Okay, I'll admit it. I read the Focus on the Family e-mail newsletter just about daily. It started a few years ago when I needed some research for something that I was writing. After that, I continued to receive their e's just about daily, and do read most of them as I can. I'm quite familiar with Doctor James Dobson and gang, much more than I'd probably like to be. I disagree with just about everything that they publish. The many ironies and contradictions in their values and positions continue to amaze me. I usually just want to laugh at the ridiculousness in most of their articles, then shake my head. This LOL is certainly tempered - by this kind of spookiness and seriousness - because I know they're out there. A certain irony in one of their articles got me started the other day and I wrote a diary about them.
Today, I'm doing another diary on them.
For those of you unfamiliar with Focus on the Family, they are an Evangelical Christian organization. They are headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and they are guided by Doctor James Dobson. Their mission statement is:
To cooperate with the Holy Spirit in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as possible by nurturing and defending the God-ordained institution of the family and promoting biblical truths worldwide.
Sounds lovely? Well, let's just say that that they are the fundamentalist hard-right of the right of social conservatives. They are the hard-core Sarah Palin backers of the Republican party. And to many of those who know them, especially here at KOS, they are really not nice people, to say the least. Yes, they are amongst the groups (albeit a big one) that we refer to as the fundies, or the wingnuts.
Every Friday, Focus publishes an article entitled Friday Five and it reveres some member of their community who they feel reveals their values. This Friday feature gives an introduction to the person and then finishes with five Q&As. I mostly just shudder when I read these. The people who are exemplified in these Friday features are usually some knockoff, or mostly hodgepodge, of Pat Robertson, Anthony Scalia, Phyllis Gadfly, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Randall Terry, Michelle Maklin, Bishop Thomas Muthee, Eric Robert Rudolph, and Ted Haggard - the last one before them not knowing what they know now. You get the picture.
Occasionally, and really very occasionally, I do give them credit for fighting for a couple of their specific issues. You know: even a broken clock is right twice a day. One such issue is their work to stop worldwide child and forced prostitution. Yet, who amongst us could not be able to find the common ground on a issue such as this.
So today I open my e from them (I don't always open my e's on the day that I get them), and I'm reading the Friday Five, and somehow, this struck me as a bit peculiar, because I'm not really shuddering like usual, and somehow even though it's in their code-speak, it's somewhat tame and without the usual creepiness. This Friday Five article is about Georgia State Chief Supreme Court Justice Leah Ward Sears, as pictured below from Focus.
This article starts off with info/background:
Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears has served on the Georgia Supreme Court since 1992, when she became the first woman and youngest person — at age 36 — to serve on the court. In 2005, she became the nation's first African-American female chief justice.
During her 16 years on the court, Sears has been a staunch advocate for children and families.
The article continues with questions about children and families. Although Focus asks questions in such manner as to get answers that emphasize their values, I couldn't help but feel there's something in between the lines that I'm missing. I'll elaborate later on that.
Another question and answer:
Why have you decided not to seek re-election?
I came to the Georgia Supreme Court when I was only 36 years old, and the last 16 years have been the most challenging and rewarding in my life. But I decided it was time to do something new. I have come to realize life has different seasons, and there comes a time when it’s time to move on. That time for me is now.
So we know Justice Sears is fifty-two years young and looking forward to a change after serving sixteen years on the Georgia Supreme Court.
And the last question:
What will you do when you leave the bench in June?
I plan to explore a wide range of options, including in academia, business or even the active practice of law. Fundamentally, however, I believe we all have a purpose in our lives, and mine is to serve. Achieving justice, equality and hope for our nation, our communities, and our families — that’s what God made me to do. And whatever I do next, I’ll not waver from that course.
I had to reread this whole article. The last answer is what seemed out of the norm for a Focus article, terms like justice, equality, communities are just not part of the code-speak there.
It seems quite like that Justice Sears is deeply religious, and in her case, I somehow felt a really positive quality with this, and so good for her. I'm not religious at all, and so good for me. I'm very much live and let live. I'm not a judge and I don't want to judge, and I don't like to make judgments. And many years ago and for many years, my apathy meter remained about a ten out of ten when it came to being involved in such matters. Little did I know or care that some not-so-positive religious extremists were organizing.
And then W became president. And along with him came the wingnut incompetence and surge in counter-rational policies. They managed to do a good job at bacically screwing up my life as I had known it. How - another topic for another diary. But I feel that now with these loonballs loose and right in my face, and their noses in my life where it doesn't belong, I have to do something that I don't like to do and start making some judgments. The decision reached is that I need to fight back as hard as possible to get these leeches as far away from me as possible.
The election of Obama is a wonderful start, and even with all the problems that we have to face, I feel there are definitely better days ahead.
Back toJustice Sears. This is the first time that I've heard of this person. She spiked my curiosity. I wanted to know what I was missing between the lines, as I mentioned above, so I did some googling and found out that:
* she is very very careful with the death penalty, and a leader when faced with opposition
* she was targeted by the Christian Coalition in her election run for the court (Georgia elects their Supreme Court Justices) for refusing to fill out their questionnaire. She cited it as an infringement upon her judicial duties if elected. She won her election by a 2-1 margin.
* she has been accused of being too much of a liberal judge and even - OMG, an activist judge whom the right is always railing against. She states that she rules according to the merits of each case before her.
* she believes in the best for children. She co-chairs the Georgia Supreme Court Commission on Children, Marriage, and Family Law. She is a strong believer that healthy marriages are in the best interests of our children and communities, and is very committed to dedicating resources and expanding knowledge in this area. Justice Sears shares this as a most worthy ideal that we strive for, a place we'd like to be. And this seems in such stark contrast to the "absolutely, positively you MUST do this our way and our way only or you’re going to hell and will stay there for the rest of eternity" approach of the of the extreme right-wing social conservatives.
* SHE IS SOMEONE WHO IS BEING CONSIDERED FOR THE Supreme Court BY PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA.
This person, of all people, is being acknowledged by Focus on the Family?
I’ve concluded that I’m perplexed now. I didn’t have my usually good laugh, and then shake my head and feel spooky about everything after I finished reading this week's Friday Five article. This is the first person - after quite a number of years of reading this series week in and week out - that I like.
Focus still has got to go a long long long way before I can think of them with any semblance of them being normal. I wrote a maybe not-so-nice diary about Focus the other day. So this one is maybe nice. Fair and Balanced, like, they like to say on FIXED NEWS. But if I wrote a diary about every single Focus article (don't worry, I won't), I would guess the numbers would be about 50 not-so-nice to maybe, just maybe 1 nice. So enjoy, Focus.
Maybe this is the beginning of something good?
That’s it for today except for the poll.