Today's Cultural Warfare Update
May. 27th, 2006 10:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdAndrew Sullivan and InOpinion notice the Focus on the Family fake letter generator, and includes a number to call Focus on the Family and protest the fakery;
Focus on the Family's latest news article and ACTION ITEM to - of course - send more fake letters to editors at newspapers across the country - see above;
FotF demands more action on fundamentalist issues in Congress;
US Conference of Catholic Bishops endorses anti-marriage-rights Marriage Protection Amendment; includes ACTION ITEM to call Senators to support passage;
11th Circuit Court of Appeals orders lower court to re-try a case ruling against anti-evolutionary-theory activists and the Discovery Institute, a creationist organisation;
Focus on the Family pushes a book on the "War on Christmas" and going on about how Christians are oppressed in America;
Focus on the Family applauds President Bush's new domestic-policy advisor, Karl Zinsmeister, who has written for Focus on the Family's in-house magazine Citizen magazine (mostly on Iraq); they're a little worried that he hasn't devoted enough time to anti-abortion activism in the past;
California governor Schwarzenegger promises to veto state Senate Bill 1437; includes ACTION ITEM to support the promised veto and to urge the house to reject it; SB 1437 would require that lesson plans not be anti-gay and that history include mentions that GBLT historical figures were, in fact GBLT - that latter part is from Focus on the Family's description;
Focus on the Family responds to Playboy saying it's the parents' responsibility to watch what children get access to, and an effort on Playboy's part to teach how to use parental controls; FotF says "the only responsible action Playboy could take is to cease its operations entirely"; FotF is on record as wanting governmental bans;
Faith and Freedom Network complains about Seattle City Light and a complaint from an employee there about them "invit[ing] its employees to participate in the Gay Pride Parade"; he sent around an email pushing the "ex-gay" movement "Love Won Out," pushed by Focus on the Family, and two people filed complaints;
FFN sends out anti-LBGT-civil-rights bill update on Referendum 65, to repeal the LBGT civil rights bill;
Family Research Council applauds passage of Internet Gambling Prohibition Act through the House Judiciary Committee;
American Family Association condemns Ford for advertising in The Advocate - specifically for advertising in an issue with an article about polyamoury, apparently; an article about gay men "promotes homosexual polygamy," which is, um, a neat trick; AFA take credit for Ford's stock drop and include an ACTION ITEM against Ford;
LifeNews: two FDA heads in a row intervened to keep Plan B off the market; they also repeat the LIE chant that Plan B causes abortions;
American Family Association/Agape Press pushes for anti-marriage amendment; runs article claiming that there can be no scriptural basis for opposing anti-gay discrimination (this in response to a religious coalition building against the amendment); also, the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina is preparing to, "forbid member churches from ordaining homosexual clergy, making public statements supporting homosexuality, or accepting as members people who have refused to 'repent of the sin of homosexual behavior'";
AFA/Agape Press rail against Massachusetts's Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, calling it "depraved";
California legislator withdraws bill confirming custodial parent's right to move after a divorce; it was backed by domestic violence groups; "Such groups 'want to insist that if there's a divorce or separation, Mom should be able to do whatever she wishes with her kids,' Sacks insists." Such as, apparently, move away from a divorced spouce. God forbid that be thought of as okay; the obvious paradigm of control here is pretty unmistakable to me;
Traditional Values Coalition urges Congress to reject AIDS funding to Global AIDS Fund;
TVC rails against the overturning as unconstitutional an Arkansas law banning recognition of adoptions by lesbian and gay people in other states, uses it to push the "We, The People Act" which would ban courts from hearing anti-gay-law cases (HR4379); also includes ACTION ITEM to support the act;
TVC endorses the anti-gay "Risk Audit Project," a Mission America effort to have Southern Baptists investigate local public schools for any sign of LGBT tolerance (including anti-discrimination codes for faculty and students) and remove children from public schools where it is found; as usual, they link to their "Homosexuals Recruit Public School Children" horror PDF;
TVC upset that Kansas governor vetoed an "abortion statistics" bill that required doctors and women to report all abortions and statistics about to the state;
TVC ACTION ITEM to support "Holly's Law," a bill to remove RU-486 from the market;
The Chicago Tribune carries an op ed saying that lesbians and gays being able to marry will make churches "suffer"; the author also criticises Lawrence v. Texas, which declared making lesbian and gay people outright illegal to be unconstitutional, without mentioning the case by name;
LA Times article on the unmarried (heterosexual) couple with children ordered to get married or move out of their home; Concerned Women for America's Robert Knight is quoted, supporting the move-out order;
CWA's Robert Knight writes on "Why a Marriage Protection Amendment is Needed," and includes the assertion that "rogue legislators are creating counterfeits" (such as domestic parnterships and civil unions), so the fight is now both against judges and legitimately-elected legislatures;
CWA's Robert Knight - he's a busy boy! - has "an update on the proposed amendment;" being an audio feature, it has more red-meat than usual in it; I transcribed it, like y'do;
Russian gays march in Moscow in violation of ban, are arrested;
CWA's Robert Knight complains about how oppressed Christians are in the United States with all this "Christian-bashing," which typically means in fundyland any opposition to their attempt to legislate religion, talks with William Donohue, President of the Catholic League about it; I'd do the transcription, but it's b0rken; checking on what's going on... oh wow, their media server exposes its directories! Coooooool. I wonder what else might be in there;
Canada Family Action Coalition: gays are paedophiles;
Focus on the Family Canada: We'll win the culture wars by demographics - we have more kids;
FotF Canada: Alberta MP's attempt to introduce an "unborn child protection bill"; Catholic Civil Rights League hopes it will be supported and then will use it to re-open the abortion debate in Canada.
----- 1 -----
AstroTurf from Dr. James Dobson
InOpinion
May 26, 2006
http://www.inopinion.com/features/?itemid=697
Welcome Andrew Sullivan readers. When you're done marveling at Dr. Dobson's perfidy, check out the politically incorrect jokes -- Too Tough for TV -- and the One Word editorials or drop by and see what Nancy Kruh has to say about the world of op-ed columnists.
And now, back to Dr. Dobson's astroturf ...
This AstroTurf machine – spewing fake opposition to gay marriage -- is among the most sophisticated and successful out there. It lets Focus on the Family supporters create more than 600 variations of the same letter.
Most of the time, these operations are more successful at planting their plagiarism in the letters columns of smaller papers without the staff to pull the weeds, but Focus on the Family really knows what they are doing.
They’ve slipped by the editors at The Fresno Bee, The Orange County Register, The Toledo Blade, Tucson Citizen and The Deseret News.
UPDATE: From a reader, add The Savannah Morning News to the list of victims.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
MPA Vote Fast Approaches
Family advocates optimistic measure to protect traditional marriage will pick up votes in second Senate vote.
Focus on the Family
from staff reports
May 26, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040646.cfm
A Senate vote on the Marriage Protection Amendment (MPA) is less than two weeks away, but as the day of decision approaches, some lawmakers fear concern over other pressing issues has replaced the need to defend marriage in the minds of voters.
But Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., isn't one of them, saying there's plenty of room in Americans' minds for the marriage issue — even as they focus on rising energy prices and the debate over illegal immigration.
"I think that marriage is very much on the forefront of the voters' minds," he told Family News in Focus. "All you have to do is have an election or a ballot issue, and there's large turnout and large voter margins in favor of maintaining the definition of marriage."
[...]
TAKE ACTION
There's still time to help ensure passage of the Marriage Protection Amendment by writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. We've made it easy for you with our special letter-writing wizard. Check it out by clicking here
[More at URL]
----- 3 -----
Values Issues Not a High Priority
Social conservatives disappointed by lack of action on legislation to benefit the family.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
May 26, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040645.cfm
Family advocates are getting increasingly disappointed at the lack of congressional action on the issues values voters care about.
House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said the Republican-controlled House is making good progress on budget matters, immigration issues and energy policy, but he doesn't have much to say about legislation aimed at protecting life and the family.
"We're moving forward on many fronts," he said, "and I think . . . members are going to have lots of things to talk about when they go home for the Memorial Day work period."
Amanda Banks, federal issues analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said social conservatives would like to see more from the House — including action on the Marriage Protection Amendment, which is already being considered in the Senate.
[...]
----- 4 -----
Catholic Church Backs Marriage Protection Amendment
Focus on the Family
May 26, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0040648.cfm
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at a Thursday news conference announced full support for a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would preserve marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
The Most Rev. Joseph Kurtz, bishop of Knoxville, Tenn., took the stand at an Alliance for Marriage forum to reiterate the church's dedication "to promote, preserve and protect marriage as it is willed by God, as generations have understood and lived it, and as it has served the common good of society."
"There is a growing sense among many people," he said, "including a wide range of religious leaders, that a Marriage Protection Amendment is the only federal-level action that will ultimately protect and preserve the institution of marriage."
[...]
TAKE ACTION
The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the Marriage Protection Amendment (MPA) on June 6. Your perseverance is needed to convince your U.S. senators to vote in favor of the MPA. Please log into the Marriage Protection Amendment Action Center to contact your senator.
[More at URL]
----- 5 -----
Ruling Forces Lower Court to Reconsider Science-Textbook Stickers
Focus on the Family
May 26, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0040650.cfm
The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Thursday ruled that a lower-court decision to ban stickers identifying evolution as a theory from high school science books relied on faulty and incomplete information.
The three-judge panel sent the case back to the trial-court judge to be re-tried.
[...]
"The problems presented by a record containing significant evidentiary gaps are compounded," the ruling read, "because at least some key findings of the district court are not supported by the evidence that is contained in the record."
[More at URL]
----- 6 -----
Persecution
How Liberals are Waging War Against Christians
by David Limbaugh
[Advertised on Focus on the Family's daily newsbriefing]
http://www.family.org/resources/itempg.cfm?itemid=4482&refcd=CE06ECZL&tvar=no
Reclaim Your Right To Participate In The Political Arena
Author David Limbaugh exposes the subtle but pervasive discrimination against biblical Christianity in our culture. Using real, sometimes shocking, examples from Hollywood, public schools and other venues, he shows how terms like “tolerance” and the mythical “separation of church and state” have been used to portray Christianity as repressive, ignorant and offensive. This is a call to action for those who want to exercise their right to influence popular culture and find true religious freedom.
[More at URL]
----- 7 -----
New White House Adviser Could be Refreshing 'Jolt'
Karl Zinsmeister. Remember the name. You'll be hearing it a lot over the next two years.
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
May 25, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0040639.cfm
President Bush has appointed a new domestic-policy adviser. Karl Zinsmeister, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., will succeed Claude Allen on June 12 as the president's right-hand man on national issues.
[...]
Pro-family conservatives say Zinsmeister, who has been editor of American Enterprise magazine for the last 12 years, is a wise choice to lead the White House shop that crafts policy on many issues that affect the family.
Gary Bauer, who served as President Reagan's domestic-policy adviser, told CitizenLink that Zinsmeister will be "a positive addition" to the White House.
[...]
The 47-year-old journalist has top-level credentials, according to Tom Hess, editor of Focus on the Family's Citizen magazine. To begin with, he's a dedicated husband, father and Sunday School teacher. What's more, Zinsmeister has written several articles for Citizen over the years — most recently about his time in Iraq.
[More at URL]
----- 8 -----
California Governor Would Veto Pro-Gay School Bill
Measure would highlight homosexuality and squelch any opposition.
Focus on the Family
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
May 25, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040640.cfm
If a bill aimed at promoting homosexuality in California schools should pass, a spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said it would be vetoed.
The bill is pending in the state Assembly. It passed the Senate 22-5.
Barbara McPherson, program manager of legislative affairs for the California Family Council, said SB 1437 would mandate that social-studies curriculum represent those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered (LGBT) as an integral part of history.
[...]
Textbooks under development would add the sexual orientation of historical figures.
[...]
TAKE ACTION:
If you are a California resident, please contact your Assembly member and respectfully ask him or her to vote against SB 1437. Then contact Gov. Schwarzenegger and ask him to stand strong in his commitment to veto the bill. You can contact them through our new Action Center. If you are a CitizenLink Daily Update subscriber, click on the blue "Take Action" button in the e-mail and it will log you in automatically. Otherwise, click here and make sure you first either log in or enter your full address information and click "Go" to call up your Assembly member's information.
----- 9 -----
Playboy Says It's Up to Parents to Block Porn
Focus on the Familiy
May 25, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0040637.cfm
The daughter of Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner has unveiled a campaign to shun any corporate responsibility for pornographic content. Instead, she wants parents to bear the responsibility, Multichannel News reported.
The Take Parental Control promotion — spearheaded by Playboy Enterprises Inc. and Christie Hefner — purports to aid parents through providing step-by-step instructions on how to block unwanted content from television, the Internet, cell phones, video games, satellite radio and portable media players.
[...]
Countless lives have been destroyed by Playboy's glossy prostitution, he said, and the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography found the largest consumers of pornography are teenage boys.
"It you produce a pornographic product, it will find its way to children and it will harm them," Weiss said. "The only responsible action Playboy could take is to cease its operations entirely."
[More at URL]
----- 10 -----
Seattle City Light & the Gay Pride Parade
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Faith and Freedom Network
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2006/05/seattle-city-light-gay-pride-parade.html
Philip Irvin, a Seattle City Light employee, has recently shared this experience with us here at Faith & Freedom. Keep in mind this happened before the passage of HB2661.
Philip Irvin in his own words:
EEO Complaint against Philip Irvin
This complaint and its investigation demonstrate again how one-sided “sexual orientation” discrimination rules are and will be enforced.
[More at URL]
----- 11 -----
Referendum 65 - 13 Days Left!
Faith and Freedom Network
May 25, 2006
[Received in email; no URL]
Referendum 65 gives the voters the opportunity to accept or reject ESHB 2661, a law passed in January by the Washington state Legislature which opens the door for the courts to impose homosexual marriage.
Politicians in Olympia do not respond to the faith community because they don't think we speak for the majority of voters in Washington.
Referendum 65 is our opportunity to prove them wrong. But it will not happen unless we get 112,440 valid signatures by June 7th.
Be sure to send in your completed Signature Forms as quickly as possible.
----- 12 -----
FRC Praises Committee Passage of the 'Internet Gambling Prohibition Act'
Family Research Council
May 25, 2006 - Thursday
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 25, 2006
CONTACT: J.P. Duffy, (866) FRC-NEWS
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=PR06E13&f=PG03I03
Washington, D.C. - Today, the House Judiciary Committee approved the "Internet Gambling Prohibition Act" by a bi-partisan vote of 25-11. Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) authored the "Internet Gambling Prohibition Act" to combat illegal Internet gambling. Tony Perkins, President of Family Research Council, issued the following statement:
"The House Judiciary Committee is to be congratulated for passing the 'Internet Gambling Prohibition Act.' Special thanks go to Congressman Goodlatte for his tireless leadership on this important issue over many years. Today, Congress advanced a piece of legislation that will provide real protections to America's families from destructive and illegal Internet gambling.
[More at URL]
----- 13 -----
You Will Absolutely Not Believe What Ford Has Done Now
American Family Association
May 25, 2006
http://www.afa.net/ford052506.asp
When Ford responds to those who write concerning their promotion of homosexual marriage, the response they get from Ford's Customer Relationship Center says their support "is a strong commitment we intend to carry forward with no exception." For Ford, that support also includes homosexual polygamy.
To show those supporting traditional marriage they mean business, Ford sponsored the June 6 issue of the homosexual publication The Advocate. The cover reads: "Polygamy & Gay Men. Dirty laundry or sexual freedom? How gay men handle multiple partners." The article promotes homosexual polygamy.
[...]
Take Action
Forward this email to a Ford dealer near you. Click here (then click on the logo) to find email addresses of Ford dealers near you. It is very important that Ford know of your participation in the boycott.
Sign the Boycott Ford Pledge if you haven't already done so.
Print out and distribute the Boycott Ford Petition. Click here.
Finally, forward this to your friends and family so they can be aware of Ford's support of homosexual marriage.
[More at URL]
----- 14 -----
Court Papers: Last Two FDA Directors Stopped Morning After Pill Sales
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 25, 2006
http://www.lifenews.com/nat2303.html
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Court papers from depositions given to a pro-abortion law firm that has sued the FDA over its delay in approving over the counter status for the morning after pill show the last two commissioners both intervened to halt or delay that status.
The Center for Reproductive Rights, a New York-based pro-abortion law firm, has been deposing current and former FDA staff members in its quest to get the morning after pill approved for sale without a prescription.
Barr Laboratories, which makes the Plan B pill that can sometimes cause an abortion, originally asked the FDA to approve its request to sell the morning after pill to all women without a doctor's visit.
[...]
"What this is really all about is the abortion lobby has been losing on the issue of abortion, and they are now diverting attention to something they can win on — the 'morning-after' pill," [CWA's Wendy] Wright said.
[More at URL]
----- 15 -----
Commentary & News Briefs
American Family Association/Agape Press
Compiled by Jody Brown
May 26, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/5/afa/262006h.asp
[...]
...Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says floor debate will begin a week from Monday on a proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. He says the amendment is needed to stop judges from ordering the legalization of same-sex "marriage" despite the opposition of voters and their elected representatives. Frist and three other senators were joined at a news conference by representatives of black and Hispanic churches and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Knoxville Bishop Joseph Kurtz said neither the church nor the state has the right to redefine marriage, because it comes "from God." Supporters of the amendment believe they have a Senate majority, if not the two-thirds needed to amend the Constitution. A coalition of diverse faith groups called the Religious Coalition for Marriage has been formed to lobby the Senate to approve the Federal Marriage Amendment. [AP]
...Pro-family leader Tony Perkins is dismissing charges from a leftist religious group that the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment amounts to discrimination. (See related article) Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, has been a strong supporter of the proposed amendment since the idea first surfaced. He says the charges that it is discriminatory are false -- and that he can find no basis for the group's objections in scripture. "I really don't know on what biblical grounds they're standing against marriage between a man and a woman," Perkins admits. "Their position is obviously more motivated by politics than by biblical precepts." And he counters a common argument from the opposition, noting that the amendment is not about "enshrining one religious view" of marriage into the U.S. Constitution. "What it's about is about recognizing 5,000 years of human history and the indispensable role that marriage plays in the stability and longevity of a society," he points out. That in itself, says Perkins, makes this a public policy issue where the will of the people should be preeminent. [Bill Fancher]
...Leaders of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina have proposed denying membership to churches or affiliate groups that affirm homosexual relationships. The policy, proposed by the convention's board of directors, would forbid member churches from ordaining homosexual clergy, making public statements supporting homosexuality, or accepting as members people who have refused to "repent of the sin of homosexual behavior." The policy must be ratified at the North Carolina Baptists' annual meeting in November. Board president Don Warren says, "We believe homosexuality is sin, as are many others. But we are not aware of any other sin that has a national organization that promotes its happening beginning in kindergarten and first grade." [AP]
[More at URL]
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Bay State Activist Bothered That Tax Money Going to Governor's Pro-Homosexual Group
By Bill Fancher
AFA/Agape Press
May 26, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/5/afa/262006b.asp
(AgapePress) - A pro-homosexual commission under the direction of the governor of Massachusetts is poised to receive a big increase in funding. According to pro-family activist in the Bay State, school activities sponsored by that commission are not for the faint of heart.
The Governor's Commission on Gay & Lesbian Youth has been on a roller coaster ride recently. After being informed about the Commission's activities, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney disbanded it. But attacks by the pro-homosexual lobby and the liberal press in the state led to its reinstatement.
[More at URL]
----- 17 -----
Senator Withdraws Bill Giving Custodial Parents Free Rein to Move Away
Men's Issues Expert Applauds Defeat of What He Saw as an Anti-Fatherhood Measure
By Jim Brown
AFA/Agape Press
May 26, 2006
(AgapePress) - A fathers' rights advocate is hailing the defeat of a California Senate bill that he says would have been devastating for children of divorce and their non-custodial parents. Liberal California Senator Gloria Romero has withdrawn a bill that would have created a "presumptive right" for a divorced parent who has custody to move children away from the other parent.
Critics say Romero's proposed legislation would have allowed a custodial parent, which is usually the mother, to move her children whenever and wherever she wanted, without any consideration by the courts of the children's best interests or the relationship between the children and their non-custodial parent.
[...]
Senator Romero's bill was being pushed by "misguided" radical feminist groups, the men's rights advocate asserts. Among the legislation's supporters, he notes, were the California National Organization for Women and the California Commission on the Status of Women, and he says several domestic violence groups were lobbying in favor of the bill as well.
Such groups "want to insist that if there's a divorce or separation, Mom should be able to do whatever she wishes with her kids," Sacks insists. "Those groups are funded by your tax dollars and my tax dollars," he says, "and basically all of these groups are trying to do whatever they can to change the law so that if a divorced or separated mother wants to get rid of her children's father, she can -- and there's going to be very little that can stop her."
[More at URL]
----- 18 -----
TVC Urges Congress To Avoid Irresponsible AIDS Funding
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2739
May 25, 2006 -- Congress is on the verge of passing a bill that will increase funding for the Global AIDS Fund from $300 million to $866 million—more than double what President Bush requested from Congress.
The Global AIDS Fund is currently largely unaccountable to the American people for the money it spends on fighting AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis, yet we pay at least one-third of the cost.
[More at URL]
----- 19 -----
Oklahoma Federal Judge Overturns Ban On Homosexual Adoptions
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2738
May 25, 2006 – Federal Judge Robin Cauthron has struck down a two-year-old law passed by the Oklahoma legislature that bans recognition of homosexual adoptions from other states.
The case involves two female homosexuals from New Jersey who sued to have their adoption of daughters recognized in Oklahoma law. The lawsuit was filed by Lambda Legal, an aggressive homosexual law firm.
[...]
Judge Cauthron’s decision is yet another reason why Congress must pass “We, The People Act,” to restrict the jurisdiction of federal courts to hear cases involving homosexuality. Read and distribute TVC’s special reports on judicial activism and what can be done to restore constitutional government to our nation: Battle Plan.
[More at URL]
----- 20 -----
TVC Joins Risk Audit Project To Protect Teens From Homosexual Recruitment
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2737
May 25, 2006 – The Traditional Values Coalition has signed on as a supporter of a Mission America project to defend teenagers from being recruited into homosexual behaviors on school campuses.
[More at URL]
----- 21 -----
Kansas Governor Vetoes Abortion Statistics Bill
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2735
May 25, 2006 – Liberal Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius has vetoed legislation that would have required abortion clinics to provide accurate statistics on late-term abortions performed and whether or not the baby was healthy when killed.
[More at URL]
----- 22 -----
Pass “Holly’s Law” This Session
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.capwiz.com/traditional/issues/alert/?alertid=8781766
“Holly’s Law” will require the FDA to temporarily withdraw its approval of the abortion drug from the market until a thorough review is conducted to determine if the FDA followed appropriate policies in the process of approving RU-486.
There were numerous irregularities in how the FDA handled the approval of RU-486 during the Clinton Administration.
[More at URL]
----- 23 -----
If gays marry, churches could suffer
By Douglas W. Kmiec, a professor of constitutional law at Pepperdine University School of Law
Chicago Tribune
Published May 26, 2006
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0605260218may26,1,1440466.story
After an acrimonious session in which Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) stomped out and Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) bid him "good riddance," the Senate Judiciary Committee approved sending the federal marriage amendment to the full Senate.
The Feingold-Specter tiff illustrates the intensity of feeling about adding to the text of the Constitution what the founders surely thought was obvious: "Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman." The need to reaffirm the self-evident was prompted by Massachusetts' judicial recognition of same-sex marriage, which motivated more than a dozen states to overwhelmingly proclaim otherwise.
With the states being so vigilant in defense of traditional marriage, is there really a need for the people to act? Yes. Activists are deployed across the country challenging traditional marriage, and it is more than likely that some additional judges will compound the Massachusetts mistake. This increased judicial approval of same-sex marriage will metastasize into the larger culture. Indeed, an insidious, but less recognized, consequence will be a push to demonize--and then punish--faith communities that refuse to bless homosexual unions.
[More at URL]
----- 24 -----
Housing Code Defines What Makes a Family
An unmarried couple and their children are denied a city occupancy permit. They're suing.
By P.J. Huffstutter, Times Staff Writer
May 21, 2006
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-family21may21,1,5647930.story
BLACK JACK, Mo. — The last of the moving boxes has been put away, and the basketball hoop is installed next to the garage door. The refrigerator is covered with vacation snapshots and notices of an upcoming PTA meeting. Yet Olivia Shelltrack and Fondray Loving and their three kids are not yet settled into the sprawling five-bedroom home they bought in January.
[...]
"They have the right to protect and restore a marriage-based moral order," said Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute at Concerned Women for America, a public policy organization based in Washington, D.C.
[...]
If they lose, the couple could be assessed a fine of $500 for every day they live in their home in Black Jack.
[More at URL]
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Why a Marriage Protection Amendment Is Needed
Rogue judges and legislators are creating counterfeits.
Concerned Women for America
5/24/2006
By Robert Knight
http://www.cwfa.org/articledisplay.asp?id=10822&department=CWA&categoryid=family
Opponents of a federal constitutional marriage amendment often contend that it’s too early, that there is no need for such a measure. Wait until something really big happens, they say.
But events over the past two years clearly illustrate that a federal amendment is overdue. The law is in turmoil. Lots of “big things” have happened.
[More at URL]
----- 26 -----
Federal Marriage Amendment Battle Heats Up
Concerned Women for America
5/23/2006
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10827/CWA/family/index.htm
The battle to pass a Constitutional Amendment to protect marriage is quickly approaching. Bob Knight, Director of CWA’s Culture & Family Institute, has an update on the proposed amendment, the opposition, and what can be done to strengthen and pass this measure. Click here to listen.
[Knight: "We have a new summary of all the happenings surrounding... the Federal Marriage Amendment, because we've seen some politicians lately saying, "it's too early, it's too soon, to consider a Federal amendment. Let the states handle it. But as my paper, 'Why a Federal Marriage Amendment is Needed,' states, a Federal judge overturned Nebraska's marriage amendment that was passed by 70 of the people, another judge overturned Georgia's marriage amendment that was approved by 76% of the people. Another judge in Maryland overturned Maryland's marriage law - I mean, you can go down the list, and obviously we need a national solution for this if we're going to protect marriage."
"Congress will allegedly vote in the Senate on the Federal Marriage Amendment called the Marriage Protection Amendment. Now, CWA has a different take on this amendment. We believe a Federal marriage amendment is needed, and we would approve many of the arguments used to advance this amendment. We don't particularly care for the language of this amendment, because we think the second sentence is a little bit confusing and doesn't go far enough to protect marriage, so we're hoping that the language will be strengthened by the time of the June 5th vote that Senator Bill Frist has promised, the majority leader, or that it would be reduced to a single sentence that's very basic, and that would be, 'Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman.' Period. That's pretty basic, and that could go a long way towards protecting marriage without implying states could go ahead and create counterfeit versions of marriage, just as long as they don't call it marriage. We don't like that eventuality either, and six states have already moved to do some of that, starting with Vermont."
"That's part of our reasoning for supporting a single sentence. The lawyers can do anything they want with the longer sentences, and people from both sides of this issue have widely interpreted the second sentence of the Marriage Protection Amendment. Some of them, on the homosexual side, they've said, oh my gosh, it will outlaw everything, including civil unions and domestic partnerships. Y'know, if it does that, we would support it! Because we don't believe that the law should create incentives to encourage people to remain trapped in homosexuality. And also, we don't think the law should force people with traditional values to recognise relationships based on what these peoples' faith calls a sin. Really, you're talking about Christian, Jewish, and Muslim businessmen being told to aid and abet homosexual relationships, and if you believe in freedom, you should have the freedom not to openly support something that you believe is a grievous wrong."
"The pro-family movement can inundate Capitol Hill with phone calls, and letters, and faxes, explaining why they want marriage protected once and for all in the Constitution. You don't have to go into detail about what the amendment will say, you say you want a Federal marriage amendment. And I think the senators will get the message. And you mention, Martha, that the other side is seeing this as a great battle; I was just looking at the latest edition of The Advocate magazine, which is probably the top and most respected homosexual activist publication, and they have a full page ad from the Human Rights Campaign, and it features Senator Rick Santorum, who has endured a lot of abuse from homosexual activists since he warned that in the Lawrence v. Texas case if the Supreme Court overturned the sodomy law in Texas that it would threaten other laws based on morality. And of course, that's exactly what has occurred, Senator Santorum was exactly right, but they're making him out to be their bette noir, which is their agent of evil, their icon of hatred, and Senator Santorum's a really good plain-speaking guy who just wants to defend marriage. But they have to have something like that, they have to rally around something, there's a picture of Seantor Santorum and also of Senator Bill Frist, and they're basically saying, calling them the far right, and how they're gonna destroy the rights of gay people in this country. And it's an incendiary tactic, and we're not surprised.
"The cover is 'gays and polygamy,' and inside, the article leads with, 'although Big Love, the HBO special, has increased interest in heterosexual polygamy, gays have been doing it for a long time, and we talked to many of them who have multiple partner unions.' So, you know, when you talk to homosexual activists, or debate them, say, on college campuses, and they say, oh, it's not about polygamy, it's not about anything other than two loving people, they're not really being honest. THeir movement has promoted the breaking of every single standard regarding sexuality. It's an anything-goes wide-open world, and marriage cannot thrive in an environment like that, marriage and family cannot endure such a hostile environment."]
----- 27 -----
Banned Moscow gay rally broken up
Saturday, 27 May 2006
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5023466.stm
More than 70 people have been arrested in Moscow after activists tried to hold the city's first gay rights rally, despite a ban on the event.
About 50 gay rights supporters were held, as well as 20 people from religious and nationalist groups opposed to the march.
[...]
The rally's organiser, Nikolay Alexeyev, was among those arrested.
Slogans and abuse
Meanwhile demonstrators representing nationalist and Orthodox Christian groups chanted anti-gay slogans and shouted abuse.
[More at URL]
----- 28 -----
Standing Against Christian-Bashing
Concerned Women for America
5/24/2006
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10832/CWA/misc/index.htm
As mainstream entertainment becomes increasingly antagonistic to all Christians, and Catholics in particular, one group is speaking out and successfully challenging this unfair treatment. Bob Knight, Director of CWA’s Culture & Family Institute, speaks with William Donohue, President of the Catholic League, who is on the front lines of this effort. Click here to listen.
[Transcript impossible; audio stream missing from their server]
----- 29 -----
Queer Groups Support
Queer Sex with Children
Canada Family Action Coalition
5/25/2006
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/sexuality/queer-groups-target-children.htm
"Egale hopes to work in coalition with other queer groups, Planned Parenthood organizations and AIDS groups to oppose raising the age of consent” reports a homosexual paper.
Egale and other groups are trying to use the “control your own body” argument of abortionists to justify keeping sexual consent age at 14.
[More at URL]
----- 30 -----
"Cultural conservatism" forecasted to rise
Today’s Family News
Focus on the Family Canada
May 26, 2006
http://www.fotf.ca/tfn/culture/stories/052606.html
The world is poised to produce a generation that will for the most part adhere to "culturally conservative" values, according to demographer Phillip Longman, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation.
Writing in USA Today, Longman argued that today’s "progressive secularists" had fewer children than their baby boom parents – if they had any children at all
“As a consequence,” he stated, “an increasing share of all children born into the world are descended from a share of the population whose conservative values have led them to raise large families.”
[...]
“Do you find soft drugs, homosexuality and euthanasia acceptable? Do you seldom, if ever, attend church? Europeans who answer affirmatively to such questions are far more likely to live alone or be in childless, cohabiting unions than are those who answer negatively.”
[More at URL]
----- 31 -----
MP tables unborn child protection bill
Focus on the Family Canada
Today’s Family News
Updated May 26, 2006
http://www.fotf.ca/tfn/life/stories/052606.html
Pro-lifers appear hopeful that a new private member’s bill, which would make it a separate crime to kill or injure an unborn child in cases where its mother is murdered or assaulted could withstand a legal challenge, the Toronto Star reported Tuesday.
Alberta Conservative MP Leon Benoit introduced Bill C-291 last Wednesday, insisting it is not intended to reopen the abortion debate. He is aware that some will claim it challenges the absence of recognition in the Criminal Code that an unborn “human being” is entitled to the protections of the law.
“To me, it’s all about protecting, especially, pregnant women against violence, and where they’ve made the choice to keep their child, of protecting that unborn child,” he told the Star.
[...]
Douglas believes Canadians on both sides of the abortion issue should be able to support this bill.
[...]
Even so, others hope the bill will have an impact beyond its stated intent.
“We welcome any initiative that recognizes the separate personhood of the unborn child,” said Catholic Civil Rights League president Phil Horgan in a news release. “This bill could be part of the process of restoring this recognition under the law.”
[More at URL]
Focus on the Family's latest news article and ACTION ITEM to - of course - send more fake letters to editors at newspapers across the country - see above;
FotF demands more action on fundamentalist issues in Congress;
US Conference of Catholic Bishops endorses anti-marriage-rights Marriage Protection Amendment; includes ACTION ITEM to call Senators to support passage;
11th Circuit Court of Appeals orders lower court to re-try a case ruling against anti-evolutionary-theory activists and the Discovery Institute, a creationist organisation;
Focus on the Family pushes a book on the "War on Christmas" and going on about how Christians are oppressed in America;
Focus on the Family applauds President Bush's new domestic-policy advisor, Karl Zinsmeister, who has written for Focus on the Family's in-house magazine Citizen magazine (mostly on Iraq); they're a little worried that he hasn't devoted enough time to anti-abortion activism in the past;
California governor Schwarzenegger promises to veto state Senate Bill 1437; includes ACTION ITEM to support the promised veto and to urge the house to reject it; SB 1437 would require that lesson plans not be anti-gay and that history include mentions that GBLT historical figures were, in fact GBLT - that latter part is from Focus on the Family's description;
Focus on the Family responds to Playboy saying it's the parents' responsibility to watch what children get access to, and an effort on Playboy's part to teach how to use parental controls; FotF says "the only responsible action Playboy could take is to cease its operations entirely"; FotF is on record as wanting governmental bans;
Faith and Freedom Network complains about Seattle City Light and a complaint from an employee there about them "invit[ing] its employees to participate in the Gay Pride Parade"; he sent around an email pushing the "ex-gay" movement "Love Won Out," pushed by Focus on the Family, and two people filed complaints;
FFN sends out anti-LBGT-civil-rights bill update on Referendum 65, to repeal the LBGT civil rights bill;
Family Research Council applauds passage of Internet Gambling Prohibition Act through the House Judiciary Committee;
American Family Association condemns Ford for advertising in The Advocate - specifically for advertising in an issue with an article about polyamoury, apparently; an article about gay men "promotes homosexual polygamy," which is, um, a neat trick; AFA take credit for Ford's stock drop and include an ACTION ITEM against Ford;
LifeNews: two FDA heads in a row intervened to keep Plan B off the market; they also repeat the LIE chant that Plan B causes abortions;
American Family Association/Agape Press pushes for anti-marriage amendment; runs article claiming that there can be no scriptural basis for opposing anti-gay discrimination (this in response to a religious coalition building against the amendment); also, the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina is preparing to, "forbid member churches from ordaining homosexual clergy, making public statements supporting homosexuality, or accepting as members people who have refused to 'repent of the sin of homosexual behavior'";
AFA/Agape Press rail against Massachusetts's Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, calling it "depraved";
California legislator withdraws bill confirming custodial parent's right to move after a divorce; it was backed by domestic violence groups; "Such groups 'want to insist that if there's a divorce or separation, Mom should be able to do whatever she wishes with her kids,' Sacks insists." Such as, apparently, move away from a divorced spouce. God forbid that be thought of as okay; the obvious paradigm of control here is pretty unmistakable to me;
Traditional Values Coalition urges Congress to reject AIDS funding to Global AIDS Fund;
TVC rails against the overturning as unconstitutional an Arkansas law banning recognition of adoptions by lesbian and gay people in other states, uses it to push the "We, The People Act" which would ban courts from hearing anti-gay-law cases (HR4379); also includes ACTION ITEM to support the act;
TVC endorses the anti-gay "Risk Audit Project," a Mission America effort to have Southern Baptists investigate local public schools for any sign of LGBT tolerance (including anti-discrimination codes for faculty and students) and remove children from public schools where it is found; as usual, they link to their "Homosexuals Recruit Public School Children" horror PDF;
TVC upset that Kansas governor vetoed an "abortion statistics" bill that required doctors and women to report all abortions and statistics about to the state;
TVC ACTION ITEM to support "Holly's Law," a bill to remove RU-486 from the market;
The Chicago Tribune carries an op ed saying that lesbians and gays being able to marry will make churches "suffer"; the author also criticises Lawrence v. Texas, which declared making lesbian and gay people outright illegal to be unconstitutional, without mentioning the case by name;
LA Times article on the unmarried (heterosexual) couple with children ordered to get married or move out of their home; Concerned Women for America's Robert Knight is quoted, supporting the move-out order;
CWA's Robert Knight writes on "Why a Marriage Protection Amendment is Needed," and includes the assertion that "rogue legislators are creating counterfeits" (such as domestic parnterships and civil unions), so the fight is now both against judges and legitimately-elected legislatures;
CWA's Robert Knight - he's a busy boy! - has "an update on the proposed amendment;" being an audio feature, it has more red-meat than usual in it; I transcribed it, like y'do;
Russian gays march in Moscow in violation of ban, are arrested;
CWA's Robert Knight complains about how oppressed Christians are in the United States with all this "Christian-bashing," which typically means in fundyland any opposition to their attempt to legislate religion, talks with William Donohue, President of the Catholic League about it; I'd do the transcription, but it's b0rken; checking on what's going on... oh wow, their media server exposes its directories! Coooooool. I wonder what else might be in there;
Canada Family Action Coalition: gays are paedophiles;
Focus on the Family Canada: We'll win the culture wars by demographics - we have more kids;
FotF Canada: Alberta MP's attempt to introduce an "unborn child protection bill"; Catholic Civil Rights League hopes it will be supported and then will use it to re-open the abortion debate in Canada.
----- 1 -----
AstroTurf from Dr. James Dobson
InOpinion
May 26, 2006
http://www.inopinion.com/features/?itemid=697
Welcome Andrew Sullivan readers. When you're done marveling at Dr. Dobson's perfidy, check out the politically incorrect jokes -- Too Tough for TV -- and the One Word editorials or drop by and see what Nancy Kruh has to say about the world of op-ed columnists.
And now, back to Dr. Dobson's astroturf ...
This AstroTurf machine – spewing fake opposition to gay marriage -- is among the most sophisticated and successful out there. It lets Focus on the Family supporters create more than 600 variations of the same letter.
Most of the time, these operations are more successful at planting their plagiarism in the letters columns of smaller papers without the staff to pull the weeds, but Focus on the Family really knows what they are doing.
They’ve slipped by the editors at The Fresno Bee, The Orange County Register, The Toledo Blade, Tucson Citizen and The Deseret News.
UPDATE: From a reader, add The Savannah Morning News to the list of victims.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
MPA Vote Fast Approaches
Family advocates optimistic measure to protect traditional marriage will pick up votes in second Senate vote.
Focus on the Family
from staff reports
May 26, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040646.cfm
A Senate vote on the Marriage Protection Amendment (MPA) is less than two weeks away, but as the day of decision approaches, some lawmakers fear concern over other pressing issues has replaced the need to defend marriage in the minds of voters.
But Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., isn't one of them, saying there's plenty of room in Americans' minds for the marriage issue — even as they focus on rising energy prices and the debate over illegal immigration.
"I think that marriage is very much on the forefront of the voters' minds," he told Family News in Focus. "All you have to do is have an election or a ballot issue, and there's large turnout and large voter margins in favor of maintaining the definition of marriage."
[...]
TAKE ACTION
There's still time to help ensure passage of the Marriage Protection Amendment by writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. We've made it easy for you with our special letter-writing wizard. Check it out by clicking here
[More at URL]
----- 3 -----
Values Issues Not a High Priority
Social conservatives disappointed by lack of action on legislation to benefit the family.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
May 26, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040645.cfm
Family advocates are getting increasingly disappointed at the lack of congressional action on the issues values voters care about.
House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said the Republican-controlled House is making good progress on budget matters, immigration issues and energy policy, but he doesn't have much to say about legislation aimed at protecting life and the family.
"We're moving forward on many fronts," he said, "and I think . . . members are going to have lots of things to talk about when they go home for the Memorial Day work period."
Amanda Banks, federal issues analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said social conservatives would like to see more from the House — including action on the Marriage Protection Amendment, which is already being considered in the Senate.
[...]
----- 4 -----
Catholic Church Backs Marriage Protection Amendment
Focus on the Family
May 26, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0040648.cfm
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at a Thursday news conference announced full support for a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would preserve marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
The Most Rev. Joseph Kurtz, bishop of Knoxville, Tenn., took the stand at an Alliance for Marriage forum to reiterate the church's dedication "to promote, preserve and protect marriage as it is willed by God, as generations have understood and lived it, and as it has served the common good of society."
"There is a growing sense among many people," he said, "including a wide range of religious leaders, that a Marriage Protection Amendment is the only federal-level action that will ultimately protect and preserve the institution of marriage."
[...]
TAKE ACTION
The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the Marriage Protection Amendment (MPA) on June 6. Your perseverance is needed to convince your U.S. senators to vote in favor of the MPA. Please log into the Marriage Protection Amendment Action Center to contact your senator.
[More at URL]
----- 5 -----
Ruling Forces Lower Court to Reconsider Science-Textbook Stickers
Focus on the Family
May 26, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0040650.cfm
The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Thursday ruled that a lower-court decision to ban stickers identifying evolution as a theory from high school science books relied on faulty and incomplete information.
The three-judge panel sent the case back to the trial-court judge to be re-tried.
[...]
"The problems presented by a record containing significant evidentiary gaps are compounded," the ruling read, "because at least some key findings of the district court are not supported by the evidence that is contained in the record."
[More at URL]
----- 6 -----
Persecution
How Liberals are Waging War Against Christians
by David Limbaugh
[Advertised on Focus on the Family's daily newsbriefing]
http://www.family.org/resources/itempg.cfm?itemid=4482&refcd=CE06ECZL&tvar=no
Reclaim Your Right To Participate In The Political Arena
Author David Limbaugh exposes the subtle but pervasive discrimination against biblical Christianity in our culture. Using real, sometimes shocking, examples from Hollywood, public schools and other venues, he shows how terms like “tolerance” and the mythical “separation of church and state” have been used to portray Christianity as repressive, ignorant and offensive. This is a call to action for those who want to exercise their right to influence popular culture and find true religious freedom.
[More at URL]
----- 7 -----
New White House Adviser Could be Refreshing 'Jolt'
Karl Zinsmeister. Remember the name. You'll be hearing it a lot over the next two years.
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
May 25, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0040639.cfm
President Bush has appointed a new domestic-policy adviser. Karl Zinsmeister, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., will succeed Claude Allen on June 12 as the president's right-hand man on national issues.
[...]
Pro-family conservatives say Zinsmeister, who has been editor of American Enterprise magazine for the last 12 years, is a wise choice to lead the White House shop that crafts policy on many issues that affect the family.
Gary Bauer, who served as President Reagan's domestic-policy adviser, told CitizenLink that Zinsmeister will be "a positive addition" to the White House.
[...]
The 47-year-old journalist has top-level credentials, according to Tom Hess, editor of Focus on the Family's Citizen magazine. To begin with, he's a dedicated husband, father and Sunday School teacher. What's more, Zinsmeister has written several articles for Citizen over the years — most recently about his time in Iraq.
[More at URL]
----- 8 -----
California Governor Would Veto Pro-Gay School Bill
Measure would highlight homosexuality and squelch any opposition.
Focus on the Family
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
May 25, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040640.cfm
If a bill aimed at promoting homosexuality in California schools should pass, a spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said it would be vetoed.
The bill is pending in the state Assembly. It passed the Senate 22-5.
Barbara McPherson, program manager of legislative affairs for the California Family Council, said SB 1437 would mandate that social-studies curriculum represent those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered (LGBT) as an integral part of history.
[...]
Textbooks under development would add the sexual orientation of historical figures.
[...]
TAKE ACTION:
If you are a California resident, please contact your Assembly member and respectfully ask him or her to vote against SB 1437. Then contact Gov. Schwarzenegger and ask him to stand strong in his commitment to veto the bill. You can contact them through our new Action Center. If you are a CitizenLink Daily Update subscriber, click on the blue "Take Action" button in the e-mail and it will log you in automatically. Otherwise, click here and make sure you first either log in or enter your full address information and click "Go" to call up your Assembly member's information.
----- 9 -----
Playboy Says It's Up to Parents to Block Porn
Focus on the Familiy
May 25, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0040637.cfm
The daughter of Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner has unveiled a campaign to shun any corporate responsibility for pornographic content. Instead, she wants parents to bear the responsibility, Multichannel News reported.
The Take Parental Control promotion — spearheaded by Playboy Enterprises Inc. and Christie Hefner — purports to aid parents through providing step-by-step instructions on how to block unwanted content from television, the Internet, cell phones, video games, satellite radio and portable media players.
[...]
Countless lives have been destroyed by Playboy's glossy prostitution, he said, and the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography found the largest consumers of pornography are teenage boys.
"It you produce a pornographic product, it will find its way to children and it will harm them," Weiss said. "The only responsible action Playboy could take is to cease its operations entirely."
[More at URL]
----- 10 -----
Seattle City Light & the Gay Pride Parade
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Faith and Freedom Network
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2006/05/seattle-city-light-gay-pride-parade.html
Philip Irvin, a Seattle City Light employee, has recently shared this experience with us here at Faith & Freedom. Keep in mind this happened before the passage of HB2661.
Philip Irvin in his own words:
EEO Complaint against Philip Irvin
This complaint and its investigation demonstrate again how one-sided “sexual orientation” discrimination rules are and will be enforced.
[More at URL]
----- 11 -----
Referendum 65 - 13 Days Left!
Faith and Freedom Network
May 25, 2006
[Received in email; no URL]
Referendum 65 gives the voters the opportunity to accept or reject ESHB 2661, a law passed in January by the Washington state Legislature which opens the door for the courts to impose homosexual marriage.
Politicians in Olympia do not respond to the faith community because they don't think we speak for the majority of voters in Washington.
Referendum 65 is our opportunity to prove them wrong. But it will not happen unless we get 112,440 valid signatures by June 7th.
Be sure to send in your completed Signature Forms as quickly as possible.
----- 12 -----
FRC Praises Committee Passage of the 'Internet Gambling Prohibition Act'
Family Research Council
May 25, 2006 - Thursday
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 25, 2006
CONTACT: J.P. Duffy, (866) FRC-NEWS
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=PR06E13&f=PG03I03
Washington, D.C. - Today, the House Judiciary Committee approved the "Internet Gambling Prohibition Act" by a bi-partisan vote of 25-11. Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) authored the "Internet Gambling Prohibition Act" to combat illegal Internet gambling. Tony Perkins, President of Family Research Council, issued the following statement:
"The House Judiciary Committee is to be congratulated for passing the 'Internet Gambling Prohibition Act.' Special thanks go to Congressman Goodlatte for his tireless leadership on this important issue over many years. Today, Congress advanced a piece of legislation that will provide real protections to America's families from destructive and illegal Internet gambling.
[More at URL]
----- 13 -----
You Will Absolutely Not Believe What Ford Has Done Now
American Family Association
May 25, 2006
http://www.afa.net/ford052506.asp
When Ford responds to those who write concerning their promotion of homosexual marriage, the response they get from Ford's Customer Relationship Center says their support "is a strong commitment we intend to carry forward with no exception." For Ford, that support also includes homosexual polygamy.
To show those supporting traditional marriage they mean business, Ford sponsored the June 6 issue of the homosexual publication The Advocate. The cover reads: "Polygamy & Gay Men. Dirty laundry or sexual freedom? How gay men handle multiple partners." The article promotes homosexual polygamy.
[...]
Take Action
Forward this email to a Ford dealer near you. Click here (then click on the logo) to find email addresses of Ford dealers near you. It is very important that Ford know of your participation in the boycott.
Sign the Boycott Ford Pledge if you haven't already done so.
Print out and distribute the Boycott Ford Petition. Click here.
Finally, forward this to your friends and family so they can be aware of Ford's support of homosexual marriage.
[More at URL]
----- 14 -----
Court Papers: Last Two FDA Directors Stopped Morning After Pill Sales
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 25, 2006
http://www.lifenews.com/nat2303.html
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Court papers from depositions given to a pro-abortion law firm that has sued the FDA over its delay in approving over the counter status for the morning after pill show the last two commissioners both intervened to halt or delay that status.
The Center for Reproductive Rights, a New York-based pro-abortion law firm, has been deposing current and former FDA staff members in its quest to get the morning after pill approved for sale without a prescription.
Barr Laboratories, which makes the Plan B pill that can sometimes cause an abortion, originally asked the FDA to approve its request to sell the morning after pill to all women without a doctor's visit.
[...]
"What this is really all about is the abortion lobby has been losing on the issue of abortion, and they are now diverting attention to something they can win on — the 'morning-after' pill," [CWA's Wendy] Wright said.
[More at URL]
----- 15 -----
Commentary & News Briefs
American Family Association/Agape Press
Compiled by Jody Brown
May 26, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/5/afa/262006h.asp
[...]
...Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says floor debate will begin a week from Monday on a proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. He says the amendment is needed to stop judges from ordering the legalization of same-sex "marriage" despite the opposition of voters and their elected representatives. Frist and three other senators were joined at a news conference by representatives of black and Hispanic churches and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Knoxville Bishop Joseph Kurtz said neither the church nor the state has the right to redefine marriage, because it comes "from God." Supporters of the amendment believe they have a Senate majority, if not the two-thirds needed to amend the Constitution. A coalition of diverse faith groups called the Religious Coalition for Marriage has been formed to lobby the Senate to approve the Federal Marriage Amendment. [AP]
...Pro-family leader Tony Perkins is dismissing charges from a leftist religious group that the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment amounts to discrimination. (See related article) Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, has been a strong supporter of the proposed amendment since the idea first surfaced. He says the charges that it is discriminatory are false -- and that he can find no basis for the group's objections in scripture. "I really don't know on what biblical grounds they're standing against marriage between a man and a woman," Perkins admits. "Their position is obviously more motivated by politics than by biblical precepts." And he counters a common argument from the opposition, noting that the amendment is not about "enshrining one religious view" of marriage into the U.S. Constitution. "What it's about is about recognizing 5,000 years of human history and the indispensable role that marriage plays in the stability and longevity of a society," he points out. That in itself, says Perkins, makes this a public policy issue where the will of the people should be preeminent. [Bill Fancher]
...Leaders of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina have proposed denying membership to churches or affiliate groups that affirm homosexual relationships. The policy, proposed by the convention's board of directors, would forbid member churches from ordaining homosexual clergy, making public statements supporting homosexuality, or accepting as members people who have refused to "repent of the sin of homosexual behavior." The policy must be ratified at the North Carolina Baptists' annual meeting in November. Board president Don Warren says, "We believe homosexuality is sin, as are many others. But we are not aware of any other sin that has a national organization that promotes its happening beginning in kindergarten and first grade." [AP]
[More at URL]
----- 16 -----
Bay State Activist Bothered That Tax Money Going to Governor's Pro-Homosexual Group
By Bill Fancher
AFA/Agape Press
May 26, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/5/afa/262006b.asp
(AgapePress) - A pro-homosexual commission under the direction of the governor of Massachusetts is poised to receive a big increase in funding. According to pro-family activist in the Bay State, school activities sponsored by that commission are not for the faint of heart.
The Governor's Commission on Gay & Lesbian Youth has been on a roller coaster ride recently. After being informed about the Commission's activities, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney disbanded it. But attacks by the pro-homosexual lobby and the liberal press in the state led to its reinstatement.
[More at URL]
----- 17 -----
Senator Withdraws Bill Giving Custodial Parents Free Rein to Move Away
Men's Issues Expert Applauds Defeat of What He Saw as an Anti-Fatherhood Measure
By Jim Brown
AFA/Agape Press
May 26, 2006
(AgapePress) - A fathers' rights advocate is hailing the defeat of a California Senate bill that he says would have been devastating for children of divorce and their non-custodial parents. Liberal California Senator Gloria Romero has withdrawn a bill that would have created a "presumptive right" for a divorced parent who has custody to move children away from the other parent.
Critics say Romero's proposed legislation would have allowed a custodial parent, which is usually the mother, to move her children whenever and wherever she wanted, without any consideration by the courts of the children's best interests or the relationship between the children and their non-custodial parent.
[...]
Senator Romero's bill was being pushed by "misguided" radical feminist groups, the men's rights advocate asserts. Among the legislation's supporters, he notes, were the California National Organization for Women and the California Commission on the Status of Women, and he says several domestic violence groups were lobbying in favor of the bill as well.
Such groups "want to insist that if there's a divorce or separation, Mom should be able to do whatever she wishes with her kids," Sacks insists. "Those groups are funded by your tax dollars and my tax dollars," he says, "and basically all of these groups are trying to do whatever they can to change the law so that if a divorced or separated mother wants to get rid of her children's father, she can -- and there's going to be very little that can stop her."
[More at URL]
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TVC Urges Congress To Avoid Irresponsible AIDS Funding
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2739
May 25, 2006 -- Congress is on the verge of passing a bill that will increase funding for the Global AIDS Fund from $300 million to $866 million—more than double what President Bush requested from Congress.
The Global AIDS Fund is currently largely unaccountable to the American people for the money it spends on fighting AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis, yet we pay at least one-third of the cost.
[More at URL]
----- 19 -----
Oklahoma Federal Judge Overturns Ban On Homosexual Adoptions
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2738
May 25, 2006 – Federal Judge Robin Cauthron has struck down a two-year-old law passed by the Oklahoma legislature that bans recognition of homosexual adoptions from other states.
The case involves two female homosexuals from New Jersey who sued to have their adoption of daughters recognized in Oklahoma law. The lawsuit was filed by Lambda Legal, an aggressive homosexual law firm.
[...]
Judge Cauthron’s decision is yet another reason why Congress must pass “We, The People Act,” to restrict the jurisdiction of federal courts to hear cases involving homosexuality. Read and distribute TVC’s special reports on judicial activism and what can be done to restore constitutional government to our nation: Battle Plan.
[More at URL]
----- 20 -----
TVC Joins Risk Audit Project To Protect Teens From Homosexual Recruitment
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2737
May 25, 2006 – The Traditional Values Coalition has signed on as a supporter of a Mission America project to defend teenagers from being recruited into homosexual behaviors on school campuses.
[More at URL]
----- 21 -----
Kansas Governor Vetoes Abortion Statistics Bill
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2735
May 25, 2006 – Liberal Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius has vetoed legislation that would have required abortion clinics to provide accurate statistics on late-term abortions performed and whether or not the baby was healthy when killed.
[More at URL]
----- 22 -----
Pass “Holly’s Law” This Session
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.capwiz.com/traditional/issues/alert/?alertid=8781766
“Holly’s Law” will require the FDA to temporarily withdraw its approval of the abortion drug from the market until a thorough review is conducted to determine if the FDA followed appropriate policies in the process of approving RU-486.
There were numerous irregularities in how the FDA handled the approval of RU-486 during the Clinton Administration.
[More at URL]
----- 23 -----
If gays marry, churches could suffer
By Douglas W. Kmiec, a professor of constitutional law at Pepperdine University School of Law
Chicago Tribune
Published May 26, 2006
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0605260218may26,1,1440466.story
After an acrimonious session in which Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) stomped out and Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) bid him "good riddance," the Senate Judiciary Committee approved sending the federal marriage amendment to the full Senate.
The Feingold-Specter tiff illustrates the intensity of feeling about adding to the text of the Constitution what the founders surely thought was obvious: "Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman." The need to reaffirm the self-evident was prompted by Massachusetts' judicial recognition of same-sex marriage, which motivated more than a dozen states to overwhelmingly proclaim otherwise.
With the states being so vigilant in defense of traditional marriage, is there really a need for the people to act? Yes. Activists are deployed across the country challenging traditional marriage, and it is more than likely that some additional judges will compound the Massachusetts mistake. This increased judicial approval of same-sex marriage will metastasize into the larger culture. Indeed, an insidious, but less recognized, consequence will be a push to demonize--and then punish--faith communities that refuse to bless homosexual unions.
[More at URL]
----- 24 -----
Housing Code Defines What Makes a Family
An unmarried couple and their children are denied a city occupancy permit. They're suing.
By P.J. Huffstutter, Times Staff Writer
May 21, 2006
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-family21may21,1,5647930.story
BLACK JACK, Mo. — The last of the moving boxes has been put away, and the basketball hoop is installed next to the garage door. The refrigerator is covered with vacation snapshots and notices of an upcoming PTA meeting. Yet Olivia Shelltrack and Fondray Loving and their three kids are not yet settled into the sprawling five-bedroom home they bought in January.
[...]
"They have the right to protect and restore a marriage-based moral order," said Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute at Concerned Women for America, a public policy organization based in Washington, D.C.
[...]
If they lose, the couple could be assessed a fine of $500 for every day they live in their home in Black Jack.
[More at URL]
----- 25 -----
Why a Marriage Protection Amendment Is Needed
Rogue judges and legislators are creating counterfeits.
Concerned Women for America
5/24/2006
By Robert Knight
http://www.cwfa.org/articledisplay.asp?id=10822&department=CWA&categoryid=family
Opponents of a federal constitutional marriage amendment often contend that it’s too early, that there is no need for such a measure. Wait until something really big happens, they say.
But events over the past two years clearly illustrate that a federal amendment is overdue. The law is in turmoil. Lots of “big things” have happened.
[More at URL]
----- 26 -----
Federal Marriage Amendment Battle Heats Up
Concerned Women for America
5/23/2006
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10827/CWA/family/index.htm
The battle to pass a Constitutional Amendment to protect marriage is quickly approaching. Bob Knight, Director of CWA’s Culture & Family Institute, has an update on the proposed amendment, the opposition, and what can be done to strengthen and pass this measure. Click here to listen.
[Knight: "We have a new summary of all the happenings surrounding... the Federal Marriage Amendment, because we've seen some politicians lately saying, "it's too early, it's too soon, to consider a Federal amendment. Let the states handle it. But as my paper, 'Why a Federal Marriage Amendment is Needed,' states, a Federal judge overturned Nebraska's marriage amendment that was passed by 70 of the people, another judge overturned Georgia's marriage amendment that was approved by 76% of the people. Another judge in Maryland overturned Maryland's marriage law - I mean, you can go down the list, and obviously we need a national solution for this if we're going to protect marriage."
"Congress will allegedly vote in the Senate on the Federal Marriage Amendment called the Marriage Protection Amendment. Now, CWA has a different take on this amendment. We believe a Federal marriage amendment is needed, and we would approve many of the arguments used to advance this amendment. We don't particularly care for the language of this amendment, because we think the second sentence is a little bit confusing and doesn't go far enough to protect marriage, so we're hoping that the language will be strengthened by the time of the June 5th vote that Senator Bill Frist has promised, the majority leader, or that it would be reduced to a single sentence that's very basic, and that would be, 'Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman.' Period. That's pretty basic, and that could go a long way towards protecting marriage without implying states could go ahead and create counterfeit versions of marriage, just as long as they don't call it marriage. We don't like that eventuality either, and six states have already moved to do some of that, starting with Vermont."
"That's part of our reasoning for supporting a single sentence. The lawyers can do anything they want with the longer sentences, and people from both sides of this issue have widely interpreted the second sentence of the Marriage Protection Amendment. Some of them, on the homosexual side, they've said, oh my gosh, it will outlaw everything, including civil unions and domestic partnerships. Y'know, if it does that, we would support it! Because we don't believe that the law should create incentives to encourage people to remain trapped in homosexuality. And also, we don't think the law should force people with traditional values to recognise relationships based on what these peoples' faith calls a sin. Really, you're talking about Christian, Jewish, and Muslim businessmen being told to aid and abet homosexual relationships, and if you believe in freedom, you should have the freedom not to openly support something that you believe is a grievous wrong."
"The pro-family movement can inundate Capitol Hill with phone calls, and letters, and faxes, explaining why they want marriage protected once and for all in the Constitution. You don't have to go into detail about what the amendment will say, you say you want a Federal marriage amendment. And I think the senators will get the message. And you mention, Martha, that the other side is seeing this as a great battle; I was just looking at the latest edition of The Advocate magazine, which is probably the top and most respected homosexual activist publication, and they have a full page ad from the Human Rights Campaign, and it features Senator Rick Santorum, who has endured a lot of abuse from homosexual activists since he warned that in the Lawrence v. Texas case if the Supreme Court overturned the sodomy law in Texas that it would threaten other laws based on morality. And of course, that's exactly what has occurred, Senator Santorum was exactly right, but they're making him out to be their bette noir, which is their agent of evil, their icon of hatred, and Senator Santorum's a really good plain-speaking guy who just wants to defend marriage. But they have to have something like that, they have to rally around something, there's a picture of Seantor Santorum and also of Senator Bill Frist, and they're basically saying, calling them the far right, and how they're gonna destroy the rights of gay people in this country. And it's an incendiary tactic, and we're not surprised.
"The cover is 'gays and polygamy,' and inside, the article leads with, 'although Big Love, the HBO special, has increased interest in heterosexual polygamy, gays have been doing it for a long time, and we talked to many of them who have multiple partner unions.' So, you know, when you talk to homosexual activists, or debate them, say, on college campuses, and they say, oh, it's not about polygamy, it's not about anything other than two loving people, they're not really being honest. THeir movement has promoted the breaking of every single standard regarding sexuality. It's an anything-goes wide-open world, and marriage cannot thrive in an environment like that, marriage and family cannot endure such a hostile environment."]
----- 27 -----
Banned Moscow gay rally broken up
Saturday, 27 May 2006
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5023466.stm
More than 70 people have been arrested in Moscow after activists tried to hold the city's first gay rights rally, despite a ban on the event.
About 50 gay rights supporters were held, as well as 20 people from religious and nationalist groups opposed to the march.
[...]
The rally's organiser, Nikolay Alexeyev, was among those arrested.
Slogans and abuse
Meanwhile demonstrators representing nationalist and Orthodox Christian groups chanted anti-gay slogans and shouted abuse.
[More at URL]
----- 28 -----
Standing Against Christian-Bashing
Concerned Women for America
5/24/2006
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10832/CWA/misc/index.htm
As mainstream entertainment becomes increasingly antagonistic to all Christians, and Catholics in particular, one group is speaking out and successfully challenging this unfair treatment. Bob Knight, Director of CWA’s Culture & Family Institute, speaks with William Donohue, President of the Catholic League, who is on the front lines of this effort. Click here to listen.
[Transcript impossible; audio stream missing from their server]
----- 29 -----
Queer Groups Support
Queer Sex with Children
Canada Family Action Coalition
5/25/2006
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/sexuality/queer-groups-target-children.htm
"Egale hopes to work in coalition with other queer groups, Planned Parenthood organizations and AIDS groups to oppose raising the age of consent” reports a homosexual paper.
Egale and other groups are trying to use the “control your own body” argument of abortionists to justify keeping sexual consent age at 14.
[More at URL]
----- 30 -----
"Cultural conservatism" forecasted to rise
Today’s Family News
Focus on the Family Canada
May 26, 2006
http://www.fotf.ca/tfn/culture/stories/052606.html
The world is poised to produce a generation that will for the most part adhere to "culturally conservative" values, according to demographer Phillip Longman, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation.
Writing in USA Today, Longman argued that today’s "progressive secularists" had fewer children than their baby boom parents – if they had any children at all
“As a consequence,” he stated, “an increasing share of all children born into the world are descended from a share of the population whose conservative values have led them to raise large families.”
[...]
“Do you find soft drugs, homosexuality and euthanasia acceptable? Do you seldom, if ever, attend church? Europeans who answer affirmatively to such questions are far more likely to live alone or be in childless, cohabiting unions than are those who answer negatively.”
[More at URL]
----- 31 -----
MP tables unborn child protection bill
Focus on the Family Canada
Today’s Family News
Updated May 26, 2006
http://www.fotf.ca/tfn/life/stories/052606.html
Pro-lifers appear hopeful that a new private member’s bill, which would make it a separate crime to kill or injure an unborn child in cases where its mother is murdered or assaulted could withstand a legal challenge, the Toronto Star reported Tuesday.
Alberta Conservative MP Leon Benoit introduced Bill C-291 last Wednesday, insisting it is not intended to reopen the abortion debate. He is aware that some will claim it challenges the absence of recognition in the Criminal Code that an unborn “human being” is entitled to the protections of the law.
“To me, it’s all about protecting, especially, pregnant women against violence, and where they’ve made the choice to keep their child, of protecting that unborn child,” he told the Star.
[...]
Douglas believes Canadians on both sides of the abortion issue should be able to support this bill.
[...]
Even so, others hope the bill will have an impact beyond its stated intent.
“We welcome any initiative that recognizes the separate personhood of the unborn child,” said Catholic Civil Rights League president Phil Horgan in a news release. “This bill could be part of the process of restoring this recognition under the law.”
[More at URL]
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-05-28 08:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-28 09:42 am (UTC)I'm a European, I answer affirmatively to the latter and mostly to the former (I'm unsure about the soft drugs, but mostly because - here in the UK at least - that mainly means cannabis, and I worry about the psychological effects), and - you guessed it - I'm never going to have children. And one reason is because I don't want to bring a child into a world that these fundamentalists are destroying.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-30 05:15 am (UTC)Huh? Course? I got lost here somewhere.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-30 05:36 am (UTC)