Ginni Thomas' Think Tank Allied With Group That Celebrates Spanish Inquisition

[deminks]

http://www.alternet.org/news/148602/ginni_thomas%27_think_tank_allied_with_group_that_celebrates_spanish_inquisition/

In recent days, the media has turned its attention to Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas -- not for her troubling ties to right-wing extremist groups, but for her bizarre demand for an apology from the woman who accused her husband of sexual harassment more than a decade ago. Yet Mrs. Thomas' Tea Party think tank, Liberty Central, promotes the causes of groups that take pride in intolerance, including one right-wing Catholic group, Tradition, Family and Property, whose founder declared the Spanish Inquisition "the most beautiful page in the history of the Church."

Earlier this year, AlterNet reported on Liberty Central's embrace of Gun Owners of America, whose president, Larry Pratt -- guru to the militia movement -- unapologetically addressed a rally of white supremacists in 1992, and more recently told attendees of a gun owners' rally in Washington, D.C., that they are "at war" with the federal government. We also looked at Liberty Central's relationship with the Missouri Sovereignty Project, which threatens armed insurrection against the government. Since then, Thomas has added to the "Friends of Liberty Central" page on her think tank's Web site a plug for Tradition, Family and Property, a virulently anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-democratic Catholic group founded in 1960 in opposition to Brazilian land reform.

TFP has long enjoyed ties to the far right in American politics, including the International Freedom Foundation, which existed primarily as an American front group for the apartheid regime in South Africa during the Reagan years, according to researcher Richard Bartholomew, and was once led by convicted felon and former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. But TFP is better known for its role in promoting and supporting authoritarian regimes in South America. Here's Bartholomew:

TFP played a role in the 1964 coup in Brazil, and in Uruguay it allegedly received explosives from the Brazilian military attaché that were used to attack communist installations. The editor of TFP's Chilean magazine, Jaime Guzmán, became chief ideologist for General Pinochet's regime.

(end snip)

I have suspected someone in this misadministration we call a government had a jones for torture. I suspected Rummy or Junior or Unkle Dick. It may have been a certain someone else, or all of the above.

[SpiralHawk]

1. Figures that RepubliBaggers (R) would celebrate torture of olden days

since they are so into torture nowadays.

What would Jesus do? Blow chunks, I reckon, that these hate-bloated pain perverts pretend to be 'christian.'

[tomg]

2. The American branch of

Tradition, Family and Property are absolute loons. At first I figured the title was a little over the top, a bit of hyperbole on Alternet's part. I mean the Spanish Inquisition? Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition ( sorry, I have wanted a legitimate reason to say that for decades). Nope. No hyperbole. If anything, restrained. TFP are complete crackpots. We talk about Tea Partiers turning back the clock to 1850 or so. These folks feel it has all gone to shit since about 1520.

Just thought I would copy and paste the results of one of their polls. The question asked was

If homosexuals are allowed to serve in our military, are they able to practice the virtues that make heros?
No.
55%
Only if they change their lifestyle.
36.3%
No opinion.
6.3%
Undecided.
2.5%

Oh, they also seem to really hate Picasso, too, particularly his 1957 reinterpretation of Velasquez' Las Meninas. Go figure. The South American branches are also brutal, dangerous fuckers. Good job, Ginni.