Contrary to Popular Opinion...

Just how satisfied are voters with the Democrats' agenda? According to the latest Gallup poll, a significant majority of Americans are unimpressed. For the first time since 1996, congressional approval ratings have dipped well below the 30% mark, sinking to a meager 24% last week. As Gallup notes, such widespread dissatisfaction is rare. In fact, Congress has been rated this negatively only a handful of times in the last 40 years most noticeably during the energy crisis.

Sadly, it appears that the country is facing a new crisis, an ideological war that pits the majority on Capitol Hill that is pushing an agenda that's far outside the mainstream of American values against the vast majority of the American people. Considering the promises that Pelosi and company made last year, it's no wonder that the country feels frustrated with its leaders and even betrayed by them. The Democrats were swept into power on the promise that they would clean up Washington, yet they seem unable to clean up even their own party. For example, the House and Senate are scheduled to consider legislation in the next few weeks that would increase funding for Planned Parenthood, promote Social Security benefits for "domestic partners," codify Roe v. Wade, eliminate support for crisis pregnancy centers, and more. If the New Majority continues on its present course it may very well go the way of the last majority.

Conservatives Question 'Poll' Position

Results of a new poll on the priorities of Republican voters are causing quite a commotion in today's headlines and considering the survey's findings, it's no wonder.

Funded by four of the most liberal GOP organizations, the survey is a masterpiece of political manipulation. According to the results, U.S. Republicans now support gays in the military, universal health care, special rights for homosexuals, and 60% of them would vote for a presidential candidate who disagreed with their position on abortion. Is the new message of the GOP to write off social issues altogether? An in-depth look at the polling questions suggests not.

Most of the survey was crafted to produce a conditioned response. Here's one example. Participants were asked to agree or disagree with leading questions like this one: "The Republican Party has spent too much time focusing on moral issues." Fifty-three percent concurred, despite the fact that moral issues have historically been the winning issues on Election Day and the moral issue of corruption in office saddled a number of GOP candidates with defeat last November. Groups like the Republican Main Street Partnership may have succeeded in engineering some phony support for their issues, but we'll see how reliable those findings are after the ultimate polls at the ballot box.

Senate Takes Five on Title V

Title V abstinence funding will live to see another day--95, to be exact. Last night, the Senate agreed to at least a three-month extension of the federal matching funds for state abstinence education programs. Despite the liberals' ambush on abstinence, leaders from both parties, including Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.), worked together to ensure that the entitlement would not expire. Evebthough these senators are to be commended for acting quickly to salvage the funds, let's remember that the battle for Title V is far from over. Although the decision has given pro-family activists a brief reprieve, it postpones what is certain to be a bitter debate for full reauthorization at the end of this fiscal year. No doubt proponents of comprehensive sex ed are salivating at the chance to eliminate the competition in September. This may be summer, but we cannot afford to take a vacation from contacting Congress. So turn up the heat in support of Title V and the well-being of the next generation.

Firenze

Day 6.
Left Venice, it was a great experience one that I will never forget. Now we are on our way to Florence or as they say here in Italy, Firenze. Got to Florence and it was raining. As we left the train station and started walking towards our hotel we got lost which has been a common occurrence for us. Getting lost is no big deal here since you can walk almost anywhere and feel safe. We finally found the hotel and let me tell you I was impressed. It is a small place only 8 rooms and we were fortunate enough to get the main suite. We settled in and then headed out to explore the city.

This city in my opinion gives Rome a run for it's money. For one is less touristy and much cleaner. The center of town is beautiful, took lots of pictures and had dinner at a place recommended in the Rick Steves book. The food was great and cheap. Florence is beautiful at night, it looks like the locals just love to hang out at the piazzas instead of staying home stuck in front of the T.V. maybe we should learn from them.

We saw all the major sites, my favorite was Ponte Vechio and the Piazza De La Signoria where Palazio Vechio is located. We are staying two days here and will visit a couple of museums. I am beginning to notice why people fall in love with Europe and specially with Italy, it has to do with the different life style, it's like everything here is done in a different speed. People take the time to savor life.

Israel is the victim, not the root of all evil

Sometimes we make the most fundamental errors. When large numbers of people make mistakes even monumental ones it is almost impossible to challenge the resultant prevailing view. It was once the conventional wisdom that the Earth is flat. In ancient times, if anyone dared to claim that the earth was round, they would have been denigrated as being detached from reality. When, in the 16th century, Nicolaus Copernicus dared suggest that the sun was the center of the solar system and not the Earth, he was regarded as a heretic. In today`s world, any attempt to explain the Arab- Israeli conflict in terms other than "Israel`s illegal occupation of Palestinian land" and the "denial of Palestinian nationalist aspiration" is often regarded like a declaration that the earth is flat and the center of the universe. But what if this view is wrong? What if, in terms of understanding the Arab-Israeli conflict, we are living in pre-Copemican times? What if the Jewish state that is considered to be the root of all evil in the Middle East were instead the victim?...Full Story.

BBC's All-Out Apology???

The BBC apologizes for its Israel coverage? As many of our subscribers have personally found, getting the BBC to admit to a mistake is extremely rare. This time, however, the BBC has issued a sincere and profound apology for its Israel coverage. As the Jerusalem Post reports: The BBC apologized this week for referring to Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and promised not to repeat "the mistake," following a complaint by four British organizations. Arab Media Watch, Muslim Public Affairs Committee, Friends of Al-Aksa and the Institute of Islamic Political Thought sent a joint complaint to the BBC after a presenter on its Football Focus program on March 24 mentioned that Jerusalem was Israel's capital and "historic soul."....Full Story.

Abbas uses the “T” word

PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas this week underwent a conversion. For decades he was one of PLO terror chieftain Yasser Arafat’s inner circle, a top lieutenant who planned, approved of, and/or openly supported the murder and maiming of thousands of Jewish men, women and children in numerous acts of terrorism. He has refused to in any way restrain or criticize his own Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades who have carried out more acts of terrorism than Hamas. Not once, since the signing of the Oslo Agreement in 1993, has he condemned any “Palestinian” attack on Jews; restricting his criticism to the perpetrators of those attacks for “hurting the Palestinian cause.” Hatred for the Jews runs right through him. His doctoral thesis denies the Holocaust, and he has repeatedly rejected the Jews’ historic claim to their heartland. He allows “Palestinian” television to freely broadcast lies and antisemitic libels against the State of Israel and the Jewish people. The last thing in the world he would ever call himself is a terrorist. Even the Bush administration has helped to launder and re-package him as a “moderate.”...Full Story.

A City On The Ocean

Day 5.
Well I felt 100% again and ready to continue our Italian adventure. Today I did something that I had never done before, I rode a train, that is right I had never ridden a train. We rode one for about four hours to get from Rome to Venice our next destination. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by the train ride it was smooth and comfortable, I guess since Italians depend so much on this type of transportation they have gotten good at providing the service. The trains are on time and clean, the staff is courteous and helpful and they make the effort to communicate when they see that you are a tourist.

Arriving in Venice is an experience in itself, is like going from one world to another. Venice is a unique place, it's like no other place in the world. The first thing that struck me was the fact that there were no cars around, lots of people and lots of water. One myth was quickly debunked, no Venice does not smell bad and there is no nasty things floating on the canals, at least I didn't see any. What I did see was a lot of history. I also noticed that everything here is expensive they say that is because it has to be brought from the mainland, no matter, to me it kind of felt like a tourist trap. And trapped we were since we are surrounded by water. Another thing that I found totally outrageous was the prices for the gondola rides they are asking for 100 euros for a 45 minute ride. We went to the famous Piazza San Marcos and hung out there soaking the atmosphere and people watching, while ducking the pigeons that are there by the thousands. After that we had dinner at a pretty nice restaurant and then went to our hotel.

Looking for Fountains

Day 4.

Man I'm getting to love this city (Rome), there is something to see every time I turn a corner. Today I started the day kind of feeling under the weather I think it may have something to do with the water, as the day went on I felt better. Today we had planned to just go out looking for fountains, this place is full of them, they have them small, big, and huge. We first went to the Spanish Steps which is a famous hang out place and you guessed it there is a fountain. After hanging out for a while we went looking for another famous fountain called Fontana de Trevi, what a site this thing is huge too bad it was packed with tourists (me being one of them) and with vendors selling cheap souvenirs. After hanging out there for awhile we did some shopping and called it an early day since tomorrow we have to get up early to take a train to Venice.

Rainy Rome

Day 3.
I had so many things planned for this day, but it only goes to show that the Lord always has the last word. I woke up to see that it was raining pretty hard, we tried to wait it out but around noon time we were still inside the apartment and it didn't look like it would stop so we decided to venture out in the rain. We took the metro (subway) and went to see a genuine pyramid in the middle of Rome. This was a pyramid erected by one of the emperors who had visited Egypt and found the idea of being buried in one of these cool. We also walked along the old wall that used to serve as protection for the city. Once we got our fill of the wall and the pyramid we went to the St. Peter In Chains Church, this church houses the famous Michaelangelo sculpture of Moses, it was pretty impressive to see, it also has a shrine housing the supposed chains that held the apostle Peter when he was in jail in Rome. It was sad to see how people came up to this shrine and knelt down to pray to some old rusted chains.

Our second part of this day took us to the Vatican where we visited St. Peter's Basilica, the world's biggest church it can hold up to 95,000 worshipers at one time. Everything here is huge and in my opinion gaudy, inside the church we got to see the famous sculpture of the Pieta. We also saw another sad scene of people lining up to kiss the foot of a sculpture of St. Peter, people have been doing this for so long that the toe of this marble sculpture is worn down, talk about superstition and idolatry. Well overall for a rainy day we got a lot accomplished. After a well deserved dinner, have I mentioned that the food here is great, we returned to the apartment and chilled for the rest of the night.

In Memory of Ruth Bell Graham

Behind every great man is a great woman. Such was the case with Rev. Billy Graham, whose wife, Ruth Bell Graham, played an instrumental role in her husband's global crusade for Christ. We were saddened to hear of Mrs. Graham's death yesterday at the age of 87. Through more than six decades of dedication, both to marriage and Billy's calling, Ruth earned the love and admiration of all who knew her. As a wife and ministry help-mate, mother of five, grandmother of nineteen, and great-grandmother, we pay tribute to her legacy of selfless devotion and commitment to family. As Rev. Graham said, "...We were called by God as a team. No one else could have borne the load that [Ruth] carried... My work through the years would have been impossible without her." Our prayers go out to Rev. Graham and his family in the midst of their loss. May they be comforted by the knowledge that she is now face to face with Jesus and many of the people she and her husband led to a saving knowledge of Him.

Rome The Eternal City

Day 2:
I had planned to get an early start but totally overslept. The alarm sounded at the right time but I was sleeping so good that I just turned off and dozed off again. Finally got up and we made our way into the city. There is only one way that I can describe my first impression AWESOME.

We concentrated our sightseeing in what is called ancient Rome, I kept imagining what people during those times were doing and how this place must have looked back then. I don't have the words to describe this, just to say that it is beautiful. Everything is huge.

One of the places we visited was the Mamertine Prison, where supposedly Peter and Paul were kept prisoners before they were put to death. It was an emotional experience to be in a place that I have read about in the Bible. Everything in this place just confirms that the Bible is true. I also took a walk inside the Colosseum it truly is colossal, I didn't know that it was built by Jewish slaves. All in all this was an awesome day, there is so much history in this city. Got back to the apartment around 11 pm. Let's see what the Lord lets me see tomorrow.

Italian Vacation

Just got back from our yearly family vacation, this year we went to Italy. I was planning on blogging as we went along but finding a wifi place was a hassle so I will recap the trip in the next few days.

Day one, we were all pretty excited we flew from here to Chicago a smooth three hour flight once there we boarded a connecting flight to Rome, the flight got delayed due to heavy rain, we were inside the plane on the runway for over an hour, finally we got the clear to take off and were on our way. The flight took over nine hours, man that was torture, it was freezing inside the cabin and i didn't have any warm clothes. We finally landed in Rome at 8:50 am (they are 6 hours ahead of us). At the airport we met Giorgio our driver who took us to the apartment we are staying in. Giorgio is an old guy grandfatherly type, he barely speaks English but knows Rome like the back of his hand. On the way to the apartment he drove us around some sites.

We finally got to the apartment and there we met Vanda the caretaker of the apartment she is a friendly older lady who does not speak a lick of English but somehow we communicated she is a very friendly person. Once we settled in we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood to get our bearings. We went to a market and got some supplies and then had lunch at a neighborhood restaurant. Man the food here is great but it takes getting used to it cause is very rich. After lunch we went back to the apartment and just crashed we are pretty jet lagged. Well that's pretty much it for our first day of vacation, we have a lot of things planned for our second day. I just keep thanking God for the opportunity He has given me and my family to experience this great country.