Undecided Christians Face Crucial Vote
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/306955.aspx
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Saturday's crucial GOP contest in South Carolina is down to the wire, and it appears the outcome may hang over the heads of Christians who can't seem to make up their minds.
A recent survey found that former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee leads the polls with voters who identify with his values. He also leads among Evangelical Christians. But, a new poll found that one out of every five Republican South Carolinians are undecided.
So why are many Christians in the Palmetto State still trying to decide who to vote for in this race?
To many, Huckabee seems like he would be the ideal candidate for Christians in the Bible Belt.
He's a Southern Baptist minister, who was governor of Arkansas for 10 years. Earlier this month, he did the unthinkable and won the Iowa Caucuses. He came in third place in New Hampshire's primary. The amazing success of his bid for presidency has puzzled and impressed analysts and pundits alike.
But for voters here in South Carolina, those wins don't really matter much. They are concerned more with the "holes in his record that need to be filled with answers."
"I really like his values," said Frank Radich who attended a Huckabee rally in Greenville. "But I am concerned about his foreign policy experience. I am leaning toward Huckabee, but I really need to hear more."
CBN News spoke with several at the event who echoed the same concerns.
"He has exactly the kind of character I'm looking for," said South Carolinian Danny Williams. "But I wish I could take his character and combine it with McCain's war experience and Romney's leadership skills."
South Carolina's Lenora Cudey says she is mostly concerned about the problems facing health care in America. While she like's the fact that Huckabee is a Christian, she worries that he won't have an answer for her issue.
"I work in the health field and am unemployed," Cudey said. "I'm also a nurse, so I get it from both ends."
CBN News also managed to catch up with some decided voters.
Jamie Shaw, for example, says there's no doubt in her mind that Huckabee should be in the White House. She wonders, however, if some Christians are scared to vote for him because of the empty promises made in the past by other Christian candidates.
"There have been political figures in the past who have taken the Christian vote for granted, but I feel like he's genuine," Shaw said.
So as South Carolinians head to the polls tomorrow, Christian voters here will have their say whether or not Huckabee is truly their man.
Russia Could Use Nuclear Weapons as Preventive Measure to Thwart Major Threat, Official Says
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,324006,00.html
Russia's military chief of staff said Saturday that Moscow could use nuclear weapons in preventive strikes in case of a major threat, the latest aggressive remarks from increasingly assertive Russian authorities.
"We have no plans to attack anyone, but we consider it necessary for all our partners in the world community to clearly understand ... that to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Russia and its allies, military forces will be used, including preventively, including with the use of nuclear weapons," Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky said.
The comments from the hawkish Baluyevsky did not appear to mark a policy shift for Russia, whose leaders have stressed the need to maintain a powerful nuclear deterrent and reserved the right to carry out preventive strikes to counter existential threats. But in most of their public remarks about preventive strikes, President Vladimir Putin and other officials have not specifically mentioned the use of nuclear weapons.
Baluyevsky's remarks came at a time of increasingly strained relations between Moscow and the West, which are at odds over a range of issues and are embroiled in persistent disputes over U.S. plans for missile defense facilities in former Soviet satellite states that have joined NATO as well as alliance members' refusal to ratify an updated European conventional arms treaty.
Like most saber-rattling by Putin and other Russian officials, the chief of staff's remarks appeared aimed at least in part at the United States, which Moscow accuses of endangering global security through aggressive actions such as the invasion of Iraq.
Putin, who has sought to boost his popularity at home and win support abroad with his vocal criticism of U.S. foreign policy, has said that Russia opposes the use of preventive military attacks but reserves the right to carry them out because other countries do so.
Baluyevsky identified no specific nations or forces that threaten Russia. According to the ITAR-Tass news agency, however, he said threats to global security include "the striving by a number of countries for hegemony on a regional and global level" — a clear reference to the United States — and terrorism.
With Russian officials jockeying for position ahead of the March 2 presidential election, Baluyevsky's remarks at a military conference in Moscow may also have been aimed in part at a domestic audience.
Putin is barred from seeking a third term but has endorsed protege Dmitry Medvedev as his favored successor and has said he will become prime minister in the event of Medvedev's election, which is virtually assured given Putin's support and the Kremlin's control over electoral politics.
Huckabee Claims He Has the Momentum
http://www.newsmax.com/politics/huckabee/2008/01/19/65853.html
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee trained for a marathon in South Carolina on Saturday as Republican primary voters cast ballots that he hoped would propel him forward in the race for the GOP presidential nomination.
"I feel good. I feel like South Carolina is going to come through for us," Huckabee, training for his fifth marathon, told reporters as he finished a midday run. "I certainly feel like all the momentum is going our way right now."
The closely contested state was crucial for Huckabee, who needed to prove his victory in the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses was no fluke.
A former Baptist minister, Huckabee was counting on grass-roots support from born-again Christians to outflank the superior funding and organization of Arizona Sen. John McCain, winner of the Jan. 8 New Hampshire primary.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won the Michigan primary on Tuesday and the barely contested Nevada caucuses on Saturday, but did not make an all-out effort in South Carolina.
Without naming names, Huckabee tried to exploit McCain's weaknesses by calling attention to McCain's support for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and railing against Washington insiders who have failed to fix the country's problems. McCain was first elected to Congress in 1982.
And he revived controversy over the Confederate flag, saying it should be up to South Carolina whether to fly the symbol _ of racism to some, Southern pride to others _ over the state Capitol dome. McCain rejected that position after losing the 2000 election, and he said last week he was proud of those who wanted the flag taken down.
Also competing for conservative votes was actor-politician Fred Thompson, a former Tennessee senator.
A snowy forecast in the more conservative upstate region did not bode well for Huckabee; rain was falling there and was expected to turn to snow by midafternoon.
"Our voters are like the Post Office _ neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow will hopefully keep them away," Huckabee told reporters at a polling place Saturday morning in Columbia, S.C. "What we're expecting is that our voters are committed and they'll go vote; we're telling them, no matter what the weather is in South Carolina, please go vote today."
He joked, "But if they're going to vote for somebody else, just stay home, forget about it."
Besides the weather, Huckabee may have been hurt by his decision to spend extra time campaigning in Michigan, where he came in third, instead of in South Carolina. Senior aides made a last-minute decision to return to Michigan last Sunday and Monday after seeing huge crowds there during a Michigan swing on Jan. 12 and 13.
His support from born-again or evangelical Christians was a double-edged sword for Huckabee; it propelled him to victory in Iowa, but it made many people think he appealed exclusively to religious conservatives.
Exit polls in New Hampshire and Michigan showed Huckabee had little support beyond evangelicals, and even among evangelicals, Romney beat Huckabee in Michigan and split the vote with Huckabee in New Hampshire.
Regardless of South Carolina's outcome, Huckabee insisted he can compete in Florida and the states ahead.
"Oh, sure," he said Saturday. "Look, this whole thing's been fluid. Nobody has won everything. It's still up in the air. We're still running first or close to first in every national poll there is."
More than 100 to reach Cardiff with message of Christ
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/more.than.100.to.reach.cardiff.with.message.of.christ/16334.htm
More than 100 Christians from across Europe and beyond will hit Cardiff this summer with the message of the gospel and local outreach events across the inner city areas.
Following the huge success of Reach the City Bristol over the last two years, Open Air Campaigners (OAC) is teaming up with OM Lifehope in the hope of reaping the same success with this year’s Reach the City Cardiff.
The major outreach is part of the year of interdenominational mission, Hope08, and will start with prayer and praise on Caerphilly Mountain overlooking Cardiff 29 June.
Experienced evangelists will lead daily training sessions before teams of Christians spread out to more than 20 churches across the denominations for outreach in their local communities.
Dave Glover, OAC National Director said, “What excites me most about this venture, apart from the fact that two highly respected organisations like OAC and OM are coming together in this way, is the fact that we are engaging with local churches on their own
patches. We are there to assist local believers in making an impact where they live.”
The kind of outreach that the teams will undertake is being left to the churches to decide so that their work will best match the local context.
“It’s a different approach because churches are planning their own events. We are here to serve them,” continued Mr Glover. “People in Wales are very enthusiastic as this helps them respond to Hope 08, enabling them to do something evangelistic locally.
“Reach the City Cardiff also gives participating Christians the opportunity to work alongside experienced evangelists and learn invaluable communication skills that will serve them well in years to come.”
The evangelists will have the opportunity to receive training in sharing personal faith and creative approaches to mission such as sketchboard illustration and children’s ministry.
Special events planned for the week of outreach include open air meetings, barbeques, concerts, golf days and coffee mornings for all ages.
The week of evangelism ends 6 July.
Iran defiant after Israeli missile test
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/iran.defiant.after.israeli.missile.test/16301.htm
Israel tested a missile on Thursday, prompting Iran to vow retaliation if the Jewish state carried out recent veiled threats to launch strikes, possibly atomic, against Tehran's nuclear facilities.
Israel is widely assumed to have nuclear warheads and missiles able to hit Iran. It gave no details of the trial. A defence official said it was "not just flexing its muscles", three days after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged to consider "all options" to prevent Iran building nuclear weapons.
As oil prices rose almost 1 percent on the new Middle East tension, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who says his country wants only atomic energy, said Israel would hold off: "The Zionist regime ... would not dare attack Iran," he said.
"The Iranian response would make them regret it. They know this," he told Al Jazeera in remarks translated into Arabic.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni urged the West to work harder to prevent "the appearance of a nuclear Iran", a message Olmert and his team rammed home to George W. Bush when the U.S. president visited Jerusalem a week ago on a regional tour aimed partly at rallying Arab states against Tehran.
Israel, Washington's closest Middle East ally, says Iran could have a bomb by 2010 that would threaten its existence. Iran has also carried out tests of long-range missiles.
Israel was dismayed by a recent U.S. intelligence report that said Tehran halted its nuclear weapons programme in 2003. The report fuelled speculation Israel might attack Iran on its own if U.S. public opinion prevented Bush from doing so.
Israel bombed a site in Syria in September, an attack that recalled its 1981 strike on Saddam Hussein's Iraqi nuclear reactor. But many analysts say Olmert's political weakness makes a pre-emptive, unilateral attack on Iran unlikely.
Israel's Defence Ministry said: "A successful missile launch was carried out within the framework of examining rocket propulsion." It gave no other details and one former official in Israeli missile defence said the timing might be coincidence.
Israel Radio said the missile tested was able to carry an "unconventional payload" - an apparent reference to the nuclear warheads Israel is assumed to possess.
Israel Radio, which operates under military censorship, quoted unidentified foreign reports as saying Israel was developing a long-range surface-to-surface missile, Jericho III.
Ideology, religion important in SC By ALAN FRAM and MIKE MOKRZYCKI, Associated Press Writers
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080120/ap_on_el_pr/campaign_exit_poll;_ylt=AoFXuNGWK5ZSyYCbVnTb66as0NUE
Moderates, older voters and those who want a candidate...favored John McCain, while many...voters flocked to Mike Huckabee in South Carolina's Republican primary Saturday, preliminary exit poll results found.
In voting earlier in the day, whites and women helped Hillary Rodham Clinton to a popular-vote victory while blacks overwhelmingly backed Barack Obama in Nevada's Democratic presidential caucuses. In that state's Republican caucuses, one in four participants were Mormons and nearly all of them supported Mitt Romney as he romped in a barely contested race.
The voter surveys for The Associated Press and television networks found:
___
SOUTH CAROLINA REPUBLICAN PRIMARY
McCain was beating Huckabee by more than 2-to-1 among moderates, who were a quarter of the vote. Most of the rest of the electorate was conservative, and Huckabee led McCain only narrowly among them as Romney and Fred Thompson helped split that vote.
McCain also easily outdistanced his competition among older voters — and a quarter were at least age 65.
Huckabee found solid support among religious voters, and there were many of them: At least half were white evangelical or born-again Christian, while six in 10 said they attended religious services at least weekly. Huckabee won about four in 10 of each group but McCain got about a quarter. And McCain beat Huckabee by a larger margin among non-evangelicals and those who attend church infrequently or never.
At least a third of South Carolina Republican voters said it matters a great deal that a candidate shares their religious beliefs, and Huckabee won nearly half of them. But almost as many said the candidate's religious beliefs matter not much or not at all and Huckabee won no more than one in 10 of them, with McCain doing best and Romney behind him among that group.
About seven in 10 opposed legalized abortion, but Huckabee won only among those who oppose it in all cases. McCain ran even with Huckabee among those who say abortion should be mostly illegal, and was far ahead among those who say abortion should always or mostly be legal.
Four in 10 said it was most important that a candidate shares their values, and Huckabee was their clear favorite. A quarter said their priority was that a candidate has the right experience and McCain won them by a far more overwhelming margin, getting more than 60 percent of that vote.
McCain did best among voters who said a candidate's personal qualities were more important than his stand on issues. Huckabee had an edge over McCain and Thompson among those who said issues were more important.
Four in 10 voters picked the economy as the country's most important issue; they voted about equally for Huckabee and McCain, with Romney next. Huckabee had a narrow edge among the one in four who cited illegal immigration. McCain won half the votes of those who said Iraq was the top issue. Thompson won about 20 percent each among those who picked terrorism and immigration.
Veterans were about a quarter of the overall vote and McCain had about a 10-point advantage among them.
___
NEVADA DEMOCRATIC CAUCUSES
Two-thirds of caucus-goers were white and Clinton won then by 52 percent to 34 percent for Obama. Fifteen percent were black and Obama won 83 percent of them. A similar proportion were Hispanic and they went more than 2-to-1 for Clinton, although the survey could not cover nine at-large voting precincts at casinos on the Las Vegas strip — sites expected to include many Hispanics among culinary union workers.
Women comprised 59 percent of caucus-goers and they went 51-38 for Clinton, while men split pretty evenly between her and Obama. That was more like the results in the New Hampshire primary than the Iowa caucuses, which Obama won by narrowly defeating Clinton among women.
Black women — choosing between voting for a black man or a white woman — supported Obama as overwhelmingly as black men did.
Excluding the casino sites, three in 10 caucus-goers were union members and they split evenly between Clinton and Obama.
Clinton won 58 percent of Catholics, who were 27 percent of the electorate. She won 44 percent of more numerous Catholics in New Hampshire.
Clinton and Obama split most ideological groups, although Clinton won among those who called themselves very liberal. Obama had won that group in New Hampshire but came under attack from Clinton and John Edwards as the Nevada race ended over perceived complimentary comments he made about Ronald Reagan. Clinton also edged out Obama among voters who made up their minds Saturday, though fewer than one in 10 did so.
As he did in Iowa, Obama won nearly six in 10 caucus-goers under age 30 — but they made up only 13 percent of caucus-goers. Clinton dwarfed that advantage by winning 60 percent of voters over age 60, who were more than a third of the electorate.
Obama won independents by 14 points while Clinton won by 12 among Democrats, who were four out of five caucus-goers.
Half the caucus-goers said it was most important to them that a candidate can bring about needed change, and Obama won 60 percent of them. But Clinton prevailed by getting three in 10 "change" voters plus nearly nine of 10 of those whose top priority was the candidate's experience.
Edwards found no particularly strong support among any voter group as he ran a distant third. Asked their second choice in the entrance poll, four in 10 of Edwards' supporters chose Obama while one-third chose Clinton.
___
NEVADA REPUBLICAN CAUCUSES
Mormons comprised 26 percent of those attending Nevada's GOP caucuses, and 95 percent voted for Romney. Romney is a Mormon, and his religion has been cited as a problem by some Republican voters. Against little competition — only Romney and Ron Paul campaigned much in Nevada — he also won among Protestants and Catholics, although Paul won among the 7 percent who said they align with no religion.
Half of Romney's overall vote in Nevada came from Mormons.
Nearly six in 10 of those identifying themselves as Republicans — the bulk of the voters — backed Romney. Half of independents favored Paul but they made up only about 12 percent of GOP caucus-goers.
Romney also led across the ideological spectrum, which in the Nevada Republican caucuses ranged almost exclusively from moderate to very conservative. Romney did better among more conservative voters.
___
The results were from surveys conducted for AP and the television networks by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International among:
_1,648 voters leaving 35 precincts in South Carolina's Republican primary; sampling error 4 points.
_1,098 voters entering 30 sites in Nevada's Democratic caucuses; sampling error plus or minus 4 percentage points.
_833 voters entering 20 sites in Nevada Republican caucuses; sampling error 5 points.
Tom Cruise Scientology-Video Glossary: What Is He Talking About?
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1579963/20080118/index.jhtml
Note from Watchman Rayburn: Ever wondered what these goofballs are about and what they are talking about? Well, below is just a glimpse. All you have to do is just scratch the surface of the skin on scientology, and you'll find a lunatic at the wheel.
In all honesty, the founder, L. Ron Hubbard (aka "Frater 'H'") was a very close associate of Aleister Crowley (aka "the beast) who founded modern Satanism. L. Ron Hubbard esteemed the mad Crowley very highly according to interviews.
Tom Cruise talks for nine minutes in his instantly famous Scientology video — now, can anyone figure out what he's actually saying?
Apparently, non-Scientologists are just "spectators." It's a far nicer thing to call us — kind of like "Muggles in "Harry Potter" — than the term they usually use, "wog," which is more equivalent to the derogatory "Mudbloods" in the "Potter" books. Here's a breakdown of some of the other Scientologese words, acronyms and turns of phrase — culled from a variety of sources, including books, Web sites, and current and former church members — that might get lost in translation:
LRH: L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology and author of sci-fi books such as "Battlefield Earth" and "Mission Earth."
"I take this as a half-ack": What was that sound? A furball? Actually, a "half-ack" — a half-acknowledgement — means you were encouraged. In LRH's communication theory, you have to give signals to pre-clears (people who have not yet "cleared" themselves of unwanted emotions) — like "good," "OK," "I got that." Get that?
KSW: Keeping Scientology Working. Refers to a policy LRH published in 1965 that requires all Scientologists to follow his words and rules exactly.
"It is something that you have to earn": Cruise is referring to taking Scientology courses. According to the church, to get to the higher levels of Scientology — he's an OT VII, the highest level is OT VIII — you must complete a number of courses and auditing sessions, a sort of Scientological take on the Catholic confession. And it all costs; depending on your level, the tab for wisdom can be hundreds if not thousands of dollars. To finally learn what the basis of Scientology's precepts are (about how we got remnants of space aliens known as thetans trapped in our system), you must attain the level of OT III. The secrets of Xenu aren't free!
"Am I going to look at that guy or am I too afraid?": Cruise's relentless stare is actually a technique from "Success Through Communication" training routine (TR) drills. According to former and current members, pre-clears have to learn to look someone straight in the eye for hours. It's supposed to generate self-confidence and intimidate the other party. No blinking!
"... Because I have my own out-ethics": The church says ethics are moral choices but belong to a distinct moral system, based on LRH's book "Introduction to Scientology Ethics." If you misbehave, you have "out-ethics." If you're behaving, you have your ethics "in." To put your ethics "in" someone else, as Cruise later says, is to make someone else conform.
"The ability to create new and better realities and improve conditions": "Conditions" refer to LRH principles, which are charted on a scale. It's a Scientologist's goal to "improve conditions," which means improving your relationship with yourself and to those within your group. The "conditions" (in order) are: confusion, treason, enemy, doubt, liability, nonexistence, danger, emergency, normal, affluence, power change and power, according to numerous accounts of church practices. These are the practical applications of "ethics."
Tech: Otherwise known as "ethics tech." The methods and principles learned in Scientology courses.
"Orgs are there to help": Not Orcs from "Lord of the Rings" — orgs, as in Scientology churches and other organizations, such as Narconon, Criminon and Second Chance, all of which can be found online.
Criminon: Scientology group that recruits through prisons, promising alcohol and drug rehabilitation.
SP: "Suppressive Person." An SP is someone who commits suppressive acts, like murder, criticizing Scientology or altering LRH's teachings, according to former and current members. Journalists are automatically considered SPs because they traffic in bad news and so are barred from entering Scientology. Psychiatrists would also be SPs, so Cruise says, "Crush these guys! I've had it! No mercy! None! Go to guns!" as a call to arms. Since all's fair in war, LRH once issued a policy called "Fair Game" that decreed that anyone who opposed Scientology could be "tricked, sued or lied to and destroyed." The church says it no longer officially practices this, however, it is still a fairly contentious organization.
PTS: "Potential Trouble Sources," as in Scientologists who are losing the faith or are being influenced by an SP.
PTS/SP: A course in how to "handle" and/or "disconnect" PTS and SPs, which usually costs about $1,600, according to estimates from church members.
"Ways to Happiness": Actually, "A Way to Happiness," a booklet of the Scientology version of the 10 Commandments, except theirs has 21 Commandments. The number-one precept is "Take Care of Yourself." Also on the list: "Don't Be Promiscuous," "Set a Good Example," "Do Not Murder," "Do Not Harm a Person of Good Will" and "Flourish and Prosper."
Perhaps "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry said it more succinctly: "Live long and prosper."
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