11.20.05
Posted in Politics, Christianity, Inspirational at 5:04 am by video777
BACKGROUND: This was written and published by Charles Colson the founder of Prison Fellowship. Colson was a figure in the Nixon administration and served time in prison for his role in the Watergate scandal and that spiraled into the historic resignation of Richard Nixon. Colson’s imprisonment led to his becoming a Christian and founding Prison Fellowship. Each year, Prison Fellowship sponsors “Angel Tree,” an effort that gives Christmas gifts to tens of thousands of the children of prison inmates. On December 22, 2003, President and Mrs. Bush attended an Angel Tree event at the Shiloh Baptist Church in Alexandria. That is the event described in this story by Charles Colson.
Angel Tree, our Prison Fellowship program for prisoners’ children, is one of the great unheralded volunteer outreaches in America. Over the Christmas holidays these past few weeks, approximately 100,000 volunteers delivered Angel Tree gifts to more than 525,000 children of inmates.
You didn’t read about this in the newspapers, nor would I expect that you should. It’s not really that newsworthy that Christians help people in need. But there are two of our volunteers, who delivered forty presents, that I think you should have read about but didn’t. For reasons best known to themselves, the media ignored the fact that two of the volunteers were President and Mrs. George Bush. And they delivered gifts to forty inner-city kids in a church basement three days before Christmas.
President and Mrs. Bush arrived at three-o’clock, Monday, December 22, at the Shiloh Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia. Now, presidents don’t move anywhere without a great deal of fuss. The police were out, the roads blocked, and Secret Service were roaming around the church. And when the president arrived, he was accompanied not only by his own team, but also by a pool of reporters, forty or so members of the press. For ten minutes they popped their flashbulbs, scribbled their notes, and then were ushered out.
I remember from my days with President Nixon what photo opportunities are: Get the picture and leave. So I thought the Bushes would shortly depart, but they didn’t. They stayed long after the cameras were gone to greet every child, to have their picture taken with them, their mothers, and their grandmothers, to talk with them, and to ask questions. Though the press didn’t report it, I noticed that both the president and Mrs. Bush talked to the Hispanic children in Spanish.
Just before the president left, I introduced him to Al Lawrence, a member of our staff. I told the president that I had met Al more than twenty years ago in a prison. Jesus had got hold of Al’s life, and he’s been working for us ever since. Then I told the president that Al’s son was now a freshman at Yale. At that point the president stopped, exclaimed, “We’re both Yale parents,” and threw his arms around Al Lawrence-an African-American ex-offender being embraced by the president of the United States in a church basement. The ground is indeed level at the foot of the cross.
I tell you this story because it’s a wonderful Christmas story, and you probably haven’t heard it. With all those reporters who crowded into that basement, the visit resulted in almost universal media silence.
I suppose there are many explanations for this, but I’ll offer mine. The president is a Christian who really cares for “the least of these,” who does this not for photo ops, but because he’s genuine. That is something that his detractors in the media simply can’t handle. Conservatives caring for the poor? Never. It dashes the stereotypes.
But surely Christians ought to be rejoicing that the most powerful man in the world and his wife, a couple of days before Christmas, had a wonderful visit with the most powerless people in our society.
After all, that echoes the Christmas message, doesn’t it? The most powerful came to be with the least powerful to give us hope.
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11.02.05
Posted in Politics at 8:43 am by video777
Bill Frist, Senate Majority Leader, said of the Democrats move to have a closed door session that they “hijacked” the chamber. I couldn’t agree more. Democrats claim that the demand for a closed door session (which has rarely been used) was prompted by “misinformation and disinformation” given by President Bush and his administration prior to entry into the war in Iraq and also a failure of Republicans to look into it. What’s odd is the timing of all of this. Why today? Why not last year? Why not last month?
What the Democrats did today was reprehensible and will likely cause them to lose even more of their already fragile grip on power. The Democrats led this country down the wrong path for more than 40 years and now they are having a total meltdown because they are losing their power. They know that Samuel Alito WILL be confirmed as the next associate justice of the Supreme Court. They know that the economy is doing great - thanks to president Bush and the Republicans work on tax cuts. They see that the map of the United States is covered with red. The Republicans now hold a majority of State Legislatures, Governors, as well as both houses of Congress, and the Executive Branch.
Now is not the time to back down on our principles. Now is the time to fight for the things we believe in. The Democrats only have one message: “Destroy president Bush and his entire administration.” On the other hand the Republicans have a message that truly is compassionate. We believe in a strong economy by giving everyone a tax cut. More lower income people benefited from the recent tax cuts. We believe in a strong national defense. We believe in giving people jobs based on their skills and not some criteria such as their race or gender. We believe that the borders must be protected at all costs. We believe that the individual is responsible for their own actions and should be held accountable for them. I hold that principle as a high standard regardless of party. We believe that Americans should be free to send their kids to the school of their choice. We believe that we should maintain the right to “keep and bear arms.” We believe that America is the greatest country on the face of the earth and that we have been given a special place in human history by God. Our country was founded on the principles of a majority of people who believed that “We are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” I agree.
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11.01.05
Posted in Politics at 5:22 am by video777
Today I’m breathing a sigh of relief as president Bush named judge Samuel Alito to replace justice Sandra Day O’Conner on the Supreme Court. Based on what I’ve heard today, the conservatives in America (Democrats, Independents and Republicans) are virtually unaminous behind Alito. The strong opposition by the liberals (primarily all Democrats) has been fierce. Their desparation shows how inconsistent and hypocritical they are. They have argued on many occasions how president Clinton’s judicial nominees deserved an up or down vote. Now they want to make sure that Alito is not “too conservative” or “out of the mainstream of America.” Being listening carefully because you will hear these talking points repeated thousands of times and willingly broadcast by the ultra-liberal, truly out of the mainstream, media. What’s so amazing is that the Republicans voted overwhelmingly to confirm justice Ginsberg. Keep in mind that most who voted for her vehemently disagree with her philosophy of liberalism.
I’m also relieved that we are no longer trying to get Harriet Miers confirmed. I agree with Michael Medved that this will likely go down in history as one of president Bush’s biggest mistakes. I know that I initially supported Miers but my position has changed dramatically over the last couple of weeks. The more I learned about her, the more concerned I became. As a conservative I do not want to hear arguments like, “she broke the glass ceiling,” or “she’s been a trusted advisor,” or even “I know Harriet Miers and she will make a great justice.” That just doesn’t cut it for me.
Notice the difference in the approach taken when announcing judge Alito. In president Bush’s opening remarks he said, “Judge Alito is one of the most accomplished and respected judges in America, and his long career in public service has given him an extraordinary breadth of experience.” He went on to say, “As a Justice Department official, federal prosecutor and judge on the United States Court of Appeals, Sam Alito has shown a mastery of the law, a deep commitment of justice, and he is a man of enormous character. He’s scholarly, fair-minded and principled, and these qualities will serve our nation well on the highest court of the land.”
For those who would like to bring up judicial experience as being of prime importance: “Judge Alito has served with distinction on that court for 15 years and now has more prior judicial experience than any Supreme Court nominee in more than 70 years.” Furthermore, Judge Alito has argued 12 Supreme Court cases and argued at least two dozen court of appeals cases and handled at least 50 other cases.
Most importantly: Judge Alito was nominated by President George H. Bush to the federal bench in 1990. He was unanimously confirmed by the Senate.
My prediction at this point is that the Democrats will yell and scream, the gang of 14 will do a bunch of TV interviews discussing how we need to approach this caustiously, and when he finally gets a chance for an up or down vote he will be confirmed by roughly 74-26.
Your comments are welcome.
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