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solarbirdFaith and Freedom Network: polygamists take cue from same-sex marriage-rights effort - so, of course, they blame the gays;
FFN does its share of War on Christmas bullshit; also, they've got a big defense of the culture war up, la;
FFN ACTION ITEM to thank Wal-Mart for their statement distancing themselves from the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and other "controversial" groups;
FFN criticises ABC for not following the fundamentalist "abortion causes breast cancer, sterility, and depression" theocon line;
Focus on the Family Canada article saying sex education is a failure;
Canada Family Action Coalition condemns Wal-Mart, congratulates the AFA, over dealing with GBLT business groups; it looks like they're adopting wholesale the American theoconservative line that the only way to be "neutral" in the "culture war" is to not acknowledge GBLT people in any way in business or as employees;
CFAC says marriage rights for lesbian and gay couples are the same as "incestuous relations, man-boy sex orgies, [and] animal-human weddings";
***** CFAC: children demand opposite-sex marriage only; article says Canada needs a Consitutional amendment against same-sex marriage; I've seen plenty of calls to overturn C-38, this is the first time I've seen a demand for an amendment against it;
CFAC prints a column saying essentially that if you can't discriminate against queers, you can't really be Christian and are being religiously oppressed;
CFAC rails against Ottawa school assignment because it involved about writing about anti-GBLT prejudices which the parents support;
CFAC blames GBLT people for paedophilia, says acceptance of GBLT people is leading to more of it;
Institute for Marriage and Family Canada (a Focus on the Family project) anti-abortion article in the National Post;
Traditional Values Coalition: "Atheism Has Fueled Greatest Mass Murders In World History";
TVC links to WorldNetDaily article on the effort by fundamentalist leaders across the board to prevent Senator Obama from speaking to Rick Warren's megachurch congregation in California;
Family Research Council editorial in Louisiana building groundwork for another run at changing civil rights law so that losers in civil rights law cases involving religious establishment and discrimination no longer have to pay court fees; they're attempting to portray existing practice as corrupt, a method to fund the ACLU on taxpayer dollars: "Millions of taxpayer dollars enriches the ACLU's $150 million annual budget annually. It is then used to attack the remaining vestiges of Christianity and morality in America." I particularly like that "remaining vestiges of Christianity and morality in America" part. Gosh, aren't Christians 90% of the population? Oh wait, you mean Christian law;
Family Research Council: don't blame "social conservatives" for big spending (and please ignore that we furiously backed Mr. Bush throughout his insane spending spree, with many of our rank-and-file saying things like Jesus put him into office); says GOP corruption and Iraq caused the election loss, not gaybashing - America likes the gaybashing and we should do more of it, because that's what God wants anyway. Oh, and judges are activists and horrible and the judiciary needs to be reigned in.
----- 1 -----
Polygamists and Gay Marriage Link
Faith and Freedom Network
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2006/11/polygamists-and-gay-marriage-link.html
A little more than a year ago, people who should have know better, were scoffing publicly at the notion that there was any linkage between a new and energized effort to legalize polygamy and the gay rights effort to legalize gay marriage.
Now, we are being told that indeed, the polygamists are getting traction and making progress.
The Washington Post in reporting that the effort to “mainstream” polygamy is taking on a whole new look with it’s own new vernacular of words like, “sister-wives,” “plural marriages” and “plural wife.” The Post is also reporting that they are, “consciously taking tactics from the gay-rights movement” as they reframe their struggle, choosing in interviews to de-emphasize their religious beliefs and focus on their desire to live “in freedom.”
[More at URL]
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Merry Christmas ... An Intrusion?
Faith and Freedom Network
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2006/11/merry-christmas-intrusion.html
The Seattle P.I. columnist Joel Connelly wrote last Friday, “As we try to respect one another’s beliefs, noisy people keep intruding – they proclaim a ‘War on Christmas,’ force retailers to put ‘Merry Christmas’ in advertising and then proclaim that they’ve rescued the manger.”
Mr. Connelly is clearly reacting to Bill O’Reilly’s book, “Culture Warrior” and in a more general sense to Fox News.
I agree with the columnist that Christmas is about the heart and that proper preparation for the coming of Christ should include reading, meditation or listening to appropriate music. I also agree that Jesus taught the virtue and blessing of being a peacemaker.
Mr. Connelly makes his own personal point by quoting Dr. Alan Wolfe, a political science professor at Boston College who recently wrote, “From stem cell research to alleged plots against Christmas, culture war issues have more to do with the policies of advocacy groups than they do with the politics of ordinary Americans.” The columnist then says, “The notion of a ‘culture war’ was first ginned up to rouse the troops as the first Bush Presidency faced defeat in 1992.”
With this, I strongly disagree.
[More at URL]
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We Are Thankful
Faith and Freedom Network
Monday, November 27, 2006
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2006/11/we-are-thankful.html
This past week was a time to reflect and give thanks for so much on a personal level. And we did.
We also received several email messages for which we are thankful.
This past week Wal-Mart, in an official statement, began to distance itself from organizations that support “highly controversial issues” such as same-sex marriage.
Wal-Mart had been criticized for making a $60,000 donation to Out and Equal, an organization for homosexual employees which deals with workplace issues, but also supports changing the definition of marriage. The company also had joined the Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce for $25,000 a year.
The Wal-Mart executive who served as the company’s representative to the Chamber has resigned and left and Wal-Mart announced that person would not be replaced.
Wal-Mart said, “Going forward, we’ll be looking differently at organizations we donate to. There are some areas we need to get corrected and that is what we’re focused on.”
If you would like to thank Wal-Mart, you can click here.
[More at URL]
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Did ABC News Get It Wrong?
Faith and Freedom Network
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2006/11/did-abc-news-get-it-wrong.html
In what appeared to be following the lead of abortion groups, ABC news reporter, Dan Harris, wrote an article last Thursday saying that induced abortion has no link to various confirmed medical risks. (To read ABC article, click here).
He said that crisis pregnancy centers are “offering information long discredited by the medical community.” He also said, “The centers harass and mislead women by telling them … that abortions can lead to breast cancer, sterility and depression.”
I personally spoke to Dan Harris last night at ABC in New York and asked him about his claims.
He reiterated that all the studies that are used to support the fact that woman often suffer medical and psychological consequences following an abortion have been discredited.
[More at URL]
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Sex education program a failure: study
Today’s Family News
Focus on the Family Canada
November 29, 2006
http://www.fotf.ca/tfn/sexuality/stories/112906.html
An “enhanced” British sex education program that involves teaching 15-year-olds how to use condoms and contact “sexual health” services through role play and games has failed to reduce the rate of teen pregnancies and abortions, the Daily Telegraph reported.
When comparing conception rates among students who had been part of the program known as Share with those who had received conventional sex education lessons, researchers found no difference between the two groups.
Valerie Riches, the president of Family and Youth Concern, hailed the findings as “a crushing blow to the whole sex education campaign.”
“We are constantly told that children need more and more sex education, and what this shows us is that it is ineffective,” Riches told the Daily Telegraph.
While expressing disappointment over some of the results, lead researcher Dr. Marion Henderson appeared to agree.
“It may be,” she said, “that we have already seen the limits of what sex education can achieve and need to look wider at parenting and the culture in which children grow up.”
[More at URL]
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ACTION ALERT Memo
Canada Family Action Coalition
Online as of 29 November 2006
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/sexuality/walmart-update.htm
Thanks to our friends south of the 49, there is a change! If Wal-Mart lives up to its announcement.
There is a lesson in this for all corporate operators, including Ford, Royal bank and now even TD Bank in Canada. Be neutral at minimum on controversial issues. Or pay the financial price.
However the fact that Wal Mart made the decision to fund and celebrate homosexual behavior in the first place has caused me to make a decision – I do not enter a Wal Mart store any longer. I don’t go to Canadian Tire stores any longer either, nor do I bank at Royal. And I am in the process of removing all my baking from TD.
-- Brian Rushfeldt
[More at URL]
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Polygamy - an equality issue?
Canada Family Action Coalition
Online as of 29 November 2006
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/family/marriage/polygamy-equality.htm
Just like homosexuals polygamists will and can argue that they must be treated equally to the term and status of marriage. And since the hazardous Bill C 39 passed by the Liberal government just 17 months ago we could se the next challenge unfold very soon.
Mainstream - well if homosexuality and polygamy is mainstream then what is NOT? Polygamy, bigamy, polyandry, group marriages, incestuous relations, man-boy sex orgies, animal-human weddings, and don't imagine too wildly - some one just might call for such laws to protect it in Canada.
[More at URL]
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If children were considered - marriage their way
Canada Family Action Coalition
Online as of 29 November 2006
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/family/marriage/if-children.htm
This article highlights so many salient points and calls for what Canada needs - a Constitutional guarantee for marriage in the best interests of children and society. Adult selfishness has got in the way of reason, nature, and civility.
-- CFAC
Letters: Tomorrow's children would tell us the truth
Andrew Bateman, His People Church
Cape Argus - November 16, 2006
Original Article
If tomorrow's children could speak today, we would hear: "Please do all you can to make our mommies and daddies love us and each other."
The response of Vista Kalip of the Triangle Project ("Prejudice is biggest issue facing same-sex parents") managed to obscure certain facts in my piece "Children will be the losers if the law is changed".
The French court permitted a lesbian mother to delegate her parental responsibility for her "fatherless", vulnerable child to her partner. French law certainly does not promote same-sex families that by their definition deny children either a father or a mother.
[More at URL]
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Excluding Christians
Canada Family Action Coalition
Straight thoughts 148, From FCP Ontario
By Giuseppe Gori, November 29, 2006
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/freedoms/religious/excluding-christians.htm
According to Canadian court rulings, if you are a Christian you cannot work in one of the following professions without compromising your beliefs.
You cannot be:
A Policeman: David Packer was fired from the Toronto police force because he respectfully asked another assignment, in place of guarding an abortion clinic.
A Teacher: British Columbia Chris Kempling lost his job for writing letters to the Editor, in his own time, explaining how homosexuals can be helped to change their orientation.
A University professor: David Mullan was fined by Cape Breton University, Nova Scotia, for expressing his views on homosexual behaviour.
[More at URL]
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Bigoted Ottawa high school
Canada Family Action Coalition
29 November 2006
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/freedoms/religious/bigoted-school.htm
And this is to encourage Canadian literature writing abilities? What kind of skills and mindset does Carlton want from its “graduates”. If any of this information is misconstrued I challenge Carlton to correct me.
-- CFAC comments
A 16 yr. old girl in grade 10, attending an Ottawa Carlton High School was recently given a 'hot writing' assignment by her teacher in her Canadian Literature Class. The assignment, shown below, was to choose one line and write about it for ten minutes. (( list topics below ))
In this case, the smart girl brought the paper home to show her parents. The parents had a meeting with the teacher, principal and two vice-principals to explain their beliefs, how they were bringing up their children and that they thought the assignment was wrong. The principal, with the backing of the others, told the parents that they would not allow them to use the term 'wrong' in his school. (( what an example of tolerance , diversity and understanding this guy sets for student!!!!)).
[More at URL]
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Protection of kids at risk?
Canada Family Action Coalition
November 20, 2006
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/child/pedophilia/protection-of-kids-at-risk.htm
The article below raises concerns. This cop is the leading officer on child protection. Sorry kids, no protection from guys with warped ideologies like Terry Grange. Lets hope the police in Canada have a more caring and moral foundation than him.
Pedophilia ideology has spread and is becoming more “acceptable” in a very small minority circle. The only people who would want sex with children are predators with mentally ill minds. But let's not think of this as a disease, it is a conscious decision to have sex with minors. So lets have laws that protect children and prosecute perverts. And let's require of our police, judges and prosecutors to uphold the law - not decide what they want law to be.
-- CFAC
Normalizing Pedophilia Continues: UK Police Chief Says 13-Year-Old in Porn Not Child Porn
By John-Henry Westen
LONDON, November 20, 2006
(LifeSiteNews.com)
Terry Grange, the leading officer on child protection of the UK's Association of Chief Police Officers' has ignited controversy by commenting in an interview with The Sunday Times that pornography featuring children at 13 years of age should not be considered child porn. Grange also said that the term "pedophiles" should only apply to adults who have sex with 12 and under.
[More at URL]
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The hidden cost of 'choice'
National Post
Tuesday, November 7, 2006
by Andrea Mrozek, Manager of Research and Communications at IMFCanada.
http://www.imfcanada.org/article_files/Mrozek%20Op-Ed,%20National%20Post,%20Nov%207,%202006%20-%20Hidden%20Cost%20of%20Choice.pdf
In Canada, having an abortion is supposed to be all about "choice." A woman's health after she exercises that choice is a subject no one wants to talk about.
But things are different in other countries. On Oct. 27, 15 prominent signatories wrote a letter to the editor of the Times of London. The group included a past president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Others were some of the top general practitioners, psychiatrists and obstetricians and gynecologists in the country. They asked the official bodies regulating obstetricians and psychiatrists to revise their guidance on abortion as it pertains to mental health in young women.
Why? The group referenced a longitudinal study done in New Zealand and published in the January edition of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry indicating that young women who have had abortions exhibit twice the level of mental health problems, and three times the risk of depression, as those who had given birth or never been pregnant. According to the letter in the Times, "Since women having abortions can no longer be said to have a low risk of suffering from psychiatric conditions such as depression, doctors have a duty to advise about long-term adverse psychological consequences of abortion."
[More at URL]
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Atheism Has Fueled Greatest Mass Murders In World History
By Rev. Louis P. Sheldon
Chairman, Traditional Values Coalition
Online as of 29 November 2006
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2943
As we approach Christmas, the one day a year that we set aside to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are hearing noises among intellectuals and rock stars about the “dangers” of Christianity to world peace and cultural tolerance.
The most recent attack on organized religion came from homosexual rock star Sir Elton John, who thinks that organized religion—specifically Christianity—turns people into “hateful lemmings.” According to John, “I think religion has always tried to turn hatred towards gay people. Religion promotes the hatred and spite against gays.” His solution: “ban religion completely, even though there are some wonderful things about it.”
Atheist Richard Dawkins, writing in his new book, “The God Delusion,” claims that many of the world’s conflicts around the world are due to the murderous religious impulses. Columnist Robert Kuttner claims that “The Crusades slaughtered millions in the name of Jesus. The Inquisition brought the torture and murder of millions more. After Martin Luther, Christians did bloody battle with other Christians for another three centuries.”
[More at URL]
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Christian leaders to Warren: Keep Obama from pulpit
Argue Democrat senator's support for abortion incompatible with Bible
Posted: November 28, 2006
12:10 p.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53134
Christian leaders from across a wide spectrum of theologies and missions are rising up together to urge Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren to rescind an invitation to Sen. Barack Obama to speak from Warren's pulpit.
The Illinois Democrat, an enthusiastic supporter of abortion, is scheduled to speak at a seminar Dec. 1 called, "We Must Work Together" at Warren's 30,000-member California church. The seminar is about coordinating efforts to address the AIDS crisis worldwide.
"You cannot fight one evil while justifying another," a joint statement from dozens of leaders of Christian groups said in condemning Obama's support for abortion and Warren's support for Obama.
[...]
"Having Sen. Barack Obama speak on issues of social justice is like having a segregationist speak on civil rights. Mr. Obama supports partial-birth abortion and has voted against bills prohibiting taxpayers paying for abortion. It is hypocritical at best for him to speak out against the horror of AIDS on children and then support abortion which has killed 50,000,000 children in America alone," Mahoney said.
The Who's Who list of names joining in the call to Warren included Phyllis Schlafly of Eagle Forum, Judy Brown of American Life League, Tim Wildmon of American Family Association, Joe Scheidler of Pro-Life Action League, Cheryl Sullenger of Operation Rescue, Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth, Ken Silva of Apprising Ministries, Chris Rosebrough of Capo Valley Church in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., Kevin McCullough of WMCA Radio, Ingrid Schlueter of Crosstalk Radio, Vic Eliason of VCY American Radio Network and Cal Zastrow of Christian Action for the Preborn and others.
[More at URL]
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Let ACLU protest on its own dime
This op-ed originally appeared in the Shreveport Times on November 25, 2006.
by: Tony Perkins
29 November 2006
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=PV06K06&f=PG03I03
As one who worked in the relief efforts in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina, I continue to be inspired by the thousands of Americans whose selfless generosity helped many of our battered families. There is a dark side, however, to the Katrina recovery effort.
Daily headlines remind us of some who seek to enrich themselves at the expense of others. Estimates of fraudulent expenditures are more than $2 billion. Fortunately, for taxpayers, nearly 335 people have been charged, with 7,000 active investigations ongoing.
Despite little tolerance for crooked contracting in government, there seems to be indifference to similar misconduct on the courts. What difference is there between a government employee who gives tax money to a former business partner and a judge who does the same? In short, the former is a crime, while the latter is an apparent benefit of the bench.
[...]
In her ruling, Berrigan declared that all prayer had to cease both on and off school property. Later, the ACLU discovered two incidents where students exercised their free speech rights and prayed during school-sponsored events away from school property.
Berrigan hauled the School Board back into court, declaring they had violated her order. She then ruled as a penalty that they had to pay the legal fees of the ACLU.
Unfortunately, this is not a rare occurrence. Millions of taxpayer dollars enriches the ACLU's $150 million annual budget annually. It is then used to attack the remaining vestiges of Christianity and morality in America.
[...]
There is hope on the horizon. Rep. John Hostettler and Sen. Sam Brownback have introduced desperately needed legislation in Congress, HR 2679 and SB 3696, which will prevent the courts from further plundering the public purse for the enrichment of organizations like the ACLU.
The free market place of ideas should include the views of all Americans, and if the ACLU doesn't like that, it can protest on its own dime. It is time to end this Katrina-type abuse in the courts and to protect religious liberties in America.
[More at URL]
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Armey Attacks
This op-ed originally appeared in The Weekly Standard on November 22, 2006.by: Chuck Donovan
Family Research Council
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=PV06K05
The depth of Republican losses on November 7 has prompted some thoughtful reflections, but it has also caused some needless, and potentially damaging, finger-pointing and handwringing. Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, who has broad support among both social and economic conservatives, has been welcomed to various editorial pages with the message that Congressional leaders who devoted attention to "wedge" issues like same-sex marriage not only cost the GOP its Hill majorities, but somehow betrayed the Reagan Revolution.
Curiously, Armey's long editorials have largely focused on excoriating the House and Senate GOP for abandoning Republican principles on spending restraint, including such issues as the corruption-tainted earmarking process. Armey offers not the slightest explanation of how traditional (now squared or cubed in volume) pork barreling by GOP incumbents correlates with the social conservative agenda. Indeed, most social conservative groups either formally or informally eschew government subsidies and many, like the Family Research Council, have long criticized earmarking and supported budget reformers like Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma.
[...]
Did the 109th Congress spend too much time on these issues? It is inconceivable that less than one week combined of House and Senate debate on the protection of marriage over the past two years produced the distraction Armey cites. With a third of American children born out-of-wedlock every year, a strong case can be made that this Congress spent far too little time debating measures to increase the stability and longevity of marriage. In any event, it is difficult to see how debate on an issue supported by a clear majority of Americans has cost Republicans politically, and indeed poll after poll suggests that the "elephants in the room" for the GOP today are the war in Iraq and corruption, not social issues.
[...]
Which brings us to the biggest issue Armey's fulminations ignore. In any analysis of the perils of big government, it is wrong to overlook, as Armey does, the damage done to representative government by a hyper-activist judiciary. With all the harm inflicted on the U.S. economy by unnecessary pork, and on U.S. education by an evermore heavy-handed federal role, these are, at least, policy initiatives that a Congressional majority can reverse by a single vote. Not so with the extra-constitutional ideas that have been foisted on the country by judicial radicalism in such areas as abortion and the redefinition of marriage. Here, a change in course requires supermajority votes in the Congress and ratification of constitutional amendments by three-fourths of the states.
[More at URL]
FFN does its share of War on Christmas bullshit; also, they've got a big defense of the culture war up, la;
FFN ACTION ITEM to thank Wal-Mart for their statement distancing themselves from the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and other "controversial" groups;
FFN criticises ABC for not following the fundamentalist "abortion causes breast cancer, sterility, and depression" theocon line;
Focus on the Family Canada article saying sex education is a failure;
Canada Family Action Coalition condemns Wal-Mart, congratulates the AFA, over dealing with GBLT business groups; it looks like they're adopting wholesale the American theoconservative line that the only way to be "neutral" in the "culture war" is to not acknowledge GBLT people in any way in business or as employees;
CFAC says marriage rights for lesbian and gay couples are the same as "incestuous relations, man-boy sex orgies, [and] animal-human weddings";
***** CFAC: children demand opposite-sex marriage only; article says Canada needs a Consitutional amendment against same-sex marriage; I've seen plenty of calls to overturn C-38, this is the first time I've seen a demand for an amendment against it;
CFAC prints a column saying essentially that if you can't discriminate against queers, you can't really be Christian and are being religiously oppressed;
CFAC rails against Ottawa school assignment because it involved about writing about anti-GBLT prejudices which the parents support;
CFAC blames GBLT people for paedophilia, says acceptance of GBLT people is leading to more of it;
Institute for Marriage and Family Canada (a Focus on the Family project) anti-abortion article in the National Post;
Traditional Values Coalition: "Atheism Has Fueled Greatest Mass Murders In World History";
TVC links to WorldNetDaily article on the effort by fundamentalist leaders across the board to prevent Senator Obama from speaking to Rick Warren's megachurch congregation in California;
Family Research Council editorial in Louisiana building groundwork for another run at changing civil rights law so that losers in civil rights law cases involving religious establishment and discrimination no longer have to pay court fees; they're attempting to portray existing practice as corrupt, a method to fund the ACLU on taxpayer dollars: "Millions of taxpayer dollars enriches the ACLU's $150 million annual budget annually. It is then used to attack the remaining vestiges of Christianity and morality in America." I particularly like that "remaining vestiges of Christianity and morality in America" part. Gosh, aren't Christians 90% of the population? Oh wait, you mean Christian law;
Family Research Council: don't blame "social conservatives" for big spending (and please ignore that we furiously backed Mr. Bush throughout his insane spending spree, with many of our rank-and-file saying things like Jesus put him into office); says GOP corruption and Iraq caused the election loss, not gaybashing - America likes the gaybashing and we should do more of it, because that's what God wants anyway. Oh, and judges are activists and horrible and the judiciary needs to be reigned in.
----- 1 -----
Polygamists and Gay Marriage Link
Faith and Freedom Network
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2006/11/polygamists-and-gay-marriage-link.html
A little more than a year ago, people who should have know better, were scoffing publicly at the notion that there was any linkage between a new and energized effort to legalize polygamy and the gay rights effort to legalize gay marriage.
Now, we are being told that indeed, the polygamists are getting traction and making progress.
The Washington Post in reporting that the effort to “mainstream” polygamy is taking on a whole new look with it’s own new vernacular of words like, “sister-wives,” “plural marriages” and “plural wife.” The Post is also reporting that they are, “consciously taking tactics from the gay-rights movement” as they reframe their struggle, choosing in interviews to de-emphasize their religious beliefs and focus on their desire to live “in freedom.”
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
Merry Christmas ... An Intrusion?
Faith and Freedom Network
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2006/11/merry-christmas-intrusion.html
The Seattle P.I. columnist Joel Connelly wrote last Friday, “As we try to respect one another’s beliefs, noisy people keep intruding – they proclaim a ‘War on Christmas,’ force retailers to put ‘Merry Christmas’ in advertising and then proclaim that they’ve rescued the manger.”
Mr. Connelly is clearly reacting to Bill O’Reilly’s book, “Culture Warrior” and in a more general sense to Fox News.
I agree with the columnist that Christmas is about the heart and that proper preparation for the coming of Christ should include reading, meditation or listening to appropriate music. I also agree that Jesus taught the virtue and blessing of being a peacemaker.
Mr. Connelly makes his own personal point by quoting Dr. Alan Wolfe, a political science professor at Boston College who recently wrote, “From stem cell research to alleged plots against Christmas, culture war issues have more to do with the policies of advocacy groups than they do with the politics of ordinary Americans.” The columnist then says, “The notion of a ‘culture war’ was first ginned up to rouse the troops as the first Bush Presidency faced defeat in 1992.”
With this, I strongly disagree.
[More at URL]
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We Are Thankful
Faith and Freedom Network
Monday, November 27, 2006
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2006/11/we-are-thankful.html
This past week was a time to reflect and give thanks for so much on a personal level. And we did.
We also received several email messages for which we are thankful.
This past week Wal-Mart, in an official statement, began to distance itself from organizations that support “highly controversial issues” such as same-sex marriage.
Wal-Mart had been criticized for making a $60,000 donation to Out and Equal, an organization for homosexual employees which deals with workplace issues, but also supports changing the definition of marriage. The company also had joined the Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce for $25,000 a year.
The Wal-Mart executive who served as the company’s representative to the Chamber has resigned and left and Wal-Mart announced that person would not be replaced.
Wal-Mart said, “Going forward, we’ll be looking differently at organizations we donate to. There are some areas we need to get corrected and that is what we’re focused on.”
If you would like to thank Wal-Mart, you can click here.
[More at URL]
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Did ABC News Get It Wrong?
Faith and Freedom Network
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2006/11/did-abc-news-get-it-wrong.html
In what appeared to be following the lead of abortion groups, ABC news reporter, Dan Harris, wrote an article last Thursday saying that induced abortion has no link to various confirmed medical risks. (To read ABC article, click here).
He said that crisis pregnancy centers are “offering information long discredited by the medical community.” He also said, “The centers harass and mislead women by telling them … that abortions can lead to breast cancer, sterility and depression.”
I personally spoke to Dan Harris last night at ABC in New York and asked him about his claims.
He reiterated that all the studies that are used to support the fact that woman often suffer medical and psychological consequences following an abortion have been discredited.
[More at URL]
----- 5 -----
Sex education program a failure: study
Today’s Family News
Focus on the Family Canada
November 29, 2006
http://www.fotf.ca/tfn/sexuality/stories/112906.html
An “enhanced” British sex education program that involves teaching 15-year-olds how to use condoms and contact “sexual health” services through role play and games has failed to reduce the rate of teen pregnancies and abortions, the Daily Telegraph reported.
When comparing conception rates among students who had been part of the program known as Share with those who had received conventional sex education lessons, researchers found no difference between the two groups.
Valerie Riches, the president of Family and Youth Concern, hailed the findings as “a crushing blow to the whole sex education campaign.”
“We are constantly told that children need more and more sex education, and what this shows us is that it is ineffective,” Riches told the Daily Telegraph.
While expressing disappointment over some of the results, lead researcher Dr. Marion Henderson appeared to agree.
“It may be,” she said, “that we have already seen the limits of what sex education can achieve and need to look wider at parenting and the culture in which children grow up.”
[More at URL]
----- 6 -----
ACTION ALERT Memo
Canada Family Action Coalition
Online as of 29 November 2006
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/sexuality/walmart-update.htm
Thanks to our friends south of the 49, there is a change! If Wal-Mart lives up to its announcement.
There is a lesson in this for all corporate operators, including Ford, Royal bank and now even TD Bank in Canada. Be neutral at minimum on controversial issues. Or pay the financial price.
However the fact that Wal Mart made the decision to fund and celebrate homosexual behavior in the first place has caused me to make a decision – I do not enter a Wal Mart store any longer. I don’t go to Canadian Tire stores any longer either, nor do I bank at Royal. And I am in the process of removing all my baking from TD.
-- Brian Rushfeldt
[More at URL]
----- 7 -----
Polygamy - an equality issue?
Canada Family Action Coalition
Online as of 29 November 2006
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/family/marriage/polygamy-equality.htm
Just like homosexuals polygamists will and can argue that they must be treated equally to the term and status of marriage. And since the hazardous Bill C 39 passed by the Liberal government just 17 months ago we could se the next challenge unfold very soon.
Mainstream - well if homosexuality and polygamy is mainstream then what is NOT? Polygamy, bigamy, polyandry, group marriages, incestuous relations, man-boy sex orgies, animal-human weddings, and don't imagine too wildly - some one just might call for such laws to protect it in Canada.
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If children were considered - marriage their way
Canada Family Action Coalition
Online as of 29 November 2006
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/family/marriage/if-children.htm
This article highlights so many salient points and calls for what Canada needs - a Constitutional guarantee for marriage in the best interests of children and society. Adult selfishness has got in the way of reason, nature, and civility.
-- CFAC
Letters: Tomorrow's children would tell us the truth
Andrew Bateman, His People Church
Cape Argus - November 16, 2006
Original Article
If tomorrow's children could speak today, we would hear: "Please do all you can to make our mommies and daddies love us and each other."
The response of Vista Kalip of the Triangle Project ("Prejudice is biggest issue facing same-sex parents") managed to obscure certain facts in my piece "Children will be the losers if the law is changed".
The French court permitted a lesbian mother to delegate her parental responsibility for her "fatherless", vulnerable child to her partner. French law certainly does not promote same-sex families that by their definition deny children either a father or a mother.
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Excluding Christians
Canada Family Action Coalition
Straight thoughts 148, From FCP Ontario
By Giuseppe Gori, November 29, 2006
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/freedoms/religious/excluding-christians.htm
According to Canadian court rulings, if you are a Christian you cannot work in one of the following professions without compromising your beliefs.
You cannot be:
A Policeman: David Packer was fired from the Toronto police force because he respectfully asked another assignment, in place of guarding an abortion clinic.
A Teacher: British Columbia Chris Kempling lost his job for writing letters to the Editor, in his own time, explaining how homosexuals can be helped to change their orientation.
A University professor: David Mullan was fined by Cape Breton University, Nova Scotia, for expressing his views on homosexual behaviour.
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Bigoted Ottawa high school
Canada Family Action Coalition
29 November 2006
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/freedoms/religious/bigoted-school.htm
And this is to encourage Canadian literature writing abilities? What kind of skills and mindset does Carlton want from its “graduates”. If any of this information is misconstrued I challenge Carlton to correct me.
-- CFAC comments
A 16 yr. old girl in grade 10, attending an Ottawa Carlton High School was recently given a 'hot writing' assignment by her teacher in her Canadian Literature Class. The assignment, shown below, was to choose one line and write about it for ten minutes. (( list topics below ))
In this case, the smart girl brought the paper home to show her parents. The parents had a meeting with the teacher, principal and two vice-principals to explain their beliefs, how they were bringing up their children and that they thought the assignment was wrong. The principal, with the backing of the others, told the parents that they would not allow them to use the term 'wrong' in his school. (( what an example of tolerance , diversity and understanding this guy sets for student!!!!)).
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Protection of kids at risk?
Canada Family Action Coalition
November 20, 2006
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/child/pedophilia/protection-of-kids-at-risk.htm
The article below raises concerns. This cop is the leading officer on child protection. Sorry kids, no protection from guys with warped ideologies like Terry Grange. Lets hope the police in Canada have a more caring and moral foundation than him.
Pedophilia ideology has spread and is becoming more “acceptable” in a very small minority circle. The only people who would want sex with children are predators with mentally ill minds. But let's not think of this as a disease, it is a conscious decision to have sex with minors. So lets have laws that protect children and prosecute perverts. And let's require of our police, judges and prosecutors to uphold the law - not decide what they want law to be.
-- CFAC
Normalizing Pedophilia Continues: UK Police Chief Says 13-Year-Old in Porn Not Child Porn
By John-Henry Westen
LONDON, November 20, 2006
(LifeSiteNews.com)
Terry Grange, the leading officer on child protection of the UK's Association of Chief Police Officers' has ignited controversy by commenting in an interview with The Sunday Times that pornography featuring children at 13 years of age should not be considered child porn. Grange also said that the term "pedophiles" should only apply to adults who have sex with 12 and under.
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The hidden cost of 'choice'
National Post
Tuesday, November 7, 2006
by Andrea Mrozek, Manager of Research and Communications at IMFCanada.
http://www.imfcanada.org/article_files/Mrozek%20Op-Ed,%20National%20Post,%20Nov%207,%202006%20-%20Hidden%20Cost%20of%20Choice.pdf
In Canada, having an abortion is supposed to be all about "choice." A woman's health after she exercises that choice is a subject no one wants to talk about.
But things are different in other countries. On Oct. 27, 15 prominent signatories wrote a letter to the editor of the Times of London. The group included a past president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Others were some of the top general practitioners, psychiatrists and obstetricians and gynecologists in the country. They asked the official bodies regulating obstetricians and psychiatrists to revise their guidance on abortion as it pertains to mental health in young women.
Why? The group referenced a longitudinal study done in New Zealand and published in the January edition of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry indicating that young women who have had abortions exhibit twice the level of mental health problems, and three times the risk of depression, as those who had given birth or never been pregnant. According to the letter in the Times, "Since women having abortions can no longer be said to have a low risk of suffering from psychiatric conditions such as depression, doctors have a duty to advise about long-term adverse psychological consequences of abortion."
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Atheism Has Fueled Greatest Mass Murders In World History
By Rev. Louis P. Sheldon
Chairman, Traditional Values Coalition
Online as of 29 November 2006
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2943
As we approach Christmas, the one day a year that we set aside to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are hearing noises among intellectuals and rock stars about the “dangers” of Christianity to world peace and cultural tolerance.
The most recent attack on organized religion came from homosexual rock star Sir Elton John, who thinks that organized religion—specifically Christianity—turns people into “hateful lemmings.” According to John, “I think religion has always tried to turn hatred towards gay people. Religion promotes the hatred and spite against gays.” His solution: “ban religion completely, even though there are some wonderful things about it.”
Atheist Richard Dawkins, writing in his new book, “The God Delusion,” claims that many of the world’s conflicts around the world are due to the murderous religious impulses. Columnist Robert Kuttner claims that “The Crusades slaughtered millions in the name of Jesus. The Inquisition brought the torture and murder of millions more. After Martin Luther, Christians did bloody battle with other Christians for another three centuries.”
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Christian leaders to Warren: Keep Obama from pulpit
Argue Democrat senator's support for abortion incompatible with Bible
Posted: November 28, 2006
12:10 p.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53134
Christian leaders from across a wide spectrum of theologies and missions are rising up together to urge Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren to rescind an invitation to Sen. Barack Obama to speak from Warren's pulpit.
The Illinois Democrat, an enthusiastic supporter of abortion, is scheduled to speak at a seminar Dec. 1 called, "We Must Work Together" at Warren's 30,000-member California church. The seminar is about coordinating efforts to address the AIDS crisis worldwide.
"You cannot fight one evil while justifying another," a joint statement from dozens of leaders of Christian groups said in condemning Obama's support for abortion and Warren's support for Obama.
[...]
"Having Sen. Barack Obama speak on issues of social justice is like having a segregationist speak on civil rights. Mr. Obama supports partial-birth abortion and has voted against bills prohibiting taxpayers paying for abortion. It is hypocritical at best for him to speak out against the horror of AIDS on children and then support abortion which has killed 50,000,000 children in America alone," Mahoney said.
The Who's Who list of names joining in the call to Warren included Phyllis Schlafly of Eagle Forum, Judy Brown of American Life League, Tim Wildmon of American Family Association, Joe Scheidler of Pro-Life Action League, Cheryl Sullenger of Operation Rescue, Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth, Ken Silva of Apprising Ministries, Chris Rosebrough of Capo Valley Church in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., Kevin McCullough of WMCA Radio, Ingrid Schlueter of Crosstalk Radio, Vic Eliason of VCY American Radio Network and Cal Zastrow of Christian Action for the Preborn and others.
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Let ACLU protest on its own dime
This op-ed originally appeared in the Shreveport Times on November 25, 2006.
by: Tony Perkins
29 November 2006
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=PV06K06&f=PG03I03
As one who worked in the relief efforts in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina, I continue to be inspired by the thousands of Americans whose selfless generosity helped many of our battered families. There is a dark side, however, to the Katrina recovery effort.
Daily headlines remind us of some who seek to enrich themselves at the expense of others. Estimates of fraudulent expenditures are more than $2 billion. Fortunately, for taxpayers, nearly 335 people have been charged, with 7,000 active investigations ongoing.
Despite little tolerance for crooked contracting in government, there seems to be indifference to similar misconduct on the courts. What difference is there between a government employee who gives tax money to a former business partner and a judge who does the same? In short, the former is a crime, while the latter is an apparent benefit of the bench.
[...]
In her ruling, Berrigan declared that all prayer had to cease both on and off school property. Later, the ACLU discovered two incidents where students exercised their free speech rights and prayed during school-sponsored events away from school property.
Berrigan hauled the School Board back into court, declaring they had violated her order. She then ruled as a penalty that they had to pay the legal fees of the ACLU.
Unfortunately, this is not a rare occurrence. Millions of taxpayer dollars enriches the ACLU's $150 million annual budget annually. It is then used to attack the remaining vestiges of Christianity and morality in America.
[...]
There is hope on the horizon. Rep. John Hostettler and Sen. Sam Brownback have introduced desperately needed legislation in Congress, HR 2679 and SB 3696, which will prevent the courts from further plundering the public purse for the enrichment of organizations like the ACLU.
The free market place of ideas should include the views of all Americans, and if the ACLU doesn't like that, it can protest on its own dime. It is time to end this Katrina-type abuse in the courts and to protect religious liberties in America.
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Armey Attacks
This op-ed originally appeared in The Weekly Standard on November 22, 2006.by: Chuck Donovan
Family Research Council
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=PV06K05
The depth of Republican losses on November 7 has prompted some thoughtful reflections, but it has also caused some needless, and potentially damaging, finger-pointing and handwringing. Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, who has broad support among both social and economic conservatives, has been welcomed to various editorial pages with the message that Congressional leaders who devoted attention to "wedge" issues like same-sex marriage not only cost the GOP its Hill majorities, but somehow betrayed the Reagan Revolution.
Curiously, Armey's long editorials have largely focused on excoriating the House and Senate GOP for abandoning Republican principles on spending restraint, including such issues as the corruption-tainted earmarking process. Armey offers not the slightest explanation of how traditional (now squared or cubed in volume) pork barreling by GOP incumbents correlates with the social conservative agenda. Indeed, most social conservative groups either formally or informally eschew government subsidies and many, like the Family Research Council, have long criticized earmarking and supported budget reformers like Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma.
[...]
Did the 109th Congress spend too much time on these issues? It is inconceivable that less than one week combined of House and Senate debate on the protection of marriage over the past two years produced the distraction Armey cites. With a third of American children born out-of-wedlock every year, a strong case can be made that this Congress spent far too little time debating measures to increase the stability and longevity of marriage. In any event, it is difficult to see how debate on an issue supported by a clear majority of Americans has cost Republicans politically, and indeed poll after poll suggests that the "elephants in the room" for the GOP today are the war in Iraq and corruption, not social issues.
[...]
Which brings us to the biggest issue Armey's fulminations ignore. In any analysis of the perils of big government, it is wrong to overlook, as Armey does, the damage done to representative government by a hyper-activist judiciary. With all the harm inflicted on the U.S. economy by unnecessary pork, and on U.S. education by an evermore heavy-handed federal role, these are, at least, policy initiatives that a Congressional majority can reverse by a single vote. Not so with the extra-constitutional ideas that have been foisted on the country by judicial radicalism in such areas as abortion and the redefinition of marriage. Here, a change in course requires supermajority votes in the Congress and ratification of constitutional amendments by three-fourths of the states.
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no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 02:25 am (UTC)Uh, has it never occurred to these people that when you've got depression and other mental health problems, it's hard to concentrate on *anything*, let alone your birth control?
no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 03:03 am (UTC)