Posted on 10/29/2006 9:58:20 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Some of them must have given a rats ass (along with some We-Know-Better-Than-You liberals, I'm sure), or else we wouldn't have an internet gambling ban.
No, you have an internet gambling ban to protect our casinos. Social conservatives are the scape goat and you fell for it.
I have heard elsewhere that Dick Army did indeed have some scathing criticism of evangelicals/Christian conservatives.
Are you kidding me? The big casinos stand to make money off internet gambling as well. The fact that they've had to compete with other outfits is incidental. This was a loss for the big casinos as well.
Dick Armey, a RINO? I vote for this as the foremost demonstration, among many, of what you don't know. Aren't you embarrassed?
I agree that the emphasis of some 'social conservatives' is, upon occasion, misplaced:
http://www.neoperspectives.com/Social_Conservativsm.htm
Tolerance Sucks Rocks wrote: "I'd rather none of them did (push their agendas)."
Sorry, but that doesn't seem very realistic. Like I said, everyone has agenda. Anyone who says otherwise is a liar--simple as that. Your agenda may be to cut government "tyranny." That sounds like a worthy goal to me. What makes you think conservative Christian goals are incompatible with libertarian goals? For the most part, we are good bedfellows.
Most Christians I know do NOT want to use the government to strongarm other citizens. We only want to have a voice in the political process. The federal marriage amendment? I agree it's extreme, but the problem doesn't come from Christianity. It comes from liberal judges who have taken powers that are not legally theirs to have! Name one gay marriage law passed by popular vote in the US (good luck).
"Along with abortion and euthanasia, gay marriage is part of the left's suicide pact for America."
You bet it is!! From the horses mouth.........
*Marriage fight heads to legislatures in N.Y., Calif. (Gay)
DNC promises to fight ballot measures, as Dean assails court ruling
By LOU CHIBBARO JR
Friday, July 14, 2006
National and state gay rights groups will step up efforts to advance legislation allowing gays to marry in California and New York, saying chances for passing such legislation are expected to improve significantly after the November elections.
The Democratic National Committee, meanwhile, assisted a gay group in Illinois with its efforts to block an anti-gay marriage amendment from going before voters in November and has adopted a five-point plan for fighting similar ballot measures in other states, according DNC spokesperson Danien LaVera.
“As we move forward in this election year, we will help in a variety of ways,” LaVera said.
LaVera’s disclosure of the DNC’s role in fighting a specific anti-gay ballot measure was part of a flurry of statements from advocates on both sides of the gay marriage debate that followed a controversial court decision in New York on July 6 upholding the state’s law banning same-sex marriage.
The New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, issued a 4-2 decision July 7 saying the state law banning same-sex marriage was based on a legitimate rationale that it is better “for children to grow up with both a mother and father.”
DNC Chair Howard Dean made headlines this year by going on the anti-gay Christian Broadcast Network and erroneously claiming his party’s platform opposes marriage for same-sex couples. He later apologized for the mischaracterization — the 2004 platform leaves the issues to the states — and issued a strongly worded statement last week criticizing the New York court decision.
“Today’s decision by the New York Court of Appeals, which relies on outdated and bigoted notions about families, is deeply disappointing, but it does not end the effort to achieve this goal,” Dean said.
“As that essential process moves forward, it is up to the state legislature to act to protect the equal rights of every New Yorker and for the debate on how to ensure those rights to proceed without the rancor and divisiveness that too often surrounds this issue.”
LaVera said he could not comment on whether Dean was changing his position on gay marriage, other than to say Dean and the DNC strongly oppose efforts to ban gay marriage by amending the federal or state constitutions.
Officials with the Human Rights Campaign and the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, the nation’s two largest gay political groups, said they would step up efforts to promote gay marriage bills in several states.
“HRC is committing $3 million to the fight for equality in the states, including marriage battles as well as state legislative elections,” said HRC president Joe Solmonese.
NGLTF Executive Director Matt Foreman said his group plans to give $300,000 to fight anti-gay marriage ballot measures. Task Force spokesperson Roberta Sklar said that when staff salaries, related travel expenses and additional grants to state and local groups are added to the equation, NGLTF would spend about $1 million this year on the ballot measure fights.
Foreman said NGLTF continues to work with HRC and others to advocate for state bills to provide same-sex couples the full marriage rights.
“[O]ur collective goal is to win marriage equality — either through legislative or judicial action — in 10 states in 10 years,” Foreman said. “There is no question that if our movement is resourced to scale, this is an achievable goal, and the New York court decision has no impact on that.”
‘Strategy? What strategy’
Foreman and Solmonese said their organizations would work cooperatively with statewide gay groups to educate voters about the important role marriage plays in families headed by both same-sex and opposite couples.
“The reality is that these are uphill struggles in every state because they put the rights of a minority up for a popular vote, which is not only wrong, it is immoral,” said Foreman. “Our goal is to build grassroots strength, win or lose.”
Lesbian activist Robin Tyler, one of the lead organizers of the California-based group pushing for same-sex marriage rights, said NGLTF, HRC and other gay groups were not taking an aggressive enough stand against court decisions and state ballot measures that have blocked same-sex marriage rights.
“Strategy? What strategy?” asked Tyler. “In the red states, once they lose on Election Day, the national groups leave,” she said. “The local people feel deserted, just like the people left behind after Hurricane Katrina.
“We need to mobilize for another march on Washington to get back into the streets. We’re not getting anywhere being nice.”
Gay Democratic activists in New York and California have said public opinion polls look favorable for the election of Democratic governors in the two states who have pledged to support and sign bills legalizing same-sex marriage.
In New York, state Attorney General Elliot Spitzer, a longtime gay rights supporter, is leading his Republican gubernatorial rival by more than 60 points in most polls. Democrats in New York also say the state Senate, which has been controlled by Republicans for generations, could be taken over by Democrats.
That would open the way for the passage of a same-sex marriage bill. Democrats already control the State Assembly, which is expected to easily pass a same-sex marriage bill. Spitzer has pledged to sign such a bill.
“I would say we have a 50-50 chance of getting a gay marriage bill passed if the Democrats win control of the Senate,” said longtime Manhattan gay activist Ray Gast.
In California, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides is said to have a chance of defeating incumbent Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who vetoed a groundbreaking gay marriage bill passed by the California Legislature last year. Angelides has said he would sign the bill.
DNC’s 5-point plan
to fight ballot measures
LaVera said the DNC’s five-point plan for fighting state ballot measures calling for banning same-sex marriage includes a number of actions the DNC has already put in place.
The first calls for labeling the anti-gay ballot measures “divisive” ploys by the Republicans and others to deflect voter attention from other important issues, including “the Bush’s administration’s failed policies.”
Another consists of the state “party-building” operation that Dean started, LaVera said, which includes specific training for state party operatives in all 50 states on how to campaign against anti-gay ballot measures.
The other elements of the plan, he said, include working closely with the gay group National Stonewall Democrats to “develop strategy and talking points” on the anti-gay ballot measure issue; working cooperatively with campaign organizations fighting the ballot measures in each state where they surface, providing campaign advice, expertise, and logistical and financial support; and to “empower and organize GLBT communities around the country” through the help of the DNC’s new gay outreach organizer Brian Bond.
Bond replaced Donald Hitchcock, the DNC’s former gay outreach coordinator, after Dean fired him earlier this year. The firing came after Hitchcock’s domestic partner, gay Democratic activist Paul Yandura, released a statement criticizing Dean and the DNC for not doing enough to help gays fight the anti-gay ballot measures.
LaVera said the DNC’s involvement in the Illinois ballot fight was an example of how cooperation between the DNC and local or state gay groups have proven to be “highly successful.”
Rick Garcia, director of Equality Illinois, could not be reached for comment.
Dem platforms in eight
states back gay marraige
John Marble, spokesperson for National Stonewall Democrats, said officials with Equality Illinois and gay Democratic activists in the state were “very pleased” with the DNC’s help. Marble said the DNC also contributed $10,000 to the petition challenge effort.
LaVera said a DNC policy that prohibits disclosure of “internal strategy” prevents him from commenting on any contribution the DNC makes in electoral efforts like the Illinois ballot fight.
Marble said efforts to pass same-sex marriage bills are advancing in other states, although the timing for those states passing such legislation is unclear.
He said the Democratic parties in eight states adopted platforms endorsing gay marriage bills in their respective legislatures. They include New York, California, Washington, Iowa, Alaska, Colorado, Massachusetts and Hawaii.
When the state party in Massachusetts officially threw its support behind gay marriage, Sen. John Kerry, the Democrats’ 2004 presidential nominee, criticized the decision. He is on record favoring the type of statewide ballot measures banning gay marriage that the DNC is now challenging.
Kerry is aligned with other Democrats in opposing a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
Evan Wolfson, executive director of the same-sex marriage advocacy group Freedom To Marry, said the New York court decision would help in the fight for marriage equality in the long run.
“Public opinion is shifting in our direction, and every time the issue becomes part of a national dialogue, even when we lose short-term battles, more people come over to the side of fairness,” he said.*
I think it'd be closer to the mark to say he bumped heads with Charles Dodson. Dodson is a rather charmless and difficult person, and makes a habit of alienating those he has personal dealings with. I don't think that means Armey has taking a dislike to religious conservatives.
Those are the only things relevant to government, yes.
DC RINO is correct.
We the Republican Party are starting to see a new generation
of true conservatives with more fire than the Dick Army's old RINO attitude. He is just like the old MSM, a soon to be has been.
I am liking what I am reading at FR, I see fire and spunk in the posters and, they are very pi**ed at the electorate and the RINOS. I'm beginning to see changes after this election regardless of which party wins.
The GOP with the majority rule has acted like little school boys.
If you were from a foreign country with good English you would think the Democrats have had the rule of power in our government. On many issues they have had the rule and, all of us know this to be true.
Our GOP leaders are just to weak to stand against the left.
Why can't they fight for what we elected them to do? Is there something in politics that the average American does not know? Is there something after being elected by your constitutes that you can not represent what they elected you to do.
I fully intend to vote straight R in the election and, am hoping in the coming years there will be a Chang in the GOP and, we will get what we elected to represent, We The People.
"Are you kidding me? The big casinos stand to make money off internet gambling as well. The fact that they've had to compete with other outfits is incidental. This was a loss for the big casinos as well."
That is so stupid it's not funny. That's like saying the NYTimes wouldn't benefit if the blogs, drudge, and freerepublic were banned just because the NYTimes would have a website too.
The fact of the matter is that the US is the biggest market for gambling and the brick and mortar shops will have a huge advantage if internet gambling is outlawed.
That ban was protectionism, not moralism.
From the home of Focus on the Family, and having voted absentee against the Colorado version of gay marriage, may I disagree with you? Marriage is a sacrament (if you will, or, if not, a binding promise) between a man, a woman, and God. Not only should there not be, IMO, a federal marriage amendment, there should be no authorizing, sanctioning, blessing, dissolution, or any other form of recognition by the states. It's no one's business but that man, that woman, and God, through His Church.
All great atheists societies had to do away with those pesky Jews and Christians. Maybe we christians should wear a designation
so the public will know who we are.
Sounding scary to me.
Okay, Mr. Magoo.
Yeah, the Democrats really hate that. Naturally, they prefer a secular socialist welfare state. You know, like France.
The sick scumbags....
jammer wrote: "Not only should there not be, IMO, a federal marriage amendment, there should be no authorizing, sanctioning, blessing, dissolution, or any other form of recognition by the states. It's no one's business but that man, that woman, and God, through His Church."
An interesting point, but consider the other side. Marriage (aka the traditional family) is the building block of society. Many of our problems stem from the breakup of marriage as an institution IMO. It's in our best interest to encourage activities that help society and discourage activities that harm it. Now I'm not saying I disagree with you. Perhaps it would be better if government was completely out of the marriage business altogether, but before you advocate something as extreme as that, you should consider the long-term ramifications.
Of course, this is getting away from the point of the article.
This guy didn't blame Bush/Cheney until the 5th paragraph.
Must be one of the few that understands they aren't running this time.
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