Although the "Human Embryo Destruction" bill, H.R. 810, passed by a margin of 238 to 194 on Tuesday, the margin was some 30 to 40 votes short of what the pro-abortion sponsors expected to receive, and over 50 votes short of what they will need to overturn President George W. Bush's certain veto of this heinous bill.

The large color photo of President Bush holding a "snowflake baby" -- born after his parents "adopted" a human embryo from an IVF (in vitro fertilization) clinic -- which appeared on the front pages of both the "New York Times" and "The Washington Post," and in numerous newspapers around the country -- a story shown on all the major networks the night before the vote -- undoubtedly changed the minds of many Members intending to vote for this unethical bill.

Each one of us began as an embryo President Bush said at the White House event, "Every embryo is unique and genetically complete, like every other human being. And each of us started out our life this way. These lives are not raw material to be exploited, but gifts."

(AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN Friday, May 27, 2005)

Amendment to Lottery Commission sunset bill dies after time runs out in the Texas Senate.

A move to inject expanded gambling into a Lottery Commission sunset measure was killed by the clock early Thursday in the Senate, ensuring that gambling won't be expanded in Texas.

Also dead: the Lottery Commission sunset legislation.

House Bill 1434 would have continued the operations of the Lottery Commission for another 12 years, increased the size of the panel from three to five members and made a variety of other regulatory changes.

The measure was the last bill scheduled for debate Wednesday, an intentional move by Senate leaders who expected the lottery bill to be contentious because of Armbrister's amendment, which promised to trigger a filibuster that would have killed all bills behind it on the calendar.

Nelson and other senators came to the session armed with tennis shoes and catheters, among the traditional tools of filibuster-bound lawmakers.

Afterward, Nelson said she had done as she promised, killed any attempt to expand gambling. Armbrister, on the other hand, was unfazed by the quick defeat, which he had expected.

He said the proposal could have raised at least $1.2 billion in additional revenue in the first year after passage, and at least $5.4 billion by the fifth year.

Had the county gaming districts been approved, Travis County voters would have been able to decide whether they wanted Austin gambling venues. Armbrister said Dallas, Fort Worth, Galveston, Houston, Laredo, El Paso, South Padre Island and San Antonio would have been other likely spots.

Sen. Ken Armbrister, D-Victoria, offered an amendment to allow a statewide referendum to legalize video lottery terminals at venues across the state.

It also would have allowed for county gaming districts, where city, county and state governments would have split a percentage of the take — 2 percent for counties and cities, 6 percent for the state.

This is a small amendment that will bring in billions of dollars for the State of Texas," Armbrister began, interrupted almost immediately by Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, who objected to further debate because it was past midnight.

That was the deadline for the Senate to pass its final legislation, although Senate leaders had extended it long past that by first insisting they were working on El Paso time — an hour earlier — and then by just ignoring the clock. "I believe it's before midnight — in Vegas," Armbrister said. "But, Senator," Nelson shot back, "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. You know that."

QUOTEWORTHY: "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible." -- George Washington (1732-1799)

(May 26, 2005 Bill Wilson-Citizen Link) May 26, 2005

The Eritrean government persecutes and tortures evangelical Christians at an ever increasing and alarming rate. The East African nation, located on the Red Sea bordering Sudan and Ethiopia, has a large Islamic population.

At the country's embassy in Washington, D.C., Eritrean-Americans demonstrated for religious freedom.

Aklil Habtezion considers himself fortunate to be in political asylum in the United States.

"We are here to condemn the detention of Christians in Eritrea," Aklil said at the rally. "We are here to ask the government to release all prisoners of conscience, especially on account of their faith."

Samuel Gebreyonas said his friends are being persecuted for their evangelism and children are being jailed because authorities see them with Bibles.

"Youngsters as young as 16 or 17, if they are found to have a Bible with them," he said, "they will detain them."

Jerry Dykstra of Open Doors USA points out that Eritrea was designated a "country of particular concern" by the U.S.

"And on the world watch list put out by Opens Door this year," he said, "they were ranked among countries that most severely persecute Christians."

Dykstra said there are more than 900 Eritrean Christians being held in prisons, military confinement camps and even shipping containers just for holding secret prayer and worship meetings outside government-approved churches.

U.S. Senators Cornyn, Kyl Prepare Massive Guestworker Plan (FAIR)

Thursday, May 26, Senate Immigration Subcommittee Chairman John Cornyn (R-TX) and Terrorism Subcommittee Chairman Jon Kyl (R-AZ) held a press conference to unveil the enforcement previsions of their forthcoming "Comprehensive Enforcement and Immigration Reform Act of 2005."

This bill is expected to combine immigration enforcement with a new massive guestworker program. The legislation has not yet been introduced, nor have the details of the guestworker component been released.

Immediately following the press conference, the Senate Immigration Subcommittee held another in a series of hearings on wide-ranging topics in preparation for introduction of this bill. The witness list for the hearing was extraordinarily one-sided and stacked in favor of a massive, unlimited guestworker program. This bill, backed by cheap labor interests and the open-borders lobby, seeks to let big business dictate immigration policy, while hanging a "for sale" sign on visas, green cards, and U.S. citizenship. It has been introduced in both bodies of Congress and has significant support in the Senate.

Stay tuned…we will continue to report on this legislation as it develops.

Florida Parental Notification Law Finally Passed After Two Decade Fight

(TALLAHASEE, FL, May 27, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – After nearly two decades of wrangling between Florida’s courts, the legislature, voters and governors, a parental notification law, requiring that physicians inform parents that their minor daughter is scheduled for an abortion, was signed by Governor Jeb Bush. The law is set to go in effect July 1.

Over the years the law has suffered innumerable setbacks. Since 1989 it has been struck down twice by the Florida courts, and vetoed once by former Governor Lawton Chiles. Both claimed that the law violated a state constitutional privacy clause. A constitutional amendment making an exception to the privacy clause was passed by a 65-35 margin by Florida voters this past November.

During the most recent reading of the bill the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) and abortion provider Planned Parenthood made a last ditch effort to put a stop to the law, hoping to overturn the vote on the constitutional amendment. Executive director of Planned Parenthood, Stephanie Grutman, justified their efforts, claiming “government can’t mandate good effective family communication.” The Florida Supreme Court threw out their motion.

Speaking about the law, Governor Jeb Bush stated “Before a child undergoes a surgical procedure of any kind, it is imperative that the parent or guardian is properly notified. This not only ensures the safety of our children, but also strengthens the family unit by maintaining open dialogue between parent and child.”

(JACKSON, June 2, 2005 LifeSiteNews.com) – A Mississippi state judge has thrown out a law that banned late, second-term abortions by abortuaries.

U.S. District Judge Tom S. Lee – misinterpreting the constitution in typical judicial fashion – ruled the law barring women from procuring second-term abortions from private abortion clinics unconstitutional. The law created in 2004, set to come into effect July 1, 2005, required all second-term abortions – those performed after 13 weeks – be performed at hospitals or ambulatory surgical centers.

The ruling allows the single operating abortuary in the state – the misnamed Women’s Health Organization in Jackson – to continue committing the second term abortions – those committed up to and including 16 weeks of pregnancy.

Lee argued that prohibiting the sole abortuary from committing the abortions would have meant there would be no late-term abortion facilities anywhere in the state, because no hospitals or clinics other than the World Health Organization (WHO) performs abortions, a situation Lee claimed was “unconstitutional as a matter of law,” according to a sunherald.com report.

Pro-Life Mississippi President Terri Herring said, “If we're going to claim to have safe, legal abortion, the least we can do is make it safe. Unless these clinics stop at first trimester, they're not safe. And they're never safe for unborn children.”

QUOTEWORTHY: ----------------- "God have mercy on us when the country is called to account for abortion." -- Ann Coulter, 2004

Bill & Hill Off The Hook In The Golden State (Chris Farrell, Director of Investigations for Judicial Watch)

I was disappointed (but not surprised) that David Rosen, Hillary Clinton’s National Finance Director, was let off the hook for campaign finance fraud. Last week, a U.S. District Court acquitted Rosen of charges he caused false campaign finance reports to be filed with the Federal Election Commission and the U.S. Senate. Judicial Watch Director of Litigation, Paul Orfanedes, was on the ground in Los Angeles to monitor court proceedings. According to Paul, government lawyers presented a watered down case and ignored key evidence in order to avoid implicating the Clintons in the scheme to hide the true cost of a fundraising event. Obviously, the Justice Department made a political calculation and decided not to pursue the case against Rosen aggressively. The evidence was clear Rosen failed to properly report a $1.9 million contribution to Hillary Clinton’s senate campaign in 2000.

U.K. Methodist Church To Sell Alcohol (Prophecy Watch)

The Methodist Church has turned to the demon drink. Whereas once it preached against the evils of alcohol, it has sparked uproar among its followers with plans to serve wine and spirits at its London headquarters.

Methodist leaders have infuriated the teetotal among their ranks by applying for a liquor licence for Westminster Central Hall, their Edwardian headquarters in central London.

The application for a licence for the building's public cafe and its function rooms, which are available for hire, has sparked written objections from more than 60 Methodists who say that the application is in defiance of Church rules which prohibit the serving of alcohol on Methodist Church premises. They point out that the Westminster building which holds regular services in its chapel and great hall is a Methodist church.

Dick Arnold, a retired solicitor in Dorset, said that the Church was putting "money before mission". He said that it had already made a large amount of money from renting out buildings for events, and there was no need to start selling drinks. He said: "The provision of alcohol is a slippery slope.

Gays Float New Hate-Crimes Bill (Bill Wilson-Citizen Link)

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank pushes legislation that would offer special protections to "transgendered" people. Congressional advocates of special rights for homosexuals are once again pitching the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, calling their latest attempt "new and improved" because it adds "transgendered" people to those given protection from "feeling fearful and angry" over any crimes committed against them.

A news conference held to announce the legislation, was actually more of a pep rally for deviant sexual lifestyles. Openly homosexual U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., explained the heart of his bill as a "very carefully worked out statutory scheme."

Frank's lesbian colleague, Wisconsin Democratic Rep. Tammy Baldwin, offered the details of that scheme. "For the first time in our nation's history," she said, "transgendered citizens would be accorded the same protection that most Americans take for granted."

Frank's bill establishes as federal offenses those "involving actual or perceived" acts that are attempted or end in violence." When asked how his legislation defines for prosecution subjective feelings such as anger and fear, Frank bristled. "You missed my point entirely," he said. "And I will repeat it: No, my point is, under this bill, there has to be an act of violence first."

Hate-crimes legislation has been defeated in the last two Congresses.

A leading scientist warned last week that the avian flu virus is on the point of mutating into a pandemic disease and says that current estimates that such a pandemic could cause 7.5m deaths may understate the threat.

His warnings come as experts writing in last week’s edition of Nature Journal, voice concerns about the world's inability to manufacture sufficient vaccines for a pandemic and warn of the impact that the virus - H5N1 - could have on the global economy.

In an accompanying editorial Nature Journal argues that so far such warnings have "fallen on deaf ears". It backs a call by Prof Osterhaus and his colleagues at the Erasmus Medical Centre, in Rotterdam - one of the world's leading virus research labs - for a global taskforce to strengthen agencies on the ground.

His comments are backed by the other experts in Nature Journal, who also criticise the WHO and international efforts to develop vaccines against H5N1 and other strains of avian influenza.

According to Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota, antiquated vaccine manufacturing systems mean that countries like the US are unable to protect their populations against annual flu strains, let alone pandemic ones.

Ford Motor Company Supports Homosexual Marriage Movement (American Family Association)

You are probably unaware that Ford Motor Company is a major supporter of the homosexual movement, including homosexual marriage.

From redefining family to include homosexual marriage, to giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to support homosexual groups and their agenda, to forcing managers to attend diversity training on how to promote the acceptance of homosexuality, to sponsoring a “commitment (marriage) ceremony”, to sponsoring Gay Pride Parades, Ford leads the way.

The American Family Association (AFA) is asking people to stop buying Fords because the company features homosexuals in magazine ads and donates money to gay activist groups. Randy Sharp, AFA's director of special projects, wants people to sign an online petition saying they will not buy the Ford products until it stops supporting the homosexual agenda. "One of the groups that Ford has given money to is the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation," he said. The company has a promotion "in which [for] every Jaguar or Ford Land Rover sold they'll give (up to) $1,000 to this organization."

I urge you to take action today. Sign the petition to boycott Ford. Call your local Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo, Jaguar, Mazda and/or Land Rover dealer (all are part of Ford Motor Company) and inform them you will not be buying a Ford product until they stop their promotion of the homosexual movement and homosexual marriage.

'Gaza First Won't Be Gaza Last' – Peres (Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff May 31st, 2005)

Vice Premier Shimon Peres Monday kicked off his Labor Party leadership reelection campaign by reminding Israelis that the upcoming retreat from Gaza and northern Samaria would not be the last withdrawal in the name of “peace.”

“We must tell the truth: the disengagement plan is just the start,” Peres said at the opening of a Labor Party convention at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds.

“Gaza first will not be Gaza last. We have to continue the peace process or we will lose the fruits of disengagement,” the leftist leader said.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has repeatedly told Israelis there would be no more major uprooting of Jewish settlers, and that quitting Gaza and northern Samaria would in fact strengthen Israel's hold over other settlement blocs, while reducing international pressure.

But the man Sharon insists has guaranteed his premise for retreat, US President George W. Bush, indicated last week that Peres's take on the situation was more realistic.

To the shock of most Israelis, Bush told reporters following his meeting with PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas that any final status changes to the 1949 Armistice lines would have to be mutually agreed upon.

Analysts noted the apparent shift in US policy, with Bush in essence saying that continued Israeli control over Ariel, Ma'aleh Adumim, Gush Katif and even eastern Jerusalem (including the Old City) required the approval of the PLO.

Naturally, no one in Israel expects the “Palestinians” to relinquish their claims to these areas, therefore destroying Sharon's stated premise for retreat, explained longtime Israeli Foreign Service official Yossi Ben-Aharon.

Bush's statement “emptied of all content that which Sharon has bragged about the US recognizing for the first time - Israel's right to annex settlement blocs,” Ben-Aharon said in an interview with Arutz 7.

Former-Prime Minister Ehud Barak recently told Ha'aretz, “A campaign is under way here whose gist is to mislead the nation about substantive issues in order to prevent it from asking what the quid pro quo for the disengagement is.”

“Sharon’s claim that he made painful decisions in Gaza and in return obtained an unprecedented achievement in Judea and Samaria is not correct,” Barak said.

Barak explained that Washington does not support any Jewish settlements, including Jewish neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem, because its primary focus brokering a peace agreement, and the Bush Administration knows the Arabs won't sign a final status treaty before all of Judea and Samaria are ethnically cleansed of Jews.

“Sharon is not telling the people the truth. He is treating us all as though we are infantile and incapable of debating our own fate.”

Barak said in the interview that after regaining control of the government, his Labor Party would use Sharon's policies as a precedent for more sweeping withdrawals.

Exxon Rebuffs Gay Agenda Again (Citizen Link)

For the seventh year in a row, Exxon/Mobil shareholders have resoundingly defeated a proposal to add sexual orientation language to the company's nondiscrimination policy. Fewer than 30 percent of shareholders voted for the proposal this time around -- keeping Exxon the only company in the Fortune 50 that refuses to give in to pressure from the homosexual lobby.

Mac McQuiston of the CEO Forum said Exxon's stand comes right from the top. "They've said, 'You know what? Right is right,' " McQuiston explained. "And Lee Raymond, Exxon/Mobil CEO, has said, 'As long as I'm CEO, we're going to do what's right.' "

Kermit Rainman, a gender issues analyst for Focus on the Family, said the pressure on the corporation is intense, including protests and a barrage of phone calls at its corporate meeting in Dallas last week. "One of the major strategic plans by the gay activists' leadership has been to target corporate America in getting them to change their policies," he noted. "By doing that they know that they can change the culture of our country."

New York City, which owns more than eight million shares of Exxon, is also pressuring the oil giant to cave in.

Tom Strobhar of Pro-Vita Advisors said standing up for right will ultimately be rewarded. "God honors this in God's time," he said, "but clearly Exxon/Mobil's under a great deal of pressure -- and I thank God for the courageous people at Exxon/Mobil."

Massachusetts Chief Justice Warns Of 'Will Of The Majority' (Citizen Link)

The top judge on the court that recognized same-sex marriage in Massachusetts said judicial independence must be protected even when the majority of people disagree, reports the Boston Globe.

Speaking to Brandeis University graduates, Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Margaret Marshall said, "Individual rights and human dignity are vulnerable when they depend for protection on the will of the majority of the good faith of those in power."

She repudiated pro-family leaders who have decried judges who have gotten crosswise with the people on issues such as the definition of marriage, abortion, "under God" in the pledge, the Ten Commandments, and the life of Terri Schiavo. "I worry when people of influence use vague, loaded terms like 'judicial activist' to skew public debate or to intimidate judges," Marshall said. "I worry when judicial independence is seen as a problem to be solved and not a value to be cherished."

Quoteworthy: “The Circuit Courts interpret the Constitution to mean what it would have said if they, instead of the Founding Fathers, had written it." U.S. Senator Sam Ervin

An Aggressive Secularism Sweeps The Continent (Prophecy Watch)

From the ban on the wearing of visible religious symbols in French public schools to the refusal of the EU to include specific mention of Christianity's influence on Europe's distinctive civilization in its first constitution, a mountain of anecdotal evidence suggests that an aggressive form of secularism--what the British religion writer Karen Armstrong calls "secular fundamentalism" --is afoot in Europe.

Numerous analysts suggest that the spreading "Christianophobia" is tied to a Europe-wide spiritual malaise that is pushing the Continent toward broad cultural and economic decline. Others describe a more complicated process, in which--as the last vestiges of established religions are disappearing in various European nations--a new spiritual awakening may be taking place. Either way, popular attitudes toward religion in Europe now stand in bold contrast to those in the United States. While 59 percent of Americans say that religion is very important in their lives, only 11 percent of the French, 21 percent of Germans, and 33 percent of Britons do, according to the Pew Research Center. More to the point, a growing part of the U.S. electorate--and not just those associated with red America--would like religious values to play an even more prominent role in shaping the nation's laws and public life.

This sharp divide between American and European attitudes is anything but reassuring to George Weigel, a theologian and senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. In his new book, The Cube and the Cathedral, Weigel makes the case that Europe's problem "is also ours," and not only because it exacerbates differences between Americans and Europeans on matters like foreign policy. In Weigel's view, American high culture is vulnerable to the same kind of spiritual and philosophical amnesia that he believes has afflicted Europe. The culprit, in his telling, is the atheistic humanism that took shape in the 19th century. Whether in the form of Auguste Comte's positivism or Karl Marx's materialism, it attempted "to exclude transcendent reference points from cultural, social, and political life." In specific, it reversed the view that the Hebrew and Christian God was the source of human freedom and dignity and proposed that this God was the obstacle to both.

This humanism lay behind the rise of the worst ideologies of the 20th century, fascism and communism. All were testimony, Weigel writes, to a "failure of moral reason in a culture that had given the world the very concept of moral reason." And the "crisis of civilizational morale" that this failure gave rise to is still playing itself out today, contributing to what Weigel sees as the death of Europe. Specifically, he says, spiritual boredom gives rise to hyperindividualism and a lack of confidence in the future, attitudes that undercut the resilience of the family and ultimately lead to dwindling reproduction rates.

One consequence of this is the changing demographic character of the Continent. With Europe's native-born labor force declining since World War II, the need for more workers helped boost the Muslim population from about 1 million in 1945 to about 18 million today. By now, it is clear that many of the guest workers have come to stay--and the addition of Turkey to the EU would bring about 62 million more Muslims into the European fold. Islam scholar Bernard Lewis is not alone in saying that Europe will be Islamic by the end of the 21st century "at the very latest." To many who think that Europe is more a cultural than a geographic entity, this would alter the very core of European identity.

But many say that Christianophobia is only part of the contemporary story. They point to a widespread upsurge of nonhierarchical, populist Christian movements across Europe and into other continents, claiming hundreds of thousands of mainly youngish followers who seek ways of making Christian beliefs real in their lives and work.

Costs Of Illegal Immigration To Texans: Summary-

(Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)

Analysis of the latest Census data indicates Texas’s illegal immigrant population is costing the state’s taxpayers more than $4.7 billion per year for education, medical care and incarceration. Even if the estimated tax contributions of illegal immigrant workers are subtracted, net outlays still amount to more than $3.7 billion per year. The annual fiscal burden amounts to about $725 per Texas household headed by a native-born resident.

This analysis looks specifically at the costs to the state for education, health care and incarceration resulting from illegal immigration. These three are the largest cost areas, and they are the same three areas analyzed in a 1994 study conducted by the Urban Institute, which provides a useful baseline for comparison ten years later. Other studies have been conducted in the interim, showing trends that support the conclusions of this report.

Other significant costs associated with illegal immigration exist, and these too should be taken into account by federal and state officials. Even without accounting for all of the numerous areas in which costs associated with illegal immigration are being incurred by Texas taxpayers, the program areas analyzed in this study indicate that the burden is substantial and that the costs are rapidly increasing.

The more than $4.7 billion in costs incurred by Texas taxpayers annually result from outlays in the following areas:

Quoteworthy:-------"Among the many objects to which a wise and free people find it necessary to direct their attention, that of providing for their SAFETY seems to be the first. ... At present I mean only to consider it as it respects security for the preservation of peace and tranquility, as well as against dangers from FOREIGN ARMS AND INFLUENCE, as from dangers of the LIKE KIND arising from domestic causes." --John Jay, 1787 The Federalist Papers No. 3

(Information for the News Media DPS Public Information Office (512) 424-2080)

The public needs to be aware that an erroneous e-mail is being circulated about the Texas Department of Public Safety Roadside Assistance Hotline.

The toll-free line has been operated by DPS since 1989 for motorists to use when reporting non-life-threatening situations on Texas roads and highways. DPS then passes the information along to the appropriate local police agency or DPS office.

If a tow truck is ultimately dispatched, the motorist is responsible for any costs incurred. Some cities and agencies do have courtesy patrols and roadside trucks to provide non-towing services and they may be dispatched by the local agencies when appropriate. These two points are misrepresented in the widely-circulated e-mail that has led to an increase in inquiries to the Roadside Assistance Hotline.

The number, 1-800-525-5555, is printed on the back of virtually all Texas driver licenses and identification cards. Customers of participating wireless companies--ALLTEL, Nextel, Cingular Wireless, Houston Cellular and Verizon Wireles can dial *DPS (*377) free of airtime charges anywhere in Texas.

Examples of when a motorist should call the Roadside Assistance Hotline include: stranded with car problems, hazardous road conditions, debris in the roadway, suspicious activity at a rest area, and obviously intoxicated or dangerous drivers.

The Roadside Assistance Hotline is not intended to replace 911 as an emergency number; 911 should still be the first option for emergency situations.

To better assist our communications operators please have the following information ready:

· Your name, cell phone number (and vehicle description if applicable);

· Highway location (mile marker would be helpful); and

· County location, or city location if inside city limits.