Today's Cultural Warfare Update

We have a Feature Presentation! It's at the end of the list, as always. But first, today's news:

It's funny watching Focus on the Family jump all over a bill they'd normally be opposing as "counterfeit marriage." They do that in New Jersey as an attempt to avoid a bill that outright calls itself domestic partnerships or marriage;

Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM against ABC for the All My Children soap having a transgendered character; they ay it won't "reflect reality," which is to say, they're worried that the trans person won't be unhappy enough and won't come to either a terrible end or Redemeption Through Jesus Christ. One of their recurring themes is that GBLT people cannot be happy or have stable relationships, or actually fall in love;

FotF upset that a lesbian woman's custody rights have been upheld, quoting a Liberty Council rep saying it's "the tip of the iceburg" to recognising same-sex marriage;

Resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan executing teachers for instructing girls - they want to go back to their pre-2001 policy of creating an outright chattel slave class of women; I was complaining about this crap in 1998 and it really, really pisses me off that the current administration kept forgetting about Afghanistan even after finally doing something about it - remember the $0 reconstruction fund budget? That was cool. Link from tinlail;

Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM to get the lame duck Congress to pass an anti-abortion measure;

FotF: new abortion regulations don't go far enough - they want a ban, of course, so anything short of that is inadequate;

Focus on the Family wants Sen. Brownback (R-KS) to run for President, as none of the currently announced or generally-acknowledged 2008 Republican contenders (Guliani, Romney, etc) are fundamentalist enough for them; includes an ACTION ITEM for the same anti-abortion measure mentioned above;

Democratic state rep. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) to reintroduce GBLT marriage rights bill in California legislature; it passed last year, but was vetoed by Gov. Schwarzenegger (R-CA);

Meanwhile, on the Federal level, Democrats plan to reintroduce the stem-cell research bill which passed Congress this year but which Mr. Bush vetoed in his only veto action to date;

Focus on the Family criticises two-income families - gosh, I wonder which parent they think shouldn't be working;

FotF: Maricopa County, Arizona appealing court ruling overturning policy requiring inmates to get a special court order in order to get an abortion;

FotF: Massachusetts State Supreme Court to hear outgoing Gov. Romney's lawsuit seeking to force the legislature to put an measure on the state ballot;

FotF article tossing about the War on Christmas bullshit;

Concerned Women for America press release says Americans want more theoconservative and theocon-friendly judges for Christmas, urges Congress to vote to ratify a list of nominees;

CWA worries that Wal-Mart is not being decisive enough in its reaction to the theoconservative attack on it for buying an associate membership to the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. But they're not putting Wal-Mart on their "naughty" list because their advertising uses the words "Merry Christmas" this year;

CWA's "Naughty and Nice" list for the "War on Christmas"; they're really unhappy with Best Buy, because they're sticking with "Happy Holidays";

CWA on the possible male contraceptive pill; they aren't fans; they worry that it will "prove to be a detriment to the morals and to the culture that is already disintegrated in terms of viewing sex as something that's recreational rather than a commitment between a couple that is committed to each other for life";

Faith and Freedom Network condemns tolerance and the "New Truth";

Faith and Freedom Network links polygamists and GBLT marriage rights;

Faith and Freedom Network complains that "In God We Trust" is too small on the new dollar coins;

Canada Family Action Coalition accuses the Toronto Maple Leafs of "being in the business of pedophile peddling";

The entire "swearing on the Koran instead of the BIble" thing is deflating - the swearing-in ceremony doesn't actually involve swearing on any book;

American Family Association condemns Ford Motor again, this time for opposing anti-gay ballot measures;

American Family Association ACTION ITEM for a Federal law mandating Congressional swearing-in on Bibles;

AFA story on the Canada Family Action Coalition item calling the Toronto Maple Leafs promoters of paedophilia; the actual item is that the Leafs and the NHL are allowing their logos to be used in the filming of the book Breakfast with Scot, about a gay hockey player who wants to come out; the paedophilia comes from the fictional character's fictional adopted son;

American Family Association ACTION ITEM to lobby Congress to pass the "Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act." AFA: "The Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act serves as a reminder, to mothers and the technicians who commit abortion, of the humanity of the life growing inside the mother’s womb";

AFA reports on the plans to resubmit marriage equality bill in California;

LifeNews.com says that the stem-cell research bill is going to start 39 votes short of a veto-proof majority - it'll pass again, but not with a veto-proof number;

Family Research Council: only abstinence-only education is good against AIDS; also an ACTION ITEM to support HR 6099, the anti-abortion bill that is apparently going to get a new vote in the House on Monday or Tuesday;

Family Research Council separate ACTION ITEM to support HR 6099;

And now, our Cultural Warfare Update Feature Presentation.

( Articles, excerpts, and transcriptions below. )

purplish bits

I have a decent number of pictures queued up, flower pictures and leaf pictures and a little assortment of random other photos too. That's good, since the time for leaves and flowers is mostly over already.

This flower picture came out grainy, but I like it:


Sovphoto Flowers

I suppose I should shoot at ASA200 when I can; I just leave it at 400 most of the time and never even think about changing it - I like having more shutter-speed options on the low light end, which we have quite a bit of this time of year. The camera has an "auto" setting for the ASA, which would partially solve this problem, I guess, but then I'd be fighting with it over whether the ASA should change or the fstop or the shutter speed, and I'm too much of a control freak in my photography to put up with that.

Mmmm, old-sk00l full-manual metal-body SLRs...

Tuesday's miles: 2.0
Wednesday's token: 0.1 miles
Thursday's token: 0.4 miles
Friday's miles: 2.0
Miles out of Hobbiton: 1427.7
Miles out of Rivendell: 969.7
Miles out of Lothlórien: 515.7
Miles past Rauros Falls: 97.8
Miles to Isengard: 363.9

Why, no, I don't miss Newt Gingrich, why do you ask?

Our Friends, the Saudis seem to have been giving the administration political cover for making few or no real changes in Iraq. (Well, other than a large troop add, I suppose, which might actually help provide some security were they trained properly. But that simply is not happening.) That's interesting.

Mind you, I halfway have to wonder whether the Saudi government wouldn't actually almost like doing something on their own - they have a lot of people of fighting age - which in that country, means young men - and war is a traditional way of giving them something to do. But I'm also sure the Saudi government doesn't want so many people trained in military affairs coming back home, so I don't tend to think that's really very like to happen. So I really have my doubts about the credibility of these statements on their part, which is why I think it's more about political cover than anything else.

( Memage )