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Perry’s association with hate groups nothing new
Dallas Voice ^ | June 28, 2011 | Daniel Williams

Posted on 07/07/2011 3:13:37 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

Gov. Rick Perry’s planned Aug. 6 day of prayer and fasting, “the Response,” has garnered a range or reactions over the last month, from Houston clergy expressing concern about the blurring of lines between church and state, to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force decrying the rally as “profoundly harmful.” What almost every denouncement of “the Response” has in common is shock that the governor would align himself with the American Family Association, an organization listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group.

For those who’ve followed Perry’s political career closely, however, his connections with a notorious hate group are just par for the course.

The Southern Poverty Law Center is a pro-bono legal firm and civil rights advocacy group. Since shortly after its founding in 1971 the SPLC has declared certain groups “hate groups” based on the groups’ perpetuation of inaccurate and harmful information about communities fighting for their civil rights. In the case of anti-gay groups the SPLC places organizations on the list of hate groups for “their propagation of known falsehoods — claims about LGBT people that have been thoroughly discredited by scientific authorities — and repeated, groundless name-calling. Viewing homosexuality as unbiblical does not qualify organizations for listing as hate groups.”

Perry publicly aligned himself with the AFA as early as 2005, when AFA founder Don Wildmon was invited to participate in a signing ceremony celebrating the passage of Texas’ constitutional amendment defining marriage as between “one man and one woman.” The governor’s signature is not required on constitutional amendments. In fact, the executive branch of Texas government can neither propose nor approve constitutional provisions. That didn’t stop Perry from conducting a media event designed to take credit for the amendment’s passage. Perry selected Calvary Christian Academy in Fort Worth as the venue for the event, despite concerns that holding an (albeit superfluous) government ceremony in a religious facility strayed dangerously close to violating the separation between church and state. Also invited to the ceremony was former Louisiana State Rep. Tony Perkins, president of another group on the SPLC’s list, the Family Research Council.

The Family Research Council was formally a part of founder James Dobson’s far-right media empire, Focus on the Family. In 1992 the organizations formally split due to concerns that FRC’s political activities might endanger Focus on the Family’s nonprofit status, but the two groups retain close ties, with Dobson serving on both organizations’ boards (both Dobson as an individual and FRC as an organization would go on to endorse Perry in the 2010 election). Perkins has served as the FRC’s president since 2003.

One of the speakers before Perry’s extraneous signing of the amendment was Rod Parsley, a Pentecostal faith healer and televangelist. Parlsey provided the audience with several “facts” about homosexuality: “Only 1 percent of the homosexual population in America will die of old age,” said Parsley. “The average life expectancy for a homosexual in the United States of America is 43 years of age. A lesbian can only expect to live to be 45 years of age. Homosexuals represent 2 percent of the population, yet today they’re carrying 60 percent of the known cases of syphilis.”

Although Parsley gave no source for his supposed “facts,” the information is taken from a widely discredited study conducted in 1994 by the Family Research Institute, another hate group on the SPLC’s list. The FRI is headed by Dr. Paul Cameron. Cameron’s numerous discredited studies attacking LGBT people have earned him the scorn of the scientific community, losing him his membership in both the American Psychological Association and the American Sociological Association (the ASA said Parsley “consistently misinterpreted and misrepresented sociological research on sexuality, homosexuality and lesbianism”).

As Parsley presented his “facts,” Gov. Perry smiled in tacit approval, later beaming when Parsley went on to thank him for “protecting the children of Texas from the gay agenda.” Neither the governor nor any other organization involved in the signing ceremony issued a retraction or apologized for disseminating misinformation.

Perry’s inclusion of the AFA and FRC in his faux signing ceremony helped elevate the national profile of both organizations. In 2008, when Perry published his book, On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts are Worth Fighting For, he would turn to both organizations for help with its promotion. On My Honor presents the history of the Boy Scouts as grand myth, complete with divine intervention guiding lost travelers through the fog so they can meet and preserve an institution that Perry claims is crucial to American prosperity. However, the real purpose of the book is to decry what Perry sees as a “legal assault” on the Boy Scouts, namely the efforts to remove taxpayer support of the Scouts so long as they maintain their discriminatory policies against LGBT people. Both the AFA’s Wildmon and Ken Blackwell, senior fellow at the FRC, provided glowing promotional quotes for the book which can still be read on the official website.

Perry reunited with the AFA and the FRC in September 2009 when he was a featured speaker at the “Value Voters Summit,” co-sponsored by both groups and another group on the SPLC’s hate list: the Traditional Values Coalition. Founded in 1980, the TVC claims to speak on behalf of 43,000 churches and lobbies in opposition to LGBT rights and reproductive freedom. Founder Lou Sheldon was quoted in a 1992 Washington Times article as saying: “Homosexuals are dangerous. They proselytize. They come to the door, and if your son answers and nobody is there to stop it, they grab the son and run off with him. They steal him. They take him away and turn him into a homosexual.” Sheldon disputes the quote. The TVC dismisses concern about suicide by LGBT teens on its website, claiming “teens who are struggling with homosexual feelings are more likely to be sexually molested by a homosexual school counselor or teacher than to commit suicide over their feelings of despair.”

In his speech at the Values Voters Summit, Perry trotted out the old conservative war horses of family values and small government conservatism. He also took the opportunity in his speech to make a most peculiar reading suggestion: The Five Thousand Year Leap by Cleon Skousen. Skousen is the founder of the ubiquitously named National Center for Constitutional Studies. Last spring the SPLC wrote an extensive profile of the NCCS and its attempts to rewrite American history to conform to an apocalyptic vision based on fringe Mormon theology.

The Five Thousand Year Leap, which Fox “news” commentator Glen Beck described as “divinely inspired,” lays out a strategy for turning the U.S. into 50 loosely confederated theocracies with little to no federal government. Six years after the book’s 1981 publication, Skousen revised and condensed its claims in a book titled The Miracle of America. In Miracle, Skousen described the white slave owners of America’s ante bellum south as the “worst victims” of slavery, labeled African-American children as “pickaninnies” and expressed sympathy for southerners who defended “white civilization” from the threat of slave revolts.

Both Leap and Miracle are still published by the NCCS. Recent editions, however, have had the most overtly racist passages excised.

Considering Perry’s close ties with the FRC, it’s no surprise that he received their endorsement in the 2009 governor’s race. They joined a long list of far-right organizations and leaders including the state director of the Texas chapter of Concerned Women for America, Ann Hettinger. CWA is not considered a hate group by the SPLC, but has been profiled in the SPLC publication Intelligence Report due to their homophobic propaganda. In 2009, the same year Perry accepted the endorsement of their state director, the CWA’s national office accused the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) of recruiting children, warning “teaching students from a young age that the homosexual lifestyle is perfectly natural … will [cause them to] develop into adults who are desensitized to the harmful, immoral reality of sexual deviance.”

Hettinger’s endorsement makes sense in light of Perry’s assistance in promoting the CWA. In 2008, when Perry held a press conference to promote the creation of a Texas “Choose Life” license plate, he did so with representatives of the CWA by his side. Perry’s prepared speech for the event specifically mentions the CWA and his pleasure at their attendance. That seems to be a pattern for Perry. He’ll invite a group like the AFA, FRC or CWA to one of his press events, talk them up and help them receive public attention. Then, or within the next few years, he enthusiastically accepts that group’s endorsement for public office.

“The Response ” is different than Rick Perry’s other partnerships with hate groups. While comparable in scale to the 2009 Values Voters Summit, and similar in sponsorship to the 2005 staged “signing ceremony,” the timing of this event is unique. In the past Perry seems to have reserved his associations with the likes of the AFA, FRC, FRI, TVC, NCCS and CWA for years that led up to the Texas gubernatorial races in 2006 and 2010. Perry doesn’t face re-election again until 2014, so why is he brushing up his far-right bona-fides so early?

Rumors persist that Perry plans to enter the 2012 presidential race, and he did nothing to quash them by saying he is “thinking about” running. If he does run, this partnership with the AFA would be consistent with his previous campaign pattern. When media commentators warn that the Aug. 6 event in Houston is a precursor to Perry running for president, it’s this pattern they are noticing. If Perry runs it’s a safe bet that the AFA and the other organizations co-sponsoring the event will reward him for his promotional assistance with endorsements. It’s also a safe bet that Perry will use the homophobia of the AFA’s members to scare them into voting for him.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Extended News; Philosophy; Politics/Elections; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: rickperry; texas; theresponse
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To: octex
The MSM will be in lock-step with this attack on GOP primary candidates.

RE: "...Gardasil thing and the TTC...."

[ July 6, 2011 Christian Post]….While Perry has a good relationship with social conservatives, they have not always seen eye to eye. In 2007, Perry proposed requiring all school-aged girls to receive the HPV vaccine. Concerned Women for America was one of the groups that thought that the vaccine should carry an opt-in provision, in which parents would sign their kids up to receive the free vaccination, rather than Perry's proposed opt-out provision, in which all female school children would automatically receive the vaccine unless their parents explicitly requested that they not receive the vaccine.

Ann Hettinger, Concerned Women for America's state director of Texas, was instrumental in convincing Perry to change his proposal to an opt-in provision. When asked if Perry's original plans for the HPV vaccine would be an issue if he were to run for president, Nance replied, “It would've been an issue if he had not fixed it.”….. [Ann Hettinger is mentioned in the above rant].

About the TTC and border security:

June 29, 2011: Roger Hedgecock interview with Rick Perry (starts 1/2 way into audio file)

**********

One point about the TTC the reaction to it smacks of the 40 year war against the ICC in Maryland (now almost complete). The environmentalists (watermelons) are the most rabid opponents on these infrastructure programs.

What I recently wrote to another poster on the so-called "Trans-Texas Corridor" [currently old route 35]

"ICCtheWay" -- "It made me laugh to see your FR name. When we were in Maryland it took the election of a lot of new people, along with a Republican governor to get the ICC (Inter County Connector) finished and a sealed deal. It's construction should be about complete.

For close to 50 years ENVIRONMENTALISTS fought tooth and nail and hammer and sickle but in the end they lost."

21 posted on 07/07/2011 3:46:35 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: 9YearLurker

Its a RINO- and DNC-thing. Fake. Fake. Fake. Fake. Fake.


22 posted on 07/07/2011 3:47:13 AM PDT by Diogenesis (Nothing surpasses the complexity of the human mind. - Leto II: Dar-es-Balat)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Mandated, it was.

Gardasil was to help Perry’s Chief of staff’s failing
company.

Perry should be ASHAMED of himself.


23 posted on 07/07/2011 3:48:28 AM PDT by Diogenesis (Nothing surpasses the complexity of the human mind. - Leto II: Dar-es-Balat)
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To: Diogenesis
Hey! If you slam Perry you are slamming our Sarah. And if you're slamming our Sarah you're slamming me and tens of millions of God-fearing Americans.

~spraying Diogenesis with Troll-Be-Gone~

24 posted on 07/07/2011 3:53:17 AM PDT by jla
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group.
That and a smoking gun will amount to evidence . . .

25 posted on 07/07/2011 3:54:41 AM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion (DRAFT PALIN)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Wrong. Gov. Palin is not linked to this:

"The vaccine, Gardasil, is manufactured by Merck,
which was represented in Austin by the lobbyist Mike Toomey,
who was chief of staff for Mr. Perry from 2002 to 2004. "


2007
On 2/7/07, the WSJ reported that Merck was desperate for cash.
With estimates that the settlements Merck will owe for its Vioxx litigation
will amount to approximately $970 million, and the expiration of some of its patents,
Merck faces a huge cash flow problem.
But if Gardasil is mandated, Merck will generate sales of approximately
$1 billion in the first year alone, with 5 year revenue projections of up to $4 billion"


2007
In 2007, when Texas governor Rick Perry issued
an executive order that all girls entering the 6th grade
would receive Gardasil, parents were furious.
Some argued that the vaccine would promote promiscuity.
The order was eventually overturned."


" Critics rip Perry's vaccine mandate
Governor rejects opponents' calls to reverse order
AUSTIN - Gov. Rick Perry stood firm Monday against a political firestorm generated by his
order that sixth-grade girls be inoculated against a sexually transmitted virus linked to cervical cancer.
Social conservatives from Texas to Washington called on Perry to reverse his order making
Texas the first state to require the vaccine, saying the mandate makes sex seem permissible
and that parents should be the ones to decide whether to immunize their daughters.
And several Texas lawmakers expressed outrage at Perry for circumventing the legislative process. "


"RP65 - Relating to the immunization of young women
from the cancer-causing Human Papillomavirus.
Friday, February 02, 2007 o Executive Order
BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF TEXAS
Rules.The Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner
shall adopt rules that mandate the age appropriate vaccination
of all female children for HPV prior to admission to the sixth grade."


The definition of mandate is a command by a person,
group, or organization (the 'mandator') to another
(the 'mandatary') to act in a particular way, or here
to ingest, inject, imbed a poison or other substance
they do not want and for which informed consent was
never taken.


BACKGROUND
There are over 40 Types of HPV, and 15 of them
have been linked to cervical cancer and/or genital warts.
Gardasil has been developed to vaccinate
against the 4 Types that have the highest
correlation with cancer and genital warts.
However, unlike the smallpox vaccine, for example,
Gardasil does not grant full immunity to those 4 Types of HPV.
Gardasil offers no protection against the other
11 strains of HPV that have been linked to cervical cancer. "


2009
Merck and the Gardasil Vaccine Show Us the Money
First there was the news that Gardasil sales had dropped by 16% in 2008.
As CNBC’s Mike Huckman bluntly put it,
“From the third quarter of last year to the fourth quarter
Gardasil sales fell off a cliff… Merck officials said part of the Gardasil problem
is that so many 11-18 year-old females have already been
inoculated that they're running out of new customers.
And the 19-26 year-old population continues to be a marketing challenge.”"


2010
The main problem with Gardasil seems to be the equivalent of a design flaw.
To be completely immunized, women have
to get a series of three shots over six months.
Many women don't.
The Centers for Disease Control reported in late
August that while 44% of teenagers received the HPV vaccine in 2009,
only 27% of them received all three doses of the shot.
Unfortunately, there isn't evidence to support
that getting only one shot effectively protects against cancer. "


2011
CDC: "As of June 22, 2011, approximately 35 million doses of Gardasil®
were distributed in the U.S. and VAERS received a total
of 18,727 reports of adverse events

As of June 22, 2011 there have been a total 68 VAERS reports
of death among those who have received Gardasil®."


"Foaming at the mouth, shock, seizures, paralysis,
coma-even death have been reported
as a result of taking the vaccine Gardasil from Merck ... "


"Gardasil Causes 400 Percent More Deaths than Other Common Vaccine
A federal report has concluded that the human papillomavirus (HPV)
vaccine Gardasil has a 400 percent higher rate of adverse effects
than another comparable vaccine, the Menactra anti-meningitis shot. "

26 posted on 07/07/2011 3:54:59 AM PDT by Diogenesis (Nothing surpasses the complexity of the human mind. - Leto II: Dar-es-Balat)
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To: all the best
A day of prayer and fasting! Yikes. That’s hate for sure. Or it just might be what we need.

If Michele Obama was serious about childhood obesity, she would join in.

27 posted on 07/07/2011 4:06:14 AM PDT by ALPAPilot
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To: 4rcane
Thank you for reminding me of something I should have posted sooner.

"Not God bless America! God Damn America!"

28 posted on 07/07/2011 4:13:38 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: samtheman

Or Bachmann or Palin or Santorum....


29 posted on 07/07/2011 4:17:17 AM PDT by wolfcreek (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lsd7DGqVSIc)
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To: Spktyr

You don’t say !!!!
Perry could use this attack as a fund raiser for me. I was rather ambivalent toward him before reading the article.


30 posted on 07/07/2011 4:28:40 AM PDT by aumrl (let's keep it real Conservatives)
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To: samtheman

Oh, thbpbpbpbpt.

The “gay” vote is very small and would never vote GOP unless it was, maybe, a “Log Cabin Republican.” The kind of Log and the kind of Cabin is left to your imagination. (But the organization name is real.)

The “black” vote would fare no better with almost any Republican — maybe Herman Cain could peel off another 10%. Not even Al Sharpton has any Perry-specific axe to grind.

Not to worry (but if you are being a troll begone).


31 posted on 07/07/2011 4:37:40 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Hawk)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Anybody that’s seen my postings for the past few months knows I’m far from being a fan of Perry, but this ‘attack’ is TOTAL BS. What right does the SPLC have to be definer of “Hate Groups” and why should ANYONE have to listen to them?

Let me know when he shows up on a KKK membership list, then I might take this HATE accusation a bit more seriously.


32 posted on 07/07/2011 4:41:26 AM PDT by BobL (PLEASE READ: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2657811/posts)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

SPLC is a hate group


33 posted on 07/07/2011 4:44:27 AM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. N.C. D.E. +12 ....( History is a process, not an event ))
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Sue the SLPC, and go after their funding.

Also the ACLU. Stop pampering these communists.

Organized crime IMO. Go after them.


34 posted on 07/07/2011 4:45:37 AM PDT by Cringing Negativism Network (SOAK THE GLOBALISTS. Globalists destroy US jobs.)
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To: samtheman

Under which Republican candidate will Obama not get the black and homo vote?


35 posted on 07/07/2011 4:47:01 AM PDT by Louis Foxwell (This IS my blog site.)
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To: samtheman

Hey, a clue ~ no matter who the Republican candidate is in 2012, Obama will get the black and gay vote.


36 posted on 07/07/2011 4:54:01 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

No “Barf Alert”? I was drinking tea while reading this tripe, and it would have been a shame had I hurled onto my keyboard.


37 posted on 07/07/2011 4:54:06 AM PDT by Scotsman will be Free (11C - Indirect fire, infantry - High angle hell - We will bring you, FIRE)
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To: samtheman

Evidently you did. LOL!


38 posted on 07/07/2011 4:55:37 AM PDT by Scotsman will be Free (11C - Indirect fire, infantry - High angle hell - We will bring you, FIRE)
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To: octex
He ran for office as a Democrat and was a Democrat while holding public office. Those are two things ~ then he was the Algore coordinator in Texas. That's three things.

He damaged a lot of good Republicans with that nonsense. He should have thought long and hard before giving his talents to the Democrats!

Uh, that's FOUR THINGS and that doesn't take us near Gardasil nor the TTC.

39 posted on 07/07/2011 4:57:03 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Keep up the posts, the Perry spammers are starting to crumble. I also see alot of non partisans (that is non Palin non Paul) supporters taking an honest open look at Perry.

I have fought liberals on many fronts, and as most Freepers know, this tactic (racist) is losing it's power as we confront them boldly with facts. I am starting to enjoy these weak kneed attacks. Smells like fear!

40 posted on 07/07/2011 4:57:14 AM PDT by normy (Don't take it personally, just take it seriously.)
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