Month: February 2009
What Would You Give Up?
We’d like to take a moment and salute our Catholic friends and relatives who are giving something up for Lent, which starts today and continues for 39 more. We know our cousin Dianne is giving up smoking — a corker idea and one for which she has our full support.
Others cite sweets and sodas. I am not Catholic and already quit smoking, drinking (mostly), eating animals, and bashing Bush on a daily basis so I’d have to get creative if I were to participate.
What about you? Are you giving something up for Lent? Are you giving something up for other reasons, like the fact that the economy is in the crapper and you got laid off? Let us know what you’re going without. We’ll sympathize, we promise.
Quote du Jour
“He had me at ‘Madame Speaker.'”
— Steve Schale (1975 – ), Democratic consultant and chair of Obama’s Florida campaign, reacting to the president’s speech on the stimulus plan
So-Called Liberal Media Skews Obama Approval Ratings…Downward
That pesky liberal media is at it again. Here’s the headline from CNN:
68% Give Obama Speech a Thumbs-Up
Hmmm…so if 68 percent liked it, then I guess 32 percent didn’t, right? Wrong. Actually, almost everyone liked it.
Sixty-eight percent of speech-watchers questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey had a very positive reaction, with 24 percent indicating that they had a somewhat positive response and 8 percent indicating that they had a negative reaction.
Hold on, 68 percent were very positive, while another 24 percent were somewhat positive? So 92 percent were positive? But the headline says only 68 percent gave the speech a “thumbs-up.”
In fact, only 8 percent gave it a thumbs-down. But wait, there’s more.
Eighty-five percent of those polled said the president’s speech made them more optimistic about the direction the country is headed in over the next few years, with 11 percent indicating that the speech made them more pessimistic.
Eighty-two percent of speech-watchers say they support the economic plan Obama outlined in his prime-time address, with 17 percent opposing the proposal.
Yes, 85 percent said the speech made them feel more optimistic and 82 percent say they support it. And yet, we were told that only 68 percent give it a “thumbs-up.”
If that was the liberal media, I guess we can expect this headline from FOX:
Just Over Half of Americans Like Obama Plan
Video: Governor of California Smoking Pot
This video from the 1970s is appropriate now because a bill has been introduced in the California Legislature to legalize the state’s $14 billion marijuana industry. The taxes on the pot could add as much as $1 billion per year in tax revenue, which would be helpful now because the state is facing a $42 billion revenue shortfall.
West Virginia Hate Group Posts Ad Depicting Gays As Snipers
Last week, a Mormon politician in Utah compared gay people with Islamic radicals. Now an anti-gay group in West Virginia has released an online ad that depicts gays as snipers by showing a dual-gender couple and their children in the crosshairs of rifle scope.
Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out (TWO), has called on the hate group, which calls itself the “Family Policy Council,” to remove the ad:
“This kind of overheated rhetoric creates a climate where hate crimes can occur. We demand that The Family Policy Council of West Virginia apologize and take down this violent ad. This video is reckless, wrongheaded and irresponsible.”
TWO also notes that FBI hate crime statistics indicate that crimes based on sexual orientation ranked third (16 percent), below religion (19 percent) and race (52 percent).
More from TWO:
According to the Associated Press, “about a minute into the video, the crosshairs of a rifle scope appear over the image of a family blowing bubbles.” The narrator warns that “same-sex marriage is a closer reality in West Virginia than you may think,” and that activists are “working tirelessly to define marriage away from God’s design.”
The AP also reports that The Family Policy Council of West Virginia, has yet to register as a charity with state officials, though it’s reported raising enough to trigger that requirement.
“The Family Policy Council is not above the law,” said Besen. “The state of West Virginia has an obligation to immediately investigate and ensure they are following the rules.”
According to TWO, the hate group’s website was developed with the assistance of CampaignSecrets.org, a company that describes itself as “focused exclusively on electing Republicans to local office.”
Flight of Fancy
What happens when you launch a paper airplane from the 31st floor of a New York City office building? A very cool short video.
Flying from Sam Fuller on Vimeo.
Not Content to Deny Marriage to Gays, Group Wants to Legislate Divorce
The Palm Beach Post published an editorial today that takes a tough stance against the group that backed the scabrous Amendment 2 passed in the recent election that defined marriage as between a man and a woman, period. Now it appears that they want to pretty much outlaw divorce, ostensibly for the sake of Florida’s children.
Having helped to make sure that marriage in this state is off-limits to gays and lesbians, the Florida Family Policy Council wants to set marriage standards for everybody else in Florida. If the group has its way, some of those standards would be written into law.
In announcing the effort he calls “Strong Marriages Florida,” John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council, said that to lower the state’s divorce rate by 10 percent “we are launching an initiative to serve the children, families, communities of Florida.” To justify making your marriage his business, Mr. Stemberger says, “The breakdown of families in our state brings not only high social costs to children whose lives are often devastated, but there is an enormous economic cost to taxpayers and to businesses.”
Success in the campaign to ban gay marriage, which featured misinformation and religious intolerance, doesn’t qualify the Florida Family Policy Council to be the state’s marriage counselor.
Mr. Stemberger’s group and its allies promoted the gay marriage ban that voters put in Florida’s Constitution in November. Success in that campaign, which featured misinformation and religious intolerance, doesn’t qualify the Florida Family Policy Council to be the state’s marriage counselor.
This newspaper for years has noted the link between unprepared parents and troubled children. We have no quarrel with a church, religion or other private group that wants to set requirements for marriage or establish programs to strengthen marriage. The problem comes when that church, religion or group believes that its standards, beliefs or practices should be written into law.
“Strong Marriages Florida” has not proposed a legislative agenda. But its Web page approvingly cites laws in other states that impose waiting periods of up to two years before couples can be granted a divorce. Florida does not have any waiting period. A waiting period, the group says, “is to allow the couple more time to reflect and perhaps seek reconciliation.” The couple also would have “more time to consider and evaluate the impact that the divorce would have on any minor children in the family.”
We’d agree that couples shouldn’t rush into divorce any more than they should rush into marriage. But the government has no business telling adults who have decided on a divorce that they must wait two years to get it.
In Florida, either party to a marriage can sue for divorce. Mr. Stemberger’s group clearly wants that to change. An article on the Web site says that married couples with children should have to stay married unless both agree to the divorce or there has been a “major fault,” such as abuse, adultery or desertion. This requirement would be based on “the need of children to be raised by their own mother and father.”
Again, we agree that it’s best if two parents raise children. But requiring an unwilling partner to stay in a marriage wouldn’t help those children. And such a law would result in unfounded – but difficult to disprove – charges of abuse, which could devastate the accused partner as well as children of the marriage.
The state has to set some rules for marriage as well as for divorce. But in general, the state should not substitute its judgment for the judgment of the couple. And in no case should the state replace the couple’s decisions with those of the Florida Family Policy Council.
The Rewritin’ o’ Histry Continues
Like 75 percent of the twits who worked for him in the gubmint, George W. Bush is unemployed. However, the resourceful Texan has signed on with the Washington Speakers Bureau (slogan: “Inspiration from the World’s Greatest Minds”), making himself available on the Rotary Club circuit for fees that “vary based on event location.”
Here is W’s short bio that, if this were all that you knew about him, you’d be very likely to invite him to speak at your next Fourth of July picnic:
President during a momentous period in American history, George W. Bush offers his thoughts on eight years in the Oval Office, the challenges facing our nation in the 21st century, the power of freedom, the role of faith, and other pressing issues.
President George W. Bush served in the Oval Office for eight of the most consequential years in American history. Faced with challenges from a terrorist attack to a global financial crisis, he made difficult decisions that will shape the nation’s course and world affairs for decades to come. His leadership after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, was an inspiration to millions of Americans. His policies, while controversial at times, kept the country safe for more than seven years and liberated more than 50 million people from tyranny. Working with leaders in Congress and elsewhere, President Bush also raised standards and accountability in public education, added a prescription drug benefit to Medicare that helped more than 40 million beneficiaries, improved air quality and made America’s energy supply more secure, designated more ocean area habitats for environmental protection than any predecessor, launched historic efforts to fight HIV/AIDS and malaria in Africa, and strengthened America’s relationships with strategically important nations like India, China and Japan. He shares with audiences candid insights on his eight years in the White House, his experiences with other world leaders, the nature of public leadership and decision making, and a wide variety of domestic and international issues.
