Two-Fer: Faith Train and Same Sex Marriage

Not long ago, I was able to share The Good News with you on how the Obamessiah is reaching out to the Faithful! Remember this?

How about this?

Oh, and we cannot forget this one - I know it was a hit with the Catholics in the crowd (right Divine?):

O, ye people of faith - wait until you hear THIS! Hot off the presses! Exclusive: Obama Campaign Faith Tour Starts Next Week Halle-freaking-lujah!

An official with Barack Obama’s campaign tells The Brody File that beginning next week the campaign will start an official faith tour in key battleground states called “Barack Obama: Faith, Family and Values Tour”. The subheading of the tour is as follows: “Voting ALL Our Values”

The Brody File is told that top faith surrogates will hit the trail for Obama. Some of those high profile figures include Former Indiana Congressman and pro-life Democrat Tim Roemer, Catholic legal scholar Doug Kmiec, and author Donald Miller. You can also expect a soon to be named Evangelical North Carolina (red state) Congressman to travel the country as well. All of these surrogates are well versed and comfortable talking faith and politics. This is clearly a sign by the Obama campaign that they plan to target red state and swing state moderates.

Remember this name: Doug Kmiec. I’ll be telling you more about him farther along.

Wait - it gets even better:

A campaign official tells me the tour is designed to feature the “strong faith and values” of both Barack Obama and running mate Joe Biden. Issues will range from healthcare to poverty to the economy to climate change to yes, even abortion. The campaign understands tough questions may come their way but they’re ready with an answer of how they can reduce abortions.

Hold the phone - they are going to feature the “strong faith and values” of Barack Obama? Really? Does that mean Rev. Jeremiah Wright will also be going on this tour, illuminating Obama’s “rich white people” are to blame for all your ills beliefs? Funny - I don’t remember seeing his name listed above! Now THAT I would turn out to see, with a big ol’ bag of popcorn - wouldn’t you?

Maybe they’ll want to include Obama’s good buddy, IL State Senator The Rev. James Meeks, on this tour, educating us on the evils of *GASP* homosexuality! And the “Slave Masters,” aka MAYORS (by the way - that was the nicer choice of words he used) controlling their lives. Holy Moly - that would be something!

You know that this is just another way to get his Word out to those who may not have heard how he cares for them, yearns for them to know the truth and to be set free. Or it could be this:

While conservative Evangelicals have flocked to Palin, the Obama campaign is targeting voters from so many of the other faith traditions. The Brody File has been told that even with Palin now in the race, the Obama campaign’s internal faith polling shows them to be doing better than expected with other denominations besides conservative Evangelicals.

For example, they have their sites on places like Ohio which is home to roughly 500,000 United Methodists alone.

Oh, goody - they are going for the bitterly clingy churchy gun-toters. Brilliant!

Thankfully for those of us who are apparently going straight to Hell:

This tour will last about a month or so and will be in a town hall format where these speakers and others will give their talks in community centers and gyms and then take questions afterwards.

I don’t think I could take hearing about it any longer than that. (Shoot, I don’t know I’ll last a day, and with the Yankees out of the Playoffs, I have no idea how I will be able to ignore this.)

Just in case you are wondering, and want to be on the receiving end of a lovely button or bumper sticker, check to see if your state is listed here:

Among the states on the list are Colorado Indiana, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Florida, New Mexico, Virginia and Wisconsin. Remember, the Obama campaign believes the White Catholic vote is very much in play especially in places like Pennsylvania. Plus, while conservative Evangelicals are not going to head Obama’s way, the campaign believes they can win over those moderate and liberal Evangelicals, Catholics and even some conservative mainline Protestants.

Oh, it’s a veritable cornucopia of states AND denominations on which the Faith Train will be focusing. Whohoo - y’all will be having SOME prayer meetings!
Look, getting conservative Evangelicals was alw

Okay, just because the end of this article buys into Obama’s schtick, I have to share it will you:

(It is) a tough sell for the Obama campaign and it became much tougher after the Palin pick. But the Obama campaign understands that most people in this country consider their faith integral to their lives. The values and religion talk resonates not just with conservative Evangelicals but a whole range of people out there. It means different things to different people. Obama wants to tap into that and also stay true to the fact that his faith has been central to his life.

Well, I sure agree - it does mean different things to different people. I’m guessing this writer (Brody) doesn’t understand just what Obama’s faith IS, but hey, I’m sure all will become known in time…

Okey dokie. A slight change of gears, but not much. Recently, I had a post based on an article in the NY Times (Same-Sex Marriage Ban Is Tied to Obama Factor.) on Same Sex Marriage in CA that has the potential to be overturned on Nov. 4th. The article said Obama bringing out the AA vote might not bode well for California keeping same sex marriage legal since many in the AA community are quite conservative on this issue. As you no doubt know (despite what your Obamatron family/friends may say), Obama DOES NOT support same sex marriage. He supports civil unions, and thinks it is up to the individual states to decide. But, he claims in this article that he does not want to write discrimination into the CA Constitution. Well, guess who does? If you guessed Doug Kmiec, the man mentioned above, you would be RIGHT!! Yes, the one Obama has mentioned prominently to lead off the Faith Train to bring all you folk into the fold is a big ol’ homophobe. Hmmm - maybe he and Donnie McClurkin can be roomies as they make their way around the country spreading their joy and sunshine - for straight people only, that is. Ahem.

It Seems dear ol’ Doug wrote an editorial to the San Francisco newspaper back in June. Because I care, I will allow for Mr. Kmiec’s entire loving, compassionate concern for his fellow citizens to appear below, though I think his title gives it away:

On Same-Sex Marriage
Should California amend its Constitution?
Say ‘no’ to the Brave New World

The California ballot initiative intended to set aside the state Supreme Court’s judicial invention of same-sex marriage deserves public support. Maybe it is enough to say, as many do in conversation, that it merely re-secures a millennia of tradition and common sense. The initiative will restore to the people what was wrongfully taken from them: the right of self-governance and respect for the marital institution.

The initiative is simple: adding to the state Constitution the traditional man/woman definition of marriage that exists in virtually every state - and that the people approved in statutory form by more than 61 percent in 2000.

Because an affirmative vote is obviously intended to reverse the recent 4-3 opinion that wrongly overruled the people, the supporting ballot explanation should retain this simplicity. To avoid litigation, however, that explanation should explicitly indicate the effect of passage as reversing both the decision and reasoning of the court. Were the initiative to be narrowly portrayed in the ballot pamphlet as only denying that same-sex marriage is a fundamental right, the overly litigious would be tempted to argue that the court’s additional holding that sexual orientation is a suspect class was untouched by the balloting, leaving an avenue to block the people’s will yet again. The state Attorney General and Secretary of State should not allow this judicially active mischief.

Voting to overturn the court’s ruling should not be misunderstood. Gay and lesbian individuals are within the humanity acknowledged to be created equal and worthy of respect in the Declaration of Independence, but that responsible reaffirmation of equality of citizenship does not deprive the community of making a necessary and reasoned distinction for its own survival.

Beyond correcting the court’s disregard of the separation of powers, insisting upon preserving the link between marriage and procreation: 1) promotes the orderly continuation of the species; 2) avoids the uncertainties of single-gender effects on children (most parents readily recognize the distinctive contributions of male and female in child rearing); and 3) takes respectful account of the difficulties of accommodating religious freedom that arise subsequent to the legal acceptance of same-sex marriage. Oddly, and incompletely, the California Supreme Court managed to ignore these important issues in its 170-plus page opinion.

The proponents of same-sex marriage insist that inventing gay and lesbian marriage harms no one, but the above concerns suggest otherwise. Moreover, it overlooks the national and global decline in fertility, which threatens the economies of Europe and contributes to the weakness of our own. To say, as its advocates do, that the availability of same-sex marriage is not the principal cause of this decline in terms of absolute numbers is a fair point, but giving state approval to non-procreative marriage cannot be denied as a contributing cause to the decline of families with natural children.

Separating marriage from procreation may also have other remote, but frightening, ill consequences. Society should be skeptical of wider use of asexual procreation. An earlier dark moment in U.S. history employed eugenics to forcibly sterilize the mentally disabled. The push for artificial wombs and the genetic manipulation of intelligence already peppers scientific literature - a push that would no doubt grow, accommodating even the minimal same-sex desire for simulating natural child birth - claimed to be of interest for 20-30 percent of same-sex couples. When carefully assessed, the acquisition of unnatural reproductive means often advances the interests of the very affluent through a libertarian exercise that would threaten all hope of democratic equality.

In a depopulating world, the claim that there is a universal right to marry regardless of gender becomes a frightening ally of a claimed universal right to access to genetically engineered children. People should reject this claim by returning traditional marriage to its rightful place.

What a swell guy. In case you were wondering, here are his credentials:

Douglas W. Kmiec is chairman and professor of constitutional law at Pepperdine University and the former constitutional legal counsel to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.

I guess returning the country to George H.W. Bush’s foreign policies isn’t the only thing Obama wants of Bush’s - he wants his former legal counsel to reach out to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered Community, as well. Oops - wrong. I mean, he wants him to shower the people with love, love, exceedingly conditional, narrow-minded, repressive love by someone who is not a minister, but a lawyer, spreading the good news of his particular brand of Christianity. It makes me wonder why in the world Obama picked him - and this was apparently AFTER he came out with his stance against same-sex marriage. Why him? Really - a lawyer who worked for Reagan and Bush. To go out and spread the Word about Obama and the Gospel. Yeah, sure, okay. (Hey! I have an idea - maybe I should start teaching law classes or taking legal cases. Why not? How hard could it be? I mean, really, if this guy thinks he can do MY job with no training - and believe you me, my job required a LOT of training, including an M.Div. that takes longer to get than a JD, so why not? I’ve seen legal shows! I watch movies! I know I could do it - I am sure the Spirit will move me to do the right thing in the class/courtroom, right? Ahem.) Just one more associate of Obama’s whose stands go against who Obama claims himself to be, and whose participation seems a bit out of place, except for his stand against same-sex marriage. Maybe HE’s the one who came up with the “Pro-Family (as long as everyone involved is heterosexual)” button. Just a thought.

How many passes is this guy going to get?!? Heaven knows, he has gotten more than he deserves, and more than anyone else in his position would. Just leaves me scratching my head.

And now it is time for someone to please tell me again why anyone thinks that Barack Obama will do one damn thing for the GLBT community? I mean, one POSITIVE thing?? I don’t see it, and I sure don’t buy it. And, scratching my head that his supporters keep making these claims about Obama based on, well, nothing! No, actually, making claims despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary! So here’s you a sign - make that three of them - that Obama is a master manipulator who will say whatever to whomever whenever it suits him.

Sounds like he could use a visit from the Faith Train his own self, don’t you think? Maybe they can pray that lying demon right out of him. I’d like to see that, yes, I surely would. Maybe he’d be convicted in his spirit, and would finally admit that he is way out of his depth, and is only doing this for the power, concede, and get the hell out of the rac alreadye. Hey, I can dream, can’t I? Have a little faith - it could happen!