Today’s Peace Signs

Rebecca Mallory

National headlines from the past news week have undoubtedly set most Americans on edge. Shocking scenes of the tragedy at the Boston marathon finish line and the fiery images after the explosion of a fertilizer plant in Waco, Texas leave us all bewildered and baffled in the aftermath of unspeakable human suffering. Similar tragedies such as 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, Indonesia’s tsunami, and countless others leave us wondering where we can turn for peace. Perhaps you have specific sources of comfort on which to rely.

May I suggest some universal truths that apply to all?

Unfortunately, our destructive politically correct society has dictated the way we are “supposed” to react and respond to life’s tragic events.  Thank goodness many Americans in Boston, Waco and countless other great American cities ignored that memo this week. How refreshing it was to see the streets of Boston lined with selfless Americans forming a gauntlet and linking arms while singing “God Bless America”, praising the first responders, and supporting the victims of that tragedy. Their automatic  reaction was a testimony to human nature and the true American spirit that blasted meaningless PC nonsense and further verified that human behavior cannot, and never will be, mandated just because a few “feel good” politicians deem it so through legislation.

Anyone remotely familiar with history is no doubt reminded of the universal truths that made America the greatest nation in world history.  Through the U.S. Constitution, wise founders prepared for the frailties and selfishness of man by preparing a document unrivaled by any other nation. It is a system of checks and balances that prevents kings, dictators and imperialists from controlling a free people. Our Constitution brilliantly provides for man’s innate desire to be free and pursue his/her own happiness through liberty and the dictates of his/her own conscience. It has been the envy of every other nation. Why has it lasted so long? Why is it being threatened today? Will it survive?

Something that I have observed with each terror attack, or horrid crime committed, is how the government attempts to band-aid the situation after the fact. Everyone rushes to the scene after the damage has been done. The shocked media then puzzles away. “What happened? What possibly could have prevented this tragic event?”  The answer is in our history books. It lies in the universal truths about different forms of government and the governed – Rome, England, Greece, France, China, etc.  What do they all have in common? All world super powers crumbled and failed because of interesting similarities: an obsession with the rich and famous, with sports and entertainment and loss of moral compass. They wanted to be taken care of… They wanted things to be easy – a “give it to me now” entitlement mentality. Sound familiar?

To cure what ails us in these uncertain times, there’s a simple solution to achieve a higher degree of personal peace. Not easy, but simple.

Individual responsibility, integrity, respect and love of fellow man, and hard work. That’s it. Imagine how the world would change instantly if everyone truly adopted those universal principles. Or even made an effort! Until we take responsibility for our own character flaws, stop blaming others for our misfortunes, and correct our own selfish desires, we imperfect humans will allow other imperfect humans to govern us. There are those who “think” they know the rules better and they should be able  to  imposed them upon us. Is that a free country? (Incidentally, America isn’t even ranked in the top 20 “most free” nations in the world. And you thought we were #1, right?)

There are those who complain that Capitalism and the American ideal is somehow evil and does not work, even though history shows that more people have risen from poverty and squalor because of Capitalism than any other system.  But it is not without a price.  Capitalism and a free Republic can only be successful with an honest and self-governing people.

Democracy is a tough business. Maintaining a thriving Republic is even tougher. Most of us have never experienced anything but freedom and prosperity and cannot fathom anything but. How can we expect it to survive if each of us refuses to take an active role in preserving it? What will you sacrifice to insure a prosperous future for your children? If “you’re just too busy” or “politics just isn’t your thing”, then don’t complain when your freedoms are further eroded and safety is compromised. Today’s peace signs will be allotted to you as the government sees fit. Don’t be surprised when your parental rights are slowly usurped by that same government.

The great news is- though a small window – you and I still have a little time. Within our four walls we can affect change by teaching our children and grandchildren personal responsibility, integrity and hard work; not to sit around and wait for someone to come “save” them. They are capable of anything they can dream of. They can do it themselves. They need to hear it from you every day.  And that, my fellow Americans, is where we can turn for peace.

LIBERTY, TYRANNY, AND ANARCHY…WHERE ARE WE?

Maddi Gillel

Someone once said, “When the government fears the people there is freedom, when the people fear the government, there is tyranny.” Tyranny is also a catch -all phrase for the ‘isms – communism, Nazism, Marxism, fascism, etc.  So with liberty and tyranny loosely defined, what is anarchy?  Anarchy is when there is NO LAW.

Where would you say we were?  I agree – TYRANNY.  The federal government has by-passed the states (in violation of the 10^th amendment) and has now taken over areas that were forbidden to the Federal Government under the Founders’ formula: land, schools, air, water, energy, health, welfare, city finances, city beautification, sewage disposal, electricity, thermal power, intra-state commerce, industrial production, local police problems etc.

Do you fear the government?  Think of the following Federal (or federally condoned) programs: IRS, OSHA, EPA, NEA, ATF, UN, Public Schools (state schools), Medicare, Medicaid, federal judges, federal courts, martial law, government lands, BLM, ACLU etc.etc.etc.

The closer government is to the people, the more we can have a voice in what government does.  The family is the foundation of a society and the place where problems should be solved first.  The federal government is too far away and to unwieldy to try to solve problems, which is why the constitution was designed to keep government close to the people (family, local and state).

What is to be done then, to help bring things back into balance?  Do everything we can to strengthen our families, no matter how difficult, or inconvenient or expensive.  God set up families to be the basic unit of our society and we are to take this blessing seriously.  As we do so, we can more confidently ask God to help our country.

And Mighty Civilizations Fell…

Rachel Allison

Historians such as Edward Gibbon (1737-94), Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975) and Will Durant (1885-1981) have analyzed the reasons for the fall of mighty civilizations.

In summarizing cause and effect, an American educator lists six common reasons why each civilization fell:

1. They lost their religious convictions and defied basic morality.

2.  They became obsessed with sex.

3.  They debased their money of its intrinsic value and let inflation run rampant.

4.  Honest work ceased to be a virtue.

5.  Respect for law disintegrated and violence became an accepted method of achieving individual and group desires.

6.  Finally, citizens were no longer willing to be soldiers and fight for the defense of their nation and their heritage.”

(Dr. Kenneth McFarland speech, ‘Bicentennial America’s Opportunity,”  National Convention of the Independent Petroleum Association of America.”)

Will our modern nations be wise enough to escape similar destruction?  Are we prepared to reverse the course of history?

J. Richard Clark, former leader in the Mormon Church said, “Through the exercise of our political rights and responsibilities, through community service, and through personal righteousness, we must free our nations from tyranny and from fiscal and moral bankruptcy to the extent of our ability.

As we watch all that is happening in the world, we have to ask ourselves, ‘Is there really anything that I can do to help slow, stop, or even reverse all the destructive thinking and behavior?’

And the answer is “Yes!”

1.  Honestly examine your life and make a course correction if attitudes and habits  are in any way promoting the six causes of a civilization’s demise.

2.  Be a pro-active parent who teaches, guides, and encourages your children’s attitudes and habits to advance a strong, moral, God-fearing and patriotic nation.

3.  Take a stand vocally.  Your words may give cause and courage to others who are apathetic or disengaged.

4.  Write letters to the editor, blog, facebook, tweet expressing your opinions.  Remember to do the research and present facts.  No one can dispute the facts.

5.  If possible give financially to causes that are for the good of your nation, her families, and her people.

6.  Pray for your country, her leaders, and her people.

7.  Pray that you will know what else you can do, and that you will be prepared to do it.

Love of country and the strength of nations is a cause worthy of any and all efforts.

These are the times that try men’s souls.  The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands by it  NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.  Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us; ‘tis dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if so celestial and article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.”  Thomas Paine

Remember Liberty

Diane Robertson

On the fourth of July, I always like to ponder the founding of our great nation, read the Declaration of Independence, and sing some of the great songs about our freedom, liberty, and the sacrifices that so many men and women made to make our nation the place of freedom and refuge it has been.

The fourth verse of the patriotic song, My Country ‘tis of Thee, says:

Our fathers’ God, to thee,

author of liberty, to thee we sing;

long may our land be bright

with freedom’s holy light;

protect us by thy might, great God, our King.

This was written in contrast to England’s national anthem, “God Save the King”. Instead of asking God to save the king, Samuel F.Smith, the author of this poem declares God to be the author of our liberty and then declares God to be our king and our protector.

In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” “Our Creator” is God. Jefferson and all of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, like Smith, declare God to be the author of our liberty.

The first of amendment of our Constitution, written by James Madison, states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

Samuel Adams, another of our founding fathers declared, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Clearly, the men who fought for liberty and established our great Nation believed God to be the giver and protector of liberty. These men did not want a state religion to limit the worship of the people. They understood that freedom of Religion isn’t about taking God away from the people. It is about allowing the people to worship God according to their consciences.

In our day, many are trying to remove religion completely from the public square. The word “God” has in many instances become offensive. Many people are being denied the right to act on their conscience. This clearly is against the founding principles and ideologies of our nation. This July Fourth, as we think back to and remember the beginning of our great nation, let us remember what these men fought to establish, and like them, protect it for the future liberty of our children.

 

Top One Percenters – and the “WTF” Generation

By Danny Quinney

I don’t know who is in charge of making up the generation titles, “Baby Boomers”, “Gen X”, and “Gen Y”, but if the powers that be came to me, your humble narrator, to name the current generation, this Gen-Xer I would have to go with the “WTF generation”.  It’s all the kids talk about, “WTF, WTF, WTF”.  It is like the world didn’t exist before Wikipedia, Twitter, and Facebook, the kids these days they just… (what, what was that?  Oh… WTF is already an acronym?).  Well, let’s move on, shall we?

When the whole OWS (Occupy Wall Street) thingy started it meant exactly jackus squatus to me.  I have no problem with people protesting, I believe people should have the right to assemble.  And, to be honest, I understand their beef.  There is corruption on Wall Street, and those people should be held accountable.

Then they started in on the whole “we are the 99 percent” thing, I started to question their motives.  It seemed to me the “hope and change” crowd turned into the “divide and conquer” crowd.  The battle lines were clearly drawn to hate the rich.  I wanted to know who the 1 percent I was supposed to hate was before being lumped into having these guys represent me.  Especially since it seems the few legitimate protesters have been taken over by the drug addicted, rape legitimizing, anarchic, “when it’s okay to shoot “Fascist” Police Officers”  left-wing choo-choos.

According to Kay Bell of bankrate.com  Top 1 Percent: How Much Do They Earn?  in order to be considered a member of the ultra elite/hated 1 percent  you need to have a household income of $343,927.  Now for the record, I’m DEFINITELY NOT a one percenter.  And I don’t hate them, I’m not jealous of them, I’m envious of them.  If I could come up with a good idea, work hard, and sell my goods or service and become a one percenter, I would be all over it.  In fact if someone is willing to teach me, I’m all ears.

Three-hundred-thousand as a household income, although it is enough zeros to impress my accountant, doesn’t sound like that much money.  Pretty much any celebrity, sports figure, anyone mildly famous, and…oh…roughly 44% of New York City residents in 2007 were in the top one percent of earners.

According to Kay Bell, “The 1.4 million Americans in the IRS’ top taxpayer category in 2009 reported nearly 17 percent of all the country’s taxable income. From those filers, the IRS collected $318 billion or almost 37 percent of all the individual taxes paid in 2009”.  Obviously the top 1 percent aren’t all Wall Street tycoons.  Now, I’m not excusing Wall Street at all, but after listening to some of the complaints it seems to me there is plenty of blame to go around: Congress, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, and even the Universities, for those who are complaining about the cost of tuition.

For those complaining there aren’t any jobs, go make one.  America is still the land of opportunity.  Some five years ago Mark Zuckerberg was a poor college kid, today he is one of the riches men in the world.  I’m not saying it’s easy.  But if you have time to occupy a little piece of sidewalk for a month, you have time to lay the foundations for something meaningful.

Just for fun, let’s say we take the top 1 percent and we took ALL their money.  Taxed every penny.  Two things would happen.  1) it wouldn’t change the “parade candy” spending policies of Washington, it would just embolden them to spend more, 2) All you would have done is create a brand new top 1 percent.  That is why whipping up the masses to grab their torches and pitchforks toward one group is less then clever.  Besides, a mob doesn’t know when to stop.  That was the difference between the French Revolution and the American Revolution.

So, what should do we do? WTF just get involved.  Let your kids, friends, co-workers, spouses, or life-partner-of-the-month know where you stand.  WTF you don’t have to “be out there”, to get involved.   Oh, and remember WTF is for Wikipedia, Twitter, and Facebook.  Be educated on the facts and then be involved.

Youth Arrested for being Pro-life?

This story began back in 2008 when 18 pro-life advocates were arrested for standing on a public street and sharing a pro-life message.  They were handcuffed, hauled to jail and not told what the charges were until the next day.  The three females in the group, two of them under 18 were strip searched—twice.  The pro-life group has sued the Maryland state police officers involved and this week the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4^th Circuit upheld a district court decision and denied the request of the police officers that they be immune to charges related to the incident.

This is a case of harassment and denial of rights by officers for what appears to be nothing more than a bias against the pro-life advocates and their message.  As I read an article by LifeSite News and see the photo of the young woman being handcuffed, I am very troubled—not only at the injustice of the situation, but also because I have spent enough time involved with pro-life individuals, especially the youth, to know of their goodness, their motivations and their innocence.  These are just good kids, trying to do a good thing—something they deeply believe in.  To picture them being handcuffed, thrown into a jail cell and strip searched! is a little much for me to handle.

This should be a wakeup call for people of all political persuasions.  At what point did we lose our right to stand on a public street, not obstructing or causing harm, and express our opinion?  The Maryland State troopers involved must be held accountable for their actions.

To read more on the story:

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/oct/10101908.html

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=217461

The U.S. is Interfering with Another Country’s Constitution

Wednesday, August 4, is the day that Kenyan’s vote on a new constitution that has the potential to stabilize their volatile country, but will also put in place constitutional wording that will produce a similar outcome to “Roe v. Wade.”   That outcome?  Legalized abortion for situations involving the “health of the mother” which, in effect, means abortion upon demand.

UFI has written in past blogs about the illegal intervention of the U.S. in Kenyan politics and the pro-abortion groups who managed to get the controversial abortion language into the proposed constitution.  In last week’s UFI poll we asked this question of our readers:  “Should the U.S. be involved in funding the “Yes” vote on Kenya’s new constitution?”  Virtually every UFI reader/voter said “No!”

We draw your attention to this article on National Review Online.

• Find out why Joe Biden was in Kenya.
• How many U.S. taxpayer dollars were spent on the “yes” campaign.
• What happens if Kenya’s constitution doesn’t pass.
• Why non-Kenyans should care.

Orson Scott Card: The wrong stories are dismantling America

“A Strong Culture must have powerful stories explaining why it is a Good Culture — or it will die,” explained Orson Scott Card at a recent gathering of the Management Society of Brigham Young University.

Card is the well-known author of over 50 works of fiction, including the popular novels Ender’s Game, Enchantment, and Lost Boys, and he knows story. In this recent speech, he focused this expertise on explaining how the power of story to guide, shape, and preserve a culture can also be the cause of its demise.

“The stories and rituals of a culture define the culture to its members and to outsiders. The self-definition of a culture is the single most powerful tool in passing the culture on to the next generation and constantly buttressing the allegiance of its members.

A Strong Culture must have powerful stories explaining why it is a Good Culture — or it will die. Even the best culture can destroy itself if those who hate the culture are successful in getting its members to believe stories that discourage them from having enough allegiance to make sacrifices for it.”

According to Card, we have already begun to tell the stories that will bring about our own destruction. Card identifies the 1960s as the time of a pivotal shift in the stories those in the United States (though, I think the same analysis could be applied across the globe) told themselves, a shift away from promoting self-sacrifice, virtue, and allegiance to promoting selfishness, atheism, and cynicism.

The stories those in U.S. began telling themselves “struck at the very heart of our Good, Strong Culture.” They were:

1. Old Morality is stupid.
2. America isn’t a good culture.
3. God is dead.
4. People with different political beliefs are evil or stupid.
5. I should control the education of others’ children.
6. If you don’t sacrifice your family and values to business, you’re not serious about your career.
7. The “American Dream” is dead

“Do these stories sound familiar?” Card asked. “They should — and because so many people believe them, we have the horrible social chaos that surrounds us. Millions of fatherless children, unwed mothers, broken homes, delayed marriages — in other words: Visible widespread reproductive failure…”

But the failure of American storytelling is not just an American failure. It is a reflection of the world-wide shift in the stories we tell ourselves about family, virtue, morality, and sacrifice. The same stories attacking God, validating promiscuity, disparaging the family, and dismissing virtue are being told around the world and are creating a culture in which values that directly undermine society are being promoted.

Card identifies movies and television as a primary medium through which these new stories are told and retold, but this is not simply a decline in the quality of our entertainment. These negative stories are being told again and again through media, politics, communities, and the daily lives of individuals. And these stories threatening the very stability of the country.

“[W]hen . . . deviancy from the norms becomes the norm, and the people who keep to the rules of stability, decency, fairness, fidelity, loyalty, faith, honor, generosity, courage, respect, conformity, and consistency are depicted as deviant in the replacement stories, then you’re looking at a society that has decided to die.

It cannot last, because when you declare that selfishness and faithlessness are virtues, then public trust by definition disappears. The community is shattered and it’s every man for himself…Why do people do things that they know are not good for them? Because somebody has told them a lot of stories that sound good, but which are not true. Or because they prefer to go about their own business, thinking that the culture will take care of itself, without any particular attention or sacrifice from them.”

The speech in its entirety is fascinating and places the battle we are fighting to defend the family in a whole new light. If you would like to read the full text, you can access it here.

But don’t worry. Card does offer one ray of hope — you!

“America [and the world] needs better stories, and it needs people who will hear them, believe them, and act on them. You are members of the culture; you act and speak within your homes, jobs, and the many communities you belong to.

. . .

I think of the lonely voice of Winston Churchill, telling the story of calamity to come, in a time when nobody wanted to hear the warning, when they thought they could have a peaceful civilization just by giving the monsters what they wanted. That never works, but it took a long time for anyone to hear him.

When they finally did, it turned out, barely, not to be too late. But if he had not spoken, when the cost of speaking seemed to be the destruction of his career, then there would have been no story to turn to in order to stand firm in defense of civilization.

You’re not Winston Churchill? You’re no hero, no leader?

Well, why aren’t you? Winston Churchill was only Winston Churchill because he decided to speak, to act. In the world you move in, among the people you know and work with, why aren’t you?”

Teach your children or come election day . . .

We reported last week that the signature drive to overturn California’s Prop 8 had failed.  Gay activists had hoped to place on the November 2010 ballot a measure that would repeal Prop 8.  For now the California state constitutional amendment defining marriage as one man and one woman is safe, but rest assured that homosexual activists have not given up.

There were many reasons why the signature drive failed:  they couldn’t reach the needed 695,000 signature mark in time, funding dried up, fear that there could be a conservative backlash against Obama and his fellow democrats, etc. But one of the reasons is extremely sobering.  Activists believe that by waiting until November 2012, when they definitely will put a measure on the ballot, they will have thousands more young people who will have become registered voters who will help them overturn California’s Prop 8.

In schools all over the country and especially in liberal states like Massachusetts and California, our children are being indoctrinated to accept homosexual behavior and lifestyles as normal.  They are being taught to believe that those who oppose same-sex marriage are discriminatory, hateful, and bigoted or at the very least they are unsophisticated and out-of-touch.  Popular culture and media are spreading the same message.

Our children do not understand the crucial and fundamental nature of marriage.  They certainly are not going to get the message from their school.  You need to be regularly having that conversation and teaching them that society and government have supported man/woman marriage because of its essential ability to bear and most effectively rear the next generation.  If you need additional materials and social science data to support your position, please take the time to familiarize yourself with UFI’s Guides to Family Issues.

Please have the conversations about the destructive nature of homosexual behavior and the importance of one man and one woman marriage and have them often.  Support those conversations with empirical data if you must, but please do it.  Otherwise, each May and June our high schools will turn out a new crop of indoctrinated young people with power not only to alter the future of California, but the entire country.

Obama’s Healthcare Devastating to the Health of the Unborn

With the passage of Obama’s Healthcare Bill comes what some are calling “the greatest expansion of elective abortion since Roe v. Wade.” Although Bart Stupak and other supposed “pro-life democrats” want the public to believe that a Presidential Executive Order will save unborn lives and prevent taxpayers from funding abortion, the reality is that legal precedent in such court rulings as Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and Commerce of U.S. v Reich leave much doubt as to whether an Executive Order could even stand a court challenge—one that would surely come.
Add that to the doubt that Obama would even put much effort into an Executive Order banning taxpayer supported abortion. Candidate Obama promised, repeatedly, that abortion would be treated as a “basic health care mandate” that both taxpayers and health insurers would be required to subsidize. When you add this attitude to the fact that Pres. Obama could rescind his Executive Order at any time and that future Presidents have the ability to rescind as well, it leaves one wondering if an Executive Order such as this is even worth the paper it is written on.

Obama and the Democrats in both the House and the Senate have for months and months insisted that the various Healthcare Bills as written did not allow for abortion. So now with agreeing to an Executive Order barring tax payer funding of abortion, they have admitted that abortion is in the Healthcare bill. Why should we trust President Obama and his fellow Democrats now when their deceit on this issue is clear?

It is a dark day for the unborn and for all Americans.