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Friday, April 24, 2009

Tonight is the free Mortgage Modification and Debt Settlement Seminar put on by the Christian Lawyers of America (christianlawyersofamerica.com, 888-702-0111) at the new Embassy Suites in Glendale located at Central and the 134.
And, don't forget, tomorrow from 9am-12:30pm, also at the Embassy Suites, is our "KKLA Hope in The Transitions of Life Conference," that too is free, and we'll have financial experts ready to answer your questions.
400-408Matt McCormick, CEO of the Christian Lawyers of America (christianlawyersofamerica.com, 888-702-0111).
• This report is based upon telephone interviews conducted by The Barna Group for two surveys among people who described themselves as "Christian." A total of 1,871 adults were randomly selected from across the 48 continental states, with the first 873 interviews conducted in January and February, 2008, and the remaining 998 interviews conducted in November 2008.  The range of sampling error associated with a sample of 1,871 people is between ±1.0 and ±2.2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
• All 1,871 self-described Christians were asked about their perception of God. In total, three-quarters (78%) said he is the "all-powerful, all-knowing Creator of the universe who rules the world today." The remaining one-quarter chose other descriptions of God – depictions that are not consistent with biblical teaching (e.g., everyone is god, god refers to the realization of human potential, etc.).
• Other questions were answered either: Strongly Agree, Agree Somewhat, Disagree Somewhat, Strongly Disagree, Not Sure.
• 1) "Satan is not a living being but is a symbol of evil." (59A/35D) 40% SA, 19% AS, 9% DS, 26% SD, 8% NS.
• 2) "Jesus Christ sinned when He lived on the Earth."  (39A/55D) 22% SA, 17% AS, 9% DS, 46% SD, 6% NS.
• 3) "The Holy Spirit is a symbol of God's power or presence but is not a living entity." (58A/34D)  38% SA, 20% AS, 9% DS, 25% SD, 9% NS.
• 8) "I have a positive opinion of Wicca, an organized form of witchcraft."  5% agreed, 55% disagreed, 40% did not know enough about Wicca to have an opinion.
• 9) "Mormons are Christians."  (39A/29D) 18% SA, 21% AS, 12% DS, 17% SD, 30% NS.
• 11) "The Bible is accurate in all the principles in teaches."  (73A/22D) 55% SA, 18% AS, 13% DS, 9% SD, 5% NS.
• 12) "The Bible, the Koran and the Book of Mormon are all different expressions of the same spiritual truths."  (41A/40D) 19% AS, 22% AS, 12% DS, 28% SD, 20% NS.
4) "A person can be under the influence of spiritual forces, such as demons or evil spirits."  (64A/28D) 39% SA, 25% AS, 10% DS, 18% SD, 8% NS.
5) 59% said "my faith has greatly transformed my life."  29% said "my faith has been helpful but has not greatly transformed my life."  9% said "my faith has not made much of a difference in who I am and how I live."
6) "A person must either side with God or the devil, there is no in-between position."  (76A/21D) 61% SA, 15% AS, 10% DS, 11% SD, 3% NS.
7) "The most important purpose of my life is to love God with all my heart, mind, strength, and soul."  (89A/11D) 74% SA, 15% AS, 7% DS, 4% SD, 3% NS.
10) "It is important for me to have active, healthy relationships with people who belong to religious faiths that do not accept the central beliefs of my faith."  (65A/27D) 36% SA, 29% AS, 16% DS, 11% SD, 8% NS.
• Inconsistencies
1) 47% of those who believe "Satan is merely a symbol" nevertheless agree that "a person can be under the influence of spiritual forces such as demons."
2) 49% of those who believe "the Holy Spirit is merely a symbol" nevertheless agree that "the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches."
3) 33% of those who believe "the Bible, Koran and Book of Mormon all teach the same truths" nevertheless agree "the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches."
"Born Again Christians" vs. "Notional Christians"
"Born again Christians" were defined as people who said they had made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that was still important in their life today and who also indicated they believed that when they die they will go to Heaven because they had confessed their sins and had accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. Respondents were not asked to describe themselves as "born again."
1) BAC are at least twice as likely as NC to strongly agree that "the Bible is accurate in all the principles it teaches"; that their life has been "greatly transformed by their faith"; that "a person can be under the influence of spiritual forces such as demons"; and to hold "an unfavorable opinion of Wicca."
2) BAC are more than twice as likely as NC to strongly disagree that "Satan is just a symbol of evil," and that "Jesus sinned while He lived on earth."
3) BAC are more than three times as likely as NC to strongly disagree that "the Holy Spirit is merely a symbol of God's power or presence"; that "Mormons are Christians"; and that "the Bible, Koran and Book of Mormon teach the same truths."
4) BAC are one-third more likely than NC to possess a definition of "God as the omniscient, omnipotent creator and ruler of the world"; nearly 60% more likely to believe that "you either side with God or Satan because there is no in-between position"; and slightly more than 50% more likely to say "their chief purpose in life is to love God with all their heart, mind, strength and soul."
428-437 – More Barna stuff.
443-452Paula Cracium, is the 2009 "Woman of the Year" for the 38th Assembly District for her work helping Shepherd of the Hills Church in Porter Ranch mobilize to respond to the two big crises from last year: the Metrolink accident in September and the fires in October. Shepherd now serves as a model for how churches can partner with First Responders in a crisis. Paula is the Director of Development at Shepherd of the Hills and the Vice President of the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council.
• Cameron Smyth Press Release (3/4/09) Assemblyman Smyth Names Paula Cracium 2009 Woman Of The Year.
458-508Robert Spencer, founder of JihadWatch.org, and author of his latest Stealth Jihad: How Radical Islam is Subverting America without Guns or Bombs, on where those Gitmo detainees might go, how CAIR is working to advance sharia law in America, and how our enemies are interpreting the actions of the Obama Administration.
512-523Robert Spencer.  Osama must be thinking he's watching a SNL skit watching this "enhanced interrogation" fretting we're doing over waterboarding and caterpillars in a box.  KSM was waterboarded 183 times, and gave up great information that thwarted the "Wave Two" 911-type attacks here in LA and attacks on the Brooklyn Bridge, and now the Democrats want to stop "enhanced interrogations" and maybe pursue legal actions against the Justice Department attorney who gave their opinions that it was legal?  BTW, 26,000 of our American military have gone through waterboarding as part of their SERE training, and less than 0.2% bailed out because it was too tough.
528-538Tom Krannawitter, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Hillsdale College (hillsdale.edu), and author of Vindicating Lincoln: Defending the Politics of Our Greatest President.  Tom earned his Ph.D. in Political Science at Claremont Graduate University, and is a Senior Fellow at the Claremont Institute (claremont.org), and he's taught at both Claremont McKenna College and Azusa Pacific University.
544-554Tom Krannawitter,  Would most Americans willingly embrace the principles of the American Founding again?  Isn't this what conservatives are attempting to conserve?  Is this the foundation for our optimism even today?
612-623Calls
628-638Matt McCormick, CEO of the Christian Lawyers of America (christianlawyersofamerica.com, 888-702-0111).
644-652Matt McCormick
•• Charles Krauthammer (4/24/09) Obama: The Grand Strategy.
When asked in his March 24 news conference about the huge debt he's incurring, Obama spoke vaguely of "additional adjustments" that will be unfolding in future budgets.  Rarely have two more anodyne words carried such import. "Additional adjustments" equals major cuts in Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid.
Social Security is relatively easy. A bipartisan commission (like the 1983 Alan Greenspan commission) recommends some combination of means testing for richer people, increasing the retirement age, and a technical change in the inflation measure (indexing benefits to prices instead of wages). The proposal is brought to Congress for a no-amendment up-or-down vote. Done.
The hard part is Medicare and Medicaid. In an aging population, how do you keep them from blowing up the budget? There is only one answer: rationing.
Why do you think the stimulus package pours $1.1 billion into medical "comparative effectiveness research"? It is the perfect setup for rationing. Once you establish what is "best practice" for expensive operations, medical tests and aggressive therapies, you've laid the premise for funding some and denying others.
// The more acute thinkers on the left can see rationing coming, provoking Slate blogger Mickey Kaus to warn of the political danger. "Isn't it an epic mistake to try to sell Democratic health care reform on this basis? Possible sales pitch: 'Our plan will deny you unnecessary treatments!' ... Is that really why the middle class will sign on to a revolutionary multitrillion-dollar shift in spending -- so the government can decide their life or health 'is not worth the price'?"
(:40) NP Waterboarding.  Nancy Pelosi at a Capitol Hill Press Conference on Thursday 4/23/09.  But a 2007 Washington Post story says she was briefed on waterboarding back in 2002.
• Kimberley A. Strassel (4/24/09) Global Warming Overreach.



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