This summer, as has
been its custom in recent years, the megachurch (Southern
Baptist, not
Willow Creek) I attend brought in a series of guest speakers while
the pastor caught a break. One of the most compelling was James
Walker, president of the
Watchman Fellowship,
which fancies itself a Christian discerner of new religious movements,
cults, the occult, and New Age-ism.
Imagine you are an advocacy group and want to sway a government's
policy development, but really want to keep your activism a secret.
You could learn a lot by observing and then avoiding the practices of
the Center for Climate Strategies, a group of global warming
worrywarts.
While the media and environmentalists regularly hammer the Bush
administration for its alleged lethargy in addressing global warming,
an activist group is working through individual states and
substantially influencing how they will reduce their output of
greenhouse gases.
I did a pair of radio interviews on
programs in Minneapolis on the weekend of September 22, discussing
states' climate change policy. The first was with Jason Lewis
of KTLK-FM, and the second was with David Strom
of the Minnesota Free Market Institute. I also got a mention
on the same subject in the Wall Street Journal
on Sept. 29.
Now even the
partisan-resistant public must acknowledge what conservatives have
known for a long time: that Newsweek is driven by a leftist agenda,
even if they won't acknowledge it themselves.
Discussed by Rush Limbaugh.
Less than a month after
the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the satirical website The
Onion featured this
headline (Warning: profanity): "A Shattered Nation Longs to Care
About Stupid (B.S.) Again."
Minnesota
Gov. Tim Pawlenty and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford have largely
conservative support (a few say they are moderates). Regardless, why
have both signed deals with an environmental advocacy group to
administer their respective states' programs to confront global
warming?
The global warming alarmists' bell has been answered, but that is not
good enough for environmentalists. State by state they not only are
convincing elected officials to address climate change, but they are
also placing their own advocates in positions that will push
tax-raising policies on a snoozing populace.
The terrorist attacks
of September 11, 2001, and an insufficient sense of urgency about
Cuban espionage among his U.S. intelligence colleagues, drove Scott
Carmichael to take the unusual step of writing a book about his work
as a mole hunter.
One classification that hasn’t really narrowed things down much is the
popular descriptor for most Americans’ faith: Christian. Now
sub-category of Christian is rapidly losing its traditional identity
in our culture: Evangelical.
The Chicago Tribune interviewed Joint
Chiefs of Staff Chairman Peter Pace last week in a "wide-ranging"
discussion, but the talk was a little too wide-ranging for those who
want homosexuals to be able to serve openly in the U.S. military.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich enjoys a
reputation as the GOP's "ideas" man, with many hoping he will run for
president next year, but like frontrunner Rudolph Giuliani he carries
baggage in his personal background that could hinder him.
So you're a Christian, and like just about
everyone else, you love movies, but for the most part every time you
check your local theater show times you get that "blah" feeling --
except for today.
Everyone can be a productive member of
society, regardless of their brainpower and education, if they recognize
both their limitations and their natural gifts.
Some analysts who track population shifts
believe the gradual relocation of Northerners to the South and West
means good things politically for Republicans in those destination
states -- but I'm not so sure.
Well, at least there is a town or two in the United States where someone
who is here legally will "do the kinds of work that Americans just won't
do" -- in Greeley, Colo, for one example.
Along with the many freedoms we enjoy in
America, many citizens have come to expect to be able to exercise their
Christianity for nothing -- that is, to accept Jesus, be forgiven your
sins, and go to heaven at no cost to themselves.
Last week the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, under the
Department of Homeland Security, joined a North Carolina law
enforcement leader in announcing the impressive fruits of a joint
program designed to capture, identify and deport illegals caught
breaking the law.
Now that Congress is voting to build fences,
punish burrowing illegals, and require Real IDs for citizens, (agri-)businessmen
and consumers are aghast that improving border security already costs
them. Have you noticed the price of lettuce lately?
Jim McGreevey must be relieved, now that he
has found the perfect venue -- "The Oprah Winfrey Show" -- to unveil the
story of his spiritual journey to the center of himself.
As the summer ends, I can't think of one in
recent memory in which I felt more adrift, lacking crucial guidance in
matters so vital to millions of (especially male) American psyches.
When it comes to solving problems like the
global spread of AIDS, just your cash (but not your voice) is welcomed
-- at least that was the message delivered to President Bush this month
at the International AIDS Conference in Toronto.
Liberals aren't the only ones who think
evangelical Christians are simpletons who have a narrow list of "morals"
issues on their minds when they enter the voting booth.
Objections to current immigration reform
emphasize whether or not amnesty should be granted to illegal aliens in
the country, with big differences between the House and Senate. Where
both fall short, though, is on their border fence initiatives.
It's no use. Give it up. No matter how much
the federal government tries to install security on America's
(southwestern) border, it's a waste of time, money, and resources -- at
least that's what The Washington Post would have you believe.
Pro-abortion researchers sure have good
friends in the media, and the latest example surrounds the Alan
Guttmacher Institute's report that announced there are "Two Americas for
Women" because of a "widening reproductive health gap between poorer
women and higher-income women."
As an unapologetic Jesus freak, I don't think
it bothers too many people, other than the infidel-haters, to state that
Zacarias Moussaoui can't be cast into the fiery pit fast enough.
Great. Afghanistan's most well-known former resident Christian, Abdul
Rahman, has at least temporarily escaped a headless fate and now can
look forward to spending the rest of his life looking over his shoulder.
The purchase of Knight Ridder Inc. by
McClatchy Co. presents possibly the best opportunity to date to
experiment with the next inevitable leap in journalism: jettisoning
print.
It's time the secret
(if it is indeed a secret) came out: newspaper carriers are trained to
drive on the wrong side of the road. It's not in any instruction manual,
or necessarily even spoken between management and delivery people. But
trust me, it's their policy.
It's almost too bad that Jesus Christ has
been historically depicted as long-haired, bearded and sandal-clad --
because the enviro-hippies behind something called the "Evangelical
Climate Initiative" have claimed Him for their own alarmist agenda.
The mainstream media's petulance peaked this
week after they disapproved of Vice President Dick Cheney's notification
method about his hunting accident in Texas -- reminding us again that
it's not about the story, or the victim, but it's about them.
The Republican Party has voted for a change
in its House leadership. The move signifies at least a desire to change
public perception about the GOP, but here's what the party should do to
prove its intentions are sincere.
The fallout from the Jack Abramoff scandal,
and the resultant competition for new Republican leadership in the
House, has produced a growing refrain calling for an end to federal
budget "earmarks" -- but pork proliferation is only part of the story.
You can hardly expect mainstream media
outlets, given their predisposition to caricature evangelical
Christians, to stop giving Pat Robertson a high profile every time he
say something moronic. But others can at least stop enabling him.
Routine reporting by mainstream media
journalists shows they rarely ask tough questions of abortion advocates,
or of the women who seek abortions and can't get them as easily as they
would like.
The court decision that struck down a town's
promotion of "intelligent design" was not a loss for the cause of
undermining evolution theory, but instead presents an opportunity for
those who should now restore the role of Christ in Creation.
Recently two highly respected journalists --
one on the left and one towards the right -- tried to make a case for
saving the business that has been their bread and butter: newspapers.
They both failed.
If homeschooling families want to draw
attention to their lifestyle and education methods when their children
excel -- as in academic competitions -- they've got to accept that they
will draw unwanted scrutiny when one of their own does something
horrible.
With the nomination of Samuel Alito some
liberals are bemoaning the choice of another "white male" by President
Bush for the Supreme Court, but in doing so they've revealed their own
ideological and racial biases.
The success of Lowe's and Home Depot aren't the only reflection of the
do-it-yourself movement's popularity. An increasing number of
Americans are discovering that they can handle the work of two other
traditionally outsourced services all by themselves: education and the
media.
President Bush will probably recover from
the debacle that was the Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination, but
the episode unfortunately left a stain upon his one constituency that
as a group largely supported her: evangelical Christians.
I am sympathetic to the conservatives who
have reservations about the choice of Harriet Miers for the Supreme
Court, but where were these people six years ago when President Bush's
Republican nomination was sealed?
While Democrats and Republicans weigh the
possibility of running for governor of North Carolina in 2008, here
are a half-dozen promises they can make that will surely win over
voters.
When Supreme Court nominee John Roberts questioned "whether
encouraging homemakers to become lawyers contributes to the common
good," he was joking about the legal profession. But Roberts should be
taken seriously.
Every day in the online journal
Jewish World
Review, publisher Binyamin Jolkovsky solicits prayers from readers
for an ailing friend. But if a recent study of the "medicinal power of
prayer" is to be believed, then it's not worth the trouble.
While it is important to change the makeup of the Supreme Court,
social conservatives -- especially those concerned about abortion --
need not and should not be counting on such a change in the judiciary
to accomplish their goals.
Show me an editor who won't let reporters use anonymous sources, and I
will show you a newspaper that probably ignores its constitutional
purpose.
Blogged by Mark Tapscott of the Heritage Foundation.
So what we have with the Kelo v. City of New London decision is
this: The Supreme Court is pro-life when it comes to inorganic local
governments, but not so when it's got flesh and a heartbeat.
Among the questions that greeted Pope Benedict XVI upon his
installation were concerns over whether he would "reach out" to Jews,
Muslims and Protestant Christians.
Catholics' fond remembrances of Pope John
Paul II are understandable and well-deserved, but the odes from those
who did not share the pope's religious doctrine make it seem that some
non-Catholics have disavowed their own beliefs.
The conflict between
pharmacists who refuse to fill prescriptions that violate their
conscience, and customers who face difficulty in obtaining
medications, has largely overlooked the rights of pharmacy owners.
As the New England Patriots prepare for the Super Bowl against the
Philadelphia Eagles, they offer a worthy example of how North
Carolina (and all states) should seek to grow its economy.
California's Rep. Henry Waxman goes after
abstinence-only education programs--and the media goes right along
with him. Excerpted in the
Washington Times (scroll down).
