What can be said about this week that doesn’t involve either Christine O’Donnell or Lady Gaga? Very little, so let’s not try.
Lady Gaga went to the VMAs with soldiers discharged under DADT; then she carried it further by calling on her “Little Monsters” to call their Senators, so they did; then she taught everybody a civics lesson, explaining to an uninformed American public what a “filibuster” is; and then she talked directly to the Senate via a recorded video, and encouraged people to continue calling their Senators.
Music this week comes from Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, for two reasons: A. Sharon is awesome. If you like neo-soul/blues/whatever, and ladies with big voices, you will like Sharon. B. I’m going to see her live this weekend, and I’m giddy with anticipation. The songs we’ll start with are “How Long Do I Have To Wait For You?” and “Tell Me.” The first one has shown up in a Late Friday Random Ten before, and I try not to repeat things, but I don’t care, because I make the rules. So let’s listen to these two amazing songs, and then we’ll hit shuffle on the second one and see what the iTunes [which crashed this week, which caused me to have about three panic attacks as I rebuilt the library] does. More videos after the jump.
I always wondered when this would happen. I can’t imagine the International House of Pancakes likes being associated in any way, even tangentially, with hatemongering bigotry and mouthbreathing insanity:
IHOP (pancake), based in Glendale, Calif., has sued IHOP (prayer), based in Kansas City, for trademark dilution and infringement. The lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, essentially said there was room for only one IHOP and that would be the restaurant chain that has been using the initials since 1973.
The religious group drawing thousands from around the world to south Kansas City to prepare for “end times” was started just 10 years ago.
[...]
[T]the chain, which has 1,476 restaurants across the country, claims it has six registered trademarks with the IHOP acronym and that the religious group’s use of the same four-letter logo causes, according to the lawsuit, “great and irreparable injury and confuses the public.”
The lawsuit further accuses the church mission of adopting the name International House of Prayer knowing it would be abbreviated IHOP — the intent being to misappropriate fame and notoriety of the food chain.
On Tuesday, IHOP (pancake) spokesman Patrick Lenow said the suit was filed only after the church mission refused repeated requests to stop using the trademark.
I wish the real IHOP all the luck in the world in their lawsuit.
Note: Originally I called this video “Hilarious MONDAY Video,” so you can all feel free to make fun of me for not knowing what day it is.
We didn’t really talk about the fact that my favorite right-wing nutjob, Lou Engle, had one of his “TheCall” rallies in Sacramento this weekend. Kyle at Right Wing Watch said it was mostly boring and sparsely attended. So, now you’re caught up! There was a TheCall rally in Sacramento, it was boring, and featured low attendance.
But there was one funny part when right-wing stand-up comic/crazy-lady-in-chief Cindy Jacobs got up and just prayed and repented her little heart out, for forgiveness from all the lesbianism and “girl-on-girl kissing.”
Kyle provides the video and the amazing transcript:
I want to talk as a mother to the young women today. We know that it’s not just the men who have a problem with pornography and I want to say it like this: girl-on-girl kissing, lesbianism is a plague on our society today.
And I want to read the word of God and I want us to pray. Roman 1: 25 says those who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator blessed forevermore, for this reason God game them up to vile passions where even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.
I’m going to call on the women and I want to say that it’s time for us to repent.
This girl-on-girl kissing, Madonna kissing Britney Spears, and what happened to Britney after that and a lot of other things. I know we’re going out over worldwide television. I want to tell you, bisexuality, every kind of perverse thing, the Bible calls this sin. And I want the women of God to kneel down right now and we are going to put a stop to this in our generation and we are going to say “No More!”
(Jacobs begins shouting)
And I want to say to you, this gender mainstreaming that says that you don’t know if you’re a boy or a girl until you have sex with both, boy or girl, has got to stop. If we agree right now that there is a holiness movement coming, we decree in the name of Jesus that men and women are going to be their natural use, in the name of Jesus.
One of you young women want to repent for that, lesbianism?
You see, Britney’s problems weren’t substance abuse, irresponsibility, and immaturity. NO! It was that one time Madonna stuck her tongue in Britney’s mouth, which passed the Sapphic Demon into Britney’s innocent “Hit Me Baby One More Time” mouth, that caused the trouble.
And um, I have never heard of a person that doesn’t know if they’re a boy or a girl until they’ve had sex with both. I think this is one of Cindy Jacobs’ frequent hallucinations.
So anyway, all lesbian readers, please repent, in the comments section. Thank you.
Unfortunately, we’ve been consumed with Mehlman fever (antibiotics should do the trick) the past twenty four hours, so I missed this. Jeff Sharlet has a new book, and a new piece in Harper’s, which unfortunately isn’t available yet, but an NPR interview with Sharlet drops a bit of a bombshell about the private ambitions of the sick, twisted, maniacal Ugandan MP David Bahati, the sponsor of that nation’s infamous “kill the gays bill”:
“Bahati said: ‘If you come here, you’ll see homosexuals from Europe and America are luring our children into homosexuality by distributing cell phones and iPods and things like this,’ ” Sharlet recounts. “And he said, ‘And I can explain to you what I really want to do.’ ”
Sharlet accompanied Bahati to a restaurant and later to his home, where Bahati told Sharlet that he wanted “to kill every last gay person.”
“It was a very chilling moment, because I’m sitting there with this man who’s talking about his plans for genocide, and has demonstrated over the period of my relationship with him that he’s not some back bencher — he’s a real rising star in the movement,” Sharlet says. “This was something that I hadn’t understood before I went to Uganda, that this was a guy with real potential and real sway and increasingly a following in Uganda.”
And he has connections to American leaders. Sharlet explains that Bahati is one of the Uganda leaders of an American evangelical movement called the Fellowship, or the Family — the secretive fellowship of powerful Christian politicians who wield considerable political influence, both in Washington and abroad.
If that’s what Bahati says to an American journalist with a history of reporting facts, I’d hate to imagine what he says behind closed doors to American Religious Right wingnuts.
Bahati is an aspiring genocidal maniac, and continuing American support from fundamentalist Christian leaders just proves what so many have always said: They are our American Taliban, and the only reason they haven’t started bombing things is because they live in a developed country where the Enlightenment and secularization have had a civilizing effect on the most grotesque applications of Deep Religious Faith. Bahati just has more “freedom” where he lives than our American mullahs do.
UPDATE: Okay, so nobody reads James Hartline’s blog, but I was perusing it a second ago, just to see what else the crazy lady was up to, and what do you know? I found out that James Hartline believes that Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin have prophetic messages from God embedded in one of their songs. Again, Hartline believes that Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin have, yes, prophetic messages from God embedded in one of their songs. Here, let James tell you:
The Hidden Prophetic Last Days Message of Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin in their performance of “Until You Come Back To Me.” Their land is calling, calling them to reclaim their promised destiny after 400 years of captivity. They came as slaves, but they shall leave as Kings and Princes, and Empowered Spiritual Royalty.
And:
There are many revelations that I have received from God that I have never discussed in public. The time is coming to reveal those matters. There is going to be a mass exodus in the years ahead of Americans returning to Africa, the homeland of their ancestors of slavery.
Uh huh.
And:
In this video you will hear a prophetic message encoded in the song by Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin that cries out about God’s desire after centuries of waiting for the return of His people to the African continent with wealth, resources and the spiritual understanding to destroy the ancient satanic forces of the devil. As Joseph was sent to Egypt to prepare a way for Israel to grow into a powerful Jewish nation fit to conquer the promised land, African slaves were sent to America to rise up after 400 years with wealth and ability to return to Africa to conquer their promised land.
I feel like I’m still detoxing from the in-depth special report I posted yesterday, my account of my experience inside the belly of the beast at Lou Engle’s Gateway House of Prayer. Apparently, though, there is no limit to the number of delusions Lou Engle has in a given week, because now he’s weighing in on the recent Supreme Court decision of Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, where the court simply held that a Christian group at Hastings College of the Law has to abide by the same nondiscrimination policies as anyone else, as long as they want to accept school funding. But no, for Lou Engle everything has World of Warcraft-style implications:
A 5-4 Supreme Court decision Monday requiring Christian campus groups on public universities to accept gay students as members and leaders may signal the beginning of religious persecution in the U.S., says prayer leader Lou Engle.
“This is the first time in U.S. history where the Supreme Court has actually ruled that gender rights now trump religious rights, which means this is the beginning of the possible coming harassment and persecution of the church because it’s going to be clear that the true church will take a stand only on the Word of God,” Engle, founder of TheCall prayer movement, said today. “So these campuses will find out who the real Christians are, who is willing to take a stand and risk their status with the school as a club.”
He will take any opportunity, no matter how tenuous, to keep his followers in a constant state of fear, won’t he? He has to keep up a constant stream of faux-victimization, because if he doesn’t, his followers might accidentally forget that they’re persecuted and go on to live productive lives. Quelle horreur!
SCOTUS simply said that no, Christian groups are not entitled to a special right to discriminate. But as I explained in my report yesterday, Lou Engle and his worshippers don’t hold the United States or the US Constitution in high regard, believing as they do that American government should conform to their idea of “God’s government.”
Radical Cleric Uses Violent Imagery and Overheated Rhetoric In Anti-Gay Crusade
ST. LOUIS – Truth Wins Out’ released a special report today, “The Stealth Bomber Meeting”, that detailed a chilling sermon in support of theocracy in America and renewed culture war against LGBT people by radical pastor Lou Engle of The Call Ministry. The popular cleric unleashed his extreme rhetoric during a revival at the Gateway House of Prayer in St. Louis.
Truth Wins Out’ Evan Hurst slipped into the event to document the extreme and delusional ideology of Engle, who considers himself a prophet sent by God to warn San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom that he would be judged for “promoting homosexuality.”
A frequent theme in Engle’ fiery St. Louis talk was crushing LGBT equality and rolling back recent gains.
“It’ the rod of God,” bellowed Engle from the stage. “I am looking for the secret of heaven that can penetrate the homosexual agenda with the love of Jesus and the truth!”
Engle’ preaching was decidedly political and his sermon repeatedly used violent, anti-gay imagery designed to rile up the crowd of 200 intense followers.
“If we’re struggling with a homosexual, same-sex desire, LET THE BIBLE KILL YOU, rather than make it easier for you, and say well, there must be a better scriptural answer to this…Brothers and sisters, let the Bible kill you rather than you twist the scriptures!”
“The remarkable thing about this event was how violent the rhetoric from leaders like Lou Engle is becoming,” said Evan Hurst, who authored the report for Truth Wins Out. “As we cross the tipping point where solidly half the population supports equality, I worry and wonder how much more extreme they will become, once an overwhelming majority of the public supports equal rights.”
Earlier this year, TWO’ Wayne Besen attended an anti-gay conference in Lynchburg where Engle acknowledged that when he preaches against LGBT issues, Christian youth often “rage against him.” Engle said that the far right has lost on this issue barring a miracle. One idea floated by Engle to turn the tide was creating an intercession by holding a 500,000 strong youth rally.
“It appears that Engle is following-through on his pledge to seek extreme solutions to what he rightfully sees as increased acceptance for LGBT people in America,” said Truth Wins Out’ Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Unfortunately, he is creating a potentially dangerous situation by turning to violent imagery and overheated rhetoric. Although Engle may sound delusional, he has many followers and people must pay attention to what he is preaching. He believes what he says and so do his cult-like minions.”
Engle has also been criticized for his large role in fomenting anti-gay sentiment in Uganda, where the notorious Anti-Homosexuality Bill is being considered by the legislature.
Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that defends the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community against anti-gay misinformation campaigns, counters the so-called “ex-gay” industry and educates about the lives of LGBT people.
If you were Lou Engle, you would. He would call all of you Jezebel. In fact, he did last Tuesday night in St. Louis at a revival at the Gateway House of Prayer. As Wayne reported on Friday, Lou Engle and the team from TheCall are holding a series of revivals/schools every night from June 19 to July 12, open to the public. Thus, it was as a member of “the public” that I traveled to St. Louis on Tuesday to attend one of these sessions, alongside approximately two hundred of Engle’s faithful followers.
Most of the crowd was under thirty, and the striking thing was that most wouldn’t have looked out of place at Starbucks. They were suburban, to be sure, but there were also more than a few visible tattoos in the room. This is Lou Engle’s “Elijah Generation,” which represents a shift away from the overly coiffed, good-haired fundamentalist men of stereotype as well as reality. Quite frankly, I didn’t feel out of place, physically. However, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally, it was soon made very clear that, though no one in the Gateway House of Prayer made so much as a move to speak to me or welcome me*, they considered me not only to be an enemy, but moreover one of the greatest threats to their well-being. This was disconcerting to experience as an adult, fully removed from the angst-ridden, closeted paranoia of my conservative Christian adolescence, but I’ll come back to that in a moment.
The evening began with a worship team leading the crowd in singing what some might call “songs,” for almost an hour and a half. However, they really weren’t “songs,” but more repetitive kindergarten-level chants. The praise leader would seize on a line like “I love you Jesus” or “Worthy is the lamb,” or a short, equally simple verse, and then lead the group in singing it over and over again, sometimes for more than ten minutes, before going seamlessly into another simple phrase and melody. The overall effect, I noticed, was a sort of hypnosis that fell over the crowd, as the young people in that room showed how serious they were about praising God by swaying, dancing, holding their hands in the air, and the like. Those in the front were the first to stand and sway and raise their hands, and, like a slow wave, the physical expression moved backward through the rows until it reached, and passed behind, me. The congregants would call this “The Holy Spirit,” perhaps, but really, it was just good old fashioned peer pressure. More than anything, the word that kept going through my head was “occult.” They were doing nothing less than going into ceremony, as Lou Engle’s bodyguard/bouncer kept a watchful eye from the front corner of the room, perhaps peering into the crowd for evidence of uninitiated outsiders or insiders not fully toeing the line.
Behave as a member of the tribe, or be discovered. And so I did, until Lou Engle finally stopped rocking back and forth in his seat in the front row and began to speak. I have embedded, in several segments, most of Lou Engle’s talk.** For each, I will summarize, analyze and comment on what was said, and the implications therein. If you’re pressed for time, I’m putting the most significant/egregiously awful quotes in bold print. The summary starts after the jump.
The nutty group, The Call, run by Lou Engle (who sounds like a professional wrestler) has hatched a plan to win over St. Louis for his angry, bitter version of Jesus:
A Series of Meetings with Lou Engle and TheCall Team will take place at the Gateway House of Prayer. The Prayer House will be pausing its regular prayer room hours June 19-July 12 in order to host a summer internship/school.
The evening sessions will be open to everyone!!(7-10PM). There will be worship, prayer and powerful teaching from Lou Engle, Brian Kim, Michael Brown, Benji Nolot etc.
Is it just me, or do these guys (Brown in tie and Engle appearing constipated) look like patrons of a campy, gay 1970′s mustache bar? On the count of three, Mary, let’s all sing: Y-M-C-A, It’s fun to extract demons at the Y-M-C-A!!”
The motto for anti-gay conservative leaders lately seems to be, “When in backwards Third World societies, relax and be how you really are.” Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family, just got back from Uganda, where he was researching his new book, and apparently was able to spend a lot of time with the authors and supporters of Uganda’s genocidal anti-gay bill. He also went to see the Uganda touring cast for Lou Engle’s thoroughly bizarre performance art piece, “The Call.” In a post at Warren Throckmorton’s blog, he shares some of his experiences:
Either Lou Engle isn’t telling the whole truth, or some of his key allies in Uganda aren’t. I attended his rally in Kampala in the company of Member of Parliament David Bahati, the author of the bill. After the rally, I rode with Bishop Oyet and Bahati in Bahati’ car to the Sheraton hotel, where I interviewed Oyet for about 45 minutes, recorded. I’ll be writing about what I learned in Kampala in my forthcoming book, but Engle’ latest statement prompts some points worth making in the meantime:
1. Both Oyet and Bahati were ecstatic at what they perceived as Engle’ strong support of the bill. They felt his rally and his statements would be a turning point for the bill, reassuring their Ugandan allies that they had support abroad.
2. Both Oyet and Bahati told me that Engle had explicitly expressed his support for the bill, telling them that he had to lie to the Western media because gays control it. They said he said one thing to the BBC and then walked over to Bahati and said that he really supported the bill. Either Engle isn’t telling the whole truth, or Oyet and Bahati aren’t. I tend to believe Bahati here, since Engle didn’t mean anything to him until he met him that day. He hadn’t heard of him and decided to attend the rally only after I’d told him a few things about Engle. In other words, he left the rally thrilled with Engle based on that encounter with Engle alone. Clearly, Engle did something to please him.
We are so surprised that Lou Engle lies when he’s around the modern, educated people. Really, we are.
Here, the backwards bishop decides to tell the world how backward his country really is:
5. Here’ Oyet on the death penalty: “There is not the death penalty at the end for everybody. There is the death penalty at the end for aggravated homosexuality.” He explained that the death penalty already applies for four crimes in Uganda (child rape, treason, murder, and causing death by female genital mutilation) “So I want the world to understand,” Oyet continued “that homosexuality is not the first death penalty in Uganda. I think that U.S. journalists should make that known. It is not the first one, it is going to be the fifth one.”
They’re not just ignorant, cloistered and backward. They’re FIVE TIMES ignorant, cloistered and backward!
6. Oyet seems to be quite confused about what homosexuality actually is. After he explained that he was engaged in spiritual warfare with homosexuality, I asked whether he believed homosexuals are demonically possessed.
Oyet: “Um, because it is abnormal. It is abnormal sex, you would say yes. You would say yes. Because one drives you to that. Because homosexuals, they would now eat their own feces. They would eat their own waste. That is what they call golden shower where you lick the anus of someone. Isn’t that demonic?”
That’s a dumb demon if it is, because he’s doing it wrong. Do demons not have access to Urban Dictionary? I mean, really.
There is so much more that I didn’t excerpt, and you should read it all. These people are weird, easily led, and obviously brainwashed. They live in a society where few have access to correct information, and those who do are hellbent on making sure their population stays as stupid as possible. It’s quite sad, really.
And Lou Engle, American, is all too willing to help.
I’ll update when Peter LaBarbera starts bitching about how Warren Throckmorton is being mean to genocidal demagogues by letting an actual journalist like Jeff Sharlet report via his blog. So, about thirty minutes?
Radical Cleric Uses Violent Imagery and Overheated Rhetoric In Anti-Gay Crusade 
The nutty group, The Call, run by Lou Engle (who sounds like a professional wrestler) has 
