Murfreesboro Becomes Mursboro

From THINK PROGRESS:

For months, conservatives have led a hateful campaign against the expansion of a local Islamic center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. This campaign has been endorsed by high-ranking Republicans such as the state’s Lt. Governor, Ron Ramsey, who last month, speaking to a group of Republicans in opposition to the mosque, wondered aloud whether Islam was a religion or a “cult” and fearmongered about the mosque trying to bring “Sharia law” to America. Earlier this year, Lou Ann Zelenik, a GOP congressional candidate in Tennessee, campaigned against the Murfreesboro mosque, arguing that it posed a threat to that state’s “moral and political foundation.”

Now, the local press reports that the police are investigating a case of arson that occurred at the construction site of the mosque Friday night:

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Silly Season

From TALKING POINTS MEMO:

In a three-way Tennessee Republican gubernatorial primary to be held this Thursday, two right-wing candidates have been splitting what Monty Python would call the “silly vote,” leaving Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam as the de facto “sensible candidate,” and thus making him the frontrunner.

A recent Mason-Dixon poll gave Haslam the lead with 36%, followed by Rep. Zach Wamp at 25% and Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey with 20%. To be sure, Haslam has tacked right somewhat. For example, he used to be a member of New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s (I) Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition. But in early 2009 he left the group and joined the National Rifle Association.

But with that said, there’s nothing that Haslam has done or said that compares to the other two.

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How Much For Room and Broad?

From The Columbus Dispatch:

A group of Columbus pastors is asking the Internal Revenue Service to investigate whether certain members of Congress owe taxes and penalties on cut-rate rent from a Washington boarding house that has a tax exemption as a church.

If the members did pay below-market rental rates to the C Street Center and did not report it as income, “then the members may have significant unreported income-tax liabilities,” the pastors say in a complaint filed yesterday with the IRS.

“We’re saying to the IRS that if something of benefit is being paid to members of Congress under the cover of a church, then that should be reported and taxed,” said the Rev. Al Debelak, senior minister at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Columbus.

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*C*heat Street

From Newsweek:

Another week, another sex scandal: Word broke late yesterday that former GOP Rep. Chip Pickering is the latest politico in trouble for allegedly cheating on his wife. Pickering’s now-estranged wife, Leisha, has filed suit against his alleged mistress, whom she says busted up their marriage and ruined her husband’s political career. […] What’s so juicy about this latest dust-up? Well, while he was in Congress, Pickering just so happened to bunk at the increasingly infamous rowhouse at 133 C Street SE here in Washington, a “Christian fellowship home” where he was roomies with John Ensign and where Mark Sanford used to hang out.

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