Today's Cultural Warfare Update (2 of 2)
Jul. 8th, 2006 10:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdThe fundamentalist right has its new Paul Cameron, now that he's mostly been shown up as the fraud he is; the new guy is John R. Diggs, who is an actual medical doctor, and his replacement for Cameron's "The Medical Consequences of What Gay Men Do" is called "The Health Risks of Gay Sex," and I link to it below. Searching on his name yields a cavalcade of anti-gay sites and organisations. Be aware of him, recognise the rhetoric, know where he gets it.
CANADIANS: The Canada Family Action Coalition is pulling out all the old USA-derived "fags and dykes are all psychotic diseased sickos" propaganda stops. I mean I haven't seen this much red meat since Concerned Women for America stopped explicitly defending gaybashing as a "normal reaction to the perversion of homosexuality." The theoconservative movement in your country is importing American theoconservative tricks and rhetoric. I'm sorry. You need to be aware and ready for it, because it will get remarkably brutal, if history is any indication.
Anyway, here's part two of today's news roundup:
Concerned Women for America celebrates New York State Supreme Court ruling against marriage rights for GBLT couples;
Concerned Women for America's Mike Mears reports on "pro-family victories" missed in the July 4th holiday rush at state legislature levels;
Concerned Women for America: gay rights mean destroying religious freedom via such things as anti-discrimination law;
CWA blasts Michelle Goldberg's book, Kingdom Coming, which I have gotten from the library and intend to read;
CWA's Robert Knight pushes the anti-marriage "Marriage Protection Amendment" again, says they're needed to ban civil union laws passed by "rogue legislators" and overturn marriage rights in Massachusetts;
LiveNews.com article on stem cell research bills - some of which are pointed to also by the Focus on the Family action item posted before;
Family Research Council press release happy about anti-marriage rulings;
American Family Association ACTION ITEM against Ford Motor Corporation - again;
Agape Press/AFA "news article" pleased with the Georgia and New York State rulings;
Don Wildmon, president of the AFA, claims credit for Ford Motor's financial problems;
AFA update on the California lawsuit where state universities are not accepting creationist "science" courses from private schools as transfer credit; they're claiming religious discrimination; I say fuck that noise, I don't want a doctor whose first-year biology came from Bob Jones University School of 6,000 Year Old Earth;
Fundamentalists sue Michigan State University to block domestic-partner employee benefits, call it "recognition of same-sex 'marriages'";
AFA article pushing "ex-gay" ministries;
Traditional Values Coalition report happy about Georgia, New York State marriage rulings;
TVC ACTION ITEM to support the Line Item Veto Act, which I have to say is still blatently unconstitutional, you cannot fucking amend the constitution through legislative action alone>, and that's what this is;
TVC happy with the "American Values Agenda" announced by House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), which is mostly a shopping list of fundamentalist pleasures but has a few tax items as well;
TVC attacks California courts for allowing anti-discrimination case to go forward against a private school that expelled two allegedly lesbian students;
TVC pushes more creationist bullshit, and points readers at the Discovery Institute;
TVC attacks a new Canadian study showing that the more older biological brothers a man has, the more likely he is to be gay; the correlation is actually pretty strong; they're making the usual rounds of meaningless condemnations that are actually based on the fact that they don't like it theologically; in six paragraphs they lie about study contents three times, ignore study controls, and specifically raise an objection that was not only anticipated by the study but specifically controlled against in it. (TVC quotes NARTH as saying that the correlation could be caused by social factors, such as bullying from older brothers; the study included a significant population where the younger and more-likely-to-be-gay men were not with their biological parents, in multiple matrix combinations, making this assertion by NARTH a clearly deliberate lie, which is standard procedure for them anyway so I don't know why I get upset about it again every time they just make shit up like this);
House Majority Leader John Boehner's website listing for the "American Values Agenda";
Canada Family Action Coalition article against marriage rights for lesbian and gay couples, claiming marriage rights for queers makes children "second or third class citizens";
Canada Family Action Coalition reports... what looks like a New York State theoconservative group's mailing on marriage, celebrating the New York State anti-marriage decision; there's no Canadian content at all that I can see, so I'm not sure why they're running it - they usually make some attempt to tie American theoconservative news blurbs to Canadian concerns but in this case I guess it's just schadenfreude;
CFAC reprints James Dobson's CNN commentary/attack on the media "provid[ing] cover" for "assault on traditional marriage";
CFAC links to "Medical conditions and sodomy" and "The Health Risks of Gay Sex,"
CFAC prints an article saying HIV does not cause AIDS, and that much of AIDS is a myth; it has dozens of howlers in it, but unfortunately, I suspect they believe this stuff, so, um, yeah;
CFAC keeps up the "Diseased Fags" drumbeat, pulling out all kinds of juicy mid-90s attacks, mostly against gay men; this is really red-meat stuff here;
CFAC head Brian Rushfeldt complains about being called intolerant, pulls up the "diseased fags" arguments again;
CFAC is pointing again to its old anti-marriage-rights website, Sanctity Of Marriage Canada;
ETA: I forgot these two articles - sorry! Jewish family flees Delaware town over religious pressure;
New tactic from StopTheACLU: digging up anonymous claimants and publishing everything they can about them - particularly their children's photographs, schools, and locations.
----- 1 -----
New York's Highest Court Rules Against 'Gay Marriage'
Concerned Women for America
7/7/2006
By Kristen Morgan
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/11086/LEGAL/family/index.htm
Ruling mirrors CWA amicus briefs; marriage isn't 'irrational, ignorant or bigoted.'
According to the state's highest court, New York marriage laws clearly limit marriage to a union between one man and one woman and do not violate the state constitution. Moreover, if these laws are to be changed, it is not within the authority of a court to do so.
In a decision issued July 6, on four challenges to the state's marriage laws, four judges on the Court of Appeals ruled in favor of traditional marriage. Two judges dissented from the majority's opinion, and one judge, whose daughter has advocated same-sex marriage in California, took no part in the case.
Homosexual advocates filed the challenges after the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that recognition of same-sex marriage was compelled by the state constitution. Forty-four members of same-sex couples acted as plaintiffs in the cases in an attempt to impose same-sex marriage by judicial decree and without a vote in the New York legislature.
The plaintiffs claimed that the state's denial of marriage licenses to same-sex couples violated their rights under the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the state constitution. Although the plaintiffs acknowledged that current state laws recognized only unions between a man and a woman, several briefs filed in their support argued that same-sex marriages were permitted under New York's existing marriage laws.
[More at URL]
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State Lawmakers Scrambled Ahead of the Holiday Break
Concerned Women for America
7/6/2006
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/11076/FIELD/misc/index.htm
While families across our nation were racing toward their 4th of July holiday plans, lawmakers in several states were scrambling to finalize legislation. In the end, that scramble resulted in some pro-family victories that you may have missed during the holiday news cycle. Mike Mears, CWA’s Director of State Legislative Relations, has this update on events in California, South Dakota, New Jersey and New York. Click here to listen.
[Summary: Mike is happy that the California curriculum bill is held off until at least August; other stories include the South Dakota Sioux Oglala tribe ousting President Fire Thunder; New Jersey government is shut down due to a budget dispute, which means the casinos have shut down and they're very happy about that; the New York Appeals Court, which is the Supreme Court of New York State, denying marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples.]
[More at URL]
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Recent Cases Show Homosexual Agenda’s Threat to Religious Liberty
Christian school faces lawsuit; federal employee suspended for expressing Christian viewpoints.
Concerned Women for America
7/5/2006
By Kristen Morgan
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/11067/LEGAL/freedom/index.htm
Many proponents of religious liberty fear that the homosexual agenda poses a serious threat to the rights of religious people to publicly express their beliefs.
Two recent cases – one involving a Christian school and the other involving a federal employee – underscore this.
In Wildomar, California, a private high school run by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod was sued after school officials expelled two students whom they believed were involved in a homosexual relationship. The two girls filed the suit in December, and on Wednesday the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled in California Lutheran High School Association v. Superior Court that the case could proceed to trial.
In a letter to the students’ parents, school principal Greg Bork informed them that the students were being expelled for violating the school’s code of conduct, which prohibits actions “contrary to Christian decency.” The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod believes that homosexual behavior is sinful.
The students claim that the school violated their rights under California’s civil rights law, the Unruh Act, which prohibits businesses from discriminating on the basis of a person’s actual or perceived sexuality. The students’ attorney, Christopher Hayes, said that the school operates as a business and has students of various religions. “Nothing about accepting these young women or other perceived or actual homosexuals has any effect on anybody at the school’s ability to preach their religion, to practice their religion or to criticize lifestyle choices,” Hayes said.
[More at URL]
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Michelle Goldberg’s Alternative Reality
The Christian Right, she says, wants its religious beliefs to become the law of the land.
Concerned Women for America
7/5/2006
By Stephanie Warner
ETA: http://www.cwfa.org/articles/11069/BLI/reports/index.htm
Michelle Goldberg, author and social commentator, has come out with a new book, Kingdom Coming, which is causing quite a stir. In it, she claims that the “Religious Right” wants to take over the government and establish a theocracy in America. She claims that “fundamentalist Christian” groups want to see their religious beliefs become the law of the land.
Goldberg specifically cites Concerned Women for America (CWA) –– drawing heavily on her reactions to a lecture by Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, Senior Fellow of CWA’s think tank, the Beverly LaHaye Institute. Crouse, an official U.S. delegate to the United Nations (U.N.) in 2003 and 2004, lectured on “Feminism’s Failures.” Goldberg is convinced that CWA is made up of “totalitarian belligerents” who live in an “all-encompassing alternative reality.”
[More at URL]
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Why a Federal Marriage Amendment Is Needed
Rogue judges and legislators are creating counterfeits.
Concerned Women for America
6/8/2006
By Robert Knight
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10822/CWA/family/index.htm
On June 7, 2006, the U.S. Senate voted 49 to 48 on a cloture motion to stop debate and vote on the Marriage Protection Amendment (MPA-text below). Since it takes 60 votes to break a filibuster and proceed to a vote on the Senate floor, the Senate thus rejected the chance to vote on the amendment itself. It was the second defeat for the MPA over the last two years. An earlier attempt at passage was defeated in a 48-50 failed cloture vote in 2004.
The House is expected to take up its version of the MPA sometime this summer.
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.
[More at URL]
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Observers Expect Senate to Approve Embryonic Stem Cell Research Funding
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 6, 2006
http://www.lifenews.com/bio1599.html
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Groups on both sides of the debate over spending tax dollars on embryonic stem cell research say they expect the Senate to approve a House-backed measure that would overturn President Bush's limits on funding it. If the Senate approves the bill, Bush would be forced to make good on his veto threat.
Last week, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist announced that senators reached a unanimous consent agreement to bring up three bills for a debate and vote.
In addition to the funding measure, senators will vote on two bills that enjoy support from the pro-life community.
[More at URL]
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FRC Applauds State Rulings Against Same-sex 'Marriage'
Family Research Council
July 6, 2006 - Thursday
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 6, 2006
CONTACT: J.P. Duffy, 866-FRC-NEWS
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=PR06G01
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today the New York Court of Appeals, the Empire State's highest court, and the Georgia State Supreme Court upheld the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Family Research Council (FRC) filed an amicus brief in the New York case. Despite today's victories, traditional marriage continues to face court challenges in Washington state, Maryland, New Jersey, Iowa, Oklahoma, California, Nebraska, and Connecticut. Peter Sprigg, FRC's Vice President for Policy, released the following statement:
"Today, the high courts in New York and Georgia fulfilled their duty by upholding state laws defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. We applaud today's rulings, which recognize the right of the legislature and the people to regulate marriage for the good of children and society.
"The New York court reasonably concluded that the legislature has a legitimate interest in promoting responsible procreation and can 'rationally' believe that children need both a mother and a father. The court's well-reasoned ruling is a shining example for other courts across the nation. As we await rulings in several other states, we can only hope that other courts will exercise similar judicial restraint and avoid substituting their own social policy preferences for those of the legislatures and the people.
"We also affirm the Georgia Supreme Court for its decision upholding the validity of a state constitutional amendment defining marriage, which was approved with 76% of the vote in a 2004 referendum. The unbroken success of such amendments makes clear that there is a popular consensus that marriage is and should remain the union of one man and one woman. However, the only sure way to protect the country against more rogue decisions like the one in Massachusetts in 2003--including ones at the federal level--is through passage of a Marriage Protection Amendment to the U.S. Constitution."
-30-
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Ford Sponsors Homosexual Media Awards, Desperate Housewives
American Family Association
June 26, 2006
http://www.afa.net/ford062706.asp
When Ford said they support homosexual groups promoting same-sex marriage, they meant it. Ford put forth this declaration: "This is a strong commitment we intend to carry forward with no exception."
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Awards events were recently held in Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. The GLAAD Awards honored those who had made outstanding contributions to the homosexual lifestyle. Ford was a corporate sponsor for all four GLAAD Media Awards events.
In an effort to overcome the boycott called by AFA, Ford is telling potential customers that they advertise in Christian publications such as Christianity Today, Today's Christian Woman, The National Liberty Journal and Charisma. They also say that they are the largest advertiser on Christian radio. It is no accident that Ford all of a sudden has begun to advertise in Christian publications and on Christian radio.
[More at URL]
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Pro-Family Leaders Praise Ga., NY Courts' Pro-Marriage Rulings
By Bill Fancher and Jenni Parker
Agape Press
July 7, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/7/afa/72006a.asp
(AgapePress) - Pro-family groups are celebrating two court rulings on Thursday in New York and Georgia that turned aside bids by homosexuals to legalize same-sex "marriage." While the Georgia Supreme Court's decision to uphold a referendum result banning homosexual marriage surprised few, many conservatives were both surprised and particularly pleased by the strong, pro-family wording of the New York court's ruling.
In a 4-2 decision, the New York Court of Appeals ruled that the state constitution guarantees no right to homosexual marriage, declaring that the New York constitution "does not compel recognition of marriages between members of the same sex" and that the question of whether such marriages should be recognized is an issue to be addressed by the Legislature.
[More at URL]
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Ford Boycott Leader: Homosexual Ties Taking Car Company Downhill
By Ed Thomas
July 7, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/7/afa/72006e.asp
(AgapePress) - The latest sales figures for Ford Motor Company continue the ongoing story of the company's declining bottom line -- a several-percentage-points drop in sales that the leader of a pro-family group ties in with a boycott and the economy.
Ford says its report for June, released this week, shows the company's total auto sales down 6.9 percent. Car purchases did rise 7.1 percent; however, truck sales dropped 14.5 percent. Don Wildmon, founder and chairman of the American Family Association (AFA), believes one of the things hurting the auto manufacturer's profit margin is the boycott his organization launched against the automaker this year.
AFA initiated the Ford boycott to protest Ford's affiliation with homosexual and liberal causes. Other organizations and individuals have joined in, and Wildmon believes the pro-family consumer protest is progressively hurting the automotive giant. "They've been going downhill at least since we began the boycott," he says, "and their stock continues to fall."
[More at URL]
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Lawyer Confident Christian Students' Lawsuit Against UC Will Proceed
By Jim Brown
Agape Press/American Family Association
July 7, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/7/afa/72006c.asp
(AgapePress) - A California attorney says a federal judge is likely to allow plaintiffs accusing the University of California (UC) university system of engaging in viewpoint discrimination against Christian students and schools to take their case to trial.
Calvary Chapel Christian School in Murrieta, with some 1,300 students, recently filed suit against the UC system, claiming it prohibits the Christian high school's students from receiving academic credit for courses taught from a Christian perspective. Last week, Judge James Otero conducted a hearing in Los Angeles District Court to consider UC's request that he dismiss the suit.
[...]
Officials with Calvary Chapel say the Christian school's courses were rejected by UC because they used textbooks printed by two conservative Christian publishers: Bob Jones University Press in South Carolina and A Beka Books in Pensacola, Florida. Tyler anticipates that the judge presiding over the matter will allow some -- if not all -- of the Christian students' complaints to be heard in court.
[More at URL]
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Lawsuit Targets Michigan State's 'Domestic Partner' Policy
By Jim Brown
American Family Association/Agape Press
July 7, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/7/afa/72006b.asp
(AgapePress) - Michigan State University is being sued over its recognition of same-sex "marriages."
The lawsuit filed on behalf of the American Family Association of Michigan alleges Michigan State is violating the state marriage amendment, which defines marriage as "the union of one man and one woman." MSU has a policy that provides employee benefits to so-called "same-sex domestic partners." Attorney Pat Gillen with the Thomas More Law Center, which is representing AFA-Michigan, says proponents of same-sex "marriage" are trying to get the legal status of a lawful marriage by using another name.
[More at URL]
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'Walking' Beats 'Talking' in Dealing with Homosexuality, Says Pastor
By Jim Brown
AFA/Agape Press
July 7, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/7/afa/72006g.asp
(AgapePress) - A former homosexual is teaching Christian audiences how to evangelize and disciple those caught in the destructive and sinful lifestyle of homosexuality.
North Carolina pastor Tim Wilkins is taking his one-day "More Than Words" conference to Cleveland, Ohio, on Saturday (July 8). Next month (August 12), the conference goes to Raleigh, North Carolina. The conference is designed to help Christians understand homosexuality and learn how to help friends and family members dealing with the sin. Wilkins, who says he left homosexuality more than two decades ago, notes the focus is "walking versus talking people out of homosexuality.
"If talking changed things, everything would be changed. So our emphasis here is emphasizing that love -- compassion grounded in the truth of God's Word -- is what sets people free," says the founder of Cross Ministry. "And, as I say in many of the venues where I speak, no one has ever been argued out of homosexuality -- and for that matter, no one has ever been argued into the kingdom of God."
[More at URL]
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Georgia And New York Courts Rule In Favor Of Traditional Marriage
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2782
July 6, 2006 Washington, DC – “The New York and Georgia Supreme Courts did the right thing today by upholding traditional marriage,” said TVC Executive Director Andrea Lafferty today. “The New York Court ruled that there is no state law granting the alleged ‘right’ of same-sex marriage and the majority on the Georgia Court ruled that the marriage amendment passed by the people did not violate the state’s one-subject rule for ballot measures.
“This is a good day for traditional marriage and the rule of law,” said Lafferty. “The New York Court decision was especially encouraging. The Court ruled that any decision on marriage should come from the state legislature and the people, not from the Court.
[More at URL]
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Congress On Recess: Visit Them About Line Item Veto!
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2780
July 6, 2006 – While Congress is on recess, take time to visit the home offices of your two U.S. Senators. The House passed H.R. 4890, the Line-Item Veto Act, but the Senate has not acted on it yet.
The Line-Item Veto Act will enable President Bush to target wasteful pork barrel programs in legislation and then send those items back to the House and Senate for another vote. Legislators will then be forced to vote on these programs as
TVC’s article, “Support the Legislative Line-Item Veto Act, H.R. 4890” has more details on this legislation!
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House Majority Leader Launches American Values Agenda
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2778
July 6, 2006 – House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has announced the launch of the American Values Agenda, a series of legislative proposals designed to defend traditional values.
According to Boehner, “The American Values Agenda is a collection of legislative initiatives that speak to the values many American citizens hold dear. Freedom to display the American flag … freedom of religious expression … the right to keep and bear arms … respect for the sanctity of marriage, and the dignity of all human life. These are values that have defined the American character, protected our families, and shaped our society.”
[More at URL]
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Alleged Homosexual Girls Expelled From Christian School Can Sue
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2777
July 6, 2006 – In a case that has serious religious freedom implications, the California Supreme Court has ruled that two girls alleged to be lesbians can sue a private Christian school over being expelled.
The case involves California Lutheran School and its explusion of two girls in 2005 over improper sexual behaviors. The Court, however, ruled that the girls can sue the school for being expelled—even though their conduct violated the religious standards of the school.
[More at URL]
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The Fish That Shoots Down Evolution
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2776
July 6, 2006 – In 1859, Charles Darwin wrote the following: “If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.”
Darwin and his evolutionist allies today should consider the archerfish, a fish that shoots down its prey in the air with a burst of water.
In a recent commentary on evolution by United Church of God Pastor Mario Seiglie, he points out that the archerfish is so uniquely designed that it could not have evolved with slight modifications.
[More at URL]
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Another Study Pushes ‘Born Gay’ Urban Legend
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2775
July 6, 2006 – Psychologist Anthony Bogaert of Brock University in Canada has published a new study allegedly finding a biological reason for homosexuality in males.
The study, “Biological versus non-biological older brothers and men’s sexual orientation,” was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences recently.
The study has been touted worldwide as evidence of a genetic origin of homosexuality in males. According to Bogaert, a family with older brothers has a higher than average rate of younger homosexual siblings. This effect, claims Bogaert could be due to the mother’s immune system memorizing the number of male fetuses and altering hormones with each succeeding infant. This could impact the sexual differentiation in the brain of each succeeding male child. There is no credible evidence that this is true.
[More at URL]
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House GOP Leaders Launch American Values Agenda
Majority Leader John Boehner
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
http://www.majorityleader.gov/News.asp?FormMode=Detail&ID=630
WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Republican leaders today unveiled the American Values Agenda, a list of freedom-based legislative initiatives expected to move through the House in the coming weeks and months. The American Values Agenda complements the broader House Republican agenda that was unveiled by GOP leaders back in March.
[...]
THE AMERICAN VALUES AGENDA
Pledge Protection Act (HR 2389; Rep. Akin)
Summary: Protects the Pledge of Allegiance from attacks by activist federal judges seeking to rule it unconstitutional.
Freedom to Display the American Flag Act (HR 42; Rep. Bartlett)
Summary: Ensures an individual has the right to display the U.S. flag on residential property.
The Public Expression of Religion Act (HR 2679; Rep. Hostettler)
Summary: Ensures local officials and communities do not face financial ruin to defend their rights to free speech under the Constitution (provides that when state or local officials are sued over public expressions of religion, no monetary damages, costs, or attorney's fees may be awarded).
Marriage Amendment (HJRes 88; Rep. Musgrave)
Summary: Constitutional amendment declaring marriage to be between a man and a woman
Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act (HR 356; Rep. C. Smith)
Summary: Requires that those performing late-term abortions inform the woman seeking an abortion of the medical evidence that the unborn child feels pain, and ensure that if she chooses to continue with the abortion procedure, she has the option of choosing anesthesia for the child, so that the unborn child’s pain is less severe.
Human Cloning Prohibition Act (HR 1357; Rep. D. Weldon)
Summary: Bans human cloning and the importation of products derived from a cloned human embryo (e.g. stem cells).
BATFE Reform (HR 5092; Rep. Coble)
Summary: Reforms the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (BATFE) to protect citizens’ rights.
Internet Gambling Prohibition (Reps. Leach & Goodlatte):
Summary: Addresses the issue of illegal internet gambling by making gambling laws apply equally to the internet.
Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act (HR 5013; Rep. Jindal)
Summary: Prohibits governments from using federal funds to confiscate guns from law-abiding citizens during emergencies.
Permanent Tax Relief for Families
Summary: Likely series of votes on the child tax credit, marriage penalty relief, tax incentives for adoption, and other priorities for American citizens.
[More at URL]
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Q&A with Pioneering Ethicist
Margaret Somerville
By Brian Bethune, Macleans
June 28, 2006
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/family/marriage/q&a-somerville.htm
In an interview with MacLean’s Dr. Margaret Somerville responds to the matter of “same sex marriage” definition in Canadian law.
On the Ryerson fiasco, children's rights and same-sex marriage
Dr Somerville raises the issue of whose rights are imposed. I would suggest we also look to who is imposing those rights: courts, whose ethics and judgment can and should be questioned: Governments, whose reason and understanding of societal good can and should be questioned: and activists whose best interest is adult selfishness not children.
MacLeans Interviewer: “But if you raise a child in a loving environment ...”
“…This is not a very popular thing that I say, but as important as love is - and it's immensely important - it's not enough. There's more to us becoming fully human. It's what Kierkegaard calls the power of becoming oneself. You have to feel you've got authenticity and roots and connections in order to be able to use that power fully. These kids tell me things like, "I look at myself in the mirror and half of me is missing, and nobody had the right to do that to me." Another called it "a big, black void down below you.’”
The definition of love in some minds is so ill-defined as to allow, endorse and even encourage behaviors which are unnatural and harmful. What’s love got to do with that? Adults show great disregard for children when they put their emotions, wants and desires and even their needs ahead of what vulnerable children need.
[More at URL]
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A Very Good Day
Campaign for Working Families
[Found on Canadian Family Action Coalition website]
July 6, 2006
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/family/marriage/a-very-good-day.htm
I am pleased to do something that doesn't happen very often - report victories from the courts in the on-going legal battle to redefine marriage in America. Here's the good news: Today, the Supreme Court of Georgia unanimously reversed a lower court ruling that declared Georgia's state marriage protection amendment unconstitutional, despite being approved at the ballot box by 76% of the vote. With today's decision, the amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman is once again part of Georgia's state constitution.
Now, here's the really good news! This morning, New York's State Supreme Court dealt a surprising blow to the efforts of the militant homosexual movement to impose same-sex "marriage" on New Yorkers by judicial fiat. In its 4-to-2 ruling, the court's majority demonstrated that it truly understands what is at stake in the effort to redefine marriage - the best interests of our children.
[More at URL]
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Accuracy about public view and marriage
Canada Family Action Coalition
Online as of July 8, 2006
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/family/marriage/media-provides-cover.htm
This report from the US sounds awfully familiar to Canada. Would a vote on marriage by the public in a referendum produce the same results as in the US states. We think so. The accuracy of polls must be questioned. And one must ask what the political ideology of the pollster is.
Perhaps the Prime Minister ought to put this crucial social issue of marriage to a public vote not just a free vote of MPs. Or perhaps the next election should again directly raise the issue (and it will do so if marriage is not restored) so the Canadian public can truly be represented.
-- CFAC
Commentary: Media provides cover for assault on traditional marriage
James C. Dobson says lawmakers are turning their backs on traditional marriage
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (CNN) --
On June 7, the U.S. Senate voted for a second time on an amendment to define marriage in the U.S. Constitution as being exclusively between one man and one woman.
[More at URL]
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Medical Conditions and Sodomy
Canada Family Action Coalition
July 6, 2006
http://www.corporateresourcecouncil.org/white_papers/Health_Risks.pdf
[Contents:]
The Health Risks of Gay Sex
By John R. Diggs, Jr., M.D.
Executive Summary
Sexual relationships between members of the same sex expose gays, lesbians, and bisexuals to extreme risks of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), physical injuries, mental disorders, and even a shortened life span. There are five major distinctions between gay and heterosexual relationships, with specific medical consequences. They are:
[Ed. Note: Summary: Fags have hundreds if not thousands of sexual partners; lesbians are also bad; gay male sex leads to "physical injuries, some of which are virtually unknown in the heterosexual population"; claims lesbians are at higher risk for STDs than straight men; claims lesbian and gay people are very likely to be medically ill; claims that gay and bisexual men have dramatically shorter lifespans; claims gay men are virtually incapable of stable relationships. In short summery: queers are diseased, perverted sickos. Basically this is the same material found flying around the US a lot in the background, in a package I haven't seen yet. Oh look, he's got the Gay Bowel Syndrome in his footnotes. Yay.]
[Ed. Note: "John R. Diggs" and "Corporate Research Council" gets exactly three hits, all off of anti-gay websites. I found one line-by-line counter to his broadsheet here:
http://webzoom.freewebs.com/palmettoumoja/John%20R.%20Diggs's%20lies.pdf
Here's a secondary URL that's got pointers to this data and data on Paul Cameron's fabrications. It also discusses the general approach taken by Cameron and all his successors. It's worth a look if you don't understand yet how they come up with these "studies":
http://www.freewebs.com/palmettoumoja/fighttheright.htm
John Diggs appears to be the new Paul Cameron, if this material is accurate at all. He's all over the fundamentalist websites.]
----- 25 -----
What We Now Know:
Virus Myth, Part I
6/27/06 (©)
Casey Research, Inc. 2006
Found on Canada Family Action Coalition website on 8 July 2006
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/sexuality/virus-myth-1.htm
One moonlit night in 1983, a biochemist named Kary Mullis was driving along a California mountain road when he had an aha! experience akin to Newton's with the apple and Archimedes' in the bathtub. Mullis immediately pulled off the road, awakened his sleeping girlfriend, and told her that he suddenly knew how to replicate DNA. It was a problem that had been vexing scientists and, as it turned out, Mullis was right. His insight into the polymerase chain reaction won him the 1993 Nobel Prize for Chemistry and led to the invention of DNA-replicating machines and the tests they make possible, including the one for HIV antibodies.
This is simply by way of establishing the impeccable scientific credentials of Dr. Kary Mullis. Because when someone of his stature questions whether the HIV virus causes AIDS, we should probably listen. Huh? Of course HIV causes AIDS, we all know that, don't we? The CDC tells us so, the media tell us so, our doctors tell us so. End of story.
Well, actually not. There is a sizeable, and growing, chorus of dissenting voices. And unlike many groups that challenge an entrenched mainstream belief, this one does not consist of loudmouths with fringe credentials. It is made up of pre-eminent scientists with rock-solid reputations. Among dozens of others, in addition to Kary Mullis, we find Dr. Peter Duesberg of UC Berkeley, one of the world's leading molecular biologists; Dr. Heinz Ludwig Sänger, emeritus professor of molecular biology and virology at the Max-Planck-Institute in Munich, Germany; Dr. Eleni Papadopulos-Eleopulos, professor of medical physics at Australia's Royal Perth Hospital; Dr. Walter Gilbert, 1980 Nobel prize winner for his work on DNA sequencing; and Dr. Gordon Stewart, professor emeritus of public health at Glasgow University and a former AIDS adviser to the World Health Organization.
[More at URL]
----- 26 -----
Gay Behaviors vs. Public Health
"Are you a male who has had sex, even once, with another male since 1977?"
By Robert Seidenberg
Published 6/29/2006
[Found on Canada Family Action Coalition website, 8 July 2006]
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/sexuality/gay-behavior.htm
This is one of the questions that all U.S. blood collection facilities must ask when they administer the pre-donation questionnaire to screen potential donors. Anyone answering yes to this question is "indefinitely deferred," or in plain language, banned for life from donating blood. Despite pressure from gay advocates to change it, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has maintained this policy for 22 years. However, the pressure has intensified lately with gay activists successfully stopping college blood drives with cries of "discrimination."
Thus, this past March, the FDA held yet another workshop to review the male-sex-with-male (MSM) policy, and will convene the Blood Product Advisory Committee (BPAC) in mid-July to render an official decision. Based on recommendations made at the workshop, it is very likely that BPAC will finally recommend a modified policy. If they do, gays will claim a victory over "discrimination," and that is all that will be reported in the sound-bite media.
[More at URL]
----- 27 -----
It is a queer thing!
By Brian Rushfeldt
CFAC Executive Director
Canada Family Action Coalition
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/sexuality/a-queer-thing.htm
I use the word queer and I am called bigot, homophobe and hateful. But a queer magazine uses the word and they are proud and applauded. They claim they are expressing diversity.
I conclude there is a group who are so proud of their diversity, they respect no one else’s diversity.
[More at URL]
----- 28 -----
Sanctity of Marriage.ca
Back and white - as is the issue of marriage redefinition!
Canada Family Action Coalition
http://www.familyaction.org/sanctityofmarriage/
[Ed. Note: Most of the contents are older, but it appears to be being updated again, with links to anti-gay propaganda in the US - particularly the Family Research Council.]
----- 29 -----
Jewish family flees Delaware school district's aggressive Christianity
by JewsOnFirst.org, June 28, 2006
Links to articles and documents cited in our report appear immediately below it
http://www.jewsonfirst.org/06b/indianriver.html
A large Delaware school district promoted Christianity so aggressively that a Jewish family felt it necessary to move to Wilmington, two hours away, because they feared retaliation for filing a lawsuit. The religion (if any) of a second family in the lawsuit is not known, because they're suing as Jane and John Doe; they also fear retaliation. Both families are asking relief from "state-sponsored religion."
[More, including specifics of the events as related by the claimants, at URL]
----- 30 -----
Jesus' General
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/2006_07_02_patriotboy_archive.html#115205133179072443
STACLU pogrom is a resounding success
Nedd Kareiva
Scrabble Champion
Director, Stop the ACLU Coalition
Dear Mr. Kareiva,
Please allow me to be the first to thank you and the staff of Stop The ACLU for all you did to make the Indian River Pogrom such a resounding success. It isn't easy to run a Jewish family out of town in these politically correct times. Usually, they just hunker down, hiding behind antiquated interpretations of the Constitution and the good will of those who wrongly believe that non-Christians are entitled to all of the benefits of citizenship.
But this time, the family fled, and I think you deserve partial credit for making that happen. After all, you did publish their name, address, and phone number on your web site (see screen cap below) as part of your "Expose ACLU Plaintiffs" project. It certainly wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that such information gave people the tools they needed to drive the Dobrich family from their home.
[...]
The complaint recounts a raucous crowd that applauded the board's opening prayer and then, when sixth-grader Alexander Dobrich stood up to read a statement, yelled at him "take your yarmulke off!" His statement, read by Samantha, confided "I feel bad when kids in my class call me Jew boy."
...A former board member suggested that Mona Dobrich might "disappear" like Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the atheist whose Supreme Court case resulted in ending organized school prayer. She disappeared in 1995 and her dismembered body was found six years later.
[More at URL]
CANADIANS: The Canada Family Action Coalition is pulling out all the old USA-derived "fags and dykes are all psychotic diseased sickos" propaganda stops. I mean I haven't seen this much red meat since Concerned Women for America stopped explicitly defending gaybashing as a "normal reaction to the perversion of homosexuality." The theoconservative movement in your country is importing American theoconservative tricks and rhetoric. I'm sorry. You need to be aware and ready for it, because it will get remarkably brutal, if history is any indication.
Anyway, here's part two of today's news roundup:
Concerned Women for America celebrates New York State Supreme Court ruling against marriage rights for GBLT couples;
Concerned Women for America's Mike Mears reports on "pro-family victories" missed in the July 4th holiday rush at state legislature levels;
Concerned Women for America: gay rights mean destroying religious freedom via such things as anti-discrimination law;
CWA blasts Michelle Goldberg's book, Kingdom Coming, which I have gotten from the library and intend to read;
CWA's Robert Knight pushes the anti-marriage "Marriage Protection Amendment" again, says they're needed to ban civil union laws passed by "rogue legislators" and overturn marriage rights in Massachusetts;
LiveNews.com article on stem cell research bills - some of which are pointed to also by the Focus on the Family action item posted before;
Family Research Council press release happy about anti-marriage rulings;
American Family Association ACTION ITEM against Ford Motor Corporation - again;
Agape Press/AFA "news article" pleased with the Georgia and New York State rulings;
Don Wildmon, president of the AFA, claims credit for Ford Motor's financial problems;
AFA update on the California lawsuit where state universities are not accepting creationist "science" courses from private schools as transfer credit; they're claiming religious discrimination; I say fuck that noise, I don't want a doctor whose first-year biology came from Bob Jones University School of 6,000 Year Old Earth;
Fundamentalists sue Michigan State University to block domestic-partner employee benefits, call it "recognition of same-sex 'marriages'";
AFA article pushing "ex-gay" ministries;
Traditional Values Coalition report happy about Georgia, New York State marriage rulings;
TVC ACTION ITEM to support the Line Item Veto Act, which I have to say is still blatently unconstitutional, you cannot fucking amend the constitution through legislative action alone>, and that's what this is;
TVC happy with the "American Values Agenda" announced by House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), which is mostly a shopping list of fundamentalist pleasures but has a few tax items as well;
TVC attacks California courts for allowing anti-discrimination case to go forward against a private school that expelled two allegedly lesbian students;
TVC pushes more creationist bullshit, and points readers at the Discovery Institute;
TVC attacks a new Canadian study showing that the more older biological brothers a man has, the more likely he is to be gay; the correlation is actually pretty strong; they're making the usual rounds of meaningless condemnations that are actually based on the fact that they don't like it theologically; in six paragraphs they lie about study contents three times, ignore study controls, and specifically raise an objection that was not only anticipated by the study but specifically controlled against in it. (TVC quotes NARTH as saying that the correlation could be caused by social factors, such as bullying from older brothers; the study included a significant population where the younger and more-likely-to-be-gay men were not with their biological parents, in multiple matrix combinations, making this assertion by NARTH a clearly deliberate lie, which is standard procedure for them anyway so I don't know why I get upset about it again every time they just make shit up like this);
House Majority Leader John Boehner's website listing for the "American Values Agenda";
Canada Family Action Coalition article against marriage rights for lesbian and gay couples, claiming marriage rights for queers makes children "second or third class citizens";
Canada Family Action Coalition reports... what looks like a New York State theoconservative group's mailing on marriage, celebrating the New York State anti-marriage decision; there's no Canadian content at all that I can see, so I'm not sure why they're running it - they usually make some attempt to tie American theoconservative news blurbs to Canadian concerns but in this case I guess it's just schadenfreude;
CFAC reprints James Dobson's CNN commentary/attack on the media "provid[ing] cover" for "assault on traditional marriage";
CFAC links to "Medical conditions and sodomy" and "The Health Risks of Gay Sex,"
CFAC prints an article saying HIV does not cause AIDS, and that much of AIDS is a myth; it has dozens of howlers in it, but unfortunately, I suspect they believe this stuff, so, um, yeah;
CFAC keeps up the "Diseased Fags" drumbeat, pulling out all kinds of juicy mid-90s attacks, mostly against gay men; this is really red-meat stuff here;
CFAC head Brian Rushfeldt complains about being called intolerant, pulls up the "diseased fags" arguments again;
CFAC is pointing again to its old anti-marriage-rights website, Sanctity Of Marriage Canada;
ETA: I forgot these two articles - sorry! Jewish family flees Delaware town over religious pressure;
New tactic from StopTheACLU: digging up anonymous claimants and publishing everything they can about them - particularly their children's photographs, schools, and locations.
----- 1 -----
New York's Highest Court Rules Against 'Gay Marriage'
Concerned Women for America
7/7/2006
By Kristen Morgan
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/11086/LEGAL/family/index.htm
Ruling mirrors CWA amicus briefs; marriage isn't 'irrational, ignorant or bigoted.'
According to the state's highest court, New York marriage laws clearly limit marriage to a union between one man and one woman and do not violate the state constitution. Moreover, if these laws are to be changed, it is not within the authority of a court to do so.
In a decision issued July 6, on four challenges to the state's marriage laws, four judges on the Court of Appeals ruled in favor of traditional marriage. Two judges dissented from the majority's opinion, and one judge, whose daughter has advocated same-sex marriage in California, took no part in the case.
Homosexual advocates filed the challenges after the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that recognition of same-sex marriage was compelled by the state constitution. Forty-four members of same-sex couples acted as plaintiffs in the cases in an attempt to impose same-sex marriage by judicial decree and without a vote in the New York legislature.
The plaintiffs claimed that the state's denial of marriage licenses to same-sex couples violated their rights under the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the state constitution. Although the plaintiffs acknowledged that current state laws recognized only unions between a man and a woman, several briefs filed in their support argued that same-sex marriages were permitted under New York's existing marriage laws.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
State Lawmakers Scrambled Ahead of the Holiday Break
Concerned Women for America
7/6/2006
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/11076/FIELD/misc/index.htm
While families across our nation were racing toward their 4th of July holiday plans, lawmakers in several states were scrambling to finalize legislation. In the end, that scramble resulted in some pro-family victories that you may have missed during the holiday news cycle. Mike Mears, CWA’s Director of State Legislative Relations, has this update on events in California, South Dakota, New Jersey and New York. Click here to listen.
[Summary: Mike is happy that the California curriculum bill is held off until at least August; other stories include the South Dakota Sioux Oglala tribe ousting President Fire Thunder; New Jersey government is shut down due to a budget dispute, which means the casinos have shut down and they're very happy about that; the New York Appeals Court, which is the Supreme Court of New York State, denying marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples.]
[More at URL]
----- 3 ------
Recent Cases Show Homosexual Agenda’s Threat to Religious Liberty
Christian school faces lawsuit; federal employee suspended for expressing Christian viewpoints.
Concerned Women for America
7/5/2006
By Kristen Morgan
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/11067/LEGAL/freedom/index.htm
Many proponents of religious liberty fear that the homosexual agenda poses a serious threat to the rights of religious people to publicly express their beliefs.
Two recent cases – one involving a Christian school and the other involving a federal employee – underscore this.
In Wildomar, California, a private high school run by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod was sued after school officials expelled two students whom they believed were involved in a homosexual relationship. The two girls filed the suit in December, and on Wednesday the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled in California Lutheran High School Association v. Superior Court that the case could proceed to trial.
In a letter to the students’ parents, school principal Greg Bork informed them that the students were being expelled for violating the school’s code of conduct, which prohibits actions “contrary to Christian decency.” The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod believes that homosexual behavior is sinful.
The students claim that the school violated their rights under California’s civil rights law, the Unruh Act, which prohibits businesses from discriminating on the basis of a person’s actual or perceived sexuality. The students’ attorney, Christopher Hayes, said that the school operates as a business and has students of various religions. “Nothing about accepting these young women or other perceived or actual homosexuals has any effect on anybody at the school’s ability to preach their religion, to practice their religion or to criticize lifestyle choices,” Hayes said.
[More at URL]
----- 4 -----
Michelle Goldberg’s Alternative Reality
The Christian Right, she says, wants its religious beliefs to become the law of the land.
Concerned Women for America
7/5/2006
By Stephanie Warner
ETA: http://www.cwfa.org/articles/11069/BLI/reports/index.htm
Michelle Goldberg, author and social commentator, has come out with a new book, Kingdom Coming, which is causing quite a stir. In it, she claims that the “Religious Right” wants to take over the government and establish a theocracy in America. She claims that “fundamentalist Christian” groups want to see their religious beliefs become the law of the land.
Goldberg specifically cites Concerned Women for America (CWA) –– drawing heavily on her reactions to a lecture by Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, Senior Fellow of CWA’s think tank, the Beverly LaHaye Institute. Crouse, an official U.S. delegate to the United Nations (U.N.) in 2003 and 2004, lectured on “Feminism’s Failures.” Goldberg is convinced that CWA is made up of “totalitarian belligerents” who live in an “all-encompassing alternative reality.”
[More at URL]
----- 5 -----
Why a Federal Marriage Amendment Is Needed
Rogue judges and legislators are creating counterfeits.
Concerned Women for America
6/8/2006
By Robert Knight
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10822/CWA/family/index.htm
On June 7, 2006, the U.S. Senate voted 49 to 48 on a cloture motion to stop debate and vote on the Marriage Protection Amendment (MPA-text below). Since it takes 60 votes to break a filibuster and proceed to a vote on the Senate floor, the Senate thus rejected the chance to vote on the amendment itself. It was the second defeat for the MPA over the last two years. An earlier attempt at passage was defeated in a 48-50 failed cloture vote in 2004.
The House is expected to take up its version of the MPA sometime this summer.
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.
[More at URL]
----- 6 -----
Observers Expect Senate to Approve Embryonic Stem Cell Research Funding
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 6, 2006
http://www.lifenews.com/bio1599.html
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Groups on both sides of the debate over spending tax dollars on embryonic stem cell research say they expect the Senate to approve a House-backed measure that would overturn President Bush's limits on funding it. If the Senate approves the bill, Bush would be forced to make good on his veto threat.
Last week, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist announced that senators reached a unanimous consent agreement to bring up three bills for a debate and vote.
In addition to the funding measure, senators will vote on two bills that enjoy support from the pro-life community.
[More at URL]
----- 7 -----
FRC Applauds State Rulings Against Same-sex 'Marriage'
Family Research Council
July 6, 2006 - Thursday
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 6, 2006
CONTACT: J.P. Duffy, 866-FRC-NEWS
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=PR06G01
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today the New York Court of Appeals, the Empire State's highest court, and the Georgia State Supreme Court upheld the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Family Research Council (FRC) filed an amicus brief in the New York case. Despite today's victories, traditional marriage continues to face court challenges in Washington state, Maryland, New Jersey, Iowa, Oklahoma, California, Nebraska, and Connecticut. Peter Sprigg, FRC's Vice President for Policy, released the following statement:
"Today, the high courts in New York and Georgia fulfilled their duty by upholding state laws defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. We applaud today's rulings, which recognize the right of the legislature and the people to regulate marriage for the good of children and society.
"The New York court reasonably concluded that the legislature has a legitimate interest in promoting responsible procreation and can 'rationally' believe that children need both a mother and a father. The court's well-reasoned ruling is a shining example for other courts across the nation. As we await rulings in several other states, we can only hope that other courts will exercise similar judicial restraint and avoid substituting their own social policy preferences for those of the legislatures and the people.
"We also affirm the Georgia Supreme Court for its decision upholding the validity of a state constitutional amendment defining marriage, which was approved with 76% of the vote in a 2004 referendum. The unbroken success of such amendments makes clear that there is a popular consensus that marriage is and should remain the union of one man and one woman. However, the only sure way to protect the country against more rogue decisions like the one in Massachusetts in 2003--including ones at the federal level--is through passage of a Marriage Protection Amendment to the U.S. Constitution."
-30-
----- 8 -----
Ford Sponsors Homosexual Media Awards, Desperate Housewives
American Family Association
June 26, 2006
http://www.afa.net/ford062706.asp
When Ford said they support homosexual groups promoting same-sex marriage, they meant it. Ford put forth this declaration: "This is a strong commitment we intend to carry forward with no exception."
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Awards events were recently held in Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. The GLAAD Awards honored those who had made outstanding contributions to the homosexual lifestyle. Ford was a corporate sponsor for all four GLAAD Media Awards events.
In an effort to overcome the boycott called by AFA, Ford is telling potential customers that they advertise in Christian publications such as Christianity Today, Today's Christian Woman, The National Liberty Journal and Charisma. They also say that they are the largest advertiser on Christian radio. It is no accident that Ford all of a sudden has begun to advertise in Christian publications and on Christian radio.
[More at URL]
----- 9 -----
Pro-Family Leaders Praise Ga., NY Courts' Pro-Marriage Rulings
By Bill Fancher and Jenni Parker
Agape Press
July 7, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/7/afa/72006a.asp
(AgapePress) - Pro-family groups are celebrating two court rulings on Thursday in New York and Georgia that turned aside bids by homosexuals to legalize same-sex "marriage." While the Georgia Supreme Court's decision to uphold a referendum result banning homosexual marriage surprised few, many conservatives were both surprised and particularly pleased by the strong, pro-family wording of the New York court's ruling.
In a 4-2 decision, the New York Court of Appeals ruled that the state constitution guarantees no right to homosexual marriage, declaring that the New York constitution "does not compel recognition of marriages between members of the same sex" and that the question of whether such marriages should be recognized is an issue to be addressed by the Legislature.
[More at URL]
----- 10 -----
Ford Boycott Leader: Homosexual Ties Taking Car Company Downhill
By Ed Thomas
July 7, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/7/afa/72006e.asp
(AgapePress) - The latest sales figures for Ford Motor Company continue the ongoing story of the company's declining bottom line -- a several-percentage-points drop in sales that the leader of a pro-family group ties in with a boycott and the economy.
Ford says its report for June, released this week, shows the company's total auto sales down 6.9 percent. Car purchases did rise 7.1 percent; however, truck sales dropped 14.5 percent. Don Wildmon, founder and chairman of the American Family Association (AFA), believes one of the things hurting the auto manufacturer's profit margin is the boycott his organization launched against the automaker this year.
AFA initiated the Ford boycott to protest Ford's affiliation with homosexual and liberal causes. Other organizations and individuals have joined in, and Wildmon believes the pro-family consumer protest is progressively hurting the automotive giant. "They've been going downhill at least since we began the boycott," he says, "and their stock continues to fall."
[More at URL]
----- 11 -----
Lawyer Confident Christian Students' Lawsuit Against UC Will Proceed
By Jim Brown
Agape Press/American Family Association
July 7, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/7/afa/72006c.asp
(AgapePress) - A California attorney says a federal judge is likely to allow plaintiffs accusing the University of California (UC) university system of engaging in viewpoint discrimination against Christian students and schools to take their case to trial.
Calvary Chapel Christian School in Murrieta, with some 1,300 students, recently filed suit against the UC system, claiming it prohibits the Christian high school's students from receiving academic credit for courses taught from a Christian perspective. Last week, Judge James Otero conducted a hearing in Los Angeles District Court to consider UC's request that he dismiss the suit.
[...]
Officials with Calvary Chapel say the Christian school's courses were rejected by UC because they used textbooks printed by two conservative Christian publishers: Bob Jones University Press in South Carolina and A Beka Books in Pensacola, Florida. Tyler anticipates that the judge presiding over the matter will allow some -- if not all -- of the Christian students' complaints to be heard in court.
[More at URL]
----- 12 -----
Lawsuit Targets Michigan State's 'Domestic Partner' Policy
By Jim Brown
American Family Association/Agape Press
July 7, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/7/afa/72006b.asp
(AgapePress) - Michigan State University is being sued over its recognition of same-sex "marriages."
The lawsuit filed on behalf of the American Family Association of Michigan alleges Michigan State is violating the state marriage amendment, which defines marriage as "the union of one man and one woman." MSU has a policy that provides employee benefits to so-called "same-sex domestic partners." Attorney Pat Gillen with the Thomas More Law Center, which is representing AFA-Michigan, says proponents of same-sex "marriage" are trying to get the legal status of a lawful marriage by using another name.
[More at URL]
----- 13 -----
'Walking' Beats 'Talking' in Dealing with Homosexuality, Says Pastor
By Jim Brown
AFA/Agape Press
July 7, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/7/afa/72006g.asp
(AgapePress) - A former homosexual is teaching Christian audiences how to evangelize and disciple those caught in the destructive and sinful lifestyle of homosexuality.
North Carolina pastor Tim Wilkins is taking his one-day "More Than Words" conference to Cleveland, Ohio, on Saturday (July 8). Next month (August 12), the conference goes to Raleigh, North Carolina. The conference is designed to help Christians understand homosexuality and learn how to help friends and family members dealing with the sin. Wilkins, who says he left homosexuality more than two decades ago, notes the focus is "walking versus talking people out of homosexuality.
"If talking changed things, everything would be changed. So our emphasis here is emphasizing that love -- compassion grounded in the truth of God's Word -- is what sets people free," says the founder of Cross Ministry. "And, as I say in many of the venues where I speak, no one has ever been argued out of homosexuality -- and for that matter, no one has ever been argued into the kingdom of God."
[More at URL]
----- 14 -----
Georgia And New York Courts Rule In Favor Of Traditional Marriage
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2782
July 6, 2006 Washington, DC – “The New York and Georgia Supreme Courts did the right thing today by upholding traditional marriage,” said TVC Executive Director Andrea Lafferty today. “The New York Court ruled that there is no state law granting the alleged ‘right’ of same-sex marriage and the majority on the Georgia Court ruled that the marriage amendment passed by the people did not violate the state’s one-subject rule for ballot measures.
“This is a good day for traditional marriage and the rule of law,” said Lafferty. “The New York Court decision was especially encouraging. The Court ruled that any decision on marriage should come from the state legislature and the people, not from the Court.
[More at URL]
----- 15 -----
Congress On Recess: Visit Them About Line Item Veto!
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2780
July 6, 2006 – While Congress is on recess, take time to visit the home offices of your two U.S. Senators. The House passed H.R. 4890, the Line-Item Veto Act, but the Senate has not acted on it yet.
The Line-Item Veto Act will enable President Bush to target wasteful pork barrel programs in legislation and then send those items back to the House and Senate for another vote. Legislators will then be forced to vote on these programs as
TVC’s article, “Support the Legislative Line-Item Veto Act, H.R. 4890” has more details on this legislation!
----- 16 -----
House Majority Leader Launches American Values Agenda
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2778
July 6, 2006 – House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has announced the launch of the American Values Agenda, a series of legislative proposals designed to defend traditional values.
According to Boehner, “The American Values Agenda is a collection of legislative initiatives that speak to the values many American citizens hold dear. Freedom to display the American flag … freedom of religious expression … the right to keep and bear arms … respect for the sanctity of marriage, and the dignity of all human life. These are values that have defined the American character, protected our families, and shaped our society.”
[More at URL]
----- 17 -----
Alleged Homosexual Girls Expelled From Christian School Can Sue
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2777
July 6, 2006 – In a case that has serious religious freedom implications, the California Supreme Court has ruled that two girls alleged to be lesbians can sue a private Christian school over being expelled.
The case involves California Lutheran School and its explusion of two girls in 2005 over improper sexual behaviors. The Court, however, ruled that the girls can sue the school for being expelled—even though their conduct violated the religious standards of the school.
[More at URL]
----- 18 -----
The Fish That Shoots Down Evolution
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2776
July 6, 2006 – In 1859, Charles Darwin wrote the following: “If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.”
Darwin and his evolutionist allies today should consider the archerfish, a fish that shoots down its prey in the air with a burst of water.
In a recent commentary on evolution by United Church of God Pastor Mario Seiglie, he points out that the archerfish is so uniquely designed that it could not have evolved with slight modifications.
[More at URL]
----- 19 -----
Another Study Pushes ‘Born Gay’ Urban Legend
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2775
July 6, 2006 – Psychologist Anthony Bogaert of Brock University in Canada has published a new study allegedly finding a biological reason for homosexuality in males.
The study, “Biological versus non-biological older brothers and men’s sexual orientation,” was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences recently.
The study has been touted worldwide as evidence of a genetic origin of homosexuality in males. According to Bogaert, a family with older brothers has a higher than average rate of younger homosexual siblings. This effect, claims Bogaert could be due to the mother’s immune system memorizing the number of male fetuses and altering hormones with each succeeding infant. This could impact the sexual differentiation in the brain of each succeeding male child. There is no credible evidence that this is true.
[More at URL]
----- 20 -----
House GOP Leaders Launch American Values Agenda
Majority Leader John Boehner
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
http://www.majorityleader.gov/News.asp?FormMode=Detail&ID=630
WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Republican leaders today unveiled the American Values Agenda, a list of freedom-based legislative initiatives expected to move through the House in the coming weeks and months. The American Values Agenda complements the broader House Republican agenda that was unveiled by GOP leaders back in March.
[...]
THE AMERICAN VALUES AGENDA
Pledge Protection Act (HR 2389; Rep. Akin)
Summary: Protects the Pledge of Allegiance from attacks by activist federal judges seeking to rule it unconstitutional.
Freedom to Display the American Flag Act (HR 42; Rep. Bartlett)
Summary: Ensures an individual has the right to display the U.S. flag on residential property.
The Public Expression of Religion Act (HR 2679; Rep. Hostettler)
Summary: Ensures local officials and communities do not face financial ruin to defend their rights to free speech under the Constitution (provides that when state or local officials are sued over public expressions of religion, no monetary damages, costs, or attorney's fees may be awarded).
Marriage Amendment (HJRes 88; Rep. Musgrave)
Summary: Constitutional amendment declaring marriage to be between a man and a woman
Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act (HR 356; Rep. C. Smith)
Summary: Requires that those performing late-term abortions inform the woman seeking an abortion of the medical evidence that the unborn child feels pain, and ensure that if she chooses to continue with the abortion procedure, she has the option of choosing anesthesia for the child, so that the unborn child’s pain is less severe.
Human Cloning Prohibition Act (HR 1357; Rep. D. Weldon)
Summary: Bans human cloning and the importation of products derived from a cloned human embryo (e.g. stem cells).
BATFE Reform (HR 5092; Rep. Coble)
Summary: Reforms the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (BATFE) to protect citizens’ rights.
Internet Gambling Prohibition (Reps. Leach & Goodlatte):
Summary: Addresses the issue of illegal internet gambling by making gambling laws apply equally to the internet.
Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act (HR 5013; Rep. Jindal)
Summary: Prohibits governments from using federal funds to confiscate guns from law-abiding citizens during emergencies.
Permanent Tax Relief for Families
Summary: Likely series of votes on the child tax credit, marriage penalty relief, tax incentives for adoption, and other priorities for American citizens.
[More at URL]
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Q&A with Pioneering Ethicist
Margaret Somerville
By Brian Bethune, Macleans
June 28, 2006
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/family/marriage/q&a-somerville.htm
In an interview with MacLean’s Dr. Margaret Somerville responds to the matter of “same sex marriage” definition in Canadian law.
On the Ryerson fiasco, children's rights and same-sex marriage
Dr Somerville raises the issue of whose rights are imposed. I would suggest we also look to who is imposing those rights: courts, whose ethics and judgment can and should be questioned: Governments, whose reason and understanding of societal good can and should be questioned: and activists whose best interest is adult selfishness not children.
MacLeans Interviewer: “But if you raise a child in a loving environment ...”
“…This is not a very popular thing that I say, but as important as love is - and it's immensely important - it's not enough. There's more to us becoming fully human. It's what Kierkegaard calls the power of becoming oneself. You have to feel you've got authenticity and roots and connections in order to be able to use that power fully. These kids tell me things like, "I look at myself in the mirror and half of me is missing, and nobody had the right to do that to me." Another called it "a big, black void down below you.’”
The definition of love in some minds is so ill-defined as to allow, endorse and even encourage behaviors which are unnatural and harmful. What’s love got to do with that? Adults show great disregard for children when they put their emotions, wants and desires and even their needs ahead of what vulnerable children need.
[More at URL]
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A Very Good Day
Campaign for Working Families
[Found on Canadian Family Action Coalition website]
July 6, 2006
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/family/marriage/a-very-good-day.htm
I am pleased to do something that doesn't happen very often - report victories from the courts in the on-going legal battle to redefine marriage in America. Here's the good news: Today, the Supreme Court of Georgia unanimously reversed a lower court ruling that declared Georgia's state marriage protection amendment unconstitutional, despite being approved at the ballot box by 76% of the vote. With today's decision, the amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman is once again part of Georgia's state constitution.
Now, here's the really good news! This morning, New York's State Supreme Court dealt a surprising blow to the efforts of the militant homosexual movement to impose same-sex "marriage" on New Yorkers by judicial fiat. In its 4-to-2 ruling, the court's majority demonstrated that it truly understands what is at stake in the effort to redefine marriage - the best interests of our children.
[More at URL]
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Accuracy about public view and marriage
Canada Family Action Coalition
Online as of July 8, 2006
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/family/marriage/media-provides-cover.htm
This report from the US sounds awfully familiar to Canada. Would a vote on marriage by the public in a referendum produce the same results as in the US states. We think so. The accuracy of polls must be questioned. And one must ask what the political ideology of the pollster is.
Perhaps the Prime Minister ought to put this crucial social issue of marriage to a public vote not just a free vote of MPs. Or perhaps the next election should again directly raise the issue (and it will do so if marriage is not restored) so the Canadian public can truly be represented.
-- CFAC
Commentary: Media provides cover for assault on traditional marriage
James C. Dobson says lawmakers are turning their backs on traditional marriage
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (CNN) --
On June 7, the U.S. Senate voted for a second time on an amendment to define marriage in the U.S. Constitution as being exclusively between one man and one woman.
[More at URL]
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Medical Conditions and Sodomy
Canada Family Action Coalition
July 6, 2006
http://www.corporateresourcecouncil.org/white_papers/Health_Risks.pdf
[Contents:]
The Health Risks of Gay Sex
By John R. Diggs, Jr., M.D.
Executive Summary
Sexual relationships between members of the same sex expose gays, lesbians, and bisexuals to extreme risks of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), physical injuries, mental disorders, and even a shortened life span. There are five major distinctions between gay and heterosexual relationships, with specific medical consequences. They are:
[Ed. Note: Summary: Fags have hundreds if not thousands of sexual partners; lesbians are also bad; gay male sex leads to "physical injuries, some of which are virtually unknown in the heterosexual population"; claims lesbians are at higher risk for STDs than straight men; claims lesbian and gay people are very likely to be medically ill; claims that gay and bisexual men have dramatically shorter lifespans; claims gay men are virtually incapable of stable relationships. In short summery: queers are diseased, perverted sickos. Basically this is the same material found flying around the US a lot in the background, in a package I haven't seen yet. Oh look, he's got the Gay Bowel Syndrome in his footnotes. Yay.]
[Ed. Note: "John R. Diggs" and "Corporate Research Council" gets exactly three hits, all off of anti-gay websites. I found one line-by-line counter to his broadsheet here:
http://webzoom.freewebs.com/palmettoumoja/John%20R.%20Diggs's%20lies.pdf
Here's a secondary URL that's got pointers to this data and data on Paul Cameron's fabrications. It also discusses the general approach taken by Cameron and all his successors. It's worth a look if you don't understand yet how they come up with these "studies":
http://www.freewebs.com/palmettoumoja/fighttheright.htm
John Diggs appears to be the new Paul Cameron, if this material is accurate at all. He's all over the fundamentalist websites.]
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What We Now Know:
Virus Myth, Part I
6/27/06 (©)
Casey Research, Inc. 2006
Found on Canada Family Action Coalition website on 8 July 2006
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/sexuality/virus-myth-1.htm
One moonlit night in 1983, a biochemist named Kary Mullis was driving along a California mountain road when he had an aha! experience akin to Newton's with the apple and Archimedes' in the bathtub. Mullis immediately pulled off the road, awakened his sleeping girlfriend, and told her that he suddenly knew how to replicate DNA. It was a problem that had been vexing scientists and, as it turned out, Mullis was right. His insight into the polymerase chain reaction won him the 1993 Nobel Prize for Chemistry and led to the invention of DNA-replicating machines and the tests they make possible, including the one for HIV antibodies.
This is simply by way of establishing the impeccable scientific credentials of Dr. Kary Mullis. Because when someone of his stature questions whether the HIV virus causes AIDS, we should probably listen. Huh? Of course HIV causes AIDS, we all know that, don't we? The CDC tells us so, the media tell us so, our doctors tell us so. End of story.
Well, actually not. There is a sizeable, and growing, chorus of dissenting voices. And unlike many groups that challenge an entrenched mainstream belief, this one does not consist of loudmouths with fringe credentials. It is made up of pre-eminent scientists with rock-solid reputations. Among dozens of others, in addition to Kary Mullis, we find Dr. Peter Duesberg of UC Berkeley, one of the world's leading molecular biologists; Dr. Heinz Ludwig Sänger, emeritus professor of molecular biology and virology at the Max-Planck-Institute in Munich, Germany; Dr. Eleni Papadopulos-Eleopulos, professor of medical physics at Australia's Royal Perth Hospital; Dr. Walter Gilbert, 1980 Nobel prize winner for his work on DNA sequencing; and Dr. Gordon Stewart, professor emeritus of public health at Glasgow University and a former AIDS adviser to the World Health Organization.
[More at URL]
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Gay Behaviors vs. Public Health
"Are you a male who has had sex, even once, with another male since 1977?"
By Robert Seidenberg
Published 6/29/2006
[Found on Canada Family Action Coalition website, 8 July 2006]
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/sexuality/gay-behavior.htm
This is one of the questions that all U.S. blood collection facilities must ask when they administer the pre-donation questionnaire to screen potential donors. Anyone answering yes to this question is "indefinitely deferred," or in plain language, banned for life from donating blood. Despite pressure from gay advocates to change it, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has maintained this policy for 22 years. However, the pressure has intensified lately with gay activists successfully stopping college blood drives with cries of "discrimination."
Thus, this past March, the FDA held yet another workshop to review the male-sex-with-male (MSM) policy, and will convene the Blood Product Advisory Committee (BPAC) in mid-July to render an official decision. Based on recommendations made at the workshop, it is very likely that BPAC will finally recommend a modified policy. If they do, gays will claim a victory over "discrimination," and that is all that will be reported in the sound-bite media.
[More at URL]
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It is a queer thing!
By Brian Rushfeldt
CFAC Executive Director
Canada Family Action Coalition
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/sexuality/a-queer-thing.htm
I use the word queer and I am called bigot, homophobe and hateful. But a queer magazine uses the word and they are proud and applauded. They claim they are expressing diversity.
I conclude there is a group who are so proud of their diversity, they respect no one else’s diversity.
[More at URL]
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Sanctity of Marriage.ca
Back and white - as is the issue of marriage redefinition!
Canada Family Action Coalition
http://www.familyaction.org/sanctityofmarriage/
[Ed. Note: Most of the contents are older, but it appears to be being updated again, with links to anti-gay propaganda in the US - particularly the Family Research Council.]
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Jewish family flees Delaware school district's aggressive Christianity
by JewsOnFirst.org, June 28, 2006
Links to articles and documents cited in our report appear immediately below it
http://www.jewsonfirst.org/06b/indianriver.html
A large Delaware school district promoted Christianity so aggressively that a Jewish family felt it necessary to move to Wilmington, two hours away, because they feared retaliation for filing a lawsuit. The religion (if any) of a second family in the lawsuit is not known, because they're suing as Jane and John Doe; they also fear retaliation. Both families are asking relief from "state-sponsored religion."
[More, including specifics of the events as related by the claimants, at URL]
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Jesus' General
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/2006_07_02_patriotboy_archive.html#115205133179072443
STACLU pogrom is a resounding success
Nedd Kareiva
Scrabble Champion
Director, Stop the ACLU Coalition
Dear Mr. Kareiva,
Please allow me to be the first to thank you and the staff of Stop The ACLU for all you did to make the Indian River Pogrom such a resounding success. It isn't easy to run a Jewish family out of town in these politically correct times. Usually, they just hunker down, hiding behind antiquated interpretations of the Constitution and the good will of those who wrongly believe that non-Christians are entitled to all of the benefits of citizenship.
But this time, the family fled, and I think you deserve partial credit for making that happen. After all, you did publish their name, address, and phone number on your web site (see screen cap below) as part of your "Expose ACLU Plaintiffs" project. It certainly wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that such information gave people the tools they needed to drive the Dobrich family from their home.
[...]
The complaint recounts a raucous crowd that applauded the board's opening prayer and then, when sixth-grader Alexander Dobrich stood up to read a statement, yelled at him "take your yarmulke off!" His statement, read by Samantha, confided "I feel bad when kids in my class call me Jew boy."
...A former board member suggested that Mona Dobrich might "disappear" like Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the atheist whose Supreme Court case resulted in ending organized school prayer. She disappeared in 1995 and her dismembered body was found six years later.
[More at URL]
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-07-09 06:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-09 06:38 am (UTC)http://www.cwfa.org/articles/11069/BLI/reports/index.htm
no subject
Date: 2006-07-09 10:13 pm (UTC)http://yesthattom.livejournal.com/565563.html
no subject
Date: 2006-07-10 12:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-10 12:34 pm (UTC)The article states, "The archerfish offers precisely such an example [of a trait that could not evolve gradually], since several complex systems must all appear at the same time, perfectly and not gradually formed—binocular vision, a specialized mouth and tongue, specialized gills to compress and expel water and an aiming system based in the brain and not in the eyes. If any of these parts is missing, the mechanism will not hit the target and no survival advantage is created."
A quick check on Wikipedia and via Google reveals that the archerfish prefers to eat insects that are on the surface of the water by grabbing them from underwater or to eat low-flying insects by leaping up to grab them. Thus, the archerfish can hunt with only its binocular vision and an aiming mechanism for leaps rather than squirts. I can image the proto-archerfish evolving first as a fish that leapt at low-flying insects, then acquiring a mutation to spit at fish instead of leaping, and gradually honing that mechanism through further adaption to be able to shoot down insects four feet away.
The writer is described as a pastor of the United Church of God (not to be confused with the larger United Church of Christ) with no mention of scientific credentials. I don't expect him to have my imagination, but he should have at least noticed that biologists in favor of the theory of evolution have no problems with the archerfish. Biologists do have some hesitant speculations about the evolution of flying, so they do pay attention to such matters. The article was written for Vertical Thought, an inspirational magazine for the United Church of God, so I suppose their standards for rigor are low. That the Traditional Values Coalition quoted the article implies that their standards are even lower.
Erin Schram