EarsToHear.net
He That Has Ears To Hear, Let Him Hear (Matthew 11:15-30)
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. (Romans 14:17)
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EarsToHear.net
He That Has Ears To Hear, Let Him Hear
(Matthew 11:15-30)
For
the kingdom of God is not meat and drink;
but
righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
(Romans 14:17)
EarsToHear.net Newsletter
April 21, 2008 -
This or that? Common Good without Common
Sense.
(Click links for complete columns)
Upfront - This or that? Common Good without Common Sense.
This: “The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more’.” Michelle Marx Obama
That: "[D]emocracy will soon degenerate into an anarchy, such an anarchy that every man will do what is right in his own eyes and no man's life or property or reputation or liberty will be secure, and every one of these will soon mould itself into a system of subordination of all the moral virtues and intellectual abilities, all the powers of wealth, beauty, wit and science, to the wanton pleasures, the capricious will, and the execrable cruelty of one or a very few." John Adams (An Essay on Man's Lust for Power, 29 August 1763) Reference: Original Intent, Barton (338); original The Papers of John Adams, Taylor, ed., vol. 1 (83)
Take Action - (Alerts, Action, Petitions)
(Click links for complete columns)
Culture and Media Institute issued a call for Time-Warner -- HBO's parent company -- to issue an immediate apology for Maher’s defaming comments.Media Research Center Douglas Mills, Executive Vice President - This time, Bill Maher has gone too far. On his Time-Warner/HBO show, Maher called the Pope a "Nazi" and said the Catholic Church is nothing more than a "child-abusing religious cult." It gets much worse. Go here to see this shocking video: http://www.mrcaction.org/r.asp?U=6018&CID=506&RID=15965526 - Send a message to Time-Warner right now demanding an apology.
Bill Maher exhibits how America has "progressed" and digressed into secularism. American Minute for April 16th: On APRIL 16, 1859, French historian Alexis de Tocqueville died. After nine months of traveling the United States, he wrote Democracy in America in 1835, which has been described as "the most comprehensive...analysis of character and society in America ever written." Alexis de Tocqueville wrote: "Upon my arrival in the United States the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention...In France I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in opposite directions. But in America I found they were intimately united." De Tocqueville continued: "The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other...They brought with them into the New World a form of Christianity which I cannot better describe than by styling it a democratic and republican religion." In Book Two of Democracy in America, de Tocqueville wrote: "Christianity has therefore retained a strong hold on the public mind in America...In the United States...Christianity itself is a fact so irresistibly established, that no one undertakes either to attack or to defend it."
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If you want to know what a better system would look like, take a minute to calculate your taxes on our Flat Tax Calculator. You will see how easy and quick it would be if we had an income tax that was simpler, fairer and flatter. While some in Congress are pushing for the largest tax increase in U.S. history, others are putting forth better ideas. Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) has authored a bill called Scrap the Code (H.R. 510) that would create a pathway to fundamental tax reform by throwing out the current tax code abomination. “Scrap the Code” has long been a slogan of FreedomWorks and it is great to see serious legislative proposals being crafted to make it the law of the land. Rep. Goodlatte’s bill has 97 co-sponsors already and deserves your full support.
Related: Tax-Filing Burdens Worsen, with Little Respite in Sight, Citizen Group's Annual Study Finds - Taxpayers continue to be buried under burdensome federal income tax regulations, according to the 362,000-member National Taxpayers Union's (NTU) 10th annual study of tax law complexity trends. Taxpayers using any of the 1040 tax form series will spend an average of 26.5 hours and $207 completing their returns this year, up from 25.4 hours and $185 three years ago. "American taxpayers are spending inordinate amounts of time and money navigating the nation's twisted Tax Code," NTU Senior Counselor and study author David Keating said. "Tax complexity probably will get worse before it gets any better, unless lawmakers start quantifying burdens (or, in the rare case, savings) for proposals that affect our tax laws."
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Protect the Rights of Students Sign ACLJ Petition of Protest - Gina is an excellent student. Her grade point average is a 3.9 out of a possible 4.0. She has good relationships with her professors at Suffolk County Community College (SCCC). Introduction to Philosophy is a required class for all students at SCCC. For the first several class assignments, Gina received perfect grades. That all changed when God and religion became prominent topics of class discussion and her refusal to compromise her Christian faith became apparent. Her professor, Philip P., has not only docked her grades ... he has repeatedly derided Gina for her faith in online class discussions, calling her ''close-minded,'' ''uncritical,'' ''hurtful,'' and ''blinded by belief'' simply because she will not adopt his way of thinking. He has also said that to engage in dialogue, you have to at least acknowledge the possibility that God does not exist.
News and commentary (News & Commentary)
(Click links for complete columns)
Heritage’s Brian Darling warns. Entitlements. Liberals in Congress are looking to extend Depression-vintage farm subsidies, raise taxes and increase spending,
Why can’t Congress get taxes right? It’s almost embarrassing. Former Soviet Bloc countries, including all the Baltic states, have adopted the flat tax, a modern system of taxation with a simple, low rate of taxation for everyone. But America is stuck with a monstrously complex tax code—and the prospect of massive tax hikes that will punish hard work and investment.
Your Social Security & Medicare Advisor, Vol. 13, No. 4 - May 2008 - The Senior Citizens League (Partial coverage below.)
GOP Strikes Possible Deal on Judicial Confirmations Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell says he has a "good faith commitment" from Sen. Harry Reid to confirm three more federal appeals court nominees by Memorial Day.
Will Obama or McCain Appoint Justices Who Will Overturn Bad Precedents? New Book on 12 Worst U.S. Supreme Court Decisions Shows That Conflicts Over Sub-Prime Mortgages, Handguns, Campaign Finance Restrictions & Eminent Domain Abuse Arise From Bad Judicial Rulings
Electoral politics: Choosing "ministers of God" Bryan Fischer - Since the followers of Christ are the "salt of the earth" and the "light of the world," we should only expect decay and darkness in any arena of life where Christian influence is not felt, and that includes the arena of public policy as well as any other. It is an irresponsible abdication of our Christ's call on our lives to willingly absent ourselves from the world in which political decisions are made. ...John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court said, "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."
What They Don’t Tell You About the 2009 Budget on Beacon Hill - Why isn’t this important information readily dispersed by the major media in Boston? For instance, did you know that: - Gov Deval Patrick’s 2009 budget shows a huge deficit because of over $1B in new spending. What might even be worse is that this new budget will result in 5000 new state employees by the end of Patrick’s first year in office? I, for one, certainly didn’t vote for a LARGER government. - For all the complaining about Gov Romney’s travel during his last year in office, Gov Deval Patrick has turned his back on Massachusetts right up front. He is spending an incredible amount of time out of state working on non-state business in his first year in office, such as negotiating and promoting his $1.3 M book deal and campaigning for Senator Obama. This from the Telegram: ...The new cigarette tax will have a significant effect on the border towns of Massachusetts. Estimates are that 38 convenience stores will close and 400 jobs will be lost within the first year alone. Rep. George Peterson commented in the Telegram: "'The federal government is trying to put money back into people's hands to prime the economy and lower taxes and costs for businesses, and what are we doing? We are raising the cost of doing business and taking more money out of the pockets of our constituents,'" said state Rep. George N. Peterson, R-Grafton.
How 'community organizers' (like Obama) created the Subprime crisis Jerry Bowyer
Study: National media more liberal, secular than ever - A recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center found that 32 percent of national reporters acknowledge being politically liberal -- compared to only 19 percent of the general public. Kristen Fyfe of the Media Research Center's Culture and Media Institute (CMI) says the numbers are not surprising. She contends that all one has to do is pay attention to the headlines in the media and, as she puts it, "[y]ou get a dose of, basically, liberal propaganda, most of the time." The Pew survey also found that 68 percent of national reporters and news executives never or almost never attend worship services. Fyfe, who recently produced a CMI Special Report entitled "Apostles of Atheism," says that "91 percent of the journalists say that you don't have to believe in God to be a moral person."
Election 2008: Is Barack Obama's small-town America really
a land of bitter gun-toting, Bible-thumping racists? Or are they just
God-fearing American patriots? Maybe we should ask his "typical white"
grandmother. Meeting privately with a group of
donors in the Bay Area's super-liberal
Rev. Wright Attended Elite School, Myth Shattered By: Ronald Kessler - In his speech on race, Barack Obama tried to explain away his longtime minister’s denunciations of America by saying that for blacks of his generation, memories of “humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away.” But an examination by Newsmax of the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.’s background reveals that Obama’s characterization of his upbringing is mythology. Described by Obama as his sounding board and mentor for more than two decades, Wright was born in Philadelphia in 1941. He lived in a racially mixed section called Germantown, which consisted of homes on broad tree-lined streets in northwest Philadelphia. The owners then were middle-class families. For 62 years, Wright’s father, the Rev. Jeremiah Alvesta Wright, was pastor at Grace Baptist Church of Germantown. He was one of the first blacks to receive a degree from the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. Wright’s mother, Mary Elizabeth Henderson Wright, was a schoolteacher. She was the first black to teach an academic subject at Roosevelt Junior High, the first to teach at Germantown High, and the first to teach at the Philadelphia High School for Girls. She became vice principal of Girls High in 1968. Rather than attend the more racially mixed Germantown High School at 40 East High St., Wright traveled a few miles to the elite Central High School at 1700 West Olney Ave., graduating in 1959. Opened in 1838, Central High has a distinguished past and admits only highly-qualified applicants who are privileged to attend from all over the city. It is comparable to the Bronx High School of Science and Boston Latin School, both public schools known for academic excellence. When Wright attended Central High, the student body was 90 percent white, according to students who attended around the same time. At least three-quarters of the students were Jewish. Former students of the period say racial tension did not exist. Bill Cosby, who attended the school until transferring to Germantown High, has referred to Central as a “wonderful” school. In contrast to Wright, Cosby has denounced blacks who take refuge in self-pitying victimhood and seek to blame whites for problems in the black community. ...
Letter
from Americans United for Separation of Church and State
By David Barton - People of faith should not rely on
such agenda-driven adversarial secularist groups for advice on what they
can do in relation to elections; they should instead rely on neutral and
even supportive groups to help navigate these relatively simple waters.
For example, the IRS has issued a very simple and easy-to-understand
letter of guidance (link to this letter provided
here ) explaining what churches and
non-profit organizations can do at election time, and a number of national
legal groups which specialize in this legal arena have also provided even
more simple and clear letters of guidance (link also provided
here ). Just to illustrate how simple and
uncomplicated this issue really is, we have taken the Americans United for
Separation of Church and State letter of intimidation that they sent to
pastors in 2006 and have crossed out their editorial comments designed to
intimidate pastors and churches, leaving intact the actual legal guidance
which is confirmed by the IRS and supportive attorneys; as you can see,
the difference is stark! Don't be intimidated! Maximize your
constitutional influence by obtaining and following the clear guidelines
provided by legal groups who specializing in helping people of faith.
Liberty Legal Institute hoping to 'turn tables' on liberal group Hiram Sasser, an attorney for the Houston Area Pastors Council, says the tables are being turned on Barry Lynn and his liberal group Americans United for Separation of Church and State. ...Sasser, with Liberty Legal Institute, represents HAPC. He says AU has attempted to bully pastors into silence for years. "[Lynn's] trying to intimidate pastors and trying to prevent those pastors and other pastors from speaking out on the 1candidates of their choice. But by doing ... what he's doing, he's tampering with the election process. And since the Americans United for Separation of Church and State is non-profit, answerable to the IRS, they're violating the very rule they're trying to use to intimidate others," Sasser contends.
McCain urged to flee from Log Cabin Republicans Conservative activist Peter LaBarbera is urging GOP presidential nominee John McCain to cancel his plans to meet with leaders of the homosexual activist group known as the Log Cabin Republicans. ...According to LaBarbera, McCain would be wise to distance himself from a group that "spews anti-Christian bigotry." That group's crusade in favor of homosexual "marriage," he argues, goes counter to the efforts of pro-family advocates who are fighting to protect marriage with constitutional amendments at the state and federal level.
Richard Viguerie Lists Conservatives' Problems with John McCain "The truth is that the differences with McCain are real. They involve matters of policy, of personnel, and of insights into the Senator's thinking about conservatives and the issues important to conservatives," Viguerie said. He said some of the biggest complaints were: ...The full article, with additional details, is posted online at http://conservativehq.com/news-from-the- front/ravonmccain080416.
Study: Divorce, unwed parenting costing taxpayers billions Divorce and out-of-wedlock childbearing cost U.S. taxpayers more than $112 billion a year, according to a study commissioned by four groups advocating more government action to bolster marriages.
Political Crusaders By Thomas Sowell - The latest political crusade is the crusade to replace ordinary light bulbs with the new CFL light bulb that is supposed to save electricity, reducing the need for fossil fuels and helping the fight against global warming. Since crusaders seldom stop to weigh the cost of what they are advocating, it is especially important that the rest of us do so before we get swept along by rhetoric and emotions. With the CFL light bulb, the initial cost -- several times that of a regular light bulb -- is only the financial cost. A bigger problem is what to do if a CFL light bulb breaks. You are supposed to shut off all air conditioners or heaters, to keep them from circulating mercury vapor from the broken CFL. You are supposed to open windows and doors to air out the place. Pregnant women and small children are supposed to leave the area while the mess is being cleaned up by someone else, wearing a dust mask and gloves. ...
Girls 'n Grace Author Pam Davis Equips Young Girls to Meet the Cultural and Moral Challenges of Today "Today's little girls are growing up faster than ever, urged toward adolescence by the kids at school, television, movies, music, and even their toys--and each of these influences will shape who our daughters become," Davis says. "Now is the time for young girls to learn that when you live in the amazing grace of God, you don't have to give in to the kind of pressures that often lead to bad decisions." ...The release of the first two Girls 'n Grace books, Sydney Clair's Season of Change and Mesi: A Girl 'n Grace in Africa (Authentic), will serve as the introduction to the product line. ...The Girls 'n Grace interactive website includes links for moms, mother/daughter Bible studies, games, a book club, and information about the line of dolls.
W Goes Green By Chris Horner - After being a stalwart opponent of the nonsensical anti-science buttressing the "global warming" industry throughout his tenure, President Bush today is scheduled to announce a multi-part program to combat the man-made climate change that mostly exists in the fevered brows of the Left here, in Hollywood and in Europe.
Indoctrination - Without a Heritage every generation starts over
(Click links for complete columns / footnotes)
“Is American public education a form of child abuse?” Mark Steyn
“Day of Silence” Scam Places Children at Risk By J. Matt Barber - Can you imagine officials at a middle school, junior high or high school setting aside a day to promote "tolerance" for heavy smoking and drinking among children? How about a day where teachers encourage kids to "embrace who they are," pick up that crack pipe and give it a stiff toke? Neither can I. The public would go ballistic, and for good reason. But that hasn't stopped officials in thousands of schools across the country from promoting other politically correct and socially "in-vogue" behaviors that - both statistically and manifestly - are every bit as dangerous as the aforementioned "frowned-upon" behaviors. That's exactly what the homosexual activist "Day of Silence" is all about - advancing, through clever, feel-good propaganda, full acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle among children. Just the Facts Ma'am - By recently admitting that "HIV is a gay disease," Matt Foreman, outgoing Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, acknowledged what the medical community has known for decades: the homosexual lifestyle is extremely high-risk and often leads to disease and even death. In fact, multiple studies have established that homosexual conduct, especially among males, is considerably more hazardous to one's health than a lifetime of chain smoking. ...While the medical consensus is that smoking knocks from two to 10 years off an individual's life expectancy, the IJE study found that homosexual conduct shortens the lifespan of "gays" by an astounding "8 to 20 years" - more than twice that of smoking. "[U]nder even the most liberal assumptions," concluded the study, "gay and bisexual men in this urban centre are now experiencing a life expectancy similar to that experienced by all men in Canada in the year 1871. … [L]ife expectancy at age 20 years for gay and bisexual men is 8 to 20 years less than for all men."
MassResistance report on what happened at the Day of Silence at a school last year.
Teaching kids to embrace bisexuality MassResistance report on: Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN) Conference at English High School, Boston MA - Mar. 29, 2008 - More from GLSEN homosexual conference for kids: The "Bisexuality Resource Kit". Taxpayer supported insanity. Imagine impressionable teenagers being persuaded to become bisexual. Imagine this happening in a public school. Guess what? You're paying for it.
$500,000 for homosexual programs in schools is kept in state 2009 budget! MA Ways & Means Committee ignores complaints. But the fight is only beginning! The money is specifically earmarked in two separate budget items that go directly fund homosexual programs targeting children in the public schools. Much of it goes to the Mass. Commission on Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender Youth. GLSEN, PFLAG,BAGLY, and other hardcore homosexual groups are members of that commission.
Profiles in education courage Both Democratic presidential candidates, as they heap criticism on No Child Left Behind, oppose helping get education options into the hands of parents. No Child Left Behind allows parents to move their child to a performing district public school if the child's school is failing and does not improve for three consecutive years. But this provision is effectively meaningless because rarely is there an available public-school alternative. ...The great irony is that, politically, it has been Democrats who have opposed school choice and, despite disproportionate education problems in the black community, black political leadership has been generally opposed, as has the NAACP. Both Democratic presidential candidates, as they heap criticism on No Child Left Behind, oppose helping get education options into the hands of parents. Barack Obama's two daughters attend private school in Chicago, and Hillary Rodham Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, attended the private Sidwell Friends School in Washington.
Florida Education Association vs. Parents The Florida Education Association is threatening a lawsuit to shut down the state's scholarship program for low-income kids. Under this program, businesses can donate to nonprofit scholarship organizations, and then claim a tax credit up to a certain limit. The scholarship money brings the option of private schooling within reach of families that couldn't otherwise afford it. Why this talk of a lawsuit now, after the scholarships have been operating for seven years? The union worries that the program might offer educational choice to too many poor children.
Jeb Bush's Reforms Improved Public Schools Dr. Matthew Ladner - Startling statistics show that with abundant school choice and systemic education reform, Florida?s Hispanic students already eclipse the average. ...The percentage of Florida children failing to master basic literacy dropped by 36 percent in less than 10 years--a remarkable achievement. Meanwhile, the percentage of fourth graders scoring “proficient” increased by 54 percent, and the percent scoring “advanced” (the highest level of achievement) doubled, from four to eight percent. Best of all, improvements among Hispanic and African American students helped to drive the overall results. Scores of Florida’s Hispanic students have soared in recent years. Florida’s Hispanic students now have the second highest reading scores in the nation, and African Americans score fourth highest. The average Florida Hispanic student NAEP reading score (conducted in English mind you) is now higher than the overall scores of all students in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.
Minnesotans Pay for Muslim School “There's a double standard at work here — if TIZA were a Christian school, it would likely be gone in a heartbeat.”
Darwin or Design? Explore the evidence. Where does the evidence rally lead? There are 3 DVD's that explore the evidence.
"INDOCTRINATE U" - Even though the film has been highly praised by a number of major outlets, there are still tons of people out there who need to know about the frontal assault on freedom of thought taking place on campuses all over America. ...If you believe that academia must embrace intellectual diversity, if you think that the terms of the debate on campus shouldn't be dictated by ideological mob rule, ask yourself, "What would Paul Revere do?"
Disclaimer: EarsToHear.net does not necessarily endorse or agree with every opinion expressed in every article posted in its newsletters. All articles are aimed at challenging apathy and to encourage taking a stand for the values you represent. Please see associated EarsToHear.net links for its stance and commentary on the issues.
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