'RELIGIOUS NUTS' OUT GIVE LIBERAL SECULARISTS

Are you tired of your secular, leftist friends claiming a monopoly on compassion? Ready to see if irreligious Democrats who mocks the “religious right” put their money where their mouths are?

It wasn’t too long ago that Al Gore called supporters of Oliver North, a largely Christian group, “the extreme rightwing, the extra-chromosome right wing”. Howard Dean, the Democratic Committee Chairman, said, “You know, the Republicans are not very friendly to different kinds of people. They’re a pretty monolithic party. Pretty much, they all behave the same, and they all look the same. … It’s pretty much a white Christian party.'’

Interesting. Here are what some studies referenced by the Heritage Foundation’s familyfacts.org have found about the generosity of churchgoers:

Religious individuals are 57% more likely than non-church goers to help a homeless person at least once a month.

Committed religious give to the poor more than nominally religious (in name only).

Of the 25 states that had the highest number of houses of worship per capita, 19 had levels of households’ charitable donations that were above the national average. Conversely, 19 of the 25 states with the lowest number of houses of worship per capita had household levels of charitable giving that were below the national average.

The average donation given to non-religious charities by weekly churchgoers is 14% higher than donations given to non-religious charities by…ahem… non-religious people.

People who say religious beliefs are important were 19% more likely to volunteer (51% vs. 32%) than those who say religious beliefs don’t matter as long as one is a good person.

Regular churchgoers are 11% more likely to donate to causes related to the 9/11 terrorist attacks than their secular counterparts.

It’s also worth pointing out that in 2005, the Catalogue for Philanthropy, the National Generosity Index for 2005 reported the most generous states for charitable giving in the US were “Red States” (Republican states that voted for Bush) and Bible Belt states. The most miserly states were “Blues States” (Democratic states which voted for Kerry). Mississippi, which is also one of the lowest income states, tops the list as the #1 most generous whereas New Hampshire comes in dead last at #50. Massachusetts comes in at #49, New Jersey at #48, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Connecticut rounding out the bottom 5.

But what about compassion?

Howard Dean said on Meet the Press last year that:

I’m a committed Christian. And the fact of whether I go to church or not, people can say whether I should or shouldn’t, I worship in my own way. It came out in the campaign that I pray every night. That’s my business. That’s not the business of the Pharisees who are going to preach to me about what I do and then do something else.

You know, I care about values a lot. And one of the reasons that I care a lot is because of my upbringing. And it was a–I grew up in a Christian household. Now, because I grew up–I’m a congregationalist. People say, “Well, those are liberals.” Well, since when do Christians get tagged liberal or conservative? You either believe in the teachings of Jesus or you don’t. I do.

Actually, it;s not just about believing, it’s about believing and doing. While liberals love hoarding the compassion of Christ without stepping foot into a Church, or occasionally visiting a liberal Church that flies in the face of basic Christian teaching of morality while maintaining a platform hostile to religion, the truth is a Christian must both believe and do the teachings of Christ. St. James called it “faith and works”, the evidence of faith.

The proof is in the giving. The litmus test of compassion is giving to others who cannot repay. Apparently religious faithful are rising to the task; are secularists? Apparently not.

IF I COULD CHOOSE THE PRESIDENT, VICE PRESIDENT, AND CABINET IN 2008

We can all dream a little…

Every once in a while (and don’t tell me you haven’t done this yourself) I allow my mind to drift off into fantasy-land for a brief period of time, where I begin to envision what this great nation of ours would be like if the most qualified and intelligent people around actually held positions of authority in our government. Earlier today I lapsed into that exact mental state, so I decided to take a few notes while I was there, and I came up with the following list of folks who, in my humble opinion, would best be suited to run the Executive branch in 2008.

Keep in mind, however, that some of the individuals mentioned in this article were added to it several hours after my daydreaming session had ended, because, at the time I couldn’t remember the titles of some of our nation’s less well-known Cabinet posts. I trust you’ll forgive me if a few of my choices are somewhat less impressive than the rest. After all, who would YOU pick to be the Secretary of Agriculture?

By any means, I now present to you my personal fantasy picks for President, Vice President, and the various Cabinet Secretaries of the United States. After each person listed below I’ve included a simple paragraph outlining their respective qualifications… except for the bottom five individuals, whom I’d never heard of before today, but who appear to be pretty decent public servants nonetheless. Of course, you don’t have to take my word for that. You can always click on the links I’ve placed below each of their names, which should provide you with all the pertinent biographical information you may require.

President — Newt Gingrich

Of all the leading conservative politicians in America, I can think of no one who is more intelligent, articulate, knowledgeable, or serious-minded than former House Speaker Gingrich. Since leaving office in 1999, Mr. Gingrich has written many articles, policy papers, and books on a wide variety of subjects, and few politicians can match this former history professor’s speech-making abilities. If there is any Republican in America who is more hated by leftists than George W. Bush, it’s Newt… and for good reason; when compared to him, every liberal in Washington D.C. sounds like a babbling nitwit.

Vice President — Bill Owens

Simply put, this popular, two-term, Colorado Governor, former state House member, former state Senator, and former state Treasurer is one of the most effective elected officials in the nation today. He holds a Masters degree in public administration from the University of Texas, and is considered an expert on Russian affairs. Known for his fiscal responsibility, predilection for lowering taxes, and an unwavering determination to improve the public school system, Mr. Owens is widely regarded as one of the rising stars of the Republican party.

Attorney General — Mark Levin

What can I say about this man that Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and practically every well-informed conservative in America hasn’t already said? This accomplished author, Constitutional Law expert, and talk radio host isn’t called “The Great One” for nothing. Known for his brilliant legal mind, as well as an acerbic wit and abhorrence for judicial activism, Mark Levin, who currently heads the Landmark Legal Foundation, is uniquely qualified to head the U.S. Department of Justice… and if you don’t believe me, just ask him!

Secretary Of Defense — General John Abizaid

If hands-on leadership and over three decades of experience fighting for our country are what you’re looking for in a Defense Department head, you need look no further than the current U.S. CentCom Commander. As a West Point graduate and four-star Army General, whose service decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster), the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit (with 5 Oak Leaf Clusters), the Bronze Star Medal, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, and the Army Commendation Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters), John Abizaid stands out as one of the finest military leaders of our time.

Secretary Of State — Dinesh D’Souza

Any American who has ever heard this man deliver a speech on the virtues of this, his adoptive country, would be hard pressed to walk away from the event feeling anything but pride. A native of Mumbai, India, Dinesh moved to the U. S. as a youth, and is now a naturalized American citizen. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Dartmouth College, a former Senior Policy Analyst for the Reagan White House, a former Editor of various political affairs magazines, a Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, a former Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and a best-selling author of - among other books - ‘What’s So Great about America’ and ‘The End of Racism ‘.

Secretary Of Homeland Security — David McIntyre

Dr. McIntyre is a retired Army Colonel who holds a BS in Engineering from West Point, and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Maryland. He is the former Deputy Director of the ANSER Institute for Homeland Security, and currently heads the Integrative Center for Homeland Security at Texas A&M University. He has taught national security/homeland security strategy at senior levels of government for nearly two decades, has worked in the office of the Army Chief of Staff in Washington, DC, and lectured at the Maxwell School of National Security Studies, the National War College, the Naval War College, and George Washington University.

Secretary Of The Treasury — Thomas Sowell

Aside from Alan Greenspan and the recently deceased Milton Friedman, no American economist is better known or more well-respected than Thomas Sowell, whose syndicated columns are published in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine, and Capitalism Magazine. He holds an A.B. in Economics from Harvard College, an A.M. in Economics from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago, were he studied under Nobel Prize-winning economist George Stigler. He has written 5 books on economics, as well as two dozen more on various other topics, and is currently a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution.

Secretary Of Education — William Bennett

Dr. Bennett is a former Reagan Administration Secretary of Education, as well as former Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy under President George H. W. Bush. He holds a Law degree from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in Political Philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a best-selling book author and highly valued speaker on the topics of American culture and morality, among others. He believes in competency tests for educators, performance-based pay, ending tenure, allowing knowledgeable professionals with no formal education training to teach, and providing parents with greater school choices.

Secretary Of Energy — Pete Domenici

With 33 years of continuous Senatorial service under his belt, Pete Domenici holds the record for the longest tenure of any New Mexican elected to the upper house of the U.S. Congress, wherein he recently cast his 13,000th vote. He is a former junior high school mathematics teacher, lawyer, and author of two books on the subject of nuclear power. He currently serves as the Chairman of both the Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy & Water Development, and is co-sponsor of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

Secretary Of Health And Human Services — Phyllis Schlafly

Radical feminists HATE Phyllis, who headed a successful grassroots campaign to prevent passage of the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s. She believed that such an amendment would lead to negative cultural shifts which would inevitably result in things like homosexual marriage and government-funded abortions. Mrs. Schlafly is a lawyer who has authored 21 books on subjects ranging from child abuse to judicial tyranny, and has testified before 50 Congressional and State Legislative committees on Constitutional, family, and national defense issues. At 81 years of age, she is as spry as most 20-year-olds, giving daily radio commentaries, writing a widely published syndicated column, running a national volunteer organization known as the Eagle Forum, publishing a monthly newsletter, and debating cultural issues on college campuses across the country.

Secretary Of Commerce — Jeb Bush

While he may be best known as the younger brother of the President, Jeb is no Billy Carter. In 1973 he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor’s degree in Latin American studies from the University of Texas at Austin, later taking a job with the Texas Commerce Bank. Several years later he moved to Florida, where he worked as a real estate developer and consultant, and eventually a political lobbyist. Today he is the Governor of Florida, with a long and distinguished record of accomplishments which include maintaining a 3.0 unemployment rate in his state, and cutting taxes every year since 1998. Often characterized as brilliant, he is also a man of high principles, and his hard work and determination have transformed Florida into one of the most successful states in the union.

Secretary Of Labor — Elizabeth Dole

Senator Dole is the wife of former Senator and former Republican Presidential nominee Bob Dole, and she currently Chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee. She was Deputy Assistant to President Nixon for Consumer Affairs, later being appointed to the Federal Trade Commission. Afterward, she became the nation’s first female Secretary of Transportation under the Reagan Administration, and then Secretary of Labor under the first Bush Administration. Prior to being elected to the U.S. Senate, she headed the American Red Cross, and holds a Masters degree in Education and Government, as well as a Law degree from Harvard University.

A Few Parting Thoughts
After having proofread everything I’ve written above, it strikes me that there are only two female members of my White House “dream team”, and most of the male members are white. I suppose it’s possible that if race or sex had been on my mind at the time I was formulating my list, I might have been tempted to drop a couple of those caucasian fellows and replace them with men or women of some other race… but I doubt it. Call me unconventional, but physical characteristics usually don’t enter into my thought processes when I’m considering a person’s qualifications for an administrative job, and once I’ve made a decision on such an issue, I require a better reason for changing my mind than simply satisfying the whims of the pc-police.

Since race-baiters and left-wing ideologues do not intimidate me, anyone who feels the need to call me a racist, sexist, or some other ‘ist’ just because this article doesn’t pass their personal diversity test, is hereby encouraged to email me at his or her earliest convenience. However, be forewarned that my response to you may not be exactly pleasant. You see, it’s precisely because I’m not a bigot that I’ve selected the people I have to run my imaginary government, despite the fact that every ACLU fan out there will probably consider me to be more hateful than Hitler for not creating a mock Cabinet that “looks like America.” If you ask me, choosing political leaders who “stand for America” is far more important than keeping up appearances, and anyone who can’t appreciate that is truly prejudiced.

—

Edward L. Daley is the owner of the Daley Times-Post - http://www.times-post.com

THE POLITICS OF CHRISTMASTIME

German political philosopher Karl Marx (along with Friedrich Engels) compiled the Communist Manifesto in 1848, declaring there is no God and no divine right to freedom and individual pursuits. In other words, Marxism means never having to say “Merry Christmas.”

Today, Marx would likely have had full tenure among like-minded colleagues at a top American university, earning a capitalistic six-figure salary in addition to housing and cost-of-living allowances. As is the case with many a current professor, Marx was not much of an original thinker (though his supporters would have you believe otherwise).

Marx based many writings on those of early 19th century German philosophers, including George Wilhelm Hegel, who rejected the concept of moral absolutes, and Ludwig Feuerbach, who stated that if there are no absolutes, then there is no God.[1] Accordingly, those who held such beliefs fervently embraced and promoted Charles Darwin’s Origin of the Species in 1859 and his Descent of Man in 1871 precisely because Darwin offered a much-needed godless alternate to the Bible’s divine creation.

The decades-long attempt to reduce Christmas to a secular winter holiday is as much a part of a larger plot as The Battle of the Bulge was a part of World War II. What Marxists could not overthrow and rule then with tanks and the military, they are conquering now with textbooks and the media. Political atheism drives the secular attacks on Christmas, creationism, the chant of “God is Dead,” the ban on school prayer and attempts to delete deity from our pledge of allegiance and motto, “In God We Trust.” A godless global force views Christmas as just another way to assault modern liberties and rights, of which freedom of religion is one. Left unchallenged, past secular movements have sent tens of millions to work camps, to gulags and to their deaths simply for refusing to conform.

Whether you call them socialists or Communists, both political factions are Marxists-in-training. The magazine, International Socialist Review, for example, bills itself as providing “in-depth Marxist analysis, history and coverage of discussion and debates on the left …” Marxism claims to provide the masses with an equal share of necessities, but instead creates a throwback to a feudal system in which lords and magistrates rule from on high, providing only what is deemed necessary to their serfdom.

Today’s socialist elite, many of whom are Democrats in this country, often place themselves above the common people and even common decency. The party’s hand-picked media elite live in opulent Manhattan towers that loom above the city’s masses while the party’s Hollywood elite live in luxury on hillsides far removed from the teeming confines of Los Angeles.

In addition, George Soros is one the Democrats’ largest financial supporters. Soros’ passion for atheism has been described as having missionary zeal. Soros holds true to Marx’s notion of no fixed standard of right or wrong. A ruthless financier, Soros has made a sport of bankrupting emerging nations by betting against and undermining their currencies. Soros created the currency crisis in Southeast Asia almost single handedly in late 1997. Afterward, Malaysia banned him from their markets for life, and his reprehensible greed deprived countries in Indonesia of much needed foreign investment capital for years later.

With a characteristic lack of logic and honesty, today’s elite class will compare President George W. Bush to Adolph Hitler. This bit of propaganda is as effective as it is deceptive, especially when spread among the less informed of the American public. Hitler’s party was that of the National Socialists and groups such as the ACLU and Democrats are most often associated with socialist ideology. Further, the American Heritage Dictionary, circa 1970, defines Mein Kampf as “a book (1924-26) by Adolph Hitler, setting forth the doctrines and programs of National Socialism.” (Also, another godless and murderous dictator, Joseph Stalin, formed the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics.)

Democrat Ramsey Clark, U.S. Attorney General under President Lyndon B. Johnson, was in Iraq as a member of Saddam Hussein’s defense team. Clark also attended a conference in 1980, “The Crimes of America,” in Tehran while 52 Americans were being held hostage there by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomneini. Clark has also traveled to such Communist ports-of-call as Vietnam and North Korea and in support of Marxist regimes in Panama and Libya where he would pronounce the U.S. guilty of war crimes.

Ronald Reagan presented the debate in a manner devoid of political context when on Oct. 27, 1964, he said, “You and I are told we must choose between a Left or Right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a Left or Right. There is only an up or down: up to man’s age-old dream, the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism.”

The battle over Christmas is neither an isolated skirmish nor a figment of the Christian imagination. The ability to say “Merry Christmas” has a much deeper meaning than we realize.

[1] Also prior to Marx, Danish writer Sren Kierkegaard borrowed from Hegel and Feuerbach to develop the idea of existentialism, stating that without God and absolutes, right and wrong cannot exist and, therefore, everything is permissible. And Kierkegaard’s work found a patron in Sigmund Freud, whose human sexuality theory allowed Leftist society to dismiss consistent morality and to open the floodgates of permissiveness, if not perversion.

—

Mike Spaniola writes political commentary that counters the oxymoron known as mainstream media. He lives high atop the Rocky Mountains in central Colorado.

WREATHS ACROSS AMERICA

Wreaths Across America

By Michelle Malkin

The photo that moved the nation

The Wreaths Across America celebration was held yesterday at Arlington National Cemetery and across the country. Thousands of volunteers participated:

Every December for the past 15 years, Morrill Worcester, owner of one of the world's largest holiday wreath companies, has taken time in the midst of his busiest season to haul a truckload of wreaths to Arlington from his small Downeast Maine town of Harrington.

For years, he and a small band of volunteers laid the wreaths in virtual obscurity. But in the last 12 months that has changed, thanks to a dusting of snow last year at the cemetery, an evocative photograph, a sentimental poem and a chain e-mail. And this year, Worcester went national. A new program, "Wreaths Across America," shipped a total of about 1,300 wreaths to more than 200 national cemeteries and vets' memorials in all 50 states.

Worcester, 56, says he wants to help Americans remember and honor deceased military veterans, particularly at Christmas, when they're missed most. On the Wreaths Across America website, he makes this comment: "When people hear about what we're doing, they want to know if I'm a veteran. I'm not. But I make it my business never to forget."

On Thursday he looked at the crowd of volunteers — five times as many as last year's — and said, "I didn't realize there were this many people that felt like I do."

The Internet played a key role in spreading the word and the movement:

The tradition grew slowly. Every year there were a few more volunteers in Harrington to load the truck and a few more in Arlington to lay the wreaths. Every January there'd be a few more calls, e-mails or letters. Worcester says that apart from a newspaper story here and a broadcast report there, "it was almost a private thing."

Until December 2005.

When the day was almost over and all the wreaths had been laid, it started to snow. Around the same time, an Air Force news photographer covering the event went back for a final picture before heading back to the Pentagon.

Master Sgt. James Varhegyi had shot hundred of images that morning. In accordance with photojournalistic convention, almost all had people in them.

But this time Varhegyi took a picture that had no people, just rows of graves, decorated with bowed wreaths, on snowy ground. White, green, red — the colors of Christmas. He didn't think it was anything special.

When the Worcesters returned to Harrington, things quieted down as usual after Christmas. Except that instead of declining in January, the appreciative calls and e-mails began to increase.

Varhegyi's photo had been posted on an Air Force website, from which someone — the Worcesters don't know who — had lifted it, put it in an e-mail, and added a poem:

Rest easy, sleep well my brothers.
Know the line has held, your job is done.
Rest easy, sleep well.
Others have taken up where you fell, the line has held.
Peace, peace, and farewell …

"Please share this with everyone on your address list," the e-mail read. "You hear too much about the bad things people do. Everyone should hear about this."

The e-mail became an Internet sensation. It spread like a virus, so far and so fast that Snopes.com, a website devoted to exploring myths and rumors, investigated and confirmed its existence.

More and more people contacted Worcester Wreath Co. with questions, thanks and requests. By February, the company was getting 30 to 40 e-mails a day. People sent checks, which were returned. Company staffers found themselves devoting more and more time to phone calls about the Arlington effort.

One night, Sherry Scott, the office manager, was working late, trying to get caught up, when the phone rang:

"It was an elderly woman from Texas. She says, 'Tell me you're the company that lays the wreaths at Arlington.' When I said we were, there was silence. Then she started crying. She says, 'My Dad's buried at Arlington.' Then I started crying."

Thank you, Mr. Worcester, for helping us not to forget.

***
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Pfc. Joshua Sparling: Not forgotten; Plus: Supporting the troops this season
Christmas at Arlington

JIMMY CARTER: JEW-HATER, GENOCIDE-ENABLER, LIAR

When you find a headline like that, you just gotta share it.

“Even as Islamic Hitlerites gather in Iran to deny the first Holocaust of the Jews* and to plot the second, former president Jimmy Carter tours America with a new book that describes Jews as racists and oppressors, and suggests they are also a conspiratorial mafia that intimidates “critics,” controls America’s media and war policy, and are therefore also the source of Islamic terrorism and the Arabs’ genocidal campaign to eliminate them from the map of the Middle East.

In other words, Americans beware of the Jew in your midst.”

David Horowitz takes Jimmy to the woodshed.

Read the full story.

SENATE UP FOR GRABS AGAIN?

Democratic Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota has undergone brain surgery early this morning and already the media buzzards are circling. The reason? The Democrats have a 1-vote majority in the Senate...and if something happens to Johnson, the Republican governor of South Dakota would appoint a successor, handing control of the Senate back to the GOP. Now keep in mind, Johnson is still very much alive. Truly tasteless.

Even though nobody on the Republican side is talking about it, get ready for Democrats and the media to step up the accusation that they're thinking about it. And if Johnson should have to resign....the Democrats aren't going to go quietly. They're going to trot out the accusation that the GOP stole another election. Never underestimate the ability of the mainstream media and the Left to have absolutely no class at all.

Here's hoping Senator Johnson has a speedy recovery.