Bad news for teachers’ unions and racists in Washington D.C.: House reinstates voucher program and advances desegration

See House GOP desegregates DC school system. | RedState.  Turns out the Democrats aren’t as pro-choice as they claim.  Pro-choice to destroy innocent human life?  No problem for them.  Pro-choice for minorities to attend better schools?  Eek!  Can’t have that.

The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program — which provides low-income District students with federal money to attend private schools — is a top priority of Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). The program was closed to new entrants by Democrats in 2009, but Boehner has sought to revive and expand the program. The House passed a Boehner-authored bill last month — the SOAR Act — to reauthorize the program for five more years, and that bill will be included in the final spending deal and signed into law by Obama.

. . .  The [Obama] administration was surprisingly unequivocal in its opposition to “the creation or expansion of private school voucher programs that are authorized by this bill,” probably because poor minority kids don’t contribute to Democratic slush funds to the extent that the NEA does.  Killing the DC voucher program has been a priority for Democrats since they took full control of the government in 2009 . . .

Important trivia fact: The only domesticated animal not mentioned in the Bible is . . .

. . . the cat.  Because God doesn’t like them as much as He likes dogs.

Just kidding, cat lovers!  Probably!

I love when she sleeps with her tongue out.

No, she isn’t ashamed of anything.  Hedonistic Dog has no shame.

 

Any blanket, anywhere, anytime.

Hat tip: IRD

Planned Parenthood overview

Facts about Planned Parenthood, the organization at the center of the potential government shutdown:

1. They crush and dismember innocent human beings for a living.  That is their primary revenue source.  Abortion is not health care.

2. They have been caught countless times, both on audio and on video, hiding statutory rape,.  That alone should result in them being not only being de-funded but put out of business.  Businesses who commit serial felonies don’t get to point to other (alleged) good things they do to avoid responsibility.

3. They have been caught many times hiding sex trafficking, which includes victims of human trafficking.

4. Their CEO falsely claimed that Planned Parenthood provides mammograms and that a loss of Federal funding would end these.  How many CEOs don’t know what services their organization provides?  Was this incompetence or a deliberate lie about a highly emotional, most-favored-disease issue to sustain public funding for her organization?  Why hasn’t she or the mainstream media highlighted and corrected this error?

5. Planned Parenthood is not the only provider of these non-abortion services.  If taxpayer funding of PP ended these services could easily be provided elsewhere – preferably somewhere that doesn’t kill humans beings, hide statutory rape, hide sex traffickers / human traffickers, etc.

6. According to PP’s research arm, 54% of abortions are performed on women who were on birth control.  Their business model is not working to prevent pregnancies, it is working to generate abortions.  That statistic exposes the lie that more birth control distribution will reduce abortions.  PP wants to reduce abortions in the same way McDonald’s fights to sell less hamburgers.

7. Margaret Sanger, PP’s founder, was a racist eugenicist.

8. Planned Parenthood targets minorities and is the largest provider of abortions in the U.S.  Abortion rates for blacks are 3x that of whites and the rate for HIspanics is 2x that of whites.  Margaret’s dream lives on.

9. They aggressively promote their worldview to teens, encouraging them to ignore their parents and their religion, via their public school lessons and their youth website, Teenwire. They discourage parents from viewing it, of course. You can find lots of valuable advice [sarcasm intended], like the tidbit from a 14-year-old girl who said that kids shouldn’t have sex until they are mature enough to know how to use a condom and their official advice that, “Hooking up is only one way to get close to someone.” They regularly promote anal sex as a good way to avoid pregnancy (technically true, though it won’t prevent disease transmission and is not advice most people want their kids to hear).

It follows the same philosophy they use in the classroom, which is to steer kids away from parental authority and to make decisions about sexuality on their own. They don’t offer any limits to children, other than telling them that the kids should decide when they are “ready.” They encourage them to experiment with sex and their sexual orientation.

Most of the offenses are too perverse to list on this blog, but here is a sample of how they encourage kids to ignore their parents and their religion (from the Canada site; the link to the original post from Dawn Eden’s site is broken):

Maybe your religion or parents are influencing your decision. Take control. Remind yourself that what you do is always a choice. You choose whether to follow the values if your religion. You choose whether to be honest with your parents. They may not be easy choices, and others may not agree with the choices you make. But they are still YOUR choices and they should be based on what’s important to you.

10. Planned Parent used to claim that “An abortion kills the life of a baby after it has begun.” At least that was their view in this 1964 advertisement. Did they learn anything about science in the few years after that when they changed their minds? Of course not. Science couldn’t be more clear: A new human being is created at conception.  Planned Parenthood is about making money off abortions and about advancing their perverse ideology with your money.

11. PP has not accounted for millions of dollars given to them.

12. If PP’s supporters care so much for these non-abortion services, why don’t they open their own wallets and give?  There are more crisis pregnancy centers than abortion clinics, and nearly all run with no government funding (the center where I’m a volunteer and board member refuses any government funds).  It doesn’t seem very pro-choice to force people to fund the array of perversions, immorality and broken laws we see with Planned Parenthood.

Houston Repertoire Ballet: A Celebration of Dance–April 9 & 10

If you are in the Cypress, TX area and want a little culture this weekend, check out Houston Repertoire Ballet: A Celebration of Dance.  It is your best fine arts value.

My youngest daughter will be doing her last performance for HRB, then she’ll be retiring from ballet and doing the college thing.

 

 

The professionals featured in the show are from the American Ballet Theater in New York City.  Jared Matthews used to dance with the Houston Repertoire Ballet.  He is a really down to earth guy.  The last time we were in New York my oldest daughter checked with him to see when he’d be performing (the girls have had the good fortune to be onstage with them many times over the years).  He went out of his way to get the girls and their friends discount tickets to the show at the Lincoln Center, plus 15th row seats to watch a rehearsal and walk backstage.  Jared and Yuriko both took time to give her a lot of good career advice over the years.  It is always nice to see people who are that good at something yet are still humble and approachable.

Here they are on So You Think You Can Dance.

 

 

Tickets available here.

Your tax dollars at work: Forced abortions and more in China

Via China: Family planning official stabs man to death — the impacts of China’s One Child Policy are horrific and far reaching, and we’re a part of it.

On March 21, 2011, Family Planning Officials entered the home of Xu Shuaishuai to seize his sister for a forced sterilization. Unable to find her, they beat Xu’s father. When Xu defended his father, one of the Family Planning Officials stabbed him twice in the heart with a long knife. Xu died on the way to the hospital.

This murder is a shocking and extreme example of how coercive family planning presses fear into the hearts of the Chinese people every day. Women who become pregnant without a birth permit – illegally pregnant – are terrified of discovery and forced abortion. Fathers feel helpless to protect their wives and children. Paid informants – friends, neighbors, co-workers – tear down trust in Chinese society. Family members are detained and tortured.

The One Child Policy, moreover, is causing a demographic disaster for China. Due to the traditional preference for boys, girls are disproportionately aborted. This “gendercide” has given rise to a critical gender imbalance: there are now an estimated 37 million more men than women in China. This gender imbalance is a driving force behind sexual slavery, not only in China but in the surrounding countries as well.

How does this affect us? We (the people of the United States, England, and other nations) are helping finance the infrastructure used in coercive family planning in China. The international community funds UNFPA, United Nations Family Planning Fund, as well as IPPF, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, and Marie Stopes International. These organizations are operative “abortion providers” in China. How many of these abortions are forced?

Abortion is not health care

 

Thursday, April 7, is World Health Day, hosted by the World Health Organization. The New Zealand network of pro-life bloggers has decided to take this opportunity to create a “blogswarm” with the theme, “Abortion is not Health Care.“

Other than the abortions done to save the life of the mother (< 1%), abortion is the opposite of health care.  Health care should improve the health of human beings.  Abortion deliberately ends the life of a human being.

Did I really have to type that? 

Taxpayer-funded abortions, a primary goal of nationalized health care, are the opposite of “pro-choice.”  They force those who oppose abortions to participate in the process. 

The solution to unsafe abortions isn’t to abort children “safely” but to stop killing children.

-Randy Alcorn

False teacher fallacy-fest on oxymoronic "same-sex marriage"

It is hard to believe that false teacher Chuck “Jesus is not the only way” Currie could cram this many fallacies into one little post, yet here we are.  In one of his seemingly never-ending perversions of scripture, he insists that Jesus’ command to love your neighbor as yourself requires state-sanctioned endorsement of un-biblical sexual preferences.

Faith leaders from across are showing their support for freedom to marry, in large part because of the simple message that we all should strive to treat others as we would wish to be treated.

1. “Faith leaders” is code for false teachers — those who teach the opposite of the Bible and are so homophobic that they have a greater fear of being unpopular with the gay lobby than they do with the God they claim to worship.  Chuck uses this word game reflexively, where he implies that just because more than one “religious” person is for something that they are a majority or have biblical support for their position.

2. People already have “freedom to marry” anyone they like — of the opposite sex — because that’s what marriage was and is.  Opposite sex couples, by nature and design, produce the next generation, and only they can provide a mother and a father to a child.

And even those freedoms have some restrictions, such as age and the “one per customer” requirement (though Chuck’s position implicitly supports polygamy).

3. The golden rule obviously has limitations.  If I wanted others to be able to use heroin just because I want to use heroin that wouldn’t be a reasoned use of the term.

4. It ignores the consequences of providing civil rights for sexual preferences: The harm done to small children who will now be taught how “normal” homosexual, bisexual, transgender and whatever-comes-next behavior is, business owners forced to abandon their religious principles, adoption agencies closing, etc.

“As a minister in the United Church of Christ, I preach about God’s extravagant welcome… that God excludes no one and welcomes all.

Yes, that is what his “church” teaches.  As usual, he twists words.  Real Christianity really is open to all — all those who repent and trust in Jesus, that is.  But it is exclusive in that you must come to God on his terms.  Chuck’s false church gets it backwards, teaching that everyone gets in whether they want to or not, or that all religions are equally valid paths to God.

As parents, Liz and I want our daughters to honor the golden rule – that timeless truth that we should treat others as we wish to be treated – and for us that includes making sure gay and lesbian couples have the right to marry and raise a family just as we have.  We dream of a day when all are equal before the law.”

5. Chuck’s wife is an atheist, by the way.  Apparently evangelism isn’t his strong suit.  Chuck takes his 6 yr. old daughters to gay pride parades.  You’d think that at least his wife would have the sense to prevent that.

6. Gays and lesbians, by nature and design, cannot create a family.

7. Chuck falsely states that gays and lesbians can’t marry, as if the law says they can’t go to any number of apostate churches, like his, and get married.  But he isn’t asking for that, he is asking for government recognition of these unions.  His church’s #1 appeal seems to be seeking Federal recognition of the fraction of a fraction of these folks who want this government recognition (i.e., the few who want to get married out of the 2-3% who are gay/lesbian).

8. Chuck ignores bisexuals. Why is he so bigoted and hateful?

9. As noted before, they are equal under the law.  They can marry someone of the opposite sex.

10. Hey, I wonder if Chuck & Co. will take their “golden rule” sermons to the Middle East?  If they think the U.S. culture is so unloving, they’ll really have some harsh words for Muslims.

—–

Don’t be fooled by sound bites, folks.  The truth sounds like hate to those that hate the truth.  If you really love people, including LGBTQ folks and those impacted by these laws, then you’ll have all of their long term best interests at heart.  You won’t put your comfort and popularity above the truth.

Don’t be a coward on this issue.  Don’t let false teachers steal and distort the “golden rule” or anything else from the Bible.  Stand up for the truth and for what God really says.

The insanity of ethanol

This is what happens when you abandon free market principles and let short-sighted people (who just happen to be beholden to the farm lobby in Iowa) make laws like this.  Via The Circle of Corn-based Ethanol:

• The US Government subsidizes the production of corn-based ethanol, as a substitute/supplement for gasoline.
• To maintain a demand, the US Government pushes for standard gasoline mixtures containing 10% ethanol.  This will supposedly decrease pollution and increase efficiency.
• Corn is then turned into ethanol wholesale.
• Corn-based food prices rise.  That includes critters that eat corn, by the way.
• This results in higher food prices domestically.  This decreases efficiency.
• This also results in more food insecurity globally.
• Corn-based ethanol, being subsidized, crowds out other ethanol fuels.  If this is confusing: please, reference Gresham’s Law, and generalize from its specific example.
• Ethanol, being less energy efficient than gasoline - which is why we weren’t using it to begin with – ends up causing effective inflation, as it costs more to go the same distance in your car.  This also increases pollution.
• In short, 10% ethanol gasoline results in more pollution and less efficiency.
• Therefore, the only solution… is to raise the amount of ethanol in gasoline to 15%.

 

An adult approach to the Federal budget

This should be big news tomorrow: New at WSJ: Paul Ryan announces that GOP’s 2012 budget would cut $6.2 trillion in spending over 10 years « Hot Air.  The Democratic proposals on the table would destroy the country.  I say that without hyperbole.  Don’t believe me?  Try borrowing 40% of your spending year after year and see how that works out for you.

I keep hoping against hope that The One will gradually realize that signing on to this plan, or some version of it, is actually in his interest politically. There’s literally nothing he could do to alienate the left to the point where they won’t vote for him — most of them trust his judgment more than they trust their own, an unforeseen side effect of Hopenchange messianism — so he could win over independents by coopting Ryan’s plan and have nothing to fear about losing liberals in the general election. There’d be nothing much to fear from seniors, either: I think Ryan and Boehner are so sincere about tackling this problem that they’ll give O whatever bipartisan cover he needs to get this done. (Boehner has promised as much.)

Italian Greyhounds = Best. Dogs. Ever.

At least for our family.  Here’s a good overview of the breed.

My favorite picture of our two:

A few years back we were watching a dog show and eagerly anticipating the Italian Greyhound’s appearance (doesn’t everyone zero in on their favorite breed?). The announcers typically say complimentary things for each breed, noting their intelligence, loyalty, skills, etc. Here is the sum total of what the announcer said for the Italian Greyhound (IG):

[Pause] They are the dogs that love to be loved.

We just laughed. That’s it?! They "love to be loved?" Well, I suppose he was right. They love to sit on your lap and be petted. You can pet Xannie (short for Xanax, the anti-anxiety medicine) for thirty minutes, then as soon as you stop she’ll look at you like, “Make with the petting!” They will get up as close to you as caninely possible. They can usually be found sleeping in a pile on top of each other or on top of you.  They make great napping buddies. 

They aren’t stupid, but neither are they the sharpest knives in the drawer. They are extremely friendly (my vet says he has been bitten by every breed except IG’s).They are incredibly fast. I love to watch them run. They are very low maintenance. Their fur is so short they don’t even need to be brushed and they rarely need baths.

They were certified as therapy pets, so used to take them to nursing homes with the girls (they have now retired from that).  Their temperament is great for these settings.  They make great icebreakers.  The residents loved to talk about their dogs.

“An Irishman walks away from a pitcher of beer because he’s offended by the mention of . . .

. . . God.”  No, this isn’t a joke.  It was an aside from a good friend’s recap of an encounter he had while traveling on business.

Everyone was having a good time until somehow the subject turned to God.  This guy – who presumably would describe himself as tolerant – was so offended that anyone at the table believed in God that he got up and walked away.  The conversation wasn’t even evangelistic.  He just insisted that we came from fish and wouldn’t take anyone seriously who disagreed.

The amount of convincing you can do in cases like this is limited, but here are a few quick options you could use to plant a seed:

1. Darwinian evolution has huge issues scientifically speaking, but even if it was true it wouldn’t prove atheism true, as it doesn’t explain how the universe came into existence, how life came from non-life, and how to ground things like morality.

2. Darwinian evolution has huge issues scientifically speaking, but even if it was true it would select for survival, not truth.  Darwinists have no reason for confidence that their evolution resulted in them being able to discern the truth.  If believing lies helped the species survive better, then that’s what would happen.

3. Darwinian evolution has huge issues scientifically speaking, but even if it is true it is 100.00% responsible for my conversion from atheism to Christianity, based on my belief in the evidence that Jesus lived, died and rose again for my sins.  So don’t be mad at me for believing in God, be mad at your beloved Darwinian evolution.  (Thanks, btw, as I wouldn’t trade the joy and peace of being a Christian for anything.)

Try those next time.  or better yet, use this: Romans 1:18-20 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Or just let the guy leave and then finish his beer.  Just kidding!  Probably!

World religions & evangelism videos

I came across this post from a couple years ago and thought I’d re-run it.  This is one of my favorite topics to teach, although I prefer not having to cram it all into one hour!  It works better as a 6-8 week series where you can go more in-depth.

—–

I did a one hour presentation on world religions for a church group and decided to video tape it as an experiment.  I was pleased with the content of the presentation but learned some things about lighting, sound and pace.  That will make the next one much better. I was hoping it would be shorter but it is hard to cover all world religions and some evangelism basics in one easy session.

I covered some foundational concepts that apply to all religions then addressed some key differences of Christianity versus Islam, Mormonism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Hare Krishnas, Wiccans and atheists (OK, that’s more of a world non-religion).

I shared experiences I’ve had in witnessing to people in these faiths and some things that helped navigate through conversations effectively.  You really can share the truth without starting a Jihad.

Go here to just see the PowerPoint slides.

Major thanks to Stand to Reason, where I learned much of this.

From the “You’ll wish this was an April Fool’s day joke” file

More bizarre scenarios driven by the administration’s Random Foreign Policy Generator (RFPG): Voting Present on Steroids: The Obama Administration Prepares to take Both Sides in the Libyan Civil War | RedState.

In other words, we’ve apparently (finally) learned enough about this group of rebels/al Qaedaterrorists/rapists-and-indiscriminant-killers/who-knows-what-else that we’ve been fighting alongside (primarily from 15,000 feet and up, of course) that the Obama administration is now ready to fight them, as well – an action which would, amazingly and dumbfoundingly, make the U.S. a participant in both sides of an Arab civil war being fought in the desert of North Africa.  Just amazing.

The realization of who it is they rushed into war to support must be hitting Samantha Power, President Obama, and their band of merry humanitarian interventionists pretty hard.  This is worse than waking up and finding the person you brought home last night required beer goggles about eighteen bottles thick to seem attractive. Rather, it’s akin to bringing home the already-not-so-hot girl who was hanging out alone in a dark corner of the bar, only to find out shortly after leaving with her that she’s actually a hairy-backed man man named Steve (or, in this case, something more like Abdul Hakim al Hasadi).

. . .

We bombed Qaddafi’s forces because they were killing civilians. So Qaddafi’s forces began dressing like civilians. So the rebels began killing civilians. So NATO is warning the rebels not to kill civilians, otherwise NATO will bomb the rebels. But the rebels are dressed like civilians.So NATO may end up killing civilians.

In other news, the administration continues to debate arming the rebels who are dressed like civilians. But Qaddafi’s forces are also dressed like civilians. So we may be arming Qaddafi’s forces who are killing civilians while we also bomb the rebels who are killing civilians and bombing civilians who really are civilians but look like Qaddafi’s forces who are killing civilians.

Who’s on first?

. . .

Meanwhile, as the Obama administration is warning those on whose side we’ve been fighting in this Libyan civil war that we may start bombing them, too, just for good measure – and as his administration is warning Congress it will ignore any bills they pass to restrict U.S. involvement in Libya, and as the Secretary of Defenseclaims we’re about to withdraw our fighters from combat and “hope” our allies will pick up the slack – calls are increasing for a full ground invasion of this North African desert country.

You only wish it was a 4/1 joke or an Onion piece.

Pro-lifers split on Ohio’s “Heartbeat Bill”

Via News from The Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A state House committee on Wednesday narrowly approved a bill that would impose the strictest abortion limit in the nation, outlawing the procedure at the first detectable fetal heartbeat.

The Health Committee voted 12-11 to approve the so-called Heartbeat Bill. The bill would need to be approved by the House, where its future is uncertain.

Supporters led by Janet Folger Porter, the director of the Faith2Action network of pro-family groups and a former legislative director of the anti-abortion group Ohio Right to Life, have hoped aloud that the bill sparks a legal challenge to the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion.

Interestingly, not all pro-lifers support this:

But Porter doesn’t have the support of Ohio Right to Life, which fears the legal challenge she seeks could jeopardize other abortion limits in Ohio and expand access to legal abortions.

“As drafted, our position has been very clear. This bill had numerous negative consequences and unintended consequences,” said Ohio Right to Life executive director Mike Gonadakis. “It’s the right idea at the wrong time. Timing’s everything in the pro-life movement.”

Gonadakis said an unsuccessful court challenge that makes it to the U.S. Supreme Court could end up overturning Ohio’s informed consent law, which mandates that a physician must meet with a woman seeking an abortion at least 24 hours before the procedure and that the woman must be given certain information and sign a consent form. He said the group has consulted its lawyers and will continue to share their thoughts with House members in hopes of blocking a vote by the full chamber.

One thing we do know is that the pro-legalized abortionists flunk the basic biology question yet again (emphasis added):

NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio executive director Kellie Copeland blasted those who backed the heartbeat measure in Wednesday’s vote.

“This just shows this committee doesn’t give a damn about the reproductive rights of Ohio women nor does it trust them to make their own decisions,” Copeland said. “And I would encourage everyone who cares about women’s reproductive health care to remember this the next time they go to the polls.”

News flash for Ms. Copeland: Women who seek abortions have already reproduced. It is a scientific fact that the unborn are unique, living human beings from conception.  The question is whether those human beings should have a right to life.  Sound bites about trusting women to make their own decisions don’t apply to human beings outside the womb, so why does the location make it permissible to kill the unborn?

Trel

TID