Friday, November 22, 2013
A Few Thanksgiving Quotes To Pass Around
“You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before I open a book, and before sketching, painting, swimming, walking, playing,
dancing and before I dip the pen in the ink.” (G. K Chesterton)“Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.” (John Milton)
Thou hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more, a grateful heart;
Not thankful when it pleaseth me,
As if Thy blessings had spare days,
But such a heart whose pulse may be Thy praise.
(George Herbert)
"Some people complain because God put thorns on roses, while others praise Him for putting roses among thorns." (Anonymous)
“Happiness is gratitude doubled by wonder.” (G.K. Chesterton)
9 Things About Planned Parenthood Everyone Should Know
It is an excellent primer to pass around -- excellent too to print off and use as a reference for letters to editors, political officials, business leaders, your pastor, and so on.
1. Planned Parenthood Federation of America has 95 affiliates and 865 health centers, according to its latest annual report, which covers the 2008-09 fiscal year. They require that at least one clinic per affiliate must perform abortions. PP performs over 320,000 abortions a year. [That's surgical abortions alone. The number of preborn kids killed through PP chemicals is incalculable.]
2. The motto for this year's PP gala is "Our past is our prologue." Part of the past the organization will be celebrating includes its founding by the notorious racist and eugenicist Margaret Sanger. Sanger wanted to control the reproduction of immigrants, the poor, certain religious groups, and anyone else she thought was from an "unacceptable" heritage. Sanger referred to such people as reckless breeders who were "unceasingly spawning a class of human beings who never should have been born at all..."
In 1939 Sanger started the "Negro Project" and attempted to get Christian ministers to aid her effort. As she wrote in a letter to a fellow eugenicist, "we do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members."
3. Last year PP reported excess revenue of $87.4 million and $1.2 billion in total assets. Cecile Richards, Planned Parenthood's CEO, makes nearly $400,000 a year. [She actually makes over $500,000.)
4. The amount of taxpayer money PP got in 2012 ($542,000,000) equates to $61,836 an hour, 24 hours a day for 365 days.
5. PP has repeatedly and consistently turned a blind eye to reports of statutory rape.
6. PP strongly opposes sex education that focuses on abstinence and has gone so far as to file lawsuits against school districts that have decided to implement abstinence-only programs. The organization claims to offer "value-neutral" sex education. (As an example, on their website aimed at teenagers, they include an article ("All About the Anus") which teaches kids that, "Some straight couples use anal sex as a way to preserve the woman's virginity.")
7. Last month a Planned Parenthood of Florida lobbyist, testifying against Florida's Born Alive Infants Protection Act, told lawmakers that if a baby survives an abortion, it is debatable whether that baby should live or die.
8. Some Planned Parenthood clinics have demonstrated a willingness to partner with pimps and sex traffickers to exploit young women instead of safeguarding their health and safety.
9. While in the Illinois state senate, Obama worked with PP to determine how he should vote on a partial-birth abortion legislation. With Planned Parenthood's blessing, he voted "present" to protect his "100 percent" record on pro-abortion votes.
Helping ACTION Help the Philippines
Last week we suggested that those of you desiring to help with the relief needs in the Philippines might use the Tim Tebow Foundation. Today I want to alert you to another excellent group, one whose focus has long been on the needs (both spiritual and material) of the people there. It is ACTION -- Action International Ministries. ACTION is particularly well suited for sincere, effective and long-term efforts in that they utilize local churches and Christian volunteers to provide aid. That is a huge help in maintaining integrity and efficiency, targeting the most critical needs, and in developing ongoing connections with caring people.
The needs in the Philippines defy description. Our prayers and help really are quite crucial. So please, check out the ACTION site right here and make a donation.
Contrary to Reports, China Is Not Ending It’s Brutal “One Child Only” Policy
Indeed, in apparent response to quell overly optimistic speculation that this small change represents a major reform, Xinhua ran another report over the weekend: “Birth Policy Changes Are No Big Deal.” In this second article Xinhua states that Wang Pei’an, deputy director of the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), told Xinhua that “the number of couples covered by the new policy is not very large across the country.”…
He concluded that “the basic state policy of family planning will be adhered to over a long period of time.”
In other words, the minor modification of the policy announced Friday: 1) will not affect a large percentage of couples in China; 2) is not subject to a timetable in which to implement it; 3) retains the dreaded “birth intervals” between children (if a woman gets pregnant before the interval has lapsed, she may be subject to forced abortion); 4) makes no promise to end the coercive enforcement of the policy; and 5) promises to continue the one-child policy “over a long period of time” — which could be decades.
To say that China has “relaxed” or “eased” its one-child policy under these circumstances is entirely unwarranted. Furthermore, all the reasons given for this adjustment are economic or demographic: China’s dwindling labor force, the country’s growing elderly population, and the severe gender imbalance. The adjustment is a tacit acknowledgement that continuation of the one-child policy will lead to economic and demographic disaster. The policy was originally instituted for economic reasons. It is ironic that through this very policy, China has written its own economic, demographic death sentence.
Noticeably absent from the Chinese Communist party’s announcement is any mention of human rights. Even though it will now allow some couples to have a second child, China has not promised to end forced abortion, forced sterilization, or forced contraception. The coercive enforcement of China’s one-child policy is its core…
…Last Friday the mainstream media ran such headlines as “China Reforms: One-child policy to be relaxed” and “China to ease One Child Policy.” Such headlines are detrimental to sincere efforts to stop forced abortion in China, because they imply that the one-child policy is no longer a problem. In a world laden with compassion fatigue, people are relieved to cross China’s one-child policy off of their list of things to worry about.
But we cannot do that. Let us not abandon the women of China, who continue to face forced abortion up to the ninth month of pregnancy. The one-child policy does not need to be adjusted. It needs to be abolished.
(From “China Hasn’t ‘Eased’ Its One-Child Policy” by Reggie Littlejohn, NRO)
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Back Alley Abortion Clinics? Oh, They Exist. (And They're Protected by Pro-Choice Leaders.)
It’s no surprise, of course, that the abortion industry and its allies are wailing and gnashing their teeth and bandying about phrases like “absurd laws” in reference to Texas’ new abortion restrictions.
But what’s really absurd is the implication behind their bellyaching: namely, the idea that abortion clinics can be trusted to police themselves.
As evidence of the need for Texas’ new abortion restrictions — which call for, among other things, more rigorous inspections — last month Texas Alliance for Life released a review of recent inspection records indicating that many of the state’s abortion facilities are falling drastically short of meeting even the safety standards that are currently on the books...
Read the rest of this illuminating article, “Inspections Find Texas Abortion Clinics Filthy, Run by Untrained Staff” written up by the Pro-Life Action League and published by LifeNews.com.
The Punch List
Have you noticed that Team Obama has already started dropping hints that the end of November may not bring the promised fixes of that ObamaCare website, after all?Yesterday, for example, Kathleen Sebelius told an AP reporter, “The 30th of November is not a magic go, no-go date. It is a work of constant improvement…We have some very specific things we know we need to complete by the 30th and that punch list is getting knocked out every week."
Of course, the only things we can truly depend on being punched out by this administration is our economy, our formerly excellent health care system, and our freedom from the Nanny State.
Ouch.
A New Profession in the Culture of Death?
Ethicist Wesley J. Smith looks at SP 40, a new “assisted suicide” legalization bill from Scotland that, among other outrageous provisions, creates a brand new health care profession — the “licensed suicide facilitator.”
I’m not making this up.
Says the bill itself,
Licensing of facilitators:
(1) The Scottish Ministers may, by order, appoint—
a) a person or a body, association or group of persons to be the licensing authority, or
(b) persons or bodies, associations or groups of persons to be licensing authorities, for facilitators.
And, as Smith points out, these facilitators can be as young as 16, providing they have a “terminal or life-shortening illness.”
The exact duties of a “licensed suicide facilitator?”
Again, from the bill itself,
19 General functions of licensed facilitators A licensed facilitator is to use best endeavours—
(a) to provide, before, during and after the act of suicide (or attempted suicide) by the person for whom the facilitator is acting, such practical assistance as the person reasonably requests,
(b) to provide the person with comfort and reassurance,
(c) to be with the person when any drug or other substance or means dispensed or otherwise supplied for the suicide of the person is taken or used by the person,
(d) as soon as practicable after the expiry of the period of 14 days referred to in section 17(2), to remove from the person any such drug or other substance or means still in the person’s possession.
Madness? Of course. But a distinctly malevolent madness, this -- an inarguable illustration of the spiritual war between the forces of Christian civilization and a demonic culture of death.
The Real JFK
The editors of National Review take a quick peek behind all the hype, hoopla, and hagiography that surrounds the myth of John F. Kennedy.And, no. He's wasn't at all what you've been led to believe.
Read the editorial, "A Beautiful Mediocrity," right here.
About Obama's Excuse for Omitting "Under God" in Gettysburg Address
…President Obama recited a draft version of the Gettysburg address that doesn’t include the phrase “under God.” Filmmaker Ken Burns says that he asked Obama to recite that draft version. But even if that’s a full and true account (I have to wonder whether the White House asked Burns to ask Obama to read that version), why would Obama agree to do so?
As Princeton professor Robert P. George discussed in this First Things essay, the pamphlet Constitution distributed by the American Constitution Society also uses a godless draft version of the Gettysburg address. What possible justification is there for using that draft version? As Professor George points out:
“Three entirely independent reporters, including a reporter for the Associated Press, telegraphed their transcriptions of Lincoln’s remarks to their editors immediately after the president spoke. All three transcriptions include the words ‘under God,’ and no contemporaneous report omits them. There isn’t really room for equivocation or evasion: Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address — one of the founding texts of the American republic — expressly characterizes the United States as a nation under God.”
The American Constitution Society used a godless draft version, Professor George reasonably surmises, because “the Great Emancipator’s characterization of the United States as a nation under God appears to undermine the strict separationism that the American Constitution Society wishes to promote.” Whether he affirmatively invited the godless draft or simply acquiesced in its selection, it’s difficult to resist the conclusion that Obama finds that version more congenial to his secularist ideology.
(“Gettysburg and a Nation “Under God” by Ed Whelan, NRO.)
(By the way, the photo above is not a meme. It's not photo-shopped. It's a real picture then Senator Obama had taken to publicize his opposition to "puppy mills." That's right; the politician who is more extreme than any other in promoting the barbaric violence against human boys and girls en utero wanted to make clear he supports a quality upbringing for dogs. Good grief.)
Monday, November 18, 2013
Letters That Shine!
A church group getting together to write a few letters of advocacy to politicians and business leaders, a few thank-you cards, a few encouraging notes to the missionaries they support?Hey, that's a pretty novel idea. But it sounds kinda' like those P.A.L. Nights that Vital Signs Ministries have doing for over 30 years now, doesn't it?
Well, it should because Faith Bible Church's recent entry into this type of ministry is based on the very same things: the commitment to introduce biblical truth into government and the marketplace; the desire to affect public policy in ways that complement justice and religious freedom; and serving those in the household of faith via encouragement, comfort and the stimulation to love and good deeds.
And, like the P.A.L. Nights of Vital Signs, FBC's evening includes the provision of specific action targets, the appropriate contact information, pens and stationary; coffee and treats; and assistance when necessary. It all makes for a purposeful fellowship, a terrific outreach for a local church or Sunday school class.
For all the earth, I can't imagine why such letter-writing parties are not a common experience for Western Christians. After all, we complain an awful lot about the state of things -- why not take a little time to complain to people who can do something about it AND pass along thanks to those who are!
The specific agenda last night was a concentration on:
1) letters to political figures urging the removal of all tax monies going to promote or provide for abortions (with special attention to ObamaCare and the need to defund the mega-abortion corporation that is Planned Parenthood);
2) letters to officials of the Nebraska State Activities Association protesting the new "transgender policy" that will, among other bizarre things, allow males and females to use common bathrooms and showers;
3) thank-you notes to pro-life officials (with fresh urging that they stay the course and refuse temptations to compromise);
4) Thanksgiving-oriented cards and letters to missionaries and distant friends of Faith Bible Church.
It wasn't a big crowd (about 15 or so) for this particular letter-writing party, the 4th the church has so far sponsored, but those in attendance did a great job. In the 75 minutes we had allotted for the meeting, they produced over 55 cards and letters.
Way to go, FBC! Here's hoping other churches and groups will be moved to follow your lead.
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 5: 13-16)
"Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing. But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another.” (1 Thessalonians 5:11-13)
(By the way, if you're interested in pursuing such a ministry with your church or even just your family, please contact us at Vital Signs Ministries.)
On Diving Into Life
In particular I liked this statement: "This generation is so dead. You ask a kid, ‘What are you doing this Saturday?’ and they’ll be playing video games or watching cable, instead of building model cars or airplanes or doing something creative. Kids today never say, ‘Man, I’m really into remote-controlled steamboats.’ They never say that.”
Spot on, Mr. White. That's a sadly telling observation about current youth culture. But indeed, it's generally true of the youth culture of the last several decades. Television, videos, video games, computers, and now "social media" and the ubiquitous cell phones have turned America into a nation of watchers, not doers. We don't twiddle our thumbs anymore. Instead, we use them to push buttons and joysticks. But with the same time-wasting results.
It was the kids of the 1960s who first became "couch potatoes" but, in time, they sprouted and produced generations of the same. A bit more mobile and technological perhaps, but still generally unengaged with the real world of people, events and moral responsibilities.
It's probably been 20 years since I first realized the depth of this problem. It occurred at a Christmas party we were hosting for friends. At one point in the evening I went in to make another pot of coffee and Jason followed me in. He was the college-age son of the fellow who was then serving as our pastor (a guy I had known as a dear friend ever since my entry into Nebraska in 1970).
Jason started in. "You know, Denny, I have listened to you and my Dad all my life. I've heard you tell the most interesting stories about your lives -- what you've done, what you've learned, where you've been, even the failures and mistakes you've made. You guys have been so involved in...well, in just living. It's really neat and it makes me love hanging out with you. But what's pretty sad is that it's not like that at all for me and my friends. When we get together, the closest version we have of what you and Dad do is to share scenes from movies or compare scores on video games. We just don't have any stories of our own to tell. All we have is other people's stories. And they're just made up!"
I was kinda' stunned because he sounded so sad and wistful. "We just don't have any stories of our own to tell." Or as Jack White put it, "This generation is so dead." The meaning is, of course, the same. There's no real life in merely being a spectator. Real life requires participation. Adventure. Risk. Work. Patience and humility enough to learn through direct experience.
But it is real life that pays all the rewards.
So, amen to Jack White's correctives. And amen to young men (and women) who were not content to go the way of their peers and take root on their couches, but rather to dive in and live life to its fullest. I'm pleased too to know that among those adventurers are young men like Taylor and yes, Jason, whose life experiences in these last 15 years have made for stories every bit as entertaining and instructive as any that I or his Dad ever came up with.
Life. It's the most precious thing and so well deserving of our best efforts to defend it, promote it, celebrate it and experience it to its most glorious heights.
("On Diving Into Life" by Denny Hartford, originally posted here on Vital Signs Blog, April 2012.)
Terrible News: Drunk Driving Deaths Are Again Rising
And it was a rise of almost 5%.
Terrible news.
10,322 people were killed in drunk driving crashes in 2012.
That’s one every 51 minutes.
And that emptiness doesn’t just occur for one holiday or two. The grief over the loss of a loved one by the stupidity and wanton recklessness of a drunk driver goes on for years.
I know. My father was killed by a drunk driver in 1985.
And yet, even as America sees this terrible toll rise again, we will still have prosecuting attorneys, judges and law enforcement agencies treat DUI cases with kid gloves. We will still have politicians fight against such common sense measures as ignition lock laws, stiff and irreducible penalties for repeat offenders, encouragement of police forces to target taverns who keep selling liquor to the already inebriated, and so on.
10,322 people dead...in one year. And thousands upon thousands more without limbs, mental acumen, mobility, peace. Thousands and thousands more who must now live with pain, heartache, guilt, broken dreams, and loneliness.
And remember too that these alarming numbers reflect DUI deaths only, not those who were killed because of drivers texting, talking on a phone, attempting to put on makeup, and everything else that you see every day on a city road. These things are killing people too.
Like never before one must beware the highways of America -- and the powers that be who fail to make them safer.
The Lookout: In Case You Missed These Weekend Gems
With lawn jobs, errands, church, Sunday dinner, and trying to catch a football game or two, weekends can get busier than even the regular weekdays. And that's why it's so easy to miss news and commentary that are published on the weekend, even important ones that you'd really like to check out.
Wouldn't it be great if some nice person would collect the best of those articles and provide links to them for you to use?
That's my cue.
* “The Obama presidency is not over, but it is failing” by Edward Luce, Financial Times.
* “Prosecute HealthCare.gov?” by Andrew Stiles, NRO.
* “The beginning of the end for Barack Obama” by Joseph Curl, Washington Times.
* “Abortionists Gone Wild: How the Obama Administration tried to Shut Down This Blog” by JB, Abortion in Washington.
* “A devastating poll on Obama --- and Obamacare” by Michael Barone, Examiner.)
* “Obama's Gettysburg Skip May Confirm Clint Eastwood's Thoughts About Him” by Steven Hayward, Forbes.
* “The Moral Decline of Oprah” by Victor Davis Hanson, NRO.
* “Obama’s “whatever” approach to Obamacare” by Paul Mirengoff, PowerLine.
Friday, November 15, 2013
The Philippines: See, Pray and Help
On this web page, you can use remarkable technology to see before and after aerial images of some of the horrendous damage inflicted by Typhoon Haiyan on the Philippine city of Tacloban.And then, after seeing just how cataclysmic this typhoon was, we encourage you to contact one of the trustworthy relief agencies and send along a generous donation. In fact, we'll even give you a link to the organization we are sending our contributions to -- the Tim Tebow Foundation.
Fracking Is an Incredible Boon to U.S. Economy & Environment: So Why Is the Government Against It?
Hydraulic fracturing is the process of extracting oil and natural gas from shale rock layers deep within the earth. Engineers drill thousands of feet below the earth’s surface and then create cracks in the shale formations by injecting water, sand, and trace chemicals under high pressure. Although energy producers have utilized fracking since the middle of the last century, Americans are benefiting from a fracking revolution today thanks to recent technological advances and new oil and natural gas discoveries.
“A revolution is under way in the production of unconventional oil and natural gas that is transforming America’s energy future and strengthening its overall economy,” the study reports…
The study also found the increase in manufacturing production will create a $51 billion increase in annual revenue for federal, state, and local governments by 2020.
The United States leads the world in shale oil and natural gas resources, and fracking is giving American entrepreneurs a new edge in global economic competition, the study observes.
“The unconventional [energy] revolution is also contributing to a shift in global competitiveness for the United States by unlocking new production cost advantages for U.S. industries benefitting from lower prices for raw materials and the energy they use,” according to the study.
The only appreciable danger to this increase in production and revenue, the authors state, is government regulations or prohibitions. Although top EPA officials have repeatedly testified they have never found a single incident of the fracking process contaminating groundwater, environmental activists claim fracking endangers groundwater and seek to ban or severely restrict fracking...
From Kenneth Artz' "Study: Fracking cuts energy costs, raises living standards" published in Human Events. Read the rest here.
Barack Obama: Where Did Those Superhuman Smarts Go To?
Valerie Jarrett, Barack Obama's intimate friend and adviser of longstanding, was quoted by David Remnick, editor of the New Yorker, in his 2010 biography of Obama, The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama, as saying, "I think Barack knew that he had God-given talents that were extraordinary. He knows exactly how smart he is…He knows how perceptive he is. He knows what a good reader of people he is. And he knows that he has the ability -- the extraordinary, uncanny ability -- to take a thousand different perspectives, digest them and make sense out of them, and I think that he has never been challenged intellectually...He’s been bored to death his whole life. He's just too talented to do what ordinary people do.”After several years of a miserably flailing presidency, one in which Mr. Obama regularly denies responsibility for (indeed, even knowledge of) such major matters as national defense, national security, national diplomacy, the economy, the workings of Congress, the facts of history, the details within his own legislative agenda, the precepts of the U.S. Constitution, the biological origins of life and other things that are "above his pay grade," one wonders if Ms. Jarrett's opinion about her boss' grand intellectual talents remain in place.
I'm not saying that it's impossible -- the naivete and wishful thinking powers of the left are quite remarkable. But the self-delusion necessary to still believe in Barack Obama as an extraordinarily talented thinker would tax even Ms. Jarrett's abilities.
Baroness Warsi: The War Against Christianity Is "The Gravest Challenge Facing the World"
The Baroness will argue that violence against Christian worshippers and other religious minorities by fanatics has become a “global crisis” and is the gravest challenge facing the world this century.
“A mass exodus is taking place, on a Biblical scale. In some places, there is a real danger that Christianity will become extinct,” says the Baroness. “There are parts of the world today where to be a Christian is to put your life in danger. From continent to continent, Christians are facing discrimination, ostracism, torture, even murder, simply for the faith they follow."
"Christian populations are plummeting and the religion is being driven out of some of its historic heartlands. In Iraq, the Christian community has fallen from 1.2 million in 1990 to 200,000 today. In Syria, the horrific bloodshed has masked the hemorrhaging of its Christian population.”
Here's more from Matthew Holehouse at the Telegraph.
Yet More Fraud Among ObamaCare Navigators
“Today, Project Veritas released a second investigation exposing more Obamacare navigators counseling applicants to lie and cheat the health care system by erroneously reporting income status, health history, and more,” Project Veritas wrote.
They continue, “Critics said the first video was an isolated incident so we decided to visit with even more navigators funded by your American tax dollars. What we found was disturbing and showed a clear pattern of fraud through the Obamacare navigator program.”
Within the new video, Obamacare Navigators in Texas yet again counsel the reporters to lie in order to avoid higher premiums…
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
The Notting Hill Napoleons: Christian Book Club Extraordinaire
A successful book club is one that provides intellectual stimulation, motivation and accountability – and yet which is also a lot of sheer fun. And one of the most successful is the Notting Hill Napoleons, a Christian literary society which has (for over 20 years) been a source of rich blessings for its members. One Saturday night a month the Notting Hill Napoleons gather in one of the member’s living rooms for their regular meeting. The Napoleons are all long time friends whose common participation in pro-life ministries brought them together years before they started the book club. All of them were readers. They had college degrees, were dedicated Bible students, and were lovers of all kinds of books. A few were writers. Nevertheless, there’s no doubt they’re all stronger and more perceptive readers now as the years of reading, reflecting and discussing have effectively honed their skills. And though mysteries, biographies, history and Bible studies are still avidly read by individual members, the Napoleons know that the book club has spurred them to read more quality literature than they would have ever imagined. The Napoleons started back in 1992 when Claire and I asked a few reading friends to join us in a monthly book discussion. The club we had in mind would concentrate on quality novels; that is, books by talented writers who examined the most important human values and ideals. We especially sought novels of literary richness that would sharpen our own thinking and communicating skills. Among the works we chose in those early years were those of Charles Dickens, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, G.K. Chesterton, Sir Walter Scott, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Alexandre Dumas, Evelyn Waugh, Leo Tolstoy and William Shakespeare. Many of these authors had already been read by at least a few of the Napoleons but usually only as a school project in our distant past. One of the quickest lessons we learned was that reading a book for a discussion with like-minded friends was a much more enriching, enjoyable experience than reading it for any school report.
1) The Napoleons have all increased their reading speed and comprehension. And 2) They have all decreased their time spent in watching television and reading inferior stuff. And it’s comforting to know that even for those who have less time or who read at a pace which would prohibit getting through War and Peace in a month, there is a simple solution. Just make your book club one which meets every other month or even every quarter. Any schedule or format that yields an increase in profitable reading and Christian fellowship is well worth it.
How to choose books? That’s a problem that has ended many book clubs before they ever really get started. Consensus is the key to success here. The members must have a common vision of what they want to read. Simply using someone else’s reading list or even awarding each member a slot usually won’t do it. Based upon our backgrounds and personal tastes, the Notting Hill Napoleons chose classic novels as our focus and over time we developed an election process which stresses consensus. Other clubs might opt for politics or history or perhaps a mix of genres. Many years ago, Vital Signs Ministries created a reading program which has focused on non-fiction: history, culture, religion, etc. Among the authors we’ve read in this program are Chuck Colson, Whittaker Chambers, Randy Alcorn, Joni Eareckson-Tada and Francis Schaeffer. And the schedule for that program is really flexible. The evening discussions usually meet quarterly but we’ve had another group which found it more convenient to have a luncheon discussion over bagels.What else can you get out of an effective book club? How about ongoing education? The conquest of “giant books” that heretofore cowed you into fear? And don’t forget the development of conversational skills, critical thinking, and insights into legitimate literary criticism rather than those snide and heavy-handed techniques you learned in college. And, not to be undervalued in the least, is the sheer enjoyment which comes from a successful literary club. It’s all good. Indeed, every Notting Hill meeting is a party, even when the discussion itself is pretty heavy. We are good friends who have become even closer through the fellowship of the book club and who are more effective Christians because of the stimulation, accountability and helpfulness we provide each other.
Today's "Must-Reads"
* "Obama’s Big Lie is destroying his credibility," by Michael Goodwin, New York Post.* "Intelligence Warnings On Benghazi Were Loud And Clear," by Susan Katz and Richard Miniter, Investor's Business Daily.
* "Time to Start Considering Obamacare's Worst Case Scenarios," Peter Suderman, Reason.
* "If you want a conservative child," by Dennis Prager, Human Events.
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
More News You Should Know
* "The atrocities in North Korea reached another peak on November 3, as roughly 80 people were publicly executed in seven different cities for crimes such as watching films made in South Korea, dealing in pornography or possessing a Bible. The executions were the first mass executions of the Kim Jong-un regime, according to JoongAng Ilbo. Approximately 10 people were murdered in the cities of Pyongsong in South Pyongan, Wonsan in Kangwon Province, Chongjin in North Hamgyong Province, and Sariwon in North Hwanghae Province.
Wonsan’s executions were carried out by binding a group of people to stakes, putting white sacks over their heads and blasting them to pieces with a machine gun in front of thousands of witnesses at a stadium, among whom were many children. Families of the executed victims were sent to prison camps along with the victim’s accomplices." ("North Korea Executes 80 Citizens," William Bigelow, Breitbart)
ObamaCare's Omissions to Veterans
* "One of the most touted benefits of President Obama’s health care overhaul law is the provision allows parents to keep their adult children on their health insurance until age 26. However, Trace Gallagher reported on 'The Kelly File' Monday, this benefit is not being extended to a significant group of Americans: members of the U.S. military." ("Military members, veterans missing out on key ObamaCare provision," Fox News)
ObamaCare's Religious Intolerance Fails Another Court Test
* "The HHS mandate that is a part of Obamacare was dealt another blow on Friday, as a federal appeals court ruled the Obama administration cannot force a family-run business in Illinois to comply with it and pay for birth control or abortion-causing drugs for its employees. This ruling comes after another victory against the mandate earlier this month…
In a 2-1 decision issued Friday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, the court reversed the federal district court’s denial of a motion for a preliminary injunction and remanded the case for the district court to enter the preliminary injunction. The appeals court upheld the rights of both individuals and companies to challenge the ObamaCare HHS Mandate – the first decision of its kind in the ongoing HHS Mandate litigation." ("HHS Mandate Loses Again, Obama Admin Can’t Force Family Business to Comply," Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com)
Abe Lincoln a Democrat? Illinois College Defends Gross Error.
* "A public university in President Abraham Lincoln’s home state of Illinois is adorned with a plaque that states Lincoln – arguably the most famous and influential president in American history – was a Democrat. (Lincoln, of course, was a Republican.) The plaque, located on a historic building that’s part of Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago and installed in 1905, states: 'This building is dedicated to the public service honoring the memory of Abraham Lincoln -- Democrat.'
When a picture of the memorial recently surfaced on social media sites, it quickly went viral, and prompted anger among many Republicans, who called the dedication not only inaccurate but also a prime example of revisionist history. But the university stands by the inscription." (Jennifer Kabbany, The College Fix)
Irony Alert: Thug Nations Taking Seats in U.N. Human Rights Council
* "By the end of Tuesday, a handful of countries notorious for blocking human rights promotion at home and abroad will have rejoined the U.N. Human Rights Council. Due to an absence of competition, Tuesday’s vote at the General Assembly in New York will see China, Russia and Saudi Arabia all return to the council in January, just one year after term limits obliged them to stand down. They will be joined by Vietnam, which will take a seat for the first time since the Geneva-based HRC was established in 2006." ("Saudi Arabia, People's Republic of China Will Join UN 'Human Rights' Council", Patrick Goodenough, CNS News)
Surprise Move: Bill Clinton Says Obama Should Keep His Promise
* "Former President Bill Clinton said that President Obama should keep his pledge to allow people to keep their current health care plans, if they like them, under Obamacare: 'So I personally believe, even if it takes a change to the law, the president should honor the commitment the federal government made to those people and let them keep what they got.'" (Daniel Halper, The Weekly Standard)
Paid ObamaCare Agents Are Lying...and Instructing You How to Commit Fraud As Well.
This time, his undercover investigators focused on Obamacare’s “navigators,” the nearly 50,000 people who, in the words of the Department of Health and Human Services, “will serve as an in-person resource for Americans who want additional assistance in shopping for and enrolling in plans” on the Obamacare exchanges (at least when they’re finally working). The total value of grants doled out for nonprofits and community organizations to hire navigators has topped $67 million nationwide, and some of the money is going to a group run by ACORN’s highly controversial founder…
Here's more from John Fund at NRO.
And also check out this quick report from the Arizona Daily Independent.
Harry Blackmun Had a Birthday, An Event He Denied to Millions.
From Ed Whelan's NRO column, "This Day in Liberal Judicial Activism." November 12, 1908
In Nashville, Illinois, the human fetus to become known as Harry A. Blackmun emerges safe and sound from his mother’s womb. Some sixty-five years later, Justice Blackmun authors the Supreme Court opinion in Roe v. Wade. (See This Day for Jan. 22, 1973.)
Somehow the same people who think it meaningful to criticize Justice Thomas for opposing affirmative-action programs from which he putatively benefited don’t criticize Blackmun for depriving millions of other unborn human beings the same opportunity that he was given.
Monday, November 11, 2013
The Vacation Is Over
The beauty of the Ozarks in autumn. A quiet, restful condo. Some great times with friends and family. A few "established favorite" places to visit with a few new ones tossed in. And time to pray, read, evaluate, plan...and to celebrate 42 years of marriage.
Among the specific highlights:
* Listening to my cousin Eva sing "If It Wasn't for the Lighthouse" with harmony provided by my cousin Belinda and my 90-year old Aunt Farris.
* Being with Allen & Cindy Nelson at the first annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony outside the Andy Williams' Moon River Theater.
* A long Sunday afternoon drive through the winding backroads of the Ozarks.
* A breakfast at Billy Gail's with my sister and brother-in-law from Wichita, John & Sherry Whissen.
* Talking to the student actors of the College of the Ozarks after watching a rousing production of their play, "Four Star Country Boy."
* A couple of strolls through Branson Landing, not for shopping but for listening to Christmas music, enjoying the brisk air, taking in the view of the river, feeding the ducks, and eating dessert at Dino's 24 Karat Cake.
* Spending a Saturday night at the Oldfield Opry with Scott Lawson listening to local musicians perform for the sheer fun of it...and for the joy they know it brings to others.
* Enjoying a delicious dinner (on our anniversary) with my Aunt Farris, my cousin Susan, and her husband, Roy. The meal of pot roast, potatoes, gravy, green beans, apple crisp, etc. was prepared by Belinda and Susan.
* Spending an hour or more in prayer with Allen Nelson on a bracingly cool night on the deck of our condo.
* Enjoying the exhilarating (yet serene) view from Lookout Point at the College of the Ozarks.
* Reading W. Somerset Maugham, Calvin Miller, Arthur Koestler, William F. Buckley, and the Hunger Games trilogy. (The first two of the trilogy were fantastic; the third was remarkably bad.)
* Taking walks through the fallen leaves near the condo.
* Lunches at Vasken's Deli.
* Working with Claire on an edited version of my Mom's diary in the days when she was courted by my Dad.
* Many pleasant and fruitful talks with Claire in the condo, out on the deck or on drives through the country, reflecting on our past decades together and trying to plan for our future ministry with Vital Signs, Faith Bible Church, friends and family, neighbors, writing projects, and more.
* En route home, meeting Keith & Carol Moran in Kansas City for a late lunch at Oklahoma Joe's Barbecue...in a gas station!
It was a terrific vacation which served several purposes. Branson has definitely become the oasis spot for us and we can't wait till the next chance to get down there. Are you listening, family? Literary club?
The Vacation Is Over: Part Two
The postscript to the vacation? Well, I'm afraid that it ended with a few somber notes. Claire's hacking cough was getting worse and the poor thing endured several tough days before going to the doctor this morning. She was diagnosed with an infection, given antibiotics to bring her back round, and is already feeling a bit better. The other somber notes were that we learned upon our return to Omaha that our health insurance bill and our electric bill were going up ($65 a month and $35 a month, respectively) and that our Oldsmobile needs at least $500 worth of work. The worse news of all, however, is that our mechanic declared that the car may not be worth fixing. Yipes. Maybe we should have just stayed in Branson!
No, that's not true. It's really quite good to be home and we're already in the thick of things. Last Wednesday night and most of the day on Thursday I worked on the latest "When Swing Was King" program. (It debuted on Friday to Immanuel Care Center's assisted living audience and went very well.) Also on Thursday, I enjoyed a coffee with Pat Osborne at the Westroads Panera's and then joined friends for sidewalk counseling in front of the Planned Parenthood abortion mill.
In between coughs, Claire has been working to understand our new Samsung phone and preparing the house and menu for a dinner party we're hosting tonight. Throughout the weekend I worked on yesterday's sermon, one dealing with the responsibility the learner bears for his own spiritual education. And then this afternoon we start a very full week of "When Swing Was King" presentations, beginning with a Veterans Day event at Bethany Lutheran Home in Council Bluffs.
Yes indeed. The vacation is over.
No, that's not true. It's really quite good to be home and we're already in the thick of things. Last Wednesday night and most of the day on Thursday I worked on the latest "When Swing Was King" program. (It debuted on Friday to Immanuel Care Center's assisted living audience and went very well.) Also on Thursday, I enjoyed a coffee with Pat Osborne at the Westroads Panera's and then joined friends for sidewalk counseling in front of the Planned Parenthood abortion mill.
In between coughs, Claire has been working to understand our new Samsung phone and preparing the house and menu for a dinner party we're hosting tonight. Throughout the weekend I worked on yesterday's sermon, one dealing with the responsibility the learner bears for his own spiritual education. And then this afternoon we start a very full week of "When Swing Was King" presentations, beginning with a Veterans Day event at Bethany Lutheran Home in Council Bluffs.
Yes indeed. The vacation is over.
A Few "Don't Miss" Articles
* "Obama’s Massive Fraud" by Andrew C. McCarthy at NRO. * "Abortion Groups Target Judge for Saying Abortion Kills a Baby" by William Saunders and Mary Harned for LifeNews.
* "Adding Another Lie To The Pile," an editorial from Investor's Business Daily. ("At the very moment President Obama was supposedly saying sorry for his "keep your plan" lie, he told a brand-new one when he claimed that just 5% are at risk of losing the health plans they like.")
* "Why Does the Global Warming Hoax Persist?" by John Hinderaker over at PowerLine.
* "Be wary of Christie, the mainstream media’s new favorite Republican" by Joseph Curl at the Washington Times.
Barack Obama's Disastrous Legacy (One Part of It Anyhow)
“Thanks to the law, I have been forced to give up a world-class health plan,” she wrote. “For a cancer patient, medical coverage is a matter of life and death. Take away people’s ability to control their medical coverage and they may die. I guess that’s a highly effective way to control medical costs. Perhaps that’s the point.” Chris Matthews dismissed this as a cheap, “sexy” shot at his president, but look for it to be used in 2014 against every Democrat running for office. And look for many, many more Edie Littlefield Sundbys to step forward if, as predicted, employer plans start scaling back, leaving many more millions of Americans adrift. In 2012, Obama supporters made hay with claims that Mitt Romney had caused an ex-employee’s wife to die of cancer by terminating her husband’s employment and coverage. By this standard, Obamacare will soon be a mass serial killer. How will he explain it? “If you want to make an omelet, you have to break eggs?”
And then, there’s the lie. As lies go, “If you like your plan, you can keep it” is right up there with “I am not a crook” in the annals of presidential mendacity, and way above the Bill Clinton threshold, as other people’s lives, health, and financial arrangements were not affected by whether or not he had had “sexual relations with that woman.”
Read the rest of "The Crisis Arrives" by Noemie Emery in The Weekly Standard.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Still On Vacation
We are now a little over a week into our Branson vacation and things are working out just fine. The condo we are renting in Branson West (The photo at left is from our third floor deck.) is clean, cozy, attractive, and very quiet, making it a wonderful place for our get-away. We have been talking, praying, reading, watching the World Series, and engaging in a few projects. Also, my sister and her husband (Sherry & John Whissen from Wichita) came in for a couple of days and we had a splendid time with them. Indeed, the highlight of our trip so far came with the Whissens when we headed up to the little town of Crane. Well, more on that in a moment.Our enjoyment of a vacation is always enhanced a bit by combining it with a spot of work. And that's the case this time around too. Among the jobs we've taken on down here have been sending out postcards to some of our LifeSharer team, evaluating and planning, and transferring material to a new Vital Signs Ministries website. We also took on the editing of of a daily diary my Mom kept the few months before she married Dad. That was a big job but loads of fun -- touching and inspirational too. We will now create a scrapbook look for those diary excerpts accompanied by relevant photos of people, places, movies mentioned, and so on and give that as Christmas presents to my siblings and a few of our friends who loved my Mom.
In addition, Claire has been reading a Rafael Sabatini novel and having fun with some Christmas-oriented sewing projects. For my part, I've been getting ahead in sermon preparation for the life of David series I've been preaching and doing other reading. The books I've finished here (all novels so far) have been interesting but I wouldn't recommend any of them very highly: Ashenden, a collection of stories by W. Somerset Maugham based on his activities in British intelligence during the first World War; Nuremberg: The Reckoning by William F. Buckley; and The Dogs of Snoqualmie by Calvin Miller. However, I am now into one (a re-read from many years ago) that I'm finding very moving and worthwhile. Though it is somber reading to the max (the theme is the tyranny and moral blindness of Communism), this one I would recommend: Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon.
We have also packed into our vacation a few Branson activities. We're generally enjoying simple meals here at the condo but we have had a few meals out. The best of those have been at Vashken's Deli (Lebanese and Mediterranean specialties) and at the Keeter Center dining hall at the College of the Ozarks. We've been twice at each place already and we're probably not done yet. We also had a lot of fun when the Whissens took us out for breakfast at Billy Gail's, an Ozark roadhouse that is much loved by the locals. And finally, I can't leave out Claire's appreciation for the carrot cake down at Dino's in the Branson Landing complex.
Okay, now for that highlight I promised to tell you about earlier. That occurred when Claire, Sherry, John and I drove up to Crane to visit my Aunt Farris, the last relative of mine from that generation. Farris is an exceptional woman; tender, bright, talented, funny; hard-working and wise. She is a devout Christian whose ministry to her family (and way beyond) has been remarkable. Visiting with Farris and her daughters Belinda and Eva was really sweet. We caught up on the latest news of the Ellsworth family and ran back through the memories too. It was an enchanting couple of hours. But none of those dear moments will be as clearly etched on our heart as when Eva launched into a skilled rendition of the lovely old gospel song, "If It Wasn't for the Lighthouse", with her sister and 90-year old mother (just a few days out of the hospital) joining in to provide harmony. It was an exquisite treasure and we're certainly going back up to Crane again before we leave.
Like I said at the outset, we are now a little over a week into our Branson vacation and things are working out just fine.
The LifeSharer is Up!
It's actually been up for quite awhile but with our vacation looming I had forgotten to post the notice here on the blog and over on Facebook. My apologies.
Here it is.
Monday, October 21, 2013
We're On V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N
V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N.That's the way Connie Francis sang it back in 1962. (The Vimeo link is embedded below.) And we're feeling a bit of that festive spirit as we head out for a long-overdue vacation in southern Missouri.
We're leaving our house in the good care of Claire Nicole, Keith & Carol Moran, and our next door neighbors while we're away. And our new digs, for the next two weeks, will be at The Lodge, a 2-bedroom condo outside Branson West. It should be a fun and productive time with our loose-knit agenda encompassing some social activities, a bit of work, prayerful evaluation and planning regarding Vital Signs Ministries, reading, walks through the woods, and quite a bit of sitting on the balcony drinking tea.
The social element involves my sister Sherry and her husband John joining us for a few days with Allen and Cindy Nelson dropping in for a night or two the next weekend. Also, we hope to make a couple of trips north; one to the little town of Crane to visit my aunt and a few cousins and the other up to Springfield to have dinner with our godson, Scott Lawson.
The work bit will include some writing and editing projects, transferring content from the existing VSM website to a brand new one, editing the next few "When Swing Was King" volumes, and sermon preparation. I may even do a little blogging.
But the primary purposes to be served in this getaway are rest, relaxation and spiritual refreshment. We're really looking forward to it.
Friday, October 18, 2013
Okay, A Guy Has This Parrot...
A cop spots the thief. The thief bolts and runs, but not before throwing the parrot at the cop. The angry and confused parrot bites the cop. The bird is handed over to authorities.
The thief is later found hiding in a shed. He is also handed over to authorities.
The cop gets treatment for the bird bite and the parrot is eventually returned to his owner. Good news on both counts.
But not such good news for society because, after just a few hours, the thief bonds out and is back on the city streets, ready to cause fresh mischief for citizens, cops and feathered creatures.
A Monty Python sketch? I only wish it were. No, this is real life in the American justice system, folks.
Fly carefully.
New Feminist Book Takes Issue with the Pill
Carolyn Moynihan, deputy editor of MercatorNet, gives an interesting review of a new book in which a feminist breaks from the pack on the subject of the so-called birth-control.Holly Grigg-Spall is a young woman who calls herself a feminist but who is deeply unpopular with some of the sisterhood right now. English, 30-ish, married to an American and living in California, she has written a book criticising the contraceptive pill. Actually, Sweetening the Pill: Or How We Got Hooked On Hormonal Birth Control is more than critical; it is a sweeping polemic against the pill and every form of hormonal contraception. Since this wonder drug is celebrated by mainstream feminists (Nancy Pelosi, Cecile Richards, Sandra Fluke…) as the great liberator of women, you can see why the others are peeved with her…
I found the book rather frustrating, too, but not for the same reasons. The review copy I received is repetitive and needs a lot more editing. In addition, the author’s quest for alternatives to the pill – both technical and philosophical – leads her into feminist fringe territory which is sometimes cringe-inducing. And she fails to see the logical consequences of some of her insights. Nevertheless, in her attempt at a comprehensive critique of the pill and allied contraceptives she gets some important things right...
Sweetening the Pill falls far short of the critique of contraceptive culture some of us would like to hear from a smart and angry young woman. The author does not see that the copper IUD, the condom and the rest of contraceptive paraphernalia – not to mention abortion – are also an insult to the body, if not to its chemistry then at least to its integrity in the sexual act. Breaking away from the medical establishment’s grip is hardly a liberation if you fall straight into the arms of condom and cap manufacturers.
However, Holly Grigg-Spall’s great discovery – the ability to track her menstrual cycle through the fertility awareness method (FAM, or NFP to those who know it as natural family planning) – may yet lead her to new philosophical insights as well. She has already picked up on the way this method can improve the relationship between spouses or partners. For the moment she is anxious to dissociate herself from the philosophy of “the religious Right” and seems to think it is a shame that Catholics perfected the method before feminists tumbled to it.
But, if her book did nothing else than encourage other young women to pursue body literacy and fertility awareness, it would have performed a signal service.
John H. Yoder Embraced More Than Peace
Therefore, I was unaware of Yoder's bizarre attempts to fold extramarital sexual activities into his theological construct until I read a recent New York Times article, "A Theologian’s Influence, and Stained Past, Live On," by Mark Oppenheimer. I now understand that quite a few folks (at least within Mennonite circles) know of Yoder's history of aberrant behavior but nevertheless downplay it, deny that it detracts from his theological work, or even ignore it altogether.
But personal morality cannot be separated from Christian theology, a fact that even a secular reporter understands.
Writes Oppenheimer:
Can a bad person be a good theologian?
All of us fall short of our ideals, of course. But there is a common-sense expectation that religious professionals should try to behave as they counsel others to behave. They may not be perfect, but they should not be louts or jerks.
By that standard, few have failed as egregiously as John Howard Yoder, America’s most influential pacifist theologian. In his teaching at Notre Dame and elsewhere, and in books like “The Politics of Jesus,” published in 1972, Mr. Yoder, a Mennonite Christian, helped thousands formulate their opposition to violence. Yet, as he admitted before his death in 1997, he groped many women or pressured them to have physical contact, although never sexual intercourse...
In 1992, after eight women pressured the church to take action, Mr. Yoder’s ministerial credentials were suspended and he was ordered into church-supervised rehabilitation. It soon emerged that Mr. Yoder’s 1984 departure from what is now called Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, in Elkhart, Ind., had also been precipitated by allegations against him. He left for Notre Dame, where administrators were not told what had happened at his last job...
Mr. Yoder seemed very attentive to the notion that theology should align with behavior. It turns out that in unpublished papers, he formulated a bizarre justification of extramarital sexual contact.
In his memoir, Professor Hauerwas alludes to what Tom Price, a reporter for the newspaper The Elkhart Truth, described in a five-part 1992 series as Mr. Yoder’s defense of “nongenital affective relationships.” Mr. Yoder said that touching a woman could be an act of “familial” love, in which a man helped to heal a traumatized “sister.”
Mr. Price quoted from “What Is Adultery of the Heart?” a 1975 essay in which Mr. Yoder wrote that a “bodily” embrace “can celebrate and reinforce familial security,” rather than “provoking guilt-producing erotic reactions.”…
Ms. Heggen, called Tina in the newspaper articles, told Mr. Price that Mr. Yoder had a grandiose explanation for his advances, which he tried out on multiple women. “We are on the cutting edge,” Mr. Yoder would say, according to Ms. Heggen. “We are developing new models for the church. We are part of this grand, noble experiment. The Christian church will be indebted to us for years to come.”…
After his advance toward her, Mr. Yoder mailed Ms. Heggen an essay in which he advocated physical contact, including nudity, between unmarried people, so long as “there wasn’t lust.”
Ms. Heggen had a theory of what Mr. Yoder might have been thinking. “ ‘I have created this great peace theology,’ ” she began, trying to put his thoughts into words. “ ‘And you and I are developing a new Christian theology of sexuality.’ ”
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