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ORIGINAL RESEARCHTwo New Groups Founded For Faith Based Initiative[Editor's note: This is a press release describing two new organizations created by the Bradley Foundation's Michael Joyce - just ONE DAY after being asked to do so - at the behest of George W. Bush in order to build political support for his so-called "Faithbased" initiative.] [US NEWSWIRE] Two New Groups Founded To Extend President Bush's Vision Of Faith-Based And Community EnterpriseTo: National Desk Contact: Ralph Benko of the American Community and Faith-Centered Enterprise, 202-661-4740 E-mail: RalphBenko@aol.com WASHINGTON, June 6 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A major new private-sector initiative that plans to spend millions of dollars to support and extend President George W. Bush's vision of faith-based and community enterprise was announced in Washington, D.C. today by philanthropist Paul Fleming and outgoing Bradley Foundation president Michael S. Joyce. Fleming will serve as Chairman and Joyce as President and Chief Executive Officer of two new organizations dedicated to this goal. The first, Americans for Community and Faith-Centered Enterprise (ACFE), is a 501(c)4 citizens' lobby based in Washington, DC. Its primary focus is to advocate an expansion of charitable choice, tax credits, and other means of bringing faith-centered and community solutions to social ills. As a first step, the group will work to enact H.R. 7, the Community Solutions Act of 2001, endorsed by President Bush, which was introduced by Congressman J.C. Watts earlier this year. The second organization is a 501(c)3 educational foundation based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Foundation for Community and Faith-Centered Enterprise (FCFE), will study and promote policies that encourage corporations, philanthropies, private foundations and individuals to provide resources to faith-centered and community groups. It also will encourage the full recognition of the vital role such groups must play in American life and culture. Fleming, founder of P.F. Chang's China Bistro, a publicly traded restaurant chain (PFCB), and other successful restaurant ventures, has retired from his business affairs to devote substantial resources and his full-time effort to this national initiative. In describing his commitment to the venture, Fleming said, "I've seen first hand in my hometown of Phoenix the positive results of faith-centered and community enterprise. I've been personally inspired by the example of Ella Hennix, a mother and an activist whose practical programs, based in faith and compassion, have helped transform countless lives. President Bush noted that there are stories like hers in every city in our country. I intend through this new initiative to help them get the boost from private donors and the fair shake from government that they need to expand their healing to millions more of our fellow citizens." Joyce led the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, one of the nation's most effective grant-making foundations, for nearly 16 years. There, he played a key role in advancing innovative, private-sector solutions to social needs. He leaves that position on July 5. "We learned through our efforts to reform welfare and build a successful school choice program in Milwaukee that individuals, families, churches and neighborhoods are best equipped to solve their own problems. Poverty, be it spiritual, economic or moral, is a reality in our society and communities that impacts each of us. I firmly believe that faith-centered and community enterprise is the most promising solution to our nation's lingering problems." In announcing their effort, both Fleming and Joyce indicated that they planned to build a multimillion-dollar long-term initiative. They applauded President Bush's commitment and vision on these issues. "In his speech at Notre Dame University, President Bush issued a challenge to all Americans to be citizens - not spectators - in the renewal of our country," Fleming said. "We're taking up his challenge." Joyce pointed to President Bush's selection of John DiIulio to head the Faith-Based Office as one indication of the President's strong commitment on this issue. "I have worked closely with John for a number of years. He, like the President, is smart and tough. The two men share an unswerving conviction that faith-based programs can truly change people's lives," said Joyce. "Our efforts will provide logistical support and add new recruits to the armies of compassion which must be rallied to this cause." Mary Jo Joyce [editor's note: Mary Jo is Michael's second wife], an organizational consultant for numerous community groups, will serve as Executive Director of Americans for Community and Faith-Centered Enterprise. sign in, or register to email stories or comment on them.
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Group Calls For Senate to Pass Faith-Based InitiativeOne of Michael Joyce's new groups, Americans for Community, Faith-Centered Enterprise, congratulated the House for passing Bush's Faith-Based Initiative, and urged the senate to follow suit. MORE ORIGINAL RESEARCHBill Berkowitz PERC receives Templeton Freedom Award for promoting 'enviropreneurs'Right Wing foundation-funded anti-environmental think tank grabbing a wider audience for 'free market environmentalism' On the 15th anniversary of Terry Anderson and Donald Leal's book "Free Market Environmentalism" -- the seminal book on the subject -- Anderson, the Executive Director of the Bozeman, Montana-based Property and Environment Research Center (PERC - formerly known as the Political Economy Research Center) spoke in late-January at an event sponsored by Squaw Valley Institute at the Resort at Squaw Creek in California. While it may have been just another opportunity to speak on "free market environmentalism" and not the kickoff of a "victory tour," nevertheless it comes at a time when PERC's ideas are taking root.
Bill Berkowitz Neil Bush of Saudi ArabiaDuring recent visit, President’s brother describes the country as a 'kind of tribal democracy' In late February, only a few days after Saudi Arabia beheaded four Sri Lankan robbers and then left their headless bodies on public display in the capital of Riyadh, Neil Bush, for the fourth time in the past six years, showed up for the country's Jeddah Economic Forum. The Guardian reported that Human Rights Watch "said the four men had no lawyers during their trial and sentencing, and were denied other basic legal rights." In an interview with Arab News, the Saudi English language paper, Bush described the country as "a kind of tribal democracy."
Bill Berkowitz Newt Gingrich's back door to the White HouseAmerican Enterprise Institute "Scholar" and former House Speaker blames media for poll showing 64 percent of the American people wouldn't vote for him under any circumstances Whatever it is that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has come to represent in American politics, the guy is nothing less than fascinating. One day he's espousing populist rhetoric about the need to cut the costs of college tuition and the next day he's talking World War III. One day he's claiming that the "war on terror" may force the abridgement of fundamental first amendment rights and the next he's advancing a twenty-first century version of his Contract with America. At the same time he's publicly proclaiming how "stupid" it is that the race for the presidency has already started you know that he's trying to figure out how to out finesse Rudy, McCain and Romney for the nomination. And last week, when Fox News' Chris Wallace cited a poll showing that 64 percent of the public would never vote for him, he was quick to blame those results on how unfairly he was treated by the mainstream media back in the day.
Bill Berkowitz American Enterprise Institute takes lead in agitating against IranDespite wrongheaded predictions about the war on Iraq, neocons are on the frontlines advocating military conflict with Iran After doing such a bang up job with their advice and predictions about the outcome of the war on Iraq, would it surprise you to learn that America's neoconservatives are still in business? While at this time we are not yet seeing the same intense neocon invasion of our living rooms -- via cable television's news networks -- that we saw during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, nevertheless, a host of policy analysts at conservative think tanks -- most notably the American Enterprise Institute -- are being heeded on Iran by those who count - folks inside the Bush Administration.
Bill Berkowitz After six years, opposition gaining on George W. Bush's Faith Based InitiativeUnmentioned in the president's State of the Union speech, the program nevertheless continues to recruit religious participants and hand out taxpayer money to religious groups With several domestic policy proposals unceremoniously folded into President Bush's recent State of the Union address, two pretty significant items failed to make the cut. Despite the president's egregiously tardy response to the event itself, it was nevertheless surprising that he didn't even mention Hurricane Katrina: He didn't offer up a progress report, words of hope to the victims, or come up with a proposal for moving the sluggish rebuilding effort forward. There were no "armies of compassion" ready to be unleashed, although it should be said that many in the religious community responded to the disaster much quicker than the Bush Administration. In the State of the Union address, however, there was no "compassionate conservatism" for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Bill Berkowitz Frank Luntz calls Republican leadership in Washington 'One giant whining windbag'On the outs with the GOP, legendary degrader of discourse is moving to California He doesn't make great art; nothing he does elevates the human spirit; he doesn't illuminate, he bamboozles. He has become expert in subterfuge, hidden meanings, word play and manipulation. Frank Luntz has been so good at what he does that those paying close attention gave it its own name: "Luntzspeak."
Bill Berkowitz Spooked by MoveOn.org, conservative movement seeks to emulate liberal powerhouseFueled with Silicon Valley money, TheVanguard.org will have Richard Poe, former editor of David Horowitz's FrontPage magazine as its editorial and creative director As Paul Weyrich, a founding father of the modern conservative movement and still a prominent actor in it, likes to say, he learned a great deal about movement building by closely observing what liberals were up to in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Bill Berkowitz Ward Connerly's anti-affirmative action jihadFounder and Chair of the American Civil Rights Institute scouting five to nine states for new anti-affirmative action initiatives Fresh from his most recent victory -- in Michigan this past November -- Ward Connerly, the Black California-based maven of anti-affirmative action initiatives, appears to be preparing to take his jihad on the road. According to a mid-December report in the San Francisco Chronicle, Connerly said that he was "exploring moves into nine other states."
Bill Berkowitz Tom Tancredo's missionThe Republican congressman from Colorado will try to woo GOP voters with anti-immigration rhetoric and a boatload of Christian right politics These days, probably the most recognizable name in anti-immigration politics is Colorado Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo. Over the past year, Tancredo has gone from a little known congressman to a highly visible anti-immigration spokesperson. "Tancredo has thoroughly enmeshed himself in the anti-immigration movement and with the help of CNN talk show host Lou Dobbs, he has been given a national megaphone," Devin Burghart, the program director of the Building Democracy Initiative at the Center for New Community, a Chicago-based civil rights group, told Media Transparency.
Bill Berkowitz Institute on Religion and Democracy slams 'Leftist' National Council of ChurchesNew report from conservative foundation-funded IRD charges the NCC with being a political surrogate for MoveOn.org, People for the American Way and other liberal organizations If you prefer your religious battles sprinkled with demagoguery, sanctimoniousness, and simplistic attacks, the Institute on Religion and Democracy's (IRD) latest broadside against the National Council of Churches (NCC) certainly fits the bill.
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