Rowdy's Roundup - GOPers, Fearmongers, and Teabaggers - Oh My!

Our Quote of the Week comes from John Huntsman (via SFGate), one of the few Republican presidential contenders who doesn't make gay-bashing and climate change denial his top causes célèbres:  "I can't remember a time in our history where we actually were willing to shun science and become a — a party that — that was antithetical to science. I'm not sure that's good for our future and it's not a winning formula."  Well, I can certainly remember when that happened.  It's when Religious Right zealots wrested control of the GOP from mainstream voters.

HuffPo's Jennifer Bendery reports that House Budget Committee Chairman/Tea Party poseur Paul Ryan wants to reward his wealthy donors by creating tax loopholes big enough to fly a corporate jet through.  Color us unsurprised.

So how out of touch with minorities is Rick Perry?  Maria Diamond at Think Progress notes that the Texas governor is now comparing the Republicans' fight for lower corporate taxes to the Civil Rights Movement.

Professional homobigot Brian Brown who heads the hate group National Organization For Marriage continues to promote the ludicrous assertion that marriage equality will lead to rampant pedophilia.  (He and the shrewish Maggie Gallagher really should take a flying leap off that slippery slope they cling to.  Like ill-fated lovers in some mythical kingdom of Deep-Fried Fanaticism, I see them clasping hands and jumping into the cesspit of their own propaganda.)  Carlos Maza walks the dog for Equality Matters.  Speaking of NOM's Christianist Taliban, they're joining forces with GOP Oval Office hopeful Herman Cain in calling for the President's impeachment.  (They all think Obama should be meaner to Teh Gays.)

In case you've been wondering why fedophobic Michele Bachmann was once employed by the IRS, it's really very simple.  Greg Sargent explains on Plum Line:  She worked for the IRS as a kind of secret anti-tax mole whose mission was to get to know the place in order to better undermine it later.  As she put it: The first rule of war is "know your enemy."  (I wonder if that's why Michele was once caught lurking behind some bushes at an LGBT rights rally.  Does anybody really consider this conduct acceptable in a presidential candidate?  For what it's worth, Bachmann said she wasn't spying, that she crouched there because her heels hurt.  I'm sure they would, after dragging around that cross all day.)

At Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, Alvin McEwen compiles a list of sixteen reasons why the Family Research Council is a designated hate group (and it's not merely because of the org's fearmongering and extreme anti-gay rhetoric).  In pursuance of a twisted theocratic agenda, FRC leaders have been lying to the public.

The Federal Communications Commission has just driven a stake through the heart of the Fairness Doctrine.

Wallbuilders' hysterical hayseed David Barton declares that equality for LGBT Americans is "impossible."  He also insists that our nation's impoverished citizens can't find jobs because they're lazy and not sufficiently religious.  Brian Tashman at RightWingWatch checks for fleas.

From the Associated Press, as reported by Angela Delli Santi:   A freshman Republican lawmaker resigned because his wife sent "an offensive and racist" email to the Democratic state Senate campaign of nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis, a GOP official acknowledged Monday.  Pat Delany stepped down from the state Assembly this month and said he wouldn't seek a full term in November because of his wife's missive to Lewis' campaign, Burlington County Republican Chairman Bill Layton said...  Delany and his wife, Jennifer Delany, are white. Lewis, a political novice who's among the greatest athletes of all time, is black.Jennifer Delany's email to Lewis' campaign said, in part, "Imagine having dark skin and name recognition and the nerve to think that equaled knowing something about politics."  (Remind me again why so many conservatives are racially insensitive?)

The sound of renting garments and gnashing teeth comes from the Scrooge-alikes at Catholic Charities, a group that purports to help unwanted children find loving homes but restricts placement to non-gay households.  Courts have often ruled this churlish discrimination is unconstitutional, and a fair-minded judge in Illinois has just handed the "charity" its ass on a plate.  Head over to The Advocate, where Trudy Ring swings the incense.

FURKIDS INTERLUDE

I swore after Spot the Cat passed away that we would never allow another cat outdoors, but Rowdy's ceaseless mewling finally broke my resolve.  In the video below you'll see our persistent feline traipsing along the long drive and across the pasture, following me and the dogs to the fish pond.  (The video itself is nothing fancy; it has been ages since I used Windows Moviemaker - aaaaand, the version that came with this laptop unfortunately lacks bells and whistles.)

Readers who've been with us awhile may remember "Rowdy's One-Minute Adventure" (co-starring Spot the Cat).