban on headscarves on some rides at Rye Playland amusement park.

Park officials blamed a "misunderstanding" that occurred when some Muslim women were asked to remove their hijabs to ride certain rides, according to MyFoxNY.com.

A statement from the Westchester County Executive's Office claimed that two park rangers were injured "[i]n the course of restoring calm" after a disagreement broke out between some of the Muslim men and women.

But the version of events park patrons described to Patch was significantly different.

They say that police used excessive force by tackling and beating one of the women with batons as she lay on the ground. Others defending the woman were also beaten.

"I don't give **** about your culture," one female officer reportedly told one of the Muslim women.

Later in the day, about 50 members of the Muslim community prayed outside the gates as they waited for news about the others that had been arrested.

"Just yards away outside the park's entrance gate, a row of Westchester County police stood in helmets and protective vests," Patch's Renea Henry reported. "More than 40 law enforcement vehicles, cruisers and SUVs, even canine units, from municipalities across the county, lined the entry road to the amusement park. Even more law enforcement officers blocked park access roads in all directions."

Rye Playland is the only government-owned amusement park in the country.

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Ed Schultz and the NAACP's Ben Jealous took Glenn Beck to task for his revisionist history, dismissing the fact that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. died while fighting for the rights of public sector union members. As they rightfully pointed out, if he were alive today, he'd be out there with these protesters marching against these Republican governors who are doing their best to destroy what's left of collective bargaining rights for unions in America.

Media Matters has more on Beck's nonsense and you can read the full report here -- Beck Dismisses The Fact That MLK Died While Fighting For Labor Rights.

Ed Schultz talked to Salon's Joan Walsh about right-wing ideologue Justice Antonin Scalia's statement that the 14th Amendment doesn't protect protect women from discrimination.

Antonin "Women Don't Have Rights" Scalia will teach Republicans the Constitution:

Hey, did you hear that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia doesn't really believe in the the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment? Apparently, being an "originalist" means reading the minds of the framers and not interpreting what they wrote literally:

Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn't. Nobody ever thought that that's what it meant. Nobody ever voted for that.

OK, well, all the Amendment says is that equal protection under the laws will be afforded to citizens, not "straight male citizens," or whatever distinction Scalia's making here. Scalia can be very literal-minded sometimes, like when he explains that the Eighth Amendment doesn't forbid torture because interrogations aren't "punishment." Other times, he gets fuzzier with the language; despite the fact that the government is not allowed to establish or promote religion, Scalia is OK with "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. The Constitution always happens to only mean whatever an ultra-conservative Republican asshole thinks it means, isn't that funny?

As Walsh pointed out, the real irony here is that this is the same man that thought the equal protection clause applied to Bush in the Bush v Gore decision.