Love - A Stone's Throw Away

This column is usually written about political issues or events. In a way this one is too, for it seems that the liberal left doesn’t understand the basis for the outrage against the building of a mosque near the Ground Zero sight. They claim freedom of religion is being infringed upon as though opponents don’t believe everyone should be free to worship as they please. But as has already been said a thousand times, it’s not about freedom of religion. I believe it’s about understanding the capacity for people to love.

Every religion has its dogma, and every faith has its practices, but when all the beliefs, doctrines, and tenets are laid bare, a peculiar truth rises from the fray: The Judeo – Christian God of Israel loves sinners. In fact He loves them so much that he gave His only son so that anyone who believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life. No other religion makes that claim because no other religion claims a god that loves sinners.

What about Allah? Does he love sinners? According to the Quran he does not. Q.3:31-32; 7:55; 61:4 Proclaim: "If you love Allah, you should follow me." Allah will then love you, and forgive your sins. Allah is Forgiver, Most Merciful. You shall obey Allah and the messenger." If they turn away, Allah does not love the disbelievers… You shall worship your Lord publicly and privately; He does not love the transgressors (sinners)… Allah loves those who fight in His cause united in one column, like the bricks in one wall.

In July of this year, 25 year old Maryam Ghorbanzadeh was convicted of adultery and although she is pregnant, was sentenced by an Islamic (Allah, Sharia based) court to death by stoning. However, given her condition the sentence may be changed to death by hanging, the customary method of execution for such heinous crimes.

The New Testament tells of another woman caught in adultery. She was brought to Jesus when he was at the temple courts, near the Mount of Olives, teaching. Citing the Law of Moses, with regards to stoning as a penalty, the teachers of the law asked Jesus what he had to say. After a few moments of writing in the sand he answered "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her" (John 8:1-11). Of course no one is without sin and so one by one beginning with the oldest they walked away. Jesus asked the woman if anyone present was condemning her and she replied "no one sir." Jesus replied, "Then neither do I condemn you, go and leave your life of sin."

The love of Allah for the sinner and the ungodly is totally missing from the Quran. In fact Allah’s love is very self-centered and limited to those who love and fear him first. In contrast, the love of God is given to everyone freely. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). If the god of Islam doesn’t love sinners and professes to love only those who love him and fear him, how could Muslims possibly demonstrate love to others? They cannot, for they cannot give what they have not received. Their inability to selflessly love others is clearly reflected in their desire to build a place of worship at a site where Allah’s contempt for sinners has been forever etched.

It's About Time

Is it just me, or are the times we live in actually becoming more and more strange? The Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes reads “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the sun (Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV). If this is true, and many believe it is, then we may be in a time of arguably unparalleled political assault on the citizens of the United States, and a season of unbelievably brazen and ridiculous liberal thinking.
From TARP funds and a quasi government controlled auto industry, to bank bailouts and a much decried health care scam, Obama and his administration seems impervious to the will and voice of the people they profess to serve.

Consider Arizona’s SB 1070. Did the people of this four-corners state ask the federal government to interfere with their need, responsibility, and right to protect their own people and land? Is it imaginable that “common sense” thinking of recent decades would have ever given serious attention to the idea that the sword of the Department of Justice wielded by the President of the United States would sue one of its own states? Is Charlie Daniels a beginner on the fiddle?

Who would have believed this same D.O.J. would have chosen not to prosecute members of the Black Panther group whose presence, while dressed in uniforms and armed with night sticks, was clearly and unmistakably intimidating to would be voters. Even after the repeated video performances of the crime on national television, and after a former D.O.J. lawyer resigned in protest and accused Attorney General Eric Holder’s ruling to be racially motivated, the decision not to prosecute remains. Could my father or grandfather have ever imagined a time when the leaders of this nation, so united by its constitution, could ever have acted so perversely?

These times and the political theatre they exist with do seem strange. But encouragement in subsequent verses of Ecclesiastes may offer the best hope for political change. There is “a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” For common sense conservatives November 2008 began a time of weeping, and a season of mournful administrative shenanigans. But hopefully November 2010 will bring a new season: a time to laugh and a time to dance.

Welcome BarACK Carter

The mid to late seventies produced an American television sitcom featuring Gabe Kotter, a facetious teacher returning to his alma matter to help an unruly group of misfits have one last chance to prevail. The show’s early success gave way to the industry’s usual process of elimination (drop in ratings) yielding only the faint memory of a theme song and a few catch phrases. Interestingly, the same years gave rise to a new American President whose failed policies and misguided governance has, arguably, revealed him to be the worst President in American History. Twenty-eight years later, with the election of Barack Obama, some conservatives and liberals are wondering if the American people have welcomed Carter back.

Prior to office, both men served as state senators, and only briefly held high-profile offices before becoming president. In August of 2008 Sean Wilentz, Princeton Professor of History said “There are many ways … in which Barack Obama’s candidacy, his rhetoric is more like Jimmy Carter’s than any other Democratic president in recent history.”

In a journal publication of Foreign Policy, author Walter Russell Meade, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations described Obama’s “…long deliberation over the war in Afghanistan [as] a case study in presidential schizophrenia.” He spent more than three months discussing and debating his general’s request for troops, (arguably a sign of weak leadership) and then began rushing them in on one hand while promising their July 2011 departure on the other. Said Meade, “… the conflicting impulses influencing how this young leader thinks about the world threaten to tear his presidency apart … and turn him into a new Jimmy Carter.”

On April 20, 2010, an explosion and fire on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig took the lives of at least 11 persons, injured 17 more, and set off what has been described as the worst environmental catastrophe in American history. Obviously this kind of unexpected disaster ignites a firestorm of difficulties requiring expedience, diligence, and true leadership. The depth, duration, and resolution of the crisis can and will be used to measure the competence of the leader into whose hands it has fallen.

Tuesday evening, June 15, in a prime time oval office speech, Mr. Obama spoke to the nation about “the battle we’re waging against an oil spill that is assaulting our shores and our citizens.” He continued with assurance that a “battle plan” was in place. Unfortunately, not everyone is buying his verbiage. For example, On MSNBC Keith Olbermann said “It was a great speech if you were on another planet for the last 57 days.” Chris Matthews then compared Obama with Jimmy Carter because of his talk about “the transition away from fossil fuels.” Howard Fineman added “Obama should be acting like a commnder-in-chief.” Matthews finished with “I don’t sense executive command.”

Not only are the liberal pundits and the “in the tank” media begging for the President to act like a leader, but members of his own party have serious doubts about the “battle plan” he has purposed. Whitehouse spokesman Ben LaBolt said Obama’s speech reiterated his call for comprehensive energy and climate legislation to break the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels. In response California Democrat, Senator Dianne Feinstein said “The climate bill isn’t going to stop the oil leak. The first thing you have to do is stop the oil leak.”
Apparently the President is not exuding the kind of leadership this dilemma and his constituents demand.

After all the talk of who’s in charge, and who’s going to be sued, and who’s going to pay, and who’s to blame, it took Mr. Obama 57 days to muster a meeting with the CEO of BP. Of course taking 57 days to meet with the one person whose advice and partnership you might need for this battle is better than the 94 days it took him to send troops to Afghanistan where real bullets are flying and real bombs are going off.

Tragedy, catastrophe, and disaster bring all of us to realize our inadequacies, mortality, and our need for divine intervention when life’s problems get too big for us to handle. We also come to realize the absolute need to have skilled and experienced persons in places of authority: Leaders that can lead, defenders that can defend, and a President that knows his responsibilities and duties and is qualified to carry them out. Like Jimmy Carter, President Obama may have had one too many unmanaged disasters. Perhaps history will show us the best resemblance Mr. Obama had to Mr. Carter will be a one term presidency.

Memorial Day Tribute

Every seven years I have the privilege of celebrating my birthday with the entire United States. I was born on May 31 prior to the National Holiday Act of 1971 which ensures a three day weekend for federal holidays like Memorial Day, now celebrated on the last Monday in May. On this post 9/11 seventh year celebration I’m reminded of a number of sobering truths from which this holiday was born – truths that make Memorial Day one of the most hallowed days of the year.

Originally called Decoration Day, Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. It was first observed on May 30, 1868 when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery – just four and one half years after Abraham Lincoln gave (what he thought “the world would little note nor long remember”) his Gettysburg Address.

Lincoln spent his entire presidency managing a civil war that would eventually bring together a United States, a “nation under God … a new birth of freedom – and [a] government of the people, by the people, [and] for the people” that would not “perish from the earth.”

Less than a month after Lincoln was sworn into office the Confederates opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, and the Civil War began. Subsequent battles include Bull Run, Shiloh, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. There was Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Cold Harbor, and the March to the Sea. Finally on April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Confederate Army and the war was over.

On April 14, 1865, just five days after the Civil War ended, The Stars and Stripes was ceremoniously raised over Fort Sumter. Later that evening President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. The now famous address he delivered less than two years before would come to include his own life and death among those he immortalized as “brave men who struggled,” the “honored dead” from which “we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion.” His desire was to “resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.”

After World War I the holiday was changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war. Americans from World War II, Korea, Viet Nam, Afghanistan, and Iraq, all join ranks with the brave men and women who gave their all for the “self-evident truths” that the Founders, Lincoln, and many others believe to be worth living and dying for; “That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The untold number of service men and women who died throughout the years trying to secure and sustain our freedom is symbolized by the “Unknown Soldier” whose tomb in Arlington National Cemetery receives a wreath every Memorial Day and officially marks the remembrance of all who “shall not have died in vain.” To their service we salute, to their memories we cling, to their sacrifice we laud, and to their spirit we ascribe the highest earthly reverence.

Bordering Insanity

Arizona is the 48th and last of the contiguous states admitted to the Union. As one of the “Four Corners” states, it has suddenly become the center of national attention because of the newly enacted immigration law, SB1070. I’m stupefied at the amount of controversy and madness over this seemingly elementary law. Even the President has, once again, bowed into the debate with confounding dismissal concerning the State’s right to guard its borders, protect its citizens, and enforce the law.

Perhaps it’s time for a “Nachos Summit.” Yes, organizers could invite the Eagles to sing Tequila Sunrise, On the Border, and Desperado. Governor Brewer could serve Corona, Noche Buena, or Negra Modelo. Oops! Is it alright to say Negra? Didn’t the President learn a lesson from his freshman comments toward the brouhaha over police officer Sergeant James Crowley arresting Harvard professor and so-called race-relations expert, Henry Gates? In case you missed it Mr. President: engage brain before opening mouth!

Commenting on the arrest Obama said the police had “behaved stupidly.” Really? A police officer responding to a call concerning a possible break-in – is that what you call “behaving stupidly?” Now in another jaw-dropping round of staggering diatribe our Harvard law professor / President thinks that the state of Arizona has engaged in a “misguided effort” to enforce existing Federal immigration law. Further, he believes the passing of SB1070 will “open the door of irresponsibility” by other states to enforce their laws too!

Are we starting to see a pattern here? Does the President have something against law enforcement? Doesn’t the 10th amendment limit his federal ability to interfere in Arizona? Habla ingles? The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

It's All Good! - Really?

Recently I saw a post on facebook from a friend at church that said, “Health Bill good for some, not for others! God’s in control anyway! Deal with it! It's all good!” I guess he had seen or heard one too many comments about the healthcare debacle that just took place in Washington and was trying to weigh in on the debate. The problem, is that my friend just didn’t have his facts straight. Also, it occurred to me that he, like many others, probably had no facts or idea at all what the merits of the bill (now law) were and was clueless as to what just happened to him and the people of this great nation. The following is a slightly edited version of my reply.

Many people are upset with the way Washington has handled this health care reform. EVERYONE wants health care to be reformed and improved. But the way they went about it is dishonest, unethical, and more than likely unconstitutional. This law, unless repealed and repaired, will cripple our economy and endanger our security and superiority in the world. Never in the history of our nation has such a large piece of legislation been passed into law without partisan support. Think about it: NO Republicans in all of Congress (Senate or House) voted for this legislation, and 43 Democrats voted against it. Doesn’t that make you wonder why?

There is a reason our government is based on checks and balances and it is to keep politically driven legislation like this from happening. The Democrats could not get the votes they needed to pass this bill because it is a BAD BILL! So instead of coming to the table to discuss it and improve it by talking WITH Republican lawmakers they did everything in SECRET in the back rooms of Capitol Hill. Don't you see? They are lying to you and me. They used underhanded techniques to by-pass the right way to do things and literally forced this legislation on the American people.

For example, did you know that this bill FORCES YOU to buy health insurance? That's right - they are not going to give it to you or anyone else for free. And if you don't buy it THEY WILL FINE YOU! The Constitution of our nation does NOT give them the right to force you or me to buy anything from anyone. This bill is a violation of the 10th amendment and is already being challenged by a number of states. Further, did you know that because of this law the IRS will have to hire over 16,000 new government employees just to manage this bill? (Just more big government).

So you see my friend, this particular healthcare bill is not good for anyone, because everyone deserves to have their freedoms protected and not trampled on by the very government they elected. And yes, God is in control, but that doesn’t mean He wants us to be irresponsible or uneducated concerning the affairs of our nation and the legislators who govern us. “Deal with it” may have sounded cool in the 70’s, but it’s no excuse for promoting feelings without facts. “It’s all good?” I don’t think so, but it can be if we learn what’s really going on and become involved in intelligent debate.

Obakabuki

You could say I’m a part-time etymologist because I love the study of words. In fact, I tend to get slightly excited when I discover a new one I can use. Oh what a feeling when just the right word is discovered to drive home a point in a paragraph. I like to think of it as “word crafting.” You know, you carefully sculpt precisely what you mean, so you can mean exactly what you say. Well, this week while following the progress on the health care reform summit in Washington D.C. I learned a new word, and it speaks volumes.

I’m not sure of the exact origin of the word, but I saw it in a tweet from Michelle Malkin. Of course these days many words are just made up on the spot to fit a specific situation. Some of them fade away and some of them find a place in the next publication of the dictionary. Sometimes new words are a combination of one pre-existing word with another pre-existing word. For example “chillax.” My daughter informed me that it’s a combination of chill (as in chill out Dad) and relax (as in Dad, relax).

The new word I discovered is like that: two known words put together to form one new word. Arguably the least used of the two words is “kabuki.” It’s a popular drama developed in 17th century Japan and is characterized by elaborate costuming, rhythmic dialogue, and stylized acting. The other word is Obama. He is the 44th President of the United States, 48 years old, and is quite skilled in kabuki. He practiced it at Blair House across the street from the White House last week. So what’s the new word? Obakabuki! Reported as a box office bomb, this play is ready for curtains.