In Godless We Trust

IRS Warns Churches About Political Activities, Tax-Exempt Status

IRS regional manager Peter Lorenzetti told pastors attending the Faith Leaders Summit meeting in Washington that activities that could result in loss of tax-exempt status include endorsing or opposing candidates, campaigning for them or making contributions to their campaigns.

But pastors are free to do any of those things as private citizens, U.S> Rep. G. K. Butterfield, D-N.C., said.

“You simply cannot do it in your capacity as the pastor of the church and give the implication that the church is endorsing the candidate,” Butterfield, a former judge, said.

Lorenzetti said churches can distribute voter guides that educate about political issues without favoring a particular candidate.

—-

KWTX.com

Atheists’ political activity is growing

One of the biggest growth areas in political activism around religion is coming from an unlikely source: the nonreligious. And it’s happening far from the marbled corridors of power in the nation’s capital.

The Secular Coalition for America, an umbrella organization that represents 11 nontheistic groups including American Atheists and the American Humanist Association, is looking to take its secular-based activism out of the nation’s capital and into the states.

Beginning in June, the Washington-based SCA will install directors in 18 states including Hawaii, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Alabama. State directors will meet with local politicians and train and mobilize local nontheists to lobby on behalf of secular issues and causes.

Why? Activists say the most important policies that affect nonbelievers don’t come from Washington.

“The majority of erosion to church-state separation is at the local level,” said Serah Blain, the SCA’s first state director, appointed in Arizona in January. “It’s in city councils and school boards and statehouses. And that’s where these things really affect people’s lives, with laws on bullying and abortion and access to health care. And they are passing without much opposition because it isn’t seen as glamorous to lobby locally.”

The announcement comes on the heels of SCA’s appointment of Edwina Rogers, a veteran Republican lobbyist, as its new executive director, a move the group has spun as a means to greater access on Capitol Hill. It is also the latest indication that nontheists — atheists, humanists, skeptics and others who hold no supernatural beliefs — are working to become a political force in their own right.

Amanda Knief, who recently joined American Atheists after working as the SCA’s government relations manager, said nontheists must “show elected officials that we are a political movement that needs to be recognized. That kind of recognition has been lacking because it is not politically savvy. So we need to show them that we are there and that we count.”

This year already represents a high-water mark for political organization and activism among nontheists:

The Reason Rally drew more than 10,000 people to Washington in March, where speakers urged them to contact local and national representatives and ask them to support church-state separation, science education, marriage equality for gays and lesbians, and ending government support of faith-based organizations, among other causes.

The SCA’s 2012 Lobby Day, an event that included training in lobbying techniques and meetings with congressional staff, attracted 280 people from almost all 50 states — up from 80 at the same event a year ago.

Cecil Bothwell, a Democratic candidate for North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District is running as an atheist. If he wins, he will join Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., now the only openly atheist member of Congress.

Enlighten the Vote, a nonprofit that supports atheist candidates and issues, is actively seeking atheists to run for public office and trains atheists to lobby their politicians.

The National Atheist Party was established in March 2011 and now claims members in all 50 states.

Ryan Cragun, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Tampa who studies American atheism, sees the growing political organization among nontheists as a sign of their maturation as a movement. Yet while Cragun says he personally supports the movement, he does not believe it will have a major impact this election year.

“They are reaching a level of maturity where organization is necessary to maintain structure and keep the movement going,” Cragun said. “But until you are talking about lots of money or lots of voters — and I don’t think they have either of those at this point — I don’t think they are going to be national players.”

That may be a long time coming, said Ellen Johnson, executive director of Enlighten the Vote and former president of American Atheists.

“It is hard to get atheists to agree on anything but their atheism,” she said. “We are mostly liberals, I will grant you that, but once you veer off into anything besides (church and state) separation issues, most atheists will argue.”

The hiring of Rogers to head the SCA is a case in point. Since the announcement of her appointment a week ago, reaction from members of the organizations it represents has been highly mixed.

P.Z. Myers, a University of Minnesota biologist and an influential atheist blogger, denounced her ties to President George W. Bush and former Sen. Trent Lott and her donations to Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s presidential campaign.

Jacques Berlinerblau, a Georgetown University professor and expert on faith and voting, has taken a more wait-and-see attitude.

“Ms. Rogers is confronted with a daunting task,” he wrote on May 4 on the Chronicle of Higher Education’s website. “For all of its chest-thumping and self-congratulatory praise, secularism’s standing in the judicial, legislative and executive branches is arguably at its lowest ebb since the 1950s. And don’t even get me started on its predicament in state houses across the country.”

Billy Graham’s daughter: ‘I would not vote for an atheist’

The daughter of televangelist Rev. Billy Graham says that it’s important to discriminate against candidates who are atheists because politicians “should have a fear for almighty God.”

In an interview with Ann Graham Lotz on Sunday, NBC host David Gregory noted that her father had advocated using every form of modern communication to spread Christianity.

“For the church, for my daddy, who is an evangelist, I don’t think he was necessarily talking about the political arena when you’re running for president,” Graham Lotz explained. “It’s interesting that Jimmy Carter and George Bush were both considered evangelicals, but very different. So to me, I still think we need to look at the policies.”

“I would not vote for a man who is an atheist,” she declared. “Because I believe you need to have an acknowledgement, a reverence, a fear for almighty God. And I believe that’s where wisdom comes from.”

A 2007 Newsweek poll found that 62 percent of Americans would not vote for a candidate who was an atheist, making atheists one of the groups most politically discriminated against in the U.S.

[video of interview at link below]

The Raw Story

This woman appalls me. She is actively advocating for discrimination. 

~Mooglets

Residents rally around Valley High monument

For Bobbi Rowe, the Ten Commandments monument at Valley High School has historical meaning unconnected to the church, politics or Hollywood.

The Arnold resident remembered on Thursday how a few hours of volunteer time spent planting flowers around the marker more than 40 years ago enabled him to get a copy of his high school yearbook.

Rowe and more than 50 other people — many of them clergy — gathered in the school’s parking lot yesterday to support the district’s refusal to remove the monument.

An atheist group based in Madison, Wisc., wants the display taken off school grounds, saying its presence on public property is unconstitutional.

When told Wednesday the group of mostly ministers planned to meet at Valley High School, Freedom From Religion Foundation cofounder Annie Laurie Gaylor said: “This is just going to prove our position that this is strictly a religious devotional on school property. They’re making our case for us.”

“I don’t agree with it,” Rowe said about Freedom From Religion Foundation’s request. He argued “a group from Wisconsin” shouldn’t meddle in affairs in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

A 1965 graduate of New Kensington High School, the school’s name before the districts in New Kensington and Arnold merged, Rowe said a teacher offered to pay for his yearbook if he helped plant flowers around the granite tablet.

“I did it,” Rowe said. “A yearbook back then cost $2.50, which wasn’t necessarily a lot of money, but was money I didn’t have.”

According to the district, the New Kensington Fraternal Order of Eagles presented the monument to the district in 1957. About that time, Eagles aeries across the country were gifting similar markers to communities to promote Cecil B. DeMille’s biblical epic movie.

Marc Hoak, New Kensington Eagles secretary, said the club stands behind its decision to give the monolith to the district more than 50 years ago and hopes it will remain.

The Rev. Mitch Nickols, pastor at Bibleway Christian Fellowship in New Kensington, said the marker should remain because it’s a long-standing part of the school’s history.

Nickols organized yesterday’s rally “in support of what the district has already decided: that this monument stands as a historical monument.” He also has been circulating a petition, collecting signatures from more than 200 people who agree.

Students didn’t participate in the gathering, which happened at noon.

“We didn’t sanction the rally or suggest they meet on school property today,” Superintendent George Batterson said.

“We are considering this an historic landmark, and that’s the reason we want to keep this,” Batterson said. “We’re not keeping it there to instill religion in the students in our school.”

New Kensington resident Rob Fusia, a re-enactor who attended in Colonial dress, said he was there not because of religious beliefs or to offer community support, but for “patriot reasons.”

“Our Founding Fathers would be appalled at what the country has turned into,” said Fusia, who described himself as a history buff. “This country started as a republic and has turned into a democracy, which is exactly what the founding fathers did not want.”

Fusia argued the Ten Commandments and the Christian faith cannot be separated from the country’s beginnings and play integral roles in its history.

“I graduated from here in 1974 and have been wondering since then when somebody would protest this,” he said.

Ed Howell of New Kensington, who attends The River, a Community Church in New Kensington, and who wore a purple T-shirt saying, “I Am The Church,” feels as if Freedom From Religion Foundation is infringing on his beliefs.

“Depriving me of religion is much worse than making it an option for everyone else,” he said. “We’re not forcing anything on them, but they are trying to deprive us of something that means a lot to all of us.”

An opposing local view

Brian Abate of West Deer, who might have been the only one to attend the rally who agrees with the foundation, said: “My opinion is that this is unconstitutional. I think the courts have been pretty clear on that.”

Abate didn’t draw attention to himself and said he didn’t approach anyone in the crowd to make his beliefs known. He said he decided to attend after reading about Nickols’ plans to hold the rally.

“I don’t think the district should endorse any religion,” said Abate, who described himself as an atheist with no ties to the foundation.

“The irony is, I have family members who belong to the Eagles and I support what the Eagles do,” he said. “I just think they’re on the wrong side of the law with this one.”

Pittsburgh-Tribune Review

I laughed at this excerpt, I really did: 

Ed Howell of New Kensington, who attends The River, a Community Church in New Kensington, and who wore a purple T-shirt saying, “I Am The Church,” feels as if Freedom From Religion Foundation is infringing on his beliefs.

“Depriving me of religion is much worse than making it an option for everyone else,” he said. “We’re not forcing anything on them, but they are trying to deprive us of something that means a lot to all of us.”

Dude. They are not infringing on your religious beliefs. They are pointing out - quite correctly - that that monument is unconstitutional. 

If you like it so much, put it on Church grounds or something. 

~Mooglets

Tennessee Senate Passes Anti-Evolution Bill

On Monday, the Republican dominated Tennessee Senate passed an anti-evolution bill by a vote of 24-8. The bill, known as HB 368, is sponsored by Republican Senator Bo Watson and “provides guidelines for teachers answering students’ questions about evolution, global warming and other scientific subjects,” according toKnox News,  ”The measure also guarantees that teachers will not be subject to discipline for engaging students in discussion of questions they raise, though Watson said the idea is to provide guidelines so that teachers will bring the discussion back to the subjects authorized for teaching in the curriculum approved by the state Board of Education.” The bill basically encourages teachers to present scientific weaknesses of “controversial” topics. In the case of evolution and climate change, both have been scientifically proven and the only weaknesses that have been presented by the right-wing are based on unscientific biblical verses. In other words, Republicans want teachers to use religion to destroy accepted science.

This bill is yet another attempt by Republicans to inject creationism pseudo-science into science classrooms. It gives students the ability to interrupt the teaching of real evidence based science with religious nonsense that belongs in church. So basically, as long as students bring up creationist theories, teachers can discuss them. This opens up the classroom to conflict between students of different religions or none at all, who all have different doctrines and points of view. Such conflict only serves to bury actual science under religious myth and superstition and is a distraction to learning real facts.

According to theNational Center for Science Education,

“Among those expressing opposition to the bill are the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, the American Institute for Biological Sciences, the Knoxville News Sentinel, the Nashville Tennessean, the National Association of Geoscience Teachers, the National Earth Science Teachers Association, and the Tennessee Science Teachers Association, whose president Becky Ashe described the legislation as “unnecessary, anti-scientific, and very likely unconstitutional.”

The bill now heads to the House, which just passed a Ten Commandments bill, so we should expect them to pass this bill as well as part of the GOP war against freedom of religion and separation of church and state.

Addicting Info

Tennessee, you are dragging science education BACKWARD. This is a bad thing, in case you didn’t know.

~Mooglets

FCC should clear Limbaugh from airwaves

Ironically, the misogyny Rush Limbaugh spewed for three days over Sandra Fluke was not much worse than his regular broadcast of sexist, racist and homophobic hate speech:

— Female Cabinet members are ”Sex-retaries.”

-- “The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.”

— The National Organization for Women is “a bunch of whores to liberalism.”

— [Said to an African-American female caller]: ”Take that bone out of your nose and call me back.”

These are just a few samples from the arsenal of degrading language Limbaugh deploys on women, people of color, lesbians and gays, immigrants, the disabled, the elderly, Muslims, Jews, veterans, environmentalists and so forth.

Limbaugh doesn’t just call people names. He promotes language that deliberately dehumanizes his targets. Like the sophisticated propagandist Josef Goebbels, he creates rhetorical frames — and the bigger the lie, the more effective — inciting listeners to view people they disagree with as sub-humans. His longtime favorite term for women, “femi-Nazi,” doesn’t even raise eyebrows anymore, an example of how rhetoric spreads when unchallenged by coarsened cultural norms.

At least this most recent incident has turned a spotlight back on the vile, damaging statements Limbaugh has been promulgating for years. His sponsors are dropping him; his stations have begun to follow suit. VoteVets, a coalition of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, released a statement by female vets, including Katherine Scheirman, former chief of medical operations in the U.S. Air Forces, demanding that the American Forces Network drop Limbaugh from its programming.

They state, “Our entire military depends on troops respecting each other — women and men. There simply can be no place on military airwaves for sentiments that would undermine that respect.”

That makes this a fitting time to inquire of his syndicator, Clear Channel Communications, whether it intends to continue supporting someone who addicts his audience to regular doses of hate speech. Clear Channel’s Premiere Radio Networks Inc., which hosts Limbaugh’s program, has defended his recent comments.

If Clear Channel won’t clean up its airways, then surely it’s time for the public to ask the FCC a basic question: Are the stations carrying Limbaugh’s show in fact using their licenses “in the public interest?”

Spectrum is a scarce government resource. Radio broadcasters are obligated to act in the public interest and serve their respective communities of license. In keeping with this obligation, individual radio listeners may complain to the FCC that Limbaugh’s radio station (and those syndicating his show) are not acting in the public interest or serving their respective communities of license by permitting such dehumanizing speech.

The FCC takes such complaints into consideration when stations file for license renewal. For local listeners near a station that carries Limbaugh’s show, there is plenty of evidence to bring to the FCC that their station isn’t carrying out its public interest obligation. Complaints can be registered under the broadcast category of the FCC website: http://www.fcc.gov/complaints

This isn’t political. While we disagree with Limbaugh’s politics, what’s at stake is the fallout of a society tolerating toxic, hate-inciting speech. For 20 years, Limbaugh has hidden behind the First Amendment, or else claimed he’s really “doing humor” or “entertainment.” He is indeed constitutionally entitled to his opinions, but he is not constitutionally entitled to the people’s airways.

It’s time for the public to take back our broadcast resources. Limbaugh has had decades to fix his show. Now it’s up to us.

CNN

Christian rock band spreads homophobic message at US high school gig

A high school in Dunkerton, Minnesota, is facing a backlash from parents after a Christian rock band invited to perform for students used the opportunity to impart their anti-gay views, show images of aborted foetuses, and tell female students they should assume a submissive role in their future marriages.

The band, Junkyard Prophet, are part of the You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International Christian youth ministry, and were invited to Dunkerton High School to spread their “very strong anti-violence, anti-drug, anti-alcohol” message. Described as “rapcore-nu metal”, one writer has summarised Junkyard Prophet in the following terms: 

“Their sound is grease-bucket funky, with miter-saw guitar work over a tight, bass-heavy rap/rock hybrid, in the vein of Rage Against the Machine and Limp Bizkit on the secular side, P.O.D. and Pillar on the Christian one.”

High praise (well, maybe just the Rage bit…), but nothing on what you can learn on the band’s own website:

“Controversial, daring, fearless, and honest: these are just a few words that have been used to describe the Minneapolis-based Christian rap, metal outfit - Junkyard Prophet. […]

If you were to look up the word “independent” in the dictionary, one of the definitions would probably say, “Junkyard Prophet.” They truly take the D.I.Y. (do it yourself) concept to the extreme.”

And according to a local news report, the musical part of Junkyard Prophet’s school visit went very well indeed. “The kids were rocking out,” said the local Superintendent, but once the gig was over things started to go awry:

“After performing, the group separated boys, girls and teachers in the building.

During the breakout session, the young men learned the group’s thoughts on the U.S. Constitution and what one Prophet referred to as its “10 commandments.” The leader also showed images of musicians who died because of drug overdoses, including Elvis Presley.

Members of the group blasted other performers, like Toby Keith, for their improper influence.

The girls, meanwhile, were told to save themselves for their husbands and assume a submissive role in the household. According to witnesses, the leader in that effort also forced the young ladies to chant a manta of sorts about remaining pure.”

Jennifer Littlefield, mother of 16-year-old Dunkerton student Alivia Littlefield, told her local paper what she had heard from her daughter:

“They told my daughter, the girls, that they were going to have mud on their wedding dresses if they weren’t virgin. I couldn’t even understand her, she was crying so hard. They told these kids that anyone who was gay was going to die at the age of 42. It just blows me away that no one stopped this.”

The local school district is now trying to recover the fee it was charged for Junkyard Prophet’s appearance.

PS: for those of you who are interested in reliving the days of nu-metal and once again asking what everyone was thinking, here’s a Junkyard Prophet video:

[Find video at link below]

New Humanist

Glen Burnie Tells Westboro Baptist “Church” Thanks, But No Thanks

I found out about this just a little bit too late to make it there in time.  Glen Burnie is 40 minutes from where I live.  In fact, I once lived IN Glen Burnie.  Cozy little blue-collar city nestled between Baltimore and Annapolis.

For some reason, Fred and the gang thought that this would be a good place to bring their message of hate.  See, Glen Burnie High School’s principal is a lesbian.  So, of course, their God sent them on a mission to come and attempt to traumatize the entire school in an effort to get her to step down.  That’s their message:  “God Hates Fags!”  And, it’s their duty to spread their message any and everywhere they possibly can.

Glen Burnie wasn’t having it. 

After learning about their planned protest last week, the city of Glen Burnie planned a counterattack.  A very effective counterattack.  Fred and his crew of haters, all 3 of them, were met with the surprise of their miserable lives.  Ordinary citizens, black, white, gay, straight, young, old, and everything in between showed up en masse to tell them that their message of hate is NOT welcome here in Maryland.  The school was surrounded by the counter protesters even before the prophets of hate made their appearance.  The County Police were there to form a barrier wall between the good guys and the evil ones.  Bikers showed up on their loud bikes specifically for the purpose of drowning out any nonsense Fred and company may spew from their mouths.  What an awesome display of complete rejection!  

“You cannot allow hate to come into your community without confronting it,” said Chris Panasuk, counter-protester.

Great quote, and even better point.  If enough communities would send them the same message, maybe they’d crawl back under the rock from which they came.  Then again, probably not.  Moot.  What’s important is that, after a scant half-hour, The Hate Gang got the message, tucked their tails, and left town.

I could be wrong, but if God hates anything at all, it would be people who use His name to justify their own hatred and intolerance.  Apparently, their Bible doesn’t include the first book of John.  Right there, 1 John 4:8, in plain black and white, it says “God is Love”.  Maybe they just missed that part.

Awesome display of solidarity, Maryland.  Today made me proud to be a Marylander!

Enough Is Enough

Amish Buggy Drag Racing, Drinking: Youth Charged After Crash Into Police Car

March 12 (Reuters) - Four Amish youths were charged with underage drinking after they crashed their horse-drawn buggy into a police cruiser in upstate New York, authorities said on Monday.

Police were dispatched to the town of Sherman on Sunday night in response to complaints about Amish youths drinking and drag racing their horse and carriages on the road, said Chautauqua County Sheriff Joseph Gerace.

“These Amish kids in buggies were racing up and down the street,” he said.

“When police came, there were two buggies on the road and each was taking a lane of traffic up. One of the buggies tried to shift out of the way when a patrol car came and ended up crashing into it,” Gerace said.

The police report from the crash said the buggy flipped over and the horse broke free, running off to a nearby barn.

Four youths, aged 18 to 20, were charged with underage possession of alcohol.

Sherman is a town in western New York about 90 miles (145 km) south of Buffalo. The area is home to a large Amish community. (Reporting by Aman Ali; Editing By Barbara Goldberg and Doina Chiacu)

HuffPo

I should really probably not be laughing about this…

~Mooglets

Gingrich Faith Leader Wants To “Infect” One Million Young Americans

Dutch Sheets is a member of Newt Gingrich’s Faith Leaders Coalition — as confirmed in January by researcher Rachel Tabachnick and noted in a February 27, 2012 story in The Nation). In a February 19, 2009 podcast, Sheets detailed (transcript below) an ambitious Internet-driven plan to “infect” one million young Americans per year with the dominionist Seven Mountains vision - that believers should infiltrate and take places of influence in key sectors of society and culture.

The 7M mandate has been promoted extensively by the NAR, including by Kenyan pastor Thomas Muthee, prior to his blessing of Sarah Palin, as shown in 2005 church footage (see links, above) that emerged during the 2008 election. The Seven Mountains are: business and finance, religion, the family, education, media, arts and entertainment, and government.

Dutch Sheets is a major leader in the movement coalescing within born-again charismatic Christianity known as the New Apostolic Reformation. The NAR is the dominant tendency in Gingrich’s Faith Leaders Coalition. The New Apostolic Reformation was covered in two full WHYY NPR Fresh Air segments, hosted by Terry Gross, aired in August and October 2011.

The NAR’s sprawling national and state-level prayer networks serve as hubs for political organizing, and while NAR doctrine is heavily infused with the need to combat demons, the movement also advances a radical form of theocratic libertarianism. NAR leaders are currently distributing, in California, prayer guides that attack unions.

NAR politics skews toward the Tea Party spectrum, and is infused with paranoid anti-communist conspiracy theory. One of the NAR political ventures, the Oak Initiative, haspromoted the claim that the Obama Administration’s health care reform legislation contained a provision for the creation of a left-wing constabulary force like the Nazi brownshirts. The Oak Initiative (see link, above) heavily demonizes Islam.  

While the other NAR-associated leaders in the Gingrich Faith Coalition - notably George Barna and Jim Garlow - (Barna especially) have crafted lower-key public personas, Dutch Sheets is a firebrand within the NAR movement who serves as a “spiritual father” to one of the most virulently antigay pastors associated with the NAR, Damon Thompson, and has touted a form of faith healing in which pastors physically assault, onstage, advanced cancer patients. Sheets also maintains that Barack Obama is a Muslim.

Notable aspects of the NAR teaching include the doctrine that believers should destroy or neutralize, by burning, smashing, or flushing down toilets, objects deemed to be unholy, including profane books and “idolatrous” religious texts (such as Books of Mormon), religious relics (such as statues of Catholic saints, the Buddha, or Hindu gods), and native art (such as African masks, Hopi Indian Kachina dolls, and totem poles.)

While the NAR came to widespread public attention due to Texas governor Rick Perry’s August 6th, 2011 The Response prayer event, which was dominated by C. Peter Wagner’s apostles and prophets, by November 2011 NAR leaders were beginning to shift their support from Perry to Newt Gingrich - whose alliance with the hard religious right goes back decades.

Dutch Sheets’ specific vision, described in his February 2009 podcast, of infecting a million young adults per year with the Seven Mountains ideology and vision, for Christian takeover of society, may not have come to fruition.

But the New Apostolic Reformation relentlessly targets young Americans, including through an ambitious nationwide effort, in which NAR ministries are participating, to establish Christian clubs in public schools throughout America - the subject of a new book by journalist Katherine Stewart, titled The Good News Club: The Christian Right’s Stealth Assault on America’s Children.

Stewart can be seen discussing her book, in the video below, during a February 7, 2012 panel discussion hosted by Mark Crispin Miller and held at the McNally Jackson NYC bookstore.

Talk To Action

Go to link to see two videos and a transcript of Dutch Sheet’s talk in which he outlines his ‘infection’ plan. 

~Mooglets

Limbaugh Doubles Down On Sexist Attack Against Sandra Fluke, Demands She Post Sex Tapes Online

LIMBAUGH: “So Miss Fluke, and the rest of you Feminazis, here’s the deal. If we are going to pay for your contraceptives, and thus pay for you to have sex. We want something for it. We want you post the videos online so we can all watch.”

Yesterday, as ThinkProgress noted, conservative shock jock and strident women-basher Rush Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown student who House Republicans wouldn’t let testify at a contraception hearing last week, a “slut” and a prostitute. “She’s having so much sex she can’t afford the contraception,” Limbaugh said.

The remarks drew widespread condemnation, with House Democratic Leader Nancy Polosi (D-CA), demanding that “Republican leaders in the House tocondemn these vicious attacks on Ms. Fluke.”

But on his radio show today, Limbaugh showed no remorse and instead reveled in the attention. Referring to Fluke, Limbaugh demanded that women post sex tapes online if they use insurance-covered birth control:

LIMBAUGH: So Miss Fluke, and the rest of you Feminazis, here’s the deal. If we are going to pay for your contraceptives, and thus pay for you to have sex. We want something for it. We want you post the videos online so we can all watch.

Listen here:  Youtube Video

Limbaugh also said he found the outrage over his remarks “absolutely hilarious.” He again completely misrepresented Fluke’s testimony, saying, she “went before a Congressional committee and said she’s having so much sex she’s going broke buying contraceptives and wants us to buy them.” In fact, Fluke testimony was about a friend — who is gay — and needed contraception for medical reasons, but was denied coverage by Georgetown, a Catholic university.

He went on to say, “I will buy all of the women at Georgetown University as much Aspirin to put between their knees as they want” — a reference to Rick Santorum-backer Foster Friess’ home-spun idea of birth control.

Think Progress

To be perfectly honest guys? I thought that quote I put at the top of this article was from The Onion, or some other satirical website. Turns out? It’s real, he really said that, this is actually something that happened.

I am sickened. 

~Mooglets

Blunt amendment defeated in Senate

The Senate defeated Sen. Roy Blunt’s amendment to allow employers to refuse to cover health services Thursday, dealing Republicans a high-profile setback in the fight over the Obama administration’s contraception coverage mandate.

The vote is unlikely to end the fight over the contraception rule, though, as Blunt said the issue won’t go away until the administration backs down and gives a broader religious exemption to the coverage mandate.

And Democrats — who think they have a political winner if they can frame the debate as a women’s health issue — say they’ll be there to refight the issue as many times as it takes.

“We know that this is just an attempt in a series of attempts,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said after the vote. “We’re going to stand up; we’re going to fight back.”

Sen. Olympia Snowe, the Maine Republican who this week said she would not run for reelection, joined nearly all Democrats in a 51-48 vote to dispense of the amendment, which would have allowed employers to decline to cover certain health benefits that conflict with their religious beliefs.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) voted for the proposed amendment to the Senate transportation bill, saying the Obama administration did not respond to her concerns about whether self-insured health plans of faith-based organizations would be exempt from the contraception coverage mandate. So did Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who this week questioned why Republicans were voting on the proposal now.

Democratic Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania joined Republicans in support of the amendment.

Afterwards, Blunt said the vote went “just as he expected it to go.”

“I’m pleased it was bipartisan; I’m pleased that three Democrats were supportive. It’s a matter of conscience, people have to do what they have to do on something like this,” he said.

“I’m confident this issue is not over and won’t be over until the administration figures out how to accommodate people’s religious views as it relates to these new mandates,” Blunt said.

Some of the opponents of the contraception coverage rule are eyeing the House as the next battleground.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops said it would build on the vote to push its case to overturn the new contraception coverage rule in the House. “We will build on this base of support as we pursue legislation in the House of Representatives,” Bishop William Lori, chairman of the USCCB’s Religious Liberty Committee, said in a statement.