SLOW BUT SURE? "The pro-life movement is winning," said Joe Scheidler, the director of Chicago's Pro-Life Action League and an abortion protester even before the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade (1973) decision, in a brief interview at the American Cause's "Voices for the Unborn" conference October 4. "For the first time in 30 years, the majority of Americans oppose abortion. Women who have had abortions are telling their daughters and their sisters not to do it." Scheidler said that despite the Supreme Court's 8-to-1 decision dismissing the long-running RICO suit filed against him by pro-abortion groups determined to censor his pro-life protests, he and his family have yet to see their money or their property legally returned to them, though they have been allowed to live in their home. "The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals is taking its time" in ordering the restoration of his property, he said.
ANOTHER BUSH PRO-LIFE MOVE: On September 30, President Bush eliminated $25 million in funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) because of the international agency's complicity in Communist China's forced abortion policy. The Bush Administration made a similar decision the last time it had to decide whether or not to withhold funds from the pro-abortion UNFPA. Legislation called the Kemp-Kasten Amendment prohibits American money from going to programs that participate in forced abortion or sterilization. "Like last year, the $25 million will be transferred into the Child Survival account at USAID, where it is hoped that it will be spent on basic life-saving aid such as child rehydration, immunization and attended births," reported the Population Research Institute on October 1. "Unfortunately, House and Senate pro-abortion lawmakers. . .may attempt to put a hold on the $25 million so USAID will not able to spend it on saving lives."
TANCREDO V. BALKANIZATION: Rep. Tom Tancredo (R.-Colo.) wants to introduce a rule to abolish all race-based congressional caucuses. He would end all caucuses created on the basis of ethnicity, such as the Black Caucus and the Hispanic Caucus, reported The Hill on October 1. Said Tancredo: "You should not have any organization, a caucus especially, based solely on race. I mean on issues? You bet. But on race? Why should we be separating ourselves up into these racial divisions? It would be anathema to me if someone wanted to create a white caucus." Tancredo's proposal comes shortly after a high school student made national news when she started to push for a Caucasian student organization at her high school to match those for minorities. Democratic congressmen of minority races called Tancredo "insensitive."
NO GOOD FOR GEPHARDT: The AFL-CIO has yet again refused to endorse Rep. Dick Gephardt (D.-Mo.) for President despite his long-time dedication to Big Labor's agenda. "While a number of unions have endorsed, or indicated that they will endorse, Rep. Dick Gephardt-and are making plans to create a Labor for Gephardt organization-other unions find that their members are still considering this issue and are not yet ready to have their union decide such an important question," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney in a statement. "The broad support for Dick Gephardt represents the extraordinary appreciation of all our unions for his outstanding leadership for working families for many years. I share that appreciation and admiration." Sweeney made it clear where Big Labor's priorities lay. "Meanwhile, the unions of the AFL-CIO will continue to focus our efforts on the largest education and mobilization effort in our history for the 2004 elections. . .," he said. "The union movement is united in defeating George W. Bush and bringing working people's values back into the White House."
NINTH NONSENSE: The West Coast's 9th Circuit Court of Appeals continued its string of activist decisions on October 2, when it forbid taking DNA samples from convicted felons. "In the case of U.S. v. Kincade, the court ruled that collection of a DNA sample from a convicted felon violated the criminal's 4th Amendment protection against warrantless searches," reported the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation. Said CJLF lawyer Charles Hobson, "The panel's opinion in Kincade contradicts both its own precedent and that of the U.S. Supreme Court. This case is a reversal waiting to happen." The federal DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 requires felons in prison or on probation to give DNA samples.
