BMAT Moral Action Committee Watchman Report #97 08/18/2006
News Topics of a Particular Interest or Moral Concern
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Christianity / Religion
Some Colleges Sever Ties with Southern Baptists
Prayer the True Source of Power comes to the United States Capitol
Evangelicals are broadening their reach
Religion-related fraud getting worse
Democracy / Security
One of 8,000 Documents Gets Neighbors Past U.S. Border
California Delta Church Wins Hard-Fought Land Use Battle
Family / Social
New Study Confirms: Married People Live Longer
'Stand for The Family' Events Scheduled for Fall
Voucher advocate starts ad campaign in some Texas Cities
Government / Legislation
“Mary Doe” Asks Supreme Court to Take a New Look at Abortion Law, Wants Doe v. Bolton Overturned
School Board Being Sued Over Jesus Portrait Weighs Options
American Legion: Common Sense Prevails in California War Memorial Transfer to Feds
The Idaho Supreme Court Paves the Way for the Nation's First Voter Initiative on the Public Display of the Ten Commandments
ACLU Challenges Katrina Memorial in Louisiana
Life Issues / Behavior
Made-to-Order Babies for Sale at Texas IVF Facility
Scientists Backtrack on Embryonic Research Claims: Bait and Switch Reveals No Hope for Cures for 5 to 10 Years
Abstinence Works says New Study – Toronto AIDS Conference Silent
Texas City Wants to Limit Churches
Media / Internet / Entertainment
Dell to recall 4.1M laptop batteries may short-circuit, overheat, causing a risk of smoke and/or fire
Homeland Security department Warns about Microsoft Windows
Politics
Democrats help block marriage protection amendment
Senate Liberals use dirty tricks to Dismantle The Child Custody Protection Act
Tom DeLay’s Texas Seat Turns into Fiasco
Group Blasts Dobson's Church-Based ‘Political Machine’
World / World Apostasies
Slang Bible Gets Attention around the World
UK Pre-Schoolers Must be Taught About Gay Lifestyle: Teachers Association
Predicted '12th Imam,' key facet of Islamic prophecy, fueling Middle East turmoil
Security Analysts say they Expect Syria to become Directly Involved in Any Second Round Fighting by Israel
Articles Below
Christianity / Religion
Some Colleges Sever Ties with Southern Baptists
August 3 2006 staff reports Citizen Link
The core issue is the integrity of the Bible.
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ore than 50 colleges from coast to coast are affiliated with their state’s Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), but half a dozen have abruptly severed ties over the past decade.
Georgetown College in Kentucky is the latest school to disassociate from the SBC. Dr. Hershael York, former president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, said it all comes down to the Bible.
“They will tell you that the core issue is academic freedom. I will tell you that the core issue is the integrity of the word of God,” he said. “I cannot help but feel, every now and then, that they think you cannot be intellectual and believe that the Bible is literally true.”
The separation was amicable and in the footsteps of other schools like Furman University. Helen Turner, a professor at Furman, told Family News in Focus that split was because of the SBC's conservatism.
“We broke with the South Carolina Baptist Convention," she said, "because of the move toward a fundamentalist perspective.”
Dr. Bill Leonard teaches at Wake Forest University, another college that split with its state convention. He said the issue is money.
“It became problematic to schools to be dominated by a group that paid so little of the bill,” he said.
But York said the SBC's concern for the schools far exceeds funding or denomination.
“These institutions that choose to go their own way," he said, "seldom remain biblically on board.”
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Prayer the True Source of Power comes to the United States Capitol
August 8 2006 Mark Earley
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hat is the most powerful room in the United States Capitol? Ask some members of Congress and you would probably hear this: Room 219. It’s the room closest to the House Chamber, and its walls have been privy to some of the most pivotal discussions of our history.
Recently, however, Room 219 just got a whole lot more powerful. How so? You see, in Room 219 some of the highest elected officials of our land are bending their knees in weekly prayer gatherings—openly declaring, not their power, but their dependence on the power of God.
It’s not a new idea. Our first president in his inaugural address said, “it would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations and whose providential aid can supply every human defect.”
President Washington and our founders agreed on the necessity of prayer. And while today there are prayer breakfasts and even a National Day of Prayer, seldom do legislators gather to spend significant time actually praying. That’s what led Congressman Randy Forbes, representative of the Fourth District of Virginia, to help initiate these gatherings in Room 219.
Congressman Forbes has also established the first Congressional Prayer Caucus to protect and promote prayer. Such an effort is so necessary today, not because our forefathers did not find prayer important, but because it was never before under attack as it is today.
Congressmen Forbes takes seriously that before calling others to prayer that he and other congressional leaders must begin by setting the example.
Forbes says that when others began hearing about what he and the other members were doing in Room 219—praying—the phones began ringing. One man called to say that the men in his church are stopping at 2:19 in the afternoon to pray for our nation. Another church said they had begun gathering in their own Room 219 to pray for the nation. And so, Forbes realized the need to call the nation to prayer “not for a day, but continually, without ceasing.”
So, twenty-two members of Congress (men and women from both sides of the aisle) joined together to sign A Call to Prayer for America, a document resembling the Declaration of Independence. And like Nehemiah who helped rebuild his nation by rebuilding a wall, congressional leaders are hoping Americans will help raise up a wall of continuous prayer to surround America. People across the country are signing up to be a part of this “Prayer Wall,” taking time blocks of five minutes to stop and pray. If you would like to participate, you can visit www.prayercaucus.org to sign up.
If we want to protect faith in the public square, if we hope to create a culture that will uphold what is good and curb what is not, we must begin by bending the knee, acknowledging that true freedom is found in utter dependence upon our Creator.
Congressman Forbes and the Congressional Prayer Caucus have realized precisely that, and you can find them in Room 219.
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Evangelicals are broadening their reach
August 1 2006 William McKenzie the Dallas Morning News
Moving away from monolithic view will help them become a more powerful force
Many Americans see evangelicals as a monolithic group that opposes gay marriage and abortion and worships in the suburbs at megachurches like Prestonwood Baptist. And many of the estimated 15 million adult evangelicals do fit this pattern, which Republican strategists searching for red-state voters are happy to see.
But when you start looking at this development over here and that one over there, you can see a new trend emerging among evangelicals. In politics and culture, this shift could have huge, and positive, consequences.
If evangelicals – who theologically emphasize personal conversions to Christ, a literal reading of Scripture and Jesus' return – begin to rethink some assumptions about how the world should work, the larger political universe will feel it.
These shifts are part of a pattern that could make evangelicals a less predictable – and stronger – force:
•Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is raising his presidential flag. The Southern Baptist minister came to Dallas last week to talk with church folk, business leaders and journalists. Stopping by The Dallas Morning News, he presented ideas he would emphasize if he seeks the GOP nomination in 2008.
His agenda isn't what your normal evangelical emphasizes.
For one thing, this pro-life Republican spoke at length about his concern for what happens to a child after he or she is born, not just that the child is born. Citing his passion for education and health care, the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary graduate said he would violate his faith if he did nothing about those at the bottom of society's ladder.
A Republican candidate shouldn't offend the party's conservative base, he said, but he also shouldn't shrink from challenging it. Mr. Huckabee's 10-year stint as governor shows his willingness to do that. Among other things, he passed a major health program for children and didn't veto a sales tax hike to help schools.
He has clear conservative credentials, the kind that allow him to stop by to see Texas televangelist James Robison. But Mr. Huckabee's independence is part of the branching out within evangelicalism, where you find someone like Rick Warren of The Purpose Driven Life fame pressing for attention on environmental issues.
The more this happens, the more evangelicals help themselves. Republican strategists can't take them for granted.
•Fifteen months ago, Ralph Reed was cruising. After a high-profile stint as the Christian Coalition's voice and then a turn as head of the Georgia GOP, this evangelical powerbroker launched a sure bid to become his state's lieutenant governor. Some saw the race as his first move toward the governor's mansion and, ultimately, the White House.
A majority of Georgia Republicans had another thought. After learning of Mr. Reed's financial dealings with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, primary voters said no thanks.
The defeat showed that Republicans aren't so evangelical that they'll go along with anyone who wears the tag. They want sincerity, not showmanship.
•In June, Southern Baptists elected a self-described "big-tent conservative" to lead them. The Rev. Frank Page surprisingly defeated more conservative candidates to become president of America's largest denomination.
After a series of superconservatives at the helm, Mr. Page steps in just when Southern Baptist bloggers are pressing for less emphasis on doctrinal purity. One such blogger, the Rev. Wade Burleson of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid, Okla., warns against Southern Baptists defining themselves so narrowly that they become isolated within modern Christianity.
So what's going on here?
Dallas Theological Seminary professor Darrell Bock says he sees the trend everywhere. Evangelicals are "looking for alternatives to both wings," he told me last week. "Voices are popping up to figure out how to get there."
Dr. Bock is one of them, Evangelicals should lose their "Jimmy Cagney theology," he says. "Quit telling people they're dirty rats who shouldn't be doing what they're doing. Instead, show them the Gospel in ways that resonate with the culture."
As hard as it is to remember, evangelicals got into the political game because of Jimmy Carter. These developments don't suggest evangelicals are going with Hillary Clinton next time, but, when you connect the dots, it shows they're hungry for a new path.
William McKenzie is a Dallas Morning News editorial columnist.
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Religion-related fraud getting worse
August 16 2006 Prophecy News Watch
Randall W. Harding sang in the choir at Crossroads Christian Church in Corona, Calif., and donated part of his conspicuous wealth to its ministries. In his business dealings, he underscored his faith by naming his investment firm JTL, or "Just the Lord." Pastors and churchgoers alike entrusted their money to him.
By the time Harding was unmasked as a fraud, he and his partners had stolen more than $50 million from their clients, and Crossroads became yet another cautionary tale in what investigators say is a worsening problem plaguing the nation's churches.
Billions of dollars has been stolen in religion-related fraud in recent years, according to the North American Securities Administrators Association, a group of state officials who work to protect investors.
Between 1984 and 1989, about $450 million was stolen in religion-related scams, the association says. In its latest count — from 1998 to 2001 — the toll had risen to $2 billion. Rip-offs have only become more common since.
"The size and the scope of the fraud is getting larger," said Patricia Struck, president of the securities association and administrator of the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, Division of Securities. "The scammers are getting smarter and the investors don't ask enough questions because of the feeling that they can be safe in church."
Cases in recent years show just how vulnerable religious communities are.
Lambert Vander Tuig, a member of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest Calif., ran a real estate scam that bilked investors out of $50 million, the Securities and Exchange Commission says. His salesmen presented themselves as faithful Christians and distributed copies of "The Purpose Driven Life," by Saddleback pastor Rick Warren, according to the SEC. Warren and his church had no knowledge of Vander Tuig's activities, says the SEC.
At Daystar Assembly of God Church in Prattville, Ala., a congregant persuaded church leaders and others to invest about $3 million in real estate a few years ago, promising some profits would go toward building a megachurch. The Daystar Assembly was swindled and lost its building.
And in a dramatically broader scam, leaders of Greater Ministries International, based in Tampa, Fla., defrauded thousands of people of half a billion dollars by promising to double money on investments that ministry officials said were blessed by God. Several of the con men were sentenced in 2001 to more than a decade each in prison.
"Many of these frauds are, on their face, very credible and legitimate appearing," said Randall Lee, director of the Pacific regional office of the SEC. "You really have to dig below the surface to understand what's going on."
Typically, a con artist will target the pastor first, by making a generous donation and appealing to the minister's desire to expand the church or its programs, according to Joseph Borg, director of the Alabama Securities Commission, who played a key role in breaking up the Greater Ministries scam.
If the pastor invests, churchgoers view it as a tacit endorsement. The con man, often promising double digit returns, will chip away at resistance among church members by suggesting they can donate part of their earnings to the congregation, Borg says.
"Most folks think `I'm going to invest in some overseas deal or real estate deal and part of that money is going to the church and I get part. I don't feel like I'm guilty of greed,'" Borg says.
If a skeptical church member openly questions a deal, that person is often castigated for speaking against a fellow Christian.
Ole Anthony of the Trinity Foundation Inc. in Dallas, which investigates fraud and televangelism, partly blames the churches themselves for the problem. Anthony contends that the "prosperity gospel" — which teaches that the truly faithful are rewarded with wealth in this life — is creeping into mainstream churches.
Chuck Crites, a former member of Crossroads Church, learned firsthand how effective con artists can be.
The businessman was swindled out of $500,000 by Harding in a Ponzi scheme, which uses money from newer investors to pay off older ones.
Crites said Harding, who pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud and money laundering, boasted about helping fund a new Christian high school for Crossroads and hired a music pastor from the megachurch as a sales agent. "At one point he even told me how much money he had given to the church that year," Crites said.
Harding was nabbed with the help of Barry Minkow, who was himself convicted of fraud years ago. Minkow eventually became a pastor in San Diego and started the Fraud Discovery Institute, which is dedicated to investigating scams.
Crites is putting his money toward a new fraud-awareness kit for churches and other groups that Minkow is developing.
"It made me angry at how people are abusing the trust that exists in church communities," Crites said.
Investigators say all denominations are at risk, but the most susceptible communities are ones where members are deeply engaged in church activities, such as service programs and small group prayer, giving con artists plenty of chance to ingratiate themselves with congregants.
Often, perpetrators are so successful building an image as good Christians that churchgoers won't cooperate with law enforcement authorities even after the crime is revealed.
"Money has a way of blinding objectivity, even for we who are believers," Minkow says.
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Democracy / Security
One of 8,000 Documents Gets Neighbors Past U.S. Border
August 14 2006 Kevin Mooney CNSNews.com Staff Writer
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freshman Republican congressman from Texas believes Canadian, Mexican and Caribbean visitors to the United States should be required to present a passport before they are allowed into the country, just as visitors from all other countries do.
Rep. Ted Poe said it is a "human impossibility" for border control agents to check the thousands of documents currently accepted as valid identification from those three locations.
"Right now anyone arriving from Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean Islands can get in based on one of 8,000 documents," Poe told Cybercast News Service. "They could include everything from baptismal certificates and birth certificates."
In the absence of "universal documentation," such as a passport, Poe is convinced that border agents are being asked to perform an impractical task at lawful entry points.
"The average border patrol agent takes about 22 seconds to determine whether or not someone is lawfully entering the U.S.," Poe said. "Sometimes they ask for paperwork, and sometimes they don't."
Poe noted that the 9/11 Commission called for mandatory passport usage by visitors from Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean islands.
"For political reasons, this recommendation was not implemented," Poe said. "The Canadian government was very opposed."
A bill Poe previously introduced to force implementation of that recommendation was defeated, but he is making another attempt in the form of Passport for All Act (HR 4120), which is awaiting consideration by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims.
ID requirement would help curb illegal hiring
Poe also told Cybercast News Service that the absence of verifiable identification creates enormous challenges for employers who are earnestly trying to verify the legality of potential workers. He believes a passport system, coupled with visas, would help.
At the same time, Poe added, such a system would more effectively deter employers that willingly hire illegal aliens.
"Simply fining these businesses hasn't had much of an effect," Poe noted. "We need to make the consequences so severe that employers are not willing to take the chance."
Enforcement of laws against hiring illegal aliens fell off dramatically through much of the 1990s and into the early part of the 21st century, according to research made available by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a group that supports stricter enforcement of immigration laws.
Jack Martin, special projects director for FAIR, said, for example, there were 1,492 instances of federal immigration officials investigating employers for workplace compliance in 1992. That number compares to just three such investigations in 2003.
Officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) acknowledge that previous efforts by the now defunct Immigration and Naturalization Service did not keep pace with the size and scope of worksite infractions. But, they also point to new initiatives that are aggressively targeting employers who flout immigration laws.
"The administrative fine process was not a deterrent to unscrupulous employers," said Jamie Zuieback, a spokeswoman for ICE. "Many businesses came to view these fines as the cost of doing business."
Since 2004, enforcement efforts have been characterized by expanded investigations and greater criminal sanctions, according to ICE, the largest investigative branch of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
There were 465 investigations of worksites suspected of harboring illegal aliens in Fiscal Year (FY) 2004. Those cases yielded 160 criminal arrests, 67 indictments and 46 convictions. In addition to the immigration charges, employers are also being investigated for money laundering, which can bring felony charges.
Statistics for FY 2005 show that ICE investigations continue to gain momentum. There were 511 worksite probes that produced 176 arrests, 140 indictments and 127 convictions.
Investigators are also using a variety of new tools and resources to discourage employers from illegal hiring. ICE's Fraudulent Document Laboratory (FDL) can provide state authorities with "real time evaluation" of identification documents. The FDL is now performing thousands of forensic examinations a year.
Information made available through ICE shows more than 100 "document intelligence alerts" were produced in FY 2004. These alerts are provided to local law enforcement officials in the form of color photo bulletins, which can be compared to potentially fraudulent identification documents presented to employers.
Bill would create employee eligibility hotline
Legislation that has already passed the House of Representatives would provide for a new employment eligibility verification system administered through DHS. Poe is a supporter and co-sponsor of the Border Protection, Antiterrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act (H.R. 4437), which would establish a toll-free, telephone-based system for employers to confirm applicants' work eligibility through DHS. The objective would be for DHS officials to either confirm or give a "tentative non-confirmation" within three working days of an initial inquiry.
The bill passed the House by a vote of 239 to 182. It was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee in January 2006. That committee has taken no action on the bill.
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California ‘Delta’ Church Wins Hard-Fought Land Use Battle
August 15 2006 Pacific Justice Institute
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ntioch, CA—A small Hispanic congregation in California’s Delta region overcame opposition from local city officials and businesses last week to win the right to proceed with the purchase of a building for use as a church.
The church, La Palabra de Dios, had been seeking a home of its own for more than a decade when a former furniture store was placed on the market in Antioch. The size, location and price were well-suited to the church’s needs, so it quickly made an offer which the seller accepted. After experiencing the joy of fulfilling a long-standing desire, the church was dumbfounded when the City of Antioch chose to actively oppose the project, claiming the area would be better off with a restaurant, bar or other retail business on the site.
Since the church had been searching for years for a suitable location, it decided to stand firm and assert its rights. The church contacted Pacific Justice Institute, and PJI attorneys recognized that the City’s actions were classic violations of a federal law (RLUIPA) which protects religious land use. PJI sent a demand letter on the church’s behalf then enlisted the help of affiliate attorneys Steve Wood of Walnut Creek and Roger Gaither of San Ramon. Attorneys Wood and Gaither met with city officials and addressed two City Council meetings, advising officials of the risk they were taking in flaunting the law. City officials remained vocal in their opposition, even claiming it was “unchristian” for the church to assert its rights, but in the face of clear legal authority, they finally acknowledged it was a losing battle and reluctantly approved the church’s use.
Steve Wood, one of the PJI affiliate attorneys who represented La Palabra de Dios, commented, “It was both surprising and saddening that the City chose to fight the church and this losing battle so hard. We suggested that the City propose alternative locations or conditions which would have made everyone happy, but it was clear they weren’t really interested in any solution except excluding this small, Hispanic church.” Roger Gaither, who also represented the church on PJI’s behalf, added, “It’s amazing how the City seemed to think that it could violate federal law and then try to make the church look like the bad guy.”
Brad Dacus, president of Pacific Justice Institute, stated, “It wasn’t easy, but in this case, justice prevailed. We applaud the perseverance of this church and the hard work of our affiliates Steve Wood and Roger Gaither. Any church in a similar situation should not hesitate to contact PJI for assistance.”
Poll question: Please visit our website, www.pacificjustice.org, to respond to our poll question: Is it “unchristian” for churches to assert their federal land-use rights?
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Family / Social
New Study Confirms: Married People Live Longer
August 15 2006 Citizen Link
Researchers from two California universities who reviewed data collected from 67,000 U.S. adults found that being married can significantly extend a person's lifespan.
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obert Kaplan of the University of California at Los Angeles and Richard Kronick of the University of California at San Diego compiled information between 1989 and 1997 from the U.S. census and from death certificates.
The researchers determined that those who had been widowed were 40 percent more likely to die than married people living with their spouses. Divorce and separation increased the likelihood of death by 27 percent. People who had never been married were 58 percent more likely to die, a factor affecting men more than women.
In a report in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Kaplan and Kronick speculate that social connections are a key factor.
"Controlling for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, the death rate for people who were unmarried, was significantly higher than it was for those who were married and living with their spouses," the report explains. "Although the effect was significant for all categories of unmarried, it was strongest for those who had never married.
"The data seem to support the hypothesis that the greater level of social isolation associated with having never been married is associated with larger health consequences. In conclusion: Current marriage is associated with longer survival."
FOR MORE INFORMATION
To read an abstract of the study or to request the full text, visit the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health Web site.
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'Stand For The Family' Events Scheduled for Fall
August 15 2006 Pete Winn, associate editor Citizen Link
Arena events set for September and October in Pittsburgh, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Nashville.
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ocus on the Family Action Chairman Dr. James C. Dobson is slated to appear this fall with other Christian leaders at a series of "Stand for the Family" arena events — rallies designed to educate and motivate pro-family conservative Christians in three states where there are important races on November's ballot.
Tom Minnery, senior vice president of government and public policy at Focus on the Family Action, said the rallies will be held Sept. 20 in Pittsburgh, at the Mellon Arena; Oct. 3 in Minneapolis/St. Paul, at the Xcel Energy Center; and Oct. 16 in Nashville, at the Municipal Auditorium.
In addition to Dr. Dobson, the list of speakers includes Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council; Gary Bauer, president of American Values; Dr. Ken Hutcherson, senior pastor of Antioch Bible Church in Kirkland, Wash., and Dr. Richard Land of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.
"It is our plan," Minnery said, "to fill large arenas in each city with thousands of people, to alert them to the tremendous issues facing them in the upcoming elections — and to lay out those issues in a nonpartisan fashion."
John Paulton, director of family policy councils for Focus on the Family Action, said the arenas are large and organizers are hoping for good-sized crowds.
"There's a special energy that comes about when arenas like these get rocking — and get excited," he said.
Dr. Richard Land, an Oxford-educated Southern Baptist theologian and broadcaster, told CitizenLink his message will be a challenge to all Christians.
"It is every Christian's responsibility to be registered to vote," he explained. "It is every Christian's responsibility to be an informed voter. And it is every Christian's responsibility to vote their values, their beliefs and their convictions, regardless of party loyalty or party affiliation. They have to vote for the values that they understand are taught by the Lord in Scripture — that's part of being salt and light.
It's a message that will admittedly be controversial.
"It may be controversial, but it's biblical," Land said. "Sometimes salt burns and stings and irritates. And the Bible tells us that 'men love darkness rather than light' because their deeds are evil, so they may not like it when we’re bright light, or salty salt, but that doesn't relieve us of the responsibility of being salt and light."
The arena events and Land's message both come at a time when new books and certain cultural voices are beginning to question whether there really is a "culture war" in America. For Land, however, there's absolutely no question.
"I just saw a poll released by the Pew Trust, which showed that 66 percent of Americans either want abortion outlawed or limited in its availability to extreme situations," he said. "And on the marriage issue, 56 percent of Americans are adamantly opposed to same-sex marriages.
"Now in the abortion issue, you have the courts seeking to force the American people to put up with hundreds of thousands of abortions every year that they find repugnant. And in the case of same-sex marriage, you have courts attempting to shove down the throats of the American people what a majority of the American people don't want.
"You can call it a culture war, you can call it a raw judicial grab for power, you can call it judicial imperialism — but whatever you call it, there's a huge disconnect between 'government of the people, by the people and for the people' and 'government of the judges, by the judges and for the judges.' "
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Voucher advocate starts ad campaign in some Texas Cities
August 15 2006 Gary Scharrer Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
Low-income parents urged to seek school choice from Legislature
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USTIN - After spending millions this year trying to elect school-voucher-friendly legislators, a San Antonio businessman now is bankrolling a public relations campaign aimed at getting low-income parents to carry part of the battle.
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Billboards and radio spots in Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio ask parents to help influence Texas legislators to give parents a choice in selecting schools for their children.
Texans for School Choice wants a pilot program that allows low-income families in the state's urban public school districts to send children to any school, including a private or religious school, at taxpayer expense.
"We very strongly believe that the choice of the best schools should not be an option exclusive to the wealthy," said Ken Hoagland, spokesman for physician-turned-business- man Jim Leininger.
Leininger will spend up to $500,000 for the campaign, which coincides with the start of a new school year. The two-month campaign could evolve into another public relations effort early next year when state lawmakers open a new legislative session, Hoagland said.
"Every billboard and every radio ad contains one common message: When you give parents a choice, you give children a chance," Hoagland said. "We very strongly believe that parents should have the right to choose the best school for their own children."
Leininger spent more than $3 million earlier this year on issues dear to his political outlook and candidates sympathetic to those issues.
The billboard and radio campaign are ways to increase public involvement, Hoagland said.
Leininger has spent close to $100 million over the past decade on scholarships and schools for low-income children, but he has fallen short in getting legislative support for school vouchers.
"He is not giving up. We have been fighting this battle for a decade," said Craig Tounget, formerly executive director of the Texas PTA and now coordinator for the Coalition for Better Schools, which opposes school vouchers.
The coalition opposes using public tax dollars for "unproven or untested" private and religious schools, Tounget said.
Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, said she's not surprised by Leininger's direct appeal to parents considering his failure to influence the Legislature.
"I applaud anybody who gets involved in issues of the day. Unfortunately for Dr. Leininger, the majority of Texans and a majority of the Legislature supports public schools and wants to focus our time and resources into building a quality public education system," said Van de Putte, a member of the Senate Education Committee.
Low-income parents with school-age children can't afford to wait for inner-city public schools to get better, Leininger's spokesman said.
Leininger targeted most of his campaign contributions this spring on five state House Republican primary contests. Leininger-backed candidates won two. But school voucher advocate House Education Chairman Kent Grusendorf, R-Arlington, whom Leininger also supported, lost in the primary to a challenger who opposes vouchers.
The House has narrowly defeated school voucher bills in the past. The issue has not come up for debate in the Senate, where opponents have more than enough votes to block school vouchers, Van de Putte said.
The Houston Independent School District offers an extensive school choice program for parents, including charter schools and the option of sending their children to other schools within the district, but there is little demand, said Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, a member of the House Public Education Committee.
Public schools are the first choice for an overwhelming majority of parents, Hochberg said. Public schools remain "the only place where students have a right to demand an education regardless of their financial conditions, regardless of the academic background of their parents, regardless of their own prior performance in schools.
"I don't know what anybody else does with billboards or otherwise to change that," Hochberg said. "We need to be about the business of making our neighborhood schools as good as they possibly can be for all students, not just those who the private schools will choose to let in."
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Government / Legislation
“Mary Doe” Asks Supreme Court to Take a New Look at Abortion Law, Wants Doe v. Bolton Overturned
August 15 2006 Let Freedom Ring
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lawsuit seeking to overturn a landmark Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal throughout pregnancy is headed to the nation's high court.
Sandra Cano, the "Mary Doe" of the Doe v. Bolton decision, which entrenched Roe v. Wade by declaring abortions should be allowed to protect a woman's health and that health could be any reason at all, wants the high court to overturn the decision.
Attorneys for an Atlanta woman filed papers in the case on Monday and they also suggest that the Supreme Court take a new look at Roe v. Wade as well and consider overturning the pro-abortion precedent.
The lawsuit is similar to one Norma McCorvey filed seeking to reverse Roe itself and it will likely face dim prospects as the high court denied McCorvey's appeal last February.
The Justice Foundation, a Texas based pro-life law firm, represented McCorvey and represents Cano in her case.
According to lead Justice Foundation attorney Allan Parker, "significant changes in the factual conditions surrounding abortion" make it so the facts of the cases have changed and the court should re-examine its decisions.
He says new information the court didn't have at the time shows abortion hurts women.
That's evidenced by "the sworn testimony of women harmed by abortion; medical articles and studies since 1973 documenting abortion injuries; and, sworn evidence that abortion clinics in fact do not provide the normal doctor-patient relationship anticipated by Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton."
Over 1,000 women have provided sworn statements for the lawsuit saying they regret their abortions or were hurt physically or emotionally from it.
"Using my name and life, Doe v. Bolton falsely created the health exception that led to abortion on demand and partial-birth abortion," Cano told lawmakers.
"How it got there is still pretty much a mystery to me. I only sought legal assistance to get a divorce from my husband and to get my children from foster care," she explained. "I was very vulnerable, poor and pregnant with my fourth child, but abortion never crossed my mind."
"I did not seek an abortion nor do I believe in abortion," Cano added. "Yet my name and life are now forever linked with the slaughter of 40 to 50 million babies."
Related web sites:
The Justice Foundation's Operation Outcry - http://www.operationoutcry.org
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School Board Being Sued Over Jesus Portrait Weighs Options
August 15 2006 Jim Brown and Jenni Parker Agape Press
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West Virginia school board, under legal pressure from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, will vote today on whether to remove a portrait of Jesus Christ from the hallway of a local high school.
The West Virginia ACLU and Americans United are suing the Harrison County Board of Education over a portrait of Christ displayed in the main hallway of Bridgeport High School. The board recently voted 3-2 to put off a decision on the portrait until today (August 14), and the board members have given outside groups that support the picture until today to raise $150,000 for a legal defense fund.
Steve Crampton is chief counsel at the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy, which has offered to represent the Harrison County Board of Education free of charge. He says the Board of Education voted some months ago not to remove the portrait, despite the demand of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
The portrait in question has been in the school for more than 40 years, and Crampton points out that the plaintiffs in the suit have known about the picture's presence for the past 10 years. "So, it's not as if the litigation itself should have come as a surprise," he notes, "but it's a very unusual way to approach the issue."
The current controversy dates back to last March, when local resident Harold Sklar submitted a formal request at a meeting of the school board, asking that the portrait be removed. According to the ACLU of West Virginia, Sklar had made this request repeatedly in the past.
ACLU of West Virginia spokesman Andrew Schneider claims Bridgeport High School is violating the U.S. Constitution's ban on government endorsement of religion and "interfering with the right of all students to freely express their religious beliefs." He says the Supreme Court has ruled "unequivocally" in a 1943 case in his state that the Bill of Rights' purpose is to ensure that fundamental liberties are not subject to the whims of a majority.
The lawsuit against the school was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia. According to the legal action brought by the ACLU and Americans United, their plaintiffs are seeking injunctive relief, damages, and "reasonable" attorneys' fees.
The AFA Law Center's offer to represent the school board pro-bono was extended in the hope that the school would be encouraged to fight the plaintiffs' efforts to have the picture of Christ removed from display. According to Crampton, whenever liberal groups like the ACLU and Americans United succeed in a legal attack on religious expression, their attorneys usually recover substantial fees, which the losing defendant is forced to pay. However, he feels the West Virginia school district has a good argument and that the case may perhaps present an opportunity to "make new law and establish some new standards in this area."
Are Liberal Groups Cashing In on Anti-Religion Litigation?
Crampton believes the threat of paying out enormous legal fees frequently has a chilling effect on the exercise of schools and other institutions' First Amendment rights. All too often, he says, that threat creates a scenario in which "many governmental entities refuse even to go to court for fear they will then have to pay fees they can't afford to cover."
The AFA Law Center cannot guarantee Bridgeport High School a victory in its case, the pro-family attorney insists, and neither can anyone else. "That's the problem in these cases," he asserts, "and that's why Congress has even taken a look at the provision in the civil rights laws that, permits prevailing plaintiffs to recover these attorneys' fees in cases like this."
The portrait of Christ that has been on display at Bridgeport High School for more than 40 years is not costing Harrison County officials a dime right now, where it is, Crampton says, "but it could cost them a pretty penny in the event they're unsuccessful in this litigation." Undoubtedly, he suggests, the school board will take that into consideration as they decide what to do next.
Recently, the American Legion's Rees Lloyd -- a former ACLU staff attorney -- testified before Congress in favor of Indiana Congressman John Hostettler's Public Expression of Religion Act (H.R. 2679), describing under oath how the liberal litigation group profits from its lawsuits attacking Christianity (see related story). Crampton says the ACLU is able to benefit financially from these attacks because of an obscure provision of the Civil Rights Act, which Hostettler's bill is designed to amend. The Public Expression of Religion Act is supported by 45 other sponsors as well as by the American Legion.
Lloyd noted in his Congressional testimony that while the ACLU's attacks have been launched primarily against Christian symbols such as the cross, they have targeted the Jewish Star of David as well. He said the ACLU has reaped millions of dollars in attorney fees by going after local governments that recognize America's religious heritage in any way.
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American Legion: Common Sense Prevails in California War Memorial Transfer to Feds
August 16 2006 Christian Newswire
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NDIANAPOLIS, a new federal law passed by Congress and signed by the President, that transfers ownership of the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial to the United States government was heralded today by the national commander of 2.7 million-member American Legion today as a “victory for common sense.”
“We are a nation established on Judeo-Christian principles,” Thomas L. Bock said. “We are pleased to see the U.S. Congress and the President walking in the ‘footsteps of the founders’ in recognizing the sanctity of this Veterans memorial.”
In a 2005 referendum, 76 percent of the people of San Diego approved the transfer of the national memorial to federal custody. In a letter to the President last May urging federal acquisition, Bock wrote, “We are particularly concerned in this case that a dangerous precedent could be set that would endanger Veterans memorials across America, perhaps even the nine thousand crosses that mark the final resting places of our World War II heroes at Normandy Beach.”
On May 3, a San Diego federal judge ordered the city of San Diego to take down the cross within 90 days or face $5,000 in daily fines. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy blocked that order on July 3 pending a hearing if raised to their level. Meanwhile, the House passed the bill by a 349-74 vote on July 19 and the Senate approved it unanimously Aug. 1 rendering the lawsuits moot.
“We expect more litigation and I assure you that The American Legion will be in the fight,” Bock said. “The religious symbols that mark the graves and honor the sacrifices of our fallen heroes - a cross, Star of David, or other identification of faith in God - are sacred to Americans. As a grateful nation, we must ensure that the memory of our heroes will never be dishonored by those who would seek to remove them.”
The American Legion is conducting a campaign in support of the Public _Expression of Religion Act (PERA), H.R. 2679, in the House of Representatives and S. 3696 in the Senate. The measures would remove the authority for judges to award taxpayer monies in Attorneys fees in Establishment Clause cases involving litigation against religious icons and veterans memorials.
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The Idaho Supreme Court Paves the Way for the Nation's First Voter Initiative on the Public Display of the Ten Commandments
August 14 2006 Christian Newswire
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OISE, in a 4 to 1 decision, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled that the citizens of Boise, Idaho have the right to vote on returning a display of the Ten Commandments that was removed from a Boise public park.
A Ten Commandments monument was removed, in March 2004, from Julia Davis Park by order of the Boise City Council.
The citizens of Boise mounted a petition drive in the summer of 2004 and gathered 19,000 signatures to have a voter initiative to return the monument.
Even after the signatures were gathered the Boise City Council refused to put the voter initiative on the ballot.
The Keep the Commandments Coalition filed suit to have the Ten Commandments voter initiative put on the ballot and on August 14th, the Idaho Supreme Court overwhelmingly agreed with the Coalition.
Brandi Swindell, National Director of Generation Life a Co-chair of the Keep the Commandments Coalition, comments, “Today the Idaho Supreme Court affirmed the core principles of democracy and the right of Boise citizens to vote. This is not only a victory for the Keep the Commandment Coalition and the citizens of Boise, but a victory for all Americans who cherish liberty and the democratic freedoms our country was founded on. It is also a victory for religious _expression in the public square and marks the first time in our nation’s history that a vote will be held on the public display of the Ten Commandments. It is our hope that other cities will follow our lead and hold similar initiatives.”
Rev. Bryan Fischer, Executive Director of the Idaho Values Alliance and Co-chair of the Keep the Commandments Coalition, states, "We are ecstatic over this Ten Commandments ruling. All we have asked for from day one is for the citizens of Boise to have the right to vote. And, now we are getting it. The Ten Commandments monument clearly poses no constitutional problem. You can find the Ten Commandments in four different places in the United States Supreme Court building. If it is good enough for the Supreme Court, it should be good enough for a Boise public park."
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ACLU Challenges Katrina Memorial in Louisiana
by August 10 2006 Pete Winn, associate editor Citizen Link
A cross and depiction of Jesus are enough for the legal group to threaten St. Bernard Parish with a lawsuit.
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he American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Louisiana is objecting to a memorial for the nearly 130 people in St. Bernard Parish who were victims of Hurricane Katrina.
The memorial, along the Mississippi River near the Gulf of Mexico, consists of a 13-foot-tall stainless-steel cross bearing an image of the face of Jesus — and will be dedicated on Aug. 29, the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina making landfall.
ACLU of Louisiana Executive Director Joe Cook sent a letter to the St. Bernard Parish Council saying the cross "was religious" and therefore violated the "separation of church and state." He demanded its removal.
When the New Orleans Times-Picayune asked Parish President Henry "Junior" Rodriguez about the ACLU's demand, Rodriguez replied — with a colorful phrase — that he would not pay any credence to the demands.
Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), told CitizenLink he has offered to defend Rodriguez and the parish council, which represents several towns on the east bank of the Mississippi near New Orleans.
"The ACLU is objecting because of the fact that the parish has tacitly endorsed the memorial by giving construction permits," Sekulow said. "Somehow, for this ACLU board, that would violate the Constitution. I think they are stretching it."
Kiera McCaffrey, a spokeswoman for the Catholic League, said the memorial is not being built at public expense and won't be on public land.
"The people who are working for the parish — the Parish Council — are doing this on their own time, with privately raised money on private land," McCaffrey said. "So, it's really just an issue of government employees putting up a religious memorial on their own time. Surely the ACLU doesn't object to employees doing something religious on their own time."
Sekulow said he thinks the ACLU's action is connected to the controversy over the court-ordered removal of a cross at the Mt. Soledad memorial in San Diego. The cross was saved earlier this month when Congress passed a law federalizing the land.
"I suspect that the ACLU got hit so hard with Mt. Soledad," he said, "that they are looking for any way they can to rehabilitate themselves in the eyes of their constituents. In the eyes of their constituents, removing a cross is a good thing."
Sekulow doesn't hesitate to speculate what the ACLU might do next.
"What's next is Arlington National Cemetery, that's what I ultimately expect," he said. "They are going to try to get a case to go to the Supreme Court, and, win or lose, they want to be known as the group that tried to get rid of the crosses there."
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Life issues / Behavior
Made-to-Order Babies for Sale at Texas IVF Facility
August 13 2006 LifeSiteNews.com
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AN ANTONIO, the day many ethicists have long feared and predicted has arrived as a US “embryo bank” has begun to create and sell embryos with specific genetic characteristics, matching them to clients’ preferences.
The Daily Mail reports that made-to-order embryos are being offered, at a cost of about $10,000, at an exclusive private IVF facility, the Abraham Center of Life in San Antonio in Texas. Couples are offered the chance to buy embryos screened for hair and eye colour along with other characteristics and have them implanted.
Many ethicists have long complained that the use of IVF technology with pre implantation genetic diagnosis, combined with recent breakthroughs in understanding of human genetics, will lead to a nightmare “Brave New World” in which babies are made to order in labs and sold as commodities.
The Daily Mail reports that made-to-order embryos are being offered, at a cost of about $10,000, at an exclusive private IVF facility, the Abraham Center of Life in San Antonio in Texas. Couples are offered the chance to buy embryos screened for hair and eye color along with other characteristics and have them implanted.
The facility creates the embryos entirely in the lab with donated sperm and ova, boasting that sperm “donors” all hold PhD’s. Demand is high and there is a waitlist for white, blue eyed, blonde haired babies.
Centre director Jennalee Ryan responded to religious objections saying, “Jesus was not conceived in the normal way either. I don't lose any sleep over what we are doing.”
“We are helping couples and putting good genes back into the universe,” she said.
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Scientists Backtrack on Embryonic Research Claims:
Bait and Switch Reveals No Hope for Cures for 5 to 10 Years
August 15 2006 Peter J. Smith LifeSiteNews.com
UNITED STATES, Scientific researchers are now beginning the tedious task of altering the public’s expectations of the aims of human embryonic stem-cell research, deviating from the primary goals of providing stem-cell therapies to cure diseases. In what amounts to a bait and switch, these researchers, no longer promising immediate theoretical cures for a myriad of diseases desired by a desperate public, are now justifying the research by claiming that human embryonic cells are instead marvelous research tools for investigating the mechanisms of disease rather than actively curing them.
According to an article in the New York Times, a number of scientists have desired to continue medical research on human embryos, but admit that the idea of ready cures from embryonic stem-cell therapies, if possible in the first place, are years down the road, especially considering the inherent difficulties of developing stem-cells for therapeutic use. Instead these researches want to change the primary focus to drug research or learning about diseases through embryonic stem-cell experiments.
“Many of us feel that for the next few years the most rational way forward is not to try to push cell therapies,” said Dr. Jessell, a neurobiologist at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. Dr. Jessell hopes that embryonic stem-cell research will yield drugs for neurodegenerative diseases within the next five years, conceding that a long time must pass before stem-cell based therapies will be considered effective.
Another neurobiologist at Columbia University Medical Center, Dr. Henderson admitted, “We all thought cell therapy first, then many of us realized there were a lot of hurdles to be crossed before that.”
“Stem cell biology is just a rubric that applies to many things going on in biology,” said John D. Gearhart, a stem-cell expert at Johns Hopkins University. “I personally feel that the beauty of these cells is that we’ll learn a lot about human biology and disease processes, and that that information will be more important than the cells themselves.”
However, this latest admission validates the conviction of many scientists and bioethicists who have opposed embryonic stem-cell research on the grounds of the dearth of evidence proving any practical possibility of obtaining the promised cures from embryonic stem cells. Instead embryonic stem-cell research is seemingly being exposed as a playground for scientists pushing this new front in human experimentation.
In a previous interview with LifeSiteNews.com, Dr. Peter Hollands, who holds a PhD in Stem Cell Biology from Cambridge University in the UK, and had worked as a clinical embryologist at Bourn Hall Clinic - the world's first IVF unit said, "embryonic stem cells have yet to be used to treat any form of disease” and maintained that the real potential for cures exists in the use of adult stem-cells.
He added, “Adult and umbilical cord blood stem cells are readily available, have no objections associated with them and are tried and tested in clinical use. Umbilical cord blood stem cells, for example, have been used over 3000 times for 45 different diseases!"
However, funds that could advance real cures from ethical sources such as cord blood or adult stem-cells are siphoned off to embryonic stem-cell researchers, who whip up popular support among people through hollow promises of a medical panacea bought with the destruction of countless human beings.
David Kelly, a researcher and director of the Cures 1st Foundation, Inc. penned an article for the Seoul Times revealing that adult stem cells have consistently outperformed embryonic stem cells, which he indicated were “genetically unstable and function abnormally.” The recent statements from embryonic researchers justify for him his reasons for abandoning faith in embryonic stem-cell research in 2002: “a horrifying vision – the image of millions of desperate and trusting humans holding plates of hope to an empty sky.”
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Abstinence Works says New Study – Toronto AIDS Conference Silent
August 15 2006 Hilary White LifeSiteNews.com
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ORONTO, while delegates at this week’s International AIDS Conference in Toronto are being told that the only hope for stopping the AIDS crisis in Africa is more condoms, the National Post reports that abstinence-only education works best to reduce sexual activity in teens and therefore the rate of sexually transmitted disease.
In addition, despite the theories of AIDS activists, the University of Pennsylvania study’s authors found that abstinence-only education also did not seem to affect the rates at which sexually active teenagers use condoms.
Speakers at the Toronto conference have emphasized prevention over hope for a cure. The disease has resisted efforts at creating a vaccine, say medical researchers, and a wait for a cure could be a long one. But the Conference’s emphasis on prevention has avoided the idea of teaching people not to engage in promiscuous sexual activity. To suggest that such activity spreads sexually transmitted diseases seems to be beyond the pale for most international AIDS activists who emphasize the use of condoms.
The Post says, however, that a study of 662 African-American Grade 6 and 7 children found those taught an abstinence-only approach were less likely to have had sexual intercourse by a 24 months' follow-up. The study compared these students with those who were taught the “safer sex” doctrine emphasizing condom use without mention of abstinence.
The study also refutes one of the treasured theories of AIDS opponents that while abstinence education may delay the “sexual debut” of children, it reduces their use of condoms, which, it is alleged, leaves them open to disease. This argument was reiterated this week at the Toronto Conference by William J. Clinton. The former US president, famously uninterested in sexual continence himself, told delegates that abstinence-only education endangers children.
That only condoms and medical research will halt the spread of the disease is axiomatic in the international AIDS establishment. In actual practice, however, abstinence education has thus far been the only program in Africa that has significantly reduced the rate of HIV/AIDS. In the decades of the AIDS fight, the rate of HIV transmission has increased dramatically as more and more condoms are distributed by the mostly UN funded organizations.
In the history of the AIDS epidemic, the one country that did emphasize abstinence reduced its AIDS infection rate from 30% of the population to 6% in a matter of a few years. In 2004, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni told the International AIDS Conference in Bangkok that the emphasis on condoms was killing uncountable millions of Africans by encouraging them to sexual promiscuity and a false sense of security.
Museveni said that to fight AIDS, societies must strive for “optimal relationships based on love and trust instead of institutionalized mistrust which is what the condom is all about.”
The Ugandan abstinence program, however, was largely dismantled by international AIDS organizations infuriated that their condoms-and-promiscuity approach had been so dramatically repudiated in practice.
In 2005, when the Ugandan program was under threat, US researcher, Joseph D’Agostino wrote that it is the promoters of condoms who are endangering lives. “The UN's approach has failed, and its own statistics show it,” D'Agostino wrote. “HIV rates keep rising, to over 30% in some countries. Two decades of pornographic sex education and massive shipments of condoms have sent millions of young Africans to an early grave.”
Dr. Edward C. Green, PhD, an AIDS prevention worker and senior research scientist at the Harvard Center for Population and Development said it was jealousy that killed the successful Ugandan program. Green said the Ugandan success, based as it was on sexual abstinence and marital fidelity, “directly challenges core values and attitudes enshrined by the Western sexual revolution.”
“How infuriating that an approach not funded by the big donors and scoffed at by foreign experts should prove to be the very thing that worked,” Green wrote.
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Texas City Wants to Limit Churches
August 15 2006 staff reports Citizen Link
Other municipalities follow suit, hoping to save available land for commercial use.
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any cities would like to limit the number of churches and religious organizations allowed inside their borders. They'd rather keep the land for commercial purposes because businesses pay taxes -- and churches and most other ministries don't.
Stafford, Texas is one such city. It sits on 7 square miles of land and boasts 51 churches and religious groups. But city officials are taking steps to reserve the remaining land for commercial purposes.
"We have a limited amount of area left and we're certainly looking to get the most beneficial use out of that area," Mayor Leonard Scarcella said.
But Jonathan Saenz of the Liberty Legal Institute told Family News in Focus that it's against the law to discriminate based on religion.
"There's excellent federal law," he said, "that protects this type of right and there's numerous cases out there that stand for the principle that you cannot have government officials act out there directly discriminating against churches."
Compassion International in Colorado Springs, Colo., is adding on. That means more jobs and more taxpayers. Communications Director Jay Lees said it also means more impact.
"We're actively involved in schools and more than just teaching about Compassion," he said. "We can help create a relationship between students in the U.S. and students around the world."
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Media / Internet / Entertainment
Dell to recall 4.1M laptop batteries may short-circuit, overheat, causing a risk of smoke and/or fire
August 14 2006 AP / Yahoo News
Dell Inc. said Monday it will recall 4.1 million notebook computer batteries because they can overheat and catch fire. Dell negotiated conditions of the recall with the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission, 
which called it the largest electronics-related recall ever conducted by the agency.
A Dell spokesman said the batteries were made by Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news). and placed in notebooks that were shipped between April 1, 2004, and July 18 of this year.
"In rare cases a ‘short-circuit’ could cause the battery to overheat, causing a risk of smoke and/or fire," said the spokesman, Ira Williams. "It happens in rare cases, but we opted to take this broad action immediately."
The battery packs were included in some models of Dell's Latitude, Inspiron, XTS and precision mobile workstation notebooks. Dell planned to launch a Web site overnight that would describe the affected models. Williams said the Web site would tell how consumers to get free replacement batteries from Dell.
There have been numerous recent news reports about Dell laptops bursting into flames, and pictures of some of the charred machines have circulated on the Internet.
Dell, the world's largest maker of personal computers confirmed that two weeks ago, one of its laptops caught fire in Illinois, and the owner dunked it in water to douse the flames. Other reports have surfaced from as far away as Japan and Singapore.
Monday's move was at least the third recall of Dell notebook batteries in the past five years.
Dell recalled 22,000 notebook computer batteries last December after symptoms that were similar to those that prompted Monday's recall. The company also recalled 284,000 batteries in 2001.
Consumers with affected laptops should only run the machines on a power cord, said Scott Wolfson, a spokesman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The safety agency knows of 339 incidents in which lithium batteries used in laptops and cell phones — not just Dell products — overheated between 2003 and 2005, Wolfson said.
The list of incidents ranges from smoke and minor skin burns to actual injuries and property damage, Wolfson said.
Most of the incidents reported to the CPSC occurred around the home, but transportation-safety officials have become increasingly concerned about the threat of a laptop causing a catastrophic fire aboard a commercial jetliner.
For Dell, the recall comes as it battles other questions about quality and customer service.
Dell's sales have grown this year, but less rapidly, causing shares in the Round Rock the stock to lose nearly one-half their value in the past 52 weeks. The shares closed Monday — before news of the recall — at $21.24, up 17 cents on the Nasdaq Stock Market. They fell 24 cents in after-hours trading.
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Homeland Security department Warns about Microsoft Windows
August 10 2006 redherring.com
New MicroSoft Vulnerability Deemed National Security Risk
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or the first time, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued a warning recommending that Microsoft Windows users download the latest security patch to protect themselves against vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to remotely take control of their computers.
Without the patch, hackers can remotely install programs on a computer; view, change, and delete data; and create new user accounts with full user rights.
It wasn’t clear whether the warning, which was issued Wednesday, was in any way related to the terrorist airline plot that DHS and British authorities uncovered Thursday. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
More likely, though, the warning is a reflection of DHS’s efforts in combating a variety of threats to the nation’s critical infrastructure, which includes the Internet and the computers connected to it.
Microsoft issued the latest patch, known as Security Bulletin MS06-040, on Tuesday as part of its regular Patch Tuesday update program. The fixes included a dirty dozen different fixes, including nine that the Redmond software giant labeled as “critical.”
Home computer users can also update Windows via the Windows Update site and select the Express option to download any critical security fixes.
DHS’s U.S. Computer Security Readiness Team (US-CERT) has been working with Microsoft to minimize the impact of the vulnerability, but security vendors have already been seeing exploits popping up around the Internet to exploit any unpatched systems.
Avoiding another Blaster
DHS wants to avoid the kinds of widespread problems that occurred in 2003 when the MSBlast, or Blaster, worm circulated around the Internet. The latest vulnerabilities that have been uncovered have some resemblances to the problems that the earlier worm exploited.
Those involve a Windows service known as a remote procedure call that helps enable printer and file sharing. A further vulnerability occurs in the server service, which could be exploited by a hacker through a buffer overrun.
So far, 2006 has been a record year for Windows patches, with nearly as many critical vulnerabilities fixed this year as in 2004 and 2005 combined, according to
