The following record was taken directly from Senator Grassley’s website, from an immediate press release dated March 26, 2009.
Transcription of Senator Grassley’s Capitol Hill Report
“QUESTION: Along that line, Senator, have you — have your requests for information, financial information, from televangelists been completely satisfied? There were one or two holdouts at one time.
GRASSLEY: Those one or two are still holding out, and we haven’t decided yet to take the step of a subpoena. But it looks to me like that’s what we’ll have to do. We have had almost — by two others — almost a complete answer to what I would say would be a good judgment of some progress we’re making. And that is that there’s an evangelical accounting board — and that’s not exactly its title.
But it’s kind a Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for churches that are members of it to pledge to do certain things to make sure that their money is handled in a secure way as a trustee for the donors’ money. And we’ve had two of these six have recently submitted themselves to this evangelical accounting board to make sure that they follow the law.
STAFF: Thank you, Tom and Rick, for participating in today’s public affairs program. This has been Senator Chuck Grassley reporting to the people of Iowa.”
UPDATE: To date, there have not been any allegations of inappropriate oversight or IRS non-compliance levied against any of the Grassley Six. Please review articles on this blog since December 2007 providing coverage.
The question is not whether Christianphobia is on the rise or not. The question is do people who despise Christians, because we hold fast to the Bible and our faith, have the ability to be equitable and just.
Imagine the melee gay activists, same sex marriage advocates and the so-called “open-minded” (and I use this characterization lightly) people would have if Mrs. California was pro-gay, and a staunch Christian judge began an uproar because of her support for the advancement of gay rights. Imagine. It’s not hard to imagine, because Christians can no longer go to our own churches without being challenged by people who want Christians to deface our teachings and comply with modern “thinking” and ways of living. When gay people are filthy and downright egregious in their tactics to advance their causes, they are activists. When Christians do the same thing, we are barbaric bigots.
Perez Hilton probably thought he was going to set Miss California up. Perez admitted Miss California’s answer cost her the “win” in the Miss USA pageant. To those who believe her position is outdated and inundated with bias, Perez’s “on the spot” question was fair game. Again, had Perez been James Dobson questioning a hard core lesbian whose avid response supported same sex marriage, and the lesbian suffered the crown because of her viewpoint, no one in America would be able to take a nap.
When folks believe that terrorizing church members by locking them into a sanctuary is not that big of a deal-but the same action against a bunch of preschoolers by a bunch of young black or latino males would have a community in an uproar-that’s when we know the answers to the pertinent questions. What is equitable and justifiable is what people want while the means-end application of principle is out of the window.
Kudos to Miss California for her forthright boldness and honesty while enduring another episode of heterophobia for believing in traditional family values. Just as homosexuals have a right to their opinion, so does Miss California and every other Christian who opposes same sex marriage.
There’s more ridiculousness from the political family most commensurate to the Bundy’s (Married With Children): The Palins.
Bristol Palin is on a stupendous mission to convince teenagers that abstinence is the best policy as the Candie’s foundation teen ambasssador. So, Jenny Craig should not have replaced Kirstie Alley. Kirstie’s obesity makes her the perfect spokesperson for the weight loss company. Look at Bristol, brand new teenage mother feuding with the baby’s daddy and his family: ABSTAIN. Look at Kirstie, actress with fluctuating weight: CALL JENNY CRAIG. The anti-Bristol approach to abstinence may be more effective than selecting a fine young popular star who is abstinent. Bristol fell through “the cracks” of her mother’s abstinence-only sex education policies and ended up as the perfect poster-uh, morning shows and CNN live interview-child for abstinence. The young Palin should be working with momma to make sure her son has a relationship with his father and other family. Who has time for the best interest of the innocent baby when she has a call to advocate what she could not espouse and still admits is “unrealistic”?
Maybe Candie’s can find a role for Sarah Palin after her run as Alaskan governor. Should Governor Palin then decide to advocate sex education, the corporation should make her pay for her own presentation kits.
Not really.I don’t believe atheists, agnostics, and people of “spiritual paths” other than Christianity are necessarily fearful of Christians.But since this “homophobia” inflammatory jargon designed to disengage legitimate opposition to the homosexual/gay agenda is now politically correct, I thought the use of the phobia tactic is apropos solely for illustrative purposes.
The truth is many homosexuals/gays-and those who are simply perceived to be homosexual–have been beaten, persecuted, marred, murdered and discriminated against simply because they are believed to be homosexuals.This denigration of humanity is never acceptable.We need not discuss the historical and current persecution of Jews, Christians, and African-Americans through mass genocide and the like.The annals of utter hatred against these classes of people cannot be justifiably encapsulated in one blog post.
Yet, the disdain and intolerance of the homosexual lifestyle and agenda is met with a nifty “phobia” marking. The connotation is as if the logical one who does not agree suffers from some unreasonable fear of what is otherwise simple or normal.I think it is safe to say, most people do not have “fear” of homosexuals or homosexuality.The disapproval, rejection and opposition to a thing are not necessarily synonymous with “fear”.I can’t stand onion rings.My personal preference is to never have onion rings.My failure to order onion rings, or efforts to vote them off of the fast food menu does not mean I fear them.I have made a valuation and judgment that they are not desirable and are not good, although many people may prefer and love onion rings.My personal beliefs regarding homosexuality are clear:it is not a desirable lifestyle.I’m not scared, nor am I ignorant.I just don’t agree.
My belief system is firmly rooted in my faith and commitment to Christianity.Need I be “converted” to another point of reason by one whose belief system is rooted in self by way of intellect, education, philosophical affinity or life achievement?To another woman’s valuations based upon impulse and present life goals and experiences?To another person’s values because he is good?To the current trend of thought because it is increasingly common?The opinionated Christian—not all of us are this involved—has her right to reason to a final resolve just like the non-Christian. We do not enjoy blanket classifications about how we live and respond to the questions of life any more than anyone else.Our opinions and right to be involved in the political process is no less weighty because we serve the True and Living God.We need not cow-tow to those who wake up and go to bed and the world should be as s/he thinks based upon the breadth of knowledge s/he has thusly consumed, or those who heighten the import of the human experience.
There is no civil system of government where the law is not largely composed of moral codes.However a man identifies his own beliefs and morality, and that system of government employs that man’s belief, it is what it is.Christians have every right, PARTICULARLY SINCE THE UNITED STATES IS FOUNDED UPON JUDEO-CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES, to stand up for what we believe and what we do not believe.A crucial tenet of the faith is that God is the Creator and loves all men.Yet all will not believe what we believe.We are to share our faith because the relationship with God and benefits of being in fellowship with God are available to everyone.We are prepared to encounter those who do as we often do to other belief systems:REJECT the faith. We must simply keep on believing and keep on living.So then, are we dealing with Christianphobia when some atheists, agnostics, and people of other religions do not accept and conform, form interest groups, create and produce programming released through various media outlets to promote their beliefs, lobby for their beliefs to be encoded as statutory rights, file zillions of frivolous lawsuits, actively discriminate against Christians, endanger the lives of Christians, and fight to thwart the values of Christianity because what they believe should be?
MULLOVERTHIS.
Note: Not all Christians share this view. The emphasis of the Christian message is that we have all been born in sin, shaped in iniquity, and have the grace of a loving, merciful God to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
One day, Americans are going to figure out that Sarah Palin didn’t write her RNC speech. Enough people are going to know that the Obama slams weren’t her own. Mitt Romney wrote every word of his speech. He didn’t need the RNC to script his words to the American public. Governor Palin did what Will Smith, Angelina Jolie, and Susan Sarandon do. Actors take a script and bring life to the lines and make it believable. Gorgeous, sassy, big smiling, seems like she is a real spitfire fighter Palin doesn’t cut the mustard because the Vice President needs to bring so much more to the table; Especially one appointed by a Presidential nominee who is old and already a gamble himself having already lived through serious health challenges. McCain better hope the day America gets past the Palin hype is not before November 8.
While most can’t help but like Palin and can’t deny her appeal, after we live long enough we realize that you don’t have to like the mailman. We just need him to deliver the mail. Mail personnel sweet as pure sugar cane who are always late, or deliver our mail to the neighbor down the street are not needed. Palin is by no means an ineffective Governor, or at least her approval rating indicates that her constituency is more than satisfied with her performance. Alaska hasn’t been able to see the calm after the storm. Palin hasn’t even completed one term as Governor of Alaska.
Yet, we are notified of Palin’s “list of accomplishments” by a handful of her female GOP high ranking counterparts when being scolded for Palin’s sexist treatment. We are being asked to take a leap with a Governor whose list of accomplishments were never specified because they just may invoke laughter by the average corporate business executive or CEO who has accomplished greater goal-end objectives in the first quarter of the fiscal year during a RECESSION, than what Palin has during her entire stellar politicanship.
Somebody with a GED has a “list of accomplishments”. My first line of questioning to Governor Palin’s co-horts is what exactly are these accomplishments? Filing suit against the federal government for enlisting bears as endangered species? Firing the chauffeur, chef, and re-directing their income to the budget? Firing all those connected with her pursuit to terminate her former brother-in-law’s employment? We can’t afford not to be real. What are Palin’s achievements?
I only have one message for Former Governor Jane Swift, Carly Fiorina, and these GOP women sensitized to sexism who will not permit Governor Palin to be demonized by the media on the basis of sex. Mothers are women. Men cannot be mothers. The best man cannot be a mother. Children NEED mothers, just like they need fathers. Women and Men are not completely interchangeable with no distinctions. Neither are mothers and fathers. The laws of this country recognize these REALITIES. So, when these women who are so sensitive to sexism that they want to defend a mother of five–four of whom are minors, one of which is an unmarried pregnant teenager (this does not become cute because someone has put a shirt and dress shoes on the young daddy and they profess their love for one another), and the infant son has special needs–to justify her conscious choice to pursue a cream of the crop career, I have a kind suggestion for them. Defend the fathers of this nation who live with the imbalance of legal protections given to mothers BECAUSE THE LAW AND THE REST OF THE COUNTRY RECOGNIZE THAT WOMEN ARE PRESUMED TO BE THE PRIMARY CARETAKERS OF CHILDREN, BECAUSE CHILDREN NEED TO BE NURTURED, AND ALL ANIMAL SPECIES THE FEMALES FEED AND NURTURE THEIR YOUNG. Women cannot expect to benefit from the protection of the law and then don’t want any type of public accountability for their lack of responsibility. When all of these hypocrites who want mothers to have the right to mother without interference UNLESS SHE IS UNFIT (or chooses to relinquish custody of her children) can see that their ideals should not stop with Palin and continue into the family courts and mediations across America, then we’ll give Palin a send-off to NEGLECT her children for a career. That’s when we’ll accept that our expectations are biased simply because she is a woman. Most men who are RESPONSIBLE fathers co-parent and negotiate responsibilities to ensure their children are protected, provided for and nurtured to become the best human beings. Fathers and mothers make sacrifices every day for their children. This will be the day that judges look at the best interest of a child based upon which parent is better equipped to parent, and can give a child a better life. There is no real equity in this regard.
All of the Gloria Steinhem, estrogen, and red lipstick will not change the fact that women who decide to have children should be committed to the welfare of their children first, not country first. Home first. Family first. That is when we will have a better country. This progressive feminism appears to be a carte blanche excuse for women to do whatever we feel like doing to be free. Killing millions of unborn babies is not freedom. Neither is choosing a career that will cause a mother to neglect her children during the prime of their developmental stages as opposed to the prime of a woman’s life. It’s time for the beneficiaries of feminism and female solidarity to move beyond women. Our children are the first ad litem expenses to false equity and freedom.
So, Palin’s sisters in the struggle speak up. Now, I, along with many other Americans speak up. We have a right to let Palin know she is mother with BAD judgment. When her water broke with her special needs son, she should not have waited to make her speech. Child’s life versus her moment in the spotlight to make a distinguishing speech must have been in the scales of her mind. To the average mom, this was not even a decision. Palin chose to wait to make her speech because she was not going to miss the moment. She then choose to get on a flight and travel approximately 10 hours to deliver the baby. BAD JUDGMENT. Period.
Finally, if Palin and her female sensitizers don’t want her family values questioned, Palin shouldn’t have been selected, in part, because of her family values and position against abortion, sex-education, and so forth. Bristol still has a baby daddy, with his hard sole dress shoes and all. Although she is human and we all make mistakes, Governor Palin addresses the mis-steps and choices of other people’s lives when she decides to be a proponent of abstinence-only education and is anti-abortion. She is in the homes of Alaskans already. Now, she wants privacy concerning her teenage daughter with a baby daddy. Where is FOX News when we need them? Hypocrisy in pristine suits or with a red, white and blue bikini toting a firearm isn’t cute on the bull-dog Palin, or her defenders.
The bottom line is Governor Palin should be qualified when in immediate succession to the President of the United States.
Moderators Note: Additional scenario to mullover: If Palin were a Black woman with a teenage pregnant daughter, a bunch of kids, just had a new special needs baby, and wanted to pursue a once in a lifetime demanding career, who would stand up for her and defend such a choice? Would our sensitivities tell us that she needs to take care of her children? Do we just “leave it at that” because the mother loves her children?
I’m not surprised that ANN and other inner-cusp Repubs will justify this appointment at any cost. The flags of sexism will continue to be posted wherever there is a legitimate challenge to Palin’s ability to be a decent mother to her THREE CONSIDERABLY UNDERAGE CHILDREN while she is supposed to be the Vice President of the United States. Motherhood and family values are of utmost importance to the GOP platform. Palin’s appointment proves that for this possible administration, this is theory at best. Let’s all work and fight for ideals and principles but not live them.
McCain’s need for a gun-toting, pro-life, tax-cutting young female GOP running mate outweighs any other concerns. For instance, McCain’s age and medical history was not a priority in appointing a POTUS-ready running mate. Did GOP nominee McCain get the memo that if he wins the election, he would be the oldest US President to enter office? McCain should have made the readiness of his VP to lead this nation of utmost importance in his selection. Whether or not McCain outlives Bristol is not the issue. McCain is supposed to be planning for the good of our nation–”Country First”– right GOP? The average family has enough sense to have insurance policies in the event of death. Palin, with two more months of shaking hands, cramming and trying to learn the ropes, come November is supposed to be mature and ready, God-forbid, to be America’s payout.
Otherwise, the idea of the small town girl who is not afraid to go against the grain and status quo to effectuate good is admirable. Palin’s firm anti-abortion, pro-Christian beliefs are welcome. Her youthfulness adds bliss to the equation. If McCain wins takes us through the next four years, Palin will be ready to run for President AFTER her on-the-job training. However, Republicans have been terribly hypocritical in this appointment with Palin’s substantial inexperience (a campaign theme against Nobama), and attempting to posit a mother of FIVE WITH FOUR UNDERAGE CHILDREN traipsing across this country and eventually the world, as the picture of family values in America. No abortions, Dems. That’s what matters. Commitment to EFFECTIVE parenting, or at least having the appearance of the same, is not part of this platform.
Senator John McCain, the Republican nominee for President of the United States of America, selected Sarah Palin, current governor of Alaska, as his running mate. Sarah Palin is the woman that Senator McCain expects the American public to support as Vice President of the United States. McCain must have missed the Vice Presidency job description briefing. This individual will be the acting President if he became incapacitated, and the President if he dies in office. The only critical questions are who are McCain’s advisers, what part of his foot did McCain use to make this decision, and who is going to play “mother” to Sarah Palin’s five children while she may be the Vice President of the United States for up to eight years.
Governor Palin has been hammered throughout the media and across dining room tables all over this nation as the most fool-hearty Vice Presidential pick since Dan Quayle. The thought of Sarah running this country–if McCain succumbed during his Presidential term–is equally humorous and frightening at the same time: Not because she has no national experience or foreign policy experience. Governor Palin is a Christian and vocal anti-abortioncide politician. She was a small town mayor and is currently in her first term as an executive leader as the Alaskan Governor, and is only running for Vice President. The Democratic Nominee for President, Senator Barack Obama, has only one completed US senatorial term under his belt, and no executive or foreign policy experience. Yet eighteen million people and counting have fallen prey to his charisma, wisdom in hiring and following the counsel of advisers, consultants, and marketing/media experts, and personal leadership style. So the alarm for “what in the world is happening to our country” had already sounded when we put our incumbent President in office. Then we had the nerve to put him in office again. We are to believe that the best of the hopefuls include Obama (the most competent thing we’ve seen in political pull-ups who at least has a real adult politician on his ticket, Senator Joseph Biden) who is running against someone who we hope doesn’t take an earthly exit while in office (McCain, coupled with someone who just came out of the birth canal, yippee Governor Palin). Has John McCain ever heard of the expression “the pot calling the kettle black”? Obviously Obama’s relative inexperience cannot be a further concern for the GOP when their VP pick is a glorified soccer mom who just woke up as a politician, and desperately needs a 2008 savvy hairdresser and stylist.
With McCain’s selection of Governor Palin, I have a serious noteworthy proposal. He can continue to solicit the support of pro-Hilary Obama defectors by appointing my mom as the Secretary of State. I promise McCain, fingers crossed and hope to die live, that he will not find any scandalous incriminating evidence in my mother’s closet. Nope. Nada. Zilch. She is good to go and excellent at diplomacy. If Palin can manage her 9,000, and be suitable for Vice President, then certainly my mom is qualified with over 30 years in the medical field to be the Secretary of State. By the way, she has not interviewed with MTV political commentators like Governor Palin, but she has watched enough CNN, MSNBC and FOX News and argued with the political pundits (unbeknownst to them) in her own family room. And, trust me, she takes them down every time. My mom would at least have enough sense to hire the right personnel, and take their advice. McCain could speak to my mother–maybe even twice or three times which is considerably more than he bothered to spend with Governor Palin–to be oversecure that she is the right woman for the job. And, the whip cream on top asssurance McCain would have is true feminists wouldn’t have to be alarmed about her defying the advances of women who have proven that they can do it all–work and be real mothers at the same time. All of my mom’s children are grown adults. Sarah Palin is the one with five children, four of whom are under age 18. This nation should not have to look at Governor and hopefully never Vice President Sarah and wonder does she know where her children are today. Oh yeah, their father, the hired nannies and secret service agents will have to nurture her young.
With all of the criticisms of Governor Palin as the GOP Vice Presidential pick, the absent critique, which is of utmost concern to this blogger is, is this true feminism? A mother of five (with four young children) so engaged in her career that she didn’t have enough sense to say “no” when she got the invitation to run all over the country campaigning and could possibly have to put her children on hold for the next four to eight years, is supposed to be the picture of family values. REAL mothers don’t write paychecks to pay other people to be the principle caretakers of their children. Governor Palin just allegedly had a son with Down’s Syndrome. The first few years of a Down’s child’s life are the most critical for development and will largely predict his ability to grow to be personally independent. So, to the wiseguys who thought Hilary supporters would be drawn to the GOP ticket because Governor Palin is a female missed it. Hillary mothered Chelsea Clinton. Well-rounded women who are not selfish hedonists take care of the basics first. Young human beings who did not ask to be conceived and born have a right to have a mother who is perfectly capable of being a mother to them, do what she signed on to do when she gave birth to each of them. Governor Palin needs to go somewhere and sit down instead of contributing to the reason why so many of our children continually become inept adults.
This appointment to the GOP ticket shows that McCain is in this to win at the cost of our nation’s future if something happens to him. If his judgment led him to pick Palin, then my judgment leads me to pick anyone but him. Hilary. Palin. They can’t even be typed in the same sentence, more or less compared. Obama/Biden may win by default. Regardless of how much pro-Hilary voters may not have wanted to choose Obama, no one in their right mind can put someone in office who just may leave us with Palin as the President of the United States of America. President Palin. Someone, please get me an icepack. Now, I must retire and account for each precious moment. I’m expecting a phone call from McCain’s camp any moment now for some sort of cabinet position to appeal to his young African-American female constituency. My blog and political opinions should suffice as enough political experience.
Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain joined host, Pastor Rick Warren, at the Saddleback church for an interview aired on CNN. Both presumptive Presidential nominees answered the same questions at separate times, one-on-one with Rick Warren, in front of thousands. During his interview, Obama sat in a church and justified why he is in support of gay marriage, homosexual rights, and abortion–while declaring that he is a Christian and Jesus Christ saved him by grace. Watching the Christian rationalize baby killings because to determine when life begins is above Obama’s “pay grade” (his own words) is enough audacity. But, there is more.
Obama unleashed more of his glaring introspective thoughts when asked which United States Supreme Court justices would he not have appointed. Obama didn’t hesitate or stutter. Clarence Thomas. Here is the reasoning Obama stated, “”I don’t think that he was a strong enough jurist or legal thinker at the time for that elevation, setting aside the fact that I profoundly disagree with his interpretations of a lot of the Constitution.” This, off course, is coming from a former editor of the Harvard Law Review and a corporate attorney. Obama has wet his feet in the practical legal and political world compared to the Senators who were on the confirmation committee and thinks he is qualified to judge the competence of Justice Clarence Thomas’ jurisprudence. Interesting. Especially from a man who wants to be President of the United States, with only one full-term as a US Senator under his belt, and eight years as an Illinois Senator. Compared to his colleagues and competition, Obama needs to sit down and say “sike” (slang for I was only playing) by his own standards.
Here are some facts: At the time of Justice Clarence Thomas’ Supreme Court appointment, he had already been confirmed by the US Senate (many of whom have law degrees and legal backgrounds) for appointment to the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, one of the most honorable court appointments in the land. Thomas wasn’t appointed to the Supreme Court from being a traffic court judge, or a scripted court television judge. Prior to the Circuit Court appointment, Thomas-a Yale law graduate- also worked in an attorney general’s office, was an Assistant Secretary of Education, and was the CHAIRMAN of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for almost eight years. Justice Clarence Thomas already had experience as a jurist on one of the most esteemed courts of the land when he was appointed, yet ankle-deep Obama cited Thomas wasn’t strong enough.
So then, we are to believe that Obama is strong enough to be PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, while Thomas wasn’t a strong enough jurist or legal thinker to be onemember of the highest court in the judicial branch of our government. Obama better be careful before his house negro mentality yields trouble for him during the rest of his campaign, and if elected President, when he gets into office. He has obviously been in the house so long that his vision is tainted. Obama’s candidacy alone suggests that he sees himself as capable and his experience on the Presidential track is not even comparable to that of Thomas’ on the judicial track at the time of Thomas’ appointment to the US Supreme Court. Obama’s grossly skewed assessment of Thomas is not only condescending, but completely inappropriate in light of the increasing hostile climate (based upon beliefs that Black people are unqualified and given free-bees) pro-White extremists have towards Black Americans because of our insurgence in politics, education, business, ownership, religion and otherwise. Hopefully Obama’s deep musings will reveal his own audacity to try to discredit the qualifications of the only Black justice on the Supreme Court.
