April 27, 2011

The Gospel is preached on MSNBC

It's clear that MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell (who calls himself a Socialist)  was attempting to show that Franklin Graham was some kind of  GOP tool for his positive statements about Donald Trump as a presidential candidate.  While I'm certainly baffled by Graham's positive statements about Trump, who is clearly no conservative, social or otherwise, the statements certainly did not rise to the level of "semi-endorsement" as O'Donnell claimed.  

They then moved on to the subject of whether or not President Obama is a Christian.  O'Donnell surely thought he was being clever and that he would "get" Graham with his carefully chosen proof-text verse, ripped out of context.   A fascinating discussion ensued about what it means to be a Christian.  To O'Donnel, it means saying you're a Christian and making an appearance at church now and then.  To Graham, it is receiving forgiveness for your sins by trusting in the work of Christ on the cross.  

I happen to be a bit of a cable news junkie and have seen Franklin Graham do these brief interviews dozens of times.  WITHOUT EXCEPTION, the man finds a way to get a short gospel presentation into the interview.  And this interview was no exception.  In fact, I think it was exceptional - Graham, I thought, was especially earnest.  He came out swinging with the Gospel and ended the interview with this:

"God loves us and he wants us to be saved from Hell. There is a Hell and there is a punishment for those who reject God. And there is salvation in Jesus Christ and for me as a minister the most important thing is not who's going to be president, or who is trying to run for president. The most important thing is, is a person ready to stand before Almighty God? Are they ready to have that time face-to-face with God and answer to him, because God's going to ask you, "What did you do about my Son? I sent my Son to take your sins. Did you accept him or did you reject him?"

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Speaking of Donald Trump, conservative columnist and intellectual Thomas Sowell warns the GOP about the dangers of a Trump candidacy in an excellent piece at Town Hall.  Aside from Trump's inconsistency on a number of issues, which Sowell calls his "versatility of viewpoints,"  he says this: 

"Donald Trump is dangerous in at least two senses. If, by some tragic miracle, he should become the Republicans' candidate for president in 2012, that would be the closest thing to an iron-clad guarantee of a second term in the White House for Barack Obama. 

That would be a huge setback for the Republicans-- and, far more important-- a historic catastrophe for this country. 

What seems more likely is that Donald Trump as a candidate for the Republican nomination would use his superior articulation skills-- not to mention brash irresponsibility-- to trash all the other Republican candidates for that nomination, leaving them damaged goods in the eyes of the public, and therefore less able to gather the votes needed to prevent the reelection of Obama."

We can all hope that Trump-as-Presidential-Candidate would follow Reagan's 11th Commandment and never publicly criticize another Republican, but Sowell is right, Trump will do and say anything to promote the Trump Brand.  In fact, he has already started trashing the GOP by going after Paul Ryan and his budget plan:

"I'm very concerned about doing anything that's going to tinker too much with Medicare. I protect the senior citizens. Senior citizens are protected. They are lifeblood, as far as I'm concerned. I think Paul Ryan is too far out front with this issue. I think he ought to sit back and relax."

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I'm no libertarian, but I do agree with many of their principals.  This video clip about the influence of tax money on education makes some good points.  In particular, I agree with him when he says that "school choice" isn't really "choice" when the government is involved.  For example, charter schools are closed when they don't meet government standards even though the parents may feel that it's a good school and their children are learning and in an environment that best suits their needs.  So their "choice" becomes a victim of government accountability. 

I think at this point government involvement in education is so entrenched that it would take something cataclysmic to get the toothpaste back into the tube, but the more we can think and work outside the box and try innovative solutions, the better. 

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Earth Day Ends Obama's 53,300 Gallon Trip - Washington Whispers (usnews.com): 

"President Obama declared today's 41st annual Earth Day proof of America's ecological and conservation spirit—then completed a three-day campaign-style trip logging 10,666 miles on Air Force One, eating up some 53,300 gallons at a cost of about $180,000. And that doesn't include the fuel consumption of his helicopter, limo, or the 29 other vehicles that travel with that car."

Meanwhile, the Green Police are coming after Google, Facebook, and other companies that rely on cloud computing:

Cloud computing and Internet use suck energy, emit CO2, says Greenpeace | Technology | Los Angeles Times:

"Computer servers in data centers account for about 2% of global energy demand, growing about 12% a year, according to the group.  The servers, Greenpeace said, can suck up as much power as 50,000 average U.S. homes.

But most of what powers the cloud comes from coal and nuclear energy rather than renewable sources such as wind and solar, according to Greenpeace. Clusters of data centers are emerging in places like the Midwest, where coal-powered electricity is cheap and plentiful, the group said.

In its report, the organization zeroed in on 10 major tech companies, including Apple, Twitter and Amazon. Recently, the group has waged a feisty fight against Facebook, which relies on coal for 53.2% of its electricity, according to Greenpeace."

But wait, electric is good, right?  These are the same people who are pushing the electric cars, aren't they?  I'm so confused.   If these people get their way, the internet of the future will be solar and wind-powered server farms.  Instead of "HTTP error 504" we're going to start seeing "NWT Error - No Wind Today."  

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 Pro-Choice Vandals Desecrate Cemetery of the Innocents Display - Students for Life: 

"In a breathtaking public display of anti-Christian and anti-Life motivations, 350 crosses were pulled up and re-inserted in inverted fashion, a well-known anti-Christian symbol. Additionally, red paint was splattered on crosses and signs. Even eerier was the mock bloody footprints of an infant painted in front of the display...

 ...Last week was Clarion Students for Life’s annual “Life Week”. Each year the group organizes a Cemetery of the Innocents Display in the middle of campus. They have 350 crosses and two signs explaining that each cross represents 10 children aborted every day.

Every year Clarion SFL experiences some sort of vandalism – broken crosses or knocked over crosses – during their Life Week, but this year the opposition on campus has taken its vandalism to a whole new level. Members of Clarion’s Students for Life group see an anti-Life motivation to this vandalism, but also an anti-Christian motivation as well. The inverted cross has long been a symbol of anti-Christian and anti-religious sentiments."

 

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Republican Study Committee (RSC) - Ensuring Pay for Our Military Act of 2011: 

"Washington, Mar 31 - Reps. Jack Kingston and Louie Gohmert introduced the “Ensuring Pay for Our Military Act of 2011” to authorize the Secretary of Defense to continue to provide pay and allowances without interruption to members of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps who perform service during any funding gap. Without action on the measure such funds could be delayed or withheld. During the government shutdown in 1995, soldiers were paid because the Defense Department had already been funded through the year; the current funding for the Defense Department is set to expire on April 8."

Let's hope they can get this passed and take military pay off the table when it comes to these budget negotiations.  Our men and women in uniform should never be used as human shields in the budget wars.  Would any legislator dare to vote against this?

~~~~~

And just for fun....

March 29, 2011

Judge Orders More Spending on New Jersey’s Education-Industrial Complex: 

"New Jersey spends more money on education than almost any state, resulting in the nation’s highest property taxes (and arguably the highest taxes overall). But to some New Jersey judges, the skyrocketing spending is never enough.

A New Jersey trial judge Tuesday declared unconstitutional the state’s recent attempts to scale back rapidly-rising education spending, “effectively tying Republican Governor Chris Christie’s hands on budget and education reform. Superior Court Judge Peter Doyne ruled that Christie’s budget cuts to school aid left public schools unable to provide a ‘thorough and efficient’ education to New Jersey children.”

In his ruling, “Doyne even wrote that despite the ‘significant increase in spending levels from 2000 to 2008,’ some New Jersey districts are moving even further from adequate proficiency. His solution?” Force the state government to give them even “more money.”

 For the last 30 years, the New Jersey courts have been using the New Jersey State Constitution’s goal of a “thorough and efficient” educational system to force the state to increase education spending in ways that are anything but efficient. They have ordered that school systems in underperforming urban areas (often run by corrupt Democratic political machines) be given extra money — which has led to huge amounts of waste without increasing student achievement."

For the record, Ohio's Constitution says that taxes are to be collected to "secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the state."  Could this decision give rise to similar lawsuits in Ohio? 

 China’s CO2 Emissions Confirm Kyoto Critics’ Fears - Greensburg, KS - Kiowa County Signal: 

"Carbon dioxide emissions in the United States, which is not a signatory of the Kyoto Protocol, actually declined by 6 percent in 2009, and are now 8 percent below 2000 levels, according to the EPA.

Global emissions, however, have risen more than 25 percent since 2000, and developing nations accounted for virtually all of the increase. China alone accounted for about half.

“A closer look at global emissions trends show how futile it would be for the U.S to impose economically punitive self-restrictions on carbon dioxide,” James M. Taylor, senior fellow for environmental policy at The Heartland Institute, writes in Forbes magazine.

By 2009, China was the largest emitter, accounting for 24 percent of global emissions, while the United States was responsible for 17 percent. China will likely account for 26 percent when 2010 figures are released, with the U.S. contributing about 15 percent, according to Taylor.

China’s emissions have been increasing by nearly 10 percent a year, and in 2010 probably surpassed the emissions of the entire Western Hemisphere."

And still, there are those who think the best way to save the planet is to punish the United States by shaming us into these punitive protocols and accords. 

New York's Bronx Zoo closes reptile house after cobra disappears | News.com.au: 

"A poisonous cobra has vanished from an enclosure outside public view at the Bronx Zoo, and its Reptile House remained closed today as a precaution while zoo workers searched for the missing reptile.

While the roughly 50cm-long Egyptian cobra - a highly venomous species of snake - has been unaccounted for since Friday afternoon, zoo officials say they're confident it hasn't gone far and isn't in a public area. Its enclosure was in an isolation area not open to visitors."

Bronx Zoo Cobra Still on the Loose, Now Tweeting -- Daily Intel:

 "As zoo officials continue to look for the Egyptian cobra that somehow escaped on Sunday, the reptile has decided to taunt his would-be captors via Twitter. For example, 'Holding very still in the snake exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. This is gonna be hilarious!' one tweet reads. Oh, the fun we have on Twitter. [Bronx Zoo's Cobra/Twitter]"

For those who might be wondering how one goes about finding a snake that has "gone missing," you can read expert herper Melissa Kaplan's tips here. 

Having been through this with an AWOL egg-eating snake (which we later found after we moved the stove - apparently she was curled up near the warm pilot light), it's nice to keep these tips handy.  Clearly the Bronx Zoo has been through the searching phase and they've come up empty. I am rather surprised that they are so confident this snake is still confined to the reptile house.  While animal escapes at zoos are extremely rare, they do happen occasionally, almost always when a staff member disregards the strict protocols the zoo has in place. 


AZA accredited zoos, like the Bronx Zoo,  have strict regulations for handling dangerous animals, including venomous snakes.  Ongoing training is required and the zoo is required to hold regular animal escape drills.  These drills include not only securing the animals, but also moving zoo guests to designated safe areas. 


Snakes are tricky because they don't have to eat every day - or even every week.  A snake's metabolism slows down if  it's temp drops (which would happen when the snake left its enclosure and the hot room), so trying to lure this snake out with food will probably not be successful until it's nearly starving, which could take weeks.  


One of the tried and true methods for recovering a lost snake is lining the walls of the suspected hide-out area with plastic grocery bags (snakes will usually travel along the walls and baseboards), then waiting for nightfall.  If and when the snake comes out to show-boat to the other reptiles behind glass in the herp house, the keeper, lying in wait in the dark, can nab the escapee.  A (slower) variation of this is to line the walls with flour or cornstarch.  The creative cobra will leave a trail in the white powder and can then be tracked to his hideout. 


So now you know.




Is Microsoft promoting homeschooling?  Sure seems like it.  Though it's probably unintentional, we'll take it!  Ah, I miss the days when the couch was our classroom!

Mirror of Justice: Here we go! The Court grants cert. in the ministerial-exception case:

"Today, the Supreme Court agreed to hear (what I think is) the most important religious-freedom case in 20 years.  The Supreme Court this morning granted cert in Hosanna Tabor Church v. EEOC...

...The question in the case is whether antidiscrimination laws – like, for example, the Americans with Disabilities Act – allow courts to review hiring-and-firing decisions involving “ministerial employees.”  In this particular case, a lower federal court had ruled that parochial-school teachers who teach primarily secular subjects are not “ministerial employees”, and therefore are covered by the Act.

...The Supreme Court should reverse this decision.  Although there are many difficult questions to be asked, and many fine lines to be drawn, when it comes to interpreting and applying the First Amendment’s religious-freedom guarantees, it cannot be the role of secular government to second-guess the decisions of religious communities and institutions about who should be their ministers, leaders, and teachers, any more than they should review their decisions about the content of religious doctrines."

Ayn Rand's classic apologetic on capitalism and laissez-faire government, Atlas Shrugged, has now been turned into a movie of the same name.  It will make its debut in a limited number of theaters on April 15th (tax day!).  Seems like showing it in union battleground states like Ohio and Wisconsin would have been a good marketing strategy, but they're not on the list.  We may have to wait for the DVD.  


Morton Blackwell from the Leadership Institute describes Atlas Shrugged this way:

 "It is one of the most devastating critiques ever written of big government and the liberal media.  Rand's moral indignation is contagious; after reading her, most readers are forever immune to the enticements of socialism.

It must also be said, however, that the militantly atheistic Rand had an unrealistic view of human nature and little appreciation for cultural values.  Most people, however mesmerized by her they may be in their youth, outgrow Rand's philosophy, which Burke might have described as a theoretical construct rather than an application of the accumulated wisdom of mankind.

After reading Atlas Shrugged, read also The Fatal Conceit, by F.A. Hayek.  Hayek once told me, 'I am not religious, but I have a great respect for religion.'  Hayek, along with Burke, who was a Christian, possessed an understanding of human nature much deeper and more realistic than Ayn Rand's."

Watch the trailer:

The antidote, of course, to Rand's hopeless atheism, is the gospel.  This animation of the story of the Prodigal Son (from Luke 15) is a beautiful expression of God's love and forgiveness (HT: Sola Sisters).

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