Today's Cultural Warfare Update

All kinds of stuff in today's update; key elements include the Faith and Freedom Network and Focus on the Family condemning "medically correct" data in sex education because science is too lefty; there's also a bunch of stuff about the Newt Gingrich interview with James Dobson and the continuing attacks on John Edwards as gay (which he's not; he's got three kids and has been married for a few decades) and/or "womanly," which - given the picture of Edwards as a Breck Girl in an old ad is clearly intended to carry "cross-dresser" baggage. I have to winder if a Guilani supporters are involved, given that there are actual pictures of Guilani at fundraisers in drag, and hamming it up with Donald Trump.

There's also a big upsurge in theocon-called action items. Those are always noted by ACTION ITEM. I kind of presume that opposition groups call in and do the opposite of the theocon requests.

Anyway, here's today's news.

Hullabaloo gets vaguely culture-war-coverage-ish with James Dobson's radio lovefest with former Speaker Newt Gingrich, comparing and contrasting Dobson on Clinton and Dobson on Gingrich; I include it here because it has extensive quotes from James Dobson, with reasonable context;

Here's the Focus on the Family promo for the Dobson-Gingrich interview;

Meanwhile, in Florida, there's a counter-protest in support of the city manager fired - against city policy, even - for undergoing gender reassignment;

The, how can I put this? Faggotisation? of John Edwards continues, this time courtesy Rush Limbaugh, who says he could be "our first woman president";

More Dobson-on-Clinton, this via a nicely cached Google retrieval;

"Mormonism — That’s So Gay";

Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM against Colorado house bill to allow gay people to adopt;

Focus on the Family complains that science programmes aren't giving doctorates to creationist students trying to study creationism as an "alternative to evolution," spins it as religious oppression - "This issue of peer review and peer pressure -- it's real. Political correctness reigns on the campus, and Christianity is definitely not politically correct." No, the problem is that creationism isn't factually correct;

Focus on the Family story about how men are hurt by not being able to control whether a woman gets an abortion;

Citizen Magazine article promoting the New Life Church and lauding its hard-line stance against GBLT people, particularly after the Ted Haggard scandal;

Focus on the Family condemns evangelical groups pushing for action on global warming;

FotF condemns New Mexico legislation allowing stem-cell research on leftover embryos intended to be discarded after fertility treatments;

Mississippi abortion ban - comprehensive except for rape or life of the mother, no health exemption - to be signed into law by Gov. Haley Barbour; it's a "trigger law" that won't take effect unless Roe v. Wade is overturned;

Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM against California assisted-suicide law;

FotF "Illinois Professor Refuses to Issue Grade to Christian Student" - after she implied legal action against him for downgrading a grade on a "faith-based" paper about therapy for "post-abortion syndrome," which is something the theocons made up;

Connecticut considering bill mandating "MySpace age checks" before people can post profiles, thus eliminating 90% of the MySpace audience base;

New Hampshire repeals "pro-life parential notification law"; Focus on the Family is unhappy about it;

FotF unhappy that Wisconsin has turned down abstinence-education funds from the Feds;

FotF ACTION ITEM against Washington State bill (SB 5297) considering a bill stopping abstinence-only - abstinence can still be taught, but can't be the only thing taught, and it also requires information be medically accurate; theocons locally are pissed off;

FotF writing about their state-level "Family Policy Councils" which create "judicial voter guides"; we've seen these here, but Washington State isn't specifically listed;

FotF ACTION ITEM against "subversion of marriage" bills in Maine and New Mexico; the Maine bill would "bar clergymen from signing marriage licenses"; the New Mexico bills in question are domestic partnership bills;

Faith and Freedom Network condemns "medically correct" sex-education bill in Washington State, issues ACTION ITEM against; also condemn scientific peer review because, and I am quoting as always, "the journals are controlled by far left secularist organizations that do not allow the abstinence people to publish";

Faith and Freedom Network condemns the Enlightenment (by implication), as part of an attempt to describe the American Founding Fathers as confirmed fundamentalist evangelicals. Note that modern fundamentalism wasn't even invented until the late 19th and early 20th century, over 100 years later;

Faith and Freedom Network condemns domestic partnership benefits vote, and is "reviewing the viable options of response," which I suspect means, "figuring out whether to sue";

Focus on the Family drools over the prospect of a John Paul Stevens retirement or death, talks about the need for Chief Executive Bush to nominate a social conservative to overturn Roe v. Wade;

FotF unhappy at Iowa passing a stem-cell research bill, calling it a "cloning bill";

New York Catholic Conference condemns stem-cell research funding bill in New York State;

FotF condemns Washington State domestic partnership bill, calls for state initiative to ban DP benefits;

FotF condemns Georgia law for not specifically refusing to recognise adoptions by same-sex partners; reports on a court case where a woman's custody rights were upheld by a Georgia court involving a lesbian couple who had split up;

James Dobson op-ed in the Rocky Mountain News condemning same-sex parents, defending his quoting of researchers who say that he is specifically and misrepresenting their research; his response continues to be, 'am not';

Focus on the Family unhappy with New Hampshire bills recognising domestic partnerships;

Focus on the Family happy with advancement of "Ky. Fetal-Pain Bill."

( Articles and excerpts below )

Well, hell.

The researcher whose work got me interested in graduate school, Dr. Paul Bach-y-Rita of the University of Wisconsin, died November 20th in his sleep. (Obituary here). I just found out. I had nominated him a few months ago as a potential science GoH for Norwescon 31 for his research into brain-machine interfaces, and when the committee chair was preparing the committee ballot, he looked up some contact information and found he'd died.

Dammit.