Tag Archives: Frank Wolf

Frank Wolf blows the anti-gay dog whistle

Posted on July 10, 2012 at 10:07 pm by Pariahdog |

Frank Wolf is stirring up the anti-gay base. On June 5, he and Democrat Tony Hall co-authored a letter to pastors that appeared on the Manhattan Declaration blog. The letter is a response to the President’s announcement that after listening to his children and consulting the Bible, he now supports marriage for all people. Wolf and Hall asked some pastors to construct a cultural anti-marriage narrative and to agitate their congregations to “act”. I’ve quoted portions of the letter, and added emphasis.

Talking heads and strategists in Washington are busy analyzing what constituencies have been mobilized, energized, secured or alienated by the timing of the president’s announcement. But the implications of this shift are more far-reaching than November’s electoral outcome. We believe that the president’s position, which he sought to justify by citing Scripture, necessitates a response. Not only a political response – but a reasoned, winsome, faithful interpretation of what Scripture actually has to say about God’s intent for the sacred institution of marriage. As is befitting those who identify themselves as followers of Jesus, this apologetic for marriage must be seasoned with grace, kindness and love while also being grounded in truth.

…

where are the Christian apologists who will sound the clarion call for Biblical orthodoxy on the institution of marriage? Where are the William Wilberforce’s and the Mother Theresa’s and the C. S. Lewis’ for our day? Who will stand in the gap?

…

The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, “Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call. who will get ready for battle?” We fear that the trumpet’s call is muffled – that there is uncertainty and confusion among people of faith in part because many of our religious leaders have not yet stepped into the void.

…

We write to you not as a Republican and a Democrat, which we are, but as men of faith who take seriously the teaching of Scripture – as do you. German Lutheran pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously said, “Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” In that spirit, we implore you, with an urgency that the situation demands, to boldly lend your voice to the public square on this defining issue – for such a time as this.

The underlying message to the pastors is “train the dog to bite when the master says ‘stay!’.” “Clarion call,” “stand in the gap,” “get ready for battle,” “Dietrich Bonhoeffer,” seriously, does Congressman Wolf not know Godwin’s law? Do historians need to remind him that Nazi Germany was a “Christian Nation”; 65% protestant, 30% Catholic, and that Pope Benedict was a member of the Hitler youth? Hitler quoted Martin Luther’s most anti-Semitic writings and he attended his Catholic church throughout the war. Hitler was a master propagandist who constructed a new racist Jew-hating narrative, but that narrative wouldn’t have taken root if it weren’t for Europe’s fertile soil of cultural, Christian, anti-semitism.

How can Wolf call for “grace, kindness and love” and then invoke Bonhoeffer to “stand in the gap” against “this defining issue – for such a time as this?” What time is it, a time when same-sex couples are living their marriages openly, and people honoring them in spite of 29 state constitutional amendments? That *is* what time it is, and our congressman, who supposedly represents all of us, equally, is comparing our marriages to cold, calculated mass-murder. Marriage and mass-murder, they are sooo-much-the-same-thing.

The letter is “monstrous“, and Frank Wolf is unhinged, and dangerous.

VA Republican 10th CD: Transparently, intrinsically immoral

Posted on June 27, 2012 at 8:06 am by Pariahdog |

“…the poor inherit the Kingdom of God,

while the wealthy have their reward already”

– Chuck Colson, The Faith

Frank Wolf

Translation: “The [favored] have their reward already, and the [disfavored] inherit the Kingdom after they bow down to the [favored].” This bastardization of Gospel describes the political programme of Virginia’s Republican 10th Congressional District, an organization that continues to seek new lows. The 10th is now led by John Whitbeck, also a Reform Commission member who I have observed too closely for far too many hours. He comes across as emotionless, cold, calculating, self-absorbed, ideological, and hermetically-sealed against unwanted information.

This makes him the perfect chairman of an organization guided by the late Chuck Colson’s worldview and the district’s intractable Godfather, Congressman Frank Wolf. Wolf received the first Chuck Colson/Prison Fellowship Ministries “Wilberforce award” in 1992, and the now deceased “redeemed” Nixonian hatchet man and the “Christian” crusading Congressman have been married in purpose ever since.

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Atheists Unite! (in Turkey, not here)

Posted on June 16, 2012 at 8:56 am by Pariahdog |

Atheists Unit!

The Christian Post, an evangelical Christian news outlet, reports that Fazil Say, a renowned atheist pianist is facing jail time for “publicly insulting religious values“. His crime, he tweeted “messages that compare the Islamic vision of heaven as rivers of wine and virgins to a tavern and a brothel.”

Turkey was recently placed on the “worst offenders” list by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). The USCIRF is a highly politicized Congressional commission that wastes $3M annually. Its funding was recently restored thanks to a lobbying campaign by the late Chuck Colson and Frank Wolf.

Turkey is also a key U.S. ally whose military bases are used extensively in mid-East military actions. The USCIRF’s action harmed international relations and demonstrated to the world that Wolf will defy the Executive branch and national security to further his Evangelical political program. The USCIRF’s work is predominately anti-Muslim. It scans the international legal arena for statutes that grant “[Muslim] religious leaders the right to criminalize speech and activities that they deem to insult religion.”

Maybe the USCIRF should start right here in Loudoun where a member our own courthouse grounds committee recently called atheists “storm troopers“. That’s how it starts, right? First brand a group a threat to the state, then, in an act that is more tyrannical than criminalization, brand their speech and activities an insult to religion, decency, tradition, the family, blah, blah, blah. Maybe the USCIRF and its backers should protect the rights of *all* atheists. No, that wouldn’t further their agenda. Atheists unite! But not here, move to Turkey.

Bad for business, stupid, hateful or all three?

Posted on June 12, 2012 at 6:25 am by Pariahdog |

Congressman Frank Wolf’s hatred for China is transparent to people who know technology and follow the business pages. In late March, Wolf wrote a press release warning of the perils of Huawei’s wireless devices and telecom equipment. The equipment “may be subject to espionage“, Wolf cried. He must know that U.S. legislation referred to as CALEA mandates espionage. If the equipment didn’t provide the capability to snoop, it couldn’t be sold in the U.S. I guess Chinese companies are just SOL. Next time, Wolf should come up with a better, less transparent excuse to shield him from accusations of sinophobia.

Congressman Wolf's image of the administration

There is a political side to this. He wants to brand the Obama administration “pro-communist” and soft on security and he’ll sacrifice free-trade and laissez faire capitalism in the process. Now, he wants to create a class of patent that our larger more intrusive big brother government will snatch off the market. He calls them “economic security” patents. Bloomberg Business rips him a new one for this incredibly dumb idea. ‘“It’s ridiculous. Absurd,” says Robert Stoll, who ran the agency’s patent applications office before retiring in January.‘ The article goes on.

Each year the patent office is flooded with about half a million applications. The agency would have to figure out which of those to pluck out for secret status. Companies spend millions trying to divine which products will be hits and which will flop—it’s hard to imagine the government’s crystal ball would be any better.

I can’t understand why voters don’t see through Wolf’s (and the rest of the Republican’s) government is good/ government is bad schizophrenia. Government reformers, like many on Loudoun’s Government Reform Commission generally agree that the private sector is more efficient and innovative than government. I believe Ken Glozer said “I worked for OMB and I know how screwed up government can be.” That’s right. It’s really screwed up when powerful Congressmen dictate policy because of deeply held ~~dark ages~~ cold war ideological obsessions. Not only do businesses want to patent their work here. They also want to patent it in China. Then the Chinese government will protect it too. VA 10th CD “job creators“, beware, you’re represented by an unhinged, hateful ideologue who may hurt your bottom line.

Benefit for Ugandan LGBT rights in Sterling

Posted on January 9, 2012 at 3:03 pm by Epluribusunum |

Crossposted at Equality Loudoun

Benefit Celebration for GLBT Rights in Uganda
with Rev. Mark Kiyimba
Music by Tom Teasley
Friday January 13th, 7:00 – 10:00 pm
Unitarian Universalists of Sterling
22135 Davis Drive, Sterling (map)

It’s illegal to be gay in Uganda, and has been since colonial times. But that wasn’t enough to satisfy the anti-gay fringe in America. Following a 2009 conference arranged by three American extremists, a bill was introduced in the Ugandan Parliament that would institute the death penalty for gay people under some circumstances, prohibit any form of advocacy or human rights work on behalf of gay people, eliminate confidentiality for health care providers and clergy, and even make it a crime to fail to turn in one’s own family members. Along with the bill a vicious pogrom has been unleashed against the gay community, leading to many Ugandans living in constant fear. The developing situation has been extensively covered by Box Turtle Bulletin.

LGBT activists in Uganda point to a virulently anti-gay March 2009 conference put on by three American Evangelical activists for inciting the latest round of violence and intimidation against the local LGBT community. Among the three were Holocaust revisionist Scott Lively, Exodus International board member Don Schmierer, and International Healing Foundation’s Caleb Lee Brundidge, who is a protege of ex-gay advocate Richard Cohen. Lively, who blamed gay men for the rise of Nazism and the Rwandan genocide, proudly declared his talk as being a “nuclear bomb” against LGBT advocacy in Africa.

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Pizza is a vegetable, really?

Posted on November 21, 2011 at 7:08 am by Pariahdog |

[promoted by Liz]

The house and Senate approved legislation that redefines pizza as a vegetable, and the President signed it. You can see our Congressman’s vote on HR2112 here. As you ponder this, please remember a few things.

We’re talking about that cardboard crust pizza that is served in school lunches
The rationale for the classification is that a slice of pizza contains three ounces of tomato paste
A tomato is a fruit, not a vegetable
Frank Wolf is a member of the House Appropriations Committee, the committee responsible for the original bill content

If you are as astounded as me, you should see what Kermit had to say on SNL, “what next are twizzlers and a a grape soda a ‘fruit salad'”? if you have time, please send a note to Congressman Wolf thanking him for favoring agribusiness over the health and well being of school children.

The new “normal”

Posted on April 18, 2011 at 3:05 pm by Epluribusunum |

Repeat after me: Our Rs are kinder and gentler than this R

I was initially heartened at the near-unanimous condemnation of the pathetic little Pamela Geller-inspired protest we saw last Thursday night outside the LCRC meeting (photos below the fold). As I noted in comments, there was only one LCRC member (or at least a frequent attendee of meetings and events) who affirmatively joined the protest, plus a few others who appeared friendly with the protesters, while most just walked by or chose a different entrance.

As the incident has developed though, I now have to ask: Is it the assault on religious freedom itself to which these seemingly anti-religious bigotry Republicans object, or is their objection only to what they perceive as a misdirected assault on religious freedom?

One LCRC leader, by way of explaining what was wrong with the protest, informed me that target David Ramadan “isn’t even a practicing Muslim.” This may or may not be true – but that’s hardly the point, is it? Continue reading →

House votes to de-fund NPR

Posted on March 18, 2011 at 10:26 am by Liz Miller |

So far, they’ve tackled: removing funding from Metro; medicaid payments for abortions; taking away funding for basic women’s health care (pap smears and breast exams); and taking away enforcement power from the EPA.

Now they’ve taken funding away from NPR.

But they haven’t even begun on a single jobs bill.

Weren’t jobs their biggest priority back in November?

#DearJohn, #WhereAreTheJobs?

And now for something completely different

Posted on March 13, 2011 at 3:28 pm by Epluribusunum |

In contrast to the insulting misrepresentations of Rep. Peter King and Rep. Frank Wolf during Thursday’s hearing, Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough recognized the tremendous contributions of the American Muslim community to combatting domestic terrorism. From his remarks at the ADAMS Center on March 6:

Imam Magid is among the many Muslim leaders who have been recognized by the Director of the FBI for their efforts to strengthen cooperation between Muslim communities and law enforcement.

To counter the propaganda videos from the likes of al-Awlaki, Imam Magid even joined with other clerics and scholars to make their own videos, which have gone viral, explaining that Islam preaches peace, not violence. Most Americans never hear about these efforts, and, regrettably, they’re rarely covered by the media. But they’re going on every day—and they’re helping to keep our country safe.

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