“We are conducting a nationwide search for our permanent Department of Education director, and I am pleased D.T. Magee is taking on this important role,” said Branstad. “We are beginning our systemic, transformational education reform, and D.T. Magee will ensure a smooth transition.”

Magee has served as executive director of the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners since July 2012.  This department licenses Iowa’s teachers, and the Governor’s office said that he will continue in that role. Prior to his current role, Magee was assistant superintendent of human resources and director of human resources for the Waukee Community School District. Before moving to Waukee, Magee was a principal in the Harlan Community School District.

Magee holds an Ed. S. in Educational Leadership from Drake University, an M.S.E. in Education Administration from Buena Vista University and a B.S.E. in Secondary Business Education from Drake University.   He graduated from Ames High School.

“This is a great opportunity to continue the great work of Jason Glass and to ensure continuity within the department as a new leader is chosen,” said Magee. “I look forward to serving in this new capacity and moving Iowa’s education system forward.”

The Cedar Rapids Gazette reported that both Magee and Governor Branstad’s spokesperson Tim Albrecht said his primary responsibility will be to implement the education reform package that was passed by the Iowa Legislature and was signed into law by Governor Branstad on June 3rd.

Albrecht also noted that no end date has been established.  Once a new permanent Director is appointed he or she will have to be confirmed by the Iowa Senate which will not likely happen until they reconvene in January 2014 unless a special session is called.

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HR 1797 is based on a National Right to Life model bill that has already been enacted in nine states (Nebraska, Kansas, Idaho, Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Arkansas, and North Dakota).

“This legislation reflects the views of the overwhelming majority of both men and women,” said National Right to Life Committee President Carol Tobias. “The Obama White House, and all but a handful of House Democrats, fought for essentially unlimited abortion in the sixth month or later, despite growing public awareness of the violence perpetrated by late-term abortionists such as Kermit Gosnell and the pain they inflict on unborn babies.”

The Polling Company in March completed a nationwide poll of 1,003 registered voters.  They found that 64% would support a law such as the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act prohibiting abortion after 20 weeks — when an unborn baby can feel pain — unless the life of the mother is in danger.  Only 30% opposed such legislation.  According to a January 2013 Gallup poll, 80 percent of Americans would make abortion illegal in the third trimester and 64 percent would make abortion illegal in the second trimester.

The bill is unlikely to receive a vote in the U.S. Senate, and President Barack Obama has already threatened to veto it should it pass the Senate.  The Obama administration released their veto threat on Monday which said in part, “The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 1797, which would unacceptably restrict women’s health and reproductive rights and is an assault on a woman’s right to choose. Women should be able to make their own choices about their bodies and their health care, and Government should not inject itself into decisions best made between a woman and her doctor.”

The veto threat by the President, according to Tobias, isn’t surprising “because as a legislator, Barack Obama said he would trust abortionists to take good care of any babies born alive — he would trust the Gosnells, in other words. Obama’s veto threat harkened back to his opposition to the ban on partial-birth abortion, and his attacks on the Supreme Court for upholding the ban on that brutal method of late abortion.”

Even so this is an important vote to have on record going into 2014 and voters can see how their member of Congress voted on this bill.  Marjorie Dannenfelser of SBA List pointed this out, “Votes have consequences. Congress should take note we’re pulling together our 2014 target list tonight.”  Many pro-life groups responded to last night’s vote.

Jenifer Bowen of Iowa Right to Life pointed out how Iowa’s members of Congress voted, “We appreciate leaders like Iowa’s Congressmen Tom Latham and Steve King, co-sponsors of this important life-saving legislation.  It is disappointing to again see Iowa’s Congressmen Dave Loebsack and Bruce Braley turn a deaf ear to the cries of our unborn.”

“I applaud the House vote on a bill that is truly informed by modern science, which shows unborn children are fully capable of experiencing pain by 20 weeks after fertilization. Unborn children in their sixth month of pregnancy or later are routinely given anesthesia during prenatal surgery, so this legislation conforms federal abortion law to modern science,” said Tony Perkins, President of Family Research Council.

“It’s disappointing that the president is stuck in the Roe v. Wade science of the ’70s and has threatened to veto the bill. Ignoring modern science is harmful to both unborn children and mothers, as we know babies can survive as early as 22 weeks after gestation. The horrific pain of being ripped apart limb by limb must be stopped.

“Dr. Kermit Gosnell’s house of horrors shows we must stop late abortion. He was convicted of murdering babies born alive but also of 21 counts of illegal late abortions after 24 weeks in violation of state law. Yet many states continue to allow these brutal late abortions through the ninth month.

“The only difference between killing a baby born alive and aborting them just prior to birth is location. Human dignity is not dependent upon location,” Perkins concluded.

“Congress has taken an important first step toward making sure we stop abortionists like Kermit Gosnell and his horrific abortion clinic and procedures. The House listened to the overwhelming majority of Americans, men and women, who instinctively recoil at the dehumanizing and degrading practice of late-term abortion,”  Dannenfelser added. “This pro-woman, pro-science, Constitutional bill deserves an immediate vote in the U.S. Senate. It’s simple: children capable of experiencing unimaginable pain from abortion must be protected across the country.

“The big abortion industry cannot defend late-term abortions. Americans are disturbed by the callous nature of this practice, the disgusting clinic conditions in Pennsylvania, Delaware and other states, the 330,000 abortions Planned Parenthood of America performs every year as it receives half a billion in taxpayer dollars, and the repeated harm women experience as a result of their exploitation. Women and the unborn deserve better than abortion, and making late-term abortions illegal is a simple step in that direction.”

The bill does have some opposition within the pro-life community since it allows some abortions and that this particular bill allows exceptions for cases of rape and incest reported prior to the abortion to appropriate authorities.  It also would allow for abortion after 20 weeks post-fertilization in cases where the mother’s life is in danger (which is generally accepted in the pro-life community while other exceptions are not).

Rebecca Kiessling, founder of Savethe1.com said, “This abortion ban relies on the fact that babies feel pain in the womb and shouldn’t be made to suffer. Babies conceived in rape feel no less pain than babies conceived under the happiest circumstances. People like me, who were conceived in rape, feel the pain of being targeted for death every day.”

Georgia Right to Life said that the bill had been hijacked.  “Georgia Right to Life advocates that women who have suffered such assault be given genuine support and help and that those who commit such crimes be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and that laws be passed to aide in such prosecution.

The action alert continues, “However, further traumatizing the woman with another act of violence and killing the innocent child for the crime of the father does not help the women and is absolutely morally wrong.  All life is sacred. Its value should not depend on the manner of conception.”

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If passed by the full Senate and adopted into law, the amendments will:

• Strengthen existing law to protect the rights of conscience of military service members and protect troops who express their religious faith appropriately so that they are not discriminated against or subject to retaliation. The Lee-Cruz Amendment passed 19-7. All 12 Republicans on the committee supported the amendment, along with 7 Democrats. Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) has introduced a corresponding amendment in the House, which prompted a veto threat from the Obama White House.
• Instruct the Defense Department Inspector General to investigate reports of religious discrimination against troops’ sharing their faith and also investigate any undue influence outside groups may have in creating Pentagon policy on religious matters. The amendment will also mandate an anonymous survey to determine whether the Pentagon is preventing chaplains from doing their jobs or trying to force chaplains to perform actions that violate their conscience. The Cruz amendment passed committee by voice vote.

“Freedom of religious expression is vital to our military culture, and I am deeply concerned by recent reports that servicemen and women have been prevented from exercising this fundamental Constitutional right,” Sen. Cruz said. “No soldier should fear a court martial for expressing his or her faith or made to fear negative reprisals for reporting threats to their freedom to worship God. The men and women of the military risk their lives every day to protect our Constitutional rights, and they should not be forced to surrender their religious liberty to do so.”

“The religious liberties of our men and women in uniform deserve strong protections,” said Sen. Lee. “The amendment ensures the rights of servicemen and women to practice and share their faith and puts in place strong oversight to guarantee their rights of conscience.”

The historic role and importance of military chaplains in our armed forces must be protected. Since 1775, approximately 25,000 military chaplains have ministered to some 25 million U.S. forces; more than 300 chaplains have died in the line of duty.

Photo credit: Lance R. Haynie via Flickr (CC-By-NC-SA 2.0)

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St. Patricks Primary School, Burrenreagh, Northern Ireland

President Barack Obama is visiting Northern Ireland for G8 Summit at the Lough Erne resort in Enneskillen.  On his short 2-day trip he managed to offend supporters of religious education in Northern Ireland and undermined a recent statement from the Vatican on Catholic education in Northern Ireland.

Ian Dunn of the Scottish Catholic Observer reports:

President Barack Obama, repeated the oft disproved claim that Catholic education increases division in front of an audience of 2000 young people, including many Catholics, at Belfast’s Waterfront hall when he arrived in the country this morning.

“If towns remain divided—if Catholics have their schools and buildings and Protestants have theirs, if we can’t see ourselves in one another and fear or resentment are allowed to harden—that too encourages division and discourages cooperation,” the US president said.

The US politician made the unfounded claim despite a top Vatican official spelling out the undeniable good done by Catholic education in a speech in Glasgow on Saturday and in his homily at Mass on Friday.

Archbishop Gerhard Müller (below), prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, told an audience in Scotland that Catholic education provided a rare place where ‘intellectual training, moral discipline and religious commitment would come together’ while giving the presitigous Cardinal Winning Lecture on Saturday to officially launch the St Andrews Foundation for Catholic teacher education at Glasgow University. During Mass at St Andrew’s Cathedral, Glasgow, on Friday night he said that ‘the Catholic school is vitally important … a critical component of the Church,’ adding that Catholic education provides young people with a wonderful opportunity to ‘grow up with Jesus.’

Well done Mr. President, this gives us an idea how he views private religious schools here as well.

Photo credit: Eric Jones via Geograph (CC-By-SA 2.0)

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Urbandale, IOWA.

The purpose of The FAMiLY LEADERSHIP SUMMIT is to educate and mobilize the conservative base regarding worldview application and issues that impact the family.  The Summit will provide Iowans the opportunity to hear top conservative national leaders, gathered in one place, cast their leadership vision.  Last year’s Summit sold out and received much national coverage including being the “live remote location” for The Huckabee Show.

The FAMiLY LEADER is pleased to announce the anchor sponsors of The FAMiLY LEADERSHIP SUMMIT:  Citizens United, The Heritage Foundation’s sister organization – Heritage Action, and National Organization for Marriage.

Bob Vander Plaats, President & CEO of The FAMiLY LEADER said, “We are greatly humbled and inspired by the support of and teaming with Citizens United, Heritage Action, and National Organization for Marriage to host this popular and growing leadership summit.  Together we will be inviting many key players who have impact and influence on the national and world stage to address our audience.  These three organizations unequivocally represent the theme for this year’s Summit – ‘Leading With Principle Over Politics.’”

Invited speakers include Governor Sam Brownback, Governor Bobby Jindal, Governor Rick Perry, Senator Rand Paul, businessman Donald Trump, actor/radio host Stephen Baldwin, Senator Rick Santorum, Senator Ted Cruz, Penny Young Nance, Senator Jim DeMint, Senator Marco Rubio along with many others. Additional press releases will be sent as speakers are confirmed.  All speakers will be asked to address a “singular” and “major” threat to America and to America’s families, along with the opportunity for leadership solutions to these threats.

Setting the stage for the worldview application portion of The Summit is Dr. Del Tackett, the architect and teacher of The Truth Project.  He served in the U.S. Air Force and also at the White House.  Del is a renowned communicator of Biblical worldview, and will be a powerful addition to the Summit.

“One of the hopeful outcomes of the Summit is to bring conservatives together early and consistently in the process leading up to the 2016 elections.  We believe that by laying this foundation through an intentional leadership summit, the likelihood for conservatives to coalesce in a spirit of unity for impact and influence in 2014, 2016, and beyond will be greatly enhanced,” said Vander Plaats.

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I read a story at The Blaze over the weekend about a lesbian who was kicked out of Grace University, a private Christian college, in Omaha, NE and then billed $6000. The school says this to cover the federal loans and grants she received that must be repaid since she didn’t finish the semester. The U.S. Department of Education said that her debt was between her and her school, but it didn’t have anything to do with federal rules.

The story seemed rather one-sided mainly because Grace University declined the case due to student privacy laws. The former student, Danielle Powell, said she was confronted about her relationship and was suspended. The Blaze reported:

As required by the university after her suspension, Powell said she promised not to engage in sex and completed months of church attendance and meetings with Christian mentors, spiritual advisers and other groups. She was then readmitted, only to receive a letter days later from the university’s vice president, Michael James, revoking her admittance.

James wrote that her re-admittance had been based on professions she made to various faculty and staff that she would change her behavior, but that “the prevailing opinion is that those professions appear to have been insincere, at best, if not deceitful.”

“I was livid,” Powell said. “I had done everything they asked me to do. I drove over to my mentors’ house and just bawled my eyes out.”

First off, her expulsion was justified. She agreed to a code of conduct. She said she was surprised by all of this because she grew up in a “religious home” and a ban against homosexuality “did not fit in with what I believed.” It doesn’t matter, the school was clear in the code of conduct she agreed to. Secondly, she said she did everything they asked, but did she break off the relationship? Who knows? We are only getting her side of the story. They could have expelled outright, but they did outline a restoration process.

Regarding the money if the school is not required to repay the federal money then they should drop the matter. The Blaze reported that they will release her transcripts and transfer her credits. It isn’t unusual for schools to hold both, it’s the only real leverage they have for payment.

Here is where the story starts to concern me:

In response to questions about the case from The Associated Press that included Powell’s financial aid letter, the U.S. Department of Education said in an email Friday that the issue of whether Powell owes money is between her and the school — but “it’s not at all because of federal rules.”

The department said it would need to analyze any case to determine if a school had violated federal discrimination regulations. But it noted that educational institutions controlled by religious organizations are exempt from some federal requirements that might conflict with the organizations’ religious tenets.

Grace and other private colleges that accept federal student aid — sometimes called Title IV funding — must abide by the Civil Rights Act that forbids discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, sex, age or physical handicap. But sexual orientation is not included in that list.

“There’s a long history of institutions of higher education that are faith-based participating in Title IV programs without having to compromise their institutional statement of faith or institutional statement of practice,” said Ronald Kroll, director of the accreditation commission for the Association for Biblical Higher Education, which includes Grace University.

Look to see an attempt made to keep Christian colleges from receiving any type of federal student aid if they do not allow students who are openly homosexual to enroll or discipline them if that is discovered that they are after enrolling.

Is it possible to maintain a Christian school without federal financial aid? Sure, but it would be difficult to make that shift. It would also be incredibly difficult for students to attend, full-time at least, without the aid. From first hand experience, most of my aid came from loans which I would been better off without. It would have just taken me longer to finish, but I would have graduated debt free.

Thoughts?

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E.Y. Mullins wrote Christianity at the Crossroads in 1924; reading the passage below it doesn’t seem like much has changed. We who follow Christ still find ourselves at odds with a conflicting worldview which is pervasive in our culture.

On the one hand, man is held to be in bondage to sin and in need of a divine redemptive power working within to emancipate him. On the other, it is held that no such bondage exists. All man needs is education.

With one group, something new is needed by sinful men; with the other, merely a recognition of one’s likeness to God is sufficient.

With one group a power from without, with the other an unfolding from within is required.

With one group, man accepts a saving grace to which by reason of sin he can make no just claim. With the other, he merely claims what is already his own.

With one group, Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, and our Lord and Savior. With the other, he is the son of Joseph and Mary and an inspiring example of filial devotion to God.

With one group, conversion as the result of evangelistic preaching is one of the permanent aims of Christianity. With the other, education and training, or ethical culture, are the only needs.

With one group is a great missionary passion based on the conviction that the world needs a saving Christ. With the other, altruism in the form of schools, hospitals and social reorganization is the chief need.

With the evangelical group, there is no denial of the ethical and social needs and results. Indeed they are held to be implicit in the whole Christian movement. The causes carry the effects in themselves at every stage. But the effects are impossible without the causes. The radical group insist much upon the ethical and social effects, but sever them from the causes, as those are conceived by the evangelical group.

HT: Trevin Waxx

Photo credit: Dave Bullock via Wikimedia Commons (CC By 2.0)

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Isn’t that his job?  Again it seems like he doesn’t understand the office he’s running for.  James Lynch reported for the Quad Cities Times:

Anderson attacked first-term Secretary of State Matt Schultz for wasting taxpayer money on his single-minded focus on voter fraud, including attempts to require voters to show a photo identification to vote.

Photo IDs disenfranchise at least 10 percent of voters, Anderson said at a fundraiser at New Bo Market. That’s despite a lack of support from county auditors who oversee elections because they see it as unnecessary and increasing red tape.

“We have a secretary of state who is being audited for wasting $280,000 of taxpayer money on a partisan investigation,” he said. “What’s worse, after years of investigations, after hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on these investigations, he has yet to convict a single voter of knowingly committing voter fraud.”

Schultz, he said, likes to talk about protecting and maintaining the integrity of elections.

“There’s no integrity in wasting taxpayer dollars,” Anderson said. “There’s no integrity in blocking eligible voters from voting.”

Anderson charged Schultz is blocking eligible voters by compiling a list of undocumented workers who have applied for an Iowa driver’s license and later registered to vote.

It ignores the fact those people may have become eligible to vote between the time they applied for the driver’s license and registered to vote.

Anderson seems to ignore the fact that Matt Schultz has been repeatedly blocked from accessing a federal database that would help keep an accurate list of residents who are ineligible to vote.  He is doing is due diligence to purge fraud, not immigrants who are eligible to vote.  The money that is being spent is for a contract with an investigator from the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation.  Prior to that nobody was tasked with investigating voter fraud.  So before if we reported it basically nothing was really done.  In terms of voter ID, that was what Matt Schultz ran on in 2010.  He’s trying to keep his campaign promise.  It’s also something that 71% of Iowans want,   Including 60% of Iowa Democrats.

If Brad Anderson wants to be the Secretary of State shouldn’t he understand that election integrity is a big part of the job?  The office isn’t to push liberal agendas which is the only thing he has experience at.  He said he will try to bring out more voters.  That’s something Matt Schultz has been actively doing as well.  He apparently can multi-task.

Photo credit: Jill Lehmann via Flickr (CC-By-ND 2.0)

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For the most part, they got it right. The scenes on Krypton were superbly done with a real other-worldly feel and a couple touches that were reminiscent of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies.

I’ve seen, heard, and read a dozen or more interpretations of baby Kal-el being placed in the rocket to Earth. This was the most emotionally engaging telling by far. The moment between baby Kal-el and Lara felt real.

I also there decision to have a Jor-el AI was great and a nice updating of the recorded Marlon Brando Jor-el.

There were some great supporting performances. Kevin Costner was perfect as Pa Kent. Amy Adams was great as Lois Lane: tough and no nonsense without being nasty. She was also genuinely heroic in her own right in a way that didn’t feel contrived.

Michael Shannon as General Zod made for a solid non-Luthor villain who provided a real challenge to the Man of Steel.

As for Superman himself, we have a return to greatness for the Man of Steel with Henry Cavill giving us a wholesome self-sacrificing hero that embodies much of the best of Superman.

The big problem that stood out in the film was the lack of regard for keeping bystanders safe. Some reviewers have described this as Superman not having a Boy Scout syndrome, but in reality, being reckless about human life is a violation of Superman’s character. Also, Superman is forced to kill in this movie. Arguably, he had no choice. But should we have that happen in Movie #1?

Also, I couldn’t quite buy Perry White wearing an earring? It was distracting and is there a male editor-in-chief of a great metropolitian newspaper in the country with an earring.

Despite my concerns both major and trivial, I’m not with comic writer Mark Waid In writing the movie off. After all that Superman has suffered, the creative team deserves credit for what they got right and there’s so much that they did do correctly.

Overall, I enjoyed and would far rather see a Man of Steel 2 rather than some reboot in the next few years.

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Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, State Auditor Mary Mosiman, and Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad and Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds were on hand to help kick off Mary Mosiman’s bid to be the next elected State Auditor at an event hosted by the Republican Party of Iowa.  Governor Branstad appointed Mosiman to the State Auditor office when David Vaudt resigned to become the new chairman of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB).

It was held at the Republican Party of Iowa headquarters which had a capacity group there to meet Mosiman and contribute to her campaign.  Governor Branstad said when he was looking for somebody to replace David Vaudt, he looked for three things: a CPA, a Republican, and somebody who would want to run to keep the job.  Lt. Governor Reynolds said that she knew Mosiman from when she was a county treasurer and Mosiman then served as the Story County Auditor.  She said

You can hear remarks from Iowa GOP Chair A.J. Spiker, Governor Branstad and Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds below:

Here are remarks made by Mosiman.

Photo credit: Dave Davidson (used with permission)

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