Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) is a highly decorated former Marine and Vietnam veteran. He’s also the chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee and one of the most outspoken opponents of the Iraq conflict. Recently he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that he supports reinstating the military draft and said that he believes “everyone ought to be obligated to serve”:

Before you would-be draft dodgers rush off to buy a one-way bus tickets to Canada, keep in mind that hardly anyone–including the military and Murtha’s fellow legislators–agrees that a draft is desirable.

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As this video notes, some babies are “born with something that affects more people than malaria, cancer, or even HIV and AIDS. Because of it, many of them will be denied an education and condemned to a life of poverty. Thousands of them will be killed. Millions more will be victimized and abused. Because all these babies have one thing in common…”

Interestingly, this ad by Trócaire, the official overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in Ireland, was banned by the The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) because it was deemed too “political.”

(HT: Houtlust)

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The Update has already noted that White House spokesman Tony Snow has learned that the cancer he thought he’d beaten two years ago is back. When Mr. Snow presented at our Washington Briefing last year he was an instant hit with his humble wit. Whether as a Washington correspondent for ABC News, a host for Fox News Sunday, the host of his own radio show or as White House spokesman Snow is a hard guy not to like, even when one disagrees with him. The news from the White House comes on the heels of the announcement that Presidential candidate John Edward’s wife, Elizabeth, is also fighting a return of her cancer. Without a doubt everyone has been touched by someone who has battled cancer or been lost to the fight. Here at Family Research Council one of our own, Susan Sterenberg has been valiantly struggling against cancer for nine years and is entering a most difficult stage of the battle. I ask that you keep Tony Snow, Elizabeth Edwards, Susan Sterenberg and all their families in your prayers. Times like this we must ask Our Savoir to hold us in his hands. May we be inspired by 1 Peter 5:7, “Cast your cares upon the Lord, for he cares about you.”

E-mail well wishes to Tony Snow at comments@whitehouse.gov
To send well wishes to Elizabeth Edwards click here
E-mail well wishes to Suzi at frc@frc.org

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Of all the contentious government programs, surely everyone would agree on an initiative to promote responsible fatherhood, right? Wrong. The National Organization for Women (NOW) has filed a formal complaint with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for funding fatherhood programs that “discriminate” against women. Kathy Rodgers, the president of Legal Momentum, which joined the protest, said, “What we’re asking them to do is to make sure that the grantees provide equal services to men and women.

It should be a parenthood initiative.” Theirs is an interesting suggestion, seeing as the Food and Drug Administration was recently hammered by leading feminists for providing less funds for its Office of Women’s Health. If NOW were truly an equal-opportunity watchdog, why hasn’t its leadership launched a similar grievance against the FDA? Where is NOW’s campaign for an Office of People’s Health? Unfortunately, their anti-father crusade only exposes the group’s true agenda–to treat fathers as having no special role to play in children’s lives. As HHS says, “Helping men become better fathers will benefit women and children too.”

Furthermore, the initiative is modestly funded when compared to other government programs, many of which rake in far more than $50 million–and without the direct benefit to families. As part of Promoting Responsible Fatherhood, men, many of whom are low-income, receive job and parent training, substance-abuse prevention and treatment, and educational opportunities.

What’s more, there is no official ban on women in the program. One HHS official said the programs were advised to accept females if they applied. NOW claims to be a “voice” for women everywhere, the effect of which has been nothing less than a shriek by a group of fringe “feminists” taking aim not at discrimination, injustice, or chauvinism but motherhood, healthy sexuality, and traditional families.

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When it comes to promoting faith on Capitol Hill, there is safety in numbers–”219″ to be exact. That’s the House meeting room where a group of members gather each week to ask the Lord’s blessing on our nation. In 2005, Rep. J. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) made it official by creating the Congressional Prayer Caucus, a group of leaders committed to praying for our nation and protecting the rights of all Americans to pray. In the past two years, the number of Caucus members has grown to 42 (almost a 10% of the representatives in the House).

Yesterday, FRC attended the press conference in which the Caucus announced its plan to spread what they call “219 prayer groups” across America. They hope that as the faithful meet to pray these “spiritual blocks” will form a powerful wall of protection around America. We applaud Rep. Forbes’ leadership in helping to fulfill 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, who are called by my Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and heal their land.” We invite you to join with the 219 group and FRC, which also has a prayer initiative as part of our Church Ministries Program. Both are keys to the revival our country so desperately needs.

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Kay Hymowitz has an excellent article on the “Marriage Gap” in America:

We are becoming a nation of separate and unequal families that threatens to last into the foreseeable future. On the one hand, well-educated women make more money. They get married, only then have their children, and raise them with their husbands. Those children are more likely to grow up to be well-adjust­ed, to do well in school, to go to college, to marry and only then have children. On the other hand, we have low-income women raising children alone who are more likely to be low-income, to drop out of school or, if they do make it to college, go to a less elite col­lege, and to become single parents themselves.

Marriage, I think you can argue when you look at the numbers, now poses an even larger social divide than race.

(HT: Mere Comments)

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The greater the fathers’ involvement was, the lower the level of adolescents’ behavioral problems, both in terms of aggression and antisocial behavior and negative feelings such as anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. Though these behavioral problems were greatest among youths who said they did not have a father, the negative emotions were at the same level among those with no fathers and those with fathers who had low levels of involvement.

Source: “Family Structure, Father Involvement, and Adolescent Behavioral Outcomes” Carlson, Marcia J. Journal of Marriage and Family Vol. 68, Number 1. February, 2006. Page(s) 137-154.

(HT: FamilyFacts.org)

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Here’s today’s Washington Watch Daily commentary from FRC Radio:

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Somewhere between the November elections and this week’s debate, the GOP must have rediscovered its backbone. Apart from the runaway pork, which a handful of Republicans did support, the new minority has used its humble status to block several unconstitutional anti-family measures on everything from emergency contraception to D.C. voting rights.

Tuesday, the GOP’s latest move, prompted by the Minneapolis lawsuit filed by the “flying imans” against their fellow plane passengers, managed to take liberals completely by surprise. Using a procedural vote, introduced an amendmentRepublicans to the Rail and Public Transportation Security Act that would protect passengers from being sued when they report suspicious activity. Although the debate was heated, the provision proved extremely popular among Republicans and nearly half of the Democrats, passing 304-121. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) dismissed the claims that the bill would lead to racial profiling. When Americans “see something,” they should be free to “say something,” King argued.

Unfortunately, the suit in Minneapolis is just a symptom of the broader strategy by radical Islamists to manipulate American law. The Twin City taxi drivers, three-fourths of whom are Muslim, now refuse to transport passengers carrying alcohol. Likewise, Muslim clerks at Target stores are refusing to scan items that contain pork. In both instances, Islamic law forbids the consumption of these foods–not the handling of them. But until their agenda is challenged by leaders like Rep. King and the freedom of Americans upheld, these determined radicals will continue to use our own code of tolerance to chip away at Western law.

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Despite suffering several rounds of defeat on the state level, the Senate’s pro-abortion dream team of Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) reintroduced an archaic (and unnecessary) Equal Rights Amendment for consideration. In conjunction with the Feminist Majority Foundation, liberals hope their transparent ploy for women’s rights will ultimately nullify parental notification laws and the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of taxpayer funds for abortions.

As an added bonus to same-sex marriage advocates, a federal ERA would create a legal avenue for attacking traditional marriage. Already a Maryland state court has ruled in favor of same-sex unions on the grounds that the state’s ERA prohibits a “sex-based classification.” If feminists were truly concerned about women, they would concentrate their efforts not on achieving a status they already enjoy but on policies that will reverse the worldwide phenomena of sex selection abortion and infanticide that have resulted in an estimated 100 million missing girls. It is clear that what radical liberals lack in principle, they certainly make up for in persistence.

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Looking for an environmentally safe way to bring home your spotted owl steaks and baby seal sausages? Once again the hometown of speaker Nancy Pelosi has the answer.

“SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – City leaders approved a ban on plastic grocery bags after weeks of lobbying on both sides from environmentalists and a supermarket trade group. If Mayor Gavin Newsom signs the ban as expected, San Francisco would be the first U.S. city to adopt such a rule. The law, passed by a 10-1 vote, requires large markets and drug stores to give customers only a choice among bags made of paper that can be recycled, plastic that breaks down easily enough to be made into compost, or reusable cloth. San Francisco supervisors and supporters said that by banning the petroleum-based sacks, blamed for littering streets and choking marine life, the measure would go a long way toward helping the city earn its green stripes.”

Apparently this has been a real source of worry for those who lean green . . .

“The new breed of bags “offers consumers a way out of a false choice, a way out of the paper or plastic dilemma,” Noble said.”

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Here’s today’s Washington Watch Daily commentary from FRC Radio:

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Last week, the U.S. House proposed funding the war on spinach. This week the Senate has shifted the funding to the war on sugar beets. Here is a list of provisions in the emergency war supplemental “U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Health and Iraq Accountability Act, 2007″ that do not fund the war:

1) $24 million for funding for sugar beets.

2) $3 million for funding for sugar cane (goes to one Hawaiian co-op).

3) $20 million for insect infestation damage reimbursements in Nevada, Idaho, and Utah.

4) $2.1 billion for crop production losses.

5) $1.5 billion for livestock production losses.

6) $100 million for Dairy Production Losses.

7) $13 million for Ewe Lamb Replacement and Retention Program.

8) $32 million for Livestock Indemnity Program.

9) $40 million for the Tree Assistance Program.

10) $100 million for Small Agricultural Dependent Businesses.

11) $6 million for North Dakota flooded crop land.

12) $35 million for emergency conservation program.

13) $50 million for the emergency watershed program.

14) $115 million for the conservation security program.

15) $18 million for drought assistance in upper Great Plains/South West.

16) Provision that extends the availability by a year $3.5 million in funding for guided tours of the Capitol. Also a provision allows transfer of funds from holiday ornament sales in the Senate gift shop.

17) 165.9 million for fisheries disaster relief, funded through NOAA (including $60.4 million for salmon fisheries in the Klamath Basin region).

18) $12 million for forest service money (requested by the president in the non-emergency FY2008 budget).

19) $425 million for education grants for rural areas – (Secure Rural Schools program).

20) $640 million for LIHEAP.

21) $25 million for asbestos abatement at the Capitol Power Plant.

22) $388.9 million for funding for backlog of old Department of Transportation projects.

23) $22.8 million for geothermal research and development.

24) $500 million for wildland fire management.

25) $13 million for mine safety technology research.

26) $31 million for one month extension of Milk Income Loss Contract program (MILC)

27) $50 million for fisheries disaster mitigation fund.

28) $100 million to help pay for Republican and Democrat party conventions.

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Thanks to Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D), parents who drop off their kids at the public library can now have more assurance that their children are checking out books and not pornography on the Internet. After a prolonged, three-year battle, state legislators passed a bill that requires public libraries to install filtering software on their computers to protect patrons from pornography and indecency.

Before the legislation passed, fewer than half of the library systems in Virginia had installed the software. Without them, a simple, misspelled word in a web search could lead children to pornographic and violent sites instead. The bill passed both the House and Senate by wide margins, echoing the broad local support for the proposal.

According to a survey by the Virginia Family Foundation, 89% of citizens supported the measure when asked last October. Virginia will join 21 other states that have similar legislation in place. Unfortunately, several other states legislatures have debated comparable bills but seen them fall prey to “free speech” objections. Ironically, some politicians seem more interested in protecting kids from the so-called “dangers of religious speech” than from the perils of pornography.

Virginia leaders were able to overcome the First Amendment obstacles by including a provision that allows adults to have the filters disabled for legitimate purposes. We applaud the Virginia Family Foundation and pro-family leaders, all of whom fought tirelessly for “safe surfing” in the state.

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As their motto implies, residents of Indiana truly are at “The Crossroads of America” when it comes to traditional marriage. When Rep. Patrick Bauer (D) campaigned to become the next Speaker of the state House, he pledged to “allow committee meetings, floor debate, and a final vote in the chamber on a constitutional amendment to prohibit gay marriages in Indiana.”

Since his election, things may have changed. Bauer is reportedly considering new language that would undercut traditional marriage and deny citizens a vote on the issue until at least 2010. In response, FRC Action and allies placed a full-page ad today in the South Bend Tribune calling on the Speaker to keep his promise on the amendment and let the people of Indiana decide.

Perhaps Bauer could take his cue from the Senate President of Massachusetts, Therese Murray, who announced this week that she will not use her power to block a vote on the state’s marriage protection amendment. Despite her objections to the proposal, Murray put the democratic process ahead of her political agenda. In Maryland, the prospects of passing a marriage amendment were crushed by the House Judiciary Committee, whose members rejected the bill before it reached the floor.

On the bright side, South Carolina celebrated the formal ratification of its new constitutional amendment upholding traditional marriage last week. The state officially joins 27 others that have resolved to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

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On March 26, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case of Fausey v. Hiller, in which FRC submitted an amicus curiae brief through our friends at the Alliance Defense Fund. We hoped that the Supreme Court would take the opportunity to clarify the law on the question of third-party visitation rights.

FRC contended that fit parents have the right to direct the upbringing of their children without state interference. For the state to force parents to accept visitation from other parties, who are not the legal parents of the child, is an unacceptable infringement. Currently this can occur when a court deems it to be “in the best interests of the child to have third-party visits.” Such decisions risk reinforcing a growing government trend to “micromanage” the American family.

If our courts go too far and start overruling parents on these issues, then the results will not only promote worthy goals–like encouraging grandparents’ access to their grandchildren–but also access by unrelated adults, whose presence the judges think would be good for children. It’s not hard to see what harm judges could do with such an elastic standard.

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Darth Vader has the stormtroopers. Your local subdivision has the Neighborhood Watch. Heck, even the mall has rent-a-cops. Apparently, Planned Parenthood felt a little left out in its lack of a rapid-deployment force, so the nation’s largest abortion provider is now sending out the Pill Patrol. Planned Parenthood intends to unleash its legions upon unsuspecting pharmacies who have not stocked the controversial over-the-counter version of Plan B:

The group is encouraging its supporters to contact pharmacies at Costco, Target, Wal-Mart, or Osco stores – because those four chains have not signed on to Planned Parenthood’s policy of guaranteeing women access to emergency contraception – “without discrimination or delay.”

Plan B, also known as the “morning after pill,” was recently approved for over-the-counter use, despite obvious risks to womens’ health. Planned Parenthood apparently plans to use the findings of its Pill Patrol to bully pharmacies into stocking the drug. Ironically, the group claims on its website that the goal of the campaign is “to protect women’s health.”

And yes, Planned Parenthood is funded with your tax dollars (nearly 273 million dollars, according to their annual report).

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Once again, doctors are seeing promise of stem cell treatments, this time with a new therapy to treat patients with heart failure. And once again, the stem cells used are adult stem cells:

In two studies reported at the American College of Cardiology conference, scientists used adult stem cells — not the more controversial embryonic stem cells — to treat patients and saw marked improvement in their health. Experts note these early studies need to be replicated in larger groups to confirm the results.

The findings are welcome news for patients like Joseph Glasser, 74, who received a bleak prognosis nine years ago after suffering a heart attack that left his heart so weakened he had to have a pacemaker implanted. Seventy-five percent of his heart muscle had died, his cardiologist told him, and there was nothing more he could do.

In the years afterward, Glasser frequently felt fatigued and short of breath, so he sought out new treatment options and eventually enrolled in a stem cell study at the University of California San Diego. There, doctors took cells from his leg, cultivated them in a lab and then injected them into his heart.

Today, two years after treatment, he says he no longer has problems maintaining energy, and even walks on a treadmill and swims.

If this treatment proves conclusive, it will be one of many successful treatments with adult stem cells. How many successful treatment with embryonic stem cells? Well, just take a look at the score.

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Here’s today’s Washington Watch Daily commentary from FRC Radio:

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For years, stay-at-home parents have been trivialized by feminists who wrongly believe that a mother or father’s care is replaceable. However, a new study by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at NIH proves the feminist ideology wrong. The most expansive research of its kind, the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development found that putting a child in day care for a year or more increases the chances that the child will become disruptive in class–a trend that persists through the sixth grade.

Perhaps most telling is the fact that these tendencies were evident despite the child’s sex, family income, and even the quality of the day care center in question. The news will be particularly disappointing to day care advocates who have insisted that any negative effects are entirely contingent, on the “quality” of the care. In the U.S., experts estimate that 2.3 million kids under the age of 5 are in day care, while 4.8 million are in the care of a relative or nanny, and 3.3 million are at home with their parents. Despite the large number of stay-at-home parents, the government is often lopsided in its support of families who choose out-of-the-home care for their kids. Research shows that most parents would prefer to tend for their kids themselves. If that’s the case, why do government policies undercut parental choice and care?

There is no substitute for the contributions that at-home parents make to the development of their children, often at financial sacrifice. In light of the obvious benefits to kids, we urge Congress to pass Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kans.) and Rep. Lee Terry’s (R-Nebr.) Parents’ Tax Relief Act. Through the bill’s equalized tax treatment of stay-at-home parents, families would have the freedom to care for their own children.

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