Friday, October 29, 2010

Today's Posts

Scalawags Vote, Soldiers Denied

Vote fraud alert!

35 counties (count 'em, 35) missed deadlines to deliver ballots overseas to our soldiers but the thugs in Cook County jail got their ballots hand delivered to them!

Watch this Fox News report of this travesty.

Desperate Democrats Go Dirty

Even this ABC News reporter gets it -- the Democrats have nothing to run on so they're running away from their record, running scared from the voters and running into the garbage dump for their ad ideas.

It's not just the Aqua Buddha and David Vitter's prostitute, Democratic candidates across the country are closing out the campaign with personal attacks on Republican candidates, sometimes digging up decades-old legal problems.

In one typical example, Democratic ads have transformed Kentucky Republican House candidate Andy Barr into "a convicted criminal" -- complete with images yellow police tape and fuzzy video of crime scenes. Not mentioned is his crime: As a college student 19 years ago, he was caught using a fake ID during spring break.


As you watch this year's ads -- and I've been watching all too many lately -- you'll notice a striking difference between Democratic and Republican attack ads: Democrats are attacking over personal issues, Republicans are attacking over policy...

It's Crunch Time! (The Movie Version)

For those of you haven't seen these brief inspirational video clips...

For those who'd like to see them again...

And for those who will use the links to forward them to others in these crucial days before the election...here are a few of the most impressive video clips that have appeared on Vital Signs Blog these last couple of months.

Again, please send them on to your e-mail lists and Facebook posts. Or, what's even easier, just forward this entire post and let them scan through the list. Whatever -- let's do our bit to make sure these video clips "go viral" in our respective circles in order to turn out the vote...big time.

It will make a difference!

The Final Act: Are You Ready?

Your Turn

Phase One: USA Owes China. Phase Two: China Owns USA.

Vote These Knuckleheads Out!

Coming Soon to a Polling Booth Near You

"I'm An American"

Taking America Back

Yipes! That Was the Summer of Recovery?

Inside A Democrat Incumbent's Office

Coming This Fall: "I Want Your Money"

It's Crunch Time!

Here are 4 important questions for you. They all concern the incredibly important elections coming up this Tuesday.

1) Have you carefully investigated who you need to vote for? You should be utilizing the Voters Information Packet (a really exhaustive and, therefore, indispensable resource) and the Nebraska RTL PAC Guide.

2) Have you communicated to your friends and family about these resources? Do so. We are printing off copies to make available to our church friends too. Of course, many of your friends and family may not bother to take advantage of these materials. But those who share your values will probably listen to you. So don't be afraid to let them know who you're voting for. Use the phone. Use your e-mail list. Use Facebook. But let people know who you're voting for...and why.

3) Have you been praying for the election? Praying that truth and justice will prevail? Praying that the candidates who are genuinely committed to defending the sanctity of life, marriage, religious freedom and economic sanity prevail?

4) Have you made a contribution, stuck a sign in your yard, volunteered for a lit drop or a phone bank or done something else that will help get the good guys elected?

I believe that the stakes are higher in this election than any in my lifetime. We've got to do what we can.

Europe Is Killing the Welfare State (Before the Welfare State Kills Europe!)

Listening to the banging drums of French strikers marching at Place des Invalides, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, I knew that I was listening to the death rattle of the welfare state. I and many others had predicted this moment; not an amazing feat if one simply did the math.

The French strikers will persist in their pleas and in their desperate acts of sabotage, but the outcome of this showdown is already certain. The money for Frane's luxurious post-war welfare state is gone. French demographics have inverted. There are too many retiring at 60 and with too few workers and future workers to keep the system going. The French government has been funding their retirement system with debt. But now, staring at the prospect of Greek-style insolvency, if even remotely, Nicholas Sarkozy knows he must pull the plug, and he will, even if it kills his political career...


Across the channel, news stories declare Britain "broke" as it's announced that London is looking at cutting a half million public sector jobs. Economists in both countries have told me their nations keep going only thanks to creative accounting and new borrowing. In June, a respected French economist told me that without a radical change of course, the world would wake up one morning and discover that France was suddenly in a Greek style mess. But unlike Greece, France is not "too big to fail," it is too big to save. If France defaults, there is not enough collective EU cash to right the ship. The French had to do it themselves. And that's what we're witnessing now.


The Europeans look across at America, with its huge Obamacare and Tarp and trillions in bailouts, and they are dumbfounded that Americans would decide to explode the size of their welfare state at the very time Europeans are so visibly and desperately trying to escape it.


Washington, take a clue from the tear gas. An era is ending.


(Dale Hurd, CBN News Senior Reporter from "Death Rattle of the Welfare State," the most recent post on his blog.)

Sandra Day O'Connor Is Still Harming the Republic

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has violated the Code of Conduct for United States judges. She should resign from her position as a roving judge on "senior status." If she doesn't resign, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. - at whose sole discretion she serves as a "pinch hitter" on lower federal courts - should no longer designate her for such duties.

In a controversial case Tuesday before a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Mrs. O'Connor provided the deciding vote in a 2-1 decision to throw out Arizona's requirement that new voter registrants provide proof of citizenship. This was not just another lousy decision in Justice O'Connor's long record of uneven jurisprudence. The deeper ethical problem is that she is active in political causes while continuing to serve as a judge...


Wow.

You knew Sandra Day O'Connor was a very bad Supreme Court Justice -- inconsistent, unprincipled and not the brightest bulb in the pack. You probably suspected she was a lying opportunist too. After all, she managed to slip by Ronald Reagan's legal investigators, posing as a judicial and moral conservative when she was, in fact, neither.

Nowadays, even though she's off the Supreme Court, she's still hurting America and the cause of justice by serving as a "guest judge." O'Connor is turning out horrible decisions; she's engaging in illegal political activity; and, despite the obvious evidence of her wrongdoing, she's lying about it like some stupid schoolkid.

The arrogance of this bunch knows absolutely no boundaries.

But, for goodness sakes, don't stop here. You gotta' read the rest of this excellent Washington Times editorial.

The Final Act: Are You Ready?

Remember November: The Final Act from Republican Governors Association on Vimeo.

Follies Absurdium (Brought to You by Obama's Justice Department)

Over at the LA Times' Top of the Ticket, Andrew Malcolm lets us know what's happening at the Obama administration's DOJ.

Reassuring news today for those who worried that the Obama administration's Department of Justice and Attorney General Eric Holder had been overwhelmed by their workload:

Dropping the Black Panther voter intimidation case.


Not closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.


Suing Arizona for trying to do the federal job of securing the porous Mexican border against drug and human smugglers.


Fighting in federal court to uphold the Don't Ask, Don't Tell law on gays in the military that Obama often says he really, really opposes and will certainly change someday on his watch.


Ditto for the department's ongoing legal defense of the Defense of Marriage Act.


Even though top Obama aide Valerie Jarrett got caught on an interview video recently kinda letting the cat out of the bag about the White House view of gay being a lifestyle choice. But she apologized for the revelation...


Somehow in his otherwise crippling schedule that took him to China last month, Holder managed to squeeze in time to preside today over another of his department's awards ceremonies...


The awards list is impressive, including some exceptional heroism awards for brave anti-drug folks dangerously deployed in Afghanistan where the gunfire is worse even than in Washington, D.C.

There were more than 300 awards. They involved included employees honored for distinguished service, lifetime service, exceptional service, cooperative service, excellence in legal advice, information technology, management, handling of legislation, appeals services, asset forfeiture, fraud fighting, legal services, dispute resolution and for being a good new employee.

The president himself could not make the ceremony. He was doing what this president chooses to do five days before midterm elections -- go on Comedy Central, since all the nation's other problems are so well under control.

A Crucial Christian Civics Lesson

David Barton of Wallbuilders speaks to Christians about the priority of moral issues above all other political concerns. It makes for a great Christian civics primer, one that would well serve a church congregation or Sunday School class. It's less than 9 minutes so if the pastor can convince the "worship leader" to cut out one song, it could easily fit into the morning service this weekend.

Given the crucial relevance of this election and the findings that show how many believers either skip voting or vote without a biblical understanding of the moral issues involved, the clip could be a very important educational lesson. So why not look at the clip and then consider forwarding this post by e-mail to your pastor and/or Sunday School leader and ask them to consider showing it on Sunday.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Today's Posts

Is Your Church Observing the National Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church?

While Gore's Car Idles, He Gives a Speech About Saving Energy

It no longer surprises anyone that those who serve in the Al Gore Is A Clown Watch are burning up their calculators in trying to keep track of his gaffes, over-hyped alarms, self-aggrandizing boasts, outright lies, denials of established scientific fact and acts of over-the-top hypocrisy. Here's a revealing incident in that last category connected to Al Gore's recent visit to Scandanavia.

Gore arrived in Gothenberg, Sweden to give one of his usual Chicken Little speeches. But he didn't arrive by train, although the conference had urged all of its guests (even the speakers) to travel by the most eco-friendly form of transportation. But Gore didn't want to do the four-hour train ride so he came by a government plane from Stockholm, rented a car to drive to his speech, and then left that car idling the entire hour he was in the hall!

Now local law prohibits any car engine running on idle for more than 60 seconds. And the fines are pretty severe. Except, of course, when they involve the carbon-spitting vehicle of the Climate King himself.

Gore's return route, by the way, included that rental car back to the airport (running low on fossil fuel by that time) then the same Swedish government plane which, as an expensive courtesy, flew him all the way to Frankfurt, Germany. From there it was a trans-Atlantic flight back to the U.S.

That's quite a lot of carbon points used up to make one speech. But then, when you're the one man responsible for saving the planet from complete environmental catastrophe, whose gonna' care about a little self-indulgence, a little luxury...a little hypocrisy?

Guess What the Most Popular Boy's Name Is In England

The most popular name for newborn boys in England last year was not Jack, Harry or Richard. Not Robert, James or John.

The most popular name for newborn boys in England last year was Mohammed.

And the world turns.

What Glenn Beck Misses

Yeah, I've said it before -- I'm not a fan of Glenn Beck. And it's not just his eclectic brew of Mormonism, civic religion, and 12-step help programs that I'm bothered by, it's that Jeffersonian line that he so admires, "If it neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket, what difference is it to me?"

For, as Regis Nicoll explains in this well-argued Breakpoint transcript, Beck's application of that philosophy results in a naive denial of the importance of such evils as abortion and same-sex marriage. Check it out.

Positive Thinking vs Faith

A Facebook friend asked this morning, "Is positive thinking the same thing as having faith?"

The friend knows the answer, by the way; he was just trying to get responses to stimulate us to think. It worked. Here's what I wrote back:

The alley is dark. Strange sounds are swirling around it. There are reasons to suspect that sinister dangers lie within. The positive thinker tries to put these things out of his mind and starts whistling an upbeat tune as he walks into the dark.

But the man of faith reaches up and takes the hand of the policeman or the martial arts specialist or his Dad (take your pick for the illustration) before entering the alley. In other words, the man of faith acknowledges the realities of the situation but takes full advantage of the strong help available.

Having tried the former philosophy (which resulted in years of being badly beat up in dark alleys, my whistling proving worthless), I prefer the way of faith -- but only if the object of my faith really can overcome the dangers in that alley.

And there's only One Who can -- He Who conquered death and the devil, He Who paid the penalty of my sin by His own death, He Who brought me into His forever family, He Who freely, mercifully gives me His power to effectively handle any dangers I might face.

Christian Couple Brutalized By Pakistani Muslims (In Front of the Police Station)

Arshed Masih 38, is still fighting for his life in Holy Family Hospital in Rawalpindi, a city not far from Pakistan’s capital. With the help of police, Muslim extremists last Friday set him on fire for refusing to convert to Islam and raped his wife, local sources told AsiaNews. The incident occurred in front of a local police station.

In 2005, Masih and his wife began working for a wealthy Muslim businessman, he as driver and she as his wife’s maid. Recently, the two fell out of favor with their employer and his family because they insisted on remaining Christian.


During the incident, Masih’s wife, Martha, “was raped by police agents,” local sources said. The couple’s three children, ranging in age from 7 and 12, were forced to watch their parents being brutalized...

There's more of this tragic story from Fareed Khan over at Family Security Matters. And you know you'll not see this story (or any of the hundreds that tell of similar outrages by Muslim fanatics around the world) in the mainstream press.

"The Obama War on Science"

The Washington Post reports today that the Obama administration is entering “the politically sensitive debate” on sex education by spending $110 million on 115 programs in 38 states and the District of Columbia that “teach about the risks of specific sexual activities and the benefits of contraception and others that focus primarily on encouraging teens to delay sex.”

But as the Post later reports, only five of these 110 programs are “authentic” abstinence programs and they will receive less than $5 million. So how did the Obama administration choose which programs to fund? The Post says the Obama administration is “promising to put scientific evidence before political ideology.”


Don’t believe them for a second. On issue after issue, this administration has dressed up their political proposals behind the mantle of “science,” and on every issue there simply is no scientific consensus to support their political positions...


Read the rest of this terrific Conn Carroll article, "The Obama War on Science," over at the The Heritage Foundation. And for a little additional information about the 169 abstinence-based programs that the Obama administration has eliminated altogether, see this previous Vital Signs post, "Obama's 'Safe Sex' Programs Take Over."

DNC Pulls a "Facebook Fast One"

Before you post that "Commit to Vote" logo on your Facebook page (as untold thousands have already done), you might take the time to find out where that link takes you.

Most will be very suprised to learn that it's set up by Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee. No kidding; just hit the logo and you'll see their tag line at the bottom of the page.

There's only one thing you can do on that page -- hit the "Yes, I Commit to Vote" bar. But if you do, the app you load gives a whole lot of your info (and who knows what else) to Organizing for America.

Sneaky? That and then some.

(Thanks to E. Calvin Beisner for the alert.)

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Today's Posts

"When Swing Was King" Update

Because we present our "When Swing Was King" programs pretty regularly at several nursing homes, we want to keep the music and photos fresh for our audiences. That means we create for every month a new regimen of 13 big band numbers, a couple hundred photos and a lot of nifty trivia items about the songs, the musicians and the times.

Volume Four has been the featured program for October: Glenn Miller's "Moonlight Serenade"; the Andrews Sisters' "Oh, Johnny:" Artie Shaw's "Frenesi;" Benny Goodman and Ella Fitzgerald doing "Goodnight, My Love;" Jan Garber's "I'll See You in My Dreams;" Tommy Dorsey and Frank Sinatra doing "Dolores;" Guy Lombardo's "Embraceable You;" Paul Whiteman and Billie Holiday doing "Travelin' Light;" Freddie Martin's "Dancing in the Dark;" Bing Crosby's "You Belong to My Heart;" Ted Weems' "Heartaches;" Jimmy Dorsey's "So Rare;" and Count Basie's "April in Paris."

Fantastic stuff and all accompanied by compelling photos of life during the 30s, 40s and 50s. The response continues to be terrific and, though we've done no real promotion other than speaking of it here on Vital Signs Blog, requests from other nursing homes and assisted living facilities are coming in almost every week. In fact, we present "When Swing Was King" Volume Four to a new place this afternoon.

Are we scheduled yet at the nursing home in your neighborhood? Or the one where a loved one of yours resides? November's program includes Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, the Mills Brothers, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Larry Clinton, Bing Crosby, Eddy Howard, Guy Lombardo, the Andrews Sisters, Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, and Ted Weems with a young vocalist named Perry Como.

I can almost hear a few of you saying, "Hey. I'd like to catch that myself!" Terrific! Come on along and be a part of the fun. We've enjoyed having guests before and we'll be sure and introduce you to some new friends.

Democrat Caught Cheating, Then Caught Lying About It

In politics, the cover-up is worse than the crime. Alex Sink may have been easily forgiven if she simply said, "we screwed up, but lying about cheating in the debate is really going to damage her support. She will be seen as a political hack and a dishonest politician.

Republican Rick Scott already had a lead in the tight campaign, but look for lead to significantly widen before next week's election.


Here from the Lid are links to all three video clips which tell the story.

3 Omaha City Council Members Vote "No." Bizarre Proposal Dies.

If you'd like, you can read the news report of the Omaha World-Herald describing the City Council's vote last night on the proposal to grant special protection on the basis of sexual orientation, gender expression and gender identification.

But I wouldn't bother.

The story is poorly written and heavily slanted. It does not even deal with the primary reason for the opposition; namely, the danger this law posed to citizens who maintain a biblical standard regarding sexuality. For though the W-H reporter presents the controversy as a denial of the rights of the LGBT minority, she ignores altogether the force of the law which would have denied the rights of the majority of Omaha's citizens.

If this law passed, a business owner could have been sued for refusing to hire a cross-dresser. A religious radio station could have been sued for not hiring a homosexual. A Christian college could have been sued for requiring biblical standards of sexual morality from its students. A landlord could have been sued because she chose not to let her apartment to a lesbian threesome. A self-employed photographer or caterer or florist could have been sued had they decided not to service a same-sex union ceremony. A priest, preacher or rabbi could have been sued for speaking out against what the Bible clearly and repeatedly presents as sexual perversions.

Exaggerations? No. These things (and more) have already been the result of the passage of such ordinances in other places.

The W-H reporter does not speak to those very real concerns.

So, instead of bothering with the newspaper article (the TV news shows had pretty much the same kind of slipshod and biased reports), I suggest instead that you use the time to send a thank-you to the three Council members who voted against this law -- a law that the citizens of Omaha clearly opposed, a law that would have greatly endangered their freedoms of religion and expression.

You can write a letter, a very important action because those stay in the public record, by addressing the Council members by name. Then send your letters to: Council Office, 1819 Farnam Street, Suite LC-1, Omaha, NE 68183.

And you can also use these e-mail contact pages: Garry Gernandt; Jean Stothert; and Thomas Mulligan.

Here's what I wrote:

For your vote tonight in opposition to the proposed legal change regarding sexual orientation, gender expression and gender identification -- a profound thank-you. Your vote clearly reflects the opinions of your constituency...the whole city, for that matter. You have done an extremely important thing in protecting the religious freedoms of Omaha citizens and in protecting them, their businesses and the city itself from unjust, menacing lawsuits. Again, thanks for a job responsibly done.

Joe Biden Rewrites History

In the prelude to next Tuesday's elections, Joe Biden is proving once again to be a remarkable gaffe machine. And yet, his most boneheaded statements are not merely errors in speech -- any Joe who's undergone hair-plug treatment can make those. No, his most grievous gaffes are when they reflect the errors in his knowledge and political philosophy.

Yesterday's line at a fundraiser in Manhattan is an example.

Speaking at a bar at the luxurious Helmsley Park Lane Hotel, Biden took his devotion to centralized Nanny State government to new heights of irrationality, using it to rewrite more than two centuries of world history.

“Every single great idea that has marked the 21st century, the 20th century and the 19th century has required government vision and government incentive,” said Mr. Biden. The Vice-President, in one childishly ignorant stroke, disses the achievements of hundreds of thousands of inventors, entrepreneurs, philosophers, artists, explorers, architects, writers, humanitarians, scientists and more.

But again, it's a statement that shocks rational hearers not because of it's simple foolishness but because it reveals Mr. Biden's weird worldview: in the beginning was government and nothing was created save by government. Government is our mother, our ethos and our goal.

And, for true believers like Joe Biden, government will not only write humanity's future. It's powerful enough to rewrite our past.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Today's Posts

A Government Monopoly on News?

Lucianne Goldberg says that this article by Tara Servatius is the must-read of the day. That's good enough for me.

And after reading it, I concur.

The column describes how National Public Radio CEO Vivian Schiller (she who fired Juan Williams because he showed up over on Fox-- photo at left) has much higher goals than just "purifying" NPR. No, this gal is working with the likes of George Soros to create a government news network, a monopoly controlled by the right kind of people, one free from any competition whatsoever.

And she's making progress.

Oh yes, here's another perspective on the matter -- another very valuable one from Paul Kengor.

If Elected, I Promise Malts in the Cafeteria!

...My best friend, Debbie, gave her speech next. She was a worthier opponent, and prettier than I was, but still I felt confident, thinking I had a real shot at the power seat at Sharonville Elementary.

Then it was Chris’s turn. I remember just one sentence from his speech, but it was the sentence that torpedoed my dreams of the presidency: “Elect me and we will have malts in the cafeteria . . . every day!”


Now, really—frozen chocolate malts were a coveted treat. They cost a quarter extra, and the cafeteria ladies put them on the lunch menu maybe twice a month. To blithely suggest that it was within the student council president’s authority to open the floodgates and provide unlimited chocolate malts was irresponsible.


But it didn’t matter as long as the voters believed it.


My carefully thought-out speech was lost to the ages. Nothing I said would have mattered at that point. Chris had the election in the bag...


That's Democrat politics, folks -- promises of "malts in the cafeteria" with voters selfish and dumbed down enough to believe them.

As you can guess, there's more to this parable and Tracy Stone Lawson, the girl whose forward-looking but rational campaign was undone by the promise of malts in the cafeteria is the girl to tell you. Here, published in The Freeman, is her delightful and profound essay.

Under Pelosi, National Debt Has Increased $5 Trillion!

Remember when the Democrat's diva, Nancy Pelosi, in giving her inaugural address as speaker of the House in 2007, pledged that there would be “no new deficit spending.”

Well, since that day, the national debt has increased by $5 trillion!

Who says? The U.S. Treasury Department, that's who.

Here's Terrence Jeffrey with more on the matter.

Breakin' It Down: ObamaCare Promotes (and Pays For) Abortion

League of Women Voters Feel "Disrespected" by Citizens Reciting Pledge of Allegiance

By now you may have heard about (or even seen a video clip) about an Illinois League of Women Voters representative who tried to stop the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance at a debate sponsored by the group.

Meredith Jessup from The Blaze has some more interesting stuff here about the incident including the subsequent involvement of LVW higher-ups, the political background of the LWV gals involved (not surprisingly, they are Obama girls with ties to such groups as ACORN), and another video tape in which the LWV moderator arrogantly scolds the crowd afterward for saying the Pledge. ("I hope, I hope that that will be the last time I am disrespected...")

Check it out for yet another example of how the system itself has become rigged to favor the left.

Unemployment Not 9.5% But 17%. And That's From "60 Minutes!"

Yes, you read that right. Not having watched 60 Minutes for a couple of decades, I wasn't aware until yesterday that Sunday night's program included a frightening, heart-rendering segment on the plight of the unemployed in Silicon Valley.

Given the show aired just a week before the national elections -- and given the program's historic cheerleader role for all things Democrat -- President Obama must have been shockingly disappointed.

Larry O'Connor has a review at BigGovernment.com as well as a link which allows you to watch the whole 60 Minutes segment. I did and was very moved: 1) to pray for those losing their jobs, homes, sense of security and self-worth; and 2) to work even harder to toss out those bums in our government who have messed up things so terribly.

Phase One: USA Owes China. Phase Two: China Owns USA.

This terrific new ad is the latest salvo in Citizens Against Government Waste's fight against wasteful government spending, increased taxes, out-of-control deficit spending, and a crippling national debt that threatens the future and survival of our country.

Check out the video clip and pass it on. Also, you can find out more about CAGW right here.

Nanny State & Teachers Unions Have Failed the Test -- Badly!

In 1979, politicians in Washington who were eager to placate special interests cast aside the Constitution and created a federal Department of Education as a political favor to the National Education Association (NEA), the nation’s largest teacher union. While its existence may seem non-controversial today, the department’s creation was incredibly contentious at the time, and even opposed by publications such as the New York Times and Washington Post.

They were right to be worried. Since 1965, the federal government has invested over $2 trillion in American education. The payoff? Stagnant test scores, abysmal graduation rates, and piles of debt. Continuing down this path is the definition of insanity, yet that is precisely what the unions and their patrons in Congress continue to push for...


Read the rest of Senator Tob Coburn's splendid article, "Big Government and Teachers Unions are Failing our Children" in the Washington Examiner.

Harry Reid (and His Party) Working Against America

Monday, October 25, 2010

A Weekend Roundup

The morning has been taken up with sidewalk counseling and then taking information packets down to Omaha's Mayor and City Council members relevant to their decision tomorrow on a bizarre sexual orientation proposal. (I've dealt with this matter in previous Vital Signs posts -- like this one.)

Next up today is the first of three presentations scheduled for this week of "When Swing Was King." This afternoon we'll be at Skyline Manor nursing home.

So...there's no time for regular blogging today. However, here are a few links (with a few excerpts thrown in) gleaned from this weekend's web surfing that you might find very useful. I certainly did.

* Whence all this hate? Is it the usual story of love gone wrong? Do Democrats have a mad infatuation with the political system, an unhealthy obsession with an idealized body politic? Do they dream of capturing and ravishing representational democracy? Are they crazed stalkers of our constitutional republic?

No. It’s worse than that. Democrats aren’t just dateless dweebs clambering upon the Statue of Liberty carrying a wilted bouquet and trying to cop a feel. Theirs is a different kind of love story. Power, not politics, is what the Democrats love. Politics is merely a way to power’s heart. When politics is the technique of seduction, good looks are unnecessary, good morals are unneeded, and good sense is a positive liability. Thus Democrats are the perfect Lotharios. And politics comes with that reliable boost for pathetic egos, a weapon: legal monopoly on force. If persuasion fails to win the day, coercion is always an option.


Armed with the panoply of lawmaking, these moonstruck fools for power go about in a jealous rage. They fear power’s charms may be lavished elsewhere, even for a moment...


P.J. O' Rourke, "They Hate Our Guts" published in The Weekly Standard)

* Do you remember the dire consequences facing Robert Wallace of Wheat Ridge, Colorado? He was the octogenarian being prosecuted for attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon after he fired at thieves who were stealing his trailer. Well, now the beleaguered man has been the target of arson, most likely linked to the publicity he's received from defending his property. Here's the story as told by the Denver Post.

Wallace was awakened about 10:30 p.m. by "flickering flames" in his large lot next to his home, he said. "It's pretty obvious that someone climbed up the ladder to the top of the mobile home, opened a vent and poured gasoline inside," Wallace said. "It's a total loss."...

It has not been determined whether it was an arson-caused fire, she said. Fire investigators and police are working together on the investigation.


But Wallace said it's apparent to him that someone burned the RV to take revenge for the Feb. 24 shooting incident. In that case, Wallace fired a shot at a pickup truck that was driving away pulling his flatbed trailer. Alvaro Cardona, 28, was struck in the face, blinding him and causing a serious brain injury.


"Why else would they burn a motor home?" he asked.


Cardona and Damacio Torres-Ochoa, 33, an illegal immigrant, were later arrested and charged with stealing Wallace's trailer. Each was charged with one count of theft from an at-risk victim, a Class 3 felony, Russell said.


* Illegal Aliens Canvass for (Democrat) Votes in Washington State. (Fox News)

* "After news of Google tax dodges, Obama raises money with Google execs" (Byron York story in the Washington Examiner)

* Congratulations to the editors at the Washington Post. Seventeen months after the Eric Holder Justice Department dismissed a slam-dunk case against the New Black Panther Party for voter intimidation, the Post gets around to printing a thorough vetting of the dismissal. The story is slated for Saturday’s print edition. While other media like Breitbart/The Bigs, Fox News, the Washington Times, the Weekly Standard, Pittsburgh Tribune Review, Investors Business Daily, Pajamas Media, and Drudge have had dozens of stories on the corrupt New Black Panther dismissal, the Washington Post at last is in the game...

But overall, the story is very bad news for Eric Holder. It debunks many of the myths spun by the administration. Inside DOJ sources describe deep hostility to protecting whites at Justice. DOJ sources say panther prosecutor Christian Adams never allowed his conservative views to influence his work, contradicting administration spin. And perhaps most damning of all to Holder, sources defending the administration defend the idea that whites aren’t protected by the Civil Rights laws. The latter is the blockbuster news in the Post piece.


The Post also shatters the false administration spin that only low level career lawyers had a fight among themselves: “After the Obama administration took over, high-level political appointees relayed their thoughts on the case in a stream of internal e-mails in the days leading to the dismissal.” The administration told Congress and the public a lie for over a year, and now the Washington Post even knows...


(Andrew Breitbart, "Washington Post Blockbuster Confirms Worst Fears About Holder Justice Dept Race Policies" at Big Government.com)

* Here's the wildest, woolliest line of the weekend's news. It comes from the NPR press release written by Vivian Schiller, the President & CEO of NPR, defending their firing of Juan Williams. Undoubtedly having a good chuckle (though writing with a serious face), Ms. Schiller says, "This is a very different role than that of a commentator or columnist. News analysts may not take personal public positions on controversial issues; doing so undermines their credibility as analysts..." Oh, that Viv; she's such a card.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Denny & Claire in Columbus

Last night Claire and I had a terrific time as we drove 82 miles west to spend an evening with folks involved with Columbus Right to Life.

We were invited out by Barb McPhillips, a genuine champion in the cause whom we've been blessed to know for many years. There were a few others there who we remembered from other times we've been in Columbus or whom we've met at the Walk for Life in Lincoln. But several we were privileged to meet for the first time.

I spoke about the history of Vital Signs Ministries, told a few stories about sidewalk counseling and creative protests, and outlined a few of our newer projects. It was a very informal, comfortable session with like-minded activists.

In our prayers on the way out we had asked the Lord to use us to encourage and, as the Scriptures put it, to "stimulate to love and good deeds" our pro-life colleagues there in the Columbus area AND to use them to bless, teach and encourage us too.

Well, I hope the former was realized but we can certainly affirm that the latter was -- for we were thrilled to hear how much this small, limited-resourced group is accomplishing for the pro-life movement. Whereas nearly all of the local pro-life groups that existed in the 1980s have gone out of existence altogether, this group in Columbus is turning out people for the Life Chain, organizing young people to attend the March for Life in Washington, conducting "field trips" to the abortion mill in Lincoln, doing pro-life literature drops, setting up information booths, creating a Facebook page, and a whole lot more.

They're doing a fantastic job.

And from their example, their stories and their comments about our ministries, we learned some valuable things. Emerging from these conversations, for instance, came ideas about how we can improve our YouTube video clips -- ideas that we will be implementing in the next couple of weeks. So it's for several, very practical reasons that we're glad we were in Columbus last night.

Thanks again, Barb, for the invitation. And thanks to the whole team there for the great job you're doing for the Lord and His "little ones."

"Green Panic" at the UN (Volume 31)

Wesley J. Smith has a splendid column today exploring the latest attack of "Green Panic" hitting the United Nations. And when such hysteria takes over, we all know where it leads: an expensive international conference at which there will loads of overheated and wildly exaggerated rhetoric aimed at the United States, capitalism, human exceptionalism and sanctity of life ethics, national sovereignty and, of course, common sense.

Still, Smith's analysis and insightful puncturing of the balloon is well worth reading anyway. Always is. Go on over.

Forget O's Fantasies. Here's a Secret Donor Money Scandal That Really Happened.

Jeffrey Lord, one of the excellent investigative reporters doing service over at American Spectator has a dilly of a story about a bunch of Secret Donor Money influencing U.S. politics.

But wait -- this isn't an Oliver Stone fantasy or the irresponsible rantings of Barack Obama against the Chamber of Commerce. This stuff really happened!

Let's begin with questions.

• What if Secret Donor Money -- funneled through a 501(c)(3) tax exempt non-profit with no obligation to reveal its donors -- was used to influence not just your run-of-the mill election, but a sitting United States Senator as he ran a Senate confirmation hearing of a federal judge? An official constitutional duty of the United States Senate?


• What if that United States Senator secretly influenced by that Secret Donor Money were named Russell Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin?


• What if that Secret Donor Money was used to supply Secret Research Senator Feingold was secretly using to defeat that Bush nominee for the federal judiciary? And what if Senator Feingold repeatedly and secretly (so he thought) plagiarized his questions to the nominee -- from the secret document purchased by Secret Donor Money secretly supplied by those Secret Donors?


What if then-Senator Biden sat on this same Senate Committee while this game of left-wing Secret Donors was going on and never said a thing about it?

• What if that same Secret Donor money was being used to secretly buy a Page One favorable story on the front page of the Washington Post? And the Washington Post both knew this secret and went along with it -- publishing the story? But not publishing the names of the Secret Donors?


• What if the Chief Justice of the United States received a serious complaint from his staff about the possibility Secret Donor Money was being used by the Washington Post to attack the federal judiciary in that Page One story?


• What if that Secret Donor Money was used to formulate five questions from the Washington Post to the U.S. Department of Justice about the Bush nominee -- and an editorial opposing that nominee resulted from those questions provided by Secret Donor Money?...


Intrigued? Good. Read the article right here.

Obama's "Safe Sex" Programs Take Over

"Risk avoidance is the only method that works. So, when we talk about drugs or we talk about alcohol, what do we teach our kids? Don't drink. Don't use drugs. But when we come to sex, we say 'use a condom'?!"

That's the common sense voice of one parent bemoaning the loss of a federal grant which funded "Just Wait," an abstinence-based sex education program in the Knoxville, Kentucky schools.

But Knoxville isn't alone. The Obama administration has dropped funding for 169 abstinence-based programs across the nation, deciding instead to pour even larger amounts of taxpayer money into programs that teach "safe sex" techniques -- programs that have been proven to be miserably ineffective in reducing teen pregnancy.

This is irresponsible, immoral government power at its worst.

Global Warming Guru "Iced" by His Own Wikipedia

William Connolley, arguably the world’s most influential global warming advocate after Al Gore, has lost his bully pulpit. Connolley did not wield his influence by the quality of his research or the force of his argument but through his administrative position at Wikipedia, the most popular reference source on the planet.

Through his position, Connolley for years kept dissenting views on global warming out of Wikipedia, allowing only those that promoted the view that global warming represented a threat to mankind. As a result, Wikipedia became a leading source of global warming propaganda, with Connolley its chief propagandist.


His career as a global warming propagandist has now been stopped, following a unanimous verdict that came down today through an arbitration proceeding conducted by Wikipedia. In the decision, a slap-down for the once-powerful Connolley by his peers, he has been barred from participating in any article, discussion or forum dealing with global warming. In addition, because he rewrote biographies of scientists and others he disagreed with, to either belittle their accomplishments or make them appear to be frauds, Wikipedia barred him — again unanimously — from editing biographies of those in the climate change field.


(Lawrence Solomon, Financial Post)

Muslim Professor Denies the Holocaust, Calls for Destruction of Israel

Is the Republican Party "Right" for Evangelicals?

Is the Republican Party the natural political home for evangelicals? Theologian/philosopher Dr. John Mark Reynolds says, "Yes." And in this brief historical review, he shows why.

Whew! Harry Reid Saved the World From Depression.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Today's Posts

Vital Signs: As Busy As Ever

Earlier this week I had the honor of speaking to the congregation of Faith Bible Church on the near south side of town, the radio audience of Kristen Kelly's KCRO program, and the hundreds of web surfers who have stopped by Vital Signs Blog.

We've also uploaded our new Power Point presentations ("Heroes" and "Abortion and Church History") onto Vimeo and GodTube -- along with You Tube where we had already parked them a couple of weeks ago.

We had a terrific letter-writing party on Monday night, finished an essay for a church newsletter, and did our regular sidewalk counseling duty on Monday morning.

Last night I had the honor of speaking to two groups of little kids at Faith Bible Church's AWANA Club. At around noon, Claire and I will be treated with my Mom's presence at lunch. (Claire took her to a doctor's appointment earlier this morning and then shoe shopping.)

Tonight Claire and I will drive out to Columbus, Nebraska to address the faithful pro-life group there.

Tomorrow we will be downtown at the Via Christe assisted living facility to present another edition of "When Swing Was King." Then the next day (Saturday) we'll be doing a presentation at yet another facility.

Vital Signs Ministries, after all these many years, continues to be as eclectic, exciting and challenging as ever before.

But, Lord, I do need to get the lawn mowed sometime!

The American Tax System: A Bar Fly View

I got this from Facebook friend Roy Beaird and had to pass it along. It's a terrific illustration of the unfairness and counter-productive nature of the U.S. tax system.

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20." so drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?' They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20,"declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,"but he got $10!"
"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"
"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"
"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. This &#%@ system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks but the nine others sat down and had beers like usual. However, when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something rather important. They didn't have enough money for even half the bill!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore.

In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

News from the Border

* You say you can't afford a Wii system to play games on? Too bad for you, Blinky If only you were an illegal immigrant hanging out in one of the increasingly comfy detention centers.

* But you might not feel like playing games anyhow. Especially when you remember how the Obama administration is playing its own games with national security. Case in point? The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is now admitting that it does not have "effective control" of 1,081 miles of the 1,954-mile-long U.S.-Mexico border.

* Not getting that memo, however, was Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano for she brazenly told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the southern U.S. border is “as secure as it has ever been.”

I feel a real headache comin' on.

Barack Obama: Our "Adversary President"

Nancy Pearcey has figured out what everybody's been asking for two years; namely, what is Barack Obama really after? A great column here.

...The category Obama fits best is what scholars call the “adversary culture.” Coined by literary critic Lionel Trilling, the term describes intellectuals and artists who feel alienated from Western society and hostile to its fundamental features.


The adversary culture took root in the 19th century when an avant-garde began to define themselves by defiance of established norms. They castigated the bourgeoisie as philistines caring only about material profit. They denounced the growing capitalist class as vulgar money-grubbers.


They latched onto philosophies like Marxism that gave them a platform of moral superiority from which to castigate the West. And Christianity -- well, whatever was popular among the uncultivated masses warranted only contempt.

These attitudes soon congealed into a class consciousness. Sidney Hook, in the foreword to The Survival of the Adversary Culture, describes many intellectuals' “hostility to American institutional values and practices.” Daniel Patrick Moynihan notes that “the cultural elite have pretty generally rejected the values and activities of the larger society.”...

The adversary culture explains Obama’s self-declared desire to fundamentally change America. It explains the constant apologizing for his own country, the Washington take-over of key industries, the move toward socialized medicine, the 20 year’s acceptance of Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s black liberation theology, with its Marxist rewrite of Christianity.


These are not idiosyncratic views that require psychological explanations involving a father he barely knew (pacé D’Souza). As John Kelly writes in American Thinker, Obama’s philosophy is held by the majority of university faculty members: “He promotes, with near perfect predictability, their left-wing, collectivist, counter-American viewpoint. There are thousands and thousands of academics out there gripping a similar playbook.”


The sobering implication is that even when Obama is no longer in office, there are thousands of others ready to jump in with the same playbook...


The Tea Party represents a grassroots resistance to the adversary culture in both parties. It has mobilized millions who recognize that the ruling class is imposing a regime contrary to the liberating ideals of the American Founders.


To be intellectual does not require one to be alienated and oppositional. After all, America was “founded by intellectuals,” notes historian Richard Hofstadter. The Founders were “sages, scientists, and men of broad cultivation.” To recover their vision is to revive a genuinely American intellectual tradition.


November 2 is an opportunity to oust members of the adversary culture from power—and the first step to voting out the adversary president in 2012.


The White House should always be a friend to American freedom.

Obama Drops "The Creator" From the Declaration of Independence -- Again!

"A mere mistake or something more profound? Either way, Barack Obama's omission of the Creator when quoting from the first sentence of the Declaration of Independence is troubling indeed."

That's what I said back in September when our President dropped the Creator from the Declaration. But when he does it a second time -- and again with no follow up apology -- I've got to believe it's deliberate.

What a striking illustration of irreligious arrogance and of disdain for America's heritage.