The American View:
On this "The American View" program, Michael Anthony Peroutka interviews Michael Lampiris, author of the book "Taking A Bite Out of Evolution" published by "Gift of a Lifetime." Mr. Lampiris says, among other things, that: Evolution is a lie that poisons every area of life; it is radically anti-Christian; there’s no doubt that evolution IS a religion; and evolution is a central tenet of a so-called New World Order. So, stay tuned, please, right here, right now, to THE American View where the topic of this program is evolution.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Leads Women Out of Church
Chris Ortiz / Chalcedon Blog:
In the past two decades, nearly 50,000 women have deserted churches in the U.K. "because they feel the church is not relevant to their lives." So claims a female sociologist at the University of Derby: "In short, women are abandoning the church. Because of its focus on female empowerment, young women are attracted by Wicca, popularised by the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Young women tend to express egalitarian values and dislike the traditionalism and hierarchies they imagine are integral to the church."
The Associated Press:
A small group of pagans pledged Thursday to hold a protest prayer among the ruined Acropolis temples, more than 1,500 years after Christians stamped out worship of the false Greek gods. Group spokeswoman Doretta Peppa said the worshippers would pray Sunday to Athena _ goddess of wisdom and patron of ancient Athens _ to protect the 2,500-year-old site. Peppa said followers of the old religion object to the removal last year of hundreds of sculptural masterpieces from a tiny museum on the Acropolis to a large new building under the citadel.
Al Cronkrite / The Covenant News:
Our world is quickly consolidating. Regional government is already in place in Europe and the trappings have been formulated for North America, Africa, Asia, and other parts of the world.
Jim R. Schwiesow / The Covenant News:
Today, while surfing the internet I ran across one of those interminably silly arguments, via a written exchange, as to whether the Bible is verifiably true or just a collection of colorful, and obtuse fairy tales. It is interesting that these exchanges always seem to be comprised of a divide between the collective bodies of two groups - those who despise the thought that a sovereign God exists and that He might have any control over the universe, the world or horror of horrors their own personal lives, and those nominal Christians who spin their wheels futilely and vainly with nonsensical contentions and vacuous arguments grounded only in the wisdom and doctrines of men and devoid of an unfaltering, unshakable and unassailable belief in the super natural power of the Eternal Spirit who created a universe of one hundred twenty-five billion galaxies; each encompassing one hundred billion stars.
Gary DeMar / American Vision:
In a 1979 message, Jerry Falwell presented his views on the end-times using Ezekiel 38 as a backdrop to his interpretation of the passage. Falwell asked why Russia would want to invade Israel. Quoting Ezekiel 38:12, he said the purpose is "to seize spoil and carry off plunder." Here's what he said next: "If one removes the first two letters from this word 'spoil,' he soon realizes what Russia will really be after—obviously, oil. And that is where we find ourselves today." Of course, "spoil" is the translation of a Hebrew word that has no linguistic relationship to the English word "oil." Moreover, what possible reason does Falwell give for removing the s and p from "spoil"? What if he had been using a Dutch or German Bible?
David Alan Black / Dave Black Online:
It seems that Americans are fighting these days about everything - equal opportunity, universal health care, affordable housing, the American way of life, you name it. It's all over the news. And the DNC isn't the only one doing it either. I don't want to fight for any of these things. I don't want to solve the problem of suffering. I don't want to deceive myself into thinking that I can do that. I want to suffer with those who suffer, and by suffering in this way to draw the sufferers to the one way of salvation. Does that make any sense to you?
Michael S. Rozeff / LewRockwell.com:
Building an empire is one thing. Preserving it is quite another. "If the U.S. government allows Fannie and Freddie to fail and international investors are not compensated adequately, the consequences will be catastrophic. If it is not the end of the world, it is the end of the current international financial system. The seriousness of such failures could be beyond the stretch of people's imagination." These are the words of Yu Yongding, who is a Professor in Beijing and a former advisor to China’s central bank (August 22, 2008, in Bloomberg news).
Nicholas Ballasy / CNSNews:
Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Ill. - where Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama worshipped for two decades - has received more than $1.5 million in federal tax money since 2003 through the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (FBCI), according to data provided to CNSNews.com by the White House and confirmed by Rebecca Neale, spokesperson for the FBCI. Under the FBCI program, Trinity United Church of Christ received a grant of $253,231 in 2003, the same amount in 2004, $363,200 in 2005, $352,450 in 2006, and $324,254 in 2007 for a total of $1,546,366. The grants went to the church’s child care centers. The money was provided through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Head Start program, according to an official White House 1,054 page "aggregated data sheet" of FBCI funding.
Laurence Vance / The LRC Blog:
I can't think of anything more revolting than watching the Democratic convention (unless it is watching the upcoming Republican convention). Yet, I have been told by conservative Christians that I should be watching the Democratic convention so I know what the enemy is up to. This, unfortunately, is the viewpoint of the typical conservative Christian: the Democrtic Party is our enemy, but the Republican Party is our friend, not always a faithful friend, but a friend nevertheless. There must be two Republican parties. The Republican Party that is our friend and the Republican Party that has presided over the destruction of the economy, the dollar, the rule of law, the Constitution, and liberty in general.
Jim Kouri / NewsWithViews.com:
An immigrant from a Communist country said "This is exactly what they have in communist Russia. The only choices people have are either Communist candidate A or Communist candidate B. All other competition is eliminated," he added. "Khrushchev was right when he pounded his shoe on the desk at the United Nations in the 60's and said that Americans will accept communism and not even know it."
Los Angeles Times:
By next year, about 40% of Orange County's buses will be equipped with cameras to monitor passengers and record onboard incidents. The cameras, purchased with grant money from the federal Department of Homeland Security beginning two years ago, were intended to serve as a digital watchdog against crime and a deterrent to potential threats. But officials said that none of the cameras installed on more than 100 buses so far have been used to look for criminal activity -- in part because the images were not monitored live. A pilot program to allow transit police to monitor the cameras in real time from patrol vehicles is being developed and should be in place later this year.
Mission Network News:
Persecution against Christians in India has taken a turn for the worse. President and Founder of Gospel for Asia KP Yohannan is calling it the most outrageous killing and burning spree he has seen to date. "So far, more than 130 homes of our believers have been complete destroyed -- burned down. 15 churches were destroyed. One of our churches -- they bombed it. Six of our workers and believers were brutally murdered." A few were beaten up and burned alive, while others were dismembered. "It's been one of the most difficult and painful times in the history of our work," says Yohannan.
Jason Spencer / Spartanburg Herald-Journal:
Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin is scouring South Carolina this week looking for voters who are scared of Democrat Barack Obama or distrustful of Republican John McCain. Baldwin lashed out at both of the major party candidates, calling them "globalists" and saying he couldn't get behind the Republican nominee because "the lesser of two evils is still evil."
Cal Zastrow / The American View:
An official Guinness Book of World Records attempt to display the largest ever protest sign has succeeded (8/26/08). The 530-foot tall and 666-foot wide pro-life message was being shouted from the mountaintops overlooking the Democrat National Convention. Depending on their location, thousands of DNC delegates and journalists could have looked out their hotel windows to the west to see the sign. Sponsored by "American Right To Life Action," the message initially appeared with three enormous 160-foot tall, bright yellow letters, D-N-C, stacked on top of each other.
Related:
Protest Sign Gets A Lot Of Attention (See News Clip) 9 News - Colorado's News Leader
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Denver, CO -- An "unauthorized" group (American Right to Life) spent much of Tuesday morning unveiling their political message by way of a huge sign on Table Mountain. The group of 65 adults and children was forced to remove the material after going up early in the morning to put up the sign. The sign's layout is similar to a crossword puzzle and read vertically, "DNC" and then horizontally, "Destroys, Unborn, Children." Dozens of 9NEWS viewers called to alert us about the massive protest sign. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Department says the protestors hiked up Table Mountain with backpacks carrying 2,500 sheets sewed together.
Gary North / LewRockwell.com:
The media have covered such recent events as the Olympics, the selection of Joe Biden as the Vice Presidential candidate for the Democrat Party, and what John McCain is going to do about the selection of the Vice President of the Republican Party. Now the media will focus on the national convention of the Democrat Party. The most important news for the month of August was the fact that President Bush has quietly sent the largest armada into the Persian Gulf since the Iraq war began in 2003, when there were six carrier groups. This is a huge number of ships to be concentrated in one location in peacetime. This story has been completely ignored by the news media all over the West. The only coverage is from special-interest websites. It was only on Saturday morning, August 23, that I learned what was going on.
Flashback - March 31, 2007
Pentagon Sends 3rd Carrier Battle Group to Persian Gulf U.S. Carrier Nimitz to Deploy April 2 The Covenant News
WASHINGTON -- Nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz will sail April 2 to support U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. Navy said, amid a spike in tensions over Iran’s seizure of 15 British marines and sailors. The Nimitz, and its battle group of destroyers and guided-missile cruisers, will relieve the carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, which this week took part in war games exercises in the Gulf with another carrier, USS John C. Stennis. The new battle group will be in position by late April.
Flashback - July 09, 2008
Pentagon Putting More Air Power On Afghanistan The Covenant News
WASHINGTON -- Worried about increasing insurgent attacks in Afghanistan, the U.S. military says it is sending extra air power there by shifting an aircraft carrier away from the Iraq war. Defense officials said Tuesday that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln was moved out of the Persian Gulf and to the Gulf of Oman, shortening the time that the carrier's strike planes must fly to support combat in Afghanistan. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.
Gary DeMar / American Vision:
I predicted it! When Russia invaded Georgia, a former satellite state of the former Soviet Union, I knew there would be prophecy writers who would claim that it's all part of God's end-time plan. Contemporary prophecy writers, following a long tradition of interpreting the Bible through the lens of current events, use Bible passages that can be easily shaped to fit any geo-political change. Why they didn't see these changes long ago is a mystery to me since they keep telling us that they believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible. For example, Hal Lindsey believes the prophecy Ezekiel was given by God 2500 years ago predicted today's political events based on a literal interpretation of Ezekiel 38 and 39. "'Gog' refers to modern Russia," Lindsey argues, "from Moscow (Meshech) to Siberia (Tubal). 'Magog' refers to the states along the Black Sea, and in particular, the Republic of Georgia.
Moscow Times:
Tbilisi, Georgia -- The United States expects to help Georgia rebuild its military, a top U.S. general said Thursday. "One would assume ... we would have to help them rebuild because they are a partner in the war on terror, they've been helpful. They are going to ask us, I am sure, to replace and rebuild," General John Craddock, who is in charge of the U.S. European Command, told reporters during a trip to Georgia. Craddock said he would assess Georgia's needs during his visit, due to end Friday, and report back to the Pentagon.
Darrell Dow / The Backwater Report:
Henry Van Til remarked that culture is the "externalization of religion," a product of the religious presuppositions that under gird a culture. The blessings of Western culture thus are merely the outworking and externalization of the faith of Christendom. Constitutionalism, the rule of law and the free market are outgrowths of a Christian worldview. True liberty is found in Christ and other forms of freedom are merely derivative of that fact. The blessings of the West and the resultant freedom of men to develop property and fulfill their callings is a product of fidelity to scripture.
Paul Proctor / NewsWithViews.com:
It would appear that affinity churches have become the new chic in Sunday services. The two most recent examples I found in the news have Christian worshippers in cowboy hats on horses meeting in riding arenas or wearing tattoos and leather straddling motorcycles at Sturgis.
The Washington Post:
As the trombones blared, the "saints" -- dressed in white -- filled the streets in front of God's White House in Northwest Washington to be soaked in the name of Jesus during the final day of the 82nd annual Holy Convocation of the United House of Prayer for All People. The mass outdoor baptism service was the first major event presided over by Bishop C.M. "Sweet Daddy" Bailey, the new leader of the District-based organization that has more than 1.5 million members nationwide. Bailey succeeds Bishop S.C. "Sweet Daddy" Madison, who died in April after a brief illness.
Jon Tevlin / Minneapolis Star-Tribune:
The Rev. Mac Hammond, founder of Living Word Christian Center in Brooklyn Park, told his congregation in a letter that an IRS investigation is "politically motivated," and part of "a very clear effort, on a national scale, to discredit, defame and intimidate ministries and preachers of what has been called the 'prosperity gospel.'" In his first public comments about the IRS inquiry, Hammond, who heads one of the state's larger churches with nearly 10,000 members and reaches a greater audience through Sunday TV broadcasts, said that those "behind these attacks [are] enemies of the gospel."
Religious Ministers Face New Visa Requirements in UK
Politics.co.uk via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News:
Religious ministers visiting congregations in the UK will face new visa requirements under new Home Office measures. Immigration groups and religious figures are said to be fuming at the proposals. "The new laws to restrict ministers of religion coming here will affect every religion in the UK," said Liam Clifford of Globalvisas.com, an immigration consultancy. "Maybe Catholics who disagree too loudly with abortion laws or Islamic preachers who oppose UK foreign policies could find their sponsors unable to invite them to the UK," he added.
David Alan Black / Dave Black Online:
I don't suppose it really matters, but I won't be watching the national conventions on television this year. It seems to me that every four years we are treated to the same tired spectacle of presidential aspirants telling us how they will solve all of our nation's problems. They must be kidding. Look at the political ads and what do you get but a web of accusations and counter-accusations. And then there's the so-called mainstream media. NPR reports, for example, that Joe Lieberman is a good choice because of his "foreign policy experience." No discussion of foreign policy per se. No discussion of the kind of leadership Mr. Lieberman provided the nation. No discussion of anything - just confused stuttering and generally useless commentary.
Thomas J. DiLorenzo / LewRockwell.com:
Time magazine recently took a break from advocating the nationalization of health care, a massive enlargement of the welfare state, and swooning over Barack Obama (who's been on the cover seven times to date this year) to compile a list of America's worst vice presidents. It's mostly politically-correct baloney with just enough facts to make it appear legitimate to the uneducated reader. One entry in particular - the one for John C. Calhoun as the third-worst vice president (Aaron Burr was the worst, followed by Elbridge Gerry) – caught my eye because almost every single sentence in it is untrue.
"American women are waiting longer to have children, and more than ever are choosing not to have children at all, according to a report by the U.S. Census Bureau. Twenty percent of American women from the ages of 40 to 44 have no children, double the level of 30 years ago, the report says, and women in that age bracket who do have children have fewer than ever - an average of 1.9, compared with the median of 3.1 in 1976."
The only group bucking the trend: Hispanic women, who average 2.3 children. Hence the demographic transformation of the country continues apace.
"The alien who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower... You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the LORD your God" (Deuteronomy 28:43, 62).
Tom Ambrose / NewsWithViews.com
Even when I was a young boy, Hallmark was a household name. We bought their greeting cards for birthdays and Christmas, and they sponsored family-oriented TV shows on network television. But with their decision to begin publishing cards for homosexual "weddings" they have apparently changed from being family oriented to being politically correct.
Stephen Lendman / Global Research:
For the West, everything changed but stayed the same, hard-wired and in place. Things just lay dormant in the shadows during the Yeltsin years, certain to reemerge once a more resolute Russian leader took over. If not Vladimir Putin, someone else little different. Russia is back, proud and reassertive, and not about to roll over for America. Especially in Eurasia. For Washington, it's back to the future, the new Cold War, and reinventing the Evil Empire, but this time for greater stakes and with much larger threats to world peace. Conservatives lost their influence. Neocons are weakened but still dominant. The Israeli Lobby and Christian Right drive them. Conflict is preferred over diplomacy, and most Democrats go along to look tough on "terrorism." Notably their standard-bearer, vying with McCain to be toughest.
Patrick J. Buchanan / LewRockwell.com:
Mikheil Saakashvili started this war with his barrage attack and occupation of South Ossetia. Russia's war of retribution was far less violent or excessive than the U.S. bombing of Serbia for 78 days over Kosovo, or our unprovoked war on Saddam Hussein's Iraq, which has brought death to scores of thousands, or Israel's 35 days of bombing of Lebanon for a border skirmish with Hezbollah. Yet, declared John McCain of Russia, "In the 21st century, nations don't invade other nations." Even Dick Cheney must have guffawed.
Fred Reed / Fred On Everything:
I wonder whether the United States hadn't ought to re-ponder the place of the military in society and in the world. There is not the slightest chance that this will happen, but wondering has not yet been forbidden. It appears to me that bureaucratic clotting set in years back, and is now having its effect in spheres martial. A robust economy can afford frivolities that one in derobustion cannot. And that is where America is. The US military is the military of World War II, but with better technology. The Navy still consists of carriers surrounded by ships intended to protect the carriers. The heart of the army is still armored and infantry divisions with artillery and close-air support. The Air Force too. All are designed to fight enemies like themselves. However, there are no enemies like themselves, and WWII forces do not well fight the enemies they do have, such as ragtag dispersed guerrillas, because they are not intended to fight them.
Gospel for Asia:
At least one Gospel for Asia missionary has been attacked, churches and homes have been destroyed and Christians are fleeing for their lives in India's Orissa state in the wake of the murder of a leading anti-Christian activist leader. A GFA correspondent has reported that as night fell Sunday (August 24) on Orissa, "the roads are being blocked by felling trees, and attacks on Christians have started."
The Associated Press:
Hindus set fire Monday to an orphanage run by Christian missionaries in eastern India, killing one woman and seriously injuring a priest, police said. A senior police officer said the woman who died was most likely a lay employee giving computer training to children at the orphanage. Initial police reports identified her as a nun. "Police are investigating. ... The woman most probably was not a nun," said Gopal Chandra Nanda, director general of state police, the most senior officer in the state.
The Washington Post:
China released eight American protesters from jail and put them on a plane for Los Angeles on Sunday night as the Beijing Olympics closed in a rousing ceremony at the Bird's Nest stadium, an advocacy group said. Top diplomats at the U.S. and British embassies earlier in the day had pressed for the immediate release of 10 foreigners -- the eight Americans, a Briton and a German citizen of Tibetan origin. All had been sentenced to 10 days of detention after police swarmed their unauthorized pro-Tibet demonstrations last week. Forty-eight other foreign protesters detained by Chinese authorities during the Games were immediately deported.
Fires In Sodomite State Cost U.S. Taxpayers Millions
The Associated Press:
The cost of fighting large fires in California and elsewhere is forcing the U.S. Forest Service to divert hundreds of millions of dollars set aside for work including roads, trails, recreational improvements - even fire prevention. In a memo this month to regional foresters, Forest Service Chief Abigail Kimbell said spending on fires could reach $1.6 billion this year, about half the agency's budget.
Bret McAtee / The Backwater Report:
In good Messianic fashion B. Hussein Obama picked a guy who has the mouth of a prophet. Biden has been delegated by the Messiah to go forth and herald to the masses that the great "I am that I am" has arrived. Biden’s message will be along the lines of ... "I bear witness that there is no God but Obama and that Biden is His servant." B. Hussein Obama's pick of Biden is risky and traditional at the same time. It is traditional because he has picked a experienced insider politician who balances the ticket by how white he is. Indeed, Biden may be the first white male who was picked because of his whiteness and his maleness. In making Biden his VP running mate Obama is conceding his difficulty with securing the traditional white male blue collar Democratic base, and he is hoping that Biden will bring these voters home.
Devvy Kidd / NewsWithViews.com:
Back on December 18, 2006, I wrote a column on Joseph Biden's decision to once again run for president. Biden has now been tapped as Marxist Barack Hussein Obama's choice for vice-president. One columnist wrote this was akin to a Watergate suicide. Biden was dropped like a hot potato by the DNC in 1998 when he ran for president because Biden was exposed as a liar and cheat, although now it seems to be a qualifier for both the Democrat and Republican parties. I'm not a Republican and I would never vote a despicable person like Juan McCain. Like Obama, Biden plagiarized someone else's speech. Biden also plagiarized in law school; NY Times article back in 1987.
Maine First:
Rita Moran describes herself on her Blue Pagans at the DNC [Democrat National Convention] blog as Chairperson of the Kennebec County Democrat Committee, and is attending the Democrat National Convention as an official delegate for the state of Maine. Rita, who runs a bookstore in Maine [Apple Valley Books in Winthrop], was outed and stalked last year by a local conservative Christian organization [Christian Civic League of Maine]. Since then she has dedicated herself to being an open and positive Pagan presence within the Democrat Party. She is blogging daily from the Convention, and recently held a public pagan ritual in downtown Denver, where the Convention is being held.
Alan Stang / Ether Zone:
Israeli influence in these united States, legal and illegal, is immense and has been well covered. Some observers say it amounts to control. At the top of that influence is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which of course is legal, except that a couple of its officials await trial for a species of espionage. Larry Franklin, an Air Force Reserve Colonel with a Top Secret clearance, was convicted and sentenced to thirteen years in prison for passing information to them that wound up in Jerusalem. Jonathan Pollard, in prison for many years, spied on us in Israel’s behalf. There are many others.
Joby Warrick / The Washington Post:
The controversy over a best-selling author's account of forgery and deception in the White House deepened Friday with a new CIA denial that it helped the Bush administration produce phony documents suggesting past links between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. Author Ron Suskind's book "The Way of the World," released earlier this month, contends that the White House learned in early 2003 that the Iraqi president no longer possessed weapons of mass destruction but went to war regardless. Suskind wrote that the information was passed to British and U.S. intelligence officials in secret meetings with Tahir Habbush, Iraq's spy chief at the time.
Doug French / LewRockwell.com:
"There will be more bank failures, but nothing compared with previous cycles, such as the savings-and-loans days," Sheila Bair, chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), said in an interview recently after $32 billion IndyMac was seized by Bair's organization. The IndyMac failure is the second largest in history behind the failure of the $41 billion Continental Illinois National Bank back in 1984. What took Continental down and led to the biggest bank bailout in US history is the primary focus of Irvine H. Sprague's Bailout: An Insider's Account of Bank Failures and Rescues. The author spent over eleven years at the FDIC as Chairman and Director and oversaw 374 bank failures during his tenure.
The Associated Press:
President Bush declared Sunday that four Florida counties hit hardest by Tropical Storm Fay are major disaster areas, making them eligible for federal aid. The declaration makes funds available for emergency work and repairs to governments in Brevard, Monroe, Okeechobee and St. Lucie counties. State and federal emergency officials are still assessing the damage from the weeklong storm that caused at least 11 deaths in Florida and one each in Georgia and Alabama. More counties could be added.
"And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants." (Leviticus 18)
Related:
Fla. Town Backs Ex-Principal in Gay Student Case
PONCE DE LEON, Fla. (AP) -- When a high school senior told her principal that students were taunting her for being a lesbian, he told her homosexuality is wrong, outed her to her parents and ordered her to stay away from children. He suspended some of her friends who expressed their outrage by wearing gay pride T-shirts and buttons at Ponce de Leon High School, according to court records. And he asked dozens of students whether they were gay or associated with gay students. The American Civil Liberties Union successfully sued the district on behalf of a girl who protested against Principal David Davis, and a federal judge reprimanded Davis for conducting a "witch hunt" against gays. Davis was demoted, and school employees must now go through sensitivity training.
Chris Ortiz / Chalcedon Blog:
If you haven't heard of the Florida Outpouring, then you've missed nothing. If you have, then you'll be delighted to hear that what we all assumed has come to pass. The criminal "evangelist" Todd Bentley has fallen into sin.
Albert Mohler / AlbertMohler.com:
Is belief in hell disappearing? "Absolutely," says Barnard College professor Alan Segal, author of Life After Death: A History of the Afterlife in Western Religion. Segal's remark is found within a news story released by Religion News Service. In "Belief in Hell Dips, But Some Say They've Already Been There," Charles Honey traces the transformation of hell in contemporary America. The catalyst for Honey's article was the "U.S. Religious Landscape Survey" released this summer by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The data do indicate a shift in beliefs concerning hell. In the Pew study, just 59 percent of those surveyed indicated belief in a concept of hell "where people who have led bad lives, and die without being sorry, are eternally punished." That figure, Honey reports, is down from 71 percent "who said they believed in hell" as recently as a 2001 Gallup poll.
David Alan Black / Dave Black Online:
InterVarsity Press's newly released Rediscovering Paul is, I am discovering, a happy addition to my very selective library. It contains so many gems I don't know where to begin to list them. The very first page of the Introduction has this truthy nugget that ought to make every believer blush.
Michael Peroutka & John Lofton / The American View Radio:
For the first time, in our studio with us, in living color, John F. McManus, President of the John Birch Society, is interviewed by Michael Anthony Peroutka & John Lofton. The JBS, on many issues, has been far ahead of its time. Among those things discussed: Our Constitution; the New World Order (yes, Virginia, and all the other states, there is such a "conspiracy") and the necessity to return to the original American view. Hmmm….the American view. We like the sound of that phrase. It should be a radio show…and it is! Listen now!
Alliance Defense Fund:
Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the city of Elmira after police prohibited a group of Christians from expressing their beliefs at a recent event celebrating homosexual behavior. "Christians shouldn't be discriminated against for expressing their beliefs," said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Joel Oster. "Police cannot threaten to arrest Christians at a city park for sharing their viewpoint at an event open to the general public. Respecting their free speech rights is not optional."
The Christian Science Monitor:
His face fills the screen as the man looks earnestly into the camera and speaks directly to the viewer. "As a pastor, I know you can learn a lot about a man's character by the way he treats his family," he says. It's prominent pseudo-evangelical leader Brian McLaren, and so begins the new TV ad for Sen. Barack Obama, which ran last weekend during Pastor Rick Warren's presidential forum at Saddleback Church in California. The ad on "standing up for families" doesn't come from the Obama campaign, but from an independent political action committee (PAC) that has recently joined the battle for the Christian vote.
"Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." (Romans 1)
Related: Obama -- The Pro-'Gay' Candidate Jeff Johnson / OneNewsNow
According to at least one political analyst, Barack Obama has gone farther in supporting the homosexual agenda than any other presidential candidate in history. Peter LaBarbera, founder of Republicans for Family Values, says a recent letter from the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee to a homosexual activist group confirms the extremism of his positions.
'Gays' credit Obama for Dem's pro-homosexual platform WorldNetDaily
The release of the proposed platform for the Democrat Party's national convention has leaders of homosexual advocacy groups thanking presidential candidate Barack Obama for helping create a platform that aligns with "lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender" (or LGBT) activists' vision of American values.
Michelle Obama praises husband’s support for homosexual causes Catholic News Agency
Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, on Thursday told the Democratic National Committee’s Gay and Lesbian Caucus that her husband wants to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and reverse the rule on homosexuals in the military. In her speech, she also compared homosexual advocacy groups with the civil rights movement, referring to events “from Selma to Stonewall” as a progression of justice.
The Associated Press:
Court authorities here will be able to track students with a history of skipping school under a new program requiring them to wear ankle bracelets with Global Positioning System monitoring. But at least one group is worried the ankle bracelets will infringe on students' privacy. Linda Penn, a Bexar County justice of the peace, said she anticipates that about 50 students from four San Antonio-area school districts - likely to be mostly high schoolers - will wear the anklets during the six-month pilot program announced Friday. She said the time the students wear the anklets will be decided on a case-by-case basis.
The Associated Press:
Tropical Storm Fay crossed into the Florida Panhandle on Saturday, becoming the first storm of its kind in recorded history to hit the state four different times. Fay's center made landfall around 1 a.m. EDT about 15 miles north-northeast of Apalachicola, Fla., according to the National Weather Service's National Hurricane Center. Fay was expected to skirt across the Panhandle's coast Saturday and the coast of Mississippi and Alabama on Sunday, forecasters said.
"And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants." (Leviticus 18)
Related:
Fla. Town Backs Ex-Principal in Gay Student Case
PONCE DE LEON, Fla. (AP) -- When a high school senior told her principal that students were taunting her for being a lesbian, he told her homosexuality is wrong, outed her to her parents and ordered her to stay away from children. He suspended some of her friends who expressed their outrage by wearing gay pride T-shirts and buttons at Ponce de Leon High School, according to court records. And he asked dozens of students whether they were gay or associated with gay students. The American Civil Liberties Union successfully sued the district on behalf of a girl who protested against Principal David Davis, and a federal judge reprimanded Davis for conducting a "witch hunt" against gays. Davis was demoted, and school employees must now go through sensitivity training.
Chuck Baldwin / The Covenant News:
Once again, "pro-life" Christians are doing back flips to try and justify their compromise of the life issue by trying to convince everyone (including themselves) that John McCain is truly pro-life. However, these same people know in their hearts that John McCain shares no fidelity to the life issue in any significant or meaningful way. Like many in the Republican Party, McCain's commitment to life is about as deep as a mud puddle.
Machen on Imperialism, Militarism, and Conscription
Laurence M. Vance / LewRockwell.com:
Who is J. Gresham Machen and why should we care what he said about imperialism, militarism, and conscription? John Gresham Machen (1881-1937) was a conservative Presbyterian New Testament scholar who taught at Princeton Theological Seminary from 1906-1929. Because he believed that the seminary had left its historic theological position, Machen left Princeton in 1929 and founded Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, teaching there until his untimely death in 1937. Machen was widely recognized in his day as one of the most scholarly and zealous defenders of conservative Protestantism. Machen was not a pacifist, and neither was he connected in any way with one of the historic peace churches. He was the epitome of an orthodox, conservative Christian. And that is why we should care about what he said about imperialism, militarism, and conscription. Too many Christians today believe that a conservative Christian should identify politically with the conservative movement, which today generally supports war, militarism, and an aggressive U.S. foreign policy – at least when a Republican president is in charge.
Patrick J. Buchanan / VDARE.com:
Who is Randy Scheunemann? He is the principal foreign policy adviser to John McCain and potential successor to Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski as national security adviser to the president of the United States. But Randy Scheunemann has another identity, another role. He is a dual loyalist, a foreign agent whose assignment is to get America committed to spilling the blood of her sons for client regimes who have made this moral mercenary a rich man. From January 2007 to March 2008, the McCain campaign paid Scheunemann $70,000—pocket change compared to the $290,000 his Orion Strategies banked in those same 15 months from the Georgian regime of Mikheil Saakashvili.
Andrea Schwartz / The Chalcedon Foundation:
Public schools can expect resurgence in attendance in the coming months and years as harsh economic realities intensify. Is it because state schools offer a better education than their private counterparts? Hardly. When families have to prune their budgets, cutting back on taxes is not an option. Thus, the thinking goes, we might as well make use of the tax dollars we are paying into the system and get the "free" education we are entitled to. Thus, Christian education gets allocated to the luxury column in the financial spreadsheet.
Paul Proctor / NewsWithViews.com:
Evangelist Todd Bentley and Bigfoot were both summer sensations this year -- stealing the headlines and captivating both the curious and the critic with their 15 minutes of fame. Bentley, a larger than life "miracle worker" from Canada, put on a big show here in the States that drew a lot of people and a lot of media attention down in Lakeland, Florida. Bigfoot, on the other hand, didn't have to do a thing to amaze the masses but lay frozen in a freezer. It didn't matter how outrageous the claims – how preposterous the premise or how bazaar the behavior of those involved. Readers and viewers couldn’t get enough of either one.
The Associated Press:
President Bush issued a federal disaster declaration Thursday for the affected parts of Florida, as hundreds of residents fled floodwaters that drove alligators and snakes out of their habitats and into streets. The erratic storm has dumped more than two feet of rain along parts of Florida's low-lying central Atlantic coast. It is just the fourth storm to make landfall in Florida with such strength three separate times, and the first in nearly 50 years. Before it eases across the Panhandle by the weekend, it could bring buckets rain.
"And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants." (Leviticus 18)
Related:
Fla. Town Backs Ex-Principal in Gay Student Case
PONCE DE LEON, Fla. (AP) -- When a high school senior told her principal that students were taunting her for being a lesbian, he told her homosexuality is wrong, outed her to her parents and ordered her to stay away from children. He suspended some of her friends who expressed their outrage by wearing gay pride T-shirts and buttons at Ponce de Leon High School, according to court records. And he asked dozens of students whether they were gay or associated with gay students. The American Civil Liberties Union successfully sued the district on behalf of a girl who protested against Principal David Davis, and a federal judge reprimanded Davis for conducting a "witch hunt" against gays. Davis was demoted, and school employees must now go through sensitivity training.
'Rivers of Raw Sewage' In Streets
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Flood victims of Tropical Storm Fay were warned about rivers of raw sewage possibly flowing through some Florida neighborhoods. The state's surgeon general, Ana Viamonte Ros, notified Floridians Thursday about fecal matter danger created by the stalled weather system.
Eric Rauch / American Vision:
After last week's article was posted, several responders questioned the need for "interpretation" at all. The argument is old and goes something like this: "The Bible is quite clear and communicates its message easily enough so that a child can 'get it.' People who want to ask questions about what this or what that 'means' are simply trying to make the Bible say more than it actually intends." Although there is some truth behind this concern, the purists who try to make such an argument are often tragically misinformed in just how much hermeneutics—the study of interpretation—is used on a daily basis.
Chris Ortiz / Chalcedon Blog:
A bibliophile is a great lover and collector of books. The world is full of such--and the Reformed community likely makes up a sizable portion of that population--but I must confess that I am not one of them. Bibliophiles are always posting their reading lists, favorite books, or books they'd like to read. I have never understood the fascination with publishing such things. Why would you want others to know that information?
Mike S. Adams / Alliance Defense Fund:
So this lesbian goes walking into a counselor's office to get help with her same-sexed relationship. Actually, it sounds like the start of a really bad joke but it isn't. The counselor's name is Marcia Walden. In addition to being a counselor she is a devout Christian who believes it is immoral to engage in same-sex relationships. So she faced a tough decision when Jane, her prospective client, sought help resolving problems in her lesbian relationship.
The Washington Post:
Six Americans detained by police this week could be held for 10 days, according to Chinese authorities, who appear to be intensifying their efforts to shut down any public demonstrations during the final days of the Olympic Games. A short statement faxed Thursday by Beijing police to foreign news agencies said the six foreigners were apprehended for "upsetting public order" and would be subject to the 10-day detention. The five video bloggers had posted images online from the group's demonstrations in Beijing. Tethong identified them as Brian Conley, Jeffrey Rae, Jeff Goldin, Michael Liss and Tom Grant. The other is James Powderly, who was preparing to use a laser to project a pro-Tibet message onto a Beijing building when he was taken away by police Tuesday.
The Associated Press:
A group of American Christians who had more than 300 Bibles confiscated by Chinese customs officials said they got them back when they returned to the airport Wednesday to leave the country. Members of Vision Beyond Borders had refused to leave the airport in the southwestern city of Kunming for 26 hours after arriving on Sunday, but finally left after realizing that the communist authorities would not relent. "They were nice, but you could tell they wanted us to leave," Klein said. He said the group had planned to distribute the Chinese-language Bibles to Christian contacts in China.
Justin Juozapavicius / The Associated Press:
Some money that flowed into Oral Roberts Ministries earmarked by donors for scholarships or other campus needs was instead placed in an "unmarked, miscellaneous" account shared by both the ministry and Oral Roberts University, a former ministry employee told The Associated Press. The employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, worked in a department that processed thousands of dollars a day. Her description of the account appears to corroborate some claims by a former ORU accountant, who alleges in a wrongful termination lawsuit he had "limited access to unrestricted accounts" and discovered one account used to "funnel exceedingly large sums of money through the university each month that was not used for any legitimate university purpose."
Modern-day Thomas Paine / YouTube.com:
Thomas Paine, author of "Common Sense," returns to modern times to pleas for a second revolution to take back America, Now!
The Associated Press:
While this year's presidential election shows signs of drawing in more young voters than any since 1992, the candidates who pulled some of them into the Republican race are long gone - and it's unclear whether they've taken their young supporters with them. Paul has not endorsed another candidate and says his supporters "should do whatever they want." But at a party the night before a recent rally in Washington, he told one Paulite, "The contest is to get as many votes as we can to not support the two major candidates." Electing a third-party candidate "would be the best thing for the country," Paul said. "Whether (Obama) wins or McCain wins, policies won't change." [But] most members of Huck's Army, a Web site for Huckabee supporters, plan to follow his advice to back McCain, although a number have "some reservations," said David Schmidt, 23, executive director of the site.
Coach Dave Daubenmire / NewsWithViews.com:
That was the defining question asked by Pastor Rick Warren at his "Christian" forum the other night. Even though both candidates disagreed on how evil should be dealt with, both McCain and Obama made it clear that they believe there is such a force. Seeing how this was a debate involving self-proclaimed Christians, in a Christian church, hosted by a Christian pastor, this was a great opportunity for America's leading evangelical to define for all America the root cause of our nation's problems. Instead, Pastor Warren moved on to climate change, adoption, and other peripheral issues.
The Associated Press:
Emergency crews launched airboats into submerged streets Wednesday to rescue central Florida residents trapped by rising floodwaters from a stalled Tropical Storm Fay, which soaked the state for a third consecutive day. Calling the flooding "catastrophic," Gov. Charlie Crist requested an emergency disaster declaration from the federal government to defray rising debris and response costs. The White House said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was reviewing the request.
"And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants." (Leviticus 18)
Related:
Fla. Town Backs Ex-Principal in Gay Student Case
PONCE DE LEON, Fla. -- When a high school senior told her principal that students were taunting her for being a lesbian, he told her homosexuality is wrong, outed her to her parents and ordered her to stay away from children. He suspended some of her friends who expressed their outrage by wearing gay pride T-shirts and buttons at Ponce de Leon High School, according to court records. And he asked dozens of students whether they were gay or associated with gay students. The American Civil Liberties Union successfully sued the district on behalf of a girl who protested against Principal David Davis, and a federal judge reprimanded Davis for conducting a "witch hunt" against gays. Davis was demoted, and school employees must now go through sensitivity training.
Extreme Theology:
Granger Community Church is considered to be one the brightest stars in the Purpose-Driven Church universe and is the 6th most influential church in America. Thousands of churches have purchased, downloaded and preached Granger's sermons. Past and present pastors from Granger are considered 'rock stars' and thought leaders in purpose-driven / seeker-sensitive circles. But how effective are these Purpose-Driven / Seeker-Sensitive methods at making true converts and true Christian disciples?
Ralph Jennings / Reuters:
At least eight American blogger-activists and several other foreigners have been detained in Beijing as the government intensifies a crackdown on pro-Tibetan protests in the home stretch of the Olympics, rights groups said on Wednesday. Students for a Free Tibet earlier said authorities detained five self-styled "citizen journalists" who were in Beijing to promote Tibetan freedom on Tuesday. The New York-based group said activist-artist James Powderly had also been nabbed.
The Associated Press:
The White House is missing as many as 225 days of e-mail dating back to 2003 and there is little if any likelihood a recovery effort will be completed by the time the Bush administration leaves office, according to an internal White House draft document obtained by The Associated Press. The nine-page outline of the White House's e-mail problems invites companies to bid on a project to recover the missing electronic messages. "With an eye on the clock, the White House continues to drag its feet and do everything possible to postpone public access to the records of this presidency," said Anne Weismann, chief counsel to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a private watchdog group.
David Alan Black / Dave Black Online:
"In the current welter of religious publication, it might be helpful to explain why, with my latest book, I've decided to throw another pound or two of paper on the heap. ... What really surprises me is that I had not thought of writing this book earlier in my career. For New Testament teachers, a subject as central as discipleship can be ignored only at our peril. In some ways, I've returned to my youth, when as a Jesus freak I extolled the Jesus way of life (while spouting the worst platitudes). But Jesus freaks never go out of style."
Dr. Richard A. Jones / American Vision:
Whether in good economic times or "bad," many American parents stubbornly saddle themselves with a needless and frequently counterproductive financial burden. Fortunately, it's a burden with potential to be significantly minimized and that homeschoolers can shrink drastically. American Vision wants to help. This dollar drain on families is the ransom that Darwin-based, Darwin-dedicated, 100% "politically correct" U. S. colleges and universities extort annually from habit-blinded parents. For $25K per year for four years or more, the schools sell a shoddy product that no longer commands the respect it once enjoyed either here or by prospective students overseas.
Al Cronkrite / The Covenant News:
Alexander Solzhenitsyn is dead. He was 89 years old. The Wall Street Journal published a eulogy by Robert Conquest but buried a two and a half inch column announcing his death on an inner page of its first section. Though many WSJ readers will miss the announcement of his death and the few who read it may consider its insignificant location a gage to its importance, some will realize the true consequence of this funeral by finding the burial at a 16th-century monastery was attended by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and bore all the hallmarks of a state funeral.
Bret McAtee / The Backwater Report:
Politics is as much about expectations and perception as it is about reality. This has been seen recently in the whole hub bub about John McCain possibly picking a pro-choice Democrat or Republican Vice presidential running mate. John McCain is not, nor has ever been so politically stupid as to do such a politically suicidal thing, but he is as clever as a fox. Even with no intent to choose a Vice presidential pro-choice candidate McCain scores big in the expectations and perception categories.
John Lofton / The American View:
Well, there she goes again with another insulting email which begins with the slanderous salutation: "Dear Republican." And this time Sue Gazdo, Director, RNC Membership Services, Republican National Committee, wants me -- me!, a "Recovering Republican!" -- to "show your support for John McCain and all our GOP candidates by proudly displaying the Republican National Committee’s newest member, 'Victor the Victory Elephant.'"
Keep O'cain And Mcbama Out Of South Ossetia.
by Bob Strodtbeck / Ether Zone:
Now one thing that is constant with all of these seemingly intertwined problems of public funding and taxation and money supply is that there are Republicans and Democrats presiding over all of them, as they have been since 1850. Of course they are Republicans and Democrats in different parts of the country, but it is the same feeder system for the Washington political system that is in the middle of campaigning for our support. That entire system is telling us our future is going to be secured or destroyed by giving our electoral support to a couple of fellows named O'Cain or McBama. And that future is going to be determined largely on how one of those two men decide how to deal with... South Ossetia, Georgia.
Paul Craig Roberts / VDARE.com:
Pervez Musharraf, the puppet installed by the US to rule Pakistan in the interest of US hegemony, resigned August 18 to avoid impeachment. Karl Rove and the Diebold electronic voting machines were unable to control the result of the last election in Pakistan, the result of which gave Pakistanis a bigger voice in their government than America's. It was obvious to anyone with any sense—which excludes the entire Bush Regime and almost all of the "foreign policy community"—that the illegal and gratuitous US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and Israel's 2006 bombing of Lebanon civilians with US blessing, would result in the overthrow of America's Pakistani puppet.
Reformed Voices:
"Evangelical Christianity is now tragically below the New Testament standard. Worldliness is an accepted part of our way of life. Our religious mood is social instead of spiritual. We have lost the art of worship. We are not producing saints. Our models are successful business men, celebrated athletes and theatrical personalities. We carry on our religious activities after the methods of the modern advertiser. Our literature is shallow and our hymnody borders on sacrilege. And scarcely anyone appears to care." --A.W. Tozer
Gary DeMar / American Vision:
The 105 colonists and seamen who set sail from England and settled in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607 carried the Geneva Bible with them. The copious notes of this refugee translation, while identifying the existing papal government as the biblical antichrist, saw beyond its own generation to a more glorious future. Keep in mind that the editors of the Geneva notes believed that antichrist was a past and present reality for them. They believed antichrist was alive but would not be well on planet earth. They did not believe that the existence of the false religion of papal Rome as evidence of an any-moment rapture or a prelude to Armageddon. In fact, those who studied the notes of the Geneva Bible saw it as their mission to take the gospel to unknown lands and unsaved peoples.
William Buppert / LewRockwell.com:
I have discussed secession in two fictional conversations published on LRC prior to penning this one, and wanted to devote this essay to what secession is. The common definition is "[t]o withdraw formally from membership in an organization, association, or alliance." We seem to be of two minds on this in these united States: the War of Northern Aggression (1860–65) as portrayed in academia and the media paints a dark and malevolent picture of secession as a means to keep humans in bondage and sanctify evil deeds. As a revisionist historian, I have learned to take these assumptions with a grain of salt.
The Associated Press:
The demise of touch-screen voting has produced a graveyard of expensive corpses: Warehouses stacked with thousands of carefully wrapped voting machines that have been shelved because of doubts about vanishing votes and vulnerability to hackers. What to do with this high-tech junkyard is a multimillion-dollar question. One manufacturer offered $1 a piece to take back its ATM-like machines. Some states are offering the devices for sale on eBay and craigslist. Others hope to sell their inventories to Third-World countries or salvage them for scrap.
Chuck Baldwin / The Covenant News:
Dr. Jerome Corsi is probably the most controversial man in America these days. His blockbuster new book, The Obama Nation, is currently the New York Times Number One Bestseller, and media talking heads are having a hissy fit. They are incensed that there is someone of Corsi's intelligence and credentials who is willing to tell the truth about the presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee, Barack Obama.
Jim Rutenberg / New York Times (See FOX Interview):
Dr. Jerome R. Corsi has released a new book painting Sen. Barack Obama as a stealth radical liberal who has tried to cover up "extensive connections to Islam" -- Obama is a Christian -- and questioning whether his admitted experimentation with drugs during high school and college ever ceased. Corsi's book, "Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality". "The goal is to defeat Obama," Corsi said in a telephone interview. "I don't want Obama to be in office." Corsi, who has written critically about Sen. John McCain as well, said he supports the Constitution Party presidential nominee, Chuck Baldwin. In an interview, Corsi said Obama's word was not to be trusted.
"Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality" FOX interview with Dr. Jerome Corsi
WorldNetDaily:
With the wreck of John Kerry's "swiftboated" 2004 campaign in his rearview mirror, Barack Obama and his surrogates are wasting no time mounting a counterattack against WND staff writer and columnist Jerome Corsi, the co-author of the Swift Boat Veteran's for Truth's "Unfit for Command" and the author of current No. 1 New York Times best-seller, "The Obama Nation." Obama advisers have been tracking Corsi's media appearances, quickly telephoning producers to react to the book's charges, and last night, the Democratic presidential candidate's campaign issued a 40-page response to the book.
Related: Obama's childhood records vindicate Corsi book WorldNetDaily:
NEW YORK -- An AP photo that recently surfaced showing Barack Obama registered for school as an Indonesian citizen of the Muslim religion provides tangible evidence for some of the claims made by author Jerome Corsi in his best-selling book, "The Obama Nation."
Independent Political Report:
Chuck Baldwin, the presidential candidate of the Constitution Party, was endorsed by Jerome Corsi. Corsi is the author of New York Times best-sellers Unfit for Command and The Late Great USA. He just published his newest book Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality, which is highly critical of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. An article on Jerome Corsi was prominently featured on the front page of the New York Times today, and in that article Jerome Corsi endorsed Chuck Baldwin.
Independent Political Report:
Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin has issued a new column at ChuckBaldwinLive in which he says there's more to the Russia-Georgia conflict than we're being told by the mainstream media. Baldwin says America's foreign policy over the past several decades has been more about fulfilling the U.N.'s "global desires" than protecting the people and property of the United States. He sees the current anti-Russian hysteria as more of the same, and says John McCain appears willing to send troops to Georgia.
William S. Lind / LewRockwell.com:
What interests does the United States have at stake in the war between Russia and Georgia? Only one: that we remain out of it. It almost passes belief to think that the Bush administration, bogged down in two wars and planning a third (with Iran), might move toward a confrontation with Russia. Yet that is what the White House appears to be doing. The August 11 Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that President Bush called the violence unacceptable and Vice President Dick Cheney...said Russia's actions in Georgia "must not go unanswered"... Asked to explain Cheney's comment, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said, "It means it must not stand." That phrase should send cold chills down the back of every American.
Patrick J. Buchanan / Buchanan.org:
The American people should be eternally grateful to Old Europe for having spiked the Bush-McCain plan to bring Georgia into NATO. Had Georgia been in NATO when Mikheil Saakashvili invaded South Ossetia, we would be eyeball to eyeball with Russia, facing war in the Caucasus, where Moscow's superiority is as great as U.S. superiority in the Caribbean during the Cuban missile crisis. If the Russia-Georgia war proves nothing else, it is the insanity of giving erratic hotheads in volatile nations the power to drag the United States into war.
Rep. Ron Paul, MD. / Texas Straight Talk:
We've heard how the value of the dollar affects gas prices - and indeed the price of everything. I was pleased that my request for a hearing on such was granted by the Financial Services committee and we were able to hear some very informative testimony. Certainly domestic policies, regarding off-shore oil drilling bans, ethanol mandates, refining capacity, and CAFE standards are interventionist and harmful enough in the energy market.
Gary DeMar / American Vision:
[A]s citizens of the United States, we do not live under Caesar! This may come as a shock to Christians, but it's true. In principle we are to render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar only when we define our "Caesar." We live under the Constitution of the United States at the federal level in which we have multiple freedoms, including the right, according the First Amendment, "to petition the government for a redress of grievances." That means that we do not have to settle for "pay your taxes." We can complain, debate, and vote out of office those who are abusing their office and violating the Constitution.
Henry Makow / Ether Zone:
Modern "culture" is a product of the Luciferian conspiracy against Christian Civilization. Relentlessly negative and increasingly obscene, modern "culture" attacks the sources of dignity, decency and hope that define us as human beings rather than animals. For example last week the media in London was hyping a play about "sexual love" between a married man and a goat.
John Lofton / The American View Radio:
Why did Bush kow-tow? Ask communist government's permission? Then go to phony China church when he knew it was a registered church? Good questions. All that are discussed at length on this program with important information supplied by the China Aid Association. This is a back-story that has appeared almost nowhere. And when it did appear it was buried in paragraph 112.
Frederick Meekins / Ether Zone:
It's bad enough that those living under the heal of tyranny have their God-given rights suppressed but one expects to hear of this transpiring in less-developed countries that have never really known freedom to begin with. However, things have really gotten out of hand when those living in the United States have to fear for their livelihoods for speaking out against abridgements of liberty occurring overseas.
The Associated Press:
Chinese customs officials confiscated more than 300 Bibles on Sunday from four American Christians who arrived in a southwestern city with plans to distribute them, the group's leader said. The Bibles were taken from the group's checked luggage after they landed at the airport in the city of Kunming, said Pat Klein, head of Vision Beyond Borders. The group arrived in China on Sunday and had intended to distribute the Bibles to people in the city, Mr. Klein told the AP in a telephone interview while still at the airport. "I heard that there's freedom of religion in China, so why is there a problem for us to bring Bibles?" Mr. Klein said. "We had over 300 copies, and customs took all of them from us."
Daily Mail: The 'Undesirables' China Doesn't Want You To See:
The Beijing regime has deployed an army of 500,000 smiling volunteers to help foreigners find their way around the teeming capital city. Blades of grass have been individually combed. Signs have been erected in English. Spitting has been banned and taxi drivers have been told to wear ties. But there's none of that here in the suburb of Daxing, where the only 'venues' are the five camps into which thousands of China's 'undesirables' have been swept from the streets of Beijing and locked up. Here, down bumpy, unlit roads, is where old habits die hard for China's brutal totalitarian communist regime. These camps are being used to imprison - without trial or legal representation - people that the regime wants the world to believe do not exist amid the miracle of modern China.
Darrell Dow / The Backwater Report:
From the NY Times comes this thigh-slapper: "Russia's military offensive into Georgia has shattered, perhaps irrevocably, the strategy of three successive presidential administrations to coax Russia into alliance with the West and integration into its institutions." Who tried to do what? Even better is this quote from the Prez: "With its actions in recent days Russia has damaged its credibility and its relations with the nations of the free world. Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century." Though you might not be able to tell by watching his deeds, a bucket of rotten fruit if ever one existed, "W" has always claimed to be a Christian. He's just not much for the ole Golden Rule and never stumbled across this little blurb from our Lord: "You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly enough to remove the speck from your brother's eye."
Paul Craig Roberts / VDARE.com;
The success of the Bush Regime's propaganda, lies, and deception with gullible and inattentive Americans since 9/11 has made it difficult for intelligent, aware people to be optimistic about the future of the United States. For almost 8 years the US media has served as Ministry of Propaganda for a war criminal regime. Americans incapable of thinking for themselves, reading between the lines, or accessing foreign media on the Internet have been brainwashed. As the Nazi propagandist, Joseph Goebbels, said, it is easy to deceive a people. You just tell them they have been attacked and wave the flag.
Bob Murphy / LewRockwell.com:
George Bush, following in the footsteps of his predecessors, has established a welfare system with the warfare State. Through the (evolving) public justifications for his use of American military power, Bush has laid out principles under which foreign countries are entitled to US combat forces. As he displayed beautifully on the Glenn Beck show, Georgian President Saakashvili is a welfare king who knows how to game the system.
Related: U.S. Taxpayer to Pay for Georgia's Wrecked Economy Reuters:
WASHINGTON -- The United States is exploring ways to assist Georgia's economy including how global financial institutions can help limit economic damage caused by the conflict with Russia, a senior U.S. Treasury official said Friday. Assistant Treasury Secretary Clay Lowery said the situation in Georgia was "fluid" and it was hard to know how much harm was done to the economy and investor confidence since the crisis erupted over the breakaway South Ossetia region. "We want to be supportive of the Georgia economic situation going forward and that includes bilateral and multilateral needs," Lowery said in an interview with Reuters.
Steven LaTulippe / LewRockwell.com:
Although the unfolding drama in the Caucasus has been a tragedy for its innocent victims, the response by America's political and media elites has been an entertaining and delusional farce. To recap events, the government of the former Soviet Republic of Georgia launched a surprise invasion of South Ossetia (an autonomous republic within Georgia that has been functionally independent since the break-up of the Soviet Union).
Devvy Kidd / NewsWithViews.com:
"The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes....Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man. Thomas Jefferson's "Commonplace Book," 1774-1776, quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria in Chapter 40 of "On Crimes and Punishment", 1764. On August 15, 2008, a Texas school district voted to allow teachers to bring guns to class this fall.
The Associated Press:
Fewer Americans are reading newspapers and are instead getting their news online, but television remains the leading source of news in the country, according to a survey released Sunday. Not surprisingly, younger people tend to get more of their news on the Internet, while older folks use traditional media such as television and newspapers, the Pew Research Center's biannual survey on news consumption habits said.
Martha M. Boltz / The Washington Times:
Maudie Cecilia Hopkins of Lexa, Ark., one of the last known Confederate widows, died Sunday at the Helena Medical Center in Helena, Ark. She was 93. Mrs. Hopkins' story came to light in The Washington Times on June 12, 2004, in an exclusive article that detailed the 1934 marriage of Civil War veteran William Cantrell and the then-teenage girl. Mr. Cantrell had served in the 7th Virginia Infantry, and the aging veteran first hired Maudie Acklin to cook for him and do his laundry.
Rev. Allen M. Baker / Christ Community Presbyterian Church:
John Winthrop, while standing on the bow of the Arbella in 1630, prior to his departure to the new world, gave the most important sermon in the second millennium, A City on a Hill. In it, Winthrop laid out the Puritan vision for the new world which has clearly served as the foundation for so much of what is good in our country, including our Protestant work ethic, the importance of education, and treating all people with honor and respect. The next generation provided us with Cotton Mather of Boston, a great preacher and theologian who was fluent in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew by the time he was ten and who is the youngest to enter Harvard, having done so at the age of eleven. The next generation gave us the greatest philosopher and theologian in our history, Jonathan Edwards, one whose writings are now more popular than ever. But then we began to see a change in the fabric of American Christianity. Charles Finney, a Presbyterian who dismissed the Westminster Confession of Faith, denied the doctrine of total inability, and consequently developed “new measures’ by which to urge conversions to Christ. Asahel Nettleton, also a Presbyterian (both were born in Connecticut), stood against Finney and his new measures but Finney won a more popular following than Nettleton and Finney’s theology has generally held sway over Nettleton’s Old School Presbyterianism ever since.
David Alan Black / The Covenant News:
Isn't it nice to hear the United States sounding Jeffersonian again? Isn't it a relief to hear us condemning nations that bully other nations around? Isn't it great we are questioning one nation's right to attack another nation? Isn't it good to hear our leaders calling on nations to respect the sovereign integrity of other nations? Isn't it great that we are so quick to call for foreign troops to withdraw from a nation it has occupied?
Reed R. Heustis, Jr. / The Covenant News:
When Christians create political organizations, such as a Christian political party like the American Heritage Party, look out, duck for cover! They will be demonized as extremists, bigots, and intolerant tyrants, just to name a few of the nicer epithets. It does not require a post-graduate degree for people to realize that a cultural war is being waged in the American civil arena. There are two sides to this war: Christianity and Secular Humanism. The top priority for any civil magistrate is to acknowledge the Kingship of Jesus Christ in the political arena and to serve Him.
Family Research Council Pushes Pro-Abort Candidate
Mary Starrett / NewsWithViews.com:
I was interested to see how the Family Research Council would respond to my asking why they'd invited Senators Barack Obama and John McCain to their upcoming so-called "Values Voter" Summit while snubbing Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin. Baldwin, a committed, pro-life, Christian pastor and talk show host (www.chuckbaldwinlive.com) won the nomination of the Constitution Party, the nation's largest and fastest- growing third party at a national convention where delegates overwhelmingly chose him over Ambassador Alan Keyes. Baldwin has emerged as the 'antidote' for voters who can no longer hold their noses and vote for the 'lesser of two evils' in November. The FRC's Values Voters Summit, billed as the "largest gathering of values voters from across the nation", is sponsored by FRCAction, the legislative arm of the Family Research Council headed by Tony Perkins, and Focus on the Family, led by Dr. James Dobson (who has alternately said he "will never vote for McCain" and recently that he likely will vote for the man who spearheaded the most egregious assault on the 1st Amendment in recent history- the McCain Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act, author John McCain).
Alan Stang / Ether Zone:
Last week I confessed I had no solution to the problems that have endured for millennia in the Middle East. The good news is that I do have a solution for the people of these united States, a solution of genius guaranteed to please everyone. First, remember America's traditional foreign policy, bequeathed to us by a departing George Washington in his Farewell Address. The President admonished us to avoid "foreign entanglements." He was talking about the entanglements that for centuries provoked European wars in his time and now in ours.
Gary North / LewRockwell.com:
When the best and the brightest investors in the world lose $500 billion in one year in one market segment -- mortgages -- this raises a question: What can the rest of us do to keep from losing our shirts? Add to this another $500 billion in losses to non-bank firms as a result of the credit crunch. This total -- a trillion dollars -- is the estimate of the International Monetary Fund. Are the losses winding down? Hardly.
The Washington Post:
The Justice Department has proposed a new domestic spying measure that would make it easier for state and local police to collect intelligence about Americans, share the sensitive data with federal agencies and retain it for at least 10 years. The proposed changes would revise the federal government's rules for police intelligence-gathering for the first time since 1993 and would apply to any of the nation's 18,000 state and local police agencies that receive roughly $1.6 billion each year in federal grants.
University of Michigan:
The toll of deployment on physical health - More than 80 percent of a sample of Air Force women deployed in Iraq and other areas around the world report suffering from persistent fatigue, fever, hair loss and difficulty concentrating, according to a University of Michigan study. The pattern of health problems reported by 1,114 women surveyed in 2006 and 2007 is similar to many symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome, the controversial condition reported by veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. It is possible that some unknown environmental factor is the cause of current health problems and of Gulf War Syndrome," said U-M researcher Penny Pierce. "But it is also possible that these symptoms result from the stress of military deployment, especially prolonged and multiple deployments."
'The Family' and Its Hijacking of Evangelicalism II
Attorney Constance Cumbey / NewsWithViews.com:
Information sometimes comes to me in the midst of my own disorganization. I knew there had been a purported evangelization meeting between New Age leaders and Evangelicals. The official line was that this was a type of missionary outreach to New Agers. Although I suspected from the beginning that deeper compromise was afoot, I would not have conclusive evidence until 2007 of the Institute of Noetic Sciences role.
The Associated Press:
The former president of Oral Roberts University, who stepped down amid allegations he misspent school funds to live in luxury, is being offered a severance package but university officials won't divulge its terms. Televangelist Richard Roberts, the son of school founder Oral Roberts, resigned in November. He and his wife, Lindsay, were accused of dropping money on shopping sprees, home improvements and a stable of horses for their daughters at a time when ORU was more than $50 million in debt. Both have repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
Chuck Baldwin / The Covenant News:
Every time violence erupts somewhere in the world, our national leaders and news media make it sound like that particular outbreak is America's greatest threat. The conflict between Russia and Georgia is no exception. Almost as soon as news of the conflict broke, the presumptive Republican Presidential nominee, John McCain, was suggesting that the United States (or the United Nations) should send troops to the scene. I guess two wars are not enough for McCain; he now wants to start a third. (And with all his talk about bombing Iran, make that four.) And talk all over Washington, D.C., was mostly about what kind of military response the United States should take. Have people lost their minds? Or do people really believe that the United States is the world's--or should we say the United Nations'--policeman? Apparently, that is what our national leaders from both major parties believe.
Pat Buchanan / Buchanan.org:
Mikheil Saakashvili's decision to use the opening of the Olympic Games to cover Georgia's invasion of its breakaway province of South Ossetia must rank in stupidity with Gamal Abdel-Nasser's decision to close the Straits of Tiran to Israeli ships. Nasser's blunder cost him the Sinai in the Six-Day War. Saakashvili's blunder probably means permanent loss of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. After shelling and attacking what he claims is his own country, killing scores of his own Ossetian citizens and sending tens of thousands fleeing into Russia, Saakashvili's army was whipped back into Georgia in 48 hours. ... American charges of Russian aggression ring hollow. Georgia started this fight – Russia finished it.
Bill Engdahl / Asia Times:
What is playing out in the Caucasus is being reported in the United States media in an alarmingly misleading light, making Moscow appear the lone aggressor after it sent troops into the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia following a Georgian offensive on that territory. The question is whether President George W Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are encouraging Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to force the next US president to back the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military agenda of the current Bush administration. Washington may have badly misjudged the possibilities, as it did in Iraq, and there are even possible nuclear consequences.
Related:
Top Brass Defends Russia's Right to Preemptive Strike
Moscow News:
Russia underlined its right to a "preventive" nuclear strike this week in what military analysts interpreted as a move to introduce more clarity into the nation's defense doctrine. The statements, made by Chief of General Staff Yuri Baluyevsky on Saturday, were followed by naval exercises in the northern Atlantic that will feature over 40 aircraft of the Air Force. "We are not planning to attack anyone. But our partners should clearly understand... that the armed forces will be used if necessary to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation and its allies, including on a preventative basis, including with the use of nuclear weapons."
The Associated Press:
The foreign minister of Russia said Thursday that Georgia could "forget about" getting back its two breakaway provinces, and the former Soviet republic remained on edge as Russia sent tank columns to search out and destroy Georgian military equipment. Uncertainty about Russia's intentions and back-and-forth charges clouded the conflict two days after Russia and Georgia signaled acceptance of a French-brokered cease-fire, and a week after Georgia's crackdown on the two provinces drew a Russian military response.
Related: Russians Say Separatist Enclaves Will Not Revert to Georgia The Washington Post
MOSCOW -- The Kremlin signaled Thursday that Georgia will not regain control over two breakaway provinces that are at the center of a week-long military conflict. Despite signing onto a brokered peace agreement that called for international dialogue of the final status of the provinces, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met at the Kremlin with the leaders of both provinces and pledged to support their independence.
The Australian:
The US denied a Russian suggestion today that US military trainers were linked to a Georgian attack on South Ossetia and that some of them may have been killed. "Everyone is accounted for and safe," said Pentagon spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Elizabeth Hibner. "There are no reports of an American troop being killed." Earlier today in Brussels, Russia's NATO Ambassador hinted at US military backing for Georgia's sudden military incursion into the breakaway region of South Ossetia last week. "At least 127 American military instructors were in Georgia at the beginning of the conflict. There were joint training sessions that happened right before the start of the conflict," Dmitry Rogozin said. He indicated that some soldiers killed in the fighting could prove to be American, speaking of "dark-skinned Georgians" found dead.
Thomas J. DiLorenzo / LewRockwell.com:
Ever since its founding in 1913, the Fed has described itself as an independent agency operated by selfless public servants striving to fine-tune the economy through monetary policy. In reality, however, a non- political governmental institution is as likely as a barking cat. Yet, the myth of an independent Fed persists. One reason this myth persists is that statist textbooks have helped perpetuate it for decades.
Phil Brennan / Ether Zone:
It began as a irritant, then slowly became anger and then a simmering rage. Right now its my full-blown, ongoing outrage at what we laughingly call the mainstream media which is about as mainstream as a diet composed solely of eating grasshoppers - and considerably less nutritious. It's not just the shameful refusal of the MSM to cover the spectacle of a recent candidate for the presidency of the United States cavorting with a mistress and probably siring a child while seeking the nation's highest office and while his wife battles an incurable disease yet campaigns her heart out for him. And then lying through his shiny, pearl-white teeth about it.
Bret Mcatee / The Backwater Report:
"The trouble with Scotland is that it's full of Scots....If we can't get them out, we'll breed them out." English King Edward I (Longshanks) Dialog From The Film Braveheart
Part of the theme of Braveheart was the will of the Scottish people to retain their own unique ethnic identity over against the attempt by the English to destroy Scottish culture and ethnicity. This is a theme that is likewise picked up in the film “Rob Roy.” I’ll venture to guess that when most people viewed these films they were outraged by the attempt of the English to squash Scottish identity, ethnicity and culture as it was depicted in the film. The attempted destruction of a set people and culture may raise the ire of movie goers but it seemingly barely raises the blood pressure of Americans as life imitates art in America. This week Americans were given a view of our end as a unique culture and people.
Devvy Kidd / NewsWithViews.com:
Those were the words spoken by Bill O'Reilly on July 30, 2008. I happened to catch the segment while in my hotel room. According to Bill O'Reilly, "normal people" don't want President Bush impeached. Perhaps one must define 'normal' in Bill's world? (Didn't we do that with the other Bill and the definition what is is?) I guess O'Reilly considers phone sex with a subordinate employee normal since it appears he got caught on tape.
Lew Rockwell / LewRockwell.com:
Sometimes the bad news is the good news. So it is with the report that retail sales are down by 0.1 percent in July, the sharpest drop in many months. Why good news? It means that consumers are starting to cut back. They could be going into less debt. They might be saving more. They are being more careful about long-term plans pending short-term trends.
Joel McDurmon / American Vision:
I once asked Gary North what he considered, of all the books he's written, the most important one to read. If someone is only going to read one, which should it be? Having written near 40 or so books, he looked up into his cranial archives, perusing for a moment, but not for long. "Tools of Dominion," he quoth. I am beginning to understand why. It is an exegetical tour de force covering the book of the lay like it has never been done before or since.
William Norman Grigg / Pro Libertate
Morro Bay's municipal leaders embrace a "felon"? Charles Lynch (center, with ceremonial scissors) is welcomed by the community's business elite as he opens a licensed medical marijuana dispensary. The red-haired lady to his left is Mayor Janice Peters, who obviously didn't think that the dispensary threatened the community's "healthy family environment."
The Associated Press:
Federal officials say only six illegals volunteered to leave the United States in the first week of a pilot program inviting nearly a half-million people to self-deport. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement program is aimed at more than 450,000 illegals who have received but ignored court orders to leave the country.
The Associated Press:
The wife of televangelist Joel Osteen thanked and praised God after a jury unanimously decided Thursday that she did not assault a flight attendant during an alleged tirade over a stain on her first-class seat. Jurors rejected Continental Airlines flight attendant Sharon Brown's claims that Victoria Osteen threw her against a bathroom door and elbowed her in the left breast while attempting to rush the cockpit because she was angry that a stain on her seat's armrest was not quickly cleaned up.
Erik Rush / WorldNetDaily.com:
He has a friend who bombed the Pentagon and other government buildings. He has another who murdered African Christians. He has received endorsements and illegal campaign contributions from terrorists. Despite the veneer manufactured for him by his handlers and the press, he is so mired in far-left militancy he can barely conceal his disdain for America. Still, few Americans are even aware of the above. The question is not one of how much more proof of Sen. Barack Obama's Marxist roots we need, but how much more proof will be sufficient to convince America's media chieftains that their tacit support of his candidacy for president has become a liability they can no longer afford.
Robert Scheer - Global Research / News Wire Service:
Is it possible that this time the October surprise was tried in August, and that the garbage issue of brave little Georgia struggling for its survival from the grasp of the Russian bear was stoked to influence the U.S. presidential election? Before you dismiss that possibility, consider the role of one Randy Scheunemann, for four years a paid lobbyist for the Georgian government who ended his official lobbying connection only in March, months after he became Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s senior foreign policy adviser.
Bush squares up to Putin over Georgia
McCain: Georgian Crisis Shows Need for 'Experience'
Russia Feints Toward Tbilisi - Truce Fragile
Russian Troops Not Heading to Tbilisi - Russia
Russia Had No Choice But Counterattack in S.Ossetia - Gorbachev
News Analysis by William O. Beeman / News Wire Service:
No one should be surprised that U.S. interference in the Caucasus has led to the Russian invasion of South Ossetia. By mixing into the volatile politics of the Caucasus, and trying to recruit the governments there to become American "plumbers" for a variety of purposes, the United States has only drawn Russian fire.
August 08 - Georgian Army Moves to Retake South Ossetia
August 08 - Over 10 Russian Peacekeepers Killed in S.Ossetia
August 07 - Georgian Troops, Warplanes, Pound South Ossetia
August 03 - South Ossetia Sends Busloads of Children to Russia
August 02 - South Ossetia Say 6 Dead In Fighting With Georgia
July 15 - U.S.-Georgia Training Begins Amid Russia Strain
RT News:
The Regnum news agency is reporting that Georgian troops burned down a 10th century Orthodox church while terrified civilians perished inside. The agency quotes eyewitness accounts of the atrocity after all-out fighting in Khetagurovo, a small village near the republic’s capital Tskhinvali. Almost all of those fighting to defend the village were killed, but the report says the fate of others, mostly women and the elderly, turned out to be even more horrible.
Thomas E. Woods, Jr. / Mises Institute:
It's been 75 years since the federal government, on the spurious grounds of fighting the Great Depression, ordered the confiscation of all monetary gold from Americans, permitting trivial amounts for ornamental or industrial use. This happens to be one of the episodes Kevin Gutzman and I describe in detail in our new book, Who Killed the Constitution? The Fate of American Liberty from World War I to George W. Bush. From the point of view of the typical American classroom, on the other hand, the incident may as well not have occurred.
Brent Jessop / Knowledge Driven Revolution:
This article will explore the changes to freedom and equality in the scientific society as discussed in Bertrand Russell's 1931 book The Scientific Outlook. This includes changes in the relationship between individual freedom and the collective good, freedom of speech and the Press, freedom to choose ones own career and the freedom to have children.
CNS News:
Beware of what the Democrats are saying about guns in their party platform, a Second Amendment group says. The draft 2008 Democrat National Platform includes the "Utopian fantasy that gun control laws will somehow make neighborhoods safer," said the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. "While promising to preserve our Second Amendment rights, the party platform demonizes semiautomatic sport utility rifles and wants them banned, calls for anti-gun show legislation and proposes so-called 'common-sense' gun laws," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb.
Chris Ortiz / Chalcedon Blog:
Please forgive this shameless promotion. :-) Here is a trailer for a new Christian film due to release this Fall entitled "Fatal Flaw." My wife, Regina, is playing the role of the "wife" in the film. Please forward this trailer to those who might be interested. The directors intend to use this for evangelization.
The American View / News Wire:
The September "First Friday" program of the "Institute On The Constitution" features "IOC" Senior Instructor Pastor David Whitney. He will speak on why marriage is no business of the government, the State, and therefore no license should be required. The idea behind the "IOC" is that by exploring the fundamental Biblical principles of civil government upon which our Constitutional Republic was founded, and by studying the original intent of the founders, we can begin to recover the lost freedoms that require knowledge and vigilance to protect and defend. Today, many Americans are surprised but delighted to learn that we were founded as a Constitutional Republic of Sovereign States with a central government of purposely limited powers based on Biblical principles. The recovery and application of these principles is necessary for the reclamation of the Republic.
The Associated Press:
Passengers and a pilot testified Wednesday they never saw or heard anything that indicated the wife of megachurch evangelist pastor Joel Osteen assaulted a flight attendant before the start of a 2005 flight. Continental Airlines flight attendant Sharon Brown said in her lawsuit that Victoria Osteen yelled at her, threw her against a bathroom door and elbowed her while attempting to rush into the cockpit after a spill on the armrest of her first-class seat wasn't quickly cleaned up. Brown claims she suffered physical and psychological injuries.
Gary DeMar / American Vision:
We at American Vision are hearing rumblings from a number of people in the Christian community that Christians are being told not to engage the culture with a distinctly biblical approach to social and political issues. So what standard is a Christian to follow when evaluating the moral boundaries of society? Some Christians will claim that we aren't to bother with what goes on in the world. Let the world go to the devil. Others claim that it's just not the church's calling. Abortion may be bad, but it's not our job to say so to anyone outside the church. Homosexuality may be immoral, but there is no word from God for the civil magistrate to obey.
Chris Ortiz / Chalcedon Blog:
With the overwhelming sales of Rick Warren's The Purpose-Driven Life (25+ million), we can assume that a good many people routinely reflect on whether their individual lives bear any specific meaning or purpose. In his subtitle, Warren reduces this general angst to a simple question that obviously resonated with the masses of humanity: "What on earth am I here for?"
Gary North / LewRockwell.com:
On August 11, the price of gold collapsed: down over $35. So did the price of silver, platinum, and palladium. A lot of people are asking why. On my site's page on gold's daily price, I make available a five-day chart of gold's price. On that page, you will find my commentary on gold. Beginning on the 18th of March, and posted on the 19th, I wrote that I believed gold had probably entered a bear market. That call looked as though it was way too premature, since gold's intra-day high had been $1,037 on March 17. In the very early morning of March 17, I ran an article on my site on how to short gold to protect your position in coins.
Andrew C. Wallace / NewsWithViews.com:
"Declaration of the People's Sovereignty, and Intent to Wrest Unlawful Control of the Government of the United States of America from Traitors." This Proclamation outlines the Brutal Treason being visited upon us by Traitors in government and corporations including our sure and certain reactions to it. There is a well developed and generalized loathing for most current and recent leaders and candidates of Democrat and Republican parties. Only media cover-ups of all but the most heinous acts by illegals such as multiple murders and total financial destruction has prevented this from quickly becoming a large scale focused retaliation by the people on government and corporate officials. But the retaliation has only been delayed. We have no desire to replace our constitutionally defined government. Our unyielding objective, as long as we have life and sufficient sovereignty is to lawfully expel the traitors who have taken control of our Republic.
The Associated Press:
Concerns about foreign spies and terrorists have prompted the Homeland Security Department to set up its own counterintelligence division and require strict reporting from employees about foreign travel, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press. The new directive comes as the federal government increases its counterspy efforts across all agencies and raises the awareness of intelligence vulnerabilities in the private industry as well as in protecting government secrets. The Homeland Security Department "is vulnerable to adversaries who seek information about our nation's homeland defense programs, classified or unclassified," Secretary Michael Chertoff wrote in the Aug. 4 memo to employees obtained by AP.
Edmund Contoski / Liberty Foundation:
During the 20th century, the earth warmed 0.6 degree Celsius (1 degree Fahrenheit), but that warming has been wiped out in a single year with a drop of 0.63 degree C. (1.13 F.) in 2007. A single year does not constitute a trend reversal, but the magnitude of that temperature drop — equal to 100 years of warming — is noteworthy. Of course, it can also be argued that a mere 0.6 degree warming in a century is so tiny it should never have been considered a cause for alarm in the first place.
The Associated Press:
Declaring "the aggressor has been punished," the Kremlin ordered a halt Tuesday to Russia's devastating assault on Georgia -- five days of air and ground attacks that left homes in smoldering ruins and uprooted 100,000 people. Both sides accepted the general outlines of a cease-fire plan, but Georgia complained hours after the Russian endorsement that bombs and shells were still falling.
Related:
Georgian President Backs Cease-Fire Plan
The Associated Press:
TBILISI, Georgia -- Georgia's president said early Wednesday that he agreed to the "general principals" of a plan for ending fighting with Russian troops in his country. The cease-fire plan brokered by President Nicolas Sarkozy of France calls for both Russian and Georgian troops to return to their positions before fighting erupted around the breakaway province of South Ossetia last week.
Saakashvili Accepts Ceasefire Terms RT News:
Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy have drawn up a six point peace plan for settling the conflict in South Ossetia. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has accepted the plan.
Flight Attendant Claims Pastor's Wife Attacked Her
Juan A. Lozano / The Associated Press:
A flight attendant suing the wife of megachurch evangelist Joel Osteen maintained on Tuesday that Victoria Osteen was "out of control" when she attacked her on a plane without provocation and that she should be held accountable for what she did. But an attorney for Victoria Osteen, under sometimes relentless and aggressive questioning of the flight attendant, kept trying to cast doubt that an assault ever took place. Continental Airlines flight attendant Sharon Brown testified that Victoria Osteen approached her upset and angry before the start of a 2005 flight from Houston to Vail, Colo.
Related: Flight Attendant Once Described Lakewood as 'Cult Following' By Dale Lezon / Houston Chronicle
A Continental Airlines flight attendant who is suing Lakewood Church co-pastor Victoria Osteen told a jury today she had once described pastor Joel Osteen as the "devil'' and their church a "cult following,'' but has since changed her opinion. Under cross-examination Tuesday afternoon, Sharon Brown described the evangelist and author in a 2007 deposition she gave in advance of the trial. Victoria Osteen's attorney, Rusty Hardin, questioned Brown for about six hours, saying she had made statements in her earlier testimony that were contradictory to her deposition.
Pastor's Wife Embroiled in Civil Trial
Addresses Lakewood Church Members FOX in Houston, TX:
HOUSTON -- The wife of the pastor of globally-recognized Lakewood Chruch thanks thousands of church members for their support as she faces a civil lawsuit from a Continental Airlines flight attendant. Victoria Osteen told members of her congregation during a church service Sunday, "Your prayers and your support has so blessed me and I have felt it." "I've been going through this for 2 and a half almost 3 years," added Osteen. During the sermon, Osteen appeared to be referring to her pending civil trial. She told her congregants, "I believe that God is going to bring me this victory, but whatever happens I will not step back, I will not shrink back and I will not quit."
Chuck Baldwin / The Covenant News:
I am often asked about the people in history that I revere or otherwise hold in high esteem. Today's column is an attempt to answer that question. Bear in mind, this list is by no means complete. I know I am omitting several people that should truly be included. However, time and space limitations require me to condense my list. So, here goes.
Bret McAtee / The Backwater Report:
First, as to background, Mansfield includes the quote from Jame's Cone in his book on "The Faith of Barack Obama" because Obama's spiritual mentor and pastor for twenty years, Jeremiah Wright channeled James Cone and his work in his preaching and ministry. Cone was instrumental in the formation of Black Liberation Theology and Wright was instrumental in popularizing Cone's work in the church he ministered. Obama thus, at the very minimum has been deeply influenced by Black Liberation Theology. This has crept through some of the things he and his wife have said in the election cycle. Indeed, if you read some of Barack Hussein and Michelle Obama’s recent quotes against this Black Liberation Theology backdrop it is downright scary.
Devvy Kidd / NewsWithViews.com:
By now, most Americans have seen another professional politician admit he's a liar and a very polished one at that. John Edwards has acknowledged, after vehement denials, that accusations of adultery are true. He denies being the father of Ms. Hunter's baby. Edwards has proclaimed for almost a year that these allegations came from "supermarket tabloid trash," the National Enquirer. Last Friday - conveniently timed with the opening of the Olympic games - Edwards came clean: he did her. One has to wonder who wrote Edwards admission statement: "I have been stripped bare...." Well, better late than never with the truth.
Rep. Ron Paul, MD. / Texas Straight Talk:
Recently Congress passed the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act., also known as the Housing Bill. Its passage was lauded by many who are legitimately concerned about foreclosures and the housing market in our country's economy. I was asked how I could vote against a bill to help American homeowners, but I found this bill to have more to do with helping big banks than helping average Americans.
Lew Rockwell / LewRockwell.com:
The heart of the modern state is the central bank. By heart I mean the very thing that makes it work, and without which the modern state would quickly wither and die. It is the thing that makes the money. As such, it purports to be our stabilizer, our source of employment, the fuel behind the economic growth that brings us technology. In truth, it does none of these things. What it does do effectively is prop up the leviathan state and all its pomps.
The Observer:
America is stubbornly defending its right to pick the next boss of the World Bank, despite mounting pressure from a coalition of 10 developing countries demanding an equal voice for the poor in decision-making, leaked papers reveal. The World Bank's member countries are locked in discussions over a package of reforms to its outdated constitution, in the hope of clinching a deal at its annual meeting in October. But developing countries, led by Brazil, have banded together to urge a radical shift in the balance of power. Documents obtained by The Observer show Washington is refusing even to discuss giving up the long-held convention that it appoints the Bank's president, while Europe chooses the director of the International Monetary Fund.
Gary DeMar / American Vision:
"February 20th, 2008, at Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Pastor Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries in Bonney Lake Washington saw something, a total lunar eclipse also called a 'blood moon' for its reddish hue" (read article here). "I thought 'wow' that looks just like what the Lord was talking about in the last days," says Blitz. Blitz is referring to Joel 2:31: "The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes." Notice that the moon will be turned into blood not look reddish. Those who claim to interpret the Bible literally can't make a text say what it doesn't say. Peter quotes the passage from Joel and applies it to the events of Pentecost (Acts 2:14–36) because he understood how the prophets of the Old Testament use stellar language, and it's not to describe the collapse of the cosmos. In the case of Joel, God was describing the end of the Old Covenant and the inauguration of the New Covenant.
RT News:
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has announced his country is to leave the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), an alliance of former Soviet republics. It follows Dmitry Medvedev's order to end Russia's military operation in Georgia. Saakashvili made the announcement during a rally in the capital Tbilisi. In his speech he called on other countries in the union to leave the organisation. "We have decided that Georgia will leave the CIS,” he said. “We urge Ukraine and other countries to also leave the Commonwealth of Independent States, which is dominated by Russia". The CIS includes all the former Soviet republics apart from the Baltic states. The Georgian leader also denounced the peacekeeping agreements with Russia, and declared all Russian troops in Georgian territory as "occupational forces invading Abkhazia and South Ossetia".
Related:
Russia Orders End to Fighting in Georgia ABC News:
The president of Russia decided today that his tanks and air raids had dished out enough punishment to the country of Georgia and called a halt to five days of devastating attacks. President Dmitry Medvedev ended the onslaught against the former Soviet republic, just as French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Moscow to mediate a truce between the two countries. But Russian forces had already kicked Georgian troops out of the breakaway province of South Ossetia, surged across the border on two fronts to seize Georgian towns, police stations and military bases, and pounded military installations deep inside Georgia with swarms of warplanes.
Tony Halpin / The Times Online:
As a Russian jet bombed fields around his village, Djimali Avago, a Georgian farmer, asked me: "Why won't America and NATO help us? If they won't help us now, why did we help them in Iraq?" A similar sense of betrayal coursed through the conversations of many Georgians here yesterday as their troops retreated under shellfire and the Russian Army pressed forward to take full control of South Ossetia.
Rogue Government:
The New York Times reports that Russia is escalating its war with Georgia, "moving tanks and troops through the separatist enclave of South Ossetia and advancing toward the city of Gori in central Georgia" and even bombing parts of Tibilisi, the Georgian captial. Russia's increasing aggression is putting a spark into American neoconservatives. The Times op-ed page, one of their leaders, William Kristol, claims the U.S. must "defend" Georgia's sovereignty as a reward for its participation in Iraq, while the conservative Washington Times is calling for "maximum pressure" on Russia.
AFP via Yahoo!:
Washington -- The United States has made available 250,000 dollars in aid for ally Georgia aimed at providing emergency supplies for thousands of people affected by the Georgia-Russia conflict, the State Department said Monday. The United States began bringing the urgently needed humanitarian aid to Georgia, but "it is expected that supplies (distributed by the US embassy in Tbilisi) will be exhausted by the end of the day" Monday, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.
RT News:
An American man living in South Ossetia says U.S. and Georgian leaders are responsible for the violence that has killed 2,000 people in the region. Joe Mestas, who witnessed days of shelling, told RT that Washington will have to answer for the violence.
James Poulos / The Guardian:
As Russian columns advance into Georgia proper, columns in the American press fill with dire warnings and withering contempt for anyone so puerile as to ever trust a Russian. George Bush's infamous glimpse into Putin's soul failed to recognise what nostalgic cold warriors have always insisted was pinned to his sleeve: a heart that beats for lost imperial glory, and a ruthless ambition to match. Blogging at the Weekly Standard, John Noonan describes the Georgia conflict as the consequence of "Chamberlain-esque conflict aversion". National Review's Jonah Goldberg cries that "this is what happens" when the west takes its eye off the Russians to enjoy the Olympics.
John Lofton / The American View:
This "AV" program is a detailed essay-review of Stephen Mansfield's new book "The Faith Of Barack Obama" (Thomas Nelson, 2008) -- a useful, instructive book which reveals a lot about Sen. Obama's Muslim background (Mansfield speculates there could be a Mullah-fatwa against him if he’s President!), his position on abortion (he's pro-death), the racist "black theology" of the church he was a member of for 20 years, and how the pastor of that church, Jeremiah Wright, is not wrong about everything he said. So, tune in, please. But, a warning: If you cannot handle the truth, you do not want to hear this program.
Hindustan Times:
US President George W. Bush on Sunday visited a state-sanctioned Beijing church decried by a US Christian group as reflecting the Chinese government's "deception" on freedom of worship. "You know, I've just, Laura and I just had the great joy and privilege of worshiping here in Beijing, China," Bush said as he left the Kuanjie protestant church.
Related:
Bush Trip To Beijing Olympics Shameful Chuck Baldwin / The Covenant News:
According to numerous press reports, President George W. Bush plans to attend the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics in Beijing, China later this month. Bush said that it "would be an affront to the Chinese people" if he stayed away. Other world leaders, including Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain, are choosing to not attend the opening ceremonies in the communist country. It is hard for this writer to laud President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but in this case, even the socialist Roosevelt showed more integrity than our so-called "conservative" President, George W. Bush.
Thomas E. Woods, Jr. / LewRockwell.com:
In late 2007, Richard Stengel wrote a cover story for Time magazine calling for a massive national service program to be imposed on American young people. If you'd like to read it, knock yourself out. Someone probably needs to smash it, but the avalanche of propaganda and nationalism you'll find there was too demoralizing for me to attempt it. The very idea that helping someone in your neighborhood should be called "service to the nation" should be spooky and Orwellian enough, but for many people I guess it isn't.
Joel McDurmon / American Vision:
Here at American Vision we believe that faithful Christians must apply Biblical thought to every area of life. Our Vision is "An America that recognizes the sovereignty of God over all of life and where Christians apply a Biblical worldview to every facet of society." This is why it was so refreshing for me to read the article, "Breaking Boundaries" written by Andrew Hoffecker in the June 2008 issue of Ligonier Ministry's periodical Tabletalk. After discussing the effects of humanistic pluralism in modern churches, Hoffecker prescribes a Biblical vision: "The most pressing need of the church in the light of these developments is the articulation of a distinctly biblical worldview-unified, coherent and comprehensive in scope. It would address, in principle, all areas of life and thought in utilizing biblical content."
Bret McAtee / The Backwater Report:
Somewhere in the American psyche there remains the Christian sense of right and wrong and even though many Americans cheat on their spouse they know it is wrong of them to do so and they know it is wrong when a high profile person does the same. On one level it doesn't make any sense that adultery would disqualify anybody for anything given its prevalence, but on another level people desire their leaders to shape up to outwardly Christian norms... at least in obvious areas. This proves the proverb that teaches "that hypocrisy is the coin that vice pays to virtue."
The Associated Press:
FBI Director Robert Mueller has apologized to the editors of The Washington Post and The New York Times for improperly obtaining phone records of the newspapers' reporters while investigating terrorism four years ago. Mueller called Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. and Times Executive Editor Bill Keller on Friday to express regret that agents did not follow proper procedures in 2004 when they obtained the phone records of a Post reporter and a researcher and two Times reporters. All four were working in Indonesia and writing about Islamic terrorism at the time.
George Stamm / The Epoch Times:
If you were to ask ten people on the street if mankind's activities are causing global warming, my guess is that a majority would say yes. In fact, a Gallup poll conducted July 23-26, 2007 found that 63% believed that global warming is caused mostly by human activities. But is this perception of global warming based on fact or just misguided opinion?
Sanantonio News:
After more than two decades on the books, a little-known yet strictly enforced federal law barring foreigners with HIV or AIDS from entering the country is on its way out. Tucked in a bill pledging $48 billion to combat the disease, signed into law by President Bush last week, was language stripping the provision from federal immigration law.
J. Phillips / The Covenant News:
If a "corrupted public conscience" is "incompatible with freedom," then given our government approval for (and often funding to promote) abortion, perverted sexual behavior and teaching that creation by God is a lie, it would seem that our "corrupted public conscience" must first be corrected or any fight to retain "freedom" will be futile...
Charley Reese / LewRockwell.com:
The International Herald Tribune recently published an article about a new Army medical book on trauma wounds. The reporter said that "the gruesome photographs illustrate the grim nature of today's wars, in which more are hurt by explosions than by bullets, and body armor leaves many alive but maimed." That's a naďve statement. Probably since World War I and certainly since World War II, explosions have killed more people than bullets in most wars. As for the maimed, since time began there have always been more people wounded than killed in wars. In the War of Northern Aggression, 140,415 Yankees were killed in battle and 281,881 were wounded. More than 200,000 died of "other causes," which usually was disease.
The Associated Press:
Russia sent hundreds of tanks and troops into the province of South Ossetia and bombed Georgian towns Saturday in a major escalation of the conflict that has left scores of civilians dead and wounded. Georgia, a staunch U.S. ally, launched a major offensive Friday to retake control of breakaway South Ossetia. Russia, which has close ties to the province and posts peacekeepers there, responded by sending in armed convoys and military combat aircraft. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters in Moscow that some 1,500 people have been killed, with the death toll rising Saturday.
Related: Georgian Army Moves to Retake South Ossetia
The Associated Press:
DZHAVA, Georgia -- Georgia launched a major military offensive Friday to retake the breakaway province of South Ossetia, prompting Moscow to send tanks into the region in a furious response that threatens to engulf Georgia, a staunch U.S. ally, and Russia in all-out war. Hundreds were reported dead in the worst outbreak of hostilities since the province won defacto independence in a war against Georgia that ended in 1992. Witnesses said the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali was devastated.
Evidence of U.S. Military Presence in Georgia
Infowars.com
Georgia, US start military exercises despite tensions with Russia.
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) -- Georgian and U.S. troops started a joint military exercise Tuesday amid growing tensions between the ex-Soviet republic and Russia, a Georgian defense ministry official said. Russian military gangs ready to invade Georgia. U.S. sends thousand marines in response. Gangs of the Russian invaders from the so-called North Caucasus Military District are ready "to provide assistance to the Russian troops in case the situation gets more aggravated in the conflict zones in Abkhazia and South Ossetia", as gang leader of Russian North Caucasus Military District, Sergei Makarov, said.
The Pacific Justice Institute:
Homeschooling families throughout California can breathe more easily following a major decision released today in the Rachel L. case by California's Second District Court of Appeal. In a reversal of its previous decision, the Court today clearly upheld the right of families to homeschool under California law. In doing so, the court agreed with most of the arguments advanced by Pacific Justice Institute in the briefing and at oral argument.
Related: Great Victory for California Homeschoolers Home School Legal Defense Association:
In a unanimous decision, the California Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District today ruled that "California statutes permit home schooling as a species of private school education." Friday's decision stands in stark contrast to the opinion this same three-judge panel issued in February, which would have made California the only state in the union to outlaw home education had it remained in effect. "It is unusual for an appellate court to grant a petition for rehearing as this court did in March," said HSLDA Chairman Mike Farris, "but it is truly remarkable for a court to completely reverse its own earlier opinion. We thank you for your prayers and give God the glory for this great victory."
California Court Reverses Homeschool Ruling Parents have the right to home school, state court says
A state appeals court lifted the cloud it had cast on the homeschooling of 166,000 California children and ruled Friday that parents have a right to educate their children at home even if they lack a teaching credential. After an outpouring of protest from homeschooling advocates and politicians, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles reversed its Feb. 28 ruling that could have reclassified most homeschooled children as truants.
The wife of megachurch evangelist Joel Osteen told jurors Friday she was "dumbfounded" and "shook up" after a Continental Airlines flight attendant accused her of assaulting her over a spill on a first-class seat. Victoria Osteen repeatedly denied that she attacked flight attendant Sharon Brown, who is suing Osteen over the alleged confrontation before the start of a 2005 flight to Vail, Colo. "I love people. I'm guilty of that," Victoria Osteen said. Joel Osteen testified earlier Friday, supporting his wife's claim and calling the incident "an unfortunate misunderstanding." Osteen, who was on the same flight, said his wife could never attack somebody. Click Here For The Full Story......
The Associated Press:
An illegally operated charter bus carrying a Vietnamese-American Catholic group on a pilgrimage to a religious festival blew a tire and skidded off a highway early Friday, killing at least 14 people and injuring more than 40, authorities say. Most of the passengers were from the Vietnamese Martyrs Church and two other mostly Vietnamese congregations in Houston. They were on their way to Carthage, Mo., for an annual open-air festival honoring the Virgin Mary.
Sidney Blumenthal / LewRockwell.com:
George W. Bush's second term has witnessed the great unraveling of the Republican coalition. After nearly two generations of political dominance, the Republican coalition has rapidly disintegrated under the stress of Bush's failures and the Republicans' scandals and disgrace. The Democrats have the greatest possible opening in more than a generation – potentially. They should pay strict attention to how Bush has swiftly undone Republican strengths as an object lesson.
Lee Rogers / Rogue Government:
The Department of Homeland Security is moving towards implementing a provision of the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 otherwise known as the thought crimes bill. This is despite the fact that the legislation has not been signed into law. The House version of the bill HR 1955 was passed by a margin of 404-6 where as the Senate version of the bill S 1959 is still awaiting action. One of the bill’s provisions gives the Department of Homeland Security the authority to fund a University based Center of Excellence to study ways to thwart what the government believes are extremist belief systems and radical ideologies of individual Americans. In other words, if the government doesn’t like the way you think, they are going to have teams of social scientists and behavioral experts trying to figure out the best way to deal with you.
Patrick J. Buchanan / Buchanan.org:
Barack Obama just had the worst week since his beloved pastor, Jeremiah Wright, decided to expatiate on black liberation theology at the National Press Club. Coming off his royal progress through the Near and Middle East, Berlin, Paris and London, Barack had surged to a nine-point lead in the Gallup tracking poll. By Friday, he was back to a dead heat with a 72-year-old opponent with none of his natural skills, in a year when grocers are pulling Republican brands off the shelves. For all its gracelessness, the McCain campaign, given openings by Barack, stepped in and put Muhammad Ali on the canvas.
Phil Brennan / Ether Zone:
From the hysterical reaction it provoked you would have thought it was the kind of injury that makes pigs squeal, a TV commercial that used humor as a weapon to cut the high-flying Barack Obama down to size. It's always been axiomatic in politics that you don't shoot arrows at dead tigers, meaning that attacks on a political stratagem are launched only when that tactic is working, not when it's failing. Such is the case of the two TV commercials created by the McCain camp to more than suggest that Senator Obama is ... well... full of himself, a celebrity who is celebrated merely for being a celebrity. In the first ad, Obama is by implication compared to the Misses Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, both world famous by virtue of merely being famous. It's an effective way of conveying the idea that in Obama's case, as in the cases of the two women, there's no there there, as Dorothy Parker would have put it. The second ad is even more cutting, using a photo of the late Charlton Heston as Moses parting the Red Sea to imply that Obama sees himself in that miraculous context. Both ads are funny, and, for Obama, lethally so.
Tom Engelhardt and Thomas Frank / LewRockwell.com:
As the Bush administration heads for "closure," Republican Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska seems to be heading for the same fate in a "redecorating" scandal; Monica Goodling of the (in)Justice Department is back in town for her hiring and firing practices; the eternally Foxy Karl Rove continues to give contempt of Congress real meaning; a federal judge ruled against the administration's typically imperial idea of "immunity"; and rumors are flying about coming "preemptive," blanket presidential pardons for those who organized the administration's torture regime and committed other crimes. All the while, holding up the glorious banner of the Great Tradition, the John McCain campaign continues to be a chop shop for K Street Lobbyists. And that's just a two-second glance at the Washington scene as August begins.
Attorney Constance Cumbey / NewsWithViews.com:
The Washington Fellowship, a Washington, D.C. and suburbs based Christian organization has received much publicity in the past two years. Jeff Sharlet's new book, THE FAMILY says it reveals "the secret fundamentalism at the heart of American Power." If only zeal for Jesus were what "The Fellowship" was about, I might not bother writing this article, except perhaps to advocate on its behalf. Unfortunately it is abundantly clear that any alleged "fundamentalism" at the "core" of the Fellowship is much more akin to the New Age networking type than it is to Christian orthodoxy. Another prominent internet researcher, Wayne Madsen, charges that the Fellowship is using Jesus as a cynical logo in pursuit of cynical political pursuits. He goes so far as to call it a monstrous criminal plot to seize control of the "biggest prize of all – the United States government."
Bret McAtee / The Backwater Report:
"Western concepts of law are in their origins, and therefore in their nature, intimately bound up with distinctively Western theological and liturgical concepts of the atonement and of the Sacraments.... Behind these competing attitudes (between differing Christian visions of the law) there stood the revolutionary subdivision of Western society into two political realms, the ecclesiastical and the secular, and the further subdivision of the secular realm into royal, feudal, urban and other polities."
Eric Rauch / American Vision:
Not long after an individual begins to study the concept of art and culture, an age-old question keeps coming to mind: Does art imitate life or does life imitate art? Although it is often claimed to be a “rhetorical” question, it does have an answer. In fact, like everything else in this world, the answer that is given to this question ultimately depends on the answer given to another question: Was man created in the image of God, or is he merely the result of time and random happenstance? A wrong answer to this second question makes any answer to the first question irrelevant.
The Associated Press:
The wife of "evangelical" pastor Joel Osteen shoved a flight attendant during an in-flight tantrum over a stained seat, a fellow crew member testified Thursday at a civil trial over the incident. Continental Airlines flight attendant Maria Johnson testified that Victoria Osteen grew increasingly agitated and pushed her co-worker Sharon Brown, though the flight attendants had remained professional and reassured her a crew had been called to clean the spill, which was about the size of a 50-cent piece. "She was demanding that attention be given to her immediately," Johnson said. She added that Victoria Osteen kept saying: "This is ridiculous. I'm a first-class passenger." Brown is suing Victoria Osteen, alleging that she threw her against a bathroom door and elbowed her in the breast before the start of a 2005 flight to Vail, Colo. Johnson confirmed Brown's claims that Victoria Osteen became so upset she tried to get into the cockpit and had to be physically restrained.
Bob Strodtbeck / Ether Zone:
If great empires continued through perpetuity, then we would all be Babylonians. We know, though, that powers rise and fall and their civilizations eventually fade away. Their existences are only preserved for study by historians whose findings are reduced to little more than trivia questions for board games or prize shows. This notion should be a great concern to citizens of the United States.
Daniel Taylor / Old-Thinker News:
Barack Obama's July 24th speech in Berlin brought to light the Democrat Presidential candidates' globalist views, mirroring those of the Council on Foreign Relations and other globalist think tanks. Obama's praise of the European Union, calls for the "tearing down" of walls between nations and religions, and finally for world unity against climate change and terrorism reveal that an Obama Presidency will not bring change, but rather a continued erosion of national sovereignty and steps closer to world government.
Third Party Watch:
On August 4, the Chuck Baldwin faction of the American Independent Party of California sued the California Secretary of State, over her decision last month to list Alan Keyes as the American Independent Party presidential nominee. The case was filed in Superior Court in Sacramento, and is called James King v Debra Bowen, with Ed Noonan as the Real Party in Interest (that means it is a 3-cornered lawsuit).
Bill Walker / LewRockwell.com:
The "official" debt of the United States is only around $10 trillion dollars as of August 6, 2008. This is a manageable number; we could pay it off in a few decades if we quit buying luxuries like food and clothing, and take a few other minor economy measures. Unfortunately, the "$10 trillion" number was produced by government accounting, which among other things allows one to ignore Social Security, Medicare, and the new prescription drug benefit. This is like ignoring rent, food, and utilities in your household budget… it will lead to a few bounced checks. Our real debt is about ten times higher.
Paul Craig Roberts / VDARE.com:
Now that military officers selected by the Bush Pentagon have reached a split verdict convicting Salim Hamdan, a onetime driver for Osama bin Laden, of supporting terrorism, but innocent of terrorist conspiracy, do you feel safe? Or are we superpower Americans still at risk until we capture bin Laden’s dentist, barber, and the person who installed the carpet in his living room? The Bush Regime with its comic huffings and puffings is unaware that it has made itself the laughing stock of the world, a comedy version of the Third Reich.
William Norman Grigg / Pro Libertate:
A recent wire service story celebrating the tenth anniversary of Connecticut's preemptive civilian disarmament measure reports that since it went into effect, "State police and 53 police departments have seized more than 1,700 guns.... Opponents of [that] gun seizure law expressed fears in 1999 that police would abuse the law. Today, the law's backers say the record shows that hasn't been the case." To the contrary: The record, as described above, shows that there have been at least 1,700 incidents of abuse that grew out of that enactment. Each confiscation is an act of state theft perpetrated against someone who is innocent before the law. (Published by The Right Source)
Coach Dave Daubenmire / NewsWithViews.com:
It is so hard to recognize a Christian any more. For the most part we are a bunch of Chameleons, we Christians. No matter how hard we try we cannot get away from the world. In fact, we do everything we can to copy the world. I don’t care what line of work you are in there is a Christian version of it….Christian business, Christian music, Christian books, Christian schools, Christian politicians…but for the most part we tend to blend in.
Jerry Seper / The Washington Times:
A U.S. Border Patrol agent was held at gunpoint Sunday night by members of the Mexican military who had crossed the border into Arizona, but the soldiers returned to Mexico without incident when backup agents responded to assist. Agents assigned to the Border Patrol station at Ajo, Ariz., said the Mexican soldiers crossed the international border in an isolated area about 100 miles southwest of Tucson and pointed rifles at the agent, who was not identified.
Juan A. Lozano / The Associated Press:
A jury was seated Wednesday in a lawsuit alleging the wife of nationally known pastor Joel Osteen assaulted a flight attendant. Opening arguments were set for Thursday in a case Victoria Osteen's lawyer called "silly." But Reginald McKamie, attorney for Continental Airlines flight attendant Sharon Brown, said he hopes the trial will show "that celebrity status doesn't take precedence." Brown accuses Victoria Osteen of assaulting her before the start of a 2005 flight from Houston to Vail, Colo. Brown alleges Victoria Osteen threw her against a bathroom door and elbowed her in the left breast during an angry outburst over a stain on her first-class seat. The Federal Aviation Administration fined Victoria Osteen $3,000 for interfering with a crew member.
Gary DeMar / American Vision:
Many Christians are still locked into the conviction that the Bible speaks to a very narrow slice of life. Of course, all Christians believe that the Bible has some very specific things to say about prayer, Bible reading, worship, and evangelism. But many Christians are not convinced that the Bible has some very definite things to say about civil government, the judicial system, economics, indebtedness, the punishment of criminals, foreign affairs, care for the poor, journalism, science, medicine, business, education, taxation, inflation, property, terrorism, war, peace negotiations, military defense, ethical issues like abortion and homosexuality, environmental concerns, inheritance, investments, building safety, banking, child discipline, pollution, marriage, contracts, and many other worldview issues.
Gary North / LewRockwell.com:
The overwhelming majority of Americans are relying exclusively on Social Security and Medicare to provide a comfortable retirement in their old age. When interviewed, they say they think the systems are going to go bust, but they do not change their behavior and save more. They save less. Today, household saving as a percentage of household discretionary income is negative. Americans are borrowing to maintain their lifestyles.
Lee Rogers / Rogue Government:
The Department of Homeland Security more popularly known as the Department of Homeland Enslavement has now come out and stated that they have the authority to confiscate people’s personal property including laptops, electronic devices and even paperwork at the border without any probable cause. They also claim that they can hold those items for an unspecified period of time. All of this they claim is justified under the guise of fighting terrorists. It doesn’t matter that thousands of illegal aliens are entering the country from Mexico unchecked. No, instead the Department of Homeland Security thinks its more effective stealing the property of U.S. citizens to keep us safe from terrorists.
David Alan Black / Dave Black Online:
First off, I want to apologize for breaking a cardinal rule of writing: Always avoid the apt art of alliteration. That said, allow me to offer a few suggestions about the teaching trade. The semester is about to start, and we can all improve, right? Here we go...
Chaplain E. Ray Moore, Jr. / Exodus Mandate:
Every year about this time, concerned Christian parents all across America sit down for one of the most important talks ever. It's time to make the annual "back to school" decision. Parents, like one Ukrainian immigrant couple I will call Vladimir and Elaina, have a tough decision to make. School enrollment is just around the corner across the United States. Time is short and the pressure to decide is very intense. THIS IS D-DAY... DECISION DAY 2008.
Chuck Baldwin / The Covenant News:
Both Republican Party Presidential candidate John McCain and Democrat Party Presidential candidate Barack Obama recently spoke at the annual convention of the National Council of La Raza. I'm sure most readers understand that "La Raza" is Spanish for "The Race." That McCain and Obama would pander before an organization such as La Raza indicates just how deeply both the Republican and Democrat parties are committed to appeasing the pro-illegal immigration forces. And mark it down: there is not a more pro-illegal alien organization in existence than La Raza.
Ron Paul / Texas Straight Talk:
One problem with politicians is that when problems they create come to a head, they typically feel this irresistible urge to DO something, rather than to UN-do something, or to simply back off to avoid exacerbating the situation. Too often, that which they end up doing has very little connection to the cause of the crisis, but plays well in the press and superficially makes everyone feel better. Bills that are rushed through Congress under duress are never studied enough, providing too tempting an opportunity to quietly slip in unrelated provisions that erode freedoms in ways that would never pass as a stand-alone bill. We famously saw this with the PATRIOT Act, but Washington learned nothing from that.
YouTube / TV-News 5:
All military personnel who are headed to combat are required to take vaccinations. Are these shots leaving some soldiers deathly ill?
Gary DeMar / American Vision:
The latest economic proposal coming from Barak Obama is a socialist’s dream. The president-in-waiting wants to steal money from oil companies and, in an act of blessedness and benevolence, give a check of $1,000 to American "middle class" families, hoping, of course, that more people will vote for him in the upcoming election. The ripple effect of Obamanomics would be a disaster. Retirement portfolios would be hit hard since $10.1 billion was paid to shareholders in the form of dividends and stock buybacks by the oil companies. With profits down, exploration for new oil would be jeopardized. Supply and demand, something Obamanomics does not believe in, would be hit hard. With shortened supplies, prices would rise further with fewer profits, and the cycle would continue downward. Once downturn effects were felt in every economic sector, Obama Hood will look for new streams of income. He might go after the industry you work for. It’s easy being a benefactor with someone else’s money.
Jim Quinn / LewRockwell.com:
There are many stories of people who are still living in houses, twelve months after making their last mortgage payment. Their banks have not started foreclosure proceedings. Is this due to incompetence by the banks, or is this a way to avoid writing off the loss? The FASB has joined the cover-up gang by delaying the implementation of new rules that would have made banks stop hiding toxic waste off-balance sheet. The new rule would have made banks put these questionable assets on their balance sheet and would have required a bigger capital cushion. What a surprise that bank regulators, the Treasury and Federal Reserve urged a delay in implementation. How very Enron like.
Lee Duigon / The Chalcedon Foundation:
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has struck down a state "hate crime" law under which 11 Christians were arrested in 2004 and charged with a felony for preaching the gospel. Michael Marcavage, director of the Repent America ministry, was the winner in Marcavage v. Rendell when the state Supreme Court ruled that the state legislature violated the Pennsylvania constitution by adding "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to its "ethnic intimidation" law in 2002—as an amendment to an "agricultural crop destruction" bill! "Why were they so devious about it?" Marcavage said. "Because the legislators knew they'd have a difficult time passing it if they were clear about what it was. Their deviousness was truly egregious, and it reveals a shameful reality as to how wicked these people are."
Coach Dave Daubenmire / NewsWithViews.com:
Finally a little bit of offense out of the good guys. I have been so frustrated over the past years as I watch our "team" continue to run our defensive unit out onto the field. It is not the job of the defense to score points. It is their job to prevent the other team from scoring. For as long as I have been engaged in the cultural war it has been a rare, but wonderful sight to see our guys "throw a punch." The rope-a-dope may have worked for Muhammad Ali but that strategy has done nothing to help the cause of Christianity in today's America. Even if your defense is perfect you still end up with zero points. Our opponents have used the judicial ropes to tie up the Christian dopes. We are constantly counting on goal-line stands. But finally, our guys are about to take a swing.
Bret McAtee / The Backwater Report: Alexander Solzhenitsyn -- The World Was Not Worthy of Him:
Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008) died last night of an apparent stroke. Since prophets are desert dwellers, and are often as angular as the God they serve, their deaths usually don’t make a great amount of news. Those with the prophetic voice often live in isolation and are seen to be an irritant to those cultural gatekeepers who are often in the sites of the prophetic voice. Last night one of the greatest prophetic voices the West possessed in the twentieth century met his Maker. Solzhenitsyn's life included spending the years of 1945-1953 in the Soviet slave labor camps –- the infamous Gulag Archipelago -- and the years of 1953-1956 in exile in Soviet Russia. Much of Solzhenitsyn's writing was committed to telling the story of those eaten alive by the communist system and whose stories would have never been known had it not been for Solzhenitsyn's pen. Out of fear of what would happen if his works were seized by Communist nekulturny, Solzhenitsyn's writings were smuggled out of Soviet Russia and published in the West.
Related: Small Vt. town became home for exiled Solzhenitsyn Dave Gram / The Associated Press:
MONTPELIER, Vt. -- When Alexander Solzhenitsyn sought refuge in the West, he looked for a place whose forested hillsides and harsh winters evoked his Russian homeland, and where residents had an ethic of respecting one another's privacy. The southern Vermont town of Cavendish was just the spot. The famed writer, who died Sunday at age 89, became something of a local curiosity and a prized resident whose movements and even the location of his home were closely guarded secrets.
Reverence for Solzhenitsyn, but No National Mourning Clifford J. Levy / The New York Times
MOSCOW -- In a museum here is a box of detergent that stands as a symbol of the reverence that Russians once held for Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the literary giant who died on Sunday night. Within the box is concealed an illicit copy of Mr. Solzhenitsyn's masterpiece about the Soviet labor camps, "The Gulag Archipelago," which was obsessively circulated in Soviet times despite the penalties for those who read it. Russians who grew up in Soviet times continued to speak passionately about the achievements of Mr. Solzhenitsyn, who was 89 and had faded from public view in recent years since returning from exile after the Soviet Union’s fall. They compared him to writers like Tolstoy and said he had forced the nation to confront the horrors wrought in the name of Communism.
Chuck Baldwin / The Covenant News:
According to numerous press reports, President George W. Bush plans to attend the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics in Beijing, China later this month. Bush said that it "would be an affront to the Chinese people" if he stayed away. Other world leaders, including Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain, are choosing to not attend the opening ceremonies in the communist country. It is hard for this writer to laud President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but in this case, even the socialist Roosevelt showed more integrity than our so-called "conservative" President, George W. Bush.
John Lofton / The American View Radio:
This American View radio program which also: Compares and contrasts George Washington's Continental Army with today's military; exposes John McCain's repeated and mistaken defense of "don't-ask-don't-tell" instead of endorsing the present law which says homosexuals are not eligible to be in our military (yes!, that's the law, right now!); and we praise the moral courage of a very nice lady Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center For Military Readiness, for her Congressional testimony opposing the repeal of the law that says homosexuals are ineligible to be in our military.
Laurence M. Vance / LewRockwell.com:
Christians seeking to justify their support for, or the participation of their friends and relatives in, the U.S. government's latest military adventure often recite the mantra, "Obey the powers that be," a loose paraphrase of Romans 13:1, as if that somehow means that Christians should blindly follow whatever the government says. But because the state is, as Murray Rothbard described it, a "bandit gang writ large," Christians should always remember the reply of the apostles when they were told to stop speaking in the name of Jesus: "We ought to obey God rather then men" (Acts 5:29). The Bible alone is the word of God, not congressional legislation or resolutions, Supreme Court decisions, the Code of Federal Regulations, or presidential executive orders. God trumps the state every time.
William Norman Grigg / Pro Libertate:
Its name somewhat anachronistically means "assembly of old men." George Washington famously -- and, it must now be admitted, with excessive optimism -- characterized it as an institutional saucer intended to cool legislation passed in the intemperate heat of the moment. Its members demand, with entirely unwarranted self-approval, to be called, collectively, the World's Greatest Deliberative Body. Sober observers understand it to be the most corrupt legislative assembly in human history. To those characterizations of the United States Senate we must now add another, perhaps the final one: Gravedigger of the republic.
Bret McAtee / The Backwater Report:
"I personally would want to see our tragic history, or the tragic elements of our history, acknowledged....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." B. Hussein Obama, UNITY '08 Conference in Chicago
Jacqueline L. Salmon / The Washington Post:
Across the country, as well as in the Washington area, hundreds of Unitarian Universalist congregations held services and candlelight vigils this week after a deadly rampage at a Knoxville, Tenn., church to show support for their denomination's long-standing progressive tradition.