THE IRRELIGIOUS: The Democratic Party is turning into the party of the irreligious, according to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. Americans who attend religious services regularly vote Republican by 2 to 1, and those who don't, vote Democratic by 2 to 1. In a poll this fall, 63% of church-goers said they favored Bush compared to 37% against, and non-attenders went the other way, 62% to 38%. "It's the most powerful predictor of party ID and partisan voting intention,' said Thomas Mann, a political scholar at the Brookings Institution, a center-left Washington research center," reported the Philadelphia Inquirer. "And 'in a society that values religion as much as [this one], when there are high levels of religious belief and commitment and practice, that's significant, said Mann." The big exception to the church-goers-as-Republicans rule is black Americans, among whom even regular church-goers are Democrats. The Inquirer story noted that unlike Bush, the major Democratic presidential candidates-with the exception of Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Conn.)-avoid talking about religion in public. Howard Dean, Sen. John Kerry (Mass.), and Rep. Dick Gephardt (Mo.) do not attend church regularly, said the newspaper. "Most Democratic candidates through the 20th Century were openly religious. Born-again Christian Jimmy Carter ran in 1976 as much as a moral messenger ('I will never lie to you') as a champion of the Democratic policy agenda. Bill Clinton could quote the Bible as readily as the party platform," said the Inquirer. And only in the 1990s, it said, did such a broad partisan divide based on religious attendance emerge.
NSEERS ENDS: The program that required male visitors from 25 countries where terrorist groups were believed to be operating came to an end December 2. Asa Hutchinson, Homeland Security undersecretary for border and transportation security, said that next month, a new and more comprehensive system will be in place. The old National Security Entry Exit Registration System (NSEERS) flagged 14,000 people and resulted in the detention of 2,870, but only 23 are still in jail. Said Hutchinson, "The Department of Homeland Security will utilize a more tailored system that is individual-specific rather than the broad categories by geography."
ENVIROS VS. SECURITY: The federal government wants to add 14 more miles of fence to hamper illegal immigration along California's border with Mexico, adding to the 40 miles already there, but environmentalists are having none of it-even though Pakistani and Arabs have been found crossing the border as well as Mexican economic migrants. "Environmentalists argue that the construction of a fence would disrupt the local ecosystem, cause erosion problems and damage the area where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tijuana River, now inhabited by rare birds and insects," reported Fox News' website.
TEACHERS INVESTIGATED: The far-left National Education Association (NEA), perhaps the nation's most powerful union, is now under investigation by the IRS for possible misuse of funds for political purposes. "America's hard-working teachers who are members of the NEA deserve to know how their union dues are being spent," said Rep. Charlie Norwood (R.-Ga.). "At the subcommittee hearing held last year, it was clear that someone needed to shine a bright light on the books at the NEA. It's good to hear the IRS has decided to open the shades at the NEA and finally get some answers for the teachers." Norwood chaired a House Workforce Protections Subcommittee hearing in June 2002 entitled "An Assessment of the Use of Union Dues for Political Purposes Against the Will of the Rank and File." Conservatives hope such scandals will prompt the implementation of rules or passage of a law that will require union bosses to get their members' permission before using their dues for politicking.
LIEBERMAN-MCCAIN IN '04? Connecticut Sen. Lieberman, whose presidential campaign is floundering, is now trying to associate himself with Republican Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) in order to win some votes in the Democratic primaries. "McCain supporters are backing Joe Lieberman," says the transcript of a new TV ad that Lieberman is running in New Hampshire. It features voters who are former McCain supporters now backing Lieberman. "Four years ago I supported John McCain, this year it has to be Joe Lieberman," says one. McCain won the 2000 Republican primary in New Hampshire, and McCain-leaning independents-widely credited with his victory-can vote in next year's Democratic primary.
