Religious Freedom Coalition - Promoting Religious Freedom and Family Based Legislation

I will appear on Battle Line with Alan Nathan at 10:00 AM, EST on Monday, January 19th. This is a nationally syndicated show on Radio America regarding Democrat presidential candidate Wesley Clark's remarks on abortion. (See below) On Monday evening I will be on the Doug Kellett Show , KNRC, Denver. CO at 5:00 PM MST; the subject will be Wesley Clark's abortion statement. On Thursday, January 22nd I will be on the Kirby Wilbur Show , KVI, Seattle, Washington at 8:30 AM, PST; the subject will be Islamic terror. On Friday, January 23rd I will be on the Don Kroah Show at 5:30 PM, EST; the subject will be presidential politics. NEW: Thursday 8:30 AM ... Armstrong Williams Show ... Nationally syndicated.

THE PRESIDENCY

MARRIAGE

Our executive director, Peggy Birchfield is at a White House briefing today concerning a $1.5 billion proposal for the promotion of marriage. The money would be spent to train couples to develop interpersonal skills to help them in keeping a lasting marriage. Studies indicate that children in single parent homes, particularly those at lower income levels, are more likely to become involved in drugs and have unhealthy relationships. This is an important initiative in an era of no-fault divorce and fatherless kids. Representives of ten or fewer Washington, DC based family oriented groups were attending this briefing at last count. As details emerge from the White House briefing we will keep you informed.

MARRIAGE AND CHENEY

In several of these updates, I have mentioned that behind the scenes Vice President Cheney has been promoting Civil Unions in the Bush White House. Even during the campaign in 2000 Cheney seemed to lean away from any federal intervention to protect the institution of marriage. During an interview with the Denver Post on January 11th of this year, the Vice President reluctantly said he would support President George W. Bush on banning gay marriage. Even in the interview Cheney hedged stating: "What I said in 2000 was that the question of whether or not some sort of status, legal status or sanction ought to be granted in the case of a relationship between two individuals of the same sex was historically a matter the states had decided and resolved, and that is the way I preferred it." He went on to say that "... the president is going to have to make a decision in terms of what the administration policy is on this particular provision, and I will support whatever decision he makes." Many interpret this to mean that if Cheney were the President there would be no effort at all to stop same sex marriage in the United States.

ABORTION AND THE CAMPAIGN

This year's Democrat primary has gone from outrageous to just plain nuts. The mainstream liberal media turned against Howard Dean several weeks ago when they began to see him as unelectable and picked Wesley Clark as the man to puff. Now it turns out that Wesley Clark is more of an extremist than Howard Dean and the liberal media is in shock not knowing what to do or say.

What happened?

During an interview with the editorial board of the Manchester Union, Gen. Wesley Clark said he would not appoint any judge who was not "100% pro-choice." He went on to say that Roe v. Wade entitles a woman to abort a child up to the moment of birth ... even if the mother is in labor when she decides to abort! No serious candidate for public office, not even the most liberal of Democrats, has come out and made a statement so blatantly anti-life.

Wesley Clark was the "centrist" candidate presented by Bill and Hillary Clinton to save the Democrat party from the "extremist" Howard Dean. With Clark now pictured nationally as being just as extreme as Dean, the entire Democrat primary process has been turned upside down. For years Democrats rode the wave of the abortion movement believing it was their future. But the newest generation of Americans coming of voting age, those who lost brothers and sisters to the abortionist's knife, are more pro-life than any generation before them. The abortion movement is headed toward the dust bin of history and the Democrats don't want to ride the horse into the deep water.

Clark's abortion position almost assures a Dick Gephardt victory in the Southern primaries because of his "Baptist tradition." Gephardt's actual position is not different from Dean's or Clark's, but his decades of political experience have taught him how to condemn abortion while at the same time approving it. Wesley Clark on the other hand, made the mistake of championing abortion in an ever increasingly conservative society. Don't take my word for it, read the transcript of the conversation between publisher Joseph McQuaid and candidate Clark.

McQuaid: Let's take an issue. Abortion. Are there any limits on it in your mind?

Clark: I don't think you should get the law involved in abortion --

McQuaid: At all?

Clark: Nope.

McQuaid: At all?

Clark: It's between a woman, her doctor, her friends and her family.

McQuaid: Late term abortion? No limits?

Clark: Nope.

McQuaid: Anything up to delivery?

Clark: Nope, nope.

McQuaid: Anything up to the head coming out of the womb?

Clark: I say that it's up to the woman and her doctor, her conscience, and law -- not the law. You don't put the law in there.

PROFANITY AND THE CAMPAIGN

My good friend Paul Weyrich , Chairman of the Free Congress Foundation , this week reported on a fund raising event held for Democrat presidential candidate Howard Dean last month that was out and out pornographic. I had missed the New York Post editorial which described the event as "Howard Dean's x-rated, epithet-ridden New York fund-raiser." Speakers derided conservative blacks in racial terms. The Post reported that the comics seemed to have "... competed to see how often they could use the F-word in the same sentence." The "N" word was used numerous times by liberals who seem to be exempt from criticism by liberal black leaders. Knowing how profane and visceral the event would be, the Dean campaign prohibited any video since they did not want the general public to get a glimpse of the true heart and meaning of the Dean campaign. That heart is dark!

THE HOUSE

FILTH ON THE AIRWAVES Congressman Doug Ose (R-CA) has brought forward the Clean Airwaves Act (HR 3687) which spells out seven words that broadcast stations could not use on the air. Congressman Ose did not introduce the bill as a result of the Howard Dean fund raising event mentioned above but rather because the "f" word was used on a live broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards in January, 2003. Congressman Ose acted after the FCC ruled that the word could be used by broadcast stations "...as an adjective or expletive to emphasize an exclamation." In other word the FCC stated that using any of the eight words previously banned from broadcasting could be done as long as it was not used to describe an "indecent" act or in a "sexual" context. Congressman Ose's bill, which is supported by the Religious Freedom Coalition, would force the FCC to ban the use of profane words on broadcast stations. This would not affect the profanity used on cable shows which people pay to have pumped into their homes, but rather only those stations using public airwaves. Congressman Phil Gingrey (R-GA) introduced a "sense of the House" resolution regarding the FCC ruling. If passed the resolution would send to the FCC a strong message that the Congress wants to see the rules changed in such a way as to stop vulgar language on broadcast television. H. Res 482 is co-sponsored by several congressmen including Jo Ann Davis (R-VA), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and others.

THE SENATE

The Senate returns on January 20th to face rising opposition to the Omnibus spending bill . The Omnibus bill is needed because Congress failed to pass seven of the thirteen spending bills needed to operate the government. When these seven were all combined together into the Omnibus bill, a tremendous amount of fat was included to win votes from various Senators and Congressmen. The bill is huge and contains such things as $2 million for a golf program in St. Augustine, Florida to provide access for golf to everyone including kids; $1.8 for a fruit laboratory in West Virginia; and money for a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, just to name a few. If this bill passes there will be an election year shift, with Democrats pointing to a "big government" Republican president backed by a "big spending" Republican Congress. Before this is passed some budget knives need to be taken to it. There are better uses for your tax dollars and mine.

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM COALITION

THE GREAT WINDOWS 98 CRASH

It had to happen eventually. The processor in one of our network computers failed. Our entire network system was based on Windows 98 .... not because we preferred it ... but because we could not afford to upgrade to computers that could handle Windows XP. Several of our data input computers are E-Machines and our executive level computers were from Gateway. Our interoffice e-mail system would not work on XP and there were several other reasons we could not do partial upgrades. The crash and other incompatibility issues forced us to buy three new Dell XP computers for the editorial and executive staff on the second floor, although, the support staff will continue to use the older E-Machines running Windows 98 for data input. The installations and adjustments, including a learning curve, has caused some delays in providing answers to e-mail's and the filling of Internet orders for books and other items. We still need several XP based machines for support staff; however, we just can't afford them. If you operate a larger business which frequently upgrades equipment and have XP based desk tops or laptops you could contribute to a non-profit organization for a tax credit please contact us at support@rfcnet.org . Credit card gifts are welcome as well!

William J. Murray, Chairman - Religious Freedom Coalition

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Please address all comments and questions to support@rfcnet.org.

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