Week Ending February 1, 2008 - Washington, DC

The President's stimulus package / Bush visits Jericho (in Baltimore) / House liberals want to use Global Aids fund for abortion / Senate says Bush $150 billion "stimulus" not enough / Senate to borrow $193 billion more from China? / Roe IQ test / The Huck haters - What have they done? / Israeli town hit with 3,500 rockets in last six months / Death for student in Afghanistan? Yes or no.

NEW CHAIRMAN'S REPORT - The all new January 25, 2008 issue of the Chairman's Report is now available online. Click here to read in PDF format

THE PRESIDENT

THE PRESIDENT'S STIMULUS PACKAGE- President George W. Bush asked Congress for an emergency stimulus package to avert the nation from entering a recession. The House responded to his request with a tax rebate plan to send every American taxpayer a check for an average of $500. This will give a small boost to consumer spending for a short time, but according to a Heritage Foundation study, it will have little real effect. The study concludes that the checks the President sent out in 2001 also had little effect on the economy, although his actual 2002 tax cuts did. Making the President's tax cuts permanent will have a real impact; the cash back program will not help at all. I believe the nation's infrastructure should be fixed instead. See www.roadsnotrebates.com

PRESIDENT AT JERICHO - President Bush celebrated the seventh anniversary of his Faith-Based and Community Initiative by touring the Jericho prisoner reentry program in Baltimore. Jericho is a grantee of the Prisoner Re-entry Initiative that Bush set up in 2004. The program is run by Episcopal Community Services of Maryland and serves non-violent adult male offenders. The program prepares former inmates for employment with training and job placement while providing recovery counseling services.

The war in Iraq has unfortunately taken public attention away from some of the President's greatest accomplishments in his two terms in office. The recognition by his Administration that faith based programs do a better job helping those in need than government programs, is one of those accomplishments. The President should be commended for setting up programs in government that recognize and assist programs such as Jericho.

PRESIDENTIAL VOTER GUIDE - Please vote on Super Tuesday, if your state participates. Wall-Builders has just released a really good guide to the presidential candidates that is short and concise. Unlike some published by major evangelical organizations, it is not biased toward Gov. Mitt Romney. Click here to view the WallBuilders voter guide in PDF format.

THE HOUSE

$10 BILLION FOR AIDS OR ABORTION? - The Presidents' Emergency Program For Aids Relief (PEPFAR) is in danger of becoming a massive payout kitty for pro-abortion groups. There are numerous pro-life issues and at least two other values issues to be addressed. Under Chairman Lantos' legislation, PEPFAR will become a massive $10 billion per year pot that will be prioritized toward abortion providers due to its integration with reproductive health and family planning requirements. Please read this summary of what is wrong with the Democrat version of PERFAR and contact your congressman.

THE SENATE

$150 BILLION NOT ENOUGH - The Senate Democrats have decided that sending taxpayers a rebate check for $600 to $1200 each is just not enough to "stimulate the economy. They propose to send checks to millions of people who do not pay income tax, including 20 million people on Social Security. Rather than the $150 billion proposed by President Bush and passed by the House, the Democrat Senate version will cost $193 billion.

The federal government is in debt and has neither the $150 or the $193 billion. The money will be raised by issuing bonds that will be bought by foreign interests, most likely the Chinese and the Saudis. Because our government operates with a perpetual deficit, this money will NEVER be paid back. We, the taxpayers, will continue to pay the interest on the debt to the Chinese and the Saudis FOREVER. Meanwhile research shows the rebates will have little or no ling term benefit on the economy. I have personally set up an Internet site at www.roadsnotrebtates.com to get this point across. If you agree, please go to that site and vote for roads instead of rebates.

RELIGION AND CULTURE

ROE IQ TEST - Most Americans have no idea what the infamous Roe v Wade Supreme Court actually allows. While most abortions are restricted to very early months in "liberal" European nations such as England and Germany, abortions in American can be conducted up to a point that a woman goes into labor in her ninth month. What do you know about Roe v Wade? Take the Roe IQ test at www.RoeIQtest.com.

ALL NEW CHAIRMAN'S REPORT - The January 4, 2008 issue of the Chairman's Report is now available online. This new issue contains details of "under God" petition deliveries to the Senate and first hand accounts of the huge Right to Life march in Washington. Read about adding a pro-life amendment to Indian Health Services. Information on the church bombings in Iraq. Click here to read in PDF format

THE HUCK HATERS - Why may the GOP wind up with McCain as their presidential nominee? If the entire Washington, DC establishment, including the Club for Growth, had not pounded so hard on Huckabee in South Carolina, John McCain would have lost. Huckabee and Romney would have emerged from Florida as the leaders. But the Huck haters in Washington, including well known evangelical leaders spent the last three months ignoring McCain and beating up on Mike Huckabee. Even after he lost in South Carolina, the Washington Times had to run a slanted front page attack against him that included a ten year old photo. Somehow I don't think the Club for Growth and the rest of the GOP Washington insiders are now happy with the results of their work.

Thanks to all the Huck haters who ignored McCain, it looks like they wind up with a 72 year old man who can't raise money as their front runner, against a young and vigorous Democrat who can get honey out of a rock. Sounds like a Dole/Clinton match up.

INTERNATIONAL

3500 ROCKETS - Since the Israelis withdrew from Gaza in 2005, some 3500 rockets have been fired from there into Israel itself. In the last six months alone some 1700 rockets have been fired at the Israeli town of Siderot. The solution of the US Administration and the European Union is of course for Israel to give up even more land for "peace." The peace the Muslim Palestinians want will come only with the total destruction of Israel. View this video of the current situation in Sderot.

DEATH FOR INTERNET ARTICLE? - Last week I reported on an Afghan student, Sayed Parwiz Kambakhsh, who had been sentenced to death for copying a paper from the Internet that the courts there deemed "blasphemous" to Islam. I approached two different officials in the Bush Administration and one in the State Department to find our what could be done to save the young man's life. I was told it was best to "resolve the situation quietly." We cannot establish religious freedom in Afghanistan or Iraq "quietly." We are now in the situation where only high profile cases such as this one are dealt with. How many are stoned to death without our knowledge because we failed in create a true atmosphere of religious freedom in the nations we are occupying?

VISIT OUR INTERNET STORE

OUR INTERNET STORE - We have lots of great Christian themed products at our Internet store. Not only are there books and CD's, but everything from candy to jewelry. Unlike Amazon and other major Internet stores we do not sell porn and satanic materials right beside Christian books. Please take a look. The store is located at www.rfcstore.com.
Contributions to the work of the Religious Freedom Coalition can be made at www.rfcnet.org.