When you lack facts—LIE!

I am always astounded at how the Religious Right will resort to open deception and dishonesty in the name of morality. Apparently, in their stinted, little world, morality is exclusively focused on what one does with one's own genitals, and has little to do with the old fashioned virtues of truth, honesty, kindness, etc.

This was most recently obvious in the campaigns against marriage equality, where Christian conservatives ran television ads that were filled with blatant lies and distortions, as part of a strategy to scare voters into supporting Bible-based bigotry and religiously-induced hate.

Now the Republicans, having abandoned any desire to fight for limited government anymore, in New Hampshire are trying to repeal marriage equality there. One Republican legislator, Nancy Elliott, was speaking in favor of a bill to repeal gay marriage and she made some astounding claims in the process.

She claimed that fifth-grade students in Nashua were show photos of naked men and taught how to engage in anal sex, presumably by their school. Of course, this is unrelated to the marriage issue, even if it were true. But what evidence did Elliott have to substantiate this extreme claim.

Her entire evidence was that she claimed to have a phone call from a Nashua parent informing her of this form of sex education. That's it! She didn't make any effort to verify whether the claim was true or false. It was extreme, it was scary to parents, and it was politically useful. Why should truth matter when you have political battles to win? This is Republican, Christian morality at work.

Elliot was quite clear. She told the legislature that kids "were given as part of their instruction naked pictures of two men showing a presentation of anal sex." Elliot went on to explain why she made this unsubstantiated claim: "Because we have made a marriage of same sex, they are now teaching it in public school. They are showing our fifth grades how they can actually perform this kind of sex. And they are condoning, they are saying this is normal and this is something you may want to try." Of course, since male/female marriage is allowed we have the schools showing kids how to give blow jobs or use a vibrator on a woman. Get real. The logic is pathetic and Elliot has no facts. So she lied.

The only evidence she offered was a claim that an unnamed person told it happened in an unspecified school. But Elliott, finding the claim useful, made it public without any attempt to verify it. The Nashua school district was shocked by the claim and superintendent Mark Conrad says he has contacted every school principal asking them about the incident. He says he has been unable to find evidence that this ever happened and that not a single parental complaint has been received.

Conrad also called Elliot and left a message for her, as well as emailed her, asking for any information. So far she has refused to reply. Conrad said: "As a state representative, if she became aware of a concern from a parent about inappropriate subject matter, I would think she would have a responsibility to call us. To my knowledge, she hasn't done that."

Consider Elliot's actions: Is she acting the way a person would who has evidence? She is acting the way a liar acts. She makes the claim, refuses to substantiate it, and then refuses to answer questions about the claim. If pornographic photos were being shown to children, because gays are allowed to marry in New Hampshire (a totally bizarre claim) then why didn't Elliott report this to the school district itself?

Conrad says that the entire claim is strange since the school district doesn't have any classes that deal with sexuality or marriage at the elementary school level. He says they have health and nutrition classes but nothing on relationships.

Based on the evidence, I would have to suggest that any sex involving Elliott would be, by definition, anal sex. After all, an ass is an ass.

By the way, you may remember we have discussed the so-called Republican Liberty Caucus, which purports to promote libertarian ideas within the GOP. They list Elliott as as "Republican Liberty Caucus Elected Official" on their web site. I've argued before that this Republican group is not libertarian. Apparently the "libertarians" in the Republican Party aren't much better than Republicans in the Libertarian Party—just witness Root and Barr as examples.