Week Ending May 16, 2008 - Washington, DC

Islamic rocket attack welcomes Bush to Israel / Bush killed in Islamic children's video shown on TV / Bush hands Lebanon to Islamists / Goodbye Hillary? / Pro-Life congressman to head GOP Platform Committee / Dems want Internet gambling / Military Honor and Decency / Horrible death toll in Islamic bombings in India / More on bombed home of evangelist in Israel

THE PRESIDENT

ISLAMIC ROCKET WELCOMES BUSH TO ISRAEL - Just as President George W. Bush prepared to speak at a May 14th event in Israel marking its 60 years of independence, 15 people were wounded, including a three-year-old, when a Grad rocket fired from Gaza hit the Hutzot Shopping Center in Ashkelon. (Jpost story) The President spoke about America's commitment to Israel without mentioning that his Administration pressured Israel into leaving the Gaza Strip, from which Muslims now fire dozens of rockets daily into southern Israel. The President now heads to Saudi Arabia to visit with the worst offenders of human rights in the world, and to beg them to pump additional oil to lower gasoline prices.

BUSH KILLED IN CHILDREN'S VIDEO - Numerous Islamic sites have threatened President Bush's life on his present Middle East trip. Yet, Bush hopes to convince Israel to give up more of its territory to help establish a Palestinian State. Meanwhile Palestinian TV just aired children's show in which the White House is turned into a mosque and Bush is stabbed to death by a Palestinian child using the sword of Allah.

BUSH HANDS LEBANON TO ISLAMISTS- Christians with enough money to do so are fleeing Lebanon, as Druse and Christian militias plead with the Bush Administration for arms to fight the Islamists. In reality the fight is over and the Bush Administration is so distracted with the prospect of Israel giving up land for a Palestinian state that they don't realize Lebanon is lost.

Sheik Yazeeb Khader, A West Bank political activist, does understand what Bush does not. This week he said, ""What happened in Gaza in 2007 is an achievement; now it is happening in 2008 in Lebanon. It's going to happen in 2009 in Jordan and it's going to happen in 2010 in Egypt." He continued, "We are seeing a redrawing of the map of the Middle East where the forces of resistance and steadfastness are the ones moving the things on the ground."

He is right; once Bush allows Lebanon to fall, land locked Jordan will be next. Full Story.

GOODBYE HILLARY? - Virtually all the pundits now declare that the Democrats have their nominee and it is time for Hillary Clinton to step aside for Barack Obama. One voice calling for her to withdraw is that of Senator Ted Kennedy. Yet, when he ran for president in 1980 he refused to step aside even though he was 500 delegate votes behind Gov. Jimmy Carter. He carried his campaign to the floor of the convention. Senator Obama says he will have the delegates needed by May 20th to tell Hillary bye bye.

THE CONGRESS

PRO-LIFE CONGRESSMAN TO HEAD PLATFORM COMMITTEE - Republican National Committee chairman Robert "Mike" Duncan has named pro-life Congressman Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as chairman of the 2008 Republican National Convention Platform Committee. Rep. McCarthy has a 100% pro-life voting rating from the National Right to Life Committee and will most certainly work to keep the pro-life plank in the Republican Platform, despite efforts by pro-abortion and pro-homosexual Republicans to "broaden" the appeal of the party

DEMS WANT TO WEAKEN INTERNET GAMBLING LAWS - House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) has introduced legislation (H.R. 5767) to derail enforcement regulations against unlawful Internet gambling. His bill would be detrimental to gains against Internet gambling achieved in the Republican controlled 109th Congress.

MILITARY HONOR AND DECENCY - The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997 stated, in part, that "The Secretary of Defense may not permit the sale or rental of sexually explicit material on property under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense." However, broad definitions in the statute have created a loophole which allows publications such as Playboy, Penthouse, and similar material to be sold at military exchange stores. Congressman Paul Broun (R-GA) has introduced the Military Honor and Decency Act, (HR- 5821) to close the loophole and stop all sales of pornographic material on military bases.

RELIGION AND SOCIETY

CALIFORNIA TO HAVE SAME SEX MARRIAGE - The California Supreme Court ruled 4 to 3 this week that marriage as the union of husband and wife is unconstitutional under the California constitution. The majority ruled that there is a fundamental constitutional right to same-sex marriage, and that by creating civil unions the state violated the equal protection clause of its Constitution. In other words states that create "civil unions" open up the gate for same sex marriage. (Text of Court ruling)

Senator Obama believes this is a great ruling. Senator McCain said nothing himself, but his spokesman Tucker Bounds said, "John McCain supports the right of the people of California to recognize marriage as a unique institution sanctioning the union between a man and a woman, just as he did in his home state of Arizona. John McCain doesn't believe judges should be making these decisions."

NEW APRIL CHAIRMAN'S REPORTS AVAILABLE - The April, 2008 Chairman's Report from William J. Murray is now available online in PDF version. The Chairman's Report contains some material not seen in these updates. Click here to view.

INTERNATIONAL

THE ISLAMIC BOMBINGS YOU DIDN'T READ ABOUT - "This is not a crime; we are in the middle of a war," Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje said on Thursday as her government dealt with 61 dead and hundreds wounded in Islamic bombings in Jaipur, a tourist destination in India. A series of bombs ripped through shops and squares this past week. Under the new White House guidelines of "never say anything bad about Islam" there was no mention of the Jihad attacks from the Administration and the media, including Fox News, ignored the bloody attack that occurred in a democratic nation friendly to us. Click here for report in the Times of India. (Video available at site) A list of other Islamic terror attacks the past week can be found here.

ISRAEL EVANGELIST'S SON RECOVERING FROM BOMBING - After six weeks in a hospital, ijncluding three weeks in intensive care, Ami Ortiz has been moved to a rehabilitation center. Evangelist David Ortiz reports to us that his 15 year-old son still faces a long recovery from his wounds after the bombing of their apartment in April. Ami has faced numerous operations and doctors who may not understand the healing power of Jesus have been amazed by his recovery. (Read latest family update from Israel) I have stayed at the Ortiz apartment many times and have sat at the table for dinner on which the bomb, hidden in a Purim basket, exploded. Please continue to pray for Ami's recovery. Click here for photos of the aftermath of the bombing. An address to send cards to Ami is located at the end of the power point presentation of photos. (If you don't have MS Power Point download the viewer here.

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