Bachmann, Romney and Cain: Religious Rights Trump Gay Rights

What do you do when two groups' civil rights come into direct conflict?

Three of the front-running Republican presidential candidates (Bachmann, Romney and Cain) say that religious rights trump gay rights when the government is giving out our tax dollars. And a fourth, Texas Governor Perry, almost certainly would have said the same thing if he'd been able to stay for the debate (he had to return to Texas because of the wildfires).

This shows a stunning misunderstanding of the United States Constitution and the very meaning of civil rights.

The question they were responding to was about gay couples adopting children. Many of the adoption agencies in this country are run by Christian churches, particularly the Catholic Church. And these same agencies get a lot of funding from the federal government. It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that Catholic adoption agencies don't want to let same-sex couples adopt children. The Catholic Church claims it violates their right to religious freedom.

Many Americans don't realize that outside of employment and housing, it's perfectly legal for an ordinary citizen to discriminate against anyone for any reason. If I were a racist, it would be perfectly legal for me to

Bachmann's Faith Would Destroy America

Remember the "no religious test" clause of the United States Constitution that guarantees everyone the right to hold government office regardless of faith? I'm beginning to wonder if it's time to repeal it. Maybe it's time to ban people who are religious extremists from holding federal office! Michelle Bachmann comes to mind...

A couple days ago while driving down the road enjoying a bright, sunny Southern California morning, I spotted a beautiful old classic 1958 Pontiac. "What a beautiful machine!" I thought. "Back in those days, you could actually tune the car yourself. No computers, hand-crank windows that always worked, and if it had seat belts, it was your choice to use them or not. Those were the days!"

It almost made me have some compassion for Michelle Bachmann's desire to turn back the clock to a simpler time.

Then I pulled in behind it to get a better look at it ... and was assaulted by a terrible stink, something I hadn't smelled in quite a while. It was unburned gasoline, partially burned motor oil, nitrous oxide, thousands of different carcinogenic hydrocarbons, and no doubt a good dose of odorless carbon monoxide. If this had been 1958 when

Bill Maher on Bachmann and Palin: Crazy

Bill Maher's latest video pretty much nails Bachmann and Palin. Why don't liberals like Bachmann and Palin? "Because they're crazy people!" And that's just the beginning. As with most of Maher's videos, it's NSFW (not safe for work).



I think I would have skipped the "boobs" remark, but basically he says what everyone is thinking. These two presidential candidates are grossly and obviously unqualified for the job.

I particularly like his analysis of Bachmann's husband's role: we'd have a president (the one we elected) who believes God told her to follow her husband's orders. So who is the real president? This is a man who is homophobic and runs a faux clinic that purports to "cure" homosexuals. And according to news reports, he's been caught lying about it to government officials about his business. So we'd have an unelected man who is a liar and a homophobe running the country.

Why aren't conservatives embarrassed by this? Why is Bachmann getting any attention at all? She has more baggage than a moving truck.