Good News: Senate Resolution Honors Focus on the Family Radio Program

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., has introduced a resolution in the U.S. Senate congratulating Dr. James Dobson and the Focus on the Family radio program for their induction into the National Radio Hall of Fame.

The resolution "congratulates the Focus on the Family radio program, its staff, and its founder and chairman, James Dobson, for their excellence in radio programming and the program’s worthy induction into the National Radio Hall of Fame."

Gary Schneeberger, vice president for media and public relations at Focus on the Family, said Dr. Dobson is honored by Brownback's gesture.

"It recognizes the great work of the thousands of people who have put out the Focus on the Family broadcast through the years," Schneeberger said. "It is further affirmation that the program has impacted millions of lives for the better. That represents the real joy in Dr. Dobson's heart — that the Lord has used him and his show to help families thrive."

Co-sponsors include GOP Sens. Jim DeMint, S.C.; Orrin Hatch, Utah; James Inhofe, Okla., Mel Martinez, Fla.; Mitch McConnell, Ky.; and Pat Roberts, Kan.

by Devon Williams, associate editor

'It's self-evident that the natural order of the family is a mother and father.'

© 2008 WorldNetDaily

A Labor Day parade from the early 1900s

Food workers at the Shelbyville, Tenn., plant for Tyson Foods, which boasts on its corporate website that it strives "to honor God," will have time off for Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday closing the month of Ramadan, instead of the American tradition Labor Day.

Officials with the company told WND the labor union representing the 1,200 plant workers, including about 700 immigrants from Somalia who largely are Muslim, sought the holiday change in the new five-year contract, and the company agreed.

Officials with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union issue a press statement about the new "contract [that] creates an additional paid holiday, [Eid al-Fitr,] a Muslim holiday that occurs toward the end of Ramadan."

A spokeswoman at the union's office told WND no one was in the office today who could comment on the request.

To the Shelbyville Times-Gazette, Gary Mickelson, Tyson's media chief, said there is no new holiday, but at the union's request the company agreed to discontinue the Labor Day holiday and implement Eid al-Fitr.

"Union leadership did request and receive Eid al-Fitr (which is apparently spelled various ways including Id al-Fitr and Eid ul-Fitr) as a paid holiday in place of Labor Day," Mickelson told the newspaper.

"Since all Team Members will still have eight paid holidays, the change will not affect production," Mickelson said.

On the paper's forum page, readers were outraged.

"If this holiday is that important to them, make them take it off instead of Christmas Day and allow ALL workers to be off Labor Day. Most AMERICAN families have some type of function on Labor Day," wrote one anonymous participant.

"It says union leadership made this request, makes you wonder who runs the union. I guess they are already working on a plan to replace Memorial Day, that means nothing to the Muslims so why should we have the right to celebrate it. Labor Day commemorates the plight of workers and the struggle of labor unions to improve working conditions for American workers. The Muslims will not stop until all of our rights and laws are changed to accommodate their beliefs. This will be a new America but it will be their America," said another.

The union boasts on its website, "Diversity is one of the strengths of our union. … We may come from different countries and speak different languages. But what unites us is the belief that by standing together we can better advance our interests."

The holiday comes at the conclusion of the month-long Ramadan for Muslims, but it not on the same day each year. Officials with Tyson said they were working out how best to address what apparently now will be a floating holiday for the company.

Mickelson said other holidays for the company workers include birthday, New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

Union spokesman Randy Hadley told the newspaper, "The negotiating committee felt this was extremely crucial, since this holiday is as important to Muslims as Christmas is to Christians."

The union also reported "two prayer rooms have been created to allow Muslim workers to pray twice a day and return to work without leaving the plant."

Ironically, the company on its website also promotes a variety of traditional and customary Christian and secular blessings for food – its primary product.

"This is America, founded by the blood of our forefathers and should not be challenged by Somalians, Hispanics, or any other immigrants. If they come to America, they need to learn our language and our ways. They can practice their culture in private if they so please, but not shove it down our throats. Would they let us go there and change there country? I have banned Tyson's products from my home for years because of the illegals they were hiring. I am sorry for the producers that are supplying them, but Tyson's has once again crossed the line with the American people. Labor Day was here long before Tyson's. What holiday will be next to be taken away and replaced to accommodate an immigrant. This stinks worse than the plant," said another anonymous forum participant.

"Disgusting ... appalling ... horrifying ... there just aren't enough words to describe this situation. There will never be another Tyson product in my home EVER!! Bedford County and the rest of the nation needs to take notice. Is this what we are coming to?" said another.

A Muslim website says the holiday is a "joyous three-day celebration" that concludes Ramadan, during which Muslims fast during the day.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the national holiday dates from Sept. 5, 1882, and is "dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country."

Planned Parenthood won't be part of a children's health fair in Vallejo, California.

Children's games and face painting are part of the weekend fair designed to reach children 5th grade and up. It was originally reported that Planned Parenthood would be present to hand out birth control and S.T.D. information to grammar school children. However, sources now say that Planned Parenthood will not be present.

Katie Walker of American Life League -- whose organization sounded the alarm to pro-life organizations in the area – says that the Greater Vallejo Recreational District, which was sponsoring the event, was "barraged with hundreds of phone calls demanding that Planned Parenthood not be allowed." She adds that those who voiced protest are tired of the organization's "persistent campaign to sexualize children."

The protest led to district officials disinviting Planned Parenthood.

One of California's pro-family advocates says it's wrong -- both in "substance and style" -- for public utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) to take a political position against Proposition 8, the ballot measure supporting traditional marriage in this fall's election.

PG&E announced this week that it will donate $250,000 to the "No on 8" campaign, and join with campaign reps and officials from the sponsoring homosexual group Equality California to create a business advisory council which will encourage state businesses to help defeat the ballot measure.
 
Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families, says no public utility should be allowed to take such a position. "They provide power -- gas and electricity. They should not be taking positions against ballot measures," he emphasizes. "That's like a quasi-government agency taking positions against ballot measures, which is illegal."
 
He adds that the money contribution would also seem to make PG&E, which services a large part of central and northern California, "the homosexual marriage utility."
 
Regardless, Thomasson says it is clear business owners and voters must make a decision. "It's time for businesses to take a stand. It's either yes or no for natural marriage," says the pro-family leader. "The voters need to take a stand -- yes or no for Proposition 8." And businesses, he adds, need to take a stand -- with their dollars -- for the amendment.

Tunnel in Rafah - FIle

Eyewitnesses reported that several Palestinians were digging the tunnel but it suddenly collapsed on them trapping twenty under the rubble.

Dr. Moawiya Hassanen, head of the Emergency Unit at the Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed the report.  He added that the accident was probably caused by a gas explosion.

Dr. Hassanen added that most of the casualties suffocated after the tunnel collapsed on them.   

 The Israeli government claims that the tunnels on the borders are meant for smuggling weapons and ammunition into the Gaza Strip, but the Palestinians say that these tunnels are a response to the Israeli siege on the impoverished Gaza Strip.

'Greenshirt' youths urged to inform on eco-crimes

Launched last week by NPower -- the country's fourth-largest provider -- the campaign is part of a larger program to educate children about global warming and the wasteful habits that might exacerbate it.

Placed in prominent newspapers such as The Sunday Times and The Telegraph, the ads offer giveaway diaries in which kids can note domestic infractions, such as leaving a mobile phone charging for too long or a Nintendo game left flickering in the dark, as well as Post-It notes, which can be left at the crime scene as a warning to the offenders. Equally important, the campaign seeks to attract kids to its controversial Web site, Climate Cops, which encourages children to monitor and report on their domestic energy crimes to their classrooms.

Some activists and marketers see the site as a clever marketing gimmick to teach children to preserve their planet. Others see excessive indoctrination tactics lifted from the pages of the George Orwell novel 1984, in which children are set against their parents, or worse, the Hitler Youth, who were encouraged to betray their loved ones for the greater glory of the state.

Last Tuesday, a satirical article on the British Web site Anorak referred to these cadets as "Greenshirts" and compared them to the young Blackshirts of yore. "NPower, the electricity people, want you, the Britisher Jungvolk, to inform on your mums and your dads if they disobey the rules on climate change."

Despite the mockery and alarm found on some Web sites this week, NPower said that the response has been overwhelming positive, and that the company does not wish to spawn a new generation of eco-narcs. "This is not supposed to be remotely sinister," said spokeswoman Zoe Melarkey.

Instead, she added that the program gives children a feeling of empowerment they might not otherwise have.

The company's fetching, kid-friendly Web pages use games, posters and vivid cartoons to draw fresh recruits, who are typically between the ages of seven and eleven.

Once connected, kids can download "Climate Crime" Cards to monitor their family's misdeeds.

"Report back to your family to make sure they don't commit those crimes again (or else!)" Instructs the site page, which features a polar giving the thumbs-up and three kids wearing baggy trousers and "Academy Cadet" T-Shirts.

"You can spread your search even wider by adding even more Case Files to your notes," it suggests. "What about the homes of your uncles, aunts or friends from school?"

The Web site is part of NPower's Greener Schools Program, which has alloted a budget of £20-million over five years. While it is hoping to reach 150 primary and secondary schools across the U.K. this year, the program eventually seeks to reach 2,500 in total. Last year, 65 schools participated.

"It's not about reporting on your parents," said Clare McDougall, NPower's education project director. "It's how the accumulation of small differences add up to one big difference."

Ms. McDougall added that contrary to some critics' impressions, children do not report on the parents to people in position of authority, such as teachers. Instead, she stressed, it is merely a light-hearted awareness exercise, and the information does not go any farther than the child's family.

When the Climate Cops were introduced last fall, it faced some vocal resistance, especially from Tim Newark, a British historian. "The idea that they are going to use this scheme to inform on their parents is really like something out of 1984," he told the Islington Tribune, adding that education on the topic of global warming should be presented more calmly. "It's a dreadful throwback to fascist times. Schools should be more balanced."

The idea of home-energy suppliers that encouraged conservation also smacked of Orwellian irony: why would utilities companies deliberately want to lose revenue?

In part, the answer has to do with the country's deregulation policy. As part of its program to privatize the sector in the 1990s, the British government required energy companies to promote efficiency. The larger the energy provider, the more money it is legally obliged to spend. NPower, which is owned by the German utility giant RWE, claims that it earmarks more than £300-million over three years towards conservation programs.

Beginning with British Petroleum, there is also a larger trend of energy companies that is trying to green their image at a time of dwindling resources and concern about carbon emissions.

In Canada, for example, David Suzuki appears in ads promoting Powerwise, a partnership between local Ontario electrical utilities and the Government of Ontario.

One of his spots takes a similar approach to the Climate Cops.

It pans to a treehouse sign that prohibits wasteful parents. Inside there is Dr. David Suzuki, talking in a conspiratorial whispers with children as they figure out ways in which to save electricity.

"I have a friend, and his parents don't believe in conserving," complains one girl.

"You have the power," Dr. Suzuki replies. "It's up to you to start saying, ‘Hey remember...'" but before he can offer any further advice, the scene fades out.

"The paradigm has completely shifted because of the climate-change debate," said Don Millar, president of the Element Agency, a Vancouver environmental communications firm.

NPower's campaign impresses Mr. Millar, who implied that it was about time that the issue of conservation moved from penny-saving to planet-saving. He also liked the playful aspect, which he did not see as being shrill. "You don't have this whiny, hectoring eat-your-peas approach," he observed. "Kids want to be smarter than their parents, and they love catching them doing things they don't want to do."

When asked about the Climate Cops campaign, another expert in the Green field had a more negative reaction. "Didn't Hitler try to do something like that?" asked Scott McDougall, the president of TerraChoice, an Ottawa-based Canadian environmental marketing firm that represents clients such as Xerox and Oxybrite.

Mr. McDougall said he preferred what he considers a more positive approach. Plugging his client, Bullfrog Power as an example, he said that the Toronto-based company offers a clubby community for people who buy its renewable resources: stars such as Margaret Atwood and everyday people exchanging tips and anecdotes about their product.

Susan Bartoletti Campbell, who has written book about the Hitler Youth, said that she feels conflicted about the campaign. While the author and former school teacher says she sympathizes with the cause of stopping global warming, she thinks that harnessing children against adults is excessive. "There is a saying that ‘He who gains Youth gains the future,' " she said. "I think Hitler said that."

At the same time, she said to stress her Green bona fides. "I want to go on record as saying that it is sunny and warm here, and my linens are outside drying on the line. They are not in a dryer."

"Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap," goes the joke dating from 1900 BC which originated in what is now southern Iraq.

The top 10 of oldest jokes, compiled by academics, features randy pharaohs, dead donkeys and ox drivers.

Paul McDonald, from the University of Wolverhampton in central England, who led the study, said: "Jokes have varied over the years, with some taking the question and answer format, while others are witty proverbs or riddles.

"What they all share, however, is a willingness to deal with taboos and a degree of rebellion."

The study defined a joke as having a clear set-up and punchline, a tradition which was traced back to 1900 BC.

Butt of humour

And it appears that some things never change. Egyptian pharaohs were just as likely to be the butt of humour thousands of years ago as world leaders are today, according to one joke from 1600 BC.

"How do you entertain a bored pharaoh? Sail a boatload of young women dressed only in fishing nets down the Nile - and urge the pharaoh to go fishing."

The oldest British joke is a bawdy gag from the 10th century which employs the traditional question and answer format.