Today's Cultural Warfare Update

[solarbird]

Brutal update: the American Family Association is starting to talk about how abortion bans should not include exemptions to save the life of the woman; they're also pushing attacks against birth control in any form. Also, I'm seeing stepped up activity from Canadian fundamentalist groups, with CFAC endorsing and joining the anti-gay boycott of Ford Motor Corporation, and Focus on the Family's Canadian branch having a couple of new articles out.

Here's today's news.

Bush administration gets it ass-backwards yet again: queers can be denied security clearance for being gay now, unless they are "strictly private" and "discreet" - in other words, in the closet, which makes them more, not less vulnerable to blackmail threats, which is exactly the wrong fucking thing to do yet again, but probably makes his fundamentalist friends slightly happier. And god knows this asshat has never let rationality get in the way of things like that;

The article on Sharia law that got Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo pulled off the Telegraph;

Clips from the debate on Al-Jazeera that later caused Dr. Wafa Sultan, a Los Angeles-resident Syrian psychiatrist, go have to go into hiding for fear of her life;

Roberton's school gets Virginia Beach police to arrest Soulforce members as they attempt to cross a police line blocking them from campus;

Focus on the Family praises Chief Justice Roberts and his "new day at the court";

FotF: There is no middle ground on abortion;

FotF talks up its letter campaigns and email activism, and condemns DefCon's membership;

FotF attacks religious groups working with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force;

Blogger posts information on how to do abortions; American Life League says, "Anyone who engages in this should be prosecuted for what it is -- murder";

Concerned Women for America attack abortion bans which include exceptions for rape victims AND emergency contraception, apparently joining the Rapist's Rights bandwagon by claiming that the morning-after pill actually benefits the rapist; says the zygote is more innocent than the mother;

Director Of South Dakota Planned Parenthood Affiliate To Decide On Possible Legal Challenge To State Abortion Ban; State has a special fund to defend the abortion ban that takes anonymous donations and is exempt from state reporting laws;

Concerned Women for America applaud FCC indecency fines;

CWA upset that Maryland filibuster against a stem-cell research bill failed;

***** American Family Association/Agape Press attack contraception, also attacks abortion bans with any exemptions whatsoever including to save a woman's life;

Family Research Council says fundamentalist voters are unhappy with a lack action on the fundamentalist agenda from Congress;

The "Values Voters Contract with Congress" - a campaign manifesto for the theoconservative right for 2006 - includes demands for Constitutional bans on GBLT marriage and partnership rights, bans on church-state cases (unless those cases endorse the Christianist point of view), bans on courts-cost payments in the event a court challenge gets to court and wins, bans on equal-protection cases for gays and lesbian challenges to state marriage laws; a comprehensive federal ban on abortion in all cases; bans on many forms of bioresearch (what they call "human cloning" and any use of embryonic stem cells); Federal bans on pornography and obscenity; more;

The federal government temporarily lifted the ban on HIV+ travel to this country for the purposes of athletes and visitors attending the Gay Games in Chicago; Traditional Values Coalition has an ACTION ITEM to demand the ban be put back in place, condemns Gay Games as one big orgy;

Senate Republican Policy Committee sends out "State-by-state Marriage Protection Update," which is to say, a list of states banning marriage rights for gay and lesbian people in their state constitutions and/or via DOMA;

TVC condemns National Gay and Lesbian Task Force alliance with an assortment of religious groups;

TVC pushes "Values Voter's Contract";

***** Canada Family Action Coalition endorses AFA boycott of Ford Motor Corporation, urges its membership to boycott Ford Motor as well;

Focus on the Family Canada ACTION ITEM to protest attempts to stop provincial funding of religious schools that teach religious or racial intolerance;

Focus on the Family Canada runs article against genetic screening in pregnancy;

Concerned Women for America accuses Illinois official of "name calling" for saying that fundamentalist anti-gay groups are hateful; I guess the truth hurts.


----- 1 -----
Bush vs Gays, Part XXXVII
Andrew Sullivan
16 Mar 2006 12:06 am

http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish/2006/03/bush_vs_gays_pa.html

It's hard not to be troubled by a quiet ruling from the Bush administration qualifying the Clinton administration's clear removal of sexual orientation as a barrier to security clearance. Money quote from the AP:

"The [Clinton administration] regulation stated that sexual orientation 'may not be used as a basis for or a disqualifying factor in determining a person's eligibility for a security clearance.'

Bush removed that categorical protection, saying instead that security clearances cannot be denied 'solely on the basis of the sexual orientation of the individual.'
The new rules say behavior that is 'strictly private, consensual and discreet' could 'mitigate security concerns.'"

[More at URL]


----- 2 -----
Human rights vs. Sharia
Exit Zero
March 10, 2006

http://whataretheysaying.powerblogs.com/posts/1142024149.shtml

In an article written for the London Telegraph, Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo says:

"You have to distinguish between ordinary Muslims and their self-appointed leaders," explains Dr Sookhdeo. "I agree that the best hope for our collective future is that the majority of Muslims who have grown up here have accepted the secular nature of the British state and society, the division between religion and politics, and the importance of allowing people to choose freely how they will live."

According to the Telegraph, Dr. Sookhdeo is a secular Briton. According to Islamophobia Watch, Dr. Sookhdeo is a Nazi and an Islamaphobe. Islamophobia Watch also labels Hirsi Ali as a right-wing "provocateur."

The Telegraph believed that an article about Dr. Sookhdeo's criticism of some Muslim leaders and their efforts to bring Sharia to the UK, titled 'The day is coming when British Muslims form a state within a state' should be published.

[More at URL]


----- 3 -----
Dr. Wafa Sultan Seeks Radical Change From Radical Islam
16:14 Mar 13, '06 / 13 Adar 5766
By Debbie Berman

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=100139

Dr. Wafa Sultan is in hiding, fearful for her life and the safety of her family, after she lambasted the roots of radical Islam during a debate televised on Al-Jazeera last month.

[Link to clips from the debate here. They're subtitled.]

Dr. Sultan is leading a struggle to create a new reality in the Islamic world, which she believes should be led by none other than the women it has oppressed for so long. Born in Syria and now a Los Angeles-based psychiatrist, Dr. Sultan has taken upon herself the mission of trying to change the way the Islamic world operates.

[More at URL]


----- 4 -----
GAY ACTIVISTS ARRESTED AT REGENT UNIVERSITY
Six protesters cross a police line intended to keep them off school grounds.
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
March 15, 2006
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0039861.cfm

Six young men and women participating in a traveling
homosexual protest were taken into custody Tuesday after
they strode past a line of Virginia Beach, Va., police
officers onto Regent University property. Activists
claimed it was an effort to dialogue with students on the
Christian campus, while school officials said it was
nothing more than a publicity stunt.

The demonstration took place next to a rain-wet six-lane
thoroughfare at the tree-lined main entrance to the
campus. The protesters held pamphlets that purported to
tell "What the Bible Says -- and Doesn't Say -- about
Homosexuality."

[More at URL]


----- 5 -----
'A NEW DAY AT THE COURT'
The Roberts era on the U.S. Supreme Court is off to a good start.
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
March 14, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0039845.cfm

Pro-family legal experts say John Roberts has been chief
justice of the United States for only six months, but
already is putting his stamp on the nation's highest
court.

Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law
and Justice, said it's a new day -- and a new atmosphere.

"There's twice the number of unanimous decisions than
normally come down," he said. "We've seen three major
cases, and they've come out with unanimous decisions in
all three -- the parental-notice case, our RICO case
(Scheidler v. NOW) and the campus military-recruiting
case. I think that's significant."

[...]

"I'm optimistic," Sekulow said. "I think that Justice
Alito's addition is very important, but it's too early to
tell about his effect. But Chief Justice John Roberts is
going to be able to bring along others to his viewpoint.
He's an incremental kind of justice, and I think at the
end of the day that's going to serve the country very
well."

[More at URL]


----- 6 -----
Most Americans Look for Middle Ground on Abortion
SUMMARY: Pro-life leaders say once people understand the issue, there is no middle.
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
March 14, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0039843.cfm

While the abortion issue may be the most polarizing of our
time, nearly three-fifths of Americans surveyed in an
Associated Press poll seem to be trying to stake out a
position in the middle -- somewhere between a total ban
and abortion on demand through all nine months.

Meanwhile, about 20 percent claim to be solid supporters
of abortion and about 20 percent solidly against, leaving
that large "mushy middle."

[...]

But, Tom Glessner, president of the National Institute of
Family and Life Advocates, said if people truly understood
the issue, there would be no support for abortion -- and
no one trying to stay in middle.

[More at URL]


----- 7 -----
COMMENTARY: E-MAIL ACTIVISM 101
Ever wonder why CitizenLink doesn't offer pre-written e-mails?
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
March 14, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/commentary/a0039841.cfm

[Editor's note: Focus on the Family _does_ offer pre-written email. They just have you pick and choose from sets of pre-written paragraphs. They call these "letter generators" and pretend they aren't form letters. This was devised to get past newspaper editorial boards who won't print mass-mailed letters.]

We've all heard the old saw about how it's better to teach
a man to fish than to give him a fish. The idea is, in
terms of lasting impact, helping someone do something for
himself trumps making him rely on you to do it for him.

It's a principle that applies to what we do here at
CitizenLink, too, when we ask you to e-mail policymakers
and opinion-shapers to make your views known on the issues
you care about. Our philosophy has routinely been to help
you catch your own fish -- i.e., to write your message in
your own words, with just a little guidance from us on the
kinds of points you might want to make. Many other groups,
on both sides of the ideological aisle, choose to prepare
canned messages that require only that you type your name
into a form and click your mouse to send an e-mail. That's
not just giving you fish -- it's catching them, cleaning
them, cooking them, cutting them, stabbing pieces of them
with a fork, putting those pieces in your mouth and
helping you work your jaws up and down so you can swallow.

[More at URL]


----- 8 -----
Religious Group Merges with Gays-Rights Task Force
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
March 14, 2006

[Received in email; no URL]

The gay rights movement has found God, according to a
story in the San Francisco Chronicle.

After decades of success in convincing society to be more
accepting of its cause, advocates for special rights for
gays say the next and biggest challenge is convincing
believers homosexuality not a sin.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force announced Monday
that a religious organization representing 1,400
"welcoming" Protestant congregations has merged with the
task force.

"It's a very proud and happy day for the lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender movement," said Matt Foreman,
executive director of the Task Force. "We see this as a
critically important step in reclaiming the language of
faith and moral values from those on the right that
attempt to hijack faith and moral values."

Peter Brandt, senior director of government and public
policy at Focus on the Family Action, predicted that
denominations that abandon biblical truth concerning
homosexuality will lose members.

"People have left these denominations in droves over this
issue," he said. "This will result in the continued
erosion of scriptural integrity as well as membership."


----- 9 -----
Blogger Posts Abortion Directions
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
March 14, 2006

[Received in email; no URL]

A feminist blogger has posted explicit surgical-abortion
directions on her blog, in reaction to the new South
Dakota law that bans the procedure except when the
mother's life is in danger.

According to the Newhouse News Service, the 21-year-old
Florida woman, who uses the pseudonym Molly Blythe, has no
medical background, but said she has been compiling
instructions for several years. She said she observed an
actual abortion, interviewed providers and read medical
texts.

"If anyone has a problem with this and they don't think
non-doctors should perform medical procedures, there's a
simple way to guarantee that won't happen: Make sure Roe
v. Wade is not overturned," she said.

Jim Sedlak, vice president of the American Life League,
said, "Anyone who engages in this should be prosecuted for
what it is -- murder."

"Scientifically, human life begins at conception," he
added, "and any effort to end that life either by yourself
or with a friend following directions on the Internet is
the killing of a human being."


----- 10 -----
No ‘Morning-After Pill’ for Rapists
Concerned Women for America
3/16/2006
By Jan LaRue, Chief Counsel

Why abortion bans shouldn’t include exceptions for victims of rape or incest.

http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10327/LEGAL/life/index.htm

South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds (R) signed H.B. 1215 into law on March 6, making South Dakota the first state to ban abortion except for those that are necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman. Doctors in South Dakota will face up to five years in prison for performing an abortion except when necessary to save the mother’s life.

Some state lawmakers who voted against H.B. 1215 say they did so because it doesn’t permit abortion for rape and incest victims. Other state legislatures, including Mississippi, have introduced a similar abortion ban and are debating whether to include exceptions for rape and incest.

[...]

The truth is that rape rarely results in pregnancy. But even if it does, the law should not permit the most innocent victim, an unborn child, to suffer by forfeiting his or her life because of the rapist’s criminal act.

[...]

Rape is not a capital offense for which the death penalty applies. Homicide laws make no exception for a rape victim seeking recovery who kills her rapist by giving him an arsenic tablet the morning after.

[More at URL]


----- 11 -----
Director Of South Dakota Planned Parenthood Affiliate To Decide On Possible Legal Challenge To State Abortion Ban
Article Date: 15 Mar 2006 - 9:00am (UK)

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=39442

Kate Looby, director of Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, on Thursday said she will make a decision by March 20 whether to challenge a South Dakota law (HB 1215) that bans abortion in the state except to save a woman's life, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports (Ellis, Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 3/10). Planned Parenthood Federation of America has pledged to fight the law, either by filing a federal lawsuit or by introducing a statewide referendum. Under South Dakota law, opponents of the ban would need to gather 16,728 signatures by May to add the issue to the statewide ballot in November, delaying enforcement of the law (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 3/7). Looby said challenging the law at the polls would require a "groundswell of support from South Dakota" as well as national support (Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 3/10). According to the AP/Aberdeen American News, almost 200 people protested the law in front of Sioux Falls' federal courthouse, while about 30 abortion-rights opponents rallied across the street (Walker, AP/Aberdeen American News, 3/9). She added that she found the number of people protesting the law Thursday in Sioux Falls to be encouraging (Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 3/9).

[More at URL]


----- 12 -----
CWA Cheers FCC Indecency Fines
Concerned Women for America
3/15/2006

http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10325/MEDIA/misc/index.htm

Washington, D.C. — Concerned Women for America (CWA) applauds the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for cracking down on broadcast indecency by releasing today six sizeable fines for major TV stations.

“The FCC is taking a huge leap in the right direction,” said Lanier Swann, CWA’s Director of Government Relations. “Issuing these fines sends a loud message to the TV gurus that broadcast indecency is not being tolerated under Chairman Martin’s watch. Consumers should take note that complaints will no longer fall on deaf ears. The FCC has proven that it is willing to take a stand for families and refuse to allow broadcasters to go unpunished for violating decency standards.

[More at URL]


----- 13 -----
Stem-Cell Filibuster Ends in Maryland
Concerned Women for America
3/15/2006
By Beth Andersen

Opponents win concessions but bill still allows embryonic research.

http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10314/CWA/life/index.htm

The filibuster against S.B. 144, the Maryland Stem Cell Research Act of 2006, ended March 8 when state Sen. Roy Dyson (D) voted to end debate after an agreement to revise the bill was reached.

One of Dyson’s alterations to the bill, which provides state funding for stem-cell research, removed provisions giving preference to projects using embryonic cells. Another gives the governor the ability to appoint two religious leaders to a commission that would make decisions regarding stem-cell research grants. The bill still does not forbid the use of embryos for research. The Senate passed the bill 29 to 18 with Dyson among those who voted against it.

The bill requires that patients who are treated for infertility be provided information about donating their embryos to research. A scientific peer review committee will decide the allocation of funds.

[More at URL]


----- 14 -----
Commentary & News Briefs
March 15, 2006
Compiled by Jody Brown
American Family Association/Agape Press

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/3/afa/152006h.asp

[...]

...A Christian attorney says any law that purports to ban abortion, yet allows exceptions, is not a truly pro-life bill. On the heels of South Dakota's bill to ban almost all abortions, Mississippi has become the latest to propose a ban on the killing of unborn children. However, like the South Dakota measure, Mississippi's ban -- written by State Representative Steve Holland -- contains a provision that allows for children conceived through rape or incest to aborted. Steve Crampton, chief counsel for the American Family Association's Center for Law & Policy in Tupelo, says to be truly pro-life, one must believe that children produced through rape or incest are just as precious as any other child. "I find it very difficult to rationalize -- if you believe that this is genuinely a human child, an unborn child -- how you can allow it to be killed simply because of actions of its father," says the attorney. "It makes no sense down the line, and I think our opponents actually take full advantage of those kinds of inconsistencies in decimating our movement. So, no, I don't think it's pro-life to recognize those exceptions." Mississippi's measure also allows exceptions for "cases of medical emergencies, when the mother's life is endangered." Many pro-life advocates says it is never necessary to kill an unborn child to save a mother's life. [Rusty Pugh]

[...]

...A young woman has decided to launch a campaign to call attention to an aspect of contraception that most women never consider. Concerned over the health risks inherent in any form of birth control, Mary Worthington has begun a campaign designated as "No Room for Contraception." She describes it as a campaign "to expose potential harms of contraception on family, society, and women's health." Worthington says most women do not even think about the various chemicals used in contraception, much less the links researchers have found between those agents and many forms of cancer. "There's so many artificial chemicals in a chemical contraceptive that can lead to cancer, that can lead to obesity -- they can lead to weight gain," she offers as examples. "There's a new study that was showing that [taking some contraceptives] leads to a decreased sex drive in the woman. The World Health Organization classified oral contraceptives [as carcinogens that] can lead to cervical cancer and breast cancer." Worthington's campaign is centered on the Internet and, in just a few short weeks, she has already sparked a series of harsh counter-attacks from pro-abortion websites. While admitting those personal attacks hurt, she hopes her effort will cause women to think before they act blindly. [Bill Fancher]

[More at URL]


----- 15 -----
Blockbuster Poll Shows Values Voters Seek More from Congress
Family Research Council
March 15, 2006 - Wednesday
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 15, 2006
CONTACT: J.P. Duffy or Bethanie Swendsen, (202) 393-2100

Roll-Out to Inaugural FRCAction Washington Briefing 2006 Event

http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=PR06C05

Washington, D.C. - Tomorrow FRCAction, the legislative action arm of Family Research Council, and supporting co-sponsors will announce the first annual Washington Briefing: Values Voters Summit to be held in Washington D.C. this September. Just prior to the mid-term 2006 elections, thousands of values voters will gather in the nation's capital to hear from potential Presidential candidates, elected officials and pro-family leaders.

The results of a poll commissioned to gauge the political concerns of values voters will be distributed and discussed at the press conference. The results show significant discontent among values voters who were so decisive in the 2004 election.

FRCAction President Tony Perkins released the following statement:

"Values voters are geared up for the 2006 and 2008 elections and the Washington Briefing will educate and equip them for action. However, our polling shows that many values voters are disappointed that the issues that brought them to the voting booth remain unaddressed by Congress. They are ready for action. Values voters want change in America and this event will allow leaders to make their case to values voters."

Who:
Tony Perkins, President of FRCAction and Family Research Council
Connie Mackey, Senior VP of FRCAction
Tom Minnery, Sr. VP of Government and Public Policy, Focus on the Family Action
Gary Bauer, President, Americans United for Traditional Marriage
Don Wildmon, Chairman, American Family Association Action

What: 2006 Washington Briefing: Values Voters Summit Press Conference

When: March 16, 2006
12:00 NOON

Where: National Press Club, Murrow Room

* Refreshments will be served *

-30-


----- 16 -----
Values Voters’ Contract with Congress
Online as of March 15, 2006

http://www.valuesvoter.org/preamble.cfm?host_id=TVC

We are citizens of the United States of America and subjects of the sovereign Creator, acknowledged in the Declaration of Independence as the Supreme Ruler and Judge of the World. We hereby declare our belief in the self-evident truths established by the Declaration, to wit, that we are all created equal and endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that human governments are instituted to secure these rights, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. We strongly affirm our allegiance to the Constitution of the United States, as it was framed and amended in light of these truths, to provide for a republican form of government, which means a government of the people, by the people and for the people, in which they make laws and govern themselves through representatives they elect.

Moved by our faith in God and this republican creed we join together now to defend representative self-government against the greatest assault it has ever faced. This assault has been more dangerous and successful because it comes from within and aims to destroy not just our physical defenses, but the moral ideas, habits and practices that sustain our character as a free people. As a nation the United States of America has achieved material success unparalleled in previous human history. But without fortitude and selfdiscipline, we would not have reaped the fruits of free enterprise. We have thrice led our Allies to victory against foes that enacted the worst possibilities of human depravity. But without courage and a true sense of responsibility for ourselves and all humanity we would not have triumphed against their cruel and implacable ambition. We have achieved or applied unprecedented advances in scientific knowledge. But without respect for the gentle yoke of God’s reason, and the diverse possibilities with which it has seeded the comprehensible universe, we could not have expanded the enlightened sphere of human comprehension. We have truly experienced the blessings of liberty, but never without the virtues and qualities of good conscience and decent character.

[Much more at URL]


----- 17 -----
Gay Games Given Official Status By State Department
Traditional Values Coalition

http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2645

March 16, 2006 – The Gay Games to be held in Chicago have been granted event status by the State Department, which means HIV-infected athletes from other nations can now freely enter the U.S. for the games.

U.S. policy usually forbids HIV-infected individuals from entering the U.S., but the State Department has granted special status to athletes for these games.

The sex orgies that typically are held before, during, and after the gay games will be fertile breeding grounds for the spread of HIV—and possibly new European strains of the virus will enter into the bloodstream and result in more deaths from untreatable HIV infections. Homosexuals are increasingly participating in barebacking or circuit parties, where they engage in multiple unsafe sex acts often with anonymous partners.

[More at URL]


----- 18 -----
Senate Policy Committee Publishes Update On Marriage Protection
Traditional Values Coalition

http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2644

March 16, 2006 – The Senate Republican Policy Committee has just updated its “State-by-State Marriage Protection Update,” which should be posted on its web site within a few days.

TVC has obtained a copy of this update and we have created a PDF version for easy downloading and distribution by our supporters.

http://www.traditionalvalues.org/pdf_files/marriage_protection_tates.pdf

[More at URL]


----- 19 -----
Homosexual Group Forms Coalition With Liberal Churches
Traditional Values Coalition

http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2643

March 16, 2006 – The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) has just announced that it has formed a coalition with a number of pro-homosexual churches and denominations. The NGLTF umbrella group is called the Institute for Welcoming Resources” (IWR) and is the newest effort of homosexual groups to use “faith-based” organizations to push its agenda. The IWR now includes the following liberal denominations:

[More at URL]


----- 20 -----
Sign Values Voters’ Contract With Congress Petition
Traditional Values Coalition

http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2647

March 16, 2006 -- The Traditional Values Coalition is joining with more than a dozen other pro-family leaders to promote the Values Voters’ Contract With Congress.

This Contract is a common declaration of our values and a common plan for solving many of the problems facing America.

This Contract contains key legislative items that we are calling upon Congress to pass this year to deal with such serious moral problems as protecting marriage, religious freedom, parental consent, the Pledge of Allegiance, and much more! The Contract also proposes legislation to restrict the power of renegade liberal judges who are imposing immorality upon us in the name of “justice.”

The Contract also calls for bans on human cloning, partial-birth abortion; and it supports legislation to defend our borders, child tax credits, and more.

[More at URL]


----- 21 -----
Canadians - help our neighbors
Canada Family Action Coalition
Mar 14, 2006

http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/article-pgs/ford-boycott.htm

Some Ford Motor company executives appear to lack integrity. They have broken an agreement they made with a number of US organizations over a critical issue – redefining marriage.

We suggest we can help our neighbors through the pressure of bottom line dollars. A boycott of Ford products may be the only language the executives understand. If they are willing to fund efforts to destroy marriage and also lack the integrity to honor agreements then actions such as a boycott seem reasonable.

Read more about this at http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/3/132006b.asp .

Sign the boycott pledge - http://www.boycottford.com/

And BUY elsewhere.


----- 22 -----
No more money to "intolerant" schools: union
Focus on the Family (Canada)
March 15, 2006

http://www.fotf.ca/tfn/education/stories/031506.html

Despite concerns about possibly trampling on religious freedoms, B.C.’s public school teachers want the province to stop funding all faith-based independent schools that teach religious intolerance, the Vancouver Sun reported Monday.

A resolution to that effect was passed by the approximately 700 delegates attending the B.C. Teachers’ Federation annual meeting.

“All we’re saying is that the provincial government has to enact what it says it will do through the Independent Schools Act,” Vancouver teacher Jane MacEwan, who introduced the resolution, told the Sun. “And it clearly states that schools teaching religious superiority or racial superiority cannot receive [public] funding.”

[...]

Take Action: Residents of B.C. can contact B.C. Education Minister Shirley Bond and Premier Gordon Campbell to express their concerns with the BCTF resolution and how it could be read to apply to many independent schools.

[More at URL]


----- 23 -----
Pastor warns of "designer baby" dangers
Focus on the Family Canada
March 15, 2006

http://www.fotf.ca/tfn/life/stories/031506.html

A Calgary pastor who has witnessed first-hand the development of prenatal testing for DNA abnormalities is afraid that Canada is drifting toward a passive acceptance of abortion to eliminate all but the “designer babies,” the Calgary Herald reported.

“We can understand the challenge facing parents when they first get a prenatal diagnosis of a serious mental disability,” Keith Shields, the lead minister of Connections Christian Church, told the Herald. “But some people make decisions to terminate on grounds we might call trivial” – such as when tests determine the unborn child could be colour-blind.

Before coming to Connections, Shields worked for 13 years in the Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Calgary. He resigned two years ago over concerns that prenatal genetic testing was promoting what he calls the “commodification” of children – treating the unborn as disposable commodities when they fail to meet the parents’ specifications.

Shields believes that Canada urgently needs to address the pitfalls of genetic screening.

[More at URL]


----- 24 -----
Illinois Governor’s Hate Commission Engages in Name-Calling
Concerned Women for America
3/15/2006

http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10320/FIELD/misc/index.htm

Blagojevech’s Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes is making news. Some of its key members are calling people with religious views that oppose homosexuality hateful. Martha Kleder spoke with Peter LaBarbera, Executive Director of the Illinois Family Institute and Karen Hayes, Associate Director for Concerned Women for America of Illinois on this free-for-all. Click here to listen.

[More at URL]

Comments

[mathmuffin.livejournal.com]

In item #1, Bush vs Gays, Part XXXVII, I followed the links back from Andrew Sullivan's blog through Katherine Shrader's article, "Security Clearance Rules May Impede Gays," and all the way to the actual regulation. I volunteered to be the Security Advisor in my office, which means I read the security regulations and explain them to other people, so I am fluent in that form of bureaucratese.

This call to alarm is a false alarm.

The regulation says nothing about sexual orientation. It does have "GUIDELINE D. SEXUAL BEHAVIOR", and that guideline makes no mention of homosexual behavior. The guideline is looking for criminal or self-destructive sexual behavior. (Okay, some anti-gay activists consider homosexual sex to be "high risk sexual behavior ... that may be symptomatic of a personality disorder", but that is their opinion, not the view of real psychologists.) No mention is a good thing -- it means that people checking on someone's security clearance won't care about homosexuality at all.

Katherine Shrader had said,
The new rules say behavior that is "strictly private, consensual and discreet" could "mitigate security concerns."
Back when I first got my security clearance, the examiners explained that the questions about sexual orientation were to see whether I was a blackmail risk, and they carefully explained that if I were gay (I am not) they would care only about the blackmail aspect. Being openly gay was no problem to them. So that statement seemed a step backwards. That statement is in GUIDELINE D, but it does not refer to sexual orientation, because there is no mention of sexual orientation in that guideline. It refers to sex in general. The line before that statement covers the blackmail aspect: behavior that "no longer serves as a basis for coersion, exploitation, or duress" could also mitigate security concerns.

Andrew Sullivan said,
My hope is that this language change is mere bureaucratic tinkering; or has some benign explanation. But my fear is that some within the administration made this change and did it for a reason. The new rules seem to qualify what was once a clear renunciation of sexual orientation being in any way an issue for security clearance.
I see the change as a step forward. The old pre-Clinton regulations raised homosexuality as a security concern. The Clinton-administration regulations explicitly renounced that. These newest regulations are to the point where the government no longer thinks in the first place that homosexuality is a security concern. The language changed because gays have made progress in being accepted. This is good news, not bad news.

Erin Schram

[solarbird]

I understand your view, but I think you're missing some context.

Okay, some anti-gay activists consider homosexual sex to be "high risk sexual behavior ... that may be symptomatic of a personality disorder", but that is their opinion, not the view of real psychologists.

All of the theocratic right thinks this. At least, all their leadership, all their large organisations, and most importantly, all the people talking to the president about social policy.

These decisions are being made across the executive branch's agencies by political appointees from the White House, and under these apppointees, there has been a systematic and specific elimination of any references to GBLT people being specifically included in government jobs protection and anti-harassment rules. A political appointee was also the source of a recent IRS reversal of its longstanding stance that GRS could be medically necessary - and, accordingly, deductible - if certified to be so by qualified medical professionals. After the IRS appeals board ruled that it was deductible (yet again), a political appointee overruled both the IRS and medical professionals and ordered that it wouldn't be.

Essentially, the rules change now allows people considering security clearance to consider someone being gay and out of the closet as a security risk on the basis of being gay alone, whereas previously, you were prohibited from doing that. You had to express some other reason above and beyond that. Now, if you consider being gay by itself to be "criminal or self-destructive sexual behavior" - as, again, all the fundamentalist theocons do - then that's reason enough. There's no longer a rule saying you can't do that.

[cafiorello.livejournal.com]

So we're supposed to go back to being chattels? Lovely....

[solarbird]

If you haven't, you really need to read up on the Christian Reconstructionist movement. Short answer: yes.

[britzkrieg.livejournal.com]

The American Family Association is starting to talk about how abortion bans should not include exemptions to save the life of the woman; they're also pushing attacks against birth control in any form.

This is good news. This is the kind of thing that will wake up mainstream, common-sense Americans.

[solarbird]

If. Only.

I'm having a fight right now on a political mailing list where they're arguing with me, after I posted about that story, and calling me the asshole, and attacking me for bringing all this up and talking about actual definitions and how the meanings of words actually, you know, matter.

And these are the self-described liberal pro-choicers. They're even buying in to the idea that pregnancy starts at conception and not, as everyone with a hint of bio background who isn't a fundamentalist will say, at implantation. If you buy into this, then you concede the argument that most birth control is actually abortion. But if I talk about that, I'm the asshole.

There is no fucking way "mainstream, common-sense Americans" are going to wake the fuck up until someone they know personally gets hurt. Quite frankly, I'm kind of sick of ringing the warning bell; I've been ringing talking about what these fucking assholes want to do, and how they're doing it, and how they're going to keep doing it, and mostly? I get yelled at for taking it seriously. God damn I am fucking sick and tired of it.

[britzkrieg.livejournal.com]

Hey -- I'm sorry. *holds up hands* I'm on your side, though, I promise. And I too have been blasted by "liberals" and "feminists" for my views, though not the same ones.

I share your frustration -- I really do. I try to sound the alarm myself, and while people listen, they rarely do anything. They're either in denial, or they're suffering from "liberal fatigue" -- a condition that I am certainly not immune to.

When, though, is daring to have hope "denial"? I don't know. It depends on who you ask.

FWIW, you are not an asshole. And you are right, goddammit. Keep fighting. I got your back.

[llachglin.livejournal.com]

It isn't THAT list, is it?

[solarbird]

Of course it is.

[cafiorello.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I have. It's just that AFA is much too mainstream for this! Gaah! Time to re-read A Handmaid's Tale again and start carrying cash and a passport everywhere I go....

[llachglin.livejournal.com]

As for "life" beginning at conception, that argument misses the point. Life is something that began billions of years ago. A new person is just a continuation of an existing process. What's at issue isn't life, but personhood. When does someone become a person?

Personhood is dependent upon consciousness. Scientifically speaking, consciousness requires certain physical, chemical, and electrical processes that don't all exist until the third trimester--around week 29 or 30. Until then, there's simply not enough brain development to support awareness. There's no way you can declare that a person unless you're using a non-scientific definition.

The thing is, there's potential new life all over the place and we are constantly making decisions that stop it, when it doesn't stop itself. A majority of fertilized eggs don't remain intact long enough to implant. As many as a third of implanted embryos fail to develop into fetuses. Even when there's a fetus with organ differentation, it's still not a person.

The idea of personhood that appears without any corresponding physical structures or processes is identical to the notion of a soul. It's a religious question on which religious people disagree, not even considering people who don't believe in souls at all. The anti-woman pro-birthers want to impose their religious view on the soul on everyone else. This is the same argument they make in support of creationism.

It's not up to the government to choose between religious ideas. What's more, regardless of what religious view one takes, banning abortion and birth control still doesn't make practical sense. If saving the personhood of fetuses is the point, it doesn't do that, because women will have abortions anyway, and put their own personhood in danger. More lives will be lost. As for respecting "life," having government stop living people from deciding how and when they'll create new life, regardless of how it impacts the lives of those involved, is completely disrespectful of life.

So yeah, call them on their bullshit definition of life, but also realize that their argument is bankrupt regardless.

[llachglin.livejournal.com]

I'm SO glad I'm not there anymore. There's nothing worse when the people that should be on my side are being idiots. I am curious exactly which pro-choicers are being idiots, though.

[lickingtoad.livejournal.com]

That was ... marvellous. Thank you.

[cafiorello.livejournal.com]

Yes!

Let me also add, however, that it is established in case law that you cannot compel a father to donate bone marrow to save his son's life. Therefore, compelling a mother to donate her flesh and blood, even to save the life of a child, must be equally illegal. EVEN IF the fetus is a person, why would it be OK to kill the mother to save it, when you cannot even perform a medical procedure on the father to save it, without consent?

As far as I'm concerned, even if abortion is killing, it's not murder, it's self-defense.

Cathy

[llachglin.livejournal.com]

Agreed.