Tuesday, November 20, 2012

OKLAHOMA CITY (BP) -- A federal judge has ruled that Hobby Lobby and Mardel stores must cover abortion-causing drugs for their employees as required by the Obama administration because the companies -- despite having faith as a central element of their operations -- are not religious enough to warrant a court intervention.

Represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, Hobby Lobby and Mardel had argued that requiring them to pay for the drugs, which come under brand names such as Plan B and ella, would violate the faith of their owners, not to mention the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of freedom of religion. Judge Joe Heaton, 
 

A Message from my friend Paul Ls
6 hours ago near Udall, KS ·
A Letter from Hobby Lobby Stores CEO

By David Green, the founder and CEO of Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.

When my family and I started our company 40 years ago, we were working out of a garage on a $600 bank loan, assembling miniature picture frames. Our first retail store wasn't much bigger than most people's living rooms, but we had faith that we would succeed if we lived and worked according to God's word. From there,Hobby Lobby has become one of the nation's largest arts and crafts retailers, with more than 500 locations in 41 states. Our children grew up into fine business leaders, and today we run Hobby Lobby together, as a family.

We're Christians, and we run our business on Christian principles. I've always said that the first two goals of our business are (1) to run our business in harmony with God's laws, and (2) to focus on people more than money. And that's what we've tried to do. We close early so our employees can see their families at night. We keep our stores closed on Sundays, one of the week's biggest shopping days, so that our workers and their families can enjoy a day of rest. We believe that it is by God's grace that Hobby Lobby has endured, and he has blessed us and our employees. We've not only added jobs in a weak economy, we've raised wages for the past four years in a row. Our full-time employees start at 80% above minimum wage.


But now, our government threatens to change all of that. A new government health care mandate says that our family business MUST provide what I believe are abortion-causing drugs as part of our health insurance. Being Christians, we don't pay for drugs that might cause abortions, which means that we don't cover emergency contraception, the morning-after pill or the week-after pill. We believe doing so might end a life after the moment of conception, something that is contrary to our most important beliefs. It goes against the Biblical principles on which we have run this company since day one. If we refuse to comply, we could face $1.3 million PER DAY in government fines.


Our government threatens to fine job creators in a bad economy. Our government threatens to fine a company that's raised wages four years running. Our government threatens to fine a family for running its business according to its beliefs. It's not right. I know people will say we ought to follow the rules; that it's the same for everybody. But that's not true. The government has exempted thousands of companies from this mandate, for reasons of convenience or cost. But it won't exempt them for reasons of religious belief.


So, Hobby Lobby and my family are forced to make a choice. With great reluctance, we filed a lawsuit today, represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, asking a federal court to stop this mandate before it hurts our business. We don't like to go running into court, but we no longer have a choice. We believe people are more important than the bottom line and that honoring God is more important than turning a profit.

My family has lived the American dream. We want to continue growing our company and providing great jobs for thousands of employees, but the government is going to make that much more difficult. The government is forcing us to choose between following our faith and following the law. I say that's a choice no American and no American business should have to make.
The government cannot force you to follow laws that go against your fundamental religious belief. They have exempted thousands of companies but will not except Christian organizations including the Catholic church.

Since you will not see this covered in any of the liberal media, pass this on to all your contacts.

 
Sincerely,
David Green, CEO and Founder of Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

The Road to Hell in Headlines


It’s Sunday Morning and I’m sitting at my computer contemplating what I have been reading from around the web this morning. I have become aware of the numbness in my reaction to certain headlines as I try to absorb some relevance to what’s going on around me in the world and how it affects my life.

Sixth Youth Charged in Delivery Driver's Murder

Ill. Supreme Court: Sex With 17-Year-Old Was Legal, Pictures Were Not

Pet Piranha Bites Off Toddler's Fingertip

All of these headlines made me feel sad, but they also made me curious as to how a country like the USA has allowed our society to become so narcissistic, unrestrained and empty.  Why will gangs murder for $48 dollars and some dim sung?. Why are pictures more important than the soul of a 17 year old? Why do people keep exotic pets that mean more to them than their children.

But the story that struck me as most odd and disturbing was:
*Eye For An Eye, Hair For Hair? Judge Orders Price Woman
 To Cut Off Daughter's Ponytail In Court
Teen had helped cut hair of 3-year-old girl she met at McDonald's

A troubled 14 year old girl and her 11 year old girl friend sat in a booth at McDonald's plotting an attack on a three year old girl they had started talking to and playing with. The two perpetrators first asked a McDonald's employee if they could borrow a pair of scissors. They were told no. They then walked across the street and bought a pair of scissors at a Dollar Store. They went back to the McDonald's and proceeded to cut the  little girl’s hair off to little to chin level before the attack was stopped. The toddler had soft wavy hair the fell to the middle of her back and had never been cut according to her mother. The older girls were arrested.

At their trial, the older of the two girls was sentenced to serve 30 days in detention, pay restitution to her victims and serve 276 hours of community service. But the Judge told the girl’s mother he would cut the punishment in half if she would cut her daughter’s ponytail off, right in the courtroom, at the request of the 3 year old mother. The older girl's mother accepted the off, but now has second thoughts. The 11 year old had already had had her hair cut but was allowed to have it done in a beauty salon.

The older girls mother has since file a complaint against the Judge stating she wished she hadn’t taken the Judges offer, stating: "I guess I should have went into the courtroom knowing my rights, because I felt very intimidated," adding "An eye for an eye, that's not how you teach kids right from wrong.". He daughter had also been charged in another crime of making obscene and threatening phone call, with threats of rape and mutilation, to a teen in another state. Some of the calls were recorded.

I found this article to be disturbing on many levels. Obviously the Judge was wiser than the mother who seems to have had no religious instruction at all on how to raise her daughter to be a moral, kind, self-respecting person. And now she’s willing to go back to court to show her daughter what the Judge did was wrong which means what her daughter did was right.

All of theses headlines and stories have one thing in common; we now know we live in a secular world, where things like kindness, morality and self-control are all long ago norms, replaced by selfishness, greed, laziness and mockery of a sane society.

The Bible was removed from our schools, replaced by moral relativism. Do what feels good not what’s morally right. It’s so obvious. Unfortunately, society is blinded to the truth. It rushes down the path of least resistance; the path that leads to Hell.
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=20946125


Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Romney's Hidden Victory

To say Mitt Romney's securing the Republican Presidential nomination is underwhelming to the Press is an understatement. Headlines as of 5/29, at 9:43 pm:





Seems strange for the man who will probably
be our President come November!