They way the religious right stands up to our modern decadent secular morally relativistic culture to uphold the values of truth and decency is just…just…breathtaking.  Sorta like the way catching a whiff of an open sewer is breathtaking…

I have a whole freak’n stable full of Culture War Heroes for you today.  First, from Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters comes the usual suspects Peter LaBarbera and Matt Barber, and Laurie Higgins who doesn’t want the the little snowflakes at Deerfield High School in Michigan to read the play Angels In America.  Laurie, bless her heart, is responding to Superintendent of Schools, George Fornero’s fact sheet about the controversy anti-gay hatemongers have been stirring up in his schools over the play.  Specifically, accusations that the play is obscene, that it is homosexual pornography, that children as young as 14 years of age would be reading it, that parents were never informed that their kids would be reading it, and that students are being required to read it against their parent’s wishes.  Point by point, Fornero dispatches each of these.  Higgens, responds thusly:

• Students studying the play are second semester seniors in Advanced Placement English. (Translation: “We save the most offensive tripe for the most intelligent.”)

In other words, why no actually, only the oldest students in the school would be reading the play…not the 14 year olds.  You can see how the rest of this is going to go can’t you…

• This play has been taught to similar classes in other high schools. (Translation: “Everyone else is doing it, and we’re lemmings and conformists who cannot think for ourselves.”)
• The College Board oversees all Advanced Placement testing; the class syllabus, including all readings was approved through the Board’s audit process. (Translation: “Of all the readings offered through the College Board, we’re including the most offensive.”)
• Parents received information about Angels in America that specifically addressed the mature content and potential for offense. (Translation: “We’re using the inaccurate euphemism ‘mature’ for the more accurate term “obscene.”

…and so on and so on.  But pay attention, really pay attention, to all the ducking she’s doing there.  Fornero directly contradicts one party line after another there and Higgens responds not with facts to counter any of that, but venom.   Facts don’t matter, when you’re on a mission from God…

• Parents were asked to make an informed decision about the text their child would read. Two viable choices were presented: Angels in America and Albert Camus’ The Plague. They were also given the option of having their students read both texts. Letter to parents requested that they provide permission for their student to read the selected text(s). (Reality: Many parents have neither the time nor interest in reading the entirety of Angels in America; This teacher is much beloved by students, and teens are rebellious, therefore, even parents who don’t want their children to read Angels may feel the force of social pressure, compelling them to allow their children to read the provocative, controversial text.

In other words…why yes, as a matter of fact, parents were notified. 

• According to Lake County State’s Attorney Mike Waller, the reading and discussion of the material is not a violation of the obscenity laws, or any other laws, of the State of Illinois. (Reality: The fact that it may not technically violate obscenity laws does not mean it is not obscene.

The play is not obscene.  It is not homosexual pornography.  It is not required reading.  Only the most gifted second semester seniors would be reading it.   And parents were notified.  But never mind…we’ll just keep saying that the school required 14 year old students to read obscene homosexual pornography without parental notification.

Vis:

Deerfield High School in Deerfield, Illinois, recently assigned the pornographic book “Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes” to students as young as 14 as a required reading.  –Mike Adams, Town Hall.

And…by the way…LaBarbra’s anti-gay web site is titled, Americans For Truth.

Atrios called them zombie lies, in that no matter how many times you shoot at them they just keep going and going.  Thing is, your gay and lesbian neighbors have been seeing this behavior for a lot longer then when the Bush administration came to town.  In fact, I don’t think anyone could possibly have been less surprised by the behavior of the republicans since they took over the government then the gay community.  It’s not that facts don’t matter to them, it’s that Eric Hoffer was right when he said that propaganda doesn’t fool people, so much as allow them to fool themselves.

And speaking of TRUTH…

Recall that after Oklahoma representative Sally Kern’s anti-gay bile fest was made public, she immediately began claiming that she was getting death threats in her email…  

OSBI opens investigation into death threats against lawmaker

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is looking into death threats against a state lawmaker who told a political group that the gay agenda poses a bigger threat to the U.S. than terrorism and "is just destroying this nation," an OSBI spokeswoman said Tuesday.

…

OSBI agents met with Kern, of Oklahoma City, at the state Capitol Monday afternoon after she received thousands of e-mails and telephone calls from people reacting to her comments to a group of Republicans about gays and their lifestyle.

"I’m not gay-bashing. But according to God’s word that is not the right kind of lifestyle," Kern said in the recorded comments.

"Studies show no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted more than a few decades," she said. "It is not a lifestyle that is good for this nation."

Kern said a few of the e-mails she received supported her comments but that most condemned them and some contained death threats and obscenities.

"I hear what you said and you should be killed…," said one e-mail.

Well of course when a government official starts receiving death threats it’s a matter for the police.  But the problem with that is then the damn police will be wanting to see…you know…the Evidence…

OSBI reading Kern e-mails

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is sorting through nearly 7,000 e-mails that were sent to a state lawmaker after she said homosexuality is a bigger threat to the United States than terrorism.

Comments by Rep. Sally Kern, recorded several weeks ago but placed on the Internet site YouTube only late last week, have caused a national outcry, resulting in more than 500,000 hits on the Web site.

A fellow lawmaker contacted the OSBI on Monday and suggested that agents go through the e-mails, some of which might be threatening, OSBI spokeswoman Jessica Brown said.

Kern said Monday that she had not received death threats. On Tuesday, she said, "It’s changed," but she did not elaborate.

Brown said Tuesday, "There are a lot of e-mails to the representative that say, ‘You ought to die,’ rather than, ‘I am going to kill you.’

"I wouldn’t characterize them as death threats," she said. 

No society that embraced homosexuality ever lasted longer then a couple of decades.  Homosexuality is a bigger threat to America then terrorism.  Homosexuals are going after two year olds in our schools.   Homosexuality is a cancer on our nation that will destroy it.  I’m getting emailed death threats.  No…wait…don’t look at my goddamned inbox!!!  …hey…I didn’t really mean death threats as such…

And via Box Turtle Bulletin…we find that Focus On The Family is Still pushing the death threats story, and just never you mind that there weren’t any… 

Lawmaker Faces Death Threats over Statements on Homosexuality

Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern reportedly has received up to 7,000 e-mails and hundreds of phone calls — including death threats — since speaking out about homosexuality at a Republican event in January.

"According to God’s word, that is not the right kind of lifestyle," she told the group.

…But lying through your teeth is when it’s for God.

Truth.  Morality.  Values.  The Bible.  Jesus.  Aren’t we so blessed to have people such as these fighting for them…