The M+G+R Foundation

 Bush: 'We Are the Nation That Can Shape the Future . . . '

 Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, members of the United States Congress. I come to this house of the people to speak to you and all Americans, certain that we stand at a defining hour.

 Halfway around the world, we are engaged in a great struggle in the skies and on the seas and sands. We know why we're there. We are Americans: part of something larger than ourselves.

 For two centuries, we've done the hard work of freedom. And tonight, we lead the world in facing down a threat to decency and humanity. What is at stake is more than one small country; it is a big idea: a new world order--where diverse nations are drawn together in common cause, to achieve the universal aspirations of mankind: peace and security, freedom and the rule of law. Such is a world worthy of our struggle and worthy of our children's future.

 The community of nations has resolutely gathered to condemn and repel lawless aggression. Saddam Hussein's unprovoked invasion--his ruthless, systematic rape of a peaceful neighbor--violated everything the community of nations holds dear. The world has said this aggression would not stand--and it will not stand.

 Together, we have resisted the trap of appeasement, cynicism and isolation that gives temptation to tyrants. The world has answered Saddam's invasion with 12 United Nations resolutions, starting with a demand for Iraq's immediate and unconditional withdrawal--and backed up by forces from 28 countries of six continents. With few exceptions, the world now stands as one.

 We will succeed in the gulf. And when we do, the world community will have sent an enduring warning to any dictator or despot, present or future, who contemplates outlaw aggression.

 The world can therefore seize this opportunity to fulfill the long-held promise of a new world order--where brutality will go unrewarded and aggression will meet collective resistance.

 The Burden of Leadership

 Yes, the United States bears a major share of leadership in this effort. Among the nations of the world, only the United States of America has had both the moral standing and the means to back it up. We are the only nation on this earth that could assemble the forces of peace. This is the burden of leadership--and the strength that has made America the beacon of freedom in a searching world.

 This nation has never found glory in war. Our people have never wanted to abandon the blessings of home and work for distant lands and deadly conflict. If we fight in anger, it is only because we have to fight at all. And all of us yearn for a world where we will never have to fight again.

 Each of us will measure, within ourselves, the value of this great struggle. Any cost in lives is beyond our power to measure. But the cost of closing our eyes to aggression is beyond mankind's power to imagine. This we do know: Our cause is just. Our cause is moral. Our cause is right.

 Let future generations understand the burden and the blessings of freedom. Let them say, we stood where duty required us to stand. Let them know that together, we affirmed America, and the world, as a community of conscience.

 The winds of change are with us now. The forces of freedom are united. We move toward the next century more confident than ever that we have the will at home and abroad to do what must be done--the hard work of freedom.

 May God bless the United States of America.

Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the "mystery of iniquity" in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.

 Just five years ago, President Bill Clinton's decision to appoint gay San Franciscan James Hormel as an ambassador provoked an ugly, prolonged national debate.

But President George Bush has quietly nominated six gay men for positions in his administration, including the recent appointment of another gay San Franciscan to a board that could play a key role in the war on terrorism -- and the nominations have been approved with comparatively little opposition.

(...)

Ironically, just two months ago, the Army discharged 10 gay soldiers who were studying to become linguists as part of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

Collingsworth's quiet approval to his post in the Bush administration was a sharp contrast to the uproar that followed Clinton's nomination of Hormel, a millionaire meatpacking heir and big Democratic contributor, to serve as the nation's first openly gay ambassador as envoy to Luxembourg.

Several conservative groups, including evangelical Christian organizations, campaigned against Hormel. A handful of GOP senators, including Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, prevented his nomination from ever coming to a floor vote.