I'm not vegan, but I am a lacto-ovo vegetarian. That means that I eat a plant based diet with dairy and eggs. However, I am really turned off by the attitude that a lot of vegans have over the honey issue. Vegans say that honey is an animal product and that anyone who consumes it should not call themselves a vegan. Others disagree and say that honey is really processed flower nectar. Unlike meat, dairy and eggs, honey is a product that bees process, not produce from their bodies like the other three.
I believe that the vegan community should stop making a federal case over the honey issue, and accept people who call themselves vegan that use honey personally that still agree with the rest of the vegan philosophy. Making a major case over the honey issue makes the vegan movement look very dogmatic to outsiders and turns people off from considering becoming vegan. This attitude also hurts the cows, pigs, sheep, etc because less people join the vegan movement over the honey issue.
Fortunately, there are some vegan associations who are not dogmatic over the honey issue such as Vegan Outreach:
article
I hope that someday, the definition of the word vegan will be officially changed to allow for honey consumption. In actual practise, that may have largely happened already.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Thursday, November 27, 2008
The Aftermath of Sodom and Gomorrah
This 30 minute video shows all the scientific details of what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah. A very visual and educational video of the Biblical account:
video
video
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Do you believe the Genesis account to be literal?
I am very surprised that many Christians do not believe that the creation account in the book of Genesis is literal. Many Christians believe that the creation account in Genesis is myth that is not accurate history and that God gave it just to satisfy man's "primitave" thinking back in ancient days.
I also know that these same people do not believe that Adam and Eve were literal people. From what I can tell from searches, Genesis 1-11 is the "myth" part of the book.
I have nothing personal against the people who hold this view, but I am very disturbed by the number of Christians who hold it. It's not just one place I've checked this, but with Christian at other locations as well. To me, it seems as if they are putting man-made teachings over the Bible and using man-made teachings to interpret the Bible. Don't get me wrong. True science can verify the Bible, but science tainted with evolutionary concepts or other man-made concepts that are not scientific to begin with, is not going to give the right answer.
I also know that these same people do not believe that Adam and Eve were literal people. From what I can tell from searches, Genesis 1-11 is the "myth" part of the book.
I have nothing personal against the people who hold this view, but I am very disturbed by the number of Christians who hold it. It's not just one place I've checked this, but with Christian at other locations as well. To me, it seems as if they are putting man-made teachings over the Bible and using man-made teachings to interpret the Bible. Don't get me wrong. True science can verify the Bible, but science tainted with evolutionary concepts or other man-made concepts that are not scientific to begin with, is not going to give the right answer.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
“Coming out” puts adolescents at risk
Encouraging adolescents with same-sex attractions to identify as gay has no scientific or ethical justification.
How should schools treat students who self-identify as homosexual? Today entire school systems in a number of states and counties promote “acceptance”. The demand for acceptance is based on the premise that patterns of sexual attraction – to the other sex or to same sex are determined at birth and unchangeable; therefore, everyone – the affected students themselves, their parents, teachers, and classmates – should be educated and when necessary pressured into accepting same-sex attraction (SSA) as normal and as healthy as the love between a man and a woman in marriage.
There is, however, no evidence to support the claim that SSA is genetically determined and unchangeable. If it were, one would expect that identical twins would always have the same pattern of sexual attraction. A study led by J. Michael Bailey based on the twins registry in Australia found that among male identical twins, when one twin had SSA, in only 11 per cent of the cases so did the other. This research virtually precludes genetic determination.
There is also no evidence to support the claim that SSA is unchangeable. There are numerous reports of people understanding the emotional conflicts that led them to SSA, successfully addressing these weaknesses and then experiencing a new pattern of sexual attraction. A large study of sexuality led by Edward Lauman found the percentage of people self-identifying as homosexual declining over time. Lisa Diamond found that patterns of sexual attraction are particularly unstable among women.
Those who support acceptance might argue that even if SSA is not genetically determined and changeable it would still be better for those experiencing these feelings to “come out” and be accepted as homosexual by the school community. This view ignores the very real risks that accompany coming out, particularly for males.
Vulnerable boys
Over 40 per cent of males who self-identify as homosexual (“gay”) before age 18 have been victims of sexual abuse or sexual assault. (Doll et al, 1992) An even higher percentage has suffered from untreated Gender Identity Disorder. (Zucker, Bradley, 1995) A study of the sexual behavior of 239 homosexually active males, 13 to 21, found that 42 per cent had a history of sexual abuse/assault. (Remafedi, 1994; Osmond, 1994) A study of 425 homosexual males, ages 17 to 22, found that 41.4 per cent reported an occasion of forced sex. (Halkitis, Wilton, Drescher, eds. 2005; Wainberg 2006) Forced sex rarely involves “safe” sex practices. (Kalichman, Rompa 1995)
Sexual child abuse and sexual assault have been linked to long-term psychological problems, including depression, sexual addiction, drug addiction, involvement in prostitution, and suicidal feelings. Some of these young men see their victimization as proof that they were “born” homosexual. Programs directed to acceptance rarely acknowledge or address these problems. When these serious emotional conflicts are not uncovered and treated, these males often act out in ways that are dangerous to themselves and to others. It is important to address this highly prevalent problem in young males with SSA.
At high risk of infection
Even if an adolescent male with SSA was not the victim of sexual abuse and did not experience untreated gender identity disorder GID, engaging in homosexual activity as an adolescent carries a high and truly unacceptable risk.
New statistics from the Centers for Disease Control reveal that the epidemic among young men who have sex with men (MSM) is raging unabated. In August 2008, it was revealed that the CDC had underestimated the number of new cases of HIV by 40 per cent. The report found that while new infections among heterosexuals and injection drug users are falling, new infections continue to increase in younger MSM. In 2006, the number of MSM aged 13-24 diagnosed with HIV/AIDS increased by 18 per cent over the previous year.
A study of sexual risk behaviors of young MSM aged 17-22 found that 22 per cent reported beginning anal sex with men when they were ages 3 to 14; of these 15.2 per cent were already HIV positive. Of those who began sex when they were 15-19, 11.6 per cent were HIV positive, while of those who began sex with men when they were 20-22, only 3.8 per cent were HIV positive. (Lemp, 1994) It is clear that every year a male with SSA delays sexual involvement reduces his risk of HIV.
Vulnerable young men may use the internet to seek out sexual partners. Out magazine, a publication targeted to MSM, ran an article by Michael Gross (2008) on how MSM are using the internet, posting pornographic pictures of themselves, and becoming addicted to the process of cruising on the web. Gross worries about the “health risks” and “psychological dissociation that’s characteristic of online social life.” Men may be looking for love but, Gross suggests, “You might as well train for a marathon by doing sprints in a minefield.”
Once a young man has exposed himself on the internet, whatever he has put up becomes part of the public record forever. The 15-year-old boy who realizes at 20 that his SSA was just a phase of his life related to weaknesses in male confidence will have those pictures follow him for the rest of his life.
HIV/AIDS is not the only disease affecting MSM. The number of sexually transmitted infections (STI) transmitted by homosexual activity is staggering. They include syphilis, gonorrhea, herpes, hepatitis B and C, lymphogranuloma vernereum and human papillomavirus (HPV), which has been linked to genital warts and a number of cancers. (Carter, 2007) HPV is transmitted by skin contact and therefore condoms provide only minimal protection. The much-touted new HPV vaccine protects against only four of the 100 varieties of this disease.
In some areas the increase in syphilis infections has been traced to an increased use of crystal meth and “high risk sexual behavior at resorts or bath houses, or through meetings initiated over the Internet.” (Brian, 2004; Klausner, 2000)
Not only are MSM at high risk for infection with HIV and many other STIs, the problem compounds itself in that infection with another STI makes a man more vulnerable to HIV and an HIV-positive man is more likely to contract another STI. According to a recent study, “HIV positive men who have sex with men are up to 90 times more likely than the general population to develop anal cancer.” (Cranston, Ross, 2007)
Recently, doctors in San Francisco traced outbreaks in San Francisco and Boston of multidrug-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MSRA), the flesh-eating bacteria, to homosexual activity. It is also possible that a new, yet unidentified disease will find its way into this community. In 1980 before the first case of AIDS was identified, Dr. Selma Dritz, an expert on STI’s, looked at the behaviors of MSM and warned, “There are so many opportunities for transmission that, if something new gets loose here, we’re going to have hell to pay.” (Shilts, Randy, And the Band Played On). Her warning came too late; by 1980 the HIV virus was already spreading among MSM. Tragically, in spite of massive education the high-risk behaviors continue.
As treatment for AIDS has improved and life expectancy has increased, young MSM no longer fear HIV as they should. Many of those who start out planning to use condoms, fail to do so because they are drunk or are high on drugs or don’t want to send a message that they don’t trust their partner. If this is a pattern among adult MSM, it is not surprising that adolescent males who have sex with males ignore warnings.
Does education prevent infection?
A large study on the association of health risk behaviors and sexual orientation among adolescents concluded: “GLB youth who self-identify during high school report disproportionate risk for a variety of health risk and problem behaviors, including suicide, victimization, sexual risk behaviors, and multiple substance abuse use. In addition, these youth are more likely to report engaging in multiple risk behaviors and initiating risk behaviors at an earlier age than their peers.” (Garofalo, 1998)
Homosexual activists forced to explain why persons with SSA are at “elevated” risk for addictions, partner abuse, rampant promiscuity, anxiety, depression and suicidality usually blame the increased problems on the stress of living in a rejecting, “hateful and heterosexist” culture. (Cochran, Mays 2007) They then use these problems to justify pro-homosexual education in schools. However, if this view were true then one would expect to see lower levels of severe psychiatric illnesses in more accepting cultures such as the Netherlands, but this is not the case. (Sandfort, 2006)
The hope that identifying boys with SSA and providing them with HIV prevention education will reduce the risk of STI infections is not supported by the research. According to a review of studies of HIV prevention programs, “the efficacy of health education interventions in reducing sexual risk for HIV infection has not been consistently demonstrated…More education, over long periods of time, cannot be assumed to be effective in inducing behavior changes among chronically high risk males.” (Stall, Coates, Hoff, 1988)
Dr. Philip Alcabes, an epidemiologist, commenting on the latest CDC data to the New York Times said, “[I]t looks like prevention campaigns make even less difference than anyone thought… HIV incidence did not decline as much from the 1980s to the 1990s as we believed despite the dramatic increase in condom promotion and so-called prevention education.”
He quoted an editorial in Lancet, a leading medical journal, that was even blunter: “U.S. efforts to prevent HIV have failed dismally.”
AIDS education, which provides children and adolescents with explicit information about the various forms of sexual behavior that spread the disease, may create curiosity and encourage experimentation among young men. Because AIDS education has also been used as a vehicle for promoting positive attitudes toward homosexuality, while at the same time ignoring the serious health risks associated with SSA, it is possible that the number of young men experimenting with homosexuality will increase.
As support groups in schools for males who think that they might be homosexual are being established, younger boys will be encouraged to "come out." This "coming out" will probably include engaging in sexual activity at an earlier age and more often. These young men may be attracted to the urban homosexual community, traveling to centers of homosexual activity where they are likely to encounter HIV-positive adults interested in engaging in sexual activity with attractive teenagers. This can lead to hustling (receiving money or compensation for sex) which is a high-risk activity.
A brochure, entitled Just the Facts about Sexual Orientation and Youth: A Primer for Principals, Educators, and School Personnel, was sent to school officials by a coalition of groups including the National Education Association. It claimed: “If school environments become more positive for lesbian, gay, and bisexual students, it is likely that their differences in health, mental health, and substance abuse will decrease.” This has not been born out by experience. Nothing could be more positive than the Harvey Milk school in Manhattan, which was set up to provide a safe environment for students with atypical sexual orientations and gender identities, yet in November of 2003, five male students were arrested. They had for some time been intimidating other students, working as prostitutes, blackmailing Johns, stealing from trendy stores, and involved with ecstasy and cocaine. (Cross, 2003)
Given the substantial, well-documented risks involved in engaging in homosexual activity as an adolescent and since a certain percentage of males who experience SSA in adolescence find that these feelings disappear in time, schools should not encourage adolescent males to “come out”, but, instead, offer positive support for addressing the serious emotional problems in these teenagers.
Girls
While adolescent females with SSA do not face the same risk for STIs as males, a significant number of these young women with SSA have been victims of sexual abuse or rape. (Bradford, 1994) SSA is even less stable among young women than among young men with some females finding themselves attracted to men and to women at different times in their lives. Many adolescent girls have crushes on female teachers or coaches. With time and growth in maturity these feelings resolve. Rather than assuming that every young female who ever experiences any SSA is permanently homosexual, schools should encourage young women to try to understand themselves and wait before identifying themselves as homosexual.
Finally, educators, like physicians and mental health professionals, have a serious responsibility to provide informed consent to their students and not advocate a lifestyle which has serious medical and psychiatric illnesses associated with it without warning students about such risks.
Dale O’Leary is a US writer with a special interest in psycho-sexual issues and is the author of two books: One Man, One Woman" and The Gender Agenda. She collaborated on this article with Richard P. Fitzgibbons, M.D., a psychiatrist and Director of Comprehensive Counselling Services in W. Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, and Peter Kleponis, M.S., a psychotherapist also based in Philadelphia.
* A complete version of this paper with footnotes can be found in the Backgrounders section of this website: Same-sex attraction in adolescents
source
How should schools treat students who self-identify as homosexual? Today entire school systems in a number of states and counties promote “acceptance”. The demand for acceptance is based on the premise that patterns of sexual attraction – to the other sex or to same sex are determined at birth and unchangeable; therefore, everyone – the affected students themselves, their parents, teachers, and classmates – should be educated and when necessary pressured into accepting same-sex attraction (SSA) as normal and as healthy as the love between a man and a woman in marriage.
There is, however, no evidence to support the claim that SSA is genetically determined and unchangeable. If it were, one would expect that identical twins would always have the same pattern of sexual attraction. A study led by J. Michael Bailey based on the twins registry in Australia found that among male identical twins, when one twin had SSA, in only 11 per cent of the cases so did the other. This research virtually precludes genetic determination.
There is also no evidence to support the claim that SSA is unchangeable. There are numerous reports of people understanding the emotional conflicts that led them to SSA, successfully addressing these weaknesses and then experiencing a new pattern of sexual attraction. A large study of sexuality led by Edward Lauman found the percentage of people self-identifying as homosexual declining over time. Lisa Diamond found that patterns of sexual attraction are particularly unstable among women.
Those who support acceptance might argue that even if SSA is not genetically determined and changeable it would still be better for those experiencing these feelings to “come out” and be accepted as homosexual by the school community. This view ignores the very real risks that accompany coming out, particularly for males.
Vulnerable boys
Over 40 per cent of males who self-identify as homosexual (“gay”) before age 18 have been victims of sexual abuse or sexual assault. (Doll et al, 1992) An even higher percentage has suffered from untreated Gender Identity Disorder. (Zucker, Bradley, 1995) A study of the sexual behavior of 239 homosexually active males, 13 to 21, found that 42 per cent had a history of sexual abuse/assault. (Remafedi, 1994; Osmond, 1994) A study of 425 homosexual males, ages 17 to 22, found that 41.4 per cent reported an occasion of forced sex. (Halkitis, Wilton, Drescher, eds. 2005; Wainberg 2006) Forced sex rarely involves “safe” sex practices. (Kalichman, Rompa 1995)
Sexual child abuse and sexual assault have been linked to long-term psychological problems, including depression, sexual addiction, drug addiction, involvement in prostitution, and suicidal feelings. Some of these young men see their victimization as proof that they were “born” homosexual. Programs directed to acceptance rarely acknowledge or address these problems. When these serious emotional conflicts are not uncovered and treated, these males often act out in ways that are dangerous to themselves and to others. It is important to address this highly prevalent problem in young males with SSA.
At high risk of infection
Even if an adolescent male with SSA was not the victim of sexual abuse and did not experience untreated gender identity disorder GID, engaging in homosexual activity as an adolescent carries a high and truly unacceptable risk.
New statistics from the Centers for Disease Control reveal that the epidemic among young men who have sex with men (MSM) is raging unabated. In August 2008, it was revealed that the CDC had underestimated the number of new cases of HIV by 40 per cent. The report found that while new infections among heterosexuals and injection drug users are falling, new infections continue to increase in younger MSM. In 2006, the number of MSM aged 13-24 diagnosed with HIV/AIDS increased by 18 per cent over the previous year.
A study of sexual risk behaviors of young MSM aged 17-22 found that 22 per cent reported beginning anal sex with men when they were ages 3 to 14; of these 15.2 per cent were already HIV positive. Of those who began sex when they were 15-19, 11.6 per cent were HIV positive, while of those who began sex with men when they were 20-22, only 3.8 per cent were HIV positive. (Lemp, 1994) It is clear that every year a male with SSA delays sexual involvement reduces his risk of HIV.
Vulnerable young men may use the internet to seek out sexual partners. Out magazine, a publication targeted to MSM, ran an article by Michael Gross (2008) on how MSM are using the internet, posting pornographic pictures of themselves, and becoming addicted to the process of cruising on the web. Gross worries about the “health risks” and “psychological dissociation that’s characteristic of online social life.” Men may be looking for love but, Gross suggests, “You might as well train for a marathon by doing sprints in a minefield.”
Once a young man has exposed himself on the internet, whatever he has put up becomes part of the public record forever. The 15-year-old boy who realizes at 20 that his SSA was just a phase of his life related to weaknesses in male confidence will have those pictures follow him for the rest of his life.
HIV/AIDS is not the only disease affecting MSM. The number of sexually transmitted infections (STI) transmitted by homosexual activity is staggering. They include syphilis, gonorrhea, herpes, hepatitis B and C, lymphogranuloma vernereum and human papillomavirus (HPV), which has been linked to genital warts and a number of cancers. (Carter, 2007) HPV is transmitted by skin contact and therefore condoms provide only minimal protection. The much-touted new HPV vaccine protects against only four of the 100 varieties of this disease.
In some areas the increase in syphilis infections has been traced to an increased use of crystal meth and “high risk sexual behavior at resorts or bath houses, or through meetings initiated over the Internet.” (Brian, 2004; Klausner, 2000)
Not only are MSM at high risk for infection with HIV and many other STIs, the problem compounds itself in that infection with another STI makes a man more vulnerable to HIV and an HIV-positive man is more likely to contract another STI. According to a recent study, “HIV positive men who have sex with men are up to 90 times more likely than the general population to develop anal cancer.” (Cranston, Ross, 2007)
Recently, doctors in San Francisco traced outbreaks in San Francisco and Boston of multidrug-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MSRA), the flesh-eating bacteria, to homosexual activity. It is also possible that a new, yet unidentified disease will find its way into this community. In 1980 before the first case of AIDS was identified, Dr. Selma Dritz, an expert on STI’s, looked at the behaviors of MSM and warned, “There are so many opportunities for transmission that, if something new gets loose here, we’re going to have hell to pay.” (Shilts, Randy, And the Band Played On). Her warning came too late; by 1980 the HIV virus was already spreading among MSM. Tragically, in spite of massive education the high-risk behaviors continue.
As treatment for AIDS has improved and life expectancy has increased, young MSM no longer fear HIV as they should. Many of those who start out planning to use condoms, fail to do so because they are drunk or are high on drugs or don’t want to send a message that they don’t trust their partner. If this is a pattern among adult MSM, it is not surprising that adolescent males who have sex with males ignore warnings.
Does education prevent infection?
A large study on the association of health risk behaviors and sexual orientation among adolescents concluded: “GLB youth who self-identify during high school report disproportionate risk for a variety of health risk and problem behaviors, including suicide, victimization, sexual risk behaviors, and multiple substance abuse use. In addition, these youth are more likely to report engaging in multiple risk behaviors and initiating risk behaviors at an earlier age than their peers.” (Garofalo, 1998)
Homosexual activists forced to explain why persons with SSA are at “elevated” risk for addictions, partner abuse, rampant promiscuity, anxiety, depression and suicidality usually blame the increased problems on the stress of living in a rejecting, “hateful and heterosexist” culture. (Cochran, Mays 2007) They then use these problems to justify pro-homosexual education in schools. However, if this view were true then one would expect to see lower levels of severe psychiatric illnesses in more accepting cultures such as the Netherlands, but this is not the case. (Sandfort, 2006)
The hope that identifying boys with SSA and providing them with HIV prevention education will reduce the risk of STI infections is not supported by the research. According to a review of studies of HIV prevention programs, “the efficacy of health education interventions in reducing sexual risk for HIV infection has not been consistently demonstrated…More education, over long periods of time, cannot be assumed to be effective in inducing behavior changes among chronically high risk males.” (Stall, Coates, Hoff, 1988)
Dr. Philip Alcabes, an epidemiologist, commenting on the latest CDC data to the New York Times said, “[I]t looks like prevention campaigns make even less difference than anyone thought… HIV incidence did not decline as much from the 1980s to the 1990s as we believed despite the dramatic increase in condom promotion and so-called prevention education.”
He quoted an editorial in Lancet, a leading medical journal, that was even blunter: “U.S. efforts to prevent HIV have failed dismally.”
AIDS education, which provides children and adolescents with explicit information about the various forms of sexual behavior that spread the disease, may create curiosity and encourage experimentation among young men. Because AIDS education has also been used as a vehicle for promoting positive attitudes toward homosexuality, while at the same time ignoring the serious health risks associated with SSA, it is possible that the number of young men experimenting with homosexuality will increase.
As support groups in schools for males who think that they might be homosexual are being established, younger boys will be encouraged to "come out." This "coming out" will probably include engaging in sexual activity at an earlier age and more often. These young men may be attracted to the urban homosexual community, traveling to centers of homosexual activity where they are likely to encounter HIV-positive adults interested in engaging in sexual activity with attractive teenagers. This can lead to hustling (receiving money or compensation for sex) which is a high-risk activity.
A brochure, entitled Just the Facts about Sexual Orientation and Youth: A Primer for Principals, Educators, and School Personnel, was sent to school officials by a coalition of groups including the National Education Association. It claimed: “If school environments become more positive for lesbian, gay, and bisexual students, it is likely that their differences in health, mental health, and substance abuse will decrease.” This has not been born out by experience. Nothing could be more positive than the Harvey Milk school in Manhattan, which was set up to provide a safe environment for students with atypical sexual orientations and gender identities, yet in November of 2003, five male students were arrested. They had for some time been intimidating other students, working as prostitutes, blackmailing Johns, stealing from trendy stores, and involved with ecstasy and cocaine. (Cross, 2003)
Given the substantial, well-documented risks involved in engaging in homosexual activity as an adolescent and since a certain percentage of males who experience SSA in adolescence find that these feelings disappear in time, schools should not encourage adolescent males to “come out”, but, instead, offer positive support for addressing the serious emotional problems in these teenagers.
Girls
While adolescent females with SSA do not face the same risk for STIs as males, a significant number of these young women with SSA have been victims of sexual abuse or rape. (Bradford, 1994) SSA is even less stable among young women than among young men with some females finding themselves attracted to men and to women at different times in their lives. Many adolescent girls have crushes on female teachers or coaches. With time and growth in maturity these feelings resolve. Rather than assuming that every young female who ever experiences any SSA is permanently homosexual, schools should encourage young women to try to understand themselves and wait before identifying themselves as homosexual.
Finally, educators, like physicians and mental health professionals, have a serious responsibility to provide informed consent to their students and not advocate a lifestyle which has serious medical and psychiatric illnesses associated with it without warning students about such risks.
Dale O’Leary is a US writer with a special interest in psycho-sexual issues and is the author of two books: One Man, One Woman" and The Gender Agenda. She collaborated on this article with Richard P. Fitzgibbons, M.D., a psychiatrist and Director of Comprehensive Counselling Services in W. Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, and Peter Kleponis, M.S., a psychotherapist also based in Philadelphia.
* A complete version of this paper with footnotes can be found in the Backgrounders section of this website: Same-sex attraction in adolescents
source
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Same-Sex "Marriage" Supporters Furious at California Loss: Lawsuits Filed Challenging Proposition 8
By Kathleen Gilbert
SACRAMENTO, California, November 6, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Hours after Californians won the battle to protect the true definition of marriage through Proposition 8, numerous lawsuits have been filed in California courts by frustrated homosexualist activists bent on overruling the voter-approved amendment.
Three lawyers filed separate lawsuits on Wednesday claiming that Proposition 8 was an illegal constitutional revision, rather than an amendment. Proposition 8 adds to the state constitution the sentence: "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."
"If they want to legalize gay marriage, what they should do is bring an initiative themselves and ask the people to approve it," Frank Schubert, co-chairman of the Proposition 8 campaign, told the LA Times, in response to the flurry of lawsuits. "But they don’t. They go behind the people’s back to the courts and try and force an agenda on the rest of society."
In all three states in the US where same-sex “marriage” is or has been legal, it was imposed by a court decision and not by the legislature or the citizens.
Having won one of the most hard-fought battles in the 2008 election, Proposition 8 overturned the May ruling of four activist judges who declared same-sex “marriage” legal in California. This ruling was handed down despite the strong majority of Californians who had voted to include the true definition of marriage in the state’s Family Code in 2000.
The victory of Proposition 8, and that of similar legislation in Florida and Arizona, was met with jubilation from pro-family advocates Wednesday as a strong sign of hope for true marriage protection across the country.
But homosexual couples and lobbyists nationwide are seeing red now that same-sex “marriage” has suffered a massive blow.
The first lawsuit against Proposition 8 came from the ACLU, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and Lambda Legal. Santa Clara County and the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles brought a second case against the new legislation to court. The third came from Los Angeles lawyer Gloria Allred on behalf of a "married" lesbian couple. Homosexual rights groups are arguing that the constitution's “core commitment to equality for everyone" has been violated by the true marriage amendment.
Besides the lawsuits, reports of threats aimed at Christian and other religious groups have been pouring in since it became clear that Proposition 8 would pass.
In a blog entry titled “You’ll Want to Punch them” on Queerty.com, poster “BillyBob Thornton” wrote, “I have never considered being a violent radical extremist for our Equal Rights, But now I think maybe I should consider becoming one.” “Stenar” asked, “Can someone in CA please go burn down the Mormon temples there, PLEASE. I mean seriously. DO IT.”
“Jonathan” warned, “I’m going to give them something to be f – ing scared of. … I’m a radical who is now on a mission to make them all pay for what they’ve done.”
Meanwhile, at JoeMyGod.blogspot.com, “World O Jeff,” said, “Burn their f–ing churches to the ground, and then tax the charred timbers.” While, “Tread,” wrote, “I hope the No on 8 people have a long list and long knives.” “Joe,” stated, “I swear, I’d murder people with my bare hands this morning.”
And on the Americablog.com Web site, “scottinsf” posted, “Trust me. I’ve got a big list of names of mormons and catholics that were big supporters of Prop 8. … As far as mormons and catholics … I warn them to watch their backs.”
Matt Barber, Director of Cultural Affairs with both Liberty Alliance Action and Liberty Counsel, said, “This is not just a matter of some people blowing off steam because they’re not happy with a political outcome.
"This is criminal activity. The homosexual lobby is always calling for ‘tolerance’ and ‘diversity’ and playing the role of victim. They claim to deplore violence and ‘hate.’"
But now that the homosexual lobby is on the defensive, says Barber, they pull out all the stops in expressing their violent hate for religious believers and supporters of true marriage.
"Imagine if Christian Web sites were advocating such violence against homosexuals," he emphasizes. "There’d be outrage, and rightfully so. It’d be national front-page news."
source
Jemdude's comments:
Do you notice that homosexuals claim to promote "tolerance" but do not practice it in return? What hatred and violence they promote!
SACRAMENTO, California, November 6, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Hours after Californians won the battle to protect the true definition of marriage through Proposition 8, numerous lawsuits have been filed in California courts by frustrated homosexualist activists bent on overruling the voter-approved amendment.
Three lawyers filed separate lawsuits on Wednesday claiming that Proposition 8 was an illegal constitutional revision, rather than an amendment. Proposition 8 adds to the state constitution the sentence: "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."
"If they want to legalize gay marriage, what they should do is bring an initiative themselves and ask the people to approve it," Frank Schubert, co-chairman of the Proposition 8 campaign, told the LA Times, in response to the flurry of lawsuits. "But they don’t. They go behind the people’s back to the courts and try and force an agenda on the rest of society."
In all three states in the US where same-sex “marriage” is or has been legal, it was imposed by a court decision and not by the legislature or the citizens.
Having won one of the most hard-fought battles in the 2008 election, Proposition 8 overturned the May ruling of four activist judges who declared same-sex “marriage” legal in California. This ruling was handed down despite the strong majority of Californians who had voted to include the true definition of marriage in the state’s Family Code in 2000.
The victory of Proposition 8, and that of similar legislation in Florida and Arizona, was met with jubilation from pro-family advocates Wednesday as a strong sign of hope for true marriage protection across the country.
But homosexual couples and lobbyists nationwide are seeing red now that same-sex “marriage” has suffered a massive blow.
The first lawsuit against Proposition 8 came from the ACLU, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and Lambda Legal. Santa Clara County and the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles brought a second case against the new legislation to court. The third came from Los Angeles lawyer Gloria Allred on behalf of a "married" lesbian couple. Homosexual rights groups are arguing that the constitution's “core commitment to equality for everyone" has been violated by the true marriage amendment.
Besides the lawsuits, reports of threats aimed at Christian and other religious groups have been pouring in since it became clear that Proposition 8 would pass.
In a blog entry titled “You’ll Want to Punch them” on Queerty.com, poster “BillyBob Thornton” wrote, “I have never considered being a violent radical extremist for our Equal Rights, But now I think maybe I should consider becoming one.” “Stenar” asked, “Can someone in CA please go burn down the Mormon temples there, PLEASE. I mean seriously. DO IT.”
“Jonathan” warned, “I’m going to give them something to be f – ing scared of. … I’m a radical who is now on a mission to make them all pay for what they’ve done.”
Meanwhile, at JoeMyGod.blogspot.com, “World O Jeff,” said, “Burn their f–ing churches to the ground, and then tax the charred timbers.” While, “Tread,” wrote, “I hope the No on 8 people have a long list and long knives.” “Joe,” stated, “I swear, I’d murder people with my bare hands this morning.”
And on the Americablog.com Web site, “scottinsf” posted, “Trust me. I’ve got a big list of names of mormons and catholics that were big supporters of Prop 8. … As far as mormons and catholics … I warn them to watch their backs.”
Matt Barber, Director of Cultural Affairs with both Liberty Alliance Action and Liberty Counsel, said, “This is not just a matter of some people blowing off steam because they’re not happy with a political outcome.
"This is criminal activity. The homosexual lobby is always calling for ‘tolerance’ and ‘diversity’ and playing the role of victim. They claim to deplore violence and ‘hate.’"
But now that the homosexual lobby is on the defensive, says Barber, they pull out all the stops in expressing their violent hate for religious believers and supporters of true marriage.
"Imagine if Christian Web sites were advocating such violence against homosexuals," he emphasizes. "There’d be outrage, and rightfully so. It’d be national front-page news."
source
Jemdude's comments:
Do you notice that homosexuals claim to promote "tolerance" but do not practice it in return? What hatred and violence they promote!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
How do I take my mind off the things of this world?
I'll tell you how I don't do it. It's not by going to "nosteliga boards" where you have moderators and posters like greenhornet, Mighty Markie, and Bloviator who support 21 Century political correctness over the family values that those earlier eras truly represented. I do it by watching TV Land and Dejaview in Canada and watching shows like Hart to Hart and Fantasy Island, and Three's Company, and Cosby Show, etc.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Jemdude is running for public office!
That's right. I am officially running as a candidate for the Christian Heritage Party. I am very proud that I am providing a moral alternative to the other parties out there.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Homosexual U.K. Documentarian Says Gay Lifestyle a "Sewer" of Casual Degrading Sex, Drug Abuse and Misery
By Hilary White
LONDON, September 10, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A British homosexual journalist admits that his documentary on the London gay scene is likely to "burn every bridge in the gay world I've got."
Simon Fanshawe is a writer and broadcaster who created the documentary "The Trouble With Gay Men" after becoming increasingly alarmed at the shallowness and destructiveness of the "gay lifestyle." The film, made for BBC 3 television, questions the emotional and psychological immaturity, narcissism, nihilism and self-destructive tendencies of many in the homosexual community. Fanshawe says he wants homosexual men to "grow up" and get beyond their state of "extended adolescence."
Fanshawe, who was involved in the early homosexualist political movement, says, "We've fought discrimination and prejudice, only to wreck ourselves with drugs and wild sex."
In his documentary Fanshawe admits that the homosexualist movement has in the main achieved its political goals of equalising homosexuality with natural sexual relations, in abolishing laws against sodomy and creating legal equivalency with marriage and adoption. Given these achievements, Fanshawe asks, "Why do we seem hell bent on behaving like eternal teenagers?"
"We're hooked on vanity, and regard older men with contempt. Despite AIDS we're still chasing the ultimate sexual high and what's more are determined to wreck ourselves on designer drugs. We're happy to assist the straight world in keeping alive the image of all gay men as limp-wristed queens."
He says that he has recently "started to worry" about the ways in which "gay liberation is celebrated" in his hometown of Brighton, a major centre of the homosexual subculture. At the annual "Mr. Gay" beauty pageant, which he describes as a "pathetic display of self-delusion", Fanshawe tells a contestant, "I'm old enough to remember when all those women were fighting against Miss World...What we're all saying about ourselves is that actually to be really gay, properly gay, what you've got to be is cute, and young."
"Extreme vanity" he says, has been "sewn into gay culture." It "is now so mainstream in the gay community that otherwise intelligent young men are happy to be treated as sex objects on a demeaning meat rack."
Gay men, he says, are so "hardwired" towards finding casual sexual encounters, some going as far as plastic implants to enhance their appearance, that finding genuine intimacy is "practically impossible."
"Vast amounts of our leisure time are organised around sex, straight or gay. But what gay men have done is organise our identity around sex. And that is corrosive. And to make things worse, promiscuity has become the norm."
The documentarian asks the proprietor of a gay sex bath house, "Paul", who had just related some graphic stories of group sexual encounters in the establishment, "Are we just swimming around in a sewer which we're just sort of saying is normal?"
For objecting to the lifestyle of pursuing casual and "extreme" sex and for holding genuine human intimacy as a goal, Paul told Fanshawe that he is "the closest thing to a straight person in a gay man's body I have ever met. There should be an operation for you, dear."
Paul was adamant and forthright in his belief that the gay lifestyle is incompatible with happiness and fidelity in human relations, expressing his dissatisfaction with civil unions legislation. "The temptation of other things will always stand in the way of two gay men having a long-term, loving, caring relationship."
Fanshawe says he is horrified at the lack of emotional involvement and at the willingness of men to engage in "unsafe sex." The film includes statistics that show the deadly consequences of the homosexual lifestyle. One in nine gay men in London is HIV infected and new cases of HIV have doubled in the city in five years. Incidences of syphilis have increased in the same time period 616 per cent.
"Unsafe" sex, he says, is not the only way in which gay men are self destructive. "If there's a new drug, gay men will find it and take it," he states.
At one point Fanshawe interviews a homosexual man who has "done all the drugs" and now campaigns in gay clubs against the growing use of crystal methamphetamine. The man, who could not be identified for fear of reprisals from drug dealers, said that crystal meth is preferred in the gay community because it reduces the inhibitions and allows sex to be brought to an "animalistic" level "devoid of emotion." The film says that one in five gay men in London use crystal meth.
source
Jemdude's comments:
Remember, this is a homosexual saying all of this; not second hand information from an "ignorant" person.
LONDON, September 10, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A British homosexual journalist admits that his documentary on the London gay scene is likely to "burn every bridge in the gay world I've got."
Simon Fanshawe is a writer and broadcaster who created the documentary "The Trouble With Gay Men" after becoming increasingly alarmed at the shallowness and destructiveness of the "gay lifestyle." The film, made for BBC 3 television, questions the emotional and psychological immaturity, narcissism, nihilism and self-destructive tendencies of many in the homosexual community. Fanshawe says he wants homosexual men to "grow up" and get beyond their state of "extended adolescence."
Fanshawe, who was involved in the early homosexualist political movement, says, "We've fought discrimination and prejudice, only to wreck ourselves with drugs and wild sex."
In his documentary Fanshawe admits that the homosexualist movement has in the main achieved its political goals of equalising homosexuality with natural sexual relations, in abolishing laws against sodomy and creating legal equivalency with marriage and adoption. Given these achievements, Fanshawe asks, "Why do we seem hell bent on behaving like eternal teenagers?"
"We're hooked on vanity, and regard older men with contempt. Despite AIDS we're still chasing the ultimate sexual high and what's more are determined to wreck ourselves on designer drugs. We're happy to assist the straight world in keeping alive the image of all gay men as limp-wristed queens."
He says that he has recently "started to worry" about the ways in which "gay liberation is celebrated" in his hometown of Brighton, a major centre of the homosexual subculture. At the annual "Mr. Gay" beauty pageant, which he describes as a "pathetic display of self-delusion", Fanshawe tells a contestant, "I'm old enough to remember when all those women were fighting against Miss World...What we're all saying about ourselves is that actually to be really gay, properly gay, what you've got to be is cute, and young."
"Extreme vanity" he says, has been "sewn into gay culture." It "is now so mainstream in the gay community that otherwise intelligent young men are happy to be treated as sex objects on a demeaning meat rack."
Gay men, he says, are so "hardwired" towards finding casual sexual encounters, some going as far as plastic implants to enhance their appearance, that finding genuine intimacy is "practically impossible."
"Vast amounts of our leisure time are organised around sex, straight or gay. But what gay men have done is organise our identity around sex. And that is corrosive. And to make things worse, promiscuity has become the norm."
The documentarian asks the proprietor of a gay sex bath house, "Paul", who had just related some graphic stories of group sexual encounters in the establishment, "Are we just swimming around in a sewer which we're just sort of saying is normal?"
For objecting to the lifestyle of pursuing casual and "extreme" sex and for holding genuine human intimacy as a goal, Paul told Fanshawe that he is "the closest thing to a straight person in a gay man's body I have ever met. There should be an operation for you, dear."
Paul was adamant and forthright in his belief that the gay lifestyle is incompatible with happiness and fidelity in human relations, expressing his dissatisfaction with civil unions legislation. "The temptation of other things will always stand in the way of two gay men having a long-term, loving, caring relationship."
Fanshawe says he is horrified at the lack of emotional involvement and at the willingness of men to engage in "unsafe sex." The film includes statistics that show the deadly consequences of the homosexual lifestyle. One in nine gay men in London is HIV infected and new cases of HIV have doubled in the city in five years. Incidences of syphilis have increased in the same time period 616 per cent.
"Unsafe" sex, he says, is not the only way in which gay men are self destructive. "If there's a new drug, gay men will find it and take it," he states.
At one point Fanshawe interviews a homosexual man who has "done all the drugs" and now campaigns in gay clubs against the growing use of crystal methamphetamine. The man, who could not be identified for fear of reprisals from drug dealers, said that crystal meth is preferred in the gay community because it reduces the inhibitions and allows sex to be brought to an "animalistic" level "devoid of emotion." The film says that one in five gay men in London use crystal meth.
source
Jemdude's comments:
Remember, this is a homosexual saying all of this; not second hand information from an "ignorant" person.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Two Birds with One Stone: Australian Homosexual Bill Promotes Polygamist Agenda
By Kathleen Gilbert
SYDNEY, Australia, September 4, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Australian Federal Parliament today introduced a bill that, if passed, would grant legal benefits to homosexual couples; but critics say it would also essentially legalize polygamy, since the bill would grant benefits to homosexual relationships regardless of whether either partner is currently legally married to someone else.
The Same-Sex Entitlements Bill follows upon a similar bill passed in May granting retirement benefits to same-sex couples, and would extend benefits to homosexuals in matters of immigration, taxation, employment entitlements, and worker's compensation, among other issues. But because the bill stipulates that these benefits must be given to homosexuals regardless of whether they are already legally married to a third party, the Federal Opposition attacked the bill for opening the doors to polygamy.
Polygamy is a hotly-debated issue in Australia due to the rapid rise of Islam, which considers polygamy a cultural option worthy of sanctioning by the federal government. Newsblaze.com reported only two days ago that senior Islamic leaders petitioned for legal recognition of polygamous marriage, but the government has so far remained steadfastly against amending its laws to allow polygamy. Some Australian Muslim women have also made the news in their protest against legalizing polygamy.
Sophie Mirabella, the Victorian Liberal MP, told the Herald Sun that by introducing the homosexual bill "not only is the Labor Party legalising polygamy, but it's changing the law so that the third person in an extramarital relationship can effectively claim the assets of a marriage or of the long-term de facto relationship."
Homosexual activist Rodney Croome criticized the Opposition for considering "a marriage without love" to be "more important than a de facto relationship with it," with "de facto relationship" understood as adultery or fornication. He continues that it's simply "a fact of life" that some homosexual relationships are adulterous, and expressed concern that the extra-marital party would not have legislative protection as Australian law stands, according to pinknews.com.
But critics of the bill emphasize that this would lead to the ruin of the innocent spouse that is uninvolved in the adultery, since it allows the extra-marital lover to make a legitimate property claim. Such a state of affairs, the opposition claims, is materially the same as legalizing polygamy, only under the guise of homosexual tolerance.
Rather than striking down the bill, the opposition hopes to remove the portions that recognize adulterous homosexual relationships. Both political parties in the Australian government, despite the recent legislation favoring homosexual couples, still maintain that actual marriage pertains only to one man and one woman.
source
Jemdude's comments:
This is very bizzare. Comments?
SYDNEY, Australia, September 4, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Australian Federal Parliament today introduced a bill that, if passed, would grant legal benefits to homosexual couples; but critics say it would also essentially legalize polygamy, since the bill would grant benefits to homosexual relationships regardless of whether either partner is currently legally married to someone else.
The Same-Sex Entitlements Bill follows upon a similar bill passed in May granting retirement benefits to same-sex couples, and would extend benefits to homosexuals in matters of immigration, taxation, employment entitlements, and worker's compensation, among other issues. But because the bill stipulates that these benefits must be given to homosexuals regardless of whether they are already legally married to a third party, the Federal Opposition attacked the bill for opening the doors to polygamy.
Polygamy is a hotly-debated issue in Australia due to the rapid rise of Islam, which considers polygamy a cultural option worthy of sanctioning by the federal government. Newsblaze.com reported only two days ago that senior Islamic leaders petitioned for legal recognition of polygamous marriage, but the government has so far remained steadfastly against amending its laws to allow polygamy. Some Australian Muslim women have also made the news in their protest against legalizing polygamy.
Sophie Mirabella, the Victorian Liberal MP, told the Herald Sun that by introducing the homosexual bill "not only is the Labor Party legalising polygamy, but it's changing the law so that the third person in an extramarital relationship can effectively claim the assets of a marriage or of the long-term de facto relationship."
Homosexual activist Rodney Croome criticized the Opposition for considering "a marriage without love" to be "more important than a de facto relationship with it," with "de facto relationship" understood as adultery or fornication. He continues that it's simply "a fact of life" that some homosexual relationships are adulterous, and expressed concern that the extra-marital party would not have legislative protection as Australian law stands, according to pinknews.com.
But critics of the bill emphasize that this would lead to the ruin of the innocent spouse that is uninvolved in the adultery, since it allows the extra-marital lover to make a legitimate property claim. Such a state of affairs, the opposition claims, is materially the same as legalizing polygamy, only under the guise of homosexual tolerance.
Rather than striking down the bill, the opposition hopes to remove the portions that recognize adulterous homosexual relationships. Both political parties in the Australian government, despite the recent legislation favoring homosexual couples, still maintain that actual marriage pertains only to one man and one woman.
source
Jemdude's comments:
This is very bizzare. Comments?
Monday, September 1, 2008
Corruption in the San Fransicso Police Service
San Francisco Police Officer ignores sodomites breaking the law by giving each other oral sex on a public sidewalk during this year’s Folsom Street Parade. What do these pictures show? They demonstrate the breakdown of the impartial application of the law as homosexual activism and political correctness corrupts North America’s big city police forces.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Homosexual Activists Target California Businesses That Support Pro-marriage Proposition
By Thaddeus M. Baklinski
CALIFORNIA, August 29, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An upstart homosexual rights group in California has begun to target not only individuals, but also companies to which they are connected, if they have contributed money to committees that support Proposition 8, the ballot initiative to ban same-sex "marriage" in California.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Californians Against Hate, a new homosexual-rights group, intends to identify and publicize corporate connections to individuals that make significant donations.
Fred Karger, who runs the homosexual group, said he will compile and publish a list which includes the donor's name, employer and the corporate logo of that employer, even if the company itself didn't donate to the Proposition 8 fight.
An example given in the WSJ report involves William Bolthouse, a California philanthropist, who donated $100,000 in March to support Proposition 8.
Calls and emails began to be received by the corporate offices of a company that bears his name, even though he sold it three years earlier.
"I'm not connected to Bolthouse Farms at all," said Mr. Bolthouse.
Jeffrey Dunn, chief executive of Bolthouse Farms, which produces bottled juice, said, "It wasn't us, it's not our fault."
Mr. Dunn said Bolthouse Farms' profits were not affected by the publicity and that his company has made an effort to correct wrong information on blogs that said Mr. Bolthouse still owned a large portion of the company.
Another individual, whose business was targeted by homosexuals in a call-in campaign after he and his family donated $300,000 to support Proposition 8, said the effort was "stupid" and totally ineffectual.
Terry Caster, the owner of A-1 Storage, a self-storage company based in San Diego, said he received a few phone calls a day that petered out after several weeks, and his business wasn't affected.
"To tell a business owner that they can't express their beliefs on an issue is a really stupid thing," said Mr. Caster
Both sides contending this issue see the outcome of Proposition 8 as pivotal in determining which way other states in the US may go in extending marriage rights to homosexuals.
source
Jemdude's comments:
Homosexuals are the only ones that seem to claim that disagreement equals hate. This is not the case. For example, I can respect a Muslim without being accused of "hate" just because I do not accept Allah and Muhammad as a prophet. I can also respect a co-worker who lives in a common law relationship without having to agree that such a relationship is right. So why do people practicing homosexuality believe that a person who doesn't support their agenda is hating them?
CALIFORNIA, August 29, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An upstart homosexual rights group in California has begun to target not only individuals, but also companies to which they are connected, if they have contributed money to committees that support Proposition 8, the ballot initiative to ban same-sex "marriage" in California.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Californians Against Hate, a new homosexual-rights group, intends to identify and publicize corporate connections to individuals that make significant donations.
Fred Karger, who runs the homosexual group, said he will compile and publish a list which includes the donor's name, employer and the corporate logo of that employer, even if the company itself didn't donate to the Proposition 8 fight.
An example given in the WSJ report involves William Bolthouse, a California philanthropist, who donated $100,000 in March to support Proposition 8.
Calls and emails began to be received by the corporate offices of a company that bears his name, even though he sold it three years earlier.
"I'm not connected to Bolthouse Farms at all," said Mr. Bolthouse.
Jeffrey Dunn, chief executive of Bolthouse Farms, which produces bottled juice, said, "It wasn't us, it's not our fault."
Mr. Dunn said Bolthouse Farms' profits were not affected by the publicity and that his company has made an effort to correct wrong information on blogs that said Mr. Bolthouse still owned a large portion of the company.
Another individual, whose business was targeted by homosexuals in a call-in campaign after he and his family donated $300,000 to support Proposition 8, said the effort was "stupid" and totally ineffectual.
Terry Caster, the owner of A-1 Storage, a self-storage company based in San Diego, said he received a few phone calls a day that petered out after several weeks, and his business wasn't affected.
"To tell a business owner that they can't express their beliefs on an issue is a really stupid thing," said Mr. Caster
Both sides contending this issue see the outcome of Proposition 8 as pivotal in determining which way other states in the US may go in extending marriage rights to homosexuals.
source
Jemdude's comments:
Homosexuals are the only ones that seem to claim that disagreement equals hate. This is not the case. For example, I can respect a Muslim without being accused of "hate" just because I do not accept Allah and Muhammad as a prophet. I can also respect a co-worker who lives in a common law relationship without having to agree that such a relationship is right. So why do people practicing homosexuality believe that a person who doesn't support their agenda is hating them?
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
Washington Times Op-ed—Teens Challenged to do Hard Things
by J. Michael Smith
HSLDA President
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “teenager”? For many, it is not positive.
Teenage rebellion has become commonplace, and our culture has responded by expecting less and less of teenagers. But is teenage rebellion inevitable, or are there new ways of thinking that could address the problem? Responsibility for teenage rebellion and underperformance must fall primarily at the feet of parents and other adults. This is because our current expectations for teenagers provide very little challenge.
Alex and Brett Harris, 19-year-old homeschooled twins, are trying to give adults and teens a wake-up call. In their book, Do Hard Things, they attempt to explode the myth of adolescence. They show that prior to the early 20th century, people were either children or adults. Family and work were the primary occupations of the group we now call “teenagers.” Teens, though it was often driven by economic necessity, were given real-world responsibility. Today, few teens are expected to imitate responsible adults, but are rather immersed in a frivolous peer culture.
The Harris twins are not the only writers to question the conventional wisdom about teenagers. Robert Epstein, a longtime researcher in psychology who received his doctorate from Harvard, has exposed the myth of the teen brain in his book, The Case Against Adolescence: Rediscovering the Adult in Every Teen. He argues against the common belief held in the scientific community that an incompletely developed brain accounts for the emotional problems and irresponsible behavior of many teenagers.
Mr. Epstein shows the differences in the teen brain are the result of social influences, rather than the cause of teen turmoil. He concludes that a careful review of the research shows the teen brain we read about in the headlines—the immature brain that is supposedly the cause of teen problems—is nothing less than a myth.
For example, if the teen brain was really fundamentally different from an adult brain, then we would see similar patterns of teenage rebellion throughout history. We do not. Teens in other cultures, and our own until the early 20th century, held responsible positions and were expected to imitate adults rather than children.
Mr. Epstein says teens are extraordinarily competent, even if they do not normally express that competence. Also, long-standing studies of intelligence, perceptual abilities and memory function show that teens are in many instances far superior to adults.
Mr. Epstein concludes that the peer culture of teens, where they learn virtually everything they know from one another, rather than from people they are about to become, is the cause of the problems we see today. Almost all teens are isolated from adults and wrongly treated like children.
What is the solution? When teens are treated like adults, they almost immediately rise to the challenge. Parents must trust their teens by giving them more and more responsibility, accompanied with the proper mentoring. This is a strong admonition to parents and adults to challenge our teens to act more like adults rather than traditional teens.
The Harris twins are giving direction to the teens to become productive. By first exploding the teen myth, they inform teens they are capable of much more than is usually expected of them and that adults have completely underestimated their talents and abilities. They challenge teens to join the “rebelution,” which is a revolution against rebellion, and spell out five steps to responsibility for teens.
First, teens should “do hard things” that take them out of their comfort zone. Second, teens should go beyond what is expected or required of them. Third, teens should attempt tasks that are too big to be done alone to learn teamwork and collaboration. Fourth, teens should do things that don’t pay off immediately. These are the unexciting things that may seem like an endless round of chores that go without recognition. These chores, however, build character. Finally, teens should stand up for their beliefs even if the majority opposes them.
Do Hard Things is a book for teens and their parents. I firmly believe this book, if taken seriously by the current generation of teens and their parents, could prove to be one of the most life-changing and culture-changing books of this generation.
Michael Smith is the president of the Home School Legal Defense Association. He may be contacted at (540)338-5600; or send email to media@hslda.org.
link
Jemdude's comments:
This is why I do not agree with the saying "kids should be kids as long as possible". Teenagers in the past were part of adulthood; not childhood and this is something that western culture doesn't understand.
HSLDA President
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “teenager”? For many, it is not positive.
Teenage rebellion has become commonplace, and our culture has responded by expecting less and less of teenagers. But is teenage rebellion inevitable, or are there new ways of thinking that could address the problem? Responsibility for teenage rebellion and underperformance must fall primarily at the feet of parents and other adults. This is because our current expectations for teenagers provide very little challenge.
Alex and Brett Harris, 19-year-old homeschooled twins, are trying to give adults and teens a wake-up call. In their book, Do Hard Things, they attempt to explode the myth of adolescence. They show that prior to the early 20th century, people were either children or adults. Family and work were the primary occupations of the group we now call “teenagers.” Teens, though it was often driven by economic necessity, were given real-world responsibility. Today, few teens are expected to imitate responsible adults, but are rather immersed in a frivolous peer culture.
The Harris twins are not the only writers to question the conventional wisdom about teenagers. Robert Epstein, a longtime researcher in psychology who received his doctorate from Harvard, has exposed the myth of the teen brain in his book, The Case Against Adolescence: Rediscovering the Adult in Every Teen. He argues against the common belief held in the scientific community that an incompletely developed brain accounts for the emotional problems and irresponsible behavior of many teenagers.
Mr. Epstein shows the differences in the teen brain are the result of social influences, rather than the cause of teen turmoil. He concludes that a careful review of the research shows the teen brain we read about in the headlines—the immature brain that is supposedly the cause of teen problems—is nothing less than a myth.
For example, if the teen brain was really fundamentally different from an adult brain, then we would see similar patterns of teenage rebellion throughout history. We do not. Teens in other cultures, and our own until the early 20th century, held responsible positions and were expected to imitate adults rather than children.
Mr. Epstein says teens are extraordinarily competent, even if they do not normally express that competence. Also, long-standing studies of intelligence, perceptual abilities and memory function show that teens are in many instances far superior to adults.
Mr. Epstein concludes that the peer culture of teens, where they learn virtually everything they know from one another, rather than from people they are about to become, is the cause of the problems we see today. Almost all teens are isolated from adults and wrongly treated like children.
What is the solution? When teens are treated like adults, they almost immediately rise to the challenge. Parents must trust their teens by giving them more and more responsibility, accompanied with the proper mentoring. This is a strong admonition to parents and adults to challenge our teens to act more like adults rather than traditional teens.
The Harris twins are giving direction to the teens to become productive. By first exploding the teen myth, they inform teens they are capable of much more than is usually expected of them and that adults have completely underestimated their talents and abilities. They challenge teens to join the “rebelution,” which is a revolution against rebellion, and spell out five steps to responsibility for teens.
First, teens should “do hard things” that take them out of their comfort zone. Second, teens should go beyond what is expected or required of them. Third, teens should attempt tasks that are too big to be done alone to learn teamwork and collaboration. Fourth, teens should do things that don’t pay off immediately. These are the unexciting things that may seem like an endless round of chores that go without recognition. These chores, however, build character. Finally, teens should stand up for their beliefs even if the majority opposes them.
Do Hard Things is a book for teens and their parents. I firmly believe this book, if taken seriously by the current generation of teens and their parents, could prove to be one of the most life-changing and culture-changing books of this generation.
Michael Smith is the president of the Home School Legal Defense Association. He may be contacted at (540)338-5600; or send email to media@hslda.org.
link
Jemdude's comments:
This is why I do not agree with the saying "kids should be kids as long as possible". Teenagers in the past were part of adulthood; not childhood and this is something that western culture doesn't understand.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Homosexual British Police Officers Acquitted After Getting Caught with Child Porn
Movie and still images found at their shared home and in work files and laptop
By Hilary White
LONDON, August 14, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A pair of homosexual police "partners" have been cleared of charges of possession of child pornography, both in their shared home and on the computers used in their work. The jury of eight women and four men at Southwark Crown Court returned unanimous not guilty verdicts on all six charges.
Prosecutor Tim Hunter had told the court, "The case is that the images on the disk are illicit or illegal and they didn't seem to relate to a professional task."
Early this year, colleagues discovered pornographic images of children on computer disks used by Graham Ferguson, a detective with the London Metropolitan Police, and Gerard Collins, a British Transport Police officer. Ferguson, 41, worked in the Professional Standards Directorate of London Metropolitan Police, the office charged with investigating other officers for misconduct.
The discovery prompted a search of the home the two men shared where more images were found on disks and a laptop computer, with some of the material being hidden under the bed. The disk from the officer's filing cabinet contained 57 paedophile film files and one still image. The material found in the officers' home included 25 indecent images and the CD contained two images. The laptop held a movie file and a single image.
Ferguson's superior believed that none of the images were part of any investigation Ferguson might have been conducting. In total, DC Ferguson was charged with possession of more than 80 indecent images of children.
The two policemen denied knowing there were pornographic images of children on their computer discs. Collins, 27, claimed that it may have got onto his computer inadvertently when he was doing an overnight "bulk download" of material from a general gay pornography website. This, despite the insistence of the homosexual community that homosexuality has no connection to paedophilia. He denied being attracted to children, saying he preferred older men.
The two police officers reportedly burst into tears and embraced in the dock after being cleared.
The use of child pornography and the interest of homosexuals in children and adolescents are well documented, despite the vociferous denials of homosexual political activists.
In 1990, the Journal of Homosexuality, a peer reviewed academic journal that publishes research into same-sex attraction and examines homosexual practices, produced a special double issue devoted to adult-child sex, entitled "Male Intergenerational Intimacy".
In one article, a writer said that a "loving" paedophile can offer "companionship, security and protection" and that parents should look upon a paedophile who loves their son "not as a rival or competitor, not as a thief of their property, but as a partner in the boy's upbringing, someone to be welcomed into their home..."
A British university professor wrote in the same issue, "Boys want sex with men, boys seduce adult men, the experience is very common and much enjoyed".
By Hilary White
LONDON, August 14, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A pair of homosexual police "partners" have been cleared of charges of possession of child pornography, both in their shared home and on the computers used in their work. The jury of eight women and four men at Southwark Crown Court returned unanimous not guilty verdicts on all six charges.
Prosecutor Tim Hunter had told the court, "The case is that the images on the disk are illicit or illegal and they didn't seem to relate to a professional task."
Early this year, colleagues discovered pornographic images of children on computer disks used by Graham Ferguson, a detective with the London Metropolitan Police, and Gerard Collins, a British Transport Police officer. Ferguson, 41, worked in the Professional Standards Directorate of London Metropolitan Police, the office charged with investigating other officers for misconduct.
The discovery prompted a search of the home the two men shared where more images were found on disks and a laptop computer, with some of the material being hidden under the bed. The disk from the officer's filing cabinet contained 57 paedophile film files and one still image. The material found in the officers' home included 25 indecent images and the CD contained two images. The laptop held a movie file and a single image.
Ferguson's superior believed that none of the images were part of any investigation Ferguson might have been conducting. In total, DC Ferguson was charged with possession of more than 80 indecent images of children.
The two policemen denied knowing there were pornographic images of children on their computer discs. Collins, 27, claimed that it may have got onto his computer inadvertently when he was doing an overnight "bulk download" of material from a general gay pornography website. This, despite the insistence of the homosexual community that homosexuality has no connection to paedophilia. He denied being attracted to children, saying he preferred older men.
The two police officers reportedly burst into tears and embraced in the dock after being cleared.
The use of child pornography and the interest of homosexuals in children and adolescents are well documented, despite the vociferous denials of homosexual political activists.
In 1990, the Journal of Homosexuality, a peer reviewed academic journal that publishes research into same-sex attraction and examines homosexual practices, produced a special double issue devoted to adult-child sex, entitled "Male Intergenerational Intimacy".
In one article, a writer said that a "loving" paedophile can offer "companionship, security and protection" and that parents should look upon a paedophile who loves their son "not as a rival or competitor, not as a thief of their property, but as a partner in the boy's upbringing, someone to be welcomed into their home..."
A British university professor wrote in the same issue, "Boys want sex with men, boys seduce adult men, the experience is very common and much enjoyed".
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