JohnKJR's Blog

Rudy Giuliani had me in stitches during his red-meat keynote address at the GOP convention. I laughed out loud when Giuliani laughed out loud while noting Barack Obama's deep experience as a "community organizer." I laughed again when VP nominee and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin cracked: "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities."

Team Obama was not amused. (Neither were the snarky left-wingers on cable TV who are now allergic to sarcasm.) They don't get why we snicker when Obama dons his Community Organizer cape. Apparently, the jibes rendered Obama's advisers sleepless. In a crack-of-dawn e-mail to Obama's followers hours after Giuliani and Palin spoke, campaign manager David Plouffe attempted to gin up faux outrage (and, more importantly, donations) by claiming grave offense on the part of community organizers everywhere. Fumed Plouffe:
"Both Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin specifically mocked Barack's experience as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago more than two decades ago, where he worked with people who had lost jobs and been left behind when the local steel plants closed. Let's clarify something for them right now. Community organizing is how ordinary people respond to out-of-touch politicians and their failed policies."

Let me clarify something. Nobody is mocking community organizers in church basements and community centers across the country working to improve their neighbors' lives. What deserves ridicule is the notion that Obama's brief stint as a South Side rabble-rouser for tax-subsidized, partisan nonprofits qualifies as executive experience you can believe in.

Americans aren’t the only ones watching this election.

The totalitarian Islamic regime of Iran is also paying close attention, and of course they’re strongly opposed to John McCain—and strongly in favor of Barack Obama. (Courtesy of MEMRI TV.)

Notice that there’s no discernible difference between the Iranian position and the position of the Democratic Party. The talking points are identical.

Click picture to play video. Requires Windows Media Player; Mac users should install Flip4Mac.

Following are excerpts from an interview with Iranian political science professor Mohammad-Ali Fardanesh, which aired on IRIB/Jaam-E Jam 2 TV on September 2, 2008.

Mohammad-Ali Fardanesh: The difference between Mr. McCain and Mr. Bush is that McCain steps harder on the gas, but he is driving down the same path, and so, there is no difference between them.

[...]

The problem with Mr. Obama is his education. He is a Harvard graduate. The Americans cannot accept him because they consider him an elitist – someone who thinks he is above others, because he is better educated. They don’t understand that his education would enable him to serve them better.

Interviewer: So they will have more money...

Mohammad-Ali Fardanesh: This would improve the situation in America in general. The flaw they see in Mr. Obama – which they don’t admit – is that he is highly educated and very eloquent. What does he talk so eloquently for?! Mr. McCain, who considers himself such an expert in international politics, still says “Czechoslovakia.”

Interviewer: He doesn’t know that Czechoslovakia was divided?

Mohammad-Ali Fardanesh: He doesn’t know anything, poor thing. He is terrible. Let me tell you, he’s awful. He doesn’t know the difference between Shiites and Sunnis, yet he wants to resolve the problems in Iraq? He doesn’t know whether Iran is Shiite or Sunni, or the difference between the two.

[...]

Interviewer: Many experts believe that the crises in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine are the Achilles’ heel of America. Therefore, we should ask whether there is any difference between the Democratic and Republican parties with regard to the issue of Iraq. Is there any difference between them?

Mohammad-Ali Fardanesh: Yes. Mr. Obama’s perspective is more clear. Only yesterday, they transferred control of the Al-Anbar province to the Iraqi government, on the first day of Ramadhan. This is something Mr. Obama has been saying. Mr. Obama has said several times: “Al-Qaeda operates in 80 countries, but we got ourselves entangled in Iraq. Our presence in iraq is what led Al-Qaeda to begin to operate there.” That’s why Mr. Obama and his team... Mr. Biden is a very respectable man. He has a good reputation, and he is respectable and healthy. He has been in the Senate for 36 years, since he was 29. They are more knowledgeable in foreign affairs. True, Obama has no experience, but McCain not only has no experience, but doesn’t even know where “abroad” is. The poor thing is very absent-minded.

Interviewer: McCain has declared that if he is elected, American forces will stay in Iraq 100 years. Based on this, can we draw any conclusion about which party is more likely to win?

Mohammad-Ali Fardanesh: My problem is that McCain is a war hero, a senior pilot, whose plane crashed in Vietnam and who spent eight and a half years at war. He is a respectable, humane, honest, and patriotic man, but when it comes to foreign policy and domestic affairs, he doesn’t have anything to offer.

[...]

Interviewer: Is the fact that [Palin] is a woman likely to appeal to women, and to arouse feminist sentiment in American society?

Mohammad-Ali Fardanesh: Definitely. Dr. Kamrava mentioned the question of her experience. I don’t think her husband knows about her experience either. She doesn’t have any experience.

Interviewer: She spent two years as governor of Alaska.

Mohammad-Ali Fardanesh: 16 months. She was the mayor of a town of 10,000 residents. The previous governor of Alaska was a very corrupt man, and anybody running against him would have won. That’s how she won.

No. My answer is “no.” Just like Obama is a phenomenon, as I said, Mr. Clinton, with her academic record, her determination, and her expertise in various issues, was outstanding and prominent. She is one of the strongest women in American history. Now, Mrs. Palin – whose name they don’t even pronounce correctly... Will she manage to attract Clinton’s voters? No.

The Washington Post reported that John McCain's vetting process for picking Governor Sarah Palin included an FBI background check. Other reports dispute this. But when did the FBI investigate Obama? Who vetted him?
We are living witnesses to an incredible media double standard, whereby a Republican vice-presidential candidate's personal life is being torn apart, while the Democratic presidential candidate continues to get a free ride. Obama has a 30-year history of associating with unsavory characters, beginning with communist Frank Marshall Davis and continuing with Jeremiah Wright and communist terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, which should disqualify him from getting a security clearance in the government that he wants to run.

But the media would rather talk about Republicans and sex.

The leftist DailyKos website started digging into Palin's past and claimed that her fifth child wasn't really hers. The charge fell apart when pictures surfaced of the governor pregnant with the child.

Nevertheless, the media, which have been so quick to ignore questions about Obama's background, joined in the inquiry into Palin's private family matters and forced the governor to disclose that one of their daughters is pregnant out of wedlock. This is what passes for investigative reporting these days.

A daughter's pregnancy, of course, has nothing to do with whether Palin is fit for the job of vice-president or even president and is entitled to a security clearance. But one's associations with communists who hate the United States might emerge as a cause for concern.

It is worth noting that the DailyKos site is the same site that a liberal blogger named Lee Stranahan says banned his comments about Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards needing to answer reports that he had had an extramarital affair. Those reports, which came from the "tabloid" National Enquirer and not from any "respectable" major media outlet, turned out to be true.

It also turns out that the DailyKos got the leak from the Obama campaign of the candidate's alleged birth certificate, an announcement intended to put to rest all of the questions about whether Obama is a natural-born citizen and passes the basic constitutional requirement to be president. Is the document real? I have not seen any investigative reporters from the major media assigned to this story. Instead, they're sniffing around Palin's family, which is something they had no desire to do while John Edwards was cheating on his cancer-stricken wife.

There can be no doubt in the Na-sayers minds now whom the media supports and and how clearly the media in general is slanted Left.

The Face of Evil The Communist/anarchist/truther/pro-Obama protesters were out in force, committing various crimes and attempting to disrupt the proceedings.
...
..a bus that was attacked from above when a group of protesters dropped sand bags on to the top of the bus. This is attempted murder: if the protesters had succeeded in hitting the windshield, a sand bag would have crashed through and killed the driver. The resulting accident would have killed or injured others on the bus. To my knowledge, the left-wingers/would-be murderers were not caught.

A little later, a busload of Cub Scouts were en route to the convention, where they were to present the colors to open the convention. A group of protesters--liberals, Obama supporters, or whatever--blocked the road, surrounded the bus, and attacked it, rocking the bus back and forth, denting and scratching the sides, and generally terrifying the children trapped inside. The left-wing protesters attacked a number of buses in the same way, but there is something especially despicable about attacking a group of Cub Scouts. Larrey Anderson Streets Turn Nasty in St. Paul ...the far-left is doing in St. Paul at the RNC what it only threatened to do in Denver at the DNC. Gateway Pundit has more Leftist Protesters Attack, Throw Poison & Spit On RNC Delegates!... 80 Year-Old Connecticut Delegate Injured!!! One of the victims was an elderly woman who was spat on.
...
... several of them were spat upon, roughed up and doused with a mixture of water and bleach FoundingBloggers has video RNC BUS ATTACKED ON WAY TO EXCEL CENTER (Video)

The Washington Times
Wesley Pruden

Not with a bang but a whimper, the Clinton era ended. An angry and frustrated Bill Clinton could only watch as Hillary's pitifully shrunken delegate numbers were posted on the counting board. It was enough to make a devoted husband wish his wife had clung to her own name.

With the vote, the last vestige of the "old" Democratic Party was swept away. No more "the middle way," no more of the relative moderation of the Clinton years. The sea of black, female, gay (but not necessarily cheerful) and radical faces at this convention testify to the celebration of the spirit of the '60s, the most squalid decade of a grim and contentious century.

Tonight it's the Anointed One taking center stage, the stage moved to the Denver Broncos football stadium so he can make the speech of his life against the backdrop of a facade of plaster columns worthy of the righteous wrath of Samson. They're calling this one the Temple of Obama. But facades are fragile. We know what happened to Samson.

The Obama camp, if not the senator himself, is nevertheless growing increasingly nervous that they haven't put up enough mirrors or conjured enough smoke. He ought to be already getting his poll bounce, padding what he expected to be a comfortable lead. But neither the emotional accolades of Teddy Kennedy nor the oaths of loyalty from Hillary, manufactured overnight of high-impact plastic, have moved the needle.

On the eve of what should be the biggest night of the nominee's career, the campaign dispatched its legion of lawyers to attempt to suppress the First Amendment in pursuit of squelching a television commercial asking inconvenient questions about Mr. Obama's friendship and association with two violent and unrepentant '60s radicals.

The campaign commercial, not authorized by the McCain campaign, makes no wild accusations, raises no questions about anybody's patriotism, but asks pointed questions about a man's judgment in choosing his friends.

The Ayres connection, and what can be made of it, frightens the Obama campaign. There's no question that the senator has been pals with William Ayres and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn, and what we know about that friendship is damaging enough. Mr. Obama launched his political career at a fundraiser in the home of William Ayres; Bernadine Dohrn was the evening's hostess. The two men served together on a foundation that dispensed money to left-wing causes and institutions in Chicago, including the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's church. The two of them appeared in tandem as recently as 2002 on a panel at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The panic-like reaction to the new television commercial suggests there may be other things someone doesn't want us to know.

DENVER (AP) - Barack Obama is striking back fiercely and swiftly to stamp out an ad that links him to a 1960s radical, eager to demonstrate a far more aggressive response to attacks than John Kerry did when faced with the 2004 "Swift Boat" campaign.

Obama not only aired a response ad to the spot linking him to William Ayers, but he sought to block stations the commercial by warning station managers and asking the Justice Department to intervene. The campaign also planned to compel advertisers to pressure stations that continue to air the anti-Obama commercial.

It's the type of going-for-the-jugular approach to politics many Democrats complain that Kerry lacked and that Republicans exploit.

Obama's target is an ad by the conservative American Issues Project, a nonprofit group that questions Obama's ties to Ayers, a founder of the Weather Underground organization that took credit for a series of bombings, including nonfatal explosions at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol four decades ago.

The lone financier of the anti-Obama ad, Texas billionaire Harold Simmons, was also one of the main funders of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth who targeted Kerry. Simmons, a McCain fundraiser, contributed nearly $2.9 million to the American Issues Project, according to documents filed by the group with the Federal Election Commission.

Fox News and CNN have declined to air the anti-Obama ad. But by Monday afternoon, the ad had run about 150 times in local markets in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and Michigan, according to Evan Tracey, head of TNS Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group, an ad tracking firm.

Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said Obama supporters have inundated stations that are airing the ad, many of them owned by Sinclair Communications, with 93,000 e-mails. He called the ad false, despicable and outrageous.

"Other stations that follow Sinclair's lead should expect a similar response from people who don't want the political discourse cheapened with these false, negative attacks," Vietor said.

Sinclair offices were closed late Monday and officials there could not be immediately contacted.

"It seems they protest a bit too much," American Issues Project spokesman Christian Pinkston said. "They're going all of these routes—through threats, intimation—to try to thwart the First Amendment here because they don't have an argument on merit."

Ayers is now a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He and Obama live in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood and served together on the board of the Woods Fund, a Chicago-based charity that develops community groups to help the poor. Obama left the board in December 2002.

Obama also was the first chairman of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a school reform group of which Ayers was a founder. Ayers also held a meet-the-candidate event at his home for Obama when Obama first ran for office in the mid-1990s.

Obama has denounced Ayers' past activities.

"Barack Obama is friends with Ayers, defending him as, quote, 'Respectable' and 'Mainstream,'" the group's ad states. "Obama's political career was launched in Ayers' home. And the two served together on a left-wing board. Why would Barack Obama be friends with someone who bombed the Capitol and is proud of it? Do you know enough to elect Barack Obama?"

In a letter to station managers, Obama campaign lawyer Robert Bauer wrote: "Your station is committed to operating in the public interest, an objective that cannot be satisfied by accepting for compensation material of such malicious falsity."

Bauer also wrote to Deputy Assistant Attorney General John C. Keeney, noting that the ad is a "knowing and willful attempt to evade the strictures of federal election law."

The campaign's aggressive tactics could draw more attention to a subject the campaign wants to go away. On Tuesday, the University of Illinois at Chicago will make available records of Obama's service on the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. The group was set up to improve the city's schools. The documents could shed further light on whether Obama and Ayers had a relationship.

The American Issues Project is a 501(c)4 nonprofit corporation. It is permitted by law to air a political ad provided that the majority of its spending is nonpolitical. It cannot accept money from corporations and it must identify the donors that finance its ads in reports to the Federal Election Commission. Pinkston said the group has set aside money to carry out non-election related work to meet the legal requirements. It filed a report identifying Simmons as its sole donor for the ad last week.

In the Obama campaign's own response ad, an announcer states: "With all our problems, why is John McCain talking about the 60s, trying to link Barack Obama to radical Bill Ayers. McCain knows Obama denounced Ayers' crimes, committed when Obama was just 8 years old."

The McCain campaign cannot coordinate efforts with outside groups. But the campaign took advantage of being the target of the response ad.

"The fact that Barack Obama chose to launch his political career at the home of an unrepentant terrorist raises more questions about Senator Obama's judgment than any TV ad ever could," said McCain spokesman Brian Rogers.

(Zombie's reports are cross-posted at Pajamas Media.)

Although the Democratic National Convention doesn't start until today, Monday, August 25, the protests against the convention started the day before on Sunday.

The PJM/LGF/zombietime photo team had not yet arrived in Denver, but luckily fellow photojournalist and LGF/zombietime stringer "El Marco" was on hand to record the day's goings-on.

(For this one report, all the photos are courtesy of El Marco; captions and layout are by zombie.)

Let the games begin!

The day's theme was "End the Occupations" (yes, that's occupations with an "s," since anything the US does counts as an "occupation"). Recreate 68 -- the organization formed specifically to protest this convention, using as their guiding principle a desire to recreate the riots outside the notorious Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968 -- were the primary instigators, with various radical, anarchist and left-wing groups joining in. Later in the day was a more loosely organized "Reclaim the Streets" protest (shown here) which basically entailed anarchists confronting the police for the sake of confronting the police.

A banner from the "End the Occupations March." It is truly astounding that people can openly support Muqtada al-Sadr (depicted on the left of this banner), the hard-line Shi-ite religious leader, especially in light of recent revelations that his "Mehdi Army" operated a torture chamber inside a mosque and routinely executed people. Keep in mind that these are the same kinds of protesters who endlessly whine about Abu Ghraib. If opposing and defeating people like al-Sadr's torturers counts as "imperialism," I'll take imperialism any day.

The march kicked off with a rally in front of the Colorado State Capital, with various left-wing celebrities such as Cindy Sheehan, Ward Churchill and Cynthia McKinney speaking while standing next to this banner, which purports to merely make a case for moral equivalence (bad enough), but which is actually pretty obviously anti-US and pro-Saddam.

Yes, Virginia, there really are communists in this day and age. And most of them seem to have convened in Denver, as this banner from the "End the Occupations" march attests.

Later in the day, the Reclaim the Streets protest arrived at the state capital, where a series of heated but essentially fruitless confrontations between the protesters and the police ensued.

The police did their best to try and keep a lid on the proceedings.

When they needed to rapidly reposition themselves at the protest, they hopped on these specially modified "troop transport" SUVs.

Wait -- is this a protest, or a fashion show?

The communists shown in the earlier picture protested against capitalism as a concept. And here we see the anarchists doing the same. This is in fact their only point of agreement: otherwise, the communists want to institute total state control of society, whereas as the anarchists want, well, anarchy. But hatred of the United States makes strange bedfellows, and for now the natural enemies -- communists and anarchists -- seem to have set aside their differences and agreed to bring down capitalism together.

Shades of what is likely to happen throughout the week: counter-protesters showed up to voice their opinions as well.

I just love the sign on the right: "Hey Liberals: Can't get no satisfaction? Try liberating an entire nation from tyranny." Ouch -- that's gotta sting.

I must say, the messages put forth at this counter-protest were extremely astute, and highlighted the greatest weaknesses in the left-wing protest philosophy.

That's it for our first report! Thanks to El Marco for capturing some excellent images while we were still en route to Colorado.

The convention itself kicks off today, and the protests are sure to escalate. Stay tuned!

The “Megulator” was vacationing in Maine and came upon a “living history museum” that contained a historic post office building. Inside was a cache of FBI wanted posters from 1971, the date the post office building officially closed. Among them: the original FBI Most Wanted poster for Barack Obama associate Bernardine Dohrn:

You know the Obama campaign will try to call this one a “smear,” but every assertion in it is factual.

(Video player requires Flash Player.)

An exhaustive, eight-year Media Research Center study of the Big Three TV networks’ coverage of Barack Obama shows that their favorable spin on the Democrat gave him his margin of victory in the primaries, according to MRC president Brent Bozell.

The MRC notes that this year saw the closest nomination contest in a generation, with just one-tenth of a percentage point — 41,622 votes out of more than 35 million cast — separating Obama from Hillary Clinton when the Democratic primaries ended in June.

“But Barack Obama had a crucial advantage over his rivals this year: the support of the national media, especially the three broadcast networks,” an MRC report on the study states.

“At every step of his national political career, network reporters showered the Illinois Senator with glowing media coverage, building him up as a political celebrity and exhibiting little interest in investigating his past associations or exploring the controversies that could have threatened his campaign.”

The Alexandria, Va.-based MRC logged every story, sound bite, and mention of Obama on ABC, CBS and NBC evening news telecasts from his first appearance on a network broadcast in May 2000 through the end of the Democratic primaries this past June — a total of 1,365 stories.

Among the key findings:

 

The three broadcast networks ran 462 positive stories about Obama — 34 percent of the total — compared with only 70 stories (5 percent) that were critical.

 

 

NBC Nightly News was the most lopsided, with 179 pro-Obama reports, more than 10 times the number of anti-Obama stories, 17. The CBS Evening News ran 156 stories in favor of Obama, compared to just 21 anti-Obama reports. ABC’s World News was the least slanted, but still tilted roughly four-to-one in Obama’s favor — 127 positive stories to 32 negative reports.

 

 

Barack Obama received his best press “when it mattered most, as he debuted on the national scene,” the MRC report observed. All three networks lavished him with praise when he was the keynote speaker at the 2004 Democratic Convention, and did not produce a single negative story about Obama prior to the start of his presidential campaign in early 2007.

 

 

Obama’s relationship with convicted influence peddler Tony Rezko was the subject of only two full network reports, one each on ABC and NBC, and was mentioned in just 15 other stories. Also, CBS and NBC initially downplayed controversial statements from Obama’s long-time pastor Jeremiah Wright.

 

 

Obama’s best press of this year came after he won the North Carolina primary on May 6. After that, 43 percent of stories were favorable to Obama, compared to just 1 percent that were critical.

 

 

The networks referred to Obama as a "liberal" only 14 times in four years, while on twice as many occasions reporters referred to him as either a "rock star," "rising star," or "superstar" during the same period.

 

 

Of 147 average citizens who expressed an on-camera opinion about Obama, 114 were pro-Obama, compared to just 28 that offered a negative opinion, with the remaining five offering a mixed opinion.

 

Brent Bozell said in a statement: “This study proves emphatically and without question that the Big Three networks had a horse in this year’s Democratic primary race. And that with their wall-to-wall, 24-hour daily assistance, NBC, ABC and CBS provided Sen. Barack Obama’s margin of victory.

“As the liberal media’s ardor with Sen. Hillary Clinton evaporated, so too did the inevitability of her victory. The press fixated their infatuated gazes on Sen. Obama, and afforded him the crucial coverage and support he needed to win.”

 

 

 

© 2008 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

"Religion Of Peace" KILLS 59 in Pakistan

Suicide bombers struck at a weapons complex in Pakistan that some think may be engaged in nuclear weapons development: Suicide bombing at Pakistan arms complex kills 59.

WAH, Pakistan - Twin Taliban suicide bombings at Pakistan’s largest weapons complex killed at least 59 people Thursday, heightening the turmoil following Pervez Musharraf’s ouster as president.

The bombers struck two different gates of the government weapons complex just as workers were leaving. The complex, comprising 12 factories, is located in Wah, a garrison city 20 miles west of the capital, Islamabad.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said the perimeter is guarded by a dedicated paramilitary force. Experts have suggested that facilities related to Pakistan’s secretive nuclear weapons program are located in the Wah area, possibly including a uranium enrichment plant. Abbas insisted the complex attacked on Thursday was producing only conventional weapons.

And just to make things even more interesting, the Islamist ruling coalition that drove Pervez Musharraf out of power is now collapsing.

The ruling coalition, made up of traditional rivals who were united primarily in their determination to force Musharraf from office, meanwhile appeared to be veering toward collapse. The two main parties have been unable to bridge key differences such as whether judges fired by Musharraf should be quickly reinstated and who should succeed him as president.

Pakistanis have urged the civilian government to stop bickering and turn quickly to tackling the country’s problems from an economic downturn to extremist violence in the volatile northwest, where fighting between security forces and Islamic militants has escalated in recent weeks.

For one short week, the city of Denver will have the best-coiffed homeless population in America: Denver’s homeless get free haircuts to look good for Obama and his Democrats.

According to Rick Sallinger of the CBS TV station, Denver Human Services has been handing out coupons for free homeless haircuts.

The idea was to make the homeless feel better about themselves. And maybe then they’d get jobs or something.

Rusty Johnson told Rick he hadn’t had a haircut in three or four months and, frankly, didn’t much care about the Democrats caring about his appearance. “I just want to look good and feel good for myself,” he said.

Imagine the mental anguish suffered by Sasquatch devotees worldwide, as the latest Bigfoot carcass turns out to be a cheap rubber gorilla suit.

(AP) Turns out Bigfoot was just a rubber suit.

Two researchers on a quest to prove the existence of Bigfoot say that the carcass encased in a block of ice - handed over to them for an undisclosed sum by two men who claimed to have found it - was slowly thawed out, and discovered to be a rubber gorilla outfit.

The revelation comes just days after a much ballyhooed news conference was held in California to proclaim that the remains of the creature found in the North Georgia mountains was the legendary man-ape.

Steve Kulls, executive director of squatchdetective.com and host of Squatchdetective Radio, says in a posting on a Web site run by Bigfoot researcher Tom Biscardi that as the “evidence” was thawed, the claim began to unravel as a giant hoax.

First, the hair sample was burned and “melted into a ball uncharacteristic of hair,” Kulls said in the posting. The thawing process was sped up and the exposed head was found to be “unusually hollow in one small section.” An hour of thawing later and the feet were exposed - and they were found to be made of rubber.

A dead giveaway.

by Mike S. Adams
Townhall.com

So this lesbian goes walking into a counselor’s office to get help with her same-sexed relationship. Actually, it sounds like the start of a really bad joke but it isn’t. The counselor’s name is Marcia Walden. In addition to being a counselor she is a devout Christian who believes it is immoral to engage in same-sex relationships. So she faced a tough decision when Jane, her prospective client, sought help resolving problems in her lesbian relationship.

Rather than misleading her, Marcia decided to tell Jane about her religious conflict, indicating that it would be unfair for her (Jane) if she were to serve as her counselor. But she remained helpful and offered to refer Jane to another counselor named Ken Cook.

Jane met with Mr. Cook just ten minutes later and even acknowledged that her counseling experience was “exemplary.” Mr. Cook told Marcia she had done the “right thing” by making the referral. For awhile everyone seemed happy, if not gay.

But later in the day Jane was feeling angry. So she called Ms. Walden’s supervisor Mr. Hughes and complained that she refused to counsel her due to “homophobia.” Hughes contacted Ms. Walden to tell her of the complaint about which he was “very concerned.”

Later, Ms. Walden was subjected to an interrogation about her religious beliefs. There were several supervisors there including Mr. Hughes who told her that if she ever found herself in a similar situation she should simply make up an excuse (read: lie) instead of telling the truth about her religious beliefs. Of course, Ms. Walden also stated that lying was against her religious beliefs.

After Mr. Hughes was unable to convince Ms. Walden to lie to prospective clients an employee relations specialist named Jacqueline Byrum implied that Walden should not discuss her religious objections to homosexuality. Instead, she should just tell the prospective homosexual client that she was not experienced with relationship counseling. Walden again reiterated her religious objections to intentionally misleading prospective clients.

On August 30, 2007, Christie Zerbe, a Center for Disease Control employee, sent an email demanding Ms. Walden’s removal solely because she referred Jane to another counselor. Without the benefit of any effort to accommodate her religious beliefs and practices, Walden’s employment was terminated.

----- SCHOOL -- 195
7 vs.. 2007

Scenario: 
Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.
1957 
- Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2007 
- School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to 
jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for 
traumatized students and teachers.  

Scenario: 
 Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.
1957 
- Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2007 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it. 
 

Scenario: 
 Jeffrey won't be still in class, disrupts other students.
1957 
- Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2007 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability. 
 

Scenario: 
Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2007 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse.  Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang.  State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison.  Billy's mom has affair with psychologist. 
 

Scenario: 
Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1957 - Mark shares aspirin with Principal out on the smoking dock.
2007 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.  

Scenario:
Pedro fails high school English.
1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.
2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher.   English banned from core curriculum.  Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English..  

Scenario: 
Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.
1957 - Ants die.
2007- BATF, Homeland Security, FBI calle d. Johnny charged with  domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again. 

Scenario: 
Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary.  Mary hugs him to comfort him.
1957 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison.  Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.