Keeping An Eye On The U.N.

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ACLJ
American Center For Law & Justice
www.aclj.org

An Obama Administration & Keeping an Eye on the U.N.

A new Administration means change and at the American Center for Law and Justice, we’re closely examining what’s at stake as President-elect Obama begins to govern. At the same time, we’re monitoring developments at the United Nations, where an anti-Christian resolution is up for a vote.

The new president is moving fast, naming Congressman Rahm Emanuel as his new chief of staff as well as beginning to float names for his Cabinet. He has also made clear what his first 100 days will look like, pledging to sign as many as 200 executive orders. With these orders, President-elect Obama is promising to overturn President Bush’s ban on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, restore the ban on offshore drilling and reinstate taxpayer funding for the United Nations Population Fund, an organization committed to coerced abortions.

There’s already movement in reshaping the nation’s Federal Communications Commission, the agency that would be critical in re-launching the so-called Fairness Doctrine, a measure that would cripple Christian and conservative talk radio.

The new president named made two appointments to the FCC “transition team” -- Susan Crawford and Kevin Werbach to the posts. Werbach, a former counsel at the FCC during the Clinton Administration, specializes in information and communication technologies. With Obama’s first chance of appointing a new FCC commissioner coming in June of 2009, we will be keeping an eye on who he appoints. A simply majority of the five commissioners is all an Obama Administration needs to re-implement the so-called “Fairness Doctrine.”

Also being discussed this week in Washington, DC is the change in committee and subcommittee structures in both the House and Senate. With Democrats soon to hold as much as a three-vote majority in many of the committees in the Senate and even bigger margins in the House, it is critical that we keep an eye on what is going on behind the scenes.

Pro-life riders, increased funding for Planned Parenthood, the Employer Non-Discrimination Act and a host of other issues will be decided in these committees. At the same time, there will be much attention focused on the next Congress and the issue of judicial nominations. As you know, for years Democrats blocked many of President Bush’s nominees to the federal judiciary with filibusters. With a new majority in the Senate that may reach 60 seats for the Democrats, it would make it much more difficult for Republicans to challenge the new president’s judicial nominees. Of course, in addition to the numerous vacancies in the federal judiciary, the Obama Administration will make nominations to the U.S. Supreme Court, should a vacancy or vacancies occur.

While we’re focused on the new developments unfolding in Washington, we’re also concerned about what’s taking place at the United Nations.

In recent months, we’ve talked a lot about the resolution on the Defamation of Religions - a measure that protects the religion of Islam while targeting other religions including Christianity - a measure being pushed by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

As our international affiliate, the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) has reported in the past that the OIC uses the concept of “defamation of religions” as both sword and shield. In Islamic countries, blasphemy laws are used as a shield to protect the dominant religion; but even more dangerously, they are used to silence minority religious believers - especially Christians - and prevent Muslims from converting to other faiths, which is still a capital crime in many Islamic countries.

Tomorrow in the U.N. - in what is known as the Third Committee - this troubling resolution will receive a vote. If it clears the committee, it is likely the General Assembly at the U.N. will vote on it early in December. We will have representatives at the U.N. tomorrow and will bring you an update on Wednesday.

Without question, this is a time of change. Our Government Affairs team is working to ensure that the ACLJ is in a position to stand up for your constitutional and religious freedoms - as the nation prepares for a new president and a new Congress which convenes in early 2009.


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