Tuesday
WHO ARE WE GOING TO BELIEVE?
`
THANK YOU - THANK YOU for all your
messages of agreement with last week's issue
of ANC. And for your encouraging words
and continuing to refer this commentary to your
friends. These are indeed critical times for our
nation, but we have been through difficult times
before. But the difference is that never before
has the administration in power denied that we
are a Christian nation. Throughout history all
of our previous leaders have looked to God
for help. This time it is evident that our nation's
Christian leadership will have to come from the
American people.
This is a challenge we dare not refuse to meet,
and a responsibility we absolutely must accept.
Again we cite the quote attributed to Edmund
Burke: "All that is necessary for the triumph of
evil is that good men do nothing."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
EVERYTHING SEEMS TO COME DOWN
TO THE SIMPLE QUESTION: "WHO
ARE WE GOING TO BELIEVE?"
Just like last week's issue, we begin with the
same question: Where to start? And just like in
last week's issue, it's not an easy choice.
Maybe it's best to start at the top, so to speak,
the President of the United States. But in doing
so we have to confess right up front that he
doesn't qualify as one we should believe. That
may be because the "Health Care Reform" bill
(the president has now changed the title to the
"Health Insurance Reform") is so important to
his announced schedule that he is apparently
inclined to bend the truth in pushing it. In a
press conference on July 22 he said that doctors
are forced to make decisions based on the fee
payment schedule, so if a child has a sore throat,
the president said: " ... the doctor may look at
the reimbursement system and say to himself,
'You know what? I make a lot more money if
I take this kid’s tonsils out.'”
But this was not his only attack on the nation's
physicians and surgeons; at the New Hampshire
Town Hall Meeting on August 11, he said:
"Let’s take the example of something like
diabetes ... if a family care physician works
with his or her patient to help them lose weight,
modify diet ... they might get reimbursed a
pittance. But if that same diabetic ends up
getting their foot amputated, that’s $30,000,
$40,000, $50,000 the surgeon is reimbursed."
And why is he making such attacks? To build
support for his socialism-based belief that the
government should pay for all health care. The
result? To push his health care plan, he has
decided to insult and dishonor the motives of
those who provide health care to the nation.
In response to the president's false accusations
that doctors perform tonsillectomies to make
money, and that surgeons cut off legs for profit
the American College of Surgeons wrote this
letter to President Obama:
"The American College of Surgeons is deeply
disturbed over the uninformed public comments
President Obama continues to make about
the high-quality care provided by surgeons
in the United States. When the president
makes statements that are incorrect or not
based in fact, we think he does a disservice
to the American people … The president’s
remarks are truly alarming and run the risk
of damaging the all-important trust between
surgeons and their patients. …we would
urge him to have his facts correct before
making another inflammatory and incorrect
statement about surgeons and surgical care.”
No one could better address our opening
question: Who are we going to believe? Isn't
this an item of concern for American Christians?
Some of us have seen on TV the futile effort
by Fox News reporter Major Garrett to get an
answer from White House press agent Gibbs
to the question about a White House email list.
We have received from our readers some copies
of unsolicited email messages they have received
from David Axelrod, senior advisor to President
Obama. We may never know how many of our
fellow Americans received the Axelrod mass
emailing, but it has to be many thousands. In
those emails he complained about all the "lies
and distortions" being spread about the Obama
health reform plan, calling them "viral emails,"
and proposed: "Let's start a chain e-mail of
our own." So much for Gibbs' refusal to admit
that a White House email list exists. And so
much for the White House initial denials of
sending any unsolicited -- which they later
confessed to having done because there was
too much evidence that they had in fact sent
the emails.
One of our readers sent this response to David
Axelrod at his White House email address after
receiving one of those unsolicited emails:
"Please take me off you junk mail list as that
is what I consider junk like this. I want to
keep my existing health insurance and don't
trust anyone in the white house to know what
is best for me. You promised one thing in the
campaign and constantly change your mind.
I simply don't believe anything you guys there
say. Stop the junk mail."
That letter spoke for the rest of us -- and even
though the writer knows he is probably on the
White House bad list for sure, he has absolutely
no idea of retracting or apologizing.
Concerning the seriousness of all this, Jay
Sekulow, chief counsel of American Center for
Law and Justice said, "This is a very troubling
attempt to stifle the free speech of Americans
who have the constitutional right to express
their opinion and concerns about health care.
This move is an attempt to intimidate those
who have legitimate concerns about the health
care plan. And, worse, it turns the White House
into some sort of self-appointed ’speech police.’"
And the ACLU, those stalwart guardians of
American constitutional rights, made this very
mild expression of concern, admitting that the
White House blog is "a bad idea that could
send a troublesome message.”
And as for Nancy Pelosi's accusation that all
of us who do not agree with the Obama-Pelosi-
Reid health reform plan are "un-American," we
recall the words of Obama's Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton when she was First Lady in the
White House: "I am sick and tired of people
who say that if you debate and you disagree
with this administration, somehow you're not
patriotic... We are Americans and we have a
right to debate and disagree with any
administration." Right on, Hillary!
And even Ms. Pelosi herself said a couple of
years ago that there is no higher patriotic calling
than standing up for what you believe in, and
she urged her listeners: "So let’s not question
each other’s patriotism when we have this
very honest debate that our country expects
and deserves.” How conveniently they forget
when it is the Conservatives, not the Liberals,
who are voicing opposition!
And that isn't the only misinformation from
Washington this past week. On August 13, a
main front-page headline in one of the nation's
major metropolitan newspapers read: "Upbeat
Fed Says Recession is Near an End." (That's
the government's Federal Reserve System.) And
President Obama declared that actions taken by
his administration had helped stop an economic
freefall and said the United States may be seeing
"the beginnings" of the end of the recession.
But on August 14, Reuters, the international
news agency, made this report that "Americans
shopped less in July and more signed up for
jobless benefits last week in a double dose of
bad news for the U.S. economy just a day
after the Federal Reserve said it saw a leveling
out of the slump." So, again, it is a case of
"who to believe."
"I wish I had never said that" department.
Obama told CNN, "The only measure of my
success as president when people look back
five years from now or nine years from now
is going to be did I get this economy fixed,"
And then there are the little lies, the day to
day political rhetoric. Like whether abortion is
included as a paid-for benefit under Obamacare.
In a Town Hall meeting last week, Rep. Zoe
Lofgren (D, CA) said "Abortion will be covered
as a benefit by one or more of the health care
plans available to Americans, and I think it
should be." But in another Town Hall meeting
last week, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D, MO) said:
"There is not one dime for any abortions.
There is nothing in the bill that mandates any
kind of abortion coverage." In his uproarious
Town Hall meeting, Sen. Arlen Specter (D, PA)
said he agreed with McCaskill. But in speaking
about the plan, President Obama said, "In my
mind, reproductive care is essential care. It is
basic care. And so it is at the center and at
the heart of the plan that I propose." (The
term "Reproductive care" is the politically
correct euphemism for abortion.) We have to
ask: Who are we going to believe?
And then there was this: in his recent town
hall meeting in New Hampshire Obama said,
"We have the AARP on board because they
know this is a good deal for our seniors."
Within hours the AARP had gone on record
denying that they had in any way endorsed the
president's program. Tom Nelson, AARP's
chief operating officer, said, "Indications that
we have endorsed any of the major health care
reform bills currently under consideration in
Congress are inaccurate." Nelson also said that
AARP would not endorse a bill that reduces
Medicare benefits. Once again we have to ask:
who are we going to believe?
What are the serious implications arising
out of all these conflicting viewpoints? As
Christians we have every right to be concerned
about the lack of credibility in the actions and
statements of our president. We should be able
to trust the man at the head of our government.
Whether he believes it or not, the facts are that
America was conceived of and founded as a
nation which put God first, as exemplified in
its foundation being built on Judeo-Christian
principles. To reject those principles, to deny
that we are a Christian nation (when 82% of
Americans declare they are Christian) is a
matter of serious concern. As for specific
issues, we cannot sit back and watch the
concept of family based on the Christian
concept of marriage be destroyed . . . the
Obama administration Justice Department has
filed court papers claiming that DOMA, the
Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, (passed by
Congress and signed into law by President
Clinton), discriminates against homosexuals.
Nor can we watch this continued rejection of
the right to life as abortion threatens the killing
of even more than the 50 million babies which
have already been killed under Roe v. Wade.
Some of our readers have written to say they
find it difficult (some have said "impossible")
to pray for Mr. Obama. But we must pray that
God will somehow give him wisdom in dealing
with the responsibilities of being the president.
Even secular observers, not only the nation's
Christian ministers, see the importance of God
in the life of the nation. Jon Meacham, managing
editor of "Newsweek" magazine wrote: “The
great good news about America — The
American gospel, if you will – is that religion
shapes the life of the nation without strangling
it. Belief in God is central to the country’s
experience..."
And never forget Psalm 33:12, "Blessed is the
nation whose God is the Lord ..." or God's
word to Israel in Deuteronomy 8:10, equally
applicable to America, "Thou shalt bless the
Lord thy God for the good land which he
hath given thee."
And speaking of prayer: our encouragement
to pray for oppressed and persecuted Christians
all over the world, and particularly in Muslim
dominated countries, is still urgent. Persecution
continues in Pakistan and Nigeria, and there
are recent reports of severe persecution of
Christians in India, Sri Lanka and in Iran. Over
the weekend in Baghdad five churches were
bombed, and 25 people were killed when a
suicide bomber attacked a funeral. So in
addition to praying for our nation, please do
not neglect prayer for our fellow Christians in
other countries.
A timely comment from a Founding Father:
"I have lived sir, a long time, and the longer I
live, the more convincing proofs I see of this
truth, that God governs in the affairs of men.
And, if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground
without his notice, is it probable that an
empire can rise without his aid? We have
been assured, sir, in the sacred writings, that
‘except the Lord build the house, they labor
in vain that build it." - Benjamin Franklin, 1787
Some Random Afterthoughts . . .
We found only one really good "one liner"
this week, from Dr. Kelly Boggs, a highly
respected Southern Baptist pastor in Oregon,
writing about the objections to Obamacare:
"Change that is imposed is change that is
opposed." So much truth in so few words!
Not exactly a "one liner" but a good comment
from Gary Bauer on Senator Reid's epithet for
those Americans who object to Obamacare, as
he called them "evil mongers." Gary's reaction
was clear: "We are searching in vain to find a
statement from Harry Reid calling Al Qaeda
and the Islamofascists who attacked and killed
3,000 Americans 'evil.'”
Those Muslims (Islamists) again -- they are
difficult to understand. We are constantly told
that all the terrorist attacks (not a politically
correct term) are by "radical" Muslims, or by
"extreme" Muslims. In Pakistan where so many
Christians have been murdered by Muslims,
the official line is that those are "radicals" --
but a Pew Global Attitudes Project poll this
month disclosed that among all Pakistan Muslims,
78% favor death for those who leave the Islamic
faith, and 83% favor stoning adulterers to death.
Seems like "radical" or "extreme" is the norm.
In case you wondered: the Muslim major
month-long holiday, Ramadam, begins this
week on Saturday, August 22, here in North
America, and will continue till Saturday,
September 19. During this period adherents
of Islam fast every day from sunrise to sunset.
No US government recognition of the holiday
has yet been announced.
A thought for today on freedom, or the loss
thereof. Thomas Jefferson said, "Honor, justice,
and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender
that freedom which we received from our
gallant ancestors." To which an IBD editorial
added that "there's nothing more American than
revolting against heavy-handed authority, be it
a long train of abuses from a king or the
lawmaking of elected officials with strong
authoritarian urges. This is a nation founded
on independence, and there is a large portion
of it that wants to retain that priceless heritage."
And two Founding Fathers on liberty:
"Without liberty, law loses its nature and its
name, and becomes oppression. Without law,
liberty also loses its nature and its name, and
becomes licentiousness." --James Wilson, 1790
"God, who gave us life, gave us liberty. Can
the liberties of a nation be secure when we
have removed a conviction that these liberties
are a gift of God?" -- Thomas Jefferson, 1807
THANK YOU - THANK YOU for all your
messages of agreement with last week's issue
of ANC. And for your encouraging words
and continuing to refer this commentary to your
friends. These are indeed critical times for our
nation, but we have been through difficult times
before. But the difference is that never before
has the administration in power denied that we
are a Christian nation. Throughout history all
of our previous leaders have looked to God
for help. This time it is evident that our nation's
Christian leadership will have to come from the
American people.
This is a challenge we dare not refuse to meet,
and a responsibility we absolutely must accept.
Again we cite the quote attributed to Edmund
Burke: "All that is necessary for the triumph of
evil is that good men do nothing."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
EVERYTHING SEEMS TO COME DOWN
TO THE SIMPLE QUESTION: "WHO
ARE WE GOING TO BELIEVE?"
Just like last week's issue, we begin with the
same question: Where to start? And just like in
last week's issue, it's not an easy choice.
Maybe it's best to start at the top, so to speak,
the President of the United States. But in doing
so we have to confess right up front that he
doesn't qualify as one we should believe. That
may be because the "Health Care Reform" bill
(the president has now changed the title to the
"Health Insurance Reform") is so important to
his announced schedule that he is apparently
inclined to bend the truth in pushing it. In a
press conference on July 22 he said that doctors
are forced to make decisions based on the fee
payment schedule, so if a child has a sore throat,
the president said: " ... the doctor may look at
the reimbursement system and say to himself,
'You know what? I make a lot more money if
I take this kid’s tonsils out.'”
But this was not his only attack on the nation's
physicians and surgeons; at the New Hampshire
Town Hall Meeting on August 11, he said:
"Let’s take the example of something like
diabetes ... if a family care physician works
with his or her patient to help them lose weight,
modify diet ... they might get reimbursed a
pittance. But if that same diabetic ends up
getting their foot amputated, that’s $30,000,
$40,000, $50,000 the surgeon is reimbursed."
And why is he making such attacks? To build
support for his socialism-based belief that the
government should pay for all health care. The
result? To push his health care plan, he has
decided to insult and dishonor the motives of
those who provide health care to the nation.
In response to the president's false accusations
that doctors perform tonsillectomies to make
money, and that surgeons cut off legs for profit
the American College of Surgeons wrote this
letter to President Obama:
"The American College of Surgeons is deeply
disturbed over the uninformed public comments
President Obama continues to make about
the high-quality care provided by surgeons
in the United States. When the president
makes statements that are incorrect or not
based in fact, we think he does a disservice
to the American people … The president’s
remarks are truly alarming and run the risk
of damaging the all-important trust between
surgeons and their patients. …we would
urge him to have his facts correct before
making another inflammatory and incorrect
statement about surgeons and surgical care.”
No one could better address our opening
question: Who are we going to believe? Isn't
this an item of concern for American Christians?
Some of us have seen on TV the futile effort
by Fox News reporter Major Garrett to get an
answer from White House press agent Gibbs
to the question about a White House email list.
We have received from our readers some copies
of unsolicited email messages they have received
from David Axelrod, senior advisor to President
Obama. We may never know how many of our
fellow Americans received the Axelrod mass
emailing, but it has to be many thousands. In
those emails he complained about all the "lies
and distortions" being spread about the Obama
health reform plan, calling them "viral emails,"
and proposed: "Let's start a chain e-mail of
our own." So much for Gibbs' refusal to admit
that a White House email list exists. And so
much for the White House initial denials of
sending any unsolicited -- which they later
confessed to having done because there was
too much evidence that they had in fact sent
the emails.
One of our readers sent this response to David
Axelrod at his White House email address after
receiving one of those unsolicited emails:
"Please take me off you junk mail list as that
is what I consider junk like this. I want to
keep my existing health insurance and don't
trust anyone in the white house to know what
is best for me. You promised one thing in the
campaign and constantly change your mind.
I simply don't believe anything you guys there
say. Stop the junk mail."
That letter spoke for the rest of us -- and even
though the writer knows he is probably on the
White House bad list for sure, he has absolutely
no idea of retracting or apologizing.
Concerning the seriousness of all this, Jay
Sekulow, chief counsel of American Center for
Law and Justice said, "This is a very troubling
attempt to stifle the free speech of Americans
who have the constitutional right to express
their opinion and concerns about health care.
This move is an attempt to intimidate those
who have legitimate concerns about the health
care plan. And, worse, it turns the White House
into some sort of self-appointed ’speech police.’"
And the ACLU, those stalwart guardians of
American constitutional rights, made this very
mild expression of concern, admitting that the
White House blog is "a bad idea that could
send a troublesome message.”
And as for Nancy Pelosi's accusation that all
of us who do not agree with the Obama-Pelosi-
Reid health reform plan are "un-American," we
recall the words of Obama's Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton when she was First Lady in the
White House: "I am sick and tired of people
who say that if you debate and you disagree
with this administration, somehow you're not
patriotic... We are Americans and we have a
right to debate and disagree with any
administration." Right on, Hillary!
And even Ms. Pelosi herself said a couple of
years ago that there is no higher patriotic calling
than standing up for what you believe in, and
she urged her listeners: "So let’s not question
each other’s patriotism when we have this
very honest debate that our country expects
and deserves.” How conveniently they forget
when it is the Conservatives, not the Liberals,
who are voicing opposition!
And that isn't the only misinformation from
Washington this past week. On August 13, a
main front-page headline in one of the nation's
major metropolitan newspapers read: "Upbeat
Fed Says Recession is Near an End." (That's
the government's Federal Reserve System.) And
President Obama declared that actions taken by
his administration had helped stop an economic
freefall and said the United States may be seeing
"the beginnings" of the end of the recession.
But on August 14, Reuters, the international
news agency, made this report that "Americans
shopped less in July and more signed up for
jobless benefits last week in a double dose of
bad news for the U.S. economy just a day
after the Federal Reserve said it saw a leveling
out of the slump." So, again, it is a case of
"who to believe."
"I wish I had never said that" department.
Obama told CNN, "The only measure of my
success as president when people look back
five years from now or nine years from now
is going to be did I get this economy fixed,"
And then there are the little lies, the day to
day political rhetoric. Like whether abortion is
included as a paid-for benefit under Obamacare.
In a Town Hall meeting last week, Rep. Zoe
Lofgren (D, CA) said "Abortion will be covered
as a benefit by one or more of the health care
plans available to Americans, and I think it
should be." But in another Town Hall meeting
last week, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D, MO) said:
"There is not one dime for any abortions.
There is nothing in the bill that mandates any
kind of abortion coverage." In his uproarious
Town Hall meeting, Sen. Arlen Specter (D, PA)
said he agreed with McCaskill. But in speaking
about the plan, President Obama said, "In my
mind, reproductive care is essential care. It is
basic care. And so it is at the center and at
the heart of the plan that I propose." (The
term "Reproductive care" is the politically
correct euphemism for abortion.) We have to
ask: Who are we going to believe?
And then there was this: in his recent town
hall meeting in New Hampshire Obama said,
"We have the AARP on board because they
know this is a good deal for our seniors."
Within hours the AARP had gone on record
denying that they had in any way endorsed the
president's program. Tom Nelson, AARP's
chief operating officer, said, "Indications that
we have endorsed any of the major health care
reform bills currently under consideration in
Congress are inaccurate." Nelson also said that
AARP would not endorse a bill that reduces
Medicare benefits. Once again we have to ask:
who are we going to believe?
What are the serious implications arising
out of all these conflicting viewpoints? As
Christians we have every right to be concerned
about the lack of credibility in the actions and
statements of our president. We should be able
to trust the man at the head of our government.
Whether he believes it or not, the facts are that
America was conceived of and founded as a
nation which put God first, as exemplified in
its foundation being built on Judeo-Christian
principles. To reject those principles, to deny
that we are a Christian nation (when 82% of
Americans declare they are Christian) is a
matter of serious concern. As for specific
issues, we cannot sit back and watch the
concept of family based on the Christian
concept of marriage be destroyed . . . the
Obama administration Justice Department has
filed court papers claiming that DOMA, the
Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, (passed by
Congress and signed into law by President
Clinton), discriminates against homosexuals.
Nor can we watch this continued rejection of
the right to life as abortion threatens the killing
of even more than the 50 million babies which
have already been killed under Roe v. Wade.
Some of our readers have written to say they
find it difficult (some have said "impossible")
to pray for Mr. Obama. But we must pray that
God will somehow give him wisdom in dealing
with the responsibilities of being the president.
Even secular observers, not only the nation's
Christian ministers, see the importance of God
in the life of the nation. Jon Meacham, managing
editor of "Newsweek" magazine wrote: “The
great good news about America — The
American gospel, if you will – is that religion
shapes the life of the nation without strangling
it. Belief in God is central to the country’s
experience..."
And never forget Psalm 33:12, "Blessed is the
nation whose God is the Lord ..." or God's
word to Israel in Deuteronomy 8:10, equally
applicable to America, "Thou shalt bless the
Lord thy God for the good land which he
hath given thee."
And speaking of prayer: our encouragement
to pray for oppressed and persecuted Christians
all over the world, and particularly in Muslim
dominated countries, is still urgent. Persecution
continues in Pakistan and Nigeria, and there
are recent reports of severe persecution of
Christians in India, Sri Lanka and in Iran. Over
the weekend in Baghdad five churches were
bombed, and 25 people were killed when a
suicide bomber attacked a funeral. So in
addition to praying for our nation, please do
not neglect prayer for our fellow Christians in
other countries.
A timely comment from a Founding Father:
"I have lived sir, a long time, and the longer I
live, the more convincing proofs I see of this
truth, that God governs in the affairs of men.
And, if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground
without his notice, is it probable that an
empire can rise without his aid? We have
been assured, sir, in the sacred writings, that
‘except the Lord build the house, they labor
in vain that build it." - Benjamin Franklin, 1787
Some Random Afterthoughts . . .
We found only one really good "one liner"
this week, from Dr. Kelly Boggs, a highly
respected Southern Baptist pastor in Oregon,
writing about the objections to Obamacare:
"Change that is imposed is change that is
opposed." So much truth in so few words!
Not exactly a "one liner" but a good comment
from Gary Bauer on Senator Reid's epithet for
those Americans who object to Obamacare, as
he called them "evil mongers." Gary's reaction
was clear: "We are searching in vain to find a
statement from Harry Reid calling Al Qaeda
and the Islamofascists who attacked and killed
3,000 Americans 'evil.'”
Those Muslims (Islamists) again -- they are
difficult to understand. We are constantly told
that all the terrorist attacks (not a politically
correct term) are by "radical" Muslims, or by
"extreme" Muslims. In Pakistan where so many
Christians have been murdered by Muslims,
the official line is that those are "radicals" --
but a Pew Global Attitudes Project poll this
month disclosed that among all Pakistan Muslims,
78% favor death for those who leave the Islamic
faith, and 83% favor stoning adulterers to death.
Seems like "radical" or "extreme" is the norm.
In case you wondered: the Muslim major
month-long holiday, Ramadam, begins this
week on Saturday, August 22, here in North
America, and will continue till Saturday,
September 19. During this period adherents
of Islam fast every day from sunrise to sunset.
No US government recognition of the holiday
has yet been announced.
A thought for today on freedom, or the loss
thereof. Thomas Jefferson said, "Honor, justice,
and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender
that freedom which we received from our
gallant ancestors." To which an IBD editorial
added that "there's nothing more American than
revolting against heavy-handed authority, be it
a long train of abuses from a king or the
lawmaking of elected officials with strong
authoritarian urges. This is a nation founded
on independence, and there is a large portion
of it that wants to retain that priceless heritage."
And two Founding Fathers on liberty:
"Without liberty, law loses its nature and its
name, and becomes oppression. Without law,
liberty also loses its nature and its name, and
becomes licentiousness." --James Wilson, 1790
"God, who gave us life, gave us liberty. Can
the liberties of a nation be secure when we
have removed a conviction that these liberties
are a gift of God?" -- Thomas Jefferson, 1807
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