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Is Madison the beginning of Civil War?
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Protester with "Throw Out that old Douchebag" sign in Madison, Wisconsin
Monday a friend (who is a Conservative Wisconsin teacher) contacted me to have me look into the budget fixes proposed by Governor Walker. She and her husband are very upset about the approximate 25% decrease in her paycheck that will result from the increase in pension and medical contributions the Governor is asking the teachers and other public employees to make. Understandably, she’s struggling to figure out how they’re going to make up for that loss in pay, as are many of the other teachers and public employees who are now protesting the Governor’s budget in Madison. One of the things cited by my friend as part of her anger is that the Wisconsin Firefighters, Police and State Troopers are exempt from this plan, since those unions endorsed Walker when he ran for governor last year. She understands the need for the cuts, but feels that if everyone is being asked to make the change, then EVERYONE should be required, not just those who did not endorse the new Governor of Wisconsin. (My friend is not one of the thousands of teachers who participated in the “sick-in” aka illegal strike this week nor does she condone the teachers who did so or the ones who took students with them to the protest at the Capitol.)
I’ve heard from numerous Wisconsinites regarding this issue. They’re pretty evenly split between supporting the Governor and supporting the teachers. I can see and understand both sides of the issue – on the one hand, Wisconsin is looking at a huge budget deficit and trying to fill that hole by requiring additional contributions from the public employees; on the other hand, the public employees, teachers included, have spent the last four or so years, negotiating deals that include no cost of living pay increases in order to keep their pensions and medical benefits intact. Both sides are passionate about their position and willing to fight for what they believe is right. If left alone, I have no doubt that eventually the sides would be able to work out their differences.
One of many photos taken at Madison, Wisconsin Protest on 2-17-2011
But now we have President Obama weighing in, calling Governor Walker’s plan “an assault on Unions.” We have his “Organizing for America” busing people to Madison to join the protests. The major labor unions have become involved and plan to also join in the protest. The Democrat Senators are refusing to do their jobs and go to work while thousands besiege the Capitol, many of them students clueless as to why they’re there but excited to be out of school for the day. The Governor has alerted the National Guard that they may called upon to do essential work if the protesters manage to shut down the government. What began as a march on the Capitol is erupting into something more and more ominous. To make things even more interesting, there is now a rally planned for Saturday by various Tea Party groups and Freedom Works in Madison.
The Governor has stated that if the unions do not make the concessions he is requesting, that over 20,000 employees will lose their jobs. One would think that the public employees would take that threat seriously and re-think their protests. But there is more than just the required contributions and pay cuts that are driving this uproar. The Labor Unions, which currently extract dues from all public employees also fear Walker’s plan to eliminate non-salary collective bargaining and tie salary increases to the Consumer Price Index so that public employee salaries would not rise quicker than the rate of inflation and hopefully bring their salaries closer in line with private sector employees as well as allow Wisconsin to become a “Right To Work” state meaning that union membership would become optional, causing the unions to lose millions of dollars of dues every year.
Photo of protesters seen at Madison, Wisconsin Protest
It is the loss of money and the subsequent loss of power that is the driving force behind the protests. Where it started as teachers fighting back, the protests have no been hijacked by Big Labor and even our President is feeding the fires with his statements regarding Walker’s plan. There is no good ending for this protest.
Michelle Obama wants America fit like the Military
Posted by: | CommentsOn Thursday, January 27, 2011, Michelle Obama visited Fort Jackson in South Carolina and met with Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling. The Lt. Gen. has been working to change the Army’s diet and exercise programs in order to improve the fitness our military men and women. According to news reports, Ms. Obama told the Lt. Gen. that she “was fascinated by the project” and reiterated her oft-repeated statement “that lack of fitness is ‘not just a health issue but a national security issue.’”
First lady: Military could make U.S. fitFORT JACKSON, S.C. — First lady Michelle Obama said Thursday that the military’s push to turn recruits into health-conscious warriors could be a model for making people across the U.S. more focused on fitness and nutrition.Obama, who has made battling childhood obesity one of her signature causes as first lady, visited the Army’s largest training post at Fort Jackson outside Columbia to see what the Army has done, from more rigorous training drills to fat-free milk in its mess halls.She told Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, who has worked to overhaul both the soldiers’ diets and exercise programs, that she was fascinated by the project.A lack of fitness is “not just a health issue but a national security issue,” she said.The St. Paul Pioneer Press, Friday, January 28, 2011, pg. 12A
So, has Michelle Obama now decided that the reforms pushed through by Executive Order and hidden within the Food Safety bill and Healthcare Reform are not enough – that now she must work with the military to enforce those reforms and add to them? Will the next statement coming from the Office of the First Lady be this: “The State is to care for the elevating national health by . . . the encouragement of physical fitness, by means of the LEGAL establishment of a gymnastic and sport OBLIGATION, by the utmost support of all organizations concerned with the physical instruction of the young.”? How far does the First Lady plan to go?
Michelle Obama: Please Keep Whining
Posted by: | CommentsForbes Magazine‘s has announced that Michelle Obama tops their 100 Most Powerful Women list:
“At the top of our list, First Lady Michelle Obama is a true change-maker since taking lodge in the White House in 2008. The first African-American in the post, she’s changed the face of the office (literally), and with consistently high approval ratings, she’s given a new generation of girls and women around the world a role model. A former private attorney and public servant in Chicago, her interest in working with young people and advocating for healthy eating, among other issues, is evidenced by her Let’s Move! campaign, which aims to solve the epidemic of childhood obesity within a generation.”
The role as First Lady of the United States doesn’t seem to be sitting well with Ms. Obama who apparently finds the job so difficult that The National Enquirer (which broke the news of John Edwards’ affair two years before the MSM touched the story) is reporting that the day after the First Family returned from vacation at Martha’s Vineyard, Ms. Obama could be heard screaming at her husband:
“Michelle collapsed in tears and even threatened to divorce Barack if he seeks a second term as president,” a source in the nation’s capital told The ENQUIRER.“At one point, Michelle was heard yelling, ‘I hate you for dragging me through all this…I’ve had enough!’”
Christians join the Progressives in Beck-bashing over Restoring Honor
Posted by: | CommentsOn 8/28/2010, Glenn Beck held his “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington, DC. It is believed over 500,000 people attended what Beck billed as a non-political event. As he said on his 8/30 television show: “I said the message would be about restoring honor and turning to God. I said the day would be about faith, hope and charity. I told you for a long time the day would be focused on challenging each and every individual so we can restore honor. That’s the key to restoring our country, restoring ourselves first.” Beck’s own words attest that not only was this a non-political rally but that it was a non-denominational rally – spiritually challenging and uplifting, but non-doctrinal to ANY particular religion other than the basic Christian values found in the Bible
Since Glenn is a known Mormon, there are some on the “Christian”-side who are criticizing him for his audacity in believing that he could or should hold such a rally as the Restoring Honor Rally. Some accuse him of attempting to fulfill a Mormon prophecy of “Divine Destiny” – the same phrase Beck has used in describing the Founders and the writing of the Constitution. These critics claim that Glenn believes that it is his divine destiny to fulfill the prophecy that …the Republic would nearly falter, (and) Mormons would swoop in to save the day (David Shedlock “8/27 & 8/28 Glenn Beck Takes Another Bite Out of the Apple: The Meaning of Divine Destiny”). According to these critics, Beck’s pleas to Americans to “get down on their knees and pray” is really his way of fulfilling Mormon prophecy and attempting to convert all Americans to Mormonism. Also according to his critics, Beck can’t help but preach his religion: “Beck asks Christian leaders to “put differences aside,” but Beck himself daily peppers his broadcasts with Mormon distinctives because he cannot keep his beliefs to himself.” (Shedlock, “Divine Destiny: Evangelicals with out the Evangel”). And since Glenn can’t keep his beliefs to himself, “Satan is the one laughing at them as ‘Christians’ run head-long into embracing non-Biblical theology and call it ‘Christian’” (Brannon S. Howse, “Glenn Beck Rally Set Stage for “Christians to Accept Paganism, and Mormons Say Beck Achieved 200 Year Goal of Getting Evangelicals to Declare that Mormons are Christians”).
Since when does calling people to pray, to go to THEIR churches, to get back to God, to practice Faith, Hope and Charity mean that someone is attempting sending Christians into “non-Biblical theology”? According to Howse, Beck’s “Black Robed Brigade” will result in: “The compromise by evangelical leaders and pastors by spiritually uniting with ‘all faiths’ with the theme of ‘looking to the one god’, as described by Beck, has laid the foundation for untold numbers of self-professing Christians to now embrace pluralism and pagan spirituality. Pastors and evangelical leaders literally locked arms with all faiths, including Imams, in a spiritual endeavor despite the clear Biblical warnings of II Corinthians 6:14. (2 Cor. 6:14 states: Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?)”
How is it possible for Glenn to have a theme of “looking to one god” and yet be laying the foundation for Christians to embrace pluralism and pagan spirituality? The logic makes no sense. Howse also tries to use Ephesians 4:14 to continue to make his point when he states: “As a result, the members of their own congregation hear no advanced warning of the coming spiritual undertow nor do they acquire the needed Biblical knowledge that keeps them from being children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.” Unfortunately, Howse practices his own deceitful plotting by using a common ruse in Biblical arguments: pulling a verse and using it out of context, for if one reads the entire section of Ephesians he is referring to, one would actually see this: “It was he who gave some to be apostles, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead speaking the TRUTH in LOVE, we will see all things grow up into him, who is the Head, that is, Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-15) In fact, Beck’s call to “look to one God” reflects an earlier part of the same chapter of Ephesians which states: “As a prisoner of the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to one hope when you were called – one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all through all and in all.” (Eph. 4:1-6)
A Restoring Honor Rally, calling to all Americans to pray, to practice charity, to go to their own churches and have hope and faith, being misconstrued as a call to practice paganism is not the only weapon the critics have been aiming at Beck. He’s also been accused of practicing Cosmic Humanism – the idea that man is God. This accusation comes from Glenn’s appearance on Fox Sunday with Chris Wallace when he said: “because there’s nothing that we can do that will solve the problems that we have and keep the peace unless we solve it through God, unless we solve it in being our highest self. Be your higher-self.” These critics somehow seem to have missed the point of Christianity in general according to the Apostle Paul who wrote: “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22-24). Isn’t what Beck said the same as what Paul stated? Furthermore, using the concept of reaching one’s “highest self” we can also define the top human need in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Self-Actualization, which says that the final need of human beings to be fulfilled as people is to experience MORALITY AND PURPOSE, MEANING AND INNER POTENTIAL.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs
So which part about “experiencing morality and purpose, meaning and inner potential” goes against putting “off your old self…and put on the new self, created to be like God…”? or as Beck puts it: “being our highest self”? Is it possible that perhaps Beck is truly asking people to reach their highest potential? That we must start by changing ourselves in order to change the country? Or, since Glenn is a Mormon, and like the obese, one of the last groups of people unprotected by th0se who profess to being politically correct, Beck’s critics attempt to use his own religion to accuse him of nefarious motives behind his Rally?
Throughout history people who have had the ability to touch others’ lives have been attacked, martyred and betrayed by those who are envious of their power. Beck called out to the Nation and over 500,000 people showed up. Another 130,000+ watched the rally as it was live-streamed on Facebook, and untold thousands watched it on C-SPAN. Who else has been able to accomplish such a feat today? He has spent the last few years telling America to “get on your knees and pray.” There was no other doctrine than the Christian doctrine spoken on stage on 8/28. There were no other values than the ones this country was founded upon pushed on the crowd; no talk of anything other than love, faith, hope and charity. Love of God, love of family, love of country and appreciation for those who protect our country – who protect our very way of life by sacrificing their lives and time for the sake of our country, our rights, our families. But, because Glenn Beck is a Mormon, because of his ability to call people out and have them actually show up, without being paid, he is attacked. The attacks from the left are expected; the attacks from the Christian right? Not so much, until we are reminded of history and the in-fighting among Christians throughout the ages, beginning as early as 75 AD, that started as debates over doctrine and the “true religion” and ultimately turned into genocide, inquisitions and witch-hunts. Is this a witch-hunt being performed on Glenn Beck because he is a God-fearing Mormon? Or is it because of his ability to call people to action? Is Beck amassing too much power and must be attacked and dismissed as “not one of us” because of his Mormon beliefs or because of his power?
Those who question Beck’s “qualifications” to call people to God should go back and read the writings of the Apostle Paul, especially Romans and Ephesians to see what he says about judging one another on the basis of theological differences. In Romans, Paul says: “One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself alone. If we live we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.” (Romans 14: 5-10)
If Glenn Beck has not accepted Christ as his Savior – as many of his critics say he hasn’t and use as their reason for attacking him – then maybe this is God’s way to reach Beck’s heart. How many thousands of people may have been reached through Beck’s appeals for the American people to reach to God? Who are we to question God’s ways? Hasn’t it been demonstrated throughout the ages and in the Bible that God will use even the most lowly person to fulfill His plans? The Prophet Jonah, when he disobeyed God, eventually went on to fulfill God’s plan. Judas, the most despised and misunderstood of all the disciples, was used to fulfill Christ’s destiny. Why is it then, that so many Christians are attacking Glenn for attempting to reach the masses and ask only that they turn to God, that they pray for wisdom and that they find their purpose at the feet of God?
In the story of Esther, Mordecai beseeches Esther to go to Xerxes and beg for the lives of her people when he says: “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14) Is it possible that those who choose to criticize Glenn should instead be criticizing themselves and their church leaders because they have been called but have refused to do God’s work and in so doing have caused God to go to someone like Beck to do the work that the critics should have been doing? Or instead of criticizing Beck, perhaps take this moment of history to heart and start doing the work that God has called all of us to do? As Christ says in Luke 6:41: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye’, when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
The truth is that Beck is not preaching Mormonism, he is asking people to turn to God in order to restore honor in their own lives to start the restoration of honor for our America. As it is said in Luke 6:45: “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”" Has Beck’s words and actions reflected a heart stored up with evil? Or do they reflect that most important of all Commandants – the one that is” Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matthew 22:37-38)? It is by this commandment that we should judge Beck’s words and actions – is he fulfilling this commandment and asking others to do the same? And if he is living up to that commandment, then perhaps we should stop fighting and criticizing, and start living up to it ourselves so that we can follow the next greatest commandment which states: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39) – only then will we truly be able to Restore Honor to America.
Editor’s Note: While it is important for us to not fall to a place where we begin to worship Glenn Beck, it is important for us to come together for a higher purpose. A battle that will last far beyond tomorrow and far beyond 2010. Glenn held this Restoring Honor rally because he sees the bigger picture of what it will take to overcome the attacks against the sovereignty of the United States of America by those who seem to be influenced by interests from far beyond our borders. It will take the building of a strong base before we can make serious gains in restoring honor in our America.
Have Obamacare “Death Panels” Already Begun for Women with Breast Cancer?
Posted by: | CommentsRecently, the FDA determined that the cancer-fighting drug, Avastin, is not cost-effective in treating stage IV breast cancer patients. Avastin has been proven to extend cancer patients’ lives by several months, it will no longer be available to women suffering from breast cancer or ovarian cancer; it will, however, still be available for people treating other types of cancer.
The cost of this drug is quite expensive, but isn’t extending life worth it? If Obamacare is already starting to attack and restrict people from using drugs that might possibly extend life now, what will our medical decisions be in 2014 when we’re all forced to follow the Obamacare rules?
The “Maraca Girls” 3 Day team after completing the 60 mile walk.
“Tiger Mom” vs. “Polarbear (aka Hockey) Mom”
Posted by: Andrea Mayer-Bruestle | Comments (4)Recently author Amy Chua caused controversy with her book “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” and subsequent column in the Wall Street Journal: “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior”. Much of the backlash stems from Ms. Chua’s statements regarding the treatment of her daughters: calling them “garbage”, not allowing sleepovers or sleep-away camps, etc. and from the arrogant, elitist tone of the column, as when Ms. Chua says:
Or when she claims:
She also claims that instead of studying or doing rote academic drills, Western kids are more likely to be involved in sports. This might be true, however, Ms. Chua insinuates that being involved in sports is a bad thing and beneath the traditional Chinese families’ values. Or that being involved in sports somehow is less important than learning to play an instrument perfectly. In her column, Ms. Chua discusses the Chinese children being forced to practice an instrument for three hours a day, when Western children are only required to practice 30 minutes a day – and the Western mom is exhilarated when her child manages just to do that.
Well, Ms. Chua, your children may be straight-A students, fluent in multiple languages, music-prodigies and accepted into all the top schools in the country, but if they’ve never had to cross the minefield that is a locker room full of 14 and 15 year old boys or deal with the politics that surround a sports’ team try-out process, how do you expect them to know how to effectively use all the book-knowledge you’ve crammed into their brains for the past 18+ years?
As most sports parents understand, raising a child who excels in their sport also requires raising that child to excel in all the other areas of life as well. It may actually be easier to be a child of Chinese-descent than a Western child – if your mama is forcing you to do your homework and forgo all the extracurriculars available, that Chinese-descended child never has to learn time-management – mom is doing it for him/her. That child also never has to learn what it is like to rely upon a whole team of individuals to win a game or a meet, never has to feel the disappointment that comes when one gives 100% but his/her teammates do not, nor does that Chinese-parented child ever get to feel the joy that comes when a team takes 3rd place after fighting through a multiple-penalty, 4 on 4 overtime followed by a shoot-out hockey game against a team that’s made it no secret that they’re gunning for each player on the opposing team.
The child of a “Tiger Mom” also never has to deal with the peer pressure and tormenting that can occur in any locker room nor does that child get to develop the life-long friendships that naturally happen during hours spent on the ice, on the court, in a pool or on a field, or the bonding that happens when a team gels so well that each player can almost read his/her teammates’ minds.
Tiger Mom’s children may ace the ACT exam, but what else will they be able to put on a college application? What happens to Tiger Mom’s children when they finally claw their way out of the den into the bright light of freedom in college? If they’ve spent most of their lives being told what to do, when to do it, how long to do something, etc., how will they deal with the challenge of managing their time and learning the social and decision-making skills necessary to navigate a college campus and later deal with office politics?
Ms. Chua throws around statistics from studies comparing Western and Chinese parents, but she doesn’t mention that according to the Department of Health and Human Services, “Asian American women ages 15 to 24 lead in the highest suicide rate amongst all ethnic groups”. The “whys” behind this high rate of depression and suicide are multiple and mixed, but some have argued that it is from trying to live up to the “Model Minority” stereotype – a stereotype that is essentially exactly the type of parenting model Ms. Chua proclaims as “Superior” to the Western model of parenting. If the Chinese Mother parenting model is so superior, why are so many Asian-American girls depressed to the point of suicide?
That American or Western students are falling behind much of the rest of the world academically is indisputable; however, is it parenting methods causing this drop in academic performance or is it the fact that American schools have been straying further and further away from basic education – math, reading, vocabulary, science, etc. – in order t o make room for anti-bullying workshops (which rarely work), sex education and foreign-language immersion programs to name a few? Is it possible that in the years since the 1960′s Progressive Movement, instead of being rooted in basic education, our school system and children have become pawns for the large and powerful Teachers’ Unions and their never-ending need for more money to feed the pensions of teachers, many of whom have lost any classroom efficacy?
Ms. Chua’s daughters may dominate my kids academically and musically, but the experiences my own kids have had on the ice and in the pool weigh heavier than anything they ever learned from a book. Those lessons are persistence, competition, tenacity, teamwork, time-management, split-second decision-making and hard work. No compliment from me can ever fulfill my child more than the feeling of euphoria when all their hard work pays off in that perfect goal or record-setting swim combined with the friendships of the teammates celebrating those achievements beside them.