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Skepticality welcomes 2008 with an update from the Secular Coalition for America's Lori Lipman Brown — the only lobbyist dedicated solely to the concerns of secular humanists and non-theists and to the preservation of the separation of church and state. Lori talks with Derek and Swoopy about why 2007 was the best year yet for the SCA, the top issues on the agenda for 2008, and how the current presidential candidates stack up on the issues important to skeptics.
Show Notes
 

Date – January 8th, 2008, Read by Swoopy

This is the first episode of 2008.
2008 will mark the third year of Skepticality as a podcast.
This year we'll be attending The Amazing Meeting 6 in Las Vegas in June.
We'll also be directors for the burgeoning Skeptic's track at Dragon*Con 2008.
One of the certainties of 2008 is an overload of presidential politics.
Web 2.0 has influenced the way presidential candidates are campaigning.
YouTube debates. Good idea?
Of the original 10 Republican candidates for president, 3 claim to not believe in evolution.
The current Republican front runner Mike Huckabee is a baptist minister.
Democratic candidate, congressman Dennis Kucinich claims to have seen a UFO.
Then again so did President Carter.
Where do the candidates stand on issues important to humanists, atheists and skeptics? 
Lori Lipman Brown is the only lobbyist in Washington DC dedicated to secular issues.
The Secular Coalition for America had it's best year yet in 2007.
The SCA recently joined the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights to support non-theists.
Issues on tap for 2008 include school vouchers, stem cell research, and oversight of faith based initiatives.
The SCA also speaks out when elected officials ignore the rights of secular americans. 
The SCA is a 501 (c) 4 non-profit, which allows them to lobby.
The SCA does not endorse any political party or candidate, nor do we. 
The SCA asked the presidential candidates about their stance on secular issues.
The response to the survey was low, despite Lori having met most of the candidates.
Of the candidates that did respond, one is a front runner for the nomination.
Republican candidate Ron Paul ran for president in 1988 as a Libertarian.
Paul does disagree with the District of Columbia voucher program.
The voucher program uses tax payer dollars to send children to religious schools. 
At this time there is no secular score card for the presidential candidates.
However, there is a congressional scorecard available at secular.org.
You can help adopt a lobbyist for the Secular Coalition for America by donating.
Your donations are not tax exempt, but every dollar does go to the organization.
You can find out if Lori will be in your area by looking at her schedule of events.
Lori will be attending The Amazing Meeting 5.5 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL Jan 25-27. 
Skepticality outro.



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