Why did Michele Bachmann hire an accused terrorist and ex-spy who pals around with a central figure in the Ugandan effort to make homosexuality a crime punishable by death?

Finally, someone to suck all the joy out of best-selling satirical children's book Go the Fuck to Sleep. In a column for CNN, Karen Spears Zacharias argues that violent language and implied bigotry mean "Go the Fuck to Sleep is not funny":

Most reasonable people can agree that the only thing missing from the modern church experience is Death Cab for Cutie lyrics. The arrival, then, of the Trinity Grace Church to New York City's East Village ("a neighborhood perceived by many as libertine," The New York Times hazards) proves welcome: Trinity Grace's pastor and founder, 33-year-old Guy Wasko, quotes from Death Cab as freely as he does from scripture. And that's not all! The Rev. Wasko, we are told by the Times, sports "spiky brown hair" and "eight-gauge steel posts in both ears"; he has a tattoo, and, judging by the accompanying photographs, a soul patch. In other words: This guy is legit. And thanks to him, the East Village is getting a dose of rock 'n roll preaching:

How do you pick which Republican presidential candidate to support? They all say they hate Sharia law—but they'd probably all immediately hire al Qaeda members upon being elected to office. All of them—except for Herman Cain.

The Southern California chapter of a Muslim charity called Islamic Circle of North American Relief USA held an event in Orange County last month hoping to raise about $350,000 for "women's shelters, fighting hunger and homelessness in the area." So of course hundreds of people showed up to protest, chanting "go back home" and "Muhammad was a pervert."

The Arkansas grocery store chain that put a "family shield" over a photo of Elton John and his partner has backed down and removed it.

Oh Lord. A Harps supermarket in Mountain View, Arkansas has placed a "family shield" over the Us Weekly cover of Elton John with his partner David Furnish and their new baby, to protect innocent children. From Mr. John's crazy glasses?

Days after Oklahoma voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure to prohibit its courts from considering Sharia or international law, the Council on American-Islamic Relations' Oklahoma director filed a lawsuit asking for an injunction against the law.

Carl Paladino is currently "Under fire, child," (as Whoopi Goldberg said) for, well, being a homophobic idiot. On today's episode of The View, the ladies discussed Paladino's reprehensible anti-gay statements, and—in a first, really—they were all in agreement.

Did 18-year-old Tyler Clementi—whose roommate live-streamed video of him "making out with a dude"—reach out for help before killing himself? A thread on a gay community message board apparently tells the story in Clementi's own words.

Former Cuban president Fidel Castro told the Mexican newspaper La Jornada that "If someone is responsible" for the persecution suffered by Cuban gays after the 1959 revolution, "it's me." In response, gays named a San Francisco neighborhood in his honor.

A Washington man was charged with a hate crime today for assaulting a 7-11 clerk wearing a turban last week. His words to the convenience store employee? "You're not even American, you're Al-Qaeda. Go back to your country."

"Ground Zero mosque" mania reaches exciting new heights. Last night a cabbie picked up a man at 24th and Second. The passenger asked "Are you Muslim?" The driver answered yes, and was promptly stabbed. He survived, thank god(s).

On Friday, President Obama spoke out supporting the right of the developers of the Cordoba House—the so-called "ground zero mosque"—to build at their site. And Republicans wouldn't shut up about it. It's okay! We have other ideas.

Anti-mosque fever is all the rage nationwide, not just in lower Manhattan. Everyone's doing it! And now the American Family Association, a religious right heavyweight, has taken it to a new level: no more mosques in the United States, period.

The Anti-Defamation League has issued a pathetic statement opposing Cordoba House, aka the "Ground Zero Mosque." While the ADL condemns the bigotry galvanizing Cordoba's opponents, and thinks proponents have "every right" to build there... it says they shouldn't anyway. Huh?

[A man with strong feelings drives in California. Photo via Reddit]

Lynne Torgerson—who is running against Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), a popular, well-respected U.S. Congressman—wants to stop the "globalization of Islam" and "Ellison [who] is a Muslim." She cites 9/11, Fort Hood, and the book Muslim Mafia as evidence.

Hey, meet Brian Brown, the executive director of the anti-gay hate group the National Organization for Marriage. He is not like those other anti-gay activists, though, who are making up crazy things. No, he makes up sane-sounding things!

'Tis the season of empty gestures! Inaugural pastor Rick Warren rewrote his website so it no longer says gays are poison to his congregation. In fact a whole long lecture about gays was deleted.