The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the reference to God in the Pledge of Allegiance is  grounded in historical identity, philosophy, and politics and not specific theology or the establishment of an official religion.

Thus the court ruled against Michael Newdow, an atheist who challenged ‘under God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance and ‘in God we trust’ on US currency as unconstitutional endorsements of religion.

The court also ruled unanimously that Newdow did not have standing to challenge the official motto of the United States that appears on the US currency- “In God We Trust”.

Response: Wow, for once the left leaning 9th Circuit actually made the right decision. Since other circuits around the country have made similar decisions concerning ‘The Pledge’ it is doubtful that this case will be going on to the Supreme Court.            *Top

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Iran’s President Ahmadinejad is known to be a ‘holocaust denier’ and now he confirms that he is also a ‘9/11 truther’. In a speech to the Intelligence Ministry staff in Iran he made the following comments:

“September 11 was a big lie and a pretext for the war on terror and a prelude to invading Afghanistan.”

He also questioned the 9/11 death toll claiming that the Americans never published the victims’ names. This of course is utterly false. On several occasions the names of the over 2,750 victims killed in New York have been read aloud at memorials.

Response: Ahmadinejad is also expecting the 12th imam to come back soon and usher in a new Islamic caliphate and world empire. Sometimes his lock on reality is rather loose at best. Do we really want this madman to have his finger on a nuclear button? What do you think?              *Top

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The Baroness Jenny Tonge demands that Israel prove that they didn’t send medical teams to Haiti to harvest organs from the dead rather than help the victims of the recent earthquake.

A Palestinian newspaper made that claim and the Baroness took it serious and demanded an investigation:

“The IDF and the Israeli Medical Association should establish an independent inquiry immediately to clear the names of the team in Haiti.”

This would be laughable if the Baroness Tonge wasn’t an official in the Liberal Democrat political party in the UK at the time. Her comments are a throwback to the legendary anti-Semitic polemic The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and the historical blood libel claims of the middle ages when Jews were accused of harvesting Christian blood for use in religious rituals.

There is absolutely no evidence that Israeli doctors were in Haiti harvesting organs. Quite the contrary, the Israelis work side by side with American doctors to save the lives of the earthquake victims.

There was a claim made on British TV in 2009 that corneas and other organs were routinely harvested from the dead in Israel. It was unsubstantiated except for the claims of one former Israeli doctor. That report may have been the basis for the Haiti charges.

Baroness Tonge should have known better, she is not an ignorant person and is actually a medical doctor herself. Her radical support for the Palestinian cause may have taken over and overruled her common sense. It does illustrate the rise of anti-Semitism in the UK and Europe and the illogical turns that it takes even in the supposedly informed 21th century.               *Top

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This is another one of those puzzling foreign policy cases where President Obama deliberately tweaks one of our greatest allies Great Britain. It is also one of those stories  that US main stream media seems to be ignoring.

The British have discovered oil in the South Atlantic near the Falkland Islands. Meanwhile Argentina has disputed their right to explore in the area and continues to dispute the British claim to the Falklands. Swords are already rattling over this issue and Argentina has asked the UN to rule against the British claim. Meanwhile The Obama administration has decided to support the Argentinean’s by default.

You might will recall that Argentina and Britain went to war over the Falkland Islands in 1982. President Reagan naturally supported Margaret Thatcher and lent airbase and logistic support to British. Argentina had attacked and taken the Falkland Islands by force but the British took it back in a bloody war that saw 655 Argentineans killed and 255 British. Now the Argentineans are rattling their sword once more?

Meanwhile our Obama State Department decides to be neutral?:

“We are aware not only of the current situation but also of the history, but our position remains one of neutrality,” a State Department spokesman told The Times. “The US recognizes de facto UK administration of the islands but takes no position on the sovereignty claims of either party.”

We helped British in their last Falkland dispute but now we refuse to even verbally back them now? Obama is trying to reach out to Latin America including some of its notorious dictators.  After all his buddy Chavez supports Argentina. In the process the Prez seems to be willing to sacrifice the rightful claims of our greatest ally?

Response: Who would you rather see controlling any oil found in the South Atlantic? The rulers of Argentina (even if they are now elected) or Great Britain. What would actually be better for the USA in the long run? Enough said I should think. Sometimes I wonder just whose side Pres. Obama is on.             *Top

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According to Compass Direct, last month more than 100 local Lao officials in Katin village of Ta-Oyl district, Saravan Province forced 48 Christians to leave their worship service by gunpoint.

Then the officials marched them 4 miles out of town and left them there to fend for themselves.

Guards have been posted at the entrance of the village to keep the Christian families from coming back unless they renounce the Christian faith. Meanwhile, the 11 Christian homes in the village have been confiscated along with most of the possessions.

This is not the first time that Katin village officials have forced Christians to renounce their faith or leave. The Katin village leaders have declared that spirit worship is the only acceptable form of worship in their community and that other religious groups will not be tolerated.

Laos is suppose to have freedom of religion guaranteed by their constitution but local officials continue to ignore the laws of their own country even though provincial officials in the past have asked them to respect the rights of religious minorities.

Meanwhile, the government of  Laos is communist and really not sympathetic to plight of the Christians or any other religious group for that matter.

We really do need to keep these folks in our prayers.                       *Top

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Although China maintains the largest Bible printing plant in the world, the demand for Bibles continues to outstrip the supply.

According to the UK based Bible Society, more than 500,000 Chinese convert to Christianity every year so the demand for the word of God is not going to let up anytime soon.

Part of the problem, the Chinese government allows the 4 million or so Chinese Bibles printed each year to be distributed only through their official government sponsored denomination- Three Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) bookstores which are mostly in major cities.

Most of the Christians in China attend non-official house churches that are in poor rural areas. The books are too expensive for many poor rural folks even though they are subsidized by the Bible Society.

Although many mission groups bring Bibles into China it still is somewhat illegal and the government does occasionally crack down on non-official Bible distributors and bookstores.

Response: In the final analysis, the lack of Bibles in China continues to be a problem which caused by the government itself even though they publically claim to print more Bibles than any other country in the world. Fact is, many of the Bibles are printed in other languages and sold around the world rather than in rural China where they continue to need them.

The Bible plant has become a PR success for the government and a cash cow to boot.               *Top

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“I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems. On the cross, he forgave the people who crucified him.”

However, before you think that the entertainer may have gotten ‘religious’ consider what he has said about organized religion in the past:

“Religion promotes hatred and spite against gays,” the openly gay performer told the Observer’s Music Monthly magazine in 2006. “From my point of view, I would ban religion completely.”

Response: So there you have it from an ethical expert and cultural icon—Jesus ‘Good’, religion ‘bad’ and should be banned. Jesus taught us to love folks and forgive but the religion he founded ‘promotes hatred and spite’ particularly against gays?

Before you completely dismiss what ‘Sir’ John says here (and we do dismiss it!), consider that millions of folks agree with him out there at least in part, though I’m sure few would agree that Jesus was actually gay.

Here’s a question–must one be gay to be a compassionate man? Also I do wonder just how bad Christians have actually treated Elton John over the years? Millions have bought and played his records for sure. That he would actually ban religion if he could seems rather spiteful on his part.

Nevertheless, the church has obviously done a miserable job showing the love of Jesus Christ and the ‘good news’ to gay folk. We have become ‘bad news’ instead. Somehow we have not been able to stand up for traditional marriage and church teachings and still extend God’s love to individuals all of which Christ died for.

This is regrettable. Christians should be loving folks regardless. Why can’t it be possible to stand up for Biblical principles and for traditional marriage and lifestyles without being seen as a group promoting hatred and spite?

Out here in California since Prop 8 it has been the gay ‘activists’ which have been rather spiteful lately –towards Christians.

Regardless, from my perspective Christians should be extending love and a caring hand to those who disagree with us even those with a lifestyle that we may reject and abhor.               *Top

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