THE DELAY ATTACK

Majority Leader Tom DeLay is a friend of the Religious Freedom Coalition and a personal friend of mine. He has on numerous occasions attended events sponsored by the Religious Freedom Coalition and his presence at those events brought us prestige, news coverage and contributions to our cause. Tom DeLay has never asked anything in return because he believes, as we do, that the United States exists by the grace of God. He believes in having prayer in school and displaying the Commandments in public. He prays publicly and in fact has led prayers at events held by this organization on Capitol Hill. He is a deacon in his church and he and his family have reached out and adopted unwanted kids as their own. It is because of his faith, not his politics, that the left hates him so. The charges brought against him on Wednesday by a District Attorney in Fort Worth are trumped up and false. Indeed District Attorney Ronnie Earle is an extortion expert. He frequently files charges against companies and then drops the charges when those companies donate money to charities his family has an interest in. In the past he has attempted to jail Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) using the same set of false charges brought against Tom DeLay. If anyone involved in this case belongs in jail it is Ronnie Earle, not Tom DeLay.

ROY BLUNT

Majority Whip Roy Blunt moved up to temporarily fill the shoes of Majority Leader Tom DeLay. DeLay was forced to step down because of Republican ethics rules that do not allow any indicted congressman to serve in a leadership position. This rule was instituted in 1994 by then Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich. When the House was controlled by the Democrats there was no such rule. I was at a meeting with Congressman Blunt just minutes before the indictment against Tom DeLay. Congressman Blunt is soft spoken compared to Tom DeLay, but no less a social conservative. All of us in the social conservative community were therefore stunned when Speaker Hastert announced that he intended to have Congressman David Dreier (R-CA) take up the duties of Tom DeLay. There was an immediate outcry against Dreier because he is known to those of us that actually work on Capitol Hill. We know he is not a social conservative and in fact calling him any kind of a conservative is a stretch. He is, however, intensely loyal to Speaker Hastert. An immediate campaign was launched by the conservatives, including myself, to stop Dreier from moving into leadership. The outcry was so great that by the end of the day yesterday Speaker Hastert had retreated from Dreier and backed Roy Blunt. The episode of Dreier and Blunt gave many on Capitol Hill a better insight into the mind of Speaker Hastert who is reclusive and rarely seen or heard from except at high dollar fund raising events.

THE MINUTEMEN

Also on Wednesday my political action committee, GING-PAC, held a reception at the Capitol Hill Club for Randy Graf who is running in the Republican primary in Arizona against gay activist Republican congressman Jim Kolbe. Congressman Kolbe is the only Republican congressman to announce publicly that he is a homosexual. Despite Arizona being overrun by illegals, Kolbe stands against defending the southern border of our nation. Randy Graf believes he can defeat Kolbe on the immigration issue alone. Several other receptions were being held in the building at the same time including one for Chris Simcox, the founder of the Minutemen . A vile protest was held by paid professional demonstrators in front of the Capitol Hill Club to protest the presence of Chris Simcox. Chris came over to the Randy Graf reception to lend his support. I later attended the Minutemen reception which was visited by more than a dozen congressmen including Trent Franks (R-AZ), Walter Jones (R-NC), Phil Gingrey (R-GA) and Virgil Goode (R-VA).

ROBERTS TAKES COMMAND

Just a few weeks ago Democrats stood shoulder to shoulder vowing to sink the nomination of Judge John G. Roberts to the Supreme Court. Special interest groups that pour huge dollars into the Democrat Party coffers including Moveon.org, People for the American Way, National Organization for Women, NARAL and the entire homosexual activist camp, vowed to unseat any Democrat Senator who voted for Roberts. Today most Democrats sided with Republicans as the Senate voted to confirm Roberts 78 to 22. Showing how outside the mainstream the two states are, all four Democrats representing New York and California voted against Roberts. Because most of her money to run for president will come from the extreme left, Hillary Clinton had no choice but to vote against the Roberts confirmation. President Bush may put forth his next nominee to the Court as early as Monday.

THE PRESIDENT

THE PRESIDENT AND HURRICANES

The liberal mainstream media pounded away at President George W. Bush for not taking immediate command when Hurricane Katrina hit a month ago. When the President flew to Texas to monitor the situation with hurricane Rita the same media said he was "overdoing" it and that his trips to the region were "excessive." Besides being beaten up on by the media, President Bush received some bad news from the Republican led Congress. He was told by the Republican leadership that his idea to make the military the "lead" organization for disaster relief was a non-starter. He was told that the Republican led Congress had no interest in changing the basic federal governance of the nation and that the authority in such matters would remain at the state level. Congress is also starting to balk at the huge budget the President has in mind to rebuild the Gulf Coast, reminding him that the private sector, including insurers, have to bear much of the cost of rebuilding. I agree. What is next? Does the federal government pay to replace every tree that burns in every forest fire in California? While the government has the responsibility to rebuild roads, bridges, levees, and federal buildings, it should not be replacing private homes and businesses whose owners failed to purchase the proper insurance.

THE FAA AND CEMETERIES

On July 27, 2005 the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved a plan to seize and desecrate 1,300 grave sites in the St. Johannes Cemetery next to O'Hair Airport to allow expansion. This is an active cemetery established in 1849 on private land owned by St. John's Church of Christ. Among those who will be dug out of their graves for airport expansion are Civil War heroes and members of the Underground Railroad and even families that hosted President Lincoln during his visits to his home state. There was a state law protecting cemeteries that Mayor Daley rescinded. There is also the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) which we helped to pass on the federal level that protects religious sites. The FAA agrees that they are violating the law, but then say that there is a "compelling interest" to desecrate the graves. The church is represented by the Becket Fund which has organized a letter to the Bush Administration that numerous organizations, including the RFC will sign before it is delivered.

AND MUCH MORE

I simply cannot report on everything that the Religious Freedom Coalition did on Capitol Hill this week. This report would just be too long. I did chair the Family Forum meeting on Capitol Hill this week and personally attended more than 15 meetings and events including the Stand for Israel conference in Washington, DC. Executive Director Peggy Birchfield, despite surgery last week, attended half a dozen meetings and briefings both on International and domestic issues.

INTERNATIONAL

CHRISTIAN POLITICAL PARTY!

For several days this week I escorted Peruvian presidential candidate Humberto Lay to meetings on Capitol Hill. Humberto Lay is the pastor of a 10,000 member Assembly of God church in Lima, Peru. He has been a pastor for 25 years and before that he was an architect for 23 years. After corruption and violence nearly destroyed the nation over the past several decades he was asked by the current president to serve on a commission of "truth and reconciliation." While serving on that commission he learned the truth about the toll political corruption had brought upon the Peruvian people and was led to form a Christian based political party. As leader of the National Restoration party he will be its Presidential candidate in the April, 2006 election.

My good friend Janet Folger has a national daily radio show which I have appeared on many times. Her new book, The Criminalization of Christianity , is an absolute must read because it addresses the very issue of stripping God from public view in America. With a new court battle raging over the words "under God" in the Pledge to our flag this book needs to be read by all. The Criminalization of Christianity is probably NOT in your local library and it needs to be there. I have drastically reduced the price to urge you to buy it, read it and then DONATE IT to your local library. Buy a second copy and try to get it into your high school library as well. There are ways to fight back, and this is one of them! Click here or on image for more information.

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William J. Murray, Chairman

Religious Freedom Coalition , PO Box 77511, Washington, DC 20013 - (202) 543-0300

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Religious Freedom Coalition * Copyright - 2005