Posts by Andy Birkey

At least 10 individuals attending Rep. Michele Bachmann’s “House Call” event to protest health care reform have been arrested outside an office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The protesters were among the several thousand Tea Party activists that Bachmann invited to storm the Capitol on Thursday.
“They were inside an office and didn’t leave,” Sgt. Kimberly [...]

Democrats blasted Rep. Michele Bachmann’s “House Call” rally against health care reform at the nation’s Capitol on Thursday. Dr. Maureen Reed’s campaign attacked Bachmann for sticking up for the health insurance lobby while the Democratic National Committee tried to paint Bachmann as the voice of the Republican Party.

The two leaders of evangelical ministry You Can Run But You Cannot Hide (YCR) have chastised President Obama twice in the past two weeks for appearing at public school assemblies in Chicago while he was a U.S. senator. Bradlee Dean and Jake McMillian complain that Obama used high schools to campaign. But they praise their [...]

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State is urging the Internal Revenue Service to fix problems with its enforcement of laws against churches endorsing political candidates. In January, a Minnesota District Court judge ruled that the IRS did not have the proper procedures in place to investigate Living Word Christian Center, an investigation [...]

An aide to Rep. Michele Bachmann quit her communications position, Politico reported on Wednesday. Michelle Marston had been responsible for helping Bachmann get a copious amount of air time on cable news shows.
While Marston didn’t have much to say on the topic, an unnamed conservative Republican House member told Politico, “When your captain’s crazy, it’s [...]

Rep. Keith Ellison is urging members of Congress not to scrap the Goldstone report (pdf) on war crimes allegedly committed during the conflict culminating in December 2008 and January 2009 between Hamas and Israel. A resolution in Congress, backed by Republicans, would condemn the report, written by UN investigator Richard Goldstone, as unfriendly to Israel. [...]

Friday was historic for LGBT Americans as President Obama signed into law a hate crimes bill that includes sexual orientation and gender identity. But some among Minnesota’s religious right didn’t receive the news warmly, saying the law will bring the wrath of God down on America, that Obama is an “anti-Christian radical” and that the bill was a plot by “homosexuals” to silence Christians.

The Rev. Nate Bjorge quit his position with the First Lutheran Church in Little Falls last week after the church voted to remain a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The ELCA, the nation’s largest Lutheran denomination, voted to allow churches to roster gay and lesbian pastors at a meeting in Minneapolis [...]

The religious right has long railed against Halloween, condemning its pagan roots and claiming it promotes witchcraft and the occult. This year some groups are embracing the day as a time to reach kids with a pro-life and Christian message, while others use the day to burn “wicked” books and CDs. And one writer for Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network warns parents that witches curse Halloween candy.

On Nov. 9, the Citizens Council on Health Care will host a fundraiser with a woman who says Obama’s policies are similar to those that brought the rise of Nazi Germany and that Obama could be paving the way for the Antichrist. On Thursday, Rep. Michele Bachmann taped a glowing endorsement of the fundraiser.