Barack Hussein Obama’s latest step to divide and conquer the American people is a scheme to force religious organizations to provide for contraceptive insurance and services that are against their convictions. As with his other machinations, there is far more to to this move than first meets the eye.
It is a brilliantly conceived plan that puts the Catholic Church in the awkward position of defending a position that most Americans, including some its own members, do not support. Yet, it is their conviction, and if we really believe in religious liberty, it must be respected and supported. To many, this is a silly position to take in today’s world. Holding this position makes the Catholic Church appear to be out of step with current realities. It is designed to marginalize and the church and cause it to fall into disrepute with the less religious.
Aside from the obvious benefit of crucifying an opponent of his policies… there is something even more sinister afoot. If the church can be moved into the irrational curmudgeon category on the contraceptive issue, it damages its stand on the critical issues of abortion and homosexual marriage. It is the Alinsky tactic subjecting a opponent to ridicule and isolation to diminish its influence and serve as an example to others who would oppose the “anointed one’s” dictates.
This past weekend, my grandson came home with two first place medals from the Virginia USCDKA Tae Kwon Do tournament. The competitors ranged from lethal Chuck Norris types down to my little buddy’s mini-peewee class. After watching the spectacular leaps and kicks of some of the more athletic young men, I am glad I still have my concealed handgun permit for personal protection. Perhaps thirty five years ago, I may have tried such maneuvers… but not in 2012. Some of those guys were amazing!
I was also astounded at the way the ten and twelve year olds went after each other during the sparring competition. For those concerned about the safety these boys and girls taking part in full contact martial arts, they are fully padded and protected from the blows the give and receive. In this sense it is a great experience for the children as they learn to take hits and continue to fight harder. It is also an individual sport where they are completely responsible for their own outcomes. Team sports function help the participants work together, which is another essential lesson, yet, there are times in life when there is no team around and you just have to take responsibility for the outcome.
This past week we saw a little of what happens when people are expecting checks from the government, and they don’t come as expected. The IRS announced that due to security upgrades to the efiling systems there would be a delay in deposits of tax refunds into bank accounts. As with any announcement from our government, this may or may not have been the case. However, the reality is that many people expected to have federal dollars in their accounts, and their accounts were empty.
This did not set well with those waiting expectantly. Police were called to the Instant Tax Service in Charlotte, NC as approximately 75 angry customers descended on their office demanding the refund deposits as promised on the date promised. They wanted their money! However, was it? There is common thinking that half the people pay taxes and half do not.
This is only partially true. The part that half pay taxes is true, however, through the magic of Earned Income Credit and other creations of an overly generous congress, many who do not pay taxes actually are refunded more than they have paid into the system… thousands more! Liberals and progressives have a term for these, they are called a transfer payments. That means, money is transferred from those who have earned it to those who have not.
Bernanke’s press conference announcement again booted the stock and bond markets, but did nothing to boost employment.
At his January 25, 2012, press conference, Federal Reserve Bank chairman Ben Bernanke stated that he expects the Fed to continue imposing near-zero interest rates well into 2014 on short-term Treasury securities. In response, the stock market surged, despite expectations of generally lower corporate earnings and reduced consumer spending. Loose credit and low interest rates usually facilitate stock market speculation.
However gratifying this may to individual investors and pension fund managers, it does little if anything to restore production of goods and services or to raise employment. It also continues to penalize increased savings, which alone provides a stable, long-term platform for economic growth. People living on fixed incomes have had their rates of income on saving chopped around 75% since the Fed first cut interest rates.
As Austrian school economists long have observed, central bank manipulation of interest rates and government deficit spending have an uneven impact on sectors of the economy. When unemployment is high and people are yet freighted with excessive personal debt, consumer spending will be among the last sectors to increase.
The Barack Obama administration is quietly in the process of rigging use of the US Census of 2010, which deliberately counted millions of illegal aliens, for the purpose of restructuring the apportionment of the US House of Representatives. Accordingly, as candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor of one of the negatively affected states (Montana), Mr. Bob Fanning and I have joined with several others in becoming amici curiae in a pending federal lawsuit brought by the State of Louisiana against the US Secretary of Commerce, et al., which was filed January, 13, 2012 in the United States Supreme Court.
What has happened is, the US Census Bureau erroneously claims that it “‘is required by the U.S. Constitution count everyone living in this country, regardless of immigration or citizenship status.’” Accordingly, they have counted millions of illegal aliens in the 2010 Census and are using those figures to apportion the US House of Representatives. If this egregious misinterpretation of the US Constitution is allowed to stand, five states (Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, and Ohio) will lose representation in the US Congress to which they are lawfully entitled, while three states (California, Texas, and Florida) will be awarded additional representation in the US Congress to which they are not lawfully entitled. And, of course, this will also directly impact the makeup of the Electoral College, which ultimately elects the President of the United States.
Of course, this manipulation of the 2010 US Census also impacts the election of the US President, as those states that are granted more seats in the US Congress are also granted more votes in the Electoral College as the Electoral College is composed of a “Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress. . . .” (Article. II. Section. I. Clause. 2. US Constitution). And, as everyone knows, under the US Constitution, it is the Electoral College that ultimately elects the President of the United States. Thus, the states of Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, and Ohio, will be unjustly denied their lawful votes in the Electoral College, while California, Texas, and Florida, are being unjustly granted unlawful votes in the Electoral College. Would it not be extraordinary if the margin by which President Obama is re-elected in the Electoral College would be provided by the manipulation of the census data under his control? Again, this would be an outrage!
Newt Gingrich’s convincing win in South Carolina has certainly opened up the GOP Presidential race considerably. Just a few days before, the formerly mainstream media, including many supposed conservative commentators were sure that Mitt Romney, after victories in Iowa and New Hampshire was on his way to a quick and decisive nomination as the Republican standard bearer.
However, as John Adams told us, “Facts are stubborn things”. The facts in this case, include the Iowa caucus results being reversed to give Rick Santorum the victory. Romney was no longer 2 – 0 in the prior contests. Another fact was that CBS News, in an obvious attempt to swing the election results, made a clumsy effort to damage the former Speaker with a hatchet job interview with his former wife.
As with many ill-conceived efforts to strong arm the public, an aggressive, confident response can turn the entire situation around. John King’s attempt to put Gingrich on the spot with an embarrassing question turned sour quickly as it was met with a surprisingly determined response that called out the network and the questioner for what they were. The crowd cheered. Instead of turning on the former Speaker, they understood this was just an attempt to dredge up old news and remove the effect of any repentance and change of heart the man may have had.
[We live in a secularized world of nation states in which traditional religion, especially Christianity, is unwelcome. Rooted in the “Enlightenment,” this view supports a secularized and authoritarian public square enforced by government and that progress requires forcing religion ever backward into remote corners of society. In short, America has become a secular theocracy with a civic religion of national politics (nationalism) occupying the public realm in which government has replaced God.]
During the Enlightenment, nationalism became the new civic religion, in which the nation state was not merely a substitute for the church, but a substitute for God, and political religion benefited from being more tangible than supernatural religion in having the physical means of violence necessary to enforce mandatory worship and funding. Nation states provided a new kind of salvation and immortality; one’s death is not in vain if it is “for the nation,” which will live on.
This “myth of religious violence” lived on with legal theorist John Rawls who claimed that the modern problem is a theological one and the solution is political. For Rawls, since people believe in unresolvable theological doctrines over which they will kill each other, a secular state must rule. Similarly, Stanford law professor Kathleen Sullivan, a secularist, has claimed that as a necessary condition for peace to avoid a “war of all sects against all,” religion must be banished from the public square.
Washington DC – The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously decided that under the First Amendment churches are entitled to a “ministerial exception” and thus dismissed a wrongful termination suit against the church. In Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church v. EEOC, the Court recognizes that the ministerial exception applies beyond the head of a religious congregation to others, such as the teacher in this case, who are viewed as ministers or those carrying the message of the Church.
Chief Justice John Roberts stated that, “By requiring the Church to accept a minister it did not want, such an order would have plainly violated the Church’s freedom under the Religion Clauses to select its own ministers.” He also states that to award compensation such as back pay “would operate as a penalty on the Church for terminating an unwanted minister, and would be no less prohibited by the First Amendment than an order overturning the termination.”
[With all the chaos on the world and national stage, it may be a good time to look at the wisdom of our third president. Much of what he said would be scandalously politically incorrect today... yet, it's truth would remain. And the truth shall set us free, but only if we take heed.]
Responsibility & Effectiveness of Government
The care of human life and happiness, not their destruction, is the legitimate responsibility of a good government.
A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned – this is the sum of good government.
That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves.
While I was taking down some Christmas decorations I played one of my favorite CDs. It was a digitally remastered copy of some of Glenn Miller’s finest music. It got me to thinking, this music was recorded at least seventy years ago, and it still sounds as good as anything we hear today. The legacy of Glenn Miller is a permanent place in the galaxy of musical super stars.
Yet this was not the highest achievement of his life. Considered too old for military service, he still joined the army during the dark days of World War II. He and his band traveled around boosting moral and bringing a bit of home to soldiers fighting Hitler’s fascist monster. He lost his life a few days before Christmas of 1944 on a flight across the English Channel on his way to arrange a concert for GIs in France.
He had a lucrative career turning out some of the greatest swing music of his time. He did not have to leave the comfort and safety of his homeland. Unlike many of the moral midgets we see adored by today’s teeny boppers who spend their time bellyaching, whining and complaining, he stepped up to make the soldiers lives in the field a little more tolerable.
“Why can’t we all just get along?” pleaded Rodney King after being beaten by Los Angeles police officers in March of 1991. Later actions showed the man to be not quite the innocent that the press painted him to be at the time. This, however, does not change the value of his question… why can’t we get along?
There are many reasons the academic elites offer for our inability to live peacefully with each other. It doesn’t seem to matter if the conflict is with people at work, in our neighborhood, or even in our church. We see the same conflicts in our government and among nations. It seems that each of us judges ourselves by our own good intentions… and we judge others by their actions.
We see the president self-righteously declaring his concern for downtrodden. What person with a concern for his fellow man cannot help but feel for those less fortunate. Assuming the purity of his motivation, one can almost understand his recent speech where he declared that if congress would not bend to his will, he would move toward the realization of his ideal society with out them. It doesn’t seem to matter that there are other opinions, other approaches and even other directions that the country could be moving in. More importantly, it doesn’t seem to matter that the Constitution does not grant him that power.
An evolutionary psychologist asserts that evolution in the ways humans use their brains, influenced exclusively by external, materialistic conditions, has made our era the least violent period in history.
Professor Steven Pinker’s latest book, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, raises two important questions: has the world in fact become less violent, and has there been an evolutionary change in ways humans use their brains?
The Iowa Caucuses have allowed the people of the small farm state the unusual opportunity to flex their political muscles. Beyond the timing of the event, there is no reason to pay this much attention a gaggle of hopefuls crisscrossing the state in an exercise of retail politics. There is nothing earth shattering about the number of delegates awarded, yet the press, both formerly mainstream and legitimate, make this one state of good people a bell weather for the entire nation.
Talking heads, ever looking to reasons to make their learned pronouncements, want to expand on the preferences of a little over a hundred thousand Iowa Hawkeyes, into a national referendum. There is a complete lack of perspective by inflating the importance of this state in the heartland America. However, if we do want to take a sampling to apply to the whole country… Iowa is as good as any… better than most.
Considering the crucial nature of the decision at hand, one has to wonder about the wisdom of permitting any one state, or early sequence of states to do the initial paring of an unwieldy number to the top few who will carry on to the end. The results might well have been different in South Carolina or New York. However this is the process we are dealing with and anyone who wants to be President really needs to be able to work with people from all over the country.
As we approach the celebration of Christ’s birth, I am reminded of the words of John Quincy Adams. On July 4, 1837, he spoke these words:
“Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day? … Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer’s mission upon earth. That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity, and gave to the world the first irrevocable pledge of the fulfillment of the prophecies announced directly from Heaven at the birth of the Savior and predicted by the greatest of the Hebrew prophets six hundred years before?”
Adams was exactly right: America’s birth is directly linked to the birth of our Savior. In fact, the United States of America is the only nation established by Christian people, founded upon Biblical principles, and dedicated to the purpose of religious liberty. This truth is easily observed within America’s earliest history.
[This came to me yesterday and it had so much common sense about government regulations and their enforcement that I felt I had to share it.]
Perhaps you have experienced a similar situation: walking into your living room to find your spouse sitting on the floor, the vacuum cleaner flipped upside down, the bag sitting across the room, the bottom cover removed, and screws strewn about. Around your spouse is a collection of small devices – a pencil, a screw driver, scissors, a paper clip – clearly the tools of choice in unearthing whatever they are looking for. Older vacuum cleaners in particular have an affinity for catching string in the rotating brush in such a way that it becomes so tightly wound, causing the whole thing to stop working. The tightly wrapped string has the strength of steel. No tool can clear it in one easy swoop, testing the patience of even the most even-keeled individuals. It takes intention, precision, and a whole lot of persistence to unwind it.
Regulatory red tape in Washington is a little bit like that. It has become so tightly wound around American businesses that it is inhibiting business owners and entrepreneurs from focusing on the operation of their businesses. And its steel-like strength leaves many business owners feeling frustrated or helpless.
Not all regulations are bad, nor are all regulations completely inconsistent with free-market principles. The ability of the federal government to set parameters for the basic protection of American citizens is important – this is true in areas of fraud protection, prescription drug safety, preservation of natural resources, among many others. But the lack of accountability in the regulation process has allowed the red tape to begin to choke seeds of innovation and competition that are so vital to business success. Americans from small business owners, to manufacturers, to farmers, to property owners are affected.
When President Ronald Reagan called up the Soviet Premier to tear down the wall the divided free Berlin from enslaved Berlin, he spoke with the moral authority of one who understood the difference between right and wrong. He spoke as one who understood the difference between liberty an oppression. He also understood that one was better than the other in each case.
It could have been just the fanciful ranting of a semi senile old man… but, it wasn’t. He persisted in pursuing the evil empire until it became obvious that the central planning and control of the oppressive regime was no match for the creativity and industry of our free people. He knew that there was no substitute for victory. He knew that making nice with those who want to defeat you and wipe you from the history books only gives them time to regroup and plan for more dastardly attacks. He knew so much this current administration hasn’t even considered.
As I was watching Saturday night’s debate, a radical idea came into my mind. It was a thought that I’m sure will anger many partisans completely committed to one of the six remaining candidates. No, it’s not that I’m waiting for Sarah Palin to jump in to the race. We’ll look at that a little later. This radical thought is that, while every one of the Republicans on the stage had some valid points that would serve our country well, we do not have a perfect candidate among them. However, with such acrimony among the various supporters, it’s plain that it’s not just the candidates lacking in perfection.
Being human, we should know that perfection is not within our grasp. There comes a time when we have to just make the best choice we can, then make sure it works. Since there is no one that has every issue nailed down, the selection comes down to prioritizing the strong points of each one and making the painful decision about what we can put on the back burner for the moment as we accomplish our primary task of evicting Barack Hussein Obama from Washington public housing.
I’m sure there will be disputes about what the primary issue is, but let’s get started looking at what each prospective president would contribute to the cause. I also want to make clear that these issues are complex and those we look at are not the only strong points any of the people bring to the table or that they are not the only points that matter.
Join Mat Staver and Natalie Johnson on America’s News HQ: Fox News Channel on Sunday Dec. 11, between noon and 1:00 p.m. to discuss Macy’s policy that allows men to use women’s fitting rooms.
On learning that Macy’s allows men to use women’s fitting rooms, people are outraged. They are cutting up their Macy’s credit cards and refusing to shop there until the policy changes. This bizarre policy came to light during the Christmas shopping season, when Natalie Johnson saw a man entering a women’s fitting room, which was in her department area, at Macy’s in San Antonio, TX. After he came out, Natalie politely approached the young man and told him that he could not use the women’s fitting rooms because they were for women only. Although this young man was wearing lipstick, he still clearly looked like a man. He became upset and used expletives, and the attorney who accompanied him said that Macy’s was LGBT friendly. Natalie politely responded that men cannot use the women’s fitting rooms, to which they demanded to speak with her manager. She was later summoned by her manager, Mary Ellen, and told that “transgender” people can use any fitting room they desire. When Natalie questioned how men could use women’s fitting rooms and asked for a religious accommodation because she could not lie by allowing men to use women’s fitting rooms, she was terminated.
A while back a Facebook friend made the comment that she was just so frustrated with the war in Afghanistan and thought we should just nuke the whole mountainous area. Someone else commented that here solution was not “socially acceptable”. Now I’m not going to get into the virtue of using nuclear weapons to root out Taliban, or any jihadists in the area, but I do want to look at the reason for rejecting the idea. We all want to be accepted socially… which is another way of saying that we have developed an, often overwhelming acquiescence to peer pressure.
However, when we see that killing unborn babies is socially acceptable and prayer is not… when we see that it is acceptable to our country’s ivory tower elites for people to sneak into our country and take jobs from out of work Americans and inflate our welfare rolls, while those trying to protect our country and culture are condemned as narrow minded racists… one wonders why anyone with any principles would concern themselves with being “socially acceptable”, or “politically correct” as it is known in academic and media circles.
This striving for social acceptance has even infected many churches as they attempt to appeal to those in the outside world. Some have removed cross from their buildings, adopted secular appearing logos and… worst of all, toned down the gospel of truth and grace so as not to offend the outside world.
In 1947, America was charmed by little Natalie Wood in the Christmas classic, Miracle on 34th Street. The story revolved around proving the unprovable and the childhood joys of Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. The film showed the company to be a family friendly organization that cared more about the welfare of their customers than squeezing the last dollar out of them.
Of course this was only a movie… and it was 1947! Over sixty years ago America was a far different place. It was a time when we looked out for each other. Today, instead of looking outward, for many, the focus has turned around 180 degrees. Stores such as Macy’s have apparently either found it more profitable to cater to the free spending homosexual community that doesn’t fritter it’s money away on families or children.
Recently this report went out concerning an incident where the company would rather discharge a conscientious employee than set limits on deviant customers:
Livingston County, NY – Judge Robert Wiggins dealt a major setback to New York Governor Cuomo and Mayor Bloomberg in the lawsuit brought by Liberty Counsel against the same-sex marriage law (“Act”). In response to the flagrant violations of the New York state constitutional and legal procedures, Liberty Counsel filed suit in the New York Supreme Court against the Act, which was signed into law on June 24, 2011, by Gov. Cuomo. The state asked the court to dismiss the case, but yesterday afternoon, Judge Wiggins sided with Liberty Counsel on the Open Meetings complaint, ruling that the case may proceed to trial. Liberty Counsel represents New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms and several other plaintiffs.
New York law requires that a bill be printed and in its final form on the desks of the legislators three days prior to a vote, unless an emergency exists. Gov. Cuomo ignored the provision and declared an emergency, stating that waiting three days would deprive same-sex couples of marriage. Judge Wiggins wrote: “Logically and clearly this cite by the Governor is disingenuous. The review of such concept altering legislation for three days after generations of existing definitions would not so damage same-sex couples as to necessitate an avoidance of rules meant to ensure full review and discussion prior to any vote.” The judge then wrote that “although the disregard for the statute seems evident, the Court feels constrained to not rule on the Governor’s certification of necessity.”
A week or two ago, I came across a picture of a Wall Street occupier carrying a sign that said, in effect, “I have a degree in Latino, lesbian womens studies and a $96,000 student loan”. I’m not sure it the image was photoshopped or if this young woman was really foolish enough to borrow that much money on a useless degree. She would have been better off learning to be a welder – there is a need for welders. She could have gotten a CDL for a lot less. About the only employers far enough removed from economic realities to hire such a person would be governments, academic institutions and a few non-profits. Certainly any business that would add her would soon fall into the non-profit category.
Young people have burdened themselves with debts that they cannot repay in a declining economy. But can they bear total responsibility? Parents, looking for “only the best” for the little darlings, and living in an instant gratification society, see nothing wrong with borrowing to get the things they want. And they want the “best” education for their kids, even if it buries these same beloved kids in economic servitude for most of their lives.
It seems that young people, and their parents in many cases, think little or nothing of spending outrageous sums of money for and “education” that will “guarantee” their well being in life. The inflated price is of minor consequence as no one has to pay it now. The supposed benefits are immediate and the payments are just a shadow off in some distant future.
Pope Benedict XVI recently told US Bishops, “The present moment can thus be seen, in positive terms, as a summons to exercise the prophetic dimension of your episcopal ministry by speaking out, humbly yet insistently, in defense of moral truth, and offering a word of hope, capable of opening hearts and minds to the truth that sets us free.”
On another occasion, he said, “No one who looks realistically at our world today could think that Christians can afford to go on with business as usual, ignoring the profound crisis of faith which has overtaken our society, or simply trusting that the patrimony of values handed down by the Christian centuries will continue to inspire and shape the future of our society,”
He was correct on both counts. His truth does not only apply to the business in the Catholic church. It applies to the Christian church as a whole. An entire industry made up of lawyers and bureaucrats is dedicated to pushing Christians in to background of irrelevance. In an attempt to be cooperative and non-confrontational, so many good men have backed away from from the role assigned to us in Matthew 5:13, “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.” (NIV)
I love my puppy Grover. He’s a one year old purebred bishon frise who was given to me as a gift from a friend earlier this year. Some of you may have heard him on our show, as he tends to bark, when we’re on air. But here’s the thing, I observe this dog and his protection maneuvers. Not only is Grover extremely cute and brilliant as a dog can be, but he’s a wonderful example of how most Christians jump to protect our religious liberty and values. Here’s the steps I’ve observed that Grover takes to protect me and my home.
1. Grover sleeps next to me on the couch during the day. All is calm and all is quiet.
2. A sudden noise jars him from his snooze. Something like my mail man delivering the mail and shutting the lid on the mail box.
3. Grover hears the sound, jumps to his feet, barks and growls while looking out the window while his tail remains stiff.
Orlando, FL – Liberty Counsel is continuing its eighth annual “Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign,” pledging to be a “Friend” to those entities that recognize Christmas and a “Foe” to the Christmas censors. Liberty Counsel is also releasing an updated “Naughty and Nice” list, which catalogs retailers who either censor (“naughty”) or recognize (“nice”) Christmas. The list is compiled from information gathered by consumers and is updated whenever new information is received.
Liberty Counsel encourages shoppers to print out the list and use it to decide which stores to patronize during the Christmas shopping season. The list has been very influential in motivating retailers to acknowledge Christmas. So far this year, Best Buy has embraced Christmas and switched to the nice list, and Dick’s Sporting Goods has promised to change and include Christmas in their advertising. Liberty Counsel was the first organization to launch the “Naughty and Nice” list a number of years ago and since then other organizations have promoted similar programs. The results have been amazing. Major retailers like Wal-Mart moved from the “naughty” side of the list to the “nice” side. There was a time when Wal-Mart sold only “Holiday Trees,” not Christmas Trees and when Wal-Mart employees were forbidden from returning the greeting “Merry Christmas” to customers who initiated the greeting. But Wal-Mart, like many other retailers, has changed and now openly acknowledges Christmas.
It’s almost impossible to give Barack Hussein Obama the benefit of the doubt these days, even if one were inclined to do so at the start of his reign. Our betters tell us we should cut him some slack and give him a chance. The good intentions of looking for the best in the President have only compounded our problems – not solved them! We’ve seen him change the federal policy to use our tax money to pay for overseas abortions when most people don’t even want them at home. We see more money just thrown at programs of little use, some with negative impact, to most of us and now… and now we are told that the faith based organizations are doing wonderful work, BUT now the new administration is looking at telling these organizations that they can continue to contribute their time and efforts, but they need to discontinue the very aspects of their work that makes them unique and effective.
On one hand, this idea of forcing any organization taking federal funds to hire anyone regardless of compatibility with the charities beliefs and values could be looked at as just another waste of government (read taxpayer) money or an attempt to diminish their ability to spread the Christian values. Beyond hiring even, several womens’ centers have had their funding withheld for the crime of including the wisdom of the Bible in their program The thing they don’t comprehend about these rules is that it is these distinctions and people that define many faith based ministries and that make them effective. Or, perhaps they do. It shows a lack of understanding or concern that it is the faith element that keeps prisoners from returning to prison and lets welfare mothers pull their families and their lives together.
Our children and grand children face dangers far different from those that we faced as kids. This does not mean the old fashioned, traditional dangers have gone away… they are still there too. Traditional methods will help with traditional dangers, but new tactics are needed for new threats.
Enough Is Enough understands that Internet safety is the responsibility of the public, the internet industry, and the legal community. However, parents remain the first line of defense in protecting their children against internet dangers. Unfortunately today’s younger generation is far ahead of their parents, educators and other caring adults when it comes to digital technology and social media. Those who care for them are generally uninformed, ill-uipped and overwhelmed when it comes to internet safety issues, and they need knowledgable outside help. As the nation’s leading internet safety organization, EIE has been responding to this call for action since 1994, by creating Internet Safety 101, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Jacksonville, FL – Liberty Counsel sent a letter to the Clay County School District, demanding it stop interfering with constitutionally protected prayer prior to the start of the school day. For some time, students, some teachers, and community members have voluntarily gathered at the Flagpole at Clay Elementary School to pray prior to the start of the school day. But the district buckled under pressure from the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), which alleged that the district must stop the prayer. The FFRF demanded that all prayer at the flagpole cease immediately, stating that “it is grossly inappropriate.” In response, Liberty Counsel sent a letter to the district setting forth the law.
The district cannot prohibit constitutionally protected religious speech or prayer during individuals’ free time. The United States Department of Education has issued guidelines addressing constitutionally protected prayer, entitled “Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools.” These guidelines state in part:
The time may be ripe being that Chief Justice Roberts clerked for Chief Justice Rehnquist, and this Rehnquist DISSENT in Bigelow v. Virginia case (heard 18 December a.d. 1974, decision 15 June a.d. 1975) involves the state protecting its Citizens from adverse health “services” available in another state. Rehnquist wrote:
The result is the fashioning of a doctrine which appears designed to obtain reversal of this judgment,
Remember that in the movie “Amazing Grace” after years of failure at the “direct approach” of outlawing Slavery in the British Empire, as suggested by a young man NOT involved in the years of unsuccessful legislative efforts, Wilberforce obtained an inroad against Slave Traders by a “flanking attack”, passing a law that Slave Ships had to meed certain health and safety requirements.
With official government unemployment numbers hovering around nine percent, and real numbers between fifteen to twenty percent, it’s obvious that we have a serious problem in our country. Our government has tried all sorts of Keynesian tricks to use our money, and Chinese money, in futile attempts to jump start the economy it is destroying. I guess they think we won’t notice the dreadful job they have done if they can squeeze a few more jobs into the moribund business cycle.
Unfortunately for us, and for them: they are wrong. Government officials say we are unpatriotic for not supporting their efforts. The reality is that it would just compound the foolishness if we got behind programs that we know will not be effective. Real patriotism involves working to take our country in the right direction. We are told it is just politics that leads to citizen resistance… but, it is just common sense.
As with much in this world, those of us who depend on the national government to fix our problems will be sadly disappointed. As individuals, is there anything we can do to help restore the nation that was the arsenal of democracy during the second world war? Our government and the multi-national corporations have led us down the free trade path that gave us some lower prices, but at the cost of good paying jobs disappearing and miraculously reappearing in some third world sweat shop. Corporate profits rose and American workers income went down.
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by Congressman Randy Forbes
As I was watching Saturday night’s debate, a radical idea came into my mind. It was a thought that I’m sure will anger many partisans completely committed to one of the six remaining candidates. No, it’s not that I’m waiting for Sarah Palin to jump in to the race. We’ll look at that a little later. This radical thought is that, while every one of the Republicans on the stage had some valid points that would serve our country well, we do not have a perfect candidate among them. However, with such acrimony among the various supporters, it’s plain that it’s not just the candidates lacking in perfection.
A while back a Facebook friend made the comment that she was just so frustrated with the war in Afghanistan and thought we should just nuke the whole mountainous area. Someone else commented that here solution was not “socially acceptable”. Now I’m not going to get into the virtue of using nuclear weapons to root out Taliban, or any jihadists in the area, but I do want to look at the reason for rejecting the idea. We all want to be accepted socially… which is another way of saying that we have developed an, often overwhelming acquiescence to peer pressure.
In 1947, America was charmed by little Natalie Wood in the Christmas classic, Miracle on 34th Street. The story revolved around proving the unprovable and the childhood joys of Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. The film showed the company to be a family friendly organization that cared more about the welfare of their customers than squeezing the last dollar out of them.
A week or two ago, I came across a picture of a Wall Street occupier carrying a sign that said, in effect, “I have a degree in Latino, lesbian womens studies and a $96,000 student loan”. I’m not sure it the image was photoshopped or if this young woman was really foolish enough to borrow that much money on a useless degree. She would have been better off learning to be a welder – there is a need for welders. She could have gotten a CDL for a lot less. About the only employers far enough removed from economic realities to hire such a person would be governments, academic institutions and a few non-profits. Certainly any business that would add her would soon fall into the non-profit category.
Pope Benedict XVI recently told US Bishops, “The present moment can thus be seen, in positive terms, as a summons to exercise the prophetic dimension of your episcopal ministry by speaking out, humbly yet insistently, in defense of moral truth, and offering a word of hope, capable of opening hearts and minds to the truth that sets us free.”
by Stacy Lynn Harp
Orlando, FL – Liberty Counsel is continuing its eighth annual “Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign,” pledging to be a “Friend” to those entities that recognize Christmas and a “Foe” to the Christmas censors. Liberty Counsel is also releasing an updated “
It’s almost impossible to give Barack Hussein Obama the benefit of the doubt these days, even if one were inclined to do so at the start of his reign. Our betters tell us we should cut him some slack and give him a chance. The good intentions of looking for the best in the President have only compounded our problems – not solved them! We’ve seen him change the federal policy to use our tax money to pay for overseas abortions when most people don’t even want them at home. We see more money just thrown at programs of little use, some with negative impact, to most of us and now… and now we are told that the faith based organizations are doing wonderful work, BUT now the new administration is looking at telling these organizations that they can continue to contribute their time and efforts, but they need to discontinue the very aspects of their work that makes them unique and effective.
by James Renwick Manship, Sr.
With official government unemployment numbers hovering around nine percent, and real numbers between fifteen to twenty percent, it’s obvious that we have a serious problem in our country. Our government has tried all sorts of Keynesian tricks to use our money, and Chinese money, in futile attempts to jump start the economy it is destroying. I guess they think we won’t notice the dreadful job they have done if they can squeeze a few more jobs into the moribund business cycle.
