FYI -1) There are just 20 days before the election; are you praying for it and our nation? (go to http://www.truthinaction.org/index.php/40-days-of-prayer/?src=TIA-10.2); 2) Try to either read the book (you can get it from your library) "Obama's America" or see the movie "2016" ( http://personalliberty.com/2012/09/21/the-movie-that-could-defeat-obama/). Beginning today, you can now rent it on DVD. I promise you, you will not understand our President's worldview until you do.; and 3) You might also try to get a copy of the book, "Divider-In-Chief"; you can also go to the follow site to read a lengthy excerpt from it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1621570118/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1621570118&linkCode=as2&tag=null07-20#reader_1621570118
As I See It: If you watched the debate last night as I did with a group of people, you watched a truly historic exchange. It was the first time a challnger to the Presidency on occasion after occasion directly confront the sitting President on his inaccurate claims and not just present his own rebuttal. It really was like watching a heavyweight boxing match, with both parties throwing punches and counterpunching. Admittedly, at times it was difficult to watch and when you know a clearly false statement was being made, I, personally heard myself groan and screamed in incredulity. Yes, the tone of the exchange may at times have not been what we felt comfortable with, but it was very instructive to watch the President repeatedly interrupting (so much like his Vice President last week), calling out "That's a lie,'' and calling out to the moderator. The moderator. As was feared beforehand by many , she (a reporter with CNN who had at one time before made a derogatory comment about Gov. Romney, something not reported by the mainstream media)
definitely let her sentiments with the President be shown a number of times in obvious ways. Further, her selection of audience members with such questions as inequality of women's pay (the disparity sited by the questioner clearly disutable and a question of little interest in this country) and how Gov. Romney differs from former President Bush clearly expressed her liberal bias. Those who say the President "won" the debate can really only point to the fact that he was a lot more forceful (to the point of being rude) than he was in the last debate, which was almost impossible for him not to do as lackluster as he was then. But for Gov. Romney to have done so well in countering the President's false claims without being rude (compared to the President) and with at times also having to battle the moderator's bias, I thnk the case can be clearly made that HE won the debate. - Stan -------------------------------------------------------------------- - by Amy Payne, October 17, 2012 http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/17/morning-bell-heritage-experts-analyze-second-presidential-debate/print/?roi=echo3-13471200285-10001054-e320d6cdb891f2b4202815a3932ce1c5&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
During last night’s debate between President Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney, Heritage’s policy experts were live-blogging their analysis of the ideas discussed. Below are some of the highlights of our experts’ reactions to the major points made.
“Getting Tough on China”: The Truth About Trade
President Obama said during the debate that he signed three trade deals. Not true. Obama was left three free trade agreements on his desk when he took office. Those deals and many others were initiated, negotiated, and signed by President Bush. The one trade agreement that Obama has prioritized, the Transpacific Partnership (TPP) involving now 11 countries, was also initiated by President George W. Bush.
What Obama did was to delay passage of agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama that were already completed. He did so to appease labor unions and others in his political base. During the three years of waiting for the President to submit the U.S.-Korea FTA [3], the U.S. lost $30 billion in exports.
The United States needs an energetic, committed trade policy. We need a TPP that is truly a free trade agreement and of sufficient scale to make a major impact on the U.S. economy. That means accommodating the world’s third largest economy and U.S. ally, Japan. In means folding in other willing free trade partners like South Korea. And it means putting TPP [4] on a timeline that gets it completed, passed and implemented as quickly as possible.
“Getting tough on China [5],” something both candidates claimed to aspire to, is good—as long as what is meant by that is ensuring China abides by its international trade commitments. But this is not enough—it is not a trade policy. The U.S. needs to create opportunity with trade, not just manage bad behavior.
– Walter Lohman
Chinese Currency Manipulation and U.S. Employment
Governor Romney suggested that China’s currency manipulation was related to business activity and job creation in the U.S. However, as Heritage’s Derek Scissors showed [6], there is in fact little to no relationship between China’s currency policy and U.S. employment: "[T]he exchange rate between the yuan and the dollar has no direct effect on American prosperity or American jobs. It never has. Seventeen years ago, China sharply devalued the yuan against the dollar. Yet American unemployment fell for years afterward. Since 2005, the PRC has been slowly raising the value of its currency, which is what protectionists say they want. And American unemployment has soared.''
There are, however, other policies [7] the U.S. President and Congress should pursue to return America to a place where businesses want to invest and hire workers. These include pro-growth tax reform, reducing undue regulatory burdens on the economy, and enabling energy exploration and production. – Romina Boccia
Did Someone Say Libya?
The issue was raised in the debate: What did the Administration do about security before the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, and how did it respond afterward? It was the question that the President never clearly and explicitly responded to. When it comes to how the White House responded to the attack, the Administration has a lot of explaining to do. Its series of explanations [8] was muddled and misleading.
When it comes to responding to the attack, Americans of course expect that our government will go after [9] the perpetrators. The questions of how our government responded to the terrorist threat in Libya, however, still has to be answered. – James Jay Carafano
Are Oil Companies Sitting on Leases?
Are oil companies sitting on leases? The short answer is no. President Obama made this statement tonight, and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar routinely makes this statement. But as Kathleen Sgamma, Vice President of Government and Public Affairs for the Western Energy Alliance, recently testified:
"By looking at the statistics over time, it is evident that industry has become much more efficient over the last several decades. While we used to hold 80,000 leases and produce on 24% in 1988, we now hold just 49,000 leases and produce on 46%. Secretary Salazar’s statements that this shows industry is intentionally leaving leases idle is tired rhetoric that fails to take into account the huge obstacles the federal government places in the way of oil and natural gas producers, and the fact that not every lease has recoverable oil and gas."
Just because oil companies aren’t drilling, this does not mean that no activity is occurring on that land. Environmental review, permitting, seismic research, and exploration may be occurring. But even that fails to address the real problem: The environmental review and leasing process takes entirely too long. Rather than implementing an efficient leasing process, the Department of the Interior added three unnecessary and duplicative administrative regulations to the leasing process in 2010. Oil companies are not sitting on leases; they are simply not being issued by the DOI, or the DOI is making it more difficult to actually obtain the leases. – Nicolas Loris
Energy Production on Federal Lands Has Fallen
While President Obama made the familiar statement that oil and gas production is the highest it has been in eight years, Governor Romney was right to point out that this was driven by production on private and state lands. Oil and gas production on federal lands is, in fact, down [10].
According to a recent report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), energy production decreased 13 percent on federal lands in fiscal year (FY) 2011 when compared to FY 2010. The official moratorium and de facto moratorium as a result of a molasses-like permitting process reduced planned capital and operating investments by $18.3 billion and cost the Gulf more than 162,000 jobs in just the past two years. Federal production in the West has experienced a similar fate: The Administration’s delays on permitting oil and gas projects public lands are preventing economic activity. In Utah and Wyoming, for instance, projects held up by the National Environmental Policy Act process are preventing the creation of 64,805 jobs, $4.3 billion in wages, and $14.9 billion in economic impact every year.
– Nicolas Loris
Immigration: Finally, Debate Touches the Third Rail
For the first time in two debates, the issue of fixing our broken borders and flawed immigration system was finally addressed by the two sides that want to occupy the White House. They offered two very different approaches and a distinct choice. One approach [President Obama's] is to change the laws to accommodate the unlawful population that is already here—an approach that will not only not fix the problem, it will just make America a magnet for more problems. The other approach [Gov. Romney's] is to make the laws work and create a legal system that gets employers the employees they need when they need them to grow the economy and create more jobs. There are good answers to address these tough problems [11]. What we need in Washington is leadership that is willing to do the job. – James Jay Carafano
Tax Plan Details: No Taxes on Savings
Governor Romney, when giving more details on his tax plan tonight, discussed that families making $200,000 or less would face no taxes on savings. The Heritage Foundation’s New Flat Tax [12] would deduct savings immediately from taxable personal income, and savings would remain tax exempt until spent on consumption. This would lead to greater financial security for the American middle class by providing incentives for greater personal savings. The New Flat Tax, as outlined in Heritage’s Saving the American Dream [13] plan, would replace today’s convoluted tax system with a simple, neutral, and transparent tax system that would allow America to achieve its full economic potential. – Romina Boccia
The Auto Bailout and Bankruptcy
President Obama once more criticized Governor Romney for saying GM should go bankrupt. But Romney tonight finally cleared the record, pointing out that that is exactly what happened – GM and Chrysler DID go bankrupt [14]. But, as Obama confirmed, the administration didn’t stop there – it nationalized the firms. Taxpayers are still some $25 billion in the hole and still own a quarter of the shares of GM. Bankruptcy was the right solution; a bailout was not. – James Gattuso
For more analysis of the debate, video, a slideshow of photos, and a word cloud of Obama’s and Romney’s answers, visit our Debate 2012 page [15].
Quick Hits:
•President Obama had more than three extra minutes [16] of speaking time last night compared to Governor Romney.
•The number of people on food stamps [17] continues to top record highs.
•Russia has been helping Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, who has presided over the massacre of Syrians. At noon ET today, Heritage will host a discussion of what the U.S. should do about the Russia-Syria relationship. Watch online here [19].
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Article printed from The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation: http://blog.heritage.org; URL to article: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/17/morning-bell-heritage-experts-analyze-second-presidential-debate/
URLs in this post:
[1] Image: http://blog.heritage.org/wp-content/uploads/upiphotostwo195930.jpg
[2] watch the hangout on our Google+ page: https://plus.google.com/118022981077651876567/posts
[3] U.S.-Korea FTA: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/10/the-us-korea-trade-deals-time-has-finally-come
[4] TPP: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/11/follow-through-on-obamas-successful-asia-swing-critical
[5] China: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/10/the-facts-about-chinas-currency-chinese-subsidies-and-american-jobs
[6] Heritage’s Derek Scissors showed: http://blog.heritage.org/2011/06/27/chinese-currency-manipulation-lies-and-statistics/
[7] other policies: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/01/governments-proper-role-in-creating-jobs-top-five-actions-to-take
[8] series of explanations: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/08/an-incriminating-timeline-the-obama-administration-and-libya/
[9] go after: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/16/libya-and-the-obama-administration-to-strike-or-not-to-strike/
[10] down: http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2012/09/24/u-s-oil-production-up-but-on-whose-lands-2/
[11] address these tough problems: http://www.heritage.org/issues/immigration
[12] Heritage Foundation’s New Flat Tax: http://www.heritage.org/research/factsheets/2012/01/the-new-flat-tax-encourages-growth-and-job-creation
[13] Saving the American Dream: http://www.savingthedream.org/
[14] GM and Chrysler DID go bankrupt: http://www.heritage.org/research/factsheets/2012/09/the-auto-bailout-it-is-not-something-to-celebrate
[15] Debate 2012 page: http://blog.heritage.org/debate-2012/
[16] more than three extra minutes: http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/10/obama-gots-more-time-138699.html
[17] people on food stamps: http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/record-high-enrollment-food-stamps-46681833-million_654653.html
[19] Watch online here: http://www.heritage.org/events/2012/10/russia-helps-assad
Copyright © 2011 The Heritage Foundation. All rights reserved.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
#350 (10/16) - "Despite Arms Reduction Treaty, Russia Is Increasing Its Nuclear Capability"; 2nd Presidential Debate TONIGHT
FYI -1) There are just 21 days before the election; are you praying for it and our nation? (go to http://www.truthinaction.org/index.php/40-days-of-prayer/?src=TIA-10.2); 2) Be sure YOU are REGISTERED to VOTE; 3) Try to either read the book (you can get it from your library)"Obama's America" or see the movie "2016"( http://personalliberty.com/2012/09/21/the-movie-that-could-defeat-obama/). Beginning today, you can now rent it on DVD. I promise you, you will not understand our President's worldview until you do.; and 4) You might also try to get a copy of the book, "Divider-In-Chief"; you can also go to the follow site to read a lengthy excerpt from it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1621570118/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1621570118&linkCode=as2&tag=null07-20#reader_1621570118
PRAYER REQUESTS for TONIGHT'S 2nd Presidential Debate - from "The Presidential Prayer Team" (not affiliated with the Obama administration):
a) That it will focus on issues and not personal attacks. That a "more aggressive" tone won't translate into a distraction from the key issues facing voters.
b) That voters will look beyond the sound bites and political ads to where the candidates stand on important issues such as the economy, jobs, taxes, national security, terrorism and social issues.
c) That God’s hand will be upon the November 6 election to keep it honest and free of fraud. That safeguards will be put in place now to protect the integrity of the vote.
----------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: As we note the 50 anniversary this week of the Cuban missle crisis, it is instructive that the United States finds itself with a nuclear arms disparity with Russia, thanks in part to ill-advised efforts by the Obama administration. After the article below, you will find excerpts from another article addressing lessons we should have learned from 50 years ago. - Stan
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- by Michaela Bendikova, October 10, 2012 http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/10/despite-arms-reduction-treaty-russia-is-increasing-its-nuclear-capability/
About a year and a half ago, the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) entered into force. The Obama Administration ensured the American people and the Senate that the treaty would contribute to strategic stability between the United States and the Russian Federation. The treaty was touted as a crown jewel of the Administration’s “reset” policy, but yet another State Department data declaration confirms that the treaty is hopelessly biased in the Kremlin’s favor and that the “reset” policy is in shambles.
The treaty, in fact, undermines strategic stability. The State Department’s data show that Russia lowered the number of its intercontinental-range ballistic missiles (ICBM), submarine-launched ballistic missiles—or bombers—by three (compared to the March 1, 2012, data declaration).
At the same time, the country increased the number of its accountable warheads by seven (if the March 1, 2012, data declaration is taken as a baseline of comparison). This means that the Russians are putting more nuclear warheads, or Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicles (MIRVs), on each of their delivery vehicles. The process is also known as MIRVing and has been considered destabilizing for decades because it is said to incentivize the other side to strike first.
The Obama Administration recognized this in its 2010 Nuclear Posture Review and ordered all U.S. ICBMs be deployed with one nuclear warhead to “enhance the stability of the nuclear balance by reducing the incentives for either side to strike first.” The Administration, however, did nothing to negotiate a ban on MIRVing in New START, and the Russians are taking the advantage of this loophole. Currently, Moscow out-MIRVs the U.S. by one per each accountable deployed delivery system.
To exacerbate the disparity, the U.S. is the only state with nuclear weapons without a substantive nuclear weapons modernization program. Since New START entered into force, the Russians have announced the most massive nuclear weapons build-up since the end of the Cold War. Over time, if the U.S. does not change its policy or Russia adopts a fundamentally different strategic posture, Washington policymakers will be left with a qualitative and quantitative disadvantage vis-à-vis Moscow and potentially other nuclear-armed states.
President Obama touted New START as an essential step on the road toward a world free of nuclear weapons—U.S. nuclear weapons, that is, because the assumption that if the U.S. unilaterally disarms, others will follow, is just not true. Historically, South Africa gave up its nuclear weapons while the U.S. built up and tested its nuclear weapons. North Korea and Pakistan emerged as new nuclear weapons players, while the U.S. reduced its nuclear weapons and stopped testing them.
Countries base their nuclear weapons programs on their respective perceptions of threats, not on steps taken by the United States. In a world with many nuclear-armed players, it is important that the U.S. adopts a “protect and defend” strategic posture comprising offensive and defensive systems. Such a posture would allow the military to defend the American people, territories, institutions, and infrastructure from actors who mean the country and its allies harm.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"50 Years Later: What the Cuban Missile Crisis Teaches Us About Nuclear Policy," - Michaela Bendikova and Baker Spring, October 15, 2012; http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/15/50-years-later-what-the-cuban-missile-crisis-teaches-us-about-nuclear-policy/
'Fifty years ago, the world came to the brink of nuclear war. On October 14, 1962, U.S. policymakers learned that the Soviet Union was building missile bases in Cuba, which would have allowed Moscow to attack anywhere in the continental United States within minutes. An international crisis followed, and while the crisis did not end in a nuclear exchange, it is important that U.S. policymakers never forget lessons the crisis taught us. The most important one is that it is very difficult to manage allies once they are nuclear-armed..."
"...Indeed, findings in The Heritage Foundation’s 2010 report on the arms race and arms control dynamic following the spread of nuclear weapons show difficulties involved in managing allied desire to obtain their own nuclear capabilities, especially absent strong U.S. nuclear security assurances and guarantees. The exercise on which the report is based showed that the Obama Administration’s policies for nuclear arms control, disarmament, and limited defensive capabilities are inadvertently serving to undermine the NATO security umbrella and increase the appetite for nuclear weapons in allied countries. It has been two years since the report was published, and 54 percent of Turkish survey respondents say they favor Turkey developing its own nuclear weapons in response to an Iranian nuclear threat."
"...To hedge against both dangers, the U.S. should provide credible assurance to its allies that rely on U.S. nuclear umbrella. The U.S. should also adopt a “protect and defend” strategic posture, which entails fielding missile defenses, adopting other defensive measures, and maintaining strong conventional forces and a modernized, credible nuclear deterrent."
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
PRAYER REQUESTS for TONIGHT'S 2nd Presidential Debate - from "The Presidential Prayer Team" (not affiliated with the Obama administration):
a) That it will focus on issues and not personal attacks. That a "more aggressive" tone won't translate into a distraction from the key issues facing voters.
b) That voters will look beyond the sound bites and political ads to where the candidates stand on important issues such as the economy, jobs, taxes, national security, terrorism and social issues.
c) That God’s hand will be upon the November 6 election to keep it honest and free of fraud. That safeguards will be put in place now to protect the integrity of the vote.
----------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: As we note the 50 anniversary this week of the Cuban missle crisis, it is instructive that the United States finds itself with a nuclear arms disparity with Russia, thanks in part to ill-advised efforts by the Obama administration. After the article below, you will find excerpts from another article addressing lessons we should have learned from 50 years ago. - Stan
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- by Michaela Bendikova, October 10, 2012 http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/10/despite-arms-reduction-treaty-russia-is-increasing-its-nuclear-capability/
About a year and a half ago, the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) entered into force. The Obama Administration ensured the American people and the Senate that the treaty would contribute to strategic stability between the United States and the Russian Federation. The treaty was touted as a crown jewel of the Administration’s “reset” policy, but yet another State Department data declaration confirms that the treaty is hopelessly biased in the Kremlin’s favor and that the “reset” policy is in shambles.
The treaty, in fact, undermines strategic stability. The State Department’s data show that Russia lowered the number of its intercontinental-range ballistic missiles (ICBM), submarine-launched ballistic missiles—or bombers—by three (compared to the March 1, 2012, data declaration).
At the same time, the country increased the number of its accountable warheads by seven (if the March 1, 2012, data declaration is taken as a baseline of comparison). This means that the Russians are putting more nuclear warheads, or Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicles (MIRVs), on each of their delivery vehicles. The process is also known as MIRVing and has been considered destabilizing for decades because it is said to incentivize the other side to strike first.
The Obama Administration recognized this in its 2010 Nuclear Posture Review and ordered all U.S. ICBMs be deployed with one nuclear warhead to “enhance the stability of the nuclear balance by reducing the incentives for either side to strike first.” The Administration, however, did nothing to negotiate a ban on MIRVing in New START, and the Russians are taking the advantage of this loophole. Currently, Moscow out-MIRVs the U.S. by one per each accountable deployed delivery system.
To exacerbate the disparity, the U.S. is the only state with nuclear weapons without a substantive nuclear weapons modernization program. Since New START entered into force, the Russians have announced the most massive nuclear weapons build-up since the end of the Cold War. Over time, if the U.S. does not change its policy or Russia adopts a fundamentally different strategic posture, Washington policymakers will be left with a qualitative and quantitative disadvantage vis-à-vis Moscow and potentially other nuclear-armed states.
President Obama touted New START as an essential step on the road toward a world free of nuclear weapons—U.S. nuclear weapons, that is, because the assumption that if the U.S. unilaterally disarms, others will follow, is just not true. Historically, South Africa gave up its nuclear weapons while the U.S. built up and tested its nuclear weapons. North Korea and Pakistan emerged as new nuclear weapons players, while the U.S. reduced its nuclear weapons and stopped testing them.
Countries base their nuclear weapons programs on their respective perceptions of threats, not on steps taken by the United States. In a world with many nuclear-armed players, it is important that the U.S. adopts a “protect and defend” strategic posture comprising offensive and defensive systems. Such a posture would allow the military to defend the American people, territories, institutions, and infrastructure from actors who mean the country and its allies harm.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"50 Years Later: What the Cuban Missile Crisis Teaches Us About Nuclear Policy," - Michaela Bendikova and Baker Spring, October 15, 2012; http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/15/50-years-later-what-the-cuban-missile-crisis-teaches-us-about-nuclear-policy/
'Fifty years ago, the world came to the brink of nuclear war. On October 14, 1962, U.S. policymakers learned that the Soviet Union was building missile bases in Cuba, which would have allowed Moscow to attack anywhere in the continental United States within minutes. An international crisis followed, and while the crisis did not end in a nuclear exchange, it is important that U.S. policymakers never forget lessons the crisis taught us. The most important one is that it is very difficult to manage allies once they are nuclear-armed..."
"...Indeed, findings in The Heritage Foundation’s 2010 report on the arms race and arms control dynamic following the spread of nuclear weapons show difficulties involved in managing allied desire to obtain their own nuclear capabilities, especially absent strong U.S. nuclear security assurances and guarantees. The exercise on which the report is based showed that the Obama Administration’s policies for nuclear arms control, disarmament, and limited defensive capabilities are inadvertently serving to undermine the NATO security umbrella and increase the appetite for nuclear weapons in allied countries. It has been two years since the report was published, and 54 percent of Turkish survey respondents say they favor Turkey developing its own nuclear weapons in response to an Iranian nuclear threat."
"...To hedge against both dangers, the U.S. should provide credible assurance to its allies that rely on U.S. nuclear umbrella. The U.S. should also adopt a “protect and defend” strategic posture, which entails fielding missile defenses, adopting other defensive measures, and maintaining strong conventional forces and a modernized, credible nuclear deterrent."
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
Monday, October 15, 2012
#349 (10/15) - "Religious Freedom Restrictions on the Rise—Even in the U.S."
FYI -1) There are just 22 days before the election; are you praying for it and our nation? (go to http://www.truthinaction.org/index.php/40-days-of-prayer/?src=TIA-10.2); 2) Be sure YOU are REGISTERED to VOTE; 3) Try to either read the book (you can get it from your library)"Obama's America" or see the movie "2016"( http://personalliberty.com/2012/09/21/the-movie-that-could-defeat-obama/) I promise you, you will not understand our President's worldview until you do.; and 4) You might also try to get a copy of the book, "Divider-In-Chief"; you can also go to the follow site to read a lengthy excerpt from it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1621570118/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1621570118&linkCode=as2&tag=null07-20#reader_1621570118
PRAYER REQUEST: For the next Presidential Debate, 10/16, that : a) it will clearly reveal the policies each candidate will pursue; b) that Americans will discern the truth of that from what they've been told by political ads and media spin; and c) that the moderator will not pursue any biased agenda in the questions he asks either candidate.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Related News Item: ''Firefighter Terminated for Sending Christian Messages on Department Email'', Friday, October 12, 2012
Washington state firefighter has been fired after 17 years on the job because he sent emails with religious content from his department account. Capt. Jon Sprague, who started the Spokane County Christian Firefighter Fellowship two years ago, received his official letter of termination on Wednesday from the Spokane Valley Fire Department. Sprague said he was merely using the most efficient way to communicate with members of his fellowship and caused no harm. It’s not like I can just walk next door and talk to another employee about some of these things," Sprague said. "We have 10 fire stations and three different shifts. The only real way is to communicate is that way." The emails, Sprague said, were sent only to the 46 members of his fellowship and no complaints had been received.
• Please pray for Captain Sprague who has been charged with insubordination by violating a direct rule in sharing news with the Firefighters Fellowship, and for the other members of his group.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
(article below by Thomas Bell, October 10, 2012 http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/10/religious-freedom-restrictions-on-the-rise-even-in-the-u-s/)
The Pew Forum recently released a noteworthy report demonstrating that religious restrictions worldwide are on the rise.
Pew found that between mid-2009 and mid-2010, religious restrictions increased in every major region of the world. Because of this increase, in 2010, 75 percent of people worldwide lived in countries that have either high government restrictions on religion or high social hostilities toward religion, up from 70 percent for the year ending in mid-2009.
Pew reports that 66 percent of countries experienced some increase in government-endorsed restrictions on religious practice, and 10 new countries were added to the list of places with high levels of these restrictions. Among those countries with high government restrictions are Syria, Iran, and Egypt—all of which have made international headlines this year for oppressive policies and actions toward religious minorities.
The negative trends in religious liberty worldwide present an opportunity for the United States, which prides itself on its constitutionally protected freedom of religion, to advance religious liberty. Heritage scholar Jennifer Marshall wrote in a 2009 report that religious liberty “is an American success story that should be told around the world.… One of the major reasons for the success of the American experiment is that it balanced citizens’ dual allegiances to God and earthly authorities without forcing believers to abandon (or moderate) their primary loyalty to God.” However, Marshall explained, this aspect of the American order is often misunderstood, a notion confirmed in the Pew report.
Pew found that on both of the study’s measures of religious freedom—government restrictions and social hostilities—the U.S. moved up more than one point on a 10-point scale. The result: The U.S. is now classified as having a moderate level of government restrictions on religion (2.7, up from 1.6) and is now at the high end of moderate hostility toward religion (3.4, up from 2.0).
This is especially concerning given that Pew’s report chronicles the status of religious liberty in the U.S. two years ago, which means that it does not include some of the most recent high-profile conflicts, such as the Obama Administration’s anti-conscience mandate and the Chick-fil-A controversy this past summer.
[For more examples of religious discrimination against Christians in the U.S., see excerpts from Thomas Messner’s article below.]
While Americans certainly do not face the same kinds of persecutions for faith that millions of others around the world do, we can hardly advance a model of religious liberty if we either misunderstand or half-heartedly embrace religious liberty at home. Marshall wrote in 2010, “Condemning and curtailing religious persecution is a critical goal, but religious freedom includes much more. Our vision of religious liberty must be robust.”
Given the negative trend in Pew’s findings, perhaps we’d better have this conversation sooner rather than later.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
- Thomas Bell is currently a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation. For more information on interning at Heritage, please visit http://www.heritage.org/about/departments/ylp.cfm.
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"Chick-fil-A Latest Example of How Same-Sex Marriage Threatens Religious Freedom",
by Thomas Messner, July 30, 2012; http://blog.heritage.org/2012/07/30/chick-fil-a-latest-example-of-how-same-sex-marriage-threatens-religious-freedom/
"Same-sex marriage combined with nondiscrimination policies will result in significant discrimination against individuals and institutions that hold to the belief that marriage is—and should be defined in law as—the union of one man and one woman." ... "However it turns out, though, the Chick-fil-A situation certainly adds to the growing list of cases illustrating how individuals and institutions that continue to support marriage as one man and one woman will likely face a variety of significant burdens:
•A Christian photographer in New Mexico who refused to photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony was hauled before a human rights tribunal and forced to pay nearly $6,700 in attorneys’ fees to the complainant;
•Christian charities have been forced to stop providing foster care and adoption services because they cannot in good conscience comply with laws that would require them to violate beliefs about marriage and family;
•Boy Scouts of America has lost equal access to public facilities and programs because of its position on open homosexuality;
•A graduate student claims that she was expelled from a public university counseling program after she conscientiously objected to counseling a potential client seeking assistance regarding a homosexual relationship; and
•A Christian organization at a public university was denied official recognition because it required officers and voting members to adhere to traditional Christian teachings, including a prohibition on extramarital sex.
This is not “live and let live.” This is the state—and sometimes private citizens and the culture at large—punishing people who refuse to recant their belief that marriage is the union of a husband and wife. This kind of thing happens because proponents of same-sex marriage declare support for marriage as one man and one woman to be a form of irrational prejudice and bigotry similar to racism. In this view, support for marriage as one man and one woman is the kind of belief that should be purged from public life through legal, cultural, and economic pressure..."
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
PRAYER REQUEST: For the next Presidential Debate, 10/16, that : a) it will clearly reveal the policies each candidate will pursue; b) that Americans will discern the truth of that from what they've been told by political ads and media spin; and c) that the moderator will not pursue any biased agenda in the questions he asks either candidate.
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Related News Item: ''Firefighter Terminated for Sending Christian Messages on Department Email'', Friday, October 12, 2012
Washington state firefighter has been fired after 17 years on the job because he sent emails with religious content from his department account. Capt. Jon Sprague, who started the Spokane County Christian Firefighter Fellowship two years ago, received his official letter of termination on Wednesday from the Spokane Valley Fire Department. Sprague said he was merely using the most efficient way to communicate with members of his fellowship and caused no harm. It’s not like I can just walk next door and talk to another employee about some of these things," Sprague said. "We have 10 fire stations and three different shifts. The only real way is to communicate is that way." The emails, Sprague said, were sent only to the 46 members of his fellowship and no complaints had been received.
• Please pray for Captain Sprague who has been charged with insubordination by violating a direct rule in sharing news with the Firefighters Fellowship, and for the other members of his group.
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(article below by Thomas Bell, October 10, 2012 http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/10/religious-freedom-restrictions-on-the-rise-even-in-the-u-s/)
The Pew Forum recently released a noteworthy report demonstrating that religious restrictions worldwide are on the rise.
Pew found that between mid-2009 and mid-2010, religious restrictions increased in every major region of the world. Because of this increase, in 2010, 75 percent of people worldwide lived in countries that have either high government restrictions on religion or high social hostilities toward religion, up from 70 percent for the year ending in mid-2009.
Pew reports that 66 percent of countries experienced some increase in government-endorsed restrictions on religious practice, and 10 new countries were added to the list of places with high levels of these restrictions. Among those countries with high government restrictions are Syria, Iran, and Egypt—all of which have made international headlines this year for oppressive policies and actions toward religious minorities.
The negative trends in religious liberty worldwide present an opportunity for the United States, which prides itself on its constitutionally protected freedom of religion, to advance religious liberty. Heritage scholar Jennifer Marshall wrote in a 2009 report that religious liberty “is an American success story that should be told around the world.… One of the major reasons for the success of the American experiment is that it balanced citizens’ dual allegiances to God and earthly authorities without forcing believers to abandon (or moderate) their primary loyalty to God.” However, Marshall explained, this aspect of the American order is often misunderstood, a notion confirmed in the Pew report.
Pew found that on both of the study’s measures of religious freedom—government restrictions and social hostilities—the U.S. moved up more than one point on a 10-point scale. The result: The U.S. is now classified as having a moderate level of government restrictions on religion (2.7, up from 1.6) and is now at the high end of moderate hostility toward religion (3.4, up from 2.0).
This is especially concerning given that Pew’s report chronicles the status of religious liberty in the U.S. two years ago, which means that it does not include some of the most recent high-profile conflicts, such as the Obama Administration’s anti-conscience mandate and the Chick-fil-A controversy this past summer.
[For more examples of religious discrimination against Christians in the U.S., see excerpts from Thomas Messner’s article below.]
While Americans certainly do not face the same kinds of persecutions for faith that millions of others around the world do, we can hardly advance a model of religious liberty if we either misunderstand or half-heartedly embrace religious liberty at home. Marshall wrote in 2010, “Condemning and curtailing religious persecution is a critical goal, but religious freedom includes much more. Our vision of religious liberty must be robust.”
Given the negative trend in Pew’s findings, perhaps we’d better have this conversation sooner rather than later.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
- Thomas Bell is currently a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation. For more information on interning at Heritage, please visit http://www.heritage.org/about/departments/ylp.cfm.
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"Chick-fil-A Latest Example of How Same-Sex Marriage Threatens Religious Freedom",
by Thomas Messner, July 30, 2012; http://blog.heritage.org/2012/07/30/chick-fil-a-latest-example-of-how-same-sex-marriage-threatens-religious-freedom/
"Same-sex marriage combined with nondiscrimination policies will result in significant discrimination against individuals and institutions that hold to the belief that marriage is—and should be defined in law as—the union of one man and one woman." ... "However it turns out, though, the Chick-fil-A situation certainly adds to the growing list of cases illustrating how individuals and institutions that continue to support marriage as one man and one woman will likely face a variety of significant burdens:
•A Christian photographer in New Mexico who refused to photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony was hauled before a human rights tribunal and forced to pay nearly $6,700 in attorneys’ fees to the complainant;
•Christian charities have been forced to stop providing foster care and adoption services because they cannot in good conscience comply with laws that would require them to violate beliefs about marriage and family;
•Boy Scouts of America has lost equal access to public facilities and programs because of its position on open homosexuality;
•A graduate student claims that she was expelled from a public university counseling program after she conscientiously objected to counseling a potential client seeking assistance regarding a homosexual relationship; and
•A Christian organization at a public university was denied official recognition because it required officers and voting members to adhere to traditional Christian teachings, including a prohibition on extramarital sex.
This is not “live and let live.” This is the state—and sometimes private citizens and the culture at large—punishing people who refuse to recant their belief that marriage is the union of a husband and wife. This kind of thing happens because proponents of same-sex marriage declare support for marriage as one man and one woman to be a form of irrational prejudice and bigotry similar to racism. In this view, support for marriage as one man and one woman is the kind of belief that should be purged from public life through legal, cultural, and economic pressure..."
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
Sunday, October 14, 2012
#348 (10/14) - Sunday Special > "For Such A Time As This"; 23 Days Until the Election
FYI - 1) Be sure to check out this week's broadcast of "Truth That Transforms" (Orlando - Sundays, 9 and 10 am, 5 pm; Monday, 7 pm; over-the-air channel/or go to www.truthinaction.org) The message is entitled "The Bible and Constitution" and an interview with a former ACLU activist.
2) There are only 22 days until the election; are you praying for it and oure nation?; 3) Before the election, try to either read the book (you can get it from your library) "Obama's America" or see the movie "2016." I promise you, you will not understand our President's worldview until you do; and 4) You might also try to get a copy of the book, "Divider-In-Chief"; go to the following site to read a lengthy preview of it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1621570118/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1621570118&linkCode=as2&tag=null07-20#reader_1621570118
PRAYER REQUEST: 1) For the Pakistani girl, Malala, who was shot by the Talilban the other day for speaking out for education for girls and iis now in serious condition (see story at post #346); and 2) For the next Presidential Debate, 10/16, that : a) it will clearly reveal the policies each candidate will pursue; b) that Americans will discern the truth of that from what they've been told by political ads and media spin; and c) that the moderator will not pursue any biased agenda in the questions he asks either candidate
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by D. James Kennedy, Truth In Action Ministries http://www.truthimpact.me/index.php/2012/10/born-again/
2) There are only 22 days until the election; are you praying for it and oure nation?; 3) Before the election, try to either read the book (you can get it from your library) "Obama's America" or see the movie "2016." I promise you, you will not understand our President's worldview until you do; and 4) You might also try to get a copy of the book, "Divider-In-Chief"; go to the following site to read a lengthy preview of it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1621570118/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1621570118&linkCode=as2&tag=null07-20#reader_1621570118
PRAYER REQUEST: 1) For the Pakistani girl, Malala, who was shot by the Talilban the other day for speaking out for education for girls and iis now in serious condition (see story at post #346); and 2) For the next Presidential Debate, 10/16, that : a) it will clearly reveal the policies each candidate will pursue; b) that Americans will discern the truth of that from what they've been told by political ads and media spin; and c) that the moderator will not pursue any biased agenda in the questions he asks either candidate
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by D. James Kennedy, Truth In Action Ministries http://www.truthimpact.me/index.php/2012/10/born-again/
Do you ever ask yourself why you were born? Well, an even more important question is this: Why were you born again? The Old Testament story of Esther provides a good illustration:
“Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4: 13, 14
Point number one: “For if you remain silent at this time .”
Why is it that on so many sides we are losing the cultural war? It’s because of what they say and do, and what we don’t say and do. By our silence, we are the ones who, by default, have brought upon our land a flood of unbelief and wickedness.
If Esther had held her peace, the result would have been what? That all of the Jews would have been killed? No. “… Relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place … .” God is sovereign. God’s purposes will be done—and if not by us, then by others.
Now, there are some who will say, “Oh, well, that’s good. I can sit back and forget about it. Well, before you vote yourself out of the game, let me continue—“… but you and your father’s house will perish.”
Let me make one thing clear: Every sin we commit will inevitably involve our suffering loss. You say, “Wait a minute. Jesus died for my sins, so now I can just do whatever I want, and not do whatever I don’t want to do. Isn’t that right?” No. First Corinthians 3 tells us that because we have not served Christ as we should, what we have done will be burnt up, and we shall suffer the loss of those rewards which God would be pleased to give to us if we had been faithful to Him.
Lastly, every opportunity in this life must be perceived as a call from God. What a great statement this is: “Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Today we are in the midst of a great cultural, spiritual war in which the forces of darkness are attempting to overwhelm the forces of light and virtue, and whoever is most active and vigilant will be the victor in that battle. So, how about you? Are you serving in these dark times?
I am optimistic that God is going to do something wonderful in the next several decades in this country. But I don’t know that for sure. I believe it is very possible that if American Christians will wake up, get out of the bleachers and down on the playing field, and get involved, then we can turn this country around. But I don’t know the secret purposes of God, and it may be that 20 years from now we can look back and see that because Christians continued in the same kind of apathy they have existed in for decades, the situation in America got worse. As Mrs. Billy Graham said, “Unless America repents, if God does not chasten this country severely, God will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”
The sin of doing nothing at all—that is the great sin of the Christian Church. “… Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Think about it, and do something!
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
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ACTION POINTS: One of the most significant ways we can DO SOMETHING is to vote in next month's elections. I should not need to remind you that the upcoming elections next month may REALLY be the most important in our lifetime and possibly for generations to come.
1) If its not too late where you are, if you are unregistered to vote, REGISTER at: http://www.cbn.com/special/register-to-vote/ (Only about 50% of Christians were registered in past elections.)
2) EDUCATE YOURSELF on the issues, and as a Christian, be sure to educate yourself about the key Christian values to base your vote for a candidate on. Go to the website of Truth In Action ministries and download their guide to the issues: http://www.truthinaction.org/PDF/Final_Voters_Guide.pdf
3) If you have not, begin to PRAY DAILY for the election. I invite you to go to scroll down to my post #323 for my own list of prayers I am praying in particular each day. Or you can go to the "40 Days of Prayer to the Election Guide" provided by Truth In Action ministries at: http://www.truthinaction.org/index.php/40-days-of-prayer/?src=TIA-10.2
4) Of course, BE SURE TO ACTUALLY VOTE, and if you can, take someone with you who needs a ride that day. (Only about 50% of registered Christian voters actually voted in the last election, which means only 25% of Christians actually voted, a point of great shame.)
Saturday, October 13, 2012
#347 (10/13) - "Heritage Experts React to Vice Presidential Debate"; 25 Days Until the Election
FYI -1) There are just 25 days before the election; are you praying for it and our nation?; 2) Be sure YOU are REGISTERED to VOTE; 3) Try to either read the book (you can get it from your library)"Obama's America" or see the movie "2016" ( http://personalliberty.com/2012/09/21/the-movie-that-could-defeat-obama/) I promise you, you will not understand our President's worldview until you do.; and 4) You might also try to get a copy of the book, "Divider-In-Chief"; you can also go to the follow site to read a lengthy preview of it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1621570118/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1621570118&linkCode=as2&tag=null07-20#reader_1621570118; www.truthinaction.org; - Stan
PRAYER REQUEST: 1) For the Pakistani girl, Malala, who was shot by the Talilban the other day for speaking out for education for girls and in critical condition (see story at post #346); and 2) For the next Presidential Debate, 10/16, that : a) it will clearly reveal the policies each candidate will pursue; b) that Americans will discern the truth of that from what they've been told by political ads and media spin; and c) that the moderator will not pursue any biased agenda in the questions he asks either candidate.
As I See It: While it's not discussed in the article below, it had to be clear to anyone watching the Vice-Presidential debate Thurs. night that VP Biden was rude and condescending to where it became an embarassment to watch as an American. It's one thing to be passionate and aggressive in a debate but not to where your actions distract from the subjects being discussed and when they only demean the office you represent. I have never been a witness to such a display of an older person acting so petulant and childish, except in movies when a character is clearly inebriated or in some way not in full control of themselves. The VP was obviously trying to show up his younger opponent but he only ended up showing Congressman Ryan to be the real grown-up. And as you will read below, this doesn't even address the slew of falsehoods that the VP claimed. I just hope most Americans who watched the spectacle were more mature in assessing what was going on. (P.S. - The debate was also another reason why its important to pray about the influence of the moderators on the debates, which in this case was so pronounced negatively.)- Stan]
(article below by Rob Bluey, October 12, 2012)
Vice President Biden and Representative Paul Ryan squared off last night for a spirited and intense 90-minute debate at Centre College in Danville, KY. Topics ranged from foreign to domestic, touching on serious issues that Heritage policy experts grapple with every day. While many commentators were critiquing style, a team of 19 Heritage experts cut through the malarkey and focused on substance. They reacted instantly to the debate [1] last night, providing policy research on the multitude of questions raised by moderator and ABC News correspondent Martha Raddatz. Below are some of the highlights of our experts’ reactions to the major issues addressed.
Don’t Blame Budget Cuts for Libya Embassy Attack
Biden claimed that Ryan’s budget is partly responsible for the failures of security that led to the death of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, saying that “The Congressman here cut embassy security in his budget by $300 million below what we asked for.”
As Heritage expert Brett Schaefer pointed out on The Foundry [3]: “Overall funding for those programs has increased sharply over the past decade. Indeed, Worldwide Security Protection is more than double what it was a decade ago. … Moreover, the State Department has considerable latitude in allocating security funds based on current events and intelligence on possible threats. Why that latitude was not applied in Libya deserves further scrutiny.”
It’s also worth noting that the U.S. Senate has not actually adopted a budget in more than three years. So it is hard to see how the appropriations process is the appropriate place to start looking for the failures that led to the death of Stevens and his colleagues. The problems run deeper than that. – Ted Bromund, Senior Research Fellow in Anglo-American Relations, The Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom
A Not-So-Balanced Approach on Spending
Biden echoed the all-too-familiar mantra that a so-called “balanced approach” is necessary to fix our spending and debt issues. Sounds fair, right? Except that the policy prescription he and President Obama advocate consists of more stimulus spending [4] – disguised as critical investments, of course — plus massive tax hikes [5] on high-income earners and small businesses, for starters. That’s a double whammy guaranteed to harm the economy.
Ryan rightly points out the sluggish economic growth [6] the United States has experienced recently. The unemployment rate is still outlandishly high, and GDP has grown at a crawling rate. It is hardly the recovery Americans were assured would result from federal stimulus spending. That’s all the more reason not to double down on tax hikes [7] on Americans or propose even more government spending. The economy needs to be free from the threat of Taxmageddon [8] and other tax hikes [9], and Washington needs to curb its spending problem [10]. – Emily Goff, Research Associate, Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies
The Transnational Terrorism Threat
The debate took a quick tour over the landscape of transnational terrorism from Libya to Iraq to Afghanistan to Iran. It was so quick that no one bothered to explain where the war against transnational terrorism stands today.
The case in Libya is tragically all too clear. Al-Qaeda affiliates have established a base in the country. In Iraq, the AP recently reported that since the United States “ended” the war, the number of al-Qaeda in the country has doubled. Iran remains one of the world’s most notorious state sponsors of terrorism. The Taliban and other affiliates are threatening the stability of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Whoever holds the Oval office in January is going to have to deal with a significant transnational terrorism threat. The current U.S. strategy is just not up to the task [11]. – James Jay Carafano, Deputy Director, The Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies, and Director, Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies
Obama Tax Hike Would Devastate Jobs
Biden discussed President Obama’s plan to raise the top two marginal tax rates. If that were to occur, the economy would create 710,000 fewer jobs [12], according the accounting firm Ernst & Young. Jobs would suffer badly because, even though the Vice President said only 3 percent would pay those higher rates, those 3 percent are the biggest, most successful small businesses that do all the hiring. The Ernst & Young study found the Obama tax hike would devastate jobs because those businesses that would pay the higher rates employ 54 percent of the private workforce.
On the other hand, tax reform like Governor Mitt Romney and Ryan propose would lower rates to encourage growth [13] and do so without reducing revenue or shifting the tax burden from high income taxpayers to middle income families. Even the Tax Policy Center, which is the group Obama and Biden cite to criticize the Romney tax plan, does not claim the Romney plan would reduce revenue — never mind by $5 trillion.–Curtis Dubay, Senior Policy Analyst, Tax Policy, Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies
The $6,400 Question on Medicare
The allegation that premium support in Medicare would cost seniors more than $6,400 more is both wrong and misleading. Heritage expert Rea Hederman explains [14], “[T]his dollar amount is incorrect, and the charge is erroneous. Such false charges are based on an outdated Congressional Budget Office (CBO) model of House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan’s (R–WI) 2011 budget proposal.” In fact, under Ryan’s current proposal, a senior would be guaranteed at least two health plans whose premiums meet 100 percent of the contribution amount. Read the facts [14].
Heritage expert Bob Moffit explains [15], “There is no major Medicare reform proposal, including the Ryan proposal, that would issue future senior citizens a voucher (a certificate or coupon or a check for a fixed dollar amount).” Under premium support, the government provides a direct payment from a government account to a health plan of a person’s choice, including traditional Medicare. Under premium support, plans would all have to meet government standards and provide at least the benefits of traditional Medicare. See how Ryan’s plan compares to the Heritage’s premium support proposal [16].
Medicare’s trust fund is projected to be bankrupt by 2024 and over the long-term the program has made $37 trillion worth of benefit promises to seniors that aren’t funded. Despite these serious problems, Obamacare cuts Medicare by $716 billion over the next 10 years [17] and uses the “savings” to fund new spending in Obamacare. – Alyene Senger, Research Assistant, Center for Health Policy Studies
Saving the American Dream
After a discussion of Iran, debate moderator Raddatz moved the conversation to a “different kind of national security issue” — the economy. Raddatz was entirely right to put it that way. You can be a liberal or a conservative, but it is impossible to believe that the United States can continue, over the long run, to lead in the world, to meet its national security responsibilities, to protect its allies, its interests, and its ideals, if its economy continues to grow slowly and the budget is consumed by entitlement spending.
A strong economy is not just vital for our prosperity: it is vital for our security. Unfortunately, after Raddatz’s well-crafted introduction, neither candidate made the connection she seemed to be hoping for, with both of them presenting their respective views on tax and economic policy. But as Heritage’s Saving the American Dream [18] plan points out, fiscal responsibility needs to go hand in hand with international responsibility. –Ted Bromund, Senior Research Fellow in Anglo-American Relations, The Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom
Don’t Lose Gains in Afghanistan
Ryan was crystal clear that the United States should not lose the gains made in Afghanistan over the last decade and must ensure the Taliban cannot regain influence there. By contrast, Biden staunchly defended the administration’s commitment to withdraw all combat forces by the end of 2014, but failed to explain how the United States would ensure Afghanistan does not again become a safe haven for terrorists intent on attacking the United States.
It is misleading for Biden to maintain that the only U.S. interest in Afghanistan is the withdrawal of U.S. forces. In reality, U.S. national security is inextricably linked to the future of Afghanistan. If the United States turns its back on Afghanistan, as it did in 1989, the Taliban are likely to regain influence, providing a boost to Islamist extremists throughout the world and an opportunity for al-Qaeda to revive itself. The truth is the United States will have to remain engaged in Afghanistan diplomatically, economically, and militarily through counterterrorism missions and training long after 2014.
Not only did the Obama Administration err in announcing the beginning of U.S. troop withdrawals back in December 2009, before U.S. surge forces had even been deployed, it also has fumbled the handling of peace talks with the Taliban [19]. The administration has been more intent on striking a deal with the Taliban in order to justify troop withdrawals, than on using the option of negotiations as a tool to moderate the Taliban’s behavior and bring them into a political process. –Lisa Curtis, Senior Research Fellow, Asian Studies Center
Unprecedented and Unconstitutional HHS Mandate
The Obamacare Health and Human Services preventative services mandate [20] requires nearly all employers to cover abortion drugs, contraception, and sterilization regardless of moral or religious objections, effectively exempting only formal houses of worship. More than 100 plaintiffs [21] have already been forced to go to court in an attempt to escape the coercive rule and protect their religious freedom.
The anti-conscience mandate is unprecedented and unconstitutional, and it is only an early warning sign of how one-size-fits-all health care requirements will trample on religious liberty as well as individual liberty. It should be a warning sign to Americans that one of the first parts of Obamacare to be implemented will force employers with religious and moral convictions to violate their consciences [22]. –Sarah Torre, Research Assistant, DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society
The Importance of Judges
Ryan and Biden talked about the importance of judges in this election and the likelihood that the next president will appoint one or more Supreme Court justices. They are right. The future of the Supreme Court does hang in the balance [23]. One vote may well change the court’s constitutional rulings on a host of issues that are critical to Americans who value freedom, including gun rights, the death penalty, private property rights, free speech, the free exercise of religion, and health care. If one constitutionalist justice leaves the Supreme Court and is replaced by a liberal judicial activist, our lives will be very different. –John Malcolm, Senior Legal Fellow, Center for Legal and Judicial Studies
Military Readiness Must Remain an Issue
Sequestration and other defense cuts cannot be ignored [24]. It is imperative that our nation’s leaders never forget that they have a duty to provide for the Common Defense. Cavalierly allowing the already atrophied defense capabilities of America to whither further is completely unacceptable. It is not responsible to hold defense hostage to new tax hikes that do not have the votes in Congress to pass normally.
America’s readiness is at the edge [25]: smallest Army since before the Second World War, smallest Navy since before the First World War, and the smallest Air Force ever. The leaders of the nation owe the American people better than this. –Steven Bucci, Senior Research Fellow Defense & Homeland Security, Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies
“We Believe in Opportunity and Upward Mobility”
Ryan could not have summed up the argument for economic freedom and limited government more clearly and concisely than when he stated: “We believe in opportunity and upward mobility.” This belief, which is at the heart of the American Dream [26], grows out of our founding principles.
It’s perhaps no surprise then that Ryan was the only one to invoke these principles. “We will not replace our founding principles, we will re-apply our founding principles,” he explained, thereby countering the progressive trope that we somehow need to move beyond our principles. –David Azerrad, Associate Director, B. Kenneth Simon Center for Principles and Politics
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
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Article printed from The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation: http://blog.heritage.org URL to article: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/12/morning-bell-heritage-experts-react-to-vice-presidential-debate/
URLs in this post:
[1] reacted instantly to the debate: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/11/watch-live-vice-presidential-debate/
[3] The Foundry: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/11/libya-security-lapse-the-budget-for-embassy-security-is-not-responsible/
[4] more stimulus spending: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2009/07/keynesian-fiscal-stimulus-policies-stimulate-debt-not-the-economy
[5] massive tax hikes: http://www.heritage.org/federalbudget/obama-budget-hikes-taxes
[6] sluggish economic growth: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/10/why-the-slow-economic-recovery
[7] not to double down on tax hikes: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/07/30/sluggish-economic-growth-more-reason-to-renounce-tax-hikes/
[8] Taxmageddon: http://www.heritage.org/issues/taxes/taxmageddon
[9] other tax hikes: http://www.heritage.org/federalbudget/obamacare-tax-hikes
[10] spending problem: http://www.heritage.org/federalbudget/runaway-spending-tax-revenue
[11] not up to the task: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/08/a-counterterrorism-strategy-for-the-next-wave
[12] the economy would create 710,000 fewer jobs: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/07/18/ernst-and-young-obamas-tax-increase-would-kill-710000-jobs/
[13] lower rates to encourage growth: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/09/25/romneys-tax-plan-doesnt-have-to-raise-taxes-on-the-middle-class/
[14] Rea Hederman explains: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/09/why-medicare-premium-support-would-not-cost-future-beneficiaries-$6400-more
[15] Bob Moffit explains: http://www.nationalreview.com/critical-condition/315801/terrifying-medicare-voucher-threat-robert-moffit
[16] Heritage’s premium support proposal: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/04/saving-the-american-dream-comparing-medicare-reform-plans
[17] cuts Medicare by $716 billion over the next 10 years: http://www.heritage.org/multimedia/infographic/2012/10/obamacare-in-pictures/obamacare-raids-medicare-to-pay-for-other-new-programs
[18] Saving the American Dream: http://savingthedream.org/
[19] fumbled the handling of peace talks with the Taliban: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/04/the-us-must-move-cautiously-on-taliban-reconciliation
[20] Health and Human Services preventative services mandate: http://www.heritage.org/research/factsheets/2012/02/obamacare-anti-conscience-mandate-an-assault-on-the-constitution
[21] More than 100 plaintiffs: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/11/plaintiffs-against-the-hhs-mandate-reach-more-than-100-strong/
[22] violate their consciences: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6PutWIZwpU
[23] Supreme Court does hang in the balance: http://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/330046/obama-vs-romney-supreme-court-part-1-ed-whelan
[24] cannot be ignored: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/07/fix-defense-sequestration-without-tax-increases
[25] America’s readiness is at the edge: http://youtu.be/dulqc38770s
[26] American Dream: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/09/defending-the-dream-why-income-inequality-does-not-threaten-opportunity
[27] Debate 2012 page: http://blog.heritage.org/debate-2012/
[28] the numbers are incomplete: http://www.businessinsider.com/jobless-claims-impacted-by-one-state-2012-10
[29] the entire reason: http://thehill.com/video/campaign/261539-cutter-libya-attacks-have-become-of-political-issue-because-of-romney-and-ryan
[30] purchase a new luxury fleet of “parade limousines”: http://www.washingtonguardian.com/taken-ride
[31] Biden laughing: http://gpolinsights.appspot.com/gallery/?hl=en#!/5798267613220265890
[32] searching: http://gpolinsights.appspot.com/gallery/?hl=en#!/5795307006543819682
Copyright © 2011 The Heritage Foundation. All rights reserved.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[regarding another point brought up in the debate] "Libya Security Lapse: The Budget for Embassy Security Is Not Responsible"
- by Brett Schaefer; October 11, 2012; http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/11/libya-security-lapse-the-budget-for-embassy-security-is-not-responsible/
PRAYER REQUEST: 1) For the Pakistani girl, Malala, who was shot by the Talilban the other day for speaking out for education for girls and in critical condition (see story at post #346); and 2) For the next Presidential Debate, 10/16, that : a) it will clearly reveal the policies each candidate will pursue; b) that Americans will discern the truth of that from what they've been told by political ads and media spin; and c) that the moderator will not pursue any biased agenda in the questions he asks either candidate.
As I See It: While it's not discussed in the article below, it had to be clear to anyone watching the Vice-Presidential debate Thurs. night that VP Biden was rude and condescending to where it became an embarassment to watch as an American. It's one thing to be passionate and aggressive in a debate but not to where your actions distract from the subjects being discussed and when they only demean the office you represent. I have never been a witness to such a display of an older person acting so petulant and childish, except in movies when a character is clearly inebriated or in some way not in full control of themselves. The VP was obviously trying to show up his younger opponent but he only ended up showing Congressman Ryan to be the real grown-up. And as you will read below, this doesn't even address the slew of falsehoods that the VP claimed. I just hope most Americans who watched the spectacle were more mature in assessing what was going on. (P.S. - The debate was also another reason why its important to pray about the influence of the moderators on the debates, which in this case was so pronounced negatively.)- Stan]
(article below by Rob Bluey, October 12, 2012)
Vice President Biden and Representative Paul Ryan squared off last night for a spirited and intense 90-minute debate at Centre College in Danville, KY. Topics ranged from foreign to domestic, touching on serious issues that Heritage policy experts grapple with every day. While many commentators were critiquing style, a team of 19 Heritage experts cut through the malarkey and focused on substance. They reacted instantly to the debate [1] last night, providing policy research on the multitude of questions raised by moderator and ABC News correspondent Martha Raddatz. Below are some of the highlights of our experts’ reactions to the major issues addressed.
Don’t Blame Budget Cuts for Libya Embassy Attack
Biden claimed that Ryan’s budget is partly responsible for the failures of security that led to the death of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, saying that “The Congressman here cut embassy security in his budget by $300 million below what we asked for.”
As Heritage expert Brett Schaefer pointed out on The Foundry [3]: “Overall funding for those programs has increased sharply over the past decade. Indeed, Worldwide Security Protection is more than double what it was a decade ago. … Moreover, the State Department has considerable latitude in allocating security funds based on current events and intelligence on possible threats. Why that latitude was not applied in Libya deserves further scrutiny.”
It’s also worth noting that the U.S. Senate has not actually adopted a budget in more than three years. So it is hard to see how the appropriations process is the appropriate place to start looking for the failures that led to the death of Stevens and his colleagues. The problems run deeper than that. – Ted Bromund, Senior Research Fellow in Anglo-American Relations, The Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom
A Not-So-Balanced Approach on Spending
Biden echoed the all-too-familiar mantra that a so-called “balanced approach” is necessary to fix our spending and debt issues. Sounds fair, right? Except that the policy prescription he and President Obama advocate consists of more stimulus spending [4] – disguised as critical investments, of course — plus massive tax hikes [5] on high-income earners and small businesses, for starters. That’s a double whammy guaranteed to harm the economy.
Ryan rightly points out the sluggish economic growth [6] the United States has experienced recently. The unemployment rate is still outlandishly high, and GDP has grown at a crawling rate. It is hardly the recovery Americans were assured would result from federal stimulus spending. That’s all the more reason not to double down on tax hikes [7] on Americans or propose even more government spending. The economy needs to be free from the threat of Taxmageddon [8] and other tax hikes [9], and Washington needs to curb its spending problem [10]. – Emily Goff, Research Associate, Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies
The Transnational Terrorism Threat
The debate took a quick tour over the landscape of transnational terrorism from Libya to Iraq to Afghanistan to Iran. It was so quick that no one bothered to explain where the war against transnational terrorism stands today.
The case in Libya is tragically all too clear. Al-Qaeda affiliates have established a base in the country. In Iraq, the AP recently reported that since the United States “ended” the war, the number of al-Qaeda in the country has doubled. Iran remains one of the world’s most notorious state sponsors of terrorism. The Taliban and other affiliates are threatening the stability of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Whoever holds the Oval office in January is going to have to deal with a significant transnational terrorism threat. The current U.S. strategy is just not up to the task [11]. – James Jay Carafano, Deputy Director, The Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies, and Director, Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies
Obama Tax Hike Would Devastate Jobs
Biden discussed President Obama’s plan to raise the top two marginal tax rates. If that were to occur, the economy would create 710,000 fewer jobs [12], according the accounting firm Ernst & Young. Jobs would suffer badly because, even though the Vice President said only 3 percent would pay those higher rates, those 3 percent are the biggest, most successful small businesses that do all the hiring. The Ernst & Young study found the Obama tax hike would devastate jobs because those businesses that would pay the higher rates employ 54 percent of the private workforce.
On the other hand, tax reform like Governor Mitt Romney and Ryan propose would lower rates to encourage growth [13] and do so without reducing revenue or shifting the tax burden from high income taxpayers to middle income families. Even the Tax Policy Center, which is the group Obama and Biden cite to criticize the Romney tax plan, does not claim the Romney plan would reduce revenue — never mind by $5 trillion.–Curtis Dubay, Senior Policy Analyst, Tax Policy, Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies
The $6,400 Question on Medicare
The allegation that premium support in Medicare would cost seniors more than $6,400 more is both wrong and misleading. Heritage expert Rea Hederman explains [14], “[T]his dollar amount is incorrect, and the charge is erroneous. Such false charges are based on an outdated Congressional Budget Office (CBO) model of House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan’s (R–WI) 2011 budget proposal.” In fact, under Ryan’s current proposal, a senior would be guaranteed at least two health plans whose premiums meet 100 percent of the contribution amount. Read the facts [14].
Heritage expert Bob Moffit explains [15], “There is no major Medicare reform proposal, including the Ryan proposal, that would issue future senior citizens a voucher (a certificate or coupon or a check for a fixed dollar amount).” Under premium support, the government provides a direct payment from a government account to a health plan of a person’s choice, including traditional Medicare. Under premium support, plans would all have to meet government standards and provide at least the benefits of traditional Medicare. See how Ryan’s plan compares to the Heritage’s premium support proposal [16].
Medicare’s trust fund is projected to be bankrupt by 2024 and over the long-term the program has made $37 trillion worth of benefit promises to seniors that aren’t funded. Despite these serious problems, Obamacare cuts Medicare by $716 billion over the next 10 years [17] and uses the “savings” to fund new spending in Obamacare. – Alyene Senger, Research Assistant, Center for Health Policy Studies
Saving the American Dream
After a discussion of Iran, debate moderator Raddatz moved the conversation to a “different kind of national security issue” — the economy. Raddatz was entirely right to put it that way. You can be a liberal or a conservative, but it is impossible to believe that the United States can continue, over the long run, to lead in the world, to meet its national security responsibilities, to protect its allies, its interests, and its ideals, if its economy continues to grow slowly and the budget is consumed by entitlement spending.
A strong economy is not just vital for our prosperity: it is vital for our security. Unfortunately, after Raddatz’s well-crafted introduction, neither candidate made the connection she seemed to be hoping for, with both of them presenting their respective views on tax and economic policy. But as Heritage’s Saving the American Dream [18] plan points out, fiscal responsibility needs to go hand in hand with international responsibility. –Ted Bromund, Senior Research Fellow in Anglo-American Relations, The Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom
Don’t Lose Gains in Afghanistan
Ryan was crystal clear that the United States should not lose the gains made in Afghanistan over the last decade and must ensure the Taliban cannot regain influence there. By contrast, Biden staunchly defended the administration’s commitment to withdraw all combat forces by the end of 2014, but failed to explain how the United States would ensure Afghanistan does not again become a safe haven for terrorists intent on attacking the United States.
It is misleading for Biden to maintain that the only U.S. interest in Afghanistan is the withdrawal of U.S. forces. In reality, U.S. national security is inextricably linked to the future of Afghanistan. If the United States turns its back on Afghanistan, as it did in 1989, the Taliban are likely to regain influence, providing a boost to Islamist extremists throughout the world and an opportunity for al-Qaeda to revive itself. The truth is the United States will have to remain engaged in Afghanistan diplomatically, economically, and militarily through counterterrorism missions and training long after 2014.
Not only did the Obama Administration err in announcing the beginning of U.S. troop withdrawals back in December 2009, before U.S. surge forces had even been deployed, it also has fumbled the handling of peace talks with the Taliban [19]. The administration has been more intent on striking a deal with the Taliban in order to justify troop withdrawals, than on using the option of negotiations as a tool to moderate the Taliban’s behavior and bring them into a political process. –Lisa Curtis, Senior Research Fellow, Asian Studies Center
Unprecedented and Unconstitutional HHS Mandate
The Obamacare Health and Human Services preventative services mandate [20] requires nearly all employers to cover abortion drugs, contraception, and sterilization regardless of moral or religious objections, effectively exempting only formal houses of worship. More than 100 plaintiffs [21] have already been forced to go to court in an attempt to escape the coercive rule and protect their religious freedom.
The anti-conscience mandate is unprecedented and unconstitutional, and it is only an early warning sign of how one-size-fits-all health care requirements will trample on religious liberty as well as individual liberty. It should be a warning sign to Americans that one of the first parts of Obamacare to be implemented will force employers with religious and moral convictions to violate their consciences [22]. –Sarah Torre, Research Assistant, DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society
The Importance of Judges
Ryan and Biden talked about the importance of judges in this election and the likelihood that the next president will appoint one or more Supreme Court justices. They are right. The future of the Supreme Court does hang in the balance [23]. One vote may well change the court’s constitutional rulings on a host of issues that are critical to Americans who value freedom, including gun rights, the death penalty, private property rights, free speech, the free exercise of religion, and health care. If one constitutionalist justice leaves the Supreme Court and is replaced by a liberal judicial activist, our lives will be very different. –John Malcolm, Senior Legal Fellow, Center for Legal and Judicial Studies
Military Readiness Must Remain an Issue
Sequestration and other defense cuts cannot be ignored [24]. It is imperative that our nation’s leaders never forget that they have a duty to provide for the Common Defense. Cavalierly allowing the already atrophied defense capabilities of America to whither further is completely unacceptable. It is not responsible to hold defense hostage to new tax hikes that do not have the votes in Congress to pass normally.
America’s readiness is at the edge [25]: smallest Army since before the Second World War, smallest Navy since before the First World War, and the smallest Air Force ever. The leaders of the nation owe the American people better than this. –Steven Bucci, Senior Research Fellow Defense & Homeland Security, Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies
“We Believe in Opportunity and Upward Mobility”
Ryan could not have summed up the argument for economic freedom and limited government more clearly and concisely than when he stated: “We believe in opportunity and upward mobility.” This belief, which is at the heart of the American Dream [26], grows out of our founding principles.
It’s perhaps no surprise then that Ryan was the only one to invoke these principles. “We will not replace our founding principles, we will re-apply our founding principles,” he explained, thereby countering the progressive trope that we somehow need to move beyond our principles. –David Azerrad, Associate Director, B. Kenneth Simon Center for Principles and Politics
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Article printed from The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation: http://blog.heritage.org URL to article: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/12/morning-bell-heritage-experts-react-to-vice-presidential-debate/
URLs in this post:
[1] reacted instantly to the debate: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/11/watch-live-vice-presidential-debate/
[3] The Foundry: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/11/libya-security-lapse-the-budget-for-embassy-security-is-not-responsible/
[4] more stimulus spending: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2009/07/keynesian-fiscal-stimulus-policies-stimulate-debt-not-the-economy
[5] massive tax hikes: http://www.heritage.org/federalbudget/obama-budget-hikes-taxes
[6] sluggish economic growth: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/10/why-the-slow-economic-recovery
[7] not to double down on tax hikes: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/07/30/sluggish-economic-growth-more-reason-to-renounce-tax-hikes/
[8] Taxmageddon: http://www.heritage.org/issues/taxes/taxmageddon
[9] other tax hikes: http://www.heritage.org/federalbudget/obamacare-tax-hikes
[10] spending problem: http://www.heritage.org/federalbudget/runaway-spending-tax-revenue
[11] not up to the task: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/08/a-counterterrorism-strategy-for-the-next-wave
[12] the economy would create 710,000 fewer jobs: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/07/18/ernst-and-young-obamas-tax-increase-would-kill-710000-jobs/
[13] lower rates to encourage growth: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/09/25/romneys-tax-plan-doesnt-have-to-raise-taxes-on-the-middle-class/
[14] Rea Hederman explains: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/09/why-medicare-premium-support-would-not-cost-future-beneficiaries-$6400-more
[15] Bob Moffit explains: http://www.nationalreview.com/critical-condition/315801/terrifying-medicare-voucher-threat-robert-moffit
[16] Heritage’s premium support proposal: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/04/saving-the-american-dream-comparing-medicare-reform-plans
[17] cuts Medicare by $716 billion over the next 10 years: http://www.heritage.org/multimedia/infographic/2012/10/obamacare-in-pictures/obamacare-raids-medicare-to-pay-for-other-new-programs
[18] Saving the American Dream: http://savingthedream.org/
[19] fumbled the handling of peace talks with the Taliban: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/04/the-us-must-move-cautiously-on-taliban-reconciliation
[20] Health and Human Services preventative services mandate: http://www.heritage.org/research/factsheets/2012/02/obamacare-anti-conscience-mandate-an-assault-on-the-constitution
[21] More than 100 plaintiffs: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/11/plaintiffs-against-the-hhs-mandate-reach-more-than-100-strong/
[22] violate their consciences: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6PutWIZwpU
[23] Supreme Court does hang in the balance: http://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/330046/obama-vs-romney-supreme-court-part-1-ed-whelan
[24] cannot be ignored: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/07/fix-defense-sequestration-without-tax-increases
[25] America’s readiness is at the edge: http://youtu.be/dulqc38770s
[26] American Dream: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/09/defending-the-dream-why-income-inequality-does-not-threaten-opportunity
[27] Debate 2012 page: http://blog.heritage.org/debate-2012/
[28] the numbers are incomplete: http://www.businessinsider.com/jobless-claims-impacted-by-one-state-2012-10
[29] the entire reason: http://thehill.com/video/campaign/261539-cutter-libya-attacks-have-become-of-political-issue-because-of-romney-and-ryan
[30] purchase a new luxury fleet of “parade limousines”: http://www.washingtonguardian.com/taken-ride
[31] Biden laughing: http://gpolinsights.appspot.com/gallery/?hl=en#!/5798267613220265890
[32] searching: http://gpolinsights.appspot.com/gallery/?hl=en#!/5795307006543819682
Copyright © 2011 The Heritage Foundation. All rights reserved.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[regarding another point brought up in the debate] "Libya Security Lapse: The Budget for Embassy Security Is Not Responsible"
- by Brett Schaefer; October 11, 2012; http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/11/libya-security-lapse-the-budget-for-embassy-security-is-not-responsible/
Friday, October 12, 2012
#346 (10/12) - URGENT PRAYER REQUEST; "What Malala’s Story Tells Americans"; 27 Days Till the Election
FYI -1) There are just 27 days before the election; are you praying for it and our nation?; 2) Be sure YOU are REGISTERED to VOTE; 3) Try to either read the book (you can get it from your library)"Obama's America" or see the movie "2016" ( http://personalliberty.com/2012/09/21/the-movie-that-could-defeat-obama/) I promise you, you will not understand our President's worldview until you do.; and 4) You might also try to get a copy of the book, "Divider-In-Chief"; you can also go to the follow site to read a lengthy preview of it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1621570118/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1621570118&linkCode=as2&tag=null07-20#reader_1621570118; www.truthinaction.org; - Stan
PRAYER REQUEST: 1) For the Pakistani girl, Malala, who was shot by the Talilban the other day for speaking out for education for girls and in critical condition (see story below); and 2) For the next Presidential Debate, 10/16, that : a) it will clearly reveal the policies each candidate will pursue; b) that Americans will discern the truth of that from what they've been told by political ads and media spin; and c) that the moderator will not pursue any biased agenda in the questions he asks either candidate.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Laura Trueman, October 10, 2012; http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/10/what-malalas-story-tells-americans/
Malala Yousafzai was 11 years old when she inadvertently became the voice for millions of Muslim girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan who want to attend school. In a moving 2009 New York Times video and her blog on living under Taliban occupation in the Swat Valley of Pakistan, Malala dared to share her deepest aspiration: freedom to learn.
Now, Malala, age 14, is clinging to life after being shot in the head and neck by Taliban militants in northwest Pakistan. As she and a few other eighth-grade girls rode their school bus home, the men stopped the bus and demanded, “Which girl is Malala?” The gun was raised. They shot her, as well as two other girls.
Inconceivable. A young girl targeted by grown men whose religious framework somehow translates into gunning down children because they want to be in school. Openly advocating for girls’ education and wanting to help other Pakistani girls fulfill their right to attend school was her only “crime.” Malala and her family are devout in their Muslim faith, with pictures capturing Malala’s face framed by a traditional head scarf and kneeling on her rug offering prayers to Allah. No apostasy here. Just a desire for education.
As the mother of two daughters, I find the horror of this act piercing. It is also unfathomable. On the same day Malala was shot, my daughters were sluggish about getting to school, wishing their three-day weekend had been longer. Malala’s tragic story was fresh on my mind; I wanted to take them to task for complaining. Yet, inevitably they would hear it the same way we heard our parents tell us to “clean our plate” because children all over the world are starving. It is just too far removed from our children’s experience. Dying for education just doesn’t compute, and for that, I am grateful.
Which brings me to American exceptionalism. Somehow, many Americans have grown uncomfortable with the belief that American society is better than others. So instead we tout American tolerance. Thinking we are educated, worldly, and open-minded, we hold vague notions that every society has its own values, religion, and culture, and no one way of doing things is superior to any other.
Enter Malala. She crystallizes the debate, and for a moment, we are silent. The familiar “I’m okay, you’re okay” notion that all moral codes and cultural norms are to be respected and appreciated for their vast variety is found hollow. America is many things. It has not always gotten everything right. But, as Heritage scholar Matthew Spalding explains, “America is exceptional because, unlike any other nation, it is dedicated to the principles of human liberty, grounded on the truths that all men are created equal and endowed with equal rights.”
We hope and pray for Malala. We hope for the ideals her simple voice embodies. We hope America’s leaders abandon the “all nations are equal partners” approach and, as noted at by Heritage analyst Lisa Curtis at today’s Heritage event on Pakistan, “commit to supporting Pakistani civil society members who are risking their lives to stand down extremist ideologies and to stand up for the rights and freedoms of all Pakistanis.”
Beyond all of that, our part as American citizens is to remember that the freedoms our daughters and all of us enjoy are, indeed, exceptional. It isn’t conflated national egoism to say so. It is fact.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
PRAYER REQUEST: 1) For the Pakistani girl, Malala, who was shot by the Talilban the other day for speaking out for education for girls and in critical condition (see story below); and 2) For the next Presidential Debate, 10/16, that : a) it will clearly reveal the policies each candidate will pursue; b) that Americans will discern the truth of that from what they've been told by political ads and media spin; and c) that the moderator will not pursue any biased agenda in the questions he asks either candidate.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Laura Trueman, October 10, 2012; http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/10/what-malalas-story-tells-americans/
Malala Yousafzai was 11 years old when she inadvertently became the voice for millions of Muslim girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan who want to attend school. In a moving 2009 New York Times video and her blog on living under Taliban occupation in the Swat Valley of Pakistan, Malala dared to share her deepest aspiration: freedom to learn.
Now, Malala, age 14, is clinging to life after being shot in the head and neck by Taliban militants in northwest Pakistan. As she and a few other eighth-grade girls rode their school bus home, the men stopped the bus and demanded, “Which girl is Malala?” The gun was raised. They shot her, as well as two other girls.
Inconceivable. A young girl targeted by grown men whose religious framework somehow translates into gunning down children because they want to be in school. Openly advocating for girls’ education and wanting to help other Pakistani girls fulfill their right to attend school was her only “crime.” Malala and her family are devout in their Muslim faith, with pictures capturing Malala’s face framed by a traditional head scarf and kneeling on her rug offering prayers to Allah. No apostasy here. Just a desire for education.
As the mother of two daughters, I find the horror of this act piercing. It is also unfathomable. On the same day Malala was shot, my daughters were sluggish about getting to school, wishing their three-day weekend had been longer. Malala’s tragic story was fresh on my mind; I wanted to take them to task for complaining. Yet, inevitably they would hear it the same way we heard our parents tell us to “clean our plate” because children all over the world are starving. It is just too far removed from our children’s experience. Dying for education just doesn’t compute, and for that, I am grateful.
Which brings me to American exceptionalism. Somehow, many Americans have grown uncomfortable with the belief that American society is better than others. So instead we tout American tolerance. Thinking we are educated, worldly, and open-minded, we hold vague notions that every society has its own values, religion, and culture, and no one way of doing things is superior to any other.
Enter Malala. She crystallizes the debate, and for a moment, we are silent. The familiar “I’m okay, you’re okay” notion that all moral codes and cultural norms are to be respected and appreciated for their vast variety is found hollow. America is many things. It has not always gotten everything right. But, as Heritage scholar Matthew Spalding explains, “America is exceptional because, unlike any other nation, it is dedicated to the principles of human liberty, grounded on the truths that all men are created equal and endowed with equal rights.”
We hope and pray for Malala. We hope for the ideals her simple voice embodies. We hope America’s leaders abandon the “all nations are equal partners” approach and, as noted at by Heritage analyst Lisa Curtis at today’s Heritage event on Pakistan, “commit to supporting Pakistani civil society members who are risking their lives to stand down extremist ideologies and to stand up for the rights and freedoms of all Pakistanis.”
Beyond all of that, our part as American citizens is to remember that the freedoms our daughters and all of us enjoy are, indeed, exceptional. It isn’t conflated national egoism to say so. It is fact.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
Thursday, October 11, 2012
#345 (10/11) - "The Administration’s Messy Story on Libya Attack"; 27 Days Till the Election
FYI -1) There are just 28 days before the election; are you praying for it and our nation? 2) Be sure YOU are REGISTERED to VOTE; 3) Ttry to either read the book (you can get it from your library)"Obama's America" or see the movie "2016" ( http://personalliberty.com/2012/09/21/the-movie-that-could-defeat-obama/) I promise you, you will not understand our President's worldview until you do.; and 4) You might also try to get a copy of the book, "Divider-In-Chief"; you can also go to the follow site to read a lengthy preview of it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1621570118/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1621570118&linkCode=as2&tag=null07-20#reader_1621570118; www.truthinaction.org; - Stan]
PRAYER REQUEST: That the Vice-Presidential debate TONIGHT, 10/11, 1) will clearly reveal the policies each candidate will pursue; 2) that Americans will discern the truth of that from what they've been told by political ads and media spin; and 3) that the moderator will not pursue any biased agenda in the questions he asks either candidate.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
- article by James Carafano, October 1, 2012
PRAYER REQUEST: That the Vice-Presidential debate TONIGHT, 10/11, 1) will clearly reveal the policies each candidate will pursue; 2) that Americans will discern the truth of that from what they've been told by political ads and media spin; and 3) that the moderator will not pursue any biased agenda in the questions he asks either candidate.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
- article by James Carafano, October 1, 2012
Washington is notorious for dropping news it doesn’t want scrutinized too closely on the last day of the work week. So last Friday was a convenient time for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to release a statement about the Obama Administration’s conflicting accounts of the attack that killed the U.S. Ambassador to Libya.
The ODNI statement [2] appears intentionally vague on exactly what it knew when [3] and who was told. It does little to address concerns that the President’s senior supporters seemed more concerned about minimizing criticism of the White House than addressing the threat of transnational terrorism.
The question remains: Why did senior officials issue contradictory and wrong accounts of what happened during the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi?
It took the intelligence community more than a week to get out the clarifying statement—and its “explanation” came only after the Administration started taking heat for initially downplaying the involvement of terrorists in the Benghazi attack. This raises concerns that the ODNI statement is more about providing political cover for the White House than answering serious questions about the misstatement from the President’s spokespersons.
From the outset, there was more than a little confusion about what government officials knew when. As Heritage’s Helle Dale noted on Thursday:
"Reportedly, U.S. intelligence sources [4] knew within the first 24 hours of the attack that not only was al-Qaeda involved, but also which members and even where one of them lived. And yet, Administration officials toed the line unfailingly that the murders were provoked by the YouTube trailer for Innocence of Muslims."The Administration’s official line on embassy attacks was already shaky, after Twitter posts, press statements, and other official pronouncements related to the attack on the U.S. embassy in Cairo were pulled [5] from State Department websites.
But the worst was Ambassador Susan Rice’s defense of the Administration on television last weekend. Rice vigorously asserted that the attack in Benghazi was not “premeditated,” [6] even as she must have known top Libyan officials were already declaring that the attacks were planned.
The Administration’s response to Benghazi drew even more scrutiny in the following days, as the President delivered a muddled speech to the U.N. General Assembly that appeared more focused on placating anti-American sentiment [7] than expressing outrage over a terrorist attack on American citizens.
By the end of the week, it was clear that the White House was taking more heat for its handling of the aftermath of the Benghazi attack than it wanted. And that was when the ODNI statement suddenly appeared, stating that it had initially informed senior officials that “in the immediate aftermath, there was information that led us to assess that the attack began spontaneously [8].” Only later, the statement adds, did it receive additional evidence pointing to a deliberate attack.
Clearly, acknowledging that terrorism is alive and well looks bad for the Obama Administration’s rhetoric, which has portrayed Obama as having vanquished Osama bin Laden and thus ending the “war on terrorism.” The chaotic handling of the Libya attack points to one of two culprits: incompetence or dishonesty. The American people deserve the truth, whatever that may be.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
Article printed from The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation: http://blog.heritage.org
URL to article: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/01/morning-bell-the-administrations-messy-story-on-libya-attack/
URLs in this post:
[1] Image: http://blog.heritage.org/wp-content/uploads/ObamaHillary.jpg
[2] statement: http://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/96-press-releases-2012/731-statement-on-the-intelligence-related-to-the-terrorist-attack-on-the-u-s-consulate-in-benghazi,-libya
[3] what it knew when: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/09/27/what-did-the-obama-administration-know-and-when-did-it-know-it/
[4] U.S. intelligence sources: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/26/u-s-officials-knew-libya-attacks-were-work-of-al-qaeda-affiliates.html
[5] were pulled: http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/department-babel-7521
[6] not “premeditated,”: http://news.yahoo.com/ambassador-susan-rice-libya-attack-not-premeditated-141127762--abc-news-politics.html
[7] placating anti-American sentiment: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/09/27/free-speech-threatened-at-united-nations/
[8] spontaneously: http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2012/09/29/obama-team-explains-shifting-story-on-libya-attack/1602637/
[9] broke into: http://freebeacon.com/white-house-hack-attack/
Copyright © 2011 The Heritage Foundation. All rights reserved.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
#344 (10/10) - "Anemic Job Growth Continues"; 28 Days Till the Election
1) There are just 28 days before the election; are you praying for it and our nation? 2) Be sure YOU are REGISTERED to VOTE; 3) Ttry to either read the book (you can get it from your library)"Obama's America" or see the movie "2016" ( http://personalliberty.com/2012/09/21/the-movie-that-could-defeat-obama/) I promise you, you will not understand our President's worldview until you do.; and 4) You might also try to get a copy of the book, "Divider-In-Chief"; you can also go to the follow site to read a lengthy preview of it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1621570118/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1621570118&linkCode=as2&tag=null07-20#reader_1621570118; www.truthinaction.org; - Stan] PRAYER REQUEST: That the Vice-Presidential debate TOMORROW (THURS.), 10/11, will clearly reveal the policies each candidate will pursue; that Americans will discern the truth of that from what they've been told by political ads and media spin; and that the moderator will not pursue any biased agenda in the questions he asks either candidate.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Amy Payne, October 5, 2012 http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/05/morning-bell-anemic-job-growth-continues/ [A second article is briefly noted afterwards.]
Job growth continues to sputter—[last Friday's] jobs report shows that 12.1 million Americans are still out of work.
Going against other economic indicators, the unemployment rate dropped to 7.8 percent. Economists are already looking into the drop, saying it seems to be a statistical fluke, because it doesn’t match up with the sluggish job creation and recent downward revision of GDP growth. Heritage’s J.D. Foster says:
"One time out of a hundred, the true figure will be much different than the reported figure. One time out of a hundred for a monthly survey means about once every eight years. What seems to have occurred with the September household survey is the one time in a hundred. The last time the household survey showed such a huge jump in employment was in 1983 during the Reagan-era economic boom. Today’s economy does not look much like the Reagan boom."
The real story, then, from the more reliable employment survey is the economy created a paltry 114,000 jobs, leaving 12.1 million out in the cold. This story is getting old. And the economy has no good news to look forward to.
Congress has gone home until after the election. When it returns to Washington, the end of 2012 will be staring us in the face. In just a few short months, the largest tax increase in history will hit America. It sounds like hyperbole, and we only wish that were the case. It’s been dubbed Taxmageddon, because for millions of workers it will be an end-of-working pink slip scenario. But on January 1, a nearly $500 billion tax increase will slam the economy. Not only will this mean individual tax increases—if you’re a middle-class family, your taxes will go up around $4,100—but the whole economy will also suffer.
The Congressional Budget Office has said that unless Congress and the President act, we will be plunged into a new recession extending through 2013—when we haven’t even recovered from the previous one. The irresponsible behavior of Congress and the President in bringing the nation to this state means a significant slowdown is already almost certain. Mounting uncertainty about what, if anything, Washington will do is rapidly draining the vitality out of the economy. The facts are plain: The economy will shrink and unemployment will spike unless Congress acts to prevent Taxmageddon. If Congress and the President choose to continue to play politics with the economy, we stand to lose 1.6 million more jobs.
Why can’t we seem to recover from the most recent recession? According to a new report by Heritage’s Salim Furth, a select group of businesses isn’t hiring: start-ups. “Even in recessions, start-up job creation has been a constant—until now,” Furth reports. “Employment at start-up companies has fallen for five years in a row, reaching unprecedented lows in 2010 and 2011.”
This is devastating because start-ups normally create the vast majority of the net new jobs in the economy, he says. Larger businesses do expand with new jobs, but significant job creation comes from new businesses. And it’s more difficult than ever to jump through all the government hoops to create a new business. The system is completely against job creation right now. As Furth says:
"With new regulations and business requirements in health insurance, small-business finance, environment, energy, and tax compliance, not to mention the ever-expanding reach of state licensure boards, it is expensive to open a business."
Businesses, and those who would start businesses, are looking at looming tax hikes and new regulations and simply deciding it isn’t worth it. There are many new regulations coming soon, but the Administration has gone silent on what they will be. So employers can’t even prepare.
Repealing the heavily regulatory Dodd-Frank law and Obamacare, with its 18 new tax hikes, would remove major burdens on businesses and individuals. But that won’t happen before next year.
Our elected leaders can prevent Taxmageddon. It would be the best thing they could do for the economy, including job creation, in the short term. There is still time, though it is growing short.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The Odd September Unemployment Rate: When Good Surveys Produce False Results";
Going against other economic indicators, the unemployment rate dropped to 7.8 percent. Economists are already looking into the drop, saying it seems to be a statistical fluke, because it doesn’t match up with the sluggish job creation and recent downward revision of GDP growth. Heritage’s J.D. Foster says:
"One time out of a hundred, the true figure will be much different than the reported figure. One time out of a hundred for a monthly survey means about once every eight years. What seems to have occurred with the September household survey is the one time in a hundred. The last time the household survey showed such a huge jump in employment was in 1983 during the Reagan-era economic boom. Today’s economy does not look much like the Reagan boom."The real story, then, from the more reliable employment survey is the economy created a paltry 114,000 jobs, leaving 12.1 million out in the cold. This story is getting old. And the economy has no good news to look forward to.
Congress has gone home until after the election. When it returns to Washington, the end of 2012 will be staring us in the face. In just a few short months, the largest tax increase in history will hit America. It sounds like hyperbole, and we only wish that were the case. It’s been dubbed Taxmageddon, because for millions of workers it will be an end-of-working pink slip scenario. But on January 1, a nearly $500 billion tax increase will slam the economy. Not only will this mean individual tax increases—if you’re a middle-class family, your taxes will go up around $4,100—but the whole economy will also suffer.
The Congressional Budget Office has said that unless Congress and the President act, we will be plunged into a new recession extending through 2013—when we haven’t even recovered from the previous one. The irresponsible behavior of Congress and the President in bringing the nation to this state means a significant slowdown is already almost certain. Mounting uncertainty about what, if anything, Washington will do is rapidly draining the vitality out of the economy. The facts are plain: The economy will shrink and unemployment will spike unless Congress acts to prevent Taxmageddon. If Congress and the President choose to continue to play politics with the economy, we stand to lose 1.6 million more jobs.
Why can’t we seem to recover from the most recent recession? According to a new report by Heritage’s Salim Furth, a select group of businesses isn’t hiring: start-ups. “Even in recessions, start-up job creation has been a constant—until now,” Furth reports. “Employment at start-up companies has fallen for five years in a row, reaching unprecedented lows in 2010 and 2011.”
This is devastating because start-ups normally create the vast majority of the net new jobs in the economy, he says. Larger businesses do expand with new jobs, but significant job creation comes from new businesses. And it’s more difficult than ever to jump through all the government hoops to create a new business. The system is completely against job creation right now. As Furth says:
"With new regulations and business requirements in health insurance, small-business finance, environment, energy, and tax compliance, not to mention the ever-expanding reach of state licensure boards, it is expensive to open a business."Businesses, and those who would start businesses, are looking at looming tax hikes and new regulations and simply deciding it isn’t worth it. There are many new regulations coming soon, but the Administration has gone silent on what they will be. So employers can’t even prepare.
Repealing the heavily regulatory Dodd-Frank law and Obamacare, with its 18 new tax hikes, would remove major burdens on businesses and individuals. But that won’t happen before next year.
Our elected leaders can prevent Taxmageddon. It would be the best thing they could do for the economy, including job creation, in the short term. There is still time, though it is growing short.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
J.D. Foster, Ph.D.October 5, 2012 http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/05/the-odd-september-unemployment-rate-when-good-surveys-produce-false-results/
What’s behind the seemingly sudden drop in the unemployment rate?
While the economy stumbles along, no one would expect a sudden jump in employment. Job growth has averaged about 100,000 per month over the past six months, roughly consistent with other economic indicators suggesting slow growth. But the Labor Department reported today the unemployment rate fell from 8.1 percent in August to 7.8 percent in September, which makes a full half-point drop since July.
These results suggest something very strange is going on with the household survey. In this hyper-political season, some who should know better and some who know little at all are suggesting the Obama Administration is playing games with the numbers. This is almost certainly not the case. The professionals at the Bureau of Labor Statistics would never stand for it, and like all good bureaucrats, they have ways of getting the truth out. Something strange is going on, but not politics—rather, statistics caused this little rhubarb...
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
While the economy stumbles along, no one would expect a sudden jump in employment. Job growth has averaged about 100,000 per month over the past six months, roughly consistent with other economic indicators suggesting slow growth. But the Labor Department reported today the unemployment rate fell from 8.1 percent in August to 7.8 percent in September, which makes a full half-point drop since July.
These results suggest something very strange is going on with the household survey. In this hyper-political season, some who should know better and some who know little at all are suggesting the Obama Administration is playing games with the numbers. This is almost certainly not the case. The professionals at the Bureau of Labor Statistics would never stand for it, and like all good bureaucrats, they have ways of getting the truth out. Something strange is going on, but not politics—rather, statistics caused this little rhubarb...
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
Sunday, October 7, 2012
#343 (10/7) - Sunday Special > "Where Have All the Bold Pastors Gone? "
NOTE: TODAY is PULPIT FREEDOM SUNDAY. "The future of religious freedom depends on a free pulpit to communicate fundamental, biblical principles to congregations across America. Join a growing movement of bold pastors preaching biblical Truth about candidates and elections from their pulpits [TODAY], October 7, 2012." www.speakupmovement.org/church/LearnMore/details/4702
FYI - 1) Be sure to check out this week's broadcast of "Truth That Transforms" (Orlando - Sundays, 9 and 10 am, 5 pm; Monday, 7 pm; over-the-air channel/or go to www.truthinaction.org) The message is entitled "For Such A Time as This" and includes a feature on the threat of globalism.
2) There are only 31 days until the election; are you praying for it and oure nation?; 3) Before the election, try to either read the book (you can get it from your library) "Obama's America" or see the movie "2016." I promise you, you will not understand our President's worldview until you do; and 4) You might also try to get a copy of the book, "Divider-In-Chief"; go to the following site to read a lengthy preview of it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1621570118/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1621570118&linkCode=as2&tag=null07-20#reader_1621570118
5) Sign A Petition To Stop Funding of Radical Islamist Countries > http://aclj.org/radical-islam/stop-funding-middle-east-terrorists
6) Be sure to be REGISTERED TO VOTE. To get details of doing that in your state, go to > http://www.cbn.com/special/register-to-vote/
7) For a review of the CRITICAL ISSUES to consider in your voting, please go to > http://www.truthinaction.org/PDF/Final_Voters_Guide.pdf
8) Finally, BE PRAYING FOR THE UPCOMING ELECTIONS; Download a free prayer guide at > http://www.prayerconnect.net/resources/prayer-guides/2012-election-prayer-guide You may also go to my post #329 for a list I created for the 40 days prior to the election.
PRAYER REQUEST: 1) Let's join millions of Christians who TODAY are praying for the peace of Jerusalem (Ps. 122:6); and 2) Pray for the Vice-Presidential Debate THIS THURS, 10/11
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following is by Dr. Jerry Newcomb, Sept. 1; http://www.truthimpact.me/index.php/2012/09/bold-pastors-gone/?utm_source=TIA_Import_11_21_2011& utm_campaign=93ffcce6bf-Impact_Newsletter9_8__2012&utm_medium=email This article ties in well with today being Pulpit Freedom Sunday.
This is a critical election year. Some have said it may be the most important election in our life time. With so much at stake, how great it would be to hear from more pastors and priests, during these times when the government encroaches on more of our freedoms.
Many of the controversial issues of our day, such as abortion and marriage, have become political. But in reality, they are simply moral issues that have changed into political ones. The Church has always opposed abortion. But only recently has that become a political issue. The same holds for marriage.
I think part of the reason we don’t hear much from pastors these days is because of a misunderstanding of the law. Some fear—wrongly—that if they say anything viewed as a political statement, then they might lose their tax exempt status. Pastors and churches have far more freedom than we realize.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) even encourages pastors to preach boldly. In fact, ADF, (which was founded by Dr. D. James Kennedy and others as Alliance Defense Fund) proclaims: “The future of religious freedom depends on a free pulpit to communicate fundamental, biblical principles to congregations across America. Join a growing movement of bold pastors preaching Biblical Truth about candidates and elections from their pulpits on October 7, 2012.”
Recently, nearly 21,000 people in our audience participated in sending out a Truth in Action petition to their U.S. representative and their two senators. This called for a restoration of free speech for pastors in America to be able to proclaim the Word of God freely, without fear of running afoul of the IRS.
There is a great need for boldness in the pulpit today. We should remember that some biblical figures, like Moses and John the Baptist, spoke out against the rulers at the time and paid a price for it. Historically, being faithful to our God sometimes had a high price to it, as seen by those brave Christians who were fed to the lions in the arena rather than renounce their faith.
There’s a great painting at the Art Institute of Chicago showing St. Ambrose rebuking Roman Emperor Theodosius (around the end of the 4th century) for an imperial massacre in Thessalonica. The bishop took his life in his hands by making such a pronouncement against the lord of the whole empire. Thankfully, Theodosius repented.
Thomas More wasn’t so fortunate in his stance in refusing to give in to King Henry VIII’s demand for divine sanction for his divorce. More was beheaded for his courage to go against the king.
The price a bold pastor has to pay in our culture is generally a much smaller one than those sometimes demanded in the past—or even today in some of the world’s hot spots, such as the Middle East.
Historically, in the American context, pastors and the church have often led the way in societal reforms—some of which had political implications. For example, two-thirds of the members of the abolition society in 1835 were ministers of the gospel. Also, the anti-slavery Underground Railroad was run by churches. The civil rights movement was born in the church.
Before we even became a country, pastors (especially in New England) would preach election- day sermons, not necessarily endorsing particular candidates, but explaining biblical civic duties.
The pastor is bound by his duty to preach the Word of God. In 1750, Rev. Jonathan Mayhew of Boston defended the fact that he would on occasion preach sermons that had political implications. He said, “It is hoped that but few will think the subject of it [i.e., politics] an improper one to be discoursed on in the pulpit, under a notion that this is preaching politics, instead of Christ. However, to remove all prejudices of this sort, I beg it may be remembered that ‘all Scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.’ Why, then, should not those parts of Scripture which relate to civil government be examined and explained from the desk [i.e., the pulpit], as well as others?”
This is a message we need to rediscover in our time.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
FYI - 1) Be sure to check out this week's broadcast of "Truth That Transforms" (Orlando - Sundays, 9 and 10 am, 5 pm; Monday, 7 pm; over-the-air channel/or go to www.truthinaction.org) The message is entitled "For Such A Time as This" and includes a feature on the threat of globalism.
2) There are only 31 days until the election; are you praying for it and oure nation?; 3) Before the election, try to either read the book (you can get it from your library) "Obama's America" or see the movie "2016." I promise you, you will not understand our President's worldview until you do; and 4) You might also try to get a copy of the book, "Divider-In-Chief"; go to the following site to read a lengthy preview of it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1621570118/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1621570118&linkCode=as2&tag=null07-20#reader_1621570118
5) Sign A Petition To Stop Funding of Radical Islamist Countries > http://aclj.org/radical-islam/stop-funding-middle-east-terrorists
6) Be sure to be REGISTERED TO VOTE. To get details of doing that in your state, go to > http://www.cbn.com/special/register-to-vote/
7) For a review of the CRITICAL ISSUES to consider in your voting, please go to > http://www.truthinaction.org/PDF/Final_Voters_Guide.pdf
8) Finally, BE PRAYING FOR THE UPCOMING ELECTIONS; Download a free prayer guide at > http://www.prayerconnect.net/resources/prayer-guides/2012-election-prayer-guide You may also go to my post #329 for a list I created for the 40 days prior to the election.
PRAYER REQUEST: 1) Let's join millions of Christians who TODAY are praying for the peace of Jerusalem (Ps. 122:6); and 2) Pray for the Vice-Presidential Debate THIS THURS, 10/11
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following is by Dr. Jerry Newcomb, Sept. 1; http://www.truthimpact.me/index.php/2012/09/bold-pastors-gone/?utm_source=TIA_Import_11_21_2011& utm_campaign=93ffcce6bf-Impact_Newsletter9_8__2012&utm_medium=email This article ties in well with today being Pulpit Freedom Sunday.
This is a critical election year. Some have said it may be the most important election in our life time. With so much at stake, how great it would be to hear from more pastors and priests, during these times when the government encroaches on more of our freedoms.
Many of the controversial issues of our day, such as abortion and marriage, have become political. But in reality, they are simply moral issues that have changed into political ones. The Church has always opposed abortion. But only recently has that become a political issue. The same holds for marriage.
I think part of the reason we don’t hear much from pastors these days is because of a misunderstanding of the law. Some fear—wrongly—that if they say anything viewed as a political statement, then they might lose their tax exempt status. Pastors and churches have far more freedom than we realize.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) even encourages pastors to preach boldly. In fact, ADF, (which was founded by Dr. D. James Kennedy and others as Alliance Defense Fund) proclaims: “The future of religious freedom depends on a free pulpit to communicate fundamental, biblical principles to congregations across America. Join a growing movement of bold pastors preaching Biblical Truth about candidates and elections from their pulpits on October 7, 2012.”
Recently, nearly 21,000 people in our audience participated in sending out a Truth in Action petition to their U.S. representative and their two senators. This called for a restoration of free speech for pastors in America to be able to proclaim the Word of God freely, without fear of running afoul of the IRS.
There is a great need for boldness in the pulpit today. We should remember that some biblical figures, like Moses and John the Baptist, spoke out against the rulers at the time and paid a price for it. Historically, being faithful to our God sometimes had a high price to it, as seen by those brave Christians who were fed to the lions in the arena rather than renounce their faith.
There’s a great painting at the Art Institute of Chicago showing St. Ambrose rebuking Roman Emperor Theodosius (around the end of the 4th century) for an imperial massacre in Thessalonica. The bishop took his life in his hands by making such a pronouncement against the lord of the whole empire. Thankfully, Theodosius repented.
Thomas More wasn’t so fortunate in his stance in refusing to give in to King Henry VIII’s demand for divine sanction for his divorce. More was beheaded for his courage to go against the king.
The price a bold pastor has to pay in our culture is generally a much smaller one than those sometimes demanded in the past—or even today in some of the world’s hot spots, such as the Middle East.
Historically, in the American context, pastors and the church have often led the way in societal reforms—some of which had political implications. For example, two-thirds of the members of the abolition society in 1835 were ministers of the gospel. Also, the anti-slavery Underground Railroad was run by churches. The civil rights movement was born in the church.
Before we even became a country, pastors (especially in New England) would preach election- day sermons, not necessarily endorsing particular candidates, but explaining biblical civic duties.
The pastor is bound by his duty to preach the Word of God. In 1750, Rev. Jonathan Mayhew of Boston defended the fact that he would on occasion preach sermons that had political implications. He said, “It is hoped that but few will think the subject of it [i.e., politics] an improper one to be discoursed on in the pulpit, under a notion that this is preaching politics, instead of Christ. However, to remove all prejudices of this sort, I beg it may be remembered that ‘all Scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.’ Why, then, should not those parts of Scripture which relate to civil government be examined and explained from the desk [i.e., the pulpit], as well as others?”
This is a message we need to rediscover in our time.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
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