Just one point here, Peter LaBarbera's supposed "posting on a gay message board" seemed awfully fishy to me. I'm certainly no expert as I don't visit gay message boards but something about the way it was written seemed really off to me. It read more like a fundamentalist homophobic Christian's purile fantasy about what gross thing might be posted on a gay message board.

I guess there's no way of checking out if this thing's for real, but once, just ONCE, I'd like someone in the media to ask these people to verify the crap they throw out there, instead of just accepting it as fact. I mean, it's not like we haven't proved time and again in the past that these folks are liars.

I've read lots of MSM coverage of this conference, including in the NYT and Washington Post, as well as Salon. Did any reporter approach LaBarbera after he spoke about this supposed message board item? Did anyone ask him where he found it? The name of the website, maybe?

I've got a pretty good nose for bullshit and this stinks.

Anyone besides me wondering why Joel Kaplan's face looks a little familiar? It seems he was one of those phony Brooks Brothers "rioters" shouting and beating their fists to try to stop the Florida recount.

TPM has the goods:

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000416.php

... Katherine Harris has been up to. Apparently she channeled Mrs. Robinson while meeting with a young college newspaper reporter and unfortunately, someone was there snapping pictures:

http://www.majorityreportradio.com/weblog/archives/003989.php

Josh Marshall has unearthed some interesting info about the ministries' Pastor Sandra: She apparently has "an inspiring testimony of her deliverance from being sold to devils as an infant. She also shares her miraculous healing from her breast cancer as well as being raised from the dead. The Ministries' Pastor Lourdes also brought someone back from the dead."

Why on earth is Katherine Harris giving money to these wackjobs?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/008272.php

.. so I had the sincere pleasure of calling his office today to tell him I'd prefer he'd focus on the couple hundred thousands Tennesseans without health care thanks to the insolvency of our state medicaid program. I also told them that continuing to follow this idiot president will only lead Lamar off a cliff, and that they might want to know about THIS:

From Kevin Phillips "American Dynasty," as reproduced on tbogg:

"When visiting cities like Chicago, Milwaukee, or Philadelphia, in pivotal states, [Bush] would drop in at Hispanic festivals and parties, sometimes joining in singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" in Spanish, sometimes partying with a "Viva Bush" mariachi band flown in from Texas."

http://tbogg.blogspot.com/2004/01/case-in-point-over-week-ago-i.html

Oh, the horror.

On a national stage, then yes it should be sung in English

Then someone should tell the Bushes and Cheneys, who seemed to enjoy hearing Jon Secada sing it in Spanish at the first inaugural (ThinkProgress has the goods on that one.)

Why is this an issue now? I'll tell you why: because the GOP is desperately trying to pander to its dwindling base of rednecks who are still pissed off about the Dubai Ports deal.

... be it by Evangelical Christians hawking their brand of faith OR corporate America hawking their products at me. At this stage of the game, they are one and the same.

I don't care if an athlete is religious or not, but it is offensive to sports fans AND the faith to use pro athletes as an evangelism tool. Faith isn't meant to be branded, packaged and marketed like so much laundry detergent. I have a word of caution for Seattle defensive back Michael Boulware: you are not "advancing the kingdom" by broadcasting your faith on the playing field, you are just spreading your religion. "The kingdom" is bigger than that. If you want to "advance the kingdom" then I suggest you follow in Jesus' footsteps and work on behalf of the poor, the marginalized members of society, and the pirsoners and the sick.

It's awfully easy for privileged players like Michael Boulware to talk about "advancing the kingdom" when they are earning their multimillion-dollar pro sports salaries, but ultimately it means very little.

Jeb Bush? Really? The SAME Jeb Bush who signed the PNAC Statement of Principles in 1997? (and he's the only Bush to do so). THIS Jeb Bush:

http://www.newamericancentury.org/statementofprinciples.htm

The "architect" of Iraq Jeb Bush? Okay, um, well, good luck with that ...

And true! I finally learned to put a towel between my thighs and my iBook. No thanks to Apple, though: they sort of let users figure this stuff out for themselves. If Macdonald's can be sued over a hot cup of coffee, Apple had better watch out over its laptops.

"Relax" misses the point completely. It's not that the government is interested in making sure women get their daily folic acid requirement... it's that the government is only interested in women's health insofar as it affects their reproductive capacity.

Got that?

So women's health is only important as long as they can breed.

We're breeders. Great. OK, if that's the case, then I expect the government to pay for my vitamins. And my health club membership so I can "maintain a healthy weight."

And oh yeah, if I'm gonna conceive, I'm gonna to need to manage stress. So that means I want a 90-minute massage once a week. And yoga classes would help too.

Also, a housekeeper, so I don't have to do all that nasty, stressful, housework that interferes with my ovulation. Also, the two brats I already have screaming at my ankles really interfere with my desire to reproduce. So the government should do something about them, too. Maybe put them in private school for me, so I have more "me" time to focus on my health, well-being and fertility.

So, whaddya say, Duhbya? Is that on the gummint's Handmaid's plan?

I didn't think so.