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Shadow Home Secretary in UK blames devaluing of marriage for producing a generation of children without a moral compass

Labels: Faith and Family Philanthropy, International, UK

Related: New Scientist magazine reports on research that show mothers and fathers make different contributions to their child's upbringing both important
Divorce makes children more likely to divorce. Divorce also hurts children in more ways then this, drives costs of welfare and healthcare and more....

From The Christian Institute out of the UK...

Tory: family breakdown has left kids moral-free

The Shadow Home Secretary has blamed the devaluing of marriage for producing a generation of children who do not know right from wrong.

A “perverse sense of political correctness” has undermined marriage and stability, Chris Grayling said in a speech at Westminster.

He added: “Family breakdown has reached a scale where many young people grow up with no vestige of stability in their lives, and no concept of a family-focused upbringing.”

He said some children are not given proper meals and even lack a proper home.

“They have no-one to tell them right from wrong”, he said.

“So it’s hardly surprising that all too often they grow up as the antithesis of model citizens”.

Mr Grayling’s comments came as part of a week of Conservative attacks on what they term ‘broken Britain’.

In June it was reported that the BBC had moved a documentary on family breakdown to a later time slot because the content was considered to be ‘too dark’ for prime time viewing.

Family court judge Mr Justice Coleridge, who contributed to the programme, said at the time: “Yes, what goes on within broken families is dark – very dark. But we won’t throw any light on it if we refuse to acknowledge it and open it up to debate”.

Earlier he had warned that children were being damaged by the disintegration of families.

He suggested: “The re-emergence of a public attitude which is anti-relationship destruction, a new stigma perhaps, could do a lot to stem the flood”.

Family breakdown and moral decline were two of seven social evils identified earlier this year in a survey of 3,500 Britons by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

In March the Most Revd Vincent Nichols, now Archbishop of Westminster, urged parents to be an example to their children of “faithful unswerving love”.

Speaking a week after the Government launched a booklet telling parents not to give moral guidance when discussing sex with their children, the Roman Catholic Archbishop said young people needed “clear moral principles” to guide them when forming relationships."

Related: UK conservative party getting it right on marriage as they reveal that single income married couples in the UK pay 44% more taxes then other OECD's...
Listen to BBC Audio Interview with ex-Tory leader recommending a period for married couples to "cool off" before divorce and cohabiting cause divorce
Faith and Family key to curbing school contacts concerning behavior problems.
Faith and Family key to curbing theft and shoplifting...
Family and Faith key to good grades, school attendance and much more...
Research shows that the breakdown in the family costs Canadian tax payers $7 billion. More evidence that God's way is the best not that we needed it.
Not only does faith and family work in America but now a study in Canada proves the same...
Video report: The importance of marriage makes it on Time Magazine
The breakdown of marriage and other, less stable, relationships generate real financial costs to society
A couple of UK studies reveal the damaging effect of the family break down in the UK costing tax payers more and the mental health of children.
A family judge in the UK blasts the BBC for moving documentaries on family breakdown out of primetime slot.
Research shows that the breakdown in the family costs Canadian tax payers $7 billion. More evidence that God's way is the best not that we needed it.
Iowa redefines marriage and undermines the institution of marriage as nothing more then a stereotype when marriage would cut child poverty by 2/3
Not only does faith and family work in America but now a study in Canada proves the same...
Faith and Family key to curbing theft and shoplifting...
Family and Faith key to good grades, school attendance and much more...
Faith key factor in sex education saving tax payers who knows how many millions in condomns, birth control, abortions, pregnancy costs etc etc..
Gay sex stats by pro-gay group in Canada reveals gay sex increases health care costs...and link to ex-gay testimony here...

First Canada, then Europe now Japan moving from left to right in recent election landslide

Labels: International, Japan

In the UK and Europe was reported: UK's labour party takes the worst showing since 1918 as conservatives gain ground. YouTube video of Daniel Hannan MEP for one reason why. and Canada's elections has the Conservative Party winning big now Japan moves has a landslide election from left to right.

Related: In Analysis of Japanese Election -- Falling Birth Rates and a Rapidly Aging Population are Overlooked

Japan’s Election Landslide Expected to Produce Changes in Foreign Policy

Monday, August 31, 2009
By Patrick Goodenough, International Editor

(CNSNews.com) – For the first time since World War II, Japanese voters on Sunday handed a parliamentary majority to a party other than the 54-year-old Liberal Democratic Party, paving the way for the world’s second biggest economy to be governed by a center-left coalition including socialists opposed to the military alliance with the U.S.

After sweeping to power, Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) leader and premier-in-waiting Yukio Hatoyama planned to launch coalition negotiations as early as Monday with the leftist Social Democratic Party and the small center-right People’s New Party.

The DPJ was on track to win 308 seats in the 480-seat lower house, an increase of 195 seats. A coalition with its two allies would wield 318 seats, just short of a two-thirds majority. The LDP lost 177 seats, to take just 119, while its main coalition ally, New Komeito, held onto 21 seats, losing ten.

Under Japan’s electoral system, 300 members are elected from single-winner constituencies and the other 180 by proportional representation.

Hatoyama, 62, said early Monday the electorate had demonstrated its anger towards the LDP-led coalition and thanked voters for having “the courage to opt for change.” Prime Minister Taro Aso resigned from the LDP leadership to accept responsibility for its poor showing.

Hatoyama, whose grandfather Ichiro Hatoyama was one of the founding fathers of the LDP in 1955 and served three terms as prime minister, left the party in 1993 and joined the newly-formed DPJ five years later.

Barring any unexpected developments, he will be elected prime minister at a special session of parliament in mid-September and he may then visit the U.S. for the opening of the annual U.N. General Assembly and a G20 summit in Pittsburgh on Sept. 25-25.

A key challenge facing the new government will be tackling the worst recession in Japan’s post-war history.

Like the LDP, the DPJ has various ideological factions, and the makeup of the next cabinet will be closely watched for indications of Hatoyama’s policies, both at home and abroad. Although Hatoyama earlier indicated that coalition partners may be offered cabinet posts, the scale of the DPJ victory is expected to weaken the smaller parties’ negotiating power.

On the foreign policy front, left-leaning DPJ members want to scale down the U.S. military presence in Japan, although the party platform moderated its tone from earlier years, while calling for a more “equal” military alliance. Analysts say it remains to be seen how this will work in practice.

In a statement congratulating Japan on the election, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the administration welcomed “the opportunity to work with the new government in Tokyo to build upon our past successes and further cement this indispensable alliance.”

“We will work closely with the new Japanese government in moving toward denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, addressing the threat of climate change and increasing the availability of renewable energy, bringing stability to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and addressing international humanitarian and health issues,” he said.

For the LDP the election was the most devastating defeat in its history. Since its founding, the party has only been out of power for one 11-month period in 1993-4, when an alliance of eight smaller parties formed a government.

But from a high point under former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, its decline accelerated under Shinzo Abe, Yasuo Fukuda and Taro Aso, each of whom served for only one year.

In 2007 the LDP lost control of the 242-member upper house of parliament to the DPJ, ushering in a period of legislative gridlock.

The next upper house election will be held next summer.

Impact on North Korean nuclear issue

South Korean commentators mulled the implications of Sunday’s election outcome for the multilateral effort to shut down North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs, predicting that a DPJ-led government would be more accommodating and ease the process.

Japan is a key player in the “six-party” diplomatic drive, which also involves the U.S., South Korea, China, Russia as well as North Korea itself.

Of the parties involved in the discussions, Tokyo under LDP governments has been the most consistently uncompromising – “hard line” in the views of liberal critics – while South Korea, especially under its previous liberal president, the late Roh Moo-hyun, was the most willing to accommodate Pyongyang.

Of particular importance to Japan has been the issue of North Korea’s abduction of at least 17 Japanese citizens during the 1970s and 80s, in some cases to be used to train Pyongyang’s spies in Japanese language and culture.

Kim Jong-il in 2002 admitted 13 of the abductions and allowed five of the victims to return to Japan but said the rest had died. Japan has demanded a full accounting ever since.

The Bush administration’s decision last fall to remove North Korea from its list of terror-sponsoring countries upset Japan, which had urged Washington to hold off until the abduction issue had been settled.

Tokyo’s stance more than once prompted North Korea to demand that Japan be excluded from the six-party talks.

“The conservative LDP government has long served as a barrier to the six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programs by insisting on discussing the kidnapping issue,” South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said in a commentary Monday.

It remains to be seen, however, how the next government will handle the matter, which is still a highly sensitive one in Japan. In its election platform, the DPJ does say that a government it leads would “make every effort to resolve” the abduction issue.

It also says that Japan will in cooperation with the international community, “take firm measures, including cargo inspections, to induce North Korea to abandon the development, possession, and deployment of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and missiles.”

Whether or not North Korea finds a less critical negotiating partner in Tokyo in the future, the one in Seoul has become considerably more so since Roh was succeeded by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak last year.

Lee, whose election victory ended 10 years of left-liberal rule characterized by the “sunshine” policy of engagement with the North, has linked economic cooperation with Pyongyang to a resolution of the nuclear issue."

Anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan more consistent then Big Media coverage of her protests when comparing Bush to Obama

Labels: Liberal Media Bias

Other inconsistencies in our media see: How did the media cover the anti-war protests in comparison to the town hall health care protests?
Poll after Poll prove that the townhall protesters concerns are the concerns of a majority of Americans
If Big Media doesn't tell you which party a politician belongs to who is involved in a scandal assume democrat
YouTube video of banned ad by ABC and now NBC etc etc see label Liberal Media Bias for more and Commercialism and Capitalism are not the cause to Big Media bias. Only Big Media would have you conclude that way....Do your own test!!!

Sheehan More Consistent Than Media: She Protests Bush and Obama, Media Only Bush

By: Brent Baker
August 31, 2009 11:15 ET

On a Sunday evening in August four summers ago the NBC Nightly News devoted its “In Depth” segment to how Cindy Sheehan was “single-handedly bringing the Iraq debate to Mr. Bush’s doorstep” with her protest in Crawford, Texas. But Sunday night this year, after Sheehan departed Martha's Vineyard without earning any network media coverage as President Barack Obama's wrapped up his vacation there, NBC's Ron Allen began a story: “Hours before President Obama's vacation ended, he treated his girls to ice cream and candy -- the kind of family time the President said he had in mind for the week on Martha's Vineyard. A chance, friends say, to renew himself.”

A week ago, a MRC Media Reality Check asked: “Will Nets Note Sheehan's Anti-Obama Protest? Media Embraced Cindy Sheehan's Anti-Bush Push in 2005; ABC Anchor Now Says: 'Enough Already.'” (NB posting) The answer: No. Though she spent four days on the island and held an event on Thursday right next to the media set up in the Oak Bluffs School, her anti-Obama efforts were ignored by all the networks (cable too) as well as major newspapers.

“Sheehan is using the backdrop of a presidential vacation to make her pitch for peace. It's an effective way to get her anti-war protests attention, she said,” in contrast to the reality of media indifference, the Cape Cod Times proposed in a short Friday story, “Peace activist protests on Vineyard,” in which reporter George Brennan relayed how Sheehan announced: “'We're here to make the wars unpopular again,' Sheehan said. 'If we were right to call them wrong under Bush, we're still right to call them wrong under Obama.'” (Picture of Sheehan's protest.)

She may be consistent, but the media are not. On Friday morning, MSNBC anchor Carlos Watson didn't mention Sheehan, but highlighted how Barack Obama's “taking flack for bicycling without a helmet.”

On MSNBC's “First Read” blog on Friday, Alicia Jennings related: “Sheehan said that she's opposing Obama the same way she opposed George W. Bush. 'The facade has changed but policies remain the same,' she told reporters. 'Integrity in our movement means we have to do same for Obama as we did for Bush.'”

Sad to say, Sheehan has more integrity than the news media.

The AP gave Sheehan four paragraphs, the last from Glen Johnson: “During the Bush presidency, Sheehan and her corps of anti-war protesters lined up near Bush's ranch to protest the war and to honor the memory of her son. It eventually became something of a media circus.”

ABC, CBS and NBC all covered Sheehan -- but only on their Web sites. In addition to MSNBC's “First Read” entry quoted above, the “Political Punch” blog on ABCNews.com had a post by Karen Travers: ”Cindy Sheehan Brings Anti-War, Anti-Obama Message to Martha's Vineyard.”

An archive picture of Sheehan wearing shirt declaring “ARREST CHENEY FIRST” accompanied the CBSNews.com “Political Hotsheet” item, “Cindy Sheehan Protests Obama's Vacation,” by Kevin Hechtkopf.

— Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center

Like this story? Then sign up to receive free e-mail alerts from the MRC

Obama's tripling of the national debt or rather ours and our childrens debt in pictures. "Taxes that would make a Scandinavian Revolt"-CNN

Labels: Obama Watch, Polls, Taxes

Related: CNN Sees Dangers In Obama's Deficit: 'Taxes That Would Make a Scandinavian Revolt' and Federal Government Will Borrow 40 Percent of the Money It Spends Next Year, Says White House Report and Obama’s Budget Claims $622 Billion in Health Care Savings But Doesn’t Count Cost of Health Care Reform

Unbelievable. And the left think the Tea Party, HealthCare and Big Government Protesters are out of touch. Think again. Obama at his worst approval rating at Rasmussen to date today and 57% of Americans would like to replace entire congress and only 29% confident that congress knows what it's doing on economy.

Found chart and below article at The Heritage Foundation blog. A must subscribe to.

Obama’s Tripling of the National Debt in Pictures

This Tuesday the White House released their Mid-Session Review admitting they made a $2 trillion miscalculation in the size of the federal deficit that President Barack Obama’s borrow and spend policies would inflict on our nation. Heritage senior policy analyst Brian Riedl details the carnage:

  • While President Obama claims to have inherited the 2009 budget deficit, it is important to note that the estimated 2009 budget deficit has increased by $400 billion since his inauguration, and the whole point of the “stimulus” was to increase deficit spending to nearly $2 trillion based on the unproven notion that would it alleviate the recession.
  • The 22 percent spending increase projected for 2009 represents the largest government expansion since the 1952 height of the Korean War (adjusted for inflation). Federal spending is up 57 percent since 2001.
  • In 2009, Washington will spend $30,958 per household–the highest level in American history–and under President Obama’s budget, the figure will rise above $33,000 by 2019.
  • The White House brags that it will cut the deficit in half by 2013. The President does not mention that the deficit has nearly quadrupled this year. Merely cutting it in half from that bloated level would still leave budget deficits twice as high as under President Bush.
  • The public national debt–$5.8 trillion as of 2008–is projected to double by 2012 and nearly triple by 2019. Thus, America would accumulate more government debt under President Obama than under every President in American history from George Washington to George W. Bush combined.
It seems this video applies to more then Mr Brown with about 2.5 million hits since March...



Republican Weekly Address



More from Mr Hannan...

Last 3 sundays report new lows for Obama in approval ratings. This Sunday is Obama's worst strongly disapproval rating.

Labels: Polls

Last three Sundays have hurt Obama in Rasmussen approval rating polls.

Rasmussen reports Obama's worst Strongly Disapproval rating yet at 42%. At ties lowest over all approval rating at 47%.

See Sunday marked our President's lowest Rasmussen approval rating yet but there is more... for last Sunday and America's first presidential proclamation, Health Care and Sunday marked Obama's worst performance in the polls yet in more ways then one for the Sunday before last.

Not only is our President sinking in approval ratings but 57% percent of Americans would like to replace the entire congress.

6 more First Amendment Victories. Girl denied diploma over graduation speech. Martin Luther King's views on God's law. Gov on YouTube becoming popular

Labels: Email Activism

Last week in Review

Headlines

Court orders $25,000 for damages and rules Chrisitan man free to share faith in Connecticut and two other related case victories in New York

UCLA drops unconstitutional threats against internet speech and Minnesota library stops banning religious meetings and charging extra fees...

Texas A&M rightly concludes that Christian club may remain Christian



Education Secretary doesn't answer whether or not Martin Luther King's views on God's law should be taught in public schools. and Dr Alveda King Niece of Dr Martin Luther King Jr Remembers Sen. Edward Kennedy

Government hearings becoming popular on YouTube calling for a new category on YouTube

Cartoons and Jokes

Tim Hawkins latest video - The Government Can

He's a Nazi - Cartoon

Cartoon - Michael Vick vs Abortion Clinic

Videos

 Liberal Media Bias

Chris Matthews at it again. This time with Tom Delay.

YouTube video of banned ad by ABC

Obama Watch

 Sunday marked our President's lowest Rasmussen approval rating yet but there is more...

CNN video: Black Cambridge Officer says Obama Lost Her Vote

HealthCare

The Heritage Foundation's blog titled "Myths and Facts about ObamaCare" responds to claimed "Misperceptions about the president's plan.." at NBC

Abortion becoming the battle in Healthcare Reform and FactCheck.org and Time Magazine finally confirm that health care reform would mark significant change in tax payer funded abortions

White House leaks the news late Friday that the President's spending plan will nearly double the already high national debt

Video of McCain being booed for sticking up for Obama. Democrat Senator says, "Nobody is going to bring a bill before Christmas..."

ProLife

National Geographic's "Inside the Womb" video now available on YouTube in 9 parts

Video: If Will Ferrell were pro-life....

Sermon

Video Sermon on Dating at Mars Hill Church

Debates

Ray Comfort vs Thunderf00t first 30 minutes on YouTube III

ProLife

Mayo Clinic Doctor says abortions hurt women and cause premature births

 Sunday marked our President's lowest Rasmussen approval rating yet but there is more...

Missouri budget keeps abortion alternative funding

4 former employees of late term abortionist LeRoy Carhart have come forward with claims of unsafe and illegal practices

Planned Parenthood

Three lawsuits in Ohio associated with the use of abortion as a means of trying to cover up sex abuse.

Polls

 Sunday marked our President's lowest Rasmussen approval rating yet but there is more...

Same Sex Marriage

 Breaking News: NEA looses as Supreme Court of DC rules that ex-gays must be recognized under sexual orientation non discrimination-laws

AIDS rate 50 times higher in homosexual men reports Center for Disease Control

Science

 National Geographic News: Dark Energy's Demise? New Theory Doesn't Use the Force

International

UN

 UNFPA, UNESCO and International Planned Parenthood team up with a radical sex ed. document. Teach 5-8 year olds about masturbation and more...

Croatia

European Committee upholds pro-abstinence sex ed program in Croatia

Slovakia

Slovakia President signs pro-life and woman bill informing them of abortion risks

Education

Homeschool

"Homeschooling is the sleeping giant of the American education system"-Homeschoolers beat the national average on ACT Test

New Hampshire court orders "superior to grade level" home-schooled child into government-run school

Public Education

Los Angeles Board of Education voting to privatize a third of the schools to private operators

Logic

Logical Fallacies: The Fallacy of Begging the Question - Jason Lisle at Answers in Genesis

Faith and Family

Aviation Missionaries to be honored in Space via "Discovery" at NASA

CBN video: Faith-Based Prison has proven many times more successful then non faith based .

Video Sermon on Dating at Mars Hill Church

Labels: Sermons


Labels: Academic Freedom, Religious Freedom

Update 12/2/2009: Cert. Denied In Case Of Valedictorian's Religious Graduation Speech



Just happen to run across this video. The point is well made but none the less this YouTube video itself leaves out a fact of its own. Namely, the reason why she changed her speech: "I realize that, had I asked ahead of time, I would not have been allowed to say what I did." Read article below from her attorneys below related articles.

Related: YouTube video of valedictorian's speech that was censored while speech was given. Watch students reaction...
See complaint filed in the courts against Butte High School in Montana for censoring Renee Griffith's valedictorian speech...
400 graduating seniors at Pace High School stood up in protest against the ACLU and recited the Lord's Prayer during graduation ceremony.
Police stop student led prayer during lunch time...
UCLA student has the proof posted that UCLA professor has prohibited her from saying "I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" in grad speech.
Another High School finds a way to pray after prayer was taken from graduation ceremony etc etc and see more at label Academic Freedom

Liberty Counsel Petitions Supreme Court to Hear Graduation Free Speech Case

www.LC.org
Washington, DC – Liberty Counsel has filed a Petition for Certiorari at the United States Supreme Court on behalf of Erica Corder, a high school graduate with a 4.0 GPA who was denied her diploma until she issued a publically disseminated, coerced, written apology for presenting a thirty-second valedictory speech that included a religious reference.
Erica was one of fifteen valedictorians from the Lewis-Palmer High School class of 2006. Each valedictorian orally presented a proposed speech to the principal before graduation. At the graduation ceremony, Erica deviated from her prepared speech and expressed her faith in Jesus Christ, encouraging the audience to learn more about Him. Afterwards, she was escorted to see the assistant principal, who said she would not receive her diploma because of the speech she had given.
Principal Mark Brewer later said that she could only receive her diploma if she apologized to the school community. Erica prepared a statement saying the message was her own and was not endorsed by the principal. Principal Brewer insisted that she include the words: “I realize that, had I asked ahead of time, I would not have been allowed to say what I did.” Principal Brewer sent out Erica’s message in an e-mail to the entire high school community. Soon after, Erica received her diploma. Erica complied because she feared the school would withhold her diploma, put disciplinary notes in her file, and would generate negative publicity, which could prevent her from becoming a school teacher.
Erica filed suit against the Lewis-Palmer School District in August 2007, seeking declaratory relief and nominal damages for a violation of her First Amendment right to freedom of speech. The district court ruled there was no constitutional violation, stating that Erica’s speech was “school-sponsored,” and therefore the forced apology was not improper. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling. The Tenth Circuit’s decision undermines student free speech rights and conflicts with an Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals decision. Liberty Counsel litigated for 8½ years against the ACLU on a graduation message case in Adler v. Duval County School Board. A 12-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals sitting en banc sided with Liberty Counsel and found that a policy whereby students select the content of their messages is student speech, not school-sponsored speech. Thus, religious viewpoints of students are protected by the First Amendment. The case is Corder v. Lewis-Palmer School District No. 38.
Mathew Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: “A valedictorian’s speech is not government speech. Everyone knows that a valedictorian earned the high GPA and understands the speech belongs to the student. It is reprehensible that the school district threatened to withhold Erica Corder’s diploma, merely because a few sentences of her 30-second speech included references to God."

Ray Comfort vs Thunderf00t first 30 minutes on YouTube III

Labels: Debates, Ray Comfort

See part 1-3 at Ray Comfort vs Thunderf00t first 30 minutes on YouTube and See part 4-6 at Ray Comfort vs Thunderf00t first 30 minutes on YouTube II

Part 7



Part 8



Part 9



Part 9a

Aviation Missionaries to be honored in Space via "Discovery" at NASA

Labels: Faith and Family Philanthropy

Related: The amazing true story of Jim Elliot in cartoon format for kids to be inspired by...

Astronaut Taking a Piece of Nate Saint’s Piper PA-14 on ‘Discovery’

Cape Canaveral, FL.—08-24-09—Proving that space flight is not the highest calling for a pilot, astronaut Patrick Forrester is taking a bit of missionary history onboard space shuttle “Discovery,” which is scheduled for liftoff from Kennedy Space Center in the early morning hours of Aug. 28. The aim of the two-week orbital mission is to equip the International Space Station.
The item comes from martyred missionary pilot Nate Saint’s Piper PA-14, which is on display at the headquarters of MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) in Nampa, Idaho. Saint and four other missionaries were martyred on a sandbar in Ecuador on Jan. 8, 1956, by a tribe of Waodani Indians.

The incident sparked international news coverage and renewed interest in missionary service. Several of the tribesmen that killed Saint and the others were later converted to Christianity by relatives of the slain missionaries.

“Bringing attention to and renewing interest in missions would be a great result of this experience,” said Forrester, who was born in El Paso, Texas, the year after the martyrdoms. “My deepest intent is to honor Nate Saint, the Saint family and all missionaries around the world.”

“Nate Saint was a missionary aviation pioneer,” said Gene Jordan, MAF Director of Personnel Services. “The shuttle and those who travel on it are perceived as the ultimate pioneers. Just as Nate learned on the field and developed processes and techniques that have advanced aviation, so the shuttle teaches us something every time it launches.”
The piece being carried aloft is from the Piper’s battery box and has received approval for the flight from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) after conforming to strict size and weight restrictions.

Forrester, who will be making his third shuttle flight, has logged more than 4,500 hours in more than 50 different aircraft and has been with NASA 16 years. In addition to his time at NASA, he spent over 26 years as an Army aviator. Yet his dream has been to assist with the high calling of missionary aviation.

“I’ve always had a heart for missions,” Forrester said. “When I visualize what I might do after I end my career at NASA, always in the back of my mind is going into the mission field in some way. If I could go tomorrow and be a pilot with an organization like MAF, I think that’s what I’d do.”

Whether you are an astronaut, a missionary or something else, Forrester has a simple approach to discovering what career journey you should take. “There are so many needs out there,” Forrester said. “People need to figure out where their passion and their talents intersect with God’s plan for the world.”

Forrester heard about Saint and the other four missionary martyrs while attending a Steven Curtis Chapman concert. “He told the story of the missionaries who had gone down and had lost their lives,” Forrester recalled. “That story just fascinated me, and through that I heard of the book ‘Through the Gates of Splendor.’ That’s when I really first understood about MAF.”

Forrester asked MAF to provide a part of Saint’s plane for the shuttle mission. When the mission is completed, Forrester will return the piece to MAF, providing a certificate confirming its presence on the space flight. MAF plans to display the battery box part and certificate at its headquarters. Forrester noted that Saint “could have never imagined that we would have the opportunity to take it to a space station.”

As for himself, Forrester sees missions in his career flight plan. “We are all called to serve God in some manner,” Forrester said. “I have had the opportunity to participate in several short-term mission trips to Uganda, Canada, Puerto Rico and South Africa. Each time I have developed a heart for the people we served. I believe my wife and I will continue to serve in the mission field for the rest of our lives – whether it is at home or overseas, short-term or full-time.”

“Nate’s intent was to use the airplane to bridge the gap to those who have no contact with the outside world, and introduce them to a God who loves them,” said Jordan. “The shuttle allows us to explore the intricacies of the universe that reflects this loving God.”

Founded in the U.S. in 1945, MAF missionary teams of aviation, communications, technology and education specialists overcome barriers in remote areas, transform lives and build God’s Kingdom by enabling the work of more than 1,000 organizations in isolated areas of the world. With its fleet of 130 bush aircraft, MAF serves in 55 countries, with an average of 242 flights daily across Africa, Asia, Eurasia and Latin America. MAF pilots transport missionaries, medical personnel, medicines and relief supplies, as well as conduct thousands of emergency medical evacuations in remote areas. MAF also provides telecommunications services, such as satellite Internet access, high frequency radios, electronic mail and other wireless systems.

CBN video: Faith-Based Prison has proven many times more successful then non faith based .

Labels: Faith and Family Philanthropy, Texas



"In the two years the program has been in existance, there have only been five major rule infractions-- four of them for tobacco use. Even better, 46 men have been released on parole and only one has returned."

Logical Fallacies: The Fallacy of Begging the Question - Jason Lisle at Answers in Genesis

Labels: Apologetics, Logic

Click on link to the left for subscription to Answers Magazine. Great for the family and family worship to bring a biblical interpretation into the realm of the sciences.

See label Logic for more fallacies.

Logical Fallacies: The Fallacy of Begging the Question

I once did a telescope session with a small group of people, including a four-year-old boy who was particularly interested in astronomy. I asked this young budding astronomer if he believed in alien spaceships. “Of course,” he said. I then asked him why he believed in alien spaceships. I’ll never forget his clever response: “How else would the aliens get here?” Pretty logical isn’t it? The aliens would never be able to get to earth without a spaceship. So, clearly, there must be alien spaceships!

This is a wonderful example of a very common error in reasoning—the fallacy of begging the question. This fallacy is committed when a person merely assumes what he or she is attempting to prove or when the premise of an argument actually depends upon its conclusion. In this case, our young student was attempting to prove the existence of alien spacecraft by taking it for granted that aliens have traveled to earth. But that is essentially the point in question. This young aspiring astronomer was reasoning in a circle.

Of course, we expect such humorous reasoning from a four-year-old. As we grow up, we are expected to become rational and not make these kinds of logical mistakes. That’s why it is so disturbing to find that many adults commit the fallacy of begging the question in debates on origins. Some examples are obvious: “Evolution must be true because it is a fact.” But, more commonly, the fallacy is much more subtle. Consider some of the following arguments.

“The Bible cannot be true because it contains miracles. And miracles would violate the laws of nature!”

Yes, miracles can potentially involve a temporary suspension of the laws of nature (not that all of them necessarily do).1 Since the Bible makes it clear that God is beyond natural laws, He can suspend/violate them if He wishes to. But the critic’s argument has simply taken it for granted that violations of the laws of nature are impossible. In other words, the arguer has already assumed that the Bible is false—in order to argue that the Bible is false. He has begged the question.

You may have heard people argue:

“The Bible cannot be true because it teaches that the earth is only thousands of years old; whereas, we know the earth is billions of years old.”

All such arguments commit the fallacy of begging the question. Here is why. Old earth arguments are all based on the assumptions of naturalism (nature is all that there is) and a large degree of uniformitarianism (present rates and processes are representative of past rates and processes). Then, by extrapolating from present rates of various earth processes, the person estimates how long it would take to build up or erode certain geological features or how long it would take for a radioisotope to decay.

But the Bible denies naturalism and uniformitarianism (e.g., erosion rates during the global flood). By assuming naturalism and uniformitarianism, the critic has already merely assumed that the Bible is wrong. He then uses this assumption to conclude that the Bible is wrong. His reasoning is circular.

“Creation cannot be true because you would have to ignore all that scientific evidence.”

But this argument begs the question because it presupposes that scientific evidence somehow provides support for evolution, which has not been demonstrated.

“It makes no sense to deny evolution; it is a well-established fact of nature.”

This argument also begs the question since the truth status of evolution is the very question at issue.

Christians are not always above circular reasoning either. Some have argued,

“The Bible must be the Word of God because it says it is. And what it says must be true, since God cannot lie.”

Of course, it is quite true that the Bible does claim to be the Word of God, and it is also true that God does not lie. But when one of these statements is used as the sole support for the other, the argument commits the fallacy of begging the question. The same line of argumentation could be used to “prove” the Koran, which of course we would deny.

Now, it’s time to get a little philosophically deep. Brace yourself. Begging the question is a very strange fallacy because it is actually valid. Recall that a valid argument is one in which the conclusion does follow from the premises. Normally fallacies are not valid; the fact that their conclusion does not follow from the premise(s) is what makes them fallacies. But, oddly, with begging the question the conclusion does follow from the premise (because it is simply a restatement of the premise). So, the argument, “Evolution must be true because it is a fact,” is valid. But if it is valid, then why is it considered a fallacy?

The answer would seem to be that begging the question is a fallacy because it is arbitrary. Circular arguments of this kind are not useful because anyone who denies the conclusion would also deny the premise (since the conclusion is essentially the same as the premise). So, the argument, “Evolution must be true because it is a fact,” while technically valid, is fallacious because the arguer has merely assumed what he is trying to prove. Arbitrary assumptions are not to be used in logical reasoning because we could equally well assume the exact opposite. It would be just as legitimate to argue, “Evolution cannot be true because it is false.”

It should also be noted that there are certain special cases where circular reasoning is unavoidable and not necessarily fallacious. Remember that begging the question is not invalid; it is considered fallacious because it is arbitrary. But what if it were not arbitrary? There are some situations where the conclusion of an argument must be assumed at the outset, but is not arbitrary.2 Here is an example:

  1. Without laws of logic, we could not make an argument.
  2. We can make an argument.
  3. Therefore, there must be laws of logic.

This argument is perfectly reasonable, and valid. But it is subtly circular. This argument is using a law of logic called modus tollens to prove that there are laws of logic. So, we have tacitly assumed what we are trying to prove. But it is absolutely unavoidable in this case. We must use laws of logic to prove anything—even the existence of laws of logic.

However, the above argument is not arbitrary. We do have a good reason for assuming laws of logic, since without them we couldn’t prove anything. And perhaps most significantly, anyone attempting to disprove the existence of laws of logic would have to first assume that laws of logic do exist in order to make the argument. He would refute himself.

Most of the examples of circular reasoning used by evolutionist are of the fallacious begging-the-question variety—they are arbitrary. Consider the evolutionist who argues:

“The Bible cannot be correct because it says that stars were created in a single day; but we now know that it takes millions of years for stars to form.”

By assuming that stars form over millions of years, the critic has taken for granted that they were not supernaturally created. He has tacitly assumed the Bible is wrong in his attempt to argue that the Bible is wrong; he has begged the question. Another example is:

“We know evolution must have happened, because we are here!”

This argument begs the question, since the way we got here is the very point in question.

Watch for arguments that subtly presume (in an arbitrary way) what the critic is attempting to prove. In particular, evolutionists will often take for granted the assumptions of naturalism, uniformitarianism, strict empiricism (the notion that all truth claims are answered by observation and experimentation), and sometimes evolution itself. But, of course, these are the very claims at issue. When an evolutionist takes these things for granted, he is not giving a good logical reason for his position; he is simply arbitrarily asserting his position."

Three lawsuits in Ohio associated with the use of abortion as a means of trying to cover up sex abuse.

Labels: Ohio, Planned Parenthood, Pro-Life

Related: Planned Parenthood fined $700,000 for Medicaid overbilling on abortion
Planned Parenthood caught on video once again covering up rape this time in Alabama.
Before you donate again to the United Way be sure they don't support your local Planned Parenthood abortion business like they do in Florida since '76
New Arizona Governor drops Planned Parenthood from health fair of over 60 organizations.
Planned Parenthood: 62 abortions for every adoption referral etc etc click on label Planned Parenthood for more.

Ohio Man Tries to Hide Statutory Rape of Pregnant Teenage Girl With Abortion

Cincinnati, OH (LifeNews.com) -- Ohio has had two recent lawsuits associated with the use of abortion as a means of trying to cover up sexual abuse. Now, a third Ohio man says he attempted to get an abortion for a girl less than half his age in order to hide evidence of the sexual abuse for which he is allegedly responsible.

Police in Cincinnati say 29-year-old Christopher Ryan Fears had sex with an unnamed 14-year-old girl in May when he was drunk.

Fears has reportedly admitted to raping the teenager and told officials he is sorry for his actions and tried to pay for the girl to have an abortion.

The mother of the girl filed a police report when she learned her daughter had sex with Fears.

Fears, of Golf Manor is held at the Hamilton County jail on $100,000 bond.

Golf Manor Police Lt. Chris Campbell says news of the statutory rape came to light after the girl informed her mother she is pregnant. When the mother confronted Fears, he said he would pay for an abortion.

The two met while Fears was a patrol officer walking the community, the chief said.

Using an abortion to hide a case of statutory rape resulting in a pregnancy is nothing new in Cincinnati.

Cincinnati attorney Charles Miller has been requesting Planned Parenthood medical records to prove his contention that the abortion business engaged in a pattern of abuse by failing to report to state

The abortion business did abortions on two girls, who were victims of sexual abuse.

The girl in one case provided an incorrect phone number to Planned Parenthood officials for notification. Instead of giving the abortion center her parents' phone, she gave the number for her 22-year-old boyfriend -- her soccer coach John Haller.

Haller started having sexual relations with the teenager when she was 13 and he was eventually convicted in 2004 of sexual battery and spent three years in prison. He signed off on the abortion instead of the teen's father.

The parents filed a lawsuit that began the series of court actions and alleged Planned Parenthood violated state law, failed to get proper informed consent, and failed to report a suspected case of child abuse to authorities.

Another incident involves a teenager in a second case against Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region.

In that case, the teen accuses the abortion business of covering up her sexual victimization by her father.

Under Ohio law, doctors, nurses, teachers and other professionals are required to report alleged sexual abuse to authorities and the teen says that didn't happen in her abortion case.

The unnamed girl filed the lawsuit in Warren County Common Pleas Court in May 2007 saying she told Planned Parenthood staff about the incest."

Dr Alveda King Niece of Dr Martin Luther King Jr Remembers Sen. Edward Kennedy

Labels: Dr Alveda King, Pro-Life

Related: August 3,1971 letter from Edward Kennedy reveals Mr. Kennedy's early pro-life sentiment. Couldn't have been said better today.

Dr. Alveda King Remembers Sen. Edward Kennedy

ATLANTA, GA, August 28, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - – Dr. Alveda King, Pastoral Associate of Priests for Life and niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., today reflected on the passing of Sen. Edward Kennedy.

“The Ted Kennedy I want to remember is the man who, before he embraced the pro-abortion cause, was like his dearly departed sister Eunice, who was pro-life. Senator Kennedy once compassionately and consistently fought for civil rights. In 1971, he wrote that every human being, wanted or unwanted, had the right to be born. He later changed his position and supported and even sponsored pro-abortion legislation. There were many tragedies in the Senator’s life, but to me, one of the worst is that he stopped supporting the civil rights of those in the womb.”

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, stated, “I recall the visit Dr. King and I made to the Senator’s office last year, during which we quoted abortionists about decapitating children and asked if that was what the Senator meant by the word abortion. Sadly, we got no clear answer. We join in prayer for God’s forgiveness for all who tolerate this violence.”

Texas A&M rightly concludes that Christian club may remain Christian

Labels: Academic Freedom, First Amendment Case Victories, Texas

This week marked 6 new First Amendment Case victories which puts us at 133 First Amendment Case victories since 06/2008 recorded at Values Voter News. See First Amendment Case Victories for all from latest to last.

Texas A&M: Christian club may remain Christian

Letter from ADF attorneys results in recognition of student club
Friday, August 28, 2009

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — After receiving a letter from the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom written on behalf of a Christian student club, Texas A&M officials agreed Thursday to continue recognizing the group as an official university student organization without forcing it to abandon its core beliefs and purpose. The university agreed with ADF attorneys that forcing Freshman Leaders in Christ (FLiC) to open its membership to non-Christians--or lose its recognized status on campus--would violate the group’s constitutional rights.

“More universities should follow Texas A&M’s lead and acknowledge that Christian students shouldn’t be discriminated against because of their beliefs,” said ADF Litigation Staff Counsel Joseph Martins. “Texas A&M worked closely with ADF to evaluate the university’s policies and come to the correct conclusion that FLiC has a constitutional right to maintain a membership of Christian freshmen in keeping with the group’s purpose.”

In May, Texas A&M’s Department of Student Activities notified FLiC’s co-director, Lauren Shook, that her club met all requirements to be recognized as an official student club except for its provision limiting membership to “all freshmen at Texas A&M who declare themselves as Christian, are following Christ in their Christian walks, and whose desire is to serve others as a way of following Christ’s example of leadership.” The department originally concluded that the club could not define its membership in this manner unless acceptable under “applicable federal law.”

Shook explained to the department in an e-mail that being forced to accept non-Christians into the club would fundamentally alter its mission and purpose. The department maintained its position, responding that FLiC’s membership criteria conflicted with federal law.

In July, ADF attorneys explained to Texas A&M officials in a letter that “‘applicable federal law’ not only permits, but requires the university to exempt FLiC from its compelled, open membership requirement. Otherwise, by forcing FLiC to accept members who would impair the group’s religious message and mission, the university would run afoul of the group’s rights to free speech, free association, and free exercise of religion.”

Soon after receiving the letter, Texas A&M said, and confirmed in a letter of its own, that it will officially recognize FLiC, allowing it to choose its members in accordance with the group’s beliefs and purpose.

“The university’s decision is in keeping with the Constitution and Supreme Court precedent,” said Martins. “Texas A&M should be commended for working proactively to protect the First Amendment rights of FLiC and all other student organizations on campus.”
  • Web site of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, which defends religious freedom at America’s public universities.

4 former employees of late term abortionist LeRoy Carhart have come forward with claims of unsafe and illegal practices

Labels: Pro-Life

Related: YouTube yanks another pro-life video but check out the reason why and watch the video to see whether or not you agree
CNN video interview of Dr Carhart late term abortionist and friend of Dr Tiller and blames mainstream pro-lifers for murder of Tiller.
LeRoy Carhart in a US District Court case in 1997 testified that he would dismember unborn babies while the babies were still alive.

From Operation Rescue.....

Whistleblowers Come Forward With Accusations of Illegal, Unsafe Conditions At Carhart’s Abortion Clinic

Press conference today: Will discuss former Carhart employees who are telling of dirty conditions, unqualified staff illegally performing medical duties, illegal late-term abortions, and more

Bellevue, NE – Four former employees of late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart have come forward to tell of unsafe and illegal practices at LeRoy Carhart’s Bellevue, Nebraska, abortion clinic.

Members of Operation Rescue and Rescue the Heartland were contacted directly by three of the women. A fourth woman is working directly with a pro-life attorney to tell her knowledge of illegal and unsafe conditions at Carhart’s clinic.

The women have made allegations that unlicensed staff illegally performed medical duties that they were not trained for or legally qualified to do, such as starting IVs, dispensing medication, and even assisting with surgeries. There were also allegations of general unclean conditions, including dried blood on surgical instruments. In addition, the women told of missing narcotics, illicit drug use by employees, and illegal post-viability abortions.

The women worked for Carhart at various times, yet they all made similar, if not identical allegations when interviewed.

Operation Rescue, Rescue the Heartland, and Nebraskans United for Life will hold a joint press conference to discuss this breaking news and their weekend events:

WHAT: Press Conference
WHEN: Friday, August 28, 2009, at 3:00 PM
WHERE: Nebraskans United For Life office located at 143 South 38th Street, Omaha, NE 68131

One former employee told of incidents where Carhart falsified the gestational age of viable babies in order to circumvent the law. This account matches information uncovered by Operation Rescue during an undercover investigation at the now-closed Women’s Health Care Services in Wichita, Kansas, where Carhart once worked. The worker caught falsifying gestational ages in Kansas now works for Carhart at his Bellevue, Nebraska, abortion clinic. (Read full report.)

The women also chose to contact the Omaha World-Herald to blow the whistle on Carhart. An article detailing their allegations ran this morning. (Read the news story.)

The women have given sworn statements about illegal and unsafe activity at Carhart’s abortion clinic, which will be turned over to the Attorney General’s office and the Nebraska Department of Health, which is investigating Carhart. The women have agreed to cooperate with the investigation.

“We commend these brave women for coming forward to tell of unsafe and illegal conditions that exist at Carhart’s abortion mill,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “Their courage will help protect women whose health and safety at currently at risk.”

Operation Rescue is not releasing the identity of the women out of concern of reprisals against them from Carhart, but the authorities investigating Carhart will have access to that information.

“Rescue the Heartland, Nebraskans United for Life, and Operation Rescue are working together to insure that the information and experiences of these women are heard by the appropriate authorities,” said Newman.

“These allegations are serious and demand immediate action on the part of the authorities in the interest of public safety. We pray that Carhart’s abortion career, which has cost untold thousands of innocent lives and led to the exploitation of thousands of women, will be brought to a speedy and peaceful end through legal channels.”

Los Angeles Board of Education voting to privatize a third of the schools to private operators

Labels: Education

California: Privatization of Public Schools

The Los Angeles Board of Education voted to adopt a resolution that could turn a third of its schools over to private operators.

LOS ANGELES ---- The Los Angeles Board of Education voted Tuesday to adopt a controversial resolution that could turn a third of the schools in the nation's second-largest school district over to private operators.

The proposal, which gives Superintendent Ramon Cortines 60 days to develop a plan, was approved 6-1 after a contentious four-hour public hearing and board debate.

Proposals will be accepted from private charter school operators, local communities and the mayor's office for the operation of 50 new schools that will open over the next four years, as well as 200 existing schools that are chronic underperformers.

School board member Marguerite LaMotte cast the only dissenting vote.

"I haven't seen any research-based study that says giving away schools improves academic achievement," LaMotte said.

Other board members said in a district that has a 33 percent high school dropout rate, the time for radical change is past due.

"What is desperately needed is rapid, large-scale student-centered reform," said school board member Yoli Flores Aguilar, who introduced the resolution.

The LAUSD, which has more than 688,000 students, already boasts the highest number of charter schools of any school district in the country. About 150 of its 800 schools are run by nonprofit educational groups.

Until now, schools have been turned into charter operations largely through the efforts of parents and teachers on an ad hoc basis.

By inviting outsiders to submit proposals, the resolution gives the district more input over the selection of charters, implements more measures to monitor charter school performance and holds schools accountable for improving student achievement.

It also allows non-traditional groups to form partnerships with schools, following the lead of Chicago and New York school districts.

"This is increasing the diversity of educational providers," said Priscilla Wohlstetter, director of University of Southern California's Center for Educational Governance. "We don't know who's out there who would like to take over an underperforming school. It could be a museum, a medical provider, a social service agency."

During the hearing, many parents spoke in favor of the school choice plan.

"It's not acceptable. Our children deserve a better education. We cannot keep doing the same thing thinking we'll get different results," said Isabel Medina of East Los Angeles whose child attends Garfield High School, which has a 50 percent dropout rate.

The choice plan also drew the support of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, the Valley Industry Commerce Association and the United Way of Greater Los Angeles.

School district unions opposed the plan, arguing that the district was giving away its schools.

"This is the beginning of the dismembering of L.A. Unified," former school board member Jackie Goldberg said.

The resolution requires groups to maintain neighborhood demographics in their student bodies and to work with LAUSD unions. Teachers who work in charters are not covered by the district's union, United Teachers Los Angeles.

"All the data says charter schools do not do better than public schools," UTLA President A.J. Duffy said. "This is bureaucracy putting in a top-down plan which hasn't worked before."

The resolution also calls for the district to appoint a lead person to supervise the effort but seek foundation funding to pay for the employee's salary.

Before the board voted, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa rallied a crowd of hundreds of parents and resolution in a bilingual chant of "We want change. We want choice. We're going to win."

Los Angeles mayors are not officials of the school district but Villaraigosa has pushed for charters at the so-called "mayor's schools."

A law that would have given him partial authority over the school system was knocked down in court in 2007. However, his nonprofit Partnership for Los Angeles Schools later won permission to manage seven schools with more than 30,000 students.

The 710-square-mile district serves Los Angeles, many neighboring cities and some unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. It is governed by the elected Board of Education."

Education Secretary doesn't answer whether or not Martin Luther King's views on God's law should be taught in public schools.

Labels: Dr Martin Luther King Jr, Education

U.S. Education Secretary Dodges Question on Whether Martin Luther King's Views on God's Law Should Be Taught in Public School

Wednesday, August 26, 2009
By Chris Neefus

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at the March on Washington, Aug. 25, 1963. (AP photo/file)
Washington (CNSNews.com) – On the 46th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s March on Washington, Education Secretary Arne Duncan declined to say whether King’s view that just laws are based on God's law should be taught in public schools.

In his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” King expressed his classical belief, based on the teachings of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas as well as the Founding Fathers, that a just law is a law that comports with the law of God and an unjust law is a law that does not comport with the law of God.

“How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust?” King asked in the letter, which he wrote in the Birmingham jail after being arrested for marching without a permit.

“A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law,” the civil rights leader said.

Citing St. Thomas Aquinas, King wrote, “An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.”

At a press conference Tuesday publicizing the Kids for King education initiative, which aims to get children to learn about King’s teachings, CNSNews.com asked Duncan whether he thought the content of King’s letter should be taught in public schools.

Duncan did not directly answer, saying only, “I think there is so much to learn from Dr. King.”

Without speaking specifically to King’s concept of law “under God,” he seemed instead to point to lessons of secular morality. Duncan said kids can learn “the life lessons of valuing everybody, treating everybody the way they should be treated, (and) protesting but doing so in a non-violent manner.”

Duncan also told CNSNews.com that King’s presence in the public discourse shaped his life as a public servant.

“(For) kids like me growing up, his influence was extraordinary,” he said. “I don’t know if I’d be in public service if it were not for the influence he’s had on my life.”

Byron Garrett, CEO of the National Parent Teacher Association also attended the event and more explicitly explained that in teaching King’s views on moral law, it was “important” to comply with the separation of church and state.

“It’s fine if you’re teaching it in the context of history,” he said, but “not to the exclusion of other religions,” Garrett said.

National Education Association President Dennis van Roekel disagreed, however, lamenting the “narrowing” of public curricula.

“I think rich history in schools is absolutely essential,” he told CNSNews.com. “It’s kind of sad right now how they’re narrowing the curriculum.”

“I think that we ought to expose people to ideas--that’s what was done for us. We heard those ideas. I think it’s just part of a good education,” he continued. “You can’t be taught one side; you have to hear all sides. That’s how you get a good education.”

The Kids for King conference was held on the west side of the Tidal Basin, where a memorial for King is planned for construction.

The initiative asks kids to “write an essay, create a piece of art, or produce a short video” to show what they have learned about King’s ideals of “Democracy, Justice, Love and Hope.”

The best entries will earn students a trip to the nation’s capital in the fall of 2010."

New Hampshire court orders "superior to grade level" home-schooled child into government-run school

Labels: Education, Homeschooling

Related: "Homeschooling is the sleeping giant of the American education system"-Homeschoolers beat the national average on ACT Test
Brand new nationwide study confirms homeschooling beats public schooling across all demographics

NH court orders home-schooled child into government-run school

ADF-allied attorney files motion to reconsider and hold off decision in case involving 10-year-old girl
Wednesday, August 26, 2009

LACONIA, N.H. — An Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney filed motions with a New Hampshire court Monday asking it to reconsider and stay its decision to order a 10-year-old home-schooled girl into a government-run school in Meredith.

Although the marital master making recommendations to the court agreed the child is “well liked, social and interactive with her peers, academically promising, and intellectually at or superior to grade level” and that “it is clear that the home schooling...has more than kept up with the academic requirements of the...public school system,” he nonetheless proposed that the Christian girl be ordered into a government-run school after considering “the impact of [her religious] beliefs on her interaction with others.” The court approved the order.

“Parents have a fundamental right to make educational choices for their children. In this case specifically, the court is illegitimately altering a method of education that the court itself admits is working,” said ADF-allied attorney John Anthony Simmons of Hampton. “The court is essentially saying that the evidence shows that, socially and academically, this girl is doing great, but her religious beliefs are a bit too sincerely held and must be sifted, tested by, and mixed among other worldviews. This is a step too far for any court to take.”

The parents of the child divorced in 1999. The mother has home-schooled their daughter since first grade with curriculum that meets all state review standards. In addition to home schooling, the girl attends supplemental public school classes and has also been involved in a variety of extra-curricular sports activities.

In the process of renegotiating the terms of a parenting plan for the girl, the guardian ad litem involved in the case concluded, according to the court order, that the girl “appeared to reflect her mother’s rigidity on questions of faith” and that the girl’s interests “would be best served by exposure to a public school setting” and “different points of view at a time when she must begin to critically evaluate multiple systems of belief...in order to select, as a young adult, which of those systems will best suit her own needs.”

Marital Master Michael Garner reasoned that the girl’s “vigorous defense of her religious beliefs to [her] counselor suggests strongly that she has not had the opportunity to seriously consider any other point of view” and then recommended that the girl be ordered to enroll in a government school instead of being home-schooled. Judge Lucinda V. Sadler approved the recommendation and issued the order on July 14.

“The New Hampshire Supreme Court itself has specifically declared, ‘Home education is an enduring American tradition and right...,’” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Mike Johnson. “There is clearly and without question no legitimate legal basis for the court’s decision, and we trust it will reconsider its conclusions.”

Simmons filed his motions and supporting brief in the case In the Matter of Kurowski and Kurowski (Voydatch) with the Family Division of the Judicial Court for Belknap County in Laconia."

Government hearings becoming popular on YouTube calling for a new category on YouTube

Labels: Economy, Healthcare, Taxes

View YouTube video below with over one million views since 07/16/2009 over health care reform in the US



And then view YouTube video with almost 2.5 million views since 03/24/2009 over Big Government in Europe and the UK



These may possibly be records for government hearings of the likes. Maybe YouTube can form a new category with videos on government hearings only. This would be a great educational category and informative.

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