Tag Archives: TEA party

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Those Pre-Christian Deities Aren’t Much Like Jesus After All — A popular atheist objection to Christianity is that it copied its believes from other religions.  The link thoroughly debunks the comparisons of Jesus to the mythical Mithras.  (Also see Copycats for more reasons why the atheists’ approach is riddled with errors).  The alleged comparisons are all false, meaningless or cases where the Mithras details post-date Jesus.

Claim: Mithras was born of a virgin on December 25th, in a cave, attended by shepherds
Truth: Mithras was actually born out of solid rock, leaving a cave. He was not born of a virgin (unless you consider the rock mountain to have been a virgin). His birth was celebrated on December 25th, but both Mithras worshippers and the earliest Christians borrowed this celebration from earlier winter solstice celebrations. The earliest version of the Mithras narrative that includes shepherds appears one hundred years after the appearance of the New Testament; it is far more likely Mithraism borrowed the shepherds from Christianity than the other way around.

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Claim: Mithras had 12 companions or disciples

Truth: There is no evidence for any of this in the traditions of Iran or Rome. It is possible that the idea that Mithras had 12 disciples came from a mural in which Mithras is surrounded by twelve signs and personages of the Zodiac (two of whom are the moon and the sun), but even this imagery is post-Christian.

Claim: Mithras promised his followers immortality
Truth: While there is little evidence for this, it is certainly reasonable to think that Mithras did offer immortality, although this is not uncommon for any god of mythology.

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You Must Connect The Dots. Here, I’ll Help — a great explanation and critique of Liberalism by the Bumbling Genius.

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IRS apologizes for targeting conservative groups — Would they have apologized if they hadn’t been caught?  This is a great reminder that you can’t trust those in power to be fair.  This is just a sample of what they are capable of.  More here about how they’ve known about it since 2011.

Now, President Obama, tell me again why we are shouldn’t be concerned about tyranny?  Be prepared to remind people of this when they claim you are paranoid merely for questioning the goodness of our leaders and their plans.

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Idols of Awesome and Shibboleths of Community — A great read to help keep things in perspective.  If you really want to do something radically different because of your faith, that’s great.  But you can be an authentic believer anywhere.  Don’t let people guilt you into thinking you need to do something that is radical by their definition.  What is really radical today is a stay-at-home mom.

Every once in a while I stumble over something that opens my eyes wide to a lot of the silliness of secularism that pervades evangelicalism and, in turn, warps the whole of generations.Anthony Bradley points out that there is a crazy movement going on right now within young evangelical circles to shun the suburbs and engage in a “new legalism” of radical faith.

The best I can figure is that somehow suburbs are just bad. (Read Keith Miller on this point) I think there is something bigger than that and it goes beyond evangelicals to, particularly, millenials and those who close out the tail end of Gen X and Y. We’ve made idols of the awesome in our lives. All of us.

Each of us forms in our head an ideal. Instead of enjoying our present where, as CS Lewis noted, we are closest to God, we either look to a future that may or may not be, or we hold on to a past that maybe was not as shiny as we think. Then we surround ourselves with others and, in a culture of Baby Boomer grandparents and their offspring, decide our life will not be fulfilled unless it is in some way awesome.

P.S. Shibboleth is a term from the Bible.  It is an interesting Old Testament story that all Christians should know about.

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9 things you should know about p*rnography and the brain — clear examples of how sin manifests itself and impacts us physically.  Too bad the “comprehensive sex ed” classes don’t teach this.  They are too busy pretending there are no consequences.

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Homosexual man complains to NZ Human Rights Tribunal for being barred from seminary — And he’ll probably win.  This is how “gay rights” advocacy is used by Satan to try and destroy the church.  The complaint should be dismissed simply for its absurdity.  Imagine a Christian complaining about not being able to be an LGBTQ leader, even if he wants the position just so he can undermine their organization with his opposite beliefs.

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A few important messages from Grumpy Cat.

Politics

Media consistency: You’re doin’ it wrong!

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But what’s new?  When the Tea Party rallies allegedly didn’t have just the right mix of diversity then the charge from the liberal media was racism.  And if you like Tea Partier Herman Cain then you are extra-racist because you are obviously just voting for him to cover up your regular racism.

Yet the Occupy protesters are having the same lack of diversity. Does the media assume it is racism?  Of course not.  They rationalize it away in the most creative ways.  See Occupy protesters eye diversity as movement grows.

The outcry against the nation’s financial institutions that has swept the country in recent weeks has crossed many boundaries, including class, gender and age. But a stubborn hurdle in many cities has been a lack of racial inclusion, something noted by organizers and participants alike.

“We, the 99 percent, have to be reaching out to the cross section of the communities that we live in,” said Tim Franzen, one of the organizers of the Occupy Atlanta movement. “If you come down to the park and spend a day I think you might have a hard time saying this is an all-white movement. We are reaching out, but we’ve got some bridges to build.”

The absence of diversity is particularly notable given that some of the larger issues surrounding the Occupy movement — including the economy, foreclosures and unemployment — are disproportionately affecting people of color. And the legacy of activism present in some minority communities seems a natural segue for such a cause, which has been linked to the strategies of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

African-Americans are more inclined to rally around social justice than financial literacy causes, said John Hope Bryant, founder and chief executive officer of Operation HOPE, a non-profit organization that educates underserved and low-income Americans about personal financial responsibility.

Got that?  The alleged lack of Tea Party diversity (ignoring, again, the rise of Herman Cain) was immediately and emphatically attributed to racism, yet the admitted lack of Occupy diversity is because of a lack of concern over financial literacy (Is that guy saying that blacks aren’t financially literate?!) — even when they admit that blacks are disproportionately affected by what they are protesting.

That’s radical bias, even by the mainstream media’s standards.

Hat tip: Chuck from Facebook

Economics, Politics

Straw man of the year: The “So you say you hate taxes?” list

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As if we needed more evidence that Liberals literally fail at basic economics, this anti-Tea Party piece is floating around Facebook as if it actually proves something: So you say you hate taxes? … well here is the solution.  Here’s a sample of the 102 items listed (they really put a lot of work into this logical fallacy!):

1. Do not use Medicare.

2. Do not use Social Security

3. Do not become a member of the US military, who are paid with tax dollars.

4. Do not ask the National Guard to help you after a disaster.

5. Do not call 911 when you get hurt.

I imagine that most of you will quickly spot the straw man fallacy: The Tea Party never claimed to want taxes to be zero.  Never.  They even used the “backronym” of Taxed Enough Already.  Therefore, the “but taxes pay for good things” argument is meaningless.  It proves nothing.  It was just an extended-play, petty vehicle to demonize one’s ideological opponents.

And you’ll probably realize that just because we need taxes for some things — and the Tea Partiers agree that some taxes are necessary — it doesn’t mean:

  • That taxes should be raised
  • That the current tax proceeds are being used efficiently and effectively
  • The tax proceeds are being spent in Constitutionally correct ways
  • That increasing tax rates will increase revenues.  For example, lowering the corporate tax rates would keep more jobs here, resulting in more personal income and Social Security tax receipts.

Side note: The commenters on the Facebook page included the typical “tea bagger” pejorative.  It occurred to me that the anti-Tea Party people must be real homophobes.  After all, why would they consider it to be such an effective insult to refer to Tea Partiers by a term describing a gay sex act?

Financial, Politics

Stealing from future generations

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The constant cries by the theological Left to have the government redistribute wealth are more than just annoying.  They hurt more people than they help and they mock authentic Christianity. 

It is bad enough that they would ask “Caesar” to take – by threat of force or imprisonment – from neighbor A to “give” to neighbor B and consider it charity on the part of the theological Left.  That is the opposite of common sense and what Jesus taught.  But at least then neighbor A could voice his opposition and vote against it.

To make things worse, now they are funding their “giving” solely with additional debt.  This means that the ones who will pay for this faux giving can’t vote or may not have even been born yet.  These folks have found a way to steal from people who aren’t even alive! 

They are trying to help a small amount of poor people – who by the world’s standards are actually quite blessed – even though it will continue to drive more people into poverty.  It will ultimately destroy the goose that laid the golden egg. 

Forced wealth redistribution does not alleviate poverty.  If false teachers* really wanted to help the poor they’d do things like this instead:

  1. Establish and maintain the rule of law.
  2. Focus the jurisdiction of government primarily on maintaining the rule of law, and limit its jurisdiction over the economy and the institutions of civil society.
  3. Implement a formal property system with consistent and accessible means for securing a clear title to property one owns.
  4. Encourage economic freedom.
  5. Encourage stable families and other important private institutions which mediate between the individual and the state.
  6. Encourage belief in the truth that the universe is purposeful and makes sense.
  7. Encourage the right cultural mores.
  8. Instill a proper understanding of the nature of wealth creation and poverty.
  9. Focus on cultivating your comparative advantage rather than protecting what used to be your comparative advantage.
  10. Work hard.

I would add that Junior Achievement classes are proven to help keep kids in school longer.  Also, they teach essential life skills in how to manage money. 

And if you really want to help the poor, don’t just throw money at them.  Have them do some work for it.  Give them healthy, inexpensive food like milk, oatmeal, pasta, eggs, etc. instead of food stamps that can be abused. 

Friendly reminders: 1. Conservatives give more money and even blood than Liberals.  2. Liberals fail at basic economics

* False teachers include people like Jim "the Gospel is all about wealth redistribution" Wallis and race-baiting Chuck “Jesus is not the only way” Currie

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New study shows that children of divorce twice as likely to have a stroke – excellent commentary on where Christians went wrong in not opposing “no fault” divorce and why we should oppose it now.

Here is the second unpleasant truth: homosexuals did not destroy marriage, heterosexuals did. The demand for same-sex marriage is a symptom, not a cause, of the deterioration of marriage. By far the most direct threat to the family is heterosexual divorce. “Commentators miss the point when they oppose homosexual marriage on the grounds that it would undermine traditional understandings of marriage,” writes family scholar Bryce Christensen. “It is only because traditional understandings of marriage have already been severely undermined that homosexuals are now laying claim to it.”

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Planned Parenthood files suit against Alaska parental notification law

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, November 26, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest (PPGW) is filing suit against a law approved by Alaska voters in August that would require parents to be notified of their minor daughter’s abortion.

The abortion giant, along with two pro-abortion medical doctors, is arguing that the law violates abortion-bound girls’ right to equal protection, because girls who choose to keep their babies are not required to tell their parents.

Yeah, it is easy to hide full-term pregnancies and babies from parents.

The plaintiffs also claim the law, set to take effect December 14 of this year, violates abortionists’ due process rights.

The ACLU teamed up with Planned Parenthood for the suit.  Shocking.

It is amazing that we even have this discussion or that the votes are so close.  Once again, folks, you can’t give a teenager an Advil for their orthodontia in school without taking a note and an original bottle, but these moral freaks want your kids to be able to have a very serious medical procedure and have your grandchildren destroyed without your knowledge.

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It’s Time: The Tea Party vs. Obama’s Corporate Cronies

Taking on “the man” isn’t just for hippies anymore:

“Starting next year, the huge Tea Party organizer FreedomWorks will urge supporters to punish huge corporations like General Electric and Johnson & Johnson for backing President Obama’s progressive agenda.”

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Glasgow Humanists Unable To Mount Successful Argument Against Behe – just more recycled bad arguments.  When will they learn?

Michael Behe is currently on a speaking tour around the UK (tour websitehere), organised by the newly founded Centre for ID UK. Last night, I attended Behe’s Glasgow lecture. The evening was entitled “Darwin or Design – What Does the Science Really Say?” As is to be expected, Behe spoke both articulately and persuasively, developing a powerful cumulative positive case for design based on the nanotechnology which pervades life at the level of the cellular world. Behe is a very gifted speaker, especially when it comes to conveying his scientific ideas and concepts to an audience without a scientific background.

Representatives from the Scottish Humanist Society were also in attendance, and took the liberty to hand out anti-ID literature outside the venue. Nothing wrong with that, of course. ID has nothing to fear from people listening to both sides and critically evaluating the strength of the respective cases. Unfortunately, however, the literature was disappointing – it recycled, in large measure, material from the NCSE and from Wikipedia: hardly your most reliable sources of information when it comes to ID. Many of the objections presented therein were, in fact, addressed during the course of the presentation. Tellingly, when it came to the Q&A, the humanists were seemingly unable to articulate a reason why we ought to reject Behe’s arguments, and it was somewhat of an anticlimax.

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From Sarah Palin’s response to the media’s double standards on whose verbal gaffes they highlight:

My fellow Americans in all 57 states, the time has changed for come. With our country founded more than 20 centuries ago, we have much to celebrate – from the FBI’s 100 days to the reforms that bring greater inefficiencies to our health care system. We know that countries like Europe are willing to stand with us in our fight to halt the rise of privacy, and Israel is a strong friend of Israel’s. And let’s face it, everybody knows that it makes no sense that you send a kid to the emergency room for a treatable illness like asthma and they end up taking up a hospital bed. It costs, when, if you, they just gave, you gave them treatment early, and they got some treatment, and ah, a breathalyzer, or an inhalator. I mean, not a breathalyzer, ah, I don’t know what the term is in Austrian for that…

Barack Obama said all those things (click the links for proof).  How many times did you see those highlighted on the news and on Saturday Night Live and such?

More Palin Derangement Syndrome noted at Hot Air, reminiscent of her critics jumping on her for correctly noting the date of the Boston Tea Party:

The Twittersphere lit up after the publication of Ms Palin’s message, with critics jumping on her mention of 57 states – clearly not realising it was her joke aimed at Mr Obama.

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Charlotte PD chaplains resign over gay clergy

These men are to be applauded for standing on their convictions. The “silence equals consent” trick is one of the main tactics used by the gcm. As we reported to you, everywhere gcm clerics show up, division is inevitable. Gay christian clerics shouldn’t be accepted as legitimate Christian representatives anywhere, because their fundamental belief system is antithetical –even hostile in some cases— to the Bible. For examples look here,here and here.

I’m not sure what to say about the police chief who’s best excuse for putting these false teachers in positions of influence is “tolerance and gay-versity”.

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How many ACORN employees have been convicted of voter fraud this year? – Uh, all of them?  Well, not quite.  Only 15.

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From my other blog:  Jim Wallis of Sojourners: Hypocrite. Race Baiter. False teacher – Jim “the Gospel is all about wealth redistribution” Wallis is busy telling the world why Tea Partiers are racist and more . . .

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Are you better off than you were 4 years ago when the Democrats took control of Congress? January 3rd, 2007 was the day that Barney Frank took over the House Financial Services Committee and Chris Dodd took over the Senate Banking Committee.  Before that the Democrats pushed for plans that would inevitably drive high foreclosure rates but they insulated the lenders from risk.  Horrible, horrible idea.  Bush tried to reform Fannie and Freddie and was blocked.  Who took the third highest pay-off from Fannie Mae AND Freddie Mac?  Barack Obama.

Remember, Nancy Pelosi said that the Democrats “are prepared to govern and ready to lead.”  When did she say that?  November 8, 2006.

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Home Depot founder rips Obama WH as “tenured” academics, apologizes for creating jobs

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Jr. High Students Take Field Trip to Mosque, Pressured into Praying to Allah — any major media coverage of this?  Any ACLU outrage?

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An interesting piece by Pastor Timothy about Christianity and the Godfather.  A snippet:

The movie is a great example of what happens when sin goes unrestrained. You have every manner of sin being delved into by those who believe they live in a protected world due to the fact that Godfather Don Corleone has all the judges in his back pocket. That is how Michael can gun down one of the mob bosses and a police captain and get away with it. When you own those who are charged with keeping the law, then you can keep them from using the law against you.

The movie’s popularity is due to the fact that it does appeal to our sin nature. We want to be in control of the world in which we live and The Godfather shows us a world where the Don controls a good portion of his own world. Of course, he has to use intimidation, fear, the threat of having your favorite pet’s head severed and dumped in your bed over night, death, etc., in order to control that world. But wouldn’t we love to control our world in such a way?

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Stunner: Congresswoman wheedles lobbyist for money – your tax dollars at work.  The audacity of her shakedown is bad enough, but I’m she was so bold / stupid as to leave it on a voicemail.  This is getting major coverage in the mainstream media, right?

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Former-leftist Robin of Berkeley explains the left’s corruption of children – read it.

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Communist atheist Mao Zedong killed 45 million people – It was really quite gruesome.  The numbers are staggering.  Ideas have consequences.  Wasn’t Mao a hero of one of Obama’s top advisors?

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Black Conservatives Blast Al Sharpton Protesters – sweet.  Great ideas, but they disagree with Obama & Co. so they must be racists.  Seriously, she was well armed with facts about the impact of Democratic policies on nuclear families and the high rate of abortion in black communities.  The other guy played the “but they’ll be poor” argument to justify his pro-abortion views, which ignores the facts that the abortion kills an innocent human being and we don’t “solve” poverty by killing people inside the womb or outside.

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funny pictures-And do not forget the special shampoo, I think it's getting worse.

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Campaign financing tidbits you may not hear about from the mainstream media:

1. Richest hedge fund managers gave 98% of contributions to Democrats

2. Gulf Oil Spill: Guess Who Was The Top BP Donation Recipient?

. . . do you think Obama will return the money as he goes on his demonization bender against BP? Will the media call for the return of the money? Will anyone on the Left whine about Obama being a big oil man, like they would if Bush was president? Yeah, right, on all three.

Obama was also the top recipient of Exxon Mobile money in 2008. And Chevron. Hmm.

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Obama using the word “teabaggers” now — Classy.  Now why would someone committed to civil discourse use a completely irrelevant pejorative referring to a largely homosexual sex act?  Is he homophobic?

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Why I hate the pill — interesting read on the not-well-communicated side effects.  Hat tip: Jill Stanek

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The Bigotry of ‘Progress’ — well reasoned post on (oxymoronic) same-sex marriage by the Other McCain

Insofar as homosexuals sought only liberty and tolerance, they met little resistance, as even the most conservative Americans take pride in their “live and let live” attitude. Yet Americans balked when it was argued that the logical extension of such tolerance required recognition of homosexuality as the basis of a legal and political identity.

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Amazingly stupid comments speculating on the identity of the Times Square bomber

So according to Bloomberg, Dreyfuss and Brewer, the profile of the guy who attempted to bomb Time Square was:

– Home Grown (born and/or raised and/or naturalized in the U.S.)

– Mentally Ill

– Has a Political Agenda (presumably against the Obama administration)

– Dislikes Obama’s Health Care bill

– Tea Party Member

– Anti-Government Right

– Bigotted against people from other countries and people with different skin colors

Weird.  It turns out that the guy in custody ACTUALLY fits THIS profile:

– From Pakistan and naturalized a year ago

– Received training in Waziristan

– Has political/religious agenda (against the U.S.)

– Hasn’t mentioned his opinion (and presumably doesn’t care) about Obama’s health care bill

– Hasn’t mentioned any support for (and presumably disagrees with) the Tea Party movement

– Is certainly anti-U.S. government, but not in the way they mean

– Seems to be bigoted against people in the U.S., no matter their skin color or background

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I would add the following to the definition of the pink piece of the pie: “. . . after the patient nearly dies multiple times from all the misdiagnoses.”

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Black tea partiers surprised to find they’re not “really” black — must see video!  The Left’s race-baiting and cries of “Uncle Tom” are nauseating.  But wait, all those black MSNBC anchors can’t be wrong . . .

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University of Calgary students face expulsion for pro-life display

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Super volcano photos!

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A great list of abortion recovery ministries

If you are struggling after an abortion, there is help, hope, and healing for you.

If you feel guilt or shame, anger, confusion, are depressed, have suicidal thoughts, nightmares, increased drinking or drug use, or trouble bonding with subsequent children, please know you are not alone.

There are people all over the country that are waiting to offer you abortion recovery services. Here are just a few of them… [see the link]

The most important thing to realize is that you are not alone in your thoughts and feelings. Others have traveled the path to find healing and you can, too.

If you are struggling, please reach out for help. We will share with you the same love and support we were offered.

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1,000 Tea Party Protest: 0 Arrested… 1 Leftist SEIU [union] Protest: 25 Arrested — but the Tea Partiers are the violent ones, right?  HT: The Other McCain

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The “tea partiers are scary and violent while Liberals are super-duper extra nice” meme is very compelling, provided that you only watch the mainstream media.  Remember quaint pictures like the one below?  Click here for lots more examples.

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Video: Letterman’s shocking interview with a tea-party leader — Very even handed by Dave and a stellar de-bunking of the “violent tea partier” meme.

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Michelle Malkin explains how the left regularly fakes hate crimes — don’t be gullible when you hear about these.  Yes, there is hate — but it is on both sides, and you only hear about one side from the mainstream media and they “forget” to tell you about all the fakes.

And what about real hate speech that called for the murder of the President?  Oh, that was a different President so it doesn’t count.

And can you remember the Old Media ever publishing these sort of photos during Bush’s eight years in office? Nope, me neither.

And did anyone notice how the anti-war rallies have ceased — or at least ceased to be covered by the media?  But doesn’t President Obama preside over those wars?  It this like how the homeless problem was cured the instant Bill Clinton took office?

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Star Parker is running for Congress in California — Yea!

In Uncle Sam’s Plantation: How Big Government Enslaves America’s Poor and What We Can Do About It, Parker traced the shift in America’s attitude from a belief in strong families and hard work to the flawed idea that the government’s role is to solve social problems.

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A nice summary of Bible reading tips I came across on another blog.  Just add “always read in context” and you’re off to a good start.

1. The specific trumps the general,
2. The genre where a verse is found matters; example: Proverbs describes general trends, rather than iron-clad guarantees; Leviticus is a book of law of ancient Israel
3. Novel interpretations are frowned upon; it’s unlikely if not impossible that the church, to whom Jesus promised that the gates of hell won’t prevail over, would miss something completely after all these years.
4. The clear interprets the unclear.
5. Some parts of the bible may be unclear by design! I believe that God purposefully is vague with regard to what the afterlife will be like, in order to keep us from ignoring this life. And not all questions are answered by the bible.

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Things you wish were April Fool’s jokes, but aren’t — a gruesome list, including the “rights” of transgender students to use opposite-sex bathrooms in schools

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From the National Review — Getting serious about pornography — so sad that our culture not only ignores how destructive this is but acts like it is normal.  I can’t tell you how many fluff pieces the Houston Chronicle has had on porn, getting all nostalgic on anniversaries of Deep Throat and Playboy. (Hat tip: The Constructive Curmudgeon)