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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