Wednesday, January 30, 2013

#427 (1/30) Brief Comments On Happenings In the News

 UPDATE AND CALL FOR  CONTINUED  PRAYER AND NEW ACTION, Jan. 28: After a short sham trial, Iran has convicted American Pastor Saeed Abedini – a U.S. citizen – and sentenced him to eight years in one of Iran's most brutal and deadly prisons – merely because he is a Christian.Iran has violated Pastor Saeed's human rights, violated its own constitution, and violated multiple international treaties and covenants that it voluntarily and willingly signed. At the ACLJ, we are mobilizing a domestic and international effort to pressure Iran to abide by its treaties and agreements. We are calling on the United Nations and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights to directly intervene and demand Pastor Saeed's release. More than 250,000 of you signed our petition to ask the Obama Administration to intervene, and the White House and State Department responded.  PLEASE CONTINUE PRAYING for him, his release and for his family AND  Sign this NEW petition to mobilize the international community. http://aclj.org/iran/save-american-pastor-from-iranian-prison-sentence

REMINDER: If you didn't get a chance to check out this week's broadcast of "The Spiritual State of the Union," please go to www.truthinactioin.org and watch the 10 minute video of the special feature they had on the program for this week. Excellent look at what this past election indicated for our nation on social issues and the challenge before the Church. Please also encouage you friends to check it out.- Stan

PLEASE CONSIDER:  I am participating in the annual fundraiser Walk for Lifeon Feb. 9 for a local pregnancy resource center that ministers to girls and women who might otherwise abort their baby. My goal is $213. If you can make a pledge of $10 or more, please go to http://www.razoo.com/story/Stan-M-YonashiroTHANK YOU for whatever you can pledge. (I'd especially appreciate your prayers that I (and all the walkers) will meet my goal.)

 "The Cliffhanger, Jan. 29," b John Hayward  http://www.humanevents.com/2013/01/29/the-cliffhanger-jan-29/ 

Ever since the language of the “fiscal cliff” was appropriated to describe the political battle over a tax increase, it’s become increasingly clear that every issue is a “cliff” now.  Here are today’s snapshots from the edge…

** Obama goes sightseeing at the immigration cliff: President Obama will blow a couple million taxpayer dollars flying out to Las Vegas for his big “comprehensive immigration reform” speech today, possibly to symbolize what a crap shoot the latest round of amnesty will be.  Also, he couldn’t fully enjoy his last trip to Sin City, because people kept bugging him about the Benghazi terrorist attack and his Administration’s inability to discuss it honestly.  The White House is emitting signals of friendly bipartisanship at the moment, which makes everyone familiar with the usual Obama modus operandi deeply suspicious.  An Administration official told Fox News that the Gang of Eight bipartisan agreement “is on a trajectory that mirrors Obama’s immigration plan almost exactly, and that the White House is willing to let the group take the lead.”

Sure they are… for as long as the result is internal Republican squabbling between today’s comprehensive reformers, and those who dwell upon how the last few comprehensive reforms worked out.  Once the image of saintly bipartisan cooperation is firmly established and the amnesty process is well under way, Obama’s “trajectory” (what a curious choice of words!) will suddenly and sharply diverge from the Republican reformers’, and the latter will be called evil for refusing to go along with whatever unacceptable giveaway Obama inserts in the heat of the next election cycle.  There’s no way Obama is going to let this end with Marco Rubio taking a bow before cheering throngs of “provisional” citizens, folks.

** Egyptian defense minister warns the state could collapse: Well, it could.  And given the importance of the Egyptian military as a source of political stability, it’s not good when the top army official talks like this.  Riots continue unabated despite dictator Mohammed Morsi’s declaration of a month-long state of emergency in several cities.  The military refuses to enforce the curfew Morsi imposed.  The increasingly rebellious city of Port Said has its own flag now.

** Sequestration is happening: “Chances are growing that the automatic, across-the-board spending cuts that no one thought would ever happen may soon take effect,” says CNN, nicely capturing the sense of bemused wonder spreading across Washington as it realizes spending might actually be cut.  This is a shock roughly on par with the feeling Dr. Alan Grant experienced when he looked up from his study of a curious plant at John Hammond’s new theme park, and noticed a brontosaurus standing over him.  Sure, it’s only a paltry $1.2 trillion over 10 years, but on the bright side CNN reports “the White House budget office has instructed federal agencies to plan to operate at lower funding levels,” which is something they should get used to.  The White House has been telling the private sector to operate at lower funding levels for years.

** Iran imprisons another Christian pastor, disappointing the Obama Administration: The Iranian theocracy doesn’t feel good about itself unless it has a Christian pastor or two tucked away in its dungeons.  This time it’s Saeed Abedini, sentenced to eight years in the hellish Evin “University” political prison for the crime of threatening Iran’s national security by not being a Muslim any more.  Also, he was threatening to build an orphanage, where the children probably would not have received the recommended daily allowance of beatings.  In accordance with the highest traditions of the Iranian justice system, Pastor Abedini and his lawyer were allowed to attend some of his trial.  Abedini is an American citizen who lives in Idaho, so you would think his imprisonment would outrage that great champion of religious liberty, President Barack Obama.  But Obama has been completely silent, while spokespeople for the National Security Council and State Department said they were “deeply disappointed” and “deeply concerned,” respectively. ...

** Hurricane pork passes Senate: Our long national nightmare of fiscal restraint is over, as the Senate voted 62-36 on Monday night to pass a $50 billion Hurricane Sandy relief bill, $17 billion of which arguably had something to do with relief for Hurricane Sandy.  The rest was a pork-barrel shopping list.  Touchingly, there was even money for the federal government’s favorite useless nostalgic money sink, Head Start.  ”It is not perfect, but it is a very sound bill.  Let’s not make the perfect the enemy of the good,” said Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), whose Party is never going to let common sense be the enemy of spending money.  Sure, this bill spends almost all of the money from President Obama’s tax hikes for the coming year, but fully a third of it will go toward the nominal purpose of the bill.  That’s close enough for government work.

[bold AND italicized phrases are MY emphasis]

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