Happy 2015? Newsweek hit piece smears Bible, Christians

Newsweek is launching the New Year with an old school attack on the Bible and Christians. It was just the sort of holiday hit piece that we’ve come to expect from these anti-Christian pinheads.
I imagine the Yuletide season must bring about near celebrations in the hallways of Newsweek as writers giddily try to find new ways to defile the followers of Christ.
This year’s winner was Kurt Eichenwald – and he certainly spun quite a yarn – one truly worthy to be published in a magazine. Mr. Eichenwald is known around literary circles as a man of words – and he certainly used most of them in his verbose essay.

I’m not sure why, but the folks over at Newsweek seem to hold a mighty big grudge against Christians. Maybe somebody spiked their Kool-Aid during Vacation Bible School? Who knows?

“The Bible – So Misunderstood it’s a Sin,” was the title of his treatise – of such import that editors demanded it grace the cover of the magazine. 
At first glance, I thought Mr. Eichenwald’s essay was a failed attempt at satire. However, by the end of the first paragraph, I realized it was meant to be a scholarly work. By the end of the second paragraph I was overcome by the fumes from this steaming pile of stink.
Newsweek’s 16-page diatribe portrays Evangelical Christians as homophobic, right-wing fundamentalist hypocrites who believe an unbelievable Bible. And just in case the reader misses the writer’s subtle nuance, the essay was illustrated with images of snake handlers, Pat Robertson and the Westboro Baptist Church.
That’s because in the minds of Newsweek’s esteemed editors, most evangelical Christians spend their weekends dancing with snakes and picketing gay nightclubs. Merry Christmas, America.
“They wave their Bibles at passersby, screaming their condemnation of homosexuals,” Eichenwald wrote. “They fall on their knees, worshipping at the base of granite monuments to the Ten Commandments while demanding prayer in school. They appeal to God to save America from their political opponents, mostly Democrats. They gather in football stadiums by the thousands to pray for the country’s salvation.”
I’m not sure why, but the folks over at Newsweek seem to hold a mighty big grudge against Christians. Maybe somebody spiked their Kool-Aid during Vacation Bible School? Who knows?
“These are God’s frauds, cafeteria Christians who pick and choose which Bible verses they heed with less care than they exercise in selecting side orders for lunch,” Newsweek’s writer blathered. “They are joined by religious rationalizers – fundamentalists who, unable to find Scripture supporting their biases and beliefs, twist phrase and modify translations to prove they are honoring the Bible’s words.”
As if Newsweek was trying to honor the Bible.  The magazine goes on to advance theories that some of the New Testament books are forgeries and it calls I Timothy “one of the most virulently anti-woman books of the New Testament.”
That statement then leads to a virulently anti-woman attack on Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin – because nothing says “Merry Christmas” to liberals like bashing the Baby Jesus and Sarah Palin.
Get a load of this subheadline: “Sarah Palin is sinning right now.”
Here’s what the magazine had to say about Bachmann: “Well, according to the Bible, Bachmann should shut up and sit down. In fact, every female politician who insists the New Testament is the inerrant word of God needs to resign immediately or admit that she is a hypocrite.”
I don’t know Mr. Eichenwald personally, but it strikes me that he might not have a good time at a Billy Graham Crusade.
Newsweek also wagged its finger at Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal for attending public prayer rallies.
“Jesus would have been horrified,” Eichenwald wrote.  
Dr. Albert Mohler is president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary – one of the largest seminaries in the world. He’s also one of the nation’s leading evangelicals.
Mohler’s takedown of Newsweek and Eichenwald is brilliant. You can read it here. 
“Newsweek’s cover story is exactly what happens when a writer fueled by open antipathy to evangelical Christianity tries to throw every argument he can think of against the Bible and its authority,” Mohler wrote on his blog. “To put the matter plainly, no honest historian would recognize the portrait of Christian history presented in this essay as accurate and no credible journalist would recognize this screed as balanced.”
Mohler called the essay an “embarrassment” and correctly noted that the writer had an axe to grind “and grind he does.”
“To take advantage of Newsweek’s title – it so misrepresents the truth, it’s a sin,” he wrote.
The news magazines do this all the time – attacking Christians during the Christmas and Easter seasons. It’s a free country. We have a free press. They can write whatever they choose.
But the national news magazines never seem to target Islam. When was the last time Newsweek or Time published an attack piece on Muhammad during Ramadan?
I wonder if Newsweek would have the courage to publish “The Koran: So Misunderstood It’s a Sin”? 
I wonder if Newsweek would allow a feminist to weigh in on what the Islamic holy book says about women?  Perhaps Newsweek could illustrate their story with cartoons of Muhammad – or maybe photographs of jihadists beading Christians in the name of Allah?
But we all know that won’t happen, right Newsweek?

VA facing new congressional crackdown after Colorado hospital boondoggle

A congressional battle is brewing over the Department of Veterans Affairs' admitted mismanagement of construction projects across the country -- including an over-budget, billion-dollar hospital in Colorado that was, briefly, abandoned by the contractor. 
"VA construction managers couldn't lead starving troops to a chow hall," Colorado Rep. Mike Coffman said in a recent statement. 
Coffman, an Army and Marine Corps combat veteran, plans to introduce legislation stripping the VA of its authority to manage construction projects, and putting the Army Corps of Engineers in charge instead. 
The Republican congressman's district includes the location of the troubled VA hospital project in Aurora, Colo. -- the latest black eye for the agency following the scandal over secret waiting lists. 
The VA's original design in 2005 was estimated to cost $328 million. By 2008, design changes led Congress to authorize $568 million for the project. By 2010, Congress increased the authorization to $800 million. 
With most of that money already spent, the hospital is still only half-finished, leaving area veterans frustrated and angry. 
"It makes no sense to me why the VA is managing the project," one veteran named Mark said while entering the aging Denver hospital which the Aurora project is supposed to replace. "I am one of the many hundreds of thousands who need a better facility to get treatment quicker." 
With costs soaring and the VA falling behind on payments to general contractor Kiewit-Turner, the company sued. 
In December, the U.S. Civilian Board of Contract Appeals agreed with the company's assessment that the project could not be completed for less than $1 billion -- and let it out of its contract. 
Kiewit-Turner then initially walked off the half-finished project, leaving 1,400 workers out of a job. 
In a visit to Colorado to negotiate a deal to bring workers back, VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson admitted the agency was at fault. "I apologize to veterans here in Colorado. I apologize to the taxpayers. We have let you down," he said. 
Coffman maintains, "It's not isolated to Aurora, Colorado. Every major construction project that the [VA] has right now is hundreds of millions of dollars over-budget and years behind schedule." 
A report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office said that VA hospital construction projects in several cities were, on average, $300 million over-budget and three years behind schedule. 
During his visit to the construction site in Colorado, Sloan announced an interim agreement for work to resume temporarily. Kiewit-Turner is now back on the job, but with the Army Corps of Engineers overseeing the project. 
"Their role here on-site will be to advise and support VA in the execution of this interim contract," Sloan said. Sloan said the Army Corps will also figure out just how off-track the project is, and negotiate with the contractor on a plan to actually finish it. 
"We don't know, I don't know, quite frankly I don't think KT knows right now, what it will cost to complete the project." He said he hopes it will finally be ready for area veterans, "sometime in 2017." 
While work has resumed for now, Sloan said the VA only has enough money left to keep the project going for a few months. To finish it, Congress will have to come up with more. 
If passed, Coffman's legislation would lift the current $800 million spending cap. "Right now there is nothing that we can do to reverse the costly mistakes that the VA has made," he said. "This project can't be left sitting there half-finished." 
However, Coffman said his legislation will also include the requirement that the VA transfer authority over all its construction projects to the Army Corps. "We cannot expect those who drove us into the ditch at the [VA] to drive us out of the ditch. That's just not going to happen." 
Sloan said the agency wants to stay in control. "Whether or not it makes sense for the Corps to take over all the VA's construction activity, I'm not there yet," he said.  
Colorado veteran John Dennis expressed disgust at the course of the project. "The people that are spearheading this new hospital, which is a much-needed thing, to me are acting like selfish children," he said.

'Severe' flu season could grip US, CDC doc warns

A deadly influenza strain has the U.S. in the grip of what could develop into a "severe" flu season, with widespread cases already reported in 36 states, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expert said Tuesday.
The H3N2 strain, the most common flu virus this season, began mutating shortly after U.S. health experts created this year's vaccine -- rendering it less effective compared to past flu vaccines, Dr. Michael Jhung, a medical officer with the CDC's influenza division, told FoxNews.com.
The H3N2 virus was predominant during the 2012-13, 2007-08 and 2003-04 flu seasons, the CDC said earlier this month. Because it's been associated with particularly harsh flu seasons in the past, the CDC believes the 2014-15 season could be a "severe" one, Jhung said.
But he cautioned that this year's flu season -- which began in late November and is expected to continue through April -- won't be "terribly severe."
"We're seeing things that we see every year," Jhung said. "We're not seeing dramatically higher levels of flu activity than we see every year."
The CDC says that those at high risk from influenza include children younger than 5 years (especially those younger than 2 years); adults 65 years and older; pregnant women; and people with certain chronic health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, heart or lung disease, and kidney disease.
So far, the CDC has recorded 15 flu-related deaths in children across the U.S. this season, though Jhung said it's too soon to make comparisons to past years. Overall, there were 109 flu-related deaths in kids last year, and 171 in the 2012-13 season. There were more hospitalizations so far this year compared to the same time in the previous two seasons, however.
The CDC does not compile similar data for flu-related deaths in adults.
Jhung said that because this year's vaccine might not be as effective as that of past years, people at high risk from the flu, including the elderly, young children and people with underlying chronic medical conditions should obtain flu anti-virals.
And he said Americans who haven't gotten the vaccine yet should get it, adding that only 40 percent of people who the CDC believes should get vaccinated have done so thus far.
"We're not even halfway through the flu season," he said. "It's certainly not too late to get vaccinated."

De Blasio aides reportedly urged NYC mayor's political allies to blast cops for funeral gesture

Top aides to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio reportedly urged his political allies to blast the city's police union and rank-and-file officers for turning their backs on the mayor during the funeral for one of two NYPD cops assassinated earlier this month. 
The website DNAinfo.com reported Tuesday that members of de Blasio's government affairs staff began contacting Democratic state and city officials Monday asking them to publicly criticize Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch. 
While this was going on, the website reported, de Blasio himself was setting up a meeting with the heads of five police unions in an effort to repair a relationship that has been stretched close to a total breaking point in recent weeks. 
"City Hall wanted me to blast the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association for turning their backs on him," one legislator told the site. "They ... said they were calling all of us, and that it was our obligation to stand up defending the mayor." The legislator described the tenor of the call as being "because they were calling that we should do whatever they ask."
Another pol told DNAinfo that he did not feel pressured to speak out and did not agree with the police's gestures toward the mayor, but still felt it was "really inappropriate" for the mayor's team to make such a request. 
"The mayor's people said that this had nothing to do with politics," one of the lawmakers added. "So I said, 'then what is the purpose of this call?'"
De Blasio spokesman Phil Walzak denied asking the lawmakers to "'attack' anyone," and claimed the calls were to encourage support for the murdered officers' families, a claim one of the politicians contacted called "preposterous" and "not reality."
Police officers were seen turning their backs on de Blasio during Saturday's funeral for Officer Rafael Ramos, who was ambushed and killed along with his partner Wenjian Liu Dec. 20 in Brooklyn by a gunman who made posts on his Instagram expressing a desire to kill officers in revenge for the July death of Eric Garner. 
Garner, a Staten Island man, died after he was apparently placed in a chokehold by an NYPD officer. Regular protests have occurred in New York City and around the country since a grand jury decided not to indict the officer involved in the confrontation. 
PBA President Lynch said Tuesday's meeting with the mayor had ended with "no resolve", adding that "our thought here today is that actions speak louder than words and time will tell."

Bad weather wreaks havoc on search for victims of AirAsia flight disaster

Stormy weather has hindered the efforts of rescuers to recover the victims of AirAsia Flight 8501, even as a seventh body was pulled from the Java Sea Wednesday. 
Heavy rain, wind, and thick clouds have prevented divers from carrying out their recovery operations and largely grounded helicopters, though ships were still scouring the area. 
Indonesian search and rescue chief Bambang Soelistyo said that the bodies of four men and three women had been recovered as of Wednesday morning. Soelistyo said that one of the women was clad in the distinctive red uniform of an AirAsia flight attendant. Another victim was wearing a life jacket, which may raise questions about whether the passengers may have known that the plane was going down, despite the lack of a distress call from the pilots. 
"One individual with a life jacket doesn’t tell much," Greg Waldron, the Asia managing editor for industry publication Flightglobal, told The Wall Street Journal. "It could be a person who thought that the plane was going down and put the life jacket on. I really don’t know what to make of it."
"If the pilots had ordered passengers to wear their life jackets," Waldron added. "I'd imagine they would have the presence of mind to make a distress call."
Meanwhile, officials said that sonar images had identified what appeared to be large parts of the Airbus A320, but strong currents appeared to be moving the wreckage. Indonesia's meteorology and geophysics agency predicted that the conditions would worsen, with more intense rains, through Friday.
"It seems all the wreckage found has drifted more than 50 kilometers (31 miles) from yesterday's location," said Vice Air Marshal Sunarbowo Sandi, search and rescue coordinator in Pangkalan Bun on Borneo island, the closest town to the site. "We are expecting those bodies will end up on beaches." Sandi announced that the search for bodies had been expanded to approximately 94 miles of the nearby coastline to allow for that possibility. 
The airliner's disappearance halfway through a two-hour flight from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore early Sunday triggered an international search for the aircraft involving dozens of planes, ships and helicopters from numerous countries. It is still unclear what brought the plane down.
The aircraft's cockpit voice and flight data recorders, or black boxes, must be recovered before officials can start determining what caused the crash. Items recovered so far include a life jacket, an emergency window, children's shoes, a blue suitcase and backpacks filled with food.
Experts say that the recovery of the recorders would be aided by the relatively concentrated area of wreckage and the shallowness of the water. 
Simple wooden boxes containing bodies, with signs numbered 001 and 002, were unloaded in Pangkalan Bun, with flowers placed on top.
Nearly all the passengers were Indonesian. The country is predominantly Muslim, but most of those aboard were Christians of Chinese descent.
One Surabaya church -- Manwar Sharon Church -- lost 41 members in the crash. On Wednesday, around 100 relatives gathered for a prayer service in an hall at the Surabaya airport where the Rev. Philip Mantofa urged the crowd to hold onto their faith, despite their pain.
"Some things do not make sense to us, but God is bigger than all this," he said. "Our God is not evil ... help us God to move forward even though we are surrounded by darkness."
Before breaking up, those gathered stood together and sang with their hands reaching upward: "I surrender all. I surrender all. I surrender all to God our savior. I surrender all."
About 125 family members had planned to travel to Pangkalan Bun, 100 miles from the area where bodies were first spotted, to start identifying their loved ones. However, Surabaya airport general manager Trikora Hardjo later said the trip was canceled after authorities suggested they stay to avoid slowing down the operation.
Instead, some relatives gave blood for DNA tests in Surabaya, where the bodies will be transported, and submitted photos of their loved ones along with identifying information, such as tattoos or birth marks that could help make the process easier.
Nearly all the passengers from Indonesia were frequent visitors to Singapore, particularly on holidays.
It was 13-year-old Adrian Fernando's first trip to the city-state and was supposed to be a fun vacation with his aunt, uncle and cousin before he went back to school.
"He is my only son," said mother Linca Gonimasela, 39, who could not join them because of work. "At first, he didn't want to go, but later on he was persuaded to join them for the New Year holiday."
Malaysia-based AirAsia's loss comes on top of the still-unsolved disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in March with 239 people aboard, and the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in July over Ukraine, which killed all 298 passengers and crew.
The jet's last communication indicated the pilots were worried about bad weather. They sought permission to climb above threatening clouds but were denied because of heavy air traffic. Four minutes later, the jet disappeared from the radar without issuing a distress signal.