New Blog

I'm now blogging under the banner of a new public policy organization, the Idaho Values Alliance. I serve the IVA as Executive Director.

You can access the new Blog by going to:

www.idahovaluesalliance.blogspot.com

If you'd like to receive daily emails that keep you abreast of societal issues in Idaho and how they intersect with larger trends in our culture, you can sign up by going to:

www.keepthecommandmentsidaho.com

Idaho Values Alliance Reception on Monday

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RECEPTION TO ANNOUNCE LAUNCH OF IDAHO VALUES ALLIANCE ON MONDAY

Don’t forget that you are invited to a reception on Monday night to announce the launch of a new pro-family public policy organization, the Idaho Values Alliance. It will be held at 7:00 PM at a beautiful new business building located at 9465 W. Emerald in Boise, between Maple Grove and Five Mile.

Please call my good friends Lin & Tereasa Waterman at 344-0028 if you’d like to attend.

BOISE CORONER’S INQUEST VERDICT CLEARLY CORRECT

The Judeo-Christian tradition grants civil authority the right to use deadly force where necessary in the interests of justice and the protection of innocent human life. The Apostle Paul says this: “If you do wrong, be afraid, for he (civil authority) does not bear the sword in vain.”

A Boise police officer was correctly cleared yesterday by a coroner’s inquest jury for shooting a teenage boy who was charging him with a rifle to which a bayonet was attached. Even liberal columnist Dan Popkey, who spent most of his column trashing the police we depend upon for our public safety, was forced to admit that the jury “got it right.”

We can all pray that this officer and his family will find peace, and that the family of the teenage boy will find comfort.

HOUSE APPEALS TO 9TH CIRCUIT TO REVISIT PARENTAL RULING

One of the bedrock principles we operate under is that the family is the fundamental unit of society. The right of parents to direct the education and upbringing of their children is a right that we must jealously guard against the encroachments of the state.

As I wrote you earlier, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued an egregious ruling that is a blatant example of judicial tyranny. They ruled that parents have “no fundamental right” to have any say over what kind of sex education their elementary school children receive, and that parents essentially forfeit all control over their children’s education when they step off the school bus.

The House of Representatives, by a 320-91, voted this week to direct the 9th Circuit to rehear that case. Debate over this resolution was “heated,” according to observers. That right there tells you why we need vigilant and pro-active pro-family groups. The most striking thing about the vote, as overwhelming as it was, is that there are 91 legislators who believe the state should have more control over what your children learn about sex than you do.

CONNECTION BETWEEN RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, ECONOMIC PROSPERITY

An editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal observes that, with only two exceptions, the nations who are the most intolerant of religious expression also have the worst scores on the annual Index of Economic Freedom published by the Heritage Foundation and the Journal.

We should be concerned about religious liberty not only for the simple reason that religious liberty is a God-given right, but also because it is best for the societies in which we live. The best thing we can do to ensure the continued economic prosperity of the United States is to counter the forces of religious repression and champion the cause of religious freedom.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110007564

CHURCH FINALLY WINS EQUAL ACCESS SUIT

One of the forms bias against Christianity takes in the U.S. is the refusal of some public agencies such as schools to make their facilities available to Christian groups and churches on the same basis their facilities are available to other groups. This, of course, is nothing more than straightforward religious discrimination and in direct violation of the First Amendment’s freedom of religion and speech clauses.

Yet churches find themselves time after time having to preserve in court what the Founding Fathers gave them in the Constitution 216 years ago. In what is being hailed as the biggest equal access win in two decades, a church in Brooklyn yesterday won a lawsuit that grants them access to school buildings on the same basis that every other group has.

Jordan Lorence, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, said people of faith "ought to be able to rent and use public school facilities just like everyone else."

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47458

WISCONSIN LEGISLATORS CHALLENGE UNIVERSITY BAN ON BIBLE STUDIES

I wrote you recently about a policy instituted by the University of Wisconsin Eau-Claire that prohibited resident assistants from leading Bible studies in their own dorm rooms on their own time.

Yesterday, 25 Wisconsin legislators submitted a letter to the state attorney general asking for an opinion on the constitutionality of this policy. The policy, of course, is in blatant violation of constitutional protections for both religion and speech.

Said one legislator, “They’re certainly going to great lengths to make certain that Christian Bible study is not allowed in dorm rooms. It appears to be a concerted effort by some in the UW administration to limit Christian free thought and that is unacceptable. The UW System administration is quickly becoming a laughingstock for anyone who seriously cares about free speech. We will continue to challenge this policy from every angle and if we have to write legislation to change it we will.”

http://badgerherald.com/news/2005/11/17/
legislators_request_.php

TARGET STORES STOCK DOWN 7%

Target Stores, a supporter of homosexual causes, has banned Salvation Army bell ringers from its stores, and is refusing to use “Merry Christmas” in any of its advertising or in-store promotions. As a consequence, the American Family Association has urged the pro-family community to boycott Target next Thanksgiving weekend.

USA Today revealed yesterday that Target “alarmed” investors by saying projected sales are off, which led to a drop of 7% in its stock price. Other stores which have banned the use of “Merry Christmas” include Costco, Wal-Mart, and Sears/K-mart.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47459

RATES OF HIV INFECTION UP SHARPLY AMONG HOMOSEXUALS

Society has a vested interest in what kind of sexual activity and intimate relationships it recognizes and endorses. One component of that vested interest is public health. It is best for everyone in a society if it encourages best and highest health practices and refuses to endorse behavior with clear health risks.

Public health is a relevant issue when we decide on public policies that have to do with homosexual behavior. The Centers for Disease Control reported yesterday that while rates of HIV infection are declining among heterosexuals and IV drug users, they rose 8% among the homosexual population, likely due to an increase in risky sexual behaviors.

According to the CDC, homosexuals account for 61% of all HIV cases among U.S males, while intravenous drug users account for another 17%. Homosexual males only comprise about 2% of the population, so their risk of contracting HIV is roughly 30 times as high as heterosexuals. The results of this study make clear that homosexual behavior poses the same kind of health risks posed by IV drug use.

We all agree that IV drug use is not something a society should endorse and promote and celebrate. It should be discouraged and remediated in every way possible. Common sense suggests that this is the same approach we should take to homosexual behavior.

By the way, rates of infection among blacks are much higher than among whites. The black community thus has perhaps a greater interest in discouraging homosexual behavior than anyone.

http://washingtontimes.com/national/
20051118-122021-1117r.htm

EXPERT WARNS THAT HIV/AIDS COULD ASSIST BIRD FLU EPIDEMIC

As a further example of the risk to public health posed by non-normative sexual behavior, a British flu expert warned yesterday that HIV/AIDS could assist in the worldwide spread of avian flu. This is because the weakened immune systems of AIDS victims cannot fight off the flu, and thus might harbor the flu virus long enough for it to mutate into a form than can be passed by human-to-human contact.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4444940.stm

"Merry Christmas" O.K., Even In Schools

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CHRISTMAS O.K. EVEN IN SCHOOLS

The Alliance Defense Fund has launched its third annual Christmas Project, to protect the right of the 96% of Americans who celebrate Christ’s birthday to acknowledge freely the history of this holiday, even in school. According to a Fox News poll taken in 2003, 87% of Americans believe that it should be permissible for nativity scenes to be displayed on public property.

Of course the left can’t have that, and insists on trying to impose its view of radical secularism on the rest of us through an activist judiciary. When a tiny minority dictates to everybody else, that’s not democracy at all but a form of tyranny.

EVEN SUPREME COURT SAYS CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS IS O.K.

The ADF makes the following points:

* The U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled that public schools must ban the singing of religious Christmas carols or prohibit the distribution of candy canes or Christmas cards.

* School officials may refer to a school break in December as "Christmas Vacation" or as a holiday without offending the Constitution.

* School officials do not violate the Constitution by closing on religious holidays such as Christmas and Good Friday.

* No court has ever held that celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas as religious holidays requires recognition of all other religious holidays.

(Source: CitizenLink, an online publication of Focus on the Family)

ACLU TARGETS LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO IN ONGOING CRUSADE OF RELIGIOUS REPRESSION

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) continues to seek to remove three crosses from the seal of Las Cruces, N.M. It makes absolutely no difference to the tolerance police that the very name of the city means “The Crosses.”

The plaintiffs say the presence of the crosses on the city seal amounts to religious persecution of non-Christians. One of them said, “The last time we saw crosses on a police uniform is the examples from Nazi Germany.” The city plans to fight to keep the logo.

I believe it will not be long before the ACLU begins to sue cities whose names have some kind of religious significance, such as Corpus Christi, which means “Body of Christ.” California would certainly be a target-rich environment with everything from “Los Angeles” (“The Angels”) and “San Francisco” potentially in the crosshairs.

LARRY ELDER SETS HISTORY STRAIGHT ON REPUBLICANS, DEMOCRATS, AND CIVIL RIGHTS

Conservatives stand for equal rights, equal protection, and equal justice under law, regardless of race, color, or creed. The left, on the other hand, often works to grant special, favored, protected status to politically correct groups and grant them rights and protections not enjoyed by others.

However, the common perception is that Democrats stand for minority rights, and Republicans don’t. Yet as Larry Elder points out in a column published today, history tells a much different story. It’s an important column as we head into Black History Month.

Highlights of his column:

~Following the Civil War, 23 blacks -- 13 of them ex-slaves -- were elected to Congress, all as Republicans. Democrats did not elect a black to Congress until 1935.

~Blacks founded the Texas Republican Party, in 1867.

~In 1865, 100% of Republican Congressmen voted for the 13th Amendment, which formally emancipated slaves; only 23% of Democratic legislators did so.

~Every Republican congressional vote was cast in 1868 for the 14th Amendment, which gave newly emancipated blacks full civil rights, while not a single Democratic congressman voted for it.

~The 15th Amendment guaranteed the right of blacks to vote. Every Republican congressman voted for it, every Democrat voted against it.

~The Ku Klux Klan was started by Democrats in 1872 to stop the spread of the Republican Party in the South.

~Democrats passed Jim Crow laws in southern states after Democrats took control of Congress in 1892 and repealed Republican-passed civil rights laws.

~In 1964, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act. While 80% of Republicans voted for it, only 64% of Democrats did so.

http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/larryelder/
2005/11/17/175888.html

SWEDISH STUDY LINKS ORAL SEX, HPV TO MOUTH CANCER

One reason, among many, why pro-family groups are such strong advocates of abstinence-only sex education is the health risk associated with sexual experimentation and multiple sexual partners. The only sure prevention against contracting an STD is abstinence before marriage and faithfulness after.

One of the most dangerous sexually transmitted diseases is caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). What Planned Parenthood does not want you to know is that condoms provide absolutely no protection against HPV, because it is transmitted by skin-to-skin contact rather than through an exchange of bodily fluids.

Perhaps one in five college coeds today have contracted HPV through sexual activity, and many do not know it. HPV is the leading cause of cervical cancer among women, and a leading cause of infertility.

Now a Swedish study indicates that certain cases of mouth cancer appear to be caused by this same virus, a virus that can be contracted during oral sex.

Mouth cancer is typically found in older men who are heavy smokers or drinkers. But researchers have discovered that this disease has been on the rise in recent years among young individuals, and, as a leading researcher said, “One could speculate that this virus (HPV) is one of the factors.”

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/11/16/
051116213750.jnfvcpbv.html

MEDIA BETRAYS PRO-LIFE VIEWS WHEN NOT WATCHING ITSELF

The media, when it is not consciously aware that it is dealing with the abortion issue, often inadvertently admits the humanity of unborn children. For instance, in stories about a pregnant teen shot in the stomach by her boyfriend, even left leaning publications like Time Magazine used terms like “unborn baby” or “unborn child.”

According to the Des Moines Register, hunters discovered skeletal remains in western Iowa, and officials said further tests would need to be run to determine of the remains are of an “infant” or a “fetus.” But as the Wall Street Journal points out, if a “fetus” is not a baby but just a clump of cells, how could anyone have trouble telling the difference?

The confusion did not stop officials from referring to it as a “child,” and a “baby,” whose “parents” needed to be located.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051116/NEWS01/51116001/1001/RSS01

Swedish Pastor Awaits Ruling

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SWEDISH PASTOR TO KNOW FATE IN 3-4 WEEKS

In a sign of what will happen here in America if we do not stop hate crimes legislation in its tracks, a Swedish pastor faces up to 2 years in prison for simply teaching the Bible’s view of homosexuality in his own church.

Hate crimes laws are terrible laws because they criminalize thought, leaving us just one small step short of establishing re-education camps. And they create two classes of victims, some of which receive greater protection under the law than others. This violates the standard of equal justice under the law, which we affirm every time we repeat the Pledge of Allegiance.

As I mentioned in an earlier update, Pastor Green’s trial before Sweden’s supreme court was held last week. The proceedings were televised, and the entire nation, including Sweden’s Parliament, stopped to watch. Pastor Green was accused of violating the country’s “hate speech” law, to which sexual orientation was added in 2003.

The prosecutor showed open contempt for biblical Christianity, and at one point chastised Pastor Green for using a translation of the Bible that had not been updated to remove passages which homosexuals find offensive. He reluctantly conceded that it is still legal to publish the Bible in Sweden.

According to a poll, three out of four Swedes think Pastor Green should go to prison for his “crime” of preaching the uncensored gospel.

My friends, do not be deceived. What the gay lobby has done in Sweden, it seeks to do here. If we are not vigilant to protect our constitutional rights to freedom of religion and freedom of speech, we will see the tyrants of political correctness not only silence but punish those among us who dare to speak the truth about homosexual behavior.

(Source: Alliance Defense Fund online update)

FEINSTEIN: ALITO WON’T LET “PERSONAL VIEWS” AFFECT ROLE AS JUDGE

Diane Feinstein, after a private meeting with Sam Alito yesterday on his view of the Constitution and abortion, paraphrased his comments to her this way: “I don't give heed to my personal views. What I do is interpret the law.”

What’s most important about what Alito said in 1985 is that he was expressing his judicial philosophy, not his personal ethical view of abortion. He said that, in his judgment, the Constitution does not protect the right to an abortion.

But the reality is this is just as much a “personal view” as any other. We want judges with the “personal view” that the role of the judiciary is limited and needs to be restrained to applying the law rather than making the law.

Let’s hope Alito’s supporters don’t try too hard to finesse Alito’s 1985 statement, or explain it away. It should be declared without apology or defensiveness. You never see the left try a song and dance when they bring forward a pro-choice nominee. They trumpet that feature, advertise it, and make it the centerpiece of their advocacy. It’s time for conservatives to stop apologizing for nominees who express the very judicial philosophy we want to see on the bench.

http://insider.washingtontimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20051116-121615-8919r

VIRGINIA ANGLICAN CHURCH SECEDES FROM DIOCESE

In a clear indication of how far the liberal church in American has drifted from its roots in biblical theology, an Episcopalian church in Virginia has withdrawn from the Virginia diocese and affiliated itself with a diocese in Uganda, of all places.

The church withdrew because the Episcopalian church in Virginia supports the ordination of homosexuals to the priesthood and because its presiding bishop believes that the Resurrection of Christ is not historical but “conjectural.” The pastor said, “Our church upholds the authority of Scripture,…(and) can no longer compromise our faith by remaining under the spiritual and jurisdictional authority of the Episcopal Church and this diocese.”

The bishops of the Anglican church in Africa have remained fiercely loyal to the clear standards of the Scripture on homosexual behavior, and have resisted efforts from the Anglican and Episcopalian churches in the west to abandon biblical teaching on sexuality.

http://insider.washingtontimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20051116-121619-3330r

CANADIAN MAN TO BE CHARGED WITH MURDER FOR INFECTING SEXUAL PARTNERS WITH AIDS

One of the reasons we promote abstinence before marriage and fidelity after has to do with public health. There are simply unacceptable health risks connected to unrestrained sexual license.

For instance, in Canada an HIV-positive man is now facing murder charges after two women with whom he had unprotected sex died. He had not informed them of his diagnosis. In Canada, a man can be charged with aggravated sexual assault if he has unprotected sex with a partner without disclosing his health status.

The fact that the sex was consensual will, according to a legal expert, have no bearing on the case. He likened it to a restaurant patron eating food secretly poisoned by the chef. The fact that the diner consented to eat the food would be no defense.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/
CTVNews/20051114/hivpositive_trial_051114/20051115?hub=C

FOUNDING FATHER QUOTE OF THE DAY

"And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God?"

--Thomas Jefferson

Supreme Court Upholds "In God We Trust"

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ADDITIONAL NOTE ON THE IDAHO VALUES ALLIANCE

Many of you who receive these updates via a Yahoo email account did not receive yesterday’s update. In it, I described the formation of a new public policy organization, the Idaho Values Alliance.

The IVA will work to defend religious liberty, the sanctity of the family, the sanctity of life, and to restrain judicial activism. You are invited to a reception to announce the formation of this new organization next Monday night, November 21, at 7:00 PM at the beautiful new VideoEye building located at 9465 Emerald in Boise (between Maple Grove and Five Mile.)

If you would like to attend, please RSVP to my good friends Lin and Tereasa Waterman (344-0028).

If you’d like to read more about the IVA, you can access yesterday’s update by going to the KCC Blog at http://www.kccidaho.blogspot.com/ and reading yesterday’s post.

SUPREME COURT DECIDES IN FAVOR OF “IN GOD WE TRUST”

According the Associated Press, the U.S. Supreme Court declined yesterday to hear an appeals case seeking to remove the words "In God We Trust" from the side of a Lexington, N.C., government building.

Although as supporters of the national motto, we would have liked a Supreme Court precedent, the action does leave in place a lower court ruling that protected this public display of our nation’s motto. This decision should also make Michael Newdow’s suit against the presence of the motto on our currency and coinage more difficult to win.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/11/14/national/w135320S59.DTL

HARD LEFT LAUNCHES ATTACKS ON ALITO

Predictably, the hard left launched aggressive attacks yesterday against Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, who said in 1985, “the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion.”

The best thing about Alito’s statement is that it reflects his judicial philosophy and thinking about the Constitution.

Roe v. Wade has been criticized as bad law or poor reasoning not only by conservatives but also by such liberal icons as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Harvard law professors Alan Dershowitz and Laurence Tribe and New Republic legal writer Jeffrey Rosen.

Ginsburg was confirmed by a 96-3 vote despite the fact that, as former head of the ACLU, she advocated for the legalization of polygamy and prostitution and for lowering the age of consent to age 12. She also was in favor of abolishing Mother’s Day.

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20051115-123456-9700r.htm

BERKELY HIGH SCHOOL PERMITS “CONDOM CLUB”

A high school in the Bay Area hosts a “Condom Club” that offers 12 free condoms to every student who signs up. The club was advertised in the Student Daily Bulletin and several times over school loudspeakers.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47399

TRADITIONAL WEDDING PAINTING REMOVED AS “OFFENSIVE”

Couples looking to tie the knot in Liverpool, England, no longer have an image of a traditional marriage overseeing their wedding, as the painting has been deemed potentially offensive to homosexual couples. (The offensive photo is at left.)

Starting Dec. 21, same-sex weddings, officially termed civil partnerships, will allow homosexual couples to sign documents in front of a registrar and witnesses, and have new pension and inheritance rights.

The old paintings have been replaced with portraits of Victorian landscapes. But not everyone was offended. Even Kevin Smith, a homosexual man who "married" his partner Hamilton de Oliveira told the paper, "Putting a landscape up is ludicrous, we're not offended by scenes of a heterosexual couple. We're not in the Stone Age."

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47384

SAUDI JAILED MERELY FOR DISCUSSING BIBLE

A Saudi newspaper reported yesterday that a court sentenced a teacher to 40 months in prison and 750 lashes for "mocking religion" after he discussed the Bible and praised Jews. The flogging will be in public.

Part of the legacy of the Judeo-Christian tradtion in American is the preservaton of religious lbierty. In Saudi Arabia, however, the public practice of any religion other than Islam is illegal. Only Muslims can be Saudi citizens, proselytizing for any religion other than Sunni Islam is barred, and conversion to Christianity from Islam is punishable by death. Mecca, Islam's holy city, is forbidden to all non-Muslims.

This religious repression extends even to Americans on Saudi soil. For example, U.S. postal and customs officials have been barred in the past from mailing materials “contrary to the Islamic faith,” including Bibles. The U.S. military has in the past required female service members to wear a long, black robe called an abaya when traveling off base in Saudi Arabia. Both regulations were rescinded or clarified after public outcry based on reporting in the U.S. media.

We have reason to thank God every day that we live in a country where the freedom to worship God according to the dictates of individual conscience is a precious constitutional right.

http://washingtontimes.com/world/20051114-015138-3548r.htm

POLYAMORY ON THE RISE

Once a culture abandons an understanding, both in culture and in law, that marriage should not be reserved for the union of one man and one woman, there is no logical place for that process to stop. Family advocates have predicted for years that once the one man-one woman threshold was breached, virtually every possible variant of domestic arrangements would clamor for recognition.

A story in an English newspaper yesterday describes the rise of what is called “polyamory,” literally, “many loves.” Those who practice polyamory carry on sexually and supposedly emotionally intimate relationships with multiple partners, all at the same time. All partners are aware of these additional relationships.

What the Judeo-Christian tradition regards as adultery and sexual immorality is now being touted as the latest advance in the family. The confusion this will create in the minds of children forced to grow up in these households is hard to overestimate.

Meanwhile, the major newspaper in Norway reports that authorities with a rise in the number of married Norwegian men who go to countries where bigamy and/or polygamy is legal, take additional wives, and return to Norway to resume life there.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/
international/story/0,6903,1641431,00.html

GLOBAL WARMING ON MARS

According the Limbaugh Letter, NASA is now reporting that the polar ice caps on Mars are receding. No explanation yet from environmentalists as to how earth-bound SUV’s are responsible.

NEW JERSEY SEARCHES FOR STATE SLOGAN

After spending $260,000 with a public relations firm to get a slogan it shelved one day before it was to be unveiled, New Jersey is asking citizens to suggest a new slogan for the state. The best one so far: “New Jersey: Most of Our Elected Officials Have Not Been Indicted."

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/11/14/D8DSI0UG6.html

CORRECTION

Yesterday’s update included a story of Muslim-on-Christian violence inspired by a false report that a Christian had burned a Koran. The incident took place in Pakistan, not in India. My apologies for the error.

FOUNDING FATHER QUOTE OF THE DAY

"A Republic must either preserve its virtue or lose its liberty... Whoever is an avowed enemy of God, I scruple not to call him an enemy of his country." – Rev. John Witherspoon

(Witherspoon was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, president of Princeton, and taught nine of the men who wrote the Constitution, including James Madison.)

Announcing Formation of The Idaho Values Alliance

Monday, November 14, 2005

To sign up for these email updates: http://www.keepthecommandmentsidaho.com/

ANNOUNCING FORMATION OF THE IDAHO VALUES ALLIANCE

Over the course of the fall, in many conversations with friends, local business leaders, legislators, and others across the country who work in the arena of family public policy, I’ve received unanimous encouragement to begin a new public policy council here in Idaho that will continue and extend the work we have been doing with the Keep the Commandments Coalition.

Our Founding Fathers understood that our rights, including the right to the free exercise of religion and the right to free speech, belong to us because they are gifts to us from the God who created us. Because of this, these rights are “inalienable” – that is, no man and no government has the legitimate authority to take them from us.

In order to protect these rights here in Idaho, we are forming a brand-new public policy organization, the Idaho Values Alliance.

PRE-LAUNCH RECEPTION NEXT MONDAY EVENING

A pre-launch reception to introduce this new organization and its mission will be held next Monday night, November 21, at 7:00 PM. This reception will take place in a beautiful new business center located at 9465 Emerald in Boise (between Maple Grove and Five Mile). You are invited to attend. If you can come, please RSVP my good friends Lin & Tereasa Waterman at (208) 344-0028.

Former Congressman Helen Chenoweth-Hage has written a very gracious letter of invitation to this reception. If you would like to receive her letter of invitation, please reply to this email and include your mailing address and we’ll see that you receive one.

The mailing address for the new organization:

The Idaho Values Alliance
PO Box 44873
Boise, ID 83711

You may also reach me by phone at (208) 841-2546. You can continue to contact me at this email address until the new IVA website, which we are in the process of building, is up and running. I’ll let you know when the website is up.

MISSION OF THE IDAHO VALUES ALLIANCE

The work of the IVA will have five goals in carrying out its mission:

1. Promote and defend our God-given rights to life and liberty.

The IVA will provide ongoing education for Idahoans in understanding our nation’s history, and how to apply the foundational principles of our Judeo-Christian heritage to contemporary public policy issues. We believe the principles of faith, family, and freedom are central to our security and prosperity as a people, and the IVA will work to promote these values in our public life in Idaho.

2. Promote and defend religious liberty and the public acknowledgement of God.

The need for this is evident in light of Michael Newdow’s declared intention this week to file suit to remove “In God We Trust” from U.S. currency and coinage. The IVA will work on behalf of religious liberty whenever and wherever it comes under attack in Idaho.

3. Restrain judicial activism.

Activist judges right here in Idaho have denied you and me the right to vote on our Ten Commandments initiative, have thrown out Idaho’s parental consent law, and have forbidden the Boise Rescue Mission to carry out its ministry in the way it thinks is best. One of the things the IVA will seek to develop are voters’ guides for judicial elections so Idahoans will be able to cast intelligent votes at all levels, right up to the state supreme court level.

4. Promote and defend the sanctity of marriage and the family.

The gay lobby is actively working to legalize gay marriage and its imitators, such as civil unions. The IVA will work for a state marriage amendment that will define marriage and prohibit recognition of counterfeits, and work in general for public policies that will protect and strengthen Idaho families. We believe strong families are the cornerstone of a healthy society.

5. Promote and defend the sanctity of life.

Our Founding Fathers declared that the first of our “inalienable rights” is the right to life. The IVA will work alongside other pro-life groups to develop public polices that will reduce the number of abortions in Idaho and bring us to the place where, as President Bush has often said, we live in a country and state where every child is welcomed in life and protected in law.

I will lay out more of the vision for the IVA in this week’s updates.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS COALITION

The KCC has been an all-volunteer organization to this point. With the IVA, we hope to create a financial foundation strong enough to enable me to devote my full energies to the task. We hope to have sufficient resources in place so that I may be able to have a consistent presence right away at the Idaho legislature, which meets for the first time on January 9.

Following the legislative session, my focus and the focus of the IVA will shift to building a statewide network and producing statewide voters’ guides for both the primary election in May and the general election in November. In between, we will do the daily work of keeping Idahoans abreast of contemporary developments in public policy through these email updates, which will you will receive under the banner of the IVA.

I plan to continue my involvement with the KCC at least until our Ten Commandments initiative controversy is resolved here in Boise. If we prevail before the Idaho State Supreme Court in December, I will work under the banner of the KCC to promote the election that will be held on our initiative, and, if we prevail at the ballot box, to oversee the building of a new Ten Commandments display in Julia Davis Park.

Once the Ten Commandments initiative controversy is resolved, the Executive Committee of the KCC, of which I am a part, will decide the future of the KCC.

I’ll talk more about the mission and vision of the IVA over the course of this week, and would be glad to respond to any questions you may have. Now on to today’s news update.

ALITO IN 1985 PAPER: “CONSTITUTION DOES NOT PROTECT A RIGHT TO AN ABORTION”

In a 1985 document produced by Samuel Alito, when he was applying for a position with the Reagan administration, he wrote that he believed quite strongly that the “Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion.” This is significant because it speaks directly to his judicial philosophy and his understanding of the how the Constitution applies to the sanctity of life issue.

As a federal judge, Alito felt bound to respect Supreme Court precedent. But as a sitting Justice, he will be establishing precedent, which can and does occasionally involve overturning previous Supreme Court rulings and establishing new precedents for lower courts to follow.

The Court did this in 2003, when it reversed itself on the issue of state sodomy laws. In 1986, the Court ruled that laws against sodomy were constitutional, and in 2003 they ruled they weren’t. If a precedent on sodomy laws can be reversed, there is no reason why a precedent on abortion (Roe v. Wade) cannot be reversed.

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20051114-015136-2101r.htm

NEWDOW TO GO AFTER “IN GOD WE TRUST”

As expected, Michael Newdow, the atheist who has challenged the presence of “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, announced his intention last week to file suit against the phrase, “In God We Trust” on U.S. currency and coinage.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47387

VOICES OF TOLERANCE STRIKE AGAIN (Source: Focus on the Family)

Those who claim to the models of tolerance often prove to be far more intolerant than the people they accuse. Such was the case in Minnesota on Friday, as a meeting of 300 pastors to discuss support of a marriage amendment was disrupted by homosexual protestors and a bomb threat.

Last month, 1,000 angry protestors shouted profanities at those attending a conference on escaping the homosexual lifestyle. On Monday of this week, gay activists invaded the offices of the Family Research Council, and chained themselves to a sculpture in the lobby as a form of protest.

But perhaps the most significant thing of all about the Minneapolis event is that it reveals that there are at least 300 pastors in Minnesota who are willing to step out and lead their congregations and their entire state in an effort to protect natural marriage. Pastors at this meeting signed a pledge that they will teach about the biblical view of marriage, and circulate petitions that support the amendment.

http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/
features/2005/11/10_zdechlikm_marriage/

NATIONAL PRO-LIFE SPEAKER GUEST AT IDAHO CHOOSES LIFE BANQUET

Jim Sedlak, founder and executive director of STOPP (Stop Planned Parenthood) will be this year’s guest at the annual Idaho Chooses Life banquet on December 9. Mr. Sedlak has been a guest on radio programs hosted by Dr. Laura Schlesinger, D. James Kennedy, and many others. For more information, call 344-8709 or send an email to director@IdahoChoosesLife.org.

ACTIVIST COURT IGNORES LAW, ALLOWS 17 YEAR OLD TO PURSUE ABORTION

The sanctity of life is one of the primary areas of civic life impacted by activist judges, who are bent on imposing their view of this issue on the rest of us, no matter what our elected representatives say.

As an example, a three-judge panel in Florida ignored a law that just went into effect on June 30, and issued a ruling allowing a 17-year-old girl to get an abortion without notifying her parents. This is despite the fact that the girl herself acknowledges that she has a good relationship with her parents, who are Catholic and pro-life.

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/florida/MGBNTF5FWFE.html

PENNSYLVANIA SHOWS JUDGES CAN BE VOTED OUT OF OFFICE

As in Idaho, most judges in Pennsylvania face retention elections. That is, their name is the only one on the ballot, and if they receive more than 50% of the vote, they retain their seat on the bench. It’s a system that obviously heavily favors incumbents, and turning a judge out of office was virtually unheard of in Pennsylvania politics – until last Tuesday.

For the first time in memory, a sitting state supreme court justice was turned out of office. The issue in Pennsylvania had to do with seething voter anger over state legislators voting themselves and judges hefty pay raises.

The lesson for us in Idaho is that removal of activist judges at the state supreme court level and below is possible at the ballot box. Federal judges must be impeached, and so they are beyond our direct control. But judges in our state system are elected, and thus can be voted out of office just as easily as they can be voted in. The pro-family community in Idaho must work on giving Idahoans enough information about sitting judges to cast an informed vote about judges as well as legislators.

http://www.stateline.org/live/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=136&languageId=1&contentId=67343

NEBRASKA WILL PROSECUTE SEXUAL PREDATORS

Prosecution is one way to deal with older males who prey sexually on underage females. Officials in Nebraska discovered that older males fathered 90 children with girls 15 and under in that state between 2000 and 2004. To its credit, Nebraska is now beginning to prosecute these men for violating state law.

As a side note, it’s worth remembering that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsburg believes the age of consent for sexual intercourse should be lowered to age 12. In other words, if a 21-year-old male seduces your 13-year-old daughter, she doesn’t want you to be able to do a thing about it.

http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2005/11/11/
local/doc4373e19d2ad8e586627714.txt

MUSLIM VIOLENCE CONTINUES IN FRANCE

Despite the old media’s efforts to convince you that violence in France has virtually disappeared, violence has continued for 17 straight nights. On Friday night alone, 502 cars were torched, and 206 rioters were arrested, bringing the two-week total to 2,440. French officials banned virtually all public meetings over the weekend.

In Paris alone, 3000 police officers fanned out all over Paris to counter anticipated weekend attacks, and arson attacks were counted in 163 towns around the country. Amazingly, the national police chief said, “We (have) returned to an almost normal situation” in the Paris region, as only 374 cars were torched on Saturday night/Sunday morning. (The average, unbelievably, is about 100 cars on a Saturday night.)

Germany, Belgium, Holland, and even Switzerland saw smaller though similar acts of violence over the weekend.

The old media continues to obscure the fact that the rioters are almost exclusively Muslims. The AP article I’ve linked below does not mention the word Muslim even once.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20051113/D8DRPC500.html

MUSLIM VIOLENCE AGAINST CHRISTIANS IN INDIA

According to Asia News, organized Muslim violence was launched against Christians in India on Saturday, triggered by a false report that a Christian had burned copies of the Koran.

Some 2,000 organized Muslims vandalized three churches, a nuns' convent, two Catholic schools, the houses of a Protestant pastor and a Catholic priest, a girls' hostel and some Christian homes. Approximately 450 Christian families were forced to flee. One of the churches targeted was a Presbyterian church, another was a Catholic church, and the third was a Salvation Army church.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47380

Statesman Runs Column on Church-State Separation

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COLUMN IN TODAY’S IDAHO STATESMAN ON CHURCH-STATE SEPARATION

Today’s Idaho Statesman carries a column I wrote on the separation of church and state. The ACLU and other left-leaning groups have so distorted this term it has come to mean the opposite of what Thomas Jefferson meant when he wrote it in the first place.

In Jefferson’s thinking, the wall of separation was a wall that prevented the state from interfering with the church, or dictating belief or practice to the church. Jefferson did not intend in the least to insulate the state from the influence of the church, or to eliminate all mention of God from public life. His own life and conduct in office clearly prove this.

My column appears below the fold on the opinion page. Above the fold, the Statesman editorial board shows that they have bought into the ACLU’s distortion by insisting that the Boise Rescue Mission personnel must be prevented, by government action, from carrying out its ministry in the way they think best.

The Statesman agrees with Lynn Winmill, a notoriously activist federal judge, that the state should be allowed to dictate to the Rescue Mission what it may and may not be allowed to do in carrying out its mission. This intrusion of the state into the affairs of the church and Christian ministry is the very thing that Jefferson’s wall was intended to prevent.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051111/NEWS0503/511110330/1055

BRANDT AS WELL AS SALI VOTED FOR MARRIAGE AMENDMENT

I mentioned in an earlier update that Rep. Bill Sali, a current candidate for Congress, voted twice for a marriage amendment to the Idaho constitution. Another candidate in this same race, Sen. Skip Brandt, two years ago voted twice to call the marriage amendment from Sen. Sheila Sorenson’s drawer. Sen. Sorenson, also a candidate for 1st CD, single-handedly killed that amendment. Sen. Brandt also voted for last year’s proposed amendment on the senate floor.

WAL-MART STICKS BY “HAPPY HOLIDAYS” INSTEAD OF “MERRY CHRISTMAS”

When this year’s Christmas season rolls around, you might want to make a point of saying “Merry Christmas” when you check out of your local Wal-Mart, and see what the cashier says in return. Wal-Mart yesterday said it is standing by its policy of encouraging employees to use the term “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas” in the run-up to December 25. If the cashier is the first to speak, and says “Happy Holidays,” why not respond with “Merry Christmas!” or “Have a great Christmas!” instead?

If you happen to be shopping at a Wal-Mart before Thanksgiving, you might think about asking for the manager and telling him that you hope Wal-Mart will reconsider its position, and openly encourage its workers to recognize the Christian origins of the holiday season. “Holiday,” by the way, literally means “holy day.”

WAL-MART REVISES WEBSITE IN RESPONSE TO COMPLAINTS

Until yesterday, Wal-Mart’s website made it harder to find Christmas items than to find items for black and Jewish holidays. If the word “Hanukkah” was entered, 200 items for sale were returned. The term “Kwanzaa” (a manufactured holiday, by the way, that did not even exist until it was invented in the 1960s) yielded 77. But when “Christmas” was entered, the message returned said: "We've brought you to our 'Holiday' page based on your search."

In order to access the catalogue of Christmas items, shoppers would then have to click on a second link. In response to complaints from the Catholic League, Wal-Mart redesigned its web page yesterday so shoppers are now taken directly to the Christmas section of the online catalogue.

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47358

SAN DIEGO WILL FIGHT JUDGE’S ORDER TO REMOVE CROSS

A single San Diego judge, in a raw exercise of judicial overreach, on Oct. 7 overturned an initiative passed by 75% of voters that was designed to protect a cross overlooking the city on Mt. Soledad. The city yesterday decided they will fight this judicial tyranny in court.

What a novel thing: a city council that encourages its citizens to vote on an initiative, instead of blocking their right to vote, and then commits itself to upholding the will of the people rather than denying them even a chance to be heard!

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47338

ALABAMA STATE SCHOOL BOARD KEEPS EVOLUTION DISCLAIMER

In a victory for academic freedom and inquiry, the Alabama State Board of Education yesterday unanimously decided to continue to post disclaimers in biology books that describe evolution as a “controversial theory,” and that any statement about the origin of life is “not fact.”

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9995564/

DOWN’S BABIES ABORTED

I’ve mentioned before that advances in prenatal testing have enabled parents to identify genetic anomalies in their children while they are still in the womb. Currently, about eighty percent of babies who are diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted. We’re killing disabled children before they’re even born.

Now a new and improved test has been created by the Royal College in Dublin, financed by $15 million of your tax dollars and mine. Said the spokesman for the College, “Women who would opt to terminate a pregnancy based on the results would be able to do so much earlier, when abortion is less risky and less traumatic.”

As Tony Perkins of FRC comments, “Notice that they don't call abortion ‘risky’ and ‘traumatic’ when they are defending partial-birth abortion.” Plus, every abortion is “risky” and “traumatic” for an unborn baby.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/17/AR2005101701311_pf.html

MUSLIM VIOLENCE IN EUROPE

As Gary Bauer points out in his briefing of yesterday, the violence in Europe is not the product of Europe’s inability to assimilate Muslims, but rather the deliberate, willful refusal of Muslims to integrate into the host culture.

Gary Bauer quotes the leader of the Arab European League: “We reject integration when it leads to assimilation. I don’t believe in a host country. We are at home here and whatever we consider our culture to be also belongs to our chosen country. I’m in my country, not the country of the Westerners.”

A German Muslim leader, quoted by author Tony Blankley, put it more bluntly:
“Germany is an Islamic country. Islam is in the home, in schools. Germans will be outnumbered. We [Muslims] will say what we want. We’ll live how we want. It’s outrageous that Germans demand we speak their language. Our children will have our language, our laws, our culture.”

In Islam, infidels – Christians and Jews primarily – are given only three choices: conversion, submission, or war. There is no concept of peaceful co-existence or religious toleration in classic Islam.

SAUDI ARABIA TO U.S. MUSLIMS: DON’T ASSIMILATE

Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious Freedom, in a story reported in the Army Times, testified Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee that the government of Saudi Arabia is distributing books and pamphlets all across the United States that offer instruction on how to “build a wall of resentment” between Muslims and infidels (that’s you and me).

The book goes on to give these instructions to Muslims who live here: “Never greet the Christian or Jew first. Never congratulate the infidel on his holiday. Never befriend an infidel unless it is to convert him. Never imitate the infidel. Never work for an infidel.”

So much for American as a “melting pot,” and so much for the American motto, “E Pluribus Unum” – “Out of Many, One.”

http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1232073.php

KCC IN THE NEWS

Dan Popkey quoted from the KCC Blog in his post-election column on Wednesday of this week.

HOW MUCH WOULD YOU PAY FOR $24 MILLION DOLLAR SCULPTURE?

I said yesterday I was curious to know how much you would be willing to pay for the sculpture that sold this week for $24 million dollars. Here are some sample responses:

“I'd pay ZERO! My 5 year old grandson builds stuff with his Lincoln Logs that looks better than this.”

“I could build something better with leftover boxes lying around the house.”

“Harrison has built a similar sculpture with his wooden building blocks.
Maybe I should call Sotheby's?”