http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqAF-Alc7CM - There ya go, a true conservative foreign policy.

                 Everyone, from my parents to Fox News is worrying about the Swine flu. I remember back when SARS was “sweeping” China and the news was reporting on possible cases in North America from Toronto to towns in my home state of Massachusetts, yet no one in North America died from it and not very many people in Asia died from it either. North Korean dictator and fashion guru Kim Jung Il used the opportunity to claim he “defeated the SARS” after over 8,000 people became affected and 774 people died from it (http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/faq.htm). The victims were primarily in communist nations in Asia where they skin dogs and cats alive and imprison people for years in factories making cheap toys and clothing, and their universal healthcare is practically village shaman quality. Also, do you remember that avian flu outbreak the media covered a few years ago that turned out to be a global pandemic which killed millions of people? No, because it didn’t happen, the media sure scared the crap out of the more naïve among us though.

                Already DHS director Napolitano is getting involved, the woman whose department basically declared all non liberals and veterans are terrorist threats. Already our rights are being threatened, and all ready the government is working on vaccines and “worst case scenario plans” and issuing statements that say there is nothing to panic about in ways that imply there is indeed something to panic about. As conservatives and libertarians, it is our job to make sure that this doesn’t happen. There is no reason for the government to get involved in something that has not killed a single American and a mere 50 or so Mexicans. Now each life is precious, and each death is a huge tragedy, and life should be protected, but the fact is the threat isn’t worth panicking over right now. We have to remember 50 people died in a country that has atrocious health care to begin with, and none of the American victims are even hospitalized. In Lowell Massachusetts 2 students who went to Mexico may have this flu, but they seem to be doing fine and aren’t going to school for a while just like any kid who caught the “normal” flu. No one who has the flu should be going to work or school, regardless of if it is swine or otherwise.

                Ron Paul has a video on the Campaign for Liberty website that urges people not to panic, and warns of government intervention in this crisis. He talks about a flu outbreak in the past that killed one person that the government got involved in. The government distributed vaccines however, killed at least 25 people. You can see it here: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/#16972

                Calm down, you have a much better chance of winning the lottery than dying from the swine flu in America right now, as not a single person has died yet here.

 

                Recently Dr. Dobson, the former Focus on the Family leader, said Christian’s were losing the culture war. He’s absolutely right, and the reasons are pretty clear. You see, when people look to the government to promote their beliefs, the government may fail them. Look at healthcare for example. Canadians and many Europeans looked to the government not just for socialized healthcare, but medical care as well (which is a part of healthcare, not healthcare itself). The United States has the best medical care in the world, as we have the best doctors and the most advanced technology. America only partially looks to the government for help and control in the realm on healthcare, which makes some kind of hybrid-beast-nightmare system that contradicts itself in so many ways, but that partial help can lead to our decline in the quality of medical care. The nations that have good healthcare don’t necessarily have good medical care, as the waiting lists for surgeries in Canada and the United Kingdom prove by themselves.

                 People with Judeo-Christian values looked to the government for help in promoting their values as well. Take the FCC for example. Many conservatives look to the FCC for help in regulating media content. However, the FCC has failed us miserably. It’s merely another failed government bureaucracy like the EPA or DHS (both of which are failing us a lot more now that the left owns them – let that be a warning to all future conservative presidents. What you make the statists may own in the future). More kids than ever watch R rated movies, more teenagers see porn, more Americans under 18 watch violence, and on top of it all, programming is become less and less family friendly.

                The FCC also takes freedom away from certain stations. If you own a media outlet, you should be able to showcase whatever you want. Restrict freedom for some people, and then when they get in power they may restrict you. If we can regulate language at 7 PM in the evening, then someday we may be able to regulate religious broadcasting or religious expression in the media. The slopes we stand on are often very slippery; we all know this regardless of our ideology.

                Who then, should regulate media content? YOU. If people didn’t watch porn, it would go away. If people didn’t go see certain movies like Saw or Hostel, they would go away. If people didn’t watch shows with a lot of cussing in them, they would go away. People would not watch Hostel in the 1930’s if it were made, and would be outraged if it was, so movies like it never existed, even in countries with less media restriction. I personally despise pornography and some movies, like the aforementioned Hostel. So, I don’t go watching porn and Hostel. If you don’t want your kid to see it, educate them. Also, lets realize certain cartoons aren’t for kids. Just because a show is animated, like Family Guy, doesn’t mean it’s for kids. There are animated shows meant for adults just as there are live shows for children. If you don’t want Hot Topic to sell youth sized shirts depicting R rated films, don’t let your kid watch the R rated film.

                When you see something on a channel that you do not like, don’t watch the show, or if you really want to send a message, don’t watch the channel, or its affiliates. I used to be all for the FCC, I used to think it should regulate the hell out of the media and the Internet even, but I know that people may use that regulation to regulate other messages. I do think certain forms of pornography and such should be outlawed though, such as child porn, because not only is it just about one of the worst things on earth for people to like, but it hurts the children whom we’re supposed to protect, and violates tons of other righteously made laws. I also think Nip/Tuck is a sick show. I simply don’t watch Nip/Tuck.

                Conservatives like Dobson and Brent Bozell look to the government to help them. They look for government funding, remember George W.’s failed “faith-based and community initiatives” message back in the 2000 election? People like Dr. Dobson supported Bush because he promised them funding, although Bush hardly got them any once he became president. This is another form of wealth redistribution like any other, anyway. The government shouldn’t have the money to give to charities or churches, just as it shouldn’t be funding sick “art” shows on state campuses, or public schools for that matter which is definitely a topic for another time.

                The people, the Christians, Jews, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and others who believe in God (although I personally believe Biblical Christianity, which asserts salvation is through Christ alone, is the only path to salvation) need to donate to charities, volunteer, and work hard for their community. Liberals often volunteer to do things like help the poor, why do you think they resonate among the poor so much? It’s not just the welfare system they support which keeps them down. Christians and those of other religions do not do the job. We don’t do enough to take care of the poor. Lower taxes would help since we’d have more money to reinvest in our communities without paying a for-profit government bureaucracy. However, giving us the money doesn’t mean we’ll reinvest it, just look at what Reaganomics did. The very well off often saved their money instead of creating jobs, thus weakening the trickle down effect, which is still better than Obama’s trickle up poverty plan. I should mention that government regulation was the reason Reaganomics didn't produce the effect of free markets we saw in the "roaring 20's." Taxes were indeed lower but there was still the business-strangling tax code.

                Anyway, we’re losing the culture war because we looked to the government for help and enforcement and reform, when the only people who can truly reform society are the people who can change the hearts of the people. More laws against promiscuity won’t break down the chains of promiscuity which shackle our nation. Our God is the One who can break those chains; His message is what must break the chains. God is the author or Judeo-Christian morality, not the government, and we must look to God and the message of Christ to redeem the hearts of men and women.

                Many Christian’s ask, “How are we to run the government according to our beliefs?” The answers the Bible give may surprise you. Jesus, as my pastor once pointed out, was surprisingly apolitical. This leads me to believe not that we should ignore politics as religious people, but that we should encourage less government so that we have the freedom to spread the message of salvation to mankind. We need to fight for LIBERTY and then use our liberty to change people’s hearts. Not all will heed our call, but many will if we stopped focusing on things like making the FCC enforce a degree of morality in our media and focused on spreading the Gospel. When directors and producers and actors and actresses refuse to inject nudity, sex, and “torture porn” into their movies and television shows because they are moral individuals due to their Judeo-Christian beliefs, then we made true progress which will glorify God much better than any government-enforced morality. Just as government-paid “volunteerism” isn’t volunteerism (which the government obviously does not understand); government-forced Christian ideals do not make a nation more Christian. It only leads to the corruption of liberty and the persecution of Christians and their values.

   

Man, do I have so much to write about. I can think of a thousand issues and could write a phone book sized book on what I think and the evidence I have to back it up. However, I’m going to keep it simple today and talk about atheism and how it relates to human rights.

                Atheism is a threat to human rights. I’m not saying all atheists are dangerous or even a threat, and I’m not lumping in agnostics with them because many of them are at least deists of some sort. But the Founding Fathers believe the rights of man came from God. Without God, we have no rights. All we have is manmade rights, which are imperfect and can easily change depending on what “right” men believe they should have. I have a right to healthcare. I have a right to a decent home. I have a right to education. I have a right to 100 million dollars. See where this leads us? The fact is, if we leave the rights of man up to, well, man, then the ambiguity that ensues can be disastrous. This is why theism is integral to civilization.

                The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is given to us by a Higher Power; I would say the Judeo-Christian God. He granted us life and told us not to murder. He granted us liberty by giving us the freedom to make choices, even sinful ones. Whether you believe in the Bible or not, you must take note that He gave Adam and Eve the opportunity to make a mistake, even if it was just to eat the apple and bring sin into the world. We even now have the option to sin, without the option we are mere robots without free will. God granted us the right to pursue happiness as well, although I think that the Founding Father’s were a bit too ambiguous on this point, and I believe it relates more to property rights. We should pursue happiness ourselves and should not look to others, namely the rich, to bestow it upon us with their cash. Besides, money does not equal happiness, ask Curt Cobain, Anna Nicole-Smith, or Chris Farley.

                We’ve moved away from these rights, which are in our Constitution, while atheism has taken a firmer hold on America. By the way, I am not against being atheist, I believe you have the right to be an atheist, but I believe that the churches and religious individuals have largely failed to provide for the spiritual needs of Americans and people all over the globe. Just watch Christian television and tell me that the “prayer rug” or “holy water” they’re trying to sell to me for profit is a good thing. And we wonder why people reject Christianity?

                We must reaffirm these rights. The right to life clearly contradicts abortion, which has killed more minorities than Hitler ever could. A third of black human beings are sucked out of their mother’s womb and slaughtered. Many people, including one that I know, were conceived through rape. To tell her that her mother should have had the right to kill her given the way she entered this world is downright evil. All human beings matter, and while we have rights to do what we want with our bodies (I am for legalizing marijuana and other drugs because the war on drugs has failed and people should make their own choices) the rights to life are more important than the right to forgo child birth. The baby inside you for 9 or so months is more important than the 9 months you’ll spend being pregnant, there, I said it. Every support should be given to you and you should not be required to keep and care for the baby, but keeping the baby is important because it has a right to live, just as the person I know lives because her mother did not terminate her life while she was in the womb.

                The atheist does not believe rights are given from God, therefore rights are man-determined, and if enough humans determine they have a right to torture and kill you, well then, it would then be a right. The rights from Heaven never change with time and protect every human being and their freedom. From the freedom to live, to the freedom to make mistakes. I urge people who believe in God to encourage atheists in a loving manner to explore religion, and to remember that they might have had a bad run in with religion in the past. Maybe a priest molested them, or their pastor was one of the people trying to sell holy amulets at 2 AM on Christian television. Maybe they’ve never explored Christianity or any other religion because society and Christians themselves have exposed many of the injustices done by people who claim to be religious. Get the facts and remember this: 3000 people were killed in the Spanish Inquisition, perpetrated by an oppressive Catholic church, over 300 years. The atheist Soviet regime killed dozens of millions in less than a decade. Will you take your rights from an unchanging God who created the universe and the scientific principles which govern it, or from men whose evil whims have no end? And that includes you, as an imperfect human.