Today's Cultural Warfare Update
Jun. 14th, 2007 12:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdI've got a lot of catching up to do on these. Here's a start.
MASSACHUSETTS ANTI-MARRIAGE AMENDMENT DEAD: CANNOT ATTAIN 25% IN LEGISLATURE! It only needed 50 votes to go forward and failed; this is a serious defeat for the theoconservative movement as they put a lot of money into stopping this kind of equal treatment. They will, of course, fight on;
A firsthand report from the Creationist pseudonatural history museum - no, they don't call it that, but I do - in Kentucky. According to this attendee, they actually tell you, "Don’t think, just listen and believe." I like this picture particularly a lot, where they draw a (minimalist, to put it mildly) timeline of the "human reason" universe in the shape of a snake, evoking the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Don't tell me that's not intentional, I do graphic design. That's clever being used for evil and stupidity;
Almost 70% of the Republican party are Creationists. Those of you still thinking that the theoconservative movement has not taken over the party should, um, well, not sure what I can say at this point;
Even Christian Broadcasting Network bloggers - while thinking it key that voters require Christian religious faith from their candidates - are a getting a little leery about how nitpicky it's getting, asking, "Are we going to start comparing church attendance records?" Well, hey, this is where you guys have been driving the political process for the last 30 years, what do you expect;
Focus on the Family/New Jersey Right to Life opposing New Jersey bill funding embryonic stem-cell research;
FotF article against New Jersey plan to require all licensed pharmacists to dispense all legal medications - including, specifically, Plan B, the emergency contraception pill, which, as always, they falsely claim "can sometimes cause an early abortion," presumably as part of their attempt to blur birth control and RU-486, the actual chemical abortion pill;
FotF ACTION ITEM to condemn bill that would repeal the international gag order banning discussion of abortion by groups receiving American aid; Chief Executive Mr. Bush promises a veto;
FotF ACTION ITEM condemning sex education that is not abstinence-only, saying that it "gets [a] failing grade" from a government study set up by Senator Rick Santorum (formerly R-PA) and Tom Coburn (R-OK), reporting that such education fails in its "overemphasises" of birth control and by not delaying sexual activity; disease- and pregnancy-prevention do not seem to be important Focus on the Family's view, but, well, we already know that;
Heritage Alliance runs anti-gay robo-calls against Dallas mayoral candidate Ed Oakley (Mr. Oakley is gay); the calls include "homosexuality" as a top issue for the campaign and encourages votes for opponent Tom Leppert specifically on the basis that Mr. Leppert is heterosexual and Christian. The Heritage Alliance founder claims to be an associate of Focus on the Family's James Dobson;
FotF's last ACTION ITEM supporting the now-DEFEATED anti-marriage amendment in Massachusetts;
FotF article against embryonic stem-cell research claiming that it is "unnecessary";
FotF: Utah voters will vote on a "universal school choice" bill that will allow government money to be spent on religious instruction;
FotF: New York State Assembly may pass marriage-rights bill;
FotF supports Louisiana bill to ban so-called "partial birth" abortions; as per the Federal ban, to which this ban is redundant, it carries no health exemption - you can read previous commentary of mine on that here and here; Focus on the Family wants it passed so that state prosecutors can prosecute cases the Federal government doesn't;
New Hampshire legislature repeals parental-notification law; it's never been enforced; it goes to the governor for a signature now; Focus on the Family hopes for a veto;
Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM to support abstinence-only education funding, which got out of subcommittee with a funding increase this year;
Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM against a bill restoring legal online gambling; FotF highlights Barney Frank (D-MA)'s role, and criticises him for not using government power to protect people from their own vices;
Kalamazoo, Michigan drops domestic-partner benefits as part of the anti-marriage amendment passed in 2004 and in response to a state Supreme Court ruling showing that - as was intended - any form of GBLT partnership recognition was in violation of the state Constitution. Focus on the Family is happy, and the American Family Association of Michigan praised the city for giving fags a kick in the stomach;
Focus on the Family condemns another bill to prohibit individual pharmacists from refusing to dispense birth control - plan B, the emergency birth control pill, which they again incorrectly label as an abortifacient;
FotF reports on upcoming Southern Baptist Convention, and talks about Exodus Mandate again; Exodus Mandate wants a mass withdrawal from public schools in favour of fundamentalist religious instruction;
FotF's book ad for a book on how tolerance is destroying "You, Your Faith, And Your Children";
FotF's Tom Minnary writes a WorldNetDaily column defending James Dobson against attacks that he's not anti-abortion enough; what's interesting is that the defense centres around something I pointed out in an earlier post - that the key element of Gonzalez vs. Carhart was that the Supreme Court, courtesy Justice Alito, upheld the idea that you can write a law purely on moral, not rational, grounds, and have it be constitutional. And they specifically talk about Lawrence v. Texas (2003) in that context. The MSM media may not understand why Gonzalez v. Carhart was so important, but the fundamentalist leadership certainly does.
----- 1 -----
Legislators vote to defeat same-sex marriage ban
By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff
The Boston Globe
Thursday, June 14, 2007
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2007/06/legislators_vot.html
A proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage was defeated today by a joint session of the Legislature by a vote of 45 to 151, eliminating any chance of getting it on the ballot in November 2008. At least 50 votes were needed to advance the measure.
[...]
Opponents of gay marriage face an increasingly tough battle to win legislative approval of any future petitions to appear on a statewide ballot. The next election available to them is 2012.
[More at URL]
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Fun at the Creation Museum!!!!
BlueGrassRoots
June 9, 2007
http://crazytalk.typepad.com/bluegrassroots/2007/06/fun_at_the_crea.html
This Saturday, I made my much anticipated field trip to the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum, a $27 million monstrosity devoted to religious fanaticism, disguised as “science”.
Two of my heretical friends and I ventured an hour north up I-75 from Lexington, just short of Cincinnati, to discover a museum full of shocking idiocy and unintentional humor.
Early in the museum, the visitor is given advice on the proper mind frame to have for your visit: “Don’t think, just listen and believe”. As you can see in the picture below, Human Reason is the enemy and God’s Word is the hero. Descartes represents Human Reason, saying “I think, therefore I am”. But God tells us there no need to waste your beautiful mind, for God says “I am that I am."
So logic, reason and science are Bad; blind faith is Good.
[More at URL]
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Religion—our maelstrom of ignorance
Category: Creationism • Religion
Posted on: June 11, 2007 4:38 PM, by PZ Myers
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/06/religionour_maelstrom_of_ignor.php
We've got a new Gallup poll on evolution to agonize over. It's nothing but bad news—we are a nation of uneducated morons. Gary chose to weep over the political correlation: look how membership in the Republican party is tied to ignorance about science.
[Ed. note: On the web page here is a chart showing 68% of Republicans are creationists; 30% state that they support evolutionary theory. Independents and Democrats both have non-Creationist majorities, though the Democratic party is at 40%, which is bad enough.]
The clear majority of Republicans are screwed up. And you know, I'm not too happy with the Democrats, either. These results tell us that the population across the board is messed up, confused, lied to, and festering in ignorance—it's just that right now the Republican party is a magnet for the stupid.
[More at URL]
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Are We Going to Start Comparing Church Attendance Records?
June 12, 2007
David Brody
Christian Broadcasting Network
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/175028.aspx
Do you care if the President of the United States attends Church? My bet is the majority of Americans would say yes.
There's a WorldNet Daily article out about Fred Thompson's lack of church activity. The article suggests Thompson is just not a very active Church member. Almost non existent. Here's part of the article:
Is the Hollywood star-turned-politician a true believer? Thompson's chances at capturing the GOP primary may rest on the answer, thanks to the growing electoral clout of Christian conservatives. Professor Mark Elrod of Harding University said he doubts Thompson is "filling out an attendance card at a Church of Christ on Sundays."
The political scientist says he hasn't been able to find any information regarding the former senator's actual membership in a local congregation in his home state of Tennessee. "In our tradition," Elrod said, "that's called 'being out of fellowship' or a 'lapsed member.'"
[...]
Read all of it here. I'm not going to start judging another person's walk with the Lord. I have no desire to do that. Plus, I'm not saying I agree with the WorldNet Daily article either.
I bring it up because this topic is going to come up in the future. My sense is Fred Thompson will have to discuss his faith more in depth than he ever has before. Why? Because like it or not, the topic of faith is bigger this year. From Romney and his Mormonism to Giuliani and Catholicism to McCain and his relationship with Evangelicals, religion has become an issue. Also, let's not forget that the Democrats are talking about God too.
[More at URL]
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N.J. Voters to Decide on Stem-Cell Funding
Focus on the Family
6-13-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004839.cfm
In November, New Jersey voters will decide whether to use $450 million in taxpayer money to fund stem-cell research, including research that destroys human embryos.
[...]
Marie Tasy, executive director of New Jersey Right to Life, told the news service that "taxpayers should be outraged."
[More at URL]
----- 6 -----
N.J. Lawmakers Seek to Force Pharmacists to Dispense Plan B
Focus on the Family
6-13-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004838.cfm
The New Jersey Assembly passed legislation Monday that would require pharmacists to dispense all medications – even drugs that would violate moral or religious beliefs, LifeNews reported.
The same bill passed the state Senate last year, and pro-abortion Gov. John Corzine has indicated he will sign it.
Under the legislation, pharmacists could not refuse to dispense drugs such as Plan B – the so-called morning-after pill – which can sometimes cause an early abortion.
[More at URL]
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House Committee OKs Bill That Would Fund Abortions Overseas
Social liberals work 'to strip away virtually every pro-life protection.'
by Jennifer Mesko, associate editor
6-13-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000004843.cfm
[Graphic: Using YOUR Money to Destroy Life]
The U.S. House Appropriations Committee passed a bill Tuesday that includes language aimed at ending the president's prohibition on tax dollars going to groups that fund or promote abortion overseas.
The full House is expected to vote June 20.
"This is why elections matter," said Ashley Horne, federal policy analyst for Focus on the Family Action. "Social liberals in Congress are doing what we knew they’d do if elected. They are working hard to strip away virtually every pro-life protection included in past spending bills."
The Mexico City policy, which bars U.S. funding from going to international groups that support abortion, was implemented by President Reagan, rescinded by President Clinton and reinstated by President Bush. The appropriations bill seeks to kill the policy.
In May, in identical letters to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Bush wrote, “I will veto any legislation that weakens current federal policies and laws on abortion, or that encourages the destruction of human life at any stage.”
Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee told CNS News that "the fur may fly" over the committee action, but "we expect the president's policy to remain intact."
"This is (Rep. Nita) Lowey's personal hobby horse," he stated, adding that she and her allies "hate the Mexico City policy and are going to take a shot at it, even though they've got a steep hill to climb."
TAKE ACTION
Urge your representative to oppose the State/Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill because it includes language to kill the Mexico City policy. 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.
----- 8 -----
Comprehensive Sex Education Gets Failing Grade
Two-year government study shows most programs contain medical inaccuracies, emphasize contraception.
by Jennifer Mesko, associate editor
Focus on the Family
6-13-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000004842.cfm
A government report on the effectiveness of comprehensive sex education shows the most popular programs mention condoms and contraception nearly seven times more often than abstinence, have little effect on sexual activity or use of contraception, and contain medical inaccuracies.
In 2005, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the Department of Health and Human Services was tasked by Republican Sens. Rick Santorum and Tom Coburn to review and evaluate comprehensive sex education programs supported by federal dollars.
The National Institutes of Health defines comprehensive sex education as “teaching both abstinence and the use of protective methods for sexually active youth.”
Over the next two years, ACF studied the nine most common programs across the nation. The 40-page report was released Tuesday.
"It was found that there was virtually no effect on delaying sexual debut in children using these sex education curricula, and no long-term effects," said Linda Klepacki, sexual health analyst for Focus on the Family Action. "In other words, they don’t work."
The curriculum review consisted of four components: Each curriculum underwent an extensive content analysis; the stated purposes of the curricula were compared to the actual emphases of the curricula, as demonstrated by the content analysis; curriculum content was evaluated for medical accuracy, primarily the accuracy of statements about condoms; and evaluations of each curriculum were located and summarized.
One curriculum, called "Positive Images," asks for 10 volunteers and has the students arrange a set of cards in proper order to illustrate effective condom use.
"Reducing the Risk," another curriculum, asks students to identify the following as either a truth or a myth: “Teenagers can obtain birth control pills from family planning clinics and doctors without permission from a parent."
It's true.
"You do not need a parent’s permission to get birth control at a clinic. No one needs to know that you are going to a clinic," reads the curriculum.
Findings from the "Reducing the Risk" review:
• No impact on frequency of intercourse.
• No impact on initiation of first sex at six months.
• No overall impact on unprotected sex at 18 months.
• No impact on pregnancy rates.
Meanwhile, the federal Title V program, which provides $50 million for abstinence education, is set to expire June 30.
The federal Community Based Abstinence Education program (CBAE) is set to receive $141 million for fiscal year 2008. It still must face the full House, which could vote this week.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Read the government report.
Watch Stuart Shepard's Stoplight video commentary: "Defending Abstinence."
TAKE ACTION
Urge your U.S. representative to support funding for abstinence education. 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.
----- 9 -----
Conservative group sponsors anti-gay robo calls attacking mayoral candidate Ed Oakley
By David Webb Staff Writer
Jun 7, 2007, 20:28
http://www.dallasvoice.com/artman/publish/article_5766.php
Anti-gay robo calls denouncing gay mayoral candidate Ed Oakley and praising his opponent, Tom Leppert, spread across Dallas over the weekend.
The recorded phone messages, attributed to the Heritage Alliance’s political action committee on the recordings, told voters the three top issues of the mayoral runoff race are “crime, education and homosexuality.”
[...]
The Heritage Alliance’s mission, according to its Web site (www.txvote.com), is to “empower the handful of citizens necessary to restore principles of free enterprise, limited government, limited taxation and our traditional Judeo-Christian heritage in government. The group was founded by Dallas resident Richard Ford, who counts Focus on the Family founder James Dobson as one of his associates, his Web site notes.
[More at URL]
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A Call to Prayer: Marriage Under Fire in Massachusetts
Key vote on amendment could come Thursday.
by Jennifer Mesko, associate editor
Focus on the Family
6-12-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000004825.cfm
Massachusetts lawmakers will meet Thursday in a special joint session that could decide the future of marriage in the state. Focus on the Family is asking its constituents to spend Wednesday in prayer.
In 2003, Massachusetts became the only state to legalize same-sex marriage. The Legislature will decide whether voters will get to define marriage in the future.
A constitutional amendment to define marriage as between one man and one woman needs the support of at least 50 representatives in two consecutive legislative sessions to reach the ballot in November 2008. It won approval in the previous session.
"The opposition has decided to use their considerable power and influence to see that the marriage amendment is defeated," said Mona Passignano, state issues analyst for Focus on the Family Action. "And the people of Massachusetts who want the opportunity to vote on marriage need our help — and they desperately need God’s intervention.
"We need to stand with our brothers and sisters in Massachusetts and pray for victory, pray that the family will be restored in that state and we need to pray that — above all — God will be glorified through this process."
According to the State House News Service, last week Gov. Deval Patrick said that he and the leaders of the House and Senate would postpone the vote until they get enough support for gay marriage.
Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, which is associated with Focus on the Family, said postponing the vote is unnecessary and unfair.
"I think the Legislature is going to have significant credibility problems if it continues to hold our amendment hostage," he said after the vote was postponed last month.
Lisa Barstow, spokeswoman for VoteOnMarriage.org, said the pressure in Massachusetts is unbelievable, and prayers are appreciated.
"We are doing all that we can to urge a vote on this. The citizens have waited long enough to have this matter resolved," she said.
"We appreciate the support and prayers from around the country. What happens in the Statehouse in Boston will certainly continue to impact the country. There is definitely a need for national prayer support for movement on the marriage issue here."
A CALL TO PRAYER
Please pray Wednesday, specifically during evening church services, that God's purposes will be accomplished in Massachusetts and that his people would stand up for the truth. Pray also for the Massachusetts Family Institute as Kris Mineau and his team battle for the restoration of marriage.
----- 11 -----
Science Again Proves Embryonic Stem Cells Unnecessary
Mouse skin cells offer moral alternative as controversial bill goes to Bush.
by Jennifer Mesko, associate editor
Focus on the Family
6-12-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000004824.cfm
Last week Congress passed, for the third time, an attempt to water down the president’s pro-life stance on embryonic stem-cell research. President Bush has promised a veto of the legislation. Also last week, researchers discovered that skin cells can be converted into embryonic-like cells without destroying a life. Coincidence? Similar breakthroughs were discovered around the same time as each vote by Congress.
[More at URL]
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Utah Voters Will Decide If School Choice Program Stays
State Supreme Court calls for a November vote.
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
Focus on the Family
6-12-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000004823.cfm
After education board attorneys, the state attorney general and legislators spent weeks fighting over whether Utah had or had not officially passed the nation’s first universal school choice law – the Utah Supreme Court settled the fight on Friday by handing it back to voters.
State lawmakers voted last spring to allocate up to $3,000 for every school-aged child that could be used toward private school tuition.
Candi Cushman, education analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said the court's decision means that voters will decide in November whether Utah becomes the first state to allow universal school choice.
[More at URL]
----- 13 -----
New York Assembly Poised to Pass Gay-Marriage Bill
Focus on the Family
6-12-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004822.cfm
The New York Assembly is set to pass legislation to legalize gay marriage within the next two weeks, The New York Sun reported.
"It's very likely that we will pass it this session," said Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, chairman of the Health Committee.
In April, Gov. Eliot Spitzer introduced a program bill that would legalize same-sex marriage. Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell, brother of Rosie O'Donnell, is the main sponsor of the Assembly bill.
[More at URL]
----- 14 -----
Louisiana Lawmakers Move to Ban Partial-Birth Abortion
Focus on the Family
6-12-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004821.cfm
The Louisiana state Senate voted unanimously Monday to outlaw partial-birth abortion. It is the first state to do so since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal ban, KATC-TV reported. The bill now moves to the House.
The bill, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Ben Nevers, allows one exception: if the life of the mother is at stake.
Nevers called the procedure "the most gruesome practice ever performed in the United States."
Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said even with the parallel federal law, there are several reasons for states to implement their own bans.
"By relying on the federal government to prosecute violators," he said, "you are putting your state at the mercy of overworked federal prosecutors and future administrations in Washington with different priorities."
[More at URL]
----- 15 -----
New Hampshire Legislature Repeals Parental-Notification Law
Effort to remove protections for pregnant teens goes to governor.
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
Focus on the Familiy
6-8-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000004807.cfm
New Hampshire lawmakers have voted to overturn a state law that requires parents to be notified at least 48 hours in advance if a minor daughter seeks an abortion.
The Parental Notification Law, passed in 2003, has never been enforced. Pro-abortion advocates have tied it up in court.
The U.S. Supreme Court eventually ordered a lower court to try to salvage the law.
[More at URL]
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House Subcommittee Increases Abstinence Funding
Compromise saves key program, but boosts Planned Parenthood role.
by Jennifer Mesko, associate editor
Focus on the Family
6-8-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000004808.cfm
In an about-face, a Democratic-led House committee voted Thursday to increase funding for a key abstinence-education program.
The Community Based Abstinence Education program (CBAE) is set to receive $141 million for fiscal year 2008. That's more than President Bush requested ($137 million) and more than in FY 2007 ($109 million).
The action, although promising, still must face the full House, where it could be struck or amended. Another source of federal funding, Title V, which allocates $50 million for abstinence education, is still set to expire at the end of this month.
"We are cautiously optimistic with this preliminary decision," said Linda Klepacki, sexual health analyst for Focus on the Family Action. "This allocation of funds would continue to provide our schoolchildren with the primary public health message of abstinence-until-marriage education."
Valerie Huber of the National Abstinence Education Association applauded the vote, telling The Washington Times that abstinence education "is a public health message that deserves to be continued."
According to CQ Today, Democrats hope the increase in funding for the Community Based Abstinence Education Program will garner support from Republicans on spending bills. With bipartisan support, Congress hopes to override any veto from Bush.
Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, pointed to a recent Zogby poll that found 83 percent of parents favor educating their children to wait until marriage to have sex.
“Parents want abstinence education for their kids,” Wright said in a statement. She noted that the government spends $12 to promote contraceptives for every $1 spent on abstinence.
The subcommittee voted to increase Title X family planning funding by $27.8 million to $311 million. A good percentage of that goes to Planned Parenthood, the nation's No. 1 abortion provider.
Klepacki said family advocates need to get involved.
"Please continue to contact your lawmakers to voice your support for abstinence education," she said. "Ask them to vote in favor of this appropriation of funds until these funds are secure."
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Watch Stuart Shepard's Stoplight video commentary: "Defending Abstinence."
TAKE ACTION
Urge your representative to support funding for abstinence education.
(Paid for by Focus on the Family Action)
----- 17 -----
House Committee Considers Online Gambling
Bill would make online gambling legal again.
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
Focus on the Family
6-8-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000004809.cfm
Congressman Barney Frank told House members he is aware that some people struggle with gambling addiction, but he doesn't want to protect them.
"Do you prohibit some adults from doing something because a small number of adults are going to abuse it?" the Democrat asked. "It is a terrible mistake to say the government has an obligation to protect adults from making poor choices in matters that affect them."
Frank, chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services, introduced a bill earlier this year that would make online gambling legal.
Frustrated by the passage last year of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), online poker players and foreign Internet gambling operators – who stand to lose more than $6 billion a year under the UIGEA – are pushing to reverse the law.
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the committee, introduced the Internet Gambling Regulations and Enforcement Act, H.R. 2046, earlier this year. Unlike what the title seems to suggest, it would make gambling online legal.
Chad Hills, analyst for gambling research and policy at Focus on the Family Action, said Frank was looking for support for his proposal – one that would open the 230 million households with computers to the assault of predatory Internet gambling operators.
"This invasive legislation again opens the door for thousands of Internet casinos to access every Internet-connected home in the United States," he said, "without state or voter approval."
The bill would override all federal and state gambling regulations, Hills said.
"In 2006 Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in order to protect children and households," he said. "Now Barney Frank wants to undo that protection and, instead, protect the predators."
The Rev. Greg Hogan, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Barberton, Ohio, testified about his son who became addicted to online gambling – an addiction that led to bank robbery.
"What could have put my son in the state of mind to do that act?" he said. "The answer has to do with illegal Internet gambling."
Hills said Frank couldn't be more off-base in wanting to expand gambling.
"The National Gambling Impact Study Commission estimates that 15 million Americans have a problem or pathological addiction to gambling, and more underage children are addicted than adults," he said. "Counselors today calculate that the number of people with gambling addictions averages closer to 20 million. Imagine 285 NFL football stadiums filled to capacity – that's how many men, women and children have a problem or pathological gambling addiction in the U.S. alone."
TAKE ACTION
Ask your representative to oppose Rep. Frank's effort to make online gambling legal. 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.
(Paid for by Focus on the Family Action)
----- 18 -----
No More Gay Benefits in Michigan City
Focus on the Family
6-7-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004795.cfm
Kalamazoo, Mich., will discontinue benefits for same-sex partners of city employees at the end of June.
The benefit program for gay couples was established in 2002; however, in 2004 Michigan residents voted in favor of a constitutional amendment to define marriage as solely the union of one man and one woman. In March, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled benefits for same-sex partners illegal.
[...]
Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, applauded Kalamazoo for being the first city in the state to abide by the law.
"We urge Governor Granholm and other state and local government and university officials to follow Kalamazoo's lead," he said, "and honor the will of the voters and obey the Supreme Court's order."
----- 19 -----
Bill Would Force Pharmacists to Dispense Plan B
Refusal could bring $500,000 fine.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
6-7-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000004799.cfm
Pharmacists who refuse to dispense Plan B, the so-called morning-after pill, are being targeted by a bill introduced Wednesday in the U.S. House and Senate. The Access to Birth Control Act – the ABC Act – would force pharmacists either to dispense the controversial drug or face up to a $500,000 fine.
The bill was introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.
Some pharmacists have refused to give out Plan B because it sometimes can cause an early abortion. Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, said medical professionals should have the right to opt out.
“It makes no sense to require that pharmacists have to hand over drugs without using their professional judgment," she told Family News in Focus. "Pharmacists are respected professionals, they are not vending machines.”
Planned Parenthood and NARAL back the bill, claiming that pharmacists jeopardize women’s health and safety by refusing to dispense Plan B. Karen Brauer of Pharmacists for Life International said the pro-abortion groups are placing their agenda ahead of pharmacists' judgment.
“Planned Parenthood is out to increase its own business," she said. "They are going to trash the health of Americans.”
Joe Giganti, a columnist for Renew America, called the ABC bill outrageous, at best.
“The concept of forcing a pharmacy and a pharmacist to prescribe something that goes against their moral and scientific beliefs is as un-American as one can be.”
(Paid for by Focus on the Family Action)
----- 20 -----
Southern Baptists to Discuss Evangelism and Public Schools
Annual convention is next week.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
6-7-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000004798.cfm
The annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention kicks off next week. Leaders will consider a resolution that calls for an exodus from public schools and an evangelism plan.
At the 2006 meeting, the past president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Bobby Welch, challenged attendees to "witness, win, baptize a million people in 12 months."
[...]
The SBC allows members to bring resolutions on issues of importance, but not all get a vote on the convention floor. One item that's drawing attention is the ongoing effort by Exodus Mandate to ask Southern Baptists to pull their kids from public schools. Hall said he's doubtful it will make the cut this year.
“Each time that it has been addressed, the resolution committee and the convention as a whole has chosen to go in a different direction," he said, "and reject an exit strategy in favor of engaging the culture.”
[More at URL]
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The New Tolerance
How A Cultural Movement Threatens To Destroy You, Your Faith, And Your Children
Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler
Focus on the Family
http://resources.family.org/product/id/101899.do?code=CE07FCZL#
How Much "Tolerance" Can We Tolerate?
Best-selling author Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler unmask the true nature of the cultural movement of "tolerance" in this powerful release. It will not only help you to understand it, but equip you to counter its insidious effects on your faith and your children. In addition, the authors teach you how to: neutralize this threat by discerning truth from error, teach your children to discern between acceptance and approval, and lovingly respond to a hostile culture that seems willing to tolerate just about anything except biblical truth.
----- 22 -----
In defense of Dr. Dobson
WorldNetDaily
Posted: June 7, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Tom Minnery
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56048
In the wake of the Supreme Court's April 17 decision in Gonzales v. Carhart, which upheld the federal law against partial-birth abortions, a furor broke out after my boss, Dr. James Dobson, praised the ruling on the grounds that it will save the lives of preborn children.
He was attacked ferociously by a small group of pro-lifers who say the ruling did no such thing, because the justices explained how other methods of late-term abortion could be used to replace the one they had just thrown out.
Now if I tell you that a road to town is partially washed away, will you call me a liar if there are other roads that still take you to town? You won't unless you want to purposely misrepresent what I told you. And that's the nature of the attack on Dr. Dobson. He rightly pointed out that for the first time since 1973, one road to abortion has sustained legal damage, and truly that is a tremendous encouragement, for until Carhart, no Supreme Court ruling has upheld an attempt to close such a road to abortion. We all understand that other roads exist, and we know that new ones can be built.
[...]
Carhart was significant for yet another reason. The court acknowledged for the first time since 1973 that an abortion procedure could be prohibited because of "ethical and moral concerns," including the observation that "some women come to regret their choice to abort the infant life they once created and sustained."
By accepting and defending Congress's right to base an abortion law on moral concerns, the Court punctured the hot air balloon that has carried the abortionists' lie since 1973 – that a preborn baby is a blob of tissue that the mother needn't think about in human terms. One need only read Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's outraged dissent on this issue or the dozens of editorials written by abortion advocates since the decision to realize just how deeply this part of the Court's opinion cut. Pro-lifers have been waiting a long time to hear such moral concerns validated in a Supreme Court opinion.
Liberals have been hoping since the 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision that morals-based legislation was dead, and that abortion, assisted suicide, pornography and the like would no longer be a valid concern of legislatures or Congress. The Carhart decision should be an encouragement to all Americans that we have not plunged into that abyss after all.
[More at URL]
MASSACHUSETTS ANTI-MARRIAGE AMENDMENT DEAD: CANNOT ATTAIN 25% IN LEGISLATURE! It only needed 50 votes to go forward and failed; this is a serious defeat for the theoconservative movement as they put a lot of money into stopping this kind of equal treatment. They will, of course, fight on;
A firsthand report from the Creationist pseudonatural history museum - no, they don't call it that, but I do - in Kentucky. According to this attendee, they actually tell you, "Don’t think, just listen and believe." I like this picture particularly a lot, where they draw a (minimalist, to put it mildly) timeline of the "human reason" universe in the shape of a snake, evoking the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Don't tell me that's not intentional, I do graphic design. That's clever being used for evil and stupidity;
Almost 70% of the Republican party are Creationists. Those of you still thinking that the theoconservative movement has not taken over the party should, um, well, not sure what I can say at this point;
Even Christian Broadcasting Network bloggers - while thinking it key that voters require Christian religious faith from their candidates - are a getting a little leery about how nitpicky it's getting, asking, "Are we going to start comparing church attendance records?" Well, hey, this is where you guys have been driving the political process for the last 30 years, what do you expect;
Focus on the Family/New Jersey Right to Life opposing New Jersey bill funding embryonic stem-cell research;
FotF article against New Jersey plan to require all licensed pharmacists to dispense all legal medications - including, specifically, Plan B, the emergency contraception pill, which, as always, they falsely claim "can sometimes cause an early abortion," presumably as part of their attempt to blur birth control and RU-486, the actual chemical abortion pill;
FotF ACTION ITEM to condemn bill that would repeal the international gag order banning discussion of abortion by groups receiving American aid; Chief Executive Mr. Bush promises a veto;
FotF ACTION ITEM condemning sex education that is not abstinence-only, saying that it "gets [a] failing grade" from a government study set up by Senator Rick Santorum (formerly R-PA) and Tom Coburn (R-OK), reporting that such education fails in its "overemphasises" of birth control and by not delaying sexual activity; disease- and pregnancy-prevention do not seem to be important Focus on the Family's view, but, well, we already know that;
Heritage Alliance runs anti-gay robo-calls against Dallas mayoral candidate Ed Oakley (Mr. Oakley is gay); the calls include "homosexuality" as a top issue for the campaign and encourages votes for opponent Tom Leppert specifically on the basis that Mr. Leppert is heterosexual and Christian. The Heritage Alliance founder claims to be an associate of Focus on the Family's James Dobson;
FotF's last ACTION ITEM supporting the now-DEFEATED anti-marriage amendment in Massachusetts;
FotF article against embryonic stem-cell research claiming that it is "unnecessary";
FotF: Utah voters will vote on a "universal school choice" bill that will allow government money to be spent on religious instruction;
FotF: New York State Assembly may pass marriage-rights bill;
FotF supports Louisiana bill to ban so-called "partial birth" abortions; as per the Federal ban, to which this ban is redundant, it carries no health exemption - you can read previous commentary of mine on that here and here; Focus on the Family wants it passed so that state prosecutors can prosecute cases the Federal government doesn't;
New Hampshire legislature repeals parental-notification law; it's never been enforced; it goes to the governor for a signature now; Focus on the Family hopes for a veto;
Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM to support abstinence-only education funding, which got out of subcommittee with a funding increase this year;
Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM against a bill restoring legal online gambling; FotF highlights Barney Frank (D-MA)'s role, and criticises him for not using government power to protect people from their own vices;
Kalamazoo, Michigan drops domestic-partner benefits as part of the anti-marriage amendment passed in 2004 and in response to a state Supreme Court ruling showing that - as was intended - any form of GBLT partnership recognition was in violation of the state Constitution. Focus on the Family is happy, and the American Family Association of Michigan praised the city for giving fags a kick in the stomach;
Focus on the Family condemns another bill to prohibit individual pharmacists from refusing to dispense birth control - plan B, the emergency birth control pill, which they again incorrectly label as an abortifacient;
FotF reports on upcoming Southern Baptist Convention, and talks about Exodus Mandate again; Exodus Mandate wants a mass withdrawal from public schools in favour of fundamentalist religious instruction;
FotF's book ad for a book on how tolerance is destroying "You, Your Faith, And Your Children";
FotF's Tom Minnary writes a WorldNetDaily column defending James Dobson against attacks that he's not anti-abortion enough; what's interesting is that the defense centres around something I pointed out in an earlier post - that the key element of Gonzalez vs. Carhart was that the Supreme Court, courtesy Justice Alito, upheld the idea that you can write a law purely on moral, not rational, grounds, and have it be constitutional. And they specifically talk about Lawrence v. Texas (2003) in that context. The MSM media may not understand why Gonzalez v. Carhart was so important, but the fundamentalist leadership certainly does.
----- 1 -----
Legislators vote to defeat same-sex marriage ban
By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff
The Boston Globe
Thursday, June 14, 2007
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2007/06/legislators_vot.html
A proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage was defeated today by a joint session of the Legislature by a vote of 45 to 151, eliminating any chance of getting it on the ballot in November 2008. At least 50 votes were needed to advance the measure.
[...]
Opponents of gay marriage face an increasingly tough battle to win legislative approval of any future petitions to appear on a statewide ballot. The next election available to them is 2012.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
Fun at the Creation Museum!!!!
BlueGrassRoots
June 9, 2007
http://crazytalk.typepad.com/bluegrassroots/2007/06/fun_at_the_crea.html
This Saturday, I made my much anticipated field trip to the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum, a $27 million monstrosity devoted to religious fanaticism, disguised as “science”.
Two of my heretical friends and I ventured an hour north up I-75 from Lexington, just short of Cincinnati, to discover a museum full of shocking idiocy and unintentional humor.
Early in the museum, the visitor is given advice on the proper mind frame to have for your visit: “Don’t think, just listen and believe”. As you can see in the picture below, Human Reason is the enemy and God’s Word is the hero. Descartes represents Human Reason, saying “I think, therefore I am”. But God tells us there no need to waste your beautiful mind, for God says “I am that I am."
So logic, reason and science are Bad; blind faith is Good.
[More at URL]
----- 3 -----
Religion—our maelstrom of ignorance
Category: Creationism • Religion
Posted on: June 11, 2007 4:38 PM, by PZ Myers
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/06/religionour_maelstrom_of_ignor.php
We've got a new Gallup poll on evolution to agonize over. It's nothing but bad news—we are a nation of uneducated morons. Gary chose to weep over the political correlation: look how membership in the Republican party is tied to ignorance about science.
[Ed. note: On the web page here is a chart showing 68% of Republicans are creationists; 30% state that they support evolutionary theory. Independents and Democrats both have non-Creationist majorities, though the Democratic party is at 40%, which is bad enough.]
The clear majority of Republicans are screwed up. And you know, I'm not too happy with the Democrats, either. These results tell us that the population across the board is messed up, confused, lied to, and festering in ignorance—it's just that right now the Republican party is a magnet for the stupid.
[More at URL]
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Are We Going to Start Comparing Church Attendance Records?
June 12, 2007
David Brody
Christian Broadcasting Network
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/175028.aspx
Do you care if the President of the United States attends Church? My bet is the majority of Americans would say yes.
There's a WorldNet Daily article out about Fred Thompson's lack of church activity. The article suggests Thompson is just not a very active Church member. Almost non existent. Here's part of the article:
Is the Hollywood star-turned-politician a true believer? Thompson's chances at capturing the GOP primary may rest on the answer, thanks to the growing electoral clout of Christian conservatives. Professor Mark Elrod of Harding University said he doubts Thompson is "filling out an attendance card at a Church of Christ on Sundays."
The political scientist says he hasn't been able to find any information regarding the former senator's actual membership in a local congregation in his home state of Tennessee. "In our tradition," Elrod said, "that's called 'being out of fellowship' or a 'lapsed member.'"
[...]
Read all of it here. I'm not going to start judging another person's walk with the Lord. I have no desire to do that. Plus, I'm not saying I agree with the WorldNet Daily article either.
I bring it up because this topic is going to come up in the future. My sense is Fred Thompson will have to discuss his faith more in depth than he ever has before. Why? Because like it or not, the topic of faith is bigger this year. From Romney and his Mormonism to Giuliani and Catholicism to McCain and his relationship with Evangelicals, religion has become an issue. Also, let's not forget that the Democrats are talking about God too.
[More at URL]
----- 5 -----
N.J. Voters to Decide on Stem-Cell Funding
Focus on the Family
6-13-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004839.cfm
In November, New Jersey voters will decide whether to use $450 million in taxpayer money to fund stem-cell research, including research that destroys human embryos.
[...]
Marie Tasy, executive director of New Jersey Right to Life, told the news service that "taxpayers should be outraged."
[More at URL]
----- 6 -----
N.J. Lawmakers Seek to Force Pharmacists to Dispense Plan B
Focus on the Family
6-13-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004838.cfm
The New Jersey Assembly passed legislation Monday that would require pharmacists to dispense all medications – even drugs that would violate moral or religious beliefs, LifeNews reported.
The same bill passed the state Senate last year, and pro-abortion Gov. John Corzine has indicated he will sign it.
Under the legislation, pharmacists could not refuse to dispense drugs such as Plan B – the so-called morning-after pill – which can sometimes cause an early abortion.
[More at URL]
----- 7 -----
House Committee OKs Bill That Would Fund Abortions Overseas
Social liberals work 'to strip away virtually every pro-life protection.'
by Jennifer Mesko, associate editor
6-13-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000004843.cfm
[Graphic: Using YOUR Money to Destroy Life]
The U.S. House Appropriations Committee passed a bill Tuesday that includes language aimed at ending the president's prohibition on tax dollars going to groups that fund or promote abortion overseas.
The full House is expected to vote June 20.
"This is why elections matter," said Ashley Horne, federal policy analyst for Focus on the Family Action. "Social liberals in Congress are doing what we knew they’d do if elected. They are working hard to strip away virtually every pro-life protection included in past spending bills."
The Mexico City policy, which bars U.S. funding from going to international groups that support abortion, was implemented by President Reagan, rescinded by President Clinton and reinstated by President Bush. The appropriations bill seeks to kill the policy.
In May, in identical letters to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Bush wrote, “I will veto any legislation that weakens current federal policies and laws on abortion, or that encourages the destruction of human life at any stage.”
Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee told CNS News that "the fur may fly" over the committee action, but "we expect the president's policy to remain intact."
"This is (Rep. Nita) Lowey's personal hobby horse," he stated, adding that she and her allies "hate the Mexico City policy and are going to take a shot at it, even though they've got a steep hill to climb."
TAKE ACTION
Urge your representative to oppose the State/Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill because it includes language to kill the Mexico City policy. 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.
----- 8 -----
Comprehensive Sex Education Gets Failing Grade
Two-year government study shows most programs contain medical inaccuracies, emphasize contraception.
by Jennifer Mesko, associate editor
Focus on the Family
6-13-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000004842.cfm
A government report on the effectiveness of comprehensive sex education shows the most popular programs mention condoms and contraception nearly seven times more often than abstinence, have little effect on sexual activity or use of contraception, and contain medical inaccuracies.
In 2005, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the Department of Health and Human Services was tasked by Republican Sens. Rick Santorum and Tom Coburn to review and evaluate comprehensive sex education programs supported by federal dollars.
The National Institutes of Health defines comprehensive sex education as “teaching both abstinence and the use of protective methods for sexually active youth.”
Over the next two years, ACF studied the nine most common programs across the nation. The 40-page report was released Tuesday.
"It was found that there was virtually no effect on delaying sexual debut in children using these sex education curricula, and no long-term effects," said Linda Klepacki, sexual health analyst for Focus on the Family Action. "In other words, they don’t work."
The curriculum review consisted of four components: Each curriculum underwent an extensive content analysis; the stated purposes of the curricula were compared to the actual emphases of the curricula, as demonstrated by the content analysis; curriculum content was evaluated for medical accuracy, primarily the accuracy of statements about condoms; and evaluations of each curriculum were located and summarized.
One curriculum, called "Positive Images," asks for 10 volunteers and has the students arrange a set of cards in proper order to illustrate effective condom use.
"Reducing the Risk," another curriculum, asks students to identify the following as either a truth or a myth: “Teenagers can obtain birth control pills from family planning clinics and doctors without permission from a parent."
It's true.
"You do not need a parent’s permission to get birth control at a clinic. No one needs to know that you are going to a clinic," reads the curriculum.
Findings from the "Reducing the Risk" review:
• No impact on frequency of intercourse.
• No impact on initiation of first sex at six months.
• No overall impact on unprotected sex at 18 months.
• No impact on pregnancy rates.
Meanwhile, the federal Title V program, which provides $50 million for abstinence education, is set to expire June 30.
The federal Community Based Abstinence Education program (CBAE) is set to receive $141 million for fiscal year 2008. It still must face the full House, which could vote this week.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Read the government report.
Watch Stuart Shepard's Stoplight video commentary: "Defending Abstinence."
TAKE ACTION
Urge your U.S. representative to support funding for abstinence education. 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.
----- 9 -----
Conservative group sponsors anti-gay robo calls attacking mayoral candidate Ed Oakley
By David Webb Staff Writer
Jun 7, 2007, 20:28
http://www.dallasvoice.com/artman/publish/article_5766.php
Anti-gay robo calls denouncing gay mayoral candidate Ed Oakley and praising his opponent, Tom Leppert, spread across Dallas over the weekend.
The recorded phone messages, attributed to the Heritage Alliance’s political action committee on the recordings, told voters the three top issues of the mayoral runoff race are “crime, education and homosexuality.”
[...]
The Heritage Alliance’s mission, according to its Web site (www.txvote.com), is to “empower the handful of citizens necessary to restore principles of free enterprise, limited government, limited taxation and our traditional Judeo-Christian heritage in government. The group was founded by Dallas resident Richard Ford, who counts Focus on the Family founder James Dobson as one of his associates, his Web site notes.
[More at URL]
----- 10 -----
A Call to Prayer: Marriage Under Fire in Massachusetts
Key vote on amendment could come Thursday.
by Jennifer Mesko, associate editor
Focus on the Family
6-12-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000004825.cfm
Massachusetts lawmakers will meet Thursday in a special joint session that could decide the future of marriage in the state. Focus on the Family is asking its constituents to spend Wednesday in prayer.
In 2003, Massachusetts became the only state to legalize same-sex marriage. The Legislature will decide whether voters will get to define marriage in the future.
A constitutional amendment to define marriage as between one man and one woman needs the support of at least 50 representatives in two consecutive legislative sessions to reach the ballot in November 2008. It won approval in the previous session.
"The opposition has decided to use their considerable power and influence to see that the marriage amendment is defeated," said Mona Passignano, state issues analyst for Focus on the Family Action. "And the people of Massachusetts who want the opportunity to vote on marriage need our help — and they desperately need God’s intervention.
"We need to stand with our brothers and sisters in Massachusetts and pray for victory, pray that the family will be restored in that state and we need to pray that — above all — God will be glorified through this process."
According to the State House News Service, last week Gov. Deval Patrick said that he and the leaders of the House and Senate would postpone the vote until they get enough support for gay marriage.
Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, which is associated with Focus on the Family, said postponing the vote is unnecessary and unfair.
"I think the Legislature is going to have significant credibility problems if it continues to hold our amendment hostage," he said after the vote was postponed last month.
Lisa Barstow, spokeswoman for VoteOnMarriage.org, said the pressure in Massachusetts is unbelievable, and prayers are appreciated.
"We are doing all that we can to urge a vote on this. The citizens have waited long enough to have this matter resolved," she said.
"We appreciate the support and prayers from around the country. What happens in the Statehouse in Boston will certainly continue to impact the country. There is definitely a need for national prayer support for movement on the marriage issue here."
A CALL TO PRAYER
Please pray Wednesday, specifically during evening church services, that God's purposes will be accomplished in Massachusetts and that his people would stand up for the truth. Pray also for the Massachusetts Family Institute as Kris Mineau and his team battle for the restoration of marriage.
----- 11 -----
Science Again Proves Embryonic Stem Cells Unnecessary
Mouse skin cells offer moral alternative as controversial bill goes to Bush.
by Jennifer Mesko, associate editor
Focus on the Family
6-12-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000004824.cfm
Last week Congress passed, for the third time, an attempt to water down the president’s pro-life stance on embryonic stem-cell research. President Bush has promised a veto of the legislation. Also last week, researchers discovered that skin cells can be converted into embryonic-like cells without destroying a life. Coincidence? Similar breakthroughs were discovered around the same time as each vote by Congress.
[More at URL]
----- 12 -----
Utah Voters Will Decide If School Choice Program Stays
State Supreme Court calls for a November vote.
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
Focus on the Family
6-12-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000004823.cfm
After education board attorneys, the state attorney general and legislators spent weeks fighting over whether Utah had or had not officially passed the nation’s first universal school choice law – the Utah Supreme Court settled the fight on Friday by handing it back to voters.
State lawmakers voted last spring to allocate up to $3,000 for every school-aged child that could be used toward private school tuition.
Candi Cushman, education analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said the court's decision means that voters will decide in November whether Utah becomes the first state to allow universal school choice.
[More at URL]
----- 13 -----
New York Assembly Poised to Pass Gay-Marriage Bill
Focus on the Family
6-12-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004822.cfm
The New York Assembly is set to pass legislation to legalize gay marriage within the next two weeks, The New York Sun reported.
"It's very likely that we will pass it this session," said Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, chairman of the Health Committee.
In April, Gov. Eliot Spitzer introduced a program bill that would legalize same-sex marriage. Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell, brother of Rosie O'Donnell, is the main sponsor of the Assembly bill.
[More at URL]
----- 14 -----
Louisiana Lawmakers Move to Ban Partial-Birth Abortion
Focus on the Family
6-12-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004821.cfm
The Louisiana state Senate voted unanimously Monday to outlaw partial-birth abortion. It is the first state to do so since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal ban, KATC-TV reported. The bill now moves to the House.
The bill, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Ben Nevers, allows one exception: if the life of the mother is at stake.
Nevers called the procedure "the most gruesome practice ever performed in the United States."
Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said even with the parallel federal law, there are several reasons for states to implement their own bans.
"By relying on the federal government to prosecute violators," he said, "you are putting your state at the mercy of overworked federal prosecutors and future administrations in Washington with different priorities."
[More at URL]
----- 15 -----
New Hampshire Legislature Repeals Parental-Notification Law
Effort to remove protections for pregnant teens goes to governor.
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
Focus on the Familiy
6-8-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000004807.cfm
New Hampshire lawmakers have voted to overturn a state law that requires parents to be notified at least 48 hours in advance if a minor daughter seeks an abortion.
The Parental Notification Law, passed in 2003, has never been enforced. Pro-abortion advocates have tied it up in court.
The U.S. Supreme Court eventually ordered a lower court to try to salvage the law.
[More at URL]
----- 16 -----
House Subcommittee Increases Abstinence Funding
Compromise saves key program, but boosts Planned Parenthood role.
by Jennifer Mesko, associate editor
Focus on the Family
6-8-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000004808.cfm
In an about-face, a Democratic-led House committee voted Thursday to increase funding for a key abstinence-education program.
The Community Based Abstinence Education program (CBAE) is set to receive $141 million for fiscal year 2008. That's more than President Bush requested ($137 million) and more than in FY 2007 ($109 million).
The action, although promising, still must face the full House, where it could be struck or amended. Another source of federal funding, Title V, which allocates $50 million for abstinence education, is still set to expire at the end of this month.
"We are cautiously optimistic with this preliminary decision," said Linda Klepacki, sexual health analyst for Focus on the Family Action. "This allocation of funds would continue to provide our schoolchildren with the primary public health message of abstinence-until-marriage education."
Valerie Huber of the National Abstinence Education Association applauded the vote, telling The Washington Times that abstinence education "is a public health message that deserves to be continued."
According to CQ Today, Democrats hope the increase in funding for the Community Based Abstinence Education Program will garner support from Republicans on spending bills. With bipartisan support, Congress hopes to override any veto from Bush.
Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, pointed to a recent Zogby poll that found 83 percent of parents favor educating their children to wait until marriage to have sex.
“Parents want abstinence education for their kids,” Wright said in a statement. She noted that the government spends $12 to promote contraceptives for every $1 spent on abstinence.
The subcommittee voted to increase Title X family planning funding by $27.8 million to $311 million. A good percentage of that goes to Planned Parenthood, the nation's No. 1 abortion provider.
Klepacki said family advocates need to get involved.
"Please continue to contact your lawmakers to voice your support for abstinence education," she said. "Ask them to vote in favor of this appropriation of funds until these funds are secure."
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Watch Stuart Shepard's Stoplight video commentary: "Defending Abstinence."
TAKE ACTION
Urge your representative to support funding for abstinence education.
(Paid for by Focus on the Family Action)
----- 17 -----
House Committee Considers Online Gambling
Bill would make online gambling legal again.
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
Focus on the Family
6-8-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000004809.cfm
Congressman Barney Frank told House members he is aware that some people struggle with gambling addiction, but he doesn't want to protect them.
"Do you prohibit some adults from doing something because a small number of adults are going to abuse it?" the Democrat asked. "It is a terrible mistake to say the government has an obligation to protect adults from making poor choices in matters that affect them."
Frank, chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services, introduced a bill earlier this year that would make online gambling legal.
Frustrated by the passage last year of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), online poker players and foreign Internet gambling operators – who stand to lose more than $6 billion a year under the UIGEA – are pushing to reverse the law.
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the committee, introduced the Internet Gambling Regulations and Enforcement Act, H.R. 2046, earlier this year. Unlike what the title seems to suggest, it would make gambling online legal.
Chad Hills, analyst for gambling research and policy at Focus on the Family Action, said Frank was looking for support for his proposal – one that would open the 230 million households with computers to the assault of predatory Internet gambling operators.
"This invasive legislation again opens the door for thousands of Internet casinos to access every Internet-connected home in the United States," he said, "without state or voter approval."
The bill would override all federal and state gambling regulations, Hills said.
"In 2006 Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in order to protect children and households," he said. "Now Barney Frank wants to undo that protection and, instead, protect the predators."
The Rev. Greg Hogan, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Barberton, Ohio, testified about his son who became addicted to online gambling – an addiction that led to bank robbery.
"What could have put my son in the state of mind to do that act?" he said. "The answer has to do with illegal Internet gambling."
Hills said Frank couldn't be more off-base in wanting to expand gambling.
"The National Gambling Impact Study Commission estimates that 15 million Americans have a problem or pathological addiction to gambling, and more underage children are addicted than adults," he said. "Counselors today calculate that the number of people with gambling addictions averages closer to 20 million. Imagine 285 NFL football stadiums filled to capacity – that's how many men, women and children have a problem or pathological gambling addiction in the U.S. alone."
TAKE ACTION
Ask your representative to oppose Rep. Frank's effort to make online gambling legal. 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.
(Paid for by Focus on the Family Action)
----- 18 -----
No More Gay Benefits in Michigan City
Focus on the Family
6-7-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004795.cfm
Kalamazoo, Mich., will discontinue benefits for same-sex partners of city employees at the end of June.
The benefit program for gay couples was established in 2002; however, in 2004 Michigan residents voted in favor of a constitutional amendment to define marriage as solely the union of one man and one woman. In March, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled benefits for same-sex partners illegal.
[...]
Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, applauded Kalamazoo for being the first city in the state to abide by the law.
"We urge Governor Granholm and other state and local government and university officials to follow Kalamazoo's lead," he said, "and honor the will of the voters and obey the Supreme Court's order."
----- 19 -----
Bill Would Force Pharmacists to Dispense Plan B
Refusal could bring $500,000 fine.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
6-7-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000004799.cfm
Pharmacists who refuse to dispense Plan B, the so-called morning-after pill, are being targeted by a bill introduced Wednesday in the U.S. House and Senate. The Access to Birth Control Act – the ABC Act – would force pharmacists either to dispense the controversial drug or face up to a $500,000 fine.
The bill was introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.
Some pharmacists have refused to give out Plan B because it sometimes can cause an early abortion. Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, said medical professionals should have the right to opt out.
“It makes no sense to require that pharmacists have to hand over drugs without using their professional judgment," she told Family News in Focus. "Pharmacists are respected professionals, they are not vending machines.”
Planned Parenthood and NARAL back the bill, claiming that pharmacists jeopardize women’s health and safety by refusing to dispense Plan B. Karen Brauer of Pharmacists for Life International said the pro-abortion groups are placing their agenda ahead of pharmacists' judgment.
“Planned Parenthood is out to increase its own business," she said. "They are going to trash the health of Americans.”
Joe Giganti, a columnist for Renew America, called the ABC bill outrageous, at best.
“The concept of forcing a pharmacy and a pharmacist to prescribe something that goes against their moral and scientific beliefs is as un-American as one can be.”
(Paid for by Focus on the Family Action)
----- 20 -----
Southern Baptists to Discuss Evangelism and Public Schools
Annual convention is next week.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
6-7-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000004798.cfm
The annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention kicks off next week. Leaders will consider a resolution that calls for an exodus from public schools and an evangelism plan.
At the 2006 meeting, the past president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Bobby Welch, challenged attendees to "witness, win, baptize a million people in 12 months."
[...]
The SBC allows members to bring resolutions on issues of importance, but not all get a vote on the convention floor. One item that's drawing attention is the ongoing effort by Exodus Mandate to ask Southern Baptists to pull their kids from public schools. Hall said he's doubtful it will make the cut this year.
“Each time that it has been addressed, the resolution committee and the convention as a whole has chosen to go in a different direction," he said, "and reject an exit strategy in favor of engaging the culture.”
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The New Tolerance
How A Cultural Movement Threatens To Destroy You, Your Faith, And Your Children
Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler
Focus on the Family
http://resources.family.org/product/id/101899.do?code=CE07FCZL#
How Much "Tolerance" Can We Tolerate?
Best-selling author Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler unmask the true nature of the cultural movement of "tolerance" in this powerful release. It will not only help you to understand it, but equip you to counter its insidious effects on your faith and your children. In addition, the authors teach you how to: neutralize this threat by discerning truth from error, teach your children to discern between acceptance and approval, and lovingly respond to a hostile culture that seems willing to tolerate just about anything except biblical truth.
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In defense of Dr. Dobson
WorldNetDaily
Posted: June 7, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Tom Minnery
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56048
In the wake of the Supreme Court's April 17 decision in Gonzales v. Carhart, which upheld the federal law against partial-birth abortions, a furor broke out after my boss, Dr. James Dobson, praised the ruling on the grounds that it will save the lives of preborn children.
He was attacked ferociously by a small group of pro-lifers who say the ruling did no such thing, because the justices explained how other methods of late-term abortion could be used to replace the one they had just thrown out.
Now if I tell you that a road to town is partially washed away, will you call me a liar if there are other roads that still take you to town? You won't unless you want to purposely misrepresent what I told you. And that's the nature of the attack on Dr. Dobson. He rightly pointed out that for the first time since 1973, one road to abortion has sustained legal damage, and truly that is a tremendous encouragement, for until Carhart, no Supreme Court ruling has upheld an attempt to close such a road to abortion. We all understand that other roads exist, and we know that new ones can be built.
[...]
Carhart was significant for yet another reason. The court acknowledged for the first time since 1973 that an abortion procedure could be prohibited because of "ethical and moral concerns," including the observation that "some women come to regret their choice to abort the infant life they once created and sustained."
By accepting and defending Congress's right to base an abortion law on moral concerns, the Court punctured the hot air balloon that has carried the abortionists' lie since 1973 – that a preborn baby is a blob of tissue that the mother needn't think about in human terms. One need only read Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's outraged dissent on this issue or the dozens of editorials written by abortion advocates since the decision to realize just how deeply this part of the Court's opinion cut. Pro-lifers have been waiting a long time to hear such moral concerns validated in a Supreme Court opinion.
Liberals have been hoping since the 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision that morals-based legislation was dead, and that abortion, assisted suicide, pornography and the like would no longer be a valid concern of legislatures or Congress. The Carhart decision should be an encouragement to all Americans that we have not plunged into that abyss after all.
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Date: 2007-06-14 09:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-15 07:06 am (UTC)Whatever, Foul idiocy.
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Date: 2007-06-15 07:12 am (UTC)I mean, I want accurate Biblical/SCIENTIFIC history, who else would you turn to?
no subject
Date: 2007-06-15 02:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-15 03:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-15 03:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-15 04:48 pm (UTC)See, the New Testament was written in a day when there were many "messiahs" preaching revolution and rebellion. The various authors were well aware of the attraction of charismatic leaders who would tell people things with the sole intent of boosting their own power. Which is why at least one of them (I think it's in Hebrews) told his followers, in so many words, to think for themselves.
Creationism isn't Christianity. It isn't Judaism. It's a cult which preys on those who don't know Christianity and Judaism well enough to realize they're doing the opposite of what the Bible teaches.