FRC hosted a policy discussion on global warming with panelists Dr. E. Calvin Beisner, Dr. Kenneth Chilton, Dr. Jim Ball, and Dr. Lowell Pritchard. Ball and Pritchard are associated with the Evangelical Environmental Network and advocate a strong response to human-caused climate change. Beisner is at Interfaith Stewardship Alliance. He and Chilton advocate environmental stewardship that avoids significant economic impacts on the poor, and crafted a rebuttal to EEN’s “Urgent Call to Action” on climate change.

Don Bosch of The Evangelical Ecologist live-blogged the event and had a number of interesting comments, including:

I thought the discussion was very civil, at least what I caught of it. Happy about the concensus that climate change must not be an issue that divides the Church. Debating the issue is good, and we may have different ideas about how to deal with climate change (human-caused, naturally-occurring, or some combination), but that shouldn’t divide the family of God.

Click here to listen to the audio online.

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Teens from intact families with frequent religious attendance were least likely to have ever gotten into a fight (27.1 percent) when compared to (a) their peers from intact families with infrequent religious attendance (32.1 percent), (b) peers from non-intact families with frequent religious attendance (34.3 percent), and (c) peers from non-intact families with infrequent religious attendance (43.5 percent).

Source: Source: Fagan, Patrick, A Portrait of Family and Religion in America: Key Outcomes for the Common Good, (Washington, D.C.: The Heritage Foundation 2006), pp. .

(HT: FamilyFacts.org)

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

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In Helsinki, as part of its plan to “back corporate ideas worthy of development”, the City of Tampere has decided to spend EURO 25,000 (about $33,538 in U.S. dollars) to hire clowns to perform throughout the city in hopes of getting Tampere citizens to enjoy their work more. Here in the United States we have had a similar program for years and we pay them up to $212,000 (about 157,970 in EURO/Monopoly money) annually.

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Please tell me this wasn’t taxpayer funded . . .

Heavy-drinking college kids make worse decisions
Thu May 24, 6:25 PM ET
Young adults who binge drink frequently are more likely to show disadvantageous decision-making patterns than their peers who don’t drink as heavily, a new study shows.
Furthermore, the earlier a person begins to binge drink, the stronger the tie to poor decision-making skills, Dr. Anna E. Goudriaan and colleagues from the University of Missouri-Columbia report.
However, the study wasn’t able to demonstrate which came first — a bad approach to decision-making or a tendency to drink heavily. More . . .

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Extra points if you can guess which Presidential Candidate from the 1970’s used the title of this blog post as a campaign song – answer at the bottom.

Hillary Clinton is going into Round Two of her contest to find a campaign song (her video announcing it is actually pretty humorous.) Here are the entries we have so far:

Joe Biden
Sam Brownback
Hillary Clinton: “Get Off Of My Cloud” by the Rolling Stones, “Killer Queen” by Queen
Chris Dodd
John Edwards: Theme from the musical Hair
Jim Gilmore: “I Walk the Line” by Johnny Cash
Newt Gingrich: “Our Time Is Coming” by Brooks & Dunn
Rudy Giuliani: “Mama I’m a Big Girl Now” from the musical Hairspray, “My Next Ex-wife” by Little Charlie and the Nightcats
Al Gore
Mike Gravel
Chuck Hagel
Mike Huckabee: “Hard Times For An Honest Man” by John Mellencamp
Duncan Hunter
Dennis Kucinich: “Mr. Spaceman” by the Byrds
John McCain: “Glory Days” by Bruce Springsteen
Barak Obama: “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” By the Rolling Stones, in apparent response to Mrs. Clinton
Ron Paul: “Change the World” by Eric Clapton, “My Life” by Billy Joel, “I’m Not Running Anymore” by John Mellencamp. Last contributors note: “If you want to ruin your own campaign, suggesting 9-11 was retribution for American actions abroad is a great place to start. Ron Paul will be singing this song very soon.”
Bill Richardson
Mitt Romney: “I Want You to Want Me” by Cheap Trick
Tom Tancredo: “It’s a Long Way to the Top” by AC/DC, “Oye Como Va” by Santana
Fred Thompson: “Our Time Is Coming” by Brooks & Dunn, “Have a Cigar” by Pink Floyd
Tommy Thompson

* Democratic candidate George McGovern in 1972. Give yourself a demerit if you guessed Ted Kennedy.

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An update on what is going on around the states on the issue of life this week:
Georgia Part I: Perdue signed a bill that will create a way for new mothers in Georgia to donate umbilical cords for stem cell research. More . . .
Georgia Part II: Abortion foes got a boost this morning when Gov. Sonny Perdue signed a bill requiring providers to offer women seeking the procedure an opportunity to view an ultrasound image of the fetus. More . . .
SPECIAL NOTE: LifeNews recognizes a trend on ultrasounds in the states here.
Kansas: A few Kansas lawmakers are pushing House leaders to begin a legislative study this summer and fall on late-term abortions and whether a Wichita doctor is breaking state law. More . . .
Louisiana: The state House unanimously approved a ban on a late-term abortion procedure Thursday. More . . .
Oklahoma: A bill prohibiting public funds from being used for most abortions has become law in Oklahoma after a deadline passed for the state’s governor to veto the measure. More . . .
Texas: Three pro life bills will not move forward as the Texas Legislative session comes to an end. More . . .
West Virginia: The number of abortions performed in West Virginia fell 14 percent after the Right to Know bill became law in 2003. More . . .

And for special mention: China: Southwestern China is currently embroiled in an uproar about forced abortions as thousands of people living there have been involved in riots after a campaign by local officials that has resulted in dozens of forced abortions. But Chinese officials have an ironic solution to the problem — more punishments. More . . .

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So, the Democrats in Congress claim they support people of faith, while preventing a vote two weeks ago on an amendment to the Head Start bill that would have changed the law to allow faith-based groups who get Head Start funds to hire according to their beliefs…. (should a religious organization be required to hire a person from another religion, or none at all?). Democrats made much of their support for faith-based groups while effectively cutting out those that hire based on their religious beliefs.
But yesterday during a House Judiciary hearing, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) went after Monica Goodling’s Christian affiliation, since she attended law school at a Regent University.

If Monica Goodling did something unethical or illegal, she should be held to account for doing something unethical or illegal, not for having attended a Christian law school. I wonder if Rep. Cohen would have asked about Monica’s religious affiliation if she had attended a Jewish law school. I don’t know, but his constituents may want to ask him.

This is part of the exchange according to transcripts:

COHEN: “The mission of the law school you attended, Regent, is to bring to bear upon legal education and the legal profession the will of almighty God, our creator. What is the will of almighty God, our creator, on the legal profession?”
GOODLING: “I’m not sure that I could define that question for you.”

Click here and fast forward to 2:43 minutes to view the exchange between Rep. Cohen and Ms. Goodling (with WPost reporter Dana Milbank giving commentary):

To read about more about Goodling’s testimony, and the exchange with Rep. Cohen read Byron York’s article here.

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As a guest speaker for an assembly at Boulder High School in Colorado, UCLA psychology professor Joel Becker had a surprising message of “encouragement”: Becker encouraged the students—some as young as 14—to have sex (with men, women, or whatever combination they prefer), to do drugs, and to “please masturbate.”

The following audio clips from Becker’s portion of the “sex and drugs” assembly were provided by KOA Radio in Denver:

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Our own Tom McClusky reveals the truth about Planned Parenthood today in The American Spectator. Here’s an excerpt:

How much have you spent this year on the abortion-oriented services of Planned Parenthood? This question may seem too personal, or out of line with your religious beliefs. But the truth is that if you pay taxes, you support Planned Parenthood.

Read it all here.

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

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

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Jae Ran Kim applied a “social worker’s perspective to the wholesome characters in popular Disney movies” and asked, “How many of these beloved characters live in a married, two-parent (hetero) household?”

• Aladdin (Aladdin) – orphaned and homeless; petty crimes for food and shelter
• Annie (Annie) – orphan adopted by rich single dad
• Ariel (The Little Mermaid) – dead mother, rebellious teen who runs away to be with a man
• Aristocats – Marie, Berlioz and Toulouse – three kittens raised by a single mother
• Bambi (Bambi) – raised by single mother who is murdered, has never met his absent father
• Belle (Beauty and the Beast) – dead mother, raised by single father
• Cinderella (Cinderella) – dead mother, raised by abusive Stepmother and neglectful, absent father
• Dumbo (Dumbo)– raised by a stigmatized, depressed single mother
• Elliot (Pete’s Dragon) – orphaned, runaway from abusive foster parents, adopted by single mother
• Hercules (Hurcules) – son of gods transracially adopted by humans
• Lilo (Lilo and Stitch)– orphaned, raised by older sister
• Mowgli (The Jungle Book)– orphaned, raised by 2-male heads of household (bear and panther)
• Mulan (Mulan) – cross-dressing teen girl with intact, multi-generational family unit
• Nemo (Finding Nemo) – dead mother, raised by single overprotective father
• Oliver (Oliver & Company) – orphaned kitten transracially adopted by rich girl
• Peter Pan (Peter Pan) – orphaned, troublemaker and gang leader of Lost Boys
• Penny (The Rescuers) – orphaned girl kidnapped from orphanage
• Pinocchio (Pinocchio) – wooden toy adopted by aged creator Gepetto
• Pochahontas (Pocahontas) – dead mother, raised by single father
• Quasimoto (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) – physically disabled male adopted by evil church minister Frollo
• Simba (The Lion King) – father murdered by uncle, raised by 2-male heads of household (meerkat and warthog)
• Sleeping Beauty (Sleeping Beauty) – parents transferred custody to 3 fairies
• Snow White (Snow White & the 7 dwarves) – dead mother, raised by abusive Stepmother and neglectful father
• Tarzan (Tarzan)– orphaned, transracially adopted by gorilla family

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Apparently Hillary Clinton is trying to find a new campaign song and she has asked people to vote on her web site for which song she should use (after my run in with her staffer I looked for John Michael Montgomery’s “I Swear” but it wasn’t there.) I thought it might be fun to start a contest for the other candidates. This is not the place to give your opinions on the candidate (the IRS would love that!) but give a song and a brief explanation of why. Such as “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair” for Senator John Edwards of the $400 coiffure; or Lit’s “My Own Worst Enemy” for Newt Gingrich; or “Who Are You” by The Who for Mike Gravel (or a number of others.) Self described environmentalist Al Gore can have “It Ain’t Easy Bein’ Green” by Kermit the Frog and Rudy Giuliani (who seems to dress up a lot in dresses) can campaign to “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)” by Aerosmith. Here is list of the candidates – sing away:

Joe Biden
Sam Brownback
Hillary Clinton
Chris Dodd
John Edwards
Jim Gilmore
Newt Gingrich
Rudy Giuliani
Al Gore
Mike Gravel
Chuck Hagel
Mike Huckabee
Duncan Hunter
Dennis Kucinich
John McCain
Barak Obama
Ron Paul
Bill Richardson
Mitt Romney
Tom Tancredo
Fred Thompson
Tommy Thompson

*The earliest known American election campaign song was God Save George Washington, issued in 1780 and sung to the tune of God Save The King.

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

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A new study by the research firm Mathematica has been hailed by advocates of the sexual revolution and groups that have spent decades providing contraceptives and abortions to minor children without parental knowledge. Funded by the federal department of Health and Human Services, Mathematica examined four abstinence education programs for elementary students and middle-schoolers. The study found that after an average of five years, the students who had taken the abstinence instruction were no less likely to engage in sexual intercourse than students who had not received the instruction at all.

At first glance, the results appear disappointing. It would have been a relief to find that a small investment in a middle school program could overcome the raw messages of our sexualized culture. It would be especially encouraging because of the ever-higher stakes associated with premarital sex today.

But that’s not the whole story – either of abstinence education or of the need for intervention in the lives of vulnerable teens. The researchers chose to ignore the abstinence programs most recommended for study, and focused on programs that have since been revised. The scope and the depth of abstinence programs were ignored, and a narrow few chosen for examination. These are not minor points because the stakes in sexual politics today are life and death.

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

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FRC Blog’s own Charmaine Yoest weighs in on last night’s presidential debate over at National Review Online (scroll down to see Charmaine’s response).

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

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

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