Read The Fine Print

Ken AshfordSex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

I was intrigued by this article in AgapePress, whose headline reads: Study Shows Dining With Family Reduces Teens’ Risk of Addictions.  The article begins: According to one national organization’s research, eating dinner together as a family is not only good for bonding between family members but also cuts down on teens’ risks of alcohol and drug addiction. I sought out … Read More

The Gay Marriage Amendment

Ken AshfordSex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

The Senate is to vote on the amendment Tuesday. It would prohibit states from recognizing same-sex marriages.  I thought that conservatives were against big government engaging in social engineering, but this is precisely what the Gay Marriage Amendment is an attempt to do.  On the other hand, it’s alarming how many prominent conservatives are against it — not because of … Read More

What WMD Would Jesus Use?

Ken AshfordGodstuff, Sex/Morality/Family Values, War on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

Apparently, some sort of biochemical weapon. It looks like some Christian fundamentalists are using homemade weapons of mass destruction to terrorize porn stores.  But don’t take my word for it: WALDO, FL — Evidence teams plan to put on protective gear and seal the room as they search for any clues left behind on a contraption that investigators are calling … Read More

Birds Do It

Ken AshfordSex/Morality/Family Values1 Comment

Not only did I not know there were such things as gay storks, but I also didn’t know this: Four gay storks have proved they are as capable of raising a family as their heterosexual counterparts. Staff at the zoo in Overloon, near Eindhoven, were unsure if the gay and lesbian storks would still have the same natural urge to … Read More

George Will Makes Sense

Ken AshfordSex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

Yeah, I know.  But when he’s right, he’s right. George Will’s topic today is the so-called "values voter" and he begins like this: An aggressively annoying new phrase in America’s political lexicon is "values voters." It is used proudly by social conservatives, and carelessly by the media to denote such conservatives. This phrase diminishes our understanding of politics. It also … Read More

Unholy Alliance

Ken AshfordGodstuff, Republicans, Sex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

Time magazine, June 1998: "The G.O.P. could lose its narrow 11-seat majority in the House if it didn’t find a way to galvanize its grass-roots activists, many of whom are Christian conservatives." New York Times, May 13, 2006: Some of President Bush’s most influential conservative Christian allies are becoming openly critical of the White House and Republicans in Congress, warning … Read More

Nathan Tabor: There’s Got To Be No Morning-After

Ken AshfordRight Wing Punditry/Idiocy, Sex/Morality/Family Values, Women's IssuesLeave a Comment

Having lost the primaries for NC State Senate, Nathan Tabor has a lot of time on his hands to think about all the issues that are important to him.  Today, it’s womens’ health women acting like hos: Imagine going to your doctor and being offered a pill—not because you were sick, or in any danger of becoming sick. No—your friendly … Read More

Intentionally Uninformed

Ken AshfordRight Wing Punditry/Idiocy, Sex/Morality/Family Values, Women's Issues3 Comments

Renew America pundit and pro-lifer Judie Brown, on the subject of Planned Parenthood, in a column entitled "Intentionally Uninhibited": Frantically scurrying to protect its multi-million dollar birth control enterprise, Planned Parenthood has begun taking aim at pro-life forces with rapid fire rhetoric designed to frighten the uninformed. Frightening the uninformed is Judie’s job, dammit, a point she will doubtless make … Read More

James Dobson Called Me A Homo

Ken AshfordGodstuff, Sex/Morality/Family Values1 Comment

I don’t know why I take these people seriously anymore, but because so many others do, I do. Focus On The Family founder James Dobson recently spewed some more pseudo-science out of his ass. In trying to explain the roots of homosexuality, he advances a theory known as "detachment and differentiation."  I’ll let him explain, in his own words: This … Read More

CBS/NYT Poll

Ken AshfordSex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

There’s a lot of good news for Democrats buried in the details of today’s CBS/New York Times poll, which you can read here (PDF).  No, it’s not just the approval rating (this poll also puts Bush at 31%). It’s things like this: "Do you think the Republican party or the Democratic party comes closer to sharing your moral values?" Republican … Read More

Cosmo and Jane Are Ruining America

Ken AshfordSex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

The latest from the American Taliban: A pro-family organization in Michigan is mobilizing forces to protest magazine displays in grocery story checkout lines. Bill Johnson’s American Decency Association says he is tired of the risqué magazine displays along the checkout line, and his group wants to do something about it. "If there’s a place where Christians can win the battle … Read More

On Abstinence Policies

Ken AshfordSex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

Abstinence-only policies are costly and inaccurate.  Now, we can add another reason why they are bad policy.  They simply do not work. Virginity pledges, in which young people vow to abstain from sex until marriage, have little staying power among those who take them, a Harvard study has found. More than half of the adolescents who make the signed public … Read More

Gay Marriage Does Not Affect Religious Liberty

Ken AshfordGodstuff, Sex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

What effect, if any, will same-sex marriages have on religious liberty? At first blush, your answer is probably "none".  After all, if the gay couple down the street gets married, whose religious freedom does it impugn? But, as Maggie Gallagher points out, there is an argument here: Catholic Charities of Boston, one of the nation’s oldest adoption agencies, had long … Read More