Tag Archives: Politics

British PM: “Christian Message Is the Bedrock of a Good Society”

The prime minster of Great Britain has written an Easter message where he called Christianity the “bedrock of a good society.”

David Cameron wrote the article for Premier Christianity that says all people, regardless of their faith, could celebrate the values of Easter: compassion, forgiveness, kindness, hard work and responsibility.

“Whether or not we’re members of the Church of England, ‘Love thy neighbour’ is a doctrine we can all apply to our lives – at school, at work, at home and with our families. A sense of compassion is the centre piece of a good community,” Cameron wrote.

Cameron admitted he’s not a “model church-going, God-fearing Christian” but that he relies strongly on his faith to guide him and his decisions for the nation.

The message from the PM was not without critics, many of whom pointed out the upcoming elections and wondered if the message was an attempt to sway voters.

“What’s ironic here is that the prime minister, through trying to convey he is not afraid to call himself Christian, has actually communicated that he seems terrified to identify as one. The prime minister is entitled to hold whatever religious beliefs he wants and should stand by them rather than cynically trying to woo the Christian vote ahead of May 7,” wrote an associate editor of the Catholic Herald.

Israelis Go To The Polls

Israelis will go the polls today to choose a new government.

Polls show that current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trailing in the polls to a group that has stated their intent to work with the Palestinian Authority and other Arab groups throughout the region to create Palestine and give up land.

However, the last polls which were released Friday had enough undecided voters to swing the election in either direction.

As much as 70% of Israel’s eligible voters will go to the polls.

The election is expected to be decided by the 20 percent of the population made up of Arabs.  The Arab community has long complained of discrimination by Israeli authorities and expressed their desires to join with groups like Hamas and Hexbollah.

One voter told the Associated Press he was backing Netanyahu because he saw it as a way to defend the nation.

“He is not great, but he is better than anything else out there,” she said. “I can’t vote for the left … It’s a Jewish country, not a Palestinian one,” Meshy Alon said.

In Israel, voters vote for party, not individual candidates.  No party has ever won a clear majority in the 120 member parliament, meaning it can take weeks to form a coalition government.

Town Councilman Under Attack For Crediting God

A town councilman in Leesburg, Virginia is being attacked for saying that God “touched the hearts of men” to defeat slavery in America.

Leesburg Town Councilman Thomas Dunn had been participating via phone to an hours-long public hearing on the creation of a town Diversity Commission.  During the hearing, the president of the local NAACP brought up racism and said that “without government, I’m still in the fields picking cotton.”

Dunn, who was agreeing with a previous speaker the government was not the solution, said that government didn’t end slavery but the hand of God working in the hearts of men.

“That was an evil that this country had. It was the hand of God touching the hearts of man that freed those slaves,” Dunn stated. “And it’s the same hand of God touching the hearts of man that will bring unity within diversity. It’s not government.”

“If you think the people in this room are going to be able to make a change in any shortfalls that we have and how we handle different cultures and races, number one, that’s holding yourself up too high. That has to come from God. That healing comes from God,” he continued. “Jesus said ‘I give you one commandment, and that is to love one another.’ He could have said, ‘Go out and create a diversity commission,’ but He didn’t. He said you go out and love one another, not rely on government to do that. If government was the best answer, He could have said that.”

Thompson attacked Dunn for his references to God, saying the 13th Amendment is pretty clear and that God had nothing to do with it.

Democrats Block Human Trafficking Bill Over Abortion

Members of the Senate are blocking a bill to help victims of human trafficking because of language related to abortion funding.

The Justice for Trafficking Victims Act, introduced by Senator John Cornyn of Texas, would increase penalties on people involved in human trafficking.

“The bill imposes an additional penalty of $5,000 on any non-indigent person or entity convicted of a crime involving: (1) peonage, slavery, or trafficking in persons; (2) sexual abuse; (3) sexual exploitation and other abuse of children; (4) transportation for illegal sexual activity; or (5) human smuggling in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act,” read S. 178’s summary.

“The bill expands the definition of ‘child abuse’ under the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 to include human trafficking and the production of child pornography and expands criminal sanctions to include persons who patronize or solicit children for commercial sex acts (buyers).”

Some Democratic members of the Senate are holding up the bill because of language that would prohibit funding going to pay for abortions by those rescued from human trafficking.

Senator Dick Durban of Illinois has filed an amendment to allow abortion funding to be part of the package.

Franklin Graham: Persecution Is Coming

Franklin Graham is sounding the alarm to American Christians that their religious freedoms are being eroded while believers around the world are being persecuted.

“I believe we’re going to see persecution in this country,” Graham said during an interview on “Fox and Friends Weekend” on Sunday. “We’ve already seen many laws that have been passed that restrict our freedom as Christians. I believe it’s going to get worse, and we see no question gaining influence in Washington by those that represent the Islamic faith. We do have a problem in this country and we are losing our religious freedom and we’re losing it a little bit day by day.”

It’s the latest in warnings being given by Graham, who says the current government situation is the most hostile ever toward Christians.

Graham noted how the Obama administration routinely rebukes and condemns Israel while they actively defend Islamic nations who are out for the destruction of Israel.

Graham said that Christians need to stop shying away from expressing God’s view in the arena of ideas because we have the right to stand up for God’s way.

NC Ethics Commission: Sex Doesn’t Need Reporting

The North Carolina Ethics Commission (NCEC) has just given the green light to lobbyists to have sex with public officials and keep it quiet.

The NCEC says that because sex has no financial cost and thus is not a “thing of value”, no lobbyists or public officials have to reveal if sexual favors have been traded for influence in government actions.

“Consensual sexual relationships do not have monetary value and therefore are not ‘reportable expenditures made for lobbying’ for purposes of the lobbying law’s expenditure reporting provisions,” the commission’s advisory opinion states.

“Thus if the lobbyist does not receive payment from the lobbyist principal for engaging in the sexual relationship which you reference, which the commission presumes to be the case here, those activities would not constitute goodwill lobbying and would therefore not trigger a registration requirement,” the opinion continues.

The case was called “hypothetical” by some observers of the Commission.  It was noted that in 2012, the chief of staff for then-House Speaker Thom Tillis, now a U.S. Senator, was forced to resign when the commission investigated his intimate relationships with two registered lobbyists.

Cuba Builds First Catholic Church Since 1959

The first Catholic Church in 55 years is coming to Sandino, Cuba.

The construction is significant because a number of priests were exiled, jailed or killed in the 1959 Cuban Revolution and the rise of Fidel Castro.

“There is money to begin, building materials to begin, and we have the permissions to start, so everything is ready,” said Jorge Enrique Serpa Pérez, the bishop of Pinar del Río, according to Breitbart News.

Members of the American Catholic Church, especially those serving Cuban refugees and exiles in Florida, were very skeptical about the reason for the government allowing the new church to be built.

“First, I am concerned that normalizing diplomatic ties without addressing [Fidel] Castro’s horrendous human rights record serves as a defacto endorsement for one of the most oppressive regimes in recent history,” said the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.

“As a result of Castro’s totalitarian rule, millions live in poverty, thousands lie in prisons, and many have lost their lives. In addition, the God-given rights of Cuban citizens are held hostage to governmental persecution.”

Father Cyril Castro says that the new church is proof that the faith is not lost in Cuba.

“People can say that Catholicism was lost in Cuba, but it’s not true,” he added. “The family of faith has endured. In fact, we are showing the fruit of those roots.”

Arab Parties In Israel Target Netanyahu

The Arab political parties in Israel are banding together in one ticket attempting to take out Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Arab politicians, which contain communists, religious Muslims and one Jewish official, feel the joining together of the groups will drive up the historically low Arab voter turnout.  They also hope they will be able to stop Netanyahu from forming a unity government should his party get into a position to form a new government.

Masoud Ganaim, a representative of the Islamic movement, said that after the incident this summer where Arab terrorists attacked Israelis in Gaza, many of the Arab residents of Israel asked the parties to unite to represent the beliefs of Arabs in the country.

Arab citizens are about 20% of Israel’s population.

Surveys of potential Arab voters show that the turnout could be as much as 10 percent higher than the last election because of a unity ticket.  That would still be about 20 percent lower than average Jewish resident turnout.

Democrats Finally Admit ACA Funds Abortion

For years Democratic candidates and spokesmen have been slamming Republicans for saying that the Affordable Care Act provides funding for abortions.

Now, in a roundabout way, they are finally admitting it after Republicans passed a bill that would ban funding for abortions through the ACA.  The No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act passed 242-179 and says that any insurance plan that receives government funding cannot pay for abortions.

Democrats says that the bill raises taxes on small businesses because they currently receive a tax credit from the government if they provide abortion coverage to employees.  Without the tax credit, employers are less likely to cover employee abortions.

Republicans say that the bill does nothing to employers.  All that would happen is that employers would no longer automatically cover abortions because of the government’s funding the tax credit.  If an employer wants to cover employee’s abortions, they can choose to pay that out of their own company profits.

The Family Research Council said on a website, ObamacareAbortion.com, that the abortion tax credit is another way the lack of transparency is hurting Christian business owners who do not want to pay for abortion.

Republicans Back Off Abortion Bill

In a nod to the pro-abortion lobby, Republicans have backed off a plan to vote on a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks.

Several female Republican representatives quietly worked to kill the vote for the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protect Act Resources bill.  North Carolina Representative Renee Ellmers and Indiana Representative Jackie Walorski reportedly provided the greatest opposition to the bill, removing their names as co-sponsors, although they claimed on Facebook they would still vote for the bill.

Supporters of the bill say that the women who objected claimed Republicans couldn’t get votes from women if they passed the measure.

Politico broke the news of the action Wednesday night.

“Republican leadership late Wednesday evening had to completely drop its plans to pass a bill that bans abortions after 20 weeks, and is reverting to old legislation that prohibits taxpayer funding of abortions,” Politico’s Jake Sherman wrote, adding later in his piece, “the new legislation doesn’t stand a chance to become law.”

The vote was scheduled to be held Thursday on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade and the annual March for Life.