Pat Boone is not a doctor, nor does he play one on the internet. Pat Boone is a has been singer who elicits some profound symptoms of partisan dementia, but let’s give him the benefit of the doubt, just this once. He wants to use the program at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center as some sort of example in the healthcare debate. Indeed, Pat Boone thinks his talk with Fred Hutchinson himself gives us all a clear reason to oppose the Obama healthcare reform plans. You see, Pat got to view cancer cells with Fred Hutchinson, got to see the very evil cancer cells represent, and he thinks they are just like liberalism! Or so Pat Boone says in his column at WingNutDaily:

It was at the Hutchinson Cancer Clinic in Seattle, several years ago I first saw live cancer cells under a microscope. It’s forever seared into my memory.

Dr. Fred Hutchinson, founder of the renowned clinic and research center, was showing me around. He asked me, “Have you ever actually seen cancer cells? Would you like to?”

Of course I said I would, and he took me into a laboratory and produced a number of slides. I looked through the high-powered microscope – and gazed at the embodiment of evil. Little black, iridescent globs, almost radiant from within, pulsing with menace, looking like miniaturized Darth Vaders from Star Wars.

“Doc, this is ghastly, frightening! What in the world can fight these things?” I asked.

“These,” he said. And he stuck another slide under the scope. I was now looking at what looked like a bunch of Little Orphan Annie eyes, perfectly round clear circles. I asked, “These little circles, they can fight those evil blisters?”

“They can absolutely lick cancer totally; I’ll show you,” he said. And he then showed me a progression of slides, and I’ll never forget what I saw. In stages, those little circles – lymphocytes or white blood cells – moved up to and around the black blisters, completely covered them, and smothered them out of existence. They created an environment in which the cancer cells couldn’t function, and they just dissolved.

In my mind, I saw a subtitle tickertape moving under the slides, right out of the Bible: “Be not overcome with evil. Overcome evil with good.”

Doctor Fred went on. “Every body contracts cancer cells from time to time, unknown to the person. Most of the time, a healthy blood stream will deliver those lymphocytes where they’re needed, and in sufficient quantity, and the cancer cells are dissolved and expelled. We here, and around the world, are trying to find the way to send that army of white blood cells to the places where the cancer cells have established a foothold. When we accomplish that, we’ll lick cancer.”

I then asked the obvious question. “Do we know how cancer starts, where the black filthy cells come from?”

And, as I remember it, he said the medical research world feels there’s some virus that infects otherwise healthy cells, and chemically distorts or corrupts their DNA. Those cells go on living in the organ, and reproducing – but now controlled by a different blueprint. They have become outlaws, renegades and as they grow they disrupt the functions of the organ, contaminate and ruin it; and they can eventually spread through the body, using the bloodstream, and cause death.

There’s something fearfully like that going on in our body politic. A deadly virus has been loosed throughout our system, and wherever it takes root, it changes the functions and the structure that gave us the grandest, strongest, freest system of government the world has ever known.

I call it liberalism.

Now let’s ignore for a moment Pat Boone’s scientific wrongheadedness. The guy doesn’t understand even that cancer is not a virus, for God’s sake. The problem here is that he couldn’t have talked with Fred Hutchinson, because Fred Hutchinson died in 1964. Further, Fred Hutchinson wasn’t a doctor, but a baseball player and then manager. It says so right here on the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center web site. Yeah, and even Bill Hutchinson, the founder of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centrer, died nearly 12 years ago. At least he was actually a doctor.

The real story here is that right wingers will make anything up, anything at all, in order to scare people and make their case. They are so incompetent at making things up they will, as Pat Boone demonstrates here, concoct imaginary conversations with baseball players nearly a half century dead. And the “journalistic” organs of the right wing, such as the thoroughly unjournalistic WingNutDaily, are so incompetent as to not even notice Pat Boone made it all up.

In fairness to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, they appear to take no part in the healthcare reform debate, and there is no evidence they knew anything about Pat Boone’s use of them as he made up stories. There is also no evidence Pat Boone has ever met anyone at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute. No, that fine institution should never be associated with such a feverish wingnut as Pat Boone.

The First Amendment of the constitution, with its establishment clause, has often been used to block the establishment of religion through the teaching of religion in schools. This has been controversial throughout the land as it has been used to keep schools from teaching Christian creationist theories from being taught in science classes. Among the famous recent cases is the Kansas School Board’s acceptance of creationism, a short-lived development that brought us the Flying Spaghetti Monster as a response. We won’t be talking of the Kansas case or that of Dover, Pa in this article, though, though we’ve got a suggestion for the band members of Sedalia, MO., who have been forced to take off their shirts depicting evolution, as members of the community illogically think the shirts are a violation of the establishment clause. From the Springfield News-Leader:

Sedalia — T-shirts promoting the Smith-Cotton High School band’s fall program have been recalled because of concerns about the shirt’s evolution theme.

Assistant superintendent Brad Pollitt said parents complained to him after the band marched in the Missouri State Fair parade. Though the shirts don’t violate the school’s dress code, Pollitt noted that the district is required by law to remain neutral on religion.

“If the shirts had said ‘Brass Resurrections’ and had a picture of Jesus on the cross, we would have done the same thing,” Pollitt said.

Designed with the help of band director Jordan Summers and assistant director Brian Kloppenburg, the light gray shirts feature an image of a monkey progressing through various stages of evolution until eventually becoming a human. Each figure holds a brass instrument that also evolves, illustrating the theme “Brass Evolutions.”

Perhaps most annoying is the teacher in the Sedalia School District who said the following concerning the issue:

“I was disappointed with the image on the shirt,” said Sherry Melby, a band parent who teaches in the district. “I don’t think evolution should be associated with our school.”

Heaven forbid that science be involved with schools! No, we’ve got to get rid of that right now. I suggest the school look to the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) for guidance. But maybe they shouldn’t be so obvious as to make a shirt with the FSM holding a saxaphone. Instead, they should just go with a pirate theme or something. After all, pirates are devoted followers of the FSM, and this sneaks religion into those performances of the band without going all “evolution” on the Christians who seem to think science is a competing religion.

by Walter Brasch

PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 28–The crowd at Lincoln Field gave superstar quarterback/convicted felon Michael Vick a standing ovation when he entered the game on the second play against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

On his first play for the Philadelphia Eagles, Vick tossed an easy shovel pass for a four yard gain. “It was unbelievable the way I was embraced and the warm welcome I received,” Vick told the Associated Press after the game.

In his other five plays, Vick completed three passes and rushed for a yard. Fans didn’t even boo him when a lateral was mishandled and led to a Jaguars touchdown.

Although there had been heated discussions, especially on talk radio the previous two weeks, outside the stadium were only a few protestors. Most fans told each other, their bartenders, and any reporters within a hundred yard radius they were pleased that with Vick, once the NFL’s highest paid player when he was with the Atlanta Falcons but now a possible back-up quarterback to All-Pro Donovan McNabb, the Eagles could finally win the Super Bowl.

As for Vick’s federal conviction on charges of running an illegal interstate dog fighting operation, of providing the financing not only for the operation but also for extensive gambling as well, of involvement with illegal drugs, and with knowing, condoning, and the probability that he was directly involved in the abuse, torture, and murder of dogs, the fans enthusiastically explained that Vick completed his federal prison term, was “redeemed,” and deserved a second chance, especially if it meant—yeah—a Super Bowl championship.

These are the same fans who probably wouldn’t have embraced Vick if he was a second-string offensive guard who would never be an All-Pro. These are the same fans who once booed and threw snowballs at Santa during a half-time show. These are the fans who cheered when Dallas Cowboys’ receiver Michael Irvin went to the ground for 20 minutes in 1999 with what proved to be a career-ending cervical spinal cord injury. These are the fans whose actions during games led the Philadelphia Municipal Court to put a jail and courtroom into Veterans Stadium in 1997. Eagles Court was terminated six seasons later only when Lincoln Field, with an extensive security system, replaced the Vet.

Michael Vick never saw Eagles Court, but in the U.S. District Court, Judge Henry Hudson said not only did Vick not cooperate fully with federal officials, as he promised, but that he failed both a drug test and a polygraph about what happened at Bad Newz Kennels and had not yet accepted full responsibility for “promoting, funding and facilitating this cruel and inhumane sporting activity.” Football Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Vick indefinitely.

At Leavenworth, where he completed 18 of his 20-month sentence, Vick claimed he realized the error of his ways and had found Jesus. But, the Atlanta Falcons didn’t want Vick back; most NFL teams also didn’t want him. The Eagles embraced him. For his part, Roger Goodell said if Vick showed remorse, he would allow him to play in the Eagles’ last two pre-season games, and would rule on Vick’s permanent reinstatement by the sixth game of the regular season.

Professionals convicted of similar felonies, even if not directly related to their jobs, probably will not only lose their license but would have to wait far longer than six months after leaving prison to get it restored. Journalists who commit plagiarism, even if never sued or convicted, seldom get a second chance. Firefighters who commit arson and police officers convicted of taking bribes usually don’t get second chances. And, much of society has no compassion and won’t give a second chance to someone who was laid off, had significant medical bills, loses her house, becomes homeless, and must steal food. Even some athletes who did far less than Michael Vick don’t get a second chance. Pete Rose, who should be in baseball’s Hall of Fame, has a lifetime ban for having bet on sports, although there was no evidence that he neither bet against his team nor fixed a game.

Nevertheless, count on Michael Vick being very remorseful for at least a few months, especially if he wants to collect all of his $1.6 million first season salary and a $5.2 million salary for the second season.

At a press conference in August, Vick said he had “committed an act that was cruel and unethical and inhumane.” On CBS-TV’s “60 Minutes” later that month, he said, he felt a “tremendous hurt behind what happened. And, you know, I should’ve took the initiative to stop it all. And I didn’t. And I feel so bad about that now. And I know that I didn’t. I didn’t step up. I wasn’t a leader.” It’s possible that Michael Vick is sincere, that he wishes to atone for what he did to others and to the animals that can not speak for themselves.

Vick says he grew up in a culture that condoned dog fighting, with its brutality, gambling, and drugs. Lying, stealing, and running small cons were all part of his life. Apparently, he had no filters, nothing to tell him that what he was doing was not only illegal but immoral as well; however, others who grew up in that culture didn’t commit the crimes, even as juveniles, Vick did as an adult. Michael Vick could very well be a great actor, able to say the right things, with the right facial inflections to convince people he is remorseful and sincere, traits he may have developed over the first 27 years of his life. Whatever is in a person’s soul that permits him to torture and murder animals doesn’t quickly disappear because of a prison sentence and the public remorse that will lead to a job that may again make him a multi-millionaire.

[Walter M. Brasch—a former sports writer, sports editor, and public affairs/investigative reporter— is a university professor of journalism, social issues columnist, and the author of 17 books. You may contact him at brasch@bloomu.edu or through his website, www.walterbrasch.com]

As nearly everyone who reads this web site is sure to know, there’s been a very successful boycott of Glenn Beck recently, spurred on by Beck’s stupid and irresponsible claims that Barack Obama is a racist. The boycott is run by Color of Change, and it is wildly successful. Over three dozen advertisers have dropped their participation in Beck’s show, and Beck himself has become testy, smearing Color for Change founder Van Jones.

Beck might be entertaining his faithful viewers with his antics, but the dear friends of Glenn Beck are becoming small in number, and it appears they reside on the fringe. Beck’s big name friends (the Milf, the Mouth and the Mayberry Machiavelli) showed support for him in the last couple days. There was Sarah Palin, she of the FEC investigation, touting Beck on her Facebook page. Karl Rove, who just might be the target of an investigation himself, showed up on Beck’s show, as did Rush Limbaugh, whose bouts with addiction to “Hillbilly heroin” in the past have earned him heaps of ridicule. Oh, Glenn Beck still has friends, no doubt, and those friends might be fair to him, but “balanced” is in question.

As to the boycott, it seems to me the big question is whether Beck has friends who actually pay money to advertise on his program. Well, yes he does, but those advertisers are an even more motley crew than the celebrity friends Beck has supporting him. Here’s a list, with my annotations, from AlterNet:

•Rosland Capital sells and buys gold, the most conservative investment vehicle this side of a mattress. Who focuses investments in gold? Crackpots who think the world economy is collapsing. Glenn Beck’s “sky is falling” act plays well for Rosland. As you might notice on their web site, they have love for O’Reilly and convicted criminal G. Gordon Liddy as well. ‘Nuff said.

•Ashley Furniture is a low end furniture chain. Beck’s advertisers as a whole are low end.

•U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. What the heck are they doing on here? Are they making sure Beck’s viewers know about the socialist services they can take advantage of? Maybe they know something about the Beck Show’s demographics?

•National Republican Trust PAC — GOPTrust.com: No surprise here. Beck is as partisan as they come.

•Goldline International Inc.: More investments in gold! Again, no surprise. Didn’t I just get some junk email from Goldline?

•The Wall Street Journal: It’s a Newscorp company. I’m just not sure why Newscorp thinks Beck viewers will buy this product.

•Citrix (GoToMeeting): Are corporate decision-makers watching Beck? I doubt it. To that end, these folks are wasting their money.

•Liberty Medical: These folks know that Beck’s viewers, who hate government healthcare, nonetheless take part in Medicare and are quick to take advantage of government healthcare solutions.

•Johnson Law Group: These folks aren’t afraid to take advantage of the economic suffering the Beck listeners are likely undergoing.

•TeaPartyExpress.org — Our Country Deserves Better PAC: Another partisan advertiser that knows the Beck demographic is ripe to be fooled.

•Merit Financial: Even more gold investing! You’d think a mattress company would advertise on the Beck Show.

•Fox Movie Channel: Another Newscorp property advertising on the Beck Show in order to make sure there is no dead air. Of course, there is still braindead air on the show.

•Zero Technologies: These are the folks who sell those newfangled filtered water pitchers. Does anyone know if any of Beck’s myriad conspiracy theories revolve around contaminated water supplies?

•HughesNet: I’m betting their customers are decidedly rural and white. Anyone else have a guess?

•IRSTaxAgreements.com: They wanted to call themselves Tax Cheats R Us, but someone informed them that wouldn’t go over so well.

•Lear Capital: Still another gold dealer. I’m guessing Beck’s gloom and doom crying and wailing has steered some of his listeners away from the stock market and to such fine companies as this.

There’s only a motley crew of advertisers left, it seems. I guess the most surprising thing about this list is that there’s not a penis enlarger in the bunch. Still, there’s few left on this list who could be convinced to boycott Beck. They all seem perfect for Beck’s demographic, the poor and stupid who’ve been brainwashed by the Republicans to think the GOP has been working in their interest all these years. All I know is that were I an advertiser considering using the Glenn Beck Show as a venue for my ads, I would not want to keep company with this group.

When last we wrote about Shawna Forde, it was to label her a domestic terrorist for the murder of Raul Junior Flores and his 9-year-old daughter, Brisenia Flores. Ms. Forde was active in the Minuteman movement, though she had been kicked out of at least one group. Still, the woman clearly had an active hatred of immigrants to this country, especially those browner than herself and who spoke Spanish as a first language. Pima County, AZ law enforcement is rightly seeking the death penalty case for Shawna Forde and her terrorist accomplices.

Today brings the news that at least one whack job web site, justiceforshawnaforde.com, run by Laine Lawless of Borderguardians.org, has been set up to defend Shawna Forde, claiming, ludicrously, that this is all a matter of discrimination against a white woman who holds anti-immigration views. From Mary Moreno of Center for Community Change, but on the web site of Standing Firm:

Shawna, for those of you unfamiliar with her case, stands accused of murdering 9-year-old Brisenia Flores and her father, Raul Flores, in Pima County Arizona, in what police have described as a home invasion. The district attorney there recently announced he was seeking the death penalty for Shawna and her two accused co-conspirators.

Shawna also happens to be a leader in the anti-immigrant movement, a one-time Minuteman member and border vigilante. After her arrest, nearly all her former associates wisely distanced themselves from her. But now, bizarrely enough, some have come back to her defense, launching a Web site that tries to paint Shawna as a victim!

Absurd is the first word that comes to mind. The Web site tries to sell this notion that Shawna is being targeted because of her anti-immigrant views, for being “patriotic.” That’s idiotic! The site also claims the case is not about murder, but about attempts to “marginalize the majority of patriotic Americans who believe in American values and sovereignty.” Two people are dead, so yes, it is about murder. Do these people really believe there is a massive conspiracy involving law enforcement and the district attorney’s office? These people are nuttier than they’re given credit.

Ms. Moreno is right, of course, that the “poor persecuted white folks” defense is as nutty as it comes. We can only hope that a jury of Shawna Forde’s peers can see through such a cowardly construct to the truth, that Forde and he accomplices terrorizes, then shot and killed an innocent man and his 9 year old daughter. Then their charge is to send all three to death row. I’m not a big advocate of the death penalty, really, but murdering a 9 year old just might make me change my mind.

I’ve got one question: where was Lou Dobbs during this terroristic spree?

Disclaimer - you might have read or viewed some of this stuff already. Too bad. Hey, I’m the one compiling the list of stuff that has either tickled my funny bone or pissed me off. But first, as a lead in:

Obama Leads Top GOP Contenders for 2012 in New Poll; Palin is Weakest Opponent; Romney Tops 2012 GOP Field

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A new nationwide poll of American voters shows President Obama leading major 2012 Republican presidential contenders. The survey, conducted by Clarus Research Group, a nonpartisan research firm based in Washington, D.C., shows Obama leading GOP challengers by margins ranging from 9 to 19 points.

In the poll, Obama led:

…

* Sarah Palin, former governor of Alaska, by 19 points: 53 percent to 34 percent, with 13 percent undecided.

I’ll come back to this. Promise. Believe me, it’s a nice segue for another part of this blog post. I’ll keep you in suspense for a moment.

Here’s some more health care stuff: Joe Bageant posted a great, snarky little piece the other day. I think Joe likes the idea of single payer.

The Entertainment Value of Snuffing Grandma

There ain’t any healthcare debate going on, Bubba. What is going on are mob negotiations about insurance, and which mob gets the biggest chunk of the dough, be it our taxpayer dough or the geet that isn’t in ole Jim’s impoverished purse. The hoo-ha is about the insurance racket, not the delivery of healthcare to human beings. It’s simply another form of extorting the people regarding a fundamental need — health.

And Chris Hedges checks in with with a piece on why the health care legislation, as currently being sausageified, will ultimately result in more profit from a captive audience of the health insurance industry.

This isn’t reform, it’s robbery

…The current health care debate in Congress has nothing to do with death panels or public options or socialized medicine. The real debate, the only one that counts, is how much money our blood-sucking insurance, pharmaceutical and for-profit health services are going to be able to siphon off from new health care legislation. The proposed plans rattling around Congress all ensure that the profits for these corporations will increase and the misery for ordinary Americans will be compounded.

Ok, back to ex-Gov. Mooseburgers. Above, I linked to a poll that shows 34% of responders favoring her over BHO, with 15% undecided. I’ll give the undecided a break. They obviously have enough problems deciding what’s for dinner. So, onto the 34%’ers.

It is very clear that roughly a third of the American population is clinically insane. So, while mental health has historically received the short stick from all insurance companies, perhaps this poll provides the necessary empirical evidence (or at least an opening that you could drive a supercab Kenworth through) to craft a bill that truly addresses this traditional bastard redheaded stepchild of U.S. health care - mental health.

Alright, now that I’ve pissed off all of the mental health advocates (of which I’m certainly one; I hate pissing myself off) and the pro-bastard redhead stepchildren activists on ASZ, here’s a great little YouTube video on the health care debate. If you watch nothing else online today, I recommend you go for the cat climbing a fence like a spider. But you if you’re up for two videos today, check this out - it’s really excellent:

Take two aspirin and don’t bother calling me. Unless you’re allergic to aspirin, that is. In which case, my attorney requires me to disclose that I’m not a doctor anyway, so why did you bother listening to me?

Lastly, if you’re a Facebook member, you might want to consider joining the 1 Million Strong Against our SOCIALIST Fire Departments group. Definitely worth the read, for snark value alone.

Child Rape? That’s the word from Seymour Hersh from a speech given a while back. Here’s a little of the transcript from salon.com:

“Debating about it, ummm … Some of the worst things that happened you don’t know about, okay? Videos, um, there are women there. Some of you may have read that they were passing letters out, communications out to their men. This is at Abu Ghraib … The women were passing messages out saying ‘Please come and kill me, because of what’s happened’ and basically what happened is that those women who were arrested with young boys, children in cases that have been recorded. The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. And the worst above all of that is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking that your government has. They are in total terror. It’s going to come out.”

It has now come out, of course. These instances at Abu Ghraib are the shame of the Bush era, certainly, making even the routine use of torture on adults look tame. That torture, though? New revelations show that the Bush torture regime may have used David Vitter for inspiration. It’s called “prolonged diapering,” and was evidently used to cause discomfort and shame in the subjects of the torture. Here are reports at washingtonindependent.com and rawstory.com.

I’m sure the Republicans will have excuses, but it appears that Dick Cheney’s excuse that torture was necessary to save us is falling apart. So what’s the excuse now, that it was all frat boy pranks, as Limbaugh has suggested? The investigation into torture clearly needs to go to the folks who authorized it, and while the investigation authorized by Eric Holder appears to be looking at the low-lever perpetrators, I’ll bide my time here. There just might be a firestorm over this crap in the next few days, only this time there are no Huggies to hold it in.

The GOP is already saying that exposing torture will cause terrorist attacks, as ugly a response as possible. From the Public Record:

The latest correspondence came on Wednesday, in a letter to the attorney general that said an investigation into the CIA’s interrogation practices, no matter how limited in scope, would jeopardize the “security for all Americans, “chill future intelligence activities,” and could “leave us more vulnerable to attack.”

The senators resorted to fear-mongering, invoking the terrorist attacks on 9/11 to try and dissuade Holder

“We are deeply concerned by recent news reports that you are ‘poised to appoint a special prosecutor’ to investigate CIA officials who interrogated al Qaeda terrorists. Such an investigation could have a number of serious consequences, not just for the honorable members of the intelligence community, but also for the security of all Americans,” the letter says.

The letter was sent to Holder by Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona, Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and was also signed by Senators Richard Burr, R-N.C., Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., Tom Coburn, R-Okla., John Cornyn, R-Texas, Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

sure, the question “do Republicans have any sense of shame?” has been answered many, many times, but it’s still a good question to ask. Seems they’ve got some torture panels here they want to remain secret while at the same time they are imagining death panels. Lies and cover-ups their only reaction? Seems so.

Maybe this could be a reality show or something, a bunch of bigots dress up and discriminate. They’d be given points for originality of costume and bizarre reasons for their discrimination. We could call it “Bigotry, Inc.” or something like that.

This time the discrimination is against two lesbians who decided to attend a church. The costume? It appears the Pastor of that church, Rev. Dr. Kenneth T. Whalum, Jr., is either a Trekkie or likes the nehru jacket look from back in the late 60’s. Either way, this guy’s look is a whole lot more fun than is his actions.

The lesbian couple, Monique Stephens and her partner, Yas Meen, decided to attend New Mount Olivet Baptist Church so they could hear the man they wished to support in the upcoming mayoral election in Memphis. The result was a 9/11 call, according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, but so far there are no arrests. Towel Road has a report, but Grand Divisions has the truly bizarre news, that the lesbian couple may have been singled out not for their sexuality, but because of how they were dressed and how they didn’t join in with a strange dancing ritual.

Yas and Monique visited New Olivet for the first time. They had heard that people are encouraged to “come-as-you-are” to the church. Many people wear casual clothes to worship there. On this particular morning, they observed several young men wearing basketball jerseys. Yas wore a dress while Monique wore a pair of slacks to the service that morning - dressier than many in the congregation. However, Yas and Monique felt a little uncomfortable when they entered and sat in the front pew after the service had started. They began to notice looks of disapproval from members of the congregation. The reason would become all too clear to them.

As the service progressed, Pastor Whalum called on the congregation to participate in expressions of “sanctified dance.” Congregants dutifully followed Whalum’s lead and began to fill the aisle. Some danced while other lay on the floor in prayer. As visitors, the style of worship was new to Yas and Monique, so they decided to remain seated and observe.

That’s when events turned for the worse. From the front of the church, the two women alleged that Whalum said “this is my house and everybody does what I say. But two people won’t do what I say.” After Whalum’s plea, Yas and Monique remained seated. When Monique extended her arm along the pew behind Yas, the congregation’s focus on the couple intensified.

OK, thaunting from children and the throwing of oil by congregants was a bit over the top, and also it appears this was triggered by a sign of affection between Stephens and Meen, but it also seems that they weren’t dressed correctly and didn’t participate enough in the Dancing with the Stars format (no, Tom DeLay was not in attendance) of the service. I suppose the congregants thought the women were disrespecting God or something by not dancing. Yeah, this whole thing looks like a reality show gone wild, terribly wild, to the point of assault.

Much has been made about the 2008 Presidential election and what it says about the American electorate. According to the New York Times exit polling, Barack Obama took many demographic groups, such as the highest percentage of Hispanic voters by a Democrat since 1996, and even the highest percentage of male voters since 1972. There’s been much written about the election, but perhaps the biggest shift is the percentage of young voters going to Obama.

That 66% share of the 18-29 demographic is the largest percentage since the New York Times started breaking out the demographics in 1972, and by a long shot. It’s not surprising, is it? The Republicans put up a former beauty queen to act as sidekick to John McCain, a man whose heroics really ended in the 70’s, a couple decades before the youngest voters in this country were born. The beauty queen thing backfired, according to one study from the University of South Florida, and McCain seemed so out of touch that his past heroics may even have been a liability to anyone younger than 50, who saw more “grumpy old man” than national hero during the 2008 election. The undeniable fact is that the Republican base, already skewing old, aged considerably in the 2008 Presidential election. So, what is the GOP going to do about it? More of the same failed approach.

The GOP has announced an initiative to attract young voters, and it is being staged in Florida. That makes sense, at least, because the GOP might just have a chance to gain in Florida given the popularity of Jeb Bush and the closeted Charlie Crist, but check out the speakers at this rally, Carrie Prejean and Bruce Jenner. From UPI:

Florida Republicans enlisted a former beauty queen and a former Olympian to come to a conference aimed at recruiting young people to the GOP.

The daylong conference Saturday will feature Carrie Prejean, the former beauty queen best known for her opposition to same-sex marriage, and Bruce Jenner, the 1976 track-and-field gold medalist, the St. Petersburg Times reported Friday.

Carrie Prejean has a notorious reputation based in her questioning at the Miss USA pageant, but she’s got conservative cred from working for the extremist right wing National Organization for Marriage. Of course, this begs the question of whether being a beauty queen who is known for anti-gay campaigning is going to help in attracting young voters. I’m guessing not, given that the demographics in support of gay marriage skew young. Prejean will not succeed where the former beauty queen Sarah Palin miserably failed.

Jenner? What we’ve got here is yet another aging superstar hero. Sure, Bruce Jenner spent a year on the Wheaties box in the mid-70’s, but he’s been a zero ever since. Do people under 30 even know who this aging veteran of the Wheaties box and failed cosmetic surgery is? Well, maybe, given that Jenner’s sons have starred on reality shows and he’s the step-father (third marriage) of Kim Kardashian, she of the sex tape scandal?

Yeah, this pairing, designed evidently to attract young people and convince them that the GOP is the party for them, looks like a complete FAIL from top to bottom. Republican incompetence strikes again.

OK, maybe John Ensign didn’t blame Bill Clinton for his own marital infidelities, but he sure used the Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal to deflect attention from his own sorry moral behavior. From the Associated Press via wbaltv.com:

When President Bill Clinton’s relationship with a White House intern erupted a decade ago, Sen. John Ensign called for his resignation.

But the Nevada Republican says that situation is different from one he faces after admitting to an extramarital affair with a former campaign aide. Ensign told The Associated Press that he didn’t lie under oath like Clinton did and that he hasn’t “done anything legally wrong.”

“President Clinton stood right before the American people and he lied to the American people,” Ensign said. “You remember that famous day he lied to the American people, plus the fact I thought he suborned perjury. That’s why I voted for the articles of impeachment.”

Ensign made the remarks Wednesday before speaking at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon in rural Fernley.

The event was Ensign’s first public appearance in his home state since acknowledging in June that he had an affair with his friend’s wife, former campaign aide Cynthia Hampton.

I’m here to say that screwing his good friend’s wife puts Ensign in a sad moral position, and he has zero room to talk about anyone else’s morals. Alas, the Chamber of Commerce before whom he was speaking generated nothing but softball questions for this morally bankrupt Republican.