Little Green Footballs

Grammy Awards Open Thread

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 17:33:41 PST

Here's an open thread to hang out and watch the Grammy Awards. There's a live video feed here: GRAMMY Live.

Fox News Commenters Respond to Whitney Houston's Death With Deluge of Hatred and Racism

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 10:45:40 PST

I don't even know what to say about this any more. There's a real sickness running rampant in the right wing; the Fox News comment thread on Whitney Houston's death is yet another disgusting deluge of outright racism: Singer Whitney Houston Dies at 48 | Fox News.

There are almost 5000 comments posted in the thread -- these are from the first few pages. Notice that the racist bastards deliberately misspell their slurs or insert random spaces, so they aren't caught by word filters. And many of the worst comments have numerous "likes" from other commenters.

A tragedy is when someones passes away from a terminal disease or something else that no one saw coming.Whitney is just an inferior lo w life ni gg er that needed to go,no tragedy,no loss.

[...]

Any death is a tragedy you heartless bástard.

[...]

not nignogs their death is a plus

[...]

SHe couldn't even sell issues of "the national enquirer" anymore. Everyone was tired of the TNB. Niqqer flaps her lips and screeches, niqqer becomes rich. Niqqer ends up nearly broke after spending all of her money. Niqqer in constant fights and drug binges. Niqqer ODs when she learns she's nearly broke and she is so wasted physically she can't make another album. Niqqer hit the end of the road, niqqer thinking and niqqer behavior led her to where she had nothing. She couldn't face life without the "bling bling", she knew she would never have any more "kaching kaching"

[...]

I am now patiently waiting for the grand messiah Obama to have a blk fundraiser in honor of Whitley with Kevin Costner as guest of honor with all the Hollywood elites invited along with Alan Colmes, Al Sharpton, Jeremia Wright, Charles Rangel, etc. with a menu featuring blk eyed peas, grits, Imported Kobe steak, Dom Perignon, sweet potato pie and a mus lll im scarf as a momento of this great occasion.

Of course the door prize will be an all expense paid trip to Kenya to visit the Obama tribe and birthplace of his ancestors while the American people still look for this imposter's birth certificate in Hawaii !!!

[...]

This is typical of the blk gene pool; it happens all the time. They cannot handle fame and fortune whether it's derived from music, acting, sports or just plain entertainment. Too much fame and too much money at one time will ki ll ll you.

How many blk people have died from drugs including alcohol that have been in the sports and the entertainment industry or screwed up their married lives like Tiger Woods or worse, OJ Simpson !!!

This is the same disease that got Obama voted into the White House.

[...]

i don't even consider them to be included in the human race let alone on a pedistal. the people that do are a bunch of loosers.

[...]

Story goes Obama sh0ved to much cr@ck up the wh0res @zz when he was going to sniiff it...

[...]

Obvious the use of to much hair strengthener did her in.That s__t will peel paint!

[...]

unfortunately like most nignog crack hoes she was able to apply her trade on "da streets"

[...]

Another nignog off the public social rolls

[...]

BIack females are the fattest segment of the population. BIack males are the most murderousss segment of the population. Africans have the lowest IQ of all people.

[...]

Like most of her species, she suffered from chronic stupidity.

[...]

tough break niqqer.

[...]

Nothing wrong with Coors, what is good about it most_n i g g e r s_ don't like it

[...]

oh niqqa please,nigga please.

[...]

one of the only b l a c k chics i would have ever banged.....once you go c r ack er.....you dont do cr a c k

[...]

Woo Hoo One less obama voter

[...]

Whitney who?!? some /\/iggress music artist that had a couple of hits in the early 90's. She's since been forgotten and now she's dead.. Who cares..

[...]

Africans love their drugs.

[...]

Jungle Buggie ??

[...]

This is a good lesson for all of you God loving Christian girls out there, stay away from "Jungle Love."

[...]

One less bIack crack addict in the world today. Not such a big loss.

[...]

We Whiteys dont care about some monkey crackhead, change the headline!

[...]

How funny would it be if they fuckedup the tombstone.

WHITEY HOUSTON

[...]

Their are B L A C K S and their are N i G G A S, which class do you put her mentor Bobby Brown into??? Whitney chose ???

[...]

Who cares? Black_trash gone is enough.

[...]

She is just like any other gh e tto queen.I hope the rest of these worthless piles in the inner cities follow her act .

[...]

What a waste of a good slit.

[...]

HER REAL NAME SHOULD BE KUNTA KINTI OR MOGUBA MAGABA, WHY AFRO-AMERICANS ARE USING ENGLISH NAMES AND LAST NAMES?....SHAME ON THEM!!

[...]

You know what you call Whitney Houston in a bathtub? A dead n i g g a h

[...]

Another buckwheat supporter bites the dust, oh well.

[...]

hatesandniqqers 3 hours ago

phuk you w hore,,,,,,,,,

[...]

Buckwheat is ne gro trash!

[...]

Bammy should not have given her crack from his personal stash!

[...]

B l a c k s have little to brag about about so they strut and crow about anything. The politically correct whites whine and cringe and try to be b l a c k themselves and identify with their "brothers". Great singer but as stupid as her pal, the malignancy in the white house

[...]

she still be voting for the head niggg this nov

[...]

To bad it wasnt the monkey in the White House

There's more. A lot more. But I have to stop now because it's making me physically ill.

Now the GOP Wants to Permit Any Employer to Deny Contraception Coverage

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 09:35:13 PST

The Republican Party's descent into Dark Ages misogyny continues; now Mitch McConnell, sensing that the GOP is on a reactionary roll, is planning to introduce legislation to let any employer deny contraception coverage.

Just amazing. In the space of a few months the Republican Party has gone from opposing abortion to opposing birth control -- even though the vast majority of Americans use contraception of some kind.

They're not even trying to use the "religious exception" excuse any more. It's a flat out war on contraception.

Not satisfied with President Obama’s new religious accommodation, Republicans will move forward with legislation that permits any employer to deny contraception coverage in their health insurance plans, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Sunday.

“If we end up having to try to overcome the President’s opposition by legislation, of course I’d be happy to support it, and intend to support it,” McConnell said. “We’ll be voting on that in the Senate and you can anticipate that that would happen as soon as possible.”

Whitney Houston Dies at 48

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:44:24 PST

Rest in peace, Whitney Houston. A beautiful woman with a truly huge gift for singing, but a sad, sad life.

Whitney Houston via Shutterstock

I was in a recording studio doing a session when I first heard Whitney Houston sing -- we were on a break, watching TV, and her first MTV video came on. I remember being blown away by how bright and positive and full of life she was -- and that amazing voice.

It's so sad that she couldn't find a way to defeat her demons.

Here's that video. What an instrument she had.

Bad Lip Reading: Newt Gingrich Remix

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:48:45 PST

Breitbart Blogger: CPAC Rap Video Wasn't Racist, They Were Innocently 'Referencing Their Pants'

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 15:19:44 PST

That incredibly obnoxious, blatantly racist CPAC "rap" video (Steven Crowder and Chris Loesch, wearing powdered wigs) spread rapidly across the blogosphere yesterday, and now, unbelievably, an anonymous writer at Andrew Breitbart's "Big Journalism" website is actually trying to claim that Crowder and Loesch's use of the word "knickers" was totally innocent: Dog Whistle Progressives Fabricate Racial Incident at CPAC - Big Journalism.

(Note: this dishonest trash was written by "P.J. Salvatore," the sock puppet account that Breitbart's bloggers use when they want to avoid putting a real name on an article.)

Earlier today Comedian Steven Crowder and Chris Loesch, a production artist, performed a satirical (by design) number called “Mr. America” at CPAC as a last-minute request to mark the launch of the same name video. The video (and the performance) features Crowder and Loesch dressed as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson opining about the loss of American exceptionalism. “We were fighting off Red Coats while we were brewin’ our beer” raps Crowder. At one point in the song the duo say “knickers,” while referencing their old-school pants.

Remember this claim -- we'll be coming back to it. "P.J. Salvatore" continues:

A writer at Huffington Post, with an apparently inability to spell, convinced herself that they said a racial slur, based on the sole observation that the audio technician, who happens to be black, which blogger Amanda Terkel was quick to note, walked out of frame to fix the audio levels.

There was one particularly awkward moment in the performance, when they used the word “knickers,” which happens to sound a lot like a racially loaded word beginning with the letter “n.” The music then stopped and they joked, “What? Knickers? I can say knickers!” At that moment, coincidentally, a technician — who happened to be one of the only African-American individuals in the room and was working at the front at the time — stood up and walked away.

Terkel’s scope of journalistic integrity doesn’t include actually interviewing the subjects about whom she’s writing. Terkel did not stay or ask either Crowder or Loesch for comment, nor did she interview the audio technician. She didn’t post the original video, either, until asked, because it’s easier to blow the race whistle without context.

OK, so here's some context for "P.J. Salvatore." This was no "dog whistle," it was an air raid siren. Crowder and Loesch deliberately used the word "knickers" as a play on the N word, and there's no doubt at all about it. They weren't just talking about their pants. Here are the pathetic lyrics in that section:

Yeah but right now you're high, ain't you big hitter
But I'm back from the dead now bringing back all my knickers

Man you think I'd say that, come on what's wrong with you
I'm just talking about my short pants that tuck into my shoe

Get it? Actually, you'd have to be pretty dumb indeed not to get the point they're making. This is apparently what conservatives consider "comedy" -- finding sneaky ways to use racial slurs. And they're doing it while mocking a specifically black American musical genre. Any questions about the "context" here?

There's more context, too, because Crowder and Loesch posted a video of their awful "rap" song, with slightly higher production values than the hand-held iPhone version. And that video uses the exact same "outraged African American" schtick that they pulled at CPAC. They stop the music and protest, "What? Knickers? I can say 'knickers' because I WEAR knickers." Get it?

Here's that video, set to start at the point where they do their sneaky "joke:"

Obviously, this was not just an innocent synonym for "pants." They deliberately used the word "knickers" in a context that makes it very clear they were invoking a racial slur, and wrote a whole little skit to go with it.

"P.J. Salvatore" adds:

Big Journalism is working to identify and interview the audio technician.

Really? Well, you could start by asking your fellow blogger Steven Crowder.

But Mr./Mrs. "Salvatore" isn't finished yet.

Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs, the man who once accused Andrew Breitbart of using a sandwich board as a computer (Ed. note: false), cracks out this lie:

Yes, they’re yelling the N word, pretending they’re saying “knickers.”

Johnson wasn’t there, of course, nor has he watched the video. Not that it would matter; everything any conservative does is somehow racist. Somewhat relatedly, Johnson thinks our Marines are “bloodthirsty killers.”

The first sentence contains a link (which I removed) to a blog run by obsessed right wingers who stalk me around the web, people who deny the Serbian genocide against Muslims and recently posted a video from a neo-Nazi group praising the racist, antisemitic novel "The Turner Diaries."

And the last sentence is another outright lie, to add to the pile. Here's the tweet I sent to Breitbart editor-in-chief John Nolte, when he laughingly praised the soldiers who got in big trouble with the Marine Corps by desecrating corpses:

Crazed partisan wingnuts like @NolteNC are now way to the right of the US Marine Corps. And much more bloodthirsty.

— Charles Johnson (@Lizardoid) January 14, 2012

I know logic isn't a Breitbart blogger's strong point, but I think it's pretty clear that I was calling John Nolte "bloodthirsty" (which he is), not the US Marines.

John Nolte is also more bloodthirsty than a blue soap dish, which isn't known for thirsting after blood at all.

This has been your daily ration of wingnut dishonesty, brought to you by Andrew Breitbart and his sock puppets.

Live Video: Sarah Palin at CPAC, Romney Wins Straw Poll

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:30:00 PST

And now, with the closing speech at an event that prominently featured white nationalists, the delightfully perky word salads of half-governor Sarah Palin.

Click for Video

Rick Santorum: The New Face of the GOP

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:05:57 PST

The thing about Rick Santorum is that he's genuine. He really believes that anti-science reactionary bullshit he spouts. He's not just saying it to get elected, unlike Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.

The reactionary Republican base senses this genuineness; they see Santorum as one of them. And this has now catapulted Santorum into the lead -- 15 points ahead of Romney.

Riding a wave of momentum from his trio of victories on Tuesday Rick Santorum has opened up a wide lead in PPP's newest national poll. He's at 38% to 23% for Mitt Romney, 17% for Newt Gingrich, and 13% for Ron Paul.

Video: Andrew Breitbart Loses It

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:21:03 PST

CPAC is just an unbelievable freak show this year. Here's Andrew Breitbart screaming at Occupy protesters to "behave" and "stop raping people."

Video: CPAC Racist Rap

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:12:16 PST

Yet another jaw-dropping moment from CPAC, as right wing "comedians" Steven Crowder and Chris Loesch perform an absolutely nauseating "rap" song, wearing "founding fathers" powdered wigs. And don't miss what happens at about the 2 minute mark, as an African American walks out.

Yes, they're yelling the N word, pretending they're saying "knickers."

Right wing humor.

At Geller-Spencer's CPAC Panel, Anti-Muslim Activist Says He's Proud of Attacks on Mosques

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:10:12 PST

Speaking today at the unofficial CPAC panel “Islamic Law in America: How the Obama Justice Department Is Selling Us Out,” sponsored by Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, James Lafferty of the Virginia Anti-Sharia Task Force was "proud to say" that most of the mosques attacked in the US were in the South: CPAC: Anti-Muslim Activist James Lafferty Says He's 'Proud' of Attacks Against Mosques.

Well with what the gentleman was saying about the Justice Department, I went to the briefing, the hate crimes summit, and I went there and it was all Muslim officials speaking and they had all these pictures of some mosque somewhere, and it was usually in the South I’m proud to say where a guy would drive a pickup truck right into the mosque. They had I bet 20—it looked like the same picture after a while because they just kept showing these same pictures, and each Muslim speaker got up, and remember this is a Justice Department meeting, and really ragged on two groups: the FBI and the NYPD. So whatever they’re doing they’re doing something good.

This is far from the first example; Geller and Spencer are usually too cunning to express this kind of open support for anti-Muslim violence, but their associates ... not so much: Pamela Geller Associate John Jay Openly Calls for Mass Murder.

Meanwhile, after ranting earlier this week that no one reads LGF or takes me seriously, and that I was a "boil on the ass of the blogosphere," Geller blocked me on Twitter, then proceeded to tweet the following to me today -- even though, since she blocked me, I was unlikely to even see it. (I only saw it because one of her followers retweeted it.)

Breitbart, Geller, Spencer - we're coming to get you, Chuckie! twitpic.com/8i1kz8 @AndrewBreitbart @jihadwatchrs @lizardoid

— Pamela Geller (@Atlasshrugs) February 10, 2012

This is the picture Geller posted:

It's nice to know that Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, and Andrew Breitbart all have a little internalized version of me living inside their heads, making them miserable.

Utopia: The Wheel

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:57:34 PST

I just discovered this gem at YouTube, while searching for videos with Todd Rundgren -- the entire legendary 1981 Utopia concert from the Royal Oak in Detroit, just under an hour long. The band really kicked ass this night, and Todd's voice has never sounded better.

I set this embedded video to begin playing at the song "The Wheel," a real tour de force vocal performance from Todd. You'll probably want to hear the rest if you're a Rundgren fan; the whole thing is fantastic, especially the encore, "Just One Victory."

Video

Rick Santorum's Dinner With a White Nationalist

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:57:45 PST

New polls show that Rick Santorum is now the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination.

And today, Rick Santorum had dinner with an overt white nationalist. I wish I was kidding about this. The Republican Party is openly legitimizing white nationalism at CPAC; this is the year that overt racism went mainstream in the GOP.

Tweeted a little while ago by the ProEnglish Twitter account:

Executive Director Bob Vandervoort just had dinner with Rick Santorum #cpac #conservative #tcot

— ProEnglish (@proenglishUSA) February 10, 2012

Bob Vandervoort, director of ProEnglish, is the former leader of Chicagoland Friends of the American Renaissance, an absolutely open white supremacist group that often held meetings with the Council of Conservative Citizens. More information: White Nationalist to Speak at CPAC (On How “diversity Is Weakening the American Identity”).

Bob Vandervoort is scheduled to moderate a Thursday afternoon panel at the CPAC 2012 conference, entitled, “The Failure of Multiculturalism: How the Pursuit of Diversity is Weakening the American Identity.” Vandervoort listed his organizational affiliation as executive director of ProEnglish—an English-Only outfit founded by John Tanton. What he left out of his bio is that he was also the organizer of the white nationalist group, Chicagoland Friends of American Renaissance, while he lived in Illinois.

During that period Vandervoort was at the center of much of the white nationalist activity in the region. While he was in charge, Chicagoland Friends of American Renaissance often held joint meetings with the local chapter of the Council of Conservative Citizens. He also made appearances at white nationalist events outside Illinois, for instance participating in the 2009 Preserving Western Civilization Conference.

Vandervoort’s position at ProEnglish is not surprising, given his familiarity with the Nativist Establishment. He and several Chicagoland Friends of American Renaissance members attended a March 22, 2005 Federation for American Immigration Reform meeting at the Lincoln Restaurant in Chicago. At a November 13, 2004 FAIR “Midwest Immigration Reform Summit” in Rosemont, Illinois, Vandervoort attended and passed out leaflets to the crowd announcing a local American Renaissance event.

Vandervoort was hired during the autumn of 2011, by the Tanton-founded English-Only group ProEnglish, after the organization lost three other executive directors in less than a year. Shortly after Vandervoort took the job, ProEnglish hired Phil Tignino as the group’s web master and social media coordinator. Tignino was the former head of the Washington State University chapter of the white nationalist college group, Youth for Western Civilization.

I'm just stunned, really. The Republican Party is crossing the Rubicon at this year's CPAC, dropping all the masks and proudly associating with the absolute dregs of America's racist underground. Bad, bad craziness is loose.

Live Video: Mitt Romney Speaks at CPAC, Sharing Billing With White Nationalists

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:04:43 PST

Mitt Romney is just beginning his speech at CPAC, sharing billing with white nationalists, Birthers, and sovereign citizen weirdos. Why hasn't the presence of outright racists at the most high profile Republican event been a bigger story? Shouldn't presidential candidates be held responsible for legitimizing the views of these disgusting people?

Click for Video

Obama Announces Contraception 'Accommodation' for Religious Organizations

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:00:02 PST

Catholic leaders and evangelicals have apparently managed to raise enough hell that President Obama is making some adjustments to the newly announced contraception rules. Now employers won't have to provide insurance plans that cover contraception for women; insurance providers will do it directly.

The move, based on state models, will almost certainly not satisfy bishops and other religious leaders since it will preserve the goal of women employees having their birth control fully covered by health insurance.

Sources say it will be respectful of religious beliefs but will not back off from that goal, which many religious leaders oppose since birth control is in violation of their religious beliefs.

One source familiar with the decision described the accommodation as “Hawaii-plus,” insisting that it’s better than the Hawaii plan — for both sides.

In Hawaii the employer is responsible for referring employees to places where they can obtain the contraception; Catholic leaders call that material cooperation with evil. But what the White House will likely announce later today is that the relationship between the religious employer and the insurance company will not need to have any component involving contraception. The insurance company will reach out on its own to the women employees. This is better for both sides, the source says, since the religious organizations do not have to deal with medical care to which they object, and women employees will not have to be dependent upon an organization strongly opposed to that care in order to obtain it.

You can probably already predict the reaction from the religious right: rage, and more rage.

For example, lunatic American Family Association spokesman Bryan Fischer tweeted today:

WH "compromise" totally bogus. Now just tramples on religious liberty of insurance companies instead. It's a travesty.

— Bryan Fischer (@BryanJFischer) February 10, 2012

Obama's "compromise" is totalitarianism on hormones. Now jackbooted thugs are ordering insurance companies around.

— Bryan Fischer (@BryanJFischer) February 10, 2012

I remain utterly appalled that throwbacks like Fischer have managed to make contraception controversial again, in the year 2012.

Rep. Steve King Defends White Nationalist at CPAC

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:30:49 PST

Appearing today at the CPAC panel discussion that featured white nationalist icon Peter Brimelow: Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King.

Rep. King has read all of Brimelow's books, but claims he hasn't seen any evidence of racism or white separatism.

Washington, D.C. -- Iowa congressman Steve King is unconcerned about the implications of his appearance during a CPAC panel on "The Failure of Multiculturalism" featuring a white nationalist author, Peter Brimelow.

"I don't know anything about that," King, who came to the event to talk about his English Language Unity Act, told BuzzFeed -- though he'd earlier told Brimelow that "I've read all your books!". ...

King added that he wasn't totally familiar with Brimelow's work.

"I've taken so much criticism on my life that has just been completely unjustified, you know, a fabrication of the hardcore left," King said. "I'd want to see whatever evidence that is before I comment on it."

When told that the white nationalist designation had come from the Southern Poverty Law Center, King laughed. "I wouldn't take them seriously," he said. "No, not at all."

Again, I admit I was a little amazed that a true racist hater like Brimelow was appearing openly on a CPAC panel; but now, when both the organizers and a US Congressman are legitimizing Brimelow's sick ideology, this crosses the line into downright creepy.

Also see:
Steve King and White Nationalist CPAC Panel Warn That America's Greatest Threat Is Its Diversity

Video: Rick Santorum's Astoundingly Anti-Science Rant

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:39:56 PST

I commented yesterday that it was almost unbelievable how crazy the right wing rhetoric is getting, and here's yet another example from reactionary candidate Rick Santorum, speaking in Oklahoma and telling the crowd that the science of global warming is a myth, now totally disproven and rotting in the dustbin of history, and the left uses science to make people feel guilty in order to control them. And fracking is perfectly safe.

No joke: Santorum Takes on 'Environmental Terror'.

Video

Santorum's disdain for environmentalists was palpable and largely shared by the crowd of nearly 1,500 people here at the Meridian Convention Center. Perhaps sensing he was preaching to the choir, Santorum expounded upon his position that manmade global warming is a myth and a plot by the left to take freedoms away from the American people.

"This was a politicization of science," Santorum said, of the science behind global warming. "You hear all the time, the left – 'Oh, the conservatives are the anti-science party.' No we're not. We're the truth party. The absurdity and the politicization and the manipulation of data, why? Because the left is always looking for a way to control you. They're always trying to make you feel guilty so you'll give them power so they can lord it over you."

Live Video: CPAC 2012, With Bonus White Nationalists

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:08:39 PST

As we noted yesterday, this year CPAC is hosting a panel discussion featuring an outright, unspinnable white nationalist race hater, Peter Brimelow. When the organizers were confronted about this disgusting development, they refused to renounce Brimelow:

The American Conservative Union is standing by its decision to permit a panel at CPAC that includes a leading white nationalist figure, Peter Brimelow.

"CPAC is proud to have more than 150 sponsors and exhibitors this year," said spokeswoman Kristy Campbell in an email. "This panel was not organized by the ACU, and specific questions on the event, content or speakers should be directed to the sponsoring organization. Cosponsors and affiliated events do not necessarily represent the opinions of the American Conservative Union."

What else do you need to know about the right wing?

Here's a live video feed of what can now only be called a hatefest:

Click for Video

Suddenly Contraceptives Are Controversial?

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:19:12 PST

Unless I passed out under an enchanted tree and have been sleeping for decades without knowing, this is the year 2012, right? AD?

So why are we still fighting over contraception?

The controversy over the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation’s decision to eliminate funding to Planned Parenthood—and subsequent reversal— continues. Catholic leaders are blasting the health reform requirement that insurance plans to cover contraceptives. Commentator Mark Shields joined other liberals in blasting the provision, saying it could have “cataclysmic” fallout for President Obama come November.

Numerous pundits have predicted that the requirement —and its narrow exemption for churches — will be a political liability for Obama. But where Shields sees “cataclysmic” fallout, the White House sees something quite different: a chance to widen the reproductive health debate beyond abortion to issues like contraceptives, winning over key demographics of independent voters in the process.

And that could explain why the White House, alongside the Obama campaign, has engaged eagerly on the issues. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was in USA Today earlier this week, praising the new provision. The Obama campaign meanwhile hasn’t been shy either, drawing up an infographic praising the new regulation. While there are some signs of a potential compromise for religious groups, the White House has made it pretty clear it plans to stand firm behind the current regulation.

But while Catholic leadership has blasted the new regulation, polls show that a majority of Catholics are actually more supportive of the provision than the rest of the country. A poll out Tuesday from the Public Religion Research Institute finds 52 percent of Catholic voters agreed with the statement, “employers should be required to provide their employees with health care plans that cover contraception and birth control at no cost.” That’s pretty much in line with overall support for the provision, which hovers at 55 percent - likely because Catholics use contraceptives at rates similar to the rest of Americans.

CPAC Panel Will Feature White Nationalist Leader Brimelow

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:45:15 PST

It was bad enough when CPAC recently allowed the wacko paleo-conservative John Birch Society to have an exhibit, but this year things are exponentially worse.

This year, the Conservative Political Action Conference, at which presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich will appear, is having a panel discussion featuring an overt racist and white nationalist: Peter Brimelow, founder of hate site VDARE.

12:30 The Failure of Multiculturalism: How the pursuit of diversity is weakening the American Identity – Wilson C

Sponsored by: ProEnglish

Speakers: Robert Vandervoort, Executive Director, ProEnglish; John Derbyshire, contributing editor at National Review and author of We Are Doomed; Peter Brimelow, author of The Patriot Game: National Dreams and Political Realities and founder of VDARE.com; Dr. Serge Trifkovic, foreign affairs editor for Chronicles magazine; & Dr. Rosalie Porter, author of American Immigrant: My Life In Three Languages, chairwoman of the board, ProEnglish

Here's the CPAC 2012 Schedule of Events (PDF).

I admit, this one kind of shocks me, and it's not easy to do that any more. I knew the right wing had gone bug-eyed loony, but this is way beyond the usual xenophobia and paranoid bigotry; this is open white nationalism at the Republican right's premier high-profile conference, in an election year. Stunning. Masks are dropping all over Wingnutland.

Here are some more details on Brimelow's vicious racial hatred, from Right Wing Watch:

VDARE is a White Nationalist website, run by Brimelow, which frequently publishes the works of anti-Semitic and racist writers and is named after Virginia Dare, who is believed to be the first child of English parents born in the Americas. Brimelow, an immigrant from Great Britain, expresses his fear of the loss of America’s white majority, blames non-white immigrants for social and economic problems and urges the Republican Party to give up on minority voters and focus on winning the white vote. He also said that a New York City subway is the same as an Immigration and Naturalization Service waiting room, “an underworld that is not just teeming but also almost entirely colored.”

VDARE has published the work of people like Robert Weissberg, who says that black and Hispanic students are responsible for problems in the American education system, Marcus Epstein, the Youth for Western Civilization leader who karate-chopped a black woman after calling her a “n****r” (he later pled guilty to assault), and J. Philippe Rushton of the eugenicist Pioneer Fund.

The Southern Poverty Law Center lists VDARE as a White Nationalist hate group and notes that “VDARE.com’s archives contain articles like ‘Freedom vs. Diversity,’ ‘Abolishing America,’ ‘Anarcho-Tyranny — Where Multiculturalism Leads’ and ‘Why Immigrants Kill,’” compiled quotes from other VDARE writers that call the U.S. an exclusively white nation and denounce Jews for “weakening America’s historic White majority”:

"America was defined — almost explicitly, sometimes very explicitly — as a white nation, for white people, and what that means is that there is virtually no figure, no law, no policy, no event in the history of the old, white America that can survive the transition to the new and non-white version. Whether we will want to call the new updated version ‘America’ at all is another question entirely."

— Sam Francis, VDARE.com, July 21, 2003

"Jewish activity collectively, throughout history, is best understood as an elaborate and highly successful group competitive strategy directed against neighboring peoples and host societies. The objective has been control of economic resources and political power. One example: overwhelming Jewish support for non-traditional immigration, which has the effect of weakening America’s historic white majority."

— Kevin MacDonald, VDARE.com, Nov. 14, 2006

"What race realists find most infuriating about the liberalism of the last half century is not just that it has lost its instinctive appreciation for the culture and people of the West but actively, viciously attacks them. Whites are doing something no other people have ever done in human history. Our rulers and elites welcome replacement by aliens, they vilify our ancestors and their own, they sacrifice our interests to those of favored minorities, and they treat the entire history of the West as if it were a global plague of rapine and exploitation. This is a disease that is killing us, and we must fight it head on."

— Jared Taylor, VDARE.com, July 4, 2008

Also see:
CPAC Won't Renounce White Nationalist

Santorum Upsets Romney's Apple Cart

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:59:36 PST

Rick Santorum's big wins last night in Minnesota, Colorado, and Missouri are important signs of the power of reactionary religious thinking in today's right wing.

Of all the candidates, Santorum is by far the most fanatical; he's absolutely opposed to all contraception, wants to see abortion made completely illegal, is anti-gay to an insane degree, and is a hard core creationist and global warming denier. He's the poster boy for Republican atavism, an anti-science avatar for the Tea Party set.

People like Rick Santorum are one of the major reasons why I had to make a public break with the right. They make America a laughing stock to the rest of the world with their backward, deliberately ignorant ideology. And that's why this coming Presidential election is so important. Blind fanatics like Santorum must not be allowed to gain access to the highest office in the United States.

Tech Note: Comments Now Show Your 'Display Name'

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:58:23 PST

Our new feature of the day has to do with comments; when you post a comment, your username is shown on the top line. This is how it's been at LGF for lo, these many years.

But now, you can actually change the name that shows up in your comment, by entering a new name for your "display name" in your Account Settings.

This means that anyone with an LGF account can now use almost any name they like when posting comments.

But you can still easily find out who's really behind that display name; just hover your mouse over it for a second or two and their real username will pop up. The real username is also shown in the Profile dialog box, when you click a user's icon.

Note that changing your display name will change what appears in all your comments; if you've posted a comment previously with a different display name, it will change when you change the name.

And just in case someone decides to abuse this feature and impersonate someone for less-than-groovy reasons, I've coded it so that I have a simple, one-click way to completely turn it off and show only real usernames again.

Have at it. And try not to get discombobulated.

Primaries and Caucuses in Three States

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:14:33 PST

There's a primary election in Missouri, and caucuses tonight in Minnesota and Colorado, so here's a thread to keep up with news from the front lines; the Missouri primary just closed (at 8pm ET) so results should start to be available soon.

Survey: Majority of Catholics Favor Birth Control in Health Care Coverage

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:58:30 PST

Birth control pills via Shutterstock

Right wing think tank the Heritage Foundation is blaring that "Obamacare" has awakened a sleeping giant:

It is a rare moment indeed when faith denominations of all stripes unite together in common cause, and it is rarer still when that cause is a political one, with a sole piece of legislation as its principal target. But when that law eviscerates the very foundation of religious liberty in America as protected under the First Amendment, it should not be surprising that Catholics and Jews, evangelical Christians, and mainline Lutherans alike find common cause in defense of their liberties.

Bill Donohue of the Catholic League is threatening fighting in the streets:

“Never before, unprecedented in American history, for the federal government to line up against the Roman Catholic Church,” said Catholic League head Bill Donohue.

Already Archbishop Timothy Dolan has spoken out against the law and priests around the country have mobilized, reading letters from the pulpit. Donohue said Catholic officials will stop at nothing to put a stop to it.

“This is going to be fought out with lawsuits, with court decisions, and, dare I say it, maybe even in the streets,” Donohue said.

But it's hard to picture a newly-awakened army of raging Catholics and evangelicals rioting in the streets when polls show that a Majority of Catholics Think Employers Should Be Required to Provide Health Care Plans That Cover Birth Control at No Cost.

President Obama on Super PACs: We Will Not Play by Two Sets of Rules

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:03:58 PST

This is rather unfortunate, but what other choice does Obama have? If he doesn't deploy his own Super PACs (while never actually coordinating with them, wink), the gargantuan amounts of money the Republicans will throw into the race would give them an overwhelming advantage: We Will Not Play by Two Sets of Rules -- Blog -- Barack Obama.

The President opposed the Citizens United decision. He understood that with the dramatic growth in opportunities to raise and spend unlimited special-interest money, we would see new strategies to hide it from public view. He continues to support a law to force full disclosure of all funding intended to influence our elections, a reform that was blocked in 2010 by a unanimous Republican filibuster in the U.S. Senate. And the President favors action—by constitutional amendment, if necessary—to place reasonable limits on all such spending.

But this cycle, our campaign has to face the reality of the law as it currently stands.

Over the last few months, Super PACs affiliated with Republican presidential candidates have spent more than $40 million on television and radio, almost all of it for negative ads.

Last week, filings showed that the Super PAC affiliated with Mitt Romney's campaign raised $30 million in 2011 from fewer than 200 contributors, most of them from the financial sector. Governor Romney personally helped raise money for this group, which is run by some of his closest allies.

Meanwhile, other Super PACs established for the sole purpose of defeating the President—along with "nonprofits" that also aren't required to disclose the sources of their funding—have raised more than $50 million. In the aggregate, these groups are expected to spend half a billion dollars, above and beyond what the Republican nominee and party are expected to commit to try to defeat the President.

With so much at stake, we can't allow for two sets of rules in this election whereby the Republican nominee is the beneficiary of unlimited spending and Democrats unilaterally disarm.

Therefore, the campaign has decided to do what we can, consistent with the law, to support Priorities USA in its effort to counter the weight of the GOP Super PAC. We will do so only in the knowledge and with the expectation that all of its donations will be fully disclosed as required by law to the Federal Election Commission.

There's nothing else he can do. The Citizens United decision launched a political arms race among super-wealthy donors, to see who could control the US political system by writing the biggest check.

Breaking: CA Appeals Court Rules Ban on Gay Marriage is Unconstitutional

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:04:20 PST

The Associated Press is reporting that the appeals court has ruled California's voter-approved ban on gay marriage unconstitutional, so we know what the next big right wing freak-out will be.

UPDATE at 2/7/12 11:39:32 am

Here's a link to the court's decision.

Also see:
Prop. 8: Gay-Marriage Ban Unconstitutional, Court Rules

Karen Handel Resigns From Komen, Mitt Romney Attacks Planned Parenthood

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:49:28 PST

Republican anti-choice activist Karen Handel is resigning from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, with an angry statement defending her work against Planned Parenthood: Karen Handel Resigns From Komen for the Cure.

I am deeply disappointed by the gross mischaracterizations of the strategy, its rationale, and my involvement in it. I openly acknowledge my role in the matter and continue to believe our decision was the best one for Komen’s future and the women we serve. However, the decision to update our granting model was made before I joined Komen, and the controversy related to Planned Parenthood has long been a concern to the organization. Neither the decision nor the changes themselves were based on anyone’s political beliefs or ideology. Rather, both were based on Komen’s mission and how to better serve women, as well as a realization of the need to distance Komen from controversy. I believe that Komen, like any other nonprofit organization, has the right and the responsibility to set criteria and highest standards for how and to whom it grants.

What was a thoughtful and thoroughly reviewed decision – one that would have indeed enabled Komen to deliver even greater community impact – has unfortunately been turned into something about politics. This is entirely untrue. This development should sadden us all greatly.

Please note that in her statement, Handel is openly admitting that Planned Parenthood was deliberately targeted. This comes after many days of Komen Foundation officials denying that there was any specific intent to defund Planned Parenthood. The truth will eventually out.

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney obviously understands which side his bread is buttered on: the religious right side.

When Minnesota radio host Scott Hennen asked Romney whether Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the leading U.S. anti-breast cancer charity, should continue to give Planned Parenthood grants for cancer screenings and mammogram referrals, Romney said, "I don't think so."

"I also feel that the government should cut off funding to Planned Parenthood," the former Massachusetts governor added. "Look, the idea that we're subsidizing an institution which is providing abortion, in my view, is wrong. Planned Parenthood ought to stand on their own feet, and should not get government subsidy."

Overnight Video: Aurora 2012

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:13:08 PST

Video: Santorum Pines for the Days of 'Shadow Abortions' and Back-Alley Procedures

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:09:01 PST

Rick Santorum misses the days when women would die in horrible agony from having back-alley abortions. Ah, good times.

Look at what’s happened just in our tolerance for abortion. Fifty years ago...60 years ago, people who did abortions were in the shadows, people who were considered really bad doctors. Now, abortion is something to that is just accepted. [...] This is the erosion. And it happens in the medical profession. It happened very fast. And I think Obamacare will lead us down that road.

Also see:
Rick Santorum and James Dobson Push 'Death Panels' Myth, Nostalgic for Time When Abortion Was a Crime

Congressman Falls for the Onion's Planned Parenthood 'Abortionplex' Satire

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:34:20 PST

Louisiana Republican Rep. John Fleming is the latest politician to fall for an Onion story and believe it to be genuine news: Congressman Falls for the Onion's Planned Parenthood 'Abortionplex' Story.

Rep. Fleming posted on Facebook an Onion story from last year on an "$8 billion Abortionplex" being built by Planned Parenthood, featuring restaurants, a nightclub, and a 10-screen multiplex theater. Along with the link to the article, Fleming commented:

More on Planned Parenthood, abortion by the wholesale.

John Fleming, you are the LGF Derp of the Day.

(Except it's not really that funny to see a Congressman so blinded by animus toward Planned Parenthood that he'd accept such an obviously exaggerated satire as the real thing.)