Ramos and Compean Families Fund

Let's not forget the Ramos and Compean families. These two husbands and fathers are in prison today (with something like 9 years to go) for defending this country against drug dealers. I found that Grassfire.org has a page where you can donate to the families. You can imagine the financial burden of having the main bread winner in prison and the emotional agony of knowing they are innocent of wrong. Pleas join me in donating by going here.

Differences Between Liberals and Conservatives

I have a theory about the two main differences between liberals and conservatives.

Conservatives recognize that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few; some people will slip through the cracks of freedom, but most people will be better off. Liberals want us to all suffer equally.

The beliefs of conservatives are more likely to change how they actually live. Liberals think that the government should force everyone else to live as they think best. That is as long as it doesn't require sacrifice/lifestyle change on their part. I have a perfect story to go with this from my days as a landscape-architect-in-training, but I think I will have to work on it a bit before posting. Maybe tomorrow.

Obama's Religion?

According to Barak Obama, he grew up Christian and was never anything else. But according to his half-brother, Malik, Barak Obama grew up Muslim. Malik even has a 1985 picture to go with the story. Then there is the WorldNetDaily article on Hindu devotees of the god Hanuman donating a full size idol to Barak Obama to match the one he carries in his pocket for good luck. Then again I suppose I shouldn't be suprised. After all, over half of the religious people in this country believe that many roads lead to God. Seriouly, where is the conviction?

John Piper on Abortion in America

The Desk

This goes so well with my previous post, "Choices", I just had do post it. It says, "There's a skinny girl who lives inside of me that's trying to get out, but I can usually shut her up with cookies."

The Desk
Originally uploaded by fmohsin

Bravo, Gov. Jindal and LA State Legislators.

As I said a few posts ago, "Gov. Jindal has guts." He has signed a law allowing academic freedom in science fields in LA public schools. It was strongly supported by the legislature. Here is a quote from the LifeSiteNews article.

Louisiana public school teachers can now educate their students about the theory of intelligent design and scientific criticisms of Darwinian evolutionary theory thanks to a new law signed this week by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. The Louisiana Science Education Act now allows teachers to supplement the state's curricula with additional scientific materials, but groups opposed to any debate over the "origin of the species" have warned that the new law will become the origin of the lawsuits if they believe it facilitates religion.

Lawmakers, however, were enthusiastically in favor of the Act signed by Jindal. The state Senate had passed the bill (SB733) with a unanimous vote, and the state House had approved it by a vote of 93-4.

Jindal, a Catholic with a biology degree, indicated his own affirmation of the bill in a statement saying: "I will continue to consistently support the ability of school boards and BESE to make the best decisions to ensure a quality education for our children."

Terrible, Good, and Something to Look Into

We will start with some terrible news. Great apes have been given human rights in Spain. Here are some quotes from LifeSiteNews. I added the bold.

A Spanish parliamentary committee yesterday gave its support to a resolution that would grant so-called "great apes" the rights to life, liberty and freedom from torture.

According to numerous mainstream reports, the environmental committee's resolution is supported across party lines and is expected to be passed by parliament, thereby coming into effect as law.

"This is a historic day in the struggle for animal rights and in defense of our evolutionary comrades, which will doubtless go down in the history of humanity," said Pedro Pozas, Spanish director of the Great Apes Project (GAP). "We have no knowledge of great apes being used in experiments in Spain, but there is currently no law preventing that from happening."

According to a Reuters report, it will also become illegal to keep apes in circuses, or for the purposes of television commercials or filming.

Since it's inception GAP has lobbied in favor of a UN Declaration on Great Apes. That Declaration demands, "the extension of the community of equals to include all great apes: human beings, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orang-utans.

"The community of equals is the moral community within which we accept certain basic moral principles or rights as governing our relations with each other and enforceable at law."
The list of "moral principles or rights" includes the three "rights" included in the Spanish parliamentary committee's resolution. Currently, however, it is not clear what penalties, if any, would be levied against an ape should an ape violate these moral principles by, for example, killing or injuring a human being or another ape in a case where it was not necessary for self defence.

To those who have been observing events in Spain these last several years under the socialist government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, it comes as no surprise that such an unprecedented resolution would be passed first in Spain.

As bioethicist Wesley Smith explains on his blog in a post on the Spanish resolution, "Of course the purpose of this isn't to merely improve the treatment of great apes - which could be accomplished as it already has been in some places via normal animal welfare statutes. Rather, the explicit point of the GAP is revolutionary - to demote human beings from the uniquely valuable species and into merely another animal in the forest.

"Once people accept that premise," he continues, "Judeo/Christian philosophy goes to the guillotine allowing the utilitarian agenda to proceed unhindered, leading in turn to the moral value of the weak and vulnerable among us becoming archaic, resulting in their loss of the right to life and being used instrumentally for those deemed more valuable. (Lest you think we exaggerate, check out Peter Singer's writings, and who can deny that his values are triumphing?)"

Smith concludes, "In the world being born out of the ashes of the sanctity/equality of human life ethic, value will be subjective and rights temporary - depending on one's individual capacities rather than humanity. And we will see apes - animals (and eventually other animals), which are completely oblivious about the hue and cry being mounted against human worth in their names - being viewed as more important than some humans."

Note how evolution, socialism, and the UN are all tied in to this. As a side note, I would love to see the US get out of the UN.

Now on to some good news. Yesterday the Supreme Court overturned DCs hand-gun ban. To me this proves that the Court can still read the Constitution and rule in favor of the people. I find that encouraging.

The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down Washington D.C.'s ban on handguns, saying individuals have the right to own guns.

In a 5-to-4 landmark decision Thursday, the high court struck down the 32-year-old ban, saying it violates the second amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The court also struck down the city's requirement that legally-owned firearms be equipped with trigger locks or kept disassembled in the home, saying that makes it impossible for citizens to use arms for the lawful purpose of self-defense.

And now I leave you with something to look into. I was unaware that many vaccines use human fetal tissue. I was also unaware that there are ethical alternatives. http://www.cogforlife.org/ was recommended on Faith2Action.org's Hot Battle Action Steps. If you go to COGForLife.og, there is a link on the left side that says vaccine sources. It gives a list of vaccine brands that use non-human fetal material for the vaccines. So, if you vaccinate your children, ask your doctor for the brands that don't use baby parts.