Ted Cox is a Sacramento writer who follows the gay “conversion” movement: Organizations that claim to “cure” gays of their homosexuality. This week we’re running excerpts from his report of an undercover visit to a weekend retreat held near Phoenix last year. The entire article is available online.

Some details have been altered to protect the identities of participants.

One-by-one, the “Journeyers” (as participants are called) in our small group take turns reenacting painful childhood memories. Jason, a baby-faced, barely-out-of-college guy, struggles for a minute to come up with something. Then, finally, he half-heartedly recounts the time he tried to get his dad’s attention. But Dad rebuffed him, saying that he was busy reading the newspaper.

“So what message did you internalize from your dad that day?” prods the “Guide,” a staff member.

Again, Jason struggles. “That he wanted to read the paper?” We chuckle.

The Guide fills in the blanks. “He was telling you that the newspaper was more important than his son.”

Read more »

Our fact-checking for the following consists of desperately wanting it to be true:

Dominic Deville stalks young victims for a week, sending chilling texts, making prank phone calls and setting traps in letterboxes.

He posts notes warning children they are being watched, telling them they will be attacked.

But Deville is not an escaped lunatic or some demonic monster.

He is a birthday treat, hired by mum and dad, and the ‘attack’ involves being splatted in the face with a cake.

‘The child feels more and more that it is being pursued,’ said Deville.

Feels?

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Although it was founded in 1972, the organization Feminists for Life (FFL) gained its largest to-date profile in mainstream media and the general public when John Roberts was nominated to be Supreme Court Chief Justice and it was disclosed that his wife Jane was the former Executive Vice President of the organization.  Our South Asian correspondent Nabisco recently mentioned them in a posting here, with the predictable resulting thought of many of “Feminists for What?”

So who are they? Let’s take a look, shall we?

Read more »

You’re going to need the new Stinque Rimshot Button for this…

Try the Veal:

[ Flash video not available, but the Rimshot Button’s in the sidebar. ]

[Daily News, via DodgerBlue]

Or if you want to pull out another Sixties chestnut, Sgt. Stein is a “meteorologist for the base’s 1st Marine Expeditionary Force” — a Weatherman…

A Camp Pendleton Marine is running smack up against the limits of what uniform-wearing Americans are allowed to say about their government after his Facebook page for “Armed Forces Tea Party Patriots” sparked concern among his superiors Tuesday.

Sgt. Gary Stein, 24, was set to do a television interview with MSNBC when he got called back to the base to go over the Pentagon’s directive on political activities. Stein chose to remove the page, launched three weeks ago, until he has reviewed his obligations under military code.

No worries, the page is back up. And we’re cool at Stinque World Domination Headquarters — any revolt at the base has to fight I-5 traffic to reach us.

Marine scrutinized over Facebook page [San Diego Union-Tribune]

Armed Forces Tea Party [Facebook]

Left: The logo for the Nuclear Security Summit.

Right: Pakistan’s flag.

Haven’t we been here before?

Once again, conservatives see Muslim conspiracy in an administration logo [ThinkProgress]

Nobody on the Internet knows you’re Iggy.

[via a long chain ending with Blue Gal]