Time to put the record straight

This is an email I had to send to the propaganda wing of
Focus On The Family ( aka "Family News In Focus" ) :-

...snip...

Whenever you have a piece on your "news" broadcast about
stem cell research, you always end the piece with "Adult Stem
Cells are already involved in treating over 70 diseases and
conditions"

That is a LIE. Use "the Google" and read what universities say.
You know, REAL DOCTORS. MDs, people like that. Not that idiot
from the "Christian Medical and Dental Association"

Please stop repeating this lie. Aren't you supposed to be a
"Christian" organization? Have you heard that one about
"not bearing false witness"?

No. I didn't think so.

Also please look into what "Research" is. You can't have
treatments with embryonic stem cells UNTIL YOU HAVE
DONE THE RESEARCH.

By your argument, we would have no heart transplants
now because, when they were introduced you could say
"No one has survived any transplant procedure." So that
"research" inititially also yielded no cures, no treatments.

Guess what? More research made heart transplants work.

MORE RESEARCH.

Focus Does It Again - Serial Killer Series II

This week ( ending March 27th 2009 ) Focus on the Family continued its salacious "Serial Killers" series of radio programs when "Doctor" Bill Maier interviewed David Berkowitz aka The Son Of Sam.

The programs were pretty nauseating, with Maier "hmm-ing" and "ah-ing" to show he has "understanding" and "compassion" for this monster.

I can't believe Maier is a broadcaster at all. His "reaction noises" during interviews are so inapproprate and out of place. But he cares, he really does. That's what those noises are subtly telling us. He has picked up the habit from James Dobson. Neither know how to use a microphone to stop programs being about THEM, about how THEY feel - and by extension, how WE are supposed to feel.

They are manipulators. Horrible, horrible manipulators of pain and suffering. Serving it up to us in programs like those on Berkowitz and Bundy and then telling us how we are supposed to feel about them.

Why did they even have the interviews with Berkowitz? After the Dobson/Bundy love-in, I thought we might be done with this stuff.

Well we had the programs for two reasons :-

1. Because The Son Of Sam ( who brutally MURDERED six people ) has "found Jesus" in jail.

Well whoop-tee-doo. Berkowitz was a monster then and he's still a monster now. Like Bundy, he wanted to "be" someone. Now he gets his wish for fame by Focus On The Family pandering to him.

2. Because Berkowitz said he saw pornography when he was younger.

And even though he said pornography had NOTHING TO DO WITH HIS CRIMES, it didn't stop James Dobson saying "Oh yes it did".

I kid you not, Dobson quoted Ted Bundy as an authority and he then said something like "So as we see, pornography is ALWAYS involved in these crimes" ( Because TED BUNDY TOLD HIM SO ?? )

What a pernicious ax-grinding liar James Dobson is.

Safety vs Liberty

Today on CNN former Vice President Cheney said he thought we are now less safe under the policies of President Obama than we were previously. This is a pet mantra of Republicans, but I think it is time to call them out on it.

Wasn't this a country built at least in part on the phrase "Give me Liberty or give me Death"?

Now the liberties we have lost in the last eight years may indeed have made us safer, but the correct response to the statement of the former Vice President is "so what?" As Americans we should care more for Liberty than our personal safety - otherwise people like Patrick Henry have become irrelevant and we have failed to both uphold and live up to the very great ideals that founded this great nation.

Of course, Republicans will now say we haven't lost any liberties, But, what do you call the "sneak and peak" provisions of the Patriot Act? I call them unconstitutional.

This whole "more safe vs less safe" argument is completely bogus and those that use it lessen what it means to be an American. And they use it because they want us to be afraid.

The Most Useless Of Advice

I must say that the most useless piece of advice being repeated ad nauseam by the talking financial heads on TV is "You should put aside 6 to 9 months of living expenses in case you are laid off in the current recession".

What is the percentage of people currently living paycheck to paycheck? I seem to remember it is ( frighteningly ), A LOT.

To many people, this advice is quite useless. And even if people who are in the hole NOW started to put aside some money in case the pink slip arrives, how long would it take to get to 9 months of expenses?

I'm guessing at least a couple of years and maybe longer.

So if the nasty recession can just put itself on hold for two years, people can ready themselves for its consequences RIGHT NOW.

When you are in a recession, telling people how to prepare for a recession is stupid.

BIG NEWS: James Dobson steps down at FoF

Friday February 27th 2009 will be a day that lives in blessedness because dear reader, that was the day that "Doctor" James Dobson announced thet he was stepping down as chairman of Focus On The Family. And so his personality-ministry moves ever closer to being no more. Hooray!

Unfortunately he will still be doing the daily radio broadcast and the FoF monthly newsletter, but as an indicator that his influence is waning and that Focus will eventually fade away all together, this is simply GREAT NEWS.

I will of course continue to listen to the radio program and keep sending my comments to the gulag in Colorado Springs. After all, Dobson always says they read and value all correspondence from listeners.

The recent shows on "purity" sure have been icky doozies - They yakked on and on about telling even very young children about "mommies and daddies" but before the programs ran they said "you may want to take little ones ( including even maybe young adolescents ) to another room"

The people at FoF are clearly confused.

Yes, I'm talking to you "Doctor" Bill Maier and "Doctor" Julie Slattery.