Need a landscape makeover?
The News-Press Media Group and Riverland Nursery are teaming up to give you a chance at some much-needed help.
Email a photo of your landscape and objectives to landscapemakeover@news-press.com. Tell us where you live, if you have an irrigation system and in what direction your house faces. A contest winner will be selected every other week. Suggestions will include recommended plants and trees in a mock layout that will be featured in Saturday?s Home Garden section and on news-press.com.
Former NPR and current Fox News political analyst Juan Williams made an excellent point Monday night on ?The O?Reilly Factor.? Williams said the major reason President Barack Obama had not endorsed same-sex marriage is because of the strong opposition to it in the black and Hispanic communities.
Who could have doubted, though, that the president favors expanding the definition of marriage to include gays and lesbians?
Vice President Joe Biden brought this divisive social issue to the forefront of the presidential campaign with his comments Sunday on ?Meet the Press.? Biden said he is ?absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men and women marrying one another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties.?
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney tried to have it both ways when he claimed the president?s position on same-sex marriage is still ?evolving.? Whole species have come and gone faster than the president?s ?evolution? on this issue. Carney said the president ?opposes efforts in states to repeal rights or deny rights to LGBT citizens that have already been established.? This means the president opposes North Carolina?s new constitutional amendment that defines marriage as the legal union of a man and woman and bans same-sex marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships.
We are supposed to believe the president opposes ?discrimination? against same-sex couples who wish to marry, but still favors traditional marriage, as he claimed back in 2008 when he said he believed ?marriage is between a man and a woman.? At least, of course, until Wednesday when he sat down for a hastily arranged interview with ABC?s Robin Roberts and said he thinks ?same-sex couples should be able to marry.? It appears he?s calculated that whatever votes might be lost by coming out for same-sex marriage will be gained by the activism of gay rights advocates and their political contributions.
Traditional marriage is an issue most conservative Christians embrace, but even with the North Carolina result and similar laws in other states, this is a battle they are unlikely to win for a number of reasons. One is the behavior of so many in the traditionalist camp. If you are Christian and are going to argue in favor of traditional marriage, it doesn?t help that so many in your camp are poor examples of what marriage is supposed to be ? a lifetime union, steadfast and binding through good times and bad, sickness and health.
The Lee County Sheriff?s Office is conducting a death investigation in North Fort Myers after receiving a call in the area of shots fired at a residence on Teasdale Drive. Two people have been confirmed dead. / Dennis Culver/news-press.com
Anna Brown, a nurse practitioner, examines Melany Cuevas during Melany?s 18-month checkup on Thursday at Healthcare Network of Southwest Florida in Immokalee. / Amanda Inscore/news-press.com
Mathieu Roy of the Florida Everblades looks to pass the puck against Kalamazoo on May 3. / Amanda Inscore/news-press.com
Stephanie Otte and daughter Nola watch the flight of a balloon to honor Otte?s cousin, Robin Cornell, killed in 1990, Thursday in Cape Coral. See more photos from the ceremony at news-press.com/cape. / Todd Stubing/news-press.com
Former Santa Barbara News-Press editor Jerry Roberts has prevailed at the state Supreme Court, which declined to hear an appeal of a lower court ruling granting him attorneys fees and costs in a dispute with the newspapers owner. (Lara Cooper / Noozhawk photo)
Evangelical Christian runner Sarah Candiano, 15, won the 1,600 meter at regionals and was part of the winning 4×800 team. She will be competing at the Class A State meet today. in Jacksonville. / Terry Allen Williams/news-press.com
USA swimming open water 10K National Championships: USA swimming open water 10K National Championships at Miromar Lakes Beach and Golf Club on Friday 4/27/2012. (Video by Andrew West/news-press.com)