Posted on 07/08/2011 1:27:34 PM PDT by ejdrapes
Bachmann signs "values" pledge to oppose same-sex marriage, Sharia law, pornography Social conservative presidential candidate Michele Bachmann ups the ante in Iowa by signing a "values" pledge that other Republican presidential candidates may not support Socially-conservative GOP presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota has become the first candidate to sign a conservative Christian group's pledge to oppose same-sex marriage and uphold "core values." Bachmann's commitment to the pledge ups the ante in Iowa, where the other Republican candidates may now be pressed harder to prove their social conservative credentials. The support of groups like Family Leader, which created the pledge, could be significant in the state, where 60 percent of the Republican electorate in 2008 identified as "born-again Christian." The candidates are being asked to say whether they'll sign the pledge by Aug. 1, and Bob Vander Plaats, the influential conservative who heads Family Leader, says he won't endorse any presidential candidate that does not sign it. Vander Plaats said Thursday he expects the responses to be made public ahead of the Ames Straw Poll on Aug. 13, the Des Moines Register reports. The pledge, entitled "The Marriage Vow -- A Declaration of Dependence Upon Marriage and Family," consists of 14 points, including "earnest, bona fide legal advocacy" for the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal law defining marriage as between one man and one woman. The pledge is also a commitment to personal fidelity to one's spouse, and to the protection of women and children from "types of coercion or stolen innocence" such as pornography. It also includes a rejection of "Sharia Islam," which it describes as an "anti-woman" form of "totalitarian control." In addition, candidates are asked to recognize that "robust childrearing and reproduction is beneficial to U.S. demographic, economic, strategic and actuarial health and security." The pledge describes homosexuality as a choice and not genetic -- an issue Bachmann dodged on CBS' "Face the Nation." A spokesman for Bachmann said the congresswoman signed the pledge because she "has a strong marriage and faith," the Register reports. Opposition to same-sex marriage has played a large part in Bachmann's political career, though she has been relatively quiet on the issue since starting her presidential campaign. The pledge could prove embarrasing other candidates, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has been married three times and admitted to an extramarital affair. The preamble to the pledge states, "We acknowledge and regret the widespread hypocrisy of many who defend marriage yet turn a blind eye toward the epidemic of infidelity and the anemic condition of marriages in their own communities."
By Stephanie Condon
The US Federal code and state codes regarding their laws and application thereof is not what the Sharia hysteria is all about. Our laws and rights are unchanged in such cases courts are weighing sharia concepts in complaints or lawsuits. What is being considered is when party a has a civil suit against party b, regarding a contract between the two parties for non performance or damages, civil action may be applied if sharia rules were the key performance issues in the contract. It is no different than a labor contract between two parties such as US Steel and the Teamsters. If the teamsters file suit against US Steel for violating it's contractual obligations regarding pay terms, medical benefits, or working conditions, they may seek legal action based on their agreement or contract.
The Teamsters don’t go flying planes into buildings. Islam and everything connected to has NO place in Western society.
>>> Islam and everything connected to has NO place in Western society.
Well so much for freedom of religion. What will you throw overboard next as an encore?
I agree with a lot of what is being said here, but I disagree about pornography. I guess it depends on what you call pornography, but at one time they called Playboy magazine pornography. I like looking at pictures of beautiful naked women in magazines like Playboy. I think it is my own business and not the business of government to stop me. If other people don’t like looking at Playboy, then don’t buy it, but don’t force values on me.
However, all child pornography should be illegal, and parents should have some way to control what their children see.
Religious freedom? Ask Islam about that. How nice and self-righteous of you to chastise me. Self-righteousness is just a phony form of respectability.
Though I don't disagree with much of the stuff that is being pledged, based on the source, Bachman's standing in my eyes went down. She or her peeps should know who this guy is. (BTW this guy was a big Huckabee supporter last time around, and Huck did win the Iowa Caucus last time. So politically in Iowa, it may be a good thing to sign, but if it was me, I wouldn't sign it.
Totally voluntary activity between consenting adults where there’s been no coercion is one thing. The problem is the porn biz doesn’t have clean hands. Many young women are drawn into it as a survival mechanism, where there is no clear cut boundary between criminal and noncriminal. The “grooming” process is more of a gradual transition into self-destructive behavior. We have places here in Illinois that are generators of those “pretty, unclad girls” and they are pushed down that toilet by what appears to be mob money and corrupt officials who won’t prosecute when they should. Many lives are being damaged by the willingness to spend good money to look at someone’s daughter without her clothes on. Would you be as comfortable with it if the “professional adult model” was your next door neighbor’s daughter that you knew from childhood? I’m sorry. It’s just sick.
Sorry Michelle, I do not want BIG government or Congress or the POTUS, in my bedroom or ANYWHERE where my personal values are concerned. She lost me on this one. These are our personal values and need not be determined by politicians, most of whom are hypocrites.
I’m all for values and the golden rule but never when it comes to being mandated by politicians. My experience has been when politicians start preaching they typically have something to hide or cover up. Policies should give us both an opportunity and a bent towards general family values, but I will always oppose someone mandating them.
It is the moving away from these values that is part of the deteriorating and splintering of our nation, the family unit, morals, abortions, and many health causes and concerns.
America's move to accepting anything and everything is not working for the good of this nation. It is undermining the church, christian values and essentially not giving a fig about the nation and our way of life. MOO
Father God help us in our day, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us, in Jesus name , amen
I know. I wrote it off to emotional vigor.
Your talking points and concept of that industry are right out of the 1970s.
Human trafficking and sex worker exploitation are problems separate and distinct from the billion dollar pornography industry.
I dunt mind........
Nope. Contrary to efforts to gloss this over, my experience with this is just within the last couple of years. I am an attorney, and I have reason to know what I’m talking about. That’s all I can say. Believe what you want.
Michele can read the TEA leaves, and she knows the establishment is going to lure Perry into the race to try and deny her the evangelical vote. This is probably her way of trying to head him off at the pass.
Yes, it’s pandering, and I expect better from her, but politics is politics. She’s probably going to have to kiss a few babies along the way. Michele shouldn’t need to reaffirm herself to values voters, but there are a good number of church folk who do not pay much attention to politics between election seasons. Perry is going to do his best Huckabee/Elmer Gantry imitation, and Bachmann absolutely needs to at least split the evangelical vote with him in Iowa & South Carolina to get the early momentum and knock him out.
This is exactly the kind of ‘boots-on-the-ground’ campaigning she needs to be doing. Shows she’s willing to walk the talk rather than just talk a good game for a few months to game her way into office. Her path to the nomination runs through flyover country, and this kind of pledge shouldn’t be a deal-breaker for people once they realize she is also a REAL DEAL limited gov’t adherent.
I pray she will get the opportunity to rip dear leader and his marxist counter-culture memes to shreds in the presidential debates.
Thanks for the opinion. She went overboard. I don’t disagree entirely, but I do dislike having politicians of any Party tell me how to think because most are much more valueless than most of us. They put dollar signs in front of everything. We’re supposed to tell them how to think. Don’t they work for us?
Unfortunately the USA as a Christian nation is almost passe. How many Christians are now in our SCOTUS or on Obamas’s czar list or in the cabinet, even though we make up 85% of the USA? Christian values and the Christian culture have become a 2nd class theme among the powerful and leadership in the USA.
The mainstream media tries to tell us regularly that the culture is dead. The real problem with the USA is that the Christian culture no longer dominates or governs our nation. It has become the under class.
The theme should be education and belief, not mandates from big government.
Would we be better off as a nation if we took the greedsters, the Hollywood purveyors, and profiteers of porn and simply hung them from the high gallows for destroying our society?
What is the only other side of such a pledge? Is it to say “I promise never to watch it”...LOL.
Hollywood has not been good as good for our society as it has been for the wealth of a few. I don’t agree that they should be imprisoned or executed as some would prefer.
John Eidsmoe
I'm not sure I would have signed this pledge for other reasons. Bachmann also commited to:
Recognition that robust childbearing and reproduction is beneficial to U.S. demographic, economic, strategic and actuarial health and security.
So does this mean the govt. should be in the business of encouraging people to have children? Personally, I want to govt. to stay out of this kind of thing. The govt. shouldn't be encouraging or discouraging people to have children.
Recognition of the overwhelming statistical evidence that married people enjoy better health, better sex, longer lives, greater financial stability...
In other words, everyone should get married, which is NOT Biblical. Paul bluntly states that a celibate single life is perfectly acceptable (and even uses himself as an example).
The full pledge can be found here.
http://www.thefamilyleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/themarriagevow.final_.7.7.111.pdf
Some of the wording is also "over the top" and sensationalistic (imho).
Why single out the film industry and not the music or literary industry? Speaking for myself Hollywood movies made my parents want to come to the U.S.
I’m all for values and the golden rule but never when it comes to being mandated by politicians. My experience has been when politicians start preaching they typically have something to hide or cover up. Policies should give us both an opportunity and a bent towards general family values, but I will always oppose someone mandating them.
My experience tells me that the number one thing politicians want is votes, and they will do whatever they can to get them. Followed by possibly even turning back on the promise in not too long of a time. As far as Bachman goes, she’s in serious trouble of turning off the moderates, and getting a moderate/leftist GOP running for president, which is a risk of getting some RINO being up in the final elections. Last thing we need is someone as leftist and as weak in campaigning as John McCain again.
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