Michael Peroutka's introduction at the 2012 League of the South conference was given a hearty cheer by the audience. The loudest applause came when he was described as "honored" by his inclusion as a "hater" in the Southern Poverty Law Center's Hatewatch, along with his pastor, League of the South Chaplain David Whitney. (Video after jump.) Peroutka and Whitney are running for office in Anne Arundel County Maryland, one as a Republican and one as a Democrat, as revealed by Frederick Clarkson in articles at Political Research Associates and at Talk2action. Talk2action contributor Jonathan Hutson tweeted links to the articles and a reference to SPLC's mapping of 15 hate groups in Maryland, including the League of the South.  In response he received tweets, also directed to the SPLC, from a member of the Ohio Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV).  One read "Kill the Jews" and another called for the SPLC to "return to their Israeli homes."

I recently published a story about a neo-Confederate theocrat in Democrat's clothing running for office in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. He is also running in the June 24th primary for the county Democratic Party Central Committee.  In my story, I detailed how Pastor David Whitney is a dyed in the wool theocrat who has a history with the theocratic Constitution Party and with its 2004 presidential candidate, Michael Peroutka. Peroutka and Whitney are running as an odd couple ticket for the District 5 seat on the County Council. Whitney is running for the Democratic nomination, and Peroutka is running for the GOP nomination. (Peroutka is also running for the GOP County Central Committee.)

But in a blog post based on his sermon at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church, in Pasadena, MD on Sunday he denounced, but didn't deny my story. Let's examine what he said.

Pardon me for engaging in some blatant self-promotion, but I wanted to let members and friends of Americans United know that my new book, Taking Liberties: Why Religious Freedom Doesn't Give You The Right To Tell Other People What To Do, is being released today.

Two issues inspired me to write this book: the controversy over the contraceptive mandate of the Affordable Care Act and the spread of legal same-sex marriage in the states. 

This is crossposted from the Eyes Right blog at Political Research Associates.  Readers will also want to see the article by Adele Stan at RH Reality Check which highlighted the views of Pastor David Whitney regarding the "justifiable homicide" of abortion providers. -- FC

There was a quietly dramatic moment on February 24th in Glen Burnie, Maryland. Two former leaders of the theocratic Constitution Party (CP) declared their intention to run in the June 24th primary election--as a Democrat and a Republican. The pair are running, respectively, for seats on the Democratic and Republican Party county central committees, as well as for the Anne Arundel County Council. (The county is part of the greater Washington, DC and Baltimore metropolitan area.)

While changing political parties is not an uncommon thing in today's political world, what makes the actions of these men extraordinary and of national significance is who they are, their obvious coordination, and their personal histories and political vision.

You might have read over the weekend about a law passed by the Arizona legislature that would allow the owners of stores and secular businesses to refuse to serve certain customers if they deem that doing so would offend their religious beliefs.

The measure, SB 1062, is getting quite a lot of attention. All eyes are on Gov. Jan Brewer, who hasn't yet said if she'll sign the bill into law. Brewer has indicated that she'll act this week.

When pundit Kirsten Powers published an op-ed in USA Today arguing that the recent effort in Kansas to allow businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ people, is an update of Jim Crow -- the Christian Right Twitterverse went wild.

While each such episode commands a lot of attention, it is part of a larger story of a deep and probably lasting social and political change in the U.S. -- one that one way or another will shape the public lives of everyone reading these words. This may seem like a bold thing to say -- something that has not been validated by the punditocracy -- but give it time.

Over the past year, Rachel Tabachnick and I have written a great deal about the Neo-Confederate elements of the Religious Right. I have focused upon Catholic Neo-Confederates Thomas DiLorenzo and especially Thomas E. Woods, Jr. They claim that without an individual state's right to secede or at least nullify locally unpopular federal laws and judicial rulings, tyranny reigns.  History not withstanding, they say that secession and nullification are necessary for the expansion of freedom.

I have argued that if Woods' ideas were to prevail, the only freedom that would be expanded would be the freedom to oppress. That freedom to oppress has inglorious roots and those roots have a name that has faded into the fog of history. Its name is Mudsill.

Dan Patrick is a Houston area state Senator who is running for Lieutenant Governor of Texas.  Dan is a big player in the State's Religious Right/Tea Party connection.  He attends church with Ted Cruz.  The common fellowship, Second Baptist in Houston, is deeply entrenched in state politics with members who led the state GOP.  The church landed in court accused of electioneering in violation of tax exempt status.  Patrick, once a local sportscaster, has a large following and tends to win his elections without much opposition.

Frank Taaffe has repeatedly been given a platform on network and cable news shows in defense of George Zimmerman, Michael Dunn, and Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law. This includes an appearance as recently as last week on HLN's Nancy Grace Show's coverage of the trial of Michael Dunn, the "loud music" shooting that resulted in the death of Jordan Davis.  When Taaffe's not playing the role of analyst on television, he doubles as co-host of a white supremacist broadcast with the name "Standing Our Ground." I posted an audio clip earlier today at Political Research Associates of Taaffe talking about who qualifies to be called "nigger."  I've also posted a slightly longer version of this raw exchange below in order to document the fact that major network and cable news programs have helped to provide a media platform to a white supremacist. In the discussion of the Stand Your Ground laws of Florida and other states, it is imperative that we acknowledge the role of the mainstreaming of racist ideology in media.

[Update: The "Standing Our Ground" audio excerpt below is from the October 3, 2013 podcast.]

Crossposted from Eyes Right, the blog of Political Research Associates

Gregory M. Aymond, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of New Orleans, has declared economic war on anyone who participates in the construction of a new regional Planned Parenthood facility in New Orleans.

Yet another Catholic prelate denouncing an abortion provider might seem to some like a small, if dramatic, moment in the so-called culture war--but I think this incident may be a bellwether.

The archdiocesan newspaper Clarion Herald front-paged Aymond's open letter, in which he declared that the Archdiocese and its related institutions will not do business with anyone, Catholic or non-Catholic, "involved in the acquisition, preparation and construction of this facility." Aymond makes clear that even in the era of Pope Francis, the theocratic impulses that drive the so-called culture war are undiminished. "The archdiocese, including its churches, schools, apartments for the elderly and nursing homes," he decreed, "will strive in its privately funded work not to enter into business relationships with any person or organization."

Now that the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has delivered its report condemning the Vatican for aiding, abetting & covering up the Church's sexual abuse scandal, WWPFD (What Will Pope Francis Do)?

Since Pope Francis (formerly Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina) took dominion over the Holy See, there has been much speculation about which direction he might move the Catholic Church; how he was going to modernize and make the Church more accessible to more people.

Liberals have lauded him for his comments about income inequality and his openness and apparent willingness to usher in a new way of going about the business of being Pope. Some conservatives, however, have scorned him for his economic pronouncements, while maintaining that he isn't focusing enough on such culture war issues as birth control, homosexuality, and abortion.

With so many difficult issues to deal with, he has recently been handed a golden opportunity to deal with one of the most vexing of those issues: Child sexual abuse by Catholic priests, and its aiding and abetting and subsequent cover-up by Catholic Church officials.

The most prudent move for Pope Francis to make in this regard is to accept the recommendations of the report by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child and, at the same time, open up the Vatican archives.

Saturday, February 8, the Moral Monday's movement will surround the state capitol in Raleigh, North Carolina to protest the agenda of the Religious and business Right being rammed through the state legislature.

Building on years of work, in 2012, conservative Republicans took control of both houses of the North Carolina legislature as well as the governor's office.  The conservative coalition promptly did what one would expect -- they passed a budget that cut thousands of public school teachers and diverted funds to private school vouchers. They cut unemployment and Medicaid benefits -- and cut taxes for the wealthy.  They passed legislation aimed at suppression of minority voters and young people and reduced access to abortion services.

This is the result of a well focused strategy launched in the 1980s aimed at making policy in the states in ways that would generally not be possible in Washington, DC. Among the pieces of the strategy are two national networks of business/libertarian and Religious Right think tanks. This has been followed by an effort to take state legislatures and governorships to create at this point, 22 one-party conservative Republican states. (There are 12 Democratic one party states and the rest are mixed.) Much has been written about the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the model bills it produces on behalf of right wing and corporate interests. But of course, the truth is that model bills cannot be passed unless you control legislatures and governorships.  And here we are.

A broad coalition of resistance in North Carolina led by religious leaders, notably Reverend William Barber II, head of the state's NAACP has risen to meet this challenge.  He has led more than 30 events called Moral Mondays in the capital city of Raleigh and in others across the state.

He has now invited the rest of us to join North Carolinians on February 8th in what he hopes will be the largest moral march since Martin Luther King Jr. led civil rights marchers from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965.