#TXLEGE, #atxcouncil: The Costs and Consequences of Municipal "sick leave" Entitlements

"Is it not lawful for me to do as I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?!?"
Matthew 20:15

We attended this afternoon's TPPF event: The Cost and Consequences of Mandating Paid Sick Leave.  The event discussed the municipal entitlement the Austin City Council invented out of thin air last February.  Since Austin passed its ordinance, the tentacles are spreading to San Antonio and Dallas.

Tina Greider-Cannon of the Austin Chamber discussed how there were only 19 days between posting the language of the ordinance and final passage.  That schedule made it impossible to do a real economic impact study.  Cannon furthermore illustrated how, even using the advocates bogus numbers, there was still going to be a net economic impact of at least $140 million.  She also mentioned that unionized businesses are carved out of the ordinance.

Don "Skeeter" Miller of the County Line restaurant called the Austin entitlement an "administrative nightmare."   To simply consolidate the hours of employees who work at stores both inside and outside the city limits is a daunting task.  He also said it would kill their ability to do flexible scheduling for employees.  Miller said the minimum cost of the Austin ordinance would be $200,000 per year.

Annie Spilman of the National Federation of Independent Businesses made an interesting point about the vagueness of the ordinance.  She suggested it could set employers up for "stings" by various outside groups.  Rather than fight a city working in cahoots with the outside groups, employers natural tendency will be to settle.  Obviously, this is another form of shakedown.

The most interesting speaker was Paul Workman.  Workman talked about how the Austin ordinance was part of a national effort to push socialist economic policies at the local level.  Workman pointed out that this was part of a trend along with several other bad city of Austin policies.  This was the most perceptive we've seen Workman speak about the groups pushing this nonsense, and we were glad to see it.

Of course, the problem is that this is not our first rodeo with Paul Workman.  Paul Workman has been filing bills to reign in the city of Austin for years.  Those bills never seem to go anywhere.  We asked Workman about that during Q&A.  Workman said that because of the new speaker, those bills will start moving.  Of course, this brings up certain obvious questions about Workman's previous speaker decisions.  But, at this point, dwelling on the past won't accomplish anything moving forward.

Bottom Line: Municipal entitlements are a nightmare for any number of reasons.

Violent UT Communists Vandalize Conservative Students' Property

"As for the prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet comes to pass, the prophet will be known as one whom the Lord has truly sent."
Jeremiah 28:9

Remember, back in June, when we observed that violent communists were recruiting at the University of Texas' flagship campus and that it would lead to some very bad incidents this fall?!?

Yeah, about that:

A campus source sent the following pictures:

The original sign

How the sign was discovered.

We also received video of one of the RSF vandals fleeing after being caught:

And all this, literally, on the day after Abbott's hand picked candidate is elected to chair the Board of Regents.

Obviously, President Fenves and (to a lesser degree) Chancellor McRaven are the ones who should take the lead rooting out this nonsense.  If history is any guide, they won't.  Assuming Fenves and McRaven refuse to do their jobs, the Board of Regents (which Abbott controls) should fire BOTH.

Bottom Line: Greg Abbott owns this.  It's his Board of Regents and his hand picked board chair.  If Fenves, McRaven, and the Board refuse to act that's where the blame lies.

-----

President Greg Fenves:
(512) 471-1232
president@utexas.edu

Board of Regents:
(512) 499-4402
bor@utsystem.edu

Governor Greg Abbott:
(512) 463-2000

#TXLEGE: Huberty LYING about School Finance and Property Tax Relief....

"They speak idly everyone with his neighbor;
With flattering lips and a double heart they speak."
Psalm 12:2

[Note: The committee hearing can be viewed here; our testimony can be viewed at the 1 hour 20 minute mark.]

We attended this afternoon's house Public Education committee and testified against Dan Huberty's terrible school finance bill.  This is a substantively similar bill to the bad policy wrapped in a sleazy process bill Huberty pursued during the regular session.  We suppose it's to Huberty's mild credit that at least he's no longer shadily attempting to push it under the radar while the public is focused on other issues.

But the fundamental problem about the bill hasn't changed: It pours a lot of money into the bureaucracy without structurally reforming the system or providing relief to taxpayers.

And, when Huberty attempts to portray this bill as a property tax relief bill, he's telling a bald-faced lie.

In theory, the legislature could write a school finance bill that included property tax relief.  It could be accomplished through a mechanism called a rate compression."  Huberty's bill doesn't have a rate compression.

Furthermore, the argument that some members of the house have made about the state picking up a bigger percentage of the tab for education spending isn't entirely crazy.  We say that primarily because the state collects revenue through sales taxes while local school districts levy property taxes.  But any increase in state expenditures needs to be met with a corresponding decrease in local expenditures and Huberty's bill doesn't do that.

For this website to get to a yes on a school finance bill, we would need to see either structural reforms so the system better serves children or meaningful property tax relief; Huberty's bill does neither.

Bottom Line: This is not a tax relief bill.  This is a spending bill.  And every time Dan Huberty tries to claim otherwise, he's lying.

-----

Another interesting note about house leadership's priorities during the special session is that THIS bill also got a hearing today:

HB 197        Bernal                  
Relating to the bilingual education allotment provided under the public school finance system.

Bilingual education is a horrible idea that harms the people it claims to help and Dan Huberty heard a bill to put more money into it this afternoon.  Furthermore, during consideration of Bernal's bill, Huberty said that he had integrated its principles into his own school finance bill.  This is happening.

CTRA: Kevin Freeman discusses Global Economic Warfare

"A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself,
But the simple pass on and are punished.
Proverbs 22:3

Texas Land and Cattle -- Kevin Freeman, author of Game Plan, spoke to the Central Texas Republican Assembly last night.  He discussed foreign activity behind the 2008 stock market crash.  He also outlined the current ominous geo-economic situation:



Highlights:

• The past two days have been the biggest stock market drop in a year and a half.

• "I'm really worried about Radical Islam crashing the stock market."

• Brand new kind of war: Cyber-Economic

• 2008: Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia went after Lehman
• Putin went after Fannie and Freddie

• Saudi Arabia is going broke.

• Kanjorski's "electronic run on the bank" quote.

• Russian media predicting U.S. market collapse this fall.

• Financial Crisis Inquiry Report was a cover-up.

• July, 23 2015 -- China accuses U.S. of crashing their stock mkt.
• Commies always accuse their opponents of doing what they're about to do.

• Chinese role model is Soros' attack against the British Pound in 1992.

• Russians hacked NASDAQ in 2014.

• "You can do a lot of damage with fake tweets."

• China called for an end of the dollar in 2013.

• Kerry dollar comment -- What if they know it's coming and are trying to blame Congress?!?

• Texas needs to get Gold Depository operational.
• Texas could issue "Gold-Backed BITCOIN"

Book Review: The Insanity of God, by Nik Ripken

"Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life."
Revelation 2:10

The fact that I can write a sentence about Jesus you can read it without major consequences would be considered a miracle by hundreds of millions of believers around the world.  In many parts of the world, believers lack Bibles and cherish the verses or pages of scripture they might possesses.  Yet, in their lives, we see the same Biblical patterns repeating themselves in today's world.

The Insanity of God follows the story of Nik Ripken, a Kentucky pastor who followed God's call to Somalia during the early to mid 1990's.  He was there during the era of American involvement and Black Hawk Down.  Ripken ran a relief agency that prolonged tens of thousands of lives...for a few years.  Eventually, lack of funds combined with security concerns forced Ripken to leave the country.

Leaving the country produced a crisis of faith in Ripken.  While he'd preserved physical lives in Somalia, (at least to his knowledge) no new believers had emerged during that time.  The few believers in the country were slaughtered by Islamic extremists.  It seemed like the time in Somalia had been pointless.  Ripken doubted the power of God to overcome darkness in places like Somalia.

After recovering stateside, Ripken set out to learn how believers in other part of the world had not only survived, but thrived, under persecution.  He traveled to the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, China and Southeast Asia to interview believers who had been persecuted under communism.  Towards the end, he also shares stories of believers in the Islamic world.

One cannot do these stories justice in an online review.  We meet Somali believers who were martyred for observing the Lord's supper.  There's Tavian, who wrote 600 worship songs in an Eastern European prison that are now sung in churches across his country.  There's Dimitri, a Russian believer who sang praise songs every morning in prison over 17 years.  Aisha, an Islamic background believer, sings praise songs from her basement jail cell until ultimately her jailers commit their lives to Christ.

It's impossible to convey the power of these stories, but a few lessons stand out:

• The communist youth organizations and government schools worked to alienate children from their Christian parents (147).

• "If our family has to starve for Jesus, the let us do so with joy." (178)

• Prison "is like seminary" for Chinese believers; there's a large Church planting movement within China's prisons (219).

• Believers in persecution don't pray for persecution to end, they pray to be faithful through persecution (306).

• "Freedom to believe and witness has nothing to do with the government or political system (307)."

The most important lesson from the Insanity of God, however, is that the primary cause of persecution is people surrendering their lives to Jesus (305).  The devils isn't active where he's unopposed.  Persecution is a natural byproduct of believers being obedient to Jesus.  As Ripken says: "before we can grasp the full meaning of resurrection, we first have to experience crucifixion. (308)"  Only then can the full power of a Holy God be glorified!!!

"Insanity of God" from IMB on Vimeo.

History Lesson: Meet Nikolai Yezhov

"and every spirit that does not confess that[a] Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world."
1 John 4:3

 We know this post seems off-topic, but if readers indulge us it will make sense shortly.

During the purges of the 1930's, Nikolai Yeshov was Joseph Stalin's primary hatchet man:

As a devout Stalinist and not a member of the organs of state security, Yezhov was just the man Stalin needed to intensify the terror and rid Stalin of potential opponents. Yezhov's first task from Stalin was to personally investigate and conduct the prosecution of his long-time Chekist mentor Yagoda, which he did with remorseless zeal. Ordered by Stalin to create a suitably grandiose plot for Yagoda's show trial, Yezhov ordered the NKVD to sprinkle mercury on the curtains of his office so that the physical evidence could be collected and used to support the charge that Yagoda was a German spy, sent to assassinate Yezhov and Stalin with poison and restore capitalism. [Emphasis Added]

From ExecutedToday.com:

From late 1936, when he eliminated his predecessor Genrikh Yagoda (later executed, of course), until his own fall from power in at the end of 1938, Yezhov presided over the apex of Stalinist terror, averaging hundreds of political killings daily — perhaps north of 600,000 for the two-year period, plus a like number disappeared into the Gulag’s freezers. (Just browse this here site’s ’1937′ tag for a taste.)

From Cyber USSR:

A complete nonentity, whose name, during the brief period of his administration, evoked horror throughout the entire country and entered history in the word "Ezhovshchina" [a curiously bland term, perhaps "the Yezhov thing" --HSC]. He was raised to power by Stalin for the specific purpose of setting up a bloodbath. In the Soviet press, he was called the "Iron Commissar," but among the people he was named the "bloody dwarf." [Ezhov was only 154 cm tall, about 5'1". Two other famous Russians of comparably short height were Nikita Khrushchev and Alexander Pushkin --HSC] According to those who knew him well, toward the end of his administration, he was totally dependent on narcotics.

More on the Poisoned (or bloody) dwarf:



Yeshov later fell from grace (hard), which was its own story, but for our purposes it's important to remember that he was Stalin's chosen agent for digging up dirt on enemies of the state.

"as if they were wiser than God."

"Consider the work of God;
for who can make straight what He has made crooked?!?"
Ecclesiastes 7:13

The first Governor of the Pilgrims, William Bradford, nails the unbiblical conceit of socialism:

William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation 120--21

All this while no supply was heard of, neither knew they when they might expect any. So they began to think how they might raise as much corn as they could, and obtain a better crop than they had done, that they might not still thus languish in misery. At length, after much debate of things, the Governor (with the advice of the chiefest amongst them) gave way that they should set corn every man for his own particular, and in that regard trust to themselves; in all other things to go on in the general way as before. And so assigned to every family a parcel of land, according to the proportion of their number, for that end, only for present use (but made no division for inheritance) and ranged all boys and youth under some family. This had very good success, for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been by any means the Governor or any other could use, and saved him a great deal of trouble, and gave far better content. The women now went willingly into the field, and took their little ones with them to set corn; which before would allege weakness and inability; whom to have compelled would have been thought great tyranny and oppression. 

The experience that was had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years and that amongst godly and sober men, may well evince the vanity of that conceit of Plato's and other ancients applauded by some of later times; that the taking away of property and bringing in community into a commonwealth would make them happy and flourishing; as if they were wiser than God. For this community (so far as it was) was found to breed much confusion and discontent and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. For the young men, that were most able and fit for labour and service, did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men's wives and children without any recompense. The strong, or man of parts, had no more in division of victuals and clothes than he that was weak and not able to do a quarter the other could; this was thought injustice. The aged and graver men to be ranked and equalized in labours and victuals, clothes, etc., with the meaner and younger sort, thought it some indignity and disrespect unto them. And for men's wives to be commanded to do service for other men, as dressing their meat, washing their clothes, etc., they deemed it a kind of slavery, neither could many husbands well brook it. Upon the point all being to have alike, and all to do alike, they thought themselves in the like condition, and one as good as another; and so, if it did not cut off those relations that God hath set amongst men, yet it did at least much diminish and take off the mutual respects that should be preserved amongst them. And would have been worse if they had been men of another condition. Let none object this is men's corruption, and nothing to the course itself. I answer, seeing all men have this corruption in them, God in His wisdom saw another course fitter for them.

 Amen; Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Inside the Reagan Library: The Hollywood Years

Great video from the Reagan Library about the Gipper and the Golden Age of Hollywood:



Highlights:

• Appeared in 53 films from '37 to '63.

• President of Screen Actors Guild (1947 - 1952)
• Developed his visceral dislike of Communism when he had to deal with the investigation into Communist subversion in Hollywood during the 1940's.

• Developed his views on the economy while working for General Electric.

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BONUS: Here's Reagan's Most famous movie line ever:

Reagan's Evil Empire Speech

Earlier today, I was discussing the second amendment with my boss.  He, correctly, pointed out that the entire gun control premise was based on the utopian desire to 'perfect' man, which is impossible in this fallen, sinful, world.  The conversation got me thinking about Reagan's Evil Empire speech.  That speech is famous for Reagan's devastating take-down of the Soviets, but the first twenty minutes were an equally stinging rebuke of domestic Marxism from a Biblical perspective.  Never forget, this speech was delivered to a Church group:

Highlights:

• Reagan opens the speech thanking the audience for their prayers; "I believe in intercessory prayer."

• "The American experiment in democracy rests on this insight. Its discovery was the great triumph of our Founding Fathers, voiced by William Penn when he said: “If we will not be governed by God, we must be governed by tyrants.” "

• "I want you to know that this administration is motivated by a political philosophy that sees the greatness of America in you, her people, and in your families, churches, neighborhoods, communities–the institutions that foster and nourish values like concern for others and respect for the rule of law under God.  Now, I don’t have to tell you that this puts us in opposition to, or at least out of step with, a–a prevailing attitude of many who have turned to a modern-day secularism, discarding the tried and time-tested values upon which our very civilization is based. No matter how well intentioned, their value system is radically different from that of most Americans. And while they proclaim that they’re freeing us from superstitions of the past, they’ve taken upon themselves the job of superintending us by government rule and regulation. 

• How far are American parents willing to go in giving to Washington "their prerogatives as parents?!?"

• "Girls termed “sexually active”–and that has replaced the word “promiscuous”–"
• Author's Note: Amen to that!!!

• "Is all of Judeo-Christian tradition wrong? Are we to believe that something so sacred can be looked upon as a purely physical thing with no potential for emotional and psychological harm? And isn’t it the parents’ right to give counsel and advice to keep their children from making mistakes that may affect their entire lives?"

• "But the fight against parental notification is really only one example of many attempts to water down traditional values and even abrogate the original terms of American democracy. Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged. [Applause] When our founding fathers passed the First Amendment, they sought to protect churches from government interference. They never intended to construct a wall of hostility between government and the concept of religious belief itself"

• "The First Amendment never intended to require government to discriminate against religious speech."

• "You…You may remember that when abortion on demand began, many, and indeed, I’m sure many of you, warned that the practice would lead to a decline in respect for human life, that the philosophical premises used to justify abortion on demand would ultimately be used to justify other attacks on the sacredness of human life–infanticide or mercy killing. Tragically enough, those warnings proved all too true. Only last year a court permitted the death by starvation of a handicapped infant."

• "But we must never forget that no government schemes are going to perfect man. We know that living in this world means dealing with what philosophers would call the phenomenology of evil or, as theologians would put it, the doctrine of sin."

• "Yes, let us pray for the salvation of all of those who live in that totalitarian darkness–pray they will discover the joy of knowing God. But until they do, let us be aware that while they preach the supremacy of the State, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world."

• "It was C.S. Lewis who, in his unforgettable “Screwtape Letters,” wrote: “The greatest evil is not done now…in those sordid ‘dens of crime’ that Dickens loved to paint. It is…not even done in concentration camps and labor camps. In those we see its final result, but it is conceived and ordered; moved, seconded, carried and minuted in clear, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice.”"

•  "You know, I’ve always believed that old Screwtape reserved his best efforts for those of you in the Church. So, in your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride–the temptation of blithely..uh..declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil."

• "Whittaker Chambers, the man whose own religious conversion made him a witness to one of the terrible traumas of our time, the Hiss-Chambers case, wrote that the crisis of the Western world exists to the degree in which the West is indifferent to God, the degree to which it collaborates in communism’s attempt to make man stand alone without God. And then he said, for Marxism-Leninism is actually the second-oldest faith, first proclaimed in the Garden of Eden with the words of temptation, “Ye shall be as gods.”"

More context on the speech here.

Senator Ted Cruz' tribute to Margaret Thatcher

Well said Senator:



Highlights:

• Conservatives need to effectively communicate our ideas and election results will follow.

• 1976: Britain awake -- Things seemed more hopeless than they do today.

• "The advance is not irreversible provided we take the necessary measures now."

Play Review: Marx in Soho, starring Bob Weick

"Consider the work of God;
For who can make straight what He has made crooked?"
Ecclesiastes 7:13 

Yesterday, Cahnman's Musings attended a performance of the play Marx in SoHo by Howard Zinn, author of the discredited book A People's History of the United States.  The play portrays a resurrected (yes, that kind of resurrection) Karl Marx back to defend his legacy.  It was fascinating.

The play is the most succinct presentation of Marx's thinking we've ever seen.  It gave us a more complete understanding of Marxism.  More important, it deepened our understanding of the Book of Revelation.

Marx is SoHo is written with an antiChrist spirit.  It repeatedly blasphemes and mocks Jesus.  Marx also advocates the abolition of national borders.  A blasphemous global government is a key component of Revelation.  Marx in SoHo illustrates the role Marxism could play in the fulfillment of those prophesies.

In terms of Economics, Marx in SoHo is based on the flawed premise that wealth is created collectively.  According to Marx, because wealth is created collectively, if one person has more, they must have stolen it.  From this premise, Marx proposes "seizing the means of production" to "more equitably distribute the wealth."  It's worth noting that every example Marx cites involves heavily regulated industries where the government is already present (eg. Finance and Health Care).  History is clear about where these ideas lead.

As any defense of Marx must, Marx in SoHo is loaded with historical revision.  Two examples stand out.  First, Marx in SoHo portrays Marx as a doting husband and father; that's a canard.  It also cites the Paris Commune of 1871 as a shining example of Marxism.  The Paris Commune killed its political 'hostages.'

The Q and A after the show was equally revealing.  One audience member suggested "the early Soviet Union under Lenin" deserved recognition alongside the Paris Commune as an example of when Communism was done right; ...yeah.  Bob Weick, the actor who played Marx, argued that the United States should move closer to the so-called Scandanavian model, ignoring the fact that Scandanavia moved away from that model two decades ago.  Cahnman's Musings engaged Weick in a discussion of economic first principles, to which Weick responded with a familiar argument.  Cahnman's Musings thinks Senator Rand Paul said it best when he said that if you think the roads built the business, and not the other way around, you might be economically illiterate.

Marx in SoHo was fascinating.  Bob Weick is an excellent actor; in terms of staging and theatrics, his performance was flawless.  The ideas behind his performance, however, remain evil.  Cahnman's Musings urges readers to pray for the Lord to lift the veil of deception from Mr. Weick's eyes.  In the meantime, Cahnman's Musings gave the Devil a respectful hearing yesterday; our answer remains the same.

Author's Note: The video below is a full performance of Marx in SoHo starring another actor; you can see clips of Bob Weick playing Marx here.

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.

How Marxists Subvert Western Society

This video from former KGB agent Yuri Bezmenov, who defected towards the end of the Cold War, explains the process by which Moscow undermined the West from within; understanding this process is crucial to understanding the Sexual Revolution:



Highlights:

• 85% of KGB activity was subversive.

• Subversion -- A destructive, aggressive, activity aimed to destroy the target country.

• Sun Tzu -- Subvert your enemy until he no longer sees you as an enemy.

• FOUR STAGES OF SUBVERSION

1. Demoralization
   
   • 15 to 20 years
   • The time it takes to maleducate one generation.
   • Influencing public opinion via various means.
   • Stiring up greivances
   • Textbook Alinsky
   • Destroy and ridicule Biblical Religion and replace it with sects and cults.
   • Distract education away from traditional academics.
   • Exploit a gullible media.
   • Moral relativism
   • A slow watering down of standards.
   • Destroy the relationship between employer and employee.
   • Flood influencers of public opinion with Marxist propaganda about 'equality.'
2. Destabilization
   
   • Economy, Law and Order, Military.
   • Radicalization of the bargaining process.
   • Make Constructive compromise impossible.
   • Raise contempt for traditional sources of authority
   • Media Puts itself opposite society
   • Students spring into action
   • eg. Occupy Wall St
   • Antagonistic Clashes between groups of society.
     
3. Crisis
   
   • Traditional sources of authority collapse.
   • Growth of non-elected committees
   • Population looks for a 'savior'
   • Strongman comes in to stop chaos.
   • Top down, Bottom up, and inside out.
     
4. Normalization

• Self-appointed leaders no longer need revolution.
• Stabilize the situation by force.
• Elimination of agitators from earlier phases.
• At this point, requires military force to reverse.

The easiest way to combat this is to bring a society back to Biblical religion; faith in God prevents subversion.

Thanksgiving: Overcoming Socialism

Michael Quinn Sullivan might be a dirty Aggie, but this video from Empower Texans is awesome:



Highlights:

• The Pilgrims early problems were their own fault due to their own misguided economic ideology.

• The first year, the Pilgrims did everything communally, aka Socialism.

• After three years, they established private property rights and labor suddenly became productive!!!

Yakov Smirnoff on Communism (1985)

Sometimes, humor is the best response:

Trevor Louden: An Urgent (pre-election) Message for America

Trevor Loudon, author of Barack Obama and the Enemies Within, sends this urgent message from New Zealand on geopolitical implications of the upcoming U.S. Election:



Highlights:

• There's a ChiCom backed Marxist Govt. in Fiji, 1500 miles away from New Zealand

• The bad guys around the world are getting bolder

• In 1984, New Zealand fell for a Commie influence operation planned in Moscow that drove a wedge between New Zealand and the West.

• The U.S. Military has always been the international Left's #1 target.

• Stalin wanted as many American Commies in Hawaii as possible because it was home to the U.S. Navy.

• Alice Palmer, an agent of Moscow, got Obama his first job in Politics.

• Leon Panetta is was a longstanding friend of a know associate of Frank Marshall Davis.

(h/t Right Reason)

Freedom To Succeed

This ad, from Thomas Peterffy, tells his story of growing up in Communist Hungary and the threats he see's to America's future coming from within:


(h/t Ted Cruz's facebook)

1963 Goals of the Communist Party USA

In 1963, Congress held hearings into the Communist Party U.S.A.  As part of this hearing, Congress listed their goals.  Consider the list, and how many they've accomplished:

1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament [by] the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.

4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.

8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.

9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.

10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.

11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)

12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat].

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use ["]united force["] to solve economic, political or social problems.

43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.

44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction [over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction] over nations and individuals alike.

1950's Communist Subversion and lessons for today

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  John 8:32

Sometimes, God puts the right book in your hand at the right time.

I recently read Ann Coulter's Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism.  From chapter 2 through chapter 6, Treason details how Soviet agents held policy making positions in the Franklin Roosevelt and Truman administrations.  The parallels between proven Communist subversion in the 1940's and 50's and suspected Islamic Subversion in the Bush (second term) and Obama administrations are too obvious to ignore.

From Alger Hiss, to the Rosenbergs, to Owen Lattimore, to countless others, the Franklin Roosevelt and Truman administrations were infested with Communists.  This has now been proven beyond ANY doubt.  As Whittaker Chambers explained at the time, agents of Moscow could "influence the nation's foreign policy in the interests of the nation's cheif enemy. (427)"  Fast forward to today and strong circumstantial evidence suggests something similar with the Muslim Brotherhood.  At a minimum, the U.S. Government is allowing people with questionable backgrounds access to sensitive information.

In the 1950's, questions about Communist subversion provoked outraged shrieks from the bipartisan establishment.  In the past month, similar questions about Islamic subversion have provoked similar hissy fits from Congressman Kieth Ellison and John McCain.  In both cases, it's worth nothing, these juvenile outbursts have come in response to requests for information, NOT accusations.

As I recently wrote, this controversy offers an opportunity to set the record straight about the 1940's and 50's.  Communist subversion was real, and history proved people who raised questions at the time correct.  In the current controversy, we need to stick to our guns, because the truth will win out in the end.

Trevor Loudon on Alice Palmer; early Obama Mentor (and Soviet Agent)

The indefatigable Trevor Loudon details what he's learned about Alice Palmer, a Soviet agent and early mentor to Barack Obama:


Highlights:

• Palmer had direct contact with the Soviets during the Cold War
• Palmer took Obama to his 1995 meeting with Bill Ayres
• The end game is to dramatically cut the U.S. military.

(h/t Right Reason)