With McCain's Many Disadvantages, He Can't Afford to Neglect His Base

As usual, David Limbaugh nails it.

...It's possible that McCain will win in November, but if that happens, it will more likely be a result of Obama beating himself -- assuming Obama's campaign doesn't disintegrate before he formally secures the nomination.

McCain must begin with the bad news that his historic appeal to centrist voters is in jeopardy in two major ways. The first concerns Obama's natural fit with these voters. His mythical narrative that he can unify Americans and usher in an era of "hope" will be irresistible to many who are hungrier for kumbaya than any particular policy agenda.

Second, McCain's favorable image among centrists could disappear as quickly as the mainstream media withdraws its opportunistic love for him -- a process that has already begun. Their affinity for McCain was purely a function of his being a thorn in the side to President Bush, Republicans and conservative causes. But now that he is the GOP presidential candidate, he represents the evil Republican Party, which must be destroyed at all costs.

If this weren't enough, he is running -- how dare he? -- against their chosen messiah, Barack Obama. If they turned on Hillary Clinton over it, McCain is way beyond crisp toast. This heretical challenge to the savior from a Republican will not be tolerated.

So no matter how you cut it, McCain begins with a crippling handicap in his quest to win over moderate voters -- a handicap that can only be overcome by an Obama implosion.

Exacerbating McCain's precarious position is that he has repeatedly betrayed the conservative base with McCain-Feingold, McCain-Kennedy, McCain-Lieberman, the Gang of 14 and demonizing achievers, for starters...

Here's the full column.

Is the "Great" Leaking Out of Great Britain?

A recent report titled "Moral, but No Compass" commissioned by the Church of England argues that Britain's Labour government pays some lip service to Christianity, but actually favors Islam and other minority religions. The report describes the Government's "religious illiteracy" and criticizes it for ignoring the moral breakdown of society.

Typical of the government's attitude is Communities Secretary Hazel Blears belief that it just makes "common sense" for Christianity to be marginalized in favor of Islam, including spending more money and effort on Muslim projects. Why? Because of the threat from extremism and home-grown terrorism. In other words, pay protection to the intolerant, coercive and dangerous religionists.

Other criticism of the government have come from the likes of The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester, who said the collapse of Christianity had wrecked British society, destroying family life and leaving the country in a moral and spiritual vacuum, defenseless against the rise of radical Islam. He said ‘endless self-indulgence’ had brought an explosion in public violence and binge drinking. He mocked the ‘scramblings and scratchings’ of politicians trying to establish new British values of respect and tolerance.

Meanwhile, Dr John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, said the Government’s policies on human rights had become a threat to freedom. Human rights did not work without a moral foundation. New Labour spoke of rights and responsibilities, but rights had come to the fore, while responsibility seemed to have fallen off the radar.

Free Speech Dying a Cruel and Unjust Death in Canada

David Ben Gurion, the first Israeli Prime Minister, once said, "The test of democracy is freedom of criticism."

Nowhere have politicians more miserably failed that test than in Alberta, Canada, where the gatekeepers of political correctness--the Human Rights Commission (HRC)--have sentenced a pastor to a lifetime of silence. The case was initiated in 2002, when Rev. Stephen Boissoin published letters to the editor opposing same-sex "marriage" in the Red Deer Advocate. At the time, Canada was embroiled in a debate over whether to legalize counterfeit marriage across the country. When Professor Darren Lund of Calgary read Boissoin's editorials, he filed a complaint with the Alberta HRC, alleging that the content of the articles was "hateful." The Commission appointed a tribunal to investigate Boissoin, led by an unelected bureaucrat Lori Andreachuk.

Last November, Andreachuk found Boissoin guilty of discrimination and, without the benefit of his testimony, forbade him from uttering "anything disparaging about homosexuals." Notice that Andreachuk does not ban him from speaking about anything "illegal" but bars him from any negativity toward gays and lesbians. The official punishment, issued without so much as a public hearing, includes everything from personal emails to congregational sermons.

As if the lifetime speech ban were not tyrannical enough, Andreachuk also ordered Boissoin to compensate Professor Lund, who was not a victim of the so-called "hate crime," $5,000. Under the terms of his sentencing, the Reverend must "cease publishing...remarks about homosexuals" and submit a written apology to Lund for publication in the Red Deer Advocate.

Ezra Levant, who is under similar scrutiny for printing cartoons about Mohammed, notes in a new column, "[Boissoin] has to publicly humiliate himself, by publicly declaring his contrition--a contrition he does not feel--and his abandonment of his deeply-held religious beliefs... Does that happen anywhere outside of Communist China?"

Conservatives across Canada are in an uproar over the ruling and many are demanding that Premier Ed Stelmach follow through with his promise to review the unbridled "censorship powers" of the HRC. If he refuses, Alberta's thought police can indict any pastor or average citizen who holds political or moral views contrary to the powers-that-be.

(Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council)

Uh, About All That Frightening Hype About an AIDS Epidemic Among Heterosexuals...

James Taranto in yesterday's "Best of the Web" feature (one of my regular stops) reflects on the dramatic announcement from the World Health Organization that there is, in fact, no global threat of an AIDS epidemic among heterosexuals.

Huh?

But what about all that hype from noted scientists, politicians, educators, major news organs and, most notably, from famous actors and pop music stars?

Sorry, folks. No epidemic. Never was, never gonna' be.

Taranto quotes the Independent (U.K.), "In the first official admission that the universal prevention strategy promoted by the major Aids organisations may have been misdirected, Kevin de Cock, the head of the WHO's department of HIV/Aids said there will be no generalised epidemic of Aids in the heterosexual population outside Africa.

Dr. De Cock, an epidemiologist who has spent much of his career leading the battle against the disease, said understanding of the threat posed by the virus had changed. Whereas once it was seen as a risk to populations everywhere, it was now recognised that, outside sub-Saharan Africa, it was confined to high-risk groups including men who have sex with men, injecting drug users, and sex workers and their clients...It is very unlikely there will be a heterosexual epidemic in other countries...."

Taranto comments, "Oh, well, never mind! Anyone old enough to remember the 1980s will recall that America was subjected to a heterosexual AIDS scare." (He then goes on to quote illustrative examples of the mania from Time Magazine stories in 1985, 1987, and 1991)

"And then . . . the AIDS scare fizzled out. Treatments improved; Magic Johnson reportedly has not contracted full-blown AIDS, nearly 17 years after his HIV diagnosis. The disease did not spread to the general population in America--or, as WHO now acknowledges, in most of the rest of the world...

"None of this is to gainsay concern over AIDS in Africa, which is a genuine catastrophe. But the dire warnings of the 1980s that everyone was at risk from AIDS turned out to be false. Those warnings made for more gripping journalism, of course, and they also served certain ideological interests. Social conservatives, who believed sex outside marriage was wrong, were able to argue that it was dangerous as well. (To be fair, it is, but not nearly as much so as the late-'80s AIDS reportage would have had us believe.)

"Gay-rights advocates, meanwhile, overcame a huge threat to their cause. Without the heterosexual AIDS scare, it is unlikely that homosexuality would have achieved the degree of public acceptance it has since the 1980s. Indeed, gays might have found themselves abandoned by liberals, who today tend to value hygiene over individual freedom...

"The AIDS epidemic that wasn't is one reason we are skeptical of global warmism, another purported cataclysm that is supposedly just around the corner, that is purportedly based on science but about which one may not ask questions, and that dovetails conveniently with pre-existing ideological agendas.

"Ten or 20 years hence, will we be reading articles about the U.N. admitting that global warming wasn't all it was cracked up to be? Let's hope so."

Honoring the Lithuanian Freedom Movement

Bret Stephens has many very interesting points to make in "The Case Against John Lennon," in today's Wall Street Journal article. But I was most appreciative of his reminder about the Sajudis movement and I'm sure you'll appreciate it as well.

This month is the 20th anniversary of the founding of Sajudis, one of the most consequential national liberation movements of the 20th century. Here's betting that you've either never heard of it or, if you have, that you've long since forgotten what it was about.

Sajudis was the Reform Movement of Lithuania, organized by the Baltic state's leading intellectuals just days after Ronald Reagan met publicly with Soviet religious figures and dissidents in Moscow. In a speech to Russian university students that May, Reagan spoke of the moment "when the accumulated spiritual energies of a long silence yearn to break free."

Within weeks, 100,000 Sajudis activists took to the streets to demand greater liberalization. Within months, a quarter-million poured out in protest of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which secretly consigned the Baltic states to Stalinist rule. A year later, two million linked hands in a human chain 300 miles long. In March 1990, Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to declare (or affirm) its independence. Fourteen other "republics" soon followed, bringing the evil empire to an abrupt end...

Wondering what this has to do with Jon Lennon? Read the rest of Mr. Stephens insightful, provocative column right here.

Revolting News from the Sexual Revolution

Under the heading "Sex in the City," the Drudge Report linked to this very disturbing article from CBS describing a new study indicating more than 1 in 4 residents of New York City have genital herpes. Furthermore, NYC residents have higher rates of several other sexually transmitted diseases.

According to the study, 26% of the city residents have the virus that causes genital herpes, a painful, humiliating and highly contagious disease that has no cure. It is a disease, by the way, that also doubles a person's risk for HIV.

The study also indicated that the genital herpes rate was higher among women than men (36% compared to 19%), higher among blacks than whites (49% to 14%), and higher among homosexual men than heterosexual men (32% to 18%).

What is perhaps most disturbing, however, is the grossly irresponsible way the news story suggests the problem be handled -- by utilizing the city's free condom program!

But condom use does not at all guarantee safety from transmitting genital herpes or other diseases. This simple and glaring fact is known by everyone in the health field.

So why point to condoms? Because the obvious answer (namely, sexual responsibility, including abstinence for the non-married) is completely unacceptable to moderns. Thus, health officials simply try to slow down the climbing rate of STDs. They don't try to stop it at all. They dare not say out loud what they know to be the only solution to this health crisis.

And so more and more people contract and pass on sexually transmitted diseases. More and more suffer. More and more die. And more and more taxpayer money is wasted on counter-productive programs and lying bureaucrats.

The suicide of the West is well underway.

Obama's Official Web Site Offers (Well, It Did) Racially Divisive Article

The vigilant watchmen over at Little Green Footballs noted the inclusion of a "Socialists for Obama" page at the official Barack Obama web site. And in that page was a seriously offensive article (complete with sneering captions on photographs) entitled, "How the Jewish Lobby Works." It's been on the Obama site since April.

Says LGF, "This group of Jew-haters has apparently been at his site since April, and there are numerous comments from Obama supporters that are indistinguishable from the hate speech you’ll find at neo-Nazi sites...There’s something deeply wrong with a presidential candidate who attracts so many of these hateful psychotics. Read the comments; you just won’t believe what is allowed to be posted at Barack Obama’s web site."

Well, unfortunately, you can't read them anymore. Because as Lucianne Goldberg predicted on her site (the one which directed me to the LGF post this morning), "Let's see how long it takes for them to take it down. One bagel....two bagels....three..."

Three must have done it. For, sure enough, visitors now using the link simply find an "ERROR: invalid page requested" message waiting for them.

This points out two interesting things. 1) The leftists at the Barack Obama official web site are certainly tuned in to what's being said by the conservative bloggers at such places as LGF and lucianne.com. But, 2) Such careful observance is certainly lacking by members of the MSM. For they overlooked completely the "Socialists for Obama" article, though it represents the kind of "hot news" reporters used to drool over.

But then what's the surprise? They won't even report the gaffes, goof-ups and tall tales Obama tells in public speeches.

Anyhow, though Obama's webmaster did a quick fix and removed the controversial section, the situation underscores the ever-growing power of the new media to control events. Yes, the MSM remains an entrenched and powerful force in Western culture, and that's a huge advantage to the left. But the monopoly is defintely breaking up as talk radio and bloggers stake out new territory, sharpen their skills, and reach more millions with the facts of life that would otherwise go unreported.

Let's hope this particular story (i.e.,Obama's allowing ugly, racially divisive tripe on his web site for two months) finds some traction.

Today's Posts

Wanted for Important Political Service: More Guys Like This One

Scandal Over Kansas Governor's Big Party for Abortionists Still Hot

"Strict Rules of Evidence Do Not Apply"

Networks Ignore The Good News

Barack Obama's "Frankly" Left Influences (And How the MSM Is Studiously Avoiding Them)

Wanted for Important Political Service: More Guys Like This One

To counter, at least a little bit, the frustrating effects of the current political shenanigans, let me share a few of the punchy Reaganisms with which Linda made my day.

"Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose."

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

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

"Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong."

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

"The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program."

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

"Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed, there are many rewards; if you disgrace yourself, you can always write a book." (Advice obviously taken by Jimmy Carter and Scott McClellan.)

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

Scandal Over Kansas Governor's Big Party for Abortionists Still Hot

Cheryl Sullenger, writing in a detailed and convincing press release for Operation Rescue, deals with the extravagant (though secret) celebration of a notorious abortion business by Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, a party that was paid for by Kansas taxpayers. (Still interested in her as VP, Senator Obama?)

When we take a closer look at Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ ever-changing story about a party for late-term abortionist George R. Tiller that she hosted at Cedar Crest in April, 2007, her account just doesn’t add up. If the governor isn’t telling the truth – and we believe the available evidence supports that she is not – then we are left with some very serious ethical questions about the integrity of the Governor’s office...

Read the rest of the story...and there's plenty...right here.

"Strict Rules of Evidence Do Not Apply"

Oh, my. In pursuing the politically-correct course concerning Islam, Canada's court system is getting more unfair, more tyrannical, and more certifiably nutty than one can barely imagine. And, as you can easily see, the matter goes far beyond Mark Steyn and Macleans Magazine to the very existence of free speech, democracy and justice.

Brian Hutchinson is covering this disgraceful, dangerous circus for Canada's National Post. Here is his first story and I would encourage you to follow his reports in the insufferable days to come.

Networks Ignore The Good News

The mainstream press loves the bad news, doesn't it? So don't expect coverage of the dramatic progress being made by the American military in Iraq, the increasing scientific evidence that contradicts the horror scenarios of global warming or, as Scott Whitlock points out in this NewsBusters post, the acquittals on all charges of Lieutenant Andrew Grayson and other U.S. soldiers regarding the "massacre" in Haditha -- an event that the press had so irresponsibly hyped up to slander American troops in the first place.

Barack Obama's "Frankly" Left Influences (And How the MSM Is Studiously Avoiding Them)

Robert Knight has a probing, provocative column which dares to examine the far-left influences in Barack Obama's early life, influences that are being papered-over by the mainstream media.

Yes, it’s hard to believe a claim that an American presidential nominee was influenced by a Communist, especially if you ignore the supporting evidence, as Milbank does. [Dana Milbank from the Washington Post] Milbank does not even mention the “mentor’s” name. He is, in fact, the mysterious “Frank” in Obama’s book, Dreams of My Father, and was identified at the conference as the black writer and poet Frank Marshall Davis. Quoting from Obama’s own book, as well as congressional hearings, interviews, speeches, articles, and books, Kincaid presented hard evidence that “Frank” is Davis, and that Davis was a member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and was in fact involved in a Soviet-sponsored network in Hawaii that was judged by Congress at the time as a security threat to the U.S. Milbank never acknowledges the evidence, even though he handled copies of the reports while the briefing was going on, suggesting that Kincaid just sort of made it up.

The real question is how much influence “Frank” had on the young Obama. For his part, Obama in his book Dreams of My Father talks about “Frank” giving him advice on his life and career path, telling him to avoid compromise when he goes off to college and noting that black people feel they have a right to hate white people. Obama makes several references to “Frank” in his book. Gerald Horne, a writer for a Communist Party publication, was the first to publicly name “Frank” as Frank Marshall Davis, saying Davis had “befriended” Obama’s family in Hawaii.

Kincaid went for additional confirmation, interviewing Dr. Kathyrn Takara of the University of Hawaii, who knew Davis and had interviewed him for a dissertation about his life and work. Takara, an Obama supporter, confirmed that “Frank” was Davis and that he was a significant influence on Obama’s life. She thought the influence was mostly positive and was unconvinced that Davis, who died in 1987, was a CPUSA member.

Takara told Kincaid that she thought that Obama concealed “Frank’s” true identity because Davis had a controversial lifestyle and used alcohol and hosted parties. Kincaid noted, however, that Obama didn’t conceal his own bad habits, including drug use.

Later in his piece, Milbank takes another shot at Kincaid, accusing him of “the unilateral decision to accuse [Weather Underground leader Bernardine] Dohrn of the 1970 killing of a policeman, a charge no prosecutor has made.”

In fact, Kincaid was quoting Dohrn’s husband, then-Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers, who had identified Dohrn as the perpetrator of the bombing which killed the policeman, according to Larry Grathwohl, an FBI informer in the terror group who wrote about it in his own book, Bringing Down America, and testified about it before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee.

But Milbank makes it seem as if Kincaid himself made up a groundless accusation out of whole cloth...

The real message of Milbank’s screed against the conferees was a general warning not to raise questions about Obama’s radical ties, or you’ll be ridiculed. Ask any questions about Sen. Obama’s formation of character and worldview, or his associations, and even if you pile up impressive and voluminous evidence, you will be pilloried as part of the “Vast Right Wing Conspiracy,” a term that Milbank actually uses sardonically in his third paragraph.

The message to the public is: “Pay no attention to any of this. Look the other way. It’s just a pack of lies from right-wing extremists.” If the discussion touches at all on communism, well, you know how the red-hunter Sen. McCarthy has become a handy brush to paint someone as a conspiracy nut...

Today's Posts

Paying That Planet Tax Is Going to Get Very Expensive

Anglican Bishop Equates Global Warming Skepticism with Child Molestation

Protest the Pill Day

Bill Clinton's Rage: Does the Boy President Protest Too Much?

More Botched Abortion Cases

Hillary Clinton: Winning But Losing

Baby Survives Abortion Attempt...Twice

Paying That Planet Tax Is Going to Get Very Expensive

"The U.S. needs a Domestic Energy Development Act, but what it might get this week is a Climate Security Act that makes human sacrifices of the American people on the altar of the environmental earth goddess, Gaia."

Check out this excellent Investor's Business Daily editorial about the wildly expensive, sadly counter-productive Lieberman/Warner bill. And then, as I've recommended a couple of times already this week, please let your Congressmen and Senators know of your deep opposition to this silliness.

Anglican Bishop Equates Global Warming Skepticism with Child Molestation

Mark D. Tooley, writing in Front Page Magazine, describes the ludicrous lengths to which one liberal clergyman went to condemn those who have yet to join in the global warming mania.

“Bishop claims environment abusers as bad as sex," colorfully declared the headline of the Birmingham (England) Post. The May 31 article began: “The Bishop of Stafford has compared people who ignore the effects of climate change to the Austrian child sex monster Josef Fritzl.”

In all too common fashion for Global Warming alarmists, the Anglican bishop recently employed a pastoral letter to liken dissenters on Global Warming to Josef Fritzl, who fathered seven children by his daughter, who was locked up in the basement across two decades.

“Josef Fritzl represents merely the most extreme form of a very common philosophy of life: I will do what makes me happy, and if that causes others to suffer, hard luck,” the Very Rev. Gordon Mursell [photo above] explained to his Diocese of Lichfield. “In fact you could argue that, by our refusal to face the truth about climate change, we are as guilty as he is – we are in effect locking our children and grandchildren into a world with no future and throwing away the key.”

The bishop continued: “We are right to be disgusted at these crimes. But mere disgust is too convenient. There are lessons for all of us to learn.” Presumably, for the bishop, the “lessons” are that the world must rally to his brand of Global Warming alarmism, lest we all become moral lepers like the monstrous Austrian father.

Trying to sound hopeful, the bishop helpfully recalled that the Bible is “full of stirring visions of a new cosmos - not just a new church, but a new world,” in which “ill-health will be unheard-of, everyone will be properly housed and employed, and even animals will live together in peace.” The Rev. Mursell pointed to the historic Christian promise of a troubled creation eventually reclaimed by God. But for the bishop, there is a caveat.

“A fantasy?” he asked about the messianic promise. “That depends on us.” Typically for left-wing church prelates, the bishop does not apparently believe the universe’s redemption relies on God but instead on human efforts, presumably through left-wing political action. “And anyway, we need good and attractive fantasies which will draw people away from the sick perversions of a Josef Fritzl and the empty slogans of so many politicians.”...

By the way, despite the furor caused by his irresponsible remarks (not an uncommon response to liberal Anglican clergy these days), the bishop refuses to retract his letter.

Protest the Pill Day

This next Saturday (June 7) American Life League is launching a new campaign, Protest the Pill Day '08: The Pill Kills Babies. As one of the few evangelical organizations to have made opposition to the so-called birth control pill one of its hallmarks, Vital Signs Ministries applauds the ALL campaign and is very pleased to be a part.

June 7 was selected because it is the anniversary of the Griswold vs. Connecticut Supreme Court decision of 1965. The case involved a Planned Parenthood staffer illegally selling birth control pills. But the Court not only threw out her conviction, it discovered a secret "right to privacy" in the U.S. Constitution. And that heretofore hidden right (and the arrogance to trump the will of the Founding Fathers) would soon expand, creating legal cover for a whole host of sins.

Jill Stanek describes more of what Protest the Pill Day is all about, particularly the specific reason that Vital Signs Ministries has opposed the pill and similar drugs and devices for the entirety of our 25 years of existence; namely, their post-conception effects -- effects that make them abortifacients and not mere contraception.

Bill Clinton's Rage: Does the Boy President Protest Too Much?

Emmett Tyrrell has a very interesting column in Town Hall today dealing with Bill Clinton's scathing tirade against Vanity Fair writer Todd Purdum. Tyrrell is always good when he takes on the Boy President and this column is no exception.

But Tyrrell also has some things to point out about the probable plagiarism of Mr. Purdum, specifically, how many of the incidents told in Purdum's VF article were straight out of Tyrrell's impressive book, The Clinton Crack-Up: The Boy President's Life After the White House. Yes, sad to say, journalism is home to as many unprincipled people as is politics.

And, one more thing, after reading this column, you'll probably never again use the word "scumbag" in public discourse. James Carville doesn't (after an etymological tip from Tyrrell) and I'm guessing you won't either.

As I've said before in the context of minced oaths and other words and phrases with dubious histories, it's not only proper to know what you're talking about...but to know the words with which you're talking!

More Botched Abortion Cases

Steven Ertelt of LifeNews reports that the last couple of months have drawn two different botched abortion lawsuits against the tragically-misnamed Hope Center for Women in East St. Louis. Both lawsuits are asking for $50,000 in damages.

The money derived from abortion is staggering and, thus far, Planned Parenthood and other abortion profiteers have been able to swat off the occasional lawsuit. Nevertheless, each such case raises the malpractice insurance and encourages other lawyers to pursue this tempting "cash cow."

More important, each malpractice case publicizes to potential clients, to donors, and to politicians who are resposible for maintaining the flow of tax dollars to the abortion businesses just how barbaric the procedure of "terminating a pregnancy" still is.

Hillary Clinton: Winning But Losing

Bob Novak observes how ironic it is (and mighty unsettling for Barack Obama) that Hillary Clinton is finally being forced out even though she is winning primaries.

1. Clinton dominated in Puerto Rico on Sunday, winning more than 2 to 1. This boosts the concern that Obama faces trouble with the Hispanic vote in November.

2. Winning South Dakota Tuesday meant Clinton won five of the final eight primaries. It also demonstrated that Obama's strength in the Great Plains was really his strength in caucuses. South Dakota was the first primary in that rural, white region, and he lost it convincingly.

3. Obama's win in Montana allows him to cap the primary season on a win and amplify the notion that he was democratically nominated. It also warded off the embarrassing possibility of his losing the popular vote to Clinton (though, by some counts, he still lost).

Baby Survives Abortion Attempt...Twice

This Telegraph (U.K.) report about a baby surviving abortion actually has several noteworthy storylines. The first, of course, is the wonderful news that the baby lives. Despite the intentions of the parents and the hospital abortion system to kill the child, he miraculously made it.

But there are other elements of this story that are anything but wonderful. Take a look:

1) The child was conceived even while his mother was taking contraceptives. This dramatically emphasizes the medical fact that "breakthrough ovulation" occurs despite the contraceptive intent of birth-control pills and devices. And with ovulation comes the possibility of conception. However, these drugs and devices also act post-conception; that is, they negatively effect the cervical lining of the womb, making it unable to support a newly-conceived child. These abortifacient properties of the "pill," Depo-Provera, Mirena, the I.U.D., and so on are not openly discussed but, count on it, they are quite real. The Physician's Desk Reference and even the drug manufacturer's descriptions of their product spell it out.

Therefore, the story of this infant is even more dramatic than it seems upon the first reading for the tough little guy cheated death not once, but twice! For before he could escape the brutality of the hospital abortionist, he had to first survive the "backup" abortifacient effects of the pill.

2) Another noteworthy detail of the story is that the parents of the baby are not married. Indeed, they were not married when their two other children were born. This situation, of course, is common enough in our day but mere commonality cannot dispel the negative spiritual, psychological, economic, and social consequences that have resulted from Western culture's abandonment of traditional marriage.

3) And finally, the mother's own words must be carefully observed for what they reveal about the sheer irrationality of abortion, a distortion of logic and natural emotion that makes the deliberate "terminating" of one's child somehow more acceptable than "losing" it.

Miss Percival said: "Deciding to terminate at eight weeks was just utterly horrible but I couldn't cope with the anguish of losing another baby. "I couldn’t believe it when the doctor said I was still pregnant, this was the baby I thought I'd terminated.

"At first I was angry that this was happening to us, that the procedure had failed. I wrote to the hospital, I couldn't believe that they had let me down like this. They wrote back and apologised and said it was very rare."

Today's Posts

When the World Presses In, Remember Heaven and Press Back!

Habitat for Humanity (Finally) Breaks Partnership with Planned Parenthood

"Green" Republicans: Preferring Positive Press Coverage to Positive Energy Solutions

This Just In: The Mainstream Media Leans Left

Sick and Tired of Energy Costs? You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet!

England's Catholic Church Supports Ethical Science Research: Dramatic Contrast to Parliament's Recent Irresponsibility

When the World Presses In, Remember Heaven and Press Back!

Okay, it's official. The world is in a horrific condition.

And being a Christian committed to living a godly lifestyle, spreading the gospel, building a culture of life and, yes, battling the spiritual forces who would do us in can...well, create a little stress from time to time. Right?

The issue then becomes what do we do to stay on top of our circumstances when they start pressing in. To begin with -- 1) Pray for strength and wisdom. 2) Take God seriously and yourself less so. And 3) Use the vertigo caused by dizzying problems to better relish the security that is ours in heaven. As the old country hymn goes:

This world is not my home;
I’m just a passin’ through.
My treasure is laid up
Somewhere beyond the blue.
The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.

O Lord, You know I have no friend like You.
If heaven weren’t my home, O Lord, what would I do?
No, those angels beckon me from heaven’s open door.
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.

(Of course, I can only hear this great song when I sing it to myself since the American Association of Christian Song Leaders and Worship Directors has apparently forbade hymn singing in our nation. What? You say there’s no such organization? There’s gotta’ be. How else could virtually all evangelical congregations in the country turn their backs on the heritage, the theological solidity, the musical quality of Christianity’s rich hymnody in the favor of the emotional manipulation represented by the simplistic, repetitive, frequently heterodox ditties of our day? Oh no; it must be a conspiracy of some sort. We wouldn’t make this kind of exchange on our own, would we?)

Anyhow, let's leave that point (and, of course, the entirely fictitious AACSLWD) and move on.

Returning to my list of what to do when circumstances press in, #4 would be to “press back!” In other words, just keep working. Whether we “feel” like it or not, whether it’s convenient or not, we have a responsibility to keep God’s priorities in view and, as faithfully as possible, to carry them out with perseverance, principle and even pizazz!

Don't fret. Heaven will provide a sweet and much welcome rest for us at the end of our journey. The Scriptures are clear and trustworthy on that point. But for now, we’ve still got some work to do.

And keeping busy is itself a pretty good way to beat stress.

(One more important note. If your ideas of heaven are kinda' fuzzy and they don't provide the kind of valuable consolation and excitement I refer to above, please put Randy Alcorn's book, Heaven, and/or Joni Eareckson Tada's, Heaven: Your Real Home on your immediate "to read" list! You'll do no better favor for yourself all summer, I guarantee.)

Habitat for Humanity (Finally) Breaks Partnership with Planned Parenthood

Applying pressure can stop the bleeding...for awhile at least.

In this press release from American Life League, Jim Sedlak applaudes the decision of Habitat for Humanity of Sarasota, Florida ending its cooperation with Planned Parenthood. The decision by came after principled protests were made around the country against this immoral and unnatural union.

"Green" Republicans: Preferring Positive Press Coverage to Positive Energy Solutions

The Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP) is just one of the groups desperately trying to hop on the green bandwagon...no matter how loopy their rhetoric or how much their unscientific and counter-productive policies would cost the country.

The Republican American has a revealing report.

Founded in 1995, REP seeks to save the planet through decidedly un-Republican, big-government socialism...

REP says it exists to counter assertions that "no 'real Republican' wants to protect the environment or believes in conservation" and that real Republicans think "regulatory reform and property rights are more vital than laws to prevent the extinction of species."

This argument is too flimsy and lazy to call a straw man. "Real Republicans" favor environmental protection and conservation, and support many of REP's goals. Where they and REP diverge is on the tradeoffs and remedies that extremists champion. To achieve what REP wants in the authoritarian manner it proposes would require a massively expensive, despotic government that routinely would trample personal and economic freedoms.

Everyone wants "clean air and water," but are the incremental improvements REP et al. demand worth draining billions from the economy every year; imposing punitive taxes and regulations; eroding Americans' standard of living; and sacrificing constitutional rights? REP seems to think so because it sees environmental protection as a with-us-or-agin-us proposition, requiring at the very least the demonization real Republicans who seek honest debate and rational, proportional solutions.

This Just In: The Mainstream Media Leans Left

U.S. News and World Report seems mildly surprised at the study recently released by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Joan Shorenstein Center on Press, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard. This despite the fact that the results of the study simply repeat what virtually every other honest study has for 40 years; namely, that press coverage is dramatically more positive in its treatment of Democrats.

The specifics this time around? Coverage of the winter/spring election went 69% positive for Barack Obama, 67% positive for Hillary Clinton, and 43% positive for John McCain. And remember, McCain had no "sniper fire" lies, no crying jags, no Jeremiah Wright, no flag pin controversy, no wife who only recently felt pride in her country, and so on.

Whatever the coming election brings, Americans can depend on at least one sure thing. The fight will be on a decidedly uneven playing field.

Sick and Tired of Energy Costs? You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet!

Power Line quotes Kit Bond of Missouri in his devastating critique of S. 2191, the Lieberman/Warner bill that, as I mentioned yesterday, " goes under the remarkably pretentious title, America's Climate Security Act."

Said Bond,

According to EPA, under Lieberman-Warner, the average household power bills rise 44 percent by 2030. They lose $4,377 to higher energy prices and pay $1.40 more for gas by 2050.

I, like Senator McConnell, toured my state this past week talking about energy. And you know something? When I told my Missouri constituents that the Senate this week would not be talking about moving a bill to open up the massive oil and gas supplies that we have in America to lower prices, that this body would be considering a bill to add huge price increases to all energy, they could not believe it.

What is the Senate doing? That's a good question, because these higher U.S. energy prices would drive energy-intensive manufacturing jobs overseas to foreign countries with cheaper energy prices. Manufacturing workers are already suffering.

We've seen half of U.S. fertilizer industry leave the country. Chemical companies and plastic companies are leaving the U.S. Just recently, Dow announced it was thinking of selling its plastic business because firms in Asia and the Middle East have access to cheaper energy.

Adding to this misery, manufacturers estimate this bill will cost my state of Missouri over 76,000 jobs and cut between 3 million and 4 million jobs nationwide by 2030.

The chart at right, also courtesy of Power Line, was created by the Chamber of Commerce. It shows the confusing mess of laws, rules, agencies, redundancies, and so on that S. 2191 would represent. In fact, hold the phone...Power Line reports that California's Barbara Boxer wants to complicate things even more by adding an additional 300 mandates and rules!

Again, this is a really bad idea. Let your political representatives know.

England's Catholic Church Supports Ethical Science Research: Dramatic Contrast to Parliament's Recent Irresponsibility

In the wake of the British Parliament's remarkable irresponsibility in passing a Human Fertility and Embryology bill that not only failed to restrict abortion but actually made legal the freakish experimentation on human/animal hybrids, England's Catholic Church is trying to help society understand that science and morality need not be strangers.

In particular, with a grant of £25,000 to Novussanguis, an international research consortium using cord blood and adult stem cells for therapeutic aims, the Church is bringing some much-needed attention to the fantastic successes that life-affirming scientific research is achieving.

By this action, modest though it may be, the Church stands in dramatic contrast to the immoral and inhumane actions of the British government.

Novussanguis is a new international research consortium investigating cord blood and adult stem cells for therapeutic aims. It was created by Professor Colin McGuckin and the research group on cord blood at Newcastle University and the Fondation Jérôme Lejeune in Paris. Unlike embryonic stem cells, cord blood and adult stem cells continue to produce medical cures because of their high differentiation and expansion potential. Indeed, over 80 diseases are already being effectively treated with cord blood stem cells, mostly linked to the blood system or the immune system. However, victims of other diseases affecting the bone marrow, nervous system, heart or metabolism such as juvenile diabetes, are also being helped through adult stem cell procedures.

Adult stem cells can be harvested from several human tissues including the brain, bone marrow, skin, peripheral blood, liver, eyes, pancreas and cord blood.

"We support scientific research that seeks to cure disease and suffering" states the letter announcing the gift and signed by Sean Cardinal Brady (Archbishop of Armagh, president of the Bishops, Conference of Ireland), Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O,Connor (Archbishop of Westminster, president of the Bishops, Conference of England & Wales, shown in photo above), and Keith Patrick Cardinal O,Brien (Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, president of the Bishops, Conference of Scotland).

"The HFE Bill has focused on embryonic stem cell research. In fact, much greater progress has already been made towards clinical therapies using adult stem cells. Other emerging techniques hold potential for good, without creating and destroying human embryos. We are making this donation as a sign of the Church's commitment to science and human good.

"We also welcome the positive engagement with scientists and ethicists last Friday, which identified the need for continued dialogue. This meeting re-enforced the fact that there are profound questions both about the scientific efficacy of proposed techniques and their ethical justification.

"In particular, we would ask: What ethical considerations should limit bio-medical research? Should the government be taking the dramatic step of legalising research on cybrid or hybrid embryos just as new techniques are emerging which would make the use of such hybrids in research redundant? To what extent is the UK in danger of neglecting more promising therapies by focusing too much on embryonic stem cell research?

"Not nearly enough time has been given to discussing these issues and these questions require answers before and not after legislation."

Today's Posts

Today's Consumer Tip: Beware Buying Laptops Over the Internet

Harry Potter as a Spokesman for Abortion Survivors?

The Only Pro-Life Pharmacy Business in California Celebrates an Anniversary

The Lieberman/Warner Global Warming Bill: A Hard Wind Blowing Left

Sowell & Limbaugh Reflect on Obama's Church Resignation

Free Speech is Getting Pretty Expensive in France: Bridget Bardot Fined Over $23,000

Obama Leaves Church Just Before This Story Hits

Today's Consumer Tip: Beware Buying Laptops Over the Internet

Harry Potter as a Spokesman for Abortion Survivors?

Dr. Philip G. Ney is a well known, well-respected child psychiatrist. He has taught in five universities in four countries (including the University of London and the University of Illinois) and has been both a hospital and university department chairman. He has authored or co-authored 66 scientific papers and 7 books. His wife, Dr. Marie Peeters-Ney, has worked at the University of Paris with the world-famous geneticist, Jerome Lejeune, and won an important scientific prize for her research into the biochemical causes of mental retardation. Both are also outspoken pro-life advocates.

Therefore, because of their expertise and because of the overwhelming interest of young people in the Harry Potter craze, I recommend this article they co-wrote for Catholic Insight in December 2003 which was recently reprinted by LifeSite News. It is entitled, "Harry Potter: The Archetype of an Abortion Survivor."

I found it quite fascinating even though I've not read J.K. Rowling nor seen the movies. If you have, I'm sure you'll relate to the Neys' insights even more. At any rate, the article poses important questions and gives meaningful insights for all of us interested in engaging our culture. Give it a read, won't you?

The Only Pro-Life Pharmacy Business in California Celebrates an Anniversary

Yes, Virginia; there are still a few Christians around who take their religion seriously, seriously enough to let it rule their business instead of the other way round.

So, here's my heartiest congratulations to Brent Watson, pharmacy director and owner of Central Coast Pharmacy Specialists in Templeton, California, whose business just celebrated its one-year anniversary as the only pro-life pharmacy in the state!

Watson's business "made the decision – in open defiance to Big Drug and Insurance Companies – to stop issuing birth control pills, the so called 'morning after pill,' and other medication that could be used for an abortion."

"It's not good medicine,” Watson said.

Watson explained that contraceptives are harmful to patients and “block the implantation of early human life. This puts pharmacists in direct conflict with their profession when forced to dispense against their conscience and professional promise to ‘do no harm’ to patients. We want patients to know we are a pro-patient, healing only pharmacy that provides compounded medications individually made to fit the specific needs of each patient one prescription at a time."

According to Watson, the harmful effects of contraceptives are noted even by the FDA, which requires patients to sign a disclosure before taking oral contraceptives.

Watson said that he was proud that his pharmacy could be among the few openly pro-life pharmacies in the nation while many other pharmacists continue to face persecution by employers because of their pro-life views...

The Lieberman/Warner Global Warming Bill: A Hard Wind Blowing Left

Front Page Magazine has a nifty little article written by Ben Lieberman, an economist and Heritage Foundation policy analyst, about the 5 most common myths about S. 2191, the Lieberman/Warner global warming mania bill that goes under the remarkably pretentious title, America's Climate Security Act. ("A Vote for Hank Huckster is a Vote Against Hurricanes!")

Ben Lieberman (no relation) gives you a brief, common sense answer to the following myths on which the legislation is founded:

Myth #1: LW would not be expensive.
Myth #2: The costs fall on industry, not consumers.
Myth #3: Global warming is a crisis that must be addressed at all costs.
Myth #4: LW effectively addresses the threat of climate change.
Myth #5: LW's cap-and-trade approach is a proven success.

Lieberman's answers are just the kind of thing to send along to your Congressman and Senator. For, if unchecked, the Hank Huckster's behind America's Climate Security Act are going to bring us all some "bad weather" indeed.

Sowell & Limbaugh Reflect on Obama's Church Resignation

Thomas Sowell:

...Despite clever spin from Obama's supporters about avoiding "guilt by association," much more is involved than casual association with people like Jeremiah Wright and Father Pfleger.

In addition to giving $20,000 of his own money to Jeremiah Wright, as a state senator Obama directed $225,000 of the Illinois taxpayers' money for programs run by Father Pfleger. In the U.S. Senate, Obama earmarked $100,000 in federal tax money for Father Pfleger's work. Giving someone more than 300 grand is not just some tenuous, coincidental association.

Are Barack Obama's views shown by what he says during an election year or by what he has been doing for decades before?

The complete contrast between Obama's election year image as a healer of divisions and his whole career of promoting far-left grievance politics, in association with America-haters like Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers, are brushed aside by his supporters who talk about getting back to "the real issues."

There is nothing more real than a man's character and values. The track record of what he has actually done is far more real than anything he says, however elegantly he says it...

David Limbaugh:

The $64 million question is how long Barack Obama can carry forward this ruse that he is a uniter, when he has placed himself in a climate that is, at the very least, quite accommodating to an anti-white racist perspective, vulgarity and anti-Americanism. How many more shoes can drop without Obama's presidential quest completely imploding?

It strained credulity that Obama could have been unaware of the toxic environment of his Trinity United Church of Christ and its pastor, Jeremiah Wright. Actually, that didn't pass the laugh test.

But now we have the Rev. Michael Pfleger bursting on the scene -- the scene being the now-infamous Trinity Church -- and spewing the most offensive, racially charged remarks imaginable.

Truly, if Obama weren't the protected darling of the mainstream media and if the Democrats were not horrified of losing their monopolistic hold on the African-American vote, superdelegates would abandon Obama in stampedes -- yesterday...

Free Speech is Getting Pretty Expensive in France: Bridget Bardot Fined Over $23,000

A Paris court on Tuesday convicted Brigitte Bardot [sic] of provoking discrimination and racial hatred for writing that Muslims are destroying France. The court also handed down a $23,325 fine against the former screen siren and animal rights campaigner.

A leading French anti-racism group known as MRAP filed a lawsuit last year over a letter she sent to then-Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. The remarks were published in her foundation's quarterly journal. In the December 2006 letter to Sarkozy, now the president, Bardot said France is "tired of being led by the nose by this population that is destroying us, destroying our country by imposing its acts." She was referring to the Muslim feast of Aid el-Kebir, celebrated by slaughtering sheep.

French anti-racism laws prevent inciting hatred and discrimination on racial or religious or racial grounds. Bardot, 73, had been convicted four times previously for inciting racial hatred.

(Associated Press report.Tuesday, June 3, 2008)

Obama Leaves Church Just Before This Story Hits

Hypocrisy always involves the threat of embarrassment but, of course, that doesn't mean that Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama and the parishioners of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago are necessarily feeling caught today...despite Fox News' report that their church has received at least $15 million in taxpayer money.

...Records show this money supported a variety of outreach: everything from low income housing to nutritional programs for needy kids to money for HIV/AIDS education. Wright blames the government for intentionally infecting the African-American community with that deadly virus.

DePaul University journalism professor Laura Washington, who specializes in race and politics, said Wright is a hypocrite for taking money from the government. “On the one hand, he says, ‘God damn America’ and he says America is responsible for all the ills in the black community. On the other hand, he’s taking money from the same community he’s crucifying,” Washington said.

But another scholar who specializes in religion and politics says Wright never swore off government funding like ultra-nationalist Black Muslims have. Andrew Walsh, associate director of the Leonard E. Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life with Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., said Wright’s practices fall in line with his preaching.

“Wright believes things like the government-funded programs are a necessary compensation for the legacy of white racism, part of what’s necessary to heal the wounds inflicted over four centuries on blacks. His niche is even more specialized– he does this sort of work in the context of white denominational mainline Protestantism, which, on the whole has welcomed both him and his message.”...

Here's the story.

Today's Posts

The Lifeguard Who Won the Cold War

American Politics Goes "American Idol"

Need to Use a Public Bathroom in Colorado? Just Hold It!

Are Conservatives Substantially More Honest Than Liberals?

Christian Evangelism: Free Speech or Hate Crime?

The Lifeguard Who Won the Cold War

From 1926 through the summer of 1932 when he graduated from college, Ronald Reagan served as a lifeguard at Lowell Park Beach, three miles north of his home in Dixon, Illinois. That particular beach had a relatively safe swimming area but its proximity to the swift-running currents of the Rock River made it a treacherous place for overconfident enthusiasts. ‘Dutch’ Reagan was therefore part of an important safety force and, in his tenure as lifeguard, the young athlete was credited with saving 77 lives!

A grateful town honored his brave efforts with a special plaque attached to a log on which Reagan chipped a notch every time he performed a rescue. That historic log is still preserved at the Loveland Community Center nearby.

It's a remarkable story; one, which you might think, would be well known by every American school kid. But when you remember that our nation’s mainstream media and educational structure are both irresponsibly liberal, the reason for ignoring the heroism of this young lifeguard Ronald Reagan becomes all too clear.

But here's the crucial thing for you and I to remember – we do not have to allow the obscurantist attitudes of others to deprive our kids and grandkids of those innumerable stories of virtue and heroism from American history that are going untold. We need not rely on the television networks or the government schools. Our inspirational heritage must be taken into our own hands. That means the alternative media, solid Christian education, building libraries, promoting the reading and discussion of good books, telling stories to our kids (rather than leaving their minds stranded in the wasteland of TV and video games), and more.

And this story about ‘Dutch’ Reagan, the remarkable athlete/actor/politician whose life is storybook Americana…it's a great start.

American Politics Goes "American Idol"

If Obama is elected President, it will be because of civic illiteracy. Is that too highbrow for you? I'm saying it will be because American politics finally turned into "American Idol," the contest for prom king. A win for Obie will mean our process of choosing the trustees of power was emotionalized, feminized, and infantilized to the point where Madison and Hamilton wouldn't recognize it.

John Andrews (columnist, speaker, fellow of the Claremont Institute, former Colorado Senate President, appointee of four U.S. Presidents, U.S. Navy vet, Presbyterian elder, father and grandfather -- and host of the Backbone Radio Show airing in Denver, Colorado Springs and, via the internet, on your computer.)

Need to Use a Public Bathroom in Colorado? Just Hold It!

The Family Research Council reports...

Congress may be adjourned for the Memorial Day recess, but a series of misguided state bills aren't providing any relief for pro-family groups. Just ask the residents of Colorado, where locals are bracing themselves for an "anti-bias" law that is actually changing where people use the restroom.

Yesterday, over the protests of thousands of families, Gov. Bill Ritter (D) signed SB 200 into law. The legislation blurs the sexual lines by making all public accommodations, including locker rooms and restrooms, "gender-free." In other words, anyone--regardless of their biological identity--will be welcome in the men's or ladies' room, including cross-dressers, men who self-identify as women, women who self-identify as men, and people who haven't made up their minds.

To make matters worse, Colorado defines "public accommodations" as everything from malls, restaurants, and schools to small and even home businesses. The other side says this is about discrimination. But the chance of offending a few people hardly justifies putting everyone else at risk, which is exactly what SB 200 does.

For every transvestite who takes advantage of this law, there are a dozen sexual predators who will see this as a chance to put women and children into a vulnerable situation. Focus on the Family launched a statewide awareness campaign, but in the end, even Colorado's largest Christian ministry couldn't compete with Ritter's desire to pay off liberal financier Tim Gill, who sank serious dollars into the governor's election campaign in 2006...

Are Conservatives Substantially More Honest Than Liberals?

True enough, Peter Schweizer's opinions on this question are pretty settled. After all, he has written a best-selling book entitled, Makers and Takers: Why Conservatives Work Harder, Feel Happier, Have Closer Families, Take Fewer Drugs, Give More Generously, Value Honesty More, Are Less Materialistic and Envious, Whine Less ... And Even Hug Their Children More Than Liberals.

However, this article he penned for the Examiner (excerpts printed below) suggest his conclusions derive not simply from the wishful thinking of a conservative hardliner, but instead from the inescapable force of the data. Check it out.

And, FYI, don't be misled by the comic title of Schweizer's book. His scholarly credentials are first rate with a Master's from Oxford and current standing as a research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. His popular books (which have included Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy and Reagan's War) have been translated into 11 languages.

...Is it OK to cheat on your taxes? A total of 57 percent of those who described themselves as “very liberal” said yes in response to the World Values Survey, compared with only 20 percent of those who are “very conservative.” When Pew Research asked whether it was “morally wrong” to cheat Uncle Sam, 86 percent of conservatives agreed, compared with only 68 percent of liberals.

Ponder this scenario, offered by the National Cultural Values Survey: “You lose your job. Your friend’s company is looking for someone to do temporary work. They are willing to pay the person in cash to avoid taxes and allow the person to still collect unemployment. What would you do?”

Almost half, or 49 percent, of self-described progressives would go along with the scheme, but only 21 percent of conservatives said they would.

When the World Values Survey asked a similar question, the results were largely the same: Those who were very liberal were much more likely to say it was all right to get welfare benefits you didn’t deserve.

The World Values Survey found that those on the left were also much more likely to say it is OK to buy goods that you know are stolen. Studies have also found that those on the left were more likely to say it was OK to drink a can of soda in a store without paying for it and to avoid the truth while negotiating the price of a car.

Another survey by Barna Research found that political liberals were two and a half times more likely to say that they illegally download or trade music for free on the Internet.

A study by professors published in the American Taxation Association’s Journal of Legal Tax Research found conservative students took the issue of accounting scandals and tax evasion more seriously than their fellow liberal students. Those with a “liberal outlook” who “reject the idea of absolute truth” were more accepting of cheating at school, according to another study, involving 291 students and published in the Journal of Education for Business.

A study in the Journal of Business Ethics involving 392 college students found that stronger beliefs toward “conservatism” translated into “higher levels of ethical values.” And academics concluded in the Journal of Psychology that there was a link between “political liberalism” and “lying in your own self-interest,” based on a study involving 156 adults.

Liberals were more willing to “let others take the blame” for their own ethical lapses, “copy a published article” and pass it off as their own, and were more accepting of “cheating on an exam,” according to still another study in the Journal of Business Ethics...

Christian Evangelism: Free Speech or Hate Crime?

Two Christian preachers were stopped from handing out Bible extracts by police because they were in a Muslim area, it was claimed yesterday. They say they were told by a Muslim police community support officer that they could not preach there and that attempting to convert Muslims to Christianity was a hate crime.

The community officer is also said to have told the two men: 'You have been warned. If you come back here and get beat up, well, you have been warned.'

A police constable who was present during the incident in the Alum Rock area of Birmingham is also alleged to have told the preachers not to return to the district....

The rest of this Daily Mail (U.K.) article is here.