Today on Kresta - June 25, 2010

Talking about the "things that matter most" on June 25

Best of Kresta in the Afternoon

4:00 – TIME MAGAZINE: “Why Being Pope Means Never Having To Say You’re Sorry”
It would probably be too much to ask that Time magazine run a cover story on the bold statements and concrete actions that Benedict XVI has taken to address the clergy sexual abuse crisis. No self-respecting journalistic enterprise wants to be separated from the pack when it comes to covering a controversial news story, which means it must always follow the herd, even when the evidence points elsewhere. But the Time magazine June 7 cover story is a particularly frustrating example of a media enterprise playing to prejudices with half-truths even to the point of severely misrepresenting the story. "Why Being Pope Means Never having To Say You’re Sorry: The Sex Abuse Scandal and the Limits of Atonement" is the provocative headline splashed across the most recent Time cover, which also features an image of the back of Benedict XVI's mitered head. Greg Erlandson is here to respond.

4:40 – Kresta Comments / Direct to my Desk

5:00 – The Battle: How the Fight between Free Enterprise and Big Government Will Shape America's Future
America faces a new culture war. It is not a war about guns, abortions, or gays—rather it is a war against the creeping changes to our entrepreneurial culture, the true bedrock of who we are as a people. The new culture war is a battle between free enterprise and social democracy. Many Americans have forgotten the evils of socialism and the predations of the American Great Society’s welfare state programs. But, as American Enterprise Institute’s president Arthur C. Brooks reveals, the forces for social democracy have returned with a vengeance, expanding the power of the state to a breathtaking degree. He offers a plan of action for the defense of free enterprise; it is at once a call to arms and a crucial redefinition of the political and moral gulf that divides Right and Left in America today.

5:20 - Detroit Bus Authority Blocks Ads Offering Help to Muslims Threatened for Leaving Their Religion
A federal lawsuit was filed last week over the refusal of a Detroit-area transportation authority to display an anti-Jihad advertisement on its buses. The ad stated, “Fatwa on your head? Is your family or community threatening you? Leaving Islam? Got questions? Get Answers!” The “Leaving Islam” ad was sponsored by the Freedom Defense Initiative (FDI), founded by Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer. In the past, SMART had no problem running an anti-religion ad sponsored by an atheist organization that stated, “Don’t Believe in God? You are not alone.” Dick Thompson of the Thomas More Law Center is here to discuss it.

5:30 – Study Shows Children Raised By Lesbians are Smarter and More Well-Adjusted that Those In a Traditional Family – Oh yea, the Study was Done By an Open Lesbian.
Being raised by a same-sex couple is no hindrance to healthy psychological development, researchers say as the first generation of children conceived by lesbians through donor insemination is coming of age. In fact, lesbian mothers rated their 17-year-olds higher in social and academic skills, and lower in rule-breaking and aggression, than did mothers of teenagers who also had a father. The study, which appears in the journal Pediatrics, is the first to follow children of lesbian couples all the way from conception to adolescence. Two quick points: The study was done by an open lesbian and it contradicts decades of previous studies. Gary Glenn is here to discuss it.

5:40 – Primary Results – What Do They Say About November?
The June 8 primaries yielded some marquee matchups and one key runoff. The main message: Outsiders are in. California Former Silicon Valley CEOs and political newcomers Meg Whitman (eBay) and Carly Fiorina (Hewlett-Packard) face career politicians in a state usually unfriendly to female GOP candidates. Both Senator Barbara Boxer, who will face Fiorina in a bid for a fourth term, and Attorney General Jerry Brown, who will take on Whitman in the race for the governor's job, are counting on rookie mistakes. Election analyst Michael Barone is here. He also answers the question “What’s wrong with Michigan?”