Constitutional Rights

Freedom to be both Native American AND Christian

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Dec 312012

A woman was advocating for rights of tribal members and freedom from tribal government tyranny, while at the same time telling me that my husband and I were wrong to share our Christianity because the only way tribal members can be free from alcohol is through traditional religion.

So… while on the one hand she decried being dictated to and controlled by tribal government, she was attempting to dictate to and control other tribal members when it came to spirituality.

This is a very important point about freedom for tribal members. Some tribal governments do try to dictate that tribal members follow traditional religion, not any other

When my husband, Roland, was testifying in Seattle against tribal jurisdiction, a representative of the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) told us that reservations have a right to keep Christians off their property – and Christians have no right to speak to tribal members about their religion.

We asked “What if an elder has lived there all his life and becomes a Christian – and wants to talk to his grandchildren about it?” The NICWA representative answered that the grandfather had no right to speak to his grandchildren about it and would have to move.

This is not an unusual point of view within some tribal circles, nor was it unusual in many historical dictatorships where one religion was chosen for the entire country and all had to abide by it. This was why many settlers came to America and why the very first phrase of our constitutional amendments addresses freedom of religion.

Then comes the Indian Child Welfare Act, which is used by some tribal governments to dictate the religion Indian children must be raised in. Some times exposure to powwows and traditional Indian religion is mandated by courts and tribal governments as a condition of foster care or adoption. Other times, children are simply removed from Christian homes. This can happen even if the parents and grandparents placed the children in that home and want the children to be raised Christian.

Because ICWA is a federal law, the U.S. Congress is just as much to blame for this robbing of individual freedom and 1st amendment rights as tribal governments.

My husband and I knew who we wanted to be guardians of our kids if we were to die. We chose a man from our church. His race didn’t matter to us – his spirituality and heart were all that mattered. This was – and is – our constitutional and God-given right as parents to choose. Neither Congress nor any tribal government should be allowed to steal that from us.

NO ONE else in America is put underneath a law that dictates how you are supposed to spiritually raise your kids. The 1st amendment says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”… but the ICWA Congress enacted comes dangerously close to doing just that.

Dying in Indian Country is available at: http://dyinginindiancountry.com

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Christian Advocacy Group to Fight Indian Child Welfare Act in DC July 11, 2012

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Jul 022012

The Christian Alliance for Indian Child Welfare (CAICW) is gathering with other organizations and individuals in DC July 11, 2012, to fight a law that has intruded into the private lives of families for the past 35 years.

Come Add Your Voice to the Call to Protect Children from the Indian Child Welfare Act!

Why?

To protect the individual rights of Indian children and their families
To ensure they maintain the right to a safe, supportive and stable family
To request support for appropriate amendments to the ICWA

While said to have been established with good intentions, the ICWA has frequently hurt families and their children of Native American heritage. Federal dollars are being used to support adherence to this law; however in many cases, the law is destroying loving, stable families.

Issues of Concern:
– 1) Equal opportunities for adoption, safety and stability are not always available to children of all heritages.
– 2) Some families, Indian and non-Indian, have felt threatened by tribal government. Some have had to mortgage homes and endure lengthy legal processes to protect their children.
– 3) Some Children have been removed from safe, loving homes and placed into dangerous situations.
– 4) The Constitutional right of parents to make life choices for their children, for children of Indian heritage to associate freely, and for children of Indian heritage to enjoy Equal Protection has in some cases been denied

July 10 – Arrive in DC

7 p.m.
Welcome and Kick-Off Reception at the Capitol Hill Suites
Remind everyone of purpose of visit ~ Lobbying Skills 101 ~ Our message to Congress ~ Q&A time

July 11 – Advocacy and Education Day

9-11 a.m.
Raise Awareness on Capitol Hill
~ Visit Legislative Offices
~ Pass out invitations to the afternoon teach-in/luncheon

12 p.m.
Luncheon
~ Invite legislators and staffers
~ Speakers: Johnston Moore and Mark Fiddler

1-4 p.m.
Impact of the ICWA ‘Teach-in’

~ Speakers:

Dr. William B. Allen, former Chair, US Comm On Civil Rights (1989), Emeritus Professor, Political Science MSU
Johnston Moore, national speaker, adoptive and foster care father, and advocate about adoption and foster care. He has personally battled ICWA and can speak from personal experience regarding his two sons.
~ Families share their stories

July 12 – Lobby Day for Amendments

Participants meet one-on-one with members of Congress.

July 13 – Lobby Day for Amendments

Participants meet one-on-one with Congressional offices.

For more information – please contact us at CAICW.org!

PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY!
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PLEASE HELP ICWA families with expenses for the DC trip – DONATE NOW

Should They be ‘Turned In’ for Mentioning the Name of Jesus?

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May 292012

Please Pray for a town that honors God: Should a school district be ‘turned in’ for daring to mention the name of Jesus Christ at graduation? A person close to me was aghast that Jesus Christ was prayed to at a High School Senior’s graduation – which included both an invocation and a benediction. He told me that it was clearly unconstitutional and that something should be done about it. He said that it won’t be long and the town will be forced to stop it. He also questioned whether seniors were forced to go to the Baccalaureate the week before as well. He was assured that they weren’t, but only a couple of them chose not to go.

I had never even been to a baccalaureate before and didn’t know what one was until just the last week. I thoroughly loved it. I thought it was absolutely wonderful and the community seems to like and support it; there doesn’t seem to be any complaints.

Well, the Baccalaureate was a choice then.

Of the graduation itself – I told him I didn’t think that the pastor had even mentioned the name of Jesus at graduation. But he assured me that the pastor had. He said he was specifically listening for it – and that the Pastor had ended the prayer with “In Jesus’ name.”

I asked him if he planned on contacting the ACLU. I also asked him whether an outsider has a right to come into a community and tell them what they can or can’t do with their children in regards to Jesus Christ.

He then wavered and said he wouldn’t contact anyone, but that sooner or later someone will. He reiterated that the Supreme Court has deemed it unconstitutional.

Wow. Being turned in for mentioning the name of Jesus Christ. Our nation is getting scarier all the time.

He is a member of a Unitarian church, and has admitted to me before that yes, he and his friends are extremely intolerant of Christians. He had to think about it when I first asked him this last year, and then decided it was true because, he said, people at his church are horribly ashamed if their children become Christians – and the church practically mourns with them. And he said he would be ashamed as well if one of his children were to become a Christian.

It made me a little afraid that when he gets back to his politically active church he would tell his friends about the “backwards” event he saw and that one of those people might try to start something.

So – having loved how Jesus Christ was so thoroughly included – I would just like to ask for prayer for protection over this town and high school, and their choice to honor God throughout their graduation ceremonies.

Petition Delivered: Please Pray for Veronica and other Children Hurt by ICWA -

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Jan 262012

Save Veronica Petition

Praise God for all that has been happening over the last month. While we grieve for 2-yr-old Veronica who was taken three weeks ago from the only home she has ever known, she has been blessed with national attention – unlike many other children whom this has happened to. This has brought the issue of ICWA to the forefront.

Tuesday, “Save Veronica” went from one government office to another delivering a petition with 20,000 signatures from supporters asking that Veronica be returned home and that the ICWA be changed to protect children.

Governor Haley of South Carolina and Rep. Tim Scott’s office empathized with the family.

For those who are concerned about this being a case involving a birth father – let us clarify;

The adoption wasn’t finalized because the tribe had intervened, but M&M were ‘parenting’ Veronica from the moment she was born. They were at the birth. The bio-dad was not. Matt cut the umbilical cord – the bio-dad did not. Melanie stayed in a room at the hospital where she could parent/mother Veronica right away. The bio-dad did not. The bio-dad made no effort during the pregnancy or after birth to contact or support the mother, and made no real effort or request to see the little girl at any point in her life. She had never met him up until the evening she was handed over to him in the attorney’s office. The judge had allowed only ½ hour for Veronica to meet this man before he was free to take her. But it took two hours for the transfer to complete because she kept crying for M&M every time they tried to leave the room.

Matt and Melanie are the only parents she has ever known.

Had South Carolina law been applied to this case, the bio-dad would not have had any standing. By state law, he has essentially abandoned her and would not have had any parental rights. This is a law meant to protect adoptive parents and children from being bounced around like ping pong balls. He had also signed a paper sometime after her birth giving up any claim to her. But after Veronica had been with M&M for four months, he changed his mind and because he has a small percentage of Cherokee heritage, he was able to get the tribal attorney involved.

Matt & Melanie are emotionally devastated.

We are praying for Veronica. The State Supreme Court has accepted their appeal. It might take months though for them to hear the case. Knowing how hard it will be for a 2-yr-old to #1) remain away from the only parents she has ever known for months – and #2) how difficult it will be for her to make the transition back if she has been gone for months and then they win the case – we are praying for God’s mercy on Veronica and her parents. As crazy as this sounds, I am praying for a miracle – that Veronica be allowed to go home today, if not tomorrow.

Lord, in the name of Jesus, please return this baby girl to Melanie’s arms.

- We also have a family going to court this Friday, January 27th, who really needs prayer for their little boy.

Please pray for both these families.

But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Luke 18:16

Save Veronica Rose

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Jan 122012

A terrible injustice that has occurred to a two-year-old South Carolina child named Veronica Rose and her adoptive parents. Two years ago Veronica’s Latina birth mother chose Matt and Melanie to love, nurture and raise her child. To this day, Veronica’s birth mother remains committed to her decision and Veronica has been a thriving, happy child residing in a stable, nurturing environment. On or around Jan. 4, 2010, the birth father signed papers agreeing to give up his daughter.

However, because Veronica has some Cherokee heritage from her birth father’s side of the family, the Cherokee Nation intervened in the adoption proceedings and argued that this happy, healthy two-year-old be transferred to her birth father. Because of a federal law known as the Indian Child Welfare Act, a family court judge ruled that she be immediately transferred to her biological father.

Psychologist who witnessed Veronica’s transfer comments on the detrimental effects –
Click Baby Veronica to hear an audio of the interview

The ruling placed the rights of the birth father and tribe above the best interests of this small child. Child-bonding experts agree that removing her from her home and family would be devastating and have long-lasting consequences. Numerous child psychologists stated this would be detrimental to any child. Yet on Dec. 31, Veronica was handed over to her biological father as if a possession without rights.

We believe that children need protection and should not be removed from loving, nurturing environments. We understand the premise of this law is to protect children; however, in Veronica’s case it has been used inappropriately.

Former U.S. senator Jim Abourezk (SD) authored ICWA. According to the Charleston Post and Courier, after reviewing Veronica’s story, Abourezk called the interpretation in this case “something totally different than what we intended at the time.”

“That’s a tragedy,” he said. “They obviously were attached to the child and, I would assume, the child was attached to them.”

According to the 2000 census, approximately 75% of people claiming to have American Indian or Alaska Native ancestry live outside the reservation. Further, interracial marriages are a fact of life. It is must be recognized that most children of heritage live off the reservation and have extended family that are non-tribal. Though supporters of the Indian Child Welfare Act say it has safeguards to prevent misuse, Veronica and numerous other multi-racial children across the U.S have been hurt by it. Children who have never been near a reservation nor involved in tribal customs are affected. The Cherokee Nation alone is currently tied up in about 1,100 active Indian Child Welfare cases involving some 1,500 children.

Tragically, under the Indian Child Welfare Act:

1) Some children have been removed from safe, loving homes and placed in danger
2) Equal opportunities for adoption, safety and stability are not always available to children of all heritages
3) The Constitutional right of parents to make life choices for their children, for children of Indian heritage to associate freely, and for children of Indian heritage to enjoy Equal Protection has in some cases been infringed upon.

We want more than anything for Veronica to be allowed to come home. As our elected representatives, we urge you to protect Veronica’s rights in all possible ways as well as make legislative changes that will prevent this from happening to any other child again. While we understand you are unable to interfere in court proceedings, we ask you to speak out on this issue and let your constituents know clearly where you stand. We also ask you to sponsor legislation and encourage fellow Congressmen to support the amending of the Indian Child Welfare Act to:

1. Guarantee protection for children of Native American heritage equal to that of any other child in the United States.
2. Guarantee that fit parents, no matter their heritage, have the right to choose healthy guardians or adoptive parents for their children without concern for heritage.
3. Recognize the “Existing Indian Family Doctrine” as a viable analysis for consideration and application in child custody proceedings. (See In re Santos Y, In Bridget R., and In re Alexandria Y.)
4. Guarantee that United States citizens, no matter their heritage, have a right to fair trials.
• When summoned to a tribal court, parents and legal guardians will be informed of their legal rights, including USC 25 Chapter 21 1911 (b)“…In any State court proceeding for the foster care placement of, or termination of parental rights to, an Indian child not domiciled or residing within the reservation of the Indian child’s tribe, the court, in the absence of good cause to the contrary, shall transfer such proceeding to the jurisdiction of the tribe, absent objection by either parent…”
• Under the principles of comity: All Tribes and States shall accord full faith and credit to a child custody order issued by the Tribe or State of initial jurisdiction consistent within the UCCJA – which enforces a child custody determination by a court of another State – unless the order has been vacated, stayed, or modified by a court having jurisdiction to do so under Article 2 of the UCCJA.

5. Include well defined protections for Adoptive Parents.
6. Mandate that a “Qualified expert witness” be someone who has professional knowledge of the child and family and is able to advocate for the well being of the child, first and foremost.
7. Mandate that only parents and/or legal custodians have the right to enroll a child into an Indian Tribe. Because it is claimed that tribal membership is a political rather than racial designation, we are asking that parents, as U.S. citizens, be given the sole, constitutional right to choose political affiliation for their families and not have it forced upon them.
• Remove the words “or are eligible for membership in” 1901 (3)
• Remove the words “eligible for membership in” from 1903 (4) (b), the definition of an ‘Indian child’ and replace with the words “an enrolled member of”

Save Veronica Rose is an Advocacy Campaign of the Christian Alliance for Indian Child Welfare

Save Veronica Supporters Worldwide
www.saveveronica.org
www.facebook.com/saveveronicarose
www.twitter.com/save_veronica

Exactly One year Later: Child Who Was Taken Now HOME

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Nov 192011

Christian Alliance for Indian Child Welfare

FRIDAY ONE YEAR AGO – A 3-year-old girl was taken from the only home she knew and loved and placed with strangers – extended family who had never bothered to visit her or get to know her. Her adoptive parents fought for her in court and experts said she would be traumatized by the forced move, but the court decided that was okay and moved her anyway.

After almost five months, on APRIL 13TH, the adoptive parents got a call to come and get their little girl right away. There was a problem, and she had to be moved from the home she had been placed in. They left immediately, driving a couple hours to get her. When she saw them, she ran into their arms and said she was ready to go “home” – “Can I go home?” she asked – Adoptive mom wept – but daughter held her tears until after they had left the building, then wept freely. The people she had been with had told her that her adoptive parents were wolves, and would eat her -

Fortunately, she wasn’t physically hurt during the five months. But she was, indeed, emotionally traumatized. She was NOT okay. She had been told there were monsters in the closet who would come eat her if she cried, and she reported that she had been locked in a storage shed. She was only three so it’s still hard to say what actually happened, but it is known that things were not well – as evidenced by the emergency request by social services for the adoptive parents to go after her.

TODAY – A YEAR TO THE DAY she was taken from them – the Adoption was finalized and no one can take her away again!

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION – Kids of tribal heritage need protection EQUAL to any other child in the U.S. – PLEASE sign this White House Petition. If we can get 25,000 signatures by mid-December, the White House will review the petition and give a response!

Children such as the child in this story have no voice – there are many advocating for ICWA, but no other national organization advocating for Children and families who, as US citizens, do NOT want to be under the jurisdiction of tribal government. Please help by bringing their needs to the attention of those in the federal Government.

It is a little complicated to sign this petition – it is on a White House Website and Lord knows they can’t make anything uncomplicated. But we need your help to do this – Please click the below link, register, and SIGN this petition and ask others to as well! – Thank you!

http://wh.gov/bvZ

________________________________________________
________________________________________________

Event Took Place Friday, November 19, 2010

Dec. 9, 2010

CAICW Friends;

An adoptive mother made her first contact with CAICW on Facebook about 1am Saturday morning, November 20, 2010, only hours after she had lost her little girl…

“They just took my baby after 3 years…her sobbing is forever etched in my soul. She wanted us to save her and we couldn’t..devastated.”

She then wrote to friends:

“Please sign this petition..the despair on her face pushes me to help destroy this law. She didn’t want to go and was looking for us to protect her and we couldn’t…I can’t remember ever feeling so worthless.”

Saturday, November 20th, 2010, was National Adoption Day. On this day, a small girl, denied the right to be adopted by the only mother she’d ever known, spent the first day in her memory in foster care, frightened and alone amongst strangers. She was denied the right to be adopted solely because of her heritage. In America, having even a small bit of Indian heritage can mean not having the same rights and opportunities for adoption that other children receive.

Saturday, November 20th, was also her adoptive mother’s birthday. Her mother wrote on Facebook, thanking her friends for their love and prayers, and said that the best gift was people signing the petition.

We will be taking the petition with us when visiting Congress in DC at the end of January. The purpose of the Petition is to show Congressmen that people are concerned about this law and want it changed to reflect the best interest of children, not government expediency. We want to the rights of parents and children respected. We encourage families that have been affected by ICWA to join us.

If you aren’t able to join us in DC, I urge everyone to obtain the legislative drafts we have available and talk to as many of your US Senators and Representatives and you can, as well as you legislators on the State level. We need to be pushing our representatives on both the federal and state levels to pass protective legislation for these children. No more pretending that what they have decided to do with children of heritage is acceptable or even constitutionally legal.

Finally – CAICW needs financial support. Please help us to:

* Stay in Contact with Families,
* Publish the Newsletter,
* Research Case Law,
* Update & maintain the CAICW.org Website,
* Develop a legal Defense Fund,
* Continue to Educate Federal and State Officials,
* Educate the Community through Facebook and Twitter,
* Speak to and Connect with family-oriented Organizations

All Children need to feel safe. Help CAICW to Advocate, Educate, Assist, & Defend.

http://www.caicw.org/pleasedonate.html

- Please see these sites for more information, and please share these important links:

Read Letters from Families: http://www.caicw.org/familystories.html

How You Can Help: http://www.caicw.org/HowYouHelp.html

Follow CAICW on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/CAICW

Join CAICW on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/fbCAICW.org

EMAIL: writeus@caicw.org

Thank you all for your prayers and support -

Lisa Morris
Christian Alliance for Indian Child Welfare (CAICW)
PO Box 253
Hillsboro, ND 58045

CAICW – Christian Evangelism and Ministry – Gal. 2:10, “All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.”

Onward Christian Soldiers

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Oct 202011

by Matt Barber
Liberty Counsel Action

Liberals are nervous. They should be. As the 2012 election grows closer a soft rumble builds throughout thousands of Evangelical Christian churches across America. Pastors and churchgoers alike are waking up to the disturbing reality that we as a nation have strayed drastically from our historical Judeo-Christian moorings.

Though many may try, none can honestly deny that the results have been devastating to our culture.

Once the political tectonic plates shift, there is bipartisan agreement that we can expect an earthshaking groundswell of grassroots advocacy and action to rival – if not surpass – the 2010 Tea Party effect.

This burgeoning Christian movement has not gone unnoticed by the left. For instance, in a piece headlined: “Evangelical pastors heed a political calling for 2012,” the Los Angeles Times recently reported, “Formerly apolitical preachers in states like Iowa, backed by astute organizers and big donors, are mobilizing congregations for the election.”

“Religious leaders have long been active in political causes,” the newspaper notes. “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used his Baptist pulpit to agitate for civil rights, and fiery televangelists Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell awakened the religious right in the 1970s and 1980s with calls to fight what they saw as America’s moral decay.

“But the current awakening is different,” the piece continues. “It springs from the grass roots – small and independent churches – and is fueled by emails and YouTube videos. And it is driven less by personality than by the biblical teaching to be the ‘salt’ and ‘light’ of society – in other words, to have a beneficial influence on the world.”

Indeed, the Moral Majority, led by Falwell and other venerable Christian leaders, was central to placing Ronald Reagan in the White House in 1980. Remarkably, the movement’s contemporary counterpart promises to play a key role in President Obama’s eviction from that same residence some 32 years later.

At the time, Falwell gave a rousing call to arms:

“What is wrong in America today?” he asked. “We preachers – and there are 340,000 of us who pastor churches – we hold the nation in our hand. And I say this to every preacher: We are going to stand accountable before God if we do not stand up and be counted.”

Falwell’s words ring no less true today.

Of course you can set your watch to the liberal response. Recognizing the threat to their own secular-socialist designs for America posed by a Christian socio-political revival – “progressive” conspirators have broken out the Saul Alinsky-crafted long knives.

They’re painting those who call for a return to moral principle in public policy “dominionist” bogeymen who seek to “take over government” and impose an American, Taliban-like theocracy.

This, of course, is propagandist nonsense– a silly ploy intended to frighten into action both the “progressive” base and fence-sitting Independents.

Still, this much they have right: Christians and constitutionalists alike do intend to win the ongoing war for our culture. We do intend to “take over government” insofar as this means ensuring that true, traditionalist statesmen are elected to office.

You’ve heard it said, “You can’t legislate morality.” Baloney.

That’s exactly what legislation is. The question is: Whose morality are we going to legislate? “Progressive” secular-socialists like President Obama insist it’s their own, postmodern brand of moral relativism.

Christians, in fast-growing numbers, are beginning to say, “Not on our watch.”

You’ve been lied to. The next time you hear someone appeal to the “separation of church and state,” ask them to point you to exactly where in the Constitution that incessantly repeated and highly abused phrase can be found. They can’t. It’s not there.

Pastors, as this election cycle heats up, expect to receive threatening letters from anti-Christian paper tigers like Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the American Civil Liberties Union warning you that if you discuss politics from your pulpit, you stand to lose your tax-exempt status.

Know this: They’re lying to you. That’s what they do. That’s all they have. This is merely a desperate attempt to muzzle Christians generally and pastors specifically.

In fact, guess how many churches have lost tax-exempt status for involvement in elective politics?

Exactly zero. Ever.

Rest assured, there are no signs that the Internal Revenue Service plans to completely trample the Constitution by targeting churches anytime soon. Even federal bureaucrats understand that bothersome little thing called the First Amendment.

John Adams, our second president, once said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Yes, liberals are nervous. They should be. Moral and religious people are taking our government back.

Matt Barber is an attorney concentrating in constitutional law. He serves as Vice President of Liberty Counsel Action. (This information is provided for identification purposes only.)

Liberty Counsel: U.S. State Dept Promoting Anti-Israel Propaganda

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Aug 292011

"Restoring Courage" with Glenn Beck in Israel

Liberty Counsel
NEWS RELEASE
Contact: PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT – 800-671-1776 or Media@LC.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 29, 2011

U.S. State Department Promoting an Anti-Israel Propaganda Agenda

www.LC.org

Washington, DC – The U.S. State Department is promoting an anti-Israel propaganda campaign. The extent of the campaign and the misinformation raises serious concern. The most recent misinformation surfaced last week when the U.S. issued a “warning” to all U.S. citizens the day of Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Courage” event on August 24 in Jerusalem.

On the same day, the Consulate General of the United States released an “Emergency Message” stating that

“Jerusalem is under a heightened Security Alert.” U.S. citizens in Jerusalem were told to “exercise extra vigilance and avoid large crowds during upcoming rallies and religious holidays, particularly in and around Jerusalem’s Old City.”

The “warning” continued:

“On Wednesday, August 24, 2011, there will be a rally held near the south east [sic] corner of the Old City.” The areas where the “Restoring Courage” event was being held “are off limits to official U.S. Government personnel from 4:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. on that day due to recent clashes in the area.” http://Jerusalem.usconsulate.gov/wms-082411.html.

Beck’s event began at 5:00 p.m. in the exact area referenced above.

“As one who spoke at Glenn Beck’s event outside the Southern Wall of the Old City on August 24, I can say that the U.S. State Department’s ‘warning’ was false political propaganda designed to advance an anti-Israel agenda,” said Mat Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law.

“There had been no ‘clashes’ in the area prior to the ‘Restoring Courage’ event, and there were none during or after the event,” said Staver. “When U.S. citizens who attended Glenn Beck’s event learned of the State Department’s ‘warning,’ they were outraged because they knew it to be untrue,” Staver added.

Staver also said,

“At the event I spoke with Israelis who work in the highest level of government. If anyone would have had intelligence suggesting danger, these people would have, and yet they appeared at the event.

The District of Columbia is far more dangerous than Jerusalem or the entire nation of Israel. As of August 26, there were 71 murders in the District, down from a high of 479 in 1991. In all of Israel last year there were 139 homicides, but in the District there were 132. Considering only Jerusalem, the number of homicides or violent crimes pales compared to the District.

The U.S. Consulate General for Jerusalem issued a press release promoting a folk rock concert, funded by U.S. tax dollars, to “promote dialogue and mutual understanding between Palestinians and Americans” held in Jerusalem and the “West Bank” only one month prior to Beck’s event. http://jerusalem.usconsulate.gov/pr_072011.html.

The same website lists 7 pro-Palestinian programs and no pro-Israeli programs. http://jerusalem.usconsulate.gov.

###

Conservative – The new cool

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Jun 012011

By J. Matt Barber

We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive. – C.S. Lewis

Comedian Jim Wiegand – aka “Jim Wiggins, the last hippie in America” – is a throwback to a bygone era. The hilarious 70-year-old wisecracker is known for, among other things, a quite liberal worldview. He’s also known for raising Joe Wiegand, his rebellious, good-for-nothing son. Apart from sharing both a sharp sense of humor and mutual love and admiration, father and son see eye to eye on little else.

Joe, a good friend of mine, isn’t a rebellious good-for-nothing in the conventional sense. He’s a 40-something Illinois-based GOP strategist, a Teddy Roosevelt impersonator without equal and a buttoned-up evangelical Christian.

The elder Mr. Wiegand can’t figure out where he went wrong. He jokes that when Joe was a youngster, he once discovered magazines hidden under the boy’s mattress. He was shocked to find his son looking at such smut: National Review.

Hippies once were the counterculture. Liberals were the nonconformist rebels, boldly wearing unwashed anarchy on tattered sleeve. They loudly and proudly raged against the establishment machine.

Today, they are the establishment machine.

All of our ruling-class institutions – academia, courts, government, media and entertainment industries – are teeming with closed-minded, hard-left ideologues who seek to “fundamentally transform America.”

Consider that, according to the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, self-identified liberals outweigh their conservative counterparts in the mainstream media by a 5-1 margin.

Likewise, a 1999 North American Academic Study Survey (NAASS) of students, faculty and administrators in colleges and universities throughout the United States determined that five times as many college faculty members vote Democratic as Republican. In fact, 72 percent described themselves as “to the left of center,” while a mere 15 percent identified themselves as “right of center.”

One can only imagine that in the ensuing decade, the ideological disparity has increased. Ask any kid in the halls of academia, and he’ll tell you, with few exceptions, that professor so-and-so is a liberal so-and-so.

Still, liberals – or “progressives,” as they prefer to be called – persist in laboring under an embarrassing misconception: They honestly believe they remain the nonconformists. It’s precious.

In fact, today’s liberals are nothing of the sort. They compliantly conform – like little windup, patchouli-daubed lemmings – to a carnival-prize caricature of what they imagine nonconformity to look like. You know, the usual stuff: neo-Marxism, environmentalist activism, sexual relativism, big-government nanny statism, an actions-without-consequences rendering of reproductive rights, and other such populist nonsense. Simply put, today’s progressive nonconformist conforms.

Indeed, the “Stepford Wives” have become the “Stepford Lesbians.” The prudish, judgmental church lady has swapped spots with the easy – yet somehow self-righteous – birth-bashing feminist.

So what is a young person – brimming over with that instinctive, defiant impulse to rebel against “the man” – to do?

Well, in this up-is-down, spend-money-to-save-money world, conservatives have become the contemporary nonconformists. Today’s rebellious youth are telling the progressive establishment to put its moral-relativist, redistributionist party-line pig swill in its well-used chamber pipe and smoke it.

Kids: Really want to get under your obnoxiously “tolerant,” Volvo-driving, MSNBC-watching folks’ skin? Try this: Go to church, abstain from premarital sex, join the Young America’s Foundation, attend a Tea Party rally, enroll at Liberty University, listen to Rush Limbaugh and vote Republican.

You’ll have them writhing in their Birkenstocks.

I’ve often said that President Obama could either be the best thing to happen to America or the worst. The best insofar as this man’s policies are so radical, so extreme that, in keeping with Newton’s third law of motion, the “opposite reaction” might well trigger Republican rule in perpetuity.

First, the bad news: So far, Mr. Obama is the worst. Now, the good news: I believe he has awakened a sleeping giant in the millennial generation (ages 18 to 29). Today’s counterculture is rejecting the tired progressive policies pushed by this president and his secular-socialist sycophants.

For instance, a 2010 Marist Institute for Public Opinion poll determined that nearly 60 percent of millennials believe abortion is “morally wrong,” a nearly 10-point increase over the more progressive baby-boomer generation. The tide is turning.

Similarly, a recent survey from Harvard University’s Institute of Politics found that millennials are worried sick about their futures. Yet President Hopey Changey and Democrats in Congress continue to play back-alley dice with their lives via incomprehensible deficit spending and a national debt that swells annually by the trillions.

Do you think these kids won’t rebel as the clouds quickly darken?

Winston Churchill once observed,

“If you’re not a liberal at 20, you have no heart; if you’re not a conservative at 40, you have no brain.”

Liberalism is emotion-based and rooted in soaring, knee-jerk notions of “social justice.” Conservatism is logic-based and rooted in reality.

Today’s rebellious youth have the heart part down. I’m glad to see they’re developing some brains.

Matt Barber is an attorney concentrating in constitutional law. He serves as Vice President of Liberty Counsel Action.

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