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Buddhism and anti-Christian bigotry

This report might help explain how Todd Epp’s Buddhism is a source to his anti-Christian positions:

The Myanmar military government's crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators has raised alarms among world powers in recent days, but that's only one of the head-to-head clashes occurring in the nation formerly known as Burma, according to Voice of the Martyrs, the worldwide ministry to persecuted Christians.

The second war being waged is the crackdown on Buddhists who renounce their old gods in favor of Christianity.

"Please pray for me," begs a 65-year-old man in message to VOM, "as I have been forced to leave my village, my wife and my two children who I love dearly.

"I pray that I may soon be able to return back to them. I love them but I cannot do what they have asked me to do – curse my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, come back to Buddha and my family."

The testimony, VOM said, is representative from individuals who come to Christianity in Myanmar.

This man tells of his faithfulness to Buddhism over his lifetime. Then, he said, "One day we were sitting at the temple entrance receiving collections from the people, one of the Christians passing by gave me a tract."

He said he kept it, and took him home and read it.

"When I read this tract it spoke of receiving the gift of eternal life when believing Jesus Christ. I started to question and wonder, 'How can we know eternal life? What is this eternal life the tract spoke of?'"

He asked his family, and, "They simply joked about it, saying, 'Father you are a good man, you will surely be a rich man in your next life.' But the thought would not leave me, I felt it deeply as I was growing older. When I die, will there be a place that I go to? So I kept thinking about this over and over in my heart and mind, until finally at midnight I called on Jesus, 'Lord Jesus I believe, please give me eternal life.' The Lord Jesus heard my prayer and answered my call.

"Then the light shone into my soul, light in my heart which was great joy. Simply stated, I am at peace, a real peace in my heart which I had never experienced before, which is difficult to put into words," he told Voice of the Martyrs.

He said he had been worshipping his Buddha statue every day. "Early the next morning I knew in my heart that I must throw out the image of Buddha … Without speaking to my wife, I took the image and threw it into a small river near my village," he said. "When my wife woke up and was preparing an offering to the image of Buddha, it was gone! She was very upset asking, 'What is happening here? Where are the gods?' I told her I had thrown them away."

She got angry, then called the authorities.

"They came to my home – policemen, firemen, the local security forces, in all about 25 people. All asking at once what had happened. I told them that I had found the True and Living God, Who loved me and had given me eternal life," he said. "They proceeded to tell me I was not worthy to live. Then I was imprisoned for five days when they tried to convince me to give up this foolish belief and convert back to Buddhism. Thank God, the Lord Jesus gave me strength to face and overcome these trials."

But he said he was ejected from his home, and his town, and he hopes to be allowed to return at some point.

And the secular left is also using public educaiton to create the same kind of anti-Christian bigotry:

Both the students at Boulder, Colo., High School who are protesting the traditional "Pledge of Allegiance" because of its inclusion of "God," as well as school officials who are praising them for democratically expressing their views, need to be educated, charges a national advocacy group.

"The organized student boycott of the Pledge of Allegiance at Boulder High School yesterday was a ridiculous display of immaturity, ignorance and intolerance that should punished by the school," said the Right Rev. Council Nedd, the national chairman of In God We Trust USA.

"In no way is hearing the words 'under God' offensive as high school senior Emma Martens claims. In media reports Miss Martens is quoted as saying, 'We didn't think it was fair for the whole school to have to listen to (the pledge). It's almost religious oppression,'" he said.

"The only thing offensive about this whole episode is that children in Boulder High School are not being taught to respect their fellow students who believe in God or to appreciate America's historical belief that our liberties come from a higher power and not from government," he said.

Obviously these high school students have yet to study the Declaration of Independence. And we now know another source of Todd Epp’s and his far-left comrades’ anti-Christian positions…public education.

Todd Epp lies about eminent domain?

In the Argus Leader report regarding TransCanada’s use of eminent domain Todd Epp was quoted:

Sioux Falls lawyer Todd Epp says "I have talked to landowners in the Howard area, and I have had e-mail communication with others. They are pretty unhappy about all this."

He says he would tell such landowners their best bet is to try to stop the project at the PUC level and to persuade state legislators next year to tighten the common carrier rules. But Epp says of Keystone's ability to use eminent domain now, "The bottom line, if it holds itself out to be a pipeline ... I don't know of anything anybody can do about it."

Then as Epp blows his own horn about being quoted in the Argus, he says this:

First, I think there is a possible attack on TransCanada’s use of eminent domain, but I’m keeping that under my hat in case someone engages me to fight this.

The two statements can’t both be true. Comments are open for Epp to explain himself.

UPDATE: Since Todd Epp does not want to address this issue openly and in public view, I have colsed comments on this post.

Put down the Kool Aid

OK, Bill Fleming and Trent Dlugosh…put down the Kool Aid and go to this link and watch a YouTube piece where Rush Limbaugh explains how Media Matters knowingly takes items out of context to smear those who bring the truth, such as Bill O'Reilly, by creating lies.

Daschle vs Thune

The Mitchell Daily Republic put an analysis of Jon Lauck's book on their front page today. Excerpt:

Lauck said Thune's decision to enter the race was "clinched" by what Thune saw as Daschle's inexcusable failure in November 2003 to actively support an energy bill that sought to boost ethanol production. Democrats, of whom Daschle was the Senate leader, filibustered the bill. Thune seized on the episode as evidence of "obstructionism" by the Daschle-led Democrats and used it as a central campaign issue.

"Daschle's obligation to his Senate caucus had helped undermine a major piece of legislation important to farmers in South Dakota," Lauck wrote. "Daschle faced a difficult choice: he could serve as the partisan leader of the Senate Democrats, thrust and parry with Senator Frist, and serve as the loyal opposition to President Bush in an age of partisan bickering, or he could fully represent his state's interests. But he could not do both."

And of course here is what created the South Dakota blogosphere:

Lauck also devotes attention to the rise of the "blogosphere," which he contends was a crucial influence on the race. Anti-Daschle bloggers, working independently of the mainstream media, blogged about the senator's every move and "provided a stark contrast to LBJ's years as leader, when he could differentiate his Texas statements from his pronouncements in Washington."

A primary reason for the ascendance of blogs in South Dakota, according to Lauck, was the lack of critical Daschle coverage by South Dakota's largest newspaper, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. Lauck repeatedly criticized the Argus and its political reporter, David Kranz, for what Lauck and other bloggers perceived as the newspaper's pro-Daschle bias. Lauck said Daschle had benefited his entire career from positive coverage by the Argus, but "the Internet scrambled longtime political practices."

Lauck quoted national blogger, radio host and law professor Hugh Hewitt as saying during the race that the "influence of blogging on politics is nowhere more obvious than in South Dakota."

Now we now why David Kranz has not mentioned this book in a column. My contribution to that revelation was also included in the book. And I say that as a testament to those who think they can't make a difference. If you don't try, you won't. The very premise of America's freedom is an involved, educated and informed citizenry. I think that is what we have lost, and I think the blogosphere is our only hope to bring that back.

I have a copy and have gotten about a third of the way through it. There is a lot of interesting historical items that I did not know about both Daschle and Thune. For those on the left, if you can over look Lauck's admitted right bias, I think you will find the book interesting.

Argus Leader catches on

The Argus Leader is now catching up to the TransCanada eminent domain controversy, that has been already covered by the Mitchell Daily Republic and this blog:

The company proposing to pipe crude oil across eastern South Dakota from Canada to Illinois is beginning condemnation proceedings on some property, a rural water system official says.

TransCanada, the company proposing the Keystone Pipeline from Hardisty, Alberta, to Wood River and Patoka, Ill., filed a notice of condemnation on property on which BDM Rural Water System has its own easement, BDM Manager David Wade of Britton said Thursday.

If negotiations with landowners fail to get an easement, right of eminent domain gives TransCanada the ability to take landowners to court. In court, a fair price would be set for the easement or to take the property.

"It's a surprise. I didn't know we (rural water) could get a condemnation against us," Wade said. He said the rural water system received "a sort of complementary filing," because it held an easement on property the oil pipeline wants to cross.

Wade said the legal action means his organization must work with a lawyer to respond to the petition for condemnation filed in Marshall County Circuit Court. He said other landowners have received condemnation notices recently, even though TransCanada hasn't received a permit from the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission for the proposed route through the state.

"It's a foreign company trying to condemn" property, Wade said.

TransCanada is putting the financial interest above respect for landowners as the report answer why TransCanada is using eminent domain before getting a PUC permit:

Whether or not the pipeline company has authority to condemn property for its project, it should try harder to negotiate agreements without legal action, says Curt Hohn, WEB Water Systems general manager and a vocal critic of TransCanada's plan for a South Dakota route.

"It can take a long, long time to negotiate a pipeline route, but if you take the time, you don't leave a sour taste in people's mouths when you're finished," Hohn said in a recent interview. "It isn't easy or quick that way, but you don't make as many enemies."

Keystone intends to be moving crude oil in 2009, said Jeff Rauh, pipeline project spokesman. That means construction must start next year.

Instead of taking the time to negotiate, TransCanda is looking at its corporate bottom line. The financial gain of this pipeline cannot begin until it is installed.

The left’s free speech myth

Ann Coulter correctly exposed the far-left’s misuse of a right that they themselves refuse to honor:

Democrats should run Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for president. He's more coherent than Dennis Kucinich, he dresses like their base, he's more macho than John Edwards, and he's willing to show up at a forum where he might get one hostile question -- unlike the current Democratic candidates for president who won't debate on Fox News Channel. He's not married to an impeached president, and the name "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad" is surely no more frightening than "B. Hussein Obama."

And liberals agree with Ahmadinejad on the issues! We know that because he was invited by an American university to speak on campus.

Contrary to all the blather about "free speech" surrounding Ahmadinejad's appearance at Columbia, universities in America do not invite speakers who do not perfectly mirror the political views of their America-hating faculties. Rather, they aggressively censor differing viewpoints and permit only a narrow category of speech on their campuses. Ask Larry Summers.

If a university invites someone to speak, you know the faculty agrees with the speaker. Maybe not the entire faculty. Some Columbia professors probably consider Ahmadinejad too moderate on Israel.

Columbia president Lee Bollinger claimed the Ahmadinejad invitation is in keeping with "Columbia's long-standing tradition of serving as a major forum for robust debate."

Except Columbia doesn't have that tradition. This is worse than saying "the dog ate my homework." It's like saying "the dog ate my homework" when you're Michael Vick and everyone knows you've killed your dog.

Columbia's "tradition" is to shut down any speakers who fall outside the teeny, tiny seditious perspective of its professors.

When Minutemen leader Jim Gilchrist and his black colleague Marvin Stewart were invited by the College Republicans to speak at Columbia last year, the tolerant, free-speech-loving Columbia students violently attacked them, shutting down the speech.

Imbued with Bollinger's commitment to free speech, Columbia junior Ryan Fukumori said of the Minutemen: "They have no right to be able to speak here."

Needless to say -- unlike Ahmadinejad -- the university had not invited the Minutemen. Most colleges and universities wouldn't buy a cup of coffee for a conservative speaker.

Fees for speakers who do not hate America are raised from College Republican fundraisers and contributions from patriotic alumni and locals who think students ought to hear at least one alternative viewpoint in four years of college.

And then college administrators turn a blind eye when liberal apple-polishers and suck-ups shut down the speech or physically attack the speaker.

Bollinger refused to punish the students who stormed the stage and violently ended the Minutemen's speech.

So the one thing we know absolutely is that Bollinger did not allow Ahmadinejad to speak out of respect for "free speech" because Bollinger does not respect free speech.

Cultural Marxist indoctrination

Here is an example of how the far-left communists have successfully indoctrinated youth with anti-American, anti-Christian, and anti-family Cultural Marxism:

Dozens of students at Boulder, Colo., High School have launched a series of protests against the traditional "Pledge of Allegiance," instead substituting their own version which pledges allegiance to "diversity … with liberty, freedom, choice and justice for all."

"A lot of people have different reasons [for the protest], but mainly it's [the traditional Pledge] a complete violation of our separation of church and state," one student told an interviewer in a Boulder Daily Camera video posted by Slapstick Politics.

More than four dozen students participated in the "protest pledge" yesterday, and they promised to make it a regular event until the school changes its policy, which was set up to comply with state law requiring that schools make a time available during the school day for students to recite the traditional pledge if they want.

A report in the Daily Camera said the students stood in the school courtyard and recited their own adopted version, written by Boulder High senior Emma Martens who is president of the student group called Student Worker:

"I pledge allegiance to the flag and my constitutional rights with which it comes. And to the diversity, in which our nation stands, one nation, part of one planet, with liberty, freedom, choice and justice for all."

The report said the protest coincided with the time allowed by the school for students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance if they want. Student Worker members have complained they want the recitation to be during lunch so that people who don't want to participate "won't have to hear it."

Note the "Student Worker" points to Marxism, and their attack on free speech being a communist act against God and America.

Far-left attack against truth exposed

Finally, the "Big Lie" of the secular humanist is being exposed:

Ben Stein, the lovable, monotone teacher from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "The Wonder Years" is back in the classroom in a major motion picture release slated for February 2008.

But this time, the actor will be on the big screen asking one of life's biggest questions: "Were we designed, or are we simply the end result of an ancient mud puddle struck by lightning?"

That's right. Evolution – and the explosive debate over its virtual monopoly on America's public school classrooms – is the focus of the film "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed."

In the movie, Stein, who is also a lawyer, economist, former presidential speechwriter, author and social commentator, is stunned by what he discovers – an elitist scientific establishment that has traded in its skepticism for dogma. Even worse, say publicists for the feature film, "along the way, Stein uncovers a long line of biologists, astronomers, chemists and philosophers who have had their reputations destroyed and their careers ruined by a scientific establishment that allows absolutely no dissent from Charles Darwin's theory of random mutation and natural selection."

"Big Science in this area of biology has lost its way," says Stein. "Scientists are supposed to be allowed to follow the evidence wherever it may lead, no matter what the implications are.

Freedom of inquiry has been greatly compromised, and this is not only anti-American, it's anti-science. It's anti-the whole concept of learning."

As "Expelled's" official website asks: "What freedom-loving student wouldn't be outraged to discover that his high school science teacher is teaching a theory as indisputable fact, and that university professors unmercifully crush any fellow scientists who dare question the prevailing system of belief? This isn't the latest Hollywood comedy; it's a disturbing new documentary that will shock anyone who thinks all scientists are free to follow the evidence wherever it may lead."

The latest on TransCanada

Here is a link to the report in this morning's Mitchell Daily Republic regarding TransCanada, Excerpts:

Lillian Anderson of Langford and Kent Moeckly of Britton were served with legal papers on successive days earlier this month; those papers will b Curt Hohn, general manager for WEB Water Development of Aberdeen, said his company has never had to invoke eminent domain proceedings for water lines.

"We negotiated and worked things out," he said. "There’s an arrogance in TransCanada we’ve never encountered before."

TransCanada unlike area water boards has no local presence.

egin eminent domain condemnation proceedings. They each said they weren’t offered much choice.

Moeckly said he rejected the first offer and then TransCanada returned with a "better easement."

"Then I got served. Their third response was eminent domain. Most people are given a take-it-or-leave-it choice, but the (eminent domain) statute requires negotiation and I haven’t seen that," he said.

Moeckley said the pipeline, which cuts through four quarters of his property, is a major threat to his farming operation.

Anderson said she, too, was given papers on Sept. 6 and was offered a "take this or take nothing" choice.

"That’s not how we negotiate in South Dakota," she said.

…

Curt Hohn, general manager for WEB Water Development of Aberdeen, said his company has never had to invoke eminent domain proceedings for water lines.

“We negotiated and worked things out,” he said. “There’s an arrogance in TransCanada we’ve never encountered before.”

TransCanada unlike area water boards has no local presence.

Far-left Cultural Marxist propaganda

As I told Bill Fleming in a comment, he should be careful spreading false accusations created by the far-left creators of Cultural Marxist propaganda:

Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly said Wednesday his critics took remarks he made about a famed Harlem restaurant out of context and "fabricated a racial controversy where none exists." He criticized the liberal group Media Matters for America as "smear merchants" for publicizing statements he made on his radio show last week.

O'Reilly told his radio audience that he dined with civil rights activist Al Sharpton at Sylvia's recently and "couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference" between the black-run restaurant and others in New York City.

It was just like a suburban Italian restaurant, he said. "There wasn't any kind of craziness at all," he said.

O'Reilly told The Associated Press that Media Matters had "cherry-picked" remarks out of a broader conversation about racial attitudes. He had told listeners that his grandmother — and many other white Americans — feared blacks because they didn't know any and were swayed by violent images in black culture.

"If you listened to the full hour, it was a criticism of racism on the part of white Americans who are ignorant of the fact that there is no difference between white and black anymore," he told the AP. "Circumstances may be different in their lives but we're all Americans. Anyone who would be offended by that conversation would have to be looking to be offended."

His radio show was a conversation with Fox News contributor Juan Williams, author of a book about the coarseness of some black culture. Williams defended O'Reilly during a Tuesday appearance on "The O'Reilly Factor."

"It's so frustrating," Williams said. "They want to shut you up. They want to shut up anybody who has an honest discussion about race."

And the Drive-by media are responsible for promoting far-left Cultural Marxist hate:

O'Reilly said the Williams conversation was carried on more than 400 radio stations and there wasn't one complaint from a listener.

"This isn't about a racially insensitive remark," he said. "Anybody can listen to the unedited version of the conversation on billoreilly.com. You want to think I'm insensitive to race, you go right ahead."

The real story, he said, was about the "corrupt media culture" where outlets like CNN and MSNBC do stories about his remarks "because they're getting killed in the ratings."

"The O'Reilly Factor" is seen by more people — 2.2 million average this year — than its direct competitors on MSNBC and CNN combined. MSNBC's "Countdown" with Keith Olbermann averages 721,000 viewers in the time slot while CNN's 8 p.m. show averages 611,000, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Perhaps if the far-left Drive-by mainstream media would stick to the truth, their ratings might improve.