A must read article by Voddie Baucham!!!...

From Voddie Baucham's blog:

Thursday, June 25, 2009

"Top Five Reasons Not to Send Your Kids Back to Govt. School

Anyone who has kept up with my blog knows that I am no fan of government education. I have made it a point to carry The Continuing Collapse on a regular basis, and I try to make biblical, philosophical and theological arguments in favor of Christian education as often as possible. However, I recognize the obstacles those of us on my side of the street face. As many as eighty-five to ninety percent of professing Christians send their children to the government for their education. That is simply an astonishing figure considering the fact that the Christian community fought mandatory government education tooth-and-nail for it’s first fifty years of existence. Since then we have gone from fighting against government schools to fighting for them and implying that those who fight against them are fundamentalists, anti-intellectuals, and racists.

In the meantime, our schools grow progressively worse. Well, as we begin this summer, I want to appeal to those of you with children in government schools. Please don’t send them back! I beg you to consider what you are doing. As Dave Black has written:

No academic skepticism, no secularist authors, no blatant materialism can so undermine the spiritual life of the country like the completely secularized training of the child under the authority of the state... Bible-based education is mandatory for Christian parents. If we think we can keep our children in a secular school system and escape the dumbed-down, amoral, and immoral results of secular humanism in schools, we are sorely mistaken (emphasis added, see: http://daveblackonline.com/our.htm).

With that, here are the top five reasons not to send your kids back to government school next year:

5. YOU DON’T HAVE TO

This may sound like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many people ask home educators the “authority” questions (i.e., to whom do your report? who approves your curriculum?). These questions are the byproduct of statism. The Gramscian, neo-Marxist influence is so prevalent in our culture that we don’t even recognize it anymore. We actually believe that children are wards of the state when in fact they are not. As a result, some people have a hard time believing that they have the right to educate their children in a manner of their choosing. Well, I’m here to tell you that you are free. Your children are yours. They do not belong to Caesar. You don’t have to take them back to the local government indoctrination center next semester. And in some states (thank God for Texas), you don’t even have to tell them you’re not coming back!

4. AMERICA’S SCHOOLS ARE AMONG THE WORST IN THE INDUSTRIALIZED WORLD

One of the issues that many Christians seem willing to ignore is the fact that sending children to American schools represents extremely poor stewardship. American students continually rank at the bottom in math, science and reading compared to other industrialized nations (see here). That’s right, our educational system is among the world’s worst! Of course everyone says, “Our schools are different.” News flash... that’s a lie!

One of our elders taught honors math at one of the “best schools” in one of the “best school districts” in Texas (you know, one of those schools people lie and cheat to get their children into so that they can get a better education). His advanced geometry class was filled with a bunch of imbeciles who could barely do basic arithmetic. As a result, most of them failed their first major test. You know what happened next. That’s right, the principal called him into the office and told him to make things right. One of the things he was told to employ was a grading technique called “Square root times ten.” Thus, a student who made a 49 on a test ended up with a 70 in the grade book (for those of you who went to government schools like me, that’s the square root of 49 times ten).

This is what’s happening at our “best” schools. Don’t believe me? ask a college admissions worker how many students coming from our “best” schools with grade point averages hovering near 4.0 need remediation when they get to college. It’s an absolute joke. The overwhelming majority of children in our schools have a B average or above (mostly for self esteem reasons), which serves to give them and their parents a false sense of achievement. It also results in people who ‘feel really good’ about their schools.

Please don’t buy the lie. Your child’s school is probably terrible. If you really care about the stewardship of you child’s mind, don’t send them back to the worst schools in the industrialized world next year.

3. AMERICA’S SCHOOLS ARE MORALLY REPUGNANT

The headlines speak for themselves. Student-teacher scandals, immodesty, foul language, drugs, alcohol, radical homosexual agendas, and school shootings. These are just some of the headlines that have become the norm. And that does not include things like cheating, disrespect for authority, impropriety towards the opposite sex, and other moral behaviors children learn regularly and repeatedly in school. Van Til said it better than I ever could:

“Non-Christian education puts the child in a vacuum…. The result is that child dies. Christian education alone really nurtures personality because it alone gives the child air and food…. Modern educational philosophy gruesomely insults our God and our Christ. How, then, do you expect to build anything positively Christian or theistic upon a foundation which is the negation of Christianity and theism?…. No teaching of any sort is possible except in Christian schools.”

Moreover, the system itself is funded by virtual theft. Homeowners are forced under threat of the loss of their property to pay for the education of other people’s children. How is that appropriate? The government tells everyone that they have to send their children to school, then tells homeowners that they are going to be the ones to foot the bill whether they like it or not. Not only is this a form of welfare, it is also a form of theft.

For those of you ready to read me the riot act and yell and scream about paying for roads and bridges, hold on a minute. Why is it that we get all up-in-arms about our tax dollars being used to fund abortions (while our opponents make the roads and bridges argument), but we don’t see this one? Our schools are morally repugnant. They are also neo-Marxist, secular humanist indoctrination centers. Why should I as a Christian be forced to pay for children to have every vestige of Christianity beaten out of them? Americans are not forced to pay for Mormon schools, or Muslim schools; why should we be forced to pay for neo-Marxist schools (remember, all education is religious in nature)? And why should any Christian contribute to such a system by sending their children to such schools at the expense of others? And before you yell, “I’m just using the tax dollars I spent,” ask yourself if you’re willing to take advantage of all that abortion funding going to Planned Parenthood, or those tax dollars going toward fetal stem cell research.


2. 2.GOVERNMENT EDUCATION IS ANTI-CHRISTIAN

“I am as sure as I am of Christ’s reign that a comprehensive and centralized system of national education, separated from religion, as is now commonly proposed, will prove the most appalling enginery for the propagation of anti-Christian and atheistic unbelief, and of anti-social nihilistic ethics, individual, social and political, which this sin-rent world has ever seen.”
-A.A. Hodge

Jesus made it quite clear when he said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Matthew 12:30 ESV) I am amazed at how many Christians refuse to acknowledge this fact as it relates to the government school system. Our education is either based on biblical truth, or some other truth. There is no such thing as neutrality in this regard. All education is religious in nature. Since it is illegal for students in our government schools to be taught from a Christian perspective, then it follows that they must be taught from a non (or anti) Christian perspective.

As Hodge pointed out, the result of non-Christian education is anti-Christian education. Government schools must be anti-Christian. They can be nothing else. Therefore, to send a child to a government school is to have them trained in an anti-Christian environment for 14,000 instructional hours. To get that much instruction from church a child would have to attend two hours a week for one hundred and forty years!

1. THE BIBLE COMMANDS CHRIST-CENTERED EDUCATION

“This whole process of education is to be religious, and not only religious, but Christian…. And as Christianity is the only true religion, and God in Christ the only true God, the only possible means of profitable education is the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
-Charles Hodge

I recognize that educational antinomianism is the norm in the modern American church. According to the common refrain, “It doesn’t matter what educational choice you make... you just have to pray about it and do what the Lord leads your family to do.” However, I must confess I find this this concept disturbing on a number of fronts. First, this kind of thinking denies the sufficiency of Scripture. The Bible speaks either directly, or principially to every aspect of life. There are no grey areas. Sure, there are things that are difficult to discern, but education is not one of them. Though you won’t find the word ‘education’ in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, there are a number of passages that speak directly to the issue of training ourselves and our children intellectually, spiritually, philosophically and morally (See Deut. 6:6,7; Prov. 1:7; Eph. 6:4, etc). We also have numerous warnings against allowing others to influence us intellectually, spiritually, philosophically, and morally (Psalm 1; Rom. 12:1,2; 2 Cor. 6:14ff; Col. 2:8, etc.).

Second, this line of reasoning smacks of mysticism. Instead of making an argument with an open Bible we dismiss all opposition with the flippant, trite, overused, and theologically problem-laden phrase, “we prayed about it and this is what the Lord told us to do.” The lord ‘has spoken’. (Heb. 1:1-2) We are not awaiting new revelation. Instead of doing what the Lord ‘told us’, Christians are commanded to do what the Lord ‘has told us’ in his Word. The London Baptist Confession speaks to this matter rather poignantly:

The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving Knowledge, faith and obedience; Although the light of Nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom and power of God, as to leave men unexcusable [sic.]; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and His will, which is necessary unto salvation. Therefore it pleased the Lord at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal himself, and to declare that His will unto his Church; and afterward for the better preserving, and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment, and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan, and of the World, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which maketh the Holy Scriptures to be most necessary, those former ways of Gods revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.

The Cambridge Declaration states:

We reaffirm the inerrant Scripture to be the sole source of written divine revelation, which alone can bind the conscience. The Bible alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured. We deny that any creed, council or individual may bind a Christian's conscience, that the Holy Spirit speaks independently of or contrary to what is set forth in the Bible, or that personal spiritual experience [i.e., “the Lord told me”] can ever be a vehicle of revelation.

There’s enough here for an entire series of posts (so many posts... so little time), but for now let me simply say that the “the Lord told me” line of argumentation has serious theological problems. We must make our educational decisions with an open Bible. “The Lord told me” is no substitute for “the Bible says...” Please don’t make a decision about your child’s education without consulting (and obeying) the Scriptures.

This week the SBC hornet’s nest is being stirred up again over the education issue. The last time this happened I was beyond embarrassed as I listened to my esteemed colleagues make illogical, unscriptural, cowardly arguments for “not giving up on ‘our’ schools.” How I long for voices like Hodge, Van Til, and Machen (who called government education a “soul-killing system”) to be heard among my brethren. However, with over eighty-five percent of our children in the government schools and more government school teachers and administrators than any other “denomination”, it is highly unlikely that our side will prevail on this issue any time soon. One wonders what the schools will have to do to our children before we are willing to acknowledge the folly of our choices. In the meantime, I will continue to watch, fight, and pray, and try to convince as many of you as I can to liberate your children from Caesar’s indoctrination camps.

I have quoted John Wesley on this issue in previous posts. However, his words are far too pertinent for me to ignore on this issue:

“Let it be remembered, that I do not speak to the wild, giddy, thoughtless world, but to those that fear God. I ask, then, for what end do you send you children to school? “Why, that they may be fit to live in the world.” In which world do you mean, — this or the next? Perhaps you thought of this world only; and had forgot that there is a world to come; yea, and one that will last for ever! Pray take this into your account, and send them to such masters as will keep it always before their eyes. Otherwise, to send them to school (permit me to speak plainly) is little better than sending them to the devil. At all events, then, send your boys, if you have any concern for their souls, not to any of the large public schools, (for they are nurseries of all manner of wickedness,) but private school, kept by some pious man, who endeavours to instruct a small number of children in religion and learning together.”

I can’t help but wonder if people called Wesley divisive or extremist for making the aforementioned comments. Perhaps not. Perhaps they simply said, “That may be right for you, but it’s not what the Lord told us to do.”

VB

Harold Koh confirmed as legal advisor to the State Department

On Wednesday, Senate Republicans attempted to kill the Koh nomination with a filibuster -- until eight of them crossed the aisle The back-stabbing Senators are: Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Susan Collins (R-ME), Judd Gregg (R-NH), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Richard Lugar (R-IN), Mel Martinez (R-FL), Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and George Voinovich (R-OH).Once the filibuster was thwarted, Koh's nomination passed easily. The vote on final passage can be viewed here. Koh is eager to assume his post at the State Department, having lamented that there is only so much that can be done from the outside to push gun control treaties, and that ultimately we need people like him in positions of power. The chief lawyer for the State Department is just the position someone like him needs to push more gun control through international treaties."

"Too much work [was] left undone. After a few sleepless nights, I wrote for myself a list of issues on which I needed to do more in the years ahead. One of those issues was global regulation of small arms." -- Harold Hongju Koh (2001)

Read article from outside link: http://gunowners.org/a062609.htm

Rushdoony outlines the road to Slavery via Socialism

Socialism is a Return to Slavery
"One consequence of such politico-economic policies is a return to slavery. The more socialist a country, i.e., the more rigorously it is dedicated to fiat laws and money, the more marked the return to slavery. Slavery violates the fundamental premise of dominion work, responsibility. In slavery, an elite group orders work done. Personal motivation and purpose is replaced by social plans and goals. The elite assume more and more responsibility and freedom from control while placing all others under the slavery of a radically regulated and controlled society." ~ R. J. Rushdoony, Systematic Theology, p. 1049

Past-President of the NRA(National Rifle Association), Sandy Froman writes a commentary on Sonia Sotomeyer

From Froman’s article… “I served as an officer of the NRA for nine years, including a two-year term as president. I saw NRA members turn the tide on Election Day 2000 to defeat Al Gore. We fought again to help defeat John Kerry in 2004. We can do the same with Sonia Sotomayor, if we call our U.S. Senators and tell them to vote against this anti-gun judge.”
Read article from outside link: http://gunowners.org/a062908.htm

As Darwin’s 200th birthday approaches Great Britain planned to celebrate the peace and happiness created by a “great social engineer of peace and happ

From Doug’s blog: “Geoff Botkin has produced an article rich with insight. He hits the nail on the head by identifying Britain’s scientific intelligentsia as an elitist class of totalitarians. On 200th anniversary of the birth of Darwin, this article is a must-read. Below is an excerpt:
In Britain, police are bracing for the summer riots. The year 2009 has become the year of runaway unemployment, social chaos, and cultural confusion. The authorities expect the summer riots to get ugly.
British citizens were supposed to be happy in 2009. They are not.[1] This is an awkward disappointment for Britain’s social engineers, who had engineered a full year of celebratory splendor to honor a favorite son. 2009 was to have been the year of triumph for Charles Darwin — the greatest social engineer of them all.
Ever since Darwin published the idea that the English were one of the “favoured races,” one hundred and fifty years ago, Britons have been trying to make him a national and international hero. This year, Darwin’s 200th birthday year, was to be a great hero-making opportunity. The Church of England planned a formal apology to Darwin for “misunderstanding” his theology. The British Council, the Royal Geographical Society, the BBC, the University of Cambridge and dozens of other agencies, museums, and organizations[2] planned extravagant memorials to Darwin. Each depict him as a historical superstar. Their exhibitions remind the world that Britain embraced Darwin as much more than a mere naturalist. This is a convenient spin. As a naturalist, Darwin was an incompetent observer, and his findings have been discredited.
The reinvented Darwin has great utility as the founding father of modern Britain. This is his official image for the year 2009, even in exhibitions where his own “tree of life” diagrams and improperly-labeled specimens disgrace him. The Natural History Museum, for example, is putting final touches on a £78 million landmark temple to Darwinism, part of their massive Darwin Centre, which opens this fall. They were expecting many proud and happy celebrants. Before the riots, that is.
It is not dishonest to present Darwin as the architect of modern Britain. His rash ideas and religious propaganda took Britain directly into the militant leftism of the twentieth century, and headlong into the calamities of 2009. Today Darwin’s ideas live in the hearts of those British functionaries who want to honor their spiritual ancestor. These intellectual descendants of Darwin know him mostly as an ideological icon. However, they know enough about his work to know better than to honor him as a social scientist. They should be rightly ashamed of the ideological and fraudulent science that characterizes Darwin’s work. But they are not ashamed. They sincerely believe Darwin is the hero responsible for a new evolutionary stage of British greatness. This is what is so morbidly grotesque about the British celebrations.
In 2009, the United Kingdom is dying before the eyes of a watching world. Do Darwin’s British disciples sincerely believe that Britain’s modern downfall, her cultural disintegration and social chaos[3] are a step forward? Do they believe Britain’s demise is evolutionary progress and even social salvation? If so, the legacy of Charles Darwin is especially chilling. It represents self-directed societal devolution into a stage of willful ignorance. It also represents the forced devolution, dehumanization, and derangement of human reason."
Read the entire article here.

Matt Chancey titled this video "Canada… or Iran!?"

Snapshot: A teacher published an article in a newspaper and is required to perform a forced apology(something they don’t require murderers to do… What good is a forced apology?), he is required to never say anything disparaging about this issue even in private emails (A Canadian pastor expressed disgust in a private email (having been warned previously that he was not allowed) and was sentenced to nine years in prison), and he is required to publish a false denunciation of his views in the newspaper he published his original article for. When asked about freedom of speech authorities now say a person’s right “not to be offended” TRUMPS freedom of speech!!! This is just a snapshot of the video on Matt Chancey’s blog... Go to: http://www.mattchancey.com/blog/?p=526


Pictured: Madame Therese Defarge... knitting
(from Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens)

Gold Money now allows you to take physical delivery of your “digital” gold

From Matt Chancey's blog:

Gold Money (www.goldmoney.com) now allows you to receive 100 gram gold bars if you decide to “liquidate” your digital gold account. [This source of gold is based out of England.]

Check out this neat video showing the process of making a gold bar:http://www.mattchancey.com/blog/?p=558

Astronomers Surprised by Unnatural Star Cluster

by Brian Thomas, M.S.*
While examining an area near the center of the Milky Way, astronomers saw something they were not expecting. An inordinately high number of average-looking stars are grouped there in a formation known as the Arches Cluster, which is surprising since it is located so near to the black hole at the heart of the galaxy. The stars’ normal appearance is not predicted by naturalistic models of star and galaxy formation…
It makes sense to infer that star formation was not dependent on nature, but on a Creator who “telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.”4 Thus it comes as no surprise that naturalists are so surprised by “unnatural” stars.

Go here to read the rest of the article: http: //www.icr.org/article/4764/

New Radio Drama Release Disproves Popular Darwinist Myths

June 24, 2009
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — June 24, 2009 — Vision Forum Ministries has announced the release of Jonathan Park and The Journey Never Taken , 12 new half-hour episodes that disprove popular Darwinist myths in a family radio drama format. This new release of the Jonathan Park Creation Adventure Series — which is being rolled out as the world is celebrating Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of Origin of the Species this year — is the latest installment in the internationally broadcast audio drama that airs on more than 650 radio outlets worldwide.
To read the rest of the article go to http://www.visionforumministries.org/issues/news_and_reports/new_radio_drama_release_dispro.aspx

"Guns Kill Civil Society," says State Department Nominee

While Koh's nomination has been delayed largely because of Second Amendment concerns, Sen. Reid plans to force a vote this week!!!
(Picture of Harold Koh at American Constitution Party… Hmm…)
ACTION: Please contact your Senators immediately and urge them to oppose Harold Hongju Koh's nomination to the State Department. You can use the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center to send your Senators the pre-written message.
To read the reminder article of Harold Koh’s dramatic policies for gun control and to use the prewritten letter provided go here: http://gunowners.org/a062309.htm
To watch a video about Harold Koh posted on our blog a while back go here:http://lenzfavoritescompiled.blogspot.com/2009/06/another-anti-gun-crazy-nominee-from.html

Today is the birthday of Theodore Beza!

John Calvin’s faithful friend and successor in Geneva and notable Reformer in his own right was born in Vezelay, France on this day in 1519. John Calvin writing in 1551 in a letter to a French woman had this to say about his dear friend and successor: “God has endowed him with excellent gifts. And he uses these gifts for the good of the church, so that we might well call him a pearl...All who are interested in the glory of God praise this man as a treasure.”

Read the rest of his history here: http://www.visionforum.com/hottopics/blogs/dwp/

The truth about John Calvin and his remarkable influence...

From Doug’s Blog…

"Where Did America’s Founders Get Their Principles of Liberty?
In the span of one week, our president denied the distinctively Christian origins of the American Republic, and then dedicated a month to the glorification of sodomy and other forms of perversion. We need to be praying for this man and our nation. We also need to get the facts on our history.
Ladies and gentlemen — if you would like an encouraging dose of historical perspective that offers a hopeful response to our president’s agenda of moral confusion, please take a moment and read Dan Ford’s article on the Reformation origins of American liberty. Dan is a published author, lecturer, and one of our featured speakers at the Reformation 500 Celebration. His thesis is this: At the time of America’s Declaration of Independence, the literal path of liberty had been paved for over two hundred years — from John Calvin’s indelible writings on civil government to the sermons, essays, and books of our Puritan forefathers, modern liberty was birthed in the doctrines of the Reformation. If you grew up in a Church that taught falsehoods about the Reformers (i.e. John Calvin murdered Servetus), or held their doctrines in low esteem, you owe it to yourself and your children to get the facts. Dan’s article is one of those resources and you can read it by clicking here."

Gun Owners of America exposes a dangerous bill circulating Washington that is for some reason disclosed from the people…

“Ted Kennedy Bill Could Send Your Gun Info Into A Massive Federal Database
[Snippets from the article...]

At long last, Teddy Kennedy has partially revealed the health care system he wants to foist on the whole country -- and it isn't pretty…
If you fail to buy TeddyCare, as the government orders you to do, the IRS will fine you, garnish your wages, put a lien on your house, and, ultimately, put you in prison. How much will you have to spend on your TeddyCare insurance? Teddy's not saying.”

…Okay, all of this sounds ominous... but why is this a gun issue? The answer is that TeddyCare will allow radical left Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to determine all of the fine print in every TeddyCare policy -- which you will be required to buy under penalty of imprisonment. Currently, as a result of the stimulus bill and a whole lot of other factors, the government is rapidly moving in the direction of computerizing all of your most confidential medical records and putting them into a federal database. So remember when your son was asked by his pediatrician about your gun collection? That would be in the federal database…”

Read More: http://gunowners.org/a061609.htm

Update on Audit the Feds bill…now has Majority support!!!

Today, Congressman Ron Paul's bill to order an audit of the Federal Reserve System passed the majority mark in the US House of Representatives. As of today, HR 1207 has 222 co-sponsors, enough to pass the House of Representatives.

Several of the articles today talk about demographics including Voddie Baucham’s and Walter Williams… It has definitely become an issue and can no longer be ignored.

Walter Williams comments about the affects of socialism in countries that are becoming communist, .i.e. England and Canada

A MINORITY VIEW
BY WALTER WILLIAMS
RELEASE: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2009
Live Free or Die

"Live Free or Die" is the title of author and columnist Mark Steyn's speech at Hillsdale College, reproduced in Imprimis (April 2009), a Hillsdale publication that's free for the asking. Canadian born, now living in New Hampshire, Steyn has had firsthand experience with socialist tyranny in his home country that is rapidly becoming a part of America. Commenting on one of his run-ins with Canada's human rights commissions, Steyn points how it might seem bizarre to find the progressive left making common cause with radical Islam. One half of that alliance is pro-gay, pro-feminist secularists and the other half is homophobic, misogynist theocrats. Steyn argues what they have in common overrides their differences, namely, "Both the secular Big Government progressives and the political Islam recoil from the concept of the citizen, of the free individual entrusted to operate within his own societal space, assume his responsibilities, and exploit his potential."
I doubt whether there are many Americans who think Congress has either the right or competency to choose where they live, what clothes they wear or what cars they drive. Yet many Americans stand ready to allow Congress to decide what doctors they go to and what treatments they receive. We forget that once we have government-sponsored health care, it can be used to justify almost any restraint on liberty. That's the justification behind helmet and seatbelt laws. Britain is well along the road toward totally controlling health care. Steyn says, "Under Britain's National Health Service, for example, smokers in Manchester have been denied treatment for heart disease, and the obese in Suffolk are refused hip and knee replacements. Patricia Hewitt, the British Health Secretary, says that it's appropriate to decline treatment on the basis of 'lifestyle choices.'" Steyn adds, "Smokers and the obese may look at their gay neighbor ...and wonder why his 'lifestyle choices' get a pass while theirs don't. But that's the point: Tyranny is always whimsical."
In most of the developed world, the government has gradually taken over many of the responsibilities of adulthood from health care, childcare, care of the elderly and other responsibilities formerly seen as individual or family. Nobel Laureate economist Paul Krugman suggests that American conservatives preaching "family values" is hypocrisy while Europeans live it. On the continent, Krugman says, "Government regulations actually allow people to make a desirable tradeoff -- to modestly lower income in return for more time with friends and family." Steyn insightfully observes, "As befits a distinguished economist, Professor Krugman failed to notice that for a continent of 'family friendly' policies, Europe is remarkably short of families. While America's fertility rate is more or less at replacement level -- 2.1 -- seventeen European nations are at what demographers call 'lowest-low' fertility -- 1.3 or less -- a rate from which no society in human history has ever recovered. Germans, Spaniards, Italians and Greeks have upside-down family trees: four grandparents have two children and one grandchild." Steyn asks, "How can an economist analyze 'family friendly' policies without noticing that the upshot of these policies is that nobody has any families?" My answer to Steyn's questions is: the kind of economist that looks at the seen and ignores the unseen.
Mark Steyn provides us with a historical tidbit. "Live Free or Die," which graces New Hampshire's license plate, are the words of John Stark, New Hampshire's Revolutionary War hero. He uttered those words decades after the War when he was 81 years old, the complete sentence being: "Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils." Steyn says these words should not be interpreted "as a battle cry: We'll win this thing or die trying, die an honorable death. But in fact it's something far less dramatic: It's a bald statement of the reality of our lives in the prosperous West. You can live as free men, but, if you choose not to, your society will die."
Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University. To find out more about Walter E. Williams and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.

Voddie Baucham presents the Biblical answer to having children in tough economic times…

From Voddie Baucham's blog...

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Is An Economic Downturn A Good Reason to Stop Having Kids?

The news has not been encouraging lately. Between job losses, bankruptcies, and government takeovers, it is hard to be optimistic about the future from a financial standpoint. Even China appears more capitalistic than America these days (see here). As a result, many Americans are making very hard choices. There are even commercials on television depicting families sitting around the dinner table talking about difficult decisions they must make and dreams they must defer. My family and I have had similar discussions as I have had a few events cancelled on account of “the economy”. Things are indeed tough.

One of the overlooked consequences of the current economic downturn is the increasing number of people who have decided to forego having children. All over the western world people are deciding that now is not the time to get pregnant.

...This is especially discouraging news in light of the already astonishingly low birthrates in the industrialized world (See: here, and here). Russia, for example, is expected to see their population cut in half (from 140 Million to 70 Million) between 2005 and 2050. As Michael Specter of the New York Times put it,

“Driven largely by prosperity and freedom, millions of women -- here and throughout the developed world -- are having fewer children than ever before. They stay in school longer, put more emphasis on work and marry later. As a result, birth rates in many countries are now in a rapid, sustained decline. Never before -- except in times of plague, war and deep economic depression -- have birth rates fallen so low, for so long.”

And that was 1998! Things have gotten progressively worse since then. Many European countries have already reached the “point of no return,” and are in danger of becoming Islamic Republics.

Unfortunately, most people view having children as a purely financial endeavor. This attitude was summed up well by Dr. Harry Fisch, a professor of clinical urology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, in New York City, who said:

"The issue about kids is often a financial one, and, if finances are low, it makes sense that people would be less likely to have more kids. And if they're thinking about it, this is the time."

Interestingly, things have been good (from a financial perspective) over the past few decades, but birthrates were still in decline. Thus, the current problem is not one of healthy birthrates becoming unhealthy in light of the economic downturn. Instead, greedy materialistic people who already saw children as a burden when they were ‘filthy rich” (which includes Americans at the “poverty line” if you look at things from a global perspective) are now in a panic because they are slightly less rich. But what does the Bible have to say on the subject? Is an economic downturn, or a set of difficult circumstances a good enough reason to stop having children?

I do not believe that an economic downturn is a sufficient reason to prevent pregnancy. I base my argument on four key factors. First, children are a blessing. The Bible is clear on this issue:

“Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.” (Psalms 127:3-5 ESV)

I love the ESV translation of this passage. Here we see an important nuance in the Hebrew text. It is not the man whose quiver is filled that is blessed, but the man “who fills his quiver.” In other words, we should seek children. We should desire them.

Second, we are commanded to “be fruitful and multiply.” (Gen 1:28; 8:17; 9:1, 7; 35:11; Jer 23:3) One of the principle purposes of marriage is procreation. Of course, this goes beyond merely having children to actually bringing them up in the “discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph 6:4) in an effort to spread the image of God (and the gospel) throughout the earth. As such, it is unthinkable for Christians to attempt to enjoy the benefits of marriage and avoid the responsibility of having and raising children to the glory of God. R. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY said it better than most when he wrote:

Christians must recognize that... rebellion against parenthood represents nothing less than an absolute revolt against God's design. The Scripture points to barrenness as a great curse and children as a divine gift... Morally speaking, the epidemic in this regard has nothing to do with those married couples who desire children but are for any reason unable to have them, but instead in those who are fully capable of having children but reject this intrusion in their lifestyle.

Third, any decision to avoid pregnancy has to be based on biblical reasons, and a struggling economy is not one of them. While I do not believe that there are many instances where preventing pregnancy would be “biblical”, I do believe that there are some instances where one could make a strong biblical argument for doing so. For example, if a man’s wife breaks her pelvis in an automobile accident, I believe he would be quite wise in holding off any plans for a baby. I know there are some who have argued that it is “never biblical” to prevent pregnancy. However, I disagree. As a pastor, I would advise a man in the aforementioned situation not to impregnate his wife, and I would base that advice on Peter’s admonition to “live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel” (1 Peter 3:7 ESV). I believe this goes directly to a man’s role as protector in the home.

However, that is a far cry from the, “Things are really bad now” line of reasoning. Anyone wondering if the Bible gives any hint as to whether or not God would advise his people to continue having children in the midst of bad economic, or political times need only look at Jeremiah’s letter to the exiles in Babylon. In the midst of conditions that make ours look like a day at the park, the Lord spoke through his prophet:

“Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.” (Jeremiah 29:4-6 ESV)

I thank God that my ancestors who were slaves (by the way, that’s worse than an economic downturn) bore children in spite of their difficulties. Had they adopted today’s mindset, there would be no descendants of slaves alive in America today. We would all have been “prevented” in the name of “prudence”.

Fourth, if one has biblical reasons to avoid pregnancy (and this is almost never the case), the next step would be to employ biblical means in doing so.... We must search the Scriptures (I also recommend resources like Andreas Kostenberger’s book, God, Marriage and Family).

Unfortunately, most Christians never give such issues much thought. Very often we assume that since the practice of preventing pregnancy is so common, it must be biblical, prudent, and ethical. Moreover, most “Christian counselors” actually advise believers to prevent pregnancy in virtually any instance. For example, if they 1) are newly married, 2) already have two or three children, 3) have experienced “difficult pregnancies,” 4) had one or more deliveries via c-section, or 5) are in the midst of an economic “crisis” (i.e., can only afford one new car and a 2,000 sq. ft. house). If you don’t believe me, start listening to call-in “counseling” shows. I know this firsthand. Regrettably, my wife and I fell victim to such “counseling” after our second child was born. Suddenly, we had our girl and our boy (the perfect LITTLE family), and the all-too-common excuse of “difficult pregnancies,” (coupled with a Caesarian delivery) so it was time to shut it down. We hired a doctor to take his scalpel and suture, and tell God we no longer needed, wanted, or trusted him in that area of our lives. I talk about this dark episode in Family Driven Faith.

I believe the burden of proof is on those who wish to prevent pregnancy. Search the Scriptures to see if these things are true. We mustn’t simply assume that the old clichés are true. I know we’ve always heard that the responsible thing to do is prevent pregnancy until you are “ready” financially (and there are no complications, or sickness, or dreaded warnings from physicians), but what does the Bible say? And who’s ever “ready” for a baby? Moreover, who knows what the financial scene will look like nine months from now?

There’s another issue at play here. Many people who prevent pregnancy today and plan on just “getting back around to it” some other time are in danger of, “tempting the Lord their God.” (Matt 4:7; cf. Deut. 6:16) Getting pregnant is not a guarantee. There are plenty of people out there who cry themselves to sleep at night because they’ve been trying for years and God has not opened the womb. People who put pregnancy off until a “more appropriate time” need to bear this in mind. You don’t know when (or if) you will get pregnant. As such, it is quite presumptuous to put it off until you decide you’re ready. Remember, God is the author of life, and every child is a blessing. Besides, who’s going to fix our ethical, spiritual, economic, and political crisis in the next generation if those of us who know the answer (the gospel) shut it down and stop launching arrows simply because they may require a little financial sacrifice in the short run?

VB

We saw a bill board yesterday that showed a picture of babies in a treasure chest with the words: "God's stimulus package". How true! When in America did we begin to hate children? When did we decide to view children as a burden? When did we buy into the world's idea that there isn't enough room for us all so let's all stop taking dominion and bringing lives into the world?
We have our mindset turned backwards! And like the kings of Israel we do not do what is right in the sight of the Lord and worship the idol of state, i.e. the government will save us instead of God.

From II Chronicles 28 and 29...

Now in the time of his distress King Ahaz became increasingly unfaithful to the LORD. This is that King Ahaz. For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which had defeated him, saying, “Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel.

[King Ahaz's son]Hezekiah became king... and he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father David had done.
In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the LORD and repaired them. Then he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them in the East Square, and said to them: “Hear me, Levites! Now sanctify yourselves, sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry out the rubbish from the holy place. For our fathers have trespassed and done evil in the eyes of the LORD our God; they have forsaken Him, have turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the LORD, and turned their backs on Him. They have also shut up the doors of the vestibule, put out the lamps, and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. Therefore the wrath of the LORD fell upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He has given them up to trouble, to desolation, and to jeering, as you see with your eyes. For indeed, because of this our fathers have fallen by the sword; and our sons, our daughters, and our wives are in captivity. “Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that His fierce wrath may turn away from us. 11 My sons, do not be negligent now, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and that you should minister to Him and burn incense.”

Let us light the lamps and clear away the rubble in our hearts that the Lord may do a mighty work in us and restore our states of America.

Another Anti-Gun Crazy nominee from Obama.

From Gun Owners of America…

"The Obama administration -- the one that, during the campaign, “was not going to go after our guns” -- has nominated yet another anti-gun crazy for a high federal post… This one is Harold Koh."

The video won't download on the blog... sooo...go to Gun Owners of America to watch a short video on Harold Koh!!! :) :

http://gunowners.org/koh.htm

Walter William’s “Trojan Horse”

This article reminds me of when Daddy had Emily and I write reports about the story of Davie Crockett as a congressman and the farmer who told him that he could not vote for him because he had used public money for charity… The states of America have payed (not the United States of America has payed) so dearly for the rejection of this principle.

A MINORITY VIEW
BY WALTER WILLIAMS
RELEASE: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 2009

Americans Love Government

Philosopher Bertrand Russell suggested that "Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education." And, it was Albert Einstein who explained, "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." So which is it -- stupidity, ignorance or insanity -- that explains the behavior of my fellow Americans who call for greater government involvement in our lives?
According to latest Rasmussen Reports, 30 percent of Americans believe congressmen are corrupt. Last year, Congress' approval rating fell to 9 percent, its lowest in history. If the average American were asked his opinion of congressmen, among the more polite terms you'll hear are thieves and crooks, liars and manipulators, hustlers and quacks. But what do the same people say when our nation faces a major problem? "Government ought to do something!" When people call for government to do something, it is as if they've been befallen by amnesia and forgotten just who is running government. It's the very people whom they have labeled as thieves and crooks, liars and manipulators, hustlers and quacks.
Aside from the general level of disgust that Americans have for congressmen, there's the question of whether there is anything that Congress does well. What about Social Security and Medicare? Congress has allowed Social Security and Medicare to accumulate an unfunded liability of $101 trillion. That means in order to pay promised elderly entitlement benefits, Congress would have to put trillions in the bank today earning interest. Congressional efforts to create "affordable housing" have created today's financial calamity. Congress props up failed enterprises such as Amtrak and the U.S. Postal Service with huge cash subsidies, and subsidies in the forms of special tax treatment and monopoly rights. I can't think of anything that Congress does well yet we Americans call for them to take greater control over important areas of our lives.
I don't think that stupidity, ignorance or insanity explains the love that many Americans hold for government; it's far more sinister and perhaps hopeless. I'll give a few examples to make my case. Many Americans want money they don't personally own to be used for what they see as good causes such as handouts to farmers, poor people, college students, senior citizens and businesses. If they privately took someone's earnings to give to a farmer, college student or senior citizen, they would be hunted down as thieves and carted off to jail. However, they get Congress to do the identical thing, through its taxing power, and they are seen as compassionate and caring. In other words, people love government because government, while having neither moral nor constitutional authority, has the legal and physical might to take the property of one American and give it to another. The unanticipated problem with this agenda is that as Congress uses its might to take what belongs to one American to give to another, what President Obama calls "spreading the wealth around," more and more Americans will want to participate in the looting. It will ultimately produce something none of us wants: absolute control over our lives.
The path we're embarked upon, in the name of good, is a familiar one. The unspeakable horrors of Nazism, Stalinism and Maoism did not begin in the '30s and '40s with the men usually associated with those names. Those horrors were simply the end result of a long evolution of ideas leading to consolidation of power in central government in the name of "social justice." In Germany, it led to the Enabling Act of 1933: Law to Remedy the Distress of the People and the Nation and, after all, who could be against a remedy to relieve distress? Decent but misguided Germans, who would have cringed at the thought of what Nazi Germany would become, succumbed to Hitler's charisma.
Today's Americans, enticed, perhaps enchanted, by charismatic speeches, are ceding so much power to Washington, and like yesteryear's Germans are building the Trojan Horse for a future tyrant. Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University. To find out more about Walter E. Williams and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC. "

A boy’s fascination for radios defeats Hitler and the Third Reich…

John Killian’s Father liked to play with Radios when he was a boy. During WWII he was instrumental in winning the war with his expertise in this area. :)
Link to the article:
http://johnkillian.blogspot.com/2009/06/robert-killian-voice-of-iron-and.html

A British “Ronald Reagan” rises in the UK...

(Too bad he is using Obama’s advertising, “Change”. I think we are all tired and wary of that phrase.)

Also on John Killian’s blog is an article and video about British politics. While Britain has gone farther towards socialism and large government than even the US, there appears to be a conservative spokesman who compares to Ronald Reagan in the 1980’s, David Cameron. It is interesting to keep up to date on British politics because as John Killian says in his article, “Maybe conservatives here in the US will gain hope by a right-ward turn in Great Britain.”
This link leads to John Killian’s article and a short amusing video clip from the British Parliament: http://johnkillian.blogspot.com/2009/06/conservatives-sweep-as-gordon-brown-is.html

Chicago protesters say abolish the Federal Reserve System…

John Killian notifies us in his blog that Congressman Ron Paul is introducing a bill to audit the Federal Reserve System (HR 1207).
Go to the link to watch an interesting video on the Federal Reserve System
http://johnkillian.blogspot.com/2009/06/will-alabamas-shelby-kill-plan-to-audit.html

Walter Williams shows increased government spending on education has opposite expected effect…

Walter Williams recently published an article about the current state of the United States education system entitled, “Dumbest Generation Getting Dumber”.
I have read Walter William’s articles regarding a public voucher system for education and often wondered why the government hasn’t grasped this idea as a more just and efficient system. However, when one considers the tremendous loss of power and control this would incur on the states right to the children’s mind one can easily see why the voucher plan has been repeatedly ignored and rejected.

By Walter Williams... Dumbest Generation Getting Dumber
A MINORITY VIEW
BY WALTER WILLIAMS
RELEASE: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 2009


"The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international comparison of 15-year-olds conducted by The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that measures applied learning and problem-solving ability. In 2006, U.S. students ranked 25th of 30 advanced nations in math and 24th in science. McKinsey & Company, in releasing its report 'The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America's Schools' (April 2009) said, 'Several other facts paint a worrisome picture. First, the longer American children are in school, the worse they perform compared to their international peers. In recent cross-country comparisons of fourth grade reading, math, and science, US students scored in the top quarter or top half of advanced nations. By age 15 these rankings drop to the bottom half. In other words, American students are farthest behind just as they are about to enter higher education or the workforce.' That's a sobering thought. The longer kids are in school and the more money we spend on them, the further behind they get.
While the academic performance of white students is grossly inferior, that of black and Latino students is a national disgrace. The McKinsey report says, "On average, black and Latino students are roughly two to three years of learning behind white students of the same age. This racial gap exists regardless of how it is measured, including both achievement (e.g., test score) and attainment (e.g., graduation rate) measures. Taking the average National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores for math and reading across the fourth and eighth grades, for example, 48 percent of blacks and 43 percent of Latinos are 'below basic,' while only 17 percent of whites are, and this gap exists in every state. A more pronounced racial achievement gap exists in most large urban school districts." Below basic is the category the NAEP uses for students unable to display even partial mastery of knowledge and skills fundamental for proficient work at their grade level.
The teaching establishment and politicians have hoodwinked taxpayers into believing that more money is needed to improve education. The Washington, D.C., school budget is about the nation's costliest, spending about $15,000 per pupil. Its student/teacher ratio, at 15.2 to 1, is lower than the nation's average. Yet student achievement is just about the lowest in the nation. What's so callous about the Washington situation is about 1,700 children in kindergarten through 12th grade receive the $7,500 annual scholarships in order to escape rotten D.C. public schools, and four times as many apply for the scholarships, yet Congress, beholden to the education establishment, will end funding the school voucher program.
Any long-term solution to our education problems requires the decentralization that can come from competition. Centralization has been massive. In 1930, there were 119,000 school districts across the U.S; today, there are less than 15,000. Control has moved from local communities to the school district, to the state, and to the federal government. Public education has become a highly centralized government-backed monopoly and we shouldn't be surprised by the results. It's a no-brainer that the areas of our lives with the greatest innovation, tailoring of services to individual wants and falling prices are the areas where there is ruthless competition such as computers, food, telephone and clothing industries, and delivery companies such as UPS, Federal Express and electronic bill payments that have begun to undermine the postal monopoly in first-class mail.
At a Washington press conference launching the McKinsey report, Al Sharpton called school reform the civil rights challenge of our time. He said that the enemy of opportunity for blacks in the U.S. was once Jim Crow; today, in a slap at the educational establishment, he said it was 'Professor James Crow.' Sharpton is only partly correct. School reform is not solely a racial issue; it's a vital issue for the entire nation."
Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University. To find out more about Walter E. Williams and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.

From Voddie Baucham's Blog

An interesting post about homeschooling from Voddie Baucham’s blog… It is interesting to note how the media and socialist liberals are eager to attack homeschooling. It is a good reminder to us of the importance of education from a Christian perspective. The state’s primary tool used to socially engineer the people towards communism and Marxism is the public education system which they have thoroughly succeeded in monopolizing. Thus the general rise of home education is a small and growing weed with deep roots that they(communists and Marxists) are most anxious to pull up.

Be sure to follow the link in the middle that leads you to Voddie’s previous posts on Gramscian Marxism.

Voddie Baucham’s recent post…


"USA Today Misses the Mark on Homeschool Trends entirely.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

As a homeschool father, I am weary of fielding the same old questions by those who don’t understand my educational choice. Sometimes I feel like carrying signs that read, “Yes, one of us has an education degree” (and no that is neither required, nor is it necessarily beneficial). “No, we don’t worry about our kids being able to get into college” (many colleges actually prefer and recruit homeschoolers). And if I hear one more person ask me about socialization I just may throw up! Virtually all of these harmless questions come from other Christians. However, there is a new line of argumentation coming from outside the Christian community that is especially sinister..."

Read More:http://www.voddiebaucham.org/vbm/Blog/Entries/2009/5/30_USA_Today_Misses_the_Mark_on_Homeschool_Trends.html

From the Institute for Creation Research...

Atheist Ads in Chicago Say Man Created God
by Christine Dao*by Christine Dao*

“In the beginning, man created God,” according to recent advertisements posted on 25 Chicago buses. The Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign targeted the country’s third largest city to espouse “the idea that man created God as well as all religions.”1 The ads were inspired by similar campaigns elsewhere, including one sponsored by the British Humanist Association last year that was supported by The God Delusion author Richard Dawkins.2..."

"According to Gallup, 78 percent of Americans believe in God and only about 6 percent do not believe in God or a higher power.4...Atheists represent only a small fraction of America’spopulation."

Read More:http://www.icr.org/article/4742/

From World Net Daily!...

"He's back! Ten Commandments judge takes on Obama
Roy Moore runs for governor, promotes 'So Help Me God'

Posted: June 01, 200912:37 am Eastern© 2009 WorldNetDaily

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama has another outspoken critic on the stump today – Judge Roy Moore, former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court launches his run for governor of that state and hits the national media promoting release of his autobiographical manifesto, "So Help Me God."
Moore is scheduled for appearances tomorrow on "Fox & Friends," the Dennis Miller radio show, the Steve Malzberg radio show and other venues
. He appears tonight on Alan Colmes' radio show and later on Bill Cunningham, Lee Rodgers and Sean Hannity's Fox News program.
Moore's campaign for governor won't be a traditional race for statewide office. It is certain to become a national campaign, as his likely Democratic opponent in 2010 is Rep. Artur Davis, a friend of Obama from Harvard Law School who stands behind all of the president's most controversial policies. Moore, on the other hand, became a national hero to many conservatives and Christians for standing up for the acknowledgement of God while in public office – a position that cost him his elected office of chief justice.
A previously unseen video clip of then-state Attorney General Bill Pryor grilling Moore about his refusal to stop acknowledging God while in office casts the "Ten Commandments judge" in a sympathetic new light for many who previously misunderstood the controversy in Alabama.

Moore was picked as a likely winner in the state's 2010 governor's race in a February poll. Meanwhile, a poll conducted earlier this month by Davis shows him ahead of all likely Democratic challengers and all Republicans except Moore.
A press release issued two weeks ago by the Davis camp said, "The memo states that Davis has higher name identification than other announced or likely Democratic or Republican candidates with the exception of former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore."
Moore's book is being published by WND Books and he serves as a WND columnist."

Why Judge Sonia Sotomayor is Disqualified to Be our Next U.S. Supreme Court Justice

TWO OPINIONS OF NOTE:
Bob Renaud and John Killian
(John Killian is not as good because he is not quite as conservative and it seems to me he hangs on to a bit of “lesser of two evils” idea but he is still informative.)

Bob Renaud says:

Empathy, Impartiality, and Justice
During his campaign for the presidency,
Obama explained what he would look for in a nominee to the high
court:

“We need somebody who’s got the heart, the empathy, to
recognize what it’s like to be a young teenage mom. The empathy to understand
what it’s like to be poor, or African American, or gay, or disabled, or old. And
that’s the criteria by which I’m going to be selecting my judges.”[1]
Read more:http://www.visionforumministries.org/issues/rule_of_law/empathy_impartiality_and_justi.aspx

John Killian says:
President Obama Tips His Hat on Supreme Court Appointment.
What conclusions can conservatives draw from the Sotomayor nomination?

1) Sotomayor is a liberal,
2) Sotomayor will vote with the current
liberal majority on the US Supreme Court.
3) Sotomayor will vote similarly to the individual she is replacing,
Justice David Souter.
4) likely, Sotomayor could not be defeated under any circumstances.
Read More: http://johnkillian.blogspot.com/2009/05/president-obama-tips-his-hat-on-supreme.html

Cod Still Recovering from Darwin Bulldog's Bite
by Brian Thomas, M.S.*

Cod fish dominated massive areas of the North Atlantic Ocean until somewhat recently, when their numbers dramatically dwindled due to overfishing. Interestingly, that population decline can be directly attributed to the advice of an outspoken evolutionist.

During the late nineteenth century, cod numbers were diminishing and fishermen were forced to travel farther for fewer fish. They sought counsel from a British Royal Commission on trawling, of which Charles Darwin’s “bulldog,” Thomas Henry Huxley, was a leading member. Huxley advised the fishermen to continue fishing wantonly, calling their complaints “unscientific.”1 He reasoned that only the weak cod would get caught, and the stronger ones left in the ocean would continue to evolve because of their struggle to survive.

Read More: http://www.icr.org/article/4636/