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tv   [untitled]    June 15, 2012 9:30am-10:00am EDT

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something, right, and the reality is, unless you're hannib hannibal lecter we're all dedicated to causes larger than ourselves, families, jobs, churches, synagogues, all charges larger than ourselves. i'd take a bullet for my daughter, national review, this organization is an organization larger than yourself but it doesn't mean it has to be in relationship to the government. barack obama and charlie rangel and others love to say government is just another word for those things we all do together. no, it's not. i mean if that's the case then watching the super bowl is called government, because we all do it together, right? president obama loves to say that if one american has a problem, we all have a problem. well if that's true i want him to come to my house and fix my toilet. the problem with this is this idea that there's nothing wrong
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with being all in it together, but we don't have to call that government. we don't have to have this idea that everything's going wrong unless we define our lives in relationship to the government. one of the things that conservatism and christianity and judaism all recognize is that politics is a small part of our lives. the important things in our lives, most of the important work in our lives is done else where, how you raise your kids, it's how you take care of your businesses in your communities, it's how you take care of your neighbors, it's how you deal with other people, and politics is supposed to be this little thing that we do for some important tasks, government is important, you know, but it is not supposed to be involved in everything that we do. we should not be talking about how under this president or that president i decide to have a kid, right. hillary clinton in "it takes a village" and i'm one of the six
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conservatives in captivity who has actually read "it takes a village" says we as a society need to move beyond the idea that there's any such thing as somebody else's child. no, we don't. that's why we have a second amendment because my kid's mine. my kid is not your kid and if your kid is doing terrible things at the playground, i might tell you about it but it's not my responsibility. it's your responsibility. and it's certainly not the state's responsibility. [ applause ] one of the great things about the freedom coalition and groups like it is that it understandses where the priorities are in life. you cannot create a heaven on earth and certainly can't do it through the government because the government cannot love you. one of the things that is vital for conservatives of any denomination to keep in mind is that our job and to the extent
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we're involved in politics isn't to make government do more things, it's to make government do the things it's supposed to do and nothing else. thank you all very much for having me. have a great time and keep hope alive. thank you. >> ladies and gentlemen please welcome one of america's leading critics of the secular left, commentator and author, miss essie cupp. >> hi. good morning. thanks for having me and thanks to faith and freedom for continuing to stand up for values that have become increasingly uncool in certain circles. it is fortunately very
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courageous work. i'm hear to discuss the liberal media's attack on christianity and you may be wondering why me? i'm afraid it's true, you've heard the rumones, i am a non-believer. you're right to be confused, so i'm an atheist with a masters in religious studies who just wrote a book defending christianity against the attacks of the secular left. my roman catholic grandmother is devastated on two counts, one that i don't worship christ and the other that i don't worship obama -- same thing as far as she's concerned. my born again father is just jealous that i get to hang out with mike huckabee and glenn beck now and then. by the way, he's my boss, i'm sure you know, and i hear he's coming. i saw a chuckboard back stage. that's not a joke. there's a chalkboard back stage. i know that's for him.
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mike huckabee used to try to baptize me by the water cooler on the sly when i passed him at fox news. he is the best. and my high school christianity teacher at catholic school probably is wondering where in the lesson she lost me. and then of course there's my mom, who is just amused and proud, as usual, which is very nice, but the point is i don't think you have to be a christian to want a more responsible and respectful press and i don't think you have to be a christian to want the majority of this country, 80%, to be treated with some dignity and honesty and i don't think you have to be a christian to rightly acknowledge that christianity is the bedrock of american history. i don't think you have to be a christian to espouse judeo
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christian values. i also don't like murder. i also don't think we should be molesting our children. see, we have a lot in common, if we would just sort of get down to it. so the thrust of losing our religion is actually all in the subtitle, i examine the liberal media's attack on christianity and if that sounds alarmist or hysterical, well i'm a pundit, that's what we do. we feign outrage, but in this case at least i'll tell you that the outrage is entirely sincere and deserved. plan is unfolding in every american small town, in every american big city, on the coasts in the heartland, schools, librari libraries, and the sidewalks of main street. it is everywhere [ audio muted ] and now careful covert nudges from the obama administration, a secular revolution that began decades ago has gained unprecedented momentum. the goal of this secular
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revolution is to overthrow god and silence christian america for good. not a modest goal. and if you think that has nothing to do with you, you're wrong, whether you join the 90% of the country that believes or stand with the 10% of the country that does not, is incidental. because no matter what you believe, and how fervently you believe it, this particular war on god, just the latest of a string of them since the enlightenment, is a war against all americans religious, atheist, secular, not because of whom it targets, but because of whom is doing the targeting. they are the people you see and hear every day. they are people you trust. they are people you rely on to tell you what to wear, what to buy, what to drive, what to watch, what to listen to, what to read, where to live, where to visit, where to eat, who to
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like, who to hate, who to help, when to go outside, when to stay indoors, when to shop, when to save, what to think, and what to believe. they are the media. so the people that you trust to be fair, accurate, objective, insightful, the so-called watch dogs of the state, protectors of truth, gatekeepers and guardians of freedom, this, believe it or not, is how the media started out. these are the very people out to shame and mog, subvert, pervert, corrupt, debase and extinguish your beliefs, the beliefs of the vast majority of americans and the values upon which this country was founded. and they're doing the one thing they are never supposed to do, they are taking sides. for the great majority this is problem attic enough but even for non-christians or non-believers this means their guardians of truth are being
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dishonest. they are being holy subjective and frankly, pretty un-american. targeting faith is nothing short of targeting democracy, and that's something that should make every american deeply concerned for the future. the problem is that freedom of the press has morphed into power of the press, and assuring this freedom of the press was originally born out of an urgency to protect these important watch dogs from the wrath of a controlling colonial government, giving it the power to criticize authority without retribution, to tell the truth without fear of imprisonment. you know, however, the press has become a political and ideological tool of oppression itself. of watching the state it is watching you. the press has become so politicized, so self-aware, so self-motivated, so power hungry that a careful application of
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objectivity, and a careful application of opinion no longer the rule but the very rare exception. and why does this matter? it puts democracy in the cross-hairs in three very important ways. one in targeting christians the media is targeting the majority, which actually makes it all the more difficult to see and contain. majorities often make the mistake of feeling invincible by sheer volume, and then one day the majority wakes up and realizes that their entire way of life has changed, while it was busy doing other things. two, in unfairly targeting christians, propagating mistruths against them, the media has broken its promise to be fair and objective, and lastly, the opinion media by spewing ugly invective against christians have forsaken the decency and tolerance that once held our communities together and instead it is driving them
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apart. and all of this means that the mainstream press no longer deserves the privilege of controlling the conversation. in the past decade -- [ applause ] in the past decade we haven't become any less christian, despite the media's insistence we have nor have we become any less democratic. the media's decision to target christian america is not a response to changing social morets. it is a deliberate effort to change them and the media has a willing accomplice in the white house. this is covert at times, ignoring a story, covering up a story, repositioning a story buts it's also incredibly overt and obvious. in short when i was putting this book together i had a lot of material to work with, at one
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point my editor said you have to stop writing. you have to turn the book in. one example, katie couric interviewed the father of a columbine victim a while back and he said he thought the increase in school shootings was because abortion had cheapened the value of life. she took that as an opportunity to warn viewers that some may find those views repugnant. that's a quote. nevermind probably more than half the country would probably agree with him. it is not her job to hand out warnings or editorialize. [ applause ] "newsweek's" lisa miller who is a repeat offender, helms a column every week called "belief watch," as if she's on the top
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of a building every week with a rifle and a scope watching your belief. she has used her column to, among other things, characterize students at a christian college as fanatical, fundamentalist, cultural crusaders. she has criticized pope benedict for being ugly, not in character, invisage, his face. she's claiming the bible supports gay marriage if you read it right and pens an annual hottest rabbi list. this is "newsweek's" resident religion scholar. joy behar, she's a friend but she's misguided, suggested on "the view" one morning that parents who teach their kids the creation story should be charged with child abuse. when it comes to politics,
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forget it, gloves are off, during the 2008 campaign the liberal media wanted us to believe that mike huckabee was some conspiracist putting subliminal message into his ads, ads that merely wished americans a merry christmas. the liberal media dispatched dozens of reporters, and maureen dowd to alaska to investigate sarah palin's creepy pentecostalism and they had tongues with witch doctors praying away homosexuality, banning library books and hiding condoms. meanwhile anderson cooper told us barack obama's black liberation theology under reverend wright had nothing to do with actual issues. "the new york times" told us obama's faith was none of voters' business. um-hum. you know, it wasn't that long ago that "the new york times" was urging the country to pray for the astronauts of the apollo
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13 mission, on its front page, or that knbc was signing off its broadcast night after johnny carson with the sermonette, "let us pray" and the navy prayer. it really was not that long ago but the situation is dire and a lot has changed in a very little time. when "newsweek" devotes its easter issue to a cover story announcing the decline and fall of christian america, on easter, and no one is outraged, you know it's gotten bad. i think it would be one thing if the attack on american faith was just part of a liberal political agenda but when it's coming from the media, i think it's pretty clear that christian values are in jeopardy, as is freedom of speech, and freedom of religion. and because they are attacking the values of 80% of the country they really aren't mainstream anymore. so i thank you for your time, and i know that you will all continue to be cultural crusaders in this fight, but keep in mind, as you go forward
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in all of your causes and all of the great things that you do, it is not just a secular, liberal, political agenda. it is a secular [ audio muted ] -- thank you, guys. enjoy your day. >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage the chairman of the delaware faith and freedom coalition, mr. john raddell. >> good morning. senator rand paul and his family live in bowling green, where rand owned his own ophthalmology practice and performed eye surgery for 18 years. rand is the third of five children, born to you may know them, carol and ron paul.
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he grew up in lake jackson, texas, and attended baylor university. he graduated from duke medical school in 1988. he's no longer dedicating his life to medicine but he is standing firm for the constitution of the united states and for healing our nation. america does not need leaders in this election who compromise their principles and their values. america needs leaders with a strong, steel backbone and the courage to always do what's right. please join me in welcoming such a man, rand paul. ♪ >> thank you. thank you. thank you for that nice introduction, john. some of you all may have heard about the story, a story of a little girl and she said she wanted $100 so she thought she'd
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write a note, "dear god, i'd like $100. i'll do good things with it." the postmaster sent it to the president and he said that's cute and said to his secretary, send her $5, she'll think that's a a lot of money. sent per five bucks, she's like, but her parents said always write a thank you. so she wrote a thank you, she said "dear god, thank you for the five bucks, but next time don't send it through washington, they stole 95% of it." [ laughter ] [ applause ] now we've been hearing all this talk about compromise. everybody wants to compromise, the media, the narrative is, why can't you guys just hold hands, sing "kumbaya" and all the nation's problems will be worked out. so i have an announcement today. we have made a tentative agreement, republicans and democrats, we have agreed we're going to hold hands and we're going to no longer send checks to dead people.
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now i say this as a tentative agreement. it's a tentative agreement because while we've agreed in principle, i think they have no clue how to stop sending checks to dead people. you might want to know how big a problem is this? how big a problem is this, sending checks to dead people? well, in the last five years alone, we've sent over $600 million to dead people. one guy got his dad's check from 1971 to 2008, 37 years. you know how they caught him? he died. [ laughter ] we literally live in a world where the government has run amuck. now this is a conference about faith and freedom, the nexus between the two, and how we govern and how we govern as people of faith. dostoevsky wrote i did not arrive through faith but through my fiery furnace of doubt.
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for me it's not been easy. i'm a person of science. i came in to my adulthood through science, studying science and then through medicine. my faith hasn't always been easy for me. i don't wear it on my sleeve, and i can't say that i'm not always always free of doubt. medicine, you see some horrific things. the tragedies of medicine have stuck with me and they're not always easy to overcome. i want to see and do believe in a grand design but it's hard when i see 2 year olds dying with cancer, 2 year olds with brain tumors. it's not always easy. in the hippocratic oath it talks about not revealing things we see privately to the public and we all kind of understand that but it's one step beyond that in the sense we really have to see some kind of tragedies that we don't reveal as well. not the personal part of the tragedies but just the burden of the tragedy, to see the things that i've seen is not easy. it's not always easy with my faith. it's not easy for me when i see
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man's inhumanity to man, to always see and believe in a grand design when i see the horrific things that man does to man. the wars and the tragedy of war, to see that and to wonder why we do this, why does it continue to go on, millenium after millenium, man's inhumanity to man. when i was a medical student one of my first patients that i had was a young woman who was in college and she had melanoma that was metastatic to her ovaries. i knew she wasn't going to survive long but it's hard for me to say and to look and to know what to say. sometimes i find myself caring too much and sometimes i find myself blocking it off and caring too little. it's a difficult situation. i remember seeing mrs. jones who has pancreatic cancer and knowing by the look in her eyes that she knows what the diagnosis means but i don't always know what to say. i don't always know how to comfort her. when i was an intern, i was
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asked, i was 25 years old and i was asked, you know, to give someone the news that their loved one had died. i really was at an age where even -- i hadn't really had anybody in my family die and i was told to go into a room and tell 25 members of a family that their loved one had died, someone who we had struggled all night with, who had come in with a severe crushing injury to the chest. we put chest tubes in, had him on a ventilator but sometimes even a ventilator can't keep someone alive. their lungs keep filling up with fluid. we tried and struggled all night. it was hard for me to tell them their loved one had died. it was hard for me to understand why do innocent people die. why do some die and others live. there are some things in life that are difficult to understand, some things that breed doubt. i am a christian. i'm not always a good one because i struggle still. i struggle with my faith and i struggle with doubt. when i read "all quiet on the western front" and the merciless
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charges of sometimes million of men, the battle went on for 17 days and over a million men died and sometimes many, of senseless charges from one trench to the other. when i read of the christmas eve armistace, it's an amazing story and you should read it, on christmas eve, the trenches between the french and germans began singing christmas carols. they eventually came out of the trenches, they played soccer, exchanged gifts, had christmas trees up. they quit fighting. after christmas was over they went back to their trenches and manned their guns again but really weren't interested in the war. it was a confusing war fought between two royal cousins who had a dispute over land but it was hard for the ordinary citizen to get excited. they were conscripted and told to go fight. they wouldn't fight anymore and they had to displace these folks and send them away from the lines because they quit
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fighting. i'm not naive enough to say that we're going to end war. i'm not a pacifist. but at the same time i think people who should glee at the face of washington i think we should elect people who aren't rash, people who know that if there is going to be war, war's the last resort, not the first resort. i think we need people who have healthy respect for that and healthy respect for human life, not only human life in the beginning, but the human lives of 19 year olds as well. i think that a civilization cannot long endure that doesn't respect life, both unborn, those who are born from the first breath of life to the last breath of life, and often we as libertarian conservatives, we're concerned about your rights to do this and that and you'll hear me talk about you have the right to buy an incandescent light
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bulb but that's an ancillary right. your primary right to life is where all of your rights come from and if we don't defend the right to life, all those other things are very superficial and are very -- [ applause ] on the issue of life i was greatly influenced by my father. he wrote a book. he's an ob-gyn. so is my little sister. he wrote a book called "abortion and liberty." [ inaudible ] he stumbles into an operating room as a medical student, just going in to observe things. he observed a baby that was aborted but born alive and then left to die. meanwhile, just a few rooms down, a baby with the same gestation, the same teams of doctors in there saving the baby. the hypocrisy, saving one baby
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and letting another die of the same gestation. i gave my first speech in my church when i was 17 and my point was we need to be active. we need to say that it's not enough to say that we're for defending life if we don't go out and fight for it. i thought my church which we ultimately left was passive, and not too concerned about abortion or too concerned about things that were going on in this world that needed to be changed. i think we will ultimately be judged on whether we participate and whether we try to defend life. [ applause ] in the senate, i've tried to participate and do that. i've introduced several pieces of legislation, i've co-sponsored more. i'm going to try to get a vote on at least one piece of pro-life legislation this time around. [ applause ] i've introduced and co-sponsored the life at conception act to
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protect life act, the no taxpayer funding for abortion act, the child interstate abortion notification act, as well as supporting the human life amendment. i will continue to fight for these, not just passively but we will fight and hopefully get a vote on at least one of these pieces of legislation this time around. i think our nation is at a crossroads. i think we're wavering and there are many moral issues that confront us. not only the issues of life but i think it's immoral to pass on debt to another generation. i think to do this -- [ applause ] i think ultimately, christianity has a message of hope and that hope needs to be -- to be something that we can inculcate our friends, the youth, the future of our nation, but also, we need to find leadership that can transform sort of the austerity, the coldness of austerity into the warm embrace of prosperity. doesn't have to be all doom and gloom. there's a bright future. we've had a great country, we can restore that, but we have to
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believe in ourselves again. we have to believe in our foundational documents, in our foundation of our religion. we have to understand that our rights ultimately come from our creator. i think our problems, though, are worse and deeper and more profound than just political leaders can correct. i think we really are in a spiritual crisis as a country and we need a reawakening. we need a revival. in my state, in kentucky in 1801, pastor barton stone started the second grade awakening, a tent rerival. people by the tens of thousands came. this isn't something a politician's going to do. i think we need other leaders. we need to be in search of not just answers from washington. we need answers from our spiritual leaders. we need someone -- we need
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someone like billy graham, somebody who can bring thousands, hundreds of thousands of people together and change what's going on. i'll tell you two examples that sort of worry me about where we are. this has nothing to do with our government, just with who we are as a people. two instances that particularly struck me in the last six months or so. one of them was images from a mcdonald's where a person's on the ground being kicked into the point of convulsions and someone is filming it, filming it and just watching and standing by. finally i think a [ inaudible ] try to stop this brutal beating and the rest are standing around laughing. there's something sick about a society that would let that happen. we have got to figure out what that sickness is. that's a sickness within us. there's a spiritual crisis and somebody's got to [ inaudible ]. one other horrific example, this camem

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