Chuck Colson, 1931-2012, RIP

"One of the most wonderful things about being a Christian is that I don’t ever get up in the morning and wonder if what I do matters. I live every day to the fullest because I can live it through Christ and I know no matter what I do today, I’m going to do something to advance the Kingdom of God.”--Chuck Colson

Two weeks before he died of a  brain hemorrhage in Lansdowne, Virginia on April 21, Charles "Chuck" Colson, founder of the Prison Fellowship, was on the road lecturing and organizing for his ministry. Colson, who served seven months in prison in 1973 for his role in the Watergate scandal, paid special attention to the impact of incarceration on the families of prisoners. The three children pictures above are the subjects of this story from the Prison Fellowship web site, headlined The Girl Next Door:

Like a lot of little girls her age, nine-year-old Bailey enjoys school and soccer practice. She is a great student who loves to read and write. She never misses Sunday school. And she is a great big sister to Keara (4) and Drake (3). But each morning, as Bailey grabs her backpack and heads to school, her heart carries the unimaginable burdens of the past year. Last fall, Bailey was the one who discovered that her uncle had died from an overdose--right on her family's kitchen table. Her beloved grandmother passed away this spring. Her dad and his cousin (dad to Keara and Drake) are incarcerated, their crimes splashed across the front pages of the local small-town newspaper. Because of this, Bailey’s last name — “Bible” — is “the worst last name in town,” her mom Tasha explains. Ironically, “if you have the name Bible, people think you are trash.”

Bailey is even excluded from some play dates. “If your dad loved you, he’d be here,” her classmates taunt this sweet, innocent little girl.

So how does Bailey go to school each day with a smile on her face? How do Keara and Drake cope each day without their dad? “I’m doing all I can to break the cycle in my children’s lives,” Tasha says, “[but] I struggle all year to provide for all four of us.” Which is why Angel Tree means so much to this hurting family.

“Angel Tree gave my children a Christmas to remember,” Tasha shares. “When my son said, ‘My dad got me these!’ — it was priceless. You gave my children love from their father and you gave me a bigger gift: the gift of hope.”

Something My Son-in-Law Won't Like: National Parks Discourage Fishing

Cobia Fishing in the Atlantic: Obama Plays Golf, Why Can't We Fish?

Here's some news that may irritate my son-in-law (he's the handsome devil at bottom right) as much as it did me: The National Park Service is systematically closing off access to fishing and other recreational activities in the name of "saving the environment," and many of the new restrictions will kick in just in time to ruin your summer vacation.

Human Events reports this morning:
"Planning a vacation this summer to Miami’s Biscayne Bay for a little fishing?

"Think again, because the National Park Service wants to set aside a large swath of the pristine area as a marine reserve zone, so you might have to leave the fishing poles at home. And the boat.

"Perhaps horseback riding is more your speed and the family plans to ride through California’s Sequoia or Kings Canyon National Parks? Sorry, but all of the permits were pulled for those activities this summer.

"Or maybe you just want to lounge on the soft sands of North Carolina’s Outer Banks and read a novel, fly a kite with the kids, toss a Frisbee to the dog, and watch dad catch some fish?

"No, no, no and no."

A slew of new federal regulations are shutting down access to beaches, fishing sites, boating lanes, and wildlife refuges.

As one distressed bait and tackle shop owner in North Carolina  noted: "It’s fine and dandy to protect the environment, but at the same time we have a mandate to provide protection of resources, as well as enhance the future and present recreational opportunities. But that’s not what’s going on. Now it’s a single mandate which is to protect the environment.”

 Read more at the link above.

More Children = Healthier Women

The Nelson Family Reunion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A study recently published in the Australian medical journal Age and Ageing finds preliminary evidence that women live longer the more children they have.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported April 20:

"The study, of older Australians living in Dubbo, found women [over 60 years of age] with six or more children were about 40 per cent less likely to die during the 16-year follow-up than women with no children. The study leader, Leon Simons, of the University of New South Wales, said some had up to 14. ''I'm not advocating for you to have six or 14 kids, but it does seem having a few children is good for survival,'' he said. The study used information collected from more than ... 1500 women who were aged over 60 when the researchers first examined them in 1988 and 1989.
''|'They were having kids in the '40s and '50s, pre-oral contraceptive pill,"|'' Associate Professor Simons said. '|''In this age group, large numbers of children were quite common'|'
"Compared with women who had no children, those with two had a 17 per cent decreased risk of death. For women with three children there was a 20 per cent decreased risk, and this pattern largely continued with additional children.
"Associate Professor Simons said it was not known exactly why childbirth might protect women in later life, but similar findings were seen overseas. The answer could be hormonal but behaviour could play a part as well."

This study is quantitative science reaffirming what is evident in simple observance of real life: Larger families provide a more stable, healthy, flexible, and supportive--and therefore better--life for their members at all stages of life. In  youth, the larger family provides the support, care, and teaching of siblings in addition to what the parents can provide; in adult years, sisters and brothers provide a buffer from economic reversals, in old age, a support system of children and grandchildren, and in final years, the comfort of family care-giving.


Happy is the man and happy is the woman who have a quiver full of them!

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/womens-long-life-linked-to-children--lots-of-them-20120412-1wwwl.html#ixzz1scLTTPbc

What Is Wrong with the Department of Education?

4,800 staff members here spend $80 billion a year

Why does the lamestream media huff and puff every time a candidate makes the quite sensible suggestion that the Department of Education be shut down or, at least, reduced in size? After all, as National Review has noted, the department “was created as a straight political payoff to the teachers’ unions by President Jimmy Carter (in return for their 1976 endorsements). According to the National Center for Education Statistics, DE’s original budget, in 1980, was $13.1 billion (in 2007 dollars), and it employed 450 people. By 2000, it had increased to $34.1 billion, and by 2007 it had more than doubled to $73 billion. The budget for fiscal 2011 was $77.8 billion, and the department [by then employed] 4,800.”

What do 4,800 plus DE employees do, as they spend the equivalent of twice what Obama’s “Buffet rule” tax would raise in one year? My one-hour lunchtime search of Google could not produce a list of departments by number of employees and budget. But here’s some anecdotal news that they are wasting plenty of taxpayers’ money:

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli announced from Richmond March 31 that the state had succeeded in overturning a $55,000 DE fine levied on Virginia Tech in 2008. The reason for the fine? Apparently, the bloated staff at the department has developed strict guidelines on how campus officials must communicate emergency conditions to students, and Virginia Tech failed to follow these federally dictated standards during the 2007 shooting which left seven undergraduates dead. However, when Cuccinelli went to court to defend Tech, the chief administrative law judge of the U.S. Department of Education found that the university had complied with federal law in its response to the campus shootings, and as a result, he vacated the DE fine against the university.

In short, some bureaucrat at the Department of Education decided from his/her desk in Washington that it was correct and useful to harass Virginia Tech in the wake of the most terrible tragedy to ever befall the university community. This decision led to a colossal waste of time and money—at DE, the Virginia Attorney General’s Office, and at Virginia Tech. It’s a good case study in what happens when the federal government bureaucracy mucks around in local affairs that should not concern them.

Bishop Jenky of Peoria: Obama Follows Path of Stalin and Hitler

 St. Michael the Archangel with Bishop Jenky

There can be no neutrality in the war for religious liberty, Bishop Jenky of Peoria, Illinois told an audience of Catholic fathers who attended the annual gathering of diocesan men this week: "As Christians we must love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, but as Christians we must also stand up for what we believe and always be ready to fight for the Faith.”

Bishop Jenky's address echoed the themes of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' April 12 Statement on Religious Liberty, which called for America's bishops to focus "all the energies the Catholic community can muster" on a national campaign of prayer and action during the 14 days between the Feast of Saints Thomas More and John Fischer (June 22) through the 4th of July.

Bishop Jenky compared Barak Obama's  mandate that Catholic institutions pay for health insurance that supplies abortion, sterilization, and contraception for employees to the worst attacks on religious liberty in the 20th century: “Hitler and Stalin, at their better moments, would just barely tolerate some churches remaining open, but would not tolerate any competition with the state in education, social services, and health care. In clear violation of our First Amendment rights, Barack Obama--with his radical, pro-abortion and extreme secularist agenda--now seems intent on following a similar path.”

“Now things have come to such a pass in America that this is a battle that we could lose, but before the awesome judgement seat of Almighty God this is not a war where any believing Catholic may remain neutral. This fall, every practicing Catholic must vote, and must vote their Catholic consciences, or by the following fall our Catholic schools, our Catholic hospitals, our Catholic Newman Centers, all our public ministries--only excepting our church buildings--could easily be shut down. Because no Catholic institution, under any circumstance, can ever cooperate with the intrinsic evil of killing innocent human life in the womb. No Catholic ministry--and yes, Mr. President, for Catholics our schools and hospitals are ministries--can remain faithful to the Lordship of the Risen Christ and to his glorious Gospel of of Life if they are forced to pay for abortions."


Get the full text of Bishop Jenky's address, and podcasts of other talks by the bishop, at the Peoria Catholic Post.

This Is Fun! Calculate Your Fair Salary as a 'Stay at Home' Mom

Hey! I've been underpaid  for decades--at least according to the Stay at Home Mom Salary Calculator  posted at salary.com in response to Obama spokesman Hilary Rosen's bashing of Ann Romney. Come to think of it, while I was holding down a six-figure job at home, I was also getting my #$* out the door every morning (thank you, Bill Maher, for that lovely formulation) to earn a considerably smaller "at the office" paycheck. Hmmmm... Does Ann Romney service as first lady of Massachusetts meet Maher's standard of "getting her #$* out the door"?

Could it be that six decades of progressive, increasingly radical-leftist anti-family policies from the Democratic Party since World War II have been the real "war on women"?

Our Party of Life vs.Their Party of Death

A Hamas mother, who has already begun her child's training

Sometimes, there is no need to put an idea into your own words. Someone has already said it better. A new weekly feature titled They Said It Better begins today with this suggestion by Yale Professor David Gelernter from the Weekly Standard magazine for President George Bush's 2007 State of Union address. I post it in honor of my elder son, who will soon begin his third deployment in the War Against Jihadism.

Our enemies in this war seem varied but shared one common doctrine…all agrees on death. They believe in and cultivate death; they are the party of death. And we are the party of life—and they hate us for that and hope to destroy us because of it. No war we have ever fought id more fundamental than this.

 Obviously, we can’t confer life; can’t even protect and preserve it—not always. But we do our best. Life comes from God, and we hope to be its champions. We told the world so in 1776; life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are the things we stood for. Those words echoed John Winthrop’s as he sailed to Boston in 1650. He wrote about the city on a hill he hoped this land would become. He was quoting the Bible and finished with another biblical verse: “Choose life and live, you and your children!” On those words he set to work and build this great American community.

We claim no special credit for being the party of life. We invite every person and people in the world to join us. The less exclusive the party, the better. But as champions of life, we have awful responsibilities… [For] our enemies believe in death and have said so plainly. Almost thirty years ago, Shiite fanatics gathered in Teheran to scream hatred at this nation; they weren’t content with “down with America,” they screamed “death to America” and meant it. The secular tyrant Sadaam Hussein tortured and slaughtered his enemies and their little children. His terrorist friends believe in the same doctrine, “murder thy enemy.” The random killing of men, women, and children inspired their supporters to dance in the streets. Fanatic Muslim clergymen preach murder in their holy places. And on 9/11, al-Qaeda accomplished what even Hitler never did: the mass murder of American civilians.

These proud champions of death kill innocent people all over the world, and their own people at home; they have even discovered new ways to kill themselves. Suicide-murderers are in a rush to heaven, which they picture as a discount whorehouse. If that’s not sufficiently depraved, behold the ghoulish spectacle of a mother celebrating the death of her own (terrorist) child –a brand new hero by dint of the misery he inflicted on other mothers and other children. Theirs is the party of death indeed.

We understand our mission. The champions of life must defeat the champions of death.

Women Beware: The Democrats' Brave New World for Families

 Morning Joy by Alexis Marie Lahaye

 What Democrats don't understand: Families Need Mothers

"Try to imagine what 'living with one's family' meant."

They tried; but obviously without the smallest success.

"And do you know what a 'home' was?"

They shook their heads.

--Chapter 3, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World

White House advisor Hilary Rosen’s consternation-producing comment that Ann Romney “has never worked a day in her life” serves quite efficiently to remind us of the radical-left-progressive ideal of womanhood championed by the Obama administration: Borrow tens of thousands to complete that college degree, sleeping with any man who catches your eye along the way; abort those pesky nuisance pregnancies; marry a suitable man (or not, if you prefer IVF);  suspend contraception just long enough to conceive (or not, if you want to hire a surrogate); have your baby (or not, if pre-natal testing determines it’s a girl, and you and hubby want a boy); find a daycare center that fits within your budget (remember, you have to figure in the costs of your colorist, car detailer, and personal trainer); and get the heck out of the house as soon as possible.

That is, of course, if you pull down a six figure income as a Democratic strategist like Rosen, or earn $316,000  a year selling the University of Chicago Hospital’s plan to dump its charity cases elsewhere, like Michelle Obama. If you are one of the 52 million working women in the United States whose family income is below the median, it’s much more likely that you are out cleaning other people’s houses,  doing other people’s cooking ,  and raising other people’s children, while your children stay at home, sometimes alone.

Either way, the degradation of the wonder of motherhood and the work of the so-called “stay at home mother”  has been a documentable disaster for the American family. 

For an uplifting look at things from the other side of the ideological spectrum, see Under the Gables: Dedicated to Discussion of Women and Their Work.

Is Your Congressman on the Socialist Party of America Membership List?

 Historically speaking, the socialists haven't done too well as concerns economic affairs. Leaving aside Barak Obama's dismal record, let's consider how much of the problem resides in the legislative branch of our government.
The Socialist Party of America boasts that the following members of the House and Senate are card-carrying members. Do you think they are doing a good job?


Co-Chairs
Hon. Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-07)
Hon. Lynn Woolsey (CA-06)
Vice Chairs
Hon. Diane Watson (CA-33)
Hon. Sheila Jackson-Lee (TX-18)
Hon. Mazie Hirono (HI-02)
Hon. Dennis Kucinich (OH-10)
Senate Members
Hon. Bernie Sanders (VT)
House Members
Hon. Neil Abercrombie (HI-01)
Hon. Tammy Baldwin (WI-02)
Hon. Xavier Becerra (CA-31)
Hon. Madeleine Bordallo (GU-AL)
Hon. Robert Brady (PA-01)
Hon. Corrine Brown (FL-03)
Hon. Michael Capuano (MA-08)
Hon. André Carson (IN-07)
Hon. Donna Christensen (VI-AL)
Hon. Yvette Clarke (NY-11)
Hon. William “Lacy” Clay (MO-01)
Hon. Emanuel Cleaver (MO-05)
Hon. Steve Cohen (TN-09)
Hon. John Conyers (MI-14)
Hon. Elijah Cummings (MD-07)
Hon. Danny Davis (IL-07)
Hon. Peter DeFazio (OR-04)
Hon. Rosa DeLauro (CT-03)
Rep. Donna F. Edwards (MD-04)
Hon. Keith Ellison (MN-05)
Hon. Sam Farr (CA-17)
Hon. Chaka Fattah (PA-02)
Hon. Bob Filner (CA-51)
Hon. Barney Frank (MA-04)
Hon. Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11)
Hon. Alan Grayson (FL-08)
Hon. Luis Gutierrez (IL-04)
Hon. John Hall (NY-19)
Hon. Phil Hare (IL-17)
Hon. Maurice Hinchey (NY-22)
Hon. Michael Honda (CA-15)
Hon. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (IL-02)
Hon. Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30)
Hon. Hank Johnson (GA-04)
Hon. Marcy Kaptur (OH-09)
Hon. Carolyn Kilpatrick (MI-13)
Hon. Barbara Lee (CA-09)
Hon. John Lewis (GA-05)
Hon. David Loebsack (IA-02)
Hon. Ben R. Lujan (NM-3)
Hon. Carolyn Maloney (NY-14)
Hon. Ed Markey (MA-07)
Hon. Jim McDermott (WA-07)
Hon. James McGovern (MA-03)
Hon. George Miller (CA-07)
Hon. Gwen Moore (WI-04)
Hon. Jerrold Nadler (NY-08)
Hon. Eleanor Holmes-Norton (DC-AL)
Hon. John Olver (MA-01)
Hon. Ed Pastor (AZ-04)
Hon. Donald Payne (NJ-10)
Hon. Chellie Pingree (ME-01)
Hon. Charles Rangel (NY-15)
Hon. Laura Richardson (CA-37)
Hon. Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34)
Hon. Bobby Rush (IL-01)
Hon. Linda Sánchez (CA-47)
Hon. Jan Schakowsky (IL-09)
Hon. José Serrano (NY-16)
Hon. Louise Slaughter (NY-28)
Hon. Pete Stark (CA-13)
Hon. Bennie Thompson (MS-02)
Hon. John Tierney (MA-06)
Hon. Nydia Velazquez (NY-12)
Hon. Maxine Waters (CA-35)
Hon. Mel Watt (NC-12)
Hon. Henry Waxman (CA-30)
Hon. Peter Welch (VT-AL)
Hon. Robert Wexler (FL-19)

Our First Grandchild Baptized

Diya Chandra Huth, baptized at Saint Leo the Great Catholic Church in Inwood, West Virginia, Easter Sunday, 2012. Shown here with godfather Christopher Praveen Huth, mama Falana Lyn Huth, proud father Alexander Chandrappa Huth, and godmother Savithri Huth Perez.

Good Friday

CONSIDER WELL

by Saint Thomas More

Consider well that both by night and day

While we most busily provide and care 

For our disport, our revel, and our play,

For pleasant melody and dainty fare,

Death stealeth on full slily; unaware

He lieth at hand and shall us all surprise,

We know not when nor where or in what wise.

When fierce temptations threat they soul with loss

Think of His passion and the bitter pain,

Think on the mortal anguish of the Cross,

Think on Christ's Blood let out at every vein,

Think of His Precious Heart all rent in twain;

For thy redemption think all this was wrought,

Nor be that lost which He so dearly sought.

 

Abortion and Women's Health

From the dedicated researchers at the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM) at the United Nations, comes a great roundup of new research showing links between abortion and maternal health. The discussion highlights the work of Dr Angela Lanfranchi from the World Expert Consortium for Abortion Research and Education (WECARE).

Let's keep a tight lid on this information, howls the lamestream media, particularly the Chicago Times.  The liberal anti-science lobby is mightily concerned that women are not informed of these risks, hence strident opposition to legislation that would require abortion clinics to reveal it to prospective patients.

Let's wait and see what the ladies in pink over at the Susan G. Komen Foundation may have to say about these developments.

Catholic University Ends Birth Control Coverage

 Xavier University of Cincinnati, one of the oldest Roman Catholic colleges in the United States, founded in 1831

Amid the debate over whether religious colleges should be covered by federal requirements that employee health plans include contraception, many have noted that some Roman Catholic colleges have for years had health plans that paid for birth control. One of them -- Xavier University in Ohio -- this week told employees that they would no longer cover contraception and sterilization, as they were inconsistent with Church teaching.

The Rev. Michael J. Graham, president of the university, wrote to employees, saying that the national debate prompted him to review the university's policies. He noted that President Obama has proposed a compromise on the issue, under which religious colleges would not have to pay for contraception coverage, but the insurance companies would be required to provide the coverage free. In his letter, Father Graham wrote that this compromise was "insufficient."

Father Graham wrote that "as a Catholic priest and as president of a Catholic university, I have concluded that, absent a legal mandate, it is inconsistent for a Catholic institution to cover those drugs and procedures the Church opposes." He said that he told the human resources office to work with the university's insurance provider to be sure that, by July 1, no coverage is provided for either contraception or sterilization, with the exception of "medical necessity for non-contraceptive purposes."

Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/04/04/xavier-ends-birth-control-coverage#ixzz1r6j7t8oO

Obama's Red Roots

Don't recognize everybody in this rogues gallery? Of course, there's Karl Marx and communist icon Che Gueverra (now emblazoned on onesies and bibs for radical parents), and Obama. Flanking The One are two characters that deserve plenty more limelight in the 2012 White House contest: unreptentent Weatherman bomber Bill Ayers (right), and the man who taught Obama most of what he thinks about how society should be organized: Frank Marshall Davis. (photo courtesy of Sodahead.com) 

Over the past week, President Obama, administration officials, and the liberal media, have hardened their stance against the Catholic Church, and the constitutional right of all Americans to freedom of religion, repeatedly asserting the the HHS mandate guaranteeing free abortifacient drugs,  sterilization procedures, and contraception to all women under ObamaCare must be part of insurance plans offered by all religious institutions, even if abortion, contraception, and sterilization are against their beliefs.

Is it possible that, when Obama told reporters several years ago that America is not a Christian nation, he was asserting his hope for the future of American? If we are not to base our political and civil discourse on the Judeo-Christian principles of the founders, what system does Obama hold up as appropriate for the United States?

American Thinker blog's commentator Paul Kengor offers a compelling reminder that Obama learned his politics at the knee of the Marxist black nationalist radical Frank Marshall Davis. Davis had a political career that, among other things, featured enthusiastic support for the Soviet Union's Joe Stalin, and a calculated campaign to drive a wedge between American Catholics and Protestants on the issue of...contraception. Read Kengor's full analysis here.

Small Wonders

 

A diminutive morel waits at the base of a tree stump for the patient hunter

Springtime bursts forth with bold strokes in the bloom of daffodils and tulips. But there are small wonders to be found hidden in nooks and crannies.

Lily of the Valley blossoms in the damp places under shrubbery
A half dozen stems of the white bells can perfume an entire room.

Tiny mushrooms pop up to do their humble work

Dinner for a Week on $20

 

Here is a recipe that will get a young family through the week with little preparation time and little money, both of which may be in short supply during difficult economic times: Rich stock prepared from beef bones and a small "soup bundle" of celery, carrots, and onion, to which is added several meaty beef shank rounds that disperse their flavor through the broth and add chunks of meat to the final product.

The simple procedure is to simmer the bones (two or three pounds from the butcher or supermarket) for 8 to 24 hours beginning with cold water with a half-cup of cider vinegar, skimming any scum that rises to the top of the pan during the first several hours, after which you need not pay any attention to the pot. The long simmering process extracts every bit of available nutrition from the bones, including abundant calcium. In the last two hours before serving, brown two large beef shanks (24-32 ounces), and add them to the pot with the browning juices,three coarsely chopped carrots, three celery ribs, and a coarsely chopped large onion. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

You will get a better and more economical final product if you seek out a local beef producer who is willing to sell you bones and shanks--such as the wonderful Hemp's Meat Market in Jefferson, Maryland that I use--rather than purchasing these items from the supermarket, where they are typically priced 30 percent more than at the butcher. Hemp's sells whole beef shanks that produce eight one and a half inch thick rounds like the ones pictured above (enough for three large pots of soup) for $2.49 a pound; the supermarket charges $3.49. Hemp's cows come from the field across the street. The supermarket cows come from who knows where, and they bring considerably less taste with them.

When you have your basic pot of soup, you can add fresh greens like kale or Swiss chard, or a turnip, rutabaga, or potato, to make it even hardier. Combine with bread and butter and a small salad for a wonderful family dinner. One pot, begun on Saturday and finished on Sunday, can serve a family of four for the better part of a week.

Looking for a New President--II

Robert Edge Pine's portrait of the patriot Robert Morris, ca.1785

What was the Obama administration up to this past week? With events in the Middle East and Libya deteriorating apace, and Somali pirates murdering U.S. citizens, the major news from the administration consisted of Eric Holder’s announcement that the Justice Department will no longer fight in court against state efforts to overturn the federal Defense of Marriage Act, and that the office of the White House social secretary is to be occupied by a gay rights activist.

Clearly, Obama’s 2012 presidential bid is in full swing, and the barely post-adolescent strategists in his reelection war room have embarked on a calculated effort to harden factional lines in the Republican Party by throwing “social issues” into the media spotlight.

All the more reason that the most talented and energetic Republican leaders should step forward now and announce for the White House. We need a field of tough and smart candidates, with the guts and intellectual depth to rally a now-energized populace around the truth that there can be no solution to America’s deepening fiscal crisis separated from a solution to the horrible moral and social crisis facing our nation.

Rep. Mike Pence, the Indiana Republican who entered last week’s recent amendment to House federal budget legislation stripping Planned Parenthood of $360 million in taxpayer handouts, has made it clear what place he thinks social issues have in the party and in the election.

He made these remarks before the GOP sweep in last November's elections, and it seems that the candidates who also expressed this view did just fine at the polls:

“Now I know some say that Republicans should stay away from such issues …that the American people are focused on jobs and spending and our movement would do well to stand aside, bank the win and return to fight after this fiscal and economic crisis has passed. But we do not live in a world where an American leader can just focus on our financial ledger. A political party that would govern this great nation must be able to handle more than one issue at a time. We must focus on our fiscal crisis and support our troops. We must work to create jobs and protect innocent human life."

Pence continued, "To those who say we should focus on cutting spending, I say ‘Ok, let’s start by denying all federal funding for abortion at home and abroad! Stop funding research that destroys human embryos in the name of science, and let’s deny any and all funding to Planned Parenthood of America.’"

“We must not remain silent when great moral battles are being waged. Those who would have us ignore the battle being fought over life … have forgotten the lessons of history. As in the days of a House divided, America’s darkest moments have come when economic arguments trumped moral principles. Men and women, we must demand, here and now, that the leaders of the Republican Party stand for life … without apology."

How do you think a fellow like this would do in a nationally televised debate against Barak Obama? Get an idea of how such an event might shape up here.

Pence says he doesn’t want to run for President. This is understandable. For a serious patriot, the job is one of total personal sacrifice. Robert Morris, no doubt, did not want to spend his entire personal fortune to finance the War of Independence, but he did so anyway, and victory was secured. So there is really no telling what Pence might do, if called upon to serve his country from the White House.

Saturday Crafts: Klunky Bead Jewelry

Some snapshots are too good to file away without sharing. Here is a scene from the weekly crafts session at our house with several young ladies in the neighborhood. The girls have applied themselves diligently to learning the basics of working with lead and charcoal pencils, still-life composition, and the basics of perspective (our most challenging lessons).

But sometimes girls just want to have fun, so we spent a recent afternoon fashioning gifts for family and friends from an assortment of inexpensive Indian glass beads purchased on the Internet. One of the creations matches a lime green turtleneck in my closet, and is lovely enough for the office!

Why Is America Going Broke?

Last week, my congressman, Rep. Frank Wolfe (R-VA), circulated an open letter to his constituents warning that America will soon be officially bankrupt. His letter included the alarming statistic that, on the current trajectory, by the year 2028, every single penny of federal government revenue will be eaten up by entitlement payments (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and so forth) and interest on the national debt. Nearly half that national debt, Wolfe noted, is currently owned by China and Saudi Arabia—perhaps not countries to which we wish to be financially beholden. You can read the full text of his open letter here.

Wolfe suggests a serious reevaluation of entitlement payments and I concur. However, to consider entitlements, we must also consider the cost of goods and services that are purchased with entitlement funds. A principal of these is medical care, accounting for a gigantic chunk of the federal budget at this time.

Here I offer a bit of anecdotal evidence that medical care costs are completely out of control: a line-by-line accounting of the bills generated by the health care establishment when I simply checked in with the rheumatologist about chronic pain and joint swelling in my left-hand ring finger:

--Visit to doctor’s office (10 minutes): $325
--X-ray (a technology developed in 1895) of my hand: $793
--Charges by a radiologist to look at the X-ray: $160
--Prescription: $418
TOTAL: $1696

Enough to very comfortably feed, house, clothe, educate, transport, and entertain a middle class family of four for a week or more. But clearly not enough to finance their health care, since each has 10 fingers and 10 toes.

I welcome comments on where to begin to understand and tackle the behemoth of American health care costs.

Looking for a New President

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal was raised a Hindu and converted to the Roman Catholic faith as a young adult

Are you, like me, eager to see some motion in the national political process to produce a winning Republican ticket for the 2012 presidential elections? Are you also eager to find a candidate who demonstrates the ability to understand fundamental moral issues and will not compromise?

Rev. Luke Robinson of the Quinn Chapel Africa Methodist Episcopal Church in Frederick, Maryland, speaking recently to at the 38th annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., made an eloquent case that Americans must act now to scotch the candidacy of any GOP leader who proposes to shelf so-called social issues, that is euthanasia and the abortion of 4,000 babies a day in the United States, in favor of the so-called fiscal issue, that is, the nation’s pending bankruptcy. “There must be no retreat, no truce, and no going backwards,” he told 400,000 assembled activists. “We must hold our elected officials’ feet to the fire…We will give nobody a passcard, because life is too precious. There are those like Hailey Barbour of Mississippi and Mitch Daniels of Indiana, who call for a truce on social issues. They must be stopped before they get to the gate. They must not be given the slightest opportunity to extend the killing of the unborn…We do not need another President who is blind to the moral issues. We must move with dispatch and find someone who is in love with the culture of life and hates the culture of death….There must be no exceptions and there must be no compromises.”

Do you ask where committed pro-life voters can find a pro-life candidate with the guts and brains to stand up on this issue? I have begun with a serious look at Louisiana’s young Indian-American governor, Bobby Jindal, who has been writing on his conversion to Catholicism and aspects of Roman Catholic faith since the mid-1990s. Many of his articles appear in the New Oxford Review, and can be retrieved on line.

We must move with dispatch and give nobody a passcard.