RNC ON TOLERANCE: As the left transforms the meaning of the word "tolerance" into the meaning of the word "approval," Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie has drawn a line in the sand. "'Many of us who are practicing Catholics deal with [other people's homosexuality] in our own fashion,' Mr. Gillespie said," reported the Washington Times September 23. "'I accept people for who they are-and love them. That doesn't mean I have to agree or turn my back on the tenets of my faith when it comes to homosexuality.' He said, 'I think when people say, 'Well, no, that's not enough that you accept me for who I am, you have to agree with-and condone-my choice,' that to me is religious bigotry, and I believe that's intolerant. I think they are the ones who are crossing a line here.'" Gillespie said the Republican Party would consider adding a plank to its platform endorsing a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman.
LIEBERMAN ATTACKS: Apparently, no Democratic presidential candidate can ever support President Bush on foreign policy, even when the two essentially agree and even when presenting a united American front to other nations would be highly valuable. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D.-Conn.), the supposed national security hawk in the field, responded to Bush's speech to the United Nations by saying September 23, "The President was right to go to the UN and remind the world that it has a vital stake in helping turn Iraq into a peaceful and democratic state. But rhetoric is no substitute for strategy and specifics. The fact is, the President's eleventh-hour, half-hearted appeal to the United Nations, and his continuing I-told-you-so tone, have made it more difficult to secure international assistance in building a safe, stable and self-governing Iraq." Lieberman wants a rapid transition to international control in Iraq, saying, "It is time for a change of direction."
COMMANDMENTS CARAVAN: Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore's heroism in the face of anti-religious tyranny has inspired a "Save the Commandments Caravan" that will travel from Montgomery, Ala., to Washington, D.C. Dr. D. James Kennedy's Coral Ridge Ministries is a co-sponsor of the caravan. Said Dr. Kennedy, "Our nation would not have become a beacon of liberty to the world without the principles embodied in the law given to Moses." The caravan will end in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on October 6, when its leaders plan to ask the court to hear Moore's appeal of the case that ordered the removal of a Ten Commandments monument from the Alabama Supreme Court building.
FREE D.C.: Rep. Mark Souder (R.-Ind.) has introduced a bill to repeal the District of Columbia's Draconian gun control laws. "The District of Columbia Personal Protection Act, which was co-sponsored by 22 Democrats and 40 Republicans, would lift the District of Columbia's gun ban, one of the strictest such bans in America," said Souder's office. "The ban forbids law-abiding citizens from possessing handguns, and rifles are allowed only on an extremely limited basis." Said Souder of D.C., "It has one of the most comprehensive bans on firearms in the nation, and it also has one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation. In fact, in 2002 it had the highest per capita crime rate of any city in the nation." Sen. Orrin Hatch (R.-Utah) has introduced similar legislation in the Senate.
FREE TRADE: The United States has long stood for free trade, but when it comes to farm products, Uncle Sam is a hypocrite. Wrote Clyde Prestowitz, president of the Economic Strategy Institute and a trade negotiator for President Reagan, in the Washington Post on September 29, "While the United States and other developed countries of Europe and Asia have preached free trade, in the area of agriculture, where 70% of developing countries make their living, they have practiced protectionism and subsidization. For example, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was supposed to open U.S. markets to Mexican products so that Mexican people would not find it so necessary to enter the United States themselves. Yet as a low-cost sugar producer, Mexico still finds itself virtually locked out of the U.S. sugar market." Prestowitz suggests that America should cut her agricultural subsidies to promote free trade-and lower prices for consumers-in the wake of the failed trade summit at Doha.
