Wire Service:
President Bush signed the most expensive bailout since FDR's 'New Deal' of the 1930s. But the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates of the 3rd largest political party in the United States call the so-called 'bail-out' is outright robbery of U.S. citizens. Said Constitution Party Presidential Candidate Dr. Chuck Baldwin, "President Bush could have been a bona fide hero of limited government and personal responsibility by vetoing this draconian unconstitutional legislation. Instead, he eagerly signed it into law, stealing hundreds of billions of dollars from every man, woman and child, who in his oath of office, he swore to protect. Is this protection?"
Related: Bush Quietly Signs Mortgage Bailout Bill he Associated Press:
President Bush signed a housing bill Wednesday intended to rescue about 15 percent of the cash-strapped homeowners in fear of foreclosure in the next year or so. The legislation is regarded as the most significant housing bill in decades. It won approval from lawmakers eager, in an election year, to come up with an answer to the growing housing crisis.
The measure includes $300 billion in new loan authority for the government to back cheaper mortgages for troubled homeowners; $3.9 billion for communities to fix up foreclosed properties causing blight in neighborhoods; and $15 billion in tax cuts, including an expanded low-income housing tax credit and a credit of up to $7,500, to be repaid, for some first-time home buyers.
The number of homeowners who could lose their homes to foreclosure by the end of 2009 is estimated by some to be around 2.8 million. Under the legislation, 400,000 having trouble with payments could avoid it by trading their loans for new, more affordable mortgages through the Federal Housing Administration.
Democrats added an $800 billion increase, to $10.6 trillion, in the statutory limit on the national debt.
Butler Shaffer / LewRockwell.com:
Two excerpts from Alan Greenspan’s book, The Age of Turbulence, provide a succinct expression of how political systems generate the bulk of social disorder and human suffering. While I have not read his book, these two passages go to the essence of the destructive nature of the political mindset: (1) "there can be little doubt that global warming is real and manmade;" and, (2) "[s]ometimes the duty of political leadership is to convince constituencies that they are just plain wrong."
Bret McAtee / The Backwater Report:
Historically, in the West, the State was only one of several areas of realm sovereignty. Historically, a sphere appropriate sovereignty was seen to exist in the church, in the home, in the guilds, and even in the universities. This arrangement allowed a check against unbridled usurpation by any one sphere over the others and allowed for the development of a culture where unity and diversity could flourish. Unity because all realms of sovereignty were answerable to God. Diversity because no one realm was allowed to accrue all the sovereignty to itself. Sovereign Sovereignty or absolute sovereignty was seen as being God's alone. Now we have a situation in the Revolutionary West where sovereignty has been consolidated and that consolidation in the State...
David Gordon / Ludwig von Mises Institute:
"To be sure, our federal government has perverted beyond recognition the system that the Founding Fathers created. The chief restraint on government officials is merely their sense of what they can get away with. Nonetheless, the Constitution can still serve a purpose, as it remains a useful bludgeon to employ against government power grabs. By calling attention to what the Constitution really says, we can alert the people to just how consistently and dramatically their fundamental law has been betrayed."
Lee Rogers / Rogue Government:
It is becoming increasingly clear that we are living in a police state the likes of which Adolf Hitler would have approved of. In the past week, a couple of disturbing news stories detailing extreme police brutality has been reported. In Arkansas a young man was tasered 19 times while he was incapacitated on the ground injured with a broken back.
Chris Burgard / NewsWithViews.com:
When I set out to make my documentary, BORDER, it was my intention to cast a spotlight on our border crisis, to bring to the attention of the American people the incredible level of danger that exists along our 2000 mile border with Mexico. I was able to expose a number of situations that have outraged people all across the country: the rape trees where drug cartel "coyotes" hung their trophies; the border ranchers who found bodies on their property, along with tons of trash and vandalism; the immigrants themselves forced into horrifying acts to survive in the border deserts; the border patrol and sheriff units who find themselves outgunned and outmanned by increasingly dangerous drug cartel narco-terrorists and politicians who are hand-cuffed by bureaucratic lethargy and corruption.
Bill Anderson / The LRC Blog:
Even after his One-World Tour last week, Obama has decided that he also needs to be the race candidate. In a recent speech to minority journalists at the UNITY '08 Conference in Chicago, Obama declared: "I consistently believe that when it comes to whether it's Native Americans or African-American issues or reparations, the most important thing for the U.S. government to do is not just offer words, but offer deeds."
Frederick Meekins / Ether Zone:
According to the China Aid Association, Pastor Zhang Zhongxin has been sentenced to two years in a Chinese labor camp by Shandong Province authorities for participation in cultic activities. To American ears, such allegations bring to mind images of passing around poisoned Kool-Aid or of adolescent brides forced to wed lecherous old men; however, in this case this pastor engaged in religious exercises most of us take for granted as harmless as organizing a Sunday school.
Chuck Baldwin / The Covenant News:
Yesterday, the Politico quoted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as saying, "I'm trying to save the planet; I'm trying to save the planet." She was responding, of course, to pressure that she and her fellow Democrats are experiencing to suspend a congressional ban on offshore oil drilling in the face of skyrocketing energy prices. It would be really wonderful, however, if the liberal congresswoman could get as energized about saving our once great republic.
Art Helms / The Covenant News:
In a July, 2005 "Meet the Press" interview, Senator Richard Durbin stated that he would have "no litmus test" for Judge John Roberts' confirmation hearings. But, when Tim Russert asked how he would react if Roberts could find no "right to privacy", in the Constitution, the Senator stated "I would have to vote against him." This is another example of the shifting sands of liberal thought. This "bob and weave" strategy is exactly what saddled America with the abominable Roe.
California Catholic Daily: State persecution of Chritians:
Governor signs law that could mean tougher stance by law enforcement against pro-lifers outside abortion centers. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed into law a bill extending for another five years the "Reproductive Rights Law Enforcement Act," which requires the state to gather statistics on crimes against abortion providers – and adds a provision that could result in police taking a more hostile approach against what Planned Parenthood calls "aggressive protesters." The bill extends from Jan. 1, 2009 to Jan. 1, 2014 the "sunset provision" of the existing law. In addition, it adds a requirement that law enforcement personnel receive additional training on how to recognize crimes against abortion clinics and abortion providers, with the goal of less mediation and more arrests.
Don Boys, Ph.D. / The Covenant News:
Well, the Federal Welfare Agents (members of Congress, Bush, Obama, etc.) are at it again--giviing away money that is not theirs. Even little children know that it is stealing to take from the haves and give to the have nots. Do sane people really believe that it is right, by any standard, to take from the producers and give to the parasites? By what logic should taxpayers bailout banks and mortgage companies? After all, the feds don’t rescue a small businessman who doesn’t make it in the food business or a machine shop.
Don Harrold / YouTube:
You might not believe this, but... I don't have a natural desire to parse the words of public officials. But, gee whiz, when they say stuff like what Henry Paulsen said today, it's not even parsing words. It's just listening to what was said. And, what was said was as if the answer to our problems was to just pile on more of the same.
Chris Ortiz / Chalcedon Blog:
An old friend that I hadn't seen in over 22 years met with me in Texas recently and our conversation quickly turned to the war. We were soon raising our voices, and me especially after he told me that Dick Cheney was one of the most godly, respectable men in modern U.S. history. I was dumbfounded. Why does he believe such things? Because conservative Christian ministries say nothing in contradiction to the war, the Republicans, or the Bush/Cheney administration. Yet, we have some of the diabolical criminals currently raping this country at the expense of our life and limb.
AFP / Yahoo! News:
Nearly 40 years after then US secretary of state Henry Kissinger's landmark visit to China in 1971, an institute bearing his name and dedicated to promoting US-Chinese relations was inaugurated in Washington Tuesday. "China and America no longer have a common enemy, but a common opportunity," Kissinger said in a speech at the launch of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States.
Jerome R. Corsi / WorldNetDaily:
The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America is dead, says Robert A. Pastor, the American University professor who for more than a decade has been a major proponent of building a North American Community. "The new president will probably discard the SPP," Pastor wrote in an article titled "The Future of North America," published in the current July/August issue of the Council on Foreign Relations magazine Foreign Affairs.
Beyond Delay:
Ted Stevens (R-AK) is a seventh-term senator, representing Alaska. Sen. Stevens was chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee from 1997 to 2005, except for an 18-month period when the Democrats controlled the Senate. He stepped down from this position in January of 2005 due to Republican six-year term limits on chairmanships. Sen. Stevens sits on the Commerce, Justice, Science, and related Agencies Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee, which oversees the Justice Department’s budget. The Justice Department is investigating whether Sen. Stevens accepted bribes, illegal gratuities or unreported gifts from VECO, an Alaskan oil field engineering firm.
Gary DeMar / American Vision:
Penn Jillette and Raymond Teller are atheists and evolutionists who also happen to be talented magicians. While taking on any number of liberal iconic beliefs, most recently environmental hysteria, they also have attacked the Bible, Creationism, and Intelligent Design, describing them as "impossibilities." As stage magicians schooled in the art of illusion and diversion who are in the debunking business, Penn & Teller know something about impossibilities. That's why if someone were to ask them if there is anything supernatural about their performances, like Houdini before them, they would say, without equivocation, absolutely not. In fact, they would probably excoriate the questioner for even considering such a thing.
Homosexual Propaganda Permitted In Florida Schools
LifeSiteNews:
A judge in Holmes County, Florida, has ruled that the school board cannot forbid students from "wearing or displaying t-shirts, armbands, stickers, or buttons containing messages and symbols which advocate the acceptance of and fair treatment for persons who are homosexual." The case that led to the ruling surrounded incidents at Ponce de Leon High School in Holmes County. According to court documents, a 12th grade student - called "Jane Doe" by the court - went to school officials last year to complain that she was being taunted by a group of middle schools students because of her homosexuality.
J. Matt Barber / WorldNetDaily.com:
I'm always mystified when allegedly intelligent, bottom-line-obsessed corporate types abandon the fiscally secure milieu of political neutrality and take sides, officially, on deeply polarizing, socio-cultural issues of the day. That's exactly what the formerly family-friendly McDonald's Corporation recently did. In an apparent effort to pierce the hyper-demanding good graces of the radical homosexual lobby, these clowns (pun intended) have thrown the vast majority of potential Mickey D's customers, worldwide, under the bus. Because of this colossal corporate blunder, the hamburger giant is now facing an embarrassing and ever-growing international boycott.
Henry Makow / Ether Zone:
Last year, a lesbian here in Winnipeg clobbered a mugger with her handbag and he ran away. When she reported this "hate crime," she was annoyed to find the police had no procedure to deal with it because there hadn't been any other "hate crimes." Nevertheless a month ago the Canadian government passed a law (Bill C-250) that will have a chilling affect on freedom of speech. It is aimed at protecting homosexuals and other minorities from anything they deem to be "hate." Last week at a local "Prophesy Conference", 600 Christians heard an address by Berit Kjos entitled: "How to Prepare Your Children for Persecution." She said conditions for Bible believing Christians are starting to resemble those of Jews in Nazi Germany. Thus while gays are protected from non-existent hate, thousands of honest, hard working Christian families fear persecution. But they don't count. What gives?
Ron Paul / Texas Straight Talk:
The dangers inherent in the foreign policy advocated by the neo-conservatives are well known. While many Americans have become increasingly aware of those dangers, far less attention has been focused on the dangers of neo-conservative economic policies. This issue is of critical importance right now, because many are mistakenly pointing their fingers at the free market as the culprit behind our current economic plight.
Michael S. Rozeff / LewRockwell.com:
What do our officials most fear? They fear the public's loss of confidence. Events are driving their improvised attempts to stem a general loss of confidence in the dollar, in them, the financial and monetary system, and the government as a whole. It is not clear that they recognize that this is their greatest fear. But even if they do recognize that this is their greatest fear, they have no clear roadmap for dealing with it.
Bret McAtee / The Backwater Report:
I don't know if I've read a speech from an American Politician speaking in such a public context that was more explicitly globalist than the speech delivered by Barack Hussein Obama in Berlin last week. It was clear when reading the speech that Obama has his sites set on something quite loftier than President of These United States. Obama clearly understands that if he is elected as President he is literally the leader of the free world.
Patrick J. Buchanan / Buchanan.org:
"We have to be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in," says Barack Obama of the U.S. war in Iraq. Wise counsel. But is Barack taking his own advice? For he pledges to shift two U.S. combat brigades, 10,000 troops, out of Iraq and into Afghanistan, raising American forces in that country from 33,000 to 43,000. Why does Barack think a surge of 10,000 troops will succeed in winning a war in which we have failed to prevail after seven years of fighting? How many more troops is he prepared to commit? Is the Obama commitment open-ended?
Jewish Telegraphic Agency:
Christians United for Israel opened its third annual summit. Saying the coverage at last year's summit was "intrusive," Christians United for Israel is barring media attendance at the four-day event in Washington except on Tuesday. "CUFI received complaints last year that the press was intrusive and that their presence inhibited free discussion," said Ronn Torossian, a spokesman for the organization. "CUFI wants to create a more intimate and open setting this year, which will be more beneficial to our members and core audience."
Related:
Undercover At Mad Pastor Hagee's Summit Ali Gharib / AlterNet:
For Christians United for Israel and its founder, John Hagee, this year's Washington-Israel Summit was supposed to serve as a rallying call for Christians to stand up for Israel. The controversies surrounding Hagee's teachings that inspire his politics, particularly his End Times theology and its implications for the Jews he purports to love and protect and his religious interpretations of the Catholic Church and Hitler, were meant to take a backseat to the conference's aims of demonstrating political support for Israel and actions against its enemies.
YouTube removes Hagee videos Jewish Telegraphic Agency:
YouTube removed some 80 videos featuring controversial pro-Israel pastor John Hagee. Lawyers for Hagee, saying they violated copyright restrictions, requested the removal from the sharing site, according to the Texas pastor's spokesman, Juda Engelmayer. The removal comes barely two weeks before Hagee's organization, Christians United for Israel, holds its third annual summit in Washington.
Gary DeMar / American Vision:
Penn Jillette and Raymond Teller are stage magicians. Their act is a mix of comedy, irreverence, and skill. They are also known for exposing quacks, frauds, and claims of the supernatural in the tradition of Harry Houdini and James Randi. In their highly acclaimed and usually entertaining "Bulls***!" program that airs on Showtime, they have ventured into the realm of politics by taking on global warming, PETA, War on Drugs, gun control, "Safety Hysteria," recycling, and anything that strikes their fancy. Their worldview is libertarian and atheistic. According to an article in Wired magazine, Penn has Nevada license plates that are customized to read "ATHEIST" and "GODLESS." "Sometimes they'll even sign autographs with 'There is no God.'" One of their BS episodes takes on the Creation and Intelligent Design movements. In order to set the stage for my critique of their methodology of "exposing" Creationism and Intelligent Design, a little background information will prove to be helpful.
The Associated Press:
An out-of-work truck driver accused of opening fire at a Unitarian church, killing two people, left behind a note suggesting that he targeted the congregation for its liberal policies, including its acceptance of gays, authorities said Monday. A four-page letter found in Jim D. Adkisson's small SUV indicated he intentionally targeted the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church because, the police chief said, "he hated the liberal movement" and was upset with "liberals in general as well as gays."
Unitarian Universalism
The Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (commonly called the Unitarian Universalist Association or UUA) is a liberal religious organization, serving the Unitarian Universalist (UU) churches of North America. The UUA was formed from the merger of the Unitarian and Universalist Churches. Before about 1960, UUs were largely considered the most liberal of Christian denominations. Since then, the beliefs of Unitarian Universalists have become quite diverse. In June 1995, the UUA acknowledged that its sources of spirituality are: Christianity, Earth Centered Religions (Afro-American religions, Native American spirituality, Wicca, other Neopagan religions, etc.), Humanism, Judaism, other world religions, prophets, and the direct experience of mystery. Fewer than 10% identify themselves as Christians; the organization no longer qualifies as a Christian denomination; it is a multi-faith group.
The Associated Press:
Five indicted members of a West Texas polygamist sect turned themselves in to authorities Monday to face charges related to allegations of child sexual abuse. The five men were indicted last week with Warren Jeffs, the already-jailed leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The charges stem from a state investigation into allegations that the sect forced underage girls into marriage and motherhood with much older men.
The Associated Press:
Cuil (pronounced "cool") had kept a low profile while Anna Patterson, her husband, Tom Costello, and two other former Google engineers - Russell Power and Louis Monier - searched for better ways to search. Now, it's boasting time. For starters, Cuil's search index spans 120 billion Web pages.
C-SPAN / YouTube.com:
Vincent Bugliosi, on C-SPAN 7/25/08 Bush Administration corruption (impeachment) The PROSECUTION of GEORGE W. BUSH for MURDER.
Vincent Bugliosi: "In my book, ``The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder,' ' I present evidence that proves beyond all reasonable doubt that George Bush took this nation to war on a lie, under false pretenses, and therefore under the law is guilty of murder for the deaths of over 4,000 young American soldiers who died so far in this war." http://www.prosecutionofbush.com/
Charley Reese / LewRockwell.com:
If Barack Obama's idea of ending the occupation in Iraq is to transfer most of the troops to Afghanistan, he won't have accomplished much. He's right that we should not be in Iraq, but we also shouldn't be in Afghanistan. Our sole interest in Afghanistan should be to get Osama bin Laden. After that, we should bring our guys home. It's none of our business what kind of government Afghanistan has or if it even has a government.
Lew Rockwell / LewRockwell.com:
Frederic Bastiat famously observed that the State costs us in ways we can see and ways we cannot see. Economists tend to focus on the second type because they elude public perceptions. What inventions are we denied because of regulations? What might have been done with the resources that are diverted in taxes or higher prices due to protectionism? The answers demonstrate that, because of intervention, we are worse off than we know. Sometimes, however, we should also look at the potentially seen costs of the State, if only because the State doesn’t want us to see those either. These are the direct destructions caused by some State activity, most especially war. Seeing war in photographs changes things. It causes us to observe the State’s war and what it is doing to people: us and them.
Michael Kamber and Tim Arango / The New York Times:
The case of a freelance photographer in Iraq who was barred from covering the Marines after he posted photos on the Internet of several of them dead has underscored what some journalists say is a growing effort by the American military to control graphic images from the war. Zoriah Miller, the photographer who took images of marines killed in a June 26 suicide attack and posted them on his Web site, was subsequently forbidden to work in Marine Corps-controlled areas of the country. Maj. Gen. John Kelly, the Marine commander in Iraq, is now seeking to have Mr. Miller barred from all United States military facilities throughout the world. Mr. Miller has since left Iraq.
Devvy Kidd / NewsWithViews.com:
Relax, Comrade Chertoff. The Case for Hanging Errant Public Officials is the title of a book by James Farrell who also wrote, The Judas Syndrome. The Case for Hanging Errant Public Officials was published in 1988, decades before a Nazi law called the 'The Patriot Act' was rammed down our throats. Today, only rich kids of famous people are allowed to exercise their First Amendment rights; see Indict Michael Reagan, Applaud Senator Karen Johnson. This talk radio gas bag got away with soliciting murder over the public airwaves because his father was Ronald Reagan. He was given a pass under "political hyperbole." Yours truly would already be in jail.
William Norman Grigg / Pro Libertate:
They really didn't have to wreck the house, but they did it anyway. There was no tactical advantage to be gained by perforating the house with tear gas grenades (one of which remained, for a long time, embedded in an attic vent), blowing out five windows, leaving part of the ceiling collapsed and the whole house uninhabitable because of the suffocating residue left by the gas attack.
Bret McAtee / The Backwater Report:
Batman, The Dark Knight, is a morality play told by Nietzsche, wherein the only non-conflicted premier character who manages "moral" clarity is one who would be considered demented and insane in any non-Nietzschean world. When truth is arrived at in Gotham's little Nietzschean shop of horrors it is truth that is arrived at by a will to power and the only reason that it bears any familiarity to what any non ubermensch being would understand is a sheer "accident" created by Batman’s will to power.
Chris Ortiz / Chalcedon Blog:
His name is Dr. Edgar Mitchell, and according to NASA, he walked on the Moon during his flight on Apollo 14 on February 9, 1971. For years, Mitchell has claimed that a conspiracy of insiders have been examining the recovered bodies of aliens and that UFOs have visited the Earth on thousands of occasions, but the government officially denies it. He claims a government cover-up since the 1940s.
The Associated Press:
A gunman opened fire at a church youth performance Sunday in Knoxville, Tennessee killing two people, including a man witnesses called a hero for shielding others from a shotgun blast. Seven adults were also injured but no children were harmed at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. Members said they dove under pews or ran from the building when the shooting started. Congregants tackled the gunman.
Related: Powell Man Charged in deadly shooting at Unitarian Church WATE-TV Local News:
KNOXVILLE -- Jim D. Adkisson, 58, of Powell, is accused of opening fire with a 12 gauge shotgun during a Sunday morning service at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Church. Eight people were left injured and two of those have died. Adkisson is being held on a charge of first degree murder and a $1 million bond. Investigators believe he fired three rounds at the church at 2931 Kingston Pike, near the Sequoyah Hills community. Linda Kraeger, 61, passed away at UT Medical Center. Earlier Sunday, Greg McKendry, 60, passed away. He was a member of the board and an usher at the church.
William Norman Grigg / Pro Libertate:
A wary and uneasy peace had prevailed for three years between Syria and Israel when Jehoshaphat, ruler of Judah, held a summit in Samaria with Ahab, who reigned over the Northern Kingdom of Israel. "Hey, you know what?" Ahab asked Jehoshaphat, nudging his counterpart in the ribs. "We really ought to hook up and snatch Ramoth in Gilead away from Syria. Whadd'ya say?"
"Finally, I want to give a pledge to you on a political level, and I'm speaking for myself, not Focus On The Family, which is a non-political organization. I can just tell you that I have determined that for the rest of my life, however long God lets me live on this earth, I will never cast one vote for any man or woman who would kill one innocent baby!" - Dr. James Dobson at pro-life rally, in Washington DC, in 1990.
"I've criticized [Sen. McCain's] continuing support for federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. That bothers me a lot. It leads to killing of babies, very tiny babies. But they are human beings." - Dr. James Dobson on July 8, 2008, radio show.
Related:
Season One: program 19
“American View” Says Dr. James Dobson Right On Target! Science Minus Christian Ethics = Medical Atrocities Just Like The Nazis Committed.
John Lofton / The Covenant News:
I am writing to you, friend, not to criticize you or rebuke you but rather to plead with you, to beg you, to beseech you, to please stop thinking about the possibility of endorsing John McCain for president. You cannot do this, sir. And you cannot do this for the simple reason that you have said flatly, categorically, unqualifiedly, vehemently, repeatedly, that under no circumstances would you support McCain for president -- period.
Gary North on Ben Bernanke's hush money / LewRockwell.com:
The bailout of IndyMac's depositors will probably deplete 10% of the FDIC’s reserves. Congress will back up the FDIC if the FDIC ever (1) runs out of T-bills to sell (2) to raise money (3) to pay off depositors of insolvent banks. But where will Congress get this money? From the Federal Reserve System, if lenders will not fork over the money. The Federal Reserve System backs up Congress. This is the heart of the threat to the solvency of the dollar.
The Associated Press:
Congress approved mortgage relief for 400,000 struggling homeowners Saturday as part of an election-year housing plan that also aims to calm jittery financial markets and bolster the sagging economy. President Bush said he would sign it promptly, despite reservations. The measure, regarded as the most significant housing legislation in decades, lets homeowners who cannot afford their payments refinance into more affordable government-backed loans rather than losing their homes. It offers a temporary financial lifeline to troubled mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — pillars of the home loan market whose losses have sparked investor fears — and tightens controls over the two government-sponsored businesses.
The Associated Press:
The 28 branches of 1st National Bank of Nevada and First Heritage Bank, operating in Nevada, Arizona and California, were closed Friday by federal regulators. The banks, owned by Scottsdale, Ariz.-based First National Bank Holding Co., were scheduled to reopen on Monday as Mutual of Omaha Bank branches, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said. The FDIC said the takeover of the failed banks was the least costly resolution and all depositors - including those with funds in excess of FDIC insurance limits - will switch to Mutual of Omaha with "the full amount of their deposits."
A Threat To The New World Order. Al Cronkrite / The Covenant News:
Religious freedom is a cherished concept in the United States. It is clearly incorporated in the First Amendment to our Constitution. It is also fondly appreciated by non-believers who understand that when a state fails to endorse a particular religion it provides de facto support to secularism. Unexposed to reliable theology, Christians are unaware of the importance of exclusivity. Once the validity of a foreign religion is endorsed God’s jealously is kindled and His blessing is removed. All world leaders are religious. Secular leaders worship at the altar of human potential while Christian leaders are enjoined to worship at the feet of the King of Kings.
Bret McAtee / The Backwater Report:
America's incremental loss of National sovereignty and independence is because of a increasing surrender to the armies of General Slewfoot of the notion of God's absolute sovereignty and independence. If Candidate Baldwin desires to rescue America's sovereignty and independence he must see that where the battle rages hottest in that contest is in pulpit's throughout America. When the Church surrenders a sovereign and independent God it is only a matter of time until the people in the wider culture surrender their National sovereignty and independence. If we will not bow to God’s eternal sovereignty and independence it will only be a matter of time until we surrender our independence in order to bow to the temporal sovereignty of some usurper.
Bob Unruh / WorldNetDaily:
The U.S. Senate soon could be debating whether you, your spouse and each of your children – as well as your in-laws, parents, grandparents, neighbors and everyone else in America – each will be spending $2,500 or more to reduce poverty around the world. The plan sponsored by Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democrat nominee for the office of president, is estimated to cost the United States some $845 billion over the coming few years in an effort to raise the standard of living around the globe.
Vote Chuck Baldwin for President and Bring Down the NWO!
Wayne Olson / JBS.org:
H.R. 3221, the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008, was passed by the House 272-152 on Wednesday, July 23, 2008. The Senate is expected to vote on the housing bill on July 25th or 26th. Enactment of this legislation would be a victory for socialism and big government, but a travesty for U.S. taxpayers and limited government.
Alan Stang / Ether Zone:
By now it is obvious that Ponzi Paulson and Bozo Ben Bernanke are deliberately collapsing the dollar. The proof is that no one could be so stupid by accident. They are collapsing the dollar to panic the people into acceptance of the "Amero," the currency of the North American Union, which is the regional government composed of the former United States, Canada and Mexico, on the way to total world government. It is reasonable to speculate that if you let Bozo Ben and Ponzi Paulson impose the North American Union and replace the "dollar" with the Amero, their policy will change. Now they will be prudent, boasting about the virtues of the new currency. The Amero could even have a tad of gold behind it, to demonstrate its value. The present financial disaster would clear up.
Patrick J. Buchanan / Buchanan.org:
From 1989 to 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Empire and breakup of the U.S.S.R., America had an opportunity to lay down its global burden and become again what Jeane Kirkpatrick called "a normal country in a normal time." We let the opportunity pass by, opting instead to use our wealth and power to convert the world to democratic capitalism. And we have reaped the reward of all the other empires that went before: A sinking currency, relative decline, universal enmity, a series of what Rudyard Kipling called “the savage wars of peace.” Yet, opportunity has come anew for America to shed its imperial burden and become again the republic of our fathers.
Devvy Kidd / NewsWithViews.com:
'The shot heard around the world' fired on April 19, 1775, triggered the American Revolution. Some 233 years later, a rebirth of strength and resolve is being felt around this country to stop the planned destruction of this constitutional republic. As the colonials of 1775 had reached the point of no return with King George, so too, have we the people with the deliberate looting of the people's purse without representation, never ending wars and efforts to integrate these united States of America with two foreign countries.
Jim Kouri / NewsWithViews.com:
A new study released by the conservative think-tank the Heritage Foundation provides proof that illegal aliens and immigrants with green cards are committing rampant voter fraud in the United States. Reports of ineligible persons registering to vote have raised concerns about state processes for verifying voter registration lists. States usually base voter eligibility on the voter's age, US citizenship, mental competence, and felon status.
Michael Gerson / The Washington Post:
Some biographies set out to show that saints are merely men. The best biographies set out to show that saints are supremely men. Surrounding last year's 200th anniversary of the abolition of the British slave trade, there was a spate of books, and a major film, focusing on the life of William Wilberforce, the figure most responsible for that massive moral achievement. Now, slightly late but welcome nonetheless, William Hague -- the shadow foreign secretary of Britain's Conservative Party -- has produced a complete picture of Wilberforce and his times. Above all else, Wilberforce was a religious man. But "William Wilberforce: The Life of the Great Anti-Slave Trade Campaigner" is a political book, and gloriously so.
Joby Warrick / The Washington Post:
Lawyers for the Bush administration told the CIA in 2002 that its officers could legally use waterboarding and other harsh measures while interrogating al-Qaeda suspects, as long as they acted "in good faith" and did not deliberately seek to inflict severe pain, according to a Justice Department memo made public yesterday. The memo, apparently intended to assuage CIA concerns that its officers could someday face torture charges, said interrogators needed only to possess an "honest belief" that their actions did not cause severe suffering. And the honest belief did not have to be based on reality.
Art Helms / The Covenant News:
When writing the 1973 majority opinion in Roe v. Wade, Justice Harry Blackmun wrote: "We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins . . . the judiciary at this point in the development of man's knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer." The Court then admitted: "If this suggestion of personhood is established, the appellant's case [i.e. "Roe" who sought the abortion], of course, collapses, for the fetus' right to life is then guaranteed by the [14th] Amendment." For those of us who believe that Roe v. Wade is repugnant to the Constitution, it seems ridiculous that the personhood of a human baby in the womb has ever been questioned. Is it alive and growing in the mother’s womb? Was it conceived by human parents? These two questions, answered in the affirmative, ought to automatically establish personhood, immediately, at conception.
Lee Duigon / The Chalcedon Foundation:
Folly seems to be the rage in the United Kingdom these days, especially folly generated by the government and its agents. Mobilizing an institutional crusade against racism among babies, stopping a driver for flying the nation's own flag ... but there's more. Much more.
Chelsea Schilling / WorldNetDaily:
The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to debate two bills that could give the federal government unprecedented control over the way parents raise their children -- even providing funds for state workers to come into homes and screen babies for emotional and developmental problems.
Howard Nemerov / NewsWithViews.com:
Guns cause violence and death, so the experts say. For example; the Small Arms Survey, an internationally-respected source of gun violence research, states: The proliferation of small arms and light weapons represents a grave threat to human security. The unchecked spread of these weapons has exacerbated inter- and intra-state conflicts, contributed to human rights violations, undermined political and economic development, destabilized communities, and devastated the lives of millions of people. Small Arms Survey's calls its ideal gun control program "Practical Disarmament:" In its most basic form, practical disarmament consists of a combination of legal reforms to regulate civilian firearms licensing and ownership and technical interventions to collect and destroy retrieved or surplus weapons.
Lee Rogers / Rogue Government:
The Transportation Security Administration continues to show the American people that they are one of the most evil terrorist organizations on the face of the planet. This diabolical terrorist group claims that they are keeping people safe from non-existent threats by continually violating the Fourth Amendment rights of airline passengers. Body scanners are being deployed in airports that reveal the naked bodies of airline passengers and now there are additional complaints of Nazi TSA agents conducting x-rated searches and assaulting airline passengers without any sort of just cause.
Mike Tennant / The LRC Blog:
Contra Jeff Tucker, neocon Ben Shapiro views The Dark Knight as a perfect metaphor for the Bushian Global War on Terror. The Joker represents pure evil, with whom no negotiation is possible, just like them doggone towelheads in al-Qaeda; and Batman defeats him by "means he abhors," including "allow[ing] others to make sacrifices," "shoulder[ing] blame for deaths," and "violat[ing] rights in order to save lives." Americans love Batman, says Shapiro, because we "love the idea of a leader willing to take risks, a leader willing to make unpopular choices." Shapiro cites warmongers Churchill, Truman, and Lincoln as examples.
Bret McAtee / The Backwater Report:
The 2006 Academy Award winner for the best picture of the year was the movie Crash. Crash tells the very non politically story of what happens when people of different races and ethnicities are placed in one geographic living space. What crashes in Crash are cultures and worldviews and what is put on display is a refreshingly honest look at how racial animus affects people from all cultures and ethnicities.
Thomas J. DiLorenzo / The Mises Institute:
The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are often referred to as the time of the "robber barons." It is a staple of history books to attach this derogatory phrase to such figures as John D. Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and the great nineteenth-century railroad operators — Grenville Dodge, Leland Stanford, Henry Villard, James J. Hill, and others. To most historians writing on this period, these entrepreneurs committed thinly veiled acts of larceny to enrich themselves at the expense of their customers. Once again we see the image of the greedy, exploitative capitalist, but in many cases this is a distortion of the truth.
What To Do in the Depression The Lew Rockwell Show
Lew Rockwell-Mark Thornton podcast on surviving the State's unnatural disaster.
The Associated Press:
A 53-year-old wife and mother fatally shot herself shortly after faxing a letter to her mortgage company saying that by the time they foreclosed on her house that day, she would be dead. Police said that Carlene Balderrama used her husband's high-powered rifle to kill herself Tuesday afternoon, shortly after faxing the letter at 2:30 p.m. The mortgage company called police, who found Balderrama's body at 3:30 p.m. The auction was scheduled to start at 5 p.m. and interested buyers arrived at the property in Taunton, about 35 miles south of Boston, while Balderrama's body was still inside.
Related: Housing Bill Won't Solve Market's Problems Alan Zibel / AP Business Writer:
Cash-strapped homebuyers and borrowers facing foreclosure will get some relief from a housing bill passed by the House on Wednesday but the bill won't solve the deep-rooted ills of the U.S. housing market. The bill was widely praised by real estate industry groups but doubts remain about how much real-world impact it will have for consumers.
The tax break only applies for homeowners--NOT (mortgage payers) who purchase between April 9, 2008 and July 1, 2009. The full amount of the credit also is only available for individuals with incomes under $75,000 or couples earning less than $150,000.
Chuck Baldwin / The Covenant News:
I want to begin this column with one of my all-time favorite quotes. It comes from the great German reformer Martin Luther. He said, "If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point." Luther's trenchant statement reminds us that today's Christians, especially our Christian leaders, are conspicuously absent from the field of battle.
The Constitution Party - YouTube:
Chuck Baldwin talks about overcoming the bipartisan stranglehold on America as Abraham Lincoln did in the 1860's. The Democrats and the Republicans have failed the USA.
In the next couple of weeks, deadlines for ballot access petition drives, particularly in several eastern states, including Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maryland, and West Virginia, will be upon us. The Constitution Party is working very hard in these and other states to make sure that Chuck Baldwin and Darrell Castle will be on the ballot to provide a real choice to Americans all across the country.
There is still time for you to help in these key states, but time is running very short.
If you can help collect signatures (or in Massachusetts drive to deliver pertitions to the towns for verification) in these or other states or if you know of someone who would be interested in doing so, please call the Constitution Party National Office in Lancaster, PA at 1-800-2-VETO-IRS or (717) 390-1993. Please leave a message with a return number and you will be contacted as soon as possible with information about how you can help in this most critical effort.
You can see HERE where we are still working and need your help with ballot access.
ChuckBaldwinForum.com:
Ok Folks here it is the web site for the massive fundraiser for Chuck Baldwin http://www.nonewworldorder.com all donations MUST be done through the official Baldwin campaign web site or office. Please go and pledge now, we are looking for 30,000 to donate $100 each on August 17th. This event will also be broadcasted LIVE on http://www.revolutionbroadcasting.com from 9am until midnight and we plan to have various high profile guests throughout the day to give interviews and help with the fundraising event.
John Lofton / The American View Radio:
On this "The American View" radio show a discussion of the Colorado Human Life Personhood Amendment, a discussion which asks, in part: Where is Dr. James Dobson and Focus On The Family on this Amendment? Colorado is where they are located. Are they for or against this Human Life/Personhood amendment? Good question. Stay tuned for the answer, please -- though there is, alas, no clear answer, at this point -- which is odd since Dr. D, in a January 2003 letter to "Friends," referred to the "personhood" of the unborn child.
Gary DeMar / American Vision:
Today's preoccupation with eschatology has led some to advocate a wholesale abandonment of this age, stating that there is no relationship between the temporal kingdom and the eternal kingdom. There is no prescription for the transformation of this world based on the certainty of the next, so some want us to believe. The transformation of the present social structure is built "upon the concept of commitment to the heavenly society as being primary and determinative for this worldly order." There is continuity between the present age and the age to come.
Bret McAtee / The Backwater Report:
Back in 1971 Edith Efron wrote "The News Twisters." Her thesis was that the major media was distinctly liberal in its reporting. She used the coverage of the 1968 election to prove her thesis. The book was a bombshell in the Media Centers of this country and much time was subsequently spent by leftists seeking to deconstruct Efron's thesis. Thirty Seven years later one would have to be brain dead to not notice the advocacy journalism that exists in America. If you watch the major media market you'll see them selling Barack Hussein Obama the way that Ivory used to sell soap.
William Norman Grigg / LewRockwell.com:
Could it be that our ruling elite has effectively transcended hypocrisy? As the aphorism informs us, hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue; it is the product of a person's capacity for decent shame, the fig-leaf garment concealing one's naked corruption. Shame being a vital precursor to hypocrisy, those who rule us – not only the politicians, but the banksters and image-molders as well – can't be accused of hypocrisy. This would be a bit like criticizing the fashion sense of somebody who's color-blind. This doesn't mean, however, that they should be allowed an indulgence for the evil that they do.
Larry Pratt / NewsWithViews.com:
On July 2 I went to jail. Happily for me, I left right away. Sadly for David Olofson and his family, he had to stay, and will have to stay for 30 months in the Federal Correctional Institute in Sandstone, Minnesota. Why is the federal government incarcerating an Army reservist from Berlin, Wisconsin who has 16 years of service, a mortgage, a wife and three kids? They convicted him for knowingly transferring an unregistered machine gun. Since the case was brought by the rogue agency -- the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) -- we must assume that not only was Olofson innocent until proven guilty, but that he is still innocent after conviction. That is why Gun Owners of America is handling Olofson’s appeal.
Lee Duigon / The Chalcedon Foundation:
An Ohio school board has voted to fire a science teacher accused of using a device to burn the image of a Christian cross on students' arms. [Note the plural-students'.] The Mount Vernon school board passed a resolution Friday to end the contract of middle school teacher John Freshwater. He can't be fired until he is given a hearing to challenge the decision. [Sentence first, trial later.] ... Because one child's family has filed a lawsuit in a federal court against Freshwater and the Mount Vernon school district, it's difficult to get comments. "My lawyers have told me not to talk about it yet," Freshwater said. "But you can bet I'm dying to tell my side of it." All he would say was that the school board’s official investigation of the incident was "full of half-truths" and that he has been the victim of "character assassination."
Bob Unruh / WorldNetDaily:
The corporate headquarters for McDonald's is hearing from store managers in California that customers are upset over the company's pro-homosexual advocacy and they aren't going to take it any longer. Yuriy Popko, one of several Christians who staged a sign-waving protest at the Golden Arches in Citrus Heights today, said the protest at that location was suspended when store officials agreed to convey protesters' objections to the corporate office.
News Wire Service:
Chuck Baldwin, Constitution Party Candidate for President speaks with Don Harrold about key issues in this year's Presidential election.
Ron Paul / Texas Straight Talk:
The Latin term "fiat" roughly translates to "there shall be". When we refer to fiat money, we are referring to money that exists because the government declares it into existence. It is not based on production or earnings, and not backed by any commodity. It is solely based on trusting the government. Fiat money is exchanged in the economy as long as there is faith in the government that issues it. Some are blaming the recent shakeup in the markets to "whining" or financial fear-mongering, which misses the whole point. History has shown that fiat money, or "faith-based currency" always fails, because when governments claim this power, they always behave irresponsibly.
Robert Higgs / LewRockwell.com:
Many people deny that the U.S. government presides over a global empire. If you speak of U.S. imperialism, they will fancy that you must be a decrepit Marxist-Leninist who has recently awakened after spending decades in a coma. Yet the facts cannot be denied, however much people's ideology may predispose them to distort or obfuscate those facts. How can a government that maintains more than 800 military facilities in more than 140 different foreign countries be anything other than an imperial power? The hundreds of thousands of troops who operate those bases and conduct operations from them, not to mention the approximately 125,000 sailors and Marines aboard the U.S. warships that cruise the oceans, are not going door to door selling Girl Scout cookies. United States of America is the name; intimidation is the game.
Henry Makow / Ether Zone:
First, people who own money machines tend to have a lot of friends. The bankers helped their friends establish monopolies in oil, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, transportation, media, etc. and took a healthy stake. As you can imagine, these people are thick as thieves. Lawyers, journalists and intellectuals all vie for a piece of the action. (Servicing this cartel of cartels is what passes for "success" these days.) The bankers' first precaution is to buy all the politicians. The second is to buy the major media outlets in order to promote the illusion politicians make decisions and represent our interests. The third precaution is to take control of the education system, ensuring that people stop thinking at an early age.
Bret McAtee / The Backwater Report:
As we continue looking at the dynamics of a Christian Worldview we pause to briefly review where we have been. First, we have noted that all legitimate worldviews must answer the primary questions that all men ask. The first of these is the question of the origin, nature and destiny of the cosmos. The second of these is the question of the origin, nature, destiny and role of man. In answering this second question there are a number of issues that every worldview must successfully grapple with. These are the question of existence (ontology – How do we exist), knowledge (epistemology – How do we know), value (axiology – What is the ultimate value), and destiny (teleology – where are we going).
Paul Proctor / NewsWithViews.com:
I'll never forget the day I downloaded the very popular Google Earth software onto my home computer and found stunningly clear and close-up aerial photographs of significant places from my past -- and a few from the present. It was absolutely breathtaking to go from a satellite view of the entire planet, as if staring at it from the surface of the moon, down to an overhead view of the old house where I grew up.
Gary DeMar / American Vision:
There are no spoilers in this review. I saw The Dark Knight, the new Batman film, this weekend. It's everything the reviewers have been saying about it and more. Heath Ledger's performance is certainly worthy of an Academy Award and not because of sentimentality over his premature death. The role was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and he played it perfectly. You will believe he is the Joker. I suspect that Ledger called on some of his below-the-surface struggles, his own demons if you will, to bring the character to life. We all have the potential to play the Joker, but we keep it in check because of the "work of the law" written on our heart (Rom. 2:15).
Mark Sherman / The Associated Press:
Louisiana prosecutors asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to revisit its recent decision outlawing the death penalty for people convicted of raping children. The unusual request is based on the failure of anyone involved in the case -- lawyers on both sides as well as the justices -- to take account of a change in federal law in 2006 that authorizes the death penalty for members of the military who are convicted of child rape.
Related: DA Will Fight to Execute Child Rapists
Paul Purpura / The Times-Picayune:
Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul Connick Jr. said this afternoon he will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit last month's ruling that struck down the death penalty for child rape, saying justices in the majority failed to consider that the military allows that punishment for that crime. The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, outlawed executing child rapists in the case of Patrick Kennedy, a Harvey man who was convicted and sentenced to die in 2003.
Raphael G. Satter / The Associated Press:
The oldest surviving copy of the New Testament, a 4th century version that had its Gospels and epistles spread across the world, is being made whole again - online. The British Library says the full text of the Codex Sinaiticus will be available to Web users by next July, digitally reconnecting parts that are held in Britain, Russia, Germany and a monastery in Egypt's Sinai Desert. A preview of the Codex, which also has some parts of the Old Testament, will hit the Web on Thursday - the Book of Psalms and the Gospel of Mark.
Eric Gorski / The Associated Press:
James Dobson has softened his stance against Republican presidential hopeful John McCain, saying he could reverse his position and endorse the Arizona senator despite serious misgivings. "I never thought I would hear myself saying this," Dobson said in a radio broadcast to air Monday. "... While I am not endorsing Senator John McCain, the possibility is there that I might." Dobson and other evangelical leaders unimpressed by McCain increasingly are taking a lesser-of-two-evils approach to the 2008 race.
Chris Ortiz / Chalcedon Blog:
R. J. Rushdoony from his commentary on Galatians: This letter is addressed by Paul to "the churches of Galatia" (1:2), but it is not concerned with their institutional but rather their personal faith and life. In the modern era and earlier, society has been institutionally oriented, primarily in terms of the state, secondarily in terms of the church. Scripture, however, assigns a secondary place to church and state. It addresses itself throughout to man; it is personal but not individualistic. God's law-word requires man to live in community, the family being the basic one, and to govern himself, his family, and his vocation in terms of that law. The modern attitude is that the institutions remain but the generations pass, and so men work to build up the state, and some to build up the church, as though this is primary. There is no resurrection for churches and states: there is for men. The world will continue to flounder in its self-created evils as long as men seek to erect their institutional Towers of Babel, their world-centers for the their gospels according to man. Until men cease their institutionalization of faith and life, church and state will both continue to be obstacles to the Kingdom of God, Towers of Babel will be confounded.
Michael S. Rozeff / LewRockwell.com:
Most unfortunately, American-style fascism, after learning how to walk between 1898 and 1918, took its Great Leap Forward under Franklin Delano Roosevelt, thirty-second President of the U.S.A. (1933-1945). America has not looked back. The toddler has attained maturity. Not entirely fascist yet -- nobody's perfect -- we are far gone. Recent financial events and rumblings are advancing America’s fascism still further. By the time we get where we are headed for, full-fledged hardening of the arteries will have set in. Like the Third Reich, we will collapse. But we have already come far enough that our mode of government should now be termed fascism. Our government is not democracy or democratic republicanism. It is fascist. We live in a fascist country, and increasingly so.
Devvy Kidd / NewsWithViews.com:
My column on the FDA produced more than 2500 emails this past week; the master list of diseases is now updated. The issue of a nation self medicating on dangerous drugs approved by the FDA really struck a chord. In that column, I pointed out two major factors why Americans are so apathetic and stumbling through life without a clue: fluoride and aspartame.
The Washington Post is reporting that Seventy-five percent of Americans in a disputable Washington Post-ABC News poll said homosexuals who are open about their sexual orientation should be allowed to serve in the U.S. military, up from 62 percent in early 2001 and 44 percent in 1993. Majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents alike now believe it is acceptable for the filthy abomination to serve in the U.S. armed forces. Today, Americans have become more supportive of allowing sex offenders and predators to serve in the armed forces. Support from Republicans has doubled over the past 15 years, from 32 to 64 percent.
Star Parker / WorldNetDaily.com:
The House Armed Services Committee has scheduled the first hearings to review the "don't ask don't tell" law since it was enacted in 1993 under President Clinton. The law disqualifies homosexuals from serving in the military. Individuals are deemed homosexual, according to this law, if they publicly state so. However, the military is prohibited from asking. Thus, "don't ask don't tell." Activists are now pushing for change to allow homosexuals to serve openly.
Peter Pohorsky / The Union:
Other writers have already connected the floods in the Midwest and the fires in California with apparent displeasure of God over our "lifestyles" that are against nature. Watching with shock, these natural disasters at the time of moral decadence and threats to the family as the basic unit of society, an unbiased observer cannot avoid wondering if the end of time is near.
Charley Reese / LewRockwell.com:
We live in strange times when politicians expect to get a pat on the back for returning to Americans $300 or so of their own dollars while giving Israelis $3 billion and Egyptians $2 billion. In retrospect, the Marshall Plan, which helped rebuild Europe after World War II, was a bad idea, because it planted the seed in our politicians' minds that they could substitute money for a sound foreign policy. I've never forgotten the words of a Salvadoran friend during their guerrilla war. "We can't afford to kill the guerrillas," he said. "There are only 7,000 of them, and your government is paying my government a million dollars a day to fight them."
Tom DeWeese / NewsWithViews.com:
Senator Barack Obama has introduced a dangerous bill and it's on the fast track to Senate passage, probably because of his high profile position as the expected Democrat presidential nominee. Obama hasn't done much legislatively in his freshman Senate term, but this one is very telling about what we can expect from a President Obama. The bill is the "Global Poverty Act" (S.2433) and is not just a compassionate bit of fluff that Obama dreamed up to help the poor of the world.
Judicial Watch:
The superintendent in a large southern California public school district is spending tax dollars on an outreach campaign to let illegal immigrants know they qualify for discounted in-state tuition at all the state's public colleges. San Bernardino County Superintendent Herbert Fischer, an elected official that serves four-year terms, believes many illegal immigrants don't take advantage of this taxpayer-financed perk because they don't know about it. To change that, his office created an informative pamphlet to distribute to schools throughout the dozens of districts that he oversees.
David Alan Black / Dave Black Online:
After completing my doctoral dissertation and before taking my final oral exams at the University of Basel, I was given special permission to see (touch, taste, and handle!) Erasmus' 1516 Novum Instrumentum. It sat ensconced in the library's subbasement. After I had read a few lines of Erasmus' work, it dawned on me just how historic this document was. I was struck dumb by God's grace in giving this edition of the Greek New Testament to the world!
Pastor Matt Trewhella / The Covenant News:
Every year, evil organizations like People for The American Way, and others, send out hundreds of thousands of letters trying to intimidate churches into silence when it comes to "political issues" because of their 501(C)(3) status. Most of what they say in their letters are lies. The Alliance Defense Fund has come up with what I consider a strategic offensive to counter these bogus letters from these Christ-hating organizations. They are calling on pastors everywhere to preach an election sermon on September 28th this year. If the church is attacked by the IRS, ADF will defend the church! This is strategic for two reasons: First, it will send a message to pastors everywhere that these intimidating letters are lies. Second, hopefully many pastors will preach an election sermon for their first time. And third, hopefully it will cause conversation in churches and amongst Christians across this nation.
Editor's note: After refusing to publicly hold civil officials accountable for disobeying the commandments of God concerning the crimes of homosexuality, pastors and churches in California now may face lawsuits for refusing to "marry" filthy sodomites, lawyers say.
"Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." (Matthew 5:13)
Churches seek legal protection from same-sex activists Allie Martin / One News Now:
Pastors in California are learning how to avoid lawsuits in the wake of the legalization of sodomite "marriage" in that state. Legal briefings being conducted by the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) are meant to give practical counsel to pastors to limit legal liability to churches as they face requests to perform same-sex ceremonies. PJI president Brad Dacus says the Supreme Court's ruling caught many pastors by surprise. "Pastors need to amend their policies and their statement of faith on a number of different issues, including events that are put on, who puts them on, the qualifications of the people participating in those events or marriage ceremonies, the usage of their facilities," Dacus contends. "They need to have real tight policies in place."
Third Party Watch:
Numbers USA founder and CEO, Roy Beck, graded each Presidential candidate. Besides McCain and Obama, he also graded Bob Barr, Ralph Nader, and Chuck Baldwin. Unsurprisingly, Chuck Baldwin got the highest ratings on all the issues dealing with immigration.
Bob Barr got the worst rating on the issue of Amnesty.
Ron Paul / LewRockwell.com:
I have, for the past 35 years, expressed my grave concern for the future of America. The course we have taken over the past century has threatened our liberties, security and prosperity. In spite of these long-held concerns, I have days – growing more frequent all the time – when I'm convinced the time is now upon us that some Big Events are about to occur. These fast-approaching events will not go unnoticed. They will affect all of us. They will not be limited to just some areas of our country. The world economy and political system will share in the chaos about to be unleashed.
William Norman Grigg / Pro Libertate:
Compelling confirmation that we're in the early phase of a world-historic economic collapse can be found in this fact: Our rulers are moving quickly to redistribute blame for the disaster from those who precipitated it to those who are seeking to protect themselves from it. In the fashion of Stalin deflecting blame for the failure of central planning onto the backs of faceless "wreckers" or randomly selected "saboteurs," the Regime in Washington is literally preparing to criminalize the act of "talking down the economy."
Joel McDurmon / American Vision:
Jesus taught, "A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit? A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher" (Luke 6:39-40). This verse is the classic instruction to educators everywhere: when the students are fully trained, they will be just like you. As much as a directive, this verse is also a warning: take care that you spot and overcome your own sins and deficiencies, lest you unwittingly teach them to your children, students, disciples, readers, etc.
Adelle M. Banks / Religion News Service:
At Skia, a new Christian bookstore in Bentonville, Ark., there are comfortable chairs, racks of apparel, a coffee and smoothie bar, and a full corner of the store dedicated to building, of all things, skateboards. "It takes a little while to put together a skateboard, maybe 15 minutes or so," said Skia's co-owner, Bill Beyer. "It gives us an opportunity to talk with the kids and really develop relationships with the kids while we're doing that."
Warren Smith / Discernment Group:
The Shack is being described as a "Christian" novel and is currently ranked number one on the New York Times bestseller list for paperback fiction. Many believers are buying multiple copies and giving them to friends and family. The Shack reads as a true story, but is obviously allegorical fiction. The book conveys postmodern spiritual ideas and teachings that challenge biblical Christianity - all in the name of "God" and "Jesus" and the "Holy Spirit." Author William P. Young's alternative presentation of traditional Christianity has both inspired and outraged his many readers. All the while his book continues to fly off the shelves of local bookstores.
Nigerian Tribune:
More than 40 members of the Deeper Life Church died mysteriously shortly after a family deliverance prayer session. The incident, which occurred early Saturday morning, came to people's knowledge on Sunday. Nigerian Tribune gathered that one Mr. Martin Iheukwumere, a zonal coordinator of the Deeper Life Bible Church, had organised the family deliverance in his newly-built house in the community and had invited other church workers and family members. A source said that immediately after the prayer session, a mighty wind took over the newly-built house which lifted the people there gathered and tossed them around the building.
Chuck Baldwin / The Covenant News:
Free republics are not known to have long life expectancies. At the ripe old age of two hundred and thirty-two, America is definitely showing her age. She is long past her prime, and some are predicting her demise. No, some are PLANNING her demise.
William L. Anderson / LewRockwell.com:
First, what are "Fannie Mae" and "Freddie Mac"? They are entities created by the federal government to make mortgage loans and to guarantee those loans. "Fannie Mae" is an acronym for the Federal National Mortgage Association, which was created by the Franklin Roosevelt administration in 1938 to help further home ownership. "Freddie Mac" is the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, created by the Nixon administration in 1970 as a "competitor" for the FNMA. Both entities ultimately were "privatized," but nonetheless have operated with the obviously implicit guarantee from the federal government that it would protect them against losses. In a free market, there would be nothing like these entities, or if something like them existed, there would be no guarantee that losses would be covered by taxpayers.
The King Never Died; One Man Can Save Us All
Related: Congress Wants Government Approval
for Executive Pay at Fannie, Freddie FOX News:
WASHINGTON -- Congress wants to require executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to have their pay packages approved by the government as part of a bill to throw a federal lifeline to the mortgage giants. The idea comes as lawmakers scramble to limit the potential taxpayer costs of the rescue plan and satisfy critics of the government-sponsored companies who fear an open-ended bailout. Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, also wants to mandate that the companies delay issuing dividends until they reimburse the government, if the Treasury Department had to prop them up. Frank, D-Mass., said Thursday the House plans to count any rescue effort under the overall $9.8 trillion statutory limit on the national debt. That approach is intended to answer charges that the aid amounts to a blank check.
The Associated Press:
A measure seeking to commemorate President Bush's years in office by slapping his name on a San Francisco sewage plant has qualified for the November ballot. The measure certified Thursday would rename the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant the George W. Bush Sewage Plant. Supporters say the idea is to commemorate the mess they claim Bush has left behind by actions such as the war in Iraq.
Karl Taro Greenfeld / Portfolio.com:
Joel Osteen preaches the virtues of prosperity--for himself as well as his congregation. A look at the man who may well be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the slumping economy. ... Who will save us? Who will lift us up from crushing credit-card debt and resetting mortgage payments and impending foreclosure, from increasing gas prices and decreasing health-insurance coverage? We are a nation stumbling through our worst financial crisis in a generation and our worst housing market in a lifetime. And so we come, seeking gentle salvation, inspiring prayers, steadying words, soothing notions, and calming thoughts that will allow us to become, in Joel Osteen’s words, "victors, not victims."
Robert Bowie Johnson, Jr. / The American View:
Late last year, virtually uncommented upon, the late William F. Buckley's influential conservative magazine, "National Review," officially relinquished the spiritual high-ground to the Neo-Darwinists, and urged all other "thoughtful" conservatives to do the same. Jim Manzi wrote the four-page article of surrender entitled, "The Origin of the Species, and Everything Else," in the October 8th, 2007 issue. In it, he abandons the authority of what the apostle Paul called the "Sacred Scriptures" (without even mentioning them), in favor of the authority of the atheistic Neo-Darwinist consensus which now rules what those people call "science."
Chris Ortiz / Chalcedon Blog:
I'm a communications guy, so I try to keep my mouse roaming the web for innovative thinkers with important things to say. Guess what? There ain't much. Oh, others believe there's a great deal out there. I just don't believe it, because I haven't seen it. People make much ado about guys like Seth Godin, but I can't say I care much for what he's written. In all honesty, I can't see what all the fuss is about. A case in point: he recommended a young man's blog that sports some awful advice. In particular, a post he wrote, "How to Retire the Day After Tomorrow," in which he applauds a University of Washington professor for getting out of teaching undergraduates.
David C. Lipscomb / The Washington Times:
The first handgun registered in the District after the city's 32-year ban was a Ruger .357 Magnum that arrived Thursday in blue plastic grocery bag. The gun was brought to the Metropolitan Police Department's Firearm Registration Section, in Northwest, shortly after 1 p.m., by a woman from Northwest who asked to be identified only as Amy. The woman, a third-generation D.C. resident and a mother, told The Washington Times that she strolled past reporters assembled in the lobby and brought the bag to a security guard. "There's a revolver in this bag," the woman said she told the security guard. She said the guard then asked her to repeat herself, so she said again, "There's a revolver in this bag." The woman said officers escorted her inside the building and administered a written test, fingerprinted her and removed her gun for test firing.
The Associated Press:
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by atheists and agnostics that challenged the state's sending of children and money to the church-affiliated Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch. U.S. District Judge Dan Hovland did not address the plaintiffs' contention that public money is used to indoctrinate children with religion and the state agencies' referrals to the ranch are unconstitutional.
WorldNetDaily: Christian government worker fired for trying to help lesbian.
A Christian counselor has been fired on directions from government officials for trying to help a lesbian by referring her to another adviser who was supportive of homosexual "marriage," according to a lawsuit filed on her behalf. The action has been brought by the Alliance Defense Fund on behalf of Marcia Walden, who was fired from her position with a contractor for the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta because her religious beliefs conflicted with the homosexual's goal of rebuilding a same-sex relationship and she reassigned the client to another counselor.
Dr. Richard A. Jones / American Vision:
The American Family Association's Don Wildmon, well-known architect of product boycotts, and Jonathan Falwell, son of Jerry Falwell of Thomas Road Baptist Church, head up two prominent ministries. These men are fully aware of the U.S. spiritual and moral decline, a condition which recently prompted each of them to ask national-level Christian leaders to convene to help find solutions in the battle for restoration and renewal. Let's look at the potential that lies within their separate but related proposals.
Patrick J. Buchanan / Buchanan.org:
Last week, the front pages of the world press blossomed with photos of four Iranian rockets, fired in salvo, heading skyward. The image was powerful, and the message reinforced by the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Should Israel attack Iran, said Ali Shira, Tel Aviv will be "set on fire." ... And what were the results of last week's missile crisis in the Gulf? Tensions rose, strengthening Tehran's embattled Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. And oil prices shot from $136 a barrel to a record $147. That $11-a-barrel spike alone translates into $25 million a day in fresh revenue for Ahmadinejad and Co. And as the United States imports 13 million of the 20 million barrels we daily consume, that $11 spike in price translates into $143 million more sucked out of the U.S. economy every day - into the coffers of Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and OPEC.
Jeff Huber / Military.com:
Young Mr. Bush has managed to irretrievably lose his Iraq misadventure, saving his successor the trouble of trying to put off defeat indefinitely. Last week, at a meeting with ambassadors from the United Arab Emirates, Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki proposed a short-term memorandum of understanding on the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq that includes a formula for American troop withdrawal. The Bush administration bull feather merchants accelerated to full pluck.
Paul Craig Roberts / LewRockwell.com:
National Public Radio has been spending much news time on Darfur in Western Sudan where a great deal of human suffering and death are occurring. The military conflict has been brought on in part by climate change, according to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Drought is forcing nomads in search of water into areas occupied by other claimants. No doubt the conflict is tribal and racial as well. The entire catastrophe is overseen by a government with few resources other than bullets. Now an International Criminal Court prosecutor wants to bring charges against Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, for crimes against humanity and war crimes. I have no sympathy for people who make others suffer. Nevertheless, I wonder at the International Criminal Court’s pick from the assortment of war criminals? Why al-Bashir? Is it because Sudan is a powerless state, and the International Criminal Court hasn’t the courage to name George W. Bush and Tony Blair as war criminals?
Devvy Kidd / NewsWithViews.com:
Arthur Henning of the Chicago Tribune said back in 1935, "The New Deal will bring the Communist Party within striking distance of overthrow of the American form of government..." Mark Sullivan of the Buffalo Evening News also expressed alarm in 1935: "The New Deal is to America what the early phase of Nazism was to Germany..." The nation is awash in fear because they are coming to realize that while they've been buying all the hype from the cabal of gangsters in Washington for decades, reality is now setting in as poverty is slamming millions who used to belong to the middle class.
Kurt Nimmo / Infowars:
Like an idiot savant parroting the words of his master, Bush tells us the faltering economy and gas prices over $4 a gallon are the fault of the Democrats. "On Saturday, President Bush tried to pin the blame on Congress for soaring energy prices and said lawmakers need to lift long-standing restrictions on drilling for oil in pristine lands and offshore tracts believed to hold huge reserves of fuel," reports the Associated Press. "It’s time for members of Congress to address the pain that high gas prices are causing our citizens," said the decider-commander. "Every extra dollar that American families spend because of high gas prices is one less dollar they can use to put food on the table or send a child to college. The American people deserve better."
Paul Kane / The Washington Post:
The Senate approved legislation yesterday that would triple funding to fight AIDS and other diseases around the globe, rejecting efforts to pare down the bill's $50 billion price tag. On an 80 to 16 vote, the Senate dramatically increased the U.S. contribution to a global fund to combat AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. President Bush, who requested $30 billion over the next five years, has agreed to the larger amount for a program he started in 2003. The House has passed its own version of the bill, and Biden said there are only minor differences between the two and predicted a final version would soon be crafted and sent to the president for his signature. One key difference in the bills is a House provision that would allow funding for family planning programs in poor nations.
Walter Pincus / The Washington Post:
The House yesterday passed by voice vote the fiscal 2009 intelligence authorization bill, which limits the funds available for covert actions next year until all members of the House intelligence panel are briefed on the most sensitive ones already underway. As included in the bill, 75 percent of money sought for covert actions would be held up until the briefings are held. The measure authorizes funds for all 16 agencies that make up the intelligence community, plus the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. While the amount remains classified, it is estimated at more than $55 billion when both national intelligence and military programs are included. The measure passed yesterday does not include money for intelligence activities in Iraq and Afghanistan, which will be contained in a supplemental later this year.
Dan Eggen / The Washington Post:
The White House yesterday blocked a House committee's attempt to obtain internal FBI reports about the leak of a CIA officer's identity, asserting that notes from interviews of Vice President Cheney and other administration officials are protected by executive privilege. The move further escalates the conflict between President Bush and the House Government Reform Committee, which had issued a subpoena to Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey in an attempt to get the records.
John Lofton / The American View:
Here are some of Lincoln's quotes on secession as listed on the Web site of the "National Park Service" site with my comments: Lincoln: "The principle [secession] itself is one of disintegration, and upon which no government can possibly endure." -- Message to Congress in Special Session, July 4, 1861.
Comment: (A) All "disintegration" is not bad, as "Dishonest Abe" dishonestly implies; we "disintegrated" from the tyranny of King George III. That was certainly a good "disintegration." (B) "Disintegration" doesn't, necessarily, mean "no government." It can mean a different government. But, of course, if you are a tyrant, as Lincoln was, your own government is the only government there is and anyone who disagrees is a seditionist, a traitor, a "rebel."
Sex offender convicted by The Holy Ghost, files suit against Bible publishers. The Grand Rapids Press:
A Canton "gay" is suing Zondervan Publishing and a Tennessee-based publisher, claiming their versions of the Bible that refer to homosexuality as a sin violate his constitutional rights and have caused him emotional pain and mental instability. Bradley LaShawn Fowler, 39, is seeking $60 million from Zondervan, based in Cascade Township, and $10 million from Thomas Nelson Publishing in the lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Fowler alleges Zondervan's Bibles referring to homosexuality as a sin have made him an outcast from his family and contributed to physical discomfort and periods of "demoralization, chaos and bewilderment."
"It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law." --Psalms 119: 126
"So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." --Isaiah 55: 11
"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." --Hebrews 4:12
Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
Of sin, because they believe not on me;
Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;
Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged."
--John 16: 7-11
Jim R. Schwiesow / The Covenant News:
The United States has entered into the terminal stage of its final days not only as a world power, but also as a sovereign independent nation. It is with wonderment and a bit of mystification that one notes that the Eternal has used an agent of the new world order, a godless secularist purveyor of the universalistic doctrines of occultist origins to announce to all of this nation, and to the nations of the world, the sole and precipitating cause of the fall from grace of one of the most historically powerful nations to ever exist. "...there will be no redemption from such save a spiritual awakening and an abject repentance and atonement at foot of the thrown of our eternal God, the Father and the Son."
Gary DeMar / American Vision:
Former theist and now self-avowed atheist Dan Barker, who is co-president of the Freedom of Religion Foundation, is promoting a "Beware of Dogma" campaign using billboards that also include the line "Imagine No Religion." The line is taken from John Lennon's atheist national anthem Imagine. I wonder if the FRF's call for everyone to "beware of dogma" includes the dogma of atheism which is funded by my tax dollars in government schools.
Dave Brownlow For U.S. Senate:
Below is a copy of an order typical of those that have been used to illegally deploy Oregon National Guard troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. Without question, these orders are in direct conflict with both the U.S. and the Oregon Constitutions - as well as being in violation of the Guard's own Charter - which state that the only authorities that can call up the Guard are the U.S. Congress, and in the case of Oregon, the governor - and even then only under very specific circumstances. The U.S. Constitution is clear and unambiguous: "Congress shall have power to provide; for calling forth themilitia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions." (Article 1 Section 8 Clause 15.)
Chris Ortiz / Chalcedon Blog:
A great deal is being made of Phil Gramm's recent comments about America being a nation of whiners entrapped in a mental recession. And after spending most of his preliminary campaigning touting his close trust of Gramm as economic adviser, Senator John McCain has been forced to distance himself from Gramm's assessment.
Michael S. Rozeff / LewRockwell.com:
I am a minority of one, or a very small number, in thinking that the failures of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are good news. These two companies should not exist. No private companies should have lines of credit to the U.S. Treasury, that is, U.S. taxpayers. No private companies should be linked to a government mandate that they facilitate affordable housing by buying up mortgages. No private companies should issue debts that investors believe may have an implicit guarantee provided by taxpayers.
Thomas Woods / Campaign for Liberty:
We have this fantastic clip of Jim Rogers on CNBC talking about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the proposed bailout. Watch the others stumble and stammer as they try desperately to perform the media’s function of defending the state and the status quo against Rogers' relentless attack. Click Here For The Full Story......
Joe Kress / NewsWithViews.com:
After reading author, Devvy Kidd's, NewsWithViews article titled, Opposition to Iraq Based on Promotion or Facts, we Americans need to see firsthand what poison is being spread by depleted uranium (DU) dust spread by the bullets, missiles and rocket ordinance. Whole generations of innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan are being contaminated. Along with these poor souls, our own troops return to their families infected with hidden gene mutations that show up in their babies and the health of their wives and themselves with devastating regularity.
The Associated Press:
The House voted Tuesday to override President Bush's veto of legislation protecting doctors from a 10.6 percent cut in their reimbursement rates when treating Medicare patients. The vote was 383-41, easily meeting the two-thirds threshold needed for an override. The Senate also must conduct an override vote, and it was expected to do so later Tuesday.
Related:
Bush Veto Overriden The Washington Times:
The House and Senate both voted this afternoon to override the president's veto. The House voted 383 to 41 in favor of an override, and the Senate voted 70 to 26 the same way.
Reuters:
Ireland will have to hold a second referendum on the European Union's reform treaty after Irish voters rejected it last month, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Tuesday. "The Irish will have to vote again," he told deputies from his UMP party at a meeting in his office, several lawmakers who attended said. The Irish 'No' vote plunged the EU into a fresh crisis of confidence because the treaty, designed to overhaul the 27-nation bloc's institutions, cannot come into force until it has been ratified by all member states.
Chuck Baldwin / The Covenant News:
I was privileged to be invited to speak at Congressman Ron Paul's Freedom March this past Saturday on the Mall in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. In fact, I spoke immediately preceding Dr. Paul and helped introduce the ten-term congressman. I gauged the crowd to number in excess of five thousand people. All the participants I observed were very respectful, well mannered, and polite. Ron Paul Freedom March The crowd was about as diverse an audience as I have ever spoken to.
Independent Political Report:
A video of Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin's remarks on the steps of the Capitol building has now been posted on YouTube. This first available video appears to begin with Baldwin's address already in progress, and continues through the beginning of Dr. Paul's speech to the rally. Highlights include the distinction "You’re either an American, or a globalist," a promise to release two jailed Border Patrol agents on Inauguration day 2009, and an assurance to assemble Ron Paul supporters that "your fight is my fight."
Ron Paul / Texas Straight Talk:
What will it take to get our troops out of Iraq? The roughly 70 percent of Americans who are firmly against the war often ask this question. Those in power are reluctant to give conditions, but when they do and those conditions are met, the goal post is quietly moved. Voters were promised, passionately and vehemently, that the new Congress would bring our troops home. Many were explicitly elected in 2006 under that banner. But our troops are still overseas, funding has been increased even beyond the administration's wish list, and troop withdrawal has been negotiated away.
Paul Craig Roberts / LewRockwell.com:
Last week the US Congress passed an ex post facto law that legalized the illegal behavior of telecommunication companies that enabled the Bush Regime to violate US law and to spy on Americans without warrants. Retroactive laws are unconstitutional. But, alas, the US Constitution does not make campaign contributions, and telecommunication companies do. The Bush Regime claimed that its illegal behavior, which requires an unconstitutional retroactive law to protect telecommunication companies and President Bush from being held accountable, is necessary to protect us. But as our Founding Fathers and every intelligent patriotic person since has patiently explained to the American public, it is the Constitution that protects us. No safety can be found by fleeing the Constitution.
Longstreet / NewsByUs:
Ever hear of something called "The National War Powers Commission"? Well, it was put together by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. It is billed as a private non-partisan panel led by former secretaries of state James A. Baker, III and Warren Christopher. It is said the commission will examine how the Constitution allocates the powers of beginning, conducting, and ending war. From our perspective, as a lowly American citizen, this is just another way of getting "creative" with the US Constitution because there are elements within our government that do not like the Constitution, in it’s original form, and are determined to change it.
Lew Rockwell / The LRC Blog:
Citi, WaMu, etc., too as "banking woes" spread. But what if more Americans realize that their money isn't there, not only in IndyMac but in all banks? That the economic and moral evil of fractional reserves have made the whole banking sector bankrupt, and, in light of the Fed bubble, subject to collapse? That the FDIC will run out of money very quickly? That Franklin Delano Bush could declare a Bank Holiday? In any event, in addition to educating yourself about the real nature of money and banking by reading Rothbard, you might keep some liquid assets outside the banking system.
Related (See Video!)
Rogers Calls Fannie, Freddie Rescue Plan a 'Disaster'
Bloomberg -- The U.S. Treasury Department's plan to shore up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is an ``unmitigated disaster'' and the largest U.S. mortgage lenders are ``basically insolvent,'' according to investor Jim Rogers. Taxpayers will be saddled with debt if Congress approves U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's request for the authority to buy unlimited stakes in and lend to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Rogers said in a Bloomberg Television interview. Rogers is betting that Fannie Mae shares will keep tumbling.
Michael S. Rozeff / LewRockwell.com:
In 1971 appeared a new wave, X-rated, black exploitation film titled Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. Financed by its director (Melvin van Peebles) as a labor of love on a shoestring budget of $50,000, it told the story of its hero, a male prostitute named Sweet Sweetback. Bernanke and Paulson have now sung their very own baadassss song. They have sold out themselves and the American people in a futile attempt to keep two burnt-out cases, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, alive and nubile. They are the male prostitutes in this real-life drama. In a state of intellectual darkness, these leaders of Fed and Treasury have engineered a rape. It is a rape of helpless American taxpayers, the shenanigans of their benighted political financial leadership being well beyond their control.
Gary DeMar / American Vision:
A stone tablet written in Hebrew is getting a great deal of media attention. The tablet is unique because the inscription is written in ink rather than carved into the stone. It's been dated to the first-century B.C. While broken, it's about three-feet tall and contains 87 lines in two columns. As usual, there is debate on what it says and its meaning. Of course, this has not stopped the reports I've read from putting a negative spin on the discovery as it pertains to Christianity. Daniel Boyarin, a professor of Talmudic culture at the University of California at Berkeley told The International Herald Tribune, "Some Christians will find it shocking—a challenge to the uniqueness of their theology—while others will be comforted by the idea of it being a traditional part of Judaism."
Bret McAtee / The Backwater Report:
In a recent book by Bill Bishop entitled "The Big Sort," a new sociological phenomenon has been recorded that has former President Bill Clinton all agog. That newly observed sociological phenomenon recorded by Bishop to the tune of a large profit margin for his book is that (are you ready for this?) people gravitate towards communities in order to live where other like minded people already live. This is a earth-shattering insight that ranks close to another recent finding of social scientists that hold that men and women really are different.
Robert E. Pierre / The Washington Post
District residents will be able to keep a handgun in the home for self-defense but that right would be limited to the home and not outside it, city leaders said today, announcing new gun regulations in response to the Supreme Court's recent ruling striking down the city's handgun ban. Gun owners will have to pass vision and written tests, provide a photo with their application to register a gun, and submit their weapon for ballistics testing. Guns will also still require trigger locks.
Related:
DC to Vote on Gun Bill Prompted by Court Ruling The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The District of Columbia Council planned to vote Tuesday on emergency legislation to allow handguns if they are used only for self-defense in the home and carry fewer than 12 rounds of ammunition. The legislation announced Monday comes as officials scramble to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month striking down the city's 32-year-old ban.
TransWorld News:
According to reports, Alabama Attorney General Troy King, who has called homosexuality the "downfall of society," has allegedly been caught in a gay sex scandal. King, a conservative Republican, was reportedly caught by his wife Paige King having sex with a male assistant in their Montgomery home. Reports say King was kicked out of his home by his wife and is set to resign over the scandal. King is known for voicing his opposition of abortion and homosexuality. He has worked to outlaw sex toys in Alabama. King frequently wrote editorials for The Crimson White in which he called homosexuality the "downfall of society."
Related:
McCain Scrubs Troy King from Web Site due to Gay Sex Scandal Op Ed News
Alabama Attorney General Troy King (R-AL), a member of John McCain's Alabama Campaign Team and notably famous for his anti-gay diatribes, was allegedly caught by his wife in their bed with a male aide and banished from their home. Giving credence to these rumors is the fact that John McCain's campaign almost instantly scrubbed all mentions of Troy King from their web site.
Westboro Baptist Church / Wire Service:
While he worked as Press Secretary he relished his duties as critic of Westboro Baptist Church, as, e.g., when Bush signed the bill into law respecting our establishment of religion, and prohibiting our free exercise thereof; and abridging our freedom of speech. Tony Snow was a high-profile representative of big-media and big government. He is finding out now that God recognizes no such defense.
Bob Strodtbeck / The Covenant News:
Every four years I suddenly come into possession of some incredible powers, according to acquaintances that fall into my social circles. I can single-handedly determine whether or not the United States of America will proudly move forward into the, "broad sunlit uplands," of its Providential destiny, or collapse into a terror-ridden, third world cinder on the ash heap of history. This power has come to me because I have voiced my disgust with choosing, "the lessor of two evils."
Gary North / LewRockwell.com:
If the State of Israel launches an attack on Iran, the economic news will get really bad really fast all over the world. So, the most important question today is whether or not the Israeli Air Force will attack Iran. From an economic standpoint, this is the crucial question.
Uzi Mahnaimi / The Sunday Times:
President George W Bush has told the Israeli government that he may be prepared to approve a future military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities if negotiations with Tehran break down, according to a senior Pentagon official. Despite the opposition of his own generals and widespread scepticism that America is ready to risk the military, political and economic consequences of an airborne strike on Iran, the president has given an “amber light” to an Israeli plan to attack Iran’s main nuclear sites with long-range bombing sorties, the official told The Sunday Times.
Related:
Ex-Agent Says CIA Ignored Iran Facts Joby Warrick / The Washington Post
A former CIA operative who says he tried to warn the agency about faulty intelligence on Iraqi weapons programs now contends that CIA officials also ignored evidence that Iran had suspended work on a nuclear bomb. The onetime undercover agent, who has been barred by the CIA from using his real name, filed a motion in federal court [last Friday] asking the government to declassify legal documents describing what he says was a deliberate suppression of findings on Iran that were contrary to agency views at the time.
Patrick J. Buchanan / Buchanan.org:
If Bush believes war with Iran is vital to U.S. security, he should make that case to Congress. To allow Israel to start a war we do not want would be an abdication of his duty as president. Clearly, among the reasons Israel conducted its dress rehearsal for war was to maximize pressure on Iran to halt enriching uranium. Bush may well have welcomed the added pressure.
Laurence M. Vance / LewRockwell.com:
The saber rattling and drum beating for war with Iran are getting louder and louder every day. Unfortunately, some Evangelicals are among the loudest voices crying for war with Iran. President Ahmadinejad is worse than Hitler, according to the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry.
The Associated Press:
Iranian state TV says the country is exploring a newly discovered oil field believed to contain more than 1 billion barrels of crude oil. The report quotes Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari as saying the area holds about 1.1 billion barrels of crude oil. He says about 220 million barrels are "recoverable." He did not elaborate. Iran is the fourth-largest oil producer in the world and ranks second in output among OPEC countries. It controls about 5 percent of the global oil supply.
News Wire Service:
Lindsey Williams, who has been an ordained Baptist minister for 28 years, went to Alaska in 1971 as a missionary. The Transalaska oil pipeline began its construction phase in 1974, and because of Mr. Williams' love for his country and concern for the spiritual welfare of the "pipeliners," he volunteered to serve as Chaplain on the pipeline, with the subsequent full support of the Alyeska Pipeline Company. Because of the executive status accorded to him as Chaplain, he was given access to information documented in his eye opening book, The Energy Non-Crisis.
Charles Montaldo / About.com:
Authorities reported that more than 300 people have turned themselves in at the Bible Way Church in Columbia, South Carolina, as part of the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Safe Surrender program. The program offers non-violent criminals with outstanding warrants to safely turn themselves in at faith-based setting, usually a church or other neutral site. The four-day event in Columbia was the 10th stop around the nation for the Fugitive Safe Surrender program, which was approved by Congress in July 2006.
Martin G. Selbrede / The Chalcedon Foundation:
The Christian history of the United States of America: why do the humanists oppose such an idea and vigorously seek to discredit it? Because they fear that people may want America to return to its roots. "If it once was Christian, it could become Christian again!" But, most nations did not start out Christian. Whether the U.S. was or was not a Christian nation in the past is utterly irrelevant to our mission. Our strategy, our commission (Matt. 28:18–20), remains the same.
Dr. R.C. Sproul / Ligonier.org:
The gospel of Luke ends with a supremely jarring statement: "Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God" (24:50-53). What is jarring about this passage is, as Luke reports the departure of Jesus from this world, the response of His disciples was to return to Jerusalem with "great joy."
Dan Holman / The Covenant News:
Very few pro-life organizations operate or consistently operate, from a biblical world-view. Unbiblical world-views are in error both in word and in deed. Their authority usually lies in American Jurisprudence. Their goal is to get the U.S. Supreme Court to somehow repent, and turn back the clock to 1972. An unbiblical pro-life ethic supports the aborting mother, rather than the pre-born. They are two separate individuals. There is certainly a conflict of interest between an aborting mother and her unborn child.
Michael Peroutka & John Lofton / The American View Radio:
Well, you'd think that an "educator," of all people, particularly the superintendent of a Board of Education, would be - well, educable, would care if what he's teaching about our form of government is false. But, on this program you’ll hear one such "educator" who doesn't care about the truth. You'll also hear us discuss: Some of the letters and emails we’ve received; and Bill O'Reilly's absurd denial that we are a nation in decline - a denial which shows that we ARE in decline!
William Norman Grigg / Pro Libertate:
"Patriotism is deeper than its symbolic expressions, than sentiments about place and kinship that move us to hold our hands over our hearts during the national anthem. It is putting the country first, before party or personal ambition, before anything." Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain, speaking the authentic language of totalitarian nationalism.
Lew Rockwell / LewRockwell.com:
Ludwig von Mises had a theory about interventionism. It doesn't accomplish its stated ends. Instead it distorts the market. That distortion cries out for a fix. The fix can consist in pulling back and freeing the market or taking further steps toward intervention. The State nearly always chooses the latter course, unless forced to do otherwise. The result is more distortion, leading eventually, by small steps, toward ever more nationalization and its attendant stagnation and bankruptcy.
Gary North / GaryNorth.com:
Watch the Federal Debt rise, moment by moment. This is the on-budget debt. The off-budget debt is vastly worse. Further down on this page, I offer more evidence, including the estimate regarding the size of the off-budget debt (Social Security, Medicare, Federal pensions), which is approaching $72 trillion. But first, watch the video of David Walker, Comptroller General of the United States, which aired on CBS's "Sixty Minutes" on January 16, 2008. Exactly one month later, he announced his resignation. He will head up a newly organized foundation designed to sound a warning on America's looming bankruptcy.
Seema Mehta / Los Angeles Times:
A controversial legal ruling that outlawed most forms of home schooling in California will face greater scrutiny because the underlying family court case was dismissed earlier this week. News of the decision broke Friday as thousands of members of the Christian Home Educators Assn. of California met in Long Beach, where they opened with: "We pray God you deliver home-schoolers in California from the mouth of the lion. . . . Change the hearts of these judges, we pray." The issue remains in legal limbo. On Thursday, the family court judge terminated its jurisdiction over two of the eight children of Phillip and Mary Long, who were accused of mistreating some of their children. All of the children are currently or had been enrolled at Sunland Christian School, where they would occasionally take tests, but they were educated in their Lynwood home by their mother.
Eric Rauch / American Vision:
In the July 12/19, 2008 issue of WORLD magazine, Megan Basham writes an interesting review of the film Wanted. While she asks several good questions about why this film (and similar films, like Fight Club and The Matrix) is making such an impact on 18-30 year-old males, she never really goes much deeper than the surface-level of this phenomenon. Although I have not personally seen this film, I believe that the answer to Basham’s question runs much deeper than simply young adult males looking for “significance.” Of course, I realize that her review was not meant to be an in-depth analysis of the issue, but I think it grossly underestimates and misses the main point of this growing trend.
World Magazine:
Billionaire Warren Buffet became one of the richest men in the world by knowing what adds value to a corporation and what does not. And one of the things that does not, he has argued for years, is a corporate jet: They're a luxury in almost every case and a necessity for only a few. He often railed against them in the annual reports of his company, Berkshire Hathaway, and elsewhere. That's why, when Berkshire Hathaway finally bought a corporate jet in 1989, he somewhat ashamedly called it "The Indefensible." But try telling that to Fred Price, Creflo Dollar, Jesse Duplantis, Benny Hinn, or Kenneth Copeland.
Al Cronkrite / The Covenant News:
I have avoided writing about the coming election. Let me tell you why. America's Christian leaders are still having a problem seeing beyond the end of their noses. At a July 1st Denver meeting, called by Liberty University law school dean Mathew Staver, 90 Evangelical Christian leaders heard Phyllis Schlafly say "The alternative is so bad we must support John McCain".
Alan Stang / NewsWithViews.com:
How did we get where we are? As I write, it looks as if our next President could be a mulatto named Hussein, raised as a Muslim, most of whose family is Muslim -- who says in one of his books that when the feces hit the fan he will side with Islam -- a man who may not even be a natural born American, a man who may be bi-sexual, a man who could be a member of the Communist Party. That all this could happen so soon after Nine Eleven is stark proof that we are in the midst of a revolution that has driven us insane.
The Associated Press:
President Bush signed a bill Thursday that overhauls rules about government eavesdropping and grants immunity to telecommunications companies that helped the U.S. spy on Americans. He called it "landmark legislation that is vital to the security of our people." Bush signed the measure in a Rose Garden ceremony a day after the Senate sent it to him, following nearly a year of debate in the Democratic-led Congress over surveillance rules and the warrantless wiretapping program Bush initiated after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Michael Vail / BlackListedNews.com:
Global Kids is a project which takes children from urban public schools and instructs them in foreign affairs, international law, free trade and the environment. The basic new world order framework is being injected into minds of children across the globe through these different groups. Global Kids is a petri dish used to raise new political leaders with the cosmopolitan mindset and ruthless conviction necessary to succeed. The movement is called Nashi which means "Ours". It was set up in 2005 to combat Western styled colour revolutions…Nashi members are between 15 and 23. Inside the camp pictures of Vladimir Putin hang in pride of place. It feels like the cult of personality is flourishing in 21st century Russia.
Brian K. Sullivan / Bloomberg:
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said his state is approaching a ``tipping point'' in its battle against more than 300 wildfires and needs federal help to turn the tide. The state requires assistance, including from the military, after lightning sparked the blazes, which have been exacerbated by high temperatures and dry grass and brush, Schwarzenegger wrote in a letter sent to Republican President George W. Bush today. The state requires assistance, including from the military, after lightning sparked the blazes, which have been exacerbated by high temperatures and dry grass and brush, Schwarzenegger wrote in a letter sent to Republican President George W. Bush today. ``With more lightning storms forecast for later this week, we sit at a critical tipping point in California that requires immediate federal help and aggressive pre-positioning of federal resources,'' wrote Schwarzenegger, also a Republican. ``I respectfully request federal active duty forces.''
Related: California: State woos gay travelers with wedding packages MiamiHerald.com:
The new rush is on for California gold, and just as they did a century and a half ago, men and women from all over America are traveling westward to stake their claims before the lode dries up. This time they're coming in pairs to say ''I do,'' after a recent California Supreme Court ruling made it only the second state in the country to legalize gay marriage, and the first to allow same-sex partners from other states to wed within its borders.
Henry Samuel / The Telegraph:
EU police stations could be opened in Britain under plans to bring Brussels closer to its citizens. Michele Alliot-Marie, interior minister of France, said that putting multi-lingual police stations in cities and regions popular with tourists could help win back voters disillusioned with the EU. Under the proposal, made at the start of France's six-month presidency of the EU, police officers from member states would man stations in major tourist zones to assist their fellow nationals. Britons robbed in say, the south of France, would be able to speak to a British policeman about their case. Likewise, a Frenchman assaulted in London would be able to speak to a French officer in the capital.
Pastor Matt Trewhella / The Covenant News:
I find it interesting that the founding fathers of our nation had the following priority list -- God, Country, Family. The priority list of most American Christians today is -- God, Family, Church, Business. Country doesn't even make the list of American Christians today. Why did the founding fathers (almost all of whom were Christians) put Country before Family? They did so because they knew if the country was sound, their families were safe. When Christians abandon the arena of public policy, whose public policy do you think is going to rule? That's right, the policies of wicked men. Our nation is no longer sound, and our families are less safe today precisely because of our neglect of public policy.
D. Kevin Brown / Dave Black Online:
Recently our 12-18 year-olds participated in a "Rite of Passage" banquet and ceremony at Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in Wilkesboro, NC. What is this? It's simply a wonderful process and experience for our young people, their parents, and the church as a whole that points back to Scripture as the model for adulthood. Why did we do this? In our western culture, we don't really have a way of telling when a young person becomes an adult. Many ask, "Is it when they can drive, vote, drink alcohol, leave home, and hold down a job?" It’s very hard to tell. Therefore, as a church, we decided to change that and give our young people a process to help develop them into godly young men and women. We call this process, "Rite of Passage."
Roger Schultz, Ph.D. / The Chalcedon Foundation:
Acts 17 records Paul's famous discourse at Mars Hill, a classic of Christian apologetics. In Athens, Paul evangelized divergent audiences: religious (in the synagogue, v. 17a), economic (in the marketplace, v. 17b), academic (philosophers, v. 18), and political (at the Areopagus, v. 19). Paul's appearance before the assembled Athenian leaders and intellectuals is reminiscent of Socrates' defense at the Areopagus four centuries earlier, and Luke deliberately seems to make this parallel.
Michael Nystrom / Campaign for Liberty:
Many people think that America is a democracy - we hear it again and again and again. But it is not, it is a Republic. When pressed to explain the difference, most are at a loss. This informative seven minute clip from the John Birch Society’s Overview of America gives an excellent explanation of the difference.
Gary North / LewRockwell.com:
Every time I read a Bernanke speech, I cannot screen out my memory of Ron Moody as Fagin in Oliver! "I'm reviewing the situation." Fagin was boxed in, facing tough decisions. Every option was a looming disaster. But Fagin remained confident that there was a way out, somewhere, somehow. Moody's performance was pure Bernanke, four decades early. He even had a beard.
MarcStevens / YouTube:
The "rise" in gas prices is just another political illusion. The problem is fake money from the criminals called the Federal Reserve and their partners in crime, the people called the federal government.
William Norman Grigg / Pro Libertate:
Those who steal on behalf of the execrable state that rules us -- the most powerful and vicious enemy of mankind -- don't have the boldness and character of the relatively honest thief who narrates that ancient Irish folk song. No, those who steal on behalf of Washington and its affiliates don't pick on the powerful. Whether they're stealing a country and its energy resources or ripping off domestic subjects via "civil forfeiture," they prey almost exclusively on those who cannot effectively fight back.
Devvy Kidd / NewsWithViews.com:
I have been writing about vote fraud since 1993 when I ran for Congress the first time. You see, I had read a book titled, Vote Scam: The Stealing of America, and the light bulb went on about incumbents getting "reelected" for decades - incumbents the voters wanted gone. How could these buzzards continue to "win" elections when the electorate didn't want them? Vote Scam pinned it down for me. I realized our elections had been stolen from the late 1960s.
The New York Times:
The Democrat controlled Senate gave final approval on Wednesday to a major expansion of the government's surveillance powers, handing President Bush one more victory. The measure, approved by a vote of 69 to 28, is the biggest revamping of federal surveillance law in 30 years. It includes a divisive element that Mr. Bush had deemed essential: legal immunity for the phone companies that cooperated in the National Security Agency wiretapping program he approved after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Coach Dave Daubenmire / NewsWithViews.com:
Make no mistake about it; Christianity is almost illegal in America. Oh, they let us stay in our churches and sing songs, but they are hell-bent on making sure that we don’t take our faith outside of the four walls of our stained-glass fortresses. Christians think they have impact but it is a façade. For the most part the modern evangellyfish church is a toothless tiger.
Chuck Baldwin / The Covenant News:
The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah faced a generation that is very similar to the one we face today, I am afraid. Political and corporate leaders had given themselves over to corruption and duplicity. The fundamental underpinnings that founded and supported the nation were being dismantled. And the spiritual leaders seemed to be powerless to do anything about it.
Don Boys, Ph.D. / The Covenant News:
Americans had won the war with England, written a Constitution under which they would be governed and eleven states had approved it. Virginia and New York approved it with the understanding that a Bill of Rights would be added. The Baptists in those states were the major promoters of a Bill of Rights to guarantee them and others added protection that they believed was missing from the Constitution.
Thomas J. DiLorenzo / LewRockwell.com:
Jefferson and most other founders viewed the Constitution as a set of constraints on the powers of government. Hamilton thought of it in exactly the opposite way -- as a grant of powers rather than as a set of limitations -- a potential rubber stamp on anything and everything the federal government ever wanted to do.
Chris Ortiz / The Chalcedon Foundation:
Wisdom, as I stated in the last issue, is God's technology. It is the hidden glory that permeates creation and is waiting for man to discover. Wisdom was in the "other trees" that Adam and Eve could freely eat (Gen. 2:16), but they chose a forbidden wisdom, which instead of "making them wise" (Gen. 3:6), brought them a frustrating awareness of their nakedness. This sin consciousness moved them away from the center of the garden to hide among the trees--the trees they should have been exploring. The center of the garden was the established beachhead for God's great dominion enterprise for man. His intent was that Adam and Eve utilize the trustee family to work with the raw stuff of creation, glean the principles of technology (wisdom), and create godly civilization.
Bill Bonner / The Daily Reckoning:
One trillion, six hundred billion dollars is a lot of money. If Bridgewater is right, the whole financial sector will be gutted. You'll remember, dear reader, after manufacturing pulled out of America, the financial industry was left. And retail. Housing. Services. And not much else. The center of economic power shifted from Detroit and Trenton -- where they made things -- to Manhattan, where they financed them. Mothers ceased wanting their babies to grow up to be CEO of General Motors; they wanted them to go to Wall Street. That's where the real money was. Finance was the key not only to huge profits itself, but also to the growth of the retail and housing sectors. People bought durable goods and consumer goods on credit. No credit; no purchases. No purchases; no consumer economy. Well, now GM has lost 75% of its value...and the financial industry is not far behind.
Gary North / LewRockwell.com:
I have given a lot of thought to this question: "What is the worst-case scenario that has a relatively high probability of taking place over the next six months that I want to prepare against?" ... I keep coming back to the same event: war with Iran.
Gary DeMar / American Vision:
While the internet is a great blessing, it needs to be used judiciously and with a critical eye. Just because someone finds a bunch of scattered quotations on the internet don't assume that they are valid, not even when you track them to four other sites where they are still unsourced. Always ask this question: "What is the source, and can I see it?" And when a source is noted, keep in mind that the context of a citation is also critical.
The Associated Press:
Demonstrations in Mount Vernon, Ohio, on the town square show how divided people are over the school board's decision to fire a science teacher accused of preaching his Christian beliefs in the classroom and burning crosses on students' arms. John Freshwater, 52, was fired last month after an outside consulting firm released a report concluding that he taught creationism and was insubordinate in failing to remove a Bible and other religious materials from his classroom at Mount Vernon Middle School.
Richard Gould / Hickory Record:
The arrest happened in Hickory, North Carolina at a Jaycees sponsored event -- Hickory Alive. Full Proof Gospel Ministries President Jesse Boyd, 32, and his brother, Matthew Boyd, 29, both of Hickory, were arrested while handing out Biblical literature on Union Square. The brothers were charged with second-degree trespassing. When asked for comment, Jesse and Matthew Boyd referred all questions to their attorney, Chris Anne Hall of the Christian Law Association.
Doug Newman / The Fountain of Truth:
In America, we enjoy a measure of freedom. However, we are not nearly as free as we think we are. Our liberty is under assault from multiple directions every day. This assault is not being waged by some dorko in a cave in Afghanistan and his scary brown minions. Rather, it is being waged by our own government. Already, "the land of the free" has the world's highest incarceration rate. There is so much creeping tyranny and so little time to address it all. And millions of Americans are in total denial.
David Alan Black / The Covenant News:
Speaking personally, and only personally, there is no doubt in my mind that America is moving toward a permanent militaristic outlook. The public now accepts as normal and inevitable that the nation must be prepared to go to war at any moment. The conclusion I derive from this is that America is not guided as much by evidence as by custom. A classic case in point is Iran (see my essay on this subject). A kind of unthinking pragmatism has settled upon us like dust. If we flex our muscles the world will respect us -- so we argue. We have forgotten the servant role of Christianity. We attempt to exploit the powers rather than persuade them to conform to the way of Christ. We have forgotten that we need to make it clear that our loyalty is to Christ and not to the state. Indeed, uncompromising loyalty to Christ is the best way to render service to the state and, at the same time, to engage in prophetic witness to the world around us.
Gary North / American Vision:
We do not read the documents of the American Revolution. They make us uneasy and even guilty when we understand them, and most of the time, we do not understand them. They use language that is above us. The common discourse of American politics in 1776 was beyond what most university faculty members are capable of understanding. (Happy Fireworks Day - Part I)
Rep. Ron Paul, MD. / Texas Straight Talk:
In order to allow Americans to pay for their needs, whether for healthcare, education, or basics like food and gasoline, we need to change tax and monetary policies so the American people control more of their own money. That money needs to stay in the economy, and out of the government money pit. This means we must curb the voracious spending appetite of our federal government.
Nathanael / Ether Zone:
The re-emergence of a youtube video (Judge Napolitano: Why the Patriot Act is Unconstitutional) highlights the continuing constitutional crisis, abject leadership from the supposed liberty caucus and demonstrated cowardice of the legal class. Within "Why the Patriot Act is Unconstitutional" Napolitano describes some the felonies committed by GWBush/Cheney, then AG Ashcroft and the vast majority of the Congress in passing the USA PATRIOT Act. As stirring as these 5 minutes may be, it is crucial to recognize what he does not say. He conveys incomplete truths and acts on none of them. The substance of Napolitano's words incontrovertibly subjects himself to immediate prosecution under federal criminal statutes for misprision of felonies and misprision of treason.
R. J. Rushdoony / Chalcedon Blog:
Capitalization is the product of work and thrift, the accumulation of wealth and the wise use of accumulated wealth. This accumulated wealth is invested in effect in progress, because it is made available for the development of natural resources and the marketing of goods and produce. The thrift which leads to the savings or accumulation of wealth to capitalization is a product of character (Proverbs 6:6-15).
Lew Rockwell / LewRockwell.com:
I admit to liking one aspect of our recessionary environment. It focuses the mind on what really matters, so that we are just a bit less likely to take wealth for granted. This is a tendency of everyone who lives in a booming economy. We tend to think of the wealth that surrounds us as a fixed part of nature, something that is not going away and can therefore be toyed with and manipulated by state actors.
Joan Veon / NewsWithViews.com:
We live in a globalized world--a world without barriers or borders, which means every aspect of our economic structure has to change. A private corporation, we call the Federal Reserve, controls the majority of our monetary system. To understand the new set of powers being advanced by the U.S. Treasury Department to the Federal Reserve, we first must recognize that the Federal Reserve Act passed in 1913 never gave them (the Feds) total power over our economy.
Thomas E. Woods, Jr. / LewRockwell.com:
Today is the official release date for Who Killed the Constitution? The Fate of American Liberty from World War I to George W. Bush (Random House/Crown Forum), the book I wrote with Kevin Gutzman, the New York Times bestselling author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution. In a sense, our book states the obvious: the United States government today is restrained not by the Constitution but simply by a sense of what it can get away with.
Ellen Nakashima / The Washington Post:
The United States is negotiating deals with European countries to exchange fingerprint and DNA data in criminal and terrorist cases, and in some circumstances to transfer data on race or ethnic origin, political and religious beliefs, or sexual orientation. Such agreements are a condition for granting citizens of newer European Union member states the right to enter the United States without visas, and for maintaining that right for older E.U. members. U.S. citizens already enjoy such a right when traveling to Europe.
Betty Freauf / NewsWithViews.com:
It will be all over the radio talk and television shows for days to come. It's being written about on blogs and websites and in the mainline press. Yes, it's all about former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan's book. He writes about the deception in the George W. Bush White House, but I ask, "So, what else is new?" Old snaggle-toothed Satan invented deception in the Garden of Eden, and Adam, would you believe, blamed the woman? Deception and blame have been around forever. (Rev. 12:7-9)
Kameel Stanley / The Washington Post:
An antiabortion group is calling for a criminal investigation into a Richmond-based Catholic charity's involvement in a 16-year-old illegal immigrant's abortion. American Life League sent a letter yesterday to Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney Michael N. Herring, asking him to investigate Commonwealth Catholic Charities, which is under federal scrutiny for its role in the January abortion. "Too many questions are left hanging," said Judie Brown, executive director and co-founder of American Life League. The organization has about 300,000 members, she said.
Robert F. Hawes Jr. / LewRockwell.com:
It is one thing to know something intellectually, and quite another to see it suddenly happen before your eyes. I experienced such a moment in 2005, during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when I watched (via the Internet) as police officers went door-to-door in New Orleans neighborhoods, forced law-abiding citizens into the streets, cuffed them, and then searched their homes for firearms before leaving them bewildered and helpless. There were no warrants involved. No probable cause was mentioned. No charges of wrong-doing were filed. Intimidation and brute force were the order of the day. And as much as I wish I could believe otherwise, I’m afraid that what we saw in New Orleans is merely a preview of coming attractions.
Darrell Dow / The Backwater Report:
The Boumediene decision handed down recently by the Supreme Court grants detainees at Guantanamo Bay the right to seek habeas corpus hearings. It also engendered a slew of criticism from the Brownshirt faction at NRO and other "conservative" media outlets. Do these fellas assume the state has unlimited power not merely to invade the world but to imprison it as well? John McCain stepped into the fray and called it "one of the worst decisions in the history of this country."
Gary North / American Vision:
The best way to destroy the public’s memory of an important event is to make it into an American national holiday. Every Christmas, Americans celebrate the arrival of a bearded, red-suited Communist who looks suspiciously like Karl Marx, and who gives presents to everyone, irrespective of race, color, creed, or national origin. Parents tell their children that only good little boys and girls are so rewarded, but the kids catch on fast: they’re going to get some of the loot, no matter what. Also, they never think that their share of the booty is fair. This prepares them to be voters.
Patrick J. Buchanan / Buchanan.org:
Not until a year after Lexington did the Continental Congress muster the resolve to declare the 13 colonies free and independent states, no longer subject to Parliament or Crown. Not for five years after July 4, 1776, did George Washington’s army truly attain America’s independence at Yorktown. Even then, Washington and his aide Alexander Hamilton knew that the 13 states, while politically independent, were dependent upon Europe for the necessities of their national life. Without French ships and guns, French muskets and troops, the Americans could not have forced Gen. Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown. Cornwallis would have sailed away, as Gen. Howe had from Boston.
Tom DeWeese / NewsWithViews.com:
A few weeks ago I wrote an article about an addition to the election system called "None of the Above" and I asked American Policy Center supporters if they would support it. The answers certainly told the tale of the frustration over our election process that produces candidates most of us don't care for. First, I asked three specific questions: 1. Are you satisfied with your choices for president this year? Overwhelmingly, APC supporters answered NO. Only 3 out of 1000 responses said they were satisfied with our choices.
Jim Kouri / NewsWithViews.com:
Some well informed conservatives in the United States are sounding the alarm about plans to tax Americans for carbon emissions purported to cause what's been dubbed, "Global Warming." Adding to their fears of oppressive global climate taxation is a recent event in Canada. Read GPF on global taxes. On July 1, citizens of Canada's British Columbia began paying a so-called carbon tax for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The provincial government is levying the tax on most fossil fuels, including gasoline and home heating fuel.
Haroon Siddique / The Guardian:
Ingrid Betancourt arrived in France after being held captive for six years in the Colombian jungle, amid claims that a ransom was paid to free her. The Colombian government said that she was freed in an audacious operation after the military tricked Farc into handing the French-Colombian politician over without a shot being fired. But quoting "reliable sources", Swiss Radio reported that a ransom was paid of around $20m (£10m). It said that the US, which had three citizens among those freed, was behind the deal and that "the whole operation afterwards was a set-up".
Michael Peroutka & John Lofton / The American View Radio:
This is a must listen to show! It's a real Independence Day eye opener! Michael Peroutka and John Lofton discuss the meaning of The Declaration of Independence, and, in retrospect, how the Declaration applies to our nation's circumstances today. Great 4th of July show! --Jim Rudd
Vincent Bugliosi / Prosecution of Bush.com:
In The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, Bugliosi presents a tight, meticulously researched legal case that puts George W. Bush on trial in an American courtroom for the murder of nearly 4,000 American soldiers fighting the war in Iraq. Bugliosi sets forth the legal architecture and incontrovertible evidence that President Bush took this nation to war in Iraq under false pretenses—a war that has not only caused the deaths of American soldiers but also over 100,000 innocent Iraqi men, women, and children; cost the United States over one trillion dollars thus far with no end in sight; and alienated many American allies in the Western world.
Bret McAtee / The Covenant News:
In a speech in Zanesville Ohio, Barack Hussein Obama continued to court the evangelical vote by promising increased cooperation from the federal government for faith based initiatives. In his speech Obama mentioned several organizations that provide faith based assistance. Obama lauded them for their work but he didn't mention the danger in these groups taking money from the state. He neglected to mention that "he who take the King's coin is the King's man." He didn’t mention the danger of these faith based organizations getting hooked on government aid and what that addiction might mean in way of compromise when the State comes along with directives to the organization if it wants to retain its cash flow from the State.
Ron Paul / LewRockwell.com:
Today the Dow Jones Average was down 350-some points, gold was up $32, and oil was up another $5. There is a lot of chaos out there and everyone is worried about $4 gasoline. But I don't think there is a clear understanding [of] exactly why that has occurred. We do know that there is a supply and demand issue, but there are other reasons for the high cost of energy. One is inflation. In order to pay for the war that has been going on, and the domestic spending, we've been spending a lot more money than we have. So what do we do? We send the bills over to the Federal Reserve and they create new money, and in the last three years, our government, through the Federal Reserve and the banking system, has created $4 trillion of new money. That is one of the main reasons why we have this high cost of energy and $4 per gallon gasoline.
John Pape / FortBendNow.com:
In the face of $4 per gallon gasoline and predictions the price will rise to $7 by the end of summer, Congressman Ron Paul (R-Lake Jackson) is calling on Congress to explore how the weakened value of the dollar may be contributing to the rise in oil prices. "The price of oil is currently among the most pressing issues to American workers," Paul said. "Congress should be examining all factors contributing to the high cost of oil, and monetary policy is one of the key factors in the run-up in price."
Related: Paul Calls for Hearings on Oil Prices and the Dollar News Wire Service
WASHINGTON , DC -- Congressman Ron Paul, ranking member of the Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, has written a letter to Chairman Barney Frank of the House Financial Services Committee calling for a hearing on the relationship between the falling value of the dollar and the recent rise of oil prices, noting: "The price of oil is currently among the most pressing issues to American workers. Congress should be examining all factors contributing to the high cost of oil, and monetary policy is one of the key factors in the run-up in price."
The Associated Press:
Grappling with a record death toll in an overshadowed war, President Bush promised Wednesday to send more U.S. troops into Afghanistan by year's end. He conceded that June was a "tough month" in the nearly seven-year-old war. In fact, it was the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since the conflict began.
William Norman Grigg / Pro Libertate:
[A]fter he leaves office Bush is fully liable for any criminal actions he committed while he was president, unless his successor issues a plenary pardon. Under existing law, it is not necessary to prove a specific intent to kill in order to demonstrate "premeditation"; the act of "lying in wait" to attack a victim who subsequently dies is sufficient. (Published by The Right Source)
Devvy Kidd / NewsWithViews.com:
The move to impeach President George W. Bush has been around for years. A large number of Americans actually thought that by voting in Democrats and "taking back" Congress in 2006, not only would America withdraw from this heinous, unconstitutional war in Iraq (and Afghanistan), they could also expect the incompetent, Nancy Pelosi, to spear head the impeachment of Bush. Of course, these duped Americans were played, again. There was never any doubt in my mind that there would be no impeachment.
'Fear Mongering' Evangelicals say McCain's The One
WorldNetDaily:
Dozens of "Christian leaders" meeting in Denver have concluded they should "get behind Sen. John McCain even if they didn't like everything about him" because the alternative, presumptive Democrat candidate Sen. Barack Obama, actually could oversee the criminalization of Christianity, according to a report. "The alternative is so bad we must support John McCain," Phyllis Schlafly, (a Catholic), and president of Eagle Forum, told the group, according to the bulletin.
The Associated Press:
A government watchdog wants to see whether it can discipline Justice Department officials who improperly rejected liberal Ivy Leaguers and other top law students for plum jobs - or take action against those who benefited from having GOP roots. The inquiry by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel comes amid a class action lawsuit by one of the law students who was denied even an interview for one of the jobs, despite having worked for the Justice Department the year before. Similar lawsuits against the department are expected.
Sodomite Infested Justice Department
Flashback - June 16, 2008
At the Foot of the Capitol, Capital Pride By Michelle Boorstein / The Washington Post Gay Justice Department employees. Gay Orthodox Christians. Gay antique car collectors. If you were gay and on Pennsylvania Avenue yesterday, there was a booth for you at the Capital Pride festival, which has grown into a merry street party during its 33 years. The festival, which began with the national anthem and an all-lesbian rock band from Maryland, was the finale of Capital Pride, a 10-day affair that began June 6 and included concerts, an interfaith service, a parade and a town hall about the economic standing of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
Flashback - May 12, 2008
Bush's Sodomite Enablers Attack Special Counsel Carrie Johnson and Christopher Lee / The Washington Post
Nearly two dozen federal agents fanned out in the agency's building on M Street, where they sequestered Office of Special Counsel chief Scott J. Bloch for questioning, served grand-jury subpoenas on 17 employees and shut down access to computer networks in a search lasting more than five hours. Bloch, who was nominated to his post by President Bush in 2003, is the principal official responsible for protecting federal employees from reprisals for complaints about waste and fraud. He also polices violations of Hatch Act prohibitions on political activities in federal offices.
Dr. Patrick Johnston / The Covenant News:
When the California Supreme Court declared in a 4 to 3 ruling in May that California must allow homosexuals to marry under the same terms and conditions as heterosexuals, they caricatured the arguments against gay marriage as bigoted and unconstitutional. Nevermind that the voters in California overwhelming voted down gay marriage - equality trumps tradition, especially when you'll be hailed by the New York Times for your "historic" and "momentus" courage in this "victory for equality and justice." The most useful part of this ruling is that it exposes a fatal flaw in the arguments conservatives have consistently brought forth, in jurisprudence and in legislation, to defend conservative ideals against assault from the left. Useful, that is, if we learn from it. Our strategy for protecting marriage was destined for failure from the beginning, just as is our strategy to fix public education, protect the preborn from death by abortion, and restore our God-given liberties. It's a bitter pill, but the diagnosis of severe maladies is always a bitter pill that must be swallowed before the remedy becomes palatable.
Gary DeMar / American Vision:
"'Apocalyptic thinking is in the air,'" University of Connecticut psychologist Kenneth Ring said as we approached the year 2000. "Images stored in the collective unconscious begin to populate our dreams and visions." The year 2000 was thought to be a significant eschatological date for sociologists, utopians, New Agers, cultists, psychics, and even some Christians. New predictions are in the news, and they aren't that optimistic. The Mayan Calendar is said to predict the end of the world in 2012. It's a shame the Mayan's couldn’t predict their own end. For some reason, the Dutch are taking the prediction seriously.
Jennifer Loven / The Associated Press:
Reaching out to evangelical voters, Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama is announcing plans that would expand President Bush's program steering federal social service dollars to religious groups and -- in a move sure to cause controversy -- support their ability to hire and fire based on faith. Obama was unveiling his approach to getting religious charities more involved in government anti-poverty programs during a tour and remarks Tuesday at Eastside Community Ministry in Zanesville, Ohio. The arm of Central Presbyterian Church operates a food bank, provides clothes, has a youth ministry and provides other services in its impoverished community.
Related:
Obama Proposes Expanding Faith-Based Program By Jonathan Weisman / The Washington Post
Sen. Barack Obama, seeking to reach out to religious voters, proposed strengthening the White House program assisting faith-based social service organization Tuesday, while insisting that those groups not discriminate against aid recipients or aid workers. Obama's proposal for a $500 million-a-year Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships would also create 1 million slots for summer jobs and education programs.
Carmon Friedrich / The Backwater Report:
"Courting" (isn't that a romantic word?) the evangelical vote, the putative Democrat nominee for king of America is talking nice to "people of faith" (let's see how many quote marks and parentheses we can cram into this paragraph to convey the level of sarcasm we wish to reflect in black words on a screen), trying (rather successfully in some cases) to pull the wool over their eyes that he is full of compassion and warm fuzzy feelings for the poor and downtrodden.* Too bad he doesn’t feel the same about the helpless."
Stephen Peroutka / The American View:
"We must follow the lead of African-American Pastors in their call for the defunding of the racist agenda of Planned Parenthood. It sickens me to admit that racism is very much alive in this country, but we must all face the truth," said Peroutka, after viewing the You Tube video where Planned Parenthood employees were 'excited' to accept donations specifically earmarked to kill black babies. According to the National Black Pro-Life Union, Planned Parenthood reached the billion dollar mark in earnings last year. More than 330,000 million dollars of that was money given to them by the federal government. Stephen Peroutka says: “Our tax dollars are helping to fund the racism of Planned Parenthood—an organization that has a willingness to accept donations for the exclusive purpose of killing black babies and has a genocidal view toward unborn children in general.
Paul Craig Roberts / VDARE.com:
Which country is the rogue nation? Iraq? Iran? Or the United States? Syndicated columnist Charley Reese asks this question in a recently published article. Reese notes that it is the US that routinely commits "acts of aggression around the globe." The US government has no qualms about dropping bombs on civilians whether they be in Serbia, the Middle East, or Africa. It is all in a good cause—our cause. This slaughtering of foreigners doesn’t seem to bother the American public. Americans take it for granted that Americans are superior and that American purposes, whatever they be, take precedence over the rights of other people to life and to a political existence independent of American hegemony.
Bob Herbert / Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
[A] Nobel Prize-winning organization Physicians for Human Rights has released a report, called "Broken Laws, Broken Lives," that puts an appropriately horrifying face on a practice that is so fundamentally evil that it cannot co-exist with the idea of a just and humane society. The report profiles 11 detainees who were tortured while in U.S. custody and then released -- their lives ruined -- without ever having been charged with a crime or told why they were detained. All of the prisoners were men, and all were badly beaten. One was sodomized with a broomstick, the report said, and forced by his interrogators to howl like a dog while a soldier urinated on him. He fainted, the report said, "after a soldier stepped on his genitals."
Joby Warrick / The Washington Post:
A former CIA operative who says he tried to warn the agency about faulty intelligence on Iraqi weapons programs now contends that CIA officials also ignored evidence that Iran had suspended work on a nuclear bomb. The onetime undercover agent, who has been barred by the CIA from using his real name, filed a motion in federal court late Friday asking the government to declassify legal documents describing what he says was a deliberate suppression of findings on Iran that were contrary to agency views at the time.
Mark Grannis / The Washington Times
Most presidential campaign books come at the beginning of the campaign season. This gives even a bad campaign book undeserved relevance. But the increased relevance is generally offset by discernable reductions in candor and specificity, so as not to provide one's opponent with too many inviting targets. Ron Paul's "The Revolution: A Manifesto" defies this convention. Writing at the end of his campaign, and therefore knowing he will not be the next president, Mr. Paul forcefully articulates our bedrock constitutional principles and energetically advances his argument that these principles can restore American greatness for years to come, if we will only return to them now.
Alex Pollock / RGE Monitor:
The most notable thing about Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's proposed plan for restructuring financial regulation is the expansion of the Federal Reserve into a sort of "Super Fed." This new Fed would have oversight of all financial markets and firms, including investment banks. It would be responsible for financial market stability and would be expected to spot and control "systemic risks." The Treasury has proposed a number of changes that will likely go nowhere. However, it appears to me that the "Super Fed" could actually happen.
John Lofton / The American View:
I took my first official bus tour recently of the Gettysburg National Military Park which is run by the National Park Service, which is run by the U.S. Department Of The Interior. All of which caused me to wonder: Where in the Constitution are the Feds authorized to do something like this? Answer: Nowhere. Thus, such involvement is un-Constitutional, which is to say lawless, which is to say criminal.
Bob Strodtbeck / The Covenant News:
Only one Biblical moral principle applies to the constitutional offices throughout America's government. That principle is found in the Old Testament book, Deuteronomy, in chapter 23: 21-23, "When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for it would be sin in you, and the Lord your God will surely require it of you. However, if you refrain from vowing, it would not be sin in you. You shall be careful to perform what goes out from your lips, just as you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God, what you have promised."
Article VI of the US Constitution requires, "The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution;..." The Presidential oath requires, "...I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
For the respect of the secularist among us, Article VI also states, "...no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." Consequently the judgment that God places upon one who violates a vow is a matter acceptance of Christian orthodoxy, and since all government officials in the US are required to vow to support the constitution, any Christian who violates the constitutional oath believes he/she is calling forth Divine judgment upon his/her loathsome soul.
Mary Starrett / NewsWithViews.com:
Bob Barr, former Republican Congressman and US Attorney and now the Libertarian Party candidate for president has held many positions that constitutionalists can agree with. Many see Barr as the natural movement forward of the Ron Paul campaign, but even the most cursory examination of Bob Barr’s past political positions show he doesn't pass the smell test. In other words, you can't be for adherence to the Constitution some of the time and against it some of the time, as we shall see Bob Barr clearly is.
Bret McAtee / The Backwater Report:
In 2006 B. Hussein Obama decided to display his brilliant knowledge of Biblical hermeneutics in the public square. Recently, James Dobson took issue with Obama. Here I interact a little with the speech that Obama gave that Dobson criticized.
Patrick J. Buchanan / VDARE.com:
Last week's clash between Dr. James Dobson and Barack Obama is but the latest skirmish in a war that dates back to the time of Christ. At issue: What is Christian truth? Does the true Christian put social peace ahead of his duty to make God's Law man's law? In a speech in June 2006, Obama, citing the Book of Leviticus, which declares homosexuality an abomination, noted that Leviticus also says the eating of shellfish is an abomination and condones slavery.
Seymour M. Hersh / The New Yorker:
The Bush Administration steps up its secret moves against Iran. Operations outside the knowledge and control of commanders have eroded "the coherence of military strategy," one general says. - Late last year, Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran, according to current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources. These operations, for which the President sought up to four hundred million dollars, were described in a Presidential Finding signed by Bush, and are designed to destabilize the country’s religious leadership. The covert activities involve support of the minority Ahwazi Arab and Baluchi groups and other dissident organizations. They also include gathering intelligence about Iran’s suspected nuclear-weapons program.
Ben Feller / The Associated Press:
President Bush on Monday signed legislation to pay for the war operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for the rest of his presidency and beyond, hailing the $162 billion plan as a rare product of bipartisan cooperation. Bush made clear to thank members of both parties in Congress, singling out some sponsors of the long-delayed, compromise measure for praise. His positive comments contrasted with the confrontational tone that has dominated the debate between Congress and his administration over Iraq.
Bill Bonner / The Daily Reckoning:
Last week, there were more ghost sightings. Many analysts and commentators thought they saw the spectre of the '30s. Others could have sworn it was a poltergeist from the '70s. The U.S. stock market got smacked down yesterday - ending the day with a loss of 355 points on the Dow. The proximate cause of this punishment, according to the papers, was yet more bad news from the oil market. The oil pot bubbled up Thursday. The price of crude rose more than $5 to close at its highest point ever - $139. Hey, where's all that cheap oil the neo-cons promised when they invaded Iraq? We seem to recall three major routes to the war. First, of course, was the high road - we were going overthrow the wicked Saddam Hussein; the Iraqis would kiss our feet and become good democrats; the world would be a better place for it.
Gary DeMar / American Vision:
In his book The Population Bomb, first published in 1968, Paul R. Ehrlich made a number of predictions about the future of our planet based on his understanding of population growth and food supplies. Ehrlich’s projections were not new. Thomas Robert Malthus (1766–1834), a British political economist and mathematician, proposed that population growth would outstrip any increase in food supplies in his day.
Trayce Hansen, Ph.D. / Dr Trayce Hansen.com:
Children Raised by Openly Homosexual Parents More Likely to Engage in Homosexuality - Research by social scientists, although not definitive, suggests that children reared by openly homosexual parents are far more likely to engage in homosexual behavior than children raised by others. Studies thus far find between 8% and 21% of homosexually parented children ultimately identify as non-heterosexual. For comparison purposes, approximately 2% of the general population are non-heterosexual. Therefore, if these percentages continue to hold true, children of homosexuals have a 4 to 10 times greater likelihood of developing a non-heterosexual preference than other children.
Scott Shepard / Cox News Service:
Warning to Southern delegates to the 2008 Democrat National Convention in Denver this August: it will be a no-fry zone. As part of the effort to make the August 25-28 convention the greenest ever, the Democrats' guidelines for food catering include one that strikes at the heart of Southern cuisine: no fried food. No fried chicken. No fried catfish. No fried green tomatoes. No fried okra. No fried anything. In promoting healthy eating habits (sic), the Democrat guidelines say every meal should be nutritious and include "at least three of the following colors: red, green, yellow, purple/blue and white."
WARNING: According to Democrat "Guidelines"
the Following Website is Dangerous to Your Health