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"My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work.- John 4:34 Fair Use Notice |
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The girls won their volleyball game and I switched channels and caught the last minute of a football game. I wasn’t interested enough to remember who was playing. The losing quarterback was fighting tears, which seemed important to the producer as the camera was fixed on the player for some time.
This player, the quarterback, was interviewed as he left the field. The camera got right in his face. The close-up enabled the world to read what was written under his eyes: John 16:33.
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.
Tim Tebow is living his Christian faith.
Vol 6, No 133 |
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Vol 6, No 132 |
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 Racist:Anyone who dare question the government.
Vol 6, No 131 |
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Story related to Vol. 6 No. 94
Vol 6, No 130 |
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by William Hamilton (2009.11.30)
By now, everyone, with the exception of those whose only source of information is the state-run, Sinistra Media, knows about the e-mail traffic between climatologists at the Climate Research Center at East Anglia University and their fellow climatologists at: Penn State, at Amherst, and at the University of Arizona.
Something terribly bad has happened to them because the supposedly secret e-mails between the band of brothers committed to global warming reveal that climatologists at Penn State, Amherst, the University of Arizona and England’s East Anglia University have been engaged in a conspiracy to hide data that the planet is cooling, to apply pressure to scientific journals to exclude studies casting doubt on their theories of global warming, to hide data being requested under the Freedom of Information Act that would discredit global warming, and to delete any data in their files that would support the existence of global cooling.
In other words, some of the leading scientists in the field of global warming have been telling each other that the data no longer support what they have been preaching and that they must take steps to keep others from finding out that they have been committing academic fraud. Source
Vol 6, No 129 |
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by Doug Patton
I have grown weary of pretending that Barack Obama has anything but disdain for the United States of America. So let us ask the question on all of our minds: Are the actions of this president those of a man committed to what is best for his country?
With small business, the engine of our economy, on the ropes, Obama and his myrmidons in Congress are trying to ram through a health care reform bill that will, in the words of Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, bring about our "fiscal ruin." Is this the action of a president committed to doing what is best for his country?
Obama continues to push his "Cap and Trade" legislation, with all the taxes, fees, energy price increases and restrictions on freedom that inevitably accompany it, on the strength of junk science that is being discredited every day. A growing number of reputable scientists are expressing doubt that global warming even exists, and recently a hacker or a whistleblower made public thousands of insider e-mails showing that climate change advocates know the whole thing is a scam. Yet the president intends to go to the Copenhagen climate conference and pretend that none of this ever happened. Is this the action of a president committed to doing what is best for his country? More here
Vol 6, No 128 |
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If a conservative doesn't like guns, he doesn't buy one.
If a liberal doesn't like guns, he feels that no one should have one.
If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn't eat meat.
If a liberal is, he wants to ban all meat products for everyone.
If a conservative sees a foreign threat, he thinks about how to defeat his enemy.
A liberal wonders how to surrender gracefully and still look good.
If a black man or Hispanic is conservative, they see themselves as independently successful.
Their liberal counterparts see themselves as victims in need of government protection.
If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.
A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.
If a conservative doesn't like a talk show host, he switches channels.
Liberals demand that those they don't like be shut down.
If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn't go to church.
A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God or religion silenced.
If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it.
A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for his.
Thanks to Chuck Kent
Vol 6, No 127 |
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by Bob Unruh
(WorldNetDaily) A program proposed at the University of Minnesota would result in required examinations of teacher candidates on "white privilege" as well as "remedial re-education" for those who hold the "wrong" views, according to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).
The organization, which promotes civil liberties on the campuses of America's colleges and universities,
has dispatched a letter to University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks asking him to intervene to prevent the adoption of policies proposed in his College of Education and Human Development.
"The university's general counsel should be asked to comment as soon as possible," said the letter from Adam Kissel, an officer with FIRE. "If the Race, Culture, Class, and Gender Task Group achieves its stated goals, the result will be political and ideological screening of applicants, remedial re-education for those with the 'wrong' views and values, [and] withholding of degrees from those upon whom the university's political re-education efforts proved ineffective." Source
Vol 6, No 126 |
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John Rosemond
Copyright 2009, John K. Rosemond
I recently spent some time with a friend who has three children. My buddy, whom I’ve known since fifth grade, is a college-educated responsible guy who has never failed to do right by his family. When describing him, “well-rounded” comes to mind. He’s masculine but not macho, sensitive but nowhere near maudlin, perceptive, intuitive, caring, compassionate. Like I said, well-rounded. His wife is as solid as a rock.
His oldest son, 40, never earned as much as a high school diploma, has had perennial problems with alcohol, and presently earns a living working in a record store. His youngest, another son, is rapidly approaching 30. Like his older brother, he’s clearly intelligent and capable, yet he’s barely supporting himself at menial jobs, still taking college classes, and has no sense of what he wants to do with his life. By contrast, my buddy’s daughter, the middle child, is a go-getter. She’s a top performer at her workplace and seems overall in command of her life.
For the first time in any culture at any time in history, females are emancipating earlier and more successfully than males. This crop of young adult males is certainly shaping up to be the most underachieving generation of men (perpetual boys?) to ever inhabit the USA. Source
Vol 6, No 125 |
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by Os Hillman
The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. – Acts 15:12
“I was a pastor for 19 years before I went into business,” said the man sitting across the table from me as we were sharing lunch together. What led him from being a pastor to a businessman was both a move of God and an attack from the enemy.
“I was a pastor of a particular denomination that did not embrace all of God's Word. It was a time in my life when I was experiencing many physical problems. I was on the verge of being admitted to the hospital. I had been seeking God about whether He was truly a God of healing and whether His Word was applicable in all areas of life as it was in the early Church. I was to go into the hospital the next day. That night I cried out to the Lord. I confronted God about His Word. I asked Him if He still did miracles today. Just then, I turned on my TV and saw an evangelist preaching. At that very moment, he stopped preaching, looked into the TV camera, and said these words: ‘There is a man in the viewing audience who has been a pastor for many years and is struggling to know whether God heals today. His own denomination does not believe He does. (He even named his denomination.) God is healing you right now to demonstrate to you that His healing is for today, and you are to know that His Word is true for today just like it was for the early Church.’”
My friend was shocked. The TV evangelist could not have described him more accurately if he had been sitting in the same living room with him. God healed him that very night. He was not admitted to the hospital. He was forced to go before his church and witness to God's power in his life. He was soon fired as pastor of this church, and this is what led him into business.
So often when we experience God in greater and deeper ways, the persecution comes not from the world, but from those who are closest to us. The religious community persecuted Jesus. He was betrayed by one of His own disciples. However, we must realize this betrayal was necessary for God to accomplish His work through Jesus.
God will bring each of us to a crisis of faith to test what we really believe. For my friend, he had to experience God in a new way. Then he had to be tested in that belief to the point of losing his job.
Have you experienced God in all of your life? Are there areas in which you believe God does not operate today? Before you discount God, seek Him with a whole heart. You might be surprised at what you will find. Source
[I frequently post Hillman’s devotions. I find them both timely and accurate. This is one instance that I do not find myself in “complete” agreement.
Is healing possible today? Yes. Does healing occur today? Yes. Is there a guarantee that one will be healed? No. Yet many people regurgitate, “for by His wounds you were healed,” (I Peter 2;24) as if their effort would bring results.]
Vol 6, No 124 |
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For 40 years, the Rev. Charles Cowan has been preaching that God wants Christians to prosper. So he's not about to change the message, no matter how bad the economy looks.
That includes telling his followers that if they are faithful in giving to the church, God will reward them financially.
"We want to be sure that we are taking care of honoring God, because his Word tells us that if we honor him, he will honor us," said Cowan, pastor of nondenominational Faith is the Victory Church in Nashville.
Despite the economic downturn, the prosperity gospel remains alive and well. Pastors like Cowan or televangelists like the Rev. Creflo Dollar and the Rev. Kenneth Copeland continue to promise that financial blessings will follow donations to their ministries. Source
Vol 6, No 123 |
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Vol 6, No 121 |
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"May God Thy gold refine." Do you know what that line from the song America the Beautiful means?
Listen to the song here.
Take away the dross from the silver, and there comes out a vessel for the smith. - Prov. 25:4
God (the silversmith) removes the dross (impurities) from the silver (His children) that the silver might be useful to Him.
Think about that the next time you are faced with a difficult situation. He has plans for you and me.
Vol 6, No 120 |
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Anything that causes suffering or distress is considered a trial. Most drivers consider the driver in front of them a trial because he is only driving 64 mph when the limit is 65, for PETE’S SAKE!!!
Reading in the book of Romans I paused to consider verse three of chapter five: . . exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope . I have seen someone crumble at nearly every trial (tribulation) they encounter. It is easy to say, “If they could only develop but a little perseverance and work through the obstruction, the character developed would yield hope.
Realistically, clinging to that verse would work – if one has the faith to cling and trust.
Vol 6, No 119 |
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A Florida jury on Thursday ordered cigarette maker Philip Morris USA to pay $300 million in damages to a 61-year-old ex-smoker named Cindy Naugle who is wheelchair-bound by emphysema. Source
[Did employees of Philip Morris force smoke into Naugle’s lungs?]
Vol 6, No 118 |
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My daughter is working as a nurse aide. On one occasion my wife went to the Rest Home to deliver an item to our daughter.
As we left the parking lot, my wife (a former nurse herself) commented, “the patients are so much heavier now than when I was working.”
She is so polite. I would have said, “My, there sure a lot of very fat people in there.”
I can only wonder, after reading the above post, “When will a jury order Snickers to pay umpteen million in damages when some glutton’s body shuts down?”
Vol 6, No 117 |
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Judges playing St. Nick — such as the one who canceled a couple's mortgage — might warm the hearts of the gullible this time of year. In the real world, though, they will only create economic problems.
Greg Horoski sure looks happy, pictured in the New York Post after Long Island, N.Y., Judge Jeffrey Spinner gave him and his wife their greatest Thanksgiving ever, erasing their $525,000 mortgage.
Their bank began suing them four and a half years ago when Horoski got ill and had trouble making payments. The judge canceled their debt to punish the bank for refusing to make a deal with the Horoskis, for providing the judge with false information, and for ill-treatment of the Horoskis.
Now, we don't want to celebrate any heartless modern-day Henry F. Potters from "It's a Wonderful Life," and it may well be that this lender falls into that category. Blogs were exclaiming "mark one for the little guy!" and naming Spinner "Hero of the Day." But this ruling is a disturbing thing to see.
First, judges have become too powerful. We have allowed our black-robed overlords to concoct exotic and oftentimes outlandish punishments when the familiar penalties of fine and imprisonment are strong enough. Judges have ordered defendants to wear electronic belts so the bench can zap them with a painful jolt if they talk back in the courtroom; there have even been court-ordered sterilizations and chemical castrations.
If judges start wiping out mortgages, they will wreak havoc with private property rights — a cornerstone of any free economy. If property contracts can be rendered null and void on a judge's say so, how much dependable value will remain in any written agreement between individuals, banks or other businesses?
And if this becomes a precedent, it's asking for a situation in which you can't get a loan for anything without near-perfect credit.
Yet many Democrats in Congress want what you might call a "Judge Spinner" law. For most of this year, Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., has pushed legislation that would let judges reduce principal and interest rates on mortgages — in spite of a White House plan to subsidize lenders that rework loans.
The House passed Durbin's plan in the spring, and the Senate came to within 10 votes of approving it.
Some politicians think they can repeal the law of gravity. But rather than letting judges play Santa with other people's property, Congress should take the weight off the economy's shoulders with tax cuts. It's far easier to pay your mortgage when you've got a job. Source
Vol 6, No 116 |
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“We feel at home here and among our brothers ... we're going to be together until the end,” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez during a visit to Latin America on Wednesday.
Both leaders roundly denounced US “imperialism,” and Chavez also called Israel “a murderous arm of the Yankee empire.” Source
[One more ingredient thrown into the stew of chaos.]
Vol 6, No 115 |
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What Are We Teaching Our Kids?
by Chuck Colson
This Thanksgiving Day recalls another Thanksgiving many years ago—the happy hours I spent with my children and grandchildren. Over turkey and dressing, I decided to quiz my then 8-year-old grandson, as proud grandparents often do.
I leaned over and said, “Charlie, why did the Pilgrims celebrate the first Thanksgiving?”
Charlie resorted to the obvious answer. He said, “They wanted to give thanks.”
“And who did the Pilgrims give thanks to?”
Charlie squirmed a little bit. “I don’t know,” he said. “I guess they were thanking the Indians. That’s what we learned at school anyway.”
I was aghast. We were celebrating a major holiday with deep Christian roots, and my own grandson didn’t know its significance!
The real Thanksgiving story starts in 1621, in Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts. Life was hard for the Pilgrims, and through the first winter the tiny colony endured hunger and privation. Nearly all of them fell ill, and only half survived the winter.
But spring came, the crops were planted, and the first harvest proved bountiful. Governor William Bradford called a special feast to give thanks to the Creator. They celebrated for a week, along with 100 Native Americans they invited to join them.
The Pilgrims did not give thanks to the Native Americans; they invited them to join in giving thanks to God—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God made known in Jesus Christ.
Days set apart for thanksgiving were a common feature of colonial life. In 1631, a Puritan colony faced starvation when a ship carrying food supplies was delayed. Governor Winthrop declared a day of prayer to God. On the appointed day, as they were praying, the ship sailed into the harbor. The day of petition was turned into a day of feasting and thanksgiving.
Other thanksgiving days were held in Florida, Maine, and Texas. Virginia colonists wrote into their charter that the day of their arrival was to be “kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.”
Today we don’t hear much about thanking Almighty God. Instead we are urged to conjure up a generic gratefulness directed to nobody in particular.
When I realized my own grandson had lost sight of the Christian meaning of Thanksgiving, I knew I had to do some homework myself. I pulled together information about George Washington, who declared a day of national thanksgiving in 1789. I tracked down literature on Abraham Lincoln, who declared Thanksgiving an annual holiday in 1863. And I sat down for a good, long talk with Charlie.
As Christian parents, we need to make sure we are passing on our religious heritage to our children. The recent Religious Landscape survey by the Pew Forum showed that 18 percent of Protestants and 30 percent of Catholics who had some faith as a child are now unaffiliated with any religion. We’ve got to do better passing it on.
So today don’t assume everyone knows why you are gathering together over turkey and cranberry sauce. Teach your children and grandchildren that generic gratefulness isn’t enough. Thanksgiving means giving thanks to the one true God.
Vol 6, No 114 |
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Thayer County Bank, a 135-year old, family-owned institution in Hebron (NE), has been hit with a cease and desist order from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
“I would say a lot of our problem is that we tend to work with borrowers maybe a little longer than we should – part of that being that we're part of the fabric of the community and we work with our customers.” Source
Vol 6, No 113 |
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If you want to keep track of the National Debt, Gross Domestic Product, Total Federal, State and local tax revenue, US private debt, mortgage debt, personal debt, credit card debt, US debt held by foreign countries, US unfunded liabilities and other mind-boggling numbers – you have more free time than I have – go here.
Thanks to Bev Bennett
Vol 6, No 111 |
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A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin 5, and Ryan 3.
The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake.
Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson.
“If Jesus were sitting here, He would say, ‘Let my brother have the first pancake, I can wait.’”
Kevin turned to his younger brother and said, “Ryan, you be Jesus!”
Vol 6, No 110 |
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by Os Hillman
"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen" (Eph 4:29-30).
The way you interact with fellow employees at work can often determine whether you will be the leaven for Christ in your workplace or be viewed as one of the multitudes. Two defining situations in the workplace involve joke-telling and discussions about employees and bosses.
If we laugh at off-color jokes we give permission to the person telling the joke that it is OK to continue this activity in your presence. If we fail to laugh, we discourage this behavior. When someone is about to tell a joke in my presence, I stop them and ask, "Is this a clean joke? If not, I don't want to hear it." This will define future situations with that person and it will get communicated to others in the office because of your response. You might become known as the religious person in your office, but that is OK.
The other situation that can define you is how your talk about management is in front of other employees. In a workplace it can easily become a "we" versus "them" culture. If this happens you violate Paul's command to honor those who employ you. "Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive" (Titus 2:9-10).
"LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman" (Ps 15:1-3).
Remember, you are always a witness at work, whether you use words or not. Source
Vol 6, No 109 |
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When Ellie May Challis lost her arms and legs to meningitis, hundreds of well-wishers from across the country donated money to a fund set up in her name in order to help her.
The five-year-old's grateful parents, overwhelmed by the generosity of the public, turned to a relative they trusted to safeguard every penny – her uncle, banker Darren Pease.
However, the Lloyds TSB risk manager, 33, plundered more than $525,000 from the account over three years, spending money on jewelry and holidays to save his failing marriage, a court heard.
The father of two has now been jailed for four years. He turned himself in to police in June after the family discovered there was just $400 left in the fund. Source
Vol 6, No 108 |
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If you are the parent of a college student who lives in a co-ed dorm, you may have a reason to be concerned about what goes on behind closed doors.
A new study suggests those college dorms are encouraging young people to drink heavily and have more sex. Source
Vol 6, No 107 |
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Punish, not appease
A wise king winnows the wicked, and drives the threshing wheel over them. – Proverbs 20:26
Vol 6, No 106 |
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by Gary McCullough
Throughout history there exists an ongoing battle over what cultures celebrate and why. In recent American history the battle lines are often described as pro and anti-Christian.
America once was content in allowing civil authorities to select and define its holidays. With the increasing influence of groups which use the courts to challenge any comingling of religion and the function of government, the definition of the some of the nation's holidays have become a war zone.
While most Americans think of Thanksgiving, Easter and Christmas as Christian holidays – history is clear that Easter and Christmas were originally pagan celebrations, stolen and redefined.
This leaves Thanksgiving as the one American holiday originating within Christian culture. It is a holiday created to remind a nation to thank God. So while talk-show hosts expound upon a war on Christmas – let's not ignore the war on the one true Christian holiday, Thanksgiving.
In President Obama's 2009 Thanksgiving Proclamation, he points to President Washington encouraging thankfulness to God, followed by President Lincolns' desire to see a nation healed from war, to his, President Obama's, wish that “we observe traditions from every culture, Thanksgiving Day is a unique national tradition we all share. Its spirit binds us together as one people, each of us thankful for our common blessings.”
In a short couple of centuries, we have gone from President Washington's call to “unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations,” to “a time for us to renew our bonds with one another, and we can fulfill that commitment by serving our communities and our Nation throughout the year (also from President Obama's 2009 Thanksgiving Proclamation).”
Thanksgiving originally honored God for His deliverance and providence. That deliverance came in the form of a people being blessed for obeying His teachings found in the Old and New Testaments. God's providence was demonstrated when the Pilgrims discarded socialism after a year of absolute failure (Emphasis added) and embraced capitalism. America's history is clear that when those who disembarked from the Mayflower applied God's law to their society they were blessed – and for this they wished to thank God, not their neighbors, not each other (Emphasis added).
The war over Thanksgiving as a holiday began when a generation was taught that the holiday's first setting was Pilgrims being saved from starvation by Native Americans. This war continues with a President that defines it as a time to thank each other.
Thanking your neighbor or Native Americans for teaching Pilgrims to fish and grow crops is not un-Christian. Redefining Thanksgiving as anything other than a call to give thanks to the one true and living God (Emphasis added) is an attempt to remove God from America's one true Christian holiday.
So before we reenlist to defeat the war on Christmas, take this one day to win the war over Thanksgiving by forgetting what President Obama said and remembering what President Washington said. Source
Vol 6, No 105 |
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Former CNN host Lou Dobbs fueled already rampant speculation about his political future Monday, sending the clearest signals yet that he's mulling a bid for president — and leaving third-party political operatives salivating over the possibility of a celebrity recruit for the 2012 campaign.
Less than two weeks after announcing his departure from the cable network — and after a series of interviews in which Dobbs encouraged speculation about his political plans — the anchorman known to fans as "Mr. Independent" finally made his presidential ambitions explicit on former Sen. Fred Thompson's radio show Monday. Source
Vol 6, No 104 |
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Someone made off with loot from a Georgia church but also left behind an apology. A note scrawled on the wall said: "Sorry but I'm poor. Forgive me Lord." The Rev. Roger Davis tells WSB-TV that expensive equipment including microphones and a laptop containing important records were stolen over the weekend from Berean Baptist Church. The robber broke locks and the church's safe, but it was empty.
It was the fourth time the church in Ellenwood, southeast of Atlanta, has been robbed in two years. Source
Vol 6, No 103 |
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A community college is Southern California faces a federal lawsuit for opening its public ceremonies with an official prayer.
The group Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed the lawsuit last week against the South Orange County Community College District in U.S. District Court.
It alleges school officials at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo routinely invoke prayers at student and faculty events, including scholarship awards ceremonies and training programs.
Saddleback is within the community college district.
David Llewellyn, a school attorney, says Saddleback intends to continue the invocations (Emphasis added.) because they add dignity to the ceremonies and are an accepted part of American public life. Source
Vol 6, No 102 |
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Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is prepared to jail any American who does not buy a qualifying health insurance plan if the healthcare bill she sponsored (H.R. 3962, as amended) is passed into law. Source
Thanks to Mike Krueger
Vol 6, No 101 |
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If the changes I believe must be made to this bill are not possible, I will oppose the second cloture motion to end debate (one which requires 60 votes) and ultimately oppose the final bill. – (NE) Sen. Ben Nelson, in response to my letter regarding the Health Care bill.
Vol 6, No 100 |
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If you traded in a clunker worth $3500, you get $4500 off for an apparent "savings" of $1000.
However, you have to pay taxes on the $4500 come April 15th (something that no auto dealer will tell you). If you are in the 30% tax bracket, you will pay $1350 on that $4500.
So, rather than save $1000, you actually pay an extra $350 to the feds. In addition, you traded in a car that was most likely paid for. Now you have 4 or 5 years of payments on a car that you did not need, that was costing you less to run than the payments that you will now be making.
But wait; it gets even better: you also got ripped off by the dealer.
For example, every dealer here in LA was selling the Ford Focus with all the goodies, including A/C, auto transmission, power windows, etc for $12,500 the month before the "cash for clunkers" program started.
When "cash for clunkers" came along, they stopped discounting them and instead sold them at the list price of $15,500. So, you paid $3000 more than you would have the month before... (Honda, Toyota , and Kia played the same list price game that Ford and Chevy did).
So let's do the final tally here:
You traded in a car worth: $3500
You got a discount of: $4500
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Net so far +$1000
But you have to pay: $1350 in taxes on the $4500
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Net so far: -$350
And you paid: $3000 more than the car was selling for the month before
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Net -$3350
We could also add in the additional taxes (sales tax, state tax, etc.) on the extra $3000 that you paid for the car, along with the 5 years of interest on the car loan, but let's just stop here.
So who actually made out on the deal? The feds collected taxes on the car along with taxes on the $4500 they "gave" you. The car dealers made an extra $3000 or more on every car they sold along with the kickbacks from the manufacturers and the loan companies. The manufacturers got to dump lots of cars they could not give away the month before. And the poor, stupid consumer got saddled with even more debt that they cannot afford.
Obama and his band of merry men convinced Joe consumer that he was getting $4500 in "free" money from the "government" when in fact, Joe was giving away his $3500 car and paying an additional $3350 for the privilege.
Think this was stupid for those who were crazy enough to swallow this wonderful scheme?
Just wait until we get health care with no additional costs over what most of us now pay for health insurance and the best medical care in the world. Think that scheme might be designed by the same people who came up with Cash for Clunkers?
Thanks to Mike Krueger
Vol 6, No 99 |
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After his secret election as the new President of the European Union, many are trying to figure out just where on the political and ideological spectrum Herman Van Rompuy, the little-known prime minister of Belgium, falls.
Van Rompuy is to step down as prime minister so he can take up his new post on January 1, 2010.
While Van Rompuy is rumored to be a devout Catholic, his recent talk of "global management of the planet" has caused some concern in conservative circles. Speaking at his first press conference after his election as President of the European Union, Van Rompuy said: "2009 is also the first year of global governance with the establishment of the G20 in the middle of a financial crisis. The climate conference in Copenhagen is another step toward the global management of our planet.”
Van Rompuy's history as a devout Christian who has even written books on the defense of the right to life, could easily lead to great hopes for the future of the EU. However, Paul Belien, editor of the pro-life and pro-family Brussels Journal who knows the new EU President personally begs to differ. Belien warns that "Herman is like Saruman, the wise wizard in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, who went over to the other side. He used to care about the things we cared about. But no longer. He has built himself a high tower from where he rules over all of us." Read more
Vol 6, No 98 |
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by Diana West
You might have missed it, but the Islamic Apology Police were on the case of the Republican governor-elect of Virginia, Robert F. McDonnell this week. It seems that following the jihadist attack on Fort Hood, the Rev. Pat Robertson, a longtime ally of McDonnell's, criticized Islam on his television show.
And no one in these not-just-politically-but-also-Islamically-correct times is permitted to do that -- not even, as we have learned to our horror, senior Army personnel when presented with incontrovertible evidence that a jihadist is in their ranks.
Speaking on "The 700 Club," Robertson called Islam "a violent political system bent on the overthrow of the governments of the world and world domination."
Here's what we know: Islamic law (Shariah) punishes "leaving Islam" with death. Islam has a bloody history of expansionism. Almost exactly two-thirds of Muslims in four countries polled in a 2007 survey by University of Maryland/WorldPublicOpinion.org favored both Shariah and the caliphate. And the Muslim Brotherhood's manifesto for "a grand Jihad" in America calls for "destroying the Western civilization from within" so that Islam is "victorious over all other religions." Read more.
Vol 6, No 97 |
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Why O nixed Ft. Hood probe
by Dick Morris & Eileen McGann
President Obama told the media in Alaska that he opposes a congressional investigation into the Fort Hood massacre, saying that we must "resist the temptation to turn this tragic event into political theater." Yet, even as he was posturing against political theatrics, he had just decided that the prosecution of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would proceed on the greatest of public stages – New York City.
With the strict evidentiary rules in force in federal civilian courts, it is easy to see how the prosecution of Mohammed could morph into an indictment of the Bush administration's interrogation techniques and waterboarding. As in rape trials, the magnitude of the underlying crime (masterminding the 9/11 attacks) might well be lost as the defense puts the victim (in this case, the government) on trial.
It is not political theater itself to which Obama objects - but theater that highlights issues that liberals would rather forget. He is quite content to let the Mohammed trial become the theater of the left. Perhaps even eager.
Obama and his handlers know that the key to building favorable ratings is to control the agenda. And the more the national discussion centers on national security and terrorism, the more Republicans gain. So the Fort Hood terror attack comes at an awful time for an administration trying to turn the nation's attention away from the terrorist threat.
As soon as the killing spree was over, Obama hastened to call it "an act of violence" -- obscuring the obvious fact that it was the most serious terror attack on US soil since 9/11. And, as evidence mounts that the FBI was on to Major Nidal Malik Hasan for years, the president is doing his best to stop Congress from finding out why these warnings went unheeded.
The Obama administration has a clear agenda here:
1) Stop people from focusing in how his administration permitted the worst domestic terror attack in eight years.
2) Avoid a national airing of how liberal policies - restraints on the intelligence community, political correctness in the armed forces - might have inhibited the military from reining in Hasan.
3) Re-ignite a firestorm on the left and abroad against the aggressive anti-terror policies of the Bush administration.
Making all this particularly important for Obama are his other political needs (Emphasis added).
As he likely decides to send more troops to Afghanistan and eyes abandoning the "public option" to secure Senate passage of his health-care plan, Obama has to rebuild his credibility on the left. A public circus that focuses on waterboarding and interrogations could be just what he wants and needs. Source.
Vol 6, No 96 |
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The Omaha World herald has a poll saying, “Do you Agree or Disagree with Ben Nelson's vote on Healthcare?” Click on this link and vote.
Vol 6, No 95 |
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by Juliet Eilperin
Hackers broke into the electronic files of one of the world's foremost climate research centers this week and posted an array of e-mails in which prominent scientists engaged in a blunt discussion of global warming research and disparaged climate-change skeptics.
The skeptics have seized upon e-mails stolen from the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia in Britain as evidence that scientific data have been rigged to make it appear as if humans are causing global warming. The researchers, however, say the e-mails have been taken out of context and merely reflect an honest exchange of ideas.
University officials confirmed the data breach, which involves more than 1,000 e-mails and 3,000 documents, but said they could not say how many of the stolen items were authentic.
"We are aware that information from a server in one area of the university has been made available on public websites," the statement says. "We are extremely concerned that personal information about individuals may have been compromised. Because of the volume of this information we cannot currently confirm what proportion of this material is genuine."
Michael E. Mann, who directs the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, said in a telephone interview from Paris that skeptics are "taking these words totally out of context to make something trivial appear nefarious." Source
Vol 6, No 94 |
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It happened at Wal-Mart (Supercenter Store #1279, 10411 N Freeway 45, Houston, TX 77037) a month ago. I bought a bunch of stuff, over $150, and I glanced at my receipt as the cashier was handing me the bags. I saw a cash-back of $40. I told her I didn't request a cash back and to delete it. She said I'd have to take the $40 because she couldn't delete it. I told her to call a Supervisor. The Supervisor came and said I'd have to take it.
I said, “NO! Taking the $40 would be a cash advance against my Discover and I wasn't paying interest on a cash advance!!!!! If they couldn't delete it then they would have to delete the whole order.”
So the Supervisor had the cashier delete the whole order and re-scan everything! The second time I looked at the electronic pad before I signed and a cash-back of $20 popped up. At that point I told the cashier and she deleted it. The total came out right. The cashier said that the electronic pad must be defective. Obviously the cashier knew the electronic pad was defective because she NEVER offered me the $40 at the beginning.
Can you imagine how many people went through before me and at the end of her shift how much money she pocketed?
Thanks to Bev Bennett
Vol 6, No 93 |
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But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
[How can one “do” if one doesn’t read? Reading God’s Word is implied.]
Vol 6, No 92 |
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DEMOCRATIC
You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. You feel guilty for being successful. Barbara Streisand sings for you.
REPUBLICAN
You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. So?
SOCIALIST
You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor. You form a cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow.
COMMUNIST
You have two cows. The government seizes both and provides you with milk. You wait in line for hours to get it. It is expensive and sour.
CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows. You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.
BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows. Under the new farm program the government pays you to shoot one, milk the other, and then pours the milk down the drain (or burn the crops as was done during the “great depression).
AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows. You sell one, lease it back to yourself and do an IPO on the second one. You force the two cows to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised when one cow drops dead. You spin an announcement to the analysts stating you have downsized and are reducing expenses. Your stock goes up.
FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows. You go on strike because you want three cows. You go to lunch and drink wine. Life is good.
JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. They learn to travel on unbelievably crowded trains. Most are at the top of their class at cow school.
GERMAN CORPORATION
You have two cows. You engineer them so they are all blond, drink lots of beer, give excellent quality milk, and run a hundred miles an hour. Unfortunately they also demand 13 weeks of vacation per year.
ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows but you don't know where they are. While ambling around, you see a beautiful woman. You break for lunch. Life is good.
RUSSIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows. You have some vodka. You count them and learn you have five cows. You have some more vodka. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. The Mafia shows up and takes over however many cows you really have.
TALIBAN CORPORATION
You have all the cows in Afghanistan , which are two. You don't milk them because you cannot touch any creature's private parts. You get a $40 million grant from the US government to find alternatives to milk production but use the money to buy weapons.
IRAQI CORPORATION
You have two cows. They go into hiding. They send radio tapes of their mooing.
POLISH CORPORATION
You have two bulls. Employees are regularly maimed and killed attempting to milk them.
BELGIAN CORPORATION
You have one cow. The cow is schizophrenic. Sometimes the cow thinks he's French, other times he's Flemish. The Flemish cow won't share with the French cow. The French cow wants control of the Flemish cow's milk. The cow asks permission to be cut in half. The cow dies happy.
FLORIDA CORPORATION
You have a black cow and a brown cow. Everyone votes for the best looking one. Some of the people who actually like the brown one best accidentally vote for the black one. Some people vote for both. Some people vote for neither. Some people can't figure out how to vote at all. Finally, a bunch of guys from out-of-state tell you which one you think is the best-looking cow.
Vol 6, No 91 |
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Holding back tears, Oprah Winfrey told her audience that she would end her show in 2001.
Boo-hoo.
She is going to start a new show on her own network.
Boo-hoo.
Vol 6, No 90 |
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New billboards recently put around Albuquerque are causing quite a stir among Duke City residents.
Messages read “Keep Religion Out Of Government,” “Imagine No Religion,” “Beware Of Dogma,” “Praise Darwin” and “Reasons Greetings.”
The group's mission is to promote awareness of separation of church and state.
“That's what we were founded on. That's what our government was founded under, but now I guess tolerance is being raised," said Kaitlin McGuill, a business manager in the area.
“We feel that religion causes a lot of problems in relationships and families, that it makes it difficult to operate in non-bias both in government and sometimes in business,” says Ron Herman from the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Source
Vol 6, No 89 |
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by Os Hillman
The Lord GOD is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds' feet, And makes me walk on my high places. – Hab 3:19
[The concept of “hinds’ feet” was made clear to me when we acquired some goats. They delight in climbing, particularly places one would least expect.]
The book of Habakkuk inspired Martin Luther's reformation and the book "Hinds Feet on High Places" by Hannah Hunnard. Habakkuk encourages us to question what God is doing in our lives. When we are thrown into suffering for a period of time, or our enemies are prospering while we are just barely getting by, we wonder about the equity of God and life. Habakkuk affirms that God is God and we are made to scale the mountains of adversity. We just need to be still and know He is at work. He is who He says He is and does keep His promises.
God equips His people to scale the heights even in the midst of great challenges. He enables us to go to the higher places with Him where we are set apart from the world. Sometimes the way we have to go to get us there is through suffering and sorrow, but if we rest in Him and trust Him we come out where He wants us.
When Jesus told the disciples He was going to send the Holy Spirit to them, it was in order for them to scale the mountain before them with a new form of power they had not experienced.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)
If you find yourself in a place of doubting God and His plan for your life, know that this is a normal aspect of your journey in God. However, know that God has made available His Holy Spirit in order for you to accomplish the tasks that lie ahead.
Ask the Holy Spirit to enable you to achieve the heights for which He has created you. Source
Vol 6, No 88 |
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by Phyllis Schlafly
Another Barack Obama appointee became publicly known this month and quickly was thrown or voluntarily threw herself under the bus. Anita Dunn, the White House communications director (who led Obama's war on Fox News), said that Mao Tse-tung was one of her two favorite "political philosophers" whom "I turn to most" for answers to important questions.
History identifies Mao as a ruthless savage, not as a philosopher. He probably holds the record for ordering the mass murder of more people (50 to 100 million) than anyone else in history.
Dunn tried to claim that her statement was a joke, but anyone can look at her actual statement below and see that she spoke in deadly earnest. Dunn was part of Obama's inner circle and a senior media adviser during the 2008 presidential campaign.
Obama's Green Jobs Czar, Van Jones, had to exit in disgrace after he admitted that "I was a Communist." We can thank Glenn Beck for exposing him.
Obama's Regulatory Czar, Cass Sunstein, wrote a book in 2008 in which he declared that the government "owns the rights to body parts of people who are dead or in certain hopeless conditions, and it can remove their organs without asking anyone's permission." So, after the death consultants authorized in Nancy Pelosi's health care bill convince you to reject life-saving procedures, the organ-transplant team can remove your body's organs immediately.
Czar Sunstein also argues that animals are entitled to have lawyers to sue humans in court. Bow, wow; more business for trial lawyers. His wife, Samantha Power, is now on Obama's National Security Council. She is famous for writing a Pulitzer Prize-winning book about genocide, which she defined so narrowly that it excluded Stalin and Mao.
Obama's Safe Schools Czar, Kevin Jennings, founded the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN), a homosexual activist group that now has thousands of chapters at high schools across the nation.
GLSEN chapters and materials have promoted sex between young teens and adults and sponsored "field trips" to gay pride parades. Jennings was the keynote speaker at a notorious GLSEN conference at Tufts University in 2000 at which HIV/AIDS coordinators discussed in detail, before an audience including area high school students, how to perform various homosexual acts.
Obama's top lawyer at the State Department, Harold Hongju Koh, calls himself a transnationalist. That means wanting U.S. courts to "domesticate" foreign and international law, i.e., integrate it into U.S. domestic law binding on U.S. citizens.
Koh is eager to put us under a global legal system that would diminish our "distinctive rights culture" such as due process, trial by jury, and our First Amendment "protections for speech and religion" that give "far greater emphasis and judicial protection in America than in Europe or Asia." Under global governance, the United States will be forbidden to allow more freedom and constitutional rights than other countries.
And we thought the Rev. Jeremiah Wright was an embarrassment to Barack Obama when he was running for President! We never dreamed Obama would actually appoint such a collection of weirdos. Read more.
Thanks to Kathy Wilmot
Vol 6, No 87 |
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Vol 6, No 86 |
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At a reception, held by the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Foundation as part of a series of events revolving around the 25th anniversary of Jackson's run for president, Jesse Jackson stated: "We even have blacks voting against the healthcare bill," He said. "You can't vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man."
What a dumb thing to say. I don't pretend to know the reasons why Rep. Arthur Davis, (D-AL) voted against the health care bill earlier this month and I'm not implying that he is pro-life, but at least he's not drinking the same flavor kool-ade as Mr. Jackson.
All Americans should question the health care monster!
The sad thing is that Jesse Jackson is a man that I once looked up to--way back when he was a power house for human rights, especially the right to life for unborn children.
Jesse once identified himself as a person who would have been aborted if medical counsel had been followed. Jesse Jackson once wrote: "Human life begins when the sperm and egg join . . . and the pulsation of life takes place." He said, "From that point, life may be described differently (as an egg, embryo, fetus, baby, child, teen-ager, adult), but the essence is the same.'' Source
Vol 6, No 85 |
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