Faith group ready to fight same-sex marriage
By MATTHEW ARCO
Legislative Gazette Staff Writer
Mon, Mar 23, 2009
Halting the expansion of marriage for same-sex couples and supporting religious exemptions for abortions at certain medical facilities are among the top issues for more than 1,300 Evangelical and Pentecostal New Yorkers who came to Albany last Tuesday to lobby lawmakers.
The New Yorker’s Family Research Foundation Inc. in conjunction with New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms held their annual legislative day to raise awareness of the issues they oppose and “put out the fires,” said the Rev. Jason McGuire, legislative director of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms.
Allowing women of any age access to contraception and pulling state funding from hospitals that refuse to perform abortions on religious grounds are aspects of potential legislation the groups oppose, McGuire said. Although there are no current bills on the Senate or Assembly floor dealing with these issues so far this session, McGuire points out Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, D-St. Albans, has already pledged his support to advance Planned Parenthood’s priorities.
Any bill that would redefine the meaning of marriage is another fire McGuire said the groups are planning to fight.
They say marriage laws are not discriminatory — rather applicants for marriage must meet minimal requirements, such as finding an opposite-sex spouse — and argue religious freedom is at stake. The groups warned if New York passes new gay marriage or civil union laws, the definition of marriage would be destroyed and the meaning rendered useless.
Speakers included attorney David Gibbs, best known for his role in the controversial case of Terry Schiavo, and Lila Rose, a pro-life activist who at 15 years old started a campaign to investigate and expose illegal procedures in Planned Parenthoods around the country.
“It’s time for Christians to speak up,” Gibbs said to the crowd. “You have people [in America] doing what they think is best with no controlling moral authority.”
Gibbs spoke about the dangers of a nation knowing less and less about the word of God and told people to pray for their representatives in state government. He warned legislation meant to expand abortion rights and permit same-sex marriage would lead to a morally corrupted nation.
“Homosexuals are more protected under the law than Christians are,” he said before asking the question, “Where’s it all going?”
He urged the audience to speak to legislators about the importance of the word of God when they write legislation.
“Your being here is a statement that you understand the power of the Christian voice,” said Gibbs.
Rose, president of Live Action and a frequent guest on The O’Reilly Factor and Hannity’s America, talked about how at a young age she began dedicating her time to exposing what she described as racism and sexual abuse cover-ups by Planned Parenthood.
She showed the audience one of her group’s newest videos named The Mona Lisa Project, which is one of a series of hidden camera investigations documenting “Planned Parenthood’s willingness to repeatedly violate mandatory reporting laws for statutory rape that protects children,” according to the group’s Web site.
The video showed Rose, disguised as a 13-year-old who was impregnated by a man in his early 30s looking to get an abortion, told by a Planned Parenthood worker to lie about her age on paperwork so the young girl’s parents wouldn’t find out about her pregnancy.
Rose said according to state laws where the video was filmed, the Planned Parenthood worker was required to report the young girl’s pregnancy to authorities due to her young age, and the age of the man who supposedly impregnated her.
“I didn’t hear the age, I don’t want to know the age,” the undisclosed worker said in the video.
Additional legislation the groups oppose include a bill intended to fund comprehensive sexual education in public schools and a bill meant to prohibit harassment and bullying in public schools on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Radical Expansion of Abortion
This bill, known as the Reproductive. Health and Privacy Protection Act (RI-IAPP), was first introduced by former Governor Eliot Spitzer in 2008 and was carried in the State Senate by Senator Andrea Stewart- Cousins (D — Yonkers). The bill was deemed too radical for even the liberal Democratic leadership in the State Assembly and never found a sponsor in that house. Though the bill has not yet been introduced this session, it is on Family Planning Advocates legislative agenda. The new Senate Majority Leader, Senator Malcolm Smith (D — Queens) has pledged his support to advance Planned Parenthood’s priorities. The Reproductive Health Act (RHA), as it is currently being identified as, would be the greatest expansion of abortion rights since Rae v. Wade. The bill has many flaws, including violation of religious freedoms and removing what few restrictions exist on abortion, ultimately endangering women. RHA would:
• Establish a fundamental right to abortion.
• Allow even full-term abortions.
• Not require abortions be done in a hospital, even after viability.
• Not require a physician, prior to viability, only a healthcare practitioner.
• Remove five abortion crimes from the penal law.
• Remove unborn children from the definition of homicide.
• Permit females of any age access to any form of contraception, including the dangerous RU486. • Not provide a religious exemption for religious medical facilities or employees, thereby requiring that religious hospitals must perform abortions.
In summary, under this legislation, abortion would be decnminalized, less safe and more available. It undermines parental rights and authority. It prohibits a woman’s right to know and her informed consent.
• Establish a fundamental right to abortion.
• Allow even full-term abortions.
• Not require abortions be done in a hospital, even after viability.
• Not require a physician, prior to viability, only a healthcare practitioner.
• Remove five abortion crimes from the penal law.
• Remove unborn children from the definition of homicide.
• Permit females of any age access to any form of contraception, including the dangerous RU486. • Not provide a religious exemption for religious medical facilities or employees, thereby requiring that religious hospitals must perform abortions.
In summary, under this legislation, abortion would be decnminalized, less safe and more available. It undermines parental rights and authority. It prohibits a woman’s right to know and her informed consent.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Weatherman denounces Gore, global warming
Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow
A San Diego weather forecaster will be a featured speaker at the 2009 International Climate Change Conference in New York City.
John Coleman is the weather forecaster for KUSI in San Diego, California. His career spans more than 50 years and includes markets such as Chicago. He was also the first ever forecaster for Good Morning America. Additionally, Coleman founded The Weather Channel, although he is no longer associated with the cable station. Now the meteorologist will be a keynote speaker at the upcoming International Climate Change Conference, with his subject being "Dead wrong about global warming: How Al Gore got that way." "Al Gore took two [college] classes in which he learned a little bit of science," Coleman notes. "One of them was from a professor named Roger Revelle." While working at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Revelle branded carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas and theorized that it could lead to some warming of the atmosphere. "Interestingly enough, shortly after he taught Gore -- and Gore wrote...in his book [about] how this man was his mentor and his inspiration and so on -- Revelle changed his mind. Revelle totally changed his mind by 1990," Coleman reveals. "[He] passed away unfortunately in 1991, or he might be sitting here beside me today." Coleman will be presenting his speech at the climate conference on Tuesday, March 10. The event, hosted by the Heartland Institute, will feature other prominent manmade climate change skeptics both national and international.
A San Diego weather forecaster will be a featured speaker at the 2009 International Climate Change Conference in New York City.
John Coleman is the weather forecaster for KUSI in San Diego, California. His career spans more than 50 years and includes markets such as Chicago. He was also the first ever forecaster for Good Morning America. Additionally, Coleman founded The Weather Channel, although he is no longer associated with the cable station. Now the meteorologist will be a keynote speaker at the upcoming International Climate Change Conference, with his subject being "Dead wrong about global warming: How Al Gore got that way." "Al Gore took two [college] classes in which he learned a little bit of science," Coleman notes. "One of them was from a professor named Roger Revelle." While working at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Revelle branded carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas and theorized that it could lead to some warming of the atmosphere. "Interestingly enough, shortly after he taught Gore -- and Gore wrote...in his book [about] how this man was his mentor and his inspiration and so on -- Revelle changed his mind. Revelle totally changed his mind by 1990," Coleman reveals. "[He] passed away unfortunately in 1991, or he might be sitting here beside me today." Coleman will be presenting his speech at the climate conference on Tuesday, March 10. The event, hosted by the Heartland Institute, will feature other prominent manmade climate change skeptics both national and international.
Omnibus bill - kids lose, liberals win
Pete Chagnon and Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow
Disadvantaged children in the District of Columbia will be losing an educational lifeline if a new spending bill is passed on Capitol Hill. At the same time, abortionists and homosexual activists stand to gain from the Omnibus bill.
Dan Lips, a senior policy analyst with The Heritage Foundation, warns that the new Omnibus bill -- passed by the House on Wednesday essentially along party lines -- will terminate the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program. Currently the program is serving 1,700 children with scholarships up to $7,500. "This program is simply changing their lives," states Lips. "It's giving these children who are among the poorest in the community in Washington, DC, an opportunity to attend a private school of their parent's choice." The benefits have been noticeable, says Lips. "[T]he evaluations that have been done of this program have shown that parents are more satisfied with their child's new school's safety and learning environment than they otherwise were when the child was in public school," he shares. "This is a program that is making a terrific difference in these children's lives."
Democrats inserted a measure in the bill to end the program officially. But Lips says the program should be expanded, not ended. "One of the things that shouldn't be forgotten is that since 2004 we've seen that applicants outnumber the available scholarships by a 6-to-1 margin," the policy analyst explains. "That means for every child who's received a scholarship, six more kids have applied. We need to be expanding this program, not ending it." Lips notes that Barack Obama was the recipient of such a scholarship when he was a child in Hawaii, and thinks the president should be supportive of such a program. According to The Heritage Foundation, more than 20,000 children -- roughly one-fourth of the District's public school students -- attend public charter schools in DC. In the 2007-2008 school year, more than 1,900 children attended private schools using tuition scholarships through the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program. (Read Heritage report: 'Study Supports Expansion')
An open letter has been written to President Obama by some of the children who have benefited from the voucher program. The children urge Obama to support the program and not end it. A video has been released on YouTube that features the children reading the letter.
'Slush fund' for pet projects
Joining the ranks of groups opposed to the Omnibus spending bill is the Washington, DC-based group Concerned Women for America. The pro-life/pro-family organization notes that the bill includes a $7-million raise for Planned Parenthood, the non-profit, federally-funded abortion organization that makes a sizeable annual profit. In addition, says CWFA president Wendy Wright, it pumps $50 million into the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), an agency she says is "intimately involved in the forced abortion, forced sterilization program in China."
The United Nations agency will receive the money regardless if it engages in coercive abortion activities. The pro-life activist cites several other objections to the legislation.
"This Omnibus bill would eliminate funding for school-choice programs that have helped to rescue children from dangerous and failing inner-city schools," says Wright. "[In addition] it has language that will reintroduce the Fairness Doctrine, and it has funding for controversial 'school bullying' programs which in the past have promoted homosexual programs to children."
The CWFA president criticizes the mind-set she sees in the current Congress. "Congressmen treat our income like their personal slush funds to spend on their pet projects and friends," she states in a press release. "Abortionists, liberals seeking to censor others, and homosexual activists will profit handsomely from this bill."
In short, says Wright, the Omnibus bill is loaded with spending for "liberals bent on destroying American values."
Disadvantaged children in the District of Columbia will be losing an educational lifeline if a new spending bill is passed on Capitol Hill. At the same time, abortionists and homosexual activists stand to gain from the Omnibus bill.
Dan Lips, a senior policy analyst with The Heritage Foundation, warns that the new Omnibus bill -- passed by the House on Wednesday essentially along party lines -- will terminate the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program. Currently the program is serving 1,700 children with scholarships up to $7,500. "This program is simply changing their lives," states Lips. "It's giving these children who are among the poorest in the community in Washington, DC, an opportunity to attend a private school of their parent's choice." The benefits have been noticeable, says Lips. "[T]he evaluations that have been done of this program have shown that parents are more satisfied with their child's new school's safety and learning environment than they otherwise were when the child was in public school," he shares. "This is a program that is making a terrific difference in these children's lives."
Democrats inserted a measure in the bill to end the program officially. But Lips says the program should be expanded, not ended. "One of the things that shouldn't be forgotten is that since 2004 we've seen that applicants outnumber the available scholarships by a 6-to-1 margin," the policy analyst explains. "That means for every child who's received a scholarship, six more kids have applied. We need to be expanding this program, not ending it." Lips notes that Barack Obama was the recipient of such a scholarship when he was a child in Hawaii, and thinks the president should be supportive of such a program. According to The Heritage Foundation, more than 20,000 children -- roughly one-fourth of the District's public school students -- attend public charter schools in DC. In the 2007-2008 school year, more than 1,900 children attended private schools using tuition scholarships through the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program. (Read Heritage report: 'Study Supports Expansion')
An open letter has been written to President Obama by some of the children who have benefited from the voucher program. The children urge Obama to support the program and not end it. A video has been released on YouTube that features the children reading the letter.
'Slush fund' for pet projects
Joining the ranks of groups opposed to the Omnibus spending bill is the Washington, DC-based group Concerned Women for America. The pro-life/pro-family organization notes that the bill includes a $7-million raise for Planned Parenthood, the non-profit, federally-funded abortion organization that makes a sizeable annual profit. In addition, says CWFA president Wendy Wright, it pumps $50 million into the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), an agency she says is "intimately involved in the forced abortion, forced sterilization program in China."
The United Nations agency will receive the money regardless if it engages in coercive abortion activities. The pro-life activist cites several other objections to the legislation.
"This Omnibus bill would eliminate funding for school-choice programs that have helped to rescue children from dangerous and failing inner-city schools," says Wright. "[In addition] it has language that will reintroduce the Fairness Doctrine, and it has funding for controversial 'school bullying' programs which in the past have promoted homosexual programs to children."
The CWFA president criticizes the mind-set she sees in the current Congress. "Congressmen treat our income like their personal slush funds to spend on their pet projects and friends," she states in a press release. "Abortionists, liberals seeking to censor others, and homosexual activists will profit handsomely from this bill."
In short, says Wright, the Omnibus bill is loaded with spending for "liberals bent on destroying American values."
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
U.N. says no to Brazilian homosexual group; U.S. says yes
Jim Brown
A conservative activist who monitors the United Nations warns that the U.S. State Department is attempting to enable homosexual activists who are "flooding" the international body.
The U.N.'s Economic and Social Council voted 8-6 last week to deny official non-governmental (NGO) status to Brazil's Association of Gays, Lesbians and Transgenders. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council (FRC) says the Brazilian group supports sex with children and notes the U.S. was one of the six member nations that voted to approve the pedophiles.
Perkins says the State Department's vote in favor of the Brazilian homosexuals is not surprising, given that the same White House has nominated "liberal extremist" David Ogden to the second-highest post in the Justice Department. Ogden's nomination has been opposed by conservative groups like FRC because of his past representation of hard-core porn distributors. Austin Ruse, president of Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, says homosexual activists are consistently pressing the U.N. to accept their agenda. "This instance is new, but this kind of story has been going on for years," he contends. "The gay groups, including those who overtly support pedophilia, have been flooding the U.N. with applications for official accreditation." Ruse says the State Department's support for the Brazilian homosexual group is reflective of a policy begun under former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "There was a very well-organized group of homosexuals within the State Department who directly petitioned Condoleezza Rice, and the Bush administration toward the end of his second term began voting for these groups," he points out. "And this policy is carried over to the Obama administration." The effort by homosexual groups to obtain NGO status, according to Ruse, is part of a broader strategy by homosexual activists to "suborn the United Nations and its treaty monitoring system to their will."
A conservative activist who monitors the United Nations warns that the U.S. State Department is attempting to enable homosexual activists who are "flooding" the international body.
The U.N.'s Economic and Social Council voted 8-6 last week to deny official non-governmental (NGO) status to Brazil's Association of Gays, Lesbians and Transgenders. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council (FRC) says the Brazilian group supports sex with children and notes the U.S. was one of the six member nations that voted to approve the pedophiles.
Perkins says the State Department's vote in favor of the Brazilian homosexuals is not surprising, given that the same White House has nominated "liberal extremist" David Ogden to the second-highest post in the Justice Department. Ogden's nomination has been opposed by conservative groups like FRC because of his past representation of hard-core porn distributors. Austin Ruse, president of Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, says homosexual activists are consistently pressing the U.N. to accept their agenda. "This instance is new, but this kind of story has been going on for years," he contends. "The gay groups, including those who overtly support pedophilia, have been flooding the U.N. with applications for official accreditation." Ruse says the State Department's support for the Brazilian homosexual group is reflective of a policy begun under former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "There was a very well-organized group of homosexuals within the State Department who directly petitioned Condoleezza Rice, and the Bush administration toward the end of his second term began voting for these groups," he points out. "And this policy is carried over to the Obama administration." The effort by homosexual groups to obtain NGO status, according to Ruse, is part of a broader strategy by homosexual activists to "suborn the United Nations and its treaty monitoring system to their will."
Dems thank teachers unions with 'stimulus' money
The managing editor of Budget & Tax News says no money for education should have been included in the recently signed economic "stimulus" bill.
In a recent press conference, Education Secretary Arne Duncan warned that if the economic stimulus bill did not pass, up to 600,000 education workers could lose their jobs as states face enormous budget shortfalls. But Steve Stanek of The Heartland Institute argues that the bill should not have included the allotted $87 billion for education. Stanek argues that the stimulus basically amounts to a payoff for teachers and teachers unions who supported Obama. "The teachers unions are extremely powerful at the local and state levels -- and certainly at the federal level," Stanek acknowledges. "You can look at the money that [the Democratic Party] receives from the teachers unions and it's enormous! And they are not fans of meaningful reform in education." According to an Associated Press report, $39 billion is going towards K-12 and higher education, $8 billion is to be used in upgrading existing schools, $4 billion will be used for Head Start and Early Head Start programs, and $25 billion will be used to bolster No Child Left Behind. Stanek has little positive to say about George W. Bush's signature education program. "I did not like No Child Left Behind. I think it's a huge intrusion of the federal government into what ought to be local and state issues," he shares. "It's a way for the federal government to simply grab more power, and I think another $25 billion is just $25 billion more power the federal government is going to have over public school education." Stanek contends that lawmakers in Washington, DC, used the economic downturn as an excuse to throw more money at education. He notes that in the last decade the U.S. has only seen a nine-percent increase in student enrollment, but a 22-percent increase in the number of teachers and administrators in K-12 education.
In a recent press conference, Education Secretary Arne Duncan warned that if the economic stimulus bill did not pass, up to 600,000 education workers could lose their jobs as states face enormous budget shortfalls. But Steve Stanek of The Heartland Institute argues that the bill should not have included the allotted $87 billion for education. Stanek argues that the stimulus basically amounts to a payoff for teachers and teachers unions who supported Obama. "The teachers unions are extremely powerful at the local and state levels -- and certainly at the federal level," Stanek acknowledges. "You can look at the money that [the Democratic Party] receives from the teachers unions and it's enormous! And they are not fans of meaningful reform in education." According to an Associated Press report, $39 billion is going towards K-12 and higher education, $8 billion is to be used in upgrading existing schools, $4 billion will be used for Head Start and Early Head Start programs, and $25 billion will be used to bolster No Child Left Behind. Stanek has little positive to say about George W. Bush's signature education program. "I did not like No Child Left Behind. I think it's a huge intrusion of the federal government into what ought to be local and state issues," he shares. "It's a way for the federal government to simply grab more power, and I think another $25 billion is just $25 billion more power the federal government is going to have over public school education." Stanek contends that lawmakers in Washington, DC, used the economic downturn as an excuse to throw more money at education. He notes that in the last decade the U.S. has only seen a nine-percent increase in student enrollment, but a 22-percent increase in the number of teachers and administrators in K-12 education.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Traditional marriage not a priority in Wyoming
Wyoming lawmakers have voted down a constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriage.
WyWatch Family Institute launched a major campaign for passage, but the vote was 35 in favor to 25 against. Becky Vandeberghe heads the organization. "The constitutional amendment is dead for the year," she explains. "We cannot bring it back any longer for this year, and we would have to try again next year. It would be more difficult because it's a budget year and you need a two-thirds [vote] to even introduce a bill like this." Vandeberghe was asked if the institute will halt its campaign. "Absolutely not. We will continue to fight to protect marriage in Wyoming. We will try to bring something up next session," she notes. "Even if it's only a state statute, we'll continue to keep working with Alliance Defense Fund and Focus on the Family and start looking at our options." One goal is to find candidates to oppose members who voted against the measure, which 78 percent of Wyoming voters support.
WyWatch Family Institute launched a major campaign for passage, but the vote was 35 in favor to 25 against. Becky Vandeberghe heads the organization. "The constitutional amendment is dead for the year," she explains. "We cannot bring it back any longer for this year, and we would have to try again next year. It would be more difficult because it's a budget year and you need a two-thirds [vote] to even introduce a bill like this." Vandeberghe was asked if the institute will halt its campaign. "Absolutely not. We will continue to fight to protect marriage in Wyoming. We will try to bring something up next session," she notes. "Even if it's only a state statute, we'll continue to keep working with Alliance Defense Fund and Focus on the Family and start looking at our options." One goal is to find candidates to oppose members who voted against the measure, which 78 percent of Wyoming voters support.
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