Hell-Fires Burn in California

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Weary crews battling blazes across northern and central California soon will get some help from the National Guard, the first time the troops have been called to ground-based firefighting duty since 1977. Already this year, drought conditions, high temperatures and a series of lightning storms have contributed to more than 680 square miles being scorched statewide. Federal fire managers predict an increase in severe wildfire activity in northern California through October due to unusually hot, dry weather and scant rain. The fires have created a smoky haze so stifling that some doctors in the San Joaquin Valley say their waiting rooms have been crowding with patients struggling to breathe.

Jerusalem Defiled

Christian Zionist Jim Hutchens says the recent homosexual pride parade in Jerusalem merely contributed to the moral climate that will bring about the besieging of Jerusalem foretold by prophets of the Bible. Homosexuals and their supporters marched through the Holy City Thursday in direct defiance of the Hebraic scriptures as Orthodox Jews held a counter protest nearby. The so-called "gay pride" parade was allowed to proceed after Israel's Supreme Court rejected a petition to ban the event.

Hutchens, president of The Jerusalem Connection International (TJCI), says the Bible warns of a worldwide moral decline that affects the Holy Land as well. "There is a judgment that God brings worldwide and on Israel, as a matter of fact. And I think those are the events that lead up to what we refer to as Armageddon, the apocalyptic besieging of Jerusalem," Hutchens contends.

Arizona Governor Vetoes Partial-Birth Abortion Ban

Yesterday, in the midst of the marriage amendment debate, Governor Napolitano vetoed the partial-birth abortion ban for the second time this session. Partial-birth abortion is the gruesome procedure in which the baby's entire body is delivered, except for the head, and then the baby is killed by being stabbed in the neck with scissors and having its brain vacuumed out.

In her first veto letter, the Governor stated two concerns with the bill and that she "stand[s] ready to work on these issues in a bipartisan manner." Senator Linda Gray took the Governor at her word and introduced a bill that addressed the Governor's two concerns - giving doctors a chance to have the state medical board determine whether the partial-birth abortion was necessary to save the life of the mother and limiting the penalty to not more than two years in prison. Yet despite these changes and continuing bipartisan support in both Legislative chambers, the Governor vetoed the bill, thereby preventing Arizona from having a clear law preventing this horrific practice that literally takes the life of a preborn child.

In this second veto letter, the Governor falsely claimed the new ban would introduce "more criminal penalties...into the relationship between a woman and her physician." The state ban tracked identically the federal criminal penalties. A state ban on partial-birth is needed because the federal law only applies in limited scenarios with limited enforcement options.

Banning partial-birth abortion is widely supported beyond traditional pro-life groups, and the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that bans on this horrific procedure are constitutional. Governor Napolitano remains unwilling to consider the view held by the overwhelming majority of Arizonans that the partial-birth abortion procedure is appalling.

Arizona Marriage Amendment Back from the Dead

The marriage protection amendment may have been last on Arizona's legislative agenda, but it certainly wasn't least. The hotly debated initiative, which would give voters the opportunity to join Florida and California in protecting marriage this November, would not die, despite the desperate attempts by liberal members to kill it. In fact, the Senate discussion was so heated on both sides that it went down in the record books as one of the longest sessions in the history of the Arizona legislature. For the pro-family groups watching this nail-biting exchange, it was a long day that ended in dramatic fashion when Senate President Tim Bee cast the final vote in favor of putting the referendum on the ballot.

We congratulate the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP) for persevering even when the outcome looked bleak. As recently as last week, the Senate narrowly voted down an attempt to put the marriage protection amendment on the ballot. Thanks to the work of CAP, pro-marriage leaders in Arizona pulled the provision back from the brink and revived it on Friday before the session concluded. By a 16-4 vote, the Senate entrusted the definition of marriage to the people. If you'd like to learn more about what's at stake in November, log on to www.frc.org today and order your free marriage protection kit. Help empower your friends, church, and community to defend the union of a man and woman!

Abortion Praise Report

A federal court ruled against Planned Parenthood and rejected an injunction against a state law requiring doctors to tell women seeking abortions that they may face serious medical conditions and will "terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being." The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit issued a 7-4 ruling Friday to lift an injunction against the South Dakota informed consent abortion law. Attorneys representing the Alliance Defense Fund filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of the Family Research Council in defense of the law.

The court said U.S. Supreme Court rulings allow a state to "use its regulatory authority to require a physician to provide truthful, non-misleading information relevant to a patient's decision to have an abortion, even if that information might also encourage the patient to choose childbirth over abortion." The South Dakota act defines a human being as "an individual living member of the species Homo sapiens, including the unborn human being during the entire embryonic and fetal ages from fertilization to full gestation."

Faithful Charity

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush said Saturday that religious charities, partly financed with federal money, have helped reduce homelessness, found jobs for former inmates and helped combat malaria and HIV/AIDS overseas.Bush used his weekly radio address to trumpet the "remarkable difference these groups have made over the past eight years."

The president said he wants to level the playing field so religious charities and secular charities compete for government money on an equal footing. His White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives survived a legal challenge from a group of atheists and agnostics last year when the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that ordinary taxpayers cannot sue to stop conferences that help religious charities apply for federal grants.

Barack Obama, arguing that it makes sense for the federal government to join with religious organizations to solve social problems, said Tuesday that he wants to continue President Bush's initiative to promote "faith-based" social welfare programs."Few are closer to the people than our churches, synagogues, temples and mosques," the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said. Such partnerships can take place without violating the Constitution, he said.

• JJ Commentary: Charity is supposed to be the responsibility of the Church, not the government.
  

Wildfires Grow

SAN FRANCISCO — The unprecedented number and size of wildfires burning in California this year has forced firefighters to strategically choose which ones to tackle.Their plan is this: Crews are dispatched to protect communities in the path of flames, while blazes are allowed to chew through acres of forest land.Officials say the tactic is necessary in a fire season that already has seen hot weather, rough terrain and lightning storms complicate efforts to bring blazes under control.

What is extraordinary this year is the number of fires burning at the same time, Kirchner said. The weekend of June 21 saw some 1,200 fires burning -- a figure Forest Service officials said appeared to be an all-time record in California.

• JJ Commentary: Wildfires are another sign of the end-times and increasing tribulation.