posted on January 28, 2005 11:19:52 AM new
linduh says, ""Personally I think that all taxpayer dollars should stop going to PBS. Let contributors who enjoy what they offer support them. ""
Well, I didn't expect HER to support the only quality TV available, after all, her favorite "intellectual" show is probably the heinous "Fear Factor".
But her objection to using taxpayer's money is hilarious!
She doesn't mind if bush uses taxpayer's money to bribe talk show hosts to unethically promote his agendas.
Of course, the last time I mentioned Armstrong Williams, linduh disappeared !
Poor, cowering, fearful linduh, so desperately terrified that the big bad Lesbians will take over the world !! Ha !
So terrified of anything and everything beyond her scope of comprehension ...which is just about EVERYTHING.
posted on January 30, 2005 08:37:26 AM new
Now conservatives want to ban books, God only knows what they will want next.
As Snagglepuss, the gayest cartoon character ever introduced in the Eisenhower era, used to say: Heavens to Murgatroyd!
The second Bush inaugural is barely cold, the debate over Abe Lincoln's sleeping arrangements only now dying down, and already America's guardians of the straight and narrow find themselves in a homosexual panic of their own fomentation. Their collective gaydar has picked up more insidious gayness from the other side of the culture divide, the really gay side, than "Will & Grace" has wisecracks about Liza. It's like the untamed fire of freedom, only gay.
It has been quite a month for SpongeBob SquarePants, the world's most popular sponge, who sometimes holds hands with his starfish pal, Patrick. The American Family Association, headed up by the Rev. Donald Wildmon of Tupelo, Miss., served as an early bell-ringer on this satanic little morals-corrupter. James Dobson, founder of the Colorado Springs-based Christian activist group Focus on the Family, picked up the SpongeBob cause and made a stink over an alleged "pro-homosexual video" featuring the popular Nickelodeon animated hero, who, if he is gay, displays so little fashion sense clearly he's a candidate for a new Bravo series: "Queer Eye for the Queer Guy."
SpongeBob must be stopped. Nothing less than the "spiritual battle" for the soul of our nation is at stake, Dobson said. Dobson's No. 2, Paul Batura, called SpongeBob's endorsement of a "tolerance pledge" on a Web site (though not, as Dobson erroneously charged, in the video itself) an "insidious means by which the organization is manipulating and potentially brainwashing kids."
Vermont stop
So that's the news under the sea. For an open-minded cartoon rabbit things aren't much friendlier on land. Buster Baxter, star of the "Postcards From Buster" series on PBS, follows the "Arthur" spinoff rabbit as he visits real-life families of all kinds. He has landed in hot water. How? Vermont, that's how. He never should've gone to Vermont, a state which recognizes same-sex civil unions. If Buster insisted on Vermont, he should've stuck with the hets.
The "Postcards" episode in question features Buster's visit to a family headed by a lesbian couple. It drew a stern rebuke from Margaret Spellings, the president's newly confirmed education secretary. Before you could say "Please don't cut our pitiful federal financial support!" PBS head Wayne Godwin pulled the episode. Under the WGBH-TV banner Buster's offending episode will air in February or March on various PBS affiliates, including New York. (A spokesperson for WTTW-TV, Chicago's PBS affiliate, said Friday that no decision had been made regarding a Chicago airing.)
"Many parents would not want their young children exposed to the lifestyles portrayed in the episode," Spellings wrote to PBS Tuesday, although those who have seen the episode acknowledge that there's a lot more focus on where maple syrup comes from than gay couples and their kids.
Sanitizing libraries
There's more. This week before the Alabama state legislature, Rep. Gerald Allen will introduce a bill designed to sanitize, fumigate and un-homosexualize every federally or state-funded library shelf in the state.
If passed, Allen's bill will ensure that "no public funds or public facilities shall be used by any state agency, public school, public library, or public college or university for the purchase, production or promotion of printed or electronic materials or activities that, directly or indirectly, sanction, recognize, foster or promote a lifestyle or actions prohibited by the sodomy and sexual misconduct laws of the state of Alabama."
In other words: If a book or a play even recognizing a gay character, let alone one that dares to "promote" a grossly indecent "lifestyle," finds its way onto a public library shelf, presto: Class A misdemeanor. So long, Tennessee Williams. Tony Kushner? Don't get Alabama started. Melville's "Billy Budd" and Shakespeare's sonnets -- well, they're sort of obliquely gay, so maybe they can set aside a special "Ambiguously Gay" shelf. What about a book or play that recognizes a character as gay but makes a lot of demeaning jokes at the character's expense? Maybe that'd be all right. Rep. Allen told a writer for the London Guardian that he expects "details" to be "worked out at the committee stage."
The adventures of SpongeBob, Buster and the Alabama savior do not exist in a cultural vacuum. You may recall the Rev. Jerry Falwell going after the purse-toting Teletubby Tinky Winky. Or the debate about Ernie and Bert from "Sesame Street." A North Carolina man tried to ban those room-sharing muppets under his state's anti-gay state laws, since modified. For now.
All this may be jackassery of a rarified strain, yet it serves its political purpose. If you are a recently re-elected president with a strong conservative Christian base, and some elements of that base are throwing hissy fits over a sponge and a bunny or what's on a university library shelf, it takes unwanted attention away from larger, more politically challenging matters relating to same-sex marriage bans, or free-marketing Social Security, or strengthening the anti-abortion movement -- a movement that, as President Bush vowed on Jan. 24, "will not fail." The culture wars aren't won on the battlefield. They're won by playing a good shell game.
SpongeBob and Buster will live to play, and amuse, another day. But an eerily popular gay-bashing strain is making its way across America right now. It is disguised as a morals vaccination.
Snagglepuss said it best. There is but one stage direction that applies to these sponging, witch-hunting clowns who have the president's ear at the moment:
Exit, stage left.
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- "Give it up for George W. Bush, the best friend international jihad ever had."
posted on January 30, 2005 08:52:03 AM new
::It's like the untamed fire of freedom, only gay::
I'm sorry, logansdad, I know you are being serious, but ROFL!!!!
I am surprised they have not gone after that cartoon with the little airplanes- What is its name? They sure seem a bit gay to me...lol!Sorry, but thanks for a much needed laugh here this am!
posted on January 30, 2005 10:20:13 AM new
The Simpsons have been on the air for approx 13 years with an openly gay character. Why is the religious right not protesting this cartoon? There is more nudity shown on the "Family Guy". Where is the religious right with their protests against this cartoon?
I have heard that Peppermint Patty from the "Peanuts" cartoon was a lesbian. No protests over Snoopy, Lucy and Charlie Brown.
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- "Give it up for George W. Bush, the best friend international jihad ever had."
posted on January 30, 2005 10:36:11 AM newWhere is the religious right with their protests against this cartoon?
I have heard that Peppermint Patty from the "Peanuts" cartoon was a lesbian. No protests over Snoopy, Lucy and Charlie Brown.
What you don't get, imo, logansdad, is that possibly it's because those [mentioned] cartoon characters weren't being used by gay activists and their supporters, to push the gay agenda in our public school curriculums.
There is a difference between being tolerant of another persons behavior [ie: gay lifestyle] that doesn't affect people....and being against their agenda being pushed to K-3rd graders, where it does.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Four More Years....YES!!!
[ edited by Linda_K on Jan 30, 2005 11:09 AM ]
posted on February 2, 2005 08:49:54 AM new
SEE SPELLINGS run. So obvious is it what tail wags the new education secretary. Allegedly appointed to close the achievement gap and end what President Bush calls the soft bigotry of low expectations, the first loud barks from Margaret Spellings were not directed toward failing schools, incompetent superintendents, or even teachers unions. Spellings bared her teeth at lesbian mothers.
Spellings was offended by an upcoming episode of ''Postcards from Buster", which is aired by PBS. Buster is a cartoon bunny that goes around the country to show the diverse lives of real children. The episode that upset Spellings is called ''Sugartime!" It includes a visit by Buster to Vermont to see how maple syrup and cheese are made. Buster visits children who happen to have two mothers. WGBH-TV of Boston, the producer of the 40-episode series, said, ''The parents' lives are included only as a backdrop to the kids' lives; the focus is on Buster's visits to a sugar house and a dairy farm."
On Jan. 25, Spellings wrote PBS a stinging letter. She requested PBS to strongly consider refunding any federal funds used to make ''Sugartime!" She wrote that the episode ''would undermine" the mission of ensuring the highest quality of television for preschool children. ''Many parents would not want their young children exposed to the lifestyles portrayed in this episode," she wrote. She said federal funding is not meant ''to introduce this kind of subject matter to children."
PBS pulled ''Sugartime!" from national distribution to its approximately 350 member stations on the same day Spellings wrote her letter.
In a moment that betrays how the creeping and creepy censorship of the Bush era works, PBS officials insisted they made their decision before receiving her letter. After initially approving the show, Wayne Godwin, chief operating officer of PBS, and PBS president Pat Mitchell said they fretted that the episode ''might cause parents to be concerned about PBS as a safe harbor."
If PBS has become a safe harbor for homophobia, then we are in the midst of a hurricane. Two days after Spellings wrote her letter, her boss reminded America of his second-class view of gay and lesbian families. Asked by The New York Times what he thought about a Florida law banning adoptions by same-sex couples, Bush answered, ''The ideal is where a child [can] be raised by a man and a woman. That's the ideal world. A married man and a woman."
Gay families, according to a 2001 review of available data by Judith Stacey and Timothy Biblarz of the University of Southern California, have no differences in psychological well-being among the parents or the children compared with ''straight" families. The levels of investment in children displayed by the parents are the same.
Conservatives pounced on other parts of Stacey's and Biblarz's review which suggests that children with same-sex parents may be more open to same-sex relationships for themselves, even though the overwhelming majority of such youth turn out to be heterosexual. They have attempted to stifle the possibility that such families are safer harbors for children to express whom they are naturally meant to be.
They would have us ignore that what little data we have suggests that girls of homosexual parents are not as intimidated as girls from heterosexual families in co-ed activities and workplaces. Boys of gay and lesbian parents show signs of being more nurturing than boys from heterosexual homes. If we took the time to find out why, we might have less domestic violence and war and more equality.
Spellings and Bush are hostage to a homophobia so wacky that James Dobson, a Bush supporter on the religious right, is on a mission to let everyone know that another children's cartoon character, SpongeBob SquarePants, is in an upcoming diversity video sponsored by the We Are Family Foundation, a group that promotes national healing after Sept. 11.
The foundation website has a tolerance pledge that states, ''I pledge to have respect for people whose abilities, beliefs, culture, race, sexual identity, or other characteristics are different from my own."
Dobson growls that SpongeBob has been hijacked for ''prohomosexual propaganda." Spellings barks at lesbian mothers in Vermont. Bush talks about ''ideal" families. The hurricane of bigotry is gathering steam, with no certain safe harbor.
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- "Give it up for George W. Bush, the best friend international jihad ever had."
posted on February 2, 2005 09:19:11 AM new
Just can't let it go, can you logansdad?
The left here has many times stated they don't want to see ONE RED CENT being spent to promote anything religious related in our schools. After all, they chant, taxpayer money shouldn't be spent to promote religion.
But look how different it is to them ...when taxpayer dollars being spent to promote homosexuality - it's scoffed at. It has nothing to do with censorship from this President. It has to do with taxpayer money being spent.
Want to promote the gay lifestyle? Fine...do it on your own dollar.
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Four More Years....YES!!!
[ edited by Linda_K on Feb 2, 2005 09:23 AM ]
posted on February 2, 2005 09:47:41 AM new
Anyone interested in THANKING Ms. Spellings for taking the stand on this she did...here's an easy way to show your support for her.
posted on February 2, 2005 01:03:03 PM newBut look how different it is to them ...when taxpayer dollars being spent to promote homosexuality - it's scoffed at. It has nothing to do with censorship from this President. It has to do with taxpayer money being spent.
No I will not let it go. It appears you are the one that has a problem.
The "Postcards from Buster" cartoon was not promoting homosexuality. It was showing a family with two "mommies". That depection is just one example of the "family unit" today. Just because it does not meant your standard of what the "typical family" should be does not mean it should not be shown. If you don't like what is being shown on TV then don't watch the program.
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- "Give it up for George W. Bush, the best friend international jihad ever had."
posted on February 2, 2005 01:30:13 PM new
By David Crary, AP National Writer | February 2, 2005
NEW YORK -- Cartoon characters adored by kids seized the spotlight in the latest flare-up of America's culture wars, but the debate itself poses serious questions for adults involving the depiction of gays and lesbians in materials for teaching children about diversity and tolerance.
The liberal camp argues that even young children should learn that intolerance based on sexual identity is wrong, and that gays are as legitimate a part of the national mosaic as anyone else.
"It's about creating awareness and understanding of people who are different," said Joan Garry of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. "Why shouldn't that be a good thing for America's young people?"
The conservative camp has responded vehemently: By all means, teach children to respect other individuals, but do not cross the line and teach them that homosexuality is acceptable.
"Tolerance itself can be a very dangerous word," said the Rev. Terry Fox, a Southern Baptist pastor in Wichita, Kan. "Tolerance gives the public schools an avenue to literally brainwash our kids that every lifestyle is OK."
Separate controversies in recent weeks have raised these issues:
--Education Secretary Margaret Spellings' criticism of an episode of the Public Broadcasting Service children's series "Postcards from Buster," in which the animated bunny visits the children of two lesbian couples in Vermont. "Many parents would not want their young children exposed to the lifestyles portrayed in the episode," Spellings wrote to PBS.
--An attack by some conservative leaders on a pro-diversity initiative of the We Are Family Foundation that features a video starring scores of cartoon characters, including SpongeBob SquarePants. The true agenda, said Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, "is to desensitize very young children to homosexual and bisexual behavior."
--Some conservatives said last month's "No Name-Calling Week" in many middle schools was too focused on harassment of gays. In Massachusetts, the one state allowing gay marriage, conservatives say students are being indoctrinated to admire such marriages.
Dobson, bristling at mocking commentary about his reference to SpongeBob, has posted a lengthy explanation of his concerns on the Web site of his Colorado-based Christian ministry. The problem, he says, was not the video itself, but the We Are Family Foundation's use of a "tolerance pledge" mentioning sexual identity and its ties to other groups supporting gay rights.
Tolerance and diversity "are almost always buzzwords for homosexual advocacy," Dobson wrote. "Kids should not be taught that homosexuality is just another 'lifestyle' or that it is morally equivalent to heterosexuality."
Dobson and other conservatives were pleased when Spellings, soon after the SpongeBob flap, condemned the "Postcards from Buster" episode.
"For years, PBS has been slipping pro-homosexual messages into its programming," said Robert Knight of the Culture and Family Institute. "Along comes Secretary Spellings, who takes action as a servant of the people instead of a timid, go-along bureaucrat. Good for her."
After Spellings' statement, PBS said it would not distribute the episode to its 349 stations. Boston-based WGBH, the show's producer, is providing it directly to more than 20 fellow stations.
"We consider it the responsibility of public television to give children and parents the resources they need to understand the world they inhabit -- without excluding any segment of our society," WGBH said. "The major goal of 'Postcards from Buster' is to help kids understand the richness and complexity of American culture."
Nancy Carlsson-Page, an education professor at Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass., has emphasized diversity awareness in a career spent training early-education teachers. She said Spellings was wrong to suggest that a certain category of family -- those headed by gays or lesbians -- be excluded from images shown to children.
"All children, whatever family composition they have, should see the full, diverse range of families," Carlsson-Page said. "Otherwise, when they encounter a different kind of family, they'll think that family is lesser, that it doesn't count."
Linda Hodge, president of the National PTA, said she strongly supports classroom initiatives promoting tolerance and combating bullying. However, she suggested some programs could backfire if they focus so explicitly on harassment of gays that those students feel singled out and labeled.
Hodge's bottom line: "Every child should feel safe and welcome in school."
For GLAAD's Joan Garry, a lesbian raising three children, the controversies hit home on a personal level.
"There are millions of kids living in households with two moms or two dads, and millions of other kids who know those kids," she said. "I wonder what James Dobson would say to my own children. What would be the respectful, Christian thing to say to them?"
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- "Give it up for George W. Bush, the best friend international jihad ever had."
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