Clueless Emma

It's All About Sarah, Don'tcha know?

  pp

Words of the Wise: John Wesley

"Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, to all the souls you can, in every place you can, at all the times you can, with all the zeal you can, as long as ever you can." --John Wesley

Eugenics and Nazis...and Progressives

By Dennis L Cuddy, Ph.D The term "eugenics" was first used in 1883 by Francis Galton, Darwin's half cousin. In 1871, Darwin authored the racist book The Descent of man and Selection in Relation to Sex saying that "the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races throughout the world." This followed the principle of "survival of the fittest" coined by Herbert Spencer in 1864 after reading Darwin's 1959 book, The Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection for the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life (four years after Arthur Gobineau's An Essay on the Inequality of the Races). For humans, this principle expressed itself in Social Darwinism. Thus, during the 1870s, Oxford lecturer John Ruskin would instill in his students, like Cecil Rhodes, the concept that they were "the best northern blood" and should rule the world. Rhodes scholarships were not only given to students from America and Commonwealth nations, but also to those from Germany beginning in the very early 1900s. Germans at this time were also being conditioned to see historical progression in terms of "blood and land," a sort of Teutonic knighthood descended from the Aryans. In 1914, Madame Blavatsky's Aryan doctrine had spread through Germany and Austria, and it was from her writings that a young Adolph Hitler learned the meaning of the Aryan swastika. By this time, eugenics was a growing international movement with the first International Congress of Eugenics held in 1912 with Vice-Presidents Winston Churchill, Alexander Graham Bell, Skull & Bones member Gifford Pinchot, and former Harvard University president Charles Eliot. In this same year, eugenics proponent Woodrow Wilson signed into law a brutal sterilization act, and the next year eugenics adherent Theodore Roosevelt wrote of the need to improve "racial qualities." Calvin Coolidge wrote similarly in "Whose Country Is This?" (Good Housekeeping, February 1921), after Arthur Calhoun in Volume 3 of his widely used textbook A Social History of the American Family (1919) explained that "in the new social order, extreme emphasis is sure to be placed upon eugenic procreation." Men of wealth like Andrew Carnegie and the Rockefellers played an important part in funding the eugenics movement....It was during this time of the early 20th Century that Rockefeller introduced Margaret Sanger to the monied elite who would help her form the Birth Control League which would later become Planned Parenthood. The November 1921 issue of Sanger's Birth Control Review carried the heading "Birth Control: To Create A Race of Thoroughbreds," and Sanger would later advocate eugenically limiting "dysgenic stocks" such as blacks, Hispanics, American Indians and Catholics, as well as "slum dwellers" such as Jewish immigrants. In 1926, Rockefeller money funded the founding of the American Eugenics Society, and the next year on May 2, 1927, the U.S. Supreme Court by an 8 to 1 majority ruled in Buck v. Bell that certain “unfit” people could be forcibly sterilized. Regarding this ruling, British [Fabian Socialist] Professor Harold Laski wrote his friend Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: “Sterilize all the unfit, among whom I include all fundamentalists.” Across the nation during the 1930s, state legislatures (eventually 38) enacted sterilization laws regarding the "feeble-minded." Also during this time, Franklin Roosevelt became president, and in Christopher Thorne's Allies of a Kind (1978) one finds: "Subjects to do with breeding and race seem, indeed, to have held a certain fascination for the president.... Roosevelt felt it in order to talk, jokingly, of dealing with Puerto Rico's excessive birth rate by employing, in his own words, 'the methods which Hitler used effectively' [to make them] sterile."

Best way to go, if'n ya ask me

Factory Worker Dies After Falling Into Vat of Chocolate - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

Posted using ShareThis

From John Newton's Letters: True Patriotism!

[American Flag once draped over President Lincoln's casket. Taken at DC Smithsonian June 2009]

Dear friend,

Allow me to say, that it excites both my wonder and concern, that a Christian minister such as yourself, should think it worth his while to attempt political reforms. When I look around upon the present state of the nation, such an attempt appears to me, to be no less vain and foolish, than it would be to paint the cabin--while the ship is sinking! Or to decorate the parlor--while the house is on fire!

When our Lord Jesus was upon earth, He refused to get involved in disputes or politics, "Friend, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?" Luke 12:14. "My kingdom is not of this world! If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight!" John 18:36. God's children belong to a kingdom which is not of this world; they are strangers and pilgrims upon earth, and a part of their Scriptural character is, that they are the "quiet in the land." Psalm 35:19.

Satan has many contrivances to amuse people, and to divert their thoughts from their real danger!

My dear sir, my prayer to God for you is--that He may induce you to employ the talents He has given you, in pointing out sin as the great cause and source of every existing evil; and to engage those who love and fear Him, (instead of wasting time in political speculations, for which very few of them are competent,) to sigh and cry for our abounding abominations, and to stand in the breach, by prayer, that God's wrath may yet be averted, and our national mercies prolonged! This, I think, is true patriotism--the best way in which people in private life may serve their country.

I consider the ungodly as saws and hammers in the hand of the Lord. So far as they are His instruments, they will succeed--but not an inch further! Their wrath shall praise Him, and be subservient to His designs!

If our lot is so cast that we can exercise our ministry free from stripes, fines, imprisonments, and death--it is more than the gospel has promised to us! If Christians were quiet when under the cruel governments of Nero and other wicked persecutors, when they were hunted down like wild beasts--then we ought to be not only quiet but very thankful now! It was then accounted an honor to suffer for Christ and the 'offence of the cross'!

Those are to be greatly pitied, who boast of their 'liberty'--and yet they do not consider that they are in the most deplorable bondage as the slaves of sin and Satan, under the curse of God's law and His eternal wrath! Oh! for a voice to reach their hearts, that they may know their true and dreadful state--and seek deliverance from their horrific thraldom! May you and I labor to direct them to the one thing, which is absolutely needful, and abundantly sufficient.

If I had the wisdom or influence to soothe the angry passions of mankind--I would gladly employ them! But I am a stranger and a pilgrim here in this world. My charter, my rights and my treasures, are all in heaven--and there my heart ought to be. In a very short time, I may be removed (and perhaps suddenly) into the unseen and eternal world--where all that now causes so much bustle upon earth--will be of no more importance to me--than the events which took place among the antediluvians!

In the hour, when death shall open the door into eternity--many things which now assume an 'air of importance', will be found as light and unsubstantial as a child's dream!

How crucial then, is it for me--to be found watching, with my lamp burning, diligently engaged in my proper calling! For the Lord has not called me to set governments right--but to preach the gospel, to proclaim the glory of His name, and to endeavor to win souls! "Let the dead bury their own dead--but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God!" Luke 9:60. Happy is that servant, whom his Master finds so doing, when He returns!

As you have forced me to respond--both duty and love have obliged me to be faithful and free in giving you my thoughts.

I recommend you to the care and blessing of the great Shepherd and Savior; and remain for His sake, your affectionate friend and brother,

John Newton

"Christian Patriots," Are You Ready to Die?

Mark Dinsmore
 

Many readers are undoubtedly familiar with the fun "sword drill" practice that many Sunday Schools and youth programs employ to encourage familiarity with God's Word (which is "sharper than any two-edged sword"). It's even fun for adults--would you like to give it a try? But instead of giving you chapter and verse to look up, let's make it a bit more challenging. I'll quote a commonly cited proverb, and then you find the location in Scripture. Are you ready?

Quick! Give me chapter and verse for "Cleanliness is next to godliness!" While some of you look for that passage, the rest of you locate the verse, "God helps those who help themselves!" Oh, wait. I forgot we're dealing with Bereans here (and probably a few homeschoolers) who are already on to my game. Well, let's try one more. Ready? Grab your Bibles and find, "Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God." Go!

What? It's not there? Please check again.... After all, it's the battle cry of the American Revolution--symbolized by the bright yellow banner, emblazoned with a coiled rattlesnake declaring, "Don't Tread On Me!" The clear implication, of course, is that government oppression will be met with force. Today, this rallying cry is being heard again among many conservatives--including Christian leaders and even pastors--who strongly identify with National Patriotism. In a recent column, one such writer sounded off:

I'm not sure how many of the American people realize that it was the attempted confiscation of the colonialists' cache of arms in Concord, Massachusetts, that started America's War for Independence. Yes, my friends, it was attempted gun confiscation that triggered (pun intended) the "shot heard 'round the world.... And now it would appear that, once again, a central government is on the verge of trying to deny the American people their right to keep and bear arms.... This leads to a very serious question: how many of America's gun owners would allow their government to deny them gun ownership? Further, how many would passively sit back and allow their guns to be confiscated?

From all that I've seen and read, this writer is a commendable, admirable, God-fearing man, and I imagine we would share a majority of non-negotiable Bible doctrines. However, his column proves the point stated in the April 2009 TBC Extra: "Christian Patriot. These two words are inextricably linked in the minds of most [Christians]." This inability to separate Americanism from God's will and His prophetic word is made abundantly clear with this declaration by the same author: "As humbly and meekly as I know how to say it: as for me and my house, gun confiscation is the one act of tyranny that crosses the line; debate, discourse, discussion, and peaceful dissent cease and desist at that point. I say again, it is getting very serious now (emphasis added)." So, the line in the sand has been drawn. Undoubtedly, thousands of Christian Patriots and Second Amendment supporters would agree, on Constitutional grounds. My question remains, however: Is forceful rebellion--to the point of resistance with weapons--against one's government (however tyrannical) biblically defensible?

Now, before anyone else accuses me of being "traitorous," I will restate that my heart is not anti-Patriot. It is not anti-Constitution. It is not anti-Second Amendment. It is not anti-defense. My sole purpose is to encourage believers in Christ, who claim to revere and adhere to the Bible as God's Word (by which our Creator "hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness" (2 Pt 1:3), to distinguish between what is politically or legally motivated and what is biblically or spiritually mandated.

Interestingly enough, it was an earlier column by the same writer that sparked my five-page response (whittled down to a single page for space), which became a bit of a firestarter itself--the April TBC Extra, "Would the Apostle Paul Answer the Call to Christian Patriotism?" The statement to which I initially replied was this: "A real Christian patriot would never allow his country to be taken over by a gaggle of elitist goons bent on stealing his liberties." Although reader response was, overall, humblingly positive, I did receive a few calls and letters by some who were angered, confused, or who even felt betrayed. Let me make this abundantly clear: If someone holds a personal conviction to "resist tyranny" with force based on their Constitutional right to do so, then by all legal means, get ready to "lock and load." However, if anyone uses God's name and His Word to support the cause, he's got an entirely different fight on his hands.

Israel had godly kings and wicked kings. In like manner, America has had good presidents and bad--including some whose public personae have undoubtedly obscured traitorous backroom dealings and personal depravity of which it is genuinely best that we not know (Eph 5:12). But anti-American usurper or not, our current president is God's "chosen instrument" --whom we are not to curse, but pray for (Mt 5:44, 1 Tm 2:1-2).

The Scriptures command us to "earnestly contend for the faith...once delivered to the saints." However, the saints did not rise up with armaments to "contend," because Christ's kingdom "is not of this world," and we "wrestle not against flesh and blood." In fact, to our shame and to their credit, many of these saints died without any malice toward those who martyred them. Contrast their praiseworthy humility and meekness with the prevailing tone of anger and hatred that many believers are now exhibiting (understandably so, in the flesh) toward what is unquestionably an anti-Christian, anti-Israel, pro-Muslim, pro-Marxist Novus Ordo Seclorum.

Such a prevailing attitude illustrates my point: many Christian Patriots are tragically misusing Scripture to support their cause. In the case of the columnist I've mentioned, this is evident in his unbiblical melding of Scripture with his personal conviction: "As for me and my house, gun confiscation is the one act of tyranny that crosses the line...." By quoting Joshua 24:15, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord," the writer makes a grave mistake by equating "gun ownership" with "serving God."

Tragically, such a statement elevates Second Amendment rights above the right to pray, the right to worship, the right to preach, teach, or even to read God's Word. He considers "gun confiscation the one act of tyranny that crosses the line." Surely, the other "rights" I've just mentioned are far more precious to a minister of the gospel! But does that writer (and all those who have similarly pledged to "kill or be killed" over what they believe is their "sacred" right to keep and bear arms) wish to stand before Christ and explain how they "pulled the trigger" to protect the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution? Perhaps some believers would rather wind up in prison instead--and, perhaps God would use this opportunity, as He did through the Apostle Paul, for the furtherance of the gospel. As I stated in my original "Extra:"

We are in a spiritual battle, but we must choose on which hill we are willing to die. Dying for Nationalistic Pride or even for our "Rights" is not the same as dying for the cause of Christ. Far better for godly men to survive in a pagan nation and submit to rule of law (which God ordains) and to subsist by His Word--unless (or until) we are asked to bow down and worship a false god. [But] such an affront would still not be cause to take up arms...Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah did not go into the flames as "National Patriots," willing to die for their "Bill of Rights," nor did they offer any physical resistance to their captors.

Nor did they organize the Hebrew captives to rebel against the Babylonian government (that had just destroyed Jerusalem!) and appoint Daniel as their "Spartacus" to lead this insurrection. Some rightly point out that the Second Amendment protects the First. However, while the encroaching world government can (and at some point, will) take whatever material goods and property it wants from its "global citizens," and while it can (and will) censor free speech in the press and in the public square, it cannot silence our hearts and minds and conscience before God, nor can it silence our lips in whatever "diverse trials" we may face.

I fully and gratefully acknowledge our "Christian Heritage." I daily lament the sale of our freedoms, which spiral like punched-out ticker tape to the floor. I am angered that our way of life and quality of life is literally being "changed" forever before our very eyes. But then I remember: time is short, the earth is not my home, and our eternal hope is not in the flag of the United States. There is only one Banner to which I pledge allegiance--not to "Stars and Stripes Forever," nor to a coiled serpent on a field of gold, but to the Cross of Jesus Christ.

There are those who've asked me sarcastically, "Well, what then, do we just roll over and die?" After much prayer and reflection, my answer is "Yes." The Bride of Christ does need to die--to its dreams of "kingdom now" restoration. American Christians, in particular, need to die to their idolatry of nationalism, materialism, and the "pursuit of happiness."

"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" (Mt 16:24). We read these words; we hear these words, but how many of us actually do these words? (Mt 1:23-25). Truly, the church in America seems accurately depicted in Christ's rebuke to the Laodicean church: "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked" (Rv 3:17).

Yes, Christian Patriots, we need to die.... Not for this nation, but to it. (See Mk 10:21). As the faithful hymn exhorts, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face; and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace" (Helen H. Lemmel, 1922).

Israel and Prophetic Proof Part II

Dave Hunt

Israel is the major topic of Bible prophecy, mentioned more than 2,900 times, nearly twice as many times as her Messiah. Without Israel there would be no Messiah and no salvation for anyone, Jew or Gentile. The first mention of His coming is in God's rebuke of the guilty parties involved in man's fall in Eden: the serpent (an identity that Satan retains from Genesis to Revelation) and Adam and Eve. The Bible account is not myth but history. In many places around the world, archaeologists continue to find ancient representations of three figures appearing together: a woman, a serpent, and a tree.

God foretells a long conflict between the serpent and the Messiah and the latter's ultimate triumph that would occur in a way Satan could never have imagined. An old hymn tells it beautifully:

In weakness like defeat,
He won the victor's crown;
Trod all our foes beneath His feet
By being trodden down.
He Satan's power laid low;
Made sin, He sin o'er threw;
Bowed to the grave, destroyed it so,
And death, by dying, slew.      

God's declaration to the three guilty parties is simple and to the point. To the serpent He said, "I will put enmity between thee [serpent] and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed [the Messiah]; it [the woman's seed] shall bruise thy head [a death blow], and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Gn 3:15).

The fact that God does not say "thy seed and Adam's" must indicate that no man would be involved. From that moment, Satan was eagerly awaiting this virgin birth in order to kill the babe. Watching closely as events unfold, Satan learns that the Messiah will be of the seed of Abraham. Ishmael (father of the Arabs) is Abraham's firstborn, but by Hagar, Sarah's maid 7. Finally, Abraham is given a second son by his wife. He is Isaac, "the son of promise." It seems a miraculous birth because for 90 years Sarah had been barren though not a virgin. Satan watches and waits.

Both Ishmael and Isaac were born "in the land of Canaan" among Canaanites who had lived there for centuries (Gn 11:31; 12:5-6; 13:7, etc.). There was no such place as "Palestine" nor any people called "Palestinians." No Arabs would live in so-called Palestine until the savage Islamic conquest of the world began in the seventh century, and they would not claim descent from "the original Palestinians" until the 1950s. Anyone making such a claim via descent from Ishmael is deluded by tradition. Ishmael's father (Abraham) was a Chaldean (Gn 11:31; 15:7) and his mother (Hagar) was an Egyptian (16:1).

President Obama continues to apply pressure upon Israel to deal justly with the "Palestinians." He asks these misnamed people to cease their violence against Israel. He must know that this is like pleading with a hurricane for mercy. Since long before the days of Arafat and his partner, Mahmoud Abbas, the PLO Charter's call for Israel's annihilation has been the sworn purpose of every Islamic government in obedience to Muhammad and has been reiterated hundreds of times throughout the Muslim world.

As Mortimer Zuckerman, in his U.S. News and World Report editorial of June 9, 2009, recently reminded world leaders demanding that Israel make "peace" with the Palestinians, the latter's violence is fueled by "the incessant spewing of hatred against Israel in schools, mosques, and the media, especially TV. This poisoning of the mind of the next generation is not just the stock in trade of Hamas and Hezbollah but also of the schools and media controlled by Fatah and reporting directly to Abbas."

In spite of the facts, political and church leaders persist in avoiding any mention of Islam or Muslims when referring to their violence. That is always blamed on "extremists." In fact, Muhammad himself began this trail of death, and his followers have obeyed, as supported by the Qur'an. The simple truth of history is brushed aside by the UN and almost the entire world, including the church and, sadly, our own president.

Being repeatedly condemned by the world for trying to defend itself against suicide bomber attacks that were costing the lives of hundreds of Israelis, including women and children, Israel's only alternative was to build a barrier that would cut off the attackers from entering her homeland. World opinion expressed outrage. The World Court ruled 14-1 that construction must cease immediately and everything be dismantled, with compensation to the Palestinians. The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution on July 20, 2004, 150-6, calling on Israel to respect the World Court ruling. Only the United States, Israel, Australia, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau voted against the resolution. Israel rejected world opinion and, from necessity, has proceeded with construction. Though the barrier has not been completed as of this date, it has already almost totally cut off the infiltration of terrorists.

Israel subsequently "gave back" Gaza, which historically belonged to her. She generously left operative the huge greenhouses that had fed Israel and much of Europe with fresh vegetables and could have done the same for the new "owners." Instead, these new owners tore the structures apart, and the mob carried off the materials for their individual use, thereby losing the potential income from exports that Israel had derived as well as the ability to feed themselves.

Going back to history, in 135 A.D., the Romans destroyed 1,000 Jewish villages, killed 500,000 Jews, and enslaved thousands. Furious that they'd been forced to bring in more legions to quell the rebellion, the Romans angrily renamed what had for more than 1,500 years been known as Israel. They called it Provincia Palestina after the Philistines, Israel's ancient enemies. Those living there became known as Palestinians. Who lived there? Jews! So Jews, ironically were the first "Palestinians." This is what they were called (along with many derisive names that have followed them as they've been hunted from country to country). Only in the 1950s did the Arabs begin to call themselves "Palestinians" in order to gain worldwide sympathy for their acts of terrorism even as UN pressure squeezed Israel into an ever-smaller corner in order to facilitate her destruction. (We document all of this and much more in Judgment Day.)

Since 1948, Israel has been arming herself and fighting back. Her vow of "never again" will be fulfilled but not before Jewry worldwide suffers the worst horror of her history. Under attack by all of the world's armies (Zec 12:3; 14:2; Jl 3:2, Ezk 38:8,9 etc.), Israel will call upon the Messiah, and He will rescue her. It is all declared plainly by the ancient prophets of Israel in the Old Testament (the Tenach).

It has taken the Lord many years and many circumstances to open my eyes to these prophecies. It was all there in His Word, but I didn't understand. How blind I was!

In 1966-67, my wife and I, with our four young children, were living on the third floor of a small seventeenth-century castle in Switzerland. That year was to have been an intensive time of ministry to university students, but God had something far different in mind. Suddenly, an overwhelming urgency to pray for Israel came upon me toward the end of 1966. Even when giving thanks to God at mealtime, I was compelled to include this prayer, "O Lord, I pray that you will defeat, confound, confuse, and frustrate all those who plot the destruction of Israel; turn their counsel into foolishness and protect your ancient people from their evil designs. In Jesus' name, Amen!"

I didn't understand that prayer at the time, but my naiveté was soon dispelled. In Cairo, Egypt, I went into a travel agency and asked, "How can I get to Israel?" The man waiting on me took me aside and whispered, "If you mention that [expletive] word again in this country they'll kill you!" I was shocked. I knew the Bible well but had never realized the significance of Psalm 83: "...thine enemies...that hate thee...have taken crafty counsel against thy people, [saying] let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance." This destruction has been the determined goal of Islam since it was founded by Muhammad.

Muslims are fighting against the God who calls Himself the "God of Israel" 203 times in the Bible. What an embarrassment it would be if Israel could be destroyed! It could never happen, for that act would destroy "the God of Israel" as well. He will not allow it.

Interacting with the very friendly people our family met as we drove the length and breadth of Egypt in our VW minibus in late May 1967, we repeatedly heard the words, "The 19-year war." What war was this? It took a while for that cryptic phrase to sink into our dull understanding.  From the so-called 1948 cessation of hostilities until 1967 was 19 years. Even as they professed peace, but inspired by Egypt's dictator, Gamal Abdul Nasser, the 40 million Muslims surrounding Israel had been arming nonstop to achieve her destruction. Nasser had sworn to lead the Arab world to a glorious victory. The humiliating defeat of the Arab armies in "The Six Day War" of 1967 ended Nasser's bombastic boast that he would destroy Israel. He subsequently had a nervous breakdown from which he never recovered.

In May 1948, Israel had declared its independence and was instantly attacked by the combined might of 40 million Arab/Muslims surrounding her. This tiny nation of 600,000, with its hastily assembled, hurriedly trained, and poorly equipped army of 60,000, with weapons smuggled in from Czechoslovakia (France, Britain, America, et al., would sell them nothing) fought for its survival against an enemy that had sworn its utter annihilation. They "crushed 600,000 soldiers of four Arab armies, well trained and heavily armed [with tanks and planes, of which Israel had none], reinforced by units from seven additional Arab countries, not to mention the active help of the British." This quote is part of the lengthy endorsement of Judgment Day by a retired Israeli General.

Three times God calls Israel the "apple of his eye" and warns: "He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye" (Zec 2:8; Dt 32:10; Lam 2:18). The statements that Barack Obama continually makes in favor of Islam are not only alarming for his own sake and the sake of the United States but are a slap in the face of the God of Israel. I can only warn him with what God himself told Abraham regarding the subsequent mistreatment of his descendants: "I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Gn 12:3).

In a hotel room in Tyre, Lebanon, the evening of June 3, 1967, our family prayed for direction from God. We had visas to drive through Syria into Jordan and then return by the same route. The newspapers the next morning gave the answer clearly. We immediately headed north through Syria and had, by God's grace, barely gotten across the border into Turkey when the war broke out. 

In spite of hundreds of very clear declarations by Jewish prophets and the promises that God has given to His people, about 30 percent of today's Israelis claim to be atheists. He wants to bless them and protect them, but how can He, when they continue to reject Him? The following is just a sample of what God has repeatedly said to His people: "I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries...fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.... But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would [have] none of me"
(Ps 81:11-16).

Israel is both under God's judgment because of its continual rejection of the God of Israel, but at the same time, He has not abandoned her, and woe to those who take God's judgment into their own hands!

In the meantime, the nations of the world continue to become a party to Islam's deception by attempting to force Israel into what can only be a false "peace." What Islam has in mind is not what the peacemakers naively intend. It's called a hudna, the "peace" that Muhammad made with the Meccans for ten years. Long before then, under a pretense, Muslims attacked and took over that "holy" city, which had so long been the goal of the hajj (long practiced before Muhammad's birth by most Arab tribes). Of course, this ancient custom, along with others, such as the feast of Ramadan, have been taken over by Muslims. Thus, history is perverted to make it seem that these had always been Islamic practices.

Ramadan had for centuries been agreed upon by warring Arab tribes to be 30 days of peace. At just the right time to allow him to attack a passing caravan, Muhammad received a "new revelation" that Muslims could fight during this time. Ramadan has become a time of the deadliest attacks of Shiites against Sunnis (does this demonstrate to the world that "Islam is peace?")

These prophecies are so important for the strengthening of our own faith, but what about those whom we want to bring into the faith of the God of Israel? We need to provide to everyone with whom we speak (as I often do for those with whom the Lord puts me in contact everywhere, but especially on airplanes) first of all, proof of God's existence. How better to do this than to take the approach of Zinzendorf with the King of Sweden, as we mentioned in Part I of this article, using biblical prophecies about Israel?

We can talk to others about God and Jesus Christ, but when we say "God," what do we mean? A "higher power" of some kind?  We have to be sure that those whom we want to introduce to the God of Israel understand who He is, why we believe in Him, and why we think the most intelligent decision they could make is to believe in Him as well.  TBC
 

IRANIAN CHRISTIANS IN U.S. PRAYING FOR THEIR HOMELAND

Members of the Iranian Christian Church of San Diego are praying for their homeland amid continuing turmoil over Iran's disputed presidential election.

The Rev. Sohrab Ramtin, whose sermons are broadcast by satellite into Iran, says his congregation believes reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi defeated President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, though the incumbent claims to have won a landslide victory.

Ramtin says Iranian Christians hoped a Mousavi victory would ease persecution in Iran. Iran's supreme ruler, meanwhile, has warned Iranians to unite behind the country's Islamic system.

The pastor of the Iranian Christian Church of Colorado says Iran's hardline Islamic regime has caused many Iranians to turn their backs on Islam and become Christians. The Rev. Ashton Stewart, who grew up in Iran, says God also has been converting Iranians in ways only God can.

"God has been showing himself through visions of Christ, incredible healings, incredible experiences that have just confirmed for thousands of people that Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life," he shares.

While many Iranians hoped for the defeat of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Stewart says his main prayer is that the post-election crisis will help grow the church in Iran. He's also asking American Christians to "pray for the persecuted" in Iran, where he says "there are many Christians in jail today, and some of them are being treated very, very brutally."

Finally, A Vote of Reason!

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge.

DC/NY Blitz with Middle Schoolers, Cranky Parents...and a Major Commitment

Sorry I've been remiss in keeping up with my blog lately--things have been hectic beyond words the last couple weeks--wrapped up the end of the school year; refrigerator quit when a transformer blew out, which made me rely on others (and the commitophobes all screamed AAGH!) to shuffle food around; had to clean out, clean off, and make room for fridge exchange; bought a house...

What's that, you say?

It's true, my lovelies, I have made one of the most ginormous commitments one can make--my very own first house! Exciting, terrifying, exhilarating, nerve-racking!

The next day I flew to the East Coast for 5 days with my mother and Tough Cookie and her middle school friends.

Haven't slept much the past several days, and last night caught 11:15 pm flight to Chicago from pdx, then to Baltimore, arrival at 9-something am. Bus ride to DC-->Smithsonian (American History) for Abe Lincoln's stuff (way cool!) then literal jog to Holocaust Memorial Museum. Itty bitty shoes and mountain of human hair. Suddenly being tired and stressed seems an extremely petty complaint.  Next, meet my sister (who just moved to DC) for dinner at Union Station and off to evening tour of WWII Memorial, Jefferson Monument, and something else I can't remember.

I'm a little tired.

It's now after 11 pm and I just now got to take a shower for the first time since yesterday afternoon, haven't slept for a very long time, and I'm glorying in the smooth clean yumminess of freshly brushed teeth. But I'm safe, half my family is with me, we're well and on vacation.

And I bought a house! Me. I'm a home owner.

Wow.

God is good.

Don't forget to watch the Troopathon tomorrow and donate to help the troops!

CE

SOFT TISSUE IN FOSSILS

Ten years ago, anyone--scientist or otherwise--claiming to have discovered soft (i.e., unfossilized) dinosaur tissue would have been ridiculed and dismissed by the scientific community as a quack or a young-earth creationist. Yet within the last decade have come two such crushing blows to the idea that dinosaurs died out some 65 million years ago.

The first was the discovery of unfossilized dinosaur tissue at the center of a T. Rex bone by Mary Schweitzer of North Carolina State University. That discovery--and, specifically, papers published by Schweitzer and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center scientist John Asara--started an intense debate about whether the bones truly contained dinosaur tissue (see News to Note, August 2, 2008, item #2)

Now Asara and Schweitzer have supported their previous find by confirming the existence of proteins in the soft tissues of a hadrosaur, a duck-billed dinosaur allegedly from 80 million years ago. Their new study, reported in Science, shows that "our T. rex discovery was not a unique occurrence," said Asara, who continued:

"This is the second dinosaur species we've examined and helps verify that our first discovery was not just a one-hit wonder. Our current study was the collaborative effort of a number of independent laboratories, whose findings collectively add up to a robust conclusion."

According to Asara, the team found nearly twice the number of amino acids that were found in the T. rex tissue. The fragments "showed marked preservation of original tissues and molecules, with microstructures resembling soft, transparent vessels, cells and fibrous matrix," despite the fact that the fossil was found buried some 23 feet (7 m) deep in sandstone. The proteins the team confirmed were collagen, laminin, and elastin, as well amino acids including hydroxylated proline.

(Answers In Genesis, News to Note, Item 1).

[The Berean Call: For tissue to remain soft after allegedly being fossilized for 80 million years is certainly a "mystery," as paleobiologist Mary H. Schweitzer notes: "The precise recipe of environmental conditions that lead to such molecular preservation is still a mystery, Schweitzer says. However, she notes, the team's research suggests that the sudden burial of a dinosaur carcass in a porous, sandy material seems be one key to such exceptional fossilization."

"Porous" means that liquids may pass through a substance. That would hardly be key to explaining how moisture would remain after 80 million years. In other words, it remains after 80 million years of dehyrdration. That isn't a "mystery," it is an "impossibility." Consequently, it is much simpler to conclude that 80 million years have not elapsed.]

Barry Hussein: My, How Our President Has Aged!

NetRightNation

No Job? Shoot Up Some Youthfulness!

Clinic offers free Botox to job hunters

And what is her husband doing to restore his youth, exactly?

Woman in Intensive Care After 'Restoring Virginity' for Sixth Time - Women's Health - FOXNews.com

Posted using ShareThis

Is There Room for an Oregon GOP Governor?

From Oregon Catalyst

Constitutional Right to Free Speech, Freedom to Worship (for Christians) on the Way out the Door

From John W. Whitehead at the Rutherford Institute:

I never thought I would see the absurd proportions that things have reached in this country, all for the sake of not offending some individual or special-interest group. Political correctness—a philosophy that discourages diversity of viewpoints—has become a guiding principle of modern society. If there is the slightest possibility that someone might be offended, freedom of speech is erased.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the schools, especially when Christianity is involved.

Indeed, things have gotten so ridiculous that the mere mention of God is enough to send public school officials into a tailspin. Just consider what happened to Renee Griffith on her graduation day.

By virtue of her scholastic achievements, Renee was one of ten valedictorians selected to deliver remarks at graduation about things they had learned during their time at Butte High School in Butte, Montana. The students prepared their own remarks, and some delivered them together, in an alternating fashion. Renee paired up with another student to talk about the lessons they had learned in school, which ranged from the humorous and mundane to the heartfelt.

School officials who reviewed the remarks prior to graduation did not raise any objections to the students' light-hearted remarks. What they did object to, ironically enough, was Renee's heartfelt statement about how she learned to persevere and not fear by standing up for her religious convictions.

"I learned to persevere these past four years, even through failure or discouragement, when I had to stand for my convictions," wrote Renee. "I didn't let fear keep me from sharing Christ and His joy with those around me. I learned to impart hope, to encourage people to treat each day as a gift. I learned not to be known for my grades or for what I did during school, but for being committed to my faith and morals and being someone who lived with a purpose from God with a passionate love for Him."

Just prior to the graduation ceremony, Renee was given an ultimatum by school officials: either delete the references to God from her speech and replace them with more neutral phrases or be forbidden to speak at all at the graduation program.

For example, instead of saying "I didn't let fear keep me from sharing Christ and His joy with those around me," she was instructed to say "I didn't let fear keep me from sharing my faith with those around me." And instead of "being someone who lived with a purpose from God with a passionate love for Him," she was told to describe herself as "someone who lived with a purpose, a purpose derived from my faith and based on a love of mankind."

To most people, these might seem like minor changes. But to Renee, there is a world of difference between a life that is based on a love of God and a life based on a love of mankind.

Not surprisingly, Renee insisted on her right to free speech. After all, Renee has a constitutional right to use the words of her choice when talking about the lessons she learned in school, just as other students were permitted to use words of their choosing to share what they learned.

Unfortunately, school officials didn't see it that way. They banned Renee from participating in the graduation ceremony altogether. That's when Renee turned to The Rutherford Institute for help.

We've already filed a free speech lawsuit in Montana state court, and we're preparing for what will likely be a long and costly court battle. But we cannot do this alone. This case promises to be another momentous religious freedom battle, and we're going to need all the help we can get in order to prevail.

As a great American patriot once remarked, "Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must...undergo the fatigue of supporting it."

Thank you, and God bless you, for faithfully standing with us and never tiring of supporting this much-needed and critical work to safeguard our God-given freedoms.

Yours faithfully,

John W. Whitehead

P.S. If there has ever been a time to take a stand and fight for freedom, it is now. As historian Roland Bainton reminds us, "All freedoms hang together. Civil liberties scarcely thrive when religious liberties are disregarded, and the reverse is equally true." In other words, if all freedoms hang together, then they will fall together, too. In fact, they will fall like dominoes.

As we prepare to end our fiscal year on June 30, we are still almost $350,000 short of balancing the budget. Please take a moment today to help us end this year in the black and continue to fight for justice and the courageous individuals who are willing to take a stand, and often suffer, for our cherished beliefs. And remember, your donation will also count toward a $60,000 matching gift challenge issued by some of our concerned faithful donors.

Click here to make your online donation in support of The Rutherford Institute today.

Help fight the cyber jihad, join the Jihadi Smackdown Corps

Get involved! Here is your chance. Just a few minutes of your time can help get Islamic jihadi videos taken off Youtube.

Read Creeping Sharia's interview with the relentless folks who comprise the Youtube Smackdown Corps.

Then join them!

Just a Hare Nuts

Oregon rabbit hoarder caught with more forbidden bunnies!

PREACH THE WORD AND JOEL OSTEEN

"[Osteen] understands the importance of TV and uses the language of contemporary American society - the language of psychotherapy."

Having preached for less than a decade, Osteen, 46, presides over a Houston church in a former basketball arena that draws 40,000 people on Sundays. His televised sermons are seen by more than 7 million Americans a week and millions more around the world.

He's had two best-selling books and a third, "It's Your Time," will come out in November. He's only been preaching on the road for five years, but is taking the stage at the new Yankee Stadium before A-Rod for what he calls "A Night of Hope.

He appeals to conservatives and liberals, Texas Republicans and Nancy Pelosi, Pentecostal Christians filled with the Holy Spirit and atheists filled with none.

"I wish I could explain it better," he said of his appeal in a recent interview with The Journal News at the swanky Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Columbus Circle. "I don't have an answer. I guess it's that my message is positive and hopeful. People stop me on the street, whether they are bikers or bankers. I've had atheists tell me that they watch me on TV.

"It's got to be God," he said, "because it's not me."

Tulane University's Shayne Lee, an expert on superstar evangelists, said Osteen is young, fresh, likable and doesn't have the baggage of the televangelists of old.

"He understands the importance of TV and uses the language of contemporary American society - the language of psychotherapy, the language of Americans who watch Oprah and Dr. Phil," said Lee, whose new book, "Holy Mavericks," profiles Osteen and four other pastors with national followings. "Osteen understands that his brand is not to condemn, but uplift. If the caricature of the typical evangelist is a fingerpointing loudmouth, Osteen seems so trustworthy that he's the boy next door."

"My message is not about doctrine. I don't have to get 50 references from Scripture in a sermon for it to be a good sermon. Churches that are helping people live out a Christian life are growing and flourishing."

From www.lohud.com


[The Berean Call adds: [But the bible says] "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned to fables.]

Clueless Emma Joins Robert Spencer's Anti-Jihadist Team in Blogger Competition to Send Troop Care Packages

Join me in sending care packages to troops fighting for freedom--we're in 2nd place now, but it's a win-win! Let's show our soldiers how much we value their commitment and that of their families who willingly endure their long absences!

Send a care package now to make their tour feel a little less lonely, a little more comfortable, a bit more appreciated for just the cost of a couple fast food meals.

 Join me and Move America Forward June 25!

Ephesians 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 

Montana Gun Law Challenges Federal Powers

Cowboy Up!!

Seriously? Really?

The harmful effects of global warming are being felt "here and now and in your backyard," a groundbreaking US government report on climate change has warned.

The report's release comes just six months before countries from around the world meet in the Danish capital Copenhagen for a UN conference that aims to produce an ambitious, new climate pact aimed at rolling back global warming.

The report stresses the need for immediate action against global warming, saying: "Future climate change and its impacts depend on choices made today."

"We have the power to determine how bad this could be and to avoid the worst impacts of global warming," said David Doniger.

"It's like Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol,' where the ghosts come and show Scrooge the way the future could unfold into either a happy future or a disastrous future.

"This shows us that the future is in our hands, just as it was in Scrooge's hands," said Doniger.

Wow.

Join us to rally for a free press and to preserve our free-market healthcare system!

American Patriot has invited you to the event 'On June 24th, join us to rally for a free press and to preserve our free-market healthcare system!' on  The 9.12 Project Network!

 

If you are interested in being part of a local rally for a free, independent press and a market-based health care system (preserving what's good about our system here in America), please join us!

Time: June 24, 2009 all day Location: Local ABC Affiliate Near You! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ABC_television_affiliates Organized By: American Patriot Event Description: On June 24th, join us as we protest ABC joining NBC as official state media by broadcasting an extreme leftist , to help Obama take over our health care system. We must take a stand to help stop the slide toward communism/fascism. This is a line that must be drawn in the sand, and this line must be drawn here and now! We must take a stand! We've already lost so much, and the powers that be seem to have forgotten the message of the TEA Parties, let's remind them that We The People aren't going to just sit and watch while the government takes total control of our lives and robs us of our freedom and our incomes! If our health care system falls to the communist/fascist threat as well, then many believe it's game over. Let us not go quietly in the night; we won't give up our free market without a fight! Why do so many Canadians come across the border every year to get everything from cancer treatment to major surgery? Because socialized medicine is a failed system; the quality of care suffers greatly, and the sanctity of life is assaulted, when the Government runs things! So we have two very compelling issues: a Free Press (yeah, they're ridiculously biased already, but this is simply fascist), and a free-market health care system that is the envy of the world! We've already lost control of our banks, our automobile industry, and our government. Let's not also lose, in the selfsame year, our free market healthcare system! The time for calling representatives only is past. It's time to surround some TV stations starting at least an hour before the broadcast! ABC TURNS PROGRAMMING OVER TO OBAMA; NEWS TO BE ANCHORED FROM INSIDE WHITE HOUSE Tue Jun 16 2009 08:45:10 ET On the night of June 24, the media and government become one, when ABC turns its programming over to President Obama and White House officials to push government run health care -- a move that has ignited an ethical firestorm! Highlights on the agenda: ABCNEWS anchor Charlie Gibson will deliver WORLD NEWS from the Blue Room of the White House. The network plans a primetime special -- 'Prescription for America' -- originating from the East Room, exclude opposing voices on the debate. "...As the national debate on health care reform intensifies, I am deeply concerned and disappointed with ABC's astonishing decision to exclude opposing voices on this critical issue on June 24, 2009. Next Wednesday, ABC News will air a primetime health care reform “town hall” at the White House with President Barack Obama. In addition, according to an ABC News report, GOOD MORNING AMERICA, WORLD NEWS, NIGHTLINE and ABC’s web news “will all feature special programming on the president’s health care agenda.” This does not include the promotion, over the next 9 days, the president’s health care agenda will receive on ABC News programming. "In the absence of opposition, I am concerned this event will become a glorified infomercial to promote the Democrat agenda. If that is the case, this primetime infomercial should be paid for out of the DNC coffers. President Obama does not hold a monopoly on health care reform ideas or on free airtime. The President has stated time and time again that he wants a bipartisan debate. Therefore, the Republican Party should be included in this primetime event, or the DNC should pay for your airtime." FIND YOUR LOCAL ABC AFFILIATE HERE.

See more details and RSVP on  The 9.12 Project Network:

http://www.the912project.us/events/event/show?id=2881797%3AEvent%3A288061&xgi=b4pCrGr

Words of the Wise: Robert C Chapman

The ruin of a kingdom is a little thing in God's sight, in comparison with division among a handful of sinners redeemed by the blood of Christ.

--Robert C. Chapman

Atta Boy

Letterman apologizes, seemingly for real this time.

We The People Stimulus Package

Well, DUH!

So, y'all, happy with your choice of an "academic" as leader of the (at the moment) Free World?

Lameshow with a Dirty Old man

Is Archaeopteryx a Valid Transitional Fossil?

Archaeopteryx is the name given to an animal about the size of a crow. It is represented by fossil remains that display teeth, three claws on each wing, a flat sternum (breastbone), belly ribs (gastralia), and a long, bony tail. In other words, it had characteristics like those of many small dinosaurs. What made Archaeopteryx an exciting find was the fact that the fossil also exhibited feathers, a lightly-built body with hollow bones, and a wishbone (furcula "Archaeopteryx" in Dinosaur and Paleontology Dictionary] AsIs Archaeopteryx a Valid Transitional Fossil? a result, many people who believe in evolution presume this fossil represents a transitional species between reptiles and birds. Along with other evidence (which we will examine later) it led to the theory that the dinosaurs did not become extinct, but rather all turned into birds. The purpose of this page is to clarify the facts about Archaeopteryx and other similar transitional fossil species.

One article [Tim Beardsley, "Fossil Bird Shakes Evolutionary Hypotheses," Nature, Vol. 322, 21 August 1986, p. 677] reveals that the fossils of normal birds have been found in older rock strata than Archaeopteryx. Therefore, either Archaeopteryx is not a transitional fossil (since birds already existed at the same time and there was nothing to "transition" into) or rock strata can not be accurately dated. If either of these is correct (and one must be) Archaeopteryx loses its value as a transitional species.

Teacher Fired for Being Too Conservative?!

Here it comes, y'all...brace yourselves!

Governor Sarah Palin KOs Letterman

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

What a sad, sad end to David Letterman's career...but HELLO, Sarah Palin!

Mike Reagan on B Hussein's collectivist health plan

Most doctors are overworked, many are underpaid. The number of doctors is increasing at a woeful 1 percent a year, and the number of available nurses has been flat for years. With an increasing population -- and one that is aging as baby boomers move into their 60s -- who is going to provide health care to 45 million more Americans, even if we make the wildly optimistic assumption that we could afford to pay for it?

Well, if you are not scared yet, you should be. Let me tell you how the so-called experts would solve this conundrum. It is not pretty. In fact it is so ugly that no one wants to discuss it publicly. Certainly not the Obama administration, or the Democratic-controlled Congress, but also not the private insurance companies -- the ones that once opposed the Clinton health care plan but now apparently see government as the almighty solution.

Apparently the agreed-upon approach is to give health care to 47 million new beneficiaries without massive new costs by being “more efficient” in allocating the currently available health care assets. Well, efficiency is good, right? Not necessarily.

Here is what this “efficiency” would mean in stark terms: severely restricting health care services to our elderly, and the severely and terminally ill. “Efficiency” here means providing services to millions of young and healthy, who do not need much of it, and cutting health care to seniors and the severely ill who “statistically do not have as much to lose by not getting good health care.”

In other words, the administration believes that those of above 60 will not live nearly as long, no matter what health care we receive, as a healthy 25-year-old, so why “waste” doctors, nurses, drugs, hospitals and surgeries on us? Health care resources, in cold, hard, inhumane computer calculations, are more “efficiently” used letting the elderly die years earlier after a less-healthy retirement.

My father was a supporter of Medicare. He worked tirelessly to insure that the insolvency which we were facing in Medicare funding when he became president was resolved in favor of continued quality Medicare services for our senior citizens. He cared. He knew that we owe a debt to our seniors that cannot and should not be denied in the name of so-called “efficiency.”

We all want a health care plan that is best for all citizens, but we must do better than the current proposals being floated by Democrats in Congress and the White House. Go to Reagan.com and stand with me in opposing any health care plan that increases taxes, buries us in debt, or which reallocates health care away from the elderly and ill.

---

Mike Reagan, the eldest son of President Ronald Reagan, is heard on more than 200 talk radio stations nationally as part of the Radio America Network.

Mark It Down in Red on Your Calendar!

The National Organization for Women agrees with Palin, adding Letterman to its hall of shame and chiding him for "wallowing in the juvenile, sexist mud that other comedians and broadcasters seem to prefer."

Evil Like This

deserves the very same treatment for the rest of their lives.

Beck on Green Jobs, the Fall of the Republic, Best Father's Day Gift

Green job killing machine

The days of 'blue collar jobs' are long gone, and 'green collar jobs' are the wave of the future! That's what the green freaks want you to think. What they don't want you to know is what 'green collar' jobs actually mean for the economy. President Obama has held up places like Spain who have implemented a similar forcing of green jobs into the economy. How has it worked out for Spain? Badly. How bad? Glenn explains in this week’s 'Beck Talks' video.

 

The cancer killing America

 

Progressivism -- learn about it before America is destroyed by it. Is it the most torturous reading imaginable? Yes, it is. But unless you want government managing every aspect of your life --- get informed. Progressivism, the ideology of Constitution loathing presidents such as Woodrow Wilson, FDR and Teddy Roosevelt, resulted in an attack on the Constitution that left it wounded (but still intact). This extended issue of Fusion is a must read for anyone concerned with the future of America (or anyone who wants to teach their Liberal friends a thing or two).   Click here to learn more.

 

COMMON SENSE

 

Common Sense in America is on life support -- but it's not dead yet. Glenn Beck's new book Common Sense delivers what America needs most. Get the Father's Day Combo -- a great gift for Dad -- you'll get two copies of Common Sense and the exclusive 'Day in the Life of Glenn Beck' DVD. Pre-order your combo today!

Aha! This Proves That Anyone Who Harbors a Baseball Bat

should be closely monitored as a possible murderous terrorist, if one follows the logic of the Left.

Banks, Cars, Tars, lots of Czars, now Bellies

Obama is great. Obama is good.
Let us thank him for our food…

Michelle Malkin

EVANGELICAL LEFT DEFENDS OBAMA ON ABORTION

In October 2004, conveniently during the presidential election, Evangelical Left ethicist Glenn Stassen of Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, California, gained widespread attention for arguing that abortion rates had increased under President Bush after declines under President Clinton. A John Kerry supporter, Stassen sought to justify evangelical support for a pro-abortion rights candidate, arguing that wider welfare state programs more effectively reduce abortion than legal restrictions.

As many critics then pointed out,Stassen's sweeping claims were selectively based on abortion data for only 16 states through 2003. Now armed with more comprehensive data, and energized by President Obama's Notre Dame controversy, Stassen, a strong Obama supporter, is claiming vindication.

"Abortions reduced by 300,000 a year during the Clinton years, stayed flat or increased during the Bush years, and if they resume their reductions during the Obama years, then many consistently pro-life people like me will conclude that we should judge administrations not by their words but by their fruits," Stassen triumphantly concluded in a recent piece for Sojourners, Jim Wallis's website for liberal religionists.

As to overall abortion rates, the CDC admits that data for California (with 15 percent of the nation's population) and several other dates is unavailable after 1998. Counting just those 46 states for which data is available from 1995, abortions declined from 894,000 in 1995 to 836,000 in 2000. From 2001 they declined from 833,000 to 810,000 in 2005. The rate per 1,000 births went from 280 in 1995 to 249 in 2000 to 236 in 2005. The rate per 1,000 women went from 18 in 1995 to 16 in 2000 to also 16 in 2005. In other words, abortions did decline numerically and per 1,000 births during Bush's first term.

The highest abortion rates seem to have been in 1984, with over 1.3 million abortions, 364 per 1,000 births and 24 per 1,000 women (these numbers include California and the other later missing states). Abortion rates had climbed continuously from 1970, with 193,000 abortions and 52 per 1,000 live births and 5 per 1,000 women, climbing steeply all the way through the 1970s and early 1980s. In other words, the reverse in abortion rates began midway during the Reagan years, a time of supposed hostility to social programs that Stassen claims deter abortion.

Stassen celebrated that the Obama administration is "expanding health care insurance for children and planning health insurance for all of us, is working to get the economy revived, and is supporting programs to curb unintended pregnancy," while restoring "support for the working poor." All of this additional government will create a wider pro-life ethic, Stassen claimed. But he ultimately provided no evidence for his hope. Instead, like others on the Evangelical Left, he seems to be straining for an excuse to minimize unrestricted abortion's legality as an issue while bolstering arguments for what he already obviously strongly desires: a larger welfare state.

FromThe American Spectator

True Love Can Last a Lifetime

Love's first blush fading? Lost that loving feeling? Love is not all around?
Scientists have used brain scans to study how long love lasts between couples.

Using brain scans, researchers at Stony Brook University in New York have discovered a small number of couples respond with as much passion after 20 years together as most people only do during the early throes of romance, Britain's Sunday Times newspaper reported.

The researchers scanned the brains of couples together for 20 years and compared them with results from new lovers, the Sunday Times said.

About 10 percent of the mature couples had the same chemical reactions when shown photographs of their loved ones as those just starting out.

Previous research has suggested that the first stages of romantic love fade within 15 months and after 10 years it has gone completely, the newspaper said.

"The findings go against the traditional view of romance -- that it drops off sharply in the first decade -- but we are sure it's real," said Arthur Aron, a psychologist at Stony Brook, told the Sunday Times.

[The Berean Call: "The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you" (Jeremiah 31:3). "Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old" (Psalm 25:6).]

Welcome Back, Carter

Obama bravely told the Cairo audience that 9/11 was a very nasty thing for Muslims to do to us, but on the other hand, they are victims of colonization.

Except we didn't colonize them. The French and the British did. So why are Arabs flying planes into our buildings and not the Arc de Triomphe? (And gosh, haven't the Arabs done a lot with the Middle East since the French and the British left!)

In another sharks-to-kittens comparison, Obama said, "Now let me be clear, issues of women's equality are by no means simply an issue for Islam." No, he said, "the struggle for women's equality continues in many aspects of American life."

So on one hand, 12-year-old girls are stoned to death for the crime of being raped in Muslim countries. But on the other hand, we still don't have enough female firefighters here in America.

Delusionally, Obama bragged about his multiculti worldview, saying, "I reject the view of some in the West that a woman who chooses to cover her hair is somehow less equal." In Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan and other Muslim countries, women "choose" to cover their heads on pain of losing them.

Obama rolled out the crucial liberal talking point against America's invasion of Iraq, saying Iraq was a "war of convenience," while Afghanistan was a "war of necessity." Liberals cling to this nonsense doggerel as a shield against their hypocrisy on Iraq. Either both wars were wars of necessity or both wars were wars of choice.

Neither Iraq nor Afghanistan -- nor any country -- attacked us on 9/11. Both Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as many other Muslim countries, were sheltering those associated with the terrorists who did attack us on 9/11 -- and who hoped to attack us again.

The truth is, all wars are wars of choice, including the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, both World Wars, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, the Gulf War, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. OK, maybe the war on teen obesity is a war of convenience, but that's the only one I can think of.

The modern Democrat Party chooses -- really chooses, not like Saudi women "choosing" to wear hijabs -- to fight no wars. But the Democrats couldn't say that immediately after 9/11, so they pretended to support the war in Afghanistan and then had to spend the next 7 1/2 years trying to come up with a distinction between Afghanistan and Iraq.

Maybe next they can tell us why fighting Hitler -- who never invaded the U.S. and had no plans to do so -- was a "necessity" in a way that fighting Saddam wasn't. (Obama on Hitler: "Nazi ideology sought to subjugate, humiliate and exterminate. It perpetrated murder on a massive scale." Whereas Saddam Hussein was just messing with the Kuwaitis, Kurds and Shiites.)

Meanwhile, Muslims throughout the Middle East are yearning for their own Saddam Husseins to be taken out by U.S. invaders so they can be liberated, too. (Then we'll see how many women -- outside of an American college campus -- "choose" to wear hijabs.) The war-of-choice/war-of-necessity point must be as mystifying to a Muslim audience as a discussion of gay marriage.

Ann Coulter

Rush on Current Events June 11, 2009

Hate-Promoting Left Seizes Chance to Falsely Blame Right for Violence This museum shooter admires Hitler's National Socialists. He hates neocons -- Republican Jews -- both Bushes, and thinks 9/11 was an inside job. That sounds leftist! (Rush 24/7 Members:  Listen) » Right-Winger?  Rev. Wright on Obama: “Them Jews Aren’t Going to Let Him Talk to Me” » FBI Raids Office:  Shooter May Have Targeted the Conservative, Neocon Weekly Standard   "After eight years of hatred and vitriol -- assassination movies and books about Bush -- for liberals to claim that the atmosphere is now more violently anti-Obama is simply preposterous. If you want to see real hate, I can tell you were to find it. It's called M-S-N-B-C." -Rush   Obama Administration Moves to Cap Pay All Across Private Sector That means your job, and your salary -- while raising your taxes. (Rush 24/7 Members:  Listen)

Obama Lies About Health Care: It's an Uncomfortable Thing to Accuse Him of Doing Of course he wants socialized medicine, and the power to force you to live "healthy." This "single-payer" plan means everybody pays and gets less. (Rush 24/7 Members:  Listen) » Charen:  Health Care Bill is the Ball Game » WSJ:  More Opposition Forms to Gov't Insurance » Nobody Talks About the Abuse: Austin ER's Got 2,678 Visits From 9 People Over 6 Years   "We never talk about those of our fellow citizens who aren't angels, who are spoiled-brat, slothful, hypochondriacs who abuse the health care system and cost everybody a whole bunch of money. We only hear that everybody is sick all the time and every doctor's visit is justified." -Rush    Palin Told Ya So: Obama Gov't Grants Miranda Rights to Terrorists The White House spokesman doesn't deny it. (Rush 24/7 Members:  Listen) » Fox:  Reading of Miranda Rights to Detainees Draws Criticism

Touche! :)

"The Palins have no intention of providing a ratings boost for David Letterman by appearing on his show," said Palin spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton. "Plus, it would be wise to keep Willow away from David Letterman."

Dancing with the Czars!

The cast of Obama Czars hit the dance floor on the new show with the highly anticipated season premiere of Dancing with the Czars!

So let me get this straight

Barry Hussein is issuing Constitutional Rights to terrorists and setting American-killers free, while American Michael Savage is stripped of his First Amendment Rights for giving his opinions, a Florida man receives 6 yrs for shooting a horse, a Texan great-grandma gets tasered and a 10 yr old girl gets arrested for fighting with her sister!

Oh, and in case you didn't hear, suspected terrorists were on board the Air France flight that went down (shock!) and an old white supremacist just shot up the DC Holocaust Museum --wonder what links we'll find in his old bag o'tricks.

I'm flying to DC in a few weeks to see the sites with a school group--including the Holocaust Museum. Maybe.

Voters now trust Republicans more than Dems on the economy

Only 31% of U.S. voters believe the economic stimulus package has helped the economy. That's down from 38% when it first passed in February.

For the first time in years, voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats on the handling of the economy.

Rasmussen Report

Paul's Admonition

Paul does not ask a thing of the saints in the first three chapters of Ephesians but just to listen while he proclaims that wondrous series of great and eternal facts concerning them;  and not until he has completed this catalogue of realities about them does he ask them to do anything at all!

And when he does open his plea for their high walk as saints, everything is based on the revelation before given-the facts of their high character and destiny as saints: 'I therefore...beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called" (Eph. 4:1).

Let us cease laying down to the saints long lists of 'conditions' of entering into the blessed life in Christ; and instead, as the primal preparation for leading them into the experience of this life, show them what their position, possessions, and privileges in Christ already are. Thus shall we truly work with the Holy Spirit, and thus shall we have more, much more abiding fruit of our labors among the people of God"

(Wm. R. Newell, from "The Green Letters" by Miles J. Stanford, pgs. 38-39).

60 Years of 1984

 

Interestingly enough, celebrating the icon of dystopia in the midst of this Doublespeak era...

ObamaScare: Prepare!

Michelle Malkin

Contact lagging House Reps to act upon Fed Audit Bill

ALG Calls Upon 26 House Republicans to Cosponsor Fed Audit Bill

 

June 9^th, 2009, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today called upon 26 House Republicans to cosponsor legislation that would require an audit of the Federal Reserve "to account for more than $7.76 trillion committed by the Fed in just the past two years."

 

"So far, 151 House Republicans are cosponsoring this critical legislation," Wilson said.  "But unless the entire 178 member Conference is on board, including leadership, this legislation will not have a realistic chance at passage."

 

The 26 House Republicans who have not yet signed on to the legislation are:

 

John Boehner (OH-8) Dave Camp (MI-4) A. Joseph Cao (LA-2) Mike Coffman (CO-6) Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-25) Jo Ann Emerson (MO-8) Elton Gallegly (CA-24) Steve King (IA-5) Chris Lee (NY-26) Howard Buck McKeon (CA-25) Devin Nunes (CA-21) Christopher Smith (NJ-4)       John Sullivan (OK-1)

Jo Bonner (AL-1) Eric Cantor (VA-7) Howard Coble (NC-6) Lincoln Diaz-Balart (FL-21) David Dreier (CA-26) Darrell Issa (CA-49) Mark Kirk (IL-10) Jerry Lewis (CA-41) Gary Miller (CA-42) Harold Hal Rogers (KY-5) Jean Schmidt (OH-2) Mark Souder (IN-3) Frank Wolf (VA-10)

 

Wilson commented that the bill, HR 1207—sponsored by Congressman Ron Paul (TX-14)—would "provide a full accounting of the Fed's irresponsible activities of moving trillions of dollars to foreign governments and banks, crashing markets, and wrecking the economy."

 

"The Federal Reserve has committed taxpayers to bailouts totaling $7.76 trillion in less than two years," said Wilson.  "No member of Congress, including House Republicans, knows where the entirety of this $7.76 trillion will go, because the Fed is mostly exempt from being audited and attempts at oversight have been met with consistent stonewalling."

 

"This bill needs to get passed before all of the $7.76 trillion is pushed out the nation's back door," Wilson warned.

 

From ALG newsletter June 9, 2009

www.getliberty.org

Cow Fart Gas Tax??

In case you've been wondering, Congress is still mucking around in the barnyard. Fox News reports this morning that farmers could be taxed for cow flatulence which, of course, would increase the cost of beef for all Americans.

But don't worry, cuz science arrives with the rescue--even when it's quite obvious to even laymen who take the time to listen, that there is absolutely no great environmental threat emanating from bovine or any other man-controllable source.