Eric Holder on Hate Crimes Legislation

Some people, such as John Boehner, believe that groups of people, such as gay people, shouldn't be protected under special legislation, that murder is murder. But that's not true. Murdering a person motivated by hatred for a group of people is horrendous. It's also terrorism because it's meant to frighten large populations of people. It requires special penalties. There is no place for hate crimes in modern society and it should be dealt with as such.
Believe it or not, conservatives are arguing against legislation because they're afraid that their faux-Christian selves will be busted for speaking out against homosexuality. If conservatives have nothing better to do than rail against homosexuality, they're being very un-Christian. They need to get their flock in order in so many other ways. But punishing conservatives for preaching against gay people is not the purpose of the bill. The bill is for that conservative preacher who went out and flogged someone because that person was gay:

A hate crimes bill has passed the House and is expected to pass the Senate as early as this week. Conservative Christian leaders such as James Dobson, Pat Robertson and Donald Wildmon hate it.

In June, 60 religious conservatives signed a letter asking senators to filibuster the hate-crimes bill for fear it would "criminalize preaching the Gospel and put preachers in the cross-hairs." Christian Right groups have been sounding the alarm ever since. "Hate Crimes Bill Threatens Free Speech," warns the Christian Broadcasting Network. "Pastors could be prosecuted for preaching the biblical view of homosexuality," intones Focus on the Family. WaPo

Obama's Plan for National Day of Prayer?

Update 5-6: CNN has a story here.
Update 5-9: His plan: a proclamation.
National Day of Prayer is May 7 this year and it's a time when people gather to pray for the country.
Usually, the evangelicals have the run of the day. I can't imagine that Obama would follow Bush tradition by letting the event be led by the likes of Focus on the Family types.
Focus on the Family has been hateful and very un-Christian like. We need more representation on a day of prayer, people of different faiths, which I know, can be hard for faux Christians to handle.

Every year since 2001, then-President George W. Bush's calendar had been cleared on the first Thursday in May to mark the National Day of Prayer in the White House East Room with prominent evangelicals.

Now the Obama White House is facing questions of inside-the-Beltway etiquette: Should President Obama maintain the open door to conservative critics like James and Shirley Dobson, and if so, should they accept?

Or, will the White House have an official observance at all? Read the rest at WaPo

The Dobsons haven't heard a peep. Whew:

With those questions unanswered less than two weeks before the annual observance, the National Day of Prayer Task Force, headed by Shirley Dobson, is moving ahead with other plans.

"We're not the coordinators of that event," said Brian Toon, vice chairman of the task force. "That's controlled completely by the White House. We have been honored to be guests at the event in the past, but we have not heard a peep from them."

Focus on the Family Lays Off Workers After Prop 8

By way of an angry Frank Rich (read below), Focus on the Family is laying off workers after pouring money into passing Prop 8. The group, headed by James Dobson, are conservatives, the Palin kind. Focus on the Family co-sponsored this event. Some people say Dobson and Rick Warren share the same intolerance, which is why so many are opposed to Warren's participation at Obama's inauguration.

Colo Independent: Focus on the Family is poised to announce major layoffs to its Colorado Springs-based ministry and media empire today. The cutbacks come just weeks after the group pumped more than half a million dollars into the successful effort to pass a gay-marriage ban in California.

Critics are holding up the layoffs, which come just two months after the organization’s last round of dismissals, as a sad commentary on the true priorities of the ministry.

“If I were their membership I would be appalled,” said Mark Lewis, a longtime Colorado Springs activist who helped organize a Proposition 8 protest in Colorado Springs on Saturday. “That [Focus on the Family] would spend any money on anything that’s obviously going to get blocked in the courts is just sad. [Prop. 8] is guaranteed to lose, in the long run it doesn’t have a chance — it’s just a waste of money.”

In all, Focus pumped $539,000 in cash and another $83,000 worth of non-monetary support into the measure to overturn a California Supreme Court ruling that allowed gays and lesbians to marry in that state. The group was the seventh-largest donor to the effort in the country. The cash contributions are equal to the salaries of 19 Coloradans earning the 2008 per capita income of $29,133.

Here's Frank Rich, who's angry at Obama for inviting Rick Warren to the inauguration:

But we’re not there yet. Warren’s defamation of gay people illustrates why, as does our president-elect’s rationalization of it. When Obama defends Warren’s words by calling them an example of the “wide range of viewpoints” in a “diverse and noisy and opinionated” America, he is being too cute by half. He knows full well that a “viewpoint” defaming any minority group by linking it to sexual crimes like pedophilia is unacceptable.

It is even more toxic in a year when that group has been marginalized and stripped of its rights by ballot initiatives fomenting precisely such fears. “You’ve got to give them hope” was the refrain of the pioneering 1970s gay politician Harvey Milk, so stunningly brought back to life by Sean Penn on screen this winter. Milk reminds us that hope has to mean action, not just words.

By the historical standards of presidential hubris, Obama’s disingenuous defense of his tone-deaf invitation to Warren is nonetheless a relatively tiny infraction. It’s no Bay of Pigs. But it does add an asterisk to the joyous inaugural of our first black president. It’s bizarre that Obama, of all people, would allow himself to be on the wrong side of this history.

Palin's Church Tries To "Convert" Gays

She is so far out of step with mainstream America. She comes from an itty bitty town and it's doubtful she has any understanding of city life -- like New York or Los Angeles.

Does this mean a Palin-McCain administration wouldn't hire gays? Or would they hire gay people and then pray for them? The audacity. But then again, this is a woman who doesn't believe in global warming or sex education in the classroom but does believe that creationism is a good thing to teach.

Can't wait til Charles Gibson asks Ms. Mooseburger about all this stuff. I don't think he's going to have enough time.

(AP) Gov. Sarah Palin's church is promoting a conference that promises to convert gays into heterosexuals through the power of prayer.

"You'll be encouraged by the power of God's love and His desire to transform the lives of those impacted by homosexuality," according to the insert in the bulletin of the Wasilla Bible Church, where Palin has prayed for about six years.

Palin's conservative Christian views have energized that part of the GOP electorate, which was lukewarm to John McCain's candidacy before he named her as his vice presidential choice.

She is staunchly anti-abortion (opposing exceptions for rape and incest), and opposes gay marriage and spousal rights for gay couples.

Focus on the Family, a national Christian fundamentalist organization, is conducting the Love Won Out Conference in Anchorage, about 30 miles from Wasilla.

Palin, campaigning with McCain in the Midwest on Friday, has not publicly expressed a view on the so-called "pray away the gay" movement. Larry Kroon, senior pastor at Palin's church, was not available to discuss the matter Friday, said a church worker who declined to give her name.

Man Prays for Rain During Obama's Speech

He wants you to join him in praying for rain the night Obama gives his acceptance speech at the democratic nomination convention, Aug. 28.

Ain't no matter. If it rains:

Rain or shine, it's going to be a grand event.