Today's Cultural Warfare Update
Jul. 30th, 2006 12:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdThis is one of two, really, but I'm filing them as separate updates because they're long. I'll do the next segment tomorrow. But we have a short Feature Presentation at the end, and tomorrow, we'll have a comic! Yay!
But now, today's news.
White House Press Secretary Tony Snow calls embryonic stem-cell research "murder" then disclaims it;
Hyperconservative rabbis blame gays and lesbians for war with Lebanon;
Ann Coulter blames Clinton sexual misadventures on "homosexuality";
Latvian police refuse to intervene in mob attacks against lesbian and gay pride event;
Fundamentalist-supported effort to extend broadcast regulation into cable space;
Focus on the Family newsbrief on a challenge to Maryland's opposite-sex-only marriage law;
FotF article on how to "prepare" for "showdown[s]" with "homosexual activists" pushes the "ex-gay ministry" line;
Oregon to have "parental notification" law on ballot this fall;
Michigan State House passes bill requiring "screening" of women seeking abortions, supposedly to prevent coercion, but these things never actually work that way;
GOP in Ohio uses fundamentalists to pitch attack on married Democratic minister running for Congress, accusing him of being gay;
Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM to support a bill banning aid to minours trying to cross state lines to avoid parental-notification law;
Focus on the Family decries increase in number of "unwed mothers" aged 21 and over, calling them "young unwed mothers," presumably to imply they're teenagers or kids or something;
FotF pushes its big fundamentalist action conference this September; includes partial guest-list and it's labeled an ACTION ITEM, tho' the "action" is to sign up to go to the confab;
FotF ACTION ITEM to support a Brownback bill intended to prevent claimants in church-state religious discrimination cases from collecting attourney's fees - the point is to make it much harder to sue;
Five heterosexual couples file lawsuit against Arizona's proposed marriage/civil unions/domestic partnerships ban, saying they'll be affected if it passes as-is;
Creationism meets global climate science: theoconservatives are making global warming into a religious issue;
FotF keeps the "embryonic stem cells are human beings" drumbeat;
Washington State Supreme Court upholds our local anti-marriage laws in a decision that makes perfect sense if you consider lesbian and gay couples inherently of lesser value and never ever involve having children, and no sense at all otherwise;
Focus on the Family attacks study asserting that children of gay couples do better when those couples can get married or at least enroll in effective civil unions;
FotF ACTION ITEM to support a Federal ban on marriage rights, saying that the ban has to be "100 percent effective [nationally]" or that it isn't effective at all;
Today's Cultural Warfare Update Feature Presentation: David Letterman carries a Clinton response to Anne Coulter.
----- 1 -----
Snow apologizes for ‘murder’ statement
Spokesman says president would not use term with stem-cell research
Associated Press
Updated: 11:31 a.m. PT July 24, 2006
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14013127/
WASHINGTON - White House press secretary Tony Snow apologized on Monday for suggesting that President Bush believed stem-cell research amounted to "murder," saying he was "overstating the president's position."
At issue was Snow's comment last Wednesday defending Bush's veto of legislation to expand federally financed research on stem cells obtained from unwanted embryos.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
Violence in Israel caused by 'gay' event?
Rabbis link troubles to approval of World Pride parade in Jerusalem
Posted: July 19, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Alex Traiman
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51128
BEIT EL, Israel – Are Israel's troubles in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon and the Hezbollah rockets slamming daily into major Israeli population centers here a result of the Jewish state's tacit support for a homosexual parade slated for next month in Jerusalem?
Some rabbis seem to think so, and they are attempting to block the event from taking place in Judaism's holiest city.
"Why does this war break out this week, all of sudden with little warning? Because this is the exact week the Jewish people are trying to decide whether the gay pride parade should take place in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv," Pinchas Winston, a noted author, rabbi and lecturer based in Jerusalem told WND.
[More at URL]
----- 3 ------
Coulter Comes Out Against Gay Clinton Marriage
Wonkette
July 25, 2006
http://www.wonkette.com/politics/movies/coulter-comes-out-against-gay-clinton-marriage-189845.php
You can only bash 9/11 widows for so long before your book starts slip-sliding down the charts. Solution: Call Bill Clinton gay. A source from “The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch” handed us this transcript from tonight’s 10 pm ET show, during which Deutsch notes that Coulter was talking about Bill Clinton off the air and goads her into repeating what she said.
Ms. COULTER: I think that sort of rampant promiscuity does show some level of latent homosexuality.
DEUTSCH: OK, I think you need to say that again. That Bill Clinton, you think on some level, has — is a latent homosexual, is that what you’re saying?
Ms. COULTER: Yeah.
[More at URL]
----- 4 -----
LATVIA PRIDE TRASHED BY MOBS THROWING HUMAN EXCREMENT
Jul 24, 2006
Overall URL, includes pointers to a few photos:
http://public.fotki.com/MANOaMANO/rex_wockner_news_photos/
Story here:
Latvia Pride a disaster
BANNED MARCH CHANGED VENUES, BUT ANTI-GAY MOB TRASHED PARTICIPANTS, THROWING HUMAN EXCREMENT
http://innewsweekly.com/innews/?class_code=Ne&article_code=2373
The second effort to stage a gay pride parade in Riga, Latvia, was an unmitigated disaster July 22.
The City Council and a court banned the parade, claiming police wouldn't be able to protect marchers from marauding homophobic mobs.
So, activists instead staged a religious service at a church and meetings at a hotel.
[...]
Scores of anti-gay protesters gathered outside the Anglican church and flung human excrement, eggs and rotten food at gays and lesbians as they left the building.
"I was hit with a bag full of shit and had to go wash up," said the Rev. Maris Sants.
"Protesters threw human excrement on us," said the Rev. Juris Calitis. "I was covered with it from head to foot. It was quite smelly."
"Worshippers were pelted with shit and rotten fruit," said British participant Peter Tatchell. "Despite previously requesting police protection, no police were present to protect the congregation."
Activist meetings later in the day at the four-star Reval Hotel met a similar fate, attracting hundreds of anti-gay demonstrators.
[More at URLs]
----- 5 -----
Bill Offered to Combat Offensive Cable Channels
Cable industry campaign places burden on parents.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
July 28, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0041445.cfm
Legislation was introduced in the U.S. House this week that would require cable and satellite TV providers to choose among three options to counter the increase in sex and violence in programming.
The Family Choice Act of 2006, co-sponsored by Reps. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., and Tom Osborne, R-Neb., would have providers select between increased FCC regulation, a la carte programming that allows families to choose and pay for only the channels they want, or controversial family tiers in which the cable companies decide what channels are family friendly and offer them as a package.
[More at URL]
----- 6 -----
Maryland Marriage Law Faces Court Challenge
Focus on the Family
July 28, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0041451.cfm
Maryland's highest court -- called The Court of Appeals -- has agreed to hear a challenge to a 1973 state law that limits marriage to the union of one man and one woman, The Associated Press reported.
[More at URL]
----- 7 -----
Campus Showdown
How should Christians respond when homosexual activists knock at their door? That’s what 19 colleges had to figure out this spring.
by Wendy Cloyd, reporting from Regent and Wheaton
Citizen Magazine
Focus on the Family
July 2006
http://family.org/cforum/citizenmag/features/a0040939.cfm
A motor coach rolled to a stop under dreary March skies and across the street from Regent University, a Christian college in Virginia Beach, Va. Inside were riders who had prepared a message for Regent students and faculty: Biblical teaching on the sin of homosexuality is harming Christian students who prefer intimacy with someone of their own gender.
[...]
Peter LaBarbera, executive director of the Illinois Family Institute and a longtime defender of biblical morality, stopped by Wheaton during the Equality Ride visit. Sitting in the student center, he told Citizen that the opportunity for change should be the focus of any campus discussion about homosexuality.
“If you can change, there’s really no excuse to talk about this as a minority group,” he said. The fact that thousands of men and women who experienced same-sex attraction have changed, he said, is a point worth making.
[More at URL]
----- 8 -----
Oregonians Will Vote on Parents' Right to Know of Child's Abortion
Focus on the Family
July 27, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0041436.cfm
The Oregon secretary of state has determined that petitioners submitted enough signatures to place a parental-notification initiative on the November ballot, The Register-Guard reported.
Oregon Right to Life (ORTL) submitted 115,845 signatures — significantly more than the 75,630 required for certification.
[More at URL]
----- 9 -----
Michigan Lawmakers Approve Bill to Prevent Coerced Abortion
Focus on the Family
July 27, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0041435.cfm
The Michigan state House has approved a measure that would require doctors to screen abortion-minded women to ensure they weren't pressured into killing their preborn babies, LifeNews.com reported.
Kary Moss, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, called the measure a "false campaign" to make it more difficult for women to get abortions.
[More at URL]
----- 10 -----
The GOP's Sleaziest Attack Campaign
The Nation
07/28/2006
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?pid=106378
How low will Republicans go to try and hang onto control of Ohio, the swing state where their machinations secured the presidency for George W. Bush in 2004?
[...]
Gary Lankford, the Ohio Republican Party's recently hired "social conservative coordinator" this week dispatched a mass e-mail to so-called "pro-family friends" that featured his 10-point introduction to U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, the Democratic nominee for governor.
Strickland, an ordained Methodist minister who has thrown Republicans for a loop by speaking about his faith during the campaign, is running far ahead of scandal-plagued Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, the Republican nominee who gained national fame in 2004 when he was broadly accused of manipulating election processes and vote counting to favor Bush in the presidential race.
What's the GOP strategy for getting Blackwell back into the running? Imply that Strickland is gay.
What are Republican staffers pointing to as evidence? Reports that the Democratic congressman and his wife of 20 years reside in different locations when he is in Washington.
[More at URL]
----- 11 -----
Parental-Rights Bill Passes Senate
But disappointed Democrats are trying to keep abortion-notification legislation from reaching the president's desk.
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
Focus on the Family
July 26, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0041411.cfm
A measure that would make it a crime to take a minor seeking an abortion across state lines to avoid parental-involvement laws sailed through the Senate late Tuesday. But Democrats are trying to stall the bill to keep it from becoming law.
The Child Custody Protection Act (CCPA), which passed the Senate on a 65-34 vote, makes it illegal to transport a girl under 18 from a state that requires parental notification or consent to one that does not with the intention of attaining abortion services. Now the bill, which has already passed the House, has to go to a conference committee to iron out differences between the versions approved in each chamber.
[...]
TAKE ACTION
Please take a moment to contact Democrat leaders Reid and Durbin and demand that they release the Child Custody Protection Act to a conference committee so that it can continue its journey to the president's desk to become law. Since both senators are members of the chamber's leadership, you should feel free to contact them no matter what state you live in.
Sen. Harry Reid
Phone: 202-224-3542
Fax: 202-224-7327
E-mail: http://reid.senate.gov/contact/email_form.cfm
Sen. Richard Durbin
Phone: 202-224-2152
Fax: 202-228-0400
E-mail: http://durbin.senate.gov/contact.cfm#contact
----- 12 -----
Young Unwed Mothers on the Rise
Focus on the Family
July 26, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0041407.cfm
The Beverly LaHaye Institute (BLI) at Concerned Women for America released research today showing that the trend of unwed mothers over the age of 20 continues to increase.
BLI's research also shows that unemployment rates for mothers with children 6 or younger have drastically escalated.
[More at URL]
----- 13 -----
Values Voters to Gather for Washington Briefing
It's more than a conference, it's a call to action.
by Amanda Banks, federal issues analyst
Focus on the Family
July 25, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0041393.cfm
The Washington Briefing, a values-voter summit scheduled for Sept. 22-24 in the nation's capital, will feature an A list of speakers including Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Bill Bennett, Ann Coulter, Newt Gingrich and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Topics include "Larger than Life: How the Abortion Debate Continues to Shape American Politics;" "The Preservation of Marriage: Why Children Need It;" and "Courts Gone Wild: The Rightful Place of Judges in Our Republic."
[...]
Four of the nation's leading pro-family groups are partnering for the Washington Briefing: FRC Action, Focus on the Family Action, Americans United to Preserve Marriage and American Family Association Action.
Here are the "Top Seven" reasons you should make plans now to attend:
#7 -- Get your new Ann Coulter book Godless signed by the author. Other book signings include Bill Bennett and Newt Gingrich.
[More at URL]
----- 14 -----
Congress Considers Limiting Awards in Religious-Freedom Cases
Focus on the Family
July 25, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0041388.cfm
The U.S. House and Senate are considering two measures that would help protect communities from activist groups that challenge public religious displays including Ten Commandments monuments. It would prohibit organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) from collecting attorneys’ fees from taxpayers if it wins such a case.
Sen. Sam Brownback, R.-Kan., introduced the Public Expressions of Religion Protection Act, which would prevent judicial activist groups from abusing the Civil Rights Attorneys Fees Awards Act of 1976.
“Groups with a partisan political agenda should not have their legal costs reimbursed by state and local governments,” Brownback said. “If a group like the ACLU wants to sue a city for displaying a religious image, it should pay the bill itself, not take advantage of a provision that was designed to reimburse poor individuals pursuing civil-rights cases.”
[More at URL]
TAKE ACTION:
Encourage your U.S. lawmakers to support these bills. You may reach them through the CitizenLink Action Center.
If you are a CitizenLink Daily Update subscriber, click on the blue "Take Action" button in the e-mail to be automatically logged in to our Action Center. Otherwise, click on this link.
----- 15 -----
Couples Fight Arizona Marriage Amendment
Focus on the Family
July 24, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0041378.cfm
Five Arizona couples have filed a lawsuit to halt a proposed state constitutional amendment -- one that would define marriage as solely the union of one man and one woman -- from reaching November's ballot. The twist? All five couples are heterosexual, Gay Peoples Chronicle reported.
They argue the Protect Marriage Arizona amendment violates the state's single-subject rule -- which limits ballot initiatives to a one topic. The couples maintain the amendment deals with three -- marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships.
[More at URL]
----- 16 -----
Evangelicals Push Back on Global Warming
Interfaith Stewardship Alliance says the likes of Al Gore have it all wrong.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
July 26, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0041403.cfm
The ideological gap between many evangelical Christians and most environmentalists is as wide as any in all of the culture wars. And at the center of the debate is global warming.
The Interfaith Stewardship Alliance is taking on the topic from an evangelical viewpoint, and has gathered scientists and theologians who say the situation is not as dire as we have been led to believe in such forums as Al Gore's movie AnInconvenient Truth.
[...]
The Rev. Jim Tonkowich of the Institute on Religion and Democracy said there is a spiritual battle behind the global-warming scare.
"Much secular thinking about the environment includes a right to abortion. Why is that?" he asked. "Well, we want to keep the population down because human beings are nothing but users and polluters.
"The biblical view sees human beings as stewards, builders, co-creators with God. Take the stuff of creation and make — build cities."
[More at URL]
----- 17 -----
Adult Stem Cells Show Additional Promise
Latest research yet more proof that destroying human life not necessary to treat disease.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
July 26, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0041402.cfm
President Bush was surrounded by "Snowflake" babies when he informed the press last week about his decision to veto a bill to federally fund embryonic stem- cell research.
"These boys and girls are not spare parts," Bush said in discussing the children, born from frozen human embryos from in-vitro fertilization clinics. "They remind us of what is lost when embryos are destroyed in the name of research."
Days later, the University of Louisville announced that five other laboratories had affirmed the findings of a study the university released in December: that adult stem cells -- those that don't require the destruction of human life -- are proving highly valuable in the treatment of disease.
[More at URL]
----- 18 -----
Washington High Court Upholds DOMA
Justices strongly oppose legislating from the bench.
by Stuart Shepard, managing editor
Focus on the Family
July 26, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0041406.cfm
After nearly 16 months of deliberations, the Washington Supreme Court ruled 5-4 today in favor of the state's Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), issuing a strong rebuke for dissenting justices who favored mandating same-sex marriage.
The case was brought by 19 gay and lesbian couples who challenged the DOMA law that defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Two lower courts had struck down the law, and the state's highest court heard arguments on March 8, 2005.
[...]
Dr. James Dobson, chairman of Focus on the Family Action, said the ruling underscores the importance of traditional marriage.
"This court has found that the state does indeed have a legitimate interest in encouraging and protecting one-man, one-woman marriage," he said. "That interest is the next generation -- ensuring that the best environment in which to raise children is nurtured and safeguarded."
[...]
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, praised the majority for leaving the matter in the hands of the people and their representatives, but said there remains the need for federal action.
"In state after state, homosexual activists continue to take their attack on the definition of marriage to the courts, thus attempting to usurp the right of the people to decide this issue," he said. "Lawsuits still pending in several other states demonstrate that marriage is, in fact, at risk as long as the courts have the final say on marriage. Only passage of a marriage-protection amendment to the U.S. Constitution will take the future of marriage out of the hands of judges and bring these extremist lawsuits to an end."
The Washington high court also affirmed the interest of the state in establishing marriage laws.
"DOMA is constitutional," Madsen wrote, "because the Legislature was entitled to believe that limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples furthers procreation, essential to survival of the human race, and furthers the well-being of children by encouraging families where children are reared in homes headed by the children's biological parents. Allowing same-sex couples to marry does not, in the Legislature's view, further these purposes."
[More at URL]
----- 19 -----
Family Experts Rebut Study That Claims Kids Need Gay Marriage
Report ignores important measures of success.
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
Focus on the Family
July 25, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0041392.cfm
A study published this month in the journal Pediatrics claimed children do better when their same-sex parents are allowed to marry or enter a civil union. According to marriage and family experts, such reporting fails to recognize myriad reports that show kids do better in a home with a biological mother and father.
The report, titled "The Effects of Marriage, Civil Union and Domestic Partnership Laws on the Health and Well-Being of Children," was commissioned by the board of directors for the 55,000-member American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). It concludes:
"There is ample evidence to show that children raised by same-gender parents fare as well as those raised by heterosexual parents. More than 25 years of research have documented that there is no relationship between parents' sexual orientation and any measure of a child's emotional, psychosocial, and behavioral adjustment. These data have demonstrated no risk to children as a result of growing up in a family with one or more gay parents. Conscientious and nurturing adults, whether they are men or women, heterosexual or homosexual, can be excellent parents. The rights, benefits, and protections of civil marriage can further strengthen these families."
But Glenn Stanton, senior analyst for marriage and cultural affairs for Focus on the Family, said the research avoided a more important question in its quest to affirm gay marriage.
[More at URL]
----- 20 -----
What's Next for Marriage?
The battle to defend traditional marriage may stand at a turning point — but never have we needed a federal constitutional amendment more than now.
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
July 27, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0041434.cfm
Wednesday's momentous decision by the Washington state Supreme Court was the seventh victory on marriage in July — and it leaves pro-family legal analysts pondering where the movement to protect marriage really stands in the aftermath of such good news.
Evergreen State high court justices ruled 5-4 that the state's 1998 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) — which defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman — is constitutional, and that questions about the definition of marriage should be left to the Legislature, not the courts.
[...]
100 Percent Effective or Not at All
Mat Staver, president of Liberty Counsel, said the sad fact is, we have to be 100 percent successful to be truly successful at protecting marriage.
"From the 1970s to the 21st century, only one real case of significance was lost," he said. "It was lost by a 4-3 decision, and that was Massachusetts. But it has had — and still has — significant consequences not only for that state, but also for the rest of the country.
"In order to successfully protect marriage, a 99 percent success ratio is great — but it is not good enough."
[More at URL]
----- 21 -----
Late Nite with David Letterman
July 2006
http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Letterman-Clinton-Coulter.mov
But now, today's news.
White House Press Secretary Tony Snow calls embryonic stem-cell research "murder" then disclaims it;
Hyperconservative rabbis blame gays and lesbians for war with Lebanon;
Ann Coulter blames Clinton sexual misadventures on "homosexuality";
Latvian police refuse to intervene in mob attacks against lesbian and gay pride event;
Fundamentalist-supported effort to extend broadcast regulation into cable space;
Focus on the Family newsbrief on a challenge to Maryland's opposite-sex-only marriage law;
FotF article on how to "prepare" for "showdown[s]" with "homosexual activists" pushes the "ex-gay ministry" line;
Oregon to have "parental notification" law on ballot this fall;
Michigan State House passes bill requiring "screening" of women seeking abortions, supposedly to prevent coercion, but these things never actually work that way;
GOP in Ohio uses fundamentalists to pitch attack on married Democratic minister running for Congress, accusing him of being gay;
Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM to support a bill banning aid to minours trying to cross state lines to avoid parental-notification law;
Focus on the Family decries increase in number of "unwed mothers" aged 21 and over, calling them "young unwed mothers," presumably to imply they're teenagers or kids or something;
FotF pushes its big fundamentalist action conference this September; includes partial guest-list and it's labeled an ACTION ITEM, tho' the "action" is to sign up to go to the confab;
FotF ACTION ITEM to support a Brownback bill intended to prevent claimants in church-state religious discrimination cases from collecting attourney's fees - the point is to make it much harder to sue;
Five heterosexual couples file lawsuit against Arizona's proposed marriage/civil unions/domestic partnerships ban, saying they'll be affected if it passes as-is;
Creationism meets global climate science: theoconservatives are making global warming into a religious issue;
FotF keeps the "embryonic stem cells are human beings" drumbeat;
Washington State Supreme Court upholds our local anti-marriage laws in a decision that makes perfect sense if you consider lesbian and gay couples inherently of lesser value and never ever involve having children, and no sense at all otherwise;
Focus on the Family attacks study asserting that children of gay couples do better when those couples can get married or at least enroll in effective civil unions;
FotF ACTION ITEM to support a Federal ban on marriage rights, saying that the ban has to be "100 percent effective [nationally]" or that it isn't effective at all;
Today's Cultural Warfare Update Feature Presentation: David Letterman carries a Clinton response to Anne Coulter.
----- 1 -----
Snow apologizes for ‘murder’ statement
Spokesman says president would not use term with stem-cell research
Associated Press
Updated: 11:31 a.m. PT July 24, 2006
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14013127/
WASHINGTON - White House press secretary Tony Snow apologized on Monday for suggesting that President Bush believed stem-cell research amounted to "murder," saying he was "overstating the president's position."
At issue was Snow's comment last Wednesday defending Bush's veto of legislation to expand federally financed research on stem cells obtained from unwanted embryos.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
Violence in Israel caused by 'gay' event?
Rabbis link troubles to approval of World Pride parade in Jerusalem
Posted: July 19, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Alex Traiman
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51128
BEIT EL, Israel – Are Israel's troubles in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon and the Hezbollah rockets slamming daily into major Israeli population centers here a result of the Jewish state's tacit support for a homosexual parade slated for next month in Jerusalem?
Some rabbis seem to think so, and they are attempting to block the event from taking place in Judaism's holiest city.
"Why does this war break out this week, all of sudden with little warning? Because this is the exact week the Jewish people are trying to decide whether the gay pride parade should take place in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv," Pinchas Winston, a noted author, rabbi and lecturer based in Jerusalem told WND.
[More at URL]
----- 3 ------
Coulter Comes Out Against Gay Clinton Marriage
Wonkette
July 25, 2006
http://www.wonkette.com/politics/movies/coulter-comes-out-against-gay-clinton-marriage-189845.php
You can only bash 9/11 widows for so long before your book starts slip-sliding down the charts. Solution: Call Bill Clinton gay. A source from “The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch” handed us this transcript from tonight’s 10 pm ET show, during which Deutsch notes that Coulter was talking about Bill Clinton off the air and goads her into repeating what she said.
Ms. COULTER: I think that sort of rampant promiscuity does show some level of latent homosexuality.
DEUTSCH: OK, I think you need to say that again. That Bill Clinton, you think on some level, has — is a latent homosexual, is that what you’re saying?
Ms. COULTER: Yeah.
[More at URL]
----- 4 -----
LATVIA PRIDE TRASHED BY MOBS THROWING HUMAN EXCREMENT
Jul 24, 2006
Overall URL, includes pointers to a few photos:
http://public.fotki.com/MANOaMANO/rex_wockner_news_photos/
Story here:
Latvia Pride a disaster
BANNED MARCH CHANGED VENUES, BUT ANTI-GAY MOB TRASHED PARTICIPANTS, THROWING HUMAN EXCREMENT
http://innewsweekly.com/innews/?class_code=Ne&article_code=2373
The second effort to stage a gay pride parade in Riga, Latvia, was an unmitigated disaster July 22.
The City Council and a court banned the parade, claiming police wouldn't be able to protect marchers from marauding homophobic mobs.
So, activists instead staged a religious service at a church and meetings at a hotel.
[...]
Scores of anti-gay protesters gathered outside the Anglican church and flung human excrement, eggs and rotten food at gays and lesbians as they left the building.
"I was hit with a bag full of shit and had to go wash up," said the Rev. Maris Sants.
"Protesters threw human excrement on us," said the Rev. Juris Calitis. "I was covered with it from head to foot. It was quite smelly."
"Worshippers were pelted with shit and rotten fruit," said British participant Peter Tatchell. "Despite previously requesting police protection, no police were present to protect the congregation."
Activist meetings later in the day at the four-star Reval Hotel met a similar fate, attracting hundreds of anti-gay demonstrators.
[More at URLs]
----- 5 -----
Bill Offered to Combat Offensive Cable Channels
Cable industry campaign places burden on parents.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
July 28, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0041445.cfm
Legislation was introduced in the U.S. House this week that would require cable and satellite TV providers to choose among three options to counter the increase in sex and violence in programming.
The Family Choice Act of 2006, co-sponsored by Reps. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., and Tom Osborne, R-Neb., would have providers select between increased FCC regulation, a la carte programming that allows families to choose and pay for only the channels they want, or controversial family tiers in which the cable companies decide what channels are family friendly and offer them as a package.
[More at URL]
----- 6 -----
Maryland Marriage Law Faces Court Challenge
Focus on the Family
July 28, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0041451.cfm
Maryland's highest court -- called The Court of Appeals -- has agreed to hear a challenge to a 1973 state law that limits marriage to the union of one man and one woman, The Associated Press reported.
[More at URL]
----- 7 -----
Campus Showdown
How should Christians respond when homosexual activists knock at their door? That’s what 19 colleges had to figure out this spring.
by Wendy Cloyd, reporting from Regent and Wheaton
Citizen Magazine
Focus on the Family
July 2006
http://family.org/cforum/citizenmag/features/a0040939.cfm
A motor coach rolled to a stop under dreary March skies and across the street from Regent University, a Christian college in Virginia Beach, Va. Inside were riders who had prepared a message for Regent students and faculty: Biblical teaching on the sin of homosexuality is harming Christian students who prefer intimacy with someone of their own gender.
[...]
Peter LaBarbera, executive director of the Illinois Family Institute and a longtime defender of biblical morality, stopped by Wheaton during the Equality Ride visit. Sitting in the student center, he told Citizen that the opportunity for change should be the focus of any campus discussion about homosexuality.
“If you can change, there’s really no excuse to talk about this as a minority group,” he said. The fact that thousands of men and women who experienced same-sex attraction have changed, he said, is a point worth making.
[More at URL]
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Oregonians Will Vote on Parents' Right to Know of Child's Abortion
Focus on the Family
July 27, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0041436.cfm
The Oregon secretary of state has determined that petitioners submitted enough signatures to place a parental-notification initiative on the November ballot, The Register-Guard reported.
Oregon Right to Life (ORTL) submitted 115,845 signatures — significantly more than the 75,630 required for certification.
[More at URL]
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Michigan Lawmakers Approve Bill to Prevent Coerced Abortion
Focus on the Family
July 27, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0041435.cfm
The Michigan state House has approved a measure that would require doctors to screen abortion-minded women to ensure they weren't pressured into killing their preborn babies, LifeNews.com reported.
Kary Moss, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, called the measure a "false campaign" to make it more difficult for women to get abortions.
[More at URL]
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The GOP's Sleaziest Attack Campaign
The Nation
07/28/2006
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?pid=106378
How low will Republicans go to try and hang onto control of Ohio, the swing state where their machinations secured the presidency for George W. Bush in 2004?
[...]
Gary Lankford, the Ohio Republican Party's recently hired "social conservative coordinator" this week dispatched a mass e-mail to so-called "pro-family friends" that featured his 10-point introduction to U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, the Democratic nominee for governor.
Strickland, an ordained Methodist minister who has thrown Republicans for a loop by speaking about his faith during the campaign, is running far ahead of scandal-plagued Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, the Republican nominee who gained national fame in 2004 when he was broadly accused of manipulating election processes and vote counting to favor Bush in the presidential race.
What's the GOP strategy for getting Blackwell back into the running? Imply that Strickland is gay.
What are Republican staffers pointing to as evidence? Reports that the Democratic congressman and his wife of 20 years reside in different locations when he is in Washington.
[More at URL]
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Parental-Rights Bill Passes Senate
But disappointed Democrats are trying to keep abortion-notification legislation from reaching the president's desk.
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
Focus on the Family
July 26, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0041411.cfm
A measure that would make it a crime to take a minor seeking an abortion across state lines to avoid parental-involvement laws sailed through the Senate late Tuesday. But Democrats are trying to stall the bill to keep it from becoming law.
The Child Custody Protection Act (CCPA), which passed the Senate on a 65-34 vote, makes it illegal to transport a girl under 18 from a state that requires parental notification or consent to one that does not with the intention of attaining abortion services. Now the bill, which has already passed the House, has to go to a conference committee to iron out differences between the versions approved in each chamber.
[...]
TAKE ACTION
Please take a moment to contact Democrat leaders Reid and Durbin and demand that they release the Child Custody Protection Act to a conference committee so that it can continue its journey to the president's desk to become law. Since both senators are members of the chamber's leadership, you should feel free to contact them no matter what state you live in.
Sen. Harry Reid
Phone: 202-224-3542
Fax: 202-224-7327
E-mail: http://reid.senate.gov/contact/email_form.cfm
Sen. Richard Durbin
Phone: 202-224-2152
Fax: 202-228-0400
E-mail: http://durbin.senate.gov/contact.cfm#contact
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Young Unwed Mothers on the Rise
Focus on the Family
July 26, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0041407.cfm
The Beverly LaHaye Institute (BLI) at Concerned Women for America released research today showing that the trend of unwed mothers over the age of 20 continues to increase.
BLI's research also shows that unemployment rates for mothers with children 6 or younger have drastically escalated.
[More at URL]
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Values Voters to Gather for Washington Briefing
It's more than a conference, it's a call to action.
by Amanda Banks, federal issues analyst
Focus on the Family
July 25, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0041393.cfm
The Washington Briefing, a values-voter summit scheduled for Sept. 22-24 in the nation's capital, will feature an A list of speakers including Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Bill Bennett, Ann Coulter, Newt Gingrich and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Topics include "Larger than Life: How the Abortion Debate Continues to Shape American Politics;" "The Preservation of Marriage: Why Children Need It;" and "Courts Gone Wild: The Rightful Place of Judges in Our Republic."
[...]
Four of the nation's leading pro-family groups are partnering for the Washington Briefing: FRC Action, Focus on the Family Action, Americans United to Preserve Marriage and American Family Association Action.
Here are the "Top Seven" reasons you should make plans now to attend:
#7 -- Get your new Ann Coulter book Godless signed by the author. Other book signings include Bill Bennett and Newt Gingrich.
[More at URL]
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Congress Considers Limiting Awards in Religious-Freedom Cases
Focus on the Family
July 25, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0041388.cfm
The U.S. House and Senate are considering two measures that would help protect communities from activist groups that challenge public religious displays including Ten Commandments monuments. It would prohibit organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) from collecting attorneys’ fees from taxpayers if it wins such a case.
Sen. Sam Brownback, R.-Kan., introduced the Public Expressions of Religion Protection Act, which would prevent judicial activist groups from abusing the Civil Rights Attorneys Fees Awards Act of 1976.
“Groups with a partisan political agenda should not have their legal costs reimbursed by state and local governments,” Brownback said. “If a group like the ACLU wants to sue a city for displaying a religious image, it should pay the bill itself, not take advantage of a provision that was designed to reimburse poor individuals pursuing civil-rights cases.”
[More at URL]
TAKE ACTION:
Encourage your U.S. lawmakers to support these bills. You may reach them through the CitizenLink Action Center.
If you are a CitizenLink Daily Update subscriber, click on the blue "Take Action" button in the e-mail to be automatically logged in to our Action Center. Otherwise, click on this link.
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Couples Fight Arizona Marriage Amendment
Focus on the Family
July 24, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0041378.cfm
Five Arizona couples have filed a lawsuit to halt a proposed state constitutional amendment -- one that would define marriage as solely the union of one man and one woman -- from reaching November's ballot. The twist? All five couples are heterosexual, Gay Peoples Chronicle reported.
They argue the Protect Marriage Arizona amendment violates the state's single-subject rule -- which limits ballot initiatives to a one topic. The couples maintain the amendment deals with three -- marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships.
[More at URL]
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Evangelicals Push Back on Global Warming
Interfaith Stewardship Alliance says the likes of Al Gore have it all wrong.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
July 26, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0041403.cfm
The ideological gap between many evangelical Christians and most environmentalists is as wide as any in all of the culture wars. And at the center of the debate is global warming.
The Interfaith Stewardship Alliance is taking on the topic from an evangelical viewpoint, and has gathered scientists and theologians who say the situation is not as dire as we have been led to believe in such forums as Al Gore's movie AnInconvenient Truth.
[...]
The Rev. Jim Tonkowich of the Institute on Religion and Democracy said there is a spiritual battle behind the global-warming scare.
"Much secular thinking about the environment includes a right to abortion. Why is that?" he asked. "Well, we want to keep the population down because human beings are nothing but users and polluters.
"The biblical view sees human beings as stewards, builders, co-creators with God. Take the stuff of creation and make — build cities."
[More at URL]
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Adult Stem Cells Show Additional Promise
Latest research yet more proof that destroying human life not necessary to treat disease.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
July 26, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0041402.cfm
President Bush was surrounded by "Snowflake" babies when he informed the press last week about his decision to veto a bill to federally fund embryonic stem- cell research.
"These boys and girls are not spare parts," Bush said in discussing the children, born from frozen human embryos from in-vitro fertilization clinics. "They remind us of what is lost when embryos are destroyed in the name of research."
Days later, the University of Louisville announced that five other laboratories had affirmed the findings of a study the university released in December: that adult stem cells -- those that don't require the destruction of human life -- are proving highly valuable in the treatment of disease.
[More at URL]
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Washington High Court Upholds DOMA
Justices strongly oppose legislating from the bench.
by Stuart Shepard, managing editor
Focus on the Family
July 26, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0041406.cfm
After nearly 16 months of deliberations, the Washington Supreme Court ruled 5-4 today in favor of the state's Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), issuing a strong rebuke for dissenting justices who favored mandating same-sex marriage.
The case was brought by 19 gay and lesbian couples who challenged the DOMA law that defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Two lower courts had struck down the law, and the state's highest court heard arguments on March 8, 2005.
[...]
Dr. James Dobson, chairman of Focus on the Family Action, said the ruling underscores the importance of traditional marriage.
"This court has found that the state does indeed have a legitimate interest in encouraging and protecting one-man, one-woman marriage," he said. "That interest is the next generation -- ensuring that the best environment in which to raise children is nurtured and safeguarded."
[...]
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, praised the majority for leaving the matter in the hands of the people and their representatives, but said there remains the need for federal action.
"In state after state, homosexual activists continue to take their attack on the definition of marriage to the courts, thus attempting to usurp the right of the people to decide this issue," he said. "Lawsuits still pending in several other states demonstrate that marriage is, in fact, at risk as long as the courts have the final say on marriage. Only passage of a marriage-protection amendment to the U.S. Constitution will take the future of marriage out of the hands of judges and bring these extremist lawsuits to an end."
The Washington high court also affirmed the interest of the state in establishing marriage laws.
"DOMA is constitutional," Madsen wrote, "because the Legislature was entitled to believe that limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples furthers procreation, essential to survival of the human race, and furthers the well-being of children by encouraging families where children are reared in homes headed by the children's biological parents. Allowing same-sex couples to marry does not, in the Legislature's view, further these purposes."
[More at URL]
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Family Experts Rebut Study That Claims Kids Need Gay Marriage
Report ignores important measures of success.
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
Focus on the Family
July 25, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0041392.cfm
A study published this month in the journal Pediatrics claimed children do better when their same-sex parents are allowed to marry or enter a civil union. According to marriage and family experts, such reporting fails to recognize myriad reports that show kids do better in a home with a biological mother and father.
The report, titled "The Effects of Marriage, Civil Union and Domestic Partnership Laws on the Health and Well-Being of Children," was commissioned by the board of directors for the 55,000-member American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). It concludes:
"There is ample evidence to show that children raised by same-gender parents fare as well as those raised by heterosexual parents. More than 25 years of research have documented that there is no relationship between parents' sexual orientation and any measure of a child's emotional, psychosocial, and behavioral adjustment. These data have demonstrated no risk to children as a result of growing up in a family with one or more gay parents. Conscientious and nurturing adults, whether they are men or women, heterosexual or homosexual, can be excellent parents. The rights, benefits, and protections of civil marriage can further strengthen these families."
But Glenn Stanton, senior analyst for marriage and cultural affairs for Focus on the Family, said the research avoided a more important question in its quest to affirm gay marriage.
[More at URL]
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What's Next for Marriage?
The battle to defend traditional marriage may stand at a turning point — but never have we needed a federal constitutional amendment more than now.
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
July 27, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0041434.cfm
Wednesday's momentous decision by the Washington state Supreme Court was the seventh victory on marriage in July — and it leaves pro-family legal analysts pondering where the movement to protect marriage really stands in the aftermath of such good news.
Evergreen State high court justices ruled 5-4 that the state's 1998 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) — which defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman — is constitutional, and that questions about the definition of marriage should be left to the Legislature, not the courts.
[...]
100 Percent Effective or Not at All
Mat Staver, president of Liberty Counsel, said the sad fact is, we have to be 100 percent successful to be truly successful at protecting marriage.
"From the 1970s to the 21st century, only one real case of significance was lost," he said. "It was lost by a 4-3 decision, and that was Massachusetts. But it has had — and still has — significant consequences not only for that state, but also for the rest of the country.
"In order to successfully protect marriage, a 99 percent success ratio is great — but it is not good enough."
[More at URL]
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Late Nite with David Letterman
July 2006
http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Letterman-Clinton-Coulter.mov
