That wise Men have in all Ages thought Government necessary for the Good of Mankind; and, that wise Governments have always thought Religion necessary for the well ordering and well-being of Society, and accordingly have been ever careful to encourage and protect the Ministers of it, paying them the highest publick Honours, that their Doctrines might thereby meet with the greater Respect among the common People."Necessary for the well ordering and well-being of society". We're now in the midst of terrible experiment to see what effect the purging of religion from the public square has on the well ordering and well-being of society. May God have mercy on us.
U.S., Japanese and Australian naval ships are steaming toward the disaster area with onboard hospitals and water desalination plants.Betcha nobody is counting the cost of providing assistance like this when calculating US disaster aid.
America will once again show its generosity and goodness to the world as this disaster unfolds. Ironically it is the very strength that allows us to help at times like these that will insure the continuation of the animosity against our country. It might be a good time to remember that poll that was taken just prior to the presidential election. A surveyed showed that 58% of the various nationalities polled wanted to see the United States and its role in world affairs weakened. A weakened United States could not respond to this disaster in as meaningful a way. These people will put aside their desires for American weakness until this tragedy is passed. Then it will be back to business as usual.
Given that the hard evidence of anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change is scant (if it exists at all), any prudent person would agree that mankind's ability to "'tweak' the system" is vastly overrated.“The climate system is remarkably sensitive to natural variability,” [Glaciologist Lonnie Thompson] said. “It’s likely that it is equally sensitive to effects brought on by human activity, changes like increased greenhouse gases, altered land-use policies and fossil-fuel dependence.
“Any prudent person would agree that we don’t yet understand the complexities with the climate system and, since we don’t, we should be extremely cautious in how much we ‘tweak’ the system,” he said.
“The evidence is clear that a major climate change is underway.”Sigh.
The concept is simple, but finding the fewest number of links can be difficult. The way you link an actor with Bacon is like so:
- Pick a film actor, any film actor.
- Link the actor you've chosen to Bacon via the movies they've shared with other actors until you end up with Kevin Bacon himself.
Here is an example, using Elvis Presley:
- Elvis Presley was in Change of Habit (1969) with Edward Asner
- Edward Asner was in JFK (1991) with Kevin Bacon
Therefore Elvis Presley has a Bacon number of 2.
A scenario for an unspecified day in 2005: One of President Bush's judicial nominations is brought to the Senate floor. Majority Leader Bill Frist makes a point of order that only a simple majority is needed for confirmation. The point is upheld by the presiding officer, Vice President Dick Cheney. Democratic Leader Harry Reid challenges the ruling. Frist moves to table Reid's motion, ending debate. The motion is tabled, and the Senate proceeds to confirm the judicial nominee -- all in about 10 minutes.Simple as that; no more pretend filibusters on judicial nominees. Novak goes on to note that the prececent for this type of maneuver belongs to the Democrats -- Sen. Robert Byrd effected Senate rules changes in this way four times as majority leader.
First, does the person speak out publicly against abortion or for related pro-life causes? Second, does the person participate vigorously in efforts to protect the unborn or, if a legislator, at least vote to do so? Third, do pro-life forces see the person as an ally or do pro-abortion lobbyists look kindly on the person? To be a pro-lifer a person wouldn't necessarily have to pass all three parts, but two out of three would seem to be the minimum required to be considered an authentic pro-lifer.Barnes goes on to examine how Reid measures up to these criteria.
For immediate distribution & broadcast:This brings you to a page containing the lyrics to the above-mentioned song, roughly set to the tune of Santa Claus is Coming to Town. It's essentially a rant against the Department of Homeland Security, equating it to the excesses of Stalin and Mao.
"Comrade Santa is coming to town"
link:
http://www.agenturus.org/comsanta.htm
The seasonally litigious rest their fanatical devotion to the deChristification of Christmas on the separation of church and state. America's founders were opposed to the "establishment" of religion, whose meaning is clear enough to any Englishman: the new republic did not want President Washington serving simultaneously as Supreme Governor of the Church of America, or the Bishop of Virginia sitting in the US Senate. Two centuries on, these possibilities are so remote that the "separation" of church and state has dwindled down to threats of legal action over red-and-green party napkins.
Forensic DNA testing has revealed that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld did not personally lick postage stamps on letters to families of troops killed in Iraq.The outrage!
Kudos to Sharon for what the Daily Mail calls her brutal honesty."Everybody has something in the closet, and I reckon the best policy is always to be honest, then it can't come back to haunt you," she says. And she holds her hands up to her own "big mistakes". The biggest brings her to tears. "I had an abortion at 17 and it was the worst thing I ever did. It was the first time I'd had sex, and that was rotten. I'd always thought it was going to be all violins, and it was just awful.
"I was two months gone when I realised. I went to my mum and she said, without pausing for breath: 'You have to get rid of it.'
"She told me where the clinic was, then virtually pushed me off. She was so angry. She said I'd got myself in this mess, now she had to get me out.
"But she didn't come. I went alone. I was terrified. It was full of other young girls, and we were all terrified and looking at each other and nobody was saying a bloody word. I howled my way through it, and it was horrible.
"I would never recommend it to anyone because it comes back to haunt you. When I tried to have children, I lost three - I think it was because something had happened to my cervix during the abortion. After three miscarriages, they had to put a stitch in it.
"In life, whatever it is, you pay somewhere down the line. You have to be accountable."
I enjoy Christmas decorations -- and Christmas music, and the upbeat Christmastime mood -- and I say that as a practicing Jew for whom Dec. 25 has no theological significance at all. I have never celebrated Christmas, but I like seeing my Christian neighbors celebrate it. I like living in a society that makes a big deal out of religious holidays. Far from feeling threatened when the sights and sounds of Christmas surround me each December, I find them reassuring. They reaffirm the importance of the Judeo-Christian culture that has made America so exceptional -- and such a safe and tolerant haven for a religious minority like mine.I remember a couple of decades ago when one of the earliest rumblings of political correctness was advocacy for the disabled. It seemed to me at the time (and it still does) that disabled people weren't as sensitive about their disabilities as were their advocates.
The Republican's Sinister Secret PlanI'm not really sure how this fellow got a hold of our super-secret plans. We maintain strict control over our inventory of secret decoder rings.
The Republican Party, and the few families who they really represent, have been secretly colluding and conspiring to do what is best for themselves, and not what is best for America. They are using our government leaders to help them get what they want, and what they want is more money and more control over our government. They will not stop unless they are forced to stop and they cannot be stopped unless the American people recognize them for what they really are, liars, con artist, and money whores.
These few mega wealthy families spare no expense in making sure they have control over the Republican Party. They keep it free of any individuals who are rational free-thinkers, or leaders who are willing to descent from the party line. They infiltrate their operatives into the Democratic Party, and they keep the other honest Democrats at bay by intimidating, discrediting, and/or destroying any real potential opposition. The payoff for their corrupt shills in Congress is big bucks, fat cat jobs, and other fringe benefits.
Try this on for size. You’re seventy five years old. You live in the comfy home you’ve always lived in. You play golf in good weather. In bad weather, you travel to where it’s warm and sunny. When your grandchildren call, you take them out on the lake in your new boat. Your wife takes classes in the local college and paints. This is your life in retirement and it’s everything you always hoped and dreamed it would be.In case you don't quite get what he's saying, he spells it out clearly later in the essay:
Or, try this scenario: you are seventy-five years old. You live in a tiny apartment with the smell of boiled cabbage and noisy neighbors all around. You live in a scary neighborhood and you dare not go out after dark. Eating at restaurants is just a dream. Your apartment is too small to have your kids or grand kids visit. If you get sick and you have to spend time in nursing care, you don’t know how you’ll afford it. Your life is pure fear.
The fact is that if you are a baby boomer, one of the 77 million racing towards retirement, you have -- to a large extent--your choice of which of these retirement outcomes is yours.
The point is, making sure you have a swell retirement is up to you. Not to Uncle Sam, usually not to your employer, not to your kids.Short essay, well worth the read.
Santa Claus and his elves must be very productive to make all those toys, right? Their secret is Communism. The red suit gives it away. Forget what your parents might have told you, and forget all those television specials you saw about Santa Claus. They don't know the whole story. You can even forget about that kid who told you that Santa isn't real--that's just a myth the capitalists started out to cover up the fact that communism can be so successful.
The Earth Charter -- a blueprint for global socialism and radical environmentalism -- is the brainchild of Mikhail Gorbachev and Maurice Strong. Most people remember Gorbachev as the last leader of the communist empire known as the Soviet Union, but the EC website identifies him simply as "president of Green Cross International". Strong, Canadian zillionaire, is basically the George Soros of the radical environmentalist/socialist Left -- he has dedicated his wealth to the realization of the principles embodied in the Charter.Day after day in New York City, a small and strange procession can be seen moving along the pavement. While taxicabs whiz by and passersby move out of the way on Big Apple sidewalks, a handful of acolytes transport a large, hand painted box crafted from the wood of a sycamore tree. Make that "a sustainably harvested in Germany" sycamore tree. Dressed not in long flowing robes, but in average business apparel, the acolytes are garden-variety United Nations employees. There’s no need to hire Brink’s for protection and nothing but propaganda and hype worth robbing. The precious cargo of the box walked by the acolytes are the so-called Earth Charter, printed on actual papyrus and 300 small, handmade "tenemos" books.
The box is pretentiously called the Ark of Hope, a not very good knockoff of the biblical Ark of the Covenant, which contained the tablets of the Ten Commandments given to Moses.
"My hope is that this charter will be a kind of Ten Commandments, a Sermon on the Mount," Gorbachev stated in a 1997 interview with the Los Angeles Times.This version of the Ten Commandments is making strong inroads into the public schools with the hearty endorsement of the education establishment, as this Google search suggests. Okay with you, parents?Strong, who presided over the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, where the Earth Charter was born boasts: "The real goal of the Earth Charter is that it will, in fact become like the Ten Commandments." (Emphasis added).
Some ultra-conservative Christian groups around the country are trying to put more Christ into Christmas this season.I've noticed a curious tendency in the mainstream media to label this as a battle against the secularization of Christmas. Actually, that battle has been ongoing for decades. What's new this year is a concerted effort by the secularist Left to purge Christmas altogether (Christian and secular) from our culture.
The push from the religious right troubles Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.Yes!!!!
Folks dropping money in Salvation Army kettles at Wal-Mart stores can make their money go twice as far. The world's largest retailer announced Thursday it would match up to $1 million in donations.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has more than 3,600 domestic stores operating as Wal-Marts, Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets and Sam's Club warehouse stores.
The company said the clock started Thursday on the match and runs through Christmas Eve.
Wal-Mart competitor Target Corp. has joined a number of other major retailers in banning the Salvation Army bell ringers, saying it was not fair to select certain charities and not others for the coveted space.
Granted, Guiyang is imposing this ban for demographic rather than moral reasons, but regardless of the city officials' motivations, we can rejoice that lives will be saved.Starting January 1, Guiyang, capital of southwestern Guizhou Province, will impose China's first ban on abortion of a fetus more than 14 weeks old.
The move aims to control the city's consistently lopsided male-female ratio of newborns, according to a top Guiyang official.
Medical facilities or doctors violating the ban will face a fine up to 30,000 yuan (US$3,600) or have their medical operation license suspended, according to a regulation the city announced recently.
Pharmaceutical firms will also be banned from selling abortion medications to hospitals or doctors that are not allowed to conduct abortion.
I never thought I would write the following words, but: God bless Hillary Clinton. Though her motives are cynical, their effects may well be vital both to our national security and to our sovereign responsibility to control our borders.Are you listening, GOP?
Republican presidents and congressional leaders have for years effortlessly and painlessly given short shrift to conservative Republican congressmen calling to secure our borders and end massive illegal immigration. But they ignore Hillary at their mortal peril.
Immigration and border legislation in 2005 is likely to be the last chance the Republicans have to put their stamp on those issues. Their failure to do so would: 1) give Hillary three years to champion such Buchananite reform; 2) visibly split the Republican Party on the issue; 3) thereby undercut the Republican unity President Bush will need to pass his Social Security and Tax reforms, and 4) set up Hillary to patch together an unlikely, but formidable, electoral coalition of disenchanted border-security Republicans and main street Democrats for the 2008 campaign.
Bill Moyers Retires, Fails to Leave VoidMedia accounts (like the AP article linked by Ott) never fail to throw in the fact that Moyers is an ordained Baptist minister, as if this should blunt any criticism of his ideas. The truth is, Moyers is no more than a "pet" Baptist to the media, much as John McCain is their "pet" Republican.(2004-12-09) -- Bill Moyers, whose journalistic reports on PBS have been missed by most Americans for 30 years, retires this month but fails to leave the customary void, according to a journalism expert.
"Normally when a veteran newsman leaves, there is that sense of loss," said an unnamed professor at the Columbia School of Journalism, "but all of our metrics indicate that Americans are unlikely to note the absence of Bill Moyers, let alone struggle to reach emotional closure."
Liberal powerhouse MoveOn has a message for the "professional election losers" who run the Democratic Party: "We bought it, we own it, we're going to take it back."If MoveOn makes good on its threat and attempts to radicalize the Dems even further, the GOP can look forward to even more gains in the next cycle.
A scathing e-mail from the head of MoveOn's political action committee to the group's supporters on Thursday targets outgoing Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe as a tool of corporate donors who alienated both traditional and progressive Democrats.
"For years, the party has been led by elite Washington insiders who are closer to corporate lobbyists than they are to the Democratic base," said the e-mail from MoveOn PAC's Eli Pariser. "But we can't afford four more years of leadership by a consulting class of professional election losers."
While the "ethics problems" charge against Scalia are debatable, at least it's a (somewhat) specific accusation. Reid doesn't bother to go into any specifics regarding how Thomas is an "embarrassment" to the court. He doesn't give any examples of poorly written opinions. He doesn't given any particular reason why he doesn't think Thomas has done a good job. A sharp-minded, unbiased interviewer would have called Reid on this, but it didn't happen.MR. RUSSERT: Let me turn to judicial nominations. Again, Harry Reid on National Public Radio, November 19: "If they"--the Bush White House--"for example, gave us Clarence Thomas as chief justice, I personally feel that would be wrong. If they give us Antonin Scalia, that's a little different question. I may not agree with some of his opinions, but I agree with the brilliance of his mind."
Could you support Antonin Scalia to be chief justice of the Supreme Court?
SEN. REID: If he can overcome the ethics problems that have arisen since he was selected as a justice of the Supreme Court. And those ethics problems--you've talked about them; every people talk--every reporter's talked about them in town--where he took trips that were probably not in keeping with the code of judicial ethics. So we have to get over this. I cannot dispute the fact, as I have said, that this is one smart guy. And I disagree with many of the results that he arrives at, but his reason for arriving at those results are very hard to dispute. So...
MR. RUSSERT: Why couldn't you accept Clarence Thomas?
SEN. REID: I think that he has been an embarrassment to the Supreme Court. I think that his opinions are poorly written. I don't--I just don't think that he's done a good job as a Supreme Court justice.
(Credit: Free Republic)The U.S. Senate unanimously approved two months' worth of severance pay for the employees of Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., in the wake of his Nov. 2 defeat by Republican John Thune.
Such severance packages have not been extended to staff members of defeated senators in the past.
As one of their last acts before they adjourned in the early morning hours of Nov. 21, senators voted to change the rules governing the chamber to provide the severance pay and benefits package, which is expected to cost taxpayers at least $656,480.
Daschle has about 80 employees at his South Dakota field offices, his Senate office on Capitol Hill and his Senate minority leader office in the Capitol itself.
The $656,480 estimate comes from multiplying the estimated number of employees eligible for severance by two months' worth of the average annual salary — $49,236 — of a Senate employee. The cost of benefits has not been figured in.
