On Marriage, You Can Fight City Hall
On Marriage, You Can Fight City Hall
While pro-family forces in California are trying to preserve the people’s vote on marriage, D.C. locals would be happy just to have one! With all eyes on the flashy suit in San Francisco, the brawl in America’s capital is often overlooked–even though it too has national implications for marriage. Like Perry v. Schwarzenegger, this drama is also unfolding in the courts after the city’s Board of Elections twice refused to put the issue of marriage to a vote. Last week, 39 Republicans from the House and Senate jumped into the fray by calling for a citywide referendum. In a brief filed on behalf of Stand4MarriageDC, these leaders tried to remind the city who’s boss. "As members of the District’s ultimate legislative body, [the members of Congress who filed the brief] are concerned about the extent of the District’s del egated legislative authority, the preservation of Congress’s constitutional authority, and the interpretation of home rule."
As of Monday, the clock is ticking on Congress’s official response. According to House rules, members have 30 legislative days to act. If they don’t block the same-sex "marriage" bill by February, it will automatically become law–and, as Mayor Adrian Fenty said, "set the tone for other jurisdictions to follow…" Bishop Harry Jackson is doing everything he can to keep that from happening. Earlier this week, he called in reinforcements at a 24-hour National Marriage Summit he hosted to help beat back this attack and others. More than 100 African-American pastors flew or drove in from across the country to join Bishop Jackson in a major strategy session on how win on marriage in this fight and others. Yesterday, the event capped off with a Capitol press conference and meetings in the Democratic leadership’s offices.
At FRC, we have been incredibly encouraged to be a part of this effort–which has been driven almost entirely by Bishop Jackson and other black pastors. They understand all too well the ramifications of family breakdown and are activating in record numbers to keep that crisis from expanding. In the country’s slugfest over marriage, both sides know that these 68 square miles are prime real estate in the overall battle. Ultimately, Washington, D.C. is the people’s property. And if city leaders won’t let the capital vote, then Congress must.
Stem Cell Reality Bites California
Back in 2004, Californians passed Proposition 71 to direct $3 billion to embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) and cloning. The people were promised that the investment in embryonic stem cells would lead to cures and huge economic returns for the state. As Investor’s Business Daily notes in an editorial, "Five years later, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine…is diverting funds from ESCR to research that has produced actual therapies and treatments: adult stem cell research. It not only has treated real people with real results; it also does not come with the moral baggage ESCR does." Only four of the Institute’s 14 recent grants involve embryonic stem cells. According to Alan Trounson, CIRM’s director, "If we went 10 years and had no clinical treatments, it would be a failure." That would definitely be the case with embryonic stem cells!
Meanwhile, adult stem cells are helping thousands of patients now. The IBD editorial sums things up well: "It is ESCR researchers who have politicized science and stood in the way of real progress. We are pleased to see California researchers beginning to put science in its rightful place." To see some examples of real science with adult stem cells that are treating real people now, visit FRC’s new website to hear true stories from patients.
Help Haiti!
By now, you’re all aware of at least some of the devastation that rocked the already-impoverished nation of Haiti in last night’s earthquake. As people struggle to find their loved ones and as international groups stream in to help, please join us in prayer for the thousands of hurting families. If you’re able to help in the relief efforts, here some direct links the Haiti-specific pages of a few Christian organizations that will be on the ground with emergency response teams to help the island deal with this heartbreaking catastrophe. Please donate if you can.
Fact #31: Hold the Mayo (Clinic)
On June 3 of this year, President Obama wrote a letter to two Senate Chairmen who, at the time, were working to overhaul the health care system: Senators Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.). In the correspondence, President Obama encouraged them to "ask why places like the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, and other institutions can offer the highest quality care at costs well below the national norm. We need to learn from their successes and replicate those best practices across our country. That’s how we can achieve reform that preserves and strengthens what’s best about our health care system, while fixing what is broken." A little over a month later, the Mayo Clinic spoke against the House healt h care bill, which President Obama endorsed, saying "[t]he real losers will be the citizens of the United States." What would President Obama make of the Wall Street Journal reporting that the Mayo Clinic will no longer accept Medicare patients at its primary care clinic in Arizona as part of a pilot program to determine if it should also drop Medicare patients at other facilities serving more than 500,000 seniors?
