By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Morning Editor
December 22, 2003
11:46 am
Leave the Worrying to Security Professionals, Ridge Says
(CNSNews.com) - Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge sent a "message of reassurance and confidence" to the American public on Monday, telling them that government officials at all levels are working around the clock to protect them against terrorist attacks. Ridge spoke after meeting with President Bush and the rest of the homeland security council - one day after he announced a heightened national security alert. Go to grandma's house if you want to, Ridge said. Get on an airplane. "If you've got holiday plans, go," he continued. "We cannot quit being America just because of these threats," he said. Full Story
Nation on Alert for Multiple, Catastrophic Attacks
(CNSNews.com) - In a season when carolers sing of peace and goodwill toward mankind, federal officials are worried about a sinister side of humanity. They raised the national threat alert to "high risk" (color code orange) on Sunday, up from the middle "elevated" threat level. One public policy expert called the government's decision to increase the threat level "very significant."Full Story
Archbishop Fears Anti-Terror Law Will Hurt Christian-Muslim Relations
London (CNSNews.com) - The leader of the Church of England has publicly criticized the British government for indefinitely detaining foreign terror suspects without trial. The detentions, which were also the subject of a report by a parliamentary committee last week, were made legally possible by emergency anti-terror laws passed in the wake of 9/11. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who along with Catholic leaders opposed the war in Iraq, claimed in weekend interviews that the policy is damaging Christian-Muslim relations and is undermining efforts by moderate Islamic leaders to promote democracy and religious tolerance. Full Story
Islamic Headscarf Issue Stirs Dissention, Debate
Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - The French government's decision to ban Islamic headscarves in public schools has caused an international stir, but the controversy is not confined to France -- or even to Western countries. A number of governments, including some in Islamic or other non-Western nations, have been grappling with the question of whether Muslim women should be allowed to wear the traditional headscarf, or "hijab," in schools or other state institutions. Some critics say wearing such dress identifies Muslims with an extremist mindset or forms part of a wider agenda to install Islamic states worldwide, while others see it as a symbol of oppression. In the West, it's not just France where the issue is controversial. Full Story
Indoor Decorations at Firehouse Lead to Complaints
(CNSNews.com) - Firefighters in Glenview, Ill., were ordered to take down their indoor Christmas decorations after some people complained that the decorations were visible from the street, if passersby looked in the windows. "We need to serve all our residents and customers, and we had been receiving calls from citizens who were not happy seeing what they perceived to be Christmas or Christian decorations on a particular firehouse," Janet Spector Bishop, a spokeswoman for the village, told the Chicago Sun-Times. Read News on the Web
Pro-Abortion Strategy Calls New Attention to International Agreements
(CNSNews.com) - The recent publication of internal strategy memos belonging to one of America's most aggressive abortion-rights groups reveals a growing effort to have abortion recognized as an international human right, and that has led one pro-life activist to question whether "international negotiations on social policy can ever be the same again." The strategy memos are now available for the world to see after U.S. Rep. Christopher Smith (R-N.J.), one of the staunchest pro-life members of Congress, placed them in the Congressional Record on Dec. 8. Pro-life activists say the memos belonging to the Center for Reproductive Rights show the need for skepticism about international agreements designed to improve human rights. "The Center for Reproductive Rights has been working very hard to make abortion a so-called international human right and to use that then as a club to pressure nations to legalize and fund abortions," Thomas Jacobson, manager of the United Nations department at the pro-life group Focus on the Family, told CNSNews.com . Full Story
Pro-Abortion Lobby 'Loves to Deceive,' Congressman Charges
(CNSNews.com) - A pro-abortion group's strategy memos, which were recently published in the Congressional Record, specify not only the goals of the organization but also the deceptive language to be used in arguing for those goals, according to several pro-life activists. The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) and the rest of the pro-abortion lobby "loves to deceive, use language like reproductive rights - all benign sounding words without definitions," said U.S. Rep. Christopher Smith (R-N.J.), who was responsible for placing the memos in the Congressional Record on Dec. 8. Douglas Sylva, vice president for the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM) said the language is critically important because of its potential to end up in an international document promoting human rights. Full Story
Magazine Skips Bush to Honor American Soldiers
(CNSNews.com) - Time magazine's "person of the year" is the American soldier - a choice that glorifies America's fighting men and women, but not the man who sent them to Iraq, The Washington Times reported. The magazine calls U.S. troops "the bright, sharp instrument of a blunt policy" and suggests "whether the Bush doctrine is the most muscular expression of national interest in a half-century." Read News on the Web
Economists See A Good Year Ahead
(CNSNews.com) - In 2004, the U.S. economy will grow at its fastest pace since the boom days of the 1990s, and the unemployment rate will fall, said economists surveyed by USA Today. The newspaper said the economists' assessment of good times ahead was the most optimistic end-of-the-year outlook in years. Read News on the Web
Dean to Pick Running Mate With Foreign Policy Experience
(CNSNews.com) - Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean admits his lack of foreign policy experience is a "resume problem" for him, but don't worry. Dean, speaking Sunday, said, "I need to plug that hole in my resume. And I am going to do that with my running mate." He said there are lots of "really good people with an enormous amount of foreign policy experience that can fit that criteria." But the Dean campaign denies it asked Wesley Clark to be his running mate earlier this year - as Clark claimed on Sunday. Read News on the Web
Sidebar: Retired Generals Who Became President
(CNSNews.com) - Wesley Clark is trying to become the first retired military general to be elected president since Dwight Eisenhower. Can you name the last president prior to Eisenhower to have achieved the military rank of general? See Fact-O-Rama
I saw this item in the news this morning and for the life of me, I do NOT understand why there is any controversy over it ... while I am opposed in general to the initiative process, this is one I would sign for in a heartbeat
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Ballot Initiative Would Deny Services to Illegals
(CNSNews.com) - Momentum is growing in California for a "Save Our State Initiative" that would bar illegal aliens from getting driver's licenses and most other public services, The Washington Post reported Monday. Backers of the initiative say they have collected hundreds of signatures in recent weeks, as they attempt to put the controversial measure on the November ballot. "We don't think it's right to give welfare to illegal aliens," campaign organizer Ron Prince was quoted as saying.
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