USA WEEKEND POLL ON DISNEY BOYCOTTA remarkable 107,000 people contacted USA WEEKEND to speak out on the Disney boycott. According to a USA WEEKEND spokesperson Pam Cohen, "It is the magazine's highest response in 1997." USA WEEKEND, a weekly magazine published by Gannett Company, Inc., has more than 41.7 million readers and appears in 496 newspapers across the country.RESULT OF THE VOTE: Most of the votes, 95,279, were unduplicated calls to the 800 numbers. In addition, 11,397 votes were cast online at the magazine's Web site. And 421 readers sent their votes by way of postcards. The votes were taken from July 18 through July 24. Two years ago, American Family Association (AFA) called for a boycott of
Disney because of the increasingly negative influence the company was having
upon our culture. Since that time, AFA has been joined by millions of
Americans who have become involved in promoting the boycott. Last month,
the Southern Baptist Convention voted to boycott Disney and its subsidiaries
because the company is "increasingly promoting immoral ideologies such as
homosexuality, infidelity and adultery, which are biblically reprehensible
and abhorrent to God and His plan for that world that he loves." [AFA
Action Alert, 7/30/97],
EDUCATION SAVINGS ACCOUNTS . . .On 6/27/97, the Senate approved the Coverdell Amendment as part of the tax relief package. The amendment would allow parents to contribute annually up to $2,000 plus the $500 per-child tax credit into a tax-exempt education savings account. Parents of elementary or secondary students -- in public, private, parochial and home schools -- could then withdraw money from this account for tuition, books, tutoring and other educational needs. In spite of the Coverdell amendment's popularity, the President and education community were opposed to the concept. In fact, President Clinton was successful in killing the Coverdell Amendment in the final budget deal when he threatened to veto the entire tax relief package if the Coverdell amendment was not removed. Speaker Gingrich "expressed outrage over the president's willingness to sabotage the entire tax relief package if parents were allowed to save their own money to make the same choice the Clinton's made in sending Chelsea to a private school." [ED FACTS, 8/1/97] After the failure of his amendment, Sen. Coverdell and others introduced the "PASS A+ Act" (Parent and Student Savings Account Plus Act, S. 1133), which is almost identical to his amendment. Speaker Gingrich will introduce a House version. Action on both bills will begin in September.BUDGET DEAL OFFERS FAMILY RELIEF . . .Pro-family groups and lawmakers are generally pleased with the federal tax and budget agreement passed by Congress and approved by President Clinton. Sen. Sam Brownback stated, "Not since 1981 have we been able to offer the American people as comprehensive tax relief package as we are offering in this tax bill. But this is just the beginning." [Sen.Brownback Press Release, 7/31/97] BUDGET OVERVIEW: Tax cuts total $260 billion over 10 years; middle-class families can claim a $500 tax credit for every child, 16 and under, by the year 1999; capitol gains tax rate is cut from 28% to 20%, for married couples making less than $41,000, the rate drops from 15% to 10%; death tax relief; home office deductions; fully deductible health insurance premiums for the self-employed; expanded IRA's; tax-free education savings accounts; deductible student loan interest; and a 15 cent/pack cigarette tax. [MRP Grapevine, 7/31/97]"SEE YOU AT THE POLE" (SYATP) SCHEDULED FOR SEPTEMBER 17, 1997 . . . On September 17, 1997, as many as three million teenagers will join hands, before school, around their school's flagpole -- not to demonstrate or protest -- but to pray for their schools, for fellow students and for their teachers and administrators. The event, which began in 1990 as a student-initiated, student-led movement, has been recognized as the largest youth prayer gathering in history. By 1995, the movement encompassed every state, thousands of elementary through college campuses, and five continents around the world. In the past, questions have been raised about the constitutionality of SYATP; however, in 1995, a broad-based coalition of legal groups met to affirm the legality of SYATP, as well as other religious expressions by students on campus. The coalition's work became the foundation for a 1995 report issued by U.S. Secretary of Education, Richard Riley and sent to every school district in the country. SYATP was specifically named in the report as a protected activity of the First Amendment. Because SYATP is student-led, student-initiated, there are no sponsoring organization, but over 90 organizations have endorsed and/or promoted the event. The San Diego-based National Network of Youth Ministries coordinates promotion for the event as part of its ongoing work with youth workers. FOR INFORMATION ABOUT SYATP:
Web Site: WHAT IS PATRIOTISM? . . ."Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does NOT mean to stand by the President or any other public official save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country." Theodore Roosevelt |