OUR COLUMNISTS The Political Left Gets Religion Commentary by Matt Friedeman The Party of the Left Wing looked at the polls in the last election and noticed something big-time. First, seriously religious people vote. Two -- they didn't vote for the Left Wing. "Fixable!" they thought. And then they schemed. Pelvic Thrusts Commentary by Jane Jimenez In exercise gyms all around the country, body parts are in motion. So ... when was the last time in your gym when you saw the most common body motion in America? Finding Wonderland Commentary by Brad Locke Our sense of wonder is a gift from God that should be tenderly nurtured and closely guarded. Retaining the ability to be amazed is what helps us hold on to truth. Amnesia Commentary by David Sisler What would it be like to wake up and not remember the evil that you had done, the people you had hurt, the sins you had committed? What would you pay for a little selective amnesia? God's Name Is Not to Be Misused Commentary by Mark Creech "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." It's the third of God's Ten Commandments and Bill Grantlin, a retired insurance salesman of Raleigh, North Carolina, takes it seriously.

...President George W. Bush recently announced good news for every American taxpayer -- the federal budget deficit will be $94 billion lower than predicted three months ago. House Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri says the deficit reduction is the largest in U.S. history. Moreover, he says, "It's also one of the greatest verifications that when you trust the American people with their money, they're going to invest their money in a way that creates jobs, creates opportunity, and at the end of the day, creates more revenue." Blunt agrees with the White House's view that the president's tax cuts provided the impetus for the increased revenues and the deficit reduction. "Now, to my surprise," he explains, "a 15 percent capital gains tax produces more revenue than a 30 percent capital gains tax would because the government just steps back and gets a little more out of the way of people doing what's good for them, what's good for their family, what's good for their investment." Letting taxpayers invest more of their money as they choose, the Missouri congressman asserts, "produces good results for Americans generally." [Bill Fancher]

...President Bush has praised the Boy Scouts for the oath they take to do their "duty to God and country." In a speech at the Boy Scout Jamboree at Fort A.P Hill in Virginia, Bush said scouting has critics "who say that moral truth is relative or call religious faith a comforting illusion." He assured the scouts that "lives of purpose are constructed on the conviction there is right and there is wrong and we can know the difference." A federal judge ruled in March that the Pentagon cannot financially support the Boy Scout Jamboree in the future since scouts are required to swear an oath of duty to God. President Bush noted that Congress has passed a resolution declaring that the Boy Scouts should have "equal access to public lands." [AP]

...Eagle Forum founder and Christian activist Phyllis Schlafly says Americans should be annoyed at the manner in which Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor resigned -- a way Schlafly feels was mean towards President Bush. She points out that the Supreme Court justice's decision to put her resignation in effect only after her replacement is confirmed is not the normal way that justices have proceeded in the past. O'Connor's resigning in that manner tied President Bush's hands, Schlafly asserts; and she says it also "enabled Schumer and the [other Senate Democrats] to say, 'Well, there's no hurry -- we can just dally along in the Senate and she can continue to serve. And that's not what should happen at all." But while news media have reported that many lobby groups tried to convince O'Connor not to retire and to try for Chief Justice, the Eagle Forum founder says she has no way of knowing whether that was the retiring justice's motivation for the way she worded her announcement. Schlafly is the author of the book, The Supremacists: The Tyranny of Judges and How to Stop It, in which she looks extensively at issues related to decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court. [Ed Thomas]

...Some Muslims in Congressman Tom Tancredo's Colorado district say they are not satisfied with his partial apology for remarks about bombing Mecca and other Islamic holy sites. At a weekend rally in Denver, Nation of Islam minister Gerald Muhammad told several hundred protesters that Tancredo "needs to be removed from office." The congressman has been under fire since July 15, when he told a radio host that if Muslim terrorists attacked U.S. cities with nuclear bombs, "we could take out their holy sites." Tancredo's spokesman says the congressman told a Muslim group last Wednesday that he stood by his comments, but was sorry if anyone was offended. Republican Party chairman Ken Mehlman said Friday that the GOP welcomes Tancredo's contribution to the debate on controversial issues. [AP]

...One of the activists behind the Minuteman Project says the group hopes its two-pronged approach to border security will result in a drastic drop in illegal alien activity. Project co-founders Chris Simcox and James Gilchrist have taken different paths in trying to get the U.S. government to pay attention to the border security problem, with Simcox lately concentrating on expanding the original mission of the Minutemen. "I have been working with border watch groups for over three years here in Arizona," he says, "and that's sort of my expertise -- working with Border Patrol and developing border watch groups." The immigration reform advocate says his plans are to "continue to expand the Minuteman civil defense corps to other states and [continue] assisting Border Patrol with homeland security." Meanwhile, his partner is going after business owners who encourage illegal immigration by offering employment to undocumented workers. Gilchrist's plan, Simcox says, is to use federal RICO statutes to go after "the magnet that's attracting illegal immigrants into this country -- employers who are breaking the law by hiring them." [Chad Groening]

...A film dramatizing the events of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 is being used to help more Americans learn about the history and heritage of their system of government. Homemakers for America, Inc. (HFA) and the National Center for Constitutional Studies (NCCS) hope to place a copy of the educational feature film A More Perfect Union in every school and federal agency in America by September 1, and the groups are well on their way to reaching their goal. Almost a quarter of a million copies of the DVD have been ordered and shipped out to schools, churches, and families all across the nation. Kimberly Fletcher, founder and president of HFA, says more and more Americas are "finally realizing the importance of knowing and understanding what is contained in the Constitution of the United States," and "to realize it has nothing to do with parties or politics, but is a matter of citizenship." As that has occurred, Fletcher notes, Americans "have awakened with a deep desire to learn more about our heritage and the Constitution that guides our nation." A More Perfect Union is an award-winning film that has received extensive viewing on PBS and has been a featured Channel One segment for U.S. public schools. Now available on DVD, the film is being offered by HFA and through NCCS along with an accompanying resource kit at a special discount in honor of Constitution Week (September 17 - 23). [Jenni Parker]

...Actress-activist Jane Fonda told a gathering at a recent book signing that she is "coming out" to voice publicly her opposition to the war in Iraq. However, one U.S. veteran believes Fonda will only succeed in giving America's terrorist enemies a great deal of propaganda when she takes a cross-country anti-war bus tour next spring. Air Force Colonel (Retired) Bud Day is a Medal of Honor winner who was held as a prisoner of war for more than five years during the Vietnam conflict. He thinks Fonda's bus tour is a stunt, not unlike her 1972 visit to North Vietnam, during which she was photographed on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun. That tour earned Fonda the nickname "Hanoi Jane" and the enmity of many U.S. soldiers and veterans, and now Day says the anti-war activist "is out looking for another publicity fix" in order to drum up support for "a low-quality book that she's out there trying to peddle." The retired Air Force officer suggests that Fonda should take her bus tour to Iraq because, he says, "I think people over there would be real interested in it. Al Jazeera, the Arab TV, will pick this up and that's all they'll hear for days and days is about this famous American woman that's over [there] protesting the war." But in the U.S., Day contends, the reception will be different. He says most Vietnam veterans despise Fonda to this day and will offer her the kind of feedback that once caused her to cut short a tour aimed at shutting down nuclear power plants. Fonda, he recalls, "started out on her 44-city tour, and she got blackballed at the third and the fourth place, which was Buffalo and finally San Francisco. And she lost her courage and never went to the other 40 cities because people were out there confronting her, calling her a traitor." Day says a lot of young Americans ended up "in a body bag because of Jane Fonda," and he believes her bus tour could have similar results. [Chad Groening]

...A new study by researchers in Great Britain finds that nearly half of all fetuses born at 23 weeks into the pregnancy survive the premature birth. The study appears to support the idea that medical science and technology advancements are increasing doctors' ability to treat babies successfully who are born prematurely at earlier and earlier stages of development. According to a LifeNews.com report, researchers at University College Hospital found that 42 percent of babies born at 23 weeks survived childbirth, and 72 percent of the babies born at 24 weeks into pregnancy survived as well. Nevertheless, every year in Britain, more than 1,200 unborn babies are aborted at stages between 22 and 24 weeks into pregnancy, most of them healthy up to the time of abortion. Some British lawmakers and pro-life organizations have called for extended late-term abortion limits prohibiting the killing of unborn babies beyond the 20th week of pregnancy. However, Prime Minister Tony Blair has stated his opposition to the change, saying he does not want to subject women to potential criminal prosecution. [Jenni Parker]

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