News

Perry jaws with Austin activist
2008 07 09

Gov. Rick Perry sandwiched his remarks at the convention Thurday between signings of his book on the Boy Scouts and other items at a table at his campaign “pavilion” in the George R. Brown Convention Center.

I was there as stalwart Austin activist Robert Morrow took his turn sitting across from Perry. Though I didn’t hear their entire conversation, I heard a snippet as gubernatorial aides looked on — after trying a couple times to nudge Morrow along so other delegates could say howdy to Perry.

Morrow, speaking to Perry, questioned the wisdom of the state’s Child Protective Services officials breaking up Mormon families at a ranch in West Texas. Perry replied: “Millions of Texans… are totally and absolutely offended by anyone forcing young underage women into sexual activity.”
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Perry rallies GOP delegates at convention but some questions whether he should run for a third term
2008 07 09

HOUSTON — Gov. Rick Perry entered the Republican Party of Texas state convention Thursday and, backed by a blast of “Deep in the Heart (of Texas),” made a strong play at soothing doubts about his leadership among delegates not necessarily inclined to embrace him.

“Alone, one person can only do so much,” Perry said as a horn soloist tootled. A uniformed band popped out behind him after he said Republicans amounted to a movement transforming Texas.

“So let’s march on together; let’s serve together; let’s win together,” Perry closed. “I’ll see you on the battlefield.”

Confetti rained on Perry and his wife, Anita, as delegates stood and applauded.

“He’s a very good pitchman,” delegate Kevin Massey said after Perry had finished.

The 30-minute speech ranged from Perry’s fresh vow to restore the fire-damaged Governor’s Mansion to a recap of measures adopted during his seven-year-plus watch intended to restrict frivolous lawsuits and abortion, ban gay marriage, cut taxes and encourage job growth.

Before Perry spoke, Massey was among some delegates who volunteered misgivings about the West Texas native who succeeded George W. Bush in the state’s top elected position in late 2000.

Perry, whose tenure as governor will set a record later this year, revealed this spring that he plans to run for a third full term in 2010, making him the first major figure to declare his intentions.

Massey said he’d prefer Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst or U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison for governor.

Like some other delegates, Massey took issue with Perry’s advocacy of toll roads around the state.

Dewhurst likewise critiqued Perry’s Trans-Texas Corridor plan, telling delegates: “Folks, you can’t build toll roads in rural Texas. For heaven’s sake, don’t mess with Texas private property rights.”

Massey also singled out Perry’s ultimately rebuffed order last year that teenage girls be vaccinated against a virus that can cause cervical cancer, and what he called Perry’s lax stance on enforcing security on the U.S.-Mexico border. Perry has said he doesn’t see the practicality of a border wall.

“I’m going to keep my eye on him,” Massey said. “A man can say all he wants; it’s what he does where the rubber hits the road.”

Perry told delegates he’ll ask the 2009 Legislature to find a way to return to taxpayers, through tax cuts or another mechanism, what he said will be $10 billion in surplus tax revenue by 2010-11. Dewhurst said likewise.

House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, who says the surplus will be closer to $15 billion, later told delegates: “It’s your money; we need to give it back.”

Perry, Craddick and Dewhurst separately drew roars from delegates by saying the Republican-led Legislature needs to pass a proposal requiring voters to present photo identification to vote. Democratic senators, saying the change would discourage voting, united in the 2007 session to stop an ID proposal.

Perry, speaking to U.S.-Mexico border security, said he would ask lawmakers to launch a state plan combatting drug gangs who help fuel criminal activities along the border.

The governor, who initially supported former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for president, called on activists to rally around presidential candidate Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee.

Other speakers among Republicans, who have held every statewide office since early 1999, included state Comptroller Susan Combs, Attorney General Greg Abbott and Michael Williams, chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission.

They thanked about 3,000 delegates who had signed in by early afternoon for helping Republicans stay in power.

Leaders also took shots at Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

Perry attended a breakfast hosted by the Texas Republican County Chairmen’s Association and reminded the crowd that he’d just returned from France and Sweden before taking note of Sweden not adding net jobs since 1970.

“That’s the type of socialistic program that Obama wants to bring to America,” Perry said, referring to a proposal offered by Obama and other senators to require the president to devise and carry out a policy for cutting extreme global poverty in half by 2015.

In his campaign’s pavilion near the floor, the governor signed poster-size photographs of himself standing grim-faced near the Rio Grande.

By noon, he’d also signed about 100 copies of his book, “On My Honor,” extolling the Boys Scouts and excoriating the American Civil Liberties Union.

Christopher Harvey, a Pearland delegate who posed with Perry, said he’ll be open to other gubernatorial candidates, though Perry could still draw his vote because of his record — including the appointment of Wallace Jefferson, an African American, to the post of chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court.

Perry’s “a good, Christian man,” Harvey said.

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Barr is Libertarian nominee; he vows ‘strongest ticket’ in party’s history
2008 07 09

Former Georgia congressman Bob Barr, who used to be a Republican, today won the Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination. The Associated press reports it took six rounds of voting at the party’s convention in Denver to settle on Barr, one of the lawmakers who led the impeachment proceedings against then-president Clinton.

In this statement issued by the party, Barr says “we emerge here with the strongest ticket in the history of the Libertarian Party.”

Party spokesman Andrew Davis says in the statement that “we’re proud to present to the American voters Bob Barr as our presidential nominee. While Republicans and Democrats will fight for their own power, Libertarians will fight for Americans. ... Republicans and Democrats have good reason to fear a candidate like Barr, who refuses to accept the ‘business-as-usual’ attitude of the current political establishment.”
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Bob Barr—no, not Ron Paul—is Libertarian presidential nominee
2008 07 09

Rep. Ron Paul had the job 20 years ago.

Now, it’s former Rep. Bob Barr’s turn. He’s been chosen the 2008 presidential nominee for the Libertarian Party after numerous rounds of balloting that not many people care about.

Former Republican U.S. Rep Bob Barr of Georgia is now the new presidential nominee of the Libertarian Party

The Libertarians, convening in Denver, named him Sunday.

“I’m sure we will emerge here with the strongest ticket in the history of the Libertarian Party,” Barr said in his victory speech.

Which may not be saying much, because as determined as many of its followers are, there simply aren’t enough of them to elect their ticket to anything.

The Libertarians have been good for only around 3% of the vote in recent elections. However, 3% in a close election between the Republican and Democratic tickets could make the difference.

Much as Ralph Nader drew enough votes from Al Gore in 2000 to help George W. Bush win the White House, the little-known Barr could draw enough votes of dissatisfied conservatives to hurt Sen. John McCain’s chances as the GOP nominee.

“I want everybody to remember,” Barr told conventioneers, “that we only have 163 days to win this election. We cannot waste one single day.” Mark Silva has the full story here.
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Bob Barr Wins LP Presidential Nomination
2008 07 09

Former Representative Bob Barr has won the Libertarian Party nomination for President, narrowly defeating longtime Party activist Mary Ruwart. This is a rather welcome change for the LP, who have taken to nominating more radical, but relatively unknown candidates in past election cycles. As I’ve said before, Barr is their best candidate since Paul in 1988, and is someone I think has a real chance of spoiling McCain in a few states if he’s able to build any kind of campaign momentum at all. Time’s going to tell on that one, though, since he’s only raised about $127,000 as of the time of this writing) for his campaign in the two weeks since its inception. One thing he is guaranteed to do, though, is to have a higher media profile than any recent Libertarian candidate.

Here’s a roundup of other takes from around the Blogosphere:

Will Wilkinson yawns at the news:

I am not excited. Nor would I have been excited had Mary Ruwart taken. Mike Gravel? Now that would have excited me. I just like that guy, and I think he has a much better claim to being libertarian that Bob Barr, who voted for the PATRIOT Act oh so many years ago. And Wayne Allyn Root struck me as a first-class tool at the Reason event. So my LP enthusiasm meter remains, as always, pegged close to zero.

Tim Lee sees this as a bad idea.

Ultimately, I wish the LP would just go away. The structure of American elections dooms third parties to perpetual failure and obscurity, and that, in turn, creates a vicious cycle where the most talented activists and potential candidates go elsewhere, causing the party to be even more out of touch and politically tone-deaf in the next election. But given that the party is going to nominate somebody, Barr was probably the best choice. He’s a reasonably credible candidate, he’s got decent media skills, and so far, at least, I haven’t seen him take any positions that I strongly disagree with (since his road-to-damascus conversion in 2006, anyway). But I don’t plan to support his candidacy because while he may be the least-bad option on this November’s ballot, he certainly isn’t the kind of person I want associated with libertarianism. And every vote he gets will mean more visibility for the embarrassing candidate the party is likely to nominate in 2012.

Radley Balko is more optimistic:

Barr has the potential to win more votes than any LP nominee in history. If he helps the GOP learn that it’s time to boot the neocons and pay more attention to its limited government wing, all the better.

This is a good thing.

Jesse Walker likes Bob Barr, but sees Wayne Allyn Root as a disappointing VP choice.

But given the number of party activists who are wary of the former congressman, and given Barr’s deficiencies on several issues, it would have made sense to round off the ticket with a more hardcore libertarian. The ideal choice was Steve Kubby, a medical marijuana activist whose signature issue could have balanced Barr’s past support for the drug war. Instead the delegates opted for another member of the party’s conservative wing. Worse yet, the conservative they picked was Wayne Allyn Root, a man with the deportment of a Ronco pitchman with a squirrel in his pants.

It might not matter in the long run. No one pays much attention to the fellow at the bottom of the ticket. But it’s a tone-deaf, disappointing decision.

Jim Henley sees hope that Barr on the ticket will mean the GOP will return to mouthing small government platitudes while ignoring small government principles.

I don’t expect Barr’s candidacy to really get Republicans to, in Radley’s words, “learn that it’s time to boot the neocons and pay more attention to its limited government wing,” because I don’t think the GOP’s limited-government wing is either very large or very popular. What might happen is, over the last few years, Republican leaders and para-intellectuals have stopped paying even lip-service to the Party’s libertarianish wing, even expressing open contempt - if Barr/Root cost McCain the election the GOP might return to the era of mouthing limited-government platitudes while reifying the corporate state.

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Platoons, Juntos, and Cabinets: Changing Society
2008 07 08

For example, in 1727, Benjamin Franklin founded the Junto Society, a group of 12 people from a variety of backgrounds: printers, surveyors, a cobbler, a cabinetmaker, and a merchant. The group named Junto—after the Spanish word for “assemblies”—met regularly on Friday nights for 40 years. They discussed what they could do to improve themselves and their communities.

And that they did. The Junto Society developed a library and established volunteer fire and police departments, as well as a public hospital. They even helped found the University of Pennsylvania.

William Wilberforce—the great British parliamentarian, and one of my heroes—did much the same thing. In London’s Clapham suburb, Wilberforce gathered a group of friends who met constantly. Some referred to this powerful group of people as “the Cabinet meeting” that never ends. Samuel Morse, inventor of the telegraph, said of Wilberforce, “He is always planning some benevolent scheme or other and not only planning it but executing it.”

While you probably know that Wilberforce is credited with the abolition of the slave trade, you might also want to know that voluntary associations established by Wilberforce and his associates included the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, as well as the British and Foreign Bible Society, as well as prison reform. Wilberforce was involved in 69 such societies to improve the community.

One of our Centurions, Chuck Stetson, has latched on to this vision of small groups affecting change. He and a team of others have developed tools to facilitate the formation of even more “little platoons.” You can find these tools and resources on the Web at BetterHourGatherings.org.

And this week, why not gather a group of friends to view the documentary film, The Better Hour: The Legacy of William Wilberforce. It airs June 27th, 28th, and 29th on many PBS stations across the country. If it is not on in your area, you can purchase the DVD through our website at BreakPoint.org. You can also go to BetterHourGatherings.org for group discussion questions about the documentary.

The film’s central theme is how Wilberforce beat the odds to rid the British Empire of slavery. But it also shows how he and his friends changed the morals of England.

As a Christian member of Parliament, Wilberforce knew full well that Christians could not sit back and expect government to reform the culture and care for the needy. He also knew that a purely private faith is hardly any faith at all.

As believers, we gather often to worship. We can also gather in Christ’s name for action—to support one another as we work to transform our communities and reform the culture.

So plan to watch The Better Hour this week. Perhaps it is time for you to gather some of your friends together and join the ranks of the little platoons changing society.
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THE BETTER HOUR National High School Contest Honors Teen Public Service and William Wilberforce
2008 07 08

The year-long national contest encouraged high school students to launch public service projects, inspired by William Wilberforce, the British Parliamentarian who led the fight for the 1807 abolition of the slave trade and helped establish 67 philanthropies to fulfill his “two great objects—the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners.” Last year, the feature film “Amazing Grace” and the documentary film on national public television, “THE BETTER HOUR: The Legacy of William Wilberforce” helped restore Wilberforce’s remarkable story and his rightful recognition in history.

THE BETTER HOUR Contest First Prize winner, Ellie Morse of Dickson High School in Dickson, Tennessee, will receive the $10,000 top prize, to be presented by her Congressional Representative John Tanner (D-8) in Washington, D.C. on May 20th. She wins the first prize for her public service to raise money for “Invisible Children,” and provided supplies to schools in Northern Uganda, the war-torn area where children have been kidnapped and left without parents, hope, provision, or education. Ellie initiated creative events at her school and engaged many people in her community, not only to raise money, but also to raise awareness of the plight of the forgotten children of Uganda.

Second place winner, Ashley Eberhart of Culver Academy in Culver, Indiana, led an American Cancer Society “Relay” for Life. Ashley raised an unparalleled amount of money and brought divided sections of her small town together for a cause that impacts one out of three Americans.

Third place winner, Riley Mulhern of Littleton High School in Englewood, Colorado, organized his Boy Scout troop to collect 1518 pairs of gently used shoes, which were shipped to orphans in Kenya and to the Denver Rescue Mission.

Fourth place winner, Sarasi Jayanatne of Potomac Falls High School in Potomac Falls, Virginia, form the Keep Reading Foundation and collected 2000 children’s books which she shipped to impoverished children in Sri Lanka. Sarasi visited her Sri Lanka homeland, gave seminars about the value of reading, donated books to schools, and established new libraries in areas devastated by the Tsunami.

Fifth place winner, Greyson Gregory of Branford High School in Branford, Connecticut, established an innovative website—StudentVolunteerLINK.com—as a free resource and internal portal that connects student volunteers to community service opportunities.

A Special Award will be made to Children Helping Children on behalf of Jourdan Urbachof Roslyn Heights, New York, who as a prodigy violinist founded that charity in 1999 when he was seven years old. Jourdan raises money for national medical organizations, surgery scholarship funds, and home healthcare for those with neurological disease.

THE BETTER HOUR Contest for High School Students is associated with the documentary film which airs nationally on public television, “THE BETTER HOUR: The Legacy of William Wilberforce,” (DVD at http://www.shopPBS.org) and the related study guide, “CREATING THE BETTER HOUR: Lessons from William Wilberforce,” with foreword by Rick Warren. All information is at http://www.thebetterhour.com.
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Creating The Better Hour
2008 07 08

Wilberforce fought the rest of his life for the total emancipation of slaves in British colonies, a victory achieved July 26, 1833, days before Wilberforce died. It was a victory won at a huge financial cost to England, 20 million pounds paid to the slave owners, crippling the economy “for over a generation,” writes Chuck Stetson in a new book, “Creating the Better Hour.”

He achieved that victory 30 years before America fought a Civil War with a half million deaths to achieve the same result because America did not have a William Wilberforce.

However, that was only a fraction of Wilberforce’s impact. Born into wealth and a Member of Parliament at age 21, Wilberforce was a bon vivant for some years until he underwent a conversion to Jesus Christ, “a great change,” as he put it. He started his day with prayer and reading the Bible for 90 minutes. This study led him to set two great life goals:

On October 28, 1787, he wrote in his diary, “God Almighty has set before me two great objects, the suppression of the Slave Trade and the reformation of manners” (or morals, as we’d put it today).

While the rich gambled and womanized, most British children died before adulthood. Why? They worked 18 hour days as chimney sweeps or in unsafe textile mills. The decadence and corruption of a similar elite in France sparked the French Revolution. The wealthy of France “chose not to do anything about the poor and the oppressed,” writes Stetson. “The people became violent,” during the Reign of Terror in which “thousands were sent to the guillotine.”

“England, facing the same conditions, was able to avoid revolution because of the efforts of Wilberforce and the Clapham Circle, wealthy men who saw that what was going on the world around them was wrong and decided to engage what was wrong and change it for the better. As a consequence, England got reformation.”

For example, too many British men and women were hanged. Wilberforce led a successful battle sparking prison reform. He also persuaded Parliament to pass the first child labor laws.

In fact, Wilberforce created or helped spark 69 different societies (or non-profit groups) to improve the plight of he poor. He did not take on all these causes alone, but with a small circle of wealthy, influential people living in Clapham, near London, which became known as the Clapham Circle.

Stetson’s book includes chapters written by people who were inspired by Wilberforce to launch their own crusades. Three examples:

1. Chuck Colson read a biography of Wilberforce a year after he launched Prison Fellowship and was inspired by his fight to end slavery and “clean up child labor laws, poorhouses, prisons, and to institute education and health care for the poor.” Colson writes, “Like Wilberforce, I had a background in politics. And like him, I had my own ‘great change’ in 1973.” As I reported last week, he created “Angel Tree as a means of helping prisoners keep in touch with their children,” inspired 30,000 volunteers to work with prisoners, and created Justice Fellowship to reform prison.

2. Michael Horowitz, a Jewish human rights attorney who served in high level jobs in the Reagan Administration, keeps a biography of Wilberforce on his desk. He praises Christians, such as the National Association of Evangelicals, for being an “extraordinary force for human rights,” fighting for passage of the International Religious Freedom Act to fight “intolerable religious persecution,” and for NAE’s “essential role in advancing the great slavery and women’s issue of our time,” sex trafficking which abducts a million females into sexual bondage yearly, by passing the Trafficking Victims Persecution Act.

3. Baroness Caroline Cox, Deputy Speaker of the British House of Lords, argues that Wilberforce’s mission “to abolish slavery is still unfinished - nowhere more so than in Africa.” Disregarding high personal risk, she traveled many times to Sudan “where slavery is entrenched, systematic and widespread,” and a “weapon of war by the regime” running the country. She has helped free thousands of the enslaved by raising funds to buy their freedom.

Chuck Stetson wrote his book to inspire you to fight injustices you see. (Buy it on Amazon.com for only $16.47.)

Michael J. McManus is a syndicated columnist who writes on “Ethics & Religion”. He is President & Co-Chair of Marriage Savers. He lives with his wife in Potomac, Md.
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Film Seeks to Restore Name of British Abolitionist in U.S.
2008 07 08

“The Better Hour: The Legacy of William Wilberforce” is a one-hour documentary produced to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the 1807-1808 abolition of the British and American slave trade.

“Every school boy knows the name of William Wilberforce,” former president Abraham Lincoln had said a quarter-century after Wilberforce’s death.

But today “few Americans understand why, or even know Wilberforce’s name,” noted Cullen Schippe, executive producer of “The Better Hour,” in a statement.

”The Better Hour” seeks to reestablish Wilberforce in American history and put him alongside other American abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass, who once said, “Let no man forget the name of William Wilberforce.”

“We would like to restore William Wilberforce to his rightful place in history,” Sheila Weber, vice president of communications at “The Better Hour,” told Focus on the Family’s CitizenLink. “It has been a largely lost story. This documentary is going to be available for use in social studies and history classes.”

Wilberforce was a parliamentarian in England who led the fight for the abolition of the slave trade, which legally ended in 1807 in England and 1808 in the United States. This year marks the 200th anniversary of the end of the trans-Atlantic salve trade.

”The Better Hour” highlights Wilberforce’s determination and love for humanity and shows how he and his colleagues worked tirelessly to end the slave trade, even though it had represented a large portion of the British economy.

“We want to inspire and mobilize people, today, to follow in his footsteps because it’s a remarkable story of faith,” Weber commented. “Wilberforce had a dramatic conversion. It was because he was compelled by his newfound Christian faith that he undertook such an arduous task to end the evil of human trafficking.

“He spent many hours every morning in private prayer and Bible reading and devotions with his family,” Weber added. “This is, in large part, what gave him the strength to persevere.”

Although best known as a Christian abolitionist, Wilberforce was also a prolific philanthropist, establishing 69 philanthropies during his lifetime.

He also spearheaded efforts to set up education for indigent children, child labor laws, prison reform, the first society for the prevention of cruelty to animals, Bible societies, and mandatory small pox inoculation, among many others.

“Our world needs a new generation of people like Wilberforce,” wrote Rick Warren, best-selling author of The Purpose Driven Life, in the foreword to “Creating The Better Hour: Lessons from William Wilberforce,” a related study guide for small groups.

“I hope Wilberforce’s example will compel people to work together with others to defeat the evil giants that loom over the twenty-first century,” Warren added.

”The Better Hour” builds on the popularity of last year’s movie Amazing Grace which is also about William Wilberforce. The film took in nearly $30 million worldwide.

“Wilberforce puts a new face on what it means to be a Christian – that we can be true to the tenets of the faith and yet show forth compassion to the world,” Weber of “The Better Hour” said.

On the Web: List of TV airtimes at http://www.thebetterhour.com

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The John Newton Project
2008 05 09

During February 2008, The Better Hour, a documentary on William Wilberforce, was shown on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) television channels right across the United States of America. PBS reaches 73 million people a week. Kevin Belmonte, on our Board of Reference, contributed very significantly to the programme from its inception. John Pollock is interviewed. Marylynn adds a little on Newton.

From the website http://www.thebetterhour.com:

‘The goal of the documentary is to focus on how strength of character is harnessed in the service of high and seemingly unattainable goals for society. Character and community join together to bring into the world what the English poet William Cowper described as “the better hour.” The documentary highlights William Wilberforce’s drive and love for humanity and reveals how he and his colleagues took up the cause of abolition of the slave trade at a time when the British economy depended upon slavery.’

To benefit more fully from how Wilberforce’s ‘compassion, self-discipline, and respect for others offer lessons for a contemporary audience on how to change the world for the better’ there are several resources available:

1. Book

Creating the Better Hour: Lessons from William Wilberforce, with foreword by Rick Warren. Os Guinness, Chuck Colson, Baroness Caroline Cox, Kevin Belmonte and others reflect on the need for qualities of leadership and character in order to effect changes for good. It includes a study guide with group discussion questions.

Books are a good start. One of the first things Newton did was to recommend some good books to Wilberforce (by urgent request).

‘There are 2 or 3 good books of Bunyan’s for plain enquirers, such as The Jerusalem Sinner Saved and Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ and Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. Baxter’s Call, and Alleyne’s Alarm to the Unconverted have been useful to many. Flavel on Providence – on The Keeping of the Heart, and any of his works, most of which have been published in small books – his Spiritual Navigation. These are some of the plainest I can think of at present.’[2]
Newton to Wilberforce, 6 March 1786

2. Wilberforce’s Book

A Practical View of Real Christianity by William Wilberforce. Selected and foreword by Chuck Stetson.

Wilberforce (to Newton):

‘it is a great relief to my mind to have published what I may term my manifesto – to have plainly told my worldly acquaintances what I think of their system and conduct and where it must end. I hope also that my book may be useful…’

Newton:

‘What a phenomenon has Mr Wilberforce sent abroad! Such a book, by such a man, and at such a time! A book which must and will be read by persons in the higher circles, who are quite inaccessible to us little folks; who will neither hear what we can say, nor read what we may write.

‘I am filled with wonder and with hope. I accept it as a token for good, yea as the brightest token I can discern in this dark and perilous day.

‘Yes, I trust that the Lord by raising up such an incontestable witness to the truth and power of his Gospel, has a gracious purpose to honour him as an instrument, of reviving and strengthening the sense of real religion where it already is, and of communicating it, where it is not.’
Newton to Charles Grant, 18 April 1797

3. Audio CD

Engaging the Culture - Changing the World: Lessons from William Wilberforce presented by Chuck Stetson. This has four 27-minute talks on how and what change was effected, how Wilberforce kept on track and how people like Wilberforce are engaging the world today.

‘Yea, if his mind be comprehensive, and his eye single, if he be fixed in his determination to obey and please God rather than man, in cases where it is not possible to please both – in proportion as his character is formed upon this plan, and generally known, he may compel their respect and reverence and have an influence and weight among them, in the common affairs of life, greater than they usually have over one another.

‘The points of his public profession of religion, from which I think he cannot warrantably recede, are such as these: He will say with Joshua, or his example and conduct will say it for him, As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. He will neither be afraid nor ashamed to have it publicly supposed or known, that he worships God…’
Newton’s advice to Wilberforce on engaging the culture to change the world, 1 November 1787.

4. DVD

The DVD of the documentary, The Better Hour: The Legacy of William Wilberforce, can be used to bring together ‘people of good will who, like William Wilberforce and his Clapham Circle, want their lives to have meaning and who want to make their community a better place’. Showings of the DVD at ‘Gatherings’ held at local schools, colleges, public libraries, churches, or in homes, can be followed with group discussion, the goal being ‘to find a way to make change for good in your community’. This may mean your neighbourhood, city, nation or the world. The website gives a link for purchasing the DVD. You can also view the trailer here.

Wilberforce:

‘Sir, I wish to have some serious conversation with you.’

Newton:

‘Whenever you can call you will be a welcome guest. Great subjects to discuss, great plans to promote, great prospects to contemplate, will always be at hand. Thus employed, our hours, when we meet, will pass away like minutes.’
Newton to Wilberforce, 21 March 1786

Wilberforce:

‘When I came away I found my mind in a calm, tranquil state, more humbled, and looking more devoutly up to God.’

More information about the whole project can be found at http://www.thebetterhour.com or by contacting Shelia Weber . When Newton’s friend Henry Venn heard about the spiritual stirring in Wilberforce’s heart he was so excited that he exclaimed, ‘And what will be the issue, who can say?’ May this project promote similar effects in many hearts.
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Why the BSA Is Valuable
2008 05 09

Over the weekend I finished reading Texas Governor Rick Perry’s book, On My Honor. The book discusses what the Boy Scouts of America means to him and to other men that he knows. Some of these men were boys in the troop of which Perry was a member during his boyhood in rural Texas. Others are notable figures, such as Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, hotel magnate J. Willard Marriott Jr., and Capt. James Lovell of Apollo 13 fame, all of whom are Eagle Scouts.

A number of the men mentioned by Perry (not all are listed above) are not strangers to controversy. Perry himself should bear some scrutiny over his handling of the FLDS situation in his state.

As one of my parent’s five Eagle Scout sons, and having two Eagle Scout sons myself (and hopefully two more on the way), I was interested in reading this book. Perry discusses the history of the Scouting movement and of the BSA in particular in chapter 4. He also discusses how the 4-million member BSA functions and is organized. Chapter 9, which delves into accounts of Scouting heroism, is worth reading on its own.

In chapters 2, 3, and 8 Perry writes both generally and specifically about Scouting values. It is here that he presents why he believes the BSA is such an important and valuable organization. The BSA doesn’t create perfect citizens. While there are many great men among the 1.7 million that have earned the Eagle Scout rank, there are also a number that are infamous (see list). But the BSA does create leaders, and it engenders a culture of service, respect, accomplishment, and self-reliance.

Lawyer Wars
The remaining chapters (1, 4-7, 11, and 12) are devoted to the central thesis of Perry’s book: the culture wars, and especially the specific attacks by the Left on the BSA. Perry documents the various legal challenges that have been repeatedly brought against the BSA and notes how the Left is pursuing its agenda of forcing the BSA to accept the Left’s view of morality.

First came challenges to the BSA’s policy of only admitting young men to its programs for 7-14-year-olds. Each of these was rebuffed by the courts. (The BSA has long allowed young women ages 14-21 to participate in its Explorer and Venture programs.) Then came challenges to the BSA’s requirement that members believe in and reverence God. These were likewise turned back.

Next came objections to the BSA’s policy against admitting homosexual activists to its ranks. Perry explains that the BSA policy is akin to the military’s don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy. The Boy Scouts is not designed to be about sexuality. It doesn’t want adults bringing sexuality of any kind into troop meetings. But when someone creates their identity around sexual activism, such cannot be avoided. Thus, sexual orientation activists are not permitted to join. The Supreme Court ruled in 2000 that the BSA was within its rights to exclude homosexual activists from its ranks.

While the BSA does not go out of its way to find out about any member’s sexual orientation, it does go out of its way to exclude known abusers from its ranks. To become an adult volunteer, you must give the BSA your social security number, your driver license number, and permission to do a background check. If you have a record of any kind of abuse (or of other serious problems), you will not be permitted to join.

Even with these kinds of precautions, abusers still manage to get into the ranks of the BSA. A few years ago, the BSA became aware that the North American Man/Boy Love Association, which “advocates the legalization of sexual relations between adult males and under-aged boys,” was distributing information about how to infiltrate the BSA (plus little league and other youth programs) undetected, as well as specific instructions about how to get away with raping boys.

Unable to beat the BSA legally after decades of assaults, the Left has now turned to trying to get governmental entities to deny the BSA access to various public venues, from military bases to buildings to campgrounds. The results have been a mixed bag, with the Left winning some and the BSA winning some. All of this legal wrangling has been very expensive for the BSA. If the Leftists can’t beat them legally, at least they can make them bleed money through continual legal challenges, regardless of their merit.

Perry wonders why the Leftists are so opposed to allowing the BSA to operate according to its own desires. Why try to remake the BSA in their own image? Why not simply start their own youth organization that has all of the features they so much desire?

Scouting Values
In chapter 10, Perry goes through studies done in 1995 and 2005 that compare various values among people that have been members of the BSA under five years, those that have been members over four years, and those that have never been members. The results are about what might be expected between the three groups. While the long-time Scouters almost always come out on top, there has been some overall decline in all groups over the decade. Still, the vast majority of Americans, even those that have never had anything to do with the BSA, align themselves with the values espoused by the BSA.

In chapters 11 and 12, Perry gives his personal interpretation of what all of this means. He includes political as well as religious interpretations. He worries that the U.S. has been tranquilized by its affluence, and that this will have both moral and economic impacts.

“If we believe our technology, firepower, and educational attainment will save us from licentiousness, godlessness, and undisciplined living, we bet on a losing proposition according to the history of civilization (Rome, Greece, Babylon, to name a few). Sure, prior empires did not have access to weapons that could annihilate mankind from the face of the earth. But it won’t take a military invasion to remove us from our perch atop the world: only our wandering into a moral wilderness of indifference.”

Since he is governor of our largest border state, it was not surprising to see Perry soft peddle immigration issues. Of Hispanic immigrants, he writes, “I see a population that is largely law-abiding, aspiring to be upwardly mobile, and hungry … for an opportunity to provide a good life for their family. … We are better off for what they bring to the table.” While we do need immigrants that become real Americans, I can only assume that Perry doesn’t see the disproportionately large number of illegal immigrants that make up our prison population.

I was surprised that Perry never mentioned in his book that Learning for Life is a subsidiary of the BSA. This 1.8 million member organization “utilizes programs designed for schools and community-based organizations ... to prepare youth ... for the complexities of contemporary society and to enhance their self-confidence, motivation, and self-esteem.” This program works with many inner city youth. It doesn’t have the structure, uniforms, and insignia of regular BSA programs, nor does it have religious belief or sexual orientation requirements.

Having been a member of the BSA since age eight, I appreciated Perry’s discussion of Scouting values. In chapter 8 he addresses the 12 points of the Scout Law. However, I was disappointed in his brief take on reverence. Of this point, the Scout Handbook says, “A Scout is reverent toward God. He is faithful in his religious duties. He respects the beliefs of others.” Although Perry makes his Christian belief clear throughout his book, when he writes about reverence, he writes only about respecting “people in positions of authority.” I’m sorry, but saying, “Yes sir, Mr. Governor” is very unlike praying, “Help me to know and do thy will, O God.”

Perry does make a significant point about respecting the beliefs of others. Not only does he point out the Left’s intolerance for those whose opinions differ from theirs, but he claims society benefits by protecting the BSA’s right to espouse its values.

“I do not advocate state-sponsored morality in the most general sense, but I do argue for the protection of organizations and entities whose influence on American values have been profoundly positive. And I do argue that we continue to make the case to our fellow citizens about the virtue of making right choices, while recognizing in a free society people must ultimately have the prerogative to make wrong choices.”

Finally, Perry expresses faith in the values held by the American middle class. He writes, “I believe Scouting will survive as long as it sticks to the virtues and values of the great middle class.” He qualifies this by adding, “… if those values are not replaced by a culture of licentiousness.”

I appreciate the fact that Gov. Perry wrote this book. It explains the whys and hows of Scouting. It especially explains why Scouting values are worth fighting for. Given that some of the Left see the BSA as the enemy, the BSA can expect to continue to have to fight for those values.
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Governor Perry Book Celebrates Values of Boy Scouts
2008 05 05

AUSTIN—When he’s not busy with his day job, Gov. Rick Perry is zipping around the state and the country for his new gig — book author.

This past week found the Republican governor in Abilene and Tyler to speak about and sign his book, “On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For.”

Other recent stops have been in Fort Worth and Houston. Coming soon: Lufkin, Beaumont, Woodville and beyond.

Along the way, Perry — a former Eagle Scout — talks about the virtues of Scouting and what he describes as a “culture war” on the Scouts and traditional values. He formally launched the book tour in February.

“We’ve been all over the state, and it looks like that will continue. It has touched more of a nerve than we had anticipated,” Perry’s spokesman, Robert Black, said Friday. He said Boy Scouts and their parents “will show up in droves, which is fantastic.”

Perry plans to attend a Republican gathering in San Diego this month to promote the book. He has been invited to a meeting in North Carolina. And he’s looking to pump up sales at the Republican state convention in June in Houston and the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., in September.

Neither the governor’s office nor the book’s publisher, Stroud & Hall of Macon, Ga., are saying yet how many of the books have sold or how much money the book has brought in. Net proceeds will be earmarked for the Irving-based Boy Scouts.

Black estimated the first printing at 17,000 books, but he said sales figures won’t be known until next March because of the way sales are calculated. He said a decision would be made soon whether to order a second printing.

Perry pays for his book-related travel from his campaign account, not his state government office, Black said.

News media advisories publicizing his book-signings are done on his political letterhead and e-mail, Black said. He said the governor’s office used state equipment to publicize one Boy Scout event in early February because the event was official gubernatorial business.

The governor’s office and campaign do not sell the book. A third-party book retailer typically attends an event, though some groups hosting an event purchase books in advance for the governor to sign, Black said.
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Gov. Perry Stands Up for Boy Scouts
2008 05 05

’’On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.”

That’s the Boy Scout Oath, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, an Eagle Scout, staunchly defends it in On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For.

The Scout Law, as Perry notes, says a Scout should be “trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.”

“Few people will quibble with these traits as goals,” Perry writes, “and yet it seems as if we have become used to expecting less in our actual relationships.”

He goes on to say, “We Americans have developed poor manners.”

And he offers an example from his own life — “when I was caught by a live microphone using vulgar language” after a TV news interview. “It fell short of the standard I learned long ago in the Scouts: to be courteous and kind.”

In defending Scouting values, Perry especially takes aim at the American Civil Liberties Union for its legal, political and cultural challenges to the Boy Scouts, alleging sexual and spiritual discrimination.

He sees the attacks as part of a “culture war that has been tearing at the seams of our society for forty years and that pits traditional values such as service, selflessness, and sacrifice for the common good against a newer doctrine that elevates the self above society and relegates morality to a shapeless form of relativity.”

Perry remains optimistic about the future of Scouting “as long as Scouting remains what it is and doesn’t try to bend to the winds of political correctness.”
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Trial Lawyers Get A Break
2008 05 05

AUSTIN — For years now, Texas’ Republican leaders have done their best to convince voters that trial lawyers are to blame for all of our ills, except maybe hurricanes and serial killers.

For a while, they certainly succeeded in branding trial lawyers with much of the blame for rising health care costs.

But the public attitude is changing, according to Republican pollster Bryan Eppstein, who has been tracking this issue for several years for the Texas Medical Association.

In his most recent voter survey, trial lawyers dropped to third — behind health insurance companies and drug manufacturers — when respondents were asked, “Whom do you blame most for the high cost of health care in Texas?”

Some 28 percent blamed insurers, 22 percent drug companies and 18 percent plaintiffs’ lawyers. The percentages were almost as high for insurers and drug companies at the pre-2004 height of the so-called “doctor lawsuit abuse crisis,” Eppstein said. But trial lawyers led the pack of “villains” then with about 30 percent in a similar poll.

Third-highest in U.S.
In 2003 doctors, insurance companies and state leaders sold the voters on a constitutional amendment putting new restrictions on medical malpractice claims filed by “greedy” trial lawyers. That supposedly has improved the health care climate for doctors.

But their patients, including the physicians’ own employees, continue to get whacked with rising health care premiums.

Just last week, a new report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that Texas ranked third among the states in health insurance premium increases — 40 percent — from 2001 to 2005. Small wonder that Texas continues to lead the nation in the percentage of residents — about one-fourth — without health insurance.

There is little state regulation of health insurance in Texas, but the Legislature will get another opportunity to do something about it next year, when the Texas Department of Insurance is up for sunset review.

Expect a big fight, with doctors and insurers, former allies in the so-called “tort reform” coalition, squaring off against each other.

Small-business owners, another important part of the tort army, probably will jump in with the doctors.

Even physicians affected
The health insurance squeeze hit close to home for the Texas Academy of Family Physicians when it received a policy renewal notice for its 11-member administrative staff in Austin.

Its insurer, a leader in providing group coverage in Texas, raised the academy’s premiums by 23 percent, prompting the medical group to pick a plan (with higher employee deductibles) from a competing company.

Tom Banning, the academy’s CEO, said frustration worsened when administrators learned that only 74 percent of premiums they had paid to the former insurer had been spent on medical care.

The remainder went to the insurer’s administrative costs and profits.

A pleased pistol-packer
Jerry Patterson, Texas’ pistol-packing land commissioner, is happy with Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne.

Kempthorne has proposed a rule change to clear the way for people to carry concealed firearms in national parks, provided they can legally pack a pistol in the state in which a park is located. Since Texas allows people with concealed handgun licenses to carry their weapons in state parks, the federal rules change would allow them to carry their pistols in Big Bend or any other national park within Texas.

Patterson applauded the proposal but isn’t waiting for the rules change to take effect.

“When I’m in a state or national park, I’m (already) armed,” he said. “An unconstitutional rule promulgated by a federal bureaucracy is not sufficient to deny me that right.”

The National Park Service, meanwhile, is considering a land office offer to add the remote Christmas Mountains to Big Bend. Two of Patterson’s conditions for turning the property over to the federal government are that firearms and hunting be permitted. Kempthorne’s proposal, whether intentionally or not, addresses one.

Governor’s book tour
Once a week or so, Gov. Rick Perry is still on the road, signing copies of his book, On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For.

Spokesman Robert Black said he didn’t know how many copies have been sold but that the publisher, Stroud & Hall of Macon, Ga., has inquired about a second printing. He said the first printing included about 17,000 copies.

The book, which Perry wrote with former staffer Eric Bearse, praises the contributions of the Boy Scouts and their role in what Perry views as a cultural, moral war for the nation’s future.

All of the governor’s royalties go to the Boy Scouts legal defense fund, Black said.

According to a schedule on the publisher’s Web site, Perry will have several out-of-state book signings in upcoming months, including one at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
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Boy Scouts Push for New Relevance
2008 05 01

HOUSTON — The scene on a recent weekend at Camp Strake, a Boy Scout overnight camp in the woods north of Houston, looked ageless and familiar: A group of youths, their tan uniforms neatly buttoned as they emerged from their tents, lined up eagerly to watch several fathers demonstrate skeet shooting.

But this was not a Scouting tableau as Norman Rockwell might have pictured it.

The African-American teenagers came from some of Houston’s toughest inner-city neighborhoods, where they sometimes must dodge gang shootouts to make it to weekly Scout meetings. Their uniforms, tents and sleeping bags were donated, because the boys’ families have little money to afford them. And most of the fathers on hand were not their own, but rather volunteers and professional Scout leaders recruited to stand in for the many boys in the group growing up without them.

Even the shotgun lesson was extraordinary—the first time officials at the Boy Scout camp had permitted urban Scouts from Houston to try their hands at shooting.

“They’ve always said our kids and guns shouldn’t go together,” said Amal Davis, a senior leader of the Houston-area Boy Scouts. “There was a lot of resistance from some people. And they still won’t let our kids bring pocketknives, which is pretty much a Scouting staple.”

But Davis wasn’t angry. He was beaming, because the two dozen youths he had brought to the camp were experiencing a whole new world just 50 miles from their troubled neighborhoods. His program, to open the Boy Scouts to kids who otherwise would never have access to it, is on the cutting edge of the 98-year-old Scouting organization as it reaches beyond its traditional suburban strongholds.

Centenary in 2010
Bruised by America’s culture wars, battered by lawsuits alleging that it discriminates against atheists and gays, and beset by eroding enrollments, the Boy Scouts of America is approaching its centenary in 2010 determined to regain its footing as the nation’s premier volunteer program to help boys grow into responsible men.

The list of merit badges has been updated and expanded. Coed programs for high school students have been introduced. Laptops are as common as rucksacks at many troop meetings. And the Scouts have begun targeting Hispanics, the nation’s fastest-growing minority group, in a new recruiting drive.

“The Boy Scouts of America is either going to figure out how to be relevant and important and exciting to Hispanic kids and their parents, or we’re going to be out of business,” said Rick Cronk, the Boy Scouts of America president.

The Boy Scouts of America counted nearly 2.86 million boys in its program in 2007, 15 percent fewer than in 2000 and a steep drop-off from the group’s enrollment high point of 4.35 million youths in 1970.

But Cronk views the Scouting math more optimistically.

“We’re excited about the possibility of reintroducing Scouting to America,” he said. “There are about 50 million living Americans who were either Boy Scouts or Cub Scouts. If you assume that each of those 50 million Scouts has two living family members, that’s 150 million Americans—half of the country—who in essence understand Scouting, even if they can’t precisely repeat the Scout oath and laws.”

Onset of legal woes
It was the Scout oath and laws, of course, that got the Boy Scouts of America into trouble over the last 20 years.

More than 30 state and federal lawsuits have been filed against the Scouts, variously alleging that the organization discriminates against girls, atheists and gays. Particularly troubling to the American Civil Liberties Union, which has been involved in many of the lawsuits, are the parts of the Boy Scout Oath that require a Scout to do his “duty to God” and to keep himself “morally straight.”

Scouting officials don’t deny that they expect members to believe in God, although they insist the movement is non-sectarian and open to all religious beliefs. And the officials acknowledge that they don’t allow openly homosexual men to become Scout leaders because they believe they would be inappropriate role models. Instead, officials say they take a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach, refraining from questioning Scouts or leaders about sexual orientation.

The Boy Scouts prevailed in nearly every lawsuit challenging membership rules, including a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2000 that the organization has a 1st Amendment right of freedom of association, which meant it could determine its own requirements for members and leaders.

But those legal victories drove critics to try to cut off the Boy Scouts’ access to public and government-supported venues, such as schools and municipal facilities, on the grounds that the Scouts’ membership restrictions violate government non-discrimination rules. Some of those legal battles are ongoing.

Texas governor in fray
The legal challenges outraged one Eagle Scout in particular — Texas Gov. Rick Perry. In February, Perry, a conservative Republican, published a book about Scouting’s struggle against what he termed “liberal elites” and the advocates of “free love and the quick fix of hallucinatory drugs.” He’s donating the proceeds of the book, “On My Honor,” to the Scouts’ legal defense fund.

“The Boy Scouts didn’t go looking for this fight,” Perry said in an interview with the Tribune. “The ACLU came after them. ... This attack on Scouting is part of a larger cultural war. The Boy Scouts are basically just the sentinels standing watch for traditional values.”

Scouting, Perry added, “isn’t about sexuality. It’s about teaching individuals to be men of character, being trustworthy and loyal and kind and friendly. If you have an openly homosexual Scout leader, the issue is going to be forced upon the young men in the troop. Scouting is not a place for those lifestyles to be discussed.”

The Boy Scouts’ legal troubles, although largely over, continue to cast a pall over the fundraising that supports many local Scouting activities.

The kids themselves seem only vaguely aware of the controversies over the Boy Scouts’ membership policies.

The high school-age boys in Troop 878 said no Scout officials had ever asked them about their religious beliefs or sexual orientation. The youths said they were more concerned about explaining to skeptical peers why Boy Scouts are not nerds.

“Some kids think the Boy Scouts are not cool,” said Jay Rose, 14. “But I tell them, ‘If you break your leg or your arm, I know what to do.’ And that’s because I learned first aid from Scouting.”

The controversies are even less relevant for the urban Scouts, who know the Scouting program is providing them with a safe and exciting alternative to the streets.

“When you have nothing to do at home, you have something to do at the Boy Scouts,” said Anthony Carter, 12, as he waited his turn to try shooting down a clay pigeon at Camp Strake. “Scouting for me is a real opportunity to become a young man.”

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Gov. Perry will sign book in Woodville
2008 04 28

Governor Rick Perry, a former Eagle Scout, will be in Woodville Monday, May 5, at the library at 1:30 for a book signing of his book about scouting, On My Honor.

“All proceeds from this book go to the Boys Scouts of America legal defense fund,” said Shawn Pierce, district executive of the Three Rivers Council.

The governor is scheduled to speak to the Tyler/Jasper County Friends of Scouting meeting on the importance of scouting.

The luncheon is by invitation only, but anyone interested in attending the meeting or wanting to make a donation to the Boy Scouts can contact Brent Meaux in Jasper at 384- 5747 or Jimmie Cooley in Woodville at 283-7665.
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Governor to visit campus amid stir over book
2008 04 16

Gov. Rick Perry’s new book tour, which has stirred mixed reactions, is making a stop at the TCU Bookstore on Thursday for a book signing.

Perry’s book, “On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For,” is centered on the Boy Scouts of America program’s criteria of having a “duty to God” and supporting the intolerance of homosexuality with a vow to stay “morally straight.” According to a synopsis inside the book’s jacket, Scouts have been berated by liberals who oppose those Boy Scout standards.

Despite the controversial issues the book addresses, Andrea McCormick, a bookstore manager, said she expects to see about 200 people at the event.

Although many Scouts have shown a positive reaction toward the book’s publication, as McCormick mentioned, others have expressed negative feelings.

The Scouts do not need anymore attention about the negative issues the organization has faced, said Drew Wilson, an Eagle Scout at TCU.

Perry is “dragging Scouts through the mud” by blowing the controversial issues out of proportion, Wilson said.

Taylor Witt, event coordinator, said unlike some other book signings, he expects the event to remain under control and without controversy.

Perry’s office did not return phone calls seeking comment.

The bookstore has 225 copies of the book in stock along with book paraphernalia available for the public to purchase and have Perry sign, Witt said.

McCormick said the bookstore has sold about 100 books so far, but said many would wait until Thursday to purchase a copy of the book.

When Perry’s book was released in February, Barnes & Noble College Booksellers contacted Perry’s office to set up a book signing specifically for TCU, Witt said.

The book focuses on the values of Scouting in America and the right to assemble, McCormick said.

Perry uses his experience as an Eagle Scout as well as the 2000 U.S. Supreme Court case, Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, to explain the importance of Scouting values and the right to remain a private organization. He invites other political figures such as Defense Secretary Robert Gates and astronaut James Lovell to share their views as well.

“The U.S. would be a better country if everyone lived by the principles the Boy Scouts of America have established,” says Ross Perot, former independent presidential candidate and author of the book’s foreword.

The book signing is at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the bookstore’s upstairs reading room.
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Perry Interview featured on GodTube
2008 04 14

Governor’s first book is ‘readable defense’
2008 04 07

Gov. Rick Perry examines the Boy Scouts of America in his first book, “On My Honor.”

Perry believes in scouting. As a boy, he achieved scouting’s highest rank, Eagle Scout. He is the father of an Eagle Scout.

He views scouting as one of most important positive influences of his use.

Few former Scouts mind being called a “Boy Scout,” yet the term is not always used as a compliment. It is a curious put-down, though.

It implies that the “Boy Scout” is too honest, too much of a straight arrow. Vice pays tribute to virtue through hypocrisy, but is never comfortable around it.

That might explain why the Boy Scouts have been virtually under siege for more than 30 years.

In “On My Honor,” Perry traces the barrage of lawsuits that have beset the organization, attempting to force it to change, primarily due to scouting’s call for Scouts to be “morally straight” and to “do their duty to God.”

Perry defends both the organization’s values and defends Boy Scouts for fighting to preserve those values.

He explains the central importance to scouting of the values that have provoked outsiders to assault scouting and why they are worth fighting to preserve.

He shows how scouting is being driven out of public schools and excluded from community charity drives by the tactics of its critics.

He also shows the harm, which results from these attacks. Youngsters face barriers to participation in a worthwhile organization.

Society, as a whole, suffers from the erosion of individuals‚ rights to freedom of association.

Perry explores how scouting affected his life and the lives of other prominent people who were once Boy Scouts.

Perry, who is both Republican and conservative, crosses party and ideological lines in this book.

Some of those quoted include former Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee, hotelier J.W. Marriot and former astronaut James Lovell.

Perry provides examples of young men who benefit from the scouting program today and defends its relevance in today’s America.

He also gives a short, lucid history of the organization. He discusses its origins and its evolution through the twentieth century.

“On my Honor” is a spirited and readable defense of scouting and the values held by the Boy Scouts of America.

Whether you agree with Perry or take issue with his conclusions, this book is worth reading.

Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, amateur historian, model-maker and father of a son working to become an Eagle Scout, lives in League City.
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Cub Scout first to get book signed by Perry at Lubbock event
2008 04 04

The first book Gov. Rick Perry signed on Wednesday was for Cub Scout McKale Dean.

He has a long way to go before catching Perry’s Eagle Scout rank, but his parents intend to keep him close to a program which, like the governor, they say is worth defending.

“Becoming a man and becoming a good Christian man is the most important thing, and the Cub Scouts do foster that,” McKale’s father, Mark Dean, said.

The Deans joined about 200 others who lined up at Barnes & Noble BookSellers for autographed copies of Perry’s book, “On My Honor,” which defends the Boy Scouts’ traditional ways. All proceeds from the book go to the organization’s legal defense fund.

The Scouts have come under fire from groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union for a variety of issues, including their stance against gay and lesbian Scout leaders.

But Perry, whose son also is an Eagle Scout, says the Scouts were among the most important influences on his life. He said he decided to write the book to praise the Scouts’ values and to rally support for “an organization that has been beaten up lately.”

“The Scouts are caught in the middle of this conflict that pits traditional values against the me-first culture,” Perry said as he addressed those waiting in line. “The foes of traditional values have taken a good cause, the defending of individual liberty, and they have ruined it by defending license.

“Scouting does not need to be remade. It’s worked for 100 years. Leave it alone, and let it continue to work for 100 years more.”

The South Plains Council of the Boy Scouts has about 4,000 members in 20 counties, said Rodney Carpenter, executive director. The group is growing, he said.

The book was published in February by Stroud & Hall Publishers. It’s sold at Barnes & Noble for about $25.
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New Borders
2008 04 04

Texas Gov. Rick Perry will be at the new Borders bookstore at the Town Square shopping center today.

Perry will be signing his book, “On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For.”

It’s all part of the grand opening of the store, in the shopping center near South Las Vegas Boulevard and I-215. Festivities run from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. today through Sunday. Other authors will be on hand to sign their books, including John Huddy (“Storming Las Vegas”), in addition to musicians, magicians, candy sampling and contests.

Interview with Governor Perry on The Charles Brennan Show
2008 03 26

Governor Perry will appear on The Charles Brennan Show on April 10, 2008 at 10:20 a.m. Central. The program is broadcast on one of the largest stations in the country, KMOX-AM in Saint Louis, MO.

To see more media appearances by Governor Perry, click here.

Perry to visit city, present grant to Tech, sign books
2008 03 26

Texas Gov. Rick Perry will be in Lubbock next week presenting Texas Tech with grant money and signing copies of his book.

The governor is scheduled to appear at 2 p.m., April 2 at Tech’s Student Union Building. The Tech College of Engineering has received a $9 million package, including $2 million from the state’s Emerging Technology Fund.

At 5:30 p.m., Perry will be at Barnes & Noble Booksellers, 6707 Slide Road, to sign copies of his book, “On My Honor.” The governor will sign one copy per person.

Perry Interview with CBN’s 700 Club
2008 03 26

Governor Perry will appear on The 700 Club on the Christian Broadcasting Network on Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 8:15 a.m. Central Time.

To see more media appearances by Governor Perry, click here.

Film seeks to restore Wilberforce’s name among Americans
2008 03 24

An award-winning documentary on the life of the Christian British lawmaker famous for his role in helping end the British Empire’s slave trade is currently airing on public television across the US.

“The Better Hour: The Legacy of William Wilberforce” is a one-hour documentary produced to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the 1807-1808 abolition of the British and American slave trade.

“Every school boy knows the name of William Wilberforce,” former president Abraham Lincoln had said a quarter-century after Wilberforce’s death.

But today “few Americans understand why, or even know Wilberforce’s name”, noted Cullen Schippe, executive producer of “The Better Hour”, in a statement.

”The Better Hour” seeks to reestablish Wilberforce in American history and put him alongside American abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass, who once said, “Let no man forget the name of William Wilberforce.”

“We would like to restore William Wilberforce to his rightful place in history,” Sheila Weber, vice president of communications at “The Better Hour”, told Focus on the Family’s CitizenLink. “It has been a largely lost story. This documentary is going to be available for use in social studies and history classes.”

Wilberforce was a British parliamentarian who led the fight for the abolition of the slave trade, which legally ended in 1807 in England and 1808 in the United States. 2007 marked the 200th anniversary of the end of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

”The Better Hour” highlights Wilberforce’s determination and love for humanity and shows how he and his colleagues worked tirelessly to end the slave trade, even though it assumed a large portion of the British economy.

“We want to inspire and mobilise people, today, to follow in his footsteps because it’s a remarkable story of faith,” Weber commented. “Wilberforce had a dramatic conversion. It was because he was compelled by his newfound Christian faith that he undertook such an arduous task to end the evil of human trafficking.

“He spent many hours every morning in private prayer and Bible reading and devotions with his family,” Weber added. “This is, in large part, what gave him the strength to persevere.”

Although best known as a Christian abolitionist, Wilberforce was also a prolific philanthropist, establishing 69 philanthropies during his lifetime.

He also spearheaded efforts to set up education for indigent children, child labour laws, prison reform, the first society for the prevention of cruelty to animals, Bible societies, and mandatory small pox inoculation.

“I hope Wilberforce’s example will compel people to work together with others to defeat the evil giants that loom over the twenty-first century,” Warren added.

”The Better Hour” builds on the popularity of last year’s movie Amazing Grace which is also about William Wilberforce. The film took in nearly £15 million worldwide.

Film Seeks to Restore Name of British Abolitionist in U.S.
2008 03 20

“The Better Hour: The Legacy of William Wilberforce” is a one-hour documentary produced to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the 1807-1808 abolition of the British and American slave trade.

“Every school boy knows the name of William Wilberforce,” former president Abraham Lincoln had said a quarter-century after Wilberforce’s death.

But today “few Americans understand why, or even know Wilberforce’s name,” noted Cullen Schippe, executive producer of “The Better Hour,” in a statement.

“He spent many hours every morning in private prayer and Bible reading and devotions with his family,” Weber added. “This is, in large part, what gave him the strength to persevere.”

Although best known as a Christian abolitionist, Wilberforce was also a prolific philanthropist, establishing 69 philanthropies during his lifetime.

“I hope Wilberforce’s example will compel people to work together with others to defeat the evil giants that loom over the twenty-first century,” Warren added.

”The Better Hour” builds on the popularity of last year’s movie Amazing Grace which is also about William Wilberforce. The film took in nearly $30 million worldwide.

Nelson Block, guest column: Scouting and ‘culture wars’
2008 03 18

Rick Perry’s new book, On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For, is portrayed as a tribute. Actually, it’s the latest attack on a great American institution.

Perry praises the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) as a paragon of “traditional American values” then co-opts scouting to vilify those he and like-minded politicians and talk-show hosts consider political enemies.

This group invented the “culture war” and casts liberals as the religion-bashing, authority-hating, character-deficient bad guys in it who would create a world “where moral relativism reigns and individualism runs amok.”

If the governor understood scouting’s history, he would know it uses many concepts championed by liberal and progressive leaders among its founders.

Scouting and several other movements evolved to alleviate poor social, public health and educational conditions created by the Industrial Revolution in England and America, as young people left their rural homes for cities with low-paying factory jobs and dissolute pursuits far from moderating family relationships.

Victorian and Edwardian reformers responded by helping people improve their lives, promoting the idea that hard work brings rewards, among other principles. Although Perry suggests that industriousness and faith are not liberal values, Scouting’s liberal and progressive founders embraced them.

In 1902, liberal American naturalist Ernest Thompson Seton established the Woodcraft Movement, based on camping and American Indian life, to enrich modern leisure time.

He incorporated educational principles described by liberal educator John Dewey, who advocated children working together in social situations where the child would “emerge from his original narrowness of action and feeling to conceive of himself from the standpoint of the welfare of the group.” BSA later named Seton its first chief Scout.

In 1908, British general R.S.S. Baden-Powell published the book that popularized the Boy Scouts, Scouting for Boys. He incorporated concepts then considered liberal perfected during his army years: encouraging noncommissioned officers to exercise leadership, personally training soldiers in military scouting and providing them with wholesome entertainment.

The principle was the same for both soldiers and Scouts — make the individual responsible for a task, then give him the freedom to accomplish it.

When Scouting came to America, liberals and progressives immediately supported it, including Theodore Roosevelt and James E. West, BSA’s first chief Scout executive. West began his progressive activism as a teenager in a Washington, D.C., orphanage, fighting for the children to have a library and attend public school.

These leaders used liberal social principles to build the Boy Scouts. Unfortunately, Perry uses Scouting to build support for his particular social principles.

For example, Perry considers public prayer an important part of religion, and by extension, Scouting. However, Baden-Powell held that beyond a personal belief in God, religion was about helping people. When people asked if he prayed, he was tempted to reply, “Not often: I am far too busy giving thanks.”

Yes, the Boy Scouts’ values are worth fighting for, but Perry picks a fight with his fellow Americans and misrepresents this institution by claiming it is at odds with liberalism.

Liberalism then and now recognizes that people realize their greatest potential in exercising personal freedom, and that such freedom comes with responsibility to the society that supports it.
Read Original Article

Hans Zeiger, guest column: Perry’s plea for Scouting
2008 03 12

When politicians have talked about the Boy Scouts in recent years, it hasn’t always been favorable. Former Washington Gov. Gary Locke told the Seattle Gay News the Scouts were “doing a great disservice to young people.”

Former Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening called the Scouts’ policy excluding homosexuals from leadership “just as outrageous and divisive” as racism, anti-Semitism or Islamophobia.

Both houses of the California Legislature passed a resolution a few years ago condemning the Scouts’ membership code because it “causes harm” to “innumerable boys and men.”

But now Gov. Rick Perry has done something that no other politician has ever done. He’s written a book: On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts are Worth Fighting For.

As the title implies, unlike those other governors, Perry is enthusiastic for the Boy Scouts’ ethical code. That code is under attack by the secular left, particularly by the American Civil Liberties Union. While the Boy Scouts’ policies excluding homosexuals and atheists from membership have attracted most of the recent controversy, the entire Scouting values system is opposed by its liberal alternative.

What Perry calls the “vices of license” are incompatible with “the virtues of liberty.” Though the “culture war” is much larger than the Scouting controversies, the attacks on Scouting serve Perry as a potent symbol of what’s at stake.

The 2000 Supreme Court ruling that the Scouts have the right to determine their own membership hasn’t stopped the ACLU from suing to end the Scouts’ partnerships with government.

As a result of ACLU attacks, the Scouts face eviction from two San Diego camps, and they were nearly forced to end their longtime tradition of holding the Boy Scout Jamboree on federal property.

Meanwhile, many local United Way chapters have withdrawn allocated funding from the Boy Scouts. And the Philadelphia City Council recently decided to evict the Scouts from their headquarters building — which the city gave to the Scouts “in perpetuity” 80 years ago — unless the Scouts scrap their membership policy.

“Can Scouting survive this onslaught?” Perry asks. “Yes, as long as Scouting remains what it is and doesn’t try to bend to the winds of political correctness.”

After all, Scouting is strong today, with over 4.6 million youth participants and over 1 million adult volunteers. To give in to liberal demands and abandon “the virtues of liberty” would destroy Scouting instead of preserving it for a new age.

To change or delude the Scout Oath and Law would be to part ways with a century of successes in Scouting. Perry cites the examples of his boyhood Scouting pals, several fellow Eagle Scouts including Defense Secretary Robert Gates and astronaut James Lovell, and recent statistics that demonstrate the outstanding character of America’s Scouts.

Perry’s book is a call to celebrate Scouting. If the ACLU and its allies happen to ignore that call, there is another equally strong message: Instead of the old Texas advertising slogan, “Don’t mess with Texas,” it is — don’t mess with the Boy Scouts.

Hans Zeiger, an Eagle Scout and assistant Scoutmaster, is author of Get Off My Honor: The Assault on the Boy Scouts of America and a senior fellow at the American Civil Rights Union.
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Perry’s book puts Boy Scouts in spotlight
2008 03 12

He wasn’t about to miss the meeting.

Not yet a teenager, short and barely able to see over the steering wheel, Rick Perry would put his father’s truck in gear and hit the backroads of Paint Creek in search of his all-important destination.

Perry, now Texas governor, loved being a Boy Scout that much.

“He lived probably three miles from us,” said Wallar Overton, whose father served as Perry’s scout master.

“His father would actually let him have the pickup, even at the age of 11 or 12. He always got here,” the 68-year-old Overton said.

Overton’s memories come as Perry, 58, promotes his recently released book—“On My Honor: Why American Values of the Boy Scouts are Worth Fighting For.”

For nearly 100 years, scouting has “planted the values of our founding fathers in the next generation of Boy Scouts,” Perry said in a statement.

The program has helped form men like astronaut James Lovell, Ross Perot, Michael Dukakis, Gerald Ford, James Stewart, William Bennett and U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who were “all Eagle Scouts long before they were prominent, successful public figures,” he said.

Even so, Perry said the organization has been under attack for nearly 30 years because it has refused to “bend to the winds of political correctness.” He said he wrote the book for two main reasons: “To espouse the virtues of a movement that has positively shaped the lives of millions of young men, and to expose the virus of secularism that endangers institutions that teach traditional values.”

Sadly, Perry said, opponents have “refined their tactics and begun to prevail in courts of law even as their actions are largely seen as appalling in the court of public opinion.”

Perry said “the secularists on the left” have focused on shutting the Boy Scouts down on three fronts: That the organization requires a belief in God, that it limits adult scout leadership on the basis of sexuality, and that it limits the participation in troops to boys.

“Scouting teaches young men the responsibilities of freedom,” Perry said. “It teaches them the traits of leadership. It instills courage and character. And it guides its subjects along the path to proper citizenship.

“I hope and pray, in telling the story of the Boy Scouts, I might bring greater awareness to the virtues of the scouting movement, and the battle it must win in order to preserve its primacy in the lives of millions of young men.”

Concurring with Perry is Abilene Mayor Norm Archibald, who supported a Perry-backed, pro-Boy Scout resolution at a Republican Party precinct convention after Tuesday’s primary.

“Boy Scouts, to me, are one of America’s greatest organizations,” said Archibald, who became an Eagle Scout in 1966.

Archibald said the Boy Scouts have been attacked by groups who attempt to “take God out of it” and who want to admit homosexual leaders. He said he commends Perry for taking a strong position and the Boy Scout organization for remaining “true to their principles.”

“I have great memories,” Archibald said, saying he’s grateful that he was around “great leaders” who believed in saluting the flag and who loved being outdoors.

Currently, the Texas Trails Council—of the Boy Scouts of America—has about 4,000 youth participating in a 17-county area that includes Taylor County.

“The Boy Scouts of America in 2010 will be 100 years old, and the mission and purpose of the Boy Scouts of America has not changed in that 100 years,” said Alan Eggleston, district director.

“An Eagle Scout of 1910 is an Eagle Scout of 2010. It’s the same rigorous advancement program, and it still meets the same quality standard 100 years later,” Eggleston said.

Meanwhile, Overton said, he’s proud that Perry wrote the book because Boy Scouts “meant so much to him.”

“Ricky took full advantage of the scouting program,” Overton said. “He set a goal to be an Eagle Scout—like he’s done everything in his life—and he achieved it.”

Overton said he and about five others traveled to Austin to be interviewed by Perry for the book.

After the interview, Overton said, he sat with Perry on the front porch of the governor’s mansion and continued to recall fond memories from their days in the Boy Scouts.

One of those memories was when members of their troop registered a dog named Tramp as a scout.

“We registered him as a Tenderfoot Scout,” he said, referring to the lowest ranking Boy Scout level.

Another memory was when his father, Gene, took the troop to College Station once a year to act as ushers and then, after finishing, troop members were allowed to find vacant seats and watch Texas A&M; play.

Some of the members, including Perry, ultimately attended Texas A&M.;

“It was just a beautiful time in my life,” Overton said.
Read Original Article

Letters: Questions for Gov. Rick Perry
2008 03 12

Gov. Rick Perry was right to champion the mission of the Boy Scouts (Deborah Solomon, Feb. 24). It’s not about sex. It’s about helping young men become productive, contributing citizens. And perhaps having some fun on the way. The scouts require merit badges in citizenship in the world, citizenship in the nation and citizenship in the community to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout. And a significant community-service project.

As the proud father of a scout who has earned merit badges in shotgun shooting and rifle shooting, I understand the requirements for both are all about learning to handle firearms safely. Take note Ms. Solomon — that’s two gun-control merit badges.

CARTER L. CRUME

Dallas

Solomon suggests that the Boy Scouts should introduce a child-care merit badge. In fact, child care can be featured in another required badge known as family life.

JOHNNY CHECTON

Eagle Scout

Rumson, N.J.

My partner of 13 monogamous years was an Eagle Scout, and if we were interested in encouraging our 6-year-old son to join scouting, he would make a great leader, exemplifying the highest character traits (including tolerance, a trait that Rick Perry doesn’t seem to find important). During the 10 hours a week he works and volunteers at our son’s elementary school and my full-time position as a preschool special-education teacher, we manage quite easily to make our interactions with students, staff, parents and colleagues about character and not about sex.

AARON SAUBERAN

Chico, Calif.
Read Original Article

Texas governor: Congress has bigger concerns than Clemens
2008 03 12

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he thinks Congress should spend its time “securing our border” rather than investigating whether Roger Clemens lied about his steroid use.

Yeas & Nays chatted with Perry by phone late last week as Congress considers whether to go after Clemens, the former Houston Astro and Texas native, for perjury. “That’s a tough one for us down here,” he said. “I understand having rules and following rules, but it seems to me that Congress has more important things to deal with than whether somebody took a substance so they could heal quicker or whatever.”

Perry has been making the media rounds promoting his new book on the Boy Scouts, “On My Honor.”

Inspired by the “rash of lawsuits” the Boy Scouts have been subjected to in recent years, the Eagle Scout said he thinks it’s time “to espouse the virtues of this movement, and to expose the virus of human secularism.”

“Trustworthiness,” he responded, when asked what politicians can learn from the Scouts. “If you can’t trust someone, then nothing else really matters,” he said. “If you trust, then you have faith.” He added that everyone should follow the 12 elements of the Boy Scout Law (being trustworthy, loyal, helpful, etc.) “whether they’re in public office or the guy you’re buying your doughnuts from.”

Speaking of public office, we couldn’t resist asking Perry whether bad-boy rocker Ted Nugent should play at John McCain’s inauguration (should he win) in 2009, just as he did at Perry’s inauguration a year ago.

“If it turns his crank,” replied the governor, although “he might cause a little controversy.”

Perry called Nugent “one of the more intellectually stimulating individuals I’ve ever had a conversation with. I’m not sure the guy’s not a genius.”
Read Original Article

Point of Contact: Rick Perry
2008 03 12

Our Q&A with Gov. Rick Perry, Eagle Scout and author of “On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For.”

Why do you think the Boy Scouts are correct to exclude homosexuals and atheists?

The starting point for this conversation is more correctly located in the notion of a private organization’s right to determine its core beliefs and apply them as criteria for membership. No one would question a church’s right to espouse a belief in Jesus or Buddha or a fan club limiting its membership to those who follow the Dallas Cowboys.

By the same token, the Scouts should be free to apply their core values as a threshold for membership.

You write that news media coverage biases public discussion of this issue. Explain.

Well, in my experience, the basic American freedom of association, guaranteed in our Constitution, is seemingly suspended in the majority of stories on this issue. For reasons I can only suspect, many reporters want to hold the Scouts to a different standard. I’m all for a higher standard – that’s what the Scouts are about – but applying this different standard is tacitly unfair.

How can a youth organization with such old-fashioned values be relevant today?

You describe Scout values as “old-fashioned,” but I would describe them as “time-tested.” By your standard, I suspect you’d consider the Ten Commandments “outdated” and the Constitution as “showing its age.”

Scouting is a rare institution in today’s society because it teaches young men that there are causes greater than self, that there is value in hard work and sacrifice, that it is more important to do what is right instead of what is easy, and that there are obligations and responsibilities shared by members of a free society.

Most parents, employers and teachers I know would not hang the tag “old-fashioned” on the 12 attributes listed in the Scout law: “A Scout is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent.”

When cultivated, these values can transform an individual into a trustworthy, principled leader. I hope the American people will rally to the Scout’s defense as the left-leaning forces of moral ambiguity and intolerance continue their campaign against this important organization.
Read Original Article

A Texas-size defense for values of Boy Scouts
2008 03 12

When I was growing up on Long Island, I was no Boy Scout.

That’s not a confession about my behavior. I literally was not a member of the Boy Scouts of America. That was my loss.

But my two sons are Scouts. The older is a Boy Scout with Troop 29, and the younger is in Cub Scout Pack 625 - each in Suffolk County. My wife deserves all the credit for getting them active in Scouting.

It has opened up new interests and adventures for the boys - and for me. “Klondike camping,” for example, meant sleeping in a tent for two nights with the wind whipping and the temperature dipping below 20 degrees.

That was definitely a new experience for me.

Most important, Scouting reinforces lessons we try to teach about hard work, respecting others, responsibility, faith and love of country.

Unfortunately, the Boy Scouts have been assaulted in recent times by left-wingers who don’t like the group’s values. But rising in defense is Texas Gov. Rick Perry, with his new book, “On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For.”

Perry told me recently why he wrote the book: “I want to espouse the values of an institution that has been developing and promoting and positively shaping millions of young Americans’ lives for almost a hundred years. And secondly, I wanted to expose the virus of these secular humanists who are endangering institutions like the Boy Scouts, which teach traditional values.”

In addition to providing a comprehensive account on the benefits of Scouting, the book details 30-plus years of legal actions against the Scouts. Perry said the Scouts are forced to spend “just north of a million dollars a year” defending against “frivolous lawsuits.”

What’s the beef? Atheists don’t like that the Scout oath includes a “duty to God,” and gay activists disapprove of Scouting’s position on homosexuality.

On religion, Perry wrote, “From its earliest days, Scouting has welcomed boys of varying religious faiths.” He also pointed out that the Scout bylaws state that “no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God.”

As for homosexuality, Perry wrote, “The BSA’s position is that a homosexual who makes his sex life a public matter is not an appropriate role model of the Scout Oath and Law for adolescent boys.” He added, “Scouting is not intended to advance a discussion about sexual activity, whether of the heterosexual form or the homosexual form.”

For these views, the intolerant left has relentlessly attacked Scouting, trying to force the group to change its policies and to get the group booted from public facilities.

Fortunately, in 2000 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Boy Scouts’ right to set membership rules - though in a disturbingly narrow 5-4 decision. And in 2001 Congress passed, and President George W. Bush signed into law, a measure ensuring that the Scouts could not be discriminated against in terms of access to public-school facilities.

But the anti-Scouting zealots push ahead. Last week, Gov. Perry offered words of encouragement for when the Boy Scouts are under attack: “Look back at that long distinguished list of young men who, before they wore astronauts’ uniforms, before they wore generals’ uniforms, before they were the captains of industry, before they were fathers and good brothers and good young men, they wore the uniform of Scouting.... Frankly, I think it’s the soul of America, and it’s a soul that’s worth fighting for, it’s a soul worth dying for, and it’s a soul worth saving.”

Perry’s book profits will go to Scouting’s legal defense. The Boy Scouts have a staunch defender in the governor, and it’s a group well worth defending.
Read Original Article

Interview with Governor Perry on “Hot Talk”
2008 03 07

Governor Perry will appear on “Hot Talk” with host Scott Hennon on Tuesday, March 11, 2008 at 11:07 a.m. Central Time. The show is broadcast on WDAY-AM in Fargo, North Dakota.

To see more media appearances by Governor Perry, click here.

Interview with Governor Perry on “Friday Encounter”
2008 03 07

Governor Perry will appear on the “Friday Encounter with Jim Jenkins on Friday, March 21 at 2:00 p.m. Central Time. The show will broadcast on the Bott Radio Network.

To see more media appearances by Governor Perry, click here.

Interview with Governor Perry on The Michael Medved Show
2008 03 07

Governor Perry will appear on The Michael Medved Show on Wednesday, March 5, 2008 at 3:00 p.m. Central Time. The show is nationally syndicated.

To see more media appearances by Governor Perry, click here.

Interview with Governor Perry on The Mancow Show
2008 03 07

Governor Perry will appear on The Mancow Show with host Erich “Mancow” Muller on Tuesday, March 11, 2008 at 7:10 a.m. Central Time. The show is nationally syndicated.

To see more media appearances by Governor Perry, click here.

Interview with Governor Perry on The Lynn Wooley Show
2008 03 07

Governor Perry will appear on The Lynn Wooley Show on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 at 9:35 a.m Central Time. The show will be broadcast on KTEM-AM in Temple, TX.

To see more media appearances by Governor Perry, click here.

Interview with Governor Perry in New York Newsday
2008 03 07

Columnist Ray Keating will interview Rick Perry for a column to appear in New York Newsday. Publication date to be determined.

To see all of Governor Perry’s media appearances, click here.

Scouts’ honor
2008 03 05

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is determined not to let the Boy Scouts of America become the latest casualty of what he calls the ongoing cultural battle between traditional American values and the secular left.

In his new book, “On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For,” Mr. Perry outlines the legal challenges over the Boy Scouts’ refusal to abandon positions on gays and religion. He said the organization should not succumb to pressure to change.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations have been filing lawsuits against the Boy Scouts for more than 30 years, seeking to ban the organization from public facilities based on its exclusion of atheists, agnostics and openly gay scoutmasters.

“If the ACLU and their kind are successful in blocking public facilities for use by Scouts, then we’re going to have very few places that Scouting is going to be able to conduct their meetings,” said Mr. Perry, who is an Eagle Scout. “The secular left will have won in defeating an institution that has for 100 years trained our young men to be leaders, to be patriots, to be individuals who have characteristics that the vast majority of the people in this country want their young men to express and to exhibit.”

Mr. Perry, a Republican, cited David Park, national general counsel of the Boy Scouts, as saying that the lawsuits cost more than 100 years and millions of dollars in litigation.

The governor wants Scouts to be able to use public facilities, but the ACLU is trying to apply anti-discriminatory legislation, said Arthur B. Spitzer, legal director of the ACLU’s National Capital Area chapter.

“I think most Americans agree that an organization that discriminates shouldn’t get special benefits,” Mr. Spitzer said.

The ACLU has said that two of the Boy Scout rules promote discrimination: One states that Scouts and scoutmasters must affirm a belief in God and live out their faith; the other states that the organization prohibits open or activist gay scoutmasters.
Read Original Article

Boy Scouts Celebrate Values
2008 03 05

The Boy Scouts of America is praising Texas Gov. Rick Perry for his new book supporting the Scouts and their values.

Bob Bork Jr., a spokesman for the Scouts, said he is pleased Perry took such a public stance in defending the Scouts in On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For. Perry also came to the defense of the Scouts’ policy that prohibits homosexuals from scouting or serving as Scout leaders, OneNewsNow.com reported.

Scouting is about camping out and having fun, Bork said, and not the appropriate place to delve into the issue of sexuality.

“Since its inception in 1910, the Boy Scouts has believed that open homosexuality is inconsistent with the values it wants to communicate through its leaders,” Bork notes.

Perry also documented the 30-year history of litigation against the Scouts by pro-homosexual organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union.

Lambda Legal has asked Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo to honor the city’s nondiscrimination policies and cut ties with a Boy Scouts of America affiliate that administers youth programs for the Los Angeles Police and Fire Departments.
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TH Radio: Hillary Whines & McCain Battles the NY Times
2008 03 05

Bill Bennett spoke with Newt Gingrich about the two Democratic candidates; Michael Medved discussed the New York Times’ attempt to broadside Senator McCain; Dennis Prager spoke with Texas Governor Rick Perry about his new book out titled “On My Honor: Why The American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For.” All this and more.

Listen to the PodCast

At Dallas County Republicans’ Reagan Day Dinner, reluctant support of McCain
2008 03 05

Presidential candidate John McCain wasn’t the first choice, or even the second, third or fourth choice, of many of the 500 or so die-hard Republicans gathered Saturday night for the Dallas County party’s annual Reagan Day Dinner.

“I sort of liken it to a grieving process. You come to acceptance,” said U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, ticking off the conventionally accepted stages of mourning. But “on every issue I care about, and you care about, John McCain is head and shoulders above Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.”

Mr. Cornyn endorsed Mr. McCain on Feb. 7. Gov. Rick Perry, meanwhile, first endorsed former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose candidacy took off about as well as a jet with its engines pointed backward. Mr. Perry has since endorsed Mr. McCain, who is closing in on enough of the delegates necessary to clinch the Republican presidential nomination.

Dismissing Mr. Obama as a “silver-tongued senator from Illinois” and Mrs. Clinton as powerless to provide much more political substance than “screeching rebuttals,” Mr. Perry urged those gathered this year to fight for conservative principles and against the “leftist forces of secular humanism ... disrespect for our president and the disposable nature of the unborn.”

A Democratic president, he added, could lead to the advent of a “socialist regime” in the United States.

Local Democrats dismissed those remarks.

“The governor is totally off base,” said Pauline Medrano, a Dallas City Council member and Hillary Rodham Clinton supporter. “Any Democrat we have in the White House will do a great job – and we will have a Democrat.”

During his speech, Mr. Perry mentioned numerous Texas politicians, the Boy Scouts and GOP ideals such as freedom and traditional values. He did not mention Mr. McCain by name.

Mr. McCain will be in Texas Monday and Tuesday, including an election-night party in Dallas.

Naming no one in particular, former Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams said some GOP candidates are only 90, 80, 70 or even 60 percent as conservative as many people gathered at Dallas’ Westin Park Central.

He quickly noted, however, that “it’s higher than what the other side is, because they’re zero percent conservative,” Mr. Williams said.

“Maybe your guy didn’t get in the race. Maybe your guy did, but your guy’s gone,” Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams said before swiping at Mr. Obama’s campaign slogan by saying, “you cannot stop al-Qaeda with hope.”
Read Original Article

Big Money raises legislative races to level of presidential drama
2008 03 05

The battle for the Democratic presidential nomination between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama may be front-page news in Texas, but in some areas of the state, local legislative races are now getting just as much attention because they’ve gotten downright nasty.

Thank or blame Big Money. This year, most of the media attention is focused on House districts in Arlington, Austin, Bulverde, Edinburg, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, Palmview, Waco and Weatherford, to name a few.

Those races are not just nasty, they are expensive, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

San Antonio mega donor James Leininger, who gave $500,000 to Van Wilson to try to unseat Delwin Jones as District 83 representative two years ago, has contributed $50,000 to some Republican incumbents in those districts because they are fending off well-funded challengers.

Another reason those races are getting lots of attention is because Big Money is helping allies as well as foes of Craddick. And though Leininger is a late-comer this year - but once again the most generous contributor - Gov. Rick Perry also has drawn lots of attention.

Perry took the unusual step of helping some Craddick supporters, all Republicans, who need help. They are Phil King of Weatherford, Charles “Doc” Anderson of Waco and Bill Zedler of Arlington.

Perry also is supporting El Paso businessman Dee Margo, who is challenging incumbent Pat Haggerty, a maverick Republican, and Mark Shelton, a Fort Worth physician trying to unseat Dan Barrett, a Democrat who last year won a heavily Republican district in a special election.

And last but not least, Reps. Kevin Bailey of Houston, Dawnna Dukes of Austin, Ismael “Kino” Flores of Palmview, and Aaron Pena of Edinburg, four of 15 Craddick D’s, Democrats who helped Craddick survive two Republican-led efforts to oust him last year, also are fending off well-funded challengers. And except for Dukes, each received $50,000 from a political action committee linked to Craddick and now their opponents are making the most of it.

To be elected or re-elected as speaker, a House member needs 76 votes, including his or her own and each vote is critical for Craddick - currently there are 79 Republicans and 71 Democrats in the 150-member House. However, at least a half-dozen Republicans, including Jones and Haggerty, oppose Craddick so he’ll need some Democrats to be chosen speaker again.

So, the stakes are high not just for Clinton and Obama but for Craddick and some of his allies and foes. It’s going to be a long night for them as well.
Read Original Article

Perry’s all for hope - and for being brave, clean, reverent …
2008 03 05

Forty miles and a political time warp away from Sen. Barack Obama’s Fort Worth rally, aspiring author Gov. Rick Perry addressed a much cozier Dallas crowd Thursday night.

At a signing party for his new Boy Scout book, On My Honor, Perry told about 300 book shoppers that he wants to defend the Scouts’ honor, morality and virtue against those who would reduce the Scouts’ principles to a “shapeless form of relativity.”

Afterward, he frowned at Obama’s message.

“Hope?” he said, rolling his eyes. “I’m for hope.”

The crowds lining up for Obama are “going to his rock concert,” Perry said, calling Obama a “socialist.”

I asked whether he’d ever seen anything comparable to crowds Obama was drawing.

“Sure,” he said, grinning.

“The Beatles. The Rolling Stones. The Who.”

He frowned again.

“I just don’t want anybody like that running my country.”

His father, former Democratic Haskell County Commissioner J.R. Perry, was among the guests at the north Dallas bookstore.

I asked him about Obama.

The father didn’t look up.

“

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Hans Zeiger, guest column: Perry’s plea for Scouting2008 03 12

Perry’s book puts Boy Scouts in spotlight2008 03 12

Letters: Questions for Gov. Rick Perry2008 03 12

Texas governor: Congress has bigger concerns than Clemens2008 03 12

Point of Contact: Rick Perry2008 03 12

A Texas-size defense for values of Boy Scouts2008 03 12

Interview with Governor Perry on “Hot Talk”2008 03 07

Interview with Governor Perry on “Friday Encounter”2008 03 07

Interview with Governor Perry on The Michael Medved Show2008 03 07

Interview with Governor Perry on The Mancow Show2008 03 07

Interview with Governor Perry on The Lynn Wooley Show2008 03 07

Interview with Governor Perry in New York Newsday2008 03 07

Scouts’ honor2008 03 05

Boy Scouts Celebrate Values2008 03 05

TH Radio: Hillary Whines & McCain Battles the NY Times2008 03 05

At Dallas County Republicans’ Reagan Day Dinner, reluctant support of McCain2008 03 05

Big Money raises legislative races to level of presidential drama2008 03 05

Perry’s all for hope - and for being brave, clean, reverent …2008 03 05

Perry jaws with Austin activist
2008 07 09

Perry rallies GOP delegates at convention but some questions whether he should run for a third term
2008 07 09

Barr is Libertarian nominee; he vows ‘strongest ticket’ in party’s history
2008 07 09

Bob Barr—no, not Ron Paul—is Libertarian presidential nominee
2008 07 09

Bob Barr Wins LP Presidential Nomination
2008 07 09

Platoons, Juntos, and Cabinets: Changing Society
2008 07 08

THE BETTER HOUR National High School Contest Honors Teen Public Service and William Wilberforce
2008 07 08

Creating The Better Hour
2008 07 08

Film Seeks to Restore Name of British Abolitionist in U.S.
2008 07 08

The John Newton Project
2008 05 09

Why the BSA Is Valuable
2008 05 09

Governor Perry Book Celebrates Values of Boy Scouts
2008 05 05

Gov. Perry Stands Up for Boy Scouts
2008 05 05

Trial Lawyers Get A Break
2008 05 05

Boy Scouts Push for New Relevance
2008 05 01

Gov. Perry will sign book in Woodville
2008 04 28

Governor to visit campus amid stir over book
2008 04 16

Perry Interview featured on GodTube
2008 04 14

Governor’s first book is ‘readable defense’
2008 04 07

Cub Scout first to get book signed by Perry at Lubbock event
2008 04 04

New Borders
2008 04 04

Interview with Governor Perry on The Charles Brennan Show
2008 03 26

Perry to visit city, present grant to Tech, sign books
2008 03 26

Perry Interview with CBN’s 700 Club
2008 03 26

Film seeks to restore Wilberforce’s name among Americans
2008 03 24

Film Seeks to Restore Name of British Abolitionist in U.S.
2008 03 20

Nelson Block, guest column: Scouting and ‘culture wars’
2008 03 18

Hans Zeiger, guest column: Perry’s plea for Scouting
2008 03 12

Perry’s book puts Boy Scouts in spotlight
2008 03 12

Letters: Questions for Gov. Rick Perry
2008 03 12

Texas governor: Congress has bigger concerns than Clemens
2008 03 12

Point of Contact: Rick Perry
2008 03 12

A Texas-size defense for values of Boy Scouts
2008 03 12

Interview with Governor Perry on “Hot Talk”
2008 03 07

Interview with Governor Perry on “Friday Encounter”
2008 03 07

Interview with Governor Perry on The Michael Medved Show
2008 03 07

Interview with Governor Perry on The Mancow Show
2008 03 07

Interview with Governor Perry on The Lynn Wooley Show
2008 03 07

Interview with Governor Perry in New York Newsday
2008 03 07

Scouts’ honor
2008 03 05

Boy Scouts Celebrate Values
2008 03 05

TH Radio: Hillary Whines & McCain Battles the NY Times
2008 03 05

At Dallas County Republicans’ Reagan Day Dinner, reluctant support of McCain
2008 03 05

Big Money raises legislative races to level of presidential drama
2008 03 05

Perry’s all for hope - and for being brave, clean, reverent …
2008 03 05