Worshiping a Man

These people are sick. As you scroll down, look at the chart offering ways to save money. These crazy people, while we must commend them for their commitment, are missing the point. Well, number one, I doubt many people are going to follow their advice, calculate their saved money, write a check for $100 and mail it to Dean. Number two, if people are so poor that they have to save for weeks to send a check to Dean, they shouldn't be blowing their money on a primary candidate who has little chance of getting through, let alone beating Bush in the national election. Finally, what steams me is that these people, these self-named "Deaniacs" would probably never consider giving that money to a church, a starving family, or a crisis pregnancy center trying to help poor women so they don't have abortions.

I want Bush to win the election, but I would never suggest ways poor people can help him out financially. And before I would ever donate money to a candidate, I would be sure I was a) giving to my church family b) helping those in need personally c) giving to good causes, especially pro-life ones.

Could anything be much more repulsive? Well, yes, there also exists a website called Kids for Dean. Kids do not understand politics. Having probably never read a Constitution, in most cases, the parents have fanagled the children into donning Dean tee-shirts as a weak attempt to gain adult sympathy for Dean's campaign. What's really sad is that because of Dean's term in government, Vermont now has some of the most lax abortion laws and some of the highest abortion rates in the country. (You have to scroll to page six to read about Dean's pro-abortion mission). Maybe if he hadn't been intent on letting so many kids die, he'd have more supporters.

Nice Countries Finish Last

Interesting excerpt from a long piece about war and what constitutes a legitimate reason for launching a war.

What Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein have in common is that they became rich because the West paid them for natural resources that the West could simply have taken from them at will, and without so much as a Thank You, if the West had been inclined to do so. They were, by one of the bitter paradoxes of history, the pre-eminent beneficiaries of the Western liberalism that they have pledged themselves to destroy. Their power derives entirely from the fact that the West had committed itself, in the aftermath of World War II, to a policy of not robbing other societies of their natural resources simply because it possessed the military might to do so - nor does it matter whether the West followed this policy out of charitable instinct, or out of prudence, or out of a cynical awareness that it was more cost effective to do so. All that really matters is the quite unintended consequence of the West's conduct: the prodigious funding of fantasists who are thereby enabled to pursue their demented agendas unencumbered by any realistic calculation of the risks or costs of their action.

I argued before we invaded Iraq that the U.S. was not going over there just to get oil, as the leftists continually argued. My premise was that if that was standard U.S. policy, we would already have invaded oil producing countries long ago. I had not thought about whether we should have invaded the countries to get oil. I think stealing is wrong, but I also think giving evil people money just because they have a product you want is wrong as well (e.g. I don't buy from Abercrombie & Fitch because they sell pornographic catalogs). Harris, the author of this piece, argues that by simply giving Arabs money for their oil, we've enabled them to become wealthy terrorists. Harris notes,

If we look at the source of the Arab wealth we find it is nothing they created for themselves. It has come to them by magic, much like a story of the Arabian nights, and it allows them to live in a feudal fantasyland.

Harris continues,

Nothing but force can break them from their illusion. Not because there is something wrong with them as a race, but simply because they are acting like any other individual who has been permitted to live in a dream world - they continue to fantasize. And who can blame them? It is only brute fact that shakes any of us from the single most cherished of our illusions - the myth of our own grandeur and omnipotence. And this is as true of a culture as of an individual.

Harris goes on to make many other thought-provoking arguments, but his idea that funding oil-producing countries comes with direct evil consequences fascinates me. It is a paradox of the free market system. For example, Bill Gates gives millions of dollars to Planned Parenthood every year. Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider! Yet, here I am using Windows on my home computer. And the U.S., although aware that we are pumping our hard-earned dollars into the hands of terrorists who want to blow us up, cannot simply decide to stop using oil. We are dependent upon oil, but our dependency is allowing terrorists to live as Harris says, in a dream world. I guess the depletion of oil reserves will end that all this in a few decades, but I expect some long drawn-out drama between the East and the West before that occurs.

Mona Charen, in a December 5, 2003 Town Hall column, offers a clear, precise defense of marriage as being only between a man and a woman. She offers several reasons that I had not thought of, and I'm glad that she has taken the time to explain to Americans why allowing homosexual marriage is detrimental to everyone. The homosexual community's argument has so far been that allowing two "loving individuals" to marry each other hurts no one. Wrong!

Partisans of same sex marriage demand to know how two gay men pledging themselves to one another can possibly hurt a "straight" couple. Indirectly. If marriage is to include gay men and women, by what standard can we exclude non-gay threesomes? Nothing in the Supreme Court's or other courts' rulings have provided a principled grounds upon which to forbid adult incest, polygamy or polyandry. Homosexuals bristle at this argument. But they must answer a question: How does a homosexual father convince his daughter that polygamy is out of the question?

Marriage must, if the word is to retain its meaning, be only between one man and one woman. For as critics on both sides of the debate acknowledge, we're having a hard time upholding the integrity of marriage among the heterosexual population. At this moment, we ought to be reinvesting marriage with the honor it once commanded, not bleeding it of substance.

Go read the whole thing!

Economic News Perhaps Not Quite So Bad

The Federalist offers this perspective:

In his SOTU, the President told Congress, "I will send you a budget that funds the war, protects the homeland, and meets important domestic needs, while limiting the growth in discretionary spending to less than 4%. This will require that Congress focus on priorities, cut wasteful spending, and be wise with the people's money. By doing so, we can cut the deficit in half over the next five years."

Many of the program expansions he mentioned in the SOTU do not involve new spending but rather, budget realignment, and our White House sources now confirm that the President will propose what, in effect, will constitute a freeze on all non-defense or homeland security spending -- and not a minute too soon. The President's fiscal 2005 budget, which he sends to Congress in early February, will hold non-national-security discretionary spending at less than 1% (with inflation averaging 2%). Only about 18% of central government spending is discretionary -- the behemoth Social Security and Medicare program payments, and interest on the federal debt, are not discretionary -- but that's a start! In our sneak preview of the FY2005, the Department of Homeland Security budget is increased by 9.5% while military spending remains relatively flat at about $415 billion.

This is the first sign of restraint in government growth since Mr. Bush took office. "It is an improvement over past budgets as long as it is enforced," says Heritage Foundation budget analyst Brian Riedl. "The key question is whether the president will enforce this budget proposal with a veto threat." We believe he will.

Still, take a look for yourself at all the spending Bush has in mind for the next year and tell me this is what the Founders envisioned when they meticulously detailed when government had the power to spend and when it did not. Republican or not, conservatives have no business spending like Democrats. We need to model for them how not to abuse power.

Hurray for Free Trade!

Expanding free trade has benefits, says Jordan Ballor for the Acton Institute. Ballor writes, "Truly free trade is the best method of recognizing the dignity of human beings created as image-bearers of God and promoting sustainable prosperity worldwide. Attempts to isolate the U.S. through unfair trade restrictions undermine the interests of both those in developing nations and large sectors of American society."

A Collection for the Saints

What does that mean? Al Maxey takes an in-depth look. Agree or disagree with him, that's fine. Just take an honest look and you might just think of this matter differently from now on.

An excerpt for those who are time-pressed (although I suggest going back and re-reading the subject in its entirety):

The only thing we can safely declare is that Paul encouraged giving, he encouraged it to be from the heart as we have been prospered by God, and that it be regular in nature, not haphazard. To go too far beyond that and create LAW regulating and legislating matters of methodology is to go "beyond what is written." It seems to me the Lord frowns upon that!

In summary, there is nothing in the context of Paul's instruction to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 16:2) that even remotely suggests the authorial intent was to establish universal law applicable to all people everywhere until the end of time, with any violation of said law to be punishable by eternal damnation. Paul was engaged in a mission of charity and love, and merely sought to give advice that might help them pre-arrange their gifts so that his time with them might not be spent raising money, but rather in proclaiming God's message of grace. Indeed, he directed that the collections CEASE upon his arrival.

Give freely.

Summary of our Findings

Scott Tibbs reminds us of a few of the U.S.' discoveries regarding Iraq so far.

These few reminders are in addition to many other findings, including finding weaponry and suicide bomber outfits stockpiled in schools, medicine hidden from hospitals, and other ugly reminders that Hussein and his cadre acted on its sick principles even before the U.S.-led invasion.

The point: we've found lots of bad stuff over there, but the media doesn't like us to know just how much we've unearthed. I would appreciate it if someone or some organization had a listing of all the stuff we've found over there so that Americans can be daily reminded of how necessary it was for us to intervene when we did.

Perhaps there is such a website out there. I would love to see it.

More Bad Economic News

Sorry for the gloom and doom, but the problem is here. No more heads in the sand, ok?

Item 1: President Bush's budget proposals extend beyond our national budget.

Item 2: Paul O'Neil does have a few matters to contend with Bush. Ignoring the coming $44 trillion deficit is one of those matters of contention. Yes, that's right. $44 trillion!

I don't believe this deficit projection is a hoax. I believe it is a serious problem that must be addressed and cannot be ignored much longer. This enormous deficit goes back to the fundamental principle that socialism does not, cannot, and will not work.

Social Security and Medicare are socialism, pure and simple. And they will be the detriment, if not the downfall, of our nation and her principles of freedom and economic prosperity.

Item 3: Perhaps this is good news. Apparently, more people are self-employed now, so what looks like a net loss of 2.5 million jobs during Bush's "reign" may not be accurate. Dubious me is contemplating how many people try to be entrepreneurs but fail. But perhaps their temporary stabs at success stimulate the economy somewhat. Who knows.

Winner of the Dumbest Quote of the Week:

Al Gore for saying :

"I don't think there is any longer a credible basis for doubting that the Earth's atmosphere is heating up because of global warming."

This quote, which disregards a large debate in the scientific community regarding the existence of global warming as anything more than just a theory, was spoken in New York on one of the coldest days in past decades, with wind chills in some parts of the Northeast in -100's.

Dumb, stubborn Demos. When will they learn?

Who Is Leading Whom?

Men may be whom God intended to be the spiritual leaders of the church, but Fred Peatross makes a great point: It's the women who are enthusiastically taking the initiative to grow in God's word and in their relationships. As this post begs the question, so will I: if the NT had been written in 2004, would 1 Corinthians 14:35 not read instead

"If men want to inquire about something they should ask their own wives at home..." ?

I'm not trying to be a feminist and overturn God's word. But I just find it odd that in most homes, the woman is the more scripturally versed. She's also the one that desires to be more in tune with God's word. Not always, but more often than the other way around.

As Mr. Peatross asks, "How many men do you know would rush for sign-ups, sit shoulder to shoulder in an overcrowed living room, discuss what they've learned outside the classroom, consistently study, and do nightly homework?"

Local Hypocrisy

Kudos to my friend Mr. Tibbs for spotting this example of local democrat hypocrisy in our Bloomington, IN area. My husband and I spotted this sign and something about it really bothered me (beside the fact that it was in support of a leftist). Duh! The Democrat sign violated their own sign ordinance. For you out of towners, I'll explain. A few years ago, leftists passed an ordinance specifying that signs could be no more than a few feet big. Even for businesses! I remember working at a bank and after having a sign advertising our Free Checking outside for a few hours, the Sign Nazis came and demanded it be removed.

Well, anyway, on the side of a well-trafficked road, a limestone company placed a large limestone sign with our Democrat mayor's name emblazoned on both sides.

And our local paper, biased to the left of course, has not said anything about it.

Scott Tibbs gives further rebuke to this hypocrisy and I highly suggest reading it.

Homosexual Advocacy or Extortion?

Forcing voluntary organizations to acknowledge homosexual couples as spouses is ludicrous. But it's happening.

This Debt is Your Debt, This Debt is My Debt

Here's a reminder that U.S. national debt is sky-high and has now surpassed 7 trillion dollars. That means every U.S. citizen's share is $23,923.42. Yikes!

And as much as I love to blame Democrats for this, sadly, so-called "Republicans" are the shopping spree culprits in Congress.

I would rather have only 2 Republicans in the Republican party if only they held true to conservative principles than have a Republican majority in Congress that acts as if it has no scruples.

But this is not to say that Democrats are fiscally frugal. We all know that isn't true. A Fox News article suggests that having a Howard Dean type president might actually push the Republican party to reform it's Democratesque ways. It's hard to imagine how having Howard Dean as Chief Executive could be anything but disastrous for our nation (especially in the event of a nuclear, chemical or biological attack) yet these claims about the Republicans are worth reading.

They Don't Want Dumbo Beat in Their Town

The animal rights activist in me comes out occasionally, and I admire the way these people worked democratically in an attempt to stop animal abuse.

I've seen how circus animals are treated and I'm glad others are trying to put a stop to such abuse. The innitiative may not pass, but it's still a good start.

Tacos, Burritos, Enchiladas....

From the Mexican President himself, concerning the qualities of his Mexican people:

"They like tacos, they like their families, they like their community, they like Mexico. Unfortunately, they don't have the opportunities that they would like to have as persons, so that's why they move," Mr. Fox said.

They like their tacos, huh? Just think of the reaction if Dubbyah had said that.

This is Just Sick.

Companies see teens as a promising market for condom buyers. So they're rolling out their marketing campaigns accordingly. This isn't really any different from Planned Parenthood's practice of encouraging youth sexual activity by going to schools (even elementary schools) and freely distributing condoms, yet it sickens me just the same.

Deans Fallacious Christianity

World Magazine expounds on Dean's flawed perception of "Christianity". As noted before, Dean is now turning to his "Christian roots", as he calls them, but hard-core Christians are having trouble finding what's so Christian about them. Dean does not refer to Jesus as the ultimate savior. When he tries to defend his civil union bill, Dean ignores God's previous sentiment on homosexuality and instead instates his own view of how God should handle gays.

Dean chumly says, "From a religious point of view, if God had thought homosexuality is a sin, he would not have created gay people." He added, "the hallmark of being a Christian is to reach out to people who have been left behind." Marvin Olasky notes, "Actually, the hallmark is to believe in one God, the Father almighty, and in Jesus Christ his only begotten Son, but if Dean wants to reach out to those left behind he should change his position on abortion."

Dean would be better off saying he was an atheist than to start making things up in order to appear to have some religion. Christians of the word will have no problem contesting his assinine comments with what scripture records God as actually saying.

If Dean wants a god that creates some people to be homosexuals and accepts their lifestyle, fine. But that's not the God I worship.

Want further evidence of Dean's skewed version of Christianity? Read on.

Christians--Stay on Guard!

"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come...So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." Matthew 24: 42, 44

Jesus is coming soon (as each day passes we are one day closer to the imminent return). You know this. He repeatedly reminded his disciples of this. So are you watchful? Are you living as if this might be your last day to do work for his kingdom?

Pro-Aborts Need Better Arguments

Scott Tibbs has posted another great column regarding abortion and the illogical arguments used to support it.

A reminder for the New Year:

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
1 John 14:6

As you struggle to live up to your newly crafted resolutions, keep in mind that any action of ours that does not rely on Jesus is folly. Instead of fussing over excess poundage, let us instead dedicate this year (and the rest of our life) to truly obeying Jesus commands, even the hard ones we don't like.

But do you have to? YES. "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to OBEY EVERYTHING I HAVE COMMANDED YOU....." Matthew 28:20.

Think you've got it all down pat? How about these doozies:

"But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Matt. 5:43

"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift." Matt. 5:23-24.

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matt. 6:34

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where theives break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal." Matt. 6:19-20

"Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'...and the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' " Matt. 37,39

Instead of promising to stick to your diet this year (yeah, right!), make a promise to God that you will take his commandments more seriously this year. Make a resolution that you will try to do His will and be more mindful of the incredible gift he gave us all through His son Jesus, whose grace saves us.

Just remember: His grace saves us when we do our best to walk in the light. (1 John 1:7-9). So keep confessing your sins and start doing His will!

Can you be a Good Samaritan Just By Throwing Pearls to the Swine?

Read this man's take.

Proof for Supply-Siders

Proof that tax breaks for the wealthy help our country more than tax reliefs for the poor or middle class.