LesRiley.net Blog

Green Activists Hurt the World's Poor

2007-09-07T11:16:00.000-07:00

Comments ?

http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=21820

Green Activists Hurt the World's Poor: An Interview with Paul Driessen
Written By: James M. Taylor
Published In: Environment News
Publication Date: September 1, 2007
Publisher: The Heartland Institute

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Paul Driessen is a warrior on the front lines of the battle against Third World poverty and disease.

As a senior policy advisor for the Congress of Racial Equality and a senior fellow with the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, Driessen dedicates himself to identifying and eliminating the obstacles that keep people in underdeveloped countries from breaking through the abject poverty barrier.

All too often, Driessen has discovered, the very environmental activist groups that claim to care so much about people in underdeveloped countries are the ones keeping them down.

James M. Taylor, a senior fellow for The Heartland Institute and managing editor of Environment & Climate News, caught up with Driessen for a discussion of Third World nations and the environment.

Taylor: You have been one of the leaders in presenting affluent Americans with information about how environmental extremists are impoverishing and imperiling the lives of the world's poorest people. What are the most significant threats the world's poor face from extremists?

Driessen: I think malaria is probably the biggest threat. There has been tremendous opposition among environmental activists regarding DDT and insecticides. The extremists focus on phony, speculative crises regarding insecticides, yet ignore the extreme and very real negative toll that so-called enlightened environmental policies are imposing on the poor people of the world.

Another threat to the world's poor are the proffered "solutions" to global warming, where alarmists use speculative scenarios cranked out on computers to justify policies that will cause tremendous harm to the world's poor.

People in underdeveloped nations desperately need energy, yet the alarmists want to keep it away from them. As a result, people in Third World nations frequently burn dung indoors for their cooking and heating requirements, and will continue to do so until the activists stop opposing fossil fuel use and hydroelectric dams.

Environmental activists frequently call for the installation of small solar panels or a couple of wind turbines in each local village, but these are wholly inadequate sources of power. These cannot give birth to a modern society.

The activists are even using global warming now to justify opposition to shipping food from Africa to Europe, arguing that transportation entails burning too many fossil fuels. This is trade protectionism under environmental garb.

Time and again, despite the rhetoric, Africans' interests are always dead last on the totem poll of environmental activist priorities. A lack of concern for the Third World poor is being masked by high-minded environmental slogans.

Other threats from environmental activists include opposition to mining, foreign corporate investment, and biotechnology.

In all of these issues, environmental activists oppose Third World rights to self-determination and prevent Africans from developing a middle-income consumer society like that of the Western world. Unfortunately, the stifling of a middle-income consumer society is not the inadvertent result of environmental activist policies, but quite often the desired result.

Taylor: Malaria is running rampant throughout much of Africa and other parts of the Third World. What is the scope of the malaria problem?

Driessen: The malaria problem has been worsening for decades under politically correct schemes that emphasize inadequate "solutions" such as bed nets, education, and treatment rather than prevention. Today in developing nations, half a billion people still get malaria every year. One out of three people who contract malaria die from it--mostly kids.

In recent years, we are seeing signs that this might finally begin to change. The United States is participating with many international groups to provide DDT and insecticides as effective weapons in the battle against malaria.

Taylor: After DDT eliminated malaria in the United States in the mid-twentieth century, environmental activists succeeded in banning it. What has real-world experience told us about the importance of DDT in fighting malaria?

Driessen: In the United States and Europe, DDT got rid of malaria. It is as simple as that. It was the knockout blow that eliminated a substantial human health problem. But today in developing nations, half a billion people still get malaria every year, yet DDT has been banned due to alleged human health fears.

What human health risks can exceed hundreds of millions of people contracting malaria every year? What can justify this horrendous annual death toll?

Developing nations merely seek the right to spray a small amount of DDT inside their homes once or twice a year to keep malarial mosquitoes out, but are being pressured not to.

Taylor: What are the environmental risks of DDT spraying?

Driessen: It is important to note that DDT functions not so much as an insecticide as a long-lasting repellant. You need only spray the huts once or twice a year and the mosquitoes will not enter. The few that enter will leave or die almost immediately. Limited indoor spraying is all people need.

There really is no substitute for this--nothing. How can anyone argue the harms of such limited indoor spraying outweigh the deaths of more than 100 million people per year?

Taylor: Are there any other effects that the DDT ban has on developing nations, in addition to the death toll?

Driessen: The reality of malaria is that hundreds of millions of people in Third World nations, and in Africa especially, spend much of the year sick, battling the disease. They can't go to work. They spend much of their time in hospitals. They spend a great deal of money paying for medical care.

So many people die from malaria, and so many more suffer the pains of the illness and the poverty that it brings.

Taylor: Any final thoughts?

Driessen: I would just like to make people aware that the Congress of Racial Equality and the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow work so very hard to make a positive difference in people's lives. As opposed to the environmental activists who sit in their offices opposing everything, we are out there on a person-to-person and village-to-village basis doing everything we can to fight disease and poverty.

Fred Thompson - Anti-Gu; False Conservative

2007-09-05T15:46:00.000-07:00

Pro-War conservatives & neo-conservatives -- looking for a man on a white horse -- have been salivating in hopes of a Fred Thompson run for the Presidency.

He skipped the debates to avoid tough questions, but in the days of the internet, this doesn't work quite as well.

The "Conservatives against Fred Thompson" blog does a good job of proving why no conservative Christian should support Fred Thompson for Pres.
( I'm afraid many probably will anyway; after all, he's better than Hillary)

http://conservativesagainstfred.wordpress.com/
There are proofs that Fred is pro-choice, pro-big government, and on the wrong side on MANY issues that conservatives care about

For instance, this piece that shows Thompson's anti-gun voting record in the Senate :

http://conservativesagainstfred.wordpress.com/2007/06/11/fred-thompsons-anti-gun-senate-record/

Fred Thompson’s Anti-Gun Senate Record

The Conservatives Against Fred Thompson volunteers have compiled a list of proposals supported by Fred Dalton Thompson in the senate that include Gun Bans, confiscations and limitations to the free speech of Gun Rights Advocates. Dates and bill numbers are provided so this information can be easily verified.
Summary:

1. Anti-gun terror bill (S. 735 )
On June 7, 1995, the Senate passed an anti-gun terror bill (S. 735) by a vote of 91-8. This version of the terror bill included: a BATF pay increase of $100 million; a provision authorizing “roving wiretaps” allowing government officials to wiretap one’s home if a person under investigation visits the home — even if one had no knowledge the person was a suspect; a weakening of the Posse Commitatus law to give the military more authority to get involved in law enforcement in certain circumstances; a grant of power to the FBI to conduct “fishing expeditions” and secure one’s financial and travel records in certain circumstances without any evidence one has committed a crime; and finally, the “Randy Weaver entrapment provision” which extends the statute of limitations for violations under the National Firearms Act of 1934 from three to five years. Thompson voted in favor of the bill.

2. Anti-gun terror bill — final passage
On April 17, 1996, the Senate passed the conference version of the anti-terrorism bill by a vote of 91-8. The final version of the bill (S. 735) contained several problems, including ones that will: order an “anti-hunter” rifle and ammo study; authorize a $40 million pay increase for the BATF (through the Treasury Department); potentially punish gun dealers (and individuals) for selling ammunition to someone they should have known would commit a violent crime; federalize many state crimes, thus tremendously increasing the scope and jurisdiction of the BATF; restrict the right of habeas corpus in such a way as to severely damage the ability of the courts to rescue honest gun owners who are unjustly incarcerated; allow the government to use “secret evidence” against certain individuals; remove protections against wiretapping wireless data; and require banks to freeze the assets of domestic groups in certain situations. Thompson once again voted in favor of the bill.

3. Taggants in gunpowder
On September 12, 1996, the Senate voted (57-42) to keep an anti-gun amendment off of the Treasury-Postal appropriations bill (H.R. 3756). The Kerry amendment — which Thompson voted for– would have made funds available for a study of tagging explosive materials, including black and smokeless powders (thus setting the stage for registering ammunition). The amendment also sought to further demonize firearms by selectively examining the misuse of firearms by criminals. The study would not examine the number of times firearms are used to save the lives of decent citizens.

4. Lautenberg Domestic Confiscation gun ban
On September 12, 1996, the Senate passed the Lautenberg gun ban as an amendment to the Treasury-Postal appropriations bill (H.R. 3756). The Lautenberg Domestic Confiscation Gun Ban disarms gun owners for small (misdemeanor) offenses in the home — “offenses” as slight as spanking a child or grabbing a spouse. This lifetime ban, in certain cases, can even be imposed without a trial by jury. It is also retroactive, so it does not matter if the offense occurred 20 years ago. Thompson voted in favor of the amendment.

5. Free Speech restrictions
On October 7, 1997, the Senate defeated an “Incumbent Protection Bill” (S. 25) which would have resulted in the government regulation of GOA’s newsletters and other communications with its members, while expanding the relative political power of the liberal media and other anti-gun forces. Senators failed in their effort, 53 to 47, to shut down a filibuster of the bill that was ostensibly aimed at reforming campaign finance laws.

6. Smith “Anti-Brady” Amendment
On July 21, 1998, pro-gun Senator Bob Smith (R-NH) introduced an “Anti-Brady” amendment that passed by a vote of 69-31. The Smith amendment would prohibit the FBI from using Brady background checks to tax or register gun owners. Further, the amendment requires the “immediate destruction of all [gun buyer] information, in any form whatsoever.” Finally, if the FBI disregards this latter provision, the Smith language will allow private citizens to sue the agency and collect monetary damages, including attorney’s fees. Thompson, in keeping with his tendency to usually vote for expanded federal police power, voted against this limitation of FBI registration of gun owners.

7. Anti-gun Clinton judge appointment
On February 11, 1998, the Senate voted 67-28 to confirm Margaret Morrow to the Federal bench. GOA vigorously opposed this Clinton-appointed judge, as she has not only taken strident anti-gun positions, she has showed herself to be a gun control activist.

8. Anti-gun Surgeon General
Having nominated anti-gun David Satcher for Surgeon General, President Bill Clinton was forced to wait several months as debate raged over his controversial pick. But on February 10, 1998, the President finally realized victory. By a vote of 75-23, anti-gun Republicans teamed up with the Democrats to kill the filibuster over the Satcher nomination. Mr. Satcher was later confirmed by a vote of 63-35. Since the key vote was to end the filibuster, that is the one that was rated by GOA.

9. Ending the filibuster of a major anti-gun crime bill
On July 28, 1999, the Senate ended a filibuster led by Senator Bob Smith (I-NH) — a filibuster intended to keep anti-gun crime legislation from progressing any further. After the 77-22 vote, the Senate moved to send the language of the anti-gun Senate crime bill (S. 254) to a House-Senate conference committee. Thompson voted to break the pro-gun filibuster.

10. Young adult gun ban
The young adult gun ban could severely punish parents who allow their kids to even touch a so-called semi-automatic “assault weapon.” While the amendment allows for certain exemptions, there are some imponderable questions which NO senator could answer, but which a parent would have to answer in order to avoid incarceration. For example: What is a “semiautomatic assault weapon”? The definition, plus exemptions, takes up six pages of fine print in the U.S. Code. Second, a child can handle a banned semi-auto if he is in the “immediate and supervisory presence” of a parent or if he possess a written permission slip from the parent. But what happens when, during a target practice session, the parent walks to the car to retrieve his lunch and the juvenile is no longer in the parents “immediate” presence and does not have a permission slip? A parent can receive jail time for this infraction. The provision passed the Senate on May 13, 1999, with Thompson voting in the majority.

11. Adopting the “Gun Control Lite” strategy
On May 13, 1999, a majority of Senators — including Thompson — defeated a motion to table (or kill) an anti-gun amendment introduced by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Larry Craig (R-WY). This amendment was offered as an alternative to gun control proposals being pushed by Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

12. McCain’s Incumbent Protection (2000 version)
By 59 to 41, the Senate passed S. 27, to amend the Federal Election Campaign Act to include Incumbent Protection provisions. The bill severely curtails the ability of outside groups such as GOA to communicate the actions of incumbent politicians to members and supporters prior to an election.

13. Incumbent Protection (2002 failed filibuster)
This was the key vote in the Senate regarding the odious Incumbent Protection bill in 2002 (H.R. 2356). The legislation finally became law that year. As he had on previous occasions, Thompson voted in favor of the bill.

New Campaign Web Site/ Blog

2007-08-24T07:29:00.000-07:00

Please check out the new Riley For Agriculture Commissioner web site/ blog :
www.RileyForAgriculture.com . Give me your thoughts & forward to all your friends.

I need your help

Water & Ag Help for the World's Poorest

2007-08-24T04:25:00.000-07:00

Anthony Mathenia -- a Missionary from our church is doing some of this same work in Ethiopia. I found this through a link on his Blog ( I would encourage you to sign up for a udates and pray for/ support their work)

This link is from a mission organization that seeks :

"A holistic Christian development program in Bolivia teaching the poor to drill their own deep water wells. We are sponsored by Southland Baptist Church of San Angelo, TX. USA/Hendricks Ave. Baptist of Jacksonville Florida/ World Concern Bolivia/Baptist in Bolivia and other caring churches and individuales "

They also do the practical work of offering " low cost windmills and low cost alternative, farming tools that help families grow more , stop slashing and burning, protect soils, wtih tools poor families can afford.." that helps " small farmers trying to move beyond subsistance poverty" as detailed on this link.

Interestingly enough, I read an article this morning on South America Daily about a controversy over the way that Peru is inefficiently using all the foriegn aid that has come in since the earthquake.

The contrast between bottom up, Christian charity and top down government aid could not be more clear. One uses meager resources & relationships to provide real help that has many unforseen positive side effects that go well beyond the originally intended goal. The other bureaucratically -- and usually tainted with mulitiple ulterior motives -- throws money at problems and uses the "bull-in-a-china-shop" approach that often has unforseen consequences in other areas and often creates whole new problems.

Yet, more often than not, people ( even conservative Christians) see a problem & immediately want the governement to "help".

My Neshoba Fair Speech

2007-07-26T11:06:00.000-07:00

For folks outside Mississippi this may not mean much, but the reason I have not been writing much this week, is because I had been working on my speech for the Neshoba County Fair.

Here is the text of it, I will follow up with a Blog post from Sid Salter ( The Clarion Ledger's political columnist)

Good afternoon, my name is Les Riley. I am the Constitution Party Candidate for Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce.

First of all want to express my gratitude to the folks here at the Neshoba Fair for giving me the opportunity to speak but in doing so, I must confess they have given me a dilemma as well.

I have a grand total of TEN MINUTES to tell you who I am, why I am running, what the Constitution Party is, why you should give consideration to an unknown candidate from outside the two major parties, with little name recognition and little money in the campaign coffers . And I also need to convince you that someone running for a Statewide office on a right wing third party under these circumstances isn’t a nutcase.

To make things more daunting, I -- running on an very conservative party platform -- have been seemingly flanked on my right by, of all places, the Clarion-Ledger. It is a truly strange political year when there are 13 third party candidates in a state that until recently was a one party Democratic state and the state’s largest newspaper -- who traditionally has never seen a problem that they didn’t believe could be fixed with more government programs & tax money has now called for the abolition of the Dept of Agriculture.

If I were politically smart, I would run with that and declare that I wanted to be Mississippi’s last commissioner of agriculture and would work to see the program eventually closed down.

However, the main reason that the Clarion Ledger editorials called for the elimination of the Department of Ag is not because they have suddenly become believers in small government, but rather they want the wise folks over at the legislature to have more funds freed up to use them on boondoggles more in line with the Progressive priorities of the folks in Jackson and because the Federal government already provides us with meat plant inspectors and other “helps” for us Mississippian farmers.

If any Department of Agriculture needs to have its influence cut back in Mississippi -- we need to start with USDA then move towards smaller government in Mississippi -- not the other way around. The USDA is the epitome of what Reagan said about government economic policy : if it moves, tax it, if it keeps moving regulate it, then when it stops moving, subsidize it.
This is not meant to imply that USDA doesn’t have some good folks working for them or that they are the worst monster that wanders from Modor on the Potomac to harass the rest of us . We certainly have a plethora of them.
***************************
I will try to answer the questions of who I am, why I am running, & what the Constitution Party is all in one quick pass here & then tell you what I would do if the Providence of God & the voters of the great state of Mississippi places me in the Ag Commissioner’s office this November.

I am a 8th Generation Mississippian. I am a sinner saved by the Grace of God and the blood of Jesus Christ. I have been blessed to be married to my wife Christy for 21 wonderful years and we have nine living children & two in heaven.

My family has produced elected officials for over 100 years.
With two supervisors, a 42 year chancery clerk & a 24 year sheriff among my very close relations, I grew up around small town Democratic politics. After my wife and I got married & I became a Christian, I left the backroom-deal-making of politics behind. Then, in the early 90’s we found out they had opened an abortion clinic near our home. We started going down to offer help & a real choice to some of the abortion-bound moms. Folks from our local pro-life group suggested that I consider running for office. Since Bill Clinton was president at the time, I joined the Republicans & ran for Horn Lake Alderman.

Within a couple of years, I began to see actions from the Republican Party nationally that were not in keeping with their conservative rhetoric -- the most egregious recent example of this is the doublespeak on illegal immigration that we get from our leaders in D.C.
I joined the CP -- then known as the Taxpayers Party in 1994 & have served as state chairman since 98. We are America’s third largest & fastest growing political party based on voter registration. We have been on the ballot in Mississippi for 15 years and have run candidates for everything from Supervisor to President. This year we have 9 excellent candidates for the legislature. We are Mississippi’s only 100%, no exceptions pro-life party. We have a platform & an agenda aimed at a return to limited, constitutional government. And, we’ve been right on immigration for 15 years.

I was recently asked what qualified me to run . I am , in some ways, the most qualified to represent rural Mississippi & agriculture. I grew up working on the DeSoto County crop farm that my father has been operating for 47 years. I majored in Agriculture for a while in college hoping to go back to work with my Dad, but like most Mississippi farm boys I had to leave the farm because of economic conditions created by farm, trade, economic, and monetary policies so bad that it’s hard to believe they are not aimed at driving people off the land.
Like most of Mississippi’s rural population, I have worked jobs in town & lived on a small acreage raising market gardens, chickens, & keeping some small livestock. I have worked at a grain elevator, for Soil Conservation Service, on a large scale cattle ranch, at a food distribution warehouse, managing supermarkets, as a buyer for a large food chain, in food sales, and I have fed 11 people on one income w/o accepting handouts from the taxpayers.

But the real reason I am running is because there is a view of culture & government that this country was founded upon & made us a free & prosperous people that no one else seems to talk about anymore.

The Declaration of Independence tells us that the foundation of this country was “there is a Creator; rights come from Him: and government exists to protect those rights.” They said things like “that governs best which governs least”. They expected government to do a handful of things -- at the most local level possible -- and otherwise leave people to “regulate their own affairs”.

This foundation of limited & legitimate government was also built upon Christianity, the family, and an independent agrarian culture not a worship of tolerance, money & progress. In the system we originally had there are some things government should do and some things it shouldn’t . Government at all levels has gotten so big and intrusive while at the same time failing at it’s most basic functions . . .

For one example of this , I have a friend who runs a small farm on a two lane country highway in Pontotoc County raising all natural chicken & grass fed beef for upscale restaurants & consumers around Tupelo & Oxford . This fellow is currently worried that a pending federal program called NAIS will soon put him out of business. NAIS seeks to force the registration of every single farm animal including a flock of yard chickens. This same friend recently got a letter from the District Attorney informing him that his mailbox was a few inches too low. He sat it aside, planning on getting to it a little later. Shortly there after, he got another letter threatening him to have his mailbox in compliance within 30days “or else” . I was riding by his house the other day listening to super talk and there were several new stories about the rampant crime in our capital city and a politician ringing his hands about not having the resources to find millions of illegal aliens. HOW ABOUT USING THE FOLKS THAT ARE COUNTING CHICKEN & MEASURING MAIL BOXES TO FIGHT CRIME & DEPORT A FEW ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ?

At the same time you listen to most office holders, people running for office, and talk show hosts you would think that government is our Messiah.
Promises to make Mississippi better by giving more money to the schools, or to the poor, or to the young, or to the old, or trying to recruit the next big industry. Liberal and conservative, everyone seems to believe that government exists to “help people” and as a force for good to make life better. The fact is the view that government should be a positive force to make the world better has proved to be the most deadly & oppressive philosophy the world has ever known. In fact, this utopianism led to over 170 million people being killed by their own governments in the 20th Century alone.

More directly related to the Commissioner of Ag’s race & my involvement in it. In the last 100 years we have had trillions of dollars spent by the USDA to “help farmers” and yet we have seen a commensurate decline in the number of farms and a gutting of out rural economy & culture. Thomas Jefferson believed that we would remain free so long as we remained a nation of family farms & small businesses in small towns and we would quickly lose our virtue & freedom once we moved to a focus on urbanization & centralization. He was right.
Ultimately :

Agriculture is too important to our economy & culture to trust to the politicians
IF I am elected I will seek to
1) Cut the Size and Scope of Government Drastically including a cut in the Department of Agriculture’s budget & a consolidation of functions that are currently being duplicated so long as these savings were returned to the taxpayers rather than turned over to the legislature to waste on something else
2) Promotion of Mississippi’s agriculture while providing oversight to avoid disasters like the infamous beef plant & protection of our citizen’s health from things like foreign fish labeled as catfish
3) Use Power of Dept of Agriculture to combat health risk of illegal immigrants working at meat
and food processing plants
4) Reassert the power of the State of Mississippi to interpose against the Federal government on behalf of Mississippi's citizens, using the 10th Amendment and other Constitutional limits to stand up against onerous federal regulations and other interferences into the affairs of Mississippi's farmers, rural communities, and other citizens.
5) Further interposition against those who would favor industry over agriculture and fight for Mississippi's family farms & rural communities and against the wedding of corporate & government interests in the name of economic development and the false Messiah of "progress". In essence, I will oppose selling out of our State to foreign corporations and Multi-National Bankers at the Expense of our liberty, or way of life, and our local small businesses & family farms
6) Abolition of Property Taxes on Mississippi Farm & Timber land privately owned by Mississippi Taxpayers as well as abolition of State Income Taxes on farm income produced by Mississippi families on privately held Mississippi farmland --- to be offset by increased use fees for out-of-state landowners and those who take farmland out of production to get Federal subsidies, as well as imposts and duties on foreign farm goods sold in Mississippi.
7) Use name and clout of ag commissioner to start PRIVATELY FUNDED farm research & education centers ( like the Agricenter in Memphis) modeled after the Missouri Small Farm Research Center
8) Use the "bully pulpit" of the office to show Mississippians how media filth & propaganda; moral & family breakdown; and the growth of Big Government has harmed rural Mississippi. And work for the bottom up restoration of the Christian Agrarian Culture that was the seedbed of America's liberty & prosperity.

If you are not pleased with the status quo that the two parties, big government, big business, & big media have been giving you, I would appreciate your vote & support in the November general election-- Vote Les Riley Constitution Party candidate for commissioner of agriculture & commerce.

Lt Gov Endorsement - Pro-life or Profit ?

2007-07-19T21:24:00.000-07:00

Power politics that uses the broken bodies of unborn children to build little mini-feifdoms on makes me want to throw up !

In the rapidly heating up Republican Primary for Lt Governor, Charlie Ross, has recently received the endorsement of Mississippi Right to Life.
Shouldn't be a big deal, right ? Charlie Ross has a solid pro-life record. Of course so does Phil Bryant. In fact Miss. RTL has endorsed both Ross & Bryant in previous elections. So why did RTL not remain neutral.
Could this be the answer ?

According to Right to Life's Barbra Whitehead : "All three candidates are pro-life. That will be on our Web site along with the information on all the other candidates that we sent questionnaires to. Jamie Franks and Charlie Ross both have pro-life voting records for these last four years. Phil Bryant did in the past when he was in the Legislature. All three of them have been endorsed by the PAC. This makes them all equal."
But Whitehead said that Ross got the endorsement because he was the "the best candidate for lieutenant governor from a right-to-life stand point."

Whitehead also confirmed that a key participant in selecting the slate of 396 Mississippi statewide and legislative candidates endorsed by the group and "the real backbone of our organization" is Scott Fischbach.

Whitehead said Fischbach is a member of the board of Mississippi Right to Life. Fischbach is also the leader of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life and lives in Paynesville, Minn. He is the husband of Republican Minnesota state Sen. Michelle Fischbach of Payneville, Minn.

In 2002, Campaigns and Elections Magazine named Fischbach a "rising star" in politics and in 2005 Minnesota Law and Politics dubbed Fischbach and his wife "king and queen of the red" in reference to their GOP influence.

Also in 2001-2002, Fischbach's political consulting firm, Coalition Productions, Inc., of Payneville, Minn., received $22,000 in payments from the Ronnie Shows for Congress campaign in his Democratic congressional race against eventual winner Republican U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering.

Earlier this month, the Ross campaign reported $7,261 in total payments of Fischbach's Coalition Productions, Inc., firm. Ross said he hired Fischbach because "he's worked in the past for Haley Barbour, Amy Tuck, Kirk Fordice and a lot of other successful Republican candidates."

Ross said he was not aware that Fischbach was on the board of Mississippi Right to Life when he hired him prior to getting the group's endorsement.

"I hired him because he gets results and is effective," said Ross. "There was no quid pro quo."

Fischbach concurred in that assessment and said he did not participate in the choice of Ross for the endorsement but that after meeting Ross "I decided I wanted to go with him."

But a March 10, 2007, memo from Fischbach to Bryant paints a different picture. In that memo, which Fischbach confirmed, he said: "This race is going to be decided in the next 120 days and I want to do my part to ensure your victory." Bryant didn't hire him.

Fischbach said that despite his offer to Bryant, his hiring by Ross had nothing to do with Ross getting the endorsement.

Sure. And I've got a bridge to sell you -- LR

Source

Marxist Get Religion

2007-06-29T10:38:00.000-07:00

Is it just me, or is this weird ?
http://www.religionandlabornetwork.org/

Farmers applaud Failure of Trade Talks

2007-06-26T12:50:00.000-07:00

GENEVA (AFP) - Farmers around the world have applauded the failure of free-trade talks despite a warning from World Trade Organisation chief Pascal Lamy that everyone is a loser.

"The time has come, not to say that it's a failure today, but to say that it's an opportunity -- for farmers, fishing communities or developing countries -- to have real public debate about food sovereignty," said Jose Bove, a French farmer and one of the standard bearers of the anti-Doha movement in recent years. . . .

In the United States, home to huge rolling farms, National Farmers Union President Tom Buis said: "From the US agriculture producer perspective, there was great fear that the trade round would severely tie the hands of the US government as it attempts to address the challenges facing rural America . . .

This is an old story ( linked below), but well worth reviving .

We would probably have a number of significant disagreements with some of these folks on the role of government, private property, and various other issues
BUT this is good news

While one would hope that we would see more of a move towards prosperous free market farming like Australia & New Zealand ( as well as Brazil & Argentina)

The governments of Australia and New Zealand, leading members of the 18-member Cairns Group of agricultural exporters, were lone voices of disappointment in the global farming community.

"It is very, very important to our agriculture industries and our manufacturing industries to get better access to the markets of the world and this is going to slow that process down," said Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile.

It is good to see the New World Order agenda slowed & frustrated (especially by yokels & peasants that many of these would be rulers in Brussells & New York sneer at)

Agriculture was at the core of the failure of the trade talks, as the EU, the United States and emerging nations accused each other for intransigeance.

And PRAISE GOD for this :

"Ministers were speaking to their respective galleries, but not to each other," said Jean-Pierre Lehmann, head of the Evian Group thinktank on world trade.

"It was abundantly clear that the sense of a global community required to provide the cement to the global market was absent, and is absent," he added.

One of the underlying trends in both on the American scene & in international geo-politics is the growing rift between rural/ small town & urban/ suburban interests.
The Red-Blue politcal maps that everyone keeps shoving in our faces is just the tip of the iceberg ( and it will begin to fissure more as more folks in flyover country realize that the Bush crowd just want them for votes, money & cannon fodder).

The limosine liberals ultimately want to empty the countryside and turn the Great Plains into a big buffalo park. ( sort of like Stalin).
So called conservatives see God's creation as nothing but "resources" and rural/ small town people as nothing but "cheap labor" to build make their brick-a-brack; consumers to fuel their "global economy" at Wal Mart; and "brave men & women" to fight their wars.
By and large our local customs & slow-paced lifestyles are seen as backwards.
Sadly, many well-meaning folks who want to help their communities play right into the hands of the "progressives" who want to turn their small towns into McTowns.

Ultimately, the way the elitists deal with the threat of an awakening among the "sheeple" in the countryside who just want to be left alone is to do what Marxist do best :
"Divide & Conquer"

They set the "big farmers" against the "small farmers". Organic vs conventional. Hunters against producers. Enviormentalists vs those who live on the land.

It works quite well . . .

To read the whole story & comment, click here

Tyson's Beef Plans

2007-06-26T12:44:00.000-07:00

A couple of decades ago, the three largest meat packers controlled 15% of the beef market. Now the three largest meat packers controll between 85 - 90%.
Combine this with the fact that Wal Mart, Kroger, and a couple of other Mega food chains along with the Mega Restraunt chains are all going towards more centralized buying, you end up with a pretty dangerous scenario for both food security and liberty. . .

This particular statement was chilling to me :
Tyson has always been less about happy suppliers and more about happy consumers. Like Wal-Mart, its big partner and neighbor a few miles up Interstate 540, Tyson is all about squeezing costs while it delivers value

Will the beef industry go the way of chickens ?

To read the whole article & comment, click here

League of the South on Immigration Bill

2007-06-26T12:35:00.000-07:00

LEAGUE OF THE SOUTH NEWS SERVICE

26 June 2007
For Immediate Release

Today, the U.S. Senate voted in favor of bill 1639 by a 64-35 margin. The passage of S. 1639 allowed what many call the Amnesty Bill to be revived and moved ahead for further debate. Many supporters believe that this crucial vote all but assures that the bill will finally be passed in the Senate and will be the first step in legalizing between 12-20 million illegal aliens already in the country.

A breakdown of the vote by State tells us clearly that the South overwhelmingly opposed reviving S. 1639. The combined vote in 14 Southern States (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia) was 11 in favor and 17 against. Thus nearly half of the 35 "no" votes came from the South while only 18% of the "yes" votes came from Dixie. Without figuring in the Southern vote, the finally tally would have been 53 "yes" to 18 "no," a striking non-Southern majority in favor of Amnesty.

The breakdown of votes in each Southern State:

Alabama: Sessions (R)-No Shelby (R)-No
Arkansas: Lincoln (D)-Yes Pryor (D)-Yes
Florida: Martinez (R)-Yes Nelson (D)-Yes
Georgia: Chambliss (R)-No Isakson (R)-No
Kentucky: Bunning (R)-No McConnell (R)-Yes
Louisiana: Landriue (D)-No Vitter (R)-No
Mississippi: Cochran (R)-No Lott (R)-Yes
Missouri: Bond (R)-Yes McCaskill (D)-No
North Carolina: Burr (R)-Yes Dole (R)-No
Oklahoma: Coburn (R)-No Inhofe (R)-No
South Carolina: DeMint (R)-No Graham (R)-Yes
Tennessee: Alexander (R)-No Corker (R)-No
Texas: Cornyn (R)-No Hutchison (R)-No
Virginia: Warner (R)-Yes Webb (D)-Yes

Once again, the Southern States have been out-voted on a measure that, should it eventually become law, would threaten the interests and well being of their citizens. As the League of the South has proclaimed now for some thirteen years, the South will not be governed in her own interests and by her own principles until she becomes an independent republic.

To contact the League of the South by phone: (800) 888-3163; e-mail: jmichhill@cs.com.

Wal Mart - The Evil Empire ?

2007-06-26T12:09:00.000-07:00

If you don't read Paul Vaughn's Josiah Project Blog, you are missing some good information . . .

In this five part series on Wal Mart, he lays the ax to the root of what ails us as a culture on several different fronts . . .

NRA Sells out Gun Rights AGAIN

2007-06-26T12:02:00.000-07:00

FYI : If you are still an NRA member, I would consider it about on the level with being a GOP member -- worth examining. . . the rest is just the typical low-rate/ slow-advancing tyrannical fare we've come to know & loathe.

http://www.lesriley.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=445

MAine Democrat Family Values

2007-06-26T11:03:00.000-07:00

I dunno, why in the world would we think that this country's going in the toilet ?
Why would we think that God was going to continue judging & cursing America ?
Why would anyone ever consider Southern secession or emmigration of Christian families as a viable option ?

Crazy extremists, I guess . . .

Oh ! She's a bad ole Democrat; that's the problem. I guess I should just support Boehemian Grove Bush like the other Chrisitans

Make sure you look a the link to get the full picture :

http://www.cclmaine.org/artman/publish/Maine_3/ME_Dem_Moran_Pagan.shtml

Maine Pagan Democrat Family Values
By Mike Hein
Jun 25, 2007 - 7:47:48 AM

Democrat County Chair Worships Witchcraft Goddess; Promotes Paganism
Democrat Chair Rita Moran
Rita Moran is well-known in Central Maine as the longstanding Kennebec County Democrat Chair and the the owner of Apple Valley Books at 121 Main Street in Winthrop. Less well-known is Moran's involvement in one of Maine's thriving underground pagan worship circles.

Self-described as being interested in "mythology and folklore" and "nature-based religion," Moran promotes and actively participates in the Immanent Grove Gnostic pagan worship group, located at 2328 Bog Road in Sidney, Maine. She is also involved with the Earthtides Pagan Network of Maine, and states publicly that pagans like her "...are polytheistic" and "...most of us are sincere pacifists."

Immanent Grove Pagan idol
Through her Apple Valley Books website, she promotes the expansion of the Immanent Grove pagan group. She sells "...locally crafted 'Book Jewels'...at Apple Valley Books and other locations, with a portion of sales supporting the Pagan Preserves Project." The "Pagan Preserves Project" is also referred to more vaguely by the group as the "Steeple Fund."

This fund raises money "...toward the long-term goal or purchasing property in central Maine for use by Pagans. What we [pagans] envision is a property of several acres within an easy drive of the Augusta area, suitable for multiple outdoor uses. Eventually, a multi-purpose building may be possible, but in the meantime, open circles, camping retreats, small outdoor fairs similar to [Maine's] Pagan Pride Days, outdoor shrines, and a labyrinth..."

Moran's Immanent Grove pagan-worshipping group is known throughout the New England region as having Maine's only shrine to Hecate, the Greek goddess of witchcraft and magic, at its Bog Road location in Sidney.

Perhaps most disturbing of all is the involvement of Moran's Apple Valley Books store in promoting her pagan-worshipping beliefs to Maine's children. Moran's store is one of only three bookstores nationwide that is listed as a children's resource on the " Pagans'n'Parenting" website. This website is a pagan resource for parents to involve their children in pagan worship. Moran's bookstore offers a 10% discount to parents who buy pagan wares (books, Tarot cards, etc.) from her for their children.

Moran's Apple Valley Books website not only proudly displays the Immanent Grove Gnostic pagan webpage, but also links directly to the Witchvox website, the pagan ritual website Omphalos, the pagan god website Temenos of Dionysos, and a " Teen Advice on Paganism" website.

Anglican Priest Slams Drab, Childless Feminazis

2007-06-14T12:47:00.000-07:00

Ya gotta love this; from the national web site of Wales

'Feminazis' blamed for declining birth rate Rhodri Clark, The Western Mail

A Swansea-based Anglican priest has branded modern women drab, dreary and graceless because they often wear trousers instead of skirts.

The Rev Kenneth Dobson, who lives in Swansea, also blames "feminazis" for the declining birth rate and says women are spending too much time at work instead of rearing children.

A feminist AM dismissed his comments yesterday as the "grumpy grumblings" of a person left behind by the world.

Mr Dobson, 78, who retired as a vicar because of recurring problems with wounds from naval service in World War II, fired his broadside at feminism in the latest issue of ManKind, magazine of the pressure group ManKind Initiative.

"It is truly incredible that it is not a group of men but an organisation of women that has emptied our homes of women, destroyed family life and families, and glories in the fact that the all-important female species is now a second-class male," wrote Mr Dobson, who grew up in Bargoed, in the Rhymney Valley.

"One remarkable proof of all this is to be seen in the way vast numbers of women today are dressed.

"Drab, dreary and often scruffy, the female has been driven into that most ungainly and often hideous garment - the trousers. The effect on their bearing and appearance is all too often appalling.

"Grace, charm, beauty, attractiveness and, above all, femininity have totally disappeared."

The Office for National Statistics had belatedly admitted that the birth rate was low, he wrote.

"It may have taken authority an awfully long time to admit it, but give them credit for doing so now, even if it will not earn them Brownie points from their feminazi friends.

"Today we have with us, and often in charge of us, females who are profoundly anti-feminine as well as anti-male.

"We have reached the stage where women, with all their God-given talents, are occupying themselves tapping computers in offices and shops so that they can help to provide ever more and more gadgets for their homes which they only briefly enter, and for their few children - as few as possible - to be provided with toys they seldom play with. . . . .

To read the rest, and comment, click here

The Future Belongs to the Fertile

2007-06-14T12:05:00.000-07:00

The Future belongs to the Fertile . . . .

God says that children are a blessing and fertility is a sign of prosperity.
Modern man says children are a burden and a huge cost to parents & the enviorment.

Death loving, children rejecting, self-worshipping, money grubbing moderns are proving God right on every continent.

From the Asia Times :

Desperate for a baby boom By Kalinga Seneviratne
SINGAPORE - Alarmed by a falling birth rate and its impact on the economy, Singapore badly wants its well-educated, career-oriented women to have more babies. . . .

To read the rest & comment, click here

When 2 Arms of the Terror War Collide

2007-06-14T08:15:00.000-07:00

Will Grigg tells the sad tale of the death of a Afgan war vet at the hands of the overagressive defenders of the Homeland Security Statism
Click Here

Death Lovers Killing Asian Females & Destroying Cultures ?

2007-06-14T07:58:00.000-07:00

The real irony here is that the cheif sacrament of feminism (abortion) is largely responsible for the demise of the female gender.

Infanticide, Abortion Responsible for 60 Million Girls Missing in Asia

There is a little-known battle for survival going in some parts of the world. Those at risk are baby girls, and the casualties are in the millions each year. The weapons being used against them are prenatal sex selection, abortion and female infanticide — the systematic killing of girls soon after they are born.

According to a recent United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) State of the World Population Report, these practices, combined with neglect, have resulted in at least 60 million "missing" girls in Asia, creating gender imbalances and other serious problems that experts say will have far reaching consequences for years to come. . .. .

. . . The imbalances are also giving rise to a commercial sex trade; the 2005 report states that up to 800,000 people being trafficked across borders each year, and as many as 80 percent are women and girls, most of whom are exploited.

"Women are trafficked from North Korea, Burma and Vietnam and sold into sexual slavery or to the highest bidder," Mosher said. . . . .

To read the rest, & comment, click here

Amnesty Advocates - The New Slave Traders ?

2007-06-13T15:31:00.000-07:00

Good piece from the Georgia Heritage Foundation

http://georgiaheritagecouncil.org/site2/commentary/scroggins-immigration-slavery060707.phtml

The New Slave Traders
– Commentary by Steve Scroggins

What do modern politicians have in common with New England shipping magnates of the 17th and 18th centuries? Both are willing to exploit people and enable other exploiters for their own personal gain regardless of the impact and consequences to their society and culture. The New England shipping magnates learned from their British cousins that trafficking in human cargo was very lucrative, in fact, enormous fortunes were made by the New England slave traders. More on this later.

Likewise, many 21st century politicians use their power and influence to thwart and discourage enforcement of U.S. immigration laws in order to gain a cheap labor source for the purpose of enriching their patrons and supporters who in turn give the politicians money which they use to hold onto power.

Thus, the New 21st Century Slave Traders are all American Presidents since 1986 in collusion with the U.S. Congress who have used various political tricks including budget deprivation, executive orders, ineffective rules of engagement and regulatory ham-stringing in order to thwart and render ineffective efforts to enforce U.S. immigration laws.

Terence P. Jeffrey's column entitled, "Yes, Immigration Is About Culture," once again hammered home for me the idea that selfish elitists seek to line their pockets at any cost (to others), and they could care less about the destruction it wreaks on America.

Jeffrey concludes his essay with the following observation...

Balkanization, fostered by the multiculturalist mindset, is a threat to American culture, but there is a greater threat behind the current drive to amnesty all illegal aliens and maintain a flow of new, exploitable, unskilled foreign laborers.

This is the ideology that wants to write into law -- in this nation founded on the principle that God created all men equal -- that there shall be a resident subclass of laborers constrained by government to work for wages so low no American would accept them. This ideology is a form of materialism that puts the pursuit of profit above all else. It is the inordinate love of money.

It would dissolve what is best about America in a culture of greed.
In others words, these New Slave Traders are importing new slaves to enhance their patron's bottom lines, and if that hurts American middle class workers, or undermines American security, creates social chaos...well, tough toenails. They don't care as long as they can throw out a smokescreen of lies to cover their complicity (fool the voters). Somehow or other, they manage to justify it in their own minds...or perhaps some are sociopaths without conscience.

Let's review the opposing forces in this moral struggle. These New 21st Century Slave Traders want to, in effect, legalize past illegal immigration with "amnesty" which will encourage more illegal immigration in the future...the proposed amnesty plan prevents the forced deportation or arrest of the criminal illegals but makes it highly unlikely the immigrants will jump through the hoops and pay the fines to become legal citizens....thus, they become the permanent non-citizen underclass. The Republican Slave Traders want to supply the cheap labor slaves to keep their financial backers happy, but would prefer those slaves didn't vote. More on this later

Post your comments here.

Next Step for National ID ?

2007-06-05T15:37:00.000-07:00

IF I were a Dispensationalist, I might think this is a huge step towards the "mark of the Beast".

Since I'm merely a lover of liberty, I think it's horrendous for completely different reasons . . .

Disgust w/ Congress-Bush = Hope for Freedom ?

2007-06-05T13:47:00.000-07:00

You won't hear this from the mainstream press, but this peice from the League of the South Blog is more proof that :
a) Americans may be more ready for a multi-party system
b) A Candidate like Ron Paul might do extremely well
c) Governing a multi-cultural, huge continental nation might well be impossible & the League of the South might well be onto something .

http://leagueofthesouth.net/rebellion/index.php/site/poll_congress_approval_same_as_bush/

Poll: Congress’ Approval Same As BushFriday, May 11, 2007
Clowns to the left of me—jokers to the right—what’s a voter to do? Looks like everyone in DC is corrupt as well as incompetent:

People think the Democratic-led Congress is doing just as dreary a job as President Bush, following four months of bitter political standoffs that have seen little progress on Iraq and a host of domestic issues.

Maybe—just maybe—both Democrats and Republicans can’t agree on action on the issues that are important to voters because the country has just become too big to manage. DC is so locked up in bureaucracy, and so focused on its own power and its own agenda that it’s impossible to represent the interests of 300,000,000 people. Could be that the only way out is to return to basics—the basics, that is, of what this country was founded on. No, not egalitarianism—that’s from the bloody French and even bloodier Russian and Chinese revolutions—but to the core American principle of the sovereignty of the people, of the right to “to dissolve the political bands which have connected them” and “ institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” What a nice ring those words have. Instead of repeating the same thing, of electing new would-be saviors to take the levers of power in faraway DC and save us, maybe it’s time we started saving ourselves. Maybe these folks have the right idea. And these.

It’s just a matter of time before things get so desperate that the only option will be to solve the problem rather than hoping it’ll solve itself.

Posted by Mike Tuggle on 05/11 at 08:07 AM

Comments ?

What's Good 4 Kosovo is Good 4 Dixie ?

2007-06-05T13:44:00.000-07:00

Kosovo wants to leave Serbia . . . the Serbs in Kosovo might leave if they do. . .
the Kurds want to leave Iraq . . .

Sounds like Thomas Jefferson & the CSA were onto something .

Serbs may leave region if Kosovo gets independence
Itar-Tass
May 4, 2007

UNITED NATIONS, May 3 (Itar-Tass) - In the event of granting independence to Kosovo there is a possibility that few in number Serbs living in the territory may leave it, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said in an interview to Russian journalists on Wednesday. Churkin visited the region with a delegation of the UN Security Council in order to familiarise with the situation there.

“It is perfectly clear that the Serbs do not accept the idea of Kosovo independence,” the diplomat said. The view that the Serbs will begin to return if the independence is granted is obviously ungrounded. “Possibly, those few Serbs that had earlier returned will start to leave,” Churkin added. In this connection the Russian ambassador to the UN expressed the view that in this situation it is necessary to continue talks. Moreover, “it is necessary to continue maintaining standards and it is necessary to continue to very seriously work on normalising the situation in Kosovo,” he said.

Therefore, it is inadmissible now “to just cancel resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council and proceed to something else,” as is proposed in the plan of US Secretary-General’s special envoy Martti Ahtissari. “In our view, first it is necessary to implement the decision that were adopted, it is necessary to have self-respect and only after that transfer to some other conversations,” Churkin stressed. “The conclusion at which we had earlier arrived that it is inadmissible to force the ‘Ahtisaari package’ on the parties gets a confirmation,” he added.

Commenting on the briefing of Permanent Representative of Belgium to the United Nations Johan Verbeke held at the UN Security Council, Churkin pointed out that “the understanding was expressed at the briefing of the fact that the Albanians and Serbs are not living together yet and fear and uncertainty persist in Kosovo.”

Comments ?

They see it their way; we see it ours, but we both see it slippin' away . . .

2007-06-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

They see it their way; we see it ours, but we both see it slippin' away . . .

Patriarchs or Patri-tyrants ?

2007-06-04T11:18:00.000-07:00

Patriarchs or Patri-tyrants ?

I am -- philosophy & in practice -- firmly in the much derided "Patriarchy" camp. We have believed, taught, and lived this way for over 15 years.

However, I think that often many men who hold to this same worldview & espose its principles bring shame on the movement -- and upon Christ -- by the way they put this into practice. ( I am sure I have been guilty of the same, but I have tried to both guard against this and repent when I realised I was slipping).

In dealing with children and even sometimes wives, Christian men --who would never buy into feministic or worldly philosophies -- are guilty of being guided & shaped by our godless culture by overreacting and acting as anti-feminist husbands and fathers rather than Biblical, Christ-honouring servant-leaders.

We are not to be wimps or pushovers or form our opinions on pseodo-Christian psyco-babble drivel. However, the answer is not to brow-beat our wives or children. It is not to rule with a iron rod. It is not to weary our children with tedious rules and unrealistic demands. Nor are we to humiliate & belittle our wives .
To do so is to invite the wrath of God, the resentment of our families, rank rebellion, driving our children away and earning the "see-I-told-you-so" ridcule of those who are skeptical of the Patriarchy movement.

Rather, we are to place our wives on a pedistal and win their joyful submission and respect with our love and self-denial.
Often men resent their wives refusal to follow when the real problem is failing to lead; but on the other hand, we are not called to lead them in a patronizing, smug manner. We are not called to rule them as we would a dog. We are to treasure them and love them as Christ loved the church. I have seen men tell their wives to do things in front of people just to prove a point.
[i]THIS IS NOT CHRIST-LIKE LOVE OR SERVANT LEADERSHIP.[/i]

Likewise, our children can be driven away from us and into rebellion if we misuse the authority we have over them. We want their hearts. We do not want them to be robots or trained bears to show off with.
To do so is to invite them to either run into the arms of the world or become little Pharisees who do not love Christ and will not build His Kingdom.

May He have mercy !
Leslie

To comment on this peice, click here

The Betrayal is Worse than you Thought

2007-06-01T08:12:00.000-07:00

No jobs for US citizens without Homeland Security approval
Press Esc | May 29, 2007

US citizens who apply for a job will need prior approval from Department of Homeland Security under the terms immigration bill passed by the Senate this week.
American Civil Liberties Union pointed out that the DHS's Employment Eligibility Verification System (EEVS) is error plagued and if the department makes a mistake in determining work eligibility, there will be virtually no way to challenge the error or recover lost wages due to the bill's prohibitions on judicial review.

Even current employees will need to obtain eligibility approval from the DHS Within 60 days of the Immigration Reform Act of 2006 becoming law.
"EEVS would be a financial and bureaucratic nightmare for both businesses and workers," said Timothy Sparapani, ACLU Legislative Counsel. "Under this already flawed program no one would be able to work in the U.S. without DHS approval - creating a ‘No Work List' similar to the government's ‘No Fly List.' We need immigration reform, but not at this cost."

The act allocates US$400 million for the implementation of the EEVS, but the Congressional Budgeting Office estimates the system to cost in excess of a billion dollars.

To Comment go here

Organic "yuppie chow" anyone ?

2007-05-31T03:20:00.000-07:00

Has big business turned organics into 'yuppy chow'? MICHAEL VALPY
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
May 30, 2007

SASKATOON — Organic food is being taken over by big business, marketed as "yuppie chow" for the privileged, and increasingly packaged with as little concern for the environment as conventional food production, says a York University academic researcher.

In a paper to be presented on Friday at Canada's largest gathering of social sciences scholars, Irena Knezevic says that most of the major organic brands on the North American market are now owned by large corporations such as ConAgra, Cargill, Kraft, Coca Cola and Pepsi.

She says their products - along with those sold by retail giants such as Loblaws and Wal-Mart - are turning organic agriculture into product brands that are becoming "a marketing tool more so than an assurance of quality, let alone an assurance of a fair and sustainable production process."

Officials from Loblaws and Wal-Mart were unavailable for comment last night. . . .

To read the rest & comment, click here

Christian Family Conference in Tupelo

2007-05-29T15:03:00.000-07:00

LesRiley.net Sponsors Christian Family Seminar in Tupelo -- June 7
http://www.lesriley.net/geoffbotkin.htm

An Evening with the Botkin's
Thurs. June 7 --7:00PM
Ramada Inn, Tupelo, Mississippi
854 N. Gloster St.
*(directions to hotel here or call 662-844-4111)
** PLEASE RSVP ASAP so we can make sure facilites are adequate**

** Hey folks -- I know this is short notice, but I just found out myself. If there's any way you can make it, it would be well worth your while. Please pass this on to any parents, grandparents, or pastors who are concerned about the family & the culture. This is particularly true for parents who want a different route than the empty and bad fruit bearing one offered by the world or even mainstream American Christianity.

Geoff Botkin & his family will be traveling through Mississippi on Thurs. June 7. Geoff called and asked if we'd be interested in having some sort of seminar or something with them. We are going to try to -- Lord willing -- pull something together for them. Please let me know ASAP if you would be interested in coming or helping.

Who are the Botkin's you might ask. Below is the modest bio Geoff sent me. I have added a few more things I know about them below that :

"Geoffrey Botkin is an author, international business leader and former pastor. He currently serves as an advisor to the Western Conservatory of the Arts and Sciences. He has been an articulate advocate of home education since 1981, when he produced America's first national television special on the subject, and is considered an expert on education issues faced by Western nations. He and his wife Victoria have five sons and two daughters, all of whom have been trained to be leaders in today's culture wars, media wars, and church growth controversies. His fascinating career includes ten years as a high-level political consultant in Washington. The family home is Seven Arrows Ranch in New Zealand. They are presently in the United States speaking about issues related to dynastic family discipleship and national reformation. Their children range in age from 12-26."

Geoff has been a leader & speaker at Vision Forum's Entrepenuer's Boot Camp and an instructor & judge the San Antonio Independant Christian Film Festival.
He & his family are filmakers who have produced many videos on a variety of topics.

Geoff's two daughters Anna Sofia & Elizabeth are very accomplished as well. They are the co-authors of the groundbreaking book for Christian girls --"So Much More,: the Remarkable Influence of Visionary Daughters on the Kingdom of God"; the Botkins have a passion for teaching young ladies how to live for Christ & for their families in this confusing, wicked age of feminism, materialism, selfishness & worldliness.They also have a pretty good blog for girls called Visionary Daughters.

** Daughters or parents with daughters should all try to come & pick up a copy of the Botkin girls' book

Anyway, among the topics the Botkins ome topics might cover as a family include :
*Courtship
* How daughters can advance the Kingdom of God from home
* Giving your children Multigenerational vision
* What every son and daughter needs to know about the fifth commandment
* Mistakes Dads make in raising sons

* Question/Answer
(At the end, you will have the opportunity to ask questions. )

* And we'll try to get Geoff to cover some aspects of Christianity, movies, and culture.

Please RSVP when you can. If you are within a couple of hours from Tupelo, I HIGHLY recommend trying to attend.

In Christ & for His Kingdom,
Leslie & Christy and nine other Rileys
www.lesriley.net
lesriley@bellsouth.net
(662)-489-6505

El Presidente' Slams Immigration Critics

2007-05-29T14:41:00.000-07:00

I saw a bumper sticker in Memphis in 2004 that said "Viva La Bush". Guess those folks are happy . ..

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55919

INVASION USA
Bush slams critics of immigration bill
President says opponents of Senate plan 'don't want to do what's right for America'
World Net Daily: May 29, 2007

Opponents of the controversial immigration deal forged by the White House and a bipartisan group of senators in private meetings "don't want to do what's right for America," President Bush said in a speech today.

"The fundamental question is, will elected officials have the courage necessary to put a comprehensive immigration plan in place," Bush told students and instructors at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Ga.

To read the rest& comment, go here

Immigration Video you should watch

2007-04-02T15:01:00.000-07:00

Immigration by the Numbers

Comments ?

Professor Predicts 'Hispanic Homeland'

2007-04-02T14:52:00.000-07:00

http://www.aztlan.net/homeland.htm

Professor Predicts 'Hispanic Homeland'
By The Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A University of New Mexico Chicano Studies professor predicts a new, sovereign Hispanic nation within the century, taking in the Southwest and several northern states of Mexico.

Charles Truxillo suggests the “Republica del Norte,” the Republic of the North, is “an inevitability.”

He envisions it encompassing all of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and southern Colorado, plus the northern tier of Mexican states: Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas.

Along both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border “there is a growing fusion, a reviving of connections,” Truxillo said. “Southwest Chicanos and Norteño Mexicanos are becoming one people again.”

Truxillo, 47, has said the new country should be brought into being “by any means necessary,” but recently said it was unlikely to be formed by civil war. Instead, its creation will be accomplished by the electoral pressure of the future majority Hispanic population in the region, he said.

Other UNM professors were skeptical

To comment, click here

Coulter: Right Winger or Republican Shill ?

2007-04-02T08:21:00.000-07:00

To Comment on this piece, click here
I found this through a link on Lew Rockwell & thought it worth posting . .

This comment in paricular was interesting :

Instead she exposes her listeners to endless tirades against “antiwar” Democrats, without even telling us that there are people on the social Right who disapprove of the present neocon-incited war in Iraq as much as the leftist bloggers.

Your thoughts ?

http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/war_whore/

War Whore
Posted by Paul Gottfried on March 30, 2007
A young friend of mine, Chris Preble of CATO Institute, recently recounted to me an incident in which Republican controversialist Ann Coulter made a statement on FOX (where else?) that Chris found “particularly disgusting.” When asked whether the U.S. should launch an attack on Iran, Ann, true to bad form, responded “Think how much fun it would be to blow up Iranians.” Having heard this Republican equivalent of Alec Baldwin say equally scandalous things for years, I was not surprised to learn of her most recent infantile outburst. Like Chris, I despise Ann but the reason for my distaste may be different from his. What disgusts me most about this loudmouth is the function she faithfully serves. Ann shills for the Republican Party, and the reason that she is the darling of FOX is that she is good at what she does. Far from being a “right-wing extremist,” as one might imagine from reading about her in the New York Times and the French press, Ann keeps the American Right from taking off as an electoral force. Her predictable answer to “godless” and cowardly Democrats is to go out and vote for generic Republicans or for Lieberman Democrats, a course of action that would allow us to kill more “towel-heads” while giving the social Left a more or less free hand domestically.

I am still waiting for Ann to attack W and Rudy for their views on immigration with the same savagery she regularly unleashes on Democrats. If Dame Coulter were a right-winger, instead of a Republican shill, she would be doing exactly this. Instead she exposes her listeners to endless tirades against “antiwar” Democrats, without even telling us that there are people on the social Right who disapprove of the present neocon-incited war in Iraq as much as the leftist bloggers. It is also never explained why starting a war against Iraq to bring its inhabitants women’s rights and the current American version of “democracy” is a “conservative” enterprise. I might find Ann minimally bearable if only she had the honesty to point out that the two parties are for the most part indistinguishable. They are both big-government, welfare-state parties, which truckle to designated minorities and which engage equally in such moronic rituals as pulling down Confederate flags to please black race-hustlers and the liberal media. If Ann told us that she hates both parties but considers the Stupid Party slightly less obnoxious than the Evil one, I would find her diatribes less disgusting. Unfortunately she spends her time whipping up her fans to vote for one of the two parties, as a serious conservative alternative to the other one. And she plays this game by impersonating what we are supposed to take for an authentic right-winger.

Coulter’s recent expression of pleasure at the thought of blowing up Iranians brought to mind the reaction of Mussolini’s son in 1936, as he watched bombs fall on Ethiopia, a country that the Italian army was then trying to conquer. The young Mussolini, a fan of the Italian Futurists, dwelled on the “beauty” of modern warfare, which he considered a source of aesthetic pleasure. Such musings raise the question of whether something that is artistically satisfying can nonetheless be morally offensive. But in Coulter’s case, there is no need to consider such a dichotomy between the ethical and the aesthetic. She and her sponsors are simply not subjects for intellectual debate. What they are about is not the unity or disunity of the beautiful and the moral but drumming up votes for Republican placeholders and hacks. In pursuit of this end, Coulter appeals to the vulgar and easily duped Right.

Free Trade & Slavery

2007-03-31T10:46:00.000-07:00

I normally don't place articles or links here from high traffic sites like World Net Daily, but I thought this was of interest . . .

THE NEW WORLD DISORDER

Report: 'Free trade' enslaves poor nations
Globalization benefits wealthy exporters at expense of farmers, workers, says Oxfam
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

WASHINGTON – So-called "free trade" agreements are not free at all, victimizing the poor while benefiting the wealthy, says a new report by Oxfam International, the coalition fighting poverty, suffering and social injustice around the world.

Nevertheless, a trend toward regional agreements and globalization continues, with an average of two bilateral or multilateral investment treaties being signed every week, according to the study.

"In an increasingly globalized world, these agreements seek to benefit rich-country exporters and firms at the expense of poor farmers and workers, with grave implications for the environment and development," the report said.

There are more than 250 regional and bilateral agreements in place today and many more are in the works, according to Oxfam. These treaties already govern more than 30 percent of world trade. . . . more

To read the rest & comment, click here

Immigration & L.A. Race War . .

2007-03-30T09:33:00.000-07:00

Coming to a town near you ?

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0%2C%2C2036580%2C00.html

Gang mayhem grips LA

A bloody conflict between Hispanic and black gangs is spreading across Los Angeles. Hundreds are dying as whole districts face the threat of ethnic cleansing. Paul Harris reports from the epicentre of America's new urban warfare

Sunday March 18, 2007
The Observer
>Father Greg Boyle keeps a grim count of the young gang members he has buried. Number 151 was Jonathan Hurtado, 18 - fresh out of jail. Now the kindly, bearded Jesuit mourns him. 'The day he got out I found him a job. He never missed a day. He was doing really well,' Boyle says.

But Hurtado made a mistake: he went back to his old neighbourhood in east Los Angeles. While sitting in a park, Hurtado was approached by a man on a bike who said to him: 'Hey, homie, what's up?' He then shot Hurtado four times. 'You can't come back. Not even for a visit,' says Boyle, who has worked for two decades against LA's gang culture.

Boyle's Los Angeles, where daily slaughter is a grim reality, is a world away from the glamorous Hollywood hills, Malibu beaches and Sunset Strip - the celebrity-drenched city that David Beckham and Posh Spice will soon make their home.

Boyle's Los Angeles is where an estimated 120,000 gang members across five counties battle over turf, pride and drugs. It is a city of violence as a new race war escalates between new Hispanic gangs and older black groups, each trying to ethnically cleanse the other. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who has referred to his city as 'the gang capital of America', has launched a crackdown on the new threat.

The latest front is the tiny strip of turf known as Harbor Gateway, a nest of streets between malls and office blocks. It was here, just before Christmas, that Cheryl Green, a 14-year-old fond of junk food and television, died. At school she had just written a poem beginning: 'I am black and beautiful. I wonder how I shall live in the future.' She never found out. As she stood on a corner talking with friends, two Hispanic members of the neighbourhood's notorious 204th Street gang walked up and opened fire, killing Green and wounding three others. They were targeted because they were black. Traditionally the outside view of LA gangs has been of black youths like the Bloods and the Crips and their countless subsets. It focused on the streets of Compton and South-Central and the culture of gangsta rap. But Hispanic gangs are in the ascendant, spreading across America.

They have names such as Mara Salvatrucha, La Mirada Locos and Barrio Van Nuys, and now the 204th Street gang - who made it clear that they will kill innocent girls to force black families off their turf.

Last year there were 269 gang-related killings in LA. Gang-related crime leaped 15.7 per cent last year, as most other types of crime fell. Hate crimes against black people have surged. With a rapidly growing Hispanic population, LA's gang culture is shifting. It means that being black in the wrong neighbourhood can get you killed.

Green's murder was the latest in a line of killings by the 204th Street gang. In 1997, 11-year-old Marquis Wilbert was killed on his bike. In 2001, Robert Hightower, 19, was killed. In 2003, Eric Butler, 39, was shot dead trying to protect his daughter from being harassed. There are streets that blacks have been forbidden to cross.

Green's death brought the gang war between 'brown and black' to public awareness. Next week a summit will be held called the Black and Brown Strategy Meeting which aims to head off a race war. 'All of the signs are there that a racial war is going to explode in this city,' says Khalid Shah, director of Stop the Violence, one of the groups organising the meeting. Memories of the 1992 Rodney King riots, which claimed 53 lives, remain fresh, but Shah believes that worse is ahead. 'It will be 10 times bigger than what happened after King. You are looking at an event which could not only paralyse an entire city but an entire state,' he warns.

Green's death sparked Villaraigosa's crackdown. The police took the unprecedented step of publishing a list of the 11 worst gangs, including 204th Street. They vowed to go after them with police, FBI agents and injunctions to prevent members meeting. An extra 50 police were assigned to anti-gang duties in San Fernando Valley. In south LA, a team of 120 detectives and 10 FBI agents has been set up. An extra 18 officers have been put into Harbor Gateway. But Angelenos have seen it all before. The city's history is littered with anti-gang initiatives, and what the new effort shows is just how widespread the gangs have become. They have spread into the San Fernando Valley, an area previously famed for suburban prosperity. Last year one area of the north Valley saw a 160 per cent rise in gang crime.

Publishing the 'hit list' could backfire. In the warped gang sub-culture, being on the list is a badge of pride. The lesson of the 204th Street gang seems apt. They number only a few dozen members in a tiny strip of city that was open fields half a century ago, but killing blacks has propelled them from obscurity to enviable notoriety.

'Putting out a list was a bad idea. Groups that don't make the list will want to be on it. They don't exactly think rationally,' said Alex Alonso, a gang historian who has testified in more than 100 court cases.

Yet there is hope. Alfonso 'Chino' Visuet, 23, was sucked into the gang life as a teenager. There was the lure of excitement and riches, the push of a difficult home life. 'People who join a gang are always running away from something. They flee to the gang,' Visuet says.

Visuet is not running any more. He works for Father Boyle's Homeboy Industries (homeboy-industries.org), a project that helps people leave gang life. It provides jobs, an education, pays to have gang tattoos removed and gives counselling. It aims to remove the circumstances that lead to crime: poverty, abuse and unemployment. It is staffed almost entirely by former gang members and has spun off a bakery, a silk-screen printers and a restaurant. 'You have to address the lethal absence of hope. I have never seen a hopeful person join a gang,' Boyle says.

It worked for Visuet. He starts college this autumn and wants to be a probation officer. 'I was on the edge of doing something that would ruin my life, either by doing violence or having it done to me. That's over now,' he says.

For the moment it is organisations like Homeboy Industries that pick up the slack. Father Boyle has a catchphrase: 'Nothing stops a bullet like a job.' But that can be a hard message to get across in a city whose political classes see gangs as primarily a police issue. That is not the way it is on the street.

Visuet despairs at the conflict. 'A brown gang member now just sees a black gang member. What they don't see is how that person comes from the same place they do. They might have a mother who is an alcoholic as well or a father who beats on them. They have the same story,' he says.

Boyle and others have mixed feelings about the crackdown. The road to LA's problems is littered with failed plans and policing, and incompetence. Over the past decade the main anti-gang scheme, LA Bridges, has spent more than $100m yet keeps no record of whether those it helps leave gang life or return to it.

Then there is political scheming. The list of 11 gangs, critics say, was drawn up deliberately to present a 'balance' by covering the whole city. Politicians use the presence of a high-profile gang to act tough on law and order and police chiefs use it as a way of upping manpower. 'It is a ridiculous list,' says Alonso.

LA is a city of two worlds - Hollywood and gangs. On a two-lane highway that roars through the middle of Harbor Gateway, a few hundred yards from where Cheryl Green was gunned down, there is a billboard for a new TV show called Sons of Hollywood. It shows three rich young men against a backdrop of palm trees. It claims to be a 'reality' show, but for most of the impoverished, racially torn citizens it is nothing more than a fantasy.

Bonhoffer, A Heretic ?

2007-02-10T21:03:00.000-08:00

After a long absence -- due to a overly busy work & home life -- I thought coming back with a little controversy might perk up some interest ?

This article accuses Dietrich Bonhoeffer of heresy & the church of being fooled by him . . .
http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/bonhoeffer/general.htm

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

To read More and comment click here:

Miss. LoS: Defund Muslim Museum in Mississippi

2007-01-16T07:38:00.000-08:00

Press Release :

Mississippi League of the South Calls for Defunding of Muslim Museum in Jackson
Tue. Jan. 16, 2007 AD

Thomas Jefferson, in the Virginia Declaration of Religious Liberty said "To require a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he himself disbelieves is sinful and tyrannical."

After years of having their Christian heritage, symbols, and traditions pushed out of the public square by Marxist lawyers in the ACLU & their allies in the judiciary, Mississippians are now being forced to pay for black Muslim propaganda & mythology. According to their web site, the "International Museum of Muslim Culture" http://www.muslimmuseum.org receives funding from -- among others : The City of Jackson; Hinds County; Jackson Convention & Visitors Bureau; the Mississippi Arts Commission; and the Mississippi Division of Tourism.

These agencies are funded with tax dollars. Imagine the "Separation of Church & State" outcry if a "Mississippi Southern Baptist Evangelism Museum" received taxpayer money.

In our society, the owners, supporters and free-will financial backers of this Muslim Museum are welcome to believe whatever historical fantasies and religious blasphemies that they chose. They are free to try and convince others of the merits of their position. They are not, however, free to force the Christian majortiy in the state to pay for it.

Beyond this, in a time when Mississippi's young people are sent to the far reaches of the world to bleed and die in the name of fighting Islamic terrorism, it is unconscionable for the state of Mississippi to be funding a museum that promotes the religion that is the foundation of this terrorism. Mosques and Islamic Centers have repeatedly been found to have ties to terrorists. Even if this not the case, the great Southerner, Richard Weaver warned us that "Ideas have Consequences".
Therefore, we call on the Mississippi Legislature to immediately cut off any & all taxpayer funds to this religious organization, and Mississippi citizens to hold them accountable -- at the ballot box & in the courts -- if they do not.

P. Leslie Riley, Jr.
Mississippi League of the South
www.lesriley.net

Mississippi Education Fiasco & other News & Comment

2007-01-12T04:01:00.000-08:00

Buchanan warns : Bush to set to expand war
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If the Clinton administration had fired a Navy chaplin for praying in Jesus' Name, the leadership of the Christian Right would have been in an uproar. But when Lt. Klingenschmitt is left " homeless, jobless, and without the pension " he earned, hardly a peep is heard.
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MISSISSIPPI'S EDUCATION FIASCO & MONEY PIT
Meanwhile, here in Mississippi, the State Superintendant of Education, the education lobby, and our legislature show just how out-of-touch with reality we have become. Consider some of the following statistics :
The performance of Mississippi's government schools & students are at the bottom or near the bottom in every category. The high school dropout rate is near 40%. Skill levels and preparedness of graduates is terrible. This doesn't even include problems with safety and morality. AND Mississippi -- in the buckle of the Bible belt -- has had numerous cases of sexual abuse of students by teachers. A number of districts are bankrupt or worse so mismanaged & out-of-control that they have had to be taken over by the state.

What is the response of Mississippi Superintendant of Education Hank Bounds -- besides asking for more money? In true politician fashon, he is trying to deflect attention from himself. Mr. Bounds has mentioned on several occasions that they want to more closely scrutinize homeschoolers. With meager resources, without the near worshipful support that Pharoh's schools receive, and oftentimes in the face of oppostion -- homeschoolers far out perform Mr. Bounds' students on every front.
He says he doesn't want to go after good homeschoolers, but those parents who are just using homeschooling as a cover and who are not really educating their kids at all. Let's leave aside that these neglected, abused homeschool straw men are rarely -- if ever -- produced; Mr. Bounds has tens of thousands of undereducated, illiterate, abused, mistreated, and morally corrupted children directly under his controll -- as well as hundreds of incometent teachers and administrators.
Perhaps if he would make some headway on fixing that and stop pretending like he's in a postion to scrutinize and criticize those that he should be praising and trying to catch up with .
Oh, and by the way, while Mississippi ranks last or nearly last in school performance, guess who the highest paid State Superintendant in the nation is : none other than our own Mr. Bounds.

What Mississippi's education lobby & teacher's union seeks in the face of this mess is, once again, more money. And our legislature is more than happy to comply. The buzzword right now is to "fully fund" education. What spin. What a farce. I cannot think of any words that are not off color to describe this. It is both outrageous and laughable.
Consider the following:
* Ten years ago, the last time we "fully funded education" the average daily attendance in Mississippi's government schools was just well over 505,000. The budget they asked for was around $ 868 million. Now in the 2006/ 2007 school year, student numbers have dropped to just slightly over 493,000. What does this year's budget call for ? Try $ 2.2 BILLION.
* Where is all this money going beyond Mr. Bounds's bloated salary ? If you consider that Lousiana has 4.8 millon people and 68 school districts while Mississippi with 2.8 million people has 152 school districts you can begin to see where some of this money is going.
Lowdes County has 4500 students and a superintendant that earns $110,000 while the tiny community of Bentonia has its own district and a grand total of 311 students -- the superinedant of this district makes $91,000.
* While Demanding more & more money, the education lobby & their supporters in the legislature seem oblivious to the fact that 63% of every tax dollar already goes to education . . .

(In the real world, if you are doing a poor job, you get fired or otherwise reprimanded. Educrats, however, get to blame the taxpayers & demand more money)

All this foolishness has finally got a few people in the legislature & media saying :
"ENOUGH IS ENOUGH !" And calling for accoutability.

However, very few are "laying the ax to the root". Even most Conservatives tout themselves as defenders of government education & favor pouring more money into it, they just seek efficiency & results.

The fact is that education is not the job of governement.

God gave the duty of training children to parents & the local church. A family also has the right to use their own money ( or voluntary charity) to hire tutors/ private schools/ etc to instruct their children.
Marx belived that governement should teach children & undermine the family/ church.

Rushdoony correctly told us that : "All ideas are inherently religious". And Thomas Jefferson stated : "To require a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he himself disbelieves is sinful and tyrannical."
Government education -- therefore violates the First Ammendment on at least two fronts.

Beyond this, if we examine the history of "public" eduation in America, we will see that it was a brainchild & great hope of early socialists & humanists with the goal of undermining the family, Christianity, and preparing people to accept socialism.

Politically, it is long past time that government schools have their funds CUT not increased; we should be working towards the elemination of public schools and their replacement with home, Christian, & private education.
( I highly recommend a visit to The Separation of School and State's excellent web site )

In the meantime, if you are a parent, please consider removing your children from government schools and home schooling them or putting them in a good Christian school. If you are not, or have a burden for this, please consider helping someone who lacks the ability or funds do the same.
See Exodus Mandate for more information
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Finally, as we transition this site from just my personal blog to a news & commentary site, we will be open to submissions from other like-minded folks. Please e-mail lesriley@bellsouth.net if you have stories, events, commentary or other stuff for consideration.

As always, comments are welcome here or over on our much more in-depth Discussion Board.
Many more in depth articles -- as well as a little more about who we are & what we're about is avaialble at the main site - LesRiley.net
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MORE TO COME

ANNOUCEMENT -- Alteration in BLOG/ Site

2006-11-10T08:15:00.000-08:00

For those who have linked to this Blog from another site, I am going to leave this post up indefinitely -- this does not mean that there's nothing new . . .
We place new articles on theLesRiley.net main page weekly & new posts on the Discussion Board daily. Please click here or here what we're up to.

Hey folks,

When I first set up my web site and then this Blog I was updating the Blog almost daily & any articles I added to the main site were also placed here on the Blog.

Once we added the message board, I cut way back on my Blog entries and even reduced the number of entries to the main site.

Now we will be making one more -- hopefully -- final alteration.

I will keep using the main site for longer articles, event announcements, book sales, etc and the Discussion Board for flotsam and jetsam about anything and everything as it comes up.

Sometime in the next few weeks, I intend to convert this Blog into a twice weekly "News and Commnetary" site along with an e-newsletter for subscribers.
I will -- along with a couple of other folks -- be posting links to news articles of interest here along with occasional commentary/ analysis of the story from an unappologetically Christian(first), Biblical, Patriarchal, Calvinistic-Baptist, Constitutionalist, Southron, Agrarian, Pro-Life, Post-Mil Perspective.
The news stories will be -- like the site -- diverse and unique and often about stuff that might seem obscure.

Initially, we will be covering Mississippi & Southern stories on Tuesday & "National"/ International news on Friday.

I will send out the initial e-mail about this when a few alterations have been made to the look and layout of the Blog page to make it more condusive to the new format. . . .
Again, in the meantime, please vist the main site at LesRiley.net and Discussion Board regularly to get ramblings & rantings on various topics -- from history to headcoverings, abortion to agrarianism, from immigration issues to doctrinal disputes and from faith, family, & freedom to really important stuff like raising tasty tomatoes & adorable children.

As always, your comments are welcome.

Leslie

Those who hate Me love death

2006-09-07T06:26:00.000-07:00

It just keeps getting worse . . .

US Government to Authorize Nazi-Like Human Experiments; Pro-Family Law Center Poised for FDA Challenge
TEMECULA, Calif., Sept. 5 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Pro-Family Law Center (PFLC) of Southern California has just discovered that the United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is considering new rules that would allow scientists and doctors to conduct "emergency research" on unconscious or other incapacitated patients. According to PFLC President, Richard D. Ackerman, "This is reminiscent of the days of Hitler and Dr. Mengele. The idea that research can be performed on a human being without informed consent is antithetical to the very meaning of human self-determination and dignity."

Such "emergency research" could be conducted without any informed consent from the patient or their designated representative. The proposed regulations known as "Guidance for Institutional Review Boards, Clinical Investigators, and Sponsors; Exception from Informed Consent for Emergency Research" are set for public hearing on October 11, 2006. According to the FDA, "Under the regulations in 21 CFR 50.24, and the conforming amendments . . . an exception may be requested from the requirement to obtain informed consent from each subject, or the subject's legally authorized representative, prior to enrollment in a clinical investigation. The narrow exception applies to emergency research . . ."

PFLC does not accept the idea that the U.S. government can order any human experimentation without valid informed consent. PFLC is urging all Christians, Jews, and patients' rights advocates to challenge these proposed regulations.

Ackerman says, "PFLC considers this newest battle to be one of the most important of our times. If a human being can be experimented on with absolutely no consent, we have lost all sense of human dignity. While our Nation long ago lost much of its respect for preborn children, we attempted to hold on to the principles of informed consent and human dignity for adults. These new regulations would chip away at the little remaining respect that our Nation has for human life. Enforcing the concept of informed consent as against the government is as important as any other human rights battle that has been fought in the past."

PFLC will be issuing an opinion letter to be submitted to President Bush and the FDA and will be organizing a petition drive to stop the FDA from implementing Nazi-like experiments on our citizens.

Those who wish to assist in this fight can make a contribution toward the PFLC petition drive and legal research for the opinion letter. Alternatively, anyone can express their own views on this issue to:

Carolyn Hommel
Good Clinical Practice Program (HF-34)
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, MD 20857
(301) 827-3340

A Government Program that Works ?

2006-09-07T06:23:00.000-07:00

We have recently added the essay below "USDA: A Government Program that Works?" to lesriley.net. Please check it out & let me know what you think . . .

USDA: A Government Program that Works ?
by: P. Leslie Riley, Jr.
www.lesriley.net

** "I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries as long as they are chiefly agricultural; and this will be as long as there shall be vacant lands in any part of America. When they get piled upon one another in large cities as in Europe, they will become corrupt as in Europe." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1787. Papers 12:442

** "I think it's important to recognize the difference between economic development and community development. A new Wal-Mart coming into the community might be considered economic development by some people. Economic development according to the USDA is a job for a bankrupt farmer. " --Mike Callicrate, a St. Francis, Kansas cattleman

** Our current US Under-Secretary of Agriculture for "Rural Development" is Thomas Dorr -- a former Farmer & Federal Reserve Board Member (as well as brother of our good friend & co-laborer, Paul Dorr). Has stated that he believes "the economically ideal Iowa farm would be 225,000 acres in size." Using that parameter and the latest US Census of Agriculture data, making Dorr's ideal farm size a reality would cut the number of independent farms in Iowa from roughly 90,000 currently to 139, driving 99.8 percent of farms out of business. (There are currently 31,166,699 acres of farmland in Iowa, averaging 343 acres per farm.)

Friends,

We are constantly discussing things our local, state, and particularly "federal" government does that they shouldn't as well as government programs that don't work.

Setting aside for a moment whether or not the government should be involved in agriculture ( you would be hard pressed to prove to me that it should), let us consider the US Dept. of Agriculture ( USDA from here). I would argue that this is actually an example of a government program that works, but the question is " works for what?".

What we're sold is that the goals of the USDA are to help family farmers, strengthen rural America, and ensure an economically viable/ environmentally sustainable agricultural sector.

If these are the true goals, then the USDA has been an absolutely colossal failure. The number of true family owned farms continues to plummet. Rural America is withering except in places where they are becoming more urbanized are have the temporal benevolence of multi-national corporations & our leviathan government. EVERY commodity that is subsidized and micromanaged to keep prices high and oversupply down have low ( sometimes artificially low) prices & mountains of carryover. There is very little opportunity for young people in rural America in general & production agriculture in particular -- so not only does an aging and tired farm country lose it's brightest and best hopes for the future, but family ties and tradition are being left for refuse as the young move on for "bigger and better things".

If the goals of the USDA are as stated above, how can I say that it is a government program that works ? I believe this is true because I don't believe that the altruistic goals of "helping family farmers, strengthening rural America, and ensuring an economically viable/ environmentally sustainable agricultural sector" are the USDA's main functions. In fact, it is hard to believe that this big of a mess could be made if not by design. . .

Am I saying this is a conspiracy? Not exactly. Am I saying that every employee of the USDA & every politician that supports ag programs has some dark intent ? Certainly not. I have many friends and know of many more good folks that work for USDA . . .

However, let us consider that there may be some "other competing interests" that may also be having an impact on the ag policy of the USDA, the Land Grant Colleges, and the large agri-business firms.

What are some other goals of the USDA & the large multinational agribusiness firms whose bidding the Ag Department often does ? Can we assume an agenda based on results ?

We can unless we assume that there are absolutely blind & witless people running these programs & corporations.

**********************************************************************************

What is the true Agenda -- based on results, and who is over the people who are over farm policy?

READ THE REST HERE

Bush Betrays Pro-Lifers again & again . . .

2006-08-22T13:45:00.000-07:00

Bush Betrays Pro-Lifers again, and again . . . .

Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me
Fool me this many times, it's starting to get pathetic

President Bush Approves Over the Counter Early Abortion Pill, Pro-Life Base Decries Move
By John-Henry Westen

WASHINGTON, August 21, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - For his pro-life supporter base, President George W. Bush stepped into one of the biggest political landmines of his Presidential career today with his approval of over the counter status for the abortion-causing morning after pill Plan B.

A press release by Human Life International underscored the seriousness of the move as it was titled, "President Bush Files for Divorce with Catholic Base." Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, president of Human Life International commented, "President Bush's implied support for the abortion-causing drug Plan B is completely inconsistent with his recent veto of the embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) funding bill. What the president apparently fails to realize is that Plan B kills the same innocent unborn children that the ESCR process does."

At a White House press conference this morning, the President was asked by Bill Sammon a reporter from the Washington Examiner about Plan B and his new FDA commissioner who supports its over the counter status. "Mr. President, some pro-life groups are worried that your choice of FDA Commissioner will approve over the counter sales of Plan B, a pill that, they say, essentially can cause early-term abortions," said the reporter. "Do you stand by this choice, and how do you feel about Plan B in general?"

Read the rest here

Rapture Watcher's Paradise

2006-08-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

If any of you go to this site, I hope it's just for laughs :

http://www.raptureready.com/index.php

Quincy Adams book on Baptists

2006-08-22T09:35:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've not posted for a while. I have been working on adding content to the main sute, the Discussion Board has taken off like gangbusters, and we actually have a real life as well.

Last weekend we spent a few days with an old friend in South Mississippi.

His personal libarary is upwards of 1100 or 1200 books & his wife & son have hundreds more. 90%+ of his books would fit in the non fluff category.

Being a family full of biblophiles, we spent a good bit of our free moments over the weekend pouring over the wall-to-wall/ floor-to-ceiling bookshelves .

As is often the case, a little book in the corner caught my eye. It was a small paper back called "[u][i]Baptists: Thorough Religious Reformers[/i][/u]" written by John Quincy Adams. (yes, [i]that[/i] John Quincy Adams)

I skimmed it and it looked interesting enough that I searched online & found it. I will order this & report back. I assume its going to be very good since I read that Mr. Spurgeon had used it as a text book in one of his college classes . . .

I post this first to ask if any of y'all had heard of/ read this book & what you thought of it.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, I think it is very telling that in the mid-1800's a former President of these united States -- and the son of one of the founders who was also a President --- considered it a worthwhile & important use of his time to write a book of this nature. . . .

I think it says a great deal about the culture of that era & its foundations.

Would to God that He would see fit to birth such a culture again.

Leslie

Islamic Extremism: Food for Thought

2006-08-11T04:15:00.000-07:00

I found this statement, by a fellow named Tim Froehlke on the American View message board & thought it was interesting enough to ask permission to post it both here on my Blog & here on the message board for your comments . . . I may even use it in a speech I'm giving . . .

A danger worse than Islam
The time has come to examine the use of the phrase “Muslim extremist”. This is used to describe those who commit acts of terror. This phrase allows us to think that the situation we are dealing with is temporary and can be resolved as long as we deal with the few aberrant fanatics whom could be considered “extreme”.

To understand the dynamics of the times in which we live, we need to understand that we are in essentially a three way religious war. The key to understanding this is to understand secularism as a religion instead of the absence of religion. Secularism could be called the worship of man in general and self in particular. It can be seen to be replacing Hinduism and Buddhism in one generation in India and China.

Secularism has defeated Christianity in Europe and has it on the ropes in America. Secularism thinks it will defeat Islam by the same methods it used against Christianity, chiefly government and education.

Secularists are well established in the media and refer to anyone who would oppose what to them seems the obvious inevitability of their religion as extremist. For example, they might say, “George Bush had to appease the “right wing extremists” in his own party”.

They cannot think that Islam, as a religion, is the cause of trouble because they disfavor thinking in terms of right and wrong. They may also recognize at some subconscious level that if Islam as a religion is “wrong”, then Christianity may be “right”.

We need to elect true Christians as political leaders who eschew the relativism of the secularists and have the courage to call Islam evil. The only time in history Islam has failed to kill its neighbors is when it lacked the technology, numbers, or will for war.

We need to leave the fight against Islam to the European secularists who think they can make a deal. We need to focus our attention back in America and fight the fight against the secularists in their jihad against our Christian heritage.

Leave comments here or discuss here

NEW DISCUSSION BOARD

2006-08-04T15:59:00.000-07:00

CHECK OUT OUR NEW DISCUSSION BOARD . . .

Dear Friends,

Bruce Murch has just finished upgrading my web site, lesriley.net & setting up my discussion board.

I have gotten alot of comments on the articles via e-mail & personal conversation, but the Blog has been an unweildy method of discussion.

I am going to post links to the articles here, write some original stuff specifically for the board, and invite others to do the same . . .

Please consider registering & putting your two cents worth in HERE

Leslie

The Saved Generation

2006-07-26T12:52:00.000-07:00

The Saved Generation

by Ben House

In the early 1920s, Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald were dubbed "the lost generation". During these years, they lived for a time in France, formed a friendship, nurtured each other’s literary careers, and traveled about Europe. Across the channel from Hemingway and Fitzgerald, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were beginning their careers as teachers and scholars at Oxford University. In time their famed literary friendship began around an informal group called the “Koalbiters” where they gathered to read Old Norse myths in the original languages. (Cont.)

Read the entire article, continued here at LesRiley.net.

SOCIAL SECURITY: Idolatry and Slavery

2006-07-26T12:31:00.000-07:00

By Pastor Matt Trewhella

The Bible addresses all matters of life. In this pamphlet is an outline establishing that the Bible stands in opposition to the Social Security system enacted in America in 1935. Social Security is an unBiblical, idolatrous system for the following reasons:

NOTE: The following is only a compiled list of the reasons given by Pastor Trewhalla in his article, here.

1. Social Security is a violation of the 1st Commandment.

2. Social Security is a violation of the 10th Commandment.

3. Social Security violates God’s work ethic.

4. Social Security violates the jurisdiction of the Family and the Church.

5. Social Security undermines the Family.

6. A person who numbers his child with the State is giving him or her a mark.

7. A person who numbers his child with the State renders unto Caesar that which is not Caesar’s.

8. A person who numbers his child with the State enslaves his child.

Read the entire article on my website, here.

The Protest of a Protestant Minister Against Birth Control

2006-07-26T11:35:00.000-07:00

by Rev. Matthew Trewhella

Sunlight was just beginning to break over the darkness of the morning as my wife and I headed toward the entrance of the cold brick-faced building. Fear and apprehension gripped me each step of the way. A thousand questions and thoughts raced through my mind. "How much pain will there be? Why the heck did I ever do this in the first place? Maybe I should just leave."

As I entered the door, I figured these were my last moments to bolt and run. I thought back to when I had done something similar six and a half years earlier and remembered the words that blazed across my mind when the procedure began--I will never do this again! Yet there I was, about to have a vasectomy reversal. What could possibly bring a man to the point where he would be willing to go under the knife once again?

Read the rest of the article here.

Five Reasons Why Christians Should Not Obtain a State Marriage License

2006-07-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

by: Pastor Matt Trewhella

Every year thousands of Christians amble down to their local county courthouse and obtain a marriage license from the State in order to marry their future spouse. They do this unquestioningly. They do it because their pastor has told them to go get one, and besides, "everybody else gets one." This article attempts to answer the question - why should we not get one?

Read the entire article here.

What do you think of this Election?

2006-07-26T10:50:00.000-07:00

The Bible doctrine of election and predestination is a doctrine seldom if ever heard by many people and many who have heard of it usually have misconceptions about it.

Briefly stated, God, before the foundation of the world, chose (elected) a certain number of persons and predestinated (predetermined) them to eternal glory. This choice of God is not based upon any foreseen good works in the one being chosen but solely according to the good purpose of His will. (Eph 1:4-5, Rom 9:11)

Sadly, many who are familiar with this doctrine have concluded or been taught that election and predestination keeps penitent sinners out of heaven. God forbid! In fact, a repenting sinner who comes to Christ, trusting in Him alone, is a sure sign that Jesus Christ has redeemed him. God’s electing grace through the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ is the only means whereby any sinner is eternally saved. (Rom 3:24)

Why is it that a sinner can only be saved by God’s electing grace? It is because man in his human nature will not and cannot choose God. (John 5:40, I Cor 2:14) The first man Adam was made sinless but subject to fall. Had he chosen to obey God and refused the forbidden fruit, he would have lived eternally on earth. But Adam sinned and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. (Rom 5:12) The day Adam sinned he not only died a natural death but the Bible says he died spiritually the same day and that spiritual death then passed upon us all. (Gen 2:17, Rom 8:7-8) Simply put, there is not a single person who is capable of believing or obeying Christ in a saving way because he is spiritually dead.

When Paul wrote to the believers at Ephesus, he said they had been dead in trespasses and sins but have now been quickened (made alive) with Christ (Eph 2:1, 2:5). How did these once dead people become quickened with Christ? It was through the power of God, the same power that resurrected Christ from the dead. (Eph 1:19-20)

Jesus taught in John 3:3-5, that before we can see or enter the Kingdom of God, we must first be born again. He states that this new birth, which makes us alive in Christ and able to see and enter His kingdom, is through a sovereign, invisible, irresistible act of the Holy Spirit. (John 3:7-8)

All who are descendents of Adam are born dead in trespasses and sins. All who are chosen in Christ will be born again by God’s Holy Spirit. They will believe in Him and follow Him in obedience not in order to get eternal life, but because they have eternal life. (John 3:36) Therefore, we preach the gospel to every one knowing that God will quicken the hearts of his elect and by faith they will believe the gospel. (Col 1:23, I John 5:4,13)

Dear friend are you a believer in Jesus Christ? If so, it wasn’t because you chose God but because God chose you out of this sin cursed earth and predestinated you to be born again, believe in Christ and live with Him forever in eternal glory. (Rom 8:29-30) Halleluiah! To God be all the Glory. (Is 42:8)

Persecution; Tyrrany; & Child-Killing in Mississippi

2006-07-19T03:04:00.000-07:00

Darkness hates light being shined on it . . . .

My friend Mark Webb, who is without a doubt one of the best Gospel preachers I have ever heard, was speaking one time on Paul's warning "all those who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." Mark made the statement that he -- along with most American Christians -- never really felt this & it terrified him.

I asked the question to my wife & some friends later : Why -- from the world's perspective -- do they persecute Christians ? Obviously, looking through Spiritual/ biblical eyes we know that the reason behind it is that they hate Christ & they hate the Truth so they attack the visible instrument of Christ & His Truth.
But, humanly speaking, why do governements persecute Christians ? They do not really care what we believe, or even what we teach in our churches & how we live in our homes.
Tyrants -- brutal & petty -- really only care about maintaining power. It is when what we believe, what we teach, & how we live becomes a threat to their lust for power, money, & controll that their hatred of these things spill over into actual persecution.
****************************************

In the Voice of the Martyrs magazine, which covers persecution of Chrisitans in Communist & Muslim countries, they normally divide persecution into official & unofficial. Official involves harrassment & attacks by police & governement officials. The unofficial kind is when independant individuals, mobs, or non government organizations attack Christians. In the most anti-Christ regimes, the police & judicial system look the other way.
BOTH forms of persecution are being carried out in Mississippi's capital city this week.
Operation Save America (formerly Operation Rescue) is holding a national pro-life event in Jackson, Mississippi. Christians from across the country -- as well as local pro-life activists -- are taking their theology to the streets. But they are not alone, nor have the forces of death-worshipping tyrrany taken this lying down.

The official tyrrany is manifesting itself in both unconstitutional arrests of Christians for excercising their God-given, legally-protected rights to free speech and showing a blatant pro-abortion bias by not acting when anti-christ pro-abortion activists do the same thing or even viciously attack pro-lifers.

The arrests and official persecution has been covered both on Operation Save America's site and on Covenant News.

On the "unofficial" front, check this out :

Paul Vaughn, the Josiah Project, sent me this post, which tells the story of an attack by anarchists on a gentle Christian trying to stand for the Truth, his unborn neighbors & the Saviour . . .Jackson Mississippi - Prolife or Anti-Christ Monday, Jul 17 2006
Paul R. Vaughn 1:50 pm

The sign reads “stop the violence against clinics”. The irony is the group holding the sign has just finished threatening to kill the driver of the car and has smashed in the hood and front windshield of his car. Where is the violence coming from here? And what did the guy in the car do to deserve this?

Well for starters he showed up at a national prolife event being held in Jackson, MS this week. That’s right he dared to act on his beliefs and join with other like minded folks to exercise their God given rights, secured by the 1st amendment of The Constitution, to publicly proclaim what they believe.

What does that proclamation look like? For starters it consist of prayer, public preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom of Christ, and some times even a display of what abortion actually looks like. Now this is where the real irony starts to come in. Have you ever seen an abortion? Have you seen the results of an abortion? I have. It seems to me if someone wants to protest against violence, they really should start inside the abortion clinics, not by beating up people’s cars.

Read the entire article here.

Leslie

Come to Mississippi & Save Babies

2006-07-13T04:28:00.000-07:00

Friends,

At one time, Planned Parenthood's own published statistics say that if ONE Christian is standing in front of one of their child-killing mills (aka abortion clinics), 15-20% of the mothers who had appointments to kill their babies leave & never come back.

Jesus Christ has promised us that the very Gates of Hell would not prevail against His church.

Evideince from around the country over the past twenty years have proven this to be the case where abortion chambers are concerned. Babies lives are saved when Christians take their pro-life views to the actual places of death; mothers, clinic workers, & the general public hear the Gospel; and abortion mills around the country have been closed down.

Please consider attending the Operation Rescue/ Operation Save America National Event in Jackson, Mississippi beginning July 15th & going through July 22.

There are a number of things with which I have significant disagreement with Operation Rescue over -- their ecumentalism; revivalism; and occasional reverence for ungodly charaters like Mike King ( aka "Rev","Dr","Martin Luther" King, "Jr.") & the abolitionists. But, as Mike Haley used to say : " I like what they're doing allot better than what others are not doing."

While we discuss & disect the rightness of one group's approach, strategy, philosophy & theology our unborn neighbors are being dragged away to death (Proverbs 24:11). Operation Save America is coming to Mississippi to tangibly love my neighbors, how can I not join them ?

I am planning on going for the last few days . Please plan on joining me there.

A Reformed, Biblical Defence of Young Earth Creationism

2006-07-10T21:18:00.000-07:00

Six Day Creationism -- Biblical, Practical, Necessary,Historic, and -- most importantly -- Christ centered; the scientific evidence is merely a bonus -Leslie

Originally published by The Chalcedon Foundation
Literal, Six-Day Creation and the Local Church

Charles A. McIlhenny
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I take a literalist position on the creation account not because I like "literalism," nor because literalism is the only logical-rational defense against irrationalism, liberalism, and cultism; nor do I hold it for some unreasoning "fundamentalist" prejudice against secular science. I take a literalist position on creation because upon investigation of the exegetical argument, I found that this view was consistent with the rest of SCRIPTURE, without apologies to science. And the literalist position is also consistent with the Westminster Confession of Faith which states clearly and concisely, ". . . in the space of six days. . ." (Chap. IV, para. 1).

READ THE REST

Pink on Dispensationalism

2006-07-10T21:03:00.000-07:00

Early in his ministry, Arthur Pink held to a Dispensationalist/ Pre-mil view of eschatology & published a book about it. In his later years, he turned from this perspective & re-published the work with refutations of his own previous errors.

A few years back, a pro-Dispensational publisher re-printed the original work without mention of the retration. Ethics that match hermenuetics :-)

Here is a statement from Pink on Dispensationalism :

"But there is further reason, and a pressing one today, why we should write upon our present subject, and that is to expose the modern and pernicious error of Dispensationalism. This is a device of the Enemy, designed to rob the children of no small part of that bread which their heavenly Father has provided for their souls; a device wherein the wily serpent appears as an angel of light, feigning to "make the Bible a new book" by simplifying much in it which perplexes the spiritually unlearned. It is sad to see how widely successful the devil has been by means of this subtle innovation."

A Great Song for the King from the 1700’s

2006-07-10T21:02:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite “old hymns”

Onward March, all-conquering Jesus,
Gird Thee on Thy mighty sword;
Sinful earth can ne’er oppose Thee;
Hell itself quails at Thy Word,
Thy great Name is so exalted,
Every foe shrinks back in fear;
Terror creeps through all creation,
When it knows that though art near.

2 Free my soul from sin’s foul bondage;
Hasten now that glorious dawn;
Break proud Babel’s gates in sunder;
Let the massive bolts be drawn.
Forth like ocean’s heaving surges,
Bring in myriads ransomed slaves,
Host on host, with shouts of triumph,
Endless, countless as the waves.

3 Even today I hear sweet music,
Praises of a blood-freed throng;
Full deliverance, glorious freedom,
Are the themes of endless song;
Whiter than the snow their raiment,
Victor palms they wave on high,
As they pass, with fullest glory,
Into life’s felicity.

4 How my raptured soul rejoices
That the jubilee is near;
Every word will be accomplished
Spoken by our Saviour here.
North and South, in countless myriads,
From earth’s darkest ends they come,
With the dance and gladsome music,
Into heaven’s eternal home.
-- William Williams 1717-1791

The Father and Family Worship

2006-07-10T13:55:00.000-07:00

J.W. Alexander, a faithful Gospel minister who went to be with the Lord two years before Mr. Lincoln's War against the South began, speaks to fathers in this piece about family worship that is much more needful today than when it was written.

Thank the Lord for the faithful work of Mt Zion for making providing such a powerful witness of the real Gospel that great men of past centuries preached in a generation that prefers ear-tickling, seeker sensitivity, and a feel-good man centered "gospel".

If you are not a subscriber to Mt. Zion's excellent free quarterly The Free Grace Broadcaster or have never been blessed by any of their other Christ-centered free literature, I would urge you to check out their site & get added to their mailing list.

To whet your whistle, Alexander's "The Father & Family Worship" begins, below with the entire article linked :

The Father and Family Worship
J.W. Alexander (1804-1859)

THERE is no member of a household whose individual piety is of such importance to all the rest as the father or head. And there is no one whose soul is so directly influenced by the exercise of domestic worship. Where the head of a family is lukewarm or worldly, he will send the chill through the whole house. And if any happy exception occur, and one and another surpass him in faithfulness, it will be in spite of his evil example. He, who ought by his instructions and life, to afford a perpetual incitement1 to his inferiors and his juniors, is made to feel in case of such delinquency, that they must look elsewhere for guidance, even if they do not weep in secret places over his neglects. Where the head of the family is a man of faith, of affection, and of zeal, consecrating all his works and life to Christ, it is very rare to fin d all his household otherwise-minded. Now one of the chief means of promoting such individual graces in the head is this: his daily exercise of devotion with the members. It is more to him, than to others. It is he who presides and directs in it, who selects and delivers the precious Word, and who leads the common supplication, confession, and praise. To him, it is equal to an additional act of personal devotion in the day; but it is more. It is an act of devotion, in which his affection and duty to his house are particularly brought before his mind; and in which he stands in the place and pleads the cause, of all that he holds dearest upon earth. No one need wonder then, that we place family-prayer among the most important means of reviving and maintaining the piety of him who conducts it.

Observation shows that families which have no household worship are at a low ebb in spiritual things; that families where it is performed in a cold, sluggish, negligent, or hurried way, are little affected by it and little affected by any means of grace; and that families where God is worshipped, every morning and evening, by all the inmates of the house in a solemn and affectionate service are blessed with increase of piety and happiness. Every individual is blessed. Each one receives a portion of the heavenly food.

Half the defects and transgressions of our days arise from want2 of consideration.3 Hence the unspeakable value of an exercise, which twice every day calls each member of the household at least to think of God. Even the most careless or impious4 son, or servant, must now and then be forced to talk a little with conscience, and meditate a little on judgment, when the grey-haired father, bowed before God, with trembling voice pours out strong supplication and prayer. How much more mighty must be the influence on that larger number, who in ten thousand Christian families in the land are more or less impressed with the importance of divine things! And how peculiar and tender and forming must the same influence be, on those of the domestic group, who worship God in the spirit, and who often wipe the gushing tear, as they rise from their knees, and look around on husband, father, mother, brother, sister, child—all remembered in the same devotion, all clouded with the same incense of intercession!

Perhaps among our readers, more than one can say: “Times without number have I felt the influence of domestic worship on my own soul. When yet a child, no one means of grace, public or private, so awakened my attention, as when the children were prayed for day by day. In wayward youth, I was never so stung by conviction of my sin, as when my honored father earnestly besought God for our salvation. When at length in infinite mercy I first began to open the ear to instruction, no prayer so reached my heart, or so expressed my deep affections, as those which were uttered by my honored father. ”

The maintenance of domestic religion in every house is primarily entrusted to the head of the family, whoever this may be.
Read the Rest

Abotion-like Worldview of Quiver-limiting Christians

2006-07-09T17:53:00.000-07:00

Before we get into the fact that many millions of "pro-life" Christians kill their own children with so called "birth control" pills ( even the name implies an affront to God's Sovriegnty), I thougtht I'd throw this out.

About ten years ago a dear brother & co-labourer told me " God will never change the culture's view about abortion until the church changes it's view of children". It resonated with me.

I started doing a little experiment that I soon after discontinued because it was too discouraging. If you are active in pro-life work, you can try it now & probably get the same ( or worse) results.

If you talk to abortion bound Mothers at an American child-killing "clinc" on a Satuday, then go to an average, Conservative "Bible-believing". Evangelical church on Sunday and ask some of the parents ( including the pastor) there why they are limiting the size of their families and you will get frighteningly similar responses .

"I can't afford it" . . . "I want be able to do more for my other children" . . . "I'm not ready for a baby" . . . I, I , I . . . me, me, me . . . stuff, stuff, stuff . . .

This is generally true regardless of denominational or doctrinal bent . The so-called Calvininsts know that God is Sovreign in Salvation -- but often act as if He's not as Sovreign in the womb; preachers that preach faith & trusting in "God's promises" don't extend & apply this to the family; Charismatics & Penecostals search for "gifts" but don't want too many of the Lord's "rewards" ( the "fruit of the womb") . . . etc

This is not to say that there are never legitimate reasons for Christians to stop having children . . .
I know of three families who have been forced to stop having children for siginficant, life threatening situations. There are, I'm sure plenty of different reasons for not having children.

However, this should be the exception. We should look on smaller families in our churches as an oddity, not the other way around.

And I should make sure I include a warning against a sort of "how many children do you have?" legalism used to self-righteously judge our brothers and sisters
( We know a family that has two godly grown daughters -- and seven or eight miscarriages since; on the outside, people see a "normal" family, but God, who "looks at the heart" sees a family trusting Him faithfully ).

BUT, I think my friend was right -- " God will never change the culture's view about abortion until the church changes it's view of children"

We should re-double our efforts to tear down the Planned Parenthood worldview in our churches & Christian families.
May God grant us wisdom; His children discernment; Christian parents the abundant life that comes from dying to self and trusting God for our family size; and may He grant our age a great revival and reformation !

Malachi 4:6; Luke 1:17

A Young Believer's Heartcry through a Trial

2006-07-09T17:39:00.000-07:00

This past spring, my dear wife had a major problem with her
pregnancy. Without going into any graphic details, she ended up spending 82
days in the hosiptal ( two hours away) & delivering our daughter Mercy five
weeks early -- leading to a week in NICU.
While I worked, my older children had the burden of caring for the
littler ones, keeping the household running smoothly & doing their
homeschooling -- all while worrying about their Mom & unborn sister. In the
last five years we have had a stillbirth, a miscarriage, and another near
miss, so their concerns were well founded.
My daughter Margie Ellen -- 14 -- wrote the peice below during this time
of trial, after listening to one of her favorite songs. She is allowing me
to share this with you. -- Leslie

Praising Him in this storm
by: Ellen Riley

When hard times come we, as Christians, tend to assume that God will just,
you know, end it immediately. That is, in a way, saying that God is not
all-powerful, the God who knows what is, what has been, and what is to come.
It is saying "Hey, when God realizes that I'm in this mess, He'll be down to
stop it all. He's been so busy lately: He must not have seen this coming. I
mean, I'm a good person; this is just some sort of mistake. But boy, I'm
just waiting. In a few days, He'll see this fix I'm in and get rid of it."
Now, I know that we don't mean to say that. And I don't mean we shouldn't
pray and ask God to Please, reach down. I don't mean that at all. But God
knows where we are, and it's exactly where He wants us to be. When you
pray, don't only ask that the storm be calmed: beg God to ride it out with
you, ask Him to give you grace if it is not within His perfect will to calm
the storm right now. And don't just pray at first. We must continue to pray
through out the storm, and throughout our lives. We shouldn't just say
"Okay, I prayed when it happened. What else could You expect God? I prayed
once, I'm done now." That sounds funny, doesn't it? What could POSSIBLY be
funny about that?! No, it is not funny at all. It is wrong. God wants our
'Lifesongs', our 'Lifeprayers'. He does not need our prayers to do His will.
Okay? He does not need us. He wants us. Our God is a compassionate God.

Even if the storms of life are still raging, He is with us. Even if it's
really loud as the rain falls, He is with us; He will hear the cries of His
people (Psalm 145:18-19). Even if we're so scared, even if we walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, He's with us, His mercy surrounds us.
Depth of Mercy can there be Mercy still reserved for me? YOU BET. His mercy
ABOUNDS. He loves us, and His mercy, in a very real way, falls on us. We can
feel it if we try. It's all around us.

Why would we not praise Him, in light of that? He does take away, but He
gives as well. Even if He allows the devil to take away our jobs, our moms,
our babies, even our lives, He has gifted the far greater gift of eternal
life, and He has promised in Proverbs 10:3 that He will "not suffer the soul
of the righteous to famish, and in II Corinthians 4:17 that He worketh His
children a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. What are our sorrows
compared to His as He dies on the cross carrying all of our sins as if He,
sinless as He is, had committed them all and yet we will not give Him
praise. Listen. If we do not live lives that are completely to His glory,
than it should break our hearts. If you do not go through each day, striving
to be more like Jesus with every breath, then fall on your knees before the
Lord because you stand at His mercy always. I pray that my life will in the
future reflect what I have written here tonight. I stand at His mercy
always, and HE IS MERCIFUL. How then can we not praise Him in the calm
before the storm, and in this storm, and in the chaos following the storm?
He is my God, and I am His child. We should pray for strength to praise Him
no matter what, 'cause He is the same no matter what is going on in our
lives. He doesn't change: He changes us.

He knows when we weep. It's OK to cry. Go ahead. Even the toughest of the
tough cry inside, because we're all sin. With the fall (when we all became
sin) came the results of the fall. The results are not happy ones (sin,
death, pain.). Because of the results, because we sin, because of the fall,
we all weep. It is a hard road to perfection in Christ. We will cry.
Remember, Jesus wept as well. Still, He won't ever leave us. It is a hard
road as I have said, yet we do not travel alone nor will we be left without
a guide. He won't say "alright, that's it, you've used all your 'god-time'
for this week. I'm going home." God forbid.

All of our hearts are torn at some point: but Jesus came to heal our
wounds. We should continue to praise Him in this storm, because you know
what? Before God rescued us we didn't know which way to go. When the storms
of life came, we just sort of went in every which direction. We were lost,
lost. But He heard us, crying out for help; groaning, and travailing. He
granted us rest from our sorrows, He gave help to the helpless, and life to
sinners such as I. He pulls us up from the dust that was our former lives,
and takes us where He wants us to go. He loves us.

We cannot make it alone. Period. Without Him, we will never last this
storm. We will fall totally, and completely, down, down, down. If we don't
accept the gift He gives us (which is Eternal life through Jesus Christ our
only Lord and Savior), it's like saying that we want to die, and not just
once, but burn forever in hell. His gift is life. No man is truly convert if
he simply wishes to avoid hell. He would have the burning desire that is in
my heart, to be like my Savior my God. His gift is life. He wants our lives
to be lives of praise and adoration to our King, in the peaceful moments
when life seems so sweet, and in the storms. When it seems that we've lost
our way, and our directions have all been false, when the roads that we look
down are all dead ends, look up. We can see the way if we'll just look up to
Him! We cannot carry on without Him. But He is with all who are His. He
loves us. He is with us.

Our help comes from the All-mighty, All-holy, All-powerful Lord, which made
Heaven and earth. He will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish.

-MARGIE E RILEY, INSPIRED BY MARK HALL AND CASTING CROWNS, WRITTEN AT THE
TIME OF EXTENDED TRIALDUE TO A DIFFICULT PREGNACY AND A BEAUTIFUL BUT
PRE-MATURE BABY

Speaking in South Mississippi Aug. 11

2006-07-08T07:58:00.000-07:00

I will be speaking to the Simpson County, Mississippi League of the South Chapter in Mendenhall on Friday August 11.

My topic -- tentatively -- will be "Is This a Nation Worth Saving ?"

The Simpson County League of the South meets at the offices of Thomas R. Floyd Mason Contractors on Hwy 49. Call Thomas for more info. (601)-847-0350

Y'all come !

SOUTHERN HERITAGE CONFERENCE and CONFEDERATE CEILIDH

2006-07-08T07:03:00.000-07:00

**( If I ever can get the time, I'll be adding an events page for stuff like this)
For those of you in or near South Mississippi, my friend, compatriot, & occasional nemisis Carl Ford is hosting his annual Confederate Heratige Conference in Laurel Labor Day weekend. From the looks of things, this should be the best yet.
Information & Carl's contact info is below.

TO THE POLITICALLY INCORRECT

You are invited to attend the

SOUTHERN HERITAGE CONFERENCE and CONFEDERATE CEILIDH
Sponsored by the politically incorrect SCV Camp 227

September 1 & 2, 2006

at the Ramada Inn, Laurel, MS.

Featuring

Ronnie Kennedy,

(the handsome one)

Pastor Gene Case

Dr Cary Kimbrell

Al Benson, publisher of Copperhead Chronicles

Bro. (Now Dr.) John Killian (3 time winner of MOSB Oratory contest)

AND

The Bossy Little Scot, Carl Peterson

Events include the SOUTHERN HERITAGE CONFERENCE

with IN YOUR FACE speakers;

Saturday Night CONFEDERATE CEILDHI (Scottish Party); Armed Confederates and Armed

Scotsmen will POST THE COLORS and the ladies are invited to wear your period dresses.

(Plain ole casual dress is fine for all the events)

Friday night supper is on your own, and the speaking will begin at 7 PM with doors open at 6PM to visit our vendors and with each other. (This IS the Confederate family reunion!) Saturday, we’ll start at 8 AM and go till we can’t.

We’ll have our usual great vendors, plus a few new ones.–and DOOR PRIZES- maybe a calendar!

The good news is we are returning to the Ramada ( which is under new management,) so all activities will be under one air conditioned roof during a Mississippi summer weekend!

The bad news is due to inflation, we’re having to raise prices both for registration and for the Saturday meals. We are still charging only our cost for the meals, which has gone up $5.00 apiece making them $15.00 per person for dinner (Cannonball’s granddaughter Christy–that’s at noon!) and $20.00 per person for supper.

To pay for the increased cost of meals for our speakers, (they’re all big eaters) we are raising the prices for registration.

Registration will now be $25.00 per family and $15.00 for individuals. However there is a discount for those who are eating with us. If at least 2 people eat a meal, registration will drop back to the usual $15.00 per family. If an individual eats a meal with us, registration will drop back to the usual $10.00. AND, remember, you get the whole Confederate Ceilidh (kay-lee=big whooping party) with your supper price! We have to guarantee at least 50 meals each for dinner and supper in order to get our meeting rooms, so help us out so we can keep the Conference going.

Also, you HAVE to let us know about how many are eating which meals by August 16 so we can tell the Ramada, and George and Nancy won’t be having hissys.

Sleeping rooms will be blocked until August 16, 2006 at a bargain rate of $65.00, plus tax. Call 601-649-9100 for room reservations. Be sure to mention you are with the Southern Heritage Conference when you make your room reservations so you can get that price.

For more information contact Carl D. Ford, P O , Box 52, Laurel, MS 39441-0052.

Phone: 601-649-1867, Fax: 601-428-4478, Cell 601-319-7027, Home between 6 PM and 9 PM, 601-426-2041 or e-mail

csaford@hotmail.com

A good definition of Legalism

2006-07-06T18:05:00.000-07:00

Recently, in commenting on a post a good friend of mine gave his definition of "legalism", so I thought I would post one of my favorites I've ever read here.

John Robbins of the Trinity Foundation -- in an essay called The Gospel of Jesus Christ versus Neolegalism -- offers this helpful explanation of the term :

"Legalism and Man-made Law

One common misunderstanding of legalism is that one is a legalist only if one tries to obey, or insists that others obey, man-made laws. In this way of thinking, one cannot be a legalist if one is concerned exclusively about obeying God’s law. The primary example of legalism, one correspondent told me, is the Pharisees, who by their traditions had made void the laws of God. Now, to be sure, no one denies that the Pharisees were legalists. But my correspondent does not understand what made the Pharisees legalists. They were not legalists because they added to the law of God, but because they thought that by law-keeping they could obtain salvation. Compare them with the Judaizers who were corrupting the church in Galatia. The Judaizers did not invent laws for Christians to keep, as the Pharisees invented laws for the Jews to keep; they merely insisted that Christians keep laws that God himself had imposed. The Judaizers earned the curse of Paul in his letter to the churches in Galatia, just as the Pharisees earned the curse of Jesus in Matthew 23. The Judaizers were legalists, too.

Legalism and Keeping God’s Law

Another misunderstanding asserts that legalism is a concern for keeping God’s law. This is also a very popular misunderstanding of legalism, and it frequently leads to accusing anyone with scruples about obeying God’s law of being a legalist. So if one refuses to work, to shop, or to play sports on Sunday, he is accused of being a legalist. But scrupulosity about God’s law is not necessarily legalism; what makes keeping God’s law legalistic is the wrong motive for keeping the law. If one is scrupulous about obeying God’s law because one hopes, or intends, or desires, by keeping his law, to obtain or retain one’s salvation, then he is a legalist, and lost. But if one tries to keep his law, not in order to be saved at the final judgment, but because he is already saved and is grateful for his salvation, then he is not a legalist, but a Christian.

What Is Legalism?

Legalism is the notion that a sinner can, by his own efforts, or by the power of the Holy Spirit in his life, do some work to obtain or retain his salvation. Some legalists think man has free will and can perform good works if he just sets his mind to it, thereby obtaining the favor of God. This type of legalist thinks that a sinner can believe the Gospel on his own steam. Other legalists think that a sinner does not have free will, that any good he does is done by the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him, and it is these good deeds done by the power of the Holy Spirit that obtain or help obtain, retain or help retain, his salvation. Both types of legalists, but espe-cially the latter, may acknowledge that Christ’s work of obedience is necessary for salvation, but both deny that Christ’s work is sufficient for salvation. Both types of legalists assert that to Christ’s work must be added the works of the sinner, done either under his own steam, or by the power of the Holy Spirit. That is what makes them legalists: their shared belief in the incompleteness or insufficiency of the work of Christ outside of them. They may differ on what constitutes good works; they may differ on whether only God’s law or church law as well is to be obeyed; but they agree that the work of Christ alone is insufficient for their final salvation. "

Missouri Small Farms Center

2006-07-03T18:58:00.000-07:00

"I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries as long as they are chiefly agricultural; and this will be as long as there shall be vacant lands in any part of America. When they get piled upon one another in large cities as in Europe, they will become corrupt as in Europe." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1787. Papers 12:442

While I generally avoid promoting any government boondoggle, I'm going to make a slight exception here.

If any of you are interested in Agrarianism or simplifying your lifestyle by starting a home business/ farming enterprise on a small scale, check out this site for a wealth of practical ideas & information Missouri Alternatives Center

Particularly helpful is there alphabetical listing of small farm enterprises with various articles on each ( here). There are several hundred headings & each with practical information. The site brags "On these links you will be able to find information on everything you want to raise or grow -- from Asparagus to Watermelons, and Aquaculture to Worms!" and they do not exagerrate.

Leslie

"No race can prosper until it learns there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem."
- Booker T. Washington

The Aborted States of America

2006-07-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

"One death is a tragedy; one million deaths is a statistic" -- Joe Stalin
"I don't think America is ready for a ban on abortion" -- George W. Bush

"God Bless America" -- Sung by U.S. Congress 09/11/01
"Though you make many prayers,I will hide My face from you. Your hands are full of blood" Is. 1

THE ABORTED STATES OF AMERICA

The map above has 17 states blacked out. The population of these states is equal to the 42,000,000+ reported "legal" surgical abortions since 1973. Perhaps this visual perspective helps one to grasp the number of people that are gone, dead—robbed of their God given, constitutional rights to life and liberty.

Each time a person is aborted and robbed of their rights; our rights and very lives become less secure. How many more innocent people will have to suffer horrible painful deaths before the nation accepts the truth that with abortion, we are destroying our country and our future.

Vaccines & Autism

2006-07-02T14:06:00.000-07:00

My Friend Paul Dorr of Iowa sent this to me :

Friends of RTP,

Now it is coming from a Wake Forest School of Medicine researcher - a powerful link lies between the MMR childhood vaccination and such children getting autism. I trust you and yours stopped long ago getting most of these vaccinations. Plus, the original cell culture which has been replicated ever since, comes from aborted baby tissue.

--Paul
US scientists back autism link to MMR

The London Telegraph
By Beezy Marsh and Sally Beck
(Filed: 28/05/2006)

The measles virus has been found in the guts of children with a form of autism, renewing fears over the safety of the MMR jab.

American researchers have revealed that 85 per cent of samples taken from autistic children with bowel disorders contain the virus. The strain is the same as the one used in the measles, mumps and rubella triple vaccine.

The findings will spark fresh concern about MMR, because they back theories of a causal link between the jab, autism and painful gut disorders suffered by a number of autistic children.
MORE

Modesty & Men

2006-07-02T13:59:00.000-07:00

Often when the issue of Christian modesty is discussed, the main area of focus is on our wives/ daughters. Talk about modest dress & the mental picture is conjured of ladies & girls in long dresses & skirts. This is appropriate, because:
a) Our culture has convinced women & girls that they have to dress and act like whores to the point that the daughters of Zion often wear less to church than they could have legally worn to a bar fifty years ago.
b) Men are often tempted visually, and are assaulted in modern America with a 24-7 barrage of sensual images.

We desperately need to teach our wives and daughters to dress & act modestly.

However, the need for men to be modest & Christ honoring in our dress & behavior is often neglected. It is common to see men who would never dream of letting their women-folk out in a mini-skirt walk around in short britches. Or men who have godly standards for their wives working ourside or going out in public shirtless or in sleeveless shirts.

What are your thoughts Brethren ? Is this a double standard or am I being a legalist ? Since women are not generally as visually tempted as men, are lower standards OK ? What do you consider appropriate in this area ?

Thoughts ?
Leslie Riley

Fanatics & their Causes

2006-07-02T13:43:00.000-07:00

From a letter to a friend :

Dear _____________

You mentioned a concern about fanaticism. This may well be a valid concern. I'm sure this is one of _____'s concern.

However, I will take exception to this. "Fanaticism" is an abstract concept therefore we cannot condemn or affirm it without some qualifiers.

Should we be "fanatacal" about the greatness of our favorite college football team ? Obiously not. Should we be fanatical about the greatness of Christ ? No one can possibly be "fanatical" enough.
Should we be fanatical about experimenting on animals, eating meat, or wearing fur ? I think not, because it doesn't violate God's Law.
What if, instead, the issue was experimenting on the kids at the local day care, eating human flesh, and "recycling" leftovers from the local morgue ? This would be so repugnant and wicked that we would be cowards if we weren't "fanatical" about stopping it.
Were the fanatical abolitionists wrong about their views on abolishing all forms of slavery immediately ? I think they were, again, because it doesn't violate God's Law.
Was the fanatical Virginia legislature wrong for outlawing the slave trade because of the violations of God's condemnation of man stealing and excesses by the New Englanders ? I think they were correct.

Roy McMillan and I were talking about this one day & he made a statement that I think is very interesting, if not profound.
Roy said, "There aren't any statues built to great moderates in history."

You and I have often noted that men like John Adams, Rushdoony, and Robert Welch all made statements about history not being determined by majorties, but by dedicated minorites with a plan/ cause/ etc
These minorites were made up of ( or at least begun by) fanatics fighting a hopeless cause.

Let us consider some people who could be called fanatics & their moderate counterparts:

Republicans are reasonable moderates - Constitutionalists & Libertarians are fanatics.
The SCV is moderate & reasonable -- the League of the South is fanatical
National Right to LIfe is moderate -- Operation Rescue is fanatical.

Looking further back, let us consider fanatics ( some of which were evil & stood for evil causes):
Joe Stalin was a murderous fanatic that brought us Communism.
Joe McCarthy was called a fanatic due to his uncompromising stands against Communism.
Reasonable moderates perpetuated Communism and condemned McCarthy's "fanaticism" while ignoring Stalin's.

John Brown was a murderos fanatic who's zeal for an unbiblical cause and messianic visions led to many deaths.
Some of Stonewall Jackson's men considered him a fanatic because of his zeal for the Biblical Messiah and whose devotion to duty and Cause led to his own death.

Radical Republicans in the North during the 1850's, 60's and 70's were dangerous fanatics.
Radical Secessionists in the South during the 1850's & 60's and those who began the Klan to fight Reconstruction abuses were also fanatics.

Charles Finney was a fanatic.
But, so were Whitfield, Wesley & Edwards in many people's minds then & now.

The Radicals who led the French Revolution were murderous, fanatical god-haters. They ultimately devoured themselves in their zealous fanatcism against the abuses of the Elites in the Catholic/ Nobility establishment. ( and incidently it was fanatical, valliant Catholic Vendeans who stood against them; and racical, fanatic Catholic butchers who had slaugthered fanatical Huegenots a century before).
The Founding Fathers of the American Republic were certainly considered fanatical by many in their time.
Reasonable moderates in England opposed the fanatics in Frace & the American colonies.

The Pilgrams, Puritans, & practically every true missionary that ever lived could be qualified, based on some definitions as fanatics.
Luther, Knox, and Calvin would meet some critereon of fanaticism.
Martyrs who were tortured to death for what they believed have often been "fanatics".

Muslim Jihadists and Hindus that set theirselves on fire are fanatics.
Early Mormons and many cultist who have been persecuted and even given their lives for a lie have all been fanatics.
Millions of soldiers have died throuh the ages because they fanatically belived they were defending their homes or fighting for something they believed to be true/ righteous. The vast majority of them were killed fighting for tyrants and leaders who lusted for power/ money.

John the Baptist was a fanatic.
Elijah was a fanatic.
And Jesus Christ was/ is certainly a fanatic. So fanatical in fact that He refuses to share His glory with anyone and will ultimately grind into powder all those who oppose Him.

Many fanatics we should correct and condemn. Others, we should probably seek to emulate.
Leslie
Moderates and Radicals
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
In all times of state dominance, the instability of the system gives rise to two types of reformers: the moderates who want to work within the system but end up defending it, and the radicals who have the clarity to see that the only real solution is upheaval. If the latter prevail – and they often have in the history of politics – it is only after having endured the slings and arrows of the former.

The history of liberty is strewn with heroes who courageously championed radical reform, but in every case I can recall, these same people were traduced and reviled not only by the regime, but also by the moderate reformers, who always claimed to be working within the system. The moderates say that their efforts are being frustrated by the voices of the radicals, who are said to discredit the cause they purport to support. . . . Read the rest of this article here

Great Men Speak about Gardening

2006-07-01T09:10:00.000-07:00

Thomas Jefferson's Vegtable Garden

An old friend used to tell some of the men in his church -- where they are very anxious to delve deeper and deeper into theological, philosphical and historical topics -- moving from one to another as quickly as possible -- that they needed a "little less book and a little more hook". What he means is that rather than trying to get as much information as possible & read as many books as possible, they would be better served to read a book, then go sit on a creek bank and "wet a hook" ( fish) and contemplate what they had read before moving on.

I believe the same could be said, even more strongly about getting your fingernails dirty. Consider that many of the great men/ minds of the past, who have contributed so much to the body of knowledge we now have did not have a fraction of the information that we all have available to us now. They probably never saw, nor could they imagine, in their lifetimes the number of books we can obtain with ease (much less the immeasurable volume of information available electronically). . . yet they had something we sorely lack -- a slow and quiet enough lifestyle to THINK ( " Be STILL and know that I am God."; " Come, let us reason together, saith the Lord" etc.). Let us put our hands in the dirt and set our minds & hearts on contemplating the Glory of our great Creator and Redeemer.

In hopes of getting some of y'all out into your gardens, yards, patios, vacant lots or window boxes, I ask you to consider where our original Patriarch ( Adam) was placed and what work he was given to do -- the pefect enviorment and the ideal work .
Also, for your contemplation consider what some great men of the past and present have said about the garden :

"When all is said and done, is there any more wonderful sight, any moment when man's reason is nearer to some sort of contact with the nature of the world than the sowing of seeds, the planting of cuttings, the transplanting of shrubs
or the grafting of slips."
- St. Augustine

"No race can prosper until it learns there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem."
- Booker T. Washington

"Nothing is more the child of art than a garden."
-Sir Walter Scott 1828

"There is not a sprig of grass that shoots uninteresting to me." - Thomas Jefferson, 1790

"No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, no culture comparable to that of the garden ...
But though an old man, I am but a young gardener. "
- Thomas Jefferson, Garden Book, 1811

"Agriculture... is the first in utility, and ought to be the first in respect." --Thomas Jefferson to David Williams, 1803. ME 10:429

"I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries as long as they are chiefly agricultural; and this will be as long as there shall be vacant lands in any part of America. When they get piled upon one another in large cities as in Europe, they will become corrupt as in Europe." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1787. Papers 12:442

"What this country needs is dirtier fingernails
and cleaner minds."
- Will Rogers

"There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling."
- Mirabel Osler ( I know this is not a "great man" -- but it's a pretty good quote anyway)

"If you grow a garden you are going to shed some sweat,
and you are going to spend some time bent over; you will
experience some aches and pains. But it is in the willingness to accept this discomfort that we strike the most telling blow against the power plants and what they represent."
- Wendell Berry

"One of the most important resources that a garden makes
available for use, is the gardener's own body. A garden
gives the body the dignity of working in its own support.
It is a way of rejoining the human race. "
- Wendell Berry

More Later,
P. Leslie Riley, Jr.

Alternative Ag Moralist ??

2006-07-01T08:15:00.000-07:00

I have been an "Agrarian" -- philosophically & practically since long before I ever heard the word. (more on this in my next message). In addition to living as an Agrarian for almost my whole life -- and having an Agrarian philosophy before I ever heard of "I'll Take my Stand" or other such literature -- I have drunk deeply from the writings & wisdom of Agrarians past and present for over ten years.

I earnestly believe that the Christian Agrarian Movement is one of the bright spots in our dimming hopes of restoring our once great/ godly civilisation.

However, I have some serious concerns about the so-called "Agrarian Movement". I have voiced these concerns privately to a few folks and even had a good series of correspondences with a some Agrarian friends five years ago. Later, I will write -- God willing -- a series of six or seven articles/ open letters to you folks laying out these concerns and hoping to help us chart a course and avoid what I see as poison to the movement, our families, and our culture.

Below, for sake of introduction, is an article that prompted me to go ahead and get this going. I am on the mailing list of several "Agrarian", "Alternative Agriculture", and Conventional Ag groups. For several years I have been receiving a pretty good e-mail newsletter from "The New Farm". This is a work of the Rodale Institute, publishers of Organic Gardening & Prevention magazines and pioneers in organic agriculture.

This article, "Pro Choice AND Pro Life" was in a recent mailing. It is the text of a speech given to an "Eco Farm" Conference recently. In it, we are lectured about the dangers of evil farm chemicals by a murderous whore who openly brags about hiring a "doctor" to have her own unborn child tortured to death. She says that she and "every woman in her family" had done the same. After this, she decries the hypocrisy of an uncle who has the nerve to be a pro-life activist then use pesticides. This child-murdering whore -- totally devoid of natural affection ( Romans 1) --then proceeds to moralize to her audience about using pesticides.

I will expand upon this in an upcoming entry, but there are several things that we who are Christian Agrarians need to take pause over, among them: why would we be listening to anything a child murderer had to say about the dangers of pesticides to children ? who are we aligning ourselves with/ who are we trusting ?

The reason I ask this is I often hear/ read things my Agrarian friends/ compatriots say & write about "corporate ag", "factory farming", pesticides, contract/ confinement livestock production and the like that sounds like it came straight from the Mother Earth News & PETA.

I know and have seen first hand the rotten fruit of corporate/government agriculture & despise what it has wrought. I & my family have been personally effected. However, I think we have to be careful accepting the criticism & solutions of those who in word & deed hate our God & everything we stand for.

For more on this, also read Al Cronkrite's excellent commentary "The Company We Keep"

More to come. Let me know if you know anyone else who would be interested -- or if you're not. As always, your comments are welcome.

P. Leslie Riley, Jr

Egypt, Mississippi

--

Pro-choice AND pro-life

Eco-Farm Keynote, Part 2: There's strong evidence, says ecologist and writer Sandra Steingraber, that agricultural chemicals cause miscarriages and deformities, contaminate breast milk, dirupt vulnerable stages of life like adolescence, and are the source of problems in old age--such as Parkinson's disease.

An address by Sandra Steingraber
Posted October 13, 2005

I have found personally--growing up in a very conservative part of the Midwest--that there’s a lot of traction in talking about miscarriage and pregnancy loss from agricultural chemicals with farming communities, because many of them are very pro-life. In fact my uncle, who’s a farmer in Illinois, and members of his family actually do what they call clinic defense, where they go to abortion clinics and try to prevent women from having abortions.

Now, I couldn’t be more on the opposite side of the fence than that, so here’s what I say when I talk to farming communities. I lay out the fact that I’m very pro-choice, that I've had an abortion myself and so has every woman in my family for reasons you might think are good or not, but if we’re interested in fetal protection we need to ask ourselves more than who’s walking into a Planned Parenthood clinic to end their pregnancy.

We need to be asking what farm chemicals are in the drinking water--which farmers may be responsible for putting in there--that are ending pregnancies that may be very much desired by women. Having undergone two miscarriages myself, I would be hard-pressed to say whether pregnancy loss through miscarriage or pregnancy loss through abortion is the more painful outcome. But right-to-life needs to be expanded to take a look at some of our farm policies.

(Full Article Here)
Our Lecturer -- sermonizing about pesticides -- makes a nonchalant reference to doing this to her child --Les

Headcoverings history, & Cultural Meltdown

2006-07-01T08:11:00.000-07:00

I DO NOT MAKE THIS A TEST OF FELLOWSHIP AND RARELY DISCUSS IT, ( so please don't accuse me of being a legalist or take this any way except at face value), but when you get time, I'd be very interested in your thoughts on the following.

About two and a half years ago I sent this to the folks on my mailing list -- generally a very opinionated and contentious bunch -- and I got very few replies and no one answered the direct question I began the discussion with : "Can any of you who do not ( or anyone who does) believe in a "literal" interpretation of I Cor 11 name one significant, conservative, Bible commentator prior to 1800 who espoused the theory that the headcovering was hair ? or something to be taken as "symbolic only" ? or a cultural thing that applied only to this time/ situation ?"

Please Read ( or at least skim) and give me your thoughts :

- Leslie Riley

--

Dear All,
Scripture, not history, must be our final judge. However, it is interesting to note how great the volume of "witnesses" is that believed in a interpretation on I Cor. 11 that required women to wear a literal covering in public worship. ( PLEASE read the forwarded article below -- Chapter five from "Headcoverings in Scripture" that gives a MASSIVE list of quotes from Bible commentators -- from the ancient Irenaeus to the modern R.C. Sproul ; all of whom view the headcovering as something literal ).

Can any of you who do not ( or anyone who does) believe in a "literal" interpretation of I Cor 11 name one significant, conservative, Bible commentator prior to 1800 who espoused the theory that the headcovering was hair ? or something to be taken as "symbolic only" ? or a cultural thing that applied only to this time/ situation ?

Many of you may be asking why I care or why this matters ( in light of all the "real issues" out there) ? Or if this is merely theological hair-splitting?

If, prior to the 1900's Bible-believing Christian churches all practiced the wearing of a headcovering by women for public worship and now almost none do -- the obvious question becomes what changed ?

I think it is interesting to consider a few other things that happened in the 1800's & early 1900's in the church and culture and the results . . . in the broad culture ( among other things) the rise of feminism; of communism/ socialism/ statism; the spread of "public" ( i.e. government) education -- by and large led by open socialists and communist with the openly stated goal of negating the influence of the family and the church upon children so they could be prepared to more readily accept communism/ socialism; the widespread, gradual - then rapid breakdown in Biblical standards of morality, Christian modesty and traditional social/ cultural standards in favor of "if it feels good do it"; the near universal ( even among professing Christians) acceptance of evolutionary foolishness; the mass of women entering the workplace in search of mammon -- along with children being left "unto themselves" ( or placed in the hands of no-telling-who to raise, shape, train, and possibly exploit them); the worship of youth culture and the whole idea that "teenage rebellion" was acceptable -- even expected; the removal of families, particularly fathers from the selection of spouses in favor of the innovation of "dating" . . . . the list goes on ad nausem

Then briefly consider theological and practical trends in the professing Evangelical church that have come along at the same time -- Dispensationalism; "higher criticism"/ theological liberalism; the "social gospel"; revivalism and "Finney -anism"; Unitarianism, Transcendentalism, and Abolitionism; less condemnation of real sin and more making up sins to condemn; the acceptance of psychology and "self-esteem" views; "progressive creationism"; the rise of youth ministry, children's ministry, graded Sunday School and an almost limitless spread of extra-biblical church "programs" that split the family up and seek to entertain rather than edify; a complete reversal of the role of women -- the removal of the headcovering, the redefining or ignoring of "keepers at home" ( Titus 2) so more potential tithers can enter the workforce, the gradual moving of women into leadership and teaching positions ( even to the point of having women co-pastors or associate pastors); the rise of the church growth movement, "seeker friendly" churches and a desire to meet people's "felt needs"; less biblical exposition and more flesh-feeding entertainment; . . . again, the list goes on ad nausem

Finally, examine what has happened in Western "Christian" culture in the last 150 or so years . . . ( do I really need to recount this?)

Am I claiming that women putting a piece of cloth on their head for worship will make any difference in the course of world events -- yes, I am. . . if you disagree or you would like me to prove this claim please respond . . I'd love to hear some comments on this one

Your Obedient Servant,
Leslie Riley

--

Headcoverings in Scripture
by Greg Price
Chapter Five: What Does Church History Teach?

(Full Article Here)

Was Bannning DDT Racist Inspired Genocide ???

2006-07-01T08:06:00.000-07:00

Organic Food for Thought

----- Original Message -----
From: Daniel New
To: LesRiley@bellsouth.net
Sent: Saturday, July 01, 2006 8:54 AM
Subject: Fwd: Is Banning DDT Racist Inspired Genocide?

There's probably a movie to be made here. The
story of how the Environmental Movement is
responsible for the deaths of more people than
Hitler, Stalin and Mao combined. Children should
know this stuff, to counter what they are taught
in both government and private schools.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/silent-spring.html

Our Own Silent Spring
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.

Let there be no doubt that the war on malaria has failed. It is estimated that 800,000 children in Africa die from the disease every year, and as many as three million people altogether every year.

We know how people contract it: from mosquitoes. We know how to control it: kill the carrier mosquitoes. And we know what kills them: DDT.

So why has the war on malaria failed? Because governments banned the cure. Now they claim to wonder why people are sick and dying.

(Full Article Here)

The Amaturisation of Missions

2006-06-30T13:33:00.000-07:00

Despite the hard realities and desperate needs of the mission fields, we are increasingly seeing the amaturisation of missions. More and more Christians are pouring into the mission fields – but for very short periods of time and for very superficial goals.

I have been astounded to come across large tour groups (calling themselves “missionaries”) travelling across the world just to spend four or five days “in the field”! The high costs of international air travel would seem to make such short visits cost-ineffective. Even more incredible is how most of these short termers have undergone no selection procedure, received no training and are ill-equipped to benefit the local believers. In most cases these religious tourists have a lower grasp of Scripture and a spiritual maturity that is dwarfed by the local believers to whom they presume to come to minister.

Christian Zionism And Messianic Judaism

2006-06-30T13:25:00.000-07:00

One of the most grotesque aspects of the sociology of modern American protestantism is the phenomenon of Christian Zionism. While related to the theology of Dispensationalism, Christian Zionism is actually something altogether different theologically. The purpose of this essay is to explore this movement, and in particular to point out its grievously heretical theoretical basis. To facilitate discussion, we shall interact with the expressed beliefs of a Christian Zionist, Jerry Falwell. We close with a brief note on Messianic Judaism.

(FULL ARTICLE HERE)

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Lee Roy thinks I'm weird

2006-06-29T10:09:00.000-07:00

And I don't understand why.

I wuz jes sittin' on the front porch, minding my own biznes, watchin' the sun set and sippin' on some ice tea, glad the day was endin', and lookin' forward to a hot shower and goin' to bed.

Around the corner zips this sporty little red pickup, (you know, the quarter-ton size, settin' way down low like a Mexican veehicle) vibratin' to the boom of the sound system, and skids up to Lee Roy's front door. This kid with tattoos and spiked green hair hops out, like he's gonna go ring the doorbell, then he gets back in and honks the horn. (What we call a Mexican doorbell. I'm thinking, "Hmm. He don't look Mexican.")

(Full article here)

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Flags & Kingship

2006-06-29T08:22:00.001-07:00

I was on my way to Memphis the other day & I passed a large Assembly of God Church on Hwy 78. I saw something out front that I have been seeing in front church buildings of several different denominations for years and it still drives me absolutely crazy. Just so I'm not picking on the Assembly of God folks, the first time I saw this, it was on First Baptist of Batesville, Mississippi, and can be seen at church buildings across America. The scene in question, in my view symbolizes either at best a sinful ignorance or at worst an idolatrous treason...

(Full article here)

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2006-06-28T10:01:00.000-07:00

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