A college psychology professor's observations about public policy, mental health, sexual identity, and religious issues
Those who dispute the American fascism claim might want to rethink it. From Trump’s Facebook page:
Based on the incredibly inaccurate coverage and reporting of the record setting Trump campaign, we are hereby revoking the press credentials of the phony and dishonest Washington Post.
White supremacist James Edwards is fine, but WaPo isn’t.
If Ed Young, pastor of Fellowship Church in Texas isn’t reading this op-ed by Marty Duren in WaPo, he should be.
Ed Young is going to have Mormon Glenn Beck in this weekend to teach his congregation providential theological history. Beck says he isn’t going to teach theology but a providential view of the founding era is theology in the LDS church. Young’s going all in.
Surely, he isn’t alone. David Barton is probably speaking somewhere at some church.
In his article, Duren notes that most Christians think God has a “special relationship” with America.
But with 53 percent of Americans still believing “God has a special relationship” with the United States, I am mystified. Among evangelicals 45 and older that figure is a staggering 71 percent. They may be the majority, but they will not read of National VIP status in heaven.
I am over 45 and definitely in the minority. In my view, the statement “God has a special relationship with the U.S.” is a theological one. And it is in error. Practically, it makes no sense. Who does God meet with to discuss this special relationship? Who represents the U.S. to God? Who is the American Moses? Glenn Beck? Franklin Graham? Kenneth Copeland? Chuck Pierce? Sorry if I left out any candidates.
Lots of wannabes but really, there is no American Moses.
I love America. I love freedom of speech and freedom of conscience. I would rather live here than anywhere else. But the Bible has to be tortured, just like history, to get America as the New Israel.
Katie Paul at Newsweek alerted me that Newsweek printed a correction to their story claiming that Palin cut funding for teen mothers and the state WIC program. I blogged about it here and had extensive conversations with Alaska officials about the claims. Ms. Paul was also diligent to work with Alaska officials to correct the story once I made her aware of the facts.
Here is the correction (at the end of page 2):
Clarification (updated Sept. 11, 2008) : A number of readers have challenged the assertion in this story that Gov. Palin “cut by 20 percent the funding for Covenant House Alaska, a state-supported program that includes a transitional home where new teenage mothers can spend up to 18 months learning money management and parenting skills.” In fact, she did not cut existing funding, but rather trimmed by $1.1 million funds the Alaska legislature had allocated for Covenant House Alaska this year for a capital construction project. We have also clarified the original wording which implied that Palin had voided the entire Women, Infants, Children (WIC) program. This was not our intent; Palin voided $15,840 the legislature had allocated for a WIC provider.
Now when is the Washington Post going to correct the Sept 2 story that started the teen mom claim?
Last night, CNN’s Larry King Live featured a panel which discussed the impact of Sarah Palin on the 2008 presidential race. Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood repeated unchallenged the false contention that Sarah Palin cut funds for teen moms saying,
CECILE RICHARDS, PRESIDENT, PLANNED PARENTHOOD: I think she has created interest. Two weeks ago, no one knew who Sarah Palin was and I think people now are beginning to look at what she actually stands for, what she did as governor. This is a woman who I think is far out of the mainstream. She line item vetoed programs for teenage moms in Alaska.
Richards went on to criticize Palin’s views on abortion. And then, Huffington Post’s Hillary Rosen responded to a question about Joe Biden’s ill-advised statements about supporting stem-cell research as a test of love for special needs kids (another whole issue in itself). Rosen repeated the falsehood that Palin cut funding for special needs kids.
BIDEN: I hear all of this talk about how the Republicans are going to work in dealing with parents who have both the joy, because there’s joy to it as well — the joy and the difficulty of raising a child who has a developmental disability, who was born with a birth defect. Guess what, folks, if you care about it, why don’t you support stem cell research?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Hillary, apparently they are complaining about that. What was wrong with that statement?
ROSEN: Well, you know, nothing, really. People’s families should be off limits, as long as they themselves make them off limits. And I think it’s pretty fair to say that Sarah Palin is campaigning as a wife and a mom. And you’re not attacking a child by saying — making a life related point. Here’s the issue. When she was governor, she cut special needs funding for families by 62 percent. She’s against stem cell research. She wants to — she’s against health care reform for everybody else, even though John McCain and Sarah Palin have health care paid for by the government.
Rosen needs to read Factcheck.org’s review on the special needs funding claim. They debunk this claim and note that she tripled per pupil funding.
Take away the false claims and what you have is a difference over abortion and stem-cell research. Palin’s critics are using distortions of her record to paint her as talking the pro-family talk but not walking the walk. The thinking seems to run this way: Obama may be pro-choice but he sure cares about families and social needs. McCain/Palin on the other hand are pro-life but don’t really care when it counts. The problem is there does not appear to be substantial factual basis for these recent claims.
(h/t: Karen B for the King show)
Yesterday, I posted a statement sent to me by Deirdre Cronin, Executive Director of the Covenant House Alaska. Cronin’s release took issue with a Washington Post report claiming Alaska Governor Sarah Palin slashed funds for teen moms in the 2008 budget.
Executive Director Cronin issued the statement in response to questions regarding the erroneous report. This kind of incomplete reporting helps no one and fuels Republican charges that the mainstream media has taken sides in the election. While I am generally cautious with such claims, the incomplete reporting with the misleading headline does seem to cross over from reporting news to spin.
Michelle Malkin is calling for readers to contact the Omsbudman at the Washington Post to request a retraction and fuller reporting of the facts surrounding the Covenant House. It would be responsible to post the Cronin statement since Ms. Cronin considers a raise to be a raise and not a cut.
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