"It's Sort of Like a Coach"

Dad, this one's for you~

We fondly refer to my dad as "Analogy Man." During my (sometimes snarky) teenage years, following a well-meant fatherly discourse on life, we might follow it up with "Analogy Man Strikes Again!" "It's sort of like a coach," became a family joke, as that analogy was used until threadbare, though to be fair, it was extremely applicable. Naturally, a coach is someone who will ask a player or a team to do hard things, knowing that the extra exertion will pay big dividends on the playing field. Parents do the same thing, and those who really want their kids to succeed in life will ask "hard" things of their kids: family chores, responsibility, doing the best they can as students, being honest, etc.

I'm glad for the "Analogy Man" in my life. My dad taught me things from a man's perspective. No one could have replaced that in my life, as "Analogy Man" had an ever-ready life lesson waiting to be pulled out as needed, no matter the day or hour. Such faithfulness of a father in the life of his own daughter is not to be replaced by any other kind of relationship. Other relationships might be equal in value, but none the same, and therefore, all children need their a father, whether by birth or adoption. They all need a mother, too, but that's another post for another day. And, on a side note, the faithfulness of my father to my mother was an inspiration to me, as I decided what qualities I wanted in my own husband. The faithfulness of my married parents is priceless.

Any-hoo, I was inspired by the following story. Enjoy it, with compliments to my own dad.

"You Don't Have a History Until You Have a Legacy. . ."

I would love to have heard this in person. If I can find the entire speech on-line, I will post a link. But I appreciate this quote regarding our family history:

"It's important to know who we are, who our people were (and) what they did because what we do today really is a reflection upon them," [ ] "It helps us to stay grounded or rooted -- (it's then) when we realize we are representing not only ourselves, but those ancestors who came before (us)." ~Darius Gray, speaking at the Annual African American Family History Research Series

"Why You Should Care About Marriage in America" by Sheila Weber

I loved this quote:

"There are stresses and challenges in the midst of raising children, maintaining jobs and paying the bills. But throughout my nearly 30 years of marriage, I’ve experienced something personally profound and have observed it countless times in others—when couples commit to work through their issues, learn about themselves and make changes to become more the person they need to be…then there is comfort, companionship, and greater financial stability on the other side of the conflict. There is no better way to go into old age than with the person with whom you have weathered life’s storms – the one who has been a witness to your life’s journey."

Enjoy the full article here.

Roots and Branches, and the Marriages that Tie Them All Together

Recently I've been working with my Cub Scout to help him achieve his Wolf Badge. One of his activities has been to fill in 4 generations of a family tree pedigree chart. I've done the same activity with my two older children (another son and a daughter), as well. Each time I help them fill out their pedigree charts, I feel an appreciation for the knowledge of our people--where we come from, who are our ancestors--names, dates of birth, death, and marriage--their cultures and countries of origin. I appreciate the marriages which publicly united the various branches of our family tree, together. From my perspective, I feel a distinct sense of belonging as I explore these kinships, and rejoice in the known family legacies I can pass on to my children. Roots and branches, tied together through the blessing of marriage--mothers and fathers represented equally as a tribute to tenacity, love, and a nod to the future.

If you would like to explore your family tree, and your own heritage, you can learn more here.

This article helped me appreciate, all the more, the marriage legacy of my own ancestors.

I read this article, while thinking of my own parents, and my mother and father-in law, as well as my children, and felt grateful for our marriages.

"The Price of Prop. 8"

This article gives an extremely thorough, well-documented look at the "pound of flesh" which CA Prop. 8 supporters have paid, as they willingly put themselves out there to defend the time-tested definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman.

My prayers and best wishes are with those supporters as they endure yet more persecution of Judge Walker's Kangaroo Court (refer to my previous blog post for info. on that circus).

"Roundup of Proposition 8 Coverage" by the Playful Walrus

Please visit the folks over at Opine for the latest coverage of Prop. 8 on trial.

From the article, please consider the following:

"At trial, Walker intends to ask lawyers on both sides to present the facts underlying much of the political rhetoric surrounding same-sex marriage. Among his questions are whether sexual orientation can be changed, how legalizing gay marriage affects traditional marriages and the effect on children of being raised by two mothers or two fathers.

These questions reveal a bias. The question should center on the facts of how we adopt laws and whether those laws violate the Constitution. It doesn't matter whether or not sexual orientation can be changed (though it is interesting to see people deny the existence of people I have met) – there are conditions people have that keep them from getting a driver's license, too; counterfeits devalue the authentic; and when a child is raised by "two mothers", the child doesn't have the bonding experience and modeling of a father, and when a child is raised by "two fathers" the child doesn't have the bonding experience and modeling of a mother. If neither fathers nor mothers are important, then we're one step closer to the government owning our kids, aren't we?"

Judge Walker's "Kangaroo Court"

Fresh from NOM's blog, the following reveals a travesty of justice:

"On Monday, Jan. 11, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker will put the people of California on trial for voting against gay marriage.

The case will be a show trial in a kangaroo court. I don’t say that lightly of any federal judge, but Judge Walker’s extraordinary bias has already been flagrantly on display.

Take the trial itself. The constitutionality of Proposition 8 is not really a matter for a trial of fact. It’s a question of law. But Judge Walker ordered one anyway. Why? Ordinarily a trial judge’s rulings of fact cannot be questioned by higher courts. So the more of his opinions that Judge Walker can stuff into the box of “trial of fact” instead of “review of law,” the more power he will have over this historic case.

Next Judge Walker issued an extraordinary ruling that the private intentions of Prop. 8 proponents — ideas by definition never communicated to voters — were properly the subject of this trial. So people who worked on the campaign have been put on trial, subpoenaed for all their e-mails and personal correspondence. This is an enormous personal headache, one which will (as intended) discourage participation in the political process in the future.

. . . .”These are kangaroo-court procedures,” distinguished lawyer Ed Whelan noted in National Review Online’s Bench Memos this week.

But the third outrageous ruling by Judge Walker is the worst of all: On Dec. 22, he ordered the trial televised — in defiance of federal rules — without proper notice and public comment… . Whelan points out that the Judicial Conference of the United States opposes televising federal trials in part because doing so “could jeopardize … the safety of trial participants” and “produce intimidating effects on litigants, witnesses and jurors.”

But this is no ordinary trial. This is a trial in a case where thousands of ordinary citizens have already faced a wave of hatred for participating in democracy. On Oct. 22, the Heritage Foundation released a report titled “The Price of Prop. 8,” which concluded that “supporters of Proposition 8 in California have been subjected to harassment, intimidation, vandalism, racial scapegoating, blacklisting, loss of employment, economic hardships, angry protests, violence, at least one death threat, and gross expressions of anti-religious bigotry.”

To deliberately and needlessly expose these people to a new wave of publicity and attacks by televising the trial is outrageous.

Full disclosure: As the president of the National Organization for Marriage, which created a ballot initiative committee — NOM California — that worked with Protect Marriage, I was intimately involved in putting Prop. 8 on the ballot. So I know dozens of people who have been personally threatened, some of whom still live in fear today when they walk outside their door as a result of an organized effort to distribute personal addresses of donors to Prop. 8. NOM is involved in a separate federal lawsuit to protect donors’ constitutional rights in future marriage amendment battles.

At stake in this case is not only the future of marriage in all 50 states, but the future of democracy, the future of fair play, ordinary decency and common sense. Not to mention a little thing like constitutional limits on the power of judges.

After Prop. 8, gay couples continue to enjoy unmolested all the legal civil rights of marriage under California law through civil unions. Who will stand up for the core civil rights of the people of California… to participate in democracy without fear?"

~Maggie Gallagher