Janet Porter: My Al Gore science experiment

"With the nations gathering in Copenhagen for their Climate Change Conference, I'm going to perform a little science experiment.

"It's based on what Al Gore said in his "Inconvenient Truth": The polar ice caps will melt sending 20-plus-foot flood waves into coastal cities worldwide. Something Grant Jeffrey, author of 'Shadow Government,' informed me on last week's Faith2Action program that apparently even Al Gore himself doesn't believe:

"'Did you know that he bought a property in San Francisco near Fisherman's Wharf, only four feet from the ocean? I would say that if he believed that the seas were going to rise 23 feet, he would not have invested a great deal of money in such a property.'

"Good point.

"As I write this, I have a glass of water with ice filled to the very top sitting on my desk. Actually, it's sitting on a paper towel on my desk – to catch (and record) any overflow. If Al Gore is right, when the ice in the glass melts, there will be an overflow of water all over my desk – spilling onto my keyboard and preventing me from finishing this column. Stay tuned for the results.

"The problem with Gore's theory, as explained by another guest on my F2A program yesterday, is something called the 'Archimedes Principle: when a less dense solid like ice melts in a liquid like water, the liquid level drops.'"

Anthony B. Bradley Ph.D. : The Enduring Foolishness of Racial Politics

"When I hear African Americans, Latinos, and Asians lament, 'It’s 2008 and racism still exists in America,' I want to shout, 'What fairytale were you reading that said racism would ever cease?' One of the historic tenets of Judeo-Christianity, along with many other religions, is that evil exists in the world. As long as people lack the moral formation to escape it, there will always be racism.

"What is most alarming about the media’s recent displays of racial politics is that many American voters do not have the civic virtue to put their personal racial views aside for the sake of what is best for the nation. Race does not determine a person’s position on issues. Do Maxine Waters and Condoleezza Rice think alike simply because they are both black women? Shallow voting is the art of the imperceptive.

"In light of the gargantuan issues facing the nation—the conflicts in the Middle East, the nationalization of American banking, transitions in our use of energy, new international partnerships among socialist regimes in Europe, Latin America, and Asia, and the multi-layered issues in Africa—we should be embarrassed as a nation for the world to see people downgrade the presidential election to gene preferences.

"What Americans must embrace is their responsibility as virtuous citizens concerned about the common good. This means that we put non-essential issues like race aside, to choose a candidate with the character and competence necessary to offer leadership on the pressing issues of our times."

Pamela Geller: A God Who Hates Pamela Geller

"It is the story of a Muslim woman who grew up in a country where she was indoctrinated in Islamic ideology. So her perspective is very important in terms of establishing the credibility of scholars like Robert Spencer and Dr. Andrew Bostom. But what makes this book great, apart from its breathtaking honesty and truth and the clarity and urgency of its warning, is that it is also a beautiful love letter to America.

"Wafa speaks powerfully about what America means to her. It manifests itself in little things. She leaves her house at 5 am and makes her way to Starbucks to have her coffee without fearing that someone might see her and accuse her of immoral behavior. To her, America means saying 'good morning' to her neighbor and chatting with him for a few moments without being accused of having spent the night with him. America, for this courageous woman, means that her daughter can come home and tell her that she had lunch with her boyfriend without being beaten or accused of having impugned the family honor.

"It is clear throughout A God Who Hates that Wafa Sultan was always a very independent thinker, even though there were times in her life when she did not immediately allow herself to go to the next step to which her thinking was leading her. She writes lovingly about her husband, who was very supportive of her. He was an open-minded thinker — initially more so than was Wafa herself. But she recounts in the book certain momentous events that jarred her thinking, such as in 1979 when Muslims screaming 'Allahu akbar' murdered one of her professors, the ophthalmology lecturer Dr. Yusef Al-Yusef, whom she respected and admired. Wafa witnessed the murder – and at that exact moment started to question the nature of the Islamic faith.

"'But I was afraid,' she explained when I interviewed her recently, 'to express my feelings. I was afraid to express my thoughts, because under Islamic sharia, a Muslim who dares to leave Islam or dares to convert to any other religion is to be killed. And every Muslim has the right to kill someone who has left Islam without being asked a question. This is the Islamic law. Once you were born as a Muslim, you’re not allowed to leave it. This is simply the Islamic law, and it seems to me it’s very hard to convince Americans that this is the way it is.'"

Cash For Kids

Anthony B. Bradley Ph.D. : Government Health Care: Back to the Plantation

"Many black leaders seem confused on this point. If America has a race problem, then it will manifest itself in both public and private sectors. Expanding Medicare and Medicaid only subjects poor blacks to more government control. Economic empowerment and returning health decisions to black people are the only way to eradicate concerns about structural injustice. When health-care providers compete for their patronage, blacks are empowered and control their own destinies. Economic freedom in health care is a moral and civil-rights issue because for too long blacks have suffered the indignity of having political structures make surrogate decisions about their bodies.

"Black leaders should encourage policymakers to make health more affordable by giving individuals absolute control over their earnings with concomitant power to choose their own health plan. Instead, they are conspiring with Congress to lead us back to the plantation."

Thomas R. Eddlem: Patriot Act Renewal Moving Forward

"Renewal of two controversial Patriot Act provisions set to expire at the end of the year have been approved by House and Senate Committees over the past month, and appear headed for floor votes in both bodies. President Obama has endorsed extending the provisions."

Anthony B. Bradley Ph.D. : Government Health Care: Back to the Plantation

"Black leaders constantly remind Americans of our racism. Should not these same leaders protest the expansion of government control contained in the health-care reform bill currently working its way through Congress?"