Dangerous ruling in home-school battle

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 2/4/2012

What began as a disagreement over a requested menu change for a banquet by a home-schooling mom has turned into litigation that could affect all employer-employee relations in Indiana.

A mother in a Catholic home-schooling association filed a "disability discrimination" suit when the association refused to serve her family steak instead of chicken because of her daughter's allergy.

Thomas More Society attorney Tom Brejcha says the Indiana Civil Rights Commission judge ruled in favor of the association, but then added what he considers a dangerous opinion.

"Then he said in effect that once you file a charge, even if it's as baseless like this one, you've pretty much got to treat the person who filed the charge as if they're above the law -- that they're not bound by the rules of the group," Brejcha says.

Brejcha says that ruling has serious implications for employers faced with complaints from their employees. "Immediately that employee would be immune from the rules," contends the attorney. "Getting to work on time, doing their work properly, back-talking their supervisors. That's not the way America could operate -- it's not fair."

The judge says it was discriminatory to kick the mother out of the group even though the association says she was being insubordinate.

Thomas More is appealing.

 

President Obama and the Bible

Dr. Michael Youssef - Guest Columnist - 2/3/2012

Many of us who are biblical scholars have watched Mr. Obama's use, or should I say abuse, of the Bible with dismay.

Who can forget when he gave a speech mocking the ceremonial law of the Old Testament then saying something to the effect of, "How can you govern by the Sermon on the Mount?"

Well, he did it again at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday. I never understood that name since very little prayer, if any, takes place. Instead, perhaps it should be called the National Breakfast Gathering.

The president quoted the Bible to justify punishing those who have worked hard, and most of whom are very generous givers, in order to take their money and give it to many of his constituencies who are always standing outside the doors of the White House with out-stretched hands.

Mr. Obama, in justifying his misguided policy, quoted Jesus in Luke 12:48: "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."

No, you do not have to have a seminary degree to know that Jesus is talking about individual stewardship in an individual's relationship with God.

For it is God who gives each person different portions of gifts, talents, and treasure to manage according to His sovereign will. It is God who entrusts people with what they have, not the government.

God is the One who will judge the faithfulness of each individual's stewardship and blessing, or lack thereof. In Luke 12:48, Jesus, God the Son, is exhorting individuals to be faithful and give generously without regret.

Understanding this, one has to wonder if Mr. Obama has replaced God with his administration. He must believe that when he says "much is given," he refers to what is given by the government; and "much is demanded," as that which is demanded by the government. This is 180 degrees opposite to the truth.

This is a very dangerous precedent. We have had egotistical presidents before, from both political spectrums, but never to my knowledge have we had one who saw himself as replacing God, or one who views his administration as acting on God's behalf or instead of God.

Misquoting the Scripture is a common practice by some politicians to advance their cause, but this abuse of the Scripture and viewing one's administration as the judge and executioner -- not for crimes, but for personal stewardship -- has reached a new low in egotism.

Mr. Obama needs to issue an immediate and urgent apology for his misuse and mangling of the Scripture.

 

Komen reversing decision on funding

Jody Brown, Becky Yeh, and Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 2/3/2012

Offering its apology, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure announced today it is changing its mind and will continue financial grants to the abortion-provider Planned Parenthood.

"We apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women's lives."

Those were the words of Komen Foundation founder Nancy Brinker as she cited "distress" at the "presumption" that the breast-cancer awareness charity succumbed to political pressure from pro-life groups in making its decision earlier this week to cease awarding grants to Planned Parenthood.

In a released statement, Brinker says the events surrounding the initial decision have been "deeply unsettling" for Komen's supporters. "We have been distressed at the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons or to specifically penalize Planned Parenthood. They were not. Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation."

Congressman Cliff Stearns (R-Florida) launched a congressional investigation in September into the practices of Planned Parenthood -- specifically its possible use of federal funding for abortion (which is banned under the Hyde Amendment) and what he described as its "extensive record" of violating state reporting laws regarding sexual assaults and child abuse.

Brinker explains the charity will amend its funding criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations "must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political." Doing so, she claims,  "will ensure that politics has no place in our grant process."

Did Komen cave?
The charity has announced it will "continue to fund existing grants" and will "preserve [Planned Parenthood's] eligibility to apply for future grants." Lawmakers, supporters, and abortion activists sharply criticized the organization after it was revealed that it withdrew breast-screening grants to Planned Parenthood because it is under government investigation. A Christian leader and an attorney are accusing the Foundation of bowing to political pressure in reversing its decision to stop funding Planned Parenthood.

"I think that the pro-family communities are all very disappointed ... because we thought that they would not be political, and obviously they were," laments Michele Combs, a spokesperson for the Christian Coalition of America. "They were buckling to political pressure."

Komen says it will amend its policy so groups under similar government investigations will not be excluded from receiving funding. Officials have apologized for the initial decision that "cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women's lives."

"I think that the Komen Foundation should go back to their original goal, which is to stop breast cancer and to help [raise] awareness of breast cancer, and not to give money to Planned Parenthood, who promotes abortions and other things that really hurts families," Combs suggests.

After the statement was released, John Raffaelli spoke with The Washington Post to assure that the new announcement does not necessarily mean there is any reversal. He says it would be unfair to expect the group to commit to future grants.

Matt Barber of Liberty Council Action finds the relationship between Komen and Planned Parenthood strange because of the scientific link between abortion and breast cancer.

"Komen purports to fight to find a cure for breast cancer, yet they are associating with an organization that helps cause breast cancer," he argues. "So Komen, through this political decision and caving to pressure, has now -- rather than becoming a part of the solution -- has become part of the problem."

And Barber notes that donations to the abortion-provider dramatically increased when Komen announced it was dropping Planned Parenthood's funding. He believes the Foundation should focus on partnering with other reputable organizations in the country that are seeking to find a cure for breast cancer and are worthy of financial support.

"It's unfortunate," Barber says of the flip-flop. "It does not speak well for the organization, and it shows that they are putting politics ahead of what is in the best interest of women and children."

Jeanne Monahan of the Family Research Council offers similar criticism -- but of Planned Parenthood: "I do think it's truly unbelievable that in the matter of 24 hours, the nation's largest abortion-provider has been able to take what we've considered one of America's most well-respected and beloved organizations [Susan G. Komen for the Cure] and basically demonize it overnight because they are making their grants more results-oriented. And I think that Planned Parenthood is again putting their abortion ideology above women's health." 

 

Courts attack pregnancy clinics' free speech

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 2/4/2012

A federal appeals court is preparing to decide whether New York City's ordinance on pregnancy help centers is constitutional.

The ordinance, among other things, requires the pro-life operations to post signs and include in advertising that they do not do abortions or provide birth control. A federal judge blocked enforcement on constitutional grounds and the city appealed.
 
American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) attorney CeCe Heil says the federal judge got it right the first time.
 
"It was a very good decision and the judge was actually a Clinton appointee, but he had a great decision and recognized that the law violates our client's First Amendment rights and granted the injunction," says Heil. "So the city didn't like that ruling and ... went straight to the Second Circuit -- and that's where we are now."
 
ACLJ has just filed a brief responding to arguments raised by New York City. In the lower-court ruling, the federal judge chastised the New York Civil Liberties Union for getting it completely wrong.
 
"[It] was almost amusing to see that happen because we see so often that the ACLU really, you know, if they're going to be protecting a First Amendment right, it's usually not for a Christian," the ACLJ spokeswoman says.
 
Heil says what New York is trying to do is to force pregnancy care centers to use government-mandated speech contrary to their beliefs.

 

Federal employees owe as much in back taxes as rest of nation

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 2/4/2012

At a time in which federal lawmakers are haggling over taxes, a new study from the IRS finds that federal workers owe billions of dollars in taxes.

According to the Internal Revenue Service, active and retired federal employees and military personnel owed a combined $3.4 billion in unpaid taxes for 2010 -- an increase of more than three percent over the previous year.
 
Pete Sepp of the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) was not surprised by the findings.
 
"Unfortunately, many federal civilian, as well as military employees, have been caught up in economic troubles, just like non-government workers," says Sepp.
 
The NTU spokesman points out federal employees tend to have a similar delinquency rate as the rest of the working population. But he adds that, in theory, that should not be the case.
 
"Working for the federal government, the IRS ought to know where all of these federal employees are, how to get in touch with them, and how to resolve some of these problems," Sepp argues. "That may not necessarily be so much the case with non-government employees."
 
The agency with employees who owe the most in unpaid taxes for 2010 is the U.S. Postal Service, where more than 25,000 employees owe nearly $270 million.
 
Employees of the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives owe more than $10 million. Active duty military personnel owe around $100 million.

 

Hope for believers' release from NK's prison

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 2/4/2012

While North Korea is set to grant amnesty to prisoners, Open Doors USA awaits word whether that will include any Christians.

General amnesties for a few prisoners, political and otherwise, are granted twice a year, but Open Doors spokesman Jerry Dykstra says this time it has special meaning to the North Korean leadership.
 
"It's really to commemorate deceased leaders Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il who died last December," says Dykstra. "It would be the 100th birthday in April of Kim Il-Sung."
 
There are believed to be about 200,000 people behind bars for political and religious reasons.
 
"We believe there's 40,000 to 70,000 Christians who are in prison in some of the worst kind of conditions you can imagine," says the ministry spokesman. "Some of them are being tortured by other prisoners. Many of them do not have enough food. Many of them call it a living hell."
 
According to Dykstra, amnesty is usually granted only to those who are considered re-educated, meaning they have performed well in their tasks and in mandatory ideology classes.
 
Generally people in the labor camps are never released because they are considered incurable, but Dykstra points out that usually Christians granted amnesty walk out of prison with their faith intact.
 
For the tenth year in a row, North Korea has remained ranked number one on Open Doors' list of countries where persecution of Christians is prevalent.

 

Family group challenges retailer's use of lesbian icon

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 2/3/2012

OneMillionMoms is challenging J.C. Penney's effort to reshape its identity. The retailer is pinning its hopes in part on an ad campaign that features a high-profile homosexual entertainer.

J.C. Penney Co. has hired open lesbian Ellen DeGeneres as its spokesperson. The comedian and talk-show host is slated to appear in five commercials in an ad campaign starting this spring. Ron Johnson, new CEO at J.C. Penney, explained to The Associated Press why his company is going with DeGeneres.

"I think Ellen is someone we all trust," he said. "She's lovable, likable, honest and funny -- but at her soul, we trust her."

JCP's president went a step further. "We share the same fundamental values as Ellen ... [W]e couldn't think of a better partner to help us put the fun back into the retail experience," stated Michael Francis.

But Monica Cole, director of American Family Association's advocacy group OneMillionMoms.com, tells OneNewsNow the campaign might backfire since only an estimated 1.7 percent of the population is homosexual.

"Yes, DeGeneres is not a true representation of the type of families that shop at their store," says Cole. "And they're going to be gaining a very small percentage of liberal customers. This will not satisfy or offset their loss in sales. They will be losing more than they'll be gaining."

In hiring a lesbian to sell the public on the idea of shopping at J.C. Penney, the company is making the mistake of turning its back on its base of customers, says Cole.

"[We're] asking J.C. Penney to hire a spokesperson who's more representative of the type of the customers that shop in their stores, such as traditional families," she concludes.

OneMillionMoms is asking people to call J.C. Penney to politely ask that DeGeneres be replaced -- and that instead of "jumping on the pro-gay bandwagon," the firm take a neutral stance in the culture war.

DeGeneres publicly opposed California's Proposition 8 in late 2008, calling it "a giant step away" from equality when the voter initiative banning same-gender "marriage" passed -- then praised a court decision overturning it almost two years later. She was one of the first television actresses to "come out" about her sexual orientation, doing so through the character she played on the show Ellen in 1997.

 

Fear giving CAIR 'a lot of credibility'

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 2/3/2012

The U.S. Military Academy at West Point is going forward with a scheduled prayer breakfast next week, despite the controversy over the originally scheduled keynote speaker.

As previously reported on OneNewsnow, Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin (USA-Ret.) decided to withdraw from speaking at the prayer breakfast after the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and several left-wing groups pressured the Academy to disinvite him from the event. They claimed that allowing the former Army special operations commander to speak would be disrespectful to Muslim cadets. Now the Academy has announced a West Point chaplain will be the keynote speaker.

Boykin says the majority of the leadership in the U.S. is unwilling to confront the reality of what CAIR and other radical Islamic groups are doing.

"So instead, they reach out to these people and they give them a lot of credibility. I think the bottom line is that the [country's] leadership is afraid of them," he suggests. "I think they're afraid of terrorism. I think they're afraid to take them on because of the liberal media. The media is going to support the enemy. That's the bottom line -- the mainstream media is."

That is why the former intelligence officer says people of faith must be willing to take a stand.

"Organizations like the Council on American-Islamic Relations and these atheist groups are going to be doing exactly what the homosexual lobby has done in America. They're going to be gaining strength to the point that they dominate the dialogue in America on an awful lot of our social and spiritual matters," he warns.

And Boykin assures that he will not be deterred from telling the truth about the dangers of sharia law and what organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood are doing in America.

 

Protecting right of conscience

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 2/3/2012

Since at least one lawmaker recognizes that people won't change their religious beliefs to comply with a government mandate, a bill has been introduced in the U.S. Senate to protect religious organizations from ObamaCare.

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 2012, sponsored by Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida), would protect the right of conscience for religious organizations by expanding the exemption for religious employers in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. As Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel reports, the Department of Health and Human Services has issued a regulation requiring free insurance coverage for birth control, giving religious groups one year to adapt.

"The fact of the matter is the one-year reprieve does not eliminate the serious collision that ObamaCare has with freedom of conscience and religious freedom," Staver explains. "Your religious convictions aren't going to change over a year."

Rubio's bill would ban the administration from forcing religious organizations to provide contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs. The lawmaker says, "This is a common-sense bill that simply says the government can't force religious organizations to abandon the fundamental tenets of their faith because the government says so."

"Religious organizations will be forced to choose between complying with ObamaCare or putting aside their religious beliefs," Staver adds. "Many religious organizations simply will not make that decision. They will not sacrifice their religious beliefs because of some ill-conceived government power grab known as ObamaCare."

While work is under way to gain passage of the measure, the U.S. Supreme Court is preparing to hear arguments in cases designed to overturn ObamaCare altogether.

 

NBC should finish Gingrich story

Bill Bumpas - OneNewsNow - 2/3/2012

One media analyst doesn't think NBC and Tom Brokaw should be objecting to Mitt Romney using footage of the former network anchor slamming Newt Gingrich over his House ethics charges. Instead, he says they should set the record straight.

Brokaw has a problem with the Romney campaign's ad that uses Brokaw's reporting from 1997 to blast the former House speaker. He claims it is a misuse of his name and image. But Rich Noyes, research director at the Media Research Center (MRC), has a different take.

"The fact of the matter is if you go back to what we were reporting at the time, what Brokaw did back then was a pretty one-sided report; it was sort of almost a classic negative ad all by itself," Noyes suggests.

He explains that NBC News accurately recorded the vote in the House, but the network has failed to this day to report that the IRS exonerated Gingrich.

"One of the reasons people should be mad at Brokaw is that he never got around to reporting this vindication of Newt Gingrich after all these years," the MRC researcher contends, noting that "this is back in 1999. This is the perfect time for NBC to correct the record. If they don't like Tom Brokaw being used for Romney campaign purposes, they can help by actually completing the story that they started back in the mid-1990s on Newt Gingrich and talk about his vindication."

The Media Research Center has launched a campaign called "Tell the Truth 2012" against liberal media bias in the presidential election. (See related article)

 

Judge's 'stretch' on DOMA

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 2/2/2012

One marriage advocate says a California judge wants to play "legislator" in her desire to overturn the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken of Oakland is expected to rule against the Defense of Marriage Act because it denies long-term health benefits to same-sex domestic partners of California state employees. She is inviting same-sex couples to join the legal challenge against the measure.

In February 2011, President Barack Obama deemed DOMA unconstitutional and pledged to no longer defend it in court. And  as the San Francisco Chronicle points out, his administration argued before the judge that only "gay" spouses should be able to file a lawsuit over healthcare coverage because Congress has grounds to limit tax breaks to legal relatives and exclude domestic partners. Wilken, however, says same-gender couples "are relegated to registered domestic partnerships because legal marriage is prohibited for them," going on to add that Congress sees registered domestic partnerships like a marriage.

But Phil Burress of  Citizens for Community Values suggests the judge's argument is flawed.

"The Defense of Marriage Act does not recognize that, and that's why she wants to overturn it ... so that she can play as a legislator and not as a judge," he contends.

According to Judge Wilken, officials have not given a legitimate reason explaining why registered domestic couples should be excluded from obtaining long-term health coverage. Two lawsuits challenging DOMA have been filed in the Bay Area.

"It was quite simple that marriage shall be between one man and one woman, and the benefits of that will also be the same as dealing with federal employees," Burress notes. "And to say that it's unconstitutional is quite a stretch."

The Chronicle goes on to report that Judge Wilken says she is "inclined" to overturn DOMA.

 

WA Senate approves bill to legalize 'gay marriage'

Rachel La Corte - Associated Press - 2/2/2012

OLYMPIA, WA - The Washington state Senate has passed a bill to legalize same-sex "marriage," bringing the state a step closer to becoming the seventh to allow same-gender couples to wed. But the threat of a ballot challenge looms.

The packed public galleries burst into applause as the Senate passed the measure on a 28-21 vote Wednesday night after nearly an hour and a half of debate. Four Republicans crossed party lines and voted with majority Democrats for the measure. Three Democrats voted against it.

The measure now heads to the House, which is expected to approve it and could take action on it as early as next week. Gov. Chris Gregoire supports the measure and has said she will sign it into law, though opponents have promised to challenge it at the ballot with a referendum.

Democratic Sen. Ed Murray, the bill's sponsor, said he knew same-sex marriage "is as contentious as any issue that this body has considered in its history." Lawmakers who vote against gay marriage "are not, nor should they be accused of bigotry," he said.

"Those of us who support this legislation are not, and we should not be accused of, undermining family life or religious freedom," said Murray, a homosexual lawmaker from Seattle who has spearheaded past homosexual rights and domestic partnership laws in the state. "Marriage is how society says you are a family."

Murray mentioned his partner of more than 20 years -- Michael Shiosaki -- as he told his Senate colleagues before the vote "regardless of how you vote on this bill, an invitation will be in the mail" to their future wedding.

Nearly a dozen amendments were debated, including several that passed that strengthen legal protections for religious groups and organizations. A handful were rejected, including one that would exempt photographers, cake decorators and other business owners who object to gay marriage from the law, and another that called for a referendum clause to be added to the bill.

Sen. Dan Swecker, R-Rochester, argued that the proposed law alters the definition of marriage and "will lead to the silencing of those who believe in traditional marriage."

"It's ironic how a bill which purports to be about ending discrimination leaves the door open so far for discrimination going in the other direction," he said. "I'm extremely concerned that without additional protections, this legislation will create a hostile environment for those of us who believe in traditional marriage."

Even though the referendum clause amendment was rejected, opponents have already promised to file a challenge to the legislation. But that can't be done until after it is passed by the full Legislature and signed into law by Gregoire. Opponents then must turn in 120,577 signatures by June 6.

If opponents aren't able to collect enough signatures, gay and lesbian couples would be able to be wed starting in June. Otherwise, they would have to wait until the results of a November election.

Before last week, it wasn't certain the Senate would have the support to pass the measure, as a handful of Democrats remained undecided.

Same-sex marriage is legal in New York, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and the District of Columbia.

Lawmakers in New Jersey and Maryland are expected to debate gay marriage this year, and Maine could see a gay marriage proposal on the November ballot.

Proposed amendments for constitutional bans on gay marriage will be on the ballots in North Carolina on May 8 and in Minnesota on Nov. 6.

Under the measure that passed Wednesday, the more than 9,300 couples currently registered in domestic partnerships would have two years to either dissolve their relationship or get married. Domestic partnerships that aren't ended prior to June 30, 2014, would automatically become marriages.

Domestic partnerships would remain for senior couples where at least one partner is 62 years old or older. That provision was included to help seniors who don't remarry out of fear they could lose certain pension or Social Security benefits.

Alex Guenser, a 26-year-old engineer, drove down to Olympia from his Redmond home with his boyfriend to watch the Senate debate. "I'm really excited to have Washington pass this," he said. "I'm excited for my state."

 

Legislators encourage biblical instruction

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 2/2/2012

One lawmaker is pleased that the South Dakota Legislature has overwhelmingly passed a nonbinding resolution recommending school districts provide biblical instruction.

The resolution passed in the House by a vote of 55 to 15, and in the Senate 25 to 10. The bill's main sponsor, Rep. Steve Hickey (R), says students need to know the central role the Bible played in shaping Western civilization.

"All the great leaders of our nation, and boy do we need great leaders today, but all the ones of the past -- George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr. -- were frequent Bible quoters," he notes. "And I have a concern, as many others do ... that we're cranking out kids today who can't do much more than quote SpongeBob."

Hickey, who is a pastor, says despite what many critics argue, it is permissible to teach the Bible's role in history and culture without violating the First Amendment. As the National School Boards Association explains, the instruction just has to be academic, it cannot press students to accept religion or ask them to conform to a specific religious belief, and it cannot encourage or discourage any specific religious views.

"When prayer was tossed out of schools by a famous Supreme Court case, Abington v. Schempp in 1963, that court decision contained a very strong statement that the Bible should be included in school," Rep. Hickey explains.

His resolution encourages school districts to voluntarily provide instruction that makes students familiar with the content, character, and narratives of the Bible.

 

Calif. DMV to help 'normalize' homosexuality?

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 2/2/2012

An ex-"gay" leader says California legislators are trying to sneak through approval of a method to fund homosexual indoctrination in public schools.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) recognizes a handful of license plates that generate funds to benefit different organizations. And under a proposed bill, license plates that fund the state's anti-discrimination policy would be added to the list.

AB 1539 would mandate the DMV to create license plates to fund the California Department of Education's efforts to operate supposed "anti-bullying" programs in schools. But as the  California Family Council (CFC) points out, the anti-bullying "message" has been used to promote homosexuality and alternate lifestyles, and this measure would direct that focus to lesbian, "gay," bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students.

"Assembly Bill 1539 is called 'an anti-bullying cause,' but the language of the bill is oriented toward accepting and normalizing homosexuality," notes CFC's Jim Domen.

The measure would add an anti-discrimination license plate to those that honor the military and raise funds for environmental groups and children who lost family on 9/11.

"Harassment in schools and the workplace should be attended to, but the language of the bill ignores what is good for all people and it then advances an agenda for very few," Domen laments.

And he asserts that the bill's author, Assemblymember Mary Hayashi (D-Hayward), is disregarding scientific truth to promote an unsafe lifestyle. If it passes, California will be the fourth state to offer LGBT-themed license plates.

 

Superintendent's bad example called out

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 2/2/2012

An attorney agrees with the American College of Pediatricians for sending a letter of caution to a Wisconsin superintendent who publicly chastised a 15-year-old student for his Christian views.

When Brandon Wegner wrote an op-ed piece opposing same-sex adoptions based on biblical principles, Shawano High School officials pulled the article and apologized for the "negative environment" the student's words created (see earlier story). Superintendent Todd Carlson then threatened Wegner with suspension.

However, Mat Staver of the  Liberty Counsel is pleased that the American College of Pediatricians is telling Carlson there is no conclusive evidence that same-sex couples do as well raising children as heterosexual couples.

"Fact of the matter is, this letter now from the American College of Pediatricians shows that there's evidence that supports Brandon, and you should look at all of the evidence -- not just simply bow to political pressure, as in this particular case," he comments.

Carlson reportedly labeled Wegner "ignorant" -- something Staver says no educator should ever do because of the long-lasting, psychological damage a comment like that creates.

"What the superintendent did in this case is bully Brandon. He set a bad example for how you should handle these issues," the attorney argues. But he believes Brandon "set the right example for how you can engage in a civic and respectful dialogue on a particular issue with which people disagree."

So the Liberty Counsel founder is asking Carlson to apologize for his actions. If the superintendent does not comply, Staver assures that his firm will examine all the available legal recourses.

 

Proactive defense against hi-tech abortions

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 2/2/2012

Indiana's legislature is dealing with a proposal to ban "telemed" abortions.

Telemed abortions are conducted by an abortionist who communicates via computer hookup with an abortion patient at another location, and then dispenses the abortion drug RU-486 via remote control. Mike Fichter of Indiana Right to Life tells OneNewsNow that that leaves the girl or woman to abort her baby without medical assistance.
 
"First and foremost, we want to require that there is an in-person physician's examination prior to any administration of this drug," he explains, "so that we can head off at the pass any attempt for Planned Parenthood or other abortion-providers to try and use this new 'telemed' or webcam abortion process that they're starting to use in other states."
 
According to the pro-life spokesman, there can be serious ramifications in using the drug -- and that is why it is essential that a physician be involved.
 
"It's a critical need," states Fichter. "We know that Planned Parenthood is pioneering these webcam abortions in other states. We know there's a profit motive involved for them. We want to head it off at the pass before it even gets started in the state of Indiana."
 
One of the objectives behind telemed abortions is to make abortions more available in rural areas although medical assistance is not as readily accessible. Another objective is cutting Planned Parenthood's costs considerably by reducing the need for abortionists.

 

Abortion a 'weapon'

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 2/2/2012

Life Dynamics has produced a new report on violence against women who didn't want an abortion, revealing information that one pro-lifer says would be a "scandal" to ignore.

Spokesman Mark Crutcher, producer of the documentary Maafa 21, says the abortion lobby knows about the violence; they talk about it at some of their conventions, he says, but do nothing about it. And he points out that the historic position among feminists was pro-life.

"One of the reasons that the early feminists in this country -- the people like Susan B. Anthony, and Virginia Woodhall, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Alice Paul, who wrote the Equal Rights Amendment -- the reason that these women were all opposed to the legalization of abortion was because they knew that it would be a weapon used by sexually irresponsible and sexually predatory males," he explains. "It was not something that would profit women."

In the report "Under-the-Radar Violence in the Conflict Over Abortion," Life Dynamics documents 80 known cases of women murdered for refusing to have abortions. And Crutcher says that is only the tip of the iceberg, as there are also women and girls who are coerced, intimidated, and threatened into terminating pregnancies. So as the pro-lifer concludes, "Ignoring that is a scandal."

 

Taking lust out of Feb. 14

Bill Bumpas - OneNewsNow - 2/2/2012

As February 14 approaches, one author and motivational speaker says it's time to take Valentine's Day away from companies like Victoria's Secret.

Teresa Tomeo, author of Extreme Makeover: Women Transformed by Christ, Not Conformed to the Culture, says the likes of Victoria's Secret are wrecking Valentine's Day by promoting lust, not love. She tells OneNewsNow women's wellbeing has taken a beating from the "sexual revolution."

"This is all connected to get to our psyche and to sell sex, to sell women, as an object," Tomeo contends. "And what happens with that is that it takes away what God meant for sexuality to be between a husband and a wife in a marriage ordained by God. Once you take that out of its proper context, just like anything else, it starts to fall apart. And women have a very, very low self-esteem because of all this stuff out there in the culture," she adds.

So the author suggests that a way to take February 14 back is to celebrate marriage. 

"The other thing too is to stand up against stuff like this -- against the Victoria's Secrets, against the over-sexualized commercials that we're about to see in the Super Bowl. Sexual content continues to be on the rise in the media." But Tomeo assures that fighting it is "very simple. You can write a letter, send an e-mail, sign a petition, [or] write to an advertiser -- but let your voice be heard."

Also, Tomeo notes that people can join active groups and ministries that stand up against this sexualized culture.

 

'Disappointing' mayoral candidates

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 2/2/2012

A California family leader and ex-"gay" pastor says a majority of one city's voters still hold to traditional marriage, despite the fact that two high-profile homosexuals aspire to be the new mayor.

San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio and District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis have three things in common: they are both running for the San Diego mayorship, they are both Republicans, and they are both homosexuals. But their sexual preference has gained little media attention, as the San Diego Union Tribune notes that voters are more concerned about the economy and other city-related issues than they are about electing an openly homosexual mayor.

Other candidates running for the seat include Congressman Bob Filner (D) and Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher (R), both of whom openly support alternate lifestyles.

"To say the least, it is disappointing to find out that no major candidate for the office of mayor of San Diego represents the majority of the city's voters," laments Jim Domen of the  California Family Council.

Current Mayor Jerry Sanders, accordion to the Tribune, openly announced his support of "gay marriage" five years ago, stating he could not refuse such unions because of his lesbian daughter and homosexual staff members. At the time, Sanders noted that the Republican Party did not support his stance on the issue.

"San Diegans voted in 2008 to uphold the traditional institution of marriage, but the people did not bring a strong pro-family candidate for mayor to the table," Domen comments.

That is how the city has ended up in this predicament.

 

Forest Service says it won't evict Jesus statue

Associated Press - 2/1/2012

HELENA, MT - The U.S. Forest Service says it will re-authorize a permit for a 57-year-old statue of Jesus that had been facing eviction from a Montana ski resort.

The agency got a firestorm of criticism from religious groups, the state's congressman and residents after it decided last fall to boot the Jesus statue from its hillside perch in the trees.

The Forest Service said Tuesday that it will renew a 10-year special-use permit for the Knights of Columbus Council statue. Service supervisor Chip Weber says the decision took into account that the statue "is important to the community for its historical heritage."

The agency received more than 90,000 comments on the issue.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation says it will file a federal lawsuit demanding the Jesus statue's removal.

Reaction ...

Jeff Mateer, an attorney with Liberty Institute, offers these comments on the decision of the Forest Service.

"First off, it respects the First Amendment -- and it respects the right of private citizens who want to express themselves in public," Mateer tells OneNewsNow. "And perhaps even more importantly, it honors the sacrifice of veterans, those members of the 10th Mountain Division that the Jesus Statue was put up on Big Mountain to honor."

And what if the Freedom From Religion Foundation files suit in federal court, as it has promised?

"Then we will continue to represent the owners of the statue, the Knights of Columbus, and defend this statue all the way that's required to be defended," the attorney says.

Liberty Institute has expressed in the past that the Freedom From Religion Foundation is not concerned about the Constitution -- but that its goal is to drive religion, specifically Christianity, out of the public arena. 

 

Vandy's advice to clubs 'makes no sense'

Fred Jackson and Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 2/1/2012

Vanderbilt University is continuing to defend its policy of forcing Christian clubs on campus to allow students who don't agree with Christian teachings to run for leadership positions in those organizations (see earlier story).

The university held a campus meeting last night to hear varying points of view surrounding the school's requirement that Christian student organizations comply with its non-discrimination policy. The Christian groups have argued that the policy violates their right to be led by fellow believers who support their beliefs and principles, including sexual abstinence before marriage.
 
Dr. Carol Swain, a Christian professor at the school who was in attendance, says nothing was resolved.
 
"I think that there are some people on campus who believe that there's no place for religious organizations [here], and this is an opportunity for people who oppose the views of religious groups to go in [and] create havoc," Swain stated in an interview with Fox News.
 
According to the Vanderbilt educator, school officials counseled that if a club elects a leader "who creates problems," that group can dissolve and reassemble.
 
"So the university is basically saying that if this happens, it can destroy your group -- but you can go and reassemble as a different group. It makes no sense," she stated.
 
Swain suggested that Vanderbilt may be under pressure from certain donors who disagree with the biblical stand being taken by the campus Christian clubs.

According to Robert Shibley of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), so many opponents and supporters showed up at Tuesday's meeting that some people could not get in. He reports that the closed-to-the-public meeting was emotionally charged. (Listen to audio report)
 
"Apparently, the starting quarterback for the Vanderbilt football team actually took on the administrators there and then walked out with a group of people in protest," he details. "So tensions are definitely running high there, and it sounds like the policy went over about like a lead balloon."
  
The controversial policy came about after a Christian fraternity on campus dismissed a member who admitted he was "gay." That prompted school officials to investigate all campus organizations.
 
"Vanderbilt students are soon going to find out that they don't have the freedoms that their cohorts, the University of Tennessee, do, the freedoms that their friends from high school who [have] chosen not to go to college do -- that by going to Vanderbilt, they've actually abandoned some really fundamental American freedoms," Shibley warns.
 
But as a private school, the FIRE spokesman points out that Vanderbilt does not have to respect its students' religious freedom -- even though officials claim they will. In Shibley's opinion, they should be held accountable to that.

 

Gingrich seconded on Muslim stance

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/31/2012

The head of a grassroots pro-family group says Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is right to question the suitability of Muslims in American governance.

Members of the pro-Islamist Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) have challenged Gingrich on his statement that Muslims should renounce Islamic sharia law if they want to run for public office (see earlier story). Critics say sharia seeks to subvert and supplant American laws and civil liberties with an abusive code that refuses to extend the same liberties it would claim for itself.

"What CAIR fails to mention in their cries for religious freedom is the utter lack of reciprocation sharia law shows for its victims," notes Andrea Lafferty of the  Traditional Values Coalition (TVC). "It does not respect all humans equally, it treats men over women, [and] it's abusive towards religious minorities [and] people who choose to leave Islam."

And while groups like CAIR demand the acceptance of their religion and its practices in Western countries, Lafferty points out that Muslim-dominated countries like Saudi Arabia are completely intolerant of non-Muslim beliefs.

"They persecute you if you are Christian; service people aren't allowed to have Bibles and wear crosses and that kind of thing when they're over there, let alone citizens in Saudi Arabia," the TVC president explains. 'And in Egypt, [Nigeria, and Sudan,] Christians are being killed."

Lafferty believes that Gingrich just wants Muslims living in the United States to respect the Constitution and reject jihad.

 

Obama's graduation 'mandate' questioned

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/31/2012

Home schoolers are in an uproar after President Barack Obama called for a mandate to require students to stay in high school until they graduate or reach 18.

"So tonight, I am proposing that every state -- every state -- requires that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18," the president said during his State of the Union address last week, arguing that when students are not allowed to drop out of school, "they do better."

That statement has raised some hackles among those who see it as the federal government trying to insert itself into another arena where it does not belong. Will Estrada of the Home School Legal Defense Association says it is not the government's role to tell states when students should graduate or how long they should remain in school. He adds that this mandate could have an even more troublesome potential problem for those who educate their children at home.

"How would we determine when a student graduates? Would that not lead to a federal definition of graduation, which might establish federal requirements on home schooling?" asks HSLDA's director of federal relations. "This could either inadvertently or intentionally cause a federal definition of home schooling."

The Association is asking parents of students to contact their congressional representatives and the White House switchboard to voice their opposition.

"All freedom-loving parents, educators, and [other] people ... need to speak out firmly and say: This is not the federal government's responsibility. Leave it to the states and the localities," states Estrada, "and I think the president will get the message and hopefully back away from this."

HSLDA argues that under the U.S. Constitution, education matters are left to the states and local governments so that decisions affecting education can be more easily influenced by what the legal group calls "the real decision makers" -- parents and the family.

 

Attorney: Greece decides to 'pay child molesters'

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/31/2012

Greece is now designating pedophilia as an infirmity, and one attorney deems it outrageous that such offenders will qualify for disability funds from the economically broken government.

According to Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel Action, it is an outrage that people will receive payments for their attraction to children. He says rewarding such an alleged "disability" is evidence that the "sexual anarchy movement" is running amok.

"This is the logical conclusion of what we can expect here in the United States with the sexual anarchy movement," he warns. "Part and parcel of that movement is the homosexual movement, the pedophile movement, the radical pro-abortion movement -- [and] those who push this idea of [values-neutral] comprehensive sex education ...."

And he predicts the strategy will likely backfire on Greek citizens.

"It's absurd that the Greek government would pay child molesters to be able to go about the business of molesting children, not have to work to be able to put food on the table so they have more time to molest children," Barber contends.

And the attorney suspects the new policy is terribly offensive to people with real disabilities that do warrant help from others. Even so, he concludes, "That is what we can expect from an ethic that embraces sexual perversion."

Also included in the officially expanded list of "disabilities" are exhibitionists, kleptomaniacs, and pyromaniacs.

 

Drudge 'all in' for Romney, says activist

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/31/2012

A Christian attorney and pro-family activist is calling a well-known news service to task for what he believes is its blatant bias against Newt Gingrich and in favor of Mitt Romney.

For many years, the Drudge Report has served as a clearinghouse for many conservatives about the news of the day. But according to the not-too-conservative Politico, Matt Drudge's news aggregation website leaves Gingrich "looking like a dangerous, anti-Reagan, Clintonian fraud."

Matt Barber is director of cultural affairs at  Liberty Counsel. He says it is obvious that Drudge is "all in" for Mitt Romney.

"Matt Drudge has decided to completely sell out and has signed on with the moderate Republican establishment and is pushing the Mitt Romney campaign and is acting as the attack dog against Newt Gingrich," Barber comments. "And people aren't buying it."

He suggests the Republican Party establishment needs to stop trying to appeal to so-called "independents" to elect a president.

"Doing exactly what the Democratic National Committee wants them to do has been an abject failure over and over again," the attorney contends. "Moving toward the middle to try to appeal to that much-coveted independent vote -- all that does is alienate the base of the Republican Party, which is vastly conservative."

Barber says it remains to be seen whether Drudge's anti-Gingrich campaign will hurt the former House speaker, but he is convinced that it has had a negative effect on the Drudge Report's credibility.

Read Matt Barber's column:The Drudge distort

 

America's youth on politics

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 1/31/2012

They're young, they're restless, and they vote -- and that's why America's elected officials may want to lend an ear to young Americans heading into November.

A national survey by Generation Opportunity and the polling company, inc. found only 31 percent of young Americans approve of President Obama's handling of youth unemployment.

Generation Opportunity president Paul Conway explains who comprised the survey. "We took a look at those who are 18-29 across America -- college-educated, non-college educated, and young professionals," he tells OneNewsNow.

Outside of the president's approval rating, 69 percent of young Americans think political leaders on both sides of the aisle do not reflect the interests of young Americans. In addition, 77 percent of respondents said they are delaying major life decisions.

"Twenty-three percent say they're delaying starting a family, 18 percent are delaying getting married, and others are making major decisions on further education, putting it off or putting off the repayment of student loans," Conway remarks.

When it comes to federal spending, 53 percent of young Americans agree if taxes on business profits were reduced, companies would be more likely to hire.

As for energy independence, 70 percent of respondents would increase production of domestic energy sources like oil, natural gas, and coal.

 

Another stimulus-funded corp. goes bankrupt

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 1/31/2012

An investigative reporter says an electric battery maker filing for bankruptcy is an ironic turn of events for the Obama administration.

Last week, just after President Barack Obama touted the manufacturing of high-tech batteries in his State of the Union address, Ener1 filed for bankruptcy protection. The corporation received a $118 million stimulus grant to expand its operations, but now says it cannot pay its pressing debt.

Seeing as how this is not the first government-funded company to file for bankruptcy, Lachlan Markay of  The Heritage Foundation says it does not make sense for the government to continue making such investments.

"It's become really a poster child for what's wrong with government intervening in the energy marketplace," he contends. "Of course, it's not the first company to go bankrupt since receiving funds. Solyndra is the most high-profile example, but there have been others, and a clear pattern is developing here."

Even so, Markay does not think this bankruptcy will stop the president, nor does he think this will be the last company to resort to that.

"He said [in the State of the Union] something to the effect of 'I won't be deterred by a single company failing,' in what was a clear reference to Solyndra," the reporter recalls. "But the fact that the very next day another company failed shows that this was not an isolated incident."

He goes on to argue that more bankruptcies are inevitable because when the government intervenes, "competitive technologies" disappear. And Markay laments that the president fails to understand the problem.

Vice President Joe Biden visited Ener1's new plant in Indiana last year to highlight its progress with federal funds.

Read Markay's related piece:

Obama, Biden both lauded now-bankrupt, stimulus-funded Ener1

 

Dear HHS ...

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/31/2012

The Susan B. Anthony List has written a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to raise questions about grants designed to help people victimized by human trafficking.

In September 2011, HHS canceled an ongoing contract with the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops through which it provided services to such victims. Instead, the grants will be given to Heartland Human Care Services Inc. of Chicago, IL; Tapestri, Inc. of Tucker, GA; and the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants of Arlington, VA -- organizations that refer clients for abortions or birth control.

"We're concerned that these groups might now be subcontracting with Planned Parenthood, America's largest abortion-provider, to provide abortions for these victims of sex trafficking," notes SBA List spokesman Billy Valentine.

That concern is based on the  undercover videos released last year by Live Action that show Planned Parenthood personnel helping pimps get abortions and birth control for trafficked girls and women. The scandal has motivated Congress and state legislatures to strip taxpayer funding of the abortion-provider.

"We're concerned now that victims of sex trafficking, who very well might have been taken to Planned Parenthood when they were being trafficked, are now being sent to Planned Parenthood," Valentine laments.

He points out that Health and Human Services is supposed to work to protect people's health, and he argues that abortion is not healthcare. So the SBA List's letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius demands to know if the new grantees are subcontracting with the abortion-provider.

 

Creationism in the classroom constitutional?

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/31/2012

Despite what the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Indiana says, a pro-family advocate assures that a bill pending in the Indiana Legislature that would allow public schools to teach about creationism is constitutional.

The one-sentence bill, proposed by Republican Sen. Dennis Kruse, passed 8-2 in the Senate's Education Committee, but the ACLU says it will never stand up in court. However, as Curt Smith of the Indiana Family Institute points out, teaching creationism would be optional.

"It allows the governing body of a school corporation, which is typically the school board, to say We want to have a more balanced approached in our science so that students come out with a healthy respect for other opinions," he explains.

Smith doubts there is enough time this session to get the measure through the legislature, but he does think there is a good chance it will pass in 2013.

"It will allow school systems to be more accurate and more welcoming to other points of view, besides the kind of 1935 Scopes Monkey Trial, ACLU-approved version of evolution," the pro-family advocate asserts.

Ken Falk of the ACLU, who is leading the charge against the bill, says public school curriculum must always serve a secular educational purpose. Wednesday is the deadline for bills originating in the Senate to win approval from the full chamber.

 

Boot camp instructor in hot water

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/31/2012

The founder of a Christian counseling ministry that focuses on young people says a California boot camp instructor's scare tactics to reform troubled teens may be a bit excessive.

Pasadena-based boot camp instructor Kevin McFarland could face additional charges for his controversial approach to shaping up troubled youths. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Family 1st Growth Camp leader faces extortion and false imprisonment charges for allegedly handcuffing a girl who was not in school during school hours, taking her to a relative's home, and asking for payment to enroll her in his program.

Mark Gregston is founder of the Hallsville, Texas-based Heartlight Ministries, a non-profit Christian residential counseling opportunity "dedicated to helping adolescents and their families work through difficult situations." He points out that McFarland's approach is over the top.

"To me, that's tragic; that's terrible," he laments. "And I know if he was here in the state of Texas, he would lose his license and the ability to ever be around kids again."

McFarland's scare methods include screaming at the youth in his program, forcing them to drink excessive amounts of water, and in one case making a teen walk around with a car tire on his neck as adults verbally chastised him. The LA Times reports that parents have pulled their children out of that program in droves.

"My only problem with the intensity of the boot camp is that some kids don't respond to that," Gregston notes.

Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Caroline Lugo has announced that she may file more charges on other matters related to the case, as she says she needs more time to investigate. Meanwhile, McFarland defends his approach, saying it is a successful way to break the habits of teens who are drug addicts and/or gangsters.

 

Activist: Gov't hush-hush on 'atrocities' by illegals

Chad Groening- OneNewsNow - 1/31/2012

An immigration enforcement activist says he's outraged that President Barack Obama's lax immigration enforcement led to the brutal murder of three people by an illegal alien suspect.

The Miami Herald has reported that illegal immigrant Kesler Dufrene, a twice-convicted felon from Haiti, was released by immigration authorities in October 2010 when President Obama halted all deportations to the island nation due to the devastating earthquake there. Authorities by law could not detain the man indefinitely, so they were compelled to release him. But on January 2, 2011, police say he brutally murdered three people in southern Florida. DNA linked him to the crime. Dufrene never let authorities take him into custody, committing suicide just 18 days later.
  
Still the families of the murder victims were infuriated, saying the suspect should not have been in the country. William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC), also contends that he would not have been in the country if it was not for the laxity of the Obama administration.
  
"If you're an illegal immigrant from a country that had an earthquake ten or fifteen years ago, you can murder somebody, rape somebody, go to prison, get back out and not be deported," he protests. "And this has been going on for years."
     
But Gheen says a concerted effort is under way to keep these kinds of incidents out of the headlines.
 
"The reason you don't hear them is that Homeland Security is threatening local police not to release information about immigration status on suspects like the Haitian in this story. This is because the Obama administration and Homeland Security know that the more confirmations of Americans being slaughtered in atrocities committed by illegal immigrant invaders and occupiers on our soil, the more that hurts their ability to get their amnesty agenda that they're trying to push," he explains.

 

Youth offenders still offenders, says court

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/31/2012

Because of the lifelong damage they impose on their victims, one family advocate says it's not excessive to require juveniles who have committed serious sex crimes to register as offenders. 

Under a ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, juveniles convicted of sex offenses in federal court can be required to register as sex offenders for 25 years. The California appeals court has decided that a registration law passed by Congress in 2006 that eliminated sex offenders 14 years of age and over from confidentiality does not violate their constitutional rights.

As the San Francisco Chronicle points out, the Ninth Circuit's ruling upholds registration requirements for three Montana teenagers who committed sex crimes on Indian reservations.

"That really takes a child, if he's 14 to 16, all the way up to age 41," notes Mark Gregston, founder of  Heartlight Ministries. "There's plenty of life left for him."

The court refused arguments from lawyers representing the youth that imposing a 25-year registration would subject them to cruel and unusual punishment for crimes they committed as juveniles. Gregston can understand theat argument, but he thinks the court made the right decision.

"I believe in grace. But at the same time, I believe that something's got to be done to curb a juvenile mentality that says, 'I can do things to little girls and get by with it,'" he contends.

Current California law requires youth sex offenders who have been convicted of committing serious sex crimes in juvenile court to register as sex offenders. After release from custody, they must report their whereabouts to state and local or tribal authorities every three months for 25 years.

 

To spank ... or not to spank

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/30/2012

One legal expert believes a bill currently before the Mississippi Legislature that could put parents behind bars for spanking their children is a horrible idea.

Senate Bill 2180, "An Act to Amend Section 97-5-39, Mississippi Code of 1972, to Revise the Offense of Felonious Abuse of Batter of a Child; and for Related Purposes," submitted by Republican Senator Brice Wiggins, would make it a felony to "whip, strike, or otherwise abuse any child" in a manner that causes "bodily harm."

Though an exception for "reasonable discipline" is included,  Liberty Counsel attorney Steve Crampton says that puts parents in a position of having to prove their discipline was reasonable.

"That phrase is not defined. It could be left up to a judge and only ultimately determined after thousands of dollars are incurred in legal defense fees, and you have basically seen your life flash before you because you've been charged with a grave crime," Crampton points out. "It is not an acceptable situation for parents [who are] just trying to do their godly duty by their children."

Current state law requires that a physician determine whether abuse has occurred.

The attorney does respect the author's good intentions, but he notes that laws are already on the books to deal with child abuse. He says Liberty Counsel has observed a trend throughout the country among social workers "to view the use of corporal punishment under any circumstances as unacceptable." So, he has a prediction of what the passage of such a law would mean.

"I think they will be looking for opportunities to, if you'll pardon the use of the terminology, beat Christian parents back, in particular," Crampton warns.

The minimum penalty upon conviction of this crime would be ten years in prison. The maximum penalty would be life in prison. The Home School Legal Defense Association has pledged to continue tracking S.B. 2180's progress and work with home schoolers of Mississippi to defeat the measure.

 

Marriage definition changing in Maine?

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/30/2012

Even though homosexual "marriage" is not a done deal in Maine, activist groups are already claiming victory.

Three activist organizations are reporting that they have well over the needed 50,000 voter signatures to get the issue on a statewide ballot. But Chris Plante, regional coordinator for the National Organization for Marriage, says the groups should not count their chickens before their eggs are hatched.

"In many states where we tried to put measures on the ballot, you will hear the majority shouldn't vote on the civil rights of the minority. Well, suddenly it's okay to put this on the ballot, so it puts the lie to that whole argument," he explains. "Second, certainly they are right to do that; however, it's certainly unclear as to whether or not they will actually file those signatures, whether or not they have the wherewithal to carry through on it altogether"  because doing so would take millions of dollars.

The Maine Legislature previously voted to legalize same-gender "marriage," but that was put on hold when a petition drive obtained enough signatures for a voters' veto and sent the issue to the ballot. In 2009, homosexual marriage was rejected by six percentage points. Maine is the only state in New England where same-sex marriage is not legal.

 

Superior Court sides with school choice

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/30/2012

Education reform advocates in Arizona claimed a victory during National School Choice Week, with a Superior Court upholding the constitutionality of education savings accounts.

The Maricopa County Superior Court has rejected a legal challenge from the Arizona School Boards and the Arizona Education Association. Clint Bolick of the Goldwater Institute, which proposed the first-in-the-nation program, asserts that these accounts provide much more than school vouchers.

"The funding can be used for home schooling, distance learning, tutoring, private school tuition, [and] community college tuition," he lists.

But Bolick points out that this victory is only the opening volley in this legal battle. He fully expects it will go to the appeals court and eventually make its way to the Arizona Supreme Court.

"There are no federal constitutional issues presented of consequence, so it probably will go two more rounds," he predicts. "And certainly the nation's eyes will be on Arizona because this is a program that could be contagious in the most positive way."

Currently, the state provides 90 percent of the per-pupil funding for disabled students leaving the public school system. Bolick reports that there are efforts to expand the program to also include students in poorly performing schools and children of military families.

 

More of the same from city council

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/30/2012

The Austin (Texas) City Council has rescinded an ordinance regarding pro-life pregnancy centers because of questions of constitutionality. But the measure has been replaced with one that might be equally unconstitutional.

The reversed ordinance is similar to others ruled unconstitutional in other parts of the country in that they require that pro-life pregnancy centers post a message that says they do not provide abortion or birth control. Pro-lifers became optimistic late last year when the city decided to suspend the measure to give it a closer look.

But according to  Liberty Institute attorney Jonathan Saenz, the new wording simply takes the fight outside.

"What the Austin City Council has done is try to force pregnancy centers to post a sign outside of their centers that forces them to use the government's words to say certain things regarding what services exist and what don't," he explains.

But as the attorney points out, Planned Parenthood's abortion facilities are not required to post their services outside of their clinics.

"Really what this is is they want to cause women to pause and to think twice about coming into these free, non-profit centers, hoping that they'll go to Planned Parenthood instead and get an abortion," Saenz contends.

So the government is not only restricting free speech, he explains, but it is also going a step further and dictating the pregnancy centers' message. Liberty Institute is currently considering legal strategy to overturn the new ordinance.

 

Obama's hypocrisy

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/30/2012

A black tea party activist believes it's hypocritical for President Barack Obama to demand more taxes from millionaires like Mitt Romney while he and his entourage fly off to lavish vacations at taxpayers' expense.

Since Tuesday's State of the Union address, President Obama's Democratic allies in the Senate are promising to press ahead this year with his proposals to require millionaires to pay at least 30 percent in taxes. The push comes immediately after GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney revealed that he pays an effective tax rate of less than 15 percent, despite income exceeding $20 million a year.

Kevin Jackson, a spokesman for  TheTeaParty.net, says critics are leaving out one important fact about Romney's tax story.

"He was taxed for $3 million, and he donated $3 million, the majority of which went to his church, which is admirable," Jackson notes. "Obama gave one percent of his money to charity prior to becoming president. And the only reason why his number is going to be skewed this year is let's not forget he won the Nobel Peace Prize and got that million-dollar check that he donated."

And the tea party spokesman argues that Obama and liberal Democrats are completely disingenuous in how they live, compared with how they want the rest of the country to live.

"It's okay for [Obama] to take six or seven vacations a year, fly his wife and kids and family and other cronies around on the taxpayers' expense, have lavish parties, play golf, and do all these things," he says.

Jackson believes the president is clearly engaged in a war on achievement in which people like Mitt Romney are attacked for their success.

 

Prayer at election time

Russ Jones - OneNewsNow - 1/30/2012

As voters consider who should represent Republicans in the 2012 presidential election, the floundering economy, social issues, and taxes have all become central themes. But one religion and culture expert says prayer will be the most important issue at the ballot box in November.

Dr. Alex McFarland, noted author, speaker, and national talk-show host, is paying close attention to the GOP presidential race and encouraging Americans to pray fervently about their choice for the next leader of the nation.

"[Prayer that] the church of Jesus Christ, 173 million-strong in America -- that's 85 percent of the population -- would live for God and country and would be the salt and light and influence within our nation that we're called to be ... that is now so desperately needed," he contends.

McFarland recently launched  Project 2026 as part of his newest endeavor that seeks spiritual awakening and revival. He has produced a voter's guide bookmark and a prayer card to help Americans as they choose the next president who will return the country to the founding principles on which it was built.

"Part of the reason that secularists, atheists, militant homosexuals, and Muslims are infiltrating our country and taking over our country, [why] a vocal minority is changing the DNA of America, [is] because the sleeping giant, the body of Christ, is not asserting itself as cultural leaders," the author suggests.

The " Voter Guide For America" lists answers to six questions that Christians likely ponder when considering political votes at election time:

1. Should ALL Christians eligible to vote make the effort to do it?
2. Are Christians to keep their faith and politics separate?
3. Does the Bible say anything about voting?
4. Did not America's founders want church and state to be separate?
5. I am just one person. What could my vote possibly accomplish?
6. My "perfect" candidate isn't the nominee. Shouldn't I vote for ____ to express my protest that my party didn't nominate who I wanted?

"Please don't throw away your vote," McFarland pleads. "I pray that every eligible American will be informed on the issues, will get registered, and will do what people in many other countries long to do: Vote! It is vital that people exercise this God-given right -- especially Christians," he concludes.

 

Free speech now allowed campus-wide

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/30/2012

An Oregon college has revised its policy of restricting free speech on campus to a six-foot zone -- a restriction that mainly seemed aimed at silencing pro-life advocates.

The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) interjected when a Christian student was prohibited from handing out pro-life literature at Chemeketa Community College and told he would be restricted to the "free-speech zone," which consisted of a six-foot folding table. ADF legal counsel David Hacker says that was unreasonable.

"Chemeketa is a large campus. They have a large, open quad and green spaces," he notes. "To confine speech to one little table is really a drastic restriction on students' First Amendment rights."

Christian students were the only ones limited to the free-speech zone, says Hacker, while others were permitted to freely hand out flyers on topics like social justice. But the attorney points out that it is not uncommon for Christian students to be discriminated against on college campuses.

"Universities across the country are censoring Christian and pro-life speech on really a rapid scale," he laments. "But we're really pleased that Chemeketa was willing to work with us and change its policies to open up the campus to more speech."

In addition, Chemeketa has revised its Student Rights and Responsibilities Policy, eliminating its subjective code that prohibited "offensive" or "derogatory" speech.

 

The economic 'super bowl'

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 1/30/2012

Though the annual Super Bowl is this Sunday, one financial expert says there's a bigger battle being fought off the football field.

Chris Markowski, host of Watchdog on Wall Street, says Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are engaged in an economic super bowl, so to speak, with both candidates pushing different plans in a contest that only one can win.

"Mitt Romney has literally a book on his website, and there's a lot of fluff in it," he says. "I think the tinkering that he does has to do with trying to help people who make less than $200,000 a year by giving them a zero-percent capital gains rate."

Markowski argues that capital gains should never be taxed, as it would provide more of an incentive for everyone to invest and save their money. And the financial expert likes Gingrich's proposal of giving Americans an option to pay into a simpler tax code. But Markowski questions why the former House Speaker would keep the current system.

"If the old one is horrible, and it's terrible -- and we all know it is -- and people who can have the wherewithal can find all sorts of loopholes to get out of paying taxes, what incentive are they to change what they're doing," he asks. "They're just going to keep doing what they're doing now."

Markowski suggests that if political leaders really want to give incentives and bring American companies back home, they should do so by simplifying the rules, making everyone equal under the law and doing away with ridiculous regulations.

 

The Lord raising up athletic 'underdog'

Bill Bumpas - OneNewsNow - 1/30/2012

The upcoming matchup between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants at the Super Bowl this Sunday will feature big-name players looking to make a big impact on football's grandest stage. But it could very well be one of the smallest players on the field who makes the difference.

Standing at 5'7" and weighing just under 200 pounds, Danny Woodhead of the Patriots is expected to get some key opportunities as running back and return man as his team takes on the NFC champion Giants on February 5 in Indianapolis.

Jill Ewert, editor of Sharing the Victory, the official magazine of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, says Woodhead's story is "amazing," considering the fact that he came undrafted to the NFL from tiny Chadron State College in Nebraska.

"He wasn't noticed, he wasn't heavily recruited, and he's just constantly been kind of an underdog all of his life," Ewert comments. "And then a couple of seasons ago, when he sprang up to notoriety with the Patriots, everybody kind of latched on to his story," which centers on his faith in Christ.

The four-year NFL veteran is quoted in Sharing the Victory as saying, "I've learned never to let someone say I can't do something. I was told that a lot, but I had to trust God through it all."

The magazine editor says it is "unique" to find someone who has overcome so much to be on such a big stage and actually succeed, especially when his size has been his biggest challenge. "It's kind of like a David and Goliath kind of thing," Ewert compares. "He's small in stature, but he's just incredible at what he does. And the Lord has really raised him up to really find athletic success."

Woodhead wears jersey #39.

 

Time to start 'monitoring' mosques

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/30/2012

The head of a Messianic Jewish ministry is defending the producers of a documentary on Islamic Jihad that has created substantial controversy in New York City.

"We believe Islam will dominate" -- those are the opening words of the trailer. "It's an entire movement, and the idea of it is hatred for our way of life," former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani goes on to comment. He is just one of the terrorism experts featured in the full-length documentary, The Third Jihad: Radical Islam's Vision for America, produced by the Clarion Fund.

The New York Times reports that nearly 1,500 officers in the New York City Police Department had viewed the video since early 2010 as part of their counter-terrorism training. But the NYPD stopped showing the film after a few officers, as well as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), complained about it. On Friday, New York's police commissioner said the "inflammatory" film was shown by mistake -- and described the department's relationship with the city's Muslim community as "excellent."

The Clarion Fund has stood by its project, saying it is not a film about Islam, but a film about the threat of radical Islam.

Jan Markell, founder and director of  Olive Tree Ministries in Minnesota, was present when the film was introduced, and she is glad that New York City police officers had a chance to see the documentary.

"I think this is very, very appropriate, and I think they can learn a lot," she contends. "And what's good about it is they're learning about it from a balanced Muslim, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser. He's a faithful, loyal practitioner of Islam, but he is showing its dark side. So I say Hallelujah! I'm glad this happened."

And Markell has no problem with the idea of the NYPD "spying" on activities in the mosques.

"I think it's time we start monitoring our mosques," she suggests. "I'm sure that it gets over into the area of political correctness and it looks like persecution, but I would maintain the source of a lot of our problems within our borders [is] mosques in America."

And the Olive Tree Ministries founder does not think peaceful Muslims who love America should have a problem with mosques being searched.

 

Islamic parents found guilty of murdering daughters

Associated Press - 1/29/2012

KINGSTON, Ontario - A jury on Sunday found an Afghan father, his wife and their son guilty of killing three teenage sisters and a co-wife in what the judge described as "cold-blooded, shameful murders" resulting from a "twisted concept of honor."

The jury took 15 hours to find Mohammad Shafia, 58; his wife Tooba Yahya, 42; and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in a case that shocked and riveted Canadians from coast to coast.

First-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.

After the verdict was read, the three defendants again declared their innocence in the killings of sisters Zainab, 19, Sahar 17, and Geeti, 13, as well as Rona Amir Mohammad, 52, Shafia's childless first wife in a polygamous marriage.

Their bodies were found June 30, 2009, in a car submerged in a canal in Kingston, Ontario, where the family had stopped for the night on their way home to Montreal from Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Prosecutors said the defendants allegedly killed the three teenage sisters because they dishonored the family by defying its disciplinarian rules on dress, dating, socializing and going online. Shafia's first wife was living with him and his second wife. The polygamous relationship, if revealed, could have resulted in their deportation.

The prosecution alleged it was a case of premeditated murder, staged to look like an accident after it was carried out. Prosecutors said the defendants drowned their victims elsewhere on the site, placed their bodies in the car and pushed it into the canal.

Defense lawyers said the deaths were accidental. They said the Nissan car accidentally plunged into the canal after the eldest daughter, Zainab, took it for a joy ride with her sisters and her father's first wife. Hamed said he watched the accident, although he didn't call police from the scene.

After the jury returned the verdicts, Mohammad Shafia, speaking through a translator, said, "We are not criminal, we are not murderer, we didn't commit the murder and this is unjust."

His weeping wife, Tooba, also declared the verdict unjust, saying, "I am not a murderer, and I am a mother, a mother."

Their son, Hamed, speaking in English said, "I did not drown my sisters anywhere."

But Judge Robert Maranger was unmoved, saying the evidence clearly supported their conviction for "the planned and deliberate murder of four members of your family."

"It is difficult to conceive of a more despicable, more heinous crime ... the apparent reason behind these cold-blooded, shameful murders was that the four completely innocent victims offended your completely twisted concept of honor ... that has absolutely no place in any civilized society."

Outside court, prosecutor Gerard Laarhuis said the verdict is a reflection of Canadian values that he hopes will resonate.

"This verdict sends a very clear message about our Canadian values and the core principles in a free and democratic society that all Canadians enjoy and even visitors to Canada enjoy," Laarhuis said to cheers of approval from onlookers.

The family had left Afghanistan in 1992 and lived in Pakistan, Australia and Dubai before settling in Canada in 2007. Shafia, a wealthy businessman, married Yahya because his first wife could not have children.

The prosecution painted a picture of a household controlled by a domineering Shafia, with Hamed keeping his sisters in line and doling out discipline when his father was away on frequent business trips to Dubai.

The months leading up to the deaths were not happy ones in the Shafia household, according to evidence presented at trial. Zainab, the oldest daughter, was forbidden to attend school for a year because she had a young Pakistani-Canadian boyfriend, and she fled to a shelter, terrified of her father, the court was told.

The prosecution said her parents found condoms in Sahar's room as well as photos of her wearing short skirts and hugging her Christian boyfriend, a relationship she had kept secret. Geeti was becoming almost impossible to control: skipping school, failing classes, being sent home for wearing revealing clothes and stealing, while declaring to authority figures that she wanted to be placed in foster care, according to the prosecution.

Shafia's first wife wrote in a diary that her husband beat her and "made life a torture," while his second wife called her a servant.

The prosecution presented wire taps and cell phone records from the Shafia family in court to support their honor killing theory. The wiretaps, which capture Shafia spewing vitriol about his dead daughters, calling them treacherous and whores and invoking the devil to defecate on their graves, were a focal point of the trial.

"There can be no betrayal, no treachery, no violation more than this," Shafia said on one recording. "Even if they hoist me up onto the gallows ... nothing is more dear to me than my honor."

Defense lawyers argued that at no point in the intercepts do the accused say they drowned the victims.

 

Washington on the line in battle over 'gay marriage'

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/29/2012

Homosexual "marriage" is not a done deal in Washington State, although groups are actively pushing the issue.

Proponents of legislation are claiming they have enough votes for passage in the Senate, although Joseph Backholm of the Family Policy Institute of Washington says no date has been set for consideration.
 
"At the same time, even if it were to pass there's a very high probability that it will ultimately go to a vote," explains Backholm. "Either the legislature will refer it to the public or we will just collect enough signatures on our side to put it on the ballot in November -- so it's far from a done deal legislatively or otherwise."
 
More importantly, the institute's spokesman says the strategy now is to generate a strong grassroots support to kill the bill.
 
"We're fond of saying around here that they really don't care what you think until they know that you can take their job away," he says. "Basically we need people who understand why this is not good for us to communicate to their legislators, to let them know that they're paying attention and this is an issue that matters to them."
 
Washington already has in place domestic partnerships, which provides similar benefits of marriage, but homosexual activists are seeking full legal recognition.

 

Abortion safer than giving birth? Not!

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/29/2012

A study that suggests abortion is safer than giving birth is being disputed.

Two researchers -- Dr. Elizabeth Raymond from Gynuity Health Projects in New York City, and Dr. David Grimes of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill -- conducted the study using information from the Guttmacher Institute. Guttmacher is supportive of abortion and is affiliated with Planned Parenthood International.
 
Dr. Randall K. O'Bannon of the National Right to Life Committee says the study is similar to other information in past years, which pro-abortion groups try to use to counter state women's right-to-know laws that require women seeking an abortion be provided information on the dangers of abortion. O'Bannon says the conclusions of the study are rather fuzzy.
 
"We do know, for example, that there was a study done in Finland that looked at death rates in Finland from 1987 to 1994 where they've got some more complete records, and they found out that women who had abortions had a three-and-a-half times higher mortality rate than the women who had given child birth within that first year."
 
O'Bannon also suggests the abortion-oriented study may have more of an international agenda than domestic in that it fits with a major push by United Nations organizations for legalization of abortion worldwide, including Third World countries where it is illegal or limited.
 
Regardless of the motivation, O'Bannon says what the new study doesn't point out is that when there is an abortion, there is a death -- that of the unborn baby.

 

Commitment to purity increasing worldwide, says group

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/29/2012

The ninth annual Day of Purity is coming up, being held this year on Valentine's Day.

Amber Haskew, the group's international president, says they are encouraging people to mark the day by wearing a white ribbon or wristband to symbolize their commitment to purity and fidelity within marriage.
 
"Living pure is just so, so important," says Haskew. "Everything from higher income to a lower divorce rate to the obvious physical benefit, and even a lower amount of depression, is found in those who are sexually abstinent outside of marriage."
 
Haskew believes that in this promiscuous world, people are looking for a better way to live.
 
"The Day of Purity really just took off last year. We went from participation of eight countries to individuals reaching out to the Day of Purity in 37 countries around the world," Haskew comments. "So everywhere from London to Japan to Africa, there's a huge need and recognition of the importance of purity and abstinence."
 
The website DayofPurity.com has resources for individuals and information on flyers that can be given to loved ones.

 

SD House urges academic study of Bible in schools

Associated Press - 1/29/2012 3:35:00 AM

PIERRE, SD - The South Dakota House has voted to recommend that school districts provide academic instruction on the Bible, brushing off concerns by some critics that the nonbinding resolution seeks to promote religious beliefs.

State Rep. Steve Hickey of Sioux Falls, who is also a pastor, said students should be taught about the Bible because it has had a huge influence on Western civilization.

The non-binding resolution goes next to the state Senate. It encourages school districts to provide instruction that makes students familiar with the content, characters, and narratives of the Bible. It says the instruction also should make students aware of the role the Bible has played in the development of literature, art, culture and public discourse.

 

Expert likes Gingrich for improved housing market

Russ Jones - OneNewsNow - 1/28/2012

While the housing market has stabilized, some believe it still faces significant challenges as government regulations have smothered the industry. One expert says Florida has been one of the hardest hit -- and with the presidential primary just a few days away, GOP hopefuls are pitching their plans to boost the market.

The U.S. Commerce Department reports 2011 marked the worst year for new-home sales in the history of such recorded statistics. Sales rose 1.6 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 315,000. That's less than half the 700,000 new homes that economists say should be sold to sustain a healthy housing market.
 
Stuart Vener, a national real estate and mortgage expert with the Florida-based Wilshire Holding Group, says President Barack Obama's plan to lower interest rates is not going to solve the problem.
 
"The housing problem that we have in this country is only going to be corrected by jobs coming back and people having the ability to go out and buy homes," explains Vener.
 
With at least one in four homeowners underwater on their mortgages, Vener says while many in the field of GOP candidates could correct the course of the nation, he has his eye on one in particular.
 
"Romney or Gingrich would be a great alternative -- would certainly be a better option than what we have," says Vener. "But my personal choice is Gingrich because he's very smart, and right now we need brains."
 
The state's 9.9-percent unemployment rate last month exceeded the national average of 8.5 percent.

 

Complaints from radical Muslims shut down documentary

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/28/2012

The producers of an explosive documentary on radical Islam are responding to attacks from an Islamic advocacy group that has ties to terrorism.

The trailer for the documentary titled The Third Jihad opens with these words: "The document states that their work in America is kind of a grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western Civilization from within."  
     
The Third Jihad is produced by the New York City-based Clarion Fund. The video has created a stir since the New York Times reported that the film was shown to nearly 1,500 New York Police Department officers as part of their counter-terrorism training. But the department stopped showing the documentary after the Council on American-Islamic Relations complained about the film. A CAIR spokesman says, "It defiled our faith and misrepresented everything we stood for."
     
Claire Lopez is a former CIA officer who is now a senior fellow with the Clarion Fund. She says the truth about CAIR must be told.
  
"CAIR is the terrorist organization, Hamas, representation in the United States," Lopez explains. "It is an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation/Hamas funding trial of 2008. It's regrettable that the New York Times would run such criticism without delving in to what the film is actually about."
   
And Lopez says it is also disheartening to see the New York Police Department so easily cave to the criticism from CAIR. She says it did nothing wrong in showing The Third Jihad to its officers.    
 
"Stand up to these thugs," she declares. "They did a service by letting the NYPD know what the difference is actually between devotional Islam and the kind of Islam that is subservient to Sharia and pursues Jihad." 
     
Lopez says the film's message urges the Muslim community to look within itself to root out the indoctrination that affects a minority of Muslims.

 

News of Christian imprisonment in Saudi only now reaching U.S.

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/28/2012

Thirty-five Christians have been jailed in Saudi Arabia for worshiping in their own homes according to a recent report. The news only surfaced this week that the Christians have been imprisoned for over a month.

Jonathan Racho of International Christian Concern says it is no wonder that Christians there worship in their homes because of the danger they face.
 
"In Saudi Arabia there is no church," says the ICC spokesman. "There is no other place of worship other than mosques -- so the Christians in Saudi Arabia only gather at their private homes to worship. And when they worship, as you can see in this particular example, they could also be arrested."
 
Racho was able to talk with one of the female prisoners by phone and explains that prisoners are suffering because of lack of proper medical attention. "They told me that especially the male prisoners have been assaulted by the Saudi officials," he shares.
 
One of the prisoners told Racho that a Saudi official insulted them by telling them they are non-believers, animals, and supporters of America.
 
He adds the Christians are waiting for justice, which to them means their release from prison and the ability to worship freely.

 

Government forces unbalanced set of standards

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/28/2012

In putting together the Common-Core Standards for education, the United States ironically drew on a variety of standards from other countries.

Neal McCluskey of the Cato Institute says the writers of those standards could not find a perfect set of standards in one other country, so they picked and chose from a variety of countries.
 
"Because apparently no one country has what anyone would consider to be perfect standards," McCluskey says. "There's a lot of competing standards, some better than others."
 
He says the effort of putting together one set of standards to fit every situation shows why they need to be decentralized.
 
"It speaks to the fact that it's ridiculous that you can have one definitive, perfect national standard. The fact is no one can agree on what is the best and what is not best," he says.
 
Though most of the states have adopted the Common-Core Standards, he says they were forced to do so by the Obama administration in order to compete for "Race to the Top" funding.

 

PTC: More skin likely ... unless

Bill Bumpas and Jody Brown - OneNewsNow - 1/27/2012

A conservative advocacy group is growing more concerned over the amount of skin shown during network prime-time television.

The Parents Television Council is worried about the troubling trend it has been documenting even before releasing its report "The Alarming Family Hour" more than four years ago. Melissa Henson is director of communications and public education for PTC.

"What we have seen so far this season is a fairly noticeable increase in the frequency of depictions of nudity on prime-time broadcast television -- and that's something that used to be unheard of not that long ago," she tells OneNewsNow. "And even though it started creeping into 10:00 p.m. shows, you never would have seen that sort of content, certainly during the family hour. But now you are."

Henson says this could just be the beginning, depending on how the Supreme Court rules on a couple of cases regarding indecency -- a battle that has gone on for decades between the networks and decency advocates.

"The concern, of course, is that if the Supreme Court sides with the networks in these cases, I think we can all expect to see even more of this sort of content in the future," laments the PTC spokeswoman. "And it's going to be increasingly difficult for parents to avoid it when they're watching TV with their kids."

She says it is very telling that more and more TV contracts for actors include nudity clauses. And as PTC points out, the broadcast networks would not be waging the legal battle currently before the Supreme Court for something they do not intend to do.

In a statement earlier this month, PTC president Tim Winter warned that if the high court rules in favor of the networks, "the American people are going to get a rude awakening when broadcast TV become indistinguishable from Cinemax, HBO, or something even more explicit."

PTC maintains a weekly, online "family guide" to prime-time network television indicating which shows may include indecent content unsuitable for children, which shows contain adult-oriented themes/dialogue that may be inappropriate for youngsters, and which shows are family-friendly and promote responsible themes and traditional values.

 

Pro-'gay' mayors to be confronted

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/27/2012

One family leader says citizens who value family should bear in mind that many mayors throughout the nation are pushing homosexual "marriage" in their cities.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has joined a group of 80 mayors in announcing support for "gay marriage" and for the "Mayors for the Freedom to Marry" initiative. He will co-chair the coalition that will spearhead an effort to broaden rights for homosexuals. The mayors have pledged to pressure their cities to pass laws that would permit same-sex marriage, and they are pressing for the repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

Villaraigosa claims that "denying gays and lesbians the freedom to marry weakens society" and hurts communities, neighbors, and families. But Ron Prentice of the  California Family Council (CFC) disagrees.

"These mayors and many others are intentionally disregarding the reams of social research that speak strongly to the best environment to raise children by their committed biological moms and dads," he notes.

Mayors Michael R. Bloomberg of New York City, Jerry Sanders of San Diego, and Annise Parker of Houston, among others, have all joined the national Freedom to Marry project. Parker is the first openly homosexual mayor of a major U.S. city.

"Mayor Villaraigosa may indeed attempt to establish some policies specific to same-sex marriage in L.A., but he will be confronted immediately by lawsuits," Prentice asserts.

And the CFC spokesman adds that the Los Angeles leader has voiced his support for same-sex marriage and has fought against Proposition 8, the law passed by California voters in 2008 that defined marriage solely as between one man and one woman.

 

Republicans have a point; Obama late again

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 1/27/2012

An expert in federal budgetary affairs says congressional Republicans do have a point about President Obama's budget announcement.

Based on the need to finalize decisions and technical details of the document, the Obama administration says it will release its budget on the second Monday in February. But the new release violates a federal law that requires the president to submit a budget on the first Monday in February. This is the second straight year the Obama administration has failed to make the deadline.

Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) points out that the delays come amid trillion-dollar deficits and 1,000 days without a budget from Senate Democrats. The comments could easily be dismissed as election year rhetoric, but Patrick Knudsen of  The Heritage Foundation says that does not mean Ryan's point is inaccurate.

"When I first heard about the delay, my first thought was In any other year, this might not be a big deal. But put in the context of what we've been going through and the kind of fiscal challenges we're facing, it gives a troubling indication that the president and his administration aren't really all that serious about solving the big fiscal challenges," Knudsen decides.

Other Republicans, including Senators Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Rob Portman of Oregon, are joining Congressman Ryan in voicing their opposition. Sessions points out that the president "speaks of the American people's economic suffering, yet he would at such a time delay fulfilling this fundamental duty on their behalf." Senator Portman suggests that President Obama should get off the campaign trail and spend more time "addressing the impending fiscal crisis."

Meanwhile, the Office of Management and Budget does appear to be cutting down on one thing when it comes to the president's budget, as it has announced it will not be providing free bound copies of the budget to media, calling it a "cost-saving measure."

 

Will hospital hold 'sincere Catholic faith flavor'?

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/27/2012

One faith leader hopes a California-based hospital system's decision to cut ties with the Catholic Church won't affect the system's family values.

Catholic Healthcare West, which is among one of the nation's largest hospital systems, is severing its ties with the Catholic Church and changing its name to Dignity Health. The group says the change will help it expand beyond its operations in California, Arizona, and Nevada, but it assures the quality of care it provides will not be affected. The board assures it will continue to bear the same vision and mission of "delivering high-quality, affordable healthcare services in a compassionate environment that meets each patient's physical, mental, and spiritual needs."

But now, as Catholic hospitals are struggling with a shortage of nuns who are able to lead a hospital system, the group will be able to include business men and women and healthcare leaders.

"Catholic hospitals have had a great and rich tradition in our nation of serving the poorest and most vulnerable among us," notes Gary Marx, executive director of the  Faith & Freedom Coalition. "We hope and pray that that continues with a sincere Catholic faith flavor to all that they say and do."

The Sacramento Bee notes that over the years, mergers between Catholic and secular hospitals have failed because of the church's ban on abortion, sterilization, and in-vitro fertilizations. But Marx hopes it will be different in this case.

"I think that in this situation, it's one of those things that we have to trust is going to be the case with this merger and verify that this name change and governance change really does not change the faith-based flavor that these hospitals provide," he says.

According to health leaders, hospital system mergers are increasing, even among religious systems.

 

President's bias for 'peace-loving' terrorists

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/27/2012

A highly decorated combat veteran and military advocate says President Barack Obama and the left-wing media have made too much of the recent video involving U.S. Marines and the corpses of Taliban fighters.

President Obama recently called the urinating incident an "outrage." And while even conservative pro-military pundits agree that the Marines should be punished, veterans like Congressman Allen West (R) of Florida believe the president and other liberals go out of their way to express indignation at American troops, but they never talk about the barbaric acts terrorists commit against U.S. service members.

Les Rayburn  served 35 years in the Army, including two tours of duty in both Vietnam and Iraq. He says there has been far too much pandering to the Islamists.

"To treat our captives the way that they treat them and to still go on television and talk about what a peace-loving people these guys are, and then when our guys do something that was just a minor, unfortunate incident, call it an outrage is giving aid and support to the enemy," Rayburn contends.

He suggests the matter should have been handled with an administrative procedure known as an Article 15 -- "just getting a small fine and getting a letter in your file. You go in front of your battalion commander. You're not going to trial. It's not like a court-martial. It's like a misdemeanor," the veteran explains.

In essence, Rayburn believes the White House and the media need to let this incident go.

 

SCOTUS: Police entitled to protect themselves

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/27/2012

A legal expert says the Supreme Court's unanimous decision this week upholding warrantless searches was the right one.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that police officers in Burbank, California, had the right to step into the home of Bellarmine-Jefferson High School student Vincent Huff without a warrant five years ago. Huff reportedly had been subjected to bullying, and did not show up to school following a note that allegedly said he was planning to "shoot up" the school.

Officers arrived at Huff's home and spoke with Huff's mother, who rushed inside when asked if there were any firearms in the house. The court noted that the officers then quickly followed her into the home, fearing they would be under attack otherwise.

Paul Rosenzweig, visiting legal fellow with The Heritage Foundation, says the officers acted appropriately.

"The Supreme Court rightly said that the officers' judgment shouldn't be second-guessed," he tells OneNewsNow, "and [that] if there was any reasonable basis for the officers to be afraid for their own safety, they were entitled to take actions to protect themselves."

The Los Angeles Times calls the 9-0 decision by the high court a "fresh censure" of the Ninth U.S. Court of Appeals, which ruled against granting immunity to two of the four Burbank officers involved in the case -- "demonstrating once again," says Rosenzweig, "that some of the judges in California are not at all in tune with how the law of search-and-seizure is being developed in the rest of the country."

In another search-and-seizure case earlier this week, the Supreme Court ruled it is unconstitutional for police to employ GPS tracking devices without a warrant.

 

Mayor challenging recall effort

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/27/2012

A Texas appeals court is deciding whether to allow a recall election against the mayor of El Paso and two city council members -- and one attorney believes the decision will favor local ministries.

A local pastor, church members, and other citizens have obtained enough petition signatures to force the recall election (see earlier article). Last year, Mayor John Cook filed suit against Tom Brown Ministries, Word of Life Church of El Paso, El Pasoans for Traditional Family Values, and other local citizens to to stop the election and silence the groups from speaking out against his anti-family policies. His request was denied, but he appealed based on a Texas law that bars religious institutions from a role in recall efforts.

Alliance Defense Fund attorney Joel Oster was back in court this week to take on the cited law.

"The appeals court in Texas heard our case about whether or not a church can speak out on local political matters. The case went really well," he accounts. "The argument was well presented, and the court, I believe, understands that even a church has free-speech rights and has a right to petition their government for the redress of grievances."

Oster believes the law is blatantly unconstitutional, and he expects the court will rule quickly. Then the case could go to the Texas Supreme Court.

The call for a recall election was launched after the city council approved domestic partner benefits. The law was overturned in an election, but the city council passed it again, irrespective of the voters rejecting it.

 

Wrong to exercise right at Supreme Court building

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/27/2012

According to a conservative legal group, free speech is not considered free speech in front of the Supreme Court Building in Washington, DC.

John Whitehead, founder of The Rutherford Institute, reports that his group has filed suit in federal court on behalf of Harold Hodge, who stood on a plaza in front of the Supreme Court building with a sign voicing his concerns about the government's treatment of blacks and Hispanics.

"The police walked up, and it was a snowy day, believe it or not. There was absolutely no one else out there; it was just empty," Whitehead reports. "The police told him to move. He didn't; he thought he had a First Amendment right. So he was arrested for violating a federal law which says you cannot gather in front of the Supreme Court building with a sign or a banner or in any way demonstrate."

Charges were dropped on the condition that Hodge agree to stay away from the location for six months.

"People hold all kinds of media events out there in front of the Supreme Court building -- interviews and those kinds of things -- and they allow that," the Institute founder notes. "But they won't allow a fellow to protest and raise a legitimate issue."

Rutherford attorneys assert that the statute is vague, overbroad, and invalid, as applied to the kind of peaceful protest in which Hodge engaged.

 

School reform gaining momentum

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/27/2012

An initiative spokesperson says the second annual celebration of National School Choice Week is evidence of the momentum for school choice among parents, legislators, and teachers.

Lisa Graham Keegan, a senior advisor to National School Choice Week, says most states have had restricted expansion of successful private schools, until recently. Now that is changing, she says. Teacher unions have also strongly opposed school choice, but according to Keegan that is changing as well.

"As teachers take back their profession from the ground up, the union is getting pushed out," Keegan explains. "And we find that the organization at the top opposes these reforms, [but] the teachers themselves more and more are pushing back -- many of them now not joining the union. As you know, the membership in the teachers unions is on the decline. It's pretty radical."

And she has advice for parents who would like to see more school-choice options in their own districts.

"There's so much information now. It's available online at  GreatSchools.net, or at your state Department of Education, or even just in those tests that your kids bring home in the backpack," the senior advisor directs. "Really educate yourselves about what your kids ought to be knowing."

More information is available at the Education Breakthrough Network's website.

 

Evidence of corporate decline

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/26/2012

A pro-family activist says it's "very sad" that a number of major corporations -- including Microsoft, Nike, and Starbucks -- are backing legislation before the Washington legislature to legalize homosexual "marriage."

Six prominent employers in the Northwest -- five of them based in Washington, one in Oregon -- have voiced their support in a brief letter for SB 6239 and HB 2516, two pieces of legislation that would legalize same-gender marriage in The Evergreen State. Joining Microsoft and Nike as signatories to the letter are Vulcan, Inc., RealNetworks, Inc., Group Health Cooperative, and Concur. In a separate statement, coffee giant Starbucks -- headquartered in Seattle -- touts its long history of supporting policies it says "promote equality and inclusion" and its dedication to "embracing diversity."

Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) says, "What we're witnessing is the continued descent of the American corporation into this pro-'gay' world of celebrating anything that the homosexual activists want."

"There was a time when homosexual so-called 'marriage' was beyond the pale, even for liberal corporate types," LaBarbera recalls. "But now we see Microsoft, Starbucks, and other major corporations backing this perverse redefinition of marriage. It's very sad."

And he finds it interesting that at least Microsoft claims it is doing so to compete with corporations in other states.

"They ignore that the majority of states oppose same-sex marriage -- not only oppose it, but they put it in their constitutions to keep marriage by its traditional definition," the AFTAH president notes. "So if they're really about keeping up with the majority of states, you'd think they'd side with the traditional marriage side."

But LaBarbera predicts the corporations will continue to side with homosexuals as long as Christians and others who believe marriage is only between one man and one woman allow them. But he points out that supporters of the latter can influence those decisions by doing business with other firms.

 

Pastor not inclined to 'meaningless prayer'

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/26/2012

While Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear (D) pushes for gambling expansion, a pastor is being criticized for trying to use prayer to help encourage lawmakers to make decisions that are consistent with God's "eternal character and truth."

Hershael York, pastor of Buck Run Baptist Church in Frankfort and a professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, was invited to open a joint session of the legislature with prayer, just before Governor Beshear spoke to lawmakers about why he wants them to pass gambling expansion. The pastor reportedly shocked everyone by praying specifically against the expansion, asking that the legislators and the governor "never resort to leveraging vice and avarice to pay our bills."

York tells OneNewsNow he did not expect the uproar his prayer has produced.

"It strikes me that what they really want [in the legislature] is a meaningless prayer," he says. "If you pray a meaningless prayer, no one objects. But if you pray something meaningful, something that really is the desire of your heart, or if you even pray in the name of Jesus, there are some members who object."

But Pastor York assures that if he is invited back, he will certainly pray what is on his heart.

"I know to some people, they think I'm a hero. To others, they think I'm an idiot," he recognizes. "I just try not to get too worked up over either one of them. I just try and be who I am and who God's called me to be."

He does not believe that Old Testament prophets Amos or Isaiah ever worried about "their public persona or their Q-rating," so he simply aims to be faithful to the Lord and God's Word "and leave the reaction to the people who react."

 

School picketed for sticking to values

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/26/2012

A Christian leader is backing a California private school's decision to deny recognition of an on-campus "gay" and lesbian support group.

Students at Pepperdine University, a Christian school "committed to the highest standards of academic excellence and Christian values," have collected nearly 4,000 signatures via a Change.org petition, in protest of school leaders' decision to deny recognition to a homosexual-support group. Students filed an application for the recognition of Reach OUT on the university's Malibu campus and were denied roughly a month later.

Gary Marx, executive director of the  Faith & Freedom Coalition, does not think it is wrong for a Christian school to stick to its values.

"No university should be forced to put in place an institutionalized formal entity on a campus that would specifically undermine the values that that campus is committed towards teaching," he contends.

Students protesting the decision claim the university is creating an environment that excludes LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) students. But the dean of students says the group's mission does not fit the school's policy and religious beliefs.

"The campus officials at Pepperdine have a responsibility to their founders, their donors, and to their board to maintain the high standards and academic excellence that they currently promote on their campus," Marx adds.

This is reportedly the fourth time an on-campus LGBT group has been denied or discouraged from applying at Pepperdine University.

 

Pro-lifers: Extension proves WH 'addicted' to abortion

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/25/2012

Some faith-based hospitals aren't satisfied with an Obama administration ruling that gives them a year to comply with a mandate to provide contraception free of charge in health insurance plans.

According to Paul Rondeau, executive director of the American Life League, "This administration treats Catholics as useful idiots" and generally undermines religious freedom.
 
"We all know that this administration has a contraceptive mindset. They are abortion-addicted, and this is simply one more 'kick the can down the road until after the election,' where Obama is not up for re-election and then his even truer colors will come out," Rondeau contends.
 
He says church-affiliated institutions are looking for an exemption from the mandate -- not an extension for compliance beyond the November election.
 
"There can be no resolution to this conflict when you have an administration that takes the executive power of the presidency and through legislation and bypassing Congress ... uses every administrative trick in the book to push their agenda, generally speaking, outside the light of day and in the shadows," the pro-lifer argues.
 
Rondeau concludes the administration's latest move is not a compromise, but simply a delay in the onset of government intrusion into religion.

And though the White House will not be forcing insurance coverage for birth control on religious institutions for the time being, court cases against that mandate will proceed. Hannah Smith of The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty agrees that the one-year delay is a political ploy. But she assures that the affected organizations have no plans of giving in. (Listen to audio report)

"Religious organizations, religious colleges, universities, hospitals, [and] social service organizations will not cave to the government this year or any year," she insists. "They will not pay for abortion drugs, no matter how many years the Obama administration gives them to comply to this coercive government mandate."

Smith points out that the administration has a poor record in terms of religious freedom, and that has been reflected in rulings by the nation's highest court.

"You saw the Supreme Court strike the Obama administration a serious blow by calling their narrow view of religion extreme ... 'remarkable' and untenable," she cites. "In the Hosanna Tabor case, where Becket Fund was also counsel, the Supreme Court held 9-0 that churches could hire and fire based on religious their views and doctrine."

The high court also rejected the Obama administration's view in that case.

Smith says the decision to delay implementation of mandatory insurance coverage for birth control is to gain votes from faith-based people. But The Becket Fund will continue to fight court cases dealing with the mandate.

Meanwhile, Bishop Richard Malone, the leader of Maine's Roman Catholics, is joining in the condemnation of the president's requirement. Though churches would be exempt, hospitals and schools would not. He says the mandate would require Catholic institutions to make an "impossible" choice of either violating their moral code or denying health coverage.

 

Obama outsourcing to Brazil; lawsuit filed

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/25/2012

A former congressman says it's hypocritical of President Barack Obama to call on U.S. companies to "insource" jobs while he is choosing to outsource a lucrative government aircraft contract to a foreign company.

The Kansas City Star recently reported that Kansas-based Hawker Beechcraft Corp. filed a lawsuit, forcing the Air Force to halt work on a $354-million contract with a Brazilian company to build a light attack aircraft. The Pentagon awarded the contract to Nevada-based Sierra Nevada Corp., which will work with Embraer, a Brazilian corporation that produces the A-29 Super Tucano turboprop. But Hawker Beechcraft contends it was blocked from the contract process.

Todd Tiahrt is a former GOP congressman from Kansas who now runs an aviation and aerospace consulting company. He says the decision makes no sense.

"The amount of American jobs if Hawker Beechcraft won would be 1,400 American jobs -- many of them union jobs and many of them veteran employees," he explains. "But in selecting Embraer, there will only be 50 American jobs, and the airplane will actually be built in Brazil."

But even though the American-made AT-6 performed better in flight tests and was more popular with the pilots, the Obama-led Pentagon decided to outsource 1,400 jobs to Brazil.

"He just recently proposed a program called 'insourcing,' where he wants to punish corporations that are looking for less expensive work and shipping outside the nation," Tiahrt notes. "Yet that's the very same thing he's doing. He's doing it with the Keystone pipeline, he did it with Russian helicopters, and today he's doing it with Hawker Beechcraft national security jobs."

The former congressman hopes this situation outrages Americans and motivates them to ask their members of Congress to investigate the details of how this contract was awarded. In the meantime, Hawker Beechcraft has sued.

 

Clinical trial overstating results?

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/25/2012

An expert on the subject says a recent success with embryonic stem-cell research is really not success at all.

An online report in the medical journal The Lancet suggests that use of embryonic stem cells has helped improve eyesight in two patients with macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness. The report is the first to describe the effect on patients. But Dr. David Prentice of Family Research Council (FRC) questions why the results were published, since the two-year clinical trial is only four months into research.

"This is a safety study. Four months is far too short a time to know whether some of these cells will perhaps make tumors or cause other problems," Prentice notes. "That tends to take years when we're talking about a person instead of a mouse."

The Lancet piece admits that in one patient, one eye that received the injection improved; but the other eye, which was not treated, also improved. Doctors say it is difficult to judge much based off of two patients, especially when there is no control group. Also, the improvement the two women are reporting could be a placebo effect.

"In fact, there [are] several studies that show that adult stem cells from bone marrow or from the eye itself can probably do as well or better than these embryonic stem cells," the FRC spokesman points out, "and, of course, without the worry of tumors or having to destroy any human being to get the cells."

Embryonic stem-cell research means a human embryo is destroyed. Advanced Cell Technology, which paid for this study, has been criticized in the past for overstating results. And so far, embryonic stem cells have not produced any proven treatments.

 

Different fate for baby under ObamaCare?

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/25/2012

A pro-life advocate contends that one of the world's smallest living babies is proof that abortion activists are wrong about the issue of life.

California's smallest baby headed home January 20, after spending nearly five months in the hospital. Baby Melinda Guido was born four months premature and weighed a little over nine ounces. The Los Angeles Times reports that the baby was small enough to fit in the palm of her doctor's hand, being the size of a soda can at birth.

Baby Melinda is the second smallest baby in the United States and among the world's tiniest surviving babies. The LA Times says she lived inside an incubator for the first four months of her life and was kept on a machine that helped her breathe. Baby Melinda was also given nutrients through a feeding tube.

Dr. George Delgado, the medical director at  Culture of Life Family Services in Southern California, points out that when Melinda was born, she was still young enough to be legally aborted.

"This 24-week baby, who could have been legally aborted in the United States ... could be saved if it was born prematurely," he points out. "So it just shows the juxtaposition and the real contradiction of how we look at things."

According to the newspaper report, doctors typically allow babies weighing less than 400 grams to die. And Delgado notes that under the control of ObamaCare and a board that weighs costs to keep a child like Melinda alive, it is possible she would not have been given the chance to survive.

"That may be one of the hidden effects of ObamaCare that we won't discover until it's fully implemented," Delgado warns. "And then it will be very difficult to turn the tide, especially when an entire healthcare plan is designed from the top down so that there's full governmental control."

Doctors will monitor the baby for the next six years of her life because premature babies are likely to develop physical problems like blindness or deafness.

 

Still pushing for Keystone

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 1/25/2012

House Republicans are moving forward with plans to get the Keystone XL pipeline approved, whether the Senate wants to or not.

Congressman Lee Terry (R-Nebraska) is pushing an idea to remove the president's authority over the pipeline and give it to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which already oversees pipelines operating throughout the nation.

"FERC is the expert agency on pipelines. Their standards are 'Is the pipeline safe? Does it meet all the requirements?' If so, it's approved," Terry explains. "This project creates 20,000 jobs, and at a time where the Middle East is volatile to say the least, that can really give some confidence to our economy."

The Nebraska congressman is 100-percent confident Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid would not allow the pipeline issue to come up for discussion in a straight up-and-down vote, leaving Republicans looking for a "Plan B."

"We have to find a vehicle that it can be attached to, that will at least allow the Senate to look at it and to get to the president's desk," he says.

But House Republicans are not the only ones calling for the pipeline. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 56 percent of likely U.S. voters somewhat favor the pipeline, with 36 percent strongly in favor of the pipeline.

 

Iran's saber-rattling over Hormuz

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/25/2012

A terrorism expert doesn't think Iran would hesitate to attempt to shut down a very important Middle Eastern waterway in response to continued sanctions from the West.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy recently urged stronger, more decisive sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. France wants the entire European Union to impose an embargo on Iranian oil and freeze the international assets of Iran's central bank to force it to halt the suspected development of nuclear arms.
 
But Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz and choke off the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf if the West continues tough sanctions.
 
Terrorism expert Walid Shoebat used to be member of the Palestine Liberation Organization before converting to Christianity. He believes the Iranians are serious.
 
"The Islamist government of Iran is definitely talking about choking the Hormuz -- [they're] very serious," he emphasizes. "In fact, I've stated that years before."
 
Shoebat is also concerned about the future of the Suez Canal as radical Islamists take over Egypt. "They will choke the waterways," he states. "America will no longer have the hegemony of the waterways and the free flow of commerce in the world if and when Islamists take over."
 
One only has to look at history in 1956, when the Soviet-backed Egyptians shut down the Suez, he explains. "This [was] even without an Islamic regime," Shoebat notes. "[Egyptian President] Gamal Abdel Nasser was the creation of communist Russia -- and there was a war between Israel and the Arabs over the issue of the Straits of Tiran, the Suez Canal, and all these things."
 
The U.S. Fifth Fleet is standing by, prepared to defend the Strait of Hormuz if the Iranians attempt to close it. At its narrowest point, the strait is 21 miles across.

 

The trouble with tats

Bill Bumpas - OneNewsNow - 1/25/2012

Tattoos are becoming more popular with Christians, but the fad has one commentator concerned.

Tattoos, especially religious one, appear to be increasingly in style. Pop star Justin Bieber, for example, recently debuted a large image of Jesus on his left leg. Dr. Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America (CWA) does not see anything wrong with body art, but she does see a troubling aspect of it for Christians.

"The temptation [is] to think that If I've got a tattoo -- that will be my witness and That is an easy way of having the Christian witness, and I won't have to worry about what I do and what I say. Instead this will be my witness," she notes.

But Crouse's main concern is about the long-range effect.

"It's not a temporary thing like a haircut; it's not a temporary thing like dying your hair or a clothes fad. This is something they're going to live with the rest of their lives," the CWA senior fellow points out. "And it's kind of humorous to me to envision 80-year-olds running around with [the] tattoos that these kids are putting on now, what they're going look like 60 years from now."

Even so, she predicts many young people will follow Justin Bieber's example and get a Jesus tattoo.

 

Chicago continues a history of restricting free speech

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/25/2012

Chicago has passed an ordinance restricting free speech that the head of the Pro-Life Action League of Chicago believes is directed at those who oppose abortion.

Eric Scheidler tells OneNewsNow the ordinance is the latest chapter in a long history of Chicago restricting free speech.
   
"Going back to the Haymarket Riots back in the 19th century, and to the Democratic Convention in 1968 on through the anti-war protests in 2003, where there was just horrible mayhem caused by the police, hundreds of arrests that had to be overturned and a federal Judge [Richard Allen] Posner upbraiding the city for its lack of respect for the First Amendment," he points out. "And here they are at it again."
   
Scheidler says the ordinance approved by the city council dealing with demonstrations is extremely vague.
   
"They require a permit for any kind of an activity that might be described as an assembly, but it's very vague as to what an assembly is," he explains. "There's no exception for smaller protests -- and so that leaves it up to the police to decide whether to arrest you or no,t or to issue a citation."
  
It is so broad, he says, that pro-life prayer warriors or others passing out leaflets, even for political candidates, could be arrested if perhaps the officer "has an axe to grind." Scheidler believes the ordinance is ripe for a legal challenge.

 

California proposes two initiatives for life

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/25/2012

One pro-life advocate is standing with a group of California bishops who are backing two state initiatives related to life.

A group of California bishops are standing behind two proposed ballot initiatives -- one that would require parental notification before a minor has an abortion, and another that would kill the death penalty in the Golden State. The California Catholic Conference announced that the two measures are a blend of life and family values and said that the two initiatives "bring into sharp focus important moral issues."
 
The measure requiring parental notification for abortions would require girls ages 12-17 to notify their parents before an abortion procedure. California bishops say they are backing the initiative because young girls often have multiple abortions and suffer physical consequences without their parent's knowledge.
  
Dr. George Delgado, the medical director of Culture of Life Family Services in Southern California, explains the reasoning behind these proposed measures.
  
"I think it's ridiculous that parents should be kept out of such important decisions that a teen or a minor would make, such as going to have an abortion," Delgado says. 
  
California bishops are also backing a measure that would ban the death penalty in the state and would replace the punishment with life in prison without parole. They say the death penalty is no longer effective and is a costly punishment that is "impractical" and "unnecessary."

"Under the current laws, a person gets automatic appeals of his death sentence, and it becomes a very long, drawn-out process, usually 20 years or in that order before a person actually even gets executed," Delgado tells OneNewsNow.
   
Initiative proponents must collect over 504,000 signatures in order to qualify the measures for a place on the November statewide ballot.

 

Celebrating school-choice innovation

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/25/2012

National School Choice Week is being celebrated with more than 400 events in all 50 states, as momentum continues to bring to parents additional educational options for their children.

Though this is only its second anniversary, governors in 25 states have proclaimed "School Choice Week." Lindsey Burke, education analyst at The Heritage Foundation, says that is a real testament to this growing movement following a year of innovation.

"We saw more and more innovations and online learning, more states moving to empower families with control over education funding so that they could access online learning options, and then you saw options like Arizona that created education savings accounts for the first time," she lists.

Last year saw an unprecedented 12 states and the District of Columbia enact legislation to either expand existing programs or create entirely new ones ( see related article).

"I really think that the tide has turned in favor of empowering families with control over where they send their child to school," Burke notes. "This idea that we will assign children based on their zip code to the closest government school, that's an idea that has failed generations of children."

School-choice supporters believe parents must be empowered to select the best schools for their children and that elected officials must do more to make that happen, says the analyst.

 

More corruption in Bell, Calif.

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/25/2012

An advocate for taxpayers reports that news of corruption and greed continues to surface in one of California's poorest cities.

The city of Bell has announced that its three former police chiefs and a number of officers obtained disability pensions worth millions of dollars that should not have been granted. According to the Los Angeles Times, under former Bell City Administrator Robert Rizzo, police officers were potentially given millions of dollars in benefits and perks.

The California Public Employees Retirement System asked the city to investigate the matter and pledged to conduct its own investigation. Former Bell officials have been accused of pumping up their salaries and perks, while the struggling city struggled to stay afloat.

"The retirement benefits are incredible, but then again, you can look at the legislature," notes Phelps Hobart, chairman of the Sacramento County Citizens for Limited Government. "There are [the] highest paid legislators in the United States in California."

The findings reveal that retirement packages should not have been awarded to three Bell police chiefs, and the workers' compensation settlements for 13 police officers were extremely generous.

Hobart contends that there must be reform from the top of the state government down to local government.

"To me, there shouldn't be a state staffer in the legislature getting over $60K, and they're approaching I think $200,000," he reports. "I mean, it's absurd," especially since those positions are "non-elected."

City officials say Rizzo used the police retirement scheme to reward allies and persuade officers he wanted off the force to leave. The investigation shows that former police chiefs received annual pensions ranging from roughly $117,000 to $169,000. Rizzo and seven other officials of the Los Angeles suburb have been charged with corruption.

 

2 convicted in Fast and Furious gun probe

Jacques Billeaud - Associated Press - 1/24/2012

PHOENIX - Two men have pleaded guilty to buying guns that were destined to be smuggled into Mexico, the first convictions in the federal government's botched Operation Fast and Furious.

The men were so-called "straw buyers" who acknowledged purchasing guns that they knew were headed to Mexico.

The goal of the federal government's investigation was to catch weapons-trafficking kingpins, but firearms agents lost track of many weapons they were trying to trace to smuggling ringleaders, and some guns ended up at crime scenes in Mexico and the U.S.

Jacob Wayne Chambers and Jacob Anthony Montelongo each pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to a conspiracy charge.

The pair admitted to being part of a 20-person smuggling ring that's accused of running guns into Mexico for use by the Sinaloa drug cartel.

 

AFA: Home Depot 'digging in'

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 1/24/2012

Home Depot says it never changed its policy regarding homosexuals, despite evidence obtained by one pro-family group showing otherwise.

American Family Association, which heads up a boycott against Home Depot, reported earlier this month that the national retailer appeared to be pulling back its support of homosexual activists, noting the home improvement chain participated in just four "gay pride" events in 2011 -- down from at least 16 such events in 2009 and 2010. Furthermore, AFA reported that Home Depot ordered its employees to stop wearing their orange aprons to homosexual-themed events.
 
But AFA's director of special projects, Randy Sharp, now says his organization spoke too soon. "Once we brought that to light, Home Depot made a public statement to everyone who contacted them and said [essentially] 'No, we haven't changed any policies.  When it comes to homosexuality, homosexual marriage in our culture, we will continue to support it financially.'"
 
According to Sharp, Home Depot is breaking its own written policies by giving to homosexual events.
 
"Home Depot has a policy regarding grants and donations," he points out. "They will give cash and they will allow their employees to march in uniform in homosexual 'gay pride' parades. However, if a local church or Christian ministry were to have a parade, Home Depot would not donate to that and ... would not allow their employees to participate while in uniform."
 
In an Action Alert on Monday to its supporters, AFA suggests several ways to take action, including signing a boycott pledge at BoycottTheHomeDepot.com, in addition to praying for Home Depot executives and contacting managers at local Home Depot outlets.

 

Sen. DeMint: Time for Dems to go

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/24/2012

South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint (R) is issuing a warning that 2012 may be the last chance for Americans to save the country from economic ruin.

Simply put, the lawmaker says America may not survive another four years of President Barack Obama and a Democratic-controlled Senate. In his new book, Now or Never: Saving America From Economic Collapse, DeMint explains that too many Americans are getting a free ride from the government.

"We've never been at a point where about half of Americans are getting something from government, and the other half are paying for it," he notes. "We're on a course to [having] 60 percent getting something from government and 40 percent paying for it. In a democracy, just that doesn't work."

So he insists that the Democrats must be defeated this fall.

"We can't compromise with Democrats when their goals are to concentrate power and to control our economy and our culture," DeMint contends. "So, Americans who know better, who are working, who are paying taxes, need to unite to defeat President Obama and the Democrats -- not just for the presidency, but for the Senate and the House."

And the Republican lawmaker concludes: "The political establishment in Washington is destroying our country, and only a determined effort by the American people can stop them."

 

Washington on verge of accepting homosexual marriage

Rachel La Corte and Mike Baker - Associated Press - 1/23/2012

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Washington's Legislature now has enough votes to legalize homosexual marriage.

Democratic Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen says she will support the measure, becoming the 25th vote needed to pass the bill out of the Senate. The House already has enough support, and Gov. Chris Gregoire has endorsed the plan.

Washington would become the seventh state to legalize same-sex marriages, following New York, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.

Washington state has had a domestic partnership law since 2007, and a "everything but marriage" law since 2009.

Haugen's announcement came has hundreds of people filled the capitol to advocate for and against gay marriage. State senators began considering the bill during a morning committee hearing.

 

State agency 'bullied' into supporting homosexuals

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/23/2012

In approving a specialty license plate for a special-interest youth group, the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles is stirring considerable controversy.

Making such a decision would not typically generate such a flurry, but Micah Clark of the American Family Association of Indiana provides more details about the Indiana Youth Group and how it went about getting approval for its license plate.

"[It] is a homosexual youth group or activity group," he explains. "We would call it a recruitment center which affirms children ages 12 to 21 into the homosexual lifestyle, or that their homosexual desires or sexual confusion are okay."

Last year, the group applied for the plate and was denied. The procedure upon denial is generally to take the matter to the legislature for consideration.

"But homosexual activists didn't choose that route," Clark reports. "They filed a suit that's bullied [the BMV] into agreeing to create a specialty plate that funds Indiana Youth Group, which says on the Bureau of Motor Vehicles' website that part of the funds will go to set up Gay-Straight Alliance clubs in Indiana high schools across the state."

The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. Clark notes that "Choose Life" and "In God We Trust" plates were also initially declined, but proponents took their case to the legislature, where they were both approved. Clark says Indiana residents were "surprised" and "shocked" that the department caved in to the homosexual group.

 

Sen. Rand Paul stopped by Tenn. airport security

Eric Schelzig and Eileen Sullivan - Associated Press - 1/23/2012

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was stopped by security at the Nashville airport Monday when a scanner set off an alarm and targeted his knee, although the senator said he has no screws or medical hardware around the joint.

The Republican, who frequently uses the airport about an hour from his home in Bowling Green, Ky., told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that he asked for another scan but refused to submit to a pat down by airport security.

He said he was "detained" at a small cubicle and couldn't make his flight to Washington for a Senate vote scheduled later in the day.

Paul, the son of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, said the situation reflects his long-standing concern that the TSA shouldn't be "spending so much time with people who wouldn't attack us."

TSA spokesman Greg Soule confirmed there was an incident but didn't identify the passenger as Paul.

"When an irregularity is found during the TSA screening process, it must be resolved prior to allowing a passenger to proceed to the secure area of the airport," Soule said in a written statement. "Passengers who refuse to complete the screening process cannot be granted access to the secure area in order to ensure the safety of others traveling."

A TSA official speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal screening policies said Paul was never detained. The official said an alarm set off when Paul went through routine airport screening, and Paul refused to receive additional screening. People who refuse to go through airport security are not allowed to get on a plane, the official said. Local police escorted Paul out of the screening area, the official said.

Paul went through a millimeter wave machine that uses a generic outline of a body for all passengers. When there is an alarm, TSA officers target the area of the body that triggered the alarm and pat down the passenger, the official said.

Paul told reporters at the airport that he had no idea why his knee raised concerns with TSA. He said he showed his knee to the security agents and doesn't have any medical hardware or issues in the knee.

"There is no problem. It was just a problem with their machine. But this is getting more frequent, and because everybody has to have a pat down it's a problem," Paul said.

Paul said he was in Denver two days ago and allowed to walk through the screener again and avoided the pat down.

He said he didn't want special treatment from TSA because he's a senator. "I think we need to treat everybody with dignity."

The TSA said Paul was allowed to board another flight after a different screening.

In a June 2011 Senate hearing, Paul raised issue with TSA's screening policies and relayed the story of a 6-year-old constituent who was patted down at an airport.

"I feel less safe because you're doing these invasive exams on a six-year-old," Paul said to TSA Administrator John Pistole. "It makes me think you're clueless, you know, that you think she's going to attack our country and that you're not doing your research on the people who would attack our country."

The TSA has since changed its policy for patting down children to reduce the number of times children have to go through the procedure.

 

Overlooking Congress' 'huge mistake'

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/23/2012

A conservative military watchdog is calling GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney to task for his acceptance of homosexuals serving openly in the military.

As previously reported on OneNewsNow, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul are the only remaining GOP presidential hopefuls who have failed to respond to the Military Culture Coalition's survey on military social issues, including the question of homosexuals openly serving in the military.

Elaine Donnelly, president of the  Center for Military Readiness (CMR), coordinated the survey. She says she is disappointed that Romney recently told the Des Moines Register he does not plan to change the law mandating homosexual military service.

"Governor Romney told the Des Moines Register that, well, yes -- Congress shouldn't have rushed the repeal bill through, but it's happened now, and the wars are winding down, so now it's okay," Donnelly notes. "That was disappointing because it's just like with ObamaCare -- Congress made a huge mistake in passing that law."

And the CMR president does not understand why the issue of "gays" in the military has not created the same outrage that followed ObamaCare.

"All of the Republicans are saying it is time to repeal ObamaCare. Why then would we say that the mistake made by the lame-duck Congress with regard to our military should be allowed to stand indefinitely?" she wonders.

Donnelly believes the next president should pledge to take administrative or legislative steps to restore sound policies regarding homosexual conduct that would improve the all-volunteer force.

 

Wis. GOP ready to take on recall

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/23/2012

The Wisconsin Republican Party is trusting voters to defeat the recall effort against Governor Scott Walker and other Republican leaders.

According to The New York Times, recall organizers say they have gathered more than a million petition signatures -- nearly twice as many required to force a recall election of Governor Walker, Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, and four Republican state senators. The union-led effort is in response to the massive reforms Walker and the Republican legislature have put in place to balance the state budget and curtail the power of public service unions.

Ben Sparks is a spokesman for the  Republican Party of Wisconsin (WISGOP). His group is completely confident Wisconsin voters will continue to stand behind their governor.

"Whenever the Democrats control the governor's mansion," Sparks says the state's economic woes get worse, as he points out that under former Governor Jim Doyle's leadership from 2007 to 2010, "Wisconsin lost 150,000 jobs and was left with a $3.6-billion budget deficit."

But in just one year, Walker has balanced that deficit without raising taxes "and has created thousands upon thousands of jobs throughout the state of Wisconsin," the WISGOP spokesman notes. "So Wisconsin voters went to the polls in 2010 to reject the Democrats' era of job loss and deficit spending, and they're going to do it again in 2012."

And Sparks expects The Badger State to pave the way for November. "We will hand the Democrats a resounding statewide loss right before voters return to the polls to reject President Obama and his failed liberal agenda," he predicts.

The recall election will likely take place in late spring or early summer.

 

'Good News' stifled in Arizona

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/23/2012

The Alliance Defense Fund has taken an Arizona school to court for prohibiting a Christian group from distributing a flyer [PDF] at school while allowing other groups to do so.

The Dysart Unified School District in Surprise, a suburb of Phoenix, prohibited a Good News Club flyer inviting students to after-school meetings, resulting in the lawsuit filed on Thursday. The club had submitted an approval request form and sample flyer in October inviting kindergartners through sixth-graders to the first meeting on November 9. But the flyer, according to the district, was "against district policy" because the program being promoted was "religious in nature" -- and therefore was rejected.
 
ADF attorney Jeremy Tedesco says courts around the country have ruled such policies to be unconstitutional.
 
"[Courts have ruled] that when the school district opens up a forum for outside groups to promote their events and activities to students and their parents, they have to grant equal access to religious organizations so they can promote their religious events and activities on equal terms," the attorney explains.
 
He argues that while the school has allowed a wide variety of nonprofit groups from the outside to promote their meetings and events -- groups like the Boy Scouts, Cesar Chavez Foundation, and Interfaith Community Care -- the district has discriminated against the Good News Club.
 
"Child Evangelism Fellowship [sponsor of Good News Clubs] has found some pushback from time to time," notes Tedesco. "They've filed lawsuits in other states across the country and prevailed in those -- so we expect to prevail here as well, because the bottom line is the First Amendment doesn't allow religious viewpoint discrimination by the government."
 
Though the club even included a disclaimer on the flyer stating the school does not endorse or sponsor the organization, the school rejected the flyer anyway.

 

An educational scare tactic

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/23/2012

The liberal National Center for Science Education (NCSE) has started an aggressive campaign to require schools to teach students that climate change is real and driven by human activity.

For decades, the NCSE has denounced intelligent design and pushed for evolution-only curriculum in classrooms. Now it wants man-made global warming to be taught as fact to the exclusion of opposing ideas.

"Who wants school children essentially to be spoon-fed this idea that human-induced catastrophic climate change is a foregone conclusion?" asks Jay Richards of the  Discovery Institute. "There's no scientific debate about it, and they want to make sure that students get that party line."

But he thinks the campaign may actually backfire on the Center.

"I really think that the fact that the National Center for Science Education is taking this up will convince even more people that this is really an ideological and political issue because they're essentially a lobbying group that tries to scare public school districts and teachers from doing things," the Discovery Institute senior fellow notes.

But Richards points out that despite the strong campaign efforts of the NCSE, principals, superintendents, and school boards have the final say about what will be taught in their schools.

 

Evolution theory co-founder a 'heretic'

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/23/2012

A documentary that premiers online this Saturday tells why Alfred Russel Wallace, the man who shares credit with Charles Darwin for the theory of natural selection, later became known as Darwin's heretic.

"Alfred Russel Wallace was one of the leading naturalists of the 19th Century. He shares credit with Charles Darwin for discovering the theory of evolution by natural selection," the Darwin's Heretic narrator explains. "But if Alfred Russel Wallace tried to talk about his views in a science class today, he would likely be banned because Alfred Russel Wallace, the co-founder of the modern theory of evolution, also believed in intelligent design."

The 21-minute film is based on Alfred Russel Wallace: A Rediscovered Life, the biography written by Discovery Institute fellow and University of Alabama at Birmingham professor Michael Flannery. He tells OneNewsNow this film can be a valuable tool in the classroom "because people are not familiar with Wallace."

"This film will be an excellent way for them to appreciate, shall we say, the new perspective in evolutionary theory that Wallace brought to the table," Flannery asserts.

 

Documentary highlights teaching misdemeanors

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/23/2012

A Christian attorney says a California-based court should have set precedent for a case involving a high school teacher who mocked Christianity during class.

Filmmaker Vic Losick's documentary In God We Teach recently premiered at the 2012 Irvine International Film Festival in Orange County. The documentary depicts New Jersey student Matthew LaClair, who secretly recorded his teacher during class and accused him of proselytizing. The movie also portrays the case involving Orange County high school student Chad Farnan, who filed a lawsuit against his teacher, James Corbett, for making attacks against Christianity. Corbett, who is a teacher at Capistrano Valley High, was invited to the screening and discussed the case during a question-and-answer session following the film.
 
Bob Tyler of Advocates for Faith & Freedom, the legal group defending Farnan, has more information about this documentary.
   
"Honestly, I don't know how neutral it was presented," he admits. "Just by the name, it sounds to me it certainly lends the idea that this was a slanted documentary, but I won't know until I see it."
  
The section depicting the Farnan case is titled "Jesus Glasses," named after Corbett's statement where he said: "When you put on your Jesus glasses, you can't see the truth." Corbett, however, said the statement was made in reference to the loyalty Austrian peasants had for the Roman Catholic Church. Corbett told the audience that although Farnan was brave to challenge him on the issue, his challenge is "misguided," and Tyler asserts that the court should have set legal precedent on this issue.
  
"Instead, what the Ninth Circuit did, is it chose not to give a ruling in this case," Tyler says. "It specifically chose to avoid it and say, 'We don't have to address the Constitutional question.' So now this issue remains open; the Constitutional question remains, and we have no definitive opinion on the law."
  
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a lower-court ruling that affirmed that Corbett violated Farnan's constitutional rights.

 

College charging for free speech

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/23/2012

Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) is asking a federal court to halt a policy enforced by Maricopa County Community Colleges in Arizona that charges fees for the right to free speech on campus.

Jonathan Scruggs of ADF filed a lawsuit on behalf of Ryan Arneson, a Mesa resident who had shared his faith and handed out literature at South Mountain Community College for two years. However, school officials told him last year that he would have to meet certain requirements in order to continue doing that.

"He'd have to pay money, obtain insurance, wait 14 days after applying, and do all these burdensome requirements, simply to go and carry on a conversation with someone," Scruggs reports.

But as the attorney points out, the school apparently discriminates against people of faith, as officials make exceptions to their policy for others.

"The university will allow political speakers to come on campus without having to [jump through] these hoops and go over these burdens. But for our client's religious speech, he has to get insurance, pay money, [and] do all these difficult things," Scruggs explains.

But he goes on to add that the courts have routinely ruled in the past that policies like the one at South Mountain Community College are unconstitutional.

 

Author gives another look at purity

Bill Bumpas - OneNewsNow - 1/23/2012

A Christian author and speaker is using a new book to launch a national movement for teenagers' purity.

She's not the first one to challenge teens to remain pure before marriage.  But author Elsa Kok Colopy tells OneNewsNow what she's talking about in her book is real purity -- not just about a bunch of" do's and don'ts."
 
"The book is titled Pure Love, Pure Life because I just believe with all my heart that when we know the pure love of our God, that out of the overflow of that comes pure life from how we love God, to how we date, to how we look out for our friends, to how we make a difference for good in the world," she shares.
 
Kok Colopy has an interactive website to go along with the book and she says teens are taking the pledge to live a pure life and also going online to dig deep into dialogue.
 
"I've been getting these incredible questions -- and it's just an honor and privilege to get this window into the lives of these young women, and they are fighting the battle," says the author. "They are going for it, and I am so proud and so excited just to be a part of the journey with them."

Pure Love, Pure Life: Exploring God's Heart on Purity is published by Zondervan.

 

Former president's gift to the nation

Bill Bumpas - OneNewsNow - 1/23/2012

A former White House aide to George W. Bush has released a book that gives a unique glimpse into the role that faith played during Bush's presidency.

Tim Goeglein served with President Bush as a liaison between religious groups up until 2008, when he suddenly resigned amid a plagiarism scandal. In his memoir, The Man in the Middle: An Inside Account of Faith and Politics in the George W. Bush Era, Goeglein recalls how the president later forgave him. He tells OneNewsNow he believes President Bush is a great, bold man who has an inner moral compass and knows who he is and what he believes.

"It's a very good thing to work for a believing, a professing Christian who knew that his constitutional obligation was not to be the pastor-in-chief or the sermonizer-in-chief; but George W. Bush really understood and got that balance just right between being a Christian and then also being in public life," the author shares.

And Goeglein believes the former president's faith was a great gift to the American people.

"George W. Bush gave me and gave millions of Americans -- Christians and non-Christians alike -- a great sense of confidence that because of his faith that he would make good decisions in his personal and in his professional capacity as president," the former liaison contends.

Goeglein now serves as vice president of external affairs for Focus on the Family.

 

Poll: Ohio voters divided over pro-life bill

Ann Sanner - Associated Press - 1/22/2012

COLUMBUS, OH - Ohio voters are evenly split about a proposal before the state Legislature that would impose the nation's strictest abortion limit, according to a new poll released Thursday.

The so-called "heartbeat bill" would outlaw abortions at the first detectable fetal heartbeat, sometimes as early as six weeks into pregnancy. It passed the Ohio House in June and is pending in the state Senate.

The Quinnipiac University poll shows the state's voters are divided over the idea -- 45 percent support the measure, while 46 percent oppose it. The survey comes as backers have renewed their push for the bill's passage in a lobbying effort that has included two dozen pastors praying at the Statehouse and children delivering to senators' offices 33 stuffed animals that make the sound of beating hearts.

Supporters had thought the bill was headed toward Senate passage before the holiday break, but Senate President Tom Niehaus suspended hearings on the legislation in December. On Wednesday, Niehaus told reporters his chamber would resume hearings on the proposal after the state's March 6 primary. The New Richmond Republican did not further explain the timing or decision.

One of the bill's most ardent backers on Thursday pointed to its support among Republican voters as one reason the GOP-led Senate should act on the bill. The survey shows Republicans favor the measure 2-to-1, while Democrats oppose it by that same margin.

"If you are Republican, you want this bill and you want it in a big way," said Janet Folger Porter, president of the group Faith2Action. "That's a big thing, especially if you're a Republican-controlled Senate. I would pay attention to that."

The GOP holds 23 of the Senate's 33 seats.

If the bill is enacted, supporters hope to provoke a legal challenge and overturn the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion in the United States. The ruling upheld a woman's right to an abortion until the baby is viable outside the womb, usually at 22 to 24 weeks.

"The way that you change the law -- you change what the Supreme Court rules, is you give them an opportunity to do so," Folger Porter said. "That's what the heartbeat bill does."

The measure's opponents said the split among voters shows why the divisive issue should be shelved. "This poll shows there are strong reservations about how extreme the heartbeat bill is," said Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio.

Asked about whether the Republican support in the survey could affect the bill's movement in the Legislature, Copeland said: "Once you're elected, you represent all the people, not just your party."

Both sides contended voters would swing to their position once they learned more about the proposal.

The survey of 1,610 registered Ohio voters was conducted from Jan. 9-16. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.

 

Mourning a generation

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/22/2012

Today is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday -- and this year commemorates 39 years of legalized abortion that has seen the equivalent of an entire generation wiped out.

The day was first set aside by a presidential proclamation issued by Ronald Reagan in 1983. Virginia Cline of Heartbeat International tells OneNewsNow the purpose of the observance is to reaffirm Americans' commitment to the dignity of every human being and the sanctity of human life.

"So while we are called to raise awareness of the inherent value of every human life, we also mourn for the more than 50 million aborted U.S. citizens. That's an entire generation of innocence," she notes.

Cline goes on to point out that no woman aborts a child because abortion is legal -- but because she believes she has no other choice.

"But every day in the Heartbeat pregnancy centers we hear from women who have been devastated by the lasting physical, emotional, and spiritual effects of abortion," she shares. "Women deserve a safe haven of compassion where their physical, emotional, and spiritual health is protected and their dignity is restored."

Heartbeat International, which was founded in 1971, is a Christ-centered non-profit association of pregnancy help centers, medical clinics, maternity homes, non-profit adoption agencies, and abortion recovery programs in 50 countries.

For those who benefit from Heartbeat International, every day is Sanctity of Human Life Day.

 

Group expects big numbers for pro-life event in SF

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/21/2012

While the national March for Life is Monday in the nation's capital, one West Coast city will stage one of its own events on Saturday in San Francisco. 

The Eighth Annual Walk for Life in San Francisco will mark the 39th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. Spokesperson Lisa Hamrick says that anticipated attendance figures were high.

"Well, we don't like to over-project," she says. "We had over 50,000 people come last year so, you know, just based on every year, we have increased. The first year we had 7,500 people. The following year we had about 15,000."

Hamrick says that she would not be surprised to exceed last year's 50,000.

The pro-life representative was asked why when California is painted as a left leaning, pro-abortion state, it gets such tremendous numbers for the march ( see related story).

"Really, just every kind of wonderful organization; religious, priests and nuns. You know, we've got a lot of problems in San Francisco and the West Coast but there's a lot of really, really dedicated, beautiful, holy people here," comments Hamrick, "and there's just been such a yearning since the majority of people couldn't get out to the March for Life in Washington, DC. It's just taken off like wildfire. It's just beautiful to watch."

Hamrick believes one underlying reason for the success of the San Francisco Walk for Life is the abundance of prayer.

 

Gov. pushes for high-speed rail, despite cost concerns

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/22/2012

A conservative activist says California's governor won't do the right thing regarding the state's high-speed rail project, despite promises to do so.

California Governor Jerry Brown is proposing a facelift for the $98 billion high-speed rail project. The Democrat announced his plan to revamp the nation's first bullet train after the rail authority's director and chairman resigned. Brown's appointee, Dan Richard, is expected to fill in, and the Democrat says he will do the right thing.

Brown says he plans to work with officials to fix problems with the costly project, which has more than doubled in expense since it was approved by voters. Republicans have long voiced opposition to the project they call "a train to nowhere," and Californians have unanimously said they want a re-vote.

David Wolfe, legislative director with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, says there is very little federal money that has been identified for the project. "The segment they proposed in the Central Valley is a illegal segment," he says. "There's a state bond that voters don't want."

The proposed route of the high-speed rail would connect Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay areas, and has been criticized for its potential lack of ridership. "I'm all for infrastructure projects that help increase our transportation capacity, but unfortunately high-speed rail is not going to be one of those," adds Wolfe.

 

Feds up attempt at regulating hydraulic fracturing

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 1/22/2012

An energy policy expert says an impending report on hydraulic fracturing is not so much about regulation as it is federal control.

The upcoming report from the Environmental Protection Agency will be the latest in a string of reports on "fracking," including a report in December 2011 that blamed fracking for water contamination in Wyoming. The procedure under scrutiny is used to create energy from the injection of a highly-pressurized fluid, which creates channels in rock.

The industry has denied those charges, while industry groups like Energy in Depth have published multiple items aiming to debunk the EPA's findings. Regardless, most observers expect the report to call for crackdowns and new federal regulations on the practice.

Dan Kish of the Institute for Energy Research believes it is about more than just rule-making. "This isn't about regulation or no regulation," he says. "States regulate it fine, right now. The issue is how does EPA get its hands in the business of fracturing."

Kish uses North Dakota as one example. "[North Dakota is] about three-percent federal government-owned. The reason they're producing so much oil in North Dakota is because the government only owns three-percent of the land and they can't stop it," says Kish. "But if [the government] could stop hydraulic fracturing, they could stop the production on the private and state lands."

Because of the EPA reports, and the concerns about hydraulic fracturing, The Washington Times has dubbed 2012 the year for fracking to "break up or break through."

 

New group provides life-changing film free to pregnancy centers

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/21/2012

The number of "Bella babies" continues to grow four years after a pro-abortion film hit theaters across the country.

The movie Bella was released in 2007 and immediately caught international attention, capturing the hearts of many women who had had or were in the midst of unplanned pregnancies (see earlier article). That prompted one of the executive producers to form an organization called "Bella HERO."

Tracy Reynolds, a spokesperson for the organization, says about the new venture, "Jason Jones then woke up one day and really said he had a vision to provide free Bella DVDs -- and this after the DVD came out in 2008 -- free Bella DVDs to women in unplanned pregnancies. So that's how Bella HERO was formed."

The group raises money to purchase the DVDs to give to pregnancy centers and to provide training to personnel on how to effectively use them. "Just about three and a half years later, we have over 700 pregnancy centers across the country, and to our knowledge we have saved at least 450 babies through this program -- and that's just the ones we know about," Reynolds says.

The spokeswoman points out that the movie is not overtly religious or hard-hitting when it comes to the subject of abortion, which is why so many women in crisis have watched it and responded to its message.

The website Bella HERO contains testimonials from people directly impacted by the film.

 

Possible fraud in redistricting process taken up by CA court

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/21/2012

A Republican Party official believes California's high court will find that the state's redistricting process should be invalidated.

The California Supreme Court is reviewing the state's newly carved political maps drawn by a independent citizen redistricting commission. Republicans say Democrats influenced the process and influenced commission members to draw lines that strengthened Democratic strongholds. Opponents of the process hope to qualify a referendum to overturn the maps on the November 2012 state ballot. (See related story)
 
Radio station KPCC in Southern California reports that the justices on the state's high court seem likely to suspend the new maps, and possibly appoint a "special master" to redraw the lines.

"The law was very clear," explains Thaddeus Taylor, chairman of the Republican Party of Inyo County, "that you would have a citizens committee made up of non-activists. Partisan though they may be, they would not have been campaign types, they would not have been money donors. They had a whole list of things they were not be. In fact, the way this is shaking out, it appears that the Democrats have their way."

Taylor notes that the court may find some faults within the committee. "I believe that there will be effective arguments made that the personnel on that particular committee that at least one of them, maybe more, have misrepresented themselves and consequently invalidated whatever they've done on that committee," the chairman says.

 

City disregards own history in Confederate flag decision

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/21/2012

Lexington, Virginia, faces a federal lawsuit over banning the Confederate flag, which has been flown in the city before.

The group Sons of Confederate Veterans has flown the Confederate flag from city flag standards before -- but after objections, Lexington passed an ordinance limiting use to national, state and city flags. John Whitehead of The Rutherford Institute says that violates the Constitution -- and disregards Virginia history as well.

"Virginia was a crucial state because Stonewall Jackson was born here, Robert E. Lee, and they both were interred in the town of Lexington where they wanted to fly the flag," says Whitehead. "So, it's clear this is history, heritage, but political correctness as I see it -- as it sweeps across the country -- it's trying to do away with free speech. It's unpopular speech, there's no doubt about that."

Whitehead explains the importance of the Constitution when it comes to this issue.

"James Madison who wrote the First Amendment said [it is] there to protect the minority against the majority; and what he was saying [was] the minority of people that no one agrees with -- and a lot of people don't agree with the Confederate flag. But that does not mean it is not protected free speech," he says.

Whitehead points to a 1993 federal court injunction that protects the organization's right to fly the flag in Lexington.

 

South Carolina and the evangelical vote

Russ Jones and Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow - 1/20/2012

Polls are indicating it could be a horse race with a photo finish between Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney in South Carolina, helped along evidently with Thursday's decision by Rick Perry to get out of that race.

The gap between two of the GOP presidential hopefuls -- Gingrich and Romney -- has narrowed in both national and South Carolina polls. But Gingrich and Rick Santorum seem to be splitting the support of Christian leaders across the nation.

While Santorum received the endorsement of a few select evangelicals in Texas this past weekend -- as well as that of Dr. James Dobson yesterday -- former House Speaker Newt Gingrich also is seeing a rise in support among influential evangelical leaders. The personal endorsements of individuals like George Barna, Don Wildmon, and pastors Jim Garlow and Michael Youssef have allowed him to move within striking distance of frontrunner Mitt Romney, who pundits just a week or so ago contended had the nomination sewed up.

Rod Martin, president of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, a group that endorsed Santorum last November, tells OneNewsNow the organization has since thrown its support to Gingrich.

"He has articulated a strong message that in many ways is the most evangelical I've ever heard in my lifetime," says Martin. "His position on using the 14th Amendment to protect the right to life; his position on stopping anti-Christian bigotry in the marriage debate; and [his position on] so many other areas is just so strong, and it's so refreshing -- and it's much more innovative than any of the other candidates."

Republicans in the South Carolina will make their preferences known Saturday as they vote in the state's primary. Martin contends Gingrich has the momentum, and furthermore has more than twice as many evangelical supporters as Santorum.

"The Lord knows we're all just sinners saved by grace," Martin offers, "but [Gingrich has] been a consistent friend on policy to evangelicals throughout his career, and much more so the past several years. And he really does deserve a chance."

Get the facts
A Christian leader in California is calling voters to awaken to the facts of how the Republican presidential candidates stand on family values.

Leading up to the South Carolina primary on Saturday, Newt Gingrich asked his opponents Rick Santorum and Rick Perry to drop out of the race, arguing that he is the only conservative who can beat Mitt Romney. On Thursday morning, Perry did just that, throwing his support behind the former House speaker. 

Randy Thomasson of SaveAmerica.com believes Gingrich is spot on. "He's correct that if there is a leading moderate in a campaign in a largely conservative state and three conservatives are splitting the conservative voters apart, the moderate could win," he says, referring to Mitt Romney as "the moderate."

Citing the history of the past three decades, Thomasson notes that the Republican candidate who wins the South Carolina primary has ended up being the Republican nominee for president -- so he is urging voters to know how the candidates stand on moral issues.

"Of the ... Republicans still in the race, Romney is far and above the most against the ten family values and moral standards in the report card on the natural family," says the family advocate. "He's supportive of homosexuals adopting children, open homosexuality in the Boy Scouts and in the U.S. military, and ... continues to support pro-LGBT education."

Thomasson asserts that Republican hopeful Ron Paul is a "mixed bag" of family values, who does not oppose homosexual relationships and wants to eliminate official marriage licenses. Gingrich and Santorum are relatively equal on family values, Thomasson says, and are strong supporters of the natural family.

The pro-family leader asserts the facts were against Governor Rick Perry. "[He] would have been right up there with Gingrich and Santorum if he had not signed a homosexual, bisexual, transsexual 'hate crimes' law in 2001; and ... had pledged to enforce federal laws against obscenity like the other two had."

 

Wicker: On Keystone, Obama shows 'true colors'

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 1/20/2012

According to a Republican senator, President Barack Obama's excuse for not approving the Keystone XL pipeline may be just that -- an excuse.

Language calling for a decision on the pipeline was included in the two-month extension of the payroll tax cut signed in December. But on Wednesday, the White House blamed congressional Republicans, saying the February 21 deadline did not give enough time for review of the pipeline.

"Extending a tax cut to 160 million Americans wasn't victory enough," explained White House press secretary Jay Carney. "The Republicans put in jeopardy a process that should be immune from politics."

But those may very well be empty words, considering the deadline was in the same two-month extension that Obama and his press secretary called on House Republicans to approve last month, even noting that Republicans in the Senate had approved the measure.

Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) says it was because of language calling for a decision on Keystone that he and other Republicans gave the measure a thumbs-up.

"And I will say this -- the president never promised to give us a finding. But it is sort of surprising that he has gone ahead, after 1,200 days of environmental studies, and said that it is not in the national interest to go ahead with using this to help the United States of America," the senator notes.

So Wicker believes the president has "shown his true colors in siding with the radical environmental leftists," even when it means not creating jobs for unionized workers who would build the pipeline.

 

Dangerous, illegal pro-abortion group

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/20/2012

Pro-lifers are trying to warn women about the dangers of turning to an organization called Women on Waves that advises women on how to obtain RU-486 and go through a self-abortion without medical advice or assistance. The organization's site explains, "You do not have to tell the medical staff that you tried to induce an abortion. The symptoms of a miscarriage and an abortion with pills are exactly the same, and the doctor will not be able to see or test for any evidence of an abortion, as long as the pills have completely dissolved."

Women on Waves, directed by Rebecca Gomperts, is the same group that set up an abortion facility on a boat and sailed to provide abortions offshore to countries where abortion is either illegal or limited. Since that floating abortuary sank off the coast of a South American country, Brian Clowes of Human Life International (HLI) tells OneNewsNow the abortion group has a new strategy.

"So now they're going out there and they're telling women to go to a pharmacist and lie about why you want to get a dozen tablets of Misoprostol, and go home and illegally use it to abort your baby," he reports. "Then when you start to have a miscarriage, go to the hospital and lie again and say that you're having a natural miscarriage."

Women on Web, an online medical abortion service, will also ship abortion pills to women who live in countries where abortion is illegal, usually in Third World countries, where medical assistance is also limited.

"About all we can do is educate women, and it's only a matter of time until somebody dies," Clowes says. "And unfortunately, that may be the only legal recourse to go after this Rebecca Gomperts -- by saying, you know, my daughter or my wife died because of this procedure, and now I'm going to sue this person for recommending it."

But the HLI spokesman notes that even that would be difficult, as Gomperts is based in The Netherlands, and the government there has done nothing to stop her.

Clowes concludes that the organization, by encouraging something that is both illegal and dangerous, is demonstrating it is more interested in its agenda than in the lives of women.

 

Governor 'intellectually dishonest,' says attorney

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/20/2012

An attorney in California asserts that Governor Jerry Brown is again neglecting his duty to defend state law.

More than 15 years after voters approved a ban on affirmative action due to race or gender, Brown -- the current governor and the state's former attorney general -- is joining a challenge to overturn it. The lawsuit to overturn Proposition 209 has reached the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and Brown's lawyers told the court that the law "imposes unique political burdens on minorities." The San Francisco Chronicle notes that the lawsuit was filed in 2010 by minority students and an advocacy group.

Prop. 209 ensures that all University of California applicants are reviewed equally without distinctions due to race or gender. Opponents of the law say it bars minorities from lobbying the Legislature and encourages the discrimination it was meant to eliminate.

Robert Tyler of Advocates For Faith & Freedom argues that eventually "it's going to get to where everyone's had the same opportunity for so many years that you kind of just have to put the blinders on and say Who is best qualified?"

Brown's decision to challenge Prop. 209 abandons initiative proponents to defend their measures alone. The Democrat made a similar decision in the Proposition 8 case, when he chose not to defend state law -- although his duty required it. Tyler takes issue with that.

"As a governor of the state and as an attorney general, you accept a position created by our Constitution to uphold the law," he states. "Whether you agree with it or not, it's your responsibility."

Tyler adds that he expects intellectual honesty from government officials. "But Jerry Brown has twice failed, and has twice shown that he is intellectually dishonest," he concludes.

The Ninth Circuit will hear arguments on the case February 13.

 

The ramifications of criticizing homosexuality

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/20/2012

A New Jersey school board has taken a first step toward firing a Christian teacher who came under attack last fall for posting comments on her private Facebook page that were critical of the homosexual lifestyle.

Last October, when Union Township school teacher Viki Knox posted her objections to homosexuality on her Facebook page, a firestorm erupted and she was put on administrative leave (see earlier story). Now the school has filed tenure charges against her, which could lead to her permanent dismissal. Brad Dacus of the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) warns that this situation could pave the way for the left to silence Christians.

"If these homosexual activists get their way, then anyone who is open about their Christian faith [is] fair game for being treated like this -- to be fired and labeled as a hate monger," he says.

Attorney and former councilman John Paragano recognizes that Knox is entitled to her public comments against homosexuality, but he argues that she is not entitled to keep her job after making those opinions known. Dacus, however, says that is un-American.

"Every American in this country, in a free society, should have the ability to express their moral beliefs or moral convictions without having to have the fear of being fired and losing their job, especially when that conviction is expressed on a private off-time social chat forum," the PJI president contends.

An administrative law judge assigned to the case will deliberate the matter, then recommend the action New Jersey's acting education commissioner should take.

 

Adult stem cells save man's life

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/20/2012

Thanks to adult stem cell research, a Baltimore cancer patient now has a new trachea -- and a senior fellow for life sciences says the approach shows great promise for the future.

The 30-year-old man was diagnosed with an inoperable tumor in his windpipe, according to Dr. David Prentice of the Family Research Council (FRC), and the patient was out of options.

"They tried chemotherapy and radiation, but they just couldn't get rid of this tumor," he reports. "They couldn't take it out because they had nothing to put back in in terms of his windpipe, and it was slowly going to choke him to death."

But Christopher Lyles found Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, an Italian who is a visiting professor at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. Macchiarini had developed a technique using the patient's own bone marrow adult stem cells to build new tissue and save many lives. In this case, adult stem cells were used on a sort of scaffold.

"The cells started to grow. They realized they were supposed to be windpipe because that was the position they were in his chest," Dr. Prentice explains. "They grew a whole new windpipe for him."

The case adds to the more than 70 different ways in which adult stem cells have successfully been used in a medical treatment. Meanwhile, research using human embryos has produced no usable results.

Lyles is back home now, celebrating with his four-year-old daughter.

 

Attempt to counter sex-selective abortions

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/20/2012

An editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal recommends not revealing the gender of an unborn baby until the 30th week of pregnancy in order to reduce the problem of babies aborted because they are female.

Sex-selective abortion is a growing problem in Canada and the United States, but Dr. Gene Rudd of the Christian Medical Association says the idea expressed in the editorial is "shortsighted and is a fantasy to believe that it would work." He says first, women will claim they have a right to the information.
  
"You know, it's their information, their lives, their bodies, their pregnancy, and they have a right to the information," Rudd says, summarizing the anticipated arguments. "Secondly, the majority of women will not use this information to influence the decision for abortion, so they will claim, ‘why deny us the right to have this because a small minority of people might use the information wrongly?'"
 
Rudd also believes the medical community will not be willing to withhold the information -- and then he says there is an additional problem in waiting 30 weeks.
   
"In Canada, women can still opt for an abortion right up to the time of delivery, so the question would be why force them to wait until after 30 weeks to choose to have an abortion when it can be so risky," Rudd points out. "Will it eliminate some abortions? Well, it might, but then you're putting a lot of women at risk who might choose to wait to that time to have an abortion when they find out what the sex of the child is."
    
Plus, Rudd wonders why there has not been an outcry from feminist groups over abortions done specifically for the purpose of eliminating unborn female babies.

 

Tebow's real victory

Bill Bumpas - OneNewsNow - 1/20/2012

Despite the anti-Christian bias Tim Tebow has received from the liberal media, a conservative media critic says the NFL quarterback has still come out victorious.

The young Denver Broncos star has generated a lot of excitement about his performance on the field. According to a December ESPN Sports poll, he is currently America's favorite professional athlete (see earlier story). But he has also taken some hits from the left-wing media for his Christian faith. Dan Gainor, vice president of the Media Research Center's Culture and Media Institute (CMI), shares an example from The Huffington Post.

"One of their people is calling for declaring sports a 'no religion zone'. That's like when the NFL gets together and decides to change the rules because somebody's winning too much," Gainor suggests. "Tebow is winning too much, and they know that. He's the real deal. They don't know how to deal with it. They're so cynical; they're stunned."

He says Tebow has won by making the role of faith a daily topic of conversation. He points to a Focus on the Family spot that aired during Broncos-Steelers playoff game earlier this month -- an ad that was partly inspired by Tebow.

"Almost all the commercials in football usually involve beer and trucks and men acting like idiots to impress women, and here you see a commercial involving a bunch of little kids reciting John 3:16," the CMI vice president notes. "That's how much he has helped change the national conversation."

Gainor believes that is the real victory of this football season.

 

Republican retreat undeserved?

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 1/20/2012

House Republicans are in Baltimore today for their annual retreat, but not everyone thinks they need a retreat.

Frank McCaffrey of Americans for Limited Government says House Republicans have disappointed a lot of people. "We haven't seen much of the promises that they made, fulfilled," he tells OneNewsNow.
    
Earlier this week, Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said not all Republicans were to blame, noting that he and many other conservatives were opposed to the two-month extension of the payroll tax cut and jobless benefits, opting instead for a longer extension in addition to reforms.
  
"We voted in 'Cut, Cap, and Balance,'" Gohmert says. "The Senate didn't, but the very next day that we voted that in, our leadership was negotiating something different, when the thing to have done at that time was say, ‘Hey, you take it up, you can approve something similar and we'll take it up in conference committee, but we're not moving another inch.'"
   
When it comes to the House retreats, McCaffrey says in his experience as a television reporter, the retreats are not really that productive.
   
"I've spent time at these retreats," he explains. "What it is is a bunch of guys sitting at a table and talking in circles for a half hour. Maybe if they actually talk about something of substance at this retreat, maybe they can say, 'Hey, let's get our act together and help out the American taxpayer for once.' "
   
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is giving this year's keynote address at the retreat.

 

Census Bureau diluting state's voice

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/20/2012

A public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption has filed an amicus brief in support of Louisiana's challenge to the U.S. Census Bureau's policy of counting illegal aliens when appropriating seats in Congress.

The state of Louisiana contends that following the 2010 census it lost one congressional seat when states like Texas picked up representation because of the large number of illegal aliens counted there.

Chris Farrell is a spokesman for  Judicial Watch, which has filed an amicus brief in support of Louisiana's lawsuit against the government officials who oversee the census.

"No one previously had thought, Well, if you're here breaking the law, if you're here illegally, you're somehow entitled to representation because sort of by definition, your existence is in contravention to the law," he notes. "Certainly the people of Louisiana are saying, 'Look -- our vote, our representation is being diluted unlawfully by a policy of the federal government that cuts against their interests.'"

And Farrell's organization is arguing that due to this census policy, at least five states will lose House seats to which they are entitled. The brief also points out that the congressional apportionment in turn determines the apportionment of electors in the Electoral College for the next three presidential elections.

 

Benefits of school reform remain to be seen

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/20/2012

Race to the Top, a program unveiled by the Obama administration in 2009 to spur state education reforms, has released its first-year progress report.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says the 12 states that secured funding have made "tremendous strides" in the first year.  But Lindsey Burke of The Heritage Foundation is less enthusiastic about the program, which is supposed to raise academic standards and turn around failing schools.
 
"There were certainly some good goals in Race to the Top," she tells OneNewsNow. "But whether that should be directed from Washington is really the question, and I think that is why we are not seeing a lot of positive outcomes from it, because it is such a Washington-centric program."
  
She says what Race to the Top does add is multiple layers of reports for local school administrators to fill out.
  
"We know that as a result of No Child Left Behind being enacted, states had seven million man hours' worth of paperwork to fill out every year, which costs [the schools] about $141 million just to show bureaucrats in Washington that they are complying," Burke says.
  
Burke says time will tell if Race to the Top produces benefits -- but for now, she says all that is resulting is tremendous strides in government growth, not student achievement.

 

Reform coming to Louisiana education

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/20/2012

A pro-family advocate is "simply delighted" about the heavy emphasis Governor Bobby Jindal placed on the need to improve Louisiana's education system during his second inaugural swearing in.

Jindal has not yet released the details of his education reform plans, but many observers speculate they will include controversial items like charter schools, vouchers, and teacher evaluations to improve the state schools' persistently poor performance.

"I think he may raise the standards in an erratically new way in terms of calling schools to excellence, providing kids in failing schools and their parents with better choices and alternatives," predicts Gene Mills, executive director of the  Louisiana Family Forum. "And I'm simply delighted in what he has done with this package of reforms."

As far as getting reform through the legislature, Mills says the state is in flux right now because it has switched to a two-party system.

"Now there [are] Democrats and Republicans, and there's an emerging Independent party -- that's new in the state of Louisiana," he accounts. "The unions -- the labor unions and the school unions -- don't drive the process now. You have new up-and-coming reformers and limited government advocates that wear the label 'Republican' or 'Independent.'"

Nonetheless, Mills thinks there is enough broad-based support to get school reforms passed, though he says it will not be easy.

 

Christians pray for pastor's healing

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/20/2012

One pastor is praying for a full and complete healing from cancer on Calvary Chapel's founder.

The Christian Post reports that Calvary Chapel founder, Pastor Chuck Smith, will undergo chemotherapy and radiation for cancer (see earlier story). The 84-year-old is the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, and the leader who sparked the Jesus Movement. He announced at the start of the new year that he is suffering from Stage 3 lung cancer. Smith was expected to have surgery to remove the cancer, but the Post reports that additional tests were needed before the surgery could be arranged.

Jim Garlow, senior pastor of Skyline Church in La Mesa, California, describes what he believes is the widespread reaction to Smith's illness. 
   
"Chuck Smith is enormously respected in our state," Garlow says. "He is one of the prime movers that has impacted not only Californian Christianity, but across America is deeply loved and respected by all of us. We pray healing on him during this season."
  
Smith recently told Pastor Greg Laurie of Riverside's Harvest Christian Fellowship that he is unafraid of his battle with cancer. He has continued on with his ministry since the diagnosis. Garlow says he sympathizes with Smith and with his family on a personal level.
 
"As a pastor who has a wife who has been struggling with a very aggressive and advanced cancer, I am highly empathetic to what families go through when they face serious cancer challenges," the pastor tells OneNewsNow. "We are praying for a full and complete healing on Pastor Chuck Smith."
  
Smith was previously hospitalized in 2009 after suffering from minor strokes and was released after a few days.

 

Clarifying Ohio's execution process

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/20/2012

Ohio has put a scheduled execution on hold as it asks the U.S. Supreme Court to reaffirm that the state's protocol for lethal injections is constitutional.

Charles Lorraine, 45, was sentenced to death for killing a 77-year-old man and his 80-year-old bedridden wife, who were stabbed repeatedly before their home was burglarized in 1986. Lorraine's execution had been scheduled for January 18, but a U.S. district judge halted the procedure, saying the state had failed to follow its own rules for executions. A federal appeals court agreed that the execution should be postponed while those changes and the reasons for them are reviewed.

Attorney General Mike DeWine (R) and Governor John Kasich (R) have announced that the state is appealing to the U.S Supreme Court, but Phil Burress, chairman of Ohio-based Citizens for Community Values, does not understand why they have a problem with this execution.

"Obviously, putting someone to death is a very serious issue," he recognizes. "They have appeal after appeal after appeal, and it takes years for someone to pay the ultimate price for a brutal murder like this. And a lethal injection seems to be very humane, if that's what you want to call it."

And Burress points out that Ohio is a state that believes in capital punishment.

"You look at the other states that do -- Texas and others -- [and] you see less of these offensive crimes because they know that if they do such a crime that they're going to pay with their life," the grassroots conservative notes.

He hopes the U.S. Supreme Court will rule that Ohio's administration of the death penalty is constitutional so the state can carry out the execution.

 

Analyst: Advantage to middle-ground Romney

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/19/2012

As conservatives in South Carolina continue to split their support among the "not-Romney" candidates, a political scientist professor and analyst says evangelicals should understand that Mitt Romney very well may be the pragmatic choice for the Republican presidential nomination.

A RealClearPolitics compilation of GOP presidential preference polls taken in the days leading up to Monday night's debate in Myrtle Beach shows Mitt Romney continues to lead his opponents by more than ten points in The Palmetto State. But in a separate Rasmussen nationwide poll taken the day following that debate, Newt Gingrich appears to have closed the gap between himself and Romney to three points (30 percent to 27 percent).

Dr. Charles W. Dunn of Regent University says evangelicals blew it by not unifying behind a single candidate early on. "And they have jumped from one to the other without an effective degree of unity," he adds.

According to Dunn, the former Massachusetts governor understands that the middle governs in America. "The far right doesn't govern; neither does the far left," he remarks. "So this creates a tug of war for the middle. Romney understands that in the same way that the evangelical hero Ronald Reagan understood it -- you have to woo the middle."

Dunn says Romney also has an advantage of being from the Northeast where Republicans need to break through in states like Pennsylvania and New Jersey. And he believes Romney can beat Barack Obama.

"Romney will be in a good position to properly paint Barack Obama as a far-left candidate whose record is somewhere between slim and none," he says, adding that he believes a more conservative candidate would give Obama the chance to paint the Republican nominee as "far-right."

 

Analyst: Romney's lead media-manufactured

Russ Jones and Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/19/2012

A leading cable news network shows one of the GOP presidential candidates hitting record highs in a recent poll, as one political commentator believes the media is trumping personal conviction and swaying political opinion.

According to a new Fox News poll, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has the support of 40 percent of Republican primary voters. The same poll shows Rick Santorum with 15 percent, Newt Gingrich with 14 percent, Ron Paul with 13 percent, and Rick Perry with six percent of voter support.

Carol Swain, professor of law at Vanderbilt University and author of Be the People, is not surprised that Romney has such a large lead. "When I think about the public, they respond very much to what they hear in the media," she offers. "And if what they hear repeatedly is that Romney is the only person that can defeat President Obama, then I think that for some people, that's the primary goal."

Swain contends the mainstream media, establishment Republicans, and the Obama administration are all pushing for Romney, which gives him an unfair advantage over the other candidates.

"It's just pretty clear that Obama wants to run against Romney," the professor says. "The mainstream media wants to make it a contest between the two, and the American people, especially Republicans, are being ill served by a contest that was never really a fair fight."

The Fox News poll also indicates Republicans are divided over whether a moderate or a conservative would be more likely to beat President Barrack Obama this November.

Paul's unsolicited backer: Iran

Meanwhile, a terrorism expert says Ron Paul is Iran's choice for the next U.S. president. (Listen to audio report)

Accuracy in Media recently published  a special report that details how the Iranian government's English language propaganda channel, Press TV, has been portraying the Texas congressman as a hero because of his approval of Iran's nuclear ambitions and his claim that sanctions against Iran are "acts of war."

Terrorism expert  Walid Shoebat was a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization before converting to Christianity. He says Congressman Paul has made no secret of his sympathies for Iran.

"We can see Ron Paul really is a favorite of the Iranian revolution. He supports literally the right for Iran to have nuclear weapons," Shoebat notes. "In fact, he condemns the sanctioning of Iran. Iran sanctions [are] an 'act of war,' Ron Paul says. This is a view of a lunatic -- not a view of somebody who is an American patriot."

So the terrorism expert agrees with other analysts who believe Paul's Middle East policy is even worse than that that of the current administration.

 

Warning: Civil unions aren't enough

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/19/2012

Governor Pat Quinn (D) has signed a measure passed by the Illinois Legislature that would legalize same-gender civil unions. But as one pro-family advocate reports, the effort is not stopping there.

A group of Illinois lawmakers has been meeting with homosexual activists to develop plans to legalize homosexual "marriage." According to the Windy City Times, several state representatives have been meeting with local lesbian, "gay," bisexual, and transgender groups to set their strategy for a bill that could be introduced in 2013.

"Of course, homosexual activist organizations all around the country and here in Illinois have made it clear that civil unions are insufficient," notes Laurie Higgins of the  Illinois Family Institute. "Even if civil unions provided all the benefits, they're not sufficient [for those groups] because what they really want is the societal approval that the word 'marriage' would grant them."

And Higgins points out that two lawmakers involved in the strategy sessions are open homosexual.

"It might not matter for dog groomers and our architects, but it does matter for lawmakers and it does matter for educators," the Illinois Family Institute spokesperson contends, "because if they are affirming a homosexual identity, it tells us precisely what they hold to be true about the nature and morality of homosexuality, which will affect decision making."

Similar "marriage equality" bills have been introduced in the state several times before, but they have generally failed to gain traction. The state lawmakers pushing the current measure see the November elections as a crucial political point, as the entire state legislature is up for re-election. The bill will not be introduced for at least a year, so Higgins suggests voters should keep that in mind when they go to the polls.

Meanwhile, a similar bill has been filed in the Washington House, as requested by Governor Chris Gregoire (D). That bill serves as a companion bill to a measure filed in the Senate last week. Forty-nine Democrats and one Republican have signed on in support, and in a House where Democrats hold a 56-43 majority, the "gay marriage" bill already has enough support to pass. The Senate, however, is still lacking 25 votes. Both chambers are planning to hold public hearings on the bills on Monday.

 

Student prayer in Sunshine State

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/19/2012

Though a Florida legislative bill to allow prayer at public school events has made it through the Senate Judiciary Committee, opponents warn it could be unconstitutional.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and the Anti-Defamation League all say the proposed bill to allow school boards to permit student-led prayers at school events would not pass constitutional muster. Bill Warren of the Florida Family Policy Council disagrees.

"The comments must be student-created, student-led; the administration cannot be involved in either the creation of the comments, the creation of the speech, or give input into what the speech says," he explains. "So it's totally student-led, totally student-driven."

The bill is sponsored by Florida Senator Gary Siplin, a Democrat from Orlando. And if it becomes law, Warren hopes other states will follow suit.

"Their personal ideas and belief systems in activities ... are not mandatory, non-compulsory activities, so we think it's a good model," he notes. "We look forward to seeing it implemented here in Florida and in other states as well."

So far, Democratic Senator Arthenia Joyner of Tampa is the only legislator opposing the bill.

 

An abortion-funding battle in NH

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/19/2012

New Hampshire's House has again said no to Planned Parenthood. The Senate will now take up the de-funding bill.

The House passed the measure by a large majority. Former Colorado Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave of the Susan B. Anthony List tells OneNewsNow that her organization, working with Alliance Defense Fund, helped develop the legislation.

"And here we go -- yet another state taking our taxpayers' dollars away from Planned Parenthood, getting taxpayers out of the abortion business," she says. "So there's going to be a real fight in the Senate, but [we've had] a great beginning in the House."

Last year, the state's Executive Council voted not to renew contracts with the abortion giant, but the Obama administration provided direct federal funding to New Hampshire Planned Parenthood amounting to $1.8 million. Now the legislature is making its own statement against that.

"And right now, including New Hampshire, nine states have passed legislation to de-fund Planned Parenthood," Musgrave explains. "[But] there will be dollars going to private and public entities that provide comprehensive healthcare to women -- so this is what we need."

For those states that have decided to de-fund Planned Parenthood, the Obama administration has responded by threatening to cut off Medicaid funds.

 

Kansas hoping for 'personhood'

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/19/2012

A Kansas personhood amendment currently before the state legislature must be approved there before it can go on a future ballot, and one pro-lifer thinks the outlook is promising.

Personhood Kansas spokesman Bruce Garren says it will take a two-thirds' vote of both houses of the legislature to get the measure on the fall ballot. So far, more than two dozen House members have endorsed the proposed amendment.

"For the most part, we're finding the House fairly receptive, I would say, to the idea of giving the people of Kansas an opportunity to vote on this," he accounts. "We're going through the House first, so I feel like I have a little better perspective on it. The Senate may not [give] quite as much support and encouragement."

Those sponsoring the measure are relying on the constitutionally-guaranteed rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to shape the abortion prohibition. As a way of motivating elected officials to get on the bandwagon, the organization is letting voters weigh in in a grassroots fashion.

"We're also getting petitions signed to help the legislators understand that there are just lots of people in Kansas who would like the opportunity to vote on this," Garren explains. "And so far, we have about 7,500 signatures of people who would like to see it on the ballot."

The language would generally say an unborn baby would have legal protection from the moment of its biological beginning. Also, contraception would not be banned but abortifacients would. Garren believes if Personhood Kansas can get the amendment to voters, there is a good chance of passage.

 

Schools spying on students?

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/19/2012

A number of schools throughout the United States are beginning to bypass parental permission and use electronic devices to monitor students as a way to combat obesity. But some critics are wondering how far officials will take the effort.

School officials in Bay Shore, Long Island (New York) recently purchased eight "Polar Active" monitoring devices to electronically monitor students. Schools in St. Louis and South Orange, New Jersey, are doing likewise. Bay Shore superintendent Peter Dion says the devices inform or motivate students by giving them immediate feedback about their fitness.

But John Whitehead, president of  The Rutherford Institute, says schools "attaching devices to people, tracking their vital signs, and watching ... what they eat and what they're doing, which is really none of anybody's business," is comparable to an electronic concentration camp. "Even with parental approval on this, I think this is still a very dangerous way to go."

He says he is fearful for the future of these and other students "because what they're being taught is the government can do this. And at the same time, the schools are not teaching the Bill of Rights to kids so that they know that they can object to this," he notes. "So what we're doing is we're teaching a whole new generation of people that this is what the government can do and should do."

Bay Shore officials have released a statement to assure that "no electronic information is kept, uploaded, or transferred to any record." However, critics who want to know where such monitoring will end are questioning how long the school will retain the information, whether insurance companies will have access to the data, etc.

 

The man with a tax reform plan

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 1/19/2012

A taxpayer advocacy organization is weighing in on the tax plans of the Republican presidential candidates.

Though the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) is not endorsing any particular candidate, executive vice president Pete Sepp says Rick Perry's tax plan calls for the most comprehensive reform.

"What he's proposing is an optional 20 percent flat tax system," Sepp reports. "Long-term capital gains and dividends would be exempted; the death tax would be wiped out. This is something that people could choose to file under. They could also decide, 'Well, I like the current conventional income tax system.'"

Former candidates Herman Cain and Jon Huntsman were offering more radical plans.

" Ron Paul, interestingly, has probably less to say about the current tax system [than] he does the current federal budget, which he would cut dramatically," the NTU spokesman notes.

Former House Speaker  Newt Gingrich is suggesting a 15-percent flat tax on wages, but Sepp points out that that is not necessarily on investment income. And while Rick Santorum is proposing a zero-percent corporate tax for businesses involved in manufacturing, other businesses would get 50-percent cuts in their rate, leaving Sepp to wonder if that would send distortions in the economy.

Sepp recently made his comments on Crane Durham's "Nothing But Truth" program on American Family Radio.

 

Daytime curfew encouraged

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/19/2012

A pro-family leader says a move by officials in one California county to impose a daytime curfew may bring parents to recognize their parental role.

The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors will review a proposed daytime curfew for children under the age of 18. The measure is aimed at reducing the number of truant students and would give police officers the right to detain and investigate young people who are out during school hours.

The initiative has received criticism from parental rights groups that say it would target homeschoolers and create problems for parents, as a daytime curfew would restrict the constitutional rights of minors and instead encourage officers to selectively detain the youngsters. Finn Larsen of  Christian Educators Association International (CEAI) says parents are partly to blame for the problem.

"It is unfortunate that many parents, for whatever reason, are not providing good oversight and care for their children," he laments. "So what this does is it allows the state, if you will -- the police, the government -- to have a little bit more exercise of authority in a problem that, again, is growing."

School leaders in San Luis Obispo County have battled the "empty desk syndrome" for years. In the 2009-2010 school year, for example, the county's dropout rate was 9.1 percent, compared to the state average of 13.3 percent. A study from Princeton University estimates that "the immediate cost to the nation for each dropout is approximately $260,000." But passage of the measure would allow officers to return the minors they detain to school or to their parents.

"The hope is that, and maybe even a curfew could do that, is it could be a wake-up call to parents to take charge of their children," Larsen notes.

The board held a public hearing on the truancy ordinance earlier this week. If approved, it will only affect the unincorporated parts of the county, which are outside the city limits. Each of those seven cities, however, could go on to adopt its own rules.

 

Will everyone be free to pray?

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/17/2012

The possibility of Muslim students being allowed to pray during school hours has some parents up in arms.

Though nobody is certain what the policy will be exactly, some parents have been unhappy to learn that Muslim students in the West Shore School District in Pennsylvania might be allowed to pray during the school day. But John Whitehead of The Rutherford Institute says it should not be an issue, as long as everyone is treated the same.

"Whether it's a Christian, a Jew, a Hindu, a Muslim -- if it's required by their faith, they should be able to do it in a public school," he contends. "It just has to be evenhanded. There are certain things that certain faiths require, and the schools should respect that."

Officials are not saying much about the situation, or whether they are even considering allowing student to leave class for prayer. Whitehead suggests the reason for the silence is because the administration is confused.

"I have run into very few teachers or especially higher-up principals and superintendents who know anything about the First Amendment," he shares. "They just heard about the so-called 'separation of church and state.'"

The U.S. Department of Education has said that schools may excuse students from class to remove significant burden on religious exercise, when doing so would not impose material burdens on other students.

 

Prayer banner not secular enough, says judge

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/17/2012

A Rhode Island high school has been ordered to take down a prayer banner because of objections from atheist Jessica Ahlquist.

The 16-year-old student had sued Cranston city and Cranston High School West officials and demanded they remove the prayer mural that begins "Our Heavenly Father" and ends with "Amen," calling it offensive to non-Christians. According to city officials, the banner is a historical artifact from the school's early days, and they insist the prayer that encourages students to strive academically serves no religious purpose.

However, in his 40-page decision, District Judge Ronald Lagueux says the banner clearly seeks "reliance on God's intervention ... and is not consistent with a secular purpose." But Mat Staver of the Liberty Counsel questions the constitutionality of that ruling.

"Who said that the First Amendment requires secularization of the public square?" he asks. "In fact, it doesn't; that's not the intent of the First Amendment. This is just another illustration of judges going far beyond the Constitution in writing into the First Amendment a secular intent which was never designed in the first place."

Lagueux further stated that the school committee's defense of the banner at an open meeting "resembled a religious revival." To that, Staver says the nation needs judges who understand the Constitution and refrain from writing their own ideology into their decisions. "What we need are judges who understand and respect not only our history, but certainly the constitutional intent of our First Amendment and the other constitutional provisions," he contends.

The district judge also stated in his opinion that while some traditions need to be honored, others need to be put to rest as the country's national values of tolerance and diversity evolve.

 

IRS: Money missing from 2006

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 1/17/2012

In the midst of the nation's money problems and continual borrowing, a taxpayers' advocate isn't surprised that the IRS claims it is missing $450 billion from 2006.

According to the IRS, 2006 is the most recent data available. While the 17-percent tax gap may come as a shock to some Americans, Pete Sepp of the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) is not surprised.

"It's remained steadily at that rate for many years," he explains. "The primary reason why is under-reporting of income on the part of individuals and businesses."

And Sepp says under-reporting is sometimes deliberate, with people keeping quiet about the money they take in from small business or self-employment -- but other times, it is an honest mistake. Either way, the 17-percent tax gap amounts to $450 billion. So what is the best way to make sure people and businesses do not underpay this year, or five years from now?

"Until we have a system that makes it easier for people to understand, [one that is] more transparent so citizens know that their fellow Americans are paying their fair share, and [is] less difficult to comply with, we're still going to have problems in the ten to 15 percent range with non-compliance," he suggests.

On a related note, the NTU executive vice president points out that compliance with the current tax system costs Americans 7.6 billion hours. The value of that time alone is more than $227 billion -- roughly half the amount of money the IRS says it was underpaid.

 

Incarceration a chance for inmates to ministry

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/17/2012

A Christian prison ministry is encouraging incarcerated believers to reach out to fellow inmates who are homosexuals.

Homosexual inmate Michael Lamar Salomonson from Palm Springs is accusing the Riverside County Sheriff's Department of discriminating against "gay" inmates. Salomonson was arrested and charged for burglary last year, and because he is a methamphetamine addict, the Riverside County district attorney sent him to the Residential Substance Abuse Program at the detention center in Banning. The sheriff's department, however, refused to enroll him in the program due to jail policy that separates gay inmates from "general-population" inmates.

Though Salomonson's attorney does not have a problem with homosexual inmates being placed in protective custody, he has filed a motion in Riverside County Superior Court, asking that the sheriff's department be required to alter the drug rehabilitation program to accommodate gay inmates.

"They've probably got [homosexuality] on a much greater scale than we do in Kansas, so I can see them wanting to segregate, and that's again, a state-by-state, county-by-county, city-by-city decision," comments Lynn E. McBride, executive director of the  Central Kansas Prison Ministry.

Inmates who are placed in protective custody are often kept out of the substance abuse program because it places those enrolled in the same housing quarters. McBride suggests that inmates naturally segregate themselves, so it is important for believers to reach out to them.

"We encourage our Christian inmates to be a friend, to invite them to Bible study programs, to help them in their walk, and to walk them out of the homosexual lifestyle," he urges.

His organization trains Christian volunteers to work in local correctional facilities and county jails.

 

Show's 'obnoxiously liberal' moments chronicled

Bill Bumpas - OneNewsNow - 1/17/2012

As NBC's Today show celebrates its 60th year on the air, a conservative media watchdog group is commemorating the birthday by highlighting the show's liberal agenda.

Geoffrey Dickens of the Media Research Center (MRC) says the liberal spin on the morning TV talk show impacts a lot of people.

"The number of eyeballs focused on the Today show, which is the number-one morning show, is enormous," he explains. "So that's why we focused on the Today show because their ratings are high and their liberal agenda is going out to millions and millions of people every day."

So MRC compiled the " Top 10 most obnoxiously liberal Today show moments."

"From Columbus Day, saying it was a moment of atrocity for Native Americans, up through blaming the Oklahoma City bombing on talk radio," Dickens lists, "urging Barack Obama to run even before he announced, [and] saying that George W. Bush was responsible for 9/11 because he had advanced knowledge."

And topping the list comes from 1999, when Katie Couric greeted viewers with "Good morning! The Gipper was an airhead" before she interviewed a Ronald Reagan biographer.

Dickens says the MRC actually would have complied a top 200 list if it had the time and space to do so.

 

Christianity criminal?

Russ Jones - OneNewsNow - 1/17/2012

With the increasing rate of persecution against Christians, one author predicts in a fictional story that Christianity could soon be illegal in the United States.

Bill Arcand says his fictional story, The Recurring Dream, is a cautionary tale that weaves together real-life concerns and dreams that come to various characters throughout the book to warn readers about the repercussions of taking Christianity out of Americans' everyday lives.

"If you see what's going on in, around, and about the world, you can almost put two and two together and say it's gonna happen here real soon if the Christians don't ban together," Arcand says.

His book also explores social issues like legalized abortion as dark behaviors that further illustrate the decay of Christian values.

"God's little aborted babies are up in heaven right now, and had they not been aborted, they would've been able to help America, such as we would've had a president that would've healed America," the author suggests.

He notes that he was inspired to write the book after seeing the growing attacks against Christianity since President Barrack Obama's election in 2008. "I wanted to get the book out in 2012 in time before the election to give people a good understanding of voting values," Arcand shares.

 

Activist: Dems ignoring voter fraud

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/17/2012 4:25:00 AM

A black conservative organization is calling the state of Illinois to task for requiring government IDs for people to buy Drano, but not to vote.

On January 1, a new law took effect in Illinois, requiring people to present government-issued ID before purchasing caustic substances like drain cleaner. State lawmakers passed the measure after drain cleaner was used as a weapon in an attack that left two Chicago women scarred.

Stacy Swimp is a spokesman for  Project 21, the black leadership network sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research. He says lawmakers have refused to pass similar ID legislation when it comes to voting, despite the documented reports of voter fraud.

"How hypocritical that they won't take an aggressive step to prevent voter ID fraud in light of the fact that there are many instances of documented voter ID fraud across the nation in the past several years," Swimp contends. "If you go back to the 1960 presidential election, you can see that voter fraud has been endemic, even in Illinois."

And the Project 21 spokesman shares that Congressman Steve King (R-Iowa) once told him the underlying reason liberals are so opposed to voter ID laws.

"He described illegal aliens as undocumented Democrats, and it's so accurate," Swimp decides. "The resistance that you're seeing from the left is really a setup to taint the voter process so that illegal immigrants can go and vote."

And he believes this is the only way many liberal Democrats are able to get into office and remain there.

 

'Exorbitant' cost for unsuccessful vehicles

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 1/17/2012

Marketing comments from the recent introduction of an electric pickup truck have some energy policy experts begging to differ.

The Via Motors pickup sports batteries, electric motors, and a 4.3-liter V-6 gas engine that is used only when the batteries need charging. The company calls its products e-REVs, for "extended range electric vehicles." During the rollout, Via Motors board member Bob Lutz said, "This is the revolution" and later added that "once you electrify, you will never go back." But Nicolas Loris of The Heritage Foundation says that is for consumers to decide.

"So far, the electric vehicle has been touted as the way of the future and hasn't really lived up to the expectations," he notes. "The [Obama] administration wanted to put a million vehicles on the road in the next five years, and we're nowhere near that because the costs of the electric vehicle are exorbitant," even with taxpayer-funded subsidies to build and to buy those cars.

The base price for the Via pickup is $57,000, a hefty amount for something that Lutz, who has been dubbed the father of the Chevy Volt, is pitching as a means to help end America's dependence on oil.

As for electric vehicles not living up to expectations, Loris points out that he is not the only person to make such a statements. David Cole of the Center for Automotive Research, for example, estimates that only about three percent of all cars sold in the United States are electric or gas-electric hybrids. He tells AFP.com that "the economics are not attractive yet for the average consumer."

 

Raising Calif. taxes not the way to go

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/17/2012

A California activist says the state's governor plans to follow through with his tax hike proposal, even though projections show it is doomed to fail.

Nearly a week after Gov. Jerry Brown announced his new budget proposal to place another tax increase before California voters, the state's legislative analyst said the plan would still fall $2.1 billion short. The nonpartisan office also predicts the Democrat's plan will only provide $4.8 billion in the first budget cycle. Brown's $6.9 billion tax increase would tax the wealthy for the next five years and increase the state sales tax.

Stephanie Steele is the state prayer leader for the  Governors' Prayer Team California. She does not think the tax hike is a good idea.

"When people are already financially hurting, as the majority of people in our state are, to raise taxes is to oppress them even more," she contends.

According to the Sacramento Bee, the state Department of Finance and the analyst's office released different estimates in a letter to California Attorney General Kamala Harris that are used to generate voter information for petitions. Steele suggests Brown will have to come up with another plan that is more sustainable.

"The pattern has been that the governor makes an initial budget proposal, and usually in the initial budget proposal, it does not pass," she explains. "Then it goes to the drawing board, and they try to come up with a budget that will pass."

Brown's pending measure would give Californians the choice to either accept tax hikes or cut from the state's education system.

 

Survey: Americans fear Obama's re-election

Russ Jones - OneNewsNow - 1/16/2012

While there is still great uncertainty about who will be the Republican presidential nominee, a recent poll finds most Americans clearly see the 2012 election as a critical turning point for the future of the nation.

According to the new poll from Washington Whispers, a feature in the U.S. News & World Report since 1933, when asked "what news event [Americans] feared the most in 2012," they responded -- by a 2-to-1 margin -- "President Obama's re-election." While only 16 percent said they fear Obama will not win a second term, 33 percent said they fear four more years.

Les Rayburn , a decorated combat veteran who is known as a political realist, has a suggestion for why that is. "Most Americans are terrified. President Obama ... he's made it very clear that he's out to destroy the United States," Rayburn says.

He lists the president's unpopular ObamaCare policy, threats of higher taxes mixed with the growing unemployment, and a worsening economic situation as evidence to that fact. And all are reasons, he believes, why Americans do not want President Barrack Obama back for another term.

"For a long time I was afraid that the average American really didn't understand what his goal was," Rayburn notes. "And luckily, the average American is seeing that, and we're blessed that we are seeing it and the other people in the United States are seeing it."

Other survey results show 31 percent of respondents fear taxes will increase, and 16 percent fear Iran will get a nuclear weapon. Four percent are fearful North Korea will attack South Korea.

 

Evangelical divide remains in GOP presidential battle

Russ Jones - OneNewsNow - 1/15/2012

While supporters of Newt Gingrich acknowledge Rick Santorum won the support of most evangelicals attending a weekend meeting in Texas, they say their candidate still has some important pro-family leaders in their camp.

In a scramble to find an alternative to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, nearly 150 social conservatives met in the Lone Star state Saturday to discuss the Republican primary race and top policy goals. The gathering was prompted in an attempt to prevent what happened in 2008, when former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee won Iowa but quickly faltered when he was unable to unite conservatives behind him.

Surrogates for Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum were present to speak on behalf of their candidate. Jon Huntsman's campaign was not represented.

"What I did not think was possible appears to be possible," said Family Research Council's President Tony Perkins in a conference call to reporters.  After three rounds of balloting, "there emerged a strong consensus around Rick Santorum as the preferred candidate of this room." It was a "clear, clear majority."

Perkin's noted Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum were the obvious favorites after the first ballot. Perry, however, did not receive enough votes to make it to the final round of balloting.

Described as a "vigorous and passionate" discussion about who would make the best president, Perkins said eventually people made concessions to their views in order to coalesce around one candidate.

But a super PAC for Newt Gingrich says there is anything but consensus coming out of Texas.

"The Evangelical community still holds a divergent opinion on who the nominee should be," Rick Tyler, senior advisor to Winning Our Future PAC, a pro-Gingrich group, told OneNewsNow.com. "Rick Santorum won a straw poll that had a questionable methodology."

Of the 150 registered attendees, only 114 voted in the final paper ballot - Santorum received 85 of those votes, a smaller total as some had to leave early to catch flights.

"Rick has a very good record on evangelical issues but has no ability to beat Mitt Romney and less so for Barak Obama," said Tyler. "Endorsing Rick only serves to help Romney who has a terrible record on the issues evangelicals care about."

Tyler added that at least nine Gingrich supporters did not attend the meeting. He also said such notable evangelicals like Don Wildmon, American Family Association founder, Beverly LaHaye, founder of Concerned Women of America, Pastor Tim LaHaye, Jim Garlow, senior pastor of Skyline Church and Prop 8 organizer, leading Christian researcher George Barna, former congressman JC Watts, Thomas Sowell, a conservative thought leader, Richard Lee, founding pastor of First Redeemer Church in Atlanta, Georgia and Mat Staver, dean of Liberty Law School have all endorsed Gingrich.

Perkins noted that it will be up to the various ministry organizations who voted for Santorum at the Texas meeting to determine how they will express their support.

"You will see these organizations engaging openly on his behalf - especially in the state of South Carolina," Perkins said. "We believe that with strong consensus coming behind him that can aid in the fundraising that he will need to be successful in the primary."

Just a week before the South Carolina primary, according to the most recent American Research Group survey, 29 percent of likely Palmetto State GOP primary voters say they're supporting Mitt Romney, with 25 percent supporting former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Texas Rep. Ron Paul is at 20 percent. Romney's four-point margin over Gingrich is within the poll's sampling error.

The same poll has Santorum at 7 percent, Huntsman at 1 percent and 7 percent undecided

 

Religion in schools lawful, encouraged

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/16/2012

Today is Religious Freedom Day -- something the government encourages to be celebrated in homes, in places of worship, and also in public schools.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton declared January 16 "Religious Freedom Day" and encouraged Americans to observe it through appropriate events and activities. Jeremy Tedesco of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) says the Clinton administration was the first to send religious guidelines to thousands of public schools.

"Every administration since then has also re-promulgated them essentially, and they're really great guidelines for school districts on what is allowed," he notes.

However, most schools have failed to distribute the guidelines, which adds to the confusion between what is appropriate and permissible.

"One of the biggest problems in this area is just the lack of information," Tedesco contends. "Groups like the ACLU and others like them spread a lot of disinformation about what the First Amendment requires when it comes to religious expression in school. Of course, their advice to most school districts is 'if you see religion, censor it.'"

When he was U.S. Secretary of Education, Richard Riley provided every public school district in America with a statement of principles addressing the extent to which religious expression and activity are permitted in public schools. That same set of guidelines on Religious Expression in Public Schools is still applicable today, says Tedesco.

 

Men arrested for reading Bible

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/16/2012

A California apologist notes that officials of one city had no grounds for arresting three Christians for reading out loud from the Bible.

Arraignments were postponed for two Christians who were arrested outside a Department of Motor Vehicles office in Hemet for reading their Bible. Brett Coronado, who was an assistant pastor at Calvary Chapel, Hemet, and Mark Mackey, who worked in the church's evangelism ministry, each face one misdemeanor count for creating a disturbance. Defense attorneys asked the court to postpone the hearing until March 2.
  
The two men were arrested for reading from the Bible to roughly 50 individuals waiting in line outside the DMV. A security guard told Mackey to stop, and when Mackey refused, a police officer was called and Mackey was arrested. Coronado and another church elder then asked the police officer what law Mackey broke, but instead of an answer, they were arrested as well. Lenny Esposito, president of Come Reason Ministries, argues that there was no legitimate cause for the arrest.
      
"From a legal perspective, I think the officer mishandled the situation, and I don't know that he had grounds for arresting these individuals," he says.
     
Officials say Coronado and Mackey could not preach on state property without a permit. But attorneys for the two men say the First Amendment rights of their clients were violated, and Esposito believes the men will not face jail time.
    
"I don't think so," he tells OneNewsNow. "I think they just wanted to shut them up and the terms will be dropped and they'll let them go."

 

Church deems 'Today's NIV' inaccurate

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/16/2012

A Houston mega-church is joining other congregations in turning their thumbs down to the 2011 NIV due to "accuracy concerns."

Houston First Baptist Church had considered replacing the NIVs used throughout the church with a more recent translation, but the 2011 version it had its eye on was one under scrutiny. Spokesman Steven Murray tells OneNewsNow it came time for Pastor Gregge Matte to make a choice.

"Late last year, as we saw the changes that were made to the NIV and we looked at our supply of Bibles that we place in our worship center seat-backs that we make available for people who may not have one, our inventory was running down, and we learned that the NIV 1984 would no longer be produced," he accounts.

The 2011 NIV actually began as Today's New International Version (TNIV), but changes were softened a bit after a public and academic uproar. That was in part due to a change in references to homosexuality and a step toward gender-neutral language.

"When they looked at the body of changes that were made to the NIV this past year, that was one of them. But by no means was it the only one," Murray explains.

In the final analysis, the church decided to dump the 2011 NIV and go with the Holman Christian Standard Bible instead. Pastor Matte says he wanted their Bible "to be as accurate as possible to the literal intent of the authors."

 

Is clean energy success hype?

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 1/16/2012

A new report may be a little too optimistic about advancements in alternative energy technology.

After setting its so-called "Doomsday Clock" ahead one minute because of global warming, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists tried to remain positive by claiming that alternatives to burning coal, oil and uranium for energy continue to show promise.
    
According to the Bulletin, solar and photovoltaic technologies are seeing reductions in price, while wind turbines being adopted for commercial electricity and energy conservation and efficiency are becoming accepted as sources for industrial production and residential use. The part about conservation and efficiency could be true, although some would argue it is the result of government mandates and not the free market. But are solar technologies and wind turbines really getting cheaper and more accepted? 
 
Steve Milloy of JunkScience is skeptical of the true benefits of this supposed "clean energy."

"Putting aside the fact that global warming alarmism is totally nonsense, this clean energy stuff is failing all around the globe, and carbon dioxide emissions are increasing," he tells OneNewsNow. "As a matter of fact, by 2035 China will not only be the world's leading emitter, which it already is, but it will have emitted more CO2 than has already been emitted since the Industrial Revolution began."

By that account, Milloy says, "I don't know what the Bulletin is thinking."
 
As for setting the Doomsday Clock ahead, Milloy points out the clock was originally intended to illustrate how close the world was to nuclear war, not global warming.
 
"Nuclear armageddon is one thing, but not temperatures being raised by one or two degrees, even if you go to the extreme scenarios fantasized by Al Gore," he contends. "There may be some flooding, but the world will still be around, people will still be here, life will go on."

 

Maginnis: Don't play patsy with the border

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/16/2012

A national defense analyst and Pentagon advisor believes things have deteriorated so much in Mexico that the United States needs to deploy 100,000 combat troops along the southern border to keep the problem from spilling over.

The National Security Forum recently published a special report called "Mexican Crime Cartels" that presents a bleak assessment of the situation south of the border. It points out that since 2006 more than 46,000 Mexicans have been murdered by drug cartels that have become Mafia-style organized crime syndicates. Some of that violence has spilled over the border into the U.S., and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called the problem an "insurgency."

Lt. Col. Bob Maginnis (USA-Ret.) now serves as senior fellow for national security at the  Family Research Council (FRC). He says that insurgence will continue to be a growing problem for the U.S.

"If you're living next door to a cesspool, you're going to smell it. It's going to have an impact on you, and there's a chance that it's going to pour over into your yard," he notes. "It would appear as if [Mexico] is teetering on becoming a dysfunctional state. They're not there yet, I don't think, but they certainly are moving in that direction."

And Maginnis agrees the National Security Forum's assessment that the U.S. should deploy troops to the Southwest border.

"I think we need well over 100,000 combat troops that are given the order to shoot and kill anyone that crosses," he suggests. "That's the only way to stop it. Otherwise, we're playing patsy with this."

However, the FRC senior fellow is not confident President Barack Obama would take those steps.

 

U.N.'s 'shadowy accounting'

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/16/2012

A confidential audit of five United Nations agencies reveals they have billions of dollars in unspent funds just sitting in bank accounts.

According to Wendy Wright of the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-FAM), the agencies issue urgent requests for more money from participating governments, in spite of the cash reserves. She points out though that the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) have refused to answer questions on how their money is spent.

"There seems to be a system set up to not be transparent, to not show donors where money is ultimately going. In fact, the auditors found that donors have little knowledge regarding the ultimate destiny of funds," Wright reports.

She believes policy makers should demand information from the agencies before handing over tax dollars, as "shadowy accounting like this often signals systemic waste, fraud, and abuse."

"In fact, I was at a conference just a couple of years ago in which one of the executives from UNFPA boldly stated that although that agency is forbidden from directly funding abortion, it routinely disperses money to abortion providers -- groups like International Planned Parenthood Federation," the C-FAM spokesperson accounts.

So Wright urges the United States and other countries, foundations, and individuals that donate to the United Nations to demand accountability before they dispense more money. Meanwhile, auditors have found that UNICEF has gained $109 million in interest from the money it has lingering in bank accounts.

 

Low expectations for 'Striving Readers'

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/16/2012

A federal reading program that was scheduled for extinction has been brought back to life at the expense of other educational programs.

Congress has restored the new and unproven "Striving Readers" comprehensive literacy program after employing a quirk in the budget process that takes funding away from some history and foreign language programs that have been around for 20 years. Analyst Lindsey Burke of The Heritage Foundation has her doubts about the new reading program.

"Once again we're seeing more federal funding funneled through all of these various federal programs, and I think down the road it's unlikely that ... many benefits [will] come out of the Striving Readers program," she predicts.

And Burke notes the federal government's poor track record when it comes to increasing student achievement.

"I think if we want to stop repeating the mistakes of the past four and a half decades, we need to start empowering states and localities to spend these dollars -- not create more and more federal programs or continue to fund new or unproven federal programs," the policy analyst suggests.

An estimated $159 million will be needed to fund the Striving Readers program for 2012.

 

Clarity sought on student harassment definition

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/16/2012

National organizations fighting for individual rights are asking the Department of Education to defend free speech on campuses by better defining what constitutes student harassment. 

Eleven organizations sent an open letter to the department's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) asking them to provide better standards concerning student harassment. Robert Shibley of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, one of the 11, says a Supreme Court decision could be a model.
  
"Let's use the Supreme Court's way of doing it, instead of having a fragmented way that is often very restrictive toward free speech on campus," he urges. 
 
He says a 1999 decision determining when a school would be liable for allowing sexual harassment to take place on campus could be used.  "In that decision the Supreme Court came up with a very exacting standard for what constitutes sexual harassment when it was a student-on-student situation," Shibley explains. "We're asking OCR to use that definition when they determine what sorts of policies against sexual harassment universities have to have." 
 
Shibley says recent restrictions on campuses around the country have prohibited a lot of speech that is commonly used by nearly everyone and which is protected by the First Amendment.

 

When youngsters should learn about sex

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/16/2012

A coalition of sex education activist groups, including the American Association of Health Education, the National Education Association - Health Information Network, and Advocates for Youth, says America's schools are inconsistent in how they address such topics, so it is recommending guidelines for elementary students as young as those in the second grade.

The non-binding recommendations reportedly seek to encourage age-appropriate discussions about sex, bullying, and healthy relationships. That means second-graders should be able to identify male and female anatomical parts, fifth-graders should know about sexual harassment, and eighth-graders should be familiar with gender identity and sexual orientation. Eighth-graders should also be able to evaluate the effectiveness of abstinence, condoms, and other "safer sex methods" and know how emergency contraception works.

The coalition encourages that many of these issues be addressed in high school as well.  But many other groups do not agree with those recommendations.

"What sex education is basically doing to our children is ... desensitizing them to sexuality, and it's robbing our children of their innocence," contends Karen Gushta of Truth in Action Ministries.

The coalition also contends the issue of bullying in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity needs to be addressed. However, Gushta argues that parents have the right and responsibility to determine what their children should learn about sex and sexuality and at what age. "And that right is being consistently violated, and the effort is to take that right away," she laments.

The influence these recommendations will have among educators remains to be seen, laments the Christian educator.

 

In addition to being pro-'gay,' Frisco is pro-choice

Becky Yeh and Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/16/2012

A Christian apologist says one California city is breaking its own city ordinance by showing support for abortion.

The Silver Ribbon Campaign to Trust Women is displaying pro-abortion banners throughout San Francisco in January, which is National Sanctity of Life Month -- and the city is helping it do so. The initiative is spearheaded by Ellen Shaffer, co-director of the Center for Policy Analysis, and Sophia Yen, a Palo Alto-based doctor specializing in adolescent medicine.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the 70 banners displayed on Market Street utility poles are part of a celebration event marking the Roe v. Wade decision. They sport silver ribbons and slogans like "Her Decision, Her Choice," "U.S. Out of My Uterus," and "San Francisco is Pro-Choice."

"The one that's my favorite is 'U.S. Out of Our Uterus,' which I find to be totally hypocritical when they want Planned Parenthood funded by the government, but they don't want the government telling them when they can have abortions," comments Dana Cody of the Life Legal Defense Foundation (LLDF).

She believes the banners are intended to be an in-your-face message because of the upcoming March for Life on January 21. But she says it violates the city code. ( Listen to audio report)

"They allow city-sponsored banners for citywide events and different neighborhood functions or in support of education like the local college," Cody explains. "So any banners are supposed to be related to an event, and this is not an event; it's just banners supporting the pro-abortion viewpoint."

And Lenny Esposito, president of Come Reason Ministries, agrees that the city is out of line.

"Obviously, the city of San Francisco has a history of advocating for certain positions -- political positions and social structures that are antithetical to both moral norms and also to the laws that have been expressed by the people of the state of California," he notes.

City law only permits banners that are city-sponsored, city-funded, or promote city events, and as Esposito points out, "it has to be done in the proper way, and it has to be done with your own money. To use city funds and city resources to post these banners, it strikes me as not only partisan, but it strikes me as really manipulative," he comments.

The campaign claims that pro-life initiatives like the Obama administration deciding to keep the "morning-after pill" prescription-only for girls younger than 17 and Mississippi's personhood amendment show an increasing attack on abortion activists.

In response to the banners, LLDF has issued a letter to city officials demanding that the banners be taken down. But since officials have yet to reply, Cody is considering taking San Francisco to court.

 

California voters have a choice: taxes or education?

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/15/2012

An education analyst says the governor of California is allowing voters to make the tough choices in light of the state's economic woes.

Governor Jerry Brown (D) is giving voters in The Golden State the option of either raising taxes or having funding cut from the state's education system. The Democrat released his 2012-13 budget proposal, projecting that the state will have a $9.2-billion shortfall at the start of July. The budget proposal was released following an announcement that $1 billion in trigger cuts would be made to services in the state. 
 
Brown said that if voters reject tax hikes, he would be forced to cut roughly $5 billion from public schools and slash funds from higher education and courts. Conservative commentators say the governor is placing children in the middle, dangling the carrot of education as an incentive for voters to pass tax hikes.

Lance Izumi, senior director of education studies with the Pacific Research Institute, discusses this under-handed tactic.
 
"He doesn't really give voters or the public really any kind of reform proposal attached to that," Izumi says. "Okay, so he wants to raise taxes. But is he going to reform the different areas where he is going to have increased funding?"
 
Governor Brown is currently seeking voter support for a November ballot initiative that would tax the wealthy, noting that recent budget cuts and cuts made last year are not enough to solve the state's fiscal crisis. However, Izumi suggests that there is more involved than merely fiscal failings.
 
"Many people have the idea that the reason why schools are performing poorly is because they are underfunded," he tells OneNewsNow. "You know, the thing of it is that there are other factors that are causing schools to perform poorly."

 

Calling Romney out = 'anti capitalism'?

Russ Jones - OneNewsNow - 1/13/2012

Leading up to the Iowa caucuses, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney spent over $4 million on negative attack ads against presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich. So now, a super PAC (political action committee) is fighting back with a campaign of its own, just days before the South Carolina primary.

Winning Our Future, a pro-Gingrich super PAC, released Wednesday a short 27-minute documentary-style film titled King of Bain: When Mitt Romney Came to Town (link to full-length video). "Wall Street's corporate raiders made billions of dollars -- private equity leaders getting rich at the expense of American workers," the film begins.

Produced by an ex-Romney adviser, the video blasts the former governor's work at Bain Capital, one of the world's leading private investment firms. "This film is about one such raider in this firm. Mitt Romney became CEO of Bain Capital the day the company was formed. His mission: To reap massive rewards for himself and his investors," the King of Bain narrator continues.

The pro-Gingrich PAC has received $5 million from Las Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson, and the group is expected to use the cash for new television advertisements -- $3.4 million of it in South Carolina -- as the former House speaker tries to overtake frontrunner Romney in the race for the GOP nomination.

Rick Tyler, senior adviser for the pro-Gingrich PAC, says the film targets Romney's claim of being a job creator.

"He was more like a low-flying vulture. And when innovation made other companies obsolete, he spotted those companies, took out their assets, and in some cases, especially here in South Carolina, took out their pensions," Tyler asserts. "And while the workers were short of their pensions, the federal government had to come in and make up the difference in their pensions. But at the same time, Bain Capital made tens of millions of dollars."

While Romney received little criticism from the mainstream media and the GOP establishment for his attack ads, the Gingrich pushback is under fire and has been dubbed "anti-capitalism."

"In holding Mitt Romney accountable to his claim of being a job creator, they're now saying that we are attacking capitalism itself," the Winning Our Future senior advisor reports. "I mean, that is pretty breathtaking in its audacity."

Since going viral on YouTube, the video has received more than 200,000 views.

 

Court weighing same-sex 'marriage' take-back

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/13/2012

While a court decision is pending, a pro-family activist says Canada's conservative government is taking a stand on same-gender "marriage."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has filed a document in a divorce case involving thousands of same-sex couples from out of the country, saying that those who traveled to Canada to be wed after homosexual "marriage" was legalized in 2004 are not legally married. More than 5,000 of the approximately 15,000 same-sex unions that have taken place in The Great White North since then have involved couples from the U.S. and other countries (see earlier story).

In a Toronto test case, a lesbian couple seeking a divorce has been told they cannot end their marriage; because they could not have lawfully wed in Florida or England, where the two reside, their union is not legal.

Though that is the government's official opinion, Dave Quist of the  Institute of Marriage and Family Canada (IMFC) tells OneNewsNow the court will not issue an opinion for at least a month.

"One -- it stays exactly the same so that couples coming from outside of Canada will no longer be coming to Canada to get married because they won't be recognized in their home jurisdiction," he comments on the possible outcome. "Or, the alternative may be that if the court says that the government needs to address this in some fashion through legislation, then the government may have to go down that road as well."

As for why the government's position surfaced now, when a ruling has not been handed down, Quist believes it comes from the lesbians' legal representatives.

"I would guess that the reason it's coming out now is they are a little bit concerned that this court case is not going in their favor and that the public spin on it through the media will try to support their case," he suggests. "That would be my guess at this particular point."

When the decision is released, the IMFC executive director points out that it could still be taken to the Supreme Court of Canada. But whatever is ultimately decided could impact roughly 5,000 same-gender couples.

 

Dead people allowed to vote in New Hampshire

Fred Jackson - OneNewsNow - 1/13/2012

An undercover investigation team has released video (right) showing poll workers in New Hampshire handing out ballots to voters who used the names of dead people.

The investigation was conducted by James O'Keefe, the same man who over the past several years caught several ACORN workers violating tax laws and turning a blind eye to underage prostitution.  Members of O'Keefe's team were able to use the names of dead people to get ballots because New Hampshire is one of those states that does not require voters to present identification when they show up at polling stations.

Pro-family leader Gary Bauer says one of the O'Keefe investigators even offered to show some ID but was told by the polling station worker that "the state says we are not allowed to ask for identification."

Bauer says recent polls have shown that most Americans support voter ID laws.

Yet, Bauer says, despite the fact that ID requirements are in place to buy alcohol, board an airplane, or cash a check,"Democrats insist that it is an onerous burden to ask citizens to produce an ID when they cast their ballots."

 

Educ. Dept. deceiving parents

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/13/2012

A leader spearheading an initiative to stop California's SB 48 says the state's Department of Education can't be trusted.

Conservatives and family advocates say the California Department of Education is seeking to prevent parents from knowing that SB 48 is a mandate that requires the positive teachings of lesbian, "gay," bisexual and transgender contributions to society to children of all ages in public schools.

SaveCalifornia.com  reports that the CDE has neglected to use the word "shall," which is listed in the bill's language. Instead, it used the word "prescribe" to note the measure's mandate and said SB 48 adds "some requirements" to instructional material. In addition, the CDE claimed that SB 48 only appends "sexual orientation" to a list that prevents discrimination of different groups.

"They've been being deceptive about this from the get-go because they know that parents will not stand for their kids being in public schools, where this is being mandated as early as kindergarten," contends Karen England, executive director of the  Capital Resource Institute and a leader in the effort to stop SB 48.

SaveCalifornia.com also notes that the CDE does not make it obvious to parents that the bill is "mandatory for every teacher and student" in California; instead, it says the law will be implemented differently based on the school district.

"The activists are actually weighing in as well," England reports. "They know what the CDE is saying, and they're saying, 'We're going to organize and go to local school districts and make them implement this,' because the law is clear: you 'shall' do this."

 

Pastors' 'healthy' response to NYC ban

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/13/2012

A New York City councilman and several pastors were recently arrested for trespassing as they protested the city's efforts to expand the ban on worship services in public facilities beyond school buildings.

A federal appeals court has upheld a lower-court decision that said it is permissible for New York to ban church services from public property, including school buildings, on weekends. Now, many churches are scrambling for space to rent because an edict has been issued to oust them February 12.

Jordan Lorence of the  Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) says the city expected the issue to just fade away, but instead, "it has triggered a huge backlash among the city council, among state legislators in Albany, as well as pastors and [lay] people," he accounts.

Lorence notes that predictably and over time, religious groups throughout the country experience a deterioration of their religious liberties.

"The government imposes itself upon religious groups, unless the religious groups stand up and draw the line and say, 'No -- we do not want the government to go farther' with their respectful appeals, and especially in the U.S. with our Constitution that clearly protects these rights," the attorney offers. "I think this is a very, very healthy thing that we're seeing the pastors in New York City do."

Meanwhile, Lorence finds it ironic that the lack of space in some New York City districts is causing schools to rent from synagogues and churches to conduct classes.

 

Court says church must allow lesbian 'wedding' ceremony

Associated Press - 1/13/2012

TRENTON, NJ - A New Jersey judge has ruled that a church group violated the state's discrimination laws when it prevented a lesbian couple from holding a civil union ceremony on its property.

The case dates back to 2007 when the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association stopped the couple from using its boardwalk pavilion. (See earlier story)

Administrative Law Judge Solomon Metzger ruled that the pavilion area was a public space that advertised itself as a wedding venue without any mention of religious preconditions. He rejected the church's contention that the pavilion was an extension of its wedding ministry.

Jim Campbell, an attorney representing the church, said the decision may be appealed. He said, "The government should not be able to force a private Christian organization to use its property in a way that would violate its own religious beliefs."

 

Raising Tebow

Bill Bumpas - OneNewsNow - 1/13/2012

The NFL divisional playoffs are set for this weekend with "Tebow Mania" dominating the conversation following the Denver Bronco's latest overtime victory on Sunday. But one Christian parenting expert believes there are some unsung heroes behind the Tim Tebow story.

The second-year pro has quickly risen to America's favorite professional athlete, according to an ESPN Sports Poll in December -- and mentions of Tebow this past Sunday on Twitter set a peak rate record. There is even a term for when he kneels on the field to pray -- "Tebowing."

But Dr. Tim Kimmel, a best-selling author and executive director of Arizona-based Family Matters, says behind this young man's faith are great parents.

"Tim is a wonderful young man, but he is not an anomaly or an accident," explains the ministry spokesman. "He is the logical conclusion of conscientious, grace-based parenting -- that's just the way they turn out."

Kimmell tells OneNewsNow that the story of Tebow's parents -- how they served as missionaries in the Philippines and raised their children, including Tim -- should be an inspiration to all parents.

"Any parent of faith can see that kind of same response from their kids if they create a culture of grace in their home -- and raise [them] with all the truth and all the rules and regulations of normal Christianity there, but all done with the spirit of a heart connection," he shares.

"That's what his parents did -- they gave him something to live his life for that was bigger than himself."

And that, says Kimmel, is why Tim Tebow can survive in the best and worst of times.

 

Supreme Court cites 'ministerial exemption'

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/12/2012

Overturning an earlier ruling by the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously ruled in favor of a church school in Michigan that was sued for firing an employee on religious grounds.

In Hosanna-Tabor vs. the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, the high court ruled Wednesday that Cheryl Perich, a teacher with Evangelical Lutheran Church and School in Redford, was properly classified as a minister and fell within the "ministerial exemption" from many employment laws. Perich taught religion, led students in prayer and worship, and helped lead chapel services until she went on disability leave in 2004 after being diagnosed with narcolepsy (a neurological disorder characterized by a frequent, uncontrollable compulsion to sleep). When she returned after six months of leave, she found that her job was no longer waiting for her. She claimed the church had replaced her because of her disability and threatened to sue for discrimination.

The "ministerial exemption" is a legal doctrine has been used to exempt religious organizations from anti-discrimination laws and other statutes that regulate how employers treat their workers. But according to The Pew Forum, this is the first time the Supreme Court has ruled on its constitutionality.

Brad Dacus of the Pacific Justice Institute details why this decision is important.  "This is a very important decision for not just churches, but private Christian schools across the country in that they have broad discretion in hiring and firing employees so long as that employee is engaged in some capacity as a minister," he explains.

The high court ruled that the "ministerial exception" trumps anti-discrimination laws. In a written statement, Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr. recognized "the interest of society in the enforcement of employment discrimination statutes" and "the interest of religious groups in choosing who will preach their beliefs, teach their faith, and carry out their mission."

The court also wrote:

"Requiring a church to accept or retain an unwanted minister, or punishing a church for failing to do so, intrudes upon more than a mere employment decision. Such action interferes with the internal governance of the church, depriving the church of control over the selection of those who will personify its beliefs. By imposing an unwanted minister, the state infringes the Free Exercise Clause, which protects a religious group's right to shape its own faith and mission through its appointments. According the state the power to determine which individuals will minister to the faithful also violates the Establishment Clause, which prohibits government involvement in such ecclesiastical decisions." 

Dacus says there was much ambiguity concerning whether private school employees could be classified under the "ministerial exemption" rule for hiring and firing purposes.  "This definitively clears up that ambiguity and gives private religious schools the certainty that they need to move ahead and carry out their faith, their grounds, [and] their religious convictions," the PJI president asserts.

The teacher claimed she was being discriminated against under the Americans with Disabilities Act, but the school says she was fired when she became confrontational over the medical disability and threatened to sue.

 

Canadian gov't nullifies 'gay marriages' for non-Canadians

Fred Jackson - OneNewsNow - 1/12/2012

OTTAWA - A report says the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Canada has served notice that thousands of same-sex couples who flocked to Canada from abroad since 2004 to get married are not legally wed.

The Globe and Mail newspaper says the reversal in policy was revealed in a document the government filed in a divorce case involving two lesbians.  The two women -- one from Florida and the other from England -- went to Canada in 2005 and got "married." The couple has been told they cannot divorce because they were never legally married.

According to the document filed by the Harper Justice department, the marriage of the two lesbians is not legal in Canada since they could not have been lawfully wed in Florida and England at the time.

Homosexual marriage was legalized in Canada in 2004.  The Globe and Mail reports that since then, approximately 5,000 of the 15,000 same-sex marriages that have taken place have involved couples from the United States or other countries.

The Justice department's position document also notes that couples who come to Canada to be married must live in the country for at least a year before they can obtain a divorce.

Defenders of same-gender marriage in Canada are saying the government's decision "reflects intolerance" and has given the country an international black eye.

 

Will of the people? Begone!

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/12/2012

A Christian law firm says a federal appeals court that upheld a lower-court decision has effectively overruled the will of the people of Oklahoma in favor of sharia law.

In November 2010, 70 percent of voters in The Sooner State approved a state referendum saying Oklahoma wanted no part of sharia law or international law in any state court proceedings. But the Council on American-Islamic Relations, with help from the American Civil Liberties Union, successfully sued, convincing a federal district judge to block implementation of the law. Even though that ruling was appealed, the Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver this week upheld the decision.
 
Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, says using sharia law for any court decisions is fundamentally contrary to the U.S. Constitution.
 
"It's clear that you can have an initiative that says that sharia should not be part of or the basis of any court decision," he states. "[so] for this court to overturn the citizen's initiative, I think, is patently wrong."
 
According to the attorney, sharia has been used to justify the mistreatment of women and children. "Where someone batters his wife and then comes into court and says that the reason why this person was doing it was because it was consistent with and mandated by sharia, because of the woman not showing the kind of respect [or] whatever the reason may be under sharia."
 
Staver says proponents of the Oklahoma initiative must either appeal the decision to the Supreme Court or rework the statute to try to get it to pass constitutional muster.

 

Pastors scrambling for their churches

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/12/2012

Pastors in New York are protesting the loss of public schools as meeting places.

The U.S. Supreme Court in December refused to hear an appeal on a lower-court decision that the state of New York has the right to ban churches from use of public property. That has left many churches scrambling for space to rent because an edict has been issued to oust them February 12.

Alliance Defense Fund attorney Jordan Lorence tells OneNewsNow that the decision is not being taken lightly.

"The Supreme Court's action has acted as a catalyst to galvanize pastors [and] members of the New York City Council as well as state lawmakers in the legislature in Albany to oppose this and to ask and to work for repeal of this policy," the attorney explains.

Proponents of the repeal are demonstrating at a site where New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is delivering his state of the city address.

"The mayor has the authority to change this policy because the Department of Education is a department of city government underneath the mayor," says Lorence, "and we are hoping that with all of the growing number of rallies that are increasing in size that the mayor will relent."

In addition, a move is under way to convince the legislature to take action. Several pastors and a city councilman were arrested in a recent protest outside the New York City legal headquarters.

 

As goes TV, so goes radio

Bill Bumpas - OneNewsNow - 1/12/2012

A TV watchdog group says the landscape of television could change for the worse, depending on how the Supreme Court rules in a landmark decency case that was argued this week.

The high court recently heard oral arguments over whether the TV broadcast networks should be allowed to air indecent programming during prime time. As it is right now, obscene material is only allowed between 10:00 pm and 6:00 am, when most children are in bed. But Dan Isett of the Parents Television Council says the broadcasters do not want restrictions, and he paints a picture of what TV would be like if the networks get their way.

"If the court were to rule against the FCC and against parents and families in this case, the prime-time broadcast television -- ABC, CBS, etc. -- stands to reason that it will be much more like HBO and Cinemax than it is about what we've come to realize is broadcast network television over the past 60 or 70 years," he warns.

And Isett believes that however the Supreme Court rules could also be applied to radio.

"So imagine for a second a radio dial that wasn't subject to some sort of rules in terms of what can and can't be broadcast," he poses. "The broadcast networks haven't sued here for the right to do something they have no intention of doing. I think it's pretty clear that they want to air evermore explicit material and have fought tooth and nail to have the legal ability to do it."

The Supreme Court's final decision on the matter is expected to be issued by this summer. But as previously reported on OneNewsNow by a spokesman for National Religious Broadcasters, the justices seemed "skeptical" of the arguments from network attorneys.

 

Girl Scouts quash pro-lifer

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/11/2012

An employee of the Girl Scouts in Arizona has resigned after expression of her pro-life beliefs was squelched.

Renise Rodriguez, 21, is a religious studies major at the University of Arizona in Tucson and, until just recently, was an employee for the Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona. Bryan Kemper, youth outreach director of Priests for Life, tells OneNewsNow that Rodriguez often wears one of their T-shirts to express her pro-life beliefs -- and that that got her in hot water with her employer last week.

"She went in to work, off duty, to pick up a few things and was told immediately by somebody in the Girl Scouts office to take her shirt off, and that if she was going to stay in the office at all she'd have to turn it inside out," he explains.

The shirt Rodriguez was wearing displayed the message "Pray to End Abortion."

"She wasn't at work, she wasn't on the clock -- and she was pretty offended," adds Kemper.

Rodriquez tells Priests for Life that she was "shocked at the way [she] was treated" and that, after considering for the rest of the day what had happened, decided to resign her position as a Girl Experience Associate.

Kemper, who also founded the Priests for Life-affiliated group Stand True Ministries, contends parents throughout the country ought to be outraged by the events that transpired in that Girl Scouts office.

"The Girl Scouts seem to go farther and farther and farther away from any kind of values that they should be teaching young women," he states. "And with their connections to Planned Parenthood -- and now telling this girl to take her shirt off in the office -- it's absolutely mind-blowing that this organization has gone so liberal and that America's parents are entrusting their young daughters to the Girl Scouts."

The pro-life activist points out there are several alternative organizations, such as American Heritage Girls, that are Christian-oriented and can be trusted to follow biblical standards. ( See related story)

 

Economy, environment stand to gain from Keystone XL

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 1/11/2012

According to an economist for the largest U.S. trade association for the oil and national gas industry, jobs may not be the only reason why President Barack Obama should approve the Keystone XL pipeline.

For every dollar the U.S. would spend buying Canadian oil, Rayola Dougher, senior economic advisor at the American Petroleum Institute (API), says Canada would spend 90 cents buying U.S. goods and services.

"Crude is going for about $100 a barrel or so. So just imagine 700,000 barrels a day, initially, at $100 a barrel, and then 90 percent of that money coming back to the United States," she poses. "You very rapidly can get to about 500,000 jobs within the next 20 years or so."

Merely building the pipeline would create upwards of 20,000 jobs. And as Dougher goes on to point out, the Keystone XL pipeline would give America half of what it currently imports from the Persian Gulf.

As for the environmental concerns that have delayed the Keystone XL pipeline, the API senior economist says Canada will look to China if the U.S. rejects the pipeline, which would pose a bigger threat than any one pipeline.

"In terms of an environmental perspective, it's much cleaner for the world to have it come to the United States by pipeline than it is to put in a tanker and move it to Asia," she explains.

As previously reported on OneNewsNow , until a decision is made, the Institute for Energy Research estimates the XL Pipeline delay will continue to cost the United States $70 million a day. The requirement for a decision on the pipeline was included in the two-month extension of the Social Security payroll tax cut approved by Congress.

Dougher recently made her comments on American Family Radio's "Financial Issues" program.

 

Episcopal Church wins control of VA churches

Associated Press - 1/11/2012

FAIRFAX, VA - A judge has ruled that the Episcopal Church should be restored as the owner of several historic churches in Virginia, years after the denomination was essentially evicted by local congregations dismayed with Episcopals' liberal theology.

The judge on Tuesday reversed a ruling he made in 2008 giving custody to the conservative congregations. The Virginia Supreme Court overturned that ruling and ordered a new trial.

At issue is ownership of seven Virginia churches, including two historic congregations that trace their roots to George Washington: Truro Church in Fairfax and The Falls Church, for which the city of Falls Church is named.

The congregations voted to leave the Episcopal Church USA in 2006 following the Episcopals' consecration of an openly homosexual bishop and other theological disputes.

The conservative congregations are considering an appeal.

 

Defending Alabama's immigration law

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/11/2012

Two Christian law firms are supporting Alabama's immigration statute in the face of a lawsuit from the U.S. Justice Department.

The Obama administration has filed suit with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, claiming that only the federal government has jurisdiction in immigration matters, but the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) has filed an amicus brief in support of Alabama's right to enforce the federal immigration statutes that are already in place.

"The key [question] will be: Does the Supreme Court make the distinction that the state is not deciding whether or not you get to stay or go?" explains Jordan Sekulow, director of international operations for the ACLJ. "If you are identified as 'illegal,' you'll just be turned over right back to the federal government -- not to state custody or anything like that."

Richard Thompson is president and chief counsel of the  Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), which has also filed an amicus brief. Aside from the economic burden it puts on the states, he points out that illegal immigration affects national security.

"We do know that many of the Muslim terrorists are using our southern border to get across," he notes. "And then at the appropriate time, they will start doing damage to America."

The TMLC president says it is clear that the Justice Department is shirking its responsibility to enforce immigration laws for political reasons. Both he and Sekulow believe the fate of Alabama's statute may ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court, which is already scheduled to review Arizona's immigration law (see earlier story).

 

Gaudy salaries for an ungodly job

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/11/2012

It pays handsomely to be on the executive payroll at Planned Parenthood -- and a hefty chunk of that comes from taxpayers' pockets.

STOPP International conducted a survey of executive salaries among the 81 Planned Parenthood affiliates across the U.S., and spokesman Jim Sedlak found that the top job at Dallas Planned Parenthood comes in at number one.

"They pay their CEO some $324,000 a year," Sedlak reports. "On average, the CEOs of Planned Parenthood make $158,797 per year -- and 27 percent of them make over $200,000 a year."

He suggests the high salaries would make one believe Planned Parenthood executives have degrees, especially medical -- but only 10 out of 81 had any kind of healthcare background.

"The rest of them were either political people or just general management people," he tells OneNewsNow. "And if you just look at Planned Parenthood's national office, their eight highest-paid people all make well over $200,000 a year and ... had an average salary of $269,541."

The group notes that those eight individuals "never see a client" and provide no actual healthcare.

Sedlak says American taxpayers ought to be outraged and ask their elected representatives to de-fund the organization. Figures show that 46.5 percent of the abortion business's revenue comes from the American taxpayer.

 

'Indecent proposal' made to high court

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/11/2012

U.S. Supreme Court justices are weighing a decision on whether broadcasters should get away with obscenity during prime time, and one Christian broadcaster thinks things are going well for the FCC.

Craig Parshall of National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) tracked oral arguments as they were presented before the high court in a case that will determine the constitutionality of continued broadcast decency rules and the Federal Communication Commission's right to define decency and issue decisions and fines (see earlier story).

"It seems to me that the big television broadcast attorneys were making an indecent proposal to the U.S. Supreme Court," he offers. "They were basically telling the justices that profanity and nudity really ought to be unregulated entirely on broadcast television, even when children are watching."

They contend it would be a violation of the networks' constitutional rights of free speech and free expression to restrict them, but Parshall says that is not so.

"It's important to note ... the FCC rules we're talking about," he explains. "It's not a ban; it's not an act of censorship on certain content. Rather, it's a regulation that from six in the morning until ten o'clock at night, television and radio broadcasters have to make sure that indecent content is not broadcast."

Parshall's take is that "the justices were skeptical" of arguments from network attorneys, and it appears to him "that it was a good day for the FCC rules."  The Supreme Court is to issue a decision by this summer.

 

Leftist lyrics spawn criticism

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/10/2012

An organization that works with schools to teach elementary students songwriting is being accused of trying to indoctrinate youngsters with left-wing ideology.

"Kid Pan Alley" -- whose stated mission is to inspire musical creativity in children -- helped third-grade students at Woodbrook Elementary School in Virginia write a song about Occupy Wall Street. The song, called "Part of the 99," includes the lyrics: "I used to be one of the 1 percent / I worked all the time / Never saw my family / Couldn't make life rhyme / Then the bubble burst / It really, really hurt / I lost my money / Lost my pride / Lost my home / Now I'm part of the 99."
 
When complaints flooded in regarding the political nature of the song, the school district's defense was that the children wrote the lyrics. Kyle Olson, founder and CEO of Education Action Group, says doubts that claim.
 
"... I think this ... is a great example of this left-wing ideology that's being fostered in many government schools," he tells OneNewsNow.
 
According to Olson, this is not an isolated incident. Kid Pan Alley travels to various schools across the country putting on songwriting workshops for young students.
 
"And so I really encourage parents to be on the outlook for this organization specifically, Kid Pan Alley, but then also look at what's going on in your school and your classroom and be vigilant and on the lookout for these types of things," he suggests.
 
Olson has written a book -- Indoctrination: How 'Useful Idiots' Are Using Our Schools to Subvert American Exceptionalism -- that he says reveals how the left indoctrinates students with its political agenda.

 

Mountain State paving way for 'gay' indoctrination

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/10/2012

A West Virginia pro-family advocate says homosexual activists have revamped a legislative cyber-bullying bill in a manner that opens the door for pro-homosexual programs in schools.

Kevin McCoy of the West Virginia Family Foundation says last-minute amendments to the anti-bullying policy, approved by the state Board of Education behind the scenes, now include the categories of "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" -- neither of which was originally included in the bill. The new policy, which goes into effect July 1, includes punishment guidelines against any student who targets another because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity. Students will also be held accountable for what they write on Facebook or Twitter, and they will receive an automatic ten-day suspension from school for any violations.

"The danger is that it opens up the door for sexual orientation and gender identity to be the 'Trojan horse' to indoctrinate children in public schools," McCoy warns.

Many legislative delegates were unaware that the revisions passed at the end of the session amid a flurry of other measures, but McCoy thinks the changes can be reversed in the next session.

"It can be reversed to the extent that it'll either be reversed or there's going to be some members of the legislature who are going to be having to find another source of employment because that is something that is a hot-button issue in West Virginia," the pro-family activist predicts.

According to McCoy, the Department of Education's Office of Healthy Schools has also taken the opportunity to bypass specific legislative authority and revamp the "Student Code of Conduct" to include "gender identity" and "sexual orientation."

 

Evangelicals could make the difference in 2012

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/10/2012

A conservative says a California group may be able to spark enthusiasm among Christian voters in 2012.

A Silicon Valley-based group is seeking to register five million new conservative Christian voters for the 2012 election. The Los Angeles Times reports that United in Purpose, a group of local businessmen, is creating a database of evangelical Christians and conservative Catholics around the nation. They hope to recruit 100,000 "champions" who will motivate unregistered Christian voters to get to the ballot box this year.

Howard Myers, president of  The Conservative Forum of Silicon Valley, believes the group may be able to rally evangelicals and greatly influence the outcome of the election.

"There's got to be a spark, but I think it's there. I think it could happen," he notes. "And perhaps the United in Purpose, perhaps they can provide that spark and get some unity. I think that more people believe that way than don't."

The  Champion the Vote initiative could turn the tide for Republican candidates if it brings in a large number of evangelicals. According to the Times, left-leaning religious groups have also jumped in, including the group Faith in Public Life and PICO National Network, a California-based activist group connected to more than 1,000 congregations in 17 states.

"For our fearless leader to say that America is not a Christian nation -- ... there may be some people who believe that, but it just doesn't make it true," Myers contends.

United in Purpose can draw more than 120 million people from its database to enable organizers to target potential voters with e-mails and web videos tailored to their interests. So, The Conservative Forum spokesman suggests the 2012 race could see a large turnout from social conservatives and evangelicals.

 

To pass you've gotta protest

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/10/2012

A university course that studies the "Occupy Wall Street" movement? That's what Columbia University will begin offering next semester.

Columbia professor Hannah Appel, who developed the course, does not hide the fact that she's a "veteran" participant and strong supporter of Occupy Wall Street. In an interview with the New York Post, she said that "inevitably, my experience will color the way I teach, but I feel equipped to teach [the course] objectively" -- adding that "it's best to be critical of the things we hold most sacred."
 
Students taking "Occupy the Field: Global Finance, Inequality, Social Movement" will be expected to get involved in the movement.
 
Neal McCluskey is associate director of the Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom. "It's clearly trying to supply basically free members of the Occupy Wall Street movement by having students do school work by joining the movement," he says of the course.
 
Even though Columbia is a private institution, McCluskey says taxpayers have the right to be upset with such endeavors because Congress funds these kinds of projects -- not only at Columbia, but at most colleges and universities around the country.
 
"They need to tell the people in Congress [that] it is time to get the federal government, get taxpayer money, out of colleges -- [and] get it out of [the business of] student aid," he urges.
 
The Cato spokesman says if a student or a proposed project shows real potential, plenty of private institutions and businesses are willing to loan money for it to proceed -- rather than having to burden taxpayers with the costs.

 

To obey, or not to obey? That is the confusion ...

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/10/2012

A legal group says by penalizing a California hospital, the Justice Department is prohibiting employers from ensuring they obey immigration laws.

The U.S. Department of Justice reached an agreement with the University of California San Diego Medical Center after suing the hospital, alleging it excessively asked non-citizens to prove their work eligibility. The lawsuit said the medical center repetitively asked for documentation from immigrants who can legally work, but did not require the same for citizens.
 
Under the agreement, the hospital must pay $115,000 in penalties and has revised its employment verification process.
 
Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, says the settlement actually undermines American immigration statutes.
 
"No entity, public or private, should ever be fined and punished by the U.S. Department of Justice simply because they wanted to make sure that the people they were hiring were here working legally," the attorney explains.
 
The DOJ noted that under the Immigration and Nationality Act, employers cannot place unfair burdens on employees who are authorized to work, and argued that UCSD Medical Center was discriminatory and placed unnecessary barriers for immigrants who were looking for work.
 
Dacus calls that is a "skewed interpretation" of federal law that is simply not correct. "... Because if they had their way, basically any employer now in the United States would be afraid to ask for any documents... for fear that they are going to suddenly be slapped with over $100,000 in penalties by the U.S. Department of Justice."
 
According to the lawsuit, over a five-year period (2006-2011) the Medical Center required more than 500 new hires to show their "green cards" (permanent residency cards) rather than documents of their own choice.

 

Calculated eviction of churches?

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/10/2012

As New York's legislative session gets under way, the issue of where churches are allowed to hold services remains unresolved.

The concern stems from the U.S. Supreme Court refusing to consider a case in which a lower court ruled that New York does not have to rent school space to churches, although it can and does allow other groups to utilize the space (see earlier story). Jason McGuire of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms explains that churches are already being affected.

"In New York City, the Bloomberg administration is actually in the process of evicting hundreds of churches that are currently meeting in city public schools," he reports.

But McGuire's organization is working with the New York Senate to correct the situation.

"We are looking at a legislative fix that would authorize specifically churches to be allowed to meet in public city schools, just like any other organization," the attorney details. "We don't think it's right for the churches to be discriminated against simply on [their] religious nature."

He believes Mayor Michael Bloomberg is conducting a war on religion in New York City. "It's not just the city schools now, but we're also seeing this moving into areas of housing authorities and other public places, so it's a growing concern that has potential of impacting churches all across the state," McGuire warns.

But he says it is essential that churches have access to the schools in New York City because there is no available space to build new ones. So Mayor Bloomberg's action, says McGuire, could mean that many will have to close their doors.

 

Being Greece-like 'not much of a brag'

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/10/2012

According to the president of a California conservative group, giving handouts and benefits to illegal immigrants is taking The Golden State incrementally closer to a Greece-style dilemma.

The first part of the legislation, Assembly Bill 130, was signed by Governor Jerry Brown in July. It is now state law, giving illegal immigrant students the right to obtain private financial aid at public universities. The law's sister bill, AB 131, will take effect on January 1, 2013, allowing those who are in the country illegally to apply for publicly funded scholarships and financial aid.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, while other states have rejected similar measures, Democrats claim the passage of the California DREAM Act proves that California is "progressive." But Howard Myers, president of The Conservative Forum of Silicon Valley, warns about what lies ahead.

"Now next year, they're going to crank it up a little more and say that they can get state money. It's just a slow, incremental way of taking money and giving it to people who are here illegally," he explains.

Conservatives argue that the controversial law gives illegal immigrants special status and benefits that citizens of California are not able to enjoy -- and Myers suggests it is bankrupting the state.

"We're spending money we don't have; we're tightening restrictions and chasing businesses away," the conservative notes. "And to brag that you're getting to [be more like] Greece faster than the rest of the country really isn't that much of a brag to me, but it may be accurate."

 

Religious event brings challenge to funding policy

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/10/2012

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is threatening a West Virginia county for its role in an annual "Jesus Fest," but a civil liberties law firm is confident the county's involvement is completely legal.

The Jesus Fest, an annual Christian music festival, is one of many events for which Harrison County provides funding. Because the county's funding policy appears to be balanced, as required by the Establishment Clause, John Whitehead of The Rutherford Institute says officials should feel confident in standing their ground.

"What the county's doing [is] providing funds for children's movies and stage costs, but they also fund the Blackberry Festival, the Scottish Festival, the Celtic Gathering, and so on and so on," he explains. "But the ACLU is saying that because there's money going to religion at all, it's automatically a violation of the First Amendment Establishment Clause."

The Rutherford Institute has written  a letter to county officials, assuring them that their participation is completely legal and that their financial involvement with the music festival is not an unconstitutional entanglement with religion.

"Here I think with the fact that they have been very neutral -- they've funded all kinds of events, so it's not funding a religion; it's to help fund religion to have a festival," Whitehead contends. "That's all that's occurring here. So we see this across the country -- wherever the word 'Christianity' or 'Jesus' pops up, ACLU seems to want to fight it. But as I tell ACLU lawyers, there [are] a lot bigger things to be fighting than Jesus Fests."

The Rutherford Institute has offered to assist the county if the ACLU follows through on its threat of a lawsuit.

 

Hoping to bring Veronica home

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/10/2012

A court battle continues over a two-year-old girl who was taken from her adoptive parents under a little-used federal law.

Veronica Capobianco was adopted at birth in Oklahoma by South Carolina residents Melanie and Matt Capobianco. She lived happily with the couple for the first two years of her life. The birth mother had signed the adoption papers, while the birth father had said during the pregnancy and early months that he was not interested in the child. But Melanie Capobianco tells OneNewsNow he later changed his mind.

"We were under the impression that he really couldn't contest the adoption because he had abandoned her and not supported her before or after the birth," she accounts. "But then, the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) has been used in this case, and that's how we got to where we are right now."

The birth father is estimated to be three percent Cherokee, but he convinced the tribal council to back him. The court ruled in favor of the father, and on December 31, meeting in an attorney's office, Veronica was handed over to the birth father. Capobianco describes how the girl reacted to being turned over to strangers and taken away.

"Well, when we had to leave, she cried for us, and they had to pull her away," the adoptive mother weeps. "It was very hard."

Capobianco believes the original intent of the Indian Child Welfare Act was good, but she says it has been misapplied in this case. The couple has appealed and is hopeful the higher court will rule that the two-year-old should stay with the only parents she knows. They also hope to convince Congress to change the ICWA so that their situation does not happen to another child in the future. The Capobiancos encourage people to visit their website and sign their petition so that Veronica will be able to come home.

 

$30,000 bail 'an outrage'

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/10/2012

As the two are both charged with murder in connection with late-term abortions, a co-defendant of abortionist Steven Chase Brigham will be returned to Maryland to stand trial (see earlier story).

Nicola Riley has been behind bars in Salt Lake City. She waived extradition in a brief court appearance, but Cheryl Sullinger of Operation Rescue tells OneNewsNow the abortionist's attorney asked for a $30,000 bond and permission for Riley to return to Maryland on her own. Though that was denied, she is expected to make the same request for freedom upon arrival.

"They'll probably give it to her, but we're hoping it's more than $30,000," Sullinger says. "I mean, she is accused of first and second degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Those are very serious charges, and $30,000 bail is an outrage."

Brigham waived extradition and has been released on a half-million dollar bond. The pair is accused of starting late-term abortions in New Jersey, then transporting the patients, sometimes in a caravan, to a hideaway abortion clinic in Elkton, Maryland, where late-term abortion restrictions are more liberal, to complete the procedures.

Riley is also accused of botching an abortion so badly that when the woman was taken to a hospital in a rental car for emergency surgery, doctors reported the incident to authorities. Investigators found the bodies of 35 aborted late-term babies in a clinic freezer.

 

Blackouts and breathing machines

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 1/10/2012

Concerns that new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations for coal-fired power plants may lead to increased brownouts and blackouts are not sitting well with some health patients (see earlier story).

American Family News/OneNewsNow has received e-mails from health patients who are worried about what a loss in power will mean for their breathing machines. Dr. J. Scott Ries of the Christian Medical Association says most of the people whose respirations are dependent on a machine are in a hospital or some other facility that has a generator. But he recognizes that some home-based medical devices could be affected by an increased rate of brownouts or blackouts.

He points out that "things like CPAP machines that help people with sleep apnea, things like intravenous infusion machines that deliver antibiotics or chemotherapy to people at night while they're sleeping, or apnea monitors for infants that measure and monitor respiratory rates and heart rates" could be affected.

That could lead to an increase in the cost of some home breathing machines, "specifically requiring they either have a battery backup system or else a generator system in the house that could drive a CPAP machine, intravenous infusion machine, or apnea monitoring machine."

Under certain circumstances, Dr. Ries says Medicare and or Medicaid will cover the cost of these machines for people who qualify for those insurances. Whether or not they could get the battery backup, however, depends on the patient's actual insurance coverage.

 

Obama's plan will 'gut force structure'

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/9/2012

A retired Army officer and national defense expert thinks President Obama's latest defense strategy is dangerous because it will leave the U.S. with far fewer resources to deal with threats from around the world.

In outlining his defense strategy last week, President Barack Obama insisted that the United States will maintain what he calls the best-equipped military in history, despite deep and looming defense budget cuts. The president wants to save up to $1 trillion over ten years from planned spending.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has admitted that the U.S. will have to make some trade-offs and take some extra risks under the new military strategy laid out to absorb federal budget cuts. Under the plan, there will be major cuts in troop strength in the Army and Marine Corps, but the Air Force and Navy would be bolstered, and  more emphasis will be placed on Asia.

Obama promises the military will be leaner, but the U.S. will maintain its "military superiority" with fighting forces ready for any threat. But Dr. James Carafano of  The Heritage Foundation does not believe it.

"They're going to gut the force structure in the Marine Corps and in the Army," he warns. "They're not going to build more ships. They're not going to build more planes. They're not going to add a lot of force structure in Asia. They're just taking stuff away. And this argument that somehow we're shifting to Asia, that's just not true. We're going to wind up with less force structure in Asia than we have now."

And the Heritage expert in defense and homeland security adds that the problem goes beyond wasteful cost overruns.

"You go to our website, Heritage.org. We've identified over $200 billion in savings. But people have to remember -- we haven't reinvested in this military since Ronald Reagan," Carafano notes. "Yeah, we can find deficiencies, but we haven't given this military the equipment they need going forward, and there's not enough in the defense budget."

He concludes that Obama's plan is not a real defense strategy. Instead, he says it is an election year PR scam.

 

Gov't teaching kids to gamble?

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/9/2012

The United Kingdom is getting behind a proposal to teach children how to gamble, but opponents are already putting on their boxing gloves.

The Labour Party welcomes the idea of teaching children as young as 12 how to gamble "safely," as they claim it will help children prepare for the adult world. But critics say the proposals from GamCare, a gambling addiction charity, will lead to more problem gambling. Les Bernal of Stop Predatory Gambling says it mirrors what has been happening in America.

"We have state lotteries in this country that are running programs on the Internet, Facebook, and so forth that are really encouraging people not just to gamble, but to teach them how to gamble," Bernal notes. "And the notion that this is a government program actually encouraging people to learn how to lose their money on government-run gambling games, it symbolizes more than any other issue what's broken about American government today."

In order to generate more money, children are being targeted for training.

"What you see ... in the U.K. and elsewhere in our country here in terms of what government's daily voice is is its lottery advertising and casino advertising, and it needs to change," the Stop Predatory Gambling spokesman contends. "If we want to get our country going in the right direction, we've got to get government out of the gambling business."

He goes on to note that the purpose of using the Internet and Facebook is to reach people who are well versed in technology, and that is today's young people.

 

Activist: Calif. on path to destruction

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/9/2012

A Christian activist is urging California parents to be "hyper-vigilant" in their children's education this year, especially as legislators seek to implement more anti-family laws.

Despite efforts to stop its implementation, SB 48 -- the pro-homosexual law passed by the state's legislators and governor last year -- went into effect January 1, requiring positive teachings on the contributions of lesbian, "gay," bisexual, and transgender individuals in public schools. Teachers are not allowed to "reflect adversely" on same-sex "marriage," bisexuality, or transsexuality under the law, and textbooks and instructional materials will have to be rewritten.

San Diego-based Penny Harrington, director of legislation at Concerned Women for America (CWA), says it is crucial that parents know their children's teachers.

"Parents are going to have to be hyper-vigilant in knowing what is going on in the classrooms," she contends. "They're going to need to talk to their child's teachers to understand where the teachers are coming from on this particular issue that's very sensitive. We're talking about controversial sexual topics being brought up."

And Harrington points out that the law also presents another issue.

"Another facet of this is that nothing can reflect adversely on religion as well. And that may sound good, but it also may mean that if you are talking about what happened on September 11 ... a textbook or a conversation probably could not then say that Islamic terrorists were those who perpetrated the attack," she explains.

Meanwhile, the pro-family activist says California legislators are seeking to implement more anti-family laws. ( Listen to audio report)

In the wake of the new year, a handful of new anti-family laws have gone into effect in The Golden State. Along with SB 48, Harrington notes Seth's Law, a measure that requires public schools to track and intervene in incidents of "gay" bullying; and AB 499, which allows minors to consent to treatment for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The state has also enacted a law that gives courts the right to consider non-biological parents in child rights cases.

"It's just a continuing path of unearthing anything that's in current laws that needs to be changed, from their standpoint," the CWA legislation director laments. "It's hard to think that there are very many rocks that haven't already been turned over. They are so far down the path in this regard, and everything passes because of the makeup of our legislatures."

The Domestic Partnership Equality Law, which will give those in domestic partnerships similar rights as marriages, has also gone into effect, as has law that requires a standard for anti-bullying policies in higher education. Under two additional measures, transgender individuals will be protected from discrimination in housing, employment, and education, and it will be easier for them to change genders on official documents.

Further, California courts are now permitted to grant same-gender couples a legal divorce if they move to another state that does not recognize their union, and the sexual orientation of judges is also included to ensure diversity in California courts.

Harrington says the state legislature is overturning anything and everything with a pro-family basis to force its liberal agenda.

 

Israel's 'gay'-friendly image

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/9/2012

A pro-family activist who works to expose the truth about homosexuality says it's outrageous that the Israeli government is going out of its way to recruit "gays" and lesbians as unofficial envoys.

In what it calls a bid to boost its international image, Israel's Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs has established a cadre of diverse volunteers to speak about Israel around the world. And on its website, the ministry is encouraging members of the homosexual community to step forward. (See related article)

One spokesman says the goal is to highlight Israel's diversity. When people think about Israel, he notes that the homosexual community is often overlooked. So Israel has recently been promoting itself as a homosexual-friendly oasis in an intolerant Middle East.

But Peter LaBarbera, founder and president of  Americans for Truth about Homosexuality (AFTAH), sees nothing intolerant about opposing a deviant lifestyle.

"This is a very sad development because Judaism is responsible for our moral condemnation of homosexual and all deviant behaviors," he notes. "And so for Israel now to be proclaiming itself friendly to homosexuality is a repudiation of Israel's own heritage and the God of Israel."

He decides it comes down to a question of promoting sin.

"The moral truth never changes -- but unfortunately, we live in decadent times in which governments are using homosexuality to get money, basically," LaBarbera laments.

The AFTAH president says it is unfortunate that corporations and countries are going out of their way to appeal to homosexual customers.

 

ACLU at it again

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/9/2012

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is warning another school district about possible First Amendment violations -- this time in Northwest Missouri. But a Christian legal firm continues to advise schools to stand firm on the Establishment Clause.

The ACLU has written the St. Joseph School District complaining that speakers, arranged through the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, are inviting students to religious events at the end of their presentations. But Jeremy Tedesco of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) says the speakers are within their constitutional rights.

"They have the right to do that. The FCA club members have First Amendment rights to hand out fliers and invite students to events and activities that are religious in nature," he asserts.

If they have clear policies in place regarding such events, he encourages high schools to not be intimidated by the flurry of threats the ACLU is imposing throughout the country.

"The separation of church and state threat is something the ACLU and other groups like them throw around a lot, and most of the time, it has no real, legitimate application to what's going on in the given situation," Tedesco explains. "The ACLU just relies on it as a fear tactic to get the school districts to shut down things they don't like."

School attorney Stephen Briggs maintains that the St. Joseph School District has followed the law and its policies regarding motivational speakers.

 

High court to decide on FCC's authority

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/9/2012

A spokesman for the Parents Television Council (PTC) details what is at stake as the issue of broadcast indecency goes to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday.

According to PTC President Tim Winter, "This case will determine whether the indecency statute will be reduced to a polite fiction that can be ignored at the expense of American children and families." Public policy director Dan Isett gives more details.

"Simply put, the court is most likely going to rule on the constitutionality of continued federal broadcast decency rules," he explains. "So, put another way, the court is going to determine whether or not broadcast television at the times of day when children are most likely to be watching can still be free of legal indecency."

Broadcasters already have the right to transmit indecent material after 10:00 pm. The court will also rule on the Federal Communications Commission's right to define decency and issue decisions and fines.

"For decades, broadcasters didn't have any issue with abiding by common sense decency rules, and now they say that somehow their free speech is being violated, despite the fact that they already have the ability to air indecent content when most children are going to be in bed and out of harm's way," Isett adds.

He says it is hard to predict which way the Supreme Court will lean in its ruling, but he likes the chances for the pro-decency side of the argument. However, if the Supreme Court were to reverse its previous rulings, Isett is not sure the public would be ready for "what a cultural scene change that would be."

 

Protecting marriage in NC

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/9/2012

North Carolina residents have a chance to defend marriage at the polls in May, but one pastor reports that a number of church leaders have denounced the proposal.

A proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman will be presented to voters in The Tar Heel State this spring. Rev. Mark Harris, pastor of First Baptist Church, Charlotte and president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina notes that about 250 pastors of different denominations have signed a statement to voice their opposition to it. He recognizes that it is an emotional issue, but he hopes both sides will respectfully argue their cases.

"Those who have denounced it certainly have a right to voice their feelings and their opinions against it, but I just feel that there is a hoping that the vast majority of North Carolinians are going to show up on May 8 and vote in favor of it," he says.

Current state law defines marriage in the traditional way, so some question whether a constitutional amendment is even needed. But as Harris points out, marriage is vulnerable to legal attacks and judicial activism.

"We've already seen, even in recent days, lawsuits filed by Guilford County Register of Deeds (Jeff Thigpen) trying to attack our marriage statute that's already in place, and we've seen another incident down in Asheville, North Carolina, where a couple went in demanding to be able to get a marriage license for a same-sex union," the pastor notes.

Now, Harris says the tough work begins to get people to show up at the polls. Because May 8 is a primary election, voter turnout is often lower.

 

Supreme Court's opinion on Camp Pendleton crosses

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/9/2012

A California attorney thinks the U.S. Supreme Court should weigh in on cases involving the display of crosses.

A pair of crosses stands in Camp Pendleton, California, to honor four Marines who died in battle, but the display is the core of a debate involving atheist groups who want the symbols removed. One cross was erected by several soldiers in 2003, but it was destroyed by a fire in 2007. A replacement cross was planted in 2008, and the second cross joined the site in 2011.

The Marine Corps headquarters is currently debating over the issue, and a decision is expected to be reached shortly. But  Ryan T. Darby, a civil litigation and public interest law attorney in San Diego, does not think the atheists' challenge is solid.

"The crosses were placed by some individual Marines, independent of any outstanding orders," Darby explains. "That means they made the choice to place those crosses there; they were not placed at the order of the Marine Corp or anyone else in the government."

The hill where the crosses stand has been a monument for Marines, who place various memorial items in honor of the soldiers killed in action. A group of stones that contains messages surrounds both crosses, along with pictures, rosaries, cigarette packs, and ID tags. Because the crosses are located on a remote hill, the attorney says it separates this case from others. But he feels the nation's highest court ought to make a decision on these kinds of cases.

"Frankly, the court really does need to provide its opinion on this because frankly, the Establishment Clause, it exists to prohibit the government from establishing religion; it doesn't exist in order to prohibit the government from capitally acknowledging that others, that some people have certain religious beliefs," Darby argues.

 

Rewarding efficiency over superiority

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/9/2012

Several states are beginning to realize the advantages of rewarding public school teachers on merit rather than class credits and years served.

Education analyst Lindsey Burke of The Heritage Foundation says Washington, D.C. and states like Wisconsin, Colorado, and Florida are investigating better ways of evaluating teachers, while the teachers are seeing the potential of getting pay raises and bonuses based on merit rather than seniority.

"More and more teachers are starting to realize that if they are effective and can produce good student outcomes, then moving toward performance pay systems will really benefit them in the long run," Burke explains.

She says education unions have erected the biggest barriers to reforming teacher compensation for decades, as they have continued to push tenure and years on the job when determining salaries.

"But we're seeing states start to chip away at that union stranglehold and start to be able to reform education policies that do reward teachers based on outcomes and that do retain teachers based on effectiveness," the education analyst reports.

Burke believes teacher quality is one of the greatest factors in a student's success, and she contends that schools have to have the ability to retain the best teachers and weed out the ineffective ones.

 

When things just don't pan out

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 1/9/2012

The editor of RealClearScience says Fox News was not blowing things out of proportion with a recent article on science journal retractions.

The article in question is entitled "Doh! Top Science Journal Retractions of 2011." The list of retractions includes the dismissal of claims that Los Angeles marijuana dispensaries lead to a drop in crime, along with the retraction of reports that appendicitis can be treated with antibiotics rather than surgery. Number one on the list was the retraction of reports that chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is caused by a virus.
 
Dr. Alex Berezow of RealClearScience considers it a worthwhile report.
 
"I think it's interesting to point out some scientific stories that make the news, or interesting [stories] that end up not being true," he tells OneNewsNow. "The chronic fatigue syndrome, that's a very big story because chronic fatigue syndrome is a serious disease. When they thought it was a link to a virus, they thought ... finally there was something they could put their finger on."
 
Berezow adds that, while retractions are not terribly common, they are proof of the scientific method working. "It's showing that what a scientist found previously actually is not correct -- and other scientists finally pointed it out and the paper was taken off the record."
 
The RealClearScience editor points out there is also a movement under way by some scientists to create a "Journal of Negative Results" whereby studies and projects that did not work can be published.

 

Arkansas AG shows true pro-abortion colors

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/8/2012

Personhood Arkansas has been blocked by the state attorney general's office in its effort to take a proposed constitutional amendment to voters.

The group submitted language for the proposal to Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, who rejected it on the basis of it being too vague. Personhood spokesman Keith Riley says that was no shock.

"They discussed several pro-life bills in the Arkansas legislature last year and he [McDaniel] sent somebody from his office to testify in opposition to every single one of them," says Riley. "So, he's been described in media circles as blatantly pro-abortion."

Personhood Arkansas said it is not going to give up.

"Well, the next step is, we're going to go ahead and re-file," Riley comments. "The Personhood Arkansas group is trying to adopt as many of his recommendations as possible, and basically at this point we're anticipating a second rejection of the language and what we'll do then is file a lawsuit to challenge that second rejection."

If successful, volunteers will need to get about 90,000 voter signatures and it can be passed with a simple majority.

In Colorado, the state Title Board approved the Personhood language for the ballot, but Planned Parenthood is fighting it by taking it to the Colorado Supreme Court.

 

IN church in highway's path rejects state offer

Associated Press - 1/8/2012 3:50:00 AM

DELPHI, IN- The leaders of an Indiana church slated to be bulldozed for a highway project have rejected the state's offer for their land, saying it's not enough for their sanctuary to be rebuilt elsewhere.

The Journal and Courier of Lafayette reports that the state Department of Transportation offered Delphi Pentecostal Church $535,000 for their church and 13.3 acres of land.

But pastor Tim Stewart says appraisers estimate it will cost four times that much to replace the church, so it's suing the state for fair compensation. Court-appointed appraisers are to report their findings to a judge.

Stewart says that since the highway construction began, average Sunday attendance is down to 35 of its 65 members, compared with the 80 to 100 members who attended services before the highway project began.

 

Southern Baptists say mission giving is down

Associated Press - 1/8/2012

NASHVILLE, TN - The Southern Baptist Convention says giving to its Cooperative Program is down seven percent in the first quarter of the denomination's fiscal year. That fund supports mission programs and seminaries.

A report posted on the denomination's website shows giving is down in 33 of 42 state Baptist conventions.

Southern Baptist officials remain optimistic giving to the cooperative will eventually recover, noting that monthly donations fluctuate.

Executive Committee president Frank Page said, "It is a great blessing to witness the faithfulness of God's people to give to God's work even in difficult times."

 

Operation Rescue: Abortionist can't be trusted

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/8/2012

A co-defendant in a Maryland abortion clinic murder case has a court hearing Monday, and one pro-lifer doesn't think she can be trusted.

Utah abortionist Nicola Riley remains jailed in Salt Lake City while Maryland officials are trying to extradite her so she can stand charges involving the deaths of late-term babies. She will ask the court to release her on bail so she can travel to Maryland and surrender on her own. But Cheryl Sullinger of Operation Rescue does not think that is a good idea.

"She has a history of dishonesty stretching back over many, many years," Sullinger notes. "She was convicted of identity theft and credit card fraud and spent three years at a federal military prison, and then she lied about that criminal conviction and the amount of time that she did in prison to medical boards in three states."

Co-defendant Stephen Brigham is currently jailed on a $3 million bond in New Jersey but  has waived extradition to Maryland to face multiple murder charges in connection with the deaths. Meanwhile, his abortion clinics remain open for business operated by other abortionists.

"We think that that is an appalling situation, given the gravity of the charges, and we believe that his clinics in all four states need to be closed immediately," the Operation Rescue spokesperson contends.

 

'Gay' rights ... or business-owner rights?

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/7/2012

A bed and breakfast in Illinois that is currently under attack by a homosexual couple is now getting aid from Alliance Defense Fund.

Complaints were lodged with the state Human Rights Commission by two men who objected to the owners of the TimberCreek Bed and Breakfast refusing to allow their property to be used for same-gender civil union ceremonies, which are now legal in Illinois.

ADF attorney Bryan Beauman says about the owners of the bed and breakfast, "They're willing to host weddings for marriages, but they decline to host any civil union ceremonies for both same-sex or opposite-sex couples. But we just believe this discrimination charge is baseless."

The owners rejected the homosexual pair's request on the basis of their strongly held religious beliefs.

"Constitutional, state law guarantees religious freedom for every American, including business owners, and that applies to owners of TimberCreek Bed and Breakfast," says Beauman. "These complaints ignore those basic fundamental freedoms and they're just further examples of the threat that the homosexual legal agenda poses to every American's basic rights."

The Human Rights Commission could rule in favor of either the business or the homosexual couple. If the couple wins the case, the business may have to pay fines and attorney fees, as well as having to permit use of their property for civil union ceremonies.

Related article:Civil unions -- 'it's all about affirmation'

 

Crackdown on Hungary's churches averted ... for now

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/7/2012

Religion is a little freer in Hungary today because of a rush to judgment by the Hungarian Parliament.

In June of last year the Parliament of Hungary passed what is considered one of the most oppressive religion laws in Europe.

"The law would have automatically de-registered 348 of the 362 religions currently registered in Hungary leaving only 14 to operate as religions," says Joe Grieboski of The Institute on Religion & Public Policy. "Of those 14, it did not include 90 percent of the evangelical churches, the reform Jewish community, any Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists or the Hare Krishnas, and countless others."

He explains that the law established an onerous re-registration process requiring church groups to prove presence in Hungary for at least 20 years; thus if it existed under Communism, it would be legal.

The process also required the church to have 1,000 members, plus the approval of Parliament by a two-thirds majority.

"The good news is that in their rush to pass the legislation, the Parliament violated the constitution currently in force on how laws are to be passed and the Constitutional Court found the law to be unconstitutional and struck it down," adds the Institute spokesman.

The law was reportedly passed because a majority of members felt the existing 1990 law was too liberal. Parliament is likely to revisit the subject again.

 

84-year-old pastor diagnosed with cancer

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/7/2012

One California pastor is offering his condolences and prayers for Calvary Chapel's founder, who recently announced that he has cancer.

Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa senior pastor Chuck Smith has announced to the congregation that he is battling lung cancer. The 84-year-old shared the news during church on January 1, and church leaders prayed over him following the service. The state of the cancer is currently unknown, but Smith is undergoing tests and is expected to have surgery next week.

"We just love him. We thank the Lord Jesus Christ for his faithfulness -- faithfulness to Jesus and to the Word of God," comments Allan Esses, head of  YesJesusisLord.org and a former pastor at Calvary Chapel. "He's been such a blessing to me and my family and to countless others in California and throughout the world."

Brian Broderson, who is Smith's son-in-law and a pastor at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, says the cancer was discovered when an oncologist grew concerned about the results from Smith's recent routine blood work.

"So God is going to use this in Pastor Chuck's life and each one of us in a very special way that we may not understand it or see," Esses assures. "We know that as Pastor Chuck has said so many times, 'God is on the throne.'"

Smith has seen the Calvary Chapel movement explode nationwide and globally, and he was a vital part in the Jesus movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

 

PA school choice measure voted down

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/7/2012

Pennsylvania House Republicans have failed to come up with the needed votes to deliver Governor Tom Corbett (R) the education reform package he was hoping for (see earlier story).

The House has voted 105-90 to reject an education reform plan that would have expanded the state's tax credit program and overhauled the charter school law. Jay Ostrich, director of public affairs for the Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives, says strong teacher union pressure helped defeat the bill.

"Often times what we have seen this year is that there are people who call themselves Republicans who are unwilling to do what's right," he notes. "They are more than happy to do what's easy and to bow to the union interest."

Ostrich laments that students in the bottom five percent of failing schools will be most affected by the defeat, as he points out there is an act of violence every 17 minutes in those schools.

"This is really about rescuing children who are in crisis, who are crying out for help," the public affairs director says. "[Our lawmakers] must stop sacrificing the interests of our children on the altar of self-interest through their continued support of unions."

But he expects intense public pressure will not allow lawmakers to brush this issue aside for long. It is estimated that 70,000 students could escape failing and dangerous schools if the proposal were to pass.

 

Women serving jail time ... at home

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/6/2012

One conservative says California's decision to allow women offenders to serve their sentences at home is another move that favors prisoners' rights over public safety.

Since Governor Jerry Brown ordered to shift low-level offenders from state prison to county jails to reduce the state's bloated prison system, more and more jailed moms are serving the remainder of their sentences at home (see earlier story). The state began shifting inmates in October, reducing the number of prisoners by more 8,000.

KPCC, a Southern California public radio station, reports that 20 female inmates qualified this year to serve their sentences at home, and officials hope to increase that number to 500 in the near future. The Alternative Custody Program could potentially lead to the early release of 5,000 women, which is half of the female prisoners in California prisons. But Claude Parrish, a director at large with the California Republican Assembly, sees a potential problem.

"It appears to me the pendulum has swung a little too far the other way in favor of prisoners' rights to the point of getting out of control to some extent," he decides.

Officials estimate that the move would save the state $6 million a year, so they hope to allow male inmates the privilege in the future. The Department of Corrections told KPCC that the application process for women inmates is lengthy by design, as officials seek to determine if the prospective inmate would be better served in a home.

But Parrish points out that it is dangerous to release criminals who have committed non-violent crimes because they have the potential to become violent.

"Unfortunately, when people get on drugs, they seem to lose all sense of consequence," he notes. "In other words, you're dealing with shoplifting [or] robberies, and unfortunately, sometimes these situations, especially home robberies, result in potential violence." Consequently, he is leery of the program's expansion.

 

Wildmon: Colmes' comments 'unforgivable'

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/6/2012

A pro-family organization is calling on the Fox News Channel to fire liberal commentator Alan Colmes for what it describes as "despicable" comments about Rick Santorum's deceased infant child.

Colmes recently appeared with conservative commentator Rich Lowery on Fox News' "Happening Now" program to discuss Rick Santorum's surge in the polls before the Iowa caucuses. When it was Colmes' turn to speak, he did not waste much time before bringing up the tragic death of the Santorums' infant son in 1996.

"Get a load of some of the crazy things he's said and done, like taking his two-hour-old baby who died right after childbirth home and played with it for a couple of hours so his other children would know that the child was real..." the commentator offered.

Lowry immediately confronted Colmes on the air, calling it a "cheap shot" to "mock" something that "personal." Colmes argued at first, then leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms, and told the conservative to let him know when he was done.

"He planned that. This wasn't a heat of the moment thing; this was something he thought out, premeditated," contends Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association. "He wanted to use that term. He used it three times -- 'play with' -- talking about the deceased child. And so that's why I find it unforgivable in terms of his job as a commentator on Fox News."

Even though Colmes has since apologized in private to the Santorums for his "hurtful comment," Wildmon argues that his words go far beyond "hurtful." Since the discussion was first aired, thousands of AFA supporters have sent e-mails to Fox, calling on the network to fire the liberal commentator.

 

Attorney: 'Gender liberation' to spread

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/5/2012

A Texas-based attorney says he's concerned about a push from California's largest teachers union to implement "gender liberation" in schools.

Advocates for Faith & Freedom, a California-based legal group dedicated to protecting religious liberty in the courts, says the next push from the state's "gay" activists will be to encourage "gender liberation" in the public school system. The movement reportedly seeks to eliminate "male-female distinctions" in an effort to remove and free children from what they call "unnecessary stereotypes."

"I think this is the next frontier of the movement," warns Matt Krause, litigation counsel for Liberty Counsel. "Not only are there not genders anymore, but it's almost even a daily thing --  how you're feeling one day, how you're feeling the next day, and nobody has the right to tell you that you shouldn't feel like that."

The California Teachers Association, which is the state's largest teachers union, gathered for its third annual Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Conference in October. Titled "Pride in Education," the seminar addressed the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, "gay bullying," and SB 48 -- a new state law that mandates positive teachings of LGBT contributions.

But Krause is convinced homosexual activists will not stop with California.

"Women going to the restroom might find a man in there just because he feels like a woman or identifies more as a woman," he poses. "If you go to a locker room at a health club or something of that nature, you could see a person of the opposite sex in the changing rooms, in the showering rooms, just because that's where they feel more comfortable."

Advocates for Faith & Freedom agrees that "gender liberation" will be the term used to describe the "tidal wave" that will "spread throughout the nation and have disastrous consequences on the innocent."

 

'R' isn't what the people want

Chris Woodward and Bill Bumpas - OneNewsNow - 1/6/2012

A noted critic and media pundit says he knows why 2011 was not a good year for Hollywood.

Hollywood took in 4.5 percent less revenue in 2011 than in 2010, selling the least amount of tickets since 1995. Are consumers simply fed up with what Tinseltown has to offer? Dr. Ted Baehr of MovieGuide says it depends on the film in question.

"The spin is that people want more R-rated films, but the actual truth of the matter is that there were more R-rated films last year than there were the year before, and there were more than the year before that," he explains.

Two years ago, 44 percent of the films were rated R. Now, 51 percent of films carry that rating. At the same time, however, films that are rated G, PG, and even PG-13 are outperforming the movies for restricted audiences.

"There was a study out from the Los Angeles Times that 74 percent of the young women [and 58 percent of the young boys] don't want to see sex, violence, nudity, [or] profanity in films," Baehr cites. Since "consumers don't want to see R-rated films," he wonders who filmmakers are making them for.

He is quick to point out that Hollywood is a big place with many different people, and several of the major studios are putting out films like Courageous and The Chronicles of Narnia, the series made by Fox-owned Walden Media. Most of the R-rated films come from independent operations and filmmakers who think they have to make something gruesome to break into the industry.

"The church has to show up and show off," the critic contends. "If the filmmakers are the ones coming out of the Sundance Film Festival, we're going to continue to slide into the abyss. If the filmmakers are people of faith and values, we're going to do better."

On that note, as Hollywood continues to make more faith-based movies, a veteran actor says the public must do its part by supporting such films at the box office. (Listen to audio report)

Actor Kevin Sorbo is best known for starring in the Hercules TV series, but he also played a role in the recent hit movie Soul Surfer. With Hollywood studios opening faith-based divisions, he tells OneNewsNow the film industry is no longer ignoring the faith community. However, fans frequently ask him why there are not more family-friendly movies.

"Well, the reality is if people would support the movies that come out like Soul Surfer and the movie called What If that's on DVD now that deals with these same things and it's a great story, Hollywood will make more. But the people just have to get out and do it," he says. "They all complain about it, but they've got to support these movies. If they support them, Hollywood will make them -- trust me."

And Sorbo shares that he enjoys starring in family and faith-based films.

"Lately it's ... Soul Surfer and ... What If, and I just finished a move called Abel's Field. I've got another one coming out called Grace Unplugged," he lists. "Those are certainly family movies, and I think having three small children myself has certainly changed the way I want to represent myself."

The 53-year-old actor recalls rejecting a role in a horror film because it did not fit his value system.

 

More kudos for Lowe's

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/6/2012

A Christian legal group applauds Lowe's for standing by its decision to pull advertisements from a show on Muslims living in America.

The North Carolina-based Charlotte Observer reports that Lowe's will not change its decision to pull commercials from TLC's All-American Muslim. The decision came after the Florida Family Association and the American Decency Association requested that constituents e-mail the show's advertisers because of the program's failure to present the lives of radical Islamic believers truthfully. The company has stood firm on its move, even after Muslim groups launched their own petition drive (see earlier story).

"We applaud Lowe's for taking the steps that they think [are] correct by pulling the advertising," says Matt Krause, litigation counsel for Liberty Counsel. "And if they don't feel that the show or the contents of the show genuinely reflect the values of its customers, then we say that that's terrific that they're standing by their decision."

The television show follows the lives of Muslim families living in Dearborn, Michigan. Lowe's vice president of marketing, Tom Lamb, has announced that the company's choice to retract its commercials was not influenced by any particular group.

"Lowe's is very well known, very reputable in the home improvement business, and so I think that's why they're being targeted more than others," Krause suggests.

Meanwhile, the company assures that its decision was not meant to alienate any particular group.

 

Believers and the ObamaCare 'fear factor'

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/6/2012

A recently completed survey details major concerns among American Christians over government plans for healthcare.

Medi-Share is a program into which individuals contribute a certain amount of money, and in the event of illness, those members share the medical expenses out of the pool of money. Medi-Share partnered with Harris Interactive for a poll to assess the Christian community on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka, "ObamaCare").

Tony Meggs is president of Christian Care Ministry, which operates Medi-Share. "A significant part of the Christian community, about 73 percent, are somewhat fearful or worry about politicians restricting their individual freedoms when they're going through the process of making healthcare decisions," he tells OneNewsNow.

And they are worried about their pocketbook, he adds, noting that "36 percent have a great concern just being able to afford healthcare insurance in the future."

Also, according to the survey, 68 percent of Christians are dissatisfied with solutions coming out of Washington -- and "72 percent are concerned that their employer may drop their health insurance and actually force them to participate in health exchanges that are going to be set up by the state," says Meggs.

The survey revealed that 8 of 10 Christians are not aware that if ObamaCare goes into effect, they can opt for programs like Medi-Share instead of those state exchanges.

 

Sex-ed available to teens 24-7

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/6/2012

According to a pro-family group, most parents don't know that many health organizations and schools are offering websites and texting services to reach adolescents with information about sex.

Smaller school budgets and other factors have reportedly inspired the creation of sites and services like Sex-Ed Loop or the Planned Parenthood-run text-chat program, ICYC (In Case You're Curious). These texting and web services provide young users with information on sexual acts, diseases, and contraception. While critics say the information only promotes unsafe sex, advocates claim research proves the contrary. Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council (FRC) says he is troubled by the fact they are set up to elude parental scrutiny.

"Even beyond that, these sources of information do not have the kind of oversight that schools might have," he notes. "Certainly we have problems with some of the sex education that goes on in public schools, but at least there is a certain amount of vetting that takes place there."

According to The New York Times, Stephanie Cisneros, a Denver-area high school junior, likes ICYC because of its "immediacy and confidentiality." But as Sprigg points out, it is difficult, if not impossible, for parents to monitor this activity.

"If their children have their own cell phone with texting capability, or particularly with Internet capability, then I'm not sure they can protect them," he laments.

To counteract the barrage of risk reduction-only messages, Valerie Huber of the National Abstinence Education Association hopes her organization will kick off its own online service by next year.

 

More fields to plant, harvest

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/6/2012

An established and successful evangelism program for children is now spreading is spreading even further into Russia.

Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) has formed a new partnership with the Russian Baptist Union. Spokesman Harry Robinson tells OneNewsNow that CEF had been working in Russia since before the Iron Curtain came down.
 
"We probably became first known to the Baptist Union there through Bible correspondence lessons that we were sending out to children [and] Bibles that we were distributing in Russia in the 1980s," says Robinson.
 
"And then in 1990 the Iron Curtain fell and CEF was there," he continues, "and the church contacted us and has been asking us to get involved in training their volunteers [and] their believers, their local church members, to go out and reach children."
 
Child Evangelism Fellowship is now helping the Russian Baptist Union train teachers and helpers from the denomination's churches in the CEF model and curriculum. In addition, the curriculum will be used in Russian Good News Clubs, which are after-school programs for children.

 

Answered prayer in the midst of persecution

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/6/2012

Open Doors USA has released its "World Watch List" for 2012 to highlight the countries that enforce the worst persecution against Christians.

For the tenth year in a row, Open Doors USA spokesman Paul Estabrooks says North Korea is ranked in the number-one spot. The other top ten countries are predominately Muslim.

"We have Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Somalia, who've been in the top in the last few years also, and Iran of course," he reports. "The Maldives, Uzbekistan, Yemen [have] actually increased this past year and gone higher, as well as Iraq, number nine, and Pakistan, number ten."

Since the list was first publicly issued in 1991, Estabrooks says prayers have been answered, and the revival in China is proof of that.

"I mean, the church in China has been growing dramatically in the face of challenges, and in some cases, severe persecution," he notes. "But that revival has expanded to the point now where we actually have Chinese missionaries going out into the Middle East" to Muslim countries and to Jerusalem.

 Further evidence of answered prayer is the growth of the church in Muslim countries, especially in Iran. The church in Africa is also growing in the face of obstacles and persecution.

 

Bad news is good news ... for pro-lifers

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/5/2012

Planned Parenthood has released its latest annual report, which reflects some negative news about the abortion giant for the 2009-2010 period.

The report, released on December 27, indicates the taxpayer-supported nonprofit has a budget that exceeds a billion dollars and garnered a net profit of $18.5 million for 2009-2010. But according to Jim Sedlak of STOPP International, Planned Parenthood is an organization "in trouble."
 
"They still bring in $223 million in contributions," he observes, "but in 2009/2010 that was down 27 percent from the year before. Their overall income is down about five percent to just over $1 billion."
 
According to its own report, 46 percent of the abortion giant's revenue now comes from U.S. taxpayers.

And while Planned Parenthood's own records show more than 53.6 million surgical and medical abortions from 1970 through the end of 2009, the number of abortions was down about 2,500 for 2010.
 
"This is very good news for the pro-life cause and very good news for all of those who are opposed to Planned Parenthood," Sedlak shares, "because we know that 2011 has been characterized by Planned Parenthood as their worst year ever. And so the next report ought to be really something fantastic."
 
At the same time, Sedlak says the organization is expecting an increase of $21 million this  year for its sex-education program, which critics says only promotes the idea of youth promiscuity. And the Obama administration is suing states or dropping Medicaid funds for those states that have de-funded Planned Parenthood.
 
To date, nine states have de-funded the abortion-provider of more than $61 million.

 

Confidential settlement suspicious

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/5/2012

An abortion facility shut down by the state of Illinois is now free to resume taking the lives of unborn babies.

Attorneys for the owner and the Illinois Department of Public Health announced in court Wednesday that they have reached a settlement after the Northern Illinois Women's Center in Rockford had been closed for three months. It had been shut down for what the state described as "egregious health and safety violations."
 
Peter Breen of the Chicago-based Thomas More Society admits he is a bit surprised by the settlement -- the terms of which have remained confidential -- and the statement by the attorney for the abortion clinic.
 
"When you have violations cited by the state that include unsanitary conditions in operating rooms; that include instruments that have not been cleaned; that include instruments that have not been sanitized properly -- for the abortion clinic lawyer to say that these violations had nothing to do with health and safety, that gives us great pause," Breen tells OneNewsNow.
 
The settlement, which the Society suggests that the Women's Center may have been given a "pass," calls for the clinic to pay about $9,000 in fines.
 
"This clinic's owners ... throughout the process and for many years have flouted basic medical standards," the attorney accuses. "They have put the lives and safety of women at risk -- and from that perspective we are very suspicious as to how this clinic could possibly reopen, at least under current ownership."
 
The Illinois Department of Public Health is the same agency that had not inspected the clinic for 14 years prior to the decision to shut it down.

 

Court ruling aids 'dumbing down'

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/5/2012

The Alliance Defense Fund is petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to review Idaho's ban on the use of books deemed "religious," even if they are the classics of Western civilization (see earlier story).

Besides the Bible, the ban also includes classical literature like Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey. ADF claims the Public School Charter Commission is misinterpreting state law, but earlier this year, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ban.

"The mere fact that a classical text is religious does not mean it has no educational value," contends ADF attorney David Cortman. "In fact, the Supreme Court itself has clearly acknowledged this, and that's why it should hear the case."

He maintains that if the Commission's misinterpretation of state law is allowed to stand, all Idaho public schools and universities will be negatively impacted.

"It's ridiculous that a historical, religious text that has been studied as part of Western civilization for centuries is somehow automatically off-limits," the attorney argues. "When government officials ban the objective study of all religious texts, including the most important literary works of all times, it only contributes to the further dumbing down of government-run education."

ADF first filed suit in 2009 on behalf of Nampa Classical Academy. The Commission threatened to revoke the school's charter status if they used the banned books for any purpose whatsoever.

 

Secret to keeping Christianity in schools

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/4/2012

Public schools were under the constant attack of anti-Christian forces last year, but as one attorney reports, many of those forces were successfully defeated through legal processes.

Mathew Staver of the Liberty Counsel says just standing up and opposing groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) usually leads to a win. He points out that in one lawsuit, the ACLU literally tried to criminalize Christianity in Florida's Santa Rosa County schools (see earlier story).

"They would've gotten away with it, but we were able to intervene," he accounts. "And just after continual persistence, we were able to push back the ACLU and finally restore religious freedom to Santa Rosa County."

Though the number of such lawsuits against school districts is on the rise, Staver is undaunted, as he sees a bright future for religious freedom.

"I see it from the perspective of someone who's simply standing in the gap," he shares. "A controversy arises, and out of that apparent adversity, God can ultimately resurrect incredible opportunity. That's what we see, and we need to continue to press forward along those lines in 2012 and beyond."

As he has previously warned during OneNewsNow interviews, if the ACLU gets its way in one school, "they will try to export that around the country." So Staver's firm is working to keep the liberal group from reaching their goal of criminalizing Christianity.

 

Pro-lifer: NAACP trading principles for relevance

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/4/2012

In opposing a bill before Congress that would ban race-based abortions, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), says one pro-life group, is actually turning a deaf ear to genocide.

Tim Johnson, president of The Frederick Douglass Foundation, says he is not surprised that the civil rights organization for ethnic minorities is against the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act of 2011, a measure that bans abortions on the basis of race and gender (see earlier story).

"I think when we start looking at especially an organization such as the NAACP, it's really lost its way over the last few years in an effort, in an attempt to try to continue to be relevant as we move forward into the 21st century," Johnson offers. "It just really has just changed over the years to really have an agenda that is nothing like what it was founded on, the principles it was founded on, and [is now] really just about raising money."

And the Foundation president stresses that the NAACP supports abortion, even though 36 percent of the abortions in the U.S. terminate the lives of black unborn babies. So he determines the group is turning a deaf ear to genocide.

"They're bragging about the number of homosexuals that they have serving as presidents of their local chapters, and that is not something that the organization was built on," Johnson adds.

But he assures that The Frederick Douglass Foundation supports the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act, which would ensure the rights of minority and female babies the same as those of white and male babies.

 

District, Christian club see eye to eye

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/4/2012

A Texas school district has refunded hundreds of dollars to Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) because the higher fees charged the club violated its First Amendment rights.

The Midlothian Independent School District was charging the after-school Good News Clubs higher-than-normal fees to use school facilities because they reclassified the club as a "church." Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, stepped in.
 
"We pointed out that this was a clear denial of the First Amendment," he tells OneNewsNow, "because First Amendment rules in the Constitution require that there be equal access and equal treatment, and that you cannot discriminate on the basis of the religious viewpoint of the club."
 
Initially the district denied a fee waiver because the group, it said, "did not support the goals of the district." But in a letter to the school district, Liberty Counsel pointed out that in addition to being a youth-oriented, character-building group, CEF supported statutory character training curriculum goals outlined in the Texas Education Code -- and therefore was entitled to a waiver.
 
Staver says the school ultimately agreed with their opinion and refunded the overcharged fees -- thereby opening the door for a second CEF chapter at a different school in the district to open, and effectively doubling the group's outreach in the district.
 
"Parents can choose the after-school opportunities -- they can have their children go to secular programs such as the Scouts or maybe soccer," he points out. "But they also have the opportunity now to allow them to go to the Good News Clubs, which really are life-changing and character-building opportunities."
 
Good News Clubs are enrichment programs open to all elementary-age students regardless of their religious background or beliefs.

 

Standing tough against atheists

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/4/2012

Warren, Michigan, will have its day in federal court in 2012 after the town was accused of not allowing an atheist organization to post its display next to a creche during the holiday season.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation filed the lawsuit against Warren, but Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel says its argument is faulty.

"This lawsuit by the Freedom From Religion Foundation is bogus," says the Liberty Counsel representative. "It's like someone trying to crash another person's party or another person's parade. Obviously if you have a forum where you have your own parade on a public street ,it doesn't mean that everybody who wants to participate in it with a contrary message can participate, and the same is here."

Staver argues Warren does not have to provide equal space for atheists during a Christian holiday. "There's no question that the Freedom From Religion Foundation is harassing and trying to intimidate the town. I'm glad to say that this town is standing firm," he says.

Liberty Counsel has offered to defend the town against the foundation's lawsuit. Staver says that it is absurd that the Foundation wants to put up a message that undercuts the holiday.

 

Fast food + alcohol = 'fast drunks'

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 1/4/2012

The White Castle hamburger chain is considering the idea of selling alcohol at more of its restaurants, but one group doesn't think alcohol should be given any more outlets.

At this time, White Castle is only testing beer and wine sales at a location in Lafayette, Indiana. A spokesman for the chain tells Associated Press that the company has not decided whether to expand alcohol sales, but he notes that customers have reacted positively to the fact that alcoholic beverages are being offered.

Dr. Mark Creech of the Christian Action League and the  American Council on Alcohol Problems says it is all about marketing more outlets.

"Marketing 101 is [the] more outlets [you have, the more] you sell of your product. That's why McDonald's has an outlet seemingly on every corner," he explains. "And the same is true for alcohol. If you have more outlets, you're going to sell more alcohol. More will be consumed over time."

In 2011, Burger King opened "Whopper Bars" in Miami, Las Vegas, and Kansas City. In the summer, Sonic drive-ins began offering beer and wine at new locations in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, although the chain said it had no plans of expanding sales outside of South Florida and assured that certain restrictions applied ( see earlier story).

"The American Council on Alcohol Problems did issue  a resolution with respect to Sonic and Burger King. It was broad and it also addressed any of this kind of initiative at any fast-food restaurants," Creech notes.

He contends that fast food and alcohol do not mix because "fast food and alcohol makes for fast drunks."

 

Chided teacher not backing down

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/4/2012

A Wisconsin teacher targeted by union members for supporting education reform has decided to fight back.

When Kristi Lacroix said in a TV ad that she supports Governor Scott Walker's budget reforms, she was immediately met with vitriolic attacks from union members (see earlier story). Kyle Olson of the Education Action Group Foundation says Lacroix was surprised and overwhelmed by the reaction.

"The left wing, the union activists come out and they do everything they can. They use Saul Alinsky tactics to shred their opponents, and that is unfortunately what she has been experiencing," he comments.

In speaking with the Wisconsin teacher, Olson has learned that she is looking for ways to fight back.

"In my relatively limited interaction with her, I think Kristi is somebody who is strong and determined, and she believes she's right, and she's not going to back down," he asserts.

Though some reports suggest Lacroix might be contemplating quitting, the EAG president assures that is not the case. Instead, he says her primary goal is to bring professionalism to the teaching profession.

 

Another school taking stand for religious liberty

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/3/2012

A Christian college has joined the fight to challenge the Obama administration's healthcare mandate that schools must violate church teachings against contraception (see earlier story).

Colorado Christian University has joined with the monks at Belmont Abbey College to fight against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act mandate that abortion-inducing drugs be accessible through all group health insurance plans.

"Well, we're really grateful that Belmont Abbey and Colorado Christian have taken the lead on this," shares Hannah Smith, senior legal counsel at  The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. "It's very important to have institutions that are willing to put themselves out there and be the first ones in court, and I think that there will be other universities and other institutions who realize that this is a real threat to them as well."

She notes the growing, widespread response to this situation among the evangelical Christians, Catholics, and orthodox Jews, "who consider this [an] imposition of a government mandate, requiring them to pay for Plan B and Ella -- drugs that are more commonly referred to as abortion drugs. But that is just un-American, it's unprecedented, and it's unconstitutional," the attorney argues.

The two lawsuits challenge the mandates as violations of the First Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the Administrative Procedures Act.

 

Human rights violations continue in Sudan

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/3/2012

Sudan, a nation weary from war, continues to experience violence that targets Christians and certain ethnic and political groups (see earlier story).

More than 2 million Christians and animists were killed in Southern Sudan before a peace agreement and an election led to the South seceding from the North. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has issued a report on the situation, and spokesperson Tiffany Lynch tells OneNewsNow it focuses on the North's violence in the Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile regions.
 
"The state armed forces have been killing people based on political party affiliation, religious identity, and ethnicity," she explains. "In particular, they're targeting Christians, ethnic Nubans, and People's Liberation Movement-North political party."
 
Those are groups that lean against the Muslim-dominated North, and the military has been going door-to-door, arresting or killing them based on those factors. Those forces have also bombed a refugee camp in South Sudan.
 
"More than 20,000 people from Southern Kordofan have fled into South Sudan to the refugee camp," Lynch reports. "Myself and a colleague traveled there in late October, then two weeks afterward, the Sudan forces bombed the camp. A bomb actually landed in a school where 300 students had been in class."
 
Though that bomb did not detonate, the USCIRF spokesperson reiterates that violent attacks are common. Meanwhile, humanitarian assistance has been blocked from entering the country.

 

Hawaiian churched denied exemption

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/4/2012

A court in Hawaii has refused to exempt churches from being forced to allow their property to be used for civil union ceremonies.

The Emmanuel Temple and the Lighthouse Outreach Center Assembly of God requested a restraining order to block a law that permits same-sex couples to enter civil unions. It exempts clergy from performing the ceremonies, which are the equivalent of marriage, but there is no provision to protect church property. They argued that they would face civil penalties and fines if they refused to rent their property for same-sex civil unions, but U.S. District Judge Michael Seabright denied the request.

Matt Barber of  Liberty Counsel Action tells OneNewsNow that creates a clear conflict between government and the free exercise of religion.

"There is no exemption for religious institutions, for churches, houses of worship from being subject to fines and to sanctions as provided in the legislation for refusing to allow their houses of worship to be desecrated through the use of a so-called 'civil union' ceremony," he explains.

But the two churches were unsuccessful in blocking the law for that reason.

"It's unfortunate that this judge has refused to grant injunctive relief here to protect freedom of religious expression," Barber laments, "and this will indeed create a chilling effect on the free exercise of religion in the state of Hawaii -- and it sets a very bad example for the rest of the country."

At the very least, the attorney says the legislature needs to revisit the issue and make sure churches are protected from being forced to host civil union ceremonies. The law went into effect as scheduled on Sunday.

 

Charter school rejected because of applicant's faith

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 1/2/2012

A California attorney says one city's move to stop a pastor from starting a charter school is another method to prevent people of faith from getting involved.

School officials in Compton have denied two charter school applications filed by Pastor Charles Patrick of Sunago Christian Fellowship Church, who wanted to start a school in Los Angeles. However, even though he was not applying on behalf of a religious institution, the Compton Unified School District declined his applications because he is a church leader.

In response, Frontier Legal Foundation has filed a lawsuit against California, charging The Golden State with violating Patrick's First Amendment rights.

"A pastor is entitled to as much right under the First Amendment as any individual is," contends Robert Tyler of  Advocates for Faith & Freedom, "especially when they're going to be using the funds, in this case, for secular purposes."

Pastor Patrick reportedly did not plan to teach religion in the school. He only wanted to operate a charter school "in a safe location." Frontier Legal Foundation  tells The Orange County Register that constitutional case law permits a religious institution to receive funding when the money is used for a "secular purpose" like education or medical care.

"I think that what we're seeing here is a move toward trying to prevent any person of faith from really being involved," Tyler suspects.

The legal group maintains that the school group's decision fails the case-law test, and the lawsuit cites the Establishment Clause, which is meant to protect all citizens against discrimination.

 

Democratic switcheroo?

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/4/2012

A conservative political scientist professor says a recent prediction by a prominent liberal demonstrates real concerns among Democrats about President Obama's chances for re-election in November.

Robert Reich is a liberal columnist and professor at the University of California at Berkeley who served as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He recently published an op-ed predicting that Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will swap jobs, resulting in an Obama-Clinton ticket for 2012.

Reich believes Obama needs to "stir the passions and enthusiasms of a Democratic base that's been disillusioned with his cave-ins to regressive Republicans." He believes having Mrs. Clinton on the ticket could do that -- and that the deal would make the former first lady the obvious Democratic presidential candidate in four years.

In conclusion, Reich points out that the duo are this year's most admired man and woman, making an Obama-Clinton ticket in 2012 "a natural."

Dr. Charles W. Dunn is the distinguished professor of government at Regent University's Robertson School of Government. He says the columnist is suggesting something that liberals have been secretly contemplating for some time.

"[They] are becoming quite concerned about whether they can retain the White House -- and Reich's column demonstrates that," says the election analyst. "He has brought to the forefront what many liberals have been saying in the quiet of Democratic cloak rooms."

Dunn adds there is a possibility that if things get real bad for Obama in the coming months, Clinton backers will not settle for her to be at the bottom of the 2012 presidential ticket.

"If Obama goes from bad to worse, then Democrats could prevail upon the Clintons to challenge Obama for the nomination," he tells OneNewsNow. "Now that's very unlikely, but that Clinton machine is still there."

Dunn believes Mrs. Clinton is in the driver's seat right now, while Mr. Obama is not.

 

TV, popular culture 'glorifying' adultery

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/3/2012

Though adultery will likely continue to be a major theme on television this year, a content watchdog group says the public does not have to tolerate it.

The Parents Television Council (PTC) expects 2012 to be the same as 2011 in terms of TV's focus on adultery instead of faithful marriages. Spokesperson Melissa Henson further discusses the continuing trend.

"This is part of a larger trend that we've seen coming for a few years now that seems to glamorize any form of extramarital or premarital relations and glorify that kind of behavior, whereas sex in the context of marriage is treated as either nonexistent or sort of something that you do out of obligation and not out of love," Henson explains.

That communicates a damaging message about love and intimacy that tends to harm the value of marriage. For this reason, she sees no reason to be surprised by a cultural attitude that increasingly regards marriage as unnecessary and even undesirable.

"I think that is to a certain extent to be expected when the message that people are constantly being fed by the popular culture is 'why get married? You can enjoy all the benefits of marriage and enjoy it more if you're cohabiting than living together as man and wife,'" the PTC spokesperson contends. "And those messages are certainly being reinforced in the popular culture."

Henson goes on to emphasize that the public cannot count on the networks and cable television to correct the message, so people have to be especially prudent in choosing what they and their children watch. Without an audience, she points out that the controversial shows would fail.

 

Study connects alcohol and sex

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 1/3/2012

A new study out of Canada's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health confirms that unprotected sex is more likely to occur after drinking, so one pastor thinks that should motivate Christians to address the abuse of alcohol rather than promote the message of safe sex.

Though the topic is not popular today, Dr. Mark Creech of the Christian Action League and the American Council on Alcohol Problems says the fact remains that where disease prevention is concerned, the failure rate for condoms is really high.
He thinks people ought to realize that sex within the context of a life-long monogamous marriage -- what it is intended for -- is always safe. 

"Protected promiscuity is not a part of God's plan," he notes. "But what I think we can learn from this is that we're discovering every day the new links between seriously self-destructive behavior and the use and abuse of alcohol."

Creech describes alcohol as one of the few legal commodities in the U.S. that is inherently dangerous. With every drink a person takes, the individual moves closer to acting out some form of regrettable behavior. "Alcohol doesn't produce the behavior, mind you. But it most certainly greases the wheels for it," he suggests.

And Creech cites a recently published book as evidence.

"Laura Sessions Stepp in her book, Unhooked, examined the culture of casual sex of young women in high school and college," he explains. "Of the hundreds of young women that she interviewed, less than a half-dozen said that they were sober at the time. She said that alcohol is what fuels the unhooked culture among young people, especially those in college."

He decides a new study like the one from Canada's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health further affirms such research.

"[Stepp] said that these young women would drink for different reasons -- some for the exhilarating high, sometimes because others around them were drinking. But many of them were drinking to quiet the cautionary voices in their heads," Creech tells OneNewsNow.

So he finds it unfortunate that alcohol is largely a subject that much of evangelical Christianity no longer seems willing to address.

"We hear about the problem of gambling; we hear about sex, about abortion; we hear about the breakdown of the family and all of those things, but it's also true more than we realize that alcohol is the social lubricant that energizes these negative actions," he contends.

Basically, he agrees with Solomon's words found in Proverbs 20: "Wine is a mocker."

"In other words," the pastor concludes, "it will make a fool of you, 'and whoever is deceived thereby is not wise.'"

 

Spencer: Islamic supremacism not slowing down

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/4/2012

A bestselling author and expert on terrorism predicts the advances in Islamic supremacy seen in 2011 will continue in 2012.

Two Memphis-area Islamic clerics recently filed suit against Delta Airlines for kicking them off a flight to Charlotte, where they were to attend a conference on so-called "Islamophobia."

According to The Commercial Appeal, the suit alleges the two clerics, dressed in traditional Islamic attire, were removed from the flight based on the fact that the pilot of the plane "believed the mere presence and perception of the plaintiffs on this plane would make other passengers feel uncomfortable."

Robert Spencer, director of  Jihad Watch, says this suit is an effort to remove all obstacles to the spread of Jihad and Islamic supremacism.

"The fact that they are trying to frighten airport security officials into not doing anything about Muslims behaving oddly at airports is an indication that they want to enable the Jihadists to do whatever they want and not be scrutinized," he contends.

Spencer notes  another recent example in which the Department of Defense caved to the demands of the radical Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to allow female cadets in the Army's junior ROTC to wear the hijab with their uniforms after a Muslim high school student in Tennessee was not allowed to participate because of her headscarf.

"This is just another attempt to reinforce the proposition that wherever Islamic law and custom conflict with American law and custom, it's American law and custom that has to give way," he argues.

Spencer says with a pro-Islamic president in the White House, he expects more advances in Islamic supremacism in 2012.

 

Another Christmas brings persecution for Nigerians

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/3/2012

With the attacks on Nigerian Christians on Christmas, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is urging the U.S. to take action in curbing the spread of extremist ideology in 2012.

On Christmas Day, bombings directed at Christians killed about 40 people and injured many others. The organization claiming responsibility, Boko Haram, is the same group that attacked Christians last year. Leonard Leo is chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and says he does not expect a change anytime soon.

"When over the past decade you have 13,000 people killed in sectarian clashes and, as far as we can tell, not a single conviction, there isn't a whole lot there that is [discouraging] people from engaging in this kind of senseless activity," he laments.

But he contends that someone needs to take responsibility, make arrests, and prosecute the offenders. Also, he points out that Boko Haram did not get its ideas on its own.

"We need to be vigilant as a country in making sure that extremist ideology is not exported around the world," he urges. "When we were as a commission visiting Nigeria the last couple of times, we saw literature that appeals to violence, and it's literature that's coming out of Pakistan. It's literature that's coming out of Saudi Arabia."

Such material, he concludes, is "polluting countries like Nigeria." So, Leo says it is important for the U.S. to also deal with those countries that are "hot houses" for extremist ideology.

 

What's driving the NEA's plans for 'quality'?

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 1/3/2012

The National Education Association has announced plans to increase the quality of teaching, but some question the union's motives and whether the effort will actually produce meaningful results.

The NEA, the nation's largest teachers union, insists its agenda is to ensure that every student has a qualified, caring, and effective teacher. But Lindsey Burke of The Heritage Foundation believes that is a reaction to the pushback the unions have been receiving from various state legislators.

"I think this has started to cause the union to play a little bit of defense and come out with a positive agenda that really reflects what teachers are yearning for and ultimately what I think education policy makers are really starting to push for," Burke suggests.

However, she does not believe this latest effort will amount to any meaningful changes.

"If we had seen the NEA come out in favor of alternative teacher certification, come out in favor of merit pay, that would have been a game-changer," the policy analyst contends. "But unfortunately, they didn't and they're really just pushing more of the old status quo."

Ultimately, Burke says it would be up to the individual states to work with the NEA and implement any proposed changes.

 

Lowes decision still causing stir

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/4/2012

A national defense analyst and critic of Islam says Christian conservatives need to continue to tell Lowes Home Improvement they support its decision not to advertise on a controversial reality TV show about Muslims.

As previously reported on OneNewsNow, Lowes Home Improvement was one of several sponsors that yanked its advertising from The Learning Channel's reality show, All-American Muslim, after the Florida Family Association and the American Decency Association revealed that the show whitewashes the evils of Islam.

Brigitte Gabriel is founder and president of  ACT! for America and author of They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It. After her organization delivered a 30,000-signature petition supporting Lowes' move, left-wing pro-Islamic groups began a relentless petition campaign to pressure the store to change its mind.

"The Muslim lobby launched their own petition, and they got progressive organizations like Think Progress and MoveOn.org and the ACLU to get involved," Gabriel reports. "They were able to gather 200,000 signatures, which they took to Lowes and said, 'Listen -- the only petition that is with you has 30,000 signatures; here we have 200,000 signatures, which shows you that the majority of Americans are against your decision and they want you to go back to advertising on the show or they're going to boycott you.'"

So far, Lowes has not backed down from its initial decision, but the ACT! for America president is encouraging people to join more than 42,000 others in signing the online petition on her organization's website that urges the company to stand firm.

 

WH domestic policy chief calls it quits

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 1/4/2012

A political consultant and free-market advocate says the sudden departure of President Barack Obama's domestic policy advisor is "strange," while another group sees it as a sign that the administration doesn't intend to do any major domestic policy work this year.

According to Less Government president Seton Motley, many fights remain to be fought as November's election approaches, and domestic policy advisor Melody Barnes announcing her immediate departure last week is interesting to say the least.

"We had that gigantic bit of nothing over the two-month payroll tax [cut] debacle. That's going to have to be fought again in February," Motley notes. "You've got all sorts of energy policy, which is domestic. You've a budget that the Senate hasn't passed in over 1,000 days -- that's domestic."

He understands that being a staffer at the White House has to be a major drain, but he also points out that departure of any staffer does not usually come this late in a term, let alone 11 months before an election.

"About two years in, they say, 'If you want to leave, do it now because we need people in place for the stretch run,'" the Less Government president says.

A group of grassroots activists believes Barnes' sudden departure is a sign that the administration has no intention of doing any major domestic policy work this year. Dan Holler of  Heritage Action for America points out that the administration has already shifted into full-fledged campaign mode, so he does not expect anything. (Listen to audio report)

"Each administration sort of rolls to its own rhythm and narrative, and if you're the top domestic policy advisor for President Obama, you look back. And obviously, Melody Barnes is going to spin all of their accomplishments into what they've done and have sort of a great going out party," he suspects. "And the media will cover that, and I think that's to some advantage for the administration. But if you're just her as a person, you say, 'You know what? We're not going to get a whole lot done this year. I'm going to be spinning my wheels.'"

Meanwhile, Melody Barnes does not think she is leaving the White House without achieving something, as she tells USA Today there have been many domestic achievements, and she is "proud" of what the administration has managed to do over the last few years.

 

2012 ushers in new abortion, immigration, indoctrination laws

Andrew Welsh-Huggins - Associated Press - 12/29/2011

Girls seeking abortions in New Hampshire must first tell their parents or a judge, employers in Alabama must verify new workers' U.S. residency, and California students will be the first in the country to receive mandatory pro-homosexual indoctrination under state laws set to take effect at the start of 2012.

Many laws reflect the nation's concerns over immigration, the cost of government and the best way to protect and benefit young people, including regulations on sports concussions.

Alabama, with the country's toughest immigration law, is enacting a key provision requiring all employers who do business with any government entity to use a federal system known as E-Verify to check that all new employees are in the country legally.

Georgia is putting a similar law into effect requiring any business with 500 or more employees to use E-Verify to check the employment eligibility of new hires. The requirement is being phased in, with all employers with more than 10 employees to be included by July 2013.

Supporters said they wanted to deter illegal immigrants from coming to Georgia by making it tougher for them to work. Critics said that changes to immigration law should come at the federal level and that portions of the law already in effect are already hurting Georgia.

"It is destroying Georgia's economy and it is destroying the fabric of our social network in South Georgia," Paul Bridges, mayor of the onion-farming town of Uvalda, said in November. He is part of a lawsuit challenging the new law.

Tennessee will also require businesses to ensure employees are legally authorized to work in the U.S. but exempts employers with five or fewer workers and allows them to keep a copy of the new hire's driver's license instead of using E-Verify.

A South Carolina law would allow officials to yank the operating licenses of businesses that don't check new hires' legal status through E-verify. A federal judge this week blocked more controversial parts of the law that would have required police to ask criminal suspects or individuals stopped for traffic violations about immigration status, and made it a crime for illegal immigrants to transport or house themselves.

California is also addressing illegal immigration, but with a bill that allows students who entered the country illegally to receive private financial aid at public colleges.

Also in California, a new law will add homosexuals to the list of social and ethnic groups whose contributions must be taught in history lessons in public schools. The law also bans teaching materials that reflect poorly on gays or particular religions.

Opponents have filed five potential initiatives to repeal the requirement outright or let parents remove their children while gays' contributions are being taught.

Florida will take control of lunch and other school food programs from the federal government, allowing the state to put more Florida-grown fresh fruit and vegetables on school menus. Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam says the change will help children eat healthier.

Many laws aim to protect young people. In Colorado, coaches will be required to bench players as young as 11 when they're believed to have suffered a head injury. The young athletes will also need medical clearance to return to play.

The law also requires coaches in public and private schools and even volunteer Little League and Pop Warner football coaches to take free annual online training to recognize the symptoms of a concussion. At least a dozen other states have enacted similar laws with the support of the National Football League.

People 18 and under in Illinois will have to wear seat belts while riding in taxis for school-related purposes, and Illinois school boards can now suspend or expel students who make explicit threats on websites against other students or school employees.

In New Hampshire, a law requiring girls seeking abortions to tell their parents or a judge first was reinstated by conservative Republicans over a gubernatorial veto. The state enacted a similar law eight years ago, but it was never enforced following a series of lawsuits.

In Arkansas, facilities that perform 10 or more nonsurgical abortions a month must be licensed by the state Health Department and be subject to inspections by the department, the same requirements faced by facilities that offer surgical abortions in the state.

It affects two Planned Parenthood facilities that offer the abortion pill, though they're not singled out in the statute.

Among federal laws, a measure Congress passed last week to extend Social Security tax cuts and federal unemployment benefit programs raises insurance fees on new mortgages and refinancings backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration by 0.1 percent beginning Jan. 1.

That covers about 90 percent of them and effectively makes a borrower's monthly payment on a new $200,000 mortgage or refinancing about $17 a month more than it would have been if obtained before the first of the year.

Nevada's 3-month old ban on texting while driving will get tougher, with tickets replacing the warnings that police have issued since the ban took effect Oct. 1. In Pennsylvania, police are preparing to enforce that state's recently enacted ban on texting, scheduled to take effect by spring.

Election law changes in Rhode Island and Tennessee will require voters to present photo ID, a measure that supporters say prevents fraud and that opponents say will make it harder for minorities and the elderly to cast ballots.

In Ohio, a measure that creates one primary in March, instead of two that would have cost the state an extra $15 million, goes into effect later in January.

Ohio is also one of eight states with automatic increases in the minimum wage taking effect Jan. 1. The others, with increases between 28 and 37 cents, are Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Montana, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.

A few laws try to address budget woes. In Delaware, new state employees will have to contribute more to their pensions, while state workers hired after Jan. 1 in Nevada will have to pony up for their own health care costs in retirement.

Jan. 1 is the effective date in many states for laws passed during this year's legislative sessions. In others, laws take effect July 1, or 90 days after passage.

 

Still waiting for word from WH on Keystone pipeline

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 12/29/2011

The clock is ticking for President Barack Obama to either make a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline -- or explain why the plan is not in the nation's best interest.

Dan Simmons, director of state and regulatory affairs at the Institute for Energy Research (IER), thinks it is easy to see why the pipeline should be approved.

"Is it in our national interest to get more oil from Canada or from other sources? Since Canada is our best ally, they're our biggest trading partner, [and] they're our best friends in pretty much every way, it seems to me that it is definitely in our national interest to get more oil from Canada," he reasons.

And Simmons points out something that often goes unreported or ignored in today's news involving oil.

"Our number-one source of imported oil is Canada. It's not Saudi Arabia, or Russia, or one of the other large oil producers; it is, in fact, Canada," the state and regulatory affairs director reports. "And number two is usually Mexico."

If the president turns down the Keystone XL pipeline, it will not jeopardize TransCanada's current Keystone pipeline already in place. However, Simmons asserts that TransCanada will not just let its oil sit there. One option would be to ship it off to Asian markets or transport more oil by trains.

"Already there is a daily train route that goes from North Dakota down to refineries in Oklahoma and other parts of the country," he explains. "It's already happening from within the United States, and if the pipeline is not built, you can expect to see more transported oil by trains."

Until a decision is made, the Institute for Energy Research estimates the XL Pipeline delay will continue to cost the United States $70 million a day. The requirement for a decision on the pipeline was included in the two-month extension of the Social Security payroll tax cut approved by Congress.

 

Expert: Obama 'spending us into poor house'

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 12/29/2011

President Barack Obama is seeking another $1.2-trillion increase in the debt ceiling, and one expert on the subject isn't surprised.

Brian Darling, senior fellow for government studies at The Heritage Foundation, says the request for a debt ceiling increase is something his organization has expected from the White House for quite some time.

"Washington can't control spending," he says. "When we have $15.1 trillion in national debt that we've racked up over the years, it's pretty clear that the president's intending on spending us into the poor house."

And Darling thinks Obama is using the Christmas and New Year's holidays to his advantage. "It's kind of a dead time for news stories in Washington, DC, and nationally because it'll be less noticed that he's asking for this massive hike in the debt ceiling," the expert explains.

After House Republicans agreed last week to extend the payroll tax cut another two months, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) declared that it is time to stop short-term "gimmicks" and focus on the long term. But Darling forecasts what will ultimately happen with this request from the president.

"There will probably be a push in the House to block the increase in the debt ceiling, but we know that it'll be vetoed if it gets to the president's desk, [and] we know that the Democrats in the Senate won't allow blocking of the debt ceiling [increase] to pass," he says. "So it's unrealistic that any effort to block the increase in the debt ceiling will have any steam."

Still, Darling thinks more debate over borrowing and possibly over the Balanced Budget Amendment is inevitable, as are talks on the need to cut spending.

 

'Gay' clergy 'inappropriate' speakers at Christmas

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 12/29/2011

A California pro-family leader says the Catholic Church's decision to dis-invite "gay" clergy from recent Christmas services was the right thing to do.

The Most Holy Redeemer Church in San Francisco is being criticized for recently canceling several Christmas services that included homosexual clergy. Pastor Steve Meriwether dis-invited three ministers at the request of San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer. The archdiocese's spokesman told the San Francisco Chronicle that the speakers were "inappropriate for the season of Advent," which is a time to reflect on the birth of Jesus Christ.

The cancellation has drawn criticism from the homosexual community, which believes the move sends a message to homosexual congregation members that they are not welcome in the Catholic Church.

"Jesus spoke against sexual immorality a few times and made it very clear in Matthew 19 that marriage is only for a man and a woman," notes Randy Thomasson of  SaveCalifornia.com.

According to the Chronicle, the congregation at Most Holy Redeemer is mainly homosexual, and the archdiocese says the issue is a "very delicate pastoral situation." The church rescinded its invitations to former Episcopal Bishop Otis Charles, Presbyterian Rev. Jane Spahr, and Rev. Roland Stringfellow of Metropolitan Community Church.

"Jesus warned about taking away the lamp stands of churches that put up with sexual sin and idolatry, and I would venture to say there are lamp stands removed from churches already," Thomasson decides. "While they might claim that they are doing the work of the Lord, the work of the Lord may have left hundreds of years ago."

The archdiocese ordered the church to withdraw from San Francisco's yearly "gay pride" parade and asked it to cancel a play in 2009 that discussed sexuality.

 

Court turns deaf ear to anti-Semitism

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 12/29/2011

A terrorism expert and Islamic watchdog isn't surprised that a court has ruled to reject the claims of anti-Semitism at the University of California, Berkeley.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that a Jewish student and a recent graduate of UC Berkeley filed suit, claiming officials failed to protect Jewish students from the threats and harassment brought on by two campus Muslim groups.

The complaint focuses on the activities during the anti-Israel "Apartheid Week" in 2010 conducted by the Muslim Student Association and Students for Justice in Palestine. The harassment included uniformed Muslims conducting "checkpoints," asking passing students if they were Jewish. The annual event is meant to compare Israel's policies to the institutionalized racism of South Africa's former white government.

One of the plaintiffs claimed that a leader of the pro-Palestinian group rammed her with a shopping cart as she staged a counter-protest. However, the court rejected her complaints, saying much of the alleged harassment, even if true, constituted protected political speech that UC Berkeley had no obligation to stop.

But Robert Spencer of  Jihad Watch says the Muslims were actually the enemies of free speech.

"The Muslim students who threatened and acted thuggishly toward the Jewish students were not acting in any kind of legitimate way in defense of free speech. They were trying to shut down the Jewish students," he contends. "And so this ruling is really sort of ridiculous. Now, thuggishness and shouting people down and shutting people up is protected speech, and to complain about that is to try to shut down the thugs. It's kind of an appalling situation."

An attorney for the plaintiffs is weighing his clients' options, but Spencer is not confident the students' right to speak freely about Islam at Berkeley will be protected.

 

MATS a problem for the economy

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 12/29/2011

More information about the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) rules for coal-fired power plants is coming to light, including which states could encounter brownouts and blackouts in the near future.

The Mercury and Air Toxic Standards (MATS) require power plants to put in place technologies to reduce emissions of mercury, arsenic, and chromium, among other toxic substances. According to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, MATS will provide between $37 billion and $90 billion in health benefits for the American people. Still, a number of individuals, special-interest groups, and think tanks warn that the standards will be costly to the economy and could result in brownouts and blackouts in various places that depend heavily on coal for electricity.

"This rule is going to take as much as 20 percent of U.S. coal-fired power offline between now and 2016," Steve Milloy of  JunkScience.com estimates. "I don't know that next summer is necessarily the trigger, but as we take coal-fired power offline ... that's going to hurt our ability to meet peak demand.

Milloy notes that peak demand tends to come in summer, when there is a heat wave.

"Air conditioning is the number-one way to survive a heat wave, so we'll have to see," he comments. "I'd hate to be a Democrat politician this summer praying that there is no heat wave that people die from because the air conditioning goes out."

And the JunkScience.com publisher points out that mercury, arsenic, and other emissions are already regulated -- not through direct regulations on coal-fired plants, but through controls on other emissions. Regardless, he reports that U.S. coal-fired power plants only emit half a percent of the world's emissions.

So which states could be impacted most? Tom Borelli of  The National Center for Public Policy Research offers his thoughts.

"The Texas grid operator has warned of brownouts and blackouts, and I believe in Massachusetts they're concerned as well," says Borelli. "If demand goes up, especially if the economy picks up, there's a good chance there's going to be regional shortages."

And as Borelli concludes, that is "the last thing our economy needs."

 

Navy tradition spotlights lesbians

Beck Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 12/28/2011

A pro-family leader says a public embrace between two lesbian sailors proves that homosexual activists are taking every effort to celebrate the federal government's repeal of "don't ask, don't tell."

A public kiss between two lesbians in the U.S. Navy is being dubbed "the kiss heard 'round the world.'" The Los Angeles Times reports that homosexual activists who sought a repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy are applauding Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta's kiss with her girlfriend Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell. The couple embraced on a Navy dock in Virginia following Gaeta's return last week from an 80-day deployment to Central America aboard the Oak Hill.
 
David Bauer, commanding officer of the Oak Hill, told The Associated Press that the kiss was "going to happen, and the crew's going to enjoy it." The couple's kiss marks the first time that a same-sex couple has been chosen to have the first kiss tradition for Navy ships returning home.
 
Randy Thomasson of SaveCalifornia.com is familiar with the tactics of homosexual activists in California, home to both Gaeta and Snell.
 
"San Diego, being the top Navy port on the West Coast, has an aggressive homosexual activist community which is just applauding this big time, saying 'it's delightful,' saying, 'it's fantastic,'" he laments.
 
Sailors purchased $1 tickets at a raffle to raise money for a Christmas party for children whose parents are in the military. Gaeta purchased $50 worth of tickets, and the lesbian couple was chosen to have the first kiss.
 
Thomasson argues that is not what the military is for. "It's about a fighting force to defend our shores, to defend our interests, and to advance the cause of the United States' security in the world," he tells OneNewsNow. "I would not make it social engineering that the Navy has done it, and now perverse social engineering."
 
The "first kiss" couple for a Navy ship's return is traditionally chosen through a raffle.

 

Suit seeks to oust state from marriage battle

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 12/28/2011

If a lawsuit described by family advocates as "frivolous" is successful, it could have dire consequences on the definition of marriage in The Tar Heel State.

A county official in North Carolina has filed suit claiming people wanting to get married should not have to obtain a state-issued marriage license. Those behind the suit argue the state's current marriage statutes violate both the U.S. Constitution and the supposed separation of church and state.

Mat Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, argues that the state does have an essential role in marriage -- and adds that the real reason for the lawsuit is to push the state out of the way so homosexuals men and women can "marry." According to the attorney, the intent behind the legal action could extend even further.

"... This doesn't just stop at heterosexual marriage or same-sex 'marriage,' but it also will extend to bigamy and incestuous marriage and all kinds of situations," he warns.

"If the government doesn't have any interest in [marriage], then polygamy is permissible, polyamory is permissible," Staver continues. "We would have group marriages. Incestuous marriages are permissible. Marriages with ... children as young as 8 or 7 or however low you want to go on the list -- all of that becomes a free-for-all. That's exactly what this is designed to do."

According to Staver, a successful lawsuit could literally destabilize and deconstruct marriage -- and that, he says, is "what their ultimate agenda really is in the beginning."

The plaintiffs are three Greensboro, North Carolina-area clergy and seven homosexual and heterosexual residents. The lawsuit was filed earlier this month in Guilford County Superior Court.

 

Court: Acting like a parent means you are one

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 12/28/2011

A conservative attorney says California courts are redefining the definition of "parents" and replacing the traditional role with "de facto" parents.

Courts in The Golden State are giving the definition of a "parent" a makeover. The Sacramento Bee reports that state courts have assigned the title to individuals who have "no genetic or legal ties" to children, granting the roles to non-traditional figures. Meanwhile, state lawyers say California is heading away from biology and adoption as the means to define what a parent is.

"In a stable, normal relationship between a man and a woman, they'll make a decision on whether or not they're going to have the child based on whether they can take care of that child," explains Jim Lacy, an attorney and the publisher of the California Political Review.

In a recent Sacramento case, The Sacramento Bee reports that an appeals court allowed an Air Force Reserve colonel, who did not legally adopt her ex-girlfriend's children, to be their parent because she "acted like one." The Third District Court of Appeal claimed the woman did not adopt the children because the "don't ask, don't tell" policy prevented her from doing so, as her military career would have ended if she revealed her sexual orientation.

"By not going through that, it's a very selfish situation for these so-called 'de facto' parents, who [are] parents that are not legally parents, to jeopardize the child," Lacy decides. "And think about that child -- that child in this lesbian relationship is denied the father figure to begin with, and then becomes the subject of a ping-pong battle in court [between] these two, I'm going to say selfish people who haven't gone through the formalities. This Army colonel put her job before the kid."

Even so, the "legal stranger" has been granted custody.

 

Thomas Jefferson's example

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 12/28/2011

A U.S.-born Israeli author and Middle East expert says the Obama administration should follow the example of Thomas Jefferson in dealing with Islamic terrorism.

Vice President Joe Biden recently created a stir when he said the Taliban is not really an enemy of the United States (see earlier story). According to David Rubin, author of The Islamic Tsunami: Israel and America in the Age of Obama, the vice president's remark reflects the administration's lack of understanding regarding terrorist groups.

"The Taliban and all of the Islamic terrorist organizations are enemies of the United States and, of course, Israel as well," he contends.

And Rubin points out that former President Thomas Jefferson understood that one does not negotiate with Islamic terrorists.

"For a couple of decades, the American ships were being held hostage by the Islamic pirates, the Barbary Pirates," he explains. "And when Jefferson became president, he bought a Koran, the so-called holy book of Islam. And after reading the Koran, he understood the mentality of the Islamic ideologues."

The expert on the Middle East notes that Jefferson then dispatched the Navy and Marines to "the shores of Tripoli," where they soundly defeated the Barbary Pirates. Rubin concludes that Jefferson clearly recognized his Islamic enemies -- and he encourages the current administration to do the same.

 

'Cyberbaiting' -- a 'dark side' of the Internet

Russ Jones - OneNewsNow - 12/28/2011

While the Internet presents many positive features, a spokesperson for online protection software says one growing trend is causing trouble for teachers.

"Cyberbaiting" is when students conspire bad behavior just to get a teacher to lose his or her temper. The incident is caught on video then posted online. The footage may or may not, however, show how the teacher's action was brought on by the students.

Stephenie Ochoa of  EyeGuardian, software that helps parents protect their children from unwanted Internet activity, says a simple YouTube search using keywords "teacher loses it" proves the devious behavior. And she warns that cyberbaiting can lead to professional embarrassment, which could further cause problems in the classroom.

"You leave a child on a Facebook page for even 15 minutes, and they could create hundreds and hundreds of pages, and they're gonna get the access of friends through links, through likes," she says.

The Norton Online Family Report finds one in five teachers globally has either fallen victim to cyberbaiting or works with someone who has.

"They say a Facebook post is the same as an actual physical hug," Ochoa notes. "It produces the same amount of endorphins."

So she points people to EyeGuardian, as it allows everyone to enjoy the social networking benefits of social media sites like Facebook "without being hit by the Internet's darker side."

 

High court asked to review 'candy cane' decision

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 12/27/2011

A legal organization that focuses on family values and constitutional freedoms has filed suit, appealing to the Supreme Court to review a decision in what has become known as the "candy cane" case.

Kelly Shackelford of Liberty Institute is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hold school officials accountable for violating students' First Amendment rights. The Fifth Circuit earlier ruled students couldn't be prevented from distributing candy cane pens and other items containing a religious message but they did not hold school officials accountable.

"And so what we're doing is filing with the Supreme Court [asking them] to overturn this," Shackelford tells OneNewsNow. "We can't have government officials nationwide being told that they can engage in religious discrimination against children and that there are no consequences [when they do]."

The Institute president and CEO emphasizes the importance of the case (Morgan, et al. v. Plano ISD) by noting that 45 million school children and their families will be affected by the final outcome.

"And boy, it sure would be nice to have this nailed very clearly into the ground to say religious discrimination against children in the schools is not allowed -- and anybody who does this will be personally liable," he states.

The case has been in litigation for eight years and has come to symbolize what many are calling "the war on Christmas."

 

Objective: Accurate teaching of history

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 12/27/2011

One activist urges Californians to start getting involved in an initiative that counters a harmful anti-family law.

Karen England of the Sacramento-based Capitol Resource Institute (CRI) says all hands are needed on deck behind a move to place before California voters an initiative that would require the accurate teaching of history. The CLASS Act -- Children Learning Accurate Social Sciences Act -- was filed in response to SB 48, California's new law which mandates teachings on the contributions of lesbian, "gay," bisexual, transgender (LGBT) individuals.
 
"I don't believe that we should be mandating these things from the state level, whether it's Ronald Reagan Day or Harvey Milk Day," England argues, adding that "locally, if someone wants to do that, they can do that."
 
The new initiative would require schools to teach only about individuals who have made historical contributions, rather than forcing schools to identify LGBT individuals and teach on their contributions just to meet the requirements of SB 48.
 
"That is not what our schools are for," says England. "They are public schools, which means they're for the entire public, not just one segment of the public."
 
Supporters of SB 48 have stated that alleged bullying and harassment of LGBT individuals necessitates such curriculum content. But the CRI spokeswoman argues there are already sufficient state statutes to prevent that behavior.
 
"There have been numerous protections about harassment regarding sexual orientation and gender over the last several years," England explains. "So there are more than enough laws that prohibit and make it illegal to harass and bully people based on their sexual orientation, and this SB 48 is not going to fix that."
 
She notes the campaign hopes to begin signature gathering in mid-January, and encourages individuals to start spreading the word before the initiative kicks off next year.

 

'Stinging rebuke' of ECUSA head

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 12/27/2011

The Episcopal Church of Sudan has turned thumbs down to the head of the church in America.

Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori had been invited there, but the Episcopal Church of Sudan has now disinvited her, citing the American church's "flagrant disregard" for biblical teaching. Jeff Walton of the Institute on Religion & Democracy tells OneNewsNow the invitation retraction was specifically because the Episcopal Church USA has strayed from biblical teaching on human sexuality.

"The Episcopal Church of Sudan has distanced itself from the leadership of the U.S.-based Episcopal Church," he shares, "and it has also reaffirmed or recognized its relationships with both conservative, biblically orthodox parishes within the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church in North America, the rival conservative body [to ECUSA]."

According to Walton, the move represents a significant break in the relationship.

"The Episcopal Church of Sudan has not made those distancing moves so far. They've criticized the Episcopal Church in its decisions, but they have not cut off any contact or they haven't rebuked in any public way actual people within the Episcopal Church -- even though they have criticized the decisions made by those officials."

That has now changed. In its December 15 letter to Jefferts Schori, the Episcopal Church of Sudan stated: "We acknowledge your personal efforts to spearhead prayer and support campaigns on behalf of the ECS and remain very grateful for this attention you and your church have paid to Sudan and South Sudan. However, it remains difficult for us to invite you when elements of your church continue to flagrantly disregard biblical teaching on human sexuality."

The Episcopal Church of Sudan, which has seen a huge increase in membership, is more than twice the size of the Episcopal Church USA -- which has seen its membership drop below two million.

 

Cell phone risk factors a little off?

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 12/27/2011

According to new research, past studies have overestimated the crash risks associated with driver cell phone use.

Dr. Richard Young of Wayne State University has found a scientific bias in previous real-world studies that indicate cell phone use while driving increases crash risk by four times.

"These studies assume that more driving took place in control periods than actually occurred," he notes. "When you remove that bias, the relative crash risk of cell phone conversations while driving is no different from that of normal driving without cell phone conversation."

According to Young, this means that imposing a ban on cell phone usage while driving, including the one recently recommended by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that also includes hands-free devices, will not reduce crashes ( see earlier story).

"There are many other recent scientific studies using real drivers and real-world driving that also indicate that hands-free cell phone conversations, voice-activated tasks, or tasks that require only a single button press, such as speed dialing, do not increase crash risk," Dr. Young adds.

As long as a driver keeps his or her eyes on the road and his or her hands on the wheel, then he asserts that drivers in the real world "can perform that task without increasing their crash risk beyond that of normal driving."

However, Young stresses that that does not mean people should do whatever they want while behind the wheel.

"These things that really do increase your crash risk will cause problems, and the ban on those operations could improve driving safety and reduce crashes," he concludes.

 

I scream, you scream, we scream for less gov't

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 12/27/2011

A California educator says one city's move to ban ice cream trucks from schools is just another law that the people do not need.

Students in the city of Novato, California, will no longer be hearing the tunes from ice cream trucks driving past their schools. The city council has adopted a new ordinance that bars the trucks from driving within 1,500 feet of the region's public and private schools during school hours, as officials claim such action will promote healthier foods and public safety.

But Larry Sand, president of the  California Teachers Empowerment Network (CTEN), tells OneNewsNow the ordinance is another step toward big government.

"When the government tries to be everything, which governments tend to do if we let them, this is what happens," he argues.

Meanwhile, the city's police chief also suggests the ban ensures the safety of students who often run and fight for the first place in line when they buy ice cream. Sand, however, suggests another alternative.

"So, you have the ice cream truck pull up to the curb, and the ice cream truck guy gets out, and if the kids want to line up, fine -- but they're gonna line up on the sidewalk, not the street. I don't think we need the police chief. Everything now needs a law," he laments.

San Francisco and San Rafael have adopted similar bans.

 

Court calls for evenhanded 'bubble zone' enforcement

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 12/27/2011

A pro-life attorney is commenting on the latest court review of Oakland, California's ordinance that limits pro-life picketing at abortion centers.

Walter Hoye served 18 days in jail for peacefully picketing and trying to convince mothers not to go through with abortions at an Oakland abortion clinic (see earlier story). The case went to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which sent it back to the lower court on grounds that the ordinance had to be enforced even-handedly, not just against pro-lifers.

Dana Cody of the  Life Legal Defense Foundation (LLDF) tells OneNewsNow that that court refused to grant a permanent injunction.

"However, [the judge] did reject the city of Oakland's argument that the police officers shouldn't have to enforce the ordinance against clinic escorts or other workers at the family planning specialists because they allegedly had advance consent to approach women," she notes. "I mean, that's at the heart of the whole issue -- getting consent before you approach anybody."

Even though the court rejected the city's argument, Cody points out that a permanent injunction is needed to ensure that pro-lifers are treated fairly. LLDF plans to file a motion for reconsideration.

 

Picky, choosy DOJ

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 12/27/2011

An advocate for stronger enforcement of U.S. immigration laws finds it telling that the Obama Justice Department is being selective about which immigration statues it challenges.

Earlier this year, Utah enacted several new state laws dealing with the problem of illegal immigration. But as with the case of other states, a federal judge has temporarily blocked two of The Beehive State's measures from taking effect. One requires people held for serious crimes to prove their citizenship, and the other allows Utah police agencies to check citizenship for others picked up on minor charges.

Ira Mehlman is a spokesman for the  Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). He says it is the height of hypocrisy that two other Utah statutes that clearly violate federal immigration laws are not being challenged.

"In one, Utah decided that starting in 2013, it would turn all the illegal aliens in Utah into guest workers, even though it is clear under federal statute that illegal aliens are not permitted to work anyplace in the United States, and that would include Utah," he notes. "A second law that they passed said that people in Utah could sponsor immigrants to come and live in Utah."

Comments Mehlman: "Last time I checked, it was the United States government that made the determination who could come from outside the country and live in Utah."

So the FAIR spokesman concludes that what is happening with Utah illustrates that the Obama Justice Department is only interested in protecting the interests of illegal aliens -- not American citizens.

 

No safe haven for believers in Saudi Arabia

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 12/27/2011

Saudi officials are cracking down on Christians again, and a spokesman for an international human rights organization says Ethiopians are the target this time.

Jonathan Racho of International Christian Concern (ICC) explains that the practice of Christianity is forbidden in Saudi Arabia, which makes it difficult for foreign Christians working in the country to worship.

"Saudi officials arrested 35 Christians," he reports. "The Christians are from Ethiopia, and they were gathering to worship at a private home."

He details why they were not at a church.

"As you know, there is no church in Saudi Arabia. There is no church building, no synagogue -- nothing is allowed, except the Islamic mosques," Racho tells OneNewsNow. "So, Christians who come there to work are forced to worship in their homes."

But he finds it ironic there are no churches in the country, pointing out that "Saudia Arabia is a country that builds mosques all over the world," yet no churches are allowed on home turf.

So far, no formal charges have been lodged against the Ethiopians, so the ICC spokesman is encouraging listeners to contact the Saudi embassy in Washington and request that the Christians be released.

 

Administration's 'self-defeating,' wishful thinking

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 12/26/2011

A retired Army officer and national defense expert thinks Vice President Joe Biden's recent gaff that the Taliban is not an enemy of the United States was based on wishful thinking rather than reality.

In a recent interview with Newsweek magazine, Vice President Biden laid out his and the administration's view of the Taliban, saying "There is not a single statement that the president has ever made in any of our policy assertions that the Taliban is our enemy because it threatens U.S. interests."

Later, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney clarified the VP's comments, saying they were taken out of context. However, his underlying message was essentially the same as Biden's -- that the Taliban is not America's enemy.

Lt. Col. James Carafano (USA-Ret.) now serves as a foreign policy analyst at  The Heritage Foundation. He believes Biden was referring to the aspirations of the administration, not the reality on the ground.

"They have always hoped that there was some kind of negotiated settlement to this -- that they could come up with some kind of deal with the Taliban that could allow them to, in a sense, declare victory and pull out," Carafano notes. "That's wildly impractical, and in a sense, the aspiration was self-defeating because by announcing withdrawal, they were telegraphing the Taliban 'just wait us out.' It's made the Taliban less willing to seriously negotiate."

And the foreign policy analyst believes the administration has confused wishful thinking with a serious strategy in Afghanistan.

 

Another President Bush?

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 12/26/2011

A conservative political scientist doesnt believe any political scenario would compel someone like Jeb Bush to enter the GOP presidential race.

The former Florida governor recently wrote an op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal called "Capitalism and the Right to Rise," in which he espouses the virtues of free-market capitalism and warns of the consequences of continued government intrusion and regulations.

Some political analysts believe Bush wrote the piece as a trial balloon for a presidential run, particularly in light of the lack of enthusiasm for the current GOP presidential field. As for Dr. Charles W. Dunn, the distinguished professor of government at  Regent University's Robertson School of Government, he believes a possible Bush run depends on who comes out as the frontrunner following the January primaries.

"If [Newt] Gingrich is the frontrunner, then the establishment, because of their animosity towards him, might try to get a Jeb Bush or somebody to challenge," Dr. Dunn explains. "Now, there would be problems in doing that because they're going to have to meet filing deadlines. But it is doable."

But the government professor thinks it is unlikely that Bush would jump in if Mitt Romney is the frontrunner because the party establishment is behind the former Massachusetts governor.

 

Walter Reed Banned Family Members From Bringing Bibles to Wounded Warriors

By Penny Starr

December 22, 2011

 (CNSNews.com) - In a Sept. 14 policy memorandum, Col. Chuck Callahan, chief of staff of Walter Reed National Medical Center, banned family members from bringing Bibles and other "religious items" when visiting wounded military personnel at the facility.

In a section entitled "Partners in Care Guidelines," describing what family members can bring to their wounded warrior in the hospital, the memo states: "No religious items (i.e., Bibles, reading materials and/or artifacts) are allowed to be given away or used during a visit."

Only after the Family Research Council, a conservative pro-family advocate, got a copy of the memo and shared it with members of Congress, did the military issue a statement saying it was rewriting the policy because it was "incorrect."

"Bibles and other religious materials have always been and will remain available for patient use at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center," the statement said. "The visitation policy as written was incorrect and should have been more thoroughly reviewed before its release."

"It has been rescinded," the statement said. "We apologize for any confusion the policy may have caused."

Charles Dasey, public affairs specialist with Walter Reed, told CNSNews.com that the policy was "intended to protect patients from visitors offering any sort of assistance that they didn't want."

The center's new statement also says families are welcome to bring "religious materials" to the hospital and that no one of any faith will be denied admission to the hospital.

But this reversal came only after members of Congress, including Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), spoke out against the policy that had been exposed by the FRC. King delivered a speech against it on the House floor.

"Mr. Speaker, these military men and women who are recovering at Walter Reed in Bethesda have given their all for America," King said. "They've given their all for America, and they've defended and taken an oath to the Constitution, and here they are."

"The people that come to visit them can't bring a religious artifact?" King said. "They can't bring a Bible? They can't use them in the services? A priest can't walk in with the Eucharist and offer communion to a patient who might be on their deathbed because it's prohibited in this memo."

King said the men and women in our military must be honored by protecting their First Amendment rights.

King and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) met with Navy officials and were told that the "memo was worded improperly" and a new memo will be drafted "to affirmatively assert that religious items and artifacts are welcome in the hospital, if they are welcomed by the patient."

"The meeting with Vice Admiral Mateczun, Rear Admiral Stocks, and Senator Grassley was productive because the Walter Reed staff has agreed to write a new rule that affirms a visitor's ability to bring Bibles and other religious material when they visit," King said in a statement released after the meeting. "I have asked to look over the new rule before it's officially released and that they identify the individual who is responsible for writing this unconstitutional nonsense."

"The Defense Department appears to have acted in good faith by retracting the original statement and releasing a statement of regret," Grassley said in the joint statement. "I appreciate that officials are making efforts to get to the bottom of how this horrible language came about. I look forward to seeing the new policy and will reserve judgment until that time."

Dasey told CNSNews.com that he did not know when the new policy would be issued.

Meanwhile, the FRC has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Department of Navy to obtain communications records about the policy.

"We filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with Walter Reed Military Medical Center in hope of understanding who authorized the Bible ban and why," Tony Perkins, FRC president, said in a press release about the request. "Although the Center's spokesmen assure us the policy has been rescinded, we have yet to see the revised policy. Until then, we'll push forward with our investigation to see who or what is driving the religious purging."

 

Christianity May Be Eradicated in Iraq and Afghanistan, Says Chair of U.S. Religious Freedom Commission

By Terence P. Jeffrey

December 22, 2011

 (CNSNews.com) - Despite long-term U.S. military occupations aimed at establishing representative governments in Iraq and Afghanistan, Christianity now faces the real threat of eradication in those countries because of severe and persistent persecution of Christians there, according to the chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Similarly, despite the "Arab Spring" rebellion in Egypt earlier this year, the survival of Christianity is also threatened in that country because of the escalating persecution of Christians.

"We are looking at two different countries where the United States invaded, occupied, changed their governments in the last decade--Iraq and Afghanistan--where it's possible Christianity might be eradicated in our lifetime?" CNSNews.com asked USCIRF Chairman Leonard Leo in a video interview.

"Yes," said Leo, "and, unfortunately, that is sort of the pattern throughout the Middle Eastern region. The flight of Christians out of the region is unprecedented and it's increasing year by year. It's a very, very alarming situation."

In Egypt, according to Leo, anti-Christian violence and discrimination may inspire a mass migration of that nation's Coptic Christian population, thus achieving a strategic goal sought by radical Muslims.

"The radical Islamists would accomplish their goal, if they drove the Coptic Christians out of the country, absolutely," Leo told CNSNews.com in an Online With Terry Jeffrey interview.

Leo, who also serves as vice president of the conservative Federalist Society, was initially appointed and reappointed to USCIRF by President George W. Bush, and most recently was reappointed again by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R.-Ky.).

In its official report published earlier this year, USCRIF said that Christian leaders in Iraq were themselves warning of the end of Christianity in their country.

 "Half or more of the pre-2003 Iraqi Christian community is believed to have left the country, with Christian leaders warning that the consequence of this flight may be the end of Christianity in Iraq," USCIRF said in its annual report. "In 2003, there were thought to be 800,000 to 1.4 million Chaldean Catholics, Assyrian Orthodox, Assyrian Church of the East members, Syriac Orthodox, Armenians (Catholic and Orthodox), Protestants, and Evangelicals in Iraq. Today, community leaders estimate the number of Christians to be around 500,000."

Iraqi Christians have been targeted by murderous attacks in recent years, according to USCIRF. In 2010, for example, al Qaeda in Iraq terrorists killed 50 people and wounded 60 more, during Mass, at a Catholic church in Baghdad. Among those the terrorists killed were two priests. In the months following the massacre, a series of bombing attacks on homes in Baghdad killed at least seven Christians and wounded 50 more. Christians were also shot to death in Baghdad and Mosul, while 70 Christian students were injured by a roadside bomb attack on a convoy of buses taking them to a university in Mosul.

A Christian cardiologist was attacked by gunmen who targeted him at the medical clinic where he worked.

According to Leo, the Iraqi government has not taken adequate steps to protect Christians or prosecute those who attack them.

"One of the big problems from the very beginning was that our country and others were unwilling to acknowledge that the fight in Iraq was largely a sectarian conflict and there wasn't enough emphasis placed on the flight of Christians and other religious minorities, particularly in the northern part of Iraq," said Leo.

"So, the strategy didn't take into account the fact that you were going to have a huge, huge flight of Christians out of the country, and then you were going to have the same kind of impunity or privately driven violence that we were talking about in Pakistan, but this time in Iraq," Leo said.

"That is precisely what has happened," he said. "So, it is very ironic that here we are trying to stabilize and democratize a country and at the same time we are losing large percentages of religious minorities ... which have always been such an important part of the Iraqi fabric of society, holding it together. And so that is a very, very serious problem."

CNSNews.com asked Leo what kind of leverage and what types of instruments the U.S. would have to protect the Christian population in Iraq once President Obama had withdrawn all U.S. forces from the country.

"I have no idea," Leo said. "I'm very, very concerned about what will happen after our presence is completely gone, and I don't know how we continue to put pressure on the Iraqi government and on the security forces and others in Iraq to protect the Christians in the absence of any presence."

USCIRF asked that the State Department officially name Iraq as a "country of particular concern" for the lack of religious freedom there, but the State Department declined to do so.

An Egyptian Christian protesting an attack on a Coptic church. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

In Afghanistan, Leo says, a constitution that was drafted with the help of the United States government has effectively given the Afghan government license to deny religious liberty to people who adhere to minority faiths, including Christianity.

"Conditions for religious freedom remain exceedingly poor for minority religious communities and dissenting members of the majority faith, despite the presence of U.S. armed forces in Afghanistan for almost 10 years and the substantial investment of lives, resources, and expertise by the United States and the international community," says the USCIRF report. "The 2004 Afghan constitution has effectively established Islamic law as the law of the land."

"In the past year," says the USCIRF report, "the small and vulnerable Christian community experienced a spike in government arrests, with Christians being detained and some jailed for the crime of apostasy."

The State Department has reported that in March 2010 the last public Christian church in Afghanistan was razed.

"This is one of the saddest cases that we look at every year," said Leo.

"Speaking personally, I wrote a separate opinion in the case of Afghanistan," he said. "I think one of the sources of the problem was way back when we helped hammer out a constitution for the new Afghanistan. In that constitution, there is what we call a repugnancy clause, which basically says anything that's inconsistent with Sharia principles is violative of this constitution. That clause, no matter what else is in the constitution, basically forecloses the kind of reform that you're looking for, because any extreme religious sub-sect can impose its radical view of Sharia and enshrine it in the constitutional system in Afghanistan. And if that's the kind of government system they have, there is no real way to ensure freedom of religion broadly speaking. There's no way to ensure that religious minorities are going to have freedom in law."

Leo is uncertain religious freedom can ever recover in Afghanistan from the damage done by the new Afghan constitution.

"The constitution drafting process with which we were involved was a disaster and I'm not sure Afghanistan can ever fully recover from the damage that we inflicted by not holding the line on the kind of constitution drafting that we should have been pushing for," he said.

He rejects the argument made by those who point to language elsewhere in Afghanistan's Constitution that says Afghanistan will abide by international agreements that call for respecting human rights.

CNSNews.com asked: "So Islamic apostasy laws that hold it a capital offense for someone to convert to Christianity are legitimate under the Afghan constitution as it was written?"

"Yeah," said Leo. "There are cute-by-half scholars who will tell you that it's not because there is another provision in the constitution that says they'll abide by international agreements. Those who know how the world really works will tell you that a repugnancy clause is what it says. It is a repugnancy clause that trumps everything else in the constitution. So the bottom line is even though Afghanistan has been a party to a lot of these international agreements, they have essentially reserved on them and they have created their own distinctions and I don't think there is really any hope that the country is going to begin abiding by those human rights agreements.

"And they do in fact prosecute people for apostasy?" asked CNSNews.com.

"They do," said Leo, pointing out that "there were a couple of instances over the past year where Christian converts where quietly released--thanks to the U.S."

"So are we looking at an Afghanistan where after the United States leaves Christianity is eradicated there?" asked CNSNews.com

"Unfortunately I think that's where things are headed," said Leo.

Egypt, he says, is headed down a similar path.

Leo and follow religious freedom commissioners, Nina Shea and Elizabeth Prodromou, filed a separate statement attached to the section of the full commission's report that focuses on Egypt.

"We write separately to underscore the concern that Egypt is on a trajectory that is part of a broader trend toward the irreparable and severe diminution of Christian and religious minority populations," the three commissioners said.

"In several countries covered in this report-Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey-the non-Muslim religious minority communities are facing existential threats while experiencing varying degrees and manifestations of intolerance and injustice," they said.

"By far, the largest non-Muslim minority community among these countries is Egypt's Copts, numbering  between 8 million and 12 million," they wrote. "A year and a half ago, Coptic worshippers were massacred during a Christmas Eve attack on their church in Naga Hammadi in southern Egypt.

"This year," the commissioners said, "a crowded church near Alexandria was bombed by militants at New Year, and several Coptic villages have been targeted by pogrom-like mob violence. Attacks against Copts were carried out largely with impunity under an indifferent Mubarak regime. A recent announcement that the rising Muslim Brotherhood movement would seek the imposition of Islamic law in Egypt is now sending shock waves through the Coptic community."

In October, after the USCIRF report was published, a crowd of Coptic Christians in Cairo protesting the burning of a Coptic church were attacked by Egyptian security forces, operating under the authority of the post-Mubarak regime, who reportedly shot and killed 24 protesters and wounded 300 more.

"The Arab spring got a cold snap," says Leo, "and the bottom line is I'm not sure whether there is going to be much of a crop at the end of the day."

"With what's going on in Egypt, with the uncertainties that exist, there's very little incentive for a young Coptic Christian to stay in the county," he said. "It wouldn't surprise me in the least if you saw the same basic trajectory in Egypt that you see in quite a number of other countries which is to say they just get up and they leave."

"The problem is that even under Mubarak, the courts, the prosecutors, the police weren't really investigating and bringing to justice the people who are really doing this kind of stuff," said Leo. "But then you have to compound that problem with you may actually have a government that steps up the official repression of religion."

"You may see laws that may further restrict the kinds of churches or other gathering places that Christians can have," said Leo. "You could potentially see upticks in discrimination against Coptic Christians in hiring and in education. Those are the kinds of things that the Coptics really have to be worried about. They are a fairly successful community in Egypt, so if they start seeing state repression through discriminatory laws, that's going to create huge incentives for the Coptic Christian community to up and leave--especially the younger ones who feel they have a bright future ahead of them."

For the first time ever, USCIRF recommended this year that the State Department list Egypt as a "country of particular" for its denial of religious freedom.

The State Department declined to do so.

Leo argues that the administration must find a way soon to get the Egyptian government to protect its own Christian population or it will be too late.

"There needs to be a tie-in between the enormous aid we give to Egypt and the protection of communities," said Leo. "We haven't seen that tie in yet. And it is complicated because security and police forces are not what they should be. And it's not clear how you would funnel transitional aid and support to help deal with this problem. But we've got to start putting on the problem-solving hat and really trying to figure this out and we need to step up our efforts here."

"We've seen frustration on the part of the administration that they are just not sure how to do this," said Leo. "I understand it and I'm sympathetic to it. But it's time to try to harness some of that frustration to some entrepreneurial and edgy ideas that get the Egyptian government where it needs to be--and those probably need to be behind the scenes. And that's' fine, but something has to be done and has to be done now.

"There is very little time left," he said.

 

Want the job? Gotta attend a 'gay' parade

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 12/22/2011

A Planned Parenthood group in New York isn't only hiring children to promote the group's sex agenda, but to do something else that is causing concern in that state.

The Planned Parenthood program for which the youngsters are hired is called "Seriously Talking About Responsible Sex" (STARS). Duane Motley of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms tells OneNewsNow his group had no idea of all the facts behind the abortion-provider's use of teens. He says the idea that teens are being hired to spread the philosophy of Planned Parenthood is absurd.

"They [the teens] haven't had enough experiences in life to really be any kind of experts on anything really, let alone about talking about sex education and that sort of thing," he responds.

But teenage applicants hired for the paid positions as "peer educators" also had to agree to attend Albany's annual homosexual "pride" parade, which exposes them not only to a sinful lifestyle but men and women in various stages of dress as well.

"And to think that this is being funded by New York State taxpayers," says Motley. "I'm sure that most taxpayers do not know this -- and we're going to do what we can to expose it and let the taxpayers know what their tax dollars are going for in New York. I don't think they're going to approve of this."

Motley adds that Planned Parenthood enlisted the children into making phone calls to promote New York's homosexual "marriage" bill that passed and was signed into law in June 2011. He contends that is not an appropriate role for Planned Parenthood or the children they hire.

The Albany group is not the only Planned Parenthood affiliate recruiting youth to further its agenda. Wisconsin Planned Parenthood recently announced it was hiring seven "youth health educators" to influence teens on sexual issues.

 

'May I have the envelope, please?'

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 12/22/2011

A conservative media watchdog has given out its annual awards for the most biased reporting of the year by liberal media outlets.

The Media Research Center calls the awards "The Best Notable Quotables for 2011." It was the 24th year the MRC recognized the most outrageous and/or humorous news media quotes aired or published from December 2010 through November 2011.

Rich Noyes, director of research at the MRC, says there were plenty of categories, including slams against the tea party movement and Republican presidential candidates.

He says CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric was recognized for her pandering to Muslims, earning her "The Audacity of Dopes Award for the Wackiest Analysis of the Year":

"She talked about all the bigotry against Muslims, as if that was a fact as opposed to a liberal criticism," he tells OneNewsNow. "And then said what we needed in this country was 'a Muslim version of the Cosby Show' to teach Americans tolerance toward their fellow Muslim citizens."

Her "condescending attitude ... probably offended a lot of people," he adds.

But Noyes says the overall quote of year was posted by columnist Paul Krugman on his New York Times.com blog on the ten-year anniversary of September 11, 2001.

"It said: What happened on 9-11 ... was deeply shameful. The attack was used to justify an unrelated war the neo-cons wanted to fight, for all the wrong reasons. The memory of 9-11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion for shame. And in its heart, the nation knows it."

Despite the "fierce" competition, Noyes says MRC's panel of judges believed that posting to be the most obnoxious and insulting "Quote of the Year."

 

Christian club recognized in NY school district

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 12/22/2011

A Christian club at a public school in New York's Long Island has finally won the right to be officially recognized and afforded the rights and benefits of a nonreligious group.

Alliance Defense Fund filed a lawsuit which led to the recognition of the Frontline Club of the Hicksville Union Free School District. Matt Sharp, an ADF litigation staff counsel, tells OneNewsNow about the situation.
 
 "This club has been for several years trying to get started, and it had been repeatedly denied by the principal," Sharp explains. "In fact she had told them, ‘I don't care if other schools have Christian clubs. I don't want one at this school.'"
 
Sharp points out that the federal Equal Access Act prohibits government schools from discriminating against religious student clubs that meet on campus. With this being the third success story ADF has had at Long Island Public Schools, he is hoping that these victories will set a good precedent.
 
"I know a lot of times school districts know what happens in other places and hear these type of stories and realize that they have an obligation to treat everyone equally and will be proactive in doing this rather than waiting on a lawsuit or demand or something like that before doing the right thing and treating these groups equally," says the attorney.

 

Arab Spring brings persecution to Christians

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 12/22/2011 3:35:00 AM

One year after the start of "Arab Spring," Christians in those countries find themselves in a difficult position as they face intolerance and persecution.

Arab Spring began in North Africa and the Middle East, starting in Tunisia on December 18 and then spreading to other countries. Paul Estabrooks with Open Doors USA  discusses the possible outcome of the situation.

 
"The issue is what is going to come of this change of government," Estabrooks says. "Is it going to be a democracy like we understand democracy, where minority groups work together with majority groups and there is liberty of speech and freedom of worship?"
  
The outlook is not hopeful for Christians, according to the ministry spokesman, who notes that extremist Muslims are trying to force Christians to convert to Islam -- and many are being persecuted, even killed, if they refuse. That has often come to the attention of the Open Doors' leadership.
  
"Our U.S. president, Carl Moeller, has coined a phrase called 'religicide' where religious groups are being eliminated and Christians there are told that there's no place for you in this country," Estabrook explains.
 
Those that had fled persecution in the past often went to the very same countries where the Arab Spring movement has now spread. Estabrooks explains there are now few places left in the Middle East where Christians can find religious freedom or police protection. "There's very little space for them and freedom in the Middle East or North Africa at this point," he says.
   
As Christmas approaches, Open Doors USA is calling on American Christians to pray for Christians in those countries who have no home and no freedom to celebrate the holiday.

 

Law undermines parental authority

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 12/22/2011

A pro-family activist says parents in California can fight against a harmful new law that undermines parental authority and places children at risk.

Beginning January 1, 2012, children 12 years of age or older in the state of California will be able to consent to medical care for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. AB 499 permits minors to agree to potentially dangerous treatments, including the vaccine Gardisil, without parental consent. Mike Spence, a pro-life activist and a past president with the California Republican Assembly, says this law will leave parents in the dark about their children's condition.
  
"And what will happen is -- I mean, there will be 12, 13, 14, 15-year-olds who are in dire straits [and] who have some kind of problem with sexually transmitted diseases, and the parents will never know," he says.
   
Current state law allows minors over 12 years of age to agree to diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and AB 499 will allow minors to consent to preventative care. Spence tells OneNewsNow that California parents should not "trust the government to do their job."
   
"They have to know what's going on with their children -- more and more they're going to have to make sure that they're there, and they've got to realize that they can't trust the government school system and agencies ... to protect their children," he says. "[The government is] more concerned about making sure that parents don't know what their kids are doing than what's basically good for their kids."

 

Court protects citizens' 1st Amendment rights

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 12/22/2011

A federal court has told Duluth, Minnesota, not to censor Christians in a public park.

Alliance Defense Fund filed suit on behalf of two residents who were sharing their faith and handing out tracts in a city park last year during the Bentleyville Tour of Lights. An event official contacted police and complained about their message, so police tossed them out of the park. ADF attorney Jonathan Scruggs tells OneNewsNow a federal court has issued an order preventing the city from violating the First Amendment rights of their clients.
  
"A city cannot ban the First Amendment in a public park just because event officials don't like the message that a person is sharing," Scruggs says. "The court made the right decision in suspending the ban so that people can share their faith in a non-disruptive manner at this year's event, which is open to the public."
 
The Tour of Lights is presented by a private group with the city's permission. The city had argued that because of that, event officials have the right to limit speech in the park. The judge did not agree.

 

'Tis the season for heart attacks

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 12/22/2011

Church services and gift giving are not the only things in abundance this time of year. Heart attack deaths are also more prevalent with the holidays.      

According to USA Today, heart attack deaths peak on three days of the year, with those days being Christmas, the day after Christmas and New Year's Day. Dr. Eugene Smith of Christian Medical Association agrees with these statistics.
 
He also says, "And the data would suggest that there is about a five-percent increase in those death rates, and it's been pretty consistent over the last few decades where the data is available."
 
Smith adds that there are many factors contributing to the increase.  "In cold weather, we know that heart attacks are increased, but these are not necessarily the coldest days of the year. Sometimes, people will postpone medical treatment until after the holidays. Another thing is that people don't always take care of themselves from what they eat and exercise, and that can be problematic."
 
The Christian physician says another factor involves stress, sometimes caused by loss or disappointment, and this can cause problems beyond heart ailments. He recommends people pay attention to their health, use moderation in eating, and get attention for any medical problem that arises.

As for stress, Smith prescribes a simple reflection on Christ and what the Savior's being sent to earth meant for mankind.

 

Lawmakers declining conservative principles

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 12/22/2011

A group's "Legislative Scorecard" shows a decline in conservative principles among lawmakers, but a California conservative contends that lawmakers are more apt to listen to voters during election season.

The California Republican Assembly's annual Legislative Scorecard showed another decline in lawmakers who demonstrated an unwavering commitment to conservative principles. Only two California legislators received a 100-percent score, dropping from five legislators in 2010 and thirteen in 2009. A handful of legislators received "A" grades on the scorecard, which encompassed the way lawmakers voted on a plethora of bills. The scorecard also revealed that the number of lawmakers who received a zero grade for their performance has dropped from 55 to four, showing less of a divide between Democrats and Republicans. Lawmakers in the state Assembly also proved to be far more liberal than those in the state Senate.

Mike Spence, as a past president of the CRA, comments on this trend.  "The frustrating thing is when I see Republicans go up even on the very small bills -- you know, they support the nanny state and big government and add to the burden of taxpayers," he says.
 
CRA president Celeste Greig also noted that Democrats in the state feel more pressure to move towards the center. This may be a result of "Governor [Jerry] Brown's influence or simply a reaction to their extremely low approval ratings," Spence tells OneNewsNow.
 
He suggests that election season may also cause scores to rise as officials attempt to raise the approval ratings of voters.  "Really with the elections, the scores sometimes get a little better, which actually shows that the people have the power in order to influence how the legislators vote because they'll be more responsive during election years," Spence contends.

 

DOJ goes to bat against DOMA

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 12/21/2011

A pro-family activist says a U.S. Department of Justice lawyer's arguments against the Defense of Marriage Act further enforces the Obama administration's desire for support from the homosexual lobby.

Assistant Attorney General Tony West argued for lesbian federal employee Karen Golinski in a San Francisco court. West, a senior lawyer who heads the civil division of the Department of Justice, argued that the DOMA bars Golinski from obtaining health insurance for her "wife." The attorney's oral arguments are the first since the Obama administration announced it would no longer defend the marriage law.

Peter LaBarbera is the president of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality.

"The federal law is clear," he tells OneNewsNow. "The government treats only real married couples -- [marriages] between a man and a woman. It does not allow marital benefits to flow to homosexual couples."

According to LaBarbera, homosexual activists know they have to overturn the federal marriage law to attain their goals.

"And that's why they are doing anything they can -- through the courts or legislatively or through Barack Obama's bully pulpit -- to overturn DOMA," he explains, "because they know that DOMA stands in the way of federal homosexual benefits for so-called 'gay married' couples."

Golinski married Amy Cunninghis during the window where same-sex "marriage" was legal in California. Golinski filed a lawsuit against the government because she could not enroll Cunninghis on her family health insurance plan.

"This is all about electoral politics," concludes LaBarbera. "Barack Obama is banking on the strong support of the homosexual lobby and also the money of the homosexual lobby."

 

Ontario's 'anti-bullying' measure 'will not stop here'

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 12/21/2011

Religious leaders are fighting off Canada, Ontario's Liberal government as it refuses to back away from a proposed anti-bullying bill that would require schools to implement "gay" clubs to promote homosexual tolerance.

Charles McVety, president of the Canada Christian College, explains that because they are supported with taxpayer funds, Bill 13 would require public schools and Catholic schools to establish the clubs and teach children that there are six different genders.

"It's really a seminal moment in Canada where the state begins to dictate to the church its morality and its teaching, and therefore, we lose our freedom of religion in our country," he laments.

A similar bill was defeated last year, but McVety says Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has put forth another proposal that is just as radical. He suggests it will be difficult to defeat this time because even the Conservative leader is supporting the bill.

"And mark my words -- this will not stop here. In fact, it has already spread to other provinces in Canada, and it will spread to the United States," the college president warns. "This is coming your way."

Christian, Jewish, and Muslim representatives have joined together to condemn the anti-bullying bill, even though they all agree that bullying must be stopped. The Institute for Canadian Values believes McGuinty is using the bullying issue to advance his radical agenda. More information about the proposal and a petition against it are available at StopCorruptingChildren.com.

 

Introducing the top Scrooges of 2011

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 12/21/2011

A legal group that protects the free expression of all faiths has announced the recipients of its 2011 Ebenezer Awards.

The Ebenezer Award is given every year for what The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty considers the "most ridiculous affront" to Christmas and Hanukkah. Spokesperson Emily Hardman gives more details on this year's winner.

"The most ridiculous one that we found was the post office in Silver Springs, Maryland, who  kicked out carolers, despite them caroling there for years and years," she reports. "They said they weren't allowed to sing Christmas carols on government property."

Others were recognized with dishonorable mention.

"The first one was Santa, who got the boot from a cancer center because it was a state-affiliated hospital, and they said they had concerns, because of 'their state affiliation,' that they were endorsing a certain religion or holiday," Hardman explains.

She credits atheist activists for displacing the majority of Christmas symbols in Palisades Park in California by gaining all but three of the 18 spaces allotted for private displays. North Korea was an Ebenezer Award runner-up for banning a Christmas tree tower because it supposedly amounted to a form of psychological warfare. As a prize, the winners receive a lump of coal in a stocking from The Becket Fund.

 

Penn. town takes stand for nativity

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 12/21/2011

A local pastor tells OneNewsNow the residents of Corry, Pennsylvania have loudly told the Freedom From Religion Foundation to leave their nativity scene alone.

After one local citizen complained, the Freedom From Religion Foundation contacted city officials about a live nativity scene performed by youth from a local church (see earlier story). Pastor Sanders Anderson of Corry Baptist Church tells OneNewsNow the city council, which initially appeared to be threatened by the Foundation, held a meeting on the issue.

"The meeting was started out with a prayer led by the mayor and closed out in Jesus' name," he accounts. "We were led in Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, one nation under God. The place was just packed out with people."

While the pastor believes that several people's favorable comments about the nativity scene helped the case, he credits one legal group for the positive response.

"I believe the Liberty Counsel was really the turning point in the fact that the Liberty Counsel sent letters to the city administrator, quoting the constitutionality of religious displays on government property," Anderson regards. "And our city has turned around as a result of this."

As the townspeople fight back, he says they are assuring the lone atheist objector that they will celebrate Christmas. Meanwhile city officials have established that nativity scenes from independent parties will be allowed in the future, so long as proper insurance is provided.

 

Welcome back, abstinence ed

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 12/21/2011

An advocate for abstinence education is pleased that funding for the federal government through the end of the 2012 fiscal year now includes the Sexual Risk Avoidance program.

The Obama administration decided earlier this year to prohibit teaching abstinence as part of its Healthy Family Initiative. So Valerie Huber of the National Abstinence Education Association commends Congress for restoring the necessary funding.

She points out that during George W. Bush's presidency, one out of every four dollars for sex education went to abstinence education, "but it immediately went 16 to one when President Obama took office, when he eliminated nearly all programs that funded abstinence education."

Though far short of the amount formerly spent, Huber says this new funding at least establishes some priority on abstinence education that was not there before.

"There [were] zero dollars in abstinence education from the president's budget," she notes, "so it begins a process. But we're certainly not where we need to be if we want to have parody between these two programs."

Despite the criticism of abstinence education, research shows that students benefit from the Sexual Risk Avoidance program, regardless of their sexual experience.

 

Administration 'pulling out all the tools' for NCLB

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 12/21/2011

According to one research organization, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's prediction that 82 percent of schools would fail to meet federal standards under No Child Left Behind is way off.

A report from the Center on Education Policy says the failure rate is closer to 48 percent, meaning more than 43,000 schools did not make "adequate yearly progress" this year. Some suspect Duncan used the high number as a scare tactic to goad Congress into reauthorizing the program, and education analyst Lindsey Burke of The Heritage Foundation agrees.

"I think what that really goes to show is that the Obama administration is really pulling out all the tools they have to push for another reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act," she decides.

According to Burke, Congress was thoughtfully constructing a reauthorization plan that would have reduced the federal role in education -- until the Obama administration stepped in and began offering waivers on NCLB standards, bypassing Congress.

"But the Obama administration does not believe that the federal role in education is fundamentally flawed," the analyst notes. "And that's where we see some divergence of opinion is whether or not Washington can create change that is meaningful."

Regardless of the failure rate, both political parties agree that the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, otherwise known as No Child Left Behind, is broken and needs fixing.

 

Missionary frontier in the U.S.

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 12/21/2011

A missionary organization is focusing on spreading the gospel in two communities in the United States that are very diverse.

Houston, Texas has drawn immigrants from many countries, and according to Grant Haynes of Global Frontiers Missions (GFM), Clarkston, Georgia has done likewise.

"It's called the most diverse square mile in America," he notes. "A lot of refugees are resettled in Clarkston. The high school has about 50 different countries that are represented there. The elementary school has over 110 dialects spoken in it. So, there [are] all these nations in this one small town outside of Atlanta."

That means it is a perfect location for short-term mission trips, or for a missionary to receive training while also meeting the physical needs of the immigrant population.

"We help teach English. We help run an Internet café where people can learn typing skills and take the job skills that they have in their countries to come up with a resume that helps make sense in this country and [helps] them with job placement," Haynes details. "We help their kids with after-school programs."

He adds that GFM has found that the younger set especially is becoming bilingual, and many are open to the gospel. So as funds become available, Global Frontiers Missions hopes to be able to implement similar programs in other cities in the U.S.

 

TLC show hides truth

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 12/21/2011

A terrorism expert says Lowe's Home Improvement and other companies were right to pull their advertising from a controversial show that whitewashes the negative aspects of Islam.

As previously reported on OneNewsNow, through the efforts the Florida Family Association and the American Decency Association, dozens of sponsors, including Lowe's, yanked their advertising from All-American Muslim, the controversial reality show on The Learning Channel (TLC).

Muslim groups like the radical Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) have responded by calling the action an example of religious bigotry. But terrorism expert Walid Shoebat, who was a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization before converting to Christianity, says the TV program's whole premise is misleading.

"The show is a fantasy really made up of a few families that speak English, when I've never met an Arab-American family that speaks English in their households who are first generation from the Middle East," he notes. "So they need to have translation work on what they really say from the Arabic into the English."

But if the audience could hear what a prominent imam featured on the show says in Arabic, Shoebat contends the unvarnished truth would be revealed.

"Husham Alhusayni, who is a main character, is the leader of a Karbala Islamic Center in Dearborn," the expert notes. "In the Arabic language, he supports the Jerusalem Document, which calls for the eradication of world Zionism, that Zionism is basically a disease that needs to be removed."

He assures that those are the things American audiences will not hear on the show.

 

Stopping synthetic drug 'epidemic'

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 12/21/2011

Iowa lawmakers continue the effort to get a federal ban on synthetic drug compounds, as use of such materials has become "epidemic."

The House approved a bill this month to outlaw 15 synthetic hallucinogens and more than a dozen synthetic compounds that mimic marijuana. Congressman Tom Latham (R-Iowa) co-sponsored the measure.

"The synthetic drugs ban is to get this K2, it goes by different names, off the shelves of the convenience stories and the -- quote -- 'head shops' that the young people are using," he explains. "There was just a survey out that about one out of nine young people or seniors in high school have used K2, and it's very, very dangerous."

Side effects of smoking the incense include paranoia, vomiting, and various hallucinations. At least 40 states have banned synthetic drugs that mimic marijuana, but use and possession remains common. In 2010, Indianola teen David Rozga committed suicide after smoking K2. His parents, the police, and the governor's drug policy coordinator all believe he died because of the effects of K2.

"His folks have just worked their tails off to try and make sure that this bill passed and that we could finally have this K2 be a schedule-one drug so that it can be controlled," Latham shares.

The drug is now outlawed in The Hawkeye State, and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has sponsored a proposal to push for a national ban that now awaits a decision from the full Senate. Congressman Latham believes it is a no-brainer.

"It should be just something that you could have unanimous consent and proceed with and get this to the president so that we can finally get this stuff off of the shelves," he contends. "It has really become epidemic as far as our youth today."

 

States v. pensions

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 12/21/2011

As the struggle between states and public pensions continues, a former state representative says it's time to face the reality that "we have a financial problem on our hands."

According to an Associated Press survey, the 50 states this year have a combined $690 billion in unfunded pension liabilities and $418 billion in retiree healthcare obligations. A related study conducted by the Wisconsin Legislative Council shows that three quarters of U.S. public retirement systems in 2008 offered some kind of early retirement option that paid partial benefits, and in some cases, to people younger than 55.

Several states this year sought legislation to try and limit public unions and curb rising pension costs. Ohio is one of those states, where Seth Morgan has dealt with the issue as a state representative, and now as the director of policy for  Americans for Prosperity Ohio.

"Ohio has five public pension systems. Every single one of them [is] under water," Morgan reports. "They're all meeting current obligations, but the question, just like Social Security, is how do you deal with a growing public pension liability that's driven in part by lucrative contracts that have been placed, in many respects, because of the public union influence?"

He says it is one of the unfortunate conversations that relates to public pension reform, especially in Ohio, which is projected to have a $7.6 billion deficit in five years for schools alone.

"96 percent of their operating budgets will be made up of personnel costs," the AFP Ohio policy director details. "Personnel is salary, it's healthcare, it's the pension contributions, and whether or not you're not talking about the cases where people are underpaid or overpaid, the reality is we have a financial problem on our hands."

Meanwhile, Matt Mayer, president of The Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions, believes states could help remedy the situation by having their public pension systems operate more like the Social Security system, allowing people to retire early and receive pensions when they turn 65.

 

NCC 'dinosaur' on the wrong side

Russ Jones - OneNewsNow - 12/21/2011

A conservative commentator is calling into question a delegation of U.S. church leaders' recent trip to Cuba for a series of talks with the country's Christian and political officials.

16 representatives of U.S. National Council of Churches (NCC) member communions were in Cuba November 28 through December 2 meeting with Cuban church and political leaders, including President Raúl Castro. The delegation, which believes the major problems between the two countries are America's fault, says it discussed a greater unity between U.S. and Cuban churches.

Mark Tooley, president of  The Institute on Religion & Democracy (IRD), says the NCC continues to be on the wrong side of the issue.

"Tragically and sadly, throughout the 1970s and 1980s, groups like the National Council of Churches were openly apologetic for Marxist regimes and revolutionary movements around the world and typically and shockingly silent about Christians who were persecuted by those regimes and movements," he notes.

The IRD president points out that the NCC has remained silent over the years in regards to Cuba's numerous human rights violations, and the top officers have lacked influential leadership.

"The NCC remains as sort of an old, left-wing dinosaur remaining from the 1970s," he decides.

At a time of economic transition in Cuba and "economic tensions" in the U.S., the group states, "It is the call to the churches of both countries to offer a word of hope in response to the anxiety and fear in both countries."

 

Court rules in Georgia case on student's view of 'gays'

Associated Press - 12/20/2011

ATLANTA - A federal court has upheld a ruling that Augusta State University in Georgia was within its rights to require a graduate school counseling student to keep her biblical views on homosexuals to herself.

A three-judge panel ruled that the university was following protocol when it put Jennifer Keeton on a remediation plan and threatened to expel her after she repeatedly said she would have difficulty working with homosexual clients. (See earlier story)

The university argued that it would risk its accreditation if it didn't hold Keeton to a code of ethics. Keeton filed suit, claiming the institution was punishing her for her Christian views.

The Alliance Defense Fund, which brought the suit, declined comment on the ruling.

 

Defending the public celebration of Christmas

Charlie Butts and Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 12/20/2011

A conservative congressman is taking action to ensure that Christmas is safe in the public arena.

Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado), a member of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, has 30 co-sponsors for his H.R. 489, a resolution to respond to those around the country who want to steal Christmas from Christians.

The measure specifically points out that the House of Representatives recognizes the importance of the symbols and traditions of Christmas, strongly disapproves of attempts to ban references to Christmas, and expresses support for the use of these symbols and traditions by those who celebrate Christmas.

"What this resolution does is ... say that those who want to celebrate Christmas have that right, that people should not have to delete references to Christmas in public discourse, and that the symbols of Christmas should be a free exercise of religion, which is protected under the U.S. Constitution," Lamborn explains.

He points out that the complaints typically come from organizations like the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which is an atheist group.

"I was talking with some people the other day, one of whom was Hindu and one of these people was Jewish, and they said, 'We don't celebrate Christmas in the same way that you do, but we enjoy looking on and seeing other people enjoy it. So we have no problem with you celebrating Christmas,'" the congressman accounts.

Lamborn and his co-sponsors think the resolution is a good idea, and the Colorado representative hopes the U.S. House will agree.

Meanwhile, the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) is advising an Alabama school district not to remove "Silent Night" from its Christmas program, despite a demand from Americans United for Separation of Church and State. (Listen to audio report)

Americans United sent a letter to the G.W. Trenholm School in Tuscumbia, Alabama, complaining that the inclusion of the song is unconstitutional. But ADF litigation staff counsel Matt Sharp says it is just one of nine songs that recognizes the religious heritage of Christmas, and it is not unconstitutional to do so.

"The school should not succumb to pressure from the faulty legal demands of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which spends its time threatening and intimidating school districts with disinformation to further its own constitutionally incorrect agenda," Sharp contends.

And ADF attorney David Cortman says it is ridiculous that schools should have to think twice about including a Christmas song in a Christmas program.

"An overwhelming majority of Americans agree that it's okay to celebrate Christmas in schools and in the public square, and they are certainly correct," he offers. "There is nothing unconstitutional about inclusion of this song in the school's program, and that is supported by how the courts have consistently ruled."

Because of situations like this, the Alliance Defense Fund offers a free legal memo that explains the constitutionally protected rights of students, teachers, and schools to religious expression.

 

Tea party's influence waning? Not so, says Bauer

Russ Jones - OneNewsNow - 12/20/2011

A recent analysis concludes that the tea party is losing its clout with the ranks of the Republican Party, but some political pundits say that's only wishful thinking.

On Tuesday, December 13, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Missouri) won over tea party favorite Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) for the vice chairman of the GOP conference, the fifth-most senior position in the party's caucus.

According to a recent Associated Press article , "The Blunt-Johnson race was considered symbolically important, a test of tea party clout a year after the libertarian-leaning movement helped drive Republicans into the House majority." But Gary Bauer, president of American Values, contends that those vying for leadership positions within the GOP are typically conservative, so the article's conclusion is flawed.

"I can't help but think that the average American in the tea party movement and out of the tea party movement [doesn't] pay any attention to this stuff," he offers. "In fact, what they're sitting around thinking about and worrying about and praying about is is my job secure?"

And Bauer notes that politicians who are supported by members of the tea party represent the values of the movement and are actively affecting policy decisions.

"The tea party movement continues to have a great deal of influence within the Republican Party, and I'm not discouraged at all by elections like the one that took place last week," the American Values president adds.

He goes on to point out that the conference vice chairmanship position carries little power or responsibility other than to spread the Senate Republican leadership's message ahead of the 2012 elections.

 

On ObamaCare benefit -- 'nothing is free'

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 12/20/2011

An expert on health policy says the Obama administration is taking too much credit for recent findings on young adults and health insurance.

The Associated Pressreports that the analysis from the Obama administration claims a dramatic reduction in the number of young adults without coverage is due to a provision in the new healthcare law that allows individuals to remain on their parents' health insurance plan until they turn 26. But Ed Haislmaier of The Heritage Foundation is skeptical of those findings.

"Certainly there would be some people who would take up this coverage, but this is a fairly small number of people," he explains, "and the problem with what the administration is trying to claim is I think they're trying to take credit for more than the law really had an effect on."

So exactly how many people does this actually benefit? According to the Obama administration, the number of uninsured Americans ages 19-25 fell by 2.5 million since the law took effect. But according to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 21,586,000 Americans ages 20-24 in 2010. Overall, that means the reduction is small in comparison to the demographic.

"First of all, a lot of states have put this kind of provision in their state law with respect to private commercial insurance already. So in many cases, it really doesn't change anything that already exists," Haislmaier reports. "The second concern, though, is like any other coverage requirement imposed on insurers or employer health plans, there is some cost associated with it, and, you know, nothing is free."

The health policy expert adds that cost is another concern in healthcare reform, as he points to another analysis by the Obama administration that shows premiums for group plans could increase up to 1.2 percent on average.

 

Objective: Undermine recruitment into Islam

Russ Jones - OneNewsNow - 12/20/2011

A California-based Christian ministry is trying to educate students about Islam. Last week the organization reached some 6,000 students throughout the United States.

Dr. Gary Cass, president of DefendChristians.org, says his organization was active in both California and Florida last week, educating students on the teachings of Muhammad. Their objective? "What we're trying to do is just destroy Islam's ability to recruit by telling the truth about Muhammad," says Cass.

Entitled the " 9-11 Defend Our Students" campaign, volunteers distribute leaflets to children who live in the neighborhood near a mosque.

"What do those mosques do? They recruit our kids and try to turn them into terrorists," states the ministry spokesman. "The reason why our kids are vulnerable to Islamic conversion is because the schools -- and even the churches, unfortunately -- will not tell the truth about Muhammad."

And the truth, Cass says, is a shocking reflection of a religion that is taking root in the U.S.

"You can see on the flyer we point out that Muhammad abused a little six-year-old girl sexually. Her name was Aisha," he explains. "A lot of black Americans are not aware that Muhammad owned black slaves and had a lot of derogatory things to say about black people."

Cass notes a handful of people, including senior citizens, can reach thousands of young people with the gospel and the truth about Muhammad in less than 30 minutes.

 

Penn. keeping abortuaries in check

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 12/20/2011

With the passage of new legislation, Pennsylvania will be keeping a closer watch on abortion clinics to ensure that they're following general health standards that have been overlooked in the past.

Maria Vitale Gallagher of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation says the governor and legislature of Pennsylvania moved on the bill after a nasty situation's extensive publicity.

"Senate Bill 732 is a response to the massive tragedy in West Philadelphia, where abortionist Kermit Gosnell is charged with the murders of seven newborn babies and one female patient," she explains. "This is a crime that cries out for justice, and we really needed increased regulation of abortion facilities in the state to respond to this tragedy."

Gosnell's so-called "house of horrors" operated for 18 years without an inspection. But the new measure would subject abortion centers to regular inspections that could result in fines or closure if state health and safety laws are breached.

"Yes, there will be unannounced inspections of abortion facilities under this bill," Gallagher assures. "That's so very important because we know for a fact that abortion centers were operating in violation of the law and they weren't being held accountable -- but now they will be."

According to recent inspections of abortion facilities in Pennsylvania, a majority are in violation the law. Gallagher and other pro-lifers "want that stopped." The bill now heads to pro-life Governor Tom Corbett (R), who is expected to sign it into law.

 

States making way for school choice

Charlie Butts and Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 12/20/2011

A religious freedom ballot issue is slowly moving forward in Florida.

Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel explains that the Florida constitutional amendment is opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union and teachers unions because it could lead to school vouchers allowing parents to send their children to religious and private schools.

"Back a few years ago ... Jeb Bush, the governor at that time in Florida, moved forward with vouchers, and then the Florida Supreme Court struck it down saying that it violated the so-called 'Blaine Amendment' that had been put in the constitution many years ago," Staver recalls.

That amendment, a form of which has also been added to laws in about half the states, was designed to stop state aid to parochial and other private schools.

"What this particular amendment that is being proposed will do is eliminate that particular amendment, which I think is what we ought to do in Florida and every other state," the Liberty Counsel president suggests. "The good news is that this does not mean that the amendment is completely off the ballot. It means that the attorney general has ten days to modify some of the description so that it can be ready for the upcoming election."

A trial judge had ruled that some of that language was ambiguous and misleading, prompting the need for revision. With that accomplished, Staver says it can go on the ballot.

In Indiana, advocates for private school vouchers say they are very pleased with the results of the program in its first year. (Listen to audio report)

Nearly 4,000 families are participating in the program, although it was prepared to accommodate up to 7,500. Lindsey Brown of School Choice Indiana says more would have participated, but they only had a couple of months to launch the program.

"It's not about the numbers; it's not about the savings, which are all great side effects of the program -- but it's really about the individual families who are benefiting from these opportunities that they wouldn't otherwise have," she decides.

The Indiana State Teachers Association has tried to block the program, but a judge has denied the request for an injunction. Brown believes the ISTA will eventually lose.

"You've got 4,000 students who are participating in the program, and I think it would be tremendously disappointing and also very difficult for a judge to then deny to the families that right to continue participating in the program," the school choice advocate notes.

Now that the program is in place, she anticipates that the numbers will continue to grow -- and perhaps as much as double next year.

 

Seniors group: WH proposal 'a terrible idea'

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 12/20/2011

A conservative alternative to AARP is speaking out against the Obama administration's push to extend federal wage and hour laws for home healthcare workers.

Under new rules proposed last week by the White House, workers in the home healthcare industry would be guaranteed minimum wage and overtime protections. Advocates for the proposal say it will draw more qualified professionals into the growing profession, while opponents on Capitol Hill claim it will result in fewer work hours for those workers and higher costs for taxpayers.

60 Plus Association chairman Jim Martin says the president's proposal is "a terrible idea."

"The cost of home healthcare is going to go up, [it's going to] continue to go up, and it's going to mean that many seniors will lose what home care they're getting -- or this care will be drastically cut back because of the cost and the cost alone," he tells OneNewsNow. "So it's a bad idea. It's bad medicine, if you will."

Martin says the proposal is also bad for home healthcare workers and their employer.

"It's not gaining extra pay [for the workers]," he explains. "They're going to be losing jobs because, quite frankly, for many of them this is the only job available. It's a job where they're gaining experience in the healthcare field, which is a growing industry ... but while it's growing, what Mr. Obama is proposing is going to stop that growth."

Martin cites the proposal as another example of government getting between people who have negotiated a beneficial relationship in a free-market setting.

"Let me put it this way," he states. "The Obama administration has already interfered between doctors and patients with the healthcare bill -- and now they're going to go into seniors' homes and tell them who can and can't provide assistance, and the government is going to set the price of what the government thinks it ought to be."

The financial details, he argues, ought to be between the senior and that person's companion or worker.

 

Costly proposal in California

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 12/20/2011

A Republican activist says the head of the California Senate is introducing legislation that would place an additional fiscal burden on the shoulders of state taxpayers.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D) will propose legislation next year to give college students in the state free electronic textbooks. Steinberg hopes to provide 50 textbooks for the most popular college classes, and he plans to ask taxpayers for the $25 million needed to create the free electronic library. The Democrat says the two proposed bills would save each college student around $1,000 of the $1,300 spent yearly on textbooks, and it would provide for students basic books for the first 25 classes by 2013. The other 25 would be available around fall of 2014.

If those proposals go through, Ty Greaves of the  California Republican Assembly (CRA) says, "More and more publishers will abandon the book model and the distribution costs and direction costs associated with it and go toward an electronic version."

The Democrat's plan comes in the wake of midyear trigger cuts due to a shortfall in revenue, so Greaves does not think the state is ready for the financial burden.

"We are ill-prepared to take on additional costs and the cost-shifting from the students to the state taxpayer," he warns.

And as textbook providers will move from paperback to digital, the CRA spokesman adds that government intervention is unnecessary and too costly for the state.

 

School punishes religious beliefs, student sues

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 12/19/2011

A federal lawsuit has been filed on behalf of a Michigan public school student who was punished for telling his teacher he opposes homosexuality.

When his economics teacher, a homosexual activist, specifically asked Daniel Glowacki, a junior at the time, about his feelings on homosexuality, the student responded that as a Catholic, he is offended by the lifestyle. He was then threatened with suspension and ordered to leave the classroom. News of the incident spread nationwide, and Richard Thompson of the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) accounts that the reaction was rarely positive toward the student.

"A firestorm of protest and vilification of Daniel appeared in the homosexual Internet community, and it ultimately ended in the mother being so upset that she contacted the Thomas More Law Center," Thompson reports.

So the public-interest law firm is suing the teacher, Johnson ('Jay") McDowell, and the Howell Public School District because the school is supporting whatever agenda homosexual activists have.

"We're asking the court to declare that the policies of ... Howell High School [are] unconstitutional. We're asking that there be an injunction entered that would prohibit further enforcement of those policies," the attorney explains.

Meanwhile, homosexual activists throughout the country have been hailing McDowell as a hero, while vilifying Daniel and his family as "bigots," referring to the student's religious objections as "hate speech."

 

Thousands attend rally for Nativity scene

Associated Press - 12/19/2011

ATHENS, TX - Thousands have rallied on an East Texas courthouse lawn in response to an effort to remove a Nativity scene.

The Athens Daily Review estimates that about 5,000 people attended Saturday's rally, which a Baptist pastor said was prompted by "the beginning of persecution of Christianity in our nation."

Henderson County officials this month received a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The group asked that a Nativity scene be removed from the courthouse square and sought to put up its own banner.

County Judge Richard Sanders says the county is complying with federal law and the Nativity scene will remain.

Four pastors who organized Saturday's rally spoke during the hour-long event.

Athens is 70 miles southeast of Dallas.

 

'Christ-a-phobia' dominating Calif. park

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California Correspondent - 12/19/2011

A Christian activist suggests that a move by California atheists to counter Christmas shows their "frustrations" with Christian expression.

At Christmastime for the past few decades, Palisades Park in Santa Monica has been filled with nativity scenes that displayed Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. This year, however, the nativity scenes have been crowded out by atheist groups that have filled the park with signs that attack religion and wish passers-by a "Happy Solstice."

The Santa Monica Nativity Scenes Committee typically holds 14 out of the 21 display sites, but because of a new lottery system, the spaces were awarded to other groups, as the competition for spaces has been unusually high this year.

"It's clear that this is an irrational 'Christ-a-phobia,' if you will -- a hatred or fear of Christ that just makes them do these very irrational and petty things," comments Dr. Gary Cass of  DefendChristians.org.

According to CBS News, secularist Damon Vix helped American Atheists Inc. and the Freedom From Religion Foundation obtain the spots that have been occupied by the Nativity Scenes Committee for 57 years.

"This just shows you the frustrations that non-Christians have -- especially these types of non-Christians -- that Christians have any right to express their point of view in a public forum," Cass concludes.

 

A young conservative's perspective on welfare fraud

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 12/19/2011

A conservative college student is telling how she witnessed multiple acts of welfare fraud while working for a major retailer.

Twenty-year-old Christine Rousselle of Maine recently wrote a column about her experiences with welfare recipients while working as a Walmart cashier (see earlier story). While she says she saw many people using the welfare system as it was intended, she was "really upset" by those who abused the privilege and did things incorrectly.

"I would see people using their food stamps to buy things like steak and lobster," she tells OneNewsNow. "I would see people using the EBT cash in the system -- it's like money from the state -- I would see people spend it on things like BB guns or a 'Slip and Slide' or Kit Kats.

"I even saw some people buying beer. I didn't even know you could do that -- my mouth literally dropped when the register went through."

Since writing about her experiences on the website "The College Conservative," Rousselle has received literally thousands of comments, good and bad. She even received a few marriage proposals.

"People at home, my co-workers especially, have been very, very enthusiastic about it," she says when asked about reaction to the column.

"I posted the column on my Facebook page at three in the morning. The first person to share it was one of my co-workers who said, 'Thank you, someone is finally talking about it.' One of my old managers told me, 'Christine, I wish you had talked to me before you wrote this -- I could have given you so many more examples of things I've seen.'"

Rousselle now attends Providence College in Rhode Island, where she is involved in journalism and currently serves as assistant editor of the news section for the school newspaper.

"I love it. I love seeing my work in print. It's a natural high for me," she shares with OneNewsNow. "As far as a career? Whoever hires me, hires me. I will work anywhere, but I would love to do this as a full-time job, just to write columns and commentate on things."

 

Yes, Virginia -- faith and business can coexist

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 12/19/2011

As of now, faith-based organizations in Virginia will not be forced to allow homosexuals to adopt.

Rutherford Institute staff attorney Rita Dunaway tells OneNewsNow the proposed regulations were described as "anti-discrimination." However, "what they would mean is that all licensed adoption agencies -- even faith-based adoption agencies -- would be prohibited from considering religion, political affiliation [or] sexual orientation when they choose to place a child with an adoptive family."

But as she points out, that would be discriminatory toward religious organizations that have been in the adoption ministry for many years.

"While the proponents of those regulations talk about wanting a level playing field and wanting equality, what the regulations would actually do would be to coerce these faith-based agencies to violate their religious convictions," Dunaway explains.

That would leave a situation similar to Illinois, where several religious adoption organizations had to choose between closing their doors and permitting homosexual men and women to adopt their children (see earlier story). According to The Rutherford Institute attorney, that "is absolutely beyond the legitimate authority of any government agency."

The Virginia Department of Social Services has decided not to alter its regulations, which means faith-based adoption groups still have the right to practice their faith without penalty.

 

Kline-Sebelius -- 'He said, she shred'

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 12/19/2011

The American Life League (ALL) has produced a new video calling for the resignation of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (see earlier story).

Sebelius served as Kansas governor during a time in which then-Attorney General Phill Kline was investigating Planned Parenthood of Kansas City. Michael Hichborn is host of the American Life League Report, the pro-life organization's ongoing video project intended to inform the public on life-related topics. The recent segment, "He Said, She Shred" (view right), explains more about the HHS secretary's interference in Kline's investigation.

"Kathleen Sebelius' administration blocked Phill Kline's investigation, used the Sebelius-stacked Supreme Court of Kansas to block the investigation, to keep Phill Kline from really digging into the meat of what Planned Parenthood was doing," Hichborn details. "And ultimately, as it turns out, all of the felony charges and some of the other charges that Phill Kline was able to file against Planned Parenthood had to be thrown out because Sebelius' administration shredded the evidence."

One of the most serious charges against the abortion giant is that it performed abortions on minors without parental notification or consent and without reporting the statutory rape to authorities. That is why ALL believes it is appropriate for Sebelius to resign her federal post.

 

Court sides with church in termination suit

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 12/19/2011

An advocate for Christians says a California court ruling in favor of a church's termination of a teacher upholds the right of a religious institution to keep a moral standard.

The Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled that the Red Hill Lutheran Church in Tustin had the right to fire a preschool director for living with her boyfriend while she is unmarried. In upholding a lower-court ruling, the court said the church's decision to fire teacher Sara Henry was acceptable because she violated a church ordinance. The preschool director continued to live with her boyfriend following a failed marriage and had a child out of wedlock. Henry filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the church in 2009.

Dr. Gary Cass of DefendChristians.org says it would have been "absolutely devastating" if the court of appeal had ruled the other way.

"The court rightly upheld the church's ability to hire people who live a Christian life according to their own stated values," he tells OneNewsNow.

The court ruled that because Henry was dismissed for religious concerns, the church is exempt under the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The court added that the nature of the suit protects the church from employment discrimination.

"There is an ongoing attempt on the part of many people to say that churches can only require that their ordained staff -- their minister, those kinds of employees -- are required to uphold a moral standard in keeping with the institution itself," Cass explains.

The church said it did not fire Henry because she had a child but because she continued to have a sexual relationship with her boyfriend while unmarried. Church officials say Henry's example as a representative of the church caused concern.

 

Ohio atheist group upset over rejected billboards

Associated Press - 12/19/2011

MANSFIELD, OH - An Ohio atheist group is upset that a Mansfield-based company rejected billboards depicting Jesus, Poseidon, Satan and Santa Clause as myths.

The Mansfield News Journal reports that Mid Ohio Atheists accused Lind Media of waiting until one business day before the billboards were to go up to inform the group that they had been denied.

Lind vice president Maura Siegenthaler says the company felt that the signs were intentionally shocking. She says it's the company's right to reject content it deems inappropriate.

American Atheists President Dave Silverman, who heads the Ohio organization's parent group, says the billboards showed how atheists recognize Poseidon, Jesus, Santa and the devil as myths. He says the target audience is "fellow atheists who are still in the closet."

 

Advice for pastors: Evaluate your agendas

Russ Jones - OneNewsNow - 12/19/2011

Four GOP presidential candidates have signed an evangelical Iowa group's "Marriage Vow," but a political commentator believes one particular contender is being unfairly targeted.

The Family Leader, a Christian advocacy group, has urged the presidential candidates to sign a pledge called "The Marriage Vow: A Declaration of Dependence Upon Marriage and Family" (see earlier story). Since the release of a video calling Newt Gingrich the "GOP's Kim Kardashian" because of his three marriages and marital infidelities, the former House speaker has signed the pledge and affirmed his support of the sanctity of marriage.

Dr. Albert Calaway, a retired Assemblies of God pastor, and Rev. Cary Gordon, pastor of Sioux City's Cornerstone Church, continue to question the presidential hopeful's sincerity ( see earlier story). But Carol M. Swain, professor of political science and law at Vanderbilt University and author of Be the People, disagrees with the tactics of the clergy.

"It seems like a cheap shot," she states. "It's a very valid, number-strong defender of marriage -- and I'm concerned about the divorce rate in America. But for the pastors to put that as a litmus test before the candidates seems inappropriate."

Peter Wehner, a blogger with Commentary Magazine, writes, "Why one would believe a pledge made to a 501(c)3 non-profit group would carry more weight than one made to the most important people in your life, as well as to the Lord God himself, strikes me as odd." And Swain notes that Gingrich is an easy target because of his indiscretions, but she advises the Iowa pastors to evaluate their own agendas.

"For pastors, it's great that they're concerned about it, but it would be even better if that became more of a focus of the church and that the pastors would start with their own personal lives," the professor suggests. 

Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum have also signed the pledge. So far, the other GOP candidates have declined.

 

Truth crisis infects western church

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 12/17/2011

Christianity finds itself in a truth crisis, according to author James Barry Babb.

In Post Cards From Another Gospel, Babb contends the church is struggling within the post-modern culture.

"The mega-church movement is really pre-dated by the seeker-sensitive movement, which is really one and the same," says Babb. "I'm just talking about the things that are troubling that seem to promote things such as a man-centered gospel, felt needs, and many times the gospel message gets watered down and compromised to a great degree."

Babb suggests though that the church is alive and doing great work, but he does believe especially the Western church has accommodated the culture to a great degree.

"As a result, many of the great doctrines of the church and really the message itself has become so muted, so compromised that there's really been a line that's been blurred culturally," adds the author.

Babb writes that the essentials of the faith must come from a deep and real understanding of the Bible and in an uncompromising body of believers.

 

Bible translation not an easy mission

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 12/17/2011

Wycliffe Associates is working to support Bible translators in the world's most high-risk areas.

In recent months, the news has focused on nations where residents are expressing discontent over their governments and the lack of freedom. Bruce Smith of Wycliffe Associates says that for Bible translators in foreign countries, things are much more difficult.

"One of things that's not told and can't really be told behind those stories is that in those very same locations, Bible translation is taking place and God's Word is getting into the local languages for the first time," says Smith. "These are changing times and windows of opportunities for God's Word to impact these communities and nations in ways that they haven't in the past."

According to the Wycliffe spokesman, sometimes dangerous situations pose threats to local Bible translators as well -- and that, he says, is where the organization's New Frontiers Fund comes in.

"One of the things that we do at Wycliffe Associates," says Smith, "is we back them up with our emergency fund and assure them that, if they need to make decisions for their personal safety, that they are able to do that with financial support from us so that we can get them back on their feet and get them to safe places, help them to sustain the work that they're doing which is bringing God's Word into these new languages."

 

VA cemetery leader accused of bias transferring

Associated Press - 12/17/2011

HOUSTON - U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs officials say the director of the Houston National Cemetery who had been accused of banning religious speech is transferring to another job.

The Houston Chronicle reports that Arleen Ocasio requested and has been given a lateral transfer to a position at the National Cemeteries Administration in Washington. Earlier this year, several Houston veterans groups sued the VA, accusing the department of religious discrimination by banning words such as "God" or "Jesus" at the cemetery. VA officials denied the allegations. (See related story)

In October, a federal judge approved a settlement, which did not address Ocasio's job status. She had been director at the Houston cemetery since 2010.

Larry Williams, who is assistant director of the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery, has been named acting director of the Houston National Cemetery.

 

'Vindication' for academic freedom

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 12/16/2011

The Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says a college professor's speeches and columns are fully protected by the First Amendment, setting an important precedent.

A lower court had ruled that the conservative opinions and columns of Dr. Mike Adams, a criminology professor at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, were not protected because his speech was part of his job duties. David French, senior counsel with Alliance Defense Fund, says the Fourth Circuit's overturning of that ruling is good for the educational community.

"We're extremely pleased by this decision," says the attorney. "It vindicates academic freedom not only for Dr. Adams, but for all professors; and it reestablishes the principle that the university is a marketplace of ideas.

"It's a tremendous outcome, but it's just one additional step in a long road towards justice for Dr. Adams."

French says after Adams converted to Christianity in 2000, he was subjected to academic persecution and denied a promotion to a full professorship -- despite his exemplary record.

"The Fourth Circuit's decision is a ringing vindication of the academic freedom of public university professors," he offers. "Disagreeing with an accomplished professor's religious and political views is no grounds for refusing him promotion."

A former atheist, Adams was hired in 1993 and received frequent praise and compliments from colleagues until he became a Christian. In addition to his teaching duties, he is now a frequent columnist on several conservative websites.

 

Will majority rule in Montana monument dispute?

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 12/16/2011

The battle to keep a statue of Jesus displayed on a mountain in Montana continues, and a decision is expected to be reached in the near future.

In the 1950s, the Knights of Columbus erected a statue of Jesus at Whitefish, Montana to honor soldiers who had served in the 10th Mountain Division in World War II. Liberty Institute attorney Jeff Mateer tells OneNewsNow no one complained for six decades.

" Earlier this year, the Freedom From Religion Foundation complained to the U.S. Forest Service," he explains. "The result was the U.S. Forest Service told the Knights of Columbus that the statue had to come down."

But after public pressure, the federal agency decided to reopen the case for comment.

"The public comment session ended with us and I think almost 100,000 people commenting, the overwhelming majority asking the U.S. Forest Service to allow the statue to remain on Big Mountain up there in Whitefish, Montana," Mateer accounts.

The statue stands on a 25-by-25-foot parcel of private property leased by a ski resort to the Knights of Columbus, and owners say the atheist organization's is the only complaint they have ever received. So, that means the battle comes down to one atheist organization against the majority -- supporters of the statue and those who do not otherwise object. A decision should come after the first of the year.

 

New Haven -- 'San Francisco of the East'

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 12/16/2011

An immigration enforcement advocacy organization thinks a Connecticut mayor has gone "over the top" in calling for illegal aliens to have the right to vote in municipal elections.

New Haven Mayor John DeStefano (D) says he will lobby the Connecticut Legislature to allow the city's estimated 5,000 illegal aliens of voting age to participate in local elections. The New Haven Independent reports that DeStefano made his announcement after he and other politicians held a news conference to voice their opposition to the federal "Secure Communities" initiative, which aims to deport more illegal aliens.

Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the  Federation for American Immigration Reform, is not surprised by this proposal.

"New Haven has been sort of at the vanguard of crazy ideas when it comes to illegal immigration. They're one of the local communities that wants to offer special ID's for illegal immigrants," he notes. "I guess it's just New Haven being New Haven. I guess they're vying for the title of 'San Francisco of the East' these days. But even Governor (Dannel) Malloy (D), who's not a particularly strong guy on immigration enforcement, thinks that this is going over the top."

Still, Mayor DeStefano intends to launch his lobbying effort at the state capitol when the legislature convenes in February. But Mehlman is skeptical about his chances.

 

Pro-Walker teacher's 'enormous courage'

Bob Kellogg - OneNewsNow - 12/16/2011

A Wisconsin teacher who favors the governor's reform efforts is now being denounced and threatened by union leaders, but one pro-family advocate says the educator is just corroborating news reports.

Because Kristi LaCroix, a public school teacher at Lakeview Technology Academy, appeared in a TV ad to commend Governor Scott Walker's (R) budgetary reforms, union leaders are threatening her and her family and calling on school officials to fire her. In the ad, she says she is "not big on recalls," and she contends that Scott Walker did what was right for Wisconsin.

Julaine Appling of the  Wisconsin Family Council says LaCroix is just corroborating news reports.

"Teachers' jobs have been saved, school districts have been saved money ... they have now reduced class sizes in many of our school districts that for the first time ... for many school districts in recent years at least, the school districts have been able to actually balance their budgets," Appling points out.

And she believes LaCroix has shown an amazing amount of courage in speaking out in favor of the reforms.

"With the air as toxic as it is in Wisconsin right now, and with the  recall effort ongoing to recall our governor, our lieutenant governor, and four state senators, it takes enormous courage for someone who is currently a public school teacher to step out and make an ad that supports what the governor has done," she decides.

And the Wisconsin Family Council spokesperson adds that this is an example of how the unions treat their own when they contradict union dictates.

 

Underage girls still at risk

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 12/16/2011

Even though the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has decided not to permit over-the-counter sales of Plan B to minors, one pro-lifer points out that it's still indirectly available to them.

Although an 11-year-old girl, for example, will not be allowed to purchase the "morning-after" pill, Eric Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League explains that others can easily do that for her.

"Very often it is older men who are preying on these younger girls," he notes. "This [decision by HHS] will cut off one avenue of access to this dangerous drug in such situations, but the abuser will still be able to get this drug. And so I really question the wisdom of having Plan B available over the counter for anyone."

His issue is not only with the threat the drug presents to underage girls, but he is also concerned by the lack of a physician's supervision and involvement. Aside from that, the pro-lifer suggests over-the-counter availability has a moral impact.

"When it comes to contraceptives and abortifacients and abortion itself, the presence of these evils in our society changes the way that people behave," Scheidler contends. "And so the problems we're trying to solve, we end up only increasing."

Plan B is an extremely high dose of birth-control pills, and no definitive research shows the impact it might have on the health of a woman or girl who takes the pill.

 

Wanted: Underage sex promoters

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 12/16/2011

In hiring children to spread their "perverted" message, one pro-lifer says Wisconsin Planned Parenthood is promoting statutory rape.

The state organization is hiring seven "youth health educators" to promote sex to their peers. Peggy Hamill of Pro-Life Wisconsin tells OneNewsNow the abortion clinic chain is considering children as young as 14. The job opportunity is posted on the Planned Parenthood website and on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's lesbian, "gay," bisexual, and transgender resource website. Those hired will be used to influence teens on sexual issues.

"They're doing this despite the fact that in Wisconsin, early teen sexual activity is not only immoral, but it is illegal -- even if it's consensual," Hamill reports.

The children sought to promote the effort must have successfully completed eighth grade and have strong "influencing and interpersonal skills" and be comfortable "discussing sexuality issues in a confidential manner."

"Now, this is aiding and abetting our children in the commission of a second-degree sexual assault, which is known commonly as statutory rape," the pro-lifer argues.

But she can only conclude that Planned Parenthood is taking this nationwide because the organization has no moral compass.

"We've got perverts corrupting teens and then training them to be perverted and corrupt other teens," Hamill laments. "This is disgusting, and it has to stop."

But the Pro-Life Wisconsin state director believes that Planned Parenthood hiring youngsters to do this job will only give a boost to the ongoing effort to defund the abortion giant in Wisconsin.

 

Forgotten California

Becky Yeh - OneNewsNow California correspondent - 12/16/2011

A California Republican laments that his state plays a very small role in the process of nominating a GOP candidate in the presidential race.

A recent poll from the Public Policy Institute of California shows that state voters favor Newt Gingrich over the other GOP contenders. So, considering his recent popularity, political analysts say The Golden State's late primary may give Californians a greater voice in determining which candidate gets the presidential nomination.

Charles Hart of the California Republican Assembly (CRA) tells OneNewsNow that Gingrich could very possibly remain at the top in California. However, he is concerned the state's overall effect on the presidential race will be minimal because votes will not come in until June 5 -- at the close of the action.

"It obviously takes away from the effect that California will play in this process. Unfortunately, with Florida moving up its primary date and so many other states moving up [their] primary dates, it really puts us even farther behind," he laments. "I think it's a shame in one sense because California has so many electoral votes to offer that we play such a minimal effect on the whole process of choosing the right candidate."

Presidential hopefuls  Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul were the only two Republican contenders who made a visit to The Golden State for the GOP convention. Others have made fundraising stops throughout the state, but Hart suggests the late primary date is why so few have bothered to focus on California.

"I think that's the reason so few of the candidates have been willing to put any time or effort into coming to California," the CRA spokesman concludes. "Because it's so late in the game, it's pretty much a done deal by the time they get to California."

 

More negativity about nativity

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 12/16/2011

As an atheist group targets another city's nativity scene, local pastors say the community is generally "upset" and "agitated."

The Corry, Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce invited the First United Methodist Church to provide a live nativity scene in a city park to celebrate the Christmas season. But the Freedom From Religion Foundation has written a letter to the city to voice its strong objections to the religious display.

Rev. John Zimmerman, pastor of First United Methodist Church, reports on the residents' general reaction.

"I think the majority is just upset -- just a range of emotions from upset to agitated that it's even an issue, to just a sense that it's just ... ridiculous that it is even an issue here in Corry," he accounts.

And the reverend argues that nothing is wrong with the nativity scene in the city park. Instead, he suggests the Freedom From Religion Foundation is misinterpreting the U.S. Constitution.

"There is that issue that when the Constitution becomes threatened, that is an issue worthy to take up and fight for," he decides. "You know, I just have doubts that the Freedom From Religion Foundation has really any concern about the Constitution as much as they do in having a concern about eradicating Christianity from the nation."

City officials have yet to respond, but Zimmerman hopes the retort will be strong and clear. Meanwhile, Pastor Sanders Anderson of Corry Baptist Church agrees that the situation has created a stir in the community.

 

AAPS battling enormous impact of ObamaCare

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 12/16/2011

A major medical association wants to intervene against ObamaCare in cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, especially since a new argument concerning the high court's jurisdiction has been presented.

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) says the new healthcare law will have an enormous impact on physicians and patients through doctor shortages, employers no longer offering insurance, and some insurance companies choosing to close shop over being forced to offer coverage on pre-existing conditions without added fees. Moreover, AAPS wants to stave off a potentially bad result of having the case dismissed and/or not being settled in the wake of a new argument.

"The argument prevails that the Supreme Court doesn't have jurisdiction because of the Anti-Injunction Act," explains AAPS spokeswoman Dr. Jane Orient. "And that will happen if they manage to establish that this penalty for not buying health insurance is a tax rather than a penalty."

The Anti-Injunction Act (26 USC Section 7421) limits the power of federal courts to consider challenges to taxes. AAPS filed its request in early December, but a decision has been postponed until January 6. No reason has been given for the delay, but Dr. Orient remains hopeful that the request might be granted.

"The motion for one intervener was turned down, but ours was just delayed," she notes. "So, we're hoping that it might be accepted."

Dr. Orient adds that the American Medical Association has been absent in this issue, as have state medical societies. AMA endorsed ObamaCare during the congressional debates, but it is now in favor of repealing the controversial Independent Payment Advisory Board provision.

 

Singling out cell phones

Russ Jones - OneNewsNow - 12/16/2011

While a government agency is recommending that all states ban the use of mobile phones and text-messaging devices while driving, one legal commentator sees the proposal as another intrusion by a liberal administration.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced Tuesday that texting, e-mailing, or using a cell phone while driving is too dangerous to be allowed anywhere. But Horace Cooper, adjunct fellow with The National Center for Public Policy Research, calls the move a heavy-handed solution to a problem that has yet to be identified.

"This government, one-size-fits-all effort to take away the right of Americans to use their cell phones is not the right response," he contends. "It doesn't reflect our individual ability to make decisions judiciously and prudently about when and where to use our cell phones."

The NTSB considers cell phone use while driving "distractive driving." But as Cooper points out, there are a number of other diversions that equally distract drivers. "It could be putting on makeup, changing a contact, eating, [or] drinking," he lists.

But the cell phone is the only item singled out in the recommendation.

"They are ubiquitous, and the ubiquity of the phone itself is the reason why the phone isn't as dangerous as people think," The National Center fellow argues. "You use it every day."

Nine states, including California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Washington, currently have a ban on simultaneously operating a vehicle and a hand-held cell phone. Washington, DC and the Virgin Islands also require any mobile phone use to be hands-free.

The NTSB had previously recommended such bans only for novice drivers, school bus drivers, and some commercial truckers.

 

2012 won't be much better for housing market

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 12/16/2011

To say the least, 2011 has not been a good year for the housing market, and one expert does not see the situation improving in 2012.

Stuart Vener is the president of the Wilshire Holding Group and a frequent contributor to radio and television news. He says he does not see the housing market getting better for the next four to five years.

"The whole housing market is really bogged down by something like probably 11 million houses either in foreclosure or in various states of foreclosure," he reports.

However, now is a great time for a first-time homebuyer.

"If you can get a loan, you can get a house at half the price of what it was years ago," the expert explains. "But we're going to be a long time away from the demand equaling or surpassing the supply that's out there."

To make matters worse, a recent  survey from the National Association of Home Builders shows that bank appraisers are wrongfully using foreclosed homes as comparable houses to assess values in home sales, which drives down the price of a home and even prevents some sales from happening. The result has been "that the new house winds up getting appraised at less than the cost of construction."

Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors reports that some properties have been listed more than once, indicating a much weaker housing market than previously thought.

 

EPA report warrants 'strictest scrutiny'

Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 12/16/2011

The Institute for Energy Research, a global energy market research and analysis organization, is urging a cautious response to a draft report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on contaminated drinking water.

The report, released last week, claims to have found hydraulic fracturing-related contaminants in a Wyoming aquifer. But Dan Kish, senior vice president for policy at the Institute for Energy Research (IER), says the EPA's announcement warrants the "strictest scrutiny."

"It hasn't even been reviewed internally by the EPA, and it certainly hasn't been peer-reviewed," he points out. "Some of the things that we have found out about it, for example, are that they found some deep wells that had water in them where the water is not drinkable, and they found hydrocarbons in them. But that's a normal thing that would happen in a hydrocarbon-rich environment underground, and the important thing is it's not in the drinking water."

Meanwhile, the Penn State researchers who  claimed to find "fracking"-related contaminants in Pennsylvania wells have withdrawn their findings and attributed the evidence to a laboratory error. But Kish says demonstrating the validity of the Wyoming report in the face of 50 years' worth of safe fracturing is a burden that EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson must now bear.

"There [are] a lot of problems with this, and I'm afraid, based on everything we've seen the EPA do, that this has more to do with politics than it does science," he comments.

Kish adds that the pro-oil and gas organization, Energy In Depth, is also questioning the draft report.

 

Msg to atheists: Don't cross this Tennessee town

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 12/15/2011

An atheist group has sued a small town in Tennessee over a cross on a city water tower.

Several years ago, the residents of Whiteville raised money to erect a large cross atop the town's water tower. Freedom From Religion Foundation objected, and finally Mayor James Bellar had one arm of the cross removed.

"As a result of what they had done to Whiteville, the people in Whiteville just more or less took it upon themselves to start a campaign to put crosses up all over this part of Tennessee that they could," the mayor explains. "And it's just been like a crusade down here with people making crosses and sticking 'em in their yard, putting 'em on sides of buildings, and everything else."

In front of city hall, citizens placed two other crosses on the right of way and the mayor put up a cross outside his business. That action made the atheist group angry, so they filed suit on behalf of a lone atheist.

"[In] the letters that I received originally, this person was identified as a 'Whiteville resident and taxpayer,'" says Bellar. "In the lawsuit, that person has now morphed into a 'John Doe who occasionally comes to Whiteville to transact business.'"

In short, it is one atheist trying to shut down the speech of the town's majority who happen to be Christian. Mayor Bellar says the town will not stand for it and will defend itself against the lawsuit.

 

Southern Baptist bookstore recalls pink Bibles

Associated Press - 12/15/2011

NASHVILLE, TN - The Southern Baptist Convention's bookstores are recalling pink Bibles, saying some of the money raised through their sale was being given to Planned Parenthood.

LifeWay Christian Resources no longer markets the pink-bound version of The Holman Christian Standard Bible and is recalling copies it sold, according to The Tennessean. A portion of the purchase price went to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

The Komen foundation issued a statement in which it said all proceeds from the Bible sales were going to breast cancer screenings and expressed disappointment in LifeWay's decision.

LifeWay's move came after complaints that some local Komen affiliates were helping fund cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood, which also provides abortions.

The pink Bibles had been in stores since October.

 

Consumers contributing to sex-change operations?

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 12/15/2011

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest homosexual activist group, is lauding companies that provide medical coverage to change one's gender.

The campaign has set up a workplace equality scorecard that registers how pro-homosexual and pro-transgender companies are. But Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) tells OneNewsNow that is only the starting point.

"They continually ratchet up the demands of the scorecard so that every year companies are doing more and more extreme pro-homosexual, pro-transgender advocacy," he explains.

According to The Associated Press, the number of major U.S. companies that cover the cost of gender-reassignment surgery has more than doubled in the past year.

"A corporation needs to fund transgender 'sex-change,' so-called, operations with corporate funds," LaBarbera tells about what it takes to earn 100 percent on the HRC scorecard. "So they added the funding of these radical, gross, transsexual sex-change operations to get the 100-percent ranking."

That means the customers at those business are helping finance and encourage the "disfiguring" procedures.

"So, what a smart consumer should do is take a look at the Human Rights Campaign workplace scorecard for corporations and just go to the opposite places," the AFTAH president suggests. "Go to the place with the lower ranking."

Last year, 85 companies had insurance plans that covered sex-transformations surgeries, and only 49 did in 2009. But none offered that coverage a decade ago, when the campaign launched the effort. To maintain a 100 percent and a listing in the HRC-preferred vendors' guide, LaBarbera concludes that company must be "totally sold out to the homosexual, bisexual, transgender agenda."

Some of the companies that expanded their insurance coverage this year to include sex-change surgery are Apple, Chevron, General Mills, American Airlines, Kellogg, Sprint, Levi Strauss, Best Buy, Nordstrom, Whirlpool, Xerox, Raytheon, and Office Depot.

 

Arab nonprofit network refusing Lowe's donations

Associated Press - 12/15/2011 7:35:00 AM

DEARBORN, MI - A network of 22 Arab-American nonprofits says its members will no longer accept donations from Lowe's. Wednesday's announcement comes after the home improvement chain stopped advertising during a reality TV show about U.S. Muslims.

The National Network for Arab American Communities and its Dearborn-based parent ACCESS said the retailer's decision contradicts their values.

Lowe's executives say TLC's All-American Muslim became a "lightning rod for people to voice complaints." The company's decision followed an email campaign by the conservative Christian group Florida Family Association.

The TV show chronicles five families in and near the Detroit suburb with large Muslim and Arab populations. (See earlier article)

 

Clinton: Free speech mustn't be squelched to protect religion

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says religious liberty includes the right to criticize or change religions.

Clinton addressed representatives of Muslim and Western governments considering how to combat religious intolerance, including acts that Muslims find offensive.  She said hateful anti-religious speech should be denounced, but not outlawed as it is in nations that make blasphemy or conversion to another religion a crime.

She asked, "Is our religion so weak that statements of disapproval will cause us to lose our faith?" -- and argued instead for a tolerance that allows people to vigorously debate their religious differences.

Clinton said governments that fear religion and "societies which think there's only one religion can be equally oppressive."

 

Beck with left on tea party's 'racism'

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 12/15/2011

A tea party activist is calling on talk-show icon Glenn Beck to apologize for suggesting that tea party members who support Newt Gingrich over President Barack Obama must be "racist."

As a recent guest on Fox News Channel's "Freedom Watch" with Judge Andrew Napolitano, Beck declared Gingrich is the only GOP candidate he could not vote for:

"This man is a progressive. He knows he's a progressive. He doesn't have a problem with being a progressive," Beck argued. "So, if you've got a big government progressive, or a big government progressive in Obama -- one in Newt Gingrich, one in Obama -- ask yourself this, tea party: Is it about Obama's race? Because that's what it appears to be to me. If you're against him, but you're for this guy, it must be about race."

Ned Ryun is a tea party activist who heads up a national grassroots training organization known as American Majority (AM). He says Beck's race comment smacks of the same caustic rhetoric that liberals use to define the conservative grassroots movement.

"To say that people voting for him versus Obama would come down to basically racism is completely inappropriate," Ryun contends. "Glenn stated that if Newt is the nominee, he would strongly consider a third-party candidate; vote for  Ron Paul. Quite frankly, Glenn doesn't seem to understand that if you vote for a third-party candidate, you will essentially be giving President Obama a second term in the White House."

While the AM president agrees that with Becks's contention about Gingrich's questionable conservative credentials, he says the GOP hopeful would still be better than the current U.S. president, who remains an unabashed apostle of leftist socialist policy. Ryun suggests Beck should apologize.

 

LGBT-friendly policy turning customers off

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 12/14/2011

Another Macy's store is reportedly permitting men to use women's dressing rooms -- and in the process, says Mat Staver, the retailer is alienating a lot of its customer base.

The problem first surfaced when a Macy's employee in San Antonio, Texas, was fired after telling a cross-dresser he could not use the women's dressing room to try on apparel. The employee had pointed out to management the consequences of a policy that affirms the lesbian, "gay," bisexual, transgender (LGBT) lifestyle.

Mat Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, now tells OneNewsNow that an employee of another store has told him she has persistent problems keeping men out of the women's fitting room.

"She says that mothers of young daughters come up to her periodically and ask her to keep the men from going into the women's fitting rooms," the attorney reports. "So this apparently is a pervasive problem within the Macy's store system."

Macy's has an LGBT-friendly policy that allows men to use women's rooms, as Staver has told OneNewsNow before -- and he suggests that poses a danger for any woman or girl using them.

"This policy has put at risk every woman shopper who enters one of these rooms," he states in a press release. "While attempting to cater to a radical LGBT agenda, Macy's has alienated almost the entirety of its customer base.

According to Liberty Counsel, the public is reacting.

"Consistently the people of America are saying that they will not shop at Macy's," explains Staver. "They're tearing up their Macy's credit cards, they're sending back their Macy's gift cards, they say that they will not shop at Macy's -- and this is a consistent response that we're seeing from the public around the country."

The Liberty Counsel founder says customers are "literally outraged and shocked" at Macy's