Bob Marshall is the Virginia Republican legislator who recently made a name for himself by claiming that God punishes women who have abortions by giving them disabled children.

Now we have footage of the guy who introduced Marshall at last week’s anti-Planned Parenthood press conference in Richmond, and it ain’t pretty.

Rev. Joe Ellison – with Marshall at his back – vouched for Pat Robertson and said that God punished Haitians with an earthquake because they practice voodoo. Then he introduced Marshall as a "warrior who will fight for our cause." Two minutes later, Marshall made his infamous remarks about God punishing women who have abortions. Here's Ellison, in the video above:

"From a spiritual standpoint, we think the Dr. Robertson was on target about Haiti, in the past, with voodoo. And we believe in the Bible that the practice of voodoo is a sin, and what caused the nation to suffer. Those who read the Bible and study the history know that what Dr. Robertson said was the truth."

Does Marshall stand behind Ellison and his remarks on Haiti? He would no doubt say no. After all, he is running away from his own remarks and lashing out at the student-run Capital News Service, which broke the story and ran circles around veteran statehouse reporters.

But the video of Marshall’s remarks speaks for itself, and the Ellison video is the nail in the coffin. Both men – like Pat Robertson – believe that God exacts vengeance on those who do not follow their peculiar and ultraconservative interpretation of the Bible.

Marshall is entitled to his offensive views, but he should not run from them. Pat Robertson, if there’s one thing you can say about him, at least has the courage of his convictions.

All Spin Zone: America, 2008. Just like any other authoritarian regime.

Foolocracy: C&L contributor, Blue Gal, tipped me to this along with the observation:"Your typical Republican candidate. Way old and can't seem to keep it in his pants. Admits he wasn't good to his seven kids or three wives, but endorses tougher divorce standards."

The Carpetbagger Report: Fox News or Crime Family extortionists? What's the G.D. difference?

Huffington Post: GOP looks to redistrict itself back into power

iCrew: A new site where creative people help each other out. Writers, filmakers, musicians, craftsmakers, and anyone else who'd like to use "the wisdom of crowds" to do things better, faster, and more participatively should find iCrew an exciting and useful resource.

Our friend Tammy Booth, better known as Blue Girl, Red State, has won a scholarship to the Netroots Nation bloggers convention that is being held in Austin later this month. She's trying to raise some money toward the train ticket and living expenses while in Texas. Times are tough, but kick in a few bucks if you can via Paypal over at her site.

I took the kids to see Wall-E this weekend, and it struck me as a surprisingly layered work for a G-rated kids movie, something for which Pixar should be congratulated. It's also a cautionary tale, both ecologically/environmentally and for American passive consumerism. Set 700 years in the future, Earth is uninhabitable due to the amount of garbage (stacks of garbage reach as high as the skyscrapers) and humans live on an orbiting space station, waiting for Earth to come back to life. The space station itself is a Vegas-like cruise ship rendered only slightly more extreme than in reality, and the humans recline in floating lounges with TV screens in front of them, junk food in a slurpy cup easily available. In this environment, humans have become fat, weak and dull, unable to see anything around them but the screens, and isolated from each other.

Even if you don't have young children, the message alone--done with quite of bit of subtlety--makes the movie worth seeing. Don't miss the blending of themes from Hello Dolly!, 2001, and Brazil within the soundtrack.

Download | play Download | play (h/t Heather)

I try very hard to be tolerant of others' beliefs. I don't pretend to have all the answers and I certainly don't want to begrudge others answers that work for them. However, I draw the line at the whole false equivalence of the Intelligent Design/Evolution argument. In fact, even though I recognize it goes against the Constitution, I'm not sure that shouldn't be a test for elected office: If you feel that the idea of Intelligent Design (which can not be proven in any kind of scientific way) should be taught alongside with evolution (which is as much a theory as gravity is), then you do not belong in a position where you can make that decision.

Which makes Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal all that more frightening for being on the short list for the Republican Veepstakes. On Face the Nation, Jindal tells guest host Chip Reid that even though we should teach our kids at the highest levels of science, it's wrong to "withhold" from them the concept of Intelligent Design.

As a parent, when my kids go to schools, when they go to public schools, I want them to be presented with the best thinking. I want them to be able to make decisions for themselves. I want them to see the best data. I personally think that the life, human life and the world we live in wasn't created accidentally. I do think that there's a creator. I'm a Christian. I do think that God played a role in creating not only earth, but mankind. Now, the way that he did it, I'd certainly want my kids to be exposed to the very best science. I don't want them to be--I don't want any facts or theories or explanations to be withheld from them because of political correctness. The way we're going to have smart, intelligent kids is exposing them to the very best science and let them not only decide, but also let them contribute to that body of knowledge.

Really? Should we also let students "decide" on whether the theory of gravity makes more sense to them than the notion of a benevolent God moving us around on puppet strings? Does that contribute to the body of scientific knowledge?

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Old People's News: US residents in military brigs. Your governmnet says 'it's war.'

Gristmill: The USDA cravenly stops measuring the poisons used in US farming. Meanwhile, Germany has banned chemicals linked to honeybee devastation.

Corrente: Hillary's RFK/assassination gaffe inspired more of the molehills to mountains
reaction we've come to expect from the press - and many blogs. This seem appropriate.

Halfway There: Lots of first black presidents

Kids Prefer Cheese: Things to do in Denver when you're dead.

The Opinion Mill's Sunday Bookchat: For Memorial Day -- a book about America's finest hour, and a gauge of how badly America's moral standing has been soiled by the Bush administration. The man who prosecuted Charles Manson would like to do the same for King George II. And a new book argues that the problem with conservative foreign policy isn' the "foreign policy" part -- it's the "conservative" part.

Long-time readers know that I take a certain amount of pleasure in mocking Florida, where I was born and raised. There’s just something … unique about it.

Take, for example, a Tampa-area school firing a substitute teacher for doing a magic trick for his students.

The telephone call that spelled the end of Jim Piculas’ career as a substitute teacher in Pasco County came on a January day about a week after he performed the disappearing-toothpick trick for a group of rapt middle school students.

Pat Sinclair, who oversees substitute teachers in the Pasco County School District, was on the phone. She told Piculas there had been a complaint about his performance at Rushe Middle School in Land O’ Lakes.

He asked what she meant. “She said, ‘You’ve been accused of wizardry,’” Piculas said.

He said the statement seemed bizarre to him, like something out of Harry Potter.

Piculas said he replied, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He said he also told Sinclair, “It’s not black magic. It’s a toothpick.”

Oh sure, it’s a toothpick today. But what about tomorrow? What will we tell parents when a substitute teacher starts trying to do spells? Or shows kids pictures of Willow from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”? Or accidentally turns someone into a newt? Hmm?

As Piculas — who, as far as I know, is not a warlock — explained it, he got a call after doing his trick from the head of supervisor of substitute teachers. “He says, ‘Jim, we have a huge issue, you can’t take any more assignments you need to come in right away,’” Piculas said.

The disappearing tooth pick was, apparently, the “huge issue,” and led to the disappearing job.

No, it's not the latest ranting of Grampa McSame, but a news item my local San Francisco news affiliate carried. The context was a new way to combat the problem of loitering in high crime areas. The answer is a technology that struck me: "The Mosquito." an ultrasonic device that emits a high-pitched noise that only teenagers can hear.

Marketed under the banner "Kids Be Gone," the device emits a high-frequency modulated tone that has been likened to fingernails on a blackboard or a mosquito buzzing in the ear. Because the ability to hear higher frequencies fades with age, the Mosquito affects only people younger than about age 25. Also, according to the makers and various media reports, the sound does not annoy young children or dogs, only people in the 13 to 25 age bracket.[..]

A website focused on the Mosquito — www.kidsbegone.com — says studies have shown the device is safe and does not damage teenagers' hearing. The effective range is about 50 feet, according to the website.

In a sneaky twist, the same technology is available as a cellphone ring tone, alerting teens to calls that teachers, parents and other adults can't hear. The Kids Be Gone website has a link to the high frequency ring tone. In a test at The Courant, a 22-year-old said he could clearly hear the tone, while several staffers over age 25 heard nothing.

The technology rests with little tiny hair perceptors in our ears that usually die off by the age of 25. Although the manufacturers say that no permanent damage is done from The Mosquito, I'm a little wary of such assurances. The technology has been used in the UK and is now the subject of a protest for its indiscriminate use. (YouTube)

Altercation:

The Federici family and the E Street family have requested that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Danny Federici Melanoma Fund. The fund's website is now up and running, where it is described as "dedicated to the research and development of new and effective treatments for melanoma through funding for additional clinical trials based upon Danny's melanoma treatments and other methods headed by Dr. Paul Chapman [at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center]. Our other objective is to raise awareness for this aggressive disease."

I met Danny before he got back together with Springsteen's band in the 90's and he was a very kind and gentle man who really loved his music and his family.

Today is the anniversary of my mom's passing away. She suffered with Diabetes (a terrible disease) for many, many years which left her legally blind for a while and in April of 2003---she was diagnosed with a form of bone cancer that quickly spread throughout her body.

I was fortunate enough to talk with her on the phone for a few minutes the day before she died and I was able to tell her how much I loved her. She was barely lucid yet somehow knew I was on the phone. "I can hear you, Johnny. I'm not in pain," she said. " I'm proud of you." " I love you mom," was all I could say. "Johnny, I have to go," and then she drifted off.

She was like many Italian moms in New York, marrying a guy named Rocky and raising two kids in the early fifties. She valued family above all, was semi-religious and was one of the many working class moms that handled the checkbook and worked a second job whenever possible to help make ends meet.

She had an inner strength about her that I never really understood or appreciated until I started to have my own physical problems and made the rounds through our health care system. She had to take insulin twice a day just to stay alive and endured many experimental eye surgery's in Manhattan and Johns Hopkins in the early eighties just to try and stave off blindness---which in the end was the one thing that scared her the most. But she always fought through it and lived many years beyond the conventional medical predictions.

She died comfortably with my sister and father (they were married for over 50 years) at her side as I traveled to Florida to see her. I don't usually write these type of posts, but I just wanted to say, "I miss you, Mom."

03/12/1930--04/23/2004

Josephine Amato RIP

Jiminy Jilliker!: Mr. McCain? Your comments are not out of context, your context is the problem...

David Stephenson: A great idea I never thought of: put "in case of emergency" as a "person" in your cellphone directory. Make the number someone you want contacted if you're ever unconscious or worse... your cellphone may be the best and only way for first responders to contact your loved ones.

Zaius Nation: Happy Birthday (April 1) to Rachel Maddow, whose last name has the new meaning "verbally reduced to a pulp while the slayer maintains her class and cool", as in "Joe Scarborough got Maddowized."

"Off the beaten path, surprisingly not a Photoshop" edition: Make them Accountable, Dependable Renegade, Princess Sparklepony. Warning: Hide the kids and small pets, that last link shows Condolezza Rice at the gym. For real.

Blue Gal is covering for Mike through Monday. But hopefully you won't notice.

Topeka Capital Journal: (h/t J & BillW)

A federal judge in Maryland on Thursday ordered liens on the Westboro Baptist Church building and the Phelps-Chartered Law office.

If the case presided over by U.S. District Court Judge Richard D. Bennett is upheld by an appeals court, the church, at 3701 S.W. 12th, and the office building, at 1414 S.W. Topeka Blvd., could be obtained by the court and sold, with the proceeds being applied toward $5 million in damages Bennett imposed on church members for picketing a military funeral.

The $5 million penalty is the result of a lawsuit filed against three of the church's principals by Albert Snyder, the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder, whose funeral was picketed by church members. Read on...

It's too early to know how this will be resolved, but I'm hoping the appeals court upholds the ruling and the family of the fallen soldier prevails. These vile people drag their kids along to picket soldier's funerals and spread hatred around the country. For a good laugh check out this brave dude who Rick Roll'd the Phelps clan as they attempted to get their hate on.