ConservativeChristianRepublican-Report - 20090922

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Promoting "God's Holy Values and American Freedoms"!



"See You At The Pole" - Wednesday, September 23, 2009. For the time at your school, check with your Pastor, Priest, Cleric, Rector, etc. and/or your local school officials.

Religion and public schools

An important civics lesson this fall

http://www.onenewsnow.com/searchresults.aspx?cx=013271476271883857426%3Awgrzqkzqdwq&cof=FORID%3A11&q=meet+you+at+the+pole+-2009&sa=Go!#188

By Randall Murphree

When a teacher in Tyler, Texas, stopped a student from reading from the Bible during his oral book report, the student’s mother was stunned.
“My son is a sixth-grader in middle school,” the mother said. “When he stood up to give a book report on Psalms, his teacher stopped him from reading Psalm 23.” The mother appealed to the teacher, but the educator was unmoved.
“It is not allowed,” the teacher said.
At the end of last school year, a public school mother in Southern California reported that her son’s principal removed the cover of a class notebook containing students’ poems and art. The notebook was displayed as a year-end project along with notebooks from other classes.
Why did the principal rip the cover off this particular notebook? Because the children had decided that the cover should have a picture of two children praying in front of an American flag.
One might suppose such incidents are rare and isolated, but according to public policy groups, the issue of religious expression in a public school setting remains a confusing issue for many educators and public school officials. And, in reality, incidents like those happen all too often.
However, this fall, public school students, teachers and parents will get a civics lesson on free speech, thanks to the Free to Speak Campaign, a project of Gateways to Better Education (GTBE) and the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF).
The goal of the nationwide campaign is to promote freedom of religious expression by sending 5,000 letters to public school officials and distributing 500,000 pamphlets to parents, teachers and students.
“One of the most important civics lessons all students should learn is that freedom of religious expression is a fundamental right of all Americans,” said GTBE president Eric Buehrer in announcing the campaign. “And, this freedom extends into our public schools.”

What is allowable

In fact, ADF points out that the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) issued guidelines on freedom of religious expression in public schools in 1995 and 1998 during the Clinton administration, and in 2003 under the Bush administration.
“This is a bipartisan issue,” Buehrer said. “The guidelines were sent to every school district, but all too often, they just didn’t get to classroom teachers, parents and students. There is still widespread ignorance regarding this particular freedom of expression.”
Surveys consistently indicate that religion is an important part of teens’ lives. For example, a 2008 Columbia University survey found that 53% of students ages 12-17 (84% of the respondents from public schools) report attending religious services three or more times a month.
A 2002 Gallup survey reported that 48% of teens had attended church or synagogue within the last seven days.
“Many students are people of faith,” Buehrer said. “It’s part of who they are. Teachers need to acknowledge the whole student in their classes. This includes their faith. The classroom should be a safe place for students of all ages to express their faith in class discussions and homework assignments just as the U.S. Department of Education has affirmed.”

ADF cites seven freedoms expressly identified by the USDE. Following each freedom is a quote from USDE directives.

1. Students may pray, read religious material and talk about their faith at school.
“Students may pray when not engaged in school activities or instruction, subject to the same rules designed to prevent material disruption of the educational program that are applied to other privately initiated expressive activities. Among other things, students may read their Bibles or other scriptures, say grace before meals, and pray or study religious materials with fellow students during recess, the lunch hour, or other non-instructional time to the same extent that they may engage in non-religious activities.”

2. Students may organize and announce religious clubs at school.
“Students may organize prayer groups, religious clubs, and ‘See You at the Pole’ gatherings before school to the same extent that students are permitted to organize other non-curricular student activities groups. Such groups must be given the same access to school facilities for assembling as is given to other non-curricular groups, without discrimination because of the religious content of their expression.”

3. Students may express their faith in class work and homework.
“Students may express their beliefs about religion in homework, artwork, and other written and oral assignments free from discrimination based on the religious content of their submissions. Such home and classroom work should be judged by ordinary academic standards of substance and relevance and against other legitimate pedagogical concerns identified by the school. Thus, if a teacher’s assignment involves writing a poem, the work of a student who submits a poem in the form of a prayer (for example, a psalm) should be judged on the basis of academic standards (such as literary quality) and neither penalized nor rewarded on account of its religious content.”

4. Teachers may organize prayer groups with other teachers.
“When acting in their official capacities as representatives of the state, teachers, school administrators, and other school employees are prohibited by the Establishment Clause from encouraging or discouraging prayer, and from actively participating in such activity with students. Teachers may, however, take part in religious activities where the overall context makes clear that they are not participating in their official capacities. Before school or during lunch, for example, teachers may meet with other teachers for prayer or Bible study to the same extent that they may engage in other conversation or nonreligious activities.”

5. Schools may allow students to go off campus for religious studies during school hours.
“It has long been established that schools have the discretion to dismiss students to off-premises religious instruction, provided that schools do not encourage or discourage participation in such instruction or penalize students for attending or not attending.”

6. Students may express their faith at school events.
“Where student speakers are selected on the basis of genuinely neutral, evenhanded criteria and retain primary control over the content of their expression, that expression is not attributable to the school and therefore may not be restricted because of its religious (or anti-religious) content. By contrast, where school officials determine or substantially control the content of what is expressed, such speech is attributable to the school and may not include prayer or other specifically religious (or anti-religious) content.”

7. Students may express their faith at graduation ceremonies.
“School officials may not mandate or organize prayer at graduation or select speakers for such events in a manner that favors religious speech such as prayer. Where students or other private graduation speakers are selected on the basis of genuinely neutral, evenhanded criteria and retain primary control over the content of their expression, however, that expression is not attributable to the school and therefore may not be restricted because of its religious (or anti-religious) content.”
When the USDE sent its guidelines to every school superintendent in the country, it included a letter urging them to distribute the guidelines to students, teachers, administrators and parents in their school districts. Unfortunately, Buehrer said that pass-it-on system has failed in most school systems.
“In all my travels around the country, I have met only one school official who acted on that request!” he said.

How to effect change
It is in this context that ADF and GTBE hope to close that gap between school administrators on the one hand, and teachers, students and parents on the other. Their strategy centers around a new pocket-sized student pamphlet titled, “Free to Speak: What the U.S. Department of Education says about public school students’ religious liberties.”
Both groups are seasoned warriors in the culture war, GTBE since 1991 and ADF since 1994. GTBE is a nonprofit organization specializing in helping public schools understand how to create faith-friendly learning environments and lawfully teach students about Judeo-Christian history, thought and values.
Buehrer’s books and other educational materials have been endorsed by Don Wildmon, the late D. James Kennedy, Rabbi Daniel Lapin, and Josh McDowell. His expertise has been spotlighted in Focus on the Family magazine.
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith.
The two groups urge churches and campus clubs to purchase and distribute the pamphlets throughout their schools and communities. For every 100 pamphlets someone orders from GTBE, ADF will send a letter clarifying religious liberties to the school administrator of his or her choice.
“When people go to our Web site to order pamphlets, they can also give us the name and addresses of the schools they want to receive the ADF letter,” Buehrer explained. “We forward that information to ADF who, in turn, has one of its attorneys send those school principals a personalized letter clarifying students’ and teachers’ religious freedoms on campus.”
For example, if a church orders 500 pamphlets to distribute through its congregation, it can have ADF send personalized letters to five schools in its community.
“If someone deposited a million dollars in your bank account, but you never knew it was there, what good would it do you?” Buehrer asked.
“The same is true for our religious liberties,” he continued. “We have freedom to express our faith in school, yet sadly too many Christians don’t know it.”

NEXT STEPS
▶ Contact GTBE for more information on religious freedom in schools.
▶ Learn how your local schools handle religious freedom.
▶ Order “Free to Speak” pamphlets and designate schools to receive the ADF letter – www.gtbe.org/store or call 800-929-1163.

Gateways to Better Education
P.O. Box 514
Lake Forest, CA 92630

Alliance Defense Fund
P. O. Box 53007
Phoenix, AZ 85072
www.alliancedefensefund.org
800-TELL-ADF



"Daily Motivations"

The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot. -- Michael Altshuler



"Daily Devotions" (KJV and/or NLT)

"If we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness." (1 John 1:9)

A pastor of a large church came to talk to me after I had presented a message on how to experience God's love and forgiveness. He was filled with hatred and resentment toward the lay leaders of his previous church because he felt they had done him great harm and had tried to destroy his ministry.

The pastor had now realized that in his attempts to get even he had turned into a mean, critical, worldly Christian. He had come to the point of either getting right with God or getting out of the pastorate. As he put it, "This cancerous worldliness is destroying my life and ministry."

As we knelt together, his tears of repentance were followed by tears of joy. Several days later he went to visit the church leaders whom he had hated, and when he told them that he loved them and asked them to forgive him, the leaders responded with joy and Christian love. This dear pastor returned to his second church with a heart burning with love and zeal for our Lord.

To receive God's forgiveness like this pastor did, first agree that your sins are wrong and that they grieve God; second recognize that God has already forgiven your sins through Christ's death; and then third repent - change your attitude, which results in a change of action.

Confession is an expression of faith and an act of obedience, which results in God making real in your experience what He has already done for you through the death of His Son.



"The Patriot Post"

"[W]e ought to deprecate the hazard attending ardent and susceptible minds, from being too strongly, and too early prepossessed in favor of other political systems, before they are capable of appreciating their own." -- George Washington

"Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right, from the frame of their nature, to knowledge, as their great Creator, who does nothing in vain, has given them understandings, and a desire to know; but besides this, they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge; I mean, of the characters and conduct of their rulers." -- John Adams

"Law and liberty cannot rationally become the objects of our love, unless they first become the objects of our knowledge." -- James Wilson

"A nation under a well regulated government should permit none to remain uninstructed. It is monarchical and aristocratical government only that requires ignorance for its support." -- Thomas Paine

"No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders." -- Samuel Adams



INSIGHT

"I cannot find any authority in the Constitution for public charity.... [It] would be contrary to the letter and the spirit of the Constitution and subversive to the whole theory upon which the Union of these States is founded." -- President Franklin Pierce (1804-1869)

"I feel obliged to withhold my approval of the plan to indulge in benevolent and charitable sentiment through the appropriation of public funds.... I find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution." -- President Grover Cleveland (1837-1908)



THE DEMO-GOGUES

The BIG Lie: "We have never been this close. We've never had such broad agreement on what needs to be done. And because we're so close to real reform, suddenly the special interests are doing what they always do, which is just try to scare the heck out of people. I've got a question for all those folks [opposing health care reform]: What are you going to do? What's your answer? What's your solution? And you know what? They don't have one. Their answer is to do nothing." -- Barack Obama on opponents of ObamaCare, who have suggested a number of ways to reform health care without a government takeover -- tort reform, HSAs, buying across state lines, etc., etc.

That's exactly what we're worried about: "I'm working hard to fix up your classrooms..." -- Barack Obama

From the Court Jester: "Recovery act dollars are going farther and working harder than we anticipated. ...[T]he recovery act is doing more, faster, more efficiently and more effectively than we had hoped." -- Vice President Joe Biden

Open and honest debate: "Get the f--k out of here or I'll throw you out the window." -- Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) http://michellemalkin.com/2009/09/03/video-rep-pete-stark-tells-interviewer-get-the-fk-out-of-here-or-ill-throw-you-out-the-window/ to TV documentarian Jan Helfeld, who asked him about the national debt and the economy

Oops: "This is my town hall meeting for you. And you're not going to tell me how to run my congressional office. Now, the reason why I don't allow filming is that usually the films that are done end up on YouTube

http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YmIxMzI5NjcwOTY3NzA4Y2U1NWY0ZjY0YWI2MzFjNWM= in a compromising position." -- Rep. Baron Hill (D-IN)



VILLAGE IDIOTS

Victimitis II: "On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me. They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide." -- newly resigned "green jobs" czar Van Jones whining about being on the receiving end of "the treatment" he dishes out to his opponents

"You've got to understand, Van Jones is a star. He really is. He has an extraordinary background. He was a guy who is really going to help this country, and now he's unfortunately just not able to do it and I think that's too bad for the country." -- former DNC Chief Howard Dean

'Cause Democrats never mess up: "All we have to worry about is getting things done and doing them as well as we can. Don't even worry about the Republicans. Let them figure out what they're going to stand for. 'Cause as long as they're sitting around waiting for us to mess up, they don't have a chance." -- Bill Clinton

But it made him rich: "Capitalism is an evil, and you cannot regulate evil. You have to eliminate it and replace it with something that is good for all people and that something is democracy." -- Village documentarian Michael Moore at the conclusion of his new film, "Capitalism: A Love Story"



SHORT CUTS

"On the issue of the 'public option' here's my suggestion: Every Republican Member of the House and Senate should commit to supporting an amendment to whatever bill comes to the floor stating, in essence, 'All civilian Federal employees shall be covered by the 'public option' because it is such a good idea.' See how Pelosi likes that." -- political analyst Rich Galen



"Founders As Christians"

John Hancock
Signer of the Declaration of Independence

I John Hancock, . . . being advanced in years and being of perfect mind and memory-thanks be given to God-therefore calling to mind the mortality of my body and knowing it is appointed for all men once to die [Hebrews 9:27], do make and ordain this my last will and testament…Principally and first of all, I give and recommend my soul into the hands of God that gave it: and my body I recommend to the earth . . . nothing doubting but at the general resurrection I shall receive the same again by the mercy and power of God. . . -- Will of John Hancock



Patrick Henry
Governor of Virginia, Patriot

This is all the inheritance I can give to my dear family. The religion of Christ can give them one which will make them rich indeed. -- Will of Patrick Henry



"The Web"

FLUTTER - BY

http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=ZS43976949



Mr. President, Stop ACORN Funding Now

by Michele Bachmann

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=33624

One of the most egregious abuses of your hard-earned money has been federal funding for ACORN. This non-profit organization is no stranger to controversy. But its seemingly endless entanglement with criminal investigations, indictments, and consent decrees for voter registration fraud and related crimes in more than a dozen states across the nation didn't even faze Washington.

Since 1993, ACORN has received $53 million in direct taxpayer-funded assistance. Since January of this year, ACORN has been made eligible for another $8.5 billion through the “stimulus” and the fiscal year 2010 budget. And in May, the House Financial Services Committee considered another bill that would use the taxpayer funds from the Wall Street bailout (TARP) to subsidize a $1.5 billion housing slush fund. So, ACORN could have access to as much as $10 billion more.

And, all the while that Congress and President Obama have been making deposits into ACORN's trust fund, the scandalous headlines continued: "Nevada charges ACORN illegally paid to sign voters" (AP 05/05/09), "ACORN workers charged with forging voter registrations" (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 05/07/09), "Feds give ACORN more money despite indictments" (Examiner 05/23/09), "ACORN Ohio probe underway, illegal voting indictment available" (Capital Research Center 06/05/09), "11 accused of faking voter registration cards in Miami-Dade" (Miami Herald 09/09/09) -- to name just a smattering.
It took the release of a series of undercover videos showing ACORN workers in several states advising a couple on how to evade tax laws and get housing grants for setting up an underage prostitution ring to make Congress remember that it has a fiduciary duty to the taxpayers.

For months, I have fought to cut ACORN off. Accessing tax dollars is a privilege, and ACORN's repeated violations of the law and public trust mean they haven't earned that privilege. I have introduced legislation (the Taxpayer Protection and Anti-Fraud Act), offered amendments, held press conferences and written letters to the IRS, the Census Bureau, the Speaker of the House, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development -- to anyone who could take action to stop this abuse of your money.

The Democrats took no heed of any of this until now. While they countenanced election fraud with a wink and a nod, apparently the outrage of the American people over ACORN aiding and abetting prostitution caught their attention. And, with overwhelming bipartisanship, Democrats finally joined Republicans and passed amendments cutting off ACORN in both the House and Senate.

Yet, as you read this piece, not one dime has stopped flowing to ACORN. We must keep the pressure on both chambers to make sure their recent votes are more than just a publicity stunt to appease the outraged public. Make them deliver! Two votes on two entirely different bills in two different chambers never the 'tween shall meet. To actually end in the promised result -- that is, closing the door on ACORN’s federal funding entirely -- each chamber needs to pass the same language and get it to the President's desk -- language intact -- for his signature into law.

We know Washington can move quickly when it wants to -- witness how the cash infusion for Cash for Clunkers sailed through in a matter of hours.

Until Congress acts with similar unanimity of purpose, it remains to be seen if it really has the nerve, and the desire, to take the necessary and proper actions against this corrupt organization, putting them out of business once and for all.

And rather than wait and hope for Congress to do the right thing, President Obama can and should act now. The President must use his authority to suspend and bar ACORN from federal funding. The evidence against ACORN is ample, and the time for him to make the decision is now. Most Democrats in Congress have seen the writing on the wall. Even the Census Bureau has severed all ties with ACORN for the 2010 census. President Obama, the taxpayers are waiting to see whose side you will choose -- theirs or ACORN's.

It is time for President Obama to step up to his fiduciary duties to you, the taxpayer, and immediately suspend and bar ACORN from any federal programs or funding.



Rohrabacher: Obama's Health Plan Rewards Illegals
By: Dave Eberhart

http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/rohrabacher_immigration/2009/09/21/262684.html?s=al&promo_code=8968-1

WASHINGTON — Congressman Dana Rohrabacher , R-Calif., told Newsmax that the great headline-grabbing healthcare debate should not blind Americans to the dramatic impact ill-conceived immigration reform will have on the availability of health insurance.

Newsmax caught up with the lawmaker at the recent Federation for Immigration Reform’s (FAIR) “Hold Their Feet to the Fire” gathering at the Phoenix Park Hotel.

“I’m hoping that what’s going on here will finally open people’s eyes that illegal immigration is part of the debate on healthcare,” Rohrabacher said. “Part of the reason why a lot of Americans don’t have health insurance is because illegals have flooded into jobs and are willing to work for companies that pay more wages and offer no benefits.”

“Without that [influx of illegals], companies would be asking for labor and be willing to offer them benefits like healthcare insurance,” he added.

Rohrabacher had come to the FAIR gathering to lend his support to that organization’s President, Dan Stein, who was busy himself sounding the clarion call about allowing the Obama administration to push through any reform that features amnesty.

“As we gather here in the nation’s capital, another illegal alien amnesty bill has been introduced in the Senate,” Stein warned. “Like its predecessor, this bill rewards millions of people who broke our laws with the gift of American citizenship…”

For his part, Rohrabacher described a vicious and insidious process at foot in the country involving not only the growing number of companies that don’t offer health insurance, but a general “lowering of the wage level so that our own people can't afford healthcare when they could otherwise.”

“You know, when I was scooping ice cream at Marineland’s snack bar in high school and college, guess what, my employer provided healthcare -- a healthcare policy if you could imagine that,” he added. “If you go into all of these places right now, they don’t give you healthcare packages, and very few of the people in there speak fluent English as well.”

Rohrabacher had a bone to pick with elected officials, who seem to have lost sight of just who they represent.

“We end up taking care of and being more concerned about people who have come here illegally from other countries than we do about our own people, and that’s what it comes down to,” he said. “Elected officials who are elected to represent the people of the United States are more concerned about the people of other countries, especially those who have come here illegally, than they are about the well being of our own people. It’s a disgrace. It’s a betrayal of our people.”

Enemy Identification

Newsmax asked the lawmaker who he saw as the real enemy to a common sense immigration policy.

“It’s the globalists,” Rohrabacher explained. “This is not a fight between Republicans and Democrats. This is a fight between people who are totally committed to trying to serve the best interest of the people of the United States … versus the globalists, who have this global reference that citizenship really doesn’t count and that being an American is less important than being a citizen of the world.”

Rohrabacher made it plain that he did not think President Barack Obama understood the clear priorities, noting that when Obama visited Berlin he donned the cloak of a citizen of the world. “He’s not a citizen of the world,” Rohrabacher retorted. “He’s like the President of the United States.”

“The real enemies are the people who have loftier goals, and maybe are truly benevolent spirits, but they are going to have a horrible impact on the American people,” he lamented.

Newsmax reminded the lawmaker the President of FAIR had gone on record earlier in the day that he was profoundly disappointed that President Obama seemed to be listening to only one side of the immigration reform story.

Rohrabacher fired back, “Obama is a leftist. Obama is a leftist.”

“I know that he was raised by people who were very far to the left… He thinks that a more socialistic country … is the answer, and let them plan out our society -- rather than this chaotic system that is run by greed and by corporate, you know, goons, who are stepping on people’s well being.

“That is his fame of reference … He is going to hurt everybody as an American citizen. He is going to hurt all of us. The damage that he will do is the same, you know. I don’t care if he is well motivated or not -- because we all know the way to hell is paved with good intentions and that is where he is taking us.”



OBAMA'S CHOICE OF BIBLE VERSE:

It amazes me how God is able to show his presence and send messages to those who will listen, and DO believe in His presence and plan. The Lord has a way of revealing to those of us who know Him and those that don't ! Think about this!

Obama gave a big speech about how his faith is so "important" to him. In an attempt to convince the American people that he should be president, he said his favorite Bible verse is John 16:3. Of course his speech writers meant John 3:16, but nobody in the Obama camp is familiar enough with scripture to catch the error, including Obama.

Do you know what John 16:3 really says?

"And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor Me." (KJV)

The Holy Spirit works in strange ways!



Dear Mr. President Obama, U. S. Senate, and Congress:

I'm planning to move my family and extended family into Mexico for my husband's health, and I would like to ask you to assist me. We're planning to simply walk across the border from the U.S. into Mexico, and we'll need your help to make a few arrangements.

We plan to skip all the legal stuff like visas, passports, immigration quotas and laws.

I'm sure they handle those things the same way you do here.

So, would you mind telling your buddy, President Calderon, that I'm on my way over? Please let him know that I will be expecting the following:

1. Free medical care for my entire family.

2. English-speaking government bureaucrats for all services I might need, whether I use them or not.

3. All Mexico government forms, printed in Spanish, need to also be printed in English.

4. I want my kids to be taught Spanish by English-speaking (bi-lingual) teachers.

5. Schools need to include classes on American culture and history.

6. I want my kids to see the American flag flying on the top of the flag pole at their school.

7. Please plan to feed my kids at school for both breakfast and lunch.

8. I will need a local Mexican driver's license so I can get easy access to government services.

9. I do plan to get a car and drive in Mexico, but, I don't plan to purchase car insurance, and I, probably won't make any special effort to learn local traffic laws.

10. In case one of the Mexican police officers does not get the memo from their president to leave me alone, please be sure that every patrol car has at least one English-speaking officer.

11. I plan to fly the U.S. flag from my house top, put U S. flag decals on my car, and have a gigantic celebration on July 4th. I do not want any complaints or negative comments from the locals.

12. I would also like to have a nice job without paying any taxes, or have any labor or tax laws enforced on any business I may start.

13. Please have the president tell all the Mexican people to be extremely nice and never say critical things about me or my family, or about the strain we might place on their economy.

I know this is an easy request because you already do all these things for all his people who come to the U.S. from Mexico. I am sure that President Calderon won't mind returning the favor if you ask him nicely.

Thank you so much for your kind help.

Sincerely, U.S. Citizen & Taxpayer



Evolution the Basis for Communism and Nazism

Texan2driver's Blog

Yes, there have been people who called themselves Christians who have done horrible things. But they were not following God’s word. Those who have corrupted the word of God to further their own twisted ideals are many throughout history. Stalin, Lenin, Jim Jones, Hitler, and the list continues.

It has been the socialists and godless communists in recent history who have been the most destructive force against mankind. Yet there continue to be those who have never experienced true socialism, communism, or totalitarianism first hand that are easily deceived into following these ideologies. At the hands of such people we are doomed to continuously repeat history in a steepening death spiral towards the end of time.

The only question is whether or not enough people will wake up in time to at least slow the descent.


The blood-stained ‘century of evolution’

Editorial
by Carl Wieland

http://patriotupdate.com/stories/read/1167/Communism-and-Nazism-Based-on-Christianity-or-Evolution-

Those attacking Christianity sometimes point to the many religious wars and atrocities perpetrated in the name of Christ and the Church. They forget that not everyone self-labeled ‘Christian’ truly follows Christ. Also, that many times more people have been killed this century, most by their own governments, than in all religious conflicts, ever.1 And this slaughter happened because of philosophies openly hostile to biblical Christianity, and flowing directly from evolutionary belief.

Nazism openly proclaimed its dependence on Darwin.2 It was right and moral for the strongest race to survive; to have pity for the weak was to defy nature’s laws. It is doubtful whether this brutal ideology would have so captivated the nation that gave us Bach and Luther if not for the ‘scientific’ underpinning of evolution.

Communism also took evolution to its logical conclusion. If everything just evolved from ‘natural law,’ then man’s opinion, not God’s Word, determines what is right and wrong. If the working class can take power by armed struggle, then this is ‘right,’ regardless of how many must die to bring in the socialist paradise. Communism’s death toll far outranks the Nazis’—probably more than 90 million worldwide.3

Some have suggested that the bloodthirsty deeds of Stalin were an ‘aberration’ from the revolution’s ideals. However, it was Lenin, the ‘father’ of the Russian revolution, who ‘perfected the science of mass killings,’ and total, merciless brutality as the ultimate method of political control.4 Evolution was the chief tool used to brainwash communism’s masses into ‘scientific atheism.’ If everything just evolved, then everything is at the whim of the most powerful, and there is no Maker to whom to be answerable. Hence Stalin’s belief that killing millions of people was no worse than mowing your lawn (grass is our cousin in evolutionary doctrine).

Mao’s reign of terror and lies resulted in the deaths of tens of millions. It is no coincidence that his two favorite books were by the evolutionists Darwin and Huxley. With millions dying from his forced famine, his physician records that Mao said, ‘We have so many people we can afford to lose a few.’5 His successors have since persecuted and killed hundreds of thousands more.

Such overt ‘state’ evil makes it easy to forget what the Bible teaches about the evil within all of fallen mankind. Despite communism’s decline, the basic philosophy of evolutionism (i.e. man’s opinion, not God’s, is the ultimate authority) remains securely in control. They’re not shooting people scrambling over the Berlin Wall anymore, but millions of people are being torn apart in their mother’s womb in ‘democratic’ countries.

Today, the ideology of the ultra-free market, directly related to Darwinian ‘might is right,’ is on the rise. The Bible of course affirms private property, and the free and fair exchange of goods. However, at the same time it endorses civil government as a necessary restraint upon the sinful nature of mankind. Even the billionaire speculator George Soros has warned against unfettered ‘survival of the fittest’ capitalism. He says ‘What used to be a medium of exchange has usurped the place of fundamental values. Being successful is not identical with being right.’6

Soros’s comments make sense only if there are such things as immutable values and inalienable rights. But these cannot exist unless there is a Creator God Who has revealed such truths infallibly to His creation.

Thus, the creation/evolution issue is not just about origins; it is the key to which authority source will be seen as foundational in human affairs—God, through His revealed Word, or man’s opinion. May God be pleased to keep on using Creation magazine widely in spreading these vital, foundational gospel truths.

Further reading

Ivanov’s ape-human hybrid project—Why?

References and notes

About 130 million (not including the hundreds of millions killed by abortion) were slaughtered this century in the name of atheism, whereas all those killed in ‘the name of Christ’ in all of recorded history was at most around 17 million. See James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe, What if Jesus had never been born?, Thomas Nelson, Nashville, 1994. Return to text.
Evolutionist Sir Arthur Keith wrote: ‘The German Führer, as I have consistently maintained, is an evolutionist; he has consciously sought to make the practice of Germany conform to the theory of evolution.’ Evolution and Ethics, Putnam, New York, p. 230, 1947. Return to text.
Black Book of Communism, The Courier-Mail Weekend, Brisbane, p. 8, 13 December 1997. Return to text.
Men who taught the world to hate, The Sunday Mail, Brisbane, p. 67, 6 July 1997. Return to text.
The Great Dying, The Sunday Mail, Brisbane, pp. 59–60, 2 February 1997. Return to text.
G. Soros, in News Weekly, p. 24, 8 February 1997. Return to text.



Obama: Legalize illegals to get them health care

Republicans see a backdoor move toward 'amnesty', Gingrich skip values event

By Stephen Dinan (Contact)

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/18/obama-ties-immigration-to-health-care-battle/?feat=home_cube_position1

President Obama said this week that his health care plan won't cover illegal immigrants, but argued that's all the more reason to legalize them and ensure they eventually do get coverage.

He also staked out a position that anyone in the country legally should be covered - a major break with the 1996 welfare reform bill, which limited most federal public assistance programs only to citizens and longtime immigrants.

"Even though I do not believe we can extend coverage to those who are here illegally, I also don't simply believe we can simply ignore the fact that our immigration system is broken," Mr. Obama said Wednesday evening in a speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. "That's why I strongly support making sure folks who are here legally have access to affordable, quality health insurance under this plan, just like everybody else.

Mr. Obama added, "If anything, this debate underscores the necessity of passing comprehensive immigration reform and resolving the issue of 12 million undocumented people living and working in this country once and for all."

Republicans said that amounts to an amnesty, calling it a backdoor effort to make sure current illegal immigrants get health care.

"It is ironic that the president told the American people that illegal immigrants should not be covered by the health care bill, but now just days later he's talking about letting them in the back door," said Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee.

"If the American people do not want to provide government health care for illegal immigrants, why would they support giving them citizenship, the highest honor America can bestow?" Mr. Smith said.

But immigrant rights groups see the speech as a signal that Mr. Obama is committed to providing health care coverage for anyone in the United States legally, regardless of their citizenship status.

"It's the first time I've certainly heard, publicly, him talking more about legal immigrants," said Eric Rodriguez, vice president for research and advocacy at the National Council of La Raza (NCLR). "I think that was certainly positive progress. We were absolutely concerned about not hearing that."



Unearthed! Obama's twisted ACORN roots

Track timeline of president's ties to group immersed in scandals

By Chelsea Schilling
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=110131

ACORN (photo: Dickinson College)

While ACORN remains riddled in scandal, lawmakers have voted to cut off federal funding to the group, the U.S. Census Bureau has severed ties to the organization – and the White House has blasted its behavior as "unnacceptable."

But just how extensive are President Obama's personal ties to ACORN?

The following is a timeline outlining some of the purported connections between the president and ACORN through the years:

1990s: Obama meets ACORN

ACORN, or the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, first noticed Obama when he was organizing on the far south side of the city with the Developing Communities Project. A March 2, 2008, Los Angeles Times article by Letta Tayler and Keith Herbert, titled "Obama Forged Path As Chicago Community Organizer," explored Obama's pre-law school days as a community organizer in Chicago and his efforts to build a partnership with Chicago's "Friends of the Parks."

"Obama's task was to help far South Side residents press for improvement," the Times article explained.

National Review Online noted, "Part of Obama's work, it would appear, was to organize demonstrations, much in the mold of radical groups like ACORN."

The Times article reveals that Madeleine Talbot, who at the time was a leader at Chicago ACORN, was thoroughly impressed with Obama because "he got people to vote with their feet."

"At the time, Talbot worked at the social action group ACORN and initially considered Obama a competitor," the article stated. "But she became so impressed with his work that she invited him to help train her staff."

Talbott personally led Chicago ACORN's campaign to intimidate banks into making high-risk loans to low-credit customers, Stanley Kurtz reported.

"Long the director of Chicago ACORN, Talbott is a specialist in 'direct action' – organizers' term for their militant tactics of intimidation and disruption," Kurtz writes. "Perhaps her most famous stunt was leading a group of ACORN protesters breaking into a meeting of the Chicago City Council to push for a 'living wage' law, shouting in defiance as she was arrested for mob action and disorderly conduct. But her real legacy may be her drive to push banks into making risky mortgage loans."

Learn more about Barack Obama's early involvement as an ACORN organizer and attorney

1992: Project Vote! and training green ACORNs

As WND reported, in 1992, while he was working as a community organizer in Chicago, Obama headed the Chicago operations of Project Vote!, an ACORN effort to register voters nationally. In Chicago, Obama had his biggest impact registering African-American voters on the city's South Side. However, Obama's "Fight the Smears" website disputes this, saying Obama "never organized with ACORN."

After completing his legal education at Harvard in 1991, Obama returned to Chicago to work on the voting project that developed directly out of a radical revolutionary strategy developed by two Columbia University sociologists in the 1960s. In what became known as the Cloward-Piven strategy, the tactic advocated a revolutionary approach to mobilizing the poor in the form of class warfare against capitalist forces viewed as exploiting labor and oppressing the poor. The Cloward-Piven strategy sought to apply the tactics of the revolutionary civil rights movement, including urban riots, to the poor as a whole, transcending interest-group politics defined by race to involve interest-group politics defined by class.

Kurtz wrote, Obama also "conducted leadership-training seminars for ACORN's up-and-coming organizers. That is, Obama was training the army of ACORN organizers who participated in Madeline Talbott's drive against Chicago's banks."

Obama's FIght the Smears website claims Obama "never organized with ACORN"

1993: Woods Foundation

In 1993, Obama joined the board of the Woods Foundation, a non-profit foundation which declares its goal to "increase opportunities for less advantaged people and communities by giving money primarily to not-for-profit groups involved in housing, the arts and other areas." Obama served along with Bill Ayers and remained on the board until 2002.

Pajamas Media reports that during Obama's time there, ACORN received grants of $45,000 (2000), $30,000 (2001), $45,000 (2001), $30,000 (2002) and $40,000 (2002) from the Woods Fund.

1994: Buycks-Robinson v. Citibank

As WND reported, in 1994, Obama, a graduate of Harvard Law School then fresh from his Project Vote! experience, represented ACORN in the Buycks-Roberson v. Citibank Federal Savings Bank case, in which ACORN pressed for Citibank to make more loans to marginally qualified African-American applicants "in a race neutral way."

After obtaining a settlement in the Citibank litigation, ACORN used its subsidiary organization ACORN Housing, a nationwide organization with offices in more than 30 U.S. cities, to push the group's radical agenda to get subprime home buyers mortgages under the most favorable terms possible.

1995: ACORN attorney in Illinois lawsuit

In 1995, Obama was hired as a lawyer for ACORN in a major lawsuit. As a lawyer with civil-rights law firm Davis Miner Barnhill & Galland, he sued the state of Illinois on behalf of ACORN to implement the federal "motor voter" law.

Also in 1995, as WND's Jerome Corsi reported, Bill Ayers co-founded the Chicago Annenberg Challenge with a $50 million grant program for the Chicago public schools. Ayers selected Obama to be the first chairman of the board of the Annenberg Challenge, a position Obama held for eight years, until 2003, a period during which Ayers remained active with the Challenge.

In his Wall Street Journal article, Stanley Kurtz wrote that the Annenberg project funneled money to through various far-left community organizers, including ACORN.

1996: New Party ties

As WND reported, newspaper evidence shows Obama was a member of the New Party, which sought to elect members to public office with the aim of moving the Democratic Party far leftward to ultimately form a new political party with a socialist agenda. While running for the Illinois state Senate in 1996 as a Democrat, Obama actively sought and received the endorsement of the New Party, according to confirmed reports during last year's presidential campaign.

Barack Obama pictured in New Party publication (Courtesy New Zeal blog)

According to Democratic Socialists of America documents, the New Party worked with ACORN to promote its candidates.

In 1995, the DSA's New Ground newsletter stated, "In Chicago, the New Party's biggest asset and biggest liability is ACORN.

"Like most organizations, ACORN is a mixed bag," the newsletter said. "One one hand, in Chicago, ACORN is a group that attempts to organize some of the most depressed communities in the city. Chicago organizers for ACORN and organizers for SEIU Local 880 have been given modest monthly recruitment quotas for new New Party members. On the other hand, like most groups that depend on canvassing for fundraising, it's easy enough to find burned out and disgruntled former employees. And ACORN has not had the reputation for being interested in coalition politics – until recently and, happily, not just within the New Party."

1997-2004: Illinois state senator

Obama meeting with ACORN leaders as an Illinois Senate candidate

In 1997, Obama became an Illinois state senator. ACORN national board member Toni Foulkes bragged of ACORN's long-standing relationship with Obama prior to his election in the 2003-2004 issue of Social Policy.

Foulkes wrote in "Case Study: Chicago – The Barack Obama Campaign":

ACORN noticed [Obama] when he was organizing on the far south side of the city with the Developing Communities Project. He was a very good organizer. When he returned from law school, we asked him to help us with a lawsuit to challenge the state of Illinois' refusal to abide by the National Voting Rights Act, also known as motor voter. .. Obama took the case, known as ACORN vs. Edgar (the name of the Republican governor at the time) and we won. Obama then went on to run a voter registration project with Project VOTE in 1992 that made it possible for Carol Moseley Braun to win the Senate that year. Project VOTE delivered 50,000 newly registered voters in that campaign (ACORN delivered about 5,000 of them).
Since then, we have invited Obama to our leadership training sessions to run the session on power every year, and, as a result, many of our newly developing leaders got to know him before he ever ran for office. Thus, it was natural for many of us to be active volunteers in his first campaign for State Senate and then his failed bid for Congress in 1996. By the time he ran for Senate, we were old friends.

2005: U.S. senator

In 2005, Obama became a U.S. senator.

2007: From Obama's own mouth ....

On Obama's Organizing for America blog, Sam Graham-Felsen, a paid blogger, wrote about Obama's November 2007 speech to ACORN leaders:

When Obama met with ACORN leaders in November, he reminded them of his history with ACORN and his beginnings in Illinois as a Project Vote organizer, a nonprofit focused on voter rights and education. Senator Obama said, "I come out of a grassroots organizing background. That's what I did for three and half years before I went to law school. That's the reason I moved to Chicago was to organize. So this is something that I know personally, the work you do, the importance of it. I've been fighting alongside ACORN on issues you care about my entire career. Even before I was an elected official, when I ran Project Vote voter registration drive in Illinois, ACORN was smack dab in the middle of it, and we appreciate your work."
Again, on Dec. 1, 2007, Obama spoke at the Heartland Democratic Presidential Forum, a meeting for community organizing groups including ACORN. Obama received wild applause from the crowd as he promised that community organizing groups such as ACORN would help shape the agenda for his presidency.

Naked Emperor News posted the following video of his pledge:

He was asked, "If elected president of the Unites States, would you agree, in your first 100 days, to meet with the delegation of representatives from these various community organizations that campaigned for community values? Could they count on you in your first 100 days to sit down with them?"

Obama responded, "Yes. But let me even say before I even get inaugurated, during the transition, we're going to be calling all of you in to help us shape the agenda. We're going to be having meetings all across the country with community organizations so that you have input into the agenda for the next presidency of the United States of America."

2008: ACORN endorses Obama

On Feb. 21, 2008, the Acorn Political Action Committee endorsed Obama over Hillary Clinton during the 2008 primaries.

During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama and his running mate, Joe Biden, insisted they had nothing to do with ACORN after the inner-city advocacy group became engulfed in controversy over voter-registration fraud.

But in August 2008, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that the Obama campaign paid $832,598.29 to ACORN "offshoot" Citizens Services Inc. for "get out the vote" projects from Feb. 25 to May 17.

The newspaper revealed that Obama's payments to CSI for services were unusual: "For example, CSI received payments of $63,000 and $75,000 for advance work. Excluding the large payments to CSI, the average amount the Obama campaign spent with other organizations was $558.82 per check on more than 1,200 entries classified as advance work."

Anita Moncrief, former ACORN insider

According to the report, Citizens Services Inc. is headquartered at the same address as ACORN's national headquarters in New Orleans. A 2006 ACORN publication describes Citizen Services Inc. as "ACORN's campaign services entity."

In 2008, Anita MonCrief, a woman who worked in the Strategic Writing and Research Department of ACORN Political Operations and its affiliate Project Vote from 2005 through January 2008, said ACORN acted as an unofficial arm of the Democratic Party during the election and used cash operations to keep some financial transactions under wraps.

"It has always been a Democrat operation," she recently told WND. "They've never made any secrets about who they support. Their political action committees are usually set up to support these Democratic candidates."

She said political action committees support Democrat candidates, and the at the same time voter registration drives were being conducted, the group was putting out propaganda in communities telling people not to vote for Republicans.

According to a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review report, she further told a Pennsylvania court before the election that the Obama camp provided ACORN with a "donor list" that enabled Project Vote to solicit contributions from Obama supporters who had "maxed out" under federal contribution limits but who could surreptitiously give more to Obama's cause by donating to ACORN and its affiliates.

As WND reported, Project Vote, an affiliate of ACORN, is now suing MonCrief to the tune of $5 million.

2009: Criminal case against ACORN

According to the results of a congressional investigation done in July, ACORN was found to be rife with criminal activity.

A report from the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform states that ACORN "has repeatedly and deliberately engaged in systemic fraud. Both structurally and operationally, ACORN hides behind a paper wall of nonprofit corporate protections to conceal a criminal conspiracy on the part of its directors, to launder federal money in order to pursue a partisan political agenda and to manipulate the American electorate."

Since 1994, ACORN has received more than $53 million in federal funds, according to the report.

"Under the Obama administration, ACORN stands to receive a whopping $8.5 billion in available stimulus funds. Operationally, ACORN is a shell game played in 120 cities, 43 states and the District of Columbia through a complex structure designed to conceal illegal activities, to use taxpayer and tax-exempt dollars for partisan political purposes, and to distract investigators. Structurally, ACORN is a chess game in which senior management is shielded from accountability by multiple layers of volunteers and compensated employees who serve as pawns to take the fall for every bad act," the report said.

The report continued, "Lobbying is a substantial part of what ACORN does. It has endorsed Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Representative Albert Wynn (D-MD), and Representative Donna Edwards (D-MD). ACORN keeps donor records from the Clinton, Kerry and Obama campaigns with the intent to engage in prohibited communications. ACORN receives federal funding yet engages in improper lobbying. ACORN and its nonprofit affiliates do not have separate accounts. Neither ACORN nor any of its affiliates have properly reported their political activities to the IRS. These harms fly under the legal radar because the IRS rarely checks for compliance. The 'no substantial part' test is rarely enforced and the accounts of ACORN and its affiliates are illegally commingled."

ACORN became a hot topic during the 2008 presidential race because of Obama's ties to the group as well as its own admission that more than 400,000 of the 1.3 million voter registrations it claimed to have collected were not valid. ACORN registered 1.3 million new voters last year, and it is now under investigation in numerous states and faces voter fraud charges in nearly two dozen states.

The Obama administration selected ACORN to recruit counters for the 2010 Census, but the Census Bureau severed its ties with ACORN on Sept. 11.The Internal Revenue Service has also indicated that it is conducting a "thorough review" of its agreements with ACORN. According to Bloomberg, ACORN has has helped prepare about 150,000 free tax returns since 2004 for low-income families. Those returns have generated $190 million in tax refunds.

Cutting ties with ACORN?

Obama has tried to publicly disassociate himself from the group.

"The only involvement I've had with ACORN was I represented them alongside the U.S. Justice Department in making Illinois implement a motor voter law that helped people get registered at DMVs," Obama declared in one of the presidential debates.

"Now, with respect to ACORN, ACORN is a community organization. Apparently what they've done is they were paying people to go out and register folks, and apparently some of the people who were out there didn't really register people, they just filled out a bunch of names," Obama said.

"It had nothing to do with us. We were not involved," he declared.

Today, the House voted 345-75 to eliminate federal funding of ACORN after undercover videos showed counselors giving advice on tax evasion to a undercover reporters posing as a pimp and prostitute.

According to Fox News, the Defund ACORN Act prohibits any "federal contract grant, cooperative agreement or any other form of agreement (including a memorandum of understanding)" from being awarded to or entered into with ACORN. It also prohibits federal funds "in any other form" from being granted to ACORN.

The decision followed a Sept. 14 Senate vote to strip millions of dollars in federal housing funds for ACORN.

House Minority Leader John Boehner has called on President Obama to indicate whether he would sign a bill forbidding ACORN from receiving federal funding, the New York Times reported. The White House is now distancing itself from ACORN and its scandals.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs referenced the video that revealed ACORN employees giving illegal tax advice to a man and woman disguised as a pimp and prostitute.

"Obviously, the conduct that you see on those tapes is completely unacceptable. I think everyone would agree to that," Gibbs said. "The administration takes accountability extremely seriously."

However, Gibbs said he's unsure of whether Obama will ask Democrats to sever ties with ACORN.

"I don't know that I've had any discussion with him about that," he said.



"The Proposal"

http://dyn.politico.com/members/forums/thread.cfm?catid=3&subcatid=34&threadid=2929486

When a company falls on difficult times, one of the things that seems to happen is they reduce their staff and workers. The remaining workers must find ways to continue to do a good job or risk that their job would be eliminated as well.

Wall street, and the media normally congratulate the CEO for making this type of "tough decision", and his board of directors gives him a big bonus.

Our government should not be immune from similar risks.

Therefore:

Reduce the House of Representatives from the current 435 members to 218 members.

Reduce Senate members from 100 to 50 (one per State). Then, reduce their staff by 25%

Accomplish this over the next 8 years (two steps/two elections) and of course this would require some redistricting.

Some Yearly Monetary Gains Include:

$44,108,400 for elimination of base pay for congress. (267 members X $165,200 pay/member/ yr.)

$97,175,000 for elimination of their staff. (estimate $1.3 Million in staff per each member of the House, and $3 Million in staff per each member of the Senate every year)

$240,294 for the reduction in remaining staff by 25%.

$7,500,000,000 reduction in pork barrel ear-marks each year. (those members whose jobs are gone. Current estimates for total government pork earmarks are at $15 Billion/yr).

The remaining representatives would need to work smarter and improve efficiencies. It might even be in their best interests to work together for the good of our country!

We may also expect that smaller committees might lead to a more efficient resolution of issues as well. It might even be easier to keep track of what your representative is doing.

Congress has more tools available to do their jobs than it had back in 1911 when the current number of representatives was established. (telephone, computers, cell phones to name a few)

Note:

Congress did not hesitate to head home when it was a holiday, when the nation needed a real fix to the economic problems. Also, we had 3 senators that were not doing their jobs for the 18+ months (on the campaign trail) and still they all have accepted full pay. These facts alone support a reduction in senators & congress.

Summary of opportunity:

$ 44,108,400 reduction of congress members.
$282,100, 000 for elimination of the reduced house member staff.
$150,000,000 for elimination of reduced senate member staff.
$59,675,000 for 25% reduction of staff for remaining house members.
$37,500,000 for 25% reduction of staff for remaining senate members.
$7,500,000,000 reduction in pork added to bills by the reduction of congress members.
$8,073,383,400 per year, estimated total savings. (that's 8-BILLION just to start!)

Big business does these types of cuts all the time.

If Congresspersons were required to serve 20, 25 or 30 years (like everyone else) in order to collect retirement benefits, tax payers could save a bundle.

Now they get full retirement after serving only ONE term.

IF you are happy with how Congress spends our taxes, delete this message. Otherwise, I assume you know what to do.



Old Man

http://mhspatriots.ning.com/group/thearmedforces

As I came out of the supermarket that sunny day, pushing my cart of groceries towards my car, I saw an old man with the hood of his car up and a lady sitting inside the car, with the door open.

The old man was looking at the engine. I put my groceries away in my car and continued to watch the old gentleman from about twenty five feet away.

I saw a young man in his early twenties with a grocery bag in his arm, walking towards the old man. The old gentleman saw him coming too and took a few steps towards him. I saw the old gentleman point to his open hood and say something.

The young man put his grocery bag into what looked like a brand new Cadillac Escalade and then turn back to the old man and I heard him yell at the old gentleman saying, "You shouldn't even be allowed to drive a car at your age." And then with a wave of his hand, he got in his car and peeled rubber out of the parking lot.

I saw the old gentleman pull out his handkerchief and mop his brow as he went back to his car and again looked at the engine. He then went to his wife and spoke with her and appeared to tell her it would be okay.

I had seen enough and I approached the old man. He saw me coming and stood straight and as I got near him I said, "Looks like you're having a problem."

He smiled sheepishly and quietly nodded his head. I looked under the hood myself and knew that whatever the problem was, it was beyond me.

Looking around I saw a gas station up the road and told the old man that I would be right back. I drove to the station and went inside and saw three attendants working on cars. I approached one of them and related the problem the old man had with his car and offered to pay them if they could follow me back down and help him.

The old man had pushed the heavy car under the shade of a tree and appeared to be comforting his wife. When he saw us he straightened up and thanked me for my help. As the mechanics diagnosed the problem (overheated engine) I spoke with the old gentleman.

When I shook hands with him earlier he had noticed my Marine Corps ring and had commented about it, telling me that he had been a Marine too. I nodded and asked the usual question, "What outfit did you serve with?"

He had mentioned that he served with the first Marine Division at Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal. He had hit all the big ones and retired from the Corps after the war was over.

As we talked we heard the car engine come on and saw the mechanics lower the hood. They came over to us as the old man reached for his wallet, but was stopped by me and I told him I would just put the bill on my AAA card.

He still reached for the wallet and handed me a card that I assumed had his name and address on it and I stuck it in my pocket. We all shook hands all around again and I said my goodbye's to his wife.

I then told the two mechanics that I would follow them back up to the station. Once at the station I told them that they had interrupted their own jobs to come along with me and help the old man. I said I wanted to pay for the help, but they refused to charge me.

One of them pulled out a card from his pocket looking exactly like the card the old man had given to me.... Both of the men told me then, that they were Marine Corps Reserves. Once again we shook hands all around and as I was leaving, one of them told me I should look at the card the old man had given to me. I said I would and drove off.

For some reason I had gone about two blocks when I pulled over and took the card out of my pocket and looked at it for a long, long, time. The name of the old gentleman was on the card in golden leaf and under his name........"Congressional Medal of Honor Society."

I sat there motionless looking at the card and reading it over and over. I looked up from the card and smiled to no one but myself and marveled that on this day, four Marines had all come together, because one of us needed help. He was an old man all right, but it felt good to have stood next to greatness and courage and an honor to have been in his presence.

America is not at war. The U.S Military is at war.... America is at the Mall.

If you don't stand behind our troops, PLEASE feel free to stand in front of them!

Vote smart or don't bother. If you're just watching the news to get your knowledge, you're not informed enough to vote.



"The e-mail Bag"

A FISHIN’ TRIP

Dave and his buddies were hanging out and planning an upcoming fishing trip. Unfortunately, he had to tell them that he couldn’t go this time because his wife wouldn’t let him. After a lot of teasing and name calling, Dave headed home, frustrated.

The following week, when Dave’s buddies arrived at the lake to set up camp, they were shocked to see Dave was already there. He was already sitting at the campground with a cold beer, swag rolled out, fishing rod in hand, and a camp fire glowing.

“How did you talk your missus into letting you go Dave?”

“I didn’t have to,” Dave replied. I went home from work last night and slumped down in my chair with a beer to drown my sorrows. Then the ol’ lady snuck up behind me and covered my eyes and said, ‘Surprise’… When I peeled her hands back she was standing there in a beautiful see-through negligee and she said, ‘Carry me into the bedroom and tie me to the bed and you can do whatever you want’……SO HERE I AM!”