Today's Cultural Warfare Update

There're a lot of big articles in today's update; the social conservatives are trying to regain the offensive after what they see as the Miers setback. Sen. Brownback of Kansas is revving up the anti-marriage amendment again; the "activist judges" rhetoric and ads are out; and there's an interesting WorldNetDaily-published book out saying that oil is an essentially infinite resource produced purely through geology and that all indications of scarcity are the result of a worldwide anti-American conspiracy. It's fun for everyone!

But let's get straight to the news:

Washington Post article on the cervical cancer vaccine that some social conservatives are opposing - a former Focus on the Family wonk is on the Federal panel examining the matter;

Former Alito classmate (Princeton, Class of '73) and current Fox News analyst describes Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito as "a big government conservative who will almost always side with the government against the individual, and the federal government against the state";

Focus on the Family endorses Alito, runs article of praise from various social conservatives;

FotF slaps Metropolitan Community Church over an outreach effort with a similar name - accuses the MCC of trying to "hijack" the Focus name;

FotF condemns Alaska Supreme Court ruling that same-sex couples are also eligible for state government benefits - ruling came under the Alaskan constitution's equal protections clause; two Republican state legislators promise anti-marriage Constitutional amendment in retaliation;

Senator Brownback (R-Kansas) to convene hearing to mark up new FEDERAL MARRIAGE AMENDMENT; plan is to vote it through and send to full committee;

The most recent Brownback version of the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would, yes, ban marriage rights in all states for same-sex couples, and would, yes, invalidate Massachusetts's marriage law as unconstitutional;

House of Representatives version of the FMA, which would do all of the above, but also includes language to attack civil unions/domestic partnerships;

A disturbing article by Maureen Dowd of the NYT on feminism and the antifeminist backlash; the things she describes are not a universal POV, but it's decidedly out there;

Jay Sekulow of the ACLJ and the financial empire he's built through it;

FotF happy about successes in forcing clinics providing abortion services to close - talks about it in conjunction with a PBS Frontline story on it; they like the story but worry it may motivate pro-choice people to do react;

Fundamentalists watching plans for National Health Museum, concerned about it being used to "push a liberal agenda";

Family Research Council launches ad blitz to "remind people of the threat posed by activist judges";

FRC's ad is online; they're asking for donations to support more airings;

Methodist Church high court defrocks lesbian minister, reinstates Virginia pastor previously suspended for denying congregation membership to a gay man;

Alito ignores precedent to side with government power in an assortment of cases;

Washington Post analysis: Alito will vote to overturn Roe v. Wade;

CWA attacks Alito critics as sexist;

CWA policy wonk Warren Throckmorton decides Jesus was talking about gay men when talking about eunuchs, and that therefore Jesus says homosexuals should be without sexual lives and that accordingly, Jesus did talk about homosexuality and did so negatively;

Wisconsin Catholic school drops "American Girl"-theme fashion show fundraiser in response to fundamentalist boycott against the company for supporting Girls, Inc.;

WorldNetDaily pushes a WND Press book called "Black Gold Stranglehold;" it pushes the theory of theoretical astrophysicist Thomas Gold that oil is created continuously by purely geologic processes rather than the conversion of organic matter via heat and pressure. (There are lots of problems with this idea, not the least of which is that you can tell rather specifically what biological material made the oil in many cases. Also, geologists point out that his process should result in a lot of silicates in the oil, and there isn't any. However, it has been demonstrated that you can make methane via the process he describes if you recreate it in a lab.) I include it mostly because there are indications that short-term Creationists are picking this up and running with it, and WND's treatment is very much conspiracy-theory oriented, with talk about how "fraudulent science" has been "sold to the American people in order to enslave them," and how Arabic countries are going to destroy America by converting to the Euro;

Pro-Life Action League launches official boycott of American Girl.

( Transcriptions, articles, and excerpts )