ConservativeChristianRepublican-Report - 20090630

Motivational-Inspirational-Historical-Educational-Political-Enjoyable



"Daily Motivations"

If you put fences around people, you get sheep. -- William McKnight



"Daily Devotions" (KJV and/or NLT)

"So the men did as Joshua told them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan River, one for each tribe, just as the LORD had commanded Joshua. They carried them to the place where they camped for the night and constructed the memorial there." (Joshua 4:8)

Have you ever had something so good happen to you that you had to tell everyone you met? When you understand just how good God is to you, you will naturally share your experience of God's goodness with others.

After the Israelites crossed the Jordan River on dry ground, Joshua, the leader of Israel, asked a man from each tribe to retrieve a stone for a memorial (Joshua 4:1-8). Later, when their children asked what the stones meant, the Israelites could tell of God's miraculous work in bringing them to the Promised Land.

King David also beckoned others to share their stories: "Let the whole world know what He has done. . . Tell everyone about His wonderful deeds." (Psalm 105:1-2)

Jesus gave similar orders to a demon-possessed man who walked among tombs, screaming and hitting himself with stones (Mark 5:5). Jesus cast out the demons, restoring the man to his right mind. When the healed man wanted to accompany the Lord, Jesus told him, "No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful He has been." (Mark 5:19)

Bragging about God is a simple way to serve Him and encourage others. And when you really understand how good He is, it will be the easiest thing you've ever done.

YOUR VIEW OF GOD REALLY MATTERS...
Brag a little today. Yes, that's right ... brag a little today about something God has done in your life.



"The Patriot Post"

"In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself." -- James Madison, Federalist No. 51



This Week's 'Alpha Jackass' Award

"I have studied the Constitution as a student; I have taught it as a teacher; I have been bound by it as a lawyer and legislator. I took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution as commander in chief, and as a citizen, I know that we must never -- ever -- turn our back on its enduring principles for expedience sake." -- Barack Obama

Obama must be taking his cues from a famous tyrant: "All this was inspired by the principle -- which is quite true in itself -- that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods." -- Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf," vol. I, ch. X



GOP Blocks Census Nominee

With preparations well underway and time winding down before the new national census commences early next year, Senate Republicans are blocking confirmation of President Obama's choice to conduct the count, Dr. Robert Groves. Without Republican strategists officially saying so, the most likely reason for the delay is Dr. Groves' expertise in the practice of sampling, or the inexact "science" of making up a count based on the number someone believes would be populating an area had everyone been willing to stand up and be counted. In other words, counting votes ACORN style.

Despite the insistence by Dr. Groves that sampling would not be used to conduct the count, GOP leaders see that too much is at stake in future elections and federal appropriations to take the chance, and, accordingly, have held up the nomination. Given the Democrats' propensity to count every vote as many times as needed, a bit of skepticism is certainly warranted.



From the Left Field Bleachers

Asked recently if he had spoken to the president, Barack Obama's former pastor and "spiritual mentor" Jeremiah Wright said: "Them Jews aren't going to let him talk to me. I told my baby daughter that he'll talk to me in five years when he's a lame duck, or in eight years when he's out of office. ... They will not let him to talk to somebody who calls a spade what it is." Not surprisingly, Obama's pastor of 20 years wasn't finished. "I said from the beginning: He's a politician; I'm a pastor. He's got to do what politicians do."

Wright also said Obama should have sent a U.S. delegation to the World Conference on Racism held recently in Geneva, Switzerland, but that the president did not do so for fear of offending Jews and Israel. "Ethnic cleansing is going on in Gaza. Ethnic cleansing [by] the Zionist is a sin and a crime against humanity, and they don't want Barack talking like that because that's anti-Israel." Sounds like Iran really does have an ambassador in the U.S.



Warfront With Jihadistan: Miranda Rights for Terrorists

The Weekly Standard reports, "[T]he Obama Justice Department has quietly ordered FBI agents to read Miranda rights to high value detainees captured and held at U.S. detention facilities in Afghanistan, according [to] a senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee." So apparently, at the time of capture, Afghani combatants have to be told in Pashto, Arabic, Dari, Uzbek, Turkmen, Balochi or Pashai, "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be provided for you at government expense."

If they "lawyer up," captured enemy combatants can demand attorneys paid for by the U.S. government, not to mention that they have been given the right to withhold information that could save American lives. Under current practice, any trial would be in the U.S. but it is not clear which law would be applied. Has U.S. security been increased? Will the world think better of the U.S.? The answer to both is a resounding, "No." Blogger Richard Fernandez gets it right: "This is the logical conclusion to [the] Obama administration's approach to combating terrorism. Actually scratch that. America is no longer fighting terrorists, just investigating alleged crimes."

In other news, Sky News reports, "Two passengers with names linked to Islamic terrorism were on the Air France flight which crashed with the loss of 228 lives." The report continues, "Flight AF 447 crashed in the mid-Atlantic en route to Paris during a violent storm. While it is certain there were computer malfunctions, terrorism has not been ruled out."



"Human Events"

URGENT NEW "HATE CRIMES" PETITION! Please click, sign, and WE WILL FAX your personalized petition automatically to all 99 Senators, (saving you hours of labor)!
We've already faxed 125,000 petitions to the full Senate...can you help reach 500,000?

JUDICIARY HEARING CONFIRMS "PUNISH PASTORS, PROTECT PEDOPHILES." WITNESSES BIASED: 4 FOR "HATE CRIMES," 2 CONSERVATIVES ALLOWED.

The Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings Thursday from 10 am on the "Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act," (which is better known to conservatives as the "Pedophile Protection Act,"), but did not vote on S.909 as a stand-alone bill, and did not yet forward to the full Senate, giving us a few more days to act. The bill broadly defines many "sexual orientations" requiring protection by federal prosecutors, endangering free speech.

The pro-homosexual, anti-faith bill, is sponsored by Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and 43 Democrats (and 2 Liberal Republicans from Maine), and is pushed hard by President Obama's Administration, but it faced such strong resistance by conservatives (including threat of filibuster or faith-protecting amendments by pro-faith Senator Jim DeMint, R-SC), so instead Democrats had announced they would try to hide the bill as an amendment to another "must-move" bill, denying committee hearings, and completely side-stepping the Republicans right to debate and amend. But now thanks to your participation in fax campaigns like this one, our public pressure forced a minimal 2-hour public debate, which exposed more anti-Christian bias, but Democrats so far have not permitted amendments.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SIGN, AND WE'LL AUTOMATICALLY FAX YOUR PERSONALIZED PETITION TO ALL 99 SENATORS, TO OPPOSE AND FILIBUSTER THE HATE CRIMES S. 909 AMENDMENT (SAVING YOU HOURS OF LABOR!)

Only 2 conservative testimonies were permitted at the hearings, versus 4 pro-gay liberals.

* Attorney General Eric Holder linked the bill to illegal immigrant rights, but "national origin" is already protected by 1994 law, and 75% of Hispanics oppose gay marriage. Holder also admitted Christian pastors would not be protected if assaulted by violent homosexuals.
* Janet Langhart Cohen, wife of former SECDEF Wm Cohen, supported the pro-hate bill.
* Dr. Mark Achtemeier, a liberal theology professor made homosexual-friendly statements.
* Gail Heriot, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 6 of 8 leaders members oppose hate bill.
* Brian W. Walsh, The Heritage Foundation, a good legal voice opposing the hate bill.
* Michael Lieberman, counsel for the Anti-Defamation League, originator of the hate bill.
* Senator Leahy tried to link the bill to a shooting at the Holocaust museum, but "religion" is already protected by the 1994 hate-crimes bill, and shouldn't be tied to homosexual rights.
* Senator Feinstein hailed Matthew Shepard's case, but ABC News 20/20 quotes the lead investigator: "sexual orientation certainly wasn't the motive in [Shepard's] homicide."

547 SEXUAL DEVIANCES TO BE PROTECTED BY FEDERAL MARSHALS

Even if mark-up amendments are permitted (which can be easily deleted in conference), the forthcoming S.909 will mirror a House bill H.R. 1913, already passed 249-175 along strict party lines, which makes "sexual orientation," "gender," and "gender identity" into federally-protected classes under the law, and codifies federal protection of up to 547 types of sexually deviant behaviors, including:

* Incest - sex with one's offspring (a crime, of course)
* Necrophilia - sexual relations with a corpse, also a crime
* Pedophilia - sex with an underage child, another crime
* Zoophilia - a crime in numerous states
* Voyeurism - a criminal offense in most states
* Fronteurism - a man rubbing against an unknown woman's buttocks
* Coprophilia - sexual arousal from feces
* Urophilia - sexual arousal from urine

Attempts by House Republicans to add amendments stating "pedophilia is not protected as a sexual orientation" were specifically blocked and defeated by House Democrats. Lesbian Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) expressed opposition to excluding pedophiles from the bill, and Democrats voted with her to strike any child-protection amendment. She claimed that pedophiles would not be defined within "sexual orientation," but wouldn't put that in writing, and refused to define that phrase "sexual orientation," which Congressman Steve King (R-IA) said will include all 547 sexual deviances listed in the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-III manual of clinical psychoses, including pedophilia, so now thanks to most Democrats, child molesters will be protected by federal law. In response on the House floor, Congressman Alcee Hastings (D-FL) not only admitted it would, but defended that all 547 psychoses SHOULD be defended by this new law, saying, "This bill addresses our resolve to end violence based on prejudice and to guarantee that all Americans regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability or all of these 'Philias' and fetishes and 'isms' that were put forward need not live in fear because of who they are. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this rule."

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SIGN, AND WE'LL AUTOMATICALLY FAX YOUR PERSONALIZED PETITION TO ALL 99 SENATORS, TO OPPOSE AND FILIBUSTER THE HATE CRIMES S. 909 AMENDMENT (SAVING YOU HOURS OF LABOR!)

QUOTING THE BIBLE IN CHURCH WILL BE PUNISHED

Not only will sexually deviant behaviors gain legal protection, this legislation also lays the legal foundation to investigate, prosecute and persecute pastors, youth pastors, Bible teachers, and anyone else whose speech and thought is based upon and reflects the truths found in the Bible. How will this legislation over-rule the First Amendment?


PASTORS NOT PROTECTED BY FIRST AMENDMENT

S. 909 broadly defines "intimidation," thus a pastor's sermon could be considered "hate speech" if heard by an individual who then acts aggressively against persons based on any "sexual orientation." The pastor could be prosecuted for "conspiracy to commit a hate crime" or for "inciting violence against gays" simply by quoting the Bible in church. And the First Amendment won't automatically protect pastors, since speech accused of "inciting violence" is not protected, and is punishable, under precedent of Supreme Court rulings. In 1993 Wisconsin v. Mitchell, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a "hate speech" law providing enhanced punishments for violent crimes based on racial motives as revealed by speech of the accused, (which would now apply broadly to punish any "anti-gay motives" in the speech of accused pastor "co-conspirators.") But pastor, if a crazy person in your audience commits a crime against a heterosexual, don't worry, you'll get a comparative discount in your prison time.

IS PRAYER IN JESUS' NAME A "HATE CRIME?"

Any public prayer against the sin of homosexuality could be construed as "inciting violence" by easily offended listeners, especially if those prayers are offered "in Jesus name." When I served our country as a former Navy Chaplain, for example, I was told in writing by Chief of Chaplains Rear-Admiral Louis Iasiello, that "any chaplain's continued insistence on ending public prayers 'in Jesus' name'...could reasonably tend to denigrate those with different forms of faith." His policy prohibiting prayers "in Jesus name" was enforced against me at court-martial, before it was later rescinded by Congress in 2006. But this year I've already been falsely accused of "inciting violence" because I quoted verbatim from Psalm 109 in my public prayers, (for which secular activist Mikey Weinstein literally requested an FBI investigation against me!) Just imagine more anti-Christian aggression by law enforcement officials AFTER this hate-crimes bill becomes law.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SIGN, AND WE'LL AUTOMATICALLY FAX YOUR PERSONALIZED PETITION TO ALL 99 SENATORS, TO OPPOSE AND FILIBUSTER THE HATE CRIMES S. 909 AMENDMENT (SAVING YOU HOURS OF LABOR!)

IS PREACHING AGAINST SIN A HATE CRIME?

As a former Navy Chaplain who was punished (in writing, three times) for quoting the Bible in chapel during optionally-attended worship, I know exactly how they'll come after us. The enemies of religious liberty will simply declare certain gospel phrases "hateful" and "offensive" like my commanding officer who punished me for quoting John 3:36 in chapel, and was supported by government lawyers for "protecting" easily offended listeners from the "offensive" gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX) agrees with me, saying pastors, rabbis, or imams could be charged with encouraging or inducing a "hate crime" if they preach against homosexuality. "Every preacher of the gospel, unless you cut out parts of it; every imam who mentions anything with regard to sexual immorality - they could be pursued, and in other countries they have been," says Gohmert. (Congressmen Gohmert is my personal advocate, with whom I preached last year at a pro-faith rally in Texas...and we both agree the gospel of freedom from sin really is "love speech" not "hate speech.")

FREE SPEECH SUPPRESSED IN NORWAY

Hate crimes laws protecting homosexuals from criticism are already silencing pastors in Norway, where these dangerous laws specifically empower law enforcement officials to prosecute "intimidation" of homosexuals. For example, Congressman Gohmert warned "I was talking to a guy from Norway who was telling me that people are even afraid to say Mary was a virgin, because just bringing up sexuality at all can raise problems with law enforcement."

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SIGN, AND WE'LL AUTOMATICALLY FAX YOUR PERSONALIZED PETITION TO ALL 99 SENATORS, TO OPPOSE AND FILIBUSTER THE HATE CRIMES S. 909 AMENDMENT (SAVING YOU HOURS OF LABOR!)

FREE SPEECH CRIMINALIZED IN SWEDEN

In Sweden, Pastor Ake Green received a one-month jail sentence last year under a Swedish "hate crimes" law that forbids criticism of those who participate in homosexual behavior. The Goeta Appeals Court later overturned the decision. The government demanded the pastor be punished by appealing the case to the Swedish Supreme Court, which ruled the law unconstitutional. Yet here in America, the Reid-Kennedy-Obama trio is pushing to pass and enforce this same type of "anti-free speech" law, despite their acknowledgment that any such enforcement would be unconstitutional in America too. (They why pass the bill in the first place?)

FREE SPEECH CRIMINALIZED IN CANADA

In Canada, where "hate crimes" laws already passed, the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal actively forbid evangelical pastor Stephen Boisson from expressing his moral opposition to homosexuality. The tribunal also ordered Boisson to pay $5,000 "damages for pain and suffering" and apologize to the "human rights" activist who filed the complaint. His crime? In 2002, the pastor wrote a letter to the editor of his local newspaper in which he denounced the homosexual agenda as "wicked" and stated that: "Children as young as five and six years of age are being subjected to psychologically and physiologically damaging pro-homosexual literature and guidance in the public school system; all under the fraudulent guise of equal rights." The Canadian government tribunal ordered the Christian pastor to "cease publishing in newspapers, by email, on the radio, in public speeches, or on the internet, in future, disparaging remarks about gays and homosexuals." (This "re-education commission" reminds me of Big Brother from Orwell's 1984.)


PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SIGN, AND WE'LL AUTOMATICALLY FAX YOUR PERSONALIZED PETITION TO ALL 99 SENATORS, TO OPPOSE AND FILIBUSTER THE HATE CRIMES S. 909 AMENDMENT (SAVING YOU HOURS OF LABOR!)

FREE SPEECH CRIMINALIZED IN PENNSYLVANIA

Can't happen in America? It already has. In 2004 my friend Michael Marcavage was arrested along with ten other Christians (including two elderly grandmothers), and charged with violating Pennsylvania's "hate crimes" laws, because they carried signs conveying God's love at a Gay Pride rally. One member of "The Philadelphia Eleven," Arlene Elshinnawy, 75 year-old grandmother of three, was holding a sign: "Truth is hate to those who hate the truth," before she was hauled off to jail by police officers. They were literally threatened with 50 years in jail for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ on a public sidewalk, because it offended gays. That hate crimes law was so outrageous it was later found unconstitutional by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, but now Ted Kennedy and Barack Obama want to pass essentially that same discredited law nationwide.

WE CAN STILL DE-RAIL THIS TRAIN

But together, we can still stop them. We've identified 16 Democrats below, who are NOT YET committed as co-sponsors of S. 909, so please call them today, asking to OPPOSE AND FILIBUSTER any amendment to any bill that resembles S. 909. Sadly two Republicans (Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, R-ME) have joined 43 Democrats by co-sponsoring this pro-homosexual bill, so call them too, and ask them to switch.

x Blanche Lincoln D- AR 202-224-4843
x Byron L. Dorgan D- ND 202-224-2551
x Herb Kohl D-WI 202-224-5653
x James Webb D- VA 202-224-4024
x Jon Tester D- MT 202-224-2644
x Kay Hagan D- NC 202-224-6342
x Kent Conrad D- ND 202-224-2043
x Mark Pryor D- AR 202-224-2353
x Mark Warner D- VA 202-224-2023
x Max Baucus D- MT 202-224-2651
x = undecided Democrat.

x Michael Bennet D- CO 202-224-5852
x Robert C. Byrd D- WV 202-224-3954
x Russ Feingold D-WI 202-224-5323
x Ted Kaufman D-DE 202-224-5042
x Thomas Carper D- DE 202-224-2441

x Tom Udall D- NM 202-224-6621

y Olympia Snowe R-ME 202-224-5344
y Susan Collins R-ME 202-224-2523

y = co-sponsoring Republican.

But remember, 100 emails = 10 phone calls = 1 fax in political capital, since the Senate staffers must handle each paper and usually write a reply. So please join our automated fax-petition campaign first, and WE WILL ESPECIALLY FAX THE 18 KEY UNDECIDED SENATORS LISTED ABOVE with your personalized petition.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SIGN, AND WE'LL AUTOMATICALLY FAX YOUR PERSONALIZED PETITION TO ALL 99 SENATORS, TO OPPOSE AND FILIBUSTER THE HATE CRIMES S. 909 AMENDMENT (SAVING YOU HOURS OF LABOR!)
Thank you for reading our lengthy analysis. If you've read this far, we must agree, so now please forward this content widely to other pro-faith friends, and to pastors in all 50 states.

God Bless you, in Jesus' name,

Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt

For media interviews, or to invite "Chaps" to
speak to your church or crowd, click here.

P.S. Time is urgent! The Judiciary Committee and full Senate could vote any day to pass S. 909. Select and sign today, & we will forward your name immediately. Please don't wait another minute. Life, Liberty, and Jesus are too important to be banned by Harry Reid, Ted Kennedy, and Barack Obama.

Disclaimer: The views of Chaplain Klingenschmitt, who was honorably but involuntarily discharged from the Navy in 2007 after facing court-martial for praying "in Jesus name" in uniform, (but was later vindicated by Congress), are his own personal views, not the views of any political party, government, or organization.



"Liberty Counsel"

Online version easier to read? Go to www.LC.org

Liberty Counsel Files Intervention Motion to Defend California’s Marriage Amendment

Today Liberty Counsel is filing a motion to intervene in the recent lawsuit against California’s Marriage Amendment (Prop 8). Attorney David Boies and former Solicitor General Ted Olson filed a federal lawsuit against California’s marriage amendment, claiming that it violates the U.S. Constitution. Liberty Counsel is representing the Campaign for California Families (Campaign).

Since Attorney General Jerry Brown is not likely to vigorously defend California’s marriage laws, Liberty Counsel has requested to once again intervene on behalf of the Campaign to defend the marriage amendment.

Read our News Release for more details.

Does Your Belief in Traditional Marriage Make You a Right Wing Extremist?

If you believe in the sanctity of human life, religious freedom, traditional family values, supporting our veterans, the right to bear arms or a limited federal government, you might be considered a right-wing extremist by the Department of Homeland Security.

If you hold traditional American values like the ones above, George Washington would call you a Patriot!

If you are proud to stand for liberty, the original intent of the Constitution of the United States of America and the Declaration of Independence, you can order your Right-Wing Extremist ID Card for a donation of any amount. If you want to be the proud owner of this popular card, click here to donate and remember to note "ID Card" in the Comment section.

Thank you for standing firm for liberty by keeping informed. You can help by forwarding this Liberty Alert to your entire e-mail list of family and friends, and encourage them to subscribe.

Liberty Counsel does not charge clients for representation, so we depend on individuals, groups and churches who care about advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of human life and the traditional family. Liberty Counsel is recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization that accepts tax-deductible donations. Donate or order resources from the Liberty Counsel online store.

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"The Web"

Obama's SCOTUS Nominee Sotomayor Decision Reversed By SCOTUS

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?maven_referralObject=6392058&maven_referralPlaylistId=&sRevUrl=http://www.foxnews.com/



Michele Bachmann Slams ACORN, Warns Of Link Between Census, Japanese Internment (Video)
http://conservativexpress.blogspot.com/2009/06/michele-bachmann-slams-acorn-warns-of.html



PASSPORT FOR OBAMA QUESTION
http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=68499

While I've little interest in getting in the middle of the Obama birth issue, Paul Hollrah over at FSM did so yesterday and believes the issue can be resolved by Obama answering one simple question:

What passport did he use when he was shuttling between New York, Jakarta , and Karachi ?

So how did a young man who arrived in New York in early June 1981, Without the price of a hotel room in his pocket, suddenly come up with the price of a round-the-world trip just a month later? And once he was on a plane, shuttling between New York , Jakarta , and Karachi, what passport was he offering when he passed through Customs and Immigration?

The American people not only deserve to have answers to these questions, they must have answers. It makes the debate over Obama's
citizenship a rather short and simple one.

Q: Did he travel to Pakistan in 1981, at age 20?
A: Yes, by his own admission.

Q: What passport did he travel under?
A: There are only three possibilities:

1. He traveled with a U.S. passport.
2. He traveled with a British passport.
3. He traveled with an Indonesia passport.

Q: Is it possible that Obama traveled with a U.S. passport in 1981?
A: No. It is not possible. Pakistan was on the U.S. State Department's "no travel" list in 1981.

Conclusion: When Obama went to Pakistan in 1981 he was traveling either with a British passport or an Indonesian passport.

If he was traveling with a British passport that would provide proof that he was born in Kenya on August 4, 1961, not in Hawaii as he claims. And if he was traveling with an Indonesian passport that would tend to prove that he relinquished whatever previous citizenship he held, British or American, prior to being adopted by his Indonesian step-father in 1967.

Whatever the truth of the matter, the American people need to know how he managed to become a "natural born" American citizen between 1981 and 2008.

Given the destructive nature of his plans for America, as illustrated by his speech before Congress and the disastrous spending plan he has presented to Congress, the sooner we learn the truth of all this, the better.

Count me in as one of those inquiring minds who'd at least like to know the answers to these easily answered (by Obama) questions.



Why the Church Is Dying

by Ken Ham, President/CEO, AiG–U.S.

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2009/06/24/already-gone

Editor’s notes: On Thursday evening at 8:00 p.m. (Eastern time) inside the Creation Museum, Answers in Genesis will be conducting its first-ever video webcast. We will discuss the state of the nation (i.e., the United States), especially the health of the American (and British) church. Ken Ham, AiG president, will share the results of the research behind his new book Already Gone. Joining Ken will be co-author Britt Beemer, head of the renowned America’s Research Group. They will discuss why the church has not recognized the real reason behind the spiritual slide of this once-great Christian nation.

The following is a commentary by Ken that was recently sent to media outlets in the U.S. about the findings contained in Already Gone, which is selling briskly (it’s now going to its third printing in only three weeks).

Earlier this year I attended Sunday services at an impressive 19th-century church in London. In a building with seating for 3,000 in ornate pews, a handful of elderly people sat inside . . . in chairs set up in the foyer.

The service, held in a vibrant city full of millions of people, reminded me of a funeral—not the funeral of a person, the funeral of a once-great institution. In the past 40 years, 1600 churches in England, with hundreds of years of ministry behind them, have shut their doors, according to an architectural preservation group called the Victorian Society.

Today, few Americans are aware of the spiritual epidemic that wiped out the land of our Christian forefathers. Even fewer are aware that the same epidemic has reached our own shores, spreading like a virus.

American Christianity could become extinct in less than two generations—if Christians in this country don’t act quickly and decisively. Respected pollster George Barna was one of the first to put numbers to this epidemic, finding that six out of ten 20-somethings who were involved in a church during their teen years are already gone. Since that research was published in 2000, survey after survey has confirmed the same basic trend.

The problem, in both the United Kingdom and America, began when the Church basically disconnected the Bible from the real world. Churches in America are not places where people typically talk about dinosaurs, fossils, or the age of the earth—that is left up to the secular schools and colleges. Effectively, the Church concentrates on the spiritual and moral aspects of Christianity.

But the Bible is not some “pie in the sky” theoretical book. It’s a real book connected to the real world. It has everything to do with history, geology, biology, anthropology, and sociology. It provides the true history of the world, as opposed to evolution over millions of years.

The “disconnect” between faith and fact is an illusion created by an overwhelming misinterpretation of the facts. Observational science confirms the Bible’s history and, thus, also the Christian doctrines (like the gospel) that are based in that history.

As I travel around the world teaching how to defend biblical principles and history, I find that whether my audience is secular or Christian, they ask the same questions, such as:

How do you know the Bible is true?
Hasn’t science disproved the Bible?
Isn’t the world millions of years old?
How did Noah get all the animals on the Ark?
But don’t we observe evolution because we see animals change—bacteria become resistant to antibiotics?
God’s Word is confirmed by observational science: for example, a study of geology confirms that most rock layers and canyon systems are best explained by catastrophic process (such as those associated with Noah’s Flood a few thousand years ago), rather than gradual processes over millions of years.

The Word of God has never changed, but the Church’s perception of the Word of God changed when it failed to engage the evolutionist scientific community on matters of evidence as well as faith. Typical churches use resources that are more geared for what could be called the “Jew in Jerusalem” who has developed a religious background and lives in a religiously friendly society.

We are now in the era of the “Greeks”—like the secular philosophers the Apostle Paul encountered on Mars Hill—yet our churches and Sunday schools are still teaching us like Jews.

See the problem?

Our society is immersed in secularism. It’s essential that we learn how to defend the Bible and the Christian faith for our sake and our children’s. If we don’t, the empty and obsolete churches in England will foreshadow the future in America.

The Victorian Society’s magazine recently carried a headline that read, “Redundant Churches: Who Cares?” Churches in the United Kingdom have been turned into theaters, restaurants, museums—even mosques and temples. I have a whole series of photographs that I have taken of such buildings that were formerly churches.

Where England is today, America will be tomorrow—unless we act now and pray for God’s blessing. It’s time for a new Reformation in the Church—to call the Church back to the authority of the Word of God, beginning in Genesis.



No More Competition: Demerits for Valedictorians
http://blog.heritage.org/2009/06/25/no-more-competition-demerits-for-valedictorians/

Education.

The York, Pennsylvania, school district has decided to eliminate the practice of honoring the top-achieving students as “valedictorian” or “salutatorian.” According to school board officials, this practice may promote unhealthy competition. Students, however, appear to have a different view of such honorifics. Caroline Klidonas, a 17-year-old rising senior asked in an interview on Tuesday with the York Daily Record,
“How would anybody succeed at anything if there’s not competition? You get what you work for and that’s all there is to it … Why wouldn’t the school want us to have that kind of mindset?”

In an interview with Fox News, Caroline expressed her displeasure with the school board’s decision to no longer honor academic excellence in her school district.

“…[students] would definitely like for valedictorian and salutatorian to be honored… if you have awards in all the other areas just like athletics and even the performing arts…why not the top two overall?”

This practice of avoiding hurt feelings has led to serious consequences for those at the top, especially when applying to colleges. Schools that do not use class rank have made admissions and scholarships more difficult for their students. Without a comparison within schools, admission counselors have to give more weight to standardized test scores and even eliminate these students. In a 2006 interview with the New York Times, William M. Shain, dean of undergraduate admissions at Vanderbilt University explained that students from schools that calculate class rank are more frequently admitted, and students without a rank or grade information had the lowest admission rates. Shain stated:

“The less information a school gives you, the more whimsical our decisions will be. And I don’t know why a school would do that… You’re saying your grades don’t matter and that you won’t tell us what they mean. I think it’s an abdication of educational responsibility.”

Most Americans realize the significance of distinguishing the work and achievement of top students from the rest. Not recognizing good work minimizes the importance of academic achievement and fails to reward those who have excelled in school. By contrast, promoting competition serves students’ best interests and prepares them to be successful in the future.



We are a part of an Indoctri-nation

Media push for Obama-care downplays privacy dangers of electronic medical records.

By Dan Gainor

The Boone Pickens Free Market Fellow
Business & Media Institute

With apologies to Janet Jackson, America’s rhythm nation is so 1989. Now it’s an Indoctri-nation. The mainstream media don’t tell us what’s going on; they tell us what to think. Today’s example is nationalized health care. It will be the topic tomorrow, the next day and the next. But tomorrow more than most.

On June 24, a major news outlet appears to be throwing away any pretense of being neutral in the national health care debate.

Take it away ABC. Tell America what to think about health care with “Questions for the President: Prescription for America.” It’s an extravaganza of coverage as the network vows to “moderate a conversation” with the president. To give an idea of how committed ABC is, “‘Good Morning America,’ ‘World News,’ ‘Nightline,’ and ABCNews.com’s ‘Top Line’ will all feature special programming on the president’s health care agenda.” Add in a Tuesday love bomb session with Michelle Obama focusing on eating healthy and it’s a network that looks like it’s working for the White House.

That doesn’t sound exactly balanced, does it? You don’t see them doing a special on the GOP’s health care agenda. And though they now are downplaying it, Medical Editor Dr. Tim Johnson is part of the program and he has been pro-nationalized health care since Hillarycare in the 1990s.

ABC has caught enough heat about the special to cause real global warming and the network meekly responded with a letter claiming it would do a good job, just like the job it’s already done on health care.

Kerry Smith, a network senior vice president said “we've already had many critics of the President's health care proposals on the air.” But that’s far from correct (another preview of ABC’s special). Since Obama took office, the network has favored supporters of Obama’s health care plan – either the president or other experts promoting his plan – by a 3-to-1 margin over critics. So if by “many,” Smith meant one-fourth of the total, she’d have been accurate.

Still, the network may fear the infomercial approach because it’s already been so heavily criticized. Viewers might even get fair coverage – for a day.

Digging deeper on ABCnews.com reveals another problem not just for ABC, but with the Obama plan and the media’s pathetic coverage of it. One of Obama’s Big Ideas sounds more like Big Brother and has privacy advocates terrified – the switch to computerized medical records. As Obama put it, computerizing those records will fix everything but the Iranian election. (That’s already been fixed.) “We've already made investments in health IT, that's information technologies and electronic medical records that will reduce medical errors, save lives, save money, and still ensure privacy,” he said recently.

On the ABC site, those electronic medical records are hailed as being able to “save $” and even “can save your life.” That’s when those records are used properly – often not the case. Ask a parade of newsmakers, celebrities and outright superstars from George Clooney to Rush Limbaugh how it feels to have your medical records exposed to any scumbag with computer access at a hospital or doctor’s office.

Look at Farrah Fawcett. Truly a beauty who defined a generation. Women tried desperately for Farrah’s epic mane of hair while the two-dimensional Farrah in poster form adorned walls for teenage boys across America. Unfortunately, such stardom is no defense against electronic medical records. The “Charlie’s Angels” beauty had her most personal medical information leaked to tabloids as she fought a terrifying cancer.

Imagine that, to be in a fight for your life only to have your privacy invaded as well. ABC News reported that a former employee of UCLA Medical Center pled guilty to selling
Farrah’s medical records, along with those of Britney Spears and other celebrities to the National Enquirer. In all nearly 1,000 people had their records invaded.

It’s really nothing new. Palm Beach County, Florida officials seized Rush Limbaugh’s media records in a Big Government fashion. Other snooping incidents have impacted California First Lady Maria Shriver and even Octomom Nadya Suleman.

The problem isn’t just with medical records, it’s electronic records of all kinds. All three final presidential candidates – Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain – had data invasions through the State Department. Obama questioner Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher had someone dig through his Ohio records. And someone else broke into VP candidate Sarah Palin’s e-mail.

Feeling better about the savings from electronic medical records? Maybe until you realize your dental assistant can check your psychiatric records or until you realize government will soon know all of your personal medical information.

This is how Obama plans to “save” money, by exposing your entire life to every disgruntled minimum-wage office worker in the entire health-care monstrosity. Electronic data breaches will no longer be confined to just the location of an office. People will be able to snoop nationwide. And the media are virtually silent about this danger.

At least supporters are right about one aspect of our new Indoctri-nation. It does have the word “doc” in it, and that’s about as close as it comes to being about improving health care.

Dan Gainor is The Boone Pickens Fellow and the Media Research Center’s Vice President for Business and Culture. His column appears each week on The Fox Forum and he can be seen each Thursday on Foxnews.com’s “Strategy Room.”



UAW begs for tax relief - for their golf course

Rick Moran

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/06/uaw_begs_for_tax_relief_for_th.html

I believe the biggest change in Washington with Democrats in power has to be the way that unions are systematically being enriched at the taxpayer's expense. It has now gone beyond rewarding organized labor for their massive, unprecedented help electing Obama and the Democratic majority as much of the stim bill sought to do. Now it is simply a matter of filling union coffers with taxpayer cash. Soon, it will be changing the law to make it much easier for unions to organize non-union shops.

Then, the New Left's dream of a Government-Union coalition to run the American economy will be complete. Long ago, leftists recognized the potential of this symbiosis and it appears that after decades of patient effort, they are about to succeed.

In the meantime, about all we can do is sit back and fume as stuff like this happens:
When it comes to the GM and Chrysler bailouts, U.S. taxpayers merely suspect they're really being asked to dig into their pockets to rescue the United Auto Workers union. But taxpayers in Michigan's Waverly Township are in no doubt. The Detroit News reports the UAW has appealed to the state tax tribunal to dispute $3 million in property taxes the town assessed on the union's nearby Black Lake golf resort. Yes, golf resort. Now led by UAW chief Ron Gettelfinger, the union has long owned 1,000 acres of forested land in western Michigan for an "education center," and in 2000 used union funds to add a luxury golf course, along with amenities such as a fitness club. What's more, the property, valued at $33 million, has been losing money ever since, some $23 million just in the last five years.

A couple questions naturally come up: If the UAW can't run a golf club, how can it run Chrysler, of which it is now majority owner? Also: The club is part of $1.2 billion in union-owned assets built up from member dues mostly to support a "strike fund." Why does a much-shrunken UAW need a strike fund by now sufficient to finance a multi-week, catastrophic strike that would throw the entire U.S.-born auto industry into bankruptcy once more?

The Wall Street Journal asks why not use that "Strike Fund" to finance the health and pension fund at Chrysler? The answer is self evident - the union wants to keep that fund as a club to threaten both the government and Chrysler.

Bailing out a union golf course by giving the bosses tax relief is evidence of what a brave new world it truly is. They are not even pretending anymore. The unions and their partners in government will milk this economy, enriching themselves and their cronies in the process.

Don't know about "hope," but it certainly is a "change," isn't it?

Hat Tip: Ed Lasky



TEST!

This is NOT a pushover test.

There are 20 questions. Average score is 12.

This one will be difficult for the younger set.

Have fun, but no peeking!

When you forward this to your friends/family,

Put your score in the subject line & let them know your score.

Don't forget to forward it to me, as well.

Good luck , youngsters.


1. What builds strong bodies 12 ways?

A. Flintstones vitamins
B. The Buttmaster
C. Spaghetti
D. Wonder Bread
E. Orange Juice
F. Milk
G.. Cod Liver Oil


2. Before he was Muhammed Ali, he was...

A. Sugar Ray Robinson
B. Roy Orbison
C. Gene Autry
D. Rudolph Valentino
E. Fabian
F. Mickey Mantle
G. Cassius Clay


3. Pogo, the comic strip character said, 'We have met the enemy and...

A. It's you
B. He is us
C. It's the Grinch
D. He wasn't home
E. He's really mean
F. We quit
G. He surrendered


4. Good night David.

A. Good night Chet
B. Sleep well
C. Good night Irene
D. Good night Gracie
E. See you later alligator
F. Until tomorrow
G. Good night Steve


5. You'll wonder where the yellow went...

A. When you use Tide
B. When you lose your crayons
C. When you clean your tub
D. If you paint the room20blue
E. If you buy a soft water tank
F. When you use Lady Clairol
G.. When you brush your teeth with Pepsodent


6. Before he was the Skipper's Little Buddy, Bob Denver was Dobie's friend...

A. Stuart Whitman
B. Randolph Scott
C. Steve Reeves
D. Maynard G. Krebbs
E. Corky B. Dork
F. Dave the Whale
G.. Zippy Zoo


7.. Liar, liar....

A. You're a liar
B. Your nose is growing
C. Pants on fire
D. Join the choir
E. Jump up higher
F. On the wire
G. I'm telling Mom


8. Meanwhile, back in Metropolis, Superman fights a never ending battle for truth, justice and...

A. Wheaties
B. Lois Lane
C. TV ratings
D. World peace
E. Red tights
F.. The American way
G. News headlines


9. Hey kids! What time is it?

A. It's time for Yogi Bear
B It's time to do your homework
C. It's Howdy Doody Time
D. It's Time for Romper Room
E. It's bedtime
F. The Mighty Mouse Hour
G. Scoopy Doo Time


10. Lions and tigers and bears...

A. Yikes
B. Oh no
C. Gee whiz
D. I'm scared
E. Oh my
F. Help! Help!
G. Let's run


11. Bob Dylan advised us never to trust anyone....

A. Over 40
B. Wearing a uniform
C. Carrying a briefcase
D. Over 30
E. You don't know
F. Who says, 'Trust me'
G. Who eats tofu


12. NFL quarterback who appeared in a television commercial wearing women's stockings...

A. Troy Aikman
B. Kenny Stabler
C. Joe Namath
D. Roger Staubach
E. Joe Montana
F. Steve Young
G. John Elway


13. Brylcream...

A. Smear it on
B. You'll smell great
C. Tame that cowlick
D. Grease ball heaven
E. It's a dream
F. We're your team
G. A little dab'll do ya


14. I found my thrill...

A. In Blueberry muffins
B. With my man, Bill
C. Down at the mill
D. Over the windowsill
E. With thyme and dill
F. Too late to enjoy
G. On Blueberry Hill


15. Before Robin Williams, Peter Pan was played by...

A. Clark Gable
B. Mary Martin
C. Doris Day
D. Errol Flynn
E.. Sally Fields
F. Jim Carey
G. Jay Leno


16. Name the Beatles...

A. John, Steve, George, Ringo
B. John, Paul, George, Roscoe
C. John, Paul, Stacey, Ringo
D. Jay, Paul, George, Ringo
E. Lewis, Peter, George, Ringo
F. Jason, Betty, Skipper, Hazel
G. John, Paul, George, Ringo


17. I wonder, wonder, who.

A. Who ate the leftovers?
B. Who did the laundry?
C. Was it you?
D. Who wrote the book of love?
E. Who I am?
F. Passed the test?
G. Knocked on the door?


18. I'm strong to the finish...

A. Cause I eats my broccoli
B. Cause I eats me spinach
C. Cause I lift weights
D.. Cause I'm the hero
E. And don't you forget it
F. Cause Olive Oyl loves me
G. To outlast Bruto


19. When it's least expected, you're elected, you're the star today

A. Smile, you're on Candid Camera
B. Smile, you're on Star Search
C. Smile, you won the lottery
D. Smile, we're watching you
E. Smile, the world sees you
F. Smile, you're a hit
G. Smile, you're on TV


20. What do M & M's do?

A. Make your tummy happy
B. Melt in your mouth, not in your pocket
C. Make you fat
D. Melt your heart
E. Make you popular
F. Melt in your mouth, not in your hand
G. Come in colors


Below are the right answers:

1. D - Wonder Bread
2. G - Cassius Clay
3. B - He Is Us
4. A - Good night, Chet
5. G - When you brush your teeth with Pepsodent
6. D - Maynard G. Krebbs
7. C - Pants On Fire
8. F - The American Way
9. C - It's Howdy Doody Time
10. E - Oh My
11. D - Over 30
12. C - Joe Namath
13. G - A little dab'll do ya
14. G - On Blueberry Hill
15. B - Mary Martin
16. G - John, Paul, George, Ringo
17. D - Who wrote the book of Love
18. B - Cause I eats me spinach
19. A - Smile, you're on Candid Camera
20. F - Melt In Your Mouth Not In Your Hand



"The e-mail Bag"

ADULT:
A person who has stopped growing at both ends and is now growing in the middle.

BEAUTY PARLOR:
A place where women curl up and dye.

CANNIBAL:
Someone who is fed up with people.

CHICKENS:
The only animals you eat before they are born and after they are dead.

COMMITTEE:
A body that keeps minutes and wastes hours.

DUST:
Mud with the juice squeezed out.

EGOTIST:
Someone who is usually me-deep in conversation.

HANDKERCHIEF:
Cold Storage.

INFLATION:
Cutting money in half without damaging the paper.

MOSQUITO:
An insect that makes you like flies better.

RAISIN:
Grape with a sunburn.

SECRET:
Something you tell to one person at a time.

SKELETON:
A bunch of bones with the person scraped off.

TOOTHACHE:

The pain that drives you to extraction.

TOMORROW:
One of the greatest labor saving devices of today.

YAWN:
An honest opinion openly expressed.

WRINKLES:
Something other people have, similar to my character lines.



And In Sunday School...

A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds. After explaining the commandment to 'Honor thy father and thy mother,' she asked, 'Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?' Without missing a beat, one little boy answered, 'Thou shall not kill.'



At Sunday School they were teaching how God created everything, including human beings. Little Johnny seemed especially intent when they told him how Eve was created out of one of Adam's ribs. Later in the week his mother noticed him lying down as though he were ill, and she said, 'Johnny, what is the matter?' Little Johnny responded, 'I have pain in my side.. I think I'm going to have a wife.'

ConservativeChristianRepublican-Report - 20090629

Motivational-Inspirational-Historical-Educational-Political-Enjoyable



"Daily Motivations"

High-integrity workplaces don't get that way by accident, coincidence, or luck. They're molded, shaped, and built by leaders at all levels. -- Eric Harvey



"Daily Devotions" (KJV and/or NLT)

"Obey God because you are His children. Don't slip back into your old ways of doing evil; you didn't know any better then." (1 Peter 1:14)

If we are to behave with the character of Christ, we must trust and obey our loving heavenly Father.

A story is told of a loving father who was trying to save his daughter during a bombing raid in World War II. Fleeing a building that had just been hit and desperate for shelter, he spied a large hole from an earlier shell explosion. He leaped in, then lifted his arms to catch his child. The terrified girl cried out that she could not see him. He looked up and saw her silhouette illuminated by tracer lights and fire. The father called out to her, "I can see you. Jump!" When she heard the encouraging words of her father, she jumped into the safety of his arms.

Our wise and all-knowing God sees us everyday, and He knows how to protect us from dangers---both spiritual and physical. When we bend to His will and discipline, we are jumping into His invisible arms. We are demonstrating our love and are trusting in His wisdom rather than relying on our own understanding.

As we daily surrender our plans and desires to our loving Father, we reflect the character of Jesus. In obedience to His Father, Jesus sacrificed everything. He gave up His life and took upon Himself the horror and guilt of our sins. This choice to obey was not easy, as His battle in Gethsemane reveals. The Bible describes His sweat as "drops of blood" as He pleaded, "Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done" (Luke 22:42, NIV).



"The Patriot Post"

"Every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country." -- Noah Webster, On the Education of Youth in America, 1788



This Week's 'Braying Jackass' Award

"Several financial institutions are set to pay back $68 billion to taxpayers. It's worth noting that in the first round of repayments from these companies, the government has actually turned a profit. This is not a sign that our troubles are over. Far from it. The financial crisis this administration inherited is still creating painful challenges for businesses and families alike, and I think everybody sees it in their own individual districts. But it is a positive time." -- Barack Obama, dictating to businesses, but still passing the buck to his predecessor whenever possible



EFCA = Cash Cow for Big Labor

A recent study commissioned by the Workforce Fairness Institute determined that passage of the grossly misnamed Employee Free Choice Act, also known as "card check," would result in labor unions netting a political windfall in the billions of dollars over the next decade. Taking the claim by Service Employees International Union president Andy Stern that an additional 1.5 million union workers would sign up each year after passage of EFCA, the WFI study extrapolated the likely amount of dues payments each worker would be forced to cough up, combined with trends in political giving by Big Labor, to come up with its figure. The WFI estimates that forced contributions could reach $320 million annually by 2020. It almost goes without saying that the vast majority of union political contributions accrue to Democrat candidates and causes.

While union spokesmen were critical of the study, one may have unwittingly let slip a kernel of truth by noting, "How we spend money on politics is not a reflection of membership." Since many of those union members contributed to the column of "Reagan Democrats" and later became faithful Republicans, the huge disparity of political donations to liberal Democrats indeed belies the political makeup of the rank-and-file. That will likely continue to skew farther away from genuine representation if EFCA becomes law.



Second Amendment: Museum Shooting Fallout

"Two members of Washington D.C.'s city council used Wednesday's shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to draw attention to a gun amendment that has stalled a bill that would grant D.C. a representational vote in Congress," reports The Hill. DC Councilman Michael Brown warned, "Loosening the District's gun laws is a deadly proposition." That reaction was predictable. We should point out to Councilman Brown, however, that this was not a law-abiding citizen who shot and killed a security guard at the museum. And DC's current gun laws (not to mention murder laws) were not sufficient to deter 88-year-old James von Brunn.

Meanwhile, Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center pontificated, "I think this latest round of killing once again shows how ridiculous the criticism from the right of the Department of Homeland Security report was. That whole brouhaha was absurd." In other words, "See, we told you so." Von Brunn was a Holocaust-denying white supremacist, which, to leftist nuts like Potok, means he's automatically "right wing." On the contrary, von Brunn is a socialist who hates Christians, Fox News, The Weekly Standard and other "neocons," and proclaimed in a blog post, "SOCIALISM, represents the future of the West." Besides, if anti-Semitism is a marker of being right wing, what does that make Jeremiah Wright?



Faith and Family: Tiller's Clinic Closed

In the wake of the murder of abortionist George Tiller, his family has announced the permanent closure of his Kansas clinic -- one of the few in the country that performed partial-birth abortions. Fellow partial-birth abortionist Warren Hern called the outcome "hideous," claiming, "The anti-abortion movement got exactly what they wanted. ... The question is, 'Who's next?'" Despite Hern's statement, however, not one pro-life organization has -- or will -- condone Tiller's murder.

Indeed, far from asking "Who's next?" one group is asking, "What's next?" for the clinic's property. Operation Rescue, one of the nation's most prominent pro-life organizations, has expressed interest in buying the property to complement its Wichita office location which, incidentally, is also a former abortion clinic. Such a conversion is not unprecedented. In Tennessee, for example, the National Memorial for the Unborn and AAA Women's Services, which provides education and alternatives to abortion, occupy a former clinic where more than 35,000 babies were killed.

While some believe the best answer to Tiller's murder is more murder -- the Philadelphia Women's Center, for example, gave away free abortions to "honor" Tiller, and Nebraska abortion provider LeRoy Carhart has promised his "help," pledging, "[T]here will be a place in Kansas for the later second- and the medically indicated third-trimester patients very soon" -- we support Operation Rescue's approach, and we hope the site where thousands of unborn babies met a horrific death will soon help women choose life.



"The Web"

Anchored In Him
http://www.anchoredinhim.com/olpath/paths.html



The Old Paths!THE OLD PATHS

I liked the old paths,
when Moms were at home. Dads were at work.
Brothers went into the army.
And sisters got married BEFORE having children!
Crime did not pay; Hard work did;
And people knew the difference.
Moms could cook; Dads would work;
Children would behave. Husbands were loving;
Wives were supportive; And children were polite.
Women wore the jewelry; And Men wore the pants.
Women looked like ladies; Men looked like gentlemen;
And children looked decent.
People loved the truth, And hated a lie;
They came to church to get IN, Not to get OUT!
Hymns sounded Godly;
Sermons sounded helpful; Rejoicing sounded normal;
And crying sounded sincere. Cursing was wicked;

Drugs were for illness; And divorce was unthinkable.
The flag was honored; America was beautiful;
And God was welcome! We read the Bible in public;
Prayed in school; And preached from house to house

To be called an American was worth dying for;
To be called a Christian was worth living for;
To be called a traitor was a shame!
Preachers preached because they had a message;
And Christians rejoiced because they had the VICTORY!
Preachers preached from the Bible;
Singers sang from the heart;
And sinners turned to the Lord to be SAVED!
A new birth meant a new life; Salvation meant a changed life;
Following Christ led to eternal life.
Being a preacher meant you proclaimed the word of God;
Being a deacon meant you would serve the Lord;
Being a Christian meant you would live for Jesus;
And being a sinner meant someone was praying for you!
Laws were based on the Bible; Homes read the Bible;
And churches taught the Bible. God was worshiped;
Christ was exalted; And the Holy Spirit was respected..
Church was where you found Christians on the Lord's day,
rather than in the garden, on the creek bank,
on the golf course, Or being entertained somewhere else.
I still like the old paths the best!

"The Old Paths"
was written by a retired minister who lives in Tennessee



Using God as father's guide

by Rebecca Hagelin

The facts are brutally painful -- More than 25 million children in America live in homes where fathers are absent. Millions more have experienced emotional wounds so deep at the hands of their dads it seems as if they can never break free from the bondage of suffering and bitterness.

It is impossible to understand, then, why fathers who lovingly live out their sacred calling to truly care for their children are maligned in our modern culture. Attacking and belittling an institution that children so desperately need is both foolish and evil.

It's time for a radical, transformational attitude change toward fathering in America. We must restore both the institution of fatherhood and help heal the hearts of the wounded. We need to break the chains of neglect and prevent the harms from being repeated for generations to come. The family is the basic building block of every civil society and dads are a foundational component.

If we continue down the current path of devaluing dads, father absenteeism, and discouraging men from making a full commitment to their families, American civil society is doomed.

Our culture has come like a thief in the night and robbed families of the joy that comes with Godly fathering. How do we recover and restore what has been taken? Absorb the truths in the world's best book on fathering: the Bible.

The Good Book has something for everyone when it comes to the subject of fatherhood. For the abandoned and orphaned, God is described in Psalm 65 as a "father for the fatherless." Scores of other verses depict the God of the universe as a staunch defender of those who have no earthly dads. For those who have been deeply hurt by their fathers, God's unconditional love is a healing balm.

The entire Bible is the story of God's relentless pursuit of and devotion to the human race. He is the dependable father who will never leave, who pours out His mercy and compassion on broken hearts, whose strong arms bind up wounds, and whose abundant grace eases pain.

For fathers themselves, God is the gentle counselor, the perfect role model. He encourages dads in their sacred calling, and offers divine wisdom to common men who dare to fall to their knees and seek His guidance.

The Psalmist paints a beautiful picture in Chapter 103 of the characteristics of God that every father should emulate. Verse 8, for instance, reminds us that, "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy." My own father frequently read the passage to me as a child. I always thought that it was partly to teach me about the characteristics of our heavenly Father, and partly to remind him of the type of dad and man he should be.

In Ephesians 6:4 we read, "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." In other words, God's word is the definitive fathering manual. The answers and prescriptions are all there. It has guided both dads and children of all ages through the centuries and its advice and counsel are as true in these modern days as they have ever been.

May you experience the power, peace and truth of the ancient words. May you, dear dads everywhere, use the Bible as your guidebook and thus unlock the key to becoming the father your children deserve. And may those whose hearts have been broken learn the intimacy, joy and fulfillment of truly knowing your heavenly Father. Make yourself vulnerable to Him - He will delight your heart and flood the dry places in your soul with His fatherly love.

Rebecca Hagelin is senior communications fellow for the Heritage Foundation and the author of "30 Ways in 30 Days to Save Your Family" and runs the Web site HowToSaveYourFamily.com.



The Church Painter

There was a Scottish painter named Smokey MacGregor who was very interested in making a penny where he could, so he often thinned down his paint to make it go a wee bit further. As it happened, he got away with this for some time, but eventually the Baptist Church decided to do a big restoration job on the outside of one of their biggest buildings. Smokey put in a bid, and, because his price was so low, he got the job.

So he set about erecting the scaffolding and setting up the planks, and buying the paint and, yes, I am sorry to say, thinning it down with turpentine.

Well, Smokey was up on the scaffolding, painting away, the job nearly completed, when suddenly there was a horrendous clap of thunder, the sky opened, and the rain poured down washing the thinned paint from all over the church and knocking Smokey clear off the scaffold to land on the lawn among the gravestones, surrounded by telltale puddles of the thinned and useless paint. Smokey was no fool. He knew this was a judgment from the Almighty, so he got down on his knees and cried: "Oh, God, forgive me; what should I do?" And from the thunder, a mighty voice spoke..

<<< Highlight between the brackets below with your mouse to find the answer >>>

[[[ "Repaint! Repaint! And thin no more!" ]]]

by jesushomeboy



Sonia Sotomayor: Measured by the Word of God and Found Wanting

by Herbert W. Titus, J.D.

On May 11, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated court of appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor to a seat on the United States Supreme Court. In support of this nomination, the President assured the American people that Judge Sotomayor was a deserving and worthy nominee. Not only would she be an able justice, the President intoned, she would be impartial, and she would have “empathy.” Thus, the President proclaimed that, with the nomination of Judge Sotoamayor, he had fulfilled one of his campaign promises, the one that he made to Planned Parenthood in 2007, that his judicial appointees would have “the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it’s like to be a teen age mom; the empathy to understand what it’s like to be poor, or African-American, or gay, or disabled, or old.”

Within days after this announcement, the President’s glowing endorsement became tarnished by the nominee’s own words. Delivering the Judge Mario G. Olmos Memorial Lecture in 2001 at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, Judge Sotomayor asserted her “hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” This statement not only generated a crescendo of voices accusing Judge Sotomayor of “racism,” but a deep and abiding concern that Judge Sotomayor did not have the judicial temperament that would enable her to judge impartially.

Indeed, in the week before the President’s public announcement of his choice to replace retiring Associate Justice David Souter, Jeffrey Rosen of the New Republic raised questions about Judge Sotomayor’s “judicial temperament,” citing the testimony of various lawyers who found her to be—“a terror on the bench,” “overly aggressive—not very judicial,” “behaves in an out of control manner ... makes inappropriate outbursts,” “nasty to lawyers,” and “a bully on the bench.”

In Deuteronomy chapter 1, we learn that God instructed Moses to “take you wise men, and understanding” and appoint them “judges,” charging them to “judge righteously” without “respect of persons in judgment ... hear[ing] the small as well as the great, .... not ... afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s.” (Deut. 1:13, 16–17). Earlier in Leviticus, we learn that God expected judges to “do no unrighteousness in judgment,” neither “respect[ing] the poor, nor honor[ing] the person of the mighty.” (Lev. 19:15).

Tracking this law of Moses, a person appointed to exercise the judicial power vested by Article III of the United States Constitution, is required to take not just one, but two oaths.

First, he must swear or affirm that “I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me ... under the Constitution and the laws of the United States. So help me God.”

Second he must swear or affirm that “I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

In the short time that the American people have had to appraise whether Judge Sotomayor would be true to these oaths, it is becoming increasingly apparent that even her supporters—from the President on down—have backpedaled. In an attempt to soften her statement that a “Latina woman” judge would be superior to a “white male” jurist, President Obama said that “I am sure that she would have restated it.” Others have chimed in, including the President’s press secretary who dismissed the matter as just a mistake in the choice of words.

But, if one takes a closer look, Judge Sotomayor’s self-identification as a “Latina judge” reveals a person who is definitely not qualified to be elevated to the nation’s highest court. Indeed, a closer look reveals that she should be removed from the court of appeals on which she currently sits.

Sotomayor v. Solomon

According to Deuteronomy, the first and foremost qualification for the office of a judge, is that the person be “wise and understanding.” (Deut. 1:13). In her 2001 speech at the Berkeley law school, Judge Sotomayor stated unequivocally that “there can never be a universal definition of wise.” Hence, Judge Sotomayor expressed her conviction that judges have no choice but to draw upon their life’s experiences to resolve disputes between parties in cases and appeals brought to them. Further, she asserted the “hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

According to the book of Proverbs, however, there is a universal wisdom, established before the foundation of the world “to lead the way of righteousness, in the midst of the path of judgment.” (Prov. 8:20). And this wisdom is universally available to all (Prov. 1:20–23), the only precondition of which is to fear God and to diligently seek it. (Prov. 2:1–10). And, if one heeds this command, he “will increase learning ... and ... shall attain wise counsels.” (Prov. 1:5). On the other hand, those who “despise wisdom and instruction,” will become “fools.” (Prov. 1:7). Thus, the Bible summarizes the several chapters in Proverbs contrasting the wise and the foolish with this conclusion: “The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and before honor is humility.” (Prov. 15:33).

These Biblical truths can best be illustrated by one of the most popular and acclaimed events in the history of Israel. In recognition of his youth and inexperience, King Solomon humbled himself before God, praying for an “understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad; for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?” 1 Kings 3:9. In response to Solomon’s cry, “God gave [him] wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart ... wiser than all men.” (1 Kings 4:29, 31). Then, Solomon displayed that wisdom when he adjudicated the dispute between the two harlots, ordering the dividing of the baby, knowing full well that the mother’s heart even of a harlot would reveal whose child it was. (see 1 Kings 3:16–28).

In Sotomayor’s world, however, Solomon’s “wise judgment” could only be explained as sheer luck. After all, King Solomon was not only not a woman—much less a harlot—but had grown up in luxury, a favored son of King David—born with a “silver spoon” in his mouth. How, then, could Solomon have known that a mother’s love would triumph over a harlot’s spirit? His life’s experience was surely that of a “white male” and, according to Judge Sotomayor, totally unable to administer justice in a dispute between two fallen women—unless perchance the harlots had been represented by women lawyers sympathetic to civilization’s “oldest profession.” After all, as Judge Sotomayor would have us believe, the ruling by nine white men on the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that racially segregated schools violated the constitutional guarantee of equal protection of the laws was made possible only because the children’s advocates were persons of color.

Judge Sotomayor proposes that for more consistent and reliable rulings in favor of minority groups the bench should be populated by “statistically significant numbers” of women, and people of color. Presumably, Judge Sotomayor believes that a judiciary more representative of such demographics will by a combination of their “rich life experiences” more often than not reach better conclusions than a bench over represented by “white males.” While this may have an appearance of wisdom, “the end thereof [would be] the death” of equal protection of the laws. (See Proverbs 14:12). For true wisdom does not come from a multitude of diverse voices, but only from God above. (James 3:13–18).

Sotomayor v. Moses

Judge Sotomayor agrees with her fellow Yale Law School classmate, Professor Martha Minow of the Harvard Law School, that “there is no objective stance but only a series of perspectives—no neutrality, no escape from choice in judging.” Judge Sotomayor goes on to elaborate:

I further accept that our experiences as women and people of color affect our decisions. The aspiration to impartiality is just that—it’s an aspiration because it denies the fact that we are by our experiences making different choices than others. Not all women or people of color, in all or some circumstances ... but enough people of color in enough cases, will make a difference in the process of judging.

And Judge Sotomayor finds this color and sex-conscious approach to law and judging should be welcomed, not tempered, much less subordinated, to the rule of law:

Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences ... our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging.... I willingly accept that we who judge must not deny the differences resulting from our experience and heritage but attempt .... continuously to judge when those opinions, sympathies and prejudices are appropriate.

In chapter 18 of the book of Exodus, we are given quite the opposite description of the judicial role, as explained by Moses to his father-in-law, Jethro:

What is this thing that thou doest to the people? Why sittest thou thyself alone and all the people stand by thee from morning into even? And Moses said unto his father-in-law, Because the people come unto me to inquire of God; When they have a matter they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God and his laws. [Exodus 18:14–16.]

First, note that the people on both sides of the dispute voluntarily brought their case to Moses. No one was coerced. And Moses was not assigned at random to the case. Both sides knew that they would get Moses as their judge. Why did they come? Because Moses shared their life’s experiences? To the contrary, Moses had been raised in Pharoah’s house. He had not suffered enslavement, as they had, but had lived his first forty years in luxury. (See Exodus 2:1–10). Furthermore, while the Israelis were making bricks out of straw, Moses lived on the backside of the desert herding sheep. (See Exodus 3:1). And Moses had even married a foreign woman. (See Exodus 2:21; Numbers 12:1).

Surely, there were others more qualified than Moses to “feel their pain.” But the people, who had previously rejected Moses as their judge (see Exodus 1:14) now embraced him. Why? They knew that Moses would judge impartially, that he would “not respect persons in judgment, but [would] hear the small as well as the great.” (See Deuteronomy 1:17). Unlike Judge Sotomayor, Moses did not “aspire” to be impartial; he was impartial, because God commanded it. (See Leviticus 19:15). Unlike Judge Sotomayor, Moses had no choice to behave otherwise. (See Deuteronomy 16:18–20). Neither sympathy, nor opinion, nor prejudice could ever be a touchstone upon which Moses would decide a case.

Second, note that Moses based his decisions on “the statutes of God, and his laws,” not as Judge Sotomayor who would base her decisions on her “perspective” of the law. No. The people did not come to Moses to get his “perspective” on the matter in dispute. They came to get an authoritative resolution, one that would put the contending parties at rest, not leave them wondering that, if they had chosen someone else, they might have gotten a better deal. Judge Sotomayor, however, can offer nothing more than her “perspective,” because she does not believe in the pre-existence of a set of rules by which judges are obliged to make their decisions. Rather, she believes that judges make up their own rules either on the basis of their “experiences,” or on the basis of “inherent physiological or cultural differences.”

In contrast, Moses knew that God, mankind’s creator, had imposed upon His creation a set of rules which bound equally all mankind, male and female, and of every nationality. And it was the judge’s job simply to “make the parties know the statutes of God, and his laws.” Moses put this “common law” system in place even before God had revealed in writing the foundational principles of those laws. After all, not only had Moses been engaged in dispute resolution, but he had appointed others to do likewise, even before God handed down the Ten Commandments. (See Exodus 18:15–16, 19–26). None of is remotely possible in Judge Sotomayor’s world, divided as it is by the “inherent” differences between men and women, and “whites” and “people of color.” According to Sotomayor, there can be no “neutral” principles of law, because there is no legal ground common to both sexes and to all nations. The Bible record is to the contrary. (See Psalm 19; Romans 1:18–20; Galatians 3:28).

Sotomayor v. Deborah

In the book of Judges, we are introduced to Deborah, “a prophetess [who] judged Israel” during one of the numerous times of oppression suffered during the period between Joshua and Samuel. (See Judges 4:4). As had been the case with Israel’s judges from Moses to Ehud, Deborah’s immediate predecessor—and as would be the case with those judges from Deborah’s successor, Gideon to Samuel and beyond—“the children of Israel came up to [Deborah] for judgment.” (Judges 4:5). Clearly, the people did not change their practice of seeking resolution of their disputes just because of Deborah’s sex or her tribal identity. Nor did they expect to be judged by any “sex-based” or “tribal-oriented” standard. Rather, the rule of law that prevailed during Deborah’s judgeship was the same rule that had been applied by Moses and would be applied by all of the judges thereafter. Thus, when Barak was summoned to appear before Deborah, the rule that only males would go to war (Deut. 20:1–9) was not changed, even though Deborah relented to Barak’s plea and accompanied him to battle. (Judges 4:6–9).

According to Judge Sotomayor, however, the rules do change, and such change is based upon the sexual orientation and ethnic background of the judge: “Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences ... our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging.” Would Judge Sotomayor change the law to accommodate a plea from her “Barak,” President Barack Obama, to accommodate his weakness? Why not? After all, Judge Sotomayor believes that a judge’s life “experiences” is what really counts in the judicial process—that, in reality, law is a reflection of the personal characteristics of those applying it.

If so, then why should we believe Judge Sotomayor when she tells us that her “gender” and her “Latina heritage” are the two most prominent determinants that shape her judicial opinions. She is not just a woman, but she is a divorcee and childless. And she is not just a self-described “Latina,” but she is a “Newyorkrican,” that is a “born and bred New Yorker of Puerto-Rican born parents who came to the states during World War II.” And she is a diabetic, and has been since childhood, and was raised by a single mother and whose father died when she was young. If law is nothing more than a judge’s life’s experiences, then shouldn’t Judge Sotomayor open the entire book of her life, including her failed marriage, to Senate scrutiny? How else would a Senator know how to vote on her confirmation?

As for Deborah, we are told only that she was the “wife of Lapidoth” and that she “dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount Ephraim.” (See Judges 4:4–5.) Why so short a biography? Because in raising up persons to judge Israel (Judges 2:16), God no doubt adhered to the Mosaic standard revealed in Exodus 18:21: “thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness.” That standard did not change just because Deborah was a married woman to a man who was of the tribe of Ephraim.

Sotomayor v. The Bible

How would Judge Sotomayor measure up to the four Exodus standards? In order to be “able” to judge:

The Bible teaches:
● A judge must be “wise and understanding.” (Deut. 1:13).

Sotomayor believes:
● “There can never be a universal definition of wise ... I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

The Bible teaches:
● One must “judge righteously,” not by “appearances,” but by “just judgment.” (Deut.1:16 and 16:18).

Sotomayor believes:
● “‘[T]o judge is an exercise of power’ and because there is no objective stance, but only a series of perspectives—no neutrality, no escape from choice in judging. I further accept that our experiences as women and people of color affect our decisions.”

The Bible teaches:
● One must “fear God,” not be “afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s.” (Deut. 1:17).

Sotomayor believes:
● “Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences ... our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging.”

The Bible teaches:
● One must be a “man of truth,” not a “respect[er] of persons” doing no “unrighteousness in judgment.” Leviticus 19:15.

Sotomayor believes:
● “The aspiration to impartiality is just that—it’s an aspiration because it denies the fact that we are by our experiences making different choices than others.”

The Bible teaches:
● One must “hate covetousness,” for the “tak[ing] [of] a gift ... doth blind the eyes of the wise; and pervert the words of the righteous.” Deuteronomy 16:19.

Sotomayor believes:
● “We ... must continue ... to figure out how we go about creating the opportunity for there to be more women and people of color on the bench so we can finally have a statistically significant numbers to measure the difference we will and are making.”

Clearly, Judge Sotomayor’s view of herself as a judge, when measured by the Word of God, is found wanting.



Gun Wisdom from Thunder Ranch

Clint Smith, Director of Thunder Ranch, is part drill instructor, and part stand up comic. Here are a few of his observations on tactics, firearms, self defense and life as we know it in the civilized world.

"The handgun would not be my choice of weapon if I knew I was going to a fight. I'd choose a rifle, a shotgun, an RPG or an atomic bomb instead."

"The two most important rules in a gunfight are: always cheat and always win."

"Don't forget, incoming fire has the right of way."

"Make your attacker advance through a wall of bullets. I may get killed with my own gun, but he's gonna have to beat me to death with it, 'cause it's going to be empty."

"If you're not shootin', you should be loadin'. If you're not loadin', you should be movin'; if you're not movin', someone's gonna cut your head off and put it on a stick."

"When you reload in low light encounters, don't put your flashlight in your back pocket. If you light yourself up, you'll look like the tooth fairy or an angel ... and you're gonna be one of 'em pretty soon."

"Do something. It may be wrong, but do something."

"Shoot what's available, as long as it's available, until something else becomes available."

"If you carry a gun, people will call you paranoid. That's ridiculous. If I have a gun, what in the hell do I have to be paranoid for?"

"Don't shoot fast, shoot good."

"You can say 'stop' or 'alto' or use any other word you think will work but I've found that a large bore muzzle pointed at someone's head is pretty much the universal language."

"You have the rest of your life to solve your problems. How long you live depends on how well you do it."

"You cannot save the planet. You may be able to save yourself and your family."



Do You Remember?

1. After the Lone Ranger saved the day and rode off into the sunset, the grateful citizens would ask, "Who was that masked man?" Invariably, someone would answer, "I don't know, but he left this behind." What did he leave behind? _______________

2. When the Beatles first came to the U.S. in early 1964, we all watched them on the _______________ Show.

3. Get your kicks, _______________.

4. The story you are about to see is true. The names have been changed _______________.


5. In the jungle, the mighty jungle, _______________.

6. After the twist, the mashed potatoes, and the watusi, we "danced" under a stick that was lowered as low as we could go in a dance called the _______________.

7. Nestle makes the very best _______________.

8. Sachmo was America's "ambassador of goodwill". Our parents shared this great jazz trumpet player with us. His name was _______________.

9. What takes a licking and keeps on ticking? _______________

10. Red Skeleton's hobo character was _______________ and he always ended his television show by saying, "Good night and _______________.

11. Some Americans who protested the Vietnam war did so by burning their _______________.

12. The cute little car with the engine in the back and the trunk in the front was called the V.W. What other names did it go by? _______________ and _______________

13. In 1971, singer Don MacLean sang a song about, "the day the music died." This was a tribute to _______________.

14. We can remember the first satellite placed into orbit. The Russians did it. It was called _______________.

15. One of the big fads of the late fifties and sixties was a large plastic ring that we twirled around our waist. It was called the _______________.


ANSWERS:

1. After the Lone Ranger saved the day and rode off into the sunset, the grateful citizens would ask, "Who was that masked man?" Invariably, someone would answer, "I don't know, but he left this behind." What did he leave behind? A silver bullet

2. When the Beatles first came to the U.S. in early 1964, we all watched them on the Ed Sullivan Show.

3. Get your kicks, on Route 66.

4. The story you are about to see is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

5. In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the Lion sleeps tonight.

6. After the twist, the mashed potatoes, and the watusi, we "danced" under a stick that was lowered as low as we could go in a dance called the limbo.

7. Nestle makes the very best chocolate.

8. Sachmo was America's "ambassador of goodwill". Our parents shared this great jazz trumpet player with us. His name was Louis Armstrong.

9. What takes a licking and keeps on ticking? Timex

10. Red Skeleton's hobo character was Freddy the freeloader and he always ended his television show by saying, "Good night and may God bless.

11. Some Americans who protested the Vietnam war did so by burning their draft cards.

12. The cute little car with the engine in the back and the trunk in the front was called the V.W. What other names did it go by? Beetle and Bug

13. In 1971, singer Don MacLean sang a song about, “the day the music died." This was a tribute to Buddy Holly.

14. We can remember the first satellite placed into orbit. The Russians did it. It was called Sputnik.

15. One of the big fads of the late fifties and sixties was a large plastic ring that we twirled around our waist. It was called the Hula Hoop.



"The e-mail Bag"

Are you smarter than a 3rd grader?

A first-grade teacher, Ms. Brooks, was having trouble with one of her students. The teacher asked, 'Harry, what's your problem?'

Harry answered, 'I'm too smart for the 1st grade. My sister is in the 3rd grade and I'm smarter than she is! I think I should be in the 3rd grade, too!'

Ms. Brooks had had enough. She took Harry to the principal's office.

While Harry waited in the outer office, the teacher explained to the principal what the situation was. The principal told Ms. Brooks he would give the boy a test. If he failed to answer any of his questions he was to go back to the 1st grade and behave. She agreed.

Harry was brought in and the conditions were explained to him and he agreed to take the test.

Principal: 'What is 3 x 3?'
Harry: '9.'

Principal: 'What is 6 x 6?'
Harry: '36.'

And so it went with every question the principal thought a 3rd grader should know.

The principal looks at Ms. Brooks and tells her, 'I think Harry can go to the 3rd grade.'

Ms. Brooks says to the principal, 'Let me ask him some questions.'

The principal and Harry both agreed.

Ms .. Brooks asks, 'What does a cow have four of that I have only two of?'
Harry, after a moment: 'Legs.'

Ms Brooks: 'What is in your pants that you have but I do not have?'
The principal wondered why would she ask such a question!
Harry replied: 'Pockets.'

Ms. Brooks: 'What does a dog do that a man steps into?'
Harry: 'Pants.'

Ms. Brooks: What starts with a C, ends with a T, is hairy, oval, delicious and contains thin, whitish liquid?'
Harry: 'Coconut.'

The principal sat forward with his mouth hanging open.

Ms. Brooks: 'What goes in hard and pink then comes out soft and sticky?'
The principal's eyes opened really wide and before he could stop the answer,
Harry replied, 'Bubble gum.'

Ms. Brooks: 'What does a man do standing up, a woman does sitting down and a dog does on three legs?'
Harry: 'Shake hands.'

The principal was trembling.

Ms. Brooks: 'What word starts with an 'F' and ends in 'K' that means a lot of heat and excitement?'
Harry: 'Firetruck.'

The principal breathed a sigh of relief and told the teacher, 'Put Harry in the fifth-grade, I got the last seven questions wrong.....'

ConservativeChristianRepublican-Report - 20090626

Motivational-Inspirational-Historical-Educational-Political-Enjoyable



"Daily Motivations"

You will find it easier to do a single, small piece of a large project than to start on the whole job. -- Brian Tracy



Making Your Mission Matter

Here’s one you can take to the bank: When it comes to being in sync with your overall business purpose, there are no breaks … no rest periods … no time outs. Each action – by each team member, each day – either supports your organization’s mission or it doesn’t. And that fact leads to an important question that each of us needs to ponder: Could someone who knows nothing about my organization correctly guess what our mission is merely by observing MY daily actions and behaviors – and those of my team members? Here are a few things you can do to help ensure your answer to that question is a resounding “yes”:

Start each day with the mission. Write your organization’s (and/or team’s) mission on a small, pocket-size index card. Pull out the card and read it at the beginning of each work day to remind yourself of why you’re there and what your activities need to be geared toward.

Pursue “in a way that” solutions. When determining how your team will approach tasks and decisions, ask: “How can we do this in a way that is in line with, and supports, our mission?”Make that caveat a regularly used component of your action-planning vocabulary.

When you see something that needs to be done, DO IT – even if it doesn’t fall within your direct responsibility. Encourage all of your team members to do the same. Fact is, making sure the mission “happens” is everyone’s responsibility!

If you see a member of your team (or a colleague) doing something that’s out of sync with the mission, have the courage to speak up. Tactfully challenge him or her, and offer your assistance in finding (and implementing) an alternate approach. Most importantly, make sure your coworkers know that you expect them to do the same thing with you!

Cooperation gets teams pulling together. Staying focused on the organization’s mission ensures they pull in the right direction. Eric Harvey



"Daily Devotions" (KJV and/or NLT)

"God has reserved a priceless inheritance for His children. It is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay." (1 Peter 1:4)

Once during a speaking engagement in Switzerland, I stayed at a beautiful hotel, compliments of the conference host. Each day, as I walked through the lobby, I passed the hotel's lavish dining room and smelled the wonderful aromas of delicious entrees and desserts. But, determined to save money, I bought fruit, cheese, and crackers from a local market and lived on that all week. As I was packing to leave, my host asked me how I had enjoyed the cuisine. I stared at him in amazement. He had not informed me upon my arrival that my meals were included! The hotel had one of the finest chefs in the entire country. I could have eaten like a king.

Likewise, if we are unaware of our wonderful spiritual inheritance, we will miss out on a bountiful banquet which God has prepared for us. Satan loves to keep us in the dark.

But simply understanding our spiritual inheritance is not enough. Many of us live like spiritual paupers because we do not really believe God. We do not take Him at His Word. But if God really is absolute truth, then we can and should stake our very lives on His Word.

Satan will do anything to prevent us from fully experiencing the blessings we inherit as God's dearly loved children. He will try to convince us that the treasure is worthless. Or, he will sow seeds of insecurity and guilt so we feel undeserving. But we must not believe his lies!

Trusting in God's absolute truthfulness releases His riches. The treasures of heaven that we inherit are claimed by faith here on earth.



"The Patriot Post"

"The hour is fast approaching, on which the Honor and Success of this army, and the safety of our bleeding Country depend. Remember officers and Soldiers, that you are Freemen, fighting for the blessings of Liberty - that slavery will be your portion, and that of your posterity, if you do not acquit yourselves like men." -- George Washington, General Orders, August 23, 1776

"Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been and ever will be pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit." -- James Madison, Federalist No. 51, February 8, 1788

"It is the duty of every good citizen to use all the opportunities which occur to him, for preserving documents relating to the history of our country." -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Hugh P. Taylor, October 4, 1823



Describing Jesus

By Larry T. Hedges
1st Sgt U.S. Marine Corps Retired

Jesus had no servants, yet they called Him Master.

Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher.

Had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer.

Had no army, yet kings feared Him..

He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world.

He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him.

He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.

Feel honored to serve such a Leader who loves us.

If you believe in God and in Jesus Christ His Son..send this to all on your

Buddy list..if not just ignore..In the Bible, Jesus says...'If you deny me

Before man, I will deny you before my Father in Heaven.'

GOD BLESS YOU ALL []



"The Web"

Barbara Boxer meet Dr. Evil

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsGR83Imoto



Bad News: Sen. Feingold Admits What We’ve Suspected All Along: Obama’s “Public” Health Care Plan Meant to Ultimately Push Americans to Single-Payer Health Care

Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson

http://www.frugal-cafe.com/public_html/frugal-blog/frugal-cafe-blogzone/2009/06/19/bad-news-sen-feingold-admits-what-weve-suspected-all-along-obamas-public-health-care-plan-meant-to-ultimately-push-americans-to-single-payer-health-care/

Finally, a Democrat who plainly speaks the unvarnished truth, unlike our president, who has not been forthright with the American people.

It’s what we’ve suspected all along: According to Democrat Sen. Russ Fiengold, Pres. Obama’s “public health care” plan is merely temporary, as it is meant to ease America into his full-blown socialized health care. He calls it “single-payer” health care, but no matter what it’s called, it’s government-run health care, and there is not a shred of evidence that this will be better than the health care system currently in place. Historically, single-payer health care is rationed, outrageously expensive, and inefficient.

To date, it has been determined that a hefty portion of poor people, those with chronic illnesses, and those who are older will likely not be eligible to participate in ObamaCare, despite months of promises that it is “universal” health care for all Americans without health insurance. It’s not. Congress is still trying to bring down the escalating cost, so some of the people who are included in the plan today will be removed once Congress starts finalizing it after July 4.

On a lighter note… Rep. Barney Frank, when asked this week which country has had success with single-payer health care, he said, “Scandinavia.” Barney, Scandinavia is NOT a country. Scandinavia is a large region in northern Europe that includes and is named after the Scandinavian Peninsula. It consists of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark; some folks argue for the inclusion of Finland and Iceland. Whatever. But, it’s a group of countries, you knucklehead, not a single country. If Sarah Palin had said that…

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI): Ultimate Goal of Health Reform Legislation is Single Payer System | May 2009

Sen. Feingold Seeks Strong Public Option in Health Care Reform | June 2009

From CSPAN: There are two separate committees in the Senate drafting health care bills – the Finance Committee and the Health Committee. The bills will be merged together afterwards. The Finance Committee has delayed the start of their “mark-up” process (the process of amending and ultimately passing the bill through Committee) until after the July 4th break, while they scramble and try to figure out how it will all be paid for. However, the Health Committee began the mark-up process for their bill yesterday. This is what Senator John McCain and the other GOP Senators are responding to in this next video clip.

GOP Senators Push Back at Dems Healthcare Cram Through | Sen. John McCain: ‘This is a joke’ on health care

Why on earth would we want to dismantle and destroy our current system? No, it’s not a perfect system, but it’s FAR superior to what Obama wants. One way to make our current system more affordable is to limit litigation. Oops, White House and congressional lawyers don’t want to hear THAT. But in doing that, doctors would not have to pay such high malpractice insurance premiums. Their saving could be passed on to their patients. This is just one relatively simple fix compared to the trillions of dollars and doomed-to-fail system Obama and Congress are currently hammering out. And no one has read the entire draft document yet, so this could be Son of Porkulus, and we know how dismally the government has handled the billions of dollars in the original porkulus package.

Considering the biggest, and most dismal, government power grab in all of American history has occurred in just the past few months with the taking over of banks, corporations, and the auto industry, I DO NOT want Obama and his appointed minions and union cronies to grab up even more of America’s free enterprise. I do not want them in charge of my health care or anyone else’s health care. ACORN is under investigation for a boatload of crimes.

If you’re still not sure about how you feel about socialized health care, read any of the articles that are linked below. Read what those in the UK and Canada think of it.

Related reading on socialized / universal / government-run / nationalized / single-payer (take your pick, they’re all the same) health care:
Founding Bloggers: Horrific Health Care Headlines From UK - Our Socialized Medical Future!

Patterico’s Pontifications: Dialing 911 for Obamacare

Hot Air: Oh my: Health care, amnesty, climate change bills all suddenly in trouble and Dems retreating on healthcare and Video: ObamaCare an “Old Joke”; Update: Cost now $1.6 trillion and White House throws Kennedy under the bus? and Obama: Let’s work together to destroy American health care by year’s end and Video: Are the elderly cost effective?

Sister Toldjah: Daschle: Obama should dump public healthcare plan option
John Saarikko, Universal Health Care Info: The Truth Nobody Wants You To Know
The B.S. Report: Easy As ABC…President Obama’s Official “State-Run” Media
Verum Serum: New VS Daily Feature on Twitter: Gov Health Horror Story of the Day
nakedEric: Obama Healthcare Preview – “We Won’t Pay To Have You Cured, But We’ll Pay To Have You Killed.”

JustOneMinute: KennedyCare

Clinging to G & G: “>How the NEW healthcare will effect me. Now, think about how it will effect you.

Michael Tanner, National Review Online: The Obamacare to Come, Dems’ health-care plans do not provide the reform most Americans seek Hot Air: http://hotair.com/archives/2009/06/15/video-flashback-to-dems-screeching-about-medicare-cuts/ and Lieberman opposes public plan in ObamaCare and Government insurance will kill private insurance and Quotes of the day and Obama: Let’s work together to destroy American health care by year’s end and Video: Are the elderly cost effective?

Roll Call News: Baucus Aides Warn K Street

Chi*Town Daily News: Rush calls for investigation at U of C for patient dumping allegations and Activists blast U of C on charity care

Infidels Paradise: Obama/Dems Cutting Tens Of Billions In Medicare After Saying It Was A Sin To Do So

John Goodman, Cato’s Letter (pdf): Five Myths of Socialized Medicine
The American Spectator: Obama Touts Safeway Health Program, But Dem Bill Would Kill It and Quebec Has Helicopters for Pepe Le Pew But Not Emergency Patients and Obama’s
False Choice

Right Wing News: ObamaCare: Who Cares About The Poor And Elderly

Business and Media Institute: CNN Glosses Over Failure of Universal Health Care
Gateway Pundit: State Run Media Won’t Allow GOP to Respond to Obama Infomercial
SWAC Girl: Obama-ABC News propaganda machine team up to jam universal health care down Americans’ throats?

Glenallen Walken, Salon: Ask a Wingnut: The Wingnut explains why socialized healthcare sucks

Peter Roff, US News & World Report: The Growing Case Against Obama’s Healthcare Plan
Adam Baldwin, Big Hollywood: A “Cultural Fix”?: Global Citizen Educators Rethinking Sustainability into Population Control vs. Academic Freedom

Michelle Malkin: Just call him Barack “Emily Litella” Obama and The Obamacare horror story you won’t hear and Caught on tape: SEIU thuggery and Obamacare bogus statistic of the day and Obamacare bogus statistic of the day, Pt. 2 and Bad medicine: Obamacare poster art, Round 3 and Undercover at an Obama health care meet-up and Obamacare poster contest: Coming to a hospital near you!; Updated with new entries and Counterprotesting Obamacare and the ACORN/SEIU mob and Mobilizing against Obamacare and www.facesofgovernmenthealthcare.com and “Administration Is Open to Taxing Health Benefits” and Did Canadacare kill Natasha Richardson?

Chicago Tribune: AMA wary of Obama health plans

Pursuing Holiness: Railroaded Into Nationalized Health Care

Frugal Café Blog Zone: A “Must Read” » American Thinker: “Back to ACORN General Hospital” | Obama’s Single-Payer Health Care Nightmare and Nightmare: Heritage Foundation Exposes Universal Health Care Myths & Destruction of Free Market and The Sham of Socialism: Save America While There’s Still Time… ‘1984′ Prophesy and Heritage Foundation: Myth Exposed - American Health Care System Not Perfect, but Superior to Socialized Health Care and Cautionary Tale: ‘Prime Minister, You Have Run Out of Our Money’

GOPMom: Bring on National Health

World Net Daily: Government health care ‘an abyss’ financially - ‘I think there’s going to be no end for the claims’

Tim Slagle, Big Hollywood: Democrats — Why so Unhappy?

Matthew Moore, Telegraph.co.uk: Sufferers pull out teeth due to lack of dentists
Jewish World Review: Far East illustrates the limitations and dangers of universal health care

Daily Herald: Universal health care isn’t universal

Jim Blazsik: Did Socialized Medicine Have a Hand in Costing Natasha Richardson Her Life? and The Obama road to serfdom and the need for nationalized health care (and unrestricted abortion for that matter)

Pirate’s Cove: Obama Does Still Want A Government Run Insurance Company
NEOVATARA: A Conservative Health Care Solution
Positive Liberty: “If you think health care is expensive now…”
Homeland Stupidity: “Universal Health Care” Has Failed Again

Categories: Economy, Government, Health, Social and Political Climate, Videos, Audio Files

Tags: Barney Frank, government health care, health care, Obama, ObamaCare, Russ

Feingold, single payer, Single-Payer System, socialized health care, socialized medicine, universal health care, video, YouTube

About the author

Vicki McClure Davidson

I'm a conservative frugalist. My priorities: Watchdogging the government, making sure our tax dollars are spent wisely, living within our budgets (at home and in Washington, DC), and adhering to our Constitution and the conservative principles upon which it was developed by our founding fathers. Also, loving God, my family, and my country. Be wise, be frugal. God bless America!



Kerry wishes it were Palin who had gone missing

Ethel C. Fenig

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/06/kerry_wishes_it_was_palin_who.html

There he goes again. Senator -- and former presidential candidate, John (I voted for it before I voted against it) Kerry (D-MA) who, despite his fine education and even greater wealth -- thanks to his 2 wealthy wives -- is noted for shoving his foot in his mouth. The man who insulted the people serving in America's Armed Forces by saying

You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq.


has done it again. Writing in the Boston Herald, Rachelle Cohen enlightens us on Kerry's sense of humor. When told of Governor Mark Sanford's (R-SC) mysterious four day disappearance

"Too bad,'' Kerry said, "if a governor had to go missing it couldn't have been the governor of Alaska. You know, Sarah Palin.''

The Democratic-centric crowd laughed.

Tee hee! Letterman, Kerry--all afraid of strong, independent women! Kerry should find a job with David Letterman--who would miss him?

And as for Governor Palin

Gov. Sarah Palin is on her way to an undisclosed "overseas" location to visit deployed Alaska National Guard troops.

From Palin's Twitter feed:

"Travel now to bring appreciation from their Alaska family & Natl Guard leadership to heroes in US European Command's area of responsibility."


And that, Senator Kerry, is no joke. But of course you, defamer of troops from way back, think it is.

Jack Kemp adds:

These remarks by the snotty senator show that the Democrats are very frightened of Gov. Palin. And that's even without her inviting him to go moose hunting.



Ronald Reagan

http://www.wager-with-skill.com/

When we voted on November 4, 2008 and Rocko won and the boy didn't know what stuff's was and what he had gotten hisself into and we didn't realize just how much we missed Ronald Reagan, until we read and remembered some of the Good Stuff he Said and Stood for.

'Here's my strategy on War: We win, they lose.' - Ronald Reagan

'The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.' - Ronald Reagan

'The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so.' - Ronald Reagan

'Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.'
- Ronald Reagan

'I have wondered at times about what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress.' - Ronald Reagan

'The taxpayer: That's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination.' - Ronald Reagan

'Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.' - Ronald Reagan

'The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program.'
- Ronald Reagan

'It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.' - Ronald Reagan

'Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.' - Ronald Reagan

'Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed, there are many rewards; if you disgrace yourself, you can always write a book.' - Ronald Reagan

'No arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is as formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.' - Ronald Reagan

'If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.' - Ronald Reagan

The Main Man of our Times, if he was still in charge we would not be in this mess Rocko's got us into, but Ron's watch is over. We did love this Man. Rocko's I knew this Man and Shook his Hand, don't ever plan on Shaking yours and you ain't no Ronald Reagan, he paid his dues and you ain't did "Nothing".

"He is the King of all Politicians and always will be, Non-other can take his Place or ever Will!"



Justice Department Not Targeting Harman

By Tory Newmyer
Roll Call Staff

June 25, 2009

Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) confirmed Thursday that she is not the subject of a Justice Department probe into whether she agreed on a 2005 wiretapped phone call to seek leniency for two accused spies in exchange for help securing the ranking membership of the Intelligence Committee.

In a letter to Harman’s lawyer released by the California Democrat’s office, Assistant Attorney General Rita Glavin said the lawmaker “is neither a subject nor a target of an ongoing investigation by the Criminal Division.”

Harman made headlines in late April after news reports surfaced suggesting that she had been caught on a federal wiretap telling Haim Saban, a billionaire Democratic donor and ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), that she would try to scuttle a Justice Department inquiry into two American Israel Public Affairs Committee employees accused of spying in return for help lobbying Pelosi for the top-ranking spot on the Intelligence panel.

Harman vigorously denied the story, and it was quickly knocked off the front page by intrigue over what Pelosi knew and when about Bush-era interrogation tactics. The Harman flap has stirred little interest since, but in a statement accompanying the Justice Department letter, which was sent June 16, she sought to bury it once and for all.

“Earlier this year, I was the subject of media reports concerning transcripts of alleged government wiretaps,” Harman said. “To date, there has been no official confirmation that such transcripts exist or are accurate, and I have written to Attorney General [Eric] Holder asking for full disclosure. (It should be noted that if transcripts do exist, anyone leaking them to the press would be committing a felony.)”

Harman continued, “There are many pressing issues facing the country and the Congress, and I intend to maintain my focus on them, just as I have throughout my tenure in the House of Representatives.”



The Education Intelligence Agency

COMMUNIQUÉ

On the Web at http://www.eiaonline.com

1) Coverage of NEA Representative Assembly Begins July 2

2) Vox Populi, Vox Nihili

3) Court Rules Teaching Seventh-Grade English Is Not a Civil Rights Violation

4) Pigeon-Holed

5) Contract Hits

6) Last Week's Intercepts

7) Quote of the Week

1) Coverage of NEA Representative Assembly Begins July 2. For the 12th consecutive year, EIA will provide daily gavel-to-gavel coverage from the floor of the National Education Association Representative Assembly in San Diego. For those of you who are new to the communiqué, you should know that distribution works a little differently that week.

There will be no e-mail communiqués from the convention. I will blog each day's events on Intercepts, which you can check at your convenience, or you can subscribe to the blog's RSS feed. If you absolutely insist on e-mail, go to the Intercepts page, where you can sign up for blog updates via e-mail. You need only provide your e-mail address. Feedburner will send you a confirmation e-mail once you complete the verification. The rest is automatic. You'll get one, and only one, e-mail per day with the full text of the content I have added to the blog that day.

There will be no communiqué next Monday, though blog posts will continue daily, as usual. The first convention report will be posted Thursday night, July 2 and each evening thereafter until the convention closes on July 6. You'll get in-depth reporting, analysis and, I expect, photos and video of the proceedings. After the convention is over, and as the summer wears on, additional material from the convention will be part of your regular weekly communiqués in July and August.

Few fireworks are expected, and it's unclear whether the trusteeship of the Indiana State Teachers Association will even be addressed. NEA has no restrictions on seating delegates from such affiliates, unless they fail to pay their national dues. We can assume that despite its other difficulties, ISTA is current.

The only other issue that may arise from the trusteeship is the directive of NEA by-law 8-12 a., which states a trusteeship may be established "for the purpose of (i) correcting corruption or financial malpractice or (ii) restoring democratic procedures." The establishment of a trusteeship is prima facie evidence of NEA's belief that corruption or financial malpractice took place in Indiana, although, at last report, no one has been formally or publicly accused of anything.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will hold a town hall meeting on July 2 with the delegates, and NEA Friend of Education awardee Linda Darling-Hammond will speak on July 4.

I will be available via e-mail for your questions and comments during the convention, but please make allowances for delays in my response. Delegates and guests are welcome to visit with me by the press section (left of the stage as you face it), but be aware I am restricted from wandering around the convention floor. As always, conversations with me at the convention are kept in confidence - not for publication unless you explicitly authorize it.

2) Vox Populi, Vox Nihili. Take a look at this interactive map. It shows the results of the California special election of May 19 regarding Proposition 1B, which would have required the state to provide an additional $9.3 billion in funding to the public schools. The measure went down to a 62-38 defeat, and lost in all but three of California's 58 counties.

NEA and the California Teachers Association spent more than $10 million to pass 1B, when they could have just saved their money because Democratic legislators just introduced a bill that would spend the money anyway. Jim Sanders of the Sacramento Bee reports:

"Democrats also argue that 1B was rejected for reasons other than school funding – voters were angry that the Legislature hadn't solved the state's budget crisis, and they didn't like that 1B would take effect only if Proposition 1A were passed to extend some newly imposed taxes for up to two years."

These folks are too dim-witted to understand election results, so it's hardly surprising that they might believe the union's claims that California "ranks dead-last in the nation in per-pupil spending," or that reducing school bus routes "risks students' lives" because they might begin "walking in dangerous neighborhoods or along treacherous routes."

Meanwhile, the state Supreme Court ruled unanimously that districts do not have to allow unions to place campaign flyers in teachers' mailboxes at school.

3) Court Rules Teaching Seventh-Grade English Is Not a Civil Rights Violation. If you want to know why the Indiana State Teachers Association (ISTA) has money trouble, you might ask the union how much it spent on the case of Sharon Lucero.

Lucero had been teaching AP English in the Nettle Creek school district, but in 2004 administrators assigned her to teach seventh-grade English instead. In response, Lucero filed two Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaints and a union grievance, claiming "gender and national origin discrimination." The union grievance went all the way to arbitration, where the arbitrator dismissed it, ruling her reassignment could not be considered a reprimand.

Lucero sued Nettle Creek in January 2005, claimed she incurred medical expenses for treatment of physical and emotional stress, and filed a 147-page brief with 245 tabbed exhibits. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Nettle Creek, which Lucero appealed to the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Last week, the Seventh Circuit upheld that decision.

The full opinion is available here, and it's worth reading all the way through. I don't know how much Nettle Creek was forced to spend on the case, but the money surely could have been put to better use, maybe even saving a new teacher's job.

Oh, I forgot to mention Lucero sits on the board of an ISTA regional council.

4) Pigeon-Holed. There is a bill in the Massachusetts legislature that would require pigeons used in motion pictures to be "licensed and banded." I'm unsure what "banded" means in this context, or whether it's meant to say "bonded," but the Boston Herald interprets it to mean unionized - "no fly-by-night scabs stealing scenes," the paper reports.

The commenters are having a blast with this one, including my personal favorite, "What about the squirrels? They can't all work for ACORN."

The threat to unionize pigeons is not without precedent. Back in 1997 Local 70 of the Teamsters told the trustees of Mills College in Oakland the school could no longer use non-union goats to manicure the lawn. In a grievance letter, the Teamsters offered to represent the goats "in the same aggressive forceful manner we do every other member." (See page 6 here for further details.)

5) Contract Hits. Wherein we highlight a contract provision from the current agreement between the National Education Association and its largest staff union. This is Article 18, Section 8:

"The [staff] Union President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Grievance Committee Chairperson and Chief Shop Steward shall be continued in active employment by NEA regardless of their relative seniority, provided that there is bargaining-unit work that they are qualified to perform in any Job Category. Preference among the aforesaid Union officials shall be in the order in which they are listed herein (i.e., highest priority to President, etc.)."

6) Last Week's Intercepts. EIA's blog, Intercepts, covered these topics from June 15-22:

* The Turn of the Screw. Education Week gets disarmed.

* Today's Bad Timing Award. Maybe virtual charters aren't a way around unions after all.

* Report: Weingarten to Step Down in NYC. This was inevitable, since she only makes $350,000 a year.

* That Is One Fast-Spinning Revolving Door. Hello, I must be going.

* Win One, Lose One. I can't confirm these numbers, so I throw them out here and will happily correct them if I'm wrong: Of the roughly 4,600 charter schools in the U.S., about 110 are unionized.

7) Quote of the Week. "The teachers union, and its president, however, ought not to paint themselves as selflessly taking one for the team when, in reality, it only did it kicking and screaming." – Jack Spillane, columnist for South Coast Today in Massachusetts. Spillane was commenting about a claim by the Fairhaven Educators Association that it voted to "take three days without pay next year to help the Fairhaven schools." In fact, the union negotiated a reduction in contractually required work days in exchange. (June 21 South Coast Today)

The Education Intelligence Agency conducts public education research, analysis and investigations. Director: Mike Antonucci. PO Box 580007, Elk Grove, CA 95758. Ph: 916-422-4373. Fax: 916-392-1482. E-Mail: mike@eiaonline.com




"The e-mail Bag"

Friends don't let friends take ugly men home.

Women's restroom
Starboard, Dewey Beach, DE



No wonder you always go home alone.

Sign over mirror in Men's restroom,
Ed Debevic's, Beverly Hill s ,CA



You're too good for him.

Sign over mirror in Women's restroom
Ed Debevic's, Beverly Hill s ,CA



If pro is opposite of con, then what is the opposite of progress?
Congress!

Men's restroom House of Representatives,
Washington , DC



It's hard to make a comeback, when you haven't been anywhere.

Written in the dust on the back of a bus,
Wickenburg, AZ



Beauty is only a light switch away.

Perkins Library

Duke University, Durham, NC