They’re considered one of the most influential lobbying organizations in the State of Louisiana. Ontheir websiteandtheir Facebook page, they’re upfront about their true mission: Influencing legislators and legislation. They publishan annual legislative scorecard, and every year, they host a lavish dinner for selected legislators, doling out awards and commendations.
And every year, they raise and then spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax-deductible donations.
The Louisiana Family Forum may, on its surface, appear to be nothing more than a powerful lobbying group that represents the interests of far-right Christian conservatives, but officially, the Louisiana Family Forum is organized as both a 501c3 and a 501c4.
The 501c3 is the money-maker, the Louisiana Family Forum (LFF), the tax-deductible half of the organization. But because it’s a 501c3, the LFF is limited by how much money it can spend on lobbying. Thankfully, there’s an easy way around this problem. The other half of the organization is the Louisiana Family Forum Action (LFFA), their 501c4. LFFA is still tax-exempt, but, because it can spend as much as it wants on lobbying, there are no tax-deductible donations. It’s an important distinction.
Watching the hearing right now on SB 70 By Senator Karen Carter-Peterson on the repeal of the “Creation is Science” law it seems quite interesting the argument we are already seeing made.
Senator Quinn spoke up to attack Zack Kopplin, a senior at Baton Rouge Magnet High (I think graduate now…).Senator Quinn’s charge was “tell me where in this legislation does it force teachers to teach Creationism.”Wow, seems really interesting question there.The reason I say that is – that is the same “charge” we made against Mills and his professional hate group Louisiana Family Forum with HB 112.There is NO PLACE in HB 112 where it says that teachers are to “TEACH Homosexuality” as they charged during their “floor note” they passed to all state legislators.
But now they are trying to have it BOTH WAYS…SB 70 would repeal the law that Zack accurately described as “opening the door, and letting the dog out” that allows local school boards to teach Creationism in the science classrooms.So which is it?Are we going to talk about the LEGISLATION or are we going to talk about what it COULD do?
Of course not ever ones to hold back, The Louisiana Taliban Family Forum took to the stand to actually argue that Creationism is actually science as scientists agree on that point and she actually tried to say that the MAJORITY of scientist actually agree with Creationism as there are too many holes in Evolution Theory.Actually as Zack and many others testified Creationism doesn’t even qualify as a theory.
It should also be pointed out that Quinn’s argument is being proven FALSE right now – ALL of the testimony that is being offered AGAINST SB 70 is in support of teaching Creationism!Yes, that is right – each speaker thus far has spoke in favor of teaching “intelligent design” in one form or another.But remember, the existing law that we are trying to repeal, it doesn’t mention creationism at all… remember?So WHY IN THE HELL has each witness testified in favor of Creationism?And yes, they just quoted Wikipedia as a source… so I am done with them.
SB 70 needs to be repealed as we are the laughing stock of the country now joining several other backwards states that are re-litigating the Scopes Monkey Trial.Zack and others testified to the number of school boards that are currently working on doing this right now.Zack pointed out one fact that is very concerning to me, and should be to everyone in this state, without repeal of this legislation and by the school boards currently changing their own curriculums with regards to teaching “intelligent design” in Science Classrooms will cause all universities to question the accreditation of all of our schools.This is NOT going to be good for ANY of us for ANY reason. Businesses will not want to locate here as they don’t want their kids to go to our schools, high school students will be questioned as to if they should be accepted into universities – especially those going into science related degrees.
Zack summarized quite well advocating for the use of the Christian Bible (and I would suppose other religious texts) in school – like in English Classes, Theology, Critical thinking and so many other items.That the Bible is actually one of the great literary texts ever written.But those teachings do not belong in the Science Classroom.
Should be an interesting note here… it was so cozy to see just how close the testimony and relationship between Governor Jindal’s staff and that of the Louisiana Taliban Family Forum.
On February 25th, I wrote about Zack Kopplin, a 17-year-old senior at Baton Rouge Magnet High School, who is leading the charge to repeal the Orwellian-named Louisiana Science Education Act (or the LSEA).
In the most basic terms, the LSEA is simply a back-door attempt at allowing public schools the opportunity to supplement or replace science-based biology education, particularly as it relates to evolutionary biology, with religiously-based creationism stories. As compelling and fascinating as creationism stories or the notion of intelligent design may be to millions of Americans of faith, they cannot and should not be considered substitutions or alternative "theories" for actual science.
More importantly, evolutionary biology is one of the backbones of modern medicine and scientific inquiry. In a state that already suffers from a struggling public education system, now, more than ever, it is critical Louisiana dedicates herself to ensuring the integrity of our educational standards, and in a state so reliant on the economic engine of health care, it is particularly important our young students receive a rigorous and thorough education in science, an education that values, recognizes, and earnestly respects the distinct differences between articles of religious faith and theories and laws that are testable and verifiable through the employment of the scientific method. Attempts to circumvent science education in order to provide a venue for advancing religious beliefs, particularly when undertaken in public schools, likely violate the Establishment clause of the First Amendment.
Louisiana Family Forum:
At the center of this controversy is the Louisiana Family Forum, originally founded by the radical provocateur and former Louisiana State Representative Tony Perkins, whose Family Research Council was recently condemned as a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Perkins, the Oklahoma-born graduate of the late Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, is bizarrely obsessed with gay men and gay pedophilia. Quoting from the SPLC:
In honor of the late, great Ashley Morris, I have entitled this post after the famous FYYFF post he wrote in the aftermath of the Federal Flood, and the talking heads' inane commentary about whether to rebuild New Orleans.
It's so nice to see a religious group getting involved in politics, such as the Family Research Council, (one of the national partners of the Louisiana Family Forum), especially when they are wealthy enough to focus on things like health care reform, in the form of push polls to Louisianans. Specifically, they're focusing on the following items in the Senate's health care legislation:
As Congress prepares to vote on a health care overhaul plan, Family Research Council (FRC) today announced an eight week campaign to call all household phones in Louisiana to survey each household on provisions of the Senate health care bill. These include abortion funding, rationing, higher taxes, and government-run health care, or the public option.
Never mind that 894,000 Louisianans who do not currently have insurance will be able to afford health insurance, thanks to the legislation. No,
let's focus on the "funding" for abortion. The issue is that the bill currently allows private health insurance companies that receive federal subsidies to offer abortion coverage, which, to abortion opponents means that the federal government is paying for abortions. Never mind that the bill also requires any abortion coverage to be paid for with premiums paid by the beneficiary of the health care plan.
FYLFFYFF.
Never mind that health insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage to people when they need it for any reason other than they haven't paid their premium. No, let's focus on the "rationing" that will occur. I don't know if anybody at the Family Research Council or the Louisiana Family Forum has noticed this yet, but there is already rationing of health care in this nation ... 1 American dies every 12 minutes, 5 an hour, 120 a day, 45,000 every year because they lack health insurance ... if that's not rationing, I don't know what it is.
FYLFFYFF.
Never mind that the bill closes the donut hole in the Medicare Part D coverage that forces many seniors to pay thousands for brand name prescription drugs every single year. No, let's try to scare seniors into thinking the bill will legalize euthanisia:
"National health care changes being pushed by President Obama, Senator Reid, and Speaker Pelosi would institute rationing of medical care by an unelected board that can reject surgeries, drugs, or therapies which you or your loved ones may need. There are also great concerns about euthanasia. Do such documented facts make you want to stop changes to our health care system?"
It has come to our attention that Appellate Chief Kyle Duncan of the Louisiana Attorney General's office has been lobbying members of the Legislature to support HB 60 (pef alert), which is widely seen as an anti-gay initiative.
Currently, the only people who may adopt a child in Louisiana are single adults or heterosexual married couples. The pertinent Children's Code articles are 1198 and 1221. They are identical except for how the adoption is done; either through an agency or a private adoption:
A single person, eighteen years or older, or a married couple jointly may petition to adopt a child through an agency (text of CHC 1221: may petition to privately adopt a child). When one joint petitioner dies after the petition has been filed, the adoption proceedings may continue as though the survivor was a single original petitioner.
So, how does HB 60 take rights away from adopted children?
Because HB 60 will prevent the State Registrar of Vital Records from issuing a birth certificate to an adopted child with both their adoptive parents' names on it, unless they are married in accordance with state law.
Yep, that's right ... not only does the bill deny children of gay parents the right to have both their adoptive parents' names listed on their birth certificate, but it also deprives children of unmarried heterosexual couples the right to have both their adoptive parents' names listed on the birth certificate.
Why is this a big deal? Because it denies those children inheritance rights in the case of a parent who does not have a will. And it makes it even more difficult for them the right to apply for rather standard benefits such as school registration, medical coverage, life insurance and government benefits.
All in the name of the Louisiana Family Forum's crusade against gay citizens. And it is absolutely shameful for the Louisiana Attorney General's Office to be lobbying in support of HB 60 in the person of Associate Chief Kyle Duncan, especially since the citizens hurt most by this bill are not gay citizens, but children.
I stupidly thought that the Louisiana Attorney General's office was supposed to protect the vulnerable amongst us. Apparently not.
An email for comment to the Louisiana Attorney General's Communications Director has thus far gone unanswered.
As you can see, they essentially tell the working class and black citizens of Orleans Parish that they no longer deserve to have their own Congressional District, which admittedly, is something that many are saying. But the LFF takes it further ... and pushes the Democratic parts of Orleans, not into the First District, which would make so much more sense, from a geographic standpoint, but they take out the only remaining Democratic district, and merge it with the black majority areas of Orleans and Baton Rouge to comply with a request from the Justice Department that there be a majority minority district in Louisiana.
What does that leave us with?
Essentially, a map designed to ensure Republican control of Louisiana's Congressional delegation.
FYLFF.
Not only because you're attempting to destroy the Democratic Party here in Louisiana, but also because you're attempting to wield your supposed cultural superiority on the rest of us. Not all of Louisiana buys into your conservative religious stances on everything. On top of that, not all of Louisiana is white. We've got Asians, Blacks, and Cajuns too. Did I mention the growing Latino population?
And what, pray tell, did you do to Cajun Louisiana? You split 'em up and drew them into two districts to break up the power of the Cajun Yellow Dog Democrats.
FYLFF
Lamar rightly points out that they sliced off the northern part of Rapides Parish and put it in the new 4th District, while the rest of Rapides is kept in the 5th. What's in northern Rapides Parish?
Republicans.
So the LFF is attempting to make it easier for first-term Congressman John Fleming to maintain his hold on that seat.
FYLFF.
And the 5th? Lord ... I wonder how the good folks of Pointe Coupee, the Felicianas, and St. Helena are gonna feel about being represented by a Congressman who lives 3 HOURS from them. After all, Rodney Alexander, the current Congressman for the 5th District lives in Quitman, LA, which is in Jackson Parish. Pray tell, how often are they gonna be able see and touch their Congressman?
FYLFF.
But here's the part I just relish. The LFF based their math on the 2007 Census estimates to construct districts that have approximately 714,000 to 717,000 people living in them.
But they used the original estimates. What does that mean?
It means that their map is essentially destroyed, as Orleans Parish's estimate was revised upwards by nearly 50,000, which would make that new 2nd district hold 764,000 or so citizens.
I've been hearing from the liberals in the Garden District that they are voting for Republican hopeful Bill Cassidy because they think he's more socially "liberal" than the Democratic incumbent, Don Cazayoux. I make this statement since I'm told that Cassidy friend BM was overheard at a Garden District party pushing Cassidy in conversations with fellow party-goers a few weeks back (PG stands for party-goer:
BM: "You should vote for Bill Cassidy. He's the real liberal in this race."
PG: "Well, what about Cassidy's Louisiana Family Forum ratings?"
BM: "Well, I talked to him about that, and he said that he just did that to get elected."
Rumors abound that Bill has received donations from Planned Parenthood board members during his State Senate campaign, as they believed he was an ally, thanks to his position on the Medical Committee of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, (pdf alert), which has donated a minimum of $31,250 to Planned Parenthood of Louisiana for educational purposes since 2004. I've attempted to find out exactly how much was donated to Bill, but have had no luck, presumably due to security concerns on the part of the Planned Parenthood Board.
Well, he's turned out to be some ally of Planned Parenthood ... receiving a 100% rating from the Louisiana Family Forum in BOTH legislative sessions he's served in:
Those votes include bills limiting access to abortion at any time during the pregnancy to only when the woman's life is at stake, never mind that the woman may be the victim of rape or incest; allowing creationism to be taught in public schools; repealing the progressive Stelly Tax Plan; and refusing to expand the Louisiana Government spending cap at a time when we have major, serious infrastructure needs.
Bill Cassidy ... a former ally of Planned Parenthood, who will say anything and become anyone simply to get elected. That's not the kind of change we need in Washington.
Yesterday, I received a fundraising email from the Cazayoux campaign decrying the "outrageous ads" attacking Don in this election. Intrigued, I decided to investigate. Sure enough, the National Republican Campaign Committee, a group that Cassidy could publicly ask to stop running the ad, and they would likely comply, is running the following ad:
This ad is so disturbing that even Republicans I know have commented on the tone of it. And these Republicans are allies in the culture wars - pro-life, anti-gay rights, etc. Let's take a look at the claims:
The ad references HB 736, with no mention of what year, or when the vote took place. So I investigated. And I found two bills that refer to human cloning in 2005 in the Louisiana Legislature:
HB 492, introduced by Dan Morrish
HB 736, introduced by Eric LaFleur
So, according to this ad, I would have expected Don to have voted against these bills, as they both called for the prohibition of human cloning in the field of stem cell research.
OH, SNAP! Don voted in FAVOR of BOTH BILLS, which called for the prohibition of human cloning in the State of Louisiana.
But, wait ... the ad references a few newspaper/magazine articles from TIME, San Francisco Chronicle, Daily Advertiser. Might it mention Don's "support for human cloning?"
OH, SNAP! The articles are all about how some scientists found a way to clone a MONKEY embryo. Perhaps the excellent fact-checkers behind the National Republican Campaign Committee ad can tell me what that has to do with a pro-life, anti-human cloning Democratic officeholder by the name of Don Cazayoux?
They can't ... and you know why?
Don Cazayoux voted in FAVOR of PROHIBITING HUMAN CLONING in the State of Louisiana EVERY TIME he voted on the issue in the Louisiana State Legislature!
But, wait ... the ad does reference some Louisiana Family Forum propoganda. Let's check out where that came from:
See the asterisks next to all of Don's "answers"? If you read the NOTE at the bottom of the chart, it states:
Democratic candidate Don Cazayoux .... chose not to respond to LFF's Questionnaire. Responses for Don Cazayoux were taken from the candidate's federal party platform.
Hmmm ... despite Don's lengthy record on these issues in the Louisiana State Legislature, the LFF couldn't be bothered to tell the voters of Louisiana the truth. Instead, they resort to subterfuge and use the Democratic Party Platform to fill in Don's answers.
Hmmm ... here's the platform, folks (pdf alert). I could not find the term "human cloning" in this document at all. Perhaps you can.
So, let's recap: Don voted to prohibit human cloning in the Louisiana Legislature both times he faced the issue. The newspaper/magazine articles talk about how scientists were able to clone monkey embryos, not human embryos. The Louisiana Family Forum is LYING when it comes to Don's position on human cloning, linking to a document that doesn't even mention the issue.
When is Bill Cassidy going to condemn this blatant lie? When will he tell the NRCC to stop lying to the voters of LA-06? Hmmm ... I wouldn't hold my breath on that one, considering that all the Cassidy campaign has done with its' own negative ads attacking Don Cazayoux is LIE.
If you're fed up with the Cassidy/Republican lies, donate to Don so he can fight back with a ground game during the final weekend of the race and turn out the Democratic vote.
