In case you missed yesterday’s Mission Compromised webcast, below is the transcript [PDF version here].

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Evidence of the political tension in Honduras extends beyond the graffiti that remains from last year’s political demonstrations.  Yesterday we were awakened by local news reports that the airport in Tegucigalpa was being closed for five days because of rioting in the capitol city.  Originally we planned to depart Tela this morning for Tegucigalpa; however, our plans quickly changed, and we left Tela yesterday morning to try and obtain a flight out of San Pedro Sula.  Upon arrival, we received conflicting reports about what was going on.  After contacting the Embassy, we were informed that there was no rioting.  The city had experienced torrential rains over the weekend which resulted in flooding and some deaths.  The runway at the airport had apparently been damaged, and the airport was closed temporarily for runway repairs.  So we spent the night in San Pedro Sula and left at 2:30 a.m. for the trip to Tegucigalpa.

The shipping container remains in customs.  With the help of Sen. David Vitter’s (R-La.) office, we were able to determine that the hold up is over the yet-to-be-assembled bunk beds not being reported as lumber.  So the federal agency in charge of wood will have to determine what permit and fee is required.  The Honduran infrastructure may be lagging behind us, but its ability to find creative ways to tax is sure on par with our government.

We were able to provide another day’s worth of medical treatment for the children in the village of Tornabe on Monday.  One little girl, who is nine-years-old, came to see the doctors and join us for a church service.  She was born with what our doctors said was a correctable birth defeat that caused her feet to turn under.  She can only take a few steps by walking on the top of her feet; most of the time her mother carries her.  Honduras has public health care, but it is very rudimentary and surgeries like the one this girl would need to correct her feet are nearly nonexistent.  My daughter Kendal and she quickly became friends.  We are hopeful that we might be able to find an orthopedic surgeon who would treat her.

Once the final disposition of the shipping container is determined we will be sending a small team back to Honduras, hopefully in August, to assemble the beds and distribute the supplies to the children in Tornabe.

A week in Honduras, or most any foreign country for that matter, is a reminder of how blessed we are to live in the United States—a country that has enjoyed the fruit of a nation with a Christian foundation upon which our ordered liberty was built.  It is also a reminder of what America could become if we lose that liberty.

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This has been such a busy trip that I’ve not had time to share details of our outreach.  Yesterday, we finished our fifth full day here in Honduras.  On Saturday and Sunday our medical team saw children and adults in Tornabe and at our mission church here in Tela.

We joined the congregation at our mission church for a Saturday evening service followed by an authentic Honduran meal.  The meal and the fellowship were outstanding.  The church has just called a young new pastor, Pastor Gerson David, so we were able to hear him share his heart for reaching the people of Tela with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Last night our team cooked for the folks at Tornabe, and then we joined them for Sunday night service and listened to Pastor Marvin preach.  He leads the small church that is host to the outreach to the nearly 100 orphans in Tornabe.

Our progress at the orphanage in Tornabe has been limited because the shipping container which is holding most of our supplies, including the beds for the children, remains tied up in Customs.  We are praying that we receive the container before we leave so that we can at least assemble the beds and put them in the rooms that are going to serve as temporary dormitories for the boys and girls.

The lack of supplies has made for an interesting trip as we’ve had to hunt locally for food and supplies.  I’ve spent a good portion of each day trying to obtain needed construction items for the church/orphanage and food and supplies for the 30 people on our mission team.  Trying to shop for groceries for 30 people here in Tela will give you a much greater appreciation for Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club!

I now know where every mom and pop grocery store and meat market is here in Tela.  I use the term “grocery store,” but they are more like a 7-11s without air-conditioning and with intense security by men with shotguns.  Fortunately, we have some great friends here, like Ester Maldonado, who, among other things, helps me overcome the Spanish labels at the “grocery store.”

Join us in praying that we get some good news on the container of supplies today!

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This week’s Perkins on Point video:

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In December, more than 170 countries are meeting in Copenhagen to talk about a world treaty to cut greenhouse gasses.  (A conference, ironically, that’s estimated to create 40,584 tons of carbon emissions—roughly the same amount that the entire country of Morocco generated in 2006).  Liberals are hoping to put the environment on the front burner before Denmark—but that might be difficult considering the political climate in America.

A recent Pew poll found that Americans don’t think global warming is a serious problem.  The number that do fell sharply—from 44% last year to 35% now.  Others are skeptical that climate change was even a problem to begin with!  That percent is bound to double or triple after scientists at the University of East Anglia admitted to “throwing away” raw temperature data to support their claim for global warming.  According to the U.K. Times, “The CRU is the world’s leading center for reconstructing past climate and temperatures.  Climate change skeptics have long been keen to examine exactly how its data were compiled.  That is now impossible.”  This news, combined with ClimateGate and Americans’ doubts, should be more than enough to put off any international agreements on global warming indefinitely.  President Obama has agreed to make the trip to the conference to lobby for cutting emissions by 17% in 2020.  Given the revelations of disagreement in the scientific community and the growing skepticism in the public, the President should back away from a treaty that will cut U.S. jobs and raise energy costs for families.

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If so, please send it to Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.). She is the latest example of a Member of Congress who should not be there. I am sure the Founders never envisioned elected Representatives who would not have a grasp of the most basic concepts of the Constitution. It may be time for an amendment requiring members of Congress to take a basic proficiency test on at least the Bill of Rights.

Still lamenting the overwhelming defeat that she and her pro-abortion cohorts suffered in the House when the Stupak-Pitts amendment was attached to the health care bill, Rep. DeGette is now calling for religiously-affiliated groups to be shut out of the public policy process as the bill goes to the Senate.

“Last I heard, we had separation of church and state in this country,” she said. “I’ve got to say that I think the Catholic bishops and all of the other groups shouldn’t have input.”

In other words if a group of people who are in association with one another because of their Christian faith, they should not have a collective voice in the crafting of public policy. What she is asserting is that if your ideas and actions are a product of your faith, you’re a second class citizen and your voice should not be heard.

This is a far cry from what the Founders believed. Several months after the British surrender at Yorktown, George Washington, in a letter to the Reformed German Congregation of New York, wrote, “The establishment of civil and religious liberty was the motive which induced me to the field (of combat).” Sadly, Diana DeGette seems eager to smother these precious freedoms, neither of which can exist without the other.

Rep. DeGette’s comments serve to only further confirm that this takeover is not about healthcare, it is about a radical social policy in which the expansion of abortion, at tax-payer expense, is at the very center of this effort.

If you have a spare Constitution, send it to Congresswoman DeGette.

UPDATE 11/18 (Editor): It now appears that The Hill inaccurately quoted Rep. DeGette.  See Tony Perkins’ correction and further statements here.

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A report from the U.S. Geological Survey is giving birth to concerns about the decline in the fish population because of the feminizing of fish.  No, I am not talking about cross-dressing fish, but referencing what experts say is a widespread problem in which certain species of male fish are growing egg cells.

What’s behind this feminization of male fish?  Birth control pills.  Women’s birth control pills and other hormone treatments have made their way into the nation’s rivers through the sewer systems.  Birth control pills are not only the leading form of pregnancy prevention here in the U.S., but are often the tool of choice for the population control forces in third world countries.

The tragedy is that the population control message is most often promoted by the global warming crowd and others who view people as negatively impacting the environment and consuming limited resources.  In reality, it’s their efforts to reduce the population (people) that are actually destroying the environment (fish).

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[Script follows after the jump]

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President Obama has accused FRC and others who are opposing the government takeover of health care of breaking the 9th commandment. Listen to this (clip).

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Science Czar or just plain bizarre?  Among President Obama’s growing list of czars – there are as many as 34, by one Congressman’s count – is the White House science czar, Dr. John Holdren.

Holdren wrote a text book with well-known scientist Paul Ehrlich.  Your remember Paul Ehrlich, right?  He wrote a popular but now discredited book entitled The Population Bomb more than three decades ago in which he claimed that the world was overpopulating and would be out of food by the end of the 1970’s.  Well, we’re still here, with greater food supplies than ever in history.

Holdren and Ehrlich’s book, which they wrote in 1977, is entitled Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment.  In it, they advocate for radical government action to limit population growth.  Their proposals included coercive abortions for women and involuntary sterilization through infertility drugs placed in food or the water supply.

So-called “undesirables” – those that contribute to supposed “social deterioration,” would be forcibly sterilized at puberty.  Holdren also advocated a “planetary regime” that could control the global economy.  Holdren and the White House have dismissed the concerns saying he made those statements 30 years ago.

My question: Does he now disavow them?  And as he works in the White House shaping national policy, what recommendations is he making?

To learn more about how FRC is defending the culture of life, visit us as www.frc.org.

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“A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.”  That bit of insight is from the wisest man who ever lived – Solomon, the author if the Book of Proverbs.

Notice that Solomon is not calling for us to just hold back of little of our savings to leave something for your kids, but rather that it is prudent foresight that leads to investment in future generations.

Such advice would be considered radical in America today, especially in Washington where the nation’s debt is currently $11.5 trillion, with another trillion projected to be added this year.  In fact, for every dollar that the federal government is currently spending, 47 cents is borrowed.    When federal, state and local government debt is combined the average family’s burden of that debt is almost one million dollars.

As a nation, we’ve not only lost the biblical ideal that one generation should pave the way for the next by investing in its future, but we have decided by our fiscal irresponsibility to live on “Easy Street” and let our grand kids and great-grand kids pay the mortgage.

That’s not right, and it’s got to change.  To learn more about how federal tax policy affects your family, click here.

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Is global warming the gateway to global governance?  Before you tune me out, those are not my words.  They are the words of Al Gore, the guru of global warming.

Recently in a speech in the United Kingdom, the former Vice President praised Congress for passing the Waxman-Markey “Cap and Trade” bill, saying “it was a step in the right direction.”  But he didn’t stop there.

Mr. Gore went on to say, “It is the awareness (of global warming) itself that will drive the change.  One of the ways it will drive the change is global governance and global agreements.”

His matter of fact candor belies repeated denials that embracing the proposed solutions to the global warming hype would lead to the loss of national sovereignty – among other things.   In the end, the effort to stop supposed global warming is about power, not people.  It’s a twisted view that says political power must be consolidated so that we can save the planet.

This reminds me of another group that consolidated their power to reach the heavens – at the Tower of Babble.  Whenever man thinks he can manage his own affairs without God, whether personally or through some form of global government or anything in between, confusion and disarray ensue – just like at Babble.

For more about the global warming debate, click here to listen to the audio of our important panel discussion, “Faith and Science in the Global Warming Debate.”  The experts on the panel were Dr. Calvin Beisner, Dr. Kenneth Chilton, Rev. Dr. Jim Ball, and Dr. Lowell “Rusty” Pritchard.

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Links to the charts mentioned in the video:
Chart 1: Additional Regulations Under Affordable Health Choices Act
Chart 2: House Democrats Health Care Plan
Chart 3: Heritage.org: “Surtax Would Push Income Tax Rates to More Than 50 Percent”

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