We’ve been meaning to mention Lauren Sandler’s fantastic new book, Righteous: Dispatches from the Evangelical Youth Movement. It’s a wonderful overview of the emerging ‘disciple generation’ that introduces readers to our nation’s leading evangelical youth leaders and their followers. From the scary (Ryan Dobson), to the misogynistic (Mark Driscoll), to the bizarre (Stephen Baldwin), to the progressive (Jay Bakker), Sandler covers all her bases with humor, insight, and grace. Well, maybe not grace. Lauren is a card-carrying secular humanist destined to spend an eternity in hell removed from God’s grace, just like us. (You can read an excerpt of Righteous here and purchase a copy here.)
The book is a great companion piece to our book, The Sinner’s Guide to the Evangelical Right and tonight author Robert Lanham will be doing a reading with Sandler in New York. Coincidentally, Sandler and Lanham both live in Williamsburg. Very strange, given the similarity of their books. Here’s tonight’s info:
Robert Lanham & Lauren Sandler at The Half King
October 23 at 7pm, FREE
505 West 23rd Street
NEW YORK, NY
INFO: http://www.thehalfking.com/calendar/2006/sandler.htm
DIRECTIONS: http://www.thehalfking.com/directions/

Jen Dunlap
Friday October 20th
• Start it off with FREE BEER and art: Jen Dunlap at Riverfawn
MORE INFO HERE
Then:
• Frank Black at Warsaw
Warsaw, 261 Driggs Ave.
718.387.0505
8 p.m. $25.

From Paper: For those of us that long for the Pixies like the deserts miss the rain, we will always find solace in the solo performances of Frank Black who led the Pixies from 1986 to 1992 (and most recently during their neverending reunion tour) with his powerful vocals and cryptic lyrics. With this year’s release of his new studio album, Fast Man Raider Man, Black takes things down a notch with some veritable slow jams.

OR:
• If you’ve overdosed on Frank and The Pixies, why not go see Sophia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette which opens tonight.
Saturday October 21th
• Bushwick Open Studios
Price: Free
Time: 12:00pm – 10:00pm

From FREENYC: Under 30 year old artist (and art students) are heading out to Bushwick in droves and using the marketing savvy to declare Bushwick the next big artists community. See if their touting the next big thing or the next big hype as dozens of studios open their doors today for a neighborhood wide art crawl. Expect a good bit of drunken madness in the mix as well. MORE INFO

And don’t miss:
• ZOMBIECON
where: TBA
price: FREE

From Flavorpill: Halloween’s a mere ten days away and the undead are rallying for NYC’s second annual Zombiecon. Last year, the cavalcade of creepy cadavers shuffled past the posh shoppers on 5th Avenue and lurched into the ice rink at Rockefeller Center — this year, horror-heads interested in terrorizing tourists can email the organizers for the location and other top-secret updates of this year’s faux-gore-fest. Decaying duds are a must and some local barkeeps deeply discount their, um, spirits to assuage the walking dead. Zombies always make time to eat squares who aren’t cool enough to get dead and have already swarmed the cable cars and Apple Store in San Francisco. Good thing there’s not a fancy new Apple Store in New York. Oh wait… MORE INFO HERE

So are they listening, as they claim, to the commanders on the ground or to the “divine” voices they hear in their heads? [From the AFP]

The top US general defended the leadership of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, saying it is inspired by God.
“He leads in a way that the good Lord tells him is best for our country,” said Marine General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Rumsfeld is “a man whose patriotism focus, energy, drive, is exceeded by no one else I know … quite simply, he works harder than anybody else in our building,” Pace said at a ceremony at the Southern Command (Southcom) in Miami.
Rumsfeld has faced a storm of criticism and calls for his resignation, largely over his handling of the
Iraq war.
But he got a strong show of support from the military establishment at Thursday’s ceremony, where Navy Admiral James Stavridis took over Southcom’s command from General Bantz Craddock.
“He comes to work everyday with a single-minded focus to make this country safe,” said Stavridis who was a senior aide to Rumsfeld before taking on the Southcom job.
“We’re lucky as a nation that he continues to serve with such passion and such integrity and such determination and such brilliance,” said Stavridis, 51.
As head of Southcom, Stavridis will be responsible for military cooperation with Latin American countries, and will be in charge of the Guantanamo US military base in Cuba where more than 400 “war on terror” detainees are being held.
Craddock, who was named supreme commander of allied forces in Europe, hailed the role Southcom has played.
“Today I believe that we can say we were successful in our efforts and contributed to ensuring our nation’s security through support on the global war on terror, and encouraged regional cooperation to enhance the security and stability in the region,” he said.

GOP to Air Ad Warning of Terror Attacks
You can see the disgusting new ad here.

The hilarious and talented Matt Taibbi penned a fantastic cover story for Rolling Stone this month: “The Worst Congress Ever.” If you haven’t read it yet, here it is:

There is very little that sums up the record of the U.S. Congress in the Bush years better than a half-mad boy-addict put in charge of a federal commission on child exploitation. After all, if a hairy-necked, raincoat-clad freak like Rep. Mark Foley can get himself named co-chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, one can only wonder: What the hell else is going on in the corridors of Capitol Hill these days? READ IT ALL

Related: Public’s opinion of GOP hits record low

Yes, this is the same Larry Craig (above middle) who has repeatedly voted to deny gays basic human rights: [Hat Tip Jesus General]

* Voted YES on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. (Jun 2006)
* Voted NO on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes. (Jun 2002)
* Voted NO on expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation. (Jun 2000)
* Voted YES on prohibiting same-sex marriage. (Sep 1996)
* Voted NO on prohibiting job discrimination by sexual orientation. (Sep 1996)

And here are the allegations: [via Blogactive]

I have called on Senator Larry Craig to end his years of hypocrisy by leveling with Idahoans about who he really is. I am also calling upon several prominent Idaho social conservative leaders to ask them how they square their anti-gay positions with their support for this leader.
I have done extensive research into this case, including trips to the Pacific Northwest to meet with men who have say they have physical relations with the Senator. I have also met with a man here in Washington, D.C., who says the same — and that these incidents occurred in the bathrooms of Union Station. None of these men know each other, or knew that I was talking to others. They all reported similar personal characteristics about the Senator, which lead me to believe, beyond any doubt, that their stories are valid.

Perhaps this is what Dobson was referring to when he said that more antigay-voting GOP Congressmen will be ‘outed’ this week.
Don’t miss this flashback video from 1992 where Larry Craig denies similar allegations [hat tip BlogActive]

Congressman Studds
“Compassionate Conservatism” at its best: [from Lowell Sun via Think Progress]

Gerry Studds, the nation’s first openly gay congressman, pushed the country to another landmark development when he died Saturday: the federal government for the first time will deny death benefits to a congressman’s gay spouse.
The federal government does not recognize the 2004 Massachusetts’ marriage between Studds and Dean Hara, and won’t provide a portion of Studds’ $114,337 annual pension to his surviving spouse.
The federal law, defined by the Defense of Marriage Act, not only trumps the Bay State’s gay marriage law but reveals its limitations.
“A gay spouse will not receive any sort of pension or annuity or anything like that,” said Chad Cowan, a spokesman for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which administers the congressional pension program under federal law.
“It’s not anything that anybody in our office has seen before,” he added.
Wives and husbands of deceased lawmakers have for years found financial comfort in their ability to collect more than half of the generous.

Our brother site, evangelicalright.com has the story.

Radar ranks the 10 biggest fools on the Hill.
10. Sen Jim Bunning (R-KY)
9. Rep Patrick Kennedy (D-RI)
8. Sen Conrad Burns (R-MT)
7. Rep Cynthia McKinney (D-GA)
6. Rep Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio)
5. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
4. Rep. JD Hayworth (R-Ariz.)
3. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.)
2. Rep. Donald Young (R-AK)
1. Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.)
Read their qualifications here.