NARAL Outcry Shows Misconceptions

Laura Berman in a recent column in the Detroit News http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0508/14/D01-279672 shows how successful the Abortion industry and its supporters have been in flinging mud at peaceful pro-life demonstrators. In her column Ms. Berman says this "The NARAL ad linked Roberts to the mad bombers of Operation Rescue, an extremist anti-abortion group. " There are no mad bombers in Operation Rescue. Operation Rescue is a group which executes non violent civil disobedience tactics such as sit ins between the baby being killed and the Doctor doing the killing (often called rescues). No pro-life group that I know advocates bombing anything. There hasn't been a clinic bombed in a long time and the few bombings that have taken place are the work of nut jobs. If you consider the fact that most of the individuals in the pro-life movement belief that babies are being killed in the abortion facility the restraint in the pro-life community has been extraordinary. If the same prejudice towards the civil rights movement had existed Martin Luther King would have been Lumped together with the Black Panther Party. Bombing abortion clinics is a felony and accusing innocent groups of engaging in that activity is liable per se. If you are going to write about a group at least know enough to keep from committing libel.

Fallen Warrior

Tragedy struck our family recently when my sister's oldest daughter died in an automobile accident. She was a brilliant and beautifull young women, salututarian of her highschool class and straight "A" student at Wheaton College, she had just graduated from Wheaton in May. She could have gone to any University or College in the country and chose Wheaton. She roomed with my middle daughter this past year and I got to know her better than I had known her in the past. Wheaton is the Alma Mater of Billy Graham, Jim and Elisabeth Elliot and others with names very familar in Evangelical circles. I used to think of it as the Harvard of Evangelicalism but I now know it is more like the Armed Service Academies or the Citadel. Wheaton produces Warriors for our Lord Jesus and his Kingdom. My Niece had become such a Warrior. She had done short term mission work abroad and in the inner Cities of New York and Chicago. She was driving to Chicago to start a job with a Christian agency working with children when the accident occurred. A description of My Niece would not be complete without telling you she was an acomplished floutist another tool which she used on her Lord's behalf.From an earthly point of view , my point of view, her death makes no sense but I trust Jesus that he knows better, He had good reason to call her home. Maybe he needed a Warrior for a special assignment, I don't know but I do trust Him. We will see her again so the loss is short term particularly in terms of eternity but the loss for that term is deep and the pain is intense for her family and friends. It was that loss that lead me to Job and through Job the Lord gave me some insight on how to grieve. I share those with you below:I was reading Job looking for understanding regarding My Niece's death. This passage gave me guidance on mourning the death of our children. First he mourned tearing his cloths etc. we should feel free to weep. Then Job worshiped. This is an amazing statement Job was worshiping God in his grief. In worshipping God Job said “God gave” We should celebrate her life. In worshipping God Job said “God takes away”, this is a lot tougher we need acknowledge Gods sovereignty over a situation we find abhorrent.(in Jobs case we know the main actor taking his kids life was Satan). We might find ourselves furious with God and need to tell him as we worship him. In the end we must be able to say with Job “blessed is the name of the Lord”.Job 1:18-22 While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, "Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house, (19) and, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you." (20) Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshiped. (21) He said, "Naked I came out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be the name of Yahweh." (22) In all this, Job did not sin, nor charge God with wrongdoing.

God's Special Forces

I had the opportunity a last weekend to attend the Graduation Ceremony for those individuals earning graduate degrees from Wheaton College. In evangelical circles Harvard University is often referred to as the Wheaton College of Secular America and I was happy to be at Wheaton College witnessing this event. Wheaton's motto is "For Christ and His Kingdom" and many of the Students on stage were finishing preparation to be Pastors or begin work in Biblical scholarship. Others had prepared for carriers where their Christian commitment would not be broadcast by their job title in areas like psychology or music. When the awards were handed out many of those receiving awards were not in attendance because they were already on the mission field in places like Zimbabwi, Cambodia, or the Ukraine. These Graduates and others like them are God's Special Forces fighting for Christ and His Kingdom using his weapons, sacrifice, love, patience, kindness, long suffering, and self control. May God speed each and every one of them and may His kingdom increase through their efforts.

New Blog R U Next

After watching Terri Shindler Schiavo die over 14 days at the hands of our Governments both Federal and the State of Florida I started a Blog dedicated to her memory and to exposing the culture of death that killed her. The Blog R U Next asked that most basic question when dealing with a State out of control R U Next, Am I Next. The answer is to quote Shakespeare "not in the Stars but in ourselves". My desire is that R U Next be a group Blog. If you would like to post on R U Next leave a comment telling me how to get in touch with you and I'll put you in the group that may post.

I've Been Working out of Town

I've been out of town for ten days or so making some money which my wife appreciates. When I'm in town blogging isn't my first priority especially since no one seems to be reading based on comment activity. If you read We're Open All Night please comment so I can tell. Meanwhile I'll keep writing for my own pleasure. Wish I was Jim Gerrahityy at NRO or one of the Powerline Guys. Maybe someday.

Maybe We Should Be More Like the Gouveneur

"Gouveneur Morris's political quiescence during this period ...[the first decade of the nineteenth century]... sprang from a cheery pessimism. He thought the affairs of the nation were in the hands of incompetent men with bad principles, and this made him easy of mind and light of heart." Richard Brookhiser thus describes the State of the Founding Father who penned the Constitution in his book Gentlemen Revolutionary.

Some who don't like the outcome of America's last exercise in Democracy conducted November 04,'04 are trying to move to Canada. Others are ranting or seeking therapy for election selection trauma. These people (and all of us) could take a page from the Gouvenuer's book. His was a time when the Vice-President Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in duel over politics. Politicians were bludgeoned with walking sticks on the floor of Congress. The Gouvenuer (sort of like the Donald [trump] kept his equilibrium by trusting in the people and providence. He had faith in the new Democracy which was the U.S.A..

Two Hundred years later we can see that this Founding Father's faith was not missplaced. The "incompetent men with bad principles" such as Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison managed to muddle through without wrecking the country. Shouldn't we have more faith in our political institutions, our Constitution and our people. Right now my side is winning but I grew up in a country that was controlled by a Democratic Congress for forty years. President JFK and v.p. LBJ were put in office by the phantom voters of Mayor Richard Daily's Chicago, or so some of my parent's more partisan friends maintained.

I assume that I will see the day when the Democrat's are back on top at least for the short run maybe put in office by the phantom voters of Seattle Washington or Milwaukee Wisconsin*. When that happens I plan on taking my lead from the Govenuer. Maybe the Dems would like to try it today.

* as reported today in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

"Citywide, for instance, there were 277,535 votes cast in the election, yet only 269,212 people recorded in the computer as voting, a gap of about 8,300.

The 7,000 figure has been used, since the 1,300 registration cards that couldn't be processed have not had voter names entered into the computer system."

Evangelicals aren't for the environment??

Powerline is reporting that Bill Moyer's gave a speech defaming former Interior Secretary James Watt by claiming Watt gave Testimony to a Congressional Committee to the effect that we could destroy all the trees because Christ was about to return. This slander was perpetrated in order to support the argument that Evangelicals (Moyers calls us Fundamentalists not surprisingly) don't care about the environment because we await the imminent return of Jesus. Apparently the Washington post picked up the slander and republished it claiming that Mr. Watt "famously " made the remark implying it was well known that the Secretary made such a remark before a committee of Congress. Secretary Watt called Powerline to disavow the story. In the past Secretary Watt would have little recourse except to go to the MSM and hope for the best. Now he can turn to Time Magazine's 2004 Blog of the Year for recourse.

Bill Moyer's is an ordained minister with a degree from Seminary and ought to know better but the idea that Biblical world view is inconsistent with protecting the environment though wrong is not new. In 1974 as a student teacher teaching a ninth grade biology class I was subjected to a man on a pull down screen telling me, and worse my students, that Genesis required man to have dominion over the earth which he interpreted as pillaging it. This man in a red plaid shirt indicated that the right approach was that of the Native American many of whom practiced slash and burn agriculture moving and destroying the forest as their corn and tobacco crops ravaged the soil. Mr. red plaid shirt was wrong about Native Americans and about Genesis which calls for stewardship of the earth. Bill Moyers continues in that legacy.

[update]Feb. 07,2004 noon EST according to Powerline The Washington Post has made an appropriatte correction.

"Today's Washington Post carries this straightforward correction:

A Feb. 6 article quoted James G. Watt, interior secretary under President Ronald Reagan, as telling Congress in 1981: "After the last tree is felled, Christ will come back." Although that statement has been widely attributed to Watt, there is no historical record that he made it.
The online version of the original story by Blaine Harden now includes the correction above the story"

Thoughts on Society and the Bible

I have been thinking that before I continue my posts on the President’s proposals for Social Security or any specific policy I want to share with you some thoughts on the underlying framework for my analysis of any political or social question. At least part of my thinking about society in general and the role of government in particular is based (like Martin Luther in his defence at the Diet of Worms [and we think the Adkins diet is restrictive]) on the Bible and reason. I am not a Bible scholar though I read it regularly. I rely on what I call Christian orthodoxy for some of what I believe the Bible teaches. As to reason I rely on common sense, to the extent I’m blessed with common sense, and logic as taught in the University, Law School, Court Rooms, and Streets of this good old USA as I have experienced them.

I have been told ( by a Lawyer from the Christian Legal Society I think but can’t provide further attribution) and believe that God ordained four Institutions: The Individual(Gen 1:26), the Family(Gen 2:24), the Church(Mat 16:18), and the State (Rom 13:1). Each institution has a set of responsibilities in society which God has ordained for it to carry out and for which it is best suited, Ideally society works best if the institution that has responsibility for a function performs that function or is in control of it. Some of these functions are, control of the individual, the raising, nuturing and education of children, care of the elderly or disabled, protection of the individual, and the guarantee of certain God given rights pertaining to said individual, This list is not exhaustive it is sufficient for starters. I welcome comments on these thoughts and I will expand on them so keep watching this Blog. Remember We’re Open All night.

Thoughts on Social Security part I

President Bush is pressing toward his Ownersip society by asking Congress to fundamentally alter the structure of Social Security for the "younger worker".
Basically the presidents proposal would allow younger Americans to choose not to pay up to 4% of the 7 1/2% they now pay in Social Security payroll tax. Instead they would put that 4% into an account that could be invested in relatively conservative investments. When the worker retired he would (presumably although I have not seen this spelled out yet) recieve less Social Security benefit but would have that benefit supplemented by payments out of this account. How the reduction in payroll taxes paid would effect potential disability or survivor benefits is unclear. I plan several posts on this subjcct. My initial thoughts:
At first it would seem to be a bold step taken by President Bush to touch the "third rail of American politics" and that impression is bolstered by the knee jerk reaction of the seemingly all powerfull AARP (a group I refuse to join because of their selfish and bullying politics). Actually it is a brilliant move for aeveral reasons.

1. President Bush can't be hurt by this proposal because he never has to stand for reelection.
2. Even if the proposal is defeated now the try will put him in good stead with History. Social Security must eventually be changed or die and it only gets tougher later. If the President fails he will get the credit for trying when that failure puts Social Security in an untenable position in future years.
3. If the President is sucessfull it will reduce the power of the welfare mentallity that says we must suckle at the teat of the Federal goverment for our security

It's been a while, I'm Back

It has been a while since I posted on We're Open All Night(WOAN). I killed my other blog "Right Hand Clapping" so that I could concentrate on WOAN. I am going to try to post every day in case anyone ever reads this. I know My youngest daughter reads it every once in a while. For her and the rest of my readers if any I'm back.