Fallen Evangelical leader Ted Haggard keeps finding himself in the news!

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Colorado Springs' most famous stain has reappeared!

Ted Haggard spent years damning homosexuality from his pulpit at New Life Church, but found himself ousted after rent boy Mike Jones outed him as a meth-smoking homo. The disgraced Haggard soon moved to Arizona, where he and his family vowed to work through their very public problems. Well, now he's back, but not to his old tricks.

Under a severance deal that Ted Haggard reached with the church in 2006, he agreed to leave Colorado Springs and not talk about the scandal publicly. The deal expired at the end of 2007. New pastor Brady Boyd said Haggard was now free to live where he wanted and has returned to Colorado Springs.

"They have moved back and they live in the original house that they lived in for many years," Boyd said of Haggard and his wife, Gayle.

Haggard answered the telephone at his Colorado Springs telephone number on Sunday and confirmed he was in the city but said he couldn't talk to reporters.

Well that's a damn shame. We'd love to hear how his "degayification" process went!

The story December's Colorado church shootings continues - and it's getting pretty queer, like reformed rent boy Mike Jones' book:

The killer who gunned down four people last month at a church in Colorado Springs and a youth mission in Arvada, wrote a letter addressed "To God" that was recovered along with other items from his car.
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The note to God was found in the rear passenger seat, along with two books: I Had to Say Something, by Mike Jones, and Serial Murderers and Their Victims, by Eric W. Hickey, according to the invoice.

The Jones book is an expose about his experience as a male prostitute and his sexual encounters with former New Life pastor Ted Haggard. Jones' revelations led to Haggard leaving the church.

Well this should do wonders for sales!

Wayne Besen ain't happy with Mike Huckabee's recent Meet The Press appearance. The gay activist released the following statement:

It is alarming that a man with such backward views is a serious contender for the GOP nomination. [Ed. note: But not surprising]
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In the real world, people either act on their sexuality in healthy ways or act like Ted Haggard and Sen. Larry Craig – a tragic lesson that seems lost on Mike Huckabee.
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Huckabee should explain why he is freely associating with known extremists and how this squares with his professed sunny and optimistic vision for America. Furthermore, the comparison of homosexuality to pedophilia and necrophilia is as ignorant as it is offensive. As the primaries approach, Mike Huckabee is beginning to show his true colors - and they are quite dark and intolerant.

These are all true statements, but also endear him to social conservatives.

Things are getting queer in the Colorado church massacre mystery. Not only did shooter Matthew Murray wrote about Ted Haggard in ominous online rants, but the disgraced pastor reportedly had a presence in Murray's home:

Among the items taken from a search of gunman Matthew Murray's home was a picture of former New Life pastor Ted Haggard, according to police documents released Wednesday.
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[Murray wrote] that Haggard was his mother's favorite pastor and in a post about four hours before the shootings at New Life, he wrote that Christianity to him was "hate, abuse (sexual, physical, psychological, and emotional), hypocrisy, and lies."

We can't say Haggard personally had anything to do with the sexually "deviant" Murray's mental problems, but his centrality in this horrible situation definitely says something: the repressive Evangelicals are destroying their tribe. But maybe we're just reading too much into this…

There are new details into church shooter Matthew Murray's murderous motivation. Richard Rothstein passes on word that Murray's sexuality may have led to a split between him and his Christian community:

[Fox News] is now reporting that Matthew Murray, the deeply troubled young man who shot and killed himself and members of Ted Haggard's New Life Church and the church's Youth With A Mission program was gay.

In fact, he may be a victim of the church's ex-gay reparative therapy program. Having failed to find heterosexuality through Jesus it appears that Murray was booted out of the youth program and out of the church.
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[Murray] wrote, "People like us are going to go to hell, according to Christians." He lists several reasons why. Reason number seven is bluntly stated, "I'm bisexual." In other postings, Murray wrote, "… I can never get a female date. I am at least able to get some male action."

And later, he wrote about confronting his mother about his bisexuality.

Murray wrote that he told her, "Using drugs, alcohol and having gay sex, I'm just trying to do what any Christian pastor would do. At least I'm not doing meth like Ted Haggard."

Rothstein worries whether this will increase the right wing's anti-gay ways, but hopes it will open people's eyes to the dangers of restrictive religion. We're praying for the latter…

Colorado Springs' New Life church finds itself in the spotlight once again. The Evangelical megachurch captured public attention last year when leader Ted Haggard went down in gay hooker flames. This year's news doesn't titillate in quite the same way. Or any way, for that matter.

24-year old Matthew Murray stormed the church and gunned down two sisters. He's also suspected of two other incidents in Colorado. So, what does this have to do with Ted Haggard? No one knows for sure, but Murray's internet messages may hold a clue. One post complains about being booted from the Youth Ministry program, which apparently objected to an unspecified "illness".

[His] online rants make passing references both to New Life and founding pastor Ted Haggard, who was dismissed last year after a former male prostitute alleged a relationship with him.
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In an Oct. 6 post, nghtmrchld26 wrote about his anger at the church, "We‘ll make our own religion and be our own God‘s instead listening to some abusive pedophile church like what I was raised in telling us who‘s ‘saved‘ and who‘s not," the person wrote.

It's unclear exactly what Murray's saying here, but it does indicate a deep, deranged resentment for the church - and gays.

Ted Haggard's former rent boy Mike Jones found himself in the spotlight once again this week. Jones joined a number of other men in recounting their sexual encounters with toilet trolling Senator Larry Craig. While Mike Rogers may remain suspicious, Jones insists he'd put his "credibility" up against Craig's. An even match, we're sure:

I'll put my credibility up against Larry Craig's. Here's a man that doesn't know the difference between innocence and guilty…I think people know he's been a liar.

And more than a liar, so much in denial.

It may seem a bit suspicious that Jones would have carnal connections with two of the biggest scandals of the past two years, but that's just his style:

It's not like these are the only two high-profile guys I saw. But I've never heard the others speak ill about the homosexual community or about being gay, so I have no reason to say anything about them.

At least we can be sure Jones won't pop his head into the Trent Lott scandal…

Sex scandals certainly aren't anything new. Politicians and public figures have been canoodling since the beginning of time. The frequency and potency of sex scandals, however, seems to be on the rise.

No surprise, then, that it only took Joseph Minton Amann and Tom Breuer about six months to write The Brotherhood of the Disappearing Pants: A Field Guide To Conservative Sex Scandals. Why just conservative sex scandals? Says Amann, "Liberal scandals aren't as fun. And, honestly, it doesn't look like there are as many."

In Disappearing Pants, Amann and Breuer - who previously wrote Fair and Balanced My Ass, about Fox News - skewer the most repugnant, disgraceful and ultimately hilarious of the conservative sex scandals. As the publication date rapidly approaches, we'd like to share a conversation between our editor and Amann.

Lap it up, after the jump…

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We never thought we'd see the day! Reformed hooker Mike Jones doesn't want to do an interview. Jones simply wouldn't shut his mouth after outing Evangelical leader Ted Haggard - he even released a book about the affair.

As the Larry Craig scandal continued to unfold last week, Jones hinted that he had relations with Craig, as well. Mike Rogers, the blogger who's been dogging Craig since the beginning, called Jones out.

And now Jones has gone mysteriously silent.

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Here's the video.

It's a small world for closeted Republicans. Mike Jones, the escort who famously hooked Ted Haggard up with sex and drugs, says that Larry Craig contracted his unique services. Jones appeared dropped the bombshell during a Palm Springs radio interview Wednesday:

Management for the radio station says Jones told them he would reveal something about Idaho Senator Larry Craig on the Bulldog Bill Feingold Show.

While he hesitated doing so on the air, a NewsChannel 3 camera was rolling when he made the accusation during a commercial break.

Feingold asked whether the Senator had seen Jones in a hotel room.

Jones responded, "No, he came to see me."

Jones then added, "His travel records to Denver have been documented. That's what I wanted to say."

NewsChannel 3 asked Senator Craig's office to comment on the allegations that Craig came to Denver to see Jones, who calls himself a gay escort.

Craig's office said in response, "Mike Jones' allegations are completely false."

We're torn. Half of Queerty think Jones can't tell a lie, but the other half smells "bullshit". We all agree on one thing: Jones is a whore. A media whore, of course.

Ted Haggard wrote this letter to "faithful supporters" in which he celebrates his new ministry: "Manly Men Ministries". Can this shit be for real? Of course not, but it's hilarious!

…Today I am proud to announce the launch of Manly Man Ministries!

Larry and I are going to be traveling the country holding seminars on how to be a manly man. It's so important that the young boys in our churches have a good example of how a Christian man is a manly man. A rough-and-tumble role role-model. They need someone they can look up to and respect. A Marlborough Man, minus the cigarettes.

We are raising wimps and sissies in our churches, and then wonder why the world is going to Hell in a hand basket.
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God bless the men of this country.

Indeed…

A particularly clever, presumably unemployed, bored reader sent along some of his ManHunt friends: Larry Craig, Mark Foley, Bob Allen and Ted "Where's the Meth?" Haggard. Now we're passing them on to you. You know, so you can keep track of which hypocritical politico has which kinks. It can, after all, get a bit confusing.