Conservative Babylon

Here we catch up with the Conservative Babylon Class of 2010 — some Babylonians we covered previously, some we missed entirely, but all of whom deserve recognition (read: exposure) as holier-than-thou right-wingers who can’t seem to live up to the impossible “family values” standards they demand of everyone else. (No, we don’t know how many parts there will be to our year-end catch-up.) In no particular order…

OK, the Wanted Posters Didn’t Say “Dead or Alive,” But Still…

“Reverend” “Flip” Benham, anti-choice (and virulently homophobic) extremist founder of Operation Save America (formerly Operation Rescue), was convicted in November of stalking abortion doctors in the Charlotte, N.C., area, after putting out “Wanted” posters with the doctors’ names and addresses, and leading protests in front of the homes of several. Sadly for the sane world, Benham got two years’ probation instead of a nice, lengthy prison sentence. (more…)

An interesting piece in the Dallas Morning News should sate the collective appetite until we get some actual news about Marcus Lamb’s adultery scandal, and the dueling lawsuits between Daystar and former employee Jeanette Hawkins.

One thing’s clear: Marcus and Joni Lamb can’t afford to lose this one: their lifestyle depends on it — although the Lambs are quick to note that viewer donations do not pay Daystar salaries, and did not buy the Lambs their 7,000-square-foot home. (more…)

See all entries for Mark Sanford

There’s not much you don’t already know in NPR’s look back at Mark Sanford’s “Appalachian Trail” to political suicide, but we here at ConBab feel obligated to pay “tribute” at least one more time to a man who provided us with so much Schadenfreude-y entertainment over 2009, on the eve of his departure from office in 2011. (more…)

Because we could spend 24/7 tracking the sins of right-wing religionists (especially “youth pastors”) and never get caught up. Of the following, the more interesting cases will probably end up with their very own Conservative Babylon entries.

Awaiting sentencing: Carlton F. Hammonds, 56, former pastor, Willows Baptist Church, Willows, California, after an October 1 conviction of three felony counts of lewd acts and one misdemeanor count of sexual battery against two teenage girls. Hammonds was due to be sentenced in November, but prosecutors are considering asking for a psych evaluation before sentencing. Story: Conservative Babylon, September 12, 2010; Orland Press Register, December 14, 2010 (more…)

Bizarre story of the month: Blondie’s Debbie Harry has revealed that, sometime in the early 1970s, she accepted a ride from a stranger who insisted on giving her a lift — and realized her mistake as soon as she saw the inside door handles missing: (more…)

See main page for Ted Klaudt

See all entries for Ted Klaudt

First, the good news: “U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier dismissed as ‘frivolous’ and ‘meritless’ Klaudt’s arguments that the trial court lacked jurisdiction because the American flag in the courtroom had fringe, making it a military tribunal, and because he later renounced his U.S. citizenship.” [KOTA]

Back that truck up — “…because the American flag in the courtroom had fringe”? Yep — which is the reason we ask if Ted Klaudt is one of those “sovereign citizen” nuts: (more…)

Charles McVety and “Word TV,” replete with laughably useless “Doctor” title and giant-haired, blonde, vacant-eyed co-host-wife, staples for every whack-e-vaneglist show, from Nunavut to Miami.
 

Or: If We Were Taking Bets on Who’ll Be Caught Someday with a Dead Girl or a Live Boy…

We’ll be lazy and start you off with the Wikipedia rundown — which covers everything quite nicely — and then tell you why Charles McVety is on our radar right now: (more…)

OK, so the quote is from last year, but the irony is from this week:

As some of you know, one of our sister churches in in Guyana South America. … The country is divided up in three backgrounds, Hindu, Muslim, and “Christian.” Everyone who is not a Hindu or a Muslim call themselves Christian, even though many still do not know the gospel. We are excited about all that God is doing there through Pastor Ramanah Yankana. We have been partnering with them to build a new sanctuary to worship in. It is completed now, and Lord willing, we are flying down to teach a class and to dedicate the new building. … Keep on falling in love with Jesus. He is altogether lovely.

Love in Christ,
Pastor Lonnie

— Lonnie Broome
(The Church at Orange Heights, Orange Heights, Florida)
April 29, 2009

Probably not so excited about all that God is doing through Pastor Yankana now, eh, Lonnie…? (more…)

Because we could spend 24/7 tracking the sins of right-wing religionists (especially “youth pastors”) and never get caught up. Of the following, the more interesting cases will probably end up with their very own Conservative Babylon entries.

Sentenced: Farrukh Ahmed, 48, former administrator, Calvary Chapel Chino Hills (a $2,000 donor to California’s anti-gay Proposition 8), Chino, California, to 270 days in jail, three years’ probation and restitution of $25,000, as part of a plea bargain. Ahmed pleaded no contest to one count of felony grand theft related to upwards of $750,000 missing from church funds; his lawyer still insists he is innocent, and suggests that Ahmed was made a scapegoat because of his Pakistani-Muslim background. (Numerous right-wing sites, such as ManhattanDeclaration.org, were quick to reprint stories about the “former Muslim” embezzling from the “Christian” church.) Story: Chino Valley Now, January 5, 2010; Inland Empire Courts, November 19, 2010; Inland Empire Courts, December 20, 2010 (more…)

This will certainly be the most sickening story you’ve ever read on ConBab (and maybe ever will). We guarantee it will disturb you as it has us — and we warn you now that the more senstive reader should probably turn away. On the other hand, we cannot think of a more devastating story to illustrate the very real dangers of fundamental Christianity (or any form of fundamentalism), especially when it has been warped so badly, so beyond any similarity to its presumed original message.

If you do read this, just don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Tema, Wikipedia tells us, “population 209,000 (2005), is a city on the Atlantic Ocean coast, east of the capital city of Accra, in the region of Greater Accra, in Ghana, West Africa. Originally a small fishing village, it grew after the construction of a large harbour in 1961 and is now is the nation’s largest sea port. … Tema is also the only well planned city by Ghana’s first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. But in recent times, the beauty of the city is being destroyed by overpopulation stemming mainly from rural-urban migration.”

Overpopulation, however, is the least of its troubles. Ghana, like much of Africa, is a hotbed of superstition, the result of a widespread lack of education combined with the most perverted form of Christianity, which seems less concerned with eliminating irrational fears of witches and demons than with exploiting those fears to bolster its own agenda. (more…)

Because we could spend 24/7 tracking the sins of right-wing religionists (especially “youth pastors”) and never get caught up. Of the following, the more interesting cases will probably end up with their very own Conservative Babylon entries.

Awaiting sentencing: Wilfred Edwin Dennis, 75, former Anglican priest “who left the mainstream Anglican Church to join a breakaway group, called the ‘Anglican Catholic Church,’” Adelaide, South Australia, slated for February, 2011, for “his third set of child sex offences.” First convicted in 1970 of sexually assaulting two altar boys, he was sentenced to six months in prison followed by six months’ supervised parole, and then was reinstated by the church. “Between 1975 and 1976 Dennis abused another altar boy and between 1977 and 1978, abused another two altar boys. Dennis, now 75, is still serving a 20-month sentence” for the assault on his first victim, a 15-year-old boy, whom he sodomized in the “robing room” of his church, “but has not been sentenced for the 1977-78 offences after being found guilty of three counts of indecent assault and four of unlawful sexual intercourse.” “It’s astonishing that he went back to the ministry having gone to jail for abusing an altar boy,” said South Australian District Court Judge Sydney Tilmouth. While he was on trial in 2009, it was reported that Dennis had told John Hepworth, former Archbishop of the Anglican Catholic Church of Australia, that he had “molested more than 40 boys after one tried to blackmail him,” after which Hepworth “contacted police and helped to organise Dennis a lawyer.” Story: Adelaide Now, August 18, 2009; Sydney Morning Herald, February 25, 2010; ABC News, April 8, 2010; ABC News, December 15, 2010; Adelaide Now, December 18, 2010; Broken Rites, undated (more…)

Because there’s no way we can track every sex crime and scandal in the Roman Catholic church — so we’ll just give you the headlines. Of the following, however, the more interesting cases may end up with their very own Conservative Babylon entries.

Thomas Adamson
• Archdiocese seeks $64K in abuse case, Star Tribune, November 24, 2010

David Ajemian
• Priest charged with harassing local TV newscaster, Boston Globe, November 19, 2010
• Previous coverage, Conservative Babylon: November 7, 2010

Emil Boutin, Jr., a.k.a. “Father Mike”
• Another hearing scheduled for suspended Blessed Sacrament priest, Wicked Local, December 13, 2010 (more…)

Remember Mark Buesgens, Republican Minnesota House Rep & former campaign manager for defeated gay-hating Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, who, following the lead of his ex-boss, was arrested in September for drunk driving?

The bad news is that Buesgens managed to keep his state seat — although he did resign (actually, it sounds like he was forced to resign) as chair of the House State Government and Finance Committee, and quit his extracurricular work as a GOP strategist. (more…)

Dr. Ondrej Trojan, a Czech doctor involved with the controversial “erotic lie detector” tests used to assess gay applicants for asylum, was fined for offering to masturbate in front of a patient.

Full scoop at The Advocate. (more…)

When it rains, it pours. This little nugget — “Bishop Eddie Long Target of Secret Service Investigation for Questionable Mortgage Loans” — just in from RollingOut.com:

Bishop Eddie L. Long is in the news once again after it was revealed that he’s being investigated by the U.S. Secret Service for being linked to a “questionable mortgage venture” that caused many church members to lose their homes.

Oh, dear. Oh, dearie, dearie, dear.

On Thursday night, hours before passing the tax cut compromise, House Republicans thwarted a bill that aimed to protect girls around the world from being coerced into child marriage. They opposed it because, they claimed, it might fund abortions.

The whole, ugly, disgusting, appalling story:

“House GOP Crushes Bill That Would Protect Against Child Marriage,” TPMMuckraker, December 20, 2010

Because we could spend 24/7 tracking the sins of right-wing religionists (especially “youth pastors”) and never get caught up. Of the following, the more interesting cases will probably end up with their very own Conservative Babylon entries.

Arrested: Sandra Arreola, 51, of Palm Desert, California, former accounting manager, Visalia First Assembly of God, Visalia, California, and charged with embezzling $2.1 million from her church over a six-year period, as well as money laundering and “white-collar crime enhancement” (in which a sentence can be enhanced, or increased, when there is a pattern of similar felonies). Currently being held on $1 million bail, Arreola, who is believed to have spent the money on several businesses and property on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, and to pay off credit-card debt, has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Story: Fresno Bee, December 16, 2010; CBS47, December 16, 2010 (more…)

Video after the jump.

Major scandal in the making:

Tax-exempt housing allowances make up almost half of the compensation given to Schuller family members and insiders who own homes in Newport Coast, Laguna Beach, Hawaii and even the infamous $1.8 million Colorado mansion where child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey was murdered.

According to the Crystal Cathedral’s most recent bankruptcy court filings, a total of $832,940 in housing allowances were given to the families of all five children of the megachurch’s founder Robert H. Schuller as well as a few top executives.

Much more from the OC Register: “Crystal Cathedral gave insiders $832,000 for housing,” December 7, 2010 (more…)

Well, we know how we caught it — it was mentioned in the same breath in several accounts of Amy Locane’s (a.k.a. Amy Locane-Bovenizer) recent indictment on charges of aggravated manslaughter and assault by automobile. But, as Amy Locane has never shown herself to be a right-wing hypocrite, we’ll skip the former “Melrose Place” first-season co-star’s tragic predicament, and see what Heather Locklear, one-time “Republican Babe of the Week” has been up to since her last bust, in 2008. (more…)

“I’m not suppose to talk to anybody. I was told to just stay quite, stay out of it. … I’m not talking to anybody…Thank you very much.”

— Accused Knights of Columbus
youth leader Juan “Julian” Rivera
“Knights of Columbus sex abuse scandal continues“
ValleyCentral.com, December 16, 2010

(more…)