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Pat Buchanan on the "deep state's" revolution...

When it comes to cultural and political commentators, I'll take Roman Catholics over Evangelical Protestants ninety times out of a hundred. One of the wisest is Pat Buchanan.

Fran Griffin just sent out this Buchanan essay which is a perfect summary of my judgments observing the revolution-by-other-means being perpetrated against our nation by the media and their very supportive deep state fiends...


Politico gets Pence just right...

Excellent profile of Vice President Mike Pence. Summary: "mercurial" Trump rewards Pence's loyalty and humility with exceptional authority.

A couple excerpts:

His governorship in Indiana was derailed by the mishandling of religious freedom legislation, and although he was more likely than not to win reelection in 2016, his approval rating was underwater statewide.

Just right. Not RFRA itself, but the Governor's mishandling of RFRA. Sad, but true. He should have fought Tim Cook and all his filthy-lucre buddies with boldness, not giving an inch. It grieved me when he responded to the attack of the elites by telling everyone...


Preet Bharara: not quite the knight in shining armor...

You want to keep your eye on the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York regardless of who holds the position. Today, the news is everywhere that President Trump asked the office's present occupant, Preet Bharara, to resign and at least earlier today, Bharara was refusing. Bharara did Harvard Law and has made quite a name for himself by avoiding the prosecution of any of the Masters of the Universe who caused the Great Recession while making a big splash by taking down lots of other financial criminals as well as statehouse guys like Sheldon Silver. Bharara has long been known to have in his sights what he refers to as the "three-men-in-the-room" governance he says dominates New York's statehouse.

The hate-Trump-always media are hissy-fitting over President Trump asking for the resignations of 46 U.S. Attorneys who served under President Obama. They don't mention President Clinton cleaned house on all the U.S. Attorneys himself, nor that Bharara is best-buds with Charlie Schumer... 


Education is always religious...

This just posted by son Joseph at the Christ Church Cincy blog:

When we see people harming themselves, we normally split into two groups. Some of us think they must be dumb. The rest of us think they simply haven't been educated enough. Whichever camp you fall into, you tend to think the same way about all self-destructive behavior. Quick, what does a drug addict need? What does a man need who has a miserable home-life because he works too much? What does the man who can't hold a job down because he's always drunk need? What do Africans who are sleeping around and getting AIDS need? If you are a liberal, you probably think they each need "education" of some sort. If you are a conservative, you probably think they each just need to stop it!

What liberals often overlook is this: Many people who have been well educated about the terrible consequences of certain behaviors still end up behaving in those ways. What conservatives overlook is how many of the people trapped in these situations really have tried to quit. And what both groups overlook is the fact that much of the time, those engaged in these behaviors actually want to continue doing them, knowing full well what the consequences are.

Let's take a closer look at education...


Have nothing to do with Darryl Hart...

Several years ago, my good and wise brother David told me to have nothing to do with Darryl Hart. Since then, I've pretty much left him alone.

Sadly, I have friends who can't break the habit and one of them just forwarded this deposited by Darryl yesterday on his own blog...


The financial legacy of Governor Pence's administration...

In all the years my dear brothers Chris Atkins and Brian Bailey have worked for Governors Daniels and Pence, I've never made it up to the State House to see them. Yesterday was Brian's next to last day as State Budget Director, so he kindly allowed me to visit him and meet the men and women he's worked with. (Brian's leaving civil service to start a solo private legal practice in Bloomington.)

When I entered Brian's office, this chart was propped against a chair, so I asked its significance? Brian said something to the effect that it was his final performance review by the Governor.

Brian introduced me to a number of the men and women he worked with. I said to several of them that I have been very thankful to pay my taxes knowing the money was going to support their work at the State House. This chart tells you...


How I'll vote...

For many years I've been saying Hillary would be our first woman president, but I won't go quietly into that dark night.

​Over at Mere Comments, Steve Hutchens says everything I'm thinking about my vote this election cycle. I hope you'll take the time to read him. Under Steve's post, a woman makes the simple comment, "He is horrible, but she is Evil."

Precisely.


Feminists and libertarians: this is my Father's world...

...for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes. (Matthew 7:29)

Because nature never stops telling the glory of God, authority is everywhere. Keep your eye on the ball.

First, authority is the issue—not sex. Men and women deny the authority of the male of the species not because they prefer authority to be equally shared by men and women, but because they hate all authority. Especially God the Father Almighty in Whom all authority originates and from Whom it is delegated.

Feminists lash out at men because fatherhood is intrinsic to manhood and authority is intrinsic to fatherhood. Patriarchy is not hated because the pater is always a man. Patriarchy is hated because of the arche (rule).

As for rebellion, abdication and rebellion are the same sin even though God demonstrated in his dealings with Adam and Eve that the abdicator always suffers the greater judgment.

Second, although abdicators and rebels think they're making progress when they take the word "obey" out of the bride's wedding vows and preach their wedding homily on "mutual submission," it's a fool's errand. Abdicators and rebels never have removed a single bit of authority anywhere in God's creation because God is the Father Almighty and all nature sings and round us rings the wonders of His sovereign rule. This is my Father's world.

Rebel against authority all you want, but the high point of your success will be the...


Bitterness, crackpots, and Joe Sobran...

This post was a private e-mail sent to me by a friend who thinks Joe Sobran went sour as his age advanced. My friend was responding to a couple recent posts (first and second) and comments made under those posts. I thought the e-mail worth posting on the blog given the movement of many young Reformed into libertarianism of a toxic sort (although I myself believe libertarianism is intrinsically toxic)

It's true that Joe's libertarianism went toxic, tending towards anarchism. A friend who serves as a civil magistrate remonstrated with Joe about this, personally, but seemingly to no avail. Joe remains our hero, but listen to these good warnings from a wise young man.

* * * 

I'll take this opportunity to identify myself as the "young man" with whom Tim corresponded. I agree with about 90% of what he's written about Joe Sobran—maybe more. Joe Sobran’s essays in defense of the faith were rare gems. "Is Darwin Holy?", one he wrote toward the end, is another one that stands out in my mind.

I started reading Sobran on the recommendation of a high school teacher when I was about 16. Reading him disabused me of the notion that a young man could make a good living writing truth. It's one of the reasons I decided to become an engineer, instead. Call me cynical if you wish, but I wanted to be able to support a wife and children...


Federal judges and their bloodthirsty gods...

Yesterday, a female federal judge appointed by President Obama subverted the will of the people of Indiana by issuing a temporary injunction against our new state law outlawing the murder of certain unborn children. House Enrolled Act 1337 passed by our legislature and signed by our governor says a woman may not pay a doctor to murder her child because she doesn't like the child's sex, race, or handicap. The law also requires mothers and the doctors they pay to murder their child to dispose of the child's body respectfully, by cremation or burial. No longer will they be allowed to throw their murdered children into the dumpster or down the sewer.

Indiana's attorney general issued a statement telling citizens to respect Judge Tanya Walton Pratt's decision because the ability to "question the constitutionality of the statutes is an important safeguard in our system of checks and balances."

No, I will not respect this decision, nor the judge who made it, nor the President who appointed her, nor the law school profs who trained her, nor the family members who eat dinner with her each evening. She is a moral monster. She is also a judicial poser operating entirely outside the rule of law. The rule of law begins with the protection of those at the margins of society who are unable...


First Lady Obama's hypocrisy: what's this "we" white woman...

Following Paul Ryan’s tepid endorsement, it didn’t take long for Donald Trump to have Ryan wishing he hadn’t. Trump continues to do his worst to divide us along Anglo/Hispanic lines and the latest was his attack on Federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel, the presiding judge over the Trump University debacle. Trump said Judge Curiel has “conflicts of interest” which render him incapable of judicial objectivity and he wants him off the case: “He’s a Mexican. We’re building a wall between here and Mexico."

Trump’s bombast in service of his churlishness is an uncapped fire hydrant. Maybe the best reason not to vote for him is careful consideration of what the world would look like with this blowhard jumping into the steaming cauldron of Ki Jinping, Duterte, Kim Jong-un, Khamenei, ISIS, Netanyahu, and Putin—four of them with nuclear triggers and two others close.

Which brings me to the woman who includes you and me in her imperial “we." First Lady Michelle Obama claims to speak for all of us when she says Donald Trump “is not who we are." "We don’t build up walls to keep people out.” Mrs. Obama continues, "I have seen how leaders [who] dehumanize entire groups of people often do so because they have nothing else to offer.” She concludes, "that is not who we are. ...no we’re all in this together. We always have been.”

What Mrs. Obama hides and members of the press are too bathed in the bloodshed of their own children to reveal is that... 


Bathroom wars: North Carolina sues, gender is out, and sex is back in...

Here are a few excerpts from North Carolina Gov. Patrick L. McCrory's lawsuit filed earlier today against President Obama's version of these United States. For a long time now, I've been convinced I'd never hear the word "sex" used again to refer to anything other than physical intimacy. But hey, along come the bathroom wars and look what we find...


Lessons from China: "the government must be the big brother..."

Beijing lawyer Zhang Kai was arrested August 25, 2015. Zhang had been giving legal counsel to churches in Wenzhou where pastors had been arrested for opposing a systematic campaign by government officials to relegate churches' crosses from the peaks of their roofs to interior courtyards and other places hidden from the public eye.

Here's the noteworthy quote from the World article:

Yang recalled officials explaining to him that the church and the government were competing for the role of “elder brother” in society: “There can only be one big brother. The government must be the big brother.”

This is precisely the issue in these United States, also. I have no desire to aid the White House campaign of Donald Trump by saying this, but the intolerant liberalism of the West is just as authoritarian as the intolerant Communism of China. The issues are different, but the dictatorial aspirations are the same. Washington's central committees will not stop... 


The persecution of Judge Roy Moore for guarding the rule of law...

If you didn't know, the so-called Southern Poverty Law Center is a witches' brew of rabble rousing and has nothing whatsoever to do with the rule of law. It's much worse than any chapter of the ACLU. As to the "poverty" of their causes, lately they've been spending their time and resources serving as advocates for the poverty-stricken and oppressed gay lobby.


The state of Indiana just took a small step toward reestablishing the rule of law...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 24, 2016
 
Contact: Kara Brooks
kbrooks@gov.in.gov
 
Governor Pence Statement on HEA 1337
 
Indianapolis – Governor Mike Pence today issued the following statement after signing House Enrolled Act (HEA) 1337:
 
“Throughout my public career, I have stood for the sanctity of life. HEA 1337 is a comprehensive pro-life measure that affirms the value of all human life, which is why I signed it into law today.
 
“I believe that a society can be judged by how it deals with its most vulnerable—the aged, the infirm, the disabled and the unborn. HEA 1337 will ensure the dignified final treatment of the unborn and prohibits abortions that are based only on the unborn child's sex, race, color, national origin, ancestry, or disability, including Down syndrome. 
 
“Some of my most precious moments as Governor have been with families of children with disabilities, especially those raising children with Down syndrome. These Hoosiers never fail to inspire me with their compassion and these special children never fail to move me with their love and joy.
 
“By enacting this legislation, we take an important step in protecting the unborn, while still providing an exception for the life of the mother. I sign this legislation with a prayer that God would continue to bless these precious children, mothers and families.”
 
—Governor Mike Pence

We thank Governor Pence, our Indiana legislators, and God for this act of justice and equality for all.


The anti-Reparative therapy bandwagon: perverse to the core...

For those confused about the bandwagon the Louisville Southern Baptists and the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors have climbed aboard, the news tells us each day that these men have picked a winner. Everyone is busy passing laws preventing fathers and mothers from getting any help teaching their sons to be masculine and their daughters to be feminine. This is the heart of the issue. To instruct and counsel children to embrace who God made them, sexually, and to forsake any desires they may suffer under to commit the sins of effeminacy or butchness is being criminalized around the country.

Meanwhile, Al Mohler,1 Heath Lambert,2 Denny Burke, and the professional association of "certified Biblical" counselors have all announced they are also opposed to parents getting this help for their children.

It's such fine synchronicity when the world and the church both realize at precisely the same moment precisely the same sexual reforms that are needed. It makes the work of deconstruction so much easier.

Along with California, Oregon, New Jersey, Cincinnati, and the District of Columbia, New York has criminalized this therapy.

And now New York is taking it a step further by putting financial teeth behind these laws. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo just took executive actions directing the state's Department of Financial Services to...


Rally for Life this Sunday at Monroe County Courthouse...

This Sunday, Christian Citizens For Life will be holding the annual Rally for Life to protest the murder of unborn babies. Clearnote Church pastor, Stephen Baker, will be delivering the keynote address.

It is more important than ever that we make this rally a big one. The anti-abortion movement has gained a lot of steam over the last seven months because of the revelation of Planned Parenthood's sickening traffic in the body parts of babies they have murdered. Everyone across America now knows the ghastly truth about Planned Parenthood and this revelation has led to a number of us attending several large rallies here at Bloomington's Planned Parenthood. 

Also, Monroe County Council faced stiff opposition from the largest crowd ever when, despite the revelations concerning Planned Parenthood, they presented a gift of thousands of our tax dollars to to Planned Parenthood's ghouls this past August.

Let's keep this momentum going. Let's tell local government to stop funding Planned Parenthood. Let's tell our community that the brutal slaughter of unborn babiest and trafficing in these little ones' body parts must stop.

What: 2016 Rally for Life
Date: Sunday, January 17, 2016
Time: 2:00 - 3:00 PM
Place: Monroe County Courthouse (corner of Walnut and Kirkwood Ave)


President Obama prepares executive orders on guns...

Citizens of these United States, President Obama has to put up with you and he's not enjoying it. He's a Formula One race car chained to a line of tricycles. He's so brilliant and we're so very stupid. Slow. Plodding. Methodical.

None of those enlightened Europeans who worshipped him with rallies of 100,000 ever stooped to defending their freedom from government oppression by passing any law guaranteeing the citizens the right to bear arms. Against their government.

Stupid ignorant white trash. Don't we know our federal masters are the only ones to be trusted with guns? In fact, our federal masters are the only ones to be trusted with authority.

The sub-context for every educated man's distaste for guns is...


John, get your gun...

(NOTE: “Johnny” is a diminutive of “John.” After titling this piece, it occurred to me that using the title “Johnny get your gun” would be seen as disrespectful, so I’ve changed it to “John, get your gun.” I respect John Piper and apologize for a title that didn’t show proper respect for him.)

The Reformed church has been all atwitter over John Piper’s response to Jerry Falwell encouraging the students of his Baptist college to get a gun and help protect the campus against armed attack. John tells his readers that he talked with Jerry before writing him up. Then, he frames his response to Jerry this way: 

The issue is about the whole tenor and focus and demeanor and heart-attitude of the Christian life. Does it accord with the New Testament to encourage the attitude that says, “I have the power to kill you in my pocket, so don’t mess with me”? My answer is, No.

Of course, this is an uncharitable summary of President Falwell’s position since no one carrying a gun on Liberty’s campus is primarily concerned about himself. Christians don’t carry guns because they don’t want to be killed themselves, but because they want to be faithful to defend others—particularly women and children. This is our calling as Christian men. We defend the innocent and defenseless. It would have been more kind for John to phrase it this way: “I have the power to defend my sisters in Christ here in my holster, so don’t mess with them!”

(Henry Holsters are the superb work of a member of our church, Andrew Henry. Buy one.)

I haven’t read any of the responses to John’s anti-gun piece except Doug Wilson’s. Doug makes a good point when he begins his defense of John this way...