This week happy couples around the country will exchange tokens of love and affection in celebration of Valentine's Day. If this week has put you in the mood for a little romance, we recommend you take a look at what has to be the most charming little book in the Bible.
The book of Ruth is often studied (even in secular colleges) as a masterpiece in miniature for its romantic elegance and literary value - and its charming glimpse into life in ancient Israel. It is a classic love story of loyalty and devotion, and yet it also contains some surprising insights that go far beyond the historical narrative itself.
One of the principal characters is Naomi, a Bethlehemite, who, because of a famine, migrates with her husband and her two sons to distant Moab. The two sons take Moabite women for wives. During the ten years that follow, Naomi's husband and both her two sons pass away, leaving her destitute.
Upon hearing that things have turned for the better in her native Bethlehem, Naomi decides to return home. She encourages the two young girls to make new lives for themselves among their own people. However, Ruth refuses, insists upon ...   more »

‘Preparing for imminent martial law’
By Dana G Smith
With 23,682 members, including the FBI, Infragard is growing and preparing. The InfraGard website says that at its most basic level it is a "partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the private sector. InfraGard is an association of businesses, academic institutions, state and local law enforcement agencies, and other participants dedicated to sharing information and intelligence to prevent hostile acts against the United States. InfraGard Chapters are geographically linked with FBI Field Office territories." [infragard.net]
The main goal, according to InfraGard is to promote ongoing dialogue and timely communication between members and the FBI. InfraGard members gain information through a secure website which enables them to protect their assets. Of course, the government expects the business to give them information. All of this is encompassed in the true threat, the government says, "of terrorism and other crimes." Which, we cannot disagree with. There are threats to the society today. No wonder since the government and congress have been like sterilized amoebas and been unable to stop or even deal with the border security. If an attack comes the likely hood is very real, and the culprits, could have easily ...   more »

'Students to endure gender-bending education unless parents rescue them'
If you care about your children, homeschool, find a Christian school, participate in a homeschool coop, pay the tuition, drive an older car, whatever is necessary to keep them out of California's public school system. That's the message from a new campaign, assembled under the Rescue Your Child slogan.
And it's all because the California Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger worked together to establish Senate Bill 777 and Assembly Bill 394 as law, plans that institutionalize the promotion of homosexuality, bisexuality, transgenderism and other alternative lifestyle choices.
"First, [California] law allowed public schools to voluntarily promote homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality. Then, the law required public schools to accept homosexual, bisexual, and transsexual teachers as role models for impressionable children. Now, the law has been changed to effectively require the positive portrayal of homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality to six million children in California government-controlled schools," said Randy Thomasson, chief of the Campaign for Children and Families and a leader in the movement to withdraw what supporters pray will be up to 600,000 children from public districts in the state. 
At a Los Angeles news conference, Thomasson's organization kicked off the statewide drive ...   more »

By J. Ben-Joseph - The graceful Jefferson Memorial, majestic Capitol Building and the cloud-piercing Washington Monument exhibit our city's extraordinary prominence. Yet away from this visible public city there exists a more private Washington where historic jewels are rarely seen.
One hidden gemstone is where Abraham prayed — the president, not the patriarch. During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln attended the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church; a red-brick church sitting on a triangular-shaped block so near to the White House that Lincoln could have walked to it. In my mind's eye, he did, slowly and even paced, his ladder-like frame weighted down by an ominous awareness of thousands of Americans warring in battle, many of them only 70 miles away.
Though tall buildings surround this church today, history endures inside. Downstairs you will find a lighted case exhibiting Lincoln's original manuscript proposing that the federal government compensate any state freeing its slaves. This was a forerunner to the Emancipation Proclamation.
When Lincoln drafted the Emancipation Proclamation, he sent it to the New York Avenue pastor here, Dr. Phineas D. Gurley, for reaction. A photograph of the long-side-burned Gurley can be seen in an adjoining room.
Nineteen stained-glass windows are in ...   more »

The technology is available, but the potential for misuse is almost limitless. Our columnist takes you through the dangers of this futuristic process
by David H. Holtzman
While it's easy to reject the notion of placing little ID chips inside humans as an ominous Orwellian invasion of individual rights, I suspect it's inevitable that in my lifetime we will all have some kind of computerized implants. My problem is not with the technology, known as chipping, or with the companies that sell it. My concern stems from my lack of trust in institutions and lack of belief that the technology will be forever restricted to beneficial, socially acceptable uses.
Chipping involves implanting a transponder chip below the skin for identification purposes. VeriChip (CHIP), the one company that has gained FDA clearance to perform this procedure, has emerged as the process's leading advocate. The implant procedure itself is simple and mostly painless, accomplished in a doctor's office in a matter of seconds.
Generally speaking, the only data stored on the chip is a 16-digit ID number that cross-references to a record in VeriChip's database. Nevertheless the chip raises a number of troubling concerns:
Health. Before diving into privacy and security concerns, ...   more »