Lynchburg, VA – Former Arkansas Governor and Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee announced the personal endorsement of Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr. Falwell is the son of the late Jerry Falwell, founder of Liberty University and Falwell Ministries.
To read the complete news release click here.
November 28, 2007
WEEKLY SPOTLIGHT
Iowa: Huckabee 28% Romney 25%
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of the Iowa caucus finds former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee with 28% of the vote, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney with 25% support, and everyone else far behind. National frontrunner Rudy Giuliani gets just 12% of the vote in Iowa at this time while former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson is the only other candidate in double digits at 11%.
My cousin works for this company, TriWest!
TheBuzz Blog
Got any Valley business gossip? Reach me at chad.graham@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8577.
TriWest gives tunes to the troops
A couple hundred thousand copies of a new CD from Phoenix-based TriWest Healthcare Alliance (featuring such artists as Billy Joel, The Fray and Melissa Etheridge) left a Valley warehouse today to be shipped around the world.
No, the company is not jumping into the music business.
It and other organizations like Sony and the Recording Industry Association of America have partnered with John Ondrasik, singer of the band Five for Fighting, to release a new compilation of songs exclusively for service-members and their families.
TriWest, which administers the healthcare plan for 2.9 million members, is providing 200,000 copies of “For the Troops” to be distributed at Ondrasik's USO co-sponsored concert series, military bases around the globe and other outlets.
“Music can be uplifting and morale-boosting and we wanted to be part of those types of programs that show the troops that we care, that we're thinking of them, that we honor their service and sacrifice,” spokeswoman Elizabeth Perrine said.
Starting on Nov. 17, military members and veterans (with a valid ID number) were able download the CD from the Army & Air Force Exchange Service website.
Ondrasik has said music has a positive impact on mental health.
And every bit — even a CD — could help.
While a majority of men and women who've fought in Iraq and Afghanistan have adjusted smoothly back into civilian life after combat, researchers are concerned about the growing percentage who have troubles that range from depression to substance abuse problems to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or severe brain injuries.
Those problems can pose an equally tough ripple effect on family members and friends.
More information? www.fiveforfighting.com or www.uso.org
* * * * FLASH TRAFFIC: WASHINGTON UPDATE * * * *
MR. PRESIDENT: DON'T DIVIDE JERUSALEM
Natan Sharansky launches campaign to protect the Holy City, briefs Joshua Fund supporters on importance of evangelical Christians joining with Jewish groups on this sensitive issue.
By Joel C. Rosenberg
(Washington, D.C., November 26, 2007) -- The Bush administration's much-anticipated and highly-controversial Arab-Israeli peace conference opens tomorrow in Annapolis, Maryland. A great deal is at stake. The most contentious issue on the table: the future of Jerusalem. The government of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is talking openly about the possibility of dividing the holy city and giving part of it to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.
This would be a mistake of colossal proportions. It would not send a message of goodwill and peace to Israel's enemies, as Olmert and his advisors hope. Rather, it would invite more attacks by radical Islamic jihadists who want all of Jerusalem, not just part of it. What's more, talk of dividing Jerusalem fuels the apocalyptic, genocidal ambitions of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his colleagues who believe Israel's day of judgment is coming and that Shia Muslims are destined to annihilate Judeo-Christian civilization and gain control of Jerusalem for themselves, and soon.
Mr. President, don't divide Jerusalem. Don't consider it. Don't talk about it. Don't encourage others to talk about it. Doing so will bring war -- and a horrifying one at that -- not the peace that you seek. Rather, open tomorrow's conference by making it crystal clear that precisely because we want peace in the Middle East, the U.S. will not support any division of Jerusalem any more than we would support dividing Washington or London or Paris or Moscow with our enemies or our neighbors.
To stop Olmert, former Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Natan Sharansky last week launched a multi-million campaign to keep Jerusalem the eternal, undivided capital of the Jewish State. What's more, Sharansky is calling not only on the Jewish community worldwide to stand with him, but is also reaching out to evangelical Christians.
On November 8th at the Inbal Hotel in Jerusalem, Sharansky briefed a Joshua Fund breakfast my colleagues and I organized with some 52 evangelical business and ministry leaders from the U.S., Canada, Germany and Australia. He made a powerful case for the centrality of Jerusalem in Jewish life and the reason Christians and Jews need to work together, shoulder to shoulder, to keep the city from being divided.
As someone who helped Sharansky launch his first campaign to protect Jerusalem in September 2000, I join him again in calling on Christians all over the world to join his organization, One Jerusalem, and to sign his "Jerusalem Petition," which reads:
United Jerusalem Petition
* I support a unified Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty, to ensure free and open access for all people to the holy sites of the three major religions - Christianity, Islam and Judaism.
* I support a unified Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty, as an expression of the unique relationship between the Jewish People and its eternal capital.
* I support a unified Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty, so as never to return to the dark period of 1947-67, when Arab control over an artificially divided Jerusalem meant religious persecution, desecration of holy sites, and wanton destruction.
* I support a unified Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty, according to the current municipal boundaries, set in the wake of Israel's defensive 1967 Six Day War.
* I support a unified Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty, where Jews may enjoy the right to pray on the Temple Mount, the holiest site in the Jewish world.
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To visit joelrosenberg.com, please click here
To visit The Joshua Fund's WEBLOG, please click here
JOSHUA FUND DELEGATIONS VISIT ISRAELI LEADERS, COMPLETES RELIEF PROJECTS IN SDEROT AND CARMIEL
(Jerusalem, Israel) -- A Joshua Fund delegation with 52 evangelical Christian business leaders from the U.S., Canada, Germany and Australia just completed a two-week trip to Israel. The group was briefed by current Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Avigdor Lieberman on the growing Iranian nuclear threat; former Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Natan Sharansky on the threat to Jerusalem; MK Yuval Steinitz, Member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee, on the growing strategic threats to Israel from Iran and Syria and the growing Russian involvement in the Middle East; former Israeli General Yossi Peled on the Hezbollah threat in Lebanon; and former Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Dore Gold on the upcoming peace conference in Annapolis. The group toured Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and the Galilee region. It also did two humanitarian relief projects in the towns of Carmiel and Yavniel, distributing care packages of food and kitchen supplies to needy families in cooperation with the Mayors of these two towns and Bridges for Peace, an evangelical Christian relief organization based in Jerusalem.
On November 12, The Joshua Fund took a group of 25 evangelical Christians from Rio Rancho, New Mexico to do a humanitarian relief project in Sderot, an Israeli town on the southern border of Gaza. The town has been hit with more than 2,500 Palestinian rockets and missiles since the Israelis withdrew from Gaza in 2005 for "peace." Three rockets hit the day we were there, but by God's grace we were safely able to distribute more than $100,000 worth of clothes, toys, school supplies, and others goods to some 300 needy Israeli families who live below the poverty level and live in great fear of these constant terrorist attacks. The Sderot relief effort was done in cooperation with the Mayor of Sderot, the local social welfare office, and The Joseph Project, a Jewish organization committed to caring for the poor and needy and for victims of war and terrorism in Israel.
Please pray for peace for the 21,000 citizens of Sderot. More than 6,000 residents have left the town and relocated elsewhere in Israel in the last two years because of all the attacks. Please also pray that more evangelical Christians around the world become involved in helping needy families in Israel with humanitarian relief and unconditional love.
Thank you for reading. Please feel free to forward to others.
TO BOOK JOEL FOR AN INTERVIEW please contact Beverly Rykerd at 1-888-481-0405, (719) 481-0537, or (719) 440-2746 (cell), or beverly@leftbehind.com.
TO BOOK JOEL FOR A SPEECH please contact Edward Hunt at (703) 303-4998, or email him at edward@novembercommunications.com.
If you can believe what you read, especially from the Kansas City Star, metropolitan Kansas City is near the 2 million people mark. I do know that Kansas City has been experiencing tremendous growth for at least the last seven (7) years. If the national economy is bad it isn't reflected in the Kansas City markets.
Read the full article at The Kansas City Star
It could happen with the next baby born. It could happen when the next moving van is unloaded.
However it happens, metropolitan Kansas City will probably reach a symbolic milestone this month — the 2 million population mark.
If the 15-county metro area continues its 2005-2006 net growth rate into this year, then Kansas City will pass the 2 million point in late November, according to an analysis of U.S. census estimates by The Kansas City Star.
On the other hand, because some local suburbs forecast higher growth rates than the census does, the metro area may have already attained that population echelon.
Yesterday, in metropolitan Kansas City the temperature hovered around 74 degrees and felt like a humid spring day until...
Today the temperature has been falling most of the day and is supposed to be down to freezing by 5:00 PM.
Around 12:30 it began snowing at my apartment, first very heavily and then not so heavy. Now, the green grass is almost covered with snow, but the sidewalks and streets are still too warm for any accumulation. Even so, the snow is very pretty on the grass and I hope it last for a while.
It sure helps to get in the "holiday" spirit and mood.
Here is a little Thanksgiving story from my friend Paul who passed away a few years ago.
A country preacher decided to skip services one Sunday and head to the hills to do some bear hunting. As he rounded the corner on a perilous twist in the trail, he collided with a bear, sending him and his rifle tumbling down the mountainside. His rifle went one way, and he went the other, landing on a rock and breaking both legs.
That was the good news. The bad news was the ferocious bear was charging at him, and he couldn't move.
"Oh, Lord," the preacher prayed, "I'm so sorry for skipping services today to come out here and hunt. Please forgive me and grant me just one wish: Please make a Christian out of that bear that's coming at me. Please, Lord!"
That very instant the bear skidded to a halt, fell to its knees, clasped its paws together and began to pray aloud at the preacher's feet:
"Dear God, thank you and bless this food that I am about to receive!"
Happy Thanksgiving!
Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis & Fats Domino with cameo by Rod Stewart
Uploaded by Hanvak
This article was posted on Reuters:
Clinton and Obama spar over experience
Mon Nov 19, 2007 9:08pm EST
Without mentioning the other Democrats by name, Clinton suggested he[r] rivals lacked the experience to take on America's economic challenges, saying "we can't afford on-the-job training for our next president."
"We need a president who understands the magnitude and complexity of the challenges we face, and has the strength and experience to address them from Day One," she said.
For once, I couldn't agree more with Senator Clinton. The only thing I disagree with is that she should have included herself. I don't think being the First Lady or a Senator qualifies her any more than it does her rivals.
Remember...
Don't re-elect incumbents!
We need to show more sympathy for these people.
Iowa poll shows close race for Huckabee, Romney
By William L. Watts, MarketWatch
Last Update: 2:21 PM ET Nov 14, 2007
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee grabbed headlines Wednesday as a New York Times/CBS News poll showed the former Arkansas governor closely trailing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in Iowa.
Top Democrats -- Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards -- remained knotted in a very tight race in the Hawkeye State, which holds its first-in-the-nation caucuses on Jan. 3.
But the biggest surprise came from Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, who was shown trailing Romney, the long-time Iowa frontrunner, by 27% to 21%, with margin of error of 5 percentage points. The showing follows other surveys which have also shown Huckabee picking up steam in Iowa. [Click the headline to read the full article.]
My guy has be behind but don't count him out, yet! I still think he has a great chance and will be a good President. An Iowa "upset" is in the works and following that New Hampshire will be the next "upset."
Remember...
Don't re-elect incumbents!
The following was emailed to me this morning from a friend.It is really wonderful... take a minutes to read the whole letter.
Dear Children,
It has come to my attention that many of you are upset that folks are taking My name out of the season. Maybe you've forgotten that I wasn't actually born during this time of the year and that it was some of your predecessors who decided to celebrate My birthday on what was actually a time of pagan festival. Although I do appreciate being remembered anytime.
How I personally feel about this celebration can probably be most easily understood by those of you who have been blessed with children of your own. I don't care what you call the day. If you want to celebrate My birth, just GET ALONG AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
Now, having said that let Me go on. If it bothers you that the town in which you live doesn't allow a scene depicting My birth, then just get rid of a couple of Santas and snowmen and put in a small Nativity scene on your own front lawn. If all My followers did that there wouldn't be any need for such a scene on the town square because there would be many of them all around town.
Stop worrying about the fact that people are calling the tree a holiday tree, instead of a Christmas tree. It was I who made all trees. You can remember Me anytime you see any tree. Decorate a grape vine if you wish: I actually spoke of that one in a teaching, explaining who I am in relation to you and what each of our tasks were. If you have forgotten that one, look up John 15: 1 - 8.
If you want to give Me a present in remembrance of My birth here is my wish list. Choose something from it:
1. Instead of writing protest letters objecting to the way My birthday is being celebrated, write letters of love and hope to soldiers away from home. They are terribly afraid and lonely this time of year. I know, they tell Me all the time.
2. Visit someone in a nursing home. You don't have to know them personally. They just need to know that someone cares about them.
3. Instead of writing George complaining about the wording on the cards his staff sent out this year, why don't you write and tell him that you'll be praying for him and his family this year. Then follow up. It will be nice hearing from you again.
4. Instead of giving your children a lot of gifts you can't afford and they don't need, spend time with them. Tell them the story of My birth, and why I came to live with you down here. Hold them in your arms and remind them that I love them.
5. Pick someone that has hurt you in the past and forgive him or her.
6. Did you know that someone in your town will attempt to take their own life this season because they feel so alone and hopeless? Since you don't know who that person is, try giving everyone you meet a warm smile; it could make the difference.
7. Instead of nit picking about what the retailer in your town calls the holiday, be patient with the people who work there. Give them a warm smile and a kind word. Even if they aren't allowed to wish you a 'Merry Christmas' that doesn't keep you from wishing them one. Then stop shopping there on Sunday. If the store didn't make so much money on that day they'd close and let their employees spend the day at home with their families
8. If you really want to make a difference, support a missionary-- especially one who takes My love and Good News to those who have never heard My name.
9. Here's a good one. There are individuals and whole families in your town who not only will have no 'Christmas' tree, but neither will they have any presents to give or receive. If you don't know them, buy some food and a few gifts and give them to the Salvation Army or some other charity which believes in Me and they will make the delivery for you.
10. Finally, if you want to make a statement about your belief in and loyalty to Me, then behave like a Christian. Don't do things in secret that you wouldn't do in My presence. Let people know by your actions that you are one of mine.
Don't forget; I am God and can take care of Myself. Just love Me and do what I have told you to do. I'll take care of all the rest. Check out the list above and get to work; time is short. I'll help you, but the ball is now in your court. And do have a most blessed Christmas with all those whom you love and remember : I LOVE YOU,
JESUS
The First Amendment requires that expressions of faith be neither prohibited nor preferred. We should not banish religion from the public square, but should guarantee access to all voices and views. We should share and debate our faith, but never seek to impose it. When discussing faith and politics, we should honor the "candid" in candidate - I have much more respect for an honest atheist than a disingenuous believer.
My faith is my life - it defines me. My faith doesn't influence my decisions, it drives them. For example, when it comes to the environment, I believe in being a good steward of the earth. I don't separate my faith from my personal and professional lives.
Real faith makes us humble and mindful, not of the faults of others, but of our own. It makes us less judgmental, as we see others with the same frailties we have. Faith gives us strength in the face of injustice and motivates us to do our best for "the least of us."
Our nation was birthed in a spirit of faith - not a prescriptive one telling us whether to believe, but one acknowledging that a providence pervades our world.
By John Fout; TheStreet.com Political Correspondent; 11/8/2007 10:21 AM EST
"After the debate, Obama announced his concerns about Clinton:
After the most secretive administration in memory, an administration that consistently misled the American people, we need a president who is going to be open and forthright. ... Her big answer on whether she would release the papers from her White House years was particularly troubling because she is running on her record as first lady as much as on her record as a senator."
Yeah! She has repeatedly stated she is "most qualified" because of the years she spent in the White House. What did she do as First Lady that so qualified her to be President. We know she can be secretive... she helped cover-up Bill's illicit affairs that he continually lied about; she couldn't remember anything about "Whitewater," etc. She has publicly stated that she is no "Tammy Wynette" that "stands by her man," so we know she can lie!
If she wants to prove her unique qualifications she needs to release the White House papers pertaining to her time in the White House. All it takes is a letter from her hubby... Bill! We just might find out she was running the country for Bill while he was out with the "ladies."
One more reason I keep saying...
Don't re-elect incumbents!
"And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the River. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you." Exodus 23:31 (New King James Version)
Ted Turner (CNN) and Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the U. N. are putting enormous pressure on Israel to divide Jerusalem and relinquish most of Judea and Samaria when the U.S. hosts the “Annapolis Summit” later this month.
As Evangelical Christians we can not and must not allow this to happen. Numerous times in the past Israel has negotiated God given land for peace. Every time the Arabs have lied and launched attacks against Israel and the world has condemned Israel. This must stop!
This land for peace negotiations must stop. God gave Israel and Jerusalem to his chosen people which are not the Arabs and the Islamo-Fascist terrorists. Hezbollah, in Lebanon, Hamas, Fatah, the Palestinian Authority, Iran and Syrian are already planning their next wave of assault and terror attacks along with Russia.
By Robert D. Novak, Monday, November 5, 2007; 8:16 AM
"In the film [a new documentary titled "Jimmy Carter: Man From Plains], Carter repeatedly and unequivocally states what Palestinian and Israeli peace advocates view as undeniable: to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace, with all its benefits for the world, Israel must end its illegal and oppressive occupation of the West Bank."
As I have said before, Carter must read a different Holy Bible than other me. This land was given to the Israelites! They are not "occupying" it, illegally or oppressively! Wake up Mr. Carter, the land is their God given property!
Mr. Carter and his Arab friends are untrustworthy. And it has been proven over and over and over, again. Everyone knows that Mr. Carter was the worst President in this country's history and his "diplomacy" caused numerous Americans to spend more than a year in captivity in Iran. Before Mr. Carter can begin to regain any credibility he needs to disclose how much he received from the Arabs to build his Carter Center!
"I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Genesis 12:3 (New King James Version)
"willing suspension of disbelief" is a phrase that Presidential candidate and Senator Hillary Clinton used when questions General Petreus several months ago during Senate hearings. I'm not really sure what this means, but the conservative pundits and talk radio was claiming it an insult.
I obviously missed something or miss understood something because this sounds like she is complementing the General and we all know Hillary wouldn't do anything like that!
Anyway, what brought me to this was I heard another person use this same phrase. It was Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church in a sermon given April 4, 2006, titled "Take It Back - Part 3." This sermon was given at least one (1) year before she used the phrase!
Is it possible that Hillary is listening to Pastor Furtick, too? Is it possible that she stole the phrase from Pastor Furtick?
This is just one more reason...
Dont re-elect incumbents!
In my opinion, this is not a Christian church or Christian leaders. They profess nothing that is taught in the Bible. In fact, they demonstrate just the opposite of what the Bible teaches... Hate the sin, Love the sinner! However, I don't believe any man has the right to pass judgement on another person (which is probably what I am doing), that is God's job and God's alone.
I, for one, am happy that the jury has found in favor of this family. I hope they pursue collecting the award from Westboro, Fred Phelps and the rest of the leadership of this church (which is primarily his family). This group is a disgrace to Christendom. They are a black eye to Topeka and the state of Kansas.
From eCanadaNow:
"Boston - A jury ordered an anti-gay Kansas church to pay $10.9 after members of the church cheered his death at his funeral. The money is for damages caused to relatives of the U.S. Marine who died in Iraq.
Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder died in Iraq. The church members though stated that the death was God's punishment of America for allowing homosexuality to go on.
The church members staged an anti-gay protest at his funeral back in 2006 in Maryland. They stood there with signs which stated "You're going to hell" and "God hates you."
The Westboro Baptist Church as well as three of its principals invaded the privacy of the dead Marine's family, which they indeed did. They also were found to have caused emotional distress.
The Snyder family was awarded $2.9 million in compensatory damages as well as $8 million in punitive damages. This is the very first civil suit against the church. Over the past two years they have made such protests at 300 military funerals and it is expected that this could be the beginning of many more lawsuits against them.
Snyder stated on behalf of the family that "I hope it's enough to deter them from doing this to other families. It was not about the money. It was about getting them to stop."" (emphasis added)
The Church Behind the ProtestsWestboro Baptist Church, a fundamentalist Christian group based in Topeka, Kan., has protested military funerals across the country with placards bearing shock-value messages such as "Thank God for dead soldiers."
They contend that the deaths are punishment for America's tolerance of homosexuality and of gays in the military.
At the March 2006 funeral of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq, church members waved fire-and-brimstone placards near the funeral motorcade. Snyder's father sued Westboro and three church leaders for emotional distress and won a nearly $11 million jury verdict Wednesday in Baltimore.
For years Westboro members have crisscrossed the country toting signs using "unvarnished words" such as "God hates fags" because they say the Bible teaches them to speak directly and simply. The church's 75-person congregation is comprised mainly of relatives of Rev. Fred Phelps, the founding pastor.
The group also blames disasters, including Hurricane Katrina, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and AIDS, on what it views as permissive morals in violation of biblical dictates. Members insist that their protests, no matter how insulting to some, are constitutionally protected.
Alarmed by Westboro protests, at least 22 states have enacted or proposed laws to limit the rights of protesters at funerals. Only months after Matthew Snyder's death, Maryland passed a law prohibiting targeted picketing within 300 feet of a funeral, burial, memorial service, or funeral procession.
Past protests by Westboro have produced so much negative reaction that they routinely alert local police department of their plans so they can provide additional security.
