MERE HEALING

The Slippery Slope becomes the Gaping Abyss.

From Robert A.J. Gagnon: Coming soon to a locale near you, thanks to supporters of homosexual practice around the world: "Advocating for the right of consenting adults to share and enjoy love, sex, residence, and marriage without limits on the gender [= homosexual practice], number [= polygamy of all shapes, heterosexual and homosexual], or relation [= incest] of participants. Full marriage equality is a basic human right." Arguments by proponents of "gay marriage" are no different from those supporting adult-consensual polyamory or incest. Indeed, one has to leapfrog over polyamorous and incestuous unions between consenting adults to validate the even more extreme violation of sexual ethics known as "gay marriage" since the twoness of the sexual bond (no polygamy) and the necessity of embodied complementary otherness (no incest) is predicated ultimately on a male-female paradigm. As this site says on its headline moniker.

Homosexual Activist Admits True Purpose of Battle is to Destroy Marriage

From Illinois Family Institute:

Even knowing that there are radicals in all movements, doesn't  lessen the startling admission recently by lesbian journalist Masha Gessen.  On a radio show she actually admits that homosexual activists are lying about their radical political agenda.  She says that they don't want to access the institution of marriage; they want to radically redefine and eventually eliminate it.

Pretty telling is this quote from Gessen:

"It's a no-brainer that (homosexual activists) should have the right to marry, but I also think equally that it's a no-brainer that the institution of marriage should not exist. …(F)ighting for gay marriage generally involves lying about what we are going to do with marriage when we get there — because we lie that the institution of marriage is not going to change, and that is a lie."

Read the whole thing.

Love and the Inhumanity of Same-Sex Marriage

Money quote:

To vote for it, to legislate it, to rule in favor of it, to tell your friends at the office that you think it's just fine—all this is sin. To support it publicly or privately is to "give approval to those who practice" the very things that God promises to judge—exactly what we're told not to do in Romans 1:32.

Further, same-sex marriage embraces a definition of humanity that is less than human and a definition of love that is less than love. And it is not freedom from religion that the advocates of same-sex marriage want; they want to repress one religion in favor of another.

Christians must not go with the flow. They must instead love the advocates of same-sex marriage better than they love themselves precisely by refusing to endorse it.

Read the whole thing, of course.

Marco Rubio CPAC 2013

I have some concerns with Marco Rubio, but I think at heart he is a pro-US, pro-liberty conservative who has simply to be corrected on a number of premises he’s adopted along the way, after which his message will resonate more completely with constitutionalists who remain dubious. In the meanwhile, I like this.

 

Gays, Boy Scouts, and dogma

A brief, albeit provocative and wonderfully honest post from one of my all-time favorite bloggers on a subject that is getting painfully politicized.

We are raising a generation of deluded narcissists | Fox News

"We must beware of the toxic psychological impact of media and technology on children, adolescents and young adults, particularly as it regards turning them into faux celebrities—the equivalent of lead actors in their own fictionalized life stories."

Baltimore Ravens Linebacker Plans to Use Super Bowl to Promote Same-Sex Marriage | NewsBusters

Uh... okay, then.

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.

My Story.

I was born in 1950 with several medical problems including neurological complications and a cleft lip and palate, which required immediate treatment and isolation from my mother – literally from the moment of birth.  My sudden and violent separation from her resulted in two emotional (read: psychological) conditions universally recognized and validated by Christian and secular psychotherapeutic professions: separation anxiety and defensive detachment.

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%.