MORE CONTROL: Not satisfied with the army of government bureaucrats and slew of lawsuits generated by the Americans With Disabilities Act, Rep. Dick Gephardt (D.-Mo.) declared in Council Bluffs, Iowa on December 29, "As President of the United States, I will not rest until every person with a disability is treated with the same honor, dignity, and respect that Americans without disabilities enjoy. It’s been said before-the word American ends with the words ‘I can.’ To me, no two words better sum up the spirit of the disability community. But when I’m President, every person with a disability will be able to say two more words, and those are ‘I will.’" Gephardt’s Big Brother approach to affirmative action for the handicapped includes keeping as many of them dependent on federal government health care as possible. "As President, I will also defend Medicare and the nearly eight million people with disabilities who receive their health insurance through this vitally important program," he said, adding, "The federal government must use its massive purchasing power to influence private-sector employers to hire people with disabilities."
CLINTON SAYS NO: Bill Clinton has refused to accept an offer from a suit maker in Communist China to promote its wares. Although not known for rejecting Chinese money in the past, Clinton reportedly turned down the $2-million offer. "Officials from the suit maker, Wenzhou-based Fapai Group, insist Clinton had lunch with the company’s founder, Peng Xing, at the St. Regis Hotel in Beijing two weeks ago," reported the Daily News Record on Nov. 24, 2003. "The executive presented Clinton with samples of the company’s clothing and shoes, and reiterated the company’s megabucks deal. According to the company, Fapai first approached the former President in 2000, while Clinton was still in office. Rebuffed at that time, Fapai sent another offer after Clinton left the White House and received a personal reply from Hillary Clinton, requesting a face-to-face meeting, according to Fapai officials."
SAVING MARRIAGE: A Coalition for Marriage has come together in Massachusetts to stop same-sex "marriage" from being foisted on the state by judges with no regard for law, democracy, or morality. "Chaired by North Shore businessman Thomas A. Shields, the Coalition for Marriage is comprised of a growing number of member organizations," reports the Family Research Council. Said Dr. Ron Crews, spokesman for the Coalition for Marriage, "What we have seen since the Supreme Judicial Court decision on November 18 to redefine marriage is a palpable sense of disbelief and outrage from people all across Massachusetts."
FREEDOM FOR ALL: In a January 2 piece titled "Religious Freedom is for Everyone-Not just Minorities," Rabbi Daniel Lapin of Toward Tradition wrote about the death of the parting phrase "Merry Christmas": "With each passing year, secular fundamentalism more successfully injects into American culture the notion that the word ‘Christmas’ is deeply offensive. Well, after watching this year’s repeat of the annual ‘hate Christianity ritual,’ I think we may be mistaken in allowing this assault to go unchallenged. . . . It is not that I want Judaism treated with less respect, it is just that I think that Christianity deserves just as much respect. And I say this as an Orthodox rabbi who has spent a lifetime teaching Torah and devoting myself to the long-term interests of Judaism. I don’t think that America’s Jewish community does itself any long-term good by denouncing every public expression of Christian faith as if it were a force-fed dose of castor oil."
ANTI-CHRISTIAN FILES: Groups such as the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights (www.catholicleague.org) have collected files on the kinds of anti-Christian censorship and persecution that become particularly intense each Christmas season. On January 5, the Rutherford Institute released more information about a particularly blatant case of anti-Christian discrimination that, so far, it has been unable to defeat. "Attorneys for the Rutherford Institute have appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Dana Walz and her son Daniel, an elementary school student attending Egg Harbor Township Public Schools in New Jersey," said the group. "In challenging a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit that upholds a discriminatory elementary school policy, institute attorneys argue that school officials violated Daniel’s 1st Amendment rights when they prohibited him from handing out pencils and candy canes bearing Christian messages to his classmates during holiday parties, while allowing his classmates to distribute non-religious items."
