"Marriage rates tend to follow a blue state/red state pattern, with higher marriage rates in politically conservative states, and vice versa – even down to county levels, says Mr. Wilcox of the National Marriage Project."
Source: Christian Science Monitor
Local Channel 12's wrap-up report from last week (look for Joe at the 1:07 mark):
Mellanie Phillips writes in the UK Daily Mail:
During the past seven days, I have been subjected to an extraordinarily vicious outpouring of hate and incitement to violence, via email, the internet and in the mainstream media, and much worse besides.
In my article, I expressed concern that attempting to bar a Christian GP from the government’s advisory council on drugs because of his views on homosexuality, bombarding the school curriculum with irrelevant gay references, and prosecuting Christian hoteliers for refusing to accommodate gay men in the same bedroom were examples of a frightening intolerance.
The response to this warning against an attempt by the gay lobby to silence dissent? An eruption of tweets on Twitter suggesting that I should be killed. Yes, really.
Video provided courtesy of the EIB Network. (www.RushLimbaugh.com)
Related: Erick Erickson of RedState takes on Grover Norquist over his "Loser" remarks
From Ian Donnis and Scott MacKay:
Same-Sex Slowdown in the House on Politics
From WRNI's (Rhode Island's NPR affiliate) Politics Blog.
[UPDATE: HERE is the video.]
Politics Daily:
On his radio show today, Rush Limbaugh went after Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, by name, for his desire to declare a "truce" on social issues.
"You had a candidate promoted by the Republican establishment -- who didn't write off conservative voices -- but said, let's...we're going to move beyond that," said Limbaugh.
Limbaugh added that it's fine to want to grow a movement, but added: "You don't diss the people who are already audiences of those shows...who won election for your party year after year after year after year. And all of this, of course, done to impress the mainstream media."
Limbaugh also had harsh words for CPAC: "Social conservatives were dissed again at CPAC," said Limbaugh. [source]
From CBN News:
Chuck Stetson, chairman of National Marriage Week USA, speaks about how the breakdown of marriages impacts the nation and what the church can do to better strengthen families.
Chuck was also featured in this CBS news story about the declining number of Americans who choose to marry.
LOPEZ: What are you most enthusiastic about regarding the marriage issue right now?
GALLAGHER: To me, it’s amazing, given the array of forces pushing for gay marriage and the weak response of most conservative politicians, that the American people have stubbornly dug in their heels on this question: Are two men in a union a marriage?
The answer is “no,” and people really do know it. Marriage is the union of husband and wife — for a reason. Creating a world where people are treated like haters or bigots for standing for marriage is irrational, and people know that, too. An America in which Genesis is akin to racism is an America that will be unrecognizable. Ideas have consequences, and this idea cuts us off from our roots and makes the future much harder.
Chuck Colson answers, "Who Needs Marriage?" -- We All Do.
Just the first question:
KATHRYN JEAN LOPEZ: Is marriage winning? Some days it sure doesn’t feel that way.
MAGGIE GALLAGHER: Actually, marriage was on a big roll last week. A marriage amendment passed the Wyoming senate 20 to 10 (a two-thirds vote was required), after moving through the house judiciary committee, also by a two-thirds margin. In Indiana, a marriage amendment just passed the critical hurdle of the house judiciary committee, which had bottled up marriage amendments for years. In Rhode Island, neither the speaker nor the governor showed up at the hearings — even though Governor Chafee has (absurdly) called gay marriage a key part of his economic-development plan. Legislators are getting hammered with phone calls from constituents in both Maryland and Rhode Island, and things the Left once considered “done deals” in those states are now in danger.
That’s not what you hear, of course, because most of the media — and functionally, even much of the conservative media — is pro-gay-marriage, or at least anti-anti-gay-marriage.
For instance, what was the big news about gay marriage this week? Historic new victories in Wyoming and Indiana? Huge new crowds turning out against same-sex marriage in Rhode Island and Maryland? Legislators getting slammed with phone calls from constituents opposing SSM?
No. The big story was that one Maryland senator changed his vote to favor gay marriage. Gay-marriage advocates are still several votes shy of what they need, even though Maryland is one of the bluest states in the nation, but never mind the facts: “Big victory inevitable” is always the message you hear, no matter what the facts are.
James Davison Hunter is right: Cultural power is the power to name reality. They have far more cultural power than we do, and they name our realities.
Read the rest here.
The Economist suggests a leading indicator for currency collapse: percentage of men age 25-34 who live with their "parents" (read: Mom).
Source: The Economist
Kathryn Lopez interviews W. Bradford Wilcox, prompted by this new study on marriage in our current economic times:
LOPEZ: Is marriage in America healthy? What’s the greatest challenge to marriage in America at the moment?
WILCOX: Marriage is under stress. Marriage rates are falling, cohabitation is up, nonmarital childbearing is up, and more children are being exposed to a revolving carousel of relationships. This is the message of the recent National Marriage Project report, When Marriage Disappears (PDF).
The two biggest challenges facing marriage are economic and cultural. Economically, working-class and poor men are having difficulty finding stable, decent-paying work. This makes it difficult for them to get and stay married.
Culturally, our society is growing increasingly tolerant of cohabitation and nonmarital childbearing. Among other things, this means that more children are being born into or exposed to cohabiting relationships. In fact, the latest statistics indicate that more than 40 percent of children will spend some time in a cohabiting household before they turn 18. Unfortunately, social science also tells us that cohabitation and children don’t mix. For instance, children in cohabiting households are markedly more likely to be physically abused than children in intact, married unions.
So, if we care about our children, the United States has to shore up the economic and cultural foundations of marriage.
The Boston Globe mentions Maggie as an example:
Brown’s Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron doesn’t see it quite that way. “There is a preponderance of progressive thinking on this campus,’’ she acknowledged. “But conservative students sit side by side with progressives in an environment that fosters’’ openness to ideas such as this course offering.
Bergeron pointed to the Janus Forum Lecture Series as an illustration of Brown’s commitment to open discourse. According to the university website, an upcoming lecture will address the impact of legalizing gay marriage; one of the speakers is Maggie Gallagher, a well-known conservative who opposes it. But beyond the lecture series, Bergeron could not cite any previous courses that specifically address conservative principles.
The new chair of the American Conservative Union, Al Cardenas, today distanced his organization from GOProud, telling FrumForum in an exclusive interview that “it’s going to be difficult to continue the relationship”...
“I have been disappointed with their website and their quotes in the media, taunting organizations that are respected in our movement and part of our movement, and that’s not acceptable. And that puts them in a difficult light in terms of how I view things,” said Cardenas.
Cardenas has since made clear the board had not yet made a firm decision:
The jury still is out on the continued participation by GOProud, a group that openly works on behalf of homosexuals, in the Conservative Political Action Conference, according to CPAC's new chairman, Al Cardenas.
"I intend to form a comprehensive vetting process on each CPAC participant, especially at the organizational level"... [source]
