I felt these two recent pieces on the internet should appear together as they highlight a growing anti-Christian sentiment in our own country and in the world at large.

International Christian Concern has released its annual Hall of Shame Awards given to the ten worst nations for religious persecution.  They note that there is a recent gradual  shift in religious persecution from Communist countries to Islamic countries.

ICC ranks the world’s worst persecutors of Christians as following:

1. North Korea
2. Iraq
3. Ethiopia
4. Saudi Arabia
5. Somalia
6. Iran
7. Eritrea
8. China
9. Vietnam
10. Pakistan

Michael Voris on The Vortex tells about the “shadow” that Pope Benedict sees falling over the culture with the collapse of the old world and an ever increasing marginalization of the Catholic Church.

And here, Protestant Evangelist David Wilkerson wails over what is happening in our society.

~~~

For her part, the Church in the United States is called, in season and out of season, to proclaim a Gospel which not only proposes unchanging moral truths but proposes them precisely as the key to human happiness and social prospering — Pope Benedict XVI

It was about thirty years ago that the reality of media bias first hit home. I was becoming a pro-life activist and had finally made the six hour trek to Washington DC to protest legalized abortion and stand for the right to life of every human being. The crowd was awesome! People came on buses from the mid-west and the south, whole familes, whole schools, every ethnicity, every color, Jews, Christians, and just plain pro-lifers. When I stood before the Supreme Court and looked down the avenue there were people marching as far as the eye could see, curb to curb, singing, praying, witnessing. It was estimated that several hundred thousand were present and I looked forward to reading all about it in my local paper where I hoped to learn the official estimate of the crowd size.

Duh. Now I know. Don’t expect anything like decent coverage just because several hundred thousand are amassed. Inside my home newspaper (nothing on the front page, of course) were two black and white photos, one of a few pro-lifers holding their signs, another of a couple who were pro-choice. I imagine they called that coverage fair and balanced. I didn’t remember seeing any pro-choicers at all. The reporter surely had to hunt for them!

Since then I’ve read time and time again that mainstream media (MSM) leans heavily to the left. Of course those on the left think that is nonsense and of course they think we conservatives don’t know what we’re talking about.

Tim Groseclose, Ph. D.,  author of the recently published Left Turn:    How Liberal Media Bias Distorts the American Mind, thinks that within political science there is a small area of real science in which truths can be demonstrated with graphs and mathematics.  It is possible to accurately quantify the number of times an event is reported and the minutes spent reporting it. He has come up with what he calls a PQ (political quotient) which is a valuable indication of bias in media or in politicians.

According to Groseclose media bias is more a sin of omission rather than deliberate inaccuracy. They cover what suits their ideology. You hear nothing about evidence to the contrary.

Another such book is Bias:  A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distorts the News, by Bernard Goldberg (2003).  He followed this by A Slobbering Love Affair:  The True (and Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media (2009). An award-winning journalist several times over, Goldberg is now with Fox News.

On August 28, 2010, Glenn Beck held the Restoring Honor rally in Washington DC. I was impressed enough to blog about it, calling it a “watershed event.”   I know better now than to be disappointed that it got little press or TV coverage.

Those who rely on television and newspapers are going to get a severely skewed picture of what is actually going on in the world. Were it not for blogs, social media and radio would there, could there, be a Tea Party?

Last month over a million young folk from around the world gathered for a week in Madrid, Spain, to pray and to listen. It seems to me that would be a matter of great import. But did you hear about it?

World Youth Day, Madrid, 2011

Keep tuned, but not just to MSM.  At the above World Youth Day Pope Benedict told the young folks that they “will be swimming against the tide in a society with a relativistic culture which wishes neither to seek nor hold on to the truth.”  Right on,  Benny!

Kudos to Bishop Timothy Dolan of New York for weighing in on the censorship of a billboard erected in SoHo depicting a young African-American girl with the caption:

THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE FOR AN

AFRICAN-AMERICAN IS IN THE WOMB

This is a statement of fact.   More black human beings die from abortion than from any other cause.  Are there facts that cannot be stated?  How can that be?  Following is Bishop Dolan’s comment on the efforts of the pro-abortion faction to shut down Crisis Pregnancy Centers in New York, not because they provide a choice ( let’s hear it for choice!) but because they cut down on abortions which they say (out of the other side of their mouth) that they want to be rare:

This controversy over Intro 371 reminds me of a conversation I had not too long ago with a dedicated woman medical professional who works in one of the wonderful crisis pregnancy centers here in New York City.  “Archbishop,” she said to me, “we’re here to help women who want an alternative to abortion. We don’t get massive subsidies from the government like the abortion clinics.  We sure don’t have the well-heeled donors Planned Parenthood has.  Why are some people trying so hard to get rid of us?  Why is the city government harassing us?  All we want is to be left alone to do our work.”

It’s a good question, and one I couldn’t answer.

It’s not as if there aren’t plenty of places to get an abortion in New York City.  It grieves me to think that we can be called the abortion capital of the world, as 41% of all pregnancies in New York end in abortion.  If a woman in this city wants an abortion, it is distressingly easy to get one.

It’s also not as if this kind of bill hasn’t been tried elsewhere and been found wanting.  A similar law was recently declared unconstitutional in Baltimore.  Why then would our City Council spend valuable time and energy promoting this type of harassing bill?  Aren’t there more pressing concerns with our City’s budget, with the education system, with basics like pothole repair?

And if an industry ever needed more oversight and regulation, it’s the abortion industry, as the recent horrors from Pennsylvania demonstrated.  Yet it is the little pregnancy care centers that come under attack.

This asks the delicate question if people who claim to be “pro-choice,” but seek to silence anyone who would help a woman to have her baby, are really interested in “choice” at all.  Witness the recent gag-order imposed on a pro-life billboard last week.    These pregnancy centers will not only help a mother to give birth, but they will also find her assistance if she wants to keep her baby, or help the mother find a good home for her child through adoption.  Sure, they’ll never have the big donors or flashy celebrity support that the abortion centers have, but they are making a real difference in the lives of these women and their babies, pre-born and born.

So, why the major push to get rid of these centers and the dedicated, humble, loving people who work there?  Why can’t they just be left alone to do their work?

I didn’t have the answer for my friend. Because I don’t think there is one.

And, again, Bishop Dolan has this to say:

Another ad has been generating some fierce reactions. Here in New York, a billboard was recently displayed, that simply stated “The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb.” This message was accompanied by a photograph of a young, African-American girl.

Is that message unpleasant? Is it upsetting? Does it get our attention?

Yes!

Because the message is somberly true. The City of New York’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene recently released its vital statistics from a year ago which showed that 59.8% of African-American pregnancies in New York City ended in abortion. That’s even higher than the chilling city-wide average of 41% of pregnancies ending in abortion. (I joined other community leaders from a diversity of religious and ethnic backgrounds at a press conference sponsored by the Chiaroscuro Foundation about this a few weeks ago.)

So why has the billboard suddenly been taken down? What was it that moved many of our elected officials to condemn this ad and call for the gag order. Are they claiming that free speech is a right enjoyed only by those who favor abortion or their pet causes? Do they believe that unpleasant and disturbing truths should not be spoken? Or are they afraid that when people are finally confronted with the reality of the horror of abortion, and with the toll that it is taking in our city, particularly in our African-American community, that they will be moved to defend innocent, unborn, human life?

Perhaps I’m more saddened by this intolerance right now because on Monday I will be celebrating the funeral mass for Doctor Bernard Nathanson, that giant of the pro-life movement, who died earlier this week. If you don’t know Dr. Nathanson’s story, you should. At one time, he fought hard to promote and expand abortion on demand in this state and in our country. He was one of the founders of the National Abortion Rights Action League. He ran what he called the “largest abortion clinic in the Western world,” and bragged about personally performing thousands of abortions. But, when Dr. Nathanson was confronted with the undeniable truth, when he could see the unborn baby in the womb through the use of ultrasound technology, he abandoned his support for abortion and became a crusader for the protection of the life of the baby in the womb.

His courage and bravery should be an inspiration to us, especially when we have to face unpleasant and sobering truths.

GOD BLESS BISHOP DOLAN AND ALVEDA KING, MARTIN LUTHER KING’S NIECE!

~~~

In the name of tolerance, tolerance is being abolished. — Pope Benedict XVI

Who can say the lines are not drawn? “They” are trying their best to take Christ out of Christmas (Happy Holidays, everyone!)     “They” are trying to deny our Judeo-Christian heritage and remove all mention of God from the public square and government buildings. I am heartened by this Diamond Rio recording of In God We Still Trust, and, below that, the recent occurrence of flash presentations of great music in public places. Could there be a better choice for public praise than the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah?

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Here is a quick overview of religious intolerance here and abroad.

Just yesterday, listening to Dr. Laura, I found myself saying, “Beautiful! Beautiful! Beautiful!” and actually clapping my hands.  A mother and son had called Dr. Laura for help.  The son had just had a run-in with Dad violent enough so that they had called the police.  During the course of the call Mom and son had talked honestly with Dr. Laura, the son saying he did not think his father loved him and was constantly on his case, the mother explaining that the son and the father were of opposite types.  I will not recap the whole story but in talking with the son Dr. Laura beautifully explained to him that the father was actually coming from love but worried about the boy’s future and needed to feel he was handling things, etc., etc.  It was my opinion that she gave the boy much needed insight, that she handled the psychological underpinnings of the situation with a surgical precision born of years of experience.   It was truly beautiful.   Dr. Laura has not survived 30 years on radio without having much on the ball.  Callers are constantly thanking her for what she does for them.

Today I learned Dr. Laura will not be renewing her radio contract at the end of the year  because of public outcry after a recent program.    I am more than dismayed.  An intelligent, honest voice should never be silenced.  Yes, I listened as she said “nigger” several times over the radio.  If it is true that blacks actually call each other “nigger” frequently, with impunity, she should be allowed to speak that truth.  If she lies, call her on that.  But don’t claim that there is a word that only blacks are allowed to speak.  As I repeatedly say on my blog,  truth is truth.

Some years back Laura had to apologize for calling homosexuals “deviants.”   If there is indeed such a thing as  “normal,” then homosexuals deviate from that normal.  Again, truth is truth.

Dr. Laura, some things you say I do not agree with.  But like millions of others, I appreciate the good that you do and the love that you bring to your work.  Callers get an honest opinion from a professional – free! – what more could one ask for?  You were a very valuable resource and I am hoping you will reconsider giving up your program.

If you actually do leave, in my opinion it would be a good idea to gather a big batch of “The Best of Dr. Laura” into a package that could be sold to radio stations to be  broadcast for years to come. Then your light could shine on and on.

Don’t go, Dr. Laura.

~~~

I want to make it clear I’m not retiring, I’m not quitting, I’m stronger and freer to say my mind, and I have the freedom to speak my mind when I’m not in a venue where my advertisers and stations will be attacked, she says.  So I’m very liberated. — Dr. Laura

This little video, calling itself Barack  Obama’s Dossier, is making the rounds via e-mail and raises many questions about our president’s strange documentation or, rather, the  lack thereof. If his current Social Security number is truly one issued in Connecticut to someone born in 1890, you have to wonder: What the hell is going on?

John C. Drew, former committed Marxist, talks about his friendship with Obama during his years at Occidental College. He tells about Obama’s relationship with a “wealthy patron,” Hassan Chandu, while he was at Occidental. Drew at the time thought that Chandu and Obama were both gay and both wealthy. He has an interesting take on why no one remembers Obama from his days at Columbia.

And just to further muddy the waters, here is a link to a  two-hour “documentary”  produced by Alex Jones titled The Obama Deception. If only half of what he says is true, it would be disturbing.

Please, won’t someone point me to the good guys!   Who are they and where are they hiding?

~~~

Folks should not hurt other people and should not steal their stuff. — Tom Palmer, Cato Institute

“We’re having a baby, my baby and me,”  Ricky Ricardo sang to his wife, Lucy.  That was over 60 years ago and Lucy (in I Love Lucy) was having a baby, as was I.  We both knew there was a baby growing  inside of us, however small.

Mary, in Bethlehem, was “with child.”   When she visited her cousin Elizabeth, Elizabeth said, “the child in my womb leapt for joy.” Until this past generation, women were pregnant with babies.  No one but medics used the term fetus until the spinsters on the left decided they wanted to kill it and it sounds terrible to kill a baby.   Fetus in Latin simply means “offspring” but they won’t use that, either.  Who would kill their own “offspring?”  As with the word “marriage” they have deliberately set about morphing the language to suit their agenda.

In the following undercover video we have a Planned Parenthood  abortionist telling a pregnant woman  that she doesn’t have a baby inside of her.

So, it’s not a baby until it’s born?   What about the day before it’s born?  Is it a baby then?  They might agree it is.  A month before it’s due date?  Is it cute, viable — and killable?

Shades of George Orwell’s 1984 and Newspeak!  Among the truths of  Newspeak were:

WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

We can now add to that:

A FETUS IS NOT A BABY

~~~

Can a mother forget her baby, Or a woman the child within her womb?

Yet even if these forget, Yes, even if these forget,

I will never forget my own.

–Song – Isaiah 49

Christmas is the most popular holiday in our United States and the celebration of Christmas has been part of the very fabric of our nation as long as anyone can remember. Of late the spectre of political correctness has made everyone wary of expressing themselves in any way that might possibly offend even one non-Christian.     The attorneys at Rutherford Institute have made available the following guidelines for Americans who want to be both Christian and constitutional.

The Twelve Rules of Christmas®

Unfortunately, Christmas has become a time of controversy over what can or cannot be done in terms of celebrating the holiday. In order to clear up much of the misunderstanding, the following twelve rules are offered:

1. Public school students’ written or spoken personal expressions concerning the religious significance of Christmas (e.g., T-shirts with the slogan, “Jesus Is the Reason for the Season”) may not be censored by school officials absent evidence that the speech would cause a substantial disruption.  [1]

2. So long as teachers are generally permitted to wear clothing or jewelry or have personal items expressing their views about the holidays, Christian teachers may not be prohibited from similarly expressing their views by wearing Christmas-related clothing or jewelry or carrying Christmas-related personal items.  [2]

3. Public schools may teach students about the Christmas holiday, including its religious significance, so long as it is taught objectively for secular purposes such as its historical or cultural importance, and not for the purpose of promoting Christianity.  [3]

4. Public school teachers may send Christmas cards to the families of their students so long as they do so on their own time, outside of school hours.  [4]

5. Public schools may include Christmas music, including those with religious themes, in their choral programs if the songs are included for a secular purpose such as their musical quality or cultural value or if the songs are part of an overall performance including other holiday songs relating to Chanukah, Kwanzaa, or other similar holidays.  [5]

6. Public schools may not require students to sing Christmas songs whose messages conflict with the students’ own religious or nonreligious beliefs.  [6]

7. Public school students may not be prohibited from distributing literature to fellow students concerning the Christmas holiday or invitations to church Christmas events on the same terms that they would be allowed to distribute other literature that is not related to schoolwork. [7]

8. Private citizens or groups may display crèches or other Christmas symbols in public parks subject to the same reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions that would apply to other similar displays.  [8]

9. Government entities may erect and maintain celebrations of the Christmas holiday, such as Christmas trees and Christmas light displays, and may include crèches in their displays at least so long as the purpose for including the crèche is not to promote its religious content and it is placed in context with other symbols of the Holiday season as part of an effort to celebrate the public Christmas holiday through its traditional symbols.  [9]

10. Neither public nor private employers may prevent employees from decorating their offices for Christmas, playing Christmas music, or wearing clothing related to Christmas merely because of their religious content so long as these activities are not used to harass or intimidate others.  [10]

11. Public or private employees whose sincerely held religious beliefs require that they not work on Christmas must be reasonably accommodated by their employers unless granting the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the employer.  [11]

12. Government recognition of Christmas as a public holiday and granting government employees a paid holiday for Christmas does not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment .  [12]

(The referenced sources are available here.)

It all  means I can still wish you MERRY CHRISTMAS!

~~~

Everyone who will acknowledge me before men, I will acknowledge him before my Father who is in heaven; and whoever will disown me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.  – Matthew 10:32-32

It used to be that there was a civil liberty called freedom of speech.  Those days are gone. In an unprecedented move our government — our GOVERNMENT! — has asked that citizens notify the White House if “chain emails” or “casual conversation” do not conform to Obama’s “facts” or claim to “uncover the truth” about the President’s health insurance reform plans. It then ranks as “disinformation.”  The very notion that one could be reported to Big Brother for disagreeing sounds intimidating to me.

The following is taken directly from the White House site.

Facts Are Stubborn Things
Posted by Macon Phillips
August 4, 2009

Opponents of health insurance reform may find the truth a little inconvenient, but as our second president famously said, “facts are stubborn things.”

Scary chain emails and videos are starting to percolate on the internet, breathlessly claiming, for example, to “uncover” the truth about the President’s health insurance reform positions.

There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.

They would probably think the following words of ophthalmologist Zane Pollard qualify as “fishy” and disinformation.  We would do well to listen to what he has to say.    And don’t miss the video at the end.

OBAMACARE AND ME
By Zane F Pollard, MD

I have been sitting quietly on the sidelines watching all of this national debate on healthcare. It is time for me to bring some clarity to the table by explaining many of the problems from the perspective of a doctor.

First off, the government has involved very few of us physicians in the healthcare debate. While the American Medical Association has come out in favor of the plan, it is vital to remember that the AMA only represents 17% of the American physician workforce.

I have taken care of Medicaid patients for 35 years while representing the only pediatric ophthalmology group left in Atlanta, Georgia that accepts Medicaid. For example, in the past 6 months I have cared for three young children on Medicaid who had corneal ulcers. This is a potentially blinding situation because if the cornea perforates from the infection, almost surely blindness will occur. In all three cases the antibiotic needed for the eradication of the infection was not on the approved Medicaid list.

Each time I was told to fax Medicaid for the approval forms, which I did. Within 48 hours the form came back to me which was sent in immediately via fax, and I was told that I would have my answer in 10 days. Of course by then each child would have been blind in the eye.

Each time the request came back denied. All three times I personally provided the antibiotic for each patient which was not on the Medicaid approved list. Get the point — rationing of care.

Read the rest of this entry »

WHO KNEW WHAT WHEN?    Everyone in America needs to see this! Republicans were warning about impending financial troubles back in 2002 and Democrats were pooh-poohing their warnings!

It is from the Proud to be Canadian website. It arrived in my in-box with the information that “the liberal AMERICAN media did not want this video on You Tube, so they had Time Warner threaten a law suit (proprietary rights) if it was not taken off.”

The link is of the same video but is routed through Canada .  It has been viewed over 5 million times in the past nine months.

Confused about sub-prime mortgages, leverage, and financial monkey business?  I found this two-part video explanation to be helpful.