Associated Press - 6/30/2009 7:30:00 AM

WASHINGTON, DC -

President Barack Obama says that while he's dedicated to expanding homosexual rights, many Americans still cling to what he calls "worn arguments and old attitudes."

Obama quote: "I believe we can achieve equality for the millions of LGBT people in this country, and with the team (leaders of his LGBT team) I know that the LGBT will play a major role in our campaign to bring change to Washington.
                                                                                      Barack Obama (Aug 2008)

At a White House celebration of Gay Pride Month, Obama said he hopes to persuade all Americans to accept homosexuality. ""There are good and decent people in this country who don't yet fully embrace their gay brothers and sisters -- not yet," said the president. "That's why I've spoken about these issues -- not just in front of you -- but in front of unlikely audiences, in front of African-American church members."

Obama acknowledged that many Americans still disapprove of homosexuality. "There are still fellow citizens, perhaps neighbors or even family members and loved ones, who still hold fast to worn arguments and old attitudes," he stated.

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He added that Congress should repeal what Obama referred to as "the so-called Defense of Marriage Act" -- and that his administration is working to pass a hate crimes bill and to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy on homosexuals in the military.

The audience at the White House ceremony included Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson and other homosexual clergy. Obama introduced Robinson as a "special friend."

Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow - 6/22/2009 7:00:00 AM

A healthcare expert is taking umbrage with ABC's planned healthcare special this week.

ABC will air the special from the White House during primetime on June 24. "Prescription for America," to be moderated by ABC News' Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer, will originate from the East Room and will feature the president explaining his plans for reforming the nation's healthcare system. Officials with the network claim they will air opposing views, that the audience that will offer up questions for the president during the program will be made up of Americans "who have divergent opinions" in the debate on national healthcare.

However, critics think the network will basically be providing President Obama and Capitol Hill Democrats with a free infomercial to sell their healthcare plan to the American public.
 
Ron Greiner is with Save101.com, which sells and promotes affordable healthcare coupled with tax-free health savings accounts (HSAs). He wonders if ABC will follow through with their promise to air an alternative view to Obama's health plan.
 
"The center piece of Republican healthcare reform is individual health insurance, portable insurance, and tax-free health savings accounts," he explains. "And it's just been reported from Time Insurance Company -- America's oldest health insurance company -- that 40 percent of all [people with] HSAs had no previous health insurance. So it's clear that HSAs get uninsured Americans insurance."

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Tax-free HSAs allow individuals to set aside money pre-tax, and at the end of the year those funds roll over with no penalties. Greiner believes linking that account with a health insurance plan that might have higher deductibles will allow people to purchase lower-cost health plans. With this plan, he says families can purchase health insurance for as little as $200 a month while building their savings account and generating wealth.
 
He adds that in Massachusetts, on which Democrats are basing the national healthcare model, healthcare costs some families as much as $1,000 per month -- and if families or individuals do not purchase the insurance, they face stiff fines.
 
According to a CNSNews.com report last week, ABC rejected an alternative healthcare ad submitted for airing during the primetime special on Wednesday. A network spokesman said at that time it was rejected because ABC does not accept "advocacy advertising."

Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow - 6/19/2009 5:00:00 AM

A NASA employee is voicing concern over a recent email and memo from her supervisors.

The controversial memo was sent out by NASA officials to employees and encouraged them to celebrate "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month," in accordance with a presidential proclamation. NASA officials not only encouraged employees to celebrate the pro-homosexual observance, but also encouraged them to participate in pride events in their communities. If there was no such event in their community, employees were encouraged to start one. (See related story)
 
However, one employee -- who asked to remain anonymous -- was offended by the memo because she does not believe it is NASA's place to encourage employees to celebrate a lifestyle she and others do not agree with. She also stated that it was ironic that NASA would encourage participation in this event, but around Christmas time does not send out any emails or memos encouraging employees to celebrate that holiday or any other religious events.
 
The NASA employee did tell OneNewsNow that another employee is voicing concern to upper management via email. "I don't know how much of it will make it past the center level and actually get up to the acting director," she says.
 
The employee adds that even if it did, she doubts it would make much of a difference.

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in observances that focus on 'hot-button' social issues (e.g., homosexuality, abortion)?

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Punishing wrong beliefs about homosexuality is its sole purpose

 June 16, 2009

Sincerely, Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman American Family Association

Donate with confidence to AFA (gifts are tax-deductible)

Jim Brown - OneNewsNow - 6/16/2009 8:50:00 AM

A leading health economist says President Obama delivered a subtle and unpleasant message to the American Medical Association yesterday, implying that doctors are the main problem behind rising healthcare costs.

Barack Obama cited in his AMA speech what he argues are radical differences in the practice of medicine across the country -- some doctors are practicing medicine conservatively, while others are ordering unnecessary tests and prescribing "treatments that, in some cases, can actually do people harm by raising the risk of infection or medical error." (Full text of speech)
 
Dr. John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, believes President Obama wants the federal government to force doctors to change the way they practice medicine.
 
"They are talking about a system parallel to the employer-based health insurance system," he explains. "So if you don't get insurance from an employer, you go into this artificial market that would be regulated and controlled by the government.
 
"You would have choices in this market," he continues, "and the left-wing of the Democratic Party wants one of the choices to be a government-run health insurance plan -- by which they generally mean Medicare for young people."
 
Goodman says Obama's plan would push doctor and hospital fees and premiums so low that an estimated 120 million Americans would drop their private health insurance plan for the government program.
 
As to the president's implication that physicians themselves are part of the problem, Goodman argues that both doctors and patients are victims of the system.
 
"Doctors are not the problem," he states. "It's a lack of a competitive marketplace that's the problem. Doctors are just as much a victim as patients. We are all trapped in a dysfunctional healthcare system [that is] shaped and molded by bad government policy." Goodman's blog on health policy encourages individuals to sign an online "Free Our Health Care NOW!" petition.
 
Many in the AMA audience booed President Obama when he said is against limiting malpractice awards, which is the group's highest legislative priority.

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in the U.S.?

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Jim Brown - OneNewsNow - 6/15/2009 6:00:00 AM

A leading Christian Zionist says if President Obama wants to be consistent in his condemnation of anti-Semitism, he should speak out against the latest anti-Semitic rant by his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright.

Pastor Wright told the Daily Press of Newport News, Virginia, on Tuesday that "them Jews" were keeping him from speaking to President Obama. He also criticized the president for not sending a U.S. delegation to the World Conference on Racism, saying Obama chose not to for fear of offending Jews and Israel.
 
Pro-Israel activist Gary Bauer, who serves on the executive board of Christians United for Israel, says Wright's comments were yet another jarring reminder that he is an "open, unrepentant anti-Semite of the worst kind."
 
"This is a man who has serious problems and is obviously a hater -- and the mystery remains why in the world our president and his family would have stayed in that church for so many years," he contends.
 
Although the White House would not comment on Wright's incendiary remarks, including his claim that Zionists were carrying out "ethnic cleansing" in Gaza, Bauer says President Obama needs to be asked how much of his Mideast policy was formulated by the two decades of teaching he received from Wright.

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"Certainly when I see the president suggesting that Israel cannot build homes for Jews in Judea and Samaria, it raises serious concerns in my mind about what in the world is motivating [him] to take such a position," he admits.
 
According to Bauer, if Jeremiah Wright is so concerned about "ethnic cleansing," he needs to look no further than Gaza, where every Jew was forced to leave as they turned that land over to the Palestinians. Bauer is concerned that the Obama administration may be suggesting that no Jews will be allowed to live in the West Bank as that land is also turned over to the Palestinians.
 
Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that Wright issued an apology on Thursday, saying he "meant no harm or ill-will to the American Jewish community" or Obama's administration.

Read the Open Letter the New York Times refused to print

June 9, 2009

Sincerely, Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman American Family Association

Marcia Segelstein - Guest Columnist - 6/2/2009 7:30:00 AM

WARNING:  This article contains graphic material which many will find distasteful.  It is included because it is an essential part of the story.
 
Last night, Jill Biden appeared as a special guest speaker for the activist homosexual organization called GLSEN.  Just so everyone's clear about the group getting a de facto stamp of approval from the Vice President's wife, here's a brief primer on GLSEN.

GLSEN, which stands for Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, proudly claims that its goal is to promote safe schools for people of all sexual orientations.  Many of its programs are billed as "anti-bullying."  GLSEN presents itself as a benign organization devoted to tolerance and understanding.
 
In fact, GLSEN is anything but benign or tolerant.  What GLSEN actually opposes is "heterosexism."  In other words, GLSEN wants schools to rid children of the outrageous notion that heterosexuality is the norm, and make sure they're clear that gender is merely a man-made construct.  They're not really about stopping bullies.  They're about bullying schools into adopting their radical pro-homosexual agenda.  Not only do they want to teach your kindergartener that it's okay to be gay, they want to teach your middle-schooler how to be gay.
 
Like the broader homosexual rights movement, GLSEN has worked skillfully for years to position itself as an organization dedicated to civil rights.  In fact, they are about promoting homosexuality to children, starting in preschool.  In 2002 GLSEN held a conference in Boston which included a seminar called "Gender in the Early Childhood Classroom."  GLSEN's founder, Kevin Jennings, wrote the foreword for a book called Queering Elementary Education.  It includes essays called "Locating a Place for Gay and Lesbian Themes in Elementary Reading, Writing and Talking," and "How to Make 'Boys' and 'Girls' in the Classroom."  Note the quotes around boys and girls.
 
GLSEN's website includes links to recommended book titles for various grade levels.  The kindergarten through sixth-grade section includes Daddy's Roommate, Heather Has Two Mommies, and Hello, Sailor -- the latter described on Amazon as a book that "makes the love between two men as natural as any other."
 
In 2000, GLSEN sponsored a daylong conference in Massachusetts funded by taxpayers purportedly to find ways to make schools safe and inclusive.  In a now infamous session for 14- to 21-year-olds, gay and lesbian state employees promoted and described a sexual practice called "fisting."  One of the presenters explained that it is "an experience of letting somebody into your body that you want to be close and intimate with."  The following year GLSEN sponsored a similar event, called "Creating Safety - Teaching Respect."  The teenagers who attended received not only instruction, but kits containing latex gloves and lubricants, for "safe" fisting, courtesy of Planned Parenthood.
 
So you get the idea.  GLSEN is about using schools to promote homosexuality to children under the who-could-argue-with-this banner of tolerance and inclusivity.  Among the many reasonable questions that could (and should) be asked about such programs is why sexuality of any sort is being promoted and described to children by educators. 

Read Marcia Segelstein's earlier column: Obama's connection to GLSEN 

One can only assume that the Vice President's wife supports their agenda.  Sadly, we already know that the administration does, too.  Education Secretary Arne Duncan recently appointed GLSEN's founder as assistant deputy secretary of the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools.  The announcement of Jennings' appointment included a description of GLSEN as "an organization that works to make schools safe for all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity."  Jennings also served as candidate Obama's campaign fundraising co-chair for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community.
 
Just for fun, let's imagine that an organization is formed ostensibly to protect the safety of Christian students who might be subject to bullying and stereotyping by their classmates.  After all, many Christians were targets of hate speech – and worse – after Proposition 8 passed in California.  Surely it could be argued that it's time to use public schools and public money to promote and protect those who practice Christianity.  Imagine taxpayer dollars spent to host day-long events with seminars describing what Christianity is all about.  Now imagine such an organization moving beyond the goal of safety for Christians, and instead, finding ways to work Christian tenets into every facet of school curricula. 
 
Setting aside the unlikely prospect – to say nothing of the impropriety – of public schools actively promoting Christianity (or any religion), let's get back to GLSEN.  What about giving equal time to heterosexuality?  Consider the story of a student at Woodbury High School outside Saint Paul, Minnesota, a few years ago. Perhaps tired of the myriad of pink triangles displayed all over the school (denoting "safe zones" for LGBT students), one day he wore a sweatshirt with the words "Straight Pride" on the front and a picture of a man and woman holding hands on the back.  Not only did the principal ban him from wearing the sweatshirt again, he called the parents "homophobic."  To their credit, the parents filed a federal lawsuit claiming their son's First Amendment rights had been violated.  They also opted to home-school.
 
Like a wolf in sheep's clothing, GLSEN is not about keeping children safe.  It's not about protection from bullies.  It's about promoting behavior which is antithetical to traditional Christian and Jewish teachings.
 
Maybe it really is time for an organization to protect students with traditional Judeo-Christian values.  Can we count on your support, Mrs. Biden?

The Christian Life      

Jody Brown and Allie Martin - OneNewsNow - 6/2/2009 7:20:00 AM

In a presidential proclamation on the White House website, Barack Obama has lauded what he calls "the determination and dedication" of the LGBT movement by proclaiming June as "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month."

"The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress," Obama states in the official proclamation, "but there is more to be done. LGBT youth should feel safe to learn without the fear of harassment, and LGBT families and seniors should be allowed to live their lives with dignity and respect."
 
The proclamation, released on Monday, credits the LGBT movement with being a factor in more Americans who ascribe to those groups "living their lives openly today than ever before."

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The president also takes pride in being the first U.S. chief executive to appoint "openly LGBT" candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an administration.
 
He uses the proclamation to emphasize LGBT-related initiatives that he intends to pursue in the future -- both domestically and internationally.
 
"I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexual around the world," he states. "Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans."
 
Among those measures he lists "hate crimes" laws, civil unions, discrimination in the workplace, adoption rights, and ending the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy "in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security."

Presidential pandering

Pro-family activist says Peter LaBarbera it is sad, but not surprising, that President Obama has chosen to issue a proclamation celebrating homosexuality. The president of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality says Obama is pandering to homosexual political activists.
 
"Homosexuality is nothing to be proud of -- bottom line," says LaBarbera. "The fact is people have left the lifestyle, people have overcome homosexuality [with God's help] -- I think that's something to be proud of...."
 
LaBarbera warns of the repercussions of the president's pursuit of expanded rights for those who are confused about their sexual orientation.
 
"This proclamation talks about the entire radical homosexual agenda that Obama supports -- including homosexualizing the U.S. military [and] federal so-called 'rights' based on homosexuality, which will impinge on the religious freedoms and freedom of conscience of other Americans."

Christians, he believes, must reach out to homosexuals with the message of the gospel.

Read the official White House proclamation

Couple: County Trying To Stop Home Bible Studies

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 5/18/2009 6:30:00 AM

A surprising revelation from a homosexual activist over the purpose of the "hate crimes" bill is drawing kudos from at least one pro-family spokesman.

The activist is Andrew Sullivan, one of the movers and shakers in the international homosexual movement. "The real reason for hate crime laws is not the defense of human beings from crime. There are already laws against that," Sullivan writes on his blog, "and Matthew Shepard's murderers were successfully prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law in a state with no hate crimes law at the time."
 
Sullivan continues: "The real reason for the invention of hate crimes was a hard-left critique of conventional liberal justice and the emergence of special interest groups which need boutique legislation to raise funds for their large staffs and luxurious buildings. Just imagine how many direct mail pieces have gone out explaining that without more money for [Human Rights Campaign], more gay human beings will be crucified on fences. It's very, very powerful as a money-making tool -- which may explain why the largely symbolic federal bill still hasn't passed."

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Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel read the blog entry and offers this take on Sullivan's comments on Senate Bill 909.
 
"He is to be commended for his candor," says Barber. "He has admitted publicly now that the hate crimes bill...is, among other things, simply a money-making scheme drummed up by the organized homosexualist lobby."
 
S. 909 is called the Matthew Shepard Act to honor a young homosexual man who was tortured and killed in 1998 not because of his sexual orientation, but during the course of a robbery. As Barber notes, the murder has been used as a money-raiser, too.
 
"Andrew Sullivan points this irony out and points out how ridiculous it is that they are using [Shepard's] name, exploiting this poor young man's horrible death to try to push a money-making scheme...a social ponzi scheme," says Barber.
 
"The cat's out of the bag," he continues. "Sullivan's admission...is both refreshing and stunning at the same time."
 
The hate crimes bill, which has already passed the House, would add sexual orientation to other protected classes.

By Drew Zahn
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 5/7/2009 6:00:00 AM

The Rutherford Institute is suing a Billings, Montana, school over a graduation decision.

John Whitehead, founder of the Institute, says many people were scheduled to speak at the 2008 Butte High School graduation. Some chose serious subjects, others humor, he says.
 
"Renee Griffith, who is a Christian, wanted to mention Christ once and mention God once in one of her very short remarks, and the school said she couldn't do it," he explains. "She [insisted she] wanted to do it, so then they actually removed her from the graduation ceremony and did not allow her to speak."
 
According to a Rutherford press release, the co-valedictorian was ordered to replace two phrases in her speech -- "sharing Christ" and "lived with a purpose from God with a passionate love for Him" -- with the following phrases: "sharing my faith" and "lived with a purpose, a purpose derived from my faith and based on a love of mankind."
 
Whitehead explains he has seen many incidents of constitutional rights violated in graduation ceremonies, and has won several such cases. But Griffith's case -- which he describes as "pure censorship" -- is the worst he has seen, he says.
 
"Society seems to be going another direction," observes the attorney. "But the scary thing is, even these students who just want the right to freely speak like other students about what they believe in [are] being denied their rights. So what's happening is we're gutting the free-speech clause [in the Constitution]."
 
Whitehead maintains that students have constitutional rights -- but warns that "if we don't begin protecting the right to free speech in the schools, we are going to lose the right to speak entirely."

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 5/6/2009 7:25:00 AM

Despite opposition from some local churches, the Washington, DC Council has voted 12-1 to recognize homosexual "marriages" legal in other states. (View video news report)

Associated Press reports advocates from both sides of the debate were part of an overflow crowd that filled city hall, and more than 100 opponents from churches in the Washington region held a rally across the street. Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council believes the DC Council is on a slippery slope to recognition of same-gender marriage.
 
"It's unfortunate that the Council chose not to respond to the outpouring of opposition that was voiced over the last week or two, particularly by African-American pastors and congregations here in the District of Columbia," he observes.
 
Congress, which has final say over the city's laws, will get 30 days to review the bill assuming Mayor Adrian Fenty, a supporter, signs it. Since Congress has such oversight, Sprigg believes the Council may be testing the waters and using a backdoor approach to eventual approval of homosexual marriage.
 
"Because this is a more indirect method, they may have calculated that Congress is less likely to respond to override their home-rule prerogatives in the District," Sprigg suggests.
 
If Congress takes no action, the bill would become law automatically.
 
Meanwhile, homosexual clergy, at least one transgender minister, and their supporters have urged Congress to make violence and job discrimination based on sexual orientation federal crimes. At a Capitol Hill news conference on Tuesday, Drew Phoenix -- a United Methodist minister who was once known as Ann Gordon -- said changing from a woman into a man almost got him defrocked.
 
Rabbi Steven Jacobs of Los Angeles said believing "there are only two ways to be human," male or female, "leads to violence and oppression."
 
Tony Campolo, an evangelical author, said he believes homosexual acts are sinful, but that protecting homosexual men and women from violence and discrimination is a matter of justice.

Associated Press - 5/6/2009 6:55:00 AM

WHITE HOUSE - This Thursday, for the first time in nine years, there won't be a White House ceremony in observance of the National Day of Prayer.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says President Barack Obama will pray privately as he does every day, but his only public acknowledgement will be to issue a White House proclamation.

Republican Congressman Randy Forbes, co-chairman of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, says a proclamation urging Americans to pray would be more meaningful if the president set a public example. Forbes calls it a missed opportunity, but says, "Hopefully we'll have millions of people around the country that will make up for the void we see at the White House on the National Day of Prayer." (See Editor's Note below)

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On the same day as Gibbs' remarks, the District of Columbia Council gave final approval to legislation that recognizes same-sex "marriages" performed in states where they are legal. Congress has final say over the city's laws and will get 30 days to review the bill. If Congress takes no action, the bill would become law automatically.

Your calls are needed today!

May 6, 2009

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Play Video AP  – Swine flu impacts vacation plans

• Slideshow:Swine Flu
• Play Video Video:First Person: Compare 1918 flu outbreak to today AP
• Play Video Video:Texas wary as swine flu spreads AP

AP – In this image released by the White House, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius listens …

By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard, Ap Medical Writer – 16 mins ago

WASHINGTON – A 23-month-old Texas toddler became the first confirmed swine flu death outside of Mexico as authorities around the world struggled to contain a growing global health menace that has also swept Germany onto the roster of afflicted nations.

"Even though we've been expecting this, it is very, very sad," Dr. Richard Besser, acting chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday of the infant's death. "As a pediatrician and a parent, my heart goes out to the family."

President Barack Obama said this morning that Americans should know the government is doing all it can to control virus. Obama also says schools should consider closing if the spread of the swine flu virus worsens.

Canada, Austria, New Zealand, Israel, Spain, Britain and Germany also have reported cases of swine flu sickness. Deaths reported so far have been limited to Mexico, and now the U.S.

As the United States grappled with this widening health crisis, Besser went from network to network Wednesday morning to give an update on what the Obama administration is doing. He said authorities essentially are still "trying to learn more about this strain of the flu." His appearances as Germany reported its first cases of swine flu infection, with three victims.

"It's very important that people take their concern and channel it into action," Besser said, adding that "it is crucial that people understand what they need to do if symptoms appear.

"I don't think it (the reported death in Texas) indicates any change in the strain," he said. "We see with any flu virus a spectrum of disease symptoms."

Asked why the problem seems so much more severe in Mexico, Besser said U.S. officials "have teams on the ground, a tri-national team in Mexico, working with Canada and Mexico, to try and understand those differences, because they can be helpful as we plan and implement our control strategies."

Sixty-six infections had been reported in the United States before the report of the toddler's death in Texas.

The world has no vaccine to prevent infection but U.S. health officials aim to have a key ingredient for one ready in early May, the big step that vaccine manufacturers are awaiting. But even if the World Health Organization ordered up emergency vaccine supplies — and that decision hasn't been made yet — it would take at least two more months to produce the initial shots needed for human safety testing.

"We're working together at 100 miles an hour to get material that will be useful," Dr. Jesse Goodman, who oversees the Food and Drug Administration's swine flu work, told The Associated Press.

The U.S. is shipping to states not only enough anti-flu medication for 11 million people, but also masks, hospital supplies and flu test kits. President Barack Obama asked Congress for $1.5 billion in emergency funds to help build more drug stockpiles and monitor future cases, as well as help international efforts to avoid a full-fledged pandemic.

"It's a very serious possibility, but it is still too early to say that this is inevitable," the WHO's flu chief, Dr. Keiji Fukuda, told a telephone news conference.

Cuba and Argentina banned flights to Mexico, where swine flu is suspected of killing more than 150 people and sickening well over 2,000. In a bit of good news, Mexico's health secretary, Jose Cordova, late Tuesday called the death toll there "more or less stable."

Mexico City, one of the world's largest cities, has taken drastic steps to curb the virus' spread, starting with shutting down schools and on Tuesday expanding closures to gyms and swimming pools and even telling restaurants to limit service to takeout. People who venture out tend to wear masks in hopes of protection.

The number of confirmed swine flu cases in the United States rose to 66 in six states, with 45 in New York, 11 in California, six in Texas, two in Kansas and one each in Indiana and Ohio, but cities and states suspected more. In New York, the city's health commissioner said "many hundreds" of schoolchildren were ill at a school where some students had confirmed cases.

The WHO argues against closing borders to stem the spread, and the U.S. — although checking arriving travelers for the ill who may need care — agrees it's too late for that tactic.

"Sealing a border as an approach to containment is something that has been discussed and it was our planning assumption should an outbreak of a new strain of influenza occur overseas. We had plans for trying to swoop in and knockout or quench an outbreak if it were occurring far from our borders. That's not the case here," Besser told a telephone briefing of Nevada-based health providers and reporters. "The idea of trying to limit the spread to Mexico is not realistic or at all possible."

"Border controls do not work. Travel restrictions do not work," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said in Geneva, recalling the SARS epidemic earlier in the decade that killed 774 people, mostly in Asia, and slowed the global economy.

Authorities sought to keep the crisis in context: Flu deaths are common around the world. In the U.S. alone, the CDC says about 36,000 people a year die of flu-related causes. Still, the CDC calls the new strain a combination of pig, bird and human viruses for which people may have limited natural immunity.

Hence the need for a vaccine. Using samples of the flu taken from people who fell ill in Mexico and the U.S., scientists are engineering a strain that could trigger the immune system without causing illness. The hope is to get that ingredient — called a "reference strain" in vaccine jargon — to manufacturers around the second week of May, so they can begin their own laborious production work, said CDC's Dr. Ruben Donis, who is leading that effort.

Vaccine manufacturers are just beginning production for next winter's regular influenza vaccine, which protects against three human flu strains. The WHO wants them to stay with that course for now — it won't call for mass production of a swine flu vaccine unless the outbreak worsens globally. But sometimes new flu strains pop up briefly at the end of one flu season and go away only to re-emerge the next fall, and at the very least there should be a vaccine in time for next winter's flu season, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the National Institutes of Health's infectious diseases chief, said Tuesday.

"Right now it's moving very rapidly," he said of the vaccine development.

Besser appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press," CNN and CBS's "The Early Show."

Your call is needed today!

April 28 2009 ,

Sincerely, Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman American Family Association

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Jim Brown - OneNewsNow - 4/23/2009 6:00:00 AM

Updated 4/23/09 2:00 PM...Original story appears below

Republican opponents of the controversial "hate crimes" legislation that passed the House Judiciary Committee today claim Democratic supporters of the measure are not being clear about who exactly will receive special protections under the bill.

By a 15-12 vote, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (H.R. 1913) was reported out of the House Judiciary Committee, paving the way for a vote in the full House next Wednesday. The bill would add gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and disability to the list of protected categories under federal hate crimes law.

Read related commentary: Separate but unequal protection

Congressman Steve King (R-Iowa) told Democratic members that "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" are vague terms that need to be specifically defined since courts will be analyzing those terms.
 
"This panel -- this Judiciary Committee, including the authors of this bill -- either don't know or won't say what the definitions are, for example, [of] gender identity [or] sexual orientation," King stated. "Does sexual orientation...include transvestism? Does it include transgendered? Are those two that are also part of sexual orientation?" he asked. "And if so, if that's two of 30 [orientations], what are the other 28 that are part of sexual orientation?"
 
Openly lesbian Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) responded to King by noting that gender identity is defined in the bill as "actual or perceived gender-related characteristics," but acknowledged that sexual orientation is not defined in the legislation.
 
"The underlying hate crimes bill or law that has been in existence since the late 60s," she said, "does not define the terms race, color, national origin, or um..."
 
King interjects: "That's because they're immutable characteristics."
 
Although it was not included in the bill, Baldwin said her definition of sexual orientation would be "consensual homosexuality or heterosexuality."
 
King offered an amendment that would have barred pedophiles from receiving special protection under the hate crimes bill. The amendment was defeated on a party-line vote 13-10. Congresswoman Baldwin said that amendment was "unnecessary and inflammatory."
 

Original story appears below ...

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Dems caught in 'lie' during hate crimes debate

A conservative activist closely monitoring the hate crimes" legislation pending before a House committee says although the measure still poses a threat to the religious freedom of Christians who speak out publicly against homosexuality, the foundation of the bill has been removed.

Democrats in the House Judiciary Committee had planned on holding a vote on the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act yesterday, but due to a large amount of Republican amendments to the bill, the vote was postponed until this morning. The bill would add homosexuals and transgender people to the list of protected categories under federal hate crimes law. (Listen to audio report)
 
Andrea Lafferty, executive director of the Traditional Values Coalition, notes that Democrats were forced to eliminate a key portion of the bill -- the findings section.
 
"We exposed the fact that they claimed, they have fraudulent claims that there was an epidemic of hate against homosexuals and drag queens, transgenders -- and that claim was the foundation of the bill," she notes. "They claimed that homosexuals are fleeing across state lines to avoid persecution, and that perpetrators are crossing state lines to commit crimes against these gays, lesbians, and transgenders, and that they have trouble purchasing goods and services or finding employment. We nailed them on the fact that that's a lie."
 
Lafferty says during yesterday's markup hearing, Democrats neglected to mention that in America -- a country of 300 million people -- there have been only 1,521 cases of hate against homosexual, bisexual, and transgender people.
 
The Judiciary Committee hearing resumes at 9:00 a.m. Central time today. A vote on the House floor is expected next week.