THE STARS' FAVOR: Hollywood producers and stars form a major component of Democrats' and leftists' financial bases, and Talon News reported August 6 on the political donations of some of the rich and famous denizens of Tinseltown. "Since January, [Steven] Spielberg has sent $5,000 to the Voters for Choice/Friends of Family Planning; $2,000 to Tom Lantos' Congressional Committee; $2,000 to the Friends of Rahm Emanuel. . . . Mel Brooks, whose Broadway show 'The Producers' has been a runaway success, has given all he can to former Vermont governor Howard Dean in his bid to secure the Democrat presidential nomination. Brooks gave the Dean campaign a $2,000 check on June 18. . . . Tom Cruise, another Hollywood powerhouse, contributed $1,000 this year to the campaign of Sen. Barbara Boxer (D.-Calif.), which matches the contribution he gave her five years ago." We don't have space to list all of Barbra Streisand's recent contributions, but they even include Al Sharpton.
PATRIOT ATTACK: Some civil rights activists continue their assault on the Patriot Act, passed after the Sep. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in order to strengthen law enforcement's ability to investigate and prosecute terrorists. On August 5, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a motion in federal court arguing that the ban on providing "expert advice and assistance" to organizations linked to terrorism, is unconstitutional. The motion is part of an ongoing lawsuit challenging a 1996 law forbidding material aid to any group categorized as a foreign terrorist organization. "One of the plaintiffs in the case would like to work as a doctor in his war-torn homeland of Sri Lanka," reported AP. "Because some hospitals are controlled by rebel forces there, he fears he could be prosecuted for 'providing material support' to a terrorist group, according to the filing."
TEAMSTERS TO ENDORSE GEPHARDT: Despite the Bush Administration's courtship of Big Labor, the Teamsters-one of the few unions that could have gone Republican-are expected to endorse long-time union favorite Rep. Dick Gephardt (D.) for President, "giving the Missouri congressman a crucial political boost at a time when his weak fund-raising has prompted questions about the viability of his candidacy," according to AP. The Teamsters have endorsed Republicans in the past-Bush I and Ronald Reagan among them. If Gephardt fails to win the nomination, it is remotely possible that the Teamsters would endorse Bush for re-election.
CLEARLY CORRECT: The CLEAR Act (HR 2671), one of the few pieces of immigration reform legislation expected to make major headway in this Congress, was introduced July 9 by Rep. Charlie Norwood (R.-Ga.) and by August 5-less than a month later-had 61 co-sponsors. The bill would target the 400,000 illegal immigrant absconders in this country who have been ordered deported but are still here. Rosemary Jenks of the immigration reform group Numbers USA praised the CLEAR Act. "I think it's absolutely essential to have this," she said. Said Craig Nelsen of Friends of Immigration Law Enforcement, "It's got a good carrot and stick on both ends." The CLEAR Act would also prevent the sort of lackadaisical handling of illegal aliens so characteristic of the now-defunct INS. "Perhaps most importantly, we are going to ensure that from the time a local officer detains a criminal alien, there are no gaps between that moment, the criminals serving their time in prison-if any-and their deportation from the country," said Norwood in introducing his bill.
DAY CARE DECEPTION: Brian Robertson, a fellow at the Center for Marriage and Family of the Family Research Council (FRC) and managing editor of Family Policy Review, has written a new book called Day Care Deception: What the Child Care Establishment Isn't Telling Us (Encounter, 2003). "The vast majority of parents are hostile to the notion of group day care for preschoolers as a social norm. Why, then, does public policy exclusively favor commercial day care?" asks FRC. Robertson points to an "anti-parent ideology shared by feminism and big business," and facts, says FRC, do not matter. "A recent example occurred in July when the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) released the results in a study that found that the more time children spent in non-parental day care arrangements, the more likely they were to display aggression, disobedience, and conflict with adults. You wouldn't know this from NICHD's press release, however, which attempted to sweep the negative findings under the rug of political correctness."
