Last week Texas Gov. Rick Perry did something very unusual these days.
He proclaimed Saturday, Aug. 6, “a day of prayer and fasting for our nation to seek God’s guidance and wisdom in addressing the challenges that face our communities, states and nation.”
Perry also invited the governors of all 50 states to join him at Houston’s Reliant Stadium that day.
When I heard about this, I thought, “What a good idea. Our nation is in serious trouble. This is what George Washington did. This is what other great American leaders did when our country was facing dire threats and adversity. This is what the Bible prescribes for nations facing judgment – nations like Nineveh.”
And then I thought, “I wonder how those divisive enemies of God are going to come after Perry for doing this.”
Here’s the answer.
From coast to coast, the news media are attacking Perry in news stories, editorials and personal commentaries. From the New York Times to the Washington Post to perhaps the most vicious of all assaults in the Houston Chronicle.
And, of course, the common denominator in all the Sturm and Drang is what, in other circumstances and with other political personalities, would be called “guilt by association.” Even worse though, in this case, it’s guilt by association and outright lies.
For instance, the Houston Chronicle challenges the sponsor of the event, the American Family Association, by saying, “There could hardly be a more divisive, unforgiving group. …” On what basis does it form this assumption? “According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which names AFA a hate group, it’s intolerant of gays and other religions and its leaders make outrageous claims, including that ‘homosexuals are the true inventors of Nazism and the guiding force behind many Nazi atrocities’ and that homosexuality will usher in a ‘grotesque culture’ that will include ‘quick encounters in the middle school boys’ restroom.'”
That’s the Houston Chronicle’s authority on the AFA – the Southern Poverty Law Center. Do you know who else this group, long-ago discredited as nothing more than a fear-mongering fund-raising machine, lists as haters and hate groups? Here’s a partial list: me, WND, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, the tea-party movement, Rep. Michele Bachmann, Gun Owners of America, the Family Research Council, Judge Andrew Napolitano, James Dobson, Rep. Paul Broun and Rep. Ron Paul.
In other words, if you are an effective, pro-family, pro-marriage, pro-Constitution American, you are probably on one of the SPLC’s “hate” lists. And that’s why AFA is there.
That the Houston Chronicle and other esteemed press outlets would use the SPLC as a source to mischaracterize the American Family Association is an indictment of who is writing and editing news stories and editorials for the major media – that’s all.
Who is the SPLC? I think Reason writer Jesse Walker may have said it best when he wrote: “The Southern Poverty Law Center … would paint a box of Wheaties as an extremist threat if it thought that would help it raise funds.”
Founder Morris Dees’ stock-in-trade is raising hundreds of millions of dollars through fanning the flames of phantom threats posed almost exclusively by those who love America and its Constitution. He also files lots of lawsuits, sometimes even on behalf of real victims of racism, and pockets most of the money raised through heart-wrenching direct-mail pitches.
The most famous example was a judgment he won for a black woman whose son was killed by the Ku Klux Klan. While Dees and company raised $9 million sending out solicitation letters featuring a gruesome picture of the victim, the mom received a total of $51,875 in the settlement. Dees pays himself more than $280,000 a year from the “charity.”
Do you get the picture?
Nevertheless, sadly, the reckless, hysterical and baseless reports of Morris Dees and the SPLC continue to be peddled like cheap wine at a frat-house party in venues like the New York Times and Houston Chronicle.
It’s time for Americans to decide where they stand, with whom they stand and for what they stand.
Do you like the idea of a national day of prayer and fasting to seek God’s guidance and wisdom in addressing the challenges that face our communities, states and nation?
If so, stand with Gov. Rick Perry, the American Family Association and me.
If not, maybe you should call your own meeting and invite Morris Dees, Rachel Maddow and the editorial page editor of the Houston Chronicle.
Sound like a plan?
Read more: “Farah v. Morris Dees“
