By Scott F. Paradis
With each succeeding poll measuring Americans’ trust in institutions the elements of government sink to new lows. As we move toward the 2010 mid-term elections we are seeing a groundswell of anti-incumbent fever. Something is wrong; something is terribly wrong. But let’s step back for a moment – this is a representative democracy after all. Where does the fault lie in our system of self-government?
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By Scott Paradis
We are a funny lot – Americans. We profess to manage ourselves and our state by way of democratic principles to ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. We believe we have established a government by the people, for the people, of the people to secure, as Alexander Hamilton might have put it, ‘…the sacred rights of mankind…written, as with a sun beam in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; never to be erased or obscured by mortal power.’ Yet, we raise up an individual, presume to endow that individual with supernatural powers, install him as president and summarily absolve ourselves of any and all responsibility for the lives we lead, the environment we live in, or the society we create. Read The Entire Article…
By Howard Jacobs
There seems to be an unwritten rule, in the minds of many, that being a Political Independent makes a person more “reasonable” than people on the extremes of the political spectrum. Many on the right look to “soften” their views in order to gain acceptance from the MSM (Main Stream Media). They may say things such as “I’m a fiscal conservative but a social liberal”, or the all too popular “I’m neither a republican nor a democrat”. Read The Entire Article…
By Gerardo Moochie
My quest to find a relevant Christian Church is now in week seven. By “relevant” I mean a church that makes a strong connection between Biblical teaching and what is going on in the world today.
So far the Christian teaching that comes closest to meeting my “relevance” ideal is Glenn Beck. Isn’t it a little ironic for orthodox Christians that Beck is a Mormon. Perhaps orthodox churches have recently discovered something in their doctrine that prohibits relevance to current events. Read The Entire Article…
By Gerardo Mucci
Back in the 80’s when I formally confirmed my Christian faith I had difficulty understanding why the practice of Christianity was restricted to the church and our personal lives. I wondered why it appeared to be a “given” that the practice of Christianity need not, and in many cases shall not, extend to our work place, business practice, or especially politics and government. And I had the advantage of belonging to a politically outspoken church at the time. Read The Entire Article…
I recently submitted the following to the editorial board of the Sioux City Journal, in response to the criticisms, not only launched by them, but by pundits, on both sides of the aisle, across the nation, against the Northwest Iowa Tea Party’s production of a controversial billboard. I thought you would benefit from reading my thoughts.
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By Dr. Gary DeMar
Atheists and evolutionists do not like to be compared to people like Adolf Hitler. Of course, I don’t blame them. Just because someone shares a similar ideology with a tyrant in one area does not mean that he shares everything that tyrant did. It’s not that atheists generally are any more immoral than religious people because of their atheist beliefs, it’s that they can’t account for the validity of their moral choices Read The Entire Article…
by Bryan Fischer
The biblical standard of justice is quite clear: no partiality, period. No partiality to the rich, no partiality to the poor. Justice is to be evenhanded and utterly fair. The man – rich or poor – who is in the wrong is to be punished, the man – rich or poor – who is in the right is to be vindicated. Read The Entire Article…
A Note from the President of PeaceMakers Institute: I have published a considerable number of articles over the last few years, and I’ve read far more than I’ve written. I say this, because, I firmly believe the following article, written by Mr. Herbert E. Meyer, may be one of the most valuable on-line articles you’ll ever read (if… you’re an American patriot concerned with the present state of this nation). I encourage everyone, to carefully and thoughtfully contemplate what follows. Herbert E. Meyer served during the Reagan Administration as Special Assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence and Vice Chairman of the CIA’s National Intelligence Council. He holds the U.S. National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, which is the Intelligence Community’s highest honor.
God Bless America,
Rev. Cary K. Gordon Read The Entire Article…
In the midst of the constant and incessant debates on what we should do as a nation to eradicate ourselves from the jaws of economic and social destruction…the debates revolve around varying and often opposing, political and economic philosophies. Should we raise taxes, or lower taxes? Should we reform health care or leave it alone? Should we regulate more of private business or less? Should we bail out companies or let the market adjust itself?
I would draw your attention to the fact that the focus is always upon man’s ability to change the nation through the implementation of economic and governmental principles. Very, very seldom do you hear anyone either in public or private mention the absolute necessity of American society embracing again the moral principles that characterized our nation as recently as two generations ago. Read The Entire Article…
At first glance it seems ironic that Europe, long disdainful of American-style capitalism and haughtily proud of its womb-to-tomb smorgasbord of lavish government-managed goodies, should be tightening its various belts, while on this side of the big pond we continue to tinker with our economy to conjure up just the right mix of American-style socialism and the free market activity needed to support it. Meanwhile, our esteemed leader is lecturing the Europeans not to turn off the swag spigot too quickly. Socialist Europe is being scolded by an American president for not being sufficiently committed to socialism. Talk about irony! Read The Entire Article…
By Shane Flait
Our Founding Fathers, fearful of a controlling government, arranged to make all government officials accountable, keep the branches of government separate, maintain the importance of a jury to protect litigants from bad laws and a usurping judiciary, and warned us not to trade away our freedom for any security the government offered in return. Read The Entire Article…
By Gerardo Moochie
The teaching in our churches lacks relevance to what is going on in our culture, politics, government and in other ideologies/religions that marginalize or demean the Christian faith. Many churches seem oblivious to the undercurrents in our culture and world that are or soon will be negatively impacting our lives. Read The Entire Article…
A father, by nature, is a self-sufficient character, the linchpin upon which rests the individual freedoms of family and a nation. To subvert him is not only to destroy his position in the family but to destroy the natural family and its existence as an independent economic unit. His destruction virtually guarantees a socialistic state, and one based on feminist jurisprudence – women-privileged law that denies ‘constitutional due process’ for men. Read The Entire Article…
Words And Language Versus Thoughts And Ideas
By Howard Jacobs
Thoughts and ideas are expressed with words and language but there is too much meaning placed on the words and not enough exploration of the ideas that the words represent. If the words sound good, if they are soothing words that make people feel good about themselves then people are unlikely to explore the real meaning. Call it intellectual laziness; this conflict is the dictator’s best friend. Read The Entire Article…
By Bailey Stone
Just for fun, let’s assume a really fanciful, utterly unimaginable set of circumstances – a real screwball fantasy:
Let’s say that a group of religion-drunk psychopaths with dreams of paradise flew a pair of commercial aircraft full of screaming passengers into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City on, say, September 11th, 2001. Let’s suppose they kill, oh, a couple thousand people. Read The Entire Article…
DISCLAIMER: The following article expresses a Libertarian endorsement of what we view as “isolationism,” with regard to both national and international defense. While PeaceMaker’s Institute agrees that the waging of war against terrorism without an official congressional declaration of war, was wrong, and we were deeply disappointed and regretful that President George W. Bush neglected to insist that such a constitutional declaration be made, by Congress, we do NOT support the alternative of pre-WW2 isolationism provided by the libertarian movement (espoused by the author’s endorsement of Rep. Ron Paul, and subsequent criticism of all those who, for this reason, did not support his presidential campaign). Read The Entire Article…
by Norman L. Pawlewski
Former Iowa Commissioner of Public Health
If I were to title this commentary, I would use something like the title of a recent Broadway play, “They Shoot Horses Don’t They?”
A recent “Des Moines Register” article quoted Dr. Christian Barnard, South African surgeon, as saying “the time has come for doctors to practice ‘active euthanasia’ (mercy killing) to put hopeless and suffering patients out of misery.” Read The Entire Article…
By Howard Jacobs
In the beginning there was only Hillary.
And the Democrats were without form.
And there was corruption, and lying, and deceit, and intimidation.
And then the spirit of Obama came and moved upon the waters.
And Obama said Let there be hope and change. Read The Entire Article…
For Making The Constitution More Compatible With The Modern Age
By Howard Jacobs
This proposal has been created and authorized by our organization, the Bastion of Urban Renewal and Progress (BURP). This is a community organization which has its home office on the upper west side of Manhattan, and is dedicated to the betterment of humanity, the cleanliness of the earth and the causes of equality within and between all nations. Read The Entire Article…
By Matthew Ung
Many decades ago, A.W. Tozer, author of Christian classics, said “Religion today is not transforming people; rather it is being transformed by the people. It is not raising the moral level of society; it is descending to society’s own level, and congratulating itself that it has scored a victory because society is smilingly accepting its surrender.” Read The Entire Article…
Part 1 of a 2 part series recently published in 12 Iowa newspapers
Former Governor Branstad routinely touts himself to church-going Iowans as “a fellow evangelical” and that he is “pro-life”, yet he vigorously campaigned for Lamar Alexander, in 1999, a presidential contender who firmly stated that he “did not support” overturning Roe v. Wade, and adamantly opposed the Human Life Amendment. Prior to this, in September of 1995, Alexander declared he did not believe having a pro-life vice-president was a necessary consideration for his aspirations to lead the nation. Read The Entire Article…
Part 2 concluding a series recently published in 12 Iowa newspapers
The role of government in an ideal world should be little more than the provision of safety and order. It is understood that it costs money to provide safety and order, so government is allowed, in the form of a necessary evil, to tax those private businesses, run by individuals who create wealth. If government takes too much from the wealth-creating individuals, government is capable of destroying the very businesses necessary for its continuation. So, what remains is a question of how much we will LIMIT the destructive and parasitic acts of taxation which determine the private sector’s nationally realized economic success. Read The Entire Article…
By Brian Fricke
In case you’re wondering, I’m not a fan of Obamacare. Even though it’s gone through, I’m still the eternal optimist. Here’s why… Read The Entire Article…
by Rev. Tim Ginter
That our nation is politically polarized is no secret to anyone who is even remotely in touch with our society. This polarization has been credited to the philosophical differences between the liberals and the conservatives, or to the opposing ideas of government found in the Republican and Democratic platforms. I believe it goes deeper than this. I submit that one of the contributing elements in the philosophical war we see raging in America today is the battle of secular humanism/atheism versus Judeo/Christian principles in public policy. Read The Entire Article…
By Drew McKissick
It’s been said that when life gives you lemons you make lemonade. So it is with politics. The GOP’s 2008 election defeat planted and watered the seeds of what the party has been in need of for a long time – a real conservative revolution. The good news is that Barack Obama is making it all possible. He and the Democrat leadership are providing Americans with a vivid reminder of everything they don’t like about liberalism. As White House Chief of Staff Rham Emanuel was credited with saying after Obama took office, “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste”. Well, just ten months in to his term, Americans are sensing a crisis. Specifically, the crisis represented by Obama’s brand of liberalism, and they’re in the mood for a revolt. Read The Entire Article…
The Stupidity and Greatness of Each Generation
By Howard Jacobs
Every generation has its own style. Each era has a unique vocabulary, its own taboos and its own definition of what is considered cool or hip. Each era has its style of fashion, music and entertainment. Some fads and vocabulary are temporary and some make it past the generational stage and become permanent fixtures of society. Some go away but still leave their influence in other ways. The expressions; “That’s groovy man” and “Far Out!” have long been replaced by “At the end of the day” and “That’s how I roll!” Thankfully the expression “Don’t go there” seems to have seen its last days. Read The Entire Article…
On a night like this, when Democrats shamelessly dismantle another large piece of what made America great (the free market), it’s hard not to hate.
Statism has been encroaching upon American healthcare for decades, incrementally causing costs to grow more and more unaffordable, through government mandated insurance and regulation. Read The Entire Article…
A Satirical Expose of the Thickheaded Arguments
Employed by Advocates of Universal Healthcare
There is an implicit understanding, not only on both sides of the aisle in Washington, but in the faith community as well, that the “Granny Smith Apple-Bearing Tree, Inc.” was the first “health insurance company” created by God on earth, from whence cameth the proverb: “An Apple a day keepeth the doctor away.”
People of all walks of life and varying faiths agree: Apples (not unlike clean air, water, trees, poetry and gay marriage) are fundamental to EVERYTHING this country was founded upon, and if those very same issues hadn’t been at the forefront of the signer’s thoughts when the Constitution was ratified in 1787, why…we wouldn’t be able to use the Constitution to protect those same rights today! God bless America! Read The Entire Article…
A Satirical Expose of the Thickheaded Arguments
Employed by Advocates of Universal Healthcare
Because apple-eating is a civil/human RIGHT, we empathetic Democrats intend to pass a new law REQUIRING everyone to purchase Granny Smith Apples (nature’s health insurance)! But remember, with right and privilege come responsibility. Therefore, after our next bill becomes law, if you DO NOT buy an apple every day, and you get caught without one, you will be punished in a court of law. Read The Entire Article…