The New York Times Magazine is at it again. They’ve just published a long article asking “How Christian were the Founders?” Their short answer: Not very. My response would be: Very.

Let’s start with George Washington. Washington was termed by biographer James Thomas Flexner “the gentlest of Christendom’s captains.”

Flexner was referring of course to Washington’s deeds, not his inner faith. Still, try to imagine this situation: Your army has been driven out of New York by the British and their Hessian mercenaries. These German-speaking foes regularly refused to give “quarter” to young American soldiers who threw down their weapons and surrendered.

Instead, they cruelly ran our boys through with their 17-inch bayonets. These same Hessians chased your army across New Jersey. Once, they captured one of your army chaplains, a Presbyterian. The Presbyterians were especially hated by the British for fomenting revolution from their pulpits. The Hessians stripped the unfortunate cleric and stabbed him thirteen times, leaving his naked body in the road. They then proceeded to rape their way across New Jersey. When, on Christmas Night, you defeat these same Hessians and take eight hundred of them prisoner, wouldn’t that be a time to exact revenge? If only to show your enemy that their cruelties would not go unanswered?

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A deeply worrisome article appeared in the New York Times on Saturday (2/13/10).  It has received much attention on Monday’s radio programs.  The article by Peter Baker is entitled “Obama is Making Plans to Use Executive Power for Action on Several Fronts.”  Baker tells us that the President is “preparing an array of actions using his executive power to advance energy, environmental, fiscal, and other domestic policy priorities.”  And Baker continues with this observation, “Any president has vast authority to influence policy even without legislation, through executive orders, agency rule-making and administrative fiat.”

Translation:  now that various Obama legislative (i.e., democratic) efforts have failed, it is time to force his policies on the nation through the diktat available to the head of the American federal administrative state.  Of all the items mentioned in the article, the most destructive is probably the Administration’s plan to begin regulating carbon emissions via the Environmental Protection Agency.  This will be enormously costly for the American economy, and it comes at a time when the science supporting man-made climate change is collapsing.  (See these articles as evidence: here, here, here, here and here (listed on Mark Levin’s website.)  The collapse of scientific support may provide some minimal chance that the federal courts might block or alter EPA’s rulemaking efforts, but EPA clearly has the upper hand in any litigation.  Congress needs to eliminate EPA’s authority to regulate carbon emissions until some scientific clarity emerges.

In a slightly differently category is the Administration’s apparent decision to stop enforcing the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” which is statutorily mandated and has been in effect for approximately 16 years.  It seems axiomatic that if the administration wants to change the policy, Congress needs to change the law.

The article deals at length with presidential recess appointments, and President Obama’s threat to make use of them.  The use of “holds” by members of the Senate seems to have gotten out of hand.  All that said, the appointment power is far different from unilateral executive branch lawmaking – which was never remotely considered by our Founding Fathers.  And, here, we see plans for this constitutional abuse to be taken to new levels.

America is rapidly becoming a judicial and bureaucratic oligarchy.  This institutional development is a threat conservatives and libertarians need to focus on much more seriously.  This development is even more dangerous when coupled with the crony capitalism (corporatism) that is emerging from government ownership or subsidization of American industries.  The United States is beginning to resemble the corrupt England of George III’s era where commercial monopolies were sold by the Crown drawing the ire of the American colonists and men like Adam Smith.

Tags: administrative state, EPA, executive power, Global Warming, Obama, Peter Baker

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Researchers at the Medical College of Georgia are conducting the first FDA-approved adult stem cell clinical trial in cerebral palsy. The trial, led by Dr. James Carroll, professor and chief of pediatric neurology in MCG School of Medicine, will investigate whether stem cells from umbilical cord blood can improve the quality of life for children with cerebral palsy. Umbilical cord blood is rich in adult-type stem cells, which can divide and morph into different types of cells throughout the body and have already shown published success in treating numerous diseases and injuries in patients.

Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg at Duke has done preliminary clinical work in this area and notes that in about 100 children, intravenous administration of autologous (the person’s own) cord blood is safe and feasible. Her results are as yet unpublished, and she cautions that there are “some hints that there may be some benefits” but that “it’s very, very difficult to successfully assess efficacy.” Previous anecdotal reports have indicated benefits for treated children.

Benefits of cord blood stem cells vs. embryonic stem cells were recently reviewed by Harris in the British Journal of Haematology.

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Just in time for Valentine’s Day, scientists at Birmingham University’s Nanoscale Physics Research Lab have produced a picture of the world’s smallest Valentine heart–palladium atoms clustered together, only 8 nanometers wide. The palladium atoms spontaneously clustered together in this arrangement when placed on a special carbon base. The heart had to be viewed through a powerful electron microscope.

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Adult stem cells continue to show success after success at improving the health of patients, even though many still haven’t heard the good news. But while many physicians and scientists (and politicians) ignore the tangible benefits of adult stem cells, veterinarians have pushed ahead. The latest story is that of the over-$1-million-winning horse Thorn Song.

The horse had been severely injured in his final start at Del Mar last summer and had “an almost zero chance” at survival after developing laminitis. Laminitis is a disease of the hoof that is extremely painful and often fatal for horses; it is the disease that led to 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro being euthanized.

Dr. Doug Herthel is the vet who founded Alamo Pintado Equine Medical Center and treated Thorn Song. Alamo Pintado was the first private equine practice in the United States to open an onsite adult stem cell laboratory; they have used the procedure successfully to treat hundreds of horses with joint, tendon, and ligament injuries. However, only a few horses have been treated for laminitis with adult stem cells. According to Dr. Herthel:

“I thought there would still be a less than 10% chance for him even if we tried stem cell. But within 48 hours we saw a turnaround. There was a dramatic decrease in pain and swelling, and within two weeks we started seeing amazing hoof growth. We were blown away. It went beyond our expectations. It may be the most exciting thing I have ever seen. Technology is moving forward.”

Adult stem cells have successfully treated many horses and dogs. And thousands of human patients, too. And that’s not horsing around.

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Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a painful circulatory problem in the legs that affects 10 million Americans. If left untreated, it can lead to serious complications including stroke, amputation and death. Doctors at Grant Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio report that they have used the patient’s own adult stem cells to treat PAD. In their paper published in the Journal of Vascular Surgery, they report that 8 of 9 patients treated showed some improvement, and 6 of the 9 patients avoided any amputation. Dr. Randall W. Franz, lead author on the study, noted that:

“We were pleasantly surprised by our results. This is cutting-edge technology that could benefit millions of Americans with PAD.”

The six patients had restored blood flow that eliminated their constant pain and healed their ulcerations. Dr. Franz says that 16 patients have now received the procedure, with 13 patients avoiding major amputation.

The technique in this study used adult stem cells taken directly from the patients’ hips instead of sending the cells to a laboratory for culture, a process that can postpone injection for several weeks. Co-author Dr. Thomas Hankins said:

“This technique sheds new light on stem cell treatment and has the potential to become the gold-standard therapy for PAD.”

This new study on PAD follows another recent report on saving legs using the patient’s own adult stem cells to treat critical limb ischemia.

Adult stem cells are saving limbs and saving lives now.

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This is the fourth video in our series called, “Discrimination.”

Tags: ACLU, Same-sex marriage, West Virginia

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For background, see Cathy Ruse’s post here.

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Lt. Dan Choi is back training with his National Guard unit.

Conventionally, this would be about as newsworthy as saying that paint dries: officers serve with their units all the time. But Lt. Choi is, by his own definition, different – he is openly homosexual. He has been appearing in the media, actively calling for a reversal of the 1993 “don’t ask, don’t tell” military policy concerning homosexuality.

According to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, homosexuality is incompatible with military service. This is not a statement of preference, but a law. All members of the Armed Forces are required to take an oath to uphold it. Yet here we have a situation where an openly gay man, in violation of the law and, according to news accounts, with the support of his commanding officer, is wearing the uniform of our nation.

Let us say for the sake of argument that homosexuality is a moral good and that those who practice homosexual conduct should actively be recruited to serve in the country’s military (of course, Family Research Council and I personally disavow these arguments). I would still be calling for Lt. Choi’s dismissal from the service and his superior’s discipline. The military code is not a set of arcane rules that can be followed at the personal discretion of those serving. It is the ironclad law of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard. It is enacted by the United States Congress and signed into effect by the Commander in Chief.

Lt. Choi is flaunting the law, showing contempt for it for the sake of his personal philosophical agenda. In doing so, he is demonstrating his unfitnes as “an officer and gentleman.” What if his peers choose to obey only those orders they want? “Well, sir – and by the way, I don’t like calling you sir – taking that hill right now seems like a bad idea to me. Think I’ll go take a nap.” Order, discipline, duty, respect, achievement of mission: all are, by virtue of Dan Choi’s continued role in the Army, placed at grave risk.

Men and women in uniform do not serve at their pleasure or under the human resources regulations of civilian life. Of necessity, for the sake of the life and death circumstances intrinsic to being part of the Armed Forces, they operate under a different, particularly crafted set of rules – rules that are the law.

No American, whether in the military or not, has the right to obey only those laws he or she wishes. This is the path to moral chaos and political anarchy. It is the road to collapse.

Tags: Don't Ask Don't Tell

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When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went to China last year, she chose to remain silent about human rights abuses by the world’s remaining Communist giant. Apparently more worried about not curtailing China’s financial services to the US, Mrs. Clinton and her boss in the White House sent a clear signal: The Obama Administration would give China a “bye” on religious and political persecution.

The hint was not lost on the Chinese leaders, who on February 8, 2009 arrested Gao Zhisheng.  He has been imprisoned, and unheard from, ever since.

Gao Zhisheng was once a darling of the Chinese Communists. A distinguished lawyer, he had a bright future ahead of him. He was named in 2001 as one of China’s sharpest legal talents. But Gao made a bad career move: He spoke out in defense of persecuted Christians in China.

That was enough to arouse Beijing’s party cadres against him. What made matters worse for Gao was the attention his extraordinary moral courage garnered for him in the West.  The New York Times even gave his story front-page coverage in 2005.

Last year, he was seized by authorities and is undergoing horrible torture, if he is even still alive. The New Yorker Magazine, to its great credit, has published stories by their Beijing correspondent, Evan Osnos, on Gao Zhisheng. Osnos related the stories coming out on Gao’s treament by the brutal guo bao, China’s euphemistically titled “Public Security Bureau.”  George Orwell’s “ministry of truth” couldn’t have said it better.  Here is part of what Osnos has written:

(One) account not only accused his captors of holding burning cigarettes to his eyes, beating and starving him, and applying electric shocks to his genitals, but it also revealed their warning that he would die if he told anyone about the ordeal. …It is time for the court of world opinion to insist: “Show us the prisoner and justify his detention.”

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Tags: China, Gao Zhisheng, Torture

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In the latest Mapping America, adults who never attend religious services are more likely to believe that most people would try to take advantage of others than those who worship at least weekly.

Tags: Mapping America, religious attendance

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In the wake of the controversy surrounding the Tebow’s pro-life commercial during the Superbowl, I have to admit that my immediate reaction when it finally aired was: Really? What was all the hype about?

Let me be clear that I was very impressed by the Tebow ad. Rather, my reaction was in response to the numerous op-eds written about this short little spot in addition to the major campaign waged by pro-abortion groups against CBS and the Tebows over the last few weeks. Perhaps the most humorous (and disturbing) comment about the Tebow commercial yet is Terry O’Neill of NOW accusing the Tebows and CBS of promoting violence against women. “I am blown away at the celebration of the violence against women in it,” she said. I think CBS should be ashamed of itself.”

Why the hype?

I thought the Tebow commercial was beautiful, simple and understated. It was attractive in its simplicity and deep message. It definitely was not aggressive, ugly or manipulative:

Perhaps the greatest threat against abortion-rights has nothing to do with people like Pam Tebow or Focus on the Family, but is simply the message itself: truth. Truth is inherently attractive and has no need for sensationalizing

On that, in response to Terry O’Neill’s comment about the ad promoting violence against women, I might suggest that she would consider watching a little unborn girl undergo the “medical procedure” that abortion is. Indeed, in doing so she will witness firsthand the reality that abortion is one of the most heinous acts of violence that could ever occur to a little girl (or little boy).

Tags: Super Bowl, Tim Tebow

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Following on Bob Morrison’s post on the President’s National Prayer Breakfast remarks, read Mother Teresa’s speech, reprinted below in full. It is beautiful, and in it three times she calls abortion the greatest destroyer of peace:

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Well, I checked the facts, and the Politico was correct.  I only doubted the reporting due to the massive amount of President Obama’s proposed increase in education spending.  Could it possibly be true?  Tuesday’s February 2^nd Politico column by Eamon Javers and James Hohman on the newly released proposed federal budget contained this text on one of the “Winners” – Education:

Obama calls for ramped-up education spending. Department of Education outlays would increase from $32.4 billion in 2009 to $71.5 billion in 2011. Obama puts money into a laundry list of initiatives, from a $1.6 billion increase in child care funding to making permanent the expansion of Pell Grant payouts.

He has sought to please his supporters in the powerful teachers unions by pushing to rework the unpopular parts of Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act. Now he’s trying to put $3 billion more into K-12 education generally, with up to an extra $1 billion if Congress reworks the education system in the way he wants this year.

If you look at the 2011 budget’s section for the Department of Education (pp. 63-68), go to page 68 and look for the line entitled “Total, Outlays.”  There one finds that the actual 2009 budget for the Dep’t of Education was $32.409 billion and that the projected amount for 2011 is $71.479 billion.  By my calculation that is a 121% increase in two years.

I am not an expert on direct loan programs, but on the same page the figures for disbursements increases from $100.7 billion (2009 actual) to $135.0 billion (2011 projected) – a 34% increase over two years.  This Congress wants to enact a statute to federalize the student loan programs, so the budget contains this gobbledygook comment: “This measure would then use savings to make historic investments to increase college access and success, and would lay a foundation for success for America’s youngest children.”  What does that mean?  $$,$$$,$$$,$$$.$$  Good grief.

Tags: 2011, budget, Education, Obama, politico

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President Obama’s powerful words at today’s National Prayer Breakfast were rightly examined by my dear colleague, Cathy Ruse. How can the same man who wants to force us to pay for the slaughter of innocents seem so convincing? He is surely right to say we must see the face of God in our fellow human beings. We must. Does he?

Abraham Lincoln said it well in 1858. He said the Founders believed that “nothing stamped in the divine image was sent into the world to be trod upon.” Our question to President Obama, with all due respect, is: Are not unborn children so stamped? Can we not see the face of God in their faces?

Lincoln condemned no one in his Second Inaugural, but he said it must seem strange for anyone to ask the help of a just God in wringing his bread from the sweat of another man’s brow. Then the President quoted Scripture: Let us not judge lest we be judged. So we must not judge.

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Tags: Abortion, Mother Teresa, President Obama

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President Obama’s speech this morning at the National Prayer Breakfast included a moving litany about looking in the eyes of every different kind of person and in each seeing the face of God. They should’ve scheduled a Q & A! What should we see when we look through the screen of an ultrasound machine at the sweet little closed eyes of a baby? It would be impossible for President Obama to answer that question in any way that would not utterly undercut the central theme of his speech. And “above my pay grade” would be the worst answer.

A word to the White House image mavens: The rank hypocrisy here will be clear to the majority of Americans who are pro-life, and no doubt to many in the minority who are not.

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One thing I have noticed in the debate over homosexuals in the military is that roughly 99.5% of the American public, including 99.5% of long-time Washington political reporters and 99.5% of members of Congress, believe three key things about the issue.

1. The current policy regarding homosexuals in the military is governed by a law known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
2. Under current law, homosexuals are allowed to serve in the military as long as they are not open about their sexual orientation.
3. Doing away with “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” would allow homosexuals to serve openly in the military.

Each of these three statements is false.

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is not the law of the land. It was a compromise policy announced by the Clinton Administration in July of 1993, after their original proposal to simply open the military to homosexuals was widely rejected.[i]

When Congress adopted legislation on this issue in November of 1993, they did not say that homosexuals were welcome to serve in the military. On the contrary, they declared, “The presence in the armed forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability.”[ii]

Doing away with the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy would only allow more consistent enforcement of the current law against homosexuality in the military, unless Congress were to also repeal the law that they adopted in 1993.

For the record, here are the findings that Congress made—and that President Clinton signed into law—in 1993. This is the current law regarding homosexuality in the military:

Congress makes the following findings:

`(1) Section 8 of article I of the Constitution of the United States commits exclusively to the Congress the powers to raise and support armies, provide and maintain a Navy, and make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces.

`(2) There is no constitutional right to serve in the armed forces.

`(3) Pursuant to the powers conferred by section 8 of article I of the Constitution of the United States, it lies within the discretion of the Congress to establish qualifications for and conditions of service in the armed forces.

`(4) The primary purpose of the armed forces is to prepare for and to prevail in combat should the need arise.

`(5) The conduct of military operations requires members of the armed forces to make extraordinary sacrifices, including the ultimate sacrifice, in order to provide for the common defense.

`(6) Success in combat requires military units that are characterized by high morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion.

`(7) One of the most critical elements in combat capability is unit cohesion, that is, the bonds of trust among individual service members that make the combat effectiveness of a military unit greater than the sum of the combat effectiveness of the individual unit members.

`(8) Military life is fundamentally different from civilian life in that–

`(A) the extraordinary responsibilities of the armed forces, the unique conditions of military service, and the critical role of unit cohesion, require that the military community, while subject to civilian control, exist as a specialized society; and

`(B) the military society is characterized by its own laws, rules, customs, and traditions, including numerous restrictions on personal behavior, that would not be acceptable in civilian society.

`(9) The standards of conduct for members of the armed forces regulate a member’s life for 24 hours each day beginning at the moment the member enters military status and not ending until that person is discharged or otherwise separated from the armed forces.

`(10) Those standards of conduct, including the Uniform Code of Military Justice, apply to a member of the armed forces at all times that the member has a military status, whether the member is on base or off base, and whether the member is on duty or off duty.

`(11) The pervasive application of the standards of conduct is necessary because members of the armed forces must be ready at all times for worldwide deployment to a combat environment.

`(12) The worldwide deployment of United States military forces, the international responsibilities of the United States, and the potential for involvement of the armed forces in actual combat routinely make it necessary for members of the armed forces involuntarily to accept living conditions and working conditions that are often spartan, primitive, and characterized by forced intimacy with little or no privacy.

`(13) The prohibition against homosexual conduct is a longstanding element of military law that continues to be necessary in the unique circumstances of military service.

`(14) The armed forces must maintain personnel policies that exclude persons whose presence in the armed forces would create an unacceptable risk to the armed forces’ high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability.

`(15) The presence in the armed forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability.

---

[i] Susan Yoachum and Carolyn Lochhead, “Clinton Orders New Gay-GI Policy: He concedes few will like compromise,” The San Francisco Chronicle, July 20, 1993, p. A1.

[ii] National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994, Public Law 103-160, November 30, 1993, Title V, Subtitle G, Sec. 571, “Policy Concerning Homosexuality in the Armed Forces” (10 U.S.C. 654); online at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c103:5:./temp/~c103HPMAIr:e399464:

Tags: Don't Ask Don't Tell

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Recently, the ACLU of West Virginia has forgotten the Constitution and the rules of self-governance. For more check out wv4marriage.com.

Tags: ACLU, Jeremiah Dys, Marriage, West Virginia

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Last year, it was as if we had all been inundated by the great Wave. Barack Obama as candidate said he felt “a righteous wind” at his back. For many of us, though, his support–so broad, so overpowering, so irresistible–was a force of nature.

That great Wave threatened to sweep all before it. The work of decades would be undone. The people had spoken. For many in this democratic republic, the voice of the people is the voice of God. To say no to anything President Obama wanted was to risk being called an obstructionist, a blinkered reactionary, or worse, a racist, a terrorist.

Mr. Obama took the advice of those who specialize in doing things the smart way. If you’re going to do something many of the people might not like, do it fast, do it early, and give them time to forget about it.

It’s the same cynical advice these smart types gave to John Edwards. Wait until an earthquake happens in Haiti, or a revolution occurs in Massachusetts, before you admit paternity, before you stop your relentless lying. And then hope nobody notices. The roar of the Wave might mask whatever you say.

So, President Obama very quickly cast down the Mexico City Doctrine of Ronald Reagan. That policy was duly reaffirmed by both Presidents Bush. Who cares about this stuff, anyway? Wingers? Thumpers? People who are, in the dismissive words of the Washington Post, “poor, uneducated, easy to command?”

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Tags: Abortion, Health Care, Mexico City Policy, President Obama

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In the latest Mapping America, adults in always-intact marriages who attend religious services at least weekly are the least likely to report that they sometimes drink too much alcohol.

Tags: alcohol, Mapping America, Marriage, religious attendance

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