Now that the frenzy of the election and its wake has subsided, I want to resurface a post from November 3 that probably got lost in the deluge. The significance of the much reviled Todd Akin is not only that he believed and stated extraordinary things about rape -- and voiced them while running for the U.S. Senate. -- FC

Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) has become notorious for his comments about rape, but there are many other good reasons to consider him one of the most recklessly dangerous pols in the nation. Fresh revelations about his criminal record and his approval of proponents of anti-abortion violence  are now coming out almost daily. Josh Glassteter at People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch has come up with video that demonstrates how this is so.  The National Journal is now reporting that Akin was arrested at least 8 times in connection with anti-abortion protests in he 80s -- including an instance in which he was blocking access to a clinic, refused to leave and had to be  "carried out by police."

A few days after the 1993 assassination of Florida abortion provider, Dr. David Gunn, Akin's longtime anti-abortion/militia pal, Tim Dreste, stood in front of the clinic of abortion provider Dr. Yogrenda Shah with a sign stating:  "Dr. Shah, are you feeling under the Gunn?"

Here is the video:

A few months later, Akin contributed $200 to Dreste's dark horse race for state representative.

By embracing the president of Uganda on the cusp of the country passing a venomous "Anti-Homosexuality Bill," Tony Perkins' Family Research Council is cementing its "hate group" status.

A recent edition of The Family Research Council's "Tony Perkins' Washington Update" pointed out that "During the 50th anniversary of his country's independence, President Yoweri Museveni stood before the world and publicly led Uganda in a prayer of personal and national repentance." Perkins praised Musevani for his remarks condemning "everything from sexual immorality to pride, bitterness and rebellion," and for "taking the very powerful step of dedicating Uganda to God."

Travel back in time with me for a moment. It's 1956, and we're in the Deep South. An interracial couple approaches the county clerk to apply for a marriage license. The clerk says, "Oh, no! Don't you know that the Bible mandates separation of the races? I refuse to give you a license because it violates my religious beliefs."

Now let's move ahead in time. It's 2013, and marriage equality is the law of the land in Maryland. A same-sex couple approaches the county clerk to apply for a marriage license. The clerk says, "No way! Don't you know that the Bible condemns same-sex marriage? I refuse to give you a license because it violates my religious beliefs."

Jim Burroway at Box Turtle Bulletin warns that journalists are once again prematurely reporting that the death penalty has been removed from Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Burroway posted a list of over a dozen examples since December 2009 of similar false reports, including from PBS, AP, and the BBC. The speaker of the parliament has promised that the bill will become law this year as a "Christmas present" to the Ugandan people,  but it is unclear if the bill has come out of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee. Also, the Washington Blade quotes a source from the U.S. Embassy in Kampala, warning that the committee "is incapable of removing the infamous death penalty provision from the legislation." The article quotes another source saying that State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland may have "misspoke" on Monday about the bill coming out of committee.

The Christian Right's reaction to President Barack Obama's victory over Mitt Romney has been turbo charged, yet somewhat predictable. Glenn Beck, who played a big role in Romney's campaign moaned, "Sometimes God Sucks." Buster Wilson of the American Family Association said that God will punish and curse America for re-electing Obama because of his mistreatment of Israel. Mat Staver, the Dean of the late Rev. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University Law School was grieving "like we have lost a friend or a close relative." Charisma magazine's Steve Strang "felt a profound sense of sadness. ... because ... Obama's policies represent everything wrong with America."

Billy Graham's son, The Rev. Franklin Graham, the president and CEO of the tax-exempt Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, has been both ubiquitous and unhinged in a spate of post-election media appearances. In some of those appearances he maintained that Obama was "waving his fist before God," and that America's economic woes are due to the fact that "we have turned our backs on God."

In one interview, Graham maintained that what America needed now is ... wait for it ... another Jerry Falwell.

Today's New York Times article on Nakoula B. Nakoula, the unrepentant producer of the incendiary Muhammad video, includes further claims by Joseph Nasralla that he was tricked into allowing his Media for Christ facility to be used for  filming. But Nasralla's own Media for Christ projects are no less inflammatory than the video.  At right and below are graphics from 911 Defend our Students, a joint venture of Nasralla's Media for Christ and the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission.  Not only does the flier, like the now-infamous movie, portray Muhammad as a sex-crazed pedophile, but an accompanying graphic in the anti-Muslim flier shows a man in a Sikh - not Muslim - turban.  This is a remarkable mistake for organizations advertised as providing expertise on Islam.

On Dec. 4, 2011, Tyler Alred, an Oklahoma teenager who had been drinking, ran a truck into a tree. His passenger and friend, 16-year-old John Dum, was killed.

That's tragic. I doubt anyone would argue that Alred doesn't deserve to be punished. But an Oklahoma judge's response to the matter has been curious, to say the least: District Judge Mike Norman has sentenced Alred to attend church weekly for the next 10 years.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving - which means it's time for the Religious Right to start carping about the so-called "war on Christmas."

Actually, there have already been several developments in this alleged war. As an unwilling combatant, I'd like to give you a little round-up of the action so far.

I thought I'd follow up on this, especially because my Alternet stories now dominate Google searches on the terms 'Billy Graham', 'Mormonism', 'cult'. Reports CNN's "belief" blog, Billy Graham's son Franklin Graham has promised that the Billy Graham Evangelical Association will never again label Mormonism a "cult".

     Bill Moyers interviewed George Soros in regard to the 2008 economic crash in the U.S. economy.  Soros expressed concern that Henry Paulson, economic advisor to President Bush at the time, acted too slowly.  He waited too long because he was such a free market person he refused to act.  According to Soros, this hesitation killed us.  He noted England acted quicker and saved more of their own economy.[1]  The new and growing wing of the Religious Right has emerged  with an economic agenda.  Some trace the roots of the movement to Civil  Rights rejection in the nation.  Many used the fear of government restrictions in the work place as a reason to reject Affirmative Action.  This theory might help explain the natural roots the Religious Right would have in laissez-faire economic beliefs.  The connection goes much further than a theory on race.  It is rooted deeply in the new concerns of the movement.  With renewed accusations that the nation is turning socialist, free market adherents find new fodder for the fires of the movement. The most popular Religious Right voter guide in Texas is a voter guide aptly named, the Free Market Voter guide.

There has been, and no doubt will continue to be, much written about the controversies engulfing Rev. Samuel Rodriguez.  But this is not about all that.  

This is a story about the banal hubris of a public figure, facilitated by the unhinged boosterism of a major periodical (and at least one of its editors) that published unsubstantiated ad hominem attacks against a writer in an apparent effort to intimidate, discredit and ultimately silence him.  "So this person," as Rev. Samuel Rodriguez put it in his Patheos interview, "in my opinion, loses any sort of legitimacy as a commentator on issues of the public sphere."

This is the story of a sliming.

On November 9, 2012, an article by Catholic journalist and author Greg Metzger, Questioning the "Hispanic Karl Rove of evangelicals" -- which noted that Democratic National Committee Faith Outreach head Rev. Derrick Harkins' has been listed (and still is) on the Advisory Board of Rev. Samuel Rodriguez' National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (along with, of all people, apostle and prophet Cindy Jacobs) -- drew a rapid reply from Faith Outreach head Harkins, who expressed "shock" at being listed on the NHCLC board. Harkins issued a public statement, through Metzger, in which the DNC Faith Outreach head claimed that he had not worked with Rodriguez' NHCLC for at least six years.

But Harkins' claim seems to be directly contradicted by a Joint Statement for the House Judiciary Committee, on immigration, that Harkins issued together with NHCLC President Samuel Rodriguez on March 1, 2011. The Joint Statement identified Rodriguez as the NHCLC's President.