Hey - the breaking news is that Obama has issued a statement about the pastor. He says:
"Let me say at the outset that I vehemently disagree and strongly condemn the statements that have been the subject of this controversy. I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies. I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it's on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. "
and:
""I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it's on the campaign stump or in the pulpit""
and:
"His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate "
Gotta love those Mormons - always out to protect the children.
They are protecting them so much that they are handing our scary "postcards" to the trick or treaters explaining how gays are going to come after the 5 year old schoolchildren.
To very little fanfare or protest, the Mormon church is engaged in a massive campaign to amend the constitutions or Arizona and Colorado and make their doctrine the law.
At the official behest of the church leadership, thousands of Mormons are making very large contributions to propositions to amend the constitutions or Arizona and California to prohibit the right of gays and lesbians to marry.
To be very clear - if a gay couple weds in the United Church of Christ it does not affect Mormon doctrine in any way.
But they are determined to use our state constitutions to prevent the UCC from following their beliefs.
The Mormon Church decision to enlist members on behalf of the same-sex marriage ban has given supporters of Proposition 8 a fund-raising lead. The campaign to defeat the initiative has collected around $13 million so far, said Steve Smith, a top campaign consultant for No on 8, Equality for All. Both sides raised roughly equal amounts in the early stages, said Mr. Smith, but "all of a sudden in the last few weeks they are out-raising us, and it appears to be Mormon money."
The top leadership of the Mormon Church, known as the First Presidency, issued a letter in June calling on Mormons to "do all you can" to support Proposition 8.
Mormon donors said they weren't coerced. "Nobody twisted my arm," said Richard Piquet, a Southern California accountant who gave $25,000 in support of Proposition 8. He said Mormon Church leaders called donating "a matter of personal conscience." Some Mormons who declined to donate said their local church leaders had made highly charged appeals, such as saying that their souls would be in jeopardy if they didn't give. Church spokesmen said any such incident wouldn't reflect Mormon Church policy.
What the church is doing is within the law, but I think that it also shows how vulnerable we have become to a theocracy as oppressive as those Islamic Republics we claim to deplore and how little regard we have for human rights when religions enter the mix.
They actually are not ashamed, but are proud of what they are doing.
There is one Commandment that modern Christians have totally wiped from their moral compass – Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness Against Thy Neighbor – and no better example of this can be found than the message the churches are using to overturn the rights of gays to marry in California.
In order to get out the vote, they must find some harm to themselves in allowing gays to marry, and if they cannot find any – well as Jesus reportedly said, just make shit up.
Children in public schools will be taught that both traditional marriage and same-sex marriage are okay.
The California Education Code already requires that health education classes instruct children about marriage. (§51890)
Therefore, if the definition of marriage is changed, children will be taught that marriage is a relation between any two adults. There will be serious clashes between the secular school system and the right of parents to teach their children their own values and beliefs.
There are already “clashes” between the “secular school system” and the beliefs of parents but there is nothing serious about such clashes. Jewish mothers can still tell their son the doctor-to-be to have nothing to do with shiksas and marry a nice jewish girl.
Just because the secular school system says that it is legal for Catholics and Jews to intermarry is not a serious harm to the rights of Jewish mothers.
Churches will be sued if they refuse to allow same-sex marriage ceremonies in their religious buildings that are open to the public.
Craftily worded – religious buildings that are open to the public – you would almost think we were talking about a church. (Shows expertise at violating the 9th commandment, don’t you think?)
Actually we are talking about a public pavilion open to the public and receiving tax exemption because of that – in a state which outlaws gay marriage. It happened to be owned by a religious denomination which refused a lesbian couple the right to rent it for a commitment ceremony and was found to violate a local equal-access law.
"Ask whether your pastor, priest, minister, bishop, or rabbi is ready to perform such marriages in your chapels and sanctuaries. "
No one can be required to perform a marriage - priests refuse to marry divorced persons, rabbis can refuse to marry the uncircumcised, Mormons can refuse the GentilesTemple weddings - even in Boston and Canada.
3. Religious adoption agencies will be challenged by government agencies to give up their long-held right to place children only in homes with both a mother and a father. Catholic Charities in Boston has already closed its doors because of the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts.
That is true – they did close their doors – but an adoption agency is a state licensed activity, not a religious one, and they have to abide by state anti-discrimination laws which require them even to allow single parents and mixed-race parents and Muslims to adopt.
Here again they befell anti-discrimination ordinances, not “gay marriage”.
4Religions that sponsor private schools and which provide housing for married students will be required to provide housing for same-sex couples, even if it runs counter to church doctrine, or lose tax exemptions and benefits.
Could be a bit of truth here – I think Bob Jones had to allow mixed race couples. I doubt it is such a great harm as compared to the harm to gay families by taking away their right to marry, however. One can also hope that there aren't that many gay couples who would want to attend such schools.
5. Ministers who preach against same-sex marriages will be sued for hate speech and could be fined by the government. It has already happened in Canada, one of six countries that have legalized gay marriage.
An outright lie, and oft repeated one. The preacher in Canada was not “preaching against same-sex marriages” but was accused of preaching hate-speech against gays. And it cannot happen here because hate speech is legal and constitutionally protected, unlike Canada which has laws against hate speech.
In Canada the Catholic churches routinely preach against same sex marriage and here in the USA “God Hates Fags” preachers are protected by the constitution and nothing about same-sex marriage changes that.
6. It will cost you money. A change in the definition of marriage will bring a cascade of lawsuits. Even if courts eventually find in favor of a defender of traditional marriage (highly improbable given today’s activist judges), think of the money – your money, your church contributions – that will have to be spent on legal fees.
A “cascade of lawsuits” ? What are they planning ? Because that is not the history in states and countries which have legalized same-sex marriages. There have been few and they are usually not “marriage” lawsuits but “equal rights” lawsuits, and they occur in states which do not allow same sex marriage also
They should be ashamed – but they have erased that 9th Commandment from their doctrines.
Former Arizona Congressman Jim Kolbe brings us a guest commentary on the subject of free trade, and the responsibilities it creates for both the United States and our trading partners.
That is the way that they label a blatantly partisan attack on the Democrats for not passing Bush's Columbian free trade bill.
You can hear Kolbe's commentary here starting at about the 13 minute mark.
I have complained about KUAT's bias in the past, without any response or effect and have reached the point where I refuse to support the station and listen to KJZZ out of Phoenix, which has a repeater and can be heard here in Tucson at 98.9
But I would really like to change the KUAT culture if possible - I have listened to NPR all over the US, even in the deep south, and it is the most "conservative" affiliate I have encountered.
Is there something that can be done - can the Dems ask for equal time ?
You can complain here if you think it might have an effect.
*P.S. - Jim Kolbe is currently campaign manager for a guy who wants to amend the state constitution to prevent gays from marrying. My understanding of the problem with the Columbian trade bill is Columbia's human rights problems so it is no surprise to me that human rights doesn't register as anything of concern to him
After it looked like the amendment had been derailed, it is back on the agenda for the Arizona House of Representatives. Things may move very quickly-the House could vote on the amendment at any time, possibly on today, April 22, and the Senate might immediately follow. If the legislature approves the amendment, it will be on this November's ballot, just two years after a similar effort was defeated.
Please let anyone in Arizona know about this - if it gets on the November ballot it will be a disaster not only for gays and lesbians, but for all Democrats running for office.
If you are in AZ you can email your two State Representatives here:
http://eqfed.org/campaign/scr1042_house
Or even better please call them now at 602-926-4221 or 1-800-352-8404 to urge them to vote no on SCR 1042, as amended. Urge them to keep this divisive amendment off the ballot.
If you don't know who you your 2 State Representatives are, you can call the capitol switchboard at 602-926-4221 or 1-800-352-8404 and tell them you live in House District 29 and you would like to speak with both of your representatives.
Or, you can lookup your 2 State Representatives online at
http://eqfed.org/ahrf/leg-lookup/search.html.
Then call the Arizona House of Representatives switchboard at 602-926-4221 or 1-800-352-8404 and ask to speak with your representatives!
KUAZ is conducting their semi-annual fundraiser explaining that they are not beholden to commerical interests and are free to report even politically incorrect news of interest to its “community”.
Turning to KJZZ – the NPR station in Phoenix, I learn that the legislature has voted out another anti-gay-marriage “referendum” for our November ballot.
So for months we are going to be hearing advertisements claiming that gay people are destroying the family – and ultimately the nation.
But there isn’t a whisper of this on KUAZ – I guess that it doesn’t affect their “community”.
It isn’t that they hate gay people – it is just that we are invisible to them.
We are good for entertainment, NPR’s minstrel show, and they will trot out David Sedaris for a laugh.
And they strive for diversity – they report on immigrants and Native Americans and have homophobic black preachers explain civil rights to us.
But somehow we aren’t here.
So I called and promised a $100 donation, on the one condition that sometime during the day I heard about the anti-gay amendment on their news reporting.
They wouldn’t take my money – which at least is honest of them.
