Christmas-friendly establishments for the discerning Christian shopper

AFA (American Family Association) has once again published its list of Naughty & Nice retailers just in time for Christmas shopping.

We have taken the top 100 national retailers and reviewed their websites, media advertising and in-store signage in an effort to help you know which companies are Christmas-friendly.

 

Glad to see that some of my personal faves made the “nice” cut:
L.L.Bean, Kohls, Hobby-Lobby, JoAnn Fabrics and Ace Hardware 🙂
 
But these stores definitely refuse to recognize the Reason for the Season:
 

• Barnes & Noble
• Family Dollar
• Foot Locker
• Limited Brands
• Maurice’s
• Office Depot
• Office Max
• Pet Smart (especially obstinate)
• Staples
• Supervalu
• Victoria’s Secret

 
 
And these aren’t much better:
 
• 1-800-Flowers.com
• Academy Sports + Outdoors
• Bath & Body Works
• Best Buy
• Cooking.com
• CVS Pharmacy
• Fred’s
• Radio Shack
• Safeway
• Starbucks
• True Value
• UncommonGoods.com
• Walgreens
• Whole Foods

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We can send a message with our dollars, simply by choosing where to shop. We can buy gifts from those who aren’t embarrassed to use the word “Christmas” in their advertising. And tell the radical secularists to stop marginalizing Christianity.

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Saturday Shorts – 11-22-14

sshorts11-19-11

Random links of interest, concern or curiosity from the past week or so, that deserve at least a SHORT mention:

 
As the most deceitful administration ever, moves on to tackle the “immigration crisis,” here are a couple reality checks ~
Refresher course: When White House promises immigration “background checks,” they lie ~ Michelle Malkin has been chronicling the shamnesty falsehoods for years.

Amnesty for UnAmerica ~ Sultan Knish, on how those who “broke” the system have no intention of actually fixing it ~

Our immigration system is not based on opportunity. It’s based on a migratory flow of Democratic Party voters […]
 
If the immigration system is to work again, it should work for America… not for Obama.

And then there’s this bit of news ~
ICE readies 2,400 beds for new spring surge of illegal immigrants through Texas ~

In advance of the president’s new pro-immigrant announcement set for Thursday night, ICE is readying its strategy for next year when over 100,000 illegals are expected to flood over the U.S.-Mexico border.

Sure thing. Just keep em coming!

 
Bill Clinton Is an Alleged Rapist, Too. Why Aren’t You Outraged About That? ~ A tale of two Bills ~

Liberals don’t care that Cosby raped someone (allegedly) because if they did they’d care that Clinton raped someone (allegedly). What they care about is the opportunity to finally avenge their politically correct sensibilities, after Cosby spent several years audaciously telling black people to be accountable for their actions and stop blaming the white man for everything.
 
If he’d never exposed himself as an apostate of the Church of Liberalism, and instead stuck to Clinton’s strategy of exposing himself to White House volunteers, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

Leftie outrage is nothing if not selective.
 
Here’s more proof ~

Study: Nearly 36 million slaves around the world ~

…it appears that preventing slavery is not high on the agenda of most governments. In some countries, the government almost certainly looks the other way. Until every country takes the problem seriously, millions of people will suffer for their indifference.

Somehow this tragedy is never a cause célèbre for the Leftists and their race-baiting associates… Weird huh?

 
Wind Firm Sues to Block Release of Bird-Death Data ~

A company (Pacificorp of Portland, Oregon – owned by Berkshire Hathaway) that operates at least 13 wind-energy facilities across three states is suing in federal court to block the U.S. government from releasing information to The Associated Press about how many birds are found dead at its facilities.

Hmmmm… Could it be that wind turbines aren’t quite as environmentally-friendly as the greens would like us to believe?
 
Racial Quota Punishment ~ Redistributing punishment – regardless of guilt.
Earth-to-Minneapolis: you can’t legislate reality away ~

Under an implicit threat of losing their federal subsidies, the Minneapolis Public Schools have agreed to reduce the disparity in punishment of black students by 25 percent by the end of this school year, and then by 50 percent, 75 percent and finally 100 percent in each of the following years. In other words, there are now racial quota limits for punishment in the Minneapolis schools […]
 
The people in the Obama administration who are pushing this counterproductive policy are not stupid. They are political, which is worse. They know what they are doing and they are willing to sacrifice young blacks to do it.

The brand of racial justice advanced by Barack Obama and Eric Holder is good for no one – least of all those whom they purport to be helping.

 
Woman Who Proclaimed Jesus During Islamic Prayer Service at National Cathedral: I Love Muslims ~

“For those that say this is a country of freedom of religion, then I say let’s play fair,” she said. “Let us have a Bible study in their mosque. Let me pass out the Bible tracts at their mosque instead of having the police called out on me. Why can’t Franklin Graham go into the biggest mosque in Dearborn, Michigan, and hold a prayer vigil on Easter Sunday there? They will not allow it because they are not tolerant of us. They wanted nothing to do with Christianity.” […]
 
“When are we going to stand up and fight? I don’t think God meant for His people to just lay back and do nothing.”

Christine Weick reminds me of the little German lady, Heidi Mund, earlier this year. There’s that White Rose again… 🙂

 

Gush Etzion Residents Form Human Chain in Response to Terror ~
humanchain-Israel

 

Many Israelis choose to react to increasing terror attacks with steadfast solidarity.

 

Thousands of people made a human chain in Gush Etzion Tuesday, joining hands on the road between the town of Kfar Etzion and the Gush Etzion junction in the wake of Tuesday’s massacre in Har Nof…

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Illegal Amnesty Facts & Figures

A year and a half ago the Heritage Foundation released a study on the costs of amnesty for the vast numbers of “undocumented” among us. The comprehensive, long-term price tag: $6,300,000,000,000 (Yeah, that’s 6.3 Trillion!).
 
amnesty-cost 
As I recall, Heritage was demonized for telling the truth (- even by the RINOs). But that hasn’t stopped them from consistently reporting the facts on this contentious issue ~ Ten-Step Checklist for Revitalizing America’s Immigration System: How the Administration Can Fulfill Its Responsibilities.
 
In this new article, David Inserra again looks at the price we-the-taxpayers must shoulder for the ongoing illegal influx ~

In 2010, the average unlawful immigrant household received around $24,721 in government benefits and services while paying some $10,334 in taxes. This generated an average annual fiscal deficit (benefits received minus taxes paid) of around $14,387 per household. This cost had to be borne by U.S. taxpayers.
Amnesty would provide unlawful immigrant households with access to over 80 means-tested welfare programs, Obamacare, Social Security, and Medicare. The fiscal deficit for each household would soar.

 
And these numbers don’t include security costs, collateral health care and public education expenses. All of these expenditures massively strain existing infrastructure, meaning less services and resources are available for legal Americans. You know, the one’s who actually pay for those resources.
 
But the reality is, we would only have to deal with a fraction of these costs if we could just address the biggest problem surrounding this issue; the fact that existing immigration legislation is routinely ignored – by the very branch of the federal government charged with enforcing it ~

Under President Barack Obama, immigration laws are unilaterally ignored, waived, or changed through “prosecutorial discretion,” “immigration priorities,” or enforcing existing laws “more humanely.” The result of such lawlessness is that the rule of law suffers and more illegal immigration is encouraged, imposing large financial and security costs on the (country).
Indeed, the U.S. immigration system is broken because of the executive branch’s decision not to faithfully execute existing immigration law.

 
So long as the ruling class refuses to ensure that the legislation they put in place is actually enforced, the illegal influx will continue, to the detriment of law-abiding, tax-paying legals.
 
ramirez-obamaWelcomesillega
 

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Feeling helpless in the face of Obama’s imperial delusions? Here’s one small way to make a difference: Sign this petition at Heritage Foundation’s site ➡ Tell our President to stop abusing his authority.
 
Tea Party Patriots has a petition as well: Sign the National Petition to End the Border Crisis Now!

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Related:
Center for Immigration Studies ~ CIS is pro-immigrant; low-immigration; a non-profit research organization.
 
If only Washington would listen to common sense sources like Heritage and CIS – instead of K-Street lobbyists!

Posted in Fruits of Their Labors, Unvarnished | Leave a comment

We better get used to it -> Tyranny’s the new norm

 
ramirez-obamasTyranny 
 
Tweet-meister @iowahawkblog nicely captures the dicatorial image ~

 
And as infuriating as it is, we shouldn’t be surprised…
 
ladyliberty-6-11

Posted in Good vs.Evil, Mendacity, Unvarnished | Leave a comment

Obama’s DEvolution

Barack Hussein Obama seems to be one of those easily influenced individuals; an empty suit, rootless, feckless, a man with few convictions, constantly evolving. More like constantly lying.
 
Now we’re discovering that – much like his position on the same sex “marriage” issue – he’s apparently evolved on immigration, and not just the illegal variety.
 
obamaAmnestyWhile he’s poised to violate the constitution, his oath of office and the trust of the American people with a flourish of his pen, now might be an appropriate time to remind the prevaricator-in-chief of his earlier position on immigrants. And, as The Patriot Post asks Who Better to Make the Case Against Obama’s Amnesty Than Obama? ~

Obama’s ambivalence on the issue was even evident in his famed 2006 autobiography, “The Audacity of Hope,” in which he states: “The number of immigrants added to the labor force every year is of a magnitude not seen in this country for over a century. If this huge influx of mostly low-skill workers provides some benefits to the economy as a whole – especially by keeping our workforce young, in contrast to an increasingly geriatric Europe and Japan – it also threatens to depress further the wages of blue-collar Americans and put strains on an already overburdened safety net.” He continued, “When I see Mexican flags waved at pro-immigration demonstrations, I sometimes feel a flush of patriotic resentment. 😯 When I’m forced to use a translator to communicate with the guy fixing my car, I feel a certain frustration.”

 

Now eight years later, in an amazing transformation, he’s a one-man welcome wagon for illegal aliens – all set to launch the largest Democrat voter drive in history.

 
liar-in-chief 

 
Here’s an even more egregious lie from Barack’s shadowy past ~

In the 2008 campaign, he promised, “I take the Constitution very seriously. The biggest problems that we’re facing right now have to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress at all, and that’s what I intend to reverse when I’m president of the United States of America.”

 

Just more evidence that you can’t trust anything this man utters.
 

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Folks, this is a man with no core values, no principles, A man driven by a narcissistic need for ever more power.
 
He’s not evolving on anything. He’s deceiving. And he’s DEvolving into the worst president we’ve ever had.
 
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Related:
Obama’s Executive Amnesty Deception ~ Detailing the number of times Obama has publicly admitted he doesn’t have the constitutional authority to grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants.
 
Is The Man In the White House Mentally Ill? ~ Seriously. Dave Daubenmire isn’t being facetious. He makes a darn good case for answering in the affirmative.

Posted in Arrested Development, Mendacity, Unvarnished | Leave a comment

Founding Wisdom [Flouted by the Foolish]

founders-quote-TJefferson“To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.”
 
~ Thomas Jefferson ~ letter to Joseph Milligan, 6 April 1816

Posted in Timeless Principles | Leave a comment

Creation Meditations

Maybe it’s just me… Marveling at the vast splendor and variety of our beautiful world, I often wonder how any serious contemplation of nature can fail to stir belief in a Creator?

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools…
~ Romans 1:20-22 ~

 

Full length (40 min.) DVD available HERE.

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A small step (down) for Episcopalians; a giant leap for Islam

Someday, when historians are tracing the downfall of America, they’ll take note of a November 14, 2014 event that passed by with little notice at the time, but will have significant repercussions in the years to come. Last Friday was the day Muslims took over our National Cathedral in Washington D.C..
 
natlCathedral 

The cathedral, whose construction took most of the 20th century to complete, is actually Episcopalian. A branch of Protestantism, the Episcopalian Church now is pretty much Christian in name only, having followed the secularists down the path of moral relativism. Since it doesn’t stand for too much anymore, it’s membership has fallen off like that of other liberal denominations. Coffers being down along with congregants, the National Cathedral has been forced to find alternative sources of funding to meet its annual $13 million operating costs.
 
As the Washington Post reported earlier this year ~

About 65 percent of the revenue that funds Washington National Cathedral’s annual budget comes from donations; the rest comes from the endowment in addition to earned income from concerts, tourism and programming.
 
This month, for the first time, officials began charging a $10 admission fee for walk-up tourists to help fill the gap created by the decline in donations. By making better use of the cathedral as a public space, officials hope to significantly boost large individual and corporate donations — with a long-term eye toward boosting the endowment.

 
One wonders what Jesus, who threw the moneychangers out of His Father’s house in righteous indignation, would make of this modern day temple. Or of its clergy ~
 
natlCathedral2

“I want to skateboard down it — or have a paper airplane contest,” Hall, a tall, white-haired priest, said Monday as he watched about 100 people practice tai chi in the football-field-long, rectangular nave.

 
Indeed.
 
It’s no surprise at all then that the cathedral – no doubt in the spirit of religious harmony – opened its doors to Muslims last Friday for Islamic prayers. The Episcopalians no doubt see this as some sort of happy-clappy ecumenism. The wise among us know better.
 
Rep. Louie Gohmert for instance, who spoke about this national disgrace on the floor of the House last Friday, explaining particularly the significance of the November 14th date ~
 

 
About midway through his speech Gohmert reads an article posted on Breitbart by Dr. Sebastian Gorka: Muslim Brotherhood Overruns National Cathedral in DC ~

100 years ago today, the last Caliph, or emperor of Islam, declared the last Jihad against the infidel– and today is the first time ever that the National Cathedral in the nation’s capital will host Muslim prayers.
 
Most American’s will have no idea that, as part of World War I, the then-Caliph of the Ottoman empire declared a Holy War against infidels, as was his right within sharia law and Islamic theology […]
 
That statement (the fatwa) by the last sitting head of what was the theocratic empire of Islam was the catalyst which led to religiously-fueled genocide against Christian Armenians and Assyrians.
 
The Episcopal church leaders who agreed to the host Muslim prayers inside the Washington cathedral probably have no idea what happened a century ago in Asia Minor, or that there even was a Caliph in office at the beginning of the 20th century.
 
However, we can rest assured that the co-organizers do…

 natlCathedralJihad 

Gorka’s article concludes as follows; his last lines are downright chilling ~

There is nothing inherently wrong about interfaith initiatives as long as they start from the same place: a mutual respect for the belief system of the other, and their inherent dignity as humans created by God. When one party acts in bad faith based upon its ideological commitment to see other faiths destroyed or subjected, then the event runs the risk of becoming a propaganda coup for the extremists and their followers.
 
The fact that this event is occurring just as ancient Christian communities are being destroyed in the Middle East and “non-believers” are being actually crucified by ISIS jihadists makes it all the more egregious.
 
We know that the Episcopal church is in trouble with more conservative believers leaving in great numbers and the remaining adherents not exactly outdoing their Catholic cousins in terms of reproducing the next generation of believers. But I doubt they also understand the finer points of jihadist doctrine, one of which is that if a place of worship is used by Muslims for their prayers, that territory subsequently becomes part of Dar al Islam, sacred muslim land. Forever.

 
Shame on the Episcopal Church; their waffling on God’s transcendent Truth, and their dangerous naiveté!
 
The Islamists are playing Americans for fools. If our leaders don’t wake up soon, we may be a bunch of dead fools – or at best d’himmis.

 
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Related:
Rev. Franklin Graham: Muslim Prayer Service at National Cathedral ‘Sad to See’

 
Woman proclaiming Christ ejected from Muslim prayers at National Cathedral ~ At least one brave soul took a stand for Jesus! God bless her.
 
Up-date 11-17-14: Here’s another excellent commentary on this travesty ~ Surrendering to Islam in America.

Posted in Good vs.Evil, Unvarnished | Leave a comment

Saturday Shorts – 11-15-14

sshorts9-24-11

Random links of interest, concern or curiosity from the past week or so, that deserve at least a SHORT mention:

 
How Berlin has changed since the wall fell ~ It’s been 25 years since they tore the wall down, and for those of us who remember the stark totalitarian state of East Germany, it still seems amazing. This article features a very cool photo essay; “sliders” on each picture let you view now-and-then shots.
More pix from the commemoration this past week ~ 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall

 
How To Tell A True Minister of God ~ I discovered this little gem of a site recently. In this post, blogger “Patricia” talks about the stark contrast between today’s two different types of clergy and more specifically, how the false prophets are able to lead astray large flocks of believers.

 
Scots war hero Sir Tommy Macpherson dies at 94 ~ Amazing man. We could use a few more like Tommy today! ~

A SCOT who became Britain’s most decorated soldier for his audacious exploits during the Second World War – which included single-handedly forcing a column of German troops and SS Panzer tanks to surrender – has died at the age 94

 
Howard Dean: Republicans ‘Authoritarian People Who Fundamentally Don’t Believe in Democracy’ ~ Pot, meet Kettle. Dean’s obviously been stranded on a dessert island for the last week or two and is totally oblivious to GruberGate.

 
Obama’s FCC turns blind eye to network TV porn of fisting, anal sex & penis jokes ~ Just when you think TV programming can’t get any more disgusting…

Now it’s network TV, in a bid for ratings, resorting to smut in prime time — all aided and abetted by the Obama administration’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that’s supposed to regulate the air waves […]
 
… nearly two months into TV’s fall season, the Big 5 networks are pushing new boundaries with jokes about anal sex, “fisting,” penises, never-heard-of sex positions, and teen masturbation, which Parents Television Council president Tim Winter says are “absolutely inappropriate for primetime broadcast television. The networks are able to do that with few, if any, fines from the FCC.

 
And at the same time, we’re being forced to remove every trace of God from the public sphere. As Michelle Malkin reports, seems we’re definitely becoming…
One nation under godlessness.

 
Remembering the last of the original Navajo Code Talkers ~ Another truly inspiring chapter in American history comes to an end.

 
UNICEF Denies Catholic Bishops’ Claim Kenyan Tetanus Vaccine Is Laced With Birth-Control Hormone ~ Sure. It’s not like the elite ruling class would ever lie to the “stupid people” for their own good or anything (Kenyan doctors find anti-fertility agent in UN tetanus vaccine).

 
When a Cashier Reminded Me My Son Has Down Syndrome ~ Mom “smacks down” rude check-out clerk. This is one lucky kid 🙂

 

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Taking the Truth about Islam to the streets of LA

Recently Jamie Glazov spoke with Steve Amundson, the founder and leader of the Counter Jihad Coalition.

Steve discussed The Counter Jihad Coalition Hits the Streets of L.A., sharing his group’s “public outreach” about Islam on 3rd St. Promenade.

 
Here’s how one man is making a difference in L.A. ~
 

Video from The Glazov Gang

 
Follow Steve on Twitter ~ @CounterJihadRp

 
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Psalm 91
 
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”
~
No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
For he shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.
~
Because he has set his love upon Me,
therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high because he has known My name.
He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation.

 
~ Psalm 91: 1-2, 10-11, 14-16

Posted in Good vs.Evil, Unvarnished | Leave a comment

Barack’s Bogus Climate Deal

Well it comes as no surprise to we-the-NON-stupid; Obama’s new climate deal with China is just another attempt at economic subversion by our very own – dare we say it – anti-American president ~

The Obama administration is touting a new deal on greenhouse gas emissions between the U.S. and China, according to which the U.S. will decrease its emissions more rapidly now, and China will stop increasing its emissions around 2030 […]
 

The U.S. would “double the average pace of its carbon-dioxide reductions after 2020, eyeing an overall reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions of between 26% and 28% by 2025, compared with 2005 levels.” China would increase emissions for 15 years and draw 20% of its power from renewable sources.

 

So beyond the fact that it’s based on demonstrably phony science, the agreement itself is almost comically self-refuting as Real Science so astutely illustrates ~
 
chinesecarbon

EXTRAPOLATING CURRENT ESTIMATES THROUGH 2030

 

It is pretty entertaining watching a total moron making deals about things he has no control over, and I’m sure the Chinese feel the same way I do.
 
Obama’s “climate” deal allows Chinese CO2 emissions to continue growing in a hockey stick for the next 15 years.

 
If “carbon pollution” was actually a legitimate threat to life as we know it – instead of another progressive scam concocted as the means to redistribute wealth on a global basis – it would be outrageous to allow China to raise their emissions to stratospheric levels (utterly negating any reduction on our part!).
 
Proving that this “deal” is just another giant crock of Obama’s B.S..
 
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Related:
Obama – the Al Capone of Climate Change – launches his next assault on democracy, the Constitution and the US economy
 
Obama’s Bogus Climate Deal with China
 
Election over, so US, China agree to make unenforceable long term commitment with no consequences
 
😀
ObamulanTreaty

Posted in Mendacity, Unvarnished | Leave a comment

The innate arrogance of our elite ruling class

peasants-revoltingBack in 2010 when we knuckle-dragging, racist-sexist-bigot-homophobe-xenophobes were actively trying to prevent congress from enacting the single most freedom-killing legislation ever foisted on the American public, I carried this ➡ sign at several anti-ObamaCare protests. I thought it nicely portrayed the contempt and disregard the D.C. oligarchy regularly displays for we-the-people.
 
Initially we rubes were optimistic enough to believe that if we petitioned our representatives loud enough and long enough they would do their jobs and actually represent us. Ha! Were we ever naive!
 
And now – you’ve probably seen the viral video – one their own actually admits to their elitist bigotry… on camera ~
 

 
While the fact that the Left constantly lies as a means to an end comes as no surprise to conservatives, it should be a revelation to low income voters. I wonder, do they care that the O’Ministration takes them for fools? Considers them useful idiots?

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Doug Powers, writing at Michelle Malkin’s site, has an excellent take on “GruberGate” ~

Gruber’s admission sums up the liberal policy-maker mindset: They know what’s best for everybody so much that they have to lie to earn support for their caring efforts, because people are generally too stupid to know what’s best for them. And hey, Obama was elected and then re-elected based on that philosophy, so it isn’t difficult to understand why Gruber, et al, believe in it so. […]
 
Gruber probably doesn’t regret making the remarks as much as he regrets they were recorded. It was, however, considerate of Gruber to go on MSNBC to explain his remarks to the very ilk he was referring to as “stupid” and gullible. 😀 Funny that nobody at MSNBC or any of Gruber’s media apologists seem to realize that.

 

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Related:

They think we’re stupid

Posted in Mendacity, MSM Malpractice, Unvarnished | Leave a comment