A month ago, I sent out a letter explaining that a generous donor agreed to match any money we could raise before April 30, 2012.
Many thanks to those of you who have already responded!
But I know that many of our online supporters may not have seen the letter that we mailed, and our donor has graciously agreed to include any funds raised in response to this email as part of his match!
A gift of $50 is doubled to $100...
A gift of $100 is actually worth $200...
And even a gift of $500 will be matched to make an outstanding $1000 contribution to the National Organization for Marriage.
Never before in American history has traditional marriage been threatened in so many ways, in so many states, by so many powerful, coordinated attacks.
As one of our generous supporters, I know you already understand the urgency of the situation—and the strategic victories we are poised to win this year! We rely heavily on your support, and I hope you will take advantage of this opportunity to double the impact of your gift before midnight tonight!
The Vote YES For Marriage NC campaign is reporting on Facebook that an elderly woman who refused to surrender her "vote yes" sign was beaten by a gay marriage advocate.
I knew of at least one case like this in California. This comes from "de-legitimizing" your opponents, claiming there is no possible argument for any point of view but your own.
I hope North Carolina does not become a repeat of the harassment and occasional violence we saw in California:
No-one is surprised the New York Times editorialized against the NC Marriage Amendment. Yawn.
The most important thing about the vote in North Carolina is that for opponents it's not a vote on gay marriage at all. They have given up the idea they can win a referendum on gay marriage and instead are pouring millions of dollars into persuading North Carolina voters that the amendment does bad things to opposite sex couples, like taking away domestic violence protection.
They've conceded that they cannot win on the marriage question.
But if their strategy of deception and misdirection succeeds look for the mainstream media to ignore these facts:
"...In their zeal, lawmakers got careless with the wording of the measure, known as Amendment One. It would constitutionally prohibit recognition not just of same-sex marriages, but of other legal arrangements like civil unions and domestic partnerships. That could harm all unmarried couples, imperiling some children’s health insurance benefits, along with child custody arrangements and safeguards against domestic violence.
...Polls suggest that defeating this measure remains an uphill struggle, but at least its approval is no longer an entirely foregone conclusion. Much will depend on turnout, especially by voters on college campuses, who will need to vote in larger-than-usual numbers to defeat this declaration of officially sanctioned discrimination." -- The New York Times
CitizenLink posts the actual video showing Dan Savage verbally abusing Christian teens at a school assembly on, of all things, anti-bullying (warning: language):
This morning, Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy interviewed Rick Tuttle, a California high school teacher whose students were among those who walked out because they were so offended by Savage's comments:
Meanwhile, the father of two students who attended the conference is speaking out in outrage:
"My son is the first boy you see leaving on the video. My daughter is right behind him. They felt that they were there to hear about journalism and this man's fight against bullying. They had no idea, and neither did I, of who Dan Savage actually was.
"As he started to insult the children's God, Bible, and choice of lifestyle, my son felt he had enough and calmly got up to leave. My daughter followed him and then the rest of their 22 classmates all got up and left.
"After they had left the room Dan Savage made his derogatory remarks in a cowardly fashion about them not being able to take it."
Naman says that organizers failed to provide satisfactory answers as to why Savage had been allowed to speak in the first place. -- Breitbart
Rob Bluey of the Heritage Foundation's investigative unit with an exclusive update for Breitbart.com:
The National Organization for Marriage is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute the individuals responsible for leaking the organization’s confidential U.S. tax return and then illegally publishing it.
The stolen tax return was first published by the Human Rights Campaign and subsequently the Huffington Post. HRC is led by Joe Solmonese, who also serves as a co-chairman of President Obama's reelection committee.
In an April 25 letter to Kathryn Keneally, assistant attorney general for DOJ’s tax division, NOM President Brian Brown and Chairman John C. Eastman request an immediate investigation “to identify the person(s) responsible for these illegal actions.” (The letter is published below.)
Brown will provide an update on the brewing scandal at The Bloggers Briefing. Breitbart TV, in partnership with The Heritage Foundation, will air it live on Tuesday at noon ET.
As many as 100 high school students walked out of a national journalism conference after an anti-bullying speaker began cursing, attacked the Bible and reportedly called those who refused to listen to his rant “pansy a**ed.”
The speaker was Dan Savage, founder of the “It Gets Better” project, an anti-bullying campaign that has reached more than 40 million viewers with contributors ranging from President Obama to Hollywood stars. Savage also writes a sex advice column called “Savage Love.”
Savage, and his husband, were also guests at the White House for President Obama’s 2011 LGBT Pride Month reception. He was also invited to a White House anti-bullying conference.
Savage was supposed to be delivering a speech about anti-bullying at the National High School Journalism Conference sponsored by the Journalism Education Association and the National Scholastic Press Association. But it turned into an episode of Christian-bashing.
Rick Tuttle, the journalism advisor for Sutter Union High School in California, was among several thousand people in the audience. He said they thought the speech was one thing – but it turned into something else.
“I thought this would be about anti-bullying,” Tuttle told Fox news. “It turned into a pointed attack on Christian beliefs.”
President Obama and HRC, taking pages out of each other's playbooks?
Try this thought experiment: You decide to donate money to Mitt Romney. You want change in the Oval Office, so you engage in your democratic right to send a check.
Several days later, President Barack Obama, the most powerful man on the planet, singles you out by name. His campaign brands you a Romney donor, shames you for "betting against America," and accuses you of having a "less-than-reputable" record. The message from the man who controls the Justice Department (which can indict you), the SEC (which can fine you), and the IRS (which can audit you), is clear: You made a mistake donating that money.
Are you worried?
Richard Nixon's "enemies list" appalled the country for the simple reason that presidents hold a unique trust. Unlike senators or congressmen, presidents alone represent all Americans. Their powers—to jail, to fine, to bankrupt—are also so vast as to require restraint. Any president who targets a private citizen for his politics is de facto engaged in government intimidation and threats. This is why presidents since Nixon have carefully avoided the practice.
Save Mr. Obama, who acknowledges no rules. This past week, one of his campaign websites posted an item entitled "Behind the curtain: A brief history of Romney's donors." -- The Wall Street Journal
An organization in British Columbia that champions the natural family, parental rights, and the sanctity of life has filed a human rights complaint against the Vancouver School Board (VSB) for using in its meetings, policies, and schools what the group calls “hateful, defamatory, and demeaning terminology.”
Culture Guard filed the complaint with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal last Wednesday claiming that the school board’s use of the terms “homophobe, homophobic, and homophobia” is “offensive” and discriminates against beliefs and values held by certain groups.
“Such terms are designed to promote hatred and contempt,” stated Culture Guard president Kari Simpson in a press release. “They are used to isolate, marginalize, and belittle individuals and groups that hold opinions at variance to those of the sex activists within the education establishment.”
Simpson told LifeSiteNews that the complaint was filed not only on her own behalf but on behalf of Chinese Christians residing in Vancouver who, according to Simpson, were verbally assaulted when they raised concerns over the ‘anti-homophobia’ policies that were being enacted in their school district.
Canadian courts side with a biological father who wants to care for his daughter, after her mother dies. This is not a case of IVF. They just made a baby together the old-fashioned way, but on the understanding he would not interfere. Courts do not normally respect agreements like that. But the contours of legal parenthood are becoming blurry:
A single woman’s decision to conceive a child with the help of an ex-boyfriend has led to a chaotic court battle over who possesses parental rights over the child, after the mother died from cancer.
The unmarried Montreal woman, 36, whose identity is subject to a publication ban by court order, desired to raise offspring a few years ago, reported the National Post. The woman reportedly explored the option of using the services of a fertility clinic that would artificially inseminate her with sperm from an anonymous donor. But when the expensive procedure proved beyond the woman’s budget, she turned to her ex-boyfriend and employed his services to help make a baby.
The woman reportedly paid the ex-boyfriend $1400 for what she considered to be a sperm donation, a service that he rendered to her through sexual intercourse. The woman considered herself a single mom, but allowed the father of the child to visit his daughter occasionally.
Three years after the child’s birth, the mother succumbed to cancer and left her young daughter in the legal care of grandparents. -- LifeSiteNews
Inspiring proof that lifelong married love is possible:
The Year was 1925 ... In Hugo, Minn., an 18-year-old man named Clarence Vail married his 16-year-old sweetheart, Mayme. They had met in the eighth grade, and marriages at such young ages were more the norm than the exception back then. Unremarkable at the time, that union, now 83 years old and still as strong as ever, has finally claimed a place among the historic events of the year.
NBC’s Kevin Tibbles reported for TODAY on Monday that Clarence and Mayme Vail are going into “Guinness World Records” for being married longer than any other living couple on earth.
They don’t have a magic formula to explain the success of their marriage. They just took seriously what they said to each other when they stood at the altar.
“You take your vows, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer,” Mayme said. “I guess you just stick to it, come what may.”
... their biggest challenge came in 1948, when Clarence was diagnosed with tuberculosis.
According to “The Catholic Spirit,” the newspaper of the archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Mayme promised that if her husband survived, she would attend Mass every day for the rest of her life.
She kept it up for nearly 60 years, until the couple moved into a retirement home within the last year. Now, she’s down to two Masses a week, but she still says the rosary regularly — another daily ritual for nearly her entire life. She offered few secrets to long life and a long marriage, other than to say they never smoke or drank — both seemed a waste of money.
Their faith told them to stay faithful through thick and thin, and they did that. It also told them to be fruitful and multiply, and they did that, too. -- MSNBC
The Baptist Press reports on a new study by the National Center for Health Statistics:
The number of babies born to unmarried couples who are living together in America has increased dramatically during the past decade, according to a new report by the National Center for Health Statistics.
"We were a little surprised in such a short time period to see these increases," Gladys Martinez, a demographer and the lead author of the report, said.
About 23 percent of the reported births in the study -- based on face-to-face interviews of 22,000 men and women from 2006 through 2010 -- were to unmarried heterosexual couples who were cohabiting when the child was born. In 2002, the figure from a similar study was 14 percent.
A Catholic legal expert has warned that if Great Britain recognizes same-sex marriages, churches will be compelled to solemnize such unions, regardless of the assurances that have been given by Prime Minister David Cameron.
Neil Addison of the Thomas More Legal Centre said that European court rulings show that the government would be required give homosexual couples all the same legal rights as heterosexual couples, including the right to a religious service. “The government will be obliged to permit same-sex marriage on religious premises on exactly the same basis as it permits heterosexual marriage,” he concluded.
Addison insisted that a proposed legal exception, allowing religious bodies to refuse to perform same-sex marriages, would not stand a challenge in the European Court of Human Rights.
Starbucks has publicly supported the gay-rights political agenda for years, and joined an amicus brief against the federal Defense of Marriage Act. One executive went so far as to say that their stance "is core to who we are and what we value as a company." That is telling.
But, what is a good Catholic supposed to do? There are tons of organizations with dubious practices. Some support Planned Parenthood, some fetal stem-cell research, some same-sex marriage, and some support multiple issues that the Church considers immoral.
... there is no reason you can't dump Starbucks. If you support dumping Starbucks and want to support a petition to have them change their policy - then visit the DumpStarBucks.comwebsite. If you want some good coffee that goes to a good cause try these:
All across the state, we are finding North Carolinians mobilizing in defense of marriage. Just the other week, thousands gathered on the lawns of the capital to voice their support of the Marriage Protection Amendment. Hear from some of them in their own words.
Starbucks has publicly supported the gay-rights political agenda for years, and joined an amicus brief against the federal Defense of Marriage Act. One executive went so far as to say that their stance "is core to who we are and what we value as a company." That is telling.
