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Feb. 17th, 2006
Today's Cultural Warfare Update
Feb. 17th, 2006 12:17 pmSorry this one's so big; it's because it's late. There'll be another one tonight or this weekend, but it'll be small, mostly just to round up the end-of-day Focus on the Family crap. (They'll usually spit out another 3-4 articles by EOD Friday that are worth reading. For some value of "worth.")
I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't break these down into sections; they're getting awfully, awfully large. But on the other hand, since they're all really about Fundamentalism v. Everybody, that's kind of misleading; it gives power to the idea that this is several sectional fights, when it's really quite not; it's one unified war to impose varying degrees of theologically-based rule upon everyone, using a consistent set of tactics, rhetoric, and methods. But if they get so long, I don't even know if people will keep skimming the summaries, much less read the articles. I know that a lot of people skim or skip these entries, and I really think it's a bad idea; you can't protect your rights by simply ignoring those in power who are trying to end them.
Regardless, here're today's summaries, followed by the news below the cut:
Russian muslim leader promises violence in the streets if Gay Pride march goes forward; claims they'll be joined by Russian Orthodox as well; says gays should be bashed, could be killed;
Islamists attack Turkish reporter covering their demonstration - she wasn't wearing a head scarf;
Andrew Sullivan damn near clones my report from Monday about CWA's tilt to the Reconstructionist (no, I don't think he stole it, I'm just amused that I'm two days ahead of him on these things ^_^ );
Meanwhile, he links to a story about the kind of secular-government moderate Muslims the world needs to see more of - and they're under attack by fundamentalist groups too. The global fundamentalist war wages on;
Meanwhile, back in the US, James "can dish it out but sure as hell can't take it" Dobson whines petulantly about being targeted by other theocons with what he considers to be uncivil language; basically, his group is trying to prevent a civil unions bill from passing in Colorado by backing a much weaker bill simplifying certain contract arrangements between any two people; the specific intent is to divert the Civil Unions vote to this other bill, but Fox News and other groups are ripping him a new one for "selling out to the gay agenda," and he's not happy - whine, whine, whine, call me when you get the kind of crap you and your lot have been vomiting out at people like me for the last 25 years and until then, shut the fuck up;
FotF whines that "faith-based" groups aren't getting as much tax money as they want, claim the amount is "slipping" - it has gone through the roof over the last few years, but apparently that's not good enough. Also, the Bush administration disputes it, but given their record with numbers, quite frankly, that almost makes me believe Focus on the Family's version;
New York State appeals court upholds opposite-gender-only marriage law; Focus on the Family is pleased; it's going to the state Supreme Court next;
FotF news story cranky about stem-cell research at the state level;
FotF coverage of the Wal-Mart case in Massachusetts, where Wal-Mart was found in violation of the must-carry law for licensed pharmacies - they're required to stock all common prescription medications, and the state ruled that morning-after BCP (emergency contraception, "Plan B") falls into that category;
Focus on the Family's explanation of why it's backing Senate Bill 166 in Colorado;
Idaho anti-marriage constitutional amendment to go to a public vote this fall;
Focus on the Family up in arms over the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition having iPod video components; calls the Swimsuit Edition a "gateway drug" to hard-core pornography;
The FDA is going to hold a panel to consider a re-examination of RU-486; fundamentalists have been pressuring them sharply to do so; Wendy Wright of Concerned Women for America demands it be pulled immediately, like always;
Focus on the Family story on court hearings in the trial of the Nebraska anti-marriage and anti-civil-unions amendment, passed in 2000; there's a lawsuit to overturn it; it's interesting watching as the representative from "Family First," a fundamentalist activist group of which I'd never heard before, takes a Borkian approach to the Constitution, asserting by implication that "equal protection under the law" only applies to "access to the political process" and nothing else; FotF and Family First compare marriage rights to casino gambling; includes ACTION ITEM to support the anti-marriage Federal amendment, the so-called Marriage Protection Amendment;
Long agit-prop piece on "judicial tyranny" as a backing piece for the above story; what's interesting about it, really, is the continuing call to overhaul the court system, and specifically, to pass some form of Constitutional amendment limiting judicial powers; they don't say what form that would take;
Focus on the Family criticises Ohio's decision to only teach science in science class, specifically regarding "criticisms" of evolution, which is typically fundamentalist code for creationist bullshit;
Federal court upholds Florida parental-notification law;
Alaska state legislator introduces bill to ban spousal-equivalent benefits for same-sex couples; Rep. John Coghill (R-North Pole) and Sen. Ralph Seekins (R-Fairbanks) would restrict the "rights, benefits, obligations, qualities or effects of marriage" to opposite-gender married couples only;
Concerned Women for America attempts to discredit the group of evangelical leaders signing the global-warming statement by claiming they've received money from a "pro-abortion" foundation;
CWA celebrates the New York appeals court ruling upholding New York State's exclusionary marriage law;
CWA report on anti-abortion laws at the state level, to challenge and overturn Roe v. Wade;
Maryland considers making emergency contraception over-the-counter within the state; CWA says it will "open the gates for free sex";
Restore America has a regional conference coming up in Portland, Oregon; "Restoring Northwest America Conference"; it'll be a fundamentalist pep-rally, disinformation centre, and political organisation convention;
Agape Press and Concerned Women for America's Robert Knight condemn New York State's law giving GBLT-folk authority over burial rights for deceased partners, calling it an assault on the family, "a perversion of the law," and so on;
FDA to examine possible RU-486-related infections; high security expected to be necessary;
National Review column partially written by CWA wonk; the reason I include it is because of CWA's move towards the overtly-theocratic Christian Reconstructionist movement, and I'm just following the links; how long will it be until National Review has overt Christian Reconstructionist theocrats writing for it?;
American Family Association ACTION ITEM: anti-marriage Federal constitutional amendment vote reschedule for June; they want to have one million letters of support before it goes up for a vote, but only have 300,000; the ACTION ITEM is for more letters to support the anti-marriage amendment;
AFA outraged over GBLT-rights march in planned for 2006 in Jerusalem; ex-gay-ministries fuckhead asks why "anyone would want to engage in sodomy and pornography at the holy sites of our religious heritage";
Fundamentalist Brannon Howse, reprinted by AFA/Agape Press, accuses evangelical letter saying global warming needs to be treated seriously because of its impact on humanity of being a "trojan horse" for groups that "promote abortion and the homosexual agenda";
Baptist Press on a programme to create the next generation of "culture warriors" to carry on the fight against the rights of GBLT Americans in the next generation; they're worried because under-18s aren't anti-gay enough;
Family Research Council's "Washington Briefing: 2006 Values Voters Summit" is a big rally of theoconservatives in CD; a lot of their favourites will be there;
Family Research Council amended press release; they'll be watching votes on the anti-marriage amendment in the Senate, no doubt with the fall campaign in mind; the entire timing of this is based around lining up ammunition against "no" votes, of course;
Canada Family Action Coalition: "the enemy" is not done with Canada, "but neither is God"; "We have much work to do to advance His kingdom in Canada," points to the recent election as new hope;
CFAC quotes Thomas Scalia, calls the Canadian Supreme Court "judicial supreme dictators"; they're clearly grabbing more and more language from US fundamentalists by the day;
Canada Family Action Coalition and "REAL Women of Canada" how-to sheet on stopping "homosexual presentations" in schools; item one, number one, is watching for anything that treats queers as normal or in any way equals to straights; "It's important to state in your letter that you object to your child being involved in any presentation which portrays homosexuality as a normal, equal lifestyle choice. Because many school boards have a so-called "equity" policy on homosexuality, it will always be portrayed sympathetically"; they've also picked up US language equating anti-bulling programmes being "used as a cover to promote the homosexual agenda";
REAL Women of Canada press release decrying Section 28, requiring equal treatment under the Charter's provisions for men and women; also condemn feminists; man, these people are full of the crazy;
Focus on the Family, Canadian branch, tries to start the Supreme Court wars up in Canada;
Focus on the Family, Canadian branch, runs a pro-creationism story; flatterquotes people who push the Bible as "scientifically accurate," which they don't mention requires belief in a flat earth, still in space, with the sun rotating around it; also give press time to Ken Hovind, who, for Canadian readers not familiar with him already, is a longstanding American creationist who has been caught in open fraud down here a few times, if I remember correctly;
FotF Canada: exposure to porn does permanent harm, quotes a "study" by the Heritage Foundation, a theoconservative political action group in the States;
FotF Canada reprints an American FotF story in condensed form, accusing the APA of deliberately abandoning objectivity in order to foster fagdom; pushes homosexuality as a "psychopathology," meaning a mental illness.
( Articles, excerpts, press releases )
I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't break these down into sections; they're getting awfully, awfully large. But on the other hand, since they're all really about Fundamentalism v. Everybody, that's kind of misleading; it gives power to the idea that this is several sectional fights, when it's really quite not; it's one unified war to impose varying degrees of theologically-based rule upon everyone, using a consistent set of tactics, rhetoric, and methods. But if they get so long, I don't even know if people will keep skimming the summaries, much less read the articles. I know that a lot of people skim or skip these entries, and I really think it's a bad idea; you can't protect your rights by simply ignoring those in power who are trying to end them.
Regardless, here're today's summaries, followed by the news below the cut:
Russian muslim leader promises violence in the streets if Gay Pride march goes forward; claims they'll be joined by Russian Orthodox as well; says gays should be bashed, could be killed;
Islamists attack Turkish reporter covering their demonstration - she wasn't wearing a head scarf;
Andrew Sullivan damn near clones my report from Monday about CWA's tilt to the Reconstructionist (no, I don't think he stole it, I'm just amused that I'm two days ahead of him on these things ^_^ );
Meanwhile, he links to a story about the kind of secular-government moderate Muslims the world needs to see more of - and they're under attack by fundamentalist groups too. The global fundamentalist war wages on;
Meanwhile, back in the US, James "can dish it out but sure as hell can't take it" Dobson whines petulantly about being targeted by other theocons with what he considers to be uncivil language; basically, his group is trying to prevent a civil unions bill from passing in Colorado by backing a much weaker bill simplifying certain contract arrangements between any two people; the specific intent is to divert the Civil Unions vote to this other bill, but Fox News and other groups are ripping him a new one for "selling out to the gay agenda," and he's not happy - whine, whine, whine, call me when you get the kind of crap you and your lot have been vomiting out at people like me for the last 25 years and until then, shut the fuck up;
FotF whines that "faith-based" groups aren't getting as much tax money as they want, claim the amount is "slipping" - it has gone through the roof over the last few years, but apparently that's not good enough. Also, the Bush administration disputes it, but given their record with numbers, quite frankly, that almost makes me believe Focus on the Family's version;
New York State appeals court upholds opposite-gender-only marriage law; Focus on the Family is pleased; it's going to the state Supreme Court next;
FotF news story cranky about stem-cell research at the state level;
FotF coverage of the Wal-Mart case in Massachusetts, where Wal-Mart was found in violation of the must-carry law for licensed pharmacies - they're required to stock all common prescription medications, and the state ruled that morning-after BCP (emergency contraception, "Plan B") falls into that category;
Focus on the Family's explanation of why it's backing Senate Bill 166 in Colorado;
Idaho anti-marriage constitutional amendment to go to a public vote this fall;
Focus on the Family up in arms over the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition having iPod video components; calls the Swimsuit Edition a "gateway drug" to hard-core pornography;
The FDA is going to hold a panel to consider a re-examination of RU-486; fundamentalists have been pressuring them sharply to do so; Wendy Wright of Concerned Women for America demands it be pulled immediately, like always;
Focus on the Family story on court hearings in the trial of the Nebraska anti-marriage and anti-civil-unions amendment, passed in 2000; there's a lawsuit to overturn it; it's interesting watching as the representative from "Family First," a fundamentalist activist group of which I'd never heard before, takes a Borkian approach to the Constitution, asserting by implication that "equal protection under the law" only applies to "access to the political process" and nothing else; FotF and Family First compare marriage rights to casino gambling; includes ACTION ITEM to support the anti-marriage Federal amendment, the so-called Marriage Protection Amendment;
Long agit-prop piece on "judicial tyranny" as a backing piece for the above story; what's interesting about it, really, is the continuing call to overhaul the court system, and specifically, to pass some form of Constitutional amendment limiting judicial powers; they don't say what form that would take;
Focus on the Family criticises Ohio's decision to only teach science in science class, specifically regarding "criticisms" of evolution, which is typically fundamentalist code for creationist bullshit;
Federal court upholds Florida parental-notification law;
Alaska state legislator introduces bill to ban spousal-equivalent benefits for same-sex couples; Rep. John Coghill (R-North Pole) and Sen. Ralph Seekins (R-Fairbanks) would restrict the "rights, benefits, obligations, qualities or effects of marriage" to opposite-gender married couples only;
Concerned Women for America attempts to discredit the group of evangelical leaders signing the global-warming statement by claiming they've received money from a "pro-abortion" foundation;
CWA celebrates the New York appeals court ruling upholding New York State's exclusionary marriage law;
CWA report on anti-abortion laws at the state level, to challenge and overturn Roe v. Wade;
Maryland considers making emergency contraception over-the-counter within the state; CWA says it will "open the gates for free sex";
Restore America has a regional conference coming up in Portland, Oregon; "Restoring Northwest America Conference"; it'll be a fundamentalist pep-rally, disinformation centre, and political organisation convention;
Agape Press and Concerned Women for America's Robert Knight condemn New York State's law giving GBLT-folk authority over burial rights for deceased partners, calling it an assault on the family, "a perversion of the law," and so on;
FDA to examine possible RU-486-related infections; high security expected to be necessary;
National Review column partially written by CWA wonk; the reason I include it is because of CWA's move towards the overtly-theocratic Christian Reconstructionist movement, and I'm just following the links; how long will it be until National Review has overt Christian Reconstructionist theocrats writing for it?;
American Family Association ACTION ITEM: anti-marriage Federal constitutional amendment vote reschedule for June; they want to have one million letters of support before it goes up for a vote, but only have 300,000; the ACTION ITEM is for more letters to support the anti-marriage amendment;
AFA outraged over GBLT-rights march in planned for 2006 in Jerusalem; ex-gay-ministries fuckhead asks why "anyone would want to engage in sodomy and pornography at the holy sites of our religious heritage";
Fundamentalist Brannon Howse, reprinted by AFA/Agape Press, accuses evangelical letter saying global warming needs to be treated seriously because of its impact on humanity of being a "trojan horse" for groups that "promote abortion and the homosexual agenda";
Baptist Press on a programme to create the next generation of "culture warriors" to carry on the fight against the rights of GBLT Americans in the next generation; they're worried because under-18s aren't anti-gay enough;
Family Research Council's "Washington Briefing: 2006 Values Voters Summit" is a big rally of theoconservatives in CD; a lot of their favourites will be there;
Family Research Council amended press release; they'll be watching votes on the anti-marriage amendment in the Senate, no doubt with the fall campaign in mind; the entire timing of this is based around lining up ammunition against "no" votes, of course;
Canada Family Action Coalition: "the enemy" is not done with Canada, "but neither is God"; "We have much work to do to advance His kingdom in Canada," points to the recent election as new hope;
CFAC quotes Thomas Scalia, calls the Canadian Supreme Court "judicial supreme dictators"; they're clearly grabbing more and more language from US fundamentalists by the day;
Canada Family Action Coalition and "REAL Women of Canada" how-to sheet on stopping "homosexual presentations" in schools; item one, number one, is watching for anything that treats queers as normal or in any way equals to straights; "It's important to state in your letter that you object to your child being involved in any presentation which portrays homosexuality as a normal, equal lifestyle choice. Because many school boards have a so-called "equity" policy on homosexuality, it will always be portrayed sympathetically"; they've also picked up US language equating anti-bulling programmes being "used as a cover to promote the homosexual agenda";
REAL Women of Canada press release decrying Section 28, requiring equal treatment under the Charter's provisions for men and women; also condemn feminists; man, these people are full of the crazy;
Focus on the Family, Canadian branch, tries to start the Supreme Court wars up in Canada;
Focus on the Family, Canadian branch, runs a pro-creationism story; flatterquotes people who push the Bible as "scientifically accurate," which they don't mention requires belief in a flat earth, still in space, with the sun rotating around it; also give press time to Ken Hovind, who, for Canadian readers not familiar with him already, is a longstanding American creationist who has been caught in open fraud down here a few times, if I remember correctly;
FotF Canada: exposure to porn does permanent harm, quotes a "study" by the Heritage Foundation, a theoconservative political action group in the States;
FotF Canada reprints an American FotF story in condensed form, accusing the APA of deliberately abandoning objectivity in order to foster fagdom; pushes homosexuality as a "psychopathology," meaning a mental illness.
( Articles, excerpts, press releases )
it's official
Feb. 17th, 2006 04:47 pmA form-letter email rejection from the graduate school just arrived. I expected it at this point, but still: crap.
Northwest Airlines won't let a gay employee use the second ticket he won at the company Christmas party for his partner; they would for an opposite-gender spouse;
Italian embassy in Libya torched over Mohammed cartoons;
Focus on the Family story on anti-marriage votes coming up in 2006;
Nebraska A.G. talks optimistically about keeping queers from being married, and the case before the Federal appeals court;
FotF slams Fox News's Geraldo Rivera for making any connection whatsoever between Cheney shooting his friend in the face and not reporting it for a day or so and Kennedy's deadly car crash at Chappaquiddick; I include it mostly because it's interesting watching FotF play defense for the Republican party on an issue totally unrelated to any of their normal concerns; includes ACTION ITEM to complain to Fox News and Rivera himself; the best part is where they call Fox News's "The O'Reilly Factor" an example of liberal bias;
Bush wants Supreme Court to hear so-called "partial birth abortion" ban case;
In case you still think Focus on the Family is somehow a fringe group, here's a reminder that they aren't: their daily radio show wins the National Religious Broadcasters annual award for best radio talk show;
"Illinois is not the Massachusetts of the midwest;" fundamentalist group starts signature gathering for an anti-marriage amendment there; I don't know whether it includes civil unions, but almost all of them do;
Andrew Longman of Alan Keyes's "Renew America" kneels beforeZOD James Dobson, apologises abjectly for criticising him;
Moscow's Gay Pride parade is vetoed by the city government in the face of united violence promises from local Muslim and Russian Orthodox leadership; Russian Orthodox Church compares homosexuality to leprosy; Muslim leaders say gay men should be killed and have no human rights; 43% of Russians polled last year say gay men should be jailed; city government blames the queers, of course. Link swiped from Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish;
Alliance Defense Fund's "Day of Truth" anti-gay counter-action to the "Day of Silence" campaign starts getting early plugs from WorldNetDaily; some fundamentalist groups are linking to it; this ADF is a legal organisation that fights abortion rights, GBLT rights, and for Christian religious instruction in schools;
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), who I have historically liked, personally disappoints me by introducing a bill to prevent Federal courts from "issuing rulings on religious freedom, reproduction, and marriage" - in other words, to except various rights from Federal court protection; this is one of those things the fundamentalists badly want, and, quite frankly, if it's Constitutional, I'm Arnold fucking Palmer;
In an earlier Cultural Warfare Update special edition, I quoted fundamentalist leaders talking about how everything would have to be reconsidered from a perspective of "Intelligent Design"; one example is apparently oil exploration; World Net Daily gives friendly coverage to a religious group doing oil exploration in Israel based on their interpretation of the Old Testament; now, this is the Middle East, so they probably will find some oil, but, well, this is what they want to call science, in action; geology isn't important, interpretations of Bible verses are, and "and then a miracle occurs" is a valid process step. I can't wait to see the first patent for that kind of process, can you?
( Articles and excerpts )
Italian embassy in Libya torched over Mohammed cartoons;
Focus on the Family story on anti-marriage votes coming up in 2006;
Nebraska A.G. talks optimistically about keeping queers from being married, and the case before the Federal appeals court;
FotF slams Fox News's Geraldo Rivera for making any connection whatsoever between Cheney shooting his friend in the face and not reporting it for a day or so and Kennedy's deadly car crash at Chappaquiddick; I include it mostly because it's interesting watching FotF play defense for the Republican party on an issue totally unrelated to any of their normal concerns; includes ACTION ITEM to complain to Fox News and Rivera himself; the best part is where they call Fox News's "The O'Reilly Factor" an example of liberal bias;
Bush wants Supreme Court to hear so-called "partial birth abortion" ban case;
In case you still think Focus on the Family is somehow a fringe group, here's a reminder that they aren't: their daily radio show wins the National Religious Broadcasters annual award for best radio talk show;
"Illinois is not the Massachusetts of the midwest;" fundamentalist group starts signature gathering for an anti-marriage amendment there; I don't know whether it includes civil unions, but almost all of them do;
Andrew Longman of Alan Keyes's "Renew America" kneels before
Moscow's Gay Pride parade is vetoed by the city government in the face of united violence promises from local Muslim and Russian Orthodox leadership; Russian Orthodox Church compares homosexuality to leprosy; Muslim leaders say gay men should be killed and have no human rights; 43% of Russians polled last year say gay men should be jailed; city government blames the queers, of course. Link swiped from Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish;
Alliance Defense Fund's "Day of Truth" anti-gay counter-action to the "Day of Silence" campaign starts getting early plugs from WorldNetDaily; some fundamentalist groups are linking to it; this ADF is a legal organisation that fights abortion rights, GBLT rights, and for Christian religious instruction in schools;
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), who I have historically liked, personally disappoints me by introducing a bill to prevent Federal courts from "issuing rulings on religious freedom, reproduction, and marriage" - in other words, to except various rights from Federal court protection; this is one of those things the fundamentalists badly want, and, quite frankly, if it's Constitutional, I'm Arnold fucking Palmer;
In an earlier Cultural Warfare Update special edition, I quoted fundamentalist leaders talking about how everything would have to be reconsidered from a perspective of "Intelligent Design"; one example is apparently oil exploration; World Net Daily gives friendly coverage to a religious group doing oil exploration in Israel based on their interpretation of the Old Testament; now, this is the Middle East, so they probably will find some oil, but, well, this is what they want to call science, in action; geology isn't important, interpretations of Bible verses are, and "and then a miracle occurs" is a valid process step. I can't wait to see the first patent for that kind of process, can you?
( Articles and excerpts )
