QotD: The homestretch

"This is an amazing race. The incumbent president has approval ratings somewhere between Robert Mugabe and the ebola virus. The economy is supposedly on the brink of global Armageddon. McCain has only $80 million to spend, while Obama's burning through $600 mil as fast as he can, and he doesn't really need to spend a dime given the wall-to-wall media adoration. And tonight Chris Matthews' doctors announced that his leg tingle has metastasized leaving his entire body like a vibrating cellphone whose ringtone is locked on "I'm In Love, I'm In Love, I'm In Love, I'm In Love, I'm In Love With A Wonderful Guy."

"And yet an old cranky broke loser is within two or three points of the King of the World. Strange."

- Mark Steyn

Don't vote, revisited

More folks are chawing on the idea that massive voter registrations of the uninformed and those who otherwise might not vote is not necessarily a great thing. If someone doesn't have the wherewithal to rise off their posterior and register to vote, do I want that person to vote anyway? Even if they'd vote for someone I favor?

Another good article on the topic (here), this one by William J. Watkins. An excerpt (parentheses mine):

Thus, elections should be viewed as bulwarks of our Republic ... But for elections to serve this lofty purpose, the people must be informed. In recognition of this, the First Amendment was added to the Constitution, in part, to ensure the free flow and availability of information regarding public concerns. Because an informed electorate is a prerequisite to an intelligent exercise of the franchise, the Founding Fathers, in the words of James Madison, viewed the dissemination of information as “the only effectual guardian of every other right.” An ignorant public exercising the franchise (right to vote) was seen as inimical (unfavorable) to a free society.

His conclusion portends our future:

An ignorant voter is more dangerous to the Republic than a non-voter. Unfortunately, the registration movement teaches citizens that an uneducated vote is better than no vote at all. Such a lesson is pernicious and could have lasting effects on the electorate.

Please don't vote Tuesday

I have often thought about who gets to vote in our country. Consider the qualifications:

• Citizen
• 18 years of age or older
• Non-felon

What a blessed people we are!

Still, when I consider who gets to vote, my stomach somersaults. Folks who don't understand our form of government get to vote. They have no idea why we have three branches of government or why we have two segments in our legislature. They haven't read our Constitution or the Declaration of Independence. They think the 3/5 vote for the slave was racist (au contraire!). They think we are a democracy (we are a republic) and have never heard that our Founders could have established a democracy but chose not to do so.

Folks who haven't considered the issues facing our nation get to vote. Should the government even be meddling in things like health care? the economy? education? fuel prices or bank bailouts? They have not considered the extreme weight of issues like life (born or unborn, aged or spry, quick-witted or feeble-minded), and what happens if you begin to diminish any life from conception to the last breath. What about war? Are there such things worth dying for? Is peace at any cost a great ideal or a foolish slogan?

How many folks outside those who read things like this know that the President gets to appoint those who sit on the Supreme Court? Can any of them name a Supreme Court Justice? Can they name their US Senators or Congressman? How about their State legislators? How about their governor?

How many knew who won American Idol this year? And last? And before that?

Who was on Letterman last night?

AAARRRGGGHHH!

John Stossel, reporter of 20/20 fame, had a skewering point in his column yesterday. He suggested that those who are uninformed, though they have every right to vote, would do our nation a great service by staying away from the polls on Tuesday (you can read it here).

Would that knowledge alone could solve our plight. Knowledge puffs up, but ah, wisdom! Oh, that America would become a wise and informed people. Instead, we are just people, like me, who don't have all the answers to all the questions.

Let's hear it for digging up the answers!

What do you really believe?

I contend that most Catholics in America treat their religion like a good luck charm, a get-out-of-hell-free card if you will. If America's Catholics were sincere about Catholicism, they would follow the direction of the papacy and passionately oppose any one running for any office who favors abortion. McCain would win in a landslide.

Protestants aren't any better. While many mainline denominations have doctrines the consistency of tepid oatmeal, the source book, the Bible, has not changed. If Protestants weren't hedging their bets, they'd get into God's word and see what it says, how it applies to every aspect of their lives, and McCain would win in a landslide.

As Harry Jackson's article a couple of posts ago noted, we are in an era where the Bible has been dismissed. It no longer affects the Christian's life. It's relegated to a couple of readings on Sunday (if church is attended at all). Somewhere in the house you might find a Bible. Where was that thing?

Today, Father Jonathan Morris published an essay at FoxNews discussing "spreading the wealth" and why such economics are abominable (read it here). Most of America seems to think it a grand scheme, but Morris concludes

...we know from history, from very sad periods of history, there is no real justice—no progress and no lasting peace—when its pursuit involves beating down some to lift up others. And we also know, by the dictates of reason and the practice of all ages, that when the government decides it can suspend the natural right to private property, through repossession or redistribution, or whatever they choose to call it, that government is on the wrong side of truth.

I do not agree with Fr. Morris that Obama has been right about many things as he alludes to in his piece. In fact, for him to be the great bridge-builder, I do not know of a single issue where I agree with him nor do I see him building a bridge toward me. (In fact, in Morris' archive at Fox News, he has two posts where he hammers Senator Joe Biden on his abortion position.)

Were our relationship with Almighty God more than a thing to check off our to-do list each week, we would not be facing such a dramatic display of opposites for candidates. The parties would look more similar than disparate. I might even be struggling with which candidate I would cast my vote.

Today, sadly, the choice is very clear.

If Americans followed the

Cartoons of the Day (CotD)

These would be funny if the truth within them weren't so horrifying.

2008 by Steve Breen

2008 by Steve Breen

2008 by Lisa Benson

Christians and politics

If those who attend churches that have roots in the Christian faith believed what the Bible said, this election would be a landslide...the other way.

Because many Christians let their world inform what they think about the Bible, you get some incoherent politics.

Five reads shed some light on God, Christians and politics. I encourage you to take the time and digest these over the next couple of days .

1. An Open Letter to Evangelicals by Harry R. Jackson, Jr. In his essay, Mr. Jackson paints a clear portrait of the Christian as a citizen. He also exposes how a weak view and understanding of the Bible leads to its mis- and non-application in the lives with such a view. Nowhere is this currently more visible than in the political arena.
2. Christians and Politics, Part 1 by John MacArthur, Jr. Here is the first of a four-part treatment of Christians and politics. The first part introduces the other three highlighting how much has fundamentally changed in our nation within a half-century and identifies the real problem in America today.
   
3. Christians and Politics, Part 2 by John MacArthur, Jr. In this section, John MacArthur emphasizes that the church is not the state. It's important to note that he does not say that the church must abstain from things political but that the church's priority resides in the spiritual realm and not the physical.
   
4. Christians and Politics, Part 3 by John MacArthur, Jr. Here MacArthur discusses the role of the individual in politics in America.
   
5. Christians and Politics, Part 4 by John MacArthur, Jr. "By means of faithful preaching and godly living, believers are to be the conscience of whatever nation they reside in," writes MacArthur.
   

I have found John MacArthur to be a superb biblical scholar and teacher. That said, I feel that here he does not emphasize enough the need for the believer to proclaim God's truth in politics and culture, in realms civic and scholastic, where we have too often been silent. The church through every believer restrains the anarchy of a society. When it doesn't do that, society begins to rot, and when that happens, I believe that we disobey part of God's command to steward the earth He gave us.

I include his insights for you to consider through the lens of Scripture what God would have you do.

(Thanks to my friend Mark for tipping me off on MacArthur's articles)

America Alone: The essay

Mark Steyn, Canadian columnist turned American, continues to appreciate and honor with his pen the principles that have made our nation great in a time when many Americans couldn't explain how it began. Nor could they explain what the problem was that nearly ripped it asunder in the 19th century.

I offer a few points from his concluding paragraph. Read it in its entirety to see how he gets to this point (here).

(One) Administration will pitch America toward EU domestic policy and UN foreign policy. Thomas Sowell is right: It would be a “point of no return”, the most explicit repudiation of the animating principles of America. For a vigilant republic of limited government and self-reliant citizens, it would be a Declaration of Dependence.

So do we become a neutered, Euro-west welfare state or do we continue to stand against the tide as a free people committed to sustaining freedom through personal responsibility and volitional sacrifice? Bueller? Anyone?

Media bias? Ask a journalist

Tonight, in a freezing-cold, rain-soaked game five of the World Series, Joe Buck and Tim McCarver detoured most about the "questionable" job of the home plate umpire. Folks, the last thing you want in what could be a deciding game is to have lame officiating.

The election version of the umpire is the media. Television news, print news, e-news. America has counted on its journalists to keep the playing field level.

In this years election, the umpire's bias has even become a joke on Saturday Night Live. Sending love letters and candy to one team does not give the other team the warmest of fuzzies.

Linked here is a lengthy article by an ABC News Journalist wherein he grieves over what has become of his profession. Please hang with it in its entirety. It gets really sobering on pages 3-5 (none of the pages is very long).

We have many unanswered questions about what side of this election primarily because the questions have been unasked. In eight days, the questions will be moot.

This ain't t-ball!

Kudos to new San Francisco 49er football coach Mike Singletary for planting his Hall of Fame cleats in the posterior of a couple of his new players.

Singletary anchored the Chicago Bears defense from the middle linebacker position from 1981-1992. He instilled fear in the heart of any offense (including his own) with his beady-eyed scowl and the Mack truck hits that backed it up.

His ferocity on the field is matched only by his passion for Christ on and off the field. He's a classic example of "Whatever you do in word or deed, do all to the glory of God." That's why it's no surprise that as a coach, he will not tolerate the prima donna behavior exhibited by so many players and tolerated by so many coaches, GM's, and owners (Jerry Jones, anyone?).

Said the coach,

"I'd rather play with 10 people and just get penalized all the way until we have to do something else rather than play with 11 when I know that right now that person is not sold out to be a part of this team," Singletary said. "It is more about them than it is about the team. Cannot play with them, cannot win with them, cannot coach with them. Can't do it."

When's the last time you heard about a player actually getting sent to the showers? Literally? Yep. You can read about it here.

You just might see the abysmal 'Niners back in the playoffs next year.

Photo from CNN/SI

A surprise from the Times

The NY Times liked Fireproof.

This paper has spoken little good toward things sincerely Christian in the last three to four decades. Fireproof seems to have shocked the liberal paper. Unlike the review posted a few weeks back, the Times cited the quality of the production and the performances to include the characterizations of real Christians. A few excerpted quotes:

“’Fireproof’” may not be the most profound movie ever made, but it does have its commendable elements, including that rarest of creatures on the big (or small) screen: characters with a strong, conservative Christian faith who don’t sound crazy.”

“…. the cast of mostly amateurs (Mr. Cameron of “Growing Pains” being the exception) is surprisingly good. And the moments of comic relief are mildly amusing.

“Only at the end do the filmmakers get heavy-handed, and they seem not to know when to wrap up, letting the movie run on for several smarmy scenes beyond its natural endpoint. Until then, though, this is a decent attempt to combine faith and storytelling that will certainly register with its target audience. And maybe with other folks as well: among those caring-for-marriage tips are some that anyone could use to improve any type of relationship, with or without the God part.”

You can check out the rest of their review here.

Cartoons of the Day: Chuck Asay

I first came across the artwork of Chuck Asay while going to school in Colorado. He continues to capture in one frame the essence of some of the most complex issues. A few of his recent works:

Copyright 2008 Creators Syndicate

Kennedy would almost appear to be a conservative by today's standards (the quote alluded to above as evidence).

Copyright 2008 Creators Syndicate

QotD: Elites

Ben Shapiro skewered "elites" in his recent column (here). It's funny, but it's sad because it's what we're becoming. Here are just a few.

• You’re an elitist if you quote the Book of Matthew to justify socialism, cite the Book of John to defend Bill Clinton, write off the Book of Romans as “obscure,” or deride the Old Testament as a collection of antiquated messages about shellfish and animal sacrifices.


• You’re an elitist if you think Joe the Plumber’s income and license status are more important than the question he asked Barack Obama (or the answer!!).
  

(Have you noticed that Mr. Obama's answer has been smothered by the left? It's like trying to ignore a high-lighted and dog-eared copy of the Communist Manifesto that had fallen out of his backpack.)

Picture of Joe & O by Jae C. Hong, AP

Who's your buddy? Who's your friend?

You can tell a lot about a person by their friends, with whom they associate, who they seek out for mentoring relationships. You can also tell a lot about a person by the people groups that admire them.

A couple of recent polls put our election into an interesting light. Our troops got to pitch in their two cents. Who would they pick? John McCain. Three-to-one! (You can tap the poll info here.)

Cross the oceans or cross the Rio Grande, pass through the gates in International Falls, Minnesota, and you will find a different picture. The world loves Barack Obama! Canadians opt for The One over McCain 67%-22%. Mexicans? Of those who knew who was running, the three-to-one for the Illinois senator. France? 64% to 4%! Yep, that's 16-to-1. Check out Gallup's results for yourself here.

The only nations sort of leaning McCain? Laos, the Phillipines, and (this one cracked me up) Georgia.

So who are you voting with? France or the Marines? Denmark or the Seals? Belgium or B-52 Airmen?

We are at a cross-roads. The world would like to see us become more like them, and Barack Obama would surely oblige. The US military, the defenders of freedom at home and abroad, ache for America to remain true to what has made her and continues to make her distinct. That road follows John McCain and Sarah Palin (by the way, anyone heard from Biden lately?).

What do Europeans think about Senator Obama? Read this interview of French author and philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy. It'll curdle your milk. This is one path we can travel. Notice how he differentiates the left and the right, and take note near the end of his three reasons Euros love Obama and why McCain makes them shudder.

From a conservative vantage, Michael Medved lays out the dangers of traveling the road to the left in a meaty blog entry here.

Let me leave you with an impassioned plea from ACORN, but with my conservative emphasis:

Vote early! Vote often!

Interesting stats & headlines

• Obama outspends McCain 3 to 1 in campaign advertising. I wonder what McCain thinks of his campaign finance reforms now.
  
• Late night comedians hammer McCain 7 to 1 over Obama. I can see that. I find nothing funny about the latter.
  
• CNN finds Oliver Stone's disgrace, "W.", "surprisingly thoughtful." I would be surprised if I ever found CNN thoughtful.
  
• "Girl called racist for wearing Palin t-shirt" (linked here). Terrific. Next we'll hear that Jeremiah Wright's bucking for the UN's annual Mother Theresa award
  
• To pay off the national debt (how many folks in our country even understand the difference between the debt and the deficit?) each of us need only chip in $33,846.83. That's every person in America from geriatric to vernix-covered. And that was 30 second ago. It's up 3 more cents right now.

Brother, can you spare a dime?

Change

It's been the buzzw0rd for the 2008 election. The word, though, is not synonymous with "good."

Last night we watched "Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein" (pretty humorous that the three iconic monsters of the 30's and 40's would be spoofed in such a light-hearted film). In the film, Lawrence Talbot (aka the Wolfman) tries to stop the reanimation of Dracula and Frankenstein's monster while at the same time, dealing with own his nasty requirement to "change" every time the moon gets full (which unlike celestial norms, happens just about every day in the movies). For Larry Talbot and Bud & Lou, change is not good.

Come November, we're going to have served up to us a heaping helping of change. Should Barack Obama win the White House, he will secure a democratic helm to the executive branch for the next eight years. Nancy Pelosi predicts a 250-seat democratic majority in the House of Representatives (of the 435). Most predict the Senate to swing to a filibuster proof democratic majority, too. The legislative branch and the executive branch will steer our nation to the left.

The Wall Street Journal editorial board took a look at what change means to our nation in "A Liberal Supermajority" (here). It's a sobering prospect. Please give it a read.

But even the WSJ fails to address the enormity of the problem. It's not just the executive and legislative branches that will be affected. Considering two and possibly three Supreme Court seats will come open during an eight-year presidential run, a liberal SCOTUS would begin to adjudicate law with even less consideration given to the Constitution and its original intent than it currently receives. International law will become folded more and more into our jurisprudence, and the whims of other nations will begin to affect our land. The bench will no longer be blind.

It's not just the White House; all three branches of government will change. It makes Lawrence Talbot's dark side seem like nothing more than a frisky puppy.

Hanging chads...on steroids

Remember Bush-Gore in 2000? Remember the hue and cry over voting irregularities in Florida? Which party felt they had been wronged in that election? The hatred and bitterness over that one state in that one election still launches folks to the boiling point in seconds.

Leap forward eight years. Here we stand on the verge of another national election. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has begun to beat the bushes to get folks to register to vote. That sounds well and good until Mickey Mouse starts showing up among registered voters in Florida or that felons names start popping up or that hundreds and thousands of problems regarding identification and residence have cropped up in Ohio.

Ohio is uniquely troubling because a) folks have already begun voting, and b) the democratic attorney general has appealed to the Supreme Court (US version vice Ohio version) because she doesn't want to have to check out all of the suspect voter registrations. More problems: Justice John Paul Stevens, arguably the most liberal judge on the SCOTUS alongside R.B. Ginsberg, has jurisdiction over Ohio. If he agrees, than the suspect registrations will not be addressed.

This is going on in Florida (swing state), Pennsylvania, (swing state), Ohio (swing state). I don't think you have to go to Denmark to find something rotten. You can go to Google News web-site and type in ACORN and notice the news articles and the locations where registration "oddities" are cropping up (okay, just click here).

Conservatives are going nuts! At this time, something can be done. The election is just under three weeks off. They are not after-the-fact griping. You would think that both sides would want to ensure that the fiasco of 2000 is not revisited. That does not seem to be the case. The cry from the left? Any noise from the left? Hello?

I had heard of ballot -box stuffing growing up. You catch it from time to time on TV dramas...old ones. I thought it went out with Capone. Little did I suspect that it would be resurrected with another Chicagoan on the threshold of the Presidency.

A whacked-out racist by any other name

Okay, that's name-calling, but in this case, the epithet fits.

I remember attending a Lutheran Youth Encounter in Kansas City when I was a hormonal teen, and the keynote speaker was a fiery Baptist minister who walked with Martin Luther King, Jr. Knowing little about Lutheran theology and even less about the Bible, I can't say I was overly impressed with what Jesse Jackson brought to that event outside of high-octane emotion.

Since that day some thirty years ago, Jesse Jackson has never missed an opportunity to tilt the national spotlight in his own direction. He has done little to assuage racism in our nation and has done much to foment it. He runs from coast to coast with his can of kerosene and stokes any spark, any smoldering ember into flaming race hostility. He'll even take his show across the oceans.

As he opened his mouth at the recent World Policy Forum (huh?) held in France (surprise!), he had his flamethrower set on "inferno." Amir Teheri of the Washington Post who was in attendance, quoted the reverend as saying,

America must "heal wounds" it has caused to other nations...

In light of Jay Nordlinger's quotes in my post, "A reason to smile," I find Mr. Jackson's sentiments, comical if they were tongue and cheek, but since they are not, I find them disturbing. The United States continues to do more for down-trodden, disaster-stricken, innocently-attacked nations than any three nations combined, I would venture to say. Where's Russian aide for tsunami victims? How about Saudi aide? What happens when Ike or Katrina strike, who's helping us? Oh, yeah, we can take care of ourselves AND everyone else.

More from Jackson. He turns his torch toward Israel.

The most important change would occur in the Middle East, where "decades of putting Israel's interests first" would end.

Jackson believes that, although "Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades" remain strong, they'll lose a great deal of their clout when Barack Obama enters the White House.

Hmmm...so we are going to abandon the only nation in the Middle East with a strong, representative government, our only like-minded ally? Um, why? Zionists control American foreign policy? If such will be the case if Senator Obama is elected, voters would do well to consider such a move. Seems the Obama camp is wisely distancing itself from Mr. Rainbow Coalition.

And he never misses an opportunity to tie slavery in with the plight of Black America today. The horrors of slavery and the atrocities of denied civil rights are not the causes of the problem of black America today. At some point, you play the cards you are dealt. If you quit the game, don't blame anyone else for your plight. If you quit your spouse, if you father ten children by five different women, if drugs and hip-hop consume your free time, the only one to blame is the man in the mirror.

Will Obama's election close the chapter of black grievances linked to memories of slavery? The reverend takes a deep breath and waits a long time before responding.

"No, that chapter won't be closed," he says. "However, Obama's victory will be a huge step in the direction we have wanted America to take for decades."

So if I read this correctly, if Mr. Obama is not elected, we can expect much more incendiary rhetoric for Mr. Jackson in the weeks and months to come.

When will the black community stand-up and reject the ideas of such men as Jackson, Sharpton, and Wright? Since when is personal responsibility "uncle Tom?"

Let's pray that when Obama is elected, such ideas will fade like an oxygen-starved candle. I don't think that will be the case.

Cartoon by Glenn McCoy, April 2007

The great divide

Red and blue are primary colors. No part of red exists in blue, neither blue in red. While purple combines blue and red, the primaries themselves are mixtures of no others.

Our nation is red and blue.

Sure, red and blue work together. Yes, they live next door to one another. But the chasm between red and blue grows wider and wider. And the differences are not reconcilable. Here are a few of the issues that divide:

• Abortion
• Marriage
• Religion's place in society and government
• Constitutional interpretation
• Taxation and its purpose
• War

Here's the deal. It's not that we have different ideas about how to get to the same place. Red and blue have completely different destinations. Red and blue envision a different ideal America. It is no wonder that the how of getting there is so vastly different, too.

Two articles at Townhall.com spotlight the growing division. Dennis Prager's article (here) had to be an agonizing write. He points to the political and cultural differences that cannot coexist.

...(C)alls for a unity among Americans that transcends left and right are either naive or disingenuous. America will be united only when one of them prevails over the other. The left knows this. Most on the right do not.

The other article comes from the pen of Cal Thomas. In "The End of 'We the People,'" he describes the rupture in our fabric as it manifests itself in the judiciary and states' attempts to establish marriage between a man and a woman. You can read it here.

How will this play out? How is it one will prevail over the other?

"...God shed his grace on thee..."

Endowed by their Creator

You've got to hand it to William Wilberforce. So entrenched in British society was slavery that it seemed to many the Englishman was on a fool's errand. One man screaming into the void.

But Somebody heard that scream, and while Wilberforce ailed upon his deathbed, Parliament abolished slavery.

Due to a pitiful judicial decision in 1973, abortion entwined itself within America's heart. While the left dances to the tune of personal freedom, it continues to deny personal freedom to the most innocent of America's citizens, the unborn child.

In this election, one candidate, Barack Obama, has vowed to enact a federal statute called the Freedom of Choice Act which will make any abortion restrictions illegal, all by executive fiat. Doctors could not legally refuse to perform an abortion. My tax dollars will go to supporting the wholesale slaughter of American children.

And it gets worse. Please take a moment to read this essay, Obama's Abortion Extremism, by Dr. Robert P. George, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University.

As it is, our nation will be judged by Almighty God. He has shown us great and unmerited patience, but that patience will not last forever. His justice will no doubt be swift. Pray that the fight for life will not suffer another gigantic setback in November.

And while the site where the article is found does not have a way to send the essay to a friend, you can e-mail the link by right clicking the link above and selecting "Copy Link Location." Then you can paste the link into an e-mail to a friend. Or you can e-mail this post to a friend by clicking the envelop beneath this post. Consider George's words:

What kind of America do we want our beloved nation to be? Barack Obama's America is one in which being human just isn't enough to warrant care and protection. It is an America where the unborn may legitimately be killed without legal restriction, even by the grisly practice of partial-birth abortion. It is an America where a baby who survives abortion is not even entitled to comfort care as she dies on a stainless steel table or in a soiled linen bin. It is a nation in which some members of the human family are regarded as inferior and others superior in fundamental dignity and rights. In Obama's America, public policy would make a mockery of the great constitutional principle of the equal protection of the law. In perhaps the most telling comment made by any candidate in either party in this election year, Senator Obama, when asked by Rick Warren when a baby gets human rights, replied: ''that question is above my pay grade.'' It was a profoundly disingenuous answer: For even at a state senator's pay grade, Obama presumed to answer that question with blind certainty. His unspoken answer then, as now, is chilling: human beings have no rights until infancy - and if they are unwanted survivors of attempted abortions, not even then.

Robert P. George, "Obama's Abortion Extemism"

A reason to smile: The American military

Jay Nordlinger of National Review and a few other reporters had the honor of visiting our troops in Iraq to see first hand what had become of the former land of Husseini tyranny. His pen warmed my heart as he wrote of the sacrificial job that our men and women are doing on behalf of our nation and for the cause of freedom half-way around the world.

Nordlinger kept a running journal. He covered it in four parts (Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV). It's worth the read. The following quote comes from Part II.

"We are doing so very much. Have foreigners ever done so much for a country? The Iraqis are lucky to be looked after in this way. Many other countries would kill for it. I think of the title of one of Fouad Ajami’s books: “The Foreigner’s Gift.” That’s putting it mildly. Of course, “we broke it, we have to fix it,” right? The country was broken — tyrannized and aggressive — before. We are changing it."

Actually, we didn't break it, but that was not his point as he makes eminently clear in his posts.

Thanks, Jay, for honoring our troops and honoring our nation with your words.

Photo by Army Sgt. James Hunter

E'08: Further distinctions...as if you needed any

Obama - favors abortion rights
McCain - favors life

Obama - favors homosexual marriage
McCain - stands for traditional marriage

Obama - government is the messiah
McCain - government isn't quite the messiah (okay, so that one's not the best)

In case you were still unclear about where the candidates stood on profound moral issues, here's another humdinger. In keeping with Bill Clinton's reinvention of the US military, Senator Obama would like to see women eligible for the draft, too (read it here).

Pick up your stones and take aim at my head. Many will consider me a caveman for the following, but for a nation to allow its women to face combat points to the demise of its society. We could get into male-female differences regarding strength. We could get into the innate instinct in man to protect a woman above other men. We could discuss the biblical roles of men and women and the fact that one of those two was designed to bear and have children.

The fact that government has buckled to a liberalized culture and allowed women to choose whether or not they want to serve is one thing. For the government to make our women sign up for military service should a draft become necessary is another thing altogether. That's my daughters. And your mothers. I'll serve at age 85 before I'll have the women in my family in some database for potential military service.

McCain? Opposed to this nonsense. Go figure.

QotD: Socialism by any other name...

This interchange took place (not a joke, mind you) between a plumber in Ohio and the democratic presidential candidate (story here):

"Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?" the plumber asked.

"It's not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they've got a chance for success too," Obama responded. "My attitude is that if the economy's good for folks from the bottom up, it's gonna be good for everybody ... I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."

Joy.

Just another day: Columbus Day

The action in the world around us is moving faster than during a hockey game. Most folks can't follow the puck, and fewer folks know the rules.

• Christian genocide: It's a big and overused word, but when persecution of a people group moves to execution and the world's civil rights groups remain mum, I think genocide is legit. Seems Christ-followers are either purposefully being picked off in the town of Kazraj, Iraq or they don't know how to get out of the way of random bullets. 13 lost their lives in the past two weeks. And the world's civil right's groups remain mum. Many thanks to CNN for at least reporting the story (here).


• Gas prices plummet: Call me a glass-half-empty kind of guy, but the fact that gas prices have dropped a dollar in a month roils my gut. Granted, oil prices had no business being as high as they were. They were artificially inflated. The market ricocheting faster than a bullet off a brick wall bodes ill for the free market. Such instability creates great insecurity among the nations, and they will look to impose stabilization (as they already have here). This would be the perfect time for a man with the savvy to handle economic turmoil to step in and steady the scene.

Hey, I have an idea. Why not do away with money all together! Our personal wealth could be stored in a governmental data base. That way nobody would get hammered by outrageous interest. The government would oversee our money. And if we wanted to buy our sell, all we would need to do is flash our government ID. And, hey!--considering many people lose ID cards, what if it were permanently affixed to our body, kind of like those GPS chips they give to dogs. Hey! What if...


• The Steel Eel. I'm hoping to go to Sea World at the end of the month. My thirteen-year old has already signed my up for the Steel Eel and other horrific up-and-downers at the park. Actually, after watching the stock market and seeing 30% of my retirement account vanish like the magicians cards, the Steel Eel will seem tame.


• Debates: Did anyone learn anything new from any of the debates? Anyone? Bueller? Debates only serve to provide each candidate the opportunity to shoot themselves in the foot on national television. The honored tradition of political debate has become nothing more than a grisly episode of Fear Factor.


• Come and see. Despite the darkness and turmoil in the world around us, a beacon still shines like the lighthouse out of the storm. God will set all things right, and before that takes place, God himself has made the way for us to be right with him. Our church this past Sunday had a service that honored God by showing to all what He had done in the lives of many in our congregation. While you cannot see what took place (we don't video, yet), I stumbled across Mike Adams' column today where he recounts what Christ did in his life and the life of a friend (here). Be encouraged.


• Prayer and fasting. I intend to pray and fast at some point before the election on behalf of our nation. Much is at stake for our nation's future. Will you join me? After the polls close Tuesday night, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation whether my spirits are soaring or my heart is crushed, and I will begin to pray fervently for my new president.


• Tremors: Anybody noticed the earthquakes in odd locations? We had a 6.1 in Bolivia this morning and a 6.1 in the Caribbean on Saturday. And the earth continues to tremble...

God's peace, my friends!

Taxes: Grab your wallet!

Today's Parade Magazine, the Sunday paper insert, included an insert titled "How Much Would You Pay in Taxes?" (linked here). Here's the table copied out of Parade.

	Obama	McCain
If you make...	you'd save...	you'd save...
less than $19,000	$567	$21
$19,000-$37,600	$892	$118
$37,600-$66,400	$1118	$325
$66,400-$111,600	$1264	$994
$111,600-$161,000	$2135	$2584
$161,000-$227,000	$2796	$4437
If you're in the top 5% of earners...	you'd pay an extra...	you'd save...
$227,000-$603,400	$121	$8159
$603,400-$2.87 million	$93,709	$48,862
more than $2.87 million	$542,882	$290,708

A few things to note. Both men vow a reduction of income tax if you earn less than $225,000. Again, this is income tax, what you have taken away from you from the government of what you earned. We didn't have an income tax until the 1860's and then it was 3%.

John McCain would like to reduce the taxes of everyone, giving the larger tax breaks to those who not only make more money, but to those who pay significantly more taxes! Barack Obama would like to increase the tax burden upon those who already live in the ridiculously higher tax brackets.

Many in the heart of the first half of the table think to themselves, "Yeah! The rich should pay more!" My question in return is "Why?"

Consider the man who makes $2.87 million. He lives in the 35% tax bracket. One of every three dollars he earns is taken by the government. His annual tax burden? $983,097! I don't care that he still clears nearly $1.9 million, having one-third of your income taken is akin to robbery.

Let's return to Senator Obama's desire. Let's slap him with an additional tax burden of $543,882. That takes that "millionaire" to $1,526,979 in taxes paid and he gets to keep $1,343,021! He pays more in taxes than he gets to take home. Senator Obama wants to increase the tax burden to 50% in some cases!

You may still be thinking, "He's still making a million and a half more than what I make." First, what a tragedy that we would revel to see our fellow man gouged so. Second, what do the wealthy generally do with their money? Most of them reinvest it. What does that mean? More money available for companies to open new markets, do more research, or perhaps reduce prices or increase wages. In other words, the little man, you and I, are blessed when the wealthy invest their money.

Another thing the wealthy do with their money is give. Philanthropers bless our communities with schools and hospitals, parks and theaters. They give to orphanages and missions. They give to churches and ministries. The wealthy have blessed America greatly. Tax them higher and there will be fewer dollars going to charitable organizations.

I've said this before; it's not a zero-sum game. If the rich have money, it does not mean that they have it at the expense of others. Wealth creates wealth. America has been blessed by its wealth. Our poor would be considered among the wealthy in some nations. Nearly anybody who is willing to work can find shelter. That's just the way it is. Goods and services in America are ridiculously affordable.

With a larger tax burden, there will be less money to invest and it will stunt growth in the economy. Less money in the hands of the wealthy equals fewer jobs and fewer raises. Most folks just don't understand that if the folks in the upper tiers get thumped, it will roll down hill and we're going to get thumped, too.

Under McCain's plan, the $2.87 million dollar guy will still be paying $692,389. You think that's a good deal?

The more we want the government to do for us, the more we're going to pay (generally through the sinus cavities), and the poorer the quality of the product we'll get in return. You can bank on that! Er, maybe you'd better not.

Fireproof revisit

Here are a couple other thoughtful pieces on the movie that has stirred the church:

• "Fighting fire with love"
• "Making marriage "Fireproof""
• "Fireproof story telling"
  

The mental munchies

I'll go for weeks without finding anything that perks my palate. Then yesterday I noshed on a veritable feast of spicy fare. Here are a few to challenge your chops.

• A young earth. Frank Pastore provides a great apologetic for "young earth" Christians (those who hold to a plain reading of the Genesis) in the face of ridicule and condescension from the likes of Matt Damon in his column, "Sarah Palin, Matt Damon, Dinosaurs and “Divine Deception” (here).
• Cal Thomas in flip-flops. Recently, Cal Thomas hammered pastors for taking a constitutional stand by participating in Pulpit Freedom Sunday (here). His point: Pastors have no business discussing things political from the pulpit. Today, he turns his peen to the Democratic for not heeding the Catholic church in its biblical opposition of abortion (here). It's a great article...and the very reason why pastors must speak about things political from the pulpit. You can't have it both ways, Mr. Thomas.
• God and art. I blogged about it below, but if you read the post and didn't read the link, I'd encourage you to travel to it (here). It's a good look at the testimony excellence in what we do can have in the world around us, and whether or not we are willing to get better at what we do.
• "We are a Republic!" That quote is mine. It's usually said with a building volume, launching spittle with the expulsion of "-BLIC!" Imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon a piece in Pravda, Russia's e-zine of communist propaganda, highlighting the historical ignorance in our own nation for calling the American political system a "democracy" (here...don't let the title spook you). The Pravda pieces normally pound and pummel every facet of that which is America, and sadly they're most often written by Americans. This one has a name to it with an obvious eastern European ring.

In light of this fiscal cataclysm in which we find ourselves, has anybody thought about how ripe the time for some intelligent and savvy international figure to step into the world's spotlight and set things right? Toss in a bit of spiritual eloquence and -- poof -- you've got...

Call it what it is: Fireproof

Question: If you're going to see a neurologist, do you want a mediocre doctor who is a Christian or do you want an exceptional doctor who is a Hindu (an Hindu?)?

How about your mechanic? He's not so good, but he's a believer or the guy who gets it right every time but makes Christopher Hitchens look like an altar boy?

I was saddened to come across a review of "Fireproof" at WorldontheWeb.com (I'll link the review at the end of the post). To sum it up, the reviewer walked out of the film after twenty minutes. And he was a Christian.

Ouch.

Many will revile a film made by Christians because it was made by Christians or has Christian themes. "The Passion of the Christ" exemplifies such attitudes. But the quality of "The Passion" is outstanding, and because of that, it received wide acclaim and a wide and diverse viewing.

The reason contemporary Christian music, for the most part, has had so little airplay on stations not blatantly Christian is because as an art form, CCM stinks (broad-brush, general statement...yes, there are exceptions). The lyrics aren't lyrical, and the music goes down like lumpy, unseasoned mashed potatoes. Christian film, likewise, has had the subtlety and nuance of 10-grit sandpaper and the quality of a high school play.

Truth told, I read every "Left Behind" book. Was it the compelling story lines? No. Was it the flesh and blood characters Jerry Jenkins created? No. Was it his deft prose? No. He has written some good stuff ("Rookie" and "Hedges" for two, the latter a non-fiction work)but the Left Behind series was bubble-gum literature. What then put it on the best-seller list? It drafted a plausible scenario for the future as prophesied in Scripture. That was interesting. Had it been written well, those works might very well have been classics. Now, they are largely forgotten.

It's sibling, "Left Behind: The Movie," made the book look Pulitzer worthy.

Ouch.

Superb art, be it film, music, paint, prose, poetry, architecture or sculpture, honors God because the creative God imbued man with creativity. When man exercises that creativity with excellence, Christian or not, intending to honor God or not, he does honor God. The Christian of all people should recognize that and declare it before the those blind to God's glory.

Excellence in craftsmanship, excellence in vocation, excellence in family and society, all these point to and honor the God who has created us. Such excellence provides us an opportunity to introduce the lost to the One who aches to have them found. The majesty of God's temple reflected the beauty of His holiness in the beauty of its design, its materials and its craftsmanship. Today, we raise tin-sided warehouses and slap a cross on them.

And so another Christian movie has been made. Will we, as the review challenges (here), call a spade a spade in hopes that Christians will continue to hone their craft, polish their vocation, and strive as citizens, parishioners, and family members to the glory and honor of God?

Let's not settle for mediocrity in the name of Christ.

QotD: the OJ version

"I heard he's appealing to Pelosi, Reid, and Frank for a bailout option."

Herc

E'08: Oxymoron

A full-fledged oxymoron should make your eyes refocus; the two subjects have no association or they are such opposites as to cramp your brain.

Imagine General George Patton heading up a pacifist's club. Consider Hugh Hefner as spokesman for the Catholic church. Maybe Dick Cheney as a card-carrying member of the ACLU. Madonna as an advocate for True Love Waits?

All of those are just plain silly.

This one is not. Like any good campaign, you dig for votes wherever you can find them. The Obama campaign is looking for them in pro-life corners. Pro-life! I can't help but laugh as I write it but it's true; check it out here.

Really, it's not funny. Obama is the greatest friend of Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and all aspects of abortion rights.

Asserting that the man is pro-life goes beyond irony. It's blatant deceit.

Christians & politics

Why can't pastors endorse candidates from the pulpit?

Chew upon that question for a bit. Please. In your own mind, formulate a biblical and/or constitutional reason that pastors cannot or should not discuss politics and government from the pulpit. Don't read on just yet.

What do you think? Ah, but more important, what do you know?

The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), the conservative version of the ACLU, has encouraged pastors to challenge a 1954 law which stated that non-profits could not endorse politically. It seems that congress, at the impetus of then Congressman Lyndon Baines Johnson, made a law abridging the free exercise of religion by determing what a pastor could and could not say. Church's had been non-profits long before this law; LBJ's twist simply curtailed what could and could not be said.

The Constitution was never intended to limit civil freedoms but to limit government excesses. Amendment one in the Bill of Rights specifically targeted Congress about making laws that restricted or limited religion. Period.

The ADF gave the push to pastors to preach away in the face of an unconstitutional law, and that they would cover any legal consequences.

Why can't pastors weigh candidates from the pulpit in the scales of biblical truth? They can. And biblically speaking, they must. Why haven't they? Fear that their tax-exempt status would be revoked. The IRS specifically forbids the attempt to "influence legislation" and to "intervene in political campaigns." The IRS pamphlet (and thus the law) specifically states:

...(P)ublic statements of position (verbal or written) made by or on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity. Violation of this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise tax.

The point behind church tax-exemption is two-fold. First, it's income is not for profit. It is to sustain the pastorate and to further the ministry. For the Christian, it is to glorify God. Because no one seeks wealth through the church (perfect world), the government has not taxed the church.

The second reason is more important. If the church is not beholden to the state in its taxation, the church remains free and unencumbered to speak freely and against the state if necessary. Our Founders saw what happened when the state intervened in the Church of England; it became a puppet and a mouthpiece for the government, neutered of all ability to speak against it. In recent past, the impotence of most churches during World War II evidences the dangers of churches beholden to the state.

In the last century, as the distortion of "separation between church and state" began to metastasize, the state began to muzzle the church. Ironically, it was in 1934 that Congress first stated that the church could not "influence legislation."

Because the church is the chief organization by which the state is held morally accountable, it's imperative in our nation and by its Constitution that churches be free to comment on all aspects of life.

It's not surprising that the secular would attempt to mute the church's microphone, but it's discouraging when it comes from within the church. Earlier this week, Cal Thomas wrote a piece titled "Pulpit Bullies" where he took pastors and the ADF to task for preaching the political. Sadly, he takes very important parts of the Bible out of context. Certainly, the Christian is to obey government...as long as government does not counter God's word. When that occurs (i.e. muzzling the pastor), the Christian must decide whether they will obey God or man (Acts 4:18-20, 5:29).

Alan Sears gives a much better look at the Christian and politics in his piece "When government gets a hold of our churches" Here's a taste.

"Shouldn’t a group devoted to the “separation of church and state” want the IRS kept out of places of worship? Shouldn’t a group dedicated to civil liberties want a stake in securing the freedom of religious leaders to speak freely? The fact that groups like AU (Americans United for the Separation of Church and State) and the ACLU won’t support this Pulpit Initiative says much more about their agenda than the intent of ADF."

Please don't believe that pastors must be silent about politics. It's not biblical and it's not constitutional. Encourage your pastor and your parishioners to speak!

**Note: My pastor's been covering the distinctives of our denomination. His last two Wednesday night messages (here and here) have covered this very issue. A nutritious listen!

Dudes: I gotta be me!

For those of you who are married, you have, because of your situation, been called by God to marital fidelity.

For those of you who are not married, you have, because of your situation, been called by God to marital fidelity. You see, Hebrews 13:4 is no respecter of persons.

Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

Seems pretty cut and dried.

Things begin to happen to our reason and to our defenses when our minds and eyes wander (Proverbs 5:7-14, Job 31:1), when we fail to remember our first love and to love our bride as Christ loves the church (Ephesians 5:25-28).

It matters not the object of this new and hostile affection. For Christian singer Ray Bolz ("Thank you, for giving to the Lord"), that object was another man. The escape clause for homosexual adultery is the "sudden realization" for the man or woman that they'd always been "gay." No, the truth is that you have always been a sinner; you are now just acting upon the lusts of the flesh.

Pastors and secretaries. Wives and co-workers. Older and younger. And you can sprinkle in the deviance of your choice (the Bible touches on most of them). Bottom line: It's sin, rebellion against God. Tony Woodlief, in World on the Web, pulls no punches as he speaks about the darkness of the heart that wanders. His agonized column was spawned by Bolz's betrayal of his wife of 30-plus years, but it focuses not on homosexual adultery but on marital infidelity in any hue.

Gents (and ladies), I encourage you to take the time to meditate upon Woodlief's confrontation (here). Cling to the Vine and shore up your defenses.

QotD: Buy used

"There are two kinds of people in the world that buy new cars, rich people and fools"

An anonymous car salesman