Read more.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Obama signed an executive order Friday striking down a rule that prohibits U.S. money from funding international family-planning clinics that promote abortion or provide counseling or referrals about abortion services.

The order comes the day after the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

Not that McCain would’ve ended Federally funded abortions in the United States, but funding abortions internationally is a whole new level of despicable.

On his last full day in office, President Bush commuted the controversial sentences of two former Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a Mexican drug runner in 2005.

The imprisonment of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean had sparked outcry from critics who said the men were just doing their jobs and were punished too harshly. They had been sentenced to 11- and 12-year sentences, respectively.

Their sentences will now expire on March 20 of this year.

Story link.

Finally. I can’t say I’ll miss President Bush, but in my opinion he spent his last day wisely (or at least, shrewdly.)

Thoughts?

-Mary Ann

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

[Emphasis mine]

WASHINGTON (AP) – Taking aim at a BCS system he said “consistently misfires,” a member of Congress planned to introduce legislation Wednesday that would force college football to adopt a playoff to determine the national champion.

Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, the ranking Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, didn’t specify what sort of playoff he wants — only that the BCS should go.

“In some years the sport’s national championship winner was left unsettled, and at least one school was left out of the many millions of dollars in revenue that accompany the title,” Barton said in a statement released ahead of the bill’s introduction. “Despite repeated efforts to improve the system, the controversy rages on.”

So, we’re in the midst of several unending wars, we’re dealing with a crumbling economy, our Constitution is disregarded on a constant basis, and this is what’s of concern to our lawmakers? And we wonder how bailouts like today’s get passed…

“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” – Plato

 Israel is drawing up plans to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities and is prepared to launch a strike without backing from the U.S., an Israeli newspaper reported Thursday.Officials in the Israeli Defense Ministry told The Jerusalem Post that while they prefer to act in consultation with the U.S., they are preparing plans that would allow them to act alone.

Read the rest.

First of all, I don’t really see how our consent should have any bearing on Israel’s matters – and vice versa – but that’s another argument altogether.

Would Israel be justified in attacking Iran? Besides blowing a lot of steam, has Ahmadinejad done anything truly threatening to Israel’s safety?

Do you guys think President-Elect Obama will carry out a strike on Iran? Would you – whether you consider yourself a Democrat or a Republican – support such a mission?

I have my own opinions, but I want to hear yours first.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday that the U.S. has been in a recession since December 2007, making official what most Americans have already believed about the state of the economy .

“The committee views the payroll employment measure, which is based on a large survey of employers, as the most reliable comprehensive estimate of employment,” said the group’s statement. “This series reached a peak in December 2007 and has declined every month since then.”

So, what are your thoughts? Will Obama be able to pull off his first term with a depression? How is this going to impact the Christmas season?

Nothing is really going to change unless we have some serious policy changes. And what Obama offers isn’t what I’m referring to. Our economy will be in and out a state of crisis while it’s under the control of the Federal Reserve system. What we don’t pay attention to is much more preposterous than any bailout. While everyone was shocked over the $700 billion payoff to the banks, much more than $700 billion – backed by nothing, of course – was printed that week alone… sending the country even deeper into debt. It’s ridiculous. Our currency is worth nothing, our economy is crumbling, and nobody wants to talk about the root of the problem. It’s crazy.

You know, I wouldn’t be so haughty if I were the one speaking for a system with a 67% sucess rate…

I’d comment further, but I’m too demented to. I think I’ll go hide in my Mom’s closet.

Oops, I don’t have time to today. I have to finish up my college classwork so I can graduate this semester with my Associate’s Degree at the same time I’m graduating from (home) high school. Rats.

DETROIT  —  The American Civil Liberties Union is taking up the case of a southwestern Michigan minister who was sent to prison for warning that a judge could be tortured by God.

The ACLU said it asked the state appeals court Wednesday to release the Rev. Edward Pinkney on bail while he appeals a probation violation. Lawyers claim his free-speech rights were trampled in Berrien County.

In 2007, Pinkney, 60, was convicted of paying people to vote in a Benton Harbor election.

Months later, he wrote an article in a Chicago newspaper, People’s Tribune, saying the judge who handled his case, Alfred Butzbaugh, could be punished by God with curses, fever and “extreme burning” unless he changed his ways.

In June 2008, another Berrien County judge, Dennis Wiley, sent Pinkney to prison for three to 10 years after finding that he had violated his probation by making a threat against the judge.

“Those are words that would … put the fear of God into anybody, as a threat that this could happen to them if they do not do what Mr. Pinkney wants him to do, whatever that might be,” Wiley said, according to a transcript.

“To our knowledge, this case marks the first time in modern history that a preacher has been imprisoned for predicting what God might do,” said Michael Steinberg, legal director for the ACLU in Michigan.

Pinkney is in a state prison in the Upper Peninsula, roughly 600 miles from his home. While incarcerated, he received 3,500 votes as the Green Party candidate for Congress in Michigan’s 6th District.

Story link.

So, what are your thoughts? I think it’s interesting that the ACLU took this case… it’s instances like this that make me respect the ACLU, even though I disagree with much of what they defend.

I don’t know enough about Pinkney’s original case to comment as to his character, but in my mind it’s fairly obvious that his first amendment rights were violated. It really makes me uncomfortable about the future of liberty in America to see the speeches and statements that Preachers make, whether I happen to agree with them or not, being restricted. What do you think about the case?

US President-elect Barack Obama will seek to reverse Bush administration policies when he enters office on 20 January, his transition chief said.

John Podesta said executive orders by President George W Bush on issues such as stem cell research and oil drilling were at odds with Mr Obama’s views.

He said they could be easily repealed as no Congressional action was needed.

“All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.” – Article 1, Sec. 1; United States Constitution.

“Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” – Romans 1:22

I guess that’s where Thomas Jefferson was coming from when he said that those who know best know how little they know. And there’s no real point to this post, I just thought it was a very relevant verse for today.

“God has vindicated the black folk”

From CNN: Black churchgoers celebrate, give thanks for Obama’s win.

RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) — Pastor Shirley Caesar-Williams opened her sermon Sunday at Mount Calvary Word of Faith Church with a prayer of thanks for the election of Barack Obama — at the risk of her flock getting “more excited over this than you do over the word.”

“God has vindicated the black folk,” the Grammy-winning gospel singer said as a member of the congregation waved an American flag and another marched among the pews blowing a ram’s horn.

“Too long we’ve been at the bottom of the totem pole, but he has vindicated us, hallelujah,” she cried. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t have nothing to put my head down for, praise God. Because when I look toward Washington, D.C., we got a new family coming in. We got a new family coming in. And you know what? They look like us. Amen, amen. They look like us.“

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“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”