The Republican Party has a huge problem on their hands. They are quickly being taken over by the most extreme, paranoid, fringe elements in our society and this case is just another glaring example of the path they are on:

BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho Republican Party leader who helped oust the state GOP chairman in 2008 faces charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after an altercation escalated while he photographed a home with a delinquent mortgage.

Challis McAffee, 33, the GOP chairman from the Boise suburb of Garden City and one of 231 voting members of the Idaho Republican Central Committee, was in Ada County jail after being accused of pointing a gun at the homeowner.

McAffee, a backer of libertarian-leaning former GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul and an activist in this year's anti-big-government "Tea Party" protests, helped organize Paul backers who aligned at last June's Idaho State Republican Convention in Sandpoint with other foes of then-state GOP Chairman Kirk Sullivan. Sullivan was voted from office in favor of Norm Semanko.

According to police in the Boise suburb of Meridian, resident Robert Lutes called officers just before 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to report McAffee had pointed a .357 Magnum handgun at him during a verbal confrontation. McAffee acknowledged he pointed the gun at Lutes, according to the police account.

"I'm unarmed, I'm an old man," Lutes, 51, told The Associated Press on Thursday. "I'm trying to find out why he's taking pictures of my house. I said, 'Knock on my door, let me know what you want.' Then, I think he's reaching for his business card and he pulls out a concealed weapon and I think he's going to blow my head off." Read on...

A group calling itself Idahoans for Liberty is trying to raise bond money for McAffee, but their version doesn't line up with the police account.

David Seaton's News Links: October Surprise

Anchorage Press: True Lies

his vorpal sword: Into the West

cab drollery: Brain Freeze

The American Prospect: Wingnut explanation for the subprime crisis: Libruls made us give loans to the colored people

HOLY CRAP: Muslim children gassed after "Obsession" DVD hits Ohio...Three more Texas polygamists indicted...Donohue defends Palin because witchcraft is real...They need this miraculous spray...Lying hypocrite to teach religion at Yale...Evangelist arrested in child porn case...Continuing cynical manipulation of religious voters, but ‘Pulpit Freedom Sunday' looks like a dud...Pastor Badass...Creationists left out of Vatican evolution conference...Short takes...Being Religulous...Distinguishing between Religion and Fundamentalism...Evangelicals for Obama car magnets...

Another day and another sex scandal.

Evangelist Tony Alamo was arrested Thursday in Flagstaff, Arizona, on charges related to a child porn investigation, an FBI spokesman said.

The 74-year-old founder and leader of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries was arrested without incident at 2:45 p.m. (4:45 p.m. ET) as he was departing the Little America Hotel with his wife, said Manuel Johnson, spokesman for the FBI in Phoenix, Arizona.

The FBI, the Flagstaff Police Department and the Arizona Department of Public Safety were involved in the arrest, he said.

Alamo was charged under a federal statute with having knowingly transported a minor across state lines with the intent to engage in sexual activity, Johnson said...read on

We've posted about artist Chris Jordan's work before. Here's his latest. It's an 8 foot by 25 foot mural in five panels showing the heading of the Constitution, rendered entirely with 83,000 pictures of Abu Ghraib prisoners, equal to the number of people who have been arrested and held at US-run detention facilities with no trial or other due process of law, during the Bush Administration's war on terror. Click here to see a close up.

The trailer to Oliver Stone's upcoming film about President George W. Bush, draws on his "heavy partygoer" days.

CBS:

The movie appears to portray the young Mr. Bush as a beer-drinking, hard-partying screw up who looks chastened during a lecture from his father, George H.W. Bush.

"If I remember correctly, you didn't like the sporting goods job," the elder Bush says in the trailer. "Working in the investment firm wasn't for you either, or the oil rig job. You didn't exactly finish up with flying colors in the Air National Guard, junior."

Though Stone's depiction seems sure to draw some criticism, Bush has "openly admitted to past drinking problems" and to having done "things as a youth that he was not proud of." Despite a few appearances that could plausibly suggest otherwise, Bush has long claimed to have gone "cold turkey in July 1986" and not had a drink since.

Also, you may recall a couple of weeks back when two members of the cast of Stone's movie, including Josh Brolin, the actor playing "W," were arrested following a bar fight in Shreveport, Louisiana that apparently began after "a couple of good 'ol boys" taunted Brolin and co. with a "few profanity-laced barbs about Stone, his politics and the reported anti-Bush tone" of the film.

The Havana Note: Joe Lieberman will seek a pardon for a convicted terrorist who led a bombing spree across Manhattan

DownWithTyranny! While we're on the subject of dangerous Republicrats...

Cogitamus: A Republican soldier caught in a lie? That's Unpossible!

Blue Girl, Red State: According to the Associated Press, this is what "winning the war" looks like: The enemy we have been fighting--and that has been killing Americans--has now been integrated into the government that we have been supporting with our blood and treasure.

HOLY CRAP: McCain's Catholic problem...Postcards From God...Jesus-crazed Republican legislator discovers wife-beating is unpopular...Iowa GOP (see:Evangelical) delegation blackballs Charles Grassley...The Great Desecration...Evangelical Christian tyranny is rife in the Military...Democratic National Convention to open with interfaith service led by Pentecostal minister...Methodist minister arrested in Karl Rove protest...Church v. State, Immigation Edition...How Archaeology killed Biblical History...White guys telling us what we need and deserve

Nicole posted about these casting choices back in May for Oliver Stone's new movie, W. The Stray Cat Bar in Shreveport, Louisiana was the site of a massive bar fight early Saturday morning which led to the arrest of two actors portraying President George W. Bush and former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Josh Brolin, 40, who portrays President Bush and Jeffrey Wright, 42, who depicts Colin Powell in Oliver Stone's upcoming film, "W," were taken into custody along with five others around 2 am. Apparently in casting Brolin as Bush, director Oliver Stone liked what he saw. In 2004, Brolin was arrested and charged with spousal battery for hitting his wife, award-winning actress Diane Lane. Brolin was later released after posting $20,000 bail. "There was a misunderstanding at their home," explained the couple's spokesperson Kelly Bush.

You can't make this stuff up folks.

And Doctor Biobrain's Response Is...: How McCain stopped the FARCing bullsh*t

Nieman Watchdog: Frustration in the Army officer corps

Sadly, No! Wouldn't G-Dub make an awesome high school government teacher?

his vorpal sword: Trivial Pursuit - Schizophrenic Edition

The Opinion Mill's Weekend Bookchat: Authors speak on Roger Ailes, Karl Rove and the government's imprisonment of dissidents. Plus a peek at the Progressive Book Club launch party, a schoolteacher suspended for using the Freedom Writers in his classroom and Ahmed Rashid talks about the coming change in jihaidsm.

HOLY CRAP: My financial records "belong to God"...Who would've predicted the Religious Right would support the GOP nominee?...Asking God to intervene on gas prices...Bush edits out Jefferson's religious views...Clueless ideologues ...God arrested near Tampa church...Obama sets off debate on ties between religion and politics...Bloggers And Blasphemy...And finally...

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

Stephen Colbert skewers the Terror Watchlist by speaking to Hasan Elahi, who remains on the Watchlist despite being cleared of all charges and who has resorted to an innovative way to respond to those federal watchdogs.

My favorite terrorist is Hasan Elahi. Just saying his name makes my heart go up one Terror Alert level. Why Elahi? Well, to begin with, he’s innocent. A quality so rare in someone so guilty. You see, in 2002, Elahi was detained by the FBI on suspicion of hoarding explosives in a Florida storage unit. Turns out, he didn’t have any explosives. In fact, he was the only person in Florida without gunpowder. But the FBI refused to give Elahi a written letter clearing him of suspicion because he refused to change his name, religion and skin color. Instead, they just asked him to “check in” with them periodically. And here’s where I really like this guy: for the last six years, Elahi has taken the burden off government surveillance by surveilling himself. Everyday, Elahi takes hundreds of photos of his whereabouts and sends them to the FBI. Pictures of the airports he travels through, the bathrooms he visits, even the meals he eats. With these pictures, he’s ensuring that he’ll never be arrested on suspicion of terror, though by judging by some of the meals he’s eating, Gitmo might be an improvement.

Today in US History, 1925: John Scopes was arrested in Dayton, Tennessee for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution to his high school biology class. h/t This Week in Peace History.

Open thread below...