OUR COLUMNISTS Rather Is Gone; Whining About Leftist Media Is Not Commentary by Matt Friedeman The media is biased to the waaaay left. And conservatives, with the obvious exception of talk radio, aren't flocking to the arena of journalism to replace or displace. What is our plan? Does Abstinence Work? Commentary by Jane Jimenez Any good investigative journalist knows that the answers you get depend on the questions you ask. So ... what about abstinence education? Excuse Me, Please Commentary by Brad Locke Forget baseball, our new national pastime is making excuses -- shirking responsibility, redirecting the finger of blame, even justifying outright sin. Forgiveness is available, but any athlete seeking forgiveness would first have to admit he was wrong. Close Only Counts in Horseshoes and Quoits Commentary by David Sisler It is time once again to examine one of the greatest words in sports -- close. Or almost! Ah, it's a game of inches. If only. Be of Good Cheer Commentary by Mark Creech You know how short of the glory of God you fall. You know it's a laugh to think you can get along in life without Him. It's also a source of endless joy knowing God lovingly rules and reigns in the circumstances of all who put their trust in Christ.

...Phyllis Schlafly of Eagle Forum says the American Civil Liberties Union is getting rich at the expense of religious expression. She contends that the ACLU is stuffing its coffers with money gained by challenging the constitutionality of the Pledge of Allegiance and Ten Commandments displays in various public buildings around the United States, and she wants something done about it. "Congress should repeal the law that allows the ACLU to collect attorneys fees when they have these Pledge of Allegiance and Ten Commandments cases," she says. Schlafly believes U.S. lawmakers should amend the law so that the organization could not benefit monetarily from challenges to the acknowledgement of God under the establishment clause. According to the pro-family spokeswoman, the ACLU litigants are making millions of dollars from these court challenges -- especially when they manage to get an activist judge to hear the case. But Schlafly says the law was never intended as a financial tool to generate windfalls for the ACLU or anyone else. [Bill Fancher]

...Authors of a new booklet titled "The Natural Family: A Manifesto" say it is part of the created order for a husband and wife to raise the children that God gives them. But Allan Carlson and Paul Mero say the modern family is threatened by divorce and parental selfishness as much as it is by courts mandating same-sex marriage. Carlson and Mero say their manifesto's goal is to "build a new culture of marriage" that welcomes and nurtures children within families that are free from outside interference. The authors say they "deny any such thing as social evolution," and see alternatives to traditional families as leading to "confusion and decay." "The Natural Family: A Manifesto" is published by the Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society. [AP]

...In response to the news that Richard Kramer, a county judge in San Francisco, California, had struck down the state's marriage law as unconstitutional, Gary Bauer of Campaign for Working Families issued a statement warning of the dire implications of the ruling. The most disturbing aspect of the decision, Bauer says, was Kramer's declaration that the meaning of normal marriage serves no rational purpose. "Marriage joins the two sexes in order to provide children with a mother and a father," the family advocate says. "You can't get any more rational than that!" However, if limiting the definition of marriage to the union of a man and a woman is irrational, the pro-family leader observes, "then so, too, are other commonly accepted restrictions like those against polygamy, age of consent laws, and restrictions against the marriage of close blood relatives." Bauer says Kramer's "radical left worldview" was evident in the sweeping language of a ruling that left no room for compromise. Also, the CWF spokesman notes, a brief filed by California's attorney general that defended the state's domestic partnership law as "separate but equal" was flatly rejected by Judge Kramer, who declared that by providing homosexual couples with some of the benefits of marriage, the domestic partnership law actually undermined the state's efforts to preserve the normal definition of marriage by providing same-sex couples. If Kramer's reasoning is widely embraced by other judicial activists, Bauer says, legislative efforts to compromise on marriage will further undermine the institution as those judges use civil unions and domestic partnerships as a "Trojan horse" to radically redefine marriage. [Jenni Parker]

...A pro-family activist says a Republican senator's amendment to a broadcast indecency bill would only act as a "poison pill" that would kill the measure. Senator Sam Brownback introduced legislation that would put much stricter standards on broadcasters who violate indecency rules on the public airwaves. Now Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska has proposed an amendment to that bill that would include cable TV and satellite companies. Randy Sharp of the American Family Association says Stevens' intentions are good, but the amendment is a bad idea. While he agrees that something needs to be done about cable and satellite, he is concerned that the Stevens amendment will only serve to kill the Brownback bill. "Right now," Sharp says, "we have a clean-cut set of rules in this new bill that will address the issue of broadcast indecency on the public airwaves. When you start throwing in cable and satellite, you start bogging down the process. This occurred in the last legislative session, which ended up with the broadcast decency bill being scrapped altogether." According to Sharp, the government has no business getting into regulation of the private interests and private companies in the broadcasting industry, as the Stevens amendment would do, because doing so could have First Amendment implications. [Rusty Pugh]

...Pixel Town Studios is developing a series of million-dollar advertisements designed to help Christian churches, schools, ministries, and other evangelistic organizations to reach out effectively to those in the secular world who might otherwise be considered untouchable. Now PTS is announcing the launch of Telly-REACH, an empowering product line of Christian commercials available to Christ-centered organizations (CCOs) that seek to make an impact in secular society. The ads are designed not to impress Christians consumers or create an advantage in the competitive Christian marketplace but to affect the lost, the hurting, and those immersed in sin. Pixel Town's CEO, James Mapes, notes that most CCOs operate within more frugal financial parameters than secular and public organizations and "have no choice but to purchase sub-standard commercials and cheap air time." But now, he says, this concern is no longer an issue, because PTS is able to "invest in top-quality productions, implement Hollywood talents and simplify the media-buying process." The studio will begin production on the first in a series of ten commercials on January 1, 2006. Meanwhile, PTS is currently offering pre-purchase licenses and air time for the first commercial, which is due to air by July 1, 2006. The premiere commercial will be used as the standard model for future productions. Customers interested in pre-purchase can call 1-877-67-JESUS or visit Christ-centeredCommercials.com. [Jenni Parker]

...The U.S. State Department is reporting important progress in consultations with Saudi Arabia on ways to enhance religious freedom in the kingdom. The consultations began after the Bush administration listed Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and Eritrea as "countries of particular concern" in a report last September on the state of religious liberty in more than 190 countries. Countries so designated can be subject to sanctions. The report last September accused Saudi Arabia of "particularly severe violations" of religious freedom. A State Department spokesman says that since then, the United States has been working for greater religious tolerance in all three countries. Saudi Arabia said last week that it has been carrying out a public awareness campaign to teach its citizens the "true values of the Islamic faith and the importance of tolerance and moderation." [AP]

...Republicans in the U.S. Senate announced Tuesday that they have enough votes to change the legislative body's rules on filibusters, thereby making it easier to bring President George W. Bush's pro-life judicial nominees up for a vote. Currently, Senate Republicans and pro-life Democrat Bill Nelson of Nebraska represent enough votes to confirm nominees but not enough to stop Democrat filibusters. For that reason, the Republicans propose lowering the 60-vote benchmark required to prevent filibusters, and supporters of the idea say they are ready to proceed. However, Democratic Party leaders warn that they would shut down the Senate if the filibuster rule changes were implemented. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid remarked in a letter to the Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist that any such changes would be "an unprecedented abuse of power" and, in the face of them, Senate Democrats would effectively shut down all legislative activity other than on military- and national security-related matters. However, Tom Minnery of Focus on the Family Action issued a statement today, criticizing Reid for vowing to block Senate progress if the Republicans take steps to reform the judicial confirmation process. Minnery, FOTF Action's vice president of government and public policy, called the minority leader's threat "an unbelievable act of arrogance" on the part of the Senate Democrats, displaying "the true depth of their intolerant and vehement opposition to judges who would strictly interpret and apply the Constitution." The pro-family spokesman says it is time for the Senate to return to its constitutionally defined role of offering "advice and consent" and the Republican leadership must stand firm, despite what Minnery calls "this latest spectacle of Democratic grandstanding." [Jenni Parker]

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