How the United Nations Cares About Children (Not)

Billy Hallowell reports:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/09/06/german-police-raid-controversial-christian-sect-and-seize-40-children/

Lots of commenters immediately remembered the Waco disaster, as did I. But at least these Christian families (note that their lifestyles are somewhat different from a homeless shelter operated by a sex-drugs-and-rock-and-roll cult led by a barely literate gunsmith) didn't shoot at the government agents, so there was no pretext for burning their homes over their children's heads; the children have merely been placed in state-approved "homes." Where they're likely to be more traumatized, more abused, than they would have been in the custody of their natural parents.

No parent-child relationship is perfect, but parent-child relationships can usually be straightened out as children mature. Attempts by government agents to interpose themselves in the "parent" position are, however, more volatile. The most obvious hazard is that substitute parents don't feel any natural inhibitions against being sexually interested in pubescent children. Less obvious, and more likely to create problems: substitute parents may, but quite often don't, feel any more natural affection for children than office workers feel for computers, or restaurant workers feel for customers who didn't leave a tip last week.

Gentle Readers around the world, please keep this story in mind when you read about how the United Nations wants to defend "the rights of the child." Once children are old enough to think about what they value most highly as their natural rights, "being left in peace in my own home" will almost always rate higher than "receiving the kind of education the current administration predicts I'm likely to need twenty or fifty years from now."

Alice Cooper, Bible-Believing Christian?

So he says. Though wasn't there some story about the source of his stage name having a hard time convincing people she was a Christian, too...before the name "punk," there was "shock rock," and a man who used a woman's name (and really strange makeup) was the epitome of it.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/27/10-more-hollwood-actors-and-performers-who-are-bible-believing-christians/

Does this web page really have anything to add to Billy Hallowell's celebrity gossip story? Yes: last week, local (Tennessee) police had to apologize for detaining a guy who looked a lot like Alice Cooper, on suspicion that his personal paraphernalia might have been illegal drugs. The way the Kingsport Times-News wrote up the story, it sounds as if the man's looking like Alice Cooper was more the real issue than his possessions looking like drugs.

Is there more than a prematurely "old" person's maundering in this post? Does this page have anything to say to people who don't remember the acts and image that made Alice Cooper famous, and continue to create problems for people who look like him? Yes, indeed. Attention young people who are thinking about doing something on the wild side to get attention...tattoos, name changes, a disturbingly strange look or performance, etc. The day may come when these decisions draw far more attention than you want to a time in your life that, when that day comes, you'd just as soon forget.

Scammers Impersonating Religious Leaders on Facebook

Beware of cyberspace entities that pretend to be popular religious leaders. Billy Hallowell reports:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/18/beware-scammers-are-now-using-joel-osteen-popular-religious-leaders-to-steal-your-money/

The Faith of Stephen King

Stephen King, author of Salem's Lot, Carrie, The Shining, Pet Sematary...a man of faith? Don't be too quick to doubt. Although he mentions doubts and inconsistencies, the bestselling horror novelist did also write The Green Mile...Billy Hallowell shares links to Stephen King's comments on his religious beliefs and doubts:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/05/31/horror-author-stephen-king-has-a-message-for-atheists-and-non-believers-plus-see-what-he-said-about-intelligent-design/

No Atheists in a Tornado

Billy Hallowell rats out a teacher who confesses the crime of praying in a public school...

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/05/22/teacher-admits-she-prayed-out-loud-during-violent-tornado-i-did-the-teacher-thing-that-were-probably-not-supposed-to-do/