Jesus Lunch, shaping young minds with sandwiches and chips.

The arguments are now bordering on lunacy. Suddenly, minors have all the sensibilities and wisdom of mature adults. And here I thought Republicans didn't think young people were smart enough to even vote. Even more amazing is the divisive and combative ugliness of self righteous Jesus freaks turning Middleton into a religious battleground for their own selfish reasons. Yea, real community minded.

Their names are missing on their website. If you really want to see where Melissa Helbach's family is coming from, check out hubby Casey Helbach's Facebook site. Islamophobia comes to mind.

So what is their Christian message? After all, people are under the impression it's all about the teachings of Jesus, no big deal. Perhaps organizer Melissa Helbach's own kid gave us the answer, via one concerned parent:

"My daughter has had classes with one of the Helbach (sp) kids. He has openly advocated for killing Muslims as the solution to global terrorism. He's spewed hateful rhetoric while touting himself as "self made". She's been upset and frustrated by his behavior."

Another parent chimed in...

Moreover after my son criticized those comments, both cars in front of our house were vandalized. By someone. Lots of Christian behavior here...

Nice group, prince of peace message, you know. 

Rules are posted and clear

These are minors under the supervision of the school district. They protect and educate our kids, like my two sons. Who are these strangers spreading the "Christian" message, which is whatever they think it is. Imagine other groups trying to influence and indoctrinate a whole school filled with curious minors. Their parents should still call the shots, not Jesus Lunch "moms."

The following video clip is a two parter. . Think they weren't looking for a fight? This video was featured at the Education Action Group Foundation, a supposed "non-partisan" right wing group making the rounds on the Fox News Channel, The Blaze, and the Fox Business Network.

The first half recorded by Melissa Helbach's husband shows the group being greeted by Middleton's Superintendent Don Johnson, who calmly shook hands with them and asked for a little conversation.  You'll hear "talk to our attorney" a number of times. The last half (3:57) features conservative radio's biggest BSer Vicki Mckenna, who fed into the religious rights manufactured hysteria with Jesus Lunch's attorney Phillip Stammen.

This poster was handed out at the last Jesus Lunch

McKenna: "They physically blocked them, is what you're saying. They actually physically tried to block them from accessing the park? 

Stammen: "Yes, yes, they put cones in the way, and then they confronted them when they walked up, and they wanted to repeatedly keep talking to them..."

Heaven forbid we keep talking...needless to say, the superintend did little to block their efforts.

Just a note, I'm a Lutheran. One of my sons has already been confirmed, and the other is currently taking classes. We're just like any other liberal progressive church going family. McKenna, like all Republicans, have to paint a different picture to make the following hate filled comment work:

McKenna: "What the left needs to do is make believers bigots. They need to turn Christians into monsters, and they need to kill off God."

If you were wondering where the Freedom from Religion Foundation has been, well, their waiting in the wings....here's the last part of their letter to the school district:

You can keep up to date on all this at the Facebook site, All Middleton Students Deserve Respect.

The Pope vs the Republican Pharisees.

Pope Francis is turning out to be way too left wing for today's supposed "Christian" Republicans. These are the guys who let "faith" guide their politics. At this point though, I think Republicans would run Jesus out of town if they could put off climate change and economic fairness. This reminds me so much of Al Franken's classic "Suppy Side Jesus." 

Pope Francis’ powerful encyclical making an urgent moral case for action to combat climate change has now been released. The earth is “our common home,” Pope Francis repeatedly says, noting that a “frank look at the facts” shows that our common home “is falling into serious disrepair.” He adds that “we are not God” and thus do not have “an unlimited right to trample his creation underfoot.” He notes the need for richer countries to put the “global common good” before their own “national interests. Interdependence obliges us to think of one world with a common plan.”

E.J. Dionne added this reminder:

Yet any who claim that Francis is ignoring the Catholic past and inventing radical new doctrines will have to reckon with the care he takes in paying homage to his predecessors, particularly Pope Benedict XVI and St. John Paul II. He cites them over and over on the limits of markets and the urgency of environmental stewardship. 

NPR's On Point featured past comments from Pope Francis, and an absolutely an amazing right wing caller trashing the Pope for not being a scientist and playing along with the globalists scheme for taxation! Now even the Pope is a tool of the evil Prius driving left?



For decades, the Republicans have been declaring the U.S. a Christian nation, writing laws based on their religious values, now suddenly they want us to forget that. Here are a few out-of-character comments from our religious rightwing Republican hypocrites, who are making Judas look like Jesus' best friend:

Jeb Bush questioned the pope's foray into climate science, saying "I don't think we should politicize our faith. I hope I'm not going to get castigated for saying this by my priest back home, but I don't get economic policy from my bishops or my cardinals or my pope," Bush said. "I think religion ought to be about making us better as people and less about things that end up getting in the political realm. I respect the Pope, I think he's an incredible leader, but I think it's better to solve this problem in the political realm."
"No, I'm sorry, it's a political issue," said Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources. "Most people have their minds made up on this issue so any more rhetoric about the issue doesn't really add a heck of a lot more to it." 

And Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., who chairs the House spending subcommittee that deals with the environment, said: "We respect the pope's point of view, but it's not the final determination, is it?"

Isn't it funny how fast our righteous God fearing Republican Party can't run fast enough from the teachings of the church, especially those Catholic politicians and their Bishop henchmen. Can't take a little religious advice?

Rush Limbaugh condemned the pope yesterday, complaining Francis "doesn't even disguise" his Marxist beliefs about global warming.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who is Catholic and is seeking the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, said recently that “we probably are better off leaving science to the scientists,” adding, “When we get involved with political and controversial scientific theories, I think the church is probably not as forceful and credible.”

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) told National Journal, "When you talk about unpredictable science, I have to ask where's the nexus between that and the theology of the Vatican?"

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) added, "I'm not a Catholic, but I've got a lot of friends who are, who are wondering: Why all of a sudden is he involved in this? I don't have the answer for that."

Indiana and Arkansas Republicans push Religious Freedom to bypass Constitution.

These supposed "religious freedom" laws, allowing discrimination against sexual orientation, are an offshoot of the Hobby Lobby decision.

Conservative states that don't have protections for gay individuals are now passing "religious freedom" laws, a slight twist on the long sought after Republican backed "conscience clause," where a person could use religion to deny others their guaranteed freedoms. This all plays a part in the religious rights goal of two separate nations, one living under the constitution, and another living under the Christian religion (taxpayer supported vouchers go overwhelmingly to religious schools, another slippery slope where government ends up endorsing religion legally by giving the money directly to parents and not the schools).

Despite the national outrage, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson is about to sign a similar "religious freedom" law. Crazy right? Hutchinson is another Republican extremist who's even more obvious about his political intentions:

Sexual orientation and gender identity are not included in Arkansas' anti-discrimination protections. Last month, Hutchinson allowed a measure to go into law that prevented local governments from including such protections in their anti-discrimination ordinances.

Hutchinson has delayed the signing until supposedly some changes are made that won't discriminate. Bullshit. It will be entertaining to see what the changes will look like.

The natural follow-up:

AP: Arkansas legislators passed a similar measure, despite criticism that it is a thinly disguised attempt to permit discrimination against gays. The Arkansas proposal now goes to Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who has said he will sign it.

Not even their paymasters, big business, have a say anymore, because this has been a core value of the Republican Party for decades.

Gov. Mike Pence was inadvertently as obvious about his intentions to discriminate against the LGBT community when he was asked that dangerous "follow-up" question by George Stephanopoulos:



Other's have also sent a strong message to Indiana:

Parks and Recreation actor Nick Offerman announced on Tuesday that he’s canceling the Indianapolis stop on his 2015 summer tour, but will perform on Wednesday at a scheduled show at Indiana University. (Offerman will donate his shows earning to) HRC, the Human Rights Campaign, one of the country’s most prominent LGBT rights groups. Check out Offerman here and here. 

The list continued to grow. Perhaps Arkansas will see a similar backlash?

Other organizations that are pulling their economic support from the state or boycotting travel to Indiana include Angie’s List — which halted work on a new operation in Indianapolis, the cloud computing company Salesforce, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which canceled its 2015 women’s convention in Indianapolis.

The Americana band Wilco announced that it is canceling its Indiana tour stops, as well.

Connecticut’s Gov. Dannel Malloy said that Pence can deny the law’s anti-LGBT thrust all he wants to. It is clear to anyone who is paying attention what the RFRA is about.

“The governor’s not a stupid man, but he’s done stupid things,” said Malloy to Mika Brzezinski, “and signing this law, and, quite frankly, promoting this law, knowing exactly what it was going to do, was an incredibly stupid thing for him to do.” Pence, Malloy said, “knew exactly what he was doing, and when you see a bigot, you have to call them on it. We cannot sit idly by and do nothing while laws are enacted that will turn back the clock,” Malloy said, saying that he “won’t allow any of our citizens in Connecticut to face discrimination in other states, at least without a fight.”

If you had any questions about the move to the religious right....

The hosts of Fox & Friends on Tuesday set up an interview with Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) by noting that he was a follower of the “law of the Bible” Steve Doocy agreed. “The political left is in a frenzy over this right now. But they’re missing the point. 

Walker trampled 1st Amendment and will do it again.

Think Progress's Josh Israel brought back an old Scott Walker oldie and a baddie from 2001, and a now frightening idea considering what might happen if he were to ever become president.

While Republicans have pushed religious freedom to ridiculous levels, Hobby Lobby comes to mind, Walker awhile back took that 1st Amendment right and wanted to crush it. The Wiccan religion,

which celebrates nature and the Earth, wasn't popular enough he said. That's hardly constitutional:

On September 28, 2001, a group of Wisconsin legislators introduced a resolution memorializing (Sept. 11^th) “the unity and patriotism of the American people, who hold diverse religious beliefs and represent diverse ethnic heritages.” Six weeks later, one of the resolution’s co-authors — then Wisconsin Assemblyman Scott Walker (R) — posted an alliterative press release, titled “Walker Questions Need for Wiccan Witch of Waupun.” He was chairman of the Wisconsin Assembly’s Committee on Corrections and the Courts and was upset that the Rev. Jamyi Witch had been hired as a full-time chaplain at the maximum-security Waupun Correctional Institution. His reason: her Wiccan faith.

The warden who hired her told the local press at the time that her interviews, references, background and extensive knowledge of a wide array of alternative religions made her the clear choice for the job: “Jamyi is an outstandingly approachable person, somebody that I wouldn’t mind approaching on spiritual matters myself. Witch’s hiring raises both personal and political concerns. Not only does she practice a different religion than most of the inmates, she practices a religion that actually offends people of many other faiths, including Christians, Muslims and Jews.”

She recalled “Walker came out saying he would do whatever it took to have me removed from my position.”

Walker’s stated objection were entirely based on her religion. Walker said, “I can’t imagine that most of the inmates would feel particularly comfortable going to that individual … I would think, in some ways from a religious standpoint, it might actually put inmates in a position that talking to [a Wiccan] is contrary to what some of their own religious beliefs might be.”

Selena Fox. Rev. Fox, whose Lady Liberty League works to defend the rights of Wiccans told ThinkProgress that Walker’s actions demonstrated a lack of understanding of the U.S. Constitution … Witch noted that his effort did “stir up right wing conservative religious fundamentalists.” A state legislative employee put out a press release, she recalled, with the language “burn the witch” … she endured multiple death threats, harassment of her school-aged children, slashed tires, and a silver cross painted on her door. 

Witch urges voters to “beware.” “If we get a man in the White House who is okay with actively seeking to have people removed from their positions because they are not of a faith he approves of… we’ve been down that road before.” Rob Boston, director of communications for Americans United for Separation of Church and State echoed that point. “The incident with Rev. Witch was a test of tolerance for Scott Walker and a chance to show true leadership. He failed it miserably.” 

A GOP Purified America!!! Arizona's "Religious Freedom" Bill Backers Borderline Frightening.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner was surprised to see how others took NSA spying well beyond what he thought the law allowed. Well, that’s the real problem isn’t it?

Republicans don’t seem to think that the “letter of the law” is an issue. In their minds, they know what they originally intended, and no one would ever think to use the letter of the law in their sloppily written legislation to force right wing purity onto other Americans…ever.

In the clip below, CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" takes on Arizona State Sen. Al Melvin (R) who only sees SB 1062 legislation as a preemptive strike supporting religious freedom, while allowing discrimination against LGBT individuals. He continually claims he would never discriminate, and knows no one who would, despite the fact the law would legally allow it. Cooper is amazed by Melvin's answers. 

But first, Lawrence O'Donnell's the introduction with multiple clips showing us where Gov. Jan Brewer and other low information Arizona politicians want to take this nation:

So Cooper asked Melvin if he could cite a case where religious freedom was "under attack" in Arizona. Melvin bizarrely responded "not now, no, but how about tomorrow?"

Cooper then tested Melvin with a hypothetical: what if he were a loan officer, and thought it was against his religious beliefs to do business with an unwed mother or a divorced woman?

That's when Melvin's argument imploded. "I think you're being farfetched," the lawmaker told Cooper. "I don't know of anybody in Arizona that would discriminate against a fellow human being."

"Really? Discrimination doesn't exist in Arizona?" Cooper asked.

"Well, maybe you ought to move to Arizona," the lawmaker responded. "We're more people-friendly here, apparently."

Because no one would ever follow the letter of this new law allowing discrimination based on exercising one’s religious freedom.

GOP Sen. Mary Lazich's Ultrasound Law turns our Government into something Threatening. Just what the founding fathers intended?

The utter zealotry we saw in GOP State Sen. Mary Lazich's big government health care ultrasound mandate was no doubt embarrassing enough to get national attention, but zeroing in on the actual content of her argument is even more revealing.

In a short interview on WPT's Here and Now, I edited out Lazich's 'this is what the bill does' and left in her underlying reasons putting government in the middle of the doctor patient relationship.

"Information," "fully informed," "regret," and "lived with the trauma" are repeated over and over.

Troubling and potentially dangerous is the first thing that occurred to me. Exposing those already emotionally drained women, who've made this very difficult decision, to this kind of pressure and intimidation won't just lead to gut wrenching future second guessing, but something more even more life threatening.

Lazich's empty arguments are nothing but religious bullying, and a fundamental part of the Republican agenda. It seems like Christianities threatening and bloody history is always waiting in the wings for a comeback, this time under the guise of being "fully informed:"

Today is Pulpit Freedom Sunday!! I say make Church's pay their Taxes.

Stephen Colbert knows his stuff about religion and government, more than the radicalized religious right. Pastor's are protesting a 1950's tax code agreement they made to not preach politics, in exchange for their tax exempt status. These idiots want to give up their tax exempt status? Guess so.

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Walker's DNR Censors play that was wrongfully vilified by Christian Radio WVCY's Vic Eliason.

Scott Walker’s DNR has stepped into the entertainment business briefly, long enough to censor a play. For purely political reasons, and to appease the intolerant religious right, the DNR decided to shred the First Amendment. You can also blame Christian radio in this state, which has been a very powerful militant organization in Wisconsin, and has been for quite a while. Here’s another example, from the Waukesha Patch:

Reporter Sarah Millard-DELAFIELD: Phantom Cicada Theater Company’s production of THE BIBLE: THE COMPLETE WORD OF GOD (ABRIDGED) has been ousted from their performance venue at SummerStage in Lapham Peak State Park because of threats and manipulation from Christian extremists … WVCY’s right-wing radio host Vic Eliason stirred local and out-of-state members of the Christian community to harass the board members of SummerStage and the DNR with phone calls and emails about this so-called blasphemous play.. The DNR, who manages the state park, has caved to complaints and forbidden the production to take place as planned. The DNR used a loophole in their contract with SummerStage that disallows non-“family friendly” presentations to be staged in the park.

Threats: When I said militant, I wasn’t exaggerating. Things went from bad to worse:

Phantom Cicada’s producer Brian Faracy, the play’s director Bo Johnson, and the performers took steps to stage their production at an alternate venue, the Delafield Arts Center. As soon as the center agreed to host the production, a repeat of the threatening deluge ensued, targeting the center’s administrators. Feeling that their personal safety was at risk, and on the advice of the Delafield police, the venue reneged.

This play has apparently been around awhile:

Originally conceived by the Reduced Shakespeare Company, this play has been successfully produced for over 17 years-- including a sold-out 12-week run in Washington DC’s prestigious Kennedy Center. It is an innocuous, non-blasphemous, lighthearted send-up of the Bible. For reviews of past productions, visit the RSC website. 

The arts have never been very popular on the right, and any shot at Christianity is taken as an insult, not a parody. The play is described as very Monty Python-ish. 

“It’s wacky! It’s zany! And a little profaney.” Sister MaryAnne Walsh, Arlington Catholic Herald

“The audience dissolved hysterically into the aisles. The troupe’s obvious comic forbears include the Mark Brothers (wordplay and irreverence), the Flying Karamazov Brothers (madcap performance comedy) and vaudeville as reinvented by “Laugh-In” (pace and schtick).” Ron Weiskind – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“This is a slick, fast, very funny show… skilled performers with immaculate, sassy American timing.” London Sunday Times

Reporter Millard included this direct response:

Please voice your concerns about the DNR’s decision to breach their contract, allowing religious extremists to call the shots, violating freedom of speech rights, and disallowing the production to go forward here:

Secretary - Cathy Stepp (608) 266-2121 – cathy.stepp@wisconsin.govDeputy Secretary - Matthew Moroney (608) 264-6266 - Matt.Moroney@wisconsin.gov