Law Or Justice?

I have been pondering an interesting thought this morning. It has occurred to me this morning that our nation's courts, judges, and lawyers are more interested in law than they are justice. Perhaps this is why I am so often flummoxed by the things that lawyers say and do. If this were not the case, how else could a lawyer get someone who is clearly guilty of breaking the law off on a technicality?

An acquaintance of mine is a law student and had the following question on an exam:

Assume that you finally have graduated from law school and have moved to the State of Nirvana, a jurisdiction which follows the general law of criminal procedure that you studied in this course. You have begun work in the Trial Division of the Nirvana Prosecuting Attorney's office and have been asked to evaluate a case in your office. Your task is to write a detailed and candid report to your supervisor, the Chief Prosecuting Attorney, determining the legal issues involved, evaluating their strengths and weaknesses, and predicting the probable outcome of each issue at trial. Structure your report around the items of evidence that the Prosecuting Attorney probably will want to use against the defendant in this case. Following are the agreed-upon facts and procedures up to this point.

The defendant in the criminal case you are analyzing is Xiao-Ling (XL). XL is a 29-year-old woman and a recent Chinese immigrant with an only moderate command of the English language. At the time of the alleged crimes, XL was living in a small apartment at the back of her restaurant. XL is part-owner and manager of the restaurant, working there about twelve hours a day, every day.

Local Nirvana narcotics detectives have long suspected that members of the large local Chinese community were involved in the importation, sale, and distribution of illegal narcotics, particularly cocaine and heroin. The police believed that the narcotics were being brought in from a drug ring in Beijing, dominated by the Dong family. Police officers had no individual suspects locally but generally were watching the activities around the twenty-five Chinese restaurants in Nirvana, including XL's restaurant, in the hope that they might discover evidence of narcotics trafficking.

Two weeks ago on a Friday evening, undercover narcotics officers Able (A) and Baker (B), dressed in casual clothing, went to XL's restaurant at about 7:00 p.m. A and B had dinner and lingered at their table after eating. After a few minutes, A got up from the table and went back near the rear of the restaurant to the men's restroom. Meanwhile, B walked up to the front of the restaurant to talk with XL, who was sitting behind the cash register near the front door. B began to comment on the menu and asked XL how busy the restaurant had been lately. B then asked XL if she knew of the Dong family in Beijing, and XL responded: "Yes, we buy food from them." B then told XL that he was in the market for about ten kilos of high quality "Beijing coke" such as that available from the Dong family and asked XL if she could provide it to him. XL responded: "Tomorrow; noon; I have." B then left the restaurant.

As B and XL were talking up front, A left the men's restroom and looked across the hallway into the kitchen. Seeing no one in the kitchen at the time, A walked through the open doorway into the kitchen. In the far corner of the kitchen, A saw an unopened package addressed to XL and with a return address of "Dong Family; Beijing, China." Just at that moment, the cook came into the kitchen and asked A what he wanted. A mumbled something about looking for the men's room, and the cook directed A to that location.

Once out of the sight of the cook, A walked to the far rear of the hallway to the doorway to XL's apartment. An elaborate curtain covered the doorway, but by standing right next to the curtain and peering through the curtain's few openings, A could see into the apartment. On a table in the apartment, A could see a small weighing scale and small plastic bags such as often were used to divide up large quantities of drugs into small packages for sale to individuals. A wastepaper basket was sitting just inside the apartment doorway on the other side of the curtain. A reached around the curtain and grabbed a small paper bag out of the basket, noticing some sort of residue at the bottom of the bag. He stuffed the bag under his coat and walked through the restaurant and out the front door, joining B outside. The subsequent laboratory analysis of the contents of the bag showed traces of heroin.

The next morning, A and B applied for a search warrant for XL's restaurant and apartment. A and B told the magistrate that they had found the heroin bag in a trash can in the men's restroom, had seen the unopened package with the Dong return address on a table next to theirs in the dining area, and had seen the small weighing scale with white powder on it through an open, outside window into XL's apartment. The magistrate issued the warrant to search for illegal narcotics.

At noon, A and B returned to XL's restaurant with the search warrant but not telling anyone that they had the warrant. Not seeing XL out front in the dining area, B walked quickly back to the rear of the restaurant, pushed aside the curtain hanging at the doorway to XL's apartment, and stepped into the living room of the apartment. XL emerged from her bedroom and told B to wait for her out front. Instead of stepping back out of XL's apartment, B walked over to the table with the scales on it. B picked up a cardboard box from the floor, opened the top flaps, and saw plastic bags of white powder inside the box. B said "Is this the stuff I asked for?", and XL responded "No! Mine! Leave alone! Get out!"

Screaming in Chinese, XL stormed out into the restaurant where she encountered A talking with the cook. The cook had told A that the restaurant gets many packages from the Dong family in Beijing, and XL takes the packages back into her apartment. A approached XL and started to say something, but XL screamed at him: "I get lawyer!"

By then, B had come back out into the restaurant and walked up to XL. B read XL the Miranda warnings and asked if XL wanted to waive the rights. XL did not respond to B's question about waiving the rights but instead asked A and B "You cops?" B answered "yes," and XL responded "Then not talk!"

A and B then placed XL in handcuffs and put her in the backseat of a police car, along with the cardboard box full of white powder found in XL's apartment. Subsequent laboratory tests indicated the white powder was cocaine. A and B sat in the front seat of the police car and began driving down to the police station. B remarked: "Well, we finally found the Nirvana connection to Beijing's Dong family." A replied: "Yup, I think we hit the jackpot." At that point, XL said from the backseat: "Dumb narcs know nothing." B replied: "Sure, lady. We know all we need to know." XL then began to describe her involvement with the Dong Family. By the time the police car had reached the police station about 20 minutes later, XL had made several admissions as to her involvement in importing and selling cocaine and heroin out of her restaurant.

When they arrived at the police station, a retired real estate attorney named John who was a frequent customer of XL's restaurant was just walking by on the sidewalk. XL called out to John, and John came over to her and the officers. XL told John that she had been arrested and that her restaurant had been searched. XL then asked John whether she should be talking with the officers about all of this. John replied: "If you've got nothing to hide, you always should cooperate with the authorities. I'm sure this is all a big mistake and that you can explain everything." John then walked on his way, and XL and the officers entered the police station. XL then agreed to make a full, written confession to the police, which she did, taking over ten pages to complete.

You are now preparing the case for trial and have been asked by the Chief Prosecuting Attorney to write a detailed and candid memorandum structured around the items of evidence that the Prosecutor probably will want to use. The Prosecutor has listed the evidence which presumably will be used as follows:

1. "Yes, we buy food from them."
2. "Tomorrow; noon; I have."
3. Unopened package with Dong Family return address
4. Paper bag with heroin residue.
5. Cardboard box with bags of cocaine.
6. "No! Mine! Leave alone! Get out!"
7. Cook's statements as to packages from Dong.
8. XL's admissions while in police car.
9. XL's 10-page written confession.

Write your report.

Now I'm not a law student or an attorney, but based on the things that I have read and seen on TV, I would dare say that Xiao-Ling would stand a decent chance at getting off (with a good attorney) because of the unethical (and probably illegal) way that the police put their case together and handled her arrest.

That's not justice. That's law. Justice would demand that all of the parties that broke the law would be punished even if the evidence were not gathered legally.

Or for a more practical and common situation; is it just for people to be able to get out of a speeding ticket by hiring an attorney? What is just about that? That arrangement deprives the poor of the same "justice" afforded to the rich. Justice would demand that punishment be required of those who violate the law. No, our society does not love justice.

Perhaps this American mindset regarding the law is why so many have trouble understanding God's justice. God's justice is absolute and cannot be bribed. There is only one thing that will cause you to avoid paying the penalty for your crimes in God's court and that is the surrender of the lordship of your life to Jesus Christ. When we submit ourselves to Him and cry out for His mercy then He begins to advocate for us.

But even this advocacy isn't without justice, for Jesus satisfied the requirements of justice when He died for us. God poured out on Him the wrath that was reserved for those who ran to Him for mercy. But sadly, that wrath is still reserved for those who have not done so. If you have never surrendered your life to Jesus, please do so and hide yourself in Him from the wrath that is to come.

The Stench Of Moral Decay

There are times when I just feel the sadness and frustration of watching America's slide into depravity more than others. Tonight is one of those times. I look at the corruption that is so rampant and I see the perversion that is so prevalent and all the while more and more of the society is trying to marginalize those who stand for truth, and I frankly begin to welcome the judgment of the Lord.

It has taken much to get me to this point, because I know that the "Day of the Lord" is a dreadful thing. I know that many lives will be lost - and many souls will be as well. What could be more dreadful than that? It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of a righteous God. I am reminded of the words from Jonathan Edwards' sermon:

It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God one second; but you must suffer it for all of eternity. There will be no end to this extreme horrible misery. When you look forward, you shall see a long forever, a boundless duration before you, which will swallow up your thoughts, and amaze your soul; and you will absolutely despair of ever having any deliverance, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all. You will know certainly that you must wear out long ages, millions of millions of ages in wrestling and conflicting with this almighty merciless vengeance; and then when you have so done, when so many ages have actually been spent by you in this manner, you will know that all is but a point to what remains.

My God, what a dreadful end!

I think that the only way that I can even hope to stomach such a thing is knowing that God is patient and that when He chooses the time to unleash His judgments against a people that it is the perfect time to do so. The people will have earned His wrath in full, and they will be beyond hope of repentance. (Well, I would also add that I do have hope, knowing that judgment will remove the stumbling blocks from our nation and will bring the purification of our land once again.)

Still, it saddens me to see what seems like the entire world running as hard as it can run to utter destruction. Yet this is the very picture painted by the Scriptures. Why am I surprised? I guess it is partly because it is so foolish and unnecessary. And perhaps I am also shocked by how evil men's hearts really can be. I have always been a little naive.

Today I read about Russian warships doing joint exercises with the Venezuelan navy and visiting Cuba. The government and Pentagon seemed very unconcerned. This seems very foolish and arrogant to me. The Russians would have never pulled such a stunt when Reagan was in office, and we would have never taken it so lightly either. Hubris is a dangerous sin.

I also read about the arson of Sarah Palin's church, and of the numerous frivolous lawsuits being brought against her to discourage her from ever even THINKING about running for office again. God help her!

Then I read about the corruption in Governor Blagojevich's administration and saw the connections between him and Jesse Jackson Jr. I read about how Blagojevich will likely be impeached because he refuses to resign - after being arrested on federal felony charges. (Is anyone else puzzled by this? What, does he think he can pardon himself?)

Finally I read about the Newsweek article that tried to make it sound as if the Bible and Jesus endorse homosexual marriage, and also about a "leader" in the evangelical movement that said that such unions should be allowed.

This is why I rarely read the news anymore. And this is why I take hope in judgment when it comes... but how I dread it.

Contrary to popular belief it is not hateful to tell a person that they are headed towards destruction. It is one of the greatest demonstrations of love that a person can give. This is especially true when that warning is coupled with the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

But how many know the true Gospel? How many churches actually teach it? How many know that our right standing does not come because of anything that we do or don't do, but it comes as a result of God's grace through faith in the sacrifice that Jesus made for us through His death on the cross and through His resurrection?

How many teach that grace demands obedience to Jesus? Is belief truly belief without corresponding obedience? Can a person walk in his own way if he has truly been converted? True grace inspires obedience. True grace is based on a walk with the Spirit of God and living life based on His laws being written on a person's heart. True grace leads us to sin less - not more. As the Apostle John wrote, a person who claims to be walking with God yet walks in sin is a liar and the truth of God does not dwell in him.

Salvation is not a "get out of hell free" card. Salvation is the trading of masters. You are either a slave to the devil or you are a slave to Christ. There is no middle ground. If you are a slave to Christ you should be seeing a dissipation of the sins of the flesh and conviction about the ones that remain. If there is no difference in your life before you were "saved" and after, perhaps you had best re-examine your conversion. It sounds like you are still a slave to the devil.

Yes, it is true that God is love, but He is also jealous, just, holy, righteous, pure, patient, merciful, vengeful... the list goes on. If we focus on only one of His attributes, we put ourselves in grave danger of error - error that has not only temporal but also eternal consequences.

True Justice

For God’s grace and wisdom to be with President-Elect Barack Obama’s choice for Attorney General, Eric Holder, that the White House will have the finest legal representation possible

For the Lord is righteous, He loves justice; upright men will see His face.
—Psalm 11:7

Holy Lord God, Your judgments are perfect and all Your ways are true. You love justice and You exercise mercy, even when we do not deserve them. You desire that we are holy and pure in You, and You desire the same for those who serve in our federal government.

Today, O Lord, we ask for Your wisdom to be given to President Elect Obama’s choice for Attorney General, Eric Holder. We ask for You to guide Mr. Holder that he may serve with integrity and honor and will not be swayed by partisanship or influence. Grant, Lord, that he may represent our President with the highest standards. In the name of Your Son Jesus we pray, amen.

This is the post that I missed the other day (Friday I think). You may notice that the picture is the same as one that I posted several days ago. Well, PPT crossed the pictures up. I have put the correct one on the post for Rahm Emanuel.

Justice, Humility, And Mercy

For justice and mercy to be in the forefront of concerns of the new administration

He has showed You, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with Your God.
—Micah 6:8

Living Lord God, how I praise and thank You today that You have shown Your people what You desire from us. In Your kindness and love You have pointed us toward You and Your righteousness. Thank You for Your Word which lovingly reveals Your standards for the way we must live. Thank You for being a holy and just God!

I bring the members of the new administration before You today, asking that they will burn with desire to please and honor You in all their ways. May they long to do what You say is good, O Lord—to act justly, to live mercifully and to walk with You daily in humility and gentleness. When they are tempted to bring You sacrifices, God, remind them that You show them what is truly good, and protect them from substitutes. In Your holy name, amen.

This is the latest in the series of prayers led by the Presidential Prayer Team for the new President and for our nation. If you are interested in receiving the email with each day's prayer assignment you can click here and sign up.

Sonnet XIII

On The American Election 2008 - A Sonnet To My King
By Jonathan D. Eller

My God, Your wisdom far exceeds my own,
And I draw comfort from this very thing.
For by Your great omnipotence You've shown
That You determine president and king.
Yes, You know all men's hearts - this fact is true -
And render unto them a payment just,
Rewarding men and nations what is due.
Lord, in Your goodness I have learned to trust.
Your discipline is sorrowful for sure -
Your wrath and blows seem ever so severe -
But chastisement is sent to make us pure,
And by its cleansing helps us to draw near.
My God, this nation's nothing without Thee.
Please cleanse our hearts and truly make us free.

November 5, 2008

Safe, Legal, and Rare?

I ran across a very disturbing article yesterday that really highlights something that the abortion enthusiasts never talk about. It was a very tragic story of a woman who was pregnant with twins who decided to have an abortion because her boyfriend didn't want the children.

An artist killed herself after aborting her twins when she was eight weeks pregnant, leaving a note saying: "I should never have had an abortion. I see now I would have been a good mum."

Emma Beck was found hanging at her home in Helston, Cornwall, on Feb 1 2007. She was declared dead early the following day - her 31st birthday.

Her suicide note read: "I told everyone I didn't want to do it, even at the hospital. I was frightened, now it is too late. I died when my babies died. I want to be with my babies: they need me, no-one else does."

Not surprisingly, everyone at the hospital is contradicting Ms. Beck's claim. Tragically, she isn't here to argue.

The slogan of America's Planned Parenthood is that they want to make abortion safe, legal and rare. I have talked about this organization's duplicity in another article, citing PP's attempts to thwart laws that would require abortion clinics to adhere to the same cleanliness standards as hospitals. If they truly cared about the safety of these procedures, then they should have been meeting that standard all along.

Of course, it goes without saying that the procedure isn't safe for the child. All of the abortion methods are pretty gruesome at best - others are purely barbaric. So strike two for safety.

Ms. Beck's story points to a third contradiction in the butchers' dishonest claim that they desire that abortions be safe. There are often (I'd dare say always) emotional wounds as a result of a mother's choice to kill her child. Sometimes, as in Ms. Beck's case, the guilt is so great that it even leads to suicide. Strike three.

Let's consider who abortion was safe for in Ms. Beck's case. Was it safe for her twins? No. They are dead. Was it safe for Ms. Beck? Not really. She's dead too as a direct result of having the procedure performed. The doctor's hand didn't kill her, but the abortion did.

So who was the abortion safe for? Oh yes, the doctor. He (or perhaps she) was able to commit murder without having to risk being arrested. But was it safe for the doctor in the long run? No, not even for the doctor. For there is a just King who has declared, "Thou shalt not murder." He is the one who has declared that there is a penalty for murder, and that penalty will be paid one way or the other regardless of what the laws of Great Britain, The United States, China, or all of the countries in the world say.

Morality and justice aren't democratic. If everyone on earth were to decide that it is OK to kill anyone you want (regardless of whether that person was a fetus or a full-grown adult) it still wouldn't make it right. We don't decide what is right and wrong. God does. If all of the humans decide that we won't put a murderer to death for his or her crimes, God still demands justice.

And it doesn't matter whether an abortion is achieved through a surgical procedure or a pill. RU-486 is merely, as another writer has described it, chemical warfare on an unborn child. The penalty for murder is the same regardless of the weapon that you use to carry out the crime.

That's pretty heavy, I know, but it is the truth. Here is the good news. Jesus took the penalty for EVERY sin upon Himself when He died on the cross. When a sinner recognizes his depravity, he can repent of his sin, cry out to Jesus for mercy and receive it. Even abortionists. That is perhaps more gracious than I would be in one of my more outraged moments. God is truly amazing.

There was an article at Townhall.com on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade that I had meant to comment on earlier, but wasn't able to. In the article, Ken Connor wrote:

Since that fateful decision (Roe v. Wade), over 48.5 million children have perished at the hands of abortionists. One out of every four children conceived in America will be killed by an abortionist. In 2003 alone, more children died from abortion than the total number of Americans who died in the Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, and Gulf War combined. Two-thirds of all abortions are performed on single women. Statistically, the womb has become the most dangerous place in America. (Emphases mine.)

It turns out the numbers on the graph I posted around that time needed to be updated even more. I went conservative because I couldn't find reliable numbers. I'm trusting that a nationally-syndicated columnist has his facts straight. This is the way it should have looked:

War On The Unborn (In The United States): (48,500,000+) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You have to add 40 additional marks (each representing 25,000 murdered babies) to bring my old table up-to-date. That's a lot of innocent blood, America. It is time to end this slaughter now.

Federal Grand Jury Indicts Barry Bonds

According to THIS article,

"Baseball superstar Barry Bonds was charged Thursday with perjury and obstruction of justice for allegedly lying when he said he did not use performance-enhancing drugs.

The indictment, unsealed Thursday by federal prosecutors in San Francisco, is the culmination of a four-year federal probe into whether he lied under oath to a grand jury investigating steroid use by elite athletes."

I guess it would be an understatement to say that he has probably had better days.

The consensus for a long time has been that Barry Bonds has been juicing, whether that is true or not I have no idea. Frankly, I really don't care. Don't get me wrong. I think that it is a travesty that professional athletes are using enhancement-performing drugs. In my opinion it cheapens their achievements. I am glad that Major League Baseball has finally started to open their closed eyes to the use of these drugs. If what they say about the effects of these drugs on the body is true MLB ought to clean up - if for no other reason than the influence these athletes have on the kids that want to follow in their footsteps.

I am also not a big Barry Bonds fan. I have heard so many stories about the man, and most of them haven't been that complimentary. All that to say that I've never met him. I know someone who has met him and talked with him at length. His report was good. So who knows? I might like the guy if I met him.

In a way I feel sorry for Bonds. With the allegations swirling around him for the past several years, his tremendous achievement in setting the career home run record (after setting the single season home run record a few years earlier) has been tainted. I wonder how much of the "consensus" is sour grapes? I am reminded of how "consensus" can be deceived as it has been with the whole global warming lie.

Do you know the part that jumps out at me? It was this line, "The indictment, unsealed Thursday by federal prosecutors in San Francisco, is the culmination of a four-year federal probe into whether he lied under oath to a grand jury investigating steroid use by elite athletes."

Is is just me or does it seem unreasonable to anyone else that they have been pursuing him for 4 YEARS? Were there no national security issues that this group could have been working on? Does it seem unreasonable to anyone else that the government is "investigating steroid use by elite athletes?" It isn't mentioned in these quotes, but this all started with the Congressional hearings on steroid use in baseball.

There really must not be much to do in Washington. Maybe I ought to get me a job there. Congress takes a week off for every holiday, over half the time they are out campaigning, another quarter of the time they are taking bribes, I mean, being wined and dined while listening to compelling reasons to vote in particular ways. (Funny, that SOUNDS like taking bribes to me...) And one eighth of the time they are busy righting the wrongs in the world of professional sports like making sure that athletes aren't using steroids and making sure that NASCAR has enough minority representation. I am actually amazed that they are able to pass as many asininely partisan bills doomed for death by committee or veto as they are.

The article seemed to indicate that some fairly Draconian measures were implemented to get this indictment. It would seem that perhaps there isn't so much difference between us here in the West and the former Soviets as I would like to think that there is.

The greatest travesty of all would be if Barry Bonds were to actually be sentenced for his perjury should he be convicted. It is the height of hypocrisy to go after Barry Bonds when the former President of the United States, Bill Clinton, was impeached for the same thing without consequence.

Anyone For Chinese?

Apparently Hillary can't get enough Chinese. She's managed to get herself all caught up in another illegal foreign campaign contribution scandal. Why am I not surprised? Why am I even less surprised that the money is coming from the Chinese?

Michelle Malkin wrote about it HERE.

Asian-American groups don't like the increased public scrutiny that Hillary Clinton's mysterious Chinese dishwasher donors are getting….

In the wake of eye-opening investigations by the New York Post and Los Angeles Times of more dubious foreign funny money flowing into Hill's coffers, ethnic grievance organizations are stepping forward to condemn these stories as examples of "negligent journalism." Yep. The newspapers are guilty of "negligence" because they actually broke news instead of covering it up.

Both papers uncovered dishwashers, cooks and other suspect Hillary campaign contributors in New York's Chinatown, Flushing, the Bronx and Brooklyn who were limited-income, limited-English-proficient and smellier than stinky tofu. One Asian donor admitted to the Los Angeles Times "to lacking the legal-resident status required for giving campaign money." Another, Hsiao Wen Yang, told the New York Post she was reimbursed for her $1,000 donation -- setting off clear alarm bells over yet another possible straw donor scheme on the heels of Norman Hsu-gate. …

We've been here so many times before. With convicted DNC fundraiser John Huang and Charlie Trie and Pauline Kanchanalak and Maria Hsia. With the Chinese Buddhist monks and nuns who helped engineer a Gore campaign reimbursement scheme and shredded documents related to their temple fundraiser. With former Chinese-American Democrat governor of Washington, Gary Locke, who also took money from Chinese temple donors who couldn't speak English, couldn't remember when they donated or couldn't be located.

This is treason. It is about time the Republicans start holding the Democrats' feet to the fire over this. The Chinese are trying to buy influence in our government and the Democrats are running to the money fountain.

I have spent the past couple of days talking about the threat that I see posed by China. I have written numerous articles on this blog about it. If the Democrats - or ANY US politician - are found to have taken money from China (or ANY other foreign government) then they should be impeached and at the very least thrown in jail for a VERY long time. If their treason results in the death of even one American citizen then they should receive the death penalty - OLD SCHOOL. I am so totally disgusted by the corruption, utter stupidity and self serving being done by the politicians of this country.

Anyone know Mandarin? If the Democrats have their way, we'll all be speaking it.

What If?

As I have been reading the news for the last little while I can't help but wonder if America is getting set up for a big fall. It is becoming clearer and clearer that the ties between our enemies are growing stronger every day and their position is also being strengthened. There are certainly loose (or stronger) alliances between China, Iran, Russia, Cuba, Syria, North Korea, and Venezuela. China has also made overtures to nearly every country in South America. There is little doubt that Al Quaeda has at least some access to this alliance. Is it possible that these countries and Al Quaeda are preparing a strategic attack on the United States? Here is how it could play out:

Al Quaeda receives help getting nuclear materials for either a suitcase nuclear weapon or a dirty bomb into the United States and manages to detonate such a weapon in one or more American cities like Washington, DC, New York, or Los Angeles. A suitcase nuke or a dirty bomb in New York City would kill thousands upon thousands. Some of the most valuable property in the United States would become worthless. Imagine that multiplied by a factor 2 or 3 or, God forbid, 10.

The credit problems that we have seen in the past month have revealed the fragility of our economy. Even one successful large scale terrorist attack would likely put the economy in a tailspin - especially if that attack were to occur in one of our nation's financial or governmental centers.

Now suppose what would happen if immediately on the heels of that attack, Hugo Chavez and Venezuela begin "annexing" territory in South America. Russia invades Georgia (the country) and begins the process of re-establishing the iron curtain. Iran and Syria attack Israel. And China knocks out key military satellites, overwhelms Taiwan, and militarizes the Panama Canal.

To make matters worse, terror cells are activated in America and begin attacks throughout the American heartland such as blowing up schools, executing sniper style attacks randomly around the country, and suicide bombings. What if they instigated a biological terror attack using an agent like smallpox? What if they were clever enough to spread agricultural diseases like hoof and mouth disease?

If that happened what would you do? Where would you turn? What would you hold on to?

Here in America we have had a good long run of prosperity and protection. I personally believe that this is because our country was founded largely by people who came here to create a new Christian nation that would be a "light on a hill" to the world. In many ways we have done that - America is still the country that sends the most missionaries into the world and the country that gives the most to missions - however, our light hasn't always burned with such a pure light. We are also one of the leading exporters of pornography in the world and one of the leading countries in the world in murdering the unborn.

Over the past 40 years or so there has been a great shift in American culture away from the spiritual underpinnings that have held it secure towards a great secularization of our nation. As our nation has turned its back on God, I believe that we are beginning to "reap the whirlwind" for the wind that we have sown.

The scenario that I have painted is admittedly hypothetical and worst case. However, it is entirely plausible. It shows you just how precarious our position is today, and just how much we really do depend on God (or how much we should) for our country's security.

The scary thing is that God is a just God. He will not allow a nation to continually turn its back to Him and sin the way we are sinning as a nation. As I wrote the other day, "'Should I not punish them for this?' declares the LORD. 'Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?'" (Jeremiah 5:9 and 5:29 and 9:9)

The good news is that if we will repent of our wickedness, God will forgive. Yes there will eventually come a time when the conscience of our nation is seared to the point that God will judge us, but He is also very patient and merciful to the penitent.

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

Time To Duck...

It hasn't rained at my home since my birthday over a month ago. The drought is so severe here in North Carolina that they don't have a more severe category to use to classify it. This is the driest that it has ever been here since they have kept records. This is what they would call a famine in biblical days.

The interesting thing about famines is that they don't come around for no reason. According to the Bible famines come as a wake up call from God to turn from our sins and cry out to Him. Here's the problem: no one seems to be calling out to God. Now, I know that I have a number of Christian friends who are praying for rain and even a few who are acknowledging that this seems to be a judgment from the Lord's hand. However, the numbers of people who seem willing to acknowledge this are small in comparison to those who want to scream "global warming!"

Today in the news I have heard about massive, violent, unseasonable tornadoes and thunderstorms all across the country. There is a major storm in Washington state right now that is threatening a floating bridge, and there has been an overabundance of rain in Texas of all places.

The thing that really concerns me is that the Bush administration is beginning to press Israel for a "Palestinian" peace deal again. They even have some people in Israel talking of giving up part of Jerusalem to the terrorists in exchange for peace. Just the other day Secretary Of State Rice declared that now is the time for a Palestinian state. I shudder. The last time we got involved in pushing Israel to give up its rightful homeland, ceded to them by God, Katrina devestated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, killing thousands.

In fact, historically, every time that the United States has pushed Israel to give up land it has ended very badly for us.

So right now we have catestrophic (historically associated with judgment) weather patterns plaguing us. Our economy is on very shaky ground with the dollar growing weaker almost daily and the banking industry suffering the consequences of the poorly thought out loans that they made during the housing boom. Businesses are run by CEOs with short term mentality and big time greed. We even saw swarms of insects attack our national passtime in the Cleveland and New York game! The next thing in the litany of judgments is pestilence and it may have been unleashed as MRSA claims more and more lives and begins to spread further and further. After that comes war and defeat.

I wish I knew what to repent for. The problem is not actually trying to find one thing to repent for - it is that there are so many things that we are guilty of! As a people we are perverse, murderous, idolatrous, greedy, self-absorbed, non-loving, rebellious, faithless, baby-killing, self-worshipping swindlers. I am reminded of a passage from Jeremiah that says, "'Should I not punish them for this?' declares the LORD. 'Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?'" (Jeremiah 5:9 and 5:29 and 9:9) These words make me tremble. I pray that they make you tremble as well.

God please forgive us! Please cause us to repent! And please turn your anger from this land.

I believe it is time to duck.

Good News For NC Taxpayers

I'm shocked that it was even possible that we would, but

NC Won't Help Nifong Pay For Duke Lawsuits

Perhaps this will cause prosecutors to think twice before trampling on justice in the future. I hope those boys from Duke take everything that he has.

Kennedy Claims New Recruits 'Extremists'

I understand why Cox and Forkum and so many of the other conservative bloggers that I often read are getting away from politics - it is as messy as the Augean stables and as hard to clean.

Ted Kennedy has managed to tack a hate crimes amendment onto the pending defense authorization bill. In his defense of the amendment he claims that "military recruiters, struggling to meet quotas, are enlisting extremists these days, 'putting our soldiers at higher risk of hate-motivated violence.'” So now (according to Kennedy) our new recruits are 'extremists' and bigots and homophobes.

Check below for some other articles with more details about this bill:

Iraqi Insider

Kennedy's Defense Priorities by Byron York

Senators Add Hate Crimes Measure To Defense Authorization Legislation

And finally an article at World Net Daily

I have always wondered why the left is so all-fired hot for hate crimes bills. I think that they are patently absurd. All crimes are hate crimes. Have you ever heard of a "love" crime? Yes, there are crimes of passion, but that isn't what I'm talking about. Why do we need a special federal law for crimes against "protected" groups? Are there not laws against murder? Are there not enough laws protecting people from assault? Can we not find any legal protection against slander?

I think that at the core of this whole issue is homosexuality. Apparently it hurts people's feelings to find out that their lifestyle is immoral. This isn't terribly surprising. Adulterers, fornicators, liars, cheaters, thieves, rebels, gossips and all other manner of sinful people don't particularly like to be told that what they are doing is not OK with God. Apparently Senator Kennedy doesn't like for people in the military to have first amendment rights. It would seem that he would rather trample on the constitution, causing our military's freedom of expression and religion to no longer be considered "protected" so that a few people don't get their feelings hurt.

It would seem that the whole purpose of this amendment is to benefit the homosexuals serving in the military. Kind of makes you wonder... If being a homosexual isn't a bad thing or an immoral thing, then is it slander to call someone "gay?"

Well, it hurts my feelings when people call me fat. Nevermind the reality that I am, in fact, overweight. Being called fat hurts my feelings. It also hurts my feelings that I am judged by people before they even know me based on my size. Besides, there are more fat people in America than there are homosexuals. This being said, I demand that obesity be included in this hate crimes legislation as a protected class. As a protected classmember, I should be shielded from my condition by the eradication of the words obese, fat, corpulent, etc from all dictionaries. Big and tall ads should never have anyone under 250 pounds in them. All clothing stores should be required to carry large sizes. Ads suggesting that being overweight is bad or not attractive should be banned as hate speech. And doctors should face civil penalties for suggesting that their patients should lose weight. Nevermind that it might save their life.

Of course I'm not serious, but Kennedy's amendment is just as absurd as the last paragraph.

The thing that really irks me is that Congress can manage to pass stupid amendments like this one while really beneficial ones can't get a sponsor. The system is so broken. I know of a proposed amendment right now that would be a huge benefit to all Americans. It would not cost American taxpayers one red cent, but would save them millions - if not billions - once implemented. But can it see the light of day in the Senate? Not when there are much more important matters to tend to - like making sure no one's feelings get hurt by being confronted with the truth.

Would you like to see how your Senators voted on this issue? Click HERE and check them out. Let them know what you think.

Instant Karma's Gonna Get You...

Here's an idea for the fascist who has been paying us a visit the past couple of days. Any fraternities at Columbia U. up for a great prank?

Works For Me...

9 Members of Congress Who Should Resign Right After Larry Craig
By John Hawkins
Friday, September 7, 2007

Quotes of the Day

Thomas Sowell had some good thoughts in his article titled Random Thoughts

People who refuse to face the reality of hard choices are forever coming up with some clever "third way"-- often leading to worse disasters than either of the hard choices.

Wise people created civilization over the centuries and clever people are dismantling it today. You can see it happening just by channel surfing on TV or hear it in rap music or read it in the pompous nonsense of academics and judges.

With all the old movie favorites being shown again and again on television, it is remarkable that the old movie classic "Alfie" is seldom shown. Could it be fear that the scene where cold-blooded Alfie breaks down and cries at the sight of an aborted baby is something that would unleash the furies of the feminazis?

Chutzpah department: When disbarred former D.A. Michael Nifong mailed his Bar card back to his state Bar Association, he included a note decrying "the fundamental unfairness" with which the Bar had treated him. This from a man who was ready to ruin three lives and polarize a community, in order to win an election.

So Busted...

Well, I guess I owe the guys in security at LAX an apology. Norman Hsu didn't head for Hong Kong. Instead he flew to Colorado where he was arrested by the FBI.

Disgraced Dem Donor Arrested in Colorado

Good job, boys.

Now if someone will only bust the Democrats' chops for their fundraising practices. No wonder they out-earn the Republicans - they break the law!

A Better Idea...

Osama Bin Ladin has invited America to become Muslim. Since I am not too excited about being the eternal target of God's omnipotent wrath (see the post below), I have a better idea: Osama, you get saved and become a Christian. It will definitely save your butt in the afterlife and it might even save it in this one. Give up your impotent religion of death and embrace life, otherwise you'll either end up like Saddam Hussein or his sons. Then God will get to take His shot at you. Even if you somehow manage to escape America's wrath, there is only one way to escape God's - and it ain't blowing yourself up in some stupid attempt to enter heaven by merit of mass murder. I've explained everything THOROUGHLY in the post below. If you have any questions I'll be glad to help you out.

The Rabbi's Tell

So there I was, eating something that I'd picked up on a low-level search and destroy run through my parents' kitchen. I had been enjoying their hospitality (and their central air conditioning) when I hear this contentious ruckus coming from the TV. There, on CNN was this very up-tight looking preacher being given the third degree by an anchor who probably knows nothing more about Christianity than what she is smugly reading from the teleprompter.

This pastor is being raked over the coals for the audacity of his church to display a message on their marquee that raised the possibility that just maybe, perhaps, the devastation of the Gulf Coast by Katrina was a wake up call from God. I have rarely seen such a display of animosity as was leveled at this pastor, and I have to say that even though his body language was WAY up-tight, the words that he was saying in defense of the message were sound.

Now you need to understand. I generally roll my eyes at messages put out on church marquees. I think that most of them are trite rather than clever, and I think that they tend to do more harm than good. There is one on the way to my parents' home that I almost universally disagree with. Either the content or spirit of what they are saying seems out of line to me. Thus, I would tend to not be pulling for the pastor in an exchange over a marquee. This poor fellow wasn't doing himself any favors either with his body language. He was clearly back on his heels.

Then the anchor announces that she has brought in Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, from TLC's Shalom In The Home to discuss this usefulness of this sign. I had seen Rabbi Shmuley's show before. It is kind of schmaltzy, but he seemed to have a sweet spirit, and I thought the name of the show was cool, so I had a very positive opinion of him. I was sure that he would bring in a reasonable, cool response that would calm the harpy in the anchor chair down a bit.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

What followed was a level of self-righteous invective that made the anchor's ranting seem serene by comparison. Rabbi Shmuley literally yelled at the pastor for the remainder of the segment about how religious people are supposed to somehow become an advocate before God and calm Him down before He destroys the lot of us.

The pastor's response was sound. He reiterated time and time again that our job is to warn people about their sin and the eternal, dreadful consequences of that sin. Rabbi Shmuley would have none of it.

So, what is it about the message of this church that sent an otherwise calm and serene Rabbi into mouth-foaming histrionics?

Before I take even one step further I want to make something ABUNDANTLY clear: I absolutely do not in any way shape or form hate Jews, Judaism, Israel, or God. On the contrary, I love my Jewish friends very much and consider myself an "ingrafted" Jew. I am of Abraham's spiritual seed and long for the day when his natural seed recognize Jeshua of Nazareth as their Messiah who has come and who is coming again. The day that happens will fill my heart with great joy. In the meantime, I work among my Christian brethren to dispel the lies of Replacement Theology that they have believed.

That being said, it is very evident to me why both Rabbi Shmuley and the CNN anchor responded to this message in such a rabid fashion: the message of this marquee was exposing the lie under which they are living. To be more explicit: if the destruction from Katrina was a wake up call from God, then I'm not OK and you're not OK.

Rabbi Shmuley certainly must know from his own scriptures that God throughout history has used calamity to get people's attention. There are notable cases where no sin was involved and yet calamity came (Job comes immediately to mind), but by in large there are VERY MANY accounts throughout the Jewish scriptures (also included in the Christian scriptures) that very explicitly state that war, or disaster, or famine, or any number of other bad things came upon the various peoples of the world as a direct result of their sin and as a means of God to bring repentance to those people. I'm not going to enumerate these examples, but you could just about open the books of the Bible between Genesis and Malachi at random and point.

Does anyone REALLY want to challenge the notion that New Orleans was (and in many ways still is) a very sinful and decadent city? If so, your GOOD vs BAD meter is broken.

Now, to be honest, the chick on the news was probably trying to impress the guys in the comfy office by her ability to ambush a guest on her show. Thus, she is irrelevant to me. I don't expect much of her. She probably never gives religion even a second thought - although she probably "prays" to "someone" she calls "God."

It's Rabbi Shmuley that really tipped his hand. Anger is a very common response to fear. See, as much as the good Rabbi knows that the scriptures are rife with accounts of God trying to get mankind's attention via calamity, he must as assuredly be quite aware that he falls far short of the requirements of the 10 Commandments - let alone the entire requirement of the law as disclosed in the Torah. He must be acutely aware that there is no atonement left to him under the law of the Torah. The Temple was destroyed in 70 AD and the sacrifices for the atonement of the sins of Israel haven't been offered since.

Thus he is in a quandary. He has had to figure out some way to relieve his conscience. The law says that for atonement to be secured there must be a shedding of blood. The law also says that he can't just buy a goat from the farmer down the road and kill it in the back yard. The atoning sacrifice must be made by the High Priest and taken into the very presence of God manifested about the Ark of the Covenant. I think I already mentioned that the temple has been destroyed for 1937 years? Currently there is an abomination standing in the place where the temple stood. Boy, this is a mess.

He really only has a few choices: 1) He can give up on religion entirely and convince himself that it's all just a big hoax. (i.e. ignore it and hope it will go away) 2) He can try to come up with a new compromise that will make up for his sin while he is quietly praying that the temple will somehow be rebuilt and sacrifices will begin again. (i.e. ignore it because he is powerless to do anything about it) 3) However, if it worked while there wasn't a temple, is the sacrifice really necessary? Can't you just meditate on the sacrifices that were offered before the Romans ruined everything? (i.e. still ignoring it and hoping it will go away) 4) He can acknowledge that he is a sinner and face the consequences of that knowledge.

Well, it is obvious that he hasn't chosen #1. I'd say he is probably with #3 if you asked him. But the real truth of the matter is that his response to this pastor revealed what he knows at the core of his being: he is a sinner facing the wrath of God.

I am a procrastinator by nature. I am also more of a passive-aggressive type of fellow. I tend to go for a diplomatic solution or postpone a solution when I am faced with a situation that I'm pretty sure I am not equipped to handle. However, procrastinate as I may I am always forced to face that thing that I am fearing head-on from time to time. The experience is typically terrifying and can generally ruin an otherwise good day.

Most non-Christian people are procrastinators too. (At least in regards to doing something about their sin and its consequence.) The Bible tells us that every one of us is aware of our sin. We are aware of the fact that we aren't perfect. And something deep down inside of us tells us that perfection is the standard. That's why we come up with these little "I'm OK and You're OK" slogans. They make us feel better. We decide that "God is love" means that God can't be wrathful and angry too. It helps us to avoid the eventuality that all lost people sense in their deepest being: a reckoning is coming. If God is love, then a loving God certainly couldn't send someone to hell. Right?

Wrong.

If you have been reading this blog at all lately, you will know that I have been reading and pondering Jonathan Edwards' "Sinners In The Hands of An Angry God." This sermon has galvanized in me a realization that there are a whole bunch of really nice people - people I know and like - who are headed for the eternal wrath of God. The thought terrifies me. I wish I only had a deeper revelation of its reality.

So how can a loving God send someone to hell? In reality, God doesn't. He made a provision for us to escape His wrath and then gave us a choice as to whether we want to accept it or not. Each individual makes a decision to either accept the provision that God has made to rescue them from His wrath or to reject it. That choice determines our final destination. Our sin punches our ticket to hell. And in case you missed it earlier - no one is without sin. Therefore, if we do nothing else, hell is where we will end up. But here is the good news:

Even though the temple sacrifices have been defunct for ages, blood has been shed to cleanse away the sin of anyone who would ask. Jesus - God's Son - willingly gave his life so that we could be granted fellowship with God and spared His wrath. This happened because God loves us so much. This is God's love. God's justice required that the sacrifice be made to pay the penalty for our sin. Why did God do this for us? I wouldn't have paid so high a price. But because God's love is so great for us He did. We certainly didn't deserve it but He did it anyway. Just astounding.

Now He has issued the call to anyone who will accept salvation ON HIS TERMS. There is only one way to be saved and that is through Jesus Christ. I can't say this forcefully enough: there aren't many paths to God - only one. It isn't politically correct, but it is true.

You are now faced with a question. If you have already believed that Jesus died for your sins and if you have asked Him to save you then you're good. You don't have to worry about hell - at least not for yourself. However, if you haven't, you are staring down both barrels of God's eternal wrath. Here is your opportunity to avoid this fate. God said that anyone who wanted to could come to Him. The offer is open to all. You don't have to get clean before you come to Him. The offer is for Him to clean you. You have already demonstrated that you cannot clean yourself. It doesn't matter what you have done. Even if you have put Christians to death in the name of your god, you can still come and receive pardon. The offer has been made to so many, but so few have actually received it. Will you?

How The Heck...

I've got to find out how all of these folks are able to just walk up and get on an airplane! First it was the TB guy, and now it would seem that Norman Hsu was able to just get on a plane and leave. Of course, Mr. Hsu's lawyers claim that it was just a mistake. Yeah, they must have been talking about the judge's mistake in letting him post bail in the first place.

Here's Michelle Malkin's take on it:
All points bulletin: Where in the world is Norman Hsu? Part II New warrant issued for his arrest…lawyer searched for his passport for 90 minutes… Fled to Hong Kong? Update: Clueless lawyers say maybe Hsu made a “mistake”

And here is an article I found on Town Hall:

You would think that in the post 9/11 world in which we live that someone who had been in the news for evading arrest for 15 years might trigger some red flags if his name showed up on a passenger manifest. I guess some security guard was shaking down a little old lady with crocheting needles when he went through security.

I wonder if anyone will hold the Democrats' feet to the fire over this thing? Probably not. Bill Clinton gave away the farm and the farmer's daughter to the Chinese when he was in office and no one even blinked. If there were ever a cause for impeachment that would have been cause enough. Now the Honorable Senator Mrs. Clinton is tapping the same keg - along with quite a few others from her party. Of course, both the former President and his aspiring President wife were "shocked" that such an outlaw had the temerity to try to give them cash.

Pull the other one - it has bells on.

I wonder if anyone will actually follow up and make sure that this dirty money does actually find its way back out of the Democratic coffers. I'm not holding my breath.

Apparently it is a pretty widespread problem among Democratic candidates: that is, being deceived by donors who seem to be upstanding American citizens legally participating in the electoral process but are really fugitive criminals trying to sway American politics with their ill-gotten gains.

Michelle Malkin has an article about foreign purchasers of American political favor titled:

The Democrats' Foreign Funny Money

Only problem is I'm not laughing.

Seems Like A Good Solution To Me

"Sen. Edgar Espindola (Columbia, as in, the country Columbia) said he has proposed a law that would impose fines and enforced community service as punishment for adulterers in an effort to protect family values and shield children from broken homes."

Here's a link to the entire article:

Adulterers Beware - Or Pay the Price

It's better than here where there is no criminal penalty for adultery, and not quite as extreme as the biblical penalty.