BMAT Moral Action Committee Watchman Report #91 07/07/2006
News Topics of a Particular Interest or Moral Concern
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Christianity / Religion
God's Word Reaching Public School Students
Criminalizing Christian Faith
Methodists Reject Petition to Renounce Adultery, Sexual Sin
California Supreme Court Allows Lesbian to Sue Christian School over Expulsion
Democracy / Security
Bush Administration Quietly Plans NAFTA Super Highway that will split Texas and U.S.
Patriotism? In America?
Family / Social
Teen Drinking Damages Brains
In midst of governor's race, talk about gambling grows
A Central Texas Woman Reported being Run off a Rural Road, Kidnapped, Raped and Beaten by Illegal Immigrants
ADF Attorneys Successfully Protect Children and Families in Louisiana from Big Gambling Interests
Arkansas State Supreme Court Says Foster Kids Do Fine in Same-Sex Homes
Government / Legislation
New York's Highest Court Rules 4-2 In Favor Of Traditional Marriage
Breaking News - Ga. Top Court Reinstates Gay Marriage Ban
Debate on whether to keep the foreign language ballot provisions in the Voting Rights Act
U.S. Supreme Court Saves Mt. Soledad Cross — For Now
Congressional Field Hearings: Your Chance to Tell Them What the American People Really Want!
Life Issues / Behavior
Christianity Is Being Criminalized in the United States: U.S. Navy Says Chaplain, Punished for Quoting Bible in Chapel
Coma Recovery After 19 Years Poses Questions About Terri Schiavo
Ad Exposes Shocking Academic Frauds
Most Fortune 500 Companies Dubbed 'Gay-Friendly'
Media / Internet / Entertainment
Christian Media Growing More Popular
Cable Choice Defeated, But Not Dead
The Nativity Story Comes to Life
Politics
Both U S political parties are in desperate need of a vision for the future
World / World Apostasies
Updates on the Global Church
EU Calls for Elimination of National Boundaries and State Veto on Criminal Matters Brussels Takes Next Step towards Pan-European State Government
Preparing the Highway for the Kings of The East
Christianity / Religion
God's Word Reaching Public School Students
July 5 2006 Prophecy News Watch
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million Bibles, a million teenagers, and who can imagine how many changed lives. The impact is immeasurable. For the fifth year, American Family Association (AFA) is partnering with Truth for Youth (TFY) distributing free Bibles for Christian teens to share with unsaved friends. American Family Radio (AFR), AFA's 180-station network, will host TFY founder Tim Todd in studio August 7-11 to encourage listeners to order the free Bibles.
"We give the TFY Bibles to teenagers in revival services, evangelistic crusades, television, radio, and on the Internet," said Todd, executive director of Revival Fire International, which oversees the TFY project. "The biggest distribution outlet is each August on American Family Radio." To date, TFY has distributed more than one million Bibles. This year's goal is to send out 60,000 Bibles.
During last year's AFA campaign, Todd received an e-mail message from a teenager in Australia. "This is what it's all about," Todd said. The young man wrote:
"I used to be heavily entrenched in Satanism, due to my parents' involvement in witchcraft. I didn't know any better until I received a copy of your Bible while I was overseas. Somebody heard you on AFR radio and got the Bible and gave it to me. Jesus saved me, and I will be ordering more Bibles so more of my classmates, whom I had unfortunately convinced to leave religion, can be saved!"
Todd said he relies on God's promise in Isaiah 55:11 -- "My Word will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." Time and time again, he sees that promise fulfilled.
One of Todd's favorite stories comes from a revival he was preaching in McAllen, Texas. Teenager Shelley O'Brien had taken a TFY Bible and given it to Alex Perez, a gang leader. She also invited Alex to her church. Alex came to hear Todd preach that night, and he got saved.
The young gang leader told the congregation, "I have found real peace. I'm going to invite my entire gang to come with me tomorrow night. Pray they will come and get saved, too."
The next day, Alex told the pastor, "I gave a Bible to each of my gang, and they all agreed to come to the revival tonight." Sure enough, that night, in walked Alex with all of his gang. When the invitation was given, all 11 came forward, fell to their knees, and gave their lives to Christ.
"Think about it," Todd said. "One bold young lady gave one Bible to one gang leader and an entire gang was saved!"
The Truth for Youth project began in 1995 offering the slick, attractive paperback New Testaments free to Christian teens who make a commitment to pass them on to unsaved friends.
The unique book has the entire New Testament as its anchor, and includes guidelines for starting a Bible club at school and a copy of students' legal rights on public school campuses. But the hook for teens is the original comics section that addresses issues such as abortion, pornography, rock music and school violence.
The 2006 edition includes almost 100 pages of comics featuring characters drawn by the best artists in a style that will appeal to teens. TFY uses the God's Word Translation (God's Word to the Nations Bible Society, copyright 1995). The lead comic story is "Hairy Polarity and the Sinister Sorcery Satire," dealing with the occult. Another, "Passes and Plays," deals with the truth about safe sex. "Born That Way!" talks about homosexuality.
"These are things kids struggle with every day," Todd said, "and these comics are a format that will grab their attention then turn them toward biblical principles and truths.
One reason Tim Todd has such a passion for teenagers is that he himself knows how lost a kid can be and how God's power can save. As a rebellious teen, Todd was often in trouble at school. His temper earned him suspension for fighting, and he began drinking. Then, one night at a keg party, he was offered marijuana. He thought it made him fit in with the crowd. From there it was downhill all the way for the preacher's kid.
"The drugs and alcohol were my way in," he said, "but soon they became my way out of dealing with my problems. My dad was a respected minister on nationwide TV, but I didn't care what my drug use did to his reputation."
To make a long story short, Todd survived auto crashes and drug abuse that would have killed many, but after three experiences that almost took his life, he surrendered his heart to Christ and immediately began to experience what he calls "spiritual heart surgery."
"I commend Tim Todd for designing the TFY Bible," said Michael Reagan. "The spectacular comics deal with important issues that today's youth are faced with, and it is making an eternal impact in our schools and around the country."
"We look forward to the Truth for Youth campaign each August," said AFA president Tim Wildmon. "We know Tim Todd is being used by God to put Truth into the hands of America's teenagers."
In today's cultural climate, no one is surprised when people challenge the presence of the Bible on school campuses, but Todd says while teachers may not be able to distribute the Bible, students can do so on non-instructional time.
"In the event that a young person gets in trouble for giving a Truth for Youth Bible away in school, Liberty Counsel in Orlando, Florida, will represent the young person at no cost," said Todd.
In his message in the current TFY Bible, Todd writes, "The main goal ... is to bring the message of the Gospel to America's young people so they might receive Christ and become his disciples."
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June 30 2006 Drew McKissick Christian Coalition - Commentary
T
he slippery slope of secular humanism continues to become even more so all around the world. We are quickly moving beyond a mere degradation of social virtues to outright hostility against religion and potential criminalization of adherents who practice their faith in their daily lives.
In recent years we have seen the Dutch government change its laws to allow euthanasia, gay marriage, infanticide of imperfect children, and most recently, the sanctioning of gay polygamous unions.
Gay marriage has become a reality in Canada and Massachusetts. For years our own governments have flirted with passage of so called "hate crimes" legislation that essentially criminalizes individual thoughts by way of adding extra penalties if biases, hatreds or intolerances are perceived in the commission of a crime.
And now the British government is proposing a sweeping new legal code that would forbid discrimination against homosexuals when in the market for "goods and services".
As we know from our own experience in this country with the broad interpretation of our Constitution's language regarding interstate commerce, it’s no leap of logic to deduce that "goods and services" will soon encompass just about any human interaction involving an exchange of money. Its effect will be that of forcing people of faith, be it Christian, Jew or Muslim - pretty much everyone except secular humanists - to act contrary to their religious beliefs in the conduct of their everyday lives, or else become a criminal.
For example, religious schools would commit a crime by not allowing gay students or teachers. Churches that occasionally rent out their facilities for community events would violate the law by not allowing gays the same access - perhaps even to hold same-sex marriage services.
Religious newspapers would violate the law if they refuse to run advertisements for gay lobbying groups. A Christian owned ad agency would be unable to refuse to do work for a campaign promoting gay marriage.
In short, the active practice of one's faith in everyday life would no longer be legal.
Here in the United States, the move by Massachusetts' Supreme Court to legalize gay marriage without so much as a vote by that state's legislature, much less its citizens, has resulted in making the adoption agency practices of the Catholic Church illegal. That being the case, the Church was forced to end providing such services altogether, rather than compromise their faith.
The implications don't stop there. Kansas Senator Sam Brownback recently pointed out that, "...in states with same-sex marriage, religiously affiliated schools, adoption agencies, psychological clinics, social workers, marital counselors, etc. will be forced to choose between violating their own deeply held beliefs and giving up government contracts, tax-exempt status, or even being denied the right to operate at all."
Generally, such proposed legal changes stem from the fact that the secular humanist crowd doesn't see religion as something that should instruct one's daily life and relationships, but rather as simply representative of a place some people go on Sunday. And they have no patience for people who take it more seriously than that.
Someone once said that true tolerance also means having tolerance for the views of the majority. While history is filled with examples of religious intolerances, the greatest levels of intolerance today no longer come from the faithful, but rather from the anti-religious.
Much is made by the left in our country of the First Amendment's establishment clause in our Constitution, which states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...". From bans on prayer in schools, or at publicly sponsored events, to public displays of the Ten Commandments and even the inclusion of the words "under God" in our Pledge of Allegiance, we are told that such observances constitute an establishment of religion and are therefore unconstitutional.
They forget by convergence that the very next phrase in the First Amendment states, "or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". In other words, it provides for freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.
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Methodists Reject Petition to Renounce Adultery, Sexual Sin
July 5 2006 Prophecy News Watch
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ouisiana United Methodists have rejected a proposal that would have required members of the church to renounce racism, adultery, and both heterosexual and homosexual sex outside marriage.
The petition submitted by New Orleans pastor Dr. Woody Hingle would have affirmed that "local church membership in the United Methodist Church is open to all persons and requires repentance of sin, which includes racism, heterosexual sexual relations outside the marriage bond, and the practice of homosexuality." However, the measure was overwhelmingly rejected by delegates from the Louisiana UMC Annual Conference.
Hingle believes the petition failed because United Methodist delegates were uneasy about declaring that homosexuality is "incompatible with Christian teaching." But if they balked at that, he wonders what other biblical standards will be called into question.
"What other sins then don't have to be repented of for membership?" the pastor asks. "You know, if someone's in an adulterous relationship or unrepentant about having a lifestyle of lying or thievery or whatever -- where are you going to draw that line?"
Repentance and inclusiveness are two major components of disciple-making, Hingle contends. "And so, the heart of the petition really is, how do we define what it means to make disciples of Jesus Christ?" he says.
But while it is essential to look to scripture to reconcile these components, the United Methodist minister adds, the Louisiana conference delegates demonstrated the same low view of God's Word modeled by leaders in the Episcopal Church and the Presbyterian Church USA.
"We have this statement in the Book of Discipline from General Conference, that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching," Hingle points out. But to the delegates at the Louisiana UMC gathering, he notes, "it is as though those authorities didn't matter."
Apparently, what mattered to the delegates instead, the New Orleans pastor asserts, was their own experience and reasoning. It is the idea that "those authorities trump scripture and what we have in our Discipline that concerns me," he says.
Hingle feels the rejection of his petition by the Louisiana Annual Conference of the UMC is a reflection of the denomination's current state of chaos. He says he was prompted to submit the petition after the top court of the UMC reinstated a pastor who was originally suspended for denying church membership to an unrepentant homosexual.
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California Supreme Court Allows Lesbian to Sue Christian School over Expulsion
June 30 2006 Gudrun Schultz LifeSiteNews.com
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AN FRANCISCO, California, a Christian high school that expelled two students for allegedly engaging in a lesbian relationship can be sued over the decision, the California Supreme Court ruled today.
The sixteen-year-old girls were expelled last September for violating the school’s code of conduct, school Principal Gregory Bork said in a letter to the girls’ parents. The 142-student school in Riverside County, which is owned by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, prohibits actions “contrary to Christian decency.” The letter stated that while the school had no evidence of any improper physical contact between the girls, they shared a “bond of intimacy” that was “unchristian,” according to a report by the Metropolitan News.
The court denied review of an appeal by the California Lutheran High School Association in a unanimous decision, reported the San Francisco Chronicle Wednesday. The CLHSA had argued that a religious institution could legitimately deny access to homosexual students without contravening California’s anti-discrimination law, the Unruh Act, which prohibits businesses from discriminating based on sexual orientation.
The California Lutheran High School said it was exempt from that law since it was not a business and that regardless, freedom of religion and freedom of association rights would allow it to uphold its religious principles.
“Any implementation of the Unruh Act would contradict the stated position of [the school] that homosexuality is immoral,” wrote attorney for the school John McKay to the Supreme Court.
The complaint against the school, filed by the girls’ parents, cites invasion of privacy and discrimination based on sexual orientation by the school, among other charges. The suit seeks reinstatement of the girls in the school, unspecified damages, and the protection of homosexual students from expulsion by the school in future, based on sexual orientation.
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Democracy / Security
Bush Administration Quietly Plans NAFTA Super Highway that will split Texas and U.S.
June 12 2006 Jerome R. Corsi Human Events online
Quietly but systematically, the Bush Administration is advancing the plan to build a huge NAFTA Super Highway, four football-fields-wide, through the heart of the U.S. along Interstate 35, from the Mexican border at Laredo, Tex., to the Canadian border north of Duluth, Minn.
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nce complete, the new road will allow containers from the Far East to enter the United States through the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas, bypassing the Longshoreman’s Union in the process. The Mexican trucks, without the involvement of the Teamsters Union, will drive on what will be the nation’s most modern highway straight into the heart of America. The Mexican trucks will cross border in FAST lanes, checked only electronically by the new “SENTRI” system. The first customs stop will be a Mexican customs office in Kansas City, their new Smart Port complex, a facility being built for Mexico at a cost of $3 million to the U.S. taxpayers in Kansas City.
As incredible as this plan may seem to some readers, the first Trans-Texas Corridor segment of the NAFTA Super Highway is ready to begin construction next year. Various U.S. government agencies, dozens of state agencies, and scores of private NGOs (non-governmental organizations) have been working behind the scenes to create the NAFTA Super Highway, despite the lack of comment on the plan by President Bush. The American public is largely asleep to this key piece of the coming “North American Union” that government planners in the new trilateral region of United States, Canada and Mexico are about to drive into reality.
Just examine the following websites to get a feel for the magnitude of NAFTA Super Highway planning that has been going on without any new congressional legislation directly authorizing the construction of the planned international corridor through the center of the country.
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NASCO, the North America SuperCorridor Coalition Inc., is a “non-profit organization dedicated to developing the world’s first international, integrated and secure, multi-modal transportation system along the International Mid-Continent Trade and Transportation Corridor to improve both the trade competitiveness and quality of life in North America.” Where does that sentence say anything about the USA? Still, NASCO has received $2.5 million in earmarks from the U.S. Department of Transportation to plan the NAFTA Super Highway as a 10-lane limited-access road (five lanes in each direction) plus passenger and freight rail lines running alongside pipelines laid for oil and natural gas. One glance at the map of the NAFTA Super Highway on the front
page of the NASCO website will make clear that the design is to connect Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. into one transportation system.
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Kansas City SmartPort Inc. is an “investor based organization supported by the public and private sector” to create the key hub on the NAFTA Super Highway. At the Kansas City SmartPort, the containers from the Far East can be transferred to trucks going east and west, dramatically reducing the ground transportation time dropping the containers off in Los Angeles or Long Beach involves for most of the country. A brochure on the SmartPort website describes the plan in glowing terms: “For those who live in Kansas City, the idea of receiving containers nonstop from the Far East by way of Mexico may sound unlikely, but later this month that seemingly far-fetched notion will become a reality.”
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The U.S. government has housed within the Department of Commerce (DOC) an “SPP office” that is dedicated to organizing the many working groups laboring within the executive branches of the U.S., Mexico and Canada to create the regulatory reality for the Security and Prosperity Partnership. The SPP agreement was signed by Bush, President Vicente Fox, and then-Prime Minister Paul Martin in Waco, Tex., on March 23, 2005. According to the DOC website, a U.S.-Mexico Joint Working Committee on Transportation Planning has finalized a plan such that “methods for detecting bottlenecks on the U.S.-Mexico border will be
developed and low cost/high impact projects identified in bottleneck studies will be constructed or implemented.” The report notes that new SENTRI travel lanes on the Mexican border will be constructed this year. The border at Laredo should be reduced to an electronic speed bump for the Mexican trucks containing goods from the Far East to enter the U.S. on their way to the Kansas City SmartPort.
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The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is overseeing the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) as the first leg of the NAFTA Super Highway. A 4,000-page environmental impact statement has already been completed and public hearings are scheduled for five weeks, beginning next month, in July 2006. The billions involved will be provided
by a foreign company, Cintra Concessions de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A. of Spain. As a consequence, the TTC will be privately operated, leased to the Cintra consortium to be operated as a toll-road.
The details of the NAFTA Super Highway are hidden in plan view. Still, Bush has not given speeches to bring the NAFTA Super Highway plans to the full attention of the American public. Missing in the move toward creating a North American Union is the robust public debate that preceded the decision to form the European Union. All this may be for calculated political reasons on the part of the Bush Administration.
A good reason Bush does not want to secure the border with Mexico may be that the administration is trying to create express lanes for Mexican trucks to bring containers with cheap Far East goods into the heart of the U.S., all without the involvement of any U.S. union workers on the docks or in the trucks.
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July 3 2006 Christian Newswire
T
he famous singing group known as the Dixie Chicks, have gone on the record as being against Patriotism in America.
Lead singer, Natalie Maines recently said, “The entire country may disagree with me, but I don’t understand the necessity for patriotism. Why do you have to be patriotic? About what? This is our land. Why? You can like where you live and like your life, but as for loving the whole country...I don’t see why people care about patriotism.”
What the Dixie Chicks don’t understand is the freedom which has allowed them to become so famous and highly paid comes from living in America. It is that freedom which allows the Dixie Chicks to make their statements about Patriotism in America. That idea alone should make them feel patriotic toward America.
Don Swarthout, President of Christians Reviving America’s Values said, “America is still the best nation in the world. America has best economy, the best living conditions and Americans give away more money to help other nations than anyone else in the world. That is why I feel so patriotic about America.”
Alex de Tocqueville in the 1830’s said, “America is great because America is good and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”
Swarthout said, “America is great because she was founded upon the principles of Christianity. The principles for our three branches of government, tax exempt status for churches and good government are all written about in the Bible,”
“In fact, the God of the Holy Scriptures is the God of freedom. He gives each one of us a moral freewill so we can all make our own decisions. That makes Him the God of Freedom,” Swarthout added.
Swarthout concluded by saying, “Any other kind of thinking is simply a product of the times and is proof that we are not educating our children like we used to about the true history of our nation. These unpatriotic statements make me want to start teaching Americans about the good in America and to be patriotic again.”
If the Dixie Chicks don’t like America then perhaps they should move to a nation that doesn’t provide the opportunity to become famous and make a lot of money. Then the Dixie Chicks could live out the rest of their lives in a world where they would never have the opportunity to become so well known...or rich.
Patriotic Quote from the Bible: "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof - The inscription on the Liberty Bell is from Leviticus 25:10
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Family / Social
Teen Drinking Damages Brains
July 5, 2006 Tony Perkins Family Research Council
Mounting research suggests that heavy drinking by teens may have greater neurological consequences than previously thought.
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recent article in The New York Times notes that even when genetic risks for alcoholism are taken into account, 47 percent of those who begin drinking before the age of 14 become alcohol dependent at some time in their lives, compared with nine percent of those who wait at least until age 21.
"We definitely didn't know 5 or 10 years ago that alcohol affected the teen brain differently," says psychiatry professor Dr. Aaron White. "Now there's a sense of urgency. It's the same place we were in when everyone realized what a bad thing it was for pregnant women to drink alcohol."
In recent years other studies have shown that teen drinking starts at an earlier age and that nearly 12 percent of all alcohol sold in the United States is consumed by minors. Much of the increase can be attributed to the way in which the media glamorize heavy drinking, especially on television where alcohol is the most common beverage shown. But parents can have the most significant impact on teen drinking. Helping kids to see that media portrayals of alcohol are misleading can help them to think about the issue - and avoid mistakes at an especially vulnerable point in their development.
Additional Resources
The Grim Neurology of Teenage Drinking
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In midst of governor's race, talk about gambling grows
June 01 2006 Peggy Fikac Chief, Express-News Austin bureau
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USTIN — Efforts to expand Texas gambling haven't made it out of the legislative starting gate, but backers hope the state's big money needs, driven by the new school tax overhaul, will change their luck.
Despite the fierce opposition such proposals always draw candidates for governor this year are open to them in varying degrees.
Only Gov. Rick Perry, who has favored loosening restrictions on gambling, says he won't try it again, but all three of his major opponents said Friday that they would support expanded gambling efforts.
"It has already been stated that the economy has to grow at least about $2 billion a year just to meet the property tax reduction requirements," said Bill Stinson, president of Let The Voters Decide, a group of real estate developers that favors bringing in casinos. "And that doesn't start to address the needs for school finance and health care and transportation and prisons and all the other areas that the state provides for the citizens.
"The only thing that's left is increasing the sales tax, which is one of the highest in the nation, or an income tax, or to allow the voters to decide whether or not they would like to allow full casinos to come in that generate jobs and bring in revenue to Texas," Stinson said.
Opponents say a gaming expansion would foment gambling addictions and a host of social ills, all for an unreliable funding stream.
"I'm going to oppose it until I have no breath left to oppose it," said Cathie Adams, president of the conservative Texas Eagle Forum. "It would so change the culture of Texas, it would be devastating.
"You (will) have people no longer having a work ethic, but instead an ethic of last chance, spending the family's fortune and not ... providing for the future."
Billions, maybe
Those who want to build casinos or install video lottery terminals — VLTs, or slot machines — at racetracks say any social ills they could bring already are here, since Texans gamble in other states, at Texas tracks and through the Texas Lottery.
They say Texas is missing only the revenue spent elsewhere.
Big casino companies working through the Texas Gaming Association envision fancy destination resorts in cities, including San Antonio. They say their proposal ultimately would bring the state $3 billion a year.
Tommy Azopardi, president of the racing-industry-based Texans for Economic Development, said VLTs at tracks could provide at least $1.2 billion annually.
It's estimated Texans will spend more than $3 billion this year on gaming in other states, said lobbyist Chris Shields, director of the Texas Gaming Association, composed of publicly traded casino companies, including the Las Vegas Sands.
"Texas gaming revenues are paying for the public schools and transportation system in Louisiana," Shields said. "We don't know what the (Texas) revenue picture will be in January. We think there is a reasonably good chance the Legislature would find a non-tax revenue stream of this magnitude very valuable."
Drooping lottery revenues point to what an unreliable money source gambling is, said Eva DeLuna senior budget analyst for the Center for Public Policy Priorities, which advocates for programs for lower-income Texans. "It's not a good long-term way to pay for anything that's growing," she said.
Still, the money could tempt lawmakers returning in regular session in January.
"I think there are a lot of projects that have been put off until they got school financing resolved. Those issues are going to come to the forefront," Azopardi said. "They are going to look for revenue sources to meet those expenses."
The governor's role
A constitutional amendment would be required to bring casinos to Texas, and most likely to bring VLTs to tracks. Some have said they could write VLT legislation without one, but the state attorney general in 2003 said the Constitution doesn't allow Texans to operate the machines.
An amendment requires a difficult-to-reach, two-thirds vote of lawmakers and voter approval on a statewide ballot, but is immune to a governor's veto. An unfriendly governor, however, could scotch accompanying legislation detailing how gambling expansion would work. A friendly one could help it pass.
Enter the governor's race.
Perry in 2004 supported VLTs as a way to help pay for public education but backed away after it failed to win over the GOP-majority Legislature and as the economy brightened. He had suggested his proposal would help control gambling by leading to the elimination of illegal eight-liners.
The governor flatly opposes casino-style gambling and has no intention of offering VLTs again, spokesmen for the governor said.
"The notion of a massive expansion of gambling in Texas to answer the challenges of Texas is not realistic, because the Texas Legislature isn't going to pass it," spokesman Robert Black said.
Three gunning for Perry's job think an expansion is realistic enough to talk about.
Democratic candidate Chris Bell is open to casinos with local approval and to slot machines at racetracks to raise money for education. He strongly opposes VLTs in convenience stores or other venues outside of what he calls the "controlled environment" of a track or casino.
"I don't want to offer casino gambling as any kind of cure-all, but ... it could be a steady source of new revenue for the state, and I think we should at least keep it on the table," Bell said Friday.
Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, an independent running for governor, supports slot machines at existing tracks, with the revenue dedicated to property tax cuts and public and higher education.
She said voters should be allowed to consider casino gambling — and other issues — through referendums.
"We are conservatively sucking 1 to 2 billion dollars a year out of our Texas classrooms that's going to Louisiana, New Mexico, Arkansas, now Oklahoma," she also said Friday after speaking to a convention for Texas teachers. "I want to repatriate those dollars, those ponies and those jobs back to the schoolchildren and our Texas teachers."
Independent hopeful Kinky Friedman is for slot machines at tracks and casinos, with the revenue going to education. He calls it "Slots for Tots."
"Half the people in Vegas are from Texas. We fuel the economy of five other states, folks. I want to get that money reversed. I want it coming back to us," Friedman told the Texas Classroom Teachers Association on Friday.
Taking it to lawmakers
Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, has proposed expanded gambling since the early 1990s and still favors it.
"I think it'll be a serious proposal on the table," Ellis said.
Sen. Jeff Wentworth, who favors VLTs at tracks but probably would oppose casinos, noted there will be legislative changes in November — "five new senators and who knows how many new state representatives" — that could make a difference.
"It's just human nature. We all want everything. We don't want to pay for it," the San Antonio Republican said. "VLTs are a voluntary deal. Nobody's making you go to the track."
Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, a leading opponent of gambling expansion, bristles at such talk.
"It is going to hurt the people who can least afford to gamble, people who should be spending that money on food and diapers for the kids and are hoping they are going to hit the big one and all their problems are going to be solved," she said.
She doesn't foresee a change in lawmakers' overall antipathy to gambling expansion, but added, "The forces are tremendous."
Texans for Public Justice, which tracks money in politics, says more than 200 donors with an interest in gambling gave $4.6 million to Texas politicians in the 2004 election cycle alone.
Gambling backers suggest providing information about its economic benefit to the state is their strongest card.
But relying on that revenue should be something of a last resort, said Rep. Robert Puente, D-San Antonio.
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A Central Texas Woman Reported being Run off a Rural Road, Kidnapped, Raped and Beaten by Illegal Immigrants
June 30, 2006 Associated Press / www.dallasnews.com
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ROESBECK, Texas A Central Texas woman was recuperating at a Temple hospital after she reported being run off a rural road, kidnapped, and then raped and beaten by her abductors.
The 18-year-old woman was in stable condition Thursday following surgery. She walked and crawled a half-mile to find help after her abductors left her for dead along a highway early Wednesday morning, authorities said.
"She spent more than two hours in hell," Limestone County Sheriff Dennis Wilson said.
Sheriff Wilson said Javier Guzman Martinez, 17, and Noel Darwin Hernandez, 22, both of Mexia, were arrested in the crime and charged Thursday with aggravated assault and aggravated kidnapping.
Two men began following the woman late Tuesday night as she left Mexia, about 40 miles east of Waco, where she was visiting friends, authoritiessaid.
The attackers didn't know the woman.
The woman told investigators that she was driving at about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday on a state highway toward her home in a Limestone County town when
a car rammed her sport utility vehicle and forced her off the road, Sheriff Wilson said.
The woman told investigators that the men forced her into their car and then drove on rural county roads while they sexually assaulted, stabbed and beat her, Sheriff Wilson said.
The woman said the men left her in a ditch about a mile south of Coolidge, where she pretended to be dead until they left.
She found help at a nearby mobile home. Dena Lincoln said the woman, covered in blood, came to her door about 4:30
a.m.
"I will never, as long as I live, get that look that was on her face out of my mind," Ms. Lincoln said. "She kept saying, 'I'm going to die. I'm going to die.' I told her, 'No, honey, you are going to be all right. We are going to get you some help.' "
The woman was flown by helicopter to a Temple hospital with numerous cuts and stab wounds, including an injury that endangered one eye, Sheriff Wilson said.
Investigators searched the area on Wednesday with the description of the attackers given by the women.
Officers found Mr. Martinez at his Mexia residence. Sheriff Wilson said he confessed and told officers of Mr. Hernandez's involvement.
Officials tracked him to a Waco bus station, where he was arrested Wednesday night.
Sheriff Wilson said both men are apparently in the United States illegally and will be held without bail on immigration charges. Mr. Hernandez is from Honduras, and Mr. Martinez is from Mexico, the sheriff said.
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ADF Attorneys Successfully Protect Children and Families in Louisiana from Big Gambling interests
July 3 2006 Alliance Defense Fund
F
amilies have a hard enough time these days protecting their children from negative influences such as substance abuse, gambling, and pornography. They don’t need these influences practically at their front doors.
So when thousands of homeowners in southeast Shreveport, Louisiana, learned about a proposed zoning variance to allow a five-acre truck stop bar and casino in their neighborhood, they circulated petitions and appealed to the local Caddo Parish zoning commission to reverse their decision and to protect their families.
The zoning commission, heeding the concerns of the residents, decided to deny the zoning variance. The developer of the proposed bar and casino quickly filed a lawsuit to try to overturn the commission’s decision.
A lower court judge found the commission’s decision to be “arbitrary and capricious” despite the documented concerns of the citizens. ADF Senior Legal Counsel Mike Johnson appealed that decision to the Louisiana 2nd Circuit Court of Appeal.
Early last month, the Court of Appeal reversed the lower court decision, writing that the developer “failed to satisfy his burden of proving by a preponderance of evidence that the Commission’s decision lacked a substantial relationship to public health, safety, morals or the general welfare of the community.” As a result, the zoning commission’s ruling will stand.
Mike Johnson says: “When lawmakers have to choose between protecting a casino and bar or protecting our children and the community, the latter should be given the priority. All concerned citizens of Caddo Parish have a direct and legitimate interest in preventing such a truck stop casino and bar in order to preserve the public health, safety, morals, and general welfare of the surrounding community. This decision should cause other communities that wish to protect their neighborhoods to feel empowered to do so.”
Thanks to God’s grace, your prayers, and your support, children and families in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, can now be assured that their neighborhoods will remain just that, neighborhoods where children and families do not have to worry about the encroachment of negative cultural influences.
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Arkansas State Supreme Court Says Foster Kids Do Fine in Same-Sex Homes
June 30, 2006 Citizen Link
The Arkansas State Supreme Court ruled Thursday that homosexuals cannot be barred from becoming foster parents because such placement has not been shown to harm children. The A
ssociated Press reported.
In 1999 the Child Welfare Agency Review Board determined that foster kids would be more likely to thrive if placed in a traditional home with a husband and wife.
All seven justices declared that the board's decision to exclude gays from the foster-parenting program inappropriately imposed a moral view. The court also declared that the state Legislature should determine eligibility, not the board.
Associate Justice Donald Corbin said the board showed bias against homosexuals.
"There is no correlation between the health, welfare and safety of foster children," he said, "and the blanket exclusion of any individual who is a homosexual or who resides in a household with a homosexual."
Carrie Gordon Earll, director of issues analysis for Focus on the Family Action, said the court was out in left field when it charged that the board overstepped.
"The review board is charged with overseeing and setting policy for the foster care program, not the courts," she said. "It's not bias against homosexuals to recognize that children do better when they have both a mom and a dad in the home.
"There is overwhelming data that children do best with both a mom and dad. Children need the balance and role modeling of both a man and a woman. Foster children are no exception to this."
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Government / Legislation
New York's Highest Court Rules 4-2 In Favor Of Traditional Marriage
July 6 2006 News Release Liberty Council
A
lbany, NY - today New York's highest court ruled 4-2 to uphold New York's Constitution barring same-sex marriage. New York's court of appeals reviewed four appeals filed by homosexual couples and ruled that the parties have no right to be issued marriage licenses by local officials. This leaves Massachusetts as the only state legally allowing same-sex marriages. Same-sex marriage bans are currently pending in New Jersey, California and Washington. Liberty Counsel has been active in every one of the New York cases since they were filed, and filed legal briefs defending traditional marriage before the court of appeals.
Justice Robert S. Smith stated for the Court, "We hold that the New York Constitution does not compel recognition of marriages between members of the same sex. Whether such marriages should be recognized is a question to be addressed by the legislature." The Court held that the state of New York had at least two rational reasons for refusing to recognize same-sex marriages. "First, the Legislature could rationally decide that, for the welfare of children, it is more important to promote stability, and to avoid instability, in opposite-sex than in same-sex relationships. ... The Legislature could [also] rationally believe that it is better, other things being equal, for children to grow up with both a mother and a father. Intuition and experience suggest that a child benefits from having before his or her eyes, every day, living models of what both a man and a woman are like." The Court also stated, "The idea that
same-sex marriage is even possible is a relatively new one. Until a few decades ago, it was an accepted truth for almost everyone who ever lived in any society, in which marriage existed, that there could be marriages only between participants of different sex. A court should not lightly conclude that everyone who held this belief was irrational, ignorant or bigoted. We do not so conclude."
Mathew D. Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel, commented: "We are pleased that this latest attempt by the homosexual agenda to radically redefine our culture has been stopped dead in its tracks. The court of appeals agreed with millennia of human history regarding traditional marriage. Marriage is distinct from other personal relationships. The marital union of a man and a woman uniquely contributes to the continuing well-being of men and women, to society, to children and to the state. To recognize marriage between people of the same sex would result in the abolition of male and female by making gender irrelevant, and the abolition of gender would have devastating effects on children. Children do best when raised with a mom and a dad. We must not rest until we have once and for all defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman in the United States Constitution."
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Breaking News - Ga. Top Court Reinstates Gay Marriage Ban
July 06 2006 Shannon McCaffrey Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA — The Georgia state Supreme Court reinstated Georgia's constitutional ban on gay marriage Thursday, just hours after New York's highest court upheld that state's gay-marriage ban.
The Georgia Supreme Court, reversing a lower court judge's ruling, decided unanimously that the ban did not violate the state's single-subject rule for ballot measures. Superior Court Judge Constance Russell of Fulton County had ruled that it did.
Seventy-six percent of Georgia voters approved the ban when it was on the ballot in 2004.
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Debate on whether to keep the foreign language ballot provisions in the U.S. Voting Rights Act
July 3 2006 RightMarch.com
T
hanks to the efforts of thousands of patriotic Americans, the scheduled vote on H.R. 9, reauthorizing the VRA, was POSTPONED over this issue -- enraging liberal activist organizations like People for the American Way, NOW and NARAL. These groups have now geared up their email lists and phone banks, and are doing all they can to keep the VRA without any common-sense amendments to remove the worst provisions.
To sum it up, within the Voting Rights Act is a provision, originally added in 1975 (ten years after passage of the original VRA in 1965), which mandates the use of foreign language ballots in U.S. elections. Rep. Steve King (R-IA) has offered an amendment repealing this dangerous provision, but until now the House Republican leadership refused to allow a vote on his amendment.
Foreign language ballots don't make civic sense. You can't vote unless you are a citizen (at least you're not supposed to). To become a naturalized American citizen, our law requires that you demonstrate "an understanding of the English language, including an ability to read, write and speak... simple words and phrases... in ordinary usage in the English language."
Foreign language ballots are costly to both taxpayers and local municipalities. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that Los Angeles County taxpayers spent $1.1 million to provide ballots and election materials in five languages in 1996, escalating to $3.3 million in seven languages in March 2002. In several counties, the cost of foreign-language ballots is more than half the entire election expense!
In light of the Senate recently passing a bill granting AMNESTY to 12 million illegal aliens and importing up to 66 million NEW legal immigrants, America needs linguistic unity more than ever. Offering foreign language ballots while at the same time emphasizing the importance of learning English sends mixed signals to those seeking to assimilate into American society.
A vote on the VRA has thankfully been postponed, but this is only a temporary reprieve -- your Congressman needs to hear from you!
You can get Congressional contact info on the BMAT MAC website: http://texasmoralaction.org
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U.S. Supreme Court Saves Mt. Soledad Cross — For Now
July 3 2006 Citizen Link
The U.S. Supreme Court intervened today to stop the removal of the 29-foot Mount Soledad cross in California.
A
ccording to The Associated Press, Justice Anthony Kennedy, acting on behalf of the high court, issued a stay to allow supporters of the cross to continue their legal fight. It's unclear how long the stay may remain in effect.
The action stops a lower court judge who had ordered San Diego to remove the cross or be fined $5,000 a day. He called the cross an unconstitutional endorsement of one religion over another.
The Mount Soledad cross was dedicated in 1954 as a Korean War memorial.
Three years ago, the Supreme Court had refused to get involved in the long-running dispute between Paulson and the city.
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Congressional Field Hearings: Your Chance to Tell Them What the American People Really Want!
July 3 2006 Federation for American Immigration Reform
We STRONGLY URGE you to take your family, neighbors and friends to these hearings!
W
e have already learned that organizations supporting amnesty will be meeting early in the morning on July 5th to bus protesters to the San Diego hearing. Your attendance is critical to convincing the Members of Congress that what the American people really want is to secure the borders, secure the interior and enforce our laws!
Please take a moment to look at the schedule and attend any of the hearings you can. If you have questions, please contact our field representatives Sandra Gunn (East Coast) or Rick Oltman (West Coast). You may reach Sandra at 202-531-7521 (sgunn@fairus.org/) and Rick at 415-884-9960 (roltman@fairus.org/).
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Wednesday, July 5, 2006
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania |
Wednesday, July 5, 2006
San Diego,
California |
Friday, July 7, 2006
Laredo,
Texas |
|
Senate Judiciary Committee
Chairman Arlen Specter
(R-PA)
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House International Relations Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation
Chairman Ed Royce
(R-CA)
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House International Relations Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation
Chairman Ed Royce
(R-CA)
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Topic: Comprehensive Immigration Reform: Examining the Need for a Guest Worker Program
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Topic: Border Vulnerabilities and International Terrorism, Part I
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Topic: Border Vulnerabilities and International Terrorism, Part II
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TIME: 10:00am EST
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TIME: 9:00am PST
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TIME: 10:00am CST
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WHERE:
National Constitution Center
525 Arch Street
Independence Mall
Philadelphia, PA
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WHERE:
Imperial Beach Border Patrol Station
1802 Saturn Boulevard
San Diego, CA
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WHERE:
La Posada Hotel and Suites
1000 Zaragoza Street
Laredo, TX
|
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Life issues / Behavior
Christianity Is Being Criminalized in the United States: U.S. Navy Says Chaplain, Punished for Quoting Bible in Chapel
June 30 2006 Christian Newswire
J
ust days before our nation celebrated its freedom, the top judge in the United States Navy has ruled that a chaplain can be punished for the content of his sermon in an optional chapel service and for his prayers while aboard ship!” says Janet Folger President of Faith2Action, and author of the telling book, The Criminalization of Christianity.
Military Judge Anita K. Baker has endorsed a ruling that a commanding officer had grounds to punish Navy Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt for preaching an “exclusive” sermon. He was punished in writing three times by his commanding officer for preaching a service that included the Gospel. The service in question was a Christian memorial service in the chapel for a sailor, who died from injuries resulting from a motorcycle accident. This sailor had professed faith in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior shortly before his death. Attendance for the service was completely voluntary.
The sermon was advertised as a Christian service to honor the Christian faith of this sailor. The message included a quotation of John 3:36, which says “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
“Why has the Navy JAG ruled that the Bible can’t be quoted in the chapel?” asks Chaplain Klingenschmitt. He believes the Navy is contradicting its own code. “This proves they’ve been lying to the public for six months saying we have total freedom to quote the Bible, and pray in Jesus’ name during optional worship.” Klingenschmitt said. “Their top judge ruled we clearly don’t have that freedom.” The only appeal options for the chaplain are: (1) to file a lawsuit against the Navy in federal court; or (2) to have the decision overturned by either President Bush (202-456-1414) or Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (703-692-5131).
“I told you so!” Folger enthused! “This is exactly what I predicted would happen in my book— Christianity is criminalized in sermons and prayers in America.” “If they can silence this chaplain today, they will silence you tomorrow. None of our religious freedoms are safe until this is reversed.”
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Coma Recovery After 19 Years Poses Questions About Terri Schiavo
July 4 2006 LifeSiteNews.com
A Tale of Two Terries
B
y Peter J. Smith Mountain View, Arkansas, on Monday The Journal of Clinical Investigation published new research on the recovery of a brain damaged man from his 19 years in a minimally conscious state, adding to the growing evidence that those with “hopelessly” severe brain injuries may be able to recuperate with therapy or other kinds of assistance.
The Journal’s research focuses on the sudden recovery of Terry Wallis, who experienced a car wreck in 1984 when he was 19 years old. The accident sheared the nerve connections in his brain, putting him in a minimally conscious state (MCS) and rendering him a quadriplegic. Terry, a young husband with a newborn child, was considered a hopeless case, especially considering that his family could not pay the $120,000 needed to consult a neurologist about any possibility of recovery. However in 2003, during one of the regular visits of his mother, who had regularly visited him at the Rehabilitation Centre in Mountain View, Arkansas, he made what seemed a sudden recovery, and spoke “mom”, his first word in 19 years.
The research indicates that Terry’s brain grew new tiny nerve connections over time, creating a new nerve network to replace the old one that was severely damaged in the car accident. While doctors and neurologists are still baffled as to ‘why’ Terry recovered, the doctors at the rehabilitation centre have indicated that Terry’s recovery might be attributed to the visits of his family, who took him out on weekends and special occasions. This may have acted as a mental therapy to help his brain recover.
“He now seems exactly like his old self,” says Jerry Wallis, Terry’s father. Over the 19 years of Terry’s coma, both Jerry and his mother Angilee had doubts at some time or another about whether or not it was better for Terry to be alive. However, now both are glad they never caved into those doubts. Since then they have seen their son make strides in his recovery with the ambition of walking for his daughter. “He very often tells us how glad he is to be alive,” says Terry’s father.
Terry Wallis’ remarkable recovery after 19 years, however, stands in stark opposition to the case of Terri Schindler-Schiavo, who received no therapy from her philandering husband after her 1990 collapse. She was instead dehydrated to death by court order in March 2005. Although some doctors claim that Terri Schiavo could not have made Terry Wallis’ recovery since she was in a persistent vegetative state (PVS), witnesses such as former nurse Carla Iyer maintained that with therapy, Schiavo, who said words like “mommy, help me”, could have indeed recovered over time.
New research, on the ability of the brain to recover over time questions the hastiness of many in the medical profession to condemn patients as irreversibly brain-dead or damaged. Back in May, South African researchers discovered a drug that helps PVS patients temporarily recover to a fully conscious state. In a BBC interview Dr. Ralf Clauss, a scientist in nuclear medicine and one of the drug researchers, stated that “For every damaged area of the brain, there is a dormant area, which seems to be a sort of protective mechanism. The damaged tissue is dead, there’s nothing you can do,” he explained. “But it’s the dormant areas which ‘wake up’.”
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Ad Exposes Shocking Academic Frauds
June 30 /Christian Newswire
Full-Page Ad Exposes Shocking Academic Frauds That Victimize Students’ Minds, Health
S
ANTA BARBARA, in a full-page ad in the July 3-9, 2006, national edition of the Washington Times, Dr. Dennis Jarrard accuses “far-left ideologues” on American campuses of practicing “scholastic Stalinism.”
“Thousands of U.S. universities, colleges and professors should be sued for malpractice, because they’re knowingly teaching millions of young people outright scientific falsehoods,” states the California educator and father. “Worse yet, they’re exporting these academic frauds worldwide, thus deceiving and damaging young people, families and nations, from Russia to Rwanda.” The ad cites examples such as these:
--- Professors routinely hide crucial scientific discoveries about the universe from students because they “would tend to validate Christianity, and therefore the Ten Commandments”
--- American students have never heard of “the brilliant Catholic priest, mathematician and physicist who explained the universe to Einstein”
--- Professors cover up the work of scholars who have shown that it is mathematically absurd to say life developed by chance
--- The whole field of “sexology” and “sex education” was built not only on a massive academic fraud by famed sex “researcher” Prof. Alfred Kinsey, but on “data” he got from active pedophiles whom he oversaw
--- “Kinsey-based sex ‘science’ now guides most of the [U.S.] Supreme Court”
--- Academics ignore Dr. Judith Reisman’s shocking revelations about Kinsey’s “bogus, criminal sex ‘research’”
--- Since “U.S. campuses started evicting Christian morals,” millions of young people have suffered the physical and mental effects of premarital sex, VD and abortion
--- “Most of America’s sexual pathologies, plus abortion, and homosexual ‘marriage,’ come from university-trained ‘sexologists’”
--- “Strong contingents in the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association want to see adult-child sex legalized,” thanks to “the Big Lies that many professors have taught”
The ad goes on to reveal how left-wing academic elites “keep pseudo-science in power” on American campuses, plus nine ways that lawmakers and the public can de-fund and halt academic fraud. “Parents, educators and officials in the U.S. and other countries must take action to protect young people’s minds, souls and health from academic charlatans,” Dr. Jarrard advises.
Dr. Jarrard is sponsoring the ad for Dr. Judith Reisman’s Institute for Media Education, which offers a free copy of “The Kinsey Cover-up,” a quarter-hour TV documentary (on DVD) that “unmasks Kinsey’s crimes and his incredible influence,” to anyone who makes a tax-deductible contribution of $30 or more to the Institute’s work of combating left-wing academic fraud.
Dr. Jarrard has taught in the University of California and California State College and University systems. He served on the County of Los Angeles Commission on Obscenity and Pornography and on the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Commission on Obscenity and Pornography.
To access the text of the ad, go to www.drjudithreisman.com
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Most Fortune 500 Companies Dubbed 'Gay-Friendly'
JULY 3 2006 Citizen Link
Nation's largest gay-activist group releases its annual report.
T
he pro-gay Human Rights Campaign (HRC) announced last week that 253 of the Fortune 500 companies offer health-insurance benefits to same-sex partners and 430 grant special rights based on "sexual orientation."
Joe Solmonese, president of HRC, said his group is largely responsible for the trends.
"We're not only tracking progress in corporate America, but we're actively involved in making it," he said. "Our Workplace Project has worked with hundreds of executives and employees over the past year alone, providing on-site training and cutting-edge research to assist employers implementing fair and equal policies."
Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute, said what might seem fair to the gay lobby is manifestly unfair to others.
"The real danger here ultimately is to Christian employers. What began as something voluntary will become mandatory," he said. "It's really not about extending tolerance, but about putting corporate American power behind the homosexual agenda which is aimed directly at the church."
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Media / Internet / Entertainment
Christian Media Growing More Popular
July 5 2006 Prophecy News Watch
C
hristian media is growing ever more popular, reported the head of Ellison Research. A recent study revealed that most people who attend a Protestant church, both clergy and laity, are using Christian media.
In two separate studies released in LifeWay's Facts & Trends magazine, Ellison Research found that Protestant clergy are more likely to read, watch and utilize Christian media than the people in the pews.
Christian music was revealed as the most commonly used form of media with 78 percent of laity and 94 percent of clergy listening to it. The proportion of music that lay people listen to that is specifically Christian was found to be 42 percent and those who solely listen to Christian music was marked at only seven percent. Among clergy, 66 percent of the music they listen to it Christian.
Other findings on Christian media usage by lay people showed 64 percent watch Christian television, 64 percent visit Christian websites, 64 percent listen to Christian radio, 60 percent read Christian non-fiction books, 55 percent watch Christian movies, 47 percent read Christian fiction books and 44 percent read Christian magazines.
Lay leaders showed higher proportions across the range of Christian media usage.
According to the study, 92 percent of clergy read Christian non-fiction books, 87 percent read Christian magazines, 84 percent listen to Christian radio, 83 percent visit Christian websites, 77 percent watch Christian television, 76 percent watch Christian movies and 53 percent read Christian fiction books.
In regards to website visitation, 51 percent of the websites ministers who visit are Christian as opposed to the 20 percent among laity.
Ron Sellers, president of Ellison Research, highlighted the growth of Christian media even in the secular market. Cultural and business trends attesting to this include the boom of Christian books and music albums hitting best-seller lists. Box offices have also fared successfully with such Christian-themed films as "The Passion of the Christ" and "The Chronicles of Narnia."
"Secular corporations have been backing movies with strong religious themes, buying Christian publishing companies, and releasing albums from Christian artists," Sellers noted, according to LifeWay, "and these figures really show why. Christian media, although often still lacking the financial resources of the secular media, is reaching tens of millions of Protestant churchgoers and clergy on a regular basis - to say nothing of its reach among people who don't attend Protestant churches."
Major retailers have also picked up the Christian trend. Wal-Mart and Best Buy have put Christian books and music on their shelves. Christian forms of popular secular trends have also popped up, including the latest Christian MySpace.com - Xianz.com. And there's still room for growth for the Christian market.
"Although Christian media of some type reaches the vast majority of Protestants, for the average person it still represents a fraction of the media they consume," said Sellers.
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Cable Choice Defeated, But Not Dead
July 3 2006 staff reports Citizen Link
Senate committee votes down a-la-carte programming.
T
he idea of allowing cable customers to only pay for channels they choose — and to stop subsidizing channels they find objectionable — was defeated in the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee last week, but the concept is far from finished.
Dan Isett, director of corporate and governmental affairs at the Parents Television Council, said the driving force for cable choice hasn't changed.
"You're forced to subsidize an enormous amount of content," he said, "that you may not watch and will often find offensive."
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was behind the bill that offered the cable industry certain concessions in return for a la carte.
"There were some other regulatory things in it that made it unpalatable to some members," Isett said. "The message for people is that this vote was just the first step in what promises to be a long process."
Brian Dietz, vice president of communications at the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, told Family News in Focus customers would not like the consequences of cable choice.
"Most studies show it will diminish diversity in programming," he said, "and result in higher prices for fewer channels."
But Bob Waliszewski of Plugged In magazine pointed to a Federal Communications Commission study that contradicted the cable industry's claims.
"It's always good to have a choice," he said. "Why not let the people who are actually consuming have a real, honest-to-goodness choice and only pay for those channels that they get."
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
To read the FCC report on cable choice, click here. It requires the free Adobe Reader to view.
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The Nativity Story Comes to Life
June 30 2006 CWNews
M
oviegoers had their first look this week at an upcoming film about the birth of Christ. The movie is called "The Nativity Story."
The preview is being show in theaters that are playing "Superman Returns."
The 'Nativity Story' is about Mary and the events leading up to the birth of Jesus. The script was written by a Christian and is said to be accurate to the Bible.
The movie shows what Mary and Joseph went through, before the birth of Christ, and how it affected them.
Mary is played by 16-year-old Keisha Castle-Hughes, an Oscar nominee for "Whale Rider.”
"The Nativity Story" is set to open in December.
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Politics
Both U S political parties are in desperate need of a vision for the future
July 5 2006 Molly McCarroll FamilySecurityMatters.org
Despite near-universal agreement that we must secure and defend the United States, Americans appear to have no clear favorite in the upcoming elections for Congress and the Presidency. But is the problem public confusion or a failure of our politicians to understand the country’s real wishes?
