By Chuck Baldwin

Last Sunday, August 29, 2010, was the hardest day of my life. Even when my father made me promise that I would preach his funeral (which I did—twice: once in Indiana where he lived, and again in Florida where I live and where he is buried), that was not as difficult and gut wrenching as what I had to do last Sunday.

Last Sunday, I retired as the pastor of the church that my wife and I founded 35 years ago: the Crossroad Baptist Church of Pensacola, Florida.

Think of it: all of my adult life (after college) has been spent pastoring this wonderful congregation. And the people that I spoke to this past Sunday evening are, without a doubt, the finest group of people I have ever known. They are my friends. Many of them I had led to Christ, or were saved under my preaching. Some have stood with me for twenty years; some for over thirty years.

My vocabulary is too limited to express the love and appreciation I have for these wonderful people! They stood by me through thick and thin. Even when God opened the door for me to run for President of the United States on the Constitution Party ticket, they stood by me. They stood by me when enemies attacked me; they stood by me when friends forsook me.

And last Sunday evening, I had to tell them that, after 35 years as their shepherd, God had led me to leave them.

I can tell you, tears flowed like rivers; and I believe my family and I cried more than anyone.

When I was 18 years old, I told the Lord that I would do anything He wanted me to do; I would be anything He wanted me to be; and I would go anywhere He wanted me to go. And I mean that today as much as I did then. Therefore, the only thing that could move me from the pulpit of Crossroad Church was a clear and definite call and leading from God. 35 years ago, that call led my wife and me to Pensacola, Florida. Today that call has led us to the Flathead Valley of Montana, some 2,500 miles away.

Therefore, within the next few weeks, my entire family will be moving to the Kalispell area of the great State of Montana. By my family, I mean my wife and I, my daughter and her husband and their 3 children, my oldest son and his wife and their 3 boys, my youngest son and his wife and their one child, and my wife’s mother and her husband. That’s 5 families and 17 people.

Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s decision makes Michigan the only Midwestern state and one of few nationwide without a state fair.

The Michigan State Fair had been a state tradition for 160 years and held at Eight Mile and Woodward, within Detroit city limits, since 1905. But the fair had been running deficits and needed $360,000 from the state in 2008 to cover losses. Fewer than 220,000 people passed through last year. At its peak in 1966, the fair drew 1 million.

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Like those in other states, the Michigan fair had its roots in agrarian fairs in Europe, where farmers met to discuss farming techniques and equipment. As waves of immigrants came to the U.S., they influenced the fairs, which added ethnic foods and other attractions.

One thing that hurt the Michigan fair was the state’s economy. Michigan’s unemployment rate of 15.2 percent led the nation in August 2009 when the last fair was held. Detroit’s jobless rate is about 30 percent.

But part of the problem also seems to have been the fair’s inability to successfully marry its agrarian roots with money-making entertainment as other state fairs have done.

When one views the fall-out from Australia’s most blessedly inconclusive general election in 70 years, a Latin phrase from Saint Augustine springs to mind. “circuitus illi iam explosi sunt”, boasted the Bishop of Hippo—“The circles have exploded”.

No longer are Australian voters forced to choose between two different brands of New Class globalism. Suddenly and surprisingly, both major parties distanced themselves from the pro-immigration “Big Australia” bipartisan consensus that has dominated the country’s policies since World War II.

And last Saturday, August 21, voters delivered a sharp blow to the political center, while rewarding representatives from the radical Left (the Greens) and the radical Right (three out of the four independents who now hold the balance of parliamentary power).

The Greens snatched from Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s incumbent Labor Party at least one House of Representatives seat (Melbourne, now held by industrial lawyer Adam Bandt) and almost a second (veteran Labor apparatchik Anthony Albanese just squeaked home in his western Sydney constituency of Grayndler). What is more, they now have no fewer than nine senators, up from five before last Saturday.

A federal grand jury has indicted six illegal immigrants in a 14-count indictment that accuses them of abducting a woman and her 2-year old daughter in Ohio.

The indictment announced Tuesday alleges five men from Mexico and one from El Salvador kidnapped a Columbus man’s wife and child in December 2009 in an attempt to recover an alleged drug debt. Authorities say police stopped the suspects leaving a residence where the mother and child were being held. The woman and child were rescued safely.

The men are charged with one count each of conspiracy to commit hostage taking and hostage taking. they also are charged with six counts each of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and possession of a firearm by an illegal alien.

These results are based on aggregated data from more than 220,000 Americans surveyed from early January through Aug. 15 of this year as part of Gallup Daily tracking. Whites classified as highly religious are those who say religion is important in their daily lives and who report attending religious services weekly or almost every week. Hispanics include everyone who identifies as Hispanic, regardless of race.

The mixture of religion and politics in the United States came to the fore again this past weekend at Glenn Beck’s high-visibility “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington, D.C. Beck mentioned God and religion frequently in his remarks. The rally was billed as nonpolitical, but the presence of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, Beck’s involvement with the politically oriented Tea Party movement, and Beck’s own avowedly conservative persona and positions on the issues brought a political perspective to the event.

Four suspects are in custody in connection with Monday’s shooting of two 17-year-olds in Planada, the Merced County Sheriff’s Department reported.

Meanwhile, sheriff’s investigators on Wednesday revealed an appalling alleged motive behind the shooting: the mere color of one of the victims’ shirt.

The suspects have been identified as Merced residents Johnny Munoz, 21, Ramon Manzo, 22, Ezquiel Castillo and a 17-year-old juvenile, according to Deputy Tom MacKenzie, sheriff’s spokesman.

Munoz was arrested not long after deputies served a search warrant Wednesday morning at his Mimi Lane apartment residence, where investigators found ammunition. Manzo and the juvenile were arrested after deputies served a search warrant Tuesday in the 1500 block of Ellen Court. There, deputies reported finding guns. Castillo was arrested Tuesday after law enforcement pulled over his vehicle at 23rd and F streets.

MacKenzie said investigators believe they have the guns used in Monday’s shooting, although forensic tests will be necessary for confirmation. The suspects are known gang members, investigators said.

Government anti-poverty programs that have grown to meet the needs of recession victims now serve a record one in six Americans and are continuing to expand.

More than 50 million Americans are on Medicaid, the federal-state program aimed principally at the poor, a survey of state data by USA TODAY shows. That’s up at least 17% since the recession began in December 2007.

“Virtually every Medicaid director in the country would say that their current enrollment is the highest on record,” says Vernon Smith of Health Management Associates, which surveys states for Kaiser Family Foundation.

The program has grown even before the new health care law adds about 16 million people, beginning in 2014. That has strained doctors. “Private physicians are already indicating that they’re at their limit,” says Dan Hawkins of the National Association of Community Health Centers.

Silicon Valley leans Democratic. Based on comments made by one of the Valley’s biggest hitters, that may be changing.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini got a lot off his chest at the Aspen Forum last night–with most of his frustration directed at the business-stifling policies of the Obama administration and the decline and fall of American competitiveness.

Here are some key quotes reported by CNET’s Declan McCullagh:

• “Unless government policies are altered… ‘the next big thing will not be invented here. Jobs will not be created here.’

• “The U.S. legal environment has become so hostile to business…that there is likely to be “an inevitable erosion and shift of wealth, much like we’re seeing today in Europe–this is the bitter truth.’”