Pictures by Dan Swezy of the civil action by Lt. Dan Choi and Capt. Jim Pietrangelo at the White House after HRC’s rally nearby. The pair was arrested for protesting President Obama’s lack of effort to repeal the antigay military policy.

Y’all, that’s how powerful Wiley Drake’s “God” is. He can occasionally take out 77 year-old men with health problems.  Yeah, feel that wrath:

Southern Baptist Pastor Wiley Drake of Buena Park sent out an email Monday night, saying that perhaps his prayers had been answered with the death of Rep. John Murtha yesterday.

“Maybe God took him out,” Drake wrote. “Maybe God Answered our IMPRECATORY prayer that we prayed every 30 days.”

The Pennsylvania congressman, a decorated former Marine who fiercely opposed the Iraq war, died at the age of 77 after complications from gallbladder surgery.

(…)

Drake said he and his prayer warriors had been praying for Murtha’s death for four or five months. Among other things, Drake said Murtha’s use of profanity and his use of God’s name in vain. Beside praying for the death of specific politicians, he said they pray for “politicians in general who are taking unrighteous stands.”

I bet he takes credit when Robert Byrd passes away too.

Kyle at Right Wing Watch points out that Drake also prayed for Barack Obama to die, because Drake is so Christ-like.

Of course, Wiley Drake believes that imprecatory prayer is biblical, and that it’s a Christian’s responsibility to pray for God to smite people to death if they have disagreements.  It’s, of course, the ultimate cop-out (not to mention a functionally illiterate interpretation of the text), because Drake knows that his beliefs and ideas wouldn’t last a minute at the grown-up table in a debate.  So the only recourse he has is to hide behind some obscure verse and whine and cry to his god to make the mean people go away.  That his imprecatory prayer dog and pony show comes from a place of shivering weakness was never more evident than when he prayed for the leaders of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State to die, simply because they called his church’s tax-exempt status into question.  It’s the religious equivalent of a misbehaving teenager screaming at his parents “I HATE YOU AND I WISH YOU WERE DEAD!” as the adult parents look on with amusement and say “Hokay!  You’re still grounded!”

SA GLAAD would like to thank and praise US President Barack Obama for defending human rights and equality by describing a proposed Ugandan law against homosexuality as “odious” at the National Prayer Breakfast this week.

It is even more praiseworthy that he did so at an event sponsored and hosted by one of the leading groups involved in recent US religious right wing efforts to destroy the human rights and lives of the pink community in Uganda, the secretive group called “The Family” – of which the Ugandan sponsor of the Bill, Ugandan MP, David Bahati is a member. The Fellowship, also known as The Family, is an intensely private Christian conservative organisation. It has no website, contact details or published member list.

Obama acknowledged that some at the event held differing views on gay rights, but said: “Surely we can agree that it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are, whether it is here in the United States or… more extremely, in odious laws that are being proposed most recently in Uganda.”

We feel it is significant that he did so at an event attended by a number of high-profile lawmakers and religious leaders and in full view of the entire world.

SA GLAAD views it as alarming that South Africa, a leading country in Africa, has refused to add its voice to the international condemnation leveled at Uganda for its choice to further oppress human rights – and the appalling choice of homophobe Jon Qwelane as ambassador to Uganda.

Truth Wins Out praised President Barack Obama today for his bold speech at the National Prayer Breakfast condemning Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill. The bill would imprison, hunt down and even execute gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. The bill also threatens imprisonment for those who do not turn in their LGBT friends and family members to authorities.

In his speech, Obama said:

“We may disagree about gay marriage, but surely we can agree that it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are — whether it’s here in the United States or, as Hillary mentioned, more extremely in odious laws that are being proposed most recently in Uganda.”

The President’s words were particularly powerful in the setting of this breakfast, which is hosted by the fundamentalist group known as The Family. This secretive organization is directly linked to the “Kill the Gays” bill in Uganda. The bill’s sponsor, David Bahati, is a key member of The Family.

“We applaud President Obama for having the courage to confront those responsible for the heinous anti-gay bill in Uganda,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. “We hope that the President’s laudable stand makes it clear to Family members in the United States and Uganda that the world is watching. Religion can no longer be used to justify bigotry, intolerance and persecution anywhere on the face of the earth.”

Besen is the coordinator of The American Prayer Hour, which is an alternative to the National Prayer Breakfast. Fifteen national organization’s launched the Prayer Hour this week to shine a spotlight on The Family’s nefarious role in Uganda on the week of their annual National Prayer Breakfast.  There are American Prayer Hour events in 20 cities across the nation.

“The easy and safe course would have been for President Obama to remain silent,” said TWO’s Besen. “Instead, he walked into The Family’s house and held them accountable for their actions in Uganda. It was a huge victory for human rights and the president’s actions were courageous and honorable.”

Truth Wins Out is a New York City-based non-profit organization that fights religious extremism and the ex-gay industry.

I wasn’t able to watch the DADT hearing today, but from what I’ve read, Admiral Mullen and Defense Secretary Gates each made a strong case for repeal, framing the issue correctly as one of integrity.  Admiral Mullen had this to say:

“It is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do,” Mullen said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

“We have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens. For me, personally, it comes down to integrity – theirs as individuals, and ours as institutions,” Mullen added.

Precisely.  LGBT people fight and die for the freedoms we hold dear, and under the current policy, they’re asked to lie or face discharge for revealing the same thing that heterosexuals reveal every time they mention their spouses or significant others.

For his part, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said this:

“I fully support the president’s decision,” Gates said. “The question before us is not whether the military prepares to make this change, but how we … best prepare for it. We have received our orders from the commander in chief and we are moving out accordingly.”

Let’s all remember who appointed Robert Gates Secretary of Defense.

Well, guess who’s just cold losing it in his britches over this?  If you read the headline, you know that it’s The Peter!  Let’s see what kind of analysis he’s cooking up over there in Wingnuttia:

At a time of recession and a potentially long-lasting jobs crisis, a two-front war and an ongoing national security threat from Islamic radicals who would just love to see a planeload of Americans be bombed into smithereens, I doubt that a top priority in the minds of most Americans is to promote open homosexuality in our military. And yet that is the course that President Barack Obama — and apparently some of his sycophantic military advisers — have chosen.

Yeah, see, because here’s the thing, Peter.  If you support people keeping their jobs in a recession (which I assume we both do), it’s probably not a good idea to keep policies around that call for the firing of American citizens based on their sexuality.  Especially when those people are fighting and dying for your freedom to write stupid words on the internet, as LGBT citizens are and will continue to. (Yes, Peter.  Gays defend your freedom.  Deal with it.)  Also, since we’re fighting a two-front war in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as fighting against terrorist networks at home and abroad, it’s probably a good idea to keep as many Arabic and Farsi translators around, and several dozen have been discharged under the policy.  In fact, there’s a lot of evidence that DADT discharges disproportionately affect highly-skilled servicemen and women overall.  (Hello, Daniel Choi!)

The problem for Obama — and Gates — and every liberal that celebrates the prospect of sexual perversion gaining a stronger foothold in the Armed Forces of the greatest nation on earth– is that the American people have a say in stopping this latest “gay” capitulation.

You’re right, Peter, the American people DO have a say.  I’m not sure how that’s a problem though, since as many as 79% of Americans support DADT repeal. (For any who are unclear, 79% is most Americans.)  Another poll puts the figure at 69%, including 58% of conservatives and Republicans.  Any way you slice it, Peter, you are the minority here.  I’m sorry you don’t like them apples, but that’s the only kind we grow.

Let’s look at Peter’s specific arguments (I obviously use the phrase “specific arguments” loosely). He says that allowing gays to openly serve would:

devastate morale in our Armed Forces;

Wrong. As of 2006, 73% of troops are personally comfortable with gays and lesbians. That number is only going up, because all numbers involving support for gays are going up, especially in younger generations.

lead to a drop in enlistment and retention of good soldiers;

Right. Because our best, brightest and strongest troops are just as bedwettingly afraid of gay people as Peter is, I’m sure. But by the way, in case you missed that: If you support gay people and you’re a member of our Armed Forces, Peter LaBarbera thinks you’re a bad soldier.  Or if a member of your family supported gay people before he/she died protecting us, Peter thinks your departed loved one was a bad soldier.

discourage moral-minded and religious men and women of high character from seeking military service;

Got that? If you are among the majority of troops who support gay people, you are not morally minded and are of low character, according to Peter LaBarbera.

violate the privacy concerns of sexually normal servicemembers: will new “Gays-Only” showers be constructed at U.S. bases the world over — or will there just be special showering hours for men-who-are-sexually-attracted-to-other-men and lesbian-practicing women? And what about the bisexuals? (“Transgenders” have been left off the list for now — as even giddy pro-homosexual activists realize that is going too far at this time.);

Actually, Peter, gays are ALREADY in the showers in the Military, and it’s no big deal. As Patrick Murphy said a couple of years ago when he embarrassed Elaine Donnelly up one side and down the other, it’s an insult to our brave troops to think that they can’t handle being around gay people, even in the showers. It’s also puerile that Peter believes that all gay people are somehow always trolling for sex with straight people. Grow up and get over your fears, Peter. Plus, NONE of us want you, so you can rest easy.

subject hundreds of thousands of small-town, traditionally-minded recruits to Orwellian, government-run brainwashing “diversity” propaganda training, as the military becomes officially part of modern man’s effort to erase God’s law and wisdom on this issue. Such pro-homosexuality “diversity” training dulls the mind and corrupts the spirit — two results that surely will not find their way onto retooled U.S. military recruitment brochures;

Oh, good lord, people who did not read/did not understand 1984 should not be using the term “Orwellian.” And if being accepting of gays and lesbians “dulls the mind,” why are there so few fundamentalist Christians in our best universities?

further alienate the United States of America from the Muslim world; believe it or not, Mr. Obama, but the celebration of homosexuality that is all too common between our shores is nothing to brag about.

Peter is essentially saying that we need to appease radical Muslims by making sure we don’t offend them.

God, all fundamentalists, whether Muslim, Jewish, or Christian, are exactly the same.

I think this quote from Glenn Greenwald sums up the LaBarberian opposition to gays in the military quite nicely. He’s talking about Bill Kristol, Michael O’Hanlon, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (wingnut-UT), and other heterosexual men who oppose gays being able to serve in the military, but Peter can be easily added to this quote.  In fact, I’ll go ahead and add his name, in italics:

It should go without saying that debates over homosexuality, the military, warriors, masculinity and the like are suffuse with all sorts of complex psychological influences.  But one thing is clear:  in American culture, there has long been a group of men (typified by Kristol and O’Hanlon [and LaBarbera]) who equate toughness and masculinity with fighting wars, yet who also know that they lack the courage of their own convictions, and thus confine themselves to cheerleading for wars from afar and sending others off to fight but never fighting those wars themselves (Digby wrote the seminal post on that sorry faction back in 2005).  It seems that individuals plagued by that affliction are eager to avoid having it rubbed in their faces that there are large numbers of homosexual warriors who possess the courage (the “testosterone-laden tough-guyness”) which the O’Hanlons and Kristols [and LaBarberas], deep down, know they lack.  Banning gay people from serving openly in the military as warriors is an excellent way of being able to deny that reality to themselves.

The truth may burn, but it does, indeed, win out.

NEW YORK – Truth Wins Out (TWO) today urged world leaders and members of Congress to skip the  National Prayer Breakfast, February 4th, in protest of ‘The Family’s (aka The Fellowship) direct role in promoting a bill that would lead to severe human rights abuses against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in Uganda.

“The National Prayer Breakfast is giving legitimacy to those who promote barbarism in the name of the Bible,” said TWO’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “We hope that world leaders who care about human rights will reconsider attending this year’s breakfast. To say grace with the people pushing this hateful and dehumanizing bill in Uganda would be disgraceful.”

On National Public Radio’s Fresh Air, Terry Gross interviewed author Jeff Sharlet (pictured), whose book, “The Family”, is a groundbreaking expose on the clandestine group in charge of the National Prayer Breakfast. On the program, Sharlet revealed a “smoking gun”, tying The Family directly to the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009, which threatens liberty and life for all GLBT people living in Uganda. Here is the key part of the transcript:

GROSS: So you’re reporting the story for the first time today, and you found this story – this direct connection between The Family and the proposed [Uganda anti-gay hate] legislation by following the money?

SHARLET: Yes, it’s – I always say that the family is secretive, but not secret. You can go and look at 990s, tax forms and follow the money through these organizations that The Family describe as invisible. But you go and you look. You follow that money. You look at their archives. You do interviews where you can. It’s not so invisible anymore. So that’s how working with some research colleagues we discovered that David Bahati, the man behind this legislation, is really deeply, deeply involved in The Family’s work in Uganda, that the ethics minister of Uganda, Museveni’s kind of right hand man, a guy named Nsaba Buturo, is also helping to organize The Family’s National Prayer Breakfast. And here’s a guy who has been the main force for this Anti-Homosexuality Act in Uganda’s executive office and has been very vocal about what he’s doing, and in a rather extreme and hateful way. But these guys are not so much under the influence of The Family. They are, in Uganda, The Family.

GROSS: So how did you find out that Bahati is directly connected to The Family? You’ve described him as a core member of The Family. And this is the person who introduced the anti-gay legislation in Uganda that calls for the death penalty for some gay people.

SHARLET: Looking at the, The Family’s 990s, where they’re moving their money to – into this African leadership academy called Cornerstone, which runs two programs: Youth Corps, which has described its in the past as an international quote, “invisible family binding together world leaders,” and also, an alumni organization designed to place Cornerstone grads – graduates of this sort of very elite educational program and politics and NGO’s through something called the African Youth Leadership Forum, which is run by -according to Ugandan media – David Bahati, this same legislator who introduced the Anti-Homosexuality Act.

“It is unconscionable to pray with a group that is actively preying on innocent people in Uganda, just because of their sexual orientation,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “We call on all world leaders who care about human rights to opt out of this year’s National Prayer Breakfast. No one should break bread with a group that is breaking the bones and spirits of gay and lesbian people.”

Earlier this month, four members of Congress wrote a powerful letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to express alarm over the proposed law in Uganda.

“This egregious bill represents one of the most extreme anti-equality measures ever proposed in any country and would create a legal pretext for depriving lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Ugandans of their liberty, and even their lives,” said the bipartisan letter, signed by Reps. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc., Pictured), Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Howard Berman (D-Calif.) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.). “Particularly given the United States’ substantial contribution to Uganda through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), we believe swift action is necessary to ensure Ugandan leaders understand this bill is wholly unacceptable and antithetical to democratic values.”

The United States embassy in Uganda also spoke out against the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009, calling it a major setback in the promotion of human rights.

“If adopted, a bill further criminalizing homosexuality would constitute a significant step backwards for the protection of human rights in Uganda,” the embassy’s public affairs officer Joann Lockard said in an email. “We urge states to take all necessary measures to ensure that sexual orientation or gender identity may under no circumstances be the basis for criminal penalties, in particular executions, arrests, or detention.”

Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that counters anti-gay misinformation, fights religious extremism exposes the “ex-gay” myth and educates America about the lives of GLBT people.

Additional coverage: The Family’s Sen. Ensign Scandal and cover-up

There wasn’t a Billy left in the hills on Saturday, when tens of thousands of anti-government types, gun nuts, white supremacists, religious zealots, tax evaders and crazies streamed into Washington. It was pure delirium, as the National Mall resembled a sanitarium.

In a sea of American (and many Confederate) flags waved by more than a few secessionists, Obama was pictured as Hitler and portrayed as Stalin. The federal government was likened to an alien invader run by an illegitimate, foreign-born black president, who just happened to be elected by the American people.

I wish I could say that this unruly behavior is an anomaly, but it seems to be a growing and vocal part of the Republican Party. In the 1980’s, Rev. Jerry Falwell and Ralph Reed used direct mail and talk radio to organize what were previously known as busybodies into the Moral Majority. Today’s GOP has harnessed the power of the Internet and cable television to lure the loons and create a constituency of crackpots.

The result has been disastrous for this nation. Our healthcare system is broken and we are rated near the bottom when compared to nearly every other industrialized country. We pay more per person for healthcare and we live shorter lives. There is instability, as families often go broke when a loved one falls ill and there is insecurity because losing a job means forfeiting coverage. American businesses are saddled with growing healthcare costs, which make it more difficult to compete in the global marketplace.

Yet, instead of an adult conversation about an issue that is crippling our nation, our dimmest citizens have derailed the debate. These out-of-control, severely under medicated, surreptitious partisans hijacked town hall meetings and may cost the rest of us decent healthcare reform. Obama’s powerful speech last week helped mitigate the damage, but having frittered away the summer, it may be too late for the president to regain momentum.

At fault is the media — who routinely offer right wing sickos a stage to air the most outrageous allegations. Max Blumenthal, author of the new book, “Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party”, discussed the media’s culpability last week on National Public Radio.

“The mainstream media attempts this veneer of balance of entertaining both sides,” said Blumenthal. “But when one side is completely hysterical, conspiratorial, and leveling baseless attacks, should it be taken seriously? And what are the consequences for taking these attacks seriously in a democracy?”

The result, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), is an explosion of militias and hate groups. In a new report, the SPLC documents at least, “50 new militia training groups — one of them made up of present and former police officers and soldiers.”

“Almost a decade after largely disappearing from public view, right-wing militias, ideologically driven tax defiers and sovereign citizens are appearing in large numbers around the country,” says the report. The bizarre theories include:

1) Nativist theories about secret Mexican plans to “reconquer” the American Southwest

2) A secret network of U.S. concentration camps to imprison “patriots” who stand up to the federal government

If these were just harmless blowhards, that would be one thing. The problem is, these nuts are heavily armed and are a staple at shows that hawk firearms. SPLC reports that, “Sales of guns and ammunition have skyrocketed amid fears of new gun control laws, much as they did in the 1990s.”

Unless the media culture changes, there will be another Oklahoma City-type disaster or even an assassination attempt on our President. Responsible media outlets must stop offering platforms to serial distorters such as Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Glenn Beck. The next time Sarah Palin makes up a lie, such as death panels, the story should be about how she twisted the truth. Not a single story should be written or broadcast giving legs to the lies and allowing mistruths to run amok.

Thanks to the press winking and nodding to the nuts, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) felt empowered to heckle the President during his healthcare speech. More disturbing are reports that say many people in Wilson’s district applaud his sophomoric actions.

Clearly, it is time we stop calling these people “conservatives.” True conservatives, who believe in respecting authority and protocol, would have been appalled at the example Wilson set for children. After all, how can young people be expected to obey parents and teachers when the president is catcalled in the halls of Congress?

I’ve had it with such antics. This crowd destabilized Bill Clinton’s presidency. Then, they stole the 2000 election, by sending partisan thugs down to South Florida to disrupt the recount. Now, the paranoiacs are in a full-blown panic over the first black president.

This fight is no longer about healthcare, nor is about deficits. It is about the very health of the political process and turning back the deficit in decency exemplified by Joe Wilson, Sarah Palin and the demagogues out to undermine our system of government.

Talk To Action is keeping a tally of nationally known Christian rightist pastors who pray for the death of the president of the United States. That count is now three: Steven Anderson, Wiley Drake, and Peter Peters.

Drake is a former vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention who also served as Alan Keyes’ American Independent Party running mate in the 2008 election. Drake prayed for the death of abortion doctor George Tiller and, after Tiller’s murder, declared that his prayers had been answered.

Peters leads the LaPorte, Colorado, Church of Christ and has been associated several times with white supremacists, including those who killed Jewish talk-radio host Alan Berg.

After speaking at the Campus Progress National Conference in Washington, DC, on July 8, the former president was asked if he supported same-sex marriage. Clinton, in a departure from past statements, replied in the affirmative.

“I’m basically in support.”

The former president joins a string of prominent Democrats who have recently switched their position on the issue, including former Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean, New York Senator Charles E. Schumer, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine and Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd.

It seems to me, that Obama may be the last Democrat to run for President who gets GLBT support, yet is not in favor of equal marriage rights. As more mainstream Democrats step out front, the days of opposition appear numbered. Any serious candidate who wants to secure the nomination in the future must be for true equality.

Weeks after a now-famous victim of abstinence education, Bristol Palin, came forward and declared it a failure, Focus on the Family continues to promote unwed pregnancy and abortion through its opposition to comprehensive sex education.

Sadly, like other politically partisan pro-life organizations, Focus gets away with its promotion of abortion by diverting attention with inflammatory rhetoric about people who believe that banning all abortion and throwing women and doctors in jail are counterproductive means to a worthwhile end.

Today, Focus on the Family extended its defamation, falsely calling President Barack Obama “pro-abortion” and going one step further: Focus — an evangelical Protestant political giant — insinuated that it is somehow un-Catholic for Notre Dame, a leading Catholic university, to invite the President of the United States to speak at commencement and receive an honorary degree.

What’s really un-Catholic is Focus’s mischaracterization of those who believe Prohibition to be an ineffective and counterproductive means of reducing abortion. What’s even more un-Catholic is the organization’s effort to redefine the essence of Roman Catholicism from a traditional and historical religious creed into a flimsy ideological obsession with the use of federal law to control and micromanage every man, woman, and teen-ager’s sexuality by force.