Shelby Hodge reports at Houston Culture Map:

Even before his remarks to the Houston Baptist University [HBU] Spirit of Excellence Award dinner crowd, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and political commentator Charles Krauthammer received a standing ovation from the more than 600 supporters who filled the ballroom of the Hilton Americas-Houston.

With the presidential election only days away, Krauthammer spoke on the Essence of the American Experiment. The syndicated columnist was only part of the program that included remarks from Memorial Hermann Healthcare System CEO Dan Wolterman, who spoke on the importance of nursing education and the shortage of nurses in this country. The dinner raised $1.4 million for HBU's School of Nursing and Allied Health.

Best-selling author (Total Truth, Saving Leonardo, The Soul of Science) and Pearcey Report editor at large Nancy Pearcey is scholar in residence and professor of apologetics at HBU.

For the Devil and Other Delusionals: "Renowned mathematician and philosopher David Berlinski (author, A Tour of the Calculus) will speak about his recent book, The Devil's Delusion: Atheism and its Scientific Pretensions," says this announcement on Facebook.

"Berlinski, an agnostic Jew, rigorously defends religious thought from the attack of the New Atheism. If you think that Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens have settled the debate, you'll want to hear what Berlinski has to say."

Here's The Devil's Delusion at Amazon. Here's the Berlinski website. Time and Place: 7 p.m., Oberlin College, Nov. 3, 2009.

Just a few minutes ago, a live Fox News "Studio B" report from the "Values Voters Summit" in Washington, D.C., was interrupted by an elderly gentleman asking the reporter to cease and desist.

In this age of a collaborationist press, Fox News should be commended for its record of fair and balanced reporting and for its practice of allowing commentary and analysis by representatives from a diversity of political views.

Many Americans not in attendance would perhaps like to get a live report from the Values Summit proceedings, myself among them.

While one appreciates that elderly gentleman's spunk, let's hope they wise up at the Values Voters Summit. 

Here's a link for a webcast of the conference. Who knows -- perhaps the Fox report would have made that information available to its viewers.

Whether one is talking tens or hundreds of thousands or a million, the 9/12 event is Washington, D.C., is a people's broadside of liberty across the bow of the un-Constitutional, Creator-denying federal-centric tyranny headquartered and dysfunctionally defended in the National Swamp. 

"Sometimes an event occurs which is transformative in a way that everyone who sees it or participates in it instantly is aware of," writes Clarice Feldman at American Thinker. "Yesterday's demonstration was in Washington DC is one of those rare happenings in my opinion."

And, by the way, don't miss the Sarah Palin factor. As Rosslyn Smith, also writing at American Thinker, notes:

The political class often operates on the assumption that only those people who constantly tell other how smart they are actually are have brains. That if you don't relish life in the artificial confines of the District of Columbia and haven't come by to kiss their rings, you therefore must be lacking in the skills needed to govern. 

Last year a young Governor who had been more concerned with raising her family than polishing her resume with the right schools and the right career path let the political class know that she was not in the least impressed with their inside the beltway criteria for leadership.  

On Saturday a whole lot of people just like her showed up on their own time and their own dime to say it is time to end business as usual in the fetid, corrupt swamp that is Washington, DC.  

Read Clarice Feldman and Rosslyn Smith at American Thinker.

This timely conference is being held September 25-26 in St. Louis, Mo. Latest news from the conference website is that Rep. Michele Bachmann is confirmed as a speaker.  

"Our mission statement," says FireDavidLetterman.com, is "David Letterman must be held accountable for his disgraceful statements." As part of this effort, the website is announcing a rally planned for 4:30 p.m. tomorrow (Tues.) at The Ed Sullivan Theater, 1697 Broadway, New York City.

Speaking of Ed Sullivan, he always presented himself in a dignified manner. His variety show had class and treated its audience with respect.

The same cannot be said of Mr. Letterman and the CBS "Late Show," as is indicated by the man's crude sex jokes attacking Sarah Palin and her family. Instead, the CBS star appears to operate in a different, less-enlightened moral universe from that of Ed Sullivan.

That's bad for entertainment, the Letterman audience, and David Letterman himself (not to mention his family). He might want to look in the mirror and ask a few heartfelt questions.

That is not meant as a putdown. It's something every human being with a conscience has to do from time to time. Otherwise you drift. Otherwise 30 years later you see a face in the mirror you no longer recognize.

This phenomenon is inclusive: It happens to entertainers, pastors, politicians, scientists, activists, artists, authors, and hard-charging ministry leaders.

Related:
Comedy Has Consequences: Still Open Season on Sarah Palin
O'Reilly, Letterman, and the Culture War

Racists, socialists, Marxists, and fascists red and yellow, black and white may want to hold onto their seats and secure their pews.

Writing at Frontpage magazine, Ben Johnson makes the case that "longtime neo-Nazi" James Wenneker Von Brunn "was . . . not . . .     a . . . conservative."

Moreover, writes Johnson, the murder suspect "denounced the Christian faith as a dastardly Jewish conspiracy" and as a "'HOAX' invented by the Apostle Paul to 'DESTROY ROMAN CULTURE' from within by undermining its pagan virility." (Note: The CAPS above, as Johnson points out, "appear in the original.")

One does not mean to be redundant, but the stereotype-challenging information Johnson provides may also upset members of a) the Collaborationist Press and b) the Obama administration.

Why? Because, sadly and tyrannically, many of these folks are also "Christian-Haters." 

They constitute an elitist, secularist axis of those who despise -- in contradistinction to the genius of the Founding Fathers and the Founding Vision -- the humane, liberating, and dictatorship-challenging application of Creator-rooted information and thoughtforms to the public square.

Their way, including the Obama way, is the end of America the free.

The end of their way opens the door to humanity and dignity under God again. That's what the Declaration and Constitution are all about.

According to the evidence, Von Brunn hates this. As does the Washington-Centric establishment.

Related:
Jon Voight Calls for Resistance to "Obama Oppression"
Question the Collaborationist Media
Obama Nation's Low View of Christianity
The Evil Religious Presidents Do

With more than 2,000 "Tea Party" Rallies (see TEA and WND) scheduled across America April 15, some citizens are noticing a lack of media "support" in helping to announce this nationwide grassroots protest event to the public.

Here is a report from rally organizer Laurel West of Woodbridge, Va. Woodbridge is located in Prince William County, some 20 miles from Washington, D.C. She writes to Pro-Existence: 

I believe it should be noted that many of our United States Citizens have expressed a desire to invoke our constitutional rights. We are executing our right to public assembly. Unfortunately, we are not granted the support of “Mass Media.” According to Wikipedia, "Mass media" is a term used to denote a section of the media specifically envisioned and designed to reach a very large audience. Accordingly, “Mass media” can be used for various purposes:

* Advocacy, both for business and social concerns. This can include advertising, marketing, propaganda, public relations, and political communication. 

* Public service announcements.

"Mainstream media can run, but they can't hide from protest tidal wave," says WorldNetDaily. See this article for a list of scheduled locations.

Joseph Farah at WND advises:

This is a spontaneous and righteous uprising of the people. It is too important and pure to be associated with people who have been in power, had the opportunity to take America back and dropped the ball.

I don't have to name names. It's not important. It's just my advice and warning to grass-roots organizers across the country not to be seduced by big-name politicians who "want to help." You don't need their help. They need yours.

Hear, hear! April 15 is a great day to dump tea, dump failed politicians, and dump the tyrannical Federal Empire, so well exposed by Mark Levin's Liberty and Tyranny.

But on what basis? The only sure basis: That of the Declaration, the U.S. Constitution, and that of Founding Mission statement, the Founding Vision, of America the Beautiful -- human freedom, dignity, and "unalienable rights" under God. 

Related
Pro-Existence: Pearcey at Amazon on Levin's Liberty and Tyranny
Customer Review by Rick Pearcey

You can see video of Ann Coulter's brilliant, upbeat, and funny CPAC 2009 speech here. This will take you to the CPAC video streaming page.

Ignore the video box on the left for the moment. Find the archive menu on the top right and select "Saturday." Click on the "February 28, Session 8" box (right side of page).

After the video loads, you'll see Tom DeLay introduced by David Bossie. DeLay offers a good set of humorous remarks and then introduces Coulter. She is at the top of her game.

Among Coulter's lines (roughly quoted): "I love going on the 'View' because being around those gals makes me feel so young and pretty."

You may recall that in 2007 at CPAC, Coulter remarks on John Edwards created a "Faggot" firestorm, which I comment on here. 

I do not know how long CPAC will keep this page alive. The organization is selling DVDs of speakers' remarks.

By the way, DeLay once told me at an earlier CPAC that Nancy Pearcey was one of his heros because of her work (28+ chapters!) in How Now Shall We Live? (tri-authored with novelist Harold Fickett and Prison Fellowship Chairman Charles Colson). I was attending CPAC on behalf of Human Events.

Once again, Tom, thanks for the kind words.

From OneNewsNow:

"Students, activists, lawmakers, and celebrities in the conservative movement are gathering at Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) the next three days to chart what they believe should be the future course of a Republican Party that was battered by President Obama and Democrats in November."

A schedule of events and speakers is here.

Click to watch CPAC Live. 

Plus, says Erick Erickson of Red State, Obama "contradicted himself" and "refused to give details, just boilerplate pablum." In sum, "The great oratory failed."

Malkin: "Tons of groups and individuals are stepping up to the plate in the wake of last week’s anti-stimulus/anti-entitlement protests and the call for a nationwide Tea Party."

From a Jeffersonian slideshow at Sticker Patch. 

Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin

A good thing -- if you like the idea of a free people under God, as opposed to a "safe" but eviscerated people under Washington.

Malkin writes: "So, a CNBC host is calling for a new 'tea party' to protest Barack Obama’s out-of-control spendulus/entitlement culture?

"We’ve been doing it all week. Seattle, Denver, Mesa.  Kansas this weekend. And more outbreaks to come. . . . The revolt against the savior-based economy continues."

Excellent. But now: Dont miss the accompanying photos on Malkin's site.

Posters that cry out:

* "Hail King Obama"
* "Fund Bikini Wax Now!"
* "I'll Keep My Freedom, You Keep the Change"

My favorite: "Free Beer for My Horses."

The Rochester, Minn., branch of L’Abri Fellowship, founded by Francis and Edith Schaeffer, held a conference in town last weekend (February 13-14).

Bob Osburn, Executive Director of the MacLaurin Institute, was there:

"The annual Rochester L’Abri conference, an annual respite from winter’s bitter chill, is a combination family reunion and Chautauqua festival for Christians who have and are cutting their intellectual eye-teeth on Francis Schaeffer.  This year’s conference lived up to its sterling reputation, albeit with a slightly small crowd of 550 as compared with the usual 700.

"First, there are the L’Abri workers themselves.  Schaeffer was an evangelist with a deep feel for the human being in front of him, and his successors carry on that tradition of Christian humanism. They serve and serve and serve, all with good cheer and unusually sensitive attention to the person in front of them.

"Second, of course, there are the registrants, who vary in age from middle school all the way up to their 80s, with a large slab of Baby Boomers and an increasing contingent of 20-somethings. They are a combination of home-schoolers, thoughtful middle-aged professionals, college-aged students, and assorted others -- all questing for answers to deep questions, and finding them. This is no cult, just a community questing honestly for answers.

"Speaking of the content, over 40 different workshop and plenary sessions on topics ranging from gardening to Pascal to music were led by seasoned L’Abri veterans who are universally alarmed by facile answers and eager to get below surface issues to presuppositions.  

"This year’s thematic focus on creation provided needed compensation for those eager to hear -- but not hearing -- in their churches about the profound implications of the first two and the last two chapters of the Bible. Suffice to say, God loves His creation enough to redeem it, and we should too."

Here’s the website for Rochester L’Abri. More on Edith Schaeffer here.

By the way, Osburn tells Pro-Existence that as of March 31, he’s embarking on a “new venture with the Wilberforce Academy, an educational initiative aimed at training students to be redemptive change agents in their home societies.” We look forward to hearing more about this new work.    

Related: Francis Schaeffer: “The Central Problem of Our Age.”

Official brochures for our summer 2009 worldview tour of Rome, Florence, and Paris -- titled From Plato to Picasso to You -- are now yours for the viewing.

Included is information on the following: A tour overview, your tour directors, the itinerary, plus details about accommodations, meals, transport (including a night train to Paris), registration, whom to contact for follow-up, and so on.

"We expect this to be a tremendous time of fellowship, on-site examination of significant venues in Western cultural history, and discussion of the relationship of humane and Biblical living across the whole of thought and life."

Top Conservatives on Twitter (TCOT) are throwing a "National House Party" tonight.

Meeting in Chicago at the Gospel Coalition Conference.

Hat tip: Challies

"Shadowlands" opens February 6 at Theatre Coppell.

An opportunity for free-thinkers:

"The Center for Science and Culture at Discovery Institute announces an extraordinary opportunity for college students in the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities to participate in an intensive nine-day seminar that will prepare them to make research contributions advancing the growing science of intelligent design (ID) . . . ."

In addition, here are links for articles on Discovery, Darwin, and the intellectual contribution of Biblical thought-forms to the rise of modern science.

She can see 2012 from Alaska.

"Former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has started a new political action committee," reports WorldNetDaily, "in a move that many are seeing as a precursor to a possible run for president in 2012."

Here's the official welcome at SarahPAC.com.

The Rochester branch of L'Abri Fellowship is holding a conference Feb. 13-14, 2009.

Announced topics include "The Future of Earth: Al Gore or Acts III" (by Wim Rietkerk) and "European Leadership Forum and Christian Heritage" (by Ranald Macaulay).

Here is Rochester L'Abri's welcome page, plus a brochure and registration form for the conference.

Rochester L'Abri is directed by Larry and Nancy Snyder, in whose chalet I lived for several months during my time at Swiss L'Abri.

For more information, call 507-536-0108.