What government funds, and who’s watching

Let’s connect some dots here.

Former White House Director of Faith Based Initiatives John Dilulio had an interesting piece in the Weekly Standard called “The New York Times versus Religion.” That caught my eye just on the surface of it, and it starts off with an account of a Times reporter making some loaded, liberal, political remarks in a speech at Harvard, and winds up blasting ‘religious fundamentalism.’ She was slightly reprimanded by the Times ‘public editor’ in an op-ed piece, but it was weak.

Indeed. On the very day that it slapped Greenhouse’s wrist, the paper launched “In God’s Name: Favors for the Faithful,” a four-part series on religion in America. The story line: “Pervasively sectarian” religious organizations across America are now awash in federal funds and regulatory exemptions. Or, as Greenhouse might have put it, public policy has been hijacked by religious fundamentalism.

This article is loaded with good research and documentation backing up its claims.

A Times “computer analysis” of post-1989 federal laws turned up “more than 200 provisions granting accommodations or protections specifically to religious groups.” The ostensibly faith-favoring laws covered “topics from taxes to immigration to education.” The article’s subheading was “From Day Care Centers to Use of Land, Rules Don’t Apply to Faith Groups.”

You’re supposed to get the idea that religious groups are getting away with taking government funds and enjoying favoritism, unfairly.

The Times describes the laws as allowing “pervasively religious groups to get federal contracts to provide social services without altering their character or governance.” Actually, the “Religious Organizations” section of the 1996 Charitable Choice provision explicitly stated that faith groups could “accept certificates, vouchers, or other forms of disbursement,” but only “on the same basis as any other nongovernmental pro vider” and “without diminishing the religious freedom of beneficiaries of assistance funded under such program.” By the same token, the 1996 federal law’s “Limitations on Use of Funds for Certain Purposes” section specifically forbade any religious organization from expending any public funds “for sectarian worship, instruction, or proselytization.”

In fact…

Times readers might be interested to know that most state constitutions single out “faith groups” for special legal burdens and restrictions.

Times readers might also be interested to know how misleading the anecdotal stories in this piece were, continuing the deception about faith-based community services.

Accompanying the Times article was a photo of an African-American woman holding a child on her lap in a rocking chair. The woman runs child care centers in Alabama that “must comply with many laws and regulations” from which “religious organizations providing the same services have been exempted.” The bold-lettered caption beneath the picture: “No Exemption Available.”

The picture is worth a thousand biased words. The implication is that faith-based social service organizations are getting a big leg up on their secular counterparts. The truth is far more complicated. A radically different picture emerges from empirical studies about how faith-based organizations serve the urban minority poor.

Now, follow the dots to this account by the American Center for Law & Justice for that picture of government use of funds to come into clearer focus. It’s titled “Why Are We Paying for Planned Parenthood?”

In just a little over a week, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear oral arguments in two cases involving the constitutionality of Congress’s ban on partial-birth abortion.  We filed briefs in both cases representing members of the House and Senate who sponsored the legislation outlawing this gruesome act that many, including Justices of the Supreme Court, consider to be infanticide.

One of the most disturbing aspects of this case is the fact that the plaintiff, Planned Parenthood, has received in the last two years – that they’ve reported – over $500 million in taxpayer money.  America needs to wake up to this disturbing fact!  On one hand, Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in America, is funded in large part by our hard-earned tax dollars.  This money is allocated from Congress.  Then Planned Parenthood turns around and sues Congress for passing a law banning partial-birth abortion.  In essence, Congress is taking our money, giving it to Planned Parenthood, who then sues Congress with the aid of the money we’ve already given them.

This is real misallocation of funds. Keep following these dots…

Last year, Planned Parenthood showed revenue totaling nearly $810 million dollars.  Of their $810 million in revenue, $265 million came from taxpayers in the form of government grants and contracts.  In 2004 and 2005, Planned Parenthood received $551 million in governmental funding.  This is money coming out of our tax dollars.  Planned Parenthood uses our tax dollars to promote, advertise and market the benefits of abortion, including partial-birth abortion.  Last year, Planned Parenthood performed almost 250,000 abortions, a number that has steadily increased since 1997.  They also use tax dollars to fund explicit materials promoting abortion directed at teens.  Over the past three years, Planned Parenthood has reportedly spent over $110 million of taxpayer money bringing lawsuits, challenging legislation and promoting their agenda.

What is outrageous in all of this is that Congress passed a law that bans partial-birth abortion, then your tax dollars provided Planned Parenthood the ability to sue Congress over the partial-birth abortion statute that they already passed.  None of us want our tax dollars spent on this.

This is where you come in, what with elections tomorrow and all.

Now is the time to take a stand against this horrible misuse of public funds and against Planned Parenthood.  U.S. Senator David Vitter has proposed legislation that would stop the practice of taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood.  Senate Bill 2206 states:  “None of the funds appropriated under this title shall be distributed to grantees who perform abortions or whose subgrantees perform abortions…”  It is about time that Congress passed this legislation.  Forced support for Planned Parenthood from taxpayers is a form of tyranny that we should not allow in the United States.

Know where the candidates stand before you vote.