Column/Legend
1 - Prefix  - L-Life,  H-Homosexual Behavior/Perversion, R-Religion/Legal Persecution/ACLU, E-Education, M-Media Bias, O-Other
2-7 - Yr, Mo, Dy
8 - L -Letter to Editor, C-Commentary, O-Op-Ed, M-Metro

Hotlink Index of this weeks's family values related news:  [Supreme Court Battle]   [Life]   [Homosexual Behavior/Perversion]   [Religion/Religious Persecution]   [Education]   [Media]   [Other]

SUPREME COURT BATTLE
S051121       Biden threatens Alito filibuster
S051122       Democratic dance
S051122E     Alito on abortion
S051123       7 justices passed judgment on Alito's rulings
S051123       Ad warfare over Alito intensifying
S051124       Senate conservatives praise Alito
S051125C    Case of Supreme bias
S051126       Alito caught up in debate over religious freedom

LIFE
L051124       INDIANA    Court upholds abortion law
L051124       Abortion pill safety reviewed

HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVIOR/PERVERSION
H051120       SPOKANE, Wash. Homosexual Scandal
H051123       MASSACHUSETTS   Gay 'marriage' foes claim petition victory
H051124       Gay 'marriage' foes hand in amendment petitions

RELIGION/RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION
R051120       Bush goes to church in Beijing
R051121E     There may be a fruitfly in Darwin's ointment
R051122       ARIZONA   Monsignor arrested on sex charges
R051123       Kansas University to teach intelligent design as myth
R051123       Powerful words
R051124L     Lincoln's Thanksgiving Day proclamation
R051124L     Washington declares a day for giving thanks
R051124L     A day of thanksgiving proclaimed in Charlestown
R051125       Franken on neocons
R051125       NEW YORK   Schools told to rent to religious groups

EDUCATION
E051124        Professor quits
E051125C     Forum: Pregnant student services

MEDIA
M051121E    The 'Bush lied' lie
M051123      DeLay fundraising was 'hardly unique'
M051125C    A milestone . . .
M051125C    The (very) big lie
M051125L    In defense of the Iraq war

OTHER
O051121       New Englanders most tightfisted, charity index says
O051121       Squelching a report
O051121Md Kissin challenge
O051123       Teacher avoids jail time
O051123Md Democrats target Steele as Senate foe
O051124       NEW YORK   Psychiatrists OK releasing sex criminal
O051125       Black leaders switch to GOP in Florida
O051125C    Forum: California parental abdication
O051125E    Christmas, porn and children
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

O051125   Black leaders switch to GOP in Florida

By Brian DeBose
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
November 25, 2005

One current and one recent Florida county director for the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization have switched party designations from Democrat to Republican, showing some of the first signs that the Republican Party's efforts to reach out to blacks are working.
    Darryl E. Rouson, recent past president of St. Petersburg chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and Derrick Wallace, Orange County chapter president, both have registered Republican in the past two months.
    The announcements were seen as a boon for state and national Republicans eagerly seeking allies in efforts to reach out to the black community, but the two men said their decisions to switch party affiliation were based on the local political and business landscape.
    Mr. Rouson, a lifelong Democrat, worked on the 1998 re-election campaign of Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, Illinois Democrat, before returning to private practice in 1999 and registering as an independent.
    He said he made his decision after examining the Democratic Party's recent history in the state.
    "I saw that the mayor for eight years here in Pinellas County, who was a Democrat, had given only lip service to inner-city economic development," he said.
    The current Republican mayor, Rick Baker who was re-elected two weeks ago with 90 percent of the black vote, gave immediate attention to development and worked closely with black businessmen, Mr. Rouson said.
    Mr. Rouson, who stepped down as chapter president in September just weeks before joining the party, said he also learned that not one black person had been appointed to the circuit court bench in 24 years under Democratic governors.
    "[Gov. Jeb] Bush nominated two of the three serving now out of 55 judicial seats," he said.
    "As a people, if 50 percent of the black population was in each party we would be getting a whole lot more than we are getting now, but because we are 85 percent in one party, when Republicans are in power we are a beggar race," he said. "And when the Democrats are in power we are a beggar race, because they take us for granted."
    Ken Mehlman, Republican National Committee chairman, was in Florida during the summer to address Florida businessmen and community groups as a part of his "Give Us a Chance and We'll Give You a Choice" outreach tour with minorities.
    State party officials said the outreach is building on gains already visible from the black community.
    "African-American support for President Bush doubled from 2000 to 2004," said Camille Anderson, spokeswoman for the Florida Republican Party.
    Neither Mr. Rouson or Mr. Wallace is pursuing politics or national attention.
    Mr. Wallace's Orange County branch has become the state's largest since he took over in January.
    The Orlando Sentinel quoted him as saying that changing parties was a "business decision," but he emphasized that he did not mean a move to expand his construction business as critics have charged.
    "When I say it was a business decision, I don't mean for me. I mean I am a business person and think in a businesslike manner," Mr. Wallace said.
    "African-Americans have to understand that we have to be more strategic in our approach. We can't afford not to work with people because of their political party," he said.
    He said the NAACP in Orlando tended to "overemphasize social issues" without focusing on building the economic base to pay for programs when government aid is unavailable or denied.
    Mr. Wallace said he learned -- as the owner of Construction Two Group, one of the largest in Central Florida, and as a board member with the Orlando Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Commission -- that expanding clientele and developing investors and partnerships are the only ways to survive in business and that the political realm is no different.
    He said he had plenty of business as a Democrat.
    "We needed someone to make the strategic alliances so that others can benefit in terms of getting contracts, services and economic development. ... Somebody had to step across the line and offer the opportunity to connect with the black community," Mr. Wallace said.
    "I guess this is a radical move to some, but for me it is an advantageous move for what I can do for my community."
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

R051125   Franken on neocons
    Comedian and radio talk-show host Al Franken compares Jewish "neoconservatives" to al Qaeda in the December issue of Moment, a magazine of "Jewish politics, culture & religion for the 21st century."
    Mr. Franken, a Democrat who is publicly flirting with the idea of running for a U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota against Republican incumbent Norm Coleman in 2008, told writer David Paul Kuhn that neoconservatives "have an incredible arrogance, and hubris, and an unbelievable ability to believe their own hype."
    Mr. Franken was asked about what the writer called "the Jewish neoconservatives — such as Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Irving Kristol and his son William Kristol."
    "I'm not sure they are particularly devout Jews," Mr. Franken replied. "They come from this Leo Strauss school."
    Mr. Strauss was a German-Jewish refugee from World War II and a political philosopher at the University of Chicago who influenced many of the pioneers of modern neoconservative thought, the interviewer noted.
    Mr. Franken continued: "And Strauss said religion was good for the masses, but you didn't have to use it. So it's a good thing to keep the masses in check, but we superior Straussians don't have to practice this ourselves.
    "I saw this great British documentary called 'The Power of Nightmares.' And the whole point of it is to draw parallels between the Straussians and al Qaeda. They sort of have a lot of things in common. The rest of the world doesn't believe what they believe is inherently corrupt and wrong and evil."
    Mr. Franken added: "It's sorta like it's OK to kill these other people who don't think your way because your philosophy is the right philosophy."
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

R051125   NEW YORK   Schools told to rent to religious groups
    NEW YORK -- New York City public schools must let religious groups rent space for meetings on the same basis as other organizations, a federal judge ruled. The city's law department said it will appeal.
    Bronx Household of Faith, an evangelical congregation, has sought for years to rent space for Sunday worship in Public School 15. In May, the Justice Department's civil rights division filed a brief supporting the church.
    Judge Loretta Preska of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York earlier had taken the opposite side in the case.
    She based her latest ruling on the 2001 Supreme Court precedent in another New York case, Good News Club v. Milford Central School. There, the high court said schools' denial of rentals for after-class Bible clubs was unconstitutional under free-speech guarantees.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

S051124   Senate conservatives praise Alito

By Charles Hurt
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
November 24, 2005

So much attention has been paid to the mixed reviews of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. by Senate Democrats and liberal Republicans that the press has largely ignored the enthusiastic applause from conservatives for the Supreme Court nominee.
    After meeting with the judge last week, Sen. George Allen, Virginia Republican, issued a statement that yelled in all-capital letters: "Allen 'strongly inclined' to support Alito."
    That's pretty high praise for a nominee who hasn't even sat through the opening statements of his confirmation hearings, which are scheduled for January.
    "I was very impressed by Judge Alito in our meeting today," Mr. Allen said. "I felt the judge was a good, decent, solid individual who respects the rule of law in this country."
    Sen. Jim DeMint, South Carolina Republican, went a step further after meeting Judge Alito last week and said he's voting for the nominee.
    "While he still has his hearings in January, at this point, I can't see any reason why I would not wholeheartedly support him," he said. "Judge Alito is a conservative and believes the Constitution is a textual document that has words that must be adhered to, rather than a living, breathing document that changes over time."
    All the gushing is a drastic departure from Republican senators' statements after the nomination of White House Counsel Harriet Miers for the same seat on the Supreme Court. In fact, many of the same Republican senators nearly endorsing Judge Alito today withheld support for Miss Miers, saying it would be improper to prejudge the nominee before her hearings.
    One reason for the hasty support has to do with Judge Alito's long record of judicial conservatism. Conservatives such as Mr. Allen and Mr. DeMint have complained for years that the courts usurp elected legislatures' authority and diminish the powers of the states.
    Those conservatives point to matters such as abortion, homosexual "marriage" and the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.
    Most recently, conservatives have railed against the Supreme Court's ruling this year that expanded the government powers of eminent domain to include situations in which property is seized and given to private developers.
    Judge Alito, Mr. Allen said, "understands that laws are to be made by those who are elected by the people and that the role of a judge is to apply the law, not invent it. He also has respect for the will of the people in the states to determine their own laws."
    Mr. DeMint agreed.
    "Judge Alito showed me that he has all the qualities of an intelligent and thoughtful jurist," he said after his meeting.
    The appraisal among Senate conservatives is nearly unanimous. Sen. David Vitter, Louisiana Republican, met with Judge Alito and emerged "extremely impressed."
    "He is obviously very well-qualified and has a great background," he said. "He's very smart, has the right temperament to be judge and a lot of experience."
    Although many in the press have found little newsworthy about Republicans praising a Republican nominee to the high court, others have noticed.
    Within hours of the Alito nomination in October, the liberal group People for the American Way dispatched a release chronicling the overwhelmingly positive reaction to Judge Alito among conservatives -- though not necessarily senators. Intended as a warning, the statement included the reaction of Christians, columnists and run-of-the-mill conservatives.
    The group is so alarmed by the reaction that "Right Wing Watch" -- a feature on its Web site, www.pfaw.org -- has become largely devoted to Judge Alito.
    And the reaction hasn't gone entirely unnoticed by Democrats in the Senate.
    Last week, after The Washington Times obtained and published an essay written by Judge Alito in 1985, many Senate Democrats fretted over the conservative views he espoused.
    "This may explain why the right wing expressed such enthusiastic support for Judge Alito after campaigning against Harriet Miers," observed Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

E051124   Professor quits
    A community college professor has resigned in the wake of an e-mail in which he vowed to intimidate students who host conservative speakers.
    According to the Young America's Foundation (www.yaf.org), John Daly, an adjunct English professor at Warren County Community College in New Jersey, resigned Tuesday before the school's board of trustees began an emergency meeting to discuss the professor's fate.
    On Nov. 13, Mr. Daly sent an e-mail to student Rebecca Beach vowing "to expose [her] right-wing, anti-people politics until groups like [Miss Beach's] won't dare show their face on a college campus." In addition, Mr. Daly wrote, "Real freedom will come when soldiers in Iraq turn their guns on their superiors."
    Mr. Daly sent the e-mail after Miss Beach asked him and other faculty members to announce that a veteran of the war in Iraq would appear for a lecture at the school.
    William Austin, president of the college, said he will incorporate tolerance seminars for professors during the next faculty in-service day to shield students from this type of harassment, as requested by Miss Beach and the YAF.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

L051124    INDIANA    Court upholds abortion law
    INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Supreme Court yesterday upheld a law that requires women seeking abortions to get counseling about medical risks and alternatives and to wait at least 18 hours after the session before having the procedure.
    The court ruled 4-1 that opponents of the law could not pursue their lawsuit, which argued that privacy is a core right under the state constitution and extends to women seeking to end their pregnancies.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

O051124   NEW YORK   Psychiatrists OK releasing sex criminal
    NEW YORK -- Psychiatrists have approved the release of a sex criminal who was among 27 held in mental hospitals on Gov. George E. Pataki's orders after their prison sentences were completed.
    The governor on Tuesday said the development was "disappointing" and added, "I don't think this predator should be out on the street."
    Kevin Quinn, Mr. Pataki's spokesman, said the man spent four years in prison for raping an 8-year-old girl. He said the man, held at Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center on Wards Island after his sentence, was expected to be released yesterday.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

L051124   Abortion pill safety reviewed

By Joyce Howard Price
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
November 24, 2005

Federal health officials are investigating the safety of a widely used abortion pill, after five women -- four Americans and one Canadian -- died of the same rare bacterial infection within days of taking the drug.
    The deaths of the five women after undergoing early chemical abortions using mifepristone -- marketed as Mifeprex and formerly known as RU-486 -- in combination with a second drug called misoprostol, are not new. They began in 2001, continued through May of this year and have been publicized.
    But the fact that all five women suffered from a rare and highly lethal bacterial infection known as Clostridium sordellii, which infiltrated the uterus and then spread to the bloodstream, was only recently determined, said to a spokeswoman for Danco Laboratories, which manufactures mifepristone. The abortion pill has been approved in this country since 2000 and in France since 1988.
    In an announcement last July, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said four U.S. women -- all of whom lived in California -- died from infections after using mifepristone and misoprostol in abortions. But, at that time, the specific infection had not been identified in two of the four women.
    Those two cases continued to be investigated by the FDA, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Danco Labs and state and local health departments, until it was concluded that those women also died from infection with Clostridium sordellii.
    So now the FDA and CDC want to find out whether mifepristone and/or misoprostol somehow make women vulnerable to this deadly bacterium. They will convene a scientific meeting next year to investigate.
    Warnings about mifepristone's possible link with Clostridium sordellii were added to the drug's label in July.
    The manufacturer defended its product's safety.
    "Over 500,000 women in the United States have taken mifepristone, [in combination with misoprostol] and, in Europe, about 1? million women have done so," Danco spokeswoman Cynthia Summers said yesterday. "There's no reason to believe either drug is responsible for these infections."
    But some medical research has suggested mifepristone alone was the cause of the deadly infections in the pregnant women, who died five to seven days after taking the abortion pill. Clostridium sordellii is a particularly troublesome bacterium, since it can live and grow in the absence of oxygen.
    In a report in the Annals of Pharmacotherapy, Dr. Ralph P. Miech, a Brown University professor, found that mifepristone causes cervical changes that permit the uterus to be contaminated with Clostridium sordellii, a bacterium present in 10 percent of women.
    Dr. Miech concluded that the drug "causes a malfunction of the innate immune system and its ability to fight the invasion by Clostridium sordellii."
    "Septic shock results," he wrote.
    Monty Patterson of Livermore, Calif., whose 18-year-old daughter, Holly, died in September 2003, a week after taking mifepristone, says he is convinced the abortion drug impairs the immune system. He wants it taken off the market.
     Asked why more women have not been infected with Clostridium sordellii after taking the drug, Mr. Patterson said: "Peoples' immune systems are not equal. But women are playing Russian roulette when they take this drug."
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

H051124   Gay 'marriage' foes hand in amendment petitions

By Cheryl Wetzstein
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
November 24, 2005

Massachusetts supporters of traditional marriage yesterday finished delivering the last of more than 120,000 signatures to city and town clerks -- nearly twice the number needed to get a marriage amendment on the ballot in 2008.
    "We are very thankful this Thanksgiving," said Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, a lead organization with VoteOnMarriage.org.
    The proposed amendment is intended to overrule a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision that legalized same-sex "marriage" as of May 2004. An estimated 6,500 homosexual couples have since "married" in the state.
    If approved by voters, the amendment would require the state to define marriage "only as the union of one man and one woman." This would prohibit homosexual "marriage" after 2008, but would not affect established homosexual "marriages."
    Mr. Mineau said yesterday that hundreds of petitions had been turned in during the past three weeks and that the final batches were being filed before yesterday's 5 p.m. deadline.
    A final tally wasn't available yesterday, but it was "well over 120,000 -- approaching 130,000," he said. At least 65,825 signatures must be certified.
    Town and city clerks have until Dec. 5 to finish processing the petitions. Then amendment supporters have to deliver them to the Massachusetts Secretary of State's Office by Dec. 7.
    If approved by the Secretary of State's Office, the marriage amendment goes before the legislature. Fifty out of 200 lawmakers must approve the amendment in two successive sessions, which is why the earliest the amendment can go before voters is 2008.
    Yesterday marked "the first leg of a three-year journey," Mr. Mineau said.
    Homosexual-rights activists have vigorously opposed the amendment and, during the 60-day petition drive, accused some signature gatherers -- especially those who were reportedly paid $1 per signature -- of tricking dozens of residents into signing the marriage petition.
    One Web site, www.KnowThyNeighbor.org, created by a "married" homosexual couple, has kept a running commentary on purported petition fraud.
    Marriage-amendment supporters countered that some activists harassed signature gatherers or defaced petitions, invalidating dozens of signatures.
    The petition will likely face legislative resistance. Mr. Mineau's group said Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi has said that same-sex "marriage" should "never, ever" appear as a question on the ballot.
    Public support for the amendment is also questionable.
    Amendment supporters say the amendment has the strong backing of most residents, especially those active in Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim faiths.
    But a Bay State Poll, taken in October, of 503 Massachusetts adults found that only 37 percent supported the amendment and 53 percent opposed it, said the Center for Public Opinion Research at Merrimack College.
    Marriage-amendment petition drives are under way in Arizona, California, Florida and Illinois. All of these drives seek to put measures before voters in 2006.
    Earlier this month, Texas became the 19th state to amend its constitution to only allow one-man, one-woman marriage.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

R051123   Powerful words
    It was former Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase, an early proponent of the Republican Party, who declared: "No nation can be strong except in the strength of God, or safe except in His defense."
    For that reason, said Chase, born in 1808, "The trust of our people in God should be declared on our national coin."
    Those words are being recalled today in the hallowed hallways of Congress now that Michael Newdow, who filed a lawsuit to remove "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance, is out to remove "In God We Trust" from all U.S. currency.
    Were that to happen, says Rep. Jo Ann Davis, Virginia Republican, Capitol Hill lawmakers might as well grab chisels and start chipping away at the wall above the speaker's dais in the House chamber, as well as the entrance to the Senate chamber, where the words are prominently engraved.
    "The Founding Fathers believed devotedly that there was a God and that the unalienable rights of man were rooted in Him, a belief clearly evidenced in their writings, from the Mayflower Compact to the Constitution itself," she says, countering Mr. Newdow's intentions with a resolution of her own supporting the four words that are the national motto of the United States.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

H051123   MASSACHUSETTS   Gay 'marriage' foes claim petition victory
    BOSTON -- Backers of a proposed constitutional amendment to put a stop to gay "marriage" in Massachusetts said yesterday they have gathered almost twice the number of signatures needed to put it on the ballot in 2008.
    Beyond the signatures, the proposal needs to be approved by two successive sessions of the state legislature before it can be placed before voters.
    The Massachusetts Family Institute and its online counterpart, www.voteonmarriage.org, said they will submit more than 120,000 signatures before today's 5 p.m. deadline. The measure needed the support of 65,825 registered voters to make the ballot.
    The proposed amendment seeks to undo a 2003 ruling by Massachusetts' highest court that said homosexuals are entitled to "marry."
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

S051123   7 justices passed judgment on Alito's rulings

November 23, 2005

ASSOCIATED PRESS
    Assuming Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. wins Senate confirmation, he will join seven colleagues on the Supreme Court who have already either concurred with his opinions or scoffed at them.
    While on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Alito has written hundreds of opinions or dissents in his 15 years on the federal bench. A few of those cases have gained a spot on the selective Supreme Court docket.
    Judge Alito has lost some close cases in the high court. Two years ago, he was soundly rejected in the case of a former elevator operator who was seeking Social Security disability payments.
    His cases do provide some insight on what the justices thought about his judicial work. If confirmed, Judge Alito would replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who is retiring.
    In at least two cases, the Supreme Court justices mentioned Judge Alito by name and his writings in their citations.
    In 2004, Judge Alito wrote the majority opinion as the 3rd Circuit decided to let stand a death sentence for an inmate who argued that his attorney had done sloppy work during the trial's penalty phase.
    Judge Alito rejected Ronald Rompilla's argument that his trial counsel had, in the judge's words, failed to "take all the steps that might have been pursued by the most resourceful defense attorneys with bountiful investigative support."
    "But while we may hope for the day when every criminal defendant receives that level of representation, that is more than the Sixth Amendment demands," Judge Alito wrote.
    The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote, overturned the death sentence and ordered a new penalty trial. Justice David H. Souter sided with the defendant and was joined by Justice O'Connor, the swing vote in the case.
    In dissent, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy agreed with Judge Alito and the 3rd Circuit that it was right to uphold the state ruling. "We have reminded federal courts often of the need to show the requisite level of deference to state court judgments," Justice Kennedy wrote.
    In 2003, the 3rd Circuit backed Pauline Thomas, a disabled former elevator operator who had applied for Social Security disability payments after her employer installed new elevators and cut her job. The government had denied her claim for benefits.
    "[Judge Alito] wrote, and I was with him on it," said Judge Edward R. Becker, a Reagan appointee who served with Judge Alito on the 3rd Circuit, "Sam was for the little guy."
    In his 10-page opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia disparaged the 3rd Circuit's logic in the case and wrote, "To generalize is to be imprecise. Virtually every legal (or other) rule has imperfect applications in particular circumstances."
    Evaluating Judge Alito's opinions and dissents before the Supreme Court is far from an exact science. The high court considers only about 80 cases per term, and the 3rd Circuit, which has jurisdiction for New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and the Virgin Islands, gets only a few. In 2003, four cases from the 3rd Circuit were considered.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

O051123   Teacher avoids jail time

November 23, 2005

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- A female teacher pleaded guilty yesterday to having sex with a 14-year-old student, avoiding prison as part of a plea agreement.
    Debra LaFave, 25, whose sensational case made tabloid headlines, will serve three years of house arrest and seven years' probation. She pleaded guilty to two counts of lewd and lascivious battery.
    The former Greco Middle School reading teacher apologized during the hearing, saying, "I accept full responsibility for my actions."
    The boy told investigators the two had sex in a classroom at the Greco school, located in Temple Terrace near Tampa, in her Riverview town house and once in a vehicle while his 15-year-old cousin drove them around Marion County.
    The boy told investigators Mrs. LaFave told him her marriage was in trouble and that she was aroused by the fact that having sex with him was not allowed. He said he and Mrs. LaFave, a newlywed at the time, got to know each other on their way back from a class trip to SeaWorld Orlando in May 2004.
    If convicted at trial, she could have faced up to 15 years in prison on each count. The plea agreement also was designed to resolve similar charges pending in Marion County.
    Hillsborough Circuit Judge Wayne Timmerman said Mrs. LaFave also will permanently lose her teaching certificate, must register with the state as a sexual predator, may not have any contact with children including the victim, and will not be allowed to profit from the sale of her story or any personal appearances.
    Prosecutor Michael Sinacore said the young victim's family wanted to get the case settled because of the intense public and news media scrutiny.
    "We're happy that the victim's family can put this case behind them," he said. "The whole process has been very difficult, and we hope they can now resume their lives."
    After yesterday's hearing, her attorney, John Fitzgibbons, said the plea was "a fair resolution of this case." Asked how she felt afterward, Mrs. LaFave said "tired."
    Mr. Fitzgibbons said in July that plea negotiations had broken off because prosecutors insisted on prison time, which he said would be too dangerous for someone as attractive as Mrs. LaFave. He said then that she planned to plead insanity at trial, contending that emotional stress kept her from knowing right from wrong.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

S051123   Ad warfare over Alito intensifying

By Charles Hurt
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
November 23, 2005

The high-priced air war over the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. heats up this Thanksgiving week in about a dozen states, and Fox News is refusing to air one spot it says is factually incorrect.
    Conservatives are running pro-Alito ads in Republican red states such as Nebraska and the Dakotas, mainly represented in Congress by Democrats. Liberals are running anti-Alito ads in Democratic blue states such as Maine and Rhode Island, which have Republican senators.
    The 30-second anti-Alito ad Fox News declined targets Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, who are all pro-choice and represent fairly liberal electorates.
    "As a government lawyer, Alito wrote, 'the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion,'?" said the ad backed by the Alliance for Justice, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, People for the American Way (PFAW) and abortion-rights organizations.
    "The right wing has already taken over the West Wing," the commercial concludes. "Don't let them take over your Supreme Court."
    Paul Schur, a spokesman for Fox, said that according to the network's lawyers, the ad, which also says Judge Alito "even voted to approve strip-search of a 10-year-old girl," is "factually incorrect, and we've given them an opportunity to fix it."
    Fox says Judge Alito issued a dissenting opinion and did not "vote" to approve a search.
    In a 2004 ruling by the 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Judge Alito dissented in a search warrant case, saying the best reading of the warrant was that it authorized the search of anyone found on the premises. The court ruled police officers violated the rights of a mother and her 10-year-old daughter searched in the course of executing a search warrant for narcotics.
    Jim Jordan, a spokesman for the group, said: "The entire right-wing establishment, from Pat Robertson to Jerry Falwell to Fox News, has circled the wagons around Sam Alito."
    He said the network's decision reflects the political right's effort to shield President Bush's choice for the high court. The ad eventually will run on cable-television news programs nationally. IndependentCourt.org, which produced the ad, said it has been accepted by CNN and by network affiliates at the state level.
    "It's not about ideology, it's about quality and honesty," Irena Briganti, a Fox News spokeswoman, said of the decision to reject the ad.
    She noted that Fox refused to run one ad by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in which Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts was called a traitor and recently turned down a spot from the Republican National Committee because of content and its use of excerpts from other news programs.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

R051123   Kansas University to teach intelligent design as myth

November 23, 2005

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- Creationism and intelligent design are going to be studied at the University of Kansas, but not in the way advocated by opponents of the theory of evolution.
    The university's Religious Studies Department is offering a course next semester titled "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and Other Religious Mythologies."
    "The KU faculty has had enough," said Paul Mirecki, chairman of the department.
    "Creationism is mythology," Mr. Mirecki said. "Intelligent design is mythology. It's not science. They try to make it sound like science. It clearly is not."
    Earlier this month, the state Board of Education adopted new science teaching standards that treat evolution as a flawed theory, defying the view of science groups.
    Although local school boards still decide how science is taught in the classrooms, the vote was seen as a major victory for proponents of intelligent design, which says that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a higher power.
    Critics say intelligent design is merely creationism -- a literal reading of the Bible's story of creation as the handiwork of God -- camouflaged in scientific language as a way to get around court rulings that creationism injects religion into public schools.
    John Calvert, an attorney and managing director of the Intelligent Design Network in Johnson County, said Mr. Mirecki will go down in history as a laughingstock.
    "To equate intelligent design to mythology is really an absurdity, and it's just another example of labeling anybody who proposes [intelligent design] to be simply a religious nut," Mr. Calvert said. "That's the reason for this little charade."
    Mr. Mirecki said his course, limited to 120 students, would explore intelligent design as a modern American mythology. Several faculty members have volunteered to be guest lecturers.
    University Chancellor Robert Hemenway said he didn't know all the details about the course.
    "If it's a course that's being offered in a serious and intellectually honest way, those are the kind of courses a university frequently offers," he said.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

R051122   ARIZONA   Monsignor arrested on sex charges
    PHOENIX -- The former vicar general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix was arrested yesterday on charges he fondled boys and asked them questions about sex that he misrepresented as being part of the church rite of confession.
    Monsignor Dale Fushek is one of the highest-ranking priests to be charged in the sex scandal that has engulfed the church. The vicar general is the highest-ranking administrator of a diocese next to the bishop.
    Monsignor Fushek was charged with three counts of assault, five counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and two counts of indecent exposure.
    Prosecutors said Monsignor Fushek committed the acts between 1984 and 1994 at St. Timothy's Catholic Church in Mesa, or on property belonging to the church. The reported victims were seven young men and boys.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

S051122   Democratic dance
    "Ever get a gift that looks beautiful but comes with a long list of special-care instructions? That's what opponents of Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito got last week when his 1985 application for a job in the Reagan Justice Department surfaced in Washington," reporter Massimo Calabresi writes in Time magazine.
    "In it, Alito espoused the idea that 'the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion.' With a solid majority of Americans in favor of legalized abortion, Alito's opponents thought they had finally found their cudgel. But the Senate Democrats, at least, did not seem prepared yet to use it bluntly: for Alito's nomination, they have settled on a strategy that doesn't take abortion head on. 'The tactic is going to be to frame it as a debate over broader rights, including privacy, civil rights and women's rights,' says Jim Manley, the spokesman for Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid. This will avoid, Manley says, 'the divisive debate over the word itself.'
    "Democrats are wary because the majority of Americans are not dogmatic on the issue. While most want abortion to remain legal, they also support restraints on its use, and politicians who fail to strike a credible balance pay a price (think John Kerry). You could already see the Senate Democrats' cautious approach by observing their behavior last week. In a series of speeches Wednesday, Reid and Senators Ted Kennedy and Charles Schumer spoke on Alito and the memo, but danced around abortion.
    "On Thursday, the Senate's top five Democrats held a 40-minute strategy session in the anteroom of Reid's office with about 15 representatives of outside groups opposed to Alito's nomination. Abortion may have been on everyone's mind, but it was barely mentioned."
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

M051123   DeLay fundraising was 'hardly unique'

By Hugh Aynesworth
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
November 22, 2005

DALLAS -- A Washington campaign-finance watchdog group yesterday issued a report that appeared to confirm Rep. Tom DeLay's contention that he was indicted in Texas for doing the same thing several other members of Congress have done.
    The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) reported that at least 30 other members of Congress had used corporate campaign funds in recent years in the same way Mr. DeLay is charged with doing.
    The Washington-based public-interest organization said Mr. DeLay's use of corporate campaign funds through his organization called "Texans for a Republican Majority" (TRMPAC), for which he has been charged criminally in Texas, was "hardly unique."
     Mr. DeLay is set to appear today in an Austin courtroom, where several procedural motions are to be argued -- including a request from Mr. DeLay's lead attorney, Dick DeGuerin of Houston, to move the scheduled trial to Mr. DeLay's home county, Fort Bend County, southwest of Houston.
    In Washington, CPI called its probe of congressional funds "The Indictment of a System."
    "Like DeLay's committee, groups run by 30 other members of Congress took corporate money and transferred funds to national party accounts," the release began.
    The groups, reported CPI, "accepted a total of $7.8 million in corporate donations to their nonfederal leadership committees from 2000 to 2002, the study has found."
    These organizations then transferred a combined $3.5 million to national party committees, which later gave $14 million to candidates in state elections, said the watchdog group.
    The center said laws concerning such use of corporate funds are far from uniform. Twenty-three states, including Texas, prohibit any use of corporate funds in state elections, while 27 others allow limited use.
    Until 2002, the study indicated, members of both parties freely used such donations. The center named 13 Democrats and 18 Republicans -- including former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, South Dakota Democrat (DASHPAC); Senate Republican Conference Chairman Rick Santorum, Pennsylvania Republican (America's Foundation); and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Tennessee Republican (Volunteer PAC).
    According to the CPI study, Rep Roy Blunt, Missouri Republican, who has moved in to replace Mr. DeLay at least temporarily, recently accepted more than $1.1 million in corporate contributions via his Rely on Your Beliefs Fund.
    Mr. DeLay was indicted by a Travis County grand jury in late September, charged with conspiracy to circumvent Texas funding laws via his TRMPAC group. The indictment claims that six corporations donated a total of $190,000, which went from TRMPAC to the Republican National Committee, which used it to help several Republicans win congressional races in Texas in 2002.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

O051121   Squelching a report
    "There has been a major setback for people working to secure the full public release of the report by Clinton-era independent counsel David Barrett," Byron York writes at National Review Online (www.nationalreview.com).
    "A House and Senate conference committee has agreed on language that could keep key portions of the report secret forever, despite the efforts of Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley, a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Wisconsin Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, to make it public. Democrats, led by North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan, led the fight to keep the report away from public scrutiny," Mr. York said.
    "The conference report gives the judiciary panel that oversees Barrett the authority to 'make such orders as are appropriate to protect the rights of any individual named' in Barrett's report. What that means, in practical terms, is that Section 5 of Barrett's report, the portion of the document that is thought to be most controversial, dealing with the behavior of the Internal Revenue Service during the independent counsel's investigation, might never be released.
    "Barrett was appointed in May 1995 to investigate allegations that Henry Cisneros, Bill Clinton's secretary of housing, lied to the FBI about payments he had made to his mistress. In September 1999, Cisneros pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and paid a $10,000 fine. But the investigation did not stop there, because during the course of the probe, Barrett reportedly sought information about Cisneros' taxes and ran into a roadblock erected by the IRS. There have been reports that Barrett then spent a significant amount of time trying to investigate possible IRS misconduct, and what happened in the course of that investigation is apparently the subject of some of Barrett's final report."
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

S051121   Biden threatens Alito filibuster

November 21, 2005

ASSOCIATED PRESS
    The views that Judge Samuel A. Alito expressed on reapportionment in a 20-year-old document could jeopardize his Supreme Court nomination and provoke a filibuster, a leading Democratic senator said yesterday.
    "I think he's got a lot of explaining to do, and depending on how he does, I think will determine whether or not he has a problem or not," said Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which plans confirmation hearings in early January.
    In 1985, Judge Alito was applying to become deputy assistant attorney general in the Reagan administration. In the document, first reported by The Washington Times, he said that while working as an assistant to the solicitor general, he helped "to advance legal positions in which I personally believe very strongly."
    Mr. Biden said he was most troubled by Judge Alito's comment about reapportionment cases under the Supreme Court of Chief Justice Earl Warren.
    "The part that jeopardizes [the nomination] more is his quotes in there saying that he had strong disagreement with the Warren Court, particularly on reapportionment -- one man, one vote," Mr. Biden told "Fox News Sunday."
    "The fact that he questioned abortion and the idea of quotas is one thing. The fact that he questioned the idea of the legitimacy of the reapportionment decisions of the Warren Court is even something well beyond that," Mr. Biden said.
    In the document, Judge Alito wrote, "In college, I developed a deep interest in constitutional law, motivated in large part by disagreement with Warren Court decisions, particularly in the areas of criminal procedure, the Establishment Clause and reapportionment."
    Mr. Biden said the chances of a filibuster against Judge Alito had increased because of the claims in the document.
    "If he really believes that reapportionment is a questionable decision -- that is, the idea of Baker v. Carr, one man, one vote -- then clearly, clearly, you'll find a lot of people, including me, willing to do whatever they can to keep him off the court. ... That would include a filibuster, if need be," Mr. Biden said.
    In the 1962 Baker v. Carr case, the Supreme Court ruled that legislative districting decisions can be challenged in federal court. In a string of subsequent cases, the justices have ruled that legislative districts of unequal size deny "equal protection of the laws" by effectively giving "more weight" to the votes of residents in the less-populous districts.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

O051121   New Englanders most tightfisted, charity index says

November 21, 2005

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- New Englanders remain among the most tightfisted in the country when it comes to charitable giving, while Bible Belt residents are among the most generous, an annual index shows.
    For the fourth consecutive year, New Hampshire was the most miserly state, according to the Catalogue of Philanthropy's Generosity Index. Mississippi remained at the top for generosity.
    The index, which takes into account both "having" and "giving," is based on average adjusted gross incomes and the value of itemized charitable donations reported to the Internal Revenue Service on 2003 tax returns, the latest available.
    However, its methodology has been criticized and has prompted new studies of charitable giving.
    "We believe that generosity is a function of how much one gives to the ability one has to give," said Martin Cohn, a spokesman for the Catalogue for Philanthropy, a Boston-based nonprofit that publishes a directory of nonprofit organizations.
    But a study by the Boston Foundation concluded that the index presents an undeserved image of New England as a region made up of Yankee skinflints.
    "If everyone in Massachusetts gave 100 times as much to charity as we do today and everything else remains the same, we wouldn't get above the bottom half of the chart," said David Trueblood, a spokesman for the foundation. "And no matter what Mississippi did, it couldn't fall below 22nd or 23rd."
    The foundation proposed an alternate measure of generosity based on each state's share of overall charitable contributions and income, adjusted for differences in taxes and living costs. Using that methodology, Massachusetts' generosity ranking last year would be 11th, instead of 49th.
    Another new study, conducted by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University on behalf of a group of New England sponsors, also boosts the case for residents of the six-state region.
    That study, which supplements IRS data with a survey of representative households, found that people in New England give less, on average, to charity than people in other regions, but that the percentage of New Englanders who do contribute is higher than the national average. It also found that contributors in New England tend to favor secular, rather than religious, causes.
    Mr. Cohn said he was disappointed that the Boston Foundation chose to attack the index without understanding that its purpose is to promote discussion about philanthropy and that it never sought to hang a label on any state.
    Mr. Trueblood said he wanted to move the discussion away from rankings and toward ways to get people to be more generous.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

R051120   Bush goes to church in Beijing

By Joseph Curl
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
November 20, 2005

BEIJING -- President Bush took a front-row seat this morning in Gangwashi church, one of only five state-approved Protestant congregations in this city, to reinforce a message urging China to grant religious freedom.
    "My hope is that the government of China will not fear the Christians who gather to worship openly," Mr. Bush said after the hour-long service. "A healthy society is a society that welcomes all faiths and gives people a chance to express themselves through worship with the Almighty."
    The president signed the church's guest book, writing: "May God bless the Christians of China." First lady Laura Bush added, "And with love and respect."
    Mr. Bush later called on China to expand religious, political and social freedoms and urged steps to reduce Beijing's huge trade surplus with the United States. President Hu Jintao promised steps to resolve economic frictions.
    The two leaders conferred at the Great Hall of the People on the edge of Tiananmen Square, and Mr. Hu said they both sought an outcome of "mutual benefit and win-win results."
    There appeared to be no breakthroughs about U.S. demands for currency reforms in China.
     The Chinese government tightly regulates religion and persecutes believers; it cracked down further on Catholics and underground churches in the days before Mr. Bush's visit.
    Christians in China routinely are beaten, imprisoned and even tortured for daring to meet or otherwise practice their faith in ways that are common in the United States.
    Earlier this month, Cai Zhuohua, 34, a Beijing underground church leader, was sentenced to three years in prison for distributing Bibles and other Christian materials.
    Pastors at Gangwashi church presented the president and first lady with Chinese Bibles.
    Just a day before Mr. Bush arrived, authorities arrested a priest and 10 seminarians from China's underground Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican said.
    In March, a new law mandated severe reprisals for house churches that have not registered with the government.
   The White House urged China's state-controlled press not to censor news of Mr. Bush's visit, which includes meetings and dinner with top leaders.
    Aides said yesterday that the church visit was important for the president, a Methodist who reads the Bible daily and attends church nearly every Sunday.
    "It's Sunday, so the president will want to worship," said Michael Green, his special assistant for national security affairs. "But it's also important that the world see and that the Chinese people see that expression of faith is a good thing for a healthy and mature society."
    Mr. Bush made the worship service his first public event during a two-day state visit to China. The significance of his stop at the church, a modest marble-and-brick building tucked off an alley, was clear to the congregation of about 400.
    The president and first lady, joined by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, received a standing ovation when they entered the church, which looked much like a classroom with wooden movie theater seats. The congregation applauded again when the pastor announced their presence.
    The pastor, the Rev. Du Fengying, delivered a sermon in Chinese, translated into English.
     "If we take three strikes and beyond that we can't take it any more, as a Christian we should take it in," he said. "That doesn't mean we are weak, but are tolerating [each] other."
    The choir assembled outside to see the president off, singing "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
    "The spirit of the Lord is very strong inside your church," Mr. Bush said. "We thank you for carrying a message of love, like you did. ... We really thank you for letting us come by, and we ask for God's blessing."
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

H051120   SPOKANE, Wash. Homosexual Scandal
A private investigator hired by the City Council says Mayor Jim West, who is facing a recall election over a sex scandal, violated the city's Internet policy and state law.
    In an 18-page report released late Friday, Mark Busto concluded the mayor broke state law by offering a position on the city's Human Rights Commission to a young man he pursued for a homosexual relationship.
    Mr. Busto also concluded Mr. West violated the city's personnel policy on Internet access by "frequent and extensive use" of his city computer during the workday to browse pictures of men posted at a homosexual Web site, the Spokesman-Review reported.
    "I find that Mayor West has engaged in a pattern and practice of linking discussions of sex with young men online with offers of city positions, both paid and unpaid," Mr. Busto said in his report.
    The mayor has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime.
    Mr. West denounced the report and its conclusions Friday night, calling it politically timed to influence voters. Ballots for the recall election were mailed Friday.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

O051121Md   Kissin challenge
    Another candidate is getting in the race for Maryland's 6th Congressional District.
    Frederick lawyer and political activist Barry Kissin announced his candidacy last week.
    He has had a law practice in downtown Frederick since 1982 and is a former president of the Frederick County Consumer Cooperative.
    Mr. Kissin is the second Democrat to enter the race. Andrew Duck of Brunswick announced his candidacy in May.
    They are competing for the right to face U.S. Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett, a Republican, next November.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

O051123Md    Democrats target Steele as Senate foe

By S.A. Miller
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
November 23, 2005

The Maryland Democratic Party has a new fundraising campaign to compete with an event featuring President Bush to support Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele's run for U.S. Senate.
    "We need every Democrat in Maryland to stand up to George Bush and the national Republican machine," Steve Jost, the party's finance chairman, said in a letter to potential donors.
    Mr. Jost also said the campaign is part of an "unprecedented drive" to transform how Democrats finance their party and that the campaign will "end the 'boom and bust' operations of the past, which gear up only a few months before Election Day."
    The Nov. 30 event with President Bush at the Baltimore Ravens' M&T Bank Stadium and a previous fundraiser with presidential adviser Karl Rove in the District shows Mr. Steele's "national right-wing allies" are attempting to "buy" a U.S. Senate seat in Maryland, he also said.
    Maryland has not had a Republican senator since former Sen. Charles McC. Mathias Jr. retired in 1986.
    Steele campaign spokesman Leonard Alcivar said the new fundraising strategy shows Democrats are concerned about an upset.
    "In the face of a voice that threatens to disrupt the stranglehold that [Democratic] Party bosses have had on voters, they changed their entire approach," he said.
    The change coincides with lagging donations to the Democratic National Committee, which this year has raised $42.4 million -- about half of the $81.5 million collected by the Republican National Committee.
    Mr. Jost told supporters they need to contribute year-round to defeat Republicans, whom he said would pump $15 million into Maryland to help Mr. Steele.
    The event at the Ravens' stadium alone could net more than $1 million for Mr. Steele, with supporters purchasing $125 and $500 tickets and paying $5,000 to get their photograph taken with the president.
    Democratic contributors are being asked to pledge $30.41 a month, or a $1 a day, for the "Free State Democracy Bond," according to the party's Web site.
    The site also states that for $6.15 a month, contributors can "join the fight to raise the minimum wage to $6.15 an hour;" for $20.06 a month they can "take back our State in 2006" or for $104.00 a month they can "elect 104 Democrats in the House of Delegates."
    Mr. Jost said the goal is to sign 1,000 monthly contributors to raise enough money to "finance our entire grass-roots field program for all of 2006."
    Audra Miller, Maryland Republican Party spokeswoman, said the new concept shows the state and national Democratic Party is struggling to raise money.
    Derek Walker, spokesman for the Maryland Democratic Party, said the party is thriving.
    "We are having tremendous success raising money and engaging supporters," he said. "This is a way for people to show that they consider supporting the Democratic Party an investment in their future."
    He also said the state party has collected more than $1.5 million this year, which is the most it has collected in a midterm election year and three times the amount collected in 2003.
    "The only trouble we are having is processing the checks fast enough," Mr. Walker said yesterday.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

O051125E  Christmas, porn and children

TODAY'S COLUMNIST
By Daniel Weiss
November 25, 2005

Remember when the hottest Christmas toy was a Tickle Me Elmo doll? This year, kids will be clamoring for Internet-ready cell phones and video iPods. Parents, if the cost doesn't deter you, consider this: These new gadgets come with ready access to hardcore pornography.
    Consider some of the items likely to be on the Christmas wish lists on your refrigerator.
    Apple iPod: It's not just for music anymore. The new iPod is capable of downloading and storing up to 150 hours of video. Porn industry giants — such as Hustler, Penthouse and Playboy — are formatting content for the new hand-held. Another pornographic site, SuicideGirls, reportedly sold 1 million downloads of nude models within a week of the video iPod's debut.
    Camera and video phones: These high-tech phones are able to take short videos or capture and store up to 3 megabytes of digital photos. New phones are also capable of wireless Internet access without filtering software. A disturbing new trend has also emerged as school-age children are using camera phones to take sexually explicit photos of classmates and distribute them, opening themselves up for prosecution under federal child-pornography laws.
    Sony PlayStation Portable: This device is Internet-ready and able to download photos and video without filtering from any wireless "hotspot." Porn producers designed and released pornographic movies for it within weeks of its launch.
    This may be news to most, but the warning signs appeared more than a year ago. Wireless companies in Europe and Asia — ahead of the U.S. technology curve — have already been featuring and profiting from mobile pornography for several years. Some believe that more than half of their revenues come from pornographic content.
    Thankfully, U.S. wireless companies haven't yet embraced pornography with the same gusto. Earlier this month, the Cellular Telecommunication Industry Association (CTIA) released content guidelines designed to keep "adult" material out of the hands of children.
    Their protection model is based on the mantra of "control" and "choice." That is, they will help parents control what their children see, but will retain options for those who wish to see violent, degrading and illegal sexual content.
    Even the "control" aspect of this plan is problematic. According to CTIA guidelines, content unsuitable for children is defined with terms as such "intense" profanity, "intense" violence and "graphic" sexual activity. When pressed to further define these terms, a CTIA representative admitted that there were no more specific guidelines than these — leaving parents to guess what some industry executive might deem "graphic" or "intense." CTIA is trying to put forward a good front, but at this point these guidelines are mere type on paper — none of this has been accomplished yet. Kids can still access the Internet on phones and other hand-held devices today.
    At this point, no one knows for certain which laws apply to wireless devices. Many believe the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has jurisdiction since a wireless signal uses public airwaves, but the FCC has yet to develop guidelines for this emerging technology. Complicating matters, the Department of Justice has yet to prosecute a single obscenity case dealing with Internet pornography. Will it more readily investigate obscenity on portable wireless devices? Not likely.
    The pornification of new technology is nothing new, but children's access to it has never been easier. So long as the government remains inert and the wireless industry remains devoted to profits, the only real help for kids rests with their parents.
    Will moms and dads buy these news toys for their kids? Pornographers certainly hope so.

    Daniel Weiss is senior analyst for media and sexuality for Focus on the Family.
    vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

M051125L   In defense of the Iraq war
    Georgie Anne Geyer ("Push and scramble," Commentary, Saturday) again takes issue with whether we should have liberated Iraq, but now she has combined poor policy analysis with reference to the supposed declining mental health of her critics, going so far as to claim America has engaged in "optional" wars in Central America in the past and Iraq in the present. Let's set the record straight.
    (1) The U.S. support for the government of El Salvador and our efforts to constrain the Sandinista government in Nicaragua as it funded and coordinated attacks on the former were necessary for the protection of freedom. The communist terror in El Salvador was defeated, and a pro-democracy government finally was elected in Nicaragua.
    (2) Ambassador Joseph Wilson's trip to Niger did not undercut the British claim that Iraq had sought processed uranium from that country but did just the opposite. He confirmed that Iraq had indeed made such efforts. Both the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the September 11 Commission so concluded.
    (3) The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) no more had Iraq's weapons fully under control than it did the nuclear weapons programs in Iran and North Korea, to say nothing of its obliviousness to the advanced stage of the nuclear weapons programs in Libya, which the Bush administration ended. FrontPage Magazine just published an interview with previous military intelligence officer and U.N. inspection specialist Bill Tierney, who discloses the ineptitude of IAEA and the ongoing Iraqi efforts to hide their programs and allow inspections only in areas previously reviewed or after Iraqi sanitation efforts. He concludes that Iraq hid what weapons it had and then transferred much of the remaining stockpile out of the country.
    (4) Furthermore, just this past week, material from the Iraqi government while under Saddam Hussein's rule, the "Harmony" documents, reveal that as late as 2000 and 2001, efforts were still under way to purchase and produce chemical and biological weapons.
    (5) In addition, Richard Minter's new book, "Disinformation," reveals details of the chemical and biological weapons we in fact did find in Iraq after its liberation, including powdered nuclear material, chemical weapon shells and anthrax.
    (6) Next, Miss Geyer forgets that in the post-1998 bombing, the Clinton administration repeatedly warned that Saddam was reconstituting his nuclear weapons programs and was busy with his chemical and biological weapons programs. Right through the end of the Clinton administration, the warnings about the threat posed by Iraq were widespread. The intelligence evidence upon which these statements were based was fully vetted by Congress, leading to the passage of the 1998 Iraq Liberation Act, which called for exactly what the Bush administration has accomplished — regime change — but that the Clinton administration was unwilling to do. None of the evidence then or later was manipulated to reach these conclusions according to all official examinations of the issue.
    (7) Miss Geyer might want to read the resolution Congress passed authorizing the war to liberate Iraq. There are 23 clauses that lay out the justification for the use of military force. Every one of them was based on facts known at the time. One — whether Saddam still had significant quantities of weapons of mass destruction — remains under debate, although evidence of such programs has been discovered.
    (8) Finally, the "Harmony" documents mentioned above also reinforce the evidence of a cooperative relationship between the former Iraqi government and terror organizations, including al Qaeda. This further underscores the dilemma faced by the United States in 2002. The sanctions against Iraq were disappearing. The inspections were not being allowed to be fully implemented. And the previous administration repeatedly had declared that Saddam was a threat, especially with respect to the most deadly weapons known to man. Why would giving Saddam the benefit of the doubt be consistent with protecting U.S. national security?

    PETER HUESSY
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

R051124L  A day of thanksgiving proclaimed in Charlestown
    The Holy God having by a long and Continual Series of his Afflective dispensations in and by the present Warr with the Heathen Natives of this land, written and brought to pass bitter things against his own Covenant people in this wilderness, yet so that we evidently discern that in the midst of his judgments he hath remembered mercy, having remembered his Footstool in the day of his sore displeasure against us for our sins, with many singular Intimations of his Fatherly Compassion, and regard; reserving many of our Towns from Desolation Threatened, and attempted by the Enemy, and giving us especially of late with many of our Confedrates many signal Advantages against them, without such Disadvantage to ourselves as formerly we have been sensible of, if it be the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed, It certainly bespeaks our positive Thankfulness, when our Enemies are in any measure disappointed or destroyed; and fearing the Lord should take notice under so many Intimations of his returning mercy, we should be found an Insensible people, as not standing before Him with Thanksgiving, as well as lading him with our Complaints in the time of pressing Afflictions:
    The Council has thought meet to appoint and set apart the 29th day of this instant June, as a day of Solemn Thanksgiving and praise to god for such his Goodness and Favour, many Particulars of which mercy might be Instances, but we doubt not those who are sensible of God's Afflictions, have been as diligent to espy him returning to us; and that the Lord may behold us as a People offering Praise and thereby glorifying Him; the Council doth commend it to the Respective Ministers, Elders and people of this Jurisdiction; Solemnly and seriously keep the same Beseeching that being perswaded by the mercies of God we may all, even this whole people offer up our bodies and souls as a living and acceptable Service unto God by Jesus Christ.

    GOVERNING COUNCIL OF CHARLESTOWN, MASS.
    June 20, 1676
    This proclamation is reproduced here in the same language, syntax and spelling as the original.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

R051124L   Washington declares a day for giving thanks
    Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the provisions of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor, and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint committee requested me to "recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many single favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."
    Now therefore do I recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the Service of that great and glorious Being, who is the benificent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks, for His kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the single and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of His providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, of the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have to acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge and in general for all the great and various favours which He hath been pleased to confer upon us.
    And also that we may then unite in most humble offering our prayers and supplications to the Great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all people, by constantly being a government of wise, just and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

    GEORGE WASHINGTON
    1789
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

R051124L   Lincoln's Thanksgiving Day proclamation
    The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of almighty God.
    In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and provoke their aggressions, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict; while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.
    Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the boarders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battle-field, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
    No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the most high God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
    It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our benificent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full employment and peace, harmony, tranquility and union.
    In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and cause the seal of the United States to be affixed.
    Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

    ABRAHAM LINCOLN
    1863
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

S051122E   Alito on abortion

TODAY'S EDITORIAL
November 22, 2005

In a surprising moment of frankness, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid outlined the Democratic strategy against Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito. "The tactic is going to be to frame it as a debate over broader rights, including privacy, civil rights and women's rights," Jim Manley told Time magazine. This will avoid "the divisive debate over the word itself," he said. The "word," of course, is abortion or, more specifically, Roe v. Wade.
    Americans might be getting a different impression of the Democrats' anti-Alito strategy, however. Last week, NARAL Pro-Choice America teamed up with Planned Parenthood -- two pro-choice groups most Americans associate with the leftmost fringe of the Democratic Party -- for a cable-television campaign. The advertisement refers to the recently uncovered 1985 application Judge Alito wrote when applying for a job in the Reagan administration in which he said, "the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion."
    The admission was just the hook Democrats and their liberal interest group allies have been looking for. The pro-choice interests obviously intend to play the application to the hilt, but the Democratic leadership attempts to be more subtle. We probably won't hear any talk about the return of "back-alley abortions." Avoiding the "word" is crucial.
    Yet careful observers of Judge Alito's judicial career say that it is not at all clear what he would do to Roe. For all the fuss about the application and Pennsylvania's spouse-notification law, there are just as many, if not more, examples where Judge Alito upheld laws approved by the pro-choice lobby, such as laws banning partial-birth abortion.
    Planned Parenthood v. Casey -- the case of the spousal notice -- is a case where Judge Alito clearly articulated his adherence to stare decisis, or "settled law". The 3rd Circuit upheld most of Pennsylvania's restrictions on abortion, except the spouse-notification law. On that point, Judge Alito dissented. His argument turned on the question of whether the law constituted an "undue burden" on the right to abortion, not his personal beliefs. Using the standards of "undue burden" developed by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Judge Alito argued that it did not present an "undue burden."
    Undoubtedly Judge Alito will be asked about the 1985 job application when hearings begin in January. There's no reason for him to obfuscate. Several prominent Democrats -- including Mario Cuomo and John Kerry -- say that while they are personally against abortion, they would not force their beliefs on others. If Democrats want to make the application a major issue, they need only look to the man they tried to elect to the highest office in the land.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

R051121E   There may be a fruitfly in Darwin's ointment

By Suzanne Fields
November 21, 2005
 
 

    The argument between evolution and religion, continuing to roil the nation's politics, is undergoing change. Undergoing evolution, you might say. There's a new (fruit)fly in the ointment of Darwinism, a theory that religious belief contributes to natural selection and benefits human adaptation. (Darwin gets religion.)
     David Sloan Wilson, a professor of biology and anthropology at Binghamton University in New York state, argues that "religiosity" fosters group discipline and could have given our hunter-gatherer ancestors an advantage for survival as they grouped together for worship. This helped them defend against predators at the waterhole, where they became prey on the savannah. Those who survived passed on their genes, increasing the survival of the fittest unto the next generation. Thus "religiosity" became a "useful" genetic trait.
    His thesis, as set forth in his book "Darwin's Cathedral," raises provocative and controversial ideas. The ancient cave drawings and paintings have often been interpreted as Cro-Magnum churches for ceremonies replete with icons of religious inspiration, but these interpretations have been based solely on speculation.
    The Wilson argument rests on a Darwinian analysis of what contributes to evolution. Darwin wrote that tribes with a high degree of fidelity, obedience, courage and sympathy, always prepared to sacrifice themselves for the common good, would triumph over other tribes and thus be more likely to survive. This view perceives society as a single organism; since religious men and women historically aim to encourage such traits within their community, Mr. Wilson believes they were favored by natural selection. He draws on examples as diverse as Calvinism in Geneva and water temples in Bali.
    Support for this theory of survival of the religious is intriguing, though no one has found a gene for religious belief. Those who argue that a disposition toward religious belief can be inherited, nevertheless root their argument in Darwinian terms, perceiving religion as a contribution to moral codes that encourage cooperation for finding food and maintaining health. This makes the practice of religious faith evolutionarily advantageous.
    Support for the Darwinian theory comes from unexpected corners of the religious universe. The French Cardinal Paul Poupard suggested ways around "the mutual prejudice" between religion and science earlier this month at a session of theologians, philosophers and scientists in Rome. He finds the Creation story in Genesis as "perfectly compatible" with the Darwinian theory of evolution. Both accept the idea that the universe did not create itself: "Science and theology act in different fields, each in his own."
    The Roman Catholic Church has never required a literal interpretation of the Bible for belief in the creation and it has never condemned the Darwinian theory. "The faithful have the obligation to listen to that which secular modern science has to offer," the cardinal says, "just as we ask that knowledge of the faith be taken in consideration as an expert voice in humanity." John Silber, the philosopher who is a former president of Boston University, weighs a defense of both faith and evolution in New Criterion magazine. The Big Bang is not an explanation of the origin of the universe, he argues, unless there is an explanation of "what banged."
    Without such evidence there is room for faith. "The critical question posed for evolutionists is not about the survival of the fittest but about their arrival," says Mr. Silber. "Biologists arguing Darwinian evolution have been challenged by critics for more than a hundred years for their failure to offer any scientific explanation for the arrival of the fittest."
    Jews, as "the chosen people" of the Old Testament, have always been uneasy with the subject. In the second century Rabbi Akiva suggested that Jewish sons not only inherited their looks, health and wealth from their fathers, but their "wisdom" as well. Centuries later, Moses Maimonides challenged that notion, arguing that it takes "great exertion" to make us who we are. However, he believed that there is no contradiction between the truths which God revealed and the findings of the human mind in science and philosophy.
    The revisionist arguments that connect Darwinism with religion imbue the human spirit with meaning and purpose while accepting scientific facts that accompany the methodical research of science. They don't offer a lot of laughs, but perhaps one joke can be the last word for now.
    Two monkeys, a father and a son, are engaged in conversation when papa monkey hands the younger monkey a copy of Darwin's Origin of Species, "Read this my son," he says. "It will make a man of you."
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

M051121E   The 'Bush lied' lie

TODAY'S EDITORIAL
November 21, 2005

Starting today, we introduce "History lessons" at the bottom of this page. This is to make plain how the president's critics are trying to rewrite the history of the lead-up to the Iraq war. It's actually an easy task, requiring no commentary on our part, just this brief explanation by way of introduction. Selected quotations will usually stand alone. The record speaks eloquently for itself.
    The first of these "History lessons" exposes the double-speak of certain Democratic lawmakers, but the errors that need reproof are not always partisan sins. Like the Clinton and Bush administrations, Congress relied on a multitude of reports and testimonies to guide it toward the conclusion that Saddam Hussein's Iraq posed a serious and growing threat to the stability of the region and the lives of freedom-loving peoples. Despite the failure to find stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, a careful observer of events between the end of the first Gulf War and the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 could have reached no other conclusion. Even members of Congress who would eventually vote against the war believed that Saddam stood tall in an elite and gruesome circle of the world's tyrants. "History lessons" will remind these legislators how and why they did so.
    "History lessons" is not an apology for the conduct of the war nor an excuse for mistakes of the intelligence agencies. We are determined to preserve the historical record -- with all the imperfections and blind corners showing -- because the chronicle of events is not for the selfish or powerful to do with as they please.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

S051125C   Case of Supreme bias

By Rich Noyes
November 25, 2005

New Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito has been a Justice Department lawyer, a U.S. attorney and a federal judge. Bill Clinton's first Supreme Court nominee, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, was a federal judge, too, but she also had been a liberal political activist, most notably as director of the Women's Rights Project for the American Civil Liberties Union.
    But in the first hours after each was nominated, network reporters assured viewers Judge Ginsburg was a "moderate" and a "centrist," while journalists characterized Judge Alito as a right-wing extremist.
    Indeed, even before President Bush announced Judge Alito's nomination, reporters were in a labeling frenzy. ABC's Charles Gibson called Judge Alito "very conservative" and "the most conservative member" of an otherwise "liberal appellate court." Over on CBS, Gloria Borger dubbed Judge Alito "quite conservative," the same label applied on CNN by early-morning anchor Carol Costello. On ABC's "Good Morning America," a breathless Jessica Yellin labeled Judge Alito as "conservative" five times in 50 seconds.
    That night's newscasts carried the same message. ABC anchor Elizabeth Vargas called Judge Alito a "staunch conservative," while CBS' John Roberts warned that "if confirmed, Alito would wipe out the swing seat now occupied by Sandra Day O'Connor, tilting the Supreme Court in a solidly conservative direction." (In contrast, NBC anchor Brian Williams agreed Judge Alito was "dependably conservative" but also saw an "independent streak," as did NBC reporter Pete Williams.)
    Twelve years ago, those same networks denied Judge Ginsburg's liberal ideology. A few hours after President Clinton announced Judge Ginsburg's nomination on June 14, 1993, NBC's Andrea Mitchell pronounced Judge Ginsburg "a judicial moderate and a pioneer for women's rights." The next morning on ABC, "Good Morning America" co-host Joan Lunden asked legal editor Arthur Miller: "We hear words like 'centrist,' 'moderate,' 'consensus builder.' How will she fit into this court?" Mr. Miller, a longtime friend of Judge Ginsburg, wrongly predicted she would be a centrist justice.
    Now