In This Issue• The Daily Brief
• The Middle East in Focus
• Update: Health Care Package
• Euthanasia As Healthcare?
• A Dose Of Reality?
• The Good News Corner
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The Daily Brief - Tuesday, July 21, 2009
"And the LORD said to me, 'See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to possess it, that you may inherit his land.'" (Deut. 2:31)
"Occupy till I come. . . " (Luke 19:13)
The Daily Brief
1. Governors Fear Medicaid Costs in Health Plan - NY Times
The nation's governors, Democrats as well as Republicans, voiced deep concern Sunday about the shape of the health care plan emerging from Congress, fearing that Washington was about to hand them expensive new Medicaid obligations without money to pay for them.
• We thank you Lord, that our elected officials are beginning to pull back on the uncontrolled spending of the last few months. We pray that You will restrain them and guide them. Help us rescind all bills that would do us harm.
• Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own? (Luke 16:11, 12)
2. Doctors' Payments Snag Health Bill - Wall Street Journal
A plan to end a program that would cut government payments to doctors is emerging as the flash point in the debate over whether President Barack Obama's effort to overhaul the health system would increase the federal budget deficit.
• Lord, with this legislation which could push billions of dollars in new expenses onto state budgets, everyone is rightly worried. Let them rise up against it. We pray You will block this move to spend more billions.
• Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; (Psalms 1:1)
3. Mark Sanford: God Will Make Me Better - NewsMax
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, still clinging to office after admitting to an extramarital affair, wrote in an opinion piece released Sunday that God will change him so he can emerge from the scandal a more humble and effective leader.
• Lord, we thank You that this governor is taking the steps for restoration. But we pray that he will not be in office until he is completely restored. Remove unrighteous leaders and give us righteous ones!
• When pride comes, then comes shame; but with the humble is wisdom. The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them. (Proverbs 11:2, 3)
4. Episcopal Church moves toward blessing gay unions - Reuters
The U.S. Episcopal Church gave its clergy the go-ahead on Friday to bless some same-sex unions, such as civil partnerships in states that legally recognize them, setting the stage for further conflict with the wider Anglican world.
• Lord, we repent of this abomination and we pray for churches, and all Christians to truly see the grievousness of this action. Stir people across the nation to fast and pray seriously for our nation.
• Get up, sanctify the people, and say, 'Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the Lord God of Israel: "There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you." (Joshua 7:13)
5. Idaho town prays for return of captured US soldier - AP
Friends and family of an Idaho soldier who was captured in Afghanistan prayed for his safe return Sunday, shaken by the image of the frightened young private in a Taliban video posted online.
• Lord, our lives are in Your hand. We stand in the gap for this soldier and others who have been captured and possibly tortured. Free them and restore them to their families quickly. Let people continue in prayer for them.
• He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day (Psalms 91:4, 5)
6. At Least 8 from US Wounded in Jakarta Suicide Bombings - AP
The State Department said Friday that none of the eight Americans wounded in the blasts suffered life-threatening injuries. It said all had been treated and some had been evacuated to Singapore for additional medical care.
• Lord, we know that nothing is hidden from You, and that You know who did this and where they are hiding. So we ask that they will be revealed, captured, and punished. Let there be justice for the victims.
• God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. (Psalms 46:1, 2)
The Middle East in Focus
This week, for all the headlines cited below, please join us in proclaiming THIS DECREE:
For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession. The seed also of His servants shall inherit it: and they that love His name shall dwell therein. (Psalm 69:35-36)
1. US repeats opposition to Jerusalem project - Jerusalem Post
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley confirmed Monday that a new housing development in east Jerusalem had been a topic of conversation last week during a meeting between senior US diplomats and Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren.
2. Gates to hold talks in Israel next week - AFP
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates is to hold talks in Israel next week amid growing tensions between the two allies, a senior official said on Monday.
3. Amman begins stripping state's Palestinians of citizenship - Jerusalem Post
Jordanian authorities have started revoking the citizenship of thousands of Palestinians living in Jordan to avoid a situation in which they would be "resettled" permanently in the kingdom, Jordanian and Palestinian officials revealed on Monday.
Update: Health Care Package Stalls on the Hill
It appears there will be no vote in the U.S. Senate before the August congressional recess. There may or may not be a vote [on Obama's health care plan] in the U.S. House before their August recess. And President Obama, who has been a man obsessed with advancing his own government-focused vision of health care reform, yesterday backed off his pressure for a vote before the August recess and announced he would like a health care bill by the end of the year.
Congress is missing deadlines because of its growing fear of voters who are increasingly expressing opposition to a proposal that is a moral, ethical and financial threat to the nation. Don't stop expressing your concern to your Congressman and Senators--keep calling them until they you are sure the message has gotten through. (Family Research Council)
Euthanasia As Healthcare?
For several days, we've outlined how the Obama White House, congressional Democrats and their leftwing allies are using health care reform as a Trojan horse to make abortion-on-demand a permanent taxpayer-subsidized "healthcare right." Now comes chilling new evidence that the Left is also seeking to push euthanasia on America's senior citizens.
Betsy McCaughey, a former lieutenant governor of New York and health care expert, has made it her mission to do what most members of Congress won't - read the bill. Writing in Friday's New York Post, McCaughey offers this disturbing information:
"One troubling provision of the House bill compels seniors to submit to a counseling session every five years (and more often if they become sick or go into a nursing home) about alternatives for end-of-life care (House bill, p. 425-430). The sessions cover highly sensitive matters such as whether to receive antibiotics and 'the use of artificially administered nutrition and hydration.' This mandate invites abuse, and seniors could easily be pushed to refuse care."
Why might this be in the ObamaCare bill? One of the reasons health care costs a lot is because we are living longer lives, and we have more health issues as we age. So, as columnist Charles Krauthammer recently put it, death is cheaper. It's the same "logic" with abortion, a procedure that costs far less than delivering and raising a baby. Sadly, to Big Government's bottom line each human life is a liability, not an asset with intrinsic worth and value.
A Dose Of Reality?
With his poll numbers falling and key initiatives stalling in the Democrat-controlled Congress, President Obama is going on the offensive. Tomorrow night, President Obama will hold his fourth nationally televised, prime time press conference in six months. But a funny thing happened when the White House demanded network coverage for his 9:00 PM address.
For those of you who are not avid TV viewers, the 9:00 PM Wednesday time slot features "top rated reality shows" on three networks, and Obama's previous press conferences cost the networks millions in lost ad revenues. While CBS and ABC agreed to carry the president's press conference, NBC hesitated and Fox refused. Are the media turning on "the One"?
The Good News Corner
W.V. School Board Upholds Rights of All Kids
A West Virginia school board has voted unanimously not to include "sexual orientation" as a special category in a new cultural-diversity policy -- marking a significant victory for parents and pro-family advocates who used a Focus on the Family resource.
Family advocates said if sexual orientation was not removed from the bullying policy by the Kanawha County School Board, it would have created a special class of protection for some students based on sexual orientation or gender identity, while leaving others unprotected. It could also have set up a system that would be ripe for reverse discrimination.
Jeremiah Dys, president of The Family Policy Council of West Virginia, said adult activists are trying to push an agenda at the expense of children's education.
"We don't need to create an inequitable system of justice within our public school system simply to cater to a radical homosexual agenda," he said.
Had "sexual orientation" been included in the policy, teachers could have been forced to teach about homosexuality to kids as young as first grade.
The board's decision came after parents and concerned citizens gave them information from the Focus on the Family Web site truetolerance.org, which offers detailed information on countering promotion of homosexuality in the schools.
The board's decision came after reviewing the Focus on the Family Web site truetolerance.org, which offers detailed information on homosexuality in the schools. (CitizenLink)
