Dr. Larry Arnn: "The Educator as Statesman"

By Michael R. Cook
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Anyone concerned about the generally deplorable state of American higher education will be heartened by the remarks, contained in the video below, of Dr. Larry P. Arnn.

Larry Arnn became the twelfth president of Hillsdale College in 2000. Many of us are familiar with Hillsdale as the little school in Michigan that refuses all government funding – as well as the onerous regulations that invariably accompany taxpayer subsidies.

Less well-known, perhaps, is the fact that Hillsdale distinguishes itself, today, as one of the very few places where young Americans can obtain an authentic education in the liberal arts – the kind of education, as Jefferson believed, that is essential to self-government in a free republic.

In fact, Hillsdale is doing today exactly what it has done from the time of its founding in 1844. It teaches the “permanent things.”

And why should we find this heartening? After all, Hillsdale is but one small outpost in a landscape containing thousands of colleges and universities whose faculties have, almost uniformly, abandoned the classical liberal arts curriculum – along with any serious reflection on America’s founding principles.

But at Hillsdale, we do find ample cause for encouragement. Under Dr. Arnn’s inspirational leadership, the college is flourishing. Each year it attracts more and better-qualified applicants for admission. And each year the reach of the school’s influence expands. For example, its monthly speech digest, Imprimis, is now received in 1.8 million homes and offices.

Today, Hillsdale College is anything but obscure. Indeed, some believe that Hillsdale has taken its place as the finest liberal arts college in the land. I include myself among that number.

Listen to Dr. Arnn’s remarks delivered recently before an audience in Naples, Florida, and I think you’ll have good reason to agree with me.

Senate Judiciary Committee Postpones Vote on Pro-Abortion Dawn Johnsen

"The pro-abortion activist has come under fire for calling women 'fetal containers' and comparing pregnancy with slavery. She has also come under fire for labeling pregnant women 'losers in the contraceptive lottery' and comparing pro-lifers to the Klu Klux Klan."

From LifeNews.com
By Steven Ertelt

The Senate Judiciary Committee has again postponed a vote on pro-abortion Obama nominee Dawn Johnsen. The panel was slated to vote on her nomination today after considering two other nominees but it lost a quorum to do business just before her nomination was slated to be considered.

Johnson's nomination was already delayed one week but was held over until today.

The delay gave pro-life advocates more time to focus on opposing her nomination to the key Justice Department post.

“Nominating Dawn Johnsen to head the Office of Legal Counsel is an insult to pro-life Americans," Congressman Steve King of Iowa said in a statement LifeNews.com received.

"Her personal pro-abortion agenda, previous disparaging comments about pro-life Americans and past criticism of Congress' ban on partial-birth abortion are evidence that she is not interested in finding common ground with those who oppose her narrow philosophy," he said.

King said he hoped Obama would withdraw Johnsen's nomination, which could die on the Senate floor if newly-minted Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts agrees to support a filibuster.

At the end of 2009, the Senate returned her nomination to the White House and President Obama promptly renominated her in January.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue also commented on Johnsen today in an email to LifeNews.com.

"Why is Dawn Johnsen's nomination to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel still being considered?" he asked. "She tried in the late 1980s to take away the tax exempt status of the Roman Catholic Church, all because she wanted to silence the Church's voice on abortion."

Marjorie Dannenfelser of the Susan B. Anthony List also commented on Johnsen.

"In 1988, attorney Dawn Johnsen argued that the Catholic Bishops needed to choose between either having the Catholic Church stripped of its tax-exempt status as a religious organization or keeping their opposition to abortion to themselves. The Catholic Bishops defeated Dawn Johnsen in the Supreme Court Case United States Catholic Conference v. Abortion Rights Mobilization," she explained.

"After the case was concluded, Dawn Johnsen was rewarded for her legal work on the case by being granted the position of legal director of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), where she worked from 1988 – 1993," she continued. "Now, President Barack Obama has re-nominated her to head up the Office of Legal Counsel and is pushing for the Senate to ratify her nomination."

The election of Scott Brown in Massachusetts was thought to be the death knell for her nomination because it would again give opponents enough votes to uphold a filibuster against her -- but Obama re-nominated Johnsen anyway

Johnsen made it through the Senate panel on a party-line vote last March but Republican lawmakers had opposed Johnsen over her rabidly pro-abortion position and because of other political issues, such as terrorism.

Johnsen originally found herself the subject of a Republican filibuster supported by a couple of Democrats, but when pro-abortion Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter caved in to a Democratic primary opponent and flip-flopped to supporting her, the Obama administration signaled she would be re-nominated and would get enough votes to overcome the filibuster.

That's because Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar, who normally votes pro-life, says he will support the Johnsen nomination.

Lugar's press secretary Andy Fisher has confirmed that Lugar "still plans to vote for her."

But, the election of Brown made her confirmation a question and he could provide the 41st vote to support a filibuster because Sen. Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, opposes Johnsen's nomination.

In comments to Roll Call after Brown defeated pro-abortion activist Martha Coakley, Nelson said he didn't think Johnsen's nomination stood much of a chance now. He previously cited her pro-abortion record as a reason for opposing her.

Johnsen had been delayed by Republicans who oppose her because she is strongly pro-abortion -- going as far as saying pregnant women are subjected to a form of slavery -- and because of other political reasons.

If confirmed, Johnsen would be in charge of the office that formulates the attorney general's formal opinions and provides counsel on the thorniest legal questions.

In a brief filed when she was a lawyer with NARAL, Johnsen cited a footnote that said forcing women to bear children was "disturbingly suggestive of involuntary servitude, prohibited by the 13th Amendment, in that forced pregnancy requires a woman to provide continuous physical service to the fetus in order to further the state's asserted interest."

Johnsen told lawmakers at her hearing that she merely suggested an analogy in the footnote and "never believed the 13th Amendment had any role" in the abortion issue.

The pro-abortion activist has come under fire for calling women "fetal containers" and comparing pregnancy with slavery. She has also come under fire for labeling pregnant women "losers in the contraceptive lottery" and comparing pro-lifers to the Klu Klux Klan.

Johnsen was the Legal Director for NARAL from 1988-1993. After that, she served in the Clinton administration as the Acting Assistant Attorney General heading the Office of Legal Counsel from 1997-1998 and as Deputy Assistant Attorney General from 1993-1996. She also served on the Clinton transition team in 1992.

A Notice to Our Readers: A Post Not to be Missed

Hillsdale College

We want to give you a heads up about an extraordinary talk recently delivered by Dr. Larry Arnn, President of Hillsdale College, that we will be posting tomorrow morning (Saturday).

It is one of the most powerful messages we have heard and is entitled "Education and Self-Government and Our Current Crisis." The video was called to our attention and will be introduced by Michael Cook, a friend and reader in Pennsylvania. We are posting it on Saturday to give our readers more time to listen to and reflect on Dr. Arnn's very important message.

We think you will agree, this is one not to be missed!

Arab Festival 2009: Sharia in the US

From Acts 17 Apologetics

This is a video of Nabeel Qureshi and David Wood asking questions at Arabfest in Dearborn, Michigan. The date is June 21st, 2009. There was a booth at the festival which had a banner titled "Islam: Got Questions? Get Answers." From their table, we picked up a pamphlet claiming that Islam promotes peace. We noticed that it was full of poor logic and errors, so we decided to make a video refuting it. We went to the booth that gave us the pamphlet to give them the opportunity to defend their claims. Security, however, stepped in and forced us to turn off our camera.

We left the booth, received advice from police, and found out that the actions of the security guards were illegal. We went back to the booth to record a potential answer again. Realizing that the Muslims present had no answer, we left.

When we came outside, we were asked some questions by two young men, who had been sent by security to entrap us. While we responded to them, festival security started assaulting us, as you will see in this video. The conclusion of this video is a mob of festival security attacking our cameras, pushing us back, kicking our legs, and lying to the police.

We ask you, is it a coincidence that the city with the highest percentage of Muslims in the United States is the city where Christianity is not allowed to be represented (let alone preached) on a public sidewalk? Is it coincidence that in this city, people will say "No way!" when we say "This is the United States of America"?

Is this what will happen when Islam takes over the United States?

Lech Walesa's Warning to America

The Totally Corrupt USCCB is Exposed

We have been reluctant to post this story about corruption well-known to us for decades. We remember seeing a parking lot full of Clinton-Gore bumper stickers at the USCCB offices, months after the 1992 elections. And all of our dealings with that organization and one of their state affiliates have made clear that this network, hijacked by left-wing ideologues, is more concerned with money, power, and advancing a political agenda, than it is with the Permanent Things and the Kingdom of God.

The Church is an institution that is both human and divine. As with any human institution, the muck and mire of sin that afflicts us all is present, manifesting itself from time to time. But this is a particularly dark age for the Church because many of those charged with teaching, governing and sanctifying, the bishops, have been timid, reluctant, or have refused to carryout their responsibilities.

The actions and omissions of certain American bishops cry out to heaven for vengeance. What has been exposed this week is pure evil. It is Satan operating within the Church. And it is long past time for laymen to refuse to fund any project of the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. It is time to employ the great Catholic principle of subsidiarity, and to provide charity at the local level, individually, or through small, parish and local networks. It is time we let pastors know that we will no longer support diocesan fund-raising until a full investigation of the USCCB corruption is undertaken, a house-cleaning is carried out, and those responsible have repented and been retired.

If the American bishops are incapable of "fraternal correction," and it appears that they are, Rome should intervene to remove the quislings on the staff of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and hold their employers accountable. We cannot wait for this scandal to resolve itself through time and attrition. The work of thousands of good and holy priests, nuns, religious brothers and sisters, and laymen is being undermined by a handful of corrupt and incompetent bishops and their agents.

Light vanquishes the darkness, and we believe that Christ is purifying His Church through the revelations and humiliations of recent years. We continue to believe that there are many holy shepherds in the Church, led by a great successor of Peter, who is healing ancient wounds and divisions and valiantly building up the Kingdom of God. We will pray for that renewal.

Taxpayers Fund Abortions but not School Vouchers

From OneNewsNow
By Dr. Paul Kengor

In my last article, a somber remembrance of Roe v. Wade, I called attention to something that shocked readers: I noted that the Obama administration and Democratic Congress "rejected funding for school vouchers for poor children in Washington, DC, but supported funding for abortions for the mothers of those children."

The contrast is breathtaking, but true. It's another jolt to traditionally minded voters — especially pro-life Democrats and independents — who voted for "change" on November 4, 2008, and are now absorbing the change they authorized. In this case, the change stands in stark contrast to previous administrations and Congresses that prohibited federal funds to finance abortions in the District of Columbia. It veers well beyond liberals' assurance that abortion merely be "safe, legal, and rare."

If you didn't hear about this until now, don't be surprised. Over 300,000 pro-lifers marched in Washington last month without notice by the mainstream media. So, I'd like to take a moment to explain what happened:

Last summer, in July 2009, the overwhelmingly Democratic House of Representatives narrowly passed (by a vote of 219-208) a bill permitting the DC government to use locally raised tax revenues to provide abortions, reversing a long-standing prohibition.

Almost all Republicans voted against the bill. They were joined by some (but not enough) Democrats. Unfortunately, because of how Americans voted on November 4, 2008, the extreme left has such a massive majority in Congress that legislators who think taxpayers shouldn't pay for abortions couldn't stop the measure from being passed. Worse, because Americans — who, in recent polls, describe themselves as more pro-life and more conservative than ever — voted for the most radical abortion-rights advocate in the history of the presidency, the bill had full backing from the White House.

And so, the change in favor of abortion funding came via a $768 million DC Financial Services Appropriations bill that — here's the kicker — also included termination of school vouchers for poor children in Washington, DC, forcing those children out of private schools and back into public schools they fled.

Most Americans didn't notice any of this, given that the mainstream media that serves as educator-in-chief didn't dare highlight the story. Two sources that did notice, however, are worth quoting:

One is Rep. Joe Pitts, the Pennsylvania congressman who is a stalwart champion for the unborn. Pitts told me: "It's shameful that Congress has decided to use taxpayer dollars to fund the destruction of life in our nation's capital but has denied funding for a successful scholarship program that allows poor children a chance at a decent education. The juxtaposition in policies could not be more disturbing."

More disturbed than Pitts was Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, who was fit to be tied: "Following the lead of President Barack Obama," said Donohue, "the House of Representatives passed a bill that would allow the District of Columbia to fund abortions. Also following Obama's wishes, the same bill affirmed the...congressional decision to end school vouchers there."

"Here's what it comes down to," summed up Donohue. Poor pregnant women living in Washington, DC, "will be told that if they decide to abort their baby, the government will pay for it. But if they persist in bringing their baby to term, the government will not help them to avoid the same lousy public schools that Barack and Michelle shunned for Sasha and Malia." Donohue denounced the action as "cruel."

No doubt, it's an outrage. Of course, it's also predictable. By and large, liberals oppose school vouchers but support legalized abortion. In that sense, this is nothing new.

What is new, however, is this sudden aggressive push by today's "progressives" for taxpayers to fund abortions. This is the culmination of a progressive death march begun a century ago by Planned Parenthood founder and racial eugenicist Margaret Sanger, who preached extraction of "human weeds" from the gene pool in order to advance "race improvement" (her words). Today's progressive heirs have taken Sanger's torch and lit up the barn.

And thus, we now have — in no less than the nation's capital — a poster-child for that grim progressive worldview. It's a child who doesn't get aid to go to a private school — even as his mother pays school taxes — but whose mother gets aid to abort the child's sibling.

We're not only losing our conscience as a nation; we're losing our mind.

I know the response I'll get from Democrats: furious emails, enraged at me. That's sad. I'm simply reporting what happened. I didn't vote for any of this. I plead with them: If you're angry, write to the people in your party who are responsible. Only you can stop this madness. Clean your own house.