Co-Creator of "The Pill" Didn't Think It Would Be Used for Contraception; Regrets Complete Division of Sex and Reproduction

Kathleen Gilbert writes the following astounding report for LifeSiteNews.com.

An Austrian chemist who helped spearhead the creation of the earliest contraceptive pill has expressed dismay at the severance of sexuality and reproduction made possible by widespread use of the pill, and has warned against the impending demographic disaster from plummeting birth rates.

Carl Djerassi wrote of his concern in a commentary appearing in the December issue of Austria's Der Standard, where he described couples who regularly contracept as "wanting to enjoy their schnitzels while leaving the rest of the world to get on with it."

Djerassi, who is a chemist, novelist, and playwright, is best known for helping create the synthetic hormone progestin norethindrone in 1951, together with Mexican Luis E. Miramontes and Hungarian George Rosenkranz. The far more potent synthetic hormone was soon used for contraceptive purposes as it remains effective when taken orally, unlike natural female hormones.

At the time, Djerassi had said that "not in our wildest dreams" had he expected the chemical to be used for contraception. Now, he writes, "My contribution is to help these people wake up," referring to Austrian couples who freely contracept.

Lamenting that there is now "no connection at all between sexuality and reproduction," Djerassi said, "This divide in Catholic Austria, a country which has on average 1.4 children per family, is now complete. Most Austrians enjoy sexual intercourse without thereby wanting or begetting a child."

Djerassi explained that Austria, which is now home to more seniors over 65 than children under 15, would soon enter "an impossible situation" as the lopsided population would result in a working class too small to support the needs of elderly pensioners.

Therefore, he urged, Austrians would have to quickly adopt an immigration policy designed to counteract the effects of widespread contraception lest the population commit "national suicide."

Things Are Bad for Religious Believers in Kazakhstan -- And They're Likely to Get Even Worse Soon

Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbaev (photo at right) has sent a restrictive new Religion Law to his Constitutional Council for review. But state officials haven't waited for such irrelevant things as legal sanction to harass and persecute religious believers in the country.

One Baptist pastor said, "We'll be delighted if the President doesn't sign the law. The Law would introduce harsh persecution." However, he and his fellow Christians who refuse to seek state registration are already enduring unjust repression and punishment for practicing their faith. "We're fined and banned from meeting for worship – they want to close our churches."

As this Forum 18 report explains, the Kazakhstan Constitutional Council is dominated by the President's own "party" as are both houses of parliament which passed the new law. So things do not look good for religious believers there.
...The government continues to repress people exercising freedom of thought, conscience and belief in the country. In the latest problem for Baptist pastor Aleksandr Kerker in Tayinsha in North Kazakhstan Region, court bailiffs seeking to recover the fine he has refused to pay for leading unregistered worship went to his private employer in early January 2009, demanding that he hand over the money from Kerker's wages. "He refused, telling them they should deal with this directly with me," Kerker told Forum 18 from Tayinsha on 8 January. "But he sacked me anyway, saying he can do without such problems. He is not to blame though – he was afraid."

Kerker said he now has no source of income to support himself, his wife and his ten children, six of whom are minors. Bailiffs have already told him they will return after New Year to confiscate a cow, his refrigerator and gas stove.

Kerker defended his right to worship without seeking state permission and insisted that such items should not be confiscated as they are necessities. He said it is not clear when the bailiffs might return to take away the items.

Court bailiff Vladimir Kapareyko denied any responsibility for Kerker's sacking. "It has nothing to do with us," he told Forum 18 on 9 January. "If he had paid his fine this would never have happened." Asked why Kerker is being punished for meeting for worship Kapareyko responded: "They were meeting without state registration – he even opened a prayer house in a private home." Asked what was wrong with that, Kapareyko responded: "We're acting in accordance with the law. We're getting on with our job."...

Other members of the Council of Churches Baptists point to continuing problems. The church in the village of Konaevo near the town of Shu in the southern Zhambyl Region remains sealed. "The authorities said it would remain sealed until we register," church members told Forum 18 from Konaevo on 8 January. "But we will never do this." The authorities sealed the church in May 2008 after it was "banned" by a local court...

Bundle Up, Al. It's Awful Cold Out There.

R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. comments on how the harsh winter weather may be, ironically enough, unthawing a few minds previously frozen by Al Gore fantasies.

...Al Gore may believe in global warming, but I suggest that he have a word with his fellow environmental catastrophists at the UK's Hadley Centre for Climate Predictions. Since the end of 1998 global warming has ceased. In fact, it is getting colder out there. Two thousand eight was possibly the coldest year of this young century. Over the last two years temperatures have dropped by more than 0.5 degrees Celsius -- brrrr.

The reason I mention Al's co-religionists at the Hadley Centre is that they have come to realize that computer projections of global warming have been wrong. Carbon dioxide levels have indeed increased but not temperatures. So bundle up, Al. Last year, in many parts of the world, snowfalls reached levels not seen in decades. The Associated Press recently shrieked that global warming "is a ticking time bomb that President-elect Barack Obama can't avoid," but the facts are otherwise...

Democrats Change the Rules; Make Tax Increases, Wasteful Spending Easier Than Ever

John Fund reports in the Wall Street Journal today about the sneaky tactics employed by Nancy Pelosi and company to "grease the wheels" for greater government spending. Contrary to Pelosi's past calls for reform, now that she has the power, she's using it to the max to beat down her fiscally conservative opposition. And she's also taking actions to keep Democrat shenanigans hidden from public view.

In the new rules, term limits for committee chairmen are gone. So too are cost containment measures on Medicare. So too is the ability of a Congressman to make a motion to edit out any spending increase without making up for the "lost revenue." So too is the century old "motion to recommit" which responsible Republicans had to use 50 times in the last Congress as they tried to check runaway spending.

Furthermore, the new Democrat bullys have changed the rules making tax cuts much harder to win. Says Fund, "The new rules will mean that the only way to push for a tax cut will be to propose a tax increase elsewhere."

"All those nice pro-life, gun-owning young Democrats recruited to run by Rahm Emanuel will never have any real influence now," says Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform. "They were useful in getting Democrats a majority but now they'll be in the back of the bus."

Fund concludes, "Barack Obama ran for president pledging to end needless partisanship and to create "a new politics." He is at least making a stab at that by appointing a couple of cabinet members with Republican ties and consulting with GOP Congressional leaders. It's unsettling that his fellow Democrats on Capitol Hill seem intent on marching in a completely opposite direction."

Irrational "Gimme Disease" Spreads to Rural Politicians

At first glance, the town of Edwardsville, Ala., with a population of 194 people, might raise a few eyebrows with its bid to receive $375 million from the economic stimulus package being assembled by Barack Obama and lawmakers in Congress.

The tiny town, located near the Georgia border and 26 miles from the nearest "big city" of Anniston (population: 24,276), added 33 proposals—about two thirds of them related to "green" energy—to the list of "ready- to- go" projects assembled by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Total sum: $375,076,200.

That comes out to nearly $2 million per Edwardsville resident...

"Do you know how hard it is to fund some of these projects when your tax base is so low?" Phillips says. "So we just breathed this sigh of relief when we found out about the stimulus package . . . especially when it had a focus on renewable energy."

Today's Posts

A Fashion Statement

More from Big Hollywood

"Always Winter but Never Christmas"

Your Action Needed for Broadcaster Freedom Act

What the G.O.P. Elephant Forgot

The Abortion President Stacks His Team

It's Not Politics First -- Conservatives Must Win Back Popular Culture

A Fashion Statement

More from Big Hollywood

In a post typed in earlier this morning (scroll down a bit to find it), I announced the launching of Andrew Breitbart's new website, Big Hollywood, an important new source for conservatives who realize that the culture wars are, first and foremost, about the culture rather than merely being about electoral politics.

Be sure and check that post out. And be sure you take the suggestion there to install Big Hollywood in your Favorites. I have done that already -- it's now right there on my daily visits list alongside Lucianne.com, National Review, The Pearcey Report, Jill Stanek, Randy Alcorn's Blog, Breakpoint, Radio Free Europe, Drudge Report, the Family Research Council, Town Hall...and yes, Yahoo Sports.

Anyway, back to Big Hollywood. May I suggest a few particularly interesting posts that are part of their maiden voyage? Good. They are: John Ziegler's "A Revealing Morning With Sarah Palin"; Ben Shapiro's "Can Movies Lose Wars?"; Gary Graham's "One Pissed-Off Dude"; and finally, John Nolte's "What’s Wrong With Corny?"

Nolte is the Editor in Chief of Big Hollywood and his brief comments about a Bobby Van dance scene from Small Town Girl are spot-on. Nolte says, "When you consider all the elements that had to come perfectly together in order to pull off Van’s joyous hop through an idealized small town, all done in long takes, it’s a reminder that putting a smile on the face of your audience is no easy thing. Corny can be hard, harder than than even irony or nihilism."

This is quality stuff, guys. And it makes me think that Big Hollywood is going to be a Big Deal indeed for the conservative movement.

"Always Winter but Never Christmas"

"Oh, the joy! The sheer joy to find out that Narnia wasn't utterly ruined by its Christianity!"

Intrigued? Sure, you are.

So zip over to American Spectator and read Quin Hillyer's article about bigotry, intolerance and deliberate stupidity being very much in vogue at the Washington Post.

Your Action Needed for Broadcaster Freedom Act

Republican Congressman Greg Walden from Oregon knows what he's talking about when he joined Congressman Mike Pence from Indiana in re-introducing the Broadcaster Freedom Act. The bill would champion free speech by prohibiting government censorship of political, religious, and other speech on the radio and public airwaves.

I know, I know -- you thought the U.S. Constitution already protected us from such nefarious noodling but recent experience has shown that free speech is under terrific fire -- and most of all from the left!

Congressman Walden owned and operated radio stations for over 20 years. In fact, he's part of a small town broadcast family that dates back to the 1930s. “The founders would spin in their graves at the thought of the government censoring speech on many of today’s radio and television stations,” said Walden. “Yet that’s just what some Democratic leaders seem to be after. Whether as a throwback to the old Fairness Doctrine or under a less controversial guise, any effort to exert government control over speech on the airwaves is an insult to the principles behind the First Amendment.”

There's no doubt that the Broadcaster Freedom Act is needed. Democrat leaders like Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, Senator John Kerry, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Senator Jeff Bingaman and several others are already touting a return to the terribly misnamed Fairness Doctrine as a way to curb the impact of Rush Limbaugh and other conservative voices.

But Congressional action to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine (something that would certainly cause a public uproar) may not be needed. No, Barack Obama could slip it in the back door by simply letting the censors of the FCC change the rules. Voilà! No mess; no fuss. Free speech dies a quiet death by bureaucracy.

Such a scenario is not just possible. It truly is probable unless there's a strong move by Americans to defend our Constitutional freedoms. Please write or call your Congressmen and Senators soon and ask them to co-sponsor, work for and vote for the Broadcaster Freedom Act.

What the G.O.P. Elephant Forgot

Just in case you never read the post-election "autopsy" made by Senator Jim DeMint (Republican representing South Carolina), you can do so at his website. Good stuff. Relevant stuff. And, if the G.O.P. hopes to ever wrest control back from the left, absolutely indispensable stuff.

Here's a portion of Senator DeMint's remarks:

They say that elephants never forget, but that's exactly what the Grand Old Party has done.

Between the 1950s and 1970s, Rockefeller and Nixon Republicans kept the party in a seemingly permanent minority with a "me-too" philosophy that allowed Democrats to balloon the size and scope of government.

But, when Ronald Reagan ran unashamed on conservative principles in 1980 and Republicans in Congress embraced bold conservative reforms in 1994, America responded with overwhelming approval.

Since then, many Republicans have run for office as conservatives but governed as scandal-plagued big-spending moderates. They stopped offering common-sense solutions and broke promises with Americans by overspending and wasteful earmarking to special interests.

In the name of bipartisanship, our leaders supported amnesty, big new entitlements, more federal control of education, and compromises on energy. And too often Republicans shied away from defending values of life, family and faith.

The final straw for many was a series of Wall Street bailouts that cost over a trillion dollars and looked more like knee-jerk socialism than confident conservative leadership.

No wonder Republicans have lost a dozen Senate seats and nearly 50 House seats in two years.

Democrats will likely mistake Republican failures as a mandate for their liberal policies. Obama promises to "spread the wealth" and repeal all restrictions on abortion.

Nancy Pelosi wants trillions in new federal spending. Barney Frank promises higher taxes and massive military funding cuts. Harry Reid will kill the secret ballot for union elections. Patrick Leahy yearns to pack federal courts with activist judges who are hostile to traditional values.

Americans know little about these far left plans because Democrats didn't run on their liberal agenda, they ran against George Bush.

Yet, a strong majority of Americans are conservative and support the principles of freedom our nation was founded on.

The bipartisan Battleground Poll has found every year since 2002 that 60 percent of Americans identify themselves as conservatives and only 30 percent call themselves liberals. That's why Obama and the Democrats talked so much about conservative themes of tax cuts, spending restraint, second amendment rights and energy independence.

Americans haven't changed, Republicans have...

The Abortion President Stacks His Team

Barack Obama continues to set the stage for being the "Abortion President" as he names one hardline abortion activist after another to his Cabinet and leadership team. The latest looks like it will be practicing neurosurgeon and CNN medical reporter Sanjay Gupta to become the next Surgeon General.

Here's the story from LifeNews.com.

It's Not Politics First -- Conservatives Must Win Back Popular Culture

Andrew Breitbart gets it.

"If conservatives don't figure out popular culture soon, the movement will die a deserving death."

And Mark Steyn agrees.

"I think that's right. If the non-political sphere is permanently left-of-center — the movies, the pop songs, the plays, the sitcoms, the newspapers plus the churches, schools and much else — it's simply unreasonable to expect people to walk into a polling booth every other November and vote conservative. The culture is where the issues get framed and the boundaries set."

Read Breibart's comments on the matter here in this Washington Times article (complete with plans for his new website, Big Hollywood, which is now up and rolling -- and which richly deserves making it to your Bookmark list).

And Steyn's comments can be found in this brief post on NRO's The Corner.

Today's Posts

Epiphany Party 2009

Oh, Those Nutty Professors!

Lesbian Complaints Accepted by New Jersey Bureaucrats -- Methodist Campground Threatened With Closure

Once Again, Hamas Uses the "CNN Strategy" As Cover

Why Israel Struck

Israel Cannot Trust "World Opinion" -- She Must Insure Her Own Survival

Epiphany Party 2009

Last night's annual Epiphany party was one of the most delightful and inspiring from all the years we've been hosting them -- and that's saying quite a bit.

The party formally ended our Christmas celebrations (now the decorations come down, the movies and music get stored away, the nativity scene comes off the front lawn, etc.) but, as it usually does, last night's gathering provided large and very welcome doses of goodwill, spiritual encouragement and stimulation to love and good deeds that will be of immense help in the year to come.

Present at this year's party were Quint & Carol, Chet, Allen & Cindy, Karla, newlyweds Ben & Jennifer and Claire and I. We tried a bold experiment last night with the supper (you can risk that kind of thing when it involves trusted friends) but it worked like a charm. We offered our guests a "Soup Bar" featuring their choice of two seasoned stocks to begin with (chicken or beef) and then we added whatever ingredients they checked off on their menus: ground beef, basil chicken chunks, crumbled crisp bacon, beef kielbasa, northern beans, black beans, tricolor fiori pasta, corn, fried onions, spinach, and bella mushrooms. Claire and I then prepared each portion and served them up in lidded stew bowls I brought back from Belarus.

At the table were carrots, olives, celery, different kinds of bread and cheeses, crackers and chips, and pomegranate punch.

It went swell.

Following dinner we crammed into our living room and darkened the electric lights, leaving the warm glow of the fire to provide the atmosphere for the next stage of the evening. We talked, drank coffee, and then listened together to Randy Travis' exquisite Christmas song "Labor of Love" and Dylan Thomas' own reading of "A Child's Christmas in Wales."

Then there was more conversation, more coffee and a special dessert. Keeping with the theme, we offered custom-made ice cream sundaes, complete with a variety of toppings, whipped cream and maraschino cherries.

And finally, we concluded the Epiphany party with our traditional practice of putting away the figures in our oldest nativity set. Each person present chooses one of the figures and offers a brief meditation, prayer or story related to that character of the Bethlehem account. Claire then wraps the figures up for next year.

The evening was something we will long treasure. Thank you to all who made it such a special night.

And, as long as we're thanking people, may Claire and I thank everyone who graced our Christmas season this year by coming to our parties. And, let's see, counting our nine at-home parties plus a family breakfast down at a Lincoln restaurant, that makes (we think) about 70 who helped make this holiday season one of our best of all time.

Oh, Those Nutty Professors!

Malcolm Kline, the executive director of Accuracy in Academia, has an enlightening (and pretty infuriating too) review of 2008's wildest developments from the groves of academe. Among those "lowlights" --

* Denying political biases while using class time to get out the vote for Barack Obama;

* Playing the Race Card while still failing to attract black students, leading to, concurrently, an explosion in courses on racial studies and increasingly urgent pleas to boost minority enrollment;

* Maintaining the fiction of global warming in the face of plummeting temperatures; and

* Turning prime academic real estate over to radical Islamic groups under the guise of “tolerance.”

And then Kline offers up his ten nominees for "the most senseless scholars of the year just past." That you can't miss either.

Lesbian Complaints Accepted by New Jersey Bureaucrats -- Methodist Campground Threatened With Closure

A paper recently published by The Heritage Foundation outlined the threat to religious liberty posed by nondiscrimination laws that elevate sexual orientation to a “protected status” just like race or gender.

One of the cases used to illustrate this point involved a Methodist campground ministry in New Jersey that refused to allow a lesbian couple to rent one of its facilities for their civil union ceremony because of the ministry’s religious beliefs about marriage. The lesbian couple filed a complaint against the ministry for allegedly violating a civil rights law prohibiting discrimination in public accommodations. Because the ministry had opened its facilities to the general public, some argued that the ministry could not invoke its religious beliefs—“no matter how deeply held”—in limiting use of the facility for male–female weddings only.

Recently, the New Jersey Division of Civil Rights confirmed the threats outlined in Heritage’s paper by concluding that probable cause exists to pursue charges against the Methodist campground ministry. Although the decision does not end this particular case, it favors the view that legal recognition for same-sex unions and sexual orientation should trump religious liberties.

Of note, the decision was authored by the same New Jersey official, J. Frank Vespa-Papaleo, who headed a commission that recently recommended that New Jersey redefine marriage to include homosexual couples...

(Thomas Messner, The Foundry)

Once Again, Hamas Uses the "CNN Strategy" As Cover

Alan Dershowitz describes how the West is effectively duped by the Hamas deployment of a "CNN strategy," thus creating a shield for its ongoing campaign to wipe Israel off the map.

Here's a few choice paragraphs from the National Post (Canada) story. (Limor Edrey's photo at left shows an Israeli house destroyed by a Hamas rocket. It accompanied an IPS story from May 22nd.)

"On the first day of Israel’s ground attack, approximately 30 Palestinians, almost all Hamas combatants, were killed. On the same day an Islamic suicide bomber blew herself up in a mosque in Iraq, killing 40 innocent Muslims. No protests. Little media coverage."

As Israel persists in its military efforts — by ground, air and sea — to protect its citizens from deadly Hamas rockets, and as protests against Israel increase around the world, the success of the abominable Hamas double war crime strategy becomes evident. The strategy is as simple as it is cynical: Provoke Israel by playing Russian roulette with its children, firing rockets at kindergartens, playgrounds and hospitals; hide behind its own civilians when firing at Israeli civilians; refuse to build bunkers for its own civilians; have TV cameras ready to transmit every image of dead Palestinians, especially children; exaggerate the number of civilians killed by including as “children” Hamas fighters who are 16 or 17 years old and as “women,” female terrorists.

Hamas itself has a name for this. They call it “the CNN strategy” (this is not to criticize CNN or any other objective news source for doing its job; it is to criticize Hamas for exploiting the freedom of press which it forbids in Gaza). The CNN strategy is working because decent people all over the world are naturally sickened by images of dead and injured children. When they see such images repeatedly flashed across TV screens, they tend to react emotionally. Rather than asking why these children are dying and who is to blame for putting them in harm’s way, average viewers, regardless of their political or ideological perspective, want to see the killing stopped. They blame those whose weapons directly caused the deaths, rather than those who provoked the violence by deliberately targeting civilians...

The CNN strategy seems to work better, at least in some parts of the world, against Israel that it would against other nations. There is much more protest — and fury — directed against Israel when it inadvertently kills approximately 100 civilians in a just war of self-defence, than against Arab and Muslim nations and groups that deliberately kill far more civilians for no legitimate reason.

It isn’t the nature of the victims, since more Arabs and Muslim civilians are killed every day in Africa and the Middle East by Arab and Muslim governments and groups with little or no protests. (For example, on the first day of Israel’s ground attack, approximately 30 Palestinians, almost all Hamas combatants, were killed. On the same day an Islamic suicide bomber blew herself up in a mosque in Iraq, killing 40 innocent Muslims. No protests. Little media coverage.) It isn’t the nature of the killings, since Israel goes to extraordinary lengths to avoid killing civilians — if for no other reason than that it hurts its cause — while Hamas does everything in its power to force Israel to kill Palestinian civilians by firing its missiles from densely populated civilian areas and refusing to build shelters for its civilians.

It isn’t the nature of the conflict, either, because Israel is fighting a limited war of self-defence designed to protect its own civilians from rocket attacks, while most of those killed by Arabs and Muslims are killed in genocidal and tribal warfare with no legitimate aim.

The world simply doesn’t seem to care when Arabs and Muslims kill large numbers of other Arabs and Muslims, but a qualitatively different standard applies when the Jewish state kills even a relatively small number of Muslims and Arabs in a war of self-defence.

The international community doesn’t even seem to care when Palestinian children are killed by rocket fire — unless it is from Israeli rockets. The day before the recent outbreak, Hamas fired an anti-personnel rocket at Israeli civilians, but the rocket fell short of its target and killed two Palestinian girls. Yet there was virtually no coverage and absolutely no protests against these “collateral” civilian deaths. Hamas refused to allow TV cameras to show these dead Palestinian children.

Nor have there been protests against the cold-blooded murders by Hamas and its supporters of dozens of Palestinian civilians who allegedly “collaborated” with Israel. Indeed, Hamas and Fatah have killed far more Palestinian civilians over the past several years than have the Israelis, but you wouldn’t know that from the media, the United Nations or protesters who focus selectively on only those deaths caused by Israeli military actions.

The protesters who filled the streets of London, Paris and San Francisco were nowhere to be seen when hundreds of Jewish children were murdered by Palestinian terrorists over the years...

By any objective count, the number of genuinely innocent civilians killed by the Israeli Air Force in Gaza is lower than the collateral deaths caused by any nation in a comparable situation. Hamas does everything in its power to provoke Israel into killing as many Palestinian civilians as possible, in order to generate condemnation against the Jewish state. It has gone so far as firing rockets from Palestinian schoolyards and hiding its terrorists in Palestinian maternity wards.

Lest there be any doubt about the willingness of Hamas officials to expose their families to martyrdom, remember that the Hamas terrorist leader recently killed in an Israeli air attack sent his own son to be a suicide bomber. He also refused to allow his family to leave the house, even after learning that he and his house has been placed on the a of Israeli military targets...

Why Israel Struck

Vic Alhadeff, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, describes the basic facts behind Israel's retaliatory strikes at its Gaza Strip enemies -- basic facts, by the way, that most of the Western media absolutely refuse to report.

Imagine if an offshore terrorist organisation starts firing rockets at towns in northern Australia, aimed at killing and terrorising as many civilians as possible. Australia offers a truce, but the offer is rejected. How long would we expect our Government to wait before using force to defend its citizens? Imagine that Australian forces attack the terrorists. Most of the casualties are operatives, but there are civilian casualties.

Does this mean Australia has used disproportionate force?

For six months a truce was in effect between Israel and Hamas. In truth, the rocket attacks from Gaza aimed at Israeli civilians only declined; they did not cease. Hamas continued to smuggle weapons from Egypt into Gaza. Israel did not respond with force, but restricted movement into and out of Gaza to slow the gunmen and weapons.

It continued to allow humanitarian supplies into Gaza and to supply Gazans with more than half of their electricity needs. Incredibly, rocket attacks from Gaza targeted the crossing-points through which humanitarian relief was provided.

The truce ended on December 19, and Israel sought an extension. Between December 24 and 27, Hamas fired 80 rockets a day at Israel and declared it would not renew the truce. The attacks continued unabated. By December 27, Israelis had had enough...

Here's the rest. And the cartoon comes from the pen of Steve Greenberg and was published in the June 26th, 2008 edition of Jewish Journal.

Israel Cannot Trust "World Opinion" -- She Must Insure Her Own Survival

...The origin of the state of Israel is not religion or nationalism, it is the experience of oppression and murder, the fear of total annihilation and the bitter conclusion that world opinion could not be relied upon to protect the Jews...

So when Israel is urged to respect world opinion and put its faith in the international community the point is rather being missed. The very idea of Israel is a rejection of this option. Israel only exists because Jews do not feel safe as the wards of world opinion. Zionism, that word that is so abused, so reviled, is founded on a determination that, at the end of the day, somehow the Jews will defend themselves and their fellow Jews from destruction. If world opinion was enough, there would be no Israel.

The poverty and the death and the despair among the Palestinians in Gaza moves me to tears. How can it not? Who can see pictures of children in a war zone or a slum street and not be angry and bewildered and driven to protest? And what is so appalling is that it is so unnecessary. For there can be peace and prosperity at the smallest of prices. The Palestinians need only say that they will allow Israel to exist in peace. They need only say this tiny thing, and mean it, and there is pretty much nothing they cannot have.

Yet they will not say it. And they will not mean it. For they do not want the Jews. Again and again - again and again - the Palestinians have been offered a nation state in a divided Palestine. And again and again they have turned the offer down, for it has always been more important to drive out the Jews than to have a Palestinian state. It is difficult sometimes to avoid the feeling that Hamas and Hezbollah don't want to kill Jews because they hate Israel. They hate Israel because they want to kill Jews.

There cannot be peace until this changes. For Israel will not rely on airy guarantees and international gestures to defend it. At its very core, it will not. It will lay down its arms when the Jews are safe, but it will not do it until they are...

Read all of Daniel Finkelstein's moving piece in today's Times (U.K.) right here.

Today's Posts

In Mere Seconds, Hearts Are Changed and Precious Lives Are Saved

Embryonic Stem Cells: They Just Can't Figure Out How To Make 'Em Safe for Patients

The Obama Stimulus Package: A Classic Bait and Switch Game

Court Sides with Anglican Hierarchy; Rules Against Churches Who Oppose Homosexual Priests

"The Dirty Joke from Minnesota"

Will Illinois Cars Soon Be Sporting This?

The Kennedys and Abortion: A Tragic Sell Out

In Mere Seconds, Hearts Are Changed and Precious Lives Are Saved

Have you seen this quick television spot? It's just one of the dozens of powerful pro-life messages that are changing hearts, inspiring hope and saving lives all across the country.

Watch it. Look around at the other examples available for viewing.

And then, like Vital Signs Ministries, please join in a generous support of Virtue Media.

Embryonic Stem Cells: They Just Can't Figure Out How To Make 'Em Safe for Patients

Among the insoluble problems scientists face in trying to use embryonic stem cells in practical medicine is the regularity of rejection, the tendency of ESCs to develop into tumors, and the very scary issue in which some ESCs appear to be pre-cancerous.

Wesley J. Smith comments here on a recent study publicized by Nature Reports Stem Cells that suggests that the "healthiest appearing ES cells" may, in fact, be the most dangerous of all.

The Obama Stimulus Package: A Classic Bait and Switch Game

And it's a game that will produce devastating economic and social results.

Here's a few stern, salient warnings from people who can be trusted.

"Don’t Take the Bait for Obama’s Trillion Dollar Spending Trap" -- Conn Carroll, The Heritage Foundation's Foundry;

"The Economic 'Stimulus'" -- Thomas Sowell; and

"Are They All Democrats Now?" -- David Limbaugh

Court Sides with Anglican Hierarchy; Rules Against Churches Who Oppose Homosexual Priests

The California Supreme Court (yes, the same one that defiantly dismissed the will of the people in Proposition 8 and forced same sex marriages on the state's citizens) ruled unanimously yesterday that, although each church held a deed to their land in their own names, three parishes that left the Episcopal Church over its policy of ordaining homosexual ministers must forfeit their property to the Episcopal Church.

Guys, you couldn't get a clearer case of ideology-driven tyranny than this one.

"The Dirty Joke from Minnesota"

Wesley Pruden's op/ed piece in the Washington Times is a punchy exposé of the stolen election to the U.S. Senate of Al Franken, "the dirty joke from Minnesota" who is dirty in more ways than one.

A lot of the venal sins of Congress could be judged pornographic, both politically and otherwise, but we've never had an Official Senate Pornographer before. Sen. Chuck Schumer says Al Franken will fit right in.

"With the Minnesota recount complete," he says, gleefully, "it is now clear that Al Franken won the election." Actually, it isn't clear at all, as Mr. Schumer well knows, even though the Democrats managing the recount declared Mr. Franken the winner yesterday. The Democrats in the Senate are eager to get Al seated quickly because once he's seated among equals a bum is difficult to throw out. There's honor among senators, similar to the honor among thieves. (The difference is that thieves often hold to higher standards.)...

The post-election campaign in Minnesota to deprive Norman Coleman of his seat is remarkable for the way it was done in broad daylight, with everyone watching in a way not possible before the 24/7 glare of modern media.

The Minnesota secretary of state, Mark Ritchie, presided over the recount and it became clear quickly that the Democrats would do whatever was necessary to count Mr. Coleman out, stopping just short of borrowing votes from neighboring Wisconsin and Iowa. He was behind by 215 votes when the official counting stopped, and finished ahead by 225 votes when the recount was concluded. Nearly every dispute over procedure, evidence and judgment was resolved in Al's favor...

One member of the canvassing board, state Supreme Court Justice Barry Anderson, concedes that some ballots were likely counted twice, but he says there's not much anybody can do about it. In more than 25 precincts officials counted more ballots than voters; presumably we can put this down to the enthusiasm of high-minded Minnesotans to vote as often as they can. Everyone has a duty to vote, so who can scold a man or woman for going above and beyond the call of duty? Isn't that why Congress awards the Medal of Honor?

If Emerson was right, that consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, the minds of the Democratic canvassers are big and wide, indeed. Officials in one precinct in Hennepin County lost 133 actual ballots during the recount; never mind, they decided, we'll just go with the election-night count. This gave Al 46 extra votes.

But in a Ramsey County precinct, canvassers found more ballots in the recount than precinct judges counted on election night. Oh, good, the canvassers concluded; we'll ignore election night and count the extra ballots. Al got an extra 37 votes. When it was time to count absentee ballots - nearly always the devil's favorite item in the details - and Al was still in the hole, the secretary of state insisted on counting enough ballots that had been set aside for reexamination to put Al up 176 votes...

"Minnesotans like to think that their state isn't like New Jersey or Louisiana," observes the Wall Street Journal, "and typically it isn't."

Well, maybe. But any Minnesotan who thinks that owes Tony Soprano and Carlos Marcello an apology. The Mafia hasn't stolen an election this brazenly since Sam Giancana bought Illinois for John F. Kennedy a half-century ago.

JustJoe comments on Pruden's article from Lucianne.com, "We haven't seen the low point yet. It's the 'direction' of things that is most troubling: a senate seat awarded to a Princess because of her name, a senate seat up for sale to the highest bidder, a senate seat stolen blatantly, in-your-face. These are downward steps on a long staircase that will be descended deeper by more thugs and clowns following this batch.

The Republicans are dead in the water. We can complain about the corruption of the Democrats, but they flex their muscles because of the weakness of the spineless Repubs. The only hope is a new Republican party taken over by Sarah and including some others like Jindal, or, if she is elbowed out -- what I hope for -- a brand new conservative party."

Will Illinois Cars Soon Be Sporting This?

The Kennedys and Abortion: A Tragic Sell Out

I missed last week's Anne Hendershott article in the Wall Street Journal, "How Support for Abortion Became Kennedy Dogma." But thanks to a friend who passed it along to me, I found this must-read piece and now do the same for you. Very important information here.

...Ms. Kennedy was so concerned to assure pro-abortion leaders in New York, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported on Dec. 18, that on the same day Ms. Kennedy telephoned New York Gov. David Patterson to declare interest in the Senate seat, "one of her first calls was to an abortion rights group, indicating she will be strongly pro-choice."

Within the first week of her candidacy, Ms. Kennedy promised to work for several causes, including same-sex marriage and abortion rights. In responding to a series of 15 questions posed by the New York Times on Dec. 21, Ms. Kennedy said that, while she believes "young women facing unwanted pregnancies should have the advice of caring adults," she would oppose legislation that would require minors to notify a parent before obtaining an abortion. On the crucial question of whether she supports any state or federal restrictions on late-term abortions, Ms. Kennedy chose to say only that she "supports Roe v. Wade, which prohibits third trimester abortions except when the life or health of the mother is at risk." Presumably Ms. Kennedy knows that this effectively means an unlimited right to abortion -- including late-stage abortion -- because the "health of the mother" can be so broadly defined that it includes the psychological distress that can accompany an unintended pregnancy.

Ms. Kennedy's commitment to abortion rights is shared by other prominent family members, including Kerry Kennedy Cuomo and Maryland's former Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Some may recall the 2000 Democratic Convention when Caroline and her uncle, Sen. Ted Kennedy, addressed the convention to reassure all those gathered that the Democratic Party would continue to provide women with the right to choose abortion -- even into the ninth month. At that convention, the party's nominee, Al Gore, formerly a pro-life advocate, pledged his opposition to parental notification and embraced partial-birth abortion. Several of those in attendance, including former President Bill Clinton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, had been pro-life at one time. But by 2000 nearly every delegate in the convention hall was on the pro-choice side -- and those who weren't simply kept quiet about it.

Caroline Kennedy knows that any Kennedy desiring higher office in the Democratic Party must now carry the torch of abortion rights throughout any race. But this was not always the case. Despite Ms. Kennedy's description of Barack Obama, in a New York Times op-ed, as a "man like my father," there is no evidence that JFK was pro-choice like Mr. Obama. Abortion-rights issues were in the fledgling stage at the state level in New York and California in the early 1960s. They were not a national concern.

Even Ted Kennedy, who gets a 100% pro-choice rating from the abortion-rights group Naral, was at one time pro-life. In fact, in 1971, a full year after New York had legalized abortion, the Massachusetts senator was still championing the rights of the unborn. In a letter to a constituent dated Aug. 3, 1971, he wrote: "When history looks back to this era it should recognize this generation as one which cared about human beings enough to halt the practice of war, to provide a decent living for every family, and to fulfill its responsibility to its children from the very moment of conception."

But that all changed in the early '70s, when Democratic politicians first figured out that the powerful abortion lobby could fill their campaign coffers (and attract new liberal voters). Politicians also began to realize that, despite the Catholic Church's teachings to the contrary, its bishops and priests had ended their public role of responding negatively to those who promoted a pro-choice agenda.

In some cases, church leaders actually started providing "cover" for Catholic pro-choice politicians who wanted to vote in favor of abortion rights. At a meeting at the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport, Mass., on a hot summer day in 1964, the Kennedy family and its advisers and allies were coached by leading theologians and Catholic college professors on how to accept and promote abortion with a "clear conscience."...

Today's Posts

American Beverage Institute Spokesperson -- Over the Top In Protecting Drunk Driving

Next In the Handout Line? The 50 States.

Hmm...Maybe Habitat for Humanity Shouldn't Have Built Those Homes on a Garbage Dump

Surrendering to "Car Prowl" Criminals

Carrying Castro's Water

Welcome to the Post-Christian Era: Profane, Potty-Mouth Comedian "Elected" to U.S. Senate

American Beverage Institute Spokesperson -- Over the Top In Protecting Drunk Driving

Sarah Longwell, the American Beverage Institute's spokesperson in this Fox News story about mandatory interlock devices for persons convicted of drunk driving, certainly makes a donkey of herself as she tries to justify impaired driving, dismisses the proven effectiveness of such devices to save lives, and then boorishly goes after Nebraska State Senator Tony Fulton for using a study conducted by "activists" like Mothers Against Drunk Driving and...ahem...the federal government.

Fulton, the sponsor of the legislation passed in the Unicameral (see this post), does a good job in explaining the law's purpose. And his calm, reasoned commentary makes Ms. Longwell look even worse.

FYI -- the American Beverage Institute is no stranger to the fight against drunk driving -- it's just that they continue to take the wrong side.

SourceWatch explains that the ABI's mission is to "promote responsible alcohol consumption."[1] Actually, its primary focus is opposing any lowering of the legal blood alcohol limit for drivers, and fighting smoking bans in bars. The organization is run by lobbyist Rick Berman, whose company, Berman & Co., represents the restaurant, alcoholic beverage and tobacco industries. Berman is quoted in numerous articles as the legislative counsel for the group. He consistently defends "social drinkers" and speaks out against any laws or media coverage that negatively affects the industry. In this capacity he has been a longtime foe of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).

The American Beverage Institute's recent propaganda includes their "Drink Responsibly: Drive Responsibly" campaign. The group refuses to accept the fact that "responsible" means different things to different people. They call MADD and others who work to reform alcohol policies "Neo-prohibitionists" to suggest that they want to infringe upon the average American's right to enjoy the alcoholic beverage of their choice, and to paint them as "Carrie Nations" to be feared...

In January 2009, the ABI opposed new laws that became effective in six states that required the installation of ignition interlock devices in vehicles belonging to people convicted of their first drunk driving offense. ABI Managing Director Sarah Longwell argued, "We foresee is a country in which you're no longer able to have a glass of wine, drink a beer at a ball game or enjoy a champagne toast at a wedding." She added, "There will be a de facto zero tolerance policy imposed on people by their cars." Longwell argued that Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), who supported passage of the laws, put too much emphasis on alcohol as a cause of traffic deaths, and disregarded the roles excessive speed and driver cell-phone use in deadly accidents.[5] Shifting the focus of the debate away from the embattled substance/product is a public relations strategy first practiced by the tobacco industry."

Next In the Handout Line? The 50 States.

That line for federal bailouts (which depends on citizen-provided money, of course) just keeps getting longer and longer. Cities, automakers, auto-related companies, banks, insurers, newspapers, arts organizations, universities, and now the fifty states.

But the governors aren't being greedy. They're simply asking for a trillion (no kidding) dollars.

But wait; since Barack Obama is going to be President, will we have to now cough up enough for 57 states?

Hmm...Maybe Habitat for Humanity Shouldn't Have Built Those Homes on a Garbage Dump

One man pulled up his floorboards to find rubbish 5ft deep under his kitchen. Other complaints include cracking walls and rotting door frames that let in rats and ants. Many residents have complained of mildew and mysterious skin rashes.

One resident said her children were suffering from skin complaints. “The intentions are good, but when the politicians and big-shot stars have left we’re stuck with the consequences. This house looks pretty but inside it either stinks or sweats,” she said.

Uh oh. Habitat for Humanity has a bit of a public relations problem on its hands.

Residents of a model housing estate bankrolled by Hollywood celebrities and hand-built by Jimmy Carter, the former US president, are complaining that it is falling apart. Fairway Oaks was built on northern Florida wasteland by 10,000 volunteers, including Carter, in a record 17-day “blitz” organised by the charity Habitat for Humanity. Eight years later it is better known for cockroaches, mildew and mysterious skin rashes.

A forthcoming legal battle over Fairway Oaks threatens the reputation of a charity envied for the calibre of its celebrity supporters, who range from Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt to Colin Firth, Christian Bale and Helena Bonham Carter. The case could challenge the bedrock philosophy behind Habitat for Humanity, claiming that using volunteers, rather than professional builders, is causing as many problems as it solves.

April Charney, a lawyer representing many of the 85 homeowners in Fairway Oaks, said she had no problems taking on Habitat for Humanity, despite its status as a “darling of liberal social activists”. She said the charity should have told people that part of the estate had been built on a rubbish dump...

Surrendering to "Car Prowl" Criminals

It's a sad sign of the times -- and I'm not just speaking of the incredible numbers of "car prowl" crimes that are hitting Seattle, crimes that involve smashing the windows of parked cars and then ripping off the stereo, GPS system, and anything else that's within reach. Nearly 400 "car prowls" were reported within Seattle's city limits...within two weeks!

"There's nothing [the police] can do about it," said one fellow whose car has been busted up and plundered so many times he's lost count. "The cost of replacing the window doesn't meet his insurance deductible and the police don't even come out to take a report anymore." And even if one of the thugs is caught, he is charged with merely a misdemeanor offense.

Theresa Tyler, who works at Speedy Glass in Seattle, said she had 12 vehicles in the shop on a recent Monday morning that had all been damaged during car prowls. She estimates that 97 percent of broken car-door windows are from car prowls. "It's busier this year," she said. "People are getting more desperate and more nervy."

Crime soaring. Woefully inefficient police protection. A court system indifferent to the plight of innocent citizens.

Welcome to the "kinder and gentler" 21st Century.

But the sad sign of the times I referred to in the first sentence isn't the crime itself or even the abject failure of the "justice system" to stop them. Rather, it's the sense of surrender (even irrational sympathy) to lawlessness the citizenry is experiencing. Case in point?

A Rainier Valley woman, who didn't want to be named, said she leaves her car door unlocked and a coin jar on her seat as a peace offering to the prowlers. "It's a gift so they won't break my windows and go through my stuff," she said.

Carrying Castro's Water

In this compelling American Thinker article, Humberto Fontova describes how the mainstream media continue to play apologists (even enablers) to the Communist barbarians running Cuba.

It's an important read and one you would do well for the cause of freedom to pass along to others. You can do so easily by using the "E-Mail This" feature button at the bottom of this post.

From the AP to Reuters and from the New York Times to the Washington Post the MSM stories on the Cuban Revolution” 50th anniversary all mention a “dictator”-- but his name is Batista. The Castro brothers invariably appear as “Presidents.” Fidel Castro has ruled (unelected) longer than Hitler and Stalin combined and mandates what his subjects, read, say, earn, eat (both substance and amount), where they live, travel or work. No matter. He's a “president”

You will search these stories in utter vain for any mention of mass-murder and jailings or torture—on the part of the Castros that is. Yet mass-repression started on day one of the Castroite triumph and kicked into highest gear in the mid 60's, precisely at the apex of the Castro/Che popularity with western politicians, celebrities and “intellectuals.” ...

Here's the rest of this important piece.

Welcome to the Post-Christian Era: Profane, Potty-Mouth Comedian "Elected" to U.S. Senate

Strange things keep happening in Minnesota, where the disputed recount in the Senate race between Norm Coleman and Al Franken may be nearing a dubious outcome. Thanks to the machinations of Democratic Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and a meek state Canvassing Board, Mr. Franken may emerge as an illegitimate victor.

Mr. Franken started the recount 215 votes behind Senator Coleman, but he now claims a 225-vote lead and suddenly the man who was insisting on "counting every vote" wants to shut the process down. He's getting help from Mr. Ritchie and his four fellow Canvassing Board members, who have delivered inconsistent rulings and are ignoring glaring problems with the tallies...

Read more on this Wall Street Journal story here. It's just one more in what's become an audacious series of political corruption by Democrats. And with the confidence that they can get away with it (60 Minutes and company are, as a matter of course, AWOL when it comes to Democrat shenanigans), these guys are going to get nothing but worse.

Today's Posts

Northern Ireland Environment Minister, Sammy Wilson: "I Still Think Man-Made Climate Change is a Con."

Whose Next In Line for YOUR Money?

Whose Next In Line for YOUR Money? (Addendum)

Clueless, Classless CNN

Are New Year's Resolutions for Christians?

Northern Ireland Environment Minister, Sammy Wilson: "I Still Think Man-Made Climate Change is a Con."

...“I think in 20 years’ time we will look back at this whole climate change debate and ask ourselves how on earth were we ever conned into spending the billions of pounds which are going into this without any kind of rigorous examination of the background, the science, the implications of it all. Because there is now a degree of hysteria about it, fairly unformed hysteria I’ve got to say as well.

“I mean I get it in the Assembly all the time and most of the people who shout about climate change have not read one article about climate change, not read one book about climate change, if you asked them to explain how they believe there’s a connection between CO2 emission and the effects which they claim there’s going to be, if you ask them to explain the thought process or the modelling that is required and the assumptions behind that and how tenuous all the connections are, they wouldn’t have a clue.

“They simply get letters about it from all these lobby groups, it’s popular and therefore they go along with the flow — and that would be ok if there were no implications for it, but the implications are immense.”...

(Source, Belfast Telegraph, December 31)

Whose Next In Line for YOUR Money?

Rebecca Christie reports for Bloomberg that the government's bailout of the automakers themselves is just the beginning.

The Treasury Department has already conceded that there's other "commercial interests" connected with the auto industry that will be getting money too: axle manufacturers, insurers, loan companies.

And what about those pretty showroom models? Whose gonna' pay for those sequined dresses?

Here's the first paragraphs of Christie's story:

The U.S. Treasury threw the door open to taxpayer financing for a widening array of companies and industries by drafting broad guidelines on aid to the auto industry.

The Treasury’s guidelines, published yesterday, would let officials provide funds to any company they deem important to making or financing cars. That leaves room for the government to provide money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program beyond loans already committed to General Motors Corp., GMAC LLC and Chrysler LLC.

“There are going to be other industries that are going to have just as good a case,” as the auto companies, former St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President William Poole said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “We don’t know what those other industries are going to be. Where does this process stop?”...

Whose Next In Line for YOUR Money? (Addendum)

Now politicians want to use taxpayer's money to bail out failing newspapers? You gotta' be kidding!

Nope. Here is a case in Great Britain that may be finding counterparts here in the U.S. all too soon.

Clueless, Classless CNN

CNN thinks it's cute to have the notoriously irreligious and raunchy comedienne Kathy Griffin serve as co-host for their live New Year's Eve broadcast, complete with her trademark profanity, vulgarity and hateful slurs.

It is not only another reason for turning off CNN in your own home, it's another point in the presentation you make to those who insist on playing CNN in the airports, your doctor's office, the coffee shops, and even at the gas pumps.

Here's the New York Post story on the disgusting affair.

And here's the kind of e-mail I hope you'll join me in sending to CNN.

Dear CNN,

Your choice of the notoriously vulgar comedienne Kathy Griffin to again serve as co-host of your live New Year's Eve broadcast certainly marks a low point in your history. Her performance on that broadcast, complete with profanity and hateful personal slurs, was disgusting and deeply offensive.

I realize, of course, that Griffin's reputation as a nasty, mean-spirited performer is probably the very reason you chose her for the job, thinking that CNN might prove itself to younger viewers as iconoclastic and oh-so-hip. But it only emphasizes that CNN would rather compete with Saturday Night Live than serve as an objective, careful, hard-news news network.

The New Year's Eve broadcast made Anderson Cooper look like a cowardly fool. But it made the motives of the CNN front office look even worse.

This is how you prove yourselves superior to Fox? C'mon, guys; bad move. Please get out of the sandbox and get back to being what you're supposed to be.

Denny Hartford
Director, Vital Signs Ministries
Omaha, Nebraska

Are New Year's Resolutions for Christians?

There are some Christians who dismiss New Year's resolutions as exercises in pride and self-determination. However, making resolutions (and doing everything one can to then keep them) should be a basic and ongoing part of a Christian's life. Why else would Scripture so frequently use such "resolutional" verbs as reckon, count, consider, put on, put aside, dedicate, fix, consecrate, think, prepare, grow, gird, look, be transformed, and so on?

In the sermon, Christmas Resolutions, Denny looks at the legitimacy of making resolutions, presents a few relevant Scriptures he's meditating on regarding his own 2009 resolutions, and gives some helpful advice to make your resolutions more successful than they've been in the past.