"Himself" Settles In

Four weeks ago the planet wobbled on its axis, the stars re-aligned, and the earth's crust shifted as He, whose minions refer to simply as "Himself", returned to the air-waves. It was indeed an event of cataclysmic proportions. Such power... such ominous grace... such an odd young man. Is this force new and monumental? Absolutely. Is it human? Perhaps. Will Howard and surrounding counties ever be the same? Maybe on the weekends... in Oakford.

Of his legion of minions I perhaps have known Mr Heck for the longest period of time. I remember one eve in Greentown when I asked him the meaning of life. He placed his hand on my shoulder, looked off into the distance and whispered, "plastic bed-sheets." Long I've struggled with the gravity of his reply. You see, at some point, early in Mr Heck's formative years, a significant portion of his mind ventured out into the nether regions of the ozone layer... and liked it there... And, at last check had summoned insufficient motivation to return. What made him the way he is? Was it his family, his diet, or was that 4-minute baptism just too darn long? Yes sir, I'd like to know.

Himself recently e-mailed me and asked if I had any suggestions for the show. "CHANGE NOTHING!" I cried. Do you change Mona Lisa's smile? Do you re-make Casablanca? Do you eat spaghetti with refried beans? (you can, but things turn ugly very quickly)

But though his hush puppies be worn, his pocket protector be frayed, his glasses be taped at the bridge of his nose... well, I've forgotten my point.

Anyway, continue to listen to "Himself" on 1350AM at 3PM Monday through Friday.

Don't Arrest This Poor Woman

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cindy Sheehan, the military mother who made her son's death in Iraq a rallying point for the anti-war movement, plans to tie herself to the White House fence to protest the milestone of 2,000 U.S. military deaths in Iraq.
"I'm going to go to Washington, D.C. and I'm going to give a speech at the White House, and after I do, I'm going to tie myself to the fence and refuse to leave until they agree to bring our troops home," Sheehan said in a telephone interview last week as the milestone approached.
"And I'll probably get arrested, and when I get out, I'll go back and do the same thing," she said.

This poor woman is obviously sincere and I believe it would be the height of insensitivity to arrest her and take her away from the White House fence. After all, she says that she will go right back once she is released. I feel the government should respect her wishes and allow her to demonstrate her strong convictions. Oh sure, there are laws to be enforced... I'm just saying put off enforcing them... maybe until March.

Remembering Karla

This coming February will mark the 8th year since Karla Faye Tucker Brown was put to death in Texas by lethal injection. Looking at the face above its hard to imagine that this smiling, attractive woman brutally killed two human beings with a pick-axe. Her story isn't that uncommon as murderers go. She was neglected as a child. She turned to drugs. She killed, she was caught, she received a fair trial, and ultimately she was put to death. Justice was served. But ofcourse none of this is the dramatic part of Karla's story.

A theologian could write a thousand pages about the power of the gospel and how Jesus changes lives, but no amount of words could be as eloquent and moving as 15 minutes with this simple woman from Texas.

If you saw any of her interviews from death row... heard her talk about her conversion and her ministry to her fellow inmates... heard her talk about her faith... then you remember her. You remember how you were drawn to her... you remember how she made you feel.

Its hard to deal with the fact that we put to death a woman who had changed so dramatically and who so obviously loved the Lord. Its hard to imagine what earthly good could come from silencing such a voice.

Silenced she was, but not before she gave witness to a miracle... not before she influenced countless lives and touched countless hearts. These were her last words on this earth:

"I am going to be face to face with Jesus now. . . . I love you all very much. I will see you all when you get there. . . . I will wait for you."

Karla Faye Tucker Brown, February 3, 1998

No Evidence Against Delay? No Matter

In a nutshell: Corporations gave $190,000 to DeLay's PAC. Legal. The PAC sent the money to the Republican National State Elections Committee which subsequently placed it in an account for corporate donations. Legal. The following October this Republican Committee sent a similar amount of money, from a non-corporate account, to seven Texas Republican candidates. Legal.

Prosecutor Ronnie Earl says that there is a document that proves that the director of the DeLay PAC, John Colyandro, sent a list of the seven Republican candidates to the Republican committee asking that $190,000 be contributed to their campaigns, and that this list was sent about the same time as the money.

Earle claims that there is a relationship between the money sent, and the request by Colyandro, and that this constitutes money laudering.

When DeLay's lawyers asked to see this document, Ronnie Earl produced a "copy" of a printout of an Excel spreadsheet which mentions 17 candidates and $230,000. There is no signature and no date. When asked, Earl's team said it was a "similar list" to the one which was mentioned in the indictment. Huh?

So how can Earle prove that this list, that they can't produce, was authored by Colyandro and that DeLay knew about it?

According to the Houston Chronicle, everything falls upon the three-year-old memory of the former RNC deputy director Terry Nelson, who allegedly received the list. But it is yet to be seen how this implicates DeLay in any way.

OK. The judge that issued the warrant for DeLay, Judge Bob Perkins, has contributed money to a PAC opposed to DeLay's PAC... and he has also given money to moveon.org. These charges come in a very Democrat county whose Democrats are quite peeved at DeLay's re-districting accomplishments.

So where is the evidence of a crime? Where is the evidence against DeLay? The Liberal Media broadcasts the mug shot and and repeats the charges, but they don't talk about the lack of evidence. Maybe they're too busy talking about another "no-crime" issue involving a man named Rove.

The National Review's Spuriell says that Ronnie Earle clearly has no case and that the charges will be thrown out if they ever reach a courtroom.

Star Parker on the "Millions More Movement"

I first heard Star Parker speak in an interview with James Dobson on "Focus on the Family." This African American Woman has an unbelievable life story that includes recovering from drug addiction. Here she addresses the effects of the current liberal black leadership:

Do poor blacks really need to hear "millions more" excuses why black men can't be faithful to one woman and be responsible for the children they bear? Or why they can't get an education because white people hate us?

Do poor blacks really need another venue for hip-hop multimillionaires to explain, in four-letter epithets, that blacks suffer because George W. Bush doesn't care about them? This while these moguls get richer by the day peddling black booty on BET, inspiring black kids to live the life that guarantees to keep them poor?

Despite Farrakhan's supposed objective to "empower" poor folks, he should understand, as more and more blacks are beginning to understand, that he, and other long-standing traditional black leaders, really promote quite the opposite.

Poor blacks do not need to be "mobilized" to turn even more responsibility for their lives over to others. They need to go to school and take care of their families. The place where this needs to take place is within a couple-mile radius of where they live. It certainly won't take place on the National Mall in Washington.

Am I suggesting that blacks in America today do not have to contend with the burden of racism? Of course I am not. What I do claim is that the most damaging racism in our community is what it hears from its own leaders. It is the message that black citizens cannot and should not be treated as free and personally responsible individuals.
http://www.townhall.com/print/print_story.php?sid=171486&loc=/opinion/columns/StarParker/2005/10/17/171486.html

I have never been black or poor, so I have no relevant conception of the difficulties facing this minority group. But I can recognize that Jesse and Louis are preaching racism and hatred, and Star is preaching personal responsibility. One sermon is a prescription for losers and the other points the way towards success.

Read about Star Parker's life and conversion here:http://www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/7w4/7w4022.html

Remembering 9/12/01

Peter Heck writes the following about the incessant negativity from the Democrats and the liberal media in context to the president's low approval ratings:

"Every moment Americans turn around they are bombarded with the negativity that pervades so much of the discussion on the current situations in the United States. Whether it’s the sensationalizing of Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo abuse, the absurd exaggerations on the Katrina disaster, the misery portrayed in the Middle East, the “conviction” of key administration officials before they’ve ever been charged with anything, or the reported “cronyism” employed in the choice of Supreme Court justices, Americans have had little to sink their teeth into beyond the bitter taste of anti-American, anti-Bush sentiment being served from mainstream media sources."
www.peterheck.com

The negative attacks have been vicious and constant, however today's negativity pales to that which I felt personally on 9/12/01. I had watched the Twin Towers burn and then fall, and told a young friend, "Today our lives have changed forever." I wondered how many more attacks would take place in the following months and how many more Americans would die. I wondered if the stock market would crash, dissolving my retirement savings. I wondered if there would be an oil embargo with the return of gas lines and shortages.

I look around today and my world certainly isn't perfect. But there have been no more major attacks on the homeland. Al-Qada has been smashed in Afghanistan. Libya is dismantling its WMD. The Palestinians have a new leader and Egypt is holding elections. In Iraq a despot is gone and democracy is struggling forward. At home the economy is sound.

If you had shown a snapshot of 10/17/05 to me on 9/12/01, I would have been surprised and very relieved. I would also have believed that the right man was in the White House.

We are a very spoiled and forgetful nation. Even with the bombardment of negativity from the Left, we should remember how we felt on 9/12/01 and be thankful to God for giving us the right leader in this difficult chapter of our nation's history.

Somewhere We Stopped Kneeling

I get up every morning at 4 AM and read at least one chapter from the Bible. Then I get down on the floor on my knees and elbows with my face in my hands and pray. If I had a mat I'd look Muslim. I assume this position for the following two reasons:

1) It allows me at the beginning of every morning to establish in my mind my relationship to God, and

2) I think He likes it.

I attended a Bible study several years ago that always ended with a time of prayer. These were good and devout people and so I felt no compunction when I asked one night if we could have our prayer time on our knees. We did, but not before there were a couple of smirks and uneasy smiles. It seemed obvious that I'd made my friends uncomfortable. This seemed odd because I remembered Thursday night prayer meetings from my childhood where the same kind of people knelt to pray... and I vividly remember my parents getting on their knees which left a lasting impression.

When I look back through the Old and New Testaments I'm struck by the way the faithful men and women held the Lord in such reverence and awe. These people were not humorless, but they stressed, and took very seriously, the holiness of their Creator... and their respect and admiration more often than not manifested itself in some physical expression of humility... bowing, kneeling, or lying prostrate.

To the 21st century Christian it all seems so primitive and overly demonstrative. These are actions that I would not feel comfortable displaying in public. While I've often been moved emotionally and spiritually at church, I confess I'm much too proud and dignified to emote in any physical display. I'm not suggesting that staid, quiet, and dignified worship is wrong, but it still may be symptomatic of a spiritual shortcoming.

It should probably come as no surprise that the richest Christians in the world should be the most prideful... the most unfaithful and forgetful in the Kingdom. We are insulated from the most common discomforts, waltzing through life on our own terms... proud and independent. We can buy our way into a million different entertainments and distractions that leave us making appointments and space for God. We have a way of organizing everything into its proper place, with balance and our sense of propriety as our guide. God is there... right where we put Him. He is an important part of this tapestry that is our life... and He is there, right where we decided it was appropriate, expedient, and convenient to weave Him in.

Considering that its easier for a camel to go through the needle's eye than it is for us to enter heaven, proud is perhaps the last thing we should be. When we consider how selfishly forgetful we are... how much like the world... how negligent, inattentive, and casual our homage... Maybe we should humbly thank God every day for making us a beautiful bride... thank him daily for His ultimate sacrifice that made us a people He could bear to look at.

And consider that it might please Him if at least once a day we stepped away from our pride and dignity long enough to kneel and give Him that which is His due.

Biopoietic Justice

So life rose from the sea did it? I've been reading attempts to justify this claim since 1972 and I just can't seem to piece together the sequence of events in my mind. Maybe its just me... Maybe I need a modern-day Brothers Grimm to stitch together the tale... throw in an occasional ogre and troll, and then maybe I could follow it.

But until then, this is my attempt at dispelling Creationism, Intelligent Design, Irreducible Complexity... that sort of stuff:

For the first or archetypical cell to get the ball rolling towards producing all the varied forms of plant and animal life around us... it first had to somehow come into existence... and it had to consist of the following basic chemical structures.

1) DNA... this stuff is the blueprint and template for the complex chemical structures that make up the cell.

2) Messenger RNA... this stuff reads the DNA and copies the template or instructions for making the complex chemical structures in the cell.

3) Ribosomes... these are the factories where the messenger RNA goes to manufacture the complex chemical structures... structures like Ribosomes, for instance.

4) Chloroplast... This is the power source that runs the factory... that produces chloroplasts that couldn't exist without being produced by the factory... that needs energy from the chloroplasts... well... lets move on.

5) Cell Membrane... This is a complex and active wall that keeps bad things out of the cell and lets in the good stuff. The cell can't function without it! Ofcourse the proteins that make up the cell membrane have to be synthesized by the factory... which runs on the energy produced the chloroplasts... which are produced in the factory... well... lets move on.

See, I feel I've lost the reader already and I haven't even reached the part where all this came about in a universe where the molecular tendency is towards randomness.

But then, if I had any talent for writing fairy tales I'd probably already be producing children's books like the ones they use in public schools.

Maybe tomorrow I'll start working on a non-fiction version of the "chicken and the egg" silliness.
Which came first, the ribosomal RNA which produces the proteins for the cell wall, or the cell wall which protects the chemical integrety of the cell... allowing the ribosomal RNA to function.

The Liberal Mantra... Bush Lied

I invite everyone to click on Bryan Alexander's "Right Thinking" in the Links on the right of this page and read his "Get a Life!" post. In Bryan's article he asks why liberal groups continue in their efforts to destroy this president. Good reading as usual from Bryan.

I contend that liberals continue this attack because it feels good. They believe it will help them politically... but they do it because it feels good. Its endless and exhausting negative rhetoric alienates the voters they wish to court... but it feels good. It hurts the war effort and encourages our enemies... but it feels good.

This recipe for losing at the polls, this sacrifice at the "Blame America First" altar, this acrid well... this bitter fount... this self-defeating spiteful psalm will not be silenced... because it feels good.

The "Life After Roe" Secret

It occured to me, as I wrote in the previous post, that the Left has won the battle over abortion and that Roe has become much less important than it was 30 years ago. If Roe is overturned any subsequent changes in abortion laws will be incremental and regional. So why is there such hysteria on the Left over this issue?

Among feminist groups the anger probably goes all the way back to the suffragettes. The road to equality for women has not been an easy one. As a man its hard for me to appreciate the "glass ceiling", the sexism, the condescending and patronizing attitudes suffered by women who fought for a fair and level playing field.

But the fight over Roe is much more emotional, personal, and heated in nature than that in other women's rights issues. For the far-feminist-Left, Roe is an icon that represents freedom from every form of patriarchal tradition. A man no longer has the right to tell a woman what she can do with her body or anything else... and he'd better not forget it. Roe is a banner... a matter of pride.

Have you noticed that the liberal media never discusses what would happen if Roe was overturned? No analysis. No conjectures. If the feminists mention the possibility there is always the warning of the return to "back-alley abortions" and countless deaths... which ofcourse would not happen because the overturning of Roe would not make abortion illegal. But no one is talking about that.

I don't think the Left or the liberal media want to talk about, or debate life after Roe. If the outcome was openly and calmly discussed, it would be difficult to inspire moderate pro-choice individuals to join in the hysteria of the far Left. The line thats been drawn in the sand by NOW, NARAL, and other groups would lose its definition and gravitas. Roe is like the drilling for oil in ANWAR; it has little more meaning than just another fight for power that the Left doesn't intend to lose. Its more a battle for status, authority, and ownership than it is for the issue itself.

There is more than one reason to overturn Roe. For the purist, its the rejection of judicial tyranny and faulty constitutional interpretation. For the conservative Christian its the first small step of many small steps towards limiting and discouraging abortion and winning the hearts of young women.

But the first step towards overturning Roe may involve discussing the life after Roe secret. And the truth might help set us free.

Overturning Roe

Last evening I listened to the Wednesday edition of Focus on the Family with Dr James Dobson. The intent of the broadcast was to allay the concerns of conservative Christians over the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. Dr Dobson mentioned several reasons, all I had heard before, why he supports this nomination. He also said there were things he was told in confidence that he did not feel free to repeat, -reasons that evidently indicated that Miss Miers was a strict constructionist and could be trusted by his audience.

Dr Dobson became very emotional towards the end of the radio broadcast and twice used the phrase "the blood of so many babies"... which obviously indicates his main concern and what he feels lies in the balance with next justice added to the court.

Now I am not a lawyer and I am certainly no constitutional scholar, so I may need some help with this. If my understanding of this issue is wrong or you feel my predictions are wrong, please leave a comment.

If Roe vs Wade is overturned, I predict the following will happen the very next day:

Nothing.

Police will not be heading out to arrest abortionist physicians. Abortion clinics will not be closed. The laws will not revert to pre-Roe statutes.

One year after Roe is overturned abortion will still be legal in every blue state and almost every red state. In a few of the more conservative areas in the "Bible Belt" state legislatures will have passed laws that strictly limit or ban the procedure. Pro-Choice groups will be protesting there as they pass out bus tickets and plane tickets to poor pregnant women so that they may travel to the nearest city where abortion is legal.

Except in the case of a really barbaric procedure such as partial birth abortion, Federal legislators will conveniently and perhaps cowardly agree with the Court that abortion is not a Federal issue and leave it to the state legislatures to sort things out. The tenth amendment will rule the day.

There will be talk of a constitutional amendment banning all abortion, but like today there will be insufficient support for it.

I have a great deal of respect for Dr James Dobson. There is not a more humble and sincere Christian leader in this country but I believe he is wringing his hands for little purpose. While I believe that abortion is morally wrong and that Roe is bad constitutional law and should be overturned, abortion is here to stay because it is part of our culture now. Its just so very convenient, and there is insufficient will in this sad hedonistic country to make it go away.

There are many goals in the "Left's" playbook that will never be achieved without the help of a liberal, activist court... and the importance of each nomination cannot be overstated. But Roe has become less important than the change that it has wrought in this country's thinking and character. There would be a few less abortions if Roe was overturned, but it would be just the first step in a very short trip.

I am not personally pleased with these conclusions, but I think it is important that the Conservative Christian Right begins to talk about the realities of this situation. The truth would work in our favor serving to defuse the hysterics displayed by NOW, NARAL, and other rabidly pro-abortion groups. Overturning Roe would be a good first step on principle if nothing else, but it is sobering to consider that it represents the easy part of the road ahead.

The President's Pick

When I first heard about the president's choice and saw Harriett Miers I wondered if this woman was meant to be a sacrificial lamb who would be rejected and filibustered by Senate Democrats... making his next choice harder to reject. Then I heard that Harry Reid had suggested her as an acceptable choice and I got worried. The more I read on the internet, I began to wonder less about Harriet Miers... and wondered more, 'Who IS this guy in the White House?'

There were many good men and women that the President could have selected who had more impressive credentials and more assuring paper trails for concerned conservatives. But instead we get Harriet Miers?

Yesterday on the Peter Heck Show, Mr Heck, known to some simply as 'Himself', approached the subject with calm and balance. He obviously was not thrilled with the choice, but neither did he criticize it. Later I heard Dr James Dobson interviewed by Brit Hume. Dr Dobson also had reassuring words to say about Miss Miers, and was cautiously optomistic.

Like Mr Heck and Dr Dobson I pray for President Bush every day... and it may be spiritually impertinent to worry when he makes a decision I don't understand. So we will see. There is perhaps no other person whose heart and beliefs George Bush knows better than Harriet Miers. So this nominee may serve as a window into the heart and motivations of George Bush.


Update:
Here is an interview with Harriet Mier's pastor which is very reassuring: http://muscleheadrevolution.com/

Don't Make My Child Learn About Judges

My blog friend (and talented writer), Bryan Alexander, has written an informative piece about the need for a marriage amendment. http://r-thinking.blogspot.com/

Now we know about the power grab by the courts and how they rule with no consideration for the Constitution or the will of the people. But maybe we're approaching this problem the wrong way.

Sometime after Joshua died the Lord "raised up judges" (Jdg 2:16). Now this sounds very Judeo-Christian and Biblical to me.

Maybe we can get the court system to declare itself unconstitutional through the establishment clause.

Whats the ACLU's phone number?

Evan's Base

I remember when Evan first ran for governor. He ran against Lt Gov John Mutz, who was basically the brains and workhorse behind Governor Orr. Mutz had proved himself in so many ways and deserved to be rewarded with the top job.

Then came Evan Bayh who had done nothing.

That fall I was talking with the lady who cuts my hair and I asked her about the election. She said, "Well I know who I'm voting for in the Governor's race!" She said Evan and I asked her why. She said, "I don't know, I just like him." It reminded me of when my Grandmother McRoberts said she'd voted for JFK because he was... "such a good looking man!"

When voters display this level of sophistication you need not wonder how politicians win elections while sporting a voting record that in no way resembles the preferences of the states they represent.

Ofcourse now that he is a Senator, Evan seals the deal every six years by misrepresenting himself. Then, he is the "moderate." (A Democrat is a moderate when, every six months or so, he votes differently than Teddy Kennedy.)

However now that he is running for the presidency he is an ultra-liberal... lest moveon.org spank. Will this cost him his Senate seat in Indiana? No. I predict that he will be re-elected because like JFK , he is such a good looking man.