BMAT Moral Action Committee Watchman Report #99 09/03/2006

News Topics of a Particular Interest or Moral Concern

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Christianity / Religion

Harris Clarifies Criticism of Church-State Separation

Unapologetically Christian and Pro-life: U.S. Rep. Dares to Acknowledge Christianity as True Faith

Calif. Governor Signs Pro-Homosexual Bill, Outrages Family Advocates CCF, Others See Schwarzenegger's Signing of SB 1441 as Betrayal

ACLU Lawsuit Targets School Prayers in Tiny Missouri Town

Antireligious School Board Policy Stricken by Federal Court of Appeals

Freed Fox Journalists Converted to Islam at Gunpoint

 

 

Democracy / Security

The NAFTA Super Highway a Poor Exchange for American Sovereignty

Experts warn U.S. Infrastructure is coming apart at the seams

 

 

Family / Social

Of Plan B and American Moral Indifference

Attorney General Abbott and Texas Council on Family Violence Unite in Campaign against Dating Violence

Ex-Con's Homeless Service Gets National Recognition

 
 

Government / Legislation

Parents Ask Supreme Court to Review Ninth Circuit Sex Survey Case

Clock Ticking on Pro-Life, Pro-Family Bills as House and Senate Reconvene

Stricter Regulations Said to Force Some Porn Sites to Shut Down

 
 

Life Issues / Behavior

Plan B Supporters Won't Rest Until Age Restrictions are Dropped

Pro-Euthanasia Attorney to Head ABA's Special Bioethics Committee

California Elementary Makes Gender Optional

Wal-Mart's 'Gay' Partnership Risks Conservative 'Rollback'

 
 

Media / Internet / Entertainment

Patrick Buchanan's Challenge to Americans

CBS to Air Profanity-Laden Program Network testing waters to see how far they can go

 

 

Politics

Many Americans Uneasy with Mix of Religion and Politics

A US Senate Secret Exposed

Must Read Message from Terri Schiavo’s Father

 

 

World / World Apostasies

Gathering nuclear storm

Israel Sends Nuclear Message

Jerusalem Police Again Refuse to Permit Gay Pride Parade

 

 
 

Articles Below

Christianity / Religion

Quoteworthy: "In the present, therefore, as in the past, we find ample grounds for reverent thankfulness to the God of grace and providence for His protecting care and merciful dealings with us as a people." -- President Franklin Pierce, Dec. 4, 1854

Harris Clarifies Criticism of Church-State Separation

August 28 2006 churchReport.com

MIAMI (AP) - U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris told a religious journal that separation of church and state is "a lie" and God and the nation's founding fathers did not intend the country be "a nation of secular laws." The Republican candidate for U.S. Senate also said that if Christians are not elected, politicians will "legislate sin," including abortion and gay marriage.

 Harris made the comments — which she clarified Saturday — in the Florida Baptist Witness, the weekly journal of the Florida Baptist State Convention, which interviewed political candidates and asked them about religion and their positions on issues.

 Separation of church and state is "a lie we have been told," Harris said in the interview, published Thursday, saying separating religion and politics is "wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers."

 "If you're not electing Christians, then in essence you are going to legislate sin," Harris said. Her comments drew criticism, including some from fellow Republicans who called them offensive and not representative of the party.

 Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., who is Jewish, told the Orlando Sentinel that she was "disgusted" by the comments. Harris' campaign released a statement Saturday saying she had been "speaking to a Christian audience, addressing a common misperception that people of faith should not be actively involved in government."

 The comments reflected "her deep grounding in Judeo-Christian values," the statement said, adding that Harris had previously supported pro-Israel legislation and legislation recognizing the Holocaust.

 Harris' opponents in the GOP primary also gave interviews to the Florida Baptist Witness but made more general statements on their faith. Harris, 49, faced widespread criticism for her role overseeing the 2000 presidential recount as Florida's secretary of state.  State GOP leaders — including Gov. Jeb Bush — don't think she can win against Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson in November. Fundraising has lagged, frustrated campaign workers have defected in droves and the issues have been overshadowed by news of her dealings with a corrupt defense contractor who gave her $32,000 in illegal campaign contributions.

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Unapologetically Christian and Pro-life: U.S. Rep. Dares to Acknowledge Christianity as True Faith

August 28 2006 John-Henry Westen LifeSiteNews.com

Says really important that members of the church know people's stands" - "It's time that the churches get involved"

MIAMI, imagine a mainstream, popular, and many-time incumbent politician who is unafraid to acknowledge she is Christian and that the Christian faith is the one true faith.  Meet Katherine Harris, a Harvard grad, who after being elected to the Florida State Senate was made the state's last-elected secretary of state.  In 2003, Harris was sworn in as a U.S. Congressional Representative for Florida, and she is now running for election as a U.S. Senator for Florida.

In an interview with Florida Baptist Witness last week, Harris not only acknowledged her Christianity, but also suggested that all would be Christian if they knew the truth.  "Average citizens who are not Christians, because they don't know better," said Harris in the midst of answering a question.  The quote has her ideological opponents boiling over with rage.

Far from the 'I'm a Christian but . . .' line popularized by wayward Catholic politicians in both Canada and the United States, Harris, a Presbyterian by upbringing, says that her faith affects everything she does in her political life.  "In terms of my votes, my faith and my actions have to animate everything I do," she said. She added that she has sponsored and always supported pro-life and pro-family legislation and has a "100 percent voting record with the traditional values groups."

When asked about faith and politics Harris dives right into the heart of the issue.  "The Bible says we are to be salt and light. And salt and light means not just in the church and not just as a teacher or as a pastor or a banker or a lawyer, but in government and we have to have elected officials in government and we have to have the faithful in government and over time, that lie we have been told, the separation of church and state, people have internalized, thinking that they needed to avoid politics and that is so wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers," she said. "And if we are the ones not actively involved in electing those godly men and women and if people aren't involved in helping godly men in getting elected than we're going to have a nation of secular laws. That's not what our founding fathers intended and that's certainly isn't what God intended."

Harris also counsels that it is imperative that Churches become involved in the political process.  "So it's really important that members of the church know people's stands," she said. "It's time that the churches get involved. Pastors, from the pulpit, can invite people to speak, not on politics, but of their faith. But they can discern, they can ask those people running for election, in the pulpit, what is your position on gay marriage? What is your position on abortion? That is totally permissible in 5013C organizations. They simply cannot endorse from the pulpit."

Harris answers hard questions on life and family with ease and the self-assurance that comes from firm conviction.  "I do not support any civil rights actions with regard to homosexuality . . . I have voted in support of the Marriage Protection Amendment because we should not undermine the uniqueness of an institution that continues to serve as an essential thread in the fabric of our society." 

Asked, "Setting aside for the moment the public policy questions related to abortion, is abortion a moral evil? Why or why not?"  She replied simply, "Yes. Because it's a life, it's a life. Life begins at conception."

She wavered however on her public policy regarding abortion stating, "Clearly I would only, from a public policy standpoint, I would limit abortion to rape and life of the mother and incest, but for my personal standpoint, I would not have an abortion for any of those cases."

She is "adamantly" opposed to embryonic stem cell research and called the starvation-dehydration death of Terri Schiavo "unconscionable."

Speaking to the Baptists of Florida she urged them to vote for herself as a Christian.  "If you are not electing Christians, tried and true, under public scrutiny and pressure, if you're not electing Christians then in essence you are going to legislate sin," she warned.  "They can legislate sin, they can say that abortion is alright and they can vote to sustain gay marriage."

To contact Rep. Katherine Harris:
http://www.house.gov/formharris/issue.htm

See the full interview in the Florida Baptist:
http://www.floridabaptistwitness.com/6298.article

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Calif. Governor Signs Pro-Homosexual Bill, Outrages Family Advocates CCF, Others See Schwarzenegger's Signing of SB 1441 as Betrayal

August 29 2006 Fred Jackson and Jenni Parker Agape Press

Shock and dismay -- that's how pro-family groups in California are reacting to news this morning that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill that gives homosexuals new and far-reaching powers.

The bill, SB 1441, adds sexual orientation to already existing provisions in the state's law that prohibit discrimination on the basis of, among other things, race, national origin, ethnic group identification, religion, age, sex, color, or disability. The measure was promoted by a lesbian member of the California legislature and is now the law in that state, a fact that has filled many family advocates with outrage.

Karen England, executive director of the Capitol Resource Institute (CRI), described the measure as not "even a veiled attempt at subtly advancing the radical homosexual agenda," but "an outright, blatant assault on religious freedom." She calls the bill "yet another attempt to prevent citizens with moral and religious principles from expressing their beliefs and educating their children according to those beliefs."

This legislation, a CRI press release points out, could potentially prevent parochial schools such as private, Christian, Catholic, Mormon, or other faith-based educational institutions from receiving student financial assistance if they also maintain a code of conduct that prohibits homosexual behavior as immoral based on their religious beliefs.

It is CRI's position that forcing acceptance of students engaged in behavior offensive to a religious school's moral code is a serious infringement of the institution's constitutional rights to freedom of assembly and free speech. Meredith Turney, legislative liaison for CRI, feels it is bad public policy to add sexual behavior to the state code's list of protected classes. As a California citizen and a person of faith, she says, "I am terribly disappointed in Governor Schwarzenegger."

As some pro-family opponents are interpreting the newly signed legislation, it requires any program or activity that receives any financial assistance from the state to support homosexuality, bisexuality, and trans-sexuality in effect or else lose that funding. The law allows no exemptions for faith-based colleges, university, or child-care centers that receive any amount of state money.

Activist Calls Governator Traitor to California Families
California activist Randy Thomasson, head of the group Campaign for Children and Families (CCF), charges Arnold Schwarzenegger with betraying the state's pro-family citizens.

In signing SB 1441 into law, the governor has "trampled religious freedom to satisfy hyperactive sexual activists," Thomasson contends. He says Schwarzenegger apparently "has two faces. He speaks at churches and says he believes in religious freedom and family values, yet he's stabbing pro-family Californians in the back."

Thomasson and CCF alerted thousands of the state's voters to SB 1441, which resulted in the governor's office being bombarded with thousands of phone calls, faxes, and e-mails voicing opposition to the measure. Multitudes of pro-family citizens, as well as representatives from several of the state's religious schools, sent urgent messages pleading with Governor Schwarzenegger to veto the legislation.

In ignoring those appeals, Thomasson asserts, the current governor is doing just as his predecessor, the recalled Governor Gray Davis, did -- that is, "trample religious freedom at the bidding of liberal activists from San Francisco and West Hollywood."

The president of CCF says members of California's religious community "are suffering under Arnold Schwarzenegger." And now that he has signed SB 1441, which the activist calls "an intolerant bill" that rides roughshod over the religious values of Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and other religious institutions, the religious community will undoubtedly suffer more.

"By importing these controversial sexual lifestyle definitions" into state law, Thomasson contends, this newly enacted legislation could easily harm the religious freedom of dozens of the state's faith-based institutions that accept financial aid for their students. "People of conscience are appalled," he says, at the governor's decision to sign this anti-family legislation.

Thomasson says this new state law will, among its other ill effects, force religious schools to either abandon their religious standards on sexuality or reject students who have been awarded state financial aid. Other kinds of faith-based organizations will be affected as well, he notes, including non-profits and community service organizations that contract with the state or receive any kind of state funding of their programs or activities.

More Sexual Indoctrination Bills to Come from California Legislature and unfortunately for California families, as CCF action alert points out a number of other radical, pro-homosexual bills are heading toward Governor Schwarzenegger's desk. One of these, a bill known as SB 1437, prohibits textbooks, instructional materials, and school-sponsored activities from "reflecting adversely" on homosexuality, trans-sexuality, or bisexuality.

Another bill, AB 606, authorizes the California Superintendent of Public Instruction to withhold state funds arbitrarily from any district deemed to be inadequately promoting homosexuality, trans-sexuality, and bisexuality in its school policies. This measure, CCF asserts, clears the way for curricula promoting these "alternative" sexual lifestyles to be forced on all the state's public schools.

And then, CCF notes, there is AB 1056. This bill, now on the California Senate floor, would spend $250,000 in taxpayer dollars to promote trans-sexual, bisexual, and homosexual lifestyles under the banner of "tolerance training" in ten school districts, thereby creating a model "pilot program" for the rest of the state.

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ACLU Lawsuit Targets School Prayers in Tiny Missouri Town

August 28 2006 Jim Brown and Jody Brown Agape Press

A small Missouri school district is staring down a lawsuit over school prayer. The suit alleges that teacher-led prayer during two school assemblies violated the constitutional rights of students.

Two students and their mother have filed suit against the Doniphan School District in southeast Missouri. Filed on their behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Eastern Missouri, the lawsuit claims that on two successive days in May 2005, school assemblies at Doniphan Elementary School began with teachers leading a prayer. The ACLU notes in a press release that the family bringing the suit is "not Christian," while both prayers were "Christian."

According to the ACLU, when the district superintendent was contacted about the matter, he offered to remedy the matter by telling school administrators they should invite a student, not a teacher, to lead school prayers in the future. That response, says the ACLU, demonstrates the superintendent's "lack of understanding" of both the Constitution and their district's own policies.

"Such religious activities are not only inconsistent with the policies of the Doniphan R-I School District," states the lawsuit, "but also constitute an establishment of religion in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States." The suit seeks an injunction preventing both teacher- and student-led prayer during in-school assemblies to prevent what the ACLU describes as "irreparable harm" to students who are "coerce[d]" into participating in "religious exercises."

Liberty Counsel, which is based in Orlando, Florida, has offered to represent the Doniphan School District free of charge in the case. Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, says it is unfortunate, but there is a difference between when the Constitution says and what today's courts are saying about school prayer.

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Mat Staver

Under the current interpretation by the courts, right or wrong, the ultimate result would be if you have a mandatory prayer in the public school classroom, then that would be ruled unconstitutional," Staver explains. "If the students, however, had an opportunity for a moment of silence, that is permissible; or if they wanted to voluntarily pray or have a moment of silence among themselves, certainly that is permissible as well."

In this particular case and under the current interpretation, says the Liberty Counsel founder, such prayers likely would be ruled unconstitutional. Staver contends the ACLU is driving "anti-religious bigotry."

"[T]hey're trying to use their legal threats as a bully-club to really silence people of faith and to rewrite our American history," he asserts. Still, the attorney has high hopes for the future. "I believe one good thing, however, is on the horizon," he says, "and that is we have a new Supreme Court -- and that Supreme Court is not going to be as hostile to religion as the courts of past decades."

The case is Jane Doe, et al. v. Doniphan R-I School District, et al. School superintendent Kevin Sandlin declined comment for this story.

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Antireligious School Board Policy Stricken by Federal Court of Appeals

August 28 2006 Liberty Council

Atlanta, GA - In a unanimous decision, a federal court of appeals has struck down an antireligious school board policy that banned students from distributing religious literature within the Lee County School Board, located in Florida. The students in the lawsuit were represented by Liberty Counsel.

While in seventh grade in Cypress Lake Middle School, Michelle Heinkel sought permission to distribute religious and pro-life literature about the Day of Remembrance, which was a day to remember unborn children who lost their lives through abortion. The Day of Remembrance was sponsored by Freedom to Learn. However, Superintendent James Browder denied the request. The school board policy prohibited students from distributing literature that is political, religious or proselytizing. The next year, Browder again denied Heinkel's request, along with the request of Nate Cordray, a student at Riverdale High School. The federal district court upheld the policy, but the court of appeals found it unconstitutional.

In its unanimous decision, the court of appeals ruled that the policy's ban on all political and religious literature was an unconstitutional content-based restriction. The court also ruled that the policy gave too much unrestricted discretion to school officials to deny speech. The court struck down the entire policy as a violation of the First Amendment.

Erik Stanley, Chief Counsel of Liberty Counsel, said, "Public school students have a right to free speech, which includes verbal or written speech, before, after or in between classes. A school's desire to squelch speech because of discomfort with the message is unconstitutional."

Mathew Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel, who argued the case before the district court and on appeal, commented: "Religious and political speech, are twin sisters, without which we have no freedom. Public schools may ban obscenity and libel, but religious and political speech does not stop at the schoolhouse door. Banning religious speech sends the wrong message that religion is taboo or second class, which proposition neither this court nor the Constitution is willing to tolerate. Educators need education about American history and the Constitution."

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Freed Fox Journalists Converted to Islam at Gunpoint

August 28 2006 Citizen Link

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - One of the Fox News journalists freed yesterday after two weeks of captivity in Gaza says they were forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint.
     
Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig were kidnapped by a group calling itself the Holy Jihad Brigades, which had demanded the release of Muslim prisoners held by the United States.
     
Centanni told Fox News that converting to Islam at their captors' insistence "was something we felt we had to do because they had the guns." He hastened to add, "I have the highest respect for Islam, and I learned a lot of good things about it."
     
But on Fox News Sunday, Washington Managing Editor Brit Hume said, "What an appealing faith these thugs must believe Islam is, that conversions have to be effected at the point of a gun."

Gary Bauer wrote in his Americans Values publication: While I celebrate the safe release of Centanni and Wiig, I believe there are a few questions to ponder. What kind of movement makes converts at gunpoint? “Certainly not one that is prepared to coexist peacefully with Western values of religious freedom.” What kind of movement kidnaps journalists in order to draw attention to its cause? “Certainly not one that accepts Western values of freedom of the press or values the free and fair debate of ideas.” Is this a movement likely to be deterred by dialogue and negotiation? No, it is not, and at some point, whole nations may be faced with the same choice as Centanni and Wiig – convert or die.

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Democracy / Security

The NAFTA Super Highway a Poor Exchange for American Sovereignty

August 29 2006 Patrick J. Buchanan

This is a "mind-boggling concept," exploded Lou Dobbs. It must cause Americans to think our political and academic elites have "gone utterly mad." What had detonated the mild-mannered CNN anchor?

Dr. Robert Pastor, vice chair of the Council on Foreign Relations Task Force on North America, had just appeared before a panel of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations -- to call for erasing all U.S. borders and a merger of the United States, Mexico and Canada in a North American union stretching from Prudhoe Bay to Guatemala. Under the Pastor-CFR plan, the illegal alien invasion would be solved by eliminating America's borders and legalizing the invasion. We would no longer defend the Rio Grande.

"What we need to do," Pastor instructed, "is forge a new North American Community. ... Instead of stopping North Americans on the borders, we ought to provide them with a secure, biometric Border Pass that would ease transit across the border like an E-Z pass permits our cars to speed through tolls."

The Pastor-CFR project, for "economic integration" of Mexamerica, is on the drawing board. North-south highways and railways would be built to weld us together as the American Union was welded together by the Northern Pacific, Union Pacific and Southern Pacific, and Ike's Interstate Highway System.

Speaking in Madrid in 2002, Mexican President Vicente Fox declared: "Our long-range objective is to establish with the United States an ensemble of connections and institutions similar to those created by the European Union, with the goal of attending to future themes as important as ... the freedom of movement of capital, goods, services and persons. The new framework we wish to construct is inspired in the example of the European Union."

Critical element of the Fox post-NAFTA agenda: absolute freedom of movement for persons between Mexico and the United States -- a merger of the nations. Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Debrez put it succinctly in April 2005. What Mexico is about is "complete integration" of the two nations.

To appreciate what Fox, Debrez, Pastor and the CFR wish America to merge with, consider a few excerpts from the State Department information sheet on Mexico.

While hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens marched beneath Mexican flags in U.S. cities on May Day to demand amnesty, Mexico's constitution "prohibits political activities by foreigners, and such actions may result in detentions and deportations."

"Crime in Mexico continues at high levels, and it is often violent, especially in Mexico City, Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo (and) Acapulco," State warns U.S. travelers. "Low apprehension rates and conviction rates of criminals contribute to the high crime rate."

"Women traveling alone are especially vulnerable. ... Victims ... have been raped, robbed of personal property or abducted and then held while their credit cards are used at various businesses and automatic teller machines. ... Kidnapping, including the kidnapping of non-Mexicans, continues at alarming rates."

When Fox proposed his merger of America and Mexico in a North American Union, Robert Bartley, for 30 years editorial page editor of The Wall Street Journal, declared him a "visionary" and pledged solidarity: "He (Fox) can rest assured that there is one voice north of the Rio Grande that supports his vision ... this newspaper."

The American people never supported NAFTA, and they are angry over Bush's failure to secure the border -- but a shotgun marriage between our two nations appears prearranged. Central feature: a ten-lane, 400-yard-wide NAFTA Super Highway from the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas, up to and across the U.S. border, through Texas and all the way to and across the Canadian border.

Within the median strip dividing the north and south car and truck lanes would be rail lines for both passengers and freight traffic, and oil and gas pipelines.

As author Jerome Corsi describes this Fox-Bush autobahn, container ships from China would unload at Lazaro Cardenas, a port named for the Mexican president who nationalized all U.S. oil companies in 1938. From there, trucks with Mexican drivers would run fast lines into the United States, hauling their cargo to a U.S. customs inspection terminal -- in Kansas City, Mo. From there, the trucks would fan out across America or roll on into Canada. Similar super-highways from Mexico through the United States into Canada are planned.

According to Corsi, construction of the Trans-Texas Corridor, the first leg of the NAFTA Super Highway, is to begin next year.

The beneficiaries of this NAFTA Super Highway project would be the contractors who build it and the importers and outlet stores for the Chinese-manufactured goods that would come flooding in. The losers would be U.S. longshoremen, truckers, manufacturers and taxpayers.

The latter would pay the cost of building the highway in Mexico and the United States, both in dollars and in the lost sovereignty of our once-independent American republic.

Cathie Adams

Construction on the first leg of the NAFTA super highway is to begin next year from San Antonio to north of Dallas.

President Bush is responsible for this debacle when he signed the Security and Prosperity Partnership (www.spp.gov) in March 2005 in Waco.

With your help during the 2007 Texas legislative session, my hope is to pass an "eminent domain" bill to protect property rights. Secondly, we must NOT let any politician fool us into thinking that tolls are preferable to taxes. TOLLS ARE TAXES!

We have a Texas Highway Fund and a Texas Mobility Fund to pay for Texas roads. We do NOT want the Spanish company, Cintra, to build our roads and then collect tolls / taxes for the next 50 years. Cintra has 21 similar highway projects in 6 countries. Payback for such investments is as much as 61 times! This is a BAD DEAL for Texans.

Some would accept paying tolls / taxes for road building and road repairs, but it is UN-American to pay tolls / taxes to drive Texas roads that profit foreign investors. Would you help us pass a bill in the Texas legislature to DISALLOW tolls / taxes paid to a foreign country?

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Experts warn U.S. Infrastructure is coming apart at the seams

August 29 2006 Prophecy News Watch

A pipeline shuts down in Alaska. Equipment failures disrupt air travel in Los Angeles. Electricity runs short at a spy agency in Maryland.

None of these recent events resulted from a natural disaster or terrorist attack, but they may as well have, some homeland security experts say. They worry that too little attention is paid to how fast the country's basic operating systems are deteriorating.

"When I see events like these, I become concerned that we've lost focus on the core operational functionality of the nation's infrastructure and are becoming a fragile nation, which is just as bad — if not worse — as being an insecure nation," said Christian Beckner, a Washington analyst who runs the respected Web site Homeland Security Watch (www.christianbeckner.com).

The American Society of Civil Engineers last year graded the nation "D" for its overall infrastructure conditions, estimating that it would take $1.6 trillion over five years to fix the problem.

"I thought Hurricane Katrina was a hell of a wake-up call, but people are missing the alarm," said Casey Dinges, the society's managing director of external affairs.

British oil company BP announced this month that severe corrosion would close its Alaska pipelines for extensive repairs. Analysts say this may sideline some 200,000 barrels a day of production for several months.

Then an instrument landing system that guides arriving planes onto a runway at Los Angeles International Airport failed for the second time in a week, delaying flights.

Those incidents followed reports that the National Security Agency (NSA), the intelligence world's electronic eavesdropping arm, is consuming so much electricity at its headquarters outside Washington that it is in danger of exceeding its power supply.

"If a terrorist group were able to knock the NSA offline, or disrupt one of the nation's busiest airports, or shut down the most important oil pipeline in the nation, the impact would be perceived as devastating," Beckner said. "And yet we've essentially let these things happen — or almost happen — to ourselves."

The Commission on Public Infrastructure at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, said in a recent report that facilities are deteriorating "at an alarming rate."

It noted that half the 257 locks operated by the Army Corps of Engineers on inland waterways are functionally obsolete, more than one-quarter of the nation's bridges are structurally deficient or obsolete, and $11 billion is needed annually to replace aging drinking-water facilities.

President Bush, asked about the problem during a public question-and-answer session in an April visit to Irvine, Calif., cited last year's enactment of a comprehensive law reauthorizing highway, transit and road-safety programs.

"Infrastructure is always a difficult issue," Bush acknowledged. "It's a federal responsibility and a state and local responsibility. And I, frankly, feel like we've upheld our responsibility at the federal level with the highway bill."

But experts say the law is riddled with some 5,000 "earmarks" for projects sought by members of Congress that do nothing to systematically address the problem.

"There's a growing understanding that these programs are at best inefficient and at worst corrupt," said Everett Ehrlich, executive director of the CSIS public infrastructure commission.

Ehrlich and others cite several reasons for the lack of action:

• The political system is geared to reacting to crises instead of averting them.

• Some politicians don't see infrastructure as a federal responsibility.

• And many problems are out of sight and — for the public — out of mind.

"You see bridges and roads and potholes, but so much else is hidden and taken for granted," said Dinges of the Society of Civil Engineers. "As a result, people just don't get stirred up and alarmed."

"Infrastructure deficiencies will further erode our global competitiveness, but with the federal budget so committed to mandatory spending, it's unclear how we are going to deal with this challenge as we fall further and further behind in addressing these problems".

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Family / Social

Of Plan B and American Moral Indifference

August 27 2006 Dennis Green Life and Liberty Ministries

There has been talk for years about the “morning after pill” or the “abortion pill”. Those who have been following the promotion of Levonorgestrel, or “Plan B”, as it is called, aren’t very surprised that it has been approved for over-the-counter sales. After all, the FDA has given its stamp of approval to dozens of other methods of killing the preborn. The Pill (in many of its various forms), the IUD, Norplant, Depo-Provera, etc. all have the potential of killing the newly conceived human.

Human life has been devalued to such a degree in this throw-away society that a newly conceived person is often viewed as a mere inconvenience. Rather than the joy and excitement once felt by the news of a baby on the way the first thoughts are all too often those of despair at our life being interrupted by an unwelcome intruder. Lucky for us, we now have the option to rid ourselves of the consequences of our sexual behavior with a pop of a pill and a gulp of water.

Pro-life organizations have spent many hours and piles of money educating President Bush as to the dangers of the Plan B human pesticide to no avail. The administration has shown its true colors. Career politicians as a rule tend to travel the easy road of moral compromise and all the while boldly proclaim their self to be heroes of virtue. When all is said and done, fancy speeches touting the uncompromising stance of the elected official will sway the masses more than the true history of broken promises and innocent lives lost. The innocent all too often must pay for the sins of the morally bankrupt.

To make abortifacient drugs such as levonorgestrel, more palatable to the public, the pharmaceutical industry has worked to redefine “conception”. Up until the late 1980’s medical journals, dictionaries and scholarly papers all defined conception: as the union of the sperm and the egg. At this point, a new distinct human has been created. Its DNA is different than that of his parents and all that is needed for the person to live to a ripe old age is time and nutrition. This was always common knowledge and the dissemination of such information doesn’t help the sale of the various deadly brews on the market. To counteract the obvious, the definition of the word, “conception” was changed to mean the point in time when the already created human implanted in the uterine wall. Thus conception was equated with implantation. Magically, with the change in definition, Plan B was no longer an “abortion pill” but rather just an innocuous little pack of pills that would prevent! a pregnancy.

Definitions can be juggled and uninformed people can be fooled but the FDA knew exactly what Plan B was as did the current administration that used its influence to push through its approval.

It’s easy for the populace to be duped when standards of righteousness and truth have been blurred to such a degree that the only argument on the table of debate is over which methods of killing the preborn are the best and least offensive. The loud and clear cry that no innocent child should be killed is seldom heard. We have found ourselves treading in the deep end of the pool of depravity.

So how did we get to this point? We aren’t immoral because of abortion. Abortion on demand is just evidence of our complete lack of morality. It reveals our lack of compassion for the most innocent and vulnerable among us. We are immoral because we have forsaken truth and embraced a lie. That lie is that we can live as we so desire without any consideration of God’s Word and still think that all will be OK.

When one points to the Scriptural standard and guidelines for morality clearly revealed in the Bible, his case is all too often discounted without serious consideration. This reveals the moral vacuum we have created in this nation by framing our values upon a foundation of convenience and immediate gratification rather than eternal truth. Children are to be received as a blessing according to the Scriptures and sexual relations are to be confined to the marriage bed. When God’s Truth is heeded, a multitude of our societal problems solve themselves. Contrariwise, when relativistic and immoral guidelines are set by which to govern our behavior, we end up with Plan B.

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Attorney General Abbott and Texas Council on Family Violence Unite in Campaign against Dating Violence

August 28 2006 Office of Greg Abbott

Texas Council on Family Violence study reveals 75 percent of young Texans experience dating violence or knew someone who has.

SAN ANTONIO – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and Texas Council on Family Violence (TCFV) Executive Director Sheryl Cates today launched the third and final installment of the highly successful “Break the Silence: Make the Call” domestic violence research and public awareness campaign.

This last initiative, “Red Flags: Know When To Raise Them,” is designed to help young Texans form healthy relationships by learning to detect and deter date-related violence. It also encourages them to act by getting more information themselves or referring the abuse victims in their lives to local domestic violence programs and services.

“I am honored to have worked for over three years with the Texas Council on Family Violence in bringing greater awareness to the tragedy of domestic abuse,” said Attorney General Abbott. “The latest installment of this campaign will reach potential victims and abusers at a young age, so that they can recognize and change their actions before falling into a life-long pattern of abusive relationships. TCFV’s worthy effort to educate young Texans about dating violence is another key step towards ending the sad cycle of domestic violence.”

"I want to thank Attorney General Abbott for his enthusiastic support over the years of our ongoing effort to give victims of domestic abuse a voice and the confidence they need to break the cycle of violence in their lives,” said Executive Director Cates. “The 'Break the Silence' campaign has touched countless families in Texas over these past three years, and the important research and insights this work has yielded will be the cornerstone of future domestic violence prevention efforts for years to come."

According to research TCFV conducted as part of this campaign, dating violence is a pattern of abusive behaviors that one person uses to control their partner in a relationship. Verbal abuse like yelling or threatening a partner can quickly escalate to physical abuse, including pushing, punching or choking, or sexual abuse.

In March 2006, TCFV conducted a survey of young Texans ages 16 to 24 to determine the prevalence of dating violence in Texas. The results revealed that 75 percent of respondents had either personally experienced dating violence or knew someone who had. Older respondents, those living in larger cities, and those who met their partner online were more likely to experience dating violence. Half of the female respondents said they had personally experienced dating violence, including 33 percent who had experienced physical or sexual violence in a dating relationship.

The TCFV survey also indicated that nearly three-quarters of respondents had sought help with their victimization from a peer or trusted adult, including parents, teachers, and religious leaders. “Red Flags: Know When To Raise Them” is aimed at empowering all victims with information about life-saving options and resources available to them, including incorporating the National Domestic Hotline as one of the first resources they should rely upon: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or TTY 1-800-787-3224.

In connection with the public awareness campaign, TCFV has dedicated a Web site to disseminating the message to teens and young adults at www.knowtheredflags.com.

In 2003, the Office of the Attorney General announced the $2 million grant to TCFV for the "Break the Silence: Make the Call" bilingual public awareness program, which began with extensive research via a statewide poll and focus groups with survivors of abuse to determine the knowledge base and direct impact of domestic violence in Texas. The results of this research indicated that friends and family of victims need specific information in order to effectively help their loved ones who are experiencing abuse.

Attorney General Abbott joined TCFV to launch the second phase of the program in 2004. The initiative expanded the public awareness efforts and education to friends and family of abuse victims, offering information on how to recognize possible signs of abuse, what friends and family can do to help loved ones in abusive relationships and how to contact local domestic violence programs and services. At the time, it was revealed that about 150 women a year die in Texas at the hands of domestic violence, and after friends and family members fail to act to guide the victim toward resources available to help them.

Grant funding to victim advocacy organizations is provided through the state Crime Victims’ Compensation Fund, which is managed by the Office of the Attorney General. Following a formal application and review process, grants are awarded statewide for services such as grief counseling, shelters for abuse victims, and to advocate for victims of violent crime.

In addition to the crime victim assistance grants, last year the Attorney General’s Crime Victim Services Division provided more than $85 million from the Fund directly to help victims pay for medical and out of pocket emergency expenses and other costs associated with the crimes committed against them. More information about the Crime Victim Services Division is available by calling (800) 252-8011 or by visiting the Attorney General’s Web site: www.oag.state.tx.us.

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Ex-Con's Homeless Service Gets National Recognition

August 30 /Christian Newswire

FAIRFIELD, Calif., a program that began just eight years ago inside a donated bus is now being recognized nationally as one of the best run, hardest working charities in America. Mission Solano, a Fairfield-based nomadic homeless sheltering program, has been chosen as a 2006 Samaritan Award honoree by the Acton Institute, an ecumenical think-tank organization based in Michigan.

"We offer a program that has proven to be effective at changing the lives of homeless men, women and children, and we're very happy to have that work recognized by a group like the Acton Institute," says Mission Solano's Executive Director Ron Marlette. "Our success lies first in our deep belief that anything is possible in the life of anyone with the help of Jesus Christ. We would never have been able to start or continue our program without the commitment of local churches," he adds.

The agency uses local churches to house approximately 50 men, women and children each night, seven days a week.

Mission Solano is one of only two West Coast charities chosen as finalists in the national competition. Two hundred forty-seven (247) agencies applied for the honor. As a finalist, Mission Solano will be featured in a major article in the September 2nd edition of World Magazine, a weekly publication dedicated to faith-based news. The article, which is already posted at www.worldmag.com, chronicles the organization from its very humble beginnings to its present day plans to build a $9 million dollar, 30,300-square- feet homeless services complex, the Bridge to Life Center.

Once built, the center will provide a holistic, long- term residence program for up to 163 homeless individuals, including men, women and families. It will be the largest such complex in Northern California and is already being called "the rescue mission of the future."

The article also looks inside the life of founder Marlette, an ex-con, and tells the story of how a Billy Graham crusade changed his life and led, ultimately, to his own crusade against homelessness in his hometown.

The Acton Institute chooses its Samaritan Award recipients and finalists based on a review of a given charity's financial protocols, its effectiveness and its use of faith to accomplish its goals.

About Mission Solano:
The program provides emergency shelter, food and clothing, counseling education and job-skills training to homeless throughout Solano County (a county of approximately 400,000 people). It is funded through donations and unique entrepreneurial enterprises.

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Government / Legislation

Parents Ask Supreme Court to Review Ninth Circuit Sex Survey Case

August 29 2006 Liberty Council

San Francisco, CA - Today, Liberty Counsel filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari with the United States Supreme Court asking the Court to review the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' decision in Fields v. Palmdale School District. Liberty Counsel represents seven parents in this case who objected to a psychological assessment survey with sexually explicit questions given to their children at Mesquite Elementary School.

Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the Ninth Circuit wrote that parents relinquish their parental rights at the schoolhouse door. Except for the Establishment and Treason Clauses, Reinhardt wrote, parents have no constitutional right to object to psychological sex surveys given to children as young as seven. According to Reinhardt, one of the most reversed judges in the county, public schools have the right to administer sex instruction to any children, at any time and in any manner, notwithstanding the objections of their parents. The survey asked children aged seven to ten about the frequency of: "Touching my private parts too much," "Thinking about having sex," "Thinking about touching other people's private parts," Thinking about sex when I don't want to," "Not trusting people because they might want sex," "Getting scared or upset when I think about sex," "Having sex feelings in my body," and "Can't stop thinking about sex."

The Petition states: "No one believes when a child is dropped off at day care, soccer practice, or summer camp that parents cease being parents.... Although parents might object to subjecting seven-year-old Susie to probing questions about her sexual thoughts, feelings and experiences, as long as the school does not commit treason, the Ninth Circuit's decision says: 'Parents - back off. Susie belongs to the public school'. The breadth of this decision is staggering. It presents an issue of exceptional importance."

Mathew D. Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel, stated: "The Ninth Circuit's ruling is deplorable as it strips parents of their constitutional rights to protect their children. Parental involvement in the education of their children should be encouraged, not punished. This ruling is an assault on every parent whose child attends public school. Parents do not cease being parents when their child walks through the schoolhouse gate."

Following the ruling by the Ninth Circuit, the parents asked Liberty Counsel to represent them. A petition for rehearing filed with the Ninth Circuit was denied, therefore, the Petition filed today requests the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.

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Clock Ticking on Pro-Life, Pro-Family Bills as House and Senate Reconvene

Aug 30 2006 ChurchReport.com

Congress will reconvene beginning Sept. 5 with legislation supported by pro-life and pro-family Americans, hanging in the balance.

WASHINGTON (BP) -- The Senate and House of Representatives probably will have little more than a month, if that much time, to deal with legislation before the November election. Republican leaders in Congress long ago set Oct. 6 as the target date for adjournment. They may seek to adjourn earlier however, to send their party’s members home as soon as possible to campaign in what appears will be a tight race for control of both houses.

 A bill intended to prevent the transportation of underage girls across state lines to obtain abortions in order to avoid parental involvement laws in the girls’ home states will be at the forefront of pro-life and pro-family attention when Congress resumes business.

 The Senate went into recess Aug. 3 with Democrats continuing to use a procedural tactic to forestall the Child Custody Protection Act (CCPA) from progressing to congressional negotiators.

 The Senate voted 65-34 for the measure July 25, but Democrats objected to Majority Leader Bill Frist’s normally routine request to forward the bill to a conference committee of Senate and House members. The conferees would have the task of working out differences between two measures that are similar but not identical. The Democrats again blocked Frist’s attempt to send the bill to a conference committee Aug. 3.

 President Bush has said he will sign the legislation if it arrives on his desk.

 Like the CCPA, the House version -- the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act -- is designed to protect the rights of parents in states that have enacted either parental notification or consent laws regarding abortions for minor girls.

 Some minors travel from or are transported from states with parental involvement laws to neighboring states that have no such laws in order to undergo abortions. Abortion clinics in states without parental involvement laws sometimes advertise their services in adjacent states that have such laws.

 “We are so close to passage of this bill,” said Barrett Duke, vice president for public policy and research of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. “Everyone who believes parents have a right to know if their daughter is about to end the life of her innocent baby and be subjected herself to the life-long trauma of an abortion should contact his senators immediately and insist that they get this bill to the president without any more shameful delays.”

 There are 29 states that have effective parental involvement laws that are not being blocked by courts, according to the National Right to Life Committee.

 Bills that await passage by only one chamber when Congress reconvenes include:

 -- The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which seeks to ban most online gambling. The House voted 317-93 for the measure in July, but the Senate has not acted on it.

 “We have been working on an Internet gambling bill for years,” Duke told Baptist Press. “Meanwhile, gambling predators have been suckering millions of Americans into losing billions of dollars. It’s up to the Senate to get this job done and shut down most of these gambling sites. It would be tragic to come this close and fail. The senators just need to hear from the voters.”

 -- The Alternative Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapies Enhancement Act, which would fund research to develop embryo-like stem cells without creating or knowingly harming human embryos. The Senate approved it in a 100-0 vote in July. Though the House voted 273-154 for the bill, it fell 12 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed under the rules that applied in this case. The House possibly could vote again on the measure under other rules.

 “The failure of the House to pass this bill was one of the most disgraceful acts I have witnessed in Washington politics,” Duke said. “The congressmen and congresswomen who voted against this bill were more interested in advancing their own agenda than in doing everything possible to find cures for suffering people. This bill will provide federal funding for stem cell research that does not destroy embryos. The House should be pressured to take this back up and do the right thing for the millions of people waiting for cures.”

 -- The ADVANCE Democracy Act, which would promote democracy in other countries and aim to end dictatorships without military intervention. The House approved the measure as part of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act last year, but the Senate has not voted on it in this congressional session.

 -- A measure that would permit military chaplains to pray in Jesus’ name at public events. The legislation, which would protect the rights of chaplains to pray according to their consciences, passed the House in May as part of a Department of Defense authorization bill. A conference report reconciling differences between the House and Senate versions of the authorization bill must be drafted and approved.

 Legislation that has yet to pass either house in this session despite support by the ERLC and other organizations includes:

 -- The Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, which would require an abortion doctor to inform a woman at least 20 weeks into her pregnancy of evidence about the severe pain her unborn child would experience during the procedure and to offer anesthesia for her baby if she still chooses to have an abortion.

 -- The Human Cloning Prohibition Act, which would ban cloning for both reproductive and research purposes.

 -- The RU 486 Suspension and Review Act, which would suspend the abortion drug’s sale while a review is conducted of the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the pill.

 -- The Workplace Religious Freedom Act, which would restore protections to people of faith at work in such areas as clothing and time off for religious observances.

 -- The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which would authorize the FDA to control the manufacture, promotion and sale of tobacco products.

 -- The STOP Underage Drinking Act, which would approve a public service media campaign and other components of a coordinated attempt to reduce alcohol consumption by minors.

 “All of these bills should be passed,” Duke said. “I can assure Southern Baptists that the ERLC will continue to press for passage of every one of them. We ask that all those who want to see our country become a more moral, healthy, God-honoring nation get involved and make themselves heard in Washington. Insisting on passage of these bills is a great way to get started.”

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Stricter Regulations Said to Force Some Porn Sites to Shut Down

August 30 2006 Citizen Link

Federal regulations aimed at restricting obscenity on the Internet may be having the desired effect, as some sites that can't comply are being forced to quit, the Washington Blade reported.

Web sites that offer pornographic material were the target of 1995 legislation seeking to curb obscenity. That legislation was recently updated by the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act signed into law by the president in July. The act places even more stringent requirement on businesses that sell porn -- even those on the Internet.

Michelle Freridge, outgoing executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, said hundreds of companies have closed in the last year.

"This is an industry of small businesses, mostly," she said. "For those folks, the burden of keeping the records creates a financial hurdle that can put them out of business."

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Life issues / Behavior

Plan B Supporters Won't Rest Until Age Restrictions are Dropped

August 28 2006 Citizen Link

Advocates of Plan B, also known as the morning-after pill, have vowed to fight age restrictions put in place by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) when it announced last week the drug will be available over-the-counter for those 18 and older. Women and girls 17 and younger will still need a doctor's prescription to obtain the drug.

Plan B, which delivers a high dose of the same hormones used in birth-control pills, can sometimes cause an early abortion.

MSNBC reported that the drug's manufacturer, Barr Pharmaceuticals, and Planned Parenthood are behind efforts to make the drug available to all ages without the advice of a doctor or the knowledge of girls' parents.

Art Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, called it a battleground.

"That is likely to prove very contentious," he said, "since it is tied to strongly held beliefs about abstinence education and parental rights."

Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, said the fact the drug is easily available to those 18 and older already puts young girls at risk. Men could purchase the drug for a minor partner, and her parents would never know.

"If the FDA thinks that enacting an age restriction will work, or that the drug company will enforce it," she said, "then they are living in a dream world."

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Pro-Euthanasia Attorney to Head ABA's Special Bioethics Committee

August 29 2006 citizen Link

She also has ties to Planned Parenthood and the ACLU.

The American Bar Association's (ABA) Special Committee on Bioethics has a new head who is pro-abortion and pro-euthanasia.

Chairwoman Estelle Rogers is the former executive director of the Death with Dignity National Center, a Washington-based organization dedicated to advancing assisted suicide.

Teresa Collett, a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minnesota, told CitizenLink that Rogers has also been an ardent pro-abortion activist -- having held positions at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Pro-Choice Public Education Project and the American Civil Liberties Union Reproductive Freedom Project.

"She has a definite perspective that is contrary to the culture of life," Collett said. "I would suggest she can't help but bring that viewpoint to the chairmanship.

Carrie Gordon Earll, senior analyst for bioethics at Focus on the Family Action, said the ABA's voice on key bioethics issues will be anti-life and anti-marriage under the thumb of Rogers.

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California Elementary Makes Gender Optional

August 30 2006 staff reports Citizen Link

School encourages students to question being a boy or girl.

An elementary school in California has installed a gender-neutral bathroom and is encouraging boys to play girls and girls to play boys in skits.

The staff at Park Day School in Oakland, Calif., has also hired a consultant who is well-known within the gay community to teach the school how to accommodate kids who may be questioning their gender.

Officials at the school were unavailable for comment.

Psychologist Warren Throckmorton told Family News in Focus that there are problems with the school's approach.

"There are a lot of conditions — hormonal-type conditions and so forth — where kids can feel confused," he said. "But for adults to take that and make it into something that applies to adult conflict is way inappropriate."

Andrea Lafferty, executive director of the Traditional Values Coalition, said it's not the role of educators to decide what's best for children who may express confusion over gender.

"It is the role and responsibility of the parent to see that their child gets help finding a counselor," she said, "a doctor that can work with them to help them with their child."

Throckmorton said each situation should be handled individually. He sees only trouble ahead when schools get involved.

"To tell a young child or to imply in some way, including by how you treat them," he said, "that how they are feeling now is how they are always going to feel, misunderstands child development and misunderstands how children form their internal world."

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Wal-Mart's 'Gay' Partnership Risks Conservative 'Rollback'

August 29 2006 Randy Hall CNSNews.com Staff Writer/Editor

After months of criticism from union-backed groups over its employee pay and health care practices, Wal-Mart now faces a potential "rollback" of support from conservatives because of the retail giant's partnership with a homosexual business coalition.

"I don't think this is something that will sell on Main Street America, where most Wal-Mart stores are located," said Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council (FRC). "I don't think cheap prices on goods from China will be enough to stop a rollback in their customer base if they choose to go down this aisle."

Joining the FRC in criticizing Wal-Mart's new alliance with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) is Americans For Truth, which describes itself as "the only national organization devoted exclusively to exposing and countering the homosexual activist agenda."

"Wal-Mart has always been a favorite of God-fearing Middle American customers who hold traditional family values," said Peter LaBarbera, the group's founder and president. "I'm very surprised that Wal-Mart would now bite the hand that feeds it and thumb its nose at those very customers.

"It seems to me that Wal-Mart should reconsider its unsavory alliance with these extremist homosexual activists in today's heated and polarizing culture war," LaBarbera added.

However, Bob McAdam, vice president of corporate affairs with Wal-Mart, told Cybercast News Service that the world's largest retail company joined the NGLCC "just like we have joined a number of other groups representing all parts of the spectrum of our customers" - including women's organizations and minority groups.

The conflict began on Aug. 21, when the NGLCC issued a news release announcing "a partnership with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., as part of the company's ongoing commitment to advancing diversity among all of its associate, supplier and customer bases."

As part of that agreement, Wal-Mart will pay $25,000 to NGLCC - "the largest LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender] business development and economic advocacy organization in the world" - and has agreed to sponsor two of NGLCC's annual conferences.

"We are honored to have Wal-Mart's support of the NGLCC," said the group's co-founder and president, Justin Nelson. "Our partnership will not only provide more opportunities for the Chamber, but the business community as a whole."

When asked by reporters why Wal-Mart had not issued a statement on the new partnership, Nelson said that it's "normal procedure" for the NGLCC to handle such announcements.

Since then, conservative organizations have become increasingly vocal in their criticism of the new partnership.

Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute at Concerned Women for America, said that by joining forces with the NGLCC, Wal-Mart is "validating the idea that homosexual activists have the right to shake down corporations out of fear of being called bigots."

Perkins called the alliance "an odd new domestic partnership." He's asking FRC's supporters to download a flyer from the group's website that asks why the retail chain is supporting homosexual activism and place a copy of it at the customer service desk of the nearest Wal-Mart.

As Cybercast News Service previously reported, the retail giant has been no stranger to controversy over the past year when union-sponsored groups such as WakeUpWal-Mart.com and Wal-Mart Watch have charged the corporation with needing to meet "higher expectations" and being unsafe for shoppers.

McAdam said he expects the popularity of the company - which has about 3,900 outlets in the United States alone - will trump any criticism from either side of the political aisle, just as when Wal-Mart added homosexuals to its non-discrimination policy two years ago.

"I think our attraction to Americans in general speaks for itself, and that's why comments from either side of the political spectrum or whatever philosophical debate are less important than the daily approval we see from our customers," McAdam said.

"Wal-Mart continues to serve the vast majority of Americans regardless of their political persuasion or their personal beliefs," McAdam noted. "Last year, about 85 percent of Americans bought something at Wal-Mart. We have more than 138 million customers a week at Wal-Mart.

"With numbers of that size, we're dealing with just about everybody, and to that extent, we want to be as welcoming as we can to every part of the spectrum, and we will continue to be broad in our outreach," he added. "We welcome people of all persuasions and all philosophies."

Not all homosexual activists are pleased with the new arrangement, though.

"Our community is a smart community, and we can see a shameless marketing opportunity when it comes," Jeremy Bishop, program director of the "Pride at Work" subsidiary of the AFL-CIO, told Cox Newspapers.

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Media / Internet / Entertainment

Patrick Buchanan's Challenge to Americans

August 30 2006 Phyllis Schlafly

What is the United States of America? Is it merely an accident of geography, or a job market for the world, or a multiethnic, multilingual lot of people who agreed (more or less, and probably temporarily) to live under a Constitution?

Those aren't goals to die for; yet many men over several centuries have fought and died for America. Where did they get the courage, the stamina, and the perseverance to create and maintain America as an oasis of freedom and prosperity in a hostile world?

Patrick Buchanan believes that America is fundamentally a nation "held together by bonds of history and memory, tradition and custom, language and literature, birth and faith." Those bonds of brotherhood and ancestry existed before our Constitution was written, and sustained us through wars and economic depressions.

In his newest book, Buchanan challenges us to ponder our national identity, which already existed in the hearts of Americans when the Founding Fathers proclaimed the sovereignty of "we the people." Because we are now in critical danger of losing our identity, the apt title of his book is "State of Emergency."

Buchanan rejects the notion that American identity is merely "creedal," i.e., united only by a common commitment to the Constitution and a set of basic laws. Even if that were true, it clearly would exclude the illegal aliens who violate our laws every day.

Buchanan agrees with Harvard Professor Samuel Huntington that the "central issue of our time" is the migration into America of millions of people who come from very different cultures and refuse to adapt to ours. Buchanan calls the unprecedented entry of legal and illegal foreign born during the last ten years a tsunami, unlike any wave ever seen in the history of the world.

The melting pot metaphor is a thing of the past. Today we are admitting people who don't want to be part of the nation called the United States; they want a land that looks like the UN General Assembly.

The immigrants who came from Europe in previous centuries fully assimilated, but many of today's immigrants instead are "self-segregating, forming their own towns within our cities, maintaining their language and identifying with one another, not America." They maintain their loyalty to their native land.

Is Western Europe a picture of America's future? Buchanan says that continent can now be called Eurabia be