CONFORM OR ELSE: In what liberals consider a display of tolerance, Duke University is insisting that its local YMCA-which stands for Young Men's Christian Association-grant family membership rates to homosexual lovers or the school will cut ties with it. On April 2, the YMCA received an ultimatum from the left-leaning Durham, N.C. institution. Currently, Duke promotes the local Y in return for discounted membership rates for its employees and their families. The monthly membership rate for two single adults is $35 more than the rate for married couples. The YMCA says that it uses the state of North Carolina's legal standard for determining who is a married couple and who isn't, but the Durham city council also wants the Y to give homosexual couples the same rate as validly married couples.
KEEP WAGES DOWN: Instead of allowing the supply of American labor and the demand of American business to determine wages this summer, some American businesses want to stack the deck by importing cheap labor from abroad-thus depriving American youth of their share of higher summer-job incomes as the economy continues to improve. Members of Congress want to double the number of temporary foreign workers that business may import for the summer through the H-2b visa program, designed for temporary unskilled workers. S 2252, sponsored by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D.-Mass.) and supported by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R.-Utah), would allow all unskilled workers who had obtained H-2b visas in the past two years to apply for them again this year. Currently, there is a total cap of 66,000 visas, which would all become available for new applicants if S 2252 passes. With unemployment still relatively high, said Dan Stein of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), "Greedy employers and politically expedient members of Congress are turning their backs on job prospects for America's youth and unemployed adults by pushing through legislation that would bypass the cap on temporary foreign workers for summer jobs."
SAVE THE INTERNET: A coalition of conservatives wrote Michael Powell, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, an April 7 letter asking the FCC to refrain from imposing the myriad of telecommunications regulations on Internet phone service. "We urge the commission to send a clear signal of forbearance on new taxation and regulation. . .," they wrote. "We believe that if the FCC extends existing levies to this promising new technology, the climate for investment and development will be greatly chilled." The letter was signed by representatives of the National Taxpayers Union, Americans for Tax Reform, and the Family Research Council, among others.
EVEN CALIFORNIA: Even the left-wing California Supreme Court has decided to allow the elected representatives of the state to keep a law that criminalizes the killing of an unborn child, even if the murderer did not intend the killing. "The state Supreme Court strengthened California's fetal-murder law yesterday, declaring that the killing of a pregnant woman counts as two homicides even if the perpetrator is unaware of the pregnancy," reported AP on April 6. "The 6-1 ruling overturns a 2002 lower court decision that said a killer must know the victim was pregnant to be guilty of murdering the unborn. California's fetal-murder law first was passed by the California legislature in 1970. The law is being used to prosecute Scott Peterson for double murder in the death of his pregnant wife, Laci." Congress recently enacted a law, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, that makes killing an unborn child a crime separate from killing a pregnant woman under federal law. Justice Janice Rogers Brown, whose nomination to a federal appeals court has been blocked by Senate Democrats, wrote the majority opinion in the 6-1 decision.
CATHOLIC PRAYER BREAKFAST: The first annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast will be held the morning of April 28 in Washington, D.C. Catholic Sen. Rick Santorum (R.-Pa.) will address the event, as will Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., one of America's most prominent theologians. "We are proud to have Sen. Santorum take part in this annual gathering of Catholics," said Joseph J. Cella, president of the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast. "On a daily basis, Santorum strives to heed the Holy Father's call for a 'New Evangelization,' as a senator, as a citizen, and as a father and husband." For more information, call 877-241-1473 or click here.
