From: The Pen of Gary Bauer

From: The Pen of Gary Bauer

One of President Obama’s recent appointments, Rosa Brooks, has been called “A disaster for Defense.”

Brooks will soon be working in the Pentagon as an adviser to the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. This office has been described as “the nerve center producing most of the Defense Department’s strategic documents and governing policies.” It is a key office and Brooks is assuming a key position. What exactly is on her resume?

Well, she’s been a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, where she frequently called President Bush a “war criminal,” and once wrote that President Bush and Vice President Cheney “should be treated like psychotics who need treatment.” She also dismissed Al Qaeda as “little more than an obscure group of extremist thugs.” And she labeled the surge in Iraq as “a feckless plan” that was “too little, too late.”

But there’s more. She’s also a law professor. (Just what the Pentagon needs – another lawyer!) She’s been on the board of Amnesty International, and she once served as special counsel to the president of the Open Society Institute. What’s that, you ask? Oh, that’s just George Soros’ foundation, which funds just about every leftwing outfit in existence today. Obama’s installation of one of George Soros’ leftwing acolytes to this key Pentagon post is, as the Washington Times put it, “like making Jane Fonda a senior adviser on Vietnam.”

All Good We Have Is By Christ

Quoting Jonathan Edwards:

It is in and by Christ that we have righteousness. It is by being in him that we are justified, have our sins pardoned, and are received as righteous into God’s favor. It is by Christ that we have sanctification: we have in him true excellency of heart as well as of understanding; and he is made unto us inherent, as well as imputed righteousness. It is by Christ that we have redemption, or actual deliverance from all misery, and the bestowment of all happiness and glory. Thus we have all our good by Christ, who is God.

Elementary Thoughts: Discipline – Part 5

The woman I was trying to talk to on the telephone was yelling. I held the receiver an inch or two from my ear as I listened to her describe how her child’s teacher hated her daughter. She knew this, she said, because her daughter would come home and tell her how mean the teacher was to her every day. She said that the teacher would fuss at her daughter when she did not complete her work. Her child often told her that the teacher would call her “dumb” in front of all her classmates. She complained that she was sick and tired of the teacher calling her at home to complain about her child. She wanted something done about it immediately.

I asked if she would come to the school for a conference with us that afternoon. She said she could not. I asked if she would come the next day. She said no. Finally, she reluctantly agreed to an afternoon conference in the latter part of the next week. When that day and time arrived, she did not.

Previously, this parent had been told that her child was playing games between the teacher and her because it was difficult for the teacher to contact her. When the teacher tried to send written messages by the child, they never reached the mother. If the teacher called and the daughter answered the telephone, the daughter would hang the phone up when she recognized the teacher’s voice. Add to this that the mother was unwilling to take the time to meet with the teacher and what you have is a formula for creating a child who believes that lies and manipulation will solve any problem.

This fourth grade girl would hit other children and deny she did anything. She would spit on others and claim that she, not they, had been the actual victim. She never completed her homework and always said she lost it when it was due. She would refuse to do her class work and when the teacher made any effort to correct her behavior she would tell her mom that the teacher picked on her. When the teacher managed to contact mom (the teacher visited the home once, and on a few other occasions reached mom by phone), the response was very unfriendly. The mother stated that her daughter should be expected to act like a child. She believed it was unreasonable to expect her to discipline her daughter at home for what happened at school. She also indicated that she was suspicious of the teacher’s motives toward her child because her daughter was so unhappy in her class. No assurances of personal concern, nor anything else the frustrated teacher could think to do or say could break through the apparent wall of distrust that the mother had erected.

But was it really genuine distrust? Could it have been a defense mechanism to excuse mom’s lack of interest in parenting and in confronting the problem of her daughter’s behavior? This mom, like many other parents I have met with, told us that her daughter had never had any problems in previous years with other teachers. She stated that her daughter had always gotten along well in her previous schools and had even made good grades until this year and this particular teacher. When we pulled the child’s records, documenting her performance in previous years at other schools, we began to wonder if we were discussing the same child as this mother. There, in writing before us, was her signature on copies of report cards going back to kindergarten which showed very poor grades, failure to complete assignments, and ongoing discipline problems in every class.

Could it be that the mother had forgotten the concerns expressed to her about her daughter by every teacher since the child was in kindergarten? No! This mom, like many others, had simply placed parenting her child at the bottom of her list of things to do. When anyone asked more of her than she was willing to commit, she denied the problem existed or placed the blame on someone else. She was preoccupied with her own personal list of social needs and material wants. Her personal problems and pursuits always took precedence over her daughter’s. She had failed to discipline her own life and, as a consequence, was unable to find the time to help bring order and stability to the life of her daughter.

What Was The Criteria Used To Close Particular Chrysler Dealerships?

From: Doug Ross @ Journal

Red State, American Thinker, Joey Smith and Reliapundit provide anecdotal and quantitative evidence that would appear to confirm a decided bias against dealers who donated to GOP causes or to anti-Obama Democrats.

Special note for moonbats: no one here is saying that the sole criterion for closing a dealership was partisanship. What we ask is: does it seem odd that the list of closed dealerships appears to have contributed a grand total of $200 to Barack Obama and millions to GOP candidates/causes?

Quote from an attorney who Deposed Chrysler’s president last week: “It became clear to us that Chrysler does not see the wisdom of terminating 25 percent of its dealers… It really wasn’t Chrysler’s decision. They are under enormous pressure from the President’s automotive task force.”

Late night updates from Joey Smith and Thomas Lamb: Large Democrat Donor groups not only remain open in all locations, but have their competition eliminated… and/or can purchase for pennies on the dollar.

Stay tuned. More data crunching is underway.

A Despotic Judiciary

Thomas Jefferson

Quoting Thomas Jefferson:

“The opinion which gives to the judges the right to decide what laws are constitutional and what not, not only for themselves in their own sphere of action but for the Legislature and Executive also in their spheres, would make the Judiciary a despotic branch. … It has long been my opinion … that the germ of dissolution of our federal government is in the constitution of the federal judiciary; working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little today and a little tomorrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a thief, over the field of jurisdiction, until all shall be usurped.”

At The Movies: The Truth About “Angels And Demons”

According to Dr. Bill Edgar, professor of apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary, the web site TruthAboutAngelsAndDemons.com was created to help individuals sort through the fact and fiction in the novel and film. Included in the site are articles on bio-ethics and the Church, facts about anti-matter, and information about the real Illuminati.

Visit the site here. . . .

Avoiding The Unpleasant Subject Of Hell

From: The Pen of Cornelius Pronk

A Landmark shift has taken place in recent years as far as content and emphasis in preaching is concerned. The trend in evangelical churches is definitely away from the biblical notion of judgment and eternal punishment. Preaching on such solemn themes has largely been replaced by a steady stream of sermons on everyday issues such as child rearing, husband-wife relations and similar “practical” topics. These are very much in demand today and preachers by and large have caved in to this demand. As a result unpleasant subjects such as divine wrath and eternal fire are put on the back burner. Churches today are under enormous pressure to be consumer-oriented. They feel the need to be appealing rather than demanding.

There is, of course, a legitimate place for preaching on practical subjects such as child rearing and the roles and responsibilities of spouses and parents. Scripture itself sets forth clear principles and directives regarding these and similar issues. Especially at a time when marriage and the family are under vicious and relentless attack we need biblical instruction from the pulpit on these vital matters.

But something is very wrong when such preaching takes place at the expense of other biblical themes for fear that these might not be welcome. What Jesus said to the Pharisees with reference to their practice of tithing mint, anise and cummin, while neglecting the more important duties of loving God and exercising mercy, applies also here, namely: “these ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone” (Matt.23:23; Luke 11:42).

It is precisely because many are leaving the preaching about hell undone that fear of God is largely absent from both church and society. The most appalling crimes are being committed by people who show no emotion and appear to have no qualms of conscience whatsoever. Even in church we meet many, especially young people (but older ones as well), who show little or no concern about death and eternity. They don’t feel attracted to heaven, nor are they afraid of hell. The here-and-now is all they seem to think about. The biblical statement, “there is no fear of God before their eyes,” accurately describes the thoughts and attitude of many in the present generation, both in and outside the church.