Pro-Existence

Unethical Loyalty

2008-08-14T09:53:00.003-04:00

By Rick Pearcey

This story about John Edwards and a former campaign aide raises the issue of misplaced loyalty.

Would you lie, nuance, cheat, steal or otherwise enable your compromised boss, candidate, cause, or trusted ministry leader?

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Tim Carney Honors Bob Novak

2008-08-08T06:24:00.007-04:00

By Rick Pearcey

With Bob Novak's decision to retire, having been diagnosed with a brain tumor, Tim Carney is now editor of the "Evans-Novak Political Report" (see this publisher's note regarding ENPR at Human Events).

Both Novak and Carney are journalistic colleagues of mine from my tenure as managing editor of Human Events. ENPR, a sister company with HE in Eagle Publishing, Inc., needed an associate editor, and that became me. Carney came to Human Events as a bright, young reporter, and then later in a separate career move, he began working at ENPR.

In today's Examiner, Carney offers a moving tribute to Novak, "the hardest-working man I have ever known. . . . Privileged to call him my boss for half my (admittedly brief) career, I suffer an incalculable loss as Bob Novak sets down his pen, but millions of his readers are also saddened."

But while Carney suffers loss, some choose a different path, for example, the "Internet’s puerile purveyors of uninformed vitriol celebrate his retirement."

Others enjoy a gain, of sorts: "There is another class of people in this town who -- even if they admire the man -- benefit from the end of Novak’s column: The politicians, lobbyists, bureaucrats and operatives who want to work in peace and quiet, out of the public view."

Yes, says Carney, "this city" has lost something, but "what we’ve lost is not primarily a conservative voice -- Novak was one of many who clearly and consistently articulated the call for limited government and, later in his life, also the protection of the unborn."

What "we've lost primarily" is this:

A reporter who cast a cynical eye on the best-laid plans of bureaucrats, who took the same level of skepticism to his coverage of both political parties, and who was motivated, above all, by the desire to unearth information that powerful people would prefer remained buried.

To the detriment of the republic, there is now one fewer skeptic calling around Capitol Hill until he gets the real dirt; there is one fewer sleuth -- freed by his spot on the opinion pages from what Novak calls the “deaf-dumb-blind” sort of impartiality that often makes news reporting worthless -- exposing the true machinations in the government. This can be a cause for relief for many powerful people.

As a cancer survivor myself, I understand we inhabit a less than perfect world: My hopes and prayers remain with Bob Novak and family for the best possible outcome.

A word to Tim: One of the best ways to honor your boss is to give the rich, powerful, and infamous of Washington, D.C. -- religious, secular, or undecided -- a reportorial basis to greet the morning news, and each hour of the day, with fear and trembling. No peace, no quiet, for the corrupt and their enablers.

Read Tim Carney's entire column here.

Related
For a discussion on objective reporting and Christian worldview, see "Warren, Murdoch, Porn, and WND."

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Has Anyone Read Total Truth?

2008-08-04T11:36:00.003-04:00

By Rick Pearcey

A potential reader of Total Truth wonders:

In a couple of weeks, our adult Sunday School class will begin reading her book Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2005).
Has anyone read this book?
Can you discuss its pros and cons?

Send help here.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Bible Not a "Religious" Book

2008-08-04T09:46:00.003-04:00

By Rick Pearcey

Archaeological finds like this help remind people that what is given in the Bible is not "religious" in the contemporary sense of the word, in which "faith" and spirituality are privatized self-medicative theories to help individuals, groups, communities, and movements of various stripes advance agendas, gain power, and otherwise cope in a heartless world and indifferent cosmos.

Instead what we have is information from the Creator regarding the objective world of fact, reason, history, and evidence.

Holistic, Biblical "faith" is primarily a matter of trust, not epistemology. True enough, trusting information that is given by our true Maker helps unlock further knowledge (see the scientific revolution), but it begins with information rooted in the real world.

Thus, what we have in Old and New Testament history are not mere "stories" (as "believers" of atheistic, academic, or pastoral stripe sometimes like to phrase it) but rather accounts of events that occurred in this world.

This kind of concrete truth -- not private experiences created by drugs, "religious" encounters, a rich imagination, or deeply held personal desires -- is what sets people free to navigate as whole but imperfect beings in a broken world.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Presidential Elections vs. the Kingdom of God

2008-08-01T09:55:00.005-04:00

By Rick Pearcey

A renowned pastor apparently cares little about the 2008 presidential election because such things have "nothing to do with the kingdom of God."

And yet Jesus said, "Love thy neighbor" (Matt. 22: 39).

Now, if you "love thy neighbor," do you not also care somewhat about the neighborhood of thy neighbor? It may therefore be a matter of godly and humane concern who is elected President, not just of the "neighborhood," as it were, but also of the country.

For if the King of the kingdom of God says "love thy neighbor" is important, and this love includes compassion about the real-world impact of concepts, practices, and leaders on the lives of our neighbors, is it not part of the kingdom of God to care somewhat about who is elected President?

Yes it is. This is part of the Total Truth of what it means to be a compassionate human being alive to fellowship with the Creator and newness of life, across the whole of life, in relation to our neighbors.

This is one of many reasons presidential elections matter not just now, but also in eternity.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Congratulations, Rush -- Now Shut Up

2008-08-01T08:11:00.004-04:00

By Rick Pearcey

In today's Examiner:

As Rush Limbaugh and his estimated 20 million daily listeners celebrate the talk radio titan’s 20th anniversary on the air, Democratic leaders in Congress are moving to turn his mike off.

Their weapon is restoration of the so-called Fairness Doctrine. Even folks who would rather have a root canal than listen to Rush’s daily pronouncements should hope they don’t succeed. If they do bring back this bureaucratic relic from the days of Harry Truman, it won’t be just Rush’s voice that will be muted, it will be free and open political debate in general that will suffer.

Question: Where's the "off switch" for Congress? In the old days of freedom, we had the Constitution.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Bruni-Sarkozy and the Unbearable Lightness of Nudity

2008-07-29T09:07:00.007-04:00

By Rick Pearcey

France's First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy seems to have second thoughts about having "posed for too many nude photos."

Good for her, and yet: How is this possible?

Is she no longer "proud of my body"? What? She wants something special, private, reserved, unknown to others, with her husband?

As if human love between husband and wife is more than the publicly accessible physics and chemistry of firing neurons.

Here's what may be bubbling to the surface: Despite the pronouncements of Darwinian and atheistic theory, human beings in fact are more than flesh, skin surfaces, and matter.

For all the MTV and artsy hype, the reduction of ethics and meaning to the raw power of individual choice diminishes the human being as a person.

Beauty may be skin deep, but privacy isn't. It goes to the heart of the living soul as a personal being who acts out into the external world.

Like an alienated man on a bridge in the dark of night, humanity screams out against the unbearable lightness of materialism and its inhumane orthodoxies, no matter how pleasing they may be to the skin trade or cash register.

Privacy is good. If it survives, we survive as free, humane beings. To be naked in love one must sometimes cover up.

See also
Rolled Model: Tennis Pro Harkleroad "Proud of My Body"

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Rick Warren Mesmermized

2008-07-28T06:49:00.011-04:00

By Rick Pearcey

The not mesmerized David Bass over at the John Locke Foundation maintains a critical distance vis-a-vis Barack Obama.

Obama's attempted coup of the evangelical right is hardly a universal success. He continues to tick off conservative mainstays like James Dobson, who can see past the senator's rock star persona and occasional biblical references to his liberal core. But others are not so wise. Rick Warren, for example.

Not allowing one's mind and church to be taken over by alien thoughtforms is a good thing. "Sales resistance" in all things, including religion and politics, is helpful in this regard -- and it's profoundly humane and biblical.

While thinking through Bass's point above, free-thinkers and disciples of Jesus (who as human beings ought to be free-thinkers) may also want to consider the following 4 points:

First, be an old grizzled shepherd, not a smiley-faced “believer.” The shepherds of Luke 2 do not put God in a closet and say you can know him but only if you go in there and submit to some kind of privatized epistemological baptism that happens to “people of faith.” Yes, the Bible knows about “believers,” but that’s to emphasize the commitment of the whole person to truth-claims that are accepted on the basis of reasoning and information that make rational and evidential sense in the real world. Shepherds, grizzled or otherwise, do get to smile, but first they see the baby.

Second, develop sales resistance. Christmas is about individuals willing to evaluate things for themselves. There is no need to check your brains at the pasture gate just because of bright lights in the sky, fancy advertising, or manipulated symbols on CNN or in form letters from ghostwriters employed by respected bigshots, religious and otherwise. Question authority, think freely, foil the manipulators, eyeball the materialists, refuse the hypocrites, and take responsibility for your life as a choosing, thinking being made in the image of God.

Third, affirm the whole person. Reject the despair of a splintered secular existence where hope sinks like a lead balloon but we’ll pretend it floats because pleasing feelings attend a current holiday. Christmas is about fact and meaning together because the Savior of the world is a real baby in a real manger who lives a Gospel that touches the same ground we walk on every day. Celebrate the humane unity of life as a complete person liberated from brokenness and bad philosophy. Act coherently and authentically at work, in government, on campus, in church, before the easel, in the lab, and with your family. Embrace humanity in community with our true Creator and then watch love and truth burst out of the secular straight-jacket.

Finally, celebrate the individual. An individual named Jesus came to Bethlehem to live and die for people, not for useful cogs in a cosmic machine that burped a mass of humanity into being by accident. He chose a path leading from Bethlehem manger to Roman cross because, despite our choices to walk away from truth and love, flawed human beings remain magnificent creatures of great worth and significance, having been made in the image of God. The Nativity is about regular people, what Francis Schaeffer called “little people” in “little places,” who join with the Creator to rage against the machine, death, sin, and decay. The love of a parent for a child, of a living God for human creatures with particular names and life stories that matter, is not a cruel joke foisted off on us by our genes. Nor is this love of God and man to be disrespected or steamrolled to the ground by the demands of big government, big business, or big ministry. With God we revolt against any who would deify themselves or their groups to transfigure creatures of such great worth into enablers, minions, pawns, and alter egos for the rich, powerful, and hard-chargers of this world.

More . . .

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Setting the Schaeffer Record Straight

2008-07-28T06:12:00.004-04:00

By Rick Pearcey

A reviewer writes:

As an admirer of Francis Schaeffer, one of the saddest things I have witnessed during the last few years is the attempts by both his own son and by other detractors to impugn his integrity or, at least, to redefine him as something he was not. Reading son Frank Schaeffer’s memoir, both father and mother are portrayed negatively, Francis as a reclusive, depressed, sometimes suicidal man and Edith as a perfectionist nut. Well, perhaps the title says it all -- Crazy for God. This book by biographer Colin Duriez, Francis Schaeffer: An Authentic Life, should set the record straight.

More . . .

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

More on Benny Hinn's "Offshore Miracle"

2008-07-23T09:23:00.003-04:00

By Rick Pearcey

A thinking pastor questions Benny Hinn.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Another Alternative to Girl Scouts

2008-07-18T08:00:00.003-04:00

By Rick Pearcey

A reader recommends High Adventure Treks (HATS) for Dads and Daughters as another alternative to the Girl Scouts.

Here's a May 13, 2008, story from "Neighbors Go" of the Dallas Morning News.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

"Culture War Is Lost Unless . . ."

2008-07-17T13:17:00.006-04:00

By Rick Pearcey

Seth Elliott of IHS has a word for delusional culture warriors lacking credibility:

The culture war is lost unless people begin to trust Christians more than secularists, atheists, communists, and radical liberals. To gain this social trust, I propose that Christians everywhere submit themselves to the Christian Credibility Creed.

Read the specifics of Mr. Elliott's Credibility Creed here. Do you agree with him -- in general, in particular?

Related articles:
* Dembski Questions Famed Healing Ministry
* What Is a Plagiarist?
* O'Reilly, Letterman, and the Culture War
* Francis Schaeffer: A Student's Appreciation of a Distinct Approach
* I'll Take Sartre

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

AC Milan: Official Ronaldinho Announcement

2008-07-15T22:23:00.007-04:00

By Rick Pearcey

Italian soccer giant AC Milan has signed Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho to a 3-year contract. Here's the official announcement from the AC Milan website:

RONALDINHO: AC MILAN OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

7/15/2008 -- AC Milan and FC Barcelona have reached an agreement for the transfer of Ronaldinho to the Rossoneri's club. Tomorrow the player will be in Milan for the medical and to sign the contract which will tie him to Milan until June 30th 2011.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Billions and Billions Insulted: Press Conference to Question McDonald's

2008-07-15T16:05:00.008-04:00

By Rick Pearcey

As the press release below indicates, announcing an event to occur tomorrow morning, the movement to question McDonald’s and its embrace of the homosexual agenda continues to build.

Press Release

July 15, 2008

Liberty Counsel to Hold Joint Press Conference

to Address McDonald’s Anti-Christian Attacks

Chicago, Illinois – On Wednesday, July 16, at 10:00 a.m., Liberty Counsel will participate in a joint press conference with the American Family Association (AFA), Americans for Truth and the Illinois Family Institute in front of the McDonald's restaurant across from McDonald's' corporate headquarters in Oakbrook, IL. Matt Barber, Director of Cultural Affairs with Liberty Counsel, will address the media.

Recently, the McDonald's Corporation contributed thousands of dollars and joined the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, a radical homosexual activist organization that pushes the homosexual agenda, including calling for legalization of so-called "same-sex marriage." In so doing, McDonald's has publicly sided in the ongoing culture war against the majority of Americans who hold traditional family values. For this reason, AFA called for the boycott against McDonald's.

"Unfortunately, McDonald's has chosen to side with militant homosexual activists over people with traditional values," said Matt Barber. "The company has further escalated the controversy by lodging a personal attack against the tens of millions of Americans who support traditional sexual morality and legitimate marriage. While referring to Christians and other people with traditional values, McDonald's spokesman Bill Whitman arrogantly told the Washington Post that, 'Hatred has no place in our culture,' thereby suggesting that people who support the historical definition of marriage are simply motivated by 'hate.' This insult is highly offensive, and anyone who supports traditional marriage should boycott McDonald's and tell the company why they’re doing so."

Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented, "McDonald's should focus on food quality and safety issues instead of attacking the values held by the majority of people worldwide. Marriage between a man and a woman is the norm throughout the world. McDonald's' personal attack against those who support the traditional definition of marriage, while siding with a narrow group that promotes a radical redefinition, shows that company executives are out to lunch. McDonald's might as well change their signs to read 'billions and billions insulted.'"

For more information, contact Liberty Counsel public relations at 1-800-671-1776.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Unholy Matrimony -- Massachusetts Leads the Way, the Wrong Way

2008-07-15T12:41:00.009-04:00

By Rick Pearcey

Coffee With Curt percolates with excitement over how Massachusetts continues to lead the way in advancing regressive, monosexed "unholy matrimony," to quote an email from one of our favorite Revs.

"This is nothing new," says Pastor Curt. "Massachusetts has been trying to lead the way in liberal, anti-family legislation for years. Even the (very, very few) Republican legislators have tended to go along with this trend. After all, they wouldn't want to bruise anybody's ego, or infringe upon anybody's 'rights' -- unless those anybodies happen to be Christians."

But don't blame this retrograde "leadership" only on the politicians, cautions the Coffeeman. "The church is supposed to provide a moral compass for the society. Yet, the church's position of moral leadership has been compromised by liberalism, Biblical illiteracy, scandal after scandal, and timidity (read that 'fear'). Many churches today have no moral compass themselves."

More here for a needed change in direction.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Dembski Questions Famed Healing Ministry

2008-07-14T08:57:00.005-04:00

By Rick Pearcey

William A. Dembski of Intelligent Design fame questions the healing ministry of Todd Bentley down in Lakeland, Fla.

Such questioning is legitimate, Biblical, humane, and necessary. Humaness, worldview, and discipleship are cut from the single cloth of truth.

We await a reply to Dembski's question: "Faith and Healing -- Where's the Evidence?"

Meanwhile, one way to test the validity of an organization is to examine its methods. Not just the PR methods evidenced on websites with glossy pictures, wondrous bios, and a Herculean list of accomplishments and books, columns, etc., "by" the latest version of "renegade-turned-modern-day-St. Paul."

No, sadly, not the methods on display for public view, but the ones kept "in the basement," as it were. That's where, so often, in the dark, the real work is done.

In this regard, and in liberating contrast, the Lord's work is meant to be done the Lord's way, across the board, and with application to the nuts and bolts of organizations put forward as "Christian ministries."

This was a central concern of Francis Schaeffer, as seen in chapter 13 of the beloved True Spirituality. It is also the concern of chapter 13 of Nancy Pearcey's book Total Truth. The Lord's work is meant to be done in the light.

To follow truth is to embrace beauty. To fake it, "nuance" it, and spin it for "the sake of the Gospel" (i.e., fundraising, etc.) is to demean people and take the Lord's name in vain.

Dances with deception set forth in the service of Celebriantity and its hard-charging gods are a disaster, no matter how much noise is made about "worldview" or "reforming manners," no matter how much access to Big Media or the White House is gained, and so on.

You know the song and dance. It's underlined in hundreds of thousands of "Dear Friend" appeal letters strategically underlined in blue and signed by machines. One might be tempted to conclude that some evangelical marketers think Christians are idiots waiting to be led around by their noses.

"Test everything," says the real Apostle Paul (1 Thess. 5:21). "Testing everything" is key to embracing love and avoiding the cruelty and ugliness of a truncated Christianity and inhumane "ministry."

One more thing: If this isn't fixed, it matters little who wins the election. Politics follows culture. Methods matter. It's a warning and a promise.

* Update: See discussion at Dembski's site, here. "Dembski Questions Famed Healing Ministry" is referenced at response No. 44.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Question McDonald's

2008-07-11T09:08:00.006-04:00

By Rick Pearcey

Question McDonald's.

That's what free-thinking Americans might want to do.

WND reports that McDonald's is now saying "Christian Boycotters 'Hate' Homosexuals."

First, McDonald's attacks family. Now, it attacks Christians. Big Mac is selling Big Bigotry in allowing itself to be coopted by an anti-family, anti-Christian agenda.

And if you question the wisdom of this corporate empire's new scheme, why, you're a hater. In fact, how dare you question the establishment, the worldwide Pink System!

This is yet another reason a free-thinking people may decide to spend their petro-dollars driving to a friendlier restaurant.

Perhaps a restaurant not at war with family or with the founding worldview of U.S. society.

Perhaps a restaurant where it's safe to question, to think, and demand reasonable answers -- without being slammed by a corporate giant as some kind of "hater." Please.

Another reason not to waste an ounce of gas driving to McDonald's.

Pro-homosexual fanatics may think everything is going according to plan, but something tells me McDonald's might regret its new line of attack. McDonald's may regret adding attacks on Christianity to its attack on family.

What's especially amazing is that McDonald's likes to hype itself as "socially responsible." Well, a thousand plaques on the wall are meaningless if you deny family, deny freedom of thought, deny the Creator's norms for life, and seek to cloak your denial in so-called "diversity."

If it's still OK at question authority, test everything, and think freely (as is our birthright as human beings created in the image of God) consider: Are these attacks really "socially responsible" -- or are they just good old secular fanaticism draped in focus-group-tested marketing language?

Is McDonald's really being "socially responsible"? Or are we witnessing pink fanaticism fueled by pink Kool-aid?

Something to think about.

But not at McDonald's.

It's hard to think when a "socially responsible" someone is yelling at you for not drinking their Kool-aid.

See also:
* No McDonald's Today
* WND's Farah Blasts Pro-Homosexual McDonald's, Joins Call for Boycott
* Reader Responds to "No McDonald's Today"
* National Radio: Rick Pearcey Discusses McDonald's Homosexual Alliance
* "Faggot" Easy to Defend: Surprising Help From Secular America
* Rosie O'Donnell's Oppressive Coat
* O'Reilly, Letterman, and the Culture War

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Aborcentration Camp: If You Build It, They Will Die

2008-07-10T08:54:00.003-04:00

By Rick Pearcey

No humane-thinking human being wants a Planned Parenthood aborcentration camp (aka "clinic") in his or her neighborhood.

Thus protesters have alerted the City of Portland, etc., with salutary results thus far.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Honor Killing in Ga. Reveals Weakness of Political Correctness

2008-07-10T07:26:00.005-04:00

By Rick Pearcey

There's been an honor killing in Clayton County, Ga., just south of Atlanta. A Pakistani immigrant strangled his daughter to death. She, according to police, was planning to divorce the husband imposed upon her by an arranged marriage.

Rather than examine the link between Islam and parents killing daughters who question arranged marriages, "learned analysts search for clues in South Asian cultural habits and the practices of European royalty," writes Robert Spencer.

"The price of this politically correct refusal to confront the ugly realities of the Islamic link to honor killing will be, quite simply, more honor killings," Spencer warns.

But not in South Asia, in the south of Atlanta.

In university, from Hollywood, on newscasts, and in corporate cultures, Americans are instructed and goaded to embrace secularism, cultural relativism, and "diversity is our strength."

The upshot is not just wasted money, foolish schooling, dumbed-down adults, rootlessness, and social apathy in the face of evil.

People are dying. "These young women are the ulitmate victims of political correctness," Spencer concludes.

Honor killings help reveal the inhumanity and weakness of political correctness.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

WND's Farah Blasts Pro-Homosexual McDonald's, Joins Call for Boycott

2008-07-07T12:09:00.005-04:00

By Rick Pearcey

Joseph Farah of WND has joined the call to boycott pro-homosexual McDonald's, formerly known as a family restaurant.

The American Family Association announced its boycott of Big Macs last week (July 3).

Judging by their reaction, many homosexual activists flipped into berserk mode in response to "No McDonald's Today," which announced our concerns and was published at Pro-Existence a few months ago (April 4, 2008).

For more on the homosexual reaction to "No McDonald's Today," see Andrew Sullivan, including his links.

See also:
* Reader Responds to "No McDonald's Today"
* National Radio: Rick Pearcey Discusses McDonald's Homosexual Alliance
* Court Watch: Does McDonald's Support This Lesbian Attack on Family?
* "Faggot" Easy to Defend: Surprising Help From Secular America
* Rosie O'Donnell's Oppressive Coat
* O'Reilly, Letterman, and the Culture War

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Where Is Nancy Pearcey?

2008-07-07T09:30:00.004-04:00

By Rick Pearcey

Julia Duin over at the Washington Times looks at the "world of religion" and wonders "What Happened to the Women?"

"In much of the church," she writes, "there is a whole gender missing."

Among the missing is noted professor, editor, scholar, thinker, musician, best-selling author, wife, and mother Nancy Pearcey.

Thus alerted, I conducted a bit of research and found her, here.

Needless to say, an impressive woman.

You can read more by Julia Duin here.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

McDonald's, Rush, and the Mediterranean

2008-07-03T10:18:00.016-04:00

By Rick Pearcey

In addition to the rescue of hostages down in Colombia, here are 3 other reports of good news to consider:

1) The American Family Association is calling for a boycott of pro-homosexual McDonald's, formerly known as a family restaurant. Maybe the AFA and others can help save the fast-food joint, formerly known as a family restaurant, from its politically correct, inhumane, and regressive concept of "social responsibility."

2) Rush Limbaugh is to get $38 million a year for the next 8 years, plus a 9-figure signing bonus, according to AP. Rush deserves it, and America needs his voice. PC diversity is a weakness, but true diversity of information that respects the individual's need for critical distance is a strength. Meanwhile, Rush, why only $38 million per year?

3) "Miracle Diet From the Med" tells us about the cancer-fighting benefits of a Mediterranean diet. Yet another alternative that beats McDonald's, bigtime. We at the Pearcey villa have recently enjoyed recipes and insights based on The Mediterranean Diet and The Mediterranean Prescription. Bon appetit!

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

White Pastor Acknowledges "Racism"

2008-06-30T14:30:00.008-04:00

By Rick Pearcey

A high-test coffee-drinking pastor friend of mine finally acknowledges he's a "racist" and maybe even a Nazi. Apparently it all hinges on whether you're willing to vote for a certain candidate for president.

Thus spake Pastor Curt:

I heard it yet again this morning from a Barack Obama supporter. He said (on the radio), “I am suspicious of anyone who won’t vote for Barack Obama. He is at best a racist and at worst a Nazi.” So there you have it. I’m a racist (or Nazi). I guess there is no consideration given for viewing candidates on their records and beliefs. Barack Obama is a left-wing liberal. I’m a conservative -- too conservative for the Republican Party. I wouldn’t vote for Barack Obama if he was green, white, yellow or a combination thereof. To call me a racist is pretty stupid. Give me a break -- I grew up in South Providence!

Once upon a time in America it was OK to think before you voted. Once upon a time there was a black guy named King who talked about evaluating people on the basis of character, not skin color. But on this new line of thinking perhaps Herr King was a closet Nazi.

Apparently, in some minds, those regressive days are over. All you need now is a color chart and progressive people to point you in the racially correct direction.

As for King, Curt, and me, we're all racists. Maybe even Nazis. Heil Skin Color!

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

What Is a Plagiarist?

2008-06-30T05:23:00.016-04:00

By Rick Pearcey

What is a plagiarist?

"First-class intellectual fraud" is how one newspaper describes a now-fired professor.

It seems rather odd, but there really are people who have no compunction about allowing their names to be slapped onto work done by others.

Sometimes it seems the bigger the name, the easier the slap.

It seems rather odd, but there really are people who knowingly and repeatedly allow themselves to be praised for work they did not do. And not just professors at universities.

"I love your commentary!"

"What a magnificent book on Christian worldview!"

"God has really used it."

"Thank you," says the ever-so-humble con artist.

But why the counterfeits? Perhaps money is to be made, reputations to be shaped, images to be projected, downfalls to be rehabilitated, legacies to protected, embarrassment to be covered.

But we can do better. Most people know this intuitively. It's the way we teach our kids: "Honesty is the best policy" and "tell the truth, even if it hurts you."

Some people are on a learning curve. Many simply haven't yet seen through illusion to the darkness and complicity. In certain respects, we've all been there. Sometimes we are not able to see the darkness until we are so far in that it seems almost impossible to escape.

What counts is what we do when we discover the emperor is rather naked indeed. Some turn around and move toward the light. Others move deeper into darkness. This can be a process that takes a moment -- or weeks, months, and years. By it, cultures are won or lost, lives lived fully or in vain.

When you move into the light, you get Reformation and renewal and humanity. When you persist in enablement, you get the status quo, enslaving praise, and mission failure.

Thus we witness intellectually and spiritually fraudulent books, articles, columns, film reviews, book reviews, blogs, blurbs, letters, and sermons.

Colluding in this con are the ghostwriters, who are paid to allow someone else to be credited with work that is not the putative "author's." Allowing someone to take your work and pretend it is theirs is just as much a form of plagiarism as when the other person steals it outright.

What the ghostwriter does is to join the fake "author" in defrauding the public. Both are stealing from the storehouse of the public trust. A contract simply legalizes the immorality and digs the hole of corruption that much deeper.

Thereby millions of unsuspecting people are involved in this deception. Publishers thereby sell more books, organizations thereby raise more funds. With particular callousness, an "author" might even boast of how royalties are donated to this or that ministry.

Should we ever be too important, too "Big," or too busy to tell the truth? Of course not.

We can do better. We can encourage authenticity in our own lives and elevate the individual and his creative gift instead of smashing him or her.

This is part of the high calling of "loving thy neighbor," of practising the truth that there are "no little people" and of doing "the Lord's work the Lord's way," as Francis Schaeffer so often emphasized.

It can be done with one word, a single phone call can get the ball rolling. Mere seconds can help change the culture and reform manners.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

"Home" Abortion and the Death of Privacy

2008-06-23T09:54:00.008-04:00

By Rick Pearcey

A fact of life today is that the womb is not a safe space for pre-born humanity. It's clearly more dangerous there than in the less-efficient concentration camps that exemplify the recent Dark Ages of liberated, enlightened, post-Christian Europe.

The lack of privacy and protection in that erstwhile sanctified place located inside the body of a mother has been extended to "clinics" and hospitals. Aborcentration camps are well-neigh a global franchise.

Inhumane worldviews do not sleep or rest. They continue to unfold and impose their consequences, even if PR talking points distract and bait the hook with language of high self-esteem.

That, plus the patina of corporate sponsorship, may do the trick. As a test case, you might try knocking on the door of McDonald's, once known as a family-friendly restaurant.

"Safe" and "legal" choices abort the lives of millions red and yellow, black and white. Females are empowered by blood, their babies condemned to their freedom.

Now come reports that women are being offered "home" abortions. Humanistic regress thereby advances the concept of home invasions to new levels in a post-humane culture.

The Hollywood celebrities and paparazzi are right: Privacy is dead.

Related
* Habitat for Inhumanity
* Square Circle Watch: Pro-Life Christians for Obama?
* Abortofascism and Free-Market Homicide
* If Diversity Is King

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).