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"A court should not lightly conclude that everyone who held this belief was irrational, ignorant or bigoted," the decision stated.
"There are at least two grounds that rationally support the limitation on marriage that the legislature has enacted," the court said, "both of which are derived from the undisputed assumption that marriage is important to the welfare of children."
- The New York State Supreme Court, in their decision to ban gay marriage in the state, putting an end to a 2-year battle by gays, gay activists and liberals to force New York into legalizing gay marriage.
Regardless of which side of the political fence you're on, considering the history and immense popularity of our nation's anthem, this bit of news is both sad and pretty shocking.
From ABCNews.com:
FORT McHENRY, Md., July 2, 2006 — "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem — but the way some people sing it, it's a national plea for help. Desperate help.
A Harris poll found that two thirds of Americans don't know all the words to the anthem. And coming out of the mouths of some that do— Well, it's ugly.
Which is where a group of determined music teachers comes in.
"We're becoming a nation of watchers and listeners in regard to the national anthem, and we're trying to fix that," said John Mahlmann, director of the National Association for Music Education.
Founded by music teachers, the National Anthem Project is traveling to towns and schools in all 50 states to teach people the song — a song with tough words, and high notes that cause high anxiety.
"It is a very challenging song, you are right about that," Mahlmann said. "But that is why we want music teachers helping young people deal with it."
They are also trying to teach some of the history of the song. Francis Scott key wrote the poem that became "The Star-Spangled Banner" while watching the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in 1814. When Key gazed over the walls of the fort, or the "ramparts," he saw the American flag still waving — or as he put it, so "gallantly streaming."
By teaching the words and music, the music teachers are also passing on the message.
"It means that we're very kept together and our flag is very, very important to us," said Anna Brosius, a 10-year-old at Fort McHenry.
It means that in good times and in bad, we can come together and sing — sing about "the land of the free and the home of the brave."
Just when you think that Al Gore, some 6 years later, has finally gotten over losing the presidential election to George W, Bush in 2000, he pulls something like he did in the latest issue of Rolling Stones, a magazine that uses music as a front for its extremely leftist propaganda.
Gore, continuing to promote his clueless campaign against global warming, couldn't resist taking some potshots at Bush, first remarking that "Bush is insulated - his staff smiles a lot and only gives him the news that he wants to hear. Unfortunately they have the delusion that they create their own reality."
Then Gore, after predicting that Bush and VP Dick Cheney will "change their opinion on global warming" before they leave office, had the gall to make this pronouncement: "Unfortunately they've [Bush & Cheney] got two and a half years left. Two and a half days is too much in my opinion. . . . Bush's whole pose as a compassionate conservative was fraudulent. His budget was fraudulent. Even the idea that he would be staunchly opposed to nation building was fraudulent. I don't mean that he actually knew at the time of the campaign that he was going to invade Iraq - because I don't think Cheney had told him yet [laughs]."
Of course, in the article Gore makes no mention of 9/11, Saddam Hussein, Al Qaeda or Osama bin Laden, but when you can publicly diss the President in a popular liberal magazine, why bother letting something like facts get in your way.
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