Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

ENTERING MEANINGFULLY INTO HOLY WEEK

Holy Week is upon us, and  tomorrow is Palm Sunday.  In conversing with some others in casual conversation this morning, we lamented that our church doesn't make as much of Holy Week as the more liturgical churches, be they Lutheran, Anglican, Orthodox or Catholic.  We miss it.  Focusing on the last week of our Lord's life feeds the soul with the truth of what our salvation cost, and draws us into deeper fellowship with Him.

I was doing some bush whacking behind our home this afternoon and came upon a really prickly vine.  I cut a sizeable portion of it, and gave it to my sister, who is making it into a "crown of thorns" to remind us of the mockery and scorn our Lord suffered just before the Cross.  I'm not sure how well this homemade "crown" will turn out, but it seems to be coming along well even as I write.

Meanwhile I decided to go to the internet to see what others have done.  I found one lady who began at the beginnning of Lent making a crown of thorns which she used as an object lesson for her children and a means by which to encourage them to perform thoughtful deeds.  She writes:

Lent begins today, or, in the case of the Eastern Catholic churches, it has already begun on Monday. Here are a couple of simple practices that have in past years helped our children get into the spirit of Lent and prepare for the joy and new life of Easter.

The "crown of thorns" has been a big hit at our house. I've seen directions for making salt-dough crowns, but ours is simpler. I simply purchased at the craft store an 8" wreath made of woven twigs. On Ash Wednesday, we stick toothpicks into it to represent thorns, and place the wreath in the center of our dining table. The children get to remove one thorn for each sacrifice or act of kindness (you can make it as specific or general as you like) and their goal is to remove them all before Easter. Some years, we have cleared them all in plenty of time. In this case, we add little flowers to the wreath instead of removing thorns. The flowery wreath makes a good Easter centerpiece.

Me: I find her practice quite creative.   May Holy Week this year find us all more reflective, grateful, and worshipful than ever before. 

QUOTE OF THE DAY

On putting same-sex marriage, and heterosexual anarchy, and the destruction of society in proper perspective -

It isn’t completely true to say same-sex “marriage” will destroy civilization. Sexual brokenness and the collapse of marriage in any form destroy civilization. No-fault divorce, cohabitation, sexual addictions all undermine marriage. Heterosexual brokenness is just as dehumanizing as homosexual brokenness. As the old saying goes, “there are many ways to fall down, but only way to stand straight.”  - Charles Colson

RAYMOND IBRAHIM - THE HISTORICAL REALITY OF THE MUSLIM CONQUESTS

It's amazing to me to what extent American textbooks distort or suppress the truth in so many areas, including the basic history of Islam.  Ibrahim's article, therefore, is important.  He writes:

Because it is now almost axiomatic for American school textbooks to whitewash all things Islamic (see here for example), it may be instructive to examine one of those aspects that are regularly distorted: the Muslim conquests.

Few events of history are so well documented and attested to as are these conquests, which commenced soon after the death of the Muslim prophet Muhammad (632) and tapered off circa 750. Large swathes of the Old World - from India in the east, to Spain in the west - were conquered and consolidated by the sword of Islam during this time, with more after (e.g., the Ottoman conquests).

By the standards of history, the reality of these conquests is unassailable, for history proper concerns itself with primary sources; and the Islamic conquests are thoroughly documented. More importantly, the overwhelming majority of primary source materials we rely on do not come from non-Muslims, who might be accused of bias. Rather, the foremost historians bequeathing to posterity thousands of pages of source materials documenting the Islamic conquests were not only Muslims themselves, they were - and still are - regarded by today's Muslims as pious and trustworthy scholars (generically, the ulema).

JOEL ROSENBERG - WESTERN LEADERS UNWISELY REFUSE TO TAKE SERIOUSLY IRANIAN SHIA "END TIMES THEOLOGY"

Rosenberg says:

They [Iran's leaders] are driven by a dangerous, virulent, apocalyptic Shia eschatology or End Times theology that few intelligence officials or analysts in the West understand or take seriously. As such, while Iran’s leaders are rational within their own world view, this doesn’t make them less dangerous; it makes them more dangerous . . .  It is precisely because of their rational but deeply misguided religious beliefs that Iran’s leaders are actually much more likely than other world leaders to use nuclear weapons to accomplish their apocalyptic, genocidal End Times beliefs and objectives. The danger is that few Western analysts are listening carefully to what Iran’s leaders are saying about their eschatology or drawing proper conclusions about the dangerous implications of those beliefs.

Read Rosenberg's whole post for much more...

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9 TIPS THAT MIGHT SAVE YOUR LIFE

This came from an e-mail. The tips strike me as sensible and important.  If anyone disagrees, please explain in the comment area:

CHINA PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN CHINA INCREASED DRAMATICALLY IN 2011

China Aid reports that in 2011, the number of Christians detained for their religious beliefs had soared 131.8% from 2010.

A new government practice last year was targeting churches and individuals who were significantly impacting society, like Beijing’s Shouwang Church and leading legal activists such as constitutional law expert Dr. Fan Yafeng, who has been under house arrest since December 2010, and award-winning human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who disappeared into official custody for 20 months before being sent to a remote prison in far western China in December 2011 to serve a three-year sentence.

The report also highlighted the worrying increase in the use of torture against detainees, citing a 33.3% increase over 2010 in the number of cases of abuse of all kinds, including torture.

WINTERY KNIGHT'S FAVORITE APOLOGETICS LECTURES

Wintery Knight, whose blog I cite frequently, has listed "the lectures that made me who I am today."  WK is a man with many interests, and Christian apologetics heads the list.  If he recommends these lectures, I have no doubt they are well worth listening to (or viewing).  He lists each man's educational achievements on his post.

Dr. J.P. Moreland

• Atheism, Theism, and the Meaning of Life
• The Importance of the Mind in Christian Living
• Love Your God with All Your Mind (for Christians)

Dr. Walter L. Bradley

• Truth in Religion
• Scientific Evidence for an Intelligent Designer
• Journey to Faith (his testimony)
• Giants in the Land

Dr. Philip E. Johnson

• The Grand Metaphysical Story of Science
• Can Science Know the Mind of God?
• Darwinism on Trial

Dr. Douglas Geivett

• The Problems of Evil and Suffering (at Apologetics 315)

Dr. William Lane Craig

• In Intellectual Neutral (at Apologetics 315)

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION'S MT. OLYMPUS BUREAUCRATIC EDICT FROM "HUD"

We live in a top-down, in-your-face administration, that doesn't seek Congress' permission or support for its own edicts imposed on the American people.  (Is this government "of the people, by the people, for the people?")  I wouldn't have known about the latest domestic edict if I hadn't received an email report from the Family Research Council.  Consider:

If you think the administration is liberal now, just want until next year when the President is not facing reelection. For the most radical White House in history, there is no limit to the damage he could inflict on this country. Even now, in his third year, Americans are only slowly learning what the administration has already done in secret. New abuses are trickling out every day, including this latest announcement from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The President decided that if he can't pass a non-discrimination policy, he'll implement one anyway. On Friday, the administration handed down a new rule, ordering HUD to add "sexual orientation" to the non-discrimination policy on housing applications.

Under this edict, faith-based groups such as Catholic Charities, who operate housing complexes in partnership with HUD, would be forced to abandon their beliefs on marriage and accept homosexual couples--or end their grant with the federal government. Last year, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urged HUD to not to create a "new protected classification" that flies in the face of congressional policy. But, once again, the administration proved that it would risk services for the most vulnerable just to advance their radical social agenda. Barbara McQuade, one of the lobbyists on the issue, congratulated the President for barging ahead on the new language without the legislature's approval. "I really applaud the administration, which isn't waiting around for Congress," she told reporters. Ironically, that was the fulfillment of another Obama promise--one that he made quite publicly. "Where they won't act," the President warned, "I will." Even, it appears, if he lacks the constitutional authority to do so.

Me: Why "wait around for Congress" when you can assume dictatorial powers?  That rhetorical question summarizes Obama's philosophy of governance.  It's what scares many of us, and should scare all of us.  We are in the process of throwing away our heritage of freedom and self-government.  We are living through a crucial historical testing point of whether we will survive as a free, self-governing people or as a nation of sheep shoved around by unelected bureaucrats posting edicts and mandates under Presidential direction. 

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Ken Blackwell -  [my bolding]

It would not be a stretch to call Mr. Obama’s health care Mandate a "kulturkampf."  If he can force Catholic institutions—hospitals, schools, and para-church ministries—to provide drugs that can cause abortions now, why wouldn’t his next move be to mandate they actually provide for surgical abortions next year? And why not force all of us to pay for sex change operations, too?

Me:  Why not indeed?  There is no logical stopping point to curtail government's expanding power to mandate whatever it wants over the will of the American people.

WINTLEY PHIPPS: NEGRO SPIRITUALS PLAYED ON THE BLACK KEYS OF THE PIANO

This is fascinating. I never realized before that almost all Negro spirituals can be played exclusively on the black keys of the piano, i.e. using the pentatonic scale. See for example, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and "Every Time I Feel the Spirit." Nor did I know that the melody of "Amazing Grace" is a slave melody, probably a West African sorrow chant. This all from a Wintley Phipps' 8-minute YouTube clip sent courtesy of a friend.

 

Note:  I first posted this back on April 30, 2007.  I am reposting it today because its showing this morning in church convinces me it deserves another viewing!  Amen. 

DAVID BROOKS - THE KILLER THAT IS INSIDE EACH OF US

I came upon David Brooks' article "When the Good Do Bad" via Charles Colson's Breakpoint article, "The Line Between Good and Evil."  Both articles ponder the tragedy of Staff Sargent Robert Bales, the U.S. soldier who allegedly murdered 16 Afghan civilians, including women and children.

Both meditations are worth reading.  In their own way, they make similar points.  From Colson's article, I appreciated his recounting Alexandr Solzhenitsyn's profoundly true observation:

“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart.”

And,

“This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. Even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained; and even in the best of all hearts, there remains a small corner of evil.”

This is the extraordinary insight germane to the Christian understanding of reality and the human heart.  David Brooks understands and accepts this perspective.  He begins his article saying,

THE MOVIE "OCTOBER BABY" OPENS TONIGHT

I saw "October Baby" tonight and thought it great!   Go see it.  (I don't think the trailer does it justice).

Chuck Colson comments:

[...] In October Baby, we have the story of Hannah, a college student suddenly hit with earth-shattering news. Not only is she adopted, but her biological mother had tried to abort her. Her overprotective adoptive parents had tried to shield her from the truth, but the lingering health problems caused by the procedure finally force them to tell her what happened.

The devastating news propels Hannah on a journey to learn more about her origins, but she finds out even more than she bargained for.

Hannah’s cinematic story was inspired by the real-life story of Gianna Jessen. Gianna was born with cerebral palsy after a botched abortion and has become a celebrated pro-life speaker. After watching October Baby, Giann said that watching the film was a healing experience for her.

For those of us who haven’t been through anything like what Gianna has, the film is a valuable glimpse at experiences that we can hardly begin to imagine. It raises awareness of the unseen person who is always involved in an abortion, and asks us to identify with that person in a way that we never have before.

But another one of October Baby’s strengths is that it doesn’t present only a single perspective. Hannah talks with a nurse involved with her abortion. She learns about a clinic bombing that affected that nurse’s life.

The film, you see, doesn’t do any demonizing; it shows the pain that surrounds this issue for everybody, from the abortion-minded mother to the adoptive parents dealing with the fallout of her decision. . .

See also:

'October Baby': A film with a fresh perspective
Gina Dalfonzo | BreakPoint Blog | February 6, 2012

October Baby Stories: Gianna Jessen
YouTube.com | October 21, 2011

Update 3/27/12 - Tina Korbe wrote today, "October Baby brings out movie reviewer's bias."   Korbe cites one reviewer's extreme hostility which is quite incredible, especially since the movie is so mild in its telling of a compelling story:

Catsoulis can’t restrain her antipathy, claiming the movie has “an essential ugliness at its core” and “communicates in the language of guilt and fear.” It’s “clearly intended to terrify young women,” she writes. Then, she reveals her true objection to the film is political: “It fits right in with proposed state laws that increasingly turn the screws on a woman’s dominion over her reproductive system.”

DUMP STARBUCKS

Boycott Starbucks!  Click "Continue reading Dump Starbucks" at the bottom of the post and sign the petition!

News report: (my bolding).  AP

The National Organization for Marriage Announces International "Dump Starbucks" Protest Campaign

"Corporations should not take sides in a culture war that pits a company against the majority of the American people, and nearly all its consumers in some international markets."—Brian Brown, president—

March 21, 2012

Seattle, Washington — The National Organization for Marriage (NOM), America's largest group dedicated to preserving traditional marriage and the faith communities that sustain it, today announced it will lead an international "Dump Starbucks" protest of Starbucks Coffee Company to give voice to consumers around the world who support preserving marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Customers are invited to visit www.DumpStarbucks.com immediately to take action.

"Unlike our opponents, we do not target whole companies for the actions of an individual business executive in that company," said Brian Brown, NOM's president. "But Starbucks has taken a corporate position in support of redefining marriage for all of society. We will not tolerate an international company attempting to force its misguided values on citizens. The majority of Americans and virtually every consumer in some countries in which Starbucks operates believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. They will not be pleased to learn that their money is being used to advance gay marriage in society."  The new protest campaign was announced after the annual Starbucks shareholders meeting today in Seattle, where NOM spokesmen queried the board on its new policies promoting gay marriage and demanded protection against discrimination for employees, vendors and customers who disagree.

RABBI DANIEL LAPIN SPEAKS ON BAAL - ANCIENT AND MODERN

IMPORTANT:  Anyone concerned about American cultural degeneracy will want to listen to Rabbi Lapin's insightful explanation of the "Baal force" that has exerted such a powerful negative thrust on the land in the past few decades.   Baal influence is as strong today as ever in history.  It is "enormously seductive" Lapin says.  It involves yielding to our lower natures, to bodily appetites, to darkness and hopelessness.

I saw this program back in early February when Glenn Beck was still on TV and said to myself,  "I need to put this material on my blog."   I urge you to carve out time to watch the following video segments.  It will put a lot of things into perspective.

Part 1

 

Part 2

 

Part 3

 

Part 4

 

 Part 5

 

Part 6

 

Rabbi Lapin's conclusion was extraordinary, wasn't it?  He said the only hope for defeating this destructive force is Evangelical Christianity (with other Judeo-Christian religious systems thrown in as well).  

Update: Rabbi Lapin spoke in one of the segments above on the Baal emphasis on human waste.  Gateway Pundit published a news report today on Wall Street protestors caught on tape dumping tubs of feces down a bank stairwell and in a bank lobby.

THE MEXICO 7.4 EARTHQUAKE WAS PRE-PLANNED!

(Update - More details here).  "The fact that governments have access to seismic-triggering technology is not a conspiracy theory, it’s a scientific fact.

(Original Post) - How can that be???  You mean human beings could produce it. . .  bring it off?  That's impossible!  At least that's what I thought.  But the data tells a different, and certainly puzzling, story.  Make up your own mind.  There was an announcement in early March of a simulation of an earthquake in Mexico to take place March 20th -- and an actual earthquake took place exactly on that date--and at the time specified:  noon!  Watch the video below.  Then click through to Michael Janitch's (Dutchsinse's) major post which shows the data, including the poster announcing the simulation, and see also the transcript of President Bill Clinton's Secretary of Defense, William Cohen, who testified before Congress of nefarious schemes including "setting off earthquakes"!!  I know, I know, this sounds crazy.  But...

As Dutchsinse says, we need explanations!  Also from his post, note the following video on how to MAKE an earthquake:

                                                     I await further information.

SOLAR SUPERSTORM COULD FRY WORLD'S ELECTRIC GRIDS

Mark Martin at CBN News reports:

WASHINGTON -- The potential for no electric power, no communication, no water -- all caused by superstorms from the sun?

The world's scientists have their eyes on space these days, wondering if massive solar flares will seriously disrupt our way of life. A growing number of these storms could mean big problems for a world so heavily dependent on technology.  (More -- which includes the text of the video below)

Me: We don't know what a day will bring forth (James 4:13-16).   I'm reminded of  Ecclesiastes 12:13 - "The end of the matter, all has been heard.  Fear God and keep his commndments, for this is the whole duty of man."

SWEDISH AUTHORITIES ABDUCT HOMESCHOOLED CHILD

I found this shocking.  Government can turn out to be not only unreasonable, but also one's worst enemy! Here is a family that needs our prayers -- and someone in the Swedish government needs to go about rectifying a terrible wrong.

The text of the video can be found here.

WILLIAM LANE CRAIG, A TOP DEFENDER OF CHRISTIAN FAITH, IS INTERVIEWED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA

Wintery Knight posted this helpful conversation about faith and reason with one of the world's foremost Christian apologists.  

 

You can get an MP3 of the lecture here. (33 MB)  For more information on William Lane Craig: http://reasonablefaith.org

Wintery Knight helpfully offers a helpful guide to the conversation:

Questions from the interviewer: (40 minutes)

• What started you on his journey of studying faith and reason?
• How would you define the word “faith”?
• Are faith and reason compatible? How are they related?
• How can reasonable faith help us to avoid the two extremes of superstition and nihilism?
• Who makes the best arguments against the Christian faith?
• Why are angry atheists like Dawkins and Hitchens more well known than better-informed academic atheists?
• Does the Bible require Christians to give the unbeliever reasons for their faith?
• How does faith spur Christians to think carefully about the big questions in life?
• Should the American church prod churchgoers to develop their minds so they can engage the secular culture?
• When talking about Christianity intellectually, is there a risk of neglecting the experience of being a Christian?
• Which Christian apologist has shaped your thinking the most?
• Which Christian philosopher has shaped your thinking the most?
• Does the confidence that comes from apologetics undermine humility and reverence?
• If you had to sketch out a 5 minute case for Christianity, what would you present?
• Can non-Christians use their reason to arrive at truth?
• Are there cases where atheists must affirm irrational things in order to remain atheists?
• Can the universe have existed eternal, so that there is no need to explain who created it?
• Even if you persuade someone that Christianity is true, does that mean they will live it out?

There is also a long period of questions, many of them hostile, from the audience of students (55 minutes).

• Haven’t you said nasty things about some atheists? Aren’t you a meany?
• What do you make of the presuppositional approach to apologetics?
• Can a person stop being a Christian because of the chances that happen to them as they age?
• Why did God wait so long after humans appeared to reveal himself to people through Jesus?
• Can a person be saved by faith without have any intellectual assent to truth?
• How do you find time for regular things like marriage when you have to study and speak so much?
• How would you respond to Zeitgeist and parallels to Christianity in Greek/Roman mythology?
• Do Christians have to assume that the Bible is inerrant and inspired in order to evangelize?
• If the universe has a beginning, then why doesn’t God have a beginning?
• Can you name some philosophical resources on abstract objects, Platonism and nominalism?
• How can you know that Christianity more right than other religions?
• Should we respond to the problem of evil by saying that our moral notions are different from God’s?
• Define the A and B theories of time. Explain how they relate to the kalam cosmological argument.
• How can Christians claim that their view is true in the face of so many world religions?
• What is the role of emotions in Christian belief and thought?
• Can evolution be reconciled with Christian beliefs and the Bible?
• When witnessing person-to-person, should you balance apologetics with personal testimony?
• Is there a good analogy for the trinity that can help people to understand it? [Note: HE HAS ONE!]
• How can Christians reconcile God’s omniscience, God’s sovereignty and human free will?

Wintery Knight has more to say, including the following:

If you are looking for a good basic book on apologetics, then I would choose “Is God Just a Human Invention?” by Sean McDowell and Jonathan Morrow. And you can even be part of a reading group that Brian Auten of Apologetics 315 just announced, that I will be participating in. We will all be reading the book together, chapter by chapter, and lots of people will be available to answer your questions.

Note: See my previous post, William Lane Craig's Remarkable Wife

See also my previous posts on "faith and reason" here.

RICK SANTORUM'S VISION FOR AMERICA

 

LIBERAL NORTHFIELD, MA DOESN'T WANT A CHRISTIAN COLLEGE IN THEIR TOWN

From the Family Research Council:

It looks like the owners of Hobby Lobby are dealing with another lobby--the liberal folks of Northfield, Massachusetts. When the craft chain bought an empty campus in the area with the intentions of donating the 217 acres to a Christian school, the town erupted. "We don't want it to go to a place that is not open-minded, not willing to listen to the views of others," said resident John Howley, an obvious slap at the Green family's conservative biblical worldview.

Concerned the property would be gifted to Liberty University, townspeople started circulating a petition calling the school "an extremist, homophobic, and intellectually narrow institution." Several other colleges are in the running for the land, and the Green family, which has donated millions to Christian education, hasn't decided who the fortunate recipient will be. Regardless, even Northfield's leaders acknowledge that it "does not have the ability to control the way in which Hobby Lobby transfers its property."

One of the most confusing parts of the debate is Northfield's insistence that the new school honor the property's first tenant, evangelist D.L. Moody. But like Liberty University, Moody believed the Bible was the authority on all things--including sexuality. I suppose if Massachusetts can redefine marriage, then it can rewrite someone's biography too.

Meanwhile, the controversy does highlight some of the fallout of redefining marriage, which Massachusetts was the first to do. People wonder about the impact of same-sex "marriage" on education. Well, this is it. States are using these laws as an excuse to elbow out faith--and even charity! They become intolerant, anti-Christian strongholds that wall off cities and schools from honest and open debate. This is no longer a matter of privacy or personal choice. When same-sex couples claim their relationships won't affect you, they're wrong. They absolutely affect you--from your ability to speak freely to your ability to learn and worship freely.

CHARLES COLSON - RESTRICTING RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ON CAMPUS

The following is absolutely bizarre.  Chuck Colson writes:

Welcoming different viewpoints and beliefs is said to be one of the crowning glories of the modern university. Unless of course, your viewpoints and beliefs happen to be Christian.

Sadly, back in 2010, the Supreme Court laid the groundwork for a disturbing trend that is spreading to campuses nationwide. In the case Christian Legal Society vs. Martinez, little noted at the time, the high court ruled that a public college may refuse to recognize a student organization if it restricts membership or leadership to students who share the group’s core beliefs.

In other words, campus student organizations like InterVarsity or Campus Crusade now run the risk of being kicked off campus if they say that only Christian students may hold leadership positions. The Court ruling says, in effect, that Christian groups must allow people who hold non-Christian beliefs into leadership ranks.

Friends, that makes no sense. It’s like forcing campus atheists to make Billy Graham their president!  Of course we would welcome nonbelievers to hear the gospel, but they can’t run our groups!

Be that as it may, that’s where the law now stands — and the campus secularists know it. We’re already seeing them attempt to restrict religious freedom at several schools, of all places, in the Bible Belt.

Vanderbilt University’s administration in Nashville has a policy forbidding campus religious groups from making sure that student leaders share the groups’ core beliefs. Vanderbilt’s Intervarsity Graduate Christian Fellowship is in the thick of the battle there.

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JOHN VENNARI - "WHAT OBAMA LEARNED FROM ALINSKY"

I'm grateful to a friend for passing along Vennari's important article.  (HT: bs)  I haven't read Saul D. Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals," but see the need to do so.  If Alinsky advocated a radical relativism and amorality in furthering political goals as stated below, we have all the more reason to fear the current occupant of the White House since he is regarded as Alinsky's disciple.  Vennari writes:

Obama was a student of the ruthless tactics of Saul Alinsky, the left-wing agitator whose landmark Rules for Radicals was dedicated to the devil.[9] Mike Kruglik, Obama’s Chicago instructor in Alinsky methods, said Obama was the best student of Alinsky tactics he ever had.[10]

David Alinsky, Saul Alinsky’s son, applauded Obama’s successful implementation of Alinsky methods. Immediately after Obama’s acceptance speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, David Alinsky wrote a letter to the Boston Globe in full praise of Obama as one who learned well his father’s methods.[11]

Even Obama zealot Chris Matthews, in a December 2010 broadcast of “Hardball”, referred to Obama as “the guy who comes from Saul Alinsky”.[12]

As is stated in his Rules for Radicals, Alinsky’s foundational principles are:

1) There is no such thing as dogma, all truth is relative: “For the organizer, everything is relative and changing,” said Alinsky. The organizer “does not have any fixed truth.” This places the organizer in a superior position, Alinsky insisted, because he is “free from the shackles of dogma.”[13]

2) There is no such thing as a fixed rule of ethics. For Alinksy, the end justifies the means, and all ethics are elastic according to the situation you are in or the strategy you need to employ. Alinsky taught, “Ethical standards must be elastic to stretch with the times.”[14] If you need to lie, you lie. If you need to make promises you know you won’t keep, you do it anyway.

3) Corruption in the leader is a kind of virtue: “To say that a corrupt means corrupts the ends is to believe in the Immaculate Conception of ends and principle”, Alinksy blasphemously asserted. “The real arena is corrupt and bloody. Life is a corrupting process. He who fears corruption, fears life.” Alinsky castigates the leader who places his personal conscience and personal salvation above the needs of the people, claiming that such a leader “does not care enough for the people to be corrupted for them”.[15]

This is the school in which Barack Obama was formed: no dogma; no objective truth; no fixed standards of ethics; the end justifies the means; and corruption in the leader is raised to the level of virtue.

How can anyone believe anything Obama says? There is no fixed standard of ethics preventing him from lying to achieve whatever aims he deems fit.

As a student of Alinksy (as is Hillary Clinton), [16] Obama will think nothing of stamping out those who stand in the way of his Party’s agenda. In his 1946 Reveille for Radicals: Alinsky wrote that if the radicals become stronger than the opposition, they must “crush the opposition”.[17]

Congressman Chris Smith and Tulsa’s Bishop Slattery appear aware of Obama’s aim to “crush the opposition”. As noted, Smith warned that Obama’s pro-abortion directives are designed so that “religious hospitals will be squeezed out.” Bishop Slattery observed the new mandate may end up “closing down every Catholic school, hospital and the other public ministries of the Church, which is perhaps their underlying intention.”

It is futile appealing the Constitution to Obama, since he publicly expresses support for its effective revision.

In a 2001 radio interview, Obama argued that the Warren Court, which started a long line of activist decisions in a number of areas, did not go far enough:

1) it failed to bring about “redistributive change” and a “redistribution of wealth”;

2) it failed to, in Obama’s words, “break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution”[18]

In his book, The Audacity of Hope, Obama had this to say:

“Ultimately, I have to side with Justice Breyer’s view of the Constitution – that it is not a static but rather a living document, and must be read in the context of the ever-changing world.”[19]

Obama belongs to the clique of doctrinal liberals whose basic tenet is, “the only law of the land should be what we say it is at the moment,” which is a formula for State Absolutism. . . .

Read the whole thing.  These facts should raise the fear factor of every freedom-loving America.

MICHAEL GERSON - "THE WAR ON RELIGION IS NOW FORMALLY DECLARED"

Michael Gerson, former speechwriter for President Bush and a Washington Post columnist, penned a column back on January 30th that I missed -- "Obama plays his Catholic allies for fools."  It's clear Gerson understood immediately the implications of Obama's "in your face" executive order putting a fist in the face of religious conscience.  Gerson in my mind has always been a restrained person, something of a "moderate" Republican, and a self-identified Protestant.  Yet he wrote:

Both radicalism and maliciousness are at work in Obama’s decision — an edict delivered with a sneer. It is the most transparently anti-Catholic maneuver by the federal government since the Blaine Amendment was proposed in 1875 — a measure designed to diminish public tolerance of Romanism, then regarded as foreign, authoritarian and illiberal. Modern liberalism has progressed to the point of adopting the attitudes and methods of 19th-century Republican nativists. . . .

And,

Obama is claiming the executive authority to determine which missions of believers are religious and which are not — and then to aggressively regulate institutions the government declares to be secular. It is a view of religious liberty so narrow and privatized that it barely covers the space between a believer’s ears.

Obama’s decision also reflects a certain view of liberalism. Classical liberalism was concerned with the freedom to hold and practice beliefs at odds with a public consensus. Modern liberalism uses the power of the state to impose liberal values on institutions it regards as backward. It is the difference between pluralism and anti-­clericalism.

The administration’s ultimate motivation is uncertain. Has it adopted a radical secularism out of conviction, or is it cynically appealing to radical secularists? In either case, the war on religion is now formally declared.  [emphases mine]

Me:  We are confronted with a serious and dangerous threat from our own President and his supporters.  Freedom in the United States is now under seige from a militant executive branch and its Democrat congressional allies intent on "reforming" (read: "deforming and obliterating") basic freedoms we have taken for granted all our lives.  These are serious developments indeed.

LAOS: CHRISTIANS THREATENED -- RECANT OR LEAVE

Religious liberty specialist Elizabeth Kendall reports:

Laos is a Communist-ruled South-east Asian state known for its abysmal human rights record, particularly its appalling prison conditions and systematic use of torture. Christians in this poor, landlocked nation face intensive persecution. Generally the religious persecution occurs outside the main cities, targets the already marginalised and persecuted ethnic minorities and is committed by belligerent and corrupt local officials. In Laos, religious liberty exists in theory but not in practice. Article 30 of the Laos Constitution states: 'Lao citizens have the right and freedom to believe or not to believe in religions.' However, the Prime Minister's 2002 Decree on Religious Practice (Decree 92) renders religious liberty illusory by mandating that religious activities first be approved by the village, district and regional authorities.

Furthermore, Decree 92 and Article 9 of the Constitution prohibit activities that could cause 'chaos' or 'social division'. Lao Communists oppose the growth of Protestant Christianity amongst the ethnic minorities, viewing it as part of a US conspiracy to destroy social cohesion and challenge Communist rule. Meanwhile, ethnic minority groups with a tradition of ancestor worship oppose Christianity, fearing reprisals from offended ancestral spirits. Denial of services (educational, medical, sanitation), imprisonments, forced renunciations of faith (using threats and torture) and expulsions are the main means employed against Christians by Communist officials determined to maintain control over a harmonious society. In January 2010 eleven Christian families consisting of 48 believers were expelled at gunpoint from Katin village in Ta-Oih district, Saravan Province, southern Laos, simply on account of their faith. Over the course of the year several other families, moved by the Christians' witness, decided to follow Christ and were also expelled. These believers have suffered greatly, losing everything they owned, with some even dying in the bush. They are slowly re-establishing themselves but life is hard. (background, see RLPB label: Laos)

REACHING IRANIANS WITH THE GOSPEL

Today's email brought a message from Voice of the Martyrs: "Reaching Iran with the Gospel Through Satellite Broadcasts." 

Iranians are incredibly open to the gospel message of Jesus' love and forgiveness. Many are disillusioned with the oppression of Islam and are desperate for the truth.

Every day, more Iranians are hearing the hopeful message of The Way, The Truth and The Life through satellite TV broadcasts.

After watching one of these broadcasts recently, an Iranian family prayed to ask Christ into their hearts. But they were worried they might not have prayed “correctly.” So they made an audio recording of their prayer and sent it to VOM's ministry broadcast partner, Iran Alive, to make sure they had done it right. Their prayer was sincere and heartfelt, and Iran Alive wrote the family to tell them their prayer was a wonderful way of entering Christ's family. The family in Iran then told their Muslim friends about Christ and played the recorded prayer for them. Within a week, 20 more Muslims had come to know Christ!

Here is the prayer that helped 20 Muslims turn to Christ.

 

The Voice of the Martyrs has increased its commitment to supporting Iranian satellite TV channels throughout 2012.  Donations are welcomed.

OBAMA'S IDEOLOGICAL BLACKMAIL AGAINST TEXAS FOR RESISTING PLANNED PARENTHOOD FUNDING

People say the president is a nice guy.  I'm not so sure.  His actions are those of a nasty man, especially nasty towards anyone who resists his pro-abortion, Planned Parenthood coddling.  Run afoul, and Obama cuts off money.  Consider this report from the Family Research Center: (my bolding)

Last Friday, the Obama administration proved that it's more than capable of cutting funds--in retaliation. As payback for Texas severing ties with Planned Parenthood, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius promised to take out her anger on the state's low-income women. Starting this May, the government will phase out more than $30 million in health coverage for the most underprivileged people in the state--all because Texas wanted its citizens to have the benefit of unbiased care. The Obama administration decided to kill the funding for cancer, STD, and breast screenings because Gov. Rick Perry (R) dared to look beyond Planned Parenthood to providers who aren't under congressional investigation.

QUICK TAKES

Headline stories from Jim Loft's "Gateway Pundit." Click through for details.

        **  Arab Spring… Egyptian Lower House of Parliament Approves Text Declaring Israel the Number One Enemy

        **   Thanks Barack… 80% of Americans Say They Are Not Better Off Today Than 4 Years Ago

        **  It’s Official… Despite Obama’s Many, Many Promises, Obamacare Funds Abortion After All

        **  Game On!… Sarah Palin Takes Obama to Woodshed Over His Shameless Attack Ad – Challenges Him to Debate

Sarah has a way of putting things.  From her Facebook account:

The far Left continues to believe American voters are not smart enough to grasp the diversionary tactics it employs to distract us from the issues our President just doesn’t want to talk about – issues that affect us all every day and must be addressed.

Exhibit A in these diversionary tactics is an absurd new attack ad President Obama has released taking my comments out of context. I’m not running for any office, but I’m more than happy to accept the dubious honor of being Barack Obama’s “enemy of the week” if that includes the opportunity to debate him on the issues Americans are actually concerned about. (Remember when I said you don’t need a title to make a difference?)

The following paragraph is particularly excellent:

Just off the top of my head, a few of these concerning issues include: a debt crisis that has us hurtling towards a Greek-style collapse, entitlement programs going bankrupt, a credit downgrade for the first time in our history, a government takeover of the health care industry that makes care more expensive and puts a rationing panel of faceless bureaucrats between you and your doctor (aka a “death panel”), $4 and $5 gas at the pump exacerbated by an anti-drilling agenda that rejects good paying energy sector jobs and makes us more dependent on dangerous foreign regimes, a war in Afghanistan that seems unfocused and unending, a global presidential apology tour that’s made us look feeble and ridiculous, a housing market in the tank, the longest streak of high unemployment since World War II, private-sector job creators and industry strangled by burdensome regulations and an out-of-control Obama EPA, an attack on the Constitutional protection of religious liberty, an attack on private industry in right-to-work states, crony capitalism run amok in an administration in bed with their favored cronies to the detriment of genuine free market capitalism, green energy pay-to-play kickbacks to Obama campaign donors, and a Justice Department still stonewalling on a bungled operation that armed violent Mexican drug lords and led to the deaths of hundreds of innocent people.

THE DIVORCE RATE FOR PEOPLE 50 AND OVER HAS DOUBLED IN THE PAST TWO DECADES

In in her article, "The Gray Divorces," Susan Gregory Thomas attempts to explain "why baby boomers are breaking up late in life like no generation before."  She writes:

Though overall national divorce rates have declined since spiking in the 1980s, "gray divorce" has risen to its highest level on record, according to Prof. Brown. In 1990, only one in 10 people who got divorced was 50 or older; by 2009, the number was roughly one in four. More than 600,000 people ages 50 and older got divorced in 2009.

And this is interesting:

What's more, a 2004 national survey conducted by AARP found that women are the ones initiating most of these breakups. Among divorces by people ages 40-69, women reported seeking the split 66% of the time. And cheating doesn't appear to be the driving force in gray divorce. The same AARP survey found that 27% of divorcés cited infidelity as one of their top three reasons for seeking a divorce—which is not out of line with estimates of infidelity as a factor in divorce in the general population.

So, what is going on?  According to Thomas,

"The trend defies any simple explanation, but it springs at least in part from boomers' status as the first generation to enter into marriage with goals largely focused on self-fulfillment.  As they look around their empty nests and toward decades more of healthy life, they are increasingly deciding that they've done their parental duty and now want out. . .

I found it interesting to read of "three successive views" of American marriages:

DOES PRESIDENT OBAMA REALLY HAVE ISRAEL'S BACK?

That's the question Bret Stephens asks in a recent Wall Street Journal column.

Should Israelis and pro-Israel Americans take President Obama at his word when he says—as he did at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference in Washington, D.C., on Sunday—"I have Israel's back"?

In answering "No", Stephens draws on chapter 5 of Peter Beinart's soon-to-be published book, "The Crisis of Zionism," in which Beinart cites how Mr. Obama came to his views about Israel - "a coterie of far-left chicago Jews who 'bred in Obama a specific, and subversive, vision of American Jewish identity and of the Jewish state."

Stephens concludes:

Is he [President Obama] being truthful when he represents himself as a mainstream friend of Israel—or is he just holding his tongue and biding his time? On the evidence of Mr. Beinart's sympathetic book, Mr. Obama's speech at Aipac was one long exercise in political cynicism.

Read the whole thing. and learn more about Obama's Chicago Jewish associations.

QUICK TAKES

- - Newt: Would ABC ever air a show that portrays Muslims the way "GCB" portrays Christians?

         - - George Will - As Government becomes bigger, it becomes more lawless.       

         - - Tina Kobe (a sharp young commentator at HotAir.com), takes Bill Maher to task for his vicious, ignorant attack on homeschoolers. This is a MUST READ if you want to know about homeschooling successes.

- - Newest Limbaugh advertiser: Twitchy.com   (Twitchy.com is a social media aggregator started by Michelle Malkin, a cracker jack of a blogger who began HotAir and has now added Twitchy to her entrepreneurial effort.    The full announcement of her new Twitchy.com ad buy with Rush Limbaugh is here.)

"GAME ON" - SONG FOR RICK SANTORUM BY FIRST LOVE BAND

What a terrific video!  Thanks to Tina Korbe for her post alerting me to this video now gone viral. 

According to Fox News,

A family band called First Love recorded and released a campaign song for Rick Santorum on March 6, and the video has already racked up over 300,000 views on YouTube.  [507,300 as of this post]

'Game On' features lead vocals from sisters Camille and Haley Harris, and backup from what looks to be the entire extended Harris family. 

The music video was shot outside the Jubilee Christian Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where mom and dad Harris are pastors.

"Oh no, this is it guys, I just know its going to go viral," father David Harris told FOX 43 he screamed when he first heard the tune. "From the very first note that came out of their mouths."

"The music that we have, we believe came from God. Especially this song," he added.

Daughter Camille Harris said she knew they had hit the big time when they saw a tweet from the candidate himself.

"[He] said something like 'love the song and video 'Game On,' thank you Harris family," Camille Harris said.

** Click here for Fox 43's interivew with the family.

NORTHERN NIGERIA: ISLAMISTS (BOKA HARAM) PLOTTING TO WIPE OUT CHRISTIANS

Religious liberty specialist Elizabeth Kendall reports: [my bolding]

Evidence indicates that the Nigerian al-Qaeda-linked terror group Boko Haram has transformed numerous suburban homes across the north of Nigeria into bomb-making factories. Several militants have been killed recently in Maiduguri, Damaturu and Kaduna when bombs exploded accidentally. Boko Haram's targets include schools, police stations, banks, government buildings and churches. Apart from these strategic bombings, the militants also roam the streets killing people randomly. Bauchi State Police Commissioner Aduba Ikechukwu says these militants are well armed, carrying sophisticated weapons including machine guns, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Boko Haram's aim is to make Nigeria ungovernable so they might extract concessions towards the Islamisation of Nigeria. Al-Qaeda supports Boko Haram as a way of furthering its own goal of establishing a sanctuary and base of operations in Northern Nigeria from where it can launch jihad into West Africa.

     [For background see: Nigeria: the Boko Haram threat Religious Liberty Monitoring, 10 July 2011]

On Sunday 4 March Egypt-based news website Bikya Masr spoke by phone to a spokesman from Boko Haram who told them that Boko Haram is preparing to launch a 'war' against Christians. He said the campaign, which will involve numerous co-ordinated attacks, is part of a 'plan to eradicate Christians from certain parts of the country'. He also boasted that the government 'cannot be prepared for what is to come'. Such a threat indicates that Boko Haram may be preparing to launch a wave of co-ordinated suicide bombings targeting Christians. The Boko Haram spokesman told Mikya Masr, 'We will create so much effort to end the Christian presence in our push to have a proper Islamic state that the Christians won't be able to stay.'

BANKS FORECLOSING ON CHURCHES IN RECORD NUMBERS

Story here.

LEFTISTS WAR ON CONSERVATIVE WOMEN

Michelle Malkin lists some of the disgusting epithets thrown at her and other conservative women.  Plus, ShePAC strikes back at misogynist Bill Maher with a video.

DEMOCRAT CHAIRMAN CARL LEVIN WANTS RUSH LIMBAUGH DROPPED FROM ARMED FORCES RADIO

No surprise there.  The Left always wants to silence opposition.  What else is new?  Report is here.  (HT: HotAir)

CNN'S SOLEDAD O'BRIEN ILLUSTRATES DEMOCRAT MEDIA BIAS - AMAZING!

(Update 3/14/12) - Michelle Malkin gives us background on Soledad O'Brien's personal and emotional commitments that most people don't know.  Don't look to her for objective journalism.

(Original post) - Below is the "must see" video I linked to earlier today.   Ed Morrissey offers commentary.  The left can be depended on to cast its opponents as "racist."  The issue here is the Democratic media complex acting as a gatekeeper over what the public can see and know. 

Pollak ran for Congress in 2010.  Here's a commercial featuring Joel Pollak's lovely South African wife.  I would think she pretty much defuses the charge of racism!  (HT Morrissey)

Update: On Obama and Harvard Professor Derrick Bell, Investor's Business Daily (via Pamela Gellar) opines:

 

QUICK TAKES - HEADLINES FROM THE DRUDGE REPORT

Current headlines from Drudge:

Update: - This is an AMAZING, MUST-SEE video of Soledad O'Brien interviewing Mr. Joel Pollack, the editor of Brietbart.com.  I found it absolutely astonishing and revelatory!!  The mainspring press is going hysterical over the new Breitbart video of Obama at Harvard.  Breitbart knew what he was doing when he hired Pollack. The man is calm, articulate, and unflappable.  He gets his points across magnificently.  Update 2: I've just posted the video on this blog.

(Original post):

BREITBART OBAMA VIDEO RELEASED...

And this video is a smoking gun showing that Barack Obama not only associated with radicals, he was their advocate.

Iran Building Drones for Hugo Chavez...

PAPER: US offered Israel advanced weaponry in exchange for delaying Iran attack...

Panetta: 'International Permission' Trumps Congressional Permission For Military Actions...

MORMONISM'S ERRONEOUS VIEW OF FAITH AND REASON

Wintery Knight has done us all a favor by producing this insightful post.  

Update 3/7/12:  WK followed up today with another important post: "Genetic evidence: another reason to doubt Mormonism."

NETANYAHU - "NONE OF US CAN AFFORD TO WAIT MUCH LONGER"

Joel Rosenberg offers commentary on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech to AIPAC yesterday. 

All the signs to me look like Israel is going to war with Iran, and soon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strikes me as a man who has made his peace with the task ahead of him, a man who now believes his nation is capable of winning a war with Iran and has made all of the preparations necessary to strike if need be. I’m not saying he’s made a final decision. But he’s talking like a leader ready to make that final decision in the not too distant future. Indeed, I believe this trip to Washington is part of Netanyahu’s process of making a final assessment of whether the Obama administration will truly have Israel’s back, as the President promises, or whether Israel will be completely isolated. And while the White House is clearly pressuring Israel not to strike, Congress seems ready to support Israel fully. . . .

Earlier in the day, Mr. Netanyahu gave a decorated copy of an Esther scroll as a gift to President Obama during their Oval Office meeting, and discussed the significance of the story with the President. What is not clear is whether the Prime Minister explained the ending of the story: Yes, Esther did her part, praying, fasting and intervening before the Persian king on behalf of the Jewish people. And yes, the Lord did his part in changing Ahasuerus’ heart, and putting the evil Haman on the gallows, and dramatically changing the dynamic in favor of the Jews. But it must be remembered that in the end, the Jewish people did have to fight against the Persian forces hell bent on their destruction, and with the Lord’s help the Jews miraculously prevailed. . . . [more...]

• Full text of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s brilliant and powerful address to AIPAC
• Video of Netanyahu speech to AIPAC

WOULD ANYONE CARE TO COMMENT ON THIS STATEMENT: "WHAT MATTERS MOST IS HOW YOU SEE YOURSELF"

I bumped into this poster on the internet the other day and found it intriguing.  Is the statement false?  Is it true?   Is it necessary to be "successful"?  Is it problematic?   Does it lead to illusions?  What do you make of it?  I'd be interested in your thoughts. 

NEW VIDEO REVIEWS OBAMA'S ADVERSARIAL STANCE TOWARDS ISRAEL

Jim Loft writes:

Barack Obama promised Israel’s security was sacrosanct with secure recognized defensible borders. He ran as a pro-Israel candidate.  It was all a lie.  Now a new movie released today [yesterday] highlight’s Barack Obama’s shameful and dangerous anti-Israel policies.

Full 30 minute video follows:

 

NEWT GINGRICH THRASHES ELITE MEDIA FOR DIVERTING ATTENTION FROM RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ISSUE

No one challenges the elite media's topic obsessions better than Newt Gingrich.  Three cheers for his response to David Gregory's questioning. 

 

HELP FOR ALZHEIMER'S FOUND IN COCONUT OIL!

I found this video amazing, and most encouraging!  Apparently coconut oil has benefits for Parkinson's disease, ALS , epilepsy, dementia, even schizophrenia and autism as well.  The original website is here.  Click "Continue reading" below for the text of the video.

Websites mentioned in the "comments" section of the original post include:

 - http://www.organicfacts.net/organic-oils/organic-coconut-oil/properties-of-coconut-oil.html 

-- We have been trying to get the word out about the health benefits of coconut oil for over 10 years now! Much of our research, including Dr. Newport's study, is found here: http://www.coconutoil.com

--  From Dr. Mary Newport - For those who want information about how to use coconut oil, my website has free, printable information including some "Diet Guidelines." The website is www.coconutketones.com. I also have a blog that covers many related topics at www.coconutketones.blogspot.com. I want to thank Reverend Robertson and reporter Lorie Johnson for doing such a wonderful job of helping me to get this message out.

QUICK TAKES

Chuck Colson - Vending Machine Abortions

When contraception is as convenient as sodas and candy bars, that’s the sign that sexuality has not only been divorced from marriage and procreation, it’s been divorced from any relational responsibility.

The Silence Regarding the Persecution of Christians

According to a Pew Forum study, Christians are being persecuted in 131 of the world's 193 countries (200 million according to the World Evangelical Alliance). (These data are reported in David Aikman, "The Worldwide Attack on Christians" Commentary, February 2012

The 1998 International Religious Freedom Act requires that the promotion of religious freedom worldwide be a part of U.S. foreign policy, but the Obama administration has yet to take a single step under this Act (see here).

Rick Warren Builds bridges to Muslims

The Rev. Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest and one of America's most influential Christian leaders, has embarked on an effort to heal divisions between evangelical Christians and Muslims by partnering with Southern California mosques and proposing a set of theological principles that includes acknowledging that Christians and Muslims worship the same God.   Hmmm....  Update: 3/3/12  -IMPORTANT:  The reporter of this story got it entirely wrong.  Rick Warren sets the record straight here. 

Why No Coverage of This Odd Obama Remark about Religion?

"Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance." Obama said this in his June 2009 Cairo speech that the media praised to the high heavens -- literally.

MAHATTAN DECLARATION -- TAKE ACTION TO DEFEND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY!

SIGNATURES IN SUPPORT OF THE PETITION

 

Mr. President, I Still Believe

---

Dear President Obama,

I am deeply disappointed at your recent failure to protect religious liberty in the context of the HHS preventive care mandate. As Americans we are used to having political and religious disagreements. But we should all be able to agree that the government should not force religious people and institutions to provide drugs and services that violate their faith.

The recent statement from HHS that it will give religious objectors one extra year to change their religious views added insult to injury. It is as if you are saying to religious people "We respect your religious views so much that we'll give you one extra year to abandon them." Religious principles have no expiration date. True protection for religious liberty--the kind required by the Constitution you swore to uphold and the federal laws you are obliged to enforce--requires a broad religious exemption, one that protects any person or institution from being forced to provide services in violation of sincerely held religious beliefs.

Please reconsider your administration's actions and order HHS to provide the kind of broad protection for religious liberty that our laws require. Doing so would honor the sacrifices of those who fought and died to give us our freedoms. It would allow religious employers across the country to stay in business and keep offering health insurance to their employees. And it would pay tribute to the great heritage of religious diversity upon which this great nation was built.

Sign the Petition:  (click here)

 

SENATORS DEFEND THE OBAMA CONTRACEPTIVE MANDATE WITH OUTRAGEOUS LIES

I hope you viewed yesterday's post which discusses Obama's mandate that forces religious institutions to provide free birth control, abortion drugs, and sterilizations.  Senate speeches today defending the Obama mandate hit a new low in outright, outrageous, unbelievable lies.   Senator Schumer, for one, makes used car dealers look angelic by comparison.  The Family Research Council's report is titled, "Senate Assumes Lie-Ability for Schumer."

It's a good thing there wasn't a polygraph test during yesterday's Senate debate. If liberals like Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had been wired up, the machine would have short-circuited on the chamber floor. While Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) tried to bring back the status quo on conscience rights, the Left amped up its attack with one piece of fiction after another. "Mr. President, if this amendment passes," Sen. Schumer claimed, "it would ban contraception coverage for women in America." Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) took a medieval approach. "The Republicans want to take us... to the Dark Ages again... when women were property that you could easily control." Even Planned Parenthood weighed in with its own whopper. Under this amendment, "your boss" will decide "which prescriptions you can get filled."

One by one, the far Left littered the Senate floor with lies about Blunt's amendment. Thursday's distortions were so epic that the Washington Post spent three pages exposing the untruths. "Schumer's over-the-top rhetoric," editors said, "ooze hyperbole and alarmist language." The newspaper gave him three Pinocchios for "significant factual error." The Post repeated twice, "The Blunt amendment said nothing about prohibiting birth control, so women could purchase it in the future on their own or with the help of supplemental insurance, as they often do to this day." Contraception has never been "free" before. Does that mean women went without it? Of course not. The Post had equally harsh words for the Senator from New Jersey. "Lautenberg's comments are particularly exaggerative..." If letting religious groups opt out of health benefits for moral reasons takes America back to the "Dark Ages," Josh Hicks says, "then this particular anti-women attitude persisted right up until today, since the rule in question hasn't taken effect."

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER - SANTORUM BLEW IT

Well, the race isn't over yet, but Krauthammer's analysis looks accurate.   We need to wait and see if there might be a turnaround . . .   Unfortunately, according to Rasmussen's polling, Santorum's lead in Ohio is slipping.  Ed Morrissey offers comments and additional analysis.

THE LATEST "SOCIAL CONSERVATIVE REVIEW: THE INSIDER'S GUIDE TO PRO-FAMILY NEWS," MARCH 1, 2012

All the categories and topics can be found by clicking the "Continue reading" line below.  You owe it to yourself to have a look.  The SCR is also available online here.