Joseph Farah of WorldNutDaily has, predictably, stated that yesterday’s DC earthquake, which was obviously just devastating, was God’s judgment on ‘Murka for her terrible, terrible sins:

Occasionally God really does shake things up as a sign to us of the consequences of disobedience and indifference to our Creator.

Yes, I really believe that.

I welcome the ridicule that will inevitably come from a statement like that.

Glad to know the welcome mat is laid out.

I don’t mind the wisecracks a column like this always provokes. I don’t mind the darts and the brickbats. I really don’t mind at all.

We get it.

Look, this earthquake turned out to be a warning only, without loss of life or serious property damage. But there will be a bigger one coming, as everyone should understand.

It was a “warning,” you guys, and had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that there are faultlines, literally, all over the place. There are really, really active ones like the ones in California. There are those that are always rumbling, but only very occasionally go completely bonkers [like the New Madrid series, where I live]. And there are those that occasionally will just jump up and surprise us, like yesterday. But for people who choose not to acknowledge things like scientific advancement, superstitious explanations work better.

Washington, D.C., deserves more than the wallop it got today. It needs a much bigger shaking up than it got. And I have no doubts that it is coming – unless there is a real change of heart in the leadership of this country.

After all, if America doesn’t face judgment soon, God will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. And God doesn’t offer apologies.

You see, Joseph Farah says the earthquake should have been BIGGER. It’s a shame God didn’t kill a whole buncha sinners, because if he doesn’t do that soon, he’s going to have to say “sorry, you guyz” to the Sodomites, and Farah’s god doesn’t like saying “sorry.”

So I guess we should just all listen to Joseph Farah and his warnings, and pay no attention to the fact that earthquakes are and always have been a fact of life on this planet.  Maybe this picture will help us achieve the appropriate reverence for what happened yesterday.

[h/t Brian @ Right Wing Watch & watertiger]

Metro Weekly reporter Chris Geidner unearthed the disturbing story that Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) will soon be able to say that its programming is supported by funding provided to it by the World Bank.

Requirements include that the organization have “a substantial local presence in the Greater Washington metropolitan area.”

However, PFOX fails to fulfill this criteria and may be guilty of attempting to defraud the World Bank. The organization is based in Reedville, VA — placing the town 127 miles — and a two hour and forty minute drive — southeast of the nation’s capitol. Indeed, Richmond is significantly closer to Reedville and is a mere 85 miles away from PFOX’s headquarters.

“It is factually incorrect to say that PFOX has a ‘substantial local presence in DC’,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Either PFOX is committing fraud against the World Bank, or they are receiving special rights from the organization and inexplicably allowed to pass as a local organization.”

The truth is, PFOX does not meet in the area and has almost no local footprint, other than an occasional lobbying foray or an advertising buy. The Washington City Paper confirmed that PFOX has no local DC presence in a 2009 report, “The Ex-Gay Movement That Wasn’t”. According to the news report:

Unfortunately for PFOX and reporters on the sexual-orientation beat, ex-gay Washingtonians are hard to come by. Since each of my dozen or so calls to PFOX headquarters went unanswered, I am unable to confirm any of the group’s purported ex-gay offspring or friends. J. Matt Barber, a member of the PFOX board of directors, tells me that he has “a number of very close friends who are former homosexuals”—none of whom live in D.C.

“The World Bank needs to answer why it is bending the rules to accommodate an ideological organization that, under any objective measure, does not meet the criteria of working in the DC metro area,” says TWO’s Besen. “It is outrageous that PFOX tried to pull a fast one and they should immediately pull the plug on this scheme. We call on The World Bank to launch a thorough investigation to see if PFOX and some World Bank employees conspired to misrepresent PFOX’s location in an effort to defraud the bank.”

PFOX also does not list any legitimate chapters in DC or Virginia. The only “contact” e-mail listed in DC or VA is that of the national organization.

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Damn, it feels good to report some positive news for a change.

The Associated Press reports that Washington D.C.’s City Council has voted to legalize the freedom to marry for gay couples the nation’s capital. Mayor Adrian Fenty has promised to sign the bill. The final vote Tuesday was 11-2.

The bill now goes to Congress, which has final say over the district’s laws. Opponents say they’ll try to get Congress or voters to overturn it. Passage of the bill is a victory for gay marriage supporters, who have been dealt a recent string of defeats in Maine, New York and New Jersey.

If Congress doesn’t reject the bill, D.C. should start issuing marriage licenses around St. Patrick’s Day, which will make opponents green with envy. (Sorry, I could not pass up the bad pun)