RUTHFULLY YOURS

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/faith-j-h-mcdonnell/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-russian-christian-dissident/print/

Those of us who worry about such things today see Islamist supremacism as the greatest threat to freedom in general and to religious freedom in particular. Not long ago, though, that particular honor belonged to Soviet-style Communism. The Soviet Union seemed unstoppable. And freedom for those who languished in the Gulag? Many prayed for this, but when freedom came it was still quite a shock.

I still remember the shock of joy I felt at the news of the release of one such prisoner in February of 1987. Christian dissident Alexander Ogorodnikov had spent almost nine years in the Gulag for his leadership of the Christian Seminar, an underground movement that had sprung up in answer to the needs of young Christians of many denominations who had found faith in Jesus Christ and were hungry for a way of following Him in their daily lives that the institutional churches could not offer. It was because of this authenticity and practicality that the movement, which encompassed thousands across Russia, so threatened the Communist authorities that they arrested and imprisoned its leaders.

For years advocates had prayed, written letters to Congress, and sent “Return Receipt Requested” missives to Soviet government authorities and Gulag officials on Ogorodnikov’s behalf. At conferences and special gatherings we all added our names and personal messages on letters to Ogorodnikov himself – which he rarely received, but of which the Soviet authorities kept meticulous track.

In late 1986, I was one of a few dozen participants in a conference at Princeton University, hosted by Dr. Ernest Gordon, retired dean of the school’s chapel, and founder of the Christian Rescue Effort for the Emancipation of Dissidents (CREED). Rolling his R’s in disgust as only a Scotsman can do, Gordon read aloud a letter that Ogorodnikov had written to his mother in May, but only now had reached the West. As a former Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders infantry regiment officer and prisoner of the Japanese during WWII, on the Burma Railway, Gordon understood Ogorodnikov’s agony.

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/andrew-harrod/catholic-cardinal-calls-for-end-to-blasphemy-laws/print/ Speaking at a conference in Milan, Italy, on May 8, 2013, that city’s archbishop, Cardinal Angelo Scola, called for the abolition of blasphemy laws worldwide.  Such a step would significantly help protect globally the freedom of speech and religion desperately needed by Christians in particular while countering Islamic fanaticism with freedom. Once favored to […]

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/obama-serial-liar/print/ Will Rogers, the great humorist, once said, “If you ever injected truth into politics, you would have no politics.”  If you injected truth into the teleprompter during one of Obama’s speeches, there would be nothing left but an empty chair. Fourteen days after the September 11, 2012 attacks, Obama appeared at the United Nations […]

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/348887/issa-warns-hillary-jonathan-strong

THIS TIME SHE BETTER BE READY TO TESTIFY INSTEAD OF HAVING A HISSY FIT…..RSK

Since Hillary Clinton last came up to Capitol Hill, we’ve learned senior State Department officials sought to scrub references to terrorism from the infamous Benghazi talking points to insulate Foggy Bottom from political criticism — citing concerns of their “building’s leadership” to justify the demands.

The rising temperature of the scandal means it’s possible that Hillary could be asked to return and testify again. If she comes back, she had better be prepared, says House Oversight and Government Reform chairman Darrell Issa.

“We are interviewing lots of people, most of them under oath,” Issa says, describing the “methodical” approach his committee has been using for months.

“We’re going to go through . . . that so that if we bring Secretary Clinton back, we bring her back when we have a lot of questions, including who told her what, or, more importantly, who didn’t tell her something, and why” Issa says in his office in the Rayburn House Office Building, his foot propped up on a table.
Generally speaking, the chairmanship of the oversight committee is a job that holds a lot more appeal when it’s the other party’s guy in the White House. Issa has held the coveted position for over two years, but it’s only now that Obama-administration scandals have truly consumed Washington.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/348873/president-won-%E2%80%94-sort-victor-davis-hanson The administration spent the last six months of the campaign in coverup mode. On September 11, 2012, Barack Obama was 1 point ahead of Mitt Romney in the ABC and Washington Post polls. He was scheduled to meet Romney in three weeks for the first debate. The president was increasingly anxious. Unemployment was still […]

Cybersecurity Still Lagging Behind If you are one of some 600,000 subscribers to the Financial Times, you may wish to change your account’s  password. Earlier today, a few of the paper’s Twitter accounts and a blog were compromised by Bashar Assad’s thugs, bragging on their Twitter, ”Hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army.”  Earlier the FT reported […]

http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/05/20/fdr-used-the-irs-against-jewish-activists/ The news that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) unfairly targeted conservative groups has brought renewed spotlight on a 2010 lawsuit filed by the pro-Israel group Z Street, which alleges it was also singled out by the IRS when applying for tax-exempt status. The Z Street case, whose first hearing is set for July 2 in […]

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/douglas-murray/2013/05/edmund-burke-a-writer-one-should-always-read/ “The right hero” – Douglas Murray reviews Jesse Norman’s Burke biography. The life, style and philosophy of the neglected founder of conservatism Edmund Burke: Philosopher, Politician, Prophet Jesse Norman William Collins, pp.325, £20, ISBN: 9780007489626 Edmund Burke is one of the most difficult thinkers to write about. His philosophy defies easy summary. His career, […]

Gene Patents Drive Medical Innovation The BRACAnalysis test has warned one million woman of their risk of breast and ovarian cancer. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323582904578487511358752662.html?mod=opinion_newsreel The biotech industry began in 1978 when the University of California applied for a patent on the gene for the human growth hormone. Since that filing nearly 20% of the 20,000-plus genes in […]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323648304578494921524100576.html?mod=hp_opinion China Eco-Boosterism, Revisited Why did Western liberals think China was a model for environmentalism? Once upon a time the future belonged to China—and China was going to be green. Greener than the hills of olde England. “China is pulling ahead on the environment,” was the title of a 2009 column in Forbes. “China is […]