"Somebody here is being small-minded and intolerant, and it sure isn’t the nuns, ministers, and laymen and women who ask only to live and practice their faith. Federal authorities are demanding obedience, in complete disregard of religious conscience – and in a free society, the answer is no."
Jeb Bush, accusing President Barack Obama of being religiously intolerant.
The irony of Bush's statement is rich. Bush made his comments at the commencement address at Liberty University.
Jerry Falwell, the founder of Liberty University, has a lengthy his of supporting segregation. Falwell was against the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education. Falwell's own words.
“If Chief Justice Warren and his associates had known God’s word and had desired to do the Lord’s will, I am quite confident that the 1954 decision would never have been made. The facilities should be separate. When God has drawn the line of distinction, we should not attempt to cross that line.”
Jeb Bush is not a dumb man. He is aware of Falwell's controversial history. Bush spoke at Liberty University to pander to the xenophobic base of the Republican Party.
Jerry Falwell liked to tell Americans there was a "Moral Majority" of people that hated feminists, gays and black people with the same passion as him. The controversy surrounding Rush Limbaugh's "slut" remark disproves Falwell's claim. The latest proof that Americans don't buy into social conservatism is the new Gallup poll
Mitt Romney now leads Rick Santoum by 16 percent. Republican voters didn't suddenly decide that Romney was the second coming of Ronald Reagan. GOP voters can't stand Santorum's self-ri'ghteousness. Alex Leary of The Tampa Bay interviewed Pennsylvania voters and found that Republicans felt Santorum spent too much time discussing social conservative issues.
"He's too preachy," said Marilyn Harrison, 80, who remembers Santorum knocking on her door in Mount Lebanon in his first Senate run in 1994 and being impressed with his vibrant attitude. In 2006, Harrison crossed party lines and voted for Democrat Bob Casey Jr., whose father had been immensely popular as governor and shared Santorum's pro-life views.
"Santorum is out of step with the day," Harrison said. "I'm not against family values, but I don't want him imposing his version on others."
The Iowa Supreme Court voided the state ban against gay marriage. Which means Iowa becomes the third state where gay marriage is legal.
The (Iowa) Supreme Court said same-sex marriages could begin in Iowa in as soon as 21 days, making Iowa only the third state in the nation, along with Massachusetts and Connecticut, to legalize gay marriage. While the same-sex marriage debate has played out on both coasts, the Midwest — where no states had permitted same-sex marriage — was seen as entirely different. In the past, at least six states in the Midwest were among those around the country that adopted amendments to their state constitutions banning same-sex marriage.
“We have a constitutional duty to ensure equal protection of the law,” the Iowa justices wrote in their opinion. “If gay and lesbian people must submit to different treatment without an exceedingly persuasive justification, they are deprived of the benefits of the principle of equal protection upon which the rule of law is founded.”
The conservative reaction was swift. "I believe every Iowan should have a voice on this matter and that is why the Iowa Legislature should immediately act to pass a Constitutional Amendment that protects traditional marriage," State Senator Paul McKinley (R). "...keeps it as a sacred bond only between one man and one woman and gives every Iowan a chance to have their say through a vote of the people."
"If you think you saw a fight in California to restore natural marriage with the successful passage of Proposition 8, then hold on to your hats. Something tells me the fine folks of Iowa don't cotton to seven black robed autocrats supplanting mid-western values with San Francisco vice."
Liberty University was founded by Jerry Falwell. Liberty University's academic research includes Young Earth creationist. They have done research into if dinosaurs were on Noah's Ark.
Barber was fired from Allstate Insurance for using resources and company time to write anti-gay articles. Because of the firing, Liberty University hired the non-practicing attorney Barber to be their Dean of Liberty University School of Law. Barber sound legal mind warns the Iowa Supreme Court ruling will lead men to marry plants.
"Although, not controlling here" continued Barber, "the U.S. Supreme Court long ago rejected the untenable notion that 'equal protection' requires two biologically incompatible persons to be permitted to 'marry.' Marriage, of course, by its very spiritual, historical and biological nature, requires binary compatibility. It is no more discriminatory to disallow two men from marrying each other, than it is to prohibit a man from marrying his house plant.
I would be so happy if Barber was the lawyer to argue, against the Iowa decision, to the U.S. Supreme Court. That wouldn't be any sillier than Barber being a Dean of law. The U.S. Supreme court isn't going to touch the Iowa ruling. That means gay marriage in Iowa is here to stay.
Which state has laws that clearly forbid gay adoption? If you guessed Florida then you get a cookie.
In 1977, former Miss America runner-up Anita Bryant was positive that gays and lesbians wanted to adopt children to foster a new generation of homosexuals. "Since homosexuals cannot reproduce," Bryant said, "they must recruit and freshen their ranks." Bryant spoke of the LGBT community, as if it was run like a division 1 college football team.
Bryant recruited her own blue chip Christian conservatives; including sexual puritan Jim Bakker to repeal an anti-gay and Tink Winky arch-enemy Jerry Falwell. Together they defeated an anti-gay Dade County anti-discrimination ordinance. Bryant went on to ban gays and lesbians in Florida from adopting. Now Florida has foster children performing below grad level and running away.
The Supreme Court had an opportunity to hear the case Angela Gilmore v. the Department of Children & Familes and Charlie Crist. The plaintiffs argued that the law violated their 14th amendment rights due process and equal protection. The plaintiff cited the Lawrence v. Texas decision, as protectinh their sexual privacy. The 11th Circuit Court ruled that the plaintiffs arguement was moot. "Adoption is not a right; it is a statutory privilege," the Court reasoned. The Supremes wouldn't bother hearing the case.
Presidential candidate John McCain publicly stated he is against gay adoption. The Straight Talker ducks the question about what to do about children stuck in the foster care system.
Q: President Bush believes that gay couples should not be permitted to adopt children. Do you agree with that?
Mr. McCain: I think that we’ve proven that both parents are important in the success of a family so, no I don’t believe in gay adoption.
Q: Even if the alternative is the kid staying in an orphanage, or not having parents.
Mr. McCain: I encourage adoption and I encourage the opportunities for people to adopt children I encourage the process being less complicated so they can adopt as quickly as possible. And Cindy and I are proud of being adoptive parents.
Q: But your concern would be that the couple should a traditional couple —
Mr. McCain: Yes.
Anita Bryant promoted Florida orange juice. From these clips you learn that cans grow on trees and Bryant enjoys singing in orange groves.
Jerry Falwell died today. There is no way to talk about the man without mentioning the horrible things he did to polarize the country. Falwell was a Christian conservative of double standards. He said Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky was far worse than the Mark Foley scandal.
Falwell: But this president -- it's like this Mark Foley thing -- that's not going to discourage any evangelicals I know from voting. We lived through Bill Clinton, and this situation with Foley is minuscule in comparison.
Falwell and Pat Robertson blamed 9-11 on the ACLU, homosexuals and the pro-choice movement. Falwell praised people who were advocating the lynching of the ACLU.
PAT ROBERTSON: Jerry, that's my feeling. I think we've just seen the antechamber to terror. We haven't even begun to see what they can do to the major population.
JERRY FALWELL: The ACLU's got to take a lot of blame for this.
PAT ROBERTSON: Well, yes.
JERRY FALWELL: And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen'.
PAT ROBERTSON: Well, I totally concur, and the problem is we have adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government. And so we're responsible as a free society for what the top people do. And, the top people, of course, is the court system.
JERRY FALWELL: Amen. Pat, did you notice yesterday? The ACLU, and all the Christ-haters, the People For the American Way, NOW, etc. were totally disregarded by the Democrats and the Republicans in both houses of Congress as they went out on the steps and called out on to God in prayer and sang 'God Bless America' and said 'let the ACLU be hanged'. In other words, when the nation is on its knees, the only normal and natural and spiritual thing to do is what we ought to be doing all the time- calling upon God.
The most damning example of Falwell's callousness at Ground Zero after the 9-11 attacks.
After those comments, Kuo asked whether Karl Rove still wanted to let Falwell attend the National Service.
Even while Ground Zero was still burning, politics still mattered.
Rove let Falwell attend, as long as he stayed off-camera. While others wept, Kuo says, Falwell laughed about something with another conservative leader. Spotting Barbara Bush, Falwell remarked on how "frumpy" she looked.
I hope God's passes kinder judgement than Falwell did to others.
Update: Josh Marshall catches MSNBC getting punked out by the running a bogus Falwell piece from the parody site Whitehouse.org.
Update: A gay man writes about growing up in Falwell's church.
Falwell: But this president -- it's like this Mark Foley thing -- that's not going to discourage any evangelicals I know from voting. We lived through Bill Clinton, and this situation with Foley is minuscule in comparison.
"Minuscule" is an interesting way for a Pro-Family and antigay religious leader to describe a grown man attempting to have sex with teen boys.
The bizarre logic (hey, that Iraq war was a good idea) of the New Republic continues. James Forsyth makes the argument that the Democrats shouldn't try to win the midterm elections. His reasoning is so Republicans can win the White House in 2008. You can't beat that tactically brilliant logic.
Yes, it would be strange for Democrats to root against their own party this fall; and there are plenty of reasons a Democratic victory this year could bolster the party heading into 2008. But in one crucial respect a Republican victory this November could dampen the odds that a Republican will succeed Bush in the White House. Consider that the GOP has three potential candidates for 2008--Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and Condoleezza Rice--with 50-percent-plus approval ratings from Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike. The Democrats have none. An opponent with these kinds of numbers would be more or less impossible to defeat. But if Republicans maintain their majorities, it becomes far more likely that Democrats will not have to face one of these candidates--or if they do, that the GOP candidate's moderate credentials, and hence his or her crossover appeal, will have been severely damaged before the general election.
Condoleezza Rice and Rudy Giuliani don't have a chance in hell of getting the Republican nomination. Conservatives aren't going to vote for a black or a New York City candidate who is pro-choice. Rice hasn't even showed signs that she is running. How Forsyth views Rice as a potential "electoral savior" for a party intolerant of civil rights is unexplained. The Christian Right has a deep distrust of McCain. They won't forgot his "don't pander to them" comments in 2000.
``Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left, or Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell on the right,'' McCain, who has appealed to independent and Democratic voters, said in speech to about 1,500 people at Cox High School.
McCain is doing a lot of pandering to Falwell now. It may be too little too late.
