If your kid is dumb as a rock here is what you might do about it

Here. What do you think?

Stuart Kellogg's (Centurion Program) Question of the Day

"Has the evangelical Christian church been too lenient in its toleration of divorce?"

Attaways, Outrages, Predictions

Attaway - something you want to cheer.

Outrage - something you want to rant about.

Prediction - something you think might just happen in the near future.

Got some?

Don't get personal - it ought to be about what someone does, or says, or writes...but never about the person themselves. No personal attacks or name calling.

John Fund of the WSJ looks at Mike Huckabee

And it ain't conservatively pretty.

John Arthur Eaves on the program today

What do you think of the Eaves for Governor campaign?

What is Hillary saying about Mississippi?

You tell me.

Stuart Kellogg's (Centurion Program) Question of the Day

“Is the Christian church, and its members, too self absorbed---stressing self rather than reaching out to a hurting culture?”

Tell us! We need your participation!

Laugh, if you can

From the Corner:

Family Research Council head Tony Perkins started off the Value Voters Summit in Washington this morning with joke that served as an indication of social conservatives' unhappiness with both parties. A Republican and a Democrat are talking. The Republican says to the Democrat, "I bet you can't even say the Lord's Prayer." "Sure, I can," the Democrat answers. "Here's $20 says you can't," the Republican responds. "You're on," says the Democrat, who begins reciting, "Now I lay me down to sleep…" At that point, the audience in the Washington Hilton started to laugh. And then Perkins delivered the punch line: The Republican hands over the $20 and says, "Man, I didn't think you could do it."

Couldn't hurt...might help a lot - prayer

Good.

Orlando is fighting crime with prayer. Last Wednesday, police chaplain Andrew Wade launched Operation Armor All – 40 days of prayer for a drop in crime. Over a hundred people attended, including the mayor, the chief of police, two city commissioners, a circuit judge and members from 37 local churches.

“There is a fight in the supernatural that is affecting us here in the physical world,” Wade told WoW.“Let’s ask God to change the hearts and minds of men.”



American jobs: "the world's most effective poverty alleviation program"

Interesting.

TIME's 100 best English Novels from 1923 to the present

Here.

Listen to the latest from Bill Cosby

On the whole, conservative. Listen.

Pete Stark: "...heads blown off for president's amusement..."

As low as you can go. Stark needs to serve up an apology. Pitiful.

SCHIP gets whomped

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Today in the House of Representatives, the President’s veto was upheld

(273-156). Congressman Chip Pickering issued the following statement regarding his vote to sustain the President’s veto and his position on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

“There is no doubt in my mind that the SCHIP program needs to be reauthorized. After paying for healthcare, our American families still have a mortgage, bills, groceries, and basic everyday necessities that have to be purchased. Mississippi families rely on the SCHIP program. However, I voted to sustain the President’s override because we need to make sure that our poorest children are covered first before we expand this program. The current bill did not provide coverage to the neediest kids first; instead it would raise your taxes while expanding SCHIP to adults and illegal aliens. Also, it would move our children covered under private insurance to a government funded program.”

“In 1997, Republicans helped create SCHIP and remain supportive in its original mission. I voted to establish this program and believe money set aside for low-income children should be used to cover low-income children. SCHIP was created to put poor kids first. I am committed to finding a solution we can all agree on. The children in Mississippi are my main concern and deserve congressional support and cooperation to help them. They don’t deserve endless political disagreements and failure to work together for a reasonable solution.”

The Democratic Bill Is Not Right for Mississippi:

· Covers Adults and Families with Incomes 400% Over the Poverty Level

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Mississippi has 426,000 children at or below the 200% poverty level. Out of that number, 88,000 children are uninsured. The Department of Health and Human Services projects that 13 states will spend more than 44% of FY08 SCHIP funding on childless adults. The number of adults enrolled in SCHIP for FY06 was 700,596. Each one of these adults equals one less child that can be covered.

· Covers Illegal Aliens

This legislation says that simply writing down a Social Security number is good enough to prove you are a citizen. The bill doesn’t require that an applicant provide identification or demonstrate that he or she could be the actual owner of the number.

· Will Move Enrollees From Private Insurance to Government Insurance

According to Congressional Budget Office, 1/3 of newly enrolled are coming from private coverage. 1.6 million of the 4.4 million new enrollees will come off of private coverage.

“Many steps have been taken by Congress to reauthorize SCHIP. I voted for the current temporary extension which is in effect now. Also, I was a cosponsor of the SCHIP extension bill (HR 3584) and recently signed onto a rule to reintroduce this bill in the House. The SCHIP extension bill would reauthorize and fully fund the existing SCHIP program for an additional 18 months. This will allow Congress time to find the right permanent solution for the program without putting our neediest children at risk.”

“The bottom line is SCHIP must serve the eligible low-income children first, should not force children out of private health insurance, and should cover American children. We will not settle on a bill that compromises these issues and will continue to work on a bi-partisan renewal of this program. Every dollar that is spent on a childless adult in SCHIP is a dollar that cannot be spent on a needy, low-income, uninsured child in Mississippi. We must end partisan politics and put our children in need first! We can and should find common ground to meet these critical needs.”

Congressman Chip Pickering represents Mississippi’s Third Congressional District and serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. This is his sixth term.

Coulter's remarks could have used some "perfecting"

If only Ann Coulter could have had the time to do so, here's what I believe would have been a better way to respond when asked by a Jewish talk-show host on CNBC: "We should all be Christian?"

"Coulter's remarks are outrageous, offensive and a throwback to the centuries-old teaching of contempt for Jews and Judaism," the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recently huffed in response to Ann Coulter. The commentator's remarks to an interviewer that Jews needed to be "perfected" by Jesus didn't set well, even if delivered with a winsome smile.

The ADL apparently doesn't have a clue about Christianity. So, let's review. Jews -- inspired by God -- wrote and revere the Old Testament, same as Christians. Jews daily read and meditate on that Testament, as do serious Christians.

And Jesus was a Jew.

Jesus was a Jew, however, who was a bit exclusive in His teaching -- "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Christians believe Him. Other Jews of His time believed him, not the least a gentlemen we would come to know as Paul of Tarsus. The early Christian faith was mostly a Jewish movement. Today, Israel has no better friends than the evangelical Christians of America.

Here is where Ann could have turned it on the interviewer named Donny Deutsch. "Donny," she might have articulated, "if this upsets you then you must turn your anger to Jesus. He said the 'I am the Way ... " things. Not me. I am just one of hundreds of millions alive today who have believed Him."

"Donny, do you have a problem with Jesus? Your listening audience would like to know. As C.S. Lewis once said, you cannot call him a great teacher if he was calling himself God and you think he was a liar. He was either a madman, a false prophet, or God. Which?

"And Donny, if you are mad and want to keep taking the 'how hateful, how anti-Semitic' line, then know this -- we will just have to love you until you change your mind. Yes, Donny, know that right now thousands of evangelical Christians watching this program are going to begin loving you through prayer to Jesus until you relinquish your life to Him who loves you more, Donny, than you could ever love yourself.

"You see, friend, we don't believe in hateful anti-Semitism. We believe in a Jesus that has taught us to love."

In the herky-jerky world of interview-entertainment on "serious" talk television, it is hard to believe that Ann could have ever had the uninterrupted time to deliver such thoughts. Still, it would have been a good reminder to all of us that yes, Jews need "perfecting," just like all men and women, boys and girls of all ethnic and religious stripes need the same. Jesus quoted twice from the Jewish Torah to let us all know how:

"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

And then Jesus said, "Follow Me."

Southwick. Leslie.

We need your help to get Judge Leslie Southwick, a fellow Mississippian, confirmed for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The Democrats’ left-wing activist supporters have made a political decision to restart the judicial nominations wars, and have chosen Judge Southwick as their first target. Despite having unanimously supported him for a lifetime position on the federal district court in 2006, the Senate is now holding up his confirmation for a higher court. The Democrats want to filibuster Judge Southwick.

We need to insist that Judge Southwick have a fair up or down vote by the full Senate. Every judicial nominee deserves to be treated decently. But Judge Southwick has a special claim to be treated with respect, as he is a genuine American hero: Judge Southwick obtained an age waiver to join the Army Reserve in 1992, and in 2003 he volunteered to transfer into a combat unit that was expected to head to Iraq. He served as a lieutenant colonel on active duty in Iraq from August 2004 to January 2006. He was 54 when he went to Iraq and nearly 56 when he returned. A man of such character has earned our support.

Reportedly, Mississippi Senators Lott and Cochran are working behind the scenes to get 60 votes to block the Democrat’s filibuster but are still unsure if they have 60 or not. Senators Cochran and Lott need to hear that you want an up or down vote on Southwick, that you want them to challenge the Democrats on filibustering a good man and a good judge and a Great American!

Click here to read about Judge Southwick.

Haley gets a "C", Huckabee an "F", Blanco an "F"

Cato. Fiscal report card. Ouch.

How rich are you?

If you live in America, pretty darned rich. But check out the website to see.

Giuliani: Not a Republican, I ran as a liberal...

Sir, we believe you.

History of religion in...90 seconds!

Wow.

Casino influence...surprised?

Rep. Bobby Moak has served 24 years in the Mississippi state legislature and is the Chairman of the House Gaming Committee.

He has also accepted thousands of dollars in donations from the gambling industry.

The gambling folks are intent on buying influence with people in key positions in our state government. Their goal is to control those positions so that they get what they want. They won’t stop until they are successful.

For more information, click here.

Not Nobel winners...but oughtta be!

Nice WSJ editorial.

Ann Coulter says Jews should be perfected

What do you think?

Article in the New York Times about John Arthur Eaves (with quote from Don Wildmon)

Here.

Dobson on Hannity and Colmes

To the cities!

From Olasky. The "fight" in the cities...it is where Christians belong:

Urban Christians...throughout the 19th century dominated poverty fighting, and their teaching spread around the country. In the 20th century, though, evangelicals lost influence as they abandoned the cities. Some came to have a distorted sense of sin and how to fight it. They started to think that the countryside was purer than the city. They thought that folks who went to the city were likely to be corrupted by their surroundings.

Their fears had a basis in fact: Urban anonymity allowed newcomers freedom they did not have within small town social strictures. But they were wrong to associate rural life with purity, since the Bible teaches that sin comes from within. David in Psalm 51 and Paul in chapter 7 of Romans write of indwelling sin.

Internet-age evidence backs up the indictment Jesus offered in Matthew 23 of Pharisees who wash the outside of the cup. Anti-porn activists used to be able to concentrate on shutting down storefront raunch and lap dances, but now every laptop offers temptation. One or two clicks away lie visualizations of adulterous thoughts. City and countryside both have problems.

On the positive side, the biblical understanding is that human beings are the crown of God's creation—so cities with lots of human beings are places of great beauty. Jeremiah's chapter 29 includes his famous instructions to the Israelites in exile: "Build houses and live in them. . . . seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare."

Early Christians followed Jeremiah and became blessings to their Babylons. The apostle Paul began his major ministry activities in Antioch, then the third-largest city in the Roman Empire. Paul sent his epistles to residents of the largest cities of the Roman Empire: He wrote to the Romans, the Corinthians, the Ephesians. The church grew fast in urban areas, while rural areas were filled with pagans: The word itself comes from the Latin paganus, meaning an old country dweller, one who lives in the countryside, a hick.

Today, sadly, the pattern is reversed: Christians are mostly in the countryside, and city-dwelling pagani dominate journalism, education, the arts, and so on. Today, we need Christians who will follow Jeremiah 29 in being good neighbors to the Babylonians around us. We need Christians who appreciate and learn from urban diversity, seeing people as people, good and bad, but all needing Christ.

Anybody laughing at Reagan's "pipedream" now?

I doubt it.

The United States' missile-defense system, a project begun during the Reagan administration, is finally ready. After another successful test last week, Gen. Victor E. Renuart, Jr., commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command U.S. Northern Command, declared the system ready for action. "I'm fully confident that we have all of the pieces in place that, if the nation needed to, we could respond," the Air Force general said. The defense system creates a virtual shield against a missile attack from Asia that, though imperfect, is critical for national defense. The Bush administration is still working toward setting up similar defenses in Eastern Europe, but Russia remains an obstacle to that goal.

From PatriotPost.us

Heritage analysis - the importance of social issues among the GOP

Here.

Dobson on his "values test" presidential meeting in Salt Lake City

From the NYTimes today:

REPORTS have surfaced in the press about a meeting that occurred last Saturday in Salt Lake City involving more than 50 pro-family leaders. The purpose of the gathering was to discuss our response if both the Democratic and Republican Parties nominate standard-bearers who are supportive of abortion. Although I was neither the convener nor the moderator of the meeting, I’d like to offer several brief clarifications about its outcome and implications.

After two hours of deliberation, we voted on a resolution that can be summarized as follows: If neither of the two major political parties nominates an individual who pledges himself or herself to the sanctity of human life, we will join others in voting for a minor-party candidate. Those agreeing with the proposition were invited to stand. The result was almost unanimous.

The other issue discussed at length concerned the advisability of creating a third party if Democrats and Republicans do indeed abandon the sanctity of human life and other traditional family values. Though there was some support for the proposal, no consensus emerged.

Speaking personally, and not for the organization I represent or the other leaders gathered in Salt Lake City, I firmly believe that the selection of a president should begin with a recommitment to traditional moral values and beliefs. Those include the sanctity of human life, the institution of marriage, and other inviolable pro-family principles. Only after that determination is made can the acceptability of a nominee be assessed....

For all you Moms out there

Two minutes, 55 seconds of pure glory.

Vote for Haley?

No. And the reason is...like Trent Lott and others, these guys think they can "roll" the Christian community on their issues like gambling (Barbour and Lott) and embryonic stem cell research (Lott) with no repurcussions.

They are right. But not with my one little vote. Not for Haley. Not this time.

And that, boys and girls, is why Reagan was the greatest US president ever.

Yes.

Christian conservatives may want third party...if Giuliani nominee

I think it is a good idea as I have stated over and over again. Giuliani at the helm of the GOP would water down the party to conservative nothingness on the social issues that matter most. Who wants a "conservative" party like that?