Archive for the 'family values' Category

Family Values

Published
by
alice
on September 1, 2008
in family values, mccain and wombs
. 4 Comments

Bristol Palin, the 17-year-old daughter of Sarah Palin, is five months pregnant. She’s still in high school and the families plan for the baby’s parents to marry.

Let’s go over this one more time: abstinence-only education does. not. work. Peddling ignorance only makes stupid people.

Now, I personally don’t think there’s anything wrong with an unmarried person having a baby. I do think there’s something wrong with a teenager having a baby, but only because it makes getting a good education more complicated. The Republican party, on the other hand, along with christian conservatives, doesn’t have such a live-and-let-live attitude — unless, of course, it’s their children who are having sex outside of marriage (or their candidates who are leaving their wives because they are crippled and then marrying a rich young trollop before the divorce with the first wife is final).

John McCain/Palin: the hypocrite ticket.

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Because what is more patriotic…

Published
by
alice
on July 4, 2008
in closet cases, family values and republicans
. Closed

… than being 110% heterosexual?

Really-really-wannabe-VP Charlie Crist is engaged to be married — to a woman!

Happy 4th!

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Jenna’s Wedding Day Links

Published
by
alice
on May 10, 2008
in bush, death penalty, family values, littlefield, math, science & medicine, mccain, republicans, scotus and stewart
. Closed

Here’s a bit of what’s going on out there on the net this weekend!

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McCain Courts Christians By Embracing Hate

Published
by
alice
on March 3, 2008
in family values, mccain, religion and theocrats
. 2 Comments

I can’t believe McCain refuses to denounce and/or reject (hello, Tim! Let us know when you’re going to attack McCain for this one! You too, Tweety!) the endorsement of John Hagee. This guy is a real prince:

Hagee, pastor of the 16,000-member Cornerstone Church, last week had announced a “slave sale” to raise funds for high school seniors in his church bulletin, “The Cluster.” [link]

It was the disobedience and rebellion of the Jews, God’s chosen people, to their covenantal responsibility to serve only the one true God, Jehovah, that gave rise to the opposition and persecution that they experienced beginning in Canaan and continuing to this very day….

How utterly repulsive, insulting, and heartbreaking to God for His chosen people to credit idols with bringing blessings He had showered upon the chosen people. Their own rebellion had birthed the seed of anti-Semitism that would arise and bring destruction to them for centuries to come…. it rises from the judgment of God uppon his rebellious chosen people. [link]

All hurricanes are acts of God, because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they are — were recipients of the judgment of God for that. The newspaper carried the story in our local area that was not carried nationally that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other Gay Pride parades. So I believe that the judgment of God is a very real thing. I know that there are people who demur from that, but I believe that the Bible teaches that when you violate the law of God, that God brings punishment sometimes before the day of judgment. And I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans. [link]

The televangelist, San Antonio megachurch leader John Hagee, has referred to the Roman Catholic Church as “the great whore” and called it a “false cult system” and “the apostate church”; the word “apostate” means someone who has forsaken his religion.

He also has linked Adolf Hitler to the Catholic church, suggesting it helped shape his anti-Semitism. [link]

The United States must join Israel in a pre-emptive military strike against Iran to fulfill God’s plan for both Israel and the West… a biblically prophesied end-time confrontation with Iran, which will lead to the Rapture, Tribulation, and Second Coming of Christ. [link]

And btw, What Does It Say About The GOP That Huckabee Also Wanted Hagee’s Endorsement?

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Like Rats Off a Sinking Ship

Published
by
alice
on January 12, 2008
in bad guys, family values and religion
. 2 Comments

More news from the smoking crater that used to be Oral Roberts University:

Benny Hinn and I.V. Hilliard resigned as regents, where they were involved in making major school decisions, university spokesman Jeremy Burton said Thursday. Burton declined to say why the two resigned, but said both wrote the board to express their support for the school’s mission.

The resignations come a month after the resignations from the board of regents of two other televangelists, Jesse Duplantis and Creflo Dollar.

Hinn and Dollar are among six televangelists being investigated by Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley to determine if the high-profile preachers violated their organizations’ tax-exempt status by living lavishly on the backs of small donors. They have denied wrongdoing.

Ha! Do they think we’re all as stupid as the people who send them money?

The Hinn ministry also spends a great deal on pastor Benny’s lifestyle when he’s on the road. These records show hotel suites for well over a thousand dollars a night and transatlantic flights on the Concorde — at more than $8,000 round trip. That is, before pastor Benny began flying in a multi-million-dollar private jet.

But Benny Hinn’s followers may not know about how all of their donations are spent. For example there’s Hinn’s palatial new home, now being built for $3.5 million in an exclusive gated community overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

The plans call for more than 6,000 square feet — 7 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms and a basement garage with enough space for ten cars. Who’s paying for that? Not pastor Benny. That mansion on the Pacific is considered the Hinn ministry’s church residence or “parsonage,” and the ministry is picking up all the expenses for land, construction, even property taxes.

(confession via postsecret.com)

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The Myth of “Curing” Homosexuality

Published
by
alice
on December 14, 2007
in civil & human rights, family values, religion and wingnuts
. 1 Comment

It’s a lie, but how dangerous is it? We’ve already seen what it can do to self-loathing homosexuals like Ted Haggard and Larry Craig, but can it drive a person to violence? More from the Colorado Church Gunman:

“People like us are going to go to hell, according to Christians.”

… and from Joe:

Will the Christanist right and the “ex-gay” movement take the deadly example of Matthew Murray and his victims to heart? Or will this horrible incident only strengthen their resolve to continue attempting to pray the gay away?

UPDATE: Tony Perkins takes another approach.

UPDATE: more here: Homeschooled, Conservative, And Murderous?

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Larry Craig Casting Call

Published
by
alice
on December 4, 2007
in family values, home video and republicans
. 2 Comments

So, Larry Craig is back in the news. The round-the-clock news loves playing that clip of Craig claiming that he’s “not gay” and every time I’ve seen it, it’s reminded me of someone. And yesterday, it suddenly hit me who that somebody was:

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Getting the Facts Straight

Published
by
alice
on November 27, 2007
in closet cases, family values, media and republicans
. Closed

No, I don’t have the story on Trent Lott yet, but once the claims and facts have all come to light, will the press make any effort to sort them out? I wish I could count on them, but as Paul Waldman points out, I can’t.

Here’s the thing: Politicians lie. The only thing that will keep them from lying is if they know they’ll pay a price. And the only ones who can make them pay that price are the reporters whose job it is to tell us what’s going on. Unless reporters are willing to step in when candidates are arguing over “facts” and tell you which side is being honest, there is absolutely no incentive for the politicians to tell the truth. Rudy may well now be saying, “Hell, how about next time we just say crime increased on Romney’s watch by a thousand percent? Who’s going to stop us?”

Via smijer:

Honestly, if they can’t be bothered to include the facts along with politician’s claims, they might as well just write about Elvis sightings and leave the news to someone else.

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Will Trent Lott Retire Into His Secret Lover’s Arms? (and does it matter?)

Published
by
alice
on November 26, 2007
in civil & human rights, closet cases, family values, katrina and republicans
. 2 Comments

Why did Trent Lott announce his retirement so suddenly after claiming, just a year ago, he was going to serve another term so that he could help the victims of Katrina? A special election is going to cost Mississippi taxpayers — and Republican donors who want to keep their seat — a lot of money. So why is he bailing mid-term? The talking heads on today’s news think it’s so he can cash in as a lobbyist. But the blogosphere suggests another reason: he’s gay. Is this the story Larry Flint has been teasing lately?

H/T, JQR

UPDATE: LOTS more here, including credibility questions that bring the story into a questionable light… but does that really matter?

But from a gay rights perspective, whether or not Lott actually had a liaison with Nicholas isn’t the most relevant detail of this story. It’s the familiarity of the storyline.

How often have we seen rabidly anti-gay leaders outed for their backroom dealings with gay escorts? It happens in every state and at every level of government. Homophobia is often homosexuality waiting to come out of the deepest, darkest, smelliest regions of the closet.

I hope that anti-gay crusaders will wake up one day and recognize that their leaders are wasting their time and energy on a self-hating wild goose chase. True or not, the Trent Lott story brings us closer to that day.

UPDATE: more from Larry Flint

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Richard Roberts Resigns

Published
by
alice
on November 26, 2007
in family values, religion and theocrats
. 1 Comment

This news is actually a bit old at this point, but the busy holiday weekend has left some disorder in its wake. Anyway, it turns out that Oral’s son, who grew up amongst the corrupt leaders at the top of America’s Religious Right and apparently looked at that landscape that thought that he, too, could live lushly off the contributions of all the poor, sincere rubes who think they can get into heaven by sending their money to greedy men in designer suits.

The father once actually threatened his flock with the promise that God would call him home if they didn’t send him money. And it worked out well for Oral (he raised over $9 million with just that one ultimatum) — he wasn’t “called home” and for many years lived at an exclusive St. Andrews Country Club in Boca Raton, Florida (under an assumed name), and communted between Boca and Tulsa in a private jet.

But things didn’t go so well for the son, and he’s finally resigned from his post as Oral Roberts “University” president (see below as to why I put that in quotes).

“I’m sure there is corruption everywhere,” said freshman Ben Conners, one of several people interviewed before the resignation. “But if you’re holding students to such a high standard, making them sign an honor code and live by these strict principles, I expect the administration to be living an even stricter set of principles. To see something like this, it feels empty, like an elaborate masquerade party.”

Interestingly, Rev. Carlton Pearson, a former member of the ORU board of regents made a candid admission when talking about the current situation at ORU:

People are asking questions and questioning answers, and we’re not used to it.

I hope they learn to like it, and that the practice spreads to other members of the Religious Right! Asking questions and questioning answers is a healthy endeavor and can lead to good things like well-informed decisions and educated opinions.

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