RIP Charles Colson

Please watch this.

Chuck Colson was a captain  of Marines from 1953 to 1955—in between wars, but somebody had to do it.  He later went to work for President Richard Nixon and, after the Watergate scandal broke, he became famous and went to jail. 

Then he was reborn as a Christian and founded Prison Fellowship Ministries. 

One day, shortly before leaving prison, Colson was going about his business in the prison dorm while some inmates played cards.
Suddenly, one of the players, a six-foot-tall prisoner named Archie, bellowed, "Hey, Colson. You'll be out of here soon. What are you going to do for us?
Suddenly, the whole room fell silent. All ears were straining to hear the answer. "I'll help in some way," replied Colson. "I'll never forget you guys or this stinking place."
"Bull!" roared Archie, slamming down the pack of cards on the table. "You all say that. I've seen big shots like you come and go. They all say the same things while they're inside. Then they get out and forget us fast. There ain't nobody cares about us. Nobody!"
But today, 35 years later, thousands upon thousands of Christian volunteers and churches do care. They care enough to visit prison, mentor prisoners, help their families, and share the Good News of Christ with them.
That's because in 1976, Colson founded Prison Fellowship, which, together with churches of all confessions and denominations, has become the world's largest outreach to prisoners, ex-prisoners, and their families, with ministry taking place in 113 countries around the globe.

I read his book "How Now Shall We Live?" and it had a profound influence on me.  I once tried to teach it in a Sunday school class for eight weeks and learned that I'm not a teacher. Colson's book is a teacher, though. 

I will miss Chuch Colson. 

So will the world.

RIP

Kim Il Sung

Pyongyang, North Korea (CNN) -- Defying warnings from the international community, North Korea launched a long-range rocket on Friday, but it broke apart before escaping the earth's atmosphere and fell into the sea, officials said.  "It flew about a minute, and it flew into the ocean," said Noriyuki Shikata, a spokesman for Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. He added that Japanese authorities "have not identified any negative impacts, so far," though he said the international ramifications could be significant. "This is something that we think is a regrettable development," he said.

Joseph Cirincione, president of the global security foundation The Ploughshares Fund, told CNN that the launch's apparent failure "shows the weakness of the North Korea missile program" and suggests that the threat from North Korea has been "exaggerated."

"It's a humiliation," he told CNN. "I wouldn't want to be a North Korean rocket scientist today."

 

That is exactly what I said today when I heard that the rocket failed (for the third time).  The North Koreans kill or imprison anyone who fails, so it’s no wonder they keep failing.  It never occurs to them that you don’t learn from success.  You learn from mistakes. 

Democrats seem to have the same problem.

“It is absurd for the Evolutionist to complain that it is unthinkable for an admittedly unthinkable God to make everything out of nothing, and then pretend that it is more thinkable that nothing should turn itself into everything.” 
― G.K. Chesterton

OH NO....JUSTIFIABLE HOMICIDES!!!!!

I thought this damning statistic, from the Wall Street Journal, was remarkable.

 

At a time when the overall U.S. homicide rate is declining, more civilians are killing each other and claiming self-defense—a trend that is most pronounced in states with new "stand your ground" laws.

These laws, which grant people more leeway to attack and even kill someone who is threatening them, are attracting close scrutiny following February's controversial killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida by a neighborhood watchman.

So-called justifiable homicides nearly doubled from 2000 to 2010, the most recent data available, when 326 were reported, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of crime statistics from all 50 states.

 

Good God, 326 “so-called” justifiable homicides in 2010!  In just 50 states!  How will the nation survive such an onslaught?????

 

Excuse me while I Google something……………………………(yes I’m really googling now)………………………………….Okay—here it is:

 

According to the FBI there were “12,996 murder victims in 2010 for which supplemental data were received”.   I suspect that means there were probably a lot more than that, but why quibble.  Okay, 326/12996 is 0.25%.  Since justifiable homicide “nearly doubled” in 10 years, then it must have increased by 0.12%.  (The word “doubled” really does have an impact, doesn’t it?  And it’s true!)

 

This is a test of your intelligence:

1.       Is the ”nearly doubled” statistic of justified homicide more significant than the opposite (and unstated, not to mention obvious) statistic that unjustified homicide must have declined from 99.75% to 99.63% over that same period?  If so, wouldn’t that be a good thing (albeit rather small)?

2.       Is it possible that an increase in “justified homicide” is logically the same as a decrease in unjustified homicide?

3.       Do you ever really think about the crap the news media feeds you?

 

Thanks for listening.

 

 

Chevy Volt - Building a Better Tomorrow from Ben Howe on Vimeo.

Good Friday surrender suggestion for Santorum

I have a suggestion for Rick Santorum that I believe could get the Tea Party, the Silent Majority, Reagan Democrats, Libertarians, and even a few Republicans excited about the campaign.   I think it would not only guarantee Santorum the GOP nomination, but the election as well. 

Sometime before Super Tuesday on March 6 Rick should announce that at noon Eastern time on Good Friday (April 2) he will surrender himself to federal authorities on the steps of the Supreme Court.  As part of the announcement he will encourage his GOP opponents and all Americans to similarly appear on Good Friday at the nearest federal courthouse and surrender themselves at the same time. (It’s a holiday and lots of people will be off work.)  Rick—and everyone who surrenders—will then provide a written confession that he has conspired to incite the general public to civil disobedience, i.e., by vowing to disobey federal law by refusing to participate with any government mandate that violates their religious and/or Constitutional freedoms. 

Santorum’s staff should be able to come up with a suitably pointed confession and vow.  Distributing it in advance proves that it really is a conspiracy, right?

The publicity in the weeks running up to Good Friday would be pervasive with all the pundits wondering how many people will show up and what the Feds and Obama will do.  Will he arrest everyone who promises to ignore the law?  Probably not, but if anyone does get arrested I suppose we could then petition Pontius Obama to pardon them.  Wouldn’t that be a hoot?

I suspect the turnout would be overwhelming, nationwide, and astonishingly peaceful! Even the mainstream media wouldn’t be able to ignore it. Rick Santorum will get a hero’s welcome everywhere he goes for weeks, before and after!

You’ve said yourself that the candidates need to do more to educate the public to the real issues facing us.  I think this would do so dramatically. 

Santorum better hurry, though.  If Newt Gingrich gets wind of this he’ll steal the idea!

--Cliff

GO RICK!!!

Mitt Romney would probably be a good president.

 

Rick Santorum will be a GREAT PRESIDENT!!!

 

Open letter to Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry

“Mitt Romney appears to be gaining steam in a new national poll, especially among conservatives.”

                --Investor’s Business Daily, 01/13/2012

In other words, conservative are not stupid.  When you attack free market capitalism you’re not just attacking the great economic insight of conservatism—you’re aiding the Enemy by giving demagogic ammunition to Dimocrats. Thanks to government education most American are ignorant enough about basic economics without your asinine campaign ads causing even more damage.

One more time…THIS ELECTION IS NOT ABOUT YOU! 

It’s about AMERICA!!!

And it’s time for you guys to go home.

I was a supporter of Rick Perry when he first entered the race, until he self-destructed in the debates.  Newt Gingrich was a much better debater so I switched my support to him.  Now both of them are attacking capitalism in an attempt to bring Romney down—which is despicable. They have completely lost my support.  One thing that ALL of these candidates need to remember: This election is NOT ABOUT YOU!!! It’s not about Gingrich, or Perry, or Ron Paul, or Rick Santorum, or Mitt Romney being elected president.  IT’S ABOUT GETTING RID OF OBAMA!  The candidates should say nothing that helps the Dimocrats or hurts the Conservative movement.  My top two choices now are Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney. They at least seem to understand that this election is even bigger than their egos.

 

Great speech by Santorum!

Rick Santorum for president

For what it’s worth, I hope Rick Santorum wins the Iowa caucus.  He is far and away the most principled conservative running and I really want him to be around when Texans finally get to vote.

 

Lie of the year

Politifact and others have awarded their “Lie of the Year” prize for 2011, and the competition is brutal.  Here’s my winner:

 

--Obama got Osama.

Of course we all know that Seal Team 6 got Osama bin Laden.  All Obama did was get out of the way and let the Seals do their job.

Come to think of it, if Obama would follow that policy in most other policy areas he might actually go down as a great president!

 

Thanksgiving

I frequently sat down to my meat with thankfulness, and admired the hand of God's providence, which had thus spread my table in the wilderness. I learned to look more upon the bright side of my condition, and less upon the dark side; and to consider what I enjoyed rather than what I wanted; and this gave me sometimes such secret comforts that I cannot express them; and which I take notice of here, to put those discontented people in mind of it who cannot enjoy comfortably what God has given them, because they see and covet something that he has not given them. All our discontents about what we want appeared to me to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have.

from Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe (pub.1719)

Most prolonged recession since WW2

Almost four years into the current recession this graphic really tells the story--a true testament to the leadership of the Democrats. (Click to enlarge)

Three and a half days...

GOP debate

The Republican debate tonight clarified a few things for me.  In reverse order of how well I think they did:

1. Rick Perry is toast.  Most of the answers he gave were petty and repetetive.  If he accomplished anything it was making Romney look strong. He’s a horrible debater and I sure don’t look forward to  him going up against Obama.
2. Michelle Bachman had some good moments, but not nearly enough. Her last response was directed at the “women of America”.  Sorry… I’ve had enough divisiveness from our current president.
3. Rick Santorum is trying way too hard.  I know he’s sincere, and I love the guy, but he’s just not ready for prime time.
4. Ron Paul I would mostly love except for his foreign policy stances—some of which I even agree with!  Why do we need so many troops in Germany and Korea?  But Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and his blame America for 9/11 just eliminate him from consideration.
5. Mitt Romney, as I said, was helped immensely by Perry.  His biggest weakness—RomneyCare—would be difficult for the Dems to attack, but that does him no credit. He was strong on the counterattack against Perry and is a solid candidate.
6. Herman Cain, cheerful and colorful (no pun intended), would make a very satisfying contrast to Obama.  His 9-9-9 plan is suspect but not a bad starting point for tax reform. He really needs to put more emphasis on his resume, and not just the pizza part!
7. John Huntsman didn’t show up for the debate because Nevada, Florida, and New Hampshire are forcing the primaries so early that my already useless Texas primary is even more useless.  Good for him.  Thanks, John. (Probably won’t help much, though.)
8. Newt Gingrich.  Three months ago, when he dissed the Ryan plan, Newt was on my spit list. Right now, though, I LOVE the way he refrains from directly attacking the other candidates.  His eye is on the real problem—Obama.  I know he’s a flawed candidate and he gives the Dims a lot of easy ammunition, but if Texas had a primary that mattered, right now (and this really surprises me) Newt would get my vote.  Watching Newt debate Obama would be a treat.

Like Romney said in the first debate—Any ONE of these people would be better than Obama. 

Even Ron Paul.

Johnny's Mother looked out the window and noticed him "playing church" with their cat.

He had the cat sitting quietly and he was preaching to it. She smiled and went about her work. A while later she heard loud meowing and hissing and ran back To the open window to see Johnny baptizing the cat in a tub of water.

She called out, " Johnny, stop that! The cat is afraid of water!"

Johnny looked up at her and said, "He should have thought about that before he joined my church."

Obama's shovel-ready record