Disown, Ask, and Receive

From a forum post

{{___ Good question. }}

Not sure what question you are referring to.

{{___ Because we are not perfect we fall.}}

Adam did not fall from imperfection but from a deliberate disobedience of an explicit command or law that God had placed him under.

Christians today are not under law as was Adam in Eden and Israel under the law of Moses.

The born again are completely forgiven of all imperfections, past, present, and future.

Although the heart may say that one has failed, God is greater than our hearts. His Word and His Spirit testify that foregiveness is complete.

{{___ This is why I believe Jesus says to deny ourself daily.}}

I have always taken the daily to apply only to taking up one's cross. Leedy's diagram of the verse agrees. And this instruction took place before the crucifixion. It does not have precise application today.

In the process of conversion, we deny or disown ourselves. Jesus is accepted as Lord. He now "owns" us, particularly as to all we are and have in this world. Our new possessions are spiritual and eternal and are not to be disowned or denied.

{{___ From this I think Jesus means for us to stay in denial of ourself all the time.}}

The memories of the old man and his ways must be pushed aside explicitly at times and the focus placed once again on Jesus and the putting on of the new man, the putting on of the armor of light, the putting on of the Lord Jesus Christ.

{{___ Then we keep open the door for the Holy Spirit to indewll us.}}

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit does not cease. The door only has to be opened at conversion. The internal witness of the new personal spirit of the born again supported by the witness of the indwelling Holy Spirit that one is a child of God is always there when it is sought.

{{___ It may be Jesus knew we may rely on when we were born again for denial but Jesus wants us to stay in denial of ourself all the time.}}

There is no sense in repeating the denial of self when the Word and the inner spiritual witness tell us that denial followed by the gift of saving faith is evelastingly sufficient. A better way of stating what I think you are getting at is that we should always remember that we belong to Jesus now, as members of His Body in fact, and that we no longer belong to ourselves. Our commitment at conversion is accepted and superceded by God's eternal and irrevocable commitment to us as His sons.

Joe the Plumber Reports from Terrorist Missle Target, Sderot in Israel

I report and link. You decide. - BJon

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God. - Psalms 20:7

From a Power Line Blog .com article, Joe the Plumber, live from Sderot:

Joe the Plumber, live from Sderot [/] Power Line Blog: John Hinderaker, Scott Johnson, Paul Mirengoff [/] http://www.powerlineblog.com [/] January 11, 2009 Posted by Scott at 8:44 PM
The Jerusalem Post reports that Joe the Plumber has arrived in Israel. By noon today he had made it to Sderot. By my estimation, he has gotten a better handle on the situation than his supposed betters in the media:

"You should be ashamed of yourself," he told foreign reporters [[foreign from Jerusalem Post perspective]].

"You should be patriotic, protect your family and children, not report like you have been doing for the past two weeks since this war has started," he said.

Wurzelbacher, the man who stole the limelight from Republican presidential candidate John McCain during the American election campaign, has found a new job - as a correspondent for the Internet Web sites PJTV and Pajamas Media.

Armed with a camera and a temporary Government Press Office card, he got a taste of reality in Sderot, visiting a house hit by a Kassam rocket two weeks ago and experiencing a "Code Red" alert first-hand. He also observed and reported from the house where a Kassam landed on Sunday afternoon.

The people of Sderot "can't do normal things day to day," like get soap in their eyes in the shower, for fear a rocket might come in, Wurzelbacher said. "I'm sure they're taking quick showers. I know I would."

He also wondered why Israel waited so long to act. "I know if I were a citizen here, I'd be d%%%%d upset." He described himself as a "peaceloving man," but added, "when someone hits me, I'm going to unload on the boy. And if the rest of the world doesn't understand that, then I'm sorry."

Is there any chance Pajamas can send Joe on to Beirut, Damascus and Tehran after he completes his assignment in Israel? I think he could teach the media reporting from those locales how to do it right as well. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Obama‘s D. C.: Already “Clown-Car Fast Lane“?

I report and link. You decide. - BJon

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God. - Psalms 20:7

From a National Review .com article, Life in the Clown-Car Fast Lane:

Life in the Clown-Car Fast Lane [/] And the party has not even started yet! [/] January 05, 2009, 4:00 a.m. [/] By David Kahane

Can you believe it? Barack Hussein Obama II hasn’t even been inaugurated yet and he’s already been interviewed by federal prosecutors in the ongoing Blago mess; he’s seen Bill Richardson immolate himself rather than stand the federal grand-jury scrutiny that would have come with his appointment as Commerce Secretary; his boy Rahm Emanuel is both en pointe, having resigned the House seat that was previously warmed by Hot Rod [[Blago]] and Dan Rostenkowski [[ In 1994, Rostenkowski was indicted on corruption charges and stepped down as Ways and Means chairman; he lost his House seat in the Congressional elections later that year. He pleaded guilty to mail fraud in 1996, and was fined and served (1996–97) a 17-month sentence. … Rostenkowski was pardoned by President Clinton in 2000.]], and, apparently, on Patrick Fitzgerald’s tapes too; and he’s facing the prospect of the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, standing like a homunculus George Wallace in the schoolhouse door, ready to deny entrance to a black man when Roland “We Are the Senator” Burris tries to take Bambi’s [[Obama’s]] hardly-even-used seat tomorrow.

And here we Democrats thought the Clinton administration could never be topped!

You people had better get used to it, though, because hijinks and shenanigans like these are going to be the order of the day for at least the next four years. After all, we are the Tammany Party — the party of Slavery, Segregation, Sedition, and Surrender — so this sort of thing is not exactly new for us. Just look at our track record: We rightfully opposed the tyrant Lincoln with a loser general running on an antiwar platform, we perfected defensive election theft with Boss Tweed to save us from the plutocrats and goo-goos, [[The goo-goos, or good government guys, were political groups founded in an era when urban municipal governments in the United States were dominated by machine politics. … In New York, the exclusive City Club was the domain of "goo-goos," who sponsored "Good Government Clubs" in every assembly district. Their efforts led to the election of a reform mayor in 1894, a setback for the political machine known as Tammany Hall. - Wikipedia]] and we formed an unholy alliance with gangland to get Franklin D. Roosevelt the Democratic nod over Al Smith at our convention in (where else?) Chicago in 1932.

We are the party of Barack Obama and the Daley Machine; the party of the Clintons and their amazing alchemistic Library, which turns Saudi dross into altruistic gold; the party of Tony Rezko and Norman Hsu; the party of vaporizing fundraisers, absconding bagmen and sitting New Mexico governors (and a recent presidential “candidate”) currently under federal investigation for allegedly steering a state contract in the direction of one of his big backers, David Rubin of CDR Financial Products in Beverly Hills. Now comes word that Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state-designate, Congress and the Emoluments Clause willing, got millions of dollars for a mall in Syracuse shortly after the developer coughed up a hundred grand for the Bill Clinton “Foundation.” That’s what I call commerce!

We are also the party of Charlie Rangel, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, who’s currently under “investigation” by the House “Ethics” Committee for a myriad of dubious practices, including using campaign contributions to pay his parking tickets.

Best of all, we are the party of the ineffable Christopher Dodd (D., Countrywide), another recent “presidential candidate” who in appearance and demeanor is a throwback to the great days of Tammany mugs. It was Dodd, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, who got a sweetheart mortgage deal as a “Friend of Angelo” Mozilo, the disgraced former head of Countrywide Financial; Dodd who steadfastly denied that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were in trouble — perhaps his status as the No. 1 recipient of their campaign largesse had something to do with his unshakeable faith in them; and Dodd who has promised to release the paperwork concerning his hinky mortgages but, of course, hasn’t.

The War Hero [[John Kerry, 2004 Democratic presidential nomineee]] will release his Navy service records, which show him racking up medals faster than Audie Murphy in his 16 weeks of “combat,” before the son of disgraced Connecticut senator Thomas J. Dodd releases his paperwork. Yes, that’s right — Chris’s old man was censured by the Senate in 1967 for behavior “contrary to good morals, [that] derogates from the public trust expected of a senator, and tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute.” And now Chris seems headed down the path to the same fate, although how it’s possible to bring a Senate that includes such stalwart Democrats as John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid, Robert Byrd, Barbara Boxer, Jay Rockefeller, Carl Levin, Chuck Schumer, Patty Murray, and Hillary Clinton into disrepute seems hard to fathom.

Still, as the Connecticut Post recently editorialized: “[Dodd] says there was nothing untoward about the mortgage rate he received from Countrywide Financial, a company that was heavily involved in the nationwide mortgage collapse. He feigns indignance each time the issue is raised. But he can make the questions stop easily. All he has to do is release documents on two mortgages from Countrywide, each of which seemingly came in with interest figures below the going rate. As chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, he should have long ago put this issue to rest.”

But what’s the rush? Like one of the patron saints of Tammany Hall, Richard “Boss” Croker, Dodd’s little tin box has bought him a fine getaway estate in the Ould Sod. Dodd’s little manse in County Galway ought to come in handy when the Senate “Ethics” Committee starts closing in.

All of which, believe it or not, makes me proud to be a Democrat. The fact that we can get away with antics like these — the fact that our clown car is being driven at breakneck speed by real clowns under more or less permanent investigation — makes me laugh. Because you dopes never catch on and, like ^%$&BUSH&^%!, insist on treating us as a legitimate political party of high-minded statesmen instead of the lovable scamps and rapscallions we really are.

It doesn’t matter that Tammany and its mini-Tammanys across the country perfected a system of graft and corruption under the guise of helping the “little guy.” It doesn’t matter that, at various times, a coalition of gangsters, criminals, and Democratic politicians has seized, held, and operated whole states as criminal enterprises:

* Louisiana, where from Jean Lafitte to Huey Long to Edwin Edwards, crime has paid handsomely in this formerly one-party state. Laissez les bon temps rouler! [[Let the good times roll!]]

* New Jersey, where the cozy relationship between the Mob and Trenton is well documented, and where former senator Bob Torricelli — the Torch — loudly proclaimed his innocence in a fundraising scandal right up to the moment he flamed out and quit his reelection race.

* Arkansas, whose governors and U.S. senators were for many years on the gangland payroll run out of Hot Springs by transplanted Tammany gangster Owney Madden, acting in concert with Frank Costello and Meyer Lansky.

* Illinois, where, in a fit of affirmative action, we’ve brought both Republicans and the Jake Lingle Memorial Media into the fold, so that they can go to jail just like Democrats on the rare occasions they’re caught and convicted.

None of it matters. We keep on peddling the same shtick and the suckers keep on buying, and the bigger Big Government gets, the more adherents we garner. Pretty soon, if it hasn’t happened already, the Party of Take will be bigger than the Party of Give and then the Party really will be over. I just hope I’m long retired to my Countrywide-financed estate in Bayonne before it happens.

Which is why this Fitzgerald character has me a little worried. We loved him when we thought he was going to take down Darth Cheney, and even though all he threw us was the scalp of Marc Rich’s lawyer, Scooter Libby, we took our Fitzmas where we could find it. But now that he’s knee-deep in Blagojevich, we’re beginning to change our tune, and the deeper he digs, the more he’s starting to resemble Thomas Dewey. [[Governor of New York (1943-1955) and the unsuccessful Republican candidate for the U.S. Presidency in 1944 and 1948. … Dewey helped indict and convict Richard Whitney, the former president of the New York Stock Exchange, on charges of embezzlement. … Dewey also led law-enforcement efforts to protect dockworkers and poultry farmers and workers from racketeering in New York. … In 1939 Dewey prosecuted American Nazi leader Fritz Kuhn for embezzlement, crippling Kuhn's organization and limiting its ability to support Nazi Germany in the Second World War. … By the late 1930s Dewey's successful efforts against organized crime – and especially his conviction of Lucky Luciano – had turned him into a national celebrity. His nickname, the "Gangbuster", became the name of a popular radio serial based on his fight against the mob. Hollywood film studios even made several movies based on his exploits; one starred Humphrey Bogart as Dewey - Wikipedia]] There are even rumblings that, having requested a three-month extension to bring an indictment against Hot Rod, Paddy Fitz might be looking at a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) beef against the whole darn Combine. [[Chicago Democratic machine]] Mother of Mercy!

But not to worry: BO Jr., can always do what his Democrat predecessor, Bill Clinton, did and fire every single one of the federal prosecutors, P. J. Fitzgerald, Esq., most certainly included. Luckily, folks will still be too busy sleeping off their hangovers and beginning the gestation period of their new babies to notice.

— Although he is a completely fictional character and does not, in fact, exist, David Kahane was born a Democrat, raised a Democrat and will die a Democrat. You can tell him how right he is to be a Democrat at kahanenro@gmail.com. [/] — David Kahane is a nom de cyber for a writer in Hollywood. “David Kahane” is borrowed from a screenwriter character in The Player. [My ellipses and emphasis]

U. S. Assaulted and Battered by Guilty Liberals on Behalf of “Victims“!!!

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God. - Psalms 20:7

I report and link. You decide. - BJon

[…] Her thesis this time is that liberals always act like they are being victimized, primarily by the Republican Attack Machine. While in fact, they, with the help of a very biased media, tend to victimize all who disagree with them. […] She also tells the little-reported tale of how Obama won his Illinois Senate seat. During the presidential campaign, Obama was full of sanctimony about keeping candidates’ families off-limits. But, Coulter writes, "The only reason he was in position to run for president in the first place was that the Media Attack Machine ripped open the sealed divorce records of his two principal opponents … Why did no one know that during the 2008 campaign? The fact that Obama won his Senate seat by rifling through the divorce records of his opponents is surely at least as important as the fact that Palin’s teenage daughter got pregnant out of wedlock," she contends.

From The Women on the Web [wowOwow] .com article, Coulter on Caroline Kennedy:, more follows:

Coulter on Caroline Kennedy: 'Every Time She Opens Her Mouth It Gets Worse' [/] (and other gentle musings from the irritatingly leggy author of Guilty: Liberal ‘Victims’ and Their Assault on America) [/] By Myrna Blyth [/] [Jan. 5, 2009] 9:00 am

Ann Coulter is at it again. Guilty: Liberal "Victims" and Their Assault on America (Crown Forum), the newest book from the leggy, blonde, irritatingly slender liberal-basher hits bookstores this week and is already climbing Amazon’s bestseller list. And so the usual media Ann-a-rama has begun with Coulter launching the book on her pal Sean Hannity’s radio and TV shows. She’ll be on “Today” on Tuesday and will follow that with countless interviews.

Coulter’s publicist says she never turns down an interview, even on radio talk shows that sound as if they emanate from someone’s garage. She knows her people are listening and buying thousands of copies of her books. She has already had six New York Times mega-bestsellers. Yes, there is a vast right-wing book-buying public who loves a girl who can call JFK “a venereal-disease-ridden sexual profligate and drug addict”; who never forget that “Sen. Ted Kennedy drove Mary Jo Kopechne off the Chappaquiddick Bridge”; who can recall that “President Clinton walked to and from church every Sunday carrying a ten-pound bible for the cameras – and then returned from church on Palm Sunday, 1996, to use a cigar as a sexual aid on Monica Lewinsky”; who can document, in footnote after footnote, that the Swift Boat Veterans were correct in their condemnation of the war record of “the mountebank Kerry.”

I talked to Coulter about Guilty as she was about to embark on her media tour. The book is (no surprise) another in her attacks against liberals. Her thesis this time is that liberals always act like they are being victimized, primarily by the Republican Attack Machine. While in fact, they, with the help of a very biased media, tend to victimize all who disagree with them. She has written about media bias before. “I really didn’t intend to make the book so much about the media,” she told me, "but I just couldn’t help it because the media has so much power. They like to act as if they are powerless, but everything today is about the media. I just had to point out all their dirty little tricks. If you are Paul Revere you have to sound the alarm.”

Now, let’s get one thing straight. I’m a member of the media who is about as unbiased in my political leanings as, say, The New York Times. In general, I think Ann is often more right than wrong, no pun intended. Oh, sure, she goes over the top once in a while, but when she does she is no more unfair or unbalanced then, say, Frank Rich or Keith Olbermann [[most of the time - BJon]]. And she is a lot funnier. In fact, she is often laugh-out-loud funny. And as for being a judge of the true character of some of our political leaders, do remember it was Ann who appraised John Edwards correctly long before his supporters and, unfortunately, Elizabeth Edwards ever did.

Guilty is full of interesting set-pieces such as her report on how the Media Attack Machine turned, during primary season, on their longtime dearly beloved Bill Clinton. She writes, “Obama emerged from the clouds, and at long last, liberals were finished with the Clintons … It took a decade but journalists finally noticed that Clinton getting serviced by a White House intern whose name he couldn’t recall may not have been the equivalent of the Gettysburg Address.” She points out that journalists acted as if Clinton had changed, rather than as if they were no longer covering up for him. Todd Purdum in Vanity Fair said Clinton’s “cavernous narcissism” was related to his triple-bypass surgery. Coulter writes, “Yes, who doesn’t know someone who, after open-heart surgery, becomes an egomaniacal, pathologically lying horndog?”

She also tells the little-reported tale of how Obama won his Illinois Senate seat. During the presidential campaign, Obama was full of sanctimony about keeping candidates’ families off-limits. But, Coulter writes, “The only reason he was in position to run for president in the first place was that the Media Attack Machine ripped open the sealed divorce records of his two principal opponents … Why did no one know that during the 2008 campaign? The fact that Obama won his Senate seat by rifling through the divorce records of his opponents is surely at least as important as the fact that Palin’s teenage daughter got pregnant out of wedlock,” she contends.

What does Coulter think of Sarah Palin? “I loved Sarah Palin. The media went after her so viciously and it was all about class,” she says. “She is a real middle-class woman, just the sort of woman that Democrats are always pretending they represent, and they attacked her relentlessly. I am not saying she was ready to be president this year, but with McCain running, she wasn’t going to get anywhere near being president. If she goes back to Alaska and is a good governor and studies and learns, she may be a presidential candidate a couple elections from now. Maybe she could be another Reagan. Remember, Reagan didn’t run for president at forty-four. She has things she needs to learn. But she has heart and soul and you can’t learn that from a book.”

As for Caroline Kennedy’s bid to be named senator, Coulter snorted, “I am indignant! In New York and Massachusetts people act as if the rest of the country is primitive, but they are the ones who are so primitive and nepotistic to even consider her. Fortunately, I think that may be headed for a crash landing. Every time she opens her mouth it gets worse.”

Although Coulter has had her great success preaching to the converted, I wondered if she also hoped her books might be read, as well, by independents or even liberals who might be swayed by her arguments. "But liberals don’t read," she replied. “If they read anything they wouldn’t be liberals. Whenever I go to dinner parties it is always conservatives who know things, who have the facts. I want my readers to read the book and be able to shoot down the myth of the Republican Attack Machine. I want them to argue with liberals on the street.”

Still, as the Inauguration approaches, Coulter is feeling just a bit more positive about the Obama presidency. “Judging by his Cabinet choices, he may not be as crazy as I thought he was," she said. “That may be worse for my career but better for the country. And that’s all right with me.”

Editor’s Note: Anyone who has read a women’s magazine in the last 25 years has most likely read the work of Myrna Blyth, who weighs in at wowOwow with this provocative piece. Myrna is the founding editor of More magazine, was the longtime editor-in-chief of Ladies’ Home Journal, and was senior editor for Family Circle magazine. She is the chairman of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. She has received many awards including the Matrix Award from New York Women in Communications, Inc., the Woman of Achievement Award from the New York City Commission on the Status of Women, and was named Publishing Executive of the Year by Advertising Age. Currently she writes for The National Review Online and is the editor-in-chief of Betty Confidential. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Hidden Toxic Debt Prevents Recovery!?!

But what are the world’s government financial moguls doing about it?!? The recent experiences of Japan and Sweden point to the one step, full disclosure of toxic debt, that is essential to any effective recovery!!!

I report and link. You decide. - BJon

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God. - Psalms 20:7

From a Telegraph [UK] article, Only full disclosure of toxic debts will get the West moving again:

Only full disclosure of toxic debts will get the West moving again It has been a year of financial explosions. [/] By Liam Halligan [/] Last Updated: 5:44AM GMT 29 Dec 2008

The commercial pillars holding up the Western world - banking prudence and sound credit - have been smashed to smithereens [/] The "advanced" nations are now flirting with economic collapse. The emerging economies have also suffered "collateral damage" – the West's "sub-prime" debt bombs now threatening the stability of global commerce. [/] The developed world is on course to contract by 1.1pc during 2009. That will hurt. The emerging markets are also set to slow – their growth falling to 3.1pc – as China and India feel the impact of lower Western demand. [/] But 2010 could be even worse – unless policymakers can piece the global economy back together. And the prevailing policy response –soft bail-outs, ultra-low interest rates and unfettered government spending – not only won't work, but will compound this crisis.

So how should Western governments respond? How can we escape this credit crunch, and prevent it being repeated? [/] As the Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said last month, "getting the banks lending normally again . . . is more important than anything else". After piling into risky assets for years, the Western banks now refuse to lend to millions of credit-worthy firms and households. That's jammed the wheels of finance, making fears of recession self-fulfilling. [/] The money markets are locked because the banks don't trust each other. Even they don't know how much toxic debt is out there – and which bank could be the next to fall. That's why the spread between the London Inter-bank Offered Rate and overnight interest rate swaps of the same maturity remains so wide – and wider in the UK, now, than either the States or the eurozone.

The crucial inter-bank market will remain frozen until the banks are forced, under threat of prosecution, to reveal the true extent of their sub-prime liabilities. Such "full disclosure" won't be easy – involving the exploration of millions of complex derivative contracts, often across borders – but it simply must be done. [/] America's first serious reaction to "sub-prime" was the Troubled Assets Relief Programme – buying up hundreds of billions of dollars of dodgy loans the banks didn't want any more. When that didn't work, the US asked banks to forfeit some share capital in return for government cash, as in the UK.

But that's failing too – as shown by sky-high Libor rates. So, as a matter of urgency, the West must copy the hard-headed Swedes – who, in the early 1990s, insisted nationalised banks write down the full extent of their non-performing loans before more public money is spent on recapitalisation. Only then – once the sub-prime losses are fully-exposed – can securities markets clear and the inter-bank market reboot.

The UK/US approach of piling public sector debts on top of private sector debts prevents this vital purging process. Until it happens the global economy will continue to slide. But the big Western economies remain in self-denial, repeating the mistakes made by the Japanese. We're creating our very own "zombie banks" – technically alive, but commercially dead due to the weight of their toxic debts. A Western "lost decade" now looms.

So we need Swedish-style full disclosure. Nothing else will break the deadlock and get us out of this fix. Western politicians – and commentators – need to stand up to the powerful money men and administer the necessary medicine. [/] Instead, all our leaders do is slash interest rates, print money and rack up public debt. History will judge them harshly.

After full disclosure, how do we prevent such a crisis happening again? Firstly, the "white collar" crimes which drove this sub-prime debacle – at mortgage lenders, investment banks and ratings agencies – need to be severely punished. People who did bad things must go to jail. I'm against regulatory overkill, but recognise a strong framework of rules is needed. We need to acknowledge that too much leverage is even more dangerous than too little. Western central banks need to regain powers, weakened in the 1980s and 1990s, to impose "reserve asset requirements", so reining in bank lending.

Above all, we need to re-introduce the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933. This legislation – the centre-piece of America's response to the 1929 Wall Street crash – was copied across the Western world. [/] Glass-Steagall prevented commercial banks – which take in deposits and service ordinary firms and households – from engaging in the high-risk speculative activities undertaken by investment banks. \In the early 1990s – after huge lobbying by Wall Street, and lots of ridiculous talk about "freedom" – the legislation was repealed. No other single action has done more to cause this crisis. [/] The money men have, so far, managed to close down any talk about restoring Glass-Steagall. But that debate must now take place. That's why Glass-Steagall will be the subject of my first column of 2009. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Is Religion Necessary for Constitutional Government?

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God. - Psalms 20:7

I report and link. You decide. - BJon

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." [- John Adams]

From an American Thinker .com article, Is Religion Necessary?, more follows:

Is Religion Necessary? [/] January 03, 2009 [/] By Joseph Ashby

The least understood idea presented in Mitt Romney's 2007 speech on religion was his statement, "Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom." From Left to Right this comment was savaged and belittled. [/] Neither Romney's speech nor his answers to questions on the topic indicated exactly why he thought religion was so important to freedom. He did assert that many of the Founding Fathers shared his view. Those familiar with the Founders know there is always a ‘why' in what they believed. [/] Romney's couplet was based on a statement John Adams made to the US Military where he said: [/] "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

To understand this statement we must remember that the Founders based their philosophies on human nature. So what Adams was saying was not theological or religious but pragmatic. George Washington's words clarify Adams' belief: [/] "Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle." [/] The debate over whether this concept is anti-atheist ignores Washington's point. Which is that "reason" (the atheist's guiding light) and "experience" tell us that religion is necessary to maintain national morality; not that it's some mystic force that favors believers over non-believers.

There are so many who take personally any mention of religion in a public context, perceiving it as an attack on non-religious, moral individuals. But such statements should be taken in the broadest of all contexts, speaking generally to the entire society and espousing the most basic of all moral principles (such as honesty, fidelity and love for fellow man). [/] Returning to Adams' point, America's Constitutional system specifically requires a high level of morality (and by extension religion). This is because of the broad freedoms the Constitution affords. At the time Adams was president there were no drug laws, gun control laws, disaster relief or welfare programs. In essence, the Founding was built on the principle that Americans not only could but must govern themselves.

Self governance cannot function without morality. As morals decline, laws expand and freedoms necessarily contract. This is because no law is perfect. The perfect application of law is only possible if the lawmaker and judge are omniscient, knowing every reason a law exists and every detail, even the thoughts, of the alleged law-breaker.

Since this is impossible, the best situation is to have the fewest laws possible, to avoid illegalizing proper behavior under legislation's inevitably wide swath. The more self-regulating (or moral) a nation is collectively, the fewer laws needed to maintain order. [/] As national morality declines, inducing governments and citizens to favor more laws, the less plausible our Constitutional system becomes.

Recent tactics of the pro-gay marriage camp are a perfect illustration of this principle. As reports mount of out of hand protests and intimidation, it's obvious that what they are doing is wrong. The Stalinist tactics used to target private citizens, business and churches are clearly a perversion of First Amendment rights. [/] Unfortunately, this problem has no solution that can be both legislative and Constitutional. Passing a law restricting this behavior destroys the rights of responsible citizens whose actions are too similar to be legally distinguishable.

This dilemma is systemic. Misuse of guns induces public fervor to violate the Second Amendment. Neglectful parents lead to laws that destroy the right to parental prerogatives in raising and educating children. Corrupt politicians provoke expression demolishing restrictions on speech and campaign donations. The immoral use of rights is a precursor to laws that infringe upon those rights. [/] {The only Constitutional solution to these problems is to depend on citizens' sense of morality. In the absence of a "moral and religious people," the rights enumerated in the Constitution are "wholly inadequate" in creating a well-ordered society*. This is the meaning of Adams' words. [/] The irony should not be lost that the Anti-Prop 8 groups, who call for "the exclusion of religious principle" from constitutions, are the very people demonstrating why it is necessary.

* It should be noted here that in many respects, because government has overstepped its bounds, we are not governed by the Constitution. As our religiosity and morals have declined (and I count socialism's legalized plunder immoral), we have distanced ourselves from the America of John Adams' day. This is yet more empirical evidence supporting his conclusion about morality and religion.

Joseph Ashby is an aeronautical engineer specializing in lightweight carbon composite aircraft design. [/] [My ellipses and emphasis]

Gert Wilders: Man of the Year?

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God. - Psalms 20:7

I report and link. You decide. - BJon

Geert Wilders has made all the right enemies. At a time when many counsel accommodation of Islamist demands, Wilders remains defiant. In an era of civilizational self-loathing, he defends the West without apology. Despite the threats to his life, he refuses to be silenced. For all this, Wilders deserves the praise of many – including the many in the West who scorn his name.

From a Front Page Mag .com article, Man of the Year: Geert Wilders more follows:

Man of the Year: Geert Wilders [/] By FrontPage Magazine [/] FrontPageMagazine.com | 1/2/2009

It’s a safe bet that Geert Wilders won’t be Time magazine’s Man of the Year any time soon. If anything, the unusually coiffed Dutch MP is a favorite hate figure of the Western media, which has spent years vilifying him as a “reactionary,” a “particularly dangerous type of demagogue,” a “racist” and an “Islamophobe.” Wilders would almost certainly plead guilty to the last charge, and with ample reason. His tireless campaign to sound the alarm about the growing threat of Islamic radicalism in the West has turned him into a target of Islamic jihadists and the object of untold assassination plots. A 2006 death threat, one of hundreds he’s received, declared that his “infidel blood will flow freely on cursed Dutch streets.” Al-Qaeda has specifically singled him out for slaughter.

Against this menacing background, it would have been no failing in his character if Wilders had decided that the price of speaking out about Islamic fundamentalism was too high; others in his prominent position would have reached just that conclusion. Instead, Wilders has persevered. Braving daily death threats and sacrificing the security that his critics take for granted, he has opted for the often-thankless task of saving Western civilization from its Islamist discontents – beginning with the valuable reminder that the demands of Islamic zealots are not only not congruent with Western values but are, in fact, in direct conflict with them. For his impressive personal courage, his steadfast political commitment, and his refreshing disdain for the suffocating pieties of political correctness, Geert Wilders is Front Page Magazine’s Man of the Year in 2008.

The steep risks involved in Wilders’s anti-Islamist campaign are tragically illustrated by the fates of two of his countrymen. Pim Fortuyn, the popular Dutch politician who warned against the Islamisation of Dutch society and railed against the “backwardness” of certain Islamic traditions, was gunned down by a crazed animal-rights activist in 2002. His killer later claimed that he had shot Fortuyn in order to defend Dutch Muslims from persecution.

Next on the hit list was Dutch provocateur and documentarian Theo Van Gogh. In 2004, Van Gogh was gruesomely murdered in Amsterdam by Mohammed Bouyeri, a Dutch-born Islamist who judged Van Gogh’s film on the mistreatment of women in Islam, Submission, to be a crime deserving of death. To Van Gogh’s butchered body, Bouyeri pinned a list of “infidels” who “deserved to be slaughtered.” Among the names singled out for execution was Geert Wilders.

The threats were all too real. Shortly after Van Gogh’s murder, Dutch authorities discovered an Islamist network with advanced plans to kill Wilders, and an internet video surfaced promising 72 virgins to anyone who carried out the deed. As police investigated, Wilders was forced into 24-hour protection, traveling from safe house to safe house to avoid his pursuers. Even today he is never without dark-suited bodyguards by his side. “There’s no freedom, no privacy,” Wilders says. “If I said I was not afraid, I would be lying.”

Yet, Wilders remains undaunted. This March, he again incensed Islamists when he released a short but explosive film called Fitna, which seeks to show that Islamic terrorism is directly inspired by the Koran. Artistically rough, the film is nevertheless effective, juxtaposing graphic footage of Islamic terrorism – including the 9/11 attacks, the Madrid train bombings, and the beheading of American contractor Nicholas Berg – with Koranic verses and clips of Islamic clerics preaching the murder of non-Muslims. If nothing else, the film makes it impossible to argue that Islamic texts have nothing at all to with the terrorist violence committed in their name.

[…] Less bloodthirsty – but more spineless – was the response in the West. Dutch television stations flinched from airing the film, forcing Wilders to release it on the video hosting site LiveLeak.com, which soon pulled it due to “threats to our staff of a very serious nature.” (LiveLeak later restored the film.) Political leaders meanwhile went out of their way to denounce Wilders. Thus Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende insisted that Fitna “serves no other purpose than to cause offense,” […] [/] But just as the tide of elite Western opinion was turning against him, Wilders was vindicated by an unlikely observer: Libyan-based jihadist cleric Omar Bakri. Not only were Fitna’s attempts to link terrorist violence with Islamic teachings not offensive, Bakri explained, but they were entirely accurate. Indeed, Bakri said, Fitna “could be a film made by the mujahedeen.” In other words, Wilders was exactly right.

[…] Given the great personal costs he has suffered, it must be asked: Has it all been worth it? It is a measure of Wilders the man that he never struggles with the question. “Speaking out boldly cost me my personal liberty, with 24-hour security and police protection for more than four years now,” Wilders told Front Page Magazine last week. “But if I and others don’t at least try, and if I would not do my modest bit, millions of westerners will lose their liberty. You see, there is so much at stake. Our liberty and freedom are being bargained away and only so few speak out against it. I am no hero but I would rather be killed for what I say and believe than submit in silence to Islamic totalitarianism. If I regret anything at all, it’s is not being too bold but not being bold enough.” […] [My ellipses and emphasis]