For research purposes, I subscribe to a newsletter from the Christian Anti-Discrimination League.

The organization's title is a deliberate imitation of the Jewish Anti-Defamation League. Its stated mission is to combat "anti-Christian defamation, bigotry, and discrimination."

But its actual mission is very different. The CADL employs a common hate-group tactic by offering a veneer of "anti-discrimination" to rationalize its intolerant objectives. Another example is David Duke's National Association for the Advancement of White People. (I leave it as an exercise for the reader to figure out what organization it purports to imitate.)

I used the word "rationalize" rather than "mask" because groups like the CADL do not deliberately misrepresent their motivations. Dr. Gary Class, president of the CADL, very likely sees himself as a righteous defender of Christian civil rights, as do many of his subscribers. They really believe that they oppose discrimination.

That belief is not a lie for the general public. It's a delusion--a lie to themselves. It allows them to feel comfortable with their own bigotry by projecting those feelings onto the people they hate. By imagining that they are defending tolerant Christians from intolerant Muslims, for example, they cast themselves as innocent victims rather than predatory bigots.

If you look, you can see this tactic employed over and over by the right wing, and I have written extensively about it in Blowing Smoke.

Below the fold, please find the latest newsletter from the so-called Christian Anti-Discrimination League. The subject line is "Islam's Secret Strategy to Destroy America Exposed."

Comcast/Xfinity still hasn't restored my TV, Internet and Phone, so I can't watch the US Open. Mind you, I'm extremely grateful to not have been killed by a tree branch, to not be flooded out, to not be without power, but I would have liked to see a few matches before Labor Day weekend, when I'll be limited to whatever they show on the major networks. I looked at the Comcast forums (on the office computer), and customers there are cursing a blue streak - threatening to leave for Dish or Verizon, expecting fee reductions, etc. People aren't used to disruptions.

The latest Michele Bachmann controversy revolves around the first words of a speech she made inside a tent at an outdoor Christian meeting in Iowa.  It had been raining and the first words out of her mouth were, "Who likes wet people?"  Someone leaning to the left either misheard or deliberately chose to present it in a doctored YouTube video as "Who likes white people?"  Guess what happened then?  Yesiree, it went viral.

How jealous are we of that lavish, over-the-top Royal Wedding the Brits got to celebrate this year?  So pathetically jealous we had to pretend we're capable of having one of our own by latching onto the lavish, over-the-top Kim Kardashian-Kris Humphries wedding.

ESPN Classic was showing a 1980 US Open Men's semi final last night, and I happened to catch the fourth set. I remembered watching the other semi in which Bjorn Borg came back from two sets down against Johann Kriek, 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 but I didn't remember this match between Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe. The idea that Kriek might actually take out Borg was amazing at the time. Kriek was muscular - he looked like a mini Lou Ferrigno - and fast, but no one was as fast as Borg.

Here's the thing about those occupants of the White House, the Capitol complex, and all other elected tax-payer-paid tenants of tax-payer-built edifices all across the country.

He has the hair.  He doesn't know anything about science or history.  He likely misuses the phrase, "when in Rome."  My column for The Daily this week is about Rick Perry, the conservative superstar and great Republican hope of the moment who reminds me entirely of Ron Burgundy.

I felt a small vibration around 9 AM this morning, like a big truck was near the building. My nearest coworker thought I was tapping my foot. That was apparently the 3.6 quake that Dickday posted about.

Update: We heard it again this morning. The guy that parks right below my desk must have gotten a diesel.

Although it's been crowded out by actual news, there's been another uptick of interest in whether or not Sarah Palin will attempt to run for president.

The Quiz

We love our Dark and Stormy night writing contests, but the New Yorker points to a Bulwer or Dickens quiz that is a lot harder than it sounds:

The Libyan revolution is coming to a rapid end, although there is fighting left to do. Twenty-seven weeks ago, Muammar Qadhafi's armed forces fired on peaceful protestors across Libya. Today, he's in hiding, and a rebel army that didn't exist six months ago, combined with NATO's air power, has managed to take control of most of the country.

Let me point out a basic truth: that was really fast.