Monday, May 14, 2012 @ 11:41am

Countdown To Revelation

In America, Israel and around the world, religious Jews are literally counting-down to a major festival that falls this year on Memorial Day weekend. Shavuot, known in English as "The Feast of Weeks" or "Pentecost," is as significant in Jewish tradition as Passover-and far more important than the minor festival of Hanukah.

Though Most Christians and many Jews remain unaware of it, a Biblical commandment requires counting aloud each one of the fifty days between Passover and Shavuot, which celebrates revelation of the Law on Mount Sinai. The counting process reminds us of the unbreakable links of liberation and law, freedom and responsibility-teaching that deliverance from slavery didn't mean release to follow your own inclinations, but freedom to serve God. Each day of the countdown is meant to bring us consciously closer to that service.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012 @ 2:19pm

The Sad, Lonely "Life of Julia"

The Obama campaign released an embarrassing comic strip called "The Life of Julia" designed to show Obama policies helping a "typical" American from cradle to grave.

The story begins with three-year-old Julia in the federal Head Start program and ends with her retirement on Social Security benefits at age 67. Along the way, she gets free contraception, subsidized student loans, and enhanced ability to sue her bosses. Julia never marries, though she "decides to have a baby" with free health care guaranteed by Obama. That baby -the only person who appears with Julia in any chapter of her existence - disappears when he's six and she's 37.

"The Life of Julia" seems above all lonely-unintentionally revealing that those without family and community depend more on government, while those depending on government are less likely to build strong families and communities.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012 @ 2:18pm

Who's Out of Touch?

The president's re-election campaign attacks Mitt Romney as hopelessly "out of touch," but a recent vote in North Carolina revealed that it's Obama himself who is removed from ordinary Americans. Voters (both black and white) overwhelmingly backed a constitutional amendment preventing redefinition of marriage-an amendment strenuously opposed by leading Democrats.

Meanwhile, the administration welcomed a U.N. bureaucrat to America to review "oppression" against Indians--a "rapporteur" who then demanded the U.S. to give Native Americans more land, including Mount Rushmore. Speaking of public land, it's Obama supporters who have filed frequent lawsuits to remove crosses or 10 Commandment displays while deriding the influence of religion.

Mitt Romney may well be far wealthier than average Americans, but he shares their attitudes toward family, faith and hard work. In judging who's really out of touch, values matter more than the size of a candidate's personal bank account.

Thursday, May 3, 2012 @ 9:36am

Erasing history - In the shape of a cross

Militant secularists have launched an outrageous campaign to ban one of the most famous symbols of the September 11th attacks from a place of honor in the new memorial museum at the World Trade Center site. Many Americans felt inspired by two twisted girders that somehow survived the wreckage and formed the huge 9/11 cross. Now American Atheists has begun legal action to keep that cross out of the publicly funded museum despite its historic significance, insisting it's a religious relic that belongs instead at a nearby cathedral. This obnoxious allergy to crosses, and the ongoing push to drive them from monuments and parks where they've stood for years, shows that it's the non-believers, not religious conservatives, with a radical, intolerant agenda. They want to change America beyond recognition and to sweep away any symbols that challenge their absolutist views.

Thursday, April 26, 2012 @ 11:54am

Politicians Can Lose Touch- Even Locally

Every politician in the area-Republicans as well as Democrats-backed the new borrowing and our community, proud of its top-ranked schools, had always approved previous calls to boost education spending. But citizens crushed the new proposal by a margin of nearly two to one.

When a Seattle suburb Obama won handily rejects heavily promoted school bonds, it shows mounting ire about rising taxes. And when local officials in a city of 22,000 misunderstand their skeptical constituents, it illustrates how easily representatives in Washington can lose touch with the people they're supposed to represent.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012 @ 5:07pm

Are Chimps Immoral?

The Disney Company's handsome new nature film Chimpanzeefeatures spectacular jungle footage from the Ivory Coast, but it's coupled with insipid narration that actually ruins the movie.

As delivered by Tim Allen, the script centers around a lovable baby chimp whose mother falls victim to a rival band of chimpanzees described repeatedly as "a mob," or "gang," comprised of "thugs." In fact, no meaningful difference in behavior distinguished supposedly nice chimps from purported meanies-both groups struggle desperately to survive amidst scarce resources.

The movie shows even intelligent animals ruled by instinct, not some code of honor; they are incapable of either morality or immorality. Only human beings, discerning for thousands of years some timeless rules established by a higher power, can exercise real choice, displaying conduct that counts as genuinely good or evil.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012 @ 5:06pm

The Crushing Cost of "Free" Food

A recent report shows nearly one in six Americans depend on federal money through the food stamps program, while costs of the giveaway more than doubled in the last four years. In part, that's because the Obama administration loosened restrictions and boosted benefits as part of its so-called "stimulus" package.

It's illogical to think subsidized meals stimulate economic growth, and even more illogical to suggest hungry families must rely on far-away Washington instead of local or state programs, not to mention private charities. Moreover, current costs for the food stamps program--$72 billion a year-exceed the most optimistic estimates of all new funds the president seeks by hiking taxes on the rich.

Inevitably, the middle class must help pay the bills, with higher taxes or deepening debt, for their neighbors' food entitlements-which now include fast food like pizza, hot dogs and French fries!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012 @ 4:01pm

How Is Romney "Out of Step" with American Values?

In a campaign speech in Exeter, New Hampshire, Vice President Joe Biden attacked Mitt Romney as "out of step with American values."

This is an outrageous charge that demands a direct challenge from fair-minded sources in the media. In what way does Mitt Romney fail to honor American values? His family life has been exemplary: 42 years of marriage with five married sons and sixteen grandchildren. He gives prodigiously to charity, with no hint of impropriety in either his business or political careers. Does Romney violate "American values" just because he's rich?

In fact, Americans have always honored the goal of creating wealth through hard work and honest effort-as did Romney. Biden and Obama are actually more out of step with traditional American values, through their support for bigger government, more dependency, and less individual accountability.