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See Christine Flowers on Channel 6's "Inside Story" Sunday at 11:30 a.m.

  Email Christine M. at cflowers1961@yahoo.com
Same-sex marriage: Who says it’s a right?
Christine Flowers
Posted 05/18/2012
The love that “dare not speak its name” started chattering rather loudly last week through a new presidential megaphone. Barack Obama announced that he was personally in favor of same-sex marriage, thereby energizing his somewhat-disgruntled base and alienating his already disgusted opponents. The real issue is whether this announcement, which has absolutely no legal importance, will move the undecided middle in either direction. There are a lot of reasons why people oppose what some call a “civil right” and others call “an abomination.” Obama knew that he was never going to win the vote of those who think homosexuality should be hidden from public view, not celebrated on top of a three-tiered cake. He also knew that he had the LGBT vote locked in, even if he kept dancing around the marriage issue. Who else were they going to vote for?
 
The Manchurian Mayor
French President Nicolas Sarkozy (left), President-elect Francois Hollande.<br /><br />Getty
In Europe, they love to hate us
Christine M. Flowers, Philadelphia Daily News
Posted 05/13/2012
I REMEMBER WHEN President Obama went on what some conservatives (including this one) called the “apology tour.”It was shortly after he took office three years ago, and provided his critics with a lot of snarky material. Karl Rove wrote in the Wall Street Journal that “A superstar, not a statesman, today leads our country.” He was referring to the fact that foreign audiences loved the image of an American president distributing mea culpas for what the vast majority of his compatriots viewed as making the world a safer and more-prosperous place. The crosses at Normandy come to mind.
 
The Manchurian Mayor
Beaten by her own political baggage - 05/04/2012
Freelance
LIVE BY THE SWORD, die by the sword. Or in the case of state Rep. Babette Josephs, by the (gay) blade. The longtime Philadelphia politician, who had a stranglehold on her legislative seat and was seeking an unprecedented 15th term in office, was beaten by her own political baggage.
Under the law, the unborn don’t matter - 04/27/2012
Freelance
If you want to exercise dominion over someone, strip him of his humanity. In some cases, it’s not just a metaphor. Africans were brought here naked, in chains. But that’s rare. Usually, the dehumanization has little to do with exterior insults and more with intangibles, like abusive psychologies and oppressive laws. Blacks were still slaves under Jim Crow, even though they were clothed. Women were second-class citizens until we obtained the right to change government, that precious vote, but even before the 18th Amendment we were fashion plates. No, the real way to debase and demean another human is to tell him through our laws and customs that he doesn’t matter. And this is what we have done with the unborn. But that’s changing. And while the steps are incremental, they are leading towards a glorious summit.
This nutty universe simply Trumps logic. Go ask Alex. - 04/20/2012
MY NEPHEW is a very smart 3 1/2-year-old with an unassailable sense of logic. Like most toddlers, he sees the world in a linear way, without the usual adult contortions. Here is a recent conversation I overheard between Alex and his mother:
Christine M. Flowers: - 04/20/2012
philly.com/flowers
Flowers: Why Santorum's values matter - 04/12/2012
Freelance
Christine Flowers: Personally, I’m deeply saddened. I would have voted for Santorum if I could have.
ON THIS GOOD FRIDAY, IN PRAISE OF TRUE WARRIORS FOR THE FAITH - 04/06/2012
THERE HAS never been a time when I didn't think of myself as Catholic. When my father died at the age of 43 from a virulent form of cancer, and a lady at our local parish sternly said, "It's God's will, you need to accept it," I wasn't tempted to leave the church. I just left that parish.
The week's big story was in Philly. Scout's honor. - 03/30/2012
THERE WERE a lot of newsworthy things that happened in the city and the country over the past few weeks, including protests in memory of (and anger about) Trayvon Martin, the start of the trial against Monsignor Lynn (who, let's be honest, is standing in as proxy for the Catholic Church), the health-care debates before the U.S. Supreme Court, the pope's visit to Communist (but increasingly religious) Cuba and Rick Santorum's win (in Louisiana, not at the bowling alley in Wisconsin).
Get the words right on Pennsylvania's ultrasound bill - 03/23/2012
WILLIAM F. Buckley, a man who made love to the English language, would have raised his patrician eyebrows at people who call mandatory transvaginal ultrasounds "rape."
The 'war on women' is all rumor - 03/16/2012
TO HEAR some people, there's a "war against women," and one of the key skirmishes is being waged south of the Mason-Dixon (a/k/a bikini) line. Funny thing is, I really don't feel under siege, and neither do a lot of my friends. In fact, the only people we see coming up over the hill with their rifles are other women, who apparently regard any attempt to limit their reproductive rights as an attack on Fort Dump-on-her.
Limbaugh's only crime was apologizing - 03/09/2012
Christine Flowers: We have become a community of finger-pointers of the school-ground variety.
MORE STORIES
DAYDREAM BELIEVING: DAVY & MY BOYS OF SUMMER - 03/02/2012
Revisiting affirmative action - 02/24/2012
Catholics: E unum, pluribus - 02/17/2012
OBAMA'S MACABRE DANCE AROUND CATHOLIC BELIEF - 02/10/2012
Same-sex marriages left up to voters - 02/03/2012
Christine M. Flowers: - 02/03/2012
A MAN OF GRAVITAS & GRANDEUR: No saint, but deserves our prayer - 02/02/2012
Paterno doesn't belong to the media - 01/27/2012


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