Arizona Governor Brewer's Veto of Anti-Gay Bill Turning Point???

MSNBC.com The Last Word -Watching The Arizona Bill Go Down In Flames Isn't Just Cause For Celebration. It’s A Sign Of Change. Upworthy Brandon Weber

"In the slight chance that you haven't heard, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed the anti-gay bill couched as "religious freedom" that both the state's Senate and House passed. This clip is from "The Last Word," and my takeaway is summed up by host Lawrence O'Donnell himself: "I'm not sure we've seen anything quite like this, where there's a governmental move against gay rights and there is an uprising." "

GOP’s “religious liberty” scam just died: Why Brewer’s veto is so momentous
Once upon a time, the right thought it could push its agenda behind claim of religious freedom. Those days are over Salon .com, Feb. 27, 2014 by Brian Beutler

Unfortunately this is not the end of this issue as the Religious Right continues to fear monger over the issue not just of Gay marriage but of Gay rights. In many states in the USA the basic rights of gays are not protected under legislation or state constitutions .

For instance there are many examples of the anti-Gay fear mongering message of the Religious Right and Conservatives exposed at Rightwing Watch .

For example dominionist quasi historian David Barton claims that God, the Bible and Jesus hate Gays
RWW News: David Barton Says The Bible Prohibits 'Gender Bender' Day in Schools



And David Barton is in fact a Domionist in that he believes Christians must control all apsects of American culture and society and that there is no room for the secular viewpoint or perspective since everything must be God and Bible based.

David Barton: Christians Must Control The Culture



For more on David Barton as faux historian see : David Barton & WallBuilders' FAKE QUOTES

also see: David Barton Falsifies American History Church & State Magazine, July-August, 1996 at Positive Atheism

So it is not surprising that those on the extreme right are not bothered by reality since they adhere to an alternate reality in which the evil Secular Humanists and Liberals etc. are involved in a conspiracy to destroy Christian America. So they see Gay rights as part of an attack on Christianity and America's traditions, culture and values which they believe are Bible based. So those in favor of Gay rights for example are part of this larger conspiracy or have been duped by the propaganda and lies of the Secular Humanists. The fight they are involved in is a spiritual battle of Good versus evil and they see themselves as on the side of God and set backs in their agenda are either a test from God of their resolve or as the work of Demonic forces.

Texas files notice of appeal in marriage equality case
Gov. Rick Perry and Attorney General Greg Abbott wasted no time appealing Wednesday's equal marriage ruling Feb. 27, 2014, Salon.com by
KATIE MCDONOUGH via Salon.com

Tea Party leader attacks Jan Brewer for allowing “slavery” and penis cakes
Tea Party Nation's Judson Phillips is losing his mind over Gov. Brewer's veto of Arizona's anti-gay Jim Crow bill at Salon.com,Feb. 27,2014 by ELIAS ISQUITH

CNN host gives Catholic League epic lesson on equal rights: ‘You do not own marriage’ By David Edwards, Feb. 27, 2014, Raw Story


Donahue head of the Catholic League in his attack on Gay marriage bizzarely claims love is not really part of the institution of marriage.



Meanwhile Pat Robertson wants to impeach Eric Holder over the issue of Gay marriage and the rights of LGBT community.

Pat Robertson: Eric Holder ‘elevated’ sodomy over the Constitution, so impeach him
By David Edwards,Feb.26, 2014 via Raw Story.com

Here's the video of Pat's rant on the 700 Club:



and uberconservative Tucker Carlson sticks to his bigotry and homophobia claiming giving rights to gays is fascism :

Tucker Carlson: It’s ‘called fascism’ when laws give LGBT people equal treatment Raw Story.com, Feb. 26,2014 by David Edwards

Here's video of Tucker Carlson on Fox News:

Jon Stewart Trashes Morally Repugnant Arizona Anti-Gay Bill SB 1062 - 2/...

Conservatives now insisting Arizona governor veto Christian Right's Anti-Gay Bill

conservatives now insisting Arizona governor veto anti-gay bill

American Christian Evangelical Dominionist pushed for the Kill the Gay anti-Gay bill in Uganda but have to move more slowly within America. So they are pushing for anti-gay legislation which would allow businesses to discriminate against Gays. But even this legislation is being criticized by Fox News and some American conservatives. Now conservatives are back peddling claiming they were not out to discriminate specifically against Gays.

Ariz. lawmakers say 'no comment' regarding anti-gay bill

Published on 26 Feb 2014
Arizona lawmakers hurry past CNN's Randi Kaye as she tries to discuss the state's Religious Freedom Restoration act.

Arizona lawmakers hurry past CNN's Randi Kaye as she tries to discuss the state's Religious Freedom Restoration act. CNN's Wolf Blitzer talks to Gov. Jan Brewer's political adviser about.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer talks to Gov. Jan Brewer's political adviser about Arizona's controversial religious freedom bill. More from CNN at To.

Crossfire host Van Jones asks Ken Cuccinelli if he would sign the controversial Arizona law. More from CNN at To license this and other C.

Senator John McCain responds to Arizona's controversial SB-1062 that is being called an anti-gay bill. More from CNN at To license vide.

Crossfire hosts Jones & Gingrich battle over the controversial Arizona religious freedom bill with Ken Cuccinelli and LZ Granderson. More from CNN at http:.




NO ONE Believes This Excuse Behind The Anti-Gay Bill In Arizona

Published on 26 Feb 2014
*Fox's Megyn Kelly and Brit Hume wondered Tuesday night whether Arizona's controversial SB 1062 measure is an "overreaction" on the part of religious conservatives. The proposed law, which would allow businesses to discriminate against LGBT individuals because of religious views, currently sits on Republican Gov. Jan Brewer's desk awaiting approval. Plenty of big-name Republicans have distanced themselves from the law, urging the governor to veto it; while many social conservatives argue the law is necessary to protect religious business owners from being forced to serve customers against their religious conscious...* Even Arizona State Senator Steve Pierce (R) who originally voted for the legislation is now pretending he had no idea it was discriminatory. The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

*Read more here from Andrew Kirell / Mediaite: http://www.mediaite.com/tv/megyn-kell...




Anderson Cooper Humiliates Anti-Gay Rep. On CNN via The Young Turks

Published on 25 Feb 2014
*Anderson Cooper took on Arizona state senator Al Melvin Monday night over the state's proposed legislation to allow businesses to exercise their religious freedom to discriminate against LGBT citizens. Melvin insisted, "It's nothing more and nothing less than protecting religious freedom in our state." Cooper noted how Arizona doesn't expressly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and grilled Melvin on why, then, they would need to reaffirm a right that isn't under threat in the state in the first place...* Cooper went on to grill Melvin who couldn't come up with a good answer. The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.




Arizona Advances Jim Crow Style Anti-Gay Law

Published on 22 Feb 2014
The Republican-dominated Arizona state Senate passed a bill on Wednesday designed to provide legal cover for businesses that refuse to serve LGBT people.

KPHO in Phoenix reported that bill sponsor Sen. Steve Yarbrough (R) claims that the legislation protects the "religious freedom" of private business owners, but critics of the measure say that conservatives are attempting to codify bigotry into law...

Uganda's Horrific Anti-Gay Law

New dawn for Uganda as President Yoweri Museveni signs anti- gay bill




How US Evangelical Missionaries Wage War on Gay People in Uganda
Guardian documentary


Uganda's president Yoweri Museveni has approved a law that will see people convicted of homosexuality in Uganda jailed for life. In these extracts from director Roger Ross Williams' documentary God Loves Uganda, undercover filming by a Boston-based Anglican priest, Kapya Kaoma, shows how anti-gay evangelical campaigners from the United States have been influential in the debate, pushing Uganda to pass measures that would be unthinkable in the US.







American Culture Wars and Dominionism go Global

and for more on the connection to the Religious Right and Dominionism and groups such as International House of Prayer and Lou Engles and Ron Luce's Teen Mania and Rick Warren's ministry etc. check out this video:

Gospel of Intolerance: U.S. Evangelicals Finance Uganda's Antigay Movement
Published on 23 Jan 2013
The filmmaker Roger Ross Williams reveals how money donated by American evangelicals helps to finance a violent antigay movement in Uganda.

Related article: http://nyti.ms/ViOpN7
Please visit http://nyti.ms/WIfBkd in order to embed this video
Watch more videos at http://nytimes.com/video
Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/nytimesvideo





Uproar over Uganda Anti-Gay Bill, American Evangelicals Encouraging Homophobia part 1 of 2. At DemocracyNow!

Uploaded on 25 Mar 2010
International Uproar over Uganda Anti-Gay Bill, Study Finds American Evangelicals Encouraging Homophobia

Proposed anti-gay legislation in Uganda has sparked international uproar. Homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda, but the new bill would impose much harsher punishments including life imprisonment and even the death penalty for some homosexual acts. We speak with a leading Ugandan gay rights organizer and a Zambian priest who has documented the role of American evangelicals in fostering homophobia in Uganda.




And here's some commentary from The Young Turks on the anti-gay bill in Uganda and the anti-gay attitude throughout the nations in Africa. As Cenk mentions some 38 nations in Africa which have anti-gay laws.

The Bigger Picture Behind Uganda's Horrific Anti-Gay Law

Published on 25 Feb 2014
"Uganda's president has signed a controversial anti-gay bill that allows harsh penalties for "homosexual offences", calling them "mercenaries" and "prostitutes".

Yoweri Museveni on Monday signed the bill, which holds that homosexuals be jailed for long terms, outlaws the promotion of homosexuality and requires people to denounce gays.

He denounced gays and spoke in lurid detail about sexual activity while signing one of the world's toughest anti-gay laws, which has come under fierce criticism from the US president, Barack Obama, who has warned that ties between Kampala and Washington would be damaged.

"Homosexuals are actually mercenaries. They are heterosexual people but because of money they say they are homosexuals. These are prostitutes because of money," Musaveni said."* The Young Turks hosts Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian break it down.

*Read more here from Al Jazeera / Reuters:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/...

**********

The Alarming Extremism Of The Christian Right

Extremism of the Religious Right emerges in their fight against same sex marriage as they promote legislation to curb the rights of gays and raising the possibility of passing laws outlawing homosexuality imprisoning or even executing individuals for taking part in sex with people of the same gender. Meanwhile they praise countries such as Russia and Uganda's draconian anti-homosexual laws and culture . The Christian Right encourages a culture of religious intolerance of non-evangelical Christians and non-believers in the U.S. military . They also attack public schools for teaching evolution which they claim is not scientifically based and insist the schools teach Creationism as well .


Family Research Institute: 'Capital Punishment Is Warranted' For Homosexuality - Brian Tashman at Rightwing Watch, Feb. 5, 2014

After endorsing Uganda’s crackdown on gay people, the Family Research Institute has posted another statement saluting the country for deciding to “be harsh with those who choose to act on homosexual desires.”

The group, which is led by Paul Cameron, also insisted that the death penalty remain an option in punishing gays: “Depending on the severity of the homosexual offense, a fine, prison time or even capital punishment is warranted. The most important thing is to make it illegal, and thus keep those who fancy it (or seem addicted to it), off the streets, out of schools, with no ‘right’ to proselytize or advertise their preferences. (Current Russian law tries to do this without making the activity illegal; in most of the West, it must be made illegal first.)”

The FRI isn’t the only Religious Right group sympathetic to Uganda’s anti-gay stance: the American Family Association and the Family Research Council have also defended the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

After comparing homosexuality to incest, rape, bestiality and child abuse—and even arguing that one out of three gay men are guilty of “molesting/raping children or teens”—the group argued that gay people don’t exist. The FRI reasons that a person who identifies as gay is no different from those who see themselves as “Krafts” because they “so strongly prefer Kraft Macaroni and Cheese that the will eat almost nothing else.”

AFA Affiliate: US Should Adopt Russian 'Gay Propaganda' Law To Curtail GLSEN - Brian Tashman at Right Wing Watch, Feb. 10, 2014

Laurie Higgins of the American Family Association-affiliated Illinois Family Institute is a big fan of Russia’s “gay propaganda” law, and she writes today that the United States should impose a similar law here in order to restrict the work of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).

She claims that GLSEN is behind the “censorship” of anti-gay views, because apparently bigotry is needed in schools for the sake of balance, and urges the US to adopt a Russia-style propaganda law in order to curb GLSEN’s “totalitarian” grip over schools.

Right-wing nuts’ anti-gay implosion: How a new ploy can doom the party What began as opposition to a contraception mandate, on religious grounds, is now a real can of worms. Oops! Brian Beutler at Salon.com, Feb. 14, 2014

An anti-gay bill that may become law in Kansas could test the consistency of conservatives who oppose the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that employer sponsored insurance include birth control coverage...

...In anticipation of a federal court ruling that would end its gay marriage ban, the Kansas state legislature is advancing a 21st century Jim Crow law for anti-gay religious residents. They may not be able to prevent gay marriages for long, but nobody in Kansas will be vulnerable to civil or criminal penalties for discriminating against gay people with respect to their marriages or other partnerships, if said discrimination is an artifact of religious belief.

If a gay man walks into my store to buy booze, should I be able to turn him away because he might be throwing a wedding party? Many in the Kansas state government think so. If two gay, married men want to have a romantic dinner or to send their adopted daughter to daycare, Kansas thinks you, the restauranteur or daycare provider should be able to refuse them service.

I suspect a federal judge will void this almost as soon as it becomes law (if it does; new reports suggest an uphill climb), so the practical impact might be moot. But in the realm of ideas, opponents of the contraception mandate must at the very least support the intent of the Kansas bill, if not its exact form. In fact, to be consistent, opponents of the contraception mandate must believe that the Kansas bill isn’t even necessary — that religious individuals and businesses in Kansas and everywhere are inherently exempt from laws that require them to provide services that might facilitate or affirm the legitimacy of gay unions.

Right-Wing 'Religious Freedom' Narrative Taken To Its Logical Extreme With Anti-Gay, Anti-Evolution Push - Rightwing Watch , Brian Tashman Feb. 14, 2014

The Religious Right has increasingly brought this religious freedom argument into debates over gay rights and the teaching of evolution.

In Missouri, Republican lawmakers contend that public school students should get an exemption from any class on evolution — the bedrock of modern biology — if they think learning about science amounts to an “infringement on people’s beliefs”:

Rep. Rick Brattin, a Harrisonville Republican, said forcing students to study the natural selection theories developed by Charles Darwin a century and a half ago can violate their religious faith.

“It’s an absolute infringement on people’s beliefs,” Brattin said.

…

“Even though what’s being taught is just as much faith and, you know, just as much pulled out of the air as, say, any religion,” he said.

“The bill is one of several anti-evolution proposals that have already appeared in statehouses across the country,” TPM notes. “The proposals would allow for a range of approaches to evolution, from presenting a ‘debate’ over evolution versus creationism to requiring that local school boards allow intelligent design to be included in biology courses.”

And GOP lawmakers in at least three states are now citing religious freedom to claim that anti-gay discrimination that violates civil rights laws should not face any legal consequences.

Of course, many proponents of Jim Crow cited religious reasons to support segregation.

Now there is a push in states including Tennessee, Idaho and Kansas to allow for legally protected discrimination. Mark Joseph Stern writes of the Kansas bill:

When passed, the new law will allow any individual, group, or private business to refuse to serve gay couples if “it would be contrary to their sincerely held religious beliefs.” Private employers can continue to fire gay employees on account of their sexuality. Stores may deny gay couples goods and services because they are gay. Hotels can eject gay couples or deny them entry in the first place. Businesses that provide public accommodations—movie theaters, restaurants—can turn away gay couples at the door. And if a gay couple sues for discrimination, they won’t just lose; they’ll be forced to pay their opponent’s attorney’s fees. As I’ve noted before, anti-gay businesses might as well put out signs alerting gay people that their business isn’t welcome.




Christian Right leaders are now Comparing Common Core policy program in the public schools of America to German NAZI indoctrination.


WND: Common Core Turning US Into Nazi Germany brian Tashman, Right Wing Watch Feb. 12, 2014

WorldNetDaily commentator Patrice Lewis is fearful that Common Core, with its “brainwashing” and “indoctrination techniques,” is bringing Nazism to America...

...While the federalizing of public schools has been going on for decades, the rapid push to capture our children has taken on a sense of urgency in the last few years. The government doesn’t just want our children’s bodies; it particularly wants their minds. If Nazi German taught us nothing else, it taught us this: Children are the currency of tyrants.

It’s worth remembering that when people objected to joining the Nazi Party, Hitler gave a verbal shrug and assured them that their membership wasn’t necessary since he already had their children. “He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future,” he famously said.

And let’s not forget that eerie sentiment from “Mein Kampf”: “The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation.”

No one can dispute the effectiveness of these youthful indoctrination techniques. Forget trying to change the mind of older people – they’re too set in their ways. But the children – aah, they’re the hope of the future. It is critical that the minds of children be captured.


also see:

Perkins: Same-Sex Marriage 'Will Create A Level Of Inequality That Has Never Been Seen In Our Country'
BY Brian Tashman Feb. 12, 2014 at Right Wing Watch

The anti-gay Family Research Council is unsurprisingly dismayed by a federal court ruling that will require Kentucky to recognize same-sex marriages performed in states where such unions are legal.

FRC president Tony Perkins said in a press release today the decision represents a “deep betrayal of the judicial system infected with activist judges who are legislating from the bench” and threatens the freedom of speech.

Perkins even said that marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples “will create a level of inequality that has never been seen in our country as people are forced to suppress or violate the basic teachings of their faith.”

That’s right, Perkins seems to think that legalizing same-sex marriage will produce more “inequality” than slavery, Jim Crow, the subjugation of women and any other injustice in American history.

and :

AFA: Impeach Eric Holder Over Gay Rights Stance
BY Brian Tashman Feb. 13,2014

Religious Right Leaders Rail Against Virginia Marriage Equality Decision , Right Wing Watch, Feb. 14, 2014

Gay Soldiers Undermine The Military Because They Have To Take Breaks In The Middle Of Combat To Change Their Diapers BY Kyle Mantyla at Right Wing Watch, Feb. 11,2014

Old Testament Armed Forces
Religious zealotry runs rampant in the U.S. military, and among those wishing to deploy it. By PHILIP GIRALDI • February 12, 2014 at The American Conservative

...The U.S. military, aware of the constitutional restraints on promoting any religion, generally attempts to rein in outward expressions of religiosity on the part of its officers, but the open defiance of those efforts has been increasing as fundamentalists become both more assertive and better represented at senior levels in the officer corps. Fully one-third of military chaplains are currently evangelicals and the percentage is increasing. Many fundamentalists assert that a good officer has to be “moral,” by which they mean “religious,” in the belief that it is impossible to be ethical without a relationship to God. As many of the evangelicals also believe they possess the absolute truth in terms of their own definitions of religiosity, there is little room for alternative viewpoints.

The soldiers who promote their faith dodge the military’s restrictions on their actions by claiming that they are only “evangelizing the unchurched,” not proselytizing. When they hand out bibles to Afghans they describe it as providing “gifts.” General David Petraeus, when head of the Central Command was well known for his strong commitment to “spiritual fitness” as a sine qua non for his officers, providing a top level sanction for including religion in one’s professional development. In 2007 Petraeus endorsed Christian rock concerts on military bases. A year later, senior Army chaplain William McCoy took the argument for spirituality one step further, explaining how the non-religious soldier, having no protection against sin, might cause the failure of his unit. Petraeus blurbed McCoy’s book Under Orders: A Spiritual Handbook for Military Personnel, recommending that it be in every backpack for those times when a soldier needs “spiritual energy.” A senior chaplain in Afghanistan also enthused about how leading by example produces positive results, with 85 percent of the 22 officers reporting to Petraeus engaging in “dynamic Bible study,” though one has to wonder if they might have been doing so to enhance their promotion prospects.

A notorious, long running dispute at the United States Air Force Academy over the proper role of “spirituality” has generally resulted in little or no change in the promotion of evangelical Christianity at many levels, a process aided and abetted by a series of Superintendents who were themselves fundamentalists. Even the Air Force football team was not immune, with a large banner in the locker room proclaiming “I am a Member of Team Jesus Christ.” Captain MeLinda Morton, an Air Force Lutheran chaplain who actually complained about the over the top proselytizing was initially ignored and then reassigned.

...Believers who do not create a firewall between their faith and their professional responsibilities, which for a soldier should include all Americans and not just the ones that think the same way he or she does, will inevitably favor coreligionists, particularly if it is being argued that religiosity is an essential ingredient for soldiering. Many Christian fundamentalists understandably believe that their first duty is to God, not necessarily to their country or to their fellow citizens, but they fail to see how such a view might be considered unacceptable in someone who chooses to work for the government.

...That the United States military appears to be increasingly a professional force that has few links to the general population is by itself disturbing. That it also might be developing a warrior class ethos that includes a certain kind of evangelical religiosity as a key element only serves to increase the distance between soldiers and most civilians, apart from the constitutional issues that it raises.

and from The Military Religious Freedom Foundation an open letter:

Lying to Survive at the Air Force Academy: An Open Letter to Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson Feb.15, 2014 By Mikey Weinstein, AlterNet | Open Letter

"There is only one accepted aroma in the pack. It's the unforgiving stench of brutal evangelism, fundamentalism, restriction, and judgment."

and : This Missouri Congressman Wants Parents To Be ‘Warned’ If Schools Teach Evolution To Children at Crooks and Liars Feb. 15, 2014

This Missouri Congressman Wants Parents to Be ‘Warned’ if Schools Teach Evolution to Children (via Americans Against The Tea Party)

A Missouri state Representative has launched another attack on science, introducing a law requiring any school district that teaches evolution to “warn” parents ahead of time so that they may opt their children out of the course before it is taught…

 

American Christian Right Want Domination Not Equal Time???

More notes on the Christian Right's agenda for domination of American government , judiciary, legislature, military, education,entertainment industry and culture.

"So let us be blunt about it: we must use the doctrine of religious liberty to gain independence for Christian schools until we train up a generation of people who know that there is no religious neutrality, no neutral law, no neutral education, and no neutral civil government. Then they will get busy in constructing a Bible-based social, political and religious order which finally denies the religious liberty of the enemies of God."

Gary North ( Reconstructionist)

"This is our government. They (the secular humanists) stole it. And we're coming to take it back."

Oliver North ( Iran/Contra scandal-right-wing hero Only Following Orders)

"What Christians have got to do is to take back this country,one precinct at a time, one neighborhood at a time and one state at a time ... I honestly believe that in my lifetime wewill see a country once again governed by Christians ... and Christian values."

(Religious News Service, May 15, 1990)RALPH REED (Executive director of the Christian Coalition)

"In winning a nation to the gospel, the sword as well as the pen must be used."

R.J. Rushdooney

"I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over you.I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good ... Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a biblical duty, we are called by God to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism."

[TheNews-Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Indiana), August 16, 1993]RANDALL TERRY (Founder of Operation Rescue and a close friend of the Catholic Archbishops of New York and Philadelphia)

"We must fight against those radical minorities who are trying to remove God from our textbooks, Christ from our nation. We must take back what is rightfully ours." (Moral Majority Sermon, March 1993) "I hope to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be."

(America Can Be Saved, 1979) JERRY FALWELL (Senior Pastor of Thomas Rhodes Baptist Church)

"Nothing short of great Civil War of Values rages today throughout North America. Two sides with vastly differing and incompatible world-views are locked in a bitter conflict that permeates every level of society...the struggle now is for the hearts and minds of the people. It is a war over ideas. And someday soon, I believe, a winner will emerge and the loser will fade from memory. For now, the outcome is very much in doubt."

                     Quote From:Dr. James Dobson, Children at Risk, p. 19–20

"The idea that a coordinated campaign by “secular humanists” was aimed at displacing Christianity as the moral bedrock of America actually traces back to a group of Catholic ideologues in the 1960s. It was Protestant evangelicals, especially fundamentalists, who brought this concept into the public political arena and developed a plan to mobilize grassroots activists as foot soldiers in what became known as the Culture Wars of the 1980s…."

                               Quote from:The New Secular Fundamentalist Conspiracy! By Frederick Clarkson Publiceye.org Spring 2008 Vol. 23, No. 1

The propaganda techniques and tactics used by the organizers and leaders of the Christian Religious Right can be compared to Hitler's own approach in the creation of the NAZI Party as he explained it in his book Mein Kampf of how to engineer propaganda tactics and techniques to mobilize the somewhat indifferent and or apathetic masses. For Hitler's own purposes truth or the reality of an actual enemy was beside the point for his purposes since what mattered was perception and what the masses could be duped into believing so the enemy as such could be a total fabrication.

In general the art of the truly great national leaders at all times consists among other things primarily in not dividing the attention of a people, but in concentrating it upon a single foe. The more unified the application of a people's will to fight, the greater will be the magnetic attraction of a movement and the mightier will be the impetus of the thrust. It belongs to the genuis of a great leader to make even adversaries far removed from one another seem to belong to a single category, because in weak and uncertain characters the knowledge of having different enemies can only too readily lead to the beginning of doubt in their own right.


Once the wavering mass sees itself in a struggle against too many enemies, objectivity will put in an appearance, throwing open the question whether all others are really and only their own people or their movement are in the right.

And this brings about the first paralysis of their own power. Hence a multiplicity of different adversaries must always be combined so that in the eyes of the masses of one's own supporters the struggle is directed against only one enemy. This strengthens their faith in their own right and enhances their bitterness against those who attack it.

Above Quote of Adolf Hitler from his book Mein Kampf, pp 118-119


 As Hitler characterizes the basis of political propaganda is that a multitude of enemies must be reduced to one all pervasive overt and hidden enemy ie in his case he focused on  the International Jewish conspiracy which included Jews, labour unions, liberals, socialists, communists etc. . Otherwise it is too complicated and distracting for the average citizen to focus on. From the point of view of the propagandists reality or truth are irrelevant to a great extent.

So the Religious Right's leaders reduce the number of enemies to one defined by Secular Humanism or Liberalism the label under which all other enemies can be placed. So the so called Homosexual agenda, the feminist agenda, the Darwinian agenda are just parts of the "Secular Humanists Conspiracy" (or labeled Liberalism)

Ex-Evangelical Frank Schaeffer Denounces Michele Bachmann & Calls Her Movement Anti-American

 Uploaded on 17 Aug 2011
DemocracyNow.org - Democracy Now! interviews former evangelical Christian Frank Schaeffer, whose father's writings and work played a key role in the religious development of Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann. Frank Schaeffer recently wrote an article titled, "Michele Bachmann Was Inspired By My Dad and His Christian Reconstructionist Friends — Here's Why That's Terrifying." Schaeffer's father was Francis Schaeffer, one of the nation's most influential evangelical Christian theologians and philosophers in the 1970s and 1980s. In a recent profile in The New Yorker magazine, Bachmann reveals she entered politics after watching Francis Schaeffer's film ,"How Should We Then Live." The film was directed by his son, Frank, our guest today. "[Bachmann] doesn't just come from the far-right of evangelical politics, she comes from a fringe even of the fringe, which is the reconstructionist Dominionist movement," Schaeffer says. "The religious right that I was a part of is fundamentally anti-American, they hate this country. They wrap themselves in the flag, but they hate America as it is."

 

 Michelle Bachmann as an example of a Dominionist with political clout and how what she represents is a danger to American democracy.

 Christians Should Control Government - Michele Bachmann & Dominionism

"Creationism" Dominionist' Trojan Horse???

Creationism v Evolution Christian Dominionist Trojan Horse

Ken Ham believes Christians must return to a literal interpretation of the Bible .

The Bible is he argues the literal word of God and so believers must accept all of

the Bible and not just some parts of it.

So according to Ken Ham when it comes to a number of social issues Christians need

to abide by God's Word. He says Christians must reject humanism and secularism and

demand that the Word of God have Dominion in America. All laws must therefore

reflect what the Bible teaches and not some sort of majority consensus or rulings

from secular controlled courts or legislators.

Ken Ham: Same-Sex Marriage Results from Discarding Creationism

Published on 25 May 2012
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content...
Creationist leader Ken Ham says that the rise of a non-literal interpretation of

Genesis is responsible for growing support for same-sex marriage

Ken Ham: Erosion of Christian America: State of the Nation 2 -

The Biblical view expressed by Ken Ham in 2014 are based upon the similar ideological and theological views or assertions of the founder of the Religious Right Dr. Francis Schaefferin 1980s especially as outlined in his Christian Manifesto.


The Rev. Jerry Falwell of the Old Gospel Hour who became the head of the Moral Majority Inc. introduces Christian Dominionist Dr. Francis Schaeffer who in his speech in this video expounds upon his work "A Christian Manifesto".
In A Christian Manifesto Dr. Francis Schaeffer argues America has lost its way as it is now dominated by an anti-God humanist world view . To correct this he argues that the Christian Biblical beliefs and values must be reaffirmed as the foundation of American society and its government.

Francis Schaeffer - A Christian Manifesto pt. 1 of 3

Ryan Lizza in an article in the New Yorker argued that Francis Schaeffer believed there was a point at which overthrowing the government by any means necessary would be justified.

" For Schaeffer the “bottom line” was the replacement of the Christian world view by the humanist world view in American culture and law, a struggle most clearly epitomized by the legalization of abortion. It’s true that Schaeffer was sometimes coy about the case he was making and the obvious conclusions he was reaching, which has led to some confusion about his arguments. He was clearly concerned about the power of his words, and at one point he notes that there are “so many kooky people around” who could harm the Christian cause."

"But to read “A Christian Manifesto” as only a call for non-violent civil disobedience is to willfully ignore a central argument of the book: that at a certain point—the “bottom line”—the government loses its moral authority, and its overthrow by any means is justified. Schaeffer believed these conditions existed for the early Christians under the Romans, for the Protestants of the Reformation, for the Colonists in the Revolution, and for American Christians in the nineteen-eighties."

Above quote from article at New Yorker “A CHRISTIAN MANIFESTO”’S CALL TO ARMS
POSTED BY RYAN LIZZA , Aug.30, 2011


also see Ross Douthart's article at the New York Times The New Yorker and Francis Schaeffer of Aug. 29, 2011 and his defense of Francis Schaeffer claiming Schaeffer did not call for the creation of anything like a theocracy or the forceful or violent overthrow of the US government.

But this is not quite true since Francis Schaeffer did emphatically call for the government of the USA and its laws to be founded upon Biblical truth. So the reformed type of government may not be made up of in its entirety by members of the clergy or theologians they would have to be primarily people who believed in Biblical truth as the foundation for government and law.

Creationists Agenda To Indoctrinate Students In Public Schools In America With A Fundamentalist Biblical Theology

Bill Nye the Science Guy debates Creationist Ken Ham

The growing threat by Creationists and Biblical fundamentalism to public schools and education in America in general from pre-school, through elementary to High School to university and beyond .

...Four years ago, a conservative bloc on the state (Texas) school board pushed through amendments to science standards that call for students to “analyze and evaluate” some of the basic principles of evolution. Science educators and advocates worry that this language can be used as a back door for teaching creationism...

Quote from: Creationists on Texas Panel for Biology Textbooks The new York Times, Sept. 29, 2013

A reemergence of vouchers supported by Republicans and conservatives as a means to influence and reshape school curriculum and to get more children into more conservative Christian schools.

...In North Carolina, the state legislature recently passed a bill to divert $10 million of taxpayer money meant for public schools to private schools, including those that “provide an education that is Christ-centered” and teach “the truth of scripture” with “Bible-based facts,” such as: “dinosaurs and humans co-existed on Earth; slave-masters generally treated their slaves well; in some areas, the KKK fought the decline in morality by using the sign of the cross; and gay people have no more claims to special rights than child molesters or rapists.”

Creationism, at taxpayer expense: Secrets of the GOP’s frightening new school voucher schemes It's on: GOP efforts to shift tax dollars to private schools that teach anti-science nonsense must be stopped now JEFF BRYANT, Feb.3,2014, Salon.com

Rightwing Watch: Even Pat Robertson Attacks Creationism as A Joke

Published on 5 Feb 2014
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content...
Right Wing Watch reports on the extreme rhetoric and activities of key right-wing

figures and organizations by showing their views in their own words. In this video,

Pat Robertson says he disagrees with Young Earth Creationism and considers it a

"joke."

Bill Nye in the interview below explains why he is willing to take part in debate with Creationist . It is a matter of education versus indoctrination that is science and scientific fact and reality versus indoctrination into religious beliefs based upon faith and a literal interpretation of the Bible.

The pro-creationist want to misguide the public by framing the so called debate as if the two sides were both equally plausible as scientific explanations of the origins of the universe and of all living things.

Another part of this false equivalency is that only one of these views is the correct one that is one either accepts creationism and God's role in it or one rejects God, the Bible , Jesus and Christian theology and morality etc. in favor of evolution .
This is only true if one accepts that theism and evolution are completely incompatible.

It is rather that the strict literalist view of the Bible held by Christian Creationist such as Ken Ham is incompatible with evolution .

The Young Turks : Creationist Signs at the Bill Nye / Ken Ham Debate

Published on 5 Feb 2014
The debate between Bill Nye (aka 'The Science Guy) and Creation Museum president Ken Ham has people (from fundamentalist Christians to Atheists and everything in between) buzzing today. What should we make of the signs creationists made for those who believe in evolution? http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/messag... Does conservative Christian 700 Club host Pat Robertson believe believers should reject fossil records? Ana Kasparian and John Iadarola (host, TYT University and Common Room) break it down on The Young Turks.

So in these next couple articles cited here we get an illustration of what the real agenda of the pro-creationists and Christian Fundamentalists is that is to find ways to teach Creationism in the public funded schools including those supposedly private schools which are in various ways financed by the public. Once they can get creationism taught as at least a competing scientific theory to evolution they can then introduce parts of the Christian Bible into these schools and thereby teach what they believe ought to be considered acceptable moral values .

The goal at the end of the day is the indoctrination of as many young people as possible into the acceptance of a literal fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible and a complete and utter rejection of evolutionary theory and the science which follows from it especially where that science might contradict the beliefs and moral behaviours promulgated by Holy Scripture.

Map: Publicly Funded Schools That Are Allowed to Teach Creationism.Slate, Jan. 26, 2014

Thousands of schools in states across the country can use taxpayer money to cast doubt on basic science.

By Chris Kirk

A large, publicly funded charter school system in Texas is teaching creationism to its students, Zack Kopplin recently reported in Slate. Creationist teachers don’t even need to be sneaky about it—the Texas state science education standards, as well as recent laws in Louisiana and Tennessee, permit public school teachers to teach “alternatives” to evolution. Meanwhile, in Florida, Indiana, Ohio, Arizona, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere, taxpayer money is funding creationist private schools through state tuition voucher or scholarship programs. As the map below illustrates, creationism in schools isn’t restricted to schoolhouses in remote villages where the separation of church and state is considered less sacred. If you live in any of these states, there’s a good chance your tax money is helping to convince some hapless students that evolution (the basis of all modern biological science, supported by everything we know about geology, genetics, paleontology, and other fields) is some sort of highly contested scientific hypothesis as credible as “God did it.”

Creationists on Texas Panel for Biology Textbooks The new York Times, Sept. 29, 2013

In the state whose governor, Rick Perry, boasted as a candidate for president that his schools taught both creationism and evolution, the State Board of Education, which includes members who hold creationist views, helped nominate several members of the textbook review panel. Others were named by parents and educators. Prospective candidates could also nominate themselves. The state’s education commissioner, Michael L. Williams, a Perry appointee and a conservative Republican, made the final appointments to the 28-member panel. Six of them are known to reject evolution.

...Karen Beathard, a senior lecturer in the department of nutrition and food science at Texas A&M University, who wrote in a review of a textbook ... that “Students should have the opportunity to use their critical thinking skills to weigh the evidence between evolution and ‘creation science.’ ”

In reviews of other textbooks, panel members disputed the scientific evidence, questioning, for example, whether the fossil record actually demonstrates a process of mutation and natural selection over billions of years. “The fossil record can be interpreted in other ways than evolutionary with equal justification,” one reviewer wrote. Among the anti-evolution panelists are Ide Trotter, a chemical engineer, and Raymond G. Bohlin, a biologist and fellow of the Discovery Institute.

By questioning the science — often getting down to very technical details — the evolution challengers in Texas are following a strategy increasingly deployed by others around the country.

There is little open talk of creationism. Instead they borrow buzzwords common in education, “critical thinking,” saying there is simply not enough evidence to prove evolution.

If textbooks do not present alternative viewpoints or explain what they describe as “the controversy,” they say students will be deprived of a core concept of education — learning how to make up their own minds.

Historically, given the state’s size, Texas’ textbook selections have had an outsize impact on what ended up in classrooms throughout the country. That influence is waning somewhat because publishers can customize digital editions and many states are moving to adopt new science standards with evolution firmly at their center.

Creationism, at taxpayer expense: Secrets of the GOP’s frightening new school voucher schemes It's on: GOP efforts to shift tax dollars to private schools that teach anti-science nonsense must be stopped now JEFF BRYANT, Feb.3,2014, Salon.com

...In North Carolina, the state legislature recently passed a bill to divert $10 million of taxpayer money meant for public schools to private schools, including those that “provide an education that is Christ-centered” and teach “the truth of scripture” with “Bible-based facts,” such as: “dinosaurs and humans co-existed on Earth; slave-masters generally treated their slaves well; in some areas, the KKK fought the decline in morality by using the sign of the cross; and gay people have no more claims to special rights than child molesters or rapists.”

What knits these news stories together is a common cause: school vouchers. Vouchers – also called scholarships, tax credits and other variations on a theme – turn public dollars for education into private coin to be expended as parents wish and legislators allow.

Liberals tend to laugh off this kind of news as aberrations from fly-over country. But they need to be aware there is a concerted effort underfoot to take school voucher schemes like these nationwide.

...a new bill introduced by Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.... “would take about $24 billion – or about 41 percent – of current federal spending on elementary and secondary public schools, and allow states to decide whether to give the lowest-income families the money as individual scholarships to pay for private school tuition, or to attend a public school outside the child’s traditional neighborhood zone, or a charter school.”

The bill would hand over “about $2,100 in federal money” for each eligible child, based on family income.

Nearly simultaneous to the Alexander bill, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., also introduced a new bill to “provide federally funded vouchers to children with disabilities, children living on military bases, and children living in impoverished areas,” according to Scott’s official website.

Republican Party leadership argues “We have plans to improve our education and training systems so you have the choice to determine where your kids go to school.”

Then Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., in his address stridently called for solutions from “the marketplace,” promoting his “economic freedom zones” that allow for “school choice” and give parents an “educational tax credit” because parents, “not the government,” know “what’s best” for kids.

The vouchers, by whatever name, are being sold to the American people as a way to “rescue” students – especially those who live in poverty or have disabilities – from “failing” public schools so they can attend a privately run school at the expense of taxpayers.

...When corruption is not the game voucher schools are into, religious indoctrination often sets the agenda.

Zack Kopplin, whose research contributed to the Slate article cited above, “documented over 300 voucher schools, in nine states and the District of Columbia, which are receiving public money, and are teaching creationism in their science classes. The program where [he] discovered the most creationist voucher schools was in Florida, where [he] discovered 164 schools.”

In Louisiana’s statewide school voucher scheme, Kopplin found “at least 20 schools who use a creationist curriculum or blatantly promote creationism on their websites. These 20 schools have been awarded 1,365 voucher slots and can receive as much as $11,602,500 in taxpayer money annually.”

In the meantime, voucher schools rarely if ever show evidence of improving the academic outcomes of children.

Education historian Diane Ravitch recently looked into the academic track record of school vouchers and found evaluations have not shown “any test score advantage for students who get vouchers.”

Education research experts at the National Education Policy Center have examined loads of reports and determined that “even the most dedicated pro-voucher researchers have been unable to find clear evidence of superior performance by students attending private schools as part of a voucher program.” And vouchers “do not improve college enrollment rates.”

Also there’s little evidence school vouchers generally represent a systemic way to “rescue” students from underperforming schools. In voucher schools in Louisiana, for instance, nearly half of the students in the state’s program last year used voucher money to attend “schools with performance scores in the D to F range of the state’s grading scale” – hardly “a move up from the back of the line” for these children.

...A Political Strategy Exploiting Children

Rather than improving the prospects of students and the performance of schools, what Republican proposals for vouchers have most to do with is politics.

As Valerie Strauss of The Washington Post noted some time ago, messaging behind the push for school vouchers has shifted from educational effectiveness to moral imperative.

Because recent voucher research reveals they “do not have a strong effect on students’ academic achievement,” Strauss noted, “Proponents have shifted their rhetoric away from academic impact and instead highlight parent choice and other issues.”

So now, as Stephanie Simon reported at Politico, “calling for more charter schools, vouchers and tax credits” is a tactic Republicans are eager to use “to attract black and Latino voters.”

For sure, Simon noted, “Helping parents pay private school tuition fits with the party’s mantra that the government works best when it gets out of the way and lets the free market flourish. But top strategists say it’s more than that: Talking about helping poor minority children softens the GOP’s image … Plus, the photo ops are great.”

For more on "Creationism" and Dominionist and the Theocrats see my earlier posts including:

Harry Belafonte On Gun Violence In America and One Third Of Americans Believe God Takes Sides In Sporting Events And Public Schools In Texas Push Christian Agenda And God Given Right To bear Arms Gord's Notebook, Feb. 3, 2013


GOP Dogwhistle Racism "Obama Just another Lazy Black Man", Gord's Notebook, Oct. 7, 2012

Update: religious Right shocking content of publicly Paid For Christian School textbooks Gord's Notebook June 20, 2012


Meanwhile the American Christian Taliban insists all schools teach Creationism or have their budgets cut???
Creationist Park Ok, Governor Cuts Education Instead from #TRAYVON Commies In The White House Says Alan West While Ted Nugent Under Investigation Threatening Violence If Obama Is re-elected??? Catholic Bishop Declares War on Liberals & Obama" Gord's Notebook, April 20, 2012

KONY 2012 " Invisible Children " Reputable Charity or Front For The Radical Evangelical Religious Right? (and The New Apostolic Reformation ,Seven Mountains Campaign) Gord's Notebook, March 14, 2012

Ex Treasury Official Bruce Bartlett: " Republicans Stupid, Crazy, Ignorant Craven Cowards " & throwing Saint Reagan Under The Bus ( and Lou Engle 's Islamophobia & Christian Dominionists )Gord's Notebook, Aug. 24, 2011

Frank Schaeffer Attacks Michele Bachmann's Christian Apostolic Movement & The Media MIA on Religious Right Fanaticism, Goprd's Notebook Aug. 23, 2011

Chris Hedges & American Fascists - The Radical Christian Right , Gord's Notebook, Sept. 10, 2007

" CREATIONISM " ABSURDITY Gord's Notebook, May 21, 2007

Obama Should Win and Sarah Palin: War, Dissidents & Creationism Gord's Notebook, Oct. 1, 2008

Racism Religious Fanaticism Still Alive and doing well in America Gord's Notebook, May 7, 2009

JFK Jr. On Pete Seeger & fav. Regina Spektor song " Firewood " And TYT On Christian Extremists Take over of the US Military & Racist NRA

Favorite song by Regina Spektor: Firewood from album What We Saw From the Cheap Seats



and JFK Jr. remembers Pete Seeger: Iconic American ideal

Published on 3 Feb 2014 YOUTUBE
Ring of Fire co-hosts Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Sam Seder discuss the death of musician and activist Pete Seeger.




TYT: Cenk Uygur interviews Mikey Weinstein of Military Freedom Foundation discussing the take over of the US military by Christian Dominionists who believe America must become a Christian nation in which only Christians are to be permitted to hold positions of authority.
They believe all other religions are tools of Satan and are anti-Christian and anti-Christ .
They believe the US military should be a force to aid in the return of Jesus and the Second Coming and the Apocalypse.
They insist only Christians of the right sort should be in leadership positions in the US armed forces and the Pentagon and the White House etc.

Published on 27 Jan 2014

Watch the FULL interview here: http://youtu.be/N-a7AYQblig

Mikey Weinstein is the founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (http://militaryreligiousfreedom.org), an organization dedicated to stopping the unconstitutional forced religious conversion that remains far too prevalent in all branches of the United States Armed Forces.

In this interview, he and Cenk Uygur discuss Mikey's recent run-in with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, the prevalence in the military of "Dominionism," the radical Evangelical Christian theology that anticipates the imminent return of Jesus Christ, and why the fight for religious freedom within the military may be all that stands between us and global nuclear destruction.

Before founding the MRFF in 2006, Weinstein was an Air Force officer, Reagan Administration legal counsel and General Counsel to Texas billionaire and two-time Presidential candidate H. Ross Perot and Perot Systems Corporation. He is also the author of With God on Our Side: One Man's War Against an Evangelical Coup in America's Military and No Snowflake in an Avalanche, both of which describe his fight against alleged coercive Christian Fundamentalist practices by some members of the military.

Follow Mikey Weinstein on Twitter:https://twitter.com/MikeyWeinstein
Visit: http://militaryreligiousfreedom.org

And in case you missed it as I did here's The Young Turks on racism in America.
Question is why isn't Bill O'Reilly and the NRA not in favor of arming black people yet they want all white Americans to be armed.
O'Relly claims only blacks kill blacks and white Americans have nothing to do with it.
O'Reilly rejects Tavis Smiley proposal to arm all black persons.

Tavis Smiley Disarms Bill O'Reilly With Suggestion To Arm Every Black Person In America

Published on 17 Jul 2013

"PBS host Tavis Smiley joined Bill O'Reilly to react to O'Reilly's assertions about the lack of media coverage over black-on-black crime in the United States. Smiley told O'Reilly that institutionally there is a contempt for black men in the United States that has to be addressed. O'Reilly pushed back, while Smiley brought up gun laws and suggested that every black person in the United States should have a gun just to see how the NRA responds."*

Pete Seeger and The Failure of The Media To Defend Democracy

And more Pete Seeger for those who care:

PETE SEEGER Guantanamera



Pete Seeger - Bring 'em Home



pete seeger which side are you on



Here's a little article about Pete Seeger from Peter Hart:

Pete Seeger: 'It's Hard for Me to Talk About the Media Without Getting Angry'
By Peter Hart at FAIR Blog

"From an April 2001 interview with Pete Seeger conducted by David Guistina of Albany public radio station WAMC

Q: Does the media do its job?

A: Of course not. It's hard for me to talk about the media without getting angry. Because if the United States or the world goes down in disaster, I would blame the media first of all, because the people running it are intelligent people. They know very well how evil they are. And when they say, "Oh, I'm just giving the people what they want." Sure–so do the drug pushers.

In the second installment of the interview, Seeger talked about an appearance on the Today show that turned out to be his last:
I haven't been asked on TV that much in recent years.

I did get on the Today show once. And I knew that they wouldn't want me to sing a certain song. So I was prepared. I arrived at 6:00, and over the intercom, the director said, "Pete, what you got for us?"

And I said: "Well, I got a little banjo tune, and I got something a little more serious. It's a funny song but it's got a serious point." "Well, let's hear 'em." So I sang the banjo tune. "Fine."

So I sang the other, called "Garbage," which has the whole crowd going, "Garbage, garbage, garbage."

In Mister Thompson's factory, they're making plastic Christmas trees
Complete with silver tinsel and a geodesic stand
The plastic's mixed in giant vats from some conglomeration
That's been piped from deep within the earth or strip-mined from the land
And if you question anything, they say, "Why, don't you see?
It's absolutely needed for the economy"

Oh, Garbage! Garbage! Garbage! Garbage!
Their stocks and their bonds — all garbage!
Garbage! Garbage! Garbage! Garbage!
What will they do when their system goes to smash
There's no value to their cash
There's no money to be made
But there's a world to be repaid
Their kids will read in history books
About financiers and other crooks
And feudalism, and slavery
And nukes and all their knavery
To history's dustbin they're consigned
Along with many other kinds of garbage
Garbage! Garbage! Garbage! Garbage!

Well, he said: "Pete, you got something a little more cheerful? This is early in the morning."

So I sang, "Walking down death row/ I sang for three men destined for the chair…."

"Pete, do you have something else?"

"'If the revolution comes to my country, let me remember….'"

"Well, Pete, I guess we'll stick with 'Garbage.'"

Well, I got to do it on the air, but I wasn't asked back. I haven't been on the Today show since."