If Gay Marriage Were Legal In 1998, Maybe Paul Crouch Would Still Be Preaching

Pastor Paul and his lover Enoch

Oh... he still is... at least on TV. Crouch, the founder of Trinity Broadcasting Network empire, the country's largest "Christian" television network, is 79 and pretty senile-- though not when it comes to sharp business dealings and milking the cash cow TBN has become. His baby, the international network, is bigger than CBS, bigger than Fox and bigger than NBC. The Crouch family has been using it as a personal piggy bank for years-- which has very serious-- and very unexplored-- tax implications. In 2010, Forbes reported that Crouch was paid just over $400,000 a year by TBN-- and that doesn't count the mansions, the Bentley, the half million dollar annual expense accounts, and the $50 million personal jet. Still, it's less than what he embezzled from the company to pay his lover, Enoch Lonnie Ford, to keep quiet about their homosexual relationship. Oh, those right-wing evangelicals are so wild and crazy!

When Rick Jones, an ordained minister and former cop, heard his boss talking about another minister's homosexual activity with an employee, he "got up and walked away," the Los Angeles Times reported on its front page yesterday. "I didn't want to hear gossip."

But his boss was televangelist Benny Hinn, a staple on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. And Hinn was talking about TBN founder and president Paul Crouch. And Los Angeles Times reports that it's no longer just gossip-- it's a tale of attempted extortion, litigation, and tragedy.

For all the details, you'll have to read William Lobdell's extensively reported, 1,900-word article. But here are a few observations.

First, extortion seems like the only word to describe what Enoch Lonnie Ford, the former TBN employee who says he and Crouch had extramarital sex in 1996, attempted. Crouch paid him a $425,000 settlement in 1998 after Ford accused the global network of wrongful termination. Key to the settlement, of course, was a secrecy agreement. Last April, however, Ford handed Crouch an autobiographical manuscript detailing his claims of a sexual encounter.

Why is the senile man in Jerusalem wearing a priest's collar & a pinkie ring? 

TBN had paid off Ford to keep the gay sex thing quiet years earlier but he wanted $10,000,000 more to not publish a book that details his affair with Crouch. That L.A. Times reported that "Crouch sued to enforce the 1998 secrecy agreement and obtained a restraining order barring Ford from seeking a publisher for his book. Orange County Superior Court Judge John M. Watson also granted Crouch's request to conduct the case in secret, sealing all documents and expunging any mention of the suit from public court records. Both sides eventually agreed to let a private arbitrator decide the matter. In June, the arbitrator ruled that Ford could not publish the manuscript without violating the 1998 settlement-- an act that could subject him to monetary damages."

Somehow being fleeced by charlatans has become an integral part of the American evangelical movement so not many people even remember the on-going Crouch saga. (His grandson, Matthew, another holy roller, can't keep his junk in his pants and has been obsessively exposing his genitals to staff members.) But even if normal people don't remember much about the crazy Crouches, most people still do remember when the president of the National Association of Evangelicals, Ted "Pastor Ted" Haggard insisted he "never had a gay relationship with anybody, and I'm steady with my wife, I'm faithful to my wife. So I don't know if this is election year politics [Haggard, like all these phony-baloney evangelical frauds, was busy turning out the brainless flock for the GOP] or if this has to do with the marriage amendment or what it is." What it was, of course, came with lots and lots of evidence of Haggard hiring high end male prostitutes for years and using street drugs to boot. As his story unraveled, it just took a few days before that standard Republican mantra--"never had a gay relationship with anybody"-- turned into "there is a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I've been warring against it all my adult life."

That's the real right-wing problem with the LGBT community-- terror about something "repulsive" and "dark" within. Get over it, gentlemen. It's not repulsive and it's not dark-- even if you perceive it that way. If you can't give up your sick wars within, stop trying to ruin everyone else's lives by dragging us into your drama. Go deal with your problems or commit suicide or do whatever you want, but leave people who have evolved alone. This has gone on way long enough. You guys are a menace to society-- and in a very big way.

Oh... so this is where GOP sociopath Paul Broun (R-GA) got his most famous quote about "lies straight from the pit of hell."

Has Ted Haggard's Right Wing New Life Church Been A Front For Molesting Young Boys By GOP Operatives And Fake Pastors?

Posterboys for GOP morality: Ted Haggard & David Vitter

As the Republican Party sought to merge its political operations with bigoted, money-hungry evangelical churches, there was a general feeling of elation in the Bush White House where Karl Rove felt he had found the keys to political paradise: an obedient, unquestioning voter base that would march to whatever beat he set and do so in lockstep-- and in big numbers. The marriage between the GOP and the religionist right has started to fray. In Colorado it is fraying very badly.

Last week we talked about a lone wolf in the GOP-- a McCain campaign official in Pueblo-- who was molesting young boys in his official capacity, even seducing them at McCain rallies. This seemed like hypocritical GOP Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) all over again. But there was something far more insidious going on at the nexus of Republican Party ops and religious right mania-- insidious and systemic.

Michael Signorile is reporting an extremely disturbing ring of predators in one of the GOP's most influential mega-churches, Ted Haggard's New Life Church in Colorado Springs, a hotbed of ignorance-based radical right politics and whacky, some say "blasphemous" religion. There has been a massive coverup of Ted Haggard's sexual exploitation of the young sons of parishioners-- and apparently Haggard wasn't the only "pastor" participating!

I want to make it clear that perverts and child molesters like Rev. Stephen Evans and Haggard aren't lying when they say they're not gay. They aren't. These are very sick and demented people with severe mental illness that causes them to molest young children of whatever gender. While Haggard and Evans and that lot hide in their closets and fantasize about raping children, real gay people are marking the tenth annual National Freedom To Marry Day (this Thursday). I suspect Republican perverts like Haggard, Craig, McHenry and Vitter won't be celebrating this one.

Last week when Haggard-- who was paid handsomely to perform on a series of talk shows to promote a movie about his miserable life-- visited CNN, wife in tow, Larry King asked him, in the light of another young man coming forward and testifying that Haggard had seduced him (which Haggard now admits), if there were other young men Haggard had had affairs with. His answer was incredibly squirrely. He said he had discussed it with his family and his psychiatrist but wouldn't talk about it on TV. According to Signorile's very credible source, there have been at least ten parishioners, some underage, who Haggard and at least one other pastor (Stephen Evans), have seduced at the Colorado Springs cult he was running. The other pastor "was convicted of sexual assault against a child under the age of 15 and got off easy with help from the church, only to later have his probation revoked. The convicted pastor then illegally left the country, he said, and he speculates that New Life Church may have helped him do so."

Evans has also admitted to having had sex with his 14 year old son and 15-year old daughter and that "with the help and backing of New Life Church, Evans served no jail time at all, cutting a plea deal in which he'd agree to a 'restoration' at the church-- yes, just like the one that Ted Haggard went through to supposedly make him straight!-- while serving five years on probation. It is likely that Ted Haggard, as senior pastor at the time, oversaw Evans' restoration."

Meanwhile, Max Blumenthal has tracked down one of David Diaper Vitter's opponents in the Louisiana Republican primary next year, the lovely porn star we introduced you to last week, Stormy Daniels. Watch Max talk to Stormy about why she would be a better-- and more honest-- representative for Louisiana Republicans than the hypocritical serial adulterer Vitter. We'll ask Max if he can interview Stephen Evans next.

FINALLY! THE GAY DETAILS OF THE HAGGARD SCANDAL-- THE STUFF THEY NEVER MENTION IN THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA, LIKE ABOUT HAGGARD BEING A BOTTOM

Michael Jones, the gay prostitute in Denver who outed Republican Party operative/cult leader Ted Haggard, has called on other call boys to out their homophobic clients. A male prostitute has been on the verge of going public about Dennis Hastert all month. What's he waiting for? AMERICAblog has excerpts from the transcript of the Michael Signorile interview with Jones up now.

Here are a few q's and a few a's:

MS: Tell me a bit about how you first met Ted Haggard.

MJ: It was approximately three years ago. Got a call from a gentleman who said his name was Art. He wanted to see if we could hook up. At the time I was advertising as an escort in gay publications. I only advertised in gay publications. So if someone was looking for me, they were looking in a gay publication. He said he was from Kansas City and he wanted to hook up. We hooked up at my place. Always at my place. I had never been to a hotel with him.

MS: Did he use the term "hook up?" I mean, what did he actually say he wanted to do?

MJ: He said he wanted an appointment with me. He came to my apartment. And the clothes came right off. The first time it was pretty much mutual masturbation, then in time oral sex. He was really pretty vanilla. Only once in three years did we try anal sex.

MS: Was he a top or bottom? What was he interested in?

MJ: When I was on the radio show in Denver, the question was asked: Did you practice safe sex? I said, 'We used a condom once." The talk show host goes, "You mean he wore the condom once?" I said, "Uh, no, I did."

MS: What about with oral sex. Was he the passive partner or the active partner?

MJ: You know, it kind of went back and forth --- and I can't say he was very good at it...

MS: You spoke about a fantasy he told you, his sexual fantasy. Tell me about that?

MJ: This was the only time he ever spoke about something sexual other than being with me. He goes, "Mike do you know any young college guys" I said, "Well, I know a few, why? "He said, "I would love to get about 4 to 6 young college guys, about 18 to 22, I'd love to have group sex with them.' I said, "Let me check around and see what I can do and see if I can organize that for you." I never pursued it.

I don't want to comment on this except to say that the people who brought you Ted Haggard and Jim Kolbe and Mark Foley are the same people who have brought you Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff and Dirty Dick Pombo, Marilyn Musgrave, Joe Lieberman, Macacawitz, John Doolittle, Barbara Cubin, Iraq, ENRON, the unwillingness to rescue and revive New Orleans and 109 other reasons to dump Bush's rubber stamp 109th Congress. And today they are bringing you: robocall, a $2 million last minute dirty trick from 2 more Republican closet queens: Ken Mehlman and Karl Rove. The calls are made to Democrats and swing voters at all times of day or night to make them angry. They pretend to be from the Democrat ("Hello, I'm calling with information about Lois Murphy"). If you hang up, they call back 7-8 times, and each time you hear the Democrat's name, to get you angry at him or her. If you stay on, you get to hear a scathing attack on the Democrat. Most calls are between 2AM and 4AM.


The Mehlman/Rove strategy was first reported to be hitting 20 districts but 48 districts are now reporting these calls. The Republicans are harassing voters to subvert the election prospects of surging Democrats they most fear, from Angie Paccione in Colorado and Victoria Wulsin in Ohio to the 3 Murphys (two in PA and one in CT), Eric Massa, John Hall, Dan Maffei, Kirsten Gillibrand and Mike Arcuri in New York.

It's crucial for you to tell any TV station or newspaper in your district if you get one of these annoying calls. Most of the mass media is ignoring this story. Rove thinks it will win the election for the bad guys. See the spotlight link at the end of this story? That's what it's good for.


CNN BOTCHED THE STORY (DUMB AND DUMBER) BUT ABC NEWS AT LEAST UNDERSTANDS IT

Jamie's got the lame CNN story at Crooks and Liars which doesn't even touch on the real problems. I know CNN isn't trying to help Republicans; they're just stupider than a gnat. But ABC News does understand what the Republicans are using robo-calling for.

ABC News' Ellen Davis Reports: Bob Bauer, General Counsel for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sent a cease and desist letter to Don McGahn, General Counsel of the National Republican Campaign Committee requesting a stop to what he alleges is an illegal form of random calling of voter's residences using recorded political messages, often known as 'Robo-calling'.

The letter states: "The NRCC calls do not identify at the outset, and as required, that they are sponsored by the NRCC. These calls do no contain a telephone number. This failure to comply with the law denies callers effective sponsorship information. Without the benefit of a number, they are also unable to request that they not be called again. And we have received reports that individuals have been contacted multiple times by your prerecorded calls, despite their continued refusal to accept the calls."

Caught as red handed as Haggard with a line of meth hanging from his snout and a you-know-what up his you-know-where, the Republicrooks are denying, denying, denying-- and blaming... Democrats. Jesus, do these guys all belong in prison or what?


UPDATE: AND THE POST GETS IT

Tomorrow's Washington Post has a story about the Republican robo-call scandal and how they're using it in their efforts to subvert the electoral process.

THE GAY OLD PARTY-- REPUBLICAN COVER-UP CONTINUES FOR FOLEY. WHEN WILL FOX NEWS START LABELING HAGGARD A DEMOCRAT?

Haggard's a big deal. He actually leads the Republican jihad of hatred against gay men and women and now he's admitting he's... well... what is he admitting exactly? The tapes seem to indicate that he'll be admitting everything by the end of the day. Here's the guy who has helped his female counterpart, the odious Colorado congresswoman, Marilyn Musgrave, whose entire career is based on gay-bashing, outspend Angie Paccione by ten to one in CO-04, and now it's clear that while he and Musgrave were planning more legislative assaults on gay American families, he was sneaking around paying male prostitutes for dirty sex and drugs. These Republicans are very, very sick people. They shouldn't be in charge of anything. They should be in mental hospitals getting treatment.

Meanwhile Tom DeLay's handpicked "ethics" committee has decided to continue the Republican cover-up of the Mark Foley page molestation case until after the midterm elections. They are desperate to save the House seats of the principal conspirators in the cover-up: Denny Hastert (who most Republican insiders know is also a hirer of gay male prostitutes), Tom Reynolds, Sue Kelly, Deborah Pryce, John Shimkus, and, of course, Doc Hastings, the crook DeLay put in charge of making sure ethics in the House would never hold back any Republican criminal enterprises, be them seducing young boys or stealing millions of dollars.


UPDATE: REPUBLICANS ALWAYS SAY IT WAS "JUST A MASSAGE" WHEN THEY GET CAUGHT

Crooked Republican congressman Don Sherwood was caught strangling his mistress of 5 years, a woman the same age as Sherwood's granddaughter. First he denied everything, of course, and later, when confronted with irrefutable evidence, he said he was just giving her a massage. He is also paying her hush money-- a half million dollars-- to not go on TV and speak about it before November 7. But it was "just a massage."

When gay Republican Congressman Jim Kolbe was using high school students from the congressional page program like a lending library, inviting them for sleep-overs and on camping trips, he grossed out other adults who happened to see him fondling young men. But it was "just a massage."


Now we have an advisor to George Bush and one of the biggest lights of the "Christian" Right (if Jesus had stayed in a grave, he'd be rolling over) claiming that his three years of sex and drugs with a gay prostitute in Denver was "just a massage." Don't these Republican politicians have any shame? Don't answer that; it was rhetorical.

Haggard wouldn't say whether or not the massage had happy endings.