Thursday, September 22, 2005

A FOUNTAIN OF LIFE

“The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death. Good understanding wins favor, but the way of the unfaithful is hard.”

(Proverbs 13:14-15)

QUOTATIONS ON WISDOM

“We thought, because we had power, we had wisdom.”

(Stephen Vincent Benet)

“A wise man makes his own decisions, an unwise man follows public opinion.”

(Proverbial)

“The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are."

(C.S. Lewis)

WHAT THEY DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW

HEATH - O’MEARA DEBATE AT UMO ORONO EXPOSES HIDDEN BACKERS OF THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

For those lucky enough to have heard the debate between Mike Heath and Ted O’Meara Tuesday night, there is no longer any doubt regarding who is behind the push for gay rights in Maine. The RECORD has maintained from the beginning that the gay rights movement is driven by powerful elites in the media, government, and the corporate world. But never did we imagine in our wildest dreams that the other side would finally prove our point for us. That is exactly what happened at the debate between Mike Heath and Ted O’Meara Tuesday night when a stunned audience learned that Ted O’Meara, top advisor to Maine Won’t Discriminate, was once Director of Corporate Communications for the Guy Gannet newspapers and Director of Communications for the Blethen Maine Newspapers. In other words, O’Meara was the principal corporate spokesman for both media companies.

Over four hundred people had gathered for the debate at the University of Maine campus at Orono, and the crowd let it be known early on that they were solidly on the side of O’Meara and the gay rights law. O’Meara drew a peal of laughter from the crowd when he said that the idea of a dangerous homosexual agenda was ridiculous. But O’Meara’s moment in the sun was very short-lived, as Mike Heath went on to reveal O’Meara’s past connections with Maine’s top newspapers. O’Meara responded angrily, and from that point onwards, it was all down hill for the Senior Adviser to Maine Won’t Discriminate. 

O’Meara had apparently come into the debate angry and defensive over what The RECORD revealed about his past connections on the day of the debate.  His chagrin at being exposed as the former spokesman for two large media companies certainly didn’t help his performance in the debate. Nor was he helped by the fact that Mike Heath was in rare form, giving very cogent and precise answers to the questions posed by the moderator. Sadly, O’Meara seemed to wander extensively in his answers as if he were unsure of some of the basic concepts underlying the argument over gay rights.  There is really no way to describe O’Meara’s performance without being cruel. We do not want to be cruel, so we will stop here and let you use your imagination. All we will say is that he sounded very uncomfortable by the end of the debate.  It was really embarrassing.

The RECORD is going to attempt to obtain a complete transcript of the debate for the League website, so our readers can decide for themselves who won the debate.  Tellingly, there was no further mention of the debate on MWD’s website today.

Though an impartial observer would have to admit that Mike Heath won an absolutely stunning victory in the debate, the news media, as usual, are doing their best to mislead the public into believing exactly the opposite happened. Last week the Bangor Daily News ran a story in which it made the ludicrous charge that the mere mention of Heath’s name caused people to mutter under their breath. Even so, the BDN’s coverage of the debate has struck a new low in biased reporting. Their story was thoroughly critical of Heath, but not one word was said against Ted O’Meara, their former colleague in the newspaper business. So that you don’t think we are overstating the bias shown by the Bangor Daily News, here are a few quotes from the story:

“Heath whose frequent and harsh condemnation of homosexuality has made him a lightning rod in the debate…”

“Heath found himself in politically hostile territory, a fact he acknowledged, and one that was clearly evident judging by the opening applause given to each debater.”

“For the most part most of the students kept their disapproval of Heath’s message to low whispers during the debate.” [Again, the reporter repeats the ludicrous accusation  that crowds in Maine are murmuring and whispering against Mike Heath.]

“The debate turned testy at times with O’Meara chastising Heath for “personal attacks” on the League’s website.”

Incidentally, this form of deception, where critical facts are left out of a story is called “special pleading.’ Nowhere in the Bangor Daily News story is it mentioned that Heath won the debate handily. The Bangor Daily News also failed to mention a single word about O’Meara’s past connection to the Portland Press Herald. But then again, why would they? When the public finds out that the push for gay rights relies almost exclusively on a biased and unfair mass media, the game is up.