Moving to a new address

This blog is being replaced by Judson's Corral. I hope you'll come visit.

Considerettes - Gas Prices Drop. Who Will the Left Credit?

re: "...When prices went up, Democrats blamed Bush. Are they going to credit him now, or have they all of a sudden discovered the free market?"

Baptist Press - Send a note to Billy Graham for his 90th birthday - News with a Christian Perspective

re: "NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Do you have a story about how Billy Graham's ministry has impacted your life? If so, his friends and family members would like to hear it -- and then deliver your story to the evangelist, who turns 90 on Nov. 7. / The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has set up a website -- BillyGraham90.com -- where people can send Graham stories, birthday greetings or simply a note of thanks to the man who likely has preached the Gospel to more people than anyone in history. (Messages to Graham also can be mailed to: Billy Graham's 90th Birthday, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, 1 Billy Graham Parkway, Charlotte, NC 28201.) The deadline for submissions is Nov. 1. The website also has materials to help churches promote the opportunity..."...

ADF Alliance Alert » City Receives Early Christmas Present In Legal Victory Over Anti-Religious Group

re: "Liberty Counsel reports: “Yesterday afternoon, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) against the City of Green Bay. Liberty Counsel successfully represented the City of Green Bay in a controversy over last year’s Christmas display with a Nativity scene at City Hall..."

Guilty Party by Mona Charen on National Review Online

re: ACORN, Obama, and the mortgage mess

Seraphic Secret: ...And the Financial Crisis is a Surprise Why?

re: "Note that this is a New York Times article from Sept. 1999 about lowering credit standards, thanks to Bill Clinton, Franklin Raines—now Obama's financial advisor)—and Freddie / Fannie.Note that this is a New York Times article from Sept. 1999 about lowering credit standards, thanks to Bill Clinton, Franklin Raines—now Obama's financial advisor)—and Freddie / Fannie..."...

Signs of the Times: Expelled Hits Theaters Once Again

re: "Ben Stein's controversial film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, which happens to be the #12 biggest box-office documentary in history, has emerged relatively unscathed from the lawsuit initiated against it by Yoko Ono... / ...snipped.../ Of course, the Federal Court judge did not dismiss the suit on the basis of Ono's inconsistent worldview, but because the manner in which Stein employed the song fell under the doctrine of Fair Use.... / ...snipped... / Long story short, Stein's film is hitting theaters again this month..."...

Baptist Press - Congress moves to inform mothers, protect unborn

re: "WASHINGTON (BP)--A bill to protect the lives of unborn children diagnosed with disabilities has passed both chambers of Congress and is awaiting President Bush's signature. /The Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act, sponsored by Sen. Sam Brownback, R.-Kan., and Sen. Ted Kennedy, D.-Mass., would provide support and balanced information to parents who receive a diagnosis of Down syndrome or any other condition prenatally or until a year after birth. / ...snip... / The Senate passed the bill Sept. 23, and the House passed it two days later in what Brownback said was "a great victory for expecting parents who learn that their unborn child may be born with a disability." /The bill requires parents who receive a diagnosis of an impairment for their child be provided with the latest information on the condition and be informed of support services available. It also would establish a registry of families willing to adopt special needs children..."...

EconLog, What Warren Buffett Wants, Arnold Kling: Library of Economics and Liberty

re: "...The best players in this World Series of Poker are the folks at Goldman. They hired Fischer Black and other geniuses back when the markets were first getting going. They have typically had the best squad of geeks around. /Buffett just bought a stake in Goldman. That stake would be a lot more valuable if there were actually a poker game--that is, if mortgage securities were still trading. Right now, they're not trading. So Goldman is sitting there ready to play and no one is ready to play with them. /Along comes Uncle Sam, who wants to take a one-hour lesson in poker and then sit down and play in the World Series with $700 billion in chips. And whaddaya know? Warren Buffett thinks Uncle Sam really has to get in the game."

ADF Alliance Alert » ACLU opposes freedom of conscience regs for pro-life docs

re: "The ACLU has issued this press release that begins: “The American Civil Liberties Union and all its state affiliates, including Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico, submitted comments to the Department of Health and Human Services asking the administration to rescind regulations that could seriously undermine access to reproductive health services, including birth control and abortion.”

Obama and Ayers Pushed Radicalism On Schools - WSJ.com

re: Stanley Kurtz: "Despite having authored two autobiographies, Barack Obama has never written about his most important executive experience. From 1995 to 1999, he led an education foundation called the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC), and remained on the board until 2001. The group poured more than $100 million into the hands of community organizers and radical education activists. / The CAC was the brainchild of Bill Ayers, a founder of the Weather Underground in the 1960s. Among other feats, Mr. Ayers and his cohorts bombed the Pentagon, and he has never expressed regret for his actions. Barack Obama's first run for the Illinois State Senate was launched at a 1995 gathering at Mr. Ayers's home. / ...[snip]... / The Obama campaign has cried foul when Bill Ayers comes up, claiming "guilt by association." Yet the issue here isn't guilt by association; it's guilt by participation. As CAC chairman, Mr. Obama was lending moral and financial support to Mr. Ayers and his radical circle. That is a story even if Mr. Ayers had never planted a single bomb 40 years ago."...

hat tip: The Paragraph Farmer

ADF Alliance Alert » Wisconsin Court Creates Financial Incentive for Assisted Suicide

re: "The Americans United for Life Blog reports: “Today the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District IV, ruled in Donna Limmer v. Linda Schunk that persons who assist in the suicide of another are still entitled to the inheritance of the deceased person. This dangerous decision encourages persons who have a financial interest in another’s death to assist that person in committing suicide.”..."...

The Point: The Issues That Matter

re: "Check out this video from CatholicVote.com. It doesn't tell Catholics how to vote, but it certainly defines, in a powerful way, the issues that matter most..."...

CatholicVote.com: Pastors to challenge Minister Gag Rule

re: Joshua Mercer: "There’s a myth out there that churches don’t pay income tax in exchange for not talking about politics. Hogwash. Churches don’t pay taxes for two major reasons: 1. They are not involved in trade, but in trying to help people (spiritually and physically.) Churches after all, started hospitals, universities, etc. /2. Going back thousands of years to Ancient Egypt, governments have not taxed churches because the power to tax is the power to control. /Well, control is exactly what Lyndon Johnson wanted when he inserted language into the tax code prohibiting pastors from endorsing any candidate from the pulpit. Since 1954, any minister thinking of endorsing a candidate was suddenly threatened with massive taxation. /That’s not entirely accurate. Ministers were always free to endorse Democrats. They just weren’t free to endorse Republicans. Black pastors endorsed Democrats without any impunity. /Well, this Sunday, the Alliance Defense Fund is encouraging ministers to exercise their freedom of speech and religious freedoms by endorsing a candidate. They are challenging LBJ’s Minister Gag Rule. The Wall Street Journal reports ..."...

Cafe Hayek: How they think vs. how I think

re: "The White House is trying to argue that the bailout isn't so bad, it might not really cost $700 billion because some of the assets will appreciate in value. / ...[snip]... / But from my perspective, the budgetary gains and losses are a trivial part of the story. Those are a transfer from taxpayers to the current holders of the assets. My real concern is the incentive effects for future prudence (reduced) and the weird misallocations of capital that will inevitably result. I also am deeply concerned about the rule of law and how such a program can possibly run in a non-arbitrary way. /If the government makes money on these transactions, it actually depresses me all the more."

The Thinklings: On Faith and Superstition

re: "Mollie Hemingway writes an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal: Look Who's Irrational Now. She makes the counter-intuitive case that irreligious people are more susceptible to superstition, belief in the paranormal, etc, than people who hold orthodox beliefs. Some excerpts...// Anti-religionists such as [Bill Maher] bring to mind the assertion of G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown character that all atheists, secularists, humanists and rationalists are susceptible to superstition: "It's the first effect of not believing in God that you lose your common sense, and can't see things as they are."

hat tip: Phil

The Point: No apologies here

re: "The Anglicans may have felt the need to apologize to Darwin, but the Catholics are still holding out://The Vatican said on Tuesday the theory of evolution was compatible with the Bible but planned no posthumous apology to Charles Darwin for the cold reception it gave him 150 years ago. . . . /In 1950, Pope Pius XII described evolution as a valid scientific approach to the development of humans, a view that was reiterated by Pope John Paul II in 1996. But [Archbishop Gianfranco] Ravasi said the Vatican had no intention of apologising for earlier negative views. /"Maybe we should abandon the idea of issuing apologies as if history was a court eternally in session," he said, adding that Darwin's theories were "never condemned by the Catholic Church nor was his book ever banned"...

Hanna on NRO: Virtue and Volatility - Acton Institute PowerBlog

re: "Frank J. Hanna III, Georgia CEO of Hanna Capital and cofounder of the Solidarity Foundation, is author of the new book What Your Money Means (and How to Use It Well). Hanna, a board member of the Acton Institute, talked to National Review Online editor Kathryn Lopez in a Q&A titled “Virtue and Volatility” about earning money, using it well, the market meltdown, and more..."...

A Private Conviction About Murder?

re: "Speaking Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Sen. Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for Vice President, made headlines by stating that he accepts "as a matter of faith" that human life begins at conception, but he would not impose that view on others as a matter of law. /Sen. Biden's statement is similar in form to those offered by other Catholic politicians like former New York Governor Mario Cuomo. Nevertheless, what it really represents is far more horrifying than may be recognized at first.../ ...[snip]... / Sen. Biden says, and we must take him at his word, that he accepts as a matter of faith that human life begins at conception. But, he argues, he is perfectly willing to support a woman's right to choose to end that human life. /The killing of human life is called homicide. Murder is the willful taking of a human life. The senator has here stated that he believes abortion to be homicide, but he defends a woman's right to kill the unborn human life within her because he would not impose his beliefs about human life (and thus about homicide) on others..."...

ADF Alliance Alert » Young pro-lifers jailed, shackled, strip searched for peacefully sharing message

re: from Sept. 3: "BALTIMORE — Alliance Defense Fund and allied attorneys filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Harford County, the town of Bel Air, and seven police officials on behalf of three young, pro-life women. At least a dozen police officers arrived in more than seven marked vehicles and then arrested, jailed, shackled, and/or strip searched 18 pro-life advocates, including the three women, after they held signs and shared their message along a public street. /“The state shouldn’t persecute Christians for expressing their beliefs on important social issues, nor deny them their constitutional rights,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. “This incident paints an ugly picture of the state of religious freedom and free speech in America today.” /“The truth of the matter is that our clients were heckled, arrested, imprisoned, shackled, and strip searched twice for exercising their First Amendment rights,” said ADF-allied attorney Daniel Cox, who is serving as local counsel. “No excuse exists for how our young clients were treated.” /At least 12 police officers handcuffed 18 peaceful participants in Defend Life’s “Face the Truth” Pro-life Tour and denied them a reason for their arrests. They had relocated to Bel Air after being told by officers to move from another location for not having a permit to engage in free speech activities. Three young female participants—including teenagers—were subjected to two rounds of strip searches./The first search took place in the police station parking lot in front of other males. A female officer pulled out the young ladies’ shirt collars to inspect their breasts before reaching down their pants to feel around their waistlines. The Harford County Detention Center administered the second strip search after the pro-life participants were transferred there. A female officer took the women one by one into a bathroom with a partially open door and ordered them to lift up their shirts and brassieres. /Officials cast the pro-life participants in leg irons, denied them permission to call parents until after midnight, and did not release any of them until the following day. None were informed that attorneys Steve Peroutka and Scott Whiteman had been prohibited from having any contact with them after arriving at the station earlier that night to assist them. On Aug. 12, the state decided not to pursue the false charges against them, which included loitering, disorderly conduct, and failure to obey a lawful order. They were never charged for a permit offense. /The complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Northern Division, in Swagler v. Harford County is available at www.telladf.org/UserDocs/SwaglerComplaint.pdf. The Thomas More Society of Chicago and the American Catholic Lawyers Association represent some of the other pro-life participants..."...

Nazarene Communications Network - Christian homes on fire in India

re: "In the early hours of August 23, a Hindu nationalist leader, Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, was shot to death in Orissa, India. Five of his followers were also killed. Although it was allegedly an act by Marxist terrorists, many people are blaming the murder on Christians. In reaction to the killings, some have retaliated by burning down churches and homes. At least three more people have been killed following the initial attack. /Nazarene District Superintendent Sudipta reports: "I have contacted some of our church leaders and pastors in Orissa as they are watching their houses being destroyed. The villagers fled to the nearby jungle and for three days they have had hardly any food..."...

American Thinker: Why Palin Is a Bee in Dems' Bonnets

re: Kyle-Anne Shiver: "...Palin may come in a perfectly lovely, innocent-looking package, a bit like a bumble bee resting in the shade on a clover blossom, but when she sees professional politicians getting fat and rich at the public trough, she is immediately transformed into one threatening, buzzing, stinging machine. /Pompous, polished, under-performing Democrat pols meet down-to-earth, mom-of-five, rifle-toting, corruption-shredding, tenacious Governor Sarah, the taxpayers' best friend..."...

RedState: Dr. Land speaks out on Palin's upcoming granddaughter.

re: "Via The Brody File, a statement from a Dr. Richard Land, who is the President of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission on the Palin pregnancy matter...//start quote//"This is the pro-life choice. The fact that people will criticize her for this shows the astounding extent to which the secular critics of the pro-life movement just don't get it. Those who criticize the Palin family don't understand that we don't see babies as a punishment but as a blessing. Barack Obama said that if one of his daughters made a mistake and got pregnant out of wedlock he wouldn't want her to be punished with a child. Pro lifers don't see a child as punishment."

ADF Alliance Alert » Pelosi gets unwanted lesson in Catholic theology

re: "...The report suggests that Pelosi is confusing church teaching with the historic debate about when a fetus receives a soul. However, as numerous Bishops have pointed out science has made the the debate moot in the last 150 years as it is clear that a new human being comes into existence at conception. /According to the AP report the Archbishop of San Francisco will address the matter in the September 5th edition of the Diocesan newspaper. The USCCB has issued this press release in response to Pelosi. LifeSite News has several articles on the topic including this one: Two More Bishops Make 8 Who Have Come Out against Pelosi’s ‘Catholic’ Abortion Theology. The Christian Newswires carries this EWTN report: Pelosi’s Abortion Statements a Scandal Says EWTN Program Host. /Republicans have also joined the chorus of criticism as reported in the Hill: GOP demands Pelosi apology for abortion comments. /
Cardinal Egan of New York issued the following statement in response to Pelosi: //FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 26, 2008 /STATEMENT OF HIS EMINENCE, EDWARD CARDINAL EGAN CONCERNING REMARKS MADE BY THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES /Like many other citizens of this nation, I was shocked to learn that the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States of America would make the kind of statements that were made to Mr. Tom Brokaw of NBC-TV on Sunday, August 24, 2008. What the Speaker had to say about theologians and their positions regarding abortion was not only misinformed; it was also, and especially, utterly incredible in this day and age. /We are blessed in the 21st century with crystal-clear photographs and action films of the living realities within their pregnant mothers. No one with the slightest measure of integrity or honor could fail to know what these marvelous beings manifestly, clearly, and obviously are, as they smile and wave into the world outside the womb. In simplest terms, they are human beings with an inalienable right to live, a right that the Speaker of the House of Representatives is bound to defend at all costs for the most basic of ethical reasons. They are not parts of their mothers, and what they are depends not at all upon the opinions of theologians of any faith. Anyone who dares to defend that they may be legitimately killed because another human being “chooses” to do so or for any other equally ridiculous reason should not be providing leadership in a civilized democracy worthy of the name. /Edward Cardinal Egan / Archbishop of New York /August 26, 2008..."...

ADF Alliance Alert » Rabbi fights order to halt home prayer meetings

re: "The First Amendment Center reports: //A Hasidic rabbi is challenging an order by the city of Portland to halt weekly prayer meetings at his home because they violate zoning regulations. /
Rabbi Moshe Wilansky, with the backing of the Maine Civil Liberties Union, has asked the Zoning Board of Appeals to annul the order because it violates his right to practice his religion..."...

Christianity Growing in China - Christian World News - CBN News

re: "...Although members of China's Three Self Churches can worship openly, millions of other Christians worship in house churches, beyond the government's watchful eye. /But both the Three Self and house churches are growing at a staggering rate. /Thousands of people have come to Beijing's Kanjie church today, but they didn't come to get a glimpse of President Bush. Like millions of other Chinese believers, they came to worship. /Across town, more than 2,000 people flooded into Beijing's Haidian church for one of their six Sunday services. /The pastor here says church attendance has more than doubled since last May."..."...

Considerettes - There’s No Place Like Home

re: "Used to be that scientists thought that our solar system was pretty normal, and that there were plenty just like it out there..."...

Peter Wilby: The media's addiction to controversy can seriously damage your health

re: "Nearly all journalists aspire to emulate two stories: the Watergate scandal, which brought down a US president; and the thalidomide scandal, which, after years of campaigning and legal battles, forced a multinational giant to eat humble pie, and made Harold Evans and his Sunday Times Insight team world famous. Watergate explains why newspapers fiercely pursue public figures accused of minor expenses fiddling, attach "gate" to their names and try to implicate anybody up to and including Downing Street in a "cover-up". Thalidomide explains why, on the flimsiest of evidence, they accuse doctors of inflicting dangerous diseases or disabilities on children. The results of one such media frenzy became evident last week..."...

hat tip: Expat Yank

The Conservative Coalition Crack-up - Acton Institute PowerBlog

re: "...The purpose of yesterday’s meetings was ostensibly to urge McCain to pass over Mitt Romney as a possible running mate, in the interests of courting social conservatives. Debra Matney, a Huckabee supporter from Fairgrove who helped organize the meetings, said of McCain, “Who he chooses will speak volumes to us.” /It’s unclear, however, what effect meetings of this kind might have, as an interview with McCain published yesterday in the Weekly Standard has McCain saying that he would not rule out a pro-choice running mate like Joe Lieberman or Tom Ridge. / That fact alone ought to speak volumes to social conservatives. / Meanwhile, since his withdrawal from the presidential race, Mike Huckabee has done his best to remain in the national conversation. In a recent interview with Jim Wallis of Sojourners, Huckabee had this to say about the tension in the GOP between social and fiscal conservatism:..."...

Mary Meader, at 91; was pioneer as globe-circling aerial photographer - The Boston Globe

re: "NEW YORK - Mary Meader, who as a spunky new bride in the 1930s took off on a 35,000-mile journey to advance geographic knowledge by making unprecedented aerial photographs of South America and Africa, died March 16 in Kalamazoo, Mich. She was 91. /The saga began when Mrs. Meader, whose name was Mary Upjohn at the time, and her first husband, Dr. Richard Light, made plans to marry. They wanted to celebrate their union by approximating the highly publicized round-the-world flight he had made in 1934. She took flying lessons and learned Morse code to be her husband's copilot, navigator, and radio operator.../ ...[snip]... / Rachel Mary Upjohn was born in Kalamazoo. She was one of 11 grandchildren of Dr. W.E. Upjohn, founder of the Upjohn Co, the pharmaceutical concern. She was a language major at Smith College, specializing in French and Spanish, but dropped out to marry Richard Upjohn Light, a neurosurgeon and former military pilot who was her first cousin. They eloped to Maryland because first cousins could legally marry there. /The Lights took off first in September 1937 from Kalamazoo in a Bellanca monoplane, its cabin lacking heat and pressurization. They sucked oxygen from a tank through wooden mouthpieces. She wore a fur coat and boots as she shot pictures through an open window. Since she weighed only 95 pounds, she braced the 20-pound camera on the window frame and secured it with a clothesline. She said she once nearly froze to death. /The couple divorced in the early 1960s. In 1965, the former Mrs. Light married Edwin Meader, a professor of geography, among various callings. The couple became major philanthropists, giving millions to Western Michigan University, the University of Michigan and Kalamazoo charities..."...

Book Review - 'Iron Fists,' by Steven Heller - Review - NYTimes.com

re: Christopher Benfrey: "Steven Heller’s “Iron Fists” makes a sophisticated and visually arresting comparison between modern corporate-branding strategies — slogans, mascots, jingles and the rest — and those adopted by “four of the most destructive 20th-century totalitarian regimes”: Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, the Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin, and Mao’s China. As he pursues his four “case studies,” Heller, by means of unsettling images and shrewd analysis, amply restores the vileness to branding..."...

The Point: How low can a Senator go?

re: "Never mind Ted Stevens. The real bad guy of the Senate these days is Tom Coburn . . . for delivering babies free of charge.
I'm not kidding..."...

News Releases: OREGON TO GET WORLD'S LARGEST WIND FARM

re: "The Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council (EFSC) today approved a site certificate for the 909 megawatt (MW) Shepherds Flat Wind Farm. Located in Gilliam and Morrow counties, Shepherds Flat will double Oregon’s current wind operating capacity of about 889 MW.../ ...[snip]... / The project is being developed by Caithness Shepherds Flat, LLC of Sacramento, Calif., which proposes 303 wind turbines with a peak capacity of 909 MW. Caithness says Shepherds Flat will be the largest single wind farm in the world. The project area is between Highway 19 and Highway 74 on privately-owned land, about five miles southeast of Arlington. The power output of the facility would enter the Federal Columbia River Transmission System through Bonneville Power Administration’s Slatt Substation..."...

Touchstone Magazine - Mere Comments: Spiritual Alzheimers

re: "Virtue On-line has this report from England about Cardinal Ivan Dias's speech to Anglican bishops at Lambeth. warning them of Spiritual Alzheimers. Indeed: Alzheimers seems to be competing with an acquired immune deficiency syndrome in many churches to destroy Christian memory and infect the body with heresy..."...

The Dawn Patrol: Something 'WIC'-ked this way comes

re: "Visit the USDA's WIC Learning Center, the official Web site for the U.S. government's Women, Infants and Children program, and you will find a link to the home page of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. / That's because a hefty chunk of the $5 billion in taxpayer funds for the program designed to help feed and provide health care for low-income pregnant women, new moms, and young children go to Margaret Sanger's organization./ ...[snip].../ Granted, the federal money that pays Planned Parenthood to serve WIC clients technically does not go towards abortions. But any money given to Planned Parenthood by the federal government keeps the organization's lights on and its paychecks coming, enabling it to spend its $115 million surplus on expanding its abortion business. And does anyone doubt that Planned Parenthood will attempt to impress upon a pregnant WIC client that it can make her un-pregnant if she wishes? Especially when the client walking into its clinic is greeted with posters like this ..."...

hat tip: The Point

Randy Pausch, Author Of 'Last Lecture,' Dies at 47 - WSJ.com

re: "Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist whose "last lecture" about facing terminal cancer became an international sensation and a best-selling book, died Friday..."...

hat tip: The Point

ADF Alliance Alert » Court rules to preserve life of Calif. woman deprived of food, water

re: "ADF-allied attorney successful in ensuring nutrition is restored after 11 days without food or water; trial to be held July 29..."...

ADF Alliance Alert » 10th Circuit: Colorado scholarship restrictions to students at “pervasively sectarian” schools held unconstitutional

re: "...We find the exclusion unconstitutional for two reasons: the program expressly discriminates among religions without constitutional justification, and its criteria for doing so involve unconstitutionally intrusive scrutiny of religious belief and practice. We reverse, and order that summary judgment be granted in favor of the university..."...

Global Warming Consensus Alert: Flame On! - Acton Institute PowerBlog

re: "...wouldn’t you know it - just when Gore gets his sweltering summertime platform to trumpet the need to act on the basis of the Global Warming Consensus, a big fight breaks out in a scientific organization that makes said Consensus look more like a sham than ever..."...

Challies.com: Review of "The Shack" by William P. Young

re: "...So let’s look at this book together, doing the task God requires of us when he tells us to be men and women of discernment—Christians who heed God’s admonition to “test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” We’ll simply compare what Young teaches to the Bible..."...

About the Book - Atheism Remix

re: "Something has changed in our culture. Atheism—for centuries a little-regarded belief system—has gained a large hearing through the writings of new atheists such as Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens. Indeed, atheism is now more culturally acceptable than ever and its proponents are more fervent. /Providing the Christian response to the new challenge to theism, Dr. Albert Mohler equips Christians to respond with Atheism Remix. Here he explores the environment that has bred the New Atheism while also introducing readers to the movement’s four leading thinkers and their arguments. With keen insight, Mohler pinpoints eight major distinctives that make the New Atheism new and helps Christians understand, challenge, and counter it..."...

ADF Alliance Alert » Atheists’ Lawsuit against Dakota Boys Ranch dismissed

re: "The AP reports: //A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the nation’s largest group of atheists and agnostics over referrals by North Dakota government agencies to a church-affiliated nonprofit that treats and educates troubled children. /U.S. District Judge Dan Hovland said the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation and five North Dakota taxpayers who are members of the group have no right to sue..."...

Privately published Christian novel a surprise best-seller: The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore.

re: "...It is the most compelling recent example of how word-of-mouth can create a phenomenal blockbuster. /It was originally published late last spring as a paperback by two former pastors near Los Angeles, who knew the author and set up a company expressly to publish “The Shack.” The manuscript already had been turned down by a number of mainstream and Christian publishers. A little more than a year later, on June 8, the book debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times paperback fiction best-seller list. It has stayed there ever since..."...

hat tip: Rick Dancer

Mixed bag on the Betancourt coverage » GetReligion

re: "...Anyway, if you had been held hostage for six years, what would you do upon your release? Betancourt thanked God repeatedly, knelt and prayed as soon as she hit solid ground, showed off the rosary she’d made during her captivity and talked about how her faith helped sustain her during her horrific time with the terrorists. It must have made the media uncomfortable to hear her speak so much about the Virgin Mary, angels, miracles and God because even though she was being quite blatant about it, most early reports ignored it or glossed over it..."...

Doctors vote against ‘pro-life register’ | The Christian Institute

re: "A national doctors’ conference has rejected a proposal to force GPs to make their views on abortion known to patients. /The plan could have forced doctors with conscientious objections to abortion to publicise their views, so that women seeking terminations would be unlikely to see them. /Leading pro-abortion campaigner Dr Evan Harris MP tabled the motion at the conference of the British Medical Association. /However, delegates at the conference voted against his proposals. /It is thought that around one in five doctors will not sign abortion referral forms. One Christian doctor, Tammie Downes, was recently cleared of any wrong-doing, after accusations were made that she had broken guidelines by discussing alternative options with women seeking abortion. /Recent research by the Christian Medical Fellowship suggests that in countries where the law requires women seeking terminations to have counselling or a ‘cooling-off’ period, the abortion rate is significantly lower than countries where it is available ‘on demand’."...

ADF Alliance Alert » UK: Victory for Christian registrar who refused to carry out same-sex ceremonies

re: "The Times Online reports: //A Christian registrar who was harassed and discriminated against after she refused to carry out same-sex civil partnership ceremonies has won a key legal battle . . . The decision outraged gay rights campaigners, who said that it “sanctions the right of religious people to discriminate”. //The Christian Institute offers more coverage and links to the ruling..."...

Change we should worry about (OneNewsNow.com)

re: Star Parker: "...What's going on is not an ideological crack-up but a branding crack-up. Rejection of the Republican Party today is not a rejection of limited government and traditional values. It is a rejection of what the Republican Party morphed into. / The Democratic Party, on the other hand, has remained true to its principles of big government and moral relativism. And it's not registering more enthusiasm among voters. / It just doesn't take rocket science or an expensive political consultant to appreciate that voters are, for darned good reason, unhappy..."...

Canada to send American deserters back home (OneNewsNow.com)

re: "A Pentagon advisor says he's encouraged by the recent decision by the Conservative Canadian government to send American deserters back to the U.S. for possible court-martial and dishonorable discharge..."...

The Point: Time to lose the s-word

re: "I've gotten good and sick of the term swift boating being used to mean lying. It's inaccurate and unfair. And finally, someone is calling for it to stop..."...

Alaska Governor Discusses Congressional Energy Inaction - Acton Institute PowerBlog

re: Ray Nothstine: "Following up on my commentary “Washington’s Unpopular War on Energy,” Alaska Governor Sarah Palin talks about her own frustration with Washington energy policies in an interview with Investor’s Business Daily. Governor Palin is of course in favor of drilling for more oil in Alaska, and she believes development can be done in a safe and clean manner..."...

Cafe Hayek: Incentives, incentives

re: "Justin Bowen comments at EconTalk and points readers to an analysis of special education showing the power of incentives. Forster and Greene argue (see here, here and here) that in states where there is a per pupil subsidy to kids with disabilities, schools in such states find a lot more disabilities. I am not surprised..."...

Baptist Press - Big Bang on the Bayou

re: Ken Connor: "LEESBURG, Va. (BP)--Secularists have exploded over the passage of the "Louisiana Science and Education Act." / The bill recently was signed into law by Gov. Bobby Jindal after having been passed by an overwhelming majority of the Louisiana legislature. According to its text it protects the freedom of "teachers, principals, and other school administrators" in elementary and secondary schools to promote "critical thinking skills, logical analysis, and open and objective discussion of a variety of scientific theories including, but not limited to, evolution, the origins of life, global warming, and human cloning." / In other words, the act provides for the freedom and support of teachers and school boards to present varied analyses on these and other scientific issues. So why are the denizens of blogs like the Huffington Post in such a huff? Because "science" is their "truth," and it is blasphemous to question their beliefs. / Secularists are unwilling to have their orthodoxy challenged. Just as Galileo had to fight against the church and government of his day, those who dare to question today's "settled" theories are banished by scientific and political Inquisitors..."...

Bishops: What "Achievements" of Morgentaler's are Being Recognized?

re: "OTTAWA, July 7, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Bishop James Wingle of St. Catharines and Archbishop Raymond Roussin of Vancouver have spoken out strongly against the decision to grant Dr. Henry Morgentaler the Order of Canada, both asking why Canada is honouring a man who has caused so much harm among so many Canadians. /Given the fact that the Order of Canada is meant to recognize "a lifetime of outstanding achievement," Bishop Wingle asked, "What outstanding achievement or service has Henry Morgentaler contributed to the betterment of Canada?" /Morgentaler has boasted that he has performed over 100,000 abortions, many carried out before 1988 when Canadian law deemed the practice illegal - thereby making him a criminal. The abortionist's efforts also led to the removal of all the legal protections in Canada for the unborn. Are these the "achievements," asks Bishop Wingle, that have led to his bestowal with an award officially described as "the centerpiece of Canada's honours system"? /
The bishop then accused the Order of Canada committee's decision of showing blatant disregard for the values of millions of Canadian: "The firm conviction of millions of Canadians that human life is sacred at every stage of its existence evidently means nothing to those responsible for the Order of Canada." /
In the face of this decision, that has so severely divided Canadians, Bishop Wingle issued a rallying cry to the ranks of those who fight for the culture of life..."...

Brazilian Judge: Catholic Priest's Book Denouncing Witchcraft Must be Removed from Bookstores

re: "BAHIA, BRAZIL, July 7, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A judge in the state of Bahia, Brazil, has ordered the confiscation of a book written by Catholic priest Jonas Abib, in which he condemns witchcraft as immoral. /The book, "Yes, Yes! No, No! Reflections on Healing and Liberation," warns readers against the dangers of the occult, which includes the "Afro-Brazilian" religions known as "spiritualism." According to Fr. Abib's website, the book has gone through 81 printings and has sold over 400,000 copies. /...[snip]... / The ruling follows other actions that have been taken against Christians in Brazil for publicly expressing their views regarding forms of behavior that are currently favored by the political establishment. The Evangelical Protestant organization National Vision for a Christian Conscience (VINACC) was censored by a judge last year when it initiated a campaign to affirm natural heterosexual marriage and condemn homosexual behavior... /Federal Deputy Miguel Martini denounced the latest ruling on the floor of the nation's Camber of Deputies (the lower legislative house), and expressed his concern that Brazil is beginning to censor the beliefs of Christians..."...

FIRST THINGS: On the Square » Understanding the Third Reich and Other Great Evils

re: Richard John Neushaus: "...During the Third Reich, ordinary Germans “had many more things on their minds.” That’s a chilling phrase. We might easily say, and many do all too easily say, that during the era of slavery or during current horrors such as the genocide in Sudan or the daily killing of thousands of unborn children in the abortuaries around the country, most ordinary Americans “had many more things on their minds.” That’s a moralistic cheap shot. The truth is that we all have many more things on our minds, and necessarily so. Such as families, jobs, dealing with sickness, and warding off despair. Not to mention, for many, the distinctly unnecessary hours every day spent surfing and chatting on the blogosphere. /The Third Reich is rightly viewed as an icon of evil. This does not mean, as Ian Kershaw reminds us, that the ordinary Germans of the time are the icon of moral indifference or complicity in great evil. Then it was the Jews, the Slavs, and the gypsies. At other times, it is another class of human beings. Given the requisite mix of circumstances, which is not beyond imagination, it is an idle conceit to think that ordinary Americans would behave more nobly than did the Germans of Hitler’s day. Among any people of any time, moral courage is the exception and not the rule. There are heroes and heroines who contend against the great evils of their time, but even they must be selective. You may be devoting your life to helping the people of Sudan, but what are you doing to help prisoners of conscience in China, or to stop international sex trafficking, or to feed the hungry of Zimbabwe, or to relieve the loneliness of old people in the nursing home within an easy drive from your home? The list goes on and on..."...

FIRST THINGS: On the Square » Blog Archive » The Human Experience

re: Amanda Shaw: "...But even a truism—especially a truism—can give pause when coming from the mouth of a leper patient, a homeless woman, an HIV/AIDS victim. The physically, mentally, and spiritually battered—from the concrete jungle of Brooklyn to the mud huts of Ghana—don’t rattle off these sentiments in a spirit of blasé piety or feel-goodism. “If he wakes me up today, God has something he wants me to do,” says a man dying from AIDS, and, while his legs barely support his body, strength of spirit radiates through his eyes. It pierces the audience, which is precisely the goal of Grassroots Film’s latest documentary, The Human Experience. /...[snip]... / In The Human Experience (to be released sometime in 2008), we’re brought to the images and sounds of the cardboard-box communities of some of New York’s homeless, to a home for disabled and abused children in Peru, to a leper colony in Africa—places that everyone knows exist, but few will ever encounter closely and personally. / ...[snip]... / These experiences can be heartwarming and even humorous..."...

ADF Alliance Alert » Florida Court: Homelessness alone is not grounds to remove child from parents

re: "The Miami Herald reports: “A three-judge panel of the Third District Court of Appeal, in an opinion reversing a ruling by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Valerie R. Manno Schurr, said being homeless is not sufficient cause to take children from their parents.” /M.B. v. Dept. of Children and Family Service, No. 3D08-1364 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. July 2, 2008)."

ADF Alliance Alert » ADF attorney available to discuss disenfranchisement of Oregonians after 9th Circuit hearing

re: "PORTLAND, Ore. — Alliance Defense Fund Senior Legal Counsel Austin R. Nimocks will be available for media interviews immediately following oral arguments Tuesday before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in Lemons v. Bradbury. ADF attorneys are appealing a ruling by a federal judge that denied Oregon voters the opportunity to vote on a new law which some Oregon voters believe runs counter to the state’s 2004 Marriage Protection Amendment. /“Oregon voters deserve to be heard on this referendum. More than enough Oregonians signed it. The people didn’t thwart this effort; government bureaucracy did–and that’s not a good reason to toss aside one of the most important rights Americans have,” said Nimocks. /On Feb. 1, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Monson lifted his preliminary injunction against a new law, H.B. 2007, that provides all the rights of marriage to unmarried, same-sex couples who register with the state. ADF attorneys filed suit on behalf of several Oregonians after the Secretary of State and several different county clerks wrongfully rejected valid signatures on a petition to place a referendum on the ballot which would allow voters to express their will on the new law. /During a hearing, the judge stated that voters in Oregon have no legal right to have their petition signatures counted. ADF appealed that ruling to the 9th Circuit (www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4417). /A fact sheet is available on the lawsuit at www.telladf.org/UserDocs/LemonsFactSheet.pdf."

Baptist Press - Stroke victim's case recalls Schiavo controversy - News with a Christian Perspective

re: "..."We know that she's sick. I don't want anyone to think, 'They're just delusional,'" Tatro-Manes said. "We know that every minute that we have with her is a blessing from God. It's borrowed time. We know that. But there is no way that we can just sit by and allow my sister -- or my mother allow her daughter -- to be starved to death at the hands of a man that she's married to. A higher sense of order has to kick in at some point." / ...[snip]... / Karen Weber's competency is the question, said Joseph Rodowicz, an attorney affiliated with the Alliance Defense Fund who is representing Weber's mother. "Does she understand what's going on and can she communicate her medical issues as to what she wants to do. Does she want to go to hospice? And we have several instances where she has indicated she does not want to go to hospice," he said. "We submit that life support measures, which is really just a feeding tube and nutrition, shouldn't be removed." / ...[snip]... /Bobby Schindler, Terri Schiavo's brother and host of America's Lifeline, an AM radio program in Tampa, Fla., told the Witness this case is a good example of what happens all around America every day. / "The disabled like Karen are being killed every day and the only time we hear about it is when family members object, as in this case, as in Terri's case," Schindler said. "The whole notion that feeding tubes are now considered medical treatment is unacceptable. And we're seeing what's happening because of the law. People with disabilities are potentially in harm's way of being killed, because food and water, which should be basic care, is now being defined as medical treatment." / Sympathetic to those who are facing deathbed decisions, Schindler bristles at the notion that he is too harsh in characterizing such measures as active euthanasia." /You are killing someone by taking their food and water away," Schindler said. "Otherwise, they wouldn't die. How else would you describe it if you are taking away her food and water?"..."...

ADF Alliance Alert » ADF files suit disputing N.M. commission’s ruling against Christian photographer

re: "ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund filed suit in state court Tuesday to appeal a ruling by the New Mexico Civil Rights Commission against an Albuquerque photography company. The commission ruled that the company, run by a Christian husband and wife, was guilty of “sexual orientation” discrimination under state antidiscrimination laws for declining to photograph a same-sex “commitment ceremony.” /“Christians in the marketplace should not be penalized for abiding by their beliefs anymore than anyone else should,” said ADF Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence. “The Constitution prohibits the state from forcing unwilling people to promote a message they disagree with and thereby violate their conscience. The commission’s decision demonstrated stunning disregard for our client’s First Amendment rights.” /A same-sex couple asked Elaine Huguenin, co-owner with her husband, Jon Huguenin, of Elane Photography in Albuquerque, to photograph a “commitment ceremony” that the two women wanted to hold in Taos. Neither marriage nor civil unions are legal between members of the same sex in New Mexico. /Elaine Huguenin declined because her and her husband’s Christian beliefs are in conflict with the message communicated by the ceremony. The same-sex couple filed a complaint with the New Mexico Human Rights Commission, accusing Elane Photography of discrimination based on sexual orientation. The commission held a one-day trial in January and then issued an order in April finding that Elane Photography engaged in “sexual orientation” discrimination prohibited under state law, ordering it to pay $6,637.94 in attorneys’ fees to the two women who filed the complaint (www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4467). /“The government cannot make people choose between their faith and their livelihood,” said Lorence. “Could the government force a vegetarian videographer to create a commercial for the new butcher shop in town? American business owners do not surrender their constitutional rights at the marketplace gate.” /A copy of the appeal filed with the 2nd Judicial District Court, County of Bernalillo, in Elane Photography v. Willock is available at www.telladf.org/UserDocs/ElanePhotoAppeal.pdf."

Townhall.com: Hugh Hewitt: Michelle Obama's address...

re: "Michelle Obama's speech last week was a completely candid and heartfelt declaration of Barack Obama true feelings on the subject of same sex marriage: He's for it. He is for the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act and against the California Marriage Amendment which would reverse the ruling of the California Supreme Court of last month and restore the definition of marriage limiting the institution to one man and one woman. / Now this is a clear and significant divide between the two candidates, and not just on the issue of marriage, but also on the role of the courts. If Obama is elected and he leads majorities in the House and Senate to repeal DOMA, eight judges in two states --California and Massachusetts-- will have reversed 3,000 years of law and culture in the West. / This is one more reason why it is quite obvious that Barack Obama is the most radical presidential nominee of a major party in American history. I hope the McCain campaign and 527s simply put the facts before voters on this issue and do not allow the scorn of cultural elites who see no downside to such judicial imperialism mandating such radical changes deter them from publicizing the simple fact, attested to by Michelle Obama with perfect clarity, that Obama supports the imposition of same sex marriage from coast-to-coast..."... [The post then proceeds to excerpts and audio from Michelle Obama's speech]...

Global Warming as Mass Neurosis - WSJ.com

re: Brett Stephens: "Last week marked the 20th anniversary of the mass hysteria phenomenon known as global warming. Much of the science has since been discredited. Now it's time for political scientists, theologians and psychiatrists to weigh in..."...

Obama's Dry Hole - WSJ.com

re: "I want you to think about this," Barack Obama said in Las Vegas last week. "The oil companies have already been given 68 million acres of federal land, both onshore and offshore, to drill. They're allowed to drill it, and yet they haven't touched it – 68 million acres that have the potential to nearly double America's total oil production." /Wow, how come the oil companies didn't think of that? /Perhaps because the notion is obviously false – at least to anyone who knows how oil and gas exploration actually works. Predictably, however, Mr. Obama's claim is also the mantra of Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, John Kerry, Nick Rahall and others writing Congressional energy policy. As a public service, here's a remedial education. / ...[snip]... / To deflect the GOP effort to relax the offshore-drilling ban – and thus boost supply while demand will remain strong – Democrats also say that most of the current leases are "nonproducing." The idea comes from a "special report" prepared by the Democratic staff of the House Resources Committee, chaired by Mr. Rahall. "If we extrapolate from today's production rates on federal lands and waters," the authors write, the oil companies could "nearly double total U.S. oil production" (their emphasis). /In other words, these whiz kids assume that every acre of every lease holds the same amount of oil and gas. Yet the existence of a lease does not guarantee that the geology holds recoverable resources..."...

Yellow Science - WSJ.com

re: James Kerian: "...The long-term results of yellow journalism have probably been more devastating than the war it started. Journalists have lost the respectability of their profession, and the public has lost real journalism. We are in very real danger, as scientists and as a nation, of losing the respectability of a professional community that has done so much to make this country great in the past hundred years. If yellow science overcomes real science it will not only be on account of the greed, ambition, and cowardice of our scientists but also the sloth and cowardice of a public that is unwilling to stand up and demand professionalism. This is why, as the editors of the New York Press said in 1897, I "called them yellow because they are yellow."

Last Call by Kathleen Parker on National Review / Digital

re: "...Some have prophesied that Hillary’s defeat means the death of old feminism (peace be upon her). What it really means is that many women are as sensible as many men, enough of whom apparently were in no mood to let Hill and Bill resume their residency in the White House..."...

Main Street - WSJ.com: NARAL Catholics Line Up for Obama

re: William McGurn: "You are the Democratic candidate for president. You want to reach out to Catholics. So what do you do when the majority of the elected officials on your National Catholic Advisory Council have the seal of approval from NARAL Pro-Choice America? / ...[snip].../ The other line of argument is the They're-Just-As-Bad-As-We-Are defense. Thus the Web sites that go on and on about Catholic social teaching on war and poverty and greed and the death penalty, etc. The implication being, of course, that Republicans are on the wrong side of all these issues – and that simply by enumerating all these concerns, you can somehow balance out the Democratic Party's singular commitment to abortion on demand. /These issues are all legitimate subjects for debate, and each can and should be argued. The problem is that abortion is not just any issue. In the language of the church, abortion is an "intrinsic evil," always and everywhere wrong. /That is what Catholics for Obama have to get around. Given this awkward fact, the political reality is that a National Catholic Advisory Council may do less to advance Mr. Obama than to alert the public about how extreme his votes and policies are – not to mention the similar votes and policies of the Catholic politicians supporting him. Already Kathleen Sebelius – governor of Kansas and one of the Catholic co-chairs – has been asked by her bishop to refrain from Communion because of what he says is her support for abortion. As for Sen. Casey, well, let's just say it's hard to imagine his sainted father – who bucked his party's president and refused to support his old friend Sen. Harris Wofford's 1994 re-election bid over the life issue – lending his imprimatur to such a NARAL-friendly enterprise..."...

Trigeminal neuralgia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

re: info and links on TN...

'Baby Borrowers': Shame on NBC adults - USATODAY.com

re: Robert Bianco: "When Shakespeare said "neither a borrower nor a lender be," little did he know what we'd end up exchanging. /And that's the mind-boggling question at the center of NBC's The Baby Borrowers, TV's latest life's-a-joke assault on the boundaries of bad taste: Who in heaven's name would lend their infant out as a reality-show challenge? Yet there they are, five babies given to five teenage couples in a "groundbreaking experiment" that, as the show progresses, will find the same couples caring for toddlers, pre-teens, teens and, in the end, senior citizens. /... Baby Borrowers wants to have things both ways, teasing you with the quickly dismissed possibility that the babies might be at risk while ignoring the cold, hard fact that they are at risk, no matter what safeguards exist. If the borrowers drop those babies, how could the show's "shadow nannies" catch them before they hit the floor? And even if the babies aren't in danger, what is the upside for them in this arrangement? They certainly don't seem very happy about it. /On the heels of the now-disputed story about a New England teenage pregnancy pact, NBC is selling the show as if it were electronic birth control. Even if societal improvement were the goal, and it's not, Baby wouldn't do much to achieve it. Any teenager who has watched a reality show knows these kids were chosen to fail, and to be ill-behaved brats while doing so..."...

About that pregnancy pact . . . » GetReligion

re: "When Time magazine broke the story about the alleged Gloucester High School pregnancy pact, the entire media world erupted.... /...[snip]... / So it’s interesting that TIME’s follow-up more or less completely backtracks on the story. Not that you’d know it from the headline: // Gloucester Pregnancy Plot Thickens //If by “thickens” they mean “gets watered down” then I’m with them. Reporter Kathleen Kingsbury, whose first story blamed lack of access to contraceptives and the movie Juno for the pregnancy boom, admits the pact allegation came from one source and that the one source isn’t so sure anymore... / ...[snip]... / The schools superintendent says that rather than a pact, some girls who were already pregnant decided to band together to stay in school and raise their children together. The follow-up story does a much better job than the first story of talking about the role that family values or the lack thereof might have played in the situation. Not that anyone will be reading this follow-up story but if they did, they’d hear classmates say the pregnant teens had little parental supervision, were permitted to stay out all night if they wanted and were afflicted by peer pressure. But the reporter reiterates that the school official who used the word pact now says he’s not sure who told him about the pact or when. /Still a very dramatic story, sure, but not quite as dramatic as first reported. Also, the phrase “decided to get pregnant” is a bit odd considering that Time hasn’t confirmed that with any of the girls in question...

Pew views: Questions about Oprah America » GetReligion

re: "...Question No. 2: Is the American press now officially defining “tolerance” in doctrinal terms instead of in social or public terms? In other words, to be “tolerant” now, does one have to hold a certain doctrine of salvation? Do you have to be a “universalist” on that issue and believe that all religious paths lead to the top of the same eternal mountain? /What happened to the old definition — at the heart of American church-state separation — that citizens were supposed to be tolerant of other people’s religious beliefs and allow them full rights of free speech and association? In other words, is it now “tolerant” to be intolerant of people that you do not believe to be adequately tolerant on issues of salvation? There was a time, early in American history, when one of the main points of religious toleration was to provide freedom for people to proclaim their beliefs, even if that meant evangelism by, let’s say, Baptists in a state that was led by, let’s say, intolerant Anglicans (think Virginia). This point of view influenced the freethinkers of that day, including a deist or universalist like Thomas Jefferson..."...

hat tip: The Point

Coming to a Mall Near You -- Planned Parenthood's New Strategy

re: ""It is indeed a new look...a new branding, if you will." That's the explanation offered by Leslie Durgin, a senior vice president at Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. She was speaking of Planned Parenthood's new "upscale" approach to marketing abortions and other "services" to wealthier suburban women. /This new strategy and marketing plan was described in chilling detail by reporter Stephanie Simon of The Wall Street Journal [article available by subscription only]. "Flush with cash, Planned Parenthood affiliates nationwide are aggressively expanding their reach," she explains, "seeking to woo more affluent patients with a network of suburban clinics and huge new health centers that project a decidedly upscale image."/ ...[snip]... / Planned Parenthood may be legally defined as a nonprofit organization, but it is flush with money. The organization took in over $1 billion last year, and reported $112 million in "excess of revenue over expenses." The group also received $70 million in federal funds -- your tax dollars at work..."...

ADF Alliance Alert » San Diego reverses course after too many employees choose to opt-out of same-sex ceremonies

re: from June 20, 2008: "The San Diego Union Tribune reports: //At least 14 employees in the San Diego County Clerk’s Office raised religious objections to performing gay wedding ceremonies but were told by their boss they couldn’t pick and choose between marriage applicants. /
Clerk Greg Smith said last month that he would allow employees with religious objections to avoid performing the ceremonies, but the response was apparently more than his office could accommodate . . "...

The Writing Life - washingtonpost.com

re: Alex de Waal: "...When I arrived in Darfur, I expected to find mass starvation apart from the few places aid had reached. But that wasn't the reality. The Darfurians were hardier and more resourceful than 'disaster tourists' (mostly well-meaning volunteers) could imagine. The nutritional arithmetic -- the failed harvests, the late relief efforts -- said they should all be dead. They weren't. /I set myself the task of explaining why. I spoke to a young mother, Amina, in a village called Furawiya at the edge of the desert, who told me how she had survived. She had harvested just a few grains of millet from her withered crop and buried them to prevent her hungry children from eating them. Then she set off on an arduous trek, gathering wild grasses and berries, selling a sheep to buy bread, working as a day laborer for small amounts of money. Upon her return, she dug up her seeds and planted them, enduring four more months of hunger while she tended her field. Amina's story told me why the aid agencies' prediction of a million deaths from hunger in that famine was too high by a factor of 10." /It's hard doing research on extreme deprivation. I worried that dissecting the details of hunger might harden my heart, leave me immune to distress. I feared that describing the "coping strategies" of the poorest of the poor might cause humanitarians to stand aside, leaving the afflicted on their own. But I also hoped that understanding how people survive -- and why at times they don't -- might save lives. Aid agencies are learning, and the science of disaster relief has advanced. I'm happy to say that today's humanitarianism is more professional than it was 20 years ago..."...

MercatorNet - Not spilling the beans is a healthy choice

re: "...Seery: Trauma-related research has mostly focused on understanding negative reactions, like predictors of PTSD. However, resilience in the face of negative events is a topic that has gotten more attention recently. There is much work to be done to understand it. Certainly individual differences play a role, but also aspects of the situation. As researchers come to understand these processes better, it should be possible to help foster resilience in people..."...

ADF Alliance Alert » Provision Giving Planned Parenthood More Funding Stripped from U.S. War Supplemental Bill

re: "LifeSiteNews.com reports: “Pro-life groups across the U.S. are celebrating a victory with the removal of an amendment to the 2008 War Supplemental Bill (H.R. 2642) that would have given Planned Parenthood facilities discounted drugs at taxpayer expense.”

Tasha Tudor: August 28, 1915 - June 18, 2008 at Semicolon

re: "...Tasha Tudor died yesterday at her home in Marlboro, Vermont..."...

Picasa Web Albums - Barbara - March for Lif...

re: photos from this year's March for Life in Washington D.C.

2008 March for Life Photos - Page 1

re: the first of eight pages of photos from this year's Canadian March for Life...

Paper to Alberta Human Rights Commission: Get Your Hands off Our Letters Page

re: "June 19, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Red Deer Advocate isn't Canada's largest or most influential newspaper. Rather, it's a local Alberta paper with a daily circulation of about 17,000, serving a city with a population of a mere 83,000. But in recent years this small-town paper has been receiving international attention, after Christian pastor Steve Boissoin was hauled before the Alberta Human Rights Commission (AHRC) for publishing a letter criticizing the homosexualist activist agenda in the Advocate. /And now the Red Deer Advocate is joining the increasingly vocal and passionate contingent of Canadians who say they have had enough of the human rights commissions. /It was widely reported in the media that several weeks ago the AHRC handed down a "remedy" ruling to Steve Boissoin, ordering the pastor to pay $7,000 in fines, to desist from ever again making "disparaging" remarks about homosexuals or homosexuality, and, lastly, to apologize to Darren Lund, the complainant in the case, in a letter, to be published in the same publication that Boissoin's original letter appeared in - the Red Deer Advocate. /
The problem with the tribunal's ruling, however, is that not only has Boissoin repeatedly stated he will not apologize, but the paper in which he is supposed to publish his letter has declared its belief that the AHRC has way overstepped its bounds in ordering the paper to print Boissoin's letter in the first place. /
In a recent op-ed, managing editor Joe McLaughlin, speaking on behalf of the Advocate, expressed his paper's disgust with the AHRC's decision in the Boissoin case, and in particular with the commission's decision to order his paper to publish a coerced apology letter..."...

The Liberals' Moment

re: Albert Mohler: "The decade of the 1970s is now a generation behind us, but the cultural and political movements of that pivotal decade set the stage for so much of what we face in our current times. In terms of national politics, two great developments stand out. On the Left, the nomination of Sen. George McGovern became the pivotal event of the decade, even as the rise of a reinvigorated conservatism became the great event on the Right. /Author Bruce Miroff of the State University of New York at Albany takes his readers into the heart of the McGovern campaign in The Liberals' Moment: The McGovern Insurgency and the Identity Crisis of the Democratic Party [University Press of Kansas, 2007]. There is no way one can make sense of the modern Democratic party without understanding this campaign. The issues of that campaign still define the Left, as do many of the individuals involved in the campaign (such as Bill Clinton)..."...

Baptist Press - Obama criticizes McCain's pro-life record

re: "NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Democrat Barack Obama June 16 criticized John McCain's pro-life record, saying female voters likely won't vote for the presumptive Republican nominee in part because of his record on abortion./ ...[snip].../ "But Obama's assumption about women's beliefs on abortion is being challenged by a new generation of women who are opposed to abortion and favor overturning Roe v. Wade. One such woman is Kristi Burton, a 20-year-old pro-life activist who was the brainchild of a proposed personhood amendment that will be on the ballot in Colorado this fall. If passed, the constitutional amendment would give legal protections to any unborn baby from the moment of conception. (More information is available at ColoradoForEqualRights.com.)..."...

Baptist Press - Prof withdraws from ethics society for its 'honoring of sin'

re: "WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP)--Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary ethics professor Daniel Heimbach has withdrawn his membership from the Society of Christian Ethics after the group took a stand in what he calls "honoring sin over Scripture" regarding homosexuality. / Heimbach said new guidelines soon to be adopted by the society will make it impossible for any member to remain in good standing who does not affirm homosexuality. After 24 years of membership in the Society of Christian Ethics, Heimbach said the group has now gone so far in its view and defense of homosexuality as to disqualify members who defend and apply biblical morality. /The membership of the group now totals more than 1,000 people from the United States, Canada and Europe. According to its website, the group aims to "promote scholarly work in Christian ethics and in the relation of Christian ethics to other traditions of ethics … and to provide a community of discourse and debate for those engaged professionally within these general fields."..."...

Thirty Three Things (v. 66) - the evangelical outpost

re: excerpts and links on a wide variety of subjects, from humorous to serious...

The Point: The Vatican Gets It Right

re: Diane Singer: "It seems that the Vatican has moved to prevent the filming of another Dan Brown book, Angels and Demons -- or, at least, to prevent scenes from being filmed in the Vatican or in any churches in Italy. //start quote// Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, head of the Vatican's Prefecture for Economic Affairs, said that the author had "turned the Gospels upside down to poison the faith. It would be unacceptable to transform churches into film sets so that his blasphemous novels can be made into mendacious films in the name of business." //end quote// Well, Amen! However, I can only pray that the Vatican's stance will prick the conscience of Tom Hanks and Ron Howard, both professing Christians, about the professional choices they are making. I can only hope that they will feel shame about the anti-Christian venom their films are spreading throughout the world. As for the rest of us, if we buy Brown's books or see movies based on those books, we're equally guilty..."...

Spyglass Lane: Research 101

re: Elizabeth Ludwig: "...I don't know a whole lot about police procedures, so when it comes to making sure my hero gets his facts straight, I call in the experts, namely a friendly police sergeant from Beaumont. Other resources include books, articles and websites. Word of caution: TV shows like CSI don't count, because believe it or not, you really can't rely on them for accuracy. / What about you? Care to share a few of your favorite research tips? Here a few of my favorites to get you started..."...

Keep Me In Suspense: Interview with Lisa Harris!

re: "Today we welcome Lisa Harris, whose new book is just out!1. Your first cozy mystery just released. Tell us a little about Recipe for Murder..."...

The Gospel-Driven Church: God's Will For Your Life

re: "...We have this mixed up notion that if we make a choice and it blows up in our face, then it must not have been God's will. Where we get the idea that God never wants us to endure hardship or pain I don't know, but it has seriously messed with our concept of faith..."...

Cafe Hayek: The Tragedy of Elian

re: "My new book, The Price of Everything: A Parable of Possibility and Prosperity, is a novel that tries to help the reader understand a bunch of related topics--the role of prices in steering resources, the role of prices in creating innovation, the role of prices in letting us weave our own dreams of what we want to buy and how we want to spend our lives. It's also about the role prosperity plays in our lives and why the average American lives better than in past generations. / ...[snip]... / And while the story is fiction, I was inspired by the Elian Gonzalez story. What would have happened to Elian if he had stayed in America. Would he have prospered? Would he have been torn between an allegiance to his new country and his father's Cuba?..."...

Cafe Hayek: Boudreaux on energy prices

re: "In the latest episode of EconTalk, Don and I talk about energy prices and why things aren't as dire as they appear."

Finding Fatherhood

re: "Father Phillip Chavez believes masculine identity is under attack. /It’s threatened by a number of factors, and it’s leading to marital and family breakdown. /Based in Glen Rock, Pa., Father Chavez, a priest of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, is setting up a men’s institute to address key issues of men and their concerns, as well as producing resources for their character formation and integration. His mission is to give men confidence in their true identity. /He spoke recently in Rome with Register Correspondent Edward Pentin..."...

Father Knows Business - FOXBusiness.com

re: "When Greg Bishop dreamed up the idea for a father-to-be boot camp in 1990, the fatherhood industry was uncharted territory. /"One of the fundamental problems at that point and still today is that there's no media channel directed at fathers," Bishop says. "The entire world of babies is fully directed toward mothers." /...[snip].../ That question prompted Bishop, 57, to begin conducting boot camp workshops at a local hospital. Six years later, he transformed his hobby into a nationwide organization, now known as Boot Camp for New Dads. /The goal of boot camp is to help new dads become comfortable caring for their babies, supporting their spouses and making the transition into fatherhood. So far, Boot Camp for New Dads, based in Irvine, California, has expanded into 43 states and England and Australia, graduating some 200,000 fathers in about 18 years. /To support this program, Bishop founded the nonprofit New Fathers Foundation and a for-profit company, Dads Adventure Inc., in 1995. Through Dads Adventure, Bishop, a father of four, writes and publishes books and a magazine for dads-to-be. He also maintains a website offering new dads advice and resources... /...[snip]... / "I think what you're seeing is a fatherhood movement that's mostly based in guys' hearts, who want to be closer to their kids than their own father was with them," Bishop says. /Diaper Dude founder Chris Pegula, 36, is part of that movement... /...[snip].../ "A lot of the guys I know and hang out with are participatory dads. They're all really involved in the burping process and changing diapers," Mike Barclay, 36, says. /By day, Barclay is a full-time dean of students at a private school in Providence, Rhode Island. By night, he's a husband, father of two and co-founder ofBurp Armor, a twist on the traditional burp cloth. Unlike regular burp cloths, Burp Armor has a kidney bean shape and shoulder flap design that protects a parent's shoulder and upper arm from baby's many messes.... /.../ "...

Exxon Mobil Plans to Exit the Gasoline Business - FOXBusiness.com

re: "The largest publicly-traded oil company is reportedly planning to exit the retail gas industry. Exxon Mobil will sell 820 of its company-owned retail gas stations, as well as 1,400 of its dealer-operated locations to gasoline distributors. /...[snip]... /Exxon and Mobil stations will maintain a presence nationally, since nearly 75% of the 12,000 Exxon Mobile gas stations throughout the country are owned by distributors. Exxon will continue to sell gasoline to those stations and be paid by those stations for the use of the Exxon Mobil name. /The market for retail gasoline has been dealing with lower profit margins due to the soaring price of crude oil. The sale is expected to occur over a “multi-year period,” the company said."

ExxonMobil to End Gas Stations; Rush Offers Quick Fix for Prices

re: "...RUSH: I have a fast fix for energy, a fast fix for the energy prices. There is no instant cure, as we know, for rising energy prices, but as your host, I, El Rushbo, have a plan to get on the right track sooner rather than later. As close to a quick fix as humanly possible. It all starts with our gas stations. We do have gas stations out there. And these gas stations pump regular gas, and they pump premium gas. Some of them pump diesel. On every pump, every pump that distributes regular gas, we post a picture of Harry Reid with the price appearing in his mouth. On every premium pump, we post a picture of Nancy Pelosi with the price upticking in her wonderful smile; that you could drive up to any station and ask for a tankful of Reid or you could ask for a tankful of Pelosi. We would explore, we would drill, we would refine faster than a liberal can attack a Republican. / You gas station guys, you want to turn the profit in your business? Go out and get some pictures of Reid and Pelosi, stick 'em on your pumps, put the price in there. And then when the self-serve people come up just make 'em say they want to fill up with Reid, fill up with Pelosi..."...

ADF Alliance Alert » Jennifer Roback Morse: Same-Sex ‘Marriage’ and the Persecution of Civil Society

re: "The NC Registers carries this article by Jennifer Roback Morse. She begins: // Advocates of same-sex “marriage” present the idea as a step forward for tolerance and respect. But recent developments place that interpretation very much in doubt. /Legalizing same-sex “marriage” is not a stand-alone policy, independent of all the other activities of the state. Once governments assert that same-sex unions are the equivalent of marriage, those governments must defend and enforce a whole host of other social changes. /Unfortunately, these government-enforced changes conflict with a wide array of ordinary liberties, including religious freedom and ordinary private property rights . . ."...

Nazarene Communications Network - Ohio Nazarene publishes her first children's book

re: "Emily Powers, wife of Cardington, Ohio, Church of the Nazarene associate pastor Benjamin Powers, recently published her first children’s book through Tree of Life Publishing House called Wendell Has a Cracked Shell. Emily's brother, Jason Moody, is the illustrator and also attends the Cardington church..."...

Nazarene Communications Network - Tennessee prison outreach results in deputy-escorted baptisms

re: "While the literal chains may still have been in place, the spiritual chains came off recently when five inmates of a Humphreys County, Tennessee, prison were baptized at a local Nazarene church..."...

NBC's Tim Russert dead at 58 - U.S. news- msnbc.com

re: "WASHINGTON - Tim Russert, NBC News’ Washington bureau chief and the moderator of “Meet the Press,” died Friday after being stricken at the bureau, NBC News said Friday. He was 58. /Russert was recording voiceovers for Sunday’s “Meet the Press” broadcast when he collapsed. He was rushed to Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, where resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful, said Russert’s physician, Michael Newman, who said the cause of death was not immediately known. /Russert had returned from Italy, where his family was celebrating the graduation of his son, Luke, from Boston College..."...

Catharina's blog: Fetus vs. child and a doctor that changed his mind

re: part of an episode of House, plus real-life situation that was similar...

The Belmont Club: Misdirection

re: "It's been said that the most important step in problem solving is defining what the problem is. This is even more true in politics when the terms in which a problem is originally cast often determines how it is approached in the future. Martin Kramer asks, at Middle East Strategy at Harvard, why every Middle Eastern crisis is necessarily linked to Israel. Kramer argues that Israel is placed at the center of every problem in the region not because it is true; but because things have been set up that way. The result he says, is a distortion in which otherwise tractable problems are twisted out of shape and made dependent on the resolution of its "linkage"..."...

Nazarene Communications Network - Food struggle continues for Haitian Nazarenes

re: May 14, 2008: "As the price of food continues to skyrocket, the vast majority of people in Haiti are still struggling to provide even the most basic of daily bread for their families—and this includes the 107,000 Nazarenes who live in the country. / ...[snip]... / To read more about the food crisis in Haiti, see Haitian Nazarenes suffer in the midst of food insecurity...."...

Biofuels Are Indefensible in Our Hungry World - WSJ.com

re: Peter Brabeck-Letmathe : "The world's agriculture and water crisis is only going to get worse. As China and India grow, their populations are demanding more and wider varieties of food stuffs, and competition for arable land is intensifying. Food prices are rising, in large part because agriculture suppliers can barely keep up with today's demand. So what is the world doing? Reorienting land away from food production and toward plants cultivated for energy needs. /This could be the single most destructive set of policy mistakes made in a generation... / ...[snip].../ If there's one certainty, it is this: The production of biofuels has stimulated a massive, and destructive, reorientation of the world's agriculture markets. The U.S. Department of Energy calculates that every 10,000 liters of water produces as little as five liters of ethanol, or one to two liters of biodiesel. Biofuels are economical nonsense, ecologically useless and ethically indefensible. This year, the U.S. will use around 130 million tons of corn for biofuels. This corn was not available as human food, nor as fodder to animals. Is this the right strategy, for a product that won't satisfy even a small percentage of our energy needs?..."...

Cedar Rapids hard-hit; thousands lack power, water supply critical | DesMoinesRegister.com

re: "Cedar Rapids, Ia. — A total of 3,200 homes were flooded, thousands of outages were reported, as many as 18,000 people were at risk of losing power, and dozens of flood-stranded residents were rescued by boat Thursday as Iowa's second-largest city staggered under the surging Cedar River. / Floodwater covered an area equal to 100 city blocks, said Mike Goldberg, Linn County's public information officer. / "Our rough estimate is 9,000 people are displaced because of evacuation," he said. / Much of the city's downtown was affected. The lobby of the Linn County Courthouse was flooded, as were the main police station and fire department..."...

Meals in minutes » RapidCityJournal.com

re: "...Canyon Lake United Methodist Church is offering a Build-A-Meal program./ ...[snip]... / Build-A-Meal evolved from those Wednesday night church suppers as a way to help people who didn’t like to cook, didn’t know how to cook or didn’t have time cook. It also was designed to help seniors, recently widowed elders, single parents and families ensure that they had a nutritious meal tucked away in the freezer, Schmitz said..."...

Simplot legacy feeds world

re: "...The impact of [J.R.] Simplot will continue to be felt internationally, beyond the sales and employment figures. It's appropriate to honor him, as well as mourn him, this year that the United Nations has designed as the International Year of the Potato. / This is only the second time a year has been designated for a food - the first was rice - and it's hard to separate potatoes from the legacy of Simplot..."...

Four killed by tornado at camp were Boy Scouts - CNN.com

re: "(CNN) -- Boy Scouts dived under picnic tables and were buried under a collapsed chimney when a deadly tornado hit their camp in western Iowa, survivors said Thursday morning..."...

BBC NEWS | Americas | Cuba to abandon salary equality

re: "Cuba is to abolish its system of equal pay for all and allow workers and managers to earn performance bonuses, a senior official has announced. /Vice-Minister for Labour Carlos Mateu said the current system - in place since the communist revolution in 1959 - was no longer "convenient". /He said wage differentiation should improve production and services..."...

BBC NEWS | UK | 'Scottish Islamic state plotted'

re: "Plans to set up a secret Islamist state in Scotland were discussed by two supporters of jihad, a court has heard. /The pair said it could provide a safe haven for those who felt "oppressed", London's Blackfriars Crown Court heard. /Aabid Khan, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, said the only problem was the availability of weapons, the court was told.../ ...[snip]... / Mr Khan is said to have replied: "A group of Muslims can go to a remote place and set up a mini Sharia state and they can rule according to Sharia law, like this and stay there, building them up and their children up, preparing for fitness, and then launching jihad once they strengthen themselves." /Mr Denison claimed he then added: "In the UK you can isolate with a group discreetly and train, but better in the US as they have weapons there. Over here weapons is problem."..."...

BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Lancastria dead gain recognition

re: "In a ceremony at Holyrood later, the Scottish Government will issue its first ever medal to commemorate the thousands of service men and women who died with the sinking of the Lancastria almost exactly 68 years ago. / The loss of the converted Cunard liner was Britain's worst maritime disaster and the country's biggest single loss of life in World War II. /But it was hushed up and, for half a century, relatives and survivors have felt the sacrifice was forgotten. /The ship was lending support to the war effort, evacuating British Expeditionary Forces from France, when it was attacked by German bombers on 17 June, 1940. / ...[snip]... / At least 4,000 died - 400 of them Scots. So soon after Dunkirk, then Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered the event to be hushed up to protect national morale. /
It remained a secret long after the war, but this led the bereaved to feel their sacrifice was ignored..."...

BBC NEWS | Americas | Peruvians seek relatives in mass grave

re: "...The victims - all peasant farmers from the area - had been tricked by the military, who had set up a base in Putis, into digging their own grave. /In 1983 the region, Huanta, was controlled by the Shining Path - a brutal Maoist guerrilla group who had declared war on the state. They had killed all the local officials and the people had fled to the mountain peaks. /In November 1984, the army set up its base in Putis and invited the local population to live there under their protection. They asked them to dig a fish pond; then on 13 December they killed everyone and buried them there. /After the massacre, the soldiers sold off the villagers' livestock, according the 2003 commission report."..."...

Culver outlines 'unprecedented' scope, destruction of floods | DesMoinesRegister.com | The Des Moines Register

re: "Johnston, Ia. - The Iowa floods of 2008 are on track to surpass the destruction of the historic flooding that struck the state in 1993, Gov. Chet Culver said Wednesday night. / “Absolutely,” Culver told reporters at a Camp Dodge flood briefing. “This is unprecedented in terms of its power and destruction and scope.” /Nine rivers throughout Iowa are out of their banks, damaging homes and businesses and causing destruction that will undoubtedly total in the hundreds of millions of dollars, the governor said. / Fifty-three counties have been declared state disaster areas, and more could be added because of forecasts for additional rainfall, Culver said. Some places in Iowa could experience 500-year flood levels, he cautioned..."...

Tornado kills four at Iowa boy scout camp | U.S. | Reuters

re: "DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Four people were killed and at least 20 injured when a tornado tore through an Iowa boy scout camp on Wednesday, where dozens of scouts were gathered for a summer retreat, state officials said. /The deadly twister was one of more than 30 that roared through four U.S. Midwestern states on Wednesday. It hit the Little Sioux Scout Ranch in western Iowa about 6:35 p.m. CDT (2135 GMT). More tornadoes were feared for the region Wednesday night. / Ninety-three campers and 25 adults were attending the Little Sioux camp when the tornado struck, said Tina Potthoff, spokeswoman for the Iowa Emergency Operations Center. Potthoff said in addition to the four dead, at least 20 and possibly up to 40 people were injured. /Injured campers were taken to five area hospitals as parents of campers gathered Wednesday night in a nearby church awaiting news and search and rescue teams continued to sift through debris at the camp. /Iowa officials said the state National Guard had been mobilized to assist in search and rescue operations, work that was complicated by the heavily treed area where the camp was located and continued lightning strikes and heavy rain..."...

Official: 4 dead after twister tears through Scout camp - CNN.com

re: "(CNN) -- At least four people were killed and another 40 injured Wednesday when a tornado struck a Boy Scout camp in western Iowa, a state safety official said. / Iowa Public Safety Commissioner Gene Meyer said the four were killed by a storm that slammed into the Little Sioux Scout Ranch near the Nebraska state line. /Meyer said about 120 people, including 93 campers, were believed to be at the camp at the time of the storm. /About 40 people were injured, said Sheri Bauwens, a nurse with the American Red Cross..."...

The Paragraph Farmer: Warnings worth heeding

re: "You got the Anchoress, you got G.K. Chesterton, and you got C.S. Lewis. They're all singing from the same hymnal. Any questions?..."...

Baptist Press - Colts coach Dungy challenges pastors

re: "...Dungy told the crowd that winning the Super Bowl and writing his book, 'Quiet Strength,' not only helped him affect the lives of athletes and fostered conversations with many people across the country, it also made him 'realize how vital you all are, how vital our mission is to reach our world.' /He also said he has grown more attuned to the search that engages many of America's young people: 'They are looking, and they want to find it in all that the things our society calls exciting.' Yet, 'they're still searching for what we know is fulfilling, and that's the relationship with Christ. And I think that's the message that we have to continue to deliver in a lot of different ways.' /Dungy compared the Pastors' Conference to the Colts' training camp, saying he was 'excited that you're getting those batteries charged and getting ready' for the mission ahead. /'We're all on the same team,' Dungy said. 'We're going to work for the Lord, and Christ is going to honor what you do.' /Dungy thanked Southern Baptists for coming to Indianapolis, 'but more than anything I want to thank you for what you're going to do, going back to your homes and being on that mission field for the Lord.'"..."...

Baptist Press - 'Give It Away,' Gaither tells Baptists

re: "INDIANAPOLIS (BP)--Bill Gaither of gospel music's Gaither Vocal Band told Southern Baptists the answer to the nation's economic pressures is not a political solution but a spiritual solution based on God's people learning to "give it away." /"I think it starts with us, and I think when the church of Jesus Christ gets organized, we've got the resources to do it, and we can do it when we put our heads together," Gaither told messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting in Indianapolis June 10. / As part of the Executive Committee's morning report, the Gaither Vocal Band emphasized stewardship by singing their hit song "Give It Away," and then Gaither spoke briefly about the importance of giving..."...

Considerettes - Universal "Health Care"

re: "Don Surber notes that the health care system run by the state of Oregon won’t pay for cancer drugs, but they’ll cover assisted suicide. Socialized medicine is about the money just as much as "capitalized" medicine is. /One example cited is that of a woman who’s oncologist prescribed a drug to slow the cancer growth, but Oregon Heath Care wouldn’t cover it, though she could take the Permanant Exit Door(tm) with their blessing. Instead, the drug company gave her the medicine for free. Surber notes the moral of the story..."...

American Thinker: Global Whining vs. the Truth

re: Brian Sussman: "...Like most TV Meteorologists, I loathed the heat wave live-remotes. I would much rather work in a controlled environment, complete with air conditioning and a green Chroma-key screen. And during extreme weather events, the studio lent itself to professionalism rather than playing on emotion. /"Let me guess, the bank in Walnut Creek?" I said sarcastically. I had been through this drill many times. /"Perfect location. Plus, a lot of viewers with ratings meters out there." /Walnut Creek is an upscale town 30 miles east of San Francisco. It is sheltered from the cooling influences of the coast and the Bay by a modest mountain range. As a result, in the summer that region can bake. The bank not only referenced the name of the town, but had a thermometer that was several degrees off, thanks to the heat absorbing black asphalt on the adjacent multi-lane street and the pavement of the nearby parking lot. The producer knew 105° would easily read 110°. On air, I always quickly explained the reason for the soaring temperature reading for our audience, but it was not enough. The misleading visual message was absolutely clear: 110° in Walnut Creek-another sign of climate doom! No doubt about it, the climate was under assault. It had to be global warming. / No, it's global whining..."...

American Thinker Blog: What kind of war crimes trials does Obama plan? (updated)

re: Thomas Lifson: "Barack Obama's plan for imposing unity on the nation after he takes office apparently entails a close look at war crimes trials for Bush administration officials. He has even said so in an interview with Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Daily News. /This kind of change -- putting your predecessors on trial for their conduct of policy -- may not be what most Americans really want or expect from someone with Obama's gauzy rhetoric of unity. But unity has a dark side in the hands of people who regard their opponents as criminals. America has two centuries-plus of history lacking the totalitarian practice of jailing the predecessors when a new president takes office..."...

The Book Den: The Book Den Caption Game: Volume 3

re: numerous quotes about journalism...

Seraphic Secret: Oil Prices

re: "...The Democrats self-righteously lecture that we have to exploit alternative sources of energy. /I'm all for it. /Problem is, like almost all Democratic policies, it's delusional... / ...[snip]... / Big government: History teaches that unlimited government always yields economic ruin and personal misery. And these states inevitably evolve, by internal design, into a Big Brother rule. /As the clever cartoon points out, it's Democratic policies that enable and encourage such high oil prices. Remember that next time you fill up your tank, confront massive heating bills, pay higher prices on your airline ticket. In fact, high oil prices permeate almost every nook and cranny of our economic lives. /Alternate sources of energy will be exploited. Not by massive government programs, wasteful and inefficient, but by private entrepreneurs spurred on by the spirit of innovation and capitalism. /This Israeli company is making fine headway—with seaweed. /In the meantime, we should be exploiting the oil resources that are readily available to us. New methods of drilling now exist that do not harm the environment..."...

Kathryn Jean Lopez on Catholics & Barack Obama on National Review Online

re: some issues are not negotiable...

ADF Alliance Alert » Alaska Supreme Court issues order to keep patient alive

re: "ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Alaska Supreme Court granted an Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney’s motion for stay and signed an order Friday that will keep Providence Hospital from removing Mari Chamberlain’s life-support tubes. Ending her life support could result in her death within minutes or days. /“No one should be allowed to decide that an innocent life is worthless. A man is caring for the wife he loves; it’s not the hospital’s job to end her life,” said ADF Senior Counsel Joe Infranco. “We are pleased with the court’s decision to allow Mari to continue receiving her treatment, respecting the wishes of the patient and her husband over those of hospital bureaucrats.” /Providence Hospital asserts that Chamberlain’s medical treatment does her no good and that keeping her alive violates its “ethical” standards. Chamberlain’s husband, Peter, filed suit against Dr. Javed Kamali and the hospital on May 16 to keep medical staff from removing his wife’s life support..."...

Considerettes » A Stinging Rebuke

re: "Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) slaps his party on the back of the head and tells them to wake up..."...

AMW.com | Tyrom Theis - Fugitive

re: "It was early in the morning of January 17, 1993, when a masked gunman entered the Leather's Oil Company gas station in Gresham, Ore. The three women working that day were well-known in the small community: 25-year-old Mary Beth Garey and her mother-in-law, Rosalie Girtz, as well as Kay Endicott, were all victims of a robbery gone wrong -- a robbery, cops believe, committed by a young man that Kay knew all too well: former Leather's employee Tyrom Theis..."...

MIND/FIND

re: "Interpol is offering countries the opportunity to give their front-line officers instant access to its many databases. These databases contain millions of records of criminal information on individuals and property submitted by member countries, constituting a unique and vast collection of data that does not exist at the regional or national levels. /There are millions of stolen or lost travel documents in circulation today. How can an immigration officer at an airport, sea port or land border crossing know if a passport is stolen or not? What are the consequences for national security if a terrorist or criminal enters a country using a stolen travel document and false identity? / At field level, most countries rely on their own national sources of information. Yet crime is increasingly globalized. Real-time access to up-to-date international information is vital to prevent criminals from travelling freely to escape from the law or commit further crimes. /Interpol manages a database of passports, identity cards and visas reported as stolen or lost by countries all over the world known as the stolen and lost travel documents (SLTD) database. It enables front-line officers to check instantly whether a travel document is stolen or lost. Interpol also has databases on stolen motor vehicles and wanted persons. /To help countries connect easily, Interpol has developed two integrated solutions using either fixed or mobile integrated network databases, known as FIND and MIND. Both can integrate into the existing computer-assisted verification system in a country. In addition, MIND can be used in a country without an existing system..."...

INTERPOL media release - 20/05/2008: Iran regional meeting to champion INTERPOL’s Central Asian anti-terror 'Shield'

re: "TEHRAN, Iran – The need to harness a pro-active, multi-disciplinary approach in terrorism-related investigations is the focus of the fourth working group meeting opening today in Tehran on Project Kalkan, INTERPOL’s on-going anti-terrorism initiative in Central Asia. /The two-day meeting draws together countries from the Central Asia region as well as from Africa, Asia and Europe and will review progress on the collaborative regional project amongst its 19 core countries. Specific issues under discussion include counter terrorism initiatives and operational cases, terrorism financing and the recruitment methods of terrorist groups. /Project Kalkan – meaning Shield in Central Asian countries – is one of several key regional components of INTERPOL’s multi-region Fusion Task Force (FTF) which was created in 2002 to identify active terrorist groups, and to collect, share and analyze information and intelligence on their activities. From just five initial member countries at the launch of Project Kalkan in 2004, following terrorist attacks in Tashkent, a total of 60 INTERPOL member countries are now sharing terrorism-related information as part of the initiative..."...

The More Things Change, the More Things Change

re: Irwin M. Stelzer, ""IN TIMES LIKE THESE, it helps to recall that there have always been times like these," says Paul Harvey, the legendary radio commentator. A "great transformation [is] taking place around the world...a tectonic power shift...the world is very different," writes Fareed Zakaria in his Post-American World. /They're both right. We have indeed seen economic downturns many times in the past, some severe, some shallow and short. We have gone through periods of rising oil and commodity prices, of a falling dollar, and of rapid technological change. So Paul Harvey is right. /But so is Zakaria. We are finally seeing the impact on the world economy of the emergence of China, India and other once-poor countries. The good news is that we have brought billions of people into the world trading system, enriching them so they can afford to eat regularly, and trade their bicycles for cars. The less good news is that the process of adjusting to this increased demand on the world resources is proving painful, especially here in America. /Previous increases took the price of oil, and most especially of gasoline, to levels that were merely annoying. And anyhow proved to be temporary, as modest adjustments in fuel use and advances in technology combined with new supplies to ease price pressures. The current price spurt, which has taken gasoline prices to over $4 per gallon--half the level in the UK and other parts of the world, but previously unheard of in the United States--is different..."...