New York Times subtly plants anti-Mormon seeds

While the current debate rages about Hilary Rosen's comments about Ann Romney never working a day her life, an article in the New York Times by Geoffrey Kabaservice is planting seeds of concern about Mitt's Mormon faith. Kabaservice is walking a fine line between presenting information about Mormonism and doing so while not appearing bigoted.

Many of the problems various people have with Mormonism are found in the religion's early years. Kabaservice, no doubt, understands this and focuses on the Romney family's connection to those early years.

Via NYT:

...“The Real Romney” leaves an unsettling impression. Romney’s peculiar misfortune is that the things that defined him have become liabilities in his presidential pursuit, leading him to minimize or repudiate his own beliefs, legacy and accomplishments. Even as he shifts into the front-runner’s role, he is running on who he is not — namely, Barack Obama — rather than on who he is, and cannot stand openly for the things that matter most to him. If Obama is our first post-racial president, Romney, with his strategy of absences and denials, bids to become our first postmodern president.

Romney’s political problems begin, in a basic sense, with his family history. The authors trace the intertwined histories of Romney’s ancestors and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, beginning with his great-great-grandfather Miles Archibald Romney, who became an early convert to Mormonism in 1837. Mitt’s great-grandfather had undertaken the pioneer journey to the Utah Territory as a boy, and when he refused to abandon what Mormons considered the divinely ordained practice of “plural marriage” — he had three wives at that point — he fled federal agents to establish a colony in Mexico; the family remained there after the Mormon Church agreed to ban po­lygamy in 1890 as a condition of Utah’s gaining statehood.

Why is that relevant? Kabaservice explains just a few paragraphs later:

His upstanding life fails to win Romney the political credit that would normally extend to such a paragon, because many people do not understand or approve of the religion that inspires him. Over the last several years, about a quarter of Americans have told poll takers they would not vote for a Mormon. Liberals are skeptical of a religion that until 1978 refused to grant full membership to anybody with even one drop of African blood and still bars women from the priesthood. Mormon leaders have supported extreme right-wing organizations like the John Birch Society, denounced the theory of evolution, condemned much of American popular culture, and led the fights against the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and the gay marriage movement over the past decade. Christian conservatives might be expected to support Mormonism’s political agenda, but many believe that the religion is not Christian but a heretical and even satanic cult. Because of this opposition from both left and right, Romney is forced to play down his distinctive heritage, resorting instead to generalized expressions of faith and patriotism.

There you go. Kabaservice touches on Mormonism having a racist past that necessarily included Mitt's ancestors. Look for the mainstream media to pick up on that little part about barring women from the priesthood - after Hilary Rosen's comments play out.

Kuhner: The Black Klan

Jeffrey Kuhner is pulling no punches in his latest piece. Comparing the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) to the KKK is a bold move but Kuhner goes there. Read his article at the Washington Times and see if you can reach a different conclusion.

Black supremacy is on the march. It is a poison that is spreading across our society, meeting little to no resistance. This must change. Otherwise, America will confront the real prospect of racial conflict.

The New Black Panthers are the tip of the spear. They champion black supremacy, hatred of whites, and militant Islam. They are the black version of the Ku Klux Klan — bigoted thugs who practice vigilantism and mob rule. They placed a $10,000 bounty for the capture of George Zimmerman — “dead or alive” — for the killing of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old black teenager. Their actions threaten the rule of law. Placing bounties on people’s heads is an invitation to lawlessness and murder. It has no place in a civilized society.

Recently, on their radio show. the New Black Panthers called for a race war. In an April 6 broadcast, Chawn Kweli, the party’s national spokesman, said that “true revolution means some bloodshed.” In particular, he championed the racial cleansing of American whites.

“And there are those who wish they could stand in this hour, to see the destruction of the devil’s world and the devil’s society …” Mr. Kweli said. “I’m talking about that blond-haired, blue-eyed, sometimes brown-eyed Caucasian walking around with a mind-set, a demonistic mind-set, and a nature to do evil and brutality.”

On that same broadcast, the Panthers’ chief of staff, Michelle Williams, demanded that blood be spilled for Trayvon’s shooting. “Let me tell you, the things that’s about to happen, to these honkeys, these crackers, these pigs, these pink people, these ---- people,” she said in an interview. “It has been long overdue.”

Notice how Kuhner makes reference to militant Islam being something that the NBPP champions. No one has enslaved blacks over the centuries more than Islamists. Isn't it curious that the NBPP is aiding them?

Read it all.

Hillary Clinton Overrules Congress; releases aid to... Muslim Brotherhood?

Examples of the Obama administration's never-ending sympathy for Muslim Brotherhood groups and causes just keep mounting. The latest involves the Secretary of State pulling rank over something that doesn't really come under her purview - the release of funds placed on hold by Congress. In light of the familial connections that Hillary Clinton's closest aide - Huma Abedin - has to the Muslim Brotherhood (Huma's mother is a leader with the Muslim Sisterhood), some hard questions must be asked of Clinton.

Via National Journal:

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is allowing U.S. funds to flow to the West Bank and Gaza despite a hold by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., a rare display of executive-branch authority that angered the key lawmaker concerned about protecting her congressional oversight role.

A State Department official said that a letter was delivered on Tuesday to key members of Congress informing them of Clinton's decision to move forward with the $147 million package of the fiscal year 2011 economic support funds for the Palestinian people, despite Ros-Lehtinen's hold. Administrations generally do not disburse funding over the objections of lawmakers on relevant committees.

The funds deliver "critical support to the Palestinian people and those leaders seeking to combat extremism within their society and build a more stable future. Without funding, our programs risk cancellation," the official, who was not authorized to speak about the issue, said in an e-mail. "Such an occurrence would undermine the progress that has been made in recent years in building Palestinian institutions and improving stability, security, and economic prospects, which benefits Israelis and Palestinians alike.”

Gaza is run by Hamas, a Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated group. It's long past time for an investigation into the loyalties Anthony Weiner's wife and Hillary's closest aide - Huma - to take place.

h/t GWP