Today's Cultural Warfare Update
Jan. 4th, 2006 09:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdReview of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science, a book that, amoungst other things, is pro-creationism, calling scientists, and this is a quote, "white-coated, lab-cloistered purveyors of political correctness";
Was "South Park" episode cancelled by Catholic League complaints?;
Family Research Council's Justice Sunday III pep-rally for Alito promoted more by Focus on the Family;
Focus on the Family's coverage of the failed California anti-marriage initiative signature-gathering effort;
ABC News report on Concerned Women for America's Robert Knight accusing Barbie of being part of the "transgender movement";
Author of "The Marketing of Evil" describes Brokeback Mountain as the "rape of the Marlboro Man," says that movies making people feel good about child rape are probably next;
Weekly Standard: "plural marriage" is waiting in the wings;
Cal Thomas, columnist who looks strangely like a younger Saddam Hussein in this column's photograph, calls for fundamentalists to pull their children entirely out of public schools after the Dover decision;
Virginia legislator (Delegate Bob Marshall (R-Manassas)) introduces ban on reproductive assistance for unmarried women; it's specifically an attempt to stop lesbians from having children; he sponsoured a ban on GBLT adoption last year;
Seniour British Muslim leader condemns GBLT people as immoral and not to be accepted;
GBLT group I'm not familiar with challenges Massachusetts anti-marriage initiative in court - includes ACTION ITEM;
Focus on the Family attacks "family-friendly" cable tiers as just being away to avoid being forced to offer a la carte programming;
FotF attacks NBC's new The Book of Daniel, says it "mocks Jesus"; includes ACTION ITEM to demand NBC affiliates yank the show;
FotF article on the Alito nomination, which they consider vital;
California Lutheran school expels two girls the principal thinks are lesbian; admits there was no physical relationship, but says the emotional tenor of the relationship was unacceptable; girls are now suing;
Traditional Values Coalition ACTION ITEM to write NBC affiliates to yank The Book of Dainel as "anti-Christian";
National Review's David Klinghoffer reacts to Dover decision by declaring that you can have God or Darwin, pick only one;
Traditional Values Coalition slams Alito opposition as being radical and dedicated to "lobbying for the lowering of the age of sexual consent for teens; legalizing public sex in parks and highway rest areas; and the legalization of prostitution";
TVC notice of upcoming Alito hearings; includes ACTION ITEM to call your senators to vote to confirm him;
Albertan social conservatives content to stay quiet about their issues (anti-abortion, anti-marriage) during the election in order to help the Tories get more seats;
----- 1 -----
Upping the Anti
Tom Bethell takes the modern political right's "war on science" to a whole new level.
Chris Mooney; December 8, 2006
http://www.csicop.org/doubtandabout/bethell/
Initially, the question of whether or not to even write this column gave me pause. In criticizing Tom Bethell--author of the conservative Regnery Press's Politically Incorrect Guide to Science, which misrepresents the state of scientific knowledge on issues ranging from global warming to the vulnerability of endangered species to evolution--I wondered whether I would simply wind up bestowing upon its author more attention than he ultimately deserves.
It was a serious fear, but I decided to overcome it, for two reasons. First, Bethell's book is already getting plenty of attention. It's selling well, and one prominent conservative outlet, the Heritage Foundation, has even sponsored an event to promote it. And second, precisely because of its misleading content, the publication of Bethell's book represents a highly significant development that's well worth remarking upon. The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science takes what is already a well-documented war on scientific knowledge from the political right in this country to a new level of intensity. In the process, it flushes out into the open the anti-science sentiments that are unfortunately nourished by all too many conservative Republicans today (although rarely by the party's moderates).
Indeed, in some sense Bethell's book provides a useful service. It offers, in one place, a nice catalogue of all the discredited arguments that are ritualistically used to undermine evolution, global warming, and much else that's well established in modern science. Rather hilariously, if you look closely at the book's cover image on Amazon.com you will see the tagline "Liberals have hijacked science for long enough. Now it's our turn." "Our turn" to "hijack science," presumably. This revealing slogan has been changed for the final paperback version of the book--which now reads, "Liberals have hijacked science for long enough. It's time to set the record straight"--but the Freudian slip remains memorialized on the Internet.
[...]
A closer look at the latter charge suggests that Bethell isn't really interested in what science shows, but rather in compiling scientific-sounding arguments to bolster a political conclusion. Over the summer, several papers came out in Science showing that contrary to previous assertions, there does not appear to be any significant discrepancy between measurements of surface temperatures and of atmospheric temperatures--both more or less show the warming predicted by climate models. In other sections, Bethell's book covers developments at least up to September of 2005, but it makes no reference to these publications, which undercut his claim that surface and atmospheric temperature readings are at odds.
Bethell's attacks on evolution follow a similar pattern. Although I'm unaware of any online "anti-evolutionist bingo" games, if they existed many of Bethell's arguments would no doubt be included. Indeed, Bethell has been attacking evolution for nearly 30 years; in a prominent 1976 Harper's article he declared evolution to be "on the verge of collapse." The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science employs many of the same arguments that Bethell made back then, such as the claim that the concept of natural selection amounts to a "tautology" and simply reflects a social philosophy prevalent during the intensely competitive and capitalistic Victorian era of Darwin's time. Such arguments were ably debunked by Stephen Jay Gould in 1976, and they're no stronger now than they were then.
[...]
In making such an argument so brazenly, and with such zest, I believe that Bethell takes the "war on science" to a new level. Consider that in, 2004 when many of the nation's leading scientists criticized the Bush administration for misuses and distortions of scientific information, the administration's response was not to attack science itself or the individual scientists. Rather, the administration claimed to have the best interests of science at heart, and simply disagreed about the facts.
That veneer of respect for science is gone in Bethell's book, which reeks of a deep distrust of science as it is currently conducted, and the nation's scientific community generally. The book's back cover calls scientists "white-coated, lab-cloistered purveyors of political correctness"--as if there is no merit to what they do, no process that ensures the testing of results to determine their durability and robustness.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
"South Park" Parked by Complaints
By Sarah Hall Tue Jan 3,12:06 PM ET
Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/eo/20060103/en_tv_eo/18055
Did Comedy Central grant the Catholic League its Christmas wish?
Following the Dec. 7 season finale of South Park, titled "Bloody Mary," the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights slammed the network for its irreverent portrayal of church icons and sought to block the episode from being rebroadcast.
It appears the group may have met with success. A repeat of the finale was scheduled to air Wednesday night, but was pulled from the Comedy Central lineup without explanation.
[...]
Somewhat predictably, the Catholic League was incensed by the satirical portrayal of the Virgin Mary and [...]
The conservative group demanded an apology from Viacom, Comedy Central's parent company, to Roman Catholics everywhere and "a pledge that this episode be permanently retired and not be made available on DVD."
The Catholic League also sought a personal condemnation from Viacom board member Joseph A. Califano Jr., who the group noted is a "practicing Catholic."
Califano was only too happy to oblige. After viewing the episode, he released a statement calling the episode an "appalling and disgusting portrayal of the Virgin Mary."
"It is particularly troubling to me as a Roman Catholic that the segment has run on the eve and day of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day for Roman Catholics," Califano said.
Califano also pledged to have Viacom president and CEO Tom Freston review the episode.
Comedy Central did not respond to a request for comment on why "Bloody Mary" was yanked from the schedule.
Screencaps of the episode were no longer available on Comedy Central's press site or on comedycentral.com's South Park section.
[More at URL]
----- 3 -----
JUSTICE SUNDAY III JUST DAYS AWAY
Churches nationwide are invited to join Dr. James Dobson, Sen. Rick Santorum.
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
January 3, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/feature/a0039068.cfm
SUMMARY: Christians and churches nationwide are invited to
join this Sunday when Dr. James Dobson, Sen. Rick Santorum
and other pro-family leaders discuss the threat of
judicial tyranny.
"Justice Sunday III" -- it sounds vaguely like it could be
a professional wrestling event or a pay-per-view
heavyweight title fight.
But it isn't.
Instead, it's the name of a gathering of top evangelical
leaders slated for this weekend -- a public summit, if you
will -- where judicial activism and its impact on our
country will be explored, Family Research Council
spokeswoman Wendy Christian told Family News in Focus.
Coming one day before the Senate Judiciary Committee
begins confirmation hearings for Judge Samuel Alito --
President Bush's nominee to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on
the Supreme Court -- Justice Sunday III will be simulcast
in churches around the country.
"We will provide an opportunity for churches all across
America to tune in to the simulcast so that they can be
aware of how important some of the judicial decisions that
are made," Christian said, "and how important it is that
we be involved in the entire process."
[...]
TAKE ACTION/ FOR MORE INFORMATION: For more information --
or to sign your church up for Justice Sunday III's
simulcast or satellite feed -- please call the Family
Research Council at 202-393-2100 or see the event's Web
site.
http://www.justicesunday.com
[More at URL]
----- 4 -----
California Marriage Amendment Drive Falls Short
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
January 3, 2006
[Received in email; no URL]
A grassroots petition drive in California aimed at getting
a marriage-protection amendment on the 2006 ballot fell
short of the 598,000 signatures needed.
Lynne Fishel, director of public relations for the
California Family Council, said the effort came up short
because many residents did not feel pressure to push for a
constitutional amendment after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
vetoed legislation aimed at legalizing gay marriage in the
state last September.
She added, however, that over a period of five months more
than 10,000 residents across the state collected
signatures to place a constitutional amendment before the
voters to define marriage as solely the union of one man
and one woman.
"The ProtectMarriage.com coalition is encouraged by the
broad grassroots effort that emerged during the petition
drive and is committed to continuing the overall effort to
protect marriage in California in 2006 and beyond," Fishel
said. "In 2006 we will focus on the battles to protect
marriage in the Legislature and in the courts, with an eye
toward a second attempt at qualifying a statewide marriage
amendment in 2006 or later, depending on the outcome of
the legislative and legal battles."
----- 5 -----
Barbie Accused of Being Part of the Transgender Movement
ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=1466437
WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 3, 2006 — The Concerned Women for America were … well, concerned. Outraged, even. Was Barbie becoming part of the transgender movement?
On Dec. 30, CWA, a leading Christian conservative group, noted on its Web site that on the Barbie Web site, www.Barbie.com, "there is a poll that asks children their age and sex."
[...]
The age choices were 4 to 8 but children "are given three options for their choice of gender": I am a Boy, I am a Girl and I Don't Know.
Bob Knight, director of CWA's Culture and Family Institute, said Barbie manufacturer Mattel was being influenced by the "transgender movement."
To pose "this transgender question at little girls, they've really crossed the line," Knight said, who added that "bisexuality gender confusion" is the Web site's agenda, which is "very dangerous."
[...]
"This was just an innocent oversight," says Lauren Bruksch, a spokeswoman for Mattel. As a rule of thumb, Bruksch said, the questionnaires at barbie.com always try to have a neutral answer or nonresponse option. For gender, this third option should have been "I don't want to say," rather than "I don't know." The Web site has since been fixed.
Knight had said CWA would contact Mattel to investigate the matter, but Bruksch said Mattel first heard of the complaint when ABC News called for comment.
[More at URL]
----- 5 -----
Advocacy Groups Prepare New Ad Campaigns on Alito
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: January 3, 2006
The New York Times
Long URL elided
WASHINGTON, Jan. 2 - In the final days before hearings on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., partisans on both sides are pulling out all the stops in an effort to sway public opinion.
Moving beyond Judge Alito's judicial record, a coalition of liberal groups is preparing commercials attacking his integrity and credibility instead, several people involved in the effort said Monday. They spoke only after being granted anonymity because the plans are supposed to be confidential until their formal announcement on Wednesday.
Conservatives, for their part, are capitalizing on ethnic pride to rally Italian-American support for Judge Alito with public events and newspaper advertisements. The efforts are aimed particularly at the Northeastern States, where some moderate Republican senators have expressed doubts about his confirmation.
[...]
These people said the first advertisements would focus on occasional lapses from a pledge Judge Alito made at the 1990 hearings for his confirmation to the appeals court that he would recuse himself from cases involving the companies that managed his mutual fund investments, Vanguard and Smith Barney.
Legal ethics experts say judges are not obliged to recuse themselves in such cases. There are very few known lapses during Judge Alito's 15 years on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Judge Alito has said the lapses were inadvertent and occurred long after the initial period covered by his pledge. But the liberal groups plan to highlight differences in his explanations about the cases over time.
[...]
[More at URL]
----- 6 -----
'Brokeback Mountain':
Rape of the Marlboro Man
Posted: December 27, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
Editor's note: Recently, WND Managing Editor David Kupelian, author of the best-selling book, "The Marketing of Evil," was widely quoted in the news media for his criticism of the new film "Brokeback Mountain." Here, Kupelian explains how and why the controversial movie is one of the most powerful homosexual propaganda films of our time.
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48076
"Brokeback Mountain," the controversial "gay cowboy" film that has garnered seven Golden Globe nominations and breathless media reviews – and has now emerged as a front-runner for the Oscars – is a brilliant propaganda film, reportedly causing viewers to change the way they feel about homosexual relationships and same-sex marriage.
And how do the movie-makers pull off such a dazzling feat? Simple. They do it by raping the "Marlboro Man," that revered American symbol of rugged individualism and masculinity.
[More at URL]
----- 7 -----
Here Come the Brides
Plural marriage is waiting in the wings.
by Stanley Kurtz
12/26/2005, Volume 011, Issue 15
Long URL elided
ON SEPTEMBER 23, 2005, the 46-year-old Victor de Bruijn and his 31-year-old wife of eight years, Bianca, presented themselves to a notary public in the small Dutch border town of Roosendaal. And they brought a friend. Dressed in wedding clothes, Victor and Bianca de Bruijn were formally united with a bridally bedecked Mirjam Geven, a recently divorced 35-year-old whom they'd met several years previously through an Internet chatroom. As the notary validated a samenlevingscontract, or "cohabitation contract," the three exchanged rings, held a wedding feast, and departed for their honeymoon.
When Mirjam Geven first met Victor and Bianca de Bruijn, she was married. Yet after several meetings between Mirjam, her then-husband, and the De Bruijns, Mirjam left her spouse and moved in with Victor and Bianca. The threesome bought a bigger bed, while Mirjam and her husband divorced. Although neither Mirjam nor Bianca had had a prior relationship with a woman, each had believed for years that she was bisexual. Victor, who describes himself as "100 percent heterosexual," attributes the trio's success to his wives' bisexuality, which he says has the effect of preventing jealousy.
[More at URL]
----- 8 -----
Unintelligent designs
Dec 27, 2005
by Cal Thomas
Long URL elided
The decision by U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III to bar the teaching of "intelligent design" in the Dover, Pennsylvania public school district on grounds it is a thinly veiled effort to introduce a religious view of the world's origins is welcome for at least two reasons.
First, it exposes the sham attempt to take through the back door what proponents have no chance of getting through the front door. Judge Jones rebuked advocates of "intelligent design," saying they repeatedly lied about their true intentions. He noted many of them had said publicly that their intent was to introduce into the schools a biblical account of creation. Judge Jones properly wondered how people who claim to have such strong religious convictions could lie, thus violating prohibitions in the Book they proclaim as their source of truth and standard for living.
[More at URL]
----- 9 -----
VIRGINIA HOUSE BILL NO. 187
State of Virginia
Offered January 11, 2006
Prefiled January 2, 2006
Delegate Bob Marshall (R-Manassas)
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?061+ful+HB187
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 54.1-2403.4, relating to prohibition on the provision of certain intervening medical technology to unmarried women.
----------Patron-- Marshall, R.G.
----------Committee Referral Pending ----------
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That the Code of Virginia is amended by adding a section numbered 54.1-2403.4 as follows:
§ 54.1-2403.4. Prohibition on the provision of certain intervening medical technology for unmarried women.
No individual licensed by a health regulatory board shall assist with or perform any intervening medical technology, whether in vivo or in vitro, for or on an unmarried woman that completely or partially replaces sexual intercourse as the means of conception, including, but not limited to, artifical insemination by donor, cryopreservation of gametes and embryos, invitro fertilization, embryo transfer, gamete intrafallopian tube transfer, and low tubal ovum transfer.
----- 10 -----
Gays are immoral, says top Muslim
The Times of London
January 04, 2006
By David Sanderson
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1969663,00.html
HOMOSEXUALITY is immoral and spreads disease, and civil partnerships are damaging to society, according to Britain’s most senior Muslim leader.
Sir Iqbal Sacranie, the head of the Muslim Council of Britain, said that same-sex relationships risked damaging the foundations of society, and scientific evidence showed that homosexuality carried high health risks.
His comments were condemned last night by gay rights groups and MPs from the three main political parties, who said that Sir Iqbal was swimming against the tide of public opinion.
Speaking about civil partnerships, the first of which took place in Britain last month, Sir Iqbal said: “It does not augur well in building the very foundations of society: stability, family relationships. And it is something we would certainly not in any form encourage the community to be involved in.”
Asked on the BBC Radio 4 PM programme if homosexuality was harmful to society, he replied: “Certainly it is a practice that in terms of health, in terms of the moral issues that comes along in a society, it is. It is not acceptable."
[More at URL]
----- 11 -----
Massachusetts Marriage Petition Drive Challenged
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
January 4, 2006
[Received in email; no URL]
Homosexual activists in Massachusetts have filed a lawsuit
to counter last month's record-breaking petition drive
aimed at getting a constitutional amendment defining
marriage as the union of one man and one woman on the 2008
ballot.
The lawsuit, filed by Gay and Lesbian Advocates &
Defenders (GLAD), challenges a ruling by Attorney General
Tom Reilly that determined the ballot question on the
petition was constitutional.
The group claims the petition drive was illegal because
the state constitution bars any citizen-initiated
amendment that aims to reverse a judicial decision -- and
it was a court that, in 2003, declared that same-sex
couples could marry in the Bay State.
According to a spokesman for Reilly's office, citizens are
clearly allowed to amend the constitution and petitions
have been used since the early 1900s "in response to a
court decision finding a law unconstitutional."
Kris Mineau, executive director of the Massachusetts
Family Institute, said the amendment should survive a
court review.
"It was drafted with sound legal advice from
constitutional scholars," he said. "We don't think the
suit is credible. I think they were surprised at the
magnitude of the number of signatures -- 170,000 -- which
tells us what an electrifying issue this is with people."
Not only are homosexual groups challenging the petition,
some are using intimidation tactics to bully voters who
signed it. Two activist Web sites list the names of those
who signed, and some households have received harassing
phone calls.
TAKE ACTION: If you are a resident of Massachusetts who
signed the petition and you are subject to any type of
harassment from activists, please write a letter to
Attorney General Tom Reilly explaining the incident in
detail. For contact information, including an easy-to-use
e-mail form, visit the CitizenLink Action Center.
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=31674&lvl=S&chamber=N
----- 12 -----
Is Cable Industry Faking Family-Friendliness?
Providers are doing their best to avoid having to offer a la carte programming.
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
from staff reports
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0039073.cfm
SUMMARY: Some analysts say providers are doing their best
to avoid having to offer a la carte programming.
Trying to stave off a possible legislative mandate for a
la carte programming, the cable TV industry is beginning
to offer "family tier" packages. But some watchdog groups
think it's designed to discourage families from even
wanting the tier option.
[...]
"They're hoping that when they offer these family tiers
that nobody opts for them, as I'm sure nobody will," PTC
spokeswoman Melissa Caldwell said. "Then they can say,
'There's no reason for us to provide a la carte because we
offered them family packages and they weren't interested
in them.' "
[..]
Robert Peters, president of Morality in Media, said it's
time for cable operators to quit playing games with
America's families.
"Give the cable companies an option," he said. "Either
(they) comply with the indecency law in terms of a package
of channels, or if (they) don't want to comply with the
indecency law in terms of what (they) offer as a package
of channels, then give people the option to choose those
channels individually."
[More at URL]
----- 13 -----
NEW NBC SERIES MOCKS JESUS
"The Book of Daniel," debuting Friday, depicts Christ as unconcerned about sin.
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
January 4, 2006
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0039075.cfm
SUMMARY: "The Book of Daniel," debuting Friday, depicts an
Episcopal priest and his dysfunctional family and is
raising concern among Christians who fear the false
depiction of Jesus and his teaching could mislead viewers.
"The Book of Daniel," a new NBC series premiering Friday,
tells the story of an Episcopal priest who regularly
communes with a white-robed Jesus to get advice about the
many problems he faces within his congregation and within
his own family.
[...]
Steve Isaac, online editor of Plugged In at Focus on the
Family, said "The Book of Daniel" is television's latest
attempt to cash in on controversy.
"It's not the first time TV has taken Christian clergy and
rolled it around in the mud," he said. "This show is
'Desperate Housewives' in the sanctuary."
[...]
TAKE ACTION: Please take a moment to let NBC officials
know of your disgust over "The Book of Daniel." You can do
this in two ways:
1) Call and e-mail NBC Entertainment President Jeffrey
Zucker at the contact information available in the link
below.
Long URL elided
2) Contact your local NBC affiliate via phone and e-mail
and encourage management not to air "The Book of Daniel."
You can find contact information by visiting the
CitizenLink Action Center and typing your ZIP code into
the space provided.
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/dbq/media/
[More at URL]
----- 14 -----
Alito Will Get Hit from Left
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
January 4, 2006
from staff reports
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0039074.cfm
SUMMARY: Liberal senators will grill Supreme Court nominee
over his vote in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
Liberal senators preparing for the start of Samuel Alito's
confirmation hearing on Monday are expected to make the
Planned Parenthood v. Casey suit the centerpiece of their
questioning of the Supreme Court nominee.
As a federal appeals court judge, Alito voted in the Casey
case to require women seeking an abortion to notify their
husbands. He was in the minority, and the case later went
to the Supreme Court, which ultimately reaffirmed abortion
rights with its decision, according to Brian Fahling of
the Center for Law and Policy.
"It introduced the undue burden test," he explained. "In
other words, states can regulate abortions, but cannot do
so in such a fashion as to create an undo burden for a
woman."
Although the Casey decision affirmed a woman's legal right
to an abortion, it opened the door for states to put
restrictions on the procedure. In the years since Casey,
state lawmakers have enacted nearly 500 such restrictions.
Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law
and Justice, said Alito's vote in Casey is a rallying
point for pro-abortion forces.
"They are going to use the abortion issue as the wedge
issue," he said. "But it did not work in the John Roberts
situation when he was nominated for chief justice. He had
written some very significant legal memorandums
questioning the validity of Roe v. Wade."
Sekulow predicted that if Alito is confirmed by the full
Senate later this month, his addition might well change
the balance on the Court in at least some abortion-related
cases.
"You've got the partial-birth abortion case. It's at the
court right now. They may well hear it," Sekulow noted.
"If they do, we now carry it five-to-four because Justice
(Sandra Day) O'Connor (whom Alito would replace) ruled
against it previously; she was the swing vote. I think
Judge Alito would vote for us.
"It's not the fifth vote for Roe v. Wade, but it does
affect a whole host of issues."
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Why is it so important that a judge
like Samuel Alito be confirmed to the Supreme Court? Find
out in "The Supremacists," in which Phyllis Schlafly
explores the threat judicial activism is to American
democracy, as courts dictate supreme power of political,
social and economic policy.
Long URL elided
----- 15 -----
Suspected Lesbian Students Sue Christian School For Expulsion
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Associated Press
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,180146,00.html
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Two 16-year-olds who were expelled from a Lutheran high school because they were suspected of being lesbians have sued the school for invasion of privacy and discrimination.
The lawsuit, filed last week in Riverside County Superior Court, seeks the girls' re-enrollment at the small California Lutheran High School, unspecified damages and an injunction barring the school from excluding gays and lesbians.
Kirk D. Hanson, an attorney for the girls, said the expulsion traumatized and humiliated them.
"Their entire support network was pulled out from under them because of suspicions about their sexual orientation," said Hanson, who declined to say whether his clients are lesbians.
[...]
The lawsuit alleges that the school's principal, Gregory Bork, called the girls into his office, grilled them on their sexual orientation and "coerced" one girl into saying she loved the other.
The next day, the lawsuit says, Bork told the girls' parents they could not stay at the school with "those feelings." In a Sept. 12 letter to the parents, Bork acknowledged that officials had seen no physical contact between the girls but said their friendship was "uncharacteristic of normal girl relationships and more characteristic of a lesbian one."
[More at URL]
-----16 -----
NBC To Air Anti-Christian, Pro-Homosexual Show ‘The Book Of Daniel’
Traditional Values Coalition
January 5, 2006
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2546
NBC is airing “The Book of Daniel” in a two-hour special on January 6. The show stars Aidan Quinn as an Episcopal priest who oversees a dysfunctional family and dysfunctional congregation.
Quinn’s character, Daniel Webster has a wife who is addicted to pain killers, a homosexual son; a daughter who is a drug dealer; an adopted son who is having sex with the Bishop’s daughter; and his lesbian secretary at the church is sleeping with his sister-in-law. The show will also feature a character who plays Jesus.
The script writer is Jack Kenny, a homosexual who says he’s “in Catholic recovery” and is studying Buddhism and reincarnation.
Take Action: We urge you to call your local NBC affiliate and ask them not to air the program.
Read and distribute TVC’s report “The Overhauling Of Straight America” for details on the homosexual agenda and the use of the media to normalize homosexual behavior.
----- 17 -----
December 21, 2005, 8:14 a.m.
Competing designs
It’s God or Darwin
National Review Online
By David Klinghoffer
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/klinghoffer200512210814.asp
Tuesday's ruling by a federal judge in Pennsylvania, disparaging intelligent design as a religion-based and therefore false science, raises an important question: If ID is bogus because many of its theorists have religious beliefs to which the controversial critique of Darwinism lends support, then what should we say about Darwinism itself? After all, many proponents of Darwinian evolution have philosophical beliefs to which Darwin lends support.
"We conclude that the religious nature of Intelligent Design would be readily apparent to an objective observer, adult or child," wrote Judge John E. Jones III in his decision, Kitzmiller v. Dover, which rules that disparaging Darwin's theory in biology class is unconstitutional. Is it really true that only Darwinism, in contrast to ID, represents a disinterested search for the truth, unmotivated by ideology?
Judge Jones was especially impressed by the testimony of philosophy professor Barbara Forrest of Southeastern Louisiana University, author of Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design. Professor Forrest has definite beliefs about religion, evident from the fact that she serves on the board of directors of the New Orleans Secular Humanist Association, which is "an affiliate of American Atheists, and [a] member of the Atheist Alliance International," according to the group's website. Of course, she's entitled to believe what she likes, but it's worth noting.
[More at URL]
----- 18 -----
Who’s Opposing Judge Alito?
Traditional Values Coalition
January 5, 2006
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2551
If a man is known by the enemies he makes, Judge Samuel Alito is the perfect traditional values choice for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Judge Alito is being smeared in the media by a coalition of leftist organizations called the Coalition for a Fair and Independent Judiciary (CFIJ).
The CFIJ is comprised of such groups as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU); People for the American Way; Americans United for Separation of Church and State; Feminist Majority; Friends of the Earth; Greenpeace USA; Human Rights Campaign; Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund; MoveOn; NARAL Pro-Choice America; National Abortion Federation; National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Foundation, National Organization for Women; Planned Parenthood; The Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S; and many more far left organizations.
The philosophy of these organizations can be accurately described as anti-Christian, pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, and militantly secularist. These groups are far out of the mainstream of middle American values.
[...]
TVC has published a report on the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and its alliance with the Woodhull Freedom Foundation, a libertine group lobbying for the lowering of the age of sexual consent for teens; legalizing public sex in parks and highway rest areas; and the legalization of prostitution: “Exposed: The Next Phase Of The Homosexual Agenda.” [URL: http://www.traditionalvalues.org/pdf_files/PublicSex.pdf ]
[More at URL]
----- 19 -----
Judge Samuel Alito Hearings Begin January 9, 2006
Traditional Values Coalition
January 5, 2006
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2552
The Senate Judiciary Committee will begin holding hearings on the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to replace Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Judge Alito is eminently qualified to serve on the Supreme Court. He has served as a federal court judge on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals since 1990. He was nominated to the federal court by President Bush, Sr. and was confirmed to the Third Circuit without debate in the Senate.
Prior to his appointment to the Third Circuit, he served with distinction as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey; a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice and served as a law clerk for Hon. Leonard I. Garth, with the Third Circuit between 1976-1977.
Judge Alito graduated from Princeton University, A.B., 1972 and Yale Law School, J.D., in 1975. At Yale, he edited the Yale Law Journal.
Judge Alito’s judicial philosophy is one of judicial restraint. His legal decisions reveal that he is committed to interpreting the law rather than creating it. In fact, in a questionnaire he filled out for the Senate, he said he remains committed to judicial restraint. He wrote: “But while the federal courts should act firmly and independently within their proper sphere, they must always keep in mind that their proper sphere is circumscribed. The ‘judicial power’ is distinct from the ‘legislative powers’ given to Congress and from the ‘executive power’ and the federal courts must engage in a constant process of self-discipline to ensure that they respect the limits of their authority.”
[...]
TAKE ACTION: Use TVC’s CapWiz service to contact your two U.S. Senators and urge that they vote YES to confirm Judge Alito to the Supreme Court: http://capwiz.com/traditional/issues/alert/?alertid=8220416&type=CO
----- 20 -----
Social conservatives happy to be quiet, for now
Last Updated Tue, 03 Jan 2006 14:03:04 EST
CBC News
Long URL elided
Social conservative groups in Alberta say their issues can stay on the back burner during the election campaign so long as it means the Conservative party has a better chance of winning.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has outlined his party's five key priorities: a clean and accountable government, reducing the GST, increasing financial assistance for parents of small children, eliminating the fiscal imbalance, and cracking down on crime.
Abortion and a traditional definition of marriage weren't mentioned, but social conservative groups that consider those to be important issues say they're satisfied with the direction the party is taking in its effort to form the next government.
"They have to talk this way to get elected," said Link Byfield, chairman of the Citizens Centre for Freedom and Democracy. "I think a lot of conservatives honestly agree with that."
Hermina Dykxhoorn, president of the Alberta Federation of Women United for Families, says no mainstream party is talking about the issues she considers most important, such as abortion and same-sex marriage.
But she says she's willing not to talk about those issues during the election if it means electing a Conservative government.
[More at URL]
Was "South Park" episode cancelled by Catholic League complaints?;
Family Research Council's Justice Sunday III pep-rally for Alito promoted more by Focus on the Family;
Focus on the Family's coverage of the failed California anti-marriage initiative signature-gathering effort;
ABC News report on Concerned Women for America's Robert Knight accusing Barbie of being part of the "transgender movement";
Author of "The Marketing of Evil" describes Brokeback Mountain as the "rape of the Marlboro Man," says that movies making people feel good about child rape are probably next;
Weekly Standard: "plural marriage" is waiting in the wings;
Cal Thomas, columnist who looks strangely like a younger Saddam Hussein in this column's photograph, calls for fundamentalists to pull their children entirely out of public schools after the Dover decision;
Virginia legislator (Delegate Bob Marshall (R-Manassas)) introduces ban on reproductive assistance for unmarried women; it's specifically an attempt to stop lesbians from having children; he sponsoured a ban on GBLT adoption last year;
Seniour British Muslim leader condemns GBLT people as immoral and not to be accepted;
GBLT group I'm not familiar with challenges Massachusetts anti-marriage initiative in court - includes ACTION ITEM;
Focus on the Family attacks "family-friendly" cable tiers as just being away to avoid being forced to offer a la carte programming;
FotF attacks NBC's new The Book of Daniel, says it "mocks Jesus"; includes ACTION ITEM to demand NBC affiliates yank the show;
FotF article on the Alito nomination, which they consider vital;
California Lutheran school expels two girls the principal thinks are lesbian; admits there was no physical relationship, but says the emotional tenor of the relationship was unacceptable; girls are now suing;
Traditional Values Coalition ACTION ITEM to write NBC affiliates to yank The Book of Dainel as "anti-Christian";
National Review's David Klinghoffer reacts to Dover decision by declaring that you can have God or Darwin, pick only one;
Traditional Values Coalition slams Alito opposition as being radical and dedicated to "lobbying for the lowering of the age of sexual consent for teens; legalizing public sex in parks and highway rest areas; and the legalization of prostitution";
TVC notice of upcoming Alito hearings; includes ACTION ITEM to call your senators to vote to confirm him;
Albertan social conservatives content to stay quiet about their issues (anti-abortion, anti-marriage) during the election in order to help the Tories get more seats;
----- 1 -----
Upping the Anti
Tom Bethell takes the modern political right's "war on science" to a whole new level.
Chris Mooney; December 8, 2006
http://www.csicop.org/doubtandabout/bethell/
Initially, the question of whether or not to even write this column gave me pause. In criticizing Tom Bethell--author of the conservative Regnery Press's Politically Incorrect Guide to Science, which misrepresents the state of scientific knowledge on issues ranging from global warming to the vulnerability of endangered species to evolution--I wondered whether I would simply wind up bestowing upon its author more attention than he ultimately deserves.
It was a serious fear, but I decided to overcome it, for two reasons. First, Bethell's book is already getting plenty of attention. It's selling well, and one prominent conservative outlet, the Heritage Foundation, has even sponsored an event to promote it. And second, precisely because of its misleading content, the publication of Bethell's book represents a highly significant development that's well worth remarking upon. The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science takes what is already a well-documented war on scientific knowledge from the political right in this country to a new level of intensity. In the process, it flushes out into the open the anti-science sentiments that are unfortunately nourished by all too many conservative Republicans today (although rarely by the party's moderates).
Indeed, in some sense Bethell's book provides a useful service. It offers, in one place, a nice catalogue of all the discredited arguments that are ritualistically used to undermine evolution, global warming, and much else that's well established in modern science. Rather hilariously, if you look closely at the book's cover image on Amazon.com you will see the tagline "Liberals have hijacked science for long enough. Now it's our turn." "Our turn" to "hijack science," presumably. This revealing slogan has been changed for the final paperback version of the book--which now reads, "Liberals have hijacked science for long enough. It's time to set the record straight"--but the Freudian slip remains memorialized on the Internet.
[...]
A closer look at the latter charge suggests that Bethell isn't really interested in what science shows, but rather in compiling scientific-sounding arguments to bolster a political conclusion. Over the summer, several papers came out in Science showing that contrary to previous assertions, there does not appear to be any significant discrepancy between measurements of surface temperatures and of atmospheric temperatures--both more or less show the warming predicted by climate models. In other sections, Bethell's book covers developments at least up to September of 2005, but it makes no reference to these publications, which undercut his claim that surface and atmospheric temperature readings are at odds.
Bethell's attacks on evolution follow a similar pattern. Although I'm unaware of any online "anti-evolutionist bingo" games, if they existed many of Bethell's arguments would no doubt be included. Indeed, Bethell has been attacking evolution for nearly 30 years; in a prominent 1976 Harper's article he declared evolution to be "on the verge of collapse." The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science employs many of the same arguments that Bethell made back then, such as the claim that the concept of natural selection amounts to a "tautology" and simply reflects a social philosophy prevalent during the intensely competitive and capitalistic Victorian era of Darwin's time. Such arguments were ably debunked by Stephen Jay Gould in 1976, and they're no stronger now than they were then.
[...]
In making such an argument so brazenly, and with such zest, I believe that Bethell takes the "war on science" to a new level. Consider that in, 2004 when many of the nation's leading scientists criticized the Bush administration for misuses and distortions of scientific information, the administration's response was not to attack science itself or the individual scientists. Rather, the administration claimed to have the best interests of science at heart, and simply disagreed about the facts.
That veneer of respect for science is gone in Bethell's book, which reeks of a deep distrust of science as it is currently conducted, and the nation's scientific community generally. The book's back cover calls scientists "white-coated, lab-cloistered purveyors of political correctness"--as if there is no merit to what they do, no process that ensures the testing of results to determine their durability and robustness.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
"South Park" Parked by Complaints
By Sarah Hall Tue Jan 3,12:06 PM ET
Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/eo/20060103/en_tv_eo/18055
Did Comedy Central grant the Catholic League its Christmas wish?
Following the Dec. 7 season finale of South Park, titled "Bloody Mary," the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights slammed the network for its irreverent portrayal of church icons and sought to block the episode from being rebroadcast.
It appears the group may have met with success. A repeat of the finale was scheduled to air Wednesday night, but was pulled from the Comedy Central lineup without explanation.
[...]
Somewhat predictably, the Catholic League was incensed by the satirical portrayal of the Virgin Mary and [...]
The conservative group demanded an apology from Viacom, Comedy Central's parent company, to Roman Catholics everywhere and "a pledge that this episode be permanently retired and not be made available on DVD."
The Catholic League also sought a personal condemnation from Viacom board member Joseph A. Califano Jr., who the group noted is a "practicing Catholic."
Califano was only too happy to oblige. After viewing the episode, he released a statement calling the episode an "appalling and disgusting portrayal of the Virgin Mary."
"It is particularly troubling to me as a Roman Catholic that the segment has run on the eve and day of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day for Roman Catholics," Califano said.
Califano also pledged to have Viacom president and CEO Tom Freston review the episode.
Comedy Central did not respond to a request for comment on why "Bloody Mary" was yanked from the schedule.
Screencaps of the episode were no longer available on Comedy Central's press site or on comedycentral.com's South Park section.
[More at URL]
----- 3 -----
JUSTICE SUNDAY III JUST DAYS AWAY
Churches nationwide are invited to join Dr. James Dobson, Sen. Rick Santorum.
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
January 3, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/feature/a0039068.cfm
SUMMARY: Christians and churches nationwide are invited to
join this Sunday when Dr. James Dobson, Sen. Rick Santorum
and other pro-family leaders discuss the threat of
judicial tyranny.
"Justice Sunday III" -- it sounds vaguely like it could be
a professional wrestling event or a pay-per-view
heavyweight title fight.
But it isn't.
Instead, it's the name of a gathering of top evangelical
leaders slated for this weekend -- a public summit, if you
will -- where judicial activism and its impact on our
country will be explored, Family Research Council
spokeswoman Wendy Christian told Family News in Focus.
Coming one day before the Senate Judiciary Committee
begins confirmation hearings for Judge Samuel Alito --
President Bush's nominee to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on
the Supreme Court -- Justice Sunday III will be simulcast
in churches around the country.
"We will provide an opportunity for churches all across
America to tune in to the simulcast so that they can be
aware of how important some of the judicial decisions that
are made," Christian said, "and how important it is that
we be involved in the entire process."
[...]
TAKE ACTION/ FOR MORE INFORMATION: For more information --
or to sign your church up for Justice Sunday III's
simulcast or satellite feed -- please call the Family
Research Council at 202-393-2100 or see the event's Web
site.
http://www.justicesunday.com
[More at URL]
----- 4 -----
California Marriage Amendment Drive Falls Short
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
January 3, 2006
[Received in email; no URL]
A grassroots petition drive in California aimed at getting
a marriage-protection amendment on the 2006 ballot fell
short of the 598,000 signatures needed.
Lynne Fishel, director of public relations for the
California Family Council, said the effort came up short
because many residents did not feel pressure to push for a
constitutional amendment after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
vetoed legislation aimed at legalizing gay marriage in the
state last September.
She added, however, that over a period of five months more
than 10,000 residents across the state collected
signatures to place a constitutional amendment before the
voters to define marriage as solely the union of one man
and one woman.
"The ProtectMarriage.com coalition is encouraged by the
broad grassroots effort that emerged during the petition
drive and is committed to continuing the overall effort to
protect marriage in California in 2006 and beyond," Fishel
said. "In 2006 we will focus on the battles to protect
marriage in the Legislature and in the courts, with an eye
toward a second attempt at qualifying a statewide marriage
amendment in 2006 or later, depending on the outcome of
the legislative and legal battles."
----- 5 -----
Barbie Accused of Being Part of the Transgender Movement
ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=1466437
WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 3, 2006 — The Concerned Women for America were … well, concerned. Outraged, even. Was Barbie becoming part of the transgender movement?
On Dec. 30, CWA, a leading Christian conservative group, noted on its Web site that on the Barbie Web site, www.Barbie.com, "there is a poll that asks children their age and sex."
[...]
The age choices were 4 to 8 but children "are given three options for their choice of gender": I am a Boy, I am a Girl and I Don't Know.
Bob Knight, director of CWA's Culture and Family Institute, said Barbie manufacturer Mattel was being influenced by the "transgender movement."
To pose "this transgender question at little girls, they've really crossed the line," Knight said, who added that "bisexuality gender confusion" is the Web site's agenda, which is "very dangerous."
[...]
"This was just an innocent oversight," says Lauren Bruksch, a spokeswoman for Mattel. As a rule of thumb, Bruksch said, the questionnaires at barbie.com always try to have a neutral answer or nonresponse option. For gender, this third option should have been "I don't want to say," rather than "I don't know." The Web site has since been fixed.
Knight had said CWA would contact Mattel to investigate the matter, but Bruksch said Mattel first heard of the complaint when ABC News called for comment.
[More at URL]
----- 5 -----
Advocacy Groups Prepare New Ad Campaigns on Alito
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: January 3, 2006
The New York Times
Long URL elided
WASHINGTON, Jan. 2 - In the final days before hearings on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., partisans on both sides are pulling out all the stops in an effort to sway public opinion.
Moving beyond Judge Alito's judicial record, a coalition of liberal groups is preparing commercials attacking his integrity and credibility instead, several people involved in the effort said Monday. They spoke only after being granted anonymity because the plans are supposed to be confidential until their formal announcement on Wednesday.
Conservatives, for their part, are capitalizing on ethnic pride to rally Italian-American support for Judge Alito with public events and newspaper advertisements. The efforts are aimed particularly at the Northeastern States, where some moderate Republican senators have expressed doubts about his confirmation.
[...]
These people said the first advertisements would focus on occasional lapses from a pledge Judge Alito made at the 1990 hearings for his confirmation to the appeals court that he would recuse himself from cases involving the companies that managed his mutual fund investments, Vanguard and Smith Barney.
Legal ethics experts say judges are not obliged to recuse themselves in such cases. There are very few known lapses during Judge Alito's 15 years on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Judge Alito has said the lapses were inadvertent and occurred long after the initial period covered by his pledge. But the liberal groups plan to highlight differences in his explanations about the cases over time.
[...]
[More at URL]
----- 6 -----
'Brokeback Mountain':
Rape of the Marlboro Man
Posted: December 27, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
Editor's note: Recently, WND Managing Editor David Kupelian, author of the best-selling book, "The Marketing of Evil," was widely quoted in the news media for his criticism of the new film "Brokeback Mountain." Here, Kupelian explains how and why the controversial movie is one of the most powerful homosexual propaganda films of our time.
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48076
"Brokeback Mountain," the controversial "gay cowboy" film that has garnered seven Golden Globe nominations and breathless media reviews – and has now emerged as a front-runner for the Oscars – is a brilliant propaganda film, reportedly causing viewers to change the way they feel about homosexual relationships and same-sex marriage.
And how do the movie-makers pull off such a dazzling feat? Simple. They do it by raping the "Marlboro Man," that revered American symbol of rugged individualism and masculinity.
[More at URL]
----- 7 -----
Here Come the Brides
Plural marriage is waiting in the wings.
by Stanley Kurtz
12/26/2005, Volume 011, Issue 15
Long URL elided
ON SEPTEMBER 23, 2005, the 46-year-old Victor de Bruijn and his 31-year-old wife of eight years, Bianca, presented themselves to a notary public in the small Dutch border town of Roosendaal. And they brought a friend. Dressed in wedding clothes, Victor and Bianca de Bruijn were formally united with a bridally bedecked Mirjam Geven, a recently divorced 35-year-old whom they'd met several years previously through an Internet chatroom. As the notary validated a samenlevingscontract, or "cohabitation contract," the three exchanged rings, held a wedding feast, and departed for their honeymoon.
When Mirjam Geven first met Victor and Bianca de Bruijn, she was married. Yet after several meetings between Mirjam, her then-husband, and the De Bruijns, Mirjam left her spouse and moved in with Victor and Bianca. The threesome bought a bigger bed, while Mirjam and her husband divorced. Although neither Mirjam nor Bianca had had a prior relationship with a woman, each had believed for years that she was bisexual. Victor, who describes himself as "100 percent heterosexual," attributes the trio's success to his wives' bisexuality, which he says has the effect of preventing jealousy.
[More at URL]
----- 8 -----
Unintelligent designs
Dec 27, 2005
by Cal Thomas
Long URL elided
The decision by U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III to bar the teaching of "intelligent design" in the Dover, Pennsylvania public school district on grounds it is a thinly veiled effort to introduce a religious view of the world's origins is welcome for at least two reasons.
First, it exposes the sham attempt to take through the back door what proponents have no chance of getting through the front door. Judge Jones rebuked advocates of "intelligent design," saying they repeatedly lied about their true intentions. He noted many of them had said publicly that their intent was to introduce into the schools a biblical account of creation. Judge Jones properly wondered how people who claim to have such strong religious convictions could lie, thus violating prohibitions in the Book they proclaim as their source of truth and standard for living.
[More at URL]
----- 9 -----
VIRGINIA HOUSE BILL NO. 187
State of Virginia
Offered January 11, 2006
Prefiled January 2, 2006
Delegate Bob Marshall (R-Manassas)
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?061+ful+HB187
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 54.1-2403.4, relating to prohibition on the provision of certain intervening medical technology to unmarried women.
----------Patron-- Marshall, R.G.
----------Committee Referral Pending ----------
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That the Code of Virginia is amended by adding a section numbered 54.1-2403.4 as follows:
§ 54.1-2403.4. Prohibition on the provision of certain intervening medical technology for unmarried women.
No individual licensed by a health regulatory board shall assist with or perform any intervening medical technology, whether in vivo or in vitro, for or on an unmarried woman that completely or partially replaces sexual intercourse as the means of conception, including, but not limited to, artifical insemination by donor, cryopreservation of gametes and embryos, invitro fertilization, embryo transfer, gamete intrafallopian tube transfer, and low tubal ovum transfer.
----- 10 -----
Gays are immoral, says top Muslim
The Times of London
January 04, 2006
By David Sanderson
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1969663,00.html
HOMOSEXUALITY is immoral and spreads disease, and civil partnerships are damaging to society, according to Britain’s most senior Muslim leader.
Sir Iqbal Sacranie, the head of the Muslim Council of Britain, said that same-sex relationships risked damaging the foundations of society, and scientific evidence showed that homosexuality carried high health risks.
His comments were condemned last night by gay rights groups and MPs from the three main political parties, who said that Sir Iqbal was swimming against the tide of public opinion.
Speaking about civil partnerships, the first of which took place in Britain last month, Sir Iqbal said: “It does not augur well in building the very foundations of society: stability, family relationships. And it is something we would certainly not in any form encourage the community to be involved in.”
Asked on the BBC Radio 4 PM programme if homosexuality was harmful to society, he replied: “Certainly it is a practice that in terms of health, in terms of the moral issues that comes along in a society, it is. It is not acceptable."
[More at URL]
----- 11 -----
Massachusetts Marriage Petition Drive Challenged
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
January 4, 2006
[Received in email; no URL]
Homosexual activists in Massachusetts have filed a lawsuit
to counter last month's record-breaking petition drive
aimed at getting a constitutional amendment defining
marriage as the union of one man and one woman on the 2008
ballot.
The lawsuit, filed by Gay and Lesbian Advocates &
Defenders (GLAD), challenges a ruling by Attorney General
Tom Reilly that determined the ballot question on the
petition was constitutional.
The group claims the petition drive was illegal because
the state constitution bars any citizen-initiated
amendment that aims to reverse a judicial decision -- and
it was a court that, in 2003, declared that same-sex
couples could marry in the Bay State.
According to a spokesman for Reilly's office, citizens are
clearly allowed to amend the constitution and petitions
have been used since the early 1900s "in response to a
court decision finding a law unconstitutional."
Kris Mineau, executive director of the Massachusetts
Family Institute, said the amendment should survive a
court review.
"It was drafted with sound legal advice from
constitutional scholars," he said. "We don't think the
suit is credible. I think they were surprised at the
magnitude of the number of signatures -- 170,000 -- which
tells us what an electrifying issue this is with people."
Not only are homosexual groups challenging the petition,
some are using intimidation tactics to bully voters who
signed it. Two activist Web sites list the names of those
who signed, and some households have received harassing
phone calls.
TAKE ACTION: If you are a resident of Massachusetts who
signed the petition and you are subject to any type of
harassment from activists, please write a letter to
Attorney General Tom Reilly explaining the incident in
detail. For contact information, including an easy-to-use
e-mail form, visit the CitizenLink Action Center.
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=31674&lvl=S&chamber=N
----- 12 -----
Is Cable Industry Faking Family-Friendliness?
Providers are doing their best to avoid having to offer a la carte programming.
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
from staff reports
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0039073.cfm
SUMMARY: Some analysts say providers are doing their best
to avoid having to offer a la carte programming.
Trying to stave off a possible legislative mandate for a
la carte programming, the cable TV industry is beginning
to offer "family tier" packages. But some watchdog groups
think it's designed to discourage families from even
wanting the tier option.
[...]
"They're hoping that when they offer these family tiers
that nobody opts for them, as I'm sure nobody will," PTC
spokeswoman Melissa Caldwell said. "Then they can say,
'There's no reason for us to provide a la carte because we
offered them family packages and they weren't interested
in them.' "
[..]
Robert Peters, president of Morality in Media, said it's
time for cable operators to quit playing games with
America's families.
"Give the cable companies an option," he said. "Either
(they) comply with the indecency law in terms of a package
of channels, or if (they) don't want to comply with the
indecency law in terms of what (they) offer as a package
of channels, then give people the option to choose those
channels individually."
[More at URL]
----- 13 -----
NEW NBC SERIES MOCKS JESUS
"The Book of Daniel," debuting Friday, depicts Christ as unconcerned about sin.
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
January 4, 2006
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0039075.cfm
SUMMARY: "The Book of Daniel," debuting Friday, depicts an
Episcopal priest and his dysfunctional family and is
raising concern among Christians who fear the false
depiction of Jesus and his teaching could mislead viewers.
"The Book of Daniel," a new NBC series premiering Friday,
tells the story of an Episcopal priest who regularly
communes with a white-robed Jesus to get advice about the
many problems he faces within his congregation and within
his own family.
[...]
Steve Isaac, online editor of Plugged In at Focus on the
Family, said "The Book of Daniel" is television's latest
attempt to cash in on controversy.
"It's not the first time TV has taken Christian clergy and
rolled it around in the mud," he said. "This show is
'Desperate Housewives' in the sanctuary."
[...]
TAKE ACTION: Please take a moment to let NBC officials
know of your disgust over "The Book of Daniel." You can do
this in two ways:
1) Call and e-mail NBC Entertainment President Jeffrey
Zucker at the contact information available in the link
below.
Long URL elided
2) Contact your local NBC affiliate via phone and e-mail
and encourage management not to air "The Book of Daniel."
You can find contact information by visiting the
CitizenLink Action Center and typing your ZIP code into
the space provided.
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/dbq/media/
[More at URL]
----- 14 -----
Alito Will Get Hit from Left
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
January 4, 2006
from staff reports
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0039074.cfm
SUMMARY: Liberal senators will grill Supreme Court nominee
over his vote in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
Liberal senators preparing for the start of Samuel Alito's
confirmation hearing on Monday are expected to make the
Planned Parenthood v. Casey suit the centerpiece of their
questioning of the Supreme Court nominee.
As a federal appeals court judge, Alito voted in the Casey
case to require women seeking an abortion to notify their
husbands. He was in the minority, and the case later went
to the Supreme Court, which ultimately reaffirmed abortion
rights with its decision, according to Brian Fahling of
the Center for Law and Policy.
"It introduced the undue burden test," he explained. "In
other words, states can regulate abortions, but cannot do
so in such a fashion as to create an undo burden for a
woman."
Although the Casey decision affirmed a woman's legal right
to an abortion, it opened the door for states to put
restrictions on the procedure. In the years since Casey,
state lawmakers have enacted nearly 500 such restrictions.
Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law
and Justice, said Alito's vote in Casey is a rallying
point for pro-abortion forces.
"They are going to use the abortion issue as the wedge
issue," he said. "But it did not work in the John Roberts
situation when he was nominated for chief justice. He had
written some very significant legal memorandums
questioning the validity of Roe v. Wade."
Sekulow predicted that if Alito is confirmed by the full
Senate later this month, his addition might well change
the balance on the Court in at least some abortion-related
cases.
"You've got the partial-birth abortion case. It's at the
court right now. They may well hear it," Sekulow noted.
"If they do, we now carry it five-to-four because Justice
(Sandra Day) O'Connor (whom Alito would replace) ruled
against it previously; she was the swing vote. I think
Judge Alito would vote for us.
"It's not the fifth vote for Roe v. Wade, but it does
affect a whole host of issues."
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Why is it so important that a judge
like Samuel Alito be confirmed to the Supreme Court? Find
out in "The Supremacists," in which Phyllis Schlafly
explores the threat judicial activism is to American
democracy, as courts dictate supreme power of political,
social and economic policy.
Long URL elided
----- 15 -----
Suspected Lesbian Students Sue Christian School For Expulsion
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Associated Press
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,180146,00.html
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Two 16-year-olds who were expelled from a Lutheran high school because they were suspected of being lesbians have sued the school for invasion of privacy and discrimination.
The lawsuit, filed last week in Riverside County Superior Court, seeks the girls' re-enrollment at the small California Lutheran High School, unspecified damages and an injunction barring the school from excluding gays and lesbians.
Kirk D. Hanson, an attorney for the girls, said the expulsion traumatized and humiliated them.
"Their entire support network was pulled out from under them because of suspicions about their sexual orientation," said Hanson, who declined to say whether his clients are lesbians.
[...]
The lawsuit alleges that the school's principal, Gregory Bork, called the girls into his office, grilled them on their sexual orientation and "coerced" one girl into saying she loved the other.
The next day, the lawsuit says, Bork told the girls' parents they could not stay at the school with "those feelings." In a Sept. 12 letter to the parents, Bork acknowledged that officials had seen no physical contact between the girls but said their friendship was "uncharacteristic of normal girl relationships and more characteristic of a lesbian one."
[More at URL]
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NBC To Air Anti-Christian, Pro-Homosexual Show ‘The Book Of Daniel’
Traditional Values Coalition
January 5, 2006
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2546
NBC is airing “The Book of Daniel” in a two-hour special on January 6. The show stars Aidan Quinn as an Episcopal priest who oversees a dysfunctional family and dysfunctional congregation.
Quinn’s character, Daniel Webster has a wife who is addicted to pain killers, a homosexual son; a daughter who is a drug dealer; an adopted son who is having sex with the Bishop’s daughter; and his lesbian secretary at the church is sleeping with his sister-in-law. The show will also feature a character who plays Jesus.
The script writer is Jack Kenny, a homosexual who says he’s “in Catholic recovery” and is studying Buddhism and reincarnation.
Take Action: We urge you to call your local NBC affiliate and ask them not to air the program.
Read and distribute TVC’s report “The Overhauling Of Straight America” for details on the homosexual agenda and the use of the media to normalize homosexual behavior.
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December 21, 2005, 8:14 a.m.
Competing designs
It’s God or Darwin
National Review Online
By David Klinghoffer
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/klinghoffer200512210814.asp
Tuesday's ruling by a federal judge in Pennsylvania, disparaging intelligent design as a religion-based and therefore false science, raises an important question: If ID is bogus because many of its theorists have religious beliefs to which the controversial critique of Darwinism lends support, then what should we say about Darwinism itself? After all, many proponents of Darwinian evolution have philosophical beliefs to which Darwin lends support.
"We conclude that the religious nature of Intelligent Design would be readily apparent to an objective observer, adult or child," wrote Judge John E. Jones III in his decision, Kitzmiller v. Dover, which rules that disparaging Darwin's theory in biology class is unconstitutional. Is it really true that only Darwinism, in contrast to ID, represents a disinterested search for the truth, unmotivated by ideology?
Judge Jones was especially impressed by the testimony of philosophy professor Barbara Forrest of Southeastern Louisiana University, author of Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design. Professor Forrest has definite beliefs about religion, evident from the fact that she serves on the board of directors of the New Orleans Secular Humanist Association, which is "an affiliate of American Atheists, and [a] member of the Atheist Alliance International," according to the group's website. Of course, she's entitled to believe what she likes, but it's worth noting.
[More at URL]
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Who’s Opposing Judge Alito?
Traditional Values Coalition
January 5, 2006
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2551
If a man is known by the enemies he makes, Judge Samuel Alito is the perfect traditional values choice for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Judge Alito is being smeared in the media by a coalition of leftist organizations called the Coalition for a Fair and Independent Judiciary (CFIJ).
The CFIJ is comprised of such groups as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU); People for the American Way; Americans United for Separation of Church and State; Feminist Majority; Friends of the Earth; Greenpeace USA; Human Rights Campaign; Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund; MoveOn; NARAL Pro-Choice America; National Abortion Federation; National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Foundation, National Organization for Women; Planned Parenthood; The Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S; and many more far left organizations.
The philosophy of these organizations can be accurately described as anti-Christian, pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, and militantly secularist. These groups are far out of the mainstream of middle American values.
[...]
TVC has published a report on the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and its alliance with the Woodhull Freedom Foundation, a libertine group lobbying for the lowering of the age of sexual consent for teens; legalizing public sex in parks and highway rest areas; and the legalization of prostitution: “Exposed: The Next Phase Of The Homosexual Agenda.” [URL: http://www.traditionalvalues.org/pdf_files/PublicSex.pdf ]
[More at URL]
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Judge Samuel Alito Hearings Begin January 9, 2006
Traditional Values Coalition
January 5, 2006
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2552
The Senate Judiciary Committee will begin holding hearings on the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to replace Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Judge Alito is eminently qualified to serve on the Supreme Court. He has served as a federal court judge on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals since 1990. He was nominated to the federal court by President Bush, Sr. and was confirmed to the Third Circuit without debate in the Senate.
Prior to his appointment to the Third Circuit, he served with distinction as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey; a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice and served as a law clerk for Hon. Leonard I. Garth, with the Third Circuit between 1976-1977.
Judge Alito graduated from Princeton University, A.B., 1972 and Yale Law School, J.D., in 1975. At Yale, he edited the Yale Law Journal.
Judge Alito’s judicial philosophy is one of judicial restraint. His legal decisions reveal that he is committed to interpreting the law rather than creating it. In fact, in a questionnaire he filled out for the Senate, he said he remains committed to judicial restraint. He wrote: “But while the federal courts should act firmly and independently within their proper sphere, they must always keep in mind that their proper sphere is circumscribed. The ‘judicial power’ is distinct from the ‘legislative powers’ given to Congress and from the ‘executive power’ and the federal courts must engage in a constant process of self-discipline to ensure that they respect the limits of their authority.”
[...]
TAKE ACTION: Use TVC’s CapWiz service to contact your two U.S. Senators and urge that they vote YES to confirm Judge Alito to the Supreme Court: http://capwiz.com/traditional/issues/alert/?alertid=8220416&type=CO
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Social conservatives happy to be quiet, for now
Last Updated Tue, 03 Jan 2006 14:03:04 EST
CBC News
Long URL elided
Social conservative groups in Alberta say their issues can stay on the back burner during the election campaign so long as it means the Conservative party has a better chance of winning.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has outlined his party's five key priorities: a clean and accountable government, reducing the GST, increasing financial assistance for parents of small children, eliminating the fiscal imbalance, and cracking down on crime.
Abortion and a traditional definition of marriage weren't mentioned, but social conservative groups that consider those to be important issues say they're satisfied with the direction the party is taking in its effort to form the next government.
"They have to talk this way to get elected," said Link Byfield, chairman of the Citizens Centre for Freedom and Democracy. "I think a lot of conservatives honestly agree with that."
Hermina Dykxhoorn, president of the Alberta Federation of Women United for Families, says no mainstream party is talking about the issues she considers most important, such as abortion and same-sex marriage.
But she says she's willing not to talk about those issues during the election if it means electing a Conservative government.
[More at URL]
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-01-05 03:08 pm (UTC)The line in that article, "[The principal] called the girls into his office, grilled them on their sexual orientation and 'coerced' one girl into saying she loved the other," has me confused. It is standard Christian doctrine that we should love one another. The proper Christian reply to "Do you love her?" is "Of course." I presume that since the girls are not protesting that they are heterosexual, they really do have a lesbian inclination, but the school tossed them out on unconfirmed suspicion of lesbianism rather than on direct evidence. That is so crude.
Furthermore, the proper Christian response to a lesbian in a church that believes that homosexuality is a sin is to help her grow in Christ so that she has the strength to overcome her sinful tendencies. Throwing the girls out of the school is a weak-faithed political reflex.
I looked at that high school's web page and found a bit of accidental humor. They have a motto posted, "Not of this world." That is a reference to Jesus saying that his kingdom was not of this world, meaning that he cared about spiritual matters, not political matters. But the high school's use of "Not of this world" suggests another interpretation: they are clueless.
As per item 16 on NBC's new show The Book of Daniel, I don't think that anyone needs to protest about the show. The writer is too clueless about the material he is writing, so I give a 98% chance that the show will be dull and will be canceled anyways. Too bad, because a well-written show about a liberal pastor interacting with a conservative bishop while Jesus Christ himself offers advice could be an effective forum about religion and real life. But cluttering Rev. Daniel Webster's life with an addicted wife, a marijuana-selling daughter, and an adopted son who fools around shows that this man can't be a moral authority even to his own family.
Erin Schram
no subject
Date: 2006-01-05 08:39 pm (UTC)