Keep The Commandments Coalition

New Blog

2005-12-13T09:24:00.000-07:00

I'm now blogging under the banner of a new public policy organization, the Idaho Values Alliance. I serve the IVA as Executive Director.

You can access the new Blog by going to:

www.idahovaluesalliance.blogspot.com

If you'd like to receive daily emails that keep you abreast of societal issues in Idaho and how they intersect with larger trends in our culture, you can sign up by going to:

www.keepthecommandmentsidaho.com

Idaho Values Alliance Reception on Monday

2005-11-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

To sign up to receive these updates via email: www.keepthecommandmentsidaho.com

RECEPTION TO ANNOUNCE LAUNCH OF IDAHO VALUES ALLIANCE ON MONDAY

Don’t forget that you are invited to a reception on Monday night to announce the launch of a new pro-family public policy organization, the Idaho Values Alliance. It will be held at 7:00 PM at a beautiful new business building located at 9465 W. Emerald in Boise, between Maple Grove and Five Mile.

Please call my good friends Lin & Tereasa Waterman at 344-0028 if you’d like to attend.

BOISE CORONER’S INQUEST VERDICT CLEARLY CORRECT

The Judeo-Christian tradition grants civil authority the right to use deadly force where necessary in the interests of justice and the protection of innocent human life. The Apostle Paul says this: “If you do wrong, be afraid, for he (civil authority) does not bear the sword in vain.”

A Boise police officer was correctly cleared yesterday by a coroner’s inquest jury for shooting a teenage boy who was charging him with a rifle to which a bayonet was attached. Even liberal columnist Dan Popkey, who spent most of his column trashing the police we depend upon for our public safety, was forced to admit that the jury “got it right.”

We can all pray that this officer and his family will find peace, and that the family of the teenage boy will find comfort.

HOUSE APPEALS TO 9TH CIRCUIT TO REVISIT PARENTAL RULING

One of the bedrock principles we operate under is that the family is the fundamental unit of society. The right of parents to direct the education and upbringing of their children is a right that we must jealously guard against the encroachments of the state.

As I wrote you earlier, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued an egregious ruling that is a blatant example of judicial tyranny. They ruled that parents have “no fundamental right” to have any say over what kind of sex education their elementary school children receive, and that parents essentially forfeit all control over their children’s education when they step off the school bus.

The House of Representatives, by a 320-91, voted this week to direct the 9th Circuit to rehear that case. Debate over this resolution was “heated,” according to observers. That right there tells you why we need vigilant and pro-active pro-family groups. The most striking thing about the vote, as overwhelming as it was, is that there are 91 legislators who believe the state should have more control over what your children learn about sex than you do.

CONNECTION BETWEEN RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, ECONOMIC PROSPERITY

An editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal observes that, with only two exceptions, the nations who are the most intolerant of religious expression also have the worst scores on the annual Index of Economic Freedom published by the Heritage Foundation and the Journal.

We should be concerned about religious liberty not only for the simple reason that religious liberty is a God-given right, but also because it is best for the societies in which we live. The best thing we can do to ensure the continued economic prosperity of the United States is to counter the forces of religious repression and champion the cause of religious freedom.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110007564

CHURCH FINALLY WINS EQUAL ACCESS SUIT

One of the forms bias against Christianity takes in the U.S. is the refusal of some public agencies such as schools to make their facilities available to Christian groups and churches on the same basis their facilities are available to other groups. This, of course, is nothing more than straightforward religious discrimination and in direct violation of the First Amendment’s freedom of religion and speech clauses.

Yet churches find themselves time after time having to preserve in court what the Founding Fathers gave them in the Constitution 216 years ago. In what is being hailed as the biggest equal access win in two decades, a church in Brooklyn yesterday won a lawsuit that grants them access to school buildings on the same basis that every other group has.

Jordan Lorence, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, said people of faith "ought to be able to rent and use public school facilities just like everyone else."

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47458

WISCONSIN LEGISLATORS CHALLENGE UNIVERSITY BAN ON BIBLE STUDIES

I wrote you recently about a policy instituted by the University of Wisconsin Eau-Claire that prohibited resident assistants from leading Bible studies in their own dorm rooms on their own time.

Yesterday, 25 Wisconsin legislators submitted a letter to the state attorney general asking for an opinion on the constitutionality of this policy. The policy, of course, is in blatant violation of constitutional protections for both religion and speech.

Said one legislator, “They’re certainly going to great lengths to make certain that Christian Bible study is not allowed in dorm rooms. It appears to be a concerted effort by some in the UW administration to limit Christian free thought and that is unacceptable. The UW System administration is quickly becoming a laughingstock for anyone who seriously cares about free speech. We will continue to challenge this policy from every angle and if we have to write legislation to change it we will.”

http://badgerherald.com/news/2005/11/17/
legislators_request_.php

TARGET STORES STOCK DOWN 7%

Target Stores, a supporter of homosexual causes, has banned Salvation Army bell ringers from its stores, and is refusing to use “Merry Christmas” in any of its advertising or in-store promotions. As a consequence, the American Family Association has urged the pro-family community to boycott Target next Thanksgiving weekend.

USA Today revealed yesterday that Target “alarmed” investors by saying projected sales are off, which led to a drop of 7% in its stock price. Other stores which have banned the use of “Merry Christmas” include Costco, Wal-Mart, and Sears/K-mart.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47459

RATES OF HIV INFECTION UP SHARPLY AMONG HOMOSEXUALS

Society has a vested interest in what kind of sexual activity and intimate relationships it recognizes and endorses. One component of that vested interest is public health. It is best for everyone in a society if it encourages best and highest health practices and refuses to endorse behavior with clear health risks.

Public health is a relevant issue when we decide on public policies that have to do with homosexual behavior. The Centers for Disease Control reported yesterday that while rates of HIV infection are declining among heterosexuals and IV drug users, they rose 8% among the homosexual population, likely due to an increase in risky sexual behaviors.

According to the CDC, homosexuals account for 61% of all HIV cases among U.S males, while intravenous drug users account for another 17%. Homosexual males only comprise about 2% of the population, so their risk of contracting HIV is roughly 30 times as high as heterosexuals. The results of this study make clear that homosexual behavior poses the same kind of health risks posed by IV drug use.

We all agree that IV drug use is not something a society should endorse and promote and celebrate. It should be discouraged and remediated in every way possible. Common sense suggests that this is the same approach we should take to homosexual behavior.

By the way, rates of infection among blacks are much higher than among whites. The black community thus has perhaps a greater interest in discouraging homosexual behavior than anyone.

http://washingtontimes.com/national/
20051118-122021-1117r.htm

EXPERT WARNS THAT HIV/AIDS COULD ASSIST BIRD FLU EPIDEMIC

As a further example of the risk to public health posed by non-normative sexual behavior, a British flu expert warned yesterday that HIV/AIDS could assist in the worldwide spread of avian flu. This is because the weakened immune systems of AIDS victims cannot fight off the flu, and thus might harbor the flu virus long enough for it to mutate into a form than can be passed by human-to-human contact.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4444940.stm

"Merry Christmas" O.K., Even In Schools

2005-11-17T08:49:00.000-07:00

To sign up for daily email updates: www.keepthecommandmentsidaho.com

CHRISTMAS O.K. EVEN IN SCHOOLS

The Alliance Defense Fund has launched its third annual Christmas Project, to protect the right of the 96% of Americans who celebrate Christ’s birthday to acknowledge freely the history of this holiday, even in school. According to a Fox News poll taken in 2003, 87% of Americans believe that it should be permissible for nativity scenes to be displayed on public property.

Of course the left can’t have that, and insists on trying to impose its view of radical secularism on the rest of us through an activist judiciary. When a tiny minority dictates to everybody else, that’s not democracy at all but a form of tyranny.

EVEN SUPREME COURT SAYS CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS IS O.K.

The ADF makes the following points:

* The U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled that public schools must ban the singing of religious Christmas carols or prohibit the distribution of candy canes or Christmas cards.

* School officials may refer to a school break in December as "Christmas Vacation" or as a holiday without offending the Constitution.

* School officials do not violate the Constitution by closing on religious holidays such as Christmas and Good Friday.

* No court has ever held that celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas as religious holidays requires recognition of all other religious holidays.

(Source: CitizenLink, an online publication of Focus on the Family)

ACLU TARGETS LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO IN ONGOING CRUSADE OF RELIGIOUS REPRESSION

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) continues to seek to remove three crosses from the seal of Las Cruces, N.M. It makes absolutely no difference to the tolerance police that the very name of the city means “The Crosses.”

The plaintiffs say the presence of the crosses on the city seal amounts to religious persecution of non-Christians. One of them said, “The last time we saw crosses on a police uniform is the examples from Nazi Germany.” The city plans to fight to keep the logo.

I believe it will not be long before the ACLU begins to sue cities whose names have some kind of religious significance, such as Corpus Christi, which means “Body of Christ.” California would certainly be a target-rich environment with everything from “Los Angeles” (“The Angels”) and “San Francisco” potentially in the crosshairs.

LARRY ELDER SETS HISTORY STRAIGHT ON REPUBLICANS, DEMOCRATS, AND CIVIL RIGHTS

Conservatives stand for equal rights, equal protection, and equal justice under law, regardless of race, color, or creed. The left, on the other hand, often works to grant special, favored, protected status to politically correct groups and grant them rights and protections not enjoyed by others.

However, the common perception is that Democrats stand for minority rights, and Republicans don’t. Yet as Larry Elder points out in a column published today, history tells a much different story. It’s an important column as we head into Black History Month.

Highlights of his column:

~Following the Civil War, 23 blacks -- 13 of them ex-slaves -- were elected to Congress, all as Republicans. Democrats did not elect a black to Congress until 1935.

~Blacks founded the Texas Republican Party, in 1867.

~In 1865, 100% of Republican Congressmen voted for the 13th Amendment, which formally emancipated slaves; only 23% of Democratic legislators did so.

~Every Republican congressional vote was cast in 1868 for the 14th Amendment, which gave newly emancipated blacks full civil rights, while not a single Democratic congressman voted for it.

~The 15th Amendment guaranteed the right of blacks to vote. Every Republican congressman voted for it, every Democrat voted against it.

~The Ku Klux Klan was started by Democrats in 1872 to stop the spread of the Republican Party in the South.

~Democrats passed Jim Crow laws in southern states after Democrats took control of Congress in 1892 and repealed Republican-passed civil rights laws.

~In 1964, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act. While 80% of Republicans voted for it, only 64% of Democrats did so.

http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/larryelder/
2005/11/17/175888.html

SWEDISH STUDY LINKS ORAL SEX, HPV TO MOUTH CANCER

One reason, among many, why pro-family groups are such strong advocates of abstinence-only sex education is the health risk associated with sexual experimentation and multiple sexual partners. The only sure prevention against contracting an STD is abstinence before marriage and faithfulness after.

One of the most dangerous sexually transmitted diseases is caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). What Planned Parenthood does not want you to know is that condoms provide absolutely no protection against HPV, because it is transmitted by skin-to-skin contact rather than through an exchange of bodily fluids.

Perhaps one in five college coeds today have contracted HPV through sexual activity, and many do not know it. HPV is the leading cause of cervical cancer among women, and a leading cause of infertility.

Now a Swedish study indicates that certain cases of mouth cancer appear to be caused by this same virus, a virus that can be contracted during oral sex.

Mouth cancer is typically found in older men who are heavy smokers or drinkers. But researchers have discovered that this disease has been on the rise in recent years among young individuals, and, as a leading researcher said, “One could speculate that this virus (HPV) is one of the factors.”

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/11/16/
051116213750.jnfvcpbv.html

MEDIA BETRAYS PRO-LIFE VIEWS WHEN NOT WATCHING ITSELF

The media, when it is not consciously aware that it is dealing with the abortion issue, often inadvertently admits the humanity of unborn children. For instance, in stories about a pregnant teen shot in the stomach by her boyfriend, even left leaning publications like Time Magazine used terms like “unborn baby” or “unborn child.”

According to the Des Moines Register, hunters discovered skeletal remains in western Iowa, and officials said further tests would need to be run to determine of the remains are of an “infant” or a “fetus.” But as the Wall Street Journal points out, if a “fetus” is not a baby but just a clump of cells, how could anyone have trouble telling the difference?

The confusion did not stop officials from referring to it as a “child,” and a “baby,” whose “parents” needed to be located.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051116/NEWS01/51116001/1001/RSS01

Swedish Pastor Awaits Ruling

2005-11-16T11:18:00.000-07:00

To receive these udates via email: http://www.keepthecommandmentsidaho.com/

SWEDISH PASTOR TO KNOW FATE IN 3-4 WEEKS

In a sign of what will happen here in America if we do not stop hate crimes legislation in its tracks, a Swedish pastor faces up to 2 years in prison for simply teaching the Bible’s view of homosexuality in his own church.

Hate crimes laws are terrible laws because they criminalize thought, leaving us just one small step short of establishing re-education camps. And they create two classes of victims, some of which receive greater protection under the law than others. This violates the standard of equal justice under the law, which we affirm every time we repeat the Pledge of Allegiance.

As I mentioned in an earlier update, Pastor Green’s trial before Sweden’s supreme court was held last week. The proceedings were televised, and the entire nation, including Sweden’s Parliament, stopped to watch. Pastor Green was accused of violating the country’s “hate speech” law, to which sexual orientation was added in 2003.

The prosecutor showed open contempt for biblical Christianity, and at one point chastised Pastor Green for using a translation of the Bible that had not been updated to remove passages which homosexuals find offensive. He reluctantly conceded that it is still legal to publish the Bible in Sweden.

According to a poll, three out of four Swedes think Pastor Green should go to prison for his “crime” of preaching the uncensored gospel.

My friends, do not be deceived. What the gay lobby has done in Sweden, it seeks to do here. If we are not vigilant to protect our constitutional rights to freedom of religion and freedom of speech, we will see the tyrants of political correctness not only silence but punish those among us who dare to speak the truth about homosexual behavior.

(Source: Alliance Defense Fund online update)

FEINSTEIN: ALITO WON’T LET “PERSONAL VIEWS” AFFECT ROLE AS JUDGE

Diane Feinstein, after a private meeting with Sam Alito yesterday on his view of the Constitution and abortion, paraphrased his comments to her this way: “I don't give heed to my personal views. What I do is interpret the law.”

What’s most important about what Alito said in 1985 is that he was expressing his judicial philosophy, not his personal ethical view of abortion. He said that, in his judgment, the Constitution does not protect the right to an abortion.

But the reality is this is just as much a “personal view” as any other. We want judges with the “personal view” that the role of the judiciary is limited and needs to be restrained to applying the law rather than making the law.

Let’s hope Alito’s supporters don’t try too hard to finesse Alito’s 1985 statement, or explain it away. It should be declared without apology or defensiveness. You never see the left try a song and dance when they bring forward a pro-choice nominee. They trumpet that feature, advertise it, and make it the centerpiece of their advocacy. It’s time for conservatives to stop apologizing for nominees who express the very judicial philosophy we want to see on the bench.

http://insider.washingtontimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20051116-121615-8919r

VIRGINIA ANGLICAN CHURCH SECEDES FROM DIOCESE

In a clear indication of how far the liberal church in American has drifted from its roots in biblical theology, an Episcopalian church in Virginia has withdrawn from the Virginia diocese and affiliated itself with a diocese in Uganda, of all places.

The church withdrew because the Episcopalian church in Virginia supports the ordination of homosexuals to the priesthood and because its presiding bishop believes that the Resurrection of Christ is not historical but “conjectural.” The pastor said, “Our church upholds the authority of Scripture,…(and) can no longer compromise our faith by remaining under the spiritual and jurisdictional authority of the Episcopal Church and this diocese.”

The bishops of the Anglican church in Africa have remained fiercely loyal to the clear standards of the Scripture on homosexual behavior, and have resisted efforts from the Anglican and Episcopalian churches in the west to abandon biblical teaching on sexuality.

http://insider.washingtontimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20051116-121619-3330r

CANADIAN MAN TO BE CHARGED WITH MURDER FOR INFECTING SEXUAL PARTNERS WITH AIDS

One of the reasons we promote abstinence before marriage and fidelity after has to do with public health. There are simply unacceptable health risks connected to unrestrained sexual license.

For instance, in Canada an HIV-positive man is now facing murder charges after two women with whom he had unprotected sex died. He had not informed them of his diagnosis. In Canada, a man can be charged with aggravated sexual assault if he has unprotected sex with a partner without disclosing his health status.

The fact that the sex was consensual will, according to a legal expert, have no bearing on the case. He likened it to a restaurant patron eating food secretly poisoned by the chef. The fact that the diner consented to eat the food would be no defense.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/
CTVNews/20051114/hivpositive_trial_051114/20051115?hub=C

FOUNDING FATHER QUOTE OF THE DAY

"And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God?"

--Thomas Jefferson

Supreme Court Upholds "In God We Trust"

2005-11-15T09:24:00.000-07:00

To sign up to receive updates via email: http://www.keepthecommandmentsidaho.com/

ADDITIONAL NOTE ON THE IDAHO VALUES ALLIANCE

Many of you who receive these updates via a Yahoo email account did not receive yesterday’s update. In it, I described the formation of a new public policy organization, the Idaho Values Alliance.

The IVA will work to defend religious liberty, the sanctity of the family, the sanctity of life, and to restrain judicial activism. You are invited to a reception to announce the formation of this new organization next Monday night, November 21, at 7:00 PM at the beautiful new VideoEye building located at 9465 Emerald in Boise (between Maple Grove and Five Mile.)

If you would like to attend, please RSVP to my good friends Lin and Tereasa Waterman (344-0028).

If you’d like to read more about the IVA, you can access yesterday’s update by going to the KCC Blog at http://www.kccidaho.blogspot.com/ and reading yesterday’s post.

SUPREME COURT DECIDES IN FAVOR OF “IN GOD WE TRUST”

According the Associated Press, the U.S. Supreme Court declined yesterday to hear an appeals case seeking to remove the words "In God We Trust" from the side of a Lexington, N.C., government building.

Although as supporters of the national motto, we would have liked a Supreme Court precedent, the action does leave in place a lower court ruling that protected this public display of our nation’s motto. This decision should also make Michael Newdow’s suit against the presence of the motto on our currency and coinage more difficult to win.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/11/14/national/w135320S59.DTL

HARD LEFT LAUNCHES ATTACKS ON ALITO

Predictably, the hard left launched aggressive attacks yesterday against Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, who said in 1985, “the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion.”

The best thing about Alito’s statement is that it reflects his judicial philosophy and thinking about the Constitution.

Roe v. Wade has been criticized as bad law or poor reasoning not only by conservatives but also by such liberal icons as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Harvard law professors Alan Dershowitz and Laurence Tribe and New Republic legal writer Jeffrey Rosen.

Ginsburg was confirmed by a 96-3 vote despite the fact that, as former head of the ACLU, she advocated for the legalization of polygamy and prostitution and for lowering the age of consent to age 12. She also was in favor of abolishing Mother’s Day.

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20051115-123456-9700r.htm

BERKELY HIGH SCHOOL PERMITS “CONDOM CLUB”

A high school in the Bay Area hosts a “Condom Club” that offers 12 free condoms to every student who signs up. The club was advertised in the Student Daily Bulletin and several times over school loudspeakers.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47399

TRADITIONAL WEDDING PAINTING REMOVED AS “OFFENSIVE”

Couples looking to tie the knot in Liverpool, England, no longer have an image of a traditional marriage overseeing their wedding, as the painting has been deemed potentially offensive to homosexual couples. (The offensive photo is at left.)

Starting Dec. 21, same-sex weddings, officially termed civil partnerships, will allow homosexual couples to sign documents in front of a registrar and witnesses, and have new pension and inheritance rights.

The old paintings have been replaced with portraits of Victorian landscapes. But not everyone was offended. Even Kevin Smith, a homosexual man who "married" his partner Hamilton de Oliveira told the paper, "Putting a landscape up is ludicrous, we're not offended by scenes of a heterosexual couple. We're not in the Stone Age."

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47384

SAUDI JAILED MERELY FOR DISCUSSING BIBLE

A Saudi newspaper reported yesterday that a court sentenced a teacher to 40 months in prison and 750 lashes for "mocking religion" after he discussed the Bible and praised Jews. The flogging will be in public.

Part of the legacy of the Judeo-Christian tradtion in American is the preservaton of religious lbierty. In Saudi Arabia, however, the public practice of any religion other than Islam is illegal. Only Muslims can be Saudi citizens, proselytizing for any religion other than Sunni Islam is barred, and conversion to Christianity from Islam is punishable by death. Mecca, Islam's holy city, is forbidden to all non-Muslims.

This religious repression extends even to Americans on Saudi soil. For example, U.S. postal and customs officials have been barred in the past from mailing materials “contrary to the Islamic faith,” including Bibles. The U.S. military has in the past required female service members to wear a long, black robe called an abaya when traveling off base in Saudi Arabia. Both regulations were rescinded or clarified after public outcry based on reporting in the U.S. media.

We have reason to thank God every day that we live in a country where the freedom to worship God according to the dictates of individual conscience is a precious constitutional right.

http://washingtontimes.com/world/20051114-015138-3548r.htm

POLYAMORY ON THE RISE

Once a culture abandons an understanding, both in culture and in law, that marriage should not be reserved for the union of one man and one woman, there is no logical place for that process to stop. Family advocates have predicted for years that once the one man-one woman threshold was breached, virtually every possible variant of domestic arrangements would clamor for recognition.

A story in an English newspaper yesterday describes the rise of what is called “polyamory,” literally, “many loves.” Those who practice polyamory carry on sexually and supposedly emotionally intimate relationships with multiple partners, all at the same time. All partners are aware of these additional relationships.

What the Judeo-Christian tradition regards as adultery and sexual immorality is now being touted as the latest advance in the family. The confusion this will create in the minds of children forced to grow up in these households is hard to overestimate.

Meanwhile, the major newspaper in Norway reports that authorities with a rise in the number of married Norwegian men who go to countries where bigamy and/or polygamy is legal, take additional wives, and return to Norway to resume life there.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/
international/story/0,6903,1641431,00.html

GLOBAL WARMING ON MARS

According the Limbaugh Letter, NASA is now reporting that the polar ice caps on Mars are receding. No explanation yet from environmentalists as to how earth-bound SUV’s are responsible.

NEW JERSEY SEARCHES FOR STATE SLOGAN

After spending $260,000 with a public relations firm to get a slogan it shelved one day before it was to be unveiled, New Jersey is asking citizens to suggest a new slogan for the state. The best one so far: “New Jersey: Most of Our Elected Officials Have Not Been Indicted."

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/11/14/D8DSI0UG6.html

CORRECTION

Yesterday’s update included a story of Muslim-on-Christian violence inspired by a false report that a Christian had burned a Koran. The incident took place in Pakistan, not in India. My apologies for the error.

FOUNDING FATHER QUOTE OF THE DAY

"A Republic must either preserve its virtue or lose its liberty... Whoever is an avowed enemy of God, I scruple not to call him an enemy of his country." – Rev. John Witherspoon

(Witherspoon was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, president of Princeton, and taught nine of the men who wrote the Constitution, including James Madison.)

Announcing Formation of The Idaho Values Alliance

2005-11-14T06:07:00.000-07:00

Monday, November 14, 2005

To sign up for these email updates: http://www.keepthecommandmentsidaho.com/

ANNOUNCING FORMATION OF THE IDAHO VALUES ALLIANCE

Over the course of the fall, in many conversations with friends, local business leaders, legislators, and others across the country who work in the arena of family public policy, I’ve received unanimous encouragement to begin a new public policy council here in Idaho that will continue and extend the work we have been doing with the Keep the Commandments Coalition.

Our Founding Fathers understood that our rights, including the right to the free exercise of religion and the right to free speech, belong to us because they are gifts to us from the God who created us. Because of this, these rights are “inalienable” – that is, no man and no government has the legitimate authority to take them from us.

In order to protect these rights here in Idaho, we are forming a brand-new public policy organization, the Idaho Values Alliance.

PRE-LAUNCH RECEPTION NEXT MONDAY EVENING

A pre-launch reception to introduce this new organization and its mission will be held next Monday night, November 21, at 7:00 PM. This reception will take place in a beautiful new business center located at 9465 Emerald in Boise (between Maple Grove and Five Mile). You are invited to attend. If you can come, please RSVP my good friends Lin & Tereasa Waterman at (208) 344-0028.

Former Congressman Helen Chenoweth-Hage has written a very gracious letter of invitation to this reception. If you would like to receive her letter of invitation, please reply to this email and include your mailing address and we’ll see that you receive one.

The mailing address for the new organization:

The Idaho Values Alliance
PO Box 44873
Boise, ID 83711

You may also reach me by phone at (208) 841-2546. You can continue to contact me at this email address until the new IVA website, which we are in the process of building, is up and running. I’ll let you know when the website is up.

MISSION OF THE IDAHO VALUES ALLIANCE

The work of the IVA will have five goals in carrying out its mission:

1. Promote and defend our God-given rights to life and liberty.

The IVA will provide ongoing education for Idahoans in understanding our nation’s history, and how to apply the foundational principles of our Judeo-Christian heritage to contemporary public policy issues. We believe the principles of faith, family, and freedom are central to our security and prosperity as a people, and the IVA will work to promote these values in our public life in Idaho.

2. Promote and defend religious liberty and the public acknowledgement of God.

The need for this is evident in light of Michael Newdow’s declared intention this week to file suit to remove “In God We Trust” from U.S. currency and coinage. The IVA will work on behalf of religious liberty whenever and wherever it comes under attack in Idaho.

3. Restrain judicial activism.

Activist judges right here in Idaho have denied you and me the right to vote on our Ten Commandments initiative, have thrown out Idaho’s parental consent law, and have forbidden the Boise Rescue Mission to carry out its ministry in the way it thinks is best. One of the things the IVA will seek to develop are voters’ guides for judicial elections so Idahoans will be able to cast intelligent votes at all levels, right up to the state supreme court level.

4. Promote and defend the sanctity of marriage and the family.

The gay lobby is actively working to legalize gay marriage and its imitators, such as civil unions. The IVA will work for a state marriage amendment that will define marriage and prohibit recognition of counterfeits, and work in general for public policies that will protect and strengthen Idaho families. We believe strong families are the cornerstone of a healthy society.

5. Promote and defend the sanctity of life.

Our Founding Fathers declared that the first of our “inalienable rights” is the right to life. The IVA will work alongside other pro-life groups to develop public polices that will reduce the number of abortions in Idaho and bring us to the place where, as President Bush has often said, we live in a country and state where every child is welcomed in life and protected in law.

I will lay out more of the vision for the IVA in this week’s updates.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS COALITION

The KCC has been an all-volunteer organization to this point. With the IVA, we hope to create a financial foundation strong enough to enable me to devote my full energies to the task. We hope to have sufficient resources in place so that I may be able to have a consistent presence right away at the Idaho legislature, which meets for the first time on January 9.

Following the legislative session, my focus and the focus of the IVA will shift to building a statewide network and producing statewide voters’ guides for both the primary election in May and the general election in November. In between, we will do the daily work of keeping Idahoans abreast of contemporary developments in public policy through these email updates, which will you will receive under the banner of the IVA.

I plan to continue my involvement with the KCC at least until our Ten Commandments initiative controversy is resolved here in Boise. If we prevail before the Idaho State Supreme Court in December, I will work under the banner of the KCC to promote the election that will be held on our initiative, and, if we prevail at the ballot box, to oversee the building of a new Ten Commandments display in Julia Davis Park.

Once the Ten Commandments initiative controversy is resolved, the Executive Committee of the KCC, of which I am a part, will decide the future of the KCC.

I’ll talk more about the mission and vision of the IVA over the course of this week, and would be glad to respond to any questions you may have. Now on to today’s news update.

ALITO IN 1985 PAPER: “CONSTITUTION DOES NOT PROTECT A RIGHT TO AN ABORTION”

In a 1985 document produced by Samuel Alito, when he was applying for a position with the Reagan administration, he wrote that he believed quite strongly that the “Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion.” This is significant because it speaks directly to his judicial philosophy and his understanding of the how the Constitution applies to the sanctity of life issue.

As a federal judge, Alito felt bound to respect Supreme Court precedent. But as a sitting Justice, he will be establishing precedent, which can and does occasionally involve overturning previous Supreme Court rulings and establishing new precedents for lower courts to follow.

The Court did this in 2003, when it reversed itself on the issue of state sodomy laws. In 1986, the Court ruled that laws against sodomy were constitutional, and in 2003 they ruled they weren’t. If a precedent on sodomy laws can be reversed, there is no reason why a precedent on abortion (Roe v. Wade) cannot be reversed.

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20051114-015136-2101r.htm

NEWDOW TO GO AFTER “IN GOD WE TRUST”

As expected, Michael Newdow, the atheist who has challenged the presence of “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, announced his intention last week to file suit against the phrase, “In God We Trust” on U.S. currency and coinage.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47387

VOICES OF TOLERANCE STRIKE AGAIN (Source: Focus on the Family)

Those who claim to the models of tolerance often prove to be far more intolerant than the people they accuse. Such was the case in Minnesota on Friday, as a meeting of 300 pastors to discuss support of a marriage amendment was disrupted by homosexual protestors and a bomb threat.

Last month, 1,000 angry protestors shouted profanities at those attending a conference on escaping the homosexual lifestyle. On Monday of this week, gay activists invaded the offices of the Family Research Council, and chained themselves to a sculpture in the lobby as a form of protest.

But perhaps the most significant thing of all about the Minneapolis event is that it reveals that there are at least 300 pastors in Minnesota who are willing to step out and lead their congregations and their entire state in an effort to protect natural marriage. Pastors at this meeting signed a pledge that they will teach about the biblical view of marriage, and circulate petitions that support the amendment.

http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/
features/2005/11/10_zdechlikm_marriage/

NATIONAL PRO-LIFE SPEAKER GUEST AT IDAHO CHOOSES LIFE BANQUET

Jim Sedlak, founder and executive director of STOPP (Stop Planned Parenthood) will be this year’s guest at the annual Idaho Chooses Life banquet on December 9. Mr. Sedlak has been a guest on radio programs hosted by Dr. Laura Schlesinger, D. James Kennedy, and many others. For more information, call 344-8709 or send an email to director@IdahoChoosesLife.org.

ACTIVIST COURT IGNORES LAW, ALLOWS 17 YEAR OLD TO PURSUE ABORTION

The sanctity of life is one of the primary areas of civic life impacted by activist judges, who are bent on imposing their view of this issue on the rest of us, no matter what our elected representatives say.

As an example, a three-judge panel in Florida ignored a law that just went into effect on June 30, and issued a ruling allowing a 17-year-old girl to get an abortion without notifying her parents. This is despite the fact that the girl herself acknowledges that she has a good relationship with her parents, who are Catholic and pro-life.

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/florida/MGBNTF5FWFE.html

PENNSYLVANIA SHOWS JUDGES CAN BE VOTED OUT OF OFFICE

As in Idaho, most judges in Pennsylvania face retention elections. That is, their name is the only one on the ballot, and if they receive more than 50% of the vote, they retain their seat on the bench. It’s a system that obviously heavily favors incumbents, and turning a judge out of office was virtually unheard of in Pennsylvania politics – until last Tuesday.

For the first time in memory, a sitting state supreme court justice was turned out of office. The issue in Pennsylvania had to do with seething voter anger over state legislators voting themselves and judges hefty pay raises.

The lesson for us in Idaho is that removal of activist judges at the state supreme court level and below is possible at the ballot box. Federal judges must be impeached, and so they are beyond our direct control. But judges in our state system are elected, and thus can be voted out of office just as easily as they can be voted in. The pro-family community in Idaho must work on giving Idahoans enough information about sitting judges to cast an informed vote about judges as well as legislators.

http://www.stateline.org/live/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=136&languageId=1&contentId=67343

NEBRASKA WILL PROSECUTE SEXUAL PREDATORS

Prosecution is one way to deal with older males who prey sexually on underage females. Officials in Nebraska discovered that older males fathered 90 children with girls 15 and under in that state between 2000 and 2004. To its credit, Nebraska is now beginning to prosecute these men for violating state law.

As a side note, it’s worth remembering that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsburg believes the age of consent for sexual intercourse should be lowered to age 12. In other words, if a 21-year-old male seduces your 13-year-old daughter, she doesn’t want you to be able to do a thing about it.

http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2005/11/11/
local/doc4373e19d2ad8e586627714.txt

MUSLIM VIOLENCE CONTINUES IN FRANCE

Despite the old media’s efforts to convince you that violence in France has virtually disappeared, violence has continued for 17 straight nights. On Friday night alone, 502 cars were torched, and 206 rioters were arrested, bringing the two-week total to 2,440. French officials banned virtually all public meetings over the weekend.

In Paris alone, 3000 police officers fanned out all over Paris to counter anticipated weekend attacks, and arson attacks were counted in 163 towns around the country. Amazingly, the national police chief said, “We (have) returned to an almost normal situation” in the Paris region, as only 374 cars were torched on Saturday night/Sunday morning. (The average, unbelievably, is about 100 cars on a Saturday night.)

Germany, Belgium, Holland, and even Switzerland saw smaller though similar acts of violence over the weekend.

The old media continues to obscure the fact that the rioters are almost exclusively Muslims. The AP article I’ve linked below does not mention the word Muslim even once.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20051113/D8DRPC500.html

MUSLIM VIOLENCE AGAINST CHRISTIANS IN INDIA

According to Asia News, organized Muslim violence was launched against Christians in India on Saturday, triggered by a false report that a Christian had burned copies of the Koran.

Some 2,000 organized Muslims vandalized three churches, a nuns' convent, two Catholic schools, the houses of a Protestant pastor and a Catholic priest, a girls' hostel and some Christian homes. Approximately 450 Christian families were forced to flee. One of the churches targeted was a Presbyterian church, another was a Catholic church, and the third was a Salvation Army church.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47380

Statesman Runs Column on Church-State Separation

2005-11-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

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COLUMN IN TODAY’S IDAHO STATESMAN ON CHURCH-STATE SEPARATION

Today’s Idaho Statesman carries a column I wrote on the separation of church and state. The ACLU and other left-leaning groups have so distorted this term it has come to mean the opposite of what Thomas Jefferson meant when he wrote it in the first place.

In Jefferson’s thinking, the wall of separation was a wall that prevented the state from interfering with the church, or dictating belief or practice to the church. Jefferson did not intend in the least to insulate the state from the influence of the church, or to eliminate all mention of God from public life. His own life and conduct in office clearly prove this.

My column appears below the fold on the opinion page. Above the fold, the Statesman editorial board shows that they have bought into the ACLU’s distortion by insisting that the Boise Rescue Mission personnel must be prevented, by government action, from carrying out its ministry in the way they think best.

The Statesman agrees with Lynn Winmill, a notoriously activist federal judge, that the state should be allowed to dictate to the Rescue Mission what it may and may not be allowed to do in carrying out its mission. This intrusion of the state into the affairs of the church and Christian ministry is the very thing that Jefferson’s wall was intended to prevent.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051111/NEWS0503/511110330/1055

BRANDT AS WELL AS SALI VOTED FOR MARRIAGE AMENDMENT

I mentioned in an earlier update that Rep. Bill Sali, a current candidate for Congress, voted twice for a marriage amendment to the Idaho constitution. Another candidate in this same race, Sen. Skip Brandt, two years ago voted twice to call the marriage amendment from Sen. Sheila Sorenson’s drawer. Sen. Sorenson, also a candidate for 1st CD, single-handedly killed that amendment. Sen. Brandt also voted for last year’s proposed amendment on the senate floor.

WAL-MART STICKS BY “HAPPY HOLIDAYS” INSTEAD OF “MERRY CHRISTMAS”

When this year’s Christmas season rolls around, you might want to make a point of saying “Merry Christmas” when you check out of your local Wal-Mart, and see what the cashier says in return. Wal-Mart yesterday said it is standing by its policy of encouraging employees to use the term “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas” in the run-up to December 25. If the cashier is the first to speak, and says “Happy Holidays,” why not respond with “Merry Christmas!” or “Have a great Christmas!” instead?

If you happen to be shopping at a Wal-Mart before Thanksgiving, you might think about asking for the manager and telling him that you hope Wal-Mart will reconsider its position, and openly encourage its workers to recognize the Christian origins of the holiday season. “Holiday,” by the way, literally means “holy day.”

WAL-MART REVISES WEBSITE IN RESPONSE TO COMPLAINTS

Until yesterday, Wal-Mart’s website made it harder to find Christmas items than to find items for black and Jewish holidays. If the word “Hanukkah” was entered, 200 items for sale were returned. The term “Kwanzaa” (a manufactured holiday, by the way, that did not even exist until it was invented in the 1960s) yielded 77. But when “Christmas” was entered, the message returned said: "We've brought you to our 'Holiday' page based on your search."

In order to access the catalogue of Christmas items, shoppers would then have to click on a second link. In response to complaints from the Catholic League, Wal-Mart redesigned its web page yesterday so shoppers are now taken directly to the Christmas section of the online catalogue.

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47358

SAN DIEGO WILL FIGHT JUDGE’S ORDER TO REMOVE CROSS

A single San Diego judge, in a raw exercise of judicial overreach, on Oct. 7 overturned an initiative passed by 75% of voters that was designed to protect a cross overlooking the city on Mt. Soledad. The city yesterday decided they will fight this judicial tyranny in court.

What a novel thing: a city council that encourages its citizens to vote on an initiative, instead of blocking their right to vote, and then commits itself to upholding the will of the people rather than denying them even a chance to be heard!

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47338

ALABAMA STATE SCHOOL BOARD KEEPS EVOLUTION DISCLAIMER

In a victory for academic freedom and inquiry, the Alabama State Board of Education yesterday unanimously decided to continue to post disclaimers in biology books that describe evolution as a “controversial theory,” and that any statement about the origin of life is “not fact.”

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9995564/

DOWN’S BABIES ABORTED

I’ve mentioned before that advances in prenatal testing have enabled parents to identify genetic anomalies in their children while they are still in the womb. Currently, about eighty percent of babies who are diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted. We’re killing disabled children before they’re even born.

Now a new and improved test has been created by the Royal College in Dublin, financed by $15 million of your tax dollars and mine. Said the spokesman for the College, “Women who would opt to terminate a pregnancy based on the results would be able to do so much earlier, when abortion is less risky and less traumatic.”

As Tony Perkins of FRC comments, “Notice that they don't call abortion ‘risky’ and ‘traumatic’ when they are defending partial-birth abortion.” Plus, every abortion is “risky” and “traumatic” for an unborn baby.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/17/AR2005101701311_pf.html

MUSLIM VIOLENCE IN EUROPE

As Gary Bauer points out in his briefing of yesterday, the violence in Europe is not the product of Europe’s inability to assimilate Muslims, but rather the deliberate, willful refusal of Muslims to integrate into the host culture.

Gary Bauer quotes the leader of the Arab European League: “We reject integration when it leads to assimilation. I don’t believe in a host country. We are at home here and whatever we consider our culture to be also belongs to our chosen country. I’m in my country, not the country of the Westerners.”

A German Muslim leader, quoted by author Tony Blankley, put it more bluntly:
“Germany is an Islamic country. Islam is in the home, in schools. Germans will be outnumbered. We [Muslims] will say what we want. We’ll live how we want. It’s outrageous that Germans demand we speak their language. Our children will have our language, our laws, our culture.”

In Islam, infidels – Christians and Jews primarily – are given only three choices: conversion, submission, or war. There is no concept of peaceful co-existence or religious toleration in classic Islam.

SAUDI ARABIA TO U.S. MUSLIMS: DON’T ASSIMILATE

Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious Freedom, in a story reported in the Army Times, testified Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee that the government of Saudi Arabia is distributing books and pamphlets all across the United States that offer instruction on how to “build a wall of resentment” between Muslims and infidels (that’s you and me).

The book goes on to give these instructions to Muslims who live here: “Never greet the Christian or Jew first. Never congratulate the infidel on his holiday. Never befriend an infidel unless it is to convert him. Never imitate the infidel. Never work for an infidel.”

So much for American as a “melting pot,” and so much for the American motto, “E Pluribus Unum” – “Out of Many, One.”

http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1232073.php

KCC IN THE NEWS

Dan Popkey quoted from the KCC Blog in his post-election column on Wednesday of this week.

HOW MUCH WOULD YOU PAY FOR $24 MILLION DOLLAR SCULPTURE?

I said yesterday I was curious to know how much you would be willing to pay for the sculpture that sold this week for $24 million dollars. Here are some sample responses:

“I'd pay ZERO! My 5 year old grandson builds stuff with his Lincoln Logs that looks better than this.”

“I could build something better with leftover boxes lying around the house.”

“Harrison has built a similar sculpture with his wooden building blocks.
Maybe I should call Sotheby's?”

UC Berkeley: Preschool Harms Children

2005-11-10T09:18:00.000-07:00

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HOME ENVIRONMENT BEST FOR PRESCHOOL KIDS

We believe that parents are the best caregivers young children can have, and that policies that make it possible for Moms to be primary caregivers for their young children are good public policies. Policies that force kids into preschool programs and tax burdens that drive both parents into the workplace make poor public policy because of their negative impact on families and children.

A new study released by Cal Berkeley, not exactly a bastion of pro-family thought, confirms this. The study, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, found that preschool attendance actually harms kids’ emotional and social development, and increases the number of behavioral problems they experience. The effect, interestingly enough, was most pronounced among kids from wealthy families.

The study’s co-author said, “The report's a bit sobering for governors and mayors…who are getting behind universal preschool.”

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47322

TRIAL OF SWEDISH PASTOR CARRIED LIVE ON NATIONWIDE TV

In an unusual move, audio broadcasts from the trial of a Swedish pastor before Sweden’s Supreme Court were carried live yesterday. This pastor could be incarcerated for two years for violating Sweden’s draconian hate crimes law. His offense? Teaching the biblical view of homosexuality in his own church. It could be several weeks before a ruling is issued.

Europe shows us where we ourselves are headed as a nation if we do not reverse course. Unassimilated Muslim youth have launched an intifada in France, Brussels, and Germany we thought we’d only see in Israel. At the same time, Europe is rejecting its Judeo-Christian tradition and punishing those who speak openly in defense of a biblical worldview.

Europe has spent decades embracing Islam and rejecting Christianity. For example, there is reason to believe that in England there are now more people praying in mosques on Friday than praying in churches on Sunday. Europe is now tasting the bitter fruit of turning its back on the traditions and values that made it great.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20051109/D8DOV1603.html

SCHOOL BOARD RESTORES RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS

We’ll do our best to keep you abreast of the all-out assaults the ACLU and other groups will make on Christmas observances in schools this year. There, of course, is simply no constitutional problem with the celebration of Christmas with a capital “C,” as the First Amendment contains guaranteed protection for both freedom of religion and freedom of speech.

As Mat Staver of the Liberty Counsel said, “The founding fathers never intended the First Amendment to be used as a weapon against the celebration of Christmas.”

I wrote you earlier about a school board in Florida that banned Judeo-Christian religious holidays from the school calendar under pressure from Muslim groups. After coming under nationwide criticism, the board reversed itself Tuesday night and restored days off for students on Yom Kippur, Good Friday, and the day after Easter.

The school board received over 3,500 emails from ordinary citizens in its own district and from around the nation. Twenty four patrons spoke at Tuesday night’s meeting, including one Mom who scolded the board: “You forgot our Creator who created you… You ain't the boss. We are. We voted you in. You've got to change your mind.” The school board got the message.
Keep your eyes and ears open, and let us know of any instances where you observe an apparent bias against the observance of Christmas.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47323

NEWLY RELEASED BOOK: WMDS WERE FOUND IN IRAQ

According to Human Events Online, a newly released book, Disinformation, by New York Times bestselling author Richard Miniter reports that, contrary to what we continue to hear from the old media, WMDS have in fact been found in Iraq.

Human Events summary says that Miniter details the discovery of 1.77 metric tons of enriched uranium, 1,500 gallons of chemical weapons, roadside bombs loaded with sarin gas, 1,000 radioactive materials that could be used in dirty bombs, and 17 chemical warheads, some containing a nerve gas five times more powerful than sarin.

http://www.humaneventsonline.com/sarticle.php?id=10101&o=DIB004

BONUS ITEM: WHAT $24 MILLION OF ART LOOKS LIKE

This sculpture was sold for $24 million at auction this week.

Brandi Swindell Suffers Tough Loss

2005-11-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

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BRANDI SWINDELL SUFFERS TOUGH LOSS

Despite running a well-planned and well-executed campaign that mobilized dozens and dozens of volunteers, Brandi Swindell was defeated yesterday in her bid to unseat Boise City Council incumbent Maryanne Jordan.

Brandi knew going into the race that, despite the fact she had articulated positions on the dozen issues the city will face in the near future, the opposition would try to tag her as a one-issue candidate and a religious zealot. These were the themes in many of the letters to the editor that appeared in the Idaho Statesman in the run-up to the election. A five-week campaign probably just did not give her quite enough time to overcome that perception.

On the plus side, Jerome Mapp, who was the president of the council when the Ten Commandments monument was removed from Julia Davis Park, lost his seat to Jim Tibbs, who was openly critical of the council’s failure to listen to its citizens during that controversy. Our congratulations to Mr. Tibbs, who should make a fine city councilman.

MARRIAGE AMENDMENT PASSES OVERWHELMINGLY IN TEXAS

In a victory for the protection of families and children, Texas became the 19th state to amend its state constitution yesterday to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The amendment received an overwhelming 76% of the vote. The decisive victory came in spite of a deceptive campaign by gay activists to convince pro-family voters that a “No” vote was necessary to protect marriage.

A leader of Texans for Marriage said, “Texans know that marriage is between a man and a woman, and children deserve both a mom and a dad. They don't need a PhD or a degree in anything else to teach them that.” Perhaps this result will further persuade Idaho legislators that standing on the side of natural marriage in next year’s session is not only the right thing to do but a stance that resonates with the great majority of their constituencies.

VICTORY FOR ACADEMIC FREEDOM IN KANSAS

In a victory for academic freedom, the Kansas State Board of Education yesterday approved new science standards that raise questions about the unproven theory of evolution and encourage students to explore the evidence that molecular biology and the fossil record provide for the theory of intelligent design.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9967813/

SWEDISH PASTOR TO JAIL FOR SERMON ON HOMOSEXUALITY?

The fundamental problem with hate crimes laws is that they criminalize thought instead of behavior, and repress freedom of speech and religion by punishing anyone who dares to criticize homosexual behavior as non-normative. If we do not defeat hate crimes laws, what is happening in Sweden could soon happen here.

A Swedish pastor appears today before Sweden’s Supreme Court and could be sent to jail for two years for delivering a straightforward exposition in his own church of the Scripture’s teaching about homosexuality. The mere fact that this man risks imprisonment for simply teaching the Bible shows how quickly freedom of speech and religion are vanishing in Europe.

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0038518.cfm

THREE-YEAR PRISON TERM FOR DISTRIBUTING BIBLES

In a story that further illustrates how precious the constitutional right to the free exercise of religion is, three Chinese citizens were sent to prison yesterday for the crime of distributing Bibles and other Christian literature.

President Bush will be in China Nov. 19-21, and promised yesterday that he will remind China’s president of “my personal faith and the belief that people should be allowed to worship freely.” He correctly told a roundtable of Asian journalists that, “A vibrant, whole society is one that recognizes that certain freedoms are inherent and need to be part of a complete society.”

The U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom lists China as one of the eight most repressive regimes in the world. The report said, “Security officials used threats, demolition of unregistered property, extortion, interrogation, detention, and at times beatings and torture to harass leaders of unauthorized groups and their followers.”

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20051109-122418-9246r.htm

2005-11-08T09:05:00.000-07:00

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DAY OF DECISION – TURNOUT CRUCIAL IN BOISE CITY COUNCIL RACE

Boise citizens today will have the opportunity to replace two city council members who voted to remove the Ten Commandments from Julia Davis Park. Brandi Swindell, who serves as the co-director of the Keep the Commandments Coalition, is running against Maryanne Jordan, and Jim Tibbs is challenging Jerome Mapp, who was president of the council when the monument was taken out of the park.

Both Ms. Swindell and Mr. Tibbs believe that their opponents exercised poor civic leadership in removing the monument, turning down the offer of free legal help to defend it, refusing to hold public hearings on the matter, and blocking the right of Boiseans to vote on an initiative that would return the Ten Commandments to the park.

These races are likely to turn on voter turnout. The last year a city election was held with no mayoral race on the ballot (1999), only 14% of eligible voters went to the polls. That means that barely seven percent of the population is selecting leaders for the other 93%. If someone is going to do the selecting, it might as well be our seven percent. The North End of Boise will turn out to vote against Ms. Swindell, and her race likely will turn on whether enough pro-family citizens on the west side of town take the trouble to go to the polls.

If you don’t know where to vote, call the city clerk’s office at 384-3710. If you’re not registered to vote, you can do so when you go to the polls as long as you have some photo ID and some proof of residence, such as a utility bill. Vote, and vote your values!

TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE STRUCTURE PROVIDE GREATEST SAFETY FOR CHILDREN

A study published in today’s edition of the journal Pediatrics contains the results of a study that indicate that young children who live with their mothers’ boyfriends or other unrelated adults are 48 times (yes, 48 times) more likely to die from child abuse.

The intact nuclear family, headed by husband and wife, has been God’s natural design from the dawn of time, and is still the best domestic arrangement for both adults and children. It’s worth defending in life, in public policy, and in our state constitution.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-abuse07.html

RADICALS INVADE OFFICES OF FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL

Yesterday morning, about 20 radicals, some from the violent homosexual group ACT-UP, invaded the offices of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. They carried placards, chanted anti-abstinence slogans, and chained themselves to a statue of an American eagle in the FRC lobby. Protestors were responding to comments Tony Perkins, the head of FRC, made about homosexual activity and drug needle distribution.

As Perkins said, “What we see (here) is the attempt by a radical few to intimidate, to shout down, to forcibly prevent the expression of any ideas they disagree with. It does not matter that these ideas are based on indisputable science and on timeless Judeo-Christian teaching. Is this the future of freedom in America? Will your church or para-church organization be invaded next?”

PROMINENT LESBIAN DENIES THAT SHE WAS BORN GAY

Sheryl Swoopes, a basketball star in the WNBA, made headlines last week when she revealed that she has been in a lesbian relationship for several years. Gay activists insist that homosexuality is an inborn trait, despite the complete absence of any scientific evidence for that proposition.

Unfortunately for the gay lobby, Swoopes denies that she was born gay. She said, “Do I think I was born this way? No. And that's probably confusing to some, because I know a lot of people believe that you are.” She was married at one time, and has an eight-year old son as a product of that marriage. She did not develop an attraction to females until she began a friendship with her current partner.

But if Swoopes is right, that sexual orientation is not fixed, then the argument of gay activists that homosexuals deserve the same kind of legal advantages and protection given to people on the basis of race falls to the ground.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47288

LIBERAL CHURCH THREATENED WITH LOSS OF IRS STATUS BECAUSE OF ANTI-WAR SERMON

An Episcopal church in California is faced with the loss of its tax-exempt status because of an anti-war sermon preached by a guest speaker on the eve of the 2004 elections. Although the speaker criticized the war in Iraq, he did not explicitly call for Pres. Bush’s defeat or John Kerry’s election.

Although I rarely agree with liberal theologians and preachers, this should concern us all, whether conservative or liberal. Preachers should not be expected to forfeit their right to freedom of speech simply for stepping behind the pulpit. As the rector of this church correctly says, the IRS threat is “a direct assault on freedom of speech and freedom of religion.”

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-11-08-antiwar-sermon_x.htm

NEWSPAPER CIRCULATION CONTINUES TO TUMBLE

Circulation among major newspapers fell by an average of 2.6% (the San Francisco Chronicle was down 16%) over the last six months as Americans increasingly turn to other sources, such as the internet, for news and information. This is potentially good for us in the pro-family movement, as it may force the left-leaning old media to face the blatant bias that has been driving conservative subscribers away for years.

As an example, consider the fact that the Idaho Statesman took a position yesterday against a proposed marriage amendment to the Idaho constitution. Marriage amendments passed in 11 states last year with an average of 70% of the vote. Vote totals in Idaho will certainly be similar. This Statesman has put itself squarely at odds with the great majority of the very people they are hoping will buy their newspaper.

MUSLIM RIOTS SPREAD TO 300 CITIES IN FRANCE, INTO BELGIUM AND GERMANY

France invoked a 50-year-old law today to deal with its worst wave of violence since WWII. Rampaging Muslim youths, crying, “Allahu Akbar!” (“God is great!”), have rioted in 300 cities in France, and the unrest has now spilled into Germany and Belgium. Islam militates against any kind of assimilation to the dominant culture, and Europe is now tasting the bitter fruit of indulging that strain of radical multiculturalism.

The old media continues to practically ignore the reality that the vast majority of rioters are Muslim. This fact is often omitted entirely or buried deep in the article, often toward the end of the piece.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/11/08/D8DOBC40M.html

Popkey Reveals Democratic Involvement in City Council Race

2005-11-07T09:04:00.000-07:00

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U OF I PROF TESTIFIES IN INTELLIGENT DESIGN TRIAL

One of the leading proponents of intelligent design, Scott Minnich, is a microbiology professor at the University of Idaho. He testified Friday in the Dover, Pennsylvania case in support of the school district’s decision to explore the theory of intelligent design in the classroom.

Minnich made it clear that the intelligent design model is based on science and does not require adherence to any particular system of religious belief. As usual, the ACLU is leading this assault on freedom of academic speech and inquiry.

Every American citizen has a stake in this controversy, because our nation was founded on the “self-evident” truth that there is a Creator who has granted us certain “inalienable rights.” We all have a legitimate interest in whether or not that point of view is rational and defensible.

For, if there is no Creator, then he cannot give us rights which government is bound to respect. If God does not grant us our rights, the only place they can come from is from government, and what government gives, government can take away.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/04/
ap/national/mainD8DLPCI02.shtml

POPKEY REVEALS ACTIVE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPPOSITION TO TIBBS

Dan Popkey, who took such umbrage with Republicans for their involvement in Brandi Swindell’s campaign, blithely revealed yesterday that Democrats are actively working to defeat Jim Tibbs. He wrote in yesterday’s Idaho Statesman that Dave Bieter’s 2003 finance director wrote a “Democratic email group…urging them to help (Jerome) Mapp.” Later in the column, Popkey, speaking to Bieter, describes these Democrats who have inserted themselves into the anti-Tibbs campaign as “your people.”

Popkey’s outrage thus seems quite selective. Rather than being expressed against all partisan politicos who insert themselves into so-called nonpartisan races, his condemnation seems to be reserved only for conservatives who violate his standards. Those on the left can apparently violate Mr. Popkey’s standards with nary a peep of criticism.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051106/NEWS01/511060321/1002/NEWS01

ABORTION AN ISSUE IN IDAHO FALLS COUNCIL RACE

It’s our view that the position of candidates on moral issues is not just a matter for legislative races, but also for citywide races.

This is true for two reasons. One is that cities do not deal only with streets and zoning issues, but do have occasion to deal with issues that have a moral component. Our own mayor and city council here in Boise are embroiled in a major controversy over one of the major social issues of our day, the public posting of the Ten Commandments.

The city of Troy here in Idaho is providing benefits to gay partners. City councils might deal with proposals to add abortion coverage to the health benefits they provide to employees, or to include partners of homosexual employees in their benefits package, as the mayor of Salt Lake City recently did by executive decree. It’s simply not true that moral issues are not faced at the city level.

The second reason is that city officials can and do run for higher office. Of course, many are content to focus their entire public service on their own communities, but others often move on to positions of greater civic responsibility, and into positions where their values on moral issues have a direct and ongoing bearing on their decisions. Concerned citizens will not want to give candidates who reject their values a foot on even the bottom rung of the public service ladder.

That makes what is going on in Idaho Falls of interest to all of us in the state of Idaho. There, one of the candidates for city council, the local director of the United Way, has acknowledged that she supports abortion and benefits for gay partners. Her opponent, Brett Manwaring, is pro-life and pro-marriage and correctly says that such things are matters of relevance in the city council race because “we don’t know what decisions city officials will be called to make.”

(Story in print edition of Idaho Statesman, Nov. 5, Local section p. 4)

SPEAKER OF IDAHO HOUSE SAYS MARRIAGE AMENDMENT WILL BE INTRODUCED IN 2006

As I have mentioned to you before, a proposed amendment to Idaho’s state constitution to define marriage and prohibit civil unions will almost certainly be introduced in the upcoming 2006 legislative session. Yesterday’s Idaho Statesman carried an article on the subject, in which the speaker of the Idaho House, Bruce Newcomb (R-Burley), says, “This isn’t just a conservative issue. I can tell you everywhere I go and whenever I give a talk, the people of Idaho tell me this is what they want.”

The AP article also clearly identifies then-state senator Sheila Sorenson as the culprit in defeating the amendment two years ago. It reminds readers that she “used her position as chairwoman of the the Senate State Affairs Committee to deny the issue a hearing after it had passed the state House.”

Ms. Sorenson is a candidate now for the 1st Congressional District race, and her single-handed role in killing the defense of marriage amendment will cost her in the race. She is up against a slate of conservative opponents, including state representative Bill Sali, who voted for this amendment in the House before Ms.Sorenson killed it in the Senate.

(This article was not apparently posted on the Statesman’s online edition. It is found in the Nov. 6 print edition on p. 4 of the Local section.)

STATESMAN REVEALS THAT ABSTINENCE PROGRAMS WORK

While abstinence pledges by themselves do have a positive impact on reducing teenage sexual activity, abstinence programs, which involve training and education on sexual intimacy, show even better results. Even Idaho’s health officials and Idaho’s leading newspaper now publicly agree.

According to an article in yesterday’s Idaho Statesman, state health officials are now reporting that a sexual-abstinence advocacy program that started nine years ago in Boundary County and has since spread across the state has helped reduce teen pregnancy rates by as much as 25 percent.

The program, Peers Encouraging Abstinent Kids (PEAK), trains high school students how to mentor kids in lower grade levels and explain to them the benefits of refraining from sexual intercourse. Abstinence, of course, has a 100% success rate in preventing teenage pregancy and STDS. It works every time it’s tried.

(The article is not found in the online edition of the Statesman; it is found in Nov. 6 print-edtions only, on p. 5 of the Local section.)

OREGON’S MARRIAGE AMENDMENT UPHELD IN COURT

Last November, Oregon’s voters passed – by a 57-43 margin - an amendment to their state constitution which defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman. A judge yesterday upheld the constitutionality of the amendment.

As a side note, the amendment unfortunately did not deal with the subject of civil unions, and Oregon will continue to be embroiled in controversy over that issue. Montana’s marriage amendment did not address civil unions, and almost immediately after its passage, four bills were introduced into its legislature to advance recognition of domestic partnerships and the like.

That’s why Idaho’s proposed marriage amendment must not only define marriage but specifically and directly prohibit the recognition of marriage counterfeits, such as civil unions.

The fact, by the way, that an amendment to a constitution can be challenged in court as unconstitutional is a telling example of how much ground we have ceded to the judicial branch. Once that amendment was passed, it became a part of Oregon’s constitution. It was, by definition, constitutional.

So even to give a judge the opportunity to overturn it is to give a judge permission to declare the constitution itself unconstitutional. The constitution at that point becomes meaningless and every last bit of public policy authority has been transferred to the judicial branch of government.

VOTERS IN REDLANDS, CALIFORNIA CAN RETURN CROSS TO CITY SEAL

Voters in Redlands, California, will vote tomorrow on whether to return a cross to the city seal. The city seal, in use since 1963, had four quadrants, each celebrating some element of Redlands community life. One quadrant had a cross floating over a church steeple.

The city removed the cross from its seal because of the mere threat of a lawsuit from the ACLU over a year ago. (A city council taking drastic and sudden action to remove a cultural icon over the mere threat of a lawsuit will have a familiar ring to residents of Boise.) The city covered the cross on maintenance trucks and actually drilled through the cross on police and fire badges.

A citizens’ initiative was launched and will be voted on tomorrow. (A novel concept: a city council actually permitting an initiative to be voted on by its citizens rather than blocking it in court!)

The ACLU, as I’ve observed before and will again, defends freedom of speech unless that speech is religious speech, and then they become tyrannical censors of the worst sort.

http://sbsun.com/news/ci_3173030

ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST ADVOCATES ASSASSINATION OF RESEARCHERS

The Judeo-Christian tradition teaches that of all created things, only man is created in the “image of God.” The life of a man has a value and a sacredness the animal kingdom does not possess. Man has been given authority by the Creator over animals and the environment, to bring them under man’s care and stewardship.

Environmentalists, however, believe this is “specieism,” and that animals should be accorded the same status and rights we give to people.

Sen. James Inhofe, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, at an Oct. 26 hearing drew from an animal rights activist an admission that he advocated murder of medical researchers who performed experiments on animals.

Dr. Jerry Vlasak of North American Animal Liberation was quoted as saying at an animal rights convention: “I don't think you'd have to kill, assassinate too many. I think for five lives, 10 lives, 15 human lives, we could save a million, 2 million, or 10 million non-human lives.”

NEW BOOK EXPOSES HYPOCRISY OF THE LEFT

Conservatives are certainly not exempt from hypocrisy, and it’s fair that we be called on it when it happens. But the left can exude an air of sanctimonious self-righteousness while covering up a little hypocrisy of their own.

For instance, in the book "Do As I Say, Not as I Do," author Peter Schweizer reveals that Michael Moore owns stock in Halliburton. Left wing radio talk show host Al Franken, who frequently accuses the right of racism, has hired 112 people over his career, and exactly one of them was black.

Barbra Streisand frequently complains about how poorly unions are treated in the U.S. – and then gets her movies produced in Canada to avoid paying union wages here.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/11/4/150035.shtml

MUSLIM VIOLENCE IN FRANCE SHOWS DARK SIDE OF MULTICULTURALISM

The great, unacknowledged danger in multiculturalism is societal disintegration, tension, and eventually open conflict. If newcomers to a nation do not assimilate their host nation’s language and cultural values, societal breakdown is virtually inevitable.

Our national slogan is “E Pluribus Unum” – “Out of Many, One.” But multiculturalists fiercely resist assimilation as an oppressive relic. Their slogan seems to “Out of Many, Many.”

We are witnessing the dark side of multiculturalism right now in France. The rioting taking place right now even in Paris itself is the work of disaffected Muslims who have never made the effort to integrate themselves into their host country’s society and culture. The government of France has quitely acquiesced and even encouraged this refual to assimilate.

Although this fact is largely buried in reports found in the old media, the11-day rampage now taking place in France is largely being perpretrated by angry immigrant Muslim youths. The rampage spread over the weekend from the suburbs of Paris to the heart of the capital. Ten officers have been injured, two seriously. Authorities now fear that the rioters have access to sophisticated weapons such as grenades and are prepared to use them.

At least 3300 cars have been destroyed be fire, including 44 in one parking lot. The rioters burned part of a shopping center, a post office, two schools, and a nursery school, and prevented paramedics from evacuating a sick person from a housing project. In another instance, they pelted rescuers with rocks, then torched the awaiting ambulance. Rioters are using the internet and cell phones to organize their acts of violence.

Meanwhile, Muslim rioting has spread to Denmark where rioters are shouting at police, “This land belongs to us!”

http://washingtontimes.com/world/20051107-122439-9658r.htm

PALESTINIAN CLERIC PRAYS FOR BIN LADEN

Some in the West scratch their heads when they see this kind of mindless violence. But the truth is that this kind of hatred and disdain for all things western is stoked by many Muslim religious leaders. The Koran teaches that infidels have just three choices: conversion, submission, or war. There is no concept of peaceful co-existence in traditional Islam.

As an example, here is an excerpt from a prayer offered by a Palestinian cleric last Friday in one of the most popular mosques in the Gaza Strip.

“May Allah guard and bless Sheikh Osama bin Laden and Sheikh Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who are both leading the jihad against the Zionist entity (Israel) and against American domination of the world.”

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47249

CONSTITUTIONAL QUOTE FOR THE DAY

"If we and our posterity reject religious instruction and authority, violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunctions of morality, and recklessly destroy the political constitution which holds us together, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us that shall bury all our glory in profound obscurity." -- Daniel Webster

We Finally Agree With The Boise Weekly

2005-11-04T08:32:00.000-07:00

PRAYER SESSION FOR BRANDI SWINDELL TONIGHT

Regardless of our personal views on politics, all of us as people of faith believe in the importance and the power of prayer. You are all aware of some of the intense personal attacks that have been made on Brandi since her campaign started. Please join us tonight at her campaign offices, 5301 Emerald (between Curtis and Orchard) for a session of prayer from 7:30-8:30 PM. We’ll pray for her protection and for God’s will to be done on Tuesday.

WE FINALLY AGREE WITH THE BOISE WEEKLY

“So here's our message: Make up your own d--- mind, Boise. But make it up--and vote--because as we've seen in the last two years (The Year of Colesgate/Community House, and The Year of the Ten Commandments, respectively), the actions of our City Council have a significant bearing on the way our city runs and how it presents itself to the world.” Be sure to vote on November 8, and to vote your values.
PRO-LIFE STUDENT EXPELLED FROM CATHOLIC SCHOOL

A 15-year-old student at a Catholic high school in Sacramento has been expelled for trying to draw the attention of her bishop to the fact that one of the school’s teachers was a pro-abortion activist. The teacher serves as an abortion escort for a local Planned Parenthood clinic, and the student recognized her when she was participating in a pro-life rally near the clinic.

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/nov/05110208.html

ANOTHER REASON TO WORK FOR PRO-LIFE LEGISLATION

Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council reported yesterday on a study done by Bowling Green University that indicates that women who have had abortions are 144% more likely than other mothers to abuse their children. This is further evidence that abortion harms women and endangers children. This gives us even more reason to work for good, solid pro-life legislation. Such legislation protects everybody.

BIBLE STUDIES BANNED IN DORMS AT UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN

In another example of the suppression of freedom of speech and religion on college campuses, RAs at University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire have been forbidden from leading Bible studies on their own time in their own dorms.

PARENTAL NOTIFICATON IN CALIFORNIA

Abortion-rights activists are fiercely opposing a measure put before Californians next week on whether parents should be notified before a minor has an abortion.

Planned Parenthood often has young girls come to them for abortions, who have been victimized by older males and thus have violated statutory rape laws. According to a well-documented survey done by Texas-based Life Dynamics, 91% of PP affiliates fail to report these clear cases of statutory rape to authorities.

This California measure would amend the state constitution to require physicians to notify a parent of guardian 48 hours before performing an abortion on a minor.

Minors cannot get a tattoo or an aspirin as school without parental permission. They cannot legally smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, or even watch an R-rated movie without an adult. It simply is good public policy to see that parents are involved in the radical, life-changing crisis of teen pregnancy. Even California’s Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has come out publicly in support of this initiative.

Already 34 states have either parental consent or parental notification laws on their books. Parental consent laws are among the most effective in reducing abortions. During the time Idaho’s parental consent law was in effect, abortions dropped 30% in the state. This parental consent law was a victim of judicial activism last summer, as federal judge Lynn Winmill set aside the entire legislation, leaving Idaho parents and their daughters with no legal protection in these matters.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47193

HERE’S AN IDEA

Springfield, Nebraska’s City Council adopted an ordinance that bars registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of schools or child-care facilities. Springfield is small enough that the ordinance effectively bans sex offenders from living within city limits, except in two undeveloped lots.

LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE FOR YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN AGES 16-25

The Leadership Institute headed by Morton Blackwell is offering a leadership training seminar here in Boise on Nov. 12-13. The aim of the seminar is to help youth learn how to launch a successful career in politics, develop a nationwide network of conservative friends, earn a reputation for getting things done, build an effective student organization, and use the media to get the message out.

The cost is just $20. For more information, contact the Leadership Institute to register at 1 (800) 827-LEAD and ask for Becky Turco. Her email address is BTurco@Limail.us.

FOUNDING FATHER QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure and which insures to the good eternal happiness, are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments." – Charles Carroll, signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Breaking News: Out-of-State Groups Spend $13,000 on Jordan Campaign

2005-11-03T15:25:00.000-07:00

BREAKING NEWS: OUT-OF-STATE GROUPS SPEND $13,000 ON JORDAN CAMPAIGN

The Idaho Statesman reported yesterday, in a feature story above the fold in the Local section, that Brandi Swindell had received about $4500 in out-of-state contributions for her campaign, about one-third of her total. In fact, the headline screamed, “Swindell raises most of her funds outside Boise.”

Her opponent, Maryanne Jordan, professed outrage. “It is an insult to this community that out-of-state special-interest groups are using our City Council race to advance their own agendas.”

It was revealed today that two Seattle-based environmental groups have contributed a total of $20,000 to the Boise City Council race, and over $13,000 of that has been spent to date on behalf of Jordan.

I expect Ms. Jordan will have some difficulty explaining why it is an “insult” to have $4,500 in out-of-state money spent on Brandi’s campaign, but not an insult to have $13,000 in out-of-state funds spent on her own.

Your Contributions Make Effective Mailing Possible

2005-11-03T08:28:00.000-07:00

To receive these updates by email: http://www.keepthecommandmentsidaho.com/

YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS MAKE EFFECTIVE MAILING POSSIBLE

I asked you some time ago to consider a donation to the KCC to assist in the campaign for Boise city council. Thanks to your generosity, we were able to assist in sending a piece that will be showing up in 26,000 mailboxes over the next few days.

The front of the mailer shows the Ten Commandments monument being lifted out of the ground back in March of 2004. The caption reads, “We could have voted and put them back…but Maryanne Jordan won’t let us.” The reverse side contains a brief history of the controversy, and appeals to voters to consider a vote for change by punching their ballots for Brandi Swindell.

Ms. Jordan, of course, was one of the city council members who voted first of all to remove the monument from the park and then joined the rest of the council in spending thousands of taxpayer dollars to keep us from exercising our right to vote on a duly authorized initiative to put a new display back in Julia Davis Park.

PARENTHOOD DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONAL BY 9TH CIRCUIT

Just when you thought judicial tyranny and activism could not possibly get any worse, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday essentially declared parenthood unconstitutional in the state of Idaho.

The court stripped from parents all rights to exercise oversight over what their children are taught in public school sex-education classes. The court ruled that “there is no fundamental right of parents to be the exclusive provider of information regarding sexual matters to their children…”

Further, “…parents have no due process or privacy right to override the determinations of public schools as to the information to which their children will be exposed while enrolled as students.” In other words, no matter what kind of material their children are exposed to, parents have no recourse – if they don’t like it, they just have to lump it.

Parents had objected when their children were asked such questions as how often they find themselves "thinking about having sex" and "thinking about touching other peoples' private parts." These questions were asked of first, third, and fifth graders!

Since Idaho is in the 9th District, we are directly impacted by this decision. If the 9th Circuit wanted to make private and home schooling options more attractive to caring parents, they couldn’t have done a better job if they’d set out to do it.

This ruling illustrates the ongoing need for pro-family groups to do whatever we can to reign in out-of-control judges. Urging our U.S. senators to confirm Sam Alito to the Supreme Court is one way to do it. I’m quite certain this case will reach the Supreme Court on appeal, and we will be glad to have Alito on the bench when it gets there.

FILIBUSTER LOOKING UNLIKELY

Members of the “Gang of 14” have spoken very highly of Judge Alito, including Democrat Ben Nelson of Nebraska, who said yesterday that he had reached a “comfort level” with his nomination. Other moderate Democrats appear to be breaking ranks with the fire-breathing leadership of their party, all of which is decreasing the chances that Alito will be filibustered.

ALITO ON PARTIAL BIRTH ABORTION

Alito’s decision to join with the 3rd Circuit’s in striking down New Jersey’s ban on partial birth abortions has been mischaracterized. He actually refused to join the majority’s opinion that the ban was unconstitutional. Instead, his opinion was based on Supreme Court precedent which he deemed binding on lower courts.

Thus he did not say that banning partial birth abortions is unconstitutional; he said only that he, as a lower court judge, was prohibited from upholding such a ban by what in effect was a poorly reasoned Supreme Court decision. In so doing, he showed the kind of judicial restraint we are looking for.

As a member of the Supreme Court, he will no longer be bound by precedent. It will now be part of his responsibility to establish precedent. As the Supreme Court issues more and more good, sound, constitutionally based decisions, the ripple effect will be felt through the entire judicial system as lower courts are bound to respect the new and better precedents the court will issue.

DAVID BRODER’S OPINION OF YOU AND ME (WASHINGTON POST)

This is how columnist David Broder characterized you and me and the other conservatives who stared down the president of the United States over his nomination of Harriet Miers: “A cabal of outsiders--a lynching squad of right-wing journalists, self-sanctified religious and moral organizations…” Name-calling is the last refuge of a man without an argument.

RACIST CAMPAIGN WAGED AGAINST A BLACK CANDIDATE – BY BLACKS

A vicious campaign is currently being waged against Maryland's Lieutenant Governor, Michael Steele (R). Mr. Steele is the first black candidate to win statewide office there. But as a conservative candidate for U.S. Senate, he has been shouted down, pelted with Oreo cookies (black on the outside, white on the inside) and called "Uncle Tom" when he speaks.

One liberal website actually depicted him in minstrel blackface with the legend: "I's Simple Sambo and I's running for the Big House." Can you imagine the outcry if a white conservative had made those comments about a black candidate?

http://www.washingtontimes.com/metro/20051101-104932-4054r.htm

STATEWIDE PRO-LIFE LEGISLATION WORKS

Thanks to a total of 15 solid pro-life laws in Mississippi, there is now only one abortion clinic in the entire state when once there seven. This shows that laws enacted at the state level can have a significant impact on reducing the availability of abortion services.

It’s a story with enough significance that it will be the topic of a PBS special program, “The Last Abortion Clinic.”

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0038468.cfm

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS ON PARADE: SCHOOL OUTLAWS USE OF TERM “FRESHMAN”

Freshmen at Amherst Regional High School will be called “ninth-graders” from now on, rather than “freshmen” because the beginning of that word has sexual connotations, and the end of the word has gender exclusive connotations (so much for the time-honored generic use of masculine nouns and pronouns to include both sexes). The assistant principal said the school must avoid “misogynistic, oppressive or non-inclusive language.”

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47176

What We Want In A Supreme Court Justice

2005-11-02T10:28:00.000-07:00

To sign up for these email updates: http://www.keepthecommandmentsidaho.com/

PRAYER SESSON FOR BRANDI SWINDELL CAMPAIGN FRIDAY NIGHT

Those of you who have followed Brandi’s pursuit of public office are aware of the scurrilous and demeaning things that have been said about her and written about her. You are aware of the use of photo-shop software to post insulting and degrading pictures on local websites designed to embarrass and humiliate her. You are aware of the pornographic and threatening literature that has been sent to her campaign office. This literature is so raw that local television stations were forced to show only selected portions of it to avoid violating broadcast decency standards.

It is incumbent upon us as people of faith to pray for Brandi’s protection, both spiritually and physically, as the campaign heads into its final weekend. She has been subjected to things that no young woman should ever have to face in a civilized society. It is a disturbing thing to realize that we have sunk to a level as a city where these kinds of thing are tolerated and even celebrated.

We do not know whether it is God’s will for her to serve in public office – we’ll get the answer to that next Tuesday. But it clearly cannot be an acceptable thing for a young woman to have her decency assaulted in this way in our city.

Please come, if you can, to a session of prayer on Brandi’s behalf on Friday night, from 7:30-8:30 PM at her campaign office (5301 Emerald, between Curtis and Orchard). In particular, I invite area pastors to join us so that Brandi may receive the greatest possible spiritual protection as the intensity increases as next Tuesday draws nearer.

WHAT WE WANT IN A SUPREME COURT JUSTICE

Jonathan Adler of the Wall Street Journal put it best when he said, about Judge Alito, that he is neither “pro-life,” nor “pro-choice,” but “pro-law.” This is exactly what we want in a Supreme Court justice. We want our legislators to be pro-life, and our judges to be pro-law. We want judges who will say to us, “If you want a better ruling, bring me a better law.”

The issue of what exactly is to be done with abortion in America is properly the province of our elected representatives, not the province of judges who do not need to face their constituents and do not face the possibility of being voted out of office.

Using the apt analogy of a baseball umpire, it is immaterial whether an umpire personally believes that the four-balls, three-strikes rule is fair. After all, it gives the pitcher four mistakes and the batter only three. The plate umpire may even think this represents discrimination against poor, beleaguered batters who have a tough enough time as it is trying to hit 92 mile-an-hour sliders on the inside corner of the plate.

The only thing that matters is whether he will put his personal feelings aside and fairly apply the rules of baseball that have been decided by others. A good umpire understands the separation of powers doctrine, and knows he is to be evaluated only on how faithfully he applies the rules of the game that have been given to him to enforce.

I have a friend who is the president of a baseball league in the minors. I ran this scenario by him: Imagine one of your umpires informed the managers before a game that he was tossing out the four-ball, three-strike rule for this game and for the rest of the season, because he just didn’t think it was fair. How long, I asked, would this umpire last in your league?

The answer was clear and immediate – he wouldn’t last long enough to blow his nose. Yet we have tolerated for over four decades this exact kind of malfeasance in our judiciary. With Justice Alito added to the umpiring crew of Scalia, Thomas, and Roberts we may finally get back to the Constitution and see the game of public policy played by the rules set by our Founding Fathers.

WILL THE DEMOCRATS FILIBUSTER ALITO?

It’s my guess that the Democrats will present a united front against Alito, which means that they will have enough votes to sustain a filibuster if they choose to do so. The problem they have is that, if they do filibuster, the Republicans will most likely invoke the constitutional option by changing the rules, making filibusters on judicial nominations impossible both now and in the future.

There is enough conservative energy behind Alito that Republican leadership will find it politically impossible not to invoke the constitutional option in the face of a Democratic filibuster. So not only will the filibuster effort fail in the end (due to the rule change) but the Democrats will lose that weapon forever. They’ve got some thinking to do. Their base will probably hound them to filibuster, but it would likely be a political mistake.

DEMOCRATS TO DELAY HEARINGS UNTIL NEXT YEAR?

Senate Democrats, with Sen. Arlen Specter’s unfortunate concurrence, are now indicating they hope to delay Alito’s hearings until 2006. The reason, I believe, is obvious. They want Sandra Day O’Connor on the court as long as possible.

The Supreme Court has already heard arguments this fall on physician-assisted suicide. They will hear arguments on Nov. 30 on a New Hampshire parental notification law and on Dec. 6 on a gay rights appeal involving the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The left is panicked that the one branch of government they control, the federal judiciary, is slipping from their grasp.

If O’Connor is off the court by the time rulings are issued on these cases, her votes will not count. The Court has several options in that eventuality, but one is issuing 4-4 split decisions, which will leave lower court rulings intact. It’s in their best interest to keep Alito off the bench as long as possible.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20051102/D8DK1ARG0.html

SAD AND LITTLE KNOWN TRUTH ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY

There are astounding numbers of young men plying the streets of America as male prostitutes, and the business of male prostitution is growing at an alarming rate. Most male prostitutes don't identify themselves as homosexual, but engage in homosexual acts to fund drug and alcohol addictions, or in exchange for food and shelter.

According to the latest statistics, about 3,000 men are arrested for street prostitution each year in Chicago alone. The FBI reports that in 1970, about 20 percent of prostitution arrests throughout the country were men. But by 1998 that percentage had risen to about 42 percent. And arrests for male prostitution between the years of 1998 and 1999 rose about 16 percent, while arrests for female prostitution dropped 13 percent during the same time.

The majority of male prostitutes have experienced some type of sexual abuse or a crippling lack of parental care, and often do not know who their fathers are. Many are 6th and 7th grade dropouts, and come from backgrounds of poverty. Often their families have been on welfare for more than one generation, and the men in their families of origin typically have been incarcerated for some period of time.

This sad truth should break our hearts and encourage us all to continue to work for sound public policies that will encourage strong and stable families headed by active, engaged fathers, so that the young boys in culture can be protected from this kind of pathology.

http://www.family.org/cforum/feature/a0038443.cfm

Brandi Swindell Target of Hate Mail

2005-11-01T09:49:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned yesterday, Brandi’s campaign office received a vicious anti-Semitic, anti-Christian cartoon which pictures Brandi as the victim of a sexual assault. A Post-It was attached to the cartoon with these words: “Brandi – Target.” The police are investigating it as a possible threat or hate crime. Brandi’s campaign indicated that she will refuse to be intimidated by such tactics.

The incident received local coverage on the local network television affiliates and in a sidebar in today’s Idaho Statesman.

It’s worth remembering that no other candidate in this race is the victim of this kind of vitriol. It illustrates the point that this race is not so much about Brandi but about the things she stands for. There are hate-filled people in our city who are threatened by the possibility that someone who believes in our values might actually hold public office here.

2005 WORST YEAR ON RECORD FOR NEWSPAPERS

2005-11-01T09:37:00.000-07:00

In a sign of the waning influence of the old media, 2005 is likely to turn out to be the worst year on record for newspapers in recent memory. Circulation is declining all over the nation and ad revenue is flat. The left has relied for so long on a virtual monopoly of major media outlets that they are ill-equipped to adjust to the changing face of how Americans seek out information and news.

The pro-family movement and the conservative movement in general is all about ideas and principles. This generates dialogue, debate, and the vigorous exchange of points of view. The left, sadly for them, is largely devoid of any clear and compelling ideas. They are mostly about rhetoric, emotion, and character assassination. They have only been able to influence the thinking of Americans by dominating the media and public education. After the fall of the left-leaning old-media empire, public education will be the next tower to fall.

Some Sanity in the United Methodist Church

2005-11-01T09:34:00.000-07:00

SOME SANITY IN THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

The United Methodist Church’s highest court yesterday defrocked a practicing lesbian, citing the church handbook’s declaration that "the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching." In addition, the church court reinstated the pastor I told you about earlier who was suspended without pay for one year for refusing to admit an openly practicing homosexual into church membership.

How We Know Alito Is An Outstanding Nominee: Meltdown On The Left

2005-10-31T21:31:00.000-07:00

HOW WE KNOW ALITO IS AN OUTSTANDING NOMINEE: MELTDOWN AND HYSTERIA ON THE LEFT

Harry Reid’s enthusiasm was one of the reasons I suspected the Miers’ nomination from the start. What did he know, I wondered, that we don’t?
Well, we don’t have to worry about Reid supporting Alito, and that is the best possible news we could have about his nomination. Only a quality nominee could engender the kind of unhinged rhetoric we’ve already gotten from the left.

Here are some examples. Sen. Chuck Schumer says that Alito is “a nominee likely to divide America,” a “controversial nominee, who would make the court less diverse and far more conservative.”

Sen. Edward Kennedy: “Alito could very well fundamentally alter the balance of the court and push it dangerously to the right, placing at risk decades of American progress.”

Planned Parenthood parroted the party line, saying “It is outrageous that President Bush would replace a moderate conservative like Justice O'Connor with a conservative hardliner,” and said his nomination is “a direct threat to the health and safety of American women.”

PP says further that the president “buckled to pressure from fringe extremist groups” who want “to impose their rigid ideology on Americans.”

NARAL accused the president of giving in to “the demands of his far-right base,” and charged that Alito’s “nomination threatens to eviscerate the core protections for women's freedom.” The Alliance for Justice said Alito’s confirmation “jeopardize our most cherished rights and freedoms.”

Ralph Neas of People for the American Way said, “He is an out-of-the-mainstream opponent of fundamental legal rights and protections for all Americans.”

If these criticisms sound familiar, it’s because they are the same kinds of things the left is saying about Brandi Swindell. In a letter in today’s Statesman, for instance, Brandi is attacked as a “stridently religious politician,” accused of fostering a message of “fear, intolerance, and control,” of being a “religious fraud,” and of “seeking divisive issues and exploiting them.”

The left has a limited repertoire of attack lines, which they endlessly recycle when going after conservatives, and it’s always some variant of “the sky is falling.” It’s a pretty safe bet that anyone they attack will be someone we can and should support.

Conclusion: a vote for Brandi and a vote for Alito will be good for Boise and good for America.

Pro-Family Groups Unanimous In Support of Alito

2005-10-31T21:28:00.000-07:00

PRO-FAMILY GROUPS UNANIMOUS IN SUPPORT OF ALITO

The Family Research Council (Tony Perkins), Gary Bauer, James Dobson, Jay Sekulow (American Center for Law and Justice), the Alliance Defense Fund (Alan Sears), the Christian Coalition, the Catholic League (William Donohue), the Christian Legal Society, the American Family Association (Don Wildmon), Concerned Women for America, Phyllis Schlafly (Eagle Forum), Paul Weyrich (Free Congress Foundation), the National Clergy Council, Priests for Life (Father Frank Pavone), the Pacific Justice Institute, Americans United for Life, Fidelis (a Catholic organization), and Toward Tradition (Rabbi Daniel Lapin) all came out yesterday in support of Alito’s nomination.

Alito was confirmed, by the way, to the federal court in 1990 by a unanimous vote of the Senate.

There is great strength, unity, and energy from virtually every pro-family organization gathering behind the Alito nomination. We have been itching for this kind of showdown, and now it looks as though we have it. In many ways, the future of American jurisprudence is at stake here. If a judge with Alito’s credentials, history, and judicial philosophy cannot be confirmed to the Supreme Court, there is little hope that the Court can ever be restrained in the future.

Alito's Dissent in Casey

2005-10-31T21:23:00.000-07:00

You will hear Alito’s position on Casey endlessly distorted in the days ahead. He will be accused of chauvinism, female oppression, and worse. The law that was under challenge in that case, by the way, was passed by a bi-partisan legislature in Pennsylvania and signed into law by a Democratic governor.

It specified that a husband must be notified if his child is going to be aborted by his wife. This of course, is good social policy because it’s his child, too. Alito’s point is that such policies are for elected representatives to establish, not judges.

That’s a perfect example of the judicial restraint we need in Supreme Court justices. The left wanted him to legislate from the bench, and Alito refused to do so, recognizing the proper separation of powers provided for in our constitution.

Another Display of Tolerance in Boston

2005-10-31T21:20:00.000-07:00

A thousand protestors, all of whom would fancy themselves the very voices of tolerance, stood outside a church in Boston which was hosting a conference for individuals seeking to leave the homosexual lifestyle and shouted in unison, “Get the f--- out of Boston!” They also shouted, “Focus on the Family! Shut it down! James Dobson! Shut him down! Hate-filled churches! Shut 'em down!"

The church, Tremont Temple Baptist Church, was the first racially integrated church in America, part of the Underground Railroad, and the place where the Emancipation Proclamation was first read in New England.

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0038421.cfm

New Hampshire: "View Tax" on Property

2005-10-31T21:18:00.000-07:00

As if we needed another illustration of property tax out of control, it now turns out that New Hampshire tacks on an additional tax if your particular property has a great view.

A gentleman there built a one-room cabin in a cow pasture three years ago which has no electricity, no running water, no phone service and no driveway. What it does have is a wide-open view of nearby hills and distant mountains. As a consequence, the assessed value of his property went from $22,900 – the underlying value of the property – to $162,900.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/10/31/D8DJADN01.html

Statesman First: Popkey Apologizes/ Alito Good Pick

2005-10-31T08:31:00.000-07:00

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BUSH NOMINATES ALITO; ARMAGEDDON ON HORIZON

In what I believe will be seen as outstanding move, President Bush today nominated Sam Alito to fill Sandra Day O’Connor’s seat on the Supreme Court.

Alito is a 3rd Circuit Court judge, and has a proven record of judicial restraint. He’s a constitutionalist in the mold of Thomas and Scalia, as the president promised. In fact, he is so sound in his constitutional philosophy that his nickname is “Scalito.”

SOLID ON ROE V. WADE

Alito was the sole dissenter on the 3rd Circuit court in the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision, which struck down a Pennsylvania law that required women to inform their husbands before they got an abortion.

Casey was significant because it gave the Supreme Court an opportunity to reverse Roe, and if enough Justices had agreed with Alito’s analysis, Roe would no longer be the “law” of the land. With Alito, we do not need to guess about whether he thinks Roe was a well-reasoned decision or not. William Rehnquist quoted Alito in his own dissent on the same case when it came before the Supreme Court.

This gives us a glimmer of hope that the travesty of abortion on demand will one day be reversed and this terrible inhumanity and savagery will no longer be unlawfully protected by the highest court in the land.

WORLD WAR III

Conservatives are finally going to get the last-trench battle over judicial nominations we have been seeking. Conservatives have been working hard for over two decades to get to this very time and place. Expect liberals to come completely unhinged over Alito, and use every weapon in their arsenal. You are likely to see a hysteria on the left that perhaps will exceed anything you have seen before.

Harry Reid is already suggesting that Alito is “too radical” for the American people, and the DNC has already issued a memo accusing Alito of being against civil rights and against immigrants.

But I predict Alito’s nomination will galvanize the conservative, pro-family community in our nation, who will gather behind Alito virtually without reserve. Rather than being “too radical” for America, he is just the kind of justice mainstream Americans long for. Now is the time to strap it on, buckle up, and get ready for a wild ride.

STATESMAN FIRST: POPKEY APOLOGIZES

In what may be an unprecedented act, Dan Pokey apologized in yesterday’s Idaho Statesman for his attack on Brandi Swindell. “My apologies to Brandi Swindell and readers who perceived my Oct. 16 column as sexist. I overdid it…I should have known better.”

Popkey reiterates, however, that the GOP was improperly involved in Swindell’s campaign. He is being quite selective with the facts. The truth is that Maryanne Jordan’s campaign manager is a Democrat, and has taken a leave of absence from her position with the party to run Jordan’s campaign. And Democratic legislator Nicole LeFavour apparently sent out an urgent email to her constituents urging them to work and vote against Brandi’s election.

But you will hear nary a complaint from Dan about their “partisan” interference in a “non-partisan” campaign. He betrays here a classic double standard characteristic of the left, who often want certain standards to apply to other people, while they at the same time ignore those standards at will.

Brandi’s supporters were booted out of the Farmer’s Market and told no political activity was allowed on site. They later returned to find others handing out anti-Brandi literature on the same spot.

BE ALERT FOR BREAKING NEWS STORY TODAY ON HATE LITERATURE SENT TO SWINDELL CAMPAIGN OFFICE

A scurrilous piece of anti-Semitic literature which also features a demeaning and degrading assault on Brandi showed up in her campaign’s mailbox on Saturday. Brandi’s campaign intends to release an advisory today with details of the literature and a declaration that her campaign will not be intimidated by such attacks.

WHO EXACTLY ARE THE EXTREMISTS HERE?

Despite the fact that the left accuses us of being mean-spirited and hateful, you will notice a striking difference in the letters to the editor written for and against Brandi. Brandi’s supporters, virtually without exception, are thoughtful, respectful of Brandi’s opponent, and focus on the issues. Brandi’s opponents, in contrast, often veer off into personal smears and attacks on Brandi’s character.

Excerpts from letters to the editor in yesterday’s Statesman:

“…her development as a citizen stopped in adolescence”

“…values of narrow-mindedness and bigotry”

“…infuses every action with an extreme conservative religious viewpoint”

“grandstanding amateur” (perhaps a Democratic talking point, as the word “grandstanding” appears in no less than three letters)

“…trying to portray Idaho as the original home of Old Testament thinking and conservative bigotry”

“…in the same league as the homophobic Rev. Fred Phelps”

“…blinded by her single-minded zealotry”

“…little regard for common sense”

“…backed by right-wing extremists” (this same writer then says, “Let’s tone down the personal rhetoric”!)

“…princess of the religious-Nazi wing of the Republican Party”

These are from the people who consider themselves the very voices of tolerance and reason. They make it clear that this election is really not about Brandi so much as it is about the things she believes and stands for. The left comes virtually unhinged at the very thought that someone who shares our values might actually serve in a place of public trust and make those values a part of city government.

STATESMAN ENDORSES TIBBS IN PART FOR STANCE ON TEN COMMANDMENTS ISSUE
The Idaho Statesman yesterday endorsed Jim Tibbs over his opponent, Jerome Mapp, who was president of the city council when it decided to remove the Ten Commandments monument from Julia Davis Park with no public hearing.

The monument issue is the second bullet point the Statesman cites in its endorsement of Tibbs, who called the process the city followed “flawed.” They quote Tibbs as follows: “Unfortunately, it appears the situation was polarized due to a council who had already made up their minds. This atmosphere erodes public confidence with the appearance of a wink-and-whisper decision-making process.”

KCC IN THE NEWS

The Keep the Commandments Coalition is referred to in the body of yesterday’s Statesman news article on the Tibbs-Mapp race. “Tibbs' stance on the latter issue (the Ten Commandments monument) earned him the support – but not an official endorsement – of Keep the Commandments Coalition...”

(Neither the news article nor the editorial appear to have been posted on Sunday’s online edition of the Statesman.)

DEMISE OF CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT GREATLY EXAGGERATED

Despite the glee in some liberal quarters over the Harriet Miers’ debacle, I am convinced that the controversy over her nomination was a sign of strength in the conservative movement, not weakness. As Rush Limbaugh said, it was not a “crackup” it was a “crackdown.” I believe that the same conservatives who challenged him over the Miers’ nomination will be the most ardent and even fierce supporters of Alito.

One of the marks of the pro-family movement is that it is animated by principle, not personality. Personality, no matter how likeable, does not trump principle.

I believe, along with others, that President Bush must also change course on spending and immigration if he wishes to completely revitalize his conservative base. Domestic spending has spiraled out of control under this president, and our borders remain porous. Conservatives are hungry for some strong leadership on these issues and will reward such leadership with enthusiastic support.

REID AND LEAHY URGED PRESIDENT TO DISCRIMINATE ON BASIS OF GENDER AND RACE IN SUPREME COURT NOMINEE

While claiming to be ardent foes of racial discrimination, Democratic senator Harry Reid is already complaining that the president did not nominate a woman or a Hispanic to the bench.
In essence, he is appealing to the president to follow a quota system in filling Supreme Court seats, and eliminate certain people from consideration simply because of their gender and their race. American culture should be well beyond this kind of antiquated thinking by now.

To the president’s credit, this time around he simply chose the best and most highly qualified candidate he could find, regardless of race or gender.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/10/28/230512.shtml

ALASKA COURT ORDERS SPECIAL BENEFITS FOR HOMOSEXUAL COUPLES

In another expression of judicial activism, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled Friday it is unconstitutional to deny benefits to the same-sex partners of public employees, a victory for gay rights advocates in one of the first states to pass a constitutional ban on gay marriage.

However, such benefits are currently denied in Alaska to heterosexual domestic partners who are unmarried. Thus, in effect, homosexual behavior has been given a special protected status in that state by judicial fiat. Homosexual behavior now enjoys a favored legal position superior to that of sexual immorality.

Since the ruling applies to all public employees at either the city or state level, every taxpayer in Alaska is now being forced to subsidize the homosexual lifestyle, whether they find that lifestyle morally offensive or not.

One of the reasons Idaho’s marriage amendment must deal clearly and explicitly with civil unions and domestic partnerships is to avoid this kind of confusion and the granting of special protections based on non-normative sexual behavior. If the amendment does not explicitly prohibit recognition of domestic partnerships, it will not be long before the same issue is pressed here in Idaho.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,173894,00.html

METHODIST PASTOR FIRED FOR UPHOLDING BIBLICAL VIEW OF HOMOSEXUALITY

In a sign of how far the homosexual agenda has reached into mainline churches, A Virginia man who pastors in the United Methodist Church has been removed from his pulpit and denied his salary for a year for refusing to grant church membership to an openly practicing homosexual.

One of his church members said, “I feel Rev. Johnson was holding to biblical principle in denying membership to that individual. I feel extremely sad and grieved. I feel a terrible injustice was done.”

“This person was never discouraged from coming to church. That would be un-Christian. However, actual membership would be another story,” he said.

“The church is not upholding the biblical principles outlined in Leviticus, 2 Timothy and Corinthians about homosexuality.”

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45513

GAY MARRIAGE COMING TO ENGLAND DECEMBER 21

According to the ManchesterOnline news site, a change in law will allow homosexuals to marry in England beginning on Dec. 21. A lesbian couple is already planning a lavish ceremony for that day.

http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/s/169/
169232_lesbian_couple_are_proud_to_be_making_history.html

NEW HEALTH RISK FOR GAYS AND LESBIANS: RATE OF SMOKING TWICE AS HIGH AS GENERAL POPULATION

Some severe health risks are associated with homosexual behavior, among them an extremely elevated risk of developing AIDS and a shortened life span. Researchers have now discovered that gays are almost twice as likely as the general population to develop a health-endangering smoking habit. LA County has even designed a non-smoking program specifically for them, called “The Last Drag.”

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/1500AP_The_Last_Drag.html

PRESIDENT OF IRAN DEFENDS CALL FOR ISRAEL TO BE “WIPED OUT”

According to Islam, infidels (Jews and Christians) have only three choices: conversion, submission, or war. There is no concept of peaceful coexistence, toleration, or religious liberty in the Muslim world.

We must not think that this kind of thinking is reserved only for the extreme branches of Islam. Friday, the president of Iran, cheered by 200,000 supporters, stood by his call for Israel to be “wiped off the map.” These protestors burned Israeli and American flags and shouted “death to America” and “death to Israel.”

Yet Prince Charles is even now on his way to the U.S. to tell our president that in fact it is our language that is “too confrontational.”

We’ve observed before that America has had the power but not the will to defeat Islamic terrorism. The obverse is also true, that Islam has the will but not yet the power to destroy the West. But should they gain the power, there is nothing except force that will prevent them from using it, as they did on 9/11, to destroy both Israel and America.

Al-Jazeera, the Arab news service, by the way, is now calling suicide missions “Paradise Operations.”

http://insider.washingtontimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20051029-010446-2002r

GOD ON THE GRIDIRON

“Every preseason for 30 years, Coach Bobby Bowden has taken his Florida State football players to a church in a white community and a church in a black community in the Tallahassee area in an effort, he said, to build camaraderie. He writes to their parents in advance, explaining that the trips are voluntary, and that if they object, their sons can stay home without fear of retaliation. He remembers only one or two players ever skipping the outing.

Since becoming the football coach at Georgia in 2001, Mark Richt, too, has taken his team to churches in the preseason. A devotional service is conducted the night before each game, and a prayer service on game day. Both are voluntary…

On game days, Penn State players may choose between Catholic and Protestant services or not go at all. Coach Joe Paterno and the team say the Lord's Prayer in the locker room after games.” (Opening paragraphs from Sunday New York Times article)

Both coaches follow a disciplined spiritual regimen. Coach Richt prays between meetings and before interviews, and reads a chapter of Proverbs a day. Mr. Bowden spends an hour early in the morning reading the Bible (his day begins at 4 a.m.) and has a reputation for delivering “fiery” sermons in churches where he’s invited to speak.

Despite criticism, Coach Bowden defends his outspoken Christian faith, and reminds critics that he too is a part of the faculty at Florida State. “You got 90 kids in a history or psychology classroom around here, and a professor can stand up and say anything he wants in creation. Why can't I tell my boys what I believe?” Why indeed?

So far, the president of the university defends Bowden, and says, quite correctly, “Coach Bowden has the right and ability to speak his mind, as do all of our faculty. He doesn't push his views on his players. It gets back basically to the academic-freedom issue, and we give that same leeway for all our faculty and staff.”

Involvement is strictly voluntary, and no player has ever been penalized for non-participation. One of Coach Richt’s former players who speaks the most highly of him and his overt spirituality is a Muslim. He was “inspired” by his coach’s example of the importance of nurturing the spiritual life.

Leftist groups, naturally, are alarmed that anyone is permitting freedom of religion and freedom of speech in these matters, and are hoping a disaffected player will file a lawsuit.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/30/sports/football/30religion.html?ei=5065&en=a9ec10ded0022254&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;
ex=1131249600&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print

HURRICANE MRE’S BEING SOLD ON EBAY?

We’ve often said that it might be better for government to get out of the welfare business altogether, give the money they spend on welfare programs back to their citizens, and let them support the charities of their choice. Private charities, particularly faith-based ones, do by far the best job of getting aid directly to those who need it and making the most efficient use of scarce financial resources.

As further support for this concept, it has now come to light that apparently some are seeking to profit by reselling the MREs’ the government gave them for free in the wake of Hurricane Rita on eBay. The meals, which the military buys with your money and mine, cost about $90 for a twelve-pack, or about $7.25 a meal. Bidding on one unopened case had reached $51 as of yesterday.

http://insider.washingtontimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20051029-110232-1570r

PROPERTY TAX OUT OF CONTROL

One of the things that pro-family groups must be concerned about in Idaho is an out-of-control property tax structure. Rising property taxes place increasing pressure on ordinary families, drive moms into the workplace when they would prefer to stay home, and push senior citizens out of homes they have lived in for decades. We will watch carefully what our state legislature does this next year to deal with this issue.

An example from New Jersey illustrates the need for property tax reform. Last year, an 80-year-old retired chemical engineer paid $11,051 in property taxes on his four-bedroom, 2½-bath home in Woodbridge Township. His taxable income for the year was $7,202, forcing him to dip into retirement savings just to stay in the house he’s lived in since 1965.

http://insider.washingtontimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20051029-110230-1796r

HALLOWEEN NEWS: WITCHES IN TRAINING GET TAX DEDUCTION IN THE NETHERLANDS

Those training to be witches in Holland can deduct the cost of their education on their tax returns. Courses taught by one witch are held 13 weekends a year closest to a full moon when outdoor rituals are practiced and potions boiled. Participants learn healing with herbs and stones, making potions, divination and fortune telling with crystal balls and hieroglyphs.

They are taught to draw upon inner spiritual strength and tap natural energy from trees and plants.

This witch said, about a legislator upset about this occult tax haven, “If he would come here and try the divination rod and see how important it is to find things, see that it isn’t pleasant to have earth radiation in your house, feel the forces of the earth, that would be magnificent.”

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=160895988&p=y6x896694

Statesman Apologizes for Treatment of Swindell

2005-10-28T09:51:00.000-06:00

STATESMAN ESSENTIALLY APOLOGIZES FOR TREATMENT OF BRANDI SWINDELL

The editorial board of the Idaho Statesman today issued what amounts to a public apology to Brandi Swindell for some of the things that have been written about her in Statesman publications. Referring both to things written by former Thrive columnist Dan Kouba and current Statesman columnist Dan Popkey, the editors said that Swindell “has taken some personal hits…, some we think went too far.”

And the editors agree that “Swindell’s central campaign theme has merit: The city has to give the people a voice on key issues.”

Although the Statesman, as expected, endorsed Brandi’s opponent, the editors do say this about Brandi: “She’s a tenacious, articulate advocate for the issues she cares about and someone who had the courage to run. Politics needs more people like Swindell, not fewer.”

To the Statesman’s credit, they take Maryanne Jordan to task for her conduct in the Ten Commandments issue, particularly her unwillingness to reconsider the council’s adamant refusal to hold public hearings on the matter. “Jordan’s defense of a process that prevented input is both troubling and tortured.”

All in all, her editorial treatment is much fairer and more evenhanded than what we might have seen under the former Statesman management team.

JORDAN’S POSITION ON THE TEN COMMANDMENTS CONTAINS ERRORS OF FACT

Maryanne Jordan’s stated position in today’s Statesman contains a number of errors or misrepresentations. First, she cavalierly dismisses the gift of the monument back in 1965 as simply part of “movie promotion.” However, the “Ten Commandments” movie came out in 1956. Surely Jordan must realize nobody promotes a movie nine years after it has been released, especially in an era before VHS and DVD.

The truth is that the monument was given to the city of Boise by the Fraternal Order of Eagles as a part of its nationwide campaign to reduce the rising tide of juvenile delinquency. The FOE wanted as many communities as possible to have a clear standard of behavior to set before their youth, so they would know what responsible, mature citizenry looked like in action. They could not find a better standard than the age-old wisdom contained in the Ten Commandments.

The campaign to publicly post the Ten Commandments goes back to a Minnesota judge who, in 1946, had a teenager in his courtroom who had stolen a car and run over a nun making his getaway. The judge discovered that not only did the boy not know of the commandment against stealing, he had no knowledge of any of the Ten Commandments at all.

Appalled at this moral and cultural illiteracy, the judge designed a creative sentence for this young boy: He was sentenced to memorize the Ten Commandments and to be mentored by a local pastor. (Let’s see a judge try that form of sentencing today!)

This episode led the judge to launch an effort to post the Ten Commandments in every courtroom and classroom in the country, which in time led to the creation of the Ten Commandments monuments that grace community after community.

TWO MORE MISLEADING STATEMENTS

Secondly, Jordan says keeping the monument would have led to a “protracted legal battle” with Topeka hatemonger Fred Phelps. Well, the Nampa and Caldwell city councils, both of whom have Ten Commandments monuments in their cities, ignored Phelps when he threatened them and told him to go away, and never heard from him again. His threat of a lawsuit was a completely empty threat.

Thirdly, she claims that battling Phelps in court would have been an expensive “misuse of precious tax dollars.” She is deliberately ignoring the fact the American Center for Law and Justice, perhaps the leading First Amendment law firm in the country, offered to defend our monument for free if it ever came under legal assault.

The irony is that the city’s obtuse unwillingness to listen to its own citizens and honor our Judeo-Christian tradition did cause them to expend resources in court - not fighting an outsider from halfway across the country, but fighting their own citizens.

Ms. Jordan and the city council could have brought the community together to send a united message to Phelps and send him back to Topeka. Instead, Jordan and the council used their 27 fulltime lawyers and $400 million budget to divide the community and attack their own citizens.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051028/NEWS0110/510280330/1002/NEWS01

http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051028/NEWS0501/510280325/1053

GAY ACTIVISTS SEEK TO SILENCE AND PUNISH THOSE WHO DISAGREE

This a further example of what we’ve often said, that gay activists are not content simply to be allowed to live they way they wish. They insist that all of society endorse their behavior, and are willing to punish and silence altogether anyone who speaks out against their agenda.

Boston College law professor Scott FitzGibbons reminded a senate committee recently that as soon as homosexual marriage went into effect in Massachusetts (through judicial activism, not legislative consensus), the Boston school superintendent issued a memo to all school personnel.

This memo warned that no criticism of homosexual behavior would be permitted, whether by students, teachers, school officials, or even parents. He furthered urged teachers and students to turn each other in if they happened to overhear critical comments about homosexuality.

http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2463

WHY WE FIGHT TO PROTECT MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY

The Institute for Marriage and Public Policy analyzed 23 studies and found that 20 of them established a clear link between family structure and delinquency. The bottom line is that children from broken homes are much more likely to engage in criminal behavior.

Nearly 90 percent of the increase in violent-crime raters can be attributed to the change in the number of out-of-wedlock births. Boys who are raised in single-mother households are two to three times more likely to end up in jail.

One of the reasons we oppose gay marriage and civil unions is that they create households with a missing parent. Children need both a mother and a father for healthy development, and we should not be in the business of deliberately endorsing family structures that deprive vulnerable young children of the kind of parenting they must have to grow into mature and responsible adults. (Source: Pastor’s Weekly Briefing from Focus on the Family)

Statesman Responds to Writer's Involvement in Political Campaign

2005-10-27T12:06:00.000-06:00

OPPORTUNITY TO WORK FOR CHANGE ON BOISE CITY COUNCIL

If you’d like to help Brandi Swindell’s campaign by distributing literature door-to-door, you can join other volunteers at 9 AM Saturday morning at Capital High School, by the tennis courts (on the east side of the school).

Also, you are invited to a reception for Brandi on Sunday afternoon that will be hosted by Graham and Sparkle Paterson and me at the Paterson home (7313 Kingston Dr, on the corner of Cole and Kingston between Ustick and Mountain View Dr.). The reception will be held from 4-7 PM. For more information, call 283-5020.

STATESMAN DEVOTES THREE COLUMN INCHES TO DEFUSE RONAYNE STORY

I mentioned earlier this week that I was in receipt of an email invitation to a fundraiser for Brandi Swindell’s opponent, sent out by someone whose writing appears regularly on the pages of the Idaho Statesman. The Statesman printed a lengthy story today to clarify its position. Because Diane Ronayne is a free-lance writer for the Statesman, rather than a newsroom staffer, she does not fall under the Statesman’s policy which forbids newsroom personnel from direct involvement in political campaigns.

In conversations I had with Statesman editors over this issue, I pointed out to them that the average reader does not distinguish between writers who write with a byline and those who write under the caption “Special to…” Most readers simply assume that if a writer has a regular column in the body of the paper, they are writing for the Statesman. The Statesman indicated they would make an effort to clarify the distinction between newsroom staffers and free-lancers.

However, since three people who write (or wrote) for the Statesman have written derogatory or demeaning things about Brandi (Dan Popkey and Dan Kouba) or disseminated similar writings to others (Diane Ronayne) it still will be difficult for the Statesman to dispel the view that the paper has a left-leaning tilt.

Perhaps with recent changes in upper management at the Statesman (new publisher, new editor) we may see an effort on the part of the Statesman to be more explicitly evenhanded in their treatment of public policy issues. This would represent a welcome change, which actually would be in the Statesman’s own best interest. Newspaper circulation all over the country has been dropping like a rock, and newspapers can no longer afford to insult the very people they want to buy their product.

The Statesman story can be found at:

http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051027/NEWS01/510270359/1002/NEWS01

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN, PART V

Fargo, North Dakota, has a Ten Commandments monument virtually identical to the one that stood in Julia Davis Park for 39 years until it was ripped out by Boise’s current mayor and city council. The monument in Fargo was challenged but upheld by a federal court on the basis of this summer’s U.S. Supreme Court decision. Yesterday, the plaintiffs, who had sued to remove the monument, gave up and announced they will not appeal.

So the Fargo monument will remain where it has always stood, while we in Boise are stare at an empty place where ours once was. This again shows what could have happened had our city leaders shown some courage and will to fight rather than capitulate.

Boise voters will have a chance to make a change on November 8. Jim Tibbs, who is critical of the way in which the city handled the monument case, is challenging Jerome Mapp, who was president of the council at the time and voted to remove the monument with no public hearing. My co-director at the KCC, Brandi Swindell, is challenging Maryanne Jordan, who likewise voted to remove the monument with no public hearing.

http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/state/13004464.htm

MIERS WITHDRAWS

In what increasingly was looking an inevitable outcome, Harriet Miers withdrew her name from consideration for the Supreme Court last night. She is the 7th out of the 150 Supreme Court nominees to pull out before the confirmation process had been completed. Her withdrawal engendered a palpable sense of relief in the conservative community.

Perhaps the clearest confirmation that her withdrawal is the best thing is that Harry Reid, the Democratic senate majority leader, was so disappointed. He said, "The radical right wing of the Republican Party killed the Harriet Miers nomination. They want a nominee with a proven record of supporting their skewed goals."

This again raises the question of what exactly about Ms. Miers made a leading liberal so enthusiastic about her possible service on the bench.
We can now hope that President Bush will bring forward someone with a proven record of judicial restraint. It is important that we have a nominee whose judicial philosophy is clear because we have seen it in action.

The left is already talking about filibusters and warning the president against bringing an “extreme” nominee forward. The president has a unique opportunity here to break the stranglehold the left has held on holding fair and full hearings. It’s time to be done with stealth candidates and engage in a vigorous debate with the left over a clearly qualified nominee.

Fortunately, due to the hard work that the conservative legal community has been doing for over two decades, the president will have many qualified men and women to choose from. If the president brings forward a strongly qualified nominee, the Miers’ debacle will quickly be forgotten and he will have the overwhelming and united support of virtually everyone in the conservative movement.

DEBACLE UNFORTUNATELY EXTENDS O’CONNOR’S INFLUENCE

On Nov. 30, the court will hear arguments on New Hampshire's parental notification law for abortion. And in late November the court may decide whether it will hear the Bush administration's appeal of a 2003 federal law that bans the type of late-term operation known as partial-birth abortion. It’s a disappointment that O’Connor will still be on the bench when these cases are heard, which are of such importance to parents and to babies on the verge of birth.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/27/AR2005102700549_pf.html

MIERS’ NOT AS PRO-LIFE AS SOME THOUGHT?

In a Wall Street Journal column entitled “Miers Nomination Death Watch,” James Taranto includes this excerpt from a speech Miers delivered in 1993. This revelation may actually have been the deathblow for her nomination. See how “pro-life” this speech makes her sound.

"The ongoing debate continues surrounding the attempt to once again criminalize abortions or to once and for all guarantee the freedom of the individual women's [sic] right to decide for herself whether she will have an abortion."

This is a speech she gave well over a decade after her born-again experience, and four years after giving pro-life answers to a city council election questionnaire. But notice the contrast in language: “criminalize” vs. “guarantee…freedom.” In her view, pro-lifers want to deprive women of their freedom and make criminals out of them.

She goes on to say that those seeking to resolve such disputes would do well to remember that "we gave up" a long time ago "legislating religion or morality.” And "when science cannot determine the facts and decisions vary based upon religious belief, then government should not act."

So according to this Miers’ speech, abortion should not be “criminalize(d)” and government should not intervene to protect babies in the womb because that would be “legislating…morality.” It was becoming harder to be convinced that she would have uphold the constitutional guarantee of a “right to life” when it comes to the most helpless humans in our culture, the ones who haven’t been born yet.

REPUBLICAN EPISCOPAL PRIEST CRITICIZES CHRISTIAN CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT IN GOP

In a remarkably misdirected criticism, former Republican senator John Danforth, an Episcopal priest, accused evangelical Christians of hurting the Republican Party and dividing the country.

But then he immediately, according the AP, indicated that “people of faith have an obligation to be in politics.” Evidently, he means “people of (liberal) faith.” In essence, what Danforth is saying is that conservative Christians are second-class citizens who should not be permitted to have the same level of involvement in political affairs as liberal Christians.

We must always remember that Christians are citizens too, and that they do not forfeit any little bit of their right to be fully engaged in the political process because they happen to be people of faith.

What is particularly unfortunate about Danforth’s comments is that it was the evangelical component of the GOP that gave Bush his victory in 2004 and is largely responsible for the majority the GOP enjoys in both the House and the Senate.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/10/26/D8DG29585.html

NEW HAMPSHIRE BUCKS NEW ENGLAND TREND

A New Hampshire legislative commission reversed the trend in New England states by recommending that lawmakers reject proposals that would allow gays to marry, recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages or set up domestic-partner registrations.

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0038369.cfm

SCHOOL BOARD BANS ALL SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

Rather than add a school holiday for Muslims who were requesting one, and ignoring that the history of this nation is distinctly Judeo-Christian, a Florida school board has canceled all religious holidays – with the apparent exception of Thanksgiving and Christmas – including Yom Kippur, Good Friday and the day after Easter.

This bow to political correctness shows how quietly and yet steadily, in one little setting and community after another, the acknowledgment of the Judeo-Christian foundation of this nation is being removed from public view.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47063

City Politics Do Matter in the Battle for Values

2005-10-26T09:31:00.000-06:00

CITY POLITICS DO MATTER IN THE BATTLE FOR OUR VALUES

One of the arguments Brandi Swindell’s opponents have raised is that she is a value-driven candidate, and these values issues simply have no relevance at the city level.

However, gay activists frequently make their moves through compliant mayors, who are willing to advance the gay agenda even when they must ignore the law to do so.

For instance, in February 2004, Gavin Newsom, the mayor of San Francisco, began issuing “marriage” licenses to same-sex couples. The Alliance Defense Fund took immediate action against the mayor, which led to a unanimous California State Supreme Court ruling that the mayor had acted illegally.

In addition, the Court invalidated the over 4,000 bogus marriages Newsom had authorized.

ANOTHER ROGUE MAYOR

As I reported in an earlier update, mayor Rocky Anderson of Salt Lake City has now gone rogue to advance the gay agenda in willful defiance of state law. In September, via executive order, he extended marriage-like benefits to unmarried city employees. According to the mayor, he did this to provide benefits to employees “regardless of sexual orientation or marital status.”

However, Utah’s Defense of Marriage Act and the Utah Constitution prohibit the state or any local governments from “creating any legal status, rights, benefits, or duties that are substantially equivalent to those provided under Utah law to a man and a woman because they are married.”

This mayor has clearly violated his sworn duty and seems determined to create a special class for domestic partners in flagrant disregard of state law. The Alliance Defense Fund consequently filed a lawsuit yesterday against the mayor, to bring a halt to his illegal behavior.

LESSON FOR EVERY CITY IN IDAHO: LOCAL POLITICS DO MATTER

Former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill was fond of saying, “All politics is local.” That’s why city council races matter, and why those who share our values must take an interest in elections at this level and vote our values. Perhaps the only reason our current mayor has not attempted a similar stunt here in Boise is that he knows the repercussions from his own citizens would be severe.

Further, city council elections matter because local officials often migrate to higher office. For example, a former mayor of Boise, Dirk Kempthorne, subsequently became a United States senator and Idaho governor. It is clear that in our ongoing battle for values and for the soul of our cities and our nation, we can no longer take anything for granted.

ADD GARY BAUER’S NAME TO THE LIST

Gary Bauer, president of Campaign for Working Families, and a presidential candidate in 2000, was questioned for two hours by the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday about his participation in a conference call with about 60 other pro-family leaders. He said that to think these leaders were promised that Miers would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade is absurd on its face.

Bauer said, “If the participants in that call had been given such an assurance, and it was credible, we would all be supporting her nomination. Instead, most of us want her name to be withdrawn because we all feel the president can and should do better than this.”

He also laments the fact that the Republican leadership of this committee, despite being in the majority, continues to let the radical left bully them around, and have repeatedly tried to go around them rather than over them by bringing one stealth candidate after another forward, who virtually without exception prove to be closet liberals when placed on the bench.

Add Jeff Sessions (Alabama), John Thune (South Dakota), and Norm Coleman (Minnesota) the list of Republican senators who are openly hesitant about Miers.

GAY GROUPS DECEIVE TEXAS VOTERS ABOUT MARRIAGE AMENDMENT

Texas citizens will go to the polls in November to vote on a proposed amendment to the Texas state constitution which would preserve natural marriage. A gay activist group, which calls itself Save Texas Marriage but shares office space with the gay and lesbian groups working to defeat this amendment, has been calling Christian and conservative voters and telling them that they need to vote “No” on this amendment to preserve marriage.

The calls claim to be from a “reverend” and end with “God bless you.” This appears to be the first time that gay activists have resorted to outright deception to defeat a marriage amendment.

Senior citizens in particular have been deceived by these phone calls, and have found, after taking advantage of early voting privileges, that they were tricked into voting the exact opposite of the way they intended to vote.

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0038357.cfm

IDAHO AMENDMENT WILL COME FORWARD THIS SESSION

Barring something unforeseen, a proposed amendment to the state constitution will come before the Idaho legislature in January. Critical conversations will be taking place in the near future to determine the precise language that will be brought forward.

It’s important that Idaho language not only deal with marriage but also directly and unambiguously with marriage counterfeits, such as civil unions. The bottom line problem with civil unions is they give societal endorsement to sexually abnormal behavior, and create family structures that are harmful to children, who need both a mother and a father for holistic development.

NEW PRESIDENT OF POLAND A CONSERVATIVE

The left in Europe is hyperventilating over the election of Lech Kaczynski as the nation’s new leader, and threatening to ostracize Poland if he does not govern differently than he campaigned. The reason? He courted the “religious right” during his campaign, openly opposes special rights for homosexuals, and supports the death penalty for heinous crimes.

NASCAR DRIVER CARRIES PRO-LIFE MESSAGE ON CAR

Nascar race driver Bobby Labonte is sponsored by Interstate Batteries, and Interstate has slapped a pro-life message on his car. It’s a part of the company’s “Charged for Life” campaign to raise funds for pregnancy resource centers.

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0038352.cfm

GOOD PRO-LIFE LEGISLATION FORCES ABORTION CLINIC TO CLOSE

A recently passed law in Illinois requires operators of abortion clinics to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. This is good common sense legislation, since a number of women have died due to botched abortions in clinics, in part because they had no access to emergency medical care. This law in effect closed down an abortion clinic in Springfield, because the abortionist there was unable to get hospital privileges.

In a heartening message for the pro-life community, the abortion clinic administrator said, “It's just so difficult to provide abortions for patients here when there's zero support from the medical community.”

ROME BANS ROUND GOLDFISH BOWLS (I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP)

On the grounds that they are cruel to the fish, round goldfish bowls have been banned in Rome. Supporters claim that the round bowls cause the fish to go blind. The city council member who pushed the ban said, “It's good to do whatever we can for our animals who in exchange for a little love fill our existence with their attention.” Who says city politics are not important?

And in a completely unrelated note, 20 people in Turkey were fined for illegally using the letters “Q” and “W” in placards they made to celebrate the Kurdish new year. It is illegal to use those letters because they are not found in the Turkish alphabet.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/
story_page/0,5478,17039745^1702,00.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051025/od_nm/turkey_kurds_dc

Dark Side to Boise City Council Race

2005-10-25T07:59:00.000-06:00

SWINDELL RACE HEATS UP: CURTIS STIGERS HOSTS FUNDRAISER FOR JORDAN

Well-known Boise musician Curtis Stigers will host a fund-raiser for Maryanne Jordan this week, which is an indication that the left recognizes what is at stake in this election. It is highly doubtful that Mr. Stigers would have gotten involved at all in this race if Brandi was not Jordan’s opponent.

You will notice in theses excerpts from his invitation the typical rhetoric from the left. He says that Brandi will “divide Boise with her extremist rhetoric.” (This, despite the fact that 79% of respondents in the Idaho Statesman’s online poll wanted the monument to stay right where it was; so the reality is that it was the city council which divided the city.) She will “drag…city government into the mire of her right-wing pet causes.” She must be “stop(ed)…at the city gates.”

Brandi’s work to defend the Ten Commandments monument is called a “pointless crusade,” and Stigers accuses Brandi of being “backed by backed by right-wing extremists.” Notice how it is now the left, not Brandi, that is insisting that this election is all about moral values and convictions.

High profile people are now weighing in and intending to raise serious money, not so much for Maryanne Jordan, as against Brandi Swindell. In their view, because she supports the public acknowledgment of God, the sanctity of human life in the womb, and reserving sex for marriage, she is a public menace and must be stopped at all costs.

EMAIL INVITATION TO STIGERS’ FUNDRAISER SENT OUT BY A WRITER FOR THE IDAHO STATESMAN

Diane Ronayne, who writes what amounts to a society column for the Idaho Statesman, was the source of the email invitation to the Stigers event that came into my box. Normally, press publications require their writers to avoid direct involvement in political races. Since Ms. Ronayne is a free-lance writer for the paper, the Statesman’s internal polices may not apply directly to her. I’m awaiting a return call from a Statesman editor to clarify.

Of course, if Ms. Ronayne is permitted to be directly involved in a candidate race, then certainly other free-lance writers should have the same liberty to assist in Ms. Swindell’s candidacy without fear of retribution.

CANDIDATE FORUM WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT THE BOISE PUBLIC LIBRARY

A forum for all candidates, sponsored by the Idaho Statesman and the Idaho League of Women Voters, will be held at 7 PM Wednesday at the Boise Library. The public, of course, is invited, and I anticipate Brandi’s presence in this race will make this one of best-attended candidate forums in recent years.

WHAT MS. SWINDELL IS UP AGAINST

The Message Board on a local website (neurolux.com) features a truly reprehensible thread devoted to Ms. Swindell’s candidacy. Someone has used photo-shop software to superimpose her head on the suggestively posed bodies of lingerie models. It shows the depths to which people right here in Boise will stoop to oppose those who stand publicly for the Judeo-Christian tradition.

In addition, a pathetic cartoon has been posted on this thread, which you can see at the KCC blog (http://www.kccidaho.blogspot.com/). It’s a takeoff on the scene in the “Lion King” in which the young cub is dedicated to the gods. In the cartoon, which features a prominently displayed pentagram, a fetus is held up to the gods, with this caption: “I Sacrifice (sic) this Fetus (sic) to our Dark Lord. And there’s NOTHING you can Do (sic) about it Brandi!”

The Bible tells us that our ultimate battle is not against flesh and blood, but against unseen spiritual powers. This website is a sobering reminder that people of faith who are willing to stand for the truth are often exposed to vile and depraved attacks. For those of you who believe in the power of prayer, especially those of you who are pastors, this might be a good time to ask for God’s protection over Brandi and her efforts to serve God in the public arena.

We do not know what God’s will is for Brandi in this election season; that will be made clear on November 8. But it is clearly contrary to his will that a young woman in our community would be exposed to this kind of degrading treatment. We must expect and demand better.

The thread can be found at the following link. I must warn you the content is graphic and disturbing. It is a sad reflection of how far our culture, right here in Boise, has drifted from its Judeo-Christian moorings.

http://www.neurolux.com/thread.cfm?threadid=11636&messages=34

TWO PROMINENT CONSERVATIVES CALL FOR MIERS’ WITHDRAWAL

Phyllis Schlafly of the Eagle Forum and fund-raising pioneer Richard Viguerie yesterday called on the White House to withdraw Harriet Miers’ nomination. It’s important to understand that conservative hesitation about Miers’ is not personal, either with regard to Ms. Miers or the president. It is a matter of principle, and the vigorous debate over her nomination in conservative circles is a sign of health and a sign that genuine conservatives put principle over politics.

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20051025-122642-6809r.htm

MOST AMERICANS STILL BELIEVE MAN CREATED RATHER THAN EVOLVED

Despite almost a century of indoctrination and brainwashing, a majority of Americans still believe today what our Founding Fathers believed, that man is a created being. According to a CBS poll, 51% of Americans believe that “God created human beings in their present form.” Only 15% believe that humans evolved, and that God was not involved in the process at all. Truth has a stubborn quality to it, and most Americans still have the common sense to believe the biblical view of origins.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47023

ACLU GOES AFTER TINY TOWN TO REMOVE CROSS ON CITY SEAL
In 1973, the tiny New Mexico town of Tijeras adopted a city seal designed to symbolize the history of the town. It includes a conquistador's helmet and sword, a scroll, a desert plant, a fairly large religious symbol (the Native American zia) and a small Christian cross. (You can see the symbol on the KCC blog.)

The ACLU naturally had no problem with the oversized Native American religious symbol, but took great offense at the tiny cross and has sued the town. Commentator John Leo said, “Tiny cross inspectors are not permitted to fret about large non-Christian religious symbols, only undersized Christian ones.” The Alliance Defense Fund will assist the town as it fights the ACLU in court.

The ACLU believes in freedom of religion, unless it is the Christian religion, and in freedom of speech, unless it is religious speech.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47022

700 SCIENTISTS GATHER IN EUROPE FOR INTELLIGENCE DESIGN CONFERENCE

In another indication that the scientifically bankrupt theory of evolution is beginning to totter, 700 scientists from all over Europe gathered in Prague last weekend for an Intelligent Design conference. Participants included experts in mathematics, molecular biology, and biochemistry. All had independently come to the conclusion that matter and life itself show abundant evidence of intelligent design.

Stephen Meyer of the Discovery Institute said ID is “based upon scientific evidence and discoveries in fields such as biochemistry, molecular biology, paleontology and astrophysics.” Darwinians continue to claim that evolution is a settled fact in science, but unfortunately for them, increasing numbers of scientists aren’t listening to them anymore.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/
1103AP_Czech_Intelligent_Design.html

NEW TEXTBOOK DESIGNED TO INTRODUCE PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS TO THE BIBLE

A new book, published for use in public schools, is designed to introduce students to the Bible and its influence on literature and culture. “The Bible and Its Influence” even-handedly and fairly shows how different religious traditions interpret and use various sections of Scripture.

The truth is that it is impossible to understand Western culture or be a truly educated American without a working knowledge of the Bible. We cannot understand Shakespeare without some understanding of the 1300 allusions he draws from the pages of Scripture, or understand Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream Speech” without understanding the imagery of the Promised Land.

Contrary to what many think, the U.S. Supreme Court has not outlawed the reading and study of the Bible in public school classrooms. Although (with no constitutional justification) it has ruled that it cannot be read devotionally, it said in 1963, “Nothing we have said here indicates that ... study of the Bible or of religion, when presented objectively ... may not be effected consistently with the First Amendment.” Somebody needs to get a copy of that ruling over to the ACLU.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05297/593949.stm

BRITISH BANKS BAN PIGGY BANKS

British banks are banning piggy banks because they might offend Muslims, who do not eat pork. Yet Jews do not eat pork either, have lived in England for centuries, and yet have never been accorded this kind of politically correct deference.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/Piggy-banks-offend-UK-Muslims/2005/10/24/1130006056771.html

"Lawrence" Case Based on Staged Arrest?

2005-10-24T08:49:00.000-06:00

KCC IN THE NEWS

The Idaho Statesman carried an article about our upcoming Idaho state Supreme Court date in the Saturday, October 22 issue, and KIDO 580 AM (the station that carries Rush Limbaugh in the Boise area) interviewed me last Thursday afternoon for its news broadcasts on the same topic.

DAN POPKEY’S COLUMN IN YESTERDAY’S STATESMAN

In yesterday’s Idaho Statesman column, Dan Popkey appeared to be trying to dig himself out of the hole he dug for himself last week with his sexist attack on Brandi Swindell. In a piece on protecting young women from dating violence, he makes himself out to be the new defender of feminine virtue and the opponent of all that is “demeaning” and “degrading” when it comes to the treatment of women.

Popkey, the father of a teenage girl, actually makes a case for reserving sex for marriage in the body of the column. This illustrates one of my favorite definitions: A conservative is a liberal with a 16-year-old daughter.

To read Popkey’s column:

http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051023/NEWS01/510230319

INVITATION TO BRANDI SWINDELL EVENT

You are invited to a reception for Brandi Swindell, my co-director here at the KCC, who is running for Boise City Council. It will be held at the home of Graham and Sparkle Paterson next Sunday, October 30, from 4-7 PM. Graham and Sparkle live at 7313 Kingston Drive in Boise, on the corner of Kingston and Cole, between Ustick and Mountain View. Call 283-5020 for more information, or email Sparkle at sparklepaterson@msn.com.

A number of Brandi’s campaign signs have been stolen, a sad commentary on how little regard those who oppose her have for the American ideal of freedom of speech.

A prominent Democratic legislator has sent out an urgent email appealing to her constituency to do everything in their power to defeat Brandi. Plus, a Democratic operative is running the campaign of Brandi’s opponent. We’ll see if Dan Popkey editorializes against this egregious partisan interference with city politics.

Today’s Idaho Statesman features six letters on Brandi’s run for city council. You can read them by going to:

http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051024/NEWS0502/510240302/1054

TOM LUNA TO CHALLENGE MARILYN HOWARD FOR STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION

Nampa businessman Tom Luna, a former member of the Idaho Assessment and Accountability Commission that developed Idaho's new curriculum standards, will challenge Marilyn Howard for the post of state Superintendent of Public Instruction. This will be a rematch of the 2002 campaign.

In that campaign, Luna advocated running public schools more like businesses and tying school funding to student performance. He was also critical of the current system for its high dropout rate and the large number of high school graduates unprepared for college.

Ms. Howard, for the most part, has been a mouthpiece for the education establishment and resistant to true education reform. It will be worthwhile for Idaho voters to pay careful attention as Mr. Luna presents his philosophy of education to the public. He may offer the citizens an attractive alternative to business as usual in Idaho public education.

MIERS TO WITHDRAW?

My good friend David Ripley, executive director of Idaho Chooses Life, has a more optimistic view than I do of the Miers’ nomination. He lays out his view in a Reader’s View piece in today’s Idaho Statesman, which you can read at:

http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051024/NEWS0503/510240326/1055

Conservative sources say the White House is making back-channel contingency plans to withdraw Harrier Miers’ nomination. A White House spokesman, however, flatly denied the rumors.

The source for the Washington Times story indicated that there is growing concern in the White House that Miers will not fare well in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings. Perhaps her performances this past week in the mock hearings, the so-called “murder boards,” have awakened fears in the Bush administration that conservative critics of her nomination may have been right all along.

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20051021-112953-8355r.htm

LEGAL EXPERTS FIND MIERS’ ANSWERS ON QUESTIONNAIRE “TERRIBLE” AND “SHOCKING”

When asked on her questionnaire what constitutional issues she had worked on during her career, Miers referred to a time when she was on the Dallas city council and the city was sued for violating the Voting Rights Act.

She said, “The council had to be sure to comply with the proportional representation requirement of the Equal Protection Clause.”But the Supreme Court repeatedly has said the Constitution's guarantee of "equal protection of the laws" does not mean that city councils or state legislatures must have the same proportion of blacks, Latinos and Asians as the voting population. An NYU law professor, a voting rights expert said her answer was “terrible.” “There is no proportional representation requirement under the equal protection clause. If a first-year law student wrote that and submitted it in class, I would send it back and say it was unacceptable.”

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-miers22oct22,0,1244386.story?coll=la-home-headlines

MIERS AN ADVOCATE OF QUOTAS, RACE-BASED HIRING?

In another revelation that is disturbing to conservatives who believe in merit-based hiring and promotions, Harriet Miers enthusiastically supported the use of race-based quotas in filling slots in the legal profession in Texas. Again, her supporters immediately said this tells us nothing about how she will rule as a judge.

Yet reverse discrimination, which is a form of racism, is a very real issue in contemporary society and will come before the Supreme Court again. Can she truly set aside what appear to be passionate convictions on this subject and uphold the constitutional principle that we should all be equal under the law regardless of skin color?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/21/AR2005102102139_pf.html

SPECTER SAYS ROBERTS AGREES WITH HIM THAT CONSITUTION IS “EVOLVING” DOCUMENT; SCHUMER SAYS MIERS DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH VOTES

Arlen Specter, who was the only Republican to vote against Robert Bork in 1987, said Friday that he believes the constitution is an “evolving” and “living” thing, and that, “As values change, the Constitution accommodates to the needs of modern society.” He claims, falsely I hope, that new Chief Justice Roberts agrees with him.

One of the questions he intends to ask Miers in the hearings is this one: “Do you consider a woman's right to choose being embedded in the culture of our society?” This is obviously Specter’s view. To him, it is irrelevant that the “right to life” is embedded in the Constitution if the culture has embraced a different point of view. In Specter’s view, current cultural values have supremacy over plain constitutional protections.

The bottom line here is that either the Constitution means what its Framers intended it to mean, or it can mean anything we want it to. If we don’t like what the Constitution plainly says, then we can amend it, and have done so over two dozen times. What we cannot allow judges to do, including Supreme Court justices, is simply ignore it or dismiss it because they don’t happen to like it.

Specter also indicated he is still thinking of calling Dr. James Dobson to testify about a conference call he participated in with about 60 other conservative and pro-family leaders.

Sen. Chuck Schumer said yesterday that Miers does not have the votes to be confirmed on the Senate floor, and may not even have the votes to get a majority in the Judiciary Committee. John Fund said in today’s Wall Street Journal that “it is almost inevitable that Ms. Miers will withdraw or be defeated.”

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110007442

LAWRENCE CASE BASED ON STAGED ARREST?

A new book, “Sex Appealed,” by Judge Janice Law, presents evidence that the landmark Lawrence case of 2003, in which the U.S. Supreme Court forbade states to outlaw sodomy, was a manufactured event staged by homosexual activists. The Lawrence decision may be the decision that ultimately leads to the forced acceptance of gay marriage and the legalization of child pornography.

According to Law’s research, the Lawrence arrest began with the placing of a false 911 call to police, alleging that a man was holed up in an apartment with a gun. When police entered the apartment, they found a man calmly talking on the telephone in the kitchen and two men having sex in a bedroom with an open door. Despite the fact that the officers repeatedly announced themselves and ordered them to stop engaging in sex, the men persisted until they were physically separated.

The caller was charged with filing a false police report, and the two men were charged with a minor Class C misdemeanor, which is normally paid with a fine. They pled no contest in every appearance until they got their case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

If Law’s account is correct, then police were tricked into purposefully discovering two men having sex. If the police were invited into that bedroom, then there’s no invasion or violation of anyone’s privacy. The entire incident appears to have been staged just so a legal challenge against sodomy laws could be launched.

But since the Supreme Court based the Lawrence decision on a so-called “right to privacy” (the same basis for the Roe decision), then, if Judge Law is correct, that decision has virtually no basis in fact, and Lawrence was wrongly decided. Homosexuals constantly talk about how others should stay out of their bedrooms. Well, the fact is that people do, and the only way gay activists can get the police into their bedrooms is to trick them into coming there.

The fundamental problem here is that gay activists are not content to keep their sexual activity a private matter. They are insisting that the entire culture embrace and endorse their lifestyle, give it special protection in law, and punish and silence those who think it is not normative sexual behavior.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46984

ROE V. WADE, SCOPES SHARE SIMILARITIES TO LAWRENCE

Norma McCorvey, the real-life Jane Roe, acknowledged years after the Roe v. Wade decision that she had been recruited by abortion activists, and that her claim that she was pregnant as a result of a rape was a bald-faced lie. And yet, based on this lie, the Supreme Court legalized abortion on demand for an entire nation.

The famous Scopes monkey trial of 1925, dealing with the teaching of evolution, was based likewise on a lie. Scopes was actually a gym teacher and by his own admission never even taught evolution in the classroom.

KANSAS SUPREME COURT RULES THAT LAW CANNOT BE USED TO EXPRESS “MORAL DISAPPROVAL” OF HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVIOR

In another example of the bitter fruit of the Supreme Court’s egregious Lawrence, a conviction of an 18 year old who took sexual advantage of a 14-year-old boy in a mental health facility was thrown out on the grounds that Kansas is not allowed to express “moral disapproval” of homosexuality. Kansas law provides stiffer penalties for underage homosexual activity than for underage heterosexual activity.

The court furthered argued that there is no “rational basis” for Kansas to make a distinction between homosexual behavior and heterosexual behavior. The court must simply be ignorant of the abundant medical evidence that there are unusually serious health risks associated with homosexuality, including a highly elevated risk of AIDS and a shortened life span.

As Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel said, “The court acted like a legislature when it attempted to rewrite the statute.” This is another instance of judicial activism, in which judges arrogantly assume prerogatives that in our system of government are reserved for legislatures.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/21/AR2005102101680_pf.html

WALGREEN’S DONATES $100,000 TO GAY GAMES IN CHICAGO

The Walgreen’s drugstore chain has become a “Premium Category” sponsor of the annual Gay Games in Chicago by chipping in $100,000. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley is the Honorary Chairman of this year’s event.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46974

BURNING OF TALIBAN CORPSES – WHAT YOU MIGHT NOT HEAR IN THE OLD MEDIA

The Muslim world is in an uproar over the burning of two Taliban corpses by U.S. Forces in Afghanistan. Islam forbids cremation, since bodies are burned “only in hell.” However, what you may not hear in the old media is that villagers were repeatedly asked to come and retrieve the bodies so they could be buried according to Muslim tradition, but the villagers refused, perhaps because the dead fighters were Pakistanis instead of locals.

U.S. troops could not leave their position because of its strategic importance, and there was not enough room there for both the platoon and the bodies. The bodies had begun to decay, bloat, and stink in the 90-degree heat, and the soldiers had no other option. Remember that the Taliban and al Qaeda have never shown any qualms about defiling the bodies of dead Afghan or American soldiers and even civilians, including incinerating several thousand of our countrymen on 9/11.

Unfortunately, the Pentagon, instead of standing by its soldiers who are putting their lives at risk for the sake of freedom, has already called what our soldiers did “repugnant,” and has launched a criminal investigation. Let’s hope our own military remembers that we are at war, and that war is not an antiseptic affair. If the military begins to fall short of recruiting goals, officials may need to do no more than look back at events like this. Why would America’s finest young men sign up for a military that suspects them of criminal conduct for doing their jobs?

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1121939,00.html

UNIVERSITY TO BAN BIBLES FROM DORMITORIES

Edinburgh University in Scotland will begin banning Holy Bibles from its student halls of residence due to concern they are the source of discrimination against students of other faiths. This is not the first removal of faith from Edinburgh University. Last year the school removed prayer from graduation ceremonies.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46970

Vigorous Rebuttal to Popkey in Today's Statesman

2005-10-21T09:28:00.000-06:00

SUPREME COURT DATE CHANGED

Due to a conflict with the attorney for the city of Boise, the Idaho State Supreme Court has rescheduled oral arguments on our Ten Commandments case for Friday, December 9 at 10:00 AM. The Court has reserved one hour for arguments. This date is final.

The public is welcome to attend, and given the historic importance of this case, it would be worth your while to attend. What is at stake is not only religious liberty in Boise but in communities all over the nation, who may be emboldened to do the same thing in their cities if we are successful here. To our knowledge, no Ten Commandments monument has been returned to public display through a direct vote of the people. Here’s an opportunity to see history in the making.

The Supreme Court building is at 5th and State, across the street from the old Ada County Courthouse. The building also houses the state law library.

KCC IN THE NEWS

There is an article on KTVB’s website today on our coming court date, which you can find at the link listed below. It contains this on-point quote from our attorney, Christ Troupis: “This now transcends the question of the Ten Commandments. The issue is the people's right to participate in their government. We’re a free society and a lot of times people take their right to vote for granted. And it is the most fundamental inalienable right to protect a free society.”

http://www.ktvb.com/news/localnews/stories/ktvbn-oct2005-commandments_challenge.113b5f95e.html

STATESMAN RUNS COLUMN IN RESPONSE TO POPKEY COLUMN

Today’s Idaho Statesman carries a column co-written Elysse Barrett, Barbara Gough, and Jordan Gehrke. It is a vigorous, spirited, and effective response to Dan Popkey’s attack piece on Brandi that ran in last Sunday’s Statesman. You can read the column by going to:

http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051021/NEWS0503/510210327/1055

GOOD NEWS: HATE CRIMES LANGUAGE STRIPPED

Good news: yesterday, thanks to Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the Senate Judiciary Committee stripped “hate crimes” language from the senate bill (S. 1145) I warned you about earlier in the week. Remember that there are two fundamental problems with “hate crimes” laws: they violate the principle of equal justice under the law, by giving some victims more protection than others; and they criminalize thought in addition to behavior.

This does not mean the battle is over. Sen. Edward Kennedy evidently plans to tack this amendment back on to this bill when it reaches the senate floor. If that doesn’t work, he intends to attach it to another non-related piece of legislation.

The ex-gay president of Exodus International has effectively lobbied many senators on the subject of “hate crimes” legislation. He makes the point that hate crimes laws send the message to him and others like him that “we were more valuable when we were gay people than when we changed.”

CHARGES DROPPED AGAINST FATHER WHO PROTESTED PRO-GAY KINDERGARTEN CURRICULUM

I told you yesterday about a father who was charged with trespassing after refusing to leave a school until officials pledged to obey state law and inform him any time sexuality would be discussed in his son’s classroom. Yesterday, charges were dropped against him after he agreed to stay away from the school grounds for a year.

We certainly can understand his relief that this ordeal is over, but remember this. He essentially has been exiled from his own son’s school simply for asking school officials obey state law and for upholding the Judeo-Christian view of natural marriage.

MIERS CRAMMING FOR NEXT TWO WEEKS, TERMINATES VISITS WITH SENATORS

Harriet Miers, whose visits with senators over the last two weeks seem to have done more harm than good, has ended her senate tour. "No one is walking out of these meetings thinking they've just met with a star," a Republican Judiciary staffer said yesterday. She has met with just 25 senators; John Roberts met with over 50 by the time his hearings took place.

Byron York reports on National Review Online that the Miers’ support team, the team assigned to shepherd her nomination through to confirmation, is “demoralized and pessimistic.” Conference calls that took place six to seven times a week during the Roberts process have dwindled to one or two with Miers. The Wall Street Journal today called her nomination “a political blunder of the first order.” Swfit Boat veteran and columnist Jerome Corsi says, “President Bush has called in artillery fire on his own position by nominating Harriet Miers.”

She will spend the next two weeks cramming for her appearance before the judiciary committee, and go through mock hearings in preparation. None of this allays conservative suspicions that she is in over her head.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20051020-083137-7609r.htm

CITY FORCED TO PAY WICCAN ATTORNEY $53,000

I’ve mentioned before the case of the Wiccan priestess who sued a city in North Carolina because the city council permitted mention of the name of Jesus in invocations. In a victory for religious oppression, she prevailed, and to make things worse the city has now been ordered to pay her attorney $53,000, which represents between 5% and 10% of the city’s entire annual budget.

If we followed the principles of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, self-governance, and local control, we would permit city councils everywhere to make decisions about invocations based on what they perceive to be best for their own communities, without fear of litigation or judicial interference. If a city’s citizens don’t approve of their leaders’ decisions regarding invocations, they have the opportunity to bring about change at the ballot box.

Unfortunately, it has become increasingly common for decisions like these to be made based on fear of litigation than on sound public policy principles.

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/5132782/detail.html

NO SUCH THING AS A GOOD DIVORCE

A new book by Elizabeth Marquardt, “Between Two Worlds,” discusses in detail the impact of divorce on children. The bottom line is that a bad marriage is better for children than a good divorce. Divorce, no matter how amicable, splits a child’s world, and in some ways the child himself, into two pieces.

Children of divorce feel less protected by their parents, less emotionally secure, and often feel obliged to be emotional caregivers and conciliators for their parents. They are in essence forced to grow up too fast, and forced to behave as adults long before they have the maturity and resources to do so.

We are dedicated at the Keep the Commandments Coalition to defending and protecting marriage in every way possible, including the formation of public policy that encourages the building of happy and lasting families. We want to see Idaho lead the nation in reversing the trend of family breakup.

IF AL FRANKEN SPEAKS, AND NOBODY IS LISTENING, IS HE STILL MAKING NOISE?

“Air America” was to be the liberal counterpoint to conservative talk radio headed by such personalities as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Limbaugh has a listening audience of about 20 million people, and Hannity between 12 and 14 million. Unfortunately for Mr. Franken, nobody appears to be listening to him. According to the Washington Post, “Arbitron couldn't detect a measurable listenership for the station” that carries Air America in the nation’s capital.

It reminds us again that the conservative movement in America is the movement of ideas, principles and vigor. The vigorous debate among conservatives about the Miers’ nomination proves this. The left has only rhetoric, character assassination, and overheated emotion to offer, and listeners soon tire of its emptiness.

CONSTITUTIONAL QUOTE OF THE DAY

“We may be tossed upon an ocean where we can see no land -- nor, perhaps, the sun or stars. But there is a chart and a compass for us to study, to consult, and to obey. That chart is the Constitution.”

-- Daniel Webster

We Get Our Day in Court

2005-10-20T09:53:00.000-06:00

DAVID RIPLEY HOME FROM HOSPITAL

David Ripley, executive director of Idaho Chooses Life, is home from the hospital after his heart attack. His d condition is being treated with medication and rest. Keep him and his family in your prayers.

According the latest update from ICL, Planned Parenthood is now bringing a Dr. Cam McIntyre from Seattle into Boise once a week to perform abortions. There is evidence that he performs more than 6000 abortions each year.

ORAL ARGUMENTS ON OUR TEN COMMANDMENTS CASE SCHEDULED FOR DECEMBER 2

Our attorney Christ Troupis informed me yesterday that the Idaho State Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments on our Ten Commandments case for Friday morning, December 2, at 11:10 AM. Please circle that date on your calendar, and make plans to attend if at all possible.

Supreme Court justices in Idaho are elected officials. They serve you and me, and serve at our pleasure. It’s important that they see from our presence that we are expecting them to serve the cause of justice by upholding the law, protecting our right to vote, and granting us the opportunity to preserve our Judeo-Christian heritage.

The court will be ruling on whether or not our duly qualified initiative, which if passed will return a Ten Commandments display to the original site in Julia Davis Park, must go before Boise voters.

CHANNEL 2 INTERVIEWS BRANDI SWINDELL, MARYANNE JORDAN

The local CBS affiliate in Boise, KCBI Channel 2, did a profile of challenger Brandi Swindell, my co-director here at the Keep the Commandments Coalition, and the incumbent she is challenging, Maryanne Jordan. The transcript of the story can be found on KBCI’s website – the link is at the end of this section.

Both Ms. Swindell and Ms. Jordan were interviewed at sites important to them. Ms. Jordan picked the Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial, and Brandi picked the site of the Ten Commandments monument in Julia Davis Park. There was one huge difference – Ms. Jordan’s monument is still there, but Brandi’s is not. And Ms. Jordan is part of the reason Brandi’s monument is no longer there.

I met privately with Mayor Bieter on the day the city council voted, in a sparsely attended, pre-council meeting, to remove the Ten Commandments monument from Julia Davis Park. I pleaded with him to fight as hard for the citizens of his community who had the same affection for the monument as he would fight for others in the community who have a similar affection for the Anne Frank Memorial. As his conduct and as Ms. Jordan’s subsequent vote made clear, this appeal fell on deaf ears.

Consequently, Ms. Jordan has something to be interviewed in front of, and Ms. Swindell does not.

http://www2.kbcitv.com/x68479.xml

If you would like to read the vigorous response of Brandi’s campaign to Dan Popkey’s Statesman column, you can find it on the home page of her website at http://www.brandiswindell.org/.

POPKEY GOES AFTER JIM TIBBS

After using his Idaho Statesman column Monday to go after Brandi Swindell, Dan Popkey yesterday set his sights on Jim Tibbs, another candidate for Boise city council. Jim was serving as Boise’s interim police chief when a young 16-year-old boy was shot and killed by a Boise police officer in what was clearly a justified use of lethal force.

There is no dispute over the basic facts in the case, that the father called the police to deal with his violently out-of-control son, that he evacuated his own family from the house for their protection, and that the boy assaulted the officer with a bayonet attached to the end of a rifle. The officer had no option but to use force in self-defense.

In what appears to be a gratuitous slap at Tibbs, Popkey actually criticizes him for giving the press and the public too much information in the days following this shooting. This is a truly astonishing charge for a journalist to make, that it was somehow wrong for a public official to make a good faith effort to give our community as much information as possible about a tragic event of this nature.

I cannot help but think that Mr. Popkey has done Mr. Tibbs as much of a favor as he did for Ms. Swindell. Jim is well liked in this community and served faithfully and well in law enforcement for 34 years. Mr. Popkey’s complaints will, if anything, give Boiseans more reasons to vote for Tibbs.

Tibbs has expressed his criticism over the city council’s handling of the Ten Commandments case, in particular the mayor and council’s refusal to hold public hearings on the matter, and for blocking the right of the citizens to vote on our duly-qualified initiative. He has indicated that he will vote for our initiative if it does make it to the ballot, and will respect the will of the people by working with us to see it implemented if it passes.

His opponent, Jerome Mapp, was the president of the city council at the time and therefore as responsible as anyone for the removal of the monument, for the secretive way in which the city council tried to handle its vote, and for its legal maneuvering to keep our initiative off the ballot.

PRO-LIFE VIEWS THROW MIERS’ CONFIRMATION INTO CONFUSION

The revelation that Harriet Miers supported a constitutional amendment to ban abortion in 1989 means that Democrats almost certainly will vote as a bloc against her. (A hyperventilating Sen. Barbara Boxer said today Miers has taken “the most extreme position of anyone I have ever known on abortion.”) It will cause pro-choice Republicans such as Arlen Specter, Lincoln Chaffee, and Olympia Snowe to consider opposing her.

A filibuster from the Democrats is now a more attractive option for them, since it would be virtually impossible to get 60 votes for cloture in this situation, and the confusion in the Republican ranks may make it difficult for them to invoke the constitutional option to break such a filibuster.

It’s unfortunate that the president did not give us a stronger nominee, with a proven judicial record of constitutional restraint. Conservatives were eager for the vigorous debate that would have ensued, and for the opportunity it would have provided to break the back of the unconstitutional and unprecedented use of the filibuster by Democrats. Because Miers is such a weak nominee, the spirit to engage in that fight seems to have gone out of the leading Republicans. A filibuster against Miers would likely succeed.

The silver lining in that scenario is that it may force the president to send up a much stronger nominee than Miers, a nominee who will rally the passion of conservatives and pro-family leaders. I believe the Democrats will string out the Miers’ confirmation process as long as possible, to extend the internecine combat among Republicans, and to keep a conservative off the bench and Sandra Day O’Connor on as long as possible. (Democrats are already talking about extending the process, which beings Nov. 7, past the Thanksgiving holidays.)

If the Democrats successfully filibuster Miers, the president will have a tough choice to make: stick to Miers as his nominee no matter how long that keeps O’Connor on the bench, or withdraw her name and admit defeat. Unfortunately for President Bush, his nomination of Miers has shifted the momentum and the leverage to the Democratic Party.

http://insider.washingtontimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20051020-122001-7622r

RICK WARREN COMING TO A STARBUCK’S NEAR YOU

Starbuck’s has decided to include a quote on its coffee cups from Rick Warren, the author of The Purpose Drive Life, which openly mentions God. I mentioned in an earlier update that Starbuck’s had been featuring a pro-homosexual quote from a leading gay writer. Perhaps in response to public response – after all, Christians buy lattes too – Starbuck’s has added Warren’s quote to its rotation, a quote which includes the statement, “You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense.”

KINDERGARTNER’S ART CENSORED

A kindergartner was given an environmental-themed art assignment at a school in New York. His artwork, along with the artwork of 80 other students, was to be displayed for a few hours in the school cafeteria. He produced a poster which included several religious figures and the slogan, “The only way to save the world.” This submission was flatly rejected.

So he submitted another one, made of several cutout figures which included children holding hands around a globe, people recycling trash, a church with a cross, and an unidentified man, bearded and wearing a robe, kneeling in prayer. The school decided to display this poster, but folded over one side to hide the image of Jesus.

The agenda of the left is quite simple. They will defend freedom of speech with the last drop of their blood, unless that speech is religious speech, at which point they become tyrannical censors of the worst sort.

The boy and his family will finally have their day in court. As their attorney, Mat Staver of the Liberty Counsel said, “To censor the poster solely because some might perceive a portion of it to be religious is an egregious violation of the Constitution.” It is certainly ridiculous that a kindergartner would have to go to federal court to hang his artwork on a wall.

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46920

TEACHERS ORDERED NOT TO NOTIFY PARENTS WHEN DISCUSSING HOMOSEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS WITH KINDERGARTNERS

State law in Massachusetts requires that parents be notified any time issues of human sexuality are discussed in the classroom. In direct defiance of this law, the superintendent of schools in Lexington has actually ordered teachers not to notify parents when they discuss homosexual relationships with schoolchildren.

The issue surfaced when a five year old brought books home in a “Diversity Book Bag” which included the following statements:

- "A family can be made up in many different ways"

- "Laura and Kyle live with their two moms, Joyce and Emily, and a poodle named Daisy.”

- “Robin's family is made up of her dad, Clifford, her dad's partner, Henry, and Robin's cat, Sassy. Clifford and Henry take turns making dinner for their family."

The boy’s father had received no notification that these matters would be discussed in his son’s classroom. When he pressed school officials to obey the state law, he was arrested for trespassing. His trial begins today.

Again we see that the definition of “diversity” in the PC dictionary is “compulsory acceptance of homosexual behavior.”

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46924

Troublesome New Iraqi Constitution

2005-10-19T08:39:00.000-06:00

DAVID RIPLEY IN HOSPITAL

Our good friend David Ripley, the founder and director of Idaho Chooses Life and a lion in the pro-life movement in Idaho, is in the hospital recovering from a heart attack. Please pray for him, and for his wife and their young son.

ROBERT BORK ON ROE V. WADE

“I am convinced, as I think almost all constitutional scholars are, that Roe v. Wade is an unconstitutional decision, a serious and wholly unjustifiable judicial usurpation of state legislative authority. I also think that Roe v. Wade is by no means the only example of such unconstitutional behavior by the Supreme Court.”

- Robert Bork, testifying in 1981 before the Senate Judiciary Committee when he served as a law professor at Yale.

This statement kept Bork from being confirmed to the Supreme Court in 1987.

FAITH IS GOOD FOR YOU

According to a story in the Chicago Tribune, an MIT professor has determined that people who are active in their faith have higher incomes and education levels and less welfare participation than the general population. (So much for evangelicals being “poor, uneducated, and easy to command.”) They also demonstrate a pattern of more marriages and fewer divorces.

There are now numerous studies that show a correlation between faith and health and overall well-being. Prayer is associated with lower stress levels and positive outlooks that can lead to better physical health, according to the research director at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

When Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied,” he evidently knew what he was talking about.

NATIONAL “COMING OUT WEEK” NOW IN HIGH SCHOOL

A Maryland high school is observing "National Coming Out Week" with events organized by the campus Gay/Straight Alliance, prompting protests from parents.

The activities at Pikesville High School in Pikesville, Md., near Baltimore – all approved by school officials – include pink and rainbow shirt day and a homosexual film festival, according to local WJZ-TV. According to one parent, "They're asking the straight students to wear pink in support of the gay and lesbian agenda.”

To put this in perspective, imagine what would happen if the same school sponsored a “Coming Out Week” for all Christian students to encourage them to openly acknowledge their religious orientation. Imagine that the administration urged everyone in the student body to wear crosses and carry Bibles in support.

Imagine further that they held a week-long Christian film festival, featuring “The Passion” and “The Greatest Story Ever Told.” It would quickly become evident that the left is very selective about the kind of tolerance it will tolerate. “Tolerance” simply has become a code word for “embracing homosexuality.”

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46911

MUSLIM INDOCTRINATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

The Excelsior Elementary School in Byron, California, has held “Islam simulation” classes for its 12-year-old students. Among other things, students were placed into Islamic city groups; took Islamic names; wore identification tags that displayed their new Islamic name and the star and crescent moon; handed materials that instructed them to 'Remember Allah always so that you may prosper'; completed the Islamic Five Pillars of Faith; were required to fast during lunch; and memorized and recited the 'Bismillah' or 'In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate,' which students also wrote on banners hung on the classroom walls.

Students also played "jihad games" during the course, which was part of the school's world history and geography program, and were instructed to imagine they were Islamic soldiers.

Again, imagine the outcry if “Christian simulation” classes were taught, in which every student was required to adopt a name from the Bible, wear a cross around his neck, learn the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer by heart, hang banners with Scripture verses on classroom walls, and imagine themselves as Christian missionaries.

Once again we would see that “multiculturalism” is simply a code word for “any culture but the Judeo-Christian culture.”

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46916

BESTIALITY MAKING A DISTURBING COMEBACK

Bestiality is such a perversion and so unthinkable that a dozen states, including Washington, do not even have laws against it. A Washington man died this summer in an incident with a horse, which took place at a farm that was essentially a brothel for people who want to have sex with animals. The worst offense the operators could be charged with was trespassing.

It has been correctly observed that “without God, everything is permissible.” I have come across an increasing number of stories this year that deal with a resurgence of bestiality in our day. Again, once we abandon the principle, whether in law or in culture, that sex is reserved for the union in marriage of one man and one woman, man will slide into an abyss of increasing perversion.

Once a culture accepts sexual immorality as normative, as our culture did in the 60’s, it is not long before homosexuality is accepted as normative. We’re in a major battle in our culture over this issue right now. The next taboo to fall is sex with children, and even that barrier is now under all out assault.

For instance, the slogan of the North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) is “sex before eight or it’s too late.” Representatives of NAMBLA have marched right here in Boise’s annual Gay Pride parade. Even current Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader-Ginsburg believes the age of consent for sexual intercourse should be lowered to age 12. Perhaps the final taboo to fall is sex with animals.

If there was ever a time for Idahoans to stand up for natural marriage and amend our state constitution to give it maximum protection, the time is now. Plan right now to contact your legislators when the time comes to urge them to vote for this amendment.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/
2002569751_horsesex19m.html

RED CROSS NEARLY COSTS STAFFERS THEIR LIVES

In another indication that Islam may not be the religion of peace everyone wants us to believe, four Red Cross staffers in Iraq nearly lost their lives when they were seized by a terrorist group who threatened to behead them because they thought the crosses on the water and food containers meant the men were Christian missionaries.They were, in fact, Sunni Muslims.

The president of the Iraqi Red Crescent has urged the International Committee of the Red Cross to stop sending aid marked with red crosses after this incident.

TROUBLESOME NEW IRAQI CONSTITUTION

One of the potentially troubling things about the new Iraqi constitution is that it makes Islam “the official religion of the state” and forbids the making of any law that would contradict “the undisputed rules of Islam.” Yet Islam teaches the persecution and even execution of those who refuse to submit its teachings. The only options the Koran gives to infidels – that’s Jews and Christians – are conversion, submission, or war. There is no concept of peaceful co-existence or religious toleration in Islam.

Because of this, there are only 100 Jews left in Iraq when once there were over 100,000. Since the fall of Saddam, perhaps 40,000 Christians have fled Iraq for safe harbor elsewhere. Even though the new constitution contains guarantees of religious freedom in other places, it’s worth remembering that even the constitution of the old USSR contained a religious freedom plank.

The Christian church in Iraq under Saddam actually enjoyed a certain amount of protection as Saddam discovered that Christians were among the most honest, trustworthy, and hard-working employees he could find. He protected them because he needed them. The future of Iraq will turn more on whether it allows Christians true religious freedom than on anything else, and the future does not look bright.

http://insider.washingtontimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20051018-114859-4036r

“TEN COMMANDMENTS” MINISERIES TO “STIR UP A HORNET’S NEST?”

Naveen Andrews is a regular on the hit TV series “Lost,” and also has a starring role in ABC's upcoming miniseries of "The Ten Commandments.” According to an interview with him published in the National Ledger, this version is not your father’s version of this biblical epic.

Andrews, who takes on role of the Egyptian prince played by Yul Brynner in the Charlton Heston movie, said “we treated Moses like he was a lunatic,” and more a candidate for psychiatric hospitalization than a national hero. As for the portrayal of God, “I think what we've done is question the nature of religious dogma: Who is this vengeful, spiteful, jealous God who urges Moses to commit mass murder at times … And how good is that for mankind?”

No longer is God a God of compassion who liberates the people he loves from slavery and bondage, after giving their oppressor multiple opportunities to release them of his own free will, he now is a mass murderer who picks certifiable loonies as his representatives. Said Andrews, “If ABC doesn't cut it to shreds, what we intended will be seen.”

http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_27261218.shtml

NOT SAFE TO BE A COW

Hawaii has declared open season on – cows. There evidently are about 100 stray cows wandering around in the Hakalau National Wildlife Refuge, doing damage to native vegetation. “Hunters” will be allowed to kill two cows per day, with no season limit.

Brandi Makes Strong Appearance on KIDO

2005-10-18T10:13:00.000-06:00

BRANDI MAKES STRONG APPEARANCE ON KIDO

Brandi Swindell was Jon Duane and Chris Kelly’s guest for the entire 9-10 AM hour on KIDO this morning, and did an outstanding representing herself and her positions on issues. She exposed the shallowness of Dan Popkey’s column, and his apparent obsession with superficial issues such as appearance. In preparing his hit piece on Brandi, he did not once ask her about her positions on issues facing the city. It appears that Dan rather than Brandi is the one who is “obsessed” with her looks.

It also became clear over the course of the hour that she is not, as her opponents are trying to paint her, a one-issue candidate. She spoke articulately about forced annexation, infill development, and the way in which Boise can do a better job of attracting young families to Boise and re-populating our shrinking school system.

DEMOCRATS TO CONFIRM MIERS?

As you have heard by now, Harriet Miers indicated in a 1989 questionnaire that she supported a constitutional amendment that would not allow abortions except in situations where they were necessary to save the life of the mother. She also indicated opposition to the use of taxpayer funds to pay for abortions, and indicated she would use her influence to keep pro-abortion people out of office.

The White House immediately discounted any assurance this might give to nervous conservatives. Spokesman Jim Dyke said, “A candidate taking a political position in the course of a campaign is different from the role of a judge making a ruling in the judicial process.” The bottom line is that we still have no idea whether Ms. Miers thinks Roe was decided on solid constitutional grounds or not.

There apparently will be a high-level meeting in Washington today of the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee to take a straw poll of which way the senators are leaning on Miers’ confirmation. A lone defection could put her nomination in jeopardy, and increase the pressure on her to withdraw.

Questions remain for those who are hungry for proven judicial conservatives on the bench. Miers met yesterday with Sen. Charles Schumer, who said she “disavowed…completely” any private suggestions that she would overturn Roe v. Wade. Schumer quoted her as saying, “No one knows how I would rule on Roe v. Wade.” This is hardly reassuring.

There’s another perhaps unlikely possibility here that deserves some consideration. If the conservative opposition to Miers’ nomination is successful, and her name is withdrawn, she almost certainly will be replaced by a proven judicial conservative. This would represent the left’s worst nightmare.

It actually might be in the best interests of Democrats to confirm Miers as the lesser of two evils; in this case, better the devil you don’t know than the devil you do. A bizarre scenario could unfold in which Democrats may actually be responsible for her confirmation by casting enough votes for Miers to offset Republican opposition.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,172560,00.html

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20051018-122115-9495r.htm

PROMINENT BIOCHEMIST TESTIFIES ON BEHALF OF INTELLIGENT DESIGN

Dr. Michael Behe, a biochemist at Lehigh University, testified yesterday in the trial over the mere mention of intelligent design in science classrooms in the Dover, Pennsylvania school district. Behe wrote a bestseller nine years ago, “Darwin’s Black Box,” in which he argues that life is “irreducibly complex.”

It is his argument that life simply requires too many pieces that must be in place and working, all at the same time, for it to have arisen by chance through the random collision of atoms. The very complexity of living things argues, from an objective, rational, scientific point of view, for an intelligent designer.

Once again, we see that those who hold to the Judeo-Christian view of origins are the only ones who need not fear discussion, debate, reason, research, or facts. The secular left is so spooked by the thought of a Creator that they must suppress freedom of inquiry and freedom of speech so that the issue cannot even be explored in our educational system.

TIME COVER STORY ON GAY TEENAGERS

Time’s current cover story extols the increasing number of teenagers who are self-identifying as homosexual. However, Time does not reveal that the author of the piece is gay himself, and that the primary researcher he features in the article is homosexual as well.

The article dismisses reparative therapy, which has proven to be of help to people who choose to leave the gay lifestyle and re-orient themselves sexually. An ex-gay says, “This article is filled with tons of misinformation, mocking of Bible-believing Christians, of people who have come out of homosexuality such as myself and who are happily married now.”

According to the National Association of Reparative Therapy, the author of this piece “in past Time articles... promoted gay political attacks against the Boy Scouts, portrayed transgender activists as a new oppressed minority group; wrote approvingly of anonymous gay sex orgies for an alternative newspaper in Washington, D.C.; and earlier had penned a guide to gay bathhouses in Washington, D.C.” Time, of course, presents the piece as an example of unbiased, objective journalism.
http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1112856,00.html

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46884

EVACUEES SPEND OUR MONEY ON BOOZE AND STRIPPERS

In another illustration as to why it might be better for the government to stay out of welfare efforts altogether, and turn that task over to private charities, the Boston Herald reports today that evacuees who have migrated to Cape Cod are spending the $2000 in taxpayer dollars they were handed last month on booze and lap dances.

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=107538&format=&page=1

Brandi Swindell on KIDO Tomorrow Morning

2005-10-17T15:50:00.000-06:00

BRANDI SWINDELL ON KIDO 580 AM TOMORROW MORNING FROM 9-10 AM

Dan Popkey was Jon Duane and Chris Kelly’s guest this morning on KIDO radio, and the entire hour was devoted to a discussion of yesterday’s column in which he went after Brandi’s candidacy for Boise city council. Brandi was invited to be on the program with him, but made it clear that she would not appear on the same platform or program with him until he issues an apology for the sexist remarks in his column.

I listened to this morning’s broadcast, and found Mr. Popkey to be defensive, backpedaling (he admitted at one point that some of his statements in the piece had been “inartful”) and unsure of himself. A number of successful businessmen, who had not graduated from college but had served as bank board members and county commissioners, called in to chastise Popkey for his elitist emphasis on education.

Brandi was, however, invited to be a guest on tomorrow’s (Tuesday’s) program, at 9:15 AM. My guess is that they will keep her on for the rest of the hour, although right now she is just scheduled for the first segment. If you are out of the area, you can listen online by going to http://www.580kido.com/. You’ll find a “Listen Live” button on the left side of the home page. The program does receive phone calls, at (208) 580-5436. Light ‘em up!

TO SIGN PETITION TO SUSPEND GAS TAX

If you’d like to sign an electronic petition in support of Rep. Bill Sali’s proposal to suspend Idaho’s 25 cents-a-gallon gas tax for 90 days, you can do so by going to http://www.cutgastax.com/.

SUPREME COURT ALLOWS ABORTION TO PROCEED

An apparently unanimous Supreme Court lifted a stay that would have prevented a Missouri inmate from aborting her baby. A federal judge on Friday ordered the state to violate its own law by using taxpayer funds to transport her to an abortion clinic. The baby’s life was protected over the weekend through a stay issued by Clarence Thomas. Missouri law makes it illegal to expend “any public funds…for the purpose of performing or assisting an abortion.”

The federal judge who issued the order on Friday got a bit testy, saying, “The court will not tolerate further defiance of its orders.” This is a perfect example of a judiciary out of control, where a judge believes he has the right to order state officials to break their own laws just because he tells them to. Missouri’s governor said, "This is an outrageous order from an activist federal judge that offends Missouri values."

The Constitution guarantees the “right to life” and declares that life cannot be taken “without due process.” This baby has broken no law, but now, with the concurrence of the highest court in our land, has been robbed of that constitutional protection.

HATE CRIMES RIDER

I’ll have more to say in coming days on this, but you should be aware that the Senate will soon consider a bill (S. 1145) that will for the first time allow federal prosecution for crimes based on “actual or perceived” sexual orientation.

Hate crimes bills are wrong-headed for at least a couple of reasons.

One, they create two classes of victims. Some victims get more legal protection than others. This is a foundational violation of the concept of equal justice under the law. Straights simply do not deserve less protection under the law than homosexuals, but this is precisely the inequality this bill will create.

Second, they criminalize thought. People are punished not for what they do but for what they are thinking when they do it. A politically incorrect worldview now carries with it legal liability. But as Thomas Jefferson said, the reach of government must extend only to actions, and not to opinions.

If this bill passes, ministers or religious organizations who speak out against homosexuality will be in danger of being charged with a hate crime. I will be asking you soon to contact our senators on this matter, so keep your dialing finger limbered up!

Popkey Writes Scathing Attack on Brandi Swindell

2005-10-16T18:32:00.000-06:00

POPKEY WRITES SCATHING ATTACK ON BRANDI SWINDELL

Dan Popkey wrote a scathing attack on Brandi Swindell in today's Idaho Statesman. You'll find the link at the bottom of the page. Do not be confused,my friends: this was not just an attack on Brandi, but on the deepest convictions you and I cherish. Dan put Brandi in his crosshairs only because of the values she holds and shares with us.

His column betrays the elitism that often characterizes those on the left end of the political spectrum. He shows open contempt for Brandi because she believes that our culture should preserve its Judeo-Christian heritage, that all life is precious, including life in the womb, and that sexual intimacy is something that should be reserved for marriage.

He attacks her because she lacks a college degree. This is a classic error often committed by cultural elites, who confuse education with intelligence. Everyone who has met Brandi sees immediately that she is bright, thoughtful, articulate, and poised. We all know people who have been educated beyond their intelligence. Brandi, on the other hand, has intelligence well beyond her formal education.

He commits a further blunder by going after her because of her appearance, referring to her looks at least six times. The left claims to be about elevating the status of women in our society, but then cannot seem to keep from demeaning attractive conservative women by treating them as sex objects.

He exposes another classic liberal double standard by criticizing her for past arrests. Yet I'm quite sure Dan would go to jail rather than reveal a source, and would see himself in the process as a valiant defender of freedom of the press. But if others are taken into custody for standing up for the rest of the First Amendment, he treats them with disdain and condescension. In Dan's worldview, it looks as though you are a hero only if you are willing to risk arrest for the parts of the Constitution he likes.

NOT THE EXTREMIST HE WANTS HER TO BE

Popkey quotes the chairman of the state Republican Party, who explains that the party has given Brandi help because she "shares the values of the GOP." This is a significant goof on Popkey's part, because it undermines his effort to paint her as an extreme, right-wing, religious zealot.

The reality is that Brandi's views and values are mainstream Idaho values. She believes in the values clearly stated in the state Republican Party platform, which include a recognition of the importance of acknowledging God in public life, the importance of protecting natural marriage, and the importance of protecting life in the womb.

Despite the effort of the opposition to taint her as a one-issue candidate, Brandi has articulated positions on a host of challenges that the city will face, including infill development, forced annexation, property taxes, Boise's business climate, urban growth, public transportation, and even the widening of Ustick Road.

Dan's column may actually be a boost to Brandi's campaign. The GOP now has a stake in the outcome of this election. A win for Brandi will not only be perceived as a win for her, and for the Keep the Commandments Coalition, but also for the Republican Party. It will definitely be a win for the citizens of Boise.

Popkey's arrogant, dismissive opposition to Brandi could be the best possible thing that could happen to her campaign. Many sideline observers may now be inclined to vote for her just because of his attack. In fact, I nominate Dan for "Honorary Chairman" of Brandi's campaign. Perhaps her new campaign slogan ought to be: "I voted for Brandi - Dan Popkey made me do it."

Here is the link to Dan's column:

http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051016/NEWS010702/510160329/1024

More Conservatives Call on Miers to Withdraw

2005-10-14T10:06:00.000-06:00

Friday, October 14, 2005

From Bryan Fischer

MORE CONSERVATIVES CALL ON MIERS TO WITHDRAW

Noted conservative leader Paul Weyrich, leading members of the Federalist Society, and Reagan speech-writer Peggy Noonan have been added to the list of highly visible conservatives calling for Harriet Miers’ nomination to be withdrawn. Leading senators, such as Sam Brownback, Rick Santorum, George Allen, and Trent Lott continue to be skeptical. The president may wind up Borking his own nominee.

Sen. Arlen Specter said recently that Miers would need a “crash course in constitutional law.” Playing on John Roberts’ apt analogy, putting Miers on the Supreme Court would be a bit like making her a major league umpire when she had never called balls and strikes at any level, including Little League. A recent survey indicates that only 29% of the American public believes she is qualified for the position.

As to the effort of the White House to get us to support Miers just because of her faith, it’s worth remembering that Jimmy Carter was an evangelical Christian.

SAMPLE OF HARRIET MIERS’ WRITING

When Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers was head of the Texas Bar Association, she wrote a monthly column, President's Opinion, for the Texas Bar Journal. It represents the largest body of public writing we have from her, and according to columnist David Brooks of the New York Times, the quality of her writing “doesn’t even rise to the level of pedestrian.”

He gives the following as a sample: “We have to understand and appreciate that achieving justice for all is in jeopardy before a call to arms to assist in obtaining support for the justice system will be effective. Achieving the necessary understanding and appreciation of why the challenge is so important, we can then turn to the task of providing the much needed support.”

A prominent Idaho attorney wrote me yesterday to indicate that there quite likely is more of a paper trail on Ms. Miers than we might think, including speeches, writings, votes, and policy positions “by the hundreds.” She would probably not have been considered for the presidency of the Texas State Bar without that kind of work product. An aggressive political journalist or two may well uncover even more information about her in days to come.

If there was ever a time we needed the brightest minds and most articulate and incisive thinkers on the Supreme Court, it is now. It is getting increasingly hard to believe that Ms. Miers has the substance needed for the task at hand.

OHIO CITY COUNCIL SUSPENDS OPENING PRAYER

The City Council of Painesville, Ohio has suspended its practice of allowing members to pray aloud before meetings, after receiving complaints from people who watched the semimonthly meetings on cable television and heard a prayer that was said “in Jesus' name.” Council members had been allowed to lead a prayer of their choosing, but will start meetings with the Pledge of Allegiance for now.

Note the weakness of these public officials, who surrendered before a shot had even been fired. This weakness is mirrored in Boise’s mayor and city council, who removed our Ten Commandments monument on the mere threat of a lawsuit. Perhaps it’s time for a change on the Boise city council.

NEW TRANSLATIONS: TELLING GOD WHAT HE SHOULD HAVE SAID

Gene Edward Veith has an excellent column on what “gender-neutral” translations have done to the word of God in the interests of political correctness. Some modern translations now refer to God as “father-mother,” drop “husband” and “wife” for “partner” to avoid offending the sexually immoral, change “darkness” to “night” to avoid offending people of color, and change “right hand” to “mighty hand of God” to avoid offending left-handed people. What is fundamentally wrong here is that these translators are telling God what he should have said, instead of allowing him to speak for himself.

http://www.worldmag.com/subscriber/displayarticle.cfm?id=11157

CIVIL RIGHTS COMPLAINT FILED AGAINS RESTAURANT OWNER FOR “ENGLISH ONLY” SIGN

The Ohio Civil Rights Commission has filed what a First Amendment attorney calls "an absurd and dangerous complaint" against a restaurant owner in Mason, Ohio for posting a sign reading "For Service Speak English." Insists the restaurant owner: "The sign means exactly what it says — none of the employees speak any language other than English and, therefore, would be unable to communicate with any patrons who are not well-versed in the English language."

Rep. Sali Proposes Suspension of Idaho Gas Tax

2005-10-14T07:53:00.000-06:00

Friday, October 14, 2005

From Bryan Fischer, Co-director

REP. BILL SALI PROPOSES THREE MONTH SUSPENSION OF IDAHO GAS TAX

Rep. Bill Sali yesterday called on Governor Kempthorne to call a special session of the Idaho Legislature to suspend Idaho’s 25 cents-per-gallon gasoline tax for three months. He estimates this bill, designed to lessen the impact of Hurricane Katrina, will reduce state revenues by $40 million, but the reduction can be absorbed by the $200 million surplus the state enjoys.

If you like the idea, and the benefit it represents to Idaho families who will be able to keep a little more of their own money for 90 days, call the Governor’s office sometime today at (208) 334-2100 and urge him to pursue Rep. Sali’s “Quarter for a Quarter” proposal.

MIERS AND THE FAITH ISSUE

The president’s spokesman, Scott McClellan said on Wednesday that Miers “recognizes…that a person’s religion or personal views have no role when it comes to making decisions as a judge.” But if she herself admits that there is no connection between her faith and her judicial philosophy, why is the White House making her faith the centerpiece of her list of qualifications? And why should evangelicals be reassured by a statement like this?

The issue here is not what kind of Christian Ms. Miers is, but what kind of judge she will make. Not even Dr. Dobson has any idea where she stands on Roe, and whether she thinks it was decided on a sound constitutional basis. No one will get an answer to that question before her nomination comes up for a vote.

I’ve used this analogy before, but imagine your car has engine problems and you take it to a mechanic. The first thing he says to you is, “You ought to trust me to work on your car because I am an evangelical, born-again Christian.” Your first response would be, “Well, that’s nice to know, but the question on my mind is whether you know anything about carburetors.”

And so the central question here is not about Ms. Miers faith or her understanding of Scripture, but about her judicial philosophy and her understanding of the Constitution.

Meanwhile, the administration has been unable to get members of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization, to speak out in support of Miers as they did for Judge Roberts. They had expected the president to nominate a highly credentialed judicial conservative.

The Drudge Report revealed yesterday that, although Ms. Miers praised the Federalist Society in a speech this spring, she gave sworn testimony in 1990 that she would not join the Federalist Society because it was a “politically charged” organization. She stated that she did not think the NAACP fell into that same category. She testified at the same time that she had joined the Democratic Progressive Voters League, which is a decidedly liberal organization. The more this kind of information dribbles out, the more questions are raised in the minds of conservatives.

PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS URGED TO USE RELIGION TO SUPPORT EVOLUTION

It turns out that religion is being used in public school classrooms, not to discredit evolution, but to support it! A website with information designed for use in public schools directs teachers to doctrinal statements by 17 religious denominations supporting evolutionary theory.

For example, a statement by the United Church of Christ declares that evolution is consistent with “the revelation and presence of…God in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.” In one suggested classroom activity, teachers are urged to share statements by religious leaders, but only those which “stress the compatibility of theology with the science of evolution.”

These are the same people who are constantly whining about the need for the separation of church and state, and yet here openly advocate the use of taxpayer resources (teacher salaries, classroom time) to indoctrinate students with a particular religious view of origins.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46807

SWEDISH SPERM DONOR ORDERED TO PAY CHILD SUPPORT

In another example of how twisted things get when the biblical norm for marriage and parenting is abandoned, a Swedish man who was the sperm donor for a lesbian woman’s three children has been ordered by the highest court in Sweden to pay child support for her children. The mother sued him for support after her lesbian relationship crashed and burned.

Miers' Critics "Sexist" and "Elitist?"

2005-10-12T23:17:00.000-06:00

Thursday, October 13, 2005

From Bryan Fischer

QUESTIONERS OF MIERS “SEXIST” AND “ELITIST?”

Current talking points being circulated by Harriet Miers’ defenders accuse those who question her nomination of sexism and elitism. These are, of course, preposterous charges, and insulting to the very conservative base that elected President Bush largely on grounds that he would do something about judicial activism.

Questions about Ms. Miers’ competency have nothing to do with her gender and everything to do with her qualifications. Most conservatives I know would have been delighted with either Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen, or Edith Jones.

Because so little is known about her judicial philosophy, the White House has had to make her evangelical faith the centerpiece of her qualifications. But this tells us almost nothing. Over 20% of self-identified evangelicals voted for John Kerry despite the fact that he is adamantly pro-choice. An evangelical here in Boise voted to remove the Ten Commandments from a public park. Additionally, her close friend Nathan Hecht said she quite easily would be able to separate her faith from her judicial responsibilities. If that’s the case, then why is her faith an asset and a qualification?

According to Gary Bauer, Ms. Miers listed Warren Burger as one of her two favorite justices. Burger voted with the majority in Roe v. Wade. And an article in a leading homosexual newspaper in Dallas, Texas is filled with praise for Miers, and includes a statement from a leader in the gay community that she “has always been viewed as a moderate.”

Questions about Ms. Miers have absolutely nothing to do with “elitism.” The greatest dissatisfaction with her comes in fact from grassroots America, from ordinary men and women who want proven originalists on the court. In fact, the bulk of the support for Miers is currently coming from the elites of both parties.

It’s wonderful to know that Ms. Miers is a woman of faith. I regard as a sister in Christ, and would enjoy the privilege of meeting her and sharing together about our walk of faith. But it is a mistake for the White House to make this the basis of their appeal to us to support her. After working hard to keep John Roberts’ Catholic faith from being made an issue, the White House now has to make Ms. Miers’ faith the core argument in her favor. Unfortunately, the president put himself in this position because that is virtually the only thing that anybody knows about her.

FOOTBALL COACH RESIGNS AFTER SCHOOL BANS PREGAME PRAYER

A veteran central New Jersey high school football coach has resigned after being told by school officials he could no longer lead his team in pregame prayer. According to school officials, the prayers violated the separation between church and state in public schools. A spokeswoman for the district said prayer must be initiated by the students; otherwise it violates the law.

The coach is the founder of a charity all-star football game that has raised more than $150,000 for physically and mentally impaired children. On Saturday, a group of more than 50 members of the football team and some of their parents traveled to Borden's home and asked the coach to return.

Several things are worthy of note. One, there is no “separation of church and state” in our constitution. That phrase was never even used in a Supreme Court decision until 1947. Secondly, notice again the confusion between “law” and “judicial rulings.” There is in fact no law, passed by the representatives of the people, that forbids coaches from leading their teams in prayer. This coach was violating no law whatsoever; he was only offending the heightened sensibilities of hyperthyroidal judges.

This again is why we need judges who will refuse to legislate from the bench but will instead leave that task up to legislators.

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/ESPNSports/story?id=1204887

IF YOU’D LIKE TO HELP BRANDI SWINDELL’S CAMPAIGN

You’re invited to a meeting and free food for volunteers for Brandi’s campaign at GOP headquarters, 8th & Bannock in downtown Boise, Friday night at 7 PM. Literature drops will take place on Saturday morning from 9-11 AM – call 713-2418 to find out where.

Dobson Reveals Content of Rove Call

2005-10-12T08:30:00.000-06:00

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

From Bryan Fischer

DOBSON REVEALS PRIVY INFORMATION ON TODAY’S FOCUS ON THE FAMILY BROADCAST

On today’s Focus on the Family broadcast, Dr. James Dobson will reveal, with Karl Rove’s permission, the contents of his private conversation with Rove about the president’s nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

According to the broadcast, Rove, the president’s chief adviser, revealed to Dr. Dobson that the president had decided to nominate a woman before narrowing his choice to Ms. Miers. Rove also indicated that some potential nominees refused to be considered because the process has become so politicized and vicious that they simply did not want to put their families through the ordeal.

Dr. Dobson will say on today’s broadcast (which was taped yesterday) that the “privileged information” he received from Rove was that “Harriet Miers is an evangelical Christian, that she is from a very conservative church, which is almost universally pro-life, that she had taken on the American Bar Association on the issue of abortion and fought for a policy that would not be supportive of abortion, that she had been a member of the Texas Right to Life.”

Neither Roe v. Wade nor any other pending issue that will be considered by the court came up in the conversation, which took place two days before the public announcement of her nomination. Dobson said he would be glad to respond to a subpoena from the judiciary committee, but wouldn’t have anything to add to what he shares on today’s broadcast. “I have nothing to hide and I'll be happy to come and talk to you," he said. “But I won't have anything to say that I haven't just told millions of people.”

Sen. Pat Leahy has accused Dobson of receiving private assurances that Miers would vote to overturn Roe. To that accusation, Dr. Dobson said, “Leahy is either lying or he's given to his own delusions or he's got some problem somewhere, because that's flat out not true. Nowhere have I been quoted making such a statement, because it's not true.”

Dr. Dobson has accepted assurances from Rove that Ms. Miers shares the judicial philosophy of strict constructionism and will not legislate from the bench. Yet Dr. Dobson admits that he has no idea how Ms. Miers views Roe. “You know, to be honest, I would have loved to have known how Harriet Miers views Roe v. Wade. But even if Karl had known the answer to that and I’m certain that he didn’t, because the President himself said he didn’t know, Karl would not have told me that.”

ASSESSMENT

Dr. Dobson has put his considerable reputation on the line here, and I hope with every fiber of my being that the president and Dr. Dobson are right about Ms. Miers’ judicial philosophy. I remain troubled that the president decided beforehand to nominate a woman, rather than committing himself to picking the best candidate available, and that even then he passed over several outstanding female jurists, such as Janice Rogers Brown and Edith Jones, who have a proven track record of judicial restraint. We received similar assurances about David Souter, who has turned out to be a disaster on the Court.

The one silver lining in this cloud may be that the hue and cry from conservatives will give Ms. Miers, if she is confirmed, added incentive to resist what seems to be the inevitable pull to the left that judges experience once they get on the Court. Anthony Kennedy’s priest even assured people during his confirmation period that he was a devout Roman Catholic and staunchly pro-life, and he yet he has proven to be an utter disappointment.

The data on Ms. Miers is so meager, according to one staffer, that a “pocket card” of talking points the White House made available to senators who wished to praise her had to be double-spaced. A conservative lobbyist for Republican judicial nominees said that fighting for the Miers nomination has been “utterly joyless.” And according to the Drudge Report, six of the ten Republican senators on the judiciary committee have serious reservations about Miers.

The bottom line is that a Supreme Court position is simply too important for anyone to be approved on a “trust me” basis.

You can read the transcript of today’s Focus on the Family broadcast by going to:

http://www.family.org/welcome/press/a0038214.cfm

AIR FORCE FORBIDS CHAPLAINS TO SHARE THEIR FAITH

Faced with a lawsuit filed by a 1977 Academy graduate, it appears the U.S. Air Force may be backing down from a policy that would have allowed military chaplains to witness to Air Force personnel who are not affiliated with other religions. The pledge that Air Force chaplains were asked to make, prior to this August, was, “I will not proselytize from other religious bodies, but I retain the right to evangelize those who are not affiliated.”

Even this policy has echoes of Saudi Arabia, which does not permit Christians to share their faith with Muslims. However, the new Air Force position is even worse: “There is no existing Air Force policy endorsing 'proselytizing' or 'evangelizing' 'the unchurched.' An earlier Chaplain Service document that might have been understood to represent such a policy statement was withdrawn from use by the Chaplain Service beginning on August 10.”

If chaplains are forbidden to “evangelize” the “unchurched,” how in the world are they to provide spiritual nurture to inquiring Air Force personnel? Military service involves significant stress, which often creates an awareness of spiritual hunger. Individuals who become aware of a spiritual vacuum in their own lives may well turn to chaplains to help fill that void with a relationship with God.

As Tony Perkins said, “These developments raise disturbing questions about the rights of Christians in uniform. The Academy's Commandant, an Evangelical Christian with an excellent record, was "passed over" for promotion following…complaints. When cadets take the oath to defend the Constitution of the United States--shouldn't their First Amendment rights be a part of what they defend?”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/10/AR2005101001582.html

WICCAN LOSES PRAYER CASE BEFORE SUPREME COURT

A Wiccan (who is a member of the “Broom Riders Association”) was denied an appeal by the U.S. Supreme Court of a lower court ruling that allowed a Richmond, VA suburb to refuse her permission to open government meetings with a pagan prayer. Ironically, it was the ACLU, which usually fights public prayer tooth and nail, that was trying to force Chesterfield County to allow her to pray publicly.

In South Carolina, the Anderson City Council adopted a policy that permits members to mention Jesus Christ’s name during opening prayers, despite a federal court ruling in a case involving a nearby town that forbade the mention of any specific deity.

The bottom line is that Chesterfield County and Anderson City are free under the Constitution to have anyone pray or not pray as they wish without violating the First Amendment. The First Amendment restrains only Congress, and since neither Chesterfield County nor Richmond are Congress, it doesn’t even apply to them. And even if you do think the First Amendment does apply, it protects “freedom of religion,” which is certainly abridged if someone is being forced to pray contrary to the dictates of their own conscience.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46779

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/12873150.htm

Bryan's Photo

2005-10-11T12:11:00.000-06:00

Dobson to Discuss Miers' on Radio Broadcast

2005-10-11T07:24:00.000-06:00

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

From Bryan Fischer

DR. DOBSON TO DISCUSS MIERS NOMINATION TOMORROW AND THURSDAY ON RADIO BROADCAST (Focus on the Family: http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0038193.cfm)

Dr. James Dobson has, along with Jay Sekulow of the ACLJ, been the most vocal supporter of Harriet Miers’ nomination to the Supreme Court.

Dr. Dobson will devote his Wednesday and Thursday Focus on the Family radio programs to responding to critics who have dogged him over comments he made last week concerning Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers.

Just days after Miers was nominated by President Bush, Dobson said he supported her in part because of things he had been told by White House adviser Karl Rove.

"I can't reveal it all," Dobson said at the time, "because I do know things that I'm privy to that I can't describe because of confidentiality."

Over the weekend, Dobson was the talk of the talk show circuit over those comments, with some critics demanding to know if he had been assured whether Miers would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Dobson does have more to say about the issue, and plans to have guests on his program who will also talk about Miers and her qualifications.

As I mentioned over the weekend, there is even talk that Dr. Dobson will be subpoenaed to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding what he knows. This, of course, is ridiculous, unless subpoenas are also issued to the heads of the ACLU, NARAL, People for the American Way, and other pro-abortion groups about backdoor conversations they have had with liberal senators on the judiciary committee.

I have perhaps more respect for Dr. Dobson than any other Christian leader in the country, and I am eager to hear what he has to say. You can listen to the broadcast on the following local stations:

Boise KBGN 1060 AM 9:00 AM
Boise KBGN 1060 AM 7:30 PM

Boise KSPD 790 AM 6:30 AM

Boise KSPD 790 AM 12:00 PM

Boise WPCS 88.1 FM 2:15 PM

Boise WPCS 88.1 FM 10:15 PM

Boise KDZY 98.3 FM 7:30 AM

Boise KDZY 98.3 FM 6:30 PM

If you live outside the Boise area, you can find a station that carries the broadcast by going to:

http://www.family.org/fmedia/radiolog/index.cfm

To listen online beginning Wednesday:

http://www.oneplace.com/Ministries/Focus_on_the_Family/

POLL RESULTS ON INTELLIGENT DESIGN

As of about 10:00 PM last night, 2784 votes had been cast on the Idaho Statesman’s online poll about the teaching of intelligent design in science classrooms. Of those who responded, 54% want only evolution to be taught in science classes (so much for freedom of thought and academic inquiry!) while 46% open-minded Idahoans want both taught so students can make up their own minds.

TEN COMMANDMENTS

In Michigan, state lawmakers and the Granholm administration are starting to consider how and if the Ten Commandments can be shown at the state Capitol. The state House has approved a resolution encouraging the committee to create a public display of the commandments in the Capitol. A committee made up of 12 members from the state senate, the state house, and the governor’s administration, has been formed to explore the idea further. Other states, such as Ohio, display documents, including the Ten Commandments, in their capitols that they say are foundational.

There is no question that the Ten Commandments played a foundational role in the formation of American public life and law. All 13 of the original states incorporated the Ten Commandments in their entirety into their civil codes. Sen. Gerry Sweet proposed a bill two years ago which would have created a similar display in our state Capitol. It was killed in committee by Republican senator Brad Little of Emmett because it included the Ten Commandments. Simple question: If it can be done in Ohio and Michigan, why not here?

http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw122476_20051010.htm

ENVIRONMENTALISTS MAY DELAY CUTTING OF NATIONAL CHRISTMAS TREE UNTIL NEXT YEAR

The Bible gives authority to man to “fill the earth and subdue it (Gen. 1:28).” Environmentalists are dedicated to making it impossible for man to carry out that divine mandate. They gained a huge victory yesterday as a federal judge issued a ruling that is forcing the Forest Service to suspend more than 1,500 permits for activities on public land. Now suspended are permits for such projects as fire prevention on tens of thousands of acres, nearly 100 guide permits for hunting, fishing, and horseback riding, 15 ski area projects that may shut down the upcoming ski season in some areas, and 40 permits for family reunions and Boy Scout and Girl Scout activities.

These all are projects the Forest Service determined had “minimal environmental impact.” This court decison follows a July ruling against a project to remove charred and damaged trees from Sequoia National Forest, the purpose of which was to prevent these fallen trees from kindling a future fire.

The judge imposed a mandatory 105-day period for notice, comment, and appeal. If this edict is followed, the nation’s Christmas tree cannot be delivered until Valentine’s Day.

This story illustrates two dangerous, runaway trends in our culture: judicial activism and radical environmentalism. Remember, this is on land that the people – that’s you and me – are supposed to own.

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20051011-122700-6387r.htm

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2005-10-05T17:42:00.000-06:00

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