Here is the video of President Obama's remarks yesterday in Orlando, Florida.

Courtesy of CNN: 

President Barack Obama said grieving family members in Orlando pleaded with him Thursday to take steps to prevent further gun carnage. 

"Our politics have conspired to make it as easy as possible for a terrorist or even just a disturbed individual to buy extraordinarily powerful weapons, and they can do so legally," Obama said after meeting families of victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting that took place Sunday. 

"Today, once again, as has been true too many times before, I held and hugged grieving family members and parents and they asked, 'Why does keep happening?' And they pleaded that we do more to stop the carnage. They don't care about the politics. Neither do I."

This was yet another great speech. But you could once again hear the weariness and frustration in his voice over having to give what is essentially a version of the same speech that he has given multiple times in the past.

And this was after spending several hours consoling grieving families and listening to their anguished voices pleading with him to do something to keep this from happening again. 

Gay couples may soon be able to have biological children with their partners. Religious conservative heads to explode in 3..2..1

Source

Courtesy of the Mirror:  

Gay couples could one day have their own biological children carrying traits from both parents, according to new research. 

A reproductive technique yet to be tried on humans would be able to use sperm from two fathers, or eggs from two mothers, to create offspring related to them both. 

Such a breakthrough could even lead to 'multiplex parenting' with groups of more than two, or children created by just one parent.

So much for the argument that God determines when life begins.

As the father of a gay child, this makes me very hopeful.

It also kind of makes me wonder just how much longer it will be before science completely does away with sickness and death? And then what becomes of us once it does?

Hey, hey, hey do you know what's really behind the riots in Baltimore? Gay marriage.

Texas Rep. Bill Flores

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

Republican U.S. House Representative Bill Flores of Texas argued this week that violence in Baltimore could be linked to the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States. 

On the Wednesday edition of the Family Research Council’s Washington Watch radio program, Flores told FRC President Tony Perkins that crowds of conservatives were showing up at the U.S. Supreme Court to urge justices to support the “rights of tradition marriage.” 

Perkins suggested that the government was just creating more problems for itself as courts throughout the nation continued to rule that LGBT people should have equal marriage rights. 

“A lot of these problems are created by the breakdown of the family, which the redefinition of would only accelerate,” Perkins opined. 

“You’re exactly right, Tony,” Flores agreed. “Let’s talk about poverty for instance… The single best indicator of whether or not a child is going to be in poverty or not is whether or not they were raised by a two-parent household or a single-parent household. And so the breakdown of the family has contributed to poverty.” 

“You look at what’s going on in Baltimore today, you know, you see issues that are raised there,” the congressman continued. “And healthy marriages are the ones between a man and a woman because they can have a healthy family and they can raise children in the way that’s best for their future, not only socially but psychologically, economically, from a health perspective.”

Makes perfect sense.

The only good kind of parenting is the parenting done by a man and a woman, married during a Christian ceremony in an honest to goodness church, who are raising their child to be a God fearing clone of themselves.

Anything else leads to rioting, the rejection of Creationism, and "gasp" homosexuality. (And not the good kind with just two ladies either.)

So clearly the problems with police brutality, and minorities being arrested in far larger numbers than their white counterparts, has nothing to do with racial injustice, and is only the byproduct of single parent families, and not enough Jesus in their lives. 

It must be incredibly comforting to always see every problem as black and white, and to believe that through some divine intervention you happened to have been born in a place that allowed you to have been indoctrinated into the right religion.

Final image of the day.

Yeah I think this is a fair representation of what ideologically driven Americans are thankful for this holiday season.

Best cereal commercial ever!

Courtesy of The New Civil Rights:  

The ad, titled, "The Cheerios Effect - André, Jonathan & Raphaëlle’s Story," indeed tells the story of how André and Jonathan met, and how Raphaëlle came into their lives. It's a beautiful story and the couple, from Canada, tell it in a heartwarming way, complete with French accents, for Cheerios Canada. 

Of course, the ad is guaranteed to spark anger and anti-gay hate -- One Million Moms no doubt is getting their quill pen and ink warmed up, ready to fire off yet another misguided missive.

The Right Wing never tires of talking about the importance of family.

And yet when a happy family falls outside of their narrow definition of appropriate, they simply cannot resist attacking them and undermining their right to exist.

now if you will excuse me I have a little something in my eye, that I need to get out.

New study finds that children raised by same sex couples are actually doing somewhat better than those raised in traditional families. Ooh, you know this is going to be controversial!

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

It’s the rallying cry for opponents of same-sex marriage: “Every child deserves a mom or a dad.” But a major new study finds that kids raised by same-sex couples actually do a bit better “than the general population on measures of general health and family cohesion.” 

The study, conducted in Australia by University of Melbourne researchers “surveyed 315 same-sex parents and 500 children.” The children in the study scored about six percent higher than Australian kids in the general population. The advantages held up “when controlling for a number sociodemographic factors such as parent education and household income.” The study was the largest of its kind in the world. 

The lead researcher, Dr. Simon Crouch, noted that in same-sex couples parents have to “take on roles that are suited to their skill sets rather than falling into those gender stereotypes.” According to Crouch, this leads to a “more harmonious family unit and therefore feeding on to better health and well being.” 

The findings were in line with “existing international research undertaken with smaller sample sizes.”

A group called  Family Voice Australia discounts the study because it does not provide data on what happens once the children reach adulthood, but personally I think they are just desperate to undermine its findings.

I can tell you that in my job I see just about every possible type of family.

What I have noticed about same sex couples is that, as a rule, they are somewhat more attentive to the children, simply because they are more determined to get it right, and because they see the opportunity of being parents as a gift that they will not squander.

That is not to say that I have not seen some truly screwed up same sex families, just like I have in traditional families, but overall I would say that the percentage is smaller.

But any time you are being raised by loving parents, who put your needs ahead of their own, and sacrifice to give you a good life, you are going to have parents that you can be proud to call Mom and Dad, or Mom and Mom, or Dad and Dad, of whatever. After all the names don't matter, only the love.

President Obama calls for a bill that requires businesses to provide paid maternity leave, and other pro-family legislation.

Courtesy of CS Monitor:  

A White House Summit on Working Families Monday focused attention on a workplace policy where the US stands in a league of its own: America is the only advanced economy without a legal provision for paid maternity leave. 

President Obama said it’s time to change that as well as other policies in a bid to make the American workplace better for families. He also called for steps to expand paid sick leave, flexible work schedules, and access to affordable child care.

The Monitor goes on to point out that polls show overwhelming support for paid maternity leave, and for businesses to provide flexible hours so that workers can meet family needs, so long as they still complete their work.

It is pretty clear that Obama is trying to create a template for Democrats to use in future elections, while also cornering the female vote.

I firmly believe that if President Obama were eligible for a third term he would win by an even larger margin than the last as he has certainly become the hands down champion for the workers, for the gay community, for women, and for just about every minority you could mention.

Essentially the only demographic that would come out strongly against him are middle aged men, Fundamentalists, and Ammosexuals.

And if Hillary is smart she will take up where the President left off and use this momentum to ride into an easy victory in 2016.  However if she moves too far toward the middle in order to woo a demographic that will never vote for her anyway she risks losing the ground that Obama has won for the Democratic party.

I have to admit I do have that fear sometimes.

Honey Maid's wonderful response to negativity about advertisement featuring same sex parenting, is your "must see" of the day.

The above was the commercial that Honey Maid put out last month.

As you can imagine it attracted quite a lot of vitriol from those on the Right Wing.

Including this idiotic response from One Million Moms:  

Nabisco should be ashamed of themselves for their latest Honey Maid and Teddy Graham cracker commercial where they attempt to normalize sin. Right away it shows two men with a baby, followed by other families, and ends with different families pictured including the one with two dads. This commercial not only promotes homosexuality, but then calls the scene in the advertisement wholesome. The ad states, "Everyday wholesome snacks for every wholesome family. This is wholesome." 

One Million Moms stands up for Biblical truth which is very clear in Romans 1:26-27 about this particular type of sexual perversion. 

Honey Maid is also using the hashtag #thisiswholesome. There is concern about the way this ad is pushing the LGBT agenda, but an even greater concern is the way that they are changing the meaning of the word "wholesome." This is truly sad. 

If this is what Honey Maid thinks is wholesome, then my family will no longer purchase Honey Maid or Nabisco products.

(By the way One Million Moms has nowhere near that many members.)

Apparently these homophobes thought that if they threatened not to eat graham crackers anymore they would bring Honey maid to its knees.

So how did the company respond?

See for yourself.

You know what I haven't had in a long time?

Graham crackers and peanut butter.

I think that would just about hit the spot today.

"Obamacare saved my family." A testimonial of how one family understands the purpose, and is grateful for the impact, of the Affordable Care Act.

Courtesy of the Washington Post:  

Mason, now 16, was probably born with his brain tumor. We discovered it six years ago. Biopsies showed a slow-growing mass, which was the good news. The bad news was that the tumor could not be removed because it had grown around essential structures in his brain. Under the care of some of the country’s finest specialists, Mason had frequent scans. There was little we could do between tests but hope for the best. Like other children his age, Mason played basketball, argued with his siblings and avoided cleaning his bedroom. He managed to undergo chemotherapy for eight months without getting too sick. He insisted on finding ways to laugh, saying things like: “I have brain cancer. What’s your problem?” It was an uneasy peace — until the tumor ruptured in December 2010, three years after his initial diagnosis, and Mason suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage. 

Mason spent most of eighth grade in the hospital. In the six months he was hospitalized, he spent 65 days in the pediatric intensive care unit. He underwent four brain surgeries. Halfway through his hospitalization, the Affordable Care Act was passed, alleviating lifetime limits on coverage and saving us from the financial abyss. Mason moved to a rehabilitation hospital where he was retaught the most basic skills — sitting up, eating and standing. We faithfully paid the premiums on the employer-sponsored plan through which our family is covered, along with the rest of our bills, thanking God and whoever else would listen for our good fortune to have coverage. 

The biggest fear for families such as mine is that we will lose our health insurance and be rendered uninsurable because one of us has been sick. The Affordable Care Act does away with dreaded clauses barring preexisting conditions. It also enables us to keep Mason on our insurance until he is 26; then, he will be able to purchase his own coverage on an insurance exchange. At least, that was the plan until last Tuesday, when the government was shut down in protest of such excesses. 

As far as the brain tumor goes, our family might have drawn the short straw. Maybe our story lacks a certain universal appeal. People might thinking to themselves, “I’m so sorry that happened to you, but odds are it won’t happen to me.” I hope it doesn’t, really. 

But having lived in hospitals with Mason for months, I have seen that bad things — accidents, freak illnesses — happen to smart, cautious and otherwise undeserving people. It’s one thing we all have in common. We are fragile beings. So what is wrong with allowing us to purchase a financial safety net? What’s so un-American about that?

You know I have to believe that the MOST fervent defenders of Obamacare are those who had preexisting conditions or chronic health problems and had to deal with the health care system BEFORE the supplementation of Obamacare.


The fact is that this law by no means solves all of our health care problems, not by a long shot, but it IS an important step in the right direction, and hopefully we will only make further improvement from here.

For the people who want to repeal the law, or defund it, I always wonder what they would say to families like the one above, who would suddenly lose the coverage that the ACA provided? Would they say sorry? Would they say, we don't care about you because we are all about politics? Or would they simply look with a blank face as if this was something that had never occurred to them during their ideological rants on the House floor?

There are REAL people, with REAL problems, and Obamacare offers REAL solutions.  That should be all that we need to understand.

And as for some insurance premiums going up, yes that is going to happen for some. But I think if those people pressure the Republican leaders in their states, into accepting and working with the programs offered by the ACA, they will see those costs come down. And eventually that will bring EVERYBODY'S costs down.

And finally a word from my favorite Sunday School teacher.

At least THAT'S the message being promoted by his followers. 

Something to keep in mind as we help each other deal with the shock and the fear left over from yesterday's tragedy.

Mothers of victims of gun violence escorted away from NRA headquarters by armed guards. Pretty much sums up the debate in a nutshell, don't you think?

Courtesy of Crooks and Liars:  

The National Rifle Organization (NRA) on Thursday used armed security to force mothers of victims of gun violence to leave the organization's headquarters. 

The groups MomsRising.org and the Reston-Herndon Alliance to End Gun Violence traveled to NRA headquarters in Virginia on Thursday to deliver a petition with over 150,000 signatures calling for universal background checks, a ban on high-capacity magazines, a ban on military-style assault rifles and new laws to crack down on gun trafficking. 

Included in the group were mothers like Lori Haas, whose daughter was wounded in the 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech, and Louisa Davis, whose nephew was killed by a gun in North Carolina. 

But in video captured by WUSA, a plainclothes security guard and an armed uniformed guard are seen refusing to accept the large stack of signatures and then shooing the gun safety advocates off NRA property. 

"They're not willing to listen to all members," one NRA member who was in the group told WUSA. "We're in a democracy, we need to have a conversation. And the NRA likes to shut down conversation."

Such manly men these NRA people. Cowering behind their armed security in order to protect them from a bunch of moms.

Never let it be said I don't give equal time.

Earlier I put up a post about what good parents the President and First Lady appear to be.

Apparently that was seen as some kind of liberal propaganda rather than as a simple observation.

So I guess I need to provide a counter point, and present the family that the conservatives once touted as the "all American family."

Oh this should be good.

Joe Biden gives the most heartfelt, emotional and amazing speech ever to the families of fallen soldiers.

I know this is long, but I guarantee that by the end of it your feelings about Joe Biden will have changed dramatically.

I don't think there are too many politicians alive who can express such a connection to the families of those who have lost loved ones. I swear Joe Biden's heart must be three times the size of most human beings.

Obama/Biden 2012!