It’s mystifying, but an Oklahoma state Senator has introduced a bill which

prohibits the manufacture or sale of “food or any other product intended for human consumption which contains aborted human fetuses in the ingredients or which used aborted human fetuses in the research or development of any of the ingredients.”

As crazy as it sounds, there may be something to this cannibalism issue. State Senator Ralph Shortey

may be acting on claims that the San Diego-based company Semonyx used proteins derived from human embryonic kidney cells to test artificial sweeteners, NPR reported. The cell line, known as HEK 293, was created from a human embryo in 1970 and has become a staple in biochemistry labs around the world.

If this is true, our society has become so disgusting and decadent that, really, I think it’s about time Christians start praying for fire and brimstone, a la Sodom and Gomorrah.  Are we willing to cannibalize babies so that we may cut calories while still enjoying sweets?

The “any other product” apart from food prohibition is intriguing. Disgusting as it is, we already have beauty products containing placenta.  It baffles me that some women are sufficiently vain as to use something like that, but they’re out there.  (I’d add a Tom Cruise placenta joke here, but if I think on that too long I’ll gag.)   Given that people are willing to use and consume placenta for those purposes, I think going that extra step and consuming aborted fetuses is quite realistic.  It’s just small step away from embryonic stem cell research.

I oppose embryonic stem cell research.  Not only are adult stem cells are leading to remarkable cures, ASC research lacks the ethical issues of embryonic stem cells. I think that’s where we should focus our attention.  Although I disagree, I do at least sympathize with the arguments ESC proponents make for investigating every possible avenue to save lives and cure illnesses.  But the idea that we might use embryos – from any source, including abortions – purely for vanity or convenience is repugnant.  ”Slippery slope” arguments can be facile.  But the slippery slope arguments that pro-life proponents have been making since Roe v. Wade   are being fulfilled all the time.

One of the AAC’s more infamous publications is The Little Black Book, Queer in the 21st Century, which was published, as the booklet itself states, with assistance from Romney’s Department of Public Health. The booklet promotes the most perverse behavior, including “water sports,” “rimming” and “fisting.” It also lists local gay bars. Incredibly, this filth was distributed to public schools. In 2005, when some parents discovered the booklet was passed out at Brookline High, all hell broke loose. Apparently, some parents thought teaching their kids how to urinate on one another wasn’t a good idea. The controversy was covered by the Boston Globe and Romney was questioned by a reporter about it. He had little choice but to denounce The Little Black Book as “graphic pornographic material” that didn’t belong in the public schools.

However, a year earlier, Romney’s own Department of Public Health assisted AAC with the publication of the booklet. Moreover, the AAC has always used graphic material in its publications, even during the time period it received $10,000 from Romney. It’s what AAC is known for. It is hard to believe Romney didn’t know this. Romney apologists will argue that AAC also worked to prevent AIDS, but it hard to see how a group that promotes such risky behaviors can do any good preventing AIDS.

Just eight years ago, Mitt Romney personally and also professionally, in the course of his work as Governor, supported a group which promoted urinating on one another as part of a sex act to minors, and a list of local gay bars.

Is eight years a long time? Here in New Orleans, when remembering past events we still tend to mark time as BK and AK – and Romney’s donation was just one year Before Katrina. Not so long ago. Children born in 2004 are now in the second grade. That’s still pretty young. Consider your own political views – if you’re anything like me, they’ve changed somewhat over the last decade. But have they changed this radically?

Keep in mind that he was a Mormon then as he is today – and by anyone’s standards, Mormons are very socially conservative. Yet somehow he managed to fit a $10,000 donation to the AAC into his philosophy.  Was he completely fooled by these people when he donated? Then I question his judgment. Was $10,000 no big deal to him – the equivalent of giving a homeless guy a ten spot?  Then I question his financial management.  Was he currying favor with liberals? Then I question his political acuity.  We can be sure he wasn’t adhering to honestly held convictions, because his campaign is working mightily to minimize and deny his record.

This is who Romney is – he will take whatever position he needs to take.  And don’t think for a minute that the good looking rich guy with the charming smile won’t be congratulated, repeatedly, by the likes of Donna Brazile and James Carville and every other Democratic operative for his committment to gay rights. Including gay marriage which Romney also supported when he was governor.

He appointed gay judges, issued gay proclamations, gave a “parents of the year” award to a gay couple, funded gay school programs, promoted gay pride parades, gay proms, and much more. Additionally, Governor Romney aggressively and unilaterally implemented the Goodridge gay marriage decision even though the court never ordered him to do so. Moreover, he personally issued special “one-day” permits for 189 same sex couples to marry. So much for opposing gay marriage “at every opportunity” as his campaign claims he did.

Romney’s record on this issue will be a very effective weapon in the hands of Democrats who seek to undermine him with GOP voters, and it also goes to the issue of his serial flip-flopping.  Again, every GOP candidate has problems – incredibly, with a series of poor decisions the GOP has managed to make this race competitive for Obama. But the idea that Romney is the most electable, and that conservatives need to just get in line and support him if/when he wins in FL – at which point just four states will have voted for the GOP nominee – is patently insane.

All of the candidates are bad choices.  But of the bad choices, I favor first Gingrich, because

• he started his campaign by going positive, and he entreated the other candidates to join him.  For a while there, he was so cordial and fair with other candidates that I was convince he was really running for Vice-President. It’s unfortunate that they did not join him, and I believe he made the only decision he could by ultimately responding to them in kind, but I admire him for trying.
• while he’s notably gone off the conservative reservation on some issues like global warming, he also has a long history of taking conservative action when he had the power to do so. Unlike Romney, who speaks like a conservative when he’s required to, but governed like a liberal/statist.
• he will fight the Obama machine, viciously when necessary, and is totally unafraid to call out the media for their partisanship.
• I agree with Gingrich that this election is primarily about ideas rather than personalities.  No, Newt isn’t polished or charming. But he can fluently express conservative ideas, and he has sufficient intellect to pound Obama on his record.  He won’t let Obama slide on issues like taking credit for drilling; he’ll bring it right back to the fact that Obama has fought hard to stop drilling at every turn.

As to Gingrich’s personal foibles – I’m hardly enthused about his serial philandering, and I do think it speaks to his judgment.  But I don’t need the President to provide a moral example for me to live by.  It would be nice if he were a virtuous person, but the lengthy pursuit of power that all politicians undergo tends to burn that out of you.  I will settle for a President who doesn’t interfere with my faith, the way Obama is doing in his attacks on the Catholic Church.

If the establishment – and this is ironic given how “establishment” Gingrich is himself – manages to drum him out of the race, I’ll fall back on supporting Santorum.  If I have to vote for Romney, I will, but I’ll go kicking and screaming the entire way.

Brent Detwiler’s predictions have unfortunately been entirely fulfilled: after a decidedly limited and unfair process, the panels vindicated CJ Mahaney.  Mahaney has been reinstated as President.  Detwiler has been made out to be some kind of crank whose charges were patiently borne, but has now been dismissed.  And from what I’ve seen on FB and elsewhere on the web, a lot of SGM members are enjoying a victory lap.

It kind of reminds me of how the black community rejoiced at the re-election of William Jefferson here in New Orleans.  Yay, they got their guy back!  (Let’s not talk about the charges against him, this is a celebration!  And those charges were trumped up anyway, right?)  Certainly CJ Mahaney is not a criminal; don’t take the analogy that far. I’m talking about the reaction of his followers, not making an apples to apples comparison of offenses.  And like the William Jefferson followers, I suspect a lot of them are willfully uninformed.  Many people have followed SGM’s instructions and decided not to read Brent’s documents.

It’s true that Brent Detwiler has jumped several sharks in this process. I sympathize with him, though. I read the documents in their entirety. (I admit it: I have no life.)  Several facts stand out to me.

1. No one has ever claimed that the evidence – meaning emails, etc. – were faked or in any way untrue.  When Sovereign Grace described Brent’s charges as “slander” they were using the word in the biblical meaning of “unpleasant, harsh talk” and not the American legal system meaning of “untrue.”  To be clear: they’ve disputed Brent’s reading of the facts and his conclusions, but not the facts themselves.  But one can read Brent’s documents and gloss over his commentary, reading only the email exchanges and reports of phone conversations (which again, have not been disputed) and find quite a damning indictment of what’s been going on at Sovereign Grace and with CJ Mahaney for many years.  Did Brent select the worst examples? Certainly. He was taking the role of prosecutor in this situation.  But I don’t really find that unfair. After all, God does not weigh our good deeds against our bad.  Have we committed a sin? Yes – then, absent repentance, he judges us as sinners. Not as otherwise good people who made mistakes.
2. When you consider the entirety of Brent’s accusations – not just against CJ but also against Dave Harvey and others – what the AOR panel actually looked at was extremely limited, and it seems obvious to me that the process was rigged and unfair.

With that in mind, I’m very sympathetic to Brent’s anger and frustration, and the way he’s behaved, even when it seems excessive. I probably would have reacted the same way.  Then too, keep in mind that Brent has said that he believes he’s been called to address these issues in the same way Old Testament prophets were called to point out sin and call for repentance.

All along, I have tried hard not to be on “Team CJ” or “Team Brent” but rather on “Team God.”  I’ve read all the documentation, all the blog posts, and basically every scrap of information that was out there, and tried to look at it impartially.  After all that, I do think an injustice has been done.  I also see that I don’t have any control over it because while I desire to be on the same side as God, I’m certainly NOT God.

I do think it’s very good news that CJ says he intends to step down soon and that structural reforms will be put in place at SGM.  But to say I’m skeptical about what those reforms might include doesn’t begin to cover it, and CJ intends to resume preaching after he is replaced.  Here are the relevant documents from the various involved parties:

• Sovereign Grace’s announcement that CJ has been reinstated.
• CJ’s response to the SGM announcement.
• Brent Detwiler’s response to the reports on his dismissal
• Panel Reports and the Board’s Response.

And here is Brent’s blog response to the fact that CJ has been cleared:

I’ve come up with a great idea!  Surely inspired by the Holy Spirit.  I am going to do my own three panel investigation of C.J.  Certainly you’ll support this endeavor since you believe so strongly in the Golden Rule – at least for him.  “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12)

Here’s how my twelve step program will work.  Try it on for size.

1. Three people will serve on each panel.
2. I will pick those people.
3. Jim from SGM Refuge will be on one panel.
4. Kris and Guy from SGM Survivors will be on the other two panels.
5. Six additional people will fill out the panels that are known opponents of C.J. or at least have concerns for him.
6. I’ll call 18 witnesses against C.J. but won’t tell him who they are.  These witnesses need not have any integrity and can be proven liars.
7. Their testimony will be solicited behind closed doors and I won’t let C.J. know what they say against him or give him opportunity to cross examine them.
8. I won’t allow C.J. to pick any witnesses who can testify on his behalf and I will limit his participation to one of the three hearings.
9. I’ll restrict the hearings to very narrow questions but inform C.J. when he arrives at is hearing that he can share anything to make sure he is unprepared.
10. This panel won’t include in their reports anything C.J. says or evidence he presents but people will never know because I won’t allow him to record the session.
11. I’ll have a trial lawyer validate this process so people think it is legitimate.
12. When the reports come out I’ll send C.J. this Scripture.  Matthew 5:11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.”

Lastly, I want to express my agreement with the following email that was sent to you this morning. Try Jeremiah 9:4-9 on for size. You’ll discover a perfect fit. God will continue to punish SGM and avenge himself. People, pastors and churches will leave and stop giving money to the ministry. A split will ensue. Those with discernment, integrity and courage will leave. Idolators will stay.

From: [Deleted]
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2012 9:11 PM
To: C.J. Mahaney; Dave Harvey; Craig Cabinass; Mickey Connolly; Rick Gamache; Pete Greasley; JohnLoftness; Mark Prater; Jeff Purswell; Aron Osborne; Steve Shank; Bob Kauflin; Joshua Harris
Cc: Bryce Thomas; Brent Detwiler; kris@sgmsurvivors.com; guy@sgmsurvivors.com; jim@sgmrefuge.com
Subject: An announcement regarding C.J. Mahaney

The words disappointing, disheartening, and discouraging can only begin to describe the feelings that many people have, regarding these announcements:

SGM Plant & Build Blog: An announcement regarding C.J. Mahaney

C.J.M.’s View From the Cheap Seats: A note to those in Sovereign Grace Ministries

So, I leave you with this passage from Jeremiah to contemplate:

Jeremiah 9:4-9 [ESV]

[4] Let everyone beware of his neighbor, and put no trust in any brother, for every brother is a deceiver, and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer. [5] Everyone deceives his neighbor, and no one speaks the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves committing iniquity. [6] Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit, they refuse to know me, declares the LORD. [7] Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: “Behold, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do, because of my people? [8] Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully;with his mouth each speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he plans an ambush for him. [9] Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?”

It [punishment] has only begun.

I don’t think the people who are taking victory laps right now are necessarily idolators, malicious or even sinning.  Surely some may be, but I think most are just mistaken.  (As I often am, and have grace extended to me.)  At the end of the day, I’m going to have to trust God to sort this out.  As a practical matter, until/unless it is sorted out, I’ve bought my last Sovereign Grace book and CD, attended my last Sovereign Grace seminar, and made my last Sovereign Grace donation.  (On that note, they’ll never miss me; we always did give primarily to our local church.)  In short, I will disengage as much as possible from the national organization, and I will pray that God grants repentance to those involved.  I’m not doing this because Brent said so – I’d already made the decision before I read his post – but because I believe it’s the correct response.  But I suspect Brent is right when he suggests that a lot of people are going to disengage from Sovereign Grace.

I don’t know yet how my pastor is going to respond to this.  I’ve considered what my response to his response will be… if he comes out with a full-throated defense of CJ and SGM, I will be very unhappy. But is continued association with Sovereign Grace enough reason for me to leave a church where we have roots, and where good preaching takes place every week?  At this point, that’s an easy answer: no, it isn’t.  But that’s really not the deciding question. We feel that God has called us to our local church. The real question is, has God released us from our local church?  So far, no, He hasn’t.

So for whatever it’s worth, that’s where I stand.

* Thanks to commenter Waiting for the correction.

It’s discouraging, but not really surprising, to have yet another confirmation that Romney’s not going to go to the mat on getting rid of Obamacare.

Is Newt working from the Saul Alinsky playbook?  It’s hypocritical for him to run against the establishment given his longtime establishment credentials, and I do not support class warfare. But the Alinsky techniques work.  My main problem with the Alinsky rules is that the left has routinely used them against us, for decades, and we never respond in kind and have never formulated an effective defense. So I’m heartily enjoying seeing someone on the right “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” And it’s high time we make the left live up to it’s own book of rules.  So if Newt wants to go Alinsky, that’s fine with me – as long as he does so against the left and not people on his own side.

Jon Stewart throws the right a bone from time to time, but he’s also abundantly clear about which side he really works for. Ace sums up Stewart’s clown-nose-on mugging about Romney’s outrageously outrageous income: Straight-Shooter Jon Stewart: I Can’t Believe Mitt Romney Makes $57,000 Per Day That’s So Much More Unbelievable Than My Own $41,000 Per Day

Yes, that certainly is shocking – I can see why Stewart has his panties in a wad over the sheer decadence of it.  Even more shocking is how many people watch his show as a substitute for the news. Oh wait – it’s really not any more biased than network news, is it?

Everyone’s (and by everyone, I mean the left) is shocked to pieces about Romney’s 15% tax rate. I think 15% is ample – in fact it’s 5% more than we give to the church – but now everyone who’s stressed about it can stand down.  The WSJ calculated Romney’s actual rate, and it’s 44.75%.  There. Feel better now?

Here’s an interesting career track for you: Megadeath bassist –> Lutheran pastor.  This is old news, but along those lines, Queen guitarist Brian May branched out into astrophysics.

More on the Megaupload story – and of course, it’s political.  If Ayn Rand were alive, she’d be laughing hysterically right about now.

And in alt-universe news of the day, Obama corroborated Breitbart’s claims about Nancy Pelosi’s insider trading.  Evidently he is so determined to run against Congress he is willing to throw his own people under the bus.

Okay, break’s over, back on my head…

I replied, “I think about binge drinking.”

So I’m ignoring it all for the time being and taking a Star Trek break – watching The Captains on Netflix.

I’ve posted a couple of times about “Windmill Guy” William Kamkwamba.  His new children’s book is out!  The book looks great – nice art, and of course Kamkwamba’s story is incredible for readers at any age. From his blog:

After my primary education, I was accepted at and began secondary education in Malawi. I began first form (equivalent to a high school freshman in America) and took two trimesters out of three. After the second trimester, I was forced to drop out of school because my family and I did not have enough money to pay the school fees.

I was out of school for five years.

Our family is poor like many families in Malawi and Africa, and as a result, we have no electricity in our village or my home. For many years we had only paraffin candles to light my home at night. They are expensive, smoky, smelly and have to be purchased about 8 km from home.

During that time I decided to try to get as much education as possible by reading as many books as I could find. An organization called the Malawian Teacher Training Activity (MTTA), a project of USAID contributed a large quantity of books to the primary school library near my home. I read many of them.  One of the books I read was called Using Energy, a primary school textbook about how energy is made. Inside the book there were plans for a windmill. I decided to build a windmill to provide power for my family.

(Here’s his book for adults.)  So at 15 years old, he built a windmill out of scrap parts, including a bicycle frame. Then another, larger one.  People started talking, journalists came out and did a story on him, and funds were raised so he was eventually able to go back and finish high school.  These days Kamkwamba is here in the United States. He is a sophomore at Dartmouth and has an NGO called Moving Windmills which is improving the lives of many people in Malawi.  Here’s a short film, which is being expanded into a full documentary, about William.

I just love his story – how he overcame adversity, worked hard and creatively and made something that is generating wealth for himself, his family, and his town… it just keeps spreading.

(And for more positive info on Africa, don’t forget the documentary, Africa – Open for Business, which powerfully illustrates that the continent houses, in addition to thatched huts and starving babies with distended bellies, modern cities with high rise buildings and thriving stock exchanges.)

Next, the New Orleans police department – with actual video of a sex crime in their possession- stupidly decided they couldn’t investigate unless the victim stepped forward.

Let’s do a little thought experiment. Let’s imagine that this was a girl who drank herself stupid. Let’s imagine that she was touched, her breasts were fondled, and that a man rubbed his genitals on her while she was unconscious.  Can anyone imagine the NOPD – or any police department, anywhere – dragging their heels on investigating unless she came forward?

Dale Standifer, of the Metropolitan Center for Women and Children, summed it up:

“The man was obviously passed out, intoxicated and unable to defend himself, and he was assaulted,” Standifier said. “He was sexually assaulted, and humiliated and tormented while people cheered, and he shouldn’t have to stand up for himself and say, ‘I want to press charges.’ The city should be pressing charges and trying to move forward. If you had a murder victim, you can’t expect the victim himself, the corpse, to testify.”

Just as women’s domestic abuse against men is routinely blown off, it certainly appears that the police are willing to overlook a sexual crime against a man. Sure, everyone involved was an idiot. And maybe their reasoning is that idiocy should not be prosecuted. But if the victim were a woman, they wouldn’t hesitate, and the law needs to be enforced equally. As The Hayride put it (and click through to read the applicable criminal code),

This isn’t Gumps Gone Wild. It’s sexual battery. You can get 10 years for that, and it’s not acceptable for the cops not to ID this perp and bring his ass in for trial.

Added: Dr. Helen writes:

Given the way that our society laughs and mocks men who are abused in this way, I can understand the guy not coming forward, but he must. It is only when individual men start to say “No, this is not justice for all” and endure the ridicule that men everywhere will no longer have to endure their rights and bodies being violated in this absurd manner without consequence.

More on this at my post at Hot Air’s Green Room.

UPDATE: It turns out this is not a college prank in any sense of the word. Brian Downing, the man Deadspin identified as the teabagger is in his 30s, married, with a child.  And at the moment he is on his way – with his attorney – to New Orleans to have a little chat with the NOPD. I’m sorry for his family, but I’m glad that it’s looking like there will be some consequences for his behavior.  And what little amusement there is in this whole train wreck can be found in the fact that the tips identifying Downing apparently originated on an Auburn message board.