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 Michiganders are heading to the polls today in brisk January weather. USA Today is posting the latest poll results information here and will continue throughout the night. Keep Michigan voters in prayer today as their decision could have important implications for the presidential race.
Check back for final vote results tomorrow morning here at AdvanceUSA Blog and eventually on our home page and Candidate Comparisons page.
To see how the presidential candidates stand on important issues check out AdvanceUSA’s 2008 Candidate Comparisons.
Graphic source: greenwhichmeantime
The AP reports on the efforts of pro-marriage activists in Vermont to oppose that state’s recognition of same-sex marriages. Massachusetts is currently the only state that recognizes “gay marriages” but fortunately a nearly century-old law prohibits its spread to other states. If Vermont were to approve same-sex marriage it could initiate a nation-wide domino effect of judicially imposed gay marriages. This precarious situation illustrates the importance of ratifying a federal constitutional amendment to protect the traditional definition of marriage.
Check out the AdvanceUSA marriage page or see how the presidential candidates stand on protecting marriage in our 2008 Candidate Comparisons.
In honor
of the 222nd anniversary of the passage of Thomas Jefferson’s
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, President Bush has declared tomorrow (January
16) “Religious Freedom Day.” To read the official proclamation click
here.
For more
information on religious liberty check out AdvanceUSA’s pro-religious freedom page.
Thomas
Jefferson Memorial graphic source: ThisNation
Our
friends at FRC report on this exciting
breakthrough in ethical adult stem cell research. Once again, ethical alternatives belie the
notion that embryonic stem cells are a necessary avenue of research that should
be supported with taxpayer dollars.
Excerpt:
[In a recent] online issue of Nature Medicine, scientists
from the University
of Minnesota announced
that using ethical alternatives, their research has resulted in the successful
creation of a beating rat heart. As part of the tests, the team hollowed out a
rat heart of its cells, leaving only the network of tubes where the old blood
vessels had been. Scientists seeded the heart's casing with non-embryonic cells
and watched as they latched onto the old framework and grew new heart tissue.
Within eight days the rat heart began pumping so well that its beating could be
easily seen. Dr. Doris Taylor, who led the research, said that while the team is
not ready to replicate the tests in humans, it could be less than a decade away
from attempting heart transplant trials in patients. "With modifications,
scientists should be able to grow a human heart by taking stem cells from a
patient's bone marrow and placing them in a cadaver heart that has been
prepared as a scaffold," Dr. Taylor said.
HT: FRC
Michiganders are heading to the polls today in brisk January weather. USA Today is posting the latest poll results information here and will continue throughout the night. Keep Michigan voters in prayer today as their decision could have important implications for the presidential race.
Check back for final vote results tomorrow morning here at AdvanceUSA Blog and eventually on our home page and Candidate Comparisons page.
To see how the presidential candidates stand on important issues check out AdvanceUSA’s 2008 Candidate Comparisons.
Graphic source: greenwhichmeantime
 Please tell your friends and family in Florida about this important marriage issue. Apparently the state constitutional amendment is approximately 30,000 signatures short of reaching the 2008 ballot. Encourage Floridians who support traditional marriage to sign the petition and consider supporting the pro-marriage organization Florida4Marriage in other ways.
From our friends at Florida4Marriage:
Officials Report 30,000 Petitions Short in Unprecedented Recount: Immediate Action Needed to Collect More Petitions
(Tallahassee, FL) Monday January, 14, 2008. Leaders of Florida4Marriage.org declared a state of "constitutional emergency" today when they learned from Division of Elections officials that due to an "audit" ordered by the Division, the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment fell short by some 30,000 petitions. The state constitutional amendment seeks to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman and would prohibit polygamy, group marriage, and same sex marriages in Florida.
According to state officials, only 589,020 petitions were officially certified after the unprecedented audit, leaving the petition effort just under 22,000 short of the needed 611,009 needed to be certified for the ballot in 2008. Florida4Marriage.org State Chairman John Stemberger said, "Right now, we are not interested in whose fault this is. We just want to finish the job -- and finish it immediately."
Amendment leaders are calling upon national, state and local pro-family leaders to alert Floridians to the crisis and to immediately pull out all stops to collect new petitions over the next two weeks. Stemberger said all petitions must be physically mailed or hand delivered into the state headquarters located at 4853 S. Orange Avenue, Orlando FL 32806, before close of business on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 (Presidential Primary Election Day). Under a new law, petitions can no longer be delivered to local county supervisors of elections by individual citizens. Petitions can only be received from the official sponsoring committee of the amendment.
To find out how you can help defend the sacred institution of marriage in the state of Florida check the Florida4Marriage.org website.
Related news articles: AP story in Bradenton Herald, Florida Today, Miami Herald
For more information on protecting marriage, check the AdvanceUSA marriage page. To see how the 2008 presidential candidates stand on the Federal Marriage Protection Amendment check the Candidate Comparisons page.
 Now you can see the evidence behind the candidate positions in our CCs. Simply check the Candidate Comparison page and click on the “Online Interactive Version” link for either the Democrats or the Republicans. Once you have opened an interactive version simply move your cursor over a candidate’s position and a text box will appear that provides more information. Clicking on the position will allow you to read the entire selection.
AdvanceUSA hopes these resources help you make an informed decision in the upcoming presidential caucuses and primaries. If you find these helpful, please forward our Candidate Comparison page to your friends and family across the nation (especially those in early primary states).
Click on the links below to view or print your own copies and don’t forget to try out the Online Interactive Version.
The Democrats
View document
ONLINE INTERACTIVE VERSION
The Republicans
View document
ONLINE INTERACTIVE VERSION
The 2008 primary and caucus season for the presidency is in full swing. Be sure that you, your friends, and family are well-informed. AdvanceUSA has prepared Candidate Comparisons for both the Democrats and the Republicans to help show you where each presidential candidate stands on some of the most important issues.
AdvanceUSA hopes these resources will be helpful as you begin/continue your research for this critically important election season.
The Michigan primary will be held tomorrow (January 15). All the remaining states conducting primaries, caucuses, or conventions in January of 2008 are Michigan (1/15), South Carolina Republicans (1/19), Nevada (1/19), South Carolina Democrats (1/26), and Florida (1/29).
On February 5 (a.k.a. “Super Tuesday”) 22 states will have primaries or caucuses.
Stay informed and spread the word about AdvanceUSA’s 2008 Candidate Comparisons.
KCRG reports.
A federal appeals court says it won't reconsider a ruling that the state cannot fund a Christian prison ministry program in Newton.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says the ruling from its three-judge panel was correct because state funding of the program violates the Constitution's separation of church and state.
For more information on the IFI case check the AdvanceUSA pro-religious freedom page (scroll to the bottom of the page).
 The 2008 primary and caucus season for the presidency is in full swing. Be sure that you, your friends, and family are well-informed. AdvanceUSA has prepared Candidate Comparisons for both the Democrats and the Republicans to help show you where each presidential candidate stands on some of the most important issues.
AdvanceUSA hopes these resources will be helpful as you begin/continue your research for this critically important election season.
The Michigan primary will be held on Tuesday (January 15). All the remaining states conducting primaries, caucuses, or conventions in January of 2008 are Michigan (1/15), South Carolina Republicans (1/19), Nevada (1/19), South Carolina Democrats (1/26), and Florida (1/29).
South Carolina is just around the corner (Jan. 19 & 26). On February 5 (a.k.a. “Super Tuesday”) 22 states will have primaries or caucuses.
Stay informed and spread the word about AdvanceUSA’s 2008 Candidate Comparisons.
 According to Dr. David Prentice, the answer is “no.”
LifeNews reports that the cloning company is claiming it produced ethical embryonic stem cells by extracting one cell from a multi-celled embryo. The company made similar claims earlier this year while neglecting to reveal that all the embryos used in the research died. Now they apparently expect us to “trust them.” Excerpt:
… Dr. David Prentice of the Family Research Council told LifeNews.com that ACT's process "still does not meet the ethical threshhold" because "there is significant risk of harm to the embryo by this technique."
Prentice, a former biology professor at Indiana State University, said Lanza's company continues to mislead the media with claims that the process doesn't harm unborn children.
"Not all of Lanza's embryos survived, and those that did were not followed to birth, but only for a few days and then they were frozen," he said. "[Several] recent studies, including in the New England Journal of Medicine, have indicated that there is indeed risk of harm to the embryo."
Even if they do manage to extract stem cells from a particular embryo some day without killing it, the endangerment of human life inherent in the procedure is enough to label the research “unethical.” Considering the amazing new breakthroughs in obtaining embryonic-like stem cells from ordinary skin cells (iPSC), there is no reason to destroy or in this case endanger innocent human embryos. For more information, check the AdvanceUSA stem cell page.
 Our friends at the Committee for Justice sent around an email updating people on a particular case of judicial obstruction that relates to Michigan. AdvanceUSA shares the Committee for Justice’s hopes that judicial nominees will become an important issue in next Tuesday’s GOP Michigan primary. If you have friends and family in Michigan, please remind them of the importance of appointing qualified originalist judges to the federal courts rather than liberal activists who legislate from the bench. Send them a link to our 2008 Candidate Comparisons while you’re at it.
Below is an excerpt from the Committee for Justice:
With New Hampshire behind us, the next stop for the GOP presidential contenders is Michigan, home of four Great Lakes and the worst obstruction of judicial nominees in anyone’s memory. It’s been more than six years since Michigan Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow started blocking Michigan nominees to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Despite a nearly 50% vacancy rate on the court at one point, they have persisted in their campaign of obstruction to this day. As a result, two exceptionally qualified Michigan nominees, Raymond Kethledge and Stephen Murphy, have gone more than a year and a half without so much as a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The seats to which they were nominated have long been declared judiciary emergencies.
…the essential point is that the confluence of the Michigan primary and the outrageous obstruction of the state’s nominees provides a great opportunity for journalists to ask the presidential contenders about the proper role of senators in the judicial confirmation process. After all, one of the most important constitutional responsibilities of a president is the appointment of federal judges….
At best, Sens. Levin and Stabenow are being petty. They have tried to justify their campaign of obstruction as payback for the failure of two second-term Clinton appointees to the Sixth Circuit – one of whom is married to Levin's cousin – to get hearings. At worst, Michigan’s senators are willing to subject the residents of the Sixth Circuit – spanning Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Michigan – to eight years of unnecessary delays in the justice system, in the hope that Levin and Stabenow cronies can be put on the court under a Democrat president.
Many suspect the latter motivation, given that Levin and Stabenow have been offered “generous” compromises that would put the two Clinton nominees on the federal bench, but the senators “can't take yes for an answer,” to quote a Detroit News editorial. No wonder the News said that the “intransigence by the Michigan senators goes beyond rough politics and verges on political malpractice.”
HT: Committee for Justice
The Daily
Mail reports on this outrageous
example of reducing human life to the status of a commodity. Excerpt:
Women are being given cut-price fertility treatment if
they donate eggs for controversial cloning research.
Those taking part in the taxpayer-funded scheme receive
half-price IVF treatment in return for giving half their eggs to scientists
working on human cloning.
Count
AdvanceUSA as one of the “critics” mentioned below as we share these concerns.
But critics say it reduces the sanctity of human life to
nothing more than the barter of body parts - and accused the researchers of
taking advantage of women when they are at their most vulnerable.
Here are
the two key problems with paying women for their eggs:
- the cheapening/destruction of
human life
- the exploitation of women
(dangerous procedures for benefits)
As
CitizenLink reports, “Nearly 50 pro-family groups [including AdvanceUSA] are
asking President Bush to pull federal funding from abortion providers.” AdvanceUSA was happy to partner with other
conservative groups to encourage the administration to prohibit tax-payer
dollars from supporting abortion providers under the guise of “family
planning services.”
CitizenLink
reports on the important work going on in states across the country to ensure the traditional
definition of marriage is protected.
These are the states listed in the article:
Likely state constitutional amendment
votes in 2008:
Florida
California
Arizona
Indiana
Working toward future votes:
Iowa
Pennsylvania
 The people of New Hampshire have spoken. Yesterday,
in America’s
first-in-the-nation primary, New Hampshire Democrats picked Senator Hillary
Clinton to be their presidential candidate in 2008 while New Hampshire
Republicans chose Senator John McCain. Below are the full results for
both parties (or click
here).
Keep checking AdvanceUSA for the
latest information as the presidential primary season continues (the Michigan
GOP primary is less than a week away on Tuesday, January 15!).
Additionally if you or your family
and friends have questions about where the major candidates stand on issues important
to you, check out AdvanceUSA’s 2008 Candidate
Comparisons.
The Democrat Results
Hillary Clinton 39%
Barack Obama 36%
John Edwards 17%
Bill Richardson 5%
Dennis Kucinich 1%
The Republican Results
John McCain 37%
Mitt Romney 31%
Mike Huckabee 11%
Rudy Giuliani 9%
Ron Paul 8%
Fred Thompson 1%
Duncan Hunter 1%
USA Today has the full
results here.
Graphic Source: CNN
Please pray for the voters in New Hampshire today. AdvanceUSA plans to post the final results from today’s first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary tomorrow morning. Until then, USA Today is providing a helpful vote results resource that will be regularly updated throughout the process.
Make sure you’re ready for your state’s primary or caucuses by checking out AdvanceUSA’s 2008 Candidate Comparisons.
Graphic Source: CNN
 No, AdvanceUSA has not become a Star Wars fan site, but we are concerned about the multi-part battle over human cloning going on in Missouri and its implications for the sanctity of human life. Here are two important items relating to this issue.
Bruce R. Williams, a Missouri physician, has written an important op-ed piece entitled “Human Cloning's Curtain Call” in which he explains how recent scientific breakthroughs make the quest for human cloning and embryonic stem cell research totally unnecessary. Now that scientists can obtain induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) from regular skin cells that have been coaxed into an embryonic-like state, the major argument for cloning human embryos for research is completely obliterated. It is also important for citizens to hear from people they trust (like doctors and scientists) who understand the science of the issue but also oppose violating ethical standards by using and destroying human life like a commodity. To hear about other scientists, doctors, and ethicists who oppose human cloning check out the Missouri Cures Without Cloning website.
Noted writer, lawyer, and bioethicist Wesley J. Smith responds to a recent column by cloning promoter Donn Rubin. Smith often exposes the distortions and outright deceptions frequently employed by the pro-cloning “Coalition for Life Saving Cures” and his latest piece, “The Mendacity of Missouri Coalition for Life Saving Cures”, calls Rubin to task for downplaying the significance of the recent breakthrough in ethical stem cell research, iPSC (induced pluripotent stem cells).
Check out AdvanceUSA’s human cloning page for more cloning information and news from Missouri.
Here’s a
piece of encouraging news from Oregon
for the New Year. A judge has halted the implementation of a domestic
partnership law for same-sex couples (which effectively grants the rights and
privileges of marriage to same sex couples) until the citizen signatures
gathered to overturn the law can be reassessed. Excerpt from LifeSite news article:
A federal judge in Portland
Oregon granted a temporary
injunction requested by pro-family activists, halting the implementation of a
law that would see homosexual couples afforded the same rights and privileges
granted to married heterosexual couples. The law was set to come into effect on
January 1, 2008.
The public interest legal alliance, the Alliance Defense
Fund, filed a lawsuit on Dec. 3, 2007, against the Oregon Secretary of State
and several county clerks, alleging that those offices had wrongfully
invalidated voters' signatures on a citizen referendum. If allowed to go
forward, the referendum would place onto the November 2008 ballot an option for
voters to repeal the state legislature's domestic partnership bill, HB 2007.
AdvanceUSA
has previously
reported on the effort of Oregonians to overturn two laws recently passed
by the legislature that provide the rights of marriage to same-sex
couples. The legislature passed these dangerous bills despite the fact
the people of Oregon
had democratically passed a constitutional amendment to protect the traditional
definition of marriage. We are encouraged that the will of the people to
protect the crucial institution of marriage might be heard after all.
For more
news and information on efforts to protect marriage click here.
The 2008 primary and caucus season for the presidency is in full swing. Be sure that you, your friends, and family are well-informed. AdvanceUSA has prepared Candidate Comparisons for both the Democrats and the Republicans to help show you where each presidential candidate stands on some of the most important issues.
AdvanceUSA hopes these resources will be helpful as you begin/continue your research for this critically important election season.
The New Hampshire primary will be held tomorrow (January 8). All the states conducting primaries, caucuses, or conventions in January of 2008 are New Hampshire (1/8), Michigan (1/15), South Carolina (1/19), Nevada (1/19), and Florida (1/29).
On February 5 (a.k.a. “Super Tuesday”) 22 states will have primaries or caucuses.
Stay informed and spread the word about AdvanceUSA’s 2008 Candidate Comparisons.
Mitt Romney 67%
Fred Thompson 25%
Duncan Hunter 8%
John McCain 0%
Ron Paul 0%
Rudy Giuliani 0%
Mike Huckabee 0%
USA Today has the full
results here.
 The people of Iowa have spoken. Last night, in caucus gatherings across the state, Iowa Democrats picked Senator Barack Obama to be their presidential candidate in 2008 while Iowa Republicans chose former governor Mike Huckabee. Below are the full results for both parties (or visit the Iowa Votes 2008 website).
Keep checking AdvanceUSA for the latest information as the presidential primary season continues (the New Hampshire primary is just a few days away on Tuesday, January 8!).
Additionally if you or your family and friends have questions about where the major candidates stand on issues important to you, check out AdvanceUSA’s 2008 Candidate Comparisons.
The Democrat Caucus Results
Barack Obama 36%
John Edwards 30%
Hillary Clinton 29%
Bill Richardson 2%
Joe Biden 1%
Uncommitted 1%
Chris Dodd 1%
Mike Gravel 0%
Dennis Kucinich 0%
Other 0%
The Republican Caucus Results
Mike Huckabee 34%
Mitt Romney 25%
Fred Thompson 13%
John McCain 13%
Ron Paul 10%
Rudy Giuliani 3%
Duncan Hunter 1%
Tom Tancredo 1%
Check out the Iowa Votes 2008 website for the detailed vote tallies.
Graphic Source: The Connection | | |