Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) is offended that President Barack Obama quoted scripture to make the case for a fairer tax policy.

“It’s a religious belief to me that homosexuality flies in the face of biblical teachings,” Hatch, who is Mormon, told The Salt Lake Tribune in 1999.

(Source: RawStory.com)

Every four years, as another US presidential election comes around, along comes a new batch of candidates with dodgy foreign policy credentials. Their blunders have inspired endless jokes, but they also discredit America in the eyes of the world.

RT’s correspondent Marina Portnaya reports on just how far this ignorance can spread, and what can be done to curb its tragic outcomes.

(Source: RT.com)

Coming off his big win in Florida last night, GOP front-runner Mitt Romney told CNN this morning that helping the poor is not his priority, suggesting that Democrats worry enough about the “plight of the poor.”

“The challenge right now — we will hear from the Democrat party the plight of the poor. And there’s no question it’s not good being poor. And we have a safety net to help those that are very poor, but campaign is focused is on middle-income Americans. My campaign — you can choose where to focus. You can focus on the rich, that’s not my focus. You can focus on the very poor, that’s not my focus.”

(Source; ThinkProgress.org and CNN)

Today on Washington Watch Weekly with Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) laced into President Obama and claimed that Obamacare (healthcare for all) ( that will create “a culture of death.”

Rep. Smith described the legally voted upon Obamacare as coercive: “They are very coercive in this administration, there is nothing benign or ‘come along and let us try to convince you,’ they tell you under power of huge penalties, and that is what ObamaCare is all about, it is riddled with penalties, everyone knows about the one if you don’t buy health insurance you can get fined. But when it comes to the moral issues, they seek to remake America as the culture of death.”

(Source: FRC and RightWingWatch.com)

At a campaign stop in Florida today, Newt Gingrich said that if he wins the GOP nomination, he will refuse to debate President Obama if a reporter serves as moderator. Gingrich has prided himself on his debating prowess and his intellect, and virtually every presidential debate is moderated by members of the press, but Gingrich thinks all reporters are secretly Obama shills and he is apparently uncomfortable dealing with them: “As your nominee in the fall, I will not accept debates in which reporters are the moderates, because I will not accept another Obama person in the debate.”

(Source: ThinkProgress.org)

Former Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann on Sunday defended the tea party movement, regardless of its often racist tone and racist signs, saying that it had “been only a force for good.”

“Not at all!” Bachmann replied. “The tea party has been only a force for good in Washington, D.C., because otherwise we continue to go farther and farther to the left, which is redistribution of wealth. That’s why [President Barack Obama] will be a one-termer, because all he has been about is redistribution of wealth and the rise of socialist principles, and the Tea Party rejects that.”

(Source: RawStory.com and CBS News)

Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council — a hate group, according the the Southern Poverty Law Center — took to the radio to denounce Bioware’s Star Wars: The Old Republic, a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game.

“In a new Star Wars game, the biggest threat to the empire may be homosexual activists!” Perkins announced during his daily radio commentary. “In a galaxy not so far far away, Star Wars gamers have already gone to the dark side. The new video game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, has added a special feature: gay relationships.”

“That surprised a lot of gamers, since Bioware had made it clear in 2009 that ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian’ don’t exist in the Star Wars universe. Since the announcement, homosexuals have been celebrating the news, but parents sure aren’t.”

He continued: “On the game’s website, there are more than 300 pages of comments–a lot of them expressing anger that their kids will be exposed to this Star Warped way of thinking. You can join them by logging on and speaking up. It’s time to show companies who the Force is really with!”

In a statement on their website, Bioware explained that same sex relationships were not yet possible in the game.

“Same gender romances with companion characters in Star Wars: The Old Republic will be a post-launch feature,” the company wrote. “Because The Old Republic is an MMO, the game will live on through content expansions which allow us to include content and features that could not be included at launch, including the addition of more companion characters who will have additional romance options.”

A quick search of Bioware’s forum shows that there are probably not “300 pages of comments” on the topic — and very few if any of the commenters were “angry” about the idea. In fact, most players were more concerned that the featured had not already been released.

(Source: RawStory.com and FRC))

At last night’s CNN presidential debate in Jacksonville, Florida, the GOP candidates told an unemployed woman,  Lynn Frazier, who could not afford health insurance that she should simply buy health insurance via a tax deduction.

Under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) which the Republicans would repeal, Frazier may qualify for temporary insurance in the state’s high-risk pool, which already provides coverage for 3,285 Floridians who can’t find affordable coverage elsewhere. In two years, she’ll be able to pick out a health policy through the state’s Exchange. All private insurers will offer a comprehensive basic set of benefits and allow consumers like Frazier to compare and contrast different plans to find the coverage that works best for them and their family. Insurers won’t be able to deny insurance based on past illness or rescind coverage unexpectedly, as they often do in today’s health market, and Frazier will pay a “community” rate and may even qualify for tax credits to help her afford her premiums and out of pocket cost-sharing expenses.

(Source: CNN and ThinkProgress.org)

On January 26, 2012, speaking on his radio show on KKLA-FM, Christian radio host Frank Pastore took a  phone call from a 28-year-old virgin using the synonym of “Mary” who wanted to know if masturbation was a sin.”

Pastore responded with “of course it’s a sin.”  His recommendation to avoid sinning was having people get married in their teens, as he did.

His guest Joshua Moore from abstinence organization ‘Reality Check LA’ said that pornography and masturbation were the “same thing.”

Joanna Hyatt, also from ‘Reality Check LA’, claimed that solo masturbation “steals” from God’s plan of sex. 

None of the three could name one verse in the bible, which actually calls masturbation a sin, but instead pointed to Matthew 5:28 in the bible where Jesus says “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart,” which does not mention the act of masturbation.

Joanna Hyatt and Joshua Moore also talked about all the diseases that can come from oral sex via the HPV virus, but did not mention the HPV vaccination that young girls can take for the HPV virus, which guards against the major strands. This vaccination is recommended by the CDC.

(Source: KKLA-FM)

On January 20, 2012, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that most employers will be required to cover contraception in their health plans, along with other preventive services, with no cost-sharing such as co-pays or deductibles.

Houses of worship and other religious nonprofits that primarily employ and serve people of the same faith will be exempt. Religiously-affiliated employers who do not qualify for the exemption and are not currently offering contraceptive coverage may apply for transitional relief for a one-year period to give them time to determine how to comply with the rule. Twenty-eight states already require employers, including most religiously affiliated institutions, to cover contraception in their health plans. The only change is that now they must cover the full cost.

However, CitizenLink.com, the political/news arm of Focus on the Family, spokeswoman Carrie Gordon Earll claimed this ruling will “force religious employers to violate their faith” even though there is no actual bible verse that forbids contraception. Earll also said that the plan would cover “FDA drugs that can cause abortions,” but failed to name exactly which drugs do this.

Earll then claimed that “this is one of the first times, that I can think of, that government was mandating what people of faith can and can’t do in their own entities, in their own organizations as far as their faith.”

Earll apparently believes that “faith” can cover any belief whatsoever, regardless of lack of biblical basis, no matter how illogical, as long as an organization says so.

(Source: Focus on the Family and ThinkProgress.org)

After pointing her finger in President Obama’s face, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer later claimed that she “felt a little bit threatened, if you will, in the attitude that he had.”

(Source: Mediaite.com)

In late 2010, Arizona launched an investigation into Bank of America, alleging that the bank misled homeowners who were seeking mortgage modifications. Arizona’s attorney general claims that Bank of America “repeatedly has deceived” borrowers looking to lower their monthly payments.

According to BusinessWeek, Bank of America is fighting back by giving loan modifications to borrowers who have made complaints. The catch is that, in return for the modification, the borrower must agree to stay silent and expunge any previous criticisms of the bank from his or her public record:

Bank of America Corp. is impeding an investigation of its loan modification practices by negotiating settlements with borrowers who must agree to keep them secret and not criticize the bank in exchange for cash payments and loan relief, Arizona officials say.

One 2011 accord involving a borrower facing foreclosure who defaulted on a $253,142 mortgage included a $5,000 payment, plus $7,500 for legal fees, and the defaulted payments were waived and the loan was modified to a 40-year term with a 2 percent interest rate, court documents show. The terms of the original loan and the borrower’s complaint about the lender weren’t described in the documents.

The borrower “will remove and delete any online statements regarding this dispute, including, without limitation, postings on Facebook, Twitter and similar websites,” and not make any statements “that defame, disparage or in any way criticize” the bank’s reputation, practices or conduct, according to documents filed in state court in Phoenix.

This isn’t the first time that Bank of America has been accused of obstructing an investigation into its mortgage practices. Back in June of 2011, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s inspector general claimed that the bank was blocking access to employees and data in order to slow down an investigation into its alleged misdeeds. “Our review was significantly hindered by Bank of America’s reluctance to allow us to interview employees or provide data and information in a timely manner,” said HUD’s William Nixon.

Now, if the Arizona officials’ claims are true, Bank of America has gone from obstruction to explicit payoffs in order to keep its mortgage mess under wraps.

(Source: ThinkProgress.org)