Laughing All The Way To The Poor House

From: The Desk of Gary Bauer

I don’t know how many of you happened to tune in to Obama’s 60 Minutes interview, but it was a surreal event. President Obama was talking about the precarious position of the United States and the rest of the world as a result of the global economic crisis. He was warning that we still faced the possibility of “an even more destructive recession or potentially a depression.” And through it all, the president just kept on laughing – as though he had forgotten that this was 60 Minutes and not Jay Leno. The president’s odd demeanor got the attention of CBS’s veteran journalist Steve Kroft. At one point during the interview, Kroft asked the president of the United States: “You’re sitting here. And you’re – you are laughing. You are laughing about some of these problems. Are people going to look at this and say, ‘I mean, he’s sitting there just making jokes about money.’ …Are you punch-drunk?”

That question may well be another “first” for President Obama. It’s certainly the first time I recall a president being asked if he was “punch-drunk.” But President Obama brushed it off with a laugh, saying, “No. No. There’s gotta be a little gallows humor to get you through the day.” Maybe so. But I suspect, rather than “gallows humor,” most Americans would appreciate steady leadership that is focused on the crisis at hand. Instead, Obama is jumping from one massive Big Government initiative to the next, while admitting that the economy stands on the brink of “an even more destructive recession or potentially a depression.”

If you thought spending was out of control during the last eight years, consider this from the Associated Press, “President Barack Obama’s budget would produce $9.3 trillion in deficits over the next decade, more than four times the deficits of Republican George W. Bush’s presidency.”

Senator Judd Gregg, the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, responded to the CBO report, saying, “The practical implications of [Obama's budget] is bankruptcy for the United States. There’s no other way around it. If we maintain the proposals which are in this budget…this country will go bankrupt.” So far the administration has been cavalier in its reaction, dismissing the CBO report and indicating that it has no plans whatsoever to cutback on spending. That leaves only one option: massive tax hikes on everyone – and that’s nothing to laugh about!

An American Character

Quoting George Washington:

“I want an American character, that the powers of Europe may be convinced we act for ourselves and not for others; this, in my judgment, is the only way to be respected abroad and happy at home.”

Elementary Thoughts: Selfishness – Part 7

I remember the defiance in the eyes of a fifth grade girl who once sat in my office. Her teacher had, with good cause, reached the limits of her patience. As I tried to talk with the child, she let me know in no uncertain terms that she could not care less what I had to say about the situation. She said there was nothing I could do to make her behave. All of this and a lot more, she expressed to us in the foulest language you can possibly imagine.

She was a very angry child. She was angry with me. She was angry with her teacher and classmates. She seemed to be angry at life in general. Most of all, she was angry with her mom.

I was informed that her grandmother had reared this child since she was a baby. The grandmother was in her late seventies at the time of this incident. She also had an older brother who attended our school, but the brother lived with the mother. This mom had simply decided that she did not want to raise another child. The girl had never known her father.

The mother often came for conferences with teachers concerning the older brother. She refused to even discuss the younger child with us. Because of the age of the grandmother, this child had been pretty much on her own as she grew up. Her grandmother tried, but was simply unable to give the girl the attention she needed. This child grew up alone, watching from the distance, as her mom gave the other child all the love, time, and attention she so desperately needed. She was a rejected child. She was not “good,” because she had been given away. She just wanted to get even, somehow, because of the pain.

Children take time and this mother had made the decision that she did not have the time for another child. Is it any wonder that years later this girl would decide to abort her own child when she became pregnant? What memories to gave value to her own life did she have to look back on? What loving, nurturing relationship was there in her life that provided a reference for her future decisions? Her mother did not have time for the inconvenience of rearing another child. The daughter would not be inconvenienced to even give life to a child, because the only heritage she had been provided was one of pain and loneliness. (Continued on Monday)

The Death Penalty On Trial

Eric Rauch reviews The Death Penalty on Trial: Taking a Life for a Life Taken, by Dr. Ron Gleason:

Although we seem to be preoccupied with the economy and stimulus bills lately, the controversy over the death penalty in America is still very far from over. And because the arguments for and against capital punishment are often closely tied to the abortion debate, Christians of every denomination should be ready and willing to offer the biblical answer. While the Bible is abundantly clear on what God’s view of the death penalty is, we need to be constantly reminding ourselves of the primary reasons why the death penalty is to be used, to avoid being sidetracked by the opposition’s endless appeals to emotion and pity.

In his new book, The Death Penalty on Trial: Taking a Life for a Life Taken, Dr. Ron Gleason provides objective clarity to this subjective issue. Getting straight to the point, Dr. Gleason writes:

Christians are obligated to conform their thinking and actions to the Word of God. It is important that they do not neglect to study and meditate upon God’s Word. They must not let emotions form their principles but must allow the Word of God to determine their principles. (21-22)

Continue reading. . . .

Their Folly Is To Ignore Him

From: The Desk of Marie Jon

History is filled with the names of people who have changed the way we live and think. Names like Aristotle, the Greek philosopher and student of Plato; Alexander the Great; and other familiar names pass the lips of people who have never read one book about them, because they played such a profound role in the development of human civilization. Others, like Marie Curie, Thomas Edison, Sir Isaac Newton, Galileo Galilei, and Albert Einstein, are remembered for furthering mankind’s frontiers of knowledge.

However, there is one person, without a doubt, whose name stands out above all the rest. Jesus of Nazareth has had much more of an impact on our civilization. He was the gentle carpenter who changed lives with His earthly ministry. Christ came to a world besieged in darkness, and set the captives free.

There are many people who believe that Christ was merely a good man. Christendom, on the other hand, reveres Jesus as God in human flesh. Yet, to this very day, many question that He is the Son of God. Unfortunately, some are within the Christian community. . . .

Continue reading. . . .