Thank you Rev Barry Lynn

Bush Backs Federal Marriage Amendment

By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer
June 3, 2006

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Saturday backed a resolution to amend the Constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman even though the idea has little chance of being passed in the Senate.

"Ages of experience have taught us that the commitment of a husband and a wife to love and to serve one another promotes the welfare of children and the stability of society," Bush said in his Saturday radio address. "Marriage cannot be cut off from its cultural, religious and natural roots without weakening this good influence on society."

Democrats say Senate floor time is being wasted on the issue, and accuse Republicans of making a pre-midterm election appeal to social conservatives whose votes were key to Bush's re-election.

This November, initiatives banning same-sex marriages are expected to be on the ballot in Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin.

"Sadly, President Bush is playing election-year politics with this divisive issue," the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said Friday. "He is shamelessly using this ploy to energize his right-wing base. We should never rewrite the Constitution to enshrine intolerance."
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Thank you Reverend Barry Lynn!

Just the facts ...

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WARNING: US Troops Hazardous to Iraqi Civilian's Health & Safety

The American public is still dealing with news of the massacre at Haditha -- in which women, children and men were executed by U.S. Marines -- as we learn of yet another tragedy. The Associated Press reports that:

U.S. forces killed two Iraqi women — one of them about to give birth — when the troops shot at a car that failed to stop at an observation post in a city north of Baghdad, Iraqi officials and relatives said Wednesday.

Nabiha Nisaif Jassim, 35, was being raced to the maternity hospital in Samarra by her brother when the shooting occurred Tuesday.

Jassim, the mother of two children, and her 57-year-old cousin, Saliha Mohammed Hassan, were killed by the U.S. forces, according to police Capt. Laith Mohammed and witnesses.

Rushing a loved one to the hospital to give birth is an emotionally charged time. Jassim's brother, who was wounded by broken glass during the shooting, said he didn't see any warnings as he sped his sister to the hospital. Her husband was waiting for her there.

"I was driving my car at full speed because I did not see any sign or warning from the Americans. It was not until they shot the two bullets that killed my sister and cousin that I stopped," he said. "God take revenge on the Americans and those who brought them here. They have no regard for our lives."

BuzzFlash.com weighed in saying: "The war hawks will argue that the Marines were under intense pressure -- which they were -- and these 'sort of things' are to be expected in war. They will excuse the horrific actions as an inevitable outgrowth of a war without rules ... And they are right, you know ... Not that these GIs should be excused from accountability, but the real people who should be tried and sentenced are Cheney, Rumsfeld, Bush and Rice."

It's time for the administration to admit it made a huge mistake invading Iraq. It's time to remove from power the individuals who are roadblocks to resolving thidilemmana -- Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice. And it's past time to remove from power thindividualal who lied to the American public to justify getting the US into this quagmire -- George W. Bush.