Wish I'd said that!

In recent decades, the ACLU has used its so-called "wall" to fight tooth and nail to prevent government sponsorship of the Pledge of Allegiance, memorial crosses, Ten Commandments displays, nativity scenes, Bible displays, and virtually every other acknowdgement of America's religious heritage.

At the same time, it is worthwhile to note that there have been some instances in which the ACLU has endorsed public displays of religion. For example, When New York City Mayor Rudi Giuliani threatened to cut taxpayer funding from the Brooklyn Museum of Art for displaying a painting of the Virgin Mary with cow dung and pictures of female sexual organs pasted all over her body, the ACLU was first in line to defend the display. U.S. District Court Judge Nina Gershon ruled that New York City's elected officials were not allowed to place conditions on the museum's funding.

In another instance, the ACLU offered its support to the taxpayer-funded National Endowment for the Arts, after the agency sponsored an art show featuring "Piss Christ" - an exhibit consisting of a crucifix submerged in a jar of urine.

In the ACLU's myopic world, it appears that the only permissible publicly-funded displays of religion are those which blatantly mock or disparage the Christian faith.

-- Indefensible: 10 Ways the ACLU is Destroying America, Sam Kastensmidt, 2006

Monday, May 11, 2009

Unchangeable?

It's really difficult to keep up with the changes being instituted by this government. But none of the changes are so surprising -- especially to Obama's voters -- as the backpedaling he and other major players have done recently.

For example, on Thursday the president told a town-hall meeting that "We can't keep on borrowing from China," essentially slamming his own policies as unsustainable. And who will forget Nancy Pelosi's very uncomfortable moment in the spotlight as she tried to wriggle herself out of her contradictory statements about her CIA briefing on "tortures," and her accusations against the agency, which are being contested by CIA Director Leon Panetta.

Incidentally, Glenn Beck may just have opened a new page in what may turn out to be the largest scandal in American history. He and his team of researchers have uncovered a former funeral home in New Orleans that serves as a mail drop for ACORN and at least 270 subsidiaries, including the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). All the corporations (many of which may be dummy fronts) apparently use the address as a money-clearing house. The investigation - which includes vote fraud, extortion and embezzlement - is continuing. The question is, will you see any of it on the mainstream news media?

I'll be watching you. The United States has achieved yet another notable milestone: we now rank 6th in the world as a "police state" insofar as government surveillance is concerned. Granted, in the modern world we need additional protection from the electronic villains who might try to steal our identities, and it's a cold comfort to realize that a lot of murderers, molesters, kidnappers and other nasties get caught because of the prevalence of cameras and other electronic eyes and ears.

The dark side of this is that eventually the wrong people will get control of that technology. As the report from Cryptohippie USA Inc. warns, " Perhaps you trust that your ruler will only use his evidence archives to hurt bad people. Will you also trust his successor? Do you also trust all of his subordinates, every government worker and every policeman? And, if some leader behaves badly, will you really stand up to oppose him or her?"

Along those lines, it is worth noting that the Wisconsin Court of Appeals has just ruled that police can emplace a GPS tracking device on anyone's car, without a warrant, even if the owner is not a suspect in a crime. Other states, including New York, have a different view.

Keep your 'enemies' closer? There is an ominous policy change going on in our relations with key areas of the Middle East. Apparently, the Obama malAdministration is not only withholding vital intelligence from Israel - our most important and reliable ally in the region - he may also be taking other actions that directly undermine the threatened Jewish State. Among these, the president has reportedly been invited by the Egyptian Grand Mufti to speak to the Muslim world from one of the Islamic world's most important mosques. One can't help but wonder, if he does make a speech to Muslims around the world, will it be yet another "trash-talk America" spiel that will only serve to inflame people who already hate us?

Incidentally, on May 6, Rep. Randy Forbes of Virginia gave a succinct and passionate response to the president's recent overseas tour and his comments about America not being a Christian nation. It is worth listening to. Seems we do have a handful of good leaders, even if they are currently powerless to affect change for the better.

Yuk, Yuck. The annual White House Correspondents' Dinner was held last Saturday night, and was attended by around 3,000 reporters, talking heads, and other celebrities, including the unusual addition of many of Hollywood biggest (liberal) names. They were all there for what is generally a relatively good-natured jibe at the current administration. However, while the president did take some pot-shots at a prominent bunch of Washington insiders, this time the emphasis was mostly on the previous Bush White House and conservatives.

The libs lapped it up and laughed at it all, including some not-so-kindly sick humor directed at Rush Limbaugh by so-called commedienne Wanda Sykes, who called Rush the "20th hijacker," expressed her "hope his kidneys fail," and that "he needs a good waterboarding." But the "comedy" got even meaner when the openly professing lesbian trashed Sarah Palin and her daughter. Sarah wasn't there, but her husband Todd was. Being the class act that he is, he didn't get up and punch her lights out. I might have been sorely tempted if she was trashing my wife and daughter. Even a reporter for the generally left-of-center UK Guardian noted that the affair "turned into a hateful and disgusting diatribe." The whole thing was a reminder that there's no class like low class, and there seems to be plenty of that around nowadays.

Where do they think charity comes from? You've probably seen the commercials for the Christian Children's Fund on TV. It generally shows a kindly-looking middle-aged bearded man holding a small child as he walks through what looks like a garbage dump in the middle of an alley. It seems that in this age of political correctness, watered-down faith and downright ignorance, the organization has adopted a new strategy: eliminating the "Christian" part of its name. Henceforth, the organization that professes to spread Christian charity to impoverished areas of the world will be known simply as Childfund International.

The irony is that virtually all the major real charities (not the political machines masquerading as charities) -- such as the Young Men's Christian Association, the International Red Cross and the Salvation Army -- that have sprung up over the past hundred and fifty years or so began as Christian organizations committed to helping the less-fortunate while spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some of the largest, like the Red Cross, YMCA and YWCA, have all but rejected Christ for the secular world. Does it not occur to those in charge that it was predominently Christians who contributed to these charities, and that dissing a major reason for their giving may have dampened their generous spirit over the years? And with the frequency of mismanagement and greed within secular organizations (e.g., ACORN), it becomes less than appealing to send even more of our hard-earned money down a rathole disguised as nobility.

Now for some encouraging news. With all the doom and gloom you generally see here, it's nice to be able to give you a little on the other side.

The president did something right, as far as I'm concerned, when he backtracked on a decision to release new photos of the Abu Ghraib debacle. The White House website no longer features his support for killing the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). But before you get ready to pucker up and plant a big wet one on the nearest presidential portrait, the site now states, "President Obama also continues to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and believes that our anti-discrimination employment laws should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity. He supports full civil unions and federal rights for LGBT couples and opposes a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage..." (emphasis added). Still, his apparent abandonment of the homosexual holy grail must be frustrating to the activists.

Then there is the blip produced by certain supporters of the homosexual agenda who are taking note that the impending hate-crimes legislation is little more than an attempt at fund-raising for gay activist groups, at the cost of the individual liberty of those who oppose that deathstyle.

Another slap to the homosexual lobby came from the American Psychological Association. The APA has disavowed its long-standing support for the elusive "gay gene". The activists' battle-cry that science supports a genetic cause for the behavior (a position held by them since 1988) cannot be confirmed, according to the report. Of course, it is doubteful that the new statement will change any of their minds, because these folks would rather see the entire culture burn rather than admit they are wrong. The report states in part, "There is no consensus among scientists about the exact reasons that an individual develops a heterosexual, bisexual, gay or lesbian orientation... no findings have emerged that permit scientists to conclude that sexual orientation is determined by any particular factor or factors."

A Major (Re)Production. In recent times - despite the many Christian ministries scattered throughout the undeveloped world - the Christian church itself has slacked off in the areas most in danger of losing touch with Christ; the breeding grounds of the faith -- Europe and our own continent. Despite being the the furnace in which the faith was forged over a millenium, secularism is drowning out the Church of Christ. Even more alarmingly, Islam threatens to overtake both Christianity and secularism within our childrens' lifetime, and its greatest weapon is the fertility it espouses. While Westerners have chosen to defer, delay or abort their future generations, demographics indicates that Islam has a strong likelihood of taking over Europe and North America in only a few decades if trends continue. Our culture of convenience and self-gratification will be the demise of not only our family bloodlines, but of our entire culture as well, unless a drastic nation-wide reversal of this suicidal behavior occurs soon. We must stop looking at raising a family as an inconvenience, and remember that it is a major blessing.

How much good news can we take? A lot more...but this is truly encouraging. A new Gallup poll indicates that a majority of American adults now consider themselves to be "pro-life" for the first time since Gallup asked the question in 1995. Now, if only we could get more of those adults to begin procreating.



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