Today's Cultural Warfare Update, Part I

That's kind of neat; Focus on the Family is slowly shifting to outright opposition to the HPV vaccine that prevents cervical cancer. They aren't there yet, but they're working on it, backing a bill to block Federal funds to schools who include it in their standard vaccinations package, and shifting their coverage of any HPV issue to negative. The other theocon groups are drifting similarly. You'll see that in Parts II and III.

And now, today's news.

Obscenely misleading headline on CNN.COM says "Biology teacher fired for referring to Bible;" no, he was fired for teaching Creationism in direct violation of school policy, and linked evolution to Planned Parenthood and Naziism;

German judge relies on Koran to deny a woman suffering severe beatings by her husband a divorce; there appropriate outrage;

German judge removed from bench over ruling;

ACT-UP founder Larry Kramer's column asking straight people: why do you hate us so much? In particular, he takes GBLT people to task for voting on the basis of lesser hate vs. greater hate;

Andrew Sullivan links to a radio excerpt of a Concerned Women for America wonk's explosive interaction with Mitt Romney;

Faith and Freedom Network praises Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy for speaking at the anti-gay Illinois Family Institute lunch and awards ceremony. They (hysterically) try to claim that the IFI isn't a political organisation and that this is therefore religious intolerance. Now that's comedy. On a more serious note, this is just another manifestation of their underlying position: if you don't let them control your life through their laws, you are religiously oppressing them, because their rights include control over you, in the name of Jehovah;

A second FFN article praising Tony Dungy, who says, "I'm with God and I believe IFI has taken the biblical, Godly position on marriage and so I'm pleased to stand with it";

Faith and Freedom Network asks whether Americans have too much freedom; the poll they have up with it outright asks whether Americans have too much freedom of expression, and answers it by saying only if Americans fail to "embrace the Judeo-Christian principles that made America great." He also quotes quite a bit about how democracy is only a good form of government for Christians and that liberty shouldn't be "a cloak for vice" and so on. As of this writing, the completely unscientific poll about whether Americans have too much freedom of expression is split, 51:49 against. I note for comparison purposes that the self-selected polls normally run 11:1 or so in favour of the FFN position;

FFN opposes bill to instigate a state investigation of anti-abortion "pregnancy resource centres" in Oregon;

From cubes, an update on the Largo, Florida case of a city going against its own city policy to fire their city manager because of her gender reassignment;

Faith and Freedom Network condemns the Soulforce religiously-based pro-GBLT activist group as "a sad commentary" and "a missed opportunity," presumably, to try to turn more queers str8;

FFN praises General Pace for (against policy, in uniform) condemning lesbian and gay soldiers as immoral, and praises commentary (same interview, but prefixed with "as an individual") that he's glad that, in the military, "we prosecute that kind of immoral behavior";

Focus on the Family has a story unhappy about the overturning of COPA ("Child Online Protection Act") as overreaching; this is the story with the Colbertian "Families in DANGER" graphic;

Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM against including GBLT people in violent hate-crimes law, and claims it "would make opposition to homosexuality a crime"; I suppose that's true if you consider beatings to be "opposition to homosexuality" that shouldn't, you know, be criminal; I did certainly hear enough in the past from fundamentalist groups such as Concerned Women for America defending gaybashing as a normal and natural response to the perversion of homosexuality;

Focus on the Family supports South Carolina bill requiring doctors offer ultrasounds to women considering abortions;

Alliance Defense Fund sues school over not allowing an anti-gay T-shirt on campus; it's one of several such lawsuits;

Focus on the Family is moving towards more open opposition to the HPV (cervical cancer) vaccine, slowly; they've started taking the "emphasise anything negative about it" approach they take to anything they dislike. In this case, they raise the entirely legitimate point that it hasn't been tested on children under 15 - but it always goes back around to 'but it's an STD and the little whores unmarried people shouldn't be having sex anyway.' I really find that deeply repulsive - and kind of indicative about where they'd go, if they could;

"Touchdown MARRIAGE" - Focus on the Family likes Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy's anti-gay stance. Even better, they actually make the bizarre claim that Coach Dungy's anti-gay activities and Christian activism should make any queer players on the team feel better about working for him, not worse;

Focus on the Family applauds new Utah law allowing schools to bar clubs "found to be offensive" by the community. The bill's author, Utah State Senator Chris Buttars (R-West Jordan), was overtly targeting Gay-Straight Alliance clubs, and is pleased to have helped pass a law letting schools ban them. Note that they started appearing only after a Supreme Court ruling requiring equal access was won in response to fundamentalists demanding religious clubs be allowed to use school property, and that GSA clubs made it into schools on the basis of that ruling. Again: oppression under the law is the goal, and we see it overtly again here. Also, a quick Google search shows that Senator Buttars shows up a lot in creationism and anti-gay activity;

Focus on the Family condemns fertility clinics offering surrogate services to gay male couples;

Focus on the Family lurvs them some Tom Delay, and runs his condemnation of "the politics of personal destruction" on the very same page he calls liberals a pack of Communist thugs; this is mostly interesting because you get a glimpse into James Dobson's lobbying within the party - Delay slams Dick Armey for not being responsive enough to James Dobson's agenda. This entry includes both Part I and Part II of the interview, the latter of which only came out today. The latter part is headlined, "The Lord Has Had a Major Part in Developing Who Tom DeLay Is";

Focus on the Family backs a Federal effort by US Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) to deny Federal funds to any school including the HPV/cervical cancer vaccine in their standard vaccinations package;

FotF ACTION ITEM against DP benefits in New Mexico;

Focus on the Family Brazil very unhappy with proposed anti-discrimination law, says it's against their religion not to be able to fire queers;

Focus on the Family USA interviews the head of Focus on the Family Latin America;

FotF makes a weird claim that Jamestown Settlement and Museum is being purged of Christianity-related materials;

FotF alarmed that Mexico City is considering legalising first-trimster abortions;

FotF outraged at "gay indoctrination" at Chicago high schools; anybody know what this is actually about? It looks like one of those things wherein here's a whole bunch of stuff going on and one of the things going on is GBLT students speaking about their own experiences. Focus hates that because one of their man methodologies is keeping GBLT people from being seen as people;

FotF ACTION ITEM against embryonic stem cell research;

Student who joined with ADF to sue her teacher and school over not getting to write a religious paper in a psychology class finally got a grade;

FotF claims a link between abortion and child abuse; anybody heard of the Internet Journal of Pediatrics and Neonatology? Is it real or another sham? Given that they have the word "internet" in their name and gave an interview to LifeNews, I tend to suspect the latter, but am withholding judgement. The study, by the way, was a study of low-income women with a pre-existing history of child abuse;

FotF: "Pope Says Catholic Lawmakers Cannot Compromise";

FotF supports anti-gay remarks made by General Pace; given the similarities between this story and the Faith and Freedom Network version, I rather suspect that FFN sourced theirs from this one;

FotF: Newt Gingrich calls for abolishing the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, saying it doesn't belong in America;

FotF condemns New York State Supreme Court ruling upholding recognition of an out-of-state same-sex marriage. Alliance Defense Fund counsel Brian Raum predicts the court's decision will be overturned, leading one to wonder by whom, exactly? But presumably they expect some sort of Federal intervention;

FotF notes that "[Episcopalian] Denomination refuses to back down from support of homosexuality" and talks up a schism;

FotF reports that the Marriage and Family Institute - a local group that has an anti-marriage wing, and secular and religious forks - will continue receiving Federal funds for its nominally secular portion, a legal challenge having failed.

( Articles and excerpts below )

Today's Cultural Warfare Update, Part II

In organisational news, the AFA points to CultureDefense.org, a new theocon organisation of the usual sort - presumably. Right now, it's stupid and broken because whoever is running it hasn't finished figuring out WordPress and there are still labels like "META" and notes about how this is the default sample page and such. But that'll be filled in later, no doubt.

Also, it looks like AgapePress - the American Family Association's theoconservative news organisation - has reinvented itself as One News Now. I saw no announcement, per se', but I've noticed the same employees, slant, and rhetoric. I presume it wants to look more independent than AgapePress did - or they've decided that AgapePress is too well known as the AFA house organ, so are trying to come up with something new. It'd probably help if their graphic look wasn't straight out of 1994.

But now, today's news, second part.

Concerned Women for America cheer General Pace's condemnation of GBLT people as immoral;

CWA's version of the Deerfield, Illinois school "Pro-'Gay' Propaganda" story seen in the Focus on the Family section of the previous CWU;

CWA lists HPV vaccine as maybe it's first state priourity - so I guess it's not just Focus on the Family moving towards outright opposition to an anti-cancer vaccine;

Concerned Women for America's "talking points" against the HPV (anti-cervical-cancer vaccine);

CWA's Janice Shaw Crouse pushes the idea that women don't really want careers and allege that women are abandoning careers for babies en masse;

LifeSite has an ACTION ITEM to protest the court decision striking down COPA as unconstitutional; also quotes Concerned Women for America's Matt Barber saying that government needs to "protect children" through intervention;

LifeSite goes after Mitt Romney as part of the whole Terri Schievo thing - yes, that's still going;

CWA talks about how the HPV anti-cervical-cancer vaccine is bad because it "could give a false sense of security to girls in making responsible and moral decisions regarding their sexual integrity and personal health";

Ohio governor drops abstinence-only education; and as a note, Ken Blackwell - failed Republican candidate for Ohio governor and architect of the Republican capture of Ohio in 2004, is now "a fellow with the Buckeye Institute in Columbus and Family Research Council in Washington, D.C.";

Family Research Council wants more Bible study classes in public schools since official organised prayer is still out; says it's required for good citizenship. "The time has come for our nation to experience a true revelation on the Bible's relevance--not only to our personal lives but to our identity as Americans";

FRC president Tony Perkins got to write an op-ed in Stars and Stripes commending General Pace for his attack on the morality of GBLT soldiers, and rightly points out that lesbian and gay people are banned outright from military service. He, of course, thinks this is a good thing; says that allowing any GBLT people in the military could destroy it; that sexual orientation is something that can be easily "changed" or "avoided," and on, and on, and on;

AFA ACTION ITEM talking about how amending Federal hate crimes law to include attacks on GBLT people will "be the first step toward limiting your freedom to speak out against open homosexual activity." The key point of this, of course, being that they want queers gone, or at least back in the closet;

A second version of the AFA ACTION ITEM against the same bill;

Virginia passes law mandating internet "filtering" for all libraries receiving state funds;

The Sacramento (CA)-based Pacific Justice Institute brings a lawsuit against Seattle mayor Greg Nickels; OneNewsNow is brought to you buy American Family News Network, and their rhetoric is theoconservative standard (lots of "pro-family" references and scare-quote around words like "marriage" where GBLT people are involved), so I think we've got their slant;

OneNewsNow pushes the "women are abandoning careers for homemaking" line, and also claims growing international co-operation with theological conservatives;

Courtesy cubes; after six hours of public testimony, the Largo, Florida city council takes five minutes to confirm firing of Steve Stanton, who is undergoing gender reassignment; this is the blog entry which was being updated throughout the testimony;

Traditional Values Coalition rails against the "Pro-Homosexual/Drag Queen 'Hate Crimes' Bill Introduced";

TVC rails again about the hate crimes legislation amendment which would add sexual orientation to existing hate-crimes law; they call it "anti-Christian" and claim it would "make it illegal to publicly express the dictates of their religious beliefs"; this illustration for the story is their new "comic strip" containing a photoshop put-together of a baby with a naked gay man, so you've got the paedophilia angle in there as well;

Traditional Values Coalition: "homosexuality kills, pure and simple." This is part of their continuing effort to make sure that queers are seen solely as diseased perverts;

TVC ACTION ITEM against Montel Williams for a show critical of "ex-gay" conversion therapy quackery;

TVC does more diseased-fags rhetoric, this time against GBLT people in the military and supporting General Pace's commentary against gay people.

( Articles and excerpts below )

Today's Cultural Warfare Update, Part III

Finally, in this third part; to the section II/III topic summary!

Now that it's less in the news, there're more attacks on the HPV vaccine; lots of ACTION ITEMS to support General Pace's attacks on GBLT people - mostly, they want people to write Mr. Bush supporting his comments and telling him not to apologise. Poland works to make it harder for GBLT people to talk about themselves - note in Part I the Concerned Women for America reports from a theocon conference in Poland - and National Review's David Frum goes on about how gay rights crush religious liberty. And more! There's always more.

Now, finally, the last section of today's news.

TVC ACTION ITEM to write Chief Executive Bush in support of General Pace's anti-gay commentary;

TVC writes that "religious groups" are "treated like second class citizens";

Macleans reports that the Institute for Marriage and the Family - one of the Canadian theoconservative groups I monitor - is not too unhappy with the Federal budget, but is displeased with funding for HPV vaccinations that prevent cervical cancer because it might encourage promiscuity, thus showing that the whole brutally evil "have SEX get CANCER and DIE you WHORE" meme crosses borders;

Canada Family Action Coalition reports on religious schools in the UK no longer being allowed to teach that "Christian sexual morals" are "objectively true," referring specifically to teaching that t3h qu33rs are 3v1l. I don't support this, but, well, the UK has an official state church, and that's the kind of thing you're going to get when you combine religion and politics. Now if only our own fucking theoconservative asshats would read the articles they're reprinting, maybe we could stop some of this bullshit - but since the real complaint they have is that they aren't the one whose religious rules are being enforced, that'll not happen;

Canada Family Action Coalition quite critical of the HPV vaccine, calling it "forced vaccinations of a drug not fully proven";

Canada Family Action Coalition reports on a law in Poland that would fire teachers who "promote gay rights" by presenting "homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle," and also paedophiles, which CFAC and similar groups love to conflate;

National Review Online's David Frum makes the "gay rights destroys religious freedom" argument;

Focus on the Family Canada reports disapprovingly that the UK parliament has declined to mandate that doctors inform parents of advice given to underage patients about contraception and abortion;

Focus on the Family Canada talks about opposition to HPV, saying - again, falsely - that the vaccine was made mandatory in Texas (you could opt out), makes a point of noting that HPV is sexually transmitted, and that it is "sending teens the false message that they can safely engage in premarital sex";

Concerned Women for America's Matt Barber talks about the HPV vaccine and suggests that the appropriate time to get it is just before getting married;

CWA's Matt Barber unhappy about the COPA (Child Online Protection Act) being struck down as unconstitutional. It's interesting that the "judicial tyranny" rhetoric keeps not showing up, even though they attack the judge's judgement. One speculates it's because the judge is a Reagan appointee.

( Articles, excerpts, and transcriptions below )