#230 (6/12) - Can you say "Outrageous!"?

{NOTE: The following are several stories that I've not heard in the mainstream media but which should give pause to each of us. Are not Christians losing their religious liberties? Do our leaders really care whose money it is theyre spending? When will the mainstream media finally admit to their liberal bias? Just a few stories that should greatly concern us as much as outrage us.- Stan]
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Judge Bars Prayer From Vermont Town MeetingCBNNews.com Monday, June 04, 2012
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2012/June/Judge-Bars-Prayer-From-Vermont-Town-Meeting/

"A superior court judge has barred the town of Franklin, Vt., from holding a prayer at the start of its annual town meeting. Judge Martin Maley sided with a local woman who sued to block the prayer. Marilyn Hackett said that over the years she has repeatedly objected to the practice. She said the Christian prayer violates Vermont's constitution, which protects against forced [really?!!] participation in religious worship.The court will hold a hearing to determine the damages to be awarded to Hackett, who is seeking legal fees..."

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Court: Christian Photog Can’t Refuse Gay Ceremonies
CBNNews.com, June 06, 2012
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2012/June/Court-Photography-Studio-Cant-Refuse-Gay-Ceremonies/

"A Christian photography studio is guilty of discrimination because it refused to take pictures of a gay commitment ceremony, according to a New Mexico's Court of Appeals ruling. That decision against Elane Photography upholds a lower court ruling that said the photo studio is considered a public accommodation, similar to a restaurant or store.The case dates back to 2008 when New Mexico Human Rights Commission ruled the studio violated the state's Human Rights Act and discriminated against Vanessa Willock because of her sexual orientation."

"Elane Photography Studio argued that the decision is simply a reflection of the owners' religious and moral beliefs. "Christians in the marketplace should not be penalized for abiding by their beliefs anymore than anyone else should," Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence said in a statement after the original ruling by the commission."

'The government cannot make people choose between their faith and their livelihood,' he said.'Could the government force a vegetarian videographer to create a commercial for the new butcher shop in town? American business owners do not surrender their constitutional rights at the marketplace gate.'The Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing the studio, plans to appeal the latest court ruling."

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Biden Spends $1 Million Annually for Weekend Trips
- By Ronald Kessler, June 4 2012
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Biden-weekend-travel-Air-Force-Two/2012/06/04/id/441168?s=al&promo_code=F195-1

"Last June, President Obama appointed Vice President Joe Biden to root out wasteful government spending. But behind the scenes, it’s a different matter."

"Every Friday, Biden takes a helicopter designated as Marine Two from the vice president’s residence to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland and then hops on Air Force Two to fly back to his home in Delaware. At the end of the weekend, he returns on Air Force Two, usually a Boeing C-32."

"During warm weather, Biden regularly returns to Andrews on the airplane on Saturdays to play golf at the Air Force base with President Obama. After the golf game, he flies back to Delaware and returns to Washington on the plane on Sunday evening — all at taxpayer expense."

"The cost of flying Air Force Two is $22,000 an hour, so each half-hour trip to or from Delaware costs about $10,000. Each golf game costs taxpayers $20,000. At that rate, the annual cost to taxpayers of Biden’s weekend trips is well over $1 million. In addition, the Secret Service rents more than 20 condominiums in the Wilmington, Del. area for agents who must accompany Biden when he returns to his home state."

[bold and italics emphasis are mine]

[NOTE:Knowing the expense of these tax-payer funded PRIVATE trips, the next time you see a news report of the President taking such a trip, consider the incredible frequency of such trips and just think of what it is costing us to foot the bill! - Stan]
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Brinkley Book: Cronkite Had 'Liberal Bias'June 4, 2012 By Todd Beamon and John Bachman
http://www.newsmax.com/US/brinkley-cronkite-liberal/2012/06/04/id/441177?s=al&promo_code=F195-1

"Walter Cronkite, 'The Most Trusted Man in America,' had a liberal bias that tainted his news judgment most of his career, his biographer told Newsmax.TV in an exclusive interview. 'Cronkite tried to stay objective and was throughout the ’50s and early ’60s, but Vietnam turned it for him,” Rice University historian and “Cronkite” author Douglas Brinkley told Newsmax.TV.' That means he became a liberal more overtly – say, post Watergate.

'But he was a covert liberal in the ’60s, in the sense that: Here’s your half-a-hour news broadcast, he’d do straight headline news, but he would run the assignments – and many of the assignments were tilted in favor of what would have been the progressive agenda of the ’60s: civil rights, environment, women’s rights – and, eventually, gay rights, which Cronkite was a big promoter of.'

'So a lot of that ’60s energy that we deal with in social upheaval, Cronkite was dealing with in a very astute way,” Brinkley continued. “He wasn’t doing stories about the John Birch Society or the burgeoning conservative movement in quite the same way, so one could argue there was a liberal bias in Cronkite throughout the ’60s, but it becomes noticeable post-Watergate, or around the time of Watergate...'”

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