[Active-l] (NEWS) Today's Cultural Warfare Update

[Dara (R'ykandar Korra'ti)]

This is one of two, really, but I'm filing them as separate updates  
because they're long. I'll do the next segment tomorrow (on Sunday).  
But we have a short Feature Presentation at the end, and tomorrow,  
we'll have a comic! Yay!

But now, today's news.

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow calls embryonic stem-cell  
research "murder" then disclaims it;

Hyperconservative rabbis blame gays and lesbians for war with Lebanon;

Ann Coulter blames Clinton sexual misadventures on "homosexuality";

Latvian police refuse to intervene in mob attacks against lesbian and  
gay pride event;

Fundamentalist-supported effort to extend broadcast regulation into  
cable space;

Focus on the Family newsbrief on a challenge to Maryland's  
opposite-sex-only marriage law;

FotF article on how to "prepare" for "showdown[s]" with "homosexual  
activists" pushes the "ex-gay ministry" line;

Oregon to have "parental notification" law on ballot this fall;

Michigan State House passes bill requiring "screening" of women seeking  
abortions, supposedly to prevent coercion, but these things never  
actually work that way;

GOP in Ohio uses fundamentalists to pitch attack on married Democratic  
minister running for Congress, accusing him of being gay;

Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM to support a bill banning aid to  
minours trying to cross state lines to avoid parental-notification law;

Focus on the Family decries increase in number of "unwed mothers" aged  
_21 and over_, calling them "young unwed mothers," presumably to imply  
they're teenagers or kids or something;

FotF pushes its big fundamentalist action conference this September;  
includes partial guest-list and it's labeled an ACTION ITEM, tho' the  
"action" is to sign up to go to the confab;

FotF ACTION ITEM to support a Brownback bill intended to prevent  
claimants in church-state religious discrimination cases from  
collecting attourney's fees - the point is to make it much harder to  
sue;

Five _heterosexual_ couples file lawsuit against Arizona's proposed  
marriage/civil unions/domestic partnerships ban, saying they'll be  
affected if it passes as-is;

Creationism meets global climate science: theoconservatives are making  
global warming into a religious issue;

FotF keeps the "embryonic stem cells are human beings" drumbeat;

Washington State Supreme Court upholds our local anti-marriage laws in  
a decision that makes perfect sense if you consider lesbian and gay  
couples inherently of lesser value and never ever involve having  
children, and no sense at all otherwise;

Focus on the Family attacks study asserting that children of gay  
couples do better when those couples can get married or at least enroll  
in effective civil unions;

FotF ACTION ITEM to support a Federal ban on marriage rights, saying  
that the ban has to be "100 percent effective [nationally]" or that it  
isn't effective at all;

Today's Cultural Warfare Update Feature Presentation: David Letterman  
carries a Clinton response to Anne Coulter.


----- 1 -----
Snow apologizes for ‘murder’ statement
Spokesman says president would not use term with stem-cell research
Associated Press
Updated: 11:31 a.m. PT July 24, 2006

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14013127/

WASHINGTON - White House press secretary Tony Snow apologized on Monday  
for suggesting that President Bush believed stem-cell research amounted  
to "murder," saying he was "overstating the president's position."

At issue was Snow's comment last Wednesday defending Bush's veto of  
legislation to expand federally financed research on stem cells  
obtained from unwanted embryos.

[More at URL]


----- 2 -----
Violence in Israel caused by 'gay' event?
Rabbis link troubles to approval of World Pride parade in Jerusalem
Posted: July 19, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Alex Traiman
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51128

BEIT EL, Israel – Are Israel's troubles in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon  
and the Hezbollah rockets slamming daily into major Israeli population  
centers here a result of the Jewish state's tacit support for a  
homosexual parade slated for next month in Jerusalem?

Some rabbis seem to think so, and they are attempting to block the  
event from taking place in Judaism's holiest city.

"Why does this war break out this week, all of sudden with little  
warning? Because this is the exact week the Jewish people are trying to  
decide whether the gay pride parade should take place in Jerusalem or  
Tel Aviv," Pinchas Winston, a noted author, rabbi and lecturer based in  
Jerusalem told WND.

[More at URL]


----- 3 ------
Coulter Comes Out Against Gay Clinton Marriage
Wonkette
July 25, 2006

http://www.wonkette.com/politics/movies/coulter-comes-out-against-gay- 
clinton-marriage-189845.php

You can only bash 9/11 widows for so long before your book starts  
slip-sliding down the charts. Solution: Call Bill Clinton gay. A source  
from “The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch” handed us this transcript from  
tonight’s 10 pm ET show, during which Deutsch notes that Coulter was  
talking about Bill Clinton off the air and goads her into repeating  
what she said.

Ms. COULTER: I think that sort of rampant promiscuity does show some  
level of latent homosexuality.

DEUTSCH: OK, I think you need to say that again. That Bill Clinton, you  
think on some level, has — is a latent homosexual, is that what you’re  
saying?

Ms. COULTER: Yeah.

[More at URL]


----- 4 -----
LATVIA PRIDE TRASHED BY MOBS THROWING HUMAN EXCREMENT
Jul 24, 2006

Overall URL, includes pointers to a few photos:
http://public.fotki.com/MANOaMANO/rex_wockner_news_photos/

Story here:

Latvia Pride a disaster
BANNED MARCH CHANGED VENUES, BUT ANTI-GAY MOB TRASHED PARTICIPANTS,  
THROWING HUMAN EXCREMENT

http://innewsweekly.com/innews/?class_code=Ne&article_code=2373

The second effort to stage a gay pride parade in Riga, Latvia, was an  
unmitigated disaster July 22.

The City Council and a court banned the parade, claiming police  
wouldn't be able to protect marchers from marauding homophobic mobs.

So, activists instead staged a religious service at a church and  
meetings at a hotel.

[...]

Scores of anti-gay protesters gathered outside the Anglican church and  
flung human excrement, eggs and rotten food at gays and lesbians as  
they left the building.

"I was hit with a bag full of shit and had to go wash up," said the  
Rev. Maris Sants.

"Protesters threw human excrement on us," said the Rev. Juris Calitis.  
"I was covered with it from head to foot. It was quite smelly."

"Worshippers were pelted with shit and rotten fruit," said British  
participant Peter Tatchell. "Despite previously requesting police  
protection, no police were present to protect the congregation."

Activist meetings later in the day at the four-star Reval Hotel met a  
similar fate, attracting hundreds of anti-gay demonstrators.

[More at URLs]


----- 5 -----
Bill Offered to Combat Offensive Cable Channels
Cable industry campaign places burden on parents.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
July 28, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0041445.cfm

Legislation was introduced in the U.S. House this week that would  
require cable and satellite TV providers to choose among three options  
to counter the increase in sex and violence in programming.

The Family Choice Act of 2006, co-sponsored by Reps. Dan Lipinski,  
D-Ill., and Tom Osborne, R-Neb., would have providers select between  
increased FCC regulation, a la carte programming that allows families  
to choose and pay for only the channels they want, or controversial  
family tiers in which the cable companies decide what channels are  
family friendly and offer them as a package.

[More at URL]


----- 6 -----
Maryland Marriage Law Faces Court Challenge
Focus on the Family
July 28, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0041451.cfm

Maryland's highest court -- called The Court of Appeals -- has agreed  
to hear a challenge to a 1973 state law that limits marriage to the  
union of one man and one woman, The Associated Press reported.

[More at URL]


----- 7 -----
Campus Showdown
How should Christians respond when homosexual activists knock at their  
door? That’s what 19 colleges had to figure out this spring.
by Wendy Cloyd, reporting from Regent and Wheaton
Citizen Magazine
Focus on the Family
July 2006

http://family.org/cforum/citizenmag/features/a0040939.cfm

A motor coach rolled to a stop under dreary March skies and across the  
street from Regent University, a Christian college in Virginia Beach,  
Va. Inside were riders who had prepared a message for Regent students  
and faculty: Biblical teaching on the sin of homosexuality is harming  
Christian students who prefer intimacy with someone of their own  
gender.

[...]

Peter LaBarbera, executive director of the Illinois Family Institute  
and a longtime defender of biblical morality, stopped by Wheaton during  
the Equality Ride visit. Sitting in the student center, he told Citizen  
that the opportunity for change should be the focus of any campus  
discussion about homosexuality.

“If you can change, there’s really no excuse to talk about this as a  
minority group,” he said. The fact that thousands of men and women who  
experienced same-sex attraction have changed, he said, is a point worth  
making.

[More at URL]


----- 8 -----
Oregonians Will Vote on Parents' Right to Know of Child's Abortion
Focus on the Family
July 27, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0041436.cfm

The Oregon secretary of state has determined that petitioners submitted  
enough signatures to place a parental-notification initiative on the  
November ballot, The Register-Guard reported.

Oregon Right to Life (ORTL) submitted 115,845 signatures —  
significantly more than the 75,630 required for certification.

[More at URL]


----- 9 -----
Michigan Lawmakers Approve Bill to Prevent Coerced Abortion
Focus on the Family
July 27, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0041435.cfm

The Michigan state House has approved a measure that would require  
doctors to screen abortion-minded women to ensure they weren't  
pressured into killing their preborn babies, LifeNews.com reported.

Kary Moss, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of  
Michigan, called the measure a "false campaign" to make it more  
difficult for women to get abortions.

[More at URL]


----- 10 -----
The GOP's Sleaziest Attack Campaign
The Nation
07/28/2006

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?pid=106378

How low will Republicans go to try and hang onto control of Ohio, the  
swing state where their machinations secured the presidency for George  
W. Bush in 2004?

[...]

Gary Lankford, the Ohio Republican Party's recently hired "social  
conservative coordinator" this week dispatched a mass e-mail to  
so-called "pro-family friends" that featured his 10-point introduction  
to U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, the Democratic nominee for governor.

Strickland, an ordained Methodist minister who has thrown Republicans  
for a loop by speaking about his faith during the campaign, is running  
far ahead of scandal-plagued Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, the  
Republican nominee who gained national fame in 2004 when he was broadly  
accused of manipulating election processes and vote counting to favor  
Bush in the presidential race.

What's the GOP strategy for getting Blackwell back into the running?  
Imply that Strickland is gay.

What are Republican staffers pointing to as evidence? Reports that the  
Democratic congressman and his wife of 20 years reside in different  
locations when he is in Washington.

[More at URL]


----- 11 -----
Parental-Rights Bill Passes Senate
But disappointed Democrats are trying to keep abortion-notification  
legislation from reaching the president's desk.
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
Focus on the Family
July 26, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0041411.cfm

A measure that would make it a crime to take a minor seeking an  
abortion across state lines to avoid parental-involvement laws sailed  
through the Senate late Tuesday. But Democrats are trying to stall the  
bill to keep it from becoming law.

The Child Custody Protection Act (CCPA), which passed the Senate on a  
65-34 vote, makes it illegal to transport a girl under 18 from a state  
that requires parental notification or consent to one that does not  
with the intention of attaining abortion services. Now the bill, which  
has already passed the House, has to go to a conference committee to  
iron out differences between the versions approved in each chamber.

[...]

TAKE ACTION
Please take a moment to contact Democrat leaders Reid and Durbin and  
demand that they release the Child Custody Protection Act to a  
conference committee so that it can continue its journey to the  
president's desk to become law. Since both senators are members of the  
chamber's leadership, you should feel free to contact them no matter  
what state you live in.

Sen. Harry Reid
Phone: 202-224-3542
Fax: 202-224-7327
E-mail: http://reid.senate.gov/contact/email_form.cfm

Sen. Richard Durbin
Phone: 202-224-2152
Fax: 202-228-0400
E-mail: http://durbin.senate.gov/contact.cfm#contact


----- 12 -----
Young Unwed Mothers on the Rise
Focus on the Family
July 26, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0041407.cfm

The Beverly LaHaye Institute (BLI) at Concerned Women for America  
released research today showing that the trend of unwed mothers over  
the age of 20 continues to increase.

BLI's research also shows that unemployment rates for mothers with  
children 6 or younger have drastically escalated.

[More at URL]


----- 13 -----
Values Voters to Gather for Washington Briefing
It's more than a conference, it's a call to action.
by Amanda Banks, federal issues analyst
Focus on the Family
July 25, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0041393.cfm

The Washington Briefing, a values-voter summit scheduled for Sept.  
22-24 in the nation's capital, will feature an A list of speakers  
including Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Tony Perkins of the  
Family Research Council, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Bill  
Bennett, Ann Coulter, Newt Gingrich and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Topics include "Larger than Life: How the Abortion Debate Continues to  
Shape American Politics;" "The Preservation of Marriage: Why Children  
Need It;" and "Courts Gone Wild: The Rightful Place of Judges in Our  
Republic."

[...]

Four of the nation's leading pro-family groups are partnering for the  
Washington Briefing: FRC Action, Focus on the Family Action, Americans  
United to Preserve Marriage and American Family Association Action.

Here are the "Top Seven" reasons you should make plans now to attend:

#7 -- Get your new Ann Coulter book Godless signed by the author. Other  
book signings include Bill Bennett and Newt Gingrich.

[More at URL]


----- 14 -----
Congress Considers Limiting Awards in Religious-Freedom Cases
Focus on the Family
July 25, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0041388.cfm

The U.S. House and Senate are considering two measures that would help  
protect communities from activist groups that challenge public  
religious displays including Ten Commandments monuments. It would  
prohibit organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union  
(ACLU) from collecting attorneys’ fees from taxpayers if it wins such a  
case.

Sen. Sam Brownback, R.-Kan., introduced the Public Expressions of  
Religion Protection Act, which would prevent judicial activist groups  
from abusing the Civil Rights Attorneys Fees Awards Act of 1976.

“Groups with a partisan political agenda should not have their legal  
costs reimbursed by state and local governments,” Brownback said. “If a  
group like the ACLU wants to sue a city for displaying a religious  
image, it should pay the bill itself, not take advantage of a provision  
that was designed to reimburse poor individuals pursuing civil-rights  
cases.”

[More at URL]

TAKE ACTION:
Encourage your U.S. lawmakers to support these bills. You may reach  
them through the CitizenLink Action Center.

If you are a CitizenLink Daily Update subscriber, click on the blue  
"Take Action" button in the e-mail to be automatically logged in to our  
Action Center. Otherwise, click on this link.


----- 15 -----
Couples Fight Arizona Marriage Amendment
Focus on the Family
July 24, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0041378.cfm

Five Arizona couples have filed a lawsuit to halt a proposed state  
constitutional amendment -- one that would define marriage as solely  
the union of one man and one woman -- from reaching November's ballot.  
The twist? All five couples are heterosexual, Gay Peoples Chronicle  
reported.

They argue the Protect Marriage Arizona amendment violates the state's  
single-subject rule -- which limits ballot initiatives to a one topic.  
The couples maintain the amendment deals with three -- marriage, civil  
unions and domestic partnerships.

[More at URL]


----- 16 -----
Evangelicals Push Back on Global Warming
Interfaith Stewardship Alliance says the likes of Al Gore have it all  
wrong.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
July 26, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0041403.cfm

The ideological gap between many evangelical Christians and most  
environmentalists is as wide as any in all of the culture wars. And at  
the center of the debate is global warming.

The Interfaith Stewardship Alliance is taking on the topic from an  
evangelical viewpoint, and has gathered scientists and theologians who  
say the situation is not as dire as we have been led to believe in such  
forums as Al Gore's movie AnInconvenient Truth.

[...]

The Rev. Jim Tonkowich of the Institute on Religion and Democracy said  
there is a spiritual battle behind the global-warming scare.

"Much secular thinking about the environment includes a right to  
abortion. Why is that?" he asked. "Well, we want to keep the population  
down because human beings are nothing but users and polluters.

"The biblical view sees human beings as stewards, builders, co-creators  
with God. Take the stuff of creation and make — build cities."

[More at URL]


----- 17 -----
Adult Stem Cells Show Additional Promise
Latest research yet more proof that destroying human life not necessary  
to treat disease.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
July 26, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0041402.cfm

President Bush was surrounded by "Snowflake" babies when he informed  
the press last week about his decision to veto a bill to federally fund  
embryonic stem- cell research.

"These boys and girls are not spare parts," Bush said in discussing the  
children, born from frozen human embryos from in-vitro fertilization  
clinics. "They remind us of what is lost when embryos are destroyed in  
the name of research."

Days later, the University of Louisville announced that five other  
laboratories had affirmed the findings of a study the university  
released in December: that adult stem cells -- those that don't require  
the destruction of human life -- are proving highly valuable in the  
treatment of disease.

[More at URL]


----- 18 -----
Washington High Court Upholds DOMA
Justices strongly oppose legislating from the bench.
by Stuart Shepard, managing editor
Focus on the Family
July 26, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0041406.cfm

After nearly 16 months of deliberations, the Washington Supreme Court  
ruled 5-4 today in favor of the state's Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA),  
issuing a strong rebuke for dissenting justices who favored mandating  
same-sex marriage.

The case was brought by 19 gay and lesbian couples who challenged the  
DOMA law that defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman.  
Two lower courts had struck down the law, and the state's highest court  
heard arguments on March 8, 2005.

[...]

Dr. James Dobson, chairman of Focus on the Family Action, said the  
ruling underscores the importance of traditional marriage.

"This court has found that the state does indeed have a legitimate  
interest in encouraging and protecting one-man, one-woman marriage," he  
said. "That interest is the next generation -- ensuring that the best  
environment in which to raise children is nurtured and safeguarded."

[...]

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, praised the  
majority for leaving the matter in the hands of the people and their  
representatives, but said there remains the need for federal action.

"In state after state, homosexual activists continue to take their  
attack on the definition of marriage to the courts, thus attempting to  
usurp the right of the people to decide this issue," he said. "Lawsuits  
still pending in several other states demonstrate that marriage is, in  
fact, at risk as long as the courts have the final say on marriage.  
Only passage of a marriage-protection amendment to the U.S.  
Constitution will take the future of marriage out of the hands of  
judges and bring these extremist lawsuits to an end."

The Washington high court also affirmed the interest of the state in  
establishing marriage laws.

"DOMA is constitutional," Madsen wrote, "because the Legislature was  
entitled to believe that limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples  
furthers procreation, essential to survival of the human race, and  
furthers the well-being of children by encouraging families where  
children are reared in homes headed by the children's biological  
parents. Allowing same-sex couples to marry does not, in the  
Legislature's view, further these purposes."

[More at URL]


----- 19 -----
Family Experts Rebut Study That Claims Kids Need Gay Marriage
Report ignores important measures of success.
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
Focus on the Family
July 25, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0041392.cfm

A study published this month in the journal Pediatrics claimed children  
do better when their same-sex parents are allowed to marry or enter a  
civil union. According to marriage and family experts, such reporting  
fails to recognize myriad reports that show kids do better in a home  
with a biological mother and father.

The report, titled "The Effects of Marriage, Civil Union and Domestic  
Partnership Laws on the Health and Well-Being of Children," was  
commissioned by the board of directors for the 55,000-member American  
Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). It concludes:

"There is ample evidence to show that children raised by same-gender  
parents fare as well as those raised by heterosexual parents. More than  
25 years of research have documented that there is no relationship  
between parents' sexual orientation and any measure of a child's  
emotional, psychosocial, and behavioral adjustment. These data have  
demonstrated no risk to children as a result of growing up in a family  
with one or more gay parents. Conscientious and nurturing adults,  
whether they are men or women, heterosexual or homosexual, can be  
excellent parents. The rights, benefits, and protections of civil  
marriage can further strengthen these families."

But Glenn Stanton, senior analyst for marriage and cultural affairs for  
Focus on the Family, said the research avoided a more important  
question in its quest to affirm gay marriage.

[More at URL]


----- 20 -----
What's Next for Marriage?
The battle to defend traditional marriage may stand at a turning point  
— but never have we needed a federal constitutional amendment more than  
now.
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
July 27, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0041434.cfm

Wednesday's momentous decision by the Washington state Supreme Court  
was the seventh victory on marriage in July — and it leaves pro-family  
legal analysts pondering where the movement to protect marriage really  
stands in the aftermath of such good news.

Evergreen State high court justices ruled 5-4 that the state's 1998  
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) — which defines marriage as the union of  
one man and one woman — is constitutional, and that questions about the  
definition of marriage should be left to the Legislature, not the  
courts.

[...]

100 Percent Effective or Not at All

Mat Staver, president of Liberty Counsel, said the sad fact is, we have  
to be 100 percent successful to be truly successful at protecting  
marriage.

"From the 1970s to the 21st century, only one real case of significance  
was lost," he said. "It was lost by a 4-3 decision, and that was  
Massachusetts. But it has had — and still has — significant  
consequences not only for that state, but also for the rest of the  
country.

"In order to successfully protect marriage, a 99 percent success ratio  
is great — but it is not good enough."

[More at URL]


----- 21 -----
Late Nite with David Letterman
July 2006

http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Letterman-Clinton-Coulter.mov


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