WAR OF PERCEPTION

America tolerates anti-Christian double standard

Recently in my ultra-liberal city of Portland, I found myself driving behind a car with just one bumper sticker. “So many Christians,” it read, “So few lions.” I wondered what could possess a person to adorn their car with this one homicidal sentiment—and then possess my community to let them drive around, unaccosted. A friend and I discussed later what other slogans might be put on a bumper sticker.

What if it said “So many Jews, so few gas chambers”? It could read, “So many blacks, so few nooses.” Or “So many Muslims, so few Abu Ghraibs.” How long would it take for a car with that sticker to be pulled over? Twenty minutes?  

The double standard is evident everywhere.

A superior court judge recently ruled that the National Education Association can discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation—if they’re discriminating against ex-gays. The NEA refused to let an ex-gay organization run an information booth at their conference, and the judge said this was fine. The DC Office of Human Rights said ex-gays aren’t protected from discrimination because their sexual orientation obviously isn’t “immutable;” (they abandoned practicing homosexuality). This kind of wordplay just shows the power of legal activists to manipulate discrimination laws to protect some citizens not others.

The Washington Times reports that a ten-year-old New Hampshire girl has been ordered to attend public school; the state disapproves of her mother’s firm Christianity and says she must be exposed to other religious faiths. Would they have done this to a Jewish or Muslim child? Unlikely.

By “exposure to other religious faiths,” the court really means “exposure to severe skepticism about Christianity.” In time for next Easter, children’s author Philip Pullman will treat us to his latest book, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. The book claims the apostle Paul cooked up the “story” that Jesus was divine. Pullman told The Times that Paul’s “fervid imagination” is the only reason anyone thinks Jesus was the incarnated God. A rep from Canongate Books calls it a “book of genuine importance, a radical and ingenious retelling of the life of Jesus that demystifies and illuminates this most famous and influential of stories.” But you don’t have to wait until Easter for more pseudo-history claiming to uncloak the real facts about Jesus’ illegitimacy, bastard love child with Mary Magdalene, or other attacks on the faith. Christmas is right around the corner, and it brings scholarly attacks on Christianity as dependably as supermarket poinsettias.

The double standard also extends to those notorious cartoons. The Danes’ one-panel Mohammed cartoon created a ruckus around the world. Jews fight back too: the Arab European League is being prosecuted for a one-panel cartoon less than reverent about the Holocaust. But what about Christians? An entire comic book, Prince of Pieces, skewers a zombie Jesus—and no one fears hate crime charges. By Sam Miserendino, the comic book is about “a pissed off zombie Jesus returning to devour the flesh of sinners…As one character wryly observes, "For two thousand years you've been eating His flesh and drinking His blood... Now it's His turn."” The comic book isn’t even enough; a film is in the works, too.

This is not a time for Christians to go silent. Visit www.truthtellers.org for easy-to-follow steps to protest legislative threats to our freedom: threats going forward in Congress right now. This matters far more than protesting even the most grotesque media assault.

There is something each of us can do. My youngest sister reposted one of our stories on Facebook. Sheets of letters to the president, protesting his upcoming signing of the hate bill, sit near our fax machine. I’ve been considering how to carve out twenty minutes daily to call Congress, or commit to call just twenty names.

We need to make protest part of our daily lives, as the attack only thickens. There is reason for hope. Democrats dominate both houses of Congress, making them highly vulnerable at this time of intense voter dissatisfaction. God could still reverse the insidious tide sweeping us out to anti-Christian, anti-freedom seas—if we unite our faith with action.

What really empowers rampant anti-Christianity?

So few Christians who will put lions in their cages.

By Harmony Grant

Man carrying assault weapon attends Obama protest

PHOENIX – About a dozen people carrying guns, including one with a military-style rifle, milled among protesters outside the convention center where President Barack Obama was giving a speech Monday — the latest incident in which protesters have openly displayed firearms near the president.

Gun-rights advocates say they're exercising their constitutional right to bear arms and protest, while those who argue for more gun control say it could be a disaster waiting to happen.

Phoenix police said the gun-toters at Monday's event, including the man carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle slung over his shoulder, didn't need permits. No crimes were committed, and no one was arrested.

The man with the rifle declined to be identified but told The Arizona Republic that he was carrying the assault weapon because he could. "In Arizona, I still have some freedoms," he said.

Phoenix police Detective J. Oliver, who monitored the man at the downtown protest, said police also wanted to make sure no one decided to harm him.

"Just by his presence and people seeing the rifle and people knowing the president was in town, it sparked a lot of emotions," Oliver said. "We were keeping peace on both ends."

Last week, during Obama's health care town hall in Portsmouth, N.H., a man carrying a sign reading "It is time to water the tree of liberty" stood outside with a pistol strapped to his leg.

"It's a political statement," he told The Boston Globe. "If you don't use your rights, then you lose your rights."

Police asked the man to move away from school property, but he was not arrested.

Fred Solop, a Northern Arizona University political scientist, said the incidents in New Hampshire and Arizona could signal the beginning of a disturbing trend.

"When you start to bring guns to political rallies, it does layer on another level of concern and significance," Solop said. "It actually becomes quite scary for many people. It creates a chilling effect in the ability of our society to carry on honest communication."

He said he's never heard of someone bringing an assault weapon near a presidential event. "The larger the gun, the more menacing the situation," he said.

Phoenix was Obama's last stop on a four-day tour of western states, including Montana and Colorado.

Authorities in Montana said they received no reports of anyone carrying firearms during Obama's health care town hall near Bozeman on Friday. About 1,000 people both for and against Obama converged at a protest area near the Gallatin Field Airport hangar where the event took place. One person accused of disorderly conduct was detained and released, according to the Gallatin Airport Authority.

Heather Benjamin of Denver's Mesa County sheriff's department, the lead agency during Obama's visit there, said no one was arrested.

Arizona is an "open-carry" state, which means anyone legally allowed to have a firearm can carry it in public as long as it's visible. Only someone carrying a concealed weapon is required to have a permit.

Paul Helmke, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said people should not be allowed to bring guns to events where Obama is.

"To me, this is craziness," he said. "When you bring a loaded gun, particularly a loaded assault rifle, to any political event, but particularly to one where the president is appearing, you're just making the situation dangerous for everyone."

He said people who bring guns to presidential events are distracting the Secret Service and law enforcement from protecting the president. "The more guns we see at more events like this, there's more potential for something tragic happening," he said.

Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said armed demonstrators in open-carry states such as Arizona and New Hampshire have little impact on security plans for the president.

"In both cases, the subject was not entering our site or otherwise attempting to," Donovan said. "They were in a designated public viewing area. The main thing to know is that they would not have been allowed inside with a weapon."

Representatives of the National Rifle Association did not return calls for comment.

By AMANDA LEE MYERS and TERRY TANG, Associated Press Writers.

ALERT! - " Hate Bill Put on Hold in Senate Judiciary" - Ted Pike

By Rev Ted Pike

On Monday, May 4, Sen. Edward Kennedy's office told me that, although hearings on his hate crimes bill, S. 909, were not scheduled, Judiciary could vote on Tuesday to send it immediately forward to the floor of the Senate.

There was no discussion of the hate bill in Judiciary on Tuesday.

Instead, Sen. Patrick Leahy, Judiciary chairman, said he will inform us when he has decided to move the hate bill through Judiciary, or hold hearings -- if hearings are to be held. He says he will give one week's notice at www.judiciary.senate.govif the hate bill is to be considered. This means at least a week's delay -- if we can trust Leahy, which I don't.

Yet, possible delay is very good news! It gives lovers of freedom time to thoroughly blacken the reputation of S. 909, accurately describing it as a pedophile-protecting hate bill. Complete documentation for this claim is provided by NPN's latest 9-minute video "Stop the Pedophile-Protecting Hate Bill!" on the home page at www.truthtellers.org.

With Democrats in control of Congress and a President pledged to sign the hate bill, they are in a position of great advantage. We have known it would take a great deal of activism by American patriots and a miracle of God to defeat the hate bill, and we have been watching to see what He would do. Viewing hearings in the House Judiciary Committee on April 22-23, I recognized His way of deliverance when Democrats refused Rep. King's amendment excluding homosexual pedophiles from special federal protection. As soon as the bill passed out of committee, I issued an e-alert and was on the radio dramatizing this unbelievable error of judgment and urging all lovers of freedom to call members of the House, urging them not to vote for a bill that protects pedophiles.

Then, when Rep. Alcee Hastings defiantly proclaimed on the floor of the House last week that not only pedophilia but all of the other 546 sexual deviancies, or paraphilias, listed by the American Psychiatric Association would be specially protected under the hate bill, I knew the Lord had delivered the hate bill forces into our hands. We had been given an issue capable of defeating the hate bill where other arguments would fail. Every American, whether conservative or liberal, religious or non-religious, has a visceral disgust at those who rape little boys and girls.

Within hours of Hastings' verbal indiscretion, I increased my media warnings that the hate bill was a pedophile-protecting bill! The next day, our new video, making visual and audible Hastings' declaration, was posted at www.truthtellers.org.

I was very gratified that two of the most outspoken evangelical watchdog groups, Janet Porter's Faith2Action and Traditional Values Coalition, soon appreciated what the Democrats had given us.

In a conference call last week with evangelical leaders, hosted by Dr. Wiley Drake, I explained to Janet and others why the pedophile-protecting issue should be magnified. She had me on her syndicated radio show (85 affiliates) to explain this new approach to her evangelical audience. This morning, WorldNetDaily (circulation seven million) published her dynamic and incisive call for Christian protest of what she calls the "Pedophile Protection Act."

Similarly, I was able yesterday to reach a very large evangelical audience. Janet interviewed me again, as did Pat Kiley and Dr. Laurie Roth -- interviews broadcast over at least 325 radio stations, largely Christian, Salem Media affiliates. The seven national broadcasts I did yesterday, ending with Jeff Rense, reached well over a half million Americans, challenging them to call Congress demanding an end to the "pedophile-protecting hate bill."

Democrats Reconnoiter

Without a doubt, massive protest calling, which largely jammed phone lines of Senate Judiciary members Monday morning, is causing Democrats to pause. Cocky and overconfident after their stunning House victory last week, they now seem to be proceeding with caution. Sen. Kennedy's office would betray nothing of strategic importance on Tuesday, nor would Sen. Leahy's. With Democrats one vote shy of a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, are they considering waiting until Al Franken is seated, something that could consume months? Or will they move the hate bill forward rapidly without hearings, counting on pro-hate bill Republicans to give them the necessary advantage? At this time, no one but Democrat power brokers knows the answer to these questions.

One thing we do know: Even though the liberal media and most of the largest mainstream conservative talk shows and print media remain silent regarding even the existence of the hate bill in Congress, you and I, through venues such as talk radio and the internet, are capable of wielding a very large black brush -- a brush that can tar the federal hate crimes bill as the most despised legislation in American history.

Call 1-877-851-6437 toll free or 1-202-225-3121 toll. Names of all Senate members are posted on the action page at www.truthtellers.org.

Tell all Senators: "Please don't vote for the pedophile-protecting federal hate crimes bill, S. 909. Please insist on Judiciary hearings to debate this very dangerous, freedom-threatening legislation."

Don't let up on your calling to the Senate. Leahy, Kennedy, and Reid are counting on the furor to die down, as other issues and manufactured distractions compete for our attention. They think time is on their side. Actually, it's on ours. In the days, perhaps weeks to come, we have the opportunity to drive home again and again and again to every Senator that voting for a pro-pedophile hate bill is potential political suicide.

Mexican Flu Distracts Americans From Passage Of 'Thought Crime' Bill

HATE BILL PASSED IN HOUSE!

By Rev. Ted Pike

Despite compelling and passionate testimony by House Republicans, the federal hate crimes bill, HR 1913, passed today in the House of Representatives by a vote of 249 to 175.

In what Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R, VA) called "an atrocity," the House Rules Committee on Tuesday imposed a "closed rule" on debate and amendments, limiting debate to 120 minutes. However, contest of the rule was permitted between both sides for one hour, giving Republicans a preliminary opportunity to lay out objections to the hate bill. They failed in their attempt to lengthen the debate, and the original 120 minutes of debate ensued.

Here are highlights of the Republican opposition:

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R, NC) said HR 1913 will open a new category of "thought crimes" in America, moving us "down a slippery slope" to loss of freedom. She said such has happened under hate laws in Canada and Europe.

Rep. Trent Franks (R, AZ) warned HR 1913 will end equality in America, giving special rights to federally favored groups such as homosexuals.

Rep. Roy Blount (R, MO) echoed Foxx's admonition that hate laws have taken away free speech in Canada and Europe.

Rep. Steve King (R, IA) repeated the warning of his amendment in Judiciary last week, saying pedophiles and many other deviants will obtain special rights and protection under HR 1913.

Rep. Mary Fallin (R, OK) referenced loss of free speech in Canada and Great Britain but also how the "Philly 11" Christians were persecuted under Pennsylvania's hate law.

Rep. Foxx returned, saying a federal hate law would preempt the 10th Amendment which delegates most law enforcement to the states. She said the claim that Matt Sheppard was murdered because he was a homosexual was a "hoax;" he was killed, she said as the victim of a robbery.

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R, TX) charged HR 1913 will divide America into groups of more favored versus less. He again cited USC Title 18, Section 2a, the foundation of HR 1913, which says anyone who through speech "induces" commission of a violent hate crime "will be tried as a principal" alongside the active offender. He said there is no "epidemic" of hate in America.

Rep. King cited the American Psychiatric Association which lists 547 different kinds of paraphilia, or sexual deviancies. King said all of these would merit special federal protection under the class "sexual orientation" enshrined in HR 1913.

Rep. Foxx testified, "This bill itself will spread fear and intimidation." She was referring primarily to Christian/conservative critics of homosexuality, Islam, illegal immigrants, etc. Such critics from the pulpit or airwaves would be increasingly silenced under the hate law's chill on free speech.

Rep. Hastings (D, FL), a proponent of the hate bill, brazenly agreed that HR 1913 would give a galaxy of sexual perverts special protection. He said that under hate bill protection they will not "live in fear because of who they are."

One particularly striking argument was made by Rep. Randy Forbes (R, VA). He said if Miss California had slapped the homosexual judge who derided her on the stage (and across the internet) under HR 1913 she could be indicted as a "violent hate criminal," facing a possible 10 years in prison. But, Forbes said, if the homosexual judge had slapped her, she would have had no special protection under HR 1913. His act would have been simple assault, a misdemeanor.

The testimony of Rep. Todd Akins (R, MO) was also unique. He said HR 1913 would actually increase hate in America. He said the American people, including young people, recognizing that they are now second-class citizens, with homosexuals receiving special federal rights, can only resent (hate?) those who have rights and privileges above them. He also said that with the legal system already backed up, the federal hate law will create havoc within our legal system, requiring judges to also become "psychologists," divining motives of offenders.

Rep. Mike Pence (R, IN) said the FBI statistics show that, far from hate crimes increasing, they have steadily declined over the past 10 years. There is also no evidence that states are lax in hate law enforcement.

Democrat testimony concluded with a special entry, followed by CSPAN camera, of Rep. Barney Frank (D, MA). He pooh-poohed the arrest of the Philly 11 Christians in 2004, saying that, although it was unjust, Republicans were irresponsible in not pointing out that the Christians were acquitted. Fortunately, Rep. Gohmert had the last word, indicating that the very fact that persons can and have been arrested for speech under state laws has a chilling effect on free speech.

Gohmert tried to send the hate bill back to Judiciary for amendments but was overridden.

It is now time for all who love freedom to turn their full attention to defeat of the hate bill in the Senate, where Sen. Edward Kennedy just yesterday introduced his federal hate bill, S. 909, which is certain to be moving rapidly to a vote.

Call 1-877-851-6437 toll free or 1-202-225-3121 toll. Names of Senate Judiciary members are posted here at www.truthtellers.org.

Tell all members of the Senate: "Please don't vote for the pedophile-protecting federal hate crimes bill, S. 909. Please insist on Judiciary hearings to debate this very dangerous, freedom-threatening legislation."