For Newt Gingrich, there are so many battles and so little time. With 2012 in his sights, Gingrich has become a one-man GOP band, trumpeting god, guns and the resignation of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

In his most recent "Newt Gingrich Letter," the former House Speaker, who knows from resignations, demanded the resignation of current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He wrote in "Why Pelosi Should Step Down" that, "The case against Nancy Pelosi remaining Speaker of the House is as simple as it is devastating:

The piece's subtitles tell the story:

"From a Question of Memory to a Question of Criminality"

"Pelosi on the CIA: 'They Mislead Us All The Time'

"Why Did Pelosi Escalate the Controversy into a Full Scale War With the CIA?"

"If Pelosi Consented to Waterboarding in 2002, the Bush Policy Is Vindicated"

"Speaker Pelosi Has Made America Less Safe"

A Larry Ross Communications, a reliable Christian conservative public relations outfit, has worked hard to salvage Prejean's reputation

Earlier today, after reviewing additional materials - more racy photos of Miss California Carrie Prejean - Donald Trump, the owner of the Miss USA pageant, announced that "Carrie will remain Miss California." At his press conference, Trump said "We've really studied these photos. We've made a determination that everything we've seen to date that she's done -- some were very beautiful, some were risqué -- the pictures taken were acceptable, were fine, and in some cases were lovely pictures."

However you view the Carrie Prejean Affair, recognize that not only was Trump's decision a victory for Prejean - she may now continue her ascent as a Christian Right icon -- it was also a victory for A Larry Ross Communications.

After all, it was Ross' public relations team that helped guide Prejean through all the "revolting developments" (to borrow a catch phrase from the late William Bendix's character Chester A. Riley on the 1950s television program "The Life of Riley") that have ensued since that fateful night she proclaimed her opposition to same-sex marriage.

Carrie the Model has already eaten up a lot more than her fifteen minutes

In what some like to think of as "post-culture war" America, consider the case of Carrie Prejean. Responding to a question about same-sex marriage asked by Perez Hilton, a pageant judge and celebrity gossip uber-blogger, on April 19, during the nationally televised Miss USA pageant -- Prejean said:  

"Well I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. And you know what, in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised and that's how I think it should be between a man and a woman. Thank you very much."

An overheated Hilton quickly posted a video blog in which he called Ms. Prejean a "dumb bitch." Prejean, obviously disappointed about finishing in second place, maintained - during a series of talk show appearances -- that it was possible that her failure to win was the result of her stance against same-sex marriage.

And that's when the fun began!

Experience has taught Rick Warren that he can get away with holding up Hitler youth, to his church members, as a model of dedication to a cause. But, Warren may just have gone too far, because nobody likes a liar. As Larry King declared on Larry King Live, "No matter what you think of Rick Warren, he's an extraordinary guy." Warren is indeed extra-ordinary, because ordinary Christian sensibility-as defined by the Ten Commandments that have helped shape Judaism and it's daughter religions, Christianity and Islam-would commonly hold that it's at the very least unseemly to lie. Rick Warren appears to be under the impression that it's possible in this day and age to be filmed espousing one position, then declare on national television, that he had never done anything of the sort. And, why might Rick Warren think so ? Well, John Hagee got away with as much - though Hagee was careful in his statements to avoid, in strict terms, technically lying. Activists such as Pam Spaulding are rightfully holding Rick Warren's big anti-gay ego to the fire for one of the few things that might just knock the mega-evangelist off his global perch.

More than you, or Rachel Maddow (who I adore), might ever want to know about the upcoming 'Tea Parties'

In December of 1773, colonists in Boston - then a town in the British colony of Massachusetts - protested against the British government after officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain.

The protesters boarded the ships and tossed the tea into Boston Harbor. The action became a signature event of the nascent American Revolution.

Now, more than 235 years later, a number of conservative organizations are resuscitating the "tea-party" concept. On Apr. 15, Tax Day in the U.S., organizers are hoping that thousands of people will turn out in cities across the country to protest the Obama administration's "wasteful spending".

Now, more than 235 years later, a number of conservative organizations are resuscitating the "tea-party" concept. On Apr. 15, Tax Day in the U.S., organizers are hoping that thousands of people will turn out in hundreds of cities across the country to protest the Obama administration's "wasteful spending".

Desperate to turn their flagging political fortunes around and aiming to take advantage of the public's anger over government bailouts, the bonuses handed out to executives at American International Group (AIG), etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, a number of longtime Republican Party operatives, religious right groups, a 25-year-old free market advocacy group, and a newly formed coalition of previously unknown groups have been organizing "Tea Parties."

Will these 'Tea Parties' draw crowds? You betcha! Has the always-opportunist Newt Gingrich and the ever-alert Fox News Channel jumped on board? For sure! Is it worthy of Rachel's ridicule? Why not!

Is it worth paying attention to? Stay tuned!

Here's a few things you should know about the whole 'Tea Party' thing.

Despite recent victories for same-sex marriage in Iowa (the State Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex marriage) and Vermont (lawmakers overriding the Governor's veto of same-sex marriage legislation), things are not going all that well in Hawaii. In late March, I received a note from a longtime Christian right- and cult-watching friend living in the Aloha state, who aired out his thoughts about why he civil-unions bill -- HB444 - had recently hit the wall in the state's legislature.

The bill "passed the Hawaii House and word was that there were enough votes in the Hawaii Senate for it to pass with a veto-proof "supermajority" of 18 votes," my friend wrote. "Unfortunately, it had to pass through the Hawaii Senate Judiciary and Government Operations Committee, and a 3 to 3 tie vote in the Committee prevented the bill from being reported out." Mike Gabbard, a Democrat, was one of two Democrats who helped put the kybosh on the bill.  

Gabbard has long been a supporter of anti-gay and anti-abortion initiatives, so perhaps his vote wasn't much of a surprise. Why then, in August 2007, after being elected to the state Senate as a Republican, did Gabbard switch to the Democratic Party? And why did Democrats embrace him?

While Rick Warren's recent remarks and decisions in Iowa and Vermont signal a momentum shift on same-sex marriage, the antis are reloading

In the world of sports, there's lots of talk about the "Big Mo."; as in "momentum." Sometimes having what seems like the "Big Mo" pans out: Take this year's Connecticut women's basketball team for example. Undefeated and dominant during the regular season, coming into the recent NCAA Tournament the Huskies appeared to have a lock on the championship. And, they won it handily, practically dismantling every team it played.

Sometimes the "Big Mo" shifts on a dime: In 2004, the New York Yankees had basically humiliated the Boston Red Sox in the first three games of the American League Championship Series; "Big Mo," had clearly taken up residence in the Yankee dugout. Not so fast, sparky! "Big Mo" pulled a switcheroo. The Red Sox went on to win four games in a row and then took "Big Mo" along with them as they swept the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series.

These days, with the decision of the Iowa Supreme Court, and the Vermont legislature's  override of the Governor's veto, same-sex marriage has picked up a little bit of steam and picked up a little bit of speed and ... well ... it now has the "Mo."

I'm not sure if it's the "Big Mo" or the "Little Mo," but it definitely is the "Mo."    

The heir to the Home Savings Bank fortune and the longtime donor to conservative think tanks, causes and candidates dumps the Republican Party

I have three jokes in my comic arsenal. The one I tell the most often -- in adult company only -- goes like this:

On July 21, 1969, Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin of Apollo 11 explored the surface of the moon. Armstrong, the first to set foot on the moon said: "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."

Years later, a savvy technician discovered that Armstrong had mumbled "good luck Kowalsky" under his breath. When finally asked about those words, Armstrong reluctantly said that when he was growing up in Wapakoneta, Ohio, he lived next door to the Kowalskys. According to Armstrong, the couple fought all the time.

One day, he was passing by their window and he heard Mrs. Kowalsky screaming at her husband. 'Oral sex?,' she yelled. 'You'll get oral sex when the kid next door walks on the moon!'

An updated punchline might have been: "Oral sex? You'll get oral sex when Howard Ahmanson becomes a Democrat."

This is surely Kowalsky's lucky day!  
   

With his new group, Renewing American Leadership, and his endorsement of Tax Day Tea Parties, the former House Speaker aims to unite religious and economic conservatives

Of all the possible political enterprises you'd expect to find the ubiquitous Newt Gingrich involved with, an effort aimed at uniting religious and economic conservatives would not immediately come to mind. "Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less." Sure. A health care reform plan advocating medical savings accounts? Absolutely. Privatizing Social Security? Definitely. Now with his eyes apparently firmly planted on the 2012 presidential sweepstakes, and sensing a definite opening, the smart and snarky former House Speaker -- who led the 1994 Republican Revolution that took control of the House for the first time in decades, and then later was forced to resign -- has formed an organization called Renewing American Leadership, which aims to breach the gap between conservative factions.

Dan Gilgoff recently reported in U.S. News & World Report that "At a time when many religious conservatives say the Republican Party is ignoring their issues and taking their support for granted, former House speaker and GOP idea man Newt Gingrich is turning his attention to the concerns of conservative Christians like never before."

On October 25, 2008, I attended a presentation given by Christian nationalist history revisionist David Barton. After his presentation, I approached him and gave him a copy of my book, Liars For Jesus: The Religious Right's Alternate Version of American History, a book debunking many of his lies, as well as those of a number of his fellow revisionists.

On January 16, 2009, I became the subject of a segment on Barton's WallBuilders LIVE! radio show, in which he lied about me, my book, and our encounter at his presentation.

Rather than just write about the lies Barton told about me on his show, I decided to make a little video with iMovie, something I've never tried to do before. I ended up getting a bit carried away, making a video that's over an hour long, but once I got started, I wanted to address not just the lies Barton told about me on his show, but also the lies he told in the presentation I attended in October.

While it won't gather headlines comparable to Michael Jackson's comeback, Pastor John Hagee, the San Antonio, Texas-based conservative evangelical pastor with the multimillion dollar media ministry, is heading to Washington, D.C. to set `our newly elected leaders' straight about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict

It may not be as fascinating, macabre or downright titillating as Michael Jackson's upcoming comeback tour, nor as carefully crafted, and all-consuming, as Richard Nixon's efforts to rehab his image with the public, nevertheless Pastor John Hagee's upcoming sojourn to the nation's capital is geared toward drawing crowds and headlines as well as providing a redemptive opportunity of a sort. While Jackson will be trying to moon-walk his way back into the hearts of his fans, Hagee's comeback revolves around re-stating his support for Israel while at the same time hoping that the mainstream media has forgotten about his outrageous remarks stating that God sent Hitler as a way of expediting the return of the Jews to Israel.  

And in the hopes of creating a theatrical moment, Hagee, who presides over the 19,000-member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas (http://www.sacornerstone.com/), is the chief executive officer of the non-profit corporation, Global Evangelism Television (GETV), the president of John Hagee Ministries (http://www.jhm.org/ME2/Default.asp), and is a best-selling author, plans to deliver something called "The Israel Pledge"  "to our newly elected leaders in Washington, D.C." when he arrives in the nation's capital next week.  

Three of the top Apocalypse-watchers of the Christian Right have big love for Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu.

In early April of last year, at a conference in Jerusalem of American evangelicals organized by Pastor John Hagee, Benjamin Netanyahu told the audience that Israel had no better friends than America's Christian Zionists. "This is a friendship of the heart, a friendship of common roots, and a friendship of common civilization," Netanyahu said.

Now, nearly a year later, with Netanyahu cobbling together a ruling coalition in Israel, three men of the US Christian Right, Pastor John Hagee, Michael D. Evans, and Joel C. Rosenberg--all of whom have had long-term associations with the prime minister-to-be--may feel like they're about to be handed the keys to the Promised Land.

All three have had bestselling books related to the Middle East and apocalyptic theology, have raised significant amounts of money for Israeli charities (although how much of that money reaches the poor and needy has been questioned), lobbied heavily in support of policies advanced by Israel's right wing, and opposed The Road Map to Peace. To one degree or another, they are all leaders in the broad movement known as Christian Zionism, now estimated to be about 40 million strong.

You can read the complete story at Religion Dispatches -- http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/religiousright/1204/jer usalem_countdown%3A_christian_zionists_and_the_new_israeli_govern ment/