September 24th, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
I am still trying to grasp that whole “if you allow gays to marry you are infringing on my religious rights” thing but the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins takes it even farther. While speaking out against California’s gay marriage laws, he tells his flock about comments from a Pastor friend that intimates that allowing gay marriage will result in the “faithful” being jailed.
California Pastor Warns of Threat to Religious Freedom - FRC national campaign to defend marriage needs your immediate support
If marriage loses, religious liberty is next
September 23, 2008 | Refer a Friend
Dear XXXX,
I want you to hear something a California pastor said to me recently:
“If we lose, we go to jail.”
It’s just that simple, says Pastor Jim Garlow-if marriage loses in California, religious liberties everywhere will be next.
Family Research Council has been pouring resources into a national campaign to defend marriage and religious freedom, and . . .
I’m writing today to ask you again to stand with us. We still must raise $600,000 before the close of our fiscal year on September 30.
I know many Americans are feeling the pinch of a tight economy. As you prayerfully consider a gift, rest assured that FRC carefully stewards every dollar you give to the defense of marriage, religious freedom, parental rights, and human life.
The stakes are enormous. We face a national menace to religious liberty:
* In Boston, a Christian adoption agency was shut down for refusing to place orphans with homosexual couples.
* In New Mexico, a Christian-owned studio was fined more than $6,000 for refusing to photograph a lesbian commitment ceremony.
* In San Francisco, the city council officially condemned Christian opposition to homosexual adoption as hateful and discriminatory rhetoric.
By God’s grace and with your help, we can win this fight.
FRC has been protecting marriage during its 25-year history, and we’ve been voicing your values ever since activist judges in Massachusetts and California legalized counterfeit marriage and triggered a national debate.
Your prayers and generosity are enabling FRC to use our national platform to make the forceful case for traditional marriage in the media, in the churches, and at the grassroots.
In less than two months, voters in California, Florida, and Arizona will have the chance to place marriage out of the reach of activists and liberals.
Twenty-six states already have constitutional protections for marriage.
We pray that California, Florida, and Arizona will be added to that list once voters learn the truth about the lies the Left uses to justify counterfeit marriage.
The fight for marriage in the states is our first priority.
But we can’t take our eye off Washington, D.C. politicians. Your support is vital as we stand up to liberals who want to criminalize your religious speech . . . threaten the religious liberties of employers . . . silence conservative and Christian broadcasting . . . raise taxes . . . and impose taxpayer funding of abortion and embryonic stem cell research.
Thank you for sacrificially giving whatever you can at this critical moment for faith, family, and freedom in America.
FRC national campaign to defend marriage needs your immediate support
Standing (Ephesians 6:13),
Tony Perkins
President
P.S. Please forward this e-mail to a friend.
Family Research Council: 801 G Street N.W. Washington, D.C. 20001
P: 202/393-2100 or 800/225-4008
Sounds an awful lot like the standard NRA scare tactic talking point that goes something like “if you ban semi-automatic assault rifles what is to stop you from banning gun ownership altogether“, only crazier.
September 6th, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
Remember that line from Sarah Palin’s speech at the RNC about the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull that so energized the troops? It seems that it isn’t the first time someone associated with John McCain has used a similar phrase though in slightly different context.
Do you remember controversial pastor John Hagee, you know the guy that John McCain put on the gold plated pandering knee pads in order to get his endorsement? Well he also said something very similar in his book “What Every Man Wants in a Woman”.
Do you know the difference between a woman with PMS and a snarling Doberman pinscher? The answer is lipstick. Do you know the difference between a terrorist and a woman with PMS? You can negotiate with a terrorist.
Do you think the McCain speechwriters had a copy of this handy while writing the Palin speech?
July 21st, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
The religious right is at it again. Not only are those of us in South Dakota becoming the laughing stock of the women’s rights/health movement with our draconian new requirement that requires doctors to rewrite science when women seek abortions, the Bush administration now wants to label birth control as abortion so that heathcare providers can more easily refuse to provide it to women which should fit right in here where we already allow our pharmacists to deny filling prescriptions if they have moral objections.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is poised to put in place new barriers to accessing common forms of contraception like birth control pills, emergency contraception and IUDs by labeling them “abortion.” These proposed regulations set to be released next week will allow healthcare providers to refuse to provide contraception to women who need it.
And while we are discussing right wingnuttia (which seems to be centered here in South Dakota), could some one please tell me where in the Constitution it says that a zygote and the woman carrying it have a Constitutionally protected “existing relationship”?
If the right wing of the GOP keeps pushing this religious agenda, they might end up losing their majority in Congress. Oh wait, they all ready have and the White House might not be too far behind. But at least it looks like head wingnut James Dobson is coming to the rescue after initially pledging to sit this one out.
June 27th, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
It’s baaack! After a short break, Republican’s in Congress, anxious to put some life back in their disillusioned base, have re-introduced the “let’s f*** over the gays act” otherwise known as the Federal Marriage Amendment. While seeing this piece of discriminatory legislation put back in play just in time for the election is predictable, after all the Religious Right has no where to focus their energy with McCain winning the nomination, some of the sponsors really put a capital “H” on the term hypocrisy even in right wing circles.
Nothing says let’s protect the sanctity of marriage than being sponsored by 2 of the right wing’s most infamous married guys, “let’s get me some hookers” David Vitter (R-La) and toe tappin bathroom gay soliciting Larry Craig (R-Idaho). Sounds like a who’s who of disfunction to me and probably not someone the Religious Reich would want as a face of their latest crusade but then again I would imagine that the Dobson crew is happy just to be back in play again.
As an aside, I did notice one sponsor that ought to make the South Dakota Reich Wingers happy, our own John Thune has attached his name to this fine piece of discrimination along side his above mentioned Senate colleagues Vitter and Craig.
<sarcasm>Way to go John, I am so proud to be one of your constituents. </sarcasm>
June 22nd, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
While not quite on the same level as California’s allowing gay marriage or New York’s recognizing of gay marriages performed elsewhere, news from the Northeast does provide some justification for some minor wingnut head exploding just the same.
Residents of Maine have shown the National Homophobic Party, otherwise known as the Religious Right that they don’t have the pull they thought they did when they tried to repeal legislation passed that outlaws discrimination against gays and lesbians.
“We’re pulling the plug,” Michael Heath, executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine, said Thursday. The group failed to attract the voter, volunteer, and financial support it needed to continue its campaign to put a repeal measure to a vote, he said.
The group collected only a third of the 15,000 voter signatures it had set as a goal for primary election day June 10, Heath said. Citing tags opponents had applied to initiative backers, he said potential volunteers “don’t want to be aligned with bigotry and homophobia and hatred.” (emphasis mine)
I realize stories like these are not yet a trend, but it does appear that more and more people are realizing just how hateful some of these so-called “evangelical groups” really are.
June 17th, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
Yesterday evening marked the point when same sex couple’s in California could marry and unlike the Massachusetts law, couples that are not California residents can also take advantage.
While this policy might only last until a Constitutional ban is voted on in November, the next few month’s will at least have many on the intolerant right fuming. So no matter what the outcome this fall, it will be enjoyable to watch.
And in case you were wondering, that loud boom you heard last night around dinner time was just another Reich Wingnut’s head exploding in protest.
June 11th, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
The California Supreme Court Decision that opened up the door for gays to marry had heads on the Religious Right’s exploding everywhere. Then New York’s Governor opened the backdoor (sorry couldn’t resist) for Gay marriage in New York by changing state policy to recognize gay marriages performed in other states which had even more heads exploding. Now a new study should finish off the head exploding, allowing gay marriages could actually boost the economy.
SAN FRANCISCO – Same-sex weddings could create hundreds of new jobs and pump hundreds of millions of dollars into California’s economy, according to a new study released Monday.
Gay couples are projected to spend $684 million on flowers, cakes, hotels, photographers and other wedding services over the next three years – so long as voters don’t put a halt to the same-sex marriage spree, according to a study by the Williams Institute at University of California, Los Angeles School of Law.
During the three-year period, the researchers project that about half of the state’s more than 100,000 same-sex couples will get married and another 68,000 out-of-state couples will travel to California to exchange vows. The nuptial rush is expected to create some 2,200 jobs.
There goes the neighborhood, now Liberal policies can actually help America by creating jobs. What’s next allowing dogs and cats to marry?
May 30th, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
If one needs any evidence as to how far the political process in the country has fallen, you only need to look at the role religion and religious leaders have had in this year’s Presidential elections. Barack Obama had Rev. Jeremiah Wright spewing his brand of religion on one side and John McCain sought after and got the support of the Rev John Hagee and the baggage that came with it.
Now we’ve got a priest taking cheap shots at a Presidential candidate during his invocation at the New York State Republican Party dinner.
“One more thing, Lord. Please tell Senator Obama that maybe change is a good thing and maybe he should think about changing his favorite preacher,” he said, to applause.
“I know a lot more of us would be comfortable with his judgment skills if he hadn’t sat for 20 years through those words offered by his preacher of division, bigotry, and – honestly – half truths without a word of objection from Senator until the media brought it up, and now he doesn’t want any part of the guy,” he said.
“I’m willing to be his new preacher.”
Watch it:
I always thought a priest’s job was to shepherd his flock. Who knew that it now includes partisan politics.
May 29th, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
First the California Supreme Court overturns the ban on gay marriage which could allow gay couples to marry as soon as next month and now New York moves to recognize same sex marriages performed elsewhere.
Gov. David A. Paterson has directed all state agencies to begin to revise their policies and regulations to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions, like Massachusetts, California and Canada.
In a directive issued on May 14, the governor’s legal counsel, David Nocenti, instructed the agencies that gay couples married elsewhere “should be afforded the same recognition as any other legally performed union.”
The heads of those on the Religious Right must be exploding everywhere…
May 15th, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
This ruling will surely get the religious right going.
The California Supreme Court has overturned a ban on gay marriage, paving the way for California to become the second state where gay and lesbian residents can marry.
The case involved a series of lawsuits seeking to overturn a voter- approved law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
With the ruling, California could become the second state after Massachusetts where gay and lesbian residents can marry.
“What happens in California, either way, will have a huge impact around the nation. It will set the tone,” said Geoffrey Kors, executive director of the gay rights group Equality California.
On a similar note, it looks like Focus on the Family is back at work trying to tell everyone what they should be able to watch and again Lodgenet is in the middle.
If Colorado Springs-based media ministry Focus on the Family gets its way, guests of Marriott hotels won’t be able to tune into adult movies in their rooms.
Tom Minnery, a senior vice president for Focus on the Family, and other conservative Christian leaders Wednesday urged Marriott International executives to stop offering in-room pornographic movies.
Marriott is in the group’s cross hairs because they are one of the largest chains that provide in room movies and as it happens, South Dakota’s own Lodgnet is their primary in room entertainment provider. Nothing new to Lodgenet though, being in the gun sights of religious groups is just another day in the life of the Sioux Falls based entertainment company.