Michelle Obama's definition of greatness misses the mark

When First Lady Michelle Obama spoke at the Democratic National Convention the other night, she was adamant about reminding us that we "don't need to make America great again, America is already the greatest nation on earth." Of course we cannot forget that she only first became proud to be an American when her husband was nominated as president in 2008. What did she feel about our great country before then? And if our country is so great, why did her husband feel the need to pledge to "fundamentally transform" it?

Then again, Barack Obama's success in doing just that - transforming America to something barely recognizable from our origin - could have to do with why Michelle feels it is such a great country now. On her husband's watch, America has millions and millions more people out of work, and hence, millions more on food stamps. Dependency creates loyal Democratic voters. 

We have completely open borders with pledges to bring in thousands of un-vetted Syrian refugees and other illegal immigrants who will be given the kind of perks that our own citizens could only dream about. Generous benefits creates loyal Democratic voters. Who cares about the dangers of terrorism as long as certain politicians get to be in power.

We have trashed traditional marriage, ushering in an unprecedented wave of special interest rights for certain groups over the rights of individuals. "You pat our back, we'll pat yours with our Democratic votes." 

We have completely lost our common sense about simple things like minimum wage - which was never meant to be a living wage for families, but rather stepping stone wages for new workers just starting out on their journey upward. But under Obama, it is a sad reality that so many people can only find minimum wage jobs, which are now being used as a point of false rhetoric on the need to raise wages, which only serves to reduce jobs. But it sounds good to promise more money to the masses as a way of encouraging them to vote for Democrats.

Unfortunately Ms. Obama misses the point of what makes a country great. It is not the trashing of morality and traditional institutions to benefit some over the many that makes a country great. It is not welfare dependency, unemployment benefits, recklessly open borders, unsustainable forced wages, or any other empty promise the Democrats propose to thrill the uninformed that makes a country great. 

But if these are the things that Ms. Obama and other Democrats feel define greatness, then we are a great country indeed. It's too bad though that this type of "greatness" can only lead to our downfall.

Thoughts are nice, but what we need is prayer

Another terrorist attack. This time at least 84 dead (as of now) in Nice, France, and dozens more injured. Now the media is instructing us to refrain from telling victims of terrorism that they are in our prayers. They prefer we just tell victims they are in our thoughts. It's more politically correct that way. But does it occur to any of them that years and years of pushing God out of our lives and out of our public square in the name of political correctness likely has a lot to do with why we are seeing such evil in our world? 

As for the evil of terrorism, we are dealing with fanatical factions of Islam who are totally against the legal and moral values of Western civilization, and who are willing to kill innocent children and adults throughout the world. I don't know about you, but my thoughts have no power over something like this. Only God does. Lifting ourselves up in prayer to God, the only One Who can change hearts is the best hope we have of eradicating evil. 

Yes we can bomb and shoot and contain these evildoers - and absolutely do need to take resolute, fierce action against this evil - but until conversion takes place, evil will continue to pop up everywhere. Further shunning God in these times is certainly not the answer. In fact, it would do us all good to remember that God is still in charge and we continue to be His hands and feet through prayer and living as witnesses of His love and peace. 

Telling the victims of terrorism that our thoughts are with them does the victims no good, nor can possibly change a terrorist's heart. In fact, it's part of the problem because it's just one more example of how a large swath of our politically correct society wants to bury its collective head in the sand and think that warm, fuzzy thoughts will fix things. On the contrary, not only do we need decisive, unapologetic action on the part of world leaders, we cannot lose sight of the fact that we must turn back to God, publicly acknowledge that we need Him now more than ever, and pray to Him for the conversion we so badly need.

With truth on our side, a Culture of Life can prevail

With the recent striking down by the US Supreme Court of pro-life laws, the timing of the National Right to Life Convention (NRLC) in Herndon, VA, July 7-9, couldn’t have been better – and, as a member of RTL-LIFESPAN, I couldn’t have been more pleased to attend the event in person.

Does that mean the NRLC was an entirely feel-good event? To be honest, no. After all, we were there to talk about some of the most difficult issues of our time: abortion; the growing trend of euthanasia; and the healthcare rationing inherent in “Obamacare” – to name just a few.

These are hardly happy topics. But they’re topics we need to address -- courageously, unabashedly, truthfully -- if we’re to be worthy witnesses to life. In fact, it is in that commitment to truth that we find hope of turning things around in favor of a culture of life.

So how do we share that hope, especially with those hurting from the aftermath of abortion? First, in this particular area, we need to share the truth about how abortion harms women - physically and emotionally. Denying the consequences doesn't diminish the harm, it only forces women to suppress their own trauma. By acknowledging a woman's suffering we can then offer her compassion and information on how and where she - and men, for that matter who are also affected by abortion - can find healing. 

Unfortunately, one thing we hear very little about in the “mainstream” culture is that abortion does indeed harm women. But if abortion is no big deal, like the abortion industry would have us believe, then why was one of the most common themes at the NRLC centered on the emotional and physical consequences of abortion? Why is there such a disconnection between truth and society’s willingness to admit it? 

HUSH, a documentary shown at the NRLC (www.hushfilm.com) does an incredible job of exposing this. Not only does it reveal the alarming link between abortion and breast cancer, premature birth and other risks, it exposes the astonishing silence of the abortion industry and others regarding these risks.

As HUSH details, it took only seven studies establishing the link between tobacco and cancer to get the federal government to mandate warnings on all tobacco products. Yet despite over 120 studies concluding that abortion greatly increases breast cancer risks, the National Cancer Institute and other prominent organizations refuse to even acknowledge these findings, let alone push for government mandates to warn women of the risks.

In other words, politics, not science, seems to be steering the issue right now. Denial like this makes it increasingly appalling to hear abortion advocates refer to any of this as women’s healthcare, when clearly women’s health and well-being are not the primary concerns of this billion dollar industry. Then again, to what extent can we genuinely expect those who don’t value pre-born life to value any life?

This devaluing of human life is especially evident today toward the elderly and otherwise medically challenged. Addressing this, speakers at the NRLC gave extraordinary testimonies about the need to be stalwart advocates for our and our loved ones’ healthcare. From one mother’s experience with a hospital encouraging her to stop treatment for her son’s Trisomy 18 condition, to a brother dealing with a hospital’s stonewalling to administer food and water to his elderly brother, it was chillingly clear that just because someone is in the healthcare field, it isn’t a guarantee he or she will do everything possible to save a life.

With government policy like Obamacare increasingly demanding cuts in health spending, coupled with our throwaway culture of death, we may find ourselves at the mercy of faceless bureaucrats who will decide which of our lives are worthy of the cost to preserve them. 

Even worse, we may find ourselves at the mercy of health professionals under pressure to keep costs down, the same professionals who may also share in today's rising attitude that healthcare should be less about restoring health and preserving life, and more about eliminating suffering at all costs through things like euthanasia. That’s why, by the way, it’s critical to have pro-life Will to Live documents, and even carry them with us in our wallets (e.g., in the form of a mini-card you can attach to your insurance card). Even then, you or your loved ones better keep an eye on the medical facility treating you to make sure they’re adhering to your wishes.

Despite the hard issues addressed at NRLC, the prevailing attitude was assuredly one of hope. As mentioned before, fundamental to that hope is that we have truth on our side: simply put, the value of every human life is not up for debate. But how do we present the truth of the prolife movement in the most effective way to change hearts? That is the million dollar question indeed.

Of course it starts with being witnesses ourselves to the joy and value of life. But one other thing we must continue doing is acknowledge that while facts are necessary to share, simply bombarding others with nothing but statistics, judgments, and atrocities may just further harden the hearts we want to change. To the best of our ability, we need to share the truth we know, but must share it with calmness, compassion, and love to a society desperately in need of these things. 

The bottom line is, whatever your job, whatever your vocation, whatever your place in life, you have it in you to change hearts because you have the key ingredient already in you: the truth that every life matters, from conception to natural death. It is in sharing that truth that we can ultimately make ours a Culture of Life, one heart at a time!

Without our police, our culture falls

President Obama may not have directly caused the disgusting tragedy in Dallas last night that claimed the death of five police officers in cold blood, but he is culpable of fanning the flames of racial tensions ever since he took office as president of our country by politicizing events like Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Freddie Gray.

The protests in Dallas - a city that had nothing to do with the recent deaths at the hands of police officers that ostensibly sparked the protests - began peacefully. But in the background were the incendiary words of Obama, who earlier in the day before having all the facts of the tragic shooting in MN of Philando Castile, went to the public with words of discrimination, injustice, and of course, the need for gun control.

The thing is we don't know yet what really happened in Minnestota - we only have the live streaming of the event after it occurred while a man lay bleeding to death with no medical assistance. 

As for the reason for the shootings in Dallas last night, all we know is that the police were murderously ambushed during an otherwise peaceful demonstration and some reports say that at least one of the culprits stated he hated whites and especially white cops, and wanted death for them. 

But Obama, while calling it tragic, has already started using the issue for a talking point on gun control, instead of where the conversation should begin - the crumbling of our culture from a much deeper source. 

Unfortunately such rhetoric only raises hysteria on gun control, despite that removing all the guns in the world will not stop violence -- while our most serious issue - our culture - goes unmentioned. And when the supposed leaders of our world promote rhetoric that only inflates an issue to the point of breaking, we get the chaos and violence we see in our culture.

Meanwhile, police officers, the absolute last line of defense for a civilized society, feel less and less support from the public they risk their lives to protect. Yes, there are some bad cops, and they should be dealt with. There are some bad teachers and some bad priests, too. But individual fallen human beings are not an excuse to condemn an entire group, and right now, we need to defend and support the police as a whole who defend and support us as a whole.

This is not the time for presidents or presidential candidates to be rushing to politicize tragic police events by driveling on about gun control and "Black Lives Matter", which is in truth an anti-American, divisive campaign that only inflames tensions and undermines law enforcement. It is time for real leadership that states unambiguously, unequivocally, and unabashedly that All Lives Matter, and that law enforcement is crucial to our culture in ensuring order and the safety of us all.

Politicizing violence only creates anarchy and the complete fall of our culture. It's time to stop the inflammatory rhetoric and come together as Americans to demand the restoration of civility in our land. This is not a gun issue. This is not a cop issue. This is not a racial issue. It is an American issue. But until we get a president and leadership who respect law enforcement, America will only see more chaos.

7 Reasons Trump is the Only Viable Option*

*Reposted from Constitution.com...

In full disclosure, I voted for Ted Cruz in the primaries. I was not a Trump supporter. As things now stand, I realize that there are those who are trying to wrest the nomination from Trump. This will only mean that we will get the evil of an Establishment Republican or most likely Hillary in November. There will be a rebellion of Trump supporters and anti-Establishment Republican voters.

Why do I believe Trump is a viable option? First, he’s not Hillary Clinton. The Clintons have deep political ties in the media, the Democrat Party, and foreign countries. Trump does not. The Clinton foundation has been paid tens of millions of dollars for political favors ( with many of those dollars coming illegally from foreign countries, including those countries who embrace Sharia Law, and hence the mistreatment of women and homosexuals).

Second, the Democrats and Establishment Republicans despise Trump. They would serve as a check on any outrageous policies he might propose. This would not be the case with Hillary. Democrats would almost unanimously support her while a fair number of left-of-center Republicans would join them.

Third, Hillary would extend the policies of President Obama. It would mean more abortions, more restrictions on religious liberty, more illegal aliens, more gun control, more taxes, more spending. Just put the word “more” before anything Obama has done, and do it for at least four years.

Fourth, Hillary would extend the eight-year judicial nomination process begun by Obama and extend it another four years, maybe eight. She would most likely nominate two new justices from the shaky conservative side of the Supreme Court. Democrat appointees almost always vote liberal, while Republican nominees can’t always be trusted (e.g., Roberts and Kennedy). With two more Democrat appointees, there will be no way to stop an unconstitutional Supreme Court from ruling unconstitutionally and Congress doing nothing about it.

Fifth, Bill Clinton will return to the White House. Hillary accuses conservatives of engaging in a “war on women” but Bill Clinton is the perpetrator of that war. It’s shocking that so many so-called feminists are “With Her” when a number of women have come forward accusing her husband of rape.

Sixth, like Obama, Hillary is an Islamist apologist. Huma Abedin is a Muslim insider who is “the co-chair of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and a person likely to have significant influence in a Hillary Clinton White House. Huma Abedin has had murky associations in the past with the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, which not only is a radical Islamist group in its own right but, as Breitbart has reported, was ‘located in the offices of Saudi Arabia’s Muslim World League.’” 

Seventh, a warning from Murray N. Rothbard originally published in 1994: “Now obviously, and of course, a lot of this is Hillary’s drive to “reinvent” herself, that is, to create a duplicitous false image, to make herself less threatening to the angry American public. And surely the late-nineteenth-century Social Gospelers would be horrified at the current multi-gendered, condomaniacal Clintonian left, to say nothing of the rapid revolving of poor John Wesley in his eighteenth-century English grave. But there is definitely a direct line of descent from the Methodist Social Gospelers of the nineteenth century to St. Hillary and the monstrous Clintonian left. Mix into ‘old-fashioned Methodism’ liberal doses of Marxism, the New Left, the pagan pantheist New Age, and the multicultural and sexual revolutions, stir briskly, and you get the current ruling horror that we all face, and are trying to roll back out of our lives. We face, in short, regardless of what hairdo or persona she affects next week, the evil Witch in the White House.” 

Donald Trump may not be the best of political candidates, but Hillary Clinton most certainly is the worst.

Reposted from Constitution.com