MERE HEALING

Gay Rights Agenda Is Shutting Down Debate on Homosexuality, Says Author

From The Christian Post comes this no-brainer:

Both Brown and Mahoney believe their struggles are symptomatic of efforts by gay rights advocates and supporters to shut down the debate on homosexuality.

"It as if those who came out of the closet fighting for what they said was equality and tolerance want to put us in the closet who take respectful difference," Brown remarked.

Amazon.com: The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure

Curtis Silver throws down the gauntlet with Amazon.com:

The Kindle e-book titled The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure crosses the line of free speech, spits in our face and then crosses back over the line. Everything that is happening here, with the existence and sale of this book is protected by free speech - unless a crime has been committed by the author. That is yet to be proven.

Read the whole thing.

via www.amazon.com

Book Review: Hooked: New Science on How Casual Sex Is Affecting Our Children

From NARTH's soon-to-be-released Journal of Human Sexuality, Vol. II come this excellent book review of Hooked: New Science on How Casual Sex Is Affecting Our Children:

Physicians J. S. McIhaney and F. M. Bush have written this short but fact-filled book, aptly titled Hooked: New Science on How Casual Sex Is Affecting Our Children (Chicago, IL: Northfield Publishing, 2008), to make the general public aware of emerging scientific understanding of brain development as it pertains to adolescent sexuality. The authors give clear and easy-to-read insight into how nature has intended human beings to function optimally and why sexual behavior is reserved for marriage.

Funny... in a sad sort of way.

By Steve Kelley.

Used with permission.

Thanks, Steve!

Why Big Stupid Tommy is a cool blogger.

Kazart, I want to shoot from the hip like this guy, even though this is another reason I don't talk too much about my journalism degree. Image is everything.

I wish only to link to this story, because it has a phrasing that I enjoyed very much:

Hill grabbed a sword, which was used as a prop, and stabbed a co-worker in the back of the business, police said.

Man. Stabbed in the business. What a horrible way to die.

Yes, indeed. Read the whole thing.

What's wrong with this picture?

Wyoming County District Attorney George Skumanick Jr. has presented local teens with an ultimatum: enroll in an education course designed to spell out the dangers of sexting or accept felony charges of child pornography. The images in this particular case extend from nude and topless photos to one girl in an opaque training bra and another in a bikini.

The prosecutor’s actions are certainly contentious and some critics say he is over-reaching. And of course, the ACLU has filed its obligatory suit claiming the attorney has violated the privacy of some of the girls who have a First Amendment "right" to express freely themselves. I could be wrong about this, but I don’t remember anyone having a constitutional right to privacy, but I guess that’s a conversation for another day. But I digress.

Anyway, check it out.

Now they call it 'sexting' (no pun intended).

It was just a matter of time before this technological development lent itself to the soft white underbelly of the social scene. I guess we can consider that progress will always have its downside.

CHICAGO -- Though youth is fleeting, images sent on a cell phone or posted online may not be, especially if they're naughty.

Teenagers' habit of distributing nude self-portraits electronically -- often called "sexting" if it's done by cell phone -- has parents and school administrators worried. Some prosecutors have begun charging teens who send and receive such images with child pornography and other serious felonies. But is that the best way to handle it?

"Hopefully we'll get the message out to these kids," says Michael McAlexander, a prosecutor in Allen County, Ind., which includes Fort Wayne. A teenage boy there is facing felony obscenity charges for allegedly sending a photo of his private parts to several female classmates. Another boy was recently charged with child pornography in a similar case.

In some cases, the photos are sent to harass other teens or to get attention. Other times, they're viewed as a high-tech way to flirt. Either way, law enforcement officials want it to stop, even if it means threatening to add "sex offender" to a juvenile's confidential record.

"We don't want to throw these kids in jail," McAlexander says. "But we want them to think."

That would be nice. In a different sort of way.

Cartoon by Steve Kelley, New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Used with permission.

Thanks, Steve!

Sign of the times.

By Steve Kelley, New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Used with permission.

Thanks, Steve!

What if Ted had told the truth?

Using fallen angel Ted Haggard as his linchpin, Jeff Buchanan, Director of the Exodus Church Network, addresses how the church can better reach those who struggle with same-sex attractions and behavior:

What if he had been honest from the very beginning? I'm not talking about the beginning of the scandal, I mean from the very beginning of his ministry. What if he had disclosed his struggle with same-sex attractions to his church and to the National Association of Evangelicals at the very start? Would he still have become president of one of the world's largest evangelical organizations? Would he still have become one of America's most respected spiritual leaders? I would like to believe so. However, I am not naïve to the fact that there are, unfortunately, many other organizations that desire leaders who are "spiritual lions" but upon the admission of any significant weakness, they are sacrificed liked lambs. Was this what Ted was afraid of and if so, was it justified? Do we have a culture in the church today where vulnerability in leadership is considered a disqualifying weakness? If so, what are we going to do about it?

Good question, one that’s been asked for quite some time and for which the church at large has yet to find a suitable answer. I'm going to be in the Caribbean when Ted's HBO special (proof that money will, in fact, buy anything) airs on Jan.29th, so I'll get my two cents in now. I can't think of a story less worth telling to the general public. Just another reason television is not a part of my life.

Reality check.

TV writer, and journalist Charles Winecoff on The Awakening of a Dumb (Gay) American:

Bottom line: I have had to work very, very hard my whole life to accept myself as a gay man, and to be able to introduce myself freely as such and be proud of my relationship. No one did that for me. But a big plus was living in this crazy, over-the-top country that has changed so much just in my lifetime – and done such an incredible about-face after eight years of an unpopular President. What other country on earth is that flexible? What other country is that trusting?

Now, however, I often feel as if I’ve been shoved right back into the closet by the very people who go around espousing diversity and equal rights and compassion – fellow gay people and “sophisticated” urban friends who in fact can’t tolerate an idea that’s not out of the playbook. When a Muslim leader in Nigeria – or even scarier, in Canada – declares that gay people should be killed and their heads cut off, I’m sorry, but that offends me. And it also worries me because we have all seen these believers act on their hate.

Meanwhile, the affluent gay community in LA never makes a peep about hate speech if it comes from non-caucasians with funny Arabic names. The buff, mostly-white queers just continue doing what they do best: identify as victims and pretend it’s 1977 – protesting the harmless Mormon church, which never fights back, and boycotting campy Mexican restaurants to put other tax-paying minorities (including some gays) out of work. Meanwhile, a threat much bigger than Prop. 8 is growing fast.

My point is: I don’t think American gays fully comprehend that in many countries, such as Iran, gay people really don’t have any rights – not even to live. Just last September, a brave, 27-year-old student and gay rights activist, who helped organize safe houses for gay men in Baghdad and coordinated the Iraqi LGBT group, was gunned down at point blank range by Islamic militants – not by Christians or US soldiers. But by literal neo-Nazis.

Read the whole thing.

SF Department of Health: Gay HIV Remains Endemic

"When I see statistics still pointing toward an endemic, I am honestly relieved we are not in an epidemic anymore." – HIV Prevention Planning Council (HPPC) member Tom Kennedy

At last week’s monthly HPPC meeting, SF DPH officials presented estimated HIV stats and survey results related to serosorting practices – where men have sex only with men of the same status.

I’m tucked away in my small town in Indiana, so I’m unaware of the tone and timbre in which the following data was laid out by the DPH. Bay Area Reporter Matt Bajko was there, however, and has a pretty candid follow-up piece in today’s paper about the new info and the HPPC's reaction to the stats:

San Francisco health officials set for themselves a fairly high mark five years ago in their fight against HIV: reduce new infections among gay and bi men by 50 percent by 2008.

Based on the latest estimates for new HIV infection rates in San Francisco, the city failed to reach its goal. It did achieve a roughly 10 percent reduction in HIV rates and has downgraded classifying its HIV epidemic to now being endemic, meaning rates are remaining flat from year to year.

. . .

AIDS activist Michael Petrelis said the city would not achieve its 50 percent target until health officials directly address gay men and promote such safe sex strategies as serosorting – only having sex with a person of the same HIV status – and sero-adaptation, determining what sort of sexual behavior to engage in based on the HIV status of one's sexual partner.

"If they want that 50 percent reduction, they have to do more than hold weekday meetings downtown instead of the Castro," he said. "I would like the sexually active gay male community to receive positive (no pun intended) reinforcement for our smart, safe sex practices."

Here are three slides from the DPH’s presentation that I find to be the most significant:

The first shows that the number of new infections for all populations remain stable.

The second slide shows how many HIV-positive men have a sero-adaption strategy for not spreading HIV.

 

The final slide presents data on how many gays plan to use the strategy in their sex lives.

Extrapolate from this what you will and interpret them however you wish. I wish the numbers were better if the HPPC and DPH are thinking sero-adaptation will continue to lower the number of HIV cases in SF.

H/T: InstaPundit

So that's what they mean by "Stimulus Package"

Hustler Magazine publisher Larry Flynt (pictured above) and Joe Francis, the man who single-handedly (no, really) revived Cinéma vérité with his series of Girls Gone Wild documentaries, have written to congressmen Henry Waxman and - appropriately enough - Barney Frank (who oversees the House's Financial Services Committee) asking for a $5 billion bailout of the porn industry. Apparently, according to industry stats, XXX DVD sales are off by some 22%.

"The Trials of Ted Haggard"

Ted Haggard will have his own HBO special titled “The Trials of Ted Haggard” at the end of January. It’s produced by Alexandra Pelosi, and if that name sounds just a little familiar, she’s the daughter of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Oh, and Haggard is going on the necessary press junket to promote his documentary.

Although I simply cringed when I heard about this documentary and its promotion, I’m also aware that we need to uphold the biblical truth that God’s grace and forgiveness runs deep in all our lives, and is abundantly available and active for Ted and his family. Certainly we can all pray that God will restore and recreate Ted’s personal and family life. After all, God did not cast him out of His Kingdom for what he did - although, many Christians would have liked that, I'm sure - and he is still a wounded member of the Body of Christ. Certainly, the Scripture verse about being wise as serpents applies here, but God is faithful to redeem us, even when we mess up so spectacularly.

Heh. Newsweek strikes again.

Mollie Ziegler has leveled the playing field with Newsweek by taking alleged journalist Lisa Miller to the proverbial woodshed for a well-deserved come-uppance. But far be it from me to spoil things. First, read Miller’s breathtakingly witless trashing of the Church here. Then continue with what MZ has to say:

It is no exaggeration to say the piece was an embarrassment. My analysis of the belly flop is here. On a radio show yesterday, the host asked me whether the piece was more offensive to my sensibilities as a journalist or a Christian. I went with “journalist” since the piece wasn’t anywhere legitimate enough, theologically speaking, to be considered seriously. As a journalist, it violated almost every rule in the book. It failed to accurately represent the viewpoint being scrutinized. It was riddled with errors. It was driven by emotion. More than a few journalists — one at a competing weekly news magazine — wrote to me yesterday asking, “Where was her editor?"

Indeed. In fact, she saves her strongest criticism to answer that very question. It needs to be said here that Newsweek editor Jon Meacham is no slouch, having been widely published on religious matters, ranging from cover stories to American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation , a well-written historical portrait of religion and American politics. Indeed, MZ's post carries just a note of surprised disappointment that Meacham could forsake theological (not to say journalistic, as well) integrity for the sake of socio-political expediency:

A good editor helps shape the story, makes sure it’s well researched and reported, notices blatant mistakes or errors in logic or of bias. Well, I have bad news. Based on his editor’s note, Meacham completely failed Miller and her readers. His note introduces and praises the piece.

Here’s a sample:

No matter what one thinks about gay rights — for, against or somewhere in between — this conservative resort to biblical authority is the worst kind of fundamentalism. Given the history of the making of the Scriptures and the millennia of critical attention scholars and others have given to the stories and injunctions that come to us in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament, to argue that something is so because it is in the Bible is more than intellectually bankrupt—it is unserious, and unworthy of the great Judeo-Christian tradition.

Yes, that’s right. The editor of Newsweek thinks that argument from the Bible is “the worst kind of fundamentalism.” Can you believe that? Can that be serious? Proper exegesis is difficult and requires a great deal of understanding of languages, types of writing styles, history and tradition — but determining what the Bible teaches is very serious work. Lutherans such as myself believe that Scripture is the only divine source and the norm for our teachings. That may be shocking to a liberal Episcopalian but to call such exegesis intellectually bankrupt is ignorant. And Biblical exegesis sort of defines the “great Judeo-Christian tradition.” Perhaps Meacham’s focus on civil religion and American history has made him blind to this fact.

The lady is just getting warmed up. Do read the whole thing. And be sure to read the comments, as well.

Tertullian’s Advice to eHarmony?

By Tim Wilkins of Cross Ministry. (used with permission)

While eHarmony - the multimillion dollar matchmaking enterprise - tries to dodge criticism for vowing to launch a gay dating site in response to a lawsuit filed by a gay man, some national headlines are playing to eHarmony’s “ethical dilemma.”

How so?

eHarmony and its founder Neal Clark Warren have built their behemoth on Christian values – only matching men and women since 2000.  Their past honorable endeavors make their recent decision to capitulate puzzling – to say the least.

What is as puzzling are some of the headlines announcing eHarmony’s decision - as if eHarmony was caught between a rock and a hard place.  Some of those headlines read:

• Lawsuit Forces eHarmony To Match Homosexual Couples
• eHarmony Forced To Match Homosexual Couples
• Dating Firm Forced To Include Gays
• eHarmony Forced To Offer Same-Sex Dating

Now hold on there!  eHarmony was not forced to do any such thing.  To be clear, eHarmony was forced to respond to a lawsuit.  They were forced to give depositions, but eHarmony has not been forced to “match homosexual couples” nor “offer same-sex dating.”

eHarmony has chosen to launch their gay website by March 31, 2009.

eHarmony has argued “it was best to settle this case.”  eHarmony has stated that ongoing litigation was “unpredictable” and no doubt costly. (To its credit, eHarmony had fought the lawsuit for three years.)  eHarmony may declare their expertise of matching men and women is too vital to jeopardize.  And eHarmony may insist their employees have to earn a living.

But none of these “justifications” hold water - not even the last one.

Tertullian of Carthage, an early Christian theologian and moralist, was also the pastor of a church in North Africa about 200 years after Jesus Christ was born.  Many historians recount the story where some of Tertullian’s church members tried to justify their burning incense to pagan gods as they entered their workplace.  They told Tertullian “even though we are Christians, we won’t really honor pagan gods.”

Tertullian asked, “Why would you do that?”

The people said, “Because we have to work to buy food to eat!”

Tertullian then asked “Why do you have to eat?”

They replied with astonishment “Because we have to live.”

Tertullian, who had been converted to Christianity by witnessing the uncompromising courage of Christian martyrs, looked at them and said, “No! You don’t have to work, or eat and you don’t have to live. The only thing you have to do is be faithful.”

Some readers will find this concept irrational.  Is it?

Oswald Chambers wrote “God will tax the last grain of sand and the remotest star to bless us when we obey him.”  Had eHarmony not caved, we would have witnessed a blessing – the form of which only God knows, but God cannot bless disobedience.

It is an awful thing to fall out of harmony with the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us!

A trip down Memory Lane.

Heh heh. This looks like the best Christmas commercial so far this season.

Fortunately, it's not about the kids.

Courtesy of Kurt Luidhardt at Veritas Rex comes these great commercials opposing Proposition 8 in California revealing the looming cultural battles to be fought in public schools as gay marriage becomes law.

Pretty interesting and very well produced. Collect the whole set.

Non-negotiable. Period.

From Edward Cardinal Egan in the Archdiocese of New York:

The picture on this page is an untouched photograph of a being that has been within its mother for 20 weeks. Please do me the favor of looking at it carefully.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you any doubt that it is a human being?

 

If you do not have any such doubt, have you any doubt that it is an innocent human being?

 

Do me a favor. Look at the photograph again. Look and decide with honesty and decency what the Lord expects of you and me as the horror of “legalized” abortion continues to erode the honor of our nation. Look, and do not absolve yourself if you refuse to act.

"Opposition Research" targets LDS for harassment

The left is at it again. Not all that different from how the Kossacks zoomed in on Joe the Plumber, but with a more wide-sweeping, specific policy goal in mind: Crushing California’s Proposition 8 against gay marriage by targeting campaign contributors.

So what am I asking you to do?

Some distributed research.

There is a list of a bunch of Mormon donors to the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign (in case that one goes down, here's a mirror with slightly worse formatting.

Here's what I'm asking for:

This list contains information about those who are big donors to the Yes on 8 campaign--donors to the tune of at least $1,000 dollars. And, as you can see, there are a lot of them. It also indicates if they're Mormon or not.

If you're interested in defeating the religious right and preserving marriage equality, here's how you can help:

Find us some ammo.

Use any LEGAL tool at your disposal. Use OpenSecrets to see if these donors have contributed to...shall we say...less than honorable causes, or if any one of these big donors has done something otherwise egregious. If so, we have a legitimate case to make the Yes on 8 campaign return their contributions, or face a bunch of negative publicity.

There are a crapload of donors on this list--so please focus on the larger ones first. $5,000 or more is a good threshold to start with.

Feel free to use Lexis-Nexis searches as well for anything useful, especially given that these people are using "morality" as their primary motivation to support Prop 8...if you find anything that belies that in any way...well, you know what to do.

If you find anything good, please email it to:

equalityresearch at gmail dot com.

Here's the bottom line for me: If someone is willing to contribute thousands of dollars to a campaign to take away legal rights from some very dear friends of mine, they had damn well make sure their lives are beyond scrutiny--because I, for one, won't take it lying down.

Now... you do track on what this thug is saying, right? As an Obamatron, he's all for the freedoms guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, just not for those who believe differently than him and his ilk. He firmly believes his opinion is more valid than that of others, and he wants ammunition to blackmail those with dissenting opinions into silence.

Many of you know me and my history... my life story. For those of you who don't, you can read it here. I came out of the gay lifestyle in the 80s. My wife Joy and I are coming up on 21 years of marriage in November. I've been in ministry to the sexually broken for a long time now. I believe change is possible. I don't believe this is the way to minister effectively. I'm not in favor of gay marriage, but this is not the way to fight it.  

Where's my calculator?

Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-FL), responding to the question of how many affairs he's had:

"You're asking me over a lifetime? I'm just saying I've been unfaithful and I'm sorry for that."

Got that straight? The sports fan has apparently lost track of the number of women other than his wife with whom he's had sex.

Wow. Simply wow.