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 Bishop Harry R. Jackson, Jr., (Chairman of the High Impact Leadership Coalition and author) has written an article criticizing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) because it endangers families and is an insult to the real civil rights movement. First he draws a distinction between this attempt to mandate privileges based on sexual preference and the civil rights movement seeking to prevent racial discrimination. Then he gives five reasons to oppose ENDA. Click here to read the entire article or see below to read Jackson’s five reasons to oppose ENDA.
1. ENDA would overturn the historical basis of protected class status by adding “actual or perceived sexual orientation.” While every other federally-protected class embodies three standards: an obvious, immutable characteristic; a history of discrimination evidenced by economic disenfranchisement; and political powerlessness, “sexual orientation” falls under none of these criteria. It is an insult to African Americans to grant special protections for “sexual orientation.”
2. ENDA expands civil rights protections on the vague basis of perception. An employee or potential employee could sue an employer for his or her perception of their sexual orientation. Yet unlike the currently-protected classes of race, age, and gender in employment, sexual orientation is not scientifically verifiable. It is an offense to African Americans to equate “sexual orientation” with skin color.
3. ENDA infringes on the religious liberties of our parishioners. As shepherds of our flock, we cannot stand by while our parishioners are forced to ignore their convictions when they leave church on Sunday. ENDA requires people of faith to lay down their religious freedom at the office door. This opposes our beliefs and it is not practical – faith cannot be segmented into only one part our lives.
4. ENDA puts the integrity of our ministries in jeopardy. Many African-American churches run outreach ministries separate from the church to care for our communities. My local church runs a daycare which cares for over 200 children daily and the potential to serve another 100+ children in extended care for those who are in school. ENDA provides unclear protection for schools, while leaving ministries such as childcare, after school programs, and food and clothing banks vulnerable to ENDA mandates.
5. ENDA is a direct attack on our freedom of religion guaranteed in the First Amendment. The Free Exercise Clause in the First Amendment grants all Americans the freedom to practice their faith. ENDA stands in direct opposition to this liberty and must be rejected as a result.
 As reported earlier some pro-cloning members of the media have taken to utilizing the euphemistic “early stem cells” instead of the scientifically accurate term “embryonic stem cells” in an effort to mislead the public into thinking this type of research does not destroy human embryos. Wesley J. Smith has some insightful commentary in which he observes that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) does not recognize the term “early stem cell” and challenges the Kansas City Star (and reporter Kit Wagar in particular) to use scientifically accurate terms.
He also notes that the NIH clearly defines Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) as a type of cloning, unlike what many in Missouri’s pro-cloning movement would have people believe.
For more information on the latest efforts to truly and fully ban all forms of human cloning in Missouri check AdvanceUSA’s Missouri cloning page or visit Cures Without Cloning.
 Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) recently proposed an amendment to the Labor HHS appropriations bill which would have “prohibit[ed] the use of funds to provide abstinence education that includes information that is medically inaccurate.” The “medical accuracy” strategy actually puts unreasonable burdens on abstinence curriculum and would end federal abstinence education as we know it if enacted. Fortunately Sen. Lautenberg decided to remove his amendment, but there is concern among our friends on the Hill that this dangerous amendment could be reintroduced in the future.
One of the reasons liberals oppose abstinence education is the fact that less promiscuity directly threatens the profits of abortion providers and “comprehensive” sex education advocates like Planned Parenthood.
These observations were made by Heritage Foundation scholar Robert Rector whose report entitled “Facts about Abstinence Education” makes a compelling and factual case for abstinence education.
On Thursday night the U.S. Senate defeated an amendment by Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) which would have “prohibit[ed] the provision of funds to grantees who perform abortions.” Unfortunately, this amendment failed by a vote of 41 to 52 (vote results here).
The Hyde Amendment, passed by Congress in 1976, forbids federal funding for abortion except in cases of rape, incest, and danger to the life of the woman. However organizations like Planned Parenthood often accept federal dollars and claim to use the funds for activities not related to abortions. This amendment would have broadened current law and prevented any money from going to organizations that perform abortions (except hospitals).
This was an important pro-life amendment and Sen. Vitter deserves our thanks for proposing it.
Is it
really any surprise that abortion profiteers want to get a hold of our tax
dollars to advance their radical “culture of death” agenda? LifeNews reports.
 AdvanceUSA was privileged to attend the Values Voter Summit this past weekend which hosted numerous conservative speakers and all nine major Republican presidential candidates (all Democrat candidates were invited but all declined or refused to respond).
The values voters in attendance heard from such notable speakers as Newt Gingrich, Laura Ingram, Star Parker, Robert Bork, Michael Steele, and Paul Weyrich. Additionally, there were panel discussions about conservative women in politics, the power of the media, and battling for the culture through the movie industry. The Summit culminated in a gala banquet honoring the life and ministry of Dr. James Dobson (video excerpts and commentary here) who took the opportunity to clarify his position on voting for a lesser party, pro-life candidate in the event the Republican party nominates a pro-choice candidate.
The National Review observes that after the Values Voter Summit and last night’s Fox News debate, the GOP field is still wide open.
As noted earlier Mitt Romney won the overall straw poll while Mike Huckabee won among voters actually in attendance (full results here).
Continue reading to view video clips of candidate speeches at the Values Voter Summit (more will be added as they become available).
This past
weekend at the Family Research Council’s Values Voter Summit in Washington, DC
a straw poll was taken to determine which candidate values voters were most
likely to support. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney won
the overall poll (internet and on-site voters) while former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee won
among the values voters who voted on-site.
Below are
breakdowns of the poll results for the top five vote-getters courtesy of our friends at FRC.
Which of the
following candidates for President would you be most likely to vote for?
Overall Results
|
Mitt
Romney
|
1595
|
27.62%
|
|
Mike
Huckabee
|
1565
|
27.15%
|
|
Ron
Paul
|
865
|
14.98%
|
|
Fred
Thompson
|
564
|
9.77%
|
|
Undecided
|
329
|
5.70%
|
|
Total
|
5,775
|
100%
|
Onsite Straw Poll
Results
|
Mike
Huckabee
|
488
|
51.26%
|
|
Mitt
Romney
|
99
|
10.40%
|
|
Fred
Thompson
|
77
|
8.09%
|
|
Tom
Tancredo
|
65
|
6.83%%
|
|
Rudy
Giuliani
|
60
|
6.30%
|
|
Total
|
952
|
100%
|
Full
results at FRC.org.
AdvanceUSA will be in attendance at this weekend’s Values Voter Summit
in Washington, DC sponsored by our good friends at the Family Research
Council and others. Conservatives from around the country will be present
to hear well-known conservative leaders and thinkers. All of the
Republican presidential candidates will be in attendance and a straw poll will
be conducted to determine who values voters intend to support.
Check back
with AdvanceUSA Blog next week to see what happens.
FRC has
produced a humorous spoof of a well-know dating service (click
here or see below) to illustrate the importance of really getting to know
presidential candidates and seriously considering just who represents one’s
values and convictions. AdvanceUSA encourages all concerned citizens to
be diligent to inform themselves about the issues and candidates facing our
nation.
As LifeNews
reports Justice Antonin Scalia recently gave a great lesson in originalist
jurisprudence firmly declaring that there is no “right to an abortion”
contained in the U.S. Constitution. While abortion should not be the
only litmus test for appointing judges, any true “strict originalist” would be
able to support Scalia’s common sense pronouncement.
Excerpt
from Fox News article:
Among conservatives, Giuliani’s support falls from 57
percent in the head-to-head race against Clinton
to 42 percent when a third-party conservative is included.
"While some of the conservative Christian leaders are
sounding more positive about Mitt Romney despite his Mormonism, by and large
they are still very negative about Giuliani," said John Gorman, chairman
of Opinion Dynamics. "A significant fraction of voters who might otherwise
support the Republican are also clearly not fans of the former mayor. If given
a chance, they say they’ll vote for someone else. This might diminish somewhat
if the election of Clinton
becomes more threatening to them, but given the narrowness of recent elections,
even a few points could be decisive."
Check out
the detailed
poll results here.
Sen. Tom
Harkin (D-IA) and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) have removed the language from the
Labor-HHS Appropriations bill that would have expanded human embryo stem cell
experimentation. The language which was removed would have changed the
cut-off date for utilizing embryonic stem cell lines for research from August 9,
2001 to June 15, 2007.
For more
information on stem cells click here or here.
The
Employment Non-Discrimination Act (H.R. 3685) was favorably reported out of the
House Education & Labor committee by a vote of 27 – 21. Four
amendments were offered to the legislation in order to highlight the severe
danger it poses to religious liberty and to illustrate the litigation nightmare
that would ensue if enacted into law.
ENDA will
be voted on soon (most likely early next week) so keep calling your
representative and urging him or her to vote “No” on ENDA (H.R. 3685)!
Also, an amendment will most likely be offered on the House floor which would
add “transgender” people (cross dressers, sex-change recipients, etc.) to the
special privileges and regulations established by this law.
Continue
reading for more information on the amendments offered and some of the
statements made during committee markup today.
The
Washington Post reports that the director of the National Institutes of Health,
Elias A. Zerhouni, advocates
expanding
unethical embryonic stem cell research despite the fact that
President Bush has instituted ethical guidelines withholding tax-payer funds
from supporting such research.
 Welsey J. Smith reports on this example of anti-life, liberal spin.
Some pro-cloning reporters and publications in Missouri (and elsewhere) have taken to referring to embryonic stem cells as “early stem cells” in an effort to deceive the public. Slowly but surely the general public is realizing that embryonic stem cell research destroys or endangers tiny human lives. Using the euphemism “early” instead of the established scientific term “embryonic” is a desperate attempt to hide that fact.
For more information on the cloning issue in Missouri click here or check the other blog posts in the Missouri category. For more information on stem cells and cloning click here.
Excerpt
from MSNBC article:
"These documents show the reckless and politicized
nature of the FDA's decision to approve the abortion pill," said Judicial
Watch President Tom Fitton. "The FDA certainly has a lot of explaining to
do. For starters, why has the FDA previously refused to disclose the Chinese
connection and the related safety issues? And why did the FDA allow the
abortion lobby to participate in the clinical trial process? The American
people deserve answers."
 Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) has introduced the Pledge Protection Act (H.R. 699) which denies federal courts the jurisdiction to hear cases involving the Pledge of Allegiance. Radical secularists like Michael Newdow and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals have shown a clear intent to do away with any reference to God in the pledge of allegiance. This legislation proactively prevents activist federal courts from declaring the phrase "under God" an unconstitutional establishment of religion. Under Article I Section 8 and Article III Sections 1 and 2, Congress has the authority to determine the jurisdiction of federal courts. Please call your representative today and urge him or her to support The Pledge Protection Act of 2007 by signing on as a cosponsor and by eventually voting “Yes” on H.R. 699.
After narrowly losing a fight against a so-called “cloning ban” on the state-wide ballot last year, anti-cloning forces in Missouri have begun the effort to close the glaring loopholes and truly prohibit all forms of human cloning. The proponents of the new constitutional amendment to completely ban human cloning have to gather 139,181 - 151,619 signatures to get the measure on the 2008 ballot.
Their efforts hit a snag yesterday when the Secretary of State of Missouri (Robin Carnahan) released the official ballot summary which reads like an opposition talking point. Understandably anti-cloning groups charge the language is unfair and deceptive. To read the text of the ballot summary click here or continue reading.
Excerpt from Columbia Tribune blog post:
Curt Mercadante, a spokesman for Cures Without Cloning, said the language “in no way accurately reflects what we’re attempting to do.”
“Quite honestly, it sounds like a talking point out of an opposition group’s playbook,” Mercadante said. “What the amendment is attempting to do is very simple: attempting to prohibit all human cloning in the state of Missouri.”
Despite exaggerated claims of the potential of embryonic stem cell research, one disabled Missourian is speaking out against unethical research and supporting the efforts of Cures Without Cloning to truly ban human cloning in Missouri.
Excerpt:
"No matter what potential good may come of it, you know, you can't create and destroy human life for research," said Chelsea Zimmerman from Cures Without Cloning. "It's just wrong."
A car accident nearly eight years ago left Zimmerman in a wheelchair, but this did not change her view of embryonic stem cell research.
"Obviously, I would love to walk again, I would love to see other people out of their suffering," Zimmerman said. "We aren't trying to limit research, and we are in favor of cures, and there are cures and treatments happening with adult stem cells and adult stem cell research."
For more information visit Cures Without Cloning or the AdvanceUSA Missouri/Human Cloning page.
UPDATES:
Text of deceptive ballot summary below:
Even
though Israel has no restrictions on embryonic stem cell research the Israeli
company has decided to invest only in adult stem cells for practical reasons
in its mission to provide treatment for neurological disorders such as Lou
Gehrig's disease and Parkinson's.
Reuters
Excerpt:
Ironically, in the Jewish state of Israel embryonic stem cell research
is less controversial, noted BrainStorm's ultra-orthodox president, Chaim
Lebovits.
Still, the company said it has decided to concentrate on
adult stem cells because they are also easier to control than embryonic cells,
which can give rise to tumours.
Excerpt
from Colson’s
column at Townhall:
One atheist understood the moral consequences of his
unbelief: That was Nietzsche, who argued that God is dead, but acknowledged
that without God there could be no binding and objective moral order.
Of course, the “New Atheists” deny this. Instead, they
unconvincingly argue that you can have the benefits of an altruistic,
Christian-like morality without God.
Nietzsche would laugh—and wonder why they don’t make
atheists like they used to.
“…Dr. Glasser did not have feeling
in his feet before the transplant and now he has feeling in his feet again,
possibly indicating that his peripheral polyneuropathy is improving as well.”
- Ewa Carrier, M.D.
A
debilitating muscle disease that can cause lameness and suffocation is being treated
with adult stem cells in groundbreaking research conducted by The Bone
Marrow Transplant Program at University
of California, San Diego Medical
Center. A
description of the disease is as follows:
Myasthenia Gravis (MG) is a rare neuromuscular autoimmune
disease where the body’s immune system, which normally protects the body,
mistakenly attacks itself. The transmission of nerve impulses to muscles
is interrupted, which ultimately prevents the muscles from contracting.
Without the proper nerve impulses, muscles that control breathing can’t
function.
Here’s a description
of how the ethical adult stem cell therapy works:
This new procedure reprograms the patient’s stem cells,
destroying them with chemotherapy, before re-introducing purified blood-forming
stem cells. After the transplant, the modified stem cells build new bone
marrow, renewing the immune system with correct signaling, renewing the immune
system with cells that don’t attack the body.
For more
information on the successes of ethical adult stem cell research click here.
Oregon already has a marriage amendment,
but liberal activists managed to convince the state legislature to pass two
laws which awarded privileges suspiciously similar to marriage to same-sex
couples. An AP
report continues:
State elections officials reported Monday that the effort
fell short 116 valid signatures of the 55,179 needed to suspend the law and
place it on the November 2008 ballot for a popular vote.
LifeNews
reports on the British government’s recent
decision to allow several forms of unethical research.
The British government has caved in to pressure from
scientists there and announced it is backing a revised bill in parliament for
human-animal hybrids, or chimeras. The creation of part-human, part-animal
embryos has pro-life advocates upset as they say it's another step in the
devaluation of human life.
As if
creating human chimera embryos for the sole purpose of killing them for their
stem cells weren’t enough LifeNews continues:
The bill also allows the creation of so-called
"savior siblings" for serious illnesses and not just life-threatening
ones. In addition to taking embryonic stem cells from the human being, the bill
would allow scientists to harvest organs and take "other types of tissue
and cells."
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