Week Ending April 4, 2008 - Washington, DC

Obama: I don't want my daughters punished with a baby / No Mitt for VP / Tax dollars for abortion group / More on Indian Health bill / The Senate and housing / The Romney petition / Syria trip stopped / China house church crack down / More on bombed evangelist's son

NEW END OF MARCH CHAIRMAN'S REPORTS AVAILABLE - The March 29, 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 to view!

THE PRESIDENT

OBAMA: PUNISHED WITH A BABY- No one could make this up about Obama. He actually said he did not want his daughters "punished with a baby." Also, his next sentence was, "I don't want them punished with an STD..." implying that babies and sexually transmitted diseases are similar "punishments" for their parents. The video of Obama making this statement is at Youtube.com

NO MITT FOR VP - The political action committee I head placed a "NO MITT FOR VP" ad in the Prescott, Arizona Daily for Saturday, April 5th, the same day Senator John McCain will be campaigning there. The ad has caused a firestorm in the media and was attacked by Romney backers for a full 24 hours before it was scheduled to appear. Click here to view ad.
So many vile comments were left by Romney supporters at the NOMITTVP.COM website that a volunteer had to stand by to erase those that were most offensive.

THE HOUSE

OUR DOLLARS TO ABORTION GROUP - Planned Parenthood Federation of America current Annual Report (2006-2007) indicates more babies killed by the group. Abortions increased from 264,943 in 2005 to 289,650 in 2006. Planned Parenthood received over $336 million in government grants and contracts from the States and from the US government. Please contact your congressman and tell him to STOP funding Planned Parenthood.

INDIAN HEALTH AND ABORTION - As mentioned last week, Congressman Joe Pitts (R-PA) has now offered an amendment to the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (HR 1328) that would codify a longstanding policy against funding of abortions with federal Indian Health Service (IHS) funds A similar amendment offered by Sen. Vitter (R-LA), in the Senate passed by a vote of 52 - 42. Please contact your congressman NOW and ask him to support Congressman Pitts' efforts. NO ABORTION FUNDS IN INDIAN HEALTH!

THE SENATE

HOUSING- Virtually this entire week has been spent on the Housing issue, with Democrats wanting to spend billions of dollars to bail out speculators who bought over priced condos from Donald Trump. The Democrats get more money from millionaires and billionaires than any other source. As a result they attack corporations owned by small investors like you and me while ignoring the billionaire speculators. The latest attack is on the oil companies for high gas prices while ignoring billionaire speculators such as George Soros who are running up the price of crude oil with speculative buys. Soros is a big player in the speculative markets and a lot of the money be makes winds up assisting leftwing causes and the Democrat party. The price of crude according to experts would be $75 to $80 per barrel if speculators who bought oil future contracts for pennies on the dollar were not in the market.

RELIGION AND SOCIETY

THE ROMNEY PETITION - Government Is Not God - PAC set up a petition (key word being petition) against Mitt Romney being Senator McCain's VP pick. Romney's allies immediately directed an orchestrated campaign to SIGN THE PETITION AGAINST HIM in order to make pro-Romney, anti-evangelical statements at the site. Many of the statements were so anti-Christian, using such terms as "fat Baptist women" & "ignorant evangelicals" that the Romney supporters' statements were deleted in mass. Oddly, the Romney supporters do not understand that signing a petition against him, in order to make statements favoring him, is as two-faced as the man they support.

NEW MARCH CHAIRMAN'S REPORTS AVAILABLE - The March 29, 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 to view!

INTERNATIONAL

SYRIA TRIP STOPPED - Nationally known best selling author,Ken Timmerman was set to lead a mission to Syria to document the needs of tens of thousands of Iraqi Christian refugees. It was my intention to accompany Ken on this mission next week. Oddly the attempt to bring aid to Iraqis in Syria was blocked by the Syrian government when they refused to issue visas to Ken and his team.

PRE-OLYMPIC CRACKDOWN ON THE CHURCH - The China Aid Association reports that thirteen house church leaders were detained at Qu county, Sichuan province. Eyewitnesses there said that around 3pm March 29th, Saturday afternoon, a house church service was attacked during their praise and worship service. The church is in Qu county, Dazhou city which is a 6 hour drive from Chengdu City, Sichuan Province. Read more information from CAA on this attack.

HOUSE CHURCH BOMBING IN ISRAEL - Please continue to pray for David and Leah Ortiz and their son Ami. Ami's injuries from a bomb attack on the Ortiz apartment in Ariel, Samaria are serious and he has had fingers and toes amputated. He is still in the hospital after more than two weeks of surgeries. While a Muslim group took credit for the bombing, the police are still investigating. The Religious Freedom Coalition has supported David's evangelistic ministry to Palestinians for many years and I have stayed in his apartment numerous times. A report written by my wife Nancy on one of our trips to visit David and Leah Ortiz has photos of them. Click here to read.

SUPPORT THE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM COALITION

CHRISTIAN INTERNET STORE - There are literally tens of thousands of Christian theme items available at our affiliate store including jewelry from the Holy Land. It is a great place to shop for gifts. The store is located at www.rfcstore.com. Please help us with our various projects on Capitol Hill and in the Holy Land by shopping at our affiliate Christian Superstore . Contributions to the work of the Religious Freedom Coalition can be made at www.rfcnet.org.

email: support@rfcnet.org phone: 202.742.8990 web: http://www.rfcnet.org

William J. Murray, Chairman Religious Freedom Coalition, PO Box 77511, Washington, DC 20013 - (202) 742.8990 This publication is a service of the Religious Freedom Coalition (RFC). Links to political and other sites are for informational purposes and do not constitute endorsement. No statement is intended to assist or defeat any candidate running for public office. Religious Freedom Coalition * Copyright - 2007

Week Ending March 28, 2008 - Washington, DC

Bush: Burkas for Christian women OK / Iraqi church bombings are "criminal acts " not persecution by Muslims / Israel Pastor's apartment bombed, son critical / No Mitt for VP? / Obama's new racial problem? / Indian Health and abortion goes to House

NEW END OF MARCH CHAIRMAN'S REPORTS AVAILABLE - The March 29, 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 to view!

THE PRESIDENT

BUSH: BURKAS OK FOR CHRISTIAN WOMEN- The official policy of President George W. Bush's administration is that forcing a Christian woman to wear a burka or hijab in public is not religious persecution because nothing in Christian doctrine forbids wearing them. It is also the official policy of the Administration that there is no religious persecution of Christians in Iraq and that the 41 churches destroyed since the war began and the church bombings this past Christmas were done by "criminal elements." The US Commission on International Religious Freedom is considering designating Iraq as a "CPC" or Country of Particular Concern. The Bush Administration is in a state of panic over this possibility and is exerting extreme political pressure to avert this action. As a result, I doubt that CPC status will be issued for Iraq.

NO MITT FOR VP - Senator McCain's recent comments favorable to Mitt Romney and the current "M&M" fund raising tour featuring McCain and Mitt has social conservatives in an uproar. A group of "values voters" have prepared a full page ad addressed to McCain telling him "NO MITT" and a petition is now online at www.NoMittVP.com where social conservatives can leave a message for John McCain on the issue.

OBAMA'S NEW RACIST PROBLEM - Portions of a thesis reportedly written by Senator Obama's wife, Michelle, while at Princeton is circulating on the Internet. The document is racist and radical, calling for blacks to become "separatists" and saying that all whites are "inherently racist." There has been no verification of the document; however, the racist comments of Obama's pastor floated on the Internet for months before mainstream media dared to publish them. If this material is accurate, Senator Obama cannot claim he "was not present" enough with his wife to be aware of her beliefs.

THE HOUSE

INDIAN HEALTH AND ABORTION - When the House returns from "Spring break" next week Congressman Pitts (R-PA) intends to offer an amendment to the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (HR 1328) that would codify a longstanding policy against funding of abortions with federal Indian Health Service (IHS) funds (except to save the life of the mother, or in cases of rape or incest of a minor). A similar amendment offered by Sen. Vitter (R-LA), in the Senate passed by a vote of 52 - 42. Please contact your congressman and ask him to support Congressman Pitts' efforts. NO ABORTION FUNDS IN INDIAN HEALTH!

THE SENATE

SENATE SOMEWHAT IN RECESS - The Senate will not take an official recess for Easter. Every few days there will be a "pro-forma" session of the Senate with only one Senator present. The purpose of these sessions is to stop President George W. Bush from making emergency appointments to the hundreds of judicial and other agency vacancies.

RELIGION AND SOCIETY

NEW MARCH CHAIRMAN'S REPORTS AVAILABLE - The March 29, 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 to view!

INTERNATIONAL

OUR EVANGELIST'S APARTMENT BOMBED - The apartment of the pastor of the evangelistic ministry in Israel supported by the Religious Freedom Coalition has been bombed, and his son was critically injured. I have stayed numerous times in the Ariel apartment of David Ortiz and his wife Leah in Ariel, Samaria. I have traveled with him into the Arab areas where he ministers to Muslims. Many have accepted Christ as a result of his ministry. Part of the video done by my daughter Katie, Holy Land Teens, was filmed in the apartment that was bombed. The youngest son who was featured in that video is still in critical condition. His arms have been saved, but he has lost fingers. Microscopic surgery is to be done on his eyes to restore his sight this week. An Islamic organization has claimed responsibility, but police have not ruled out the possibility that a Jewish extremist group planted the bomb because David also pastors a House Church for Messianic Jews in Ariel. Jerusalem Post Story

SUPPORT THE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM COALITION

CHRISTIAN INTERNET STORE - There are literally tens of thousands of Christian theme items available at our affiliate store including jewelry from the Holy Land. It is a great place to shop for gifts. The store is located at www.rfcstore.com. Please help us with our various projects on Capitol Hill and in the Holy Land by shopping at our affiliate Christian Superstore . Contributions to the work of the Religious Freedom Coalition can be made at www.rfcnet.org.