Wednesday
The American News Commentary
"Pro-Christian, Pro-American, Pro-Conservative"
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~Vol. 18, No. 23 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ June 13, 2012 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ © 2012~
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From a British Christian scholar and philosopher; formerly an atheist:
"The Christian is in a different position from other people
who are trying to be good ... He does not think God
will love us because we are good, but that God
will make us good because He loves us."
C. S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity
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AT LEAST TWICE IN PAST ISSUES WE HAVE USED THE OLD
LATIN PHRASE: QUO VADIS? IT SEEMS TO BE TIME TO
ASK AGAIN: WHERE ARE YOU GOING, AMERICA?
But first, this brief note: last week in ANC we made extended mention of D-Day,
and expressed our view that on each anniversary of this very important event of
World War II we should honor those members of our military who gave their
lives on those Normandy beaches. But you might have noticed that our president
ignored D-Day, and instead of making a speech or issuing one of his written
proclamations to mark the 68th anniversary of that heroic assault, he flew to
California for a series of re-election campaign fund-raisers. Nothing new about
that, really -- he didn't do so last year or the year before . . . although in 2009 he
actually did make a speech on D-Day.
From the "So what else is new" department: This front page major headline
in a major American daily newspaper: "U.N. Frustration Grows; Syria Peace
Plan in Ruins." And to the extent that news of what is happening in Syria gets
to the rest of the world, it is obvious that the slaughter of Syrian people opposed
to President Assad continues. Even U.N. observers, there to survey and report on
the fighting with the seemingly impossible goal of a establishing a cease-fire, have
been fired upon.
And the Obama administration's response: a call for Assad (whom they formerly
considered to be a "reformer") to step down, and proposing further "sanctions."
What a difference from the situation under President Mubarak in Egypt, where
no large numbers of his opponents had been killed, but where Obama turned his
back on our long time friend in the Muslim world, and Israel's only friend in that
world, and encouraged his ouster. Now the radical Islamic "Muslim Brotherhood"
seems poised to take control in run-off elections later this week. Or what a
difference from Libya, where Qadaffi had killed perhaps 1,500 opponents, and
Obama threw his influence with NATO into the conflict to overcome and kill
Qadaffi. The result: an unsettled government still in strife. But in Syria, where the
number of individuals killed is in the 12,000 - 15,000 range, the Obama
administration merely asks Assad to step down, and proposes more "sanctions."
But aside from fumbling and useless involvement in international affairs, here at
home we seem to be moving further and further from the Judeo-Christian principles
upon which our nation was founded. The Obama administration seems determined
to do away with traditional Bible based Christian views of marriage and family.
He deemed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) -- passed with a strong
majority vote in Congress and signed into law by President Clinton -- to be both
unconstitutional and indefensible and instructed Attorney General Holder to refuse
to defend DOMA in any law suit against it. Then he "managed" the repeal of the
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in the military. A just a short time ago he announced
that his "evolving" opinion had solidified, and he is now a supporter of same-sex
"marriage." And he has never weakened in his support of abortion, with well over
53 million babies killed since we were handed Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court.
And in perhaps the most overt attack on the Christian faith, his signature legislation,
"Obamacare," is now facing legal action instituted by at least 43 groups of the
Catholic church on the legislation's effect on our constitutional right of freedom of
religion. And we have not even touched upon the current explosive leaking to the
media of secret information concerning our military and defense procedures. It is,
by any standard, an ever growing mountain of governmental errors and failures.
And so we ask once again: "Quo Vadis?" -- Where are you going, America?
In our long time prayer countdown to the upcoming election, there are, as
of today, 146 days until Election Day, Nov. 6, 2012. As we have so often urged,
please use those 146 days to pray for our nation, for wisdom to be given to our
leaders, and for wisdom to be given to us as citizens as we go to the polls on
leaders, and for wisdom to be given to us as citizens as we go to the polls on
Nov. 6 and vote to restore America to being the kind of a nation it was always
intended to be. And let us never fail to pray for our fellow Christians all over the
world who are suffering persecution and death from Islamic jihadists for expressing
their faith. An example is this news release from Jos, Nigeria just last Sunday: "An
Islamic extremist ran a car full of explosives at a Pentecostal church in this
Plateau state city this morning killing at least two Christians and injuring
more than 40 others, military and police officials said. In Borno state also
today, gunmen reportedly killed at least two Christians during church worship.
The Boko Haram Islamic sect reportedly took responsibility for both assaults."
Here's a news item you might have missed; it didn't get much coverage.
Michael Carl (writing in Moody News): "A new Bible translation released
by Thomas Nelson changes the nouns for God, Jesus Christ and angels to
Eternal One, the Anointed One and a messenger of God. The translation
comes at the same time that critics contend Wycliffe Bible translators are
changing the names for God and Jesus to appease a Muslim target audience."
And Moody Adams added this comment: "If this is truth, it marks the turning
of the great Wycliffe organization betraying their God, their founder and the
workers preceding them. Of course it will make the Bible attractive to Islam
and all the religions of the world that do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and Jehovah God. It also appeals to a nation becoming more pagan by the
day. This is obviously the selling out of Almighty God for the almighty dollar."
Before getting into the next regular feature, this comment, from a source
admittedly Conservative in its viewpoint, is interesting and informative:
From The Steady Conservative: "Recently Les Moonves, CBS CEO and
Chairman, attended a LGBT fundraiser for President Obama... At the event
he stated stated that 'ultimately journalism has changed …partisanship is very
much a part of journalism now'...This is a major reason that the MSM [Main
Stream Media] is losing both its credibility and its following... Because when
you are fed lies over and over again…eventually you begin to believe them."
In view of the liberal, left-leaning opinions of the "Main Stream Media,"
it is always helpful to take a look at "What Others Are Saying."
Alan Caruba (in New Media Journal): "June 15th is Global Wind Day.
Wind is part of the Earth’s atmosphere and, depending on whether it is
blowing gently or strongly, there isn’t a darn thing anyone can do about it ...
The Earth, however, has been in a natural cooling cycle since 1998 and the
advocates of 'green energy' have been in a tailspin, a death spiral of an
inadequate capacity to deliver electricity and the inability to compete with
more reliable, affordable, and traditional energy sources. Simply put, wind
and solar energy is a fool’s dream and one that must be backed up by
traditional energy sources at all times in the event the wind isn’t blowing...
Only an idiot would want to be dependent on wind or solar to provide a
reliable source of electricity."
Donovan Slack (Americans for Prosperity): "No, it’s not your imagination:
President Barack Obama is spending a whole lot of time fundraising, perhaps
more than any incumbent president in history. Including last week’s trip to
California, he will have spent eight of 24 weekdays during the past month –
that’s a third of them - on the road and collecting cash." [He has now been
accorded an additional honorary title: "Campaigner in Chief."]
And in this regard, the liberal Huff Post made Mr. Obama's interest clear:
"Some of the most visible members of Hollywood's LGBT community are
rolling out the rainbow carpet for President Barack Obama...The President
will be appearing at two fundraising events the evening he arrives in Los
Angeles: the LGBT Leadership Council's gala, where Ellen DeGeneres will
be speaking, and a private dinner hosted by 'Glee' creator Ryan Murphy
and his fiance David Miller." [What is difficult to understand is why our president
tends to ignore the views of the nation's Christians (80% of the population) and so
actively support the views of the nation's homosexuals (3.8% of the population.)]
Giacomo (in Godfather Politics): "Homosexuals do not want equal treatment,
rather they want preferential treatment above and beyond what everyone else
gets. They want special rights, not equal rights and they are succeeding in
securing them at the cost of Christian’s rights. The only way for homosexuals to
gain their rights is to strip Christians of theirs and that is exactly what is
happening. And it’s happening because too many Christians in America have
been too complacent and have done nothing to protect our Christian rights."
Thomas Sowell (writing in Conservative Outpost): "Among the people who
are disappointed with President Obama, none has more reason to be
disappointed than those who thought he was going to be 'a uniter, rather than
a divider' and that he would 'bring us all together.' It was a noble hope, but
one with no factual foundation... President Obama's re-election campaign has
become more openly divisive than ever. He has embraced the strident "Occupy
Wall Street" movement ...Obama's Department of Justice has been spreading
the hysteria that states requiring photo identification for voting are trying to
keep minorities from voting ... the Obama campaign is now seeking to divide
the sexes by declaring that women are being paid less than men, as part of a
"war on women" conducted by villains, from whom Obama and company will
protect the women."
Mat Staver (Chrmn. Liberty Counsel): "The indispensable social pillar of
marriage has been systematically undermined and marginalized in our
national discourse... It has surprised no one that ultraliberal forces want to
discredit natural marriage while advancing a twisted counterfeit of this
God-given institution... The battle for marriage and family is intensifying...
There can be no middle ground in this fight. We have no choice but to win...
Losing one of the most important battle of our lifetime is unthinkable!"
And here are some "One Liners" which were noted during our research
this past week ... humorous, serious and sometimes alarming.
Ann Coulter (Conservative columnist):: "President Obama wanted to go to
Wisconsin, but he just didn't have time. He's been doing so many campaign
fundraisers lately he barely has time to play golf."
Bill Press (Liberal radio commentator): "It is a major crusade of mine, and that
is, to get rid of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner.’... I mean it’s just stupid, I think.
I’m embarrassed — I’m embarrassed every time I hear it.”
Barack Hussein Obama (U.S. President): "The private sector is doing fine."
Minority leader Nancy Pelosi, who could be a poster girl for lapsed Catholics,
said that the 43 Catholic groups suing the Obama Administration don’t represent
the church: “Those people have a right to sue, but I don’t think they’re
speaking ex cathedra for the Catholic Church.” [Ms. Pelosi apparently doesn't
understand that the term ex cathedra means "from the chair" and is used only by
the Pope to state unequivocal doctrines of the church.]
Dan Balz, in the Washington Post: "When President Obama and former
president Clinton have to clean up their mistakes, Democrats know they’ve
had a bad few days."
And one more from President Barack Obama (speaking of Rep. Barney Frank's
retirement): "The House of Representatives will not be the same without him."
[On this point, we have to agree, Mr. Obama is correct.]
And, of course, there are always a few pertinent "Afterthoughts". . .
The Liberals' excuse for the Conservative victory in Wisconsin last week:
Ed Shultz, liberal NBC commentator explained it this way: "President Obama
brought this up years ago on the campaign trail when he said ‘folks in rural
areas cling to their guns and their religion’ ... example A, right there.”
V.P. Joe Biden used to be the Obama administration's "gaffe king," but it
seems like he is facing some stiff competition. This one, however, is one of his
finest: "Now, people look at me and say, ‘What are you talking about, Joe?
You’re telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?’
The answer is yes, that’s what I’m telling you." But Hillary Clinton does well,
too, in this one just a year ago about President Bashar al-Assad: "There’s a
different leader in Syria now. Many of the members of Congress of both
parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he’s
a reformer." Not to be out-done, Mr. Obama has recently produced these gems:
"I’ve now been in 57 states" ... he spoke of "a Polish death camp" ... and as
a topper, last week he said: "The private sector is doing fine."
But some observers consider this to be his classic, just a few days ago: "The
notion that my White House would purposely release classified national
security information is offensive." Some have said that calling it "my White
House" is offensive. And others have commented that his massive domestic and
foreign policy failures are also offensive. So it is a tight gaffe race in Washington.
al Qaeda is difficult to understand, but always interesting (and dangerous).
For example -- there seems to be a large number of "al Qaeda #2s", or else an
abundance of successor #2s, because we read so often that another al Qaeda #2
was killed in one of Mr. Obama's targeted drone strikes. And in answer to the
$33 million bounty on its top leaders, the al Qaeda affiliate in Somalia has offered
its bounty for President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton – 10 camels
for Obama and 20 chickens for Clinton.
ANC does not sell books or DVDs, but we have often found some interesting
and meaningful thoughts in advertisements for books and movies. Consider this
ad from the Internet this past week: "When we walk in the footsteps of our
fathers, we gain context for who we are as a people and hope for the next
generation. In Kirk Cameron's soul-stirring film Monumental the paradigm
and intent of our forefathers was explored in detail to reveal that the
Christian faith is found in every purpose of the founding of this great land
that we call 'America.'"
We can always learn by reflecting on the views of our Founding Fathers:
"Of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest
number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people,
commencing as demagogues and ending tyrants." --Alexander Hamilton, 1787
"In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the
particular sect or denomination of the candidate -- look to his character."
--Noah Webster, 1823
"Love your country but fear its government." -- Daniel Webster, 1834
And now, this final word for this issue of ANC: It becomes ever increasingly
difficult to scan through all the news sources available to us, and to select those
matters of concern where our position is particularly applicable: Pro-Christian,
Pro-American and Pro-Conservative. These are troubling times, and those basic
positions are more important than ever. ANC will continue to comment on major
current events from those viewpoints just as long as we are able to do so. If you
would like to help this publication continue, please click HERE to learn how to
send your contribution by check or credit card. And thank you for your help
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