February  8, 2002

Texas Eagle Forum News & Notes

PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY SPEAKS AT C-PAC
At the 29th annual Conservative Political Action Conference, Jan. 29 - Feb. 2 in Arlington, VA., Eagle Forum President addressed the subject of immigration and our urgent need to reform our border policies, also the topic of the January Phyllis Schlafly Report. She was participating, along with Gary Aldrich of the Patrick Henry Center and Phil Kent of the Southeastern Legal Foundation, in a panel on "Freedom in a Time of War," moderated by Fred Smith of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. You can listen to Phyllis' speech at www.eagleforum.org.

According to Washington Times reporter Ralph Hallow (2-4-02) , this year's C-PAC revealed that youth is swelling the ranks of the conservative movement in America, which is characterized by admiration for President George W. Bush and a "shift in emphasis away from social issues to personal freedom." The Conference organizers estimated that nearly half of the attendees were age 35 or younger. A poll of one-fourth of the 3,800 registrants found that they gave Bush a 98% job approval and a 96% personal approval rating. Nearly 38% cited fighting terrorism as their highest political priority, and gave cutting taxes and reducing wasteful federal spending 30% each, and rebuilding the military, 25%. Only 13% listed banning abortion as their top concern, and just 9% cited reversing the decline in moral values.

EAGLE FORUM AND OTHERS URGE PRESIDENT TO ABOLISH DACOWITS
While most conservatives are pleased with President Bush's conduct of the war on terrorism and his efforts to rebuild our military forces, they are unhappy with the current approach to women in the military. The feminist-dominated Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS), composed of Secretary of Defense appointees, has a long record of supporting policies which undermine morale, training standards and morale, and which are damaging our war effort. The charter of DACOWITS is up for renewal next month; and on February 1, a coalition of conservative groups, including Eagle Forum, Concerned Women for America and the Center for Military Readiness called on President Bush not to renew the charter. Eagle Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, argued that DACOWITS is no longer needed, and its elimination would show that women "have truly arrived" as valued members of the national defense team and send a message of support for the military women who "understand the realities of war."

JILL STANEK CAMPAIGN GETS BOOST FROM WASHINGTON PRO-LIFERS
Eagle Forum PAC and Eagle Forum's Washington Executive Director Lori Waters joined a number of prominent national level leaders and supporters of the pro-family movement on the evening of Feb. 6 in hosting a fundraiser for Illinois legislative candidate Jill Stanek. Mrs. Stanek gained national attention when she was fired from her job as a labor and delivery room nurse at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, IL for exposing the barbaric practice of allowing second trimester aborted babies who were born alive to die unattended without benefit of medical assessment or treatment. Many were healthy; one was breathing on her own and lived 2« hours. Mrs. Stanek decided to fight back by running for the newly redrawn 81st legislative seat in Southwest Chicago, against a Republican opponent, Renee Kosel, who has consistently voted pro-abortion. According to Illinois Eagle Forum, Kosel is also a big spender, voting for tax increases and every state budget during her tenure, while state spending increased over 50% in five years. She favored gambling expansion, mandatory kindergarten, and restraints on the right to keep and bear arms. Mrs. Stanek's whistleblowing led to the passage of the federal Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2001, which has passed both houses of Congress, but is tied up in conference.

Jill Stanek says she estimates she must raise $150,000 to win the primary. The District is strongly Republican, and the Democrats do not seriously contest it. She has raised $50,000 thus far. She may be contacted at 20017 S. Wolf Road, Mokena, IL 60448, phone (708) 479-8240 or at www.jillstanek2002.com.

MORE ERA MISCHIEF
Eagle Forum leader Bunny Chambers of Oklahoma has alerted us to a Pro-ERA website dedicated to encouraging efforts to revive the defunct amendment. It claims to represent "a network of people all around the United States supporting and/or working to achieve the addition of the ERA to our U.S. Constitution." The group has a "3-state strategy," based on the assumption that the amendment's time limit did not exist, and that therefore they need only to achieve ratification in three of the unratified states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia. Eagles in those states should be on alert for action in their legislatures.

MOVE OVER COLLEGE STUDENTS; MAKE WAY FOR ALIENS
Since 9/11, U.S. colleges and universities have decided to greatly increase their financial aid to alien students. Since our government is doing a bit more to track the movements of foreign students, the colleges are fearful that there will be a drop-off in applications. So, many universities have decided to increase their financial aid to aliens. Today, about 40% of the country's 240,000 foreign graduate students receive financial help, but the colleges are planning on increasing that substantially. Yale University has increased the proportion of foreign students receiving aid from 24.7% to 62.1%. Even some taxpayer-funded state universities are aiding foreign students, though some are forbidden to do so. Wall Street Journal, 2-1-02.

FOX NEWS OVERTAKES CNN
The cable news network with balanced coverage, Fox News, has topped its rival, left-leaning CNN, for the first time in its five-year history. CNN had a virtual monopoly in cable news for 15 years; and FOX is still available in fewer homes since many local cable providers resist adding it. Nevertheless, in the one-month period ending January 29, Fox averaged 656,000 viewers to 596,000 for CNN, according to Nielsen Media Research. CNN is available in nearly 86 million of the nation's 105.5 million homes with television, while Fox is available in only 77 million. Bill O'Reilly of The O'Reilly Factor, who appeared at the 2001 Eagle Council, is credited with being "the biggest factor in its success." Associated Press, 1-30-02.

REAGAN BIRTHDAY CELEBRATED
Feb. 6 was the 91st birthday of former President Ronald Reagan, making him the longest-lived former president in our nation's history. In Washington, the Reagan Alumni Association celebrated with a reception and tribute to the beloved leader. At a breakfast earlier in the day, Judge Loren A. Smith of the U.S. Court of Claims, who was chief counsel for both of Reagan's presidential campaigns and held several high posts in his administration, recounted a story illustrating the president's optimistic character. On the day when John Hinckley was acquitted (by reason of insanity) of the attempted assassination of President Reagan, which resulted in the death of a policeman and permanent injury of Reagan's press secretary, many members of the White House staff were worried about how the President would react. Judge Smith recalled that the legal staffers were seated in a meeting room that afternoon when Reagan entered. He was grinning from ear to ear, and chuckled, "Tip O'Neill is furious today!" They asked why; and the President replied, "Because a court has ruled that anyone who would want to kill me must be crazy."

STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH ACCLAIMED BY DEMOCRATS
New York Times columnist, Bob Herbert, wrote, "The Democrats are faced with the simple fact that most Americans like their president, and are rooting for him. Mr. Bush, in turn, has exhibited a sense of command and a comfort level with the presidency that was lacking before September ll. You don't hear many jokes any more about Dick Cheney being in charge."

NUMBER OF FOREIGN-BORN IN U.S. SHOOTS UPWARD
The Census Bureau reports that the number of foreign-born residents and children of foreign-born has skyrocketed to 56 million, or 20% of our population (New York Times, 2-7-02). Are they learning to speak English? New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg said (2-2-02): "Unfortunately, there is a bureaucracy that does not want to have that happen." He attacked bilingual education.

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