Today's Cultural Warfare Update
Jul. 11th, 2007 12:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdWow! One of my editors got mail from a reader condemning them for running technical articles written by a dyke. No, really. And threatening to boycott on that basis. Yay, economic freeze-out hitting home! (For those who don't know, one of the things the theoconservative movement does is attack companies that deal with GBLT-owned companies, join the Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, or similar things. They call it "being neutral in the culture wars" by, um, not dealing with queers. Yeah, that's neutral.) Don't worry, he's the type to tell them to DIAF. But - OMG I'M, um, famous? Yeah! Famous! Or something.
Y'know what this calls for? A musical interlude. With anime. CLICKIE! Then come back and read the rest of this:
Maggie Gallagher: young Americans must be convinced that marriage rights for GBLT people is really bad, noting that only a bare plurality of "young adults" oppose marriage rights (48% to 46%);
I don't have a hard date for this and I'd love to; Bill O'Reilly had a segment on June 21 of an unknown year claiming that hundreds of lesbian gangs were raping children and killing men across the country. Looking at the news crawl, one of the headlines was Chief Executive Bush touring a nuclear power plant in Browns Ferry, Alabama; that happened June 21 of this year. So I think we have a reasonable date for this particularly bizarre O'Reilly hit-piece. Found by Andrew Sullivan;
Also courtesy Sully, we have an LA Times article demonstrating pretty conclusively that new theocon favourite Fred Thompson lobbied for an abortion-rights group during the first Bush administration; he had denied it explicitly and in no uncertain terms, but, um, they have the papers;
More of the New Sectarian Politics: Catholics Against Rudy, campaigning against him because he's not Catholic enough for their tastes, and they want him to condemn GBLT marriage rights and abortion rights; they've got a visitor poll up on their website asking whether US bishops should "speak out against Mayor Giuliani's candidacy" which at this moment is running 2-1 in favour;
Catholics Against Rudy links to a story on Fidelis, notable mostly for its extensive quoting of Bishop Michael Tobin's condemnation of Mr. Giuliani;
Seen on Andrew Sullivan; New Mexico governor and presidential candidate Bill Richardson (D) called somebody a faggot in Spanish while on Don Imus's show; he says he's sorry for the remark; I have to admit this is pretty low-grade for this update, but hey, I saw it;
Focus on the Family/James Dobson water-carrier Senator David Vitter (R-Louisiana) joins the long list of "family advocates" caught in affairs, with prostitutes, on drugs, whatever - in his case, it's prostitution. An interesting quote from his campaign was, "We need a U.S. senator who will stand up for Louisiana values, not Massachusetts values." It is worth noting that the Massachusetts divorce rate is lower than that of Louisiana, so apparently, he's sticking to his word;
What's gotten up his robes? Pope Benedict XVI rejects other Christian sects and other religions as either "defective or not true churches"; this is perfectly consistent with Catholic teaching, but it's sure to upset the fundamentalist movement, so I wonder what's gotten that going;
Vox Nova asks why Catholics Against Rudy isn't including torture, which is as explicitly and firmly against the Catholic faith as is abortion and, um, me - but by the time I'm going to press with this, "Torture" has been added to the list. Still, not much content there, and it's mostly about t3h gay and abortion rights;
Cal Thomas: Democrats talking about their religion just shows their religious beliefs are fake and just a ploy and "part of a campaign plan to win the election"; he's also getting real explicit about what "is" and "is not" actual Christianity, and, of course, the Democrats aren't it;
Concerned Women for America's Matt Barber really whips it out against t3h gay this week, condemning "disordered sexual behaviors" that are high-risk, unnatural and fruitless" and "scientifically and objectively proven to be destructive;" it's all part of a rant saying that queers don't actually want marriage except to destroy it and, of course, all of American society, and all that kind of noise;
WorldNetDaily showcases the newly fundamentalist Michael Glatze, who us the "ex-gay" poster child of the week; he's the author, he mentions how he had a nervous breakdown and found "God" and how God and Concerned Women for America and NARTH (a "conversion therapy" group) showed him the "Truth about homosexuality" and how it's "natural" and "common sense" to be "repulsed" by queers, and so on; and now he's dedicating his life to fighting "homosexuality," which is to say GBLT rights. They'll be parading this guy around for a while, probably until his next nervous breakdown;
Former Concerned Women for America wonk and still sometimes-writer Peter LaBarbera writes gleefully about Michael Glatze's conversion to fundamentalism and his subsequent "conversion" to heterosexuality;
CWA's Wendy Wright condemns New Hampshire repeal of a parental notification law already ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court;
Christianity Today commends Laura Bush's promotion of "faith-based HIV prevention" in Africa;
Christian Post also trumpets Michael Glatze, and describing the nervous breakdown as a "near-death experience," so now I've got even more ooooooooo going on;
National Review Online's Kathryn Lopez condemns Amnesty International as "a force for evil" after they issued a press release supporting "the rights of women and girls to be free from threat, force, or coercion as they exercise their sexual and reproductive rights"; it's the abortion thing, of course; also calls its founder a "Communist and Roman Catholic convert";
Canada Family Action Coalition runs a WorldNetDaily article saying allowing queers to marry puts marriage on the "endangered species list," ties GBLT marriage rights to paedophilia, condemns legendary sex research Alfred Kinsey as a fraud, which is a regular activity of the fundamentalist movement;
Focus on the Family's Institute of Marriage and Family Canada runs an article, "Dismantling Canada—one institution at a time," attacking GBLT marriage;
Institute of Marriage and Family Canada gets a Calgary Herald op-ed, proceeds to self-quote as an external source; part of the "must look big" strategy;
American Family Association's One News Now runs article condemning Senate opening prayer being delivered by a Hindu chaplain; they specifically condemn the polythestic nature of Hinduism, saying it is "flying in the face of the American motto "One Nation Under God";
American Family Association's One News Now promotes the AFA boycott of Ford, taking credit for Ford's sales issues; one wonders how they explain GMC's even-worse sales issues;
AFA's One News Now guest columnist claims "liberals" want... oh, just go read it, it's an anti-sex-ed screed;
Family Research Council (another Focus on the Family spinoff) article on the new "ex-gay" fundamentalist star Michael Glatze; he doesn't mention the nervous breakdown or the "near-death experience," or whatever it was;
Family Research Council insists same-sex parents can never raise children successfully, demands Democrats "endorse and act to protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman," referring both to attempts to weaken the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits the Federal government from recognising state same-sex marriages and allows states to ignore same-sex marriages from other states, and to the anti-marriage/anti-gay Federal Constitutional amendment banning GBLT marriage in all states;
FRC condemns Republican polling showing majority Republican support for gays in the military and "special rights for homosexuals," which usually means including sexual orientation in civil rights law;
USA Today's short story on the poll, and a link to the poll itself; it was sponsoured in part by the "Republican Leadership Council, Republican Main Street Partnership, Republican Majority for Choice and the Log Cabin Republicans," which cuts to the core of why the Family Research Council condemns it. There's interesting data in this poll, including a 52%-40% support for "Public policy should not contradict God’s Law" that's maintained over most segments of the GOP - only the tiny Free Market (8%) and similarly small Fortress America (8%) segments disagree; 50% describe themselves as born-again Christians, 51% attend church once to several times per week; a similar 51% are "Social/Cultural" conservatives primarily;
FRC condemns "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" as not anti-gay enough, want active investigation of possible queers in the military; also condemns DC's domestic partner registry and wants a ban on Federal funding for DC going to it;
Christian Post reports on rally calling for "Moral Revolution;" Sen. Sam Brownback appeared at it; it was a big political/religious revival in Nashville, Tennessee; they seem to be dipping into numerology, as it was held on 7/7/07 and various ties were made to the Bible based on that.
----- 1 -----
What do Americans think about marriage?
By Maggie Gallagher
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Townhall.com
http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/MaggieGallagher/2007/07/05/what_do_americans_think_about_marriage
A new Pew poll was released this week to great fanfare and an Associated Press story that highlighted just one of its findings: a large drop since 1990 in the proportion of Americans who see children as "very important" to a "successful" marriage. The Pew study itself however has a very different headline: "As Marriage and Parenthood Drift Apart, Public Is Concerned about Social Impact."
[...]
But Pew also asked the same question in a slightly different way: What do you think of the trend of unmarried couples having children? Overall, the level of concern dropped slightly, with 59 percent of the general public saying it's a bad thing (still a 2-1 margin opposed). But a significant generation gap emerges: Among 18 to 29-year-olds just 46 percent say unmarried couples having children is a bad thing and 45 percent say it is a good thing for society. The biggest drop off is among Hispanic Catholics: Fifty-two percent disapprove of "single women having children," but only 37 percent say unmarried couples having children is a bad thing for society.
On gay marriage, Americans are against it 57 to 32 percent. Even young adults ages 18 to 29 oppose gay marriage 46 percent to 44 percent.
The next generation is persuaded that children need a mom and a dad. They are less convinced that marriage is the key to giving children that gift. Closing that loop in the mind of young adults is the key to marriage's -- and children's -- future.
----- 2 -----
The Oh-Really Factor
Fox News' Bill O'Reilly offers up an 'expert' to claim that pink pistol-packing lesbian gangs are terrorizing the nation
By Susy Buchanan and David Holthouse
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/news/item.jsp?site_area=1&aid=274
A "national underground network" of pink pistol-packing lesbians is terrorizing America. "All across the country," they are raping young girls, attacking heterosexual males at random, and forcibly indoctrinating children as young as 10 into the homosexual lifestyle, according to a shocking June 21 segment on the popular Fox News Channel program, "The O'Reilly Factor."
Titled "Violent Lesbian Gangs a Growing Problem," the segment began with host Bill O'Reilly briefly referencing for his roughly 3 million viewers the case of Wayne Buckle, a DVD bootlegger who was attacked by seven lesbians in New York City last August. Deploying swift, broad strokes, O'Reilly painted a graphic picture of lesbian gangs running amok. "In Tennessee, authorities say a lesbian gang called GTO, Gays Taking Over, are involved in raping young girls," he reported. "And in Philadelphia, a lesbian gang called DTO, Dykes Taking Over, are allegedly terrorizing people as well."
[More at URL]
----- 3 -----
Thompson lobbied for abortion-rights group, it says
A spokesman for the GOP presidential hopeful says he did no such work. An ex-colleague calls the denial 'bizarre.'
By Michael Finnegan, Times Staff Writer
July 7, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-thompson7jul07,0,54260.story?coll=la-home-center
Fred D. Thompson, who is campaigning for president as an antiabortion Republican, accepted an assignment from a family-planning group to lobby the first Bush White House to ease a controversial abortion restriction, according to a 1991 document and several people familiar with the matter.
A spokesman for the former Tennessee senator denied that Thompson did the lobbying work. But the minutes of a 1991 board meeting of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Assn. say that the group hired Thompson that year.
[...]
Thompson spokesman Mark Corallo adamantly denied that Thompson worked for the family planning group. "Fred Thompson did not lobby for this group, period," he said in an e-mail.
In a telephone interview, he added: "There's no documents to prove it, there's no billing records, and Thompson says he has no recollection of it, says it didn't happen." In a separate interview, John H. Sununu, the White House official whom the family planning group wanted to contact, said he had no memory of the lobbying and doubted it took place.
But Judith DeSarno, who was president of the family planning association in 1991, said Thompson lobbied for the group for several months.
Minutes from the board's meeting of Sept. 14, 1991 — a copy of which DeSarno gave to The Times — say: "Judy [DeSarno] reported that the association had hired Fred Thompson Esq. as counsel to aid us in discussions with the administration" on the abortion counseling rule.
Former Rep. Michael D. Barnes (D-Md.), a colleague at the lobbying and law firm where Thompson worked, said that DeSarno had asked him to recommend someone for the lobbying work and that he had suggested Thompson. He said it was "absolutely bizarre" for Thompson to deny that he lobbied against the abortion counseling rule.
"I talked to him while he was doing it, and I talked to [DeSarno] about the fact that she was very pleased with the work that he was doing for her organization," said Barnes. "I have strong, total recollection of that. This is not something I dreamed up or she dreamed up. This is fact."
[More at URL]
----- 4 -----
Still “under construction,” but the “Catholics Against Rudy” movement has officially launched!
July 8th, 2007
Catholics Against Rudy
http://catholicsagainstrudy.com/2007/07/08/still-under-construction-but-the-catholics-against-rudy-movement-has-officially-launched/
(latest entry on http://catholicsagainstrudy.com/ )
“Catholics Against Rudy” is up and running now, but we are still working on several matters, and will be doing so for the next several months. Here are just a few of the things that remain to be done:
[...]
(2) construct an “activism” page, where faithful Catholics can print off fliers to hand out at the parish level that outline Mayor Giuliani’s abysmal record on life issues and traditional marriage, sign a petition committing to voting against Giuliani in the GOP presidential primary and/or engage in various types of grass-roots activism, etc.;
[...]
Should the U.S. bishops speak out against Mayor Giuliani's candidacy?
Yes (66%, 82 Votes)
No (34%, 42 Votes)
Total Voters: 124
----- 5 -----
Giuliani Hunting in Vain for Support from Conservative Christians
Fidelis
06-29-2007
http://www.fidelis.org/gw3/articles-news/articles.php?CMSArticleID=1773&CMSCategoryID=10
Tuesday’s appearance of Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia, will not convince conservative Christian voters to jettison their pro-life convictions.
[...]
Earlier this month, Catholic Bishop Michael Tobin of the Diocese of Providence described Giuliani’s proclamations on abortion as “pathetic,” “confusing,” “hypocritical” and “preposterous.” News stories since have suggested that Giuliani’s faces an uphill battle in convincing faithful Catholics to buck their Church and ignore his pro-abortion position.
“Supporting Giuliani is not an option for a vast majority of faithful Catholics, many of whom believe, along with their Church, that any claim to protect the common good begins with a commitment to upholding the dignity of every human person, including life at its earliest stages. Catholics cannot simply overlook his unfettered support for embryo-killing research, abortion rights, partial birth abortion, and taxpayer funding of abortion, not to mention his support of policies that would destroy the traditional family,” Burch stated. [Editor's note: "destroy the traditional family" is rhetoric shorthand for "supports GBLT rights."]
[More at URL]
----- 6 -----
Richardson sorry for 'maricón' moment
Posted: 7/10/2007, 11:11 AM
By KAREN OCAMB and CHRIS CRAIN
http://www.gaynewswatch.com/Page.cfm?PageID=22&SID=1842
Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Richardson apologized this week for using a Spanish-language slur for gay people, even as he suggested it smacked of politics that news of his “maricón” moment is surfacing now, more than a year later.
[...]
Almost exactly one year before Imus was to lose his show for using a slur to describe the Rutger’s women’s basketball team, the shock jock used the Spanish word “maricón” in an on-air exchange with Richardson.
Don Imus jokingly asked Bill Richardson on-air if one of the shock jock's staffers was a 'maricón' for doubting that Richardson is really Latino. The New Mexico governor, now running for president, repeated the anti-gay slur in his response.
“Bernard on the staff here has been claiming you’re not really Hispanic so-- that you're just claiming that for some sort of advantage or something,” Imus said to Richardson, tongue clearly in cheek. “You can just answer this yes or no and this will answer that question. Would you agree that Bernard is a maricón?”
Without missing a beat, Richardson replied in Spanish, “Yo creo que Bernardo, sí — es un maricón si él piensa que yo no soy hispano. [General laughter] Was that good enough or what? [General laughter]”
“That’s good enough for me,” Imus replied.
Most gay Latinos interviewed for this story agreed with the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation that the word “maricón” means “faggot” in Spanish. So, translated to English, Richardson had replied: "I believe that Bernard, yes – he’s a faggot if he thinks that I am not Hispanic."
[...]
Krochmal told Hubble she would pass the email along to Monica Taher and Carlos Macias, GLAAD’s “excellent Spanish-language media advocates.” Taher would say later in an interview for this story that another GLAAD employee decided instead to go to Equality New Mexico with the information.
“The statewide organization [in New Mexico] asked us not to contact [Richardson] because that would jeopardize the domestic partnership bill that the governor was supporting and working on at that time,” Taher said.
Alexis Blizman, executive director of Equality New Mexico (EQNM), acknowledged that she asked GLAAD not to “go after” Richardson because of his strong gay rights record, but said the domestic partnership bill was not under consideration at the time.
[More at URL]
----- 7 -----
GOP senator sorry for 'serious sin' in 'D.C. Madam' case
CNN
10 July 2007
http://us.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/10/vitter.madam/index.html
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. David Vitter apologized to anyone he disappointed after telephone records linked him to an escort service operated by Deborah Jeane Palfrey, aka the "D.C. Madam."
The Louisiana Republican said in a Monday statement that he told his wife several years ago about a "serious sin" and she forgave him.
[...]
A staunch conservative, Vitter disavowed same-sex unions during his 2004 campaign, boasting that he had co-authored and fought for the Federal Marriage Amendment. He further vowed to protect "the sanctity of marriage."
"This is a real outrage. The Hollywood left is redefining the most basic institution in human history, and our two U.S. senators won't do anything about it," he said in a statement on his campaign Web site. "We need a U.S. senator who will stand up for Louisiana values, not Massachusetts values."
[More at URL]
----- 8 -----
Pope: Other Christians not true churches
By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer
10 July 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070710/ap_on_re_eu/pope_other_christians;_ylt=ApLVxhaoCbOcTTy6OZxVQNYDW7oF
LORENZAGO DI CADORE, Italy - Pope Benedict XVI reasserted the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says other Christian communities are either defective or not true churches and Catholicism provides the only true path to salvation.
The statement brought swift criticism from Protestant leaders. "It makes us question whether we are indeed praying together for Christian unity," said the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, a fellowship of 75 million Protestants in more than 100 countries.
"It makes us question the seriousness with which the Roman Catholic Church takes its dialogues with the reformed family and other families of the church," the group said in a letter charging that the document took ecumenical dialogue back to the era before the Second Vatican Council.
[More at URL]
----- 9 -----
Catholics Selectively Against Rudy?
By Morning's Minion
Monday, July 9, 2007
http://www.vox-nova.com/2007/07/catholics-selectively-against-rudy.html
Too much hoopla, the Catholics Against Rudy site has been launched. But why exactly are they against Rudy? The first thing I noted is that their opposition to the candidacy of Giuliani went far beyond his well-known views on abortion. If you click on the "issues" you will find the following list:
Abortion
Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Euthanasia
On Catholic politicians and voters
Same-Sex Marriage
[...]
And yet Rudy does justify [torture]. When asked specifically if he supported the Khmer Rouge-perfected waterboarding technique, he replied without hesitation that "I would tell the people who had to do the interrogation to use every method they can think of". For a Catholic, this is as beyond the pale as arguing in favor of abortion.
So, Catholics Against Rudy: Where's the torture? Where's the consistency?
[More at URL]
----- 10 -----
Cal Thomas: Hillary, faith and politics
By Cal Thomas -
Published 12:00 am PDT Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Story appeared in EDITORIALS section, Page B7
http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/264352.html
Some unknown author once said, "Everybody should believe in something; I believe I'll have another drink."
Democratic senator and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton took a less cynical and more substantive approach to faith in a recent interview with the New York Times. The quality and depth of one's relationship with God should be personal and beyond the judgment of others, unless one is running for president and chooses to talk about it as part of a campaign plan to win the election.
[...]
Liberal faith, which is to say a faith that discounts the authority of Scripture in favor of a constantly evolving, poll-tested relevancy to modern concerns -- such as the environment, what kind of SUV Jesus would drive, larger government programs and other "do-good" pursuits -- ultimately morphs into societal and self-improvement efforts and jettisons the life-changing message of salvation, forgiveness of sins and a transformed life.
[...]
This is a politician speaking, not a person who believes in the central tenets of Christianity.
[...]
Clinton is entitled to whatever faith she wants to practice, but when she uses it as an election tactic, she should not be allowed to alter classic Christian theology.
[More at URL]
----- 11 -----
"Gays" Don't Want "Marriage" After All
Getting married isn’t even on the radar screen for the vast majority of homosexuals.
Concerned Women for America
7/5/2007
By J. Matt Barber
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/13387/CFI/family/index.htm
The homosexual lobby has fine-tuned its rhetoric in recent years. Through the hyperbolic and repetitive use of such concocted expressions as “marriage equality” and “gay rights,” the left has dishonestly but effectively framed the debate over homosexual behaviors.
By co-opting and misapplying the language of the genuine civil rights movement, homosexual activists — along with kindred leftists in the media, government and elsewhere — are making considerable strides toward reshaping our culture. They’ve enjoyed much success in attaining official government recognition of a disordered and empty, though demonstrably mutable, sexual lifestyle.
They yearn for a society created in their own secular humanist image wherein all are compelled to not only accept, but to celebrate high-risk, unnatural and fruitless homosexual behaviors as both normal and equal to natural expressions of human sexuality. Their ideal is a society in which inherent gender distinctions are eliminated and God’s express design for human sexuality is replaced by morally relative and surreal notions of sexual androgyny.
[...]
But it goes far beyond simply undermining marriage. In order to legitimize disordered sexual behaviors, which have traditionally been considered immoral and are scientifically and objectively proven to be destructive, it’s necessary to dissolve the notion that traditional marriage and the nuclear family are normative and represent the gold standard. According to some, that’s a sexually repressive Judeo-Christian concept, you see. And in order for secular humanism to properly take root, we need a society which embraces the idea that all forms of sexual behavior — no matter how perverse or destructive — are equally valid.
[More at URL]
----- 12 -----
Confessions of a former 'gay rights' leader
Posted: July 10, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
Editor's note: See the news story about Michael Glatze, "'Gay'-rights leader quits homosexuality."
By Michael Glatze
I used to be gay, or so I thought.
When I was about 13, I decided I must be gay because I was unable to handle my own masculinity. It scared me too much. My father had already given me a lot to be afraid of: He'd cheated on my mother and left her crying, alone and selflessly attempting to salvage a dead relationship.
When I was faced with the prospect of either being a "man" or being "me" – who I saw as "better than that" and "not someone who would do such awful things as men do" – I chose "me." Then, because "me" was not "a man," "me" became gay.
[...]
Then again, it wasn't internal homophobia that caused my so-called "hatred" of my own homosexuality.
It was God.
God – I know – is a buzzword. God scares people. I know this. I'm sorry that's the case.
However, this is my story. And, my story includes me having a nervous breakdown, feeling like I was hurting tons of people with my actions, and turning to the Bible, praying and understanding that what was in the Bible was not nearly as scary as what people had made it out to be.
In my story, I became acquainted with a very personal God whom I spoke to and who told me that I was beautiful, and that everyone else was – and is – too. In my story, I had a good relationship with God that got richer as I spent more time with Him. In my story, God is my best friend.
I continued to develop a deeper understanding of who and what I really am, thanks to God and thanks to what He showed me. I followed His guidance and found books that revealed all sorts of "deep, dark" secrets about things like "socialism," Concerned Women for America, "abstinence-only education" and the National Association of Research & Therapy of Homosexuality. All these things I found truly opened my eyes.
[...]
And so, my story becomes a story of healing from homosexuality, which I write in order to "set the record straight" about the notion that people can't heal from homosexuality. That is not true. People can heal. I did it.
[...]
So, no, it's not the end of the story at all – my story, that is. It's not at all my end. Because, from my perspective, homosexuality is not just something I was healed from, but it's something that is flat-out wrong, because it can be healed, even though people say it can't.
And not only can it be healed, I've seen the difference between gay and straight in my very mind!
I've seen it go from one … to the other – NEVER to return.
I wouldn't want it to return, because now I can't even imagine it. It's like thinking about doing the weirdest, grossest thing that just makes you feel sick inside.
This, again, is my story. And in my story, it makes me repulsed to think about homosexuality.
And when I step back a little bit, I know why! Because people are supposed to feel like homosexuality is gross, because such a feeling prevents them from wanting to do it. And people are supposed to not want to do it, because doing it is something that prevents them from having babies, and having babies is something that we – naturally – are supposed to want to do, for human beings to survive. And, so, it's obvious why people should feel gross about homosexuality.
It's not "wrong" for people to think it's gross. It makes sense!
If anything, it's not thinking homosexuality is gross that's weird. What if we stopped thinking that all harmful behaviors – all things that prevent us from doing what we're supposed to do and being what we're supposed to be – were gross? What then? Would we have no natural sense of who we are, why we're here, what we're supposed to do with our lives?
I understand this notion of "homophobia" – only it's not a phobia at all. It's common sense.
My story is that now I know the Truth about homosexuality. And my story is that now I'm going to do what I can to fight it.
[More at URL]
----- 13 -----
Michael Glatze ‘Comes Out’ of Homosexuality: former ‘Young Gay America’ Magazine Co-founder
Michael Glatze with pro-homosexuality activist Judy Shepard in his former life as a “gay” activist, speaking at a 2005 Kennedy School forum. Glatze can be reached at michaelglatze@gmail.com.
Americans for Truth about Homosexuality
By Peter LaBarbera
http://americansfortruth.com/news/michael-glatze-comes-out-of-homosexual-activism-former-young-gay-america-magazine-co-founder.html
oday, when Americans celebrate their freedom and independence, a man living in Canada is cherishing a more profound liberty — from spiritual bondage to homosexual sin. Michael Glatze, a former rising star in the “gay” movement — and co-founder of “Young Gay America” magazine — publicly “came out” of homosexuality on the web pages of WorldNetDaily yesterday. Click HERE for WND’s breaking news story about Glatze.
Concerned Women for America has a wonderful online interview with Michael Glatze, which you can listen to by clicking HERE. (The set-up page for the CWA interview is HERE. Glatze can be reached at michaelglatze@gmail.com.)
[...]
I suspect that most people — Christian and non-Christian alike – would cheer Glatze’s transformation, if the dominant media would dare report it fairly. But the pro-homosexuality crew at ExGayWatch is all in a tizzy. For them and all homosexuality advocates, Michael’s rejection of their lifestyle poses a problem, as it undermines the central “gay” lie (myth) of our age: that “being gay” is intrinsically ”who a person is,” and that homosexuality is morally neutral. (Most argue that it is innate, and now the homosexual “christian” movement mischievously asserts that this “orientation” is a gift from God.)
[...]
Michael Glatze told CWA that he left an outgoing message on his computer at “Young Gay America” (the magazine’s website, www.ygamag.com, was down at press time): ”Homosexuality equals death. I choose life.” He made the right choice, but God, it seems, was also doing the choosing. Pray for this young man as we thank God for His gracious work in one repentant sinner’s life — a testimony of what He can do in this nation if we as a people humble ourselves, reject worldly agendas, and return to following Him.
[More at URL]
----- 14 -----
NH Repeal of Abortion Notification Law Goes Against the Grain, Critic Says
By Monisha Bansal
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
July 06, 2007
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/viewstory.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200707/CUL20070706a.html
(CNSNews.com) - As the first state to repeal a parental notification law requiring minors to notify a parent before receiving an abortion, New Hampshire has become something of an "oddity," Concerned Women for America President Wendy Wright said Thursday.
[...]
In January 2006, the Supreme Court ruled that the New Hampshire law was unconstitutional, because it did not include exceptions to protect the health of a pregnant minor.
The decision noted that the court had held repeatedly that states have the right to require parental involvement in abortion decisions by minors, so New Hampshire's law would have to be revisited by the state legislature.
Signing the repeal last week, Gov. John Lynch said the court had ruled that the law "fails to protect the health and safety of all women."
[More at URL]
----- 15 -----
Abstinence Brings 'Dignity'
Traveling in Africa, First Lady Laura Bush speaks in favor of faith-based HIV prevention.
Isaac Phiri in Zambia | posted 6/29/2007 12:25PM
Thursday, June 28, started out as a pampered day in Mrs. Laura Bush's four-nation Africa marathon.
[...]
After that, accompanied by her Zambian counterpart, First Lady Maureen Mwanawasa, Mrs. Bush hit the road. "I hope you have comfortable shoes," she had warned at the beginning of her trip. "We will work hard." In Lusaka, she certainly did.
Abstinence education brings 'dignity'
A cloud of red dust announced the arrival of the heavily guarded entourage that took Mrs. Bush and her daughter Jenna to the Mututa Memorial Center. Center director Martha Chilufuya's late husband, having received a lot of home-based care during his long illness, donated half of their farm to care-giving initiatives.
[...]
The impact of faith-based initiatives is evident, Mrs. Bush said. "Millions of people have heard these messages, and they are putting their faith into practice across the continent of Africa." In case there was a doubter in the audience, she cited an immediate example. "Here at Mututa, parents and caregivers know very well the healing power of faith," she added.
Later, Christianity Today asked Zambian First Lady Mwanawasa whether advancing abstinence using public resources was an issue in Zambia. "Not at all," she said. "As Zambians, we consider churches one of our biggest partners." The teaching of the church is critical, she said: "The message of abstinence is very important in preventing new infections."
[More at URL]
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Leading Gay Rights Activist Comes Out of Homosexuality, Tells His Story
By
Lillian Kwon
Christian Post Reporter
Thu, Jul. 05 2007 11:53 AM ET
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070705/28312_Gay_Rights_Activist_Comes_Out_of_Homosexuality,_Tells_His_Story.htm
Young Gay America Magazine is on hiatus. Its founding editor has left the magazine and gay activism and has now publicly announced that he's been "healed."
Michael Glatze, who had become a leading activist in the homosexual community, made the shocking announcement on Tuesday in a World Net Daily column entitled "How A 'Gay Rights' Leader Became Straight."
"It became clear to me, as I really thought about it – and really prayed about it – that homosexuality prevents us from finding our true self within. We cannot see the truth when we're blinded by homosexuality," he wrote.
Glatze grew up with a Christian mom and a father who was possibly agnostic or atheist. His father died when Glatze was only 13, followed by his mother when he was 19.
The mixed religious messages already confused him of who he was.
[...]
When he came out of what he called a near-death experience with intestinal cramps and stomach pains, he found himself turning to and thanking God.
"I realized at that point in time that it was actually God that was the actual thing that I had always been relying on, the core, the center of truth that I had always been turning to, writing on and living my entire life for," Glatze said.
He opened up the Bible and realized the Word of God was not only "good," but also "intelligent, earth-shattering, topical" and "so true."
Today, he wants to share his story and says it's his duty to tell people the truth. He equates homosexuality with death – death to one's soul; that those struggling with same-sex desires are wanting a part of them that they do not have; and that basically, they are not completely whole.
In a society where gay tolerance is increasing and more than half of Americans say they do not believe homosexuality is changeable, according to a recent CNN poll, Glatze posed, "If there had not been homosexuality condoned in the culture, would I have developed the notion that I had such an identity because we know the nature of that identity is suspect?"
[...]
"I believe that all people, intrinsically, know the truth. I believe that is why Christianity scares people so much. It reminds them of their conscience, which we all possess."
[...]
When Glatze pondered about remaining a homosexual and being a born-again Christian at the same time, he said realized he couldn't be both.
"Truth resonated so much that ... I realized you can't actually have it both ways," he said.
Glatze left what he said some homosexuals considered an ideal gay relationship. He now realizes that "when you see another guy, you can lust. But you can also recognize that that lust is nothing more than a craving need and a grasping desire that holds you in its grip."
[More at URL]
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Amnesty International’s inhumane human-rights policy
By Columnist Kathryn Lopez
Laurel Leader-Call (pointed to by Concerned Women for America)
http://www.leadercall.com/opinion/local_story_184101101.html?keyword=secondarystory
It is a tragedy when a force for good becomes a force for evil. But such is the case with Amnesty International.
In April, the 1.8 million-member human-rights organization announced its support for abortion. Amnesty International (AI), in a press release, made it clear that it stood by “the rights of women and girls to be free from threat, force, or coercion as they exercise their sexual and reproductive rights."
[...]
How can AI be a credible human-rights defender when it will not unconditionally defend those who are truly voiceless — the unborn? Congressman Chris Smith (R-N.J.), a pro-life human-rights advocate, is right in advising AI against the policy change: “The killing of an unborn child by abortion can never be construed to be a human right. Therefore, taking a position that supports violence against children is antithetical to everything Amnesty International stands for,” Smith said at a press conference.
What’s so frustrating about the new policy is that AI — founded by a Communist and Roman Catholic convert — can do a world of good with its global resources. Days after pro-life groups were blasting AI for its new policy, the organization was publicizing the plight of the blind Chinese human-rights activist Chen Guangcheng, who was beaten in a prison. He is serving a four-year sentence on trumped-up charges; his real transgression was exposing the inhuman treatment of women and unborn children in the Shandong province, where local Linyi City officials use forced sterilization and abortion to meet China’s population-control mandates. If AI is supporting a man who is fighting against the mistreatment of women, how can they not realize how similar that fight is to the preservation of unborn life?
[More at URL]
----- 18 -----
Why marriage is on the endangered species list
WorldNetDaily Commentary
July 5, 2007
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/family/marriage/endangered-species.htm
In his excellent book, "The Future of Marriage," David Blankenhorn, president of the Institute for American Values, reasserts every child's birthright to live with their married mother and father. This obvious need for institutionalizing marriage, he says, has been lost in the smoke and mirrors of the "gay marriage" debate.
Asking what is marriage and why does it matter, Blankenhorn quotes philosophers, anthropologists, sociologists, psychiatrists, brain scientists and other scholars who agree "marriage" is less about "love" than it is about a couple's commitment to nurture and protect their potential children into adulthood.
Blankenhorn cites anthropological marriage studies as far flung as ancient Mesopotamia and the Trobriand Islands as well as "gay and lesbian movement" scholars and activists who speak for "gay marriage," "gay adoption," group marriage, polyamory, polygamy and other "flexible" marriage schemes.
Still, the data show that children's right to both a mother and a father "should outweigh new adult freedoms," including "same-sex marriage."
[...]
In his effort to reach out to a wider public, Blankenhorn skims past his finding that the only culturally approved male-male marriages appear in cultures that permit adult males to marry boys.
Yet this is quite a finding for today's "gay marriage" debate!
[...]
In 1948 and 1953, Americans still were reeling from Alfred Kinsey's two fraudulent sex books on males and females when they were hit broadside in December 1953 by Hugh Hefner's Playboy magazine.
Hefner has it right, too. He says as "Kinsey's pamphleteer" these two men were the catalysts for the sexual revolution.
The Hefner cult condemned chastity, fidelity and monogamous marriage and championed adultery, sodomy, orgies, lesbianism, no-fault divorce, abortion on demand and the like; at the same time the Kinsey cult was carving out anti-family, anti-marriage, anti-women and anti-child laws and legislation.
Kinsey/Hefner cultists are far more relevant to American marital dissolution than the mating patterns of Trobriand Islanders.
Kinsey's scientific frauds, quoted by the U.S. Supreme Curt and Ivy League textbooks, have percolated down to high schools, middle schools and kindergarteners. Hefner's gateway porn showed Joe College how to dump marriage, fidelity and fatherhood to become a lifetime member of the dazed, sexually addicted playboy consumer world.
[More at URL]
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Dismantling Canada—one institution at a time
By Andrea Mrozek, Manager of Research and Communications
Institute of Marriage and Family Canada (andream@imfcanada.org)
Online as of 10 July 2007
[Editor's note: The IMFC, like Focus on the Family Canada, is a sockpuppet of Focus on the Family, James Dobson's fundamentalist political/social action organisation.]
http://www.imfcanada.org/article_files/July_4_2007.pdf
Columnist Andrew Coyne once wrote he was “for gay marriage before gays were,” but those “people of goodwill who worry where it will all lead” were just as deserving of respect. [1] David Blankenhorn is one such person of goodwill, a former student of noted academic Michael Ignatieff, and most recently, the author of The Future of Marriage. One could say he was against anything that might diminish the venerable institution of marriage—that includes gay marriage—long before the challenges were on the horizon. [2] Blankenhorn, a liberal Democrat and self-described “marriage nut,” faced a crisis of conscience after a meeting with Evan Wolfson, executive director of a group advocating for gay marriage. Blankenhorn found himself on the defensive and asked himself: “Had I really thought the issue through? Maybe I hadn’t. Maybe I should.” [3]
[More at URL]
----- 20 -----
Saving institutions to save a country
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Andrea Mrozek
Calgary Herald
http://www.imfcanada.org/article_files/Saving_institutions_to_save_a_country.pdf
Columnist Andrew Coyne once wrote he was "for gay marriage before gays were," but those "people of goodwill who worry where it will all lead" were just as deserving of respect. David Blankenhorn is such a person of goodwill, a liberal Democrat, a former student of noted academic Michael Ignatieff, and most recently, the author of The Future of Marriage.
After a meeting with an individual advocating for gay marriage, he faced a crisis of conscience. He asked himself: "Had I really thought the issue through? Maybe I hadn't. Maybe I should." The result is The Future of Marriage, a compassionate and compelling defence of marriage as an institution today, in history and across cultures.
Agree or not, it initiates a discussion framed by the right questions. Blankenhorn is critical of the tone of marriage debates across America. He writes, "(f)or sheer cultural illiteracy and intellectual vacuity, nothing can top the debate over the meaning of marriage taking place in the U.S. in the early years of the 21st century." Clearly, he was not present for the all-Canadian round -- which bounced between mud-slinging and Hallmark card slogans during "debates" on Parliament Hill.
[...]
But recent Canadian history suggests the demise of many of Canada's greatest institutions: the Canadian flag was revamped in 1965, Dominion Day ("what's that?") -- lost in 1982, the Canadian military's diminishing role ("aren't we peacekeepers?") -- the Anglican Church disappearing, the significance of the Crown on the wane. Clearly, Canadians can accept a whole lot of de-institutionalization without taking to the barricades. Blankenhorn is somewhat aware of this when he says, "(by) far the biggest problem is the widespread refusal to respect or even acknowledge the institutionality of marriage. It's as if we have forgotten what a social institution is." As if? In Canada, we almost certainly have.
The intellectual disconnect goes further: Not to pick on the erudite Coyne, but in another sphere of debate, he stands resolutely in favour of tradition. When Prime Minister Stephen Harper said: "Quebecers form a nation within a united Canada," Coyne eloquently mourned "(the) hollowing out of the national idea . . ." But it is the very impulse that allows Canada's elite to both hollow out the nation at a political whim and hollow out the institution of marriage -- also at a political whim. That history matters, that nations are carefully nurtured over centuries and that the institution of marriage has existed in much the same form for millenniums --these are parallel notions.
Not today, however. Got a new definition of Canada? Or marriage? Hey -- why not?
[More at URL]
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Historian Barton says Hindu prayer before Senate raises concerns
Jim Brown
OneNewsNow.com
July 10, 2007
http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/07/historian_barton_says_hindu_pr.php
[Editor's note: OneNewsNow is a sockpuppet of the American Family Association]
A prominent Christian historian and constitutional expert is expressing concern that the U.S. Senate will be opened up for the first time with a non-monotheistic prayer.
On Thursday, a Hindu chaplain from Reno, Nevada, by the name of Rajan Zed is scheduled to deliver the opening prayer in the U.S. Senate. Zed tells the Las Vegas Sun that in his prayer he will likely include references to ancient Hindu scriptures, including Rig Veda, Upanishards, and Bhagavard-Gita. Historians believe it will be the first Hindu prayer ever read at the Senate since it was formed in 1789.
WallBuilders president David Barton is questioning why the U.S. government is seeking the invocation of a non-monotheistic god. Barton points out that since Hindus worship multiple gods, the prayer will be completely outside the American paradigm, flying in the face of the American motto "One Nation Under God."
[More at URL]
----- 22 -----
Ford's sales drop, homosexual support continues
Ed Thomas
OneNewsNow.com
July 10, 2007
http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/07/fords_sales_drop_homosexual_su.php
[Editor's note: OneNewsNow is a sockpuppet of the American Family Association]
The spokesman for American Family Association (AFA) says more than 700,000 families have said they will not buy from Ford Motor Company because of the automaker's support of homosexual causes and business. The pro-family group says the effects of that boycott are reflected in Ford's sales figures from June, which show an 8.1 percent drop from a year ago.
Ford car sales were down 24.6 percent from last year, and overall sales for 2007 are 11 percent lower than 2006. Yet AFA's Randy Sharp says number two of the "Big Three" automakers continues to be a leading supporter of same-sex "marriage" and the homosexual agenda -- including, most recently, sponsership of a booth and banner at the Cleveland Lesbian-Gay-Bi-Trans Pride Parade and Festival.
"Sadly, Ford continues to sponsor gay pride parades despite the fact that by doing so it's driving customers away from the dealers' parking lots," says Sharp. "I believe it's very clear that when you offend your customers, they're not going to drive into your parking lot and buy your product."
[More at URL]
----- 23 -----
Fred Thompson not the next Reagan, says conservative journalist
Chad Groening
OneNewsNow.com
July 10, 2007
http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/07/fred_thompson_not_the_next_rea.php
[Editor's note: OneNewsNow is a sockpuppet of the American Family Association]
An author and investigative journalist believes conservatives are in for a big disappointment if they believe former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson is the next Ronald Reagan.
[...]
"I don't think some of the positions he's taken are going to be truly satisfying to real conservatives unless they want to go again experience more 'battered-voter syndrome' like they've done under Bush," he comments. "They can make Thompson into what voters want him to be, but unfortunately he just isn't what they're projecting into him."
[More at URL]
----- 24 -----
Perspectives: Teaching denial and ignorance
Jane Jimenez
Guest Columnist
OneNewsNow.com
July 10, 2007
http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/07/perspectives_teaching_denial_a.php
America is caught in a battle for the health of our youth. When left to the common sense of parents, informed and supported by medical facts, clearly the health of our youth depends on their ability to maintain sexual abstinence until marriage.
Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirms this sexual abstinence message ... although ... to avoid public castigation by liberals bent on social re-engineering, the CDC couches their approval in careful linguistics: The surest way to avoid transmission of sexually transmitted diseases is to abstain from sexual intercourse, or to be in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who has been tested and you know is uninfected.
[...]
If liberals could have their way, young people would be taught that all sex is created equal (uninhibited), and that you can do anything (absolutely anything) you feel you are ready to do with another person (or persons) who feel they are ready to do it, too (consensual sex), hiding behind a bit of latex (protection), without fear of consequences (free and natural).
If liberals could have their way, this message would begin early ... in kindergarten ... and be legally mandated and federally funded.
[More at URL]
----- 25 -----
Sexual Healing
Tony Perkins' Washington Update
To: Friends of Family Research Council
From: Family Research Council President Tony Perkins
July 10, 2007 - Tuesday
Please forward this to your Friends and Family!
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WU07G06
Christians have proclaimed for two millennia that the truth of Jesus Christ can release men and women from enslavement to destructive behaviors (John 8:31-32). The homosexual movement argues, when it suits them, that homosexuality is a characteristic set in concrete from birth. Christians have always known better (I Cor. 6: 9-11). Powerful evidence of this came in the past week as Michael Glatze, formerly of Young Gay America, and one of the founding editors of YGA Magazine, renounced homosexuality in an article posted on WorldNetDaily.com. Glatze, now in his mid-30s, announced his homosexuality at age 20, and, as a magazine editor, became a celebrity often appearing on TV and in magazines. Yet Glatze turned in another direction, recognizing: "God is regarded as an enemy by many in the grip of homosexuality or other lustful behavior, because He reminds them of who and what they truly are meant to be." Furthermore, homosexuality alienates men from God: "Lust takes us out of our bodies, 'attaching' our psyche onto someone else's physical form. That's why homosexual sex - and all other lust-based sex - is never satisfactory..." Thank God for the saving grace that has brought Michael Glatze down this new path. Undoubtedly, his trials and temptations will be great, but he has much to teach this nation in this time of great sexual confusion.
[More at URL]
----- 26 -----
Tony Perkins' Washington Update
To: Friends of Family Research Council
From: Family Research Council President Tony Perkins
July 2, 2007 - Monday
Please forward this to your Friends and Family!
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WU07G01
A Donkey Led Astray
A vote on the Financial Services Appropriations bill in the House last Thursday handed us both victories and defeats. One loss came on a vote against Rep. Mark Souder's (R-Ind.) amendment to ban any dollars in the Financial Services bill from going toward needle exchange programs for drug abusers. However, an amendment by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) passed, which banned any money being used by the FCC to implement the so-called "Fairness Doctrine." A pro-marriage amendment offered by Rep. Virgil Goode (R-Va.), which stops any federal funds from paying for domestic partnerships in the District of Columbia, was also approved with the same type of bipartisan support we saw in 1996 on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The Democratic Leadership hoped to undermine DOMA by directly violating it through the Appropriations process; however, 40 Democrats joined with their Republican colleagues to protect DOMA--for now. The Democratic Leadership is so opposed to doing anything to protect the sanctity of marriage that House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), DNC Chairman Howard Dean and others got involved in support of homosexual marriage in the state of Massachusetts. Those leaders reportedly believe that action and votes on the marriage issue would hurt the Democratic Party at the national level in 2008. There's a simple, socially beneficial solution to this problem: endorse and act to protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
[...]
News Flash: Moms, Dads, and Marriage Still Matter to Americans
There's both good news and bad news in a Pew Research Center poll on marriage, parenthood, and other issues involving family and sexuality that was released over the weekend. A lopsided majority of Americans--69%--still believe that a child needs both a mother and a father. Large majorities also still believe that having children out of wedlock is a big problem for society. Americans still oppose same-sex "marriage" by a 57-32% margin, while opposition to the marriage counterfeits called "civil unions" has once again surpassed support for them. These views reflect the continuing common sense of the American people. However, other study findings were more troubling. The Washington Post chose to emphasize the sharp drop since 1990 in the percentage of people who consider children very important to a successful marriage, from 65% to only 41%, along with the 65% who believe that "mutual happiness and fulfillment" (rather than "bearing and raising children") is the "main purpose of marriage." Yet while an individual couple may not have children as their top priority, there's no question that providing an optimal setting for bearing and raising children is the most important public purpose of marriage--one same-sex unions can never fulfill.
[More at URL]
----- 27 -----
Tony Perkins' Washington Update
To: Friends of Family Research Council
From: Family Research Council President Tony Perkins
June 28, 2007 - Thursday
Please forward this to your Friends and Family!
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WU07F16
Conservatives Question 'Poll' Position
Results of a new poll on the priorities of Republican voters are causing quite a commotion in today's headlines--and considering the survey's findings, it's no wonder. Funded by four of the most liberal GOP organizations, the survey is a masterpiece of political manipulation. According to the results, U.S. Republicans now support gays in the military, universal health care, special rights for homosexuals, and 60% of them would vote for a presidential candidate who disagreed with their position on abortion. Is the new message of the GOP to write off social issues altogether? An in-depth look at the polling questions suggests not. Most of the survey was crafted to produce a conditioned response. Here's one example. Participants were asked to agree or disagree with leading questions like this one: "The Republican Party has spent too much time focusing on moral issues." Fifty-three percent concurred, despite the fact that moral issues have historically been the winning issues on Election Day and the moral issue of corruption in office saddled a number of GOP candidates with defeat last November. Groups like the Republican Main Street Partnership may have succeeded in engineering some phony support for their issues, but we'll see how reliable those findings are after the ultimate polls at the ballot box.
Additional Resources
New poll: GOP is older, more focused on security and wants health coverage for all
----- 28 -----
New poll: GOP is older, more focused on security and wants health coverage for all
OnPolitics
USA Today
By: Mark Memmott and Jill Lawrence
http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2007/06/new-poll-gop-is.html
A new poll of 2,000 self-described Republican voters finds that the party has gotten older, more conservative and more concerned about foreign policy and national security during President Bush's tenure.
[Editor's note: Poll here]
----- 29 -----
Tony Perkins' Washington Update
To: Friends of Family Research Council
From: Family Research Council President Tony Perkins
June 26, 2007 - Thursday
Please forward this to your Friends and Family!
Camouflaging the Problems of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
Reps. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) and Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.) are beating the drum for a full-fledged retreat from the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that was adopted as a compromise under the Clinton Administration. According to a recent report from the General Accounting Office, 300 soldiers who served as military translators were discharged for revealing their same-sex attractions. In a letter to the State Department, Lantos and Ackerman claim the "bigoted" policy should be abolished because it "cripples our national security" and wastes taxpayer dollars spent training soldiers only to dismiss them later on. I agree with these congressmen that the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy is a waste of taxpayer dollars. Congress should allow the military to enforce the law and prohibit homosexuals from enlisting in the military in the first place so that training dollars are not wasted. Homosexuality threatens unit cohesion, sacrifices safety, and distracts the troops from their primary mission. The military is no place for social experimentation. If our leaders truly want to protect their own, they will abolish this failed policy and uphold the law.
[...]
D.C.'s Defenseless Marriage Act
We all remember the tragedy of September 11, 2001, but what most Americans don't recall about that day is the legislation passed by Congress in the late-night hours after the attack. While the country was still reeling from shock, liberals took the opportunity to push a bill that made unmarried couples in Washington, D.C. eligible for spousal benefits. Not only was the bill approved while the attention of voters was focused elsewhere, but it also broke an agreement not to move controversial legislation in the immediate aftermath of 9-11. Those calculated steps created a dangerous precedent in the nation's capital that continues to plague the city--and, potentially, the nation. In the upcoming Financial Services Appropriations bill, FRC is working to block language that would allocate not just city funds, but federal funds to the District of Columbia's domestic partner benefits. Under the 2008 proposal, taxpayers everywhere would be forced to subsidize lifestyles that devalue marriage, jeopardize public health, and hurt children, who rely upon the married love of a father and mother. The bill is also a blatant violation of the Defense of Marriage Act. FRC's VP of Policy, Peter Sprigg, reminded readers of yesterday's USA Today that the legal and financial benefits of marriage are not entitlements regardless of marital status. The argument that they should be is as ludicrous as suggesting that people who have never served in the military deserve veterans' benefits. Call or email your representatives and urge them to make the nation's capital a place where integrity of marriage is preserved. Note: late today the White House issued a statement that President Bush's advisers would recommend a veto if the pro-federal-funds-for-domestic partners provision stays in the bill.
[More at URL]
----- 30 -----
Massive Young Crowd Fasts for Moral Revolution
By Lillian Kwon
Christian Post Reporter
Mon, Jul. 09 2007 11:47 AM ET
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070709/28365_Massive_Young_Crowd_Fasts_for_Moral_Revolution.htm
A massive fasting and prayer gathering drew one of the largest crowds in the history of Nashville's L.P. Field on Saturday.
Some 100,000 people answered "The Call" under the blazing sun to turn around a nation that many evangelical Christians believe is on a moral decline.
"We’ve come here with a faith that God can turn a nation and mighty shift can take place here today," Lou Engle, founder of The Call, told the crowd of mostly young adults.
[...]
The day was 7/7/07, when tens of thousands of Christians made a massive renewal of faith and what some hope will spark a massive revolution decades after the Jesus Movement – major Christian movement countering the hippie culture – swept the nation.
"All through the Bible, there are a series of sevens. So, when you get three sevens to line up at once, you know something's up," said Scott MacLeod, founder of Provision International and who helped organize The Call, according to The Tennessean.
Ahead of the anticipated gathering, event spokeswoman Julia Richardson stated, "We believe that on 7/7/7, the number of covenant, whoever comes here can have a chance to have covenant with the Lord and remarry him and get rid of the sexual immorality and impurity that has been laced through the church."
[...]
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas made an appearance soon after the day-long program started and asked for forgiveness for the government's sins against abortion and immigration.
[More at URL]
Y'know what this calls for? A musical interlude. With anime. CLICKIE! Then come back and read the rest of this:
Maggie Gallagher: young Americans must be convinced that marriage rights for GBLT people is really bad, noting that only a bare plurality of "young adults" oppose marriage rights (48% to 46%);
I don't have a hard date for this and I'd love to; Bill O'Reilly had a segment on June 21 of an unknown year claiming that hundreds of lesbian gangs were raping children and killing men across the country. Looking at the news crawl, one of the headlines was Chief Executive Bush touring a nuclear power plant in Browns Ferry, Alabama; that happened June 21 of this year. So I think we have a reasonable date for this particularly bizarre O'Reilly hit-piece. Found by Andrew Sullivan;
Also courtesy Sully, we have an LA Times article demonstrating pretty conclusively that new theocon favourite Fred Thompson lobbied for an abortion-rights group during the first Bush administration; he had denied it explicitly and in no uncertain terms, but, um, they have the papers;
More of the New Sectarian Politics: Catholics Against Rudy, campaigning against him because he's not Catholic enough for their tastes, and they want him to condemn GBLT marriage rights and abortion rights; they've got a visitor poll up on their website asking whether US bishops should "speak out against Mayor Giuliani's candidacy" which at this moment is running 2-1 in favour;
Catholics Against Rudy links to a story on Fidelis, notable mostly for its extensive quoting of Bishop Michael Tobin's condemnation of Mr. Giuliani;
Seen on Andrew Sullivan; New Mexico governor and presidential candidate Bill Richardson (D) called somebody a faggot in Spanish while on Don Imus's show; he says he's sorry for the remark; I have to admit this is pretty low-grade for this update, but hey, I saw it;
Focus on the Family/James Dobson water-carrier Senator David Vitter (R-Louisiana) joins the long list of "family advocates" caught in affairs, with prostitutes, on drugs, whatever - in his case, it's prostitution. An interesting quote from his campaign was, "We need a U.S. senator who will stand up for Louisiana values, not Massachusetts values." It is worth noting that the Massachusetts divorce rate is lower than that of Louisiana, so apparently, he's sticking to his word;
What's gotten up his robes? Pope Benedict XVI rejects other Christian sects and other religions as either "defective or not true churches"; this is perfectly consistent with Catholic teaching, but it's sure to upset the fundamentalist movement, so I wonder what's gotten that going;
Vox Nova asks why Catholics Against Rudy isn't including torture, which is as explicitly and firmly against the Catholic faith as is abortion and, um, me - but by the time I'm going to press with this, "Torture" has been added to the list. Still, not much content there, and it's mostly about t3h gay and abortion rights;
Cal Thomas: Democrats talking about their religion just shows their religious beliefs are fake and just a ploy and "part of a campaign plan to win the election"; he's also getting real explicit about what "is" and "is not" actual Christianity, and, of course, the Democrats aren't it;
Concerned Women for America's Matt Barber really whips it out against t3h gay this week, condemning "disordered sexual behaviors" that are high-risk, unnatural and fruitless" and "scientifically and objectively proven to be destructive;" it's all part of a rant saying that queers don't actually want marriage except to destroy it and, of course, all of American society, and all that kind of noise;
WorldNetDaily showcases the newly fundamentalist Michael Glatze, who us the "ex-gay" poster child of the week; he's the author, he mentions how he had a nervous breakdown and found "God" and how God and Concerned Women for America and NARTH (a "conversion therapy" group) showed him the "Truth about homosexuality" and how it's "natural" and "common sense" to be "repulsed" by queers, and so on; and now he's dedicating his life to fighting "homosexuality," which is to say GBLT rights. They'll be parading this guy around for a while, probably until his next nervous breakdown;
Former Concerned Women for America wonk and still sometimes-writer Peter LaBarbera writes gleefully about Michael Glatze's conversion to fundamentalism and his subsequent "conversion" to heterosexuality;
CWA's Wendy Wright condemns New Hampshire repeal of a parental notification law already ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court;
Christianity Today commends Laura Bush's promotion of "faith-based HIV prevention" in Africa;
Christian Post also trumpets Michael Glatze, and describing the nervous breakdown as a "near-death experience," so now I've got even more ooooooooo going on;
National Review Online's Kathryn Lopez condemns Amnesty International as "a force for evil" after they issued a press release supporting "the rights of women and girls to be free from threat, force, or coercion as they exercise their sexual and reproductive rights"; it's the abortion thing, of course; also calls its founder a "Communist and Roman Catholic convert";
Canada Family Action Coalition runs a WorldNetDaily article saying allowing queers to marry puts marriage on the "endangered species list," ties GBLT marriage rights to paedophilia, condemns legendary sex research Alfred Kinsey as a fraud, which is a regular activity of the fundamentalist movement;
Focus on the Family's Institute of Marriage and Family Canada runs an article, "Dismantling Canada—one institution at a time," attacking GBLT marriage;
Institute of Marriage and Family Canada gets a Calgary Herald op-ed, proceeds to self-quote as an external source; part of the "must look big" strategy;
American Family Association's One News Now runs article condemning Senate opening prayer being delivered by a Hindu chaplain; they specifically condemn the polythestic nature of Hinduism, saying it is "flying in the face of the American motto "One Nation Under God";
American Family Association's One News Now promotes the AFA boycott of Ford, taking credit for Ford's sales issues; one wonders how they explain GMC's even-worse sales issues;
AFA's One News Now guest columnist claims "liberals" want... oh, just go read it, it's an anti-sex-ed screed;
Family Research Council (another Focus on the Family spinoff) article on the new "ex-gay" fundamentalist star Michael Glatze; he doesn't mention the nervous breakdown or the "near-death experience," or whatever it was;
Family Research Council insists same-sex parents can never raise children successfully, demands Democrats "endorse and act to protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman," referring both to attempts to weaken the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits the Federal government from recognising state same-sex marriages and allows states to ignore same-sex marriages from other states, and to the anti-marriage/anti-gay Federal Constitutional amendment banning GBLT marriage in all states;
FRC condemns Republican polling showing majority Republican support for gays in the military and "special rights for homosexuals," which usually means including sexual orientation in civil rights law;
USA Today's short story on the poll, and a link to the poll itself; it was sponsoured in part by the "Republican Leadership Council, Republican Main Street Partnership, Republican Majority for Choice and the Log Cabin Republicans," which cuts to the core of why the Family Research Council condemns it. There's interesting data in this poll, including a 52%-40% support for "Public policy should not contradict God’s Law" that's maintained over most segments of the GOP - only the tiny Free Market (8%) and similarly small Fortress America (8%) segments disagree; 50% describe themselves as born-again Christians, 51% attend church once to several times per week; a similar 51% are "Social/Cultural" conservatives primarily;
FRC condemns "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" as not anti-gay enough, want active investigation of possible queers in the military; also condemns DC's domestic partner registry and wants a ban on Federal funding for DC going to it;
Christian Post reports on rally calling for "Moral Revolution;" Sen. Sam Brownback appeared at it; it was a big political/religious revival in Nashville, Tennessee; they seem to be dipping into numerology, as it was held on 7/7/07 and various ties were made to the Bible based on that.
----- 1 -----
What do Americans think about marriage?
By Maggie Gallagher
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Townhall.com
http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/MaggieGallagher/2007/07/05/what_do_americans_think_about_marriage
A new Pew poll was released this week to great fanfare and an Associated Press story that highlighted just one of its findings: a large drop since 1990 in the proportion of Americans who see children as "very important" to a "successful" marriage. The Pew study itself however has a very different headline: "As Marriage and Parenthood Drift Apart, Public Is Concerned about Social Impact."
[...]
But Pew also asked the same question in a slightly different way: What do you think of the trend of unmarried couples having children? Overall, the level of concern dropped slightly, with 59 percent of the general public saying it's a bad thing (still a 2-1 margin opposed). But a significant generation gap emerges: Among 18 to 29-year-olds just 46 percent say unmarried couples having children is a bad thing and 45 percent say it is a good thing for society. The biggest drop off is among Hispanic Catholics: Fifty-two percent disapprove of "single women having children," but only 37 percent say unmarried couples having children is a bad thing for society.
On gay marriage, Americans are against it 57 to 32 percent. Even young adults ages 18 to 29 oppose gay marriage 46 percent to 44 percent.
The next generation is persuaded that children need a mom and a dad. They are less convinced that marriage is the key to giving children that gift. Closing that loop in the mind of young adults is the key to marriage's -- and children's -- future.
----- 2 -----
The Oh-Really Factor
Fox News' Bill O'Reilly offers up an 'expert' to claim that pink pistol-packing lesbian gangs are terrorizing the nation
By Susy Buchanan and David Holthouse
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/news/item.jsp?site_area=1&aid=274
A "national underground network" of pink pistol-packing lesbians is terrorizing America. "All across the country," they are raping young girls, attacking heterosexual males at random, and forcibly indoctrinating children as young as 10 into the homosexual lifestyle, according to a shocking June 21 segment on the popular Fox News Channel program, "The O'Reilly Factor."
Titled "Violent Lesbian Gangs a Growing Problem," the segment began with host Bill O'Reilly briefly referencing for his roughly 3 million viewers the case of Wayne Buckle, a DVD bootlegger who was attacked by seven lesbians in New York City last August. Deploying swift, broad strokes, O'Reilly painted a graphic picture of lesbian gangs running amok. "In Tennessee, authorities say a lesbian gang called GTO, Gays Taking Over, are involved in raping young girls," he reported. "And in Philadelphia, a lesbian gang called DTO, Dykes Taking Over, are allegedly terrorizing people as well."
[More at URL]
----- 3 -----
Thompson lobbied for abortion-rights group, it says
A spokesman for the GOP presidential hopeful says he did no such work. An ex-colleague calls the denial 'bizarre.'
By Michael Finnegan, Times Staff Writer
July 7, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-thompson7jul07,0,54260.story?coll=la-home-center
Fred D. Thompson, who is campaigning for president as an antiabortion Republican, accepted an assignment from a family-planning group to lobby the first Bush White House to ease a controversial abortion restriction, according to a 1991 document and several people familiar with the matter.
A spokesman for the former Tennessee senator denied that Thompson did the lobbying work. But the minutes of a 1991 board meeting of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Assn. say that the group hired Thompson that year.
[...]
Thompson spokesman Mark Corallo adamantly denied that Thompson worked for the family planning group. "Fred Thompson did not lobby for this group, period," he said in an e-mail.
In a telephone interview, he added: "There's no documents to prove it, there's no billing records, and Thompson says he has no recollection of it, says it didn't happen." In a separate interview, John H. Sununu, the White House official whom the family planning group wanted to contact, said he had no memory of the lobbying and doubted it took place.
But Judith DeSarno, who was president of the family planning association in 1991, said Thompson lobbied for the group for several months.
Minutes from the board's meeting of Sept. 14, 1991 — a copy of which DeSarno gave to The Times — say: "Judy [DeSarno] reported that the association had hired Fred Thompson Esq. as counsel to aid us in discussions with the administration" on the abortion counseling rule.
Former Rep. Michael D. Barnes (D-Md.), a colleague at the lobbying and law firm where Thompson worked, said that DeSarno had asked him to recommend someone for the lobbying work and that he had suggested Thompson. He said it was "absolutely bizarre" for Thompson to deny that he lobbied against the abortion counseling rule.
"I talked to him while he was doing it, and I talked to [DeSarno] about the fact that she was very pleased with the work that he was doing for her organization," said Barnes. "I have strong, total recollection of that. This is not something I dreamed up or she dreamed up. This is fact."
[More at URL]
----- 4 -----
Still “under construction,” but the “Catholics Against Rudy” movement has officially launched!
July 8th, 2007
Catholics Against Rudy
http://catholicsagainstrudy.com/2007/07/08/still-under-construction-but-the-catholics-against-rudy-movement-has-officially-launched/
(latest entry on http://catholicsagainstrudy.com/ )
“Catholics Against Rudy” is up and running now, but we are still working on several matters, and will be doing so for the next several months. Here are just a few of the things that remain to be done:
[...]
(2) construct an “activism” page, where faithful Catholics can print off fliers to hand out at the parish level that outline Mayor Giuliani’s abysmal record on life issues and traditional marriage, sign a petition committing to voting against Giuliani in the GOP presidential primary and/or engage in various types of grass-roots activism, etc.;
[...]
Should the U.S. bishops speak out against Mayor Giuliani's candidacy?
Yes (66%, 82 Votes)
No (34%, 42 Votes)
Total Voters: 124
----- 5 -----
Giuliani Hunting in Vain for Support from Conservative Christians
Fidelis
06-29-2007
http://www.fidelis.org/gw3/articles-news/articles.php?CMSArticleID=1773&CMSCategoryID=10
Tuesday’s appearance of Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia, will not convince conservative Christian voters to jettison their pro-life convictions.
[...]
Earlier this month, Catholic Bishop Michael Tobin of the Diocese of Providence described Giuliani’s proclamations on abortion as “pathetic,” “confusing,” “hypocritical” and “preposterous.” News stories since have suggested that Giuliani’s faces an uphill battle in convincing faithful Catholics to buck their Church and ignore his pro-abortion position.
“Supporting Giuliani is not an option for a vast majority of faithful Catholics, many of whom believe, along with their Church, that any claim to protect the common good begins with a commitment to upholding the dignity of every human person, including life at its earliest stages. Catholics cannot simply overlook his unfettered support for embryo-killing research, abortion rights, partial birth abortion, and taxpayer funding of abortion, not to mention his support of policies that would destroy the traditional family,” Burch stated. [Editor's note: "destroy the traditional family" is rhetoric shorthand for "supports GBLT rights."]
[More at URL]
----- 6 -----
Richardson sorry for 'maricón' moment
Posted: 7/10/2007, 11:11 AM
By KAREN OCAMB and CHRIS CRAIN
http://www.gaynewswatch.com/Page.cfm?PageID=22&SID=1842
Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Richardson apologized this week for using a Spanish-language slur for gay people, even as he suggested it smacked of politics that news of his “maricón” moment is surfacing now, more than a year later.
[...]
Almost exactly one year before Imus was to lose his show for using a slur to describe the Rutger’s women’s basketball team, the shock jock used the Spanish word “maricón” in an on-air exchange with Richardson.
Don Imus jokingly asked Bill Richardson on-air if one of the shock jock's staffers was a 'maricón' for doubting that Richardson is really Latino. The New Mexico governor, now running for president, repeated the anti-gay slur in his response.
“Bernard on the staff here has been claiming you’re not really Hispanic so-- that you're just claiming that for some sort of advantage or something,” Imus said to Richardson, tongue clearly in cheek. “You can just answer this yes or no and this will answer that question. Would you agree that Bernard is a maricón?”
Without missing a beat, Richardson replied in Spanish, “Yo creo que Bernardo, sí — es un maricón si él piensa que yo no soy hispano. [General laughter] Was that good enough or what? [General laughter]”
“That’s good enough for me,” Imus replied.
Most gay Latinos interviewed for this story agreed with the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation that the word “maricón” means “faggot” in Spanish. So, translated to English, Richardson had replied: "I believe that Bernard, yes – he’s a faggot if he thinks that I am not Hispanic."
[...]
Krochmal told Hubble she would pass the email along to Monica Taher and Carlos Macias, GLAAD’s “excellent Spanish-language media advocates.” Taher would say later in an interview for this story that another GLAAD employee decided instead to go to Equality New Mexico with the information.
“The statewide organization [in New Mexico] asked us not to contact [Richardson] because that would jeopardize the domestic partnership bill that the governor was supporting and working on at that time,” Taher said.
Alexis Blizman, executive director of Equality New Mexico (EQNM), acknowledged that she asked GLAAD not to “go after” Richardson because of his strong gay rights record, but said the domestic partnership bill was not under consideration at the time.
[More at URL]
----- 7 -----
GOP senator sorry for 'serious sin' in 'D.C. Madam' case
CNN
10 July 2007
http://us.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/10/vitter.madam/index.html
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. David Vitter apologized to anyone he disappointed after telephone records linked him to an escort service operated by Deborah Jeane Palfrey, aka the "D.C. Madam."
The Louisiana Republican said in a Monday statement that he told his wife several years ago about a "serious sin" and she forgave him.
[...]
A staunch conservative, Vitter disavowed same-sex unions during his 2004 campaign, boasting that he had co-authored and fought for the Federal Marriage Amendment. He further vowed to protect "the sanctity of marriage."
"This is a real outrage. The Hollywood left is redefining the most basic institution in human history, and our two U.S. senators won't do anything about it," he said in a statement on his campaign Web site. "We need a U.S. senator who will stand up for Louisiana values, not Massachusetts values."
[More at URL]
----- 8 -----
Pope: Other Christians not true churches
By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer
10 July 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070710/ap_on_re_eu/pope_other_christians;_ylt=ApLVxhaoCbOcTTy6OZxVQNYDW7oF
LORENZAGO DI CADORE, Italy - Pope Benedict XVI reasserted the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says other Christian communities are either defective or not true churches and Catholicism provides the only true path to salvation.
The statement brought swift criticism from Protestant leaders. "It makes us question whether we are indeed praying together for Christian unity," said the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, a fellowship of 75 million Protestants in more than 100 countries.
"It makes us question the seriousness with which the Roman Catholic Church takes its dialogues with the reformed family and other families of the church," the group said in a letter charging that the document took ecumenical dialogue back to the era before the Second Vatican Council.
[More at URL]
----- 9 -----
Catholics Selectively Against Rudy?
By Morning's Minion
Monday, July 9, 2007
http://www.vox-nova.com/2007/07/catholics-selectively-against-rudy.html
Too much hoopla, the Catholics Against Rudy site has been launched. But why exactly are they against Rudy? The first thing I noted is that their opposition to the candidacy of Giuliani went far beyond his well-known views on abortion. If you click on the "issues" you will find the following list:
Abortion
Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Euthanasia
On Catholic politicians and voters
Same-Sex Marriage
[...]
And yet Rudy does justify [torture]. When asked specifically if he supported the Khmer Rouge-perfected waterboarding technique, he replied without hesitation that "I would tell the people who had to do the interrogation to use every method they can think of". For a Catholic, this is as beyond the pale as arguing in favor of abortion.
So, Catholics Against Rudy: Where's the torture? Where's the consistency?
[More at URL]
----- 10 -----
Cal Thomas: Hillary, faith and politics
By Cal Thomas -
Published 12:00 am PDT Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Story appeared in EDITORIALS section, Page B7
http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/264352.html
Some unknown author once said, "Everybody should believe in something; I believe I'll have another drink."
Democratic senator and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton took a less cynical and more substantive approach to faith in a recent interview with the New York Times. The quality and depth of one's relationship with God should be personal and beyond the judgment of others, unless one is running for president and chooses to talk about it as part of a campaign plan to win the election.
[...]
Liberal faith, which is to say a faith that discounts the authority of Scripture in favor of a constantly evolving, poll-tested relevancy to modern concerns -- such as the environment, what kind of SUV Jesus would drive, larger government programs and other "do-good" pursuits -- ultimately morphs into societal and self-improvement efforts and jettisons the life-changing message of salvation, forgiveness of sins and a transformed life.
[...]
This is a politician speaking, not a person who believes in the central tenets of Christianity.
[...]
Clinton is entitled to whatever faith she wants to practice, but when she uses it as an election tactic, she should not be allowed to alter classic Christian theology.
[More at URL]
----- 11 -----
"Gays" Don't Want "Marriage" After All
Getting married isn’t even on the radar screen for the vast majority of homosexuals.
Concerned Women for America
7/5/2007
By J. Matt Barber
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/13387/CFI/family/index.htm
The homosexual lobby has fine-tuned its rhetoric in recent years. Through the hyperbolic and repetitive use of such concocted expressions as “marriage equality” and “gay rights,” the left has dishonestly but effectively framed the debate over homosexual behaviors.
By co-opting and misapplying the language of the genuine civil rights movement, homosexual activists — along with kindred leftists in the media, government and elsewhere — are making considerable strides toward reshaping our culture. They’ve enjoyed much success in attaining official government recognition of a disordered and empty, though demonstrably mutable, sexual lifestyle.
They yearn for a society created in their own secular humanist image wherein all are compelled to not only accept, but to celebrate high-risk, unnatural and fruitless homosexual behaviors as both normal and equal to natural expressions of human sexuality. Their ideal is a society in which inherent gender distinctions are eliminated and God’s express design for human sexuality is replaced by morally relative and surreal notions of sexual androgyny.
[...]
But it goes far beyond simply undermining marriage. In order to legitimize disordered sexual behaviors, which have traditionally been considered immoral and are scientifically and objectively proven to be destructive, it’s necessary to dissolve the notion that traditional marriage and the nuclear family are normative and represent the gold standard. According to some, that’s a sexually repressive Judeo-Christian concept, you see. And in order for secular humanism to properly take root, we need a society which embraces the idea that all forms of sexual behavior — no matter how perverse or destructive — are equally valid.
[More at URL]
----- 12 -----
Confessions of a former 'gay rights' leader
Posted: July 10, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
Editor's note: See the news story about Michael Glatze, "'Gay'-rights leader quits homosexuality."
By Michael Glatze
I used to be gay, or so I thought.
When I was about 13, I decided I must be gay because I was unable to handle my own masculinity. It scared me too much. My father had already given me a lot to be afraid of: He'd cheated on my mother and left her crying, alone and selflessly attempting to salvage a dead relationship.
When I was faced with the prospect of either being a "man" or being "me" – who I saw as "better than that" and "not someone who would do such awful things as men do" – I chose "me." Then, because "me" was not "a man," "me" became gay.
[...]
Then again, it wasn't internal homophobia that caused my so-called "hatred" of my own homosexuality.
It was God.
God – I know – is a buzzword. God scares people. I know this. I'm sorry that's the case.
However, this is my story. And, my story includes me having a nervous breakdown, feeling like I was hurting tons of people with my actions, and turning to the Bible, praying and understanding that what was in the Bible was not nearly as scary as what people had made it out to be.
In my story, I became acquainted with a very personal God whom I spoke to and who told me that I was beautiful, and that everyone else was – and is – too. In my story, I had a good relationship with God that got richer as I spent more time with Him. In my story, God is my best friend.
I continued to develop a deeper understanding of who and what I really am, thanks to God and thanks to what He showed me. I followed His guidance and found books that revealed all sorts of "deep, dark" secrets about things like "socialism," Concerned Women for America, "abstinence-only education" and the National Association of Research & Therapy of Homosexuality. All these things I found truly opened my eyes.
[...]
And so, my story becomes a story of healing from homosexuality, which I write in order to "set the record straight" about the notion that people can't heal from homosexuality. That is not true. People can heal. I did it.
[...]
So, no, it's not the end of the story at all – my story, that is. It's not at all my end. Because, from my perspective, homosexuality is not just something I was healed from, but it's something that is flat-out wrong, because it can be healed, even though people say it can't.
And not only can it be healed, I've seen the difference between gay and straight in my very mind!
I've seen it go from one … to the other – NEVER to return.
I wouldn't want it to return, because now I can't even imagine it. It's like thinking about doing the weirdest, grossest thing that just makes you feel sick inside.
This, again, is my story. And in my story, it makes me repulsed to think about homosexuality.
And when I step back a little bit, I know why! Because people are supposed to feel like homosexuality is gross, because such a feeling prevents them from wanting to do it. And people are supposed to not want to do it, because doing it is something that prevents them from having babies, and having babies is something that we – naturally – are supposed to want to do, for human beings to survive. And, so, it's obvious why people should feel gross about homosexuality.
It's not "wrong" for people to think it's gross. It makes sense!
If anything, it's not thinking homosexuality is gross that's weird. What if we stopped thinking that all harmful behaviors – all things that prevent us from doing what we're supposed to do and being what we're supposed to be – were gross? What then? Would we have no natural sense of who we are, why we're here, what we're supposed to do with our lives?
I understand this notion of "homophobia" – only it's not a phobia at all. It's common sense.
My story is that now I know the Truth about homosexuality. And my story is that now I'm going to do what I can to fight it.
[More at URL]
----- 13 -----
Michael Glatze ‘Comes Out’ of Homosexuality: former ‘Young Gay America’ Magazine Co-founder
Michael Glatze with pro-homosexuality activist Judy Shepard in his former life as a “gay” activist, speaking at a 2005 Kennedy School forum. Glatze can be reached at michaelglatze@gmail.com.
Americans for Truth about Homosexuality
By Peter LaBarbera
http://americansfortruth.com/news/michael-glatze-comes-out-of-homosexual-activism-former-young-gay-america-magazine-co-founder.html
oday, when Americans celebrate their freedom and independence, a man living in Canada is cherishing a more profound liberty — from spiritual bondage to homosexual sin. Michael Glatze, a former rising star in the “gay” movement — and co-founder of “Young Gay America” magazine — publicly “came out” of homosexuality on the web pages of WorldNetDaily yesterday. Click HERE for WND’s breaking news story about Glatze.
Concerned Women for America has a wonderful online interview with Michael Glatze, which you can listen to by clicking HERE. (The set-up page for the CWA interview is HERE. Glatze can be reached at michaelglatze@gmail.com.)
[...]
I suspect that most people — Christian and non-Christian alike – would cheer Glatze’s transformation, if the dominant media would dare report it fairly. But the pro-homosexuality crew at ExGayWatch is all in a tizzy. For them and all homosexuality advocates, Michael’s rejection of their lifestyle poses a problem, as it undermines the central “gay” lie (myth) of our age: that “being gay” is intrinsically ”who a person is,” and that homosexuality is morally neutral. (Most argue that it is innate, and now the homosexual “christian” movement mischievously asserts that this “orientation” is a gift from God.)
[...]
Michael Glatze told CWA that he left an outgoing message on his computer at “Young Gay America” (the magazine’s website, www.ygamag.com, was down at press time): ”Homosexuality equals death. I choose life.” He made the right choice, but God, it seems, was also doing the choosing. Pray for this young man as we thank God for His gracious work in one repentant sinner’s life — a testimony of what He can do in this nation if we as a people humble ourselves, reject worldly agendas, and return to following Him.
[More at URL]
----- 14 -----
NH Repeal of Abortion Notification Law Goes Against the Grain, Critic Says
By Monisha Bansal
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
July 06, 2007
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/viewstory.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200707/CUL20070706a.html
(CNSNews.com) - As the first state to repeal a parental notification law requiring minors to notify a parent before receiving an abortion, New Hampshire has become something of an "oddity," Concerned Women for America President Wendy Wright said Thursday.
[...]
In January 2006, the Supreme Court ruled that the New Hampshire law was unconstitutional, because it did not include exceptions to protect the health of a pregnant minor.
The decision noted that the court had held repeatedly that states have the right to require parental involvement in abortion decisions by minors, so New Hampshire's law would have to be revisited by the state legislature.
Signing the repeal last week, Gov. John Lynch said the court had ruled that the law "fails to protect the health and safety of all women."
[More at URL]
----- 15 -----
Abstinence Brings 'Dignity'
Traveling in Africa, First Lady Laura Bush speaks in favor of faith-based HIV prevention.
Isaac Phiri in Zambia | posted 6/29/2007 12:25PM
Thursday, June 28, started out as a pampered day in Mrs. Laura Bush's four-nation Africa marathon.
[...]
After that, accompanied by her Zambian counterpart, First Lady Maureen Mwanawasa, Mrs. Bush hit the road. "I hope you have comfortable shoes," she had warned at the beginning of her trip. "We will work hard." In Lusaka, she certainly did.
Abstinence education brings 'dignity'
A cloud of red dust announced the arrival of the heavily guarded entourage that took Mrs. Bush and her daughter Jenna to the Mututa Memorial Center. Center director Martha Chilufuya's late husband, having received a lot of home-based care during his long illness, donated half of their farm to care-giving initiatives.
[...]
The impact of faith-based initiatives is evident, Mrs. Bush said. "Millions of people have heard these messages, and they are putting their faith into practice across the continent of Africa." In case there was a doubter in the audience, she cited an immediate example. "Here at Mututa, parents and caregivers know very well the healing power of faith," she added.
Later, Christianity Today asked Zambian First Lady Mwanawasa whether advancing abstinence using public resources was an issue in Zambia. "Not at all," she said. "As Zambians, we consider churches one of our biggest partners." The teaching of the church is critical, she said: "The message of abstinence is very important in preventing new infections."
[More at URL]
----- 16 -----
Leading Gay Rights Activist Comes Out of Homosexuality, Tells His Story
By
Lillian Kwon
Christian Post Reporter
Thu, Jul. 05 2007 11:53 AM ET
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070705/28312_Gay_Rights_Activist_Comes_Out_of_Homosexuality,_Tells_His_Story.htm
Young Gay America Magazine is on hiatus. Its founding editor has left the magazine and gay activism and has now publicly announced that he's been "healed."
Michael Glatze, who had become a leading activist in the homosexual community, made the shocking announcement on Tuesday in a World Net Daily column entitled "How A 'Gay Rights' Leader Became Straight."
"It became clear to me, as I really thought about it – and really prayed about it – that homosexuality prevents us from finding our true self within. We cannot see the truth when we're blinded by homosexuality," he wrote.
Glatze grew up with a Christian mom and a father who was possibly agnostic or atheist. His father died when Glatze was only 13, followed by his mother when he was 19.
The mixed religious messages already confused him of who he was.
[...]
When he came out of what he called a near-death experience with intestinal cramps and stomach pains, he found himself turning to and thanking God.
"I realized at that point in time that it was actually God that was the actual thing that I had always been relying on, the core, the center of truth that I had always been turning to, writing on and living my entire life for," Glatze said.
He opened up the Bible and realized the Word of God was not only "good," but also "intelligent, earth-shattering, topical" and "so true."
Today, he wants to share his story and says it's his duty to tell people the truth. He equates homosexuality with death – death to one's soul; that those struggling with same-sex desires are wanting a part of them that they do not have; and that basically, they are not completely whole.
In a society where gay tolerance is increasing and more than half of Americans say they do not believe homosexuality is changeable, according to a recent CNN poll, Glatze posed, "If there had not been homosexuality condoned in the culture, would I have developed the notion that I had such an identity because we know the nature of that identity is suspect?"
[...]
"I believe that all people, intrinsically, know the truth. I believe that is why Christianity scares people so much. It reminds them of their conscience, which we all possess."
[...]
When Glatze pondered about remaining a homosexual and being a born-again Christian at the same time, he said realized he couldn't be both.
"Truth resonated so much that ... I realized you can't actually have it both ways," he said.
Glatze left what he said some homosexuals considered an ideal gay relationship. He now realizes that "when you see another guy, you can lust. But you can also recognize that that lust is nothing more than a craving need and a grasping desire that holds you in its grip."
[More at URL]
----- 17 -----
Amnesty International’s inhumane human-rights policy
By Columnist Kathryn Lopez
Laurel Leader-Call (pointed to by Concerned Women for America)
http://www.leadercall.com/opinion/local_story_184101101.html?keyword=secondarystory
It is a tragedy when a force for good becomes a force for evil. But such is the case with Amnesty International.
In April, the 1.8 million-member human-rights organization announced its support for abortion. Amnesty International (AI), in a press release, made it clear that it stood by “the rights of women and girls to be free from threat, force, or coercion as they exercise their sexual and reproductive rights."
[...]
How can AI be a credible human-rights defender when it will not unconditionally defend those who are truly voiceless — the unborn? Congressman Chris Smith (R-N.J.), a pro-life human-rights advocate, is right in advising AI against the policy change: “The killing of an unborn child by abortion can never be construed to be a human right. Therefore, taking a position that supports violence against children is antithetical to everything Amnesty International stands for,” Smith said at a press conference.
What’s so frustrating about the new policy is that AI — founded by a Communist and Roman Catholic convert — can do a world of good with its global resources. Days after pro-life groups were blasting AI for its new policy, the organization was publicizing the plight of the blind Chinese human-rights activist Chen Guangcheng, who was beaten in a prison. He is serving a four-year sentence on trumped-up charges; his real transgression was exposing the inhuman treatment of women and unborn children in the Shandong province, where local Linyi City officials use forced sterilization and abortion to meet China’s population-control mandates. If AI is supporting a man who is fighting against the mistreatment of women, how can they not realize how similar that fight is to the preservation of unborn life?
[More at URL]
----- 18 -----
Why marriage is on the endangered species list
WorldNetDaily Commentary
July 5, 2007
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/family/marriage/endangered-species.htm
In his excellent book, "The Future of Marriage," David Blankenhorn, president of the Institute for American Values, reasserts every child's birthright to live with their married mother and father. This obvious need for institutionalizing marriage, he says, has been lost in the smoke and mirrors of the "gay marriage" debate.
Asking what is marriage and why does it matter, Blankenhorn quotes philosophers, anthropologists, sociologists, psychiatrists, brain scientists and other scholars who agree "marriage" is less about "love" than it is about a couple's commitment to nurture and protect their potential children into adulthood.
Blankenhorn cites anthropological marriage studies as far flung as ancient Mesopotamia and the Trobriand Islands as well as "gay and lesbian movement" scholars and activists who speak for "gay marriage," "gay adoption," group marriage, polyamory, polygamy and other "flexible" marriage schemes.
Still, the data show that children's right to both a mother and a father "should outweigh new adult freedoms," including "same-sex marriage."
[...]
In his effort to reach out to a wider public, Blankenhorn skims past his finding that the only culturally approved male-male marriages appear in cultures that permit adult males to marry boys.
Yet this is quite a finding for today's "gay marriage" debate!
[...]
In 1948 and 1953, Americans still were reeling from Alfred Kinsey's two fraudulent sex books on males and females when they were hit broadside in December 1953 by Hugh Hefner's Playboy magazine.
Hefner has it right, too. He says as "Kinsey's pamphleteer" these two men were the catalysts for the sexual revolution.
The Hefner cult condemned chastity, fidelity and monogamous marriage and championed adultery, sodomy, orgies, lesbianism, no-fault divorce, abortion on demand and the like; at the same time the Kinsey cult was carving out anti-family, anti-marriage, anti-women and anti-child laws and legislation.
Kinsey/Hefner cultists are far more relevant to American marital dissolution than the mating patterns of Trobriand Islanders.
Kinsey's scientific frauds, quoted by the U.S. Supreme Curt and Ivy League textbooks, have percolated down to high schools, middle schools and kindergarteners. Hefner's gateway porn showed Joe College how to dump marriage, fidelity and fatherhood to become a lifetime member of the dazed, sexually addicted playboy consumer world.
[More at URL]
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Dismantling Canada—one institution at a time
By Andrea Mrozek, Manager of Research and Communications
Institute of Marriage and Family Canada (andream@imfcanada.org)
Online as of 10 July 2007
[Editor's note: The IMFC, like Focus on the Family Canada, is a sockpuppet of Focus on the Family, James Dobson's fundamentalist political/social action organisation.]
http://www.imfcanada.org/article_files/July_4_2007.pdf
Columnist Andrew Coyne once wrote he was “for gay marriage before gays were,” but those “people of goodwill who worry where it will all lead” were just as deserving of respect. [1] David Blankenhorn is one such person of goodwill, a former student of noted academic Michael Ignatieff, and most recently, the author of The Future of Marriage. One could say he was against anything that might diminish the venerable institution of marriage—that includes gay marriage—long before the challenges were on the horizon. [2] Blankenhorn, a liberal Democrat and self-described “marriage nut,” faced a crisis of conscience after a meeting with Evan Wolfson, executive director of a group advocating for gay marriage. Blankenhorn found himself on the defensive and asked himself: “Had I really thought the issue through? Maybe I hadn’t. Maybe I should.” [3]
[More at URL]
----- 20 -----
Saving institutions to save a country
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Andrea Mrozek
Calgary Herald
http://www.imfcanada.org/article_files/Saving_institutions_to_save_a_country.pdf
Columnist Andrew Coyne once wrote he was "for gay marriage before gays were," but those "people of goodwill who worry where it will all lead" were just as deserving of respect. David Blankenhorn is such a person of goodwill, a liberal Democrat, a former student of noted academic Michael Ignatieff, and most recently, the author of The Future of Marriage.
After a meeting with an individual advocating for gay marriage, he faced a crisis of conscience. He asked himself: "Had I really thought the issue through? Maybe I hadn't. Maybe I should." The result is The Future of Marriage, a compassionate and compelling defence of marriage as an institution today, in history and across cultures.
Agree or not, it initiates a discussion framed by the right questions. Blankenhorn is critical of the tone of marriage debates across America. He writes, "(f)or sheer cultural illiteracy and intellectual vacuity, nothing can top the debate over the meaning of marriage taking place in the U.S. in the early years of the 21st century." Clearly, he was not present for the all-Canadian round -- which bounced between mud-slinging and Hallmark card slogans during "debates" on Parliament Hill.
[...]
But recent Canadian history suggests the demise of many of Canada's greatest institutions: the Canadian flag was revamped in 1965, Dominion Day ("what's that?") -- lost in 1982, the Canadian military's diminishing role ("aren't we peacekeepers?") -- the Anglican Church disappearing, the significance of the Crown on the wane. Clearly, Canadians can accept a whole lot of de-institutionalization without taking to the barricades. Blankenhorn is somewhat aware of this when he says, "(by) far the biggest problem is the widespread refusal to respect or even acknowledge the institutionality of marriage. It's as if we have forgotten what a social institution is." As if? In Canada, we almost certainly have.
The intellectual disconnect goes further: Not to pick on the erudite Coyne, but in another sphere of debate, he stands resolutely in favour of tradition. When Prime Minister Stephen Harper said: "Quebecers form a nation within a united Canada," Coyne eloquently mourned "(the) hollowing out of the national idea . . ." But it is the very impulse that allows Canada's elite to both hollow out the nation at a political whim and hollow out the institution of marriage -- also at a political whim. That history matters, that nations are carefully nurtured over centuries and that the institution of marriage has existed in much the same form for millenniums --these are parallel notions.
Not today, however. Got a new definition of Canada? Or marriage? Hey -- why not?
[More at URL]
----- 21 -----
Historian Barton says Hindu prayer before Senate raises concerns
Jim Brown
OneNewsNow.com
July 10, 2007
http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/07/historian_barton_says_hindu_pr.php
[Editor's note: OneNewsNow is a sockpuppet of the American Family Association]
A prominent Christian historian and constitutional expert is expressing concern that the U.S. Senate will be opened up for the first time with a non-monotheistic prayer.
On Thursday, a Hindu chaplain from Reno, Nevada, by the name of Rajan Zed is scheduled to deliver the opening prayer in the U.S. Senate. Zed tells the Las Vegas Sun that in his prayer he will likely include references to ancient Hindu scriptures, including Rig Veda, Upanishards, and Bhagavard-Gita. Historians believe it will be the first Hindu prayer ever read at the Senate since it was formed in 1789.
WallBuilders president David Barton is questioning why the U.S. government is seeking the invocation of a non-monotheistic god. Barton points out that since Hindus worship multiple gods, the prayer will be completely outside the American paradigm, flying in the face of the American motto "One Nation Under God."
[More at URL]
----- 22 -----
Ford's sales drop, homosexual support continues
Ed Thomas
OneNewsNow.com
July 10, 2007
http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/07/fords_sales_drop_homosexual_su.php
[Editor's note: OneNewsNow is a sockpuppet of the American Family Association]
The spokesman for American Family Association (AFA) says more than 700,000 families have said they will not buy from Ford Motor Company because of the automaker's support of homosexual causes and business. The pro-family group says the effects of that boycott are reflected in Ford's sales figures from June, which show an 8.1 percent drop from a year ago.
Ford car sales were down 24.6 percent from last year, and overall sales for 2007 are 11 percent lower than 2006. Yet AFA's Randy Sharp says number two of the "Big Three" automakers continues to be a leading supporter of same-sex "marriage" and the homosexual agenda -- including, most recently, sponsership of a booth and banner at the Cleveland Lesbian-Gay-Bi-Trans Pride Parade and Festival.
"Sadly, Ford continues to sponsor gay pride parades despite the fact that by doing so it's driving customers away from the dealers' parking lots," says Sharp. "I believe it's very clear that when you offend your customers, they're not going to drive into your parking lot and buy your product."
[More at URL]
----- 23 -----
Fred Thompson not the next Reagan, says conservative journalist
Chad Groening
OneNewsNow.com
July 10, 2007
http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/07/fred_thompson_not_the_next_rea.php
[Editor's note: OneNewsNow is a sockpuppet of the American Family Association]
An author and investigative journalist believes conservatives are in for a big disappointment if they believe former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson is the next Ronald Reagan.
[...]
"I don't think some of the positions he's taken are going to be truly satisfying to real conservatives unless they want to go again experience more 'battered-voter syndrome' like they've done under Bush," he comments. "They can make Thompson into what voters want him to be, but unfortunately he just isn't what they're projecting into him."
[More at URL]
----- 24 -----
Perspectives: Teaching denial and ignorance
Jane Jimenez
Guest Columnist
OneNewsNow.com
July 10, 2007
http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/07/perspectives_teaching_denial_a.php
America is caught in a battle for the health of our youth. When left to the common sense of parents, informed and supported by medical facts, clearly the health of our youth depends on their ability to maintain sexual abstinence until marriage.
Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirms this sexual abstinence message ... although ... to avoid public castigation by liberals bent on social re-engineering, the CDC couches their approval in careful linguistics: The surest way to avoid transmission of sexually transmitted diseases is to abstain from sexual intercourse, or to be in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who has been tested and you know is uninfected.
[...]
If liberals could have their way, young people would be taught that all sex is created equal (uninhibited), and that you can do anything (absolutely anything) you feel you are ready to do with another person (or persons) who feel they are ready to do it, too (consensual sex), hiding behind a bit of latex (protection), without fear of consequences (free and natural).
If liberals could have their way, this message would begin early ... in kindergarten ... and be legally mandated and federally funded.
[More at URL]
----- 25 -----
Sexual Healing
Tony Perkins' Washington Update
To: Friends of Family Research Council
From: Family Research Council President Tony Perkins
July 10, 2007 - Tuesday
Please forward this to your Friends and Family!
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WU07G06
Christians have proclaimed for two millennia that the truth of Jesus Christ can release men and women from enslavement to destructive behaviors (John 8:31-32). The homosexual movement argues, when it suits them, that homosexuality is a characteristic set in concrete from birth. Christians have always known better (I Cor. 6: 9-11). Powerful evidence of this came in the past week as Michael Glatze, formerly of Young Gay America, and one of the founding editors of YGA Magazine, renounced homosexuality in an article posted on WorldNetDaily.com. Glatze, now in his mid-30s, announced his homosexuality at age 20, and, as a magazine editor, became a celebrity often appearing on TV and in magazines. Yet Glatze turned in another direction, recognizing: "God is regarded as an enemy by many in the grip of homosexuality or other lustful behavior, because He reminds them of who and what they truly are meant to be." Furthermore, homosexuality alienates men from God: "Lust takes us out of our bodies, 'attaching' our psyche onto someone else's physical form. That's why homosexual sex - and all other lust-based sex - is never satisfactory..." Thank God for the saving grace that has brought Michael Glatze down this new path. Undoubtedly, his trials and temptations will be great, but he has much to teach this nation in this time of great sexual confusion.
[More at URL]
----- 26 -----
Tony Perkins' Washington Update
To: Friends of Family Research Council
From: Family Research Council President Tony Perkins
July 2, 2007 - Monday
Please forward this to your Friends and Family!
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WU07G01
A Donkey Led Astray
A vote on the Financial Services Appropriations bill in the House last Thursday handed us both victories and defeats. One loss came on a vote against Rep. Mark Souder's (R-Ind.) amendment to ban any dollars in the Financial Services bill from going toward needle exchange programs for drug abusers. However, an amendment by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) passed, which banned any money being used by the FCC to implement the so-called "Fairness Doctrine." A pro-marriage amendment offered by Rep. Virgil Goode (R-Va.), which stops any federal funds from paying for domestic partnerships in the District of Columbia, was also approved with the same type of bipartisan support we saw in 1996 on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The Democratic Leadership hoped to undermine DOMA by directly violating it through the Appropriations process; however, 40 Democrats joined with their Republican colleagues to protect DOMA--for now. The Democratic Leadership is so opposed to doing anything to protect the sanctity of marriage that House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), DNC Chairman Howard Dean and others got involved in support of homosexual marriage in the state of Massachusetts. Those leaders reportedly believe that action and votes on the marriage issue would hurt the Democratic Party at the national level in 2008. There's a simple, socially beneficial solution to this problem: endorse and act to protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
[...]
News Flash: Moms, Dads, and Marriage Still Matter to Americans
There's both good news and bad news in a Pew Research Center poll on marriage, parenthood, and other issues involving family and sexuality that was released over the weekend. A lopsided majority of Americans--69%--still believe that a child needs both a mother and a father. Large majorities also still believe that having children out of wedlock is a big problem for society. Americans still oppose same-sex "marriage" by a 57-32% margin, while opposition to the marriage counterfeits called "civil unions" has once again surpassed support for them. These views reflect the continuing common sense of the American people. However, other study findings were more troubling. The Washington Post chose to emphasize the sharp drop since 1990 in the percentage of people who consider children very important to a successful marriage, from 65% to only 41%, along with the 65% who believe that "mutual happiness and fulfillment" (rather than "bearing and raising children") is the "main purpose of marriage." Yet while an individual couple may not have children as their top priority, there's no question that providing an optimal setting for bearing and raising children is the most important public purpose of marriage--one same-sex unions can never fulfill.
[More at URL]
----- 27 -----
Tony Perkins' Washington Update
To: Friends of Family Research Council
From: Family Research Council President Tony Perkins
June 28, 2007 - Thursday
Please forward this to your Friends and Family!
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WU07F16
Conservatives Question 'Poll' Position
Results of a new poll on the priorities of Republican voters are causing quite a commotion in today's headlines--and considering the survey's findings, it's no wonder. Funded by four of the most liberal GOP organizations, the survey is a masterpiece of political manipulation. According to the results, U.S. Republicans now support gays in the military, universal health care, special rights for homosexuals, and 60% of them would vote for a presidential candidate who disagreed with their position on abortion. Is the new message of the GOP to write off social issues altogether? An in-depth look at the polling questions suggests not. Most of the survey was crafted to produce a conditioned response. Here's one example. Participants were asked to agree or disagree with leading questions like this one: "The Republican Party has spent too much time focusing on moral issues." Fifty-three percent concurred, despite the fact that moral issues have historically been the winning issues on Election Day and the moral issue of corruption in office saddled a number of GOP candidates with defeat last November. Groups like the Republican Main Street Partnership may have succeeded in engineering some phony support for their issues, but we'll see how reliable those findings are after the ultimate polls at the ballot box.
Additional Resources
New poll: GOP is older, more focused on security and wants health coverage for all
----- 28 -----
New poll: GOP is older, more focused on security and wants health coverage for all
OnPolitics
USA Today
By: Mark Memmott and Jill Lawrence
http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2007/06/new-poll-gop-is.html
A new poll of 2,000 self-described Republican voters finds that the party has gotten older, more conservative and more concerned about foreign policy and national security during President Bush's tenure.
[Editor's note: Poll here]
----- 29 -----
Tony Perkins' Washington Update
To: Friends of Family Research Council
From: Family Research Council President Tony Perkins
June 26, 2007 - Thursday
Please forward this to your Friends and Family!
Camouflaging the Problems of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
Reps. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) and Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.) are beating the drum for a full-fledged retreat from the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that was adopted as a compromise under the Clinton Administration. According to a recent report from the General Accounting Office, 300 soldiers who served as military translators were discharged for revealing their same-sex attractions. In a letter to the State Department, Lantos and Ackerman claim the "bigoted" policy should be abolished because it "cripples our national security" and wastes taxpayer dollars spent training soldiers only to dismiss them later on. I agree with these congressmen that the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy is a waste of taxpayer dollars. Congress should allow the military to enforce the law and prohibit homosexuals from enlisting in the military in the first place so that training dollars are not wasted. Homosexuality threatens unit cohesion, sacrifices safety, and distracts the troops from their primary mission. The military is no place for social experimentation. If our leaders truly want to protect their own, they will abolish this failed policy and uphold the law.
[...]
D.C.'s Defenseless Marriage Act
We all remember the tragedy of September 11, 2001, but what most Americans don't recall about that day is the legislation passed by Congress in the late-night hours after the attack. While the country was still reeling from shock, liberals took the opportunity to push a bill that made unmarried couples in Washington, D.C. eligible for spousal benefits. Not only was the bill approved while the attention of voters was focused elsewhere, but it also broke an agreement not to move controversial legislation in the immediate aftermath of 9-11. Those calculated steps created a dangerous precedent in the nation's capital that continues to plague the city--and, potentially, the nation. In the upcoming Financial Services Appropriations bill, FRC is working to block language that would allocate not just city funds, but federal funds to the District of Columbia's domestic partner benefits. Under the 2008 proposal, taxpayers everywhere would be forced to subsidize lifestyles that devalue marriage, jeopardize public health, and hurt children, who rely upon the married love of a father and mother. The bill is also a blatant violation of the Defense of Marriage Act. FRC's VP of Policy, Peter Sprigg, reminded readers of yesterday's USA Today that the legal and financial benefits of marriage are not entitlements regardless of marital status. The argument that they should be is as ludicrous as suggesting that people who have never served in the military deserve veterans' benefits. Call or email your representatives and urge them to make the nation's capital a place where integrity of marriage is preserved. Note: late today the White House issued a statement that President Bush's advisers would recommend a veto if the pro-federal-funds-for-domestic partners provision stays in the bill.
[More at URL]
----- 30 -----
Massive Young Crowd Fasts for Moral Revolution
By Lillian Kwon
Christian Post Reporter
Mon, Jul. 09 2007 11:47 AM ET
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070709/28365_Massive_Young_Crowd_Fasts_for_Moral_Revolution.htm
A massive fasting and prayer gathering drew one of the largest crowds in the history of Nashville's L.P. Field on Saturday.
Some 100,000 people answered "The Call" under the blazing sun to turn around a nation that many evangelical Christians believe is on a moral decline.
"We’ve come here with a faith that God can turn a nation and mighty shift can take place here today," Lou Engle, founder of The Call, told the crowd of mostly young adults.
[...]
The day was 7/7/07, when tens of thousands of Christians made a massive renewal of faith and what some hope will spark a massive revolution decades after the Jesus Movement – major Christian movement countering the hippie culture – swept the nation.
"All through the Bible, there are a series of sevens. So, when you get three sevens to line up at once, you know something's up," said Scott MacLeod, founder of Provision International and who helped organize The Call, according to The Tennessean.
Ahead of the anticipated gathering, event spokeswoman Julia Richardson stated, "We believe that on 7/7/7, the number of covenant, whoever comes here can have a chance to have covenant with the Lord and remarry him and get rid of the sexual immorality and impurity that has been laced through the church."
[...]
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas made an appearance soon after the day-long program started and asked for forgiveness for the government's sins against abortion and immigration.
[More at URL]
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 08:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 03:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 02:49 pm (UTC)::stares in horror::.
Date: 2007-07-11 03:53 pm (UTC)My mother watches him. Thank all powers that be that she almost never talks about what he says . . .
&
::stares in bemusement, whilst still in horror at all the surrounding stuff::
a near-death experience with intestinal cramps and stomach pains
You almost wonder if he's making this up, or he just went crazy . . .
Re: ::stares in horror::. (ps)
Date: 2007-07-11 04:04 pm (UTC)How did the idea that being anti-immigrant was a biblical thing ever get out there? I used to be a Christian when I was a kid, even briefly considered going to seminary, and you could make a much better case about the God of the either testament being pro-immigrant than anti-. (granted, I hated the old testament and may have forgotten stuff, but there's a lot of very positively viewed, God-encouraged immigration going on there)
There used to be this crazy lady who rode the bus w/me, who I overheard telling another passenger that "God will punish them", them being illegal immigrants. Uh, yeah.
Re: ::stares in horror::. (ps) (to the ps)
Date: 2007-07-11 04:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 04:02 pm (UTC)Ah, yes, Matt Barber, another concerned "woman" for America.
The most important thing to know about Glatze is that his personality is primarily built up around what other people say about him: he has always lived his life in public and sought affirmation from others. Apparently, the gay rights movement now has enough cachet that it doesn't automatically register as a beseiged entity, whereas "Ex-gays" still get it. Glatze seems to be a highly effective but classical victim: he wants to stand where people will fling poo at him.
And anyone who reads Dan Barton is a fool: the man has a bad habit of mangling, ellipsing, and even completely falsifying letters and documents from the first decades of this country's founding in order to bolster the image that modern Fundamentalist Christianity was the driving force behind the Constitution. He's the darling historian of homeschoolers and Dominionists, and a topic of scorn among all other professional historians.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 04:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 04:28 pm (UTC)Some articles tearing Barton a new sphincter can be found here (http://www.positiveatheism.org/writ/founding.htm#MYTHING), here (http://candst.tripod.com/boston1.htm), and here (http://www.google.com/search?q=David+Barton&q=%28+site%3Ascienceblogs.com%2Fdispatches%2F+%29&btnG=Search).
By the way, Dispatches from the Culture Wars (http://www.scienceblogs.com/dispatches) is probably a good place for you to hang out. Ed recently had a hilarious takedown of the right's latest attempt to frame the gay debate with their term, "Big Sodomy (http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2007/07/funniest_frame_ever.php)". Money quote: Whatever happened to the right's firm belief in personal responsibility?
whut
Date: 2007-07-12 12:49 am (UTC)