Today's Cultural Warfare Update
Mar. 14th, 2006 01:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdI took a while to read over the "common ground" report I mentioned in the last CWU; for the most part, it's ... well, there's not a lot to it, but what there is doesn't bother me. So that's good.
Meanwhile, here's todays news.
Faith and Freedom Network kindly posts the text of its anti-gay Prayer Rally powerpoint presentation series - "Fighting gay rights will save thousands of sinners in the years ahead and will prevent many others from becoming sinners"; "[Gays] won’t stop until they can silence the church through imprisonment of its preachers or lawsuits to destroy the assets of churches"; "Our attorneys tell us that by adding sexual orientation to the law we lose a key element in the “rational basis” test for restraining homosexual marriage. It really is a slimy slope"; lots more;
Focus on the Family worries that UN Human Rights Council reform might promote abortion rights;
FotF critical of "Roe v. Wade for men" effort, but still uses it to attack Roe v. Wade;
Focus on the Family runs a series of anti-marriage-rights ads in Iowa to push an anti-marriage amendment; they're saying "Iraqis can vote, why can't we," and uses imagery from the Iraqi elections;
FotF ACTION ITEM to support an anti-marriage amendment in Philadelphia;
FotF's coverage of the Liberty University/Soulforce action, where Jerry Falwell had campus police arrest every Soulforce member who set foot on campus;
FotF coverage of Catholic Charities decision to stop adoption services, stays the state requirement that groups operating as agents of the state comply with state non-discrimination law "trample[s] religious freedom";
FotF defends the "no queers" policy of the US military;
Not being particularly fast on the update, Faith and Freedom Network reports on Delegate Don Dwyer (R-MD)'s attempt to get a judge thrown out over her rulings as a new story - after the effort had already failed;
Agape Press stories: U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops tells Catholic Democrats that they must "work actively to restrain, restrict and bring to an end the destruction of unborn human life." "The bishops add that all Catholics, including Democratic politicians, are obliged to shape their consciences 'in accord with the moral teaching of the Church'"; Also, Pat Robertson's Regent University vows to arrest any and all members of Soulforce who set foot on Regent University campus later today;
Concerned Women for America writeup on their anti-gay "Call to Arms" conference in Maine;
Concerned Women for America's Mario Diaz: "What's up with us men?" - article on the attempt by a "men's group" to gain the right not to pay child support;
CWA attacks HBO special "Big Love";
Don Feder, a big supporter of the theoconservative right, in Human Events Online says yes, it is okay to blame the rape victim; if a woman is out by herself late at night, she should expect that she'll get raped; compares it to jumping out an airplane without a parachute; this is the kind of bullshit![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ginmar spends a lot of time talking about;
Family Research Council ACTION ITEM to support Utah bill HB148, currently at the governor's desk, which would block anyone from using in loco parentis rights to make any claim of "parent-time, visitation, custody, legal guardianship, child support, or an adoption of a minor child"; this is specifically intended to target lesbian and gay partners;
***** American Family Association launches boycott of Ford Motor Company and all affiliated groups over their support of their GBLT employees, GBLT-friendly charities, and advertising to gay and lesbian consumers; includes national petition drive to build anti-gay and Ford boycott support;
AFA/Agape Press: Any attempt to overturn marriage rights in Canada will have to wait, they just don't have the votes in parliament; free vote expected to be delayed until at least fall;
AFA/Agape Press attacks gay/straight alliance clubs again;
Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council says polls showing majority support for Roe v. Wade to be false, based results of bad news reporting;
Traditional Values Coalition pushes the "We the People Act," which would prevent the courts from hearing cases involving religious freedom (or persecution), any cases involving GBLT rights or issues, or any cases involving issues involving "reproduction"; I am extremely disappointed in Ron Paul, who I once very much respected, over this to my mind indefensibly unconstitutional bill specifically intended to eliminate women's reproductive right issues and GBLT folk entirely from any federal rights protections;
The Canada Family Action Coalition links to US fundamentalist group Focus on the Family - this is worthwhile just as another example of the growing interlinking of the fundamentalist movement in North America;
Baptist Press quotes Supreme Court Justice Scalia: it's too soon, the current court will not overturn Roe v. Wade and it'll be five votes to save the decision.
----- 1 -----
Monday, March 13, 2006
The Truth Is ... Dr. Fuiten's PowerPoint Presentation
Faith and Freedom Network
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/blogger.html
Faith & Freedom has received many requests for the text from Dr. Joseph Fuiten’s PowerPoint presentation at the Prayer Rally’s scheduled this month. The following is that text.
__________________
They will argue they are just being fair.
Truth is, this normalizes homosexuality by enshrining it in the law.
They will say it’s about not discriminating.
Truth is this sets up gay marriage by creating the legal premise.
They will say church and state should be separate.
Truth is they want moral values out of public life so their immoral values can dominate.
They will say we are trying to impose our religious values on them.
Truth is, they are trying to impose their secular and sinful values on us.
They will say their freedom does not hurt us.
Truth is this will impact sex education in the schools and every aspect of public life.
They will argue gay marriage doesn’t impact my marriage.
Truth is if it impacts my children, it impacts me. Further, it’s a bogus argument. This is not about individuals, them or us. It’s about public policy and what is best for all of society.
They will say there is no homosexual agenda.
Truth is Ed Murry has already said there is. It won’t stop here. It won’t stop with gay marriage. It won’t stop until they can silence the church through imprisonment of its preachers or lawsuits to destroy the assets of churches.
[...]
They will say we hate gays.
Truth is we love righteousness.
They will say we are homophobic.
Truth is that made up word isn’t even in the dictionary.
[...]
They will say we should save sinners instead of fighting gay rights.
Fighting gay rights will save thousands of sinners in the years ahead and will prevent many others from becoming sinners.
[...]
They will say you should not vote on rights.
They only say that after they have just finished voting on gay rights in the legislature and before we get our chance to vote. It is the Creator who endows us with inalienable rights and this isn’t one of them.
[...]
Preventing discrimination has become the fig leaf to cover a naked political agenda. The political agenda is normalizing homosexual behavior by putting legal approval upon it. It is less a matter of discrimination than it is societal approval. The homosexuals have not shown a pattern of discrimination nor have they shown that they have suffered harm as a class of people. As a group, they are better educated and have a higher standard of living than the rest of society which is hardly the profile of an oppressed minority.
[...]
Our attorneys tell us that by adding sexual orientation to the law we lose a key element in the “rational basis” test for restraining homosexual marriage. It really is a slimy slope.
[Much more at URL]
----- 2 -----
REAL REFORM NEEDED IN CREATING U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
Pro-abortion forces want to mold the agenda.
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
March 13, 2006
by Pete Winn, associate editor
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0039834.cfm
The United Nations is considering a change in the
mechanism for monitoring and protecting human rights -- a
change that could open Pandora's box.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has proposed raising the
part-time U.N. Commission on Human Rights to permanent --
or "council" -- status. He, along with U.N. President Jan
Eliasson, wants the reform to be adopted right away. They
had hoped the Human Rights Commission would take it up
this week during its scheduled meeting in Geneva,
Switzerland. That meeting has been postponed a week.
The U.S., however, wants to reopen negotiations in hopes
of revising the proposal -- or, at the very least, to
postpone a decision for several months, so it can be
considered in conjunction with final approval of the U.N.
budget.
[More at URL]
----- 3 -----
Case Called 'Roe v. Wade for Men'
SUMMARY: Father argues he shouldn't bear responsibility for his unwanted child.
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
March 13, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0039828.cfm
A paternity case in which a young Michigan father is
trying to renounce his parenting responsibilities is being
called "Roe v. Wade for men" by pro-life groups.
Matt Dubay, the father of an 8-month-old girl, says he
feels trapped. He claims his ex-girlfriend knew he didn't
want children, but lied to him and became pregnant anyway.
Dubay is arguing that in the event of a pregnancy
unintended by the father, he should not be required to pay
child support.
[...]
"From a legalist's perspective, this father will lose his
case, because it is all about the children," he said.
"This whole situation only highlights the ridiculousness
of Roe v. Wade, and what it has done to our country."
[...]
"This case is exactly what we've come to," he said, "in a
culture where life has been de-valued through abortion."
[More at URL]
----- 4 -----
FOCUS ACTION ADS PROMOTE IOWA MARRIAGE AMENDMENT
Iowans are being preventing from defining marriage at the ballot box.
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
March 13, 2006
from staff reports
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0039830.cfm
Focus on the Family Action today launched an ad campaign
in support of the Iowa Marriage Amendment, currently
stalled in the State Government Committee by Sens. Michael
Gronstal and Jack Kibbie.
The ads, which feature a young Iraqi woman holding up a
purple-inked finger, state that "Iraqis have the right to
vote. Why don't Iowans?"
"Iowans deserve the same right to vote on how marriage
will be defined as the citizens of the 19 other states who
overwhelmingly protected traditional marriage in their
state constitutions," said Peter Brandt, senior director
of government and public policy for Focus on the Family
Action. "The citizens of Iraq have the right to vote, and
yet Iowans do not, thanks to the political shenanigans of
Sen. Gronstal and Sen. Kibbie.
[More at URL]
----- 5 -----
PENNSYLVANIA COMMITTEE CONSIDERS MARRIAGE AMENDMENT
If the Legislature fails to pass it, the people will not get to vote.
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
March 13, 2006
by Mona Passignano, state issues analyst
http://www.family.org/cforum/statenews/a0039833.cfm
Pennsylvania's marriage-protection amendment -- House Bill
2381 -- is scheduled for its first legislative vote in
committee on Wednesday. If the Pennsylvania Legislature
fails to pass the amendment, the people will not be
allowed to vote on the issue.
Without a constitutional amendment to protect it, the
definition of marriage will be in the hands of activist
judges. In 2003, the Supreme Judicial Court of
Massachusetts ruled that homosexual couples should have
the right to marry, and in January 2006, a single judge
ruled unconstitutional a Maryland law defining marriage as
between one man and one woman.
[...]
TAKE ACTION: If you are a Pennsylvania citizen, please
contact your representative and urge him or her to pass HB
2381 -- a state constitutional amendment that defines
marriage as between one man and one woman. You can find
contact information in the CitizenLink Action Center.
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/state/main/?state=PA&view=myofficials
For more information about the Pennsylvania
marriage-protection amendment, visit the Pennsylvania
Family Institute and Pennsylvania for Marriage Web sites.
http://www.pafamily.org
http://www.pa4marriage.org
[More at URL]
----- 6 -----
Gay Protesters Arrested at Liberty University
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
March 13, 2006
[Received in email; no URL]
Twenty-four members of the Soulforce Equality Ride were
arrested Friday when they attempted to enter the Liberty
University (LU) campus in Lynchburg, Va. The protest was
part of the gay-activists' 19-stop tour challenging moral
policies at Christian colleges and other campuses.
The News & Advance reported that the activists took turns
stepping toward the university gate and reading from a
prepared statement until they were arrested for
trespassing by the LU police department.
The university, the first stop on the activists' bus tour,
had issued a release from the Rev. Jerry Falwell last week
saying the riders would not be welcome on campus. He
considered the demonstration an effort to gain publicity
rather than an attempt at dialogue.
Falwell said that, for parents, LU represented a "home
away from home" for their children.
"Most of the parents of our students would not invite gay
activists into their homes," he said.
Equality Ride Co-Director Haven Herrin said she was
"profoundly disappointed" by the arrests.
"What I want to do is discuss religion," she said. "I
don't understand why we can't do that."
About a dozen LU students came by to talk with the
demonstrators.
Trey Faulkner, an LU senior, told the demonstrators that
he felt homosexuality was a sin.
"There's healing," Faulkner said. "God does not hate
people who are homosexuals, but He does want to heal their
broken hearts."
EDITOR'S NOTE: The "Equality Ride" is stopping at Regent
University in Virginia Beach, Va., today and Tuesday.
Wendy Cloyd, CitizenLink's assistant editor, is there and
we will publish her report later this week.
----- 7 -----
Boston Catholic Charity Halts Adoptions Over Gay Rights
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
March 13, 2006
[Received in email; no URL]
Boston's leading Catholic charity said Friday it would
halt adoption services rather than be forced to follow a
state law allowing gays and lesbians to adopt.
According the Reuters, the Boston Archdiocese's Catholic
Charities said the statute ran counter to Vatican
teachings, setting up a fight in the state Legislature
over whether to change laws that are designed to protect
gay rights, but which trample religious freedom in the
process.
Republican Gov. Mitt Romney said he would propose a law to
make the Catholic Church and other religious institutions
exempt from the state's nondiscrimination act.
"We have encountered a dilemma we cannot resolve," said a
joint statement of Rev. J. Bryan Hehir, president of
Catholic Charities, and Jeffrey Kaneb, chair of its board
of trustees.
"In spite of much effort and analysis, Catholic Charities
of Boston finds that it cannot reconcile the teaching of
the Church, which guides our work, and the statutes and
regulations of the Commonwealth," they said.
----- 8 -----
Gay Activists Want Supreme Court Ruling to Impact 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
March 13, 2006
[Received in email; no URL]
Gay organizations that oppose the military's "don't ask,
don't tell" policy say they hope their cause will be
helped by the recent Supreme Court decision in which
universities that accept federal funds were told they
cannot bar military recruiters.
The New York Times reported that the ruling led several
newspapers to write editorials calling for the government
to change its policy.
Steve Ralls, a spokesman for the pro-gay Servicemembers
Legal Defense Network, said such attention was likely to
help build momentum to repeal the military's policy
concerning those who are openly gay.
"The silver lining in this decision is that it has focused
attention on the underlying issue of the prejudicial
'don't ask, don't tell' policy," he said.
But Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military
Readiness, called such efforts "a big PR campaign."
"The law is there to protect good order and discipline in
the military," she said, "and it's not going to change."
----- 9 -----
Lawmakers Call For Removal of Activist Judge
Faith and Freedom Network
March 13, 2006
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2006/03/lawmakers-call-for-removal-of-activist.html
I’m not surprised. It had to happen.
A judge who nullified marriage law in favor of same-sex marriage now is facing charges of misbehavior in office.
Last week, Don Dwyer, a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, called for the removal of the judge who single-handedly nullified Maryland’s marriage law and demanded same-sex marriage.
This action was precipitated by an all-to-familiar process. The Maryland Delegates had a Constitutional Marriage Amendment. They tried everything at their disposal, including parliamentary procedure of petition, to get the bill to the floor. However, in the end; the Speaker of the House recessed the body and went to his office, saying there was no business to conduct. Thus killing the Amendment and putting marriage in the hands of a liberal, secularist, activist judge.
[...]
----- 10 -----
Commentary & News Briefs
March 13, 2006
Compiled by Jody Brown
Agape Press
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/3/132006h.asp
...The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is rejecting a claim by Catholic Democrats in the U.S. House that they can obey conscience rather than church teachings on abortion. A Catholic Statement of Principles signed by 55 House Democrats declared that they "accept the tension that comes with being in disagreement with the church in some areas." But Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and two fellow bishops have responded with a reminder of "the Catholic Church's constant teaching that abortion is a grave violation of the most fundamental human right: the right to life." They add that the church instructs "all Catholics to work actively to restrain, restrict and bring to an end the destruction of unborn human life." The bishops add that all Catholics, including Democratic politicians, are obliged to shape their consciences "in accord with the moral teaching of the Church." [AP]
[...]
...A group of homosexual rights activists could be arrested again today for the second time in three days. On Friday, 24 of them were arrested on trespassing charges as they tried to enter the campus of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. The school founded by Rev. Jerry Falwell was the first stop on a nationwide "Equality Ride" tour to promote homosexual rights at conservative Christian universities and military academies. Their second scheduled stop is today at Regent University in Virginia Beach. But Equality Ride organizers say the school founded by Rev. Pat Robertson has told them that they are unwelcome there too, and that their presence on campus will be considered trespassing. The homosexual activists say they plan to try to enter the Regent campus today anyway. [AP]
[More at URL]
----- 11 -----
"Call to Arms" Conference in Maine Unites Pastors
Cara Cook
Concerned Women for America
March 13, 2006
http://www.cwalac.org/article_311.shtml
The inaugural “Call To Arms” conference for pastors and their wives took place March 6 and 7 in Bar Harbor, Maine. The purpose of the event, co-sponsored by Concerned Women for America (CWA) of Maine and The Maine Jeremiah Project, was to encourage and equip church leaders to use the pulpit to combat the moral ambivalence that pervades culture.
“The highest levels of Maine state government are aggressively instituting policies that contradict the values you teach week by week, such as God’s design for marriage,” reads the Call To Arms Web site. “Children go from an hour of Sunday school to a week of public indoctrination that calls homosexuality normal and the Bible outdated. It is crucial that church leaders know how to combat a culture that promotes abortion on demand, without even requiring parental knowledge.”
[More at URL]
----- 12 -----
Delinquent Dad Files Suit Based on Roe v. Wade
Concerned Women for America
3/13/2006
By Mario Díaz
What’s up with us men?
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10305/CWA/life/index.htm
On March 9, The National Center for Men (NCM) filed a suit in a Michigan district court to extend to men the so-called reproductive rights given to women. NCM filed the suit on behalf of Matt Dubay, 25, whom the state of Michigan was forcing to pay child support for the 7-month-old daughter born to him and his ex-girlfriend, a child he “never intended to bring into the world.”
When did we sink so low as a society? When did men?
“Women now have the freedom and security to enjoy lovemaking without the fear of forced procreation,” reads the press release. “But men are routinely forced to give up control, forced to be financially responsible for choices only women are permitted to make, forced to relinquish reproductive choice as the price of intimacy.”
Is that what men envy about women, their ability to have sex and then get an abortion if they become pregnant? Instead of envying a woman’s tenderness and loving spirit, or her “mother’s touch” to calm a child when he’s in distress? My head hurts just trying to make sense of the immature, illogical, incoherent reasoning. But that’s just me.
[More at URL]
----- 13 -----
Pushing Polygamy: “Big Love” is a Big Bore
Concerned Women for America
3/14/2006
By Janice Shaw Crouse
Homosexual creators use HBO program as “nonjudgmental” look at marriage and family.
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10308/BLI/dotcommentary/index.htm
I was a skeptic when activists first claimed that, after the push to mainstream homosexuality, a push to take the stigma out of polygamy would follow. Well, according to Mark Henkel of TruthBearer.org, “Polygamy rights is [sic] the next civil-rights battle.” He might have a point. In January, the Justice Department in Canada released a report recommending that our northern neighbors decriminalize polygamy. The March 20 Newsweek will argue that the new wave of polygamy activists is emerging “in the wake of the gay-marriage movement.” And on March 12, HBO launched a new television series, Big Love, featuring a polygamous marriage existing in a middle-class American suburb.
Polygamy as a civil right may not be as far-fetched as it might have seemed just months ago, given that today’s popular religion of multiculturalism, and its chief tenet, non-judgmentalism, demands that we accept everything except Judeo-Christian morality. Some people argue that entertainment merely follows the social trends; others claim that it often presages emerging trends, urged on by so-called “progressives” who revel in overturning the existing social order. Certainly, entertainment and social trends usually go hand-in-hand.
[More at URL]
----- 14 -----
Hey, Over Here, Look at Me -- I'm Blaming the Victim
by Don Feder
Human Events Online
Posted Mar 14, 2006
http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=13180
Of all of brain-dead liberalism's mind-numbing catchphrases, possibly the most inane is "That's blaming the victim!" -- variations on which include: "How dare you blame the victim" and "Oh, my God, he’s blaming the victim!"
The cliché rests on one of the pillars of modern liberalism -- that actions, in fact, do not have consequences, and individuals bear no responsibility for their behavior.
[...]
But no one can play the don't-blame-the-victim card like feminists, who insist that women should be able to do whatever they please (wherever and whenever), regardless of how imprudent or dangerous.
If they end up raped, dead or in relationships where they're abused -- society is to blame, because we didn't provide them with enough protection, because men are beasts, or because we haven't yet created a world in which the improvident are completely insulated from the foreseeable consequences of their dopey behavior.
Which brings us to the tragedy of Imette St. Guillen, a graduate student from Boston who disappeared from a Manhattan bar late last month.
Seventeen hours later, the 24-year's nude body (wrapped in a blanket) was discovered in Queens. She had been brutally raped and sadistically murdered. Darryl Littlejohn, a bouncer at the bar and a parolee with an extensive criminal record (once described by the New York State Parole Division as "a menace to society"), will likely be charged. Police just announced that DNA evidence ties Littlejohn to the crime.
[...]
I have a constitutional right to go skydiving without a parachute. (If I end up looking like a pressed flower, am I a victim of gravity?) You have a constitutional right to go away for a week and leave your house unlocked, with a sign on the door -- "Valuables inside; doors open." Angelina Jolie has a constitutional right to walk into a bikers' bar in a sheer negligee.
----- 15 -----
Governor Huntsman of Utah should sign HB 148
March 13, 2006 - Monday
Utah (more on this state)
Forward to a Friend!
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=AL06C05
During the recent legislative session in Utah, Representative LaVar Christensen introduced House Bill 148. This bill is critical to protect the rights of parents from abuse of the doctrine of "in loco parentis". View the entire text of the bill here.
"In loco parentis" (in the place of the parent) is a doctrine that recognizes temporary, voluntary delegations of parental authority to a babysitter or a school when someone besides the parent is caring for a child.
However, non-parents and non-relatives (especially lesbian ex-partners) have abused the doctrine to claim permanent custody over children who are not legally their own. These caretakers have sued for visitation rights on the basis of a "psychological relationship" with the child. For an excellent article on these bitter battles, click here.
The gay rights lobby has spread misinformation in Utah about this bill. They claim that it will squelch the rights of grandparents or divorced parents. (The actual bill explicitly protects the rights of parents, whether biological or adoptive, and grandparents.)
There is a national effort going on to persuade Governor Huntsman to veto HB 148. His office has received phone calls, e-mails and letters urging him to veto this critical protection of the rights of legal parents.Contact Governor Huntsman today to let him know that he should not veto HB 148 but sign it into law. Timing on this is URGENT, as he is likely to make a decision by Tuesday, March 14. E-mail is the fastest way to urge the Governor to protect parents' rights and sign HB 148 into law.
You can also write, fax or call the Governor:
Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr.
Utah State Capitol Complex
East Office Building, Suite E220
PO Box 142220
Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-2220
801-538-1000
800-705-2464
Fax 801-538-1528
Thank you for your support and please forward this message to your family and friends.
----- 16 -----
AFA, 18 Other Pro-Family Organizations Call For One-Year Boycott of Ford Motor Company
American Family Association
Online as of March 14, 2005
http://www.boycottford.com/
Ford could have easily avoided this boycott had they desired to do so by simply remaining neutral in the cultural battles. Leaders of 44 pro-family groups urged Ford not to take sides, but to remain neutral. However, Ford rejected the plea of the leaders and publicly announced their continued support of the homosexual groups. The hundreds of thousands of dollars Ford gives to homosexual groups allows the groups to pay their fixed expenses with funds given by Ford while using other funds in promoting the legalization of homosexual marriage.
[More at URL]
----- 17 -----
Canadian Activist Expects Delay in Revocation of Same-Sex 'Marriage' Law
By Chad Groening
American Family Association/Agape Press
March 13, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/3/afa/132006f.asp
(AgapePress) - A Canadian pro-family activist says there are simply not enough Conservative votes right now for Parliament to repeal the law that gave marriage rights to homosexuals last year in Canada. The issue, he says, probably won't even be discussed until the fall.
Brian Rushfeldt says he was very pleased with the recent elections in his country that resulted in Conservative Stephen Harper becoming prime minister of Canada. But the chairman of the Calgary-based Canada Family Action Coalition does not believe the new PM has enough Conservative members of Parliament (MPs) to reinstate traditional marriage, as was promised during the campaign.
[More at URL]
----- 18 -----
Activist: Gay Straight Clubs About Promotion, Not Protection
American Family Association/Agape Press
March 13, 2006
By Jim Brown
March 13, 2006
(AgapePress) - A pro-family advocate says leaders of Gay Straight Alliance clubs in schools falsely claim their main focus is fighting discrimination. She contends those clubs are more concerned about getting young people involved in homosexuality.
Last week a private high school in Santa Monica, California, held a "Free Queer Movie Night" that was sponsored by its Gay Straight Alliance club. At the event, the GSA screened a sexually explicit film about a lesbian relationship involving a German Jew and a Nazi sympathizer during World War II. According to Linda Harvey of the Ohio-based pro-family group Mission America, such events are standard fare for GSA clubs in both private and public schools.
"Movie nights are real popular -- and they are almost always movies about two young people who are homosexual who begin having a homosexual relationship," Harvey shares.
[More at URL]
----- 19 -----
Commentary & News Briefs
March 14, 2006
Compiled by Jody Brown
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/3/afa/142006h.asp
[...]
...Tony Perkins says a recent abortion-related poll conducted by Associated Press should be dismissed as "disinformation" that is "intended to give state lawmakers cold feet." The president of Family Research Council is addressing the somewhat confusing results of an AP survey that, according to the news service, indicates that "a solid majority of Americans feel that Roe v. Wade ... should be upheld" -- but that "most [Americans] support at least some restrictions on when abortion can be performed." Perkins has a theory on why Americans are offering conflicting views on abortion. "It follows the confusing or misleading media reporting," he offers. And because of that type of reporting, the FRC leader says individuals in the U.S. do not know that the 1973 Roe decision struck down abortion laws in all 50 states, that it brought about unfettered abortion-on-demand as well as partial-birth abortion, that it is responsible for the increase in young girls being preyed upon by older men who then take the minors across state lines to have abortions without parental knowledge. "This is Roe," says Perkins. "[But] the media doesn't tell the public" about other polls, he adds, that show Americans favor reforms such as parental notice, spousal consent, and a ban on the gruesome partial-birth abortion procedure. [Jody Brown]
[More at URL]
----- 20 -----
‘We The People’ Act Deserves To Be Passed!
By Rev. Louis P. Sheldon
Chairman, Traditional Values Coalition
For Publication On Or After March 13, 2006
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2640
Washington, DC – Thomas Jefferson, writing in a letter to a friend in 1820, expressed grave concerns over the potential unrestrained power of the federal judiciary to be the final interpreters of all constitutional issues. Jefferson told William C. Jarvis that: “To consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions [is] a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy.”
[...]
The dangers faced by our nation by a judicial oligarchy are clear to most Americans. The Supreme Court, for example, has incorrectly ruled that abortion and sodomy are “privacy rights” and thus should be legal in all 50 states. More recently, the Supreme Court has redefined the Constitution’s section on eminent domain to allow the taking of private property by governments to give to private developers. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has ruled that the Constitution forbids the saying of the Pledge of Allegiance because it contains the words “under God” in it.
These outrageous decisions have no basis in the Constitution, but are examples of judges simply reinterpreting the Constitution to suit their own political agendas.
Fortunately, Congress is considering passage of the “We the People Act,” (H.R. 4379) sponsored by Rep. Ron Paul of Texas. Paul’s legislation will enforce Constitutional provisions which permit Congress to restrict the kinds of cases that federal courts can hear. H.R. 4379 will restrict federal courts from hearing cases involving the free exercise or establishment of religion; any cases involving sexual practices, sexual orientation, or reproduction; and any issues involving same-sex marriage or the institution of marriage.
[More at URL]
----- 21 -----
Current Canadian Concerns
Legalized homicide law
March 13, 2006
http://www.familyaction.org/
Let Canadians learn the dangers from this California push to assisted suicide (really doctor perpetrated homicide). Doctors could prescribe overdoses and not advise or notify the family. We must refuse to accept this kind of law in civilized society.
[More at URL]
----- 22 -----
Supreme Court not ready to reverse Roe, Scalia says
Mar 13, 2006
By Tom Strode
Baptist Press
Updated March 14
http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=22830
WASHINGTON (BP)--South Dakota’s enactment of a ban on abortion has boosted hopes the new law might be the vehicle for a reversal of Roe v. Wade, but Associate Justice Antonin Scalia said recently he doubts the current Supreme Court would overturn the 1973 opinion and doesn’t know if it ever will.
[...]
“It is not likely to be overturned with the current court, because there are still five justices on our court who voted in favor of Roe vs. Wade,” Scalia told a group at the University of Freiburg. “So, if I had to guess, I would say, ‘Not yet -- maybe not [ever] -- but certainly not yet.”
[More at URL]
Meanwhile, here's todays news.
Faith and Freedom Network kindly posts the text of its anti-gay Prayer Rally powerpoint presentation series - "Fighting gay rights will save thousands of sinners in the years ahead and will prevent many others from becoming sinners"; "[Gays] won’t stop until they can silence the church through imprisonment of its preachers or lawsuits to destroy the assets of churches"; "Our attorneys tell us that by adding sexual orientation to the law we lose a key element in the “rational basis” test for restraining homosexual marriage. It really is a slimy slope"; lots more;
Focus on the Family worries that UN Human Rights Council reform might promote abortion rights;
FotF critical of "Roe v. Wade for men" effort, but still uses it to attack Roe v. Wade;
Focus on the Family runs a series of anti-marriage-rights ads in Iowa to push an anti-marriage amendment; they're saying "Iraqis can vote, why can't we," and uses imagery from the Iraqi elections;
FotF ACTION ITEM to support an anti-marriage amendment in Philadelphia;
FotF's coverage of the Liberty University/Soulforce action, where Jerry Falwell had campus police arrest every Soulforce member who set foot on campus;
FotF coverage of Catholic Charities decision to stop adoption services, stays the state requirement that groups operating as agents of the state comply with state non-discrimination law "trample[s] religious freedom";
FotF defends the "no queers" policy of the US military;
Not being particularly fast on the update, Faith and Freedom Network reports on Delegate Don Dwyer (R-MD)'s attempt to get a judge thrown out over her rulings as a new story - after the effort had already failed;
Agape Press stories: U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops tells Catholic Democrats that they must "work actively to restrain, restrict and bring to an end the destruction of unborn human life." "The bishops add that all Catholics, including Democratic politicians, are obliged to shape their consciences 'in accord with the moral teaching of the Church'"; Also, Pat Robertson's Regent University vows to arrest any and all members of Soulforce who set foot on Regent University campus later today;
Concerned Women for America writeup on their anti-gay "Call to Arms" conference in Maine;
Concerned Women for America's Mario Diaz: "What's up with us men?" - article on the attempt by a "men's group" to gain the right not to pay child support;
CWA attacks HBO special "Big Love";
Don Feder, a big supporter of the theoconservative right, in Human Events Online says yes, it is okay to blame the rape victim; if a woman is out by herself late at night, she should expect that she'll get raped; compares it to jumping out an airplane without a parachute; this is the kind of bullshit
ginmar spends a lot of time talking about;Family Research Council ACTION ITEM to support Utah bill HB148, currently at the governor's desk, which would block anyone from using in loco parentis rights to make any claim of "parent-time, visitation, custody, legal guardianship, child support, or an adoption of a minor child"; this is specifically intended to target lesbian and gay partners;
***** American Family Association launches boycott of Ford Motor Company and all affiliated groups over their support of their GBLT employees, GBLT-friendly charities, and advertising to gay and lesbian consumers; includes national petition drive to build anti-gay and Ford boycott support;
AFA/Agape Press: Any attempt to overturn marriage rights in Canada will have to wait, they just don't have the votes in parliament; free vote expected to be delayed until at least fall;
AFA/Agape Press attacks gay/straight alliance clubs again;
Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council says polls showing majority support for Roe v. Wade to be false, based results of bad news reporting;
Traditional Values Coalition pushes the "We the People Act," which would prevent the courts from hearing cases involving religious freedom (or persecution), any cases involving GBLT rights or issues, or any cases involving issues involving "reproduction"; I am extremely disappointed in Ron Paul, who I once very much respected, over this to my mind indefensibly unconstitutional bill specifically intended to eliminate women's reproductive right issues and GBLT folk entirely from any federal rights protections;
The Canada Family Action Coalition links to US fundamentalist group Focus on the Family - this is worthwhile just as another example of the growing interlinking of the fundamentalist movement in North America;
Baptist Press quotes Supreme Court Justice Scalia: it's too soon, the current court will not overturn Roe v. Wade and it'll be five votes to save the decision.
----- 1 -----
Monday, March 13, 2006
The Truth Is ... Dr. Fuiten's PowerPoint Presentation
Faith and Freedom Network
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/blogger.html
Faith & Freedom has received many requests for the text from Dr. Joseph Fuiten’s PowerPoint presentation at the Prayer Rally’s scheduled this month. The following is that text.
__________________
They will argue they are just being fair.
Truth is, this normalizes homosexuality by enshrining it in the law.
They will say it’s about not discriminating.
Truth is this sets up gay marriage by creating the legal premise.
They will say church and state should be separate.
Truth is they want moral values out of public life so their immoral values can dominate.
They will say we are trying to impose our religious values on them.
Truth is, they are trying to impose their secular and sinful values on us.
They will say their freedom does not hurt us.
Truth is this will impact sex education in the schools and every aspect of public life.
They will argue gay marriage doesn’t impact my marriage.
Truth is if it impacts my children, it impacts me. Further, it’s a bogus argument. This is not about individuals, them or us. It’s about public policy and what is best for all of society.
They will say there is no homosexual agenda.
Truth is Ed Murry has already said there is. It won’t stop here. It won’t stop with gay marriage. It won’t stop until they can silence the church through imprisonment of its preachers or lawsuits to destroy the assets of churches.
[...]
They will say we hate gays.
Truth is we love righteousness.
They will say we are homophobic.
Truth is that made up word isn’t even in the dictionary.
[...]
They will say we should save sinners instead of fighting gay rights.
Fighting gay rights will save thousands of sinners in the years ahead and will prevent many others from becoming sinners.
[...]
They will say you should not vote on rights.
They only say that after they have just finished voting on gay rights in the legislature and before we get our chance to vote. It is the Creator who endows us with inalienable rights and this isn’t one of them.
[...]
Preventing discrimination has become the fig leaf to cover a naked political agenda. The political agenda is normalizing homosexual behavior by putting legal approval upon it. It is less a matter of discrimination than it is societal approval. The homosexuals have not shown a pattern of discrimination nor have they shown that they have suffered harm as a class of people. As a group, they are better educated and have a higher standard of living than the rest of society which is hardly the profile of an oppressed minority.
[...]
Our attorneys tell us that by adding sexual orientation to the law we lose a key element in the “rational basis” test for restraining homosexual marriage. It really is a slimy slope.
[Much more at URL]
----- 2 -----
REAL REFORM NEEDED IN CREATING U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
Pro-abortion forces want to mold the agenda.
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
March 13, 2006
by Pete Winn, associate editor
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0039834.cfm
The United Nations is considering a change in the
mechanism for monitoring and protecting human rights -- a
change that could open Pandora's box.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has proposed raising the
part-time U.N. Commission on Human Rights to permanent --
or "council" -- status. He, along with U.N. President Jan
Eliasson, wants the reform to be adopted right away. They
had hoped the Human Rights Commission would take it up
this week during its scheduled meeting in Geneva,
Switzerland. That meeting has been postponed a week.
The U.S., however, wants to reopen negotiations in hopes
of revising the proposal -- or, at the very least, to
postpone a decision for several months, so it can be
considered in conjunction with final approval of the U.N.
budget.
[More at URL]
----- 3 -----
Case Called 'Roe v. Wade for Men'
SUMMARY: Father argues he shouldn't bear responsibility for his unwanted child.
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
March 13, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0039828.cfm
A paternity case in which a young Michigan father is
trying to renounce his parenting responsibilities is being
called "Roe v. Wade for men" by pro-life groups.
Matt Dubay, the father of an 8-month-old girl, says he
feels trapped. He claims his ex-girlfriend knew he didn't
want children, but lied to him and became pregnant anyway.
Dubay is arguing that in the event of a pregnancy
unintended by the father, he should not be required to pay
child support.
[...]
"From a legalist's perspective, this father will lose his
case, because it is all about the children," he said.
"This whole situation only highlights the ridiculousness
of Roe v. Wade, and what it has done to our country."
[...]
"This case is exactly what we've come to," he said, "in a
culture where life has been de-valued through abortion."
[More at URL]
----- 4 -----
FOCUS ACTION ADS PROMOTE IOWA MARRIAGE AMENDMENT
Iowans are being preventing from defining marriage at the ballot box.
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
March 13, 2006
from staff reports
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0039830.cfm
Focus on the Family Action today launched an ad campaign
in support of the Iowa Marriage Amendment, currently
stalled in the State Government Committee by Sens. Michael
Gronstal and Jack Kibbie.
The ads, which feature a young Iraqi woman holding up a
purple-inked finger, state that "Iraqis have the right to
vote. Why don't Iowans?"
"Iowans deserve the same right to vote on how marriage
will be defined as the citizens of the 19 other states who
overwhelmingly protected traditional marriage in their
state constitutions," said Peter Brandt, senior director
of government and public policy for Focus on the Family
Action. "The citizens of Iraq have the right to vote, and
yet Iowans do not, thanks to the political shenanigans of
Sen. Gronstal and Sen. Kibbie.
[More at URL]
----- 5 -----
PENNSYLVANIA COMMITTEE CONSIDERS MARRIAGE AMENDMENT
If the Legislature fails to pass it, the people will not get to vote.
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
March 13, 2006
by Mona Passignano, state issues analyst
http://www.family.org/cforum/statenews/a0039833.cfm
Pennsylvania's marriage-protection amendment -- House Bill
2381 -- is scheduled for its first legislative vote in
committee on Wednesday. If the Pennsylvania Legislature
fails to pass the amendment, the people will not be
allowed to vote on the issue.
Without a constitutional amendment to protect it, the
definition of marriage will be in the hands of activist
judges. In 2003, the Supreme Judicial Court of
Massachusetts ruled that homosexual couples should have
the right to marry, and in January 2006, a single judge
ruled unconstitutional a Maryland law defining marriage as
between one man and one woman.
[...]
TAKE ACTION: If you are a Pennsylvania citizen, please
contact your representative and urge him or her to pass HB
2381 -- a state constitutional amendment that defines
marriage as between one man and one woman. You can find
contact information in the CitizenLink Action Center.
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/state/main/?state=PA&view=myofficials
For more information about the Pennsylvania
marriage-protection amendment, visit the Pennsylvania
Family Institute and Pennsylvania for Marriage Web sites.
http://www.pafamily.org
http://www.pa4marriage.org
[More at URL]
----- 6 -----
Gay Protesters Arrested at Liberty University
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
March 13, 2006
[Received in email; no URL]
Twenty-four members of the Soulforce Equality Ride were
arrested Friday when they attempted to enter the Liberty
University (LU) campus in Lynchburg, Va. The protest was
part of the gay-activists' 19-stop tour challenging moral
policies at Christian colleges and other campuses.
The News & Advance reported that the activists took turns
stepping toward the university gate and reading from a
prepared statement until they were arrested for
trespassing by the LU police department.
The university, the first stop on the activists' bus tour,
had issued a release from the Rev. Jerry Falwell last week
saying the riders would not be welcome on campus. He
considered the demonstration an effort to gain publicity
rather than an attempt at dialogue.
Falwell said that, for parents, LU represented a "home
away from home" for their children.
"Most of the parents of our students would not invite gay
activists into their homes," he said.
Equality Ride Co-Director Haven Herrin said she was
"profoundly disappointed" by the arrests.
"What I want to do is discuss religion," she said. "I
don't understand why we can't do that."
About a dozen LU students came by to talk with the
demonstrators.
Trey Faulkner, an LU senior, told the demonstrators that
he felt homosexuality was a sin.
"There's healing," Faulkner said. "God does not hate
people who are homosexuals, but He does want to heal their
broken hearts."
EDITOR'S NOTE: The "Equality Ride" is stopping at Regent
University in Virginia Beach, Va., today and Tuesday.
Wendy Cloyd, CitizenLink's assistant editor, is there and
we will publish her report later this week.
----- 7 -----
Boston Catholic Charity Halts Adoptions Over Gay Rights
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
March 13, 2006
[Received in email; no URL]
Boston's leading Catholic charity said Friday it would
halt adoption services rather than be forced to follow a
state law allowing gays and lesbians to adopt.
According the Reuters, the Boston Archdiocese's Catholic
Charities said the statute ran counter to Vatican
teachings, setting up a fight in the state Legislature
over whether to change laws that are designed to protect
gay rights, but which trample religious freedom in the
process.
Republican Gov. Mitt Romney said he would propose a law to
make the Catholic Church and other religious institutions
exempt from the state's nondiscrimination act.
"We have encountered a dilemma we cannot resolve," said a
joint statement of Rev. J. Bryan Hehir, president of
Catholic Charities, and Jeffrey Kaneb, chair of its board
of trustees.
"In spite of much effort and analysis, Catholic Charities
of Boston finds that it cannot reconcile the teaching of
the Church, which guides our work, and the statutes and
regulations of the Commonwealth," they said.
----- 8 -----
Gay Activists Want Supreme Court Ruling to Impact 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
March 13, 2006
[Received in email; no URL]
Gay organizations that oppose the military's "don't ask,
don't tell" policy say they hope their cause will be
helped by the recent Supreme Court decision in which
universities that accept federal funds were told they
cannot bar military recruiters.
The New York Times reported that the ruling led several
newspapers to write editorials calling for the government
to change its policy.
Steve Ralls, a spokesman for the pro-gay Servicemembers
Legal Defense Network, said such attention was likely to
help build momentum to repeal the military's policy
concerning those who are openly gay.
"The silver lining in this decision is that it has focused
attention on the underlying issue of the prejudicial
'don't ask, don't tell' policy," he said.
But Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military
Readiness, called such efforts "a big PR campaign."
"The law is there to protect good order and discipline in
the military," she said, "and it's not going to change."
----- 9 -----
Lawmakers Call For Removal of Activist Judge
Faith and Freedom Network
March 13, 2006
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2006/03/lawmakers-call-for-removal-of-activist.html
I’m not surprised. It had to happen.
A judge who nullified marriage law in favor of same-sex marriage now is facing charges of misbehavior in office.
Last week, Don Dwyer, a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, called for the removal of the judge who single-handedly nullified Maryland’s marriage law and demanded same-sex marriage.
This action was precipitated by an all-to-familiar process. The Maryland Delegates had a Constitutional Marriage Amendment. They tried everything at their disposal, including parliamentary procedure of petition, to get the bill to the floor. However, in the end; the Speaker of the House recessed the body and went to his office, saying there was no business to conduct. Thus killing the Amendment and putting marriage in the hands of a liberal, secularist, activist judge.
[...]
----- 10 -----
Commentary & News Briefs
March 13, 2006
Compiled by Jody Brown
Agape Press
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/3/132006h.asp
...The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is rejecting a claim by Catholic Democrats in the U.S. House that they can obey conscience rather than church teachings on abortion. A Catholic Statement of Principles signed by 55 House Democrats declared that they "accept the tension that comes with being in disagreement with the church in some areas." But Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and two fellow bishops have responded with a reminder of "the Catholic Church's constant teaching that abortion is a grave violation of the most fundamental human right: the right to life." They add that the church instructs "all Catholics to work actively to restrain, restrict and bring to an end the destruction of unborn human life." The bishops add that all Catholics, including Democratic politicians, are obliged to shape their consciences "in accord with the moral teaching of the Church." [AP]
[...]
...A group of homosexual rights activists could be arrested again today for the second time in three days. On Friday, 24 of them were arrested on trespassing charges as they tried to enter the campus of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. The school founded by Rev. Jerry Falwell was the first stop on a nationwide "Equality Ride" tour to promote homosexual rights at conservative Christian universities and military academies. Their second scheduled stop is today at Regent University in Virginia Beach. But Equality Ride organizers say the school founded by Rev. Pat Robertson has told them that they are unwelcome there too, and that their presence on campus will be considered trespassing. The homosexual activists say they plan to try to enter the Regent campus today anyway. [AP]
[More at URL]
----- 11 -----
"Call to Arms" Conference in Maine Unites Pastors
Cara Cook
Concerned Women for America
March 13, 2006
http://www.cwalac.org/article_311.shtml
The inaugural “Call To Arms” conference for pastors and their wives took place March 6 and 7 in Bar Harbor, Maine. The purpose of the event, co-sponsored by Concerned Women for America (CWA) of Maine and The Maine Jeremiah Project, was to encourage and equip church leaders to use the pulpit to combat the moral ambivalence that pervades culture.
“The highest levels of Maine state government are aggressively instituting policies that contradict the values you teach week by week, such as God’s design for marriage,” reads the Call To Arms Web site. “Children go from an hour of Sunday school to a week of public indoctrination that calls homosexuality normal and the Bible outdated. It is crucial that church leaders know how to combat a culture that promotes abortion on demand, without even requiring parental knowledge.”
[More at URL]
----- 12 -----
Delinquent Dad Files Suit Based on Roe v. Wade
Concerned Women for America
3/13/2006
By Mario Díaz
What’s up with us men?
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10305/CWA/life/index.htm
On March 9, The National Center for Men (NCM) filed a suit in a Michigan district court to extend to men the so-called reproductive rights given to women. NCM filed the suit on behalf of Matt Dubay, 25, whom the state of Michigan was forcing to pay child support for the 7-month-old daughter born to him and his ex-girlfriend, a child he “never intended to bring into the world.”
When did we sink so low as a society? When did men?
“Women now have the freedom and security to enjoy lovemaking without the fear of forced procreation,” reads the press release. “But men are routinely forced to give up control, forced to be financially responsible for choices only women are permitted to make, forced to relinquish reproductive choice as the price of intimacy.”
Is that what men envy about women, their ability to have sex and then get an abortion if they become pregnant? Instead of envying a woman’s tenderness and loving spirit, or her “mother’s touch” to calm a child when he’s in distress? My head hurts just trying to make sense of the immature, illogical, incoherent reasoning. But that’s just me.
[More at URL]
----- 13 -----
Pushing Polygamy: “Big Love” is a Big Bore
Concerned Women for America
3/14/2006
By Janice Shaw Crouse
Homosexual creators use HBO program as “nonjudgmental” look at marriage and family.
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10308/BLI/dotcommentary/index.htm
I was a skeptic when activists first claimed that, after the push to mainstream homosexuality, a push to take the stigma out of polygamy would follow. Well, according to Mark Henkel of TruthBearer.org, “Polygamy rights is [sic] the next civil-rights battle.” He might have a point. In January, the Justice Department in Canada released a report recommending that our northern neighbors decriminalize polygamy. The March 20 Newsweek will argue that the new wave of polygamy activists is emerging “in the wake of the gay-marriage movement.” And on March 12, HBO launched a new television series, Big Love, featuring a polygamous marriage existing in a middle-class American suburb.
Polygamy as a civil right may not be as far-fetched as it might have seemed just months ago, given that today’s popular religion of multiculturalism, and its chief tenet, non-judgmentalism, demands that we accept everything except Judeo-Christian morality. Some people argue that entertainment merely follows the social trends; others claim that it often presages emerging trends, urged on by so-called “progressives” who revel in overturning the existing social order. Certainly, entertainment and social trends usually go hand-in-hand.
[More at URL]
----- 14 -----
Hey, Over Here, Look at Me -- I'm Blaming the Victim
by Don Feder
Human Events Online
Posted Mar 14, 2006
http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=13180
Of all of brain-dead liberalism's mind-numbing catchphrases, possibly the most inane is "That's blaming the victim!" -- variations on which include: "How dare you blame the victim" and "Oh, my God, he’s blaming the victim!"
The cliché rests on one of the pillars of modern liberalism -- that actions, in fact, do not have consequences, and individuals bear no responsibility for their behavior.
[...]
But no one can play the don't-blame-the-victim card like feminists, who insist that women should be able to do whatever they please (wherever and whenever), regardless of how imprudent or dangerous.
If they end up raped, dead or in relationships where they're abused -- society is to blame, because we didn't provide them with enough protection, because men are beasts, or because we haven't yet created a world in which the improvident are completely insulated from the foreseeable consequences of their dopey behavior.
Which brings us to the tragedy of Imette St. Guillen, a graduate student from Boston who disappeared from a Manhattan bar late last month.
Seventeen hours later, the 24-year's nude body (wrapped in a blanket) was discovered in Queens. She had been brutally raped and sadistically murdered. Darryl Littlejohn, a bouncer at the bar and a parolee with an extensive criminal record (once described by the New York State Parole Division as "a menace to society"), will likely be charged. Police just announced that DNA evidence ties Littlejohn to the crime.
[...]
I have a constitutional right to go skydiving without a parachute. (If I end up looking like a pressed flower, am I a victim of gravity?) You have a constitutional right to go away for a week and leave your house unlocked, with a sign on the door -- "Valuables inside; doors open." Angelina Jolie has a constitutional right to walk into a bikers' bar in a sheer negligee.
----- 15 -----
Governor Huntsman of Utah should sign HB 148
March 13, 2006 - Monday
Utah (more on this state)
Forward to a Friend!
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=AL06C05
During the recent legislative session in Utah, Representative LaVar Christensen introduced House Bill 148. This bill is critical to protect the rights of parents from abuse of the doctrine of "in loco parentis". View the entire text of the bill here.
"In loco parentis" (in the place of the parent) is a doctrine that recognizes temporary, voluntary delegations of parental authority to a babysitter or a school when someone besides the parent is caring for a child.
However, non-parents and non-relatives (especially lesbian ex-partners) have abused the doctrine to claim permanent custody over children who are not legally their own. These caretakers have sued for visitation rights on the basis of a "psychological relationship" with the child. For an excellent article on these bitter battles, click here.
The gay rights lobby has spread misinformation in Utah about this bill. They claim that it will squelch the rights of grandparents or divorced parents. (The actual bill explicitly protects the rights of parents, whether biological or adoptive, and grandparents.)
There is a national effort going on to persuade Governor Huntsman to veto HB 148. His office has received phone calls, e-mails and letters urging him to veto this critical protection of the rights of legal parents.Contact Governor Huntsman today to let him know that he should not veto HB 148 but sign it into law. Timing on this is URGENT, as he is likely to make a decision by Tuesday, March 14. E-mail is the fastest way to urge the Governor to protect parents' rights and sign HB 148 into law.
You can also write, fax or call the Governor:
Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr.
Utah State Capitol Complex
East Office Building, Suite E220
PO Box 142220
Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-2220
801-538-1000
800-705-2464
Fax 801-538-1528
Thank you for your support and please forward this message to your family and friends.
----- 16 -----
AFA, 18 Other Pro-Family Organizations Call For One-Year Boycott of Ford Motor Company
American Family Association
Online as of March 14, 2005
http://www.boycottford.com/
“For us, it was very natural to address gay families. We’re targeting people with modern day values. It’s a value set and the Volvo-minded consumer is very diverse. ‘Family’ is much more than the traditional family.” - Thomas Anderson, executive vice-president of Volvo Cars North America, a division of Ford Motor Company, on definition of family.American Family Association, along with 18 other pro-family organizations, has called for a one-year boycott of Ford Motor Company. The boycott was called after Ford reneged on an agreement with American Family Association to stop funding homosexual groups which promote homosexual marriage.
Ford could have easily avoided this boycott had they desired to do so by simply remaining neutral in the cultural battles. Leaders of 44 pro-family groups urged Ford not to take sides, but to remain neutral. However, Ford rejected the plea of the leaders and publicly announced their continued support of the homosexual groups. The hundreds of thousands of dollars Ford gives to homosexual groups allows the groups to pay their fixed expenses with funds given by Ford while using other funds in promoting the legalization of homosexual marriage.
[More at URL]
----- 17 -----
Canadian Activist Expects Delay in Revocation of Same-Sex 'Marriage' Law
By Chad Groening
American Family Association/Agape Press
March 13, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/3/afa/132006f.asp
(AgapePress) - A Canadian pro-family activist says there are simply not enough Conservative votes right now for Parliament to repeal the law that gave marriage rights to homosexuals last year in Canada. The issue, he says, probably won't even be discussed until the fall.
Brian Rushfeldt says he was very pleased with the recent elections in his country that resulted in Conservative Stephen Harper becoming prime minister of Canada. But the chairman of the Calgary-based Canada Family Action Coalition does not believe the new PM has enough Conservative members of Parliament (MPs) to reinstate traditional marriage, as was promised during the campaign.
[More at URL]
----- 18 -----
Activist: Gay Straight Clubs About Promotion, Not Protection
American Family Association/Agape Press
March 13, 2006
By Jim Brown
March 13, 2006
(AgapePress) - A pro-family advocate says leaders of Gay Straight Alliance clubs in schools falsely claim their main focus is fighting discrimination. She contends those clubs are more concerned about getting young people involved in homosexuality.
Last week a private high school in Santa Monica, California, held a "Free Queer Movie Night" that was sponsored by its Gay Straight Alliance club. At the event, the GSA screened a sexually explicit film about a lesbian relationship involving a German Jew and a Nazi sympathizer during World War II. According to Linda Harvey of the Ohio-based pro-family group Mission America, such events are standard fare for GSA clubs in both private and public schools.
"Movie nights are real popular -- and they are almost always movies about two young people who are homosexual who begin having a homosexual relationship," Harvey shares.
[More at URL]
----- 19 -----
Commentary & News Briefs
March 14, 2006
Compiled by Jody Brown
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/3/afa/142006h.asp
[...]
...Tony Perkins says a recent abortion-related poll conducted by Associated Press should be dismissed as "disinformation" that is "intended to give state lawmakers cold feet." The president of Family Research Council is addressing the somewhat confusing results of an AP survey that, according to the news service, indicates that "a solid majority of Americans feel that Roe v. Wade ... should be upheld" -- but that "most [Americans] support at least some restrictions on when abortion can be performed." Perkins has a theory on why Americans are offering conflicting views on abortion. "It follows the confusing or misleading media reporting," he offers. And because of that type of reporting, the FRC leader says individuals in the U.S. do not know that the 1973 Roe decision struck down abortion laws in all 50 states, that it brought about unfettered abortion-on-demand as well as partial-birth abortion, that it is responsible for the increase in young girls being preyed upon by older men who then take the minors across state lines to have abortions without parental knowledge. "This is Roe," says Perkins. "[But] the media doesn't tell the public" about other polls, he adds, that show Americans favor reforms such as parental notice, spousal consent, and a ban on the gruesome partial-birth abortion procedure. [Jody Brown]
[More at URL]
----- 20 -----
‘We The People’ Act Deserves To Be Passed!
By Rev. Louis P. Sheldon
Chairman, Traditional Values Coalition
For Publication On Or After March 13, 2006
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2640
Washington, DC – Thomas Jefferson, writing in a letter to a friend in 1820, expressed grave concerns over the potential unrestrained power of the federal judiciary to be the final interpreters of all constitutional issues. Jefferson told William C. Jarvis that: “To consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions [is] a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy.”
[...]
The dangers faced by our nation by a judicial oligarchy are clear to most Americans. The Supreme Court, for example, has incorrectly ruled that abortion and sodomy are “privacy rights” and thus should be legal in all 50 states. More recently, the Supreme Court has redefined the Constitution’s section on eminent domain to allow the taking of private property by governments to give to private developers. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has ruled that the Constitution forbids the saying of the Pledge of Allegiance because it contains the words “under God” in it.
These outrageous decisions have no basis in the Constitution, but are examples of judges simply reinterpreting the Constitution to suit their own political agendas.
Fortunately, Congress is considering passage of the “We the People Act,” (H.R. 4379) sponsored by Rep. Ron Paul of Texas. Paul’s legislation will enforce Constitutional provisions which permit Congress to restrict the kinds of cases that federal courts can hear. H.R. 4379 will restrict federal courts from hearing cases involving the free exercise or establishment of religion; any cases involving sexual practices, sexual orientation, or reproduction; and any issues involving same-sex marriage or the institution of marriage.
[More at URL]
----- 21 -----
Current Canadian Concerns
Legalized homicide law
March 13, 2006
http://www.familyaction.org/
Let Canadians learn the dangers from this California push to assisted suicide (really doctor perpetrated homicide). Doctors could prescribe overdoses and not advise or notify the family. We must refuse to accept this kind of law in civilized society.
[More at URL]
----- 22 -----
Supreme Court not ready to reverse Roe, Scalia says
Mar 13, 2006
By Tom Strode
Baptist Press
Updated March 14
http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=22830
WASHINGTON (BP)--South Dakota’s enactment of a ban on abortion has boosted hopes the new law might be the vehicle for a reversal of Roe v. Wade, but Associate Justice Antonin Scalia said recently he doubts the current Supreme Court would overturn the 1973 opinion and doesn’t know if it ever will.
[...]
“It is not likely to be overturned with the current court, because there are still five justices on our court who voted in favor of Roe vs. Wade,” Scalia told a group at the University of Freiburg. “So, if I had to guess, I would say, ‘Not yet -- maybe not [ever] -- but certainly not yet.”
[More at URL]
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-03-14 09:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-14 09:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-14 09:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-15 05:36 am (UTC)I read item #1 too, wondering whether Dr. Joseph Fuiten’s presentation had any substance. It doesn't. His misuse of the Bible riles me.
For example, Dr. Fuiten said:
They will say the New Testament is unclear about homosexuality.
That’s because they haven’t read it. "For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error"(Romans 1:26-27).
Do you wonder what "For this reason," refers to? Romans 1:21-22 tells the reason, "For though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools." That particular group fell to idolatry and sexual sins, but the fools who do not honor God remind me too much of the Christian extremists like Dr. Fuiten, who treat homosexuality as a key issue while ignoring God's commands about love.
Dr. Fuiten said:
They will say we shouldn’t judge homosexuals.
In John 7:24 Jesus said, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." They will say the church should be tolerant. We are very tolerant. We just don’t like legislative protection of sin.
Dr. Fuiten is going for extreme irony here. He chose the wrong verse to use in his straw-man argument. My NRSV translation does not say, "Judge with righteous judgment." It says, "Judge with right judgment," which fits the context better. Jesus is answering a complaint that he heals people on the Sabbath, when people are supposed to hear and study the word of God instead of working. The critics have a law against the sin of working on the Sabbath, and healing counts as work. Jesus's argument was that though he appeared to sinning, God's law allowed for compassion. He was arguing for tolerance and against heedless application of laws against sin.
Dr. Fuiten said:
They will say the command to love means we should not oppose homosexuality.
Truth and love are not opposed to each other. Both are required.
I agree with this one. But I see no evidence that truth is on Dr. Fuiten's side.
Erin Schram
no subject
Date: 2006-03-15 07:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-16 04:01 am (UTC)Erin Schram
no subject
Date: 2006-03-16 06:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-16 08:02 pm (UTC)This'll be in tomorrow CWU:
Answering “The Religious Coalition for Equality”
Faith and Freedom Network
Thursday, March 16, 2006
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2006/03/answering-religious-coalition-for.html
“Religious” people supporting gay rights remind me of penguins as birds. They don’t fly.
They don’t fly biblically. "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination" (Leviticus 18:22).
"If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them" (Leviticus 20:13).
"For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error" (Romans 1:26-27).
[...]
Liberals and heretics say Jesus did not condemn homosexuals, not even mentioning the subject. (The implication is that homosexuality must therefore be acceptable.)
[More at URL]
no subject
Date: 2006-03-17 06:51 am (UTC)It is only a joke because my beliefs are closer to Lutheran theology than those of most people in our congregation. Most Christians vary from the established theology because they have not studied it and don't know any better. I have studied Christianity and Lutheranism and I know where I vary.
I do agree with Dr. Fuiten that the Bible does condemn homosexuality. The two Leviticus verses declare it an illegal offense punishable by death. Four other verses in the Bible, such as the Romans 1:26-27 verse, mention it as bad behavior. Six verses isn't much, and we Christians do not follow the penalties listed in Leviticus. Nevertheless, no verse has anything good to say about homosexuality. So it stands in Christian theology as a sin. Part of my heresy is that I don't care much about sin.
Besides, what does sin have to do with American law? Lots of Biblical sins are both legal and protected in the United States. For example, following a non-Christian religion is a sin, but that is protected by the First Amendment. There is a lot more heterosexual fornification going on in our nation than homosexual fornification, so why aren't the Christian anti-gay activists speaking out against that instead? Really, these people barely care what God wants. They just want easy targets. And that disgusts me.
Erin Schram