Lifetime of ...
Honoring Chelsea Clinton with a Lifetime Impact award would be akin to giving President Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize his first year in office. The resounding question for both is: For what?
The latter event actually happened in 2009, of course, with nominations closing for the prize only two weeks after he took office.
Now the former event has happened, with Variety choosing to honor the former First Daughter next month. Clinton, 37, is being honored "for her work with Alliance for a Healthier Generation, which empowers kids to develop lifelong healthy habits."
Her work life also includes being paid around $300,000 to be on the board of Expedia, being paid $600,000 annually by NBC - $26,724 for every minute she was on the air, according to New York magazine - and raising money - or "unlock[ing] human potential through the power of creative collaboration" - for her family's Clinton Foundation.
Clinton and her husband, according to CelebrityNetWorth.com, have a net worth of $30 million.
Ah, the life of the relatably rich and well-connected.
One to talk
You have to chuckle at the chutzpah of former Obama administration National Security Advisor Susan Rice. The woman who was sent out to be the previous administration's face on five Sunday talk shows in order to lie about the source of a terror attack on the United States compound in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012, recently criticized President Donald Trump in the Washington Post for his claims the Obama administration wiretapped him during the presidential campaign.
Rice, who would have faded into obscurity without the Benghazi fiasco, told audiences on five news programs five days after the attack that the attacks were spontaneous, not pre-planned and occurred because of the existence of a YouTube video criticizing the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
"Based on the best information we have to date," she said on one show, "what our assessment is as of the present, is in fact it began spontaneously in Benghazi, as a reaction to what had transpired hours earlier in Cairo, where of course as you know there was a violent protest outside of our embassy, sparked by this hateful video."
It later emerged, of course, that Obama, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Rice, among others, all knew the attacks had been well-planned and that the video played no part in it.
The president, at the time, was in what was felt to be a tightening race for re-election with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and couldn't afford to be seen - as he was - weak on Middle East policy.
Badgering the badgers
Liberal students at the University of Wisconsin at Madison lined up like sheep during an interview with the Alliance Defending Freedom recently, unanimously declaring a fashion designer has the right to turn down making a dress for First Lady Melania Trump and unanimously agreeing that a Muslim singer has every right to refuse a paid engagement if he or she is invited to sing at a Christian ceremony.
"You should be able to control your business in that regard," a man said, referring to designing a dress for Trump.
"That's like a company's choice, right?" another man answered. "It's a free market. That's what most conservatives want anyway."
"If that goes against your religious views," a man said about the Muslim singer, "I feel like you have the right to turn that down."
Asked if a law should exist that would force the Muslim singer to take the work, a woman was adamant there should be no law. "Absolutely not," she said.
But a Christian photographer who is asked to photograph a same-sex wedding which goes against his religious views? The students, confronted with their hypocrisy, weren't ready to take up for the photographer but began to open their eyes a bit to see the dilemma about work based on religion or conscience.
"That's such a sticky issue," a man said.
But is it?
He believes the Bible?
Princeton Theological Seminary decided to award a popular Manhattan preacher its prestigious Abraham Kuyper Award but now has reversed the decision after students and alumni protested the Presbyterian pastor's "conservative" views.
The seminary is affiliated with the declining liberal Presbyterian Church USA, which ordains homosexual ministers, while the minister, Tim Keller, is associated with the conservative Presbyterian Church of America, which does not. During Keller's tenure as senior pastor at Christ Redeemer, the church has grown significantly, despite its adherence to biblical principles and its location in ever more secular New York City.
The letter rescinding the award said the minister's views were in conflict with the "full inclusion for ordained leadership of the church" and that his belief in male household headship was "baptized abuse" and "toxic theology."
Keller, true to the spirit of the award and to the life of Jesus Christ, nevertheless agreed to turn the other cheek and speak at an upcoming conference at the school and made no attempt to embarrass the seminary, eschewing with grace the petty politics of an ever more secular church.