The conservative advocacy group Family Foundation wants to see a drop in the state’s divorce rate. The group that lead the push to ban same-sex marriage in Virginia has formed a commission that will recommend public policies that could preserve traditional marriages.
. . .
The panel will not try to curb all divorce, [Victoria Cobb, the foundation’s executive director] said. “There’s no question that some people are going to get divorced, no matter what,” she said. “But the law can provide speed bumps.”
In 2004 there were 3.7 divorces per 1,000 people nationally and 7.8 marriages per 1,000, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. That year in Virginia, there were 3.9 divorces per 1,000 people and 8.3 marriages per 1,000. “Everyone agrees there is a problem, and no one is attempting to solve it,” said Cobb, who was frustrated by the legislature’s failure this year to pass any of a half-dozen bills on marriage and divorce, including one promoted by her group.
. . .
Cobb said she agreed with one point made by [opponents of the state’s constitutional same-sex marriage ban]: “Considering the high rate of divorce, heterosexuals haven’t done a very good job with marriage.” …
Not that it’s going to do a lot of good, for anyone. But if these gay-bashers actually succeed in getting any “speed bumps” to divorce in place, it will be enjoyable to sit back and watch Virginia’s straight population go ballistic for a change. Let ‘em see how it feels.
Buju Banton is the latest top Jamaican reggae superstar to renounce homophobia and condemn violence against lesbians and gay men.
His notorious 1990s hit tune Boom Bye Bye, which he has, up to now, continued to perform at concerts, encourages listeners to shoot gay men in the head, pour acid on their bodies and burn them alive.
Now Banton has changed his tune; joining three other world famous reggae legends to sign the Reggae Compassionate Act (RCA) statement…
. . .
The agreement follows the three-year-long Stop Murder Music campaign, which resulted in the cancellation of hundreds of the singers’ concerts and sponsorship deals, causing them income losses estimated in excess of five million US dollars (£2.5 million).
“The Reggae Compassionate Act is a big breakthrough,” said Peter Tatchell, of the British gay human rights group OutRage!. Mr Tatchell is coordinator of the worldwide Stop Murder Music campaign. He helped negotiate the deal with the four singers. …
. . .
“This deal is already having a huge, positive impact in Jamaica and the Caribbean. The media coverage has generated public awareness and debate; breaking down ignorance and undermining homophobia. Having these major reggae stars renounce homophobia is influencing their fans and the wider public to rethink bigoted attitudes. The beneficial effect on young straight reggae fans is immense,” he said.
This is probably the first time we’ve ever thought Peter Tatchell, of all people, was being too optimistic.
It would be nice to believe that these reggae artists (especially Banton, one of the most talented reggae artists since Peter Tosh) have seen the light, but you know it’s really only about money.
Tammy Faye Messner, the former televangelist and Christian singer who battled inoperable cancer, died Friday morning, according to CNN’s Larry King on Saturday night. He said the family had asked him to make the delayed announcement.
She was 65. “She died peacefully,” King said on CNN.
Messner was a guest on “Larry King Live” on Thursday. She said she couldn’t swallow food, and weighed only 65 pounds.
When asked if she was scared, she replied, “A little bit,” adding that she worried about her family.
. . .
Tammy Faye told King she kept her Christian faith, instructing her doctors not to tell her how much time they believed she had left. “I don’t have any date written on me anywhere that says I’m going to die at any time, and so I just give it to the Lord,” she said.
Asked if she had a message for her fans, she replied: “I’d like to say that I genuinely love you, and I genuinely care, and I genuinely want to see you in heaven some day. I want you to find peace. I want you to find joy.”
This would be just another Republican - Baptist - minister - and - a - prostitute story, were it not for the apparent fact that the Republican - Baptist - minister in question got caught because he was such a shameless cheapskate.
KANNAPOLIS, N.C. — Former state legislator Coy C. Privette, a Cabarrus County commissioner and retired Baptist minister, was charged Thursday with aiding and abetting prostitution, authorities said.
Privette, 74, was charged with six counts of misdemeanor aiding and abetting prostitution by renting a hotel room and paying for sexual acts, according to State Bureau of Investigation Agent Kevin Canty. Tiffany Denise Summers, 32, of Salisbury, was charged with six counts of misdemeanor prostitution, Canty said.
Privette was arrested at his Kannapolis home at about 7:40 a.m. Thursday by agents with the State Bureau of Investigation, said Department of Justice spokeswoman Noelle Talley.
. . .
Police said officers were investigating a forged check case, which led them to the prostitution charges. Privette on two occasions allegedly paid the prostitute with checks then reported those checks as stolen, officials said.
Talk about getting stiffed!
But here’s the real kicker: “Privette also serves as the president of the Christian Action League of North Carolina…” — an “affiliate” of what we consider the nastiest organization set up for the sole purpose of harassing homos: the American Family Association.
What will they find? His brain? His TANG discharge papers? His original Connecticut driver’s license and arrest report? A gram of coke? Rove’s hand and the string KKKarl uses to work his mouth…?
President Bush will undergo a routine colonoscopy Saturday and temporarily hand presidential powers over to Vice President Dick Cheney, the White House said.
Press secretary Tony Snow told reporters Friday that Bush will have the procedure done at his Camp David, Md., mountaintop retreat.
He last underwent colorectal cancer surveillance on June 29, 2002.
“As reported at the time and in subsequent physical exams, absent any symptoms, the president’s doctor recommended repeat surveillance in approximately five years,” Snow said. “The president has had no symptoms.”
Wal-Mart to test Bible action figures in 425 U.S. stores
BENTONVILLE, Arkansas - Wal-Mart said Tuesday it will test sales in some stores of biblical action figures whose makers say they are aimed at Christian parents who prefer their children play with Samson, David or Noah rather than with a comic book character or Bratz doll.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spokeswoman Melissa O’Brien said the toys made by One2believe, a Valencia, California, company, will be offered in 425 of Wal-Mart’s 3,376 discount stores and Supercenters in the United States.
One2believe Chief Executive David Socha said his products were part of a “battle for the toy box” with dolls and figures that he said carry negative messages.
“If you’re very religious, it’s a battle for your children’s minds and what they’re playing with and pretending. There are remakes out there of Satan and evil things,” Socha said.
. . .
The toys, based on biblical stories, include a 3-inch (7.5-centimeter) figure of Daniel in the lion’s den, a 12-inch (30-centimeter) talking Jesus doll and 13-inch (33-centimeter) Samson action figure. …
As… uh, amusing as these “Bible action figures” are, we were hoping they’d beat — for pure creepiness — the world-famous Jesus Sports Figures over at CatholicShopper.com. But they don’t; nothing gives us the willies like the psycho-eyed Jesus Sports Figures… except for those scary “modesty wear” sites, whose offerings make Laura Ingalls’ wardrobe look like hand-me-downs from a two-dollar hooker (and where, no doubt, the Duggar family must shop).
(Go ahead and click the CatholicShopper.com link — you know you want to!)
The effort is no doubt futile, but we’re warmed by the writer’s epiphany, and admire his honesty and courage to come out as a former gay-hater:
Dear Dr. Nsaba Buturo, Minister of Ethics and Integrity,
I understand where you are coming from in making homosexuals appear to be dangerous deviants that should be relegated to the dustbin of society.
In fact, your utterances about gays remind me of someone I once knew - me. You see, when I arrived in Canada in 1981 as a refugee, I came face to face with an alien culture that turned my life upside down.
At Queen’s University in Kingston, about two and half hour drive from Toronto, I became aware of an organisation called the Queen’s Homophile Association (QHA). When I asked fellow students what the organisation was about, I was told that it supported homosexuals, bisexual and transidentified individuals to live openly and positively with their sexual orientation.
I did not know what all those terms meant. Imagine my horrors when it was explained to me that members of QHA were young men and women who were attracted to their own gender rather than the opposite sex. I was thoroughly confused, disgusted, and very scared.
Nothing in my upbringing in Pamin-Yai village, west of Gulu town had prepared me for what I saw as an abomination to society. I was afraid that, alone in this twisted new world, I might become a victim of these strange people who could hurt, worse, make me a member of their group.
. . .
… Interestingly, I cannot recall any headline about homosexual violence against heterosexuals. …
