Curtis Dahlgren
"Chastity Bono to become a man" (and the President, all things to all people)?
By Curtis Dahlgren
"I never liked anyone who didn't have a temper. If you don't have any temper, you don't have any passion."— Michael Bloomberg (2002)
TODAY IS JUNE 20TH, THE DAY THE ICE FISHING SHACKS HAVE TO BE OFF THE LAKES. Just kidding, but up here in the U.P. of Michigan, Al Gore's name is seldom taken without an epithet in vain. While some Americans don't know the difference between Veteran's Day and Memorial Day, in most of the country, the latter is "the day the pools open" (but a month after Memorial Day, it's still too cold to go swimming up here, and the nights are almost too cold for sleeping in a tent).
I'm not complaining, I'm bragging, and I'd love to talk more about the Upper Peninsula, but given the recent news headlines, I guess I'll have to move on.
"In living memory, the chief threats to American democracy have come from without: first, Nazism and Japanese imperialism, and later, Soviet communism . . The threats we now face are from within. They are far different, more difficult to detect, more insidious: decadence, cynicism, and boredom."
- William J. Bennett ("The Death of Outrage"; The Free Press, 1998)
["insidious, adj.; lying in wait, treacherous" (found between 'insensitive' and 'insincere').
"decadence, noun; deterioration, degeneration, decay" (found between 'debt' and 'decarbonize' — "to deprive of carbon").]
Not to talk down to the literate, but the public schools have so lowered expectations that general vocabularies have declined to the point at which millions of teens make Bennett's point every day by saying "I'm bored." No wonder people are cynical. Kids listening to I-pods or FM radio seldom hear any news at all, which is just the way they like it. I mean treacherous people lying in wait like it this way.
If there's one thing control freaks in politics really hate, it's dissenters, and especially, dissenters with passion. They just love a citizenry with grey-matter envy, the easily "persuaded," and government-for-dummies. Those constituents don't bother the politician by pointing out inconsistencies. So here are a couple of typical recent headlines:
"Iowa town still waiting for aid one year after floods."
"NASA to search for signs of hidden water on the moon."
"President says we must not be seen as 'meddling' in foreign affairs"
"President put critics of financial overhaul on notice"
As long as I've been around, people who are preoccupied with their "image" are most likely not to succeed; those who want to be "all things to all people" usually end up the most disappointed by the way they're perceived..
Speaking of passion, the non-Muslim dissenters to the totalitarian rule by a minority in Iran must be an embarrassment to certain people in Washington, judging by the "reaction" or non-reaction. Jimmy Carter certainly wasn't shy about "meddling" when he helped install the Iranian theocrats in power. Now it's a no-no to lend any moral support to oppressed people around the world? Methinks the powers-that-be underestimate the American people.
We come from a long line of risk-takers. My grandparents all took the risk of leaving the Old Country to come here in the late 1800s. My mother didn't finish high school, and my dad never went to high school, but they were more literate than today's college freshman by far. As Michael Savage says, the thing that distinguishes mankind from "lower animals" is the ability to use language, but we are "devolving."
"Generation X" was not only literate but they overcame a Depression and Totalitarianism. Generation "Z" may not be "fit" for survival. This untoward generation has been so coddled that it is considered "damaging" to mark a student's paper with a red marking pen. If that's the case, can the USA survive the politicians lying in wait who apologize for our grandparents?
THERE ARE SOME THINGS WE COULD APOLOGIZE FOR:
- We could apologize to the Muslim world for our pornographic movies.
- We could apologize to the whole world for our Internet porn.
- We could apologize for Hollywood, Hugh Hefner, and Larry Flynt.
- We could apologize for the Mardi Gras, gay "pride" parades, and high school girls who dress like slutty stewardesses.
[OOPS! I think I just committed a couple of politically incorrect sins.. It's okay in the pop culture to slander female flight attendants on national TV, but for a relatively unknown columnist such as myself to cast aspersions on a "protected" species of the human family is unforgivable, and may soon become a felony.
I had an entirely different column I had intended to write today until I received the following message in an e-mail this morning (I wish I could condense it, but you really need to read all of this). WE NEED TO TALK.]
By the way, I worked in Laramie, Wyoming and I personally know people from there. I was trimming trees right at the University of Wyoming the day I heard the news that President Reagan had been shot (by a fan of Hollywood pop culture).
I knew one of the former managers of the bar from which Shepard was picked up by two drug addicts looking for drug money. It is shameful the way the dominant entertainment and news media attempt to smear — McCarthy fashion — "fundamentalists" (and to criminalize them now) by exploiting the Shepard tragedy.
I for one am sick and tired of having my grandmother demonized as a "religious fanatic" (may she rest in peace).
For another thing, I refuse to stand by silently and watch Christians persecuted for their beliefs. "Freedom of conscience" was a rather big deal for our nation's Founding Families.. Freedom of Conscience could become a thing of the past in the country before the end of the week (just in time for the fourth of July!).
Do not sit idly at your computer and let such travesties just happen. Nothing "just happens" when the Left is involved. The shooting at the Holocaust Museum gave the lefties yet another opportunity to blame all of us for one man's madness.
CONCLUSION:
As I said in my previous column:
"Blaming [talk radio and us Jesus freaks] for the shooting by a mad man at the Holocaust Museum is like blaming the Bluebird of Happiness for cow pies in Calcutta. It does not compute."
PPS:
Pray for America (I mean that in the most literal sense). More to come.
© Curtis Dahlgren
June 20, 2009
"I never liked anyone who didn't have a temper. If you don't have any temper, you don't have any passion."
TODAY IS JUNE 20TH, THE DAY THE ICE FISHING SHACKS HAVE TO BE OFF THE LAKES. Just kidding, but up here in the U.P. of Michigan, Al Gore's name is seldom taken without an epithet in vain. While some Americans don't know the difference between Veteran's Day and Memorial Day, in most of the country, the latter is "the day the pools open" (but a month after Memorial Day, it's still too cold to go swimming up here, and the nights are almost too cold for sleeping in a tent).
I'm not complaining, I'm bragging, and I'd love to talk more about the Upper Peninsula, but given the recent news headlines, I guess I'll have to move on.
"In living memory, the chief threats to American democracy have come from without: first, Nazism and Japanese imperialism, and later, Soviet communism . . The threats we now face are from within. They are far different, more difficult to detect, more insidious: decadence, cynicism, and boredom."
- William J. Bennett ("The Death of Outrage"; The Free Press, 1998)
["insidious, adj.; lying in wait, treacherous" (found between 'insensitive' and 'insincere').
"decadence, noun; deterioration, degeneration, decay" (found between 'debt' and 'decarbonize' — "to deprive of carbon").]
Not to talk down to the literate, but the public schools have so lowered expectations that general vocabularies have declined to the point at which millions of teens make Bennett's point every day by saying "I'm bored." No wonder people are cynical. Kids listening to I-pods or FM radio seldom hear any news at all, which is just the way they like it. I mean treacherous people lying in wait like it this way.
If there's one thing control freaks in politics really hate, it's dissenters, and especially, dissenters with passion. They just love a citizenry with grey-matter envy, the easily "persuaded," and government-for-dummies. Those constituents don't bother the politician by pointing out inconsistencies. So here are a couple of typical recent headlines:
"Iowa town still waiting for aid one year after floods."
"NASA to search for signs of hidden water on the moon."
"President says we must not be seen as 'meddling' in foreign affairs"
"President put critics of financial overhaul on notice"
As long as I've been around, people who are preoccupied with their "image" are most likely not to succeed; those who want to be "all things to all people" usually end up the most disappointed by the way they're perceived..
Speaking of passion, the non-Muslim dissenters to the totalitarian rule by a minority in Iran must be an embarrassment to certain people in Washington, judging by the "reaction" or non-reaction. Jimmy Carter certainly wasn't shy about "meddling" when he helped install the Iranian theocrats in power. Now it's a no-no to lend any moral support to oppressed people around the world? Methinks the powers-that-be underestimate the American people.
We come from a long line of risk-takers. My grandparents all took the risk of leaving the Old Country to come here in the late 1800s. My mother didn't finish high school, and my dad never went to high school, but they were more literate than today's college freshman by far. As Michael Savage says, the thing that distinguishes mankind from "lower animals" is the ability to use language, but we are "devolving."
"Generation X" was not only literate but they overcame a Depression and Totalitarianism. Generation "Z" may not be "fit" for survival. This untoward generation has been so coddled that it is considered "damaging" to mark a student's paper with a red marking pen. If that's the case, can the USA survive the politicians lying in wait who apologize for our grandparents?
THERE ARE SOME THINGS WE COULD APOLOGIZE FOR:
- We could apologize to the Muslim world for our pornographic movies.
- We could apologize to the whole world for our Internet porn.
- We could apologize for Hollywood, Hugh Hefner, and Larry Flynt.
- We could apologize for the Mardi Gras, gay "pride" parades, and high school girls who dress like slutty stewardesses.
[OOPS! I think I just committed a couple of politically incorrect sins.. It's okay in the pop culture to slander female flight attendants on national TV, but for a relatively unknown columnist such as myself to cast aspersions on a "protected" species of the human family is unforgivable, and may soon become a felony.
I had an entirely different column I had intended to write today until I received the following message in an e-mail this morning (I wish I could condense it, but you really need to read all of this). WE NEED TO TALK.]
-
"PEDOPHILE PROTECTION ACT" [MAY] SNEAK INTO SENATE AMENDMENT
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), added the "Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act," (which is better known to conservatives as the "Pedophile Protection Act,") to his short-term legislative list Monday, by saying he was "committed" to a Senate vote on hate crimes legislation before the August recess. The pro-homosexual newspaper Washington Blade reported the vote would happen last week, but staffers at Senator Kennedy's office denied that, giving us a few more days to act.
The pro-homosexual, anti-faith bill, sponsored by Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and pushed hard by the Obama Administration, was until recently labeled S. 909 "Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act." But it faced such strong resistance by conservatives (including threat of filibuster or faith-protecting amendments by pro-faith Senator Jim DeMint, R-SC), so instead Democrats have announced they will soon hide the bill as an amendment to another "must-move" bill, denying committee hearings, and completely side-stepping the Republicans right to debate and amend. Now President Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder is reportedly linking passage of this pro-homosexual bill to protecting the rights of Hispanic illegal aliens, which would be deceptive, since "national origin" is already protected in the 1994 hate-crimes law, and 75% of Hispanics oppose gay marriage.
547 SEXUAL DEVIANCES TO BE PROTECTED BY FEDERAL MARSHALS
The forthcoming "poison pill" amendment will mirror a House bill H.R. 1913, already passed 249-175 along strict party lines, which makes "sexual orientation," "gender," and "gender identity" into federally-protected classes under the law, and codifies federal "protection" of up to 547 types of sexually deviant behaviors, including:
* Incest — sex with one's offspring (a crime, of course)
* Necrophilia — sexual relations with a corpse, also a crime
* Pedophilia — sex with an underage child, another crime . . .
Attempts by House Republicans to add amendments stating "pedophilia is not protected as a sexual orientation" were specifically blocked and defeated by House Democrats. Lesbian Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) expressed opposition to excluding pedophiles from the bill, and Democrats voted with her to strike any child-protection amendment. She claimed that pedophiles would not be defined within "sexual orientation," but wouldn't put that in writing, and refused to define that phrase "sexual orientation," which according to the American Psychiatric Association includes all 547 sexual deviances listed in their DSM-III manual of clinical psychoses, including pedophilia, so now thanks to most Democrats, child molesters will be protected by federal law.
FREE SPEECH CRIMINALIZED IN SWEDEN
In Sweden, Pastor Ake Green received a one-month jail sentence last year under a Swedish "hate crimes" law that forbids criticism of those who participate in homosexual behavior. The Goeta Appeals Court later overturned the decision... The government demanded the pastor be punished by appealing the case to the Swedish Supreme Court, which ruled the law unconstitutional. Yet here in America, the Reid-Kennedy-Obama trio is pushing to pass and enforce this same type of "anti-free speech" law, despite their acknowledgment that any such enforcement would be unconstitutional in America too. (Then why pass the bill in the first place?)
FREE SPEECH CRIMINALIZED IN CANADA
In Canada, where "hate crimes" laws already passed, the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal actively forbid evangelical pastor Stephen Boisson from expressing his moral opposition to homosexuality. The tribunal also ordered Boisson to pay $5,000 "damages for pain and suffering" and apologize to the "human rights" activist who filed the complaint. His crime? In 2002, the pastor wrote a letter to the editor of his local newspaper in which he denounced the homosexual agenda as "wicked" and stated that: "Children as young as five and six years of age are being subjected to psychologically and physiologically damaging pro-homosexual literature and guidance in the public school system; all under the fraudulent guise of equal rights." The Canadian government tribunal ordered the Christian pastor to "cease publishing in newspapers, by email, on the radio, in public speeches, or on the internet, in future, disparaging remarks about gays and homosexuals." (This "re-education commission" reminds me of Big Brother from Orwell's 1984.)
QUOTING THE BIBLE IN CHURCH WILL BE PUNISHED
Not only will sexually deviant behaviors gain legal protection, this legislation also lays the legal foundation to investigate, prosecute and persecute pastors, youth pastors, Bible teachers, and anyone else whose speech and thought is based upon and reflects the truths found in the Bible. How will this legislation over-rule the First Amendment?
PASTORS NOT PROTECTED BY FIRST AMENDMENT
S. 909 broadly defines "intimidation," thus a pastor's sermon could be considered "hate speech" if heard by an individual who then acts aggressively against persons based on any "sexual orientation." The pastor could be prosecuted for "conspiracy to commit a hate crime" or for "inciting violence against gays" simply by quoting the Bible in church. And the First Amendment won't automatically protect pastors, since speech accused of "inciting violence" is not protected, and is punishable, under precedent of Supreme Court rulings. In 1993 Wisconsin v. Mitchell, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a "hate speech" law providing enhanced punishments for violent crimes based on racial motives as revealed by speech of the accused, (which would now apply broadly to punish any "anti-gay motives" in the speech of accused pastor "co-conspirators.") But pastor, if a crazy person in your audience commits a crime against a heterosexual, don't worry, you'll get a comparative discount in your prison time.
IS PRAYER IN JESUS' NAME A "HATE CRIME?"
Any public prayer against the sin of homosexuality could be construed as "inciting violence" by easily offended listeners, especially if those prayers are offered "in Jesus name." When I served our country as a former Navy Chaplain, for example, I was told in writing by Chief of Chaplains Rear-Admiral Louis Iasiello, that "any chaplain's continued insistence on ending public prayers 'in Jesus' name'...could reasonably tend to denigrate those with different forms of faith." His policy prohibiting prayers "in Jesus name" was enforced against me at court-martial, before it was later rescinded by Congress in 2006. But this year I've already been falsely accused of "inciting violence" because I quoted verbatim from Psalm 109 in my public prayers, (for which [a secular activist] literally requested an FBI investigation against me!) Just imagine more anti-Christian aggression by law enforcement officials AFTER this hate-crimes bill becomes law.
IS PREACHING AGAINST SIN A HATE CRIME?
As a former Navy Chaplain who was punished (in writing, three times) for quoting the Bible in chapel during optionally-attended worship, I know exactly how they'll come after us. The enemies of religious liberty will simply declare certain gospel phrases "hateful" and "offensive" like my commanding officer who punished me for quoting John 3:36 in chapel, and was supported by government lawyers for "protecting" easily offended listeners from the "offensive" gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ.
Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX) agrees with me, saying pastors, rabbis, or imams could be charged with encouraging or inducing a "hate crime" if they preach against homosexuality. "Every preacher of the gospel, unless you cut out parts of it; every imam who mentions anything with regard to sexual immorality — they could be pursued, and in other countries they have been," says Gohmert. (Congressmen Gohmert is my personal advocate, with whom I preached last year at a pro-faith rally in Texas...and we both agree the gospel of freedom from sin really is "love speech" not "hate speech.")
FREE SPEECH SUPPRESSED IN NORWAY
Hate crimes laws protecting homosexuals from criticism are already silencing pastors in Norway, where these dangerous laws specifically empower law enforcement officials to prosecute "intimidation" of homosexuals. For example, Congressman Gohmert warned "I was talking to a guy from Norway who was telling me that people are even afraid to say Mary was a virgin, because just bringing up sexuality at all can raise problems with law enforcement."
FREE SPEECH CRIMINALIZED IN PENNSYLVANIA:
Can't happen in America? It already has. In 2004 my friend Michael Marcavage was arrested along with ten other Christians (including two elderly grandmothers), and charged with violating Pennsylvania's "hate crimes" laws, because they carried signs conveying God's love at a Gay Pride rally. One member of "The Philadelphia Eleven," Arlene Elshinnawy, 75 year-old grandmother of three, was holding a sign: "Truth is hate to those who hate the truth," before she was hauled off to jail by police officers. They were literally threatened with 50 years in jail for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ on a public sidewalk, because it offended gays. That hate crimes law was so outrageous it was later found unconstitutional by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, but now Ted Kennedy and Barack Obama want to pass essentially that same discredited law nationwide.
WE CAN STILL DE-RAIL THIS TRAIN **
But together, we can still stop them. We've identified 16 Democrats who are NOT YET committed as co-sponsors of S. 909, so please call them today, asking to OPPOSE AND FILIBUSTER any amendment to any bill that resembles S. 909. Sadly two Republicans (Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, R-ME) have joined 43 Democrats by co-sponsoring this pro-homosexual bill, so call them too, and ask them to switch.
If you've read this far, we must agree, so now please forward this email widely to other pro-faith friends, and to pastors in all 50 states. [Wisconsinites please note that Senators Kohl and Feingold are supposedly "undecided" on this issue!]
God Bless you, in Jesus' name,
Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt
[But remember, 100 emails = 10 phone calls = 1 fax in political capital, since the Senate staffers must handle each paper and usually write a reply. So please join our automated fax campaign.
http://www.prayinjesusname.org/ ]
By the way, I worked in Laramie, Wyoming and I personally know people from there. I was trimming trees right at the University of Wyoming the day I heard the news that President Reagan had been shot (by a fan of Hollywood pop culture).
I knew one of the former managers of the bar from which Shepard was picked up by two drug addicts looking for drug money. It is shameful the way the dominant entertainment and news media attempt to smear — McCarthy fashion — "fundamentalists" (and to criminalize them now) by exploiting the Shepard tragedy.
I for one am sick and tired of having my grandmother demonized as a "religious fanatic" (may she rest in peace).
For another thing, I refuse to stand by silently and watch Christians persecuted for their beliefs. "Freedom of conscience" was a rather big deal for our nation's Founding Families.. Freedom of Conscience could become a thing of the past in the country before the end of the week (just in time for the fourth of July!).
Do not sit idly at your computer and let such travesties just happen. Nothing "just happens" when the Left is involved. The shooting at the Holocaust Museum gave the lefties yet another opportunity to blame all of us for one man's madness.
CONCLUSION:
As I said in my previous column:
"Blaming [talk radio and us Jesus freaks] for the shooting by a mad man at the Holocaust Museum is like blaming the Bluebird of Happiness for cow pies in Calcutta. It does not compute."
PPS:
Pray for America (I mean that in the most literal sense). More to come.
© Curtis Dahlgren
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
