01/27/15

Gary Sinise dresses down Howard Dean

By: James Simpson
DC Independent Examiner

Perhaps we should give Howard Dean a break. He is a serial liar and goes off on unhinged rants based on “facts” with no more connection to reality than Disneyland. His behavior can often only be described as lunatic. So perhaps we should just pity the obviously deranged man, say a prayer for him to be restored to sanity, or at least the proper balance of meds.

Anyway, feeling it necessary to weigh in on the great American film, “American Sniper,” Dean said, “There’s a lot of anger in this country, and the people who go see this movie are people who are very angry.” He added, “I bet you if you looked at the cross-section of the tea party and people who see this movie there’s a lot of intersection…”

Now before we react, let’s remember that “American Sniper” is a movie about the heroic acts and hardships faced by Chris Kyle, our nation’s top-rated sniper. It accurately portrays his anguish about duty to country vs duty to his family. I can guarantee you Howard Dean never suffered such conflicts. Dean, like most Democrats, is only anguished when not getting his way – and collapses in episodes of screaming and temper tantrums when this happens. He’s a spoiled, selfish yuppie without the charm.

Actor Gary Sinise, who has done a lot for America’s veterans, had a quick response to Dean that was priceless:

To Howard Dean, I saw American Sniper and would not consider myself to be an angry person. You certainly have a right to make stupid blanket statements, suggesting that all people who see this film are angry, but how is that helpful sir? Do you also suggest that everyone at Warner Brothers is angry because they released the film? That Clint Eastwood, Jason Hall, Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller and the rest of the cast and crew are angry because they made the film? Chris Kyle’s story deserved to be told. It tells a story of the stress that multiple deployments have on one military family, a family representative of thousands of military families. It helps to communicate the toll that the war on terror has taken on our defenders. Defenders and families who need our support. I will admit that perhaps somewhere among the masses of people who are going to see the film there may be a few that might have some anger or have been angry at some point in their lives, but, with all due respect, what the hell are you talking about?

Yes Howard, what the Hell are you talking about? But there is truth to what Dean says. I am angry right now. I become so every time I hear a phony, fraud, corrupt, self-serving, slime ball like Howard Dean disgracing our country, its heroes and its people with spiteful, dishonest invective. It is a reminder – and we get more than enough every single day with the Zero-in-Chief – that Dean, Obama and people like them are literally destroying our country before our eyes, while shoving our tax dollars in their pockets as fast as they can. So in that sense, I guess maybe Dean has a point after all. I rarely take time to listen to these idiots, but when I do, I guess I understand Dean better, because I feel in need of meds myself.

01/17/15

Who Will Defend Free Speech in America?

By: Cliff Kincaid
Accuracy in Media

In a story about Bret Baier’s withdrawal from a Catholic conference, where he was going to speak about his Catholic faith, the website known as Mediaite noted that Republican Governor Bobby Jindal (LA) was going to go through with his appearance at the event. But the website warned him about the consequences of offending the homosexual lobby. “Given the controversy that follows House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) more than a decade after he allegedly spoke before a group connected to white supremacists, Jindal, who has presidential ambitions of his own, must be giving his appearance some serious thought right about now,” it said.

Hence, the philosophy of white supremacism associated with the Ku Klux Klan and the Nazis is compared to Catholicism. That’s the message this so-called “respectable” source of news and information is sending. Jindal rejected that. The governor’s spokesman said, “Governor Jindal looks forward to addressing the summit and speaking about what faith means to him.”

The summit is sponsored by Legatus, a group that upholds the teachings of the Catholic Church on human sexuality and other matters.

If Baier was speaking at or attending a fundraiser for the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA), that would have been perfectly okay. After all, many Fox media stars, including Megyn Kelly, have done so in the past. In addition, Fox pours money directly into this important lobby in the homosexual movement, and it’s not even a controversy.

What’s fascinating in this case is that the attacks which forced Baier and actor Gary Sinise out of the Legatus conference do not involve opening fire on anybody’s editorial offices and murdering the offenders. These things are mostly done differently in America. I say “mostly” because of the terrorist attack on the Washington, D.C. offices of the Family Research Council (FRC) in 2012. That was inspired by a “hate map” posted by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) pinpointing the location of the FRC. A security guard was injured as he stopped a homosexual militant from trying to carry out a massacre in the FRC offices.

In most cases, however, the weapons of character assassination, distortion, and anti-Christian bigotry will suffice. The purpose is to intimidate and ostracize those who dare to associate with groups affirming traditional standards of morality. One of the new tactics, as used by Mediaite, is to associate Catholics with racial extremists. This is a smear that is beneath contempt, but the gay lobby and its fellow travelers will stop at nothing.

The message that the site was sending to Jindal is that he risks his political future by associating with a notorious hate group called the Catholic Church. It was a threat disguised as news.

The leftists have no quarrel with the views of the pope on economic matters. And they certainly won’t quibble with his encyclical on climate change when he issues that in March. But challenging the morality of the lifestyle of so many in Hollywood and the media is something else. Questioning the homosexual lifestyle simply cannot be tolerated.

Jindal, who is a Catholic, didn’t succumb to the pressure. He had the intestinal fortitude to remain true to his beliefs. He understood that the attacks on Legatus were an attack upon his own faith. He couldn’t back down and maintain his own principles. Jindal’s decision to stand up to the modern totalitarians in the gay rights movement has to be seen as courageous.

Backing out is especially troubling in the case of Bret Baier, since his speaking appearance at the Legatus summit was for the purpose of talking about his own Catholic faith expressed in his book, Special Heart: A Journey of Faith, Hope, Courage and Love. He wasn’t there to talk about gay rights. Neither was Sinise, for that matter.

Baier, or his corporate bosses, have to take the blame for giving in to the pressure. We would have thought that the Fox News Channel would have stood firmly for freedom of expression and freedom of conscience. It sets a terrible precedent that a “conservative” news channel, which became successful by speaking for many without a traditional voice in the liberal media, should bow at the altar of political correctness. Why they buckled to the pressure is a story in itself.

As we have pointed out, Fox News anchor Shepard Smith is allowed to pontificate on the air, including on behalf of the gay rights cause. But a Bret Baier speech about his book at a Catholic event is supposed to be offensive. This is the state of our media today.

The tactics used by the homosexual lobby have been perfected by such groups as the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Council on American-Islamic Relations against their enemies. What’s new is that the official Catholic Church teachings on human sexuality are now labeled as so offensive that people can’t even be associated with a group that promotes them. This is the kind of religious discrimination we have seen in countries like France against the Jews.

Some in the media called the summit “anti-gay,” which is a complete lie. As Legatus Executive Director John Hunt said in a statement, “Legatus embraces all that the Catholic Church teaches—nothing more, nothing less. Of course, at the core of all that the Church teaches is Christ’s unconditional love for every man and woman. While the Church has and always will teach about the morality of certain behaviors, these teachings are always to be understood in the context of the value of and respect for every human person.”

Turning Christian love into “hate” is an indication of how a situation can be twisted into something it’s not. This is how political correctness, a form of cultural Marxism, works in practice. The homosexual lobby has perfected this tactic of intimidation.

Hunt said the group’s members are only asking for the freedom to exercise their religious beliefs, “which includes the ability to gather together and discuss their faith.”

That such a meeting has become controversial, to the point where major figures in the media and Hollywood can be forced to back out, is a terrible reflection on the condition of the First Amendment right to free speech in America today. The news organizations that are involved in this silencing of freedom of expression have shown they have no understanding of what “I am Charlie” is all about.

01/17/15

Bret Baier’s Forced Withdrawal From Catholic Conference

By: Cliff Kincaid
Accuracy in Media

Even while our media pay lip service to freedom of expression in France, the pressure to conform to the left-wing homosexual agenda continues in the U.S. and has now scored a direct hit on the Fox News Channel. Fox News personality Bret Baier has been forced to pull out of a Catholic Christian conference because of homosexual pressure.

Once again, for all the world to see, we have a stark example of how the freedom to object to the homosexual agenda is being denied to those in the news business.

Baier has been an outspoken conservative voice at the channel, hosting the blockbuster “13 Hours: The Inside Story,” a Fox News special featuring exclusive interviews with the American security operatives who fought on the ground during the terrorist attacks in Benghazi.

The Baier case comes on the heels of the firing of Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran because of a book he wrote for a men’s Bible study group at his Baptist church that included statements in favor of traditional marriage and values.

A practicing Catholic who says his faith has pulled him through some family and personal turmoil, Baier carries the titles of Fox News Chief Political Anchor & Executive Editor and Anchor of “Special Report with Bret Baier.”

LifeSiteNews criticized Baier, saying that by backing out of a speaking engagement at a Catholic conference, he “has shown himself to have a thinner skin than might be guessed from his on-air persona.” But it appears, based on what is known about decision-making at the channel, that corporate pressure was behind the capitulation to the gay lobby.

Fox News Channel is a major contributor to the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA), and recruits homosexuals at the group’s events.

While Baier is apparently being muzzled because of the Catholic credentials of the group he was scheduled to speak to, Fox News anchor Shepard Smith has been able to spout pro-homosexual views on the air, such as when he denounced Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day as the “National Day of Intolerance.” The outburst was triggered by a Chick-fil-A executive speaking out against gay marriage. Smith is said to be dating a young Fox News male staffer.

Baier was advertised as a speaker at a Catholic conference sponsored by Legatus, a group promoting Catholic teachings. The conference was to begin with the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, celebrated by Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York.

Homosexual activists had demanded that Baier and other speakers withdraw because some Legatus material advocates that homosexuals change their lifestyle. Catholic teaching holds that the practice of homosexuality is a violation of Biblical standards of morality. But some gay militants assert that homosexuals are born that way and cannot change their sexuality under any circumstances.

The “Good as You” militant gay lobby group had attacked Legatus as “a very anti-gay organization of Catholics” because of passages in some of its material opposing the practice of homosexuality and saying that homosexuals can change.

Baier’s talk was supposed to be about his book, Special Heart: A Journey of Faith, Hope, Courage and Love, describing in eloquent terms how his family coped with their son’s heart problems. “Faith was crucial,” he told Legatus in an interview. “I try to paint that picture in the book. I don’t shy away from it.”

Baier’s withdrawal from this conference stands in stark contrast to Fox News’ regular practice, carried out over many years, of providing financial support to the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA). Fox News chief Roger Ailes has refused to discuss the ethics of these money transfers to the special interest group.

It is believed that these payments are a form of hush money to keep the gay lobby from complaining too loudly about the conservative orientation of some Fox News programs and personalities.

But that strategy went out the window with the Bret Baier fiasco involving Legatus, which is now making headlines across the country. “Bret Baier Withdraws from Legatus Summit” is one of many headlines resulting from the successful homosexual pressure campaign to force Baier out of the event.

Now the whole world can see that even the powerful Fox News Channel can be intimidated to toe the homosexual line. The thousands of dollars in payments to NLGJA did not keep the gay lobby at bay.

The conference that was supposed to feature Bret Baier also includes Bobby Jindal, governor of Louisiana. Actor Gary Sinise also withdrew under pressure, saying he didn’t want to look divisive.

Baier was asked in the Legatus interview, “You’re in a high-profile job with a ton of pressure. How does your faith help you?” He replied, “I rely on it heavily. I think it helps ground me. When the world is spinning faster and faster, the occasional close-the-door-and-meditate-in-prayer is helpful for anybody, no matter what your religion is. It’s the vehicle that takes you to that place and calms you down.”

But the pressure from the gay lobby has apparently proven to be too much for this Fox News personality. Or perhaps he was pressured to withdraw by his corporate bosses.

A Fox News spokesperson told LifeSiteNews that Baier pulled out of the Legatus conference “due to the controversy surrounding some editorial stances in the organization’s magazine.” The spokesperson added, “Bret accepted the invitation to speak about his book, his faith, and his son’s congenital heart disease. He was unaware of these articles or the controversy surrounding them.”

It is unclear why the “editorial stances” that are consistent with Catholic teaching should have been a surprise to the Fox News anchor, or why they should be controversial.

Baier was raised a Catholic, attends a Catholic Church in the Washington, D.C. area, and has raised money in the past for Catholic schools. He must surely be familiar with Catholic teachings on homosexuality and the role of Catholic groups like Legatus in promoting the official church position.

The only possible explanation is that the homosexual lobby is so powerful that even the mighty Fox News cannot stand up to the pressure it can generate.

The motto of Legatus is, “To study, live, and spread the Catholic Faith in our business, professional, and personal lives.” That now seems to be difficult to do at Fox News.