Divide And Conquer, April Fools, Losing Howard Dean, The Abortion Spa

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Divide And Conquer? 

The fight Indiana Governor Mike Pence finds himself in has been made incredibly more difficult by the involvement of some big corporations, along with weak-kneed Republicans in the state. The governor is now in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" corner. He needs our prayers.

Meanwhile, corporate insiders who think it is smart to join the moral revolutionaries currently waging war against religious liberty might want to ponder this: They are risking waking up one morning and discovering that they are alone in the battle against big government regulation.

For most of us, defending our churches and synagogues is more important than defending the Fortune 500. 

April Fools? If Only 

The Iranian nuclear negotiations are going into overtime. Nothing official was announced yesterday so the talking continues. President Obama has been aggressively courting the mullahs for years now, but the April Fools joke is on us. 

We've gotten nothing of any consequence in terms of provable concessions from Iran. Meanwhile, its centrifuges are still spinning and its threats against Israel and our interests keep coming. 

This latest round of negotiations has been going on for two years. Approximately four months after Obama took office, he sent his first letter to the ayatollah asking for a new day in the relationship between our two countries. In that time Iran has responded with a series of sucker punches. It has:
 

  • Overthrown the government of Yemen,
  • Propped up the Assad regime in Syria,
  • Partially occupied Iraq as Obama withdrew U.S. troops,
  • Plotted to assassinate the Saudi ambassador at a Washington, D.C. restaurant,
  • Sent massive amounts of weaponry to Hamas resulting in at least three major conflicts in Gaza since 2012,
  • Continued to promise to wipe Israel off the face of the earth, while calling us "the great Satan," and 
  • Cheated repeatedly on previous agreements. 

    This has largely been ignored by Obama because, it seems, Israel building homes for Jews in Jerusalem is much more offensive than Iranian fanatics building nuclear bombs.

    Perhaps the worst thing in all of this is the U.S./Iranian agreement that Congress never voted on, that the American people were not asked about and which no one officially acknowledges. But where you can see smoke, there's a fire. 

    Obama has made an agreement with Iran that has given it free rein in the Middle East to pursue hegemony while he cuts Israel down to size and conducts negotiations that will inevitably result in Iran getting a nuclear bomb. Obama has signaled this periodically when he suggests that he would like to see Iran become "a very successful regional power," when he makes concessions to Iranian demands and continues this charade of negotiations.

    Of the many April Fools jokes being pulled today, there are a couple you won't fall for because they are just so unbelievable. But this one is no joke -- it is true: Obama is abandoning Israel and replacing our long-time ally with our enemy Iran. 

    Netanyahu Responds 

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to yesterday's news that the nuclear negotiations would be extended yet again and to the latest threat to Israel's existence. His statement was clear, powerful and precisely what every Western leader should be saying right now. Here are some excerpts:

    "Yesterday an Iranian general brazenly declared and I quote: 'Israel's destruction is non-negotiable,' but evidently giving Iran's murderous regime a clear path to the bomb is negotiable. This is unconscionable. . . .

    "Iran's claim that its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes doesn't square with Iran's insistence on keeping underground nuclear facilities, advanced centrifuges and a heavy water reactor. Nor does it square with Iran's insistence on developing ICBMs and its refusal to come clean . . . on its past weaponization efforts. . . . 

    "Iran must stop its aggression in the region, stop its terrorism throughout the world and stop its threats to annihilate Israel. That should be non-negotiable and that's the deal that the world powers must insist upon."

    When You Lose Howard Dean. . . 

    There's no doubt that Barack Obama is desperate to cut a deal with Iran. Like Nixon going to China, I think Obama would like to go to Tehran. Perhaps he is eager to prove to the Nobel Committee that he has earned his Peace Prize. 

    But he needs to think hard about who he is negotiating with and what his legacy could be. Does Obama want to be remembered as the 21st century's Neville Chamberlain?

    Liberals are increasingly nervous about the path this president is on. Now, even former Vermont Governor Howard Dean is telling Obama to "walk away."

    On MSNBC this morning, Dean said, "I am worried about this. . . . Obama is right to try to get a deal. I'm worried about the way these negotiations have gone. I think that [it] is right, probably, to step away from the table."

    The Abortion Spa? 

    A few months ago, I wrote a column for USA Today about the left's attempt to portray abortion as a social good. So I wasn't at all surprised by a story in yesterday's Washington Post about a "new spa-like abortion clinic" opening up this week in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Friendship Heights, Maryland. 

    The Post writes that this facility is trying to "de-stigmatize" abortion. Clients will be greeted "with warm teas" and "comfortable robes." The design is also "another striking aspect." With wood floors "and a natural wood tone on the walls," the abortion clinic "recalls high-end salons." 

    So taking a life should be as carefree and relaxing as getting your nails done or having your hair colored. 

    Many liberals are uncomfortable with this callous attitude. Even Barack Obama once said that "No one is pro-abortion." But there is simply no other way to describe this. 

    The Post story goes on to note that "abortion rights activists are seeking to normalize abortion . . . even putting a positive spin on it."

    Just consider feminist poet Katha Pollitt, who says, "We need to talk about ending a pregnancy as a common, even normal, event." She argues that abortion is "just as moral as the decision to have a child -- indeed, sometimes more moral." 

    The good news is that this latest tactic by the pro-abortion left is a sign of desperation. It is a direct response to the pro-life community gaining momentum in public opinion and in state legislatures across the country. When it comes to the sanctity of life, we are winning hearts and minds!