South Carolina DHHS Employee Arrested in Data Theft

From left: SLED Director Mark Keel, SCDHHS Director Tony Keck, SC Inspector General Jim Martin and Governor Nikki Haley

The personal information of more than 228,000 Medicaid recipients in South Carolina has been stolen by a former state Department of Health and Human Services employee, according to DHHS and the State Law Enforcement Division.

SLED says 36-year-old Christopher Lykes was able to make off with 228,435 Medicaid recipients' personal information by emailing the information to his personal Yahoo email account.

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SC Hospitality Worker Admits to Nearly $500K Embezzlement

Rachel Duncan

A former employee of the South Carolina Hospitality Association has admitted she embezzled nearly $500,000 from the group whose director killed himself earlier this year.

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Argentina's Thugs, Obama's Comrades

Columnist Mary O'Grady on what Argentina's expropriation of oil company YPF says about its leadership and economy. Photo: Getty Images

Lutherans Stand with Catholics in Opposing Tyranny

From Today's Catholic News

By Tim Johnson

Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades welcomes Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod congregations to stand together for religious liberty.

Church leaders, students and members of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod congregations in Fort Wayne expressed their solidarity with Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades and Catholics of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend to “stand together for religious liberty.”

Gathering April 17 at St. Paul Lutheran Church, just a few blocks from the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Fort Wayne, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod held a procession to the cathedral. There they gathered in prayer and song with Catholics and Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades on the plaza in front of the cathedral and presented letters of support and encouragement “as we stand together with (the bishop) on this issue of religious liberty,” noted Dr. Charles Gieschen, academic dean of Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, one of two Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod seminaries in the U.S.

From Our Mail: Manhattan Declaration Issues Somber Update on Chuck Colson's Condition

The Manhattan Declaration was born in the heart of Chuck Colson, and you are among the nearly 525,000 persons who have endorsed this statement of conscience over the past two years.  Many of you have been praying fervently for Chuck since his surgery some two weeks ago.  There have been some encouraging signs about Chuck’s condition during these days, but earlier this morning our friend Jim Liske, CEO of Prison Fellowship Ministries, gave the following update to the staff and supporters of Prison Fellowship:

“It is with a heavy, but hopeful heart that I share with you that it appears our friend, brother, and founder will soon be home with the Lord. Chuck’s condition took a decided turn yesterday, and the doctors advised Patty and the family to gather by his bedside.

As you know, Chuck underwent surgery more than two weeks ago to remove a pool of clotted blood on the surface of his brain. And while we had seen some hopeful signs for Chuck’s recovery—including his ability to talk happily with Patty and the kids—it seems that God may be calling him home.”

We will keep you posted on Chuck’s condition.  Please continue to hold him and the entire Colson family in your prayers. 

Chuck’s life, his destiny, and his legacy are in the hands of God. 

Robert P. George

Timothy George

An Update on Our Congressional Earmarks Post

We reported yesterday that The Heritage Foundation has published a list of "72 Representatives who have firmly stated to constituents that they will support a continuing ban on Congressional earmarks."  Surprisingly, only one member of our own South Carolina delegation, Representative Tim Scott, was on that list.  We are pleased that Congressmen Mick Mulvaney and Trey Gowdy have now affirmed that they will also oppose any effort to return to the practice of earmarking.

The updated list is here.  The Heritage Foundation site also provides contact information and invites readers to contact their Member of Congress and report their positions back to Heritage.  

Perhaps when other Members of Congress hear from enough of their constituents, they will be able to decide whether or not it is a good idea to continue adding to a debt of $15 trillion.

Why Seamus Matters and Why We Won't Join the Pack

Before we get more apoplectic messages about our not getting in line behind the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party, we will say the  following:

• No candidate is yet close to obtaining the required delegates for the GOP nomination.
• A candidate does not become the nominee of a party until his name is placed in nomination at the party convention and approved by a sufficient number of delegates.
• We pray that God will intervene and spare America the tragedy of having to decide between two evil candidates.
• In the absence of an act of God, we hope that by the time GOP delegates convene in Tampa, there will be widespread recognition that Mitt Romney is an extremely unpopular and weak candidate for the presidency and would be doomed to lose.
• We will not cast a vote for a candidate we believe is evil to any degree.
• Casting votes for the lesser of two evils has been tragic and destructive to America and has resulted in the election of a domestic enemy to the presidency of the United States.
• The nomination of a candidate who at one time or another supported major Obama policy positions is a candidate who will be unable to defend himself, is politically flawed, and will not have sufficient support to win.
• We won't vote for a candidate who has been ambivalent, at best, on the life issues.
• If the Republican Party elites persist in nominating big government, big spending candidates intent on perpetuating the inordinate power of a military-industrial complex about which President Eisenhower warned, we need to support a political party that will put the Constitution, and the people it was written to protect, first and foremost.
• In reference to the article below, we believe that dogs aren't luggage and how one treats animals speaks volumes about one's character.

From The Huffington Post

By Lincoln Mitchell

The now famous story of how Mitt Romney strapped his family dog, Seamus, to the roof of the car, albeit in a carrier, for a drive from Boston to Canada continues to, excuse the pun, dog Romney even now after he has secured the Republican Party's nomination. It is probably true that Romney's treatment of Seamus would not make him a bad president -- his economic views and fear of his own party's right wing would do that. Despite this, Romney's treatment of Seamus may prove damaging in the election.