Fox News finally made it official. They are part and parcel of the Republican Party. They are now the largest donors to the Republican Governors Association, having given them $1 million dollars. They also employ three out of the top four Republicans in the Iowa Caucus Poll for GOP presidential candidates.

The conservative obsession (and I think it is fair to call it an obsession) with the sex other people are having is beyond my capacity to understand. Call it self-involved if you must but I just can’t muster any interest in sex which I am not involved in. If your kink is that you like to dress like Shirley Temple and have your partner spank you with a hockey stick, as long as you are both adults and are into it, go for it. I. Don’t. Care.

Sadly the Religious Right in this country does. Whether they are just being incredibly cynical and found a relatively small group to use to whip up a frenzy among their base or they have a genuine (and let’s never forget deeply bigoted) objection based on an interpretation of their holy books, they feel like it is their job to police the actions of their fellow citizens when it comes to sexuality.

"Originally posted at Squarestate.net"

You would think that with the myriad of problems that face our country (two wars, a stagnant economy, the BP Oil disaster, climate change, etc, etc, etc) that the issue of sexuality would be one they could let slide. You would, of course, be wrong in thinking that. It seems that everyday there is some Religious Right person or group that has been captured by them (Texas Republican Platform Committee, I am looking right at you) spouts off about gay sex.

Over the last couple of days Gov. Mike Huckabee has taken some well deserved heat over his use of the phrase “ick factor” when talking about gay marriage. The whole quote was:

“I do believe that God created male and female and intended for marriage to be the relationship of the two opposite sexes. Male and female are biologically compatible to have a relationship. We can get into the ‘ick factor,’ but the fact is two men in a relationship, two women in a relationship, biologically, that doesn’t work the same.”

The blunders of Bill Kristol and Arizona Immigration continue!

Is it just me, or do our mainstream media talking heads seem unable to tell the truth from a blatant lie? I have watched too many news programs over the years, and it seems to me that people like Anderson Cooper, Candy Crowley, Campbell Brown, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly,
Keith Olbermann, Chris Mathews, and many, many others rarely go after their guests in the face of a lie, unless that guest just happens to be an opponent to their worldview. So, what are we to believe? Do they allow the lie in the interest of fairness? Do they even realize they are witnessing a fib?

A deconstruction of Neoconservative William Kristol’s assumption the the G.O.P. will move further to the right.

Wondering why conservatives are talking more about Willie Horton than Wayne Dumond in connection with Mike Huckabee? It’s because Dumond was pardoned when a bunch of right-wing lunatics, led by Huckabee’s buddy and fellow Baptist preacher Jay Cole, ranted without proof that Dumond didn’t actually commit the violent rape of a distant relative of Bill Clinton’s. But when Frankie Parker, a genuinely repentant convict, was looking for clemency, Huckabee instead moved to execute him sooner than scheduled. The difference? Parker had converted to Buddhism, not Southern Baptistry, in prison.

The hate smears and polarization keeps getting worse, but there is change in the opposite direction finally Sarah Palin and Hillary offer to have a casual chat and tea all the way up to th ADL condemning Glenn Beck’s hate mongering to anti-Castro Cubans condemning death threats against Cubans who disagree.

In the early stages of the race for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2012, eight names are mentioned most frequently: Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Newt Gingrich, Haley Barbour, Bobby Jindal and Dick Cheney.

Of these eight early contenders, five outright deny or question climate science, while the remaining three are opposed to all meaningful action.

If Gingrich, Jindal or Barbour wish to claim they are not opposed to all meaningful action, they’ll have to present plans that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the extent scientists say is necessary, which is on the order of an 80+ percent reduction from 1990 levels by 2050. An ‘All of the Above’ strategy of increased domestic oil and gas development and incentives for nuclear plants that will never be built does not even come close.

Former Arkansas Governor and current FOX teevee personality Mike Huckabee won the Value Voters Summit straw poll today in a plurality landslide, getting more than twice as many votes at the next contender, Willard “Mitt” Romney.

Fox News’s wild distortions about an ACLU religious freedom case threatens all Americans’ civil liberties.