The Fix That Has to Come

According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) expenditures for Social Security will begin exceeding revenues sometime in 2018 or 2019.

The insolvency of Social Security is a can that has been kicked down the road for too long now. There are a lot of partisan issues that Democrats and Republicans can lock horns on, but Social Security is a major commitment made to the senior generations of America that has to be upheld.

Three things are going to have to happen. Various interest groups will howl and moan, but in the end, the realities of the situation will demand a compromise that will include these adjustments:

1) Benefits must be reduced. Accountants can fuss over the details, but I would guess that something like a 10% to 20% reduction in benefits will be necessary.

2) Revenues must be enhanced. Again, the devil is in the details, but a raise in Social Security withholding in the vicinity of another 1% might be in order.

3) Eligibility age must be raised. Full benefits used to be available at age 65. That threshold has been raised to age 66 for some of us, and up to 67 for the youngest of us now. The full eligibility age may have to be raised again to 69 or 70. We are living longer now. That's just a plain hard fact.

From the standpoint of someone preparing to retire, none of these changes are welcome. Unfortunately, they are necessary.

We can behave like adults, look at the situation realistically, and deal with it...or, we can stick our heads in the sand while the whole unsustainable system crashes down around us.

We Americans can be pretty partisan and bellicose when we dig our heels in and decide to fight for our convictions.

But above all, I believe we are a pragmatic and practical bunch. It is in the interest of us all to save the Social Security system and put it on a sustainable financial path.

Just like death and taxes, old age will come to us all. We all share a common self-interest in compromising on a practical solution to fix Social Security.

Cartoon of the Week

A Father's Story

This is an updated version of a short essay I wrote many years ago. If you're a dad, you'll get it. 

My life changed forever on August 29, 1979, when my wife Peggy delivered a baby girl and turned me into a father. As I held that helpless babe, with her cute little pudgy nose and wrinkled face, I was overwhelmed by an awesome sense of responsibility. 

I knew I was not cut out for this. Patience? Nurturing? Setting an example? This poor kid had no clue what I had gotten her into. But I sure did love that little girl, so I resolved to do my best as a father, however inadequate that might be.

Eighteen months later, Peggy blessed me again, this time with a son. Now there were two young minds full of mush, depending upon us for wisdom, guidance and encouragement! The stakes were getting higher all the time, and I really wasn't feeling any wiser or more patient or confident.

I failed a lot. Too often, I was impatient with my children. There were too many times that I was so wrapped up in something else that I didn't give my kids the attention they deserved. Sometimes I was so tired at the end of a long day that all they got was a quick kiss and a hug before bed, instead of a proper dose of fatherly TLC. I knew I should be doing better, and I prayed frequently that God would help me improve.

Yet in spite of my paternal shortcomings, we had some great times together. We spent many long summer afternoons at the beach. We camped all over the state of Indiana. We had balloon fights and flew kites and shot off fireworks and sometimes we had long, long talks at bedtime. (I knew they were just stalling because they didn't want to go to sleep, but I didn't care.)

We played baseball and Frisbee and made popcorn and chased the dog and sang silly kids' songs and caught lightning bugs and lit sparklers and blew bubbles and jumped in leaf piles and made snow forts. They used to love to dance for me in the living room while we listened to my old Beatles' albums. Those kids were a lot of fun.


So even though I failed at times, there were many times that things were okay. And somewhere along the way I realized that my children would survive the ordeal of living with their imperfect and sometimes grumpy dad, because they knew that I loved them and they knew I did the best that I could.
 
As the years rolled by I actually started to think that I was getting the hang of this father biz. And darned if those two little munchkins didn't grow up on me! My kids have been out on their own for years now, and it's been quite a while since we've blown bubbles or sang silly songs together at bedtime. But I've got memories enough to last me a lifetime, and I wouldn't trade them for the world.

Thanks to my kids I now have a grand-daughter and two grand-sons, and I get to re-live the past with my grandchildren. They are young enough to still enjoy blowing bubbles, singing silly songs and jumping in leaf piles. I am absolutely convinced that a grandchild is God's consolation prize for getting old.

And now, thank God, I am a mellower version of young Dave. My son Steven once asked, while I was patiently enduring some crazy thing my grand-kids were doing, "Where was this guy when I was growing up?"

Well, that guy was (and is) still under construction. God had an extra 25 years to wear me down before the grand-kids came along.

Watching my kids grow up was one of the great blessings of my life. They taught me things I could never have learned from anyone else. They filled my heart with a love I had never known before. God used (and still uses) them to touch me in a special way.

Now that I've had my shot at child-rearing, I realize that none of us are truly up to the task. We each carry our own hang-ups and misconceptions into the job, and we all stumble through parenthood doing the best we can. What else can we do?

Many times while I was growing up, I butted heads with my father. He was often insensitive and overly critical. On countless occasions I was sure that he was wrong and I was right. He once made me so angry that I didn't speak to him for over a year.

But looking back now, who was right or wrong doesn't seem to matter as much. I don't agree with everything my father did, but I know that he loved me, and I know that he did the best he could.

So, allow me a moment here to give him some overdue posthumous credit: Dad, thanks for raising me and loving me. Thanks for working two jobs and keeping me fed. Thanks for doing the best you could.

Now I understand how tough that can be.

Economics and the Bible

Rabbi Aryeh Spero wrote a great column in the Wall Street Journal earlier this year about what the Bible says concerning economics, and not surprisingly, free market capitalism seems to be the closest thing on earth to the biblical model of fair commerce.  READ MORE

80 Men Who Made History

This article about the 70th reunion of Doolittle's Raiders appeared recently in the Washington Times. It is a great story to read on Memorial Day, and it gives us a snapshot of the kind of extraordinary people who serve in our military.  READ MORE

The Happiest Day of My Life

For years, I was hesitant to share my testimony with people because it was so unusual, and because it was such a precious memory for me. I did not want to have to put up with people making fun of it.  Also, it was a long, messy and complicated story. 

Then last year my son talked me into joining a week-long missions trip to Guatemala. One of my assignments during this trip was to share my testimony with several groups of elementary school children. This forced me to prayerfully condense my first meeting with God down into a four minute presentation that was suitably G-rated and simple enough for young children to understand.

So I invite you to pretend that you are a Guatemalan third-grader, and join me on this very compact trip down memory lane. I warn you, this story sounds strange. But I swear this is just the way it happened.

When I was growing up, I often wondered about God. How could anybody really KNOW if God was real? How could you KNOW if He heard your prayers? I could not imagine how it was possible to know such things.

I got married when I was 18 years old. My wife and I were too young and immature. We argued all the time.

We tried to get along, but it was not a happy marriage. After being married for seven years, we had our first baby. She was a cute little girl who we named Stephanie.

After Stephanie was born, my wife and I argued even more. When Stephanie was 8 months old, I finally decided to move out. I did not know what else to do. I did not want to spend my whole life arguing all the time.

I went to live with a friend of mine named Dennis. I was very upset. I felt so guilty about leaving my baby girl. I felt like my life was a failure.

On Good Friday on April 4, 1980, I was trying to go to sleep. I kept thinking about all the problems in my life. I was afraid that God would never forgive me for the sin of divorce.

I did not know if God was real, or if He even heard my prayers. But I cried out to Him in my despair. I was tired of living. I asked God to please just kill me and get my life over with.

Suddenly I felt these huge fists pounding all over my chest and stomach. It felt like some big strong man was beating me up. I thought, “God really is going to kill me!”  I was terrified.  I did not understand this at all.  I thought that maybe I was losing my mind and imagining things.

This beating lasted for about a minute. When it stopped, I was afraid to move. Finally I looked over at the clock by the bed. The time was midnight on Good Friday. I thought, “That is strange.” Then I fell asleep.

When I woke up the next morning I was in a daze. I wondered what had happened to me. Was it just a bad dream? I just felt dead inside my heart. I do not remember very much about that Saturday.

I went to bed that night and quickly fell asleep. Then early on Easter Sunday morning, about 4:00 a.m., the telephone rang and woke me up. The telephone call was about a friend of mine who was in big trouble. He needed my help right away.

I could hardly believe this was happening. I already had so many problems on my mind. Now I had to get up and go take care of my friend. I got dressed and went outside to leave.

As I sat down in my pick-up truck, I felt like the most miserable man on earth. I laid my head on the steering wheel and cried out in despair, “God, I just can’t take it anymore! I give up!”

Suddenly the love of God just flooded over me. A wonderful ecstatic joy filled my heart. I felt a warm tingling vibration throughout my whole body. I felt like God was hugging me!

 All of my anxiety was gone! All of my fears just disappeared! God had instantly washed away the shame of all my sins. My heart was at peace, and my mind was clear. I had never felt so alive before.

Instantly I knew that God was with me. I knew that He loved me. I heard His comforting voice speak deep down into my heart. He quietly said, “It’s all okay.”

After dreading God’s judgment for so long, it felt so wonderful to know that He was not mad at me. I had actually met God! And He was being nice to me!

All of this was such a surprise to me. I probably was acting a little crazy. I did not really understand what had just happened, but I sure was happy!

The next morning I went to my job. I worked with a kind woman there who was a Christian. I told her about everything that had happened to me over the weekend. She was very happy for me. She explained to me from the Bible that I had been saved. She explained to me that when I gave up to God, He came into my heart and I was born again.

She explained that being saved is more than just believing things ABOUT God. She said you must SURRENDER your heart to God to be born again. When I had told God that “I give up” He was merciful enough to accept that as my surrender.

It amazed me that God had such a sense of humor. He beat me up on Good Friday and then saved me on Easter Sunday. I thought that was pretty funny. I have seen God do a lot of other funny things since then. 

For example, He got me a good job as a mechanic even though I am very clumsy. When I was younger, I did not like children. Now I help teach a Sunday school class for 2-year-old children and I love it. God is full of funny surprises.

Since that day back in 1980, God has been so good to me. He brought me back home to my wife. He healed our marriage and gave us a good life together. He blessed us with another baby, a little boy named Steve.

And now God has blessed us with an extended family. When she grew up, my daughter Stephanie married a good man named Ken, and they gave us a beautiful grand-daughter named Miranda. God has also blessed us with a wonderful daughter-in-law, Andrea, who has given us two sweet grandsons named Zeke and Malachi. I love my family very much.

Jesus has guided me and blessed me for over thirty years now. I have made many mistakes along the way.  Many times God has had to discipline me to teach me a lesson.

But His love never fails. He always forgives me when I come to my senses and repent. I would never want to go back to the life I had before I knew the grace and mercy of God.

The day that you come to Jesus will be the happiest day of your life. He is kind. He is nice. He loves you. In fact, He loves you so much that he died for you.  He is waiting for you to give up your life to Him.

Say Goodnight, Dick

As a life-long resident of Indianapolis, I have voted for Dick Lugar on numerous occasions.

He was our mayor for two terms, from 1968 to 1976. He helped put Indianapolis on solid financial footing by working to push Unigov through the the state legislature.

In 1976 he was elected to his first term as a Senator from Indiana. He distinguished himself in the Senate, and won re-election handily for the next 30 years.

Lugar did a fine job of representing us during his first three or four terms. He had organized an efficient staff. Constituent letters were always answered promptly (in noticeable contrast to Evan Bayh, whose staff never replied to any of my correspondence).

In years past, Senator Lugar gained a reputation for expertise in foreign affairs, and he did a lot of good work serving on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

He was a Center-Right Republican, and established a reasonably conservative voting record. His overall rating with the American Conservative Union was 64%, which was a bit tepid for an Indiana Republican, but he enjoyed a 75% rating from the National Right to Life Committee for his generally strong pro-life voting record.

Unfortunately, Senator Lugar stayed in Washington two terms too long, and morphed into a RINO (Republican in name only).

As so often happens to politicians, the extended stay in Washington gave Senator Lugar just too much time to drink the Kool-Aid, and he began to behave more like a Washington insider than a representative of "we the people" back home in Indiana.

My misgivings about Dick Lugar began in earnest years ago when he supported the new START treaty with Russia, and they intensified while observing his dogged determination to keep pushing the long-debated Law of the Sea treaty. Both of these concoctions are viewed with alarm by most conservatives as unnecessary give-aways of our present strategic advantages and our sovereignty.

Finally, Senator Lugar pushed us conservatives over the edge in 2009 with his vote to approve Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama's first wacko leftist appointment to the Supreme Court.

He rubbed our noses in it again in 2010 when he supported the Supreme Court nomination of Elena Kegan, arguably an even more radical leftist than Sotomayer.

So when Indiana State Treasurer and local Tea Party hero Richard Mourdock (the man who stood up to Obama's plan to rip-off the state pension funds that had invested in Chrysler bonds, and who took it all the way to the Supreme Court in spite of tremendous political and media opposition) announced that he was running against Lugar in the primary, my conservative heart leapt with joy.

Finally, we had a real alternative to Senator Lugar. We had a conservative with backbone who could represent us in the Senate. For most Indiana conservatives, the decision was a no-brainer.

Apparently, many Hoosier Republicans felt the same way, and Mourdock defeated the six-term incumbent in a landslide -- 69% to 31%.

The hand-wringing of the mainstream media began immediately. Liberal politicians gave interviews bemoaning the departure of Senator Lugar and his "bi-partisan philosophy" which made him so easy for liberal senators to work with. The Senate would now become even more polarized by crazy conservative ideologues.

When your political defeat is mourned by the likes of John Kerry and Harry Reid, what does that tell you? It tells me that you are one big kahuna of a RINO.

After his concession speech, Senator Lugar took a parting shot at Mr. Mourdock by releasing a written statement to the press castigating Mourdock's uncompromising adherence to conservative principles. One of the more pungent of those sour grapes was this excerpt:

"If Mr. Mourdock is elected, I want him to be a good Senator. But that will require him to revise his stated goal of bringing more partisanship to Washington. He and I share many positions, but his embrace of an unrelenting partisan mindset is irreconcilable with my philosophy of governance and my experience of what brings results for Hoosiers in the Senate."

Well, I'm sorry, Senator Lugar. We didn't elect Richard Mourdock to do what you did. Doing what you did is why you lost. We elected Richard Mourdock to help turn our wayward Senate back towards long-established Constitutional principles of limited government. 

The fact that you don't get that perfectly illustrates your problem.

We didn't leave you, Senator Lugar. You left us.

Cartoon of the Week

Photo of the Week

Sign outside the new Jack in the Box in Greenwood

 Wouldn't it be easier to say, "WE NEVER CLOSE?"

Comic of the Week

An Atheist Visits the Art Musem

He went to the museum late one afternoon.

He saw a beautiful oil painting.

It was a sunset beach scene in vivid colors:

gorgeous pastels of pink, orange and lavender.

He stood before the painting in awe.

He marveled at how many weeks

the artist must have toiled

over the details of this masterpiece.

With every stroke of brush on canvas

the artist had labored purposefully

to fulfill his vision.

How could anyone fail to appreciate

the magnificent craftsmanship

of such a creative endeavor?

Truly incredible.

Later, as he was leaving the museum,

he noticed the sun setting in the west.

Thin scattered clouds were aflame in crimson.

A flock of geese flew into the glaring horizon.

A whispering breeze caressed his face.

He stopped to admire the scene.

He marveled at how many billions of years

it must have taken for the universe

to randomly form itself into such beauty.

Truly incredible.

Then he walked on home,

as foolish and ignorant

as the day he was born.

Poster of the Week

Grand Mufti Orders Church Eradication

Another outrageous story that we won't hear about from our blind guides in the liberal media -- a call for the total destruction of all churches on the Saudi Arabian peninsula. Why am I not surprised? READ MORE

Who Crumbled the Girl Scout Cookies?

Indiana State Representative Bob Morris caught a lot of flak this past week after he decided not to endorse a resolution from the Indiana House honoring the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts.

His fellow Republicans immediately threw him under the bus. He was ridiculed on local radio stations and in the Indianapolis Star. The story quickly went viral. He was lampooned in the national press and even got slammed by Dave Letterman.

It's awfully easy to jump on the bandwagon and poke fun at a man who disses the Girl Scouts.

It takes a little bit of thought and effort to examine the facts and get some perspective on the reasons for his decision.

Like most Americans, I have always held the Girls Scouts in high esteem. I was a sucker for all those annual Girl Scout fundraisers. How could you turn down a sales pitch by one of those cute little cookie-pushers?

What could be more American, more wholesome, more unassailable than the Girl Scouts?

There are millions of American women who cherish fond memories of the scouting days of their youth; women who are proud of their association with the Girl Scouts, and rightly so.

So I decided to poke around and check out some of the anti-Girl Scout sites on the web. I regret to report that there seems to be a huge difference between the Girl Scouts of yesterday and the Girl Scouts of today.

Before you tolerant liberals start sending me nasty hate mail, please indulge me in two requests for objectivity and rationality.

1) Don't go off like the morons who have posted sarcastic comments about "commie pinko leftist" Girl Scouts selling cookies at the mall. My dispute is with the agenda of the national leadership, and certainly not with any of the local Girl Scouts who are being exploited.

2) Do a little research. The most persuasive site I visited is hosted by two teen-age girls who spent eight years together in the same local scout troop. They became uneasy with some of the aspects of their scouting experience, so they made the difficult decision to resign from the Girl Scouts.

They now host a website called Speak Now Girl Scouts that exposes the broad influence of left-wing advocacy groups, including Planned Parenthood and NARAL, with today's national Girl Scout leadership.

I'd ask you to visit a couple of other sites established by former Girl Scout supporters. Keep in mind when you visit these sites that they are hosted by young women who felt compelled to leave the local Girl Scout troops that they loved because they felt their convictions were being betrayed. Check out Honest Girl Scouts and 100 Questions for the Girl Scouts.

And if you are the parent of a teen-age girl, download the Happy, Healthy and Hot brochure that Planned Parenthood produced for teens and then tell me if this is the kind of message you want inculcated into your daughter's impressionable young mind. Did you really sign her up for the Girl Scouts so that she could learn more about homosexuality, masturbation and condoms?

(*These discussion topics don't seem to square with the stated purposes in the national charter of Girl Scouts of America, as foot-noted at the end of this blog.)

Now there are many fine local Girl Scout chapters that would never intentionally support this kind of garbage. However, they DO unintentionally support this agenda by retaining their affiliation with the national Girls Scouts organization -- and 50 cents of every box of cookies they sell goes to the national headquarters.

That's right, headquarters gets a bigger slice of the pie than the local chapter, which only gets to keep 10%.

The Girl Scouts have historically enjoyed great support from church groups. For decades, many Christians have been involved with scouting because it re-affirmed the traditional moral values that parents taught at home. Sadly, that no longer seems to be the case.

I've got to stand with Bob Morris on this one. I admire what the Girl Scouts of America used to be. I am disgusted over what the national leadership has done to undermine it's founding principles.

So instead of being angry at Bob Morris for having the courage of his convictions, why aren't more people angry at the sleazy left-wingers who have hi-jacked what was once a great organization and turned it into just another avenue for indoctrinating young girls into a sexualized, amoral, humanist world-view?

This is a perfect example of well-worn radical-left strategy: Gain control of a reputable organization; politicize it with your agenda; and if anyone dares to object, then you ridicule your opponents and accuse them of playing politics.

So far, that con-game is working flawlessly.

Just ask Bob Morris, the man who had the temerity to refuse to endorse the defilement of an iconic American tradition.

[*Footnote -- from the "Purpose" section of the Girl Scouts' National Charter]

-CITE-
36 USC Sec. 80302 01/07/2011

-EXPCITE-
TITLE 36 - PATRIOTIC AND NATIONAL OBSERVANCES, CEREMONIES, AND
ORGANIZATIONS
Subtitle II - Patriotic and National Organizations
Part B - Organizations
CHAPTER 803 - GIRL SCOUTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

-HEAD-
Sec. 80302. Purposes

-STATUTE-
The purposes of the corporation are -
(1) to promote the qualities of truth, loyalty, helpfulness,
friendliness, courtesy, purity, kindness, obedience,
cheerfulness, thriftiness, and kindred virtues among girls, as a
preparation for their responsibilities in the home and for
service to the community;
(2) to direct and coordinate the Girl Scout movement in the
United States and territories and possessions of the United
States; and
(3) to fix and maintain standards for the movement that will
inspire the rising generation with the highest ideals of
character, patriotism, conduct, and attainment.

Looking for a Friendly God?

At one time or another, we’ve all heard preachers who make God sound like Attilla the Hun.

Fire and brimstone, judgment and damnation, death and destruction all await the poor soul who doesn’t measure up to this cruel God’s standards.

Admittedly, the Bible is full of instances where the wrath of God is stirred and he lowers the boom on wicked men and nations. But is it fair to type-cast God as a cosmic thunderer looking for an excuse to hammer somebody?

The judgment of God comes because of gross, unrepentant transgression. God has always reached out in mercy and sent prophets to warn a people who were falling into sin and setting themselves up for judgment. Only after people have time and again rejected God’s warnings has he, as a last resort, brought judgment upon them.

God takes no delight in the death of the wicked. He desires that all people would turn to him and be saved. Micah 7:20 declares: “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.”

He is indeed a God of judgment when his efforts to turn people back to him have failed. But judgment is not what God desires. He desires repentance. God wants us to wake up and realize that without his guidance and blessing we are wasting our lives and spoiling his creation.

Many people have difficulty comprehending the love of God. He seems so far away and beyond our reach. In all of this vast creation, some wonder, how much could God care about any one person’s life?

One of the many reasons that Jesus had for coming to this earth was to give us a living, human example of God’s personality. He told the disciple Philip, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9)

Jesus spent a great deal of time ministering to people one on one. He cared deeply about his personal relationships. He told his disciples, “You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my father I have made known to you.” (John 15:14-15)

The heart of the Gospel is this: Jesus Christ, our God and creator, came to our sinful world to live among us, teach us, and most importantly, to die as a sacrifice for our sins. To seal the deal, and to prove His claims, He rose from the grave and returned to heaven 40 days later.

Jesus is still there today. He sits at the right hand of the Father, and He calls to you daily through the Holy Spirit. The only thing keeping you from a loving, secure relationship with God Almighty is your stubborn heart.

I'll be the first person to admit that this whole Gospel story sounds pretty far-fetched. Why would God choose to work in such strange and hard-to-imagine ways? I cannot answer that, but I can tell you that once you place your trust in him, and Jesus introduces himself to you, you will know the joy of being on the good side of the God who created you.

Once you have met the eternal God who cannot lie, you can rest in the knowledge that He understands more than you can ever comprehend, and that is okay. You can't figure it all out, and you don't need to; all you really need to know is that you belong to him.

And with knowing him will come the richness of his blessings. Knowing him means you can find your purpose in life. It means you can enjoy an inner peace that you cannot now imagine. It means that you have God’s guarantee of an eternal citizenship in heaven.

Your alternative? Keep doing what you’ve been doing. Live your life apart from God, restless and insecure. Worry about your uncertain future. Squander your few years upon this earth living without a purpose. And when you die...well, you won’t be spending eternity with God in heaven. The only other option is hell, and you will have all of eternity to regret having sent yourself there.

Don’t be afraid of God. He is the kindest person you will ever meet. Like the father waiting for the prodigal son, his arms are open wide. He wants you to come home. He wants you to join his family. A prayer like this one can bring you to peace with God right now:

“God, I have my doubts. Please heal my unbelief. I know I don’t deserve your mercy, and I’ve spent my life sinning against you. Jesus, I give up! I ask you to forgive me, cleanse me and heal my heart. I want to know your love and your friendship. I give you my life today, Lord, and I ask you to bring me into your family. I want to live my life doing what you created me to do.”

Once you’ve given your heart to God, you need to find companionship in a good local church where other believers can help you grow in faith and understanding. You will a baby Christian, freshly born again, and you will have a lot to learn.

Babies are ignorant and messy, but they sure are cute and lovable! Come to Jesus now and He will love on you just like a proud father with a new-born infant.

The Dead Vote Early and Often

Deroy Murdock reports on a recent study by the Pew Research Center about the alarming extent of ghost voting in our electoral system.
READ MORE

The Obamacare Trifecta

Charles Krauthammer writes an excellent column about the frightening and invasive creep of government control that Obamacare is ushering into our everyday lives. READ MORE

The Wonderful World of Sharia Law

The next time you hear some doofus media commentator, or a Muslim apologist from CAIR (Council for American Islamic Relations) extolling the benefits of Sharia Law, take a deep breath.

Once your head is clear and your heart beat is stable, perhaps you should consider, as an example of Muslim tolerance, the sad plight of Hamza Kashgari, a 23-year-old newspaper columnist from Saudi Arabia.

The young man made the fatal mistake of speaking his mind, and by doing so, he failed to give the proper respect to the Prophet Muhammad. Saudi clerics are demanding that Kashgari be charged with apostasy, and then executed after a fair trial.

Kashgari received more than 30,000 responses and a number of death threats as a result of a posting he made on Twitter. He decided to flee Saudi Arabia after more than 13,000 people joined a Facebook page titled "The Saudi People Demand the Execution of Hamza Kashgari".

Saudi authorities somehow persuaded Interpol, the international police agency, to put out a "red notice" which flagged Kashgari as a wanted criminal. He was detained by local police in Malaysia, and will most likely be returned to Saudi Arabia to stand trial.

Exactly what heinous crime did this young man commit? What awful blasphemies did he spew against the Prophet Muhammad?

His tweet, which the authorities have since deleted, simply read: "I have loved things about you and I have hated things about you and there is a lot I don't understand about you … I will not pray for you."

Under Sharia Law, that kind of smart-alecky free speech gets your head chopped off.

That is all you need to know to understand why we must never allow Sharia Law to gain a foothold in America.

You can read more about this story HERE.

Cartoon of the Week

Plunging Headlong Down the Well Shaft

To the Liberal mind, anything that stands in the way of maximizing contraception and abortion services must be eliminated. And as usual, Liberals are seeking more government power to more effectively control every aspect of our lives.

Their latest attack is on the Catholic Church.

In promulgating new insurance regulations under Obamacare, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced that virtually all employers will be required to offer employee insurance plans that cover sterilization and contraceptives – including drugs that cause abortion. In addition, these services must be offered with no co-pays or deductibles.

Initially, there was talk that religious institutions might be exempted from this policy to accommodate "freedom of conscience," but that tolerant attitude got the heave-ho from HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who will allow the "conscience" exemption to only those organizations that exist to inculcate religious values for the benefit of members of their own faith.

At least for now; what's to stop her from changing her mind again after the next election?

Religious hospitals and universities are therefore not exempt, since these institutions provide services to the general public. Ironic, isn't it, that by tolerantly serving people of all faiths you are forced by your government to forfeit the free exercise of your own?

Never mind that the Catholic Church, to it's great credit, has always affirmed the sanctity of human life as one of it's doctrinal foundations.

Never mind that there are over 44 million Catholics in this country.

Never mind that Catholic hospitals are private institutions founded to fulfill a religious duty to care for the sick.

Never mind that the First Amendment plainly declares that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

If your religion regards human life as God-given and sacred, how can you freely exercise your religion if the government forces you to violate your conscience?

This latest HHS ruling exemplifies the kind of outrageous hokum that results when Congress abdicates it's responsibility to legislate, and instead creates unaccountable government bureaucracies to manufacture rules that have the force of law.

We are on the slipperiest of slippery slopes here: The day is coming when a Christian OB/GYN will have to decide whether he will bow to Caesar and perform abortions, or give up his medical practice.

WIBC's Greg Garrison said it even better: This isn't a slippery slope, it's a headlong plunge down a well shaft. If the government can arbitrarily make rules like this one, are there any limits left to federal power?

It is always the same with Liberals: Under the guise of "fairness" and "social justice" they bypass the established legal process and dictate, by administrative fiat or judicial meddling, how the rest of us are supposed to live our lives.

To the Liberal mind, the State is the supreme power. The individual is only of worth to the degree that he serves the interests of the State.

Let's just get it over with now and change the motto on our currency to "In Obama We Trust."