Biffster’s World

Apparently, some judges don’t take that whole separation of church and state to seriously: “A Wiccan activist and his ex-wife are challenging a court’s order that they must protect their 9-year-old son from what it calls their ‘non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals.’

“The Indiana Civil Liberties Union has appealed the stipulation written into the couple’s divorce order, saying it is unconstitutionally vague because it does not define mainstream religion.”

This is abhorrent! Who said that a judge gets to decide whether or not a certain religion is appropriate for a child? Isn’t that a parent’s obligation? And how dare a judge presume to discredit a religion becuase they consider it non-mainstream!

“Barry Lynn, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said judges cannot substitute their religious judgment for that of parents in regard to the upbringing of children.

“‘This is an absurd result, because in the eyes of the law being a pagan should be no different from being a Presbyterian,’ he said.”

Apparently, Hillary Clinton isn’t sure what an Iraq exist strategy should be: “Hillary reacted like a vampire being shown a cross or an ABC executive seeing the ratings for their Trump TV movie? then offered up the following head scratcher:

You know, I am not one who feels comfortable setting exit strategies. We don’t know what we’re exiting from. We don’t know what the situation is moving toward?. How do we know where we’re headed, when we don’t know where we are?”

This does clear one thing up for me, though: No Hillary in 2008! Please, dear god, Democrats, please don’t nominate her!

Okay, so I’m out for a couple of days and a couple of major news stories break. Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop drinking!

Anyway, as everyone knows by now, the Senate reached a compromise to avoid the nuclear option. The AP’s short version of the deal: “Under the agreement, Democrats would pledge not to filibuster any of Bush’s future appeals court or Supreme Court nominees except in ‘extraordinary circumstances.’ For their part, Republicans agreed not to support an attempt to strip Democrats of their right to block votes.”

Add it all up, and what does it lead to? One big, stinkin’ pile of dung for the Democrats. What, exactly, did the Dems get out of this? The three most controversial judges will be confirmed. The Dems can only filibuster in ‘extraordinary circumstances,’ and there is no guarantee that the nuclear option won’t be re-introduced if the Dems do decide to stage a filibuster. After all, who gets to decide what qualifies as an ‘extraordinary circumstance?’ Don’t buy the Republican’s grumbling about this: this was all a win for the Repubs.

I understand why this was done: the Dems weren’t sure that they had enough votes to withstand a vote on the nuclear option. But if there were ever a time to take a risk, this was it! As it stands, all this did was delayed a vote. And if the Dems didn’t have the votes now, they won’t have them in a couple of months, either. Why not make the stand right here? If you get the votes, then you don’t have to worry about the nuclear option again. If you don’t get the votes, then there’s an excellent chance that the nuclear option could be used to guarantee Democratic gains in the ‘06 elections.

Instead, we get nothing. Theoretically, we still have the ability to filibuster. But watch how quickly that ability is taken away the first time that the Dems try to use it. Bill Frist basically said as much. He is chomping at the bit to break this compromise and re-introduce the nuclear option.

This was a bad call. Bad, bad, bad.

Well, okay, so the actual quote is: “‘We oppose condom ads because they promote promiscuity.’” But it isn’t that far of a stretch to assume that the AFA opposes condoms in general. After all, this is the group that furiously fights sexual education in schools and is dead-set against public funds being given to AIDS prevention programs if those programs distribute or endorse condoms.

Contrast this against Planned Parenthood and other family planning groups, who “argue such ads could help reduce teen pregnancies and check the spread of sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS.

“Michael McGee, vice president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America said : ‘the more we can normalize conversations about healthy sexuality and safer sex, the better off we are as a society.’”

The AFA and other conservative organizations continue to wallow in denial when it comes to sexuality. While their small membership might view sex as an evil that must be repressed and used only for procreation, the rest of us know that sex is normal, natural and healthy. And people are going to continue to have sex. We can either admit this and educate people on how to have sex safely, or we can continue to deal with an epidemic of unwanted pregnancy and sexually-transmitted diseases.

This story is so bizarre, it’s almost incredible. On a recent episode of “Real Time With Bill Maher,” Bill Maher told the following joke: “‘More people joined the Michael Jackson fan club,’ Maher said. ‘We’ve done picked all the low-lying Lynndie England fruit, and now we need warm bodies.’” Which is kinda funny, and solidly based on facts.

However,
Republican Congressman Spencer Bachus doesn’t find it funny. Instead, he has said that the remarks border on treason! “‘I think it borders on treason,’ Bachus said. ‘In treason, one definition is to undermine the effort or national security of our country.’”

I don’t know if the brutal cold of Alaska just rips senses of humor out of people or what, but c’mon. Treason? It was a joke! Grow a sense of humor, or at least a sense of perspective, Congressman Bachus!

Taken by itself, this is laughable. But add this to the Newsweek attacks that the White House levelled last week, and you have a very disturbing trend: the Republicans are apparently going on the offensive against any part of the media that dares suggest that things aren’t good. Where’s it going to end?

Well, James Dobson once had the Republican party under his control. But we are starting to see the relationship deteriorate. Dobson cannot handle anyone daring to defy his will. Case in point: Dobson’s attack on Trent Lott, and Lott’s response: “‘James Dobson: Who does he think he is, questioning my conservative credentials? [...] Some of his language and conduct is quite un-Christian, and I don’t appreciate it,’ the senator said.”

Fortunately, between Lott siding with the compromise which avoided the filibuster, John Bolton’s confirmation hearings being delayed until at least June, and the House passing the embryonic stem cell bill, there’s a lot going on to keep Dobson furious. Eventually, he’s gonna self-destruct and lose the last bits of control that he has. Either that, or he’s going to take the Republican party down the tubes. That’s a win-win scenario in my book!

I remember an episode of “The Simpsons” where the family was watching Fox News. On the crawl at the bottom of the screen were a number of false Fox News headlines, such as “Do Democrats Cause Cancer? Find Out at foxnews.com…” and “JFK Posthumously joins Republican Party…” But as wild as those gags are, a caption that Fox News recently ran is even worse! See the image below:

Fair and balanced?

(Image via MediaMatters.org)

Longtime readers here will know that I tend to write a lot about the Catholic church. This is due to the fact that I promised my wife Erin that I would try to actively support her raising Colin in the Catholic church. Which would mean that I would start actively participating in Erin’s faith. And I absolutely had every intention of doing so.

Then the Catholic church went nutso. I was already not happy with them for their inflexible anti-abortion stand. Though I could at least understand why they were against abortion. However, I could not come close to understanding the church’s hard-line anti-homosexual agenda. They became so rabidly anti-gay that I could not bear to step within a church. I was not going to do anything to support this institution. The worst point came when the church released an official statement equating homosexuals adopting a child with child abuse. That was the last step for me; after that, I completely moved away from the church.

Over the (many) months that have passed since then, I’ve considered changing my stance, mainly for Erin. But every time I decide to try to be a little tolerant, the church does something else that is morally reprehensible. This time around, a priest actually refused to serve communion to a group of gay supporters. “A Roman Catholic priest denied communion to more than 100 people Sunday, saying they could not receive the sacrament because they wore rainbow-colored sashes to church to show support for gay Catholics.”

Where in the bible does Jesus say, “Share my body and blood with everyone except for homosexuals or people who support gay rights?” Where does Jesus say, “Deny my communion to those who you don’t agree with?” This was a disgusting display of intolerance and prejudice, one that does not have moral or scriptural justification. And it is exactly the type of thing that keeps me far away from the Catholic church.

Well, sorta. The North Carolina pastor who forced people out of his church because they voted for John Kerry has resigned. “The Rev. Chan Chandler, 33, walked out of the church he had led for three years Tuesday night after delivering a brief statement of resignation.”

Unfortunately, Chandler didn’t do much to assuage the bad feelings generated in his church, nor the schism created between older members of the church (who don’t agree with getting the church stuck into politics) and younger members (who apparently believe Chandler’s assertation that all Kerry voters are spawn of the Devil). Chandler’s resignation statement seemed to dwell more on him than on the people he was leaving behind: “‘For me to remain now would only cause more hurt for me and my family,’ Chandler said. ‘I am resigning with gratitude in my heart for all of you, particularly those of you who love me and my family.’”

Chandler should be happy, though, because the hatred that he preached caught on with at least some of his younger parisoners: “‘I’m not going to serve with the ungodly,’ an angry Misty Turner declared.”

This should come as a surprise to no one: the White House raised the terror alert for no valid reason! “The Bush administration periodically put the USA on high alert for terrorist attacks even though then-Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge argued there was only flimsy evidence to justify raising the threat level, Ridge now says.

Ridge, who resigned Feb. 1, said Tuesday that he often disagreed with administration officials who wanted to elevate the threat level to orange, or ‘high’ risk of terrorist attack, but was overruled.”