On 2/12/11, the Denver Post, no friend of conservatives in this city, ran a very misleading article on their front page reporting what they called a “sea change” in policy at Focus on the Family toward the abortion industry. They reported that Mr. Jim Daly, the president of Focus was going to dialog with Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains to try to help them reach their goal of making abortion “rare.” Below is a letter I wrote to Mr. Daly concerning that article:
Dear Mr. Daly,
My wife and I have been long time supporters of FOTF; and we will continue to support that fine Christian ministry. We have been deeply involved in the Pro-Life movement since the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973; and we are the founders of Caring Hands Pregnancy Center in southwest Denver.
I read with deep angst the article in the Denver Post of 2/12/11 which referred to the “sea change” of policy in FOTF. The article implied that Focus would begin to compromise with Planned Parenthood on the abortion issue. I listened to that program; and determined that the Post’s article was a gross misstatement, obviously designed to diminish conservative support for the FOTF ministry. It did not seem to me that Focus is even thinking about changing its attitude toward this horrendous problem in our country; and I am very thankful for that.
I sent an e-mail to Electa Draper, the author of the article protesting her misleading article.
All that being said, I think it is pointless to try to dialog with leaders of the abortion movement about their purported goal of making abortion “rare.” If they really wanted to do that, they have had many opportunities to do it in the past, which they have not done. As a matter of fact, they have done everything they could do to make abortion a common procedure in the United States. Their condom education program in schools and media has encouraged young people to have more and more sex outside of marriage; this produces ever more abortion business for them—which makes them more and more income. They know very well that the most effective way to get a teenager pregnant it is to put her on birth control pills, and that is just another avenue through which they are advancing their grizzly business.
If you really want to talk with the leaders of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains about how you can help them make abortion “rare,” I guess there would be no harm in that; but I would not expect anything good to come of those talks. I do not recommend talking with them!
Your colleague in saving unborn life,
Edward Manring, M.D., M.S.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
States Are Finally Getting The Republican Message
The Wall Street Journal reported today on its 1st page the following couple of paragraphs:
“Governors around the U.S. are proposing to balance their states’ budgets with a long list of cuts and almost no new taxes, reflecting a goal by politicians from both parties to erase deficits chiefly by shrinking government.
“On Monday, Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a newly elected Republican, is expected to issue a budget that cuts state spending by $5 billion and overhauls public employee pensions.
“A democratic governor, John Kitzhaber of Oregon, has proposed a two-year budget that would make cuts to mental health institutions and reduce state Medicaid reimbursements to doctors and hospitals. Cuts to Medicaid, a joint state-federal program, are some of governors’ largest proposed reductions.”
Unfortunately, Colorado’s governor and legislature do not seem to be following this national trend. The Denver Post reported today that, “The total budget in the current fiscal year, which ends in June, is $18.2 billion. While Ritter's proposal for the 2011-12 year would be nearly $1 billion larger, revenues have not grown fast enough to keep up with school and college enrollment and human services caseload growth.”
The Governor presented his proposed budget to the state legislature's Joint Budget Committee on Nov. 2, 2010. The committee will draft its own budget and the legislature will vote in March 2011.
Readers of this blog post could do well to contact their state legislators and tell them to cut the state spending—there is no more money around to pay for expensive government.
“Governors around the U.S. are proposing to balance their states’ budgets with a long list of cuts and almost no new taxes, reflecting a goal by politicians from both parties to erase deficits chiefly by shrinking government.
“On Monday, Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a newly elected Republican, is expected to issue a budget that cuts state spending by $5 billion and overhauls public employee pensions.
“A democratic governor, John Kitzhaber of Oregon, has proposed a two-year budget that would make cuts to mental health institutions and reduce state Medicaid reimbursements to doctors and hospitals. Cuts to Medicaid, a joint state-federal program, are some of governors’ largest proposed reductions.”
Unfortunately, Colorado’s governor and legislature do not seem to be following this national trend. The Denver Post reported today that, “The total budget in the current fiscal year, which ends in June, is $18.2 billion. While Ritter's proposal for the 2011-12 year would be nearly $1 billion larger, revenues have not grown fast enough to keep up with school and college enrollment and human services caseload growth.”
The Governor presented his proposed budget to the state legislature's Joint Budget Committee on Nov. 2, 2010. The committee will draft its own budget and the legislature will vote in March 2011.
Readers of this blog post could do well to contact their state legislators and tell them to cut the state spending—there is no more money around to pay for expensive government.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
You Can’t Get A Job in Egypt!
And that is one of the main problems. Despite the fact that there is an overabundance of highly educated young men, there is not infrastructure in the Arab world to support their trained workers. What a frustration for millions of restless, college-trained young people!
What results from that problem? Protest and riot. It seems like the only solution for dissatisfied potential workers.
Governments across the Middle East have expanded universities and educated a swelling cohort of youth, without laying the groundwork to employ them. In the Middle East and North Africa, unemployment tends to increase with schooling. In the U.S. the opposite is true. In Egypt, high school graduates account for 42% of the work force but 80% of the unemployed. One in seven college graduates in Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia is unemployed; many more are overqualified for the jobs they have. Egypt’s unemployment rate in people under age 25 stands at 24.5%.
China and other booming economies are cultivating private sector jobs. Egypt has clung to a state-dominated model of economy. Outside of agriculture, 70% of Egyptian workers work for the government. The number of graduates has overwhelmed the government’s capacity to hire, leaving many without job options.
It seems to me and many others that the solution to the political unrest in the Middle East would be the development of a Western-style economy with free enterprise. Such an economy would enable businesses to create jobs that would keep restless hands busy. More jobs would allow people to realize some material benefit from the effort they have expended getting an education.
This post was excerpted from the Wall Street Journal 2/5/11, page A11.
What results from that problem? Protest and riot. It seems like the only solution for dissatisfied potential workers.
Governments across the Middle East have expanded universities and educated a swelling cohort of youth, without laying the groundwork to employ them. In the Middle East and North Africa, unemployment tends to increase with schooling. In the U.S. the opposite is true. In Egypt, high school graduates account for 42% of the work force but 80% of the unemployed. One in seven college graduates in Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia is unemployed; many more are overqualified for the jobs they have. Egypt’s unemployment rate in people under age 25 stands at 24.5%.
China and other booming economies are cultivating private sector jobs. Egypt has clung to a state-dominated model of economy. Outside of agriculture, 70% of Egyptian workers work for the government. The number of graduates has overwhelmed the government’s capacity to hire, leaving many without job options.
It seems to me and many others that the solution to the political unrest in the Middle East would be the development of a Western-style economy with free enterprise. Such an economy would enable businesses to create jobs that would keep restless hands busy. More jobs would allow people to realize some material benefit from the effort they have expended getting an education.
This post was excerpted from the Wall Street Journal 2/5/11, page A11.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Anemic Christians
I am ever more concerned with the weak status of so very many Christians in our world. They just do not seem to understand that they are called by the Maker of the world to a life of sacrifice and service to Him and to their fellows.
David Platt’s book, Radical, is an indictment of this kind of anemic Christianity. He writes, speaking about the church:
“When we gather at the building we learn to be good. Being good is defined by what we avoid in the world. We are holy because of what we don’t participate in (and at this point we may be the only organization in the world defining success by what we don’t do). We live decent lives in decent homes with decent jobs and decent families as decent citizens. We are decent church members with little more impact on the world than we had before we were saved. Though thousands may join us, ultimately we have turned a deaf ear to billions who haven’t even heard His name.”
When Christ propels Christians into the world to risk their lives for the sake of Him and others around them, their focus changes; and they gauge success in the church not in the hundreds or thousands whom they can get into their buildings, but on the hundreds or thousands who are leaving their buildings to take on the world with the disciples they are making.
David Platt’s book, Radical, is an indictment of this kind of anemic Christianity. He writes, speaking about the church:
“When we gather at the building we learn to be good. Being good is defined by what we avoid in the world. We are holy because of what we don’t participate in (and at this point we may be the only organization in the world defining success by what we don’t do). We live decent lives in decent homes with decent jobs and decent families as decent citizens. We are decent church members with little more impact on the world than we had before we were saved. Though thousands may join us, ultimately we have turned a deaf ear to billions who haven’t even heard His name.”
When Christ propels Christians into the world to risk their lives for the sake of Him and others around them, their focus changes; and they gauge success in the church not in the hundreds or thousands whom they can get into their buildings, but on the hundreds or thousands who are leaving their buildings to take on the world with the disciples they are making.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Is My Service to Christ Enough?
Have you ever examined your motives and activities in the light of the above question? Are the things you do daily in keeping with the sacrifice your Savior made for you? We, Christians, need to examine ourselves in this light. One thing is for sure: Many in our religion spend far too much time playing golf or bridge or watching spectator sports and very little time in self-sacrificing activities for the Christ!!
Said Musa is a 45 year old Afghan who has been in a Kabul, Afghanistan prison since May 2010. He has been beaten, and tortured for converting to Christianity; and now he is being denied the services of a lawyer in Afghan courts, where he will likely be condemned to death according to sharia law.
Another Afghan Christian, Shoib Assadullah, age 25, is in prison in northern Afghanistan for giving a New Testament to another Afghan, who turned him in to the authorities. Assadullah has been locked up since October 21 for that serious crime; he has reportedly not been tortured.
All this is going on despite the fact that Afghanistan is a signatory to the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulating religious freedom, including the freedom to change one’s faith.
www.compassdirect.org/english/country/23987/29549/
If any of my readers are convicted by the above story, I would suggest that they read a new book: RADICAL by David Platt. This book challenges Christians to wake up, trade in false values rooted in the American dream, and embrace the fact that God blesses each of us for a global purpose…. This is a must read for every believer!
Said Musa is a 45 year old Afghan who has been in a Kabul, Afghanistan prison since May 2010. He has been beaten, and tortured for converting to Christianity; and now he is being denied the services of a lawyer in Afghan courts, where he will likely be condemned to death according to sharia law.
Another Afghan Christian, Shoib Assadullah, age 25, is in prison in northern Afghanistan for giving a New Testament to another Afghan, who turned him in to the authorities. Assadullah has been locked up since October 21 for that serious crime; he has reportedly not been tortured.
All this is going on despite the fact that Afghanistan is a signatory to the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulating religious freedom, including the freedom to change one’s faith.
www.compassdirect.org/english/country/23987/29549/
If any of my readers are convicted by the above story, I would suggest that they read a new book: RADICAL by David Platt. This book challenges Christians to wake up, trade in false values rooted in the American dream, and embrace the fact that God blesses each of us for a global purpose…. This is a must read for every believer!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Family Situations Worsening in America
A good look at America’s children should tell us that all is not well with the American family: One third of our children are overweight or obese. Nearly a third drop out or cannot finish high school in 4 years. 75% of our youth are ineligible for military service because of poor health, drugs, criminal records, or lack of education.
What is the reason? Poor schools—maybe. Poverty—maybe. But there is a more ubiquitous and insidious reason. 41% of our newborns are born to unmarried mothers. (up from 5% a half century ago). The fact is that young, adult, Americans are just not getting married. For the first time since the census began tallying marriage, the proportion of Americans age 25-34 who had never married exceeded the proportion of those who had been married. Evidence is overwhelming that children of single mothers—particularly teen mothers—suffer disproportionately high poverty rates, impaired development, and low school performance.
A large majority of never-married mothers had close relationships with a partner when their child was born. Many of these women have said to me something like, “I know he loves me; and we are going to get married just as soon as we have enough money—any day now!” WHAT A BUNCH OF NONSENSE!! Those guys are not going to marry their girlfriends when they can get what they want without commitment. The statistics bear out my observation—by the time illegitimate children are 5 years old, most of the fathers are gone, and the children have little contact with them. These unmarried mothers go on to new relationships, and the children are hampered by repeated transitions that do more harm to their development.
America MUST do something about this deplorable situation. We are raising a generation of helpless young adults. If this situation had obtained in 1941, America would not have survived World War II. Our young people would not have been able to serve effectively as soldiers or as civilian defense workers. This country must return to its Christian roots. I believe that Christ and the Bible are the only answer to the problems facing America, today.
This post was largely excerpted from USA Today 1-25-11, page 8A.
What is the reason? Poor schools—maybe. Poverty—maybe. But there is a more ubiquitous and insidious reason. 41% of our newborns are born to unmarried mothers. (up from 5% a half century ago). The fact is that young, adult, Americans are just not getting married. For the first time since the census began tallying marriage, the proportion of Americans age 25-34 who had never married exceeded the proportion of those who had been married. Evidence is overwhelming that children of single mothers—particularly teen mothers—suffer disproportionately high poverty rates, impaired development, and low school performance.
A large majority of never-married mothers had close relationships with a partner when their child was born. Many of these women have said to me something like, “I know he loves me; and we are going to get married just as soon as we have enough money—any day now!” WHAT A BUNCH OF NONSENSE!! Those guys are not going to marry their girlfriends when they can get what they want without commitment. The statistics bear out my observation—by the time illegitimate children are 5 years old, most of the fathers are gone, and the children have little contact with them. These unmarried mothers go on to new relationships, and the children are hampered by repeated transitions that do more harm to their development.
America MUST do something about this deplorable situation. We are raising a generation of helpless young adults. If this situation had obtained in 1941, America would not have survived World War II. Our young people would not have been able to serve effectively as soldiers or as civilian defense workers. This country must return to its Christian roots. I believe that Christ and the Bible are the only answer to the problems facing America, today.
This post was largely excerpted from USA Today 1-25-11, page 8A.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Our Mentally Ill Population is Dangerous
During the 1960's, all of the states practically emptied their mental hospitals in order to avoid encroaching on the civil rights of those inmates who were hospitalized wrongly for supposed mental illness and whose civil rights were being violated by their detention. Hoards of disabled and mentally ill people were turned out on the streets of America to fend for themselves in a society where they were practically helpless. As a result, they became the homeless of America. Many were encarcerated in prisons or just left to forage in the streets, living under bridges and in gutters. In my own experience, many were housed in special wards of low income nursing homes. Their maintenance there is inadequate. These nursing homes do not provide locked environments for the violent and dangerous, so...these patients are free to roam the neighborhoods, acting in bizarre ways--sometimes dangerous to others in the society.
Very inadequate provisions were made for their out-patient care and supervision.
One such person described in the first paragraph is Jared Loughner, the alleged killer of six persons in Tucson. Laughner had exhibited strange behavior causing him to be expelled from his community college because the students and teacher were afraid of him. A few days later, the fatal shooting began.
About 16,000 murders occur in the United States yearly. 10% of these are committed by persons with serious mental illness.
It is far past the time when America should pay adequate attention to the needs of our liberated mental illness patients by providing out-patient care for them. One problem with out-patient care, however is that many patients with chronic mental illness refuse to take medications that are capable of normalizing their behavior.
New York has a law that makes provision for involuntary admission to a mental hospital if the patient refuses to take his court-ordered psychotropic medications.
Other states should follow New York's example in this kind of legislation. Our society should have mercy on these mental patients and on others around them by providing adequate care and supervision.
Much of this blog post was excerpted from the Wall Street Journal 1/12/11, page A15.
Very inadequate provisions were made for their out-patient care and supervision.
One such person described in the first paragraph is Jared Loughner, the alleged killer of six persons in Tucson. Laughner had exhibited strange behavior causing him to be expelled from his community college because the students and teacher were afraid of him. A few days later, the fatal shooting began.
About 16,000 murders occur in the United States yearly. 10% of these are committed by persons with serious mental illness.
It is far past the time when America should pay adequate attention to the needs of our liberated mental illness patients by providing out-patient care for them. One problem with out-patient care, however is that many patients with chronic mental illness refuse to take medications that are capable of normalizing their behavior.
New York has a law that makes provision for involuntary admission to a mental hospital if the patient refuses to take his court-ordered psychotropic medications.
Other states should follow New York's example in this kind of legislation. Our society should have mercy on these mental patients and on others around them by providing adequate care and supervision.
Much of this blog post was excerpted from the Wall Street Journal 1/12/11, page A15.
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