Category Archives: All Podcasts

Special Podcast Tonight at 7 pm – Remembering Billy Graham

Join the Ed Boston Podcast Network tonight at 7 pm eastern as we pay tribute to a wonderful man of God – the Rev. Billy Graham. During this live podcast, we will look at his life, his legacy, and some of his “favorites”.

Here is the link to the podcast. Use it to join the live show, and you can also use the same link to listen at any time after the podcast, in our archive files.

Remembering Billy Graham

Shayne Blaze and Liz Morris from VIA Music Promotes Ellipsis on the Ed Boston Podcast

Via Ellipsis - Album Art copy

The album cover above is for VIA Music’s first album – Ellipsis. Click on the cover to go to the interview and to hear two of the tracks from the album.

Here is the group’s bio:

Via Music combines an eclectic group of both musicians and musical styles to offer a diverse and unique new “way” to worship. An extension of the Fresno Church, the band’s innovative style and desire for Jesus drives its mission to reach out to the lost. Via Music’s first album, Ellipsis, is set to release Friday, February 9th, 2018 as a leading statement to the message they have to deliver. The band hopes to carry out their mission to create new ways of reaching out to people in a place where Jesus can meet them just as they are. 

How About A Presidential Pardon for 1Lt Michael Behenna?

A few years ago, a chance meeting on an airplane between my son and US Army 1Lt Michael Behenna (who was being transported in chains) started my interest in the horrible case of an Army hero who had his own government turn it’s back against him as laid out in the article below.

I, along with numerous friends and supports of our podcast, did our best back in 2009 to get the story of this miscarriage of justice out to the masses. We interviewed his parents on two occasions, we went to Washington DC to support the Behenna family at one of the many hearings held, and we walked the halls of Congress trying to get representatives of the people to hear Michael’s story.

Michael was released from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in 2014.  He was granted parole by the U.S. Army Clemency and Parole Board, after serving five years of his 15-year sentence.

Now a new effort is being made to have President Donald Trump to grant 1Lt Behenna a Presidential Pardon for what happened to him, as the results of his conviction which still haunts him today.

The Ed Boston Podcast wants to once again help lead the way on this new effort. Today’s post is to get the word back out to our followers and make all of you aware of this new development. I also want to give you links to our shows with Michael’s parents, Scott and Vicki, as well as a show with former Congressman LTC Allen West discussing Michael’s case.

Scott and Vicki Behenna 4/7/2009 -skip to the 11:24 mark to listen to the interview.

Scott and Vicki Behenna 8/7/2009 -skip to the 2:58 mark to listen to the interview.

Former Congressman LTC Allen West 3/28/2014 -skip to the 16:55 mark to listen to the interview.

Attorney General Hunter Sends Letter to President Asking to Pardon former Edmond 1st Lt. Behenna

General Hunter: Behenna deserves his freedom back

OKLAHOMA CITY – Attorney General Mike Hunter has sent a letter to President Donald Trump, expressing his support for a pardon of former U.S. Army 1st Lt. Michael Behenna.

In 2009, Behenna was convicted of unpremeditated murder in a combat zone after killing a suspected Al Qaeda terrorist in Iraq, while attempting to find individuals responsible for an IED that took the lives of two men in his unit. In 2014, he was granted parole by the U.S. Army Clemency and Parole Board, after serving five years of his 15-year sentence at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

Attorney General Hunter said without a pardon, Behenna’s punishment will continue outside of prison indefinitely.

“Michael Behenna was a courageous soldier, a great leader and does not deserve to be labeled a convicted felon for the rest of his life,” Attorney General Hunter said. “He has more than paid for the crimes he was convicted of while bravely serving our country in combat. He and his family have gone through enough. I encourage President Trump to act quickly and compassionately by pardoning Behenna, to give him back the freedoms he deserves.”

In the letter, Attorney General Hunter outlines three factors as to why a pardon is appropriate.

He points specifically to critical errors made during the original court-martial that wrongly affected Behenna’s self-defense arguments; the events taking place during wartime, where Behenna was risking his life to serve the country and attempting to track down terrorists; and Behenna serving his time as a model inmate, which led to his parole at the earliest date possible.

Attorney General Hunter ends the letter encouraging the president to look closely at the case and ask: “Does this situation – with incorrect jury instructions on a key issue and unlawfully withheld evidence – really display the type of justice we believe is appropriate for an otherwise outstanding soldier, who was attempting to protect his country and fellow soldiers from terror attacks?”

To read Attorney General Hunter’s letter, click here.

Related: Local news coverage:

The Oklahoman: http://bit.ly/2nVqvsh

News 9: http://bit.ly/2nSINdQ

New Feature: Let’s See What Countries Listen to the Ed Boston Podcast

While the United States, Great Britain, and Canada would be the obvious choices for the leading places that listen to the Ed Boston Podcast, there are literally listeners from dozens of different countries around the world.

In a new feature, we will give a short shout-out to a different country that we have listeners from every few days, with a little background on each place we list.

Some places (like today’s feature) are very interesting to us, and show the power and reach of the World Wide Web. We take it very seriously that the Gospel of Jesus Christ we preach is able to go places that we would never personally be able to go.

With today’s post, we will highlight Sri Lanka. The really surprising aspect of Sri Lanka being on the list is that it currently is the #4 country for listeners. The rankings change pretty regularly, but we would have never guessed this country being #4.

From Wikipedia:

Sri Lanka is the 58th most populated nation in the world, with roughly 21,444,000 people, and an annual population growth rate of 1.14%. Sri Lanka has a birth rate of 17.6 births per 1,000 people and a death rate of 6.2 deaths per 1,000 people. Population density is highest in western Sri Lanka, especially in and around the capital.  Sinhalese constitute the largest ethnic group in the country, with 74.8% of the total population.

Sri Lankan Tamils are the second major ethnic group in the island, with a percentage of 11.2%. Sri Lankan Moors comprise 9.2%. Tamils of Indian origin were brought into the country as indentured laborers by British colonists to work on estate plantations. Nearly 50% of them were repatriated following independence in 1948. They are distinguished from the native Tamil population that has resided in Sri Lanka since ancient times. There are also small ethnic groups such as the Burghers (of mixed European descent) and Malays from Southeast Asia. Moreover, there is a small population of  Vedda people who are believed to be the original indigenous group to inhabit the island.

Languages

The distribution of languages and religious groups in Sri Lanka, 1981

Sinhalese and Tamil are the two official languages of Sri Lanka. The Constitution defines English as the link language. English is widely used for education, scientific and commercial purposes. Members of the Burgher community speak variant forms of Portuguese Creole and Dutch with varying proficiency, while members of the Malay community speak a form of Creole Malay that is unique to the island.

Religion

Sri Lanka religiosity (Pew Research)
Religion Percent
Buddhist
70%
Hindu
13%
Muslim
10%
Christian
7%
Other
0.04%
Source: Census of Population and Housing, 2011