ConservativeChristianRepublican-Report - 20090612

Motivational-Inspirational-Historical-Educational-Political-Enjoyable



"Daily Motivations"

It’s your precious life. Live it now! -- From the Choose Inspiration Movie



"Daily Devotions" (KJV and/or NLT)

"God, who calls you, is faithful..." (1 Thessalonians 5:24)

Most of us understand at least a little bit of how an automobile engine functions. Pistons, fan belts, water pumps, and thousands of moving parts all whirl around within a small space, creating power. Each piece in the motor has a different part to play in helping the engine function. If one piece gets out of line, the engine malfunctions. At the same time, oil and coolant circulate to keep the engine running smoothly. The parts must all work together harmoniously.

That is the way God's attributes function too. If you took away love, God's character would not be complete. God's love works with all other attributes, like His justice, to produce the right kind of results. We can compare God's faithfulness to the oil in the engine that keeps the internal parts running smoothly. God's faithfulness means that each attribute in His character is working at full capacity at all times. Therefore, you can count on Him to keep His promises.

In fact, God's faithfulness is at the core of God's nature. He is always all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-present, holy, righteous, merciful, and loving because He is faithful to His own character. He never changes any of His attributes to accommodate someone else's wishes.

So when you get up in the morning and the sun is shining, thank God for His faithfulness. When you look outside and find it raining, thank God for His faithfulness in watering the earth. Truly, God's faithfulness is new every morning and refreshes us every night.



"The Patriot Post"

"The consciousness of having discharged that duty which we owe to our country is superior to all other considerations." -- George Washington

"The Constitution ... is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary which they may twist and shape into any form they please." -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Judge Spencer Roane, September 6, 1819

"[T]here is not a syllable in the plan under consideration which directly empowers the national courts to construe the laws according to the spirit of the Constitution." -- Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 81, 1788



"Liberty Counsel"

From the Desk of:

Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel

In a strictly partisan move, late last week the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted in favor of David Hamilton -- the "No to Jesus, Yes to Allah" judge.

Hamilton now goes to the full Senate for final confirmation -- in a crucial vote that will set the stage for all subsequent Obama court nominees, including Judge Sotomayor at the U.S. Supreme Court.

But when will this key vote take place?

One of our contacts on the Hill has told us that the final vote could come "any time soon." It could be this week. It could be next week. One thing is clear...

With opposition still strong among some Senators and resistance building at the grassroots, I fully expect Harry Reid to wait until the very last possible moment to announce the timing of the final vote.

Help me counter Reid's secretive strategy.

The Democrats pushed Hamilton through the Judiciary Committee with a last-minute announcement of the vote. We simply must be ready to neutralize their efforts to slip the final confirmation vote in the full Senate under the radar!

Here's what I'm asking you to do...

I want to keep a steady flow of faxes going to the Senate every day until this vote AND...

I want to have in reserves tens of thousands more faxes that will be unleashed the moment Reid announces the timing of the vote.

But I literally need thousands of Liberty Counsel friends to stand with me to make this happen!

Please go here right now to help us keep the pressure on now AND prepare for a massive FAX BARRAGE as soon as the Hamilton vote is scheduled:

http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp?U=19517&CID=297&RID=20856035

Of course, you can always send your own faxes. We have provided all the information on the above link.

We must have a "fax barrage" ready...

Again... Harry Reid and the Democratic leadership in the Senate have not announced a date for the Hamilton vote. They undoubtedly want to slip this through "under the radar" with a last-minute announcement and vote.

We can counter this strategy with a constant stream of faxes NOW along with a massive FAX BARRAGE as soon as the final vote is announced.

I have instructed my staff to keep the pressure on while building up a stockpile of faxes for the BARRAGE. All I need you to do is schedule your faxes today. My staff will take care of the rest and see that your faxes are timed so that they have the greatest possible impact.

Please go here to schedule your faxes as part of our massive FAX BARRAGE:

http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp?U=19518&CID=297&RID=20856035

And thank you for standing with Liberty Counsel on this urgent issue!

Mat Staver
Founder and Chairman



"ADF"

ADF Alliance Alert

One step at a time, we are winning some fights for Judeo-Christian values. - oyh

http://www.alliancealert.org/2009/06/09/adf-ucla-confirms-student-can-thank-jesus-in-graduation-statement/

ADF: UCLA confirms student can thank Jesus in graduation statement

http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4978

ALLIANCE DEFENSE FUND NEWS RELEASE
June 9, 2009 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT ADF MEDIA RELATIONS: (480) 444-0020 or www.telladf.org/pressroom

UCLA confirms student can thank Jesus in graduation statement

ADF attorneys sent letter to chancellor, warning that censoring student’s religious expression is unconstitutional

LOS ANGELES — Officials from the University of California, Los Angeles, confirmed Tuesday that they will permit a Christian student’s graduation statement to include a word of thanks to Jesus Christ after first saying they would not allow the sentence. Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom urged officials in a letter Friday afternoon to refrain from violating her free speech rights. The student, Christina Popa, received a voice mail from the school Friday evening that her statement will be read verbatim during the June 13 commencement ceremony.

“Christian students shouldn’t be silenced when expressing their beliefs at public universities and are entitled to the same rights as all other students,” said ADF Litigation Staff Counsel Heather Gebelin Hacker. “We are pleased that UCLA officials understand that denying religious liberty to students is a violation of the First Amendment, not a requirement of it. A personal statement at a graduation ceremony is exactly that–personal–and in no way signifies an endorsement of religion by the school. We commend UCLA for acting quickly to protect Ms. Popa’s constitutional rights.”

On May 21, Dr. Pamela Hurley, student affairs advisor for the Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology Department at UCLA, e-mailed all graduating students to collect short personal statements from them that she would read as they crossed the stage to receive their degree at the June 13 department commencement ceremony. Hurley informed students that the statements, called “Words of Wisdom,” could contain “almost anything,” including expressions of gratitude, UCLA experiences, family acknowledgements, favorite quotes, etc. She added that some of the most memorable statements were “fanciful” or “outrageously wild,” but suggested that students bypass political, derogatory, or “specific religious expression.”

Popa opened her proposed statement with, “I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” before thanking her deceased father and other family members for their encouragement, and closed with her future career plans.

Hurley responded in an e-mail that UCLA observes the “separation of church and state,” and that instead of reading, ‘I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,’ Hurley would only allow, ‘First, I want to thank God.’” When Popa objected, Hurley said the only other option was to read none of Popa’s comments at the ceremony.

After ADF attorneys wrote to the school over the matter on Friday afternoon, Popa received a voice mail on Friday evening saying that she would be allowed to read her comments as originally written. The university confirmed this by letter Tuesday.

Letter sent by ADF attorneys to UCLA Chancellor Gene Block
Confirmation letter from UCLA officials granting permission for Popa’s original graduation statement to be read
The ADF Center for Academic Freedom defends religious freedom at America’s public universities. ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.

www.telladf.org www.centerforacademicfreedom.org



"Find Law"

Holocaust Meseum Shooting Suspect Charged with Murder, Weapons Violations

UNITED STATES V. JAMES WENNEKER VON BRUNN
(U.S. Dist. Ct., D.C., Jun. 11, 2009) - James W. Von Brunn, an acknowledged white supremacist, was charged with first degree murder and using a firearm in a federal facility, after he fired and killed a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. on June 10, 2009. Read more...

http://news.lp.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/crim/us-von-brunn61109cmp.html

Related Resources
• Shooting Suspect's History of Seething Anger (AP)

http://news.lp.findlaw.com/ap_stories/other/1110/06-10-2009/20090610192012_12.html



"Sen. Jim DeMint"

Dear Friend,

The bankruptcy filing of General Motors last week didn’t have to be this way.

GM could have – and as many of us argued at the time, should have – declared bankruptcy last December. Our bankruptcy laws exist to give troubled companies a chance to restructure their business models and get out from under crushing debts.

But now, after we lost $50 billion in a misguided bailout scheme, the bankruptcy GM is entering is not even real bankruptcy. It’s a political bankruptcy, brokered by the Obama administration to reward the very people who helped to destroy the company in the first place.

Under the agreement, investors and creditors were wiped out, while the federal government, the Canadian government, and the labor bosses will own 90 percent of the new company.

Going forward, GM won’t be able to make the tough business decisions necessary to get back to profitability. They will be second-guessed and overruled by politicians in Washington. Meanwhile, as GM becomes a government program, car companies that are succeeding will have to compete at an unfair disadvantage – all because the labor bosses funneled millions of dollars to Democrat candidates over the last few election cycles.

It isn’t fair, and it needs to stop.

Broken companies and greedy labor bosses shouldn’t be rewarded for their failures. Washington needs to get out of this quagmire before politicians do to our auto industry what they’ve already done to our financial system.

A free auto market will help revive our industrial economy, and give GM its best chance to succeed. As always, freedom will work…if we let it.

Sincerely,

Jim DeMint
United States Senator



"The Web"

Video: Tank Encounters Car Bomb

http://shock.military.com/Shock/videos.do?displayContent=191740&page=2&ESRC=army.nl



Taxpayers Losing Billions on Big Bailouts Gone Bad

http://moneynews.newsmax.com/financenews/aig_bear_stearns/2009/06/10/223642.html?s=al&promo_code=8147-1

The Federal Reserve lost $5.25 billion in the first quarter on the securities it acquired with last year's bailouts of Bear Stearns and insurer American International Group, according to a report issued Wednesday.

The loss on the holdings, which include mortgage-backed securities, reflected a decline in their value as the recession carried over into the first three months of this year. The cumulative loss on the Bear and AIG holdings come to $16.46 billion since they were taken over last year.

The Fed is hoping that if it holds onto the securities long enough, they will eventually rise in value once the economy returns to full health again, the housing market heals and the financial and credit crises are past.

The Fed's new report, which will be issued monthly, comes as lawmakers have demanded more information about the bailouts, and a slew of other programs intended to spur lending and stabilize the banking system.

The monthly report provides some details beyond the Fed's weekly snapshot of loan and debt-buying programs on its balance sheet. Those details include collateral pledged by borrowers, ratings on collateral, and the number of borrowers for some programs.

However, the Fed did not budge on lawmakers' requests that it identify borrowers for emergency and other loans.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has repeatedly argued that doing so would risk a run on a bank or other financial institution, undermining the purpose of the program.

As lender of last resort, the Fed's programs are intended to bolster the financial system, a key ingredient to lifting the country out of recession.

The monthly report showed that the Fed's commercial paper program reported net income of $2.14 billion in the first quarter. Commercial paper is the crucial short-term debt that companies use to pay everyday expenses.

The Fed began buying commercial paper last year when that market virtually came to a halt after credit problems intensified last fall.

It also reported net earnings of $1.2 billion in the first quarter on other loan programs, including emergency borrowing to banks and investment firms.

The Fed reported $4.57 billion in earnings under its regular transactions involving Treasury securities.

As of late May, the report said that trusts affiliated with Sallie Mae, GE Capital Credit, CarMax, Ford Credit, Harley-Davidson Motorcycle, Honda and Nissan were among the issuers of securities participating in a Fed program intended to spark lending to consumers and small businesses.

Investors in the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, or TALF, get loans from the Fed to buy newly issued securities backed by, among other things, auto and student loans, credit cards and business equipment.

It also said that borrowing banks have put up $965 billion in collateral to back emergency and other Fed loans that averaged $448 billion in daily borrowing as of late May.



THIS GUY GETS PAID 283G TO REPAIR TRAINS

MTA WORKERS PULL IN OUTRAGEOUS OT FORTUNES
By JAMES FANELLI

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06072009/news/regionalnews/this_guy_gets_paid_283g_to_repair_trains_172974.htm

Call it the great train robbery.

While straphangers suffer from higher fares and decreased services, six grease monkeys at a Long Island Rail Road maintenance facility in Queens ratcheted up their incomes by more than three times their base salaries through enormous amounts of overtime and other perks in 2008, according to payroll records obtained by The Post.

The mechanics, all union members, each easily cleared more than $200,000 in income last year -- for a grand total of $1.5 million -- giving well-paid MTA suits a run for their money.

The biggest payday went to Ronald Dunne, a car repairman who pulled down a staggering $283,373 in total compensation, making him the fifth-highest-paid employee in the entire transit system. Only MTA head Eliot Sander -- who made $364,989 in salary and perks -- and the presidents of the LIRR, New York City Transit, and the Bridges and Tunnels division made more.

Dunne's base salary was $62,976 but, incredibly, he hauled in an additional $220,397, mostly from overtime. The 23-year employee in 2007 raked in enough to buy a set of gold-plated wrenches: $201,773 in total earnings, including $147,668 in overtime.

Riders have not fared so well. The cash-strapped MTA, which oversees the LIRR along with NYC buses and subways and the Metro-North commuter railroad, needed a $2.3 billion taxpayer bailout to close a yawning gap in its 2010 budget.

The state agency approved a 10 percent across-the-board fare hike that takes effect at the end of the month.

Dunne works at a diesel train yard in Richmond Hill, Queens, which has been an overtime gold mine for employees.

Another LIRR car repairman, Michael Visceglia, took home $274,765 in 2008, making him the seventh-highest-paid employee in the MTA. The 28-year employee earned $211,789 -- most of it overtime -- on top of his $62,976 salary.

Another Richmond Hill yard employee, road car inspector and former repairman Michael Shurman, made $278,746 in 2008, and retired in November of that year. He earned $165,867 in overtime and $41,284 in payouts for unused vacation and sick days.

Retirement has been just has lucrative. After 31 years on the job, he now gets a monthly pension check of $10,122.

Three other yard mechanics were overtime kings of Queens: Donald Brooks, Michael Gilmore and Brian Delgiorno, who took home a cumulative $664,265 in 2008.

Delgiorno, who retired in September after 31 years, made $62,976 in salary plus $106,385 in overtime. He also cashed in $38,410 in unused vacation and sick days. He now collects $9,768 a month from his pension.

Workers at the Richmond Hill yard said the OT kings were off, and messages left at the facility weren't returned.

LIRR spokesman Joe Calderone said longstanding union contracts have led to the OT spree, particularly at the Richmond Hill yard.

"Antiquated work rules in collective-bargaining agreements have led to excessive earnings at our Richmond Hill maintenance facility by some employees with high seniority," he said.

"The LIRR is addressing this issue through a series of management initiatives designed to reduce overtime."

The mechanics weren't the only employees who got windfalls from the LIRR.

Conductor Shelton Bethea made $241,203 before his retirement in November 2008. He took home in $78,030 in overtime and cashed in $89,980 in sick and vacation days. His pension now pays him $7,408 a month.

MTA watchdogs pointed the blame at management for unwise staffing.

"When you have someone earning close to five times their base salary in overtime, it raises serious questions about management," said Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign. "Why do they need to pay such high extra costs? What does it say about the adequacy of their staffing?"

"Whenever you see something like that, it does raise a red flag," said Bill Henderson, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA. "That's a big difference. It seems like that needs to be looked at."



"The e-mail Bag"

Fox is already cowering to Obama-- ........

In response to Barack Obama's complaint that FOX News doesn't show enough Black and Hispanic people on their network, FOX has announced they will now air " America 's Most Wanted" TWICE a week.



WHAT CAUSES ARTHRITIS?

A drunk who smelled like beer sat down on a subway next to a priest. The man's clothes were stained, his face was plastered with red lipstick, and a half-empty bottle of gin was sticking out of his torn coat pocket. He opened his newspaper and began reading. After a few minutes the man turned to the priest and asked, "Say Father, what causes arthritis?"

The priest replies, "My Son, it's caused by loose living, being with cheap, wicked women, too much alcohol, contempt for fellow man, sleeping around with prostitutes and lack of a bath."

The drunk muttered in response "Well, I'll be damned!"

Then returned to his paper. The priest, thinking about what he had said, nudged the man and apologized. "I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to come on so strong. How long have you had arthritis?"

The drunk answered, "I don't have it, Father. I was just reading here that the Pope does."

MORAL:

Make sure you understand the question before offering the answer.