From Alfred Kinsey to Chicago Public Schools in Five Easy Steps

It's amazing how predictable the left becomes once you recognize the patterns.  With a few key phrases, and a little bit of time on the internet, you can find some great stuff.  The latest outrage out of Chicago is a textbook example.

First things first, Chicago Public Schools (yes, those Chicago Public Schools) are now considering teaching sex ed to five year olds.  Obviously, this is a terrible idea, but it'll probably move forward anyway because we're talking about Chicago.  Buried in the story, however, was this little nugget:

The proposed policy follows the National Sexuality Education Standards composed by four health organizations.

 National Sexuality Education Standards?!?  Excuse me?!?  That can't be good:

The Future of Sex Education Project (FoSE) began in July 2007 when staff from Advocates for Youth, Answer and SIECUS first met to discuss the future of sex education in the United States.

Now who, pray tell, is SIECUS?!?

SIECUS, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, was founded in 1964 by Dr. Mary S. Calderone and a number of other brave pioneers.

During her tenure as the Medical Director for the Planned Parenthood Federation, Dr. Calderone became concerned about the lack of accurate information about sexuality for both young people and adults.
So, at the age of 60, with determination to live in a world in which sexuality was viewed as a natural and healthy part of life, she founded of SIECUS. She was joined by Wallace Fulton, Reverend William Genne, Lester Kirkendall, Dr. Harold Lief, and Clark Vincent. In the next couple of years, SIECUS’ first Board of Directors was established, our first foundation grant was received, and we  published our first book designed for teacher training.

Dr. Mary S. Calderone would be?!?

Co-founder Dr. Mary S. Calderone is the former medical director for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. She boasted in a SIECUS report: "Few people realize that the great library collection of . . . the Kinsey Institute in Bloomington, Indiana was formed very specifically with one major field omitted: sex education. This was because it seemed appropriate, not only to the Institute but to its major funding source, the National Institute of Mental Health, to leave this area for SIECUS to fill." Not surprisingly, Kinsey co-author Wardell Pomeroy was a SIECUS founding board member.

The primary goal of SIECUS, according to Calderone, is to teach human sexuality "very broadly and deeply with awareness of the vital importance of infant and childhood sexuality." The May-July 1983 issue of the SIECUS Report adds that a child's sexuality should "be developed in the same way as the child's inborn human capacity to talk or to walk, and that [the parents'] role should relate only to teaching the child the appropriateness of privacy, place, and person-in a word, socialization."

 Alfred Kinsey, founder of the Kinsey Institute, was this guy.

Cahnman's Musings is going to investigate further, because nothing good can come from "National Sexuality Education Standards" developed by a Kinsey-linked organization, but the linear progression is striking.

Background information here.

Governor Rick Perry on Limiting Spending, School Choice, and Medicaid

Governor Rick Perry spoke to Texas Bloggers tonight thanks to Americans for Prosperity -- Texas.  The Governor had about ten minutes of opening remarks then took questions for 25 minutes.  The following are from my notes:

• Conservative fiscal policies have "consistently paid dividends" through good times and bad.

• While the Legislature is in town: "everyone wants a piece of the money."

• The basics: Keep spending and taxes low, predictable regulatory climate, fair court system.

• Not only should Texas hold the line on taxes, we should lower the tax burden.

• Texas has the third highest High School graduation rates in the U.S. today.

• Different children learn with different goals in mind.

• Allow education dollars to follow the Child.

• I "really support" Dan Patrick on School Choice.

• Medicaid:
• We could have a healthier population for less money but Washington refuses to allow us to spend our own money how we see fit.
• Washington is going to run out of money in 3-4 years, at which point the states will be on the hook for the full cost; that's when they're going to start pushing single-payer.

• Texas Budget Compact:
• We began the process early so the idea could be distilled properly.
• The Legislature "will vote on this."
• Straus will "allow the will of the House to prevail."

• Other than that, the Governor also discussed various ideas for tax relief; while the Governor hasn't committed to any particular idea, he did promote this website for any Texans who want to make suggestions as to what form tax relief should take.

Update: Pondering Penguin has more here.

TheBlazeTV: Five Rape Survivors Discuss Gun Control

The left loves to hide behind the victims of tragedy to advance their agenda during moments of crisis. But what do women who've actually lived this trauma think?!? The Blaze TV spent an hour talking to five women who've survived horrific assaults to find out what they think:



Highlights:

• The Sandy Hook Elementary School was the target because it was the only gun-free zone in the area
• Ditto Aurora, CO

• Amanda Collins was a concealed carry holder was was raped because she couldn't take her firearm onto the 'gun-free zone' on her college campus.

• Kim Weeks told her rapist that she had herpes.
• Rapist was caught three weeks later planning his next attack.

• Wanda Mills was attacked by a knife-wielding psycho for six hours.

• Felicia Smith was raped by her trainer.

• Julie White was picking up her kids from Church at noon on Wednesday.
• "We were trapped in the Everglades with a knife-wielding maniac."

• Three of them were not legally allowed to posses a firearm in the location where they were raped.

• One gun can stop a serial rapist.

• "My body was a walking crime-scene."

• "As I was on the ground in that parking garage being straddled by my rapist, that call box could have been above my head and it wouldn't have done anything."

• "I've never been more calm, cool, and collected than I was when I was negotiating with my rapist."

• The notion that a woman cannot handle a gun under pressure is sexist.

• How is it a 'War on Women' to force people to pay for birth control, but not a War on Women to refuse to allow a woman to defend herself from a rapist?!?

Get TheBlazeTV here.

The Austin School Construction Boondoggle

This coming May, the Austin Independent School District (AISD) is going to manufacture a crisis to blackmail voters into approving a billion dollar(*) bond issue that they don't need.  Cahnman's Musings is going to have a lot to say on this topic as the May 11th election approaches.  For now, however, the following two articles are a good start.

Travis County Taxpayers Union -- Another Example of Irresponsible Stewardship:

On the heels of a huge private and public propaganda campaign last fall to mislead Travis County voters into approving a 68% “Central Health District” property tax rate increase, the government round-robin robbery of property taxpayers now moves to AISD in May — just in time for the historically low turnout which maximizes the special interest vote of the government school monopoly.

The political strategy of the school district is very well established, and it’s as simple as ABC....

This strategy has worked for many decades, so why wouldn’t the government school political machine continue to exploit such unethical strategy?  Indeed it will.

Blue-Dot Blues, meanwhile, has the details:

• $140.6 million for health, environment, equipment and technology
• $233.9 million for safety, security and relief from overcrowded schools
• $349.2 million for academic and building infrastructure renovations and repairs
• $168.6 million for academic initiatives, fine arts and athletics

None of this is necessary.  AISD is already $800 million in the hole.  We need to fix education in Texas, but a Billion Dollar debt-financed expansion of the current boondoggle would hurt everyone.

(*) Once interest is factored in.

The Faith of Ted Cruz

"When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice"
Proverbs 29:2

Two way, way cool articles on Ted Cruz' personal faith; first up, CBN's David Brody:

In college, Cruz began to connect the Constitution with his Christian faith. His mentor, Princeton professor and conservative Christian Robby George helped him embrace the concept of natural law.

"Life, liberty, and property, the fundamental natural rights of man are given to every one of us by God, and the role of government fundamentally is to protect those rights," Cruz said.

That philosophy became central to Cruz's political core. But while it dominates his political life, his strong faith is central to his entire life. Cruz is a Southern Baptist and doesn't shy away from talking about his faith.

 Next, RealClearReligion:

"Our Constitution was truly a revolutionary document because they inverted the entire concept of sovereignty." Throughout history, rights were given to people by the grace of a King. Our Founders said rights come from God. The role of the constitution, therefore, is to serve as "chains to bind the mischief of government."

Not the sort of stuff you'd typically read on a candidate's website "issues" section. Cruz's doesn't have one. Instead there's "Proven Record." Recalling Matthew 7:16, Cruz bluntly asks "When have you fought for your principles, when have you bled for them, and what have you accomplished?"

Returning to his faith, Cruz sees "a particular susceptibility for candidates to be like Pharisees who wear their faith on their sleeve as convenient political garb.

"It is far better to let actions speak louder than words."

 Amen.

Danny Forshee Classics: Families Matter

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the Earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the Earth.  So God created Man in His own image in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.  And God blessed them and God said unto them. be fruitful and multiply and replenish the Earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that liveth on the Earth."

Genesis 1:26-28

"And the Lord God said, it is not good that man should be alone.  I will make him an helper.... And the Lord God Caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof.  And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.  And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man.  Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." 

Genesis 2:18, 21-24

Highlights:

• The more we drift as a culture, the more important it will be to take a stand.

• Take a stand for the life of the unborn and the elderly even as our culture veers further towards death."

• How do we stand for the Biblical definition of family without sounding mean?!?
• Grace and Love

•  It's not going to get better, barring a great awakening.

• God likes families; He created them

• It's not complicated, but it IS controversial.

• The homogenous nuclear family that makes babies is God's idea!!!

• Man and Woman are the only creatures that have sex face to face.

• He created it; we get into trouble when we tamper with it

• Psalm 33:20 -- God and Woman is our helper

• Like and equal in personhood, unique in function.

• The first social organization God created was the nuclear family.

• Talk to your kids about sex a lot younger than you think.

• There is no place in God's order for unisexuality.

• "Human procreation is not intended merely as a mechanism for replication, or is it just the expression of human passion, but it is instrumental in understanding the covenant blessing of God."

• God created you exactly how He wants you.

• No 'Goo to the Zoo to finally You.'

• We do a lot better lovingly disagreeing than whacking people over the head with the Bible.

• When the wind of the Spirit blows, may our sails already be set!

Dallas Morning News: University Administrators raise tuition and (their own) pay

The Dallas Morning News has a not surprising examination of administrator salaries in the University of Texas system:

Some top Texas university and college administrators have received double-digit raises in the past year, even as the state has struggled with deep cuts to higher education programs and exploding tuition costs for students.

Administrators did best:

Statewide, top university administrators received a 4.2 percent increase in salary from fiscal 2011 to 2013, a time of deep budget cuts in many state programs, including student financial aid. The raises totaled about $3 million.

University system administrators received a 9 percent increase in the same period, close a $1 million total.

Teachers, meanwhile, didn't do nearly as well:

Professors largely didn’t enjoy the same types of boosts. Statewide, full-time professors received a 0.7 percent increase in salary from fiscal 2011 to 2012, the difference of about $765.

 'Coincidentally':

Over roughly the same period, statewide tuition increased about 9 percent as well.

 Read the whole thing here.

Texas Employers Need to Promote Economic Literacy

One criticism I often hear about Texas recruiting businesses in California is that we don't want a bunch of liberals moving here and voting in liberal policies.  That's true, but Texas also needs capital.  The easiest capital to recruit is in Blue States.  That means the capital Texas needs is often accompanied by an economically-illiterate work force.  To help maintain Texas' economic climate, Texas employers owe it to themselves to increase their employees' economic literacy.

In 2012, Mitt Romney won the overwhelming support of small business owners; unfortunately, Obama won small business employees.  If employees of small businesses voted the same way as small business owners, Mitt Romney would be President.  When employer taxes went up at the beginning of the year, that tax increase was voted in by their own employees.

Left-wing politics takes hold when 'the Rich' are seen as some distant entity.  It's a lot harder to demonize someone if you know them personally.  For Texas employers, that means your employees will be less likely to vote in bad tax and regulatory policies if they see you being hurt, as opposed to some Wall St. fat cat.

Many employers will object that they don't have the time or they don't need another responsibility.  That's fine, no one expects you to teach Phd. level dissertations; just the basics on government spending, taxation, and regulatory policy.  Cahnman's Musings will roll out some ideas to help Texas employers accomplish this task in a cost-effective and efficient manner in the coming weeks.

Texas' business climate isn't an accident.  It is the result of prudent decision making over the past decade.  As a result, Texas has become an attractive location for capital fleeing hostile regimes.  While that capital is a very good thing, an economically-illiterate workforce often accompanies it.  Texas employers owe it to their bottom line to help sever this link.

URGENT: Oppose Texas Medicaid Expansion

Americans for Prosperity -- Texas has an urgent action alert to stiffen the spines of Texas Legislators in opposing the fiscally suicidal Medicaid expansion in Obamacare:

Texas joined 25 other states in challenging the federal government arguing that the expansion of Medicaid in the President’s health care law was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court agreed calling the expansion a “gun to the head.” Now, supporters of the law are urging Texas to reverse its position and expand the broken, costly Medicaid system.

Read more: http://www.kintera.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=9hJILXMCKbKYE&b=6611291&aid=519352#ixzz2LvP5InWI

 Many legislators are cowards, even in Texas (especially the House); make sure to make your voice heard on this URGENT fiscal priority.

Americans for Prosperity: Texans Speak out for School Choice

This video from Americans for Prosperity - Texas is the first of five:

Willisms: Texas Getting Under California's Skin

Willisms a fun piece detailing how Governor Perry's advertising pitch got under the skin of Marxists in California; money quote:

Doesn't that just epitomize the difference between how things are done in California and Texas? Texas can take 24 thousand private bucks, tell its story, and generate this enormous amount of publicity on social media platforms, in newspapers, on local news stations across California, on Bill O'Reilly, at water coolers, and elsewhere, likely all worth many millions of dollars in advertising bang.

Isn’t this just a perfect example of how all too many California politicians think you have to spend your way to success; meanwhile, Texas does things smarter, better, at a lower cost.

Read the whole thing here.

A.E.I: Is the Good Book Good Enough?!?

"When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice!" Proverbs 29:2

American Enterprise Institute had a fascinating seminar on Evangelical perspectives on issues in the news; I don't agree with everything here, but it's a lot of food for thought:

Highlights:

• We are 25% of the population.

• An Augustinian perspective -- The Kingdom of God and Man are always in conflict.
• As Christians, there will always be tension.

• Seek Justice, Love Mercy, Care for the Least, Love Neighbors.

• Words Matter
• What we say in Public really matters.
• Convicted Civility

• Prudence
• The perfected ability to make right decisions
• What are the ends we seek?!?
• Balancing competing goods and lesser evils. 

• Recover Natural Law
• Common-cause with people who don't share our theology.
• An ethical foundation that doesn't hit the unsaved over the head with the Bible.
• A bridge between the sacred and the secular.

• Our true home is the city of God.

• Real world possibilities will always be less than our utopian dreams.

• There are no final victories, but there are also no final defeats.

• It's easy for the educated to celebrate the demise of Christian culture; folks lower down the scale don't have the same margin for error.

• Capitalism and democracy only works on a Judeo-Christian foundation.

• Evangelicals ought to be known as the most honest people in politics.

• The good book is good enough if we're smart enough to apply it.

American C.E.O: Texas Beats California

The American C.E.O is a (pretty cool looking) blog I hadn't heard of until today.  It's mostly advice for aspiring entrepreneurs and C.E.O's.  Today, he has a post on the economic contrast between Texas and California; money quote:

So why Texas and specifically why Austin? I have traveled fairly extensively across the U.S. and have spent time in all the major technology hubs. At one time or another I have considered living in many of them. I have been fortunate enough in my career that financially my family and I could “afford” to live wherever we like. For me it comes down to three major reasons: cost, attitude and time.
....

A big factor is that the regulatory environment in Texas is stable and predictable. Industry isn’t punished for succeeding, but rewarded with a fair and just tax structure.California’s insistence on raising taxes on its most successful citizens recently will only drive more intellectual capital and dollars out of the state.
....

That’s why I am in Austin and in Texas.California missed out on the successful businesses I have built. By the way, my wife – Dr. Cathy Fulton – ended up creating the products that led to the success of our Austin-based company NetQoS, which employed more than 250 people and was acquired by CA Technologies in 2009 for nine figures.

Read the whole thing here.

Big Ticket Items for the 83rd Texas Legislature

With the 83rd Texas Legislature one-third over, and conservatives off to a bad start, it's time to re-group and prioritize.  To protect and strengthen Texas' economy, we need to alter the trajectory of state spending.  The following five items will maintain Texas as place where entrepreneurs can risk their capital and achieve a decent rate of return.

1. Texas Budget Compact -- Cahnman's Musings was an early supporter of the Texas Budget Compact.  It remains our top priority, though we remain frustrated with Governor Perry's timidity.  Limiting government spending is the foundation of prosperity.
   
   
2. School Choice -- In order to limit state spending, you have to get education under control.  K-12 Education remains 40% of state spending.  For that money, K-12 education remains an array of boondoggles and bureaucracy.  The CSCOPE scandal re-enforces what we already knew about public education.  In order to keep state spending under control (and pre-empt the next CSCOPE), you need to take education dollars out of the hands of bureaucrats and put it into the hands of parents.
   
3. Medicaid -- Medicaid has been the fastest growing component of state spending for two decades.  In 2001, Medicaid was 14% of the budget; today it's 25%.  If the Obamacare Medicaid expansion goes through, that will rise to 33%.  Medicaid is a broken program that hurts the poor.  We can't keep pouring money we don't have into a program that doesn't work.
   
4. Pensions/Transparency -- Local government debt in Texas is $324 billion.  Pension obligations are a big chunk of that debt.  The interrelated issues of local debt and pension obligations are a time bomb the legislature should defuse before it becomes a crisis.
   
5. Repeal the Margins Tax -- This atrociously designed tax is unworthy of a state like Texas; end it, don't mend it.

In business, the Pareto principle states that you get 80% of your results from 20% of your activity; this list is that 20%.

Empower Texans: Will "Good" Freshmen Join the Borg?!?

Empower Texans has an important post on the efforts of the Austin Political establishment to bully Freshman legislators into accepting the status quo; money quote:

We warned incoming legislators back in October about the pressure from incumbents to give up resistance to the Austin political Borg. The first tangible example comes from State Rep. Larry Gonzales, who this week belittled freshmen conservatives over their belief that Texas has a spending problem. He wants them to believe more money is needed in government.

....

It is newsworthy to now see Rep. Gonzales step forward and reprimand conservative freshmen for not falling in line with the Austin political Borg’s stance on a potential gas tax increase like he apparently has.

....

A warning like this issued so early in session shows the establishment’s worried about having so many conservative freshmen refusing to “go-along-to-get-along.”

I hope Empower Texans is right, but I'm not so sure.

Was George W. Bush ever Governor of Texas?!?

Michael Quinn Sullivan might be a dirty Aggie, but so is the Governor of Texas; speaking of Governors of Texas:

I was at the Capitol this afternoon, standing in the Rotunda waiting for someone. A woman (wearing a big "Support Public Schools" button) was beside me, and asked (to no one in particular) why there was a picture of George W. Bush hanging there and not a picture of Barack Obama. "These are Texas governors. Bush was governor," I explained. "No he wasn't," she said definitively. Ok. — at Texas State Capitol.

GREAT moments in Public Education!!!

Phew; Congressman Lamar Smith to investigate... ASTEROIDS?!?

In this time of global chaos, with economic contraction, Radical Islam ascendant, a border on fire, and everything else going on in the world, what does establishment Republican Congressman Lamar Smith (San Antonio/Austin) think should be a top Congressional priority?!?

ASTEROIDS!!!

According to today's Dallas Morning News my former Congressman is serious about getting to the bottom of the threat posed to the United States from rogue Asteroids:

He noted that a large asteroid, Asteroid 2012 DA14, is also passing just 17,000 miles from Earth today, “less than the distance of a round trip from New York to Sydney.” And he announced that he’ll hold a hearing in coming weeks “to examine ways to better identify and address asteroids that pose a potential threat to Earth.”

Never fear, dear reader, thanks to heroes like Congressman Lamar Smith, the brokest nation in history will:

continue to invest in systems that identify threatening asteroids and develop contingencies, if needed, to change the course of an asteroid headed toward Earth.

Obviously, Congress needs to 'invest' in sharks with fickin' laser beams....

 

Marx and Satan

This is why political conservatives need to seek God:

"Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

Ephesians 6:11-12

Highlights:

•  Even if Marx wasn't aware he was doing so, he certainly served Satan's purpose.

• Marx practiced Occult rituals and a bunch of his buddies were open Satanists.

• There is a spiritual battle behind the events of this world.

A Marxist's Guide to Picking Up Chicks

HILARIOUS:

S.A. Express News: The Emergence of 'Saudi Texas'

"If My people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from Heaven, and forgive their sin, and heal their land."

2 Chronicles 7:14

The San Antonio Express News has a great read on the benefits Texas is reaping from Energy Development; money quote:

Oil production in Texas is soaring, so much so that production jumped to an average 2.139 million barrels a day in November — the best showing in more than 25 years.

Analysts are chalking up Texas' booming production to shale plays, especially South Texas' Eagle Ford Shale where production was minuscule just five years ago, along with a revival of West Texas' Permian Basin.

Analysts are tossing around the words “phenomenal,” “amazing” and “unprecedented” when discussing the numbers.

 Thanks to energy development and technological innovation, Texas is one of the few states with money; imagine what we could do if Washington D.C. wasn't dragging us down.

On an 'unrelated' note...well...hmmmm?!?

Empower Texans: Supporting the Texas Budget Compact

Empower Texans has a great tool on their website to assist citizens who want to support the Texas Budget Compact:

We will print your letter on plain paper and hand-deliver it to the offices of your specific Texas House and Senate members, as well as the governor and lieutenant governor.

Read and sign your letter here.

Texas Challenges Dodd-Frank Constitutionality

Austin Business Journal reports that Texas is joining a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Dodd-Frank; money quote:

“Under this law, unelected federal bureaucrats can unilaterally liquidate financial institutions in which the state invests taxpayer dollars,” Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a Feb. 13 statement. “The State of Texas could be denied basic due process rights and taxpayers’ dollars could recklessly be put at risk.”

 Read the details of the lawsuit here.

(Full Disclosure: This article was sent to me by Greg Abbott's press secretary.)

Breitbart: Cause and Effect 101

Cause and Effect.

Austin-American Statesman: Companies Fleeing California for Central Texas

It looks like Governor Perry's trip to California is already yielding results, the Austin-American Statesman reports:

Californians seem responsive to Texas’ low tax message, especially since the most recent state election in November, when income and sales taxes increases were approved by California’s voters in a measure called Proposition 30.

“We have had a spike of double or triple the amount of normal (business relocation) activity since the November election in California,” said Dave Porter, senior vice president for economic development at the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce.

….

[T]he tech companies there have had enough,” Porter said. “We are seeing mid-sized tech companies say, ‘This is it.’”

…

Many California tech companies are familiar with Austin because of its existing tech community, the presence of the University of Texas at Austin and the local tech workforce.

Now, with the California tax hikes, Porter said, the chamber is getting inquiries and visits from high-tech executives who are considering relocating their headquarters operations out of California to avoid that state’s income taxes.

“We have had tons of prospects and inquiries from California,” Porter said. “And the common theme is: the sooner (the move out of California) the better.”

 It looks like Galt's Gulch is coming to Texas.

HIV cases spike in Austin

In case you're wondering what four decades of aggressive sex education has wrought:


My biggest takeaway from this piece is that, no matter how much 'safe sex' education a person receives, it all flies out the window once hormones surge.

Sexual licentiousness undermines discipline?!? Gee, where have we seen this before?!?

The Problem with 'Purity' Culture

"And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto Him [Jesus] a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They said unto Him, "Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now, Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?!?

This they said, tempting Him, that they might have to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down, and with His finger wrote on the ground, as though He heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

And again He stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

When Jesus had lifted up Himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her: Woman, where are those thine accusers?!? hath no man condemned thee?!?

She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more."

John 8:3-11

The other day, I read this article in the Christian Post.  It bugged the everloving snot out of me.  I've finally figured out why.

What does the phrase 'sexual purity' sound like to someone outside the Church?!?

To someone outside the Church, 'sexual purity' sounds judgmental.  The Church is calling anyone who's ever violated Chapter 18 of Leviticus impure.  That's what the Pharisees did.

Jesus, by contrast, forgave and redeemed the adulteress.  Granted, Jesus held her future behavior to a high standard, but His command 'Go and sin no more' came after he forgave and redeemed her. Grace came first.

Sexual redemption is more important than sexual 'purity.'  The Gospel isn't about being 'pure'; it's about turning to God for help in our impurity.  The Holy Spirit will take care of the rest.

To me, this 'purity' talk focuses on works when we should focus on Grace and the Holy Spirit.

Don't preach on abstinence and 'purity'; preach on Salvation and have Faith in the Holy Spirit.

Chris Kyle's Burial

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff comfort me." Psalm 23:4

"And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matthew 10:28

"And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." John 10:28

Today, I was at the burial service for Chris Kyle; these are my photos:

Also, you don't see much here, but this is my video of the early part of the event:

City Journal: The Texas Growth Machine

A great data-driven piece from City Journal digs into the details of how Texas economically outperforms everywhere else in the United States:

The first thing to point out is that Texan job creation has far outpaced the national average. The number of jobs in Texas has grown by a truly impressive 31.5 percent since 1995, compared with just 12 percent nationwide, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data (see Figure One). Texas has also lapped California, an important economic rival and the only state with a larger population. The Texas employment situation after the financial crisis was far less spectacular, of course, with the number of jobs growing just 2.4 percent from 2009 through 2011. But that was still six times the anemic 0.4 percent growth rate of the overall American economy.

...

[M]any of the new Texas jobs paid well. Indeed, Texas did comparatively better than the rest of the United States from 2002 through 2011. For industries paying over 150 percent of the average American wage, Texas could claim 216,000 extra jobs; the rest of the country added 495,000. In other words, the Lone Star State, with 8 percent of the U.S. population, created nearly a third of the country’s highest-paying positions. Texas also added 49,000 positions paying 125 percent to 150 percent of the U.S. average; the rest of the country lost 174,000 jobs in that category. As Figure Four shows, two sectors in which Texas employment did particularly well during the same period were natural-resource extraction (in fact, the state gained 80 percent of all new jobs in the country in that field) and professional, scientific, and technical positions. Both job categories boast average wages far higher than the national overall average. As happens whenever an economy grows, Texas also added hundreds of thousands of positions in food services, health care, and other lower-paid fields, in addition to the more lucrative jobs.

...

Part of the explanation for the high living-environment score is doubtless Texas’s low cost of living. In 2011, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis put Texas’s “regional price parity,” a measurement of the price level of goods in an area, at 97.1, a bit lower than the national level of 100 and far lower than the California level of 114.8. Adjusted for cost of living, Texas’s per-capita income is higher than California’s and nearly as high as New York’s. Factor in state and local taxes, and Texas pulls ahead of New York.

Texas has created 'an environment where entrepreneurs can risk their capital and achieve a decent rate of return.'  California, by contrast, has stopped teaching algebra.  The results speak for themselves.

BEST. CARTOON. EVER!!!

Need I say more?!?

Daily Caller: California chooses Federal Blood money over quality education

Just in time for Governor Perry's Economic Development Trip, we get news that California has given up trying to teach its eighth graders algebra:

California will no longer require eighth-graders to take algebra — a move that is line with the Common Core standards being adopted by most states, but that may leave students unprepared for college.

Last month, California formally shifted to the Common Core mathematics standards, which recommend that students delay taking algebra if they aren’t ready for it. Previously, algebra class was a requirement for all eighth-graders in the state.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative, which is sponsored by the National Governor’s Association, is an effort to unify diverse state education curricula. Forty-five other states and the District of Columbia have signed on so far.

Texas, meanwhile, rejected Common Core years ago and, just yesterday, kicked the ass of the folks trying to implement common core via Stealth.

King Solomon, Promiscuity, and Child Sacrifice 'gods'

This morning, I was reading about he downfall of King Solomon in 1 Kings 11; it started when the King decided to think with his genitals instead of fearing the Lord:

But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites— (v. 1)

Chasing women led King Solomon to engage in some really bad activities:

Then Solomon built a high place ... for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. (v.7)

Now who, pray tell, was Molech?!?

One of the practices of the cult that worshiped Moloch was to sacrifice their children.

In other words, pursuing the next orgasm can mess up your moral compass really quickly; there's nothing original about any of our allegedly 'enlightened' and 'modern' attitudes about sex.

Texas Conservatives WIN: Major Changes in CSCOPE

This morning, Cahnman's Musings received almost simultaneous alerts from Americans for Prosperity and Concerned Women for America about encouraging changes in CSCOPE; according to a deal the CSCOPE directors cut with Texas Senate Education Committee chairman Dan Patrick:

The changes that take effect immediately include:

• All future meetings of the TESCCC Governing Board, beginning with the February meeting, will be public with all the respective notice requirements being met.
• The TESCCC will begin a joint review process of all CSCOPE lessons with the SBOE beginning with Social Studies.
• Amendment of all Terms of Use Agreements, signed by both teachers and districts, removing civil or criminal penalties associated with the release of CSCOPE content.
• Clarifying that all teachers and districts may post any and all CSCOPE lessons that they deem necessary.

In addition to these immediate transparency and quality control changes, CSCOPE will also undergo structural, governance, and other changes, including:

• Ending the non-profit 501(c)3 arrangement that incorporates CSCOPE.
• Initiating the posting of CSCOPE lesson content to their public website.
• Creating a standing curriculum review panel, comprised of: parents, teachers, school administrators, members of the SBOE, and TESCCC board members.

This is a big win that proves what citizen activists can accomplish when we keep our focus on our local communities.

More from Senator Patrick here.

Governor Rick Perry on Economic Growth and the Hispanic Vote

I was at this event with Governor Rick Perry last summer in Austin; the economic stuff is pretty standard stuff for Rick Perry, but the section on Hispanic voting in the middle is one of the best discussions of how Republicans can compete for Hispanic votes I've ever heard:

Highlights:

• "If you're going to run for the Presidency of the United States, you gotta get in early."

• "I would highly recommend not having major back surgery six weeks before kicking it [a Presidential campaign] off."

• U-Haul Rates:
• California to Texas: $1800+
• Texas to California: $700 and change.

• "The Federal Government is supposed to do a few things well, then get out of the way and let the states compete."

•  What the nation can learn, economically, from Texas
• Low Taxes
• A Fair and Predictable Regulatory Climate
• Don't Allow Oversuing

• "If the Federal Government would focus on the military and defending our border and leave the rest of these problems to the states, America would be a lot better off."

•  Hispanics and Republicans:
• Patriotism
• Traditional Judeo-Christian values
• "If you want to live free, you will become a Republican."

• "If you're going to govern according to your values, you're going to be attacked by those who don't."

•  "We don't need a President who does 'bold reforms,' we need a President who respects the Tenth Amendment."

Governor Rick Perry to take Economic Development Trip to California

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwesome:

Gov. Rick Perry will travel to San Francisco, the Silicon Valley, Los Angeles and Orange County, departing Sunday, February 10 and returning Wednesday, February 13, to meet with business leaders in the high tech, biotechnology, financial, insurance and film industries. 

Sit and spin California, sit and spin!!!

(h/t Texas Public Policy Foundation)

Fox News: CSCOPE or CSCAM?!?

Well, well, well, it looks like it's turning into Peggy Venable day here at Cahnman's Musings; Peggy was on Fox News earlier today discussing CSCOPE:



Highlights:

•  CSCOPE has been secretive in sharing info with Parents and Taxpayers.

• One CSCOPE lesson (author's note: this is news to me) teaches that the Free Market is a 'Selfish System" and that Communism is better for everyone.

• Teachers have to sign a gag order.

Peggy Venable: Reagan's Four Principles and Texas' Prosperity

Peggy Venable, Americans for Prosperity's State Director for Texas and an ally and friend of Cahnman's Musings, has an excellent piece on Townhall.com today:

[Reagan] was not the typical Republican and frankly rocked the Republican establishment.


But he eloquently articulated optimism for our country and a vision which garnered the support of voters from both parties as well as citizens who didn’t align themselves with politicians.

As we mark this anniversary, the Texas legislature is just getting started rolling up their sleeves, setting a course for the next two years in the Lone Star State.

Will Reagan’s vision be shared by state lawmakers?

That's an open question....

Rabbi Jonathan Cahn: Inaugural Prayer Breakfast 2013

Rabbi Jonathan Cahn (no known relation), author of the Harbinger, spoke at the Inaugural Prayer Breakfast at last month's immaculation in Washington D.C; he didn't hold back:



Highlights:

• How do we Pray for America?!?
• "If a man has a terminal disease, you pray for healing, not riches."
• "If a city lies in danger of destruction, we don't pray in flowery words, we sound the alarm."

• The Truth Must be Spoken.

• Without Truth there is no Love.

• "The people of [ancient] Israel made a fatal mistake; in the midst of their blessings, they turned away from their God."
• "They would still invoke His name from time to time, but it rang increasingly hollow and meaningless."
• What they once knew to be immoral, they now celebrated.
• It was a civilization at war with its foundation.
• The righteous are vilified and labeled intolerant.
• Spiritual amnesia overtook the kingdom.

• From the beginning, the United States was modeled after Ancient Israel.
• Dedicated to God.
• A Holy Commonwealth.
• "In as much as America would follow the ways of God, America would prosper."
• We've committed the same fatal error as Ancient Israel.

• "The nation that was established to bring the Word of God and the Light of God to the world now fills the earth with Pornography."
• A new America where profanity is treated as Holy and the Holy is profane.

• We have undertaken unspeakable sins as well.
• 55 million unborn babies have been murdered in the past 40 years.
• Israel, by contrast, only killed thousands.

• "Without repentance, there is no revival."

• "The voice of God is calling America to return."

•  Humble Ourselves, Confess Our National Sins, Pray for Forgiveness.

Cahn also gives a presentation of the events behind the Harbinger, which is helpful if you've not yet read the book.

Author's Note: Some of the incidents Cahn describes sound incredible, but they're extensively footnoted in the book.

Bureaucrats vs. Children and Taxpayers

Yesterday, a leftist judge used children as human shields to rule in support of the ongoing shakedown of Texas Taxpayers known as the 'school finance trial.'  This was expected.  The real action will be in the State Supreme Court later this year or early next.

This ruling, however, was the third opportunity Cahnman's Musings has had to observe the mendacity of education bureaucrats up close in the past week.  Education bureaucrats go to extraordinary lengths to protect what they're doing, but almost everything they do is pointless.  Educational bureaucrats are a drag on Texas' economy.

Last week, Cahnman's Musings went undercover at the Texas Association of School Administrators conference.  These are the folks who birthed CSCOPE.  These are the folks going to see Bill Ayres' gal-pal Linda Hammond on our dime.  What struck us about the conference, however, was the amount of money and time it wasted on hot air.  TASA spent three days talking (and talking, and talking) about NOTHING, they accomplished nothing, yet they held this conference on our dime.

The other opportunities were last week's CSCOPE hearing and yesterday's attempted shakedown.  In each, the bureaucrats showed little interest in addressing public concerns but a lot of interest in protecting the money.  The concept of humble public service is lost on these people.

Educational bureaucracy is a sweet boondoggle.  You get a six figure salary, at taxpayer expense, to sit around talking but you never have to accomplish anything.  You get to use children as human shields whenever anyone questions your stewardship of the people's money.  I understand why education bureaucrats go to extreme lengths to protect that kind of gig.  I just wish they would stop hiding behind children.

TheBlaze: Rick Perry Angers Some Feminist Cupcake

HILARIOUS:

Feminist icon and activist Gloria Steinem doesn’t much care for Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

“He personally will go down in history as an authoritarian — a dictatorial, unacceptable American,” the 78-year-old Steinem told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Friday.

She said the Republican governor and former presidential candidate has made a lasting mark by overseeing recent efforts to have Planned Parenthood funding cut off in the state.

Women are “suffering from the lack of healthcare” because of Perry’s actions and the federal dollars lost to Texas because of him, Steinem added.

She told the newspaper Texans should “dis-elect him, get rid of him, get rid of the guy.”

 Sometimes you need to credit a man for having the right enemies!!!

BOOK REVIEW: "Just as I Am" by Billy Graham

"The Lord liveth, and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation." 2 Samuel 22:47

"Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy have begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." 1 Peter 1:3

Billy Graham is probably the most important Preacher of the past 100 years.  Dr. Graham's ministry saved more souls, and had more earthly influence, than any concurrent ministry.  Just as I Am is a joyous recounting of the first fifty years of Dr. Graham's ministry.

With a ministry as blessed as Dr. Graham's, it is impossible to convey everything in a seven paragraph review.  Dr. Graham grew up on a farm in Depression-era North Carolina. While Dr. Graham grew up in a strong family, he had plenty of exposure to Earthly pleasures during his teenage years (17). While Dr. Graham is known as a godly and humble man today, he did not lack for knowledge or opportunities as a young man.

The book goes on to discuss Dr Graham's salvation and early ministry. Discussions of statistics cannot convey how every person who attended or came forward at one of Dr. Graham's crusades was an individual. Ministering to tens (sometimes hundreds) of thousands of people as individuals is a massive logistical undertaking; one of the biggest challenges was plugging thousands of new believers into local churches. Consistent, worldwide Church outreach on the scale of Dr. Graham's was unprecedented in Christian history (and they did it BEFORE the internet!). By remaining meek and poor in spirit, the Lord consistently worked out details.

Prayerful humility before the Lord is a major theme of the book. Billy Graham never takes credit for the success of his ministry, he understands that he was just the conduit through which God acted. The Lord gave Billy Graham a big mission, Billy Graham was obedient, and the Lord was faithful. As Graham writes:

With each new crusade experience, I was increasingly driven to the conclusion that it was not a fluke. Instead, it was the Lord letting us in on a special moving of the Holy Spirit in America [and later worldwide]. (174)

To me, the most interesting aspect of Dr. Graham's was the work that the Lord had him do in Communist countries. Beginning with a crusade in Hungary in 1977, Dr. Graham worked extensively behind the Iron Curtain during the decade before the Berlin Wall fell.  He even met with members of the politburo in Moscow (506).  Another fascinating encounter were his two meetings with Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang (625), which was actually the city where his wife went to high school (71).  These are just a few examples.

Dr. Graham was an early and unshakeable supporter of civil rights.  He refused to speak to segregated audiences, which was a big deal in pre-Jim Crow South (650).  He was also good friends with Martin Luther King Jr (314).  Dr. Graham promoted racial healing at a time when doing so was a genuine risk.  Dr. Graham's courage on racial matters deserves praise and recognition.

At its core, however, any discussion about Billy Graham is about the Gospel: God Loves You and He gave His only Son to help you, but it's up to You to accept His gift.  That's the message Billy Graham carried to over 185 countries.  That message remains as relevant as always.  But it's up to each of us, as individuals, to heed the call:

You can learn more about the current efforts of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association here.