Reverend Jesse Jackson in 1977 -- Before abandoning personal convictions and moral traditions in order to hitch his wagon to the rising powers of the secular Left.
Sigh.
"What if a person gains the whole world and loses his own soul?"
Monday, June 13, 2011
What Jesse Jackson Once Believed About Abortion
Reverend Jesse Jackson in 1977 -- Before abandoning personal convictions and moral traditions in order to hitch his wagon to the rising powers of the secular Left.
Sigh.
"What if a person gains the whole world and loses his own soul?"
Media Really Bummed: They Found Nothing But Good in Palin's E-mail Pile
One can only assume that the Left-leaning editors who dispatched teams of reporters to remote Juneau, the Alaskan capital, to pore over the emails in the hope of digging up a scandal are now viewing the result as a rather poor return on their considerable investment.
If anything, Mrs Palin seems likely to emerge from the scrutiny of the 24,000 pages, contained in six boxes and weighing 275 pounds, with her reputation considerably enhanced. As a blogger at Powerline noted, the whole saga might come to be viewed as “an embarrassment for legacy media”...
It takes a British newspaper to report the obvious. Read more of Toby Harnden's story in the Telegraph.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Today's Posts
What Does WeinerGate Say About America?
Who Cares About Women? Abortion Zealots Ignore Health Standards By Pushing RU-486 Through the Mail.
Obama's Not Bothered About the Economy. Too Bad, Prez; It Bothers Voters.
It's Especially Dangerous to Be Old in Britain
The Lights of Freedom Are Getting Dim
Beach Boys, Lettermen Perform for Terri Schiavo Foundation
Who Cares About Women? Abortion Zealots Ignore Health Standards By Pushing RU-486 Through the Mail.
Obama's Not Bothered About the Economy. Too Bad, Prez; It Bothers Voters.
It's Especially Dangerous to Be Old in Britain
The Lights of Freedom Are Getting Dim
Beach Boys, Lettermen Perform for Terri Schiavo Foundation
What Does WeinerGate Say About America?
Rep. Anthony D. Weiner has become the face of the Democratic Party. The New York congressman is embroiled in a scandal. Mr. Weiner has admitted sending sexual messages, as well as a lewd photo of his crotch, to numerous women - six so far and counting. Moreover, a picture of his naked genitals is circulating on the Internet.
Mr. Weiner, however, refuses to resign. At a news conference Monday, he admitted to exercising bad judgment and apologized repeatedly to his wife, Huma Abedin, who is pregnant. But Mr. Weiner insists he broke no laws and can still effectively represent his Queens constituents.
He is wrong. Mr. Weiner is a sexual predator who relentlessly pursued women on the Internet. By sending such graphic pictures and messages, he opened himself to potential criminal blackmail. This was shown by his weeklong campaign of manipulation and public lying. He first claimed that his computer was “hacked into” as part of a “prank.” He then denied the pictures were of him. When that didn’t work, he sought to portray the scandal as a hit job by conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart. In short, Mr. Weiner desperately tried to cover it up.
Mr. Weiner’s actions are unacceptable for a public representative. His behavior was reckless, demonstrating an appalling lack of judgment. It also showed contempt for his constituents. He disgraced his office, violated his congressional oath to uphold the highest ethical standards and deliberately lied to his constituents and the electorate. Moreover, several messages reveal that he sought to coach a woman into lying about the scandal - including possibly offering the use of his staff and office resources. This would constitute clear abuse of power and misuse of taxpayer dollars. The House Ethics Committee has rightly launched an investigation.
Leading Democrats realize that Weinergate is a cancer on their party. As the economy worsens, the last thing the Obama administration needs is a major scandal that further damages the Democrats’ credibility...
The problem is that Weinergate goes to the heart of the Democrats’ cultural liberalism. Try as they might to disown him, he embodies the party’s moral rot. Mr. Weiner is a progressive crusader. He has championed almost every secular leftist cause: socialized medicine, government day care, welfare, high taxes, abortion rights, homosexual marriage, gays in the military, sex education in schools and a European-style nanny state. In other words, he peddles sex and socialism - the twin pillars of progressivism.
Democrats are willing to sacrifice ruthlessly one of their rising stars to serve a larger objective - retaining their grip on power. Yet, for decades, it has been liberals who have pushed for condoms to be distributed to high school kids, homosexuality and bisexuality to be taught in schools, the murder of unborn infants to be tolerated, and pornography and permissiveness to be accepted as part of the mainstream. The result has been a coarsening of our culture, the breakdown of the family and the disintegration of a moral consensus. Mr. Weiner is simply a product of modern liberalism - self-absorbed narcissism combined with an obsession for sexual gratification...
The Rubicon was crossed during the Clinton years. President Clinton engaged in an extramarital affair with a young intern, Monica Lewinsky, in the White House. He committed perjury and repeatedly lied to the American people. He abused his power and degraded his office. Mr. Clinton was the sex president. He was accused of sexually assaulting Paula Jones and Kathleen Willey. Juanita Broderick even claimed she was once raped by Mr. Clinton. Rather than removing him from office, Democrats - and much of the electorate - rallied behind him. The reason was simple: His moral degeneracy increasingly mirrored secular America...
Who Cares About Women? Abortion Zealots Ignore Health Standards By Pushing RU-486 Through the Mail.
Mary Novick reports for LifeNews.com about an abortion organization that is getting around the laws of pro-life countries by shipping the RU-486 through the mails. These abortionists are committed by ideology as much as the profit motive to selling this deadly drug to uninformed women though physicians (and even the drug manufacturers themselves) clearly explain that using RU-486 without the direct involvement of a doctor is recklessly dangerous.
A pro-abortion website is targeting women in pro-life countries like Poland, Ireland, Malta and others for distribution of the abortion drug, RU-486. The goal of this website is to undermine pro-life laws and to reduce maternal mortality due to “unsafe abortions.”[1]
Womenonweb.org directs women through an online questionnaire, where they answer questions about gestational age etc. Then this organization will ship abortion drugs to the women in these pro-life countries, where the woman will take the drugs at home. The physician disseminating the drug does not physically examine the woman before sending her the drug, nor is he/she available should complications arise.
Whatever the goal of this site may be, distributing abortion drugs to women – especially if they have not been physically examined by the physician – is “unsafe.” The protocol for distribution of RU-486 as prescribed by the manufacturer, Danco Laboratories, requires that physicians supervise the administration of the abortion drug in order to assess potential complications and to intervene surgically if necessary. The prescriber’s agreement indicates that a physician must have the:
• Ability to assess the duration of pregnancy accurately.
• Ability to diagnose ectopic pregnancies.
• Ability to provide surgical intervention in cases of incomplete abortion or severe bleeding, or have made plans to provide such care through others, and are able to assure patient access to medical facilities equipped to provide blood transfusions and resuscitation, if necessary.[2]
A physician in another country assessing an online survey does not have the ability to make these determinations/ interventions. It is absolutely “unsafe” to distribute the abortion drug in this manner.
Furthermore, it is not uncommon for serious complications – requiring surgical intervention – to occur for women who attain the abortion pills online. A study conducted from April to December 2006, and published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that 13.6 %[3] of women who used the abortion pill at home reported being admitted to the hospital to undergo suction/ curettage abortion for incomplete abortion or excessive bleeding. This study provides clear evidence that serious complications are common among women who use this drug...
Here's the rest of the story.
P.S. This irresponsible (let alone, immoral) promotion of chemical abortion is also common with Planned Parenthood. Indeed, their policy of distributing RU-486 via webcam is in place in several states. It is a policy pro-life advocates and all others who desire to defend high standards of women's health need to strongly oppose. The Nebraska legislature has led the way with its recent passage of the Stop Web Cam Abortions law, one which should become a model for other states.
Obama's Not Bothered About the Economy. Too Bad, Prez; It Sure Bothers Voters.
Let’s get this straight — President Obama says he’s not at all worried that the nation is on a double-dip recession track, even though he admits he has no idea what the meaning of the sudden downturn in job growth foretells. He claims the nation is on a path of solid but uneven recovery and we should not “panic.” I guess in his view, cheery optimism will save the day — or perhaps he can rely on the faux security of presidential denial.
Far from calming our fears, the president’s nervous state of denial sends chills down our spines with the depth and breadth of its naiveté and dishonesty. A new CNN/Public Opinion Research poll indicates nearly half of Americans believe the United States will likely suffer another Great Depression within the year. While there are many divergent definitions and varied opinions as to what constitutes an economic depression as opposed to a recession, long-held fears, family memories, history and similarities between the Great Depression and what Americans are currently experiencing suggest a forshadowing of electoral uprising against congressional Democrats and Obama for economic woes felt nationwide. The same poll places the economy as the No. 1 issue Americans care about, while showing a sharp decline in Obama’s approval numbers — now below 50 percent.
That long-ago 8 percent unemployment Obama promised would result from his nearly $1 billion stimulus spending spree now sounds charmingly quaint compared to the harsh reality of today. Last Friday’s Labor Department jobs report and 9.1 percent unemployment were blows to hopes for economic recovery in the near future, with a disappointing 54,0000 new jobs — far below what was expected, hoped for or needed to spur the economy and keep recession at bay. Nearly half of the unemployed have been so for at least six months, and about one-third have been out of work for more than a year. It’s a safe bet they will vote next year, too...
And, with home prices falling another 4 percent, Obama seems reluctant to let it color his Pollyannaish view of the economy he leads, and for which he is largely accountable. It should not come as any surprise, then, that we learned just this week the president has eliminated his daily economic briefings, provided by his economic team, from his schedule. Instead, he now only gets daily documents from his National Economic Council. To further confuse matters, the only daily in-person economic briefing on our failing national economy Obama treats himself to appears to be with, and by, Vice President Biden. This would be the same Joe Biden who claimed the economy was recovering and “gaining traction” only six days before the poor jobs report was released. The same Joe Biden who claimed the Obama administration’s bailout “saved” the American auto industry from bankruptcy, despite the fact Chrysler filed for bankruptcy, followed by GM only a month later — both AFTER receiving the very generous wad of federal bailout cash, courtesy of the American taxpayer...
Revisionist history? Stupidity? Denial? Take your pick. One is not more attractive or less frightening than another.
But glass-as-half-full pronouncements, as nifty as they sound on the campaign trail when pandering for votes and applause lines, will not satiate voters come Election Day. Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice, shame on you.
(Cheri Jacobus is president of Capitol Strategies PR and an adjunct professor at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.)
It's Especially Dangerous to Be Old in Britain
Furthermore, the study claims (and this is hardly a surprise to those who follow the devolution of medical care under nationalized health programs) that that older patients are being under-treated by Britain's National Health Service because of age bias.
Here's more from the Telegraph story by Martin Beckford.
The Lights of Freedom Are Getting Dim
But, as with beer, not everyone was convinced. Some consumers didn’t like the high out-of-pocket cost. (A basic CFL runs about three times the initial price of the equivalent incandescent.) Some didn’t like that bulbs could take a while to build up to full intensity.
Some didn’t like the occasional flicker. And a lot didn’t like the light. Its bluish cast lacks the warmth of traditional incandescents and gives skin tones a somewhat deathly tinge. “Fluorescent is just not attractive,” a resolute restaurant designer once told me. “I don’t care what they say.”
One serious technophile, University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Reynolds, spent much of 2007 flogging compact fluorescents on his popular Instapundit blog, eventually persuading more than 1,900 readers to swap 19,871 incandescent bulbs for CFLs. To this day, the Instapundit group is by far the largest participant at OneBillionBulbs.com, a bulb-switching campaign organized by the consulting firm Symmetric Technologies. But Reynolds himself has changed his mind.
“I’m deeply, deeply disappointed with CFL bulbs,” he wrote last month on his blog. “I replaced pretty much every regular bulb in the house with CFLs, but they’ve been failing at about the same rate as ordinary long-life bulbs, despite the promises of multiyear service. And I can’t tell any difference in my electric bill. Plus, the Insta-Wife hates the light.”...
Here's more of Virginia Postrel excellent Bloomberg column.
See these previous Vital Signs Blog post also: About Those Toxic Mercury Bulbs: Will Nanny State Politicians See the Light?...Nanny State Light Bulbs -- It's a More Important Issue Than You Think...Among the Costs of Going Green -- Unemployment.
Beach Boys, Lettermen Perform for Terri Schiavo Foundation
“She was a huge John Denver and Duran Duran fan,” says Suzanne Schindler Vitadamo about a beloved sister who died in early 2005. “We thought a concert was a great way to pay tribute to all persons with disabilities, honor Terri’s memory, and raise funds for the network.”
The second annual Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Concert will be June 12 at Fraze Pavilion in Kettering. The Beach Boys will headline the show. Guest artist John Stamos, opening act The Lettermen and Jim Labriola of “Home Improvement” will also be featured...
Proceeds from the concert, held in a different city each year, will go to the network established by Schiavo’s family, which advocates for the lives of vulnerable persons by serving as a resource for families needing counsel and support. Says Vitadamo: “We believe all persons with disability deserve to live and be cared for with compassion and respect.”
What a concert, huh? And what a cause. If you're anywhere near Ohio...for that matter, if you're ready for a fun road trip to get to Ohio...please consider making this terrific party. It's this Sunday evening at 7 at the Fraze Pavilion in Kettering. Tickets are a mere $35 at the Fraze box office or through www.ticket master.com.
Man, $35 for the Beach Boys, Lettermen and more? You gotta' love it. More information about the concert can be found right here and more information about the Terri Schiavo Foundation can be found over here.
Thursday, June 09, 2011
Today's Posts
Democrat Congresswoman (And Former Abortionist) Wants A More "Ethical" Congress
The Brutality, Bullying and Injustice of Sharia Law -- And How the West Is Enabling It
$603,000 for a Taxi License? Govt. Regs Are Killing American Business.
Man Dies in Hospital Hallway, Body Lays There for 10 Hours Before Staff Notices He's Dead
Divorce Harms Kids' Academic, Social Performance
Hollywood Stars Featured in New Pro-Life Films
This Is How Democrat Bob Filner Stands Behind America's Troops?
The Brutality, Bullying and Injustice of Sharia Law -- And How the West Is Enabling It
$603,000 for a Taxi License? Govt. Regs Are Killing American Business.
Man Dies in Hospital Hallway, Body Lays There for 10 Hours Before Staff Notices He's Dead
Divorce Harms Kids' Academic, Social Performance
Hollywood Stars Featured in New Pro-Life Films
This Is How Democrat Bob Filner Stands Behind America's Troops?
Democrat Congresswoman (And Former Abortionist) Wants A More "Ethical" Congress
But Allyson Schwartz is something else too.
She's an abortionist, a woman who co-founded an abortion clinic in Philadelphia and served as its Executive Director for 13 years. And though her abortion business eventually caved in (after killing thousands of preborn boys and girls), she continues to serve the abortion movement with a cruel zeal, compiling a full 100% on NARAL's political score sheet.
How's that for a revealing snapshot of what the modern Democrat Party represents?
Oh, by the way, Schwartz was one of the first to suggest that that Rep. Anthony Weiner resign because his "behavior was so offensive he has lost the ability to command respect from his constituents and [thus he] brought dishonor to the House."
Though I agree that Weiner should prove his long overdue apology was sincere by resigning, I find it an unconscionable irony to hear an abortionist dishing out moral criticism. Come on. Weiner's offenses were lewd, narcissistic and bizarre.
But he never killed babies for money.
If Schwartz really wants the House to improve its moral standards, she would repent her barbaric past, apologize to the thousands of people she exploited and hurt, and follow through with her own resignation.
Don't hold your breath.
The Brutality, Bullying and Injustice of Sharia Law -- And How the West Is Enabling It
How do they accomplish this? They name anyone who engages in an honest examination of Islamic texts as a bigot, or full of hate, or call him an "Islamophobe." Dissent brings trials for non-specific "hate-speech" crimes, as well as threats of riots, violence and boycotts. In many worst-case scenarios, Muslims kill non Muslims, as well as those brave Muslims who dare to defy mind-control and suppression.
Only a few days ago the courageous Lars Hedegaard was found guilty of so called "hate speech" for having made allegedly racist statements. Yet, Mr. Hedegaard has been telling the truth. He has been bringing to the public's attention the appalling widespread Islamic 'honor' violence, in which family members are directed kill female relatives, reportedly to "restore family honor," for "crimes" such as as being raped -- often by a family member; the woman is always declared guilty, never the rapist -- as well as for alleged adultery, even if there is no proof, but just "a feeling" the judges may have as in the recent case of Hena in Bangladesh. who was sentenced to 300 lashes, and during the lashings died.
During my thirty-two years of living in Syria, I have witnessed first hand countless acts of vicious violence and cruelty. As a practicing physician in Syria, I have seen and treated countless abused women who were severely beaten and raped with the tacit approval of Sharia and family "honor."
Those victims I treated were of the same type of victims honor violence to which Mr. Hedegaard referred, and for which he is now being penalized by those who are supposed to be championing the same values we all hold dear in the West.
By suppressing the freedom to expose atrocities and cruelty against Muslim women, however, the West undermines their status as respected and valued citizens. Is this what government leaders seek to accomplish? Are Muslim women who suffer immensely under Sharia Law, including in the West, not worthy of government protection?
As a physician, I am alarmed at the coordinated effort by Islamists and their accomplices in the West to disrupt this basic right to freely express and expose what needs to be corrected...
The full article, "The Islamists' Enablers: The Western Sellout to Sharia Law by Wafa Sultan, is here at Hudson New York. It's a long column but a very important one. It's a clarion call from an insider, one which should fuel our prayers and our political action. Pass it around.
$603,000 for a Taxi License? Govt. Regs Are Killing American Business.
Outside my office in New York City, I see yellow taxis. It's intuitive to think that government should license taxis to make sure they're safe and to limit their number. It's intuitive to believe that if anyone could just start picking up passengers, we'd have chaos. So to operate a taxi in NYC, you have to buy a license, a "medallion," from an existing cab company (or at a once-in-a-blue-moon auction). Medallions are so scarce, they now cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Licensing prices poor people out of the business.
"Compare New York City, where a license to own and operate a taxi is $603,000, to Washington, D.C.," George Mason University economist Walter Williams told me. "There are not many black-owned taxis in New York City. But in Washington, most are owned by blacks." Why? Because in Washington, "it takes $200 to get a license to own and operate one taxi. That makes the difference."
Regulation hurts the people the politicians claim to help.
People once just went into business. But now, in the name of "consumer protection," bureaucrats insist on licensing rules. Today, hundreds of occupations require expensive licenses. Tough luck for a poor person getting started...
Read more from John Stossel's "The Cancer of Regulation" right here.
Man Dies in Hospital Hallway, Body Lays There for 10 Hours Before Staff Notices He's Dead
The horror stories just continue about the heartless, Nanny State "medical care" of Great Britain.
And this is what the U.S. is looking to as a model with ObamaCare?
And this is what the U.S. is looking to as a model with ObamaCare?
Divorce Harms Kids' Academic, Social Performance
Here's a new study showing that children whose parents divorce have a tougher time in school, both in their academic performance and in making friends.
Are you surprised?
Are you surprised?
Hollywood Stars Featured in New Pro-Life Films
I love to start the day with nice surprises. And this Los Angeles Times movie review with its interesting (and quite positive) report about pro-life films certainly qualifies. Check out the Rebecca Keegan story, complete with movie trailers, right here.
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
A Christian Book Club Extraordinaire
This is the opening to "The Notting Hill Napoleons: Christian Book Club Extraordinaire," another of the new features over at the Vital Signs Ministries web site. Finish reading it right here.
It's The Economy, Stupid. And Barack Obama Takes Full Credit.
Jonah Goldberg's op/ed piece ("It's Obama's Economy, Stupid") in the the Los Angeles Times is a winner.
"Now, my administration has a job to do as well, and that job is to get this economy back on its feet," President Obama declared on July 14, 2009, in Warren, Mich. "That's my job, and it's a job I gladly accept. I love these folks who helped get us in this mess and then suddenly say, well, this is Obama's economy. That's fine. Give it to me."
OK. It's yours.
The unemployment rate then was 9.5%. It's now 9.1%, well above the 8% cap that the administration advisors projected under the stimulus bill. But that's not the amazing part. According to a White House report written by economic advisors Jared Bernstein and Christina Romer in January 2009 in support of the bill, if we had passed no stimulus package at all, the unemployment rate would have topped out at around 8.8% in the last quarter of 2010.
If only.
Instead, we got Obama's vital "investments." Since his speech in Warren, we've spent another
$2.8 trillion in borrowed money.
Presumably, we could have cut the unemployment rate by four-tenths of a percentage point more cheaply than that?
Meanwhile, we've accrued a total of $3.7 trillion in debt on Obama's watch, while losing 2.8 million jobs. That doesn't sound ideal either.
But what do I know?
The more salient point is that Obama acts like he knows everything. From Day One, this White House has been cocksure about how to get us out of the economic ditch. In every major relevant speech, he has stuck with a consistent message: We know what to do and the Republicans don't...
McDonald's alone may be responsible for a quarter to half of the new jobs created in the last month. And that hiring probably wouldn't have happened if Mickey D's hadn't been given a waiver from Obamacare.
And then there's the stimulus, which the White House still touts as an unqualified success. Well, during Obama's first year in office, more than half (119,000) of all the new jobs in the United States were created in business-friendly Texas, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. If Obama created those jobs, why'd he put so many of them in, of all places, George W. Bush's home state?
Don Stenberg is the Conservative to Go Against Ben Nelson
And Erickson isn't shy about explaining just why he prefers Stenberg.
After the historic gains made by conservatives -- not just Republicans -- in 2010, the conservative movement stands to slide back and lose in 2012.
I’m not talking about the race to the White House. I’m talking about the United States Senate. At a time when Senate Republicans refuse to lead and Mitch McConnell is doing his best to marginalize the solid conservatives, the right is distracted by the White House. The same GOP that tried to stick the right with Trey Greyson, Charlie Crist, Mike Castle, and more is going to try again. If conservatives are not vigilant, they’re going to be stuck with the likes of Heather Wilson, etc.
Erickson then reviews the political situation in several states. Of Nebraska, he says this:
Conservatives going with Jon Bruning are making a terrible mistake. I realize the Bible is a story of repentance and forgiveness, but you don’t put the new converts in the Senate where they have six years to go Chuck Hagel on us. Don Stenberg is my guy for this race.
“I would love to persuade you that trickle down economics was a farce or that Ronald Reagan was incapable of understanding complex policy arguments.”
“I believe in gun control.”
“I think a woman should have a right to choose.”
Those are just some of Jon Bruning’s greatest hits.
Yes, he has grown up. Yes, he has changed. Yes, he is center-right now. But I want to put a guy in the Senate who has a long term conservative track record. Conservatives have been burned once before by Nebraska with Chuck Hagel.
I’m going with Don Stenberg.
I also have concerns about Bruning's candidacy. In fact, I expressed them here back in February. And because of those concerns about the depth of Bruning's commitment to conservative values as compared to Don Stenberg's considerable record of conservative achievement, I'm going with Don Stenberg too.
Children Are a Reward
Children, too, are a gift from the Lord, the fruit of the womb, a reward. (Psalm 127:4) Not a burden, a reward.
(Barbara Curtis)
Barbara blogs at Mommy Life. I frequently visit Barbara's blog but this particular quote I found at another neat site, Voices for Life, which offers a pro-life quote of the day. Check them both out.)
Rebel or Wind-Chime?
True Rebel or Wind-Chime? by Jack Niewold
When I comment critically on the role of popular culture in the lives of my family, my friends, the life of the nation, even the church, I am met with a number of typical responses. “Why are you so negative?” I hear. “There’s nothing wrong with Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, or an occasional male piercing.” Or: “My iPod is Me! Like my tattoo, my music is an expression of some deeper spiritual reality that I can’t really explain, but that’s important to me.” Or: “You need to be on to more important issues, and not alienating people, especially younger people, with your prejudices against things that are cool to everyone else.” Or: “You don’t know how tough it is to be a young person today; all they’re trying to do is find themselves.”
There’s no doubt that I parachuted into this postmodern world from some other place, but maybe that outsider perspective gives me an advantage. Popular culture thrives on the image of the rebel, the dropout, the doleful nonconformist. So, let’s do a thought experiment. What might a real outsider—say a James Dean slouching against a wall with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth—have to say about pop culture?
I am helped in this experiment by a recent column by David Brooks of the New York Times.
The first thing my James Dean alter ego would say about pop culture is that it sets people up for a world that doesn’t exist. Nowhere is this more clearly reflected than in the pieties so characteristic of graduation speeches. Here’s the standard issue message, according to Brooks: “Follow your passion, chart your own course, march to the beat of your own drummer, follow your dreams and find yourself.” This message, according to Brooks, is “the litany of expressive individualism, which is still the dominant note in American culture.”
The problem is, the real world that awaits the college graduate, or any young person, is one that requires you to shed your swagger, maybe even your Mohawk, when you come in the door for an interview. Even trophy kids, those whose lives have been carefully groomed by Volvo-type parents seeking a vicarious personal legacy, find that the marketplace doesn’t care about the mythology of “I am Somebody.” It wants Anybody who can listen, who can talk intelligently, who will take orders, who isn’t entitled.
As for finding oneself (one of the central tenets of commercial-driven adolescence), Brooks suggests that young people instead learn to lose themselves in a cause larger than themselves. But be careful here. There are many ready-made causes that cater to this impulse without really moving you away from a kind of Farmville fantasy world. Any cause you can join that doesn’t change you in some profound way for the better is a fraud.
That’s why I can’t stand all those “groups” you encounter on Facebook, the ones your friends sign you up for without your consent. They’re basically commitment-by-click. In the same way, cheap hopey-changey political allegiances often leave you worse off than you were. Not only are you disappointed in the messiah who led you away; you haven’t learned anything about yourself in the process. An endless coolhunt, like the quest for happiness, will ultimately end up in misery. It’s supposed to.
Today’s young people, Brooks says, “enter a cultural climate that preaches the self as the center of a life... But the purpose in life is not to find yourself. It’s to lose yourself.”
Why not follow Jesus Christ, who said all of this long ago? Why waste your time on anything or anyone less? But beware: He’s not just another Thing you try for awhile before drifting on to the next thing. He’ll make you an authentic outsider, one ready to take on the world as it actually is.
Pro-Choice Myths: Busted
Mollmann makes two arguments. First, the legal status of abortion does not impact its prevalence. People will not change their sexual activity, and the legal status of abortion will not affect the resolution of any crisis pregnancies. Secondly, the best way to reduce abortion rates is to improve access to contraception and offer more generous public support to pregnant women through family leave and support for child care. This approach certainly appeals to some on the political left. In reality, however, there exists very little empirical data to support either of Mollmann’s arguments.
"Debunking Elite Opinion on Abortion Policy" is Michael J. New's latest essay in National Review and it's a very good one. Read how he politely (but thoroughly) demolishes Ms. Mollmann's liberal claims right here.
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
"When Swing Was King" Steps on the Gas!
Besides the cover article, you can also check out the monthly schedule and the full song list for Volumes 1 through 12. Neat stuff.
Sexual Impropriety. Lies. Slander. What's the Big Deal?
Read Barb's column here.
The Abortion, A Poem by the Pulitzer Prize Winner Anne Sexton
The Abortion by Anne Sexton
Somebody who should have been born
is gone.
Just as the earth puckered its mouth,
each bud puffing out from its knot,
I changed my shoes, and then drove south.
Up past the Blue Mountains, where
Pennsylvania humps on endlessly,
wearing, like a crayoned cat, its green hair,
its roads sunken in like a gray washboard;
where, in truth, the ground cracks evilly,
a dark socket from which the coal has poured,
Somebody who should have been born
is gone.
the grass as bristly and stout as chives,
and me wondering when the ground would break,
and me wondering how anything fragile survives;
up in Pennsylvania, I met a little man,
not Rumpelstiltskin, at all, at all...
he took the fullness that love began.
Returning north, even the sky grew thin
like a high window looking nowhere.
The road was as flat as a sheet of tin.
Somebody who should have been born
is gone.
Yes, woman, such logic will lead
to loss without death. Or say what you meant,
you coward...this baby that I bleed.
Planned Parenthood Pockets Millions of Tax Dollars But Still Cheats the Feds By Over-billing
Jim Sedlak's article from Live Action goes on to detail cases in California, New York, New Jersey, and Washington.
Concludes Sedlak, "Millions of dollars in over-billing and the federal government wants to keep giving Planned Parenthood our money. The states have to repay millions of dollars to the federal government because Planned Parenthood wrongly claims that nearly all its services are “family planning” when they are not, yet the federal government is threatening to punish the states for cutting off funds to Planned Parenthood.
Looking at this situation, one might think that Planned Parenthood has a stranglehold on the Obama administration and is using its political clout to increase its profits and to thwart efforts by citizens all across the country to hold Planned Parenthood accountable for its actions."
Use this article in your June letters, e-mails and phone calls to your Senators and Congressmen asking them to start de-funding Planned Parenthood now.
Hollywood Hates Conservatives
Why Obama's No Longer Cool
Could that be because the MSM (still striving desperately to cover for the Democrat President) nevertheless is having to report things like these?
* America clocked up a record last week. The latest drop in house prices meant that the cost of real estate has fallen by 33% since the peak – even bigger than the 31% slide seen when John Steinbeck was writing The Grapes of Wrath. Unemployment has not returned to Great Depression levels but at 9.1% of the workforce it is still at levels that will have nerves jangling in the White House...The US is a country with serious problems. (Larry Elliott, Economics Editor of the Guardian, U.K.)
* "They're saying there are more jobs. I'm just wondering where those jobs are," Fabian Lambrecht said. About 6.2 million Americans, 45.1 percent of all unemployed workers in this country, have been jobless for more than six months - a higher percentage than during the Great Depression. (Ben Tracy, CBS News
* Once provisions of the Affordable Care Act start to kick in during 2014, at least three of every 10 employers will probably stop offering health coverage, a survey released Monday shows. (Russ Britt, MarketWatch)
* The last month has been a horror show for the U.S. economy, with economic data falling off a cliff, according to Mike Riddell, a fund manager at M&G Investments in London.
"It seems that almost every bit of data about the health of the US economy has disappointed expectations recently," said Riddell, in a note sent to CNBC on Wednesday.
"US house prices have fallen by more than 5 percent year on year, pending home sales have collapsed and existing home sales disappointed, the trend of improving jobless claims has arrested, first quarter GDP wasn’t revised upwards by the 0.4 percent forecast, durables goods orders shrank, manufacturing surveys from Philadelphia Fed, Richmond Fed and Chicago Fed were all very disappointing. And that’s just in the last week and a bit." (Patrick Allen, CNBC)
* Former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs announced at his own first daily briefing reporters that Obama asked for the daily economic briefing, described then as comparable to the daily intelligence briefing the president gets every morning.
“The president asked that this be added every day to his schedule,” Gibbs said at the time. Gibbs added that Obama believed it is “important that each day he receive the most up to date information as it relates to the economy.”
But at some point, the daily economic briefings stopped showing up on Obama's daily schedule... (Sam Youngman, The Hill)
* President Obama poll numbers are nearing the levels he enjoyed in 2008, with one glaring exception: young people. Especially young white people. His approval rating is at 56 percent approval rating among people ages 18 to 29. That's higher than the 51 percent national average, but that's a decline of 10 points compared to the 2008 exit polls...
A symposium last month called "Oberlin-based Perspectives on the Obama Presidency" noted that students don't think Obama's cool anymore -- all his cute little quirks have become grating, a polisci professor explained, and the real Obama can't live up to their idea of him. Students aren't even impressed that Osama bin Laden was killed, protesting that the world's most wanted terrorist was unarmed when he was shot. Vinocur writes that although disaffection at Oberlin is "a speck of confetti in a storm of pre-2012 election indicators in America... it's also a fact that Mr. Obama's most diligent canvassers in 2008 often came from the country's campuses." Brownstein, too, notes that the lack of youth enthusiasm is "worrisome" and could be related to young people's higher unemployment rates...(Elspeth Reeve, The Atlantic)
Monday, June 06, 2011
Today's Posts
The New Abortionists: Chemical Abortion in Contemporary Culture
Reviewing Jack Niewold's "Frail Web of Intention"
Obama's Abortion Zeal Beyond Reason (Or Conscience); Threatens Cut Off of Medicaid to Poor
Homeowner Forecloses On Bank of America: Florida Branch Padlocked
In Case You Hadn't Heard, Sarah Palin Was Right
Re-Entry Into Cyberspace
With my Mom in the hospital ICU for the last month, my blogging and Facebook time has been almost nil. She's still in the hospital and we're still spending 6-10 hours up there every day but we decided this weekend that we need to seriously attempt a return to regular duties. So along with writing and editing material for the Vital Signs Ministries web page (which I've been able to do a bit while sitting at the hospital), this week marks our re-entry to cyberspace duties.
Of course, we will have to work them around Mom's care -- as well as presenting "When Swing Was King" every single day this week! -- but we'll give it a try.
Of course, we will have to work them around Mom's care -- as well as presenting "When Swing Was King" every single day this week! -- but we'll give it a try.
The New Abortionists: Chemical Abortion in Contemporary Culture
We are featuring this edited interview on the Vital Signs Ministries web site this month as part of the new landscape we're creating over there. So check it out. You'll find out why this piece has attracted so much attention over the last twenty years.
Reviewing Jack Niewold's "Frail Web of Intention"
The theme of "Frail Web of Intention" is a familiar one, man's search for significance and spiritual meaning. But Niewold's strength (besides the fluidity of his prose) is that he draws the reader in so well. He makes the reader genuinely interested in his personal story. Yet, at the same time, he succeeds in stimulating the reader's own memories and reflections...
You can read the rest of this book review at this page over at Amazon.com. And yes, at that same place you can order Jack Niewold's engaging memoir for yourself.
Obama's Abortion Zeal Beyond Reason (Or Conscience); Threatens Cut Off of Medicaid to Poor
So much that he is threatening to punish the poor by denying them Medicaid health care services in order to keep federal dollars pouring into Planned Parenthood.
Where is the media's outrage about such a cold hearted blackmail scheme?
Here's the story from Live Action.
In Case You Hadn't Heard, Sarah Palin Was Right
Sarah Palin was right about Paul Revere.And the leftist media, despite their preening, pontificating and derisive laughter, were quite wrong.
Read the facts here and spread the word to your friends and neighbors. Use it as a reminder to show them how the mainstream media not only majors on mistakes...but on mean-spirited manipulation as well.
Monday, May 30, 2011
"The Importance of Remembering" -- A Sermon for Memorial Day:
We then passed the microphone through the congregation so that the veterans present could tell us their name, branch of service, years of duty and something of their time in uniform. The audience gave the military veterans a hearty round of applause for their service.
Friday, May 27, 2011
And Still Living Offline
So thank you for your patience...and your prayers. I'll be back as soon as possible.
One other thing -- because of our preoccupation with Mom and visiting family, I forgot to mention here that the May edition of Vital Signs' LifeSharer letter was sent out. Judging from the responses we've already received, it seems it was a pretty interesting one. You can see if you think so too by checking it out right here.
And yes, there's a brief description in that LifeSharer letter about the marriage ceremony in the ICU that I mentioned awhile ago.
See you soon.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Blogging Still On Hold
We are still living "offline" as most of each day is spent at the hospital with my Mom. Her new pacemaker is working but other problems are quite severe...and increasing: the edema can't be brought under control; pulmonary hypertension (failure of the right ventricle of the heart), low blood pressure and now a small hole in the lung.
Her prospect is bleak except for the most relevant factor of all; namely, she has received Christ as her Savior and has a heavenly inheritance awaiting her! Thanks be to God for His marvelous grace which offers eternal life for those who trust in the sacrifice Christ made to pay for our sins.
Her prospect is bleak except for the most relevant factor of all; namely, she has received Christ as her Savior and has a heavenly inheritance awaiting her! Thanks be to God for His marvelous grace which offers eternal life for those who trust in the sacrifice Christ made to pay for our sins.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Waiting on the Pacemaker
With my Mom still in hospital and awaiting news of when they will put in a pacemaker, blogging is still on hold for awhile. I'll be back as soon as I can.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
You're Conducting a Wedding Where?
Oh, yeah; one other thing.
I'm officiating at a marriage ceremony today for my brother James and his fiancé, Tenna, who have come in from Florida. In order for Mom to be a part of the event she's long prayed for, we will hold the ceremony in my Mom's room at the Intensive Care Unit at Immanuel Hospital.
More on that unusual but very wonderful event later.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Today's Posts
Chuck Colson on Ayn Rand
Did Even the Lifeguards on Baywatch Make This Kind of Money?
On Immigration Reform and National Security, Obama Has Failed Completely
Did the U.S. Win in Vietnam? Only to Have a Democrat Congress Give It Away?
Did Even the Lifeguards on Baywatch Make This Kind of Money?
On Immigration Reform and National Security, Obama Has Failed Completely
Did the U.S. Win in Vietnam? Only to Have a Democrat Congress Give It Away?
Just What Kind of Christians Are Hip Evangelical Churches Producing?
Under Pressure, Navy Loses Steam on Same-Sex Marriage
Chuck Colson on Ayn Rand
I've blogged a couple of times about Ayn Rand (Ayn Rand on Abortion, Pro-Lifers and Moral Selfishness and Shrugging Off Ayn Rand) but when I saw Bob Garrett's Facebook link to this terrific Chuck Colson clip, I had to post it too. Great stuff.
Did Even the Lifeguards on Baywatch Make This Kind of Money?
I guess so! According to a city report (lifeguards at this posh Orange County beach are public employees), 13 of the city's 14 full time lifeguards received over $120,000 in total compensation last year. (The other one pulled in a mere $98,160.65.) For a few of these lifeguards, the rewards were really sweet. More than half the lifeguards collected more than $150,000 for 2010 and two of them collected $203,481 and $211,451, respectively.
Not bad for a town where the median income is about a third of that highest total.
And, oh yes, the lifeguards receive an annual allowance of $400 for “Sun Protection.”
Now I'm all for lifeguards. And I applaud them for their critical work in the same way that I respect, admire and appreciate policemen and firefighters. But, at some point, fiscal responsibility must be taken seriously by the city fathers -- as well as the persons who are considering these life-saving professions.
A city can pull from its citizens only so much money before the city goes bankrupt, the people flee and there is no one left to go to the beach. Some economic common sense is way past due here.
(Hat tip: Rich McGinness)
On Immigration Reform and National Security, Obama Has Failed Completely
Respectfully, Mr. President, illegal immigration and border security are no laughing matter.
But to the president, they apparently are, especially when it provides fodder for a purely political speech, delivered amid a round of campaign fundraisers in the Lone Star State. After claiming that his administration has “gone above and beyond” Republicans’ calls for immigration reform (which he hasn’t), Obama launched into an all-out assault on the GOP..
This isn’t a question of racism, the goal posts haven’t moved, and a moat is not what’s needed. In case the president hasn’t noticed, the 1,896-mile Rio Grande, arid deserts, treacherous mountain ranges, Border Patrol and hundreds of miles of fence haven’t been enough. And though the president claimed, “The fence is now basically complete,” a February 2011 GAO report shows that Border Patrol does not have control of the border.
Maybe, amid all the applause, the president hasn’t noticed that millions of illegal immigrants now live in the United States, and our laws aren’t being enforced. And when Arizona attempted to enforce the law since the federal government would not, the Obama Justice Department sued to stop it.
Rather than offer effective solutions to the illegal immigration problem, Obama’s response was to ridicule those seeking to enforce the law and offer amnesty for others to curry their political favor. He even dredged up the DREAM Act, a mini-amnesty in sheep’s clothing, which fell flat on its face in Congress. That’s par for the course with this president, who continues to place politics before policy as a matter of routine...
America faces a real illegal immigration problem. It also faces an unemployment problem, a spending problem, an entitlements problem and a national security problem.
On immigration, the right solution is making a real commitment to border security, workplace and immigration enforcement, a temporary worker program and visa reforms to get employers the employees they need. On all of the above, the solution starts with a president who is willing to lead and get down to business — but not the business of taking cheap shots to score points in the political arena.
(Mike Brownfield, The Foundry at the Heritage Foundation)
Did the U.S. Win in Vietnam? Only to Have a Democrat Congress Give It Away?
"The vast majority of Americans have absolutely no idea of what happened in Vietnam that brought about the surrender of South Vietnam and also of Cambodia."What did happen? The Democrat Congress shamefully broke America's promises and turned southeast Asia over to the Communist thugs. Check out this infuriating video clip with Bruce Herschensohn courtesy of Dennis Prager:
Just What Kind of Christians Are Hip Evangelical Churches Producing?
One of the major results of an expansion of such views has been confusion over orthodox end times views. "The major theological casualties are naturally the great eschatological categories of heaven and hell-- the new world, the return of Jesus, the Judgment Day, these kinds of things. Because of that, the ultimate end game, if you will, of the universe is often ignored. There's no sense of urgency for the salvation of souls."
Moore says the danger of straying from these 2,000-year-old truths is significant. "People are gravitating toward that which is easy, that which is more appealing to our American lifestyle, and the consequences of that could potentially be disastrous."
Under Pressure, Navy Loses Steam on Same-Sex Marriage
Under pressure from more than five dozen House lawmakers, the Navy late Tuesday abruptly reversed its decision that would have allowed chaplains to perform same-sex unions if the Pentagon decides to recognize openly gay military service later this year.
In a one-sentence memo obtained by The Associated Press, Rear Adm. Mark Tidd, chief of Navy chaplains, said his earlier decision has been "suspended until further notice pending additional legal and policy review and interdepartmental coordination."
Yesterday's pronouncement received a link in this Vital Signs Blog post but you can read the full story about the Navy's sudden reversal in today's AP story right here.
In a one-sentence memo obtained by The Associated Press, Rear Adm. Mark Tidd, chief of Navy chaplains, said his earlier decision has been "suspended until further notice pending additional legal and policy review and interdepartmental coordination."
Yesterday's pronouncement received a link in this Vital Signs Blog post but you can read the full story about the Navy's sudden reversal in today's AP story right here.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Today's Posts
The Other Teddy Roosevelt
Michelle Obama's Idea of Poetry
Navy Approves Same-Sex Marriages in Naval Chapels
De-Funding Planned Parenthood: It's Up To Us
Planned Parenthood's Laughable Hypocrisy on Parental Permission
Dope 'Em Up: A Too-Common Nursing Home Technique
Dog Picks the Wrong Partner to Play Fetch
Michelle Obama's Idea of Poetry
Navy Approves Same-Sex Marriages in Naval Chapels
De-Funding Planned Parenthood: It's Up To Us
Planned Parenthood's Laughable Hypocrisy on Parental Permission
Dope 'Em Up: A Too-Common Nursing Home Technique
Dog Picks the Wrong Partner to Play Fetch
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