400-408 – Jeff Vines, senior pastor of Christ's Church of the Valley in San Dimas (ccvnow.com), and author of Dinner with Skeptics: Defending God In A World That Makes No Sense. Today, we talk about the relationship between forgiveness, justice, restitution, and how we can "love our enemies."
• New York Post (4/12/2010) Husband gives bible to his wife's killer.
413-423 – Jeff Vines.
428-437 – Mike Johnson, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund (telladf.org, 1-800-TELL-ADF), an association of 1,600 Christian attorneys and over 300 organizations committed to defending our religious liberties. Today we talk about the launch of their Church Project (speakupmovement.org/Church) to protect our religious liberty and to ensure that pastors and churches know their rights and can speak out on important issues without fear of government interference or punishment.
443-452 – Mike Johnson
458-508 – Scott & Bethany Palmer, financial communication experts known as "The Money Couple" (themoneycouple.com). Their latest is First Comes Love, Then Comes Money. Today we talk about their 6 Steps to Helping Your Adult Children Financially (Link). They are: 1) Know your child's Money Personality. 2) It's okay not to play fair. 3) Respect each other. 4) Don't hurt yourselves to take care of your kids. 5) Decide if there will be strings. And 6) If there are strings, get them in writing.
The Five Main Money Personalities:
1) The Saver: This is the lawyer who drives a ten-year-old car or the mom who spends hours scouring ads for the best deals. You're probably a saver if you get a rush from saving money, have organized finances, rarely spend impulsively, avoid credit card debt like head-lice, are patient about purchases and know how to prioritize spending.
Downsides: you can be perceived as cheap, you can obsess about your money, and you can also be a joy stealer.
2) The Spender: You live in the moment, love to buy things for others, and get a thrill from making purchases.
Downsides: you can be impractical, non-communicative, a budget breaker and can also be filled with regret.
3) The Risk Taker: You're always chomping at the bit to get in on the "next big deal." You're a conceptual thinker and get excited about the possibilities of your investment. You listen to your gut and are not afraid to make decisions.
Downsides: But you can also be insensitive, easily resented, impatient, vulnerable and blinded by the possibilities.
4) The Security Seeker: You wouldn't be caught dead without a savings account, retirement account, life insurance, etc. You're an investigator, trustworthy, willing to sacrifice for the future, and prepared for almost anything.
Downsides: You can get stuck in a rut, and stifle creativity out of fear.
5) The Flyer: This is the most unusual personality, because this outlook has very little to do with money. You simply don't think about money. You're not stupid or lazy; you're just content with your life, focused on relationships, and not motivated by money.
Downsides: You're ill-equipped to deal with life's curveballs, unorganized and un-responsible (NB different from irresponsible.)
512-523 – Scott & Bethany Palmer
528-538 – Rodney Stark, is Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences at Baylor University and Co-Director of the Institute for Studies of Religion (ISReligion.com), he's the author of 30 books, including his excellent The Victory of Reason, and he's out with his latest, entitled God's Battalions: The Case For the Crusades (rodneystark.com) – which we talk about today.
The prevailing wisdom is that "during the Crusades, an expansionist, imperialistic Christendom brutalized, looted, and colonized a tolerant and peaceful Islam." However, in God's Battalions, Stark deconstructs longstanding misconceptions about the Crusades, and provides the historical backdrop to what precipitated them–the Islamic conquests of the seventh century following Mohammed's death in AD532, the forced conversions of millions of Christians and Jews, and the technological advances these converted millions brought to their Muslim rulers. In the book, Stark defends three primary claims: 1) The Crusades (there were seven between 1095-1248) were not unprovoked attacks led by the nobility seeking material gain; 2) Pope Urban II did not initiate the Crusades in an attempt to convert Muslims to Christianity; and 3) Christian Crusaders did not brutalize a tolerant, advanced, and blameless Muslim culture. Bottom line, the Crusades were a "just war" against Muslim aggression, and to teach and believe otherwise is to play into the anti-West and anti-Christian propaganda that roots to the birth of Israel.
544-554 – Rodney Stark
558-608 – Rodney Stark
612-623 – Rodney Stark
628-638 – (2:07) Michael Jr. Comedy Clip Michael Jr., is one of the Christian Comedy All Stars performing this Friday, April 16th at 7pm at Pasadena First Church of the Nazarene, along with Lamont Bonman, Thor Ramsey, and Scott Wood. It's great for the whole family! Tickets are $15.95 for general admission, $29.95 for reserved seating. Get your tickets by calling (877) 995-KKLA (5552), or by going to christiancomedyallstars.com.
644-652 – • Fox NY (4/14/2010) Angels Players Witness Suicide at Manhattan Hotel.
• Los Angeles Times (4/14/2010) Lancaster voters overwhelming support continuing public prayer.
• Fox Calculator "TARP", My share of the $109B Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) = $1,346.24.
The $700 billion TARP fund was created in October 2008 to enable the Treasury Secretary to purchase or insure troubled assets, but ended up being used to bail out banks and auto makers. In its Preliminary Analysis of the President's Fiscal 2011 Budget, the CBO revised its net 10-year cost estimate for TARP to $109 billion over the life of the program. Most of that cost is projected to stem from the assistance to the automotive industry, payments from a program providing incentives to mortgage servicers to reduce monthly payments, and potential costs for future activities.
• Fox Calculator "Stimulus", My share of the $862B Economic Stimulus = $10,646.44
In February 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. In early 2009, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the Recovery Act's combined spending and tax provisions would cost $787 billion. In early 2010, CBO updated its estimate of the cost of the Recovery Act. It now estimates that the Recovery Act will cost $75 billion more than originally estimated - CBO now anticipates that the 2009 Stimulus will increase deficits by $862 billion over ten years.
• Fox Calculator "Fannie-Freddie", My share of the $389B Fannie Mac and Freddie Mac Bailout = $4,804.48
Description: In September 2008, the government assumed control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - two federally chartered institutions that provide credit guarantees for almost half of the residential mortgages in the United States. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have effectively become government entities.
• Fox Calculator "Earmarks", My share of the $890B Earmarks received by Senators Cochran & Inouye (combined) = $10.99.
According to Taxpayers for Common Sense, appropriations bills in fiscal 2010 contained 9,499 congressional earmarks worth $15.9 billion. Leading the pack of Senate earmark recipients were Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii), according to Taxpayers for Common Sense. Combined, the top two earmarks recipients, Sen. Cochran and Sen. Inouye, secured $890,023,850 in earmarks.
• Fox News (4/14/2010) Arizona Bill Aims to Outlaw Illegal Immigrants in State.
(4:51) Prayer in School. (Megyn Kelly, Fox News @ 4/12/2010 interviewing Tamara Holder, Defense Attorney and Cathy Ruse from the Family Research Council on the issue)
• Fox News (4/5/2010) Indiana School Fighting to Keep Prayer at Graduation.
