The Christian Coalition's agenda for 2006.

[theweaselking]

As translated by twistedchick

1. Require broadcasters to carry Christian programming on cable and satellite media; currently, cable services 'bundle' stations, which means that subscribing to X also gets you A, B, C and Y. There is a move on to go to an a la carte system, which would mean the low-audience Religious Right televangelists would see a huge shrinkage in their audience. Requiring "Christian" programming is an attempt to prevent consumers from being able to choose what they want to see; it also affects "Christian" programming advertising dollars, as advertising fees are based on audience size.

2. Confirm Alito and anyone else Bush nominates.

3. Make permanent the 2001-2003 tax cuts on the wealthiest sector of Americans (who will never have to balance bills to pay and food to eat) so that the burden of taxes falls more heavily on the middle class and the poor.

4. Pass the "Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act", to give further rights to the unborn over those who are already here, trim away at women's right to abortion and choice over what happens to their own bodies, and extend the opinions of the minority to rule the many.

5. Pass "broadcast decency enforcement" legislation to impose Religious Right views on all broadcast programming, regardless of the views or desires of the rest of Americans.

6. Support legislation "stopping religious discrimination against Christians in the military", which appears to allow chaplains to evangelize for the Religious Right instead of doing their actual job of offering aid and comfort to any member of the military who asks it. Check back on what happened at the Air Force Academyfor more details.

7. Passing the "Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act", which would keep relatives who are not parents from taking a minor across state lines for an abortion. (I have written about this in the past, as this is an upgrading of Texas legislation; the Texas law made no exception for girls who were impregnated by family members or whose parents are in jail. Other family members were to be arrested and charged with felonies if they attempted to help the girl; so were any friends or others who might offer her a ride to a clinic. Molly Ivins also wrote about this.)

8. Passing HR 235, "Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act", which effectively removes churches and religious organizations from the IRS restrictions on involvement in direct political activity. Tax-exempt religious organizations are forbidden to endorse a specific candidate now, or provide a venue for direct political activity, though they are allowed to hold discussions of issues.

9. Passing in the Senate a House bill "protecting the 10 Commandments" by prohibiting the use of funds to enforce a US District Court ruling from the Southern District of Indiana in January 2005. (I don't have more info on this, but I suspect it's similar to the Ten Commandments issue in Alabama.)

10. Remove RU-486, the morning-after pill, from the market "until there is an investigation", again interfering with women's Fourth Amendment rights to the ownership of their own bodies.

The President of Christian Coalition of America, Roberta Combs said, "There is so much unfinished business which needs to be addressed during the Second Session of the 109th Congress. However, the most important business in January will be ensuring that Judge Samuel A. Alito is confirmed as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, since that -- along with the successful confirmation of Chief Justice John Roberts and other U. S. Circuit Court judges -- will determine the course of American culture for at least a generation. The 2004 election has shown that America has become more conservative and concerned about the deterioration of the culture and Americans want a change. Christian Coalition will devote whatever resources are necessary to confirm President Bush's Supreme Court nominees, including Judge Alito, and his other nominees to the Circuit Court of Appeals."

Comments

[kali-kali.livejournal.com]

and extend the opinions of the minority to rule the many

Not entirely true. Most Americans, as can be seen in many of these polls (http://www.pollingreport.com/abortion.htm) favour stricter regulations on abortion. Not an outright ban mind you, most Americans are against that, but more regulations most people tend to favour.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

The minority in this case want it totally banned, except when the rich conservatives want abortions.

They're working to do so by making it totally inaccessible to as many people as possible. They've already succeeded for most of the USA, by making it so very few can afford it, and even fewer can afford all the extra expenses involved in travelling, repeatedly due to legal requirements, to the one doctor in a 400 mile radius who'll do it.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

I want to see the questions on those polls, as well as the answers. The response you get to the question of whether or not people feel there should be more restrictions is going to be different if you preface it with "In the last year, X people suffered serious medical complications as the result of abortions, costing emergency rooms Y dollars." than if you preface it with "In the last year, X people died as the result of complications from pregnancies which they knew were dangerous, but which they could not obtain an abortion for."

I find it partly depressing and partly amusing that none of the people screaming about how a collection of cells that have human DNA must be preserved at all costs are doing anything whatsoever to prevent Henrietta Lacks from being cruelly experimented upon, at length, in multiple instances, with no hope of reprieve.

[kali-kali.livejournal.com]

If you check out that link, it seems to have the exact questions at hand provided before the answers are displayed. From my time in survey work, the questions look pretty standard.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

It does; as I say, I still want to know what else was said. Perhaps a better way of putting it would be that I want the entire script.

> From my time in survey work, the questions look pretty standard.

Agreed completely. Which is why I want the entire script; I've also done (collected data for, not answered) surveys where a whole set of questions are perfectly reasonable, despite the fact that they're preceded by a slanted summary of the issue in question.

(Ah, sweet cynicism, how did I live without thee... oh, right. I thought people were reliable and considerate and cared about their fellow man.)

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Well, duh. Henrietta Lacks was black.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

*brain-click* Of course!

ObQuibble: that's *is* black. After all, if two cells constitute a human being, so should she.