American Family Radio (aka Manson Family Radio) guest host calls for left-wing academics to be "taken out and shot" & American Family Association defends Rick Perry's porno past 12MAR14&23AUG11

SO this is what Christian radio is like? No wonder people are leaving the Church and doing their best to remain Christian and religious outside organized religion. After all, who wants to be exposed to, and have their children exposed to this kind of heresy and twisted perversion of their faith? 
Christian Dem in NC

If it were possible for American Family Radio to go too far, it did today.  This morning, regular morning drive-time host Sandy Rios was off, so Austin Ruse of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute served as guest host.  Ruse's organization is rabidly opposed to the United Nations.  For instance, when the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities came up for ratification by the Senate, Ruse blasted out an email claiming that the UN would use it as an excuse to take kids from their parents.  In part due to hysteria stirred up by Ruse and other wingers, the treaty came up six votes short of the 67 needed for ratification.  That should tell you all you need to know about Ruse and his outfit.
But today, Ruse went several miles off the deep end.  As many of you know, a freshman at Duke University recently revealed she's helping to pay her tuition by acting in porn films.  As degrading as that is, Ruse's reaction was even worse.  He claimed that this is evidence liberal academics should just be "taken out and shot."  No, this isn't snark--People for the American Way got a clip.

That is the nonsense that they teach in women’s studies at Duke University, this is where she learned this. The toxic stew of the modern university is gender studies, it’s “Sex Week,” they all have “Sex Week” and teaching people how to be sex-positive and overcome the patriarchy. My daughters go to a little private religious school and we pay an arm and a leg for it precisely to keep them away from all of this kind of nonsense. I do hope that they go to a Christian college or university and to keep them so far away from the hard left, human-hating people that run modern universities, who should all be taken out and shot.

This is unacceptable.  Period, full stop.  There is no way, no how that this sort of talk is protected speech.  There's a name for this kind of talk--incitement to violence.  The Wildmons need to pay for this, and pay dearly.  We need to demand that AFR apologize for this terroristic garbage being allowed on its airwaves, and I don't think it's out of line to complain to the FCC.  Check out a list of American Family Radio's licenses here if you want to file a complaint.

Thu Mar 13, 2014 at 5:38 AM PT: Several posters who are better versed than I am have said that Ruse's spew is protected speech--if barely.  There's nothing that says he can't be made to pay for this with his day job at Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, though.  And there's nothing that says American Family Radio can't be called out for this.

Originally posted to Christian Dem in NC on Wed Mar 12, 2014 at 04:00 PM PDT.

Also republished by Street Prophets . 

American Family Association defends Rick Perry's porno past

by Kaili Joy Gray

You would think that the American Family Association—the Christian extremist hate group that is forever seeking to answer the question "Who would Jesus boycott?"—would have a problem with teabagger darling and Bible-thumper Rick Perry's past investment in porn distributor Movie Gallery, Inc. After all, AFA has been leading a boycott of the company for the past decade, for its "hard-core sex videos" that "poses a serious threat to our communities!”
But AFA was also a sponsor of Perry's prayer-a-thon earlier this month, which, to the untrained ear, sure sounds a little hypocritical.
Alas, and praise Jesus, the AFA has found a loophole and wants everyone to know there is absolutely no hypocrisy in supporting Perry while boycotting a company in which he'd invested thousands of dollars. Via Wonkette:

Mr. Perry had divested himself of Movie Galley stock long before its involvement in the sale of pornography was even on the AFA’s radar, and five years before AFA launched its public boycott.

Oh. Well, that explains everything, doesn't it? Obviously, it would be downright un-Christian of AFA to hold Perry's investment against him since it all happened before AFA was paying attention. And shame on the media for being so unfair to Perry!

Tim Wildmon, president of AFA, said, “The media has taken a grossly unfair and gratuitous shot at Gov. Perry. This represents sloppy reporting at its worst. A simple call to AFA could have clarified the timeline for anyone interested in reporting the objective truth. This is the ultimate non-story, and every media outlet that carried this slander owes the governor an apology.”

Yes, yes, I'm sure the collective media will be issuing its apology to Perry any minute now.

Originally posted to Kaili Joy Gray on Tue Aug 23, 2011 at 10:18 AM PDT.

Also republished by Daily Kos.

 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/12/1284234/-American-Family-Radio-guest-host-calls-for-left-wing-academics-to-be-taken-out-and-shot?detail=email 

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/23/1009793/-American-Family-Association-defends-Rick-Perry-s-porno-past 

RICK PERRY'S HARDCORE HISTORY OF INVESTMENT IN PORN 16AUG11

rick perry has that sleazy look that goes with porn....as well as the greed. As the Church Lady would say, "Weeellllll, isn't that special". From Politico....

Rick Perry prays with Reverend C. L. Jackson

Here’s the story of how Rick Perry’s name became synonymous with “Teens with T*ts” in some circles. I’ve tried to make this safe for work, but if it’s not, blame Rick Perry, for such are the perils of reporting on good “Christians” like Mr James Richard Perry. If your employer has a problem with this, tell them to see Rick Perry; it’s his money trail we’re following.
Perhaps when you see Rick Perry’s bouffant pompadour, you don’t immediately think “cheerleader”, but pom-pon carrier he was, albeit for Texas A & M instead of the Bush Yale pom-pons that heralded the destruction of America’s economy. But you’re all right with pom-pons on a man. To each their own. You might not be OK with the whole Lieutenant Governor to George W Bush thing. You might not be OK with Perry’s theocratic beliefs. But truthfully, when you picture the handsome, smirking Rick Perry and his Texas down home drawl, are you thinking about pornography?
“Teens Never Say No” kind of pornography? How about “Teens with T*ts”? No? How about “Bisexual Barebacking Vol. 1” or “Big Tit Brotha Lovers 6”?
Kinda makes you all warm and family values-ish.
Rick Perry, God’s Chosen to pray Texas into prosperity, invested as a private citizen in Movie Gallery corporation to the tune of between 5-10k according to his 1995 personal financial reports. Movie Gallery was, at that time, the largest distributor of porn in America, and able to sell and rent regular videos for much cheaper than the competition due to their heady porn profit. The ultra conservative American Family Association (AFA), a self-described “Christian organization promoting the biblical ethic of decency in American society with primary emphasis on TV and other media” known for “(i)nitiating, encouraging Christian Activism,” but also now an officially designated hate group according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, begged the government to investigate Movie Gallery.
In the ensuing years, the AFA went so far as to undertake a national ad campaign to draw attention to Movie Gallery’s porn practices, and wrote the DoJ and state AG’s demanding, “DOJ and State Prosecutors throughout the country should begin immediate investigations to determine if the products and practices of Movie Gallery Video Stores violate Federal and State laws regarding distribution of obscene material. Movie Gallery is one of America’s largest retailers of hard-core sex videos. Their attempt to acquire family friendly neighborhood Hollywood Video stores across the U.S. poses a serious threat to our communities!”
The AFA has also boycotted such companies as 7-Eleven, Abercrombie & Fitch, American Airlines, American Girl, Blockbuster Video, Burger King, Calvin Klein, Carl’s Jr., Clorox, Comcast, Crest, Ford, Hallmark Cards, Kmart, Kraft Foods, S. C. Johnson & Son, Microsoft, MTV, Mary Kay, NutriSystem, Old Navy, IKEA, Sears, Pampers, Procter & Gamble, Target, Tide, Walt Disney Company, and PepsiCo with varying degrees of success.
Burt Orange Reports said it appeared as if local authorities in Texas dragged their feet responding to the cries for investigations, in spite of the fact that The Politics In Porn (note that this link from 2006 is no longer working and the domain name is now available — don’t say I never did anything for you) wrote, “Government Officials who have been given the evidence of this illegal operation are … the U.S. District attys for the Northern Districts of Alabama and Texas.”
Not only is the AFA is a core constituency of an extreme, far Christian-right candidate, but as Hrafnkell Haraldsson reported for PoliticusUSA, Perry teamed up with the AFA for his recent prayer day rally, “The Response, a Call to Prayer for a Nation in Crisis.” Just this March, we saw then Presidential candidacy hopefuls Newt Gingrich, Haley Barbour and Mike Huckabee courting the AFA by appearing on Bryan Fisher’s radio show. So it’s puzzling that Perry invested his money in something he must have been aware violated the very core of his alleged pro-life, pro-family, pro-conservative values. However, Perry put his holdings into a blind trust in 1998, and hence, no one knows if he is still profiting off of pornography. Perhaps the AFA doesn’t care if their Presidential pick is profiting off of pornography so allegedly obscene that they demanded the DoJ investigate.
Rick Perry later passed laws to help companies like Movie Gallery avoid “frivolous” tort suits, after they were sued for allegedly violating the law by illegally distributing porn across state lines. This move was seen by some as a move to protect his investment in Movie Gallery, as he used the very word Movie Gallery used (“frivolous”) regarding the lawsuits they were fighting at the time.
Written on Jun 26, 2006, the Burnt Orange Report elaborated on Perry’s porn problem:

Coincidentally, Rick Perry used similar language when signing the tort-reform bill that limited the liability—thereby increasing profits—of companies like Movie Gallery. Perry said the bill would “remov[e] the incentive for trial lawyers to file frivolous lawsuits.” Continuing Perry said, “we will save thousands of jobs, generate millions in new revenue to the state;” only some of those jobs come at the price of young girl’s physical and psychological health.
The AFA has undertaken a nationwide campaign—advertising in USA Today and Washington Post—urging government officials to investigate Movie Gallery. Many local authorities—like the U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Texas—are allegedly dragging their feet. With Gov. Perry owning stock in Movie Gallery, his financial interests contravene the success of any such investigation….
“Titles that Gov. Perry helps bring to Texas’ shelves include Teens with Tits Vol. 1, Teen Power Vol. 4, and Teens Never Say No.
While many disagree over society’s correct policy towards pornography, Perry’s political posturing caters to pornography’s opponents. Duplicitously, Rick Perry’s supposed politics contravene the interests of his own pocketbook. There is the Governor who endorses a plan to monitor sex offenders with satellites; then there is businessman who enjoys profits by funding such titles as Bisexual Barebacking Vol. 1 and Big Tit Brotha Lovers 6. There is the proud husband and father who announced an award of $7.4 Million to the S.T.O.P. Violence Against Women Act programs; then there is the man who invested in North America’s largest pornography distributor. In the coming weeks, there will doubtlessly be the ignorant, apologetic Governor, but under that thin veneer of good hair is the cunning financier who still hides his assets in a blind trust fund.

Given that traditionally conservative states consume the most online porn, according to the Journal of Economic Perspectives (which looked at zip codes of credit cards used for online adult entertainment), we can’t assume that just because a group is against something in public they aren’t engaging in it in private. But the Dominionists like Perry and Bachmann are taking us a step down even from that perilous perch — to a place where women are expected to be subservient to the men in their life.
If you’re still slightly confused as to why the AFA isn’t calling Rick Perry out, and how conservatives can ignore such glaring hypocrisy, it’s because they worship at the altar of a political movement based on belief in authoritarianism and a sense of entitlement for “the Chosen”. Anything that Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, or Sarah Palin do is OK. God said so. And their cult-like followers will contort themselves into a breathless internet rage in order to explain to you that none of this matters, what really matters is that the President is a Muslim Socialists Kenyan Nazi. Apparently this line of “thinking” suffices for them because they are in a cult based on belief and not real values, but also because they have bought into the meme that these special leaders are exempt from accountability for what they say. This is why you see the outrage over “gotcha” journalism from the same folks.
What kind of man are we dealing with in Rick Perry? Is he still profiting off of what the AFA calls obscene pornography? Is he still making money off of titles like “Teens with Tits”? In keeping with this line of inquiry into his purported “family values”, we note that Perry also kept on the director of the Texas Film Commission who was disciplined for sexual harassment…twice.
The Statesman reported, “Gov. Rick Perry’s outgoing director of the Texas Film Commission has been allowed to stay on the job despite being disciplined for sexual harassment in 2009 and after a subsequent investigation found similar behavior again this year.”
What disturbs me about these two facts is how well they dovetail with the Dominionists’ ideas about women being subservient to the patriarch.
The twin balls of decorative fluff known as the cheerleader’s Pom-pons aptly sum up the depth of Rick Perry’s alleged Christian family values. On one hand, we have a man invested in and profiting off of what the AFA called “obscene pornography” and a man who allowed a man twice found guilty of sexual harassment to remain in his government position. On the other hand, this same man calls himself a “family-values” Christian, and nary a peep comes from the Right to call him out.
It’s not about whether you agree with conservative values or not (but this is often how the conservatives distract people from calling their leaders out, by making it about the alleged values rather than the failure to uphold said values), but rather whether or not the candidate actually stands for what they say they stand for.
If Rick Perry doesn’t walk the talk of a conservative Christian, just what does Rick Perry stand for?

Image: Not sure if this is the actual image for Movie Gallery’s video on this topic as I am not up on these matters, but it was the least offensive of the offerings and at any rate, we’ve attempted to make it safe for work without taking away from the point. I apologize preemptively for the vulgarity of reporting on Rick Perry and the word used in the video title.

Christian Right Activist Blasts Medal of Honor as 'Feminized,' Sparks Fury 20NOV10

THIS is disgusting, and pathetic, and bryan fischer doesn't represent Christian or family values in his latest rant.....
While a divided nation last Tuesday finally rallied around one bright shining moment of patriotic glory -- President Obama's awarding of the Medal of Honor to Afghan hero Army Sgt. Salvatore Giunta -- a popular right-wing Christian commentator sharply split opinions even within his own camp. He blasted the award as "feminized" because it honors Giunta for saving his comrades rather than killing the enemy.

The Army's official citation details how Giunta "exposed himself to withering enemy fire" during a daring effort to engage the enemy and extract his wounded comrades from an ambush. But Bryan Fischer, a columnist for the American Family Association who has often provoked headlines and consternation with his commentaries, read the narrative as hardly the sort of thing American soldiers were once known for.

"When we think of heroism in battle, we used the think of our boys storming the beaches of Normandy under withering fire, climbing the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc while enemy soldiers fired straight down on them, and tossing grenades into pill boxes to take out gun emplacements," wrote Fischer, director of issue analysis for the AFA, a longtime lobby on the Christian right. "That kind of heroism has apparently become passé when it comes to awarding the Medal of Honor. We now award it only for preventing casualties, not for inflicting them."

"So the question is this: when are we going to start awarding the Medal of Honor once again for soldiers who kill people and break things, so our families can sleep safely at night?" he asked.

Fischer based his claim on a line in a column in The Wall Street Journal by William McGurn, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush. In the midst of his high praise for Giunta's heroism, McGurn noted that rather than "Rambos decorated for great damage inflicted on the enemy," every Medal of Honor awarded from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan "has been for an effort to save life."

In fact, that's not exactly the case. The official account of the first Medal of Honor given for service in Iraq, to Army Sgt. First Class Paul R. Smith, shows how, among other courageous acts, Smith "braved hostile enemy fire to personally engage the enemy with hand grenades and anti-tank weapons," losing his life in the process."

But such details didn't stop Fischer from asserting that "We have feminized the Medal of Honor" -- a claim that sparked a string of fierce criticisms on the blog post that are continuing.

"Your artciles [sic] reek of ignorance and evangelical stupidity," said one of the first commenters.

"What utterly disgusting, false and un-Christian drivel," said one of the most recent.

Fischer is hardly one to slink away under hostile fire, as he told me after a post last month in which he said that the firefighters in South Fulton, Tennessee did "the Christian thing" by letting a family's house burn because they were delinquent on their $75 annual fire protection fee.

That was the column that had generated the most outrage among all of Fischer's writings, until the Medal of Honor article. But in characteristic fashion, Fischer wasn't retreating. In two follow-up posts he pointed out that he believed Giunta did deserve the award, and that the media "so badly twisted and distorted my words that they are accusing me of saying the exact opposite of what I actually said."

My point in all this is that we appear to have reached a point in awarding the MOH that we are squeamish about awarding to those who "take the hill" as well as awarding to those who throw themselves on a grenade to save their comrades.

Fischer reiterated his central criticism that "our culture has become so feminized that we have become squeamish at the thought of the valor that is expressed in killing enemy soldiers through acts of bravery."

Indeed, while Fischer's column irked many of his allies, his views are in keeping with a strain of conservative American Christianity that frets about the "feminization" of the faith as evidenced by the widespread emphasis on God's love and mercy rather than his anger and punishment, for example. And some such Christian conservatives are also concerned about efforts to accept gay clergy and to portray Jesus as a passive, wimpy victim rather than a tough-guy martyr like the Messiah portrayed in Mel Gibson's movie, "Passion of the Christ."

"Jesus' act of self-sacrifice would ultimately have been meaningless -- yes, meaningless -- if he had not inflicted a mortal wound on the enemy while giving up his own life," Fischer wrote in his original column on Giunta's Medal of Honor. "The cross represented a cosmic showdown between the forces of light and the forces of darkness, and our commanding general claimed the ultimate prize by defeating our unseen enemy and liberating an entire planet from his bondage."

With repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy still possible during the lame duck session of Congress after Thanksgiving, it's likely that Fischer -- and others -- will have plenty of other opportunities to make their point, and perhaps with more support from their own troops on the religious right.