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Listen to my favorite hymn of the week: Onward Christian Soldiers
Thought for the day: "Let us clothe ourselves in a mutual tolerance of one another's views, cultivating humilty and self-restraint, avoiding all gossiping and backbiting.... Let any commendation of us proceed from God, and not from ourselves, for self-praise is hateful to God. Testimony to our good deeds is for others to give, as it was given to those righteous men who were our forefathers. Self-assertion, self-assurance, and a bold manner are the marks of men accursed of God; it is those who show consideration for others, and are unassuming and quiet, who win HIs blessing" (The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians 30).
Posted 12:10 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 8
Is Freemasonry compatible with Christianity? Check these out: The Baptists, the Mormons and the Masons; Ex-Masons for Jesus, The Masonic Lodge and the Christian Conscience
Posted 5:10, p.m., Saturday, Dec. 6
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee signs books in Greenville, South Carolina, Dec. 5.
Posted 11:30 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 2
Michael Medved in Atlanta
We've got to get Michael Medved, Hugh Hewitt and Dennis Prager on the radio here in Greenville, South Carolina, one of the most conservative areas in the country. We need to get them to visit us too. Michael Medved was in Atlanta Dec. 1 to promote his book "The 10 Big Lies About America." I wish we could get him to come two hours up I 85 to see us.
Posted 11:40 a.m., Monday, Nov. 17
"As one liberal academic administrator said in justifying his Draconian action in suppressing a Christian viewpoint, 'We cannot tolerate the intolerable.' This self-blinding, superior mindset explains how liberals can accuse conservatives of racism for their legitimate political differences with Barack Obama while demeaning, with racist epithets, Condoleezza Rice or Clarence Thomas. It's how they can mock conservatives for being close-minded while unilaterally declaring the end to the debate on global warming because of a mythical consensus they have decreed. It's how they can demand every vote count and exclude military ballots. It's how they can glamorize Jimmy Carter for gallivanting to foreign countries to supervise 'fair elections' and pooh-pooh ACORN's serial voter fraud in their own country. It's how they can threaten the tax-exempt status of evangelical churches for preaching on values, even when the churches don't endorse candidates, but fully support a liberal church's direct electioneering for specific candidates. ... It's how they can oppose the death penalty for the guilty but protect the death penalty for the innocent unborn. ... If you believe the left is tolerant, open-minded and democratic, you're in for a rude awakening." --columnist David Limbaugh
Posted 2:15 p.m., Friday, Nov. 14
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free." --Ronald Reagan
Posted 9:50 a.m., Thursday, Nov. 6
Were America's Founding Fathers Freemasons,
Atheists, Deists and Slave Owners?
Brannon House interviews David Barton.
Posted 2:50 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 28
McCain or Obama: Who Will Reform Vaccine Safety?
Emerging evidence in the scientific literature suggests that environmental factors, including vaccines, may contribute to autism. The nation is facing a crisis of confidence in the safety of the vaccine program. The Centers for Disease Control admitted last April that "simultaneous vaccination is incompletely studied at the time of licensure." (page 33)
In May, Rebecca Estepp of San Diego, who has a vaccine-injured child with autism, contacted both presidential campaigns for clarification on their positions with regard to vaccine-safety reform. She made a plea for two Executive Orders to be issued within the first one hundred days of entering office: the removal of all mercury from all vaccines, and a moratorium on the addition of new vaccines to the recommended list for children, until the current vaccine schedule can be proven safe.
On Oct. 20, Estepp received a detailed response from Douglas Holtz-Eakin, senior policy adviser to the McCain campaign, stating that if elected, McCain "will work with all agencies to take all necessary steps in an expedient manner to ensure safe vaccines for every American family." Further, McCain endorsed parental vaccination choice stating, "The key to health care reform is to restore control to the patients themselves."
In contrast, Senator Obama never responded to Estepp's requests for improved vaccine safety, responding to her only with regard to his position on autism. Estepp is disappointed: "I truly wanted responses from both parties, and while the concerns of vaccine safety and autism overlap, they are in fact separate issues. I didn't ask either candidate for his position on autism. I asked for vaccine safety improvements on behalf of all children."
Earlier this fall, New Jersey parent Claudine Liss attended an Obama fundraiser with the express intent to get answers similar to those sought by Estepp. Liss explains, "He looked right at me and said, 'I am not for selective vaccination. I believe it will bring back deadly diseases, like polio.'"
Estepp extends a final plea to Senator Obama to clarify his position: "This is a party-neutral issue, and many of our parents are waiting to make up their minds on whom to elect. Senator McCain believes parents have a choice in how they vaccinate their children. I sincerely hope that Senator Obama misspoke that night in New Jersey."
Posted 1:55 a.m., Monday, Oct. 27
Sarah Palin says Obama economic plan
would punish hard work
Todd and Sarah Palin in Asheville, North Carolina, Oct. 26
Click here for my photo gallery
By Thomas C. Hanson
ASHEVILLE — Gov. Sarah Palin told a packed Asheville Civic Center Sunday night said that Sen. Obama’s economic plan to redistribute wealth will punish hard work, discourage productivity and stifle the entrepreneurial spirit that made this country the greatest country on earth.
This is bigger government, she said, and “bigger government is the problem, not the solution.”
The Republican vice presidential candidate was accompanied by her husband Todd, and she was introduced by Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina.
When a protester tried to interrupt the opening of her speech, many in the crowd started chanting: “USA! USA! USA!” and Gov. Palin suggested security personnel allow the protester to stay “so he can learn a thing or two from all of you.”
Gov. Palin asked Country-Western star Gretchen Wilson to sing “one of our all-time favorite songs” Red Neck Woman. Gov. Palin then asked the crowd to sing Happy Birthday to her mom on a cell phone.
The Alaskan governor said that Joe the plumber in Ohio “succeeded where the rest of us have not been able” by getting Sen. Obama to state his true intentions in plain language to spread the wealth. This, she said, means government taking your hard-earned money and doling it out however the politicians see fit. Joe the plumber has been attacked by the Obama campaign and media for simply asking a question, she said.
Gov. Palin said that the McCain-Palin pro-growth, pro-private sector agenda will get the economy back on the right track. She called small businesses the backbone of the economy, and said their administration would let you keep more of what you earn, allowing you to hire more people. She pledged that the McCain-Palin administration would cut income taxes, double the child tax credit, and lower capital gains and businesses taxes to keep businesses in this country.
The Republican vice presidential nominee slammed Sen. Obama for having already written his inaugural address, designing his own presidential seal, requesting to speak at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, an honor reserved for heads of state, and already renting space for what he hopes will be his victory party.
Gov. Palin, the mother of a Down syndrome child, pledged to be a voice to the disabled of the country. After her speech, she and Todd greeted disabled children and others near the podium
Posted 10:20 a.m., Friday, Oct. 24
Andre Bauer speaks to Upstate Republican Women
Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer said that the state’s current budget shortfall that prompted Gov. Mark Sanford to call the state legislature back into session “makes Republicans remember why we are Republicans.”
At every level of government, Republicans have been elected Republicans who haven’t acted as Republicans. Bauer said he was elected to rule out tax increases and that the South Carolina government already has more money than it needs.
Bauer made these comments to the Upstate Republican Women meeting at the Poinsett Club Oct. 21.
“One thing that always united us as a party since my mother started dragging me to Republican women’s club meetings back when Goldwater was around,” Bauer said, “was that we thought that government could run more efficiently for less dollars.”
It was easy to differentiate between Republicans and Democrats, he said, because Democrats wanted to grow every social program. Republicans argued that there were many things government should not be involved in, that faith-based organizations, family, friends and neighborhoods should help people out when they have problems.
“We have a lot of people who used to be Democrats who are now Republicans,” Bauer said. “We want to be a big tent party, but when we welcome these folks we must be sure we do not give up our essential values just to get new members.”
Bauer said that Gov. Dick Riley (1979-1987) promised that if he got a one cent tax increase he would solve all the education woes, and President Bill Clinton even made him his secretary of education. “I’m going to clue you in on a little secret,” Bauer said. “We are still in the same place we were 30 years ago. That penny hasn’t fixed it. You can spend all the money in the world, but if you do not have discipline, if you do not have structure, if you do not have an authoritative figure in the teacher, you are not going to change that environment,” adding that “when they took God out of the schools you can look at the test scores and see a dramatic decline in what has happened over the years.”
Bauer said that people who receive goods and services from the government ought to give something back, such as those who receive government help for their children should be mandated to attend parent-teacher conferences.
“I can’t read Lyndon Johnson’s mind,” Bauer said. “He is still my second least favorite president, but maybe his intentions were good. Maybe he really thought that mothers who were left by men needed help, and that is understandable, but we are finding six generations deep now of aid to independent mothers that took a family and rewarded them only if the male left. So there were families who wanted to stay together but the financial incentive was to get the man to leave and have more children. So we incentivized bad behavior.”
Bauer said that politicians don’t want to offend anyone, but that we must have backbones to make a change in politics.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee told Bauer that when he was lieutenant governor in Arkansas he was basically like the spare tire on your car. It is kept out of the way, in the dark and all pumped up just in case they need you.
Four years ago Gov. Sanford and the legislature helped Bauer with a campaign promise to increase the duties of the lieutenant governor to be more than just a glorified ribbon cutter. Bauer had just lost both his paternal grandparents, and he was offered the Office on Aging, which administers everything from Meals on Wheels to hurricane evacuations and nursing home investigations.
South Carolina is now the fifth largest state for in-migration of seniors. Six states this year modeled South Carolina legislation. Bauer said that people are looking to us and saying, What are they doing in South Carolina?
Bauer has been pushing law enforcement and media to pick up what is called a Silver Alert, like an Amber alert. When a person demonstrates he cannot take care of himself, and if they go missing, we would put out a Silver alert.
Bauer has conducted 13 listening sessions with seniors on how they have been taken advantage of by senior fraud. Bauer said: “We will make the message clear. If you take advantage of seniors in South Carolina we will try to put you in jail.”
Bauer said his 2006 light plane crash was probably the best thing that ever happened to him because it let him experience what it was like to be disabled. “It let me see exactly what it was like to ask others for help,” Bauer said. “A lot of you prayed for me and I appreciate it.”
Bauer was introduced by Vice President Donna Gottshall. Suzette Jordan is president of the club.
Posted 10 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 4
Republicans warn on Fannie Mac and Freddie Mac, and Dems defend. Watch this 2004 video.
Posted 4:10 p.m., Friday, Oct. 3
Click here for I photo gallery I shot at the Vice Presidential Debate Watch Party in Taylors, South Carolina.
Posted 9:45 a.m., Wednesday, Oct. 1
My friends at Clergy for Educational Options need some help. They are definitely a group worthy of financial support.
Clergy for Educational Options exists to provide guidance and support to help poor families meet their social, economical, and academic needs.
Their primary goal is to ensure an educational and economic system in the Southern States that is accessible and beneficial to all people. This organization has dedicated itself to educating low-income communities, stakeholders, parents, elected officials and other concerned citizens about the need to increase the available educational and economical choices for low income families.
CEO has, in light of its mission and goal, made it a priority to provide high quality youth services in school districts and neighborhoods plagued by low academic performance and high percentages in dropouts, expulsions and suspensions. In addition, they intend to positively impact the perpetuation of adverse behaviors, which are indicators of potential pregnancy, drug use, criminality, delinquency, and gang related activities.
You can contact them at 1105 Belleview St., Columbia, SC 29201. Phone: 803-462-4026
Here's a link to their support page: www.ceo-sc.org/support.htm
Posted 10:20 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 27
GOP leaders rally the faithful
Four GOP speakers rallied the Greenville County Republican Women’s Club at its Sept. 25 meeting at the Poinsett Club 40 days before the presidential election.
They are Glenn McCall, South Carolina Republican national committeeman; Cindy Costa, national committeewoman; Warren Mowry, South Carolina director of Victory 2008; and Allen Klump, Upstate regional director for Victory 2008,
McCall, an African-American, said that his values do not align with those of Sen. Barack Obama, the Democrat presidential nominee. McCall said he was disappointed with African-American ministers he met with the previous evening, who all support Sen. Obama. McCall questioned how they could say they are followers of Jesus Christ, and support Sen. Obama, who favors abortion rights and civil unions for gay couples.
McCall will make several trips on behalf of the McCain-Palin campaign in October.
The national committeeman slammed the $700 billion bail out plan, and sided with Sen. Jim DeMint, who has called for reducing corporate taxes and putting a moratorium on capital gains taxes. He noted the Democrats began pushing community reinvestment in the early 1980s so everyone could have a mortgage regardless of their ability to repay the loan.
McCall said that Sen. Obama’s economic plans to raise taxes on the rich will kill our economy. He sees more and more people thinking that if Sen. Obama is elected they will not have to pay their mortgages, car loans or student loans, and the government will take care of them.
Cindy Costa
Cindy Costa, Republican national committeewoman, recounted her experiences at the GOP national convention earlier in September.
“Republicans are in the game again,” Costa said. “Conservative Republicans have a reason to care again. She called on attendees to do their part in winning the election, to pray and to work, and to call on others to stand with us in this election.
She referred to the book The Case Against Barack Obama: the Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate by David Freddoso, which cites Barack Obama’s fraudulent theme of reform. The author cites several times when Sen. Obama has had the opportunity to vote for change but has voted for the status quo, the worst being when he voted against children who had survived an abortion procedure.
Warren Mowry
Warren Mowry, director of Victory 2008 for South Carolina, encouraged the party faithful to be organized for the 2008 election, noting that the Democrat Party is organized nationwide for the 2008 election. The Democrats planned to have 12 on staff in South Carolina, hoping for victory in the state, but that number dwindled to one, and he is working in North Carolina.
Allen Klump
Allen Klump, Victory 2008 Upstate regional director (one of seven in the state), gets about 70 calls every morning from people wanting to volunteer or get bumper stickers or yard signs. Klump asked for volunteers to serve on phone banks on one of four nights during the week from 5:30 to 8 and to serve in the Upstate Victory 2008 office at Republican headquarters at 402 N. Pleasantburg.
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Scripture of the Day
Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, But those who deal faithfully are his delight (Proverbs 12:22, New American Standard Bible). Check out BibleGateway.com.
Quote of the day
"Perhaps one of the most important accomplishments of my administration has been minding my own business. Calvin Coolidge, president of the United States from 1923 to 1929." Quote archive.
Thought of the day
Those we look down on do not look up at us.
Joke of the day
THESE ARE ACTUAL EXCERPTS FROM STUDENT SCIENCE EXAM PAPERS
Charles Darwin was a naturalist who wrote the organ of the species.
Benjamin Franklin produced electricity by rubbing cats backwards.
The theory of evolution was greatly objected to because it made man think.
Three kinds of blood vessels are arteries, vanes, and caterpillars.
The dodo is a bird that is almost decent by now.
Read more here.
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