Today's Cultural Warfare Update
May. 25th, 2005 01:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdWashington Post: Business groups are getting tired of the fundamentalist social agenda;
FotF press release - Dobson outraged over filibuster compromise;
FotF on South Korean stem-cell research advances - fears competition will stall efforts to ban the research here;
Pre-compromise article noteworthy for one thing: Trent Lott getting angry and lashing out at James Dobson;
Focus on the Family article and action item: pound the compromising Republicans demanding they abandon the filibuster compromise agreement - "This is not over";
Today's Family News in Focus;
Today's Focus on the Family main broadcast is about the filibuster fight aftermath - promises to bring it up again, statements outright that they're doing it because of issues involving God's Righteousness on earth, including ending legal abortion and marriage rights for gayfolk. If anyone says this isn't about religion, please read this transcript;
Concerned Women for America talk up the planned resolution at the Southern Baptist Convention to have local churches investigate local schools for "pro-homosexual" activities, and either remove their children from those schools or force the schools to shut the activities down - such activities include gay-straight alliance clubs, etc;
Press release from ExodusMandate.org - the umbrella group pushing this resolution (and other things). Two of the chief architects are Concerned Women for America regulars, Robert Knight and Warren Throckmorton;
CWA coverage of "snowflake" anti-stem-cell research press-conference;
CWA press release condemning the House passage of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act;
CWA condemns Senate filibuster compromise;
Washington Post article on Republican reaction to the filibuster compromise;
Boston Globe article on the same.
----- 1 -----
Business Groups Tire of GOP Focus On Social Issues
By Jonathan Weisman and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, May 24, 2005; Page E01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/23/AR2005052301938.html
John M. Engler, the former Republican governor of Michigan who now heads the National Association of Manufacturers, vowed before the November elections to use his trade association's might to back President Bush's judicial nominees. But as the Senate showdown approaches, the business group is delivering a different message: Judges are not its fight.
NAM's decision to sit out the brawl may be indicative of a broader trend. From Wall Street to Main Street, the small-government, pro-business mainstay of the Republican Party appears to be growing disaffected with a party it sees as focused on social issues at its expense.
"I'm inclined to support the Republican Party, but the question becomes, how much other stuff do I have to put up with to maintain that identification?" asked Andrew A. Samwick, a Dartmouth College economics professor who until recently was chief economist of Bush's Council of Economic Advisers.
"I don't know a single business group involved in the judicial nominees," said R. Bruce Josten, an executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "Nada, none, zip."
A group of senators announced last night that they had reached a compromise designed to avert a showdown over the judicial nominees.
Economic conservatives grew restless during the first Bush term, when federal budget surpluses turned to yawning deficits, federal spending soared and the Republican-controlled Congress passed a Medicare drug benefit that marked the largest new federal entitlement since Lyndon B. Johnson was president.
Concern eased after the 2004 election. The president's stated priorities were to control spending, address Social Security's long-term financing problems and simplify the tax code. But since then, the drive to restructure Social Security has stalled. Efforts to rein in federal spending have been upended by a highway bill that exceeds Bush's promised price tag and a budget resolution passed Congress that rebuffed the toughest entitlement cuts demanded by the White House.
Instead, Washington's focus has shifted from fiscal issues to more narrow concerns backed vociferously by social conservatives: the Terri Schiavo case, the nomination of John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations and, most of all, the fate of the Senate's ability to filibuster judicial nominees.
"The potential for high-minded policy reforms to fix entitlements and spur growth and prosperity has degenerated into a hopeless morass," Republican economist Lawrence Kudlow wrote yesterday on the National Review's Web site.
Early in the second Bush term, business groups appeared ready to join social conservatives in the battle over Bush's judges. "We have every right to participate in the nomination process," NAM President Engler told Washington Post writers and editors in January. "Our interest is even keener than that of the White House on this issue."
But since then, it has become clear the judicial showdown could doom initiatives on taxes, legal liability protections, Social Security and other priorities. Last week, NAM spokesman Darren McKinney said not only would the group stay out of the fight, but "we hope that leveler heads prevail" before the confrontation virtually shuts down the Senate.
Mark A. Bloomfield, whose business-backed American Council for Capital Formation pushes for lower taxes on savings, investment and inheritances, said the business community is no longer the GOP's base.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
Dr. Dobson Decries Filibuster Compromise
Focus on the Family
Citizenlink
May 23rd, 2005
[Received in email; no URL]
Focus on the Family Action Chairman Dr. James C. Dobson
blasted as a "complete betrayal" tonight a deal by Senate
Republicans to forego guaranteeing all of President Bush's
judicial nominees an up-or-down confirmation vote.
Under terms of the deal, Democrats will allow final
confirmation votes for three filibustered appeals court
nominees -- Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown and
William Pryor. There is "no commitment to vote for or
against" the filibuster against two other nominees to the
appeals court, Henry Saad and William Myers.
The agreement also indicated future nominees to the
appeals court and Supreme Court should "only be
filibustered under extraordinary circumstances," with each
Democrat senator having the discretion to decide when
those conditions had been met.
"Extraordinary circumstances" is a particularly
meaningless criterion, considering that Senate liberals
thought qualified candidates like Brown and Owen were too
extreme for the federal bench.
"This Senate agreement represents a complete bailout and
betrayal by a cabal of Republicans and a great victory for
united Democrats," Dobson said. "Only three of President
Bush's nominees will be given the courtesy of an
up-or-down vote, and it's business as usual for all the
rest. The rules that blocked conservative nominees remain
in effect, and nothing of significance has changed.
"Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Antonin Scalia, and
Chief Justice William Rehnquist would never have served on
the U. S. Supreme Court if this agreement had been in
place during their confirmations. The unconstitutional
filibuster survives in the arsenal of Senate liberals.
"We are grateful to Majority Leader Frist for courageously
fighting to defend the vital principle of basic fairness,"
Dobson added. "That principle has now gone down to defeat.
We share the disappointment, outrage and sense of
abandonment felt by millions of conservative Americans who
helped put Republicans in power last November. I am
certain that these voters will remember both Democrats and
Republicans who betrayed their trust."
Complete coverage of the deal, and the reactions of
pro-family leaders to it, will appear in Tuesday's
CitizenLink Daily Update.
----- 3 -----
Stem-Cell 'Advance' is Actually Decline
by Steve Jordahl, correspondent
May 23, 2005
Focus on the Family
The latest breakthrough may be perilous for babies.
http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0036633.cfm
For the second time in less than a year South Korean scientists have crossed the line of human dignity, streamlining the process to clone and kill humans at the earliest stage of life.
The Koreans claim success in that they increased the capacity to harvest embryonic stem cells by 10 times and derived the cells much less prone to rejection. Researchers are already euphemistically downplaying ethical concerns.
"It makes this much more like family donation for tissues like bone marrow or kidneys," said George Daley with the Stem Cell Research Foundation.
But even in describing the discovery, he couldn't avoid the obvious.
"It generated a small cluster of cells which is a human embryo," Daley said, "and from that human embryo you derive embryonic stem cells."
But Dr. David Stevens of the Christian Medical Association made it clear what actually is taking place in the process.
"What they do is they create a human being," he said, "and sacrifice it for its stem cells, killing a child in the process."
Stevens pointed out this is not a breakthrough to a cure, it merely enables scientists to experiment more easily.
"I think it increases our ethical concerns, because one of the barriers was the lack of women's eggs to do this," he said. "And since there's much fewer eggs required, we're more likely to see scientists involved in this area."
Daley said U.S. researchers are falling behind the rest of the world. Stevens warned that could have political ramifications, with increased pressure on Congress and the White House, using what happened in South Korea as the leverage.
Pro-life advocates are hoping the South Korean discovery spurs a quick vote on a cloning ban in the U.S. Congress.
----- 4 -----
Activists on right and left agree: No deals
By Kathy Kiely, USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-05-22-pressure_x.htm
WASHINGTON — Tim Wildmon is president of the American Family Association in Tupelo, Miss., a politically active religious group that's trying to eliminate pornography, discourage homosexuality and restore religious symbols to American public life.
...
"We're totally against them," Wildmon says of the compromise talks. "There is nothing to bargain away." Pariser couldn't agree more. "We want Democrats to stand on principle," he says. "Our folks have been urging senators not to agree to any compromises that would take away their ability to block judges in the future."
...
Groups of conservative religious activists, such as Wildmon's and the Colorado-based Focus on the Family, are sending millions of e-mails to members nationwide. On the other side, labor unions, environmental groups and abortion rights organizations are doing the same.
The high-wattage campaigns are creating rifts between some of the groups and their Senate allies.
"James Dobson: Who does he think he is, questioning my conservative credentials?" Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., said in an interview. Dobson, head of the conservative group Focus on the Family, criticized Lott for his efforts to forge a compromise in the fight over the judges. Lott is still angry. "Some of his language and conduct is quite un-Christian, and I don't appreciate it," the senator said.
[More at URL]
----- 5 -----
CITIZENLINK BREAKING NEWS:
----------------------------------------------
Dobson: Compromise on Judicial Nominees a Betrayal
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
SUMMARY: A last-minute deal reached by seven Democratic
and seven Republican senators last night is bad news.
http://www.family.org/cforum/feature/a0036661.cfm
A "complete betrayal" -- that's how pro-family groups
brand an agreement reached Monday night by 14 U.S.
senators to give three of President Bush's bottled-up
judicial nominees up-or-down votes, in exchange for
allowing Democrats the right to continue to filibuster --
or hold hostage -- other nominations if "extraordinary
circumstances" call for it.
The Senate, as a result, voted 81-18 Tuesday to end debate
on one of the nominees, Priscilla Owen, who is currently a
Texas Supreme Court justice --clearing the way for her to
receive a full Senate vote on her nomination to the 5th
Circuit Court of Appeals.
But Focus on the Family Action Chairman Dr. James C.
Dobson pounded his desk over the deal.
"This one hit me personally harder," he said, "than I
think anything ever has coming out of Washington.
"This Senate agreement represents a complete bailout and
betrayal by a cabal of Republicans and a great victory for
united Democrats . . . It's business as usual for all the
rest. The rules that blocked conservative nominees remain
in effect, and nothing of significance has changed."
And he added, "This is not over."
Gary Bauer, president of American Values, called the
agreement "a sad day for America."
"Under this agreement," Bauer said, "it is now more likely
that radical social change will continue to be forced on
the American people by liberal courts committed to
same-sex marriage, abortion on demand and hostility to
religious expression."
Bauer added: "The Republicans who lent their names to this
travesty have undercut their president as well as millions
of their most loyal voters. Shame on them all."
Under the terms of the deal, Democrats will allow final
confirmation votes for Owen, as well as for California
Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown's nomination to
the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and William Pryor's
nomination to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The senators responsible for the compromise -- seven
Republicans and seven Democrats -- issued their memorandum
Monday night in what they called a spirit of "mutual trust
and confidence."
The Republican dealmakers included: John McCain (Ariz.)
Mike DeWine (Ohio); Lindsey Graham, (S.C.); Lincoln Chafee
(R.I.); John Warner (Va.); Olympia Snowe (Maine); and
Susan Collins (Maine).
The seven Democratic senators were: Joseph Lieberman
(Conn.); Robert Byrd (W.Va.); Mark Pryor (Ark.); Ken
Salazar (Colo.); Mary Landrieu (La.); Ben Nelson (Neb.)
and Daniel Inouye (Hawaii)
People across America let their senators know in no
uncertain terms what they thought about the private deal.
On Capitol Hill, Senate offices were deluged with calls
today from angry constituents.
Staffers of Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn said the
calls have been coming in relentlessly for a month.
In Ohio Republican Sen. Mike DeWine's office, spokeswoman
Amanda Flaig said they had received 2500 calls in the last
week in favor of abolishing the filibuster, compared to
1000 against abolishing it.
In spite of that, DeWine was one of the 14 who struck the
deal.
Those answering the phones in Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff
Sessions office said the calls had been "nonstop." Three
staffers took calls and recorded and tallied the comments
on computers.
In Virginia Republican Sen. George Allen's office about 30
calls rolled in about a half hour. Most all were against
the compromise.
Allen told CitizenLink the calls are helping him argue for
what the voters want, and urges you to keep them coming.
-- A Chance to Start Over?
Lieberman, spoke for Democrats in praise of the agreement.
"We came together," the former vice presidential candidate
and Connecticut senator said. "In a Senate that has become
increasingly partisan and polarized, the bipartisan center
prevailed."
Republican Graham, meanwhile, defended his vote by saying:
"The American people won tonight. The Senate is back in
business. And I truly believe future judicial nominees
will be treated better because of this agreement."
Graham, who has compiled a pro-family voting record, said
he believes the agreement gives the Senate "a chance to
start over regarding future nominees."
He added: "It is my hope both sides have learned from
their mistakes and we can get back to the traditional way
of doing business when it comes to judges."
But Bauer, a former presidential candidate, said the
"backroom deal" has nothing in it that will guarantee that
future nominees will not be blockaded. He noted that two
of the nominees, Henry Saad and William Myers, were
specifically not protected from filibuster in the deal.
Moreover, Senate liberals have shown every sign of
barricading top conservative candidates for the federal
bench, he said.
"It's not true that the phrase 'extraordinary
circumstances' is vague," Bauer said. "In this town, in
this battle, 'extraordinary circumstances' means they
won't filibuster unless the nominee is pro-life."
Dobson agreed, adding: "Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice
Antonin Scalia, and Chief Justice William Rehnquist would
never have served on the U. S. Supreme Court if this
agreement had been in place during their confirmations."
-- Praise for Frist
All the pro-family leaders praised Senate Majority Leader
Bill First for fighting to implement a cure for the
problem of unrestrained blockades of judicial nominees --
the constitutional option. Frist had set a deadline of
Tuesday for a vote which would have led to his use of the
option -- only to be thwarted by the agreement.
Frist told colleagues after the agreement was announced
that he was pleased that the three judge nominees would at
least receive Senate action. He reminded colleagues,
however, that Priscilla Owen had waited 4 years, two
weeks, and one day for "a fair, up-or-down, vote," while
William Pryor had waited 2 years and 1 month, and Janice
Rogers Brown had waited 22 months.
"It is a shame," the majority leader said, "that
well-qualified nominees identified by those members are
threatened still with not having the opportunity to have
the merits of their nominations debated on the floor."
Dobson, meantime, thanked Frist for "courageously fighting
to defend the vital principle of basic fairness."
He added: "We share the disappointment, outrage and sense
of abandonment felt by millions of conservative Americans
who helped put Republicans in power last November. I am
certain that these voters will remember both Democrats and
Republicans who betrayed their trust."
Bruce Hausknecht, legal issues analyst Focus on the
Family, said the agreement showed one thing to be
abundantly clear.
"The Democrats basically admitted these nominees should
never have been blocked in the first place," Hausknecht
said. "It had nothing to do with principle. It was
politics."
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council
said the battle over judicial nominations isn't over --
the battle over the U.S. Supreme Court is looming.
"This small group of senators," Perkins said, "decided for
the entire 100 members of the Senate that they would like
to stay in the land of political indecision."
Tom Minnery, vice president of government and public
policy at Focus on the Family, agreed, and promises a
fight.
"It will return again," he said. "We'll be talking about
filibusters and the constitutional option again, only the
stakes will be higher. The next fight will be over a
Supreme Court nominee. This will get messy."
(Citizen magazine Associate Editor Candi Cushman
contributed to this report.)
TAKE ACTION: Let the 14 senators who signed the deal to
kill the constitutional option know you consider it a
betrayal. You can see the actual document here:
http://www.family.org/cforum/pdfs/filibusterdeal.pdf
You can find contact information, including an easy-to-use
e-mail form, by clicking the link under each senator's
name below:
-- Republicans
Sen. John McCain (Ariz.)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=192&lvl=C&chamber=S
Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=531&lvl=C&chamber=S
Sen. Mike DeWine (Ohio)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=456&lvl=C&chamber=S
Sen. John Warner (Va.)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=595&lvl=C&chamber=S
Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R.I.)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=40039&lvl=C&chamber=S
Sen. Susan Collins (Maine)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=283&lvl=C&chamber=S
Sen. Olympia Snowe (Maine)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=282&lvl=C&chamber=S
-- Democrats
Sen. Ben Nelson (Neb.)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=10748&lvl=C&chamber=S
Sen. Robert Byrd (W.V.)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=622&lvl=C&chamber=S
Sen. Mary Landrieu (La.)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=273&lvl=C&chamber=S
Sen. Ken Salazar (Colo.)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=31624&lvl=C&chamber=S
Sen. Mark Pryor (Ark.)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=31613&lvl=C&chamber=S
Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=688&lvl=C&chamber=S
Sen. Daniel Inouye (Hawaii)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=201&lvl=C&chamber=S
----- 6 -----
Family News in Focus
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Focus on the Family
Bob Ditmer
* Debate over stem cell research continues in Washington
1. Congess "voted to allow your tax dollars to be used to destroy human embryos." New term: "Snowflakes." These are children born via in-vitro fertilisation, which they claim are identical "Each embryo, no matter how small, is a small American who has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." "Most believe... abortion rights activists are behind stem-cell research."
* Washington acknowledging invaluable assistance pastors provide in times of crisis
2. Johns Hopkins University trying to help train pastors in emergency situations. "Preparedness is really an important part of any church in any community." "...a very good indication that the government realises how important religious leaders are..." "I have no doubt that somebody somewhere is going to exploit this in some way to continue to try to marginalise religious practice in this country."
* Investors have more power than many realize – an example from Best Buy stores
3. Video games with sex and/or violent themes; Best Buy plans to prevent sales to minours. Plans to discipline any employee who sells an M-rated game to anyone not adults. Plan to implement ID checking. Planning to focus on Target and Circuit City next.
* Many Christian students are losing their rights of religion and free speech in commencement ceremonies
6. Christian Educator's Association notes that prayers can be student-led but not school-sponsored.
* AIDS activists in Ohio calling to federal funding of abstinence education - Strange, considering abstinence is the only certain AID prevention
4. "Claims that abstinence education disregards gays." "Puts a crimp in their lifestyles." "They don't believe in monogamy in any way in their relationships." "In one study of gay couples in long-term relationships, every couple of relationships five years or more had provisions for outside sexual activity." [Ed. note: abstinence-only education teaches that no sexual activity should be engaged in outside of marriage. Since gayfolk can't get married, that means no sex for queers, ever, anywhere, as far as its backers are concerned.]
* American Family Association and Focus on the Family no longer boycotting Disney - think they made their point with the Hollywood giant
** NO STORY
* Cal. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in three child custody cases involving lesbians
5. Bob Higley, evangelical lobbyist, says the case will move the courts "even further" in endorsement of "the homosexual lifestyle." "The whole advancement of the homosexual agenda is really [damaging] to the Christian community."
----- 7 -----
Focus Radio > May 25, 2005
Issues Update: May 2005
Focus on the Family (Main Broadcast)
James Dobson
http://www.family.org/fmedia/broadcast/a0036659.cfm
Panel
Pro-family leaders Gary Bauer, Tom Minnery and Tony Perkins discuss the Senate compromise regarding the filibustering of judicial nominees.
Issues Update - May 2005
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
This week, a deal was brokered in the U.S. Senate which will allow an up-or-down vote on three of
President Bush's current judicial nominees. However, the unfortunate compromise also allows senators the right to continue filibustering other nominees in the future. Today, pro-family leaders Gary Bauer, Tom Minnery and Tony Perkins join Dr. Dobson to discuss the negative consequences of this decision, including the likelihood of a filibuster against any of the President's future nominees for the Supreme Court. Tune in to find out why Dr. Dobson believes the Senate fight over this issue will ultimately prove to be a decisive battle in the culture war.
[Monitoring begins]
Regular broadcast pre-empted; was supposed to be part two of a series on "rebellious teens"; replaced with a show on the above topic. "We're gonna talk again about what's been going on in the Senate with the filibuster." "The vote in the Senate over the filibuster... came to a head on Monday night, and seven Republicans, led by Senator John McCain, who seems to delight in tweaking the noses of his fellow Republicans, cut a deal with seven Democrats to end the fight on the filibuster... it's gonna be business as usual with regard to judicial nominees."
Tom Minnery, Tony Perkins (Family Research Council), Gary Bauer (American Values). Talk about the press release FotF released that Dobson wrote. "This Senate agreement represents a complete bailout and betrayal by a cabal of Republicans and a great victory for united Democrats." "It's business as usual for all the rest... the rules that block conservative nominees remains in effect." Thomas, Scalia, and Rehnquist "would never have served on the Supreme Court" had this agreement existed. Commends Frist for leading the fight.
"Democrats and the other senators that signed on." "We all know what [extraordinary circumstances] means." Gary Bauer: "In this town, and this battle, extraordinary circumstances means they won't filibuster unless the nominee is pro-life. That's what this battle has been about from the beginning. It really does set back, for now, our efforts to return the protections of our Constitution to our unborn children."
"This battle is not over, it will return... when the stakes are higher, because the next fight will be over a Supreme Court nominee. This fight will get nasty." [Ed note: As if it hasn't been already...] "Snatched defeat from the jaws of victory... this small group has decided... for the entire 100 members of the senate that they would prefer to stay in the land of political indecision.
Dobson: "This one hit me personally harder than I think anything ever has coming out of Washington." "I literally went home and hugged Shirley and went to sleep." Perkins?: "We began to pray, but I'll tell you what I wanted to do, I wanted to cry... the wind has been taken out of our sails."
Bauer: "The first thing I thought about was the millions of people who just a few months ago worked their hearts out to elect pro-life, pro-family legislators in Washington, DC... all of us did rallies across the country... where thousands of people showed up, and it was exactly over this battle, were we going to be able to get people elected who would get these courts under control so America is not continually being changed under our eyes... we seemed so close tot he point of being able to do this, _now_, and all of a sudden you've got this backroom deal... exactly the kind of politics in Washington we've been fighting for 35 years."
Dobson: Lots of listeners still don't understand or realise what's going on. "This is not primarily about the seven nominees that the President has made to the Federal bench... it is really about the Supreme Court. That's really what this is about. THe court is really out of control... they continue making the great moral decisions of our times... and you have the definition of marriage about to change, that's already been signals... the court is going to create a legality for same-sex marriage, and of course the sanctity of life issues... the ten commandments... the preservation of the flag, and, you know, the pledge of allegiance... religious liberty... and now, as of the end of last week, the court is going to decide about parental consent for abortion and whether a minor can get an abortion without a parent's knowledge! ... That should not be decided by five judges in Washington! That ought to be decided by the American people and their representatives in the Senate! ... We had a brief shining moment, there..."
"They knew they were about to lose a filibuster against these nominees who would reverse all these things and rule in the moral way... those so-called moderates took that deal and ran with it..."
Dobson is really mad at Lindsey Graham in particular.
"You had seven Republicans who sold out not just the Republican leader but the Americans who... expanded the conservative majority in Congress."
Talks about how MoveOn.org is "gleeful," and how Harry Reid is "gloat"ing, because "People like Senator Graham were willing to sign on to a deal that was this bad."
"Senator Graham took a shot at us over Justice Sunday..."
Perkins: Graham took "a shot" at "us" over Justice Sunday - complaining that it was "interjecting religion into politics." "No one supports the middle." Claims that liberals are the ones injecting religion into politics.
"The liberals are the one who raised this question of religion and are using it to attack us. This is insidious!"
"THey are attacking us at every term because they know we have discovered the source of the problem... it is the FEderal courts in this country who are out of control, and REpublicans who sold out... and decided not to do it."
Lists the seven REpublicans who "betrayed the rest of their colleges" - McCain (AZ), Graham (SC), DeWine (OH), Warner (VA), Chafee (RI), Collins (ME), Snow (ME).
Calls for a "continuing barrage" of condemnational calls to these senators from across the country. "We're disappointed and we're not going to forget it." Claims again [Ed note: this is a lie] that nominees have always gotten up-or-down votes by the whole Senate. [Ed note again: _this is a lie_. Period.]
Calls to vote out these Senators.
More calls to call this list of Senators again. "The reason they do this occasionally, just completely go off into left field... they've learned that pro-life pro-family people have extremely short memories... they count on that, they count on us moving on to something else... it is imperative that these senators who made these deals... that they continue to hear from people. This battle isn't over. And these Senators need to be told every day for the foreseeable future that you have undercut pro-family and pro-life voters and we aren't going to forget it."
Dobson: "The good news is that this issue's going to come back. THis battle is going to be fought again, because the Democrats are going to filibuster again, and when that happens... the nuclear option, the constitution option will come right back."
"This battle will come back again when it comes back to the Supreme Court." "It will come back up. That's why it's so important that people communicate to their senators..."
Dobson: "I've never been through anything like this. You mentioned, Tony, that those on the left side... have allowed us to talk about pro-life and things, but now we're talking about the court... they're coming after us with a vengeance... I"m starting to get evidence that even our friends are starting to believe this stuff!" Claims Harper's said that Dobson was in favour of executing gayfolk and abortion doctors, says that's a lie. [Ed Note: he's never come out sand said "execute" or "kill." However, he does want queers eliminated from society. Specifically.] Claims that people lie about him.
Perkins: "I want to speak for a moment about the _profoundly_ _Christian_ _reasons_ for which we are doing this, standing against the flow of these courts; the issues before these courts are issues of God's righteousness, issues of sanctity of human life, the definition of marriage, God's plan for sexuality, the freedom to proclaim the gospel; we believe they are important to God, and they confirm with his righteousness! It was Jesus himself in the Sermon on the Mount who talked about righteousness. ... Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness;" and then he made it personal, "blessed are you when men revile you when they say all manner of evil about you because they are really upset with me." "you are the light of the world, you are the salt of the earth, do not hide your light under a bushel!" I believe Jesus had these moments in mind. THese are issues of confirm to righteousness! obviously getting right with God is the pinnacle of Righteousness, It is not right when babies die before they are able to be born, it is not right when God's institution of marriage is trashed!"
Dobson talks about how "it stinks, it hurts, and I would appreciate the prayers of God's people out there." "I feel things just like everybody else does."
"We've been in a foxhole together for many many years... I just have to say as an observer of all this, I have never seen anyone demonised as you have been demonised over the last 90 days over this battle."
Bauer layers praise on Dobson, compares him to Lincoln, tells people to call FotF in support.
"I'm not going to cut and run, but I really would appreciate the prayers of God's people."
"Don't believe everything you read about Dr. Dobson or about this organisation."
Bauer: "THis was a defeat... but it is not the end of this war, there are going to be major fights on this same issue down the road, we've got to take a deep breath, get back on our knees in prayer for the next around, because our unborn children and the institution of marriage depend on it."
Perkins: "THis is an era in which God's people engage culture as never before..."
Dobson: "The culture war has gone on for nearly 25 years, and this is the climax - this is, if not the final battle, the decisive battle. Don't leave us now, folks; continue to pray, continue to be involved, continue to listen..."
Tells listeners to citizenlink.org (FotF website) for contact information to call Senators. Also gives the 800 number for people who don't have web access. 800-A-FAMILY.
----- 8 -----
Southern Baptists Look at Homosexual Influence on Schools
Concerned Women for America
5/25/2005
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/8234/CWA/education/index.htm
Christian education proponents have submitted a resolution in advance of the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. The measure calls for pastors and churches to examine the influence of homosexual activists on their public school system and to take action to guard the moral education of their children. Robert Knight, director of CWA’s Culture & Family Institute was a consultant on this resolution. But before the convention can vote on this resolution, it must first clear the 10-member resolutions committee. Martha Kleder spoke with the authors of the resolution, Dr. Voddie Baucham, Jr and Dr. Bruce Shortt both affiliated with The Exodus Mandate.
• As a black man, Dr. Voddie Baucham, Jr., an evangelist with a growing ministry, takes issue with the linking of homosexuality to race and the co-opting of civil rights terminology by homosexual activists. Click here to listen.
• Dr. Bruce Shortt is an attorney and author of The Harsh Truth About Public Schools. Click here to listen.
----- 9 -----
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 9, 2005
Exodus Mandate
http://www.exodusmandate.org/art_20050509-sbc-resolution.htm
Features/Education/Religion
CONTACT INFORMATION:
To schedule an interview with Dr. Voddie Baucham, Jr. or Bruce Shortt call Creative Resources @ 800.858.9388 or cmresource@aol.com
Exodus Mandate (www.exodusmandate.org)
Chaplain (Lt. Col., Ret.) E. Ray Moore, Jr., Th.M. (South Carolina): 803-714-1744
Dr. Robert Dreyfus (Florida): 352-216-1703
Pastor Larry Reagan (Tennessee): 731-364-6724
Experts
The statements of Robert Knight, Dr. Jeffrey Satinover, Linda Harvey, and Dr. Warren Throckmorton, and Peter LaBarbera, along with their media contact information, are below.
NEWS RELEASE
SBC Resolution Asks for Investigation of Homosexual Influence in Public Schools
New resolution submitted at 2005 annual meeting of Southern Baptist Convention may lead to exodus of Christian children.
Exodus Mandate/Columbia, SC - Under the guise of promoting tolerance, safety, diversity, and multiculturalism, a growing number of government schools are influencing our children to regard homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle and silencing those within the schools who disagree.
In order to make Christian parents and pastors more aware of the aggressive homosexual activism being sponsored by many public schools, Dr. Voddie Baucham, Jr., a prominent Southern Baptist lecturer, preacher, and author of The Ever-Loving Truth, and Bruce N. Shortt, co-sponsor of the 2004 Christian Education Resolution and author of The Harsh Truth About Public Schools, have submitted a resolution addressing homosexuality and the public schools for consideration at the SBC's 2005 Annual Meeting.
The resolution encourages every SBC church to investigate whether the school district in which it is located has either a homosexual club or any curriculum or program that attempts to influence children to accept homosexual behavior as a legitimate lifestyle. If the school district has any of these, the resolution urges churches to inform parents of this fact and encourage them to remove their children from the district's schools immediately.
The Baucham-Shortt resolution also: (a) commends Christians working in government schools, (b) asks Baptists to make a greater effort to provide and support Christian educational alternatives to government schools, especially for the benefit of children from low income and single parent families, (c) calls upon Baptists to pray for homosexuals, and (d) rebukes homosexual activists for slandering minorities by claiming that homosexual behavior has any authentic connection with the civil rights movement.
Dr. Baucham believes it is urgent that Christian parents become better informed: "I am convinced that if government schools had to recruit students by sending out brochures outlining the academic, moral, and spiritual aspects of their curriculum, most Baptists would throw it in the trash without a second thought. However, when these schools can hide behind stealth phrases like tolerance, safe schools, multiculturalism, and safer sex, parents are often unaware of the dangers lurking beneath the surface. Moreover, parents who speak up are often branded as narrow-minded bigots with outdated values. This resolution is an effort to shine the light of truth in the dark corners of our schools and force our brethren to take a long, hard, honest look at what we have tolerated for far too long."
According to Shortt, "Homosexuals need our prayers and concern, but Christian parents must make sure that their children are not being endangered by false teaching in government schools. Under the guise of promoting "tolerance", "safety", "diversity", and "multiculturalism", government schools are influencing our children to regard homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle and silencing those within the schools who disagree. Education officials who would never dream of engineering acceptance of smoking among children are all too often complicit in promoting acceptance among children of a lifestyle that evidence indicates is at least as deadly and self-destructive as smoking."
Well-known experts consulted regarding this resolution confirm that mainstreaming of the homosexual lifestyle in public schools is widespread and poses a serious danger to children:
Peter LaBarbera, founder of Americans for Truth and Executive Director of the Illinois Family Institute, www.illinoisfamily.org, 630-790-8370: "I have monitored the homosexual movement for 15 years, with special focus on its campaign to penetrate schools. Groups like GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network and PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), working with pro-homosexual student groups, promote the false notion of inherent 'GLBT' (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender) identity-resulting in sexually-confused students 'coming out' at younger and younger ages. Radical gender and homosexual advocacy groups influence teacher-training programs dealing with 'sexual orientation' and 'diversity,' creating school environments that are heavily biased against Christian moral teachings. Even grade-school students are targeted, with manipulative programs and lesson plans about 'bullying' and homosexual parenting. Most parents, especially those living near big cities, simply have no clue as to the many ways that the 'sexual orientation' agenda works its way into their children's education."
Linda Harvey, President, Mission America, Columbus, OH, www.missionamerica.com, (614) 442-7998: "Based on my 10 years of tracking and researching the growth of homosexual activism in public schools, I know that very few parents are aware that the majority of public school districts are selling our children the dangerous and false notion that homosexuality is a normal and acceptable lifestyle. Because most Christian parents and churches have been silent about this out of ignorance or apathy, they are essentially saying to their children that what the schools are teaching is accurate and acceptable; they are also saying to schools, we give you permission to proceed, to count on our silence, and to count on our children continuing to fill your classrooms."
Robert Knight, director, Culture & Family Institute, an affiliate of Concerned Women for America (202) 488-7000: "Under the rubric of "diversity," "tolerance," "safe schools," and AIDS education, homosexual activists are selling a pansexual agenda right under parents' noses. They gain access to public schools by initiating something with obvious appeal, such as the anti-bullying program "No Name-Calling Week." Such projects are a Trojan horse for promoting homosexuality as normal and inevitable for some kids. Parents then find themselves being accused of bigotry for trying to steer children away from a set of behaviors whose risks are well documented. By the time it reaches that stage, the activists and their materials are entrenched in the school system."
Dr. Jeffrey Satinover, M.S., M.D., Department of Politics, Princeton University and Laboratoire de la Physique de la Matiére Condensée, Université de Nice USA+1 (203) 221-0031 jsatinov@princeton.edu: "Any program, club, or curriculum that signals to students that homosexual behavior is 'just another lifestyle' places children at tremendous risk. Data from the Centers for Disease Control indicate that for boys and young men in North America who identify themselves as homosexual even if the identification is only temporary, which as has been documented in numerous large-scale sociological studies in America, France, Britain, Australia and New Zealand, as is the case with the majority of such self-identified homosexuals - the risk of being either HIV positive or dead by age 30 may now be as high as 65%."
Dr. Warren Throckmorton, Associate Professor of Psychology, Grove City College 724-458-3787, ewthrockmorton@gcc.edu: "As a result of over 20 years of clinical experience and academic research concerning education and sexual orientation, it is clear that schools are increasingly being used by groups such as the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) as focal points for their advocacy. Instruction time is being given over to political activism, much of which has as its purpose to change traditional beliefs concerning sexuality. Most parents have no idea that this is going on or that public school officials collaborate with political activists to attempt to alter the beliefs of school children."
Additional information, including the text of the resolution, can be found at www.exodusmandate.org
----- 10 -----
Snowflakes Press Conference
Concerned Women for America
5/24/2005
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/8223/CWA/life/index.htm
The U.S. House of Representatives is considering two competing bills on stem-cell research. Representatives and families of snowflake children recently held a press conference opposing the expansion of embryonic stem cell research lines.
Embryos preserved in frozen storage offer great hope for life and for families facing fertility challenges. When a family has been successful in having a child through in vitro fertilization, embryos are often cryo-preserved, resulting in the question of what to do with them. These frozen embryos can be the hope of a child for an infertile couple. Embryo adoption shares this wonderful hope with others.
----- 11 -----
CWA Saddened by House Vote to Fund the Killing of Embryos: Heartened by passage of funding for ethical and effective cord stem cells
Concerned Women for America
5/25/2005
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/8232/MEDIA/life/index.htm
Washington D.C. – Concerned Women for America (CWA) denounced the passage of a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday to expand federal funding of deadly embryonic stem-cell research. It passed the same day as the families of Snowflakes, children adopted when they were frozen embryos, pleaded with Congress and stood with the President not to use tax dollars to kill innocent human life.
President Bush vowed to veto the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. It passed 238 to 194, 50 votes shy of the two-thirds required to override a veto.
"Embryonic stem-cell research has been unconscionably hyped, by scientists, politicians and advocacy groups shamelessly manipulating patients and their families into believing their only hope lies in cannibalizing the young,” said Wendy Wright, CWA’s senior policy director. “While states, universities and foundations pour money into this latest fad, advocates crave the moral legitimacy they hope to gain with federal funding. And when the limited supply of orphaned embryos donated for research – a mere 2.8 percent of the 400,000 embryos in fertility clinics – runs out, the advocates will come back to the federal trough demanding tax dollars to create embryos for experimentation.”
Over 90 percent of frozen embryos are waiting to be used by their parents or donated to other couples for adoption – their parents do not want them used in experiments.
On the same day, the House passed by 431 to 1 funding for ethical cord stem cell research. The Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act, supported by President Bush, would make umbilical- cord-blood stem cells available for research and treatment. These stem cells, also obtained from placentas, have treated thousands of patients of more than 67 diseases – 67 more diseases than embryonic stem cells have treated.
“This legislation will make it possible to further the therapeutic advances already gained through adult stem-cell research, rather than fund a science that destroys human life for a line of research that has yet to yield one single result in human treatments,” said Lanier Swann, CWA’s director of government relations.
----- 12 -----
CWA Says, Seven Republican Dwarves Sold Out Snow White—Left Democrats With Key to Castle
Concerned Women for America
5/24/2005
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/8216/MEDIA/nation/index.htm
Washington, D.C. – Last night seven Republican senators cut a foolish deal with seven Democrats that left Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tennessee) holding an empty hand. Frist announced yesterday that he had scheduled a cloture vote today on Priscilla Owen, the President’s nominee to the Fifth Circuit, who’s been waiting for a floor vote for more than four years. If the cloture vote failed, Frist planned to use the constitutional option—a ruling from the Senate president, Vice President Dick Cheney, that only 51 votes are necessary to confirm a nominee.
“Instead of ending the unconstitutional use of the filibuster, the seven dwarves have handed the filibuster key to the Supreme Court Castle to the Democrats. It’s the key they want more than anything,” said Jan LaRue, Concerned Women for America’s (CWA’s) chief counsel. “They’re willing to vote for cloture on the three nominees they’ve most opposed in order to keep the filibuster for all future nominees, including the Supreme Court.”
The seven Republicans are John McCain (Arizona), John Warner (Virginia), Mike DeWine (Ohio), Lindsay Graham (South Carolina), Susan Collins (Maine), Olympia Snowe (Maine) and Lincoln Chaffee (Rhode Island).
“The deal says, ‘Nominees should only be filibustered under extraordinary circumstances, and each signatory must use his or her own discretion and judgment in determining whether such circumstances exist.’ The Republicans say that after the Democrats allow confirmation of Owen, Janice Rogers Brown and Bill Pryor, they won’t be able to call a nominee ‘extraordinary.’ Does the name ‘Charles Pickering’ ring a bell? Democrats unanimously confirmed him to the district court and then filibustered him as a racist when he was nominated to the Fifth Circuit,” LaRue added.
“Sen. Frist said the compromise is ‘short on principle’ because every nominee deserves an up-or-down vote. He’s right. It was like watching a parallel universe: Seven giddy Republicans talking mutual trust with Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia), while Harry Reid (D-Nevada) continues attacking the President and bragging about saving the Supreme Court from the radical right. The American people won’t take this lying down,” LaRue concluded.
----- 13 -----
For GOP, Deeper Fissures and a Looming Power Struggle
By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 25, 2005; Page A11
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/24/AR2005052401475.html
The fallout from the Senate compromise that averted a showdown over judicial filibusters fell most heavily on the Republican Party yesterday, signaling intraparty warfare that is likely to shape the battle for the party's 2008 presidential nomination and further strain the unity the GOP has enjoyed under President Bush.
Monday's surprise deal left two of the party's most prominent potential 2008 candidates, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (Tenn.) and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), on opposite sides of an ideological and strategic divide that is likely to widen as the party begins in earnest to hunt for a successor to Bush. Perhaps mindful of the power of social and religious conservatives, other GOP senators with presidential aspirations, including George Allen (Va.) and Chuck Hagel (Neb.), condemned the deal.
The compromise forged by 14 Democratic and Republican senators represented a rare, if temporary, rebuff to religious and social conservatives. Their condemnations, whether from James Dobson's Focus on the Family, radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh or conservative bloggers, were quick and strong. Dobson labeled it a "complete bailout and betrayal," and Jan LaRue, chief counsel of Concerned Women for America, branded the GOP negotiators "seven dwarves" who had given Democrats the right to filibuster a Supreme Court nominee.
Outside analysts took a more measured view of the terms of the agreement that blocked for now the use of the "nuclear option" to bar judicial filibusters; they contended that social and religious conservatives may have done better than they are willing to acknowledge, including the likely approval of three of Bush's most controversial appellate court nominees. The agreement, they said, may look much better to the right in a month or two.
"If they think more incrementally and realistically about what can be achieved, they managed to get a lot of the people [judicial nominees] they wanted without blowing up the United States Senate and without slowing down other elements of the president's agenda," said James L. Guth, a professor of political science at Furman University.
But leading voices among social conservatives sharply disagreed. "It's a rebuff of both the president, Senator Frist and the socially conservative base of the party by a handful of senators," said Gary L. Bauer, a former presidential candidate and president of American Values. "The heart of the Republican Party is as unhappy as I can recall."
[More at URL]
----- 14 -----
GOP emotions running high
Anger, dismay over compromise
By Nina J. Easton, Globe Staff | May 25, 2005
The Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/05/25/gop_emotions_running_high/
WASHINGTON -- The caller could barely contain his anger. ''Who appointed McCain to be head of the Republican Party?" he asked.
''The media," responded conservative talk radio host Laura Ingraham.
''My blood is boiling," the caller replied.
The agreement hatched Monday night by Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and his bipartisan band of moderates to avert a showdown over judicial nominations reverberated yesterday through the echo chamber of Republican primary politics.
On conservative talk radio, blogs, and citizen-group websites, emotions ran high over two prospective presidential candidates. Toward McCain, no friend of the right, the emotion was anger. Toward Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, who is a friend, it was disappointment.
''We had a failure of leadership," Ingraham said in a swipe at Frist. ''And when that happens, someone like McCain can drive a truck right through it."
For at least a decade, the political right has dominated Republican primaries, making it difficult for moderates such as McCain to emerge as the party's nominee for president. But with the Monday night agreement, greeted with dismay by interest groups on both the left and the right, the Arizona senator threw down an early gauntlet, openly defying the party's conservative base.
''We had McCain-Feingold," said talk show host Rush Limbaugh in a reference to the senator's signature campaign finance law, widely denounced by the right. ''This is McCain-the middle finger."
[More at URL]
FotF press release - Dobson outraged over filibuster compromise;
FotF on South Korean stem-cell research advances - fears competition will stall efforts to ban the research here;
Pre-compromise article noteworthy for one thing: Trent Lott getting angry and lashing out at James Dobson;
Focus on the Family article and action item: pound the compromising Republicans demanding they abandon the filibuster compromise agreement - "This is not over";
Today's Family News in Focus;
Today's Focus on the Family main broadcast is about the filibuster fight aftermath - promises to bring it up again, statements outright that they're doing it because of issues involving God's Righteousness on earth, including ending legal abortion and marriage rights for gayfolk. If anyone says this isn't about religion, please read this transcript;
Concerned Women for America talk up the planned resolution at the Southern Baptist Convention to have local churches investigate local schools for "pro-homosexual" activities, and either remove their children from those schools or force the schools to shut the activities down - such activities include gay-straight alliance clubs, etc;
Press release from ExodusMandate.org - the umbrella group pushing this resolution (and other things). Two of the chief architects are Concerned Women for America regulars, Robert Knight and Warren Throckmorton;
CWA coverage of "snowflake" anti-stem-cell research press-conference;
CWA press release condemning the House passage of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act;
CWA condemns Senate filibuster compromise;
Washington Post article on Republican reaction to the filibuster compromise;
Boston Globe article on the same.
----- 1 -----
Business Groups Tire of GOP Focus On Social Issues
By Jonathan Weisman and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, May 24, 2005; Page E01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/23/AR2005052301938.html
John M. Engler, the former Republican governor of Michigan who now heads the National Association of Manufacturers, vowed before the November elections to use his trade association's might to back President Bush's judicial nominees. But as the Senate showdown approaches, the business group is delivering a different message: Judges are not its fight.
NAM's decision to sit out the brawl may be indicative of a broader trend. From Wall Street to Main Street, the small-government, pro-business mainstay of the Republican Party appears to be growing disaffected with a party it sees as focused on social issues at its expense.
"I'm inclined to support the Republican Party, but the question becomes, how much other stuff do I have to put up with to maintain that identification?" asked Andrew A. Samwick, a Dartmouth College economics professor who until recently was chief economist of Bush's Council of Economic Advisers.
"I don't know a single business group involved in the judicial nominees," said R. Bruce Josten, an executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "Nada, none, zip."
A group of senators announced last night that they had reached a compromise designed to avert a showdown over the judicial nominees.
Economic conservatives grew restless during the first Bush term, when federal budget surpluses turned to yawning deficits, federal spending soared and the Republican-controlled Congress passed a Medicare drug benefit that marked the largest new federal entitlement since Lyndon B. Johnson was president.
Concern eased after the 2004 election. The president's stated priorities were to control spending, address Social Security's long-term financing problems and simplify the tax code. But since then, the drive to restructure Social Security has stalled. Efforts to rein in federal spending have been upended by a highway bill that exceeds Bush's promised price tag and a budget resolution passed Congress that rebuffed the toughest entitlement cuts demanded by the White House.
Instead, Washington's focus has shifted from fiscal issues to more narrow concerns backed vociferously by social conservatives: the Terri Schiavo case, the nomination of John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations and, most of all, the fate of the Senate's ability to filibuster judicial nominees.
"The potential for high-minded policy reforms to fix entitlements and spur growth and prosperity has degenerated into a hopeless morass," Republican economist Lawrence Kudlow wrote yesterday on the National Review's Web site.
Early in the second Bush term, business groups appeared ready to join social conservatives in the battle over Bush's judges. "We have every right to participate in the nomination process," NAM President Engler told Washington Post writers and editors in January. "Our interest is even keener than that of the White House on this issue."
But since then, it has become clear the judicial showdown could doom initiatives on taxes, legal liability protections, Social Security and other priorities. Last week, NAM spokesman Darren McKinney said not only would the group stay out of the fight, but "we hope that leveler heads prevail" before the confrontation virtually shuts down the Senate.
Mark A. Bloomfield, whose business-backed American Council for Capital Formation pushes for lower taxes on savings, investment and inheritances, said the business community is no longer the GOP's base.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
Dr. Dobson Decries Filibuster Compromise
Focus on the Family
Citizenlink
May 23rd, 2005
[Received in email; no URL]
Focus on the Family Action Chairman Dr. James C. Dobson
blasted as a "complete betrayal" tonight a deal by Senate
Republicans to forego guaranteeing all of President Bush's
judicial nominees an up-or-down confirmation vote.
Under terms of the deal, Democrats will allow final
confirmation votes for three filibustered appeals court
nominees -- Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown and
William Pryor. There is "no commitment to vote for or
against" the filibuster against two other nominees to the
appeals court, Henry Saad and William Myers.
The agreement also indicated future nominees to the
appeals court and Supreme Court should "only be
filibustered under extraordinary circumstances," with each
Democrat senator having the discretion to decide when
those conditions had been met.
"Extraordinary circumstances" is a particularly
meaningless criterion, considering that Senate liberals
thought qualified candidates like Brown and Owen were too
extreme for the federal bench.
"This Senate agreement represents a complete bailout and
betrayal by a cabal of Republicans and a great victory for
united Democrats," Dobson said. "Only three of President
Bush's nominees will be given the courtesy of an
up-or-down vote, and it's business as usual for all the
rest. The rules that blocked conservative nominees remain
in effect, and nothing of significance has changed.
"Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Antonin Scalia, and
Chief Justice William Rehnquist would never have served on
the U. S. Supreme Court if this agreement had been in
place during their confirmations. The unconstitutional
filibuster survives in the arsenal of Senate liberals.
"We are grateful to Majority Leader Frist for courageously
fighting to defend the vital principle of basic fairness,"
Dobson added. "That principle has now gone down to defeat.
We share the disappointment, outrage and sense of
abandonment felt by millions of conservative Americans who
helped put Republicans in power last November. I am
certain that these voters will remember both Democrats and
Republicans who betrayed their trust."
Complete coverage of the deal, and the reactions of
pro-family leaders to it, will appear in Tuesday's
CitizenLink Daily Update.
----- 3 -----
Stem-Cell 'Advance' is Actually Decline
by Steve Jordahl, correspondent
May 23, 2005
Focus on the Family
The latest breakthrough may be perilous for babies.
http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0036633.cfm
For the second time in less than a year South Korean scientists have crossed the line of human dignity, streamlining the process to clone and kill humans at the earliest stage of life.
The Koreans claim success in that they increased the capacity to harvest embryonic stem cells by 10 times and derived the cells much less prone to rejection. Researchers are already euphemistically downplaying ethical concerns.
"It makes this much more like family donation for tissues like bone marrow or kidneys," said George Daley with the Stem Cell Research Foundation.
But even in describing the discovery, he couldn't avoid the obvious.
"It generated a small cluster of cells which is a human embryo," Daley said, "and from that human embryo you derive embryonic stem cells."
But Dr. David Stevens of the Christian Medical Association made it clear what actually is taking place in the process.
"What they do is they create a human being," he said, "and sacrifice it for its stem cells, killing a child in the process."
Stevens pointed out this is not a breakthrough to a cure, it merely enables scientists to experiment more easily.
"I think it increases our ethical concerns, because one of the barriers was the lack of women's eggs to do this," he said. "And since there's much fewer eggs required, we're more likely to see scientists involved in this area."
Daley said U.S. researchers are falling behind the rest of the world. Stevens warned that could have political ramifications, with increased pressure on Congress and the White House, using what happened in South Korea as the leverage.
Pro-life advocates are hoping the South Korean discovery spurs a quick vote on a cloning ban in the U.S. Congress.
----- 4 -----
Activists on right and left agree: No deals
By Kathy Kiely, USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-05-22-pressure_x.htm
WASHINGTON — Tim Wildmon is president of the American Family Association in Tupelo, Miss., a politically active religious group that's trying to eliminate pornography, discourage homosexuality and restore religious symbols to American public life.
...
"We're totally against them," Wildmon says of the compromise talks. "There is nothing to bargain away." Pariser couldn't agree more. "We want Democrats to stand on principle," he says. "Our folks have been urging senators not to agree to any compromises that would take away their ability to block judges in the future."
...
Groups of conservative religious activists, such as Wildmon's and the Colorado-based Focus on the Family, are sending millions of e-mails to members nationwide. On the other side, labor unions, environmental groups and abortion rights organizations are doing the same.
The high-wattage campaigns are creating rifts between some of the groups and their Senate allies.
"James Dobson: Who does he think he is, questioning my conservative credentials?" Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., said in an interview. Dobson, head of the conservative group Focus on the Family, criticized Lott for his efforts to forge a compromise in the fight over the judges. Lott is still angry. "Some of his language and conduct is quite un-Christian, and I don't appreciate it," the senator said.
[More at URL]
----- 5 -----
CITIZENLINK BREAKING NEWS:
----------------------------------------------
Dobson: Compromise on Judicial Nominees a Betrayal
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
SUMMARY: A last-minute deal reached by seven Democratic
and seven Republican senators last night is bad news.
http://www.family.org/cforum/feature/a0036661.cfm
A "complete betrayal" -- that's how pro-family groups
brand an agreement reached Monday night by 14 U.S.
senators to give three of President Bush's bottled-up
judicial nominees up-or-down votes, in exchange for
allowing Democrats the right to continue to filibuster --
or hold hostage -- other nominations if "extraordinary
circumstances" call for it.
The Senate, as a result, voted 81-18 Tuesday to end debate
on one of the nominees, Priscilla Owen, who is currently a
Texas Supreme Court justice --clearing the way for her to
receive a full Senate vote on her nomination to the 5th
Circuit Court of Appeals.
But Focus on the Family Action Chairman Dr. James C.
Dobson pounded his desk over the deal.
"This one hit me personally harder," he said, "than I
think anything ever has coming out of Washington.
"This Senate agreement represents a complete bailout and
betrayal by a cabal of Republicans and a great victory for
united Democrats . . . It's business as usual for all the
rest. The rules that blocked conservative nominees remain
in effect, and nothing of significance has changed."
And he added, "This is not over."
Gary Bauer, president of American Values, called the
agreement "a sad day for America."
"Under this agreement," Bauer said, "it is now more likely
that radical social change will continue to be forced on
the American people by liberal courts committed to
same-sex marriage, abortion on demand and hostility to
religious expression."
Bauer added: "The Republicans who lent their names to this
travesty have undercut their president as well as millions
of their most loyal voters. Shame on them all."
Under the terms of the deal, Democrats will allow final
confirmation votes for Owen, as well as for California
Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown's nomination to
the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and William Pryor's
nomination to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The senators responsible for the compromise -- seven
Republicans and seven Democrats -- issued their memorandum
Monday night in what they called a spirit of "mutual trust
and confidence."
The Republican dealmakers included: John McCain (Ariz.)
Mike DeWine (Ohio); Lindsey Graham, (S.C.); Lincoln Chafee
(R.I.); John Warner (Va.); Olympia Snowe (Maine); and
Susan Collins (Maine).
The seven Democratic senators were: Joseph Lieberman
(Conn.); Robert Byrd (W.Va.); Mark Pryor (Ark.); Ken
Salazar (Colo.); Mary Landrieu (La.); Ben Nelson (Neb.)
and Daniel Inouye (Hawaii)
People across America let their senators know in no
uncertain terms what they thought about the private deal.
On Capitol Hill, Senate offices were deluged with calls
today from angry constituents.
Staffers of Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn said the
calls have been coming in relentlessly for a month.
In Ohio Republican Sen. Mike DeWine's office, spokeswoman
Amanda Flaig said they had received 2500 calls in the last
week in favor of abolishing the filibuster, compared to
1000 against abolishing it.
In spite of that, DeWine was one of the 14 who struck the
deal.
Those answering the phones in Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff
Sessions office said the calls had been "nonstop." Three
staffers took calls and recorded and tallied the comments
on computers.
In Virginia Republican Sen. George Allen's office about 30
calls rolled in about a half hour. Most all were against
the compromise.
Allen told CitizenLink the calls are helping him argue for
what the voters want, and urges you to keep them coming.
-- A Chance to Start Over?
Lieberman, spoke for Democrats in praise of the agreement.
"We came together," the former vice presidential candidate
and Connecticut senator said. "In a Senate that has become
increasingly partisan and polarized, the bipartisan center
prevailed."
Republican Graham, meanwhile, defended his vote by saying:
"The American people won tonight. The Senate is back in
business. And I truly believe future judicial nominees
will be treated better because of this agreement."
Graham, who has compiled a pro-family voting record, said
he believes the agreement gives the Senate "a chance to
start over regarding future nominees."
He added: "It is my hope both sides have learned from
their mistakes and we can get back to the traditional way
of doing business when it comes to judges."
But Bauer, a former presidential candidate, said the
"backroom deal" has nothing in it that will guarantee that
future nominees will not be blockaded. He noted that two
of the nominees, Henry Saad and William Myers, were
specifically not protected from filibuster in the deal.
Moreover, Senate liberals have shown every sign of
barricading top conservative candidates for the federal
bench, he said.
"It's not true that the phrase 'extraordinary
circumstances' is vague," Bauer said. "In this town, in
this battle, 'extraordinary circumstances' means they
won't filibuster unless the nominee is pro-life."
Dobson agreed, adding: "Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice
Antonin Scalia, and Chief Justice William Rehnquist would
never have served on the U. S. Supreme Court if this
agreement had been in place during their confirmations."
-- Praise for Frist
All the pro-family leaders praised Senate Majority Leader
Bill First for fighting to implement a cure for the
problem of unrestrained blockades of judicial nominees --
the constitutional option. Frist had set a deadline of
Tuesday for a vote which would have led to his use of the
option -- only to be thwarted by the agreement.
Frist told colleagues after the agreement was announced
that he was pleased that the three judge nominees would at
least receive Senate action. He reminded colleagues,
however, that Priscilla Owen had waited 4 years, two
weeks, and one day for "a fair, up-or-down, vote," while
William Pryor had waited 2 years and 1 month, and Janice
Rogers Brown had waited 22 months.
"It is a shame," the majority leader said, "that
well-qualified nominees identified by those members are
threatened still with not having the opportunity to have
the merits of their nominations debated on the floor."
Dobson, meantime, thanked Frist for "courageously fighting
to defend the vital principle of basic fairness."
He added: "We share the disappointment, outrage and sense
of abandonment felt by millions of conservative Americans
who helped put Republicans in power last November. I am
certain that these voters will remember both Democrats and
Republicans who betrayed their trust."
Bruce Hausknecht, legal issues analyst Focus on the
Family, said the agreement showed one thing to be
abundantly clear.
"The Democrats basically admitted these nominees should
never have been blocked in the first place," Hausknecht
said. "It had nothing to do with principle. It was
politics."
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council
said the battle over judicial nominations isn't over --
the battle over the U.S. Supreme Court is looming.
"This small group of senators," Perkins said, "decided for
the entire 100 members of the Senate that they would like
to stay in the land of political indecision."
Tom Minnery, vice president of government and public
policy at Focus on the Family, agreed, and promises a
fight.
"It will return again," he said. "We'll be talking about
filibusters and the constitutional option again, only the
stakes will be higher. The next fight will be over a
Supreme Court nominee. This will get messy."
(Citizen magazine Associate Editor Candi Cushman
contributed to this report.)
TAKE ACTION: Let the 14 senators who signed the deal to
kill the constitutional option know you consider it a
betrayal. You can see the actual document here:
http://www.family.org/cforum/pdfs/filibusterdeal.pdf
You can find contact information, including an easy-to-use
e-mail form, by clicking the link under each senator's
name below:
-- Republicans
Sen. John McCain (Ariz.)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=192&lvl=C&chamber=S
Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=531&lvl=C&chamber=S
Sen. Mike DeWine (Ohio)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=456&lvl=C&chamber=S
Sen. John Warner (Va.)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=595&lvl=C&chamber=S
Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R.I.)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=40039&lvl=C&chamber=S
Sen. Susan Collins (Maine)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=283&lvl=C&chamber=S
Sen. Olympia Snowe (Maine)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=282&lvl=C&chamber=S
-- Democrats
Sen. Ben Nelson (Neb.)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=10748&lvl=C&chamber=S
Sen. Robert Byrd (W.V.)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=622&lvl=C&chamber=S
Sen. Mary Landrieu (La.)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=273&lvl=C&chamber=S
Sen. Ken Salazar (Colo.)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=31624&lvl=C&chamber=S
Sen. Mark Pryor (Ark.)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=31613&lvl=C&chamber=S
Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=688&lvl=C&chamber=S
Sen. Daniel Inouye (Hawaii)
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=201&lvl=C&chamber=S
----- 6 -----
Family News in Focus
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Focus on the Family
Bob Ditmer
* Debate over stem cell research continues in Washington
1. Congess "voted to allow your tax dollars to be used to destroy human embryos." New term: "Snowflakes." These are children born via in-vitro fertilisation, which they claim are identical "Each embryo, no matter how small, is a small American who has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." "Most believe... abortion rights activists are behind stem-cell research."
* Washington acknowledging invaluable assistance pastors provide in times of crisis
2. Johns Hopkins University trying to help train pastors in emergency situations. "Preparedness is really an important part of any church in any community." "...a very good indication that the government realises how important religious leaders are..." "I have no doubt that somebody somewhere is going to exploit this in some way to continue to try to marginalise religious practice in this country."
* Investors have more power than many realize – an example from Best Buy stores
3. Video games with sex and/or violent themes; Best Buy plans to prevent sales to minours. Plans to discipline any employee who sells an M-rated game to anyone not adults. Plan to implement ID checking. Planning to focus on Target and Circuit City next.
* Many Christian students are losing their rights of religion and free speech in commencement ceremonies
6. Christian Educator's Association notes that prayers can be student-led but not school-sponsored.
* AIDS activists in Ohio calling to federal funding of abstinence education - Strange, considering abstinence is the only certain AID prevention
4. "Claims that abstinence education disregards gays." "Puts a crimp in their lifestyles." "They don't believe in monogamy in any way in their relationships." "In one study of gay couples in long-term relationships, every couple of relationships five years or more had provisions for outside sexual activity." [Ed. note: abstinence-only education teaches that no sexual activity should be engaged in outside of marriage. Since gayfolk can't get married, that means no sex for queers, ever, anywhere, as far as its backers are concerned.]
* American Family Association and Focus on the Family no longer boycotting Disney - think they made their point with the Hollywood giant
** NO STORY
* Cal. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in three child custody cases involving lesbians
5. Bob Higley, evangelical lobbyist, says the case will move the courts "even further" in endorsement of "the homosexual lifestyle." "The whole advancement of the homosexual agenda is really [damaging] to the Christian community."
----- 7 -----
Focus Radio > May 25, 2005
Issues Update: May 2005
Focus on the Family (Main Broadcast)
James Dobson
http://www.family.org/fmedia/broadcast/a0036659.cfm
Panel
Pro-family leaders Gary Bauer, Tom Minnery and Tony Perkins discuss the Senate compromise regarding the filibustering of judicial nominees.
Issues Update - May 2005
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
This week, a deal was brokered in the U.S. Senate which will allow an up-or-down vote on three of
President Bush's current judicial nominees. However, the unfortunate compromise also allows senators the right to continue filibustering other nominees in the future. Today, pro-family leaders Gary Bauer, Tom Minnery and Tony Perkins join Dr. Dobson to discuss the negative consequences of this decision, including the likelihood of a filibuster against any of the President's future nominees for the Supreme Court. Tune in to find out why Dr. Dobson believes the Senate fight over this issue will ultimately prove to be a decisive battle in the culture war.
[Monitoring begins]
Regular broadcast pre-empted; was supposed to be part two of a series on "rebellious teens"; replaced with a show on the above topic. "We're gonna talk again about what's been going on in the Senate with the filibuster." "The vote in the Senate over the filibuster... came to a head on Monday night, and seven Republicans, led by Senator John McCain, who seems to delight in tweaking the noses of his fellow Republicans, cut a deal with seven Democrats to end the fight on the filibuster... it's gonna be business as usual with regard to judicial nominees."
Tom Minnery, Tony Perkins (Family Research Council), Gary Bauer (American Values). Talk about the press release FotF released that Dobson wrote. "This Senate agreement represents a complete bailout and betrayal by a cabal of Republicans and a great victory for united Democrats." "It's business as usual for all the rest... the rules that block conservative nominees remains in effect." Thomas, Scalia, and Rehnquist "would never have served on the Supreme Court" had this agreement existed. Commends Frist for leading the fight.
"Democrats and the other senators that signed on." "We all know what [extraordinary circumstances] means." Gary Bauer: "In this town, and this battle, extraordinary circumstances means they won't filibuster unless the nominee is pro-life. That's what this battle has been about from the beginning. It really does set back, for now, our efforts to return the protections of our Constitution to our unborn children."
"This battle is not over, it will return... when the stakes are higher, because the next fight will be over a Supreme Court nominee. This fight will get nasty." [Ed note: As if it hasn't been already...] "Snatched defeat from the jaws of victory... this small group has decided... for the entire 100 members of the senate that they would prefer to stay in the land of political indecision.
Dobson: "This one hit me personally harder than I think anything ever has coming out of Washington." "I literally went home and hugged Shirley and went to sleep." Perkins?: "We began to pray, but I'll tell you what I wanted to do, I wanted to cry... the wind has been taken out of our sails."
Bauer: "The first thing I thought about was the millions of people who just a few months ago worked their hearts out to elect pro-life, pro-family legislators in Washington, DC... all of us did rallies across the country... where thousands of people showed up, and it was exactly over this battle, were we going to be able to get people elected who would get these courts under control so America is not continually being changed under our eyes... we seemed so close tot he point of being able to do this, _now_, and all of a sudden you've got this backroom deal... exactly the kind of politics in Washington we've been fighting for 35 years."
Dobson: Lots of listeners still don't understand or realise what's going on. "This is not primarily about the seven nominees that the President has made to the Federal bench... it is really about the Supreme Court. That's really what this is about. THe court is really out of control... they continue making the great moral decisions of our times... and you have the definition of marriage about to change, that's already been signals... the court is going to create a legality for same-sex marriage, and of course the sanctity of life issues... the ten commandments... the preservation of the flag, and, you know, the pledge of allegiance... religious liberty... and now, as of the end of last week, the court is going to decide about parental consent for abortion and whether a minor can get an abortion without a parent's knowledge! ... That should not be decided by five judges in Washington! That ought to be decided by the American people and their representatives in the Senate! ... We had a brief shining moment, there..."
"They knew they were about to lose a filibuster against these nominees who would reverse all these things and rule in the moral way... those so-called moderates took that deal and ran with it..."
Dobson is really mad at Lindsey Graham in particular.
"You had seven Republicans who sold out not just the Republican leader but the Americans who... expanded the conservative majority in Congress."
Talks about how MoveOn.org is "gleeful," and how Harry Reid is "gloat"ing, because "People like Senator Graham were willing to sign on to a deal that was this bad."
"Senator Graham took a shot at us over Justice Sunday..."
Perkins: Graham took "a shot" at "us" over Justice Sunday - complaining that it was "interjecting religion into politics." "No one supports the middle." Claims that liberals are the ones injecting religion into politics.
"The liberals are the one who raised this question of religion and are using it to attack us. This is insidious!"
"THey are attacking us at every term because they know we have discovered the source of the problem... it is the FEderal courts in this country who are out of control, and REpublicans who sold out... and decided not to do it."
Lists the seven REpublicans who "betrayed the rest of their colleges" - McCain (AZ), Graham (SC), DeWine (OH), Warner (VA), Chafee (RI), Collins (ME), Snow (ME).
Calls for a "continuing barrage" of condemnational calls to these senators from across the country. "We're disappointed and we're not going to forget it." Claims again [Ed note: this is a lie] that nominees have always gotten up-or-down votes by the whole Senate. [Ed note again: _this is a lie_. Period.]
Calls to vote out these Senators.
More calls to call this list of Senators again. "The reason they do this occasionally, just completely go off into left field... they've learned that pro-life pro-family people have extremely short memories... they count on that, they count on us moving on to something else... it is imperative that these senators who made these deals... that they continue to hear from people. This battle isn't over. And these Senators need to be told every day for the foreseeable future that you have undercut pro-family and pro-life voters and we aren't going to forget it."
Dobson: "The good news is that this issue's going to come back. THis battle is going to be fought again, because the Democrats are going to filibuster again, and when that happens... the nuclear option, the constitution option will come right back."
"This battle will come back again when it comes back to the Supreme Court." "It will come back up. That's why it's so important that people communicate to their senators..."
Dobson: "I've never been through anything like this. You mentioned, Tony, that those on the left side... have allowed us to talk about pro-life and things, but now we're talking about the court... they're coming after us with a vengeance... I"m starting to get evidence that even our friends are starting to believe this stuff!" Claims Harper's said that Dobson was in favour of executing gayfolk and abortion doctors, says that's a lie. [Ed Note: he's never come out sand said "execute" or "kill." However, he does want queers eliminated from society. Specifically.] Claims that people lie about him.
Perkins: "I want to speak for a moment about the _profoundly_ _Christian_ _reasons_ for which we are doing this, standing against the flow of these courts; the issues before these courts are issues of God's righteousness, issues of sanctity of human life, the definition of marriage, God's plan for sexuality, the freedom to proclaim the gospel; we believe they are important to God, and they confirm with his righteousness! It was Jesus himself in the Sermon on the Mount who talked about righteousness. ... Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness;" and then he made it personal, "blessed are you when men revile you when they say all manner of evil about you because they are really upset with me." "you are the light of the world, you are the salt of the earth, do not hide your light under a bushel!" I believe Jesus had these moments in mind. THese are issues of confirm to righteousness! obviously getting right with God is the pinnacle of Righteousness, It is not right when babies die before they are able to be born, it is not right when God's institution of marriage is trashed!"
Dobson talks about how "it stinks, it hurts, and I would appreciate the prayers of God's people out there." "I feel things just like everybody else does."
"We've been in a foxhole together for many many years... I just have to say as an observer of all this, I have never seen anyone demonised as you have been demonised over the last 90 days over this battle."
Bauer layers praise on Dobson, compares him to Lincoln, tells people to call FotF in support.
"I'm not going to cut and run, but I really would appreciate the prayers of God's people."
"Don't believe everything you read about Dr. Dobson or about this organisation."
Bauer: "THis was a defeat... but it is not the end of this war, there are going to be major fights on this same issue down the road, we've got to take a deep breath, get back on our knees in prayer for the next around, because our unborn children and the institution of marriage depend on it."
Perkins: "THis is an era in which God's people engage culture as never before..."
Dobson: "The culture war has gone on for nearly 25 years, and this is the climax - this is, if not the final battle, the decisive battle. Don't leave us now, folks; continue to pray, continue to be involved, continue to listen..."
Tells listeners to citizenlink.org (FotF website) for contact information to call Senators. Also gives the 800 number for people who don't have web access. 800-A-FAMILY.
----- 8 -----
Southern Baptists Look at Homosexual Influence on Schools
Concerned Women for America
5/25/2005
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/8234/CWA/education/index.htm
Christian education proponents have submitted a resolution in advance of the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. The measure calls for pastors and churches to examine the influence of homosexual activists on their public school system and to take action to guard the moral education of their children. Robert Knight, director of CWA’s Culture & Family Institute was a consultant on this resolution. But before the convention can vote on this resolution, it must first clear the 10-member resolutions committee. Martha Kleder spoke with the authors of the resolution, Dr. Voddie Baucham, Jr and Dr. Bruce Shortt both affiliated with The Exodus Mandate.
• As a black man, Dr. Voddie Baucham, Jr., an evangelist with a growing ministry, takes issue with the linking of homosexuality to race and the co-opting of civil rights terminology by homosexual activists. Click here to listen.
• Dr. Bruce Shortt is an attorney and author of The Harsh Truth About Public Schools. Click here to listen.
----- 9 -----
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 9, 2005
Exodus Mandate
http://www.exodusmandate.org/art_20050509-sbc-resolution.htm
Features/Education/Religion
CONTACT INFORMATION:
To schedule an interview with Dr. Voddie Baucham, Jr. or Bruce Shortt call Creative Resources @ 800.858.9388 or cmresource@aol.com
Exodus Mandate (www.exodusmandate.org)
Chaplain (Lt. Col., Ret.) E. Ray Moore, Jr., Th.M. (South Carolina): 803-714-1744
Dr. Robert Dreyfus (Florida): 352-216-1703
Pastor Larry Reagan (Tennessee): 731-364-6724
Experts
The statements of Robert Knight, Dr. Jeffrey Satinover, Linda Harvey, and Dr. Warren Throckmorton, and Peter LaBarbera, along with their media contact information, are below.
NEWS RELEASE
SBC Resolution Asks for Investigation of Homosexual Influence in Public Schools
New resolution submitted at 2005 annual meeting of Southern Baptist Convention may lead to exodus of Christian children.
Exodus Mandate/Columbia, SC - Under the guise of promoting tolerance, safety, diversity, and multiculturalism, a growing number of government schools are influencing our children to regard homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle and silencing those within the schools who disagree.
In order to make Christian parents and pastors more aware of the aggressive homosexual activism being sponsored by many public schools, Dr. Voddie Baucham, Jr., a prominent Southern Baptist lecturer, preacher, and author of The Ever-Loving Truth, and Bruce N. Shortt, co-sponsor of the 2004 Christian Education Resolution and author of The Harsh Truth About Public Schools, have submitted a resolution addressing homosexuality and the public schools for consideration at the SBC's 2005 Annual Meeting.
The resolution encourages every SBC church to investigate whether the school district in which it is located has either a homosexual club or any curriculum or program that attempts to influence children to accept homosexual behavior as a legitimate lifestyle. If the school district has any of these, the resolution urges churches to inform parents of this fact and encourage them to remove their children from the district's schools immediately.
The Baucham-Shortt resolution also: (a) commends Christians working in government schools, (b) asks Baptists to make a greater effort to provide and support Christian educational alternatives to government schools, especially for the benefit of children from low income and single parent families, (c) calls upon Baptists to pray for homosexuals, and (d) rebukes homosexual activists for slandering minorities by claiming that homosexual behavior has any authentic connection with the civil rights movement.
Dr. Baucham believes it is urgent that Christian parents become better informed: "I am convinced that if government schools had to recruit students by sending out brochures outlining the academic, moral, and spiritual aspects of their curriculum, most Baptists would throw it in the trash without a second thought. However, when these schools can hide behind stealth phrases like tolerance, safe schools, multiculturalism, and safer sex, parents are often unaware of the dangers lurking beneath the surface. Moreover, parents who speak up are often branded as narrow-minded bigots with outdated values. This resolution is an effort to shine the light of truth in the dark corners of our schools and force our brethren to take a long, hard, honest look at what we have tolerated for far too long."
According to Shortt, "Homosexuals need our prayers and concern, but Christian parents must make sure that their children are not being endangered by false teaching in government schools. Under the guise of promoting "tolerance", "safety", "diversity", and "multiculturalism", government schools are influencing our children to regard homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle and silencing those within the schools who disagree. Education officials who would never dream of engineering acceptance of smoking among children are all too often complicit in promoting acceptance among children of a lifestyle that evidence indicates is at least as deadly and self-destructive as smoking."
Well-known experts consulted regarding this resolution confirm that mainstreaming of the homosexual lifestyle in public schools is widespread and poses a serious danger to children:
Peter LaBarbera, founder of Americans for Truth and Executive Director of the Illinois Family Institute, www.illinoisfamily.org, 630-790-8370: "I have monitored the homosexual movement for 15 years, with special focus on its campaign to penetrate schools. Groups like GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network and PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), working with pro-homosexual student groups, promote the false notion of inherent 'GLBT' (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender) identity-resulting in sexually-confused students 'coming out' at younger and younger ages. Radical gender and homosexual advocacy groups influence teacher-training programs dealing with 'sexual orientation' and 'diversity,' creating school environments that are heavily biased against Christian moral teachings. Even grade-school students are targeted, with manipulative programs and lesson plans about 'bullying' and homosexual parenting. Most parents, especially those living near big cities, simply have no clue as to the many ways that the 'sexual orientation' agenda works its way into their children's education."
Linda Harvey, President, Mission America, Columbus, OH, www.missionamerica.com, (614) 442-7998: "Based on my 10 years of tracking and researching the growth of homosexual activism in public schools, I know that very few parents are aware that the majority of public school districts are selling our children the dangerous and false notion that homosexuality is a normal and acceptable lifestyle. Because most Christian parents and churches have been silent about this out of ignorance or apathy, they are essentially saying to their children that what the schools are teaching is accurate and acceptable; they are also saying to schools, we give you permission to proceed, to count on our silence, and to count on our children continuing to fill your classrooms."
Robert Knight, director, Culture & Family Institute, an affiliate of Concerned Women for America (202) 488-7000: "Under the rubric of "diversity," "tolerance," "safe schools," and AIDS education, homosexual activists are selling a pansexual agenda right under parents' noses. They gain access to public schools by initiating something with obvious appeal, such as the anti-bullying program "No Name-Calling Week." Such projects are a Trojan horse for promoting homosexuality as normal and inevitable for some kids. Parents then find themselves being accused of bigotry for trying to steer children away from a set of behaviors whose risks are well documented. By the time it reaches that stage, the activists and their materials are entrenched in the school system."
Dr. Jeffrey Satinover, M.S., M.D., Department of Politics, Princeton University and Laboratoire de la Physique de la Matiére Condensée, Université de Nice USA+1 (203) 221-0031 jsatinov@princeton.edu: "Any program, club, or curriculum that signals to students that homosexual behavior is 'just another lifestyle' places children at tremendous risk. Data from the Centers for Disease Control indicate that for boys and young men in North America who identify themselves as homosexual even if the identification is only temporary, which as has been documented in numerous large-scale sociological studies in America, France, Britain, Australia and New Zealand, as is the case with the majority of such self-identified homosexuals - the risk of being either HIV positive or dead by age 30 may now be as high as 65%."
Dr. Warren Throckmorton, Associate Professor of Psychology, Grove City College 724-458-3787, ewthrockmorton@gcc.edu: "As a result of over 20 years of clinical experience and academic research concerning education and sexual orientation, it is clear that schools are increasingly being used by groups such as the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) as focal points for their advocacy. Instruction time is being given over to political activism, much of which has as its purpose to change traditional beliefs concerning sexuality. Most parents have no idea that this is going on or that public school officials collaborate with political activists to attempt to alter the beliefs of school children."
Additional information, including the text of the resolution, can be found at www.exodusmandate.org
----- 10 -----
Snowflakes Press Conference
Concerned Women for America
5/24/2005
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/8223/CWA/life/index.htm
The U.S. House of Representatives is considering two competing bills on stem-cell research. Representatives and families of snowflake children recently held a press conference opposing the expansion of embryonic stem cell research lines.
Embryos preserved in frozen storage offer great hope for life and for families facing fertility challenges. When a family has been successful in having a child through in vitro fertilization, embryos are often cryo-preserved, resulting in the question of what to do with them. These frozen embryos can be the hope of a child for an infertile couple. Embryo adoption shares this wonderful hope with others.
----- 11 -----
CWA Saddened by House Vote to Fund the Killing of Embryos: Heartened by passage of funding for ethical and effective cord stem cells
Concerned Women for America
5/25/2005
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/8232/MEDIA/life/index.htm
Washington D.C. – Concerned Women for America (CWA) denounced the passage of a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday to expand federal funding of deadly embryonic stem-cell research. It passed the same day as the families of Snowflakes, children adopted when they were frozen embryos, pleaded with Congress and stood with the President not to use tax dollars to kill innocent human life.
President Bush vowed to veto the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. It passed 238 to 194, 50 votes shy of the two-thirds required to override a veto.
"Embryonic stem-cell research has been unconscionably hyped, by scientists, politicians and advocacy groups shamelessly manipulating patients and their families into believing their only hope lies in cannibalizing the young,” said Wendy Wright, CWA’s senior policy director. “While states, universities and foundations pour money into this latest fad, advocates crave the moral legitimacy they hope to gain with federal funding. And when the limited supply of orphaned embryos donated for research – a mere 2.8 percent of the 400,000 embryos in fertility clinics – runs out, the advocates will come back to the federal trough demanding tax dollars to create embryos for experimentation.”
Over 90 percent of frozen embryos are waiting to be used by their parents or donated to other couples for adoption – their parents do not want them used in experiments.
On the same day, the House passed by 431 to 1 funding for ethical cord stem cell research. The Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act, supported by President Bush, would make umbilical- cord-blood stem cells available for research and treatment. These stem cells, also obtained from placentas, have treated thousands of patients of more than 67 diseases – 67 more diseases than embryonic stem cells have treated.
“This legislation will make it possible to further the therapeutic advances already gained through adult stem-cell research, rather than fund a science that destroys human life for a line of research that has yet to yield one single result in human treatments,” said Lanier Swann, CWA’s director of government relations.
----- 12 -----
CWA Says, Seven Republican Dwarves Sold Out Snow White—Left Democrats With Key to Castle
Concerned Women for America
5/24/2005
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/8216/MEDIA/nation/index.htm
Washington, D.C. – Last night seven Republican senators cut a foolish deal with seven Democrats that left Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tennessee) holding an empty hand. Frist announced yesterday that he had scheduled a cloture vote today on Priscilla Owen, the President’s nominee to the Fifth Circuit, who’s been waiting for a floor vote for more than four years. If the cloture vote failed, Frist planned to use the constitutional option—a ruling from the Senate president, Vice President Dick Cheney, that only 51 votes are necessary to confirm a nominee.
“Instead of ending the unconstitutional use of the filibuster, the seven dwarves have handed the filibuster key to the Supreme Court Castle to the Democrats. It’s the key they want more than anything,” said Jan LaRue, Concerned Women for America’s (CWA’s) chief counsel. “They’re willing to vote for cloture on the three nominees they’ve most opposed in order to keep the filibuster for all future nominees, including the Supreme Court.”
The seven Republicans are John McCain (Arizona), John Warner (Virginia), Mike DeWine (Ohio), Lindsay Graham (South Carolina), Susan Collins (Maine), Olympia Snowe (Maine) and Lincoln Chaffee (Rhode Island).
“The deal says, ‘Nominees should only be filibustered under extraordinary circumstances, and each signatory must use his or her own discretion and judgment in determining whether such circumstances exist.’ The Republicans say that after the Democrats allow confirmation of Owen, Janice Rogers Brown and Bill Pryor, they won’t be able to call a nominee ‘extraordinary.’ Does the name ‘Charles Pickering’ ring a bell? Democrats unanimously confirmed him to the district court and then filibustered him as a racist when he was nominated to the Fifth Circuit,” LaRue added.
“Sen. Frist said the compromise is ‘short on principle’ because every nominee deserves an up-or-down vote. He’s right. It was like watching a parallel universe: Seven giddy Republicans talking mutual trust with Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia), while Harry Reid (D-Nevada) continues attacking the President and bragging about saving the Supreme Court from the radical right. The American people won’t take this lying down,” LaRue concluded.
----- 13 -----
For GOP, Deeper Fissures and a Looming Power Struggle
By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 25, 2005; Page A11
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/24/AR2005052401475.html
The fallout from the Senate compromise that averted a showdown over judicial filibusters fell most heavily on the Republican Party yesterday, signaling intraparty warfare that is likely to shape the battle for the party's 2008 presidential nomination and further strain the unity the GOP has enjoyed under President Bush.
Monday's surprise deal left two of the party's most prominent potential 2008 candidates, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (Tenn.) and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), on opposite sides of an ideological and strategic divide that is likely to widen as the party begins in earnest to hunt for a successor to Bush. Perhaps mindful of the power of social and religious conservatives, other GOP senators with presidential aspirations, including George Allen (Va.) and Chuck Hagel (Neb.), condemned the deal.
The compromise forged by 14 Democratic and Republican senators represented a rare, if temporary, rebuff to religious and social conservatives. Their condemnations, whether from James Dobson's Focus on the Family, radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh or conservative bloggers, were quick and strong. Dobson labeled it a "complete bailout and betrayal," and Jan LaRue, chief counsel of Concerned Women for America, branded the GOP negotiators "seven dwarves" who had given Democrats the right to filibuster a Supreme Court nominee.
Outside analysts took a more measured view of the terms of the agreement that blocked for now the use of the "nuclear option" to bar judicial filibusters; they contended that social and religious conservatives may have done better than they are willing to acknowledge, including the likely approval of three of Bush's most controversial appellate court nominees. The agreement, they said, may look much better to the right in a month or two.
"If they think more incrementally and realistically about what can be achieved, they managed to get a lot of the people [judicial nominees] they wanted without blowing up the United States Senate and without slowing down other elements of the president's agenda," said James L. Guth, a professor of political science at Furman University.
But leading voices among social conservatives sharply disagreed. "It's a rebuff of both the president, Senator Frist and the socially conservative base of the party by a handful of senators," said Gary L. Bauer, a former presidential candidate and president of American Values. "The heart of the Republican Party is as unhappy as I can recall."
[More at URL]
----- 14 -----
GOP emotions running high
Anger, dismay over compromise
By Nina J. Easton, Globe Staff | May 25, 2005
The Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/05/25/gop_emotions_running_high/
WASHINGTON -- The caller could barely contain his anger. ''Who appointed McCain to be head of the Republican Party?" he asked.
''The media," responded conservative talk radio host Laura Ingraham.
''My blood is boiling," the caller replied.
The agreement hatched Monday night by Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and his bipartisan band of moderates to avert a showdown over judicial nominations reverberated yesterday through the echo chamber of Republican primary politics.
On conservative talk radio, blogs, and citizen-group websites, emotions ran high over two prospective presidential candidates. Toward McCain, no friend of the right, the emotion was anger. Toward Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, who is a friend, it was disappointment.
''We had a failure of leadership," Ingraham said in a swipe at Frist. ''And when that happens, someone like McCain can drive a truck right through it."
For at least a decade, the political right has dominated Republican primaries, making it difficult for moderates such as McCain to emerge as the party's nominee for president. But with the Monday night agreement, greeted with dismay by interest groups on both the left and the right, the Arizona senator threw down an early gauntlet, openly defying the party's conservative base.
''We had McCain-Feingold," said talk show host Rush Limbaugh in a reference to the senator's signature campaign finance law, widely denounced by the right. ''This is McCain-the middle finger."
[More at URL]
