If some people complain about What's Wrong with Kansas, the Maggot Punks are what's right. There's D-cubed and Mr. Zero and Spunkyflahser and Annie Sprinkles.
The Maggot Punks are unapologetic. They are twenty-ish. They are outspoken atheists. In fact, they'll sell you one of their tee-shirts that says All American Atheist And they are using their spare time to expose and undermine and cajole the religious right that thinks it can turn Kansas into the only state where people did not evolve and that sees Wichita as its fertile ground zero. "We are a city under siege," a retired school teacher told me, describing how Operation Rescue West tried to disrupt a peace protest with its huge expensive trucks carrying anti-abortion images and blaring amplification systems. Operation Rescue West is a nasty religious right anti-abortion organization that engages in intimidation and harassment tactics. Headed by Troy Newman, ORW is a break-off group and now a distinct entity from Randall Terry's Operation Rescue. It relocated fulltime in Wichita, where it has the apparent support of the mayor. On its website, OWR brags about hounding Wichita citizens who work at an abortion clinic by protesting outside their homes. Clinic workers report being followed in their cars, harassed endlessly by telephone, and finding inexplicable car and property damage. In August, ORW drove their trucks to the funeral of a pro-choice woman and member of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice who died of cancer. They showed up outside our performance of Words of Choice at a Unitarian Universalist church, too, and videotaping everyone who entered. These tactics masked the minimal people-support.
The Maggot Punks are fighting back. Irreverent to the max, they refer to the opposition as "fanatical fundy freaks." The Maggot Punks got their name and start when Operation Save America called for people to swarm Wichita abortion clinics in 2001, says D-cubed. He and others served as escorts at clinics and they raced to help people trapped by the anti-abortion crowd. About 3/4 of the way some guy said "you're all a bunch of little maggot punks." We all stopped and looked at each other. We had never heard the term "maggot punks" before (and we've been called a whole lot worse than that). We liked it, so we kept it. The principals work 'real jobs' full-time, but that hasn't stopped them from researching and producing a publication exposing Operation Rescue West. They link it to a more benign-sounding organization, Youth Missionaries, Inc. They delivered information about seeming money manipulation to the IRS. They've gotten ORW a bad rating with the Better Business Bureau and have helped the local media to focus on the fringe nature of ORW activities. A media comparison of ORW activities to those of the anti-gay Kansas native, Fred Phelps, apparently infuriated ORW, said D-cubed. Phelps gained fame with "God Hates Fags" by picketing the funeral of the murdered Matthew Shepard. ORW fumed, D-cubed wrote me, "because they think their protests of funerals are somehow different than Phelps' protests of funerals." The MP take -- and post on the web -- photographs of the opposition. "The reason we do this is because if another terrorist attack would happen then the police would have the information on who was present and contact information about them," said D-cubed. Wichita has long been a target for the anti-abortion crowd. It is also a lifesaver for women across the country. One of the nation's most remarkable and capable doctors, Dr. George Tiller runs the Women's Health Care Services there. He is able to care for women throughout the nation who have serious health issues and pregnancy complications. And he believes that decisions about pregnancy are for women to make and that doctors serve their patients. "Women and Families are intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, and ethically competent to struggle with complex health issues -- including abortion -- and come to decisions that are appropriate for themselves," Dr. Tiller says. In 1991, Wichita was overwhelmed by anti-abortion protestors. In 1993, Dr. Tiller was shot in the arm by Shelly Shannon, a follower of The Army of God. Despite this, the burning of his clinic and constant harassment, Dr. Tiller courageously continues to help women. In 2001, he declared Women's Health Care Services to be an "outpost for freedom," and raised the American flag to a Declaration of Reproductive Independence. He said: This flag reminds us that we must refocus and rededicate ourselves to the proposition that all freedom and all equality for women begins with reproductive freedom. Make no mistake, this battle is about self-determination by women of the direction and course of their lives. Inventive techniques are the forte of Maggot Punks. They use humor. They maximize the web. They go undercover. In one situation, they taped and exposed the deceptive comments at a religious-right anti-abortion "crisis pregnancy" center. They don't just focus on abortion, either. They reported an illegal dumpsite, passed out pro-science pamphets at a creationist event, and counter-protested against Phelps. They distributed posters calling for the Army of God to be treated as a terrorist organization, sharing them with an extended network in Colorado and Missouri. They run on their own funds and small donations (which can be made on their website). Progressive people in Wichita speak so gratefully of MP, as of fresh air and hope in a polluted environment. "While Operation Rescue talks rhetoric, they actually back up their words with action and that's why they and so many conservative are making so many gains," said D-cubed. "I feel we are one of the few organizations actually going on the offensive against these right-wing theocratic organizations." Bravo! Maggot Punks should be a franchise. They are certainly an inspiration for what activists everywhere can do right on their home turf.
Activism Goes Local: Meet Maggot Punks | 15 comments (15 topical, 0 hidden)
Activism Goes Local: Meet Maggot Punks | 15 comments (15 topical, 0 hidden)
|
Left Behind: Eternal Forces: Installments of Jonathan Hutson's Talk To Action expose series
on the "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" video game have been viewed by up to 1/2 million people. See our site section featuring Over 35 original articles covering the controversial "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" video game that has provoked a boycott by a coalition of religious groups and a letter writing campaign urging Walmart to stop selling the game. Media inquiries click here(image: detail from Francoise Dubois' rendition of the Bartholomew's Day Massacre reveals the actual nature of religious warfare)
Palin: "A Natural Choice" for Catholics?
The Catholic Right, Part Sixty-eight Is Governor Sarah Palin really "a natural choice" for Catholics as Fidelis's Brian Burch suggests? The answer is obviously,...... By Frank Cocozzelli (2 comments)
Major Christian Organization Endorses the Military Religious Freedom Foundation
With all the attention being given to the radical fundamentalist brand of Christianity espoused by churches like that of Sarah Palin -- a brand...... By Chris Rodda (0 comments)
Palin's Church Promotes Gay Conversion
The Associated Press reports that the Wasilla Bible Church where Sarah Palin is a member is promoting a conference on the crackpot notion of...... By Frederick Clarkson (0 comments)
Palin's Pastor: God "Is Gonna Strike Out His Hand Against... America
On July 20, 2008, the pastor of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's home church, Larry Kroon, delivered a sermon called "Sin Is Personal To...... By Max Blumenthal (1 comment)
Sarah Palin and the Servant Heart
<small>Senior Analyst, Political Research Associates (author info)</small>Sarah Palin's references to the Servant Heart comes from the idea that Jesus of Nazareth asked his...... By Chip Berlet (5 comments)
Short Takes: Sarah Palin Edition
Religion Dispatches: Kathryn Joyce profiles Palin -- as McCain's mad pander to the Religious Right continues to unfold. Gay City News: The accumulating evidence...... By Frederick Clarkson (2 comments)
Palin's Churches and the Third Wave
Part Two This posting documents the extensive involvement of several of Sarah Palin's churches in the Third Wave Movement, also known as the New...... By Ruth (2 comments)
Palin's Churches and the Third Wave
Part One History and Theology of the Third Wave Sarah Palin has refused to acknowledge belonging to any specific denomination or any particular religious...... By Ruth (3 comments)
What is Dominionism? Palin, the Christian Right, & Theocracy
Senior Analyst, Political Research Associates (author info)Sarah Palin is a "Dominionist" with an apocalyptic End Times theological viewpoint that sees the war in...... By Chip Berlet (3 comments)
EVENT CANCELLED Speaking in Philadelphia on September 27th
Update [2008-9-5 12:26:36 by Frederick Clarkson]: Buzzflash has announced that the event has been cancelled, but that the themes will continue to be pursued...... By Frederick Clarkson (0 comments)
Sarah Palin's Theocratic End Times - UPDATED
I have never believed that the evangelical views of George W. Bush ran deep -- at least as far as relating interpretations of the...... By Frederick Clarkson (4 comments)
Dobson and the Religious Right Rally for McCain/Palin
It was not so long ago that pundits were busy telling us that the Religious Right is dead, dying or irrelevant. The selection of...... By Frederick Clarkson (1 comment)
At Palin Church, Jews For Jesus Head Says Terrorism vs Israel Is God's Punishment
Do terrorist attacks on Israel, as recently preached in Sarah Palin's current church, amount to divine judgment on Jews for refusing to accept Jesus...... By Bruce Wilson (1 comment)
Theocrats to Pray for McCain's Death
The more theocratic elements of the Religious Right have a disturbing habit, (more like a practice) of invoking "imprecatory prayer" -- a call for...... By Frederick Clarkson (8 comments)
Rest Assured New Orleans, I'm Sure Lt. Gen. Van Antwerp is Praying for You
For those who don't know who Lt. Gen. Robert L. Van Antwerp is, he's the Commanding General of the Army Corps of Engineers --...... By Chris Rodda (2 comments)
Future links to upcoming documentaries on Palin's Churches
Will live here, at this URL address. ...... By Bruce Wilson (0 comments)
Sarah Palin used AK tax dollars to fund dominionist churches
Over the past few days, I've done reporting on Sarah Palin's extensive dominionist connections--including the attempt to run her as a "stealth" dominionist candidate and her connections to some scary dominionist groups including not...... By dogemperor (1 comment)
Palin Steals Hockey Mom Joke from John Hagee?
Hockey mom Sarah Palin got a great reaction during her convention speech with an unscripted joke (which she also used somewhere the day before) addressed to her fellow hockey moms. Noticing the "Hockey Mom"...... By Chris Rodda (1 comment)
The Irony of Sarah Palin's "Choice"
Republican operatives and religious conservatives are ecstatic over Sarah Palin. Most of all, they are ecstatic that she is a "pro-life" mother who chose not to have an abortion after she found of she...... By tacitus (0 comments)
New revelations re "stealth dominionist" Sarah Palin
A few days ago, I wrote one of the first articles out there regarding Sarah Palin's VP nomination as a "stealth dominionist"--a "stealther" with extensive Assemblies connections (and to particularly scary segments of the...... By dogemperor (0 comments)
Sarah Palin: Dominionist Stalking Horse
The big news, obviously, in the blogosphere today is John McCain's surprise pick for the Republican veep nominee--a relative unknown by the name of Sarah Palin, whom--at least in the more conventional political circles--would...... By dogemperor (0 comments)
Richard Land Picks Republican Veep Candidate
Yesterday the media was all atwitter about Karl Rove's supposed Republican V.P. pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. However, it seems that instead SBC President Richard Land, well known among readers of Talk2Action for his...... By ulyankee (1 comment)
"Yes on 8" RSVP? Need your advice.
Schubert Flint Public Affairs has been hired to run the Yes on Prop. 8 ("Protect Marriage") initiative. If you've happened to notice the names Jennifer Kerns, Frank Schubert, or Jeff Flint in media coverage...... By Chino Blanco (2 comments)
Alabama PSC Cantidate Matt Chancey: His Views on Suffrage, Women, Marriage, etc.
Promoted from the diaries -- FC Alabama voters should be made aware that Matt Chancey opposes"one person, one vote" suffrage, apparently on religious grounds. Matt Chancey, a Republican, is running for president of the...... By CynthiaGee (2 comments)
Jews and Christians Unite against the Empire of Neo-cons and 'Christian' Zionists
Late last year, Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran, according to current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources...Everything is justified in...... By eileen fleming (1 comment)
Patriot Follows the Money and Exposes Foreign Agents
"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official."-Theodore Roosevelt ...... By eileen fleming (0 comments)
The Alleged "Church of Liberalism"
4th July, Independence Day. I was at a party in Paris. As usual, when one of the guests learned that he was speaking to an American the conversation turned to the election and Obama....... By TMurray (0 comments)
Hope Never Dies for Extremists
The extreme political Religious Right hasn't given up hope of getting something out of this election. Their latest ploy involves petitioning the parties for a "True Christian" in the vice-presidential slot. The Christian Anti-Defamation...... By John McKay (0 comments)
Catholic religious right wing: Legion of Christ
Frank L. Cocozzelli's weekly series of posts on "The Catholic Right" (listed here) includes quite a few posts about Opus Dei. There's another, similarly ultra-orthodox Catholic religious order he might want to examine in...... By Diane Vera (3 comments)
Prosyletization in Iraq: A threat to national security
As amazing as it sounds, dominionists may in fact be fomenting terrorism--not just the domestic terrorism like bombings of women's clinics we normally associate, but the very "Islamist terror bombings" that the GOP loves...... By dogemperor (0 comments)
Proselytization in Iraq: A minor history
The recent incident where a Marine was recently found distributing "Bible coins" promoted by a fundamentalist "Bible church" is, sad to say, far from the first incident of overt prosyletisation in Iraq. The truth...... By dogemperor (1 comment)
Source of "Bible coins" distributed by USMC in Iraq discovered
In what is--sadly--yet another case of the extent of which blatant prosyletisation is tolerated in the modern US military, a recent incident where members of the US Marine Corps were handing out coins to...... By dogemperor (0 comments)
What Does the Religious Right Fear the Most?
A poll that one of the giants on the right, Coral Ridge Ministries, sent to their members gives a revealing insight into their world view. ...... By John McKay (3 comments)
UK Abortion Limit Stays at 24 Weeks Despite Washington Think Tank's Tactics
IN GOD'S NAME is a revealing documentary about how the Alliance Defense Fund is using its tactics to try to restrict abortion in Europe as well as in America. Watch this trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeTfW8-dCNE ...... By TMurray (3 comments)
'Christians United For Israel' Joyfully Sing of Israel's Invasion and Destruction
An open letter, from Ray McGovern, a 27-year intelligence analyst with the CIA, to Admiral William J. Fallon, warns of an impending US attack on Iran. If such an event occurred, the resulting war...... By Bruce Wilson (3 comments)
The Petrification of John McCain
We are very pleased to welcome Frederick Lane as a guest front pager. He is the author of several books,most recently, The Court and the Cross: The Religious Right's Crusade to Reshape the Supreme...... By Frederick_Lane (3 comments)
More Biblical Precedent for Allowing Abortion
This is a follow up to my most recent diary entry. ...... By TMurray (3 comments)
John Hagee Says God Made AIDS and Bird Flu But Lord will Protect Him Personally
John Hagee claims 1) that he knows with absolute certainty the will of God (as he told a BBC interviewer in 2003), is 2) sure that he, John Hagee, has a place in heaven...... By Bruce Wilson (0 comments)
Biblical support for abortion, who knew?
It turns out that our present legal understanding of when a life is entitled to legal protection is consistent with the Old Testament Biblical understanding of when a fetus becomes a 'life' warranting legal...... By TMurray (2 comments)
2001 John Hagee Film Shows Gangsterish Rabbi, Foppish Catholic Priest In League With anti-Christ
The following somewhat satirical video is built around a brief excerpt from Texas megachurch pastor John Hagee's 2001 55-minute film "Vanished", which followed the prophetic, premillennial plot line of Tim LaHaye's and Jerry Jenkin's...... By Bruce Wilson (0 comments)
PBS "Carrier": A Mixed Blessing
Watching the PBS miniseries "Carrier" was a revelation, but not always a pleasant one... ...... By bughouse square (0 comments)
Will We Ever Learn?
Ever looked at something or did something which at the time seemed good and beneficial only to learn that it was not what you thought? If we could all have the opportunity to live...... By truthngrace (0 comments)
McCain-Endorser's Church Casts Out "Demon of Anal Fissures", Teaches Vomiting Evil Spirits
[NOTE: for a related story, see Mai Tai Dogs: Pics Show Bush Administration, McCain-Endorser Hagee Schmoozing at Chinese Restaurant] I have to admit, on one level it sounds more entertaining than a church full...... By Bruce Wilson (3 comments)
Bush 41 salutes Sun Myung Moon's effort to subdue the planet.
Sun Myung Moon's end time political front, the Universal Peace Federation had a summit from April 28 to May 2 in Washington DC. The participants took a tour of the Moon owned Washington Times...... By Lou (2 comments)
Advancing The Kingdom
Over the past four years, I've researched the darkest regions of the Christian right for the non-fiction film Silhouette City. The film tracks the movement of apocalyptic Christian nationalism from the margins of American...... By MichaelWWilson (2 comments) More Diaries... |
BlogsBartholomew's Notes On ReligionChip BerletMax BlumenthalThe Panda's ThumbFrederick Clarkson Chuck Currie DefCon father Jake Stops The World John Gorenfeld Religion Clause Chris Mooney Religious Right Watch The Revealer Jesus Politics Majority Report Radio Blog Mainstream Baptist Orcinus Dispatches from the Culture Wars Ex-Gay Watch The Wall of Separation Blog From The Capital:a blog on religious liberty issues and the separation of church and stateOrganizationsAmerican Booksellers Foundation for Freedom of ExpressionACLUAnti-Defamation LeagueAmerican Library AssociationChristian Alliance for ProgressCitizens ProjectDefCon: Campaign to Defend The ConstitutionFaithful America People For the American wayInstitute For Democracy StudiesInterfaith AllianceJews On First: Defending the First AmendmentAmerican Fundamentalists Americans United for Separation of Church and StateBaptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty The Clergy and laity Network Political Research Associates Theocracy Watch Media Matters for AmericaMilitary Religious Freedom FoundationMontana Human Rights NetworkNational Center For Science EducationReligious Coalition for Reproductive ChoiceThe RevealerSouthern Poverty Law CenterTexas Freedom NetworkCrossLeft: Organizing the Christian LeftTheocracy WatchTruth Wins Out" |
|||||||||||||