Signs and Wonders: Stay away from those abortion-loving cookies

Do-Si-Don’t. According to Austin Ruse of the pro-family Catholic group C-Fam, “a part of every Thin Mint and Do-Si-Do, every Samoa and Savannah Smile goes to support abortion advocacy.” That’s why a number of pro-life groups have organized a national boycott of Girl Scout cookies. Ruse said the Girl Scouts have recently upped the ante on their leftist activism. “The Girl Scouts designated Wendy Davis as an ‘incredible woman’ who deserved to be on the list of 2013 ‘Women of the Year,’” he wrote for Breitbart.com. “Only a month earlier, the organization promoted Kathleen Sebelius as a woman of ‘courage’ on its Facebook page.” You can find out more about the boycott at www.cookiecott.com.

Warner endorses Warner. Former Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia was never particularly conservative. When he served in the Senate, one of his mentors was Sen. Sam Nunn, a Democrat. But his endorsement of incumbent Virginia Democrat Mark Warner in the race for the U.S. Senate is nonetheless significant. Warner appeared to be a shoe-in for the spot a couple of weeks ago, but the recent entry of Republican Ed Gillespie into the race has turned Virginia into a battleground.

Nothing to see here. Pentagon officials testifying on Capitol Hill yesterday said military chaplains have faced no discrimination for their beliefs. According to Religion News Service, Virginia Penrod, deputy assistant secretary of defense for military personnel policy, told the House Subcommittee on Military Personnel “that she could not cite specific instances where chaplains had to preach a sermon or oversee a ceremony that conflicted with their beliefs.” She added: “There’s absolutely nothing in policy or code that prohibits a chaplain from praying according to the dictates of their faith.” That’s not what the chaplains themselves are saying, as we reported earlier this week.

Ending Badly. For a while, Barry Minkow’s story looked like it might end on a redemptive note. In the 1980s, Minkow founded ZZZZ Best, a cleaning company. He took the company public when he was just 21 and became—on paper, anyway—a multimillionaire. But the company turned out to be a fraud. In 1988, he began a 25-year prison sentence. He converted to Christianity in prison, got out of jail in 1995, and became a pastor and fraud watchdog. I’ve interviewed him myself for stories I’ve done on faith-based and affinity fraud over the years. It looked for a while like his story might end well, but—alas—this week Minkow pleaded guilty to defrauding his own church of $3 million. Minkow was already serving a five-year sentence for a securities fraud conviction. This new conviction could add five years to his prison term. His story might still end well. I pray it will. But if it does, it will be years in the future.