Blame it on depraved American culture
When Congress was briefed last week on more of the torture images coming out of Abu Ghraib, Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., decided to take a pass, telling the New York Times, "I've already seen enough. Why would I want to go see a bunch of perverted pictures?"

But according to Heritage Foundation vice president Rebecca Hagelin, Lott may not be so typical an American. In a recent column published on Townhall.com, she rattles off a litany of statistics about the rampant consumption of porn in America -- and how our "rotted" national culture must have caused the torture in Iraq.

"A recent poll says Americans aren't even overly ashamed of what has gone on. Why? 'People out in the hinterlands can keep the perspective of the big picture,' the pollster told U.S. News magazine. Oh yeah? What is the big picture? That 'everyone does it'? That this was mistreatment, not torture? That these were mere 'fraternity pranks'? That the Iraqis are doing far worse to each other and to our soldiers? Forget defending it. It's indefensible...

"But, with the non-judgmental, sex-crazed, anything-goes culture that we have become at home, it seems that America has set herself up for international humiliation. Our country permits Hollywood to put almost anything in a movie and still call it PG-13. We permit television and computers to bring all manner of filth into our homes. We permit school children to be taught that homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle. We allow Christianity and the teaching of Judeo-Christian values to be scrubbed from the public square. We allow our children be taught how to use condoms in school, rather than why to avoid sex. We let these things happen. They don't happen on their own.

"While hearings take place to examine the horrific behavior that took place in a military prison overseas, it's time to take a cold, hard look at the degradation in our own country -- and in our own homes."

Gay-marriage licenses are "death certificates"
With a new wave of same-sex couples marrying in Massachusetts this week, conservatives once again launched the expected attack. Monday's 50th anniversary of the landmark civil rights case Brown vs. Board of Education provided a poignant backdrop, with some of the rhetoric in heartland states like Colorado and Pennsylvania -- the latter considered key in this year's election -- turning rather ugly:

"I think this is going to awaken people," said Rev. Louis Sheldon, chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition, according to an AP report published in the Denver Post. "It [gay marriage] is not a civil right. It is a behavior. [Gay-marriage advocates] never had to drink at different water fountains or ride in the back of the bus."

James Dobson, chairman of the Colorado Springs-based Christian group Focus on the Family, offered a grave assessment of the jubilant same-sex couples flocking to court houses in New England.

"We will look back 20, 30, 50 years from now and recall this as the day marriage ceased to have any real meaning in our country. The documents being issued all across Massachusetts may say 'marriage license' at the top but they are really death certificates for the institution of marriage as it has served society for thousands of years."

Lancaster Newspapers reported that The Pennsylvania Family Institute, a conservative organization based in Harrisburg, dubbed Monday "Destruction of Marriage Day.'' The group's vice president Tom J. Shaheen explained the logic behind the moniker this way:

"When you redefine something, you're changing it. To redefine marriage, if it no longer means what it traditionally meant, between a man and a woman, you've destroyed the meaning and that plays out in the future. Our society is worse off and our children are worse off. That's why it's seen as destructive."

Not surprisingly, the right-wing Christian Coalition once again pounded the table for a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages. Coalition president Roberta Combs played to fears of a "homosexualized" America and then blamed the whole thing on renegade courts.

"Traditional marriage has been dealt a severe blow beginning with so-called legalized homosexual 'marriages' [Monday] in the state of Massachusetts, an abomination which must not be allowed to continue. Traditional marriage is one of the last obstacles to the complete normalization of homosexuality in America. When a majority of Americans, 68% in a recent Time/CNN poll, agree that marriage is a union only between a man and a woman, it is time for Congress to rein in these judicial tyrants who are making these radical judicial decisions. The Federal Marriage Amendment is crucial in giving back to elected officials the ability to define marriage instead of activist judges who are supposed to interpret law and not make it."

Keeping the faith
Meanwhile, after a wave of same-sex marriages in San Francisco earlier this year, the Presidential Prayer Team, a nonprofit organization whose "singular purpose is to encourage Americans to pray daily for the President," called on supporters in late February to pray for Bush and his team to "codify marriage as being between one man and one woman" so that "a spirit of moral decency will arise in America."

But the group also regularly beseeches the higher power to help out with foreign policy -- last week it called on its flock to appeal for help with the rising Abu Ghraib disaster.

"Presidential prayer requests for May 13, 2004:

"Pray for the President as he works closely with Pentagon and Congressional leaders to guide the investigation into the Iraqi prison abuse concerns. Now that the problem has been revealed to be much larger than originally thought, pray for wisdom for all involved, that justice will be done, swiftly and resolutely, and that respect for the dignity of every human will be honored and valued."

The PPT elaborated on that commendable appeal for a resolution to the problem -- though perhaps a bit more specifically than the White House might have liked.

"Pray for the President and the leaders of our military including Gen. Richard Myers, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, General John Abizaid, Central Command Chief, Brig Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of U.S. military operations in Iraq, General Geoffrey Miller, head of U.S. prisons in Iraq, and all leaders responsible for the ongoing military operations in Iraq. Pray for God's wisdom to impact our military, from the leadership down to every troop who serves and bravely protects our freedom."

And the group offered one other directive for helping the Bush White House that seemed particularly apropos of the need for prayer:

"Pray for the President as he works with United Nations special envoy Brahimi, Ambassador Paul Bremer and the Iraqi Governing Council as the June 30 deadline for the turnover to the Iraqi interim government approaches. Pray for the success of all systems that must be in place by then, including water and electric utilities as well as health care and education."

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