Father Is Best-Give Dear Old Dad His Due! (6/17/05 by Rich Lowry tumbleweed connection)
Dad is counter cultural. If he is responsible, loving, and married, he might seem boring and a constant provocation to his eye-rolling teenage children, but he stands at the ramparts of a movement to save the country from the most destructive trend of the past 30 years: father absence.
The proportion of out-of-wedlock births rose 600 percent from 1960 to 2000, and the divorce rate more than doubled between 1965 and 1980. Roughly 24 million children now live in homes where the biological father is absent — about one out of every three children. This is a social disaster. Children need their fathers, and they need them in the home. In the meantime, give dear old traditional dad his due. He might not be cool, but he's important. We need more of him.
Texas Sides With Doctors On Parental Medical Decisions (Terry Phillips-Citizen Link)
State takes custody from parents over medical decision. In Corpus Christi, Texas, a legal tug-of-war between a state agency and the parents of a 12-year-old cancer patient is shining a spotlight on who's in charge when it comes to a child's medical treatment.
The case involves a doctor's recommendation to Michele and Edward Wernecke that their 12-year-old daughter, Katie, receive radiation treatments. "What we're talking about is giving the parents the option to take their daughter to another oncologist," said Daniel Horne, an attorney representing the Werneckes. The Werneckes need an attorney because, when they balked at immediately authorizing radiation for Katie, state child-welfare officials then took custody of the girl, as well as the couple's three sons. "First, they act and then they ask questions later," Horne explained. "It's fundamental rights and due process, turned on its head."
The courts have ruled the U.S. Constitution "protects the (fundamental) right (of parents) to make decisions concerning the care . . . of their children." In fact, a 1979 ruling specifically says that just because a parental decision "involves risk, does not automatically transfer" the power to decide to the state.
Horne said the religious beliefs of the parents -- who are Church of God members -- are not part of this case. But Dr. Robert Scheidt, who chairs the Christian Medical Association's ethics panel, said hostility to Christian beliefs in such child-health matters has increased. "There's more and more a tendency of the state to think that strict or intense religious beliefs are harmful," he said. "And they have more of a tendency today to move in more than they did before."
Scheidt opposes the government taking custody of children away from parents except in cases of physical or mental abuse. Horne, meanwhile, said he has reports of similar conflicts between parents wanting to decide treatment for their children, and governments inclined to impose doctor recommendations.
Schiavo Update: Conclusively Inconclusive (Washington Update Tony Perkins)
This week an autopsy report was released on Terri Schiavo, the young Florida woman whose court-ordered death caused controversy across the nation and in the halls of Congress. The report found no evidence of physical abuse or strangulation but noted that the cause of Terri's brain injury was inconclusive due to the length of time (fifteen years) from injury to her death.
The examiner did conclude that Terri did not suffer from bulimia. It was bulimia that her estranged husband, Michael Schiavo, insisted was the cause of her brain damage while the autopsy documents the fact that Terri was severely disabled, it also showed that deliberate dehydration, not disability, killed her. In short, Terri Schiavo would be alive today if Florida Circuit Court judge
George W. Greer had not ordered her execution. All innocent life should be protected, society failed Terri Schiavo and her parents, steps should be taken that this does not happen again.
Pot Ruling Could Affect Assisted Suicide (June 15, 2005 Kim Trobee Citizen Link)
Supreme Court decision against medical marijuana could lead to tougher regulations on euthanasia drugs.
The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling against medical marijuana earlier this month could strengthen federal efforts to regulate the drugs used in physician-assisted suicides.
Richard Ackerman, president of the Pro Family Law Center, said
the high court's June 6 decision could have an impact in Oregon, where assisted
suicide is legal.
"I certainly think it would make it easier for the United States Supreme Court
later to say that the federal government has the right to regulate the entire
process," he said, "and that any drugs that might be used in a capacity that
could result in an assisted suicide would be subject to the FDA's regulation."
It's really a case of who controls the doctors, according to Rita Marker, an attorney and executive director of the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide.
"States regulate who can practice medicine," she explained. "However, the federal government is the only entity than can give doctors the right to prescribe federally controlled substances."
In its next term the Supreme Court will hear a case from Oregon arguing that because assisted suicide is legal there, doctors should not have to operate under the federal law governing controlled substances.
"Unless the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the federal government's right, which it does have, to control how federal registrations to prescribe federally controlled substances are used," Marker said, "there's going to be more problems than just assisted suicide."
A wayward ruling from the court in the Oregon case, she added, and doctors could begin prescribing heroin and other euphoric drugs for "medicinal purposes."
FAIR Congratulates DeLay For Demanding Immigration Enforcement Before Implementing New Guest Worker Programs (Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)
In a letter to Tom DeLay the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) congratulated the House Majority Leader for making it clear that regaining control of our borders and enforcing existing laws against illegal immigration must be a precondition to any broader immigration policy changes. “When it comes to immigration policy, someone in Congress has decided that perhaps the horse should come before the cart,” observed Dan Stein, president of FAIR.
In response to the White House proposal to “solve” the illegal immigration crisis by turning millions of illegal aliens into guest workers, and a Senate proposal which would simply grant them all amnesty, DeLay told the Washington Times that, “This is an issue that's so important to the American people that we have to be clear about where we’re headed, very clear about protecting our borders, enforcing our laws, before we start talking about immigration.”
The FAIR letter notes that the American public overwhelmingly wants vigorous enforcement of our immigration laws, and that past efforts to “solve” illegal immigration through legalization programs have only exacerbated the problem. Citing failed illegal alien amnesty programs of the past, FAIR’s letter asserts that the government has repeatedly failed to make good on its promises to control illegal immigration. “By your reported remarks, we take it that you agree with us and the American public that never again will another similar ‘bait and switch’ ruse be acceptable,” states the letter.
“We are also greatly encouraged by the Majority Leader’s account of his discussions with President Bush on the subject,” said Stein. According to the Times article, DeLay suggests that President Bush understands that enforcement of the border and immigration laws must be a prerequisite to any consideration of other policy changes. “Obviously we would like to hear it directly from the president, but it is clear that the White House is getting the message that the American public will no longer accept empty promises to control mass illegal immigration.”
The linchpin of any strategy to control mass illegal immigration must be vigorous enforcement against businesses that employ millions of illegal aliens. DeLay voiced his support for House legislation to make the Social Security card an electronically verifiable document, similar to the way credit cards are verified. “Ironically, border security begins in the interior of the country,” said Stein. “Before we can even hope to gain control of our borders, we have to convince people that there is no benefit to entering our country illegally, or remaining here, because employers will not hire them." Unfortunately, the Bush Administration has abandoned workplace enforcement entirely.
“While chaos prevails, its wrong, dangerous and counterproductive for Congress to even consider massive guest worker programs. Thankfully, the House Majority Leader appears committed to keeping faith with the American public, before rewarding millions of illegal aliens,” Stein concluded.
QUOTEWORTHY:------ "Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it." Judge Learned Hand
Good News! (American Values with Gary Bauer)
Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) has told reporters that he now supports a federal marriage protection amendment. Previously, the senator opposed amending the Constitution believing that marriage should be a state issue. However, after a Clinton-appointed federal judge last month struck down Nebraska's popularly-enacted marriage protection amendment, Senator Nelson now understands why a federal marriage amendment is so desperately needed to preserve the definition of normal marriage from rogue judges. Hopefully, more senators will come to the same conclusion in the days ahead.
Louisiana Human Cloning Ban Stalled in Senate (Mona Passignano-Citizen Link)
An attempt will be made to secure a vote on a bill prohibiting human cloning that is stalled in the Louisiana Senate.
Lawmakers hope to move HB 492 out of a Senate committee and to the floor for a full chamber vote. Although the House passed this bill on May 18, it is being deliberately held up in the Senate.
Carrie Gordon Earll, senior analyst for bioethics at Focus on the Family Action, testified before the Senate committee on behalf of HR 492 last week. "Louisiana is one of the most pro-life states in the country, and it's a shame that some key members of the Senate are preventing a fair vote on this cloning ban," Earll said. "Senate failure to pass this bill will allow scientists from Louisiana -- or elsewhere -- to clone tiny human embryos for research, for childbirth or the growing of fetal organs."
Twenty votes are needed to pass the cloning ban, and currently there are 19 senators who have publicly come out in favor of the bill. In response to questions asked on a 2003 voters guide, Gov. Kathleen Blanco said she "supports a complete ban on human cloning." But according to a newspaper ad placed by Louisiana Family Forum Action, Blanco has "allowed her Senate President, Donald Hines, to aggressively attack and obstruct this Cloning Ban every step of the way!"
PBS Documentary to Blast Abstinence Education (Aaron Atwood,Citizen Link)
Playboy-funded documentary portrays comprehensive sex-ed as the better choice. The Public Broadcasting Service, in the throes of controversy over liberal bias and funding cuts, is about to air a blatantly left-of-center documentary blasting abstinence education and pledges -- a film funded in part by Playboy. "The Education of Shelby Knox" follows a Lubbock, Texas, high school student through a heated battle to sink her school's abstinence-until-marriage curriculum. It will air June 21 nationwide.
Awards have been heaped on this film, including the Sundance Film Festival's Excellence in Cinematography Award for a documentary; an award from the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival 2005; and from the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. The liberal support for the project extends beyond the accolades.
Funding for "The Education of Shelby Knox" came from several groups including the Playboy Foundation. "Simply following the paper trail can tell you a lot," said Linda Klepacki, sexual health analyst for Focus on the Family Action.
Kristi Hayes, director of government affairs for the Abstinence Clearinghouse also questioned the funding. "This is on PBS, so it's making headway and students are going to be watching this," she said. "It's something that is taxpayer funded. Our tax dollars are going to PBS, which is going to present a one-sided view. The other thing is that Playboy, a leader in promoting promiscuity, is funding this project, and I think that is just ridiculous."
U.S. Court Strikes Va. Law Banning Partial Birth Abortion (LifeSiteNews.com)
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling Monday
declaring a Virginia law banning late-term partial-birth abortions as
unconstitutional due to a lack of an exception to protect the so-called "health
of the mother".
The ruling carried by a vote of 2-1, with Judge M. Blane Michael and Judge Diana
Gribbon Motz in favor. Judge Paul V. Niemeyer, in his dissent, described the act
of partial-birth abortion as "infanticide of the most gruesome nature."
"The majority's opinion is a bold, new law that, in essence, constitutionalizes
infanticide of a most gruesome nature," Judge Niemeyer wrote. "The plaintiff,
Dr. William Fitzhugh, an abortionist, sought, through this lawsuit, to protect
his ability to perform abortions by crushing infants' skulls or dismembering
their limbs when they are inches away from being fully delivered alive without
injury to the infant or to the mother ... By expanding abortion rights to this
extent, the majority unnecessarily distances our jurisprudence from that of the
Supreme Court and from general norms of morality. I profoundly dissent from
today's decision."
"Even the majority's opinion, however, seems to have shuddered at discussing the
nuances of fetal destruction, employing uncommon and clinical words as if they
would dull the moral context," he continued, going on to quote some of the
barbaric and inhumane ways children are crushed and dismembered, as told to the
court by abortionists. "I too have shuddered and must turn away."
"Can we not see that our discussions and the law we make in
striking down Virginia's prohibition are unfit for the laws of a people of
liberty? I wonder with befuddlement, fear, and sadness, how we can so joyfully
celebrate the birth of a child, so zealously protect an infant and a mother who
is pregnant, so reverently wonder about how human life begins, grows, and
develops, and at the same time write to strike down a law to preserve a right to
destroy a partially born infant. If the disconnect is explained by personal
convenience, then we must reason that all morality is personal, without
commonality and source. The product of such chaos is unfathomable."
Quoteworthy:----- The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government." --Thomas Jefferson
Advocate For The Pre-Born Could Lose FDA Appointment (Citizen Link)
After serving two terms on the Food and Drug Administration's reproductive medicine panel, Dr. W. David Hager, a pro-life physician with Women's Care Center in Kentucky, said his beliefs in the sanctity of life make it unlikely he'll be re-appointed to the position. His initial nomination to the FDA panel touched off an uproar among pro-abortion groups because of his stand for the unborn.
"I've been surprised that there's been so much opposition to my appointment," Hager said. "I was one voice out of a committee of twelve and I felt that I should stand for the things that were right and what I felt was scientifically accurate and that's what I did."
Though his term expires at the end of June, Hager urges people to continue to pray for pro-lifers who are in positions of influence in the government.
First Baptists And Now Presbyterians Urge Withdrawing Children
From Public Schools
(Chattanooga, Tenn. June 15, 2005 LifeSiteNews.com)
Last week the Presbyterian Church in America voted to receive a personal resolution encouraging Christian parents to remove their children from the public schools and see to it that they receive a thoroughly Christian education. The resolution was offered by Rev. Steven Warhurst with sponsorship from Dr. D. James Kennedy, President, Coral Ridge Ministries Media, Inc., and Ruling Elder Joel Belz, founder and publisher of World Magazine, along with several others. The resolution will be debated in the Bills and Overtures committee, then it will be brought to the floor for final consideration and a vote.
The resolution argues that the Bible teaches that Christian parents are to give their children a truly Christian education, teaching them to think biblically about all of life. Further it argues that the Public Schools are not giving children a Christian education. Therefore, Christian parents should remove their children from the Public Schools and give them an education that teaches them to think biblically about all of life. This resolution is a shortened version of a similar resolution offered at the Southern Baptist 2004 Annual Meeting.
E. Ray Moore, Jr., Director of Exodus Mandate said, "We are encouraged by the openness of the PCA 33rd General Assembly in allowing this resolution to be debated in a fair and equitable way. We hope and pray that other evangelical denominations, especially the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting on June 21-22 in Nashville, will have the same openness concerning the resolution "To investigate homosexuality in Public Schools," offered by Drs. Bruce Shortt and Voddie Baucham."
Christian Journalists Accuse Paper Of Religious Discrimination (Citizen Link)
Two Christian journalists have filed suit against The Indianapolis Star, charging executives at the paper with "consistently and repeatedly" discriminating against them for their religious faith.
James Patterson and Lisa Coffey, former editorial writers at the Star, say in the suit they were fired (in his case) and demoted (in hers) because of their "strong and sincere Christian religious beliefs." Patterson's transgression, according to his lawyer, was that he wrote an editorial asking people to pray for the Iraq war -- and the word "prayer" offended someone from the Star's parent company, Gannett Co.
As for Coffey, she said she became persona non grata with management after the newspaper ran a series she wrote on sodomy. "This is America. We have the right, under the First Amendment, to express those views . . . without being persecuted," Patterson told Indianapolis TV station WTHR. "Lisa and I aren't the only employees that have been driven away from this, and we thought it was time for someone to say, 'Goodness gracious. This isn't right.' "
CitizenLink Editor Gary Schneeberger, a former editorial page editor at a Gannett newspaper, confirmed Patterson's comments. "Christians -- especially those who talk about their faith publicly -- are about as welcome in most newsrooms as ants and flies at a picnic," he said. "Biblical values are diametrically opposed to the liberal social agenda championed by most of secular journalism. If your faith leads you to challenge that agenda, marginalization and ostracization are the norm."
“
Couples” Kept From School Events (Costa Mesa, June 15, 2005 LifeSiteNews.com)Parents at a Catholic school in California have moved to protect their children from attempts to normalize homosexuality. Costa Mesa's St. John the Baptist School, in the diocese of Orange, has drafted a policy that would prevent homosexual partners from appearing at school functions as a ‘couple.’
The LA Times quotes a memo sent out to parents, “Practically speaking this means: The children adopted by a same-sex couple” may enroll “on the condition that the same-sex couple agree not to present themselves as a couple at school functions."
Special Texas Legislative Session Still Possible (Free Market Foundation)
Since the 79th regular session ended without resolving school finance or property tax reform, there have been talks of Gov. Rick Perry calling a special session to resolve the issues. Gov. Perry required that legislators come up with a prearranged agreement before he calls a special session. As of today, an agreement has not been reached despite the numerous meetings between legislators. We will keep you informed on the status of the possible special session.
Kansas School Official Calls Evolution A Fairy Tale (CBN) TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)
A member of Kansas' State Board of Education who has been
involved in writing new public school science standards, calls evolution a
"fairy tale" that's sometimes defended with "anti-God contempt and arrogance."
A newsletter written by board member Connie Morris says students should be
taught "criticism of Darwinism alongside the age-old fairy tale of evolution."
In her newsletter, Morris says she is a Christian who believes that the creation
account in the book of Genesis is literally true.
But she also acknowledges that many other Christians have no trouble reconciling
faith and evolution
Saudi Arabia: Christians Imprisoned, Beaten For Worship Of
Jesus
(June 10, 2005 Paul Strand CWNews)
For years, the government of Saudi Arabia has spent billions of dollars building their mosques and spreading their Islam throughout the Western World, including the United States . But in the country where Islam began, Saudis have no tolerance for other religions or even other forms of Islam. And they're markedly increasing their persecution of Christians.
It's being called the worst crackdown on Christian believers in Saudi Arabia , in a decade. Over the past three months, close to 100 Christians—all of them guest workers in Saudi Arabia —have been arrested by Saudi religious police. The guest workers’ crime? Worshipping Jesus Christ.
In April, 40 Pakistani Christians were arrested at an underground church outside of Riyadh . In May, as many as 7 Christians from East Africa were arrested at a private worship service. And just last week, 46 more Christians —all natives of India —were rounded up and thrown in prison. Some received severe beatings.
Jeff King President of International Christian Concern said, “It's a terrible situation. People, expatroit workers, coming there who are Christians. They want to worship—not evangelize there, not spread the Gospel there—but just communicate with each other and worship together. But they can't do it. Yet, they will do it, but under great risk."
In the latest round of arrests, Saudi religious police ransacked the Christians' homes. They destroyed any Bibles they found.
Critics say the Saudi’s blatant disregard for the Christian Holy Book is the height of hypocrisy, given the recent Saudi condemnation of the U.S. over alleged mishandling of the Koran at Guantanamo .
Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) told us, "It's clearly hypocrisy to have a country teaching their people, in their madrassas—schools—to be intolerant of other religions, to desecrate religious symbols and religious holy books of others, to persecute individuals who hold different religious beliefs. Then the same clerics, putting out this kind of hate of other religions, (are) outraged if one of their religious articles is somehow offended."
Media critics say the strangest thing is how the American media seem to play up every abuse of Muslim prisoners, but rarely cover Saudi abuse of Christians.
Historic Christian Events In Angola Draws 47,000 People. (religionjournal.com)
Public Christian events have never before been allowed in
Angola under the country's ruling authorities, civil war, communism, and
centuries of Portuguese colonization.
But last weekend, a wind of change was felt in the African nation as nearly
47,000 people gathered for the historic Festival of Hope with Franklin Graham,
the first event of its kind in Angola.
The Festival, held June 10-12 in Lubango's soccer stadium, was the first time
nearly all of the city's churches united for one purpose -- 90 of the 95
churches helped organize the event.
Untied Church Of Christ Proposal To Declare Jesus As Lord Will Proubly Fail (June 16, 2005Christianity Today)
It's a bedrock belief of Christianity - and not a topic for debate. Until now!
A venerable Protestant denomination - at the behest of some of its conservative members - is preparing to vote next month on a measure declaring that Jesus Christ is the Lord, and making it mandatory for clergy to accept his divinity.
It may seem like a slam dunk, but delegates for the 1.3 million-member United Church of Christ may reject the resolution. Several Bergen County pastors, who aren't delegates to the convention, said they expect the measure to fail.
"Religiously speaking, it sounds like apple pie," said the Rev. Raymond Kostulias of the First Congregational Church of Park Ridge. "But there is a judgmental quality to it that implies very strongly that those who do not agree with us are condemned or damned or hopeless - and that's exactly the thing that UCC is against." But that doesn't mean that there should be no faith, says Albert W. Kovacs of the Hungarian Reformed Church in Woodbridge, New Jersey. "The whole point of this is that many of these people have a very fuzzy idea of faith in God," he said. We have significant numbers of clergy who don't even believe in God."
The UCC's General Synod meets July 1-5 in Atlanta. It will be interesting to compare the outcome of this resolution against other resolutions proposing divestment from Israel, "saving Social Security from privatization," support of same-sex marriage, and other issues.
Can This Company's Word Be Trusted? (Donald E. Wildmon, Chairman of OneMillionDads.com) This is what the parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and Long John Silvers wrote to customers on February 15, 2005:
Thank you for taking the time to write us regarding the show Desperate Housewives.
I wanted to inform you that Yum! Brands will not be advertising on Desperate Housewives going forward. We determined that the content of the program is inconsistent with our Media Ethics Guidelines. As a result, we have notified ABC and have pulled advertising from the balance of year programming for Pizza Hut and KFC. Our Taco Bell brand had no plans to advertise on Desperate Housewives any time during the remainder of the year.
Thank you again for writing, we appreciate hearing from you. Yum! Consumer Relations
I know this sounds harsh, but sadly, the letter above wasn't worth the time it took them to write it.
After writing this letter, Yum! Brands has continued to advertise on ABC's salacious Desperate Housewives program again and again and again.
While dozens of other companies have made the same pledge, and kept their word, Yum Brands! has decided that telling their customers one thing while doing another is a legitimate business practice.
I hope you disagree with their philosophy. Please, take a moment to ask Yum! Brands Chairman David C. Novak to keep his company's word to consumers by stopping its sponsorship of Desperate click below to write a letter Housewives. http://www.onemilliondads.com/IssueDetail.asp?id=226
NOTE: If you see a commercial or program which is offensive, Email us the information to One Million Dads at http://www.onemilliondads.com/ComplaintForm.asp
Abortionist Loses License Over His "Vile, Disgusting" Clinic http://www.lifesitenews.com/
The Kansas State Board of Healing Arts unanimously voted this
past Saturday to revoke the medical license of abortionist Krishna Rajanna.
The vote comes two months after Krishna's "Affordable Medicine Clinic" was shut
down due to unsafe conditions.
Krishna's clinic has been the subject of scrutiny for several years, ever since
Detective William Howard was called into the clinic by Rajanna in order to
investigate ultimately unsubstantiated claims of theft.
Although the detective investigated Rajanna's allegations, his concern quickly
shifted to the criminally negligent hygienic state of the clinic. In a statement
to the House Committee on Health and Human Services on March 15, 2005 Detective
Howard described in detail Krishna's personal lack of hygiene as well as the
"disgusting" condition the clinic was in.
This story is so vile and shocking! That I felt it necessary to protect readers form the details.
I talked to Life Site Editor John Henry by phone and he verified this story.
If you feel you must know the details you can click in the Link below. You should be warned this story contains a sickening account of cannibalism. (Howard Wilson)
http://www.religionjournal.com/showarticle.asp?id=2604
Quoteworthy:-----"There exists in the economy and course of nature, an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity; since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained." --George Washington
Arizona Border Checks Blocked (By Jerry Seper THE WASHINGTON TIMES)
U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints near the Mexican border are
essential in stopping the flow of illegal aliens and drugs into America, say
law-enforcement authorities, but permanent checkpoints in southern Arizona are
not allowed.
While Border Patrol agents in Arizona accounted for more than half of the 1.15
million illegals caught last year, Congress -- led by Rep. Jim Kolbe, Arizona
Republican -- steadfastly has approved appropriation bills that prohibit
permanent checkpoints along a 260-mile section of the Arizona border known as
the Tucson sector.
Tucson is the only one of 20 Border Patrol sectors nationwide
not permitted to set up permanent checkpoints.
Last year, according to the Department of Homeland Security, agents working at
permanent checkpoints in the other 19 sectors detained more than 51,000 illegal
aliens -- about 140 a day -- and seized nearly 450,000 pounds of marijuana and
cocaine, valued at more than $700 million.
JUST SAY NO TO CAFTA ( Eagle Forum by Phyllis Schlafly)
The House of Representatives will soon vote on the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. CAFTA is a dangerous power grab that threatens our national sovereignty. It cannot be amended.
What you won't hear about CAFTA
· CAFTA is only the beginning. The Senate Republican Policy Committee policy paper admits that CAFTA's purpose is "integrating more closely with 34 hemispheric neighbors-thus furthering the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA)." Americans do not want to be "integrated" with the poverty, corruption, and Communism of our hemispheric neighbors!
· CAFTA will put the U.S. under another anti-American international tribunal. CAFTA includes hundreds of pages of grants of vague authority to foreign tribunals. The World Trade Organization has already ruled against the U.S. in 24 costly cases and even had the nerve to outlaw Utah's gambling ban. A NAFTA tribunal opened our highways to Mexican trucks even though they don't comply with U.S. laws.
· CAFTA would prohibit states from giving any preference to contractors in their state. Any Central American country could file a complaint.
· Under CAFTA, state legislatures would relinquish their right to regulate utilities, land use, and taxpayer-funded contracts. It forces us to use the "least trade restrictive" regulation and change our laws so they are "no more burdensome than necessary." Activist judges can make that language cover anything they want.
· CAFTA will not give us customers for U.S. goods. The total wealth of the six countries in the agreement is about the same as New Haven, Connecticut. Half their population lives below the poverty line.
· The real purpose of CAFTA is "round-trip trade." This allows multinational corporations to exploit the abundance of cheap labor and the scarcity of taxes and safety regulations in CAFTA countries. CAFTA will increase our job-killing U.S. trade deficit and further weaken our already suffering dollar.
Congress should defeat CAFTA and reassert the primacy of our Constitution, which states that only Congress has the power "to regulate commerce with foreign nations" and that treaties are valid only if ratified by two-thirds of Senators.
Howard Wilson hwilson@texasmoralaction.org