USA God-Less

School removes plaques honoring God

Folks around Midlothian, Texas are raising a ruckus after the school district boarded up a pair of dedication plaques at two local elementary schools.

“Because of the plaque’s questionable constitutional nature, it has been covered,” said Jerome Stewart, the superintendent of the Midlothian Independent School District.

My goodness! I can’t imagine what was written on the plaques that would cause such a kerfuffle. Were the plaques adorned with naughty words or dancing girls?

No, my good readers – they were not.

It seems the questionable content to which the superintendent referred includes a pair of Latin crosses along with the words “God” and “Holy Christian Church.”

 

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Florida school district replaces football chaplains with "life coaches"

The Christian cleansing of Orange County Public Schools did not make national headlines. Their decision to banish the chaplains garnered no attention..

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We Don’t Have to Have More Fergusons

From Townhall.com

Star Parker | Aug 25, 2014

August 28, 1963 Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech on the mall in Washington, DC. One year later, a half century ago, the Civil Rights Act was signed into law.

A half-century is a long time. Yet, as events in Ferguson, Missouri attest to, race remains a problem in America.

Why?

Change has swept our nation over these years. Technologies abound that no one would have dreamed of. And millions of black Americans have moved into the ranks of the upper middle class, the rich, and the super rich.

Yet, despite this, racial ghettos which harbor, even nurture, poverty and crime persist, generation after generation.

The tragedy of Michael Brown is too common a story. As the human spirit of black youth is suffocated under these horrible circumstances, frustrations boil over and wind up in violent encounters, often with the police, and a young black man winds up pointlessly dead.

Wealthy black liberals – like billionaire Oprah Winfrey - despite being living proof that the America dream works, who build businesses fueled by American capitalism –invariably join the ongoing chorus of the same, failed explanations of why these impoverished communities persist generations after the Civil Rights Act became law.

Liberal black media serves up the same monotone left wing propaganda, the same explanations for failure years after the Civil Rights Act, despite having produced billionaire BET founder Robert Johnson.

What do these successful, wealthy black entrepreneurs know that they are not sharing with their own?

I broke out of it years ago, after seeing what the debilitating culture of the welfare state was doing to me and those around me.

I started my own policy organization in the hope that we could start providing research and information, forums for discussion, to generate light on how misguided government policies keep the poor rather than leading them out of the morass.

And how these policies undermine the very institutions of tradition – like conjugal marriage and family - that do provide the framework that nourish human growth and potential.

The cycle of events is too tragically clear.

Tragedies, like what we are now witnessing in Ferguson, bring national attention to the ongoing, self-perpetuating realities of poverty and crime in these ghettos, and the liberals turn the discussion immediately to race rather than policies.

They get their 15 minutes of fame and media and then everything goes back to business as usual, with no change, until we repeat with the next incident.

When black conservatives, like me, speak out, the attacks, always personal, never about substance, begin.

From Bill Cosby to Dr. Ben Carson and now to House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan, those who try to shine light, who try to think and analyze and get to bottom of what is wrong and fix it, are attacked.

Worse, liberal ideas inevitably are about government money. But the American taxpayer is tapped out. We are running out of money for everything, and certainly for failed ideas.

The steps out of poverty are not rocket science. Yet people need to be free to take them.

It is insulting that liberals pretend to care about the poor yet fight any acknowledgment of what has failed and block efforts to move forward with what can succeed. Despite mountains of data showing the fruitlessness of secularism and government dependency, the liberal black establishment fights to hold these communities hostage to these destructive forces.

Promising ideas abound on how to redirect government policies that can empower rather than debilitate personal freedom and the human spirit. School choice, personal retirement accounts, vouchers to acquire private health insurance and housing.

Maybe this time, when the liberal demagogues leave Ferguson to move on to the next “race” crisis, black frustration will lead to a readiness to hear some hard but freeing truths.

20 Reasons Why Thomas Jefferson Would Oppose The Hell Out Of Obama And His Progressive Ilk

From Townhall.com

Doug Giles | Aug 24, 2014

If TJ is in heaven right now, and he’s able to peer through some celestial portal and behold the BS Barack has saddled this nation with -- a country, by the way, that Jefferson labored to make independent from tyrants -- then I would bet that Thomas is more ticked than a boar that just had its balls clipped.

How do I know Jefferson would loathe Obama and seek to jettison our Jester-In-Chief? Well, it’s principally via Thomas’ musings -- musings that, for the time being, we’re still afforded the wherewithal to access; principles that also happen to have made our nation great and that used to be taught in our school system.

Plow through the following from one of our nation’s illustrious framers’ quills and try to tell me with a straight face that Jefferson wouldn’t have sought to derail BHO via tooth, fang and claw:

1. The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere.

2. It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. Subject opinion to coercion: whom will you make your inquisitors?

3. A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.

4. If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.

5. The multiplication of public offices, increase of expense beyond income, growth and entailment of a public debt, are indications soliciting the employment of the pruning knife.

6. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever.

7. No freeman shall be debarred the use of arms [within his own lands or tenements].

8. The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.

9. Laws that forbid the carrying of arms… disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes… Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.

10. In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.

11. I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, & as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.

12. It is of great importance to set a resolution, not to be shaken, never to tell an untruth. There is no vice so mean, so pitiful, so contemptible; and he who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and a third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world’s believing him. This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good disposition.

13. I am not among those who fear the people. They, and not the rich, are our dependence for continued freedom. And to preserve their independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude.

14. The disease of liberty is catching; those armies will take it in the south, carry it thence to their own country, spread there the infection of revolution and representative government, and raise its people from the prone condition of brutes to the erect altitude of man.

15. Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories.

16. Still one thing more, fellow-citizens — a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.

17. A private central bank issuing the public currency is a greater menace to the liberties of the people than a standing army. We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.

18. Born in other countries, yet believing you could be happy in this, our laws acknowledge, as they should do, your right to join us in society, conforming, as I doubt not you will do, to our established rules. That these rules shall be as equal as prudential considerations will admit, will certainly be the aim of our legislatures, general and particular.

19. I have been happy … in believing that … whatever follies we may be led into as to foreign nations, we shall never give up our Union, the last anchor of our hope, and that alone which is to prevent this heavenly country from becoming an arena of gladiators.

20. I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power.

America: The Ostrich Years

From Townhall.com

Derek Hunter | Aug 24, 2014

In every cartoon I’ve seen with an ostrich, there comes a scene where it gets scared and buries its head in the sand. Ostriches don’t do this in real life, but it came to symbolize, in cartoons at least, the concept of thinking something bad will go away if you simply ignore it. It’s foolish – some would say stupid – but it appears to be the crux of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy.

There are times when a president has to be president, even on vacation. This is the part of the job President Obama seems to hold in contempt – the doing of it. The trappings – the motorcade, Air Force One, hanging out with celebrities, being a celebrity himself, having nearly every whim catered to – are the most appealing part of the job. But it is a job, and he sought it twice. He just doesn’t seem to like doing it.

This isn’t a new development. This president has been checked out to one degree or another since he checked in, but he at least paid lip service to the concept of domestic policy. He didn’t involve himself with the details of many of the laws Democrats in Congress passed; he just gave speeches in support of their concepts and signed them. But when policy issues crossed salt water, he lost all interest.

After a series of groveling speeches trying to make up for his predecessor, who just happens to be more popular than he is now, the president retreated to the comforts of his office and buried his head to the realities of the rest of the world.

Aside from occasional speeches and selfie-filled funerals or summits, Obama turned his gaze domestically and green-ward, to the golf course.

But the funny thing about the rest of the world is it doesn’t go away simply because you wish it would. The troubles of the world have a way of existing regardless whether you pay attention to them.

Afghanistan is on the verge of collapse. Libya is in anarchy. Israel is being attacked hourly by the terrorists in Hamas. Russia is putting its band back together. China is making aggressive moves toward us and Japan. And ISIS is executing people like it’s an Olympic event. Meanwhile, the president has given a few speeches and shaved two strokes off his handicap.

Minutes after dispassionately reading a prepared statement on the beheading of American journalist James Foley, the president ripped off his tie-less suit like it was held together with Velcro, and rushed to the first tee. When questioned about the smiling and laughing pictures that hit the press the next day, his staff warned not to read too much into that – he really was upset, just hiding it well…in a sand trap, giggling with friends.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, ISIS was not laughing or golfing. It was making it clear it wants war with the United States. This claim, which al Qaeda also made clear before 9/11, was met with the same indifference as bin Laden’s.

When asked about this, Marie Harf, State Department spokeswoman, said, “This is not about ISIL versus the United States.” (The administration changes the last “S” to an “L” so people won’t remember Obama failed to lead when these terrorists could have been marginalized to the point of irrelevance when they were forming in Syria.) When pressed about ISIS’s declaration, Harf indignantly replied, “Well, they can say whatever they’d like.”

The ostrich’s head is firmly planted in the sand.

The Obama administration won’t acknowledge ISIS is at war with the United States because it does not want this to be so.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. With those bombs, it declared war on the United States. The next day the United States government reciprocated. On Dec. 11, Germany joined its Axis partner and declared war on the United States too. In spite of the fact that Germany, no matter what John Belushi said, didn’t bomb Pearl Harbor or any other US territory, we reciprocated again the same day because it’s good policy that when someone declares war on you, you take it seriously.

At least that’s how it used to be. Now, when people with more combined fanaticism than our enemies in 1941 slowly slice the head off an American citizen, videotape it and release it to the world…out president courageously fights through his outrage by golfing.

We’ve returned to a pre-9/11 mentality in our foreign policy, only before 9/11 it was somewhat justified because 9/11 hadn’t happened yet. Those who haven’t seen the Foley video, which is most of the American people, have no idea of the true nature of the threat we face. Hearing or reading a description of the barbarism does not do it justice.

Leaders of ISIS want Americans to see it because they think it will scare us. The Obama administration doesn’t want us to see it because it knows it will enrage us and increase the pressure on him to act. If the Obama administration is correct, we are still that nation that saved the world from fascism all those decades ago. If ISIS is right, we’ve become the ostrich. And it never ends well for the ostrich.

Yeah, Candy Crowley - It's Just "Rhetoric." (Insert Major Eyerolling Here)

From Chicks on the Right

Written by  Mockarena

The way she begins this interview makes me want to punch her.  "Rhetoric?"  This is her assessment of comments by people who describe the group who beheaded James Foley as one of the greatest threats ever?  RHETORIC?

This is precisely the kind of delusion that's so commonplace with bleeding heart liberals, who probably think islamic terror can be fixed with a nice shipment of cookies and a Hallmark card.  We just need to close Gitmo, #freeGaza, and sing a few bars of Kumbaya, and ISIS will cease to exist.

You just keep right on thinking that, Candy.

Communism is alive and well in California.

Posted by Judson Phillips on August 23, 2014 at 6:55am in Tea Party Nation Forum

Communism is alive and well and where do you find it?  You find it in California.  Yes, it is alive and well in the Golden State which is essentially a one party state.

Who better to know and identify communism than people who have been the victims of communism.

From One News Now:

The Holy Resurrection Romanian Orthodox Church struggled to find a place to worship in California. After finding a place in the Rio Linda area of Sacramento, church members discovered their biggest stumbling block is city government. 

Brad Dacus, founder of Pacific Justice Institute, says one reason Sacramento gave for refusing permission was the location was near a bar, so the location might not be compatible with the neighborhood.

"Another reason given was that they said there were too many churches already," says Dacus, whose law firm is representing the church. "You know, it's not the business of government to dictate how many churches we need."

Church members were shocked at the city's attitude and observed that it reminded them of the hostilities they experienced in Romania, which had been ruled under Communism for almost 30 years during the Cold War.

The country's most infamous leader was Nicolae Ceausescu, whose reign of terror included spying on and imprisoning churchgoers.

Dacus explains: "They recognized clear similarities of the hostility that they had experienced in Romania, being persecuted as Christians, and they were having some of the same kind of resistance to be able to have a place to worship here in the United States."

If the name of that area sounds familiar, it is the area Rush Limbaugh mocks regularly on his show. 

The 1^st Amendment to the United States Constitution and the California Constitution both guarantee religious freedom.

When liberals are in charge, the Constitution is something simply to be ignored and liberty means nothing.

Fortunately there is happy ending to this story.  With the help of lawyers, the church received its permits.

What Is Wrong With People?

From Facebook posting by Chicks On The Right

Written by Mockarena

You've probably heard the news that American journalist James Wright Foley was beheaded by ISIS yesterday, in a "message to America."  They are threatening to kill another American journalist, Stephen Joel Sotloff, if Obama doesn't make the "right" decision.

I know I speak for every decent human when I say that I am just sickened over this insanity.  It's mindboggling to me that we actually are the same species as the ISIS terrorists.  How can human beings behave this way?

The answer, I suppose, is that they are sub-human. They are inhuman. They are monsters in human form. And I'm barely able to wrap my head around that kind of evil. 

The Boston Globe has an early interview with Foley in which he describes his capture in Libya - it's interesting, but also devastating considering yesterday's events.

And since I'm already feeling sickened by all of that, I may as well pile on and tell how how sickened I am by this, too. According to that sourcelink, a Ferguson looter named DeAndre Smith, who I HOPE has either already been or is about to be arrested, said this, about his own looting activity:

“I’m proud of us. We deserve this, and this is what’s supposed to happen when there’s injustice in your community. St. Louis — not going to take this anymore.”

"We deserve this," he said.  He was one of the criminals who robbed the QuikTrip in Ferguson.  This is how the minds of these thugs work.

I need to go find a good samaritan story.  Or a military homecoming story.  Or a pay it forward story.  Because right now, I am feeling like absolute crap about humanity in general.

Feel free to post happy things in the comments.  Or commiserate with me.  Either way.

Navy Removes Bibles From Guest Rooms

By Todd Starnes – August 11, 2014

There is growing outrage among sailors and religious liberty advocates over a directive that calls for the removal of Bibles from lodges and hotels run on U.S. Navy bases. The directive comes after an atheist group filed a formal complaint earlier this year over the placement of Bibles in the rooms.

"The current direction is to remove all religious material from Navy Lodge guest rooms," read an email to a Navy chaplain from The Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM). "For those Navy Lodges with religious materials currently in guest rooms, the Navy Lodge General Manager will contact the Installation Chaplain's office who will provide guidance on the removal procedure disposition of these materials."

The American Family Association received an exclusive copy of a similar directive from NEXCOM, the organization that manages the lodges.

"The Navy Lodge General Manager should advise the Installation Commanding Officer of our intention to work through the chaplain's office to determine what installation policy is and the method to remove religious material currently in the guest rooms," read a directive approved by Michael Bockelman, the vice president of NEXCOM and the director of the Navy Lodge Program.

In other words, they've got to figure out a way to dispose of God's Word.

I contacted NEXCOM spokesperson Kathleen Martin hoping to get the inside scoop. Yes or no -- are Bibles being removed from Navy-run lodges? Martin dodged my question and to be quite frank, gave me the runaround. She refused, on numerous occasions, to explain the whereabouts of the lodge Bibles.

"Lodge managers are coordinating with base chaplains regarding the disposition of all religious material," she said.

Martin said the directive will impact about 40 Navy lodges around the world.

"We looked at our policy -- and realized there wasn't a consistent policy regarding Navy Lodges," she told me. "We decided we needed to have some consistency and be consistent with the Navy."

I figured I would try one more time. Yes or no -- will the Navy allow Bibles to be placed in Navy lodges? Martin refused to answer the question.

The order was hailed by the Freedom From Religious Foundation. The FFRF had filed a complaint with the military -- claiming the presence of the Bible "amounts to a government endorsement of that religious text."

"FFRF is pleased to learn that NEXCOM has taken seriously its constitutional obligation to remain neutral toward religion as a representative of our federal government," FFRF Sam Grover told me. "By removing Bibles from Navy-run lodges, the Navy has taken a step to ensure that it is not sending the impermissible message that Christians are favored over guests with other religious beliefs or over those guests with no religion."

The Bibles had been placed in the rooms, free of charge, by Gideons International.

An active duty service member contacted me and alerted me the Bibles were being taken out of hotel rooms and a lodge housekeeper told American Family Association the same thing.

"They told us to put them in boxes where they would be taken to a donation center somewhere," the housekeeper told AFA.

The Navy even has a plan in the event, heaven forbid, a guest leaves behind their Bible.

"All religious materials left by a Navy Lodge guest, in the future, will be dealt with following established procedures for lost and found property," the directive states.

FFRF said they were alerted to the Bible controversy by "two concerned service members."

"One complainant noted that he 'never saw a Book of Mormon or Koran' in any Navy-run lodge," read an FFRF letter to the Navy.

Mikey Weinstein, the president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, told me he was delighted to hear of the Navy's directive. His organization has been trying for more than seven years to cleanse military hotel rooms of the Good Book.

"We are happy to see the military doing that," Weinstein said. "For years we've been telling them those Bibles are a violation of the Establishment Clause."

Ron Crews, executive director of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, blasted the Navy for removing the Bibles.

"This is just one more assault by military leaders against anything Christian," Crews told me. "It's getting tiresome to see senior military leaders cave in to those who appear to be offended by Christians, by Christian symbols and now by the Bible itself."

Crews said there's nothing wrong with allowing the Gideons to place Bibles in Navy lodges -- at no cost to the Navy.

"Our military service men and women have every right to look at literature in hotel rooms -- including the Scriptures," he said.

Ouch: Even Michelle May Agree That Obama Needs To Be Impeached After What Mike Huckabee Just Said

B. Christopher Agee — August 7, 2014

In a recent interview, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee weighed in on the possibility of impeaching Barack Obama. He told radio host Steve Deace that while he “absolutely” believes such a result is warranted, he does not believe a Democrat-controlled Senate would ever allow the process to gain traction.

“There’s no doubt that he’s done plenty of things worthy of impeachment,” Huckabee affirmed. “Now the fact is, we don’t have the Senate, so even if you impeached him in the House and it went to trial in the Senate, it would never even get to the floor because [Majority Leader] Harry Reid has been sitting on 357 pieces of legislation passed by the House Republicans.”

While Huckabee, often included in lists of potential GOP presidential hopefuls in the 2016 election season, took a realistic view on the issue, it is clear he wants to see Obama held accountable for his unconstitutional actions as president.

He concluded that “it’s an important argument to make that there are a number of things that this president has done in the overuse of executive power – his complete ignoring of the law.”

Specifically, Huckabee cited Obama’s convoluted response to his troubled healthcare law as evidence that he deserves to be impeached.

“This is a president who passes ObamaCare and when the Republicans want to change it, the answer is ‘It’s the law of the land,’” he said, “until it isn’t the law of the land, until he wants to give over 40 exemptions to his pals. Well, you can’t do that.”

While Huckabee recognized the appeal such unilateral power poses, he said an ethical leader must do what he knows is right.

“My gosh, when I was governor for the 10 and a half years I served, I would love to have been able to just make up the law as it suited me,” he concluded. “But I put my hand on the Bible and I swore that I would uphold the Constitution, not my … own opinions.”

North Carolina Sheriff’s Response to Explosion in Violent Crime Has Gun-Haters Going Nuts

By Top Right News on August 6, 2014 in Crime, Guns

by Gina Cassini | Top Right News

Harnett County, North Carolina has seen an explosion in violent crime, leaving police overwhelmed and citizens terrified.

So the Sheriff asked his citizens to do something to help — and the left-wing is in a tizzy over it.

Sheriff Larry Rollins told about 130 residents at a community meeting on Monday that they need to “be able to take care of business” until police arrive.

Put simply, Sheriff Rollins wants his residents to be armed and ready to protect themselves and their families.

“I do not go anywhere without a gun,” the sheriff told residents at Spring Hill Methodist Church in Lillington, North Carolina, on Monday.

“I want my deputies to be at your house just as fast as they possibly can when you have a problem,” he added. “But you better be able to take care of business before we get there if you need to protect your family.

Yes, sir. Just as we saw 80-year old Florida grandma N.J. Logan do when her home was invaded in that amazing story last night.

‘Hang Your Heads in Shame’: A Hollywood Heavyweight Gives Fellow Actors a History Lesson

Aug. 3, 2014 7:28am Zach Noble

On Saturday, Hollywood heavyweight Jon Voight wrote a column in the Hollywood Reporter chastising his fellow actors for signing their names to an anti-Israeli open letter.

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JULY 18: Actor Jon Voight speaks onstage at the ‘Ray Donovan’ panel during the SHOWTIME Network portion of the 2014 Summer Television Critics Association at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on July 18, 2014 in Beverly Hills, California. Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

In the letter, actors including Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem and Pedro Almodovar condemned Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip as “genocide” and called upon the European Union to condemn the military operation.

Voight responded:

I am heartsick that people like Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem could incite anti-Semitism all over the world and are oblivious to the damage they have caused.

They are obviously ignorant of the whole story of Israel’s birth, when in 1948 the Jewish people were offered by the UN a portion of the land originally set aside for them in 1921, and the Arab Palestinians were offered the other half. The Arabs rejected the offer, and the Jews accepted, only to be attacked by five surrounding Arab countries committed to driving them into the sea. But the Israelis won. The Arabs tried it again in 1967, and again in 1973, launching a sneak attack on the holiest Jewish holiday. Each time the Jews prevailed but not without great loss of life.  And when Israel was not fighting a major war, it was defending itself against terrorist campaigns.

And yet Israel has always labored for a peaceful relation with its Arab neighbors. It voluntarily returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in return for peace, and gave the Palestinians all of Gaza as a peace gesture. What was the response? The Palestinians elected Hamas, a terrorist organization, and they immediately began firing thousands of rockets into Israel.

…

You have been able to become famous and have all your monetary gains because you are in a democratic country: America. Do you think you would have been able to accomplish this in Iran, Syria, Lebanon, et cetera? You had a great responsibility to use your celebrity for good.  Instead, you have defamed the only democratic country of goodwill in the Middle East: Israel.

You should hang your heads in shame. You should all come forth with deep regrets for what you did, and ask forgiveness from the suffering people in Israel.