The Kingdom Builders

I read a great little Christian magazine called No Greater Joy, published by No Greater Joy Ministries, which is run by the Pearl family. NGJ magazine is my second favorite Christian magazine, the first being SALT Magazine. NGJ has insightful articles that make you think about what's going on not only in the church, but in the world, too. In the March-April issue there's an article by Michael Pearl that gives an excellent analysis of what motivates progressives. I've decided to reprint the article here on Sinistra's Bane. The article is titled, "Making Sense of It", which I think is non-descript and a bit lame. I'm calling this post "The Kingdom Builders", from a passage in the article, because I feel it better reflects the quasi-religious vision of progressives. They really do want to build a kingdom. Michael Pearl's article explains how and why. Read, learn, and understand. (I've highlighted in bold those parts of the article I found particularly illuminating.)

Making Sense of It, by Michael Pearl, first published in the March-April, 2011 issue of No Greater Joy magazine.

Lately I have come to understand that progressives are motivated by a conviction of their own righteousness. They attack Christianity and the Constitution of the United States because they stand in the way of their universal uotpia. They want to save us from ourselves and our delusions.

The average American knows our country is being driven to extinction, and it's demise is not far away. We cannot make sense of the decisions politicians make. "Stupid" comes to mind, but stupid is without pattern or purpose.

We see men and women who are highly intelligent and very well informed in political science, economics, business, and in history making decisions that are contrary to the best interests of the country and of the poor they claim to represent. And then there is the anti-Christian bias in the media, the courts, Hollywood, and in the public schools and the universities. Why? What is so threatening about the Bible and those who believe it?

The Constitution is held in as much contempt as the Bible. What is so menacing about a document that guarantees individual libery of conscience and action, free speech, free association, and ownership and management of one's property? The way the politicians are legislating and the courts are ruling, you would think faith and the founding Fathers are the most sinister evils ever to stand in the way of positive genetic mutations.

"Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil; That put darkness for light and light for darkness; That put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter."! (Isaiah 5:20)

For many years I observed the political theatre and wondered at the motivation of the American left. Lately I have come to understand that progressives are motivated by a conviction of their own righteousness. They attack Christianity and the Constitution of the United States because they stand in the way of their universal utopia. They want to save us from ourselves and our delusions. [Progressives] think they are more enlightened than the rest of us and believe their understanding requires them to take charge of the helm, even if they have to kill the captain and throw some of the crew overboard.

Human salvation is thought to be in the collective. [Progressives] seek the redemption and restitution of mankind in a way that assures our survival as a race. It is the Tower of Babel all over again. The kingdom builders get into politics, education, entertainment, rewriting history, and especially into the news media because that is where people are molded to a worldview that will cause them to be willing participants, or at least passive supporters in the New World Order.

The utopitarians are trying to establish what God has already promised to institute, a kingdom of peace and happiness in a paradise where all share in the bounty of a renewed earth. They too want that kingdom, but since there is no god to determine man's destiny, it is up to them to institute this kingdom. [Progressives] abort babies to prevent increased population from placing further stress on an already overtaxed planet. They must purge society of any religion that looks to the sweet by and by, for it prevents men from getting serious about the here and now. They are anti-American because the United States supports a divided world where American exceptionalism prevents us from entering into commune with the have-nots of the Third World. They must save every butterfly and lizard nearing extinction because they don't have a God that will create more.

If they had ten commandments they would read something like this:

1. Thou shalt have no other god above thy fellow man.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any absolutes that cannot be ignored for the sake of the common good.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of any religion in vain, for they are all created equal.
4. Observe the holy days of all religions with equal fervor.
5. Honor the state as your father and nature as your mother, that your days may be long upon mother earth.
6. Thou shalt not kill, even in self defense.
7. Thou shalt not call consensual sex adultery or sodomy.
8. Thou shalt not steal from the poor by accumulating to thyself wealth more than they neighbor.
9. Thou shalt not bear witness against thy government.
10. Thou shalt not covet the power that belongs to the elite.

The progressive/socialist has an anthropological world view that parallels theological doctrine. They believe in the fall of man and in depravity. Man, in oneness with mother nature, living in blissful harmony in a communal paradise of unbounded sexual license and village simplicity, fell into a selfish world of materialism and consumption, damaging mother earth.

In their confused anthropology, man is both evil and good. He is good as long as he is true to himself, following his own light and living his personal truth, not being judged by any outward standard. He is evil in that he is selfish and judgmental and therefore destructive to the collective good.

[Progressives] believe in temptation. Man is tempted by the lure of independent action. He is tempted to judge his actions and the actions of others on grounds of a supposed absolute good existing outside of human nature and independent of the material world.

To the progressives original sin is inherited by children from their parents who teach religion as a pie in the sky, sweet by and by, do it or be damned doctrine, inflicting crippling guilt.

[Progressives] believe in salvation. Their new birth is forgiving oneself and acquiescing to one's passions as normal, rejecting guilt as a foreign, dark force intruding upon their otherwise liberated souls.

[Progressives] believe heaven and hell are here now. Heaven is the new world order--the socialist's New Jerusalem, the utopia, where there will be no more war, or pollution, or bigotry, or hunger. Hell is fossil fuels belching out deadly gasses upon fragile Mother Nature, pollution caused by captialism. False doctrine is unbending religion that segments people. Demons are rich business owners and judgmental religious bigots.

Liberal Socialists/Utopitarians are crusaders for salvation. To understand these kingdom builders you must recognize that they are motivated by what they consider righteousness. They think the masses, especially the political right, are evil or, at the very least, out of touch and need to be pushed into the right path. You are self-destructive and they want to commit you for your own good, thus saving mother earth, the only eternal life the human race will ever know. Surely the survival of this planet is more important than the luxury of liberty. They know that if you are not with them you are against them, and they are willing to sacrifice the few to save the many.

To make sense of the present hour:
Why are our politicians, supported by the news media and Hollywood, seemingly trying to break our country economically. It is obvious that they are deliberately legislating so as to bring about high energy and food prices. With the certain increase in population and the limited resources on this planet, they want to create a worldwide commune where population is kept in check and resources are equally shared.

But they also know that this "sharing" will never come about through legislation. It will take a revolution where shortage is the enemy, not politicians. [Progressives] need crises so they are creating the biggest crisis this world has ever known. Why? Because the creation of a new world necessitates destroying the old one. They know we must fall and suffer before we will be willing to rise in a world with less liberty and more expensive goods and services.

No one will accept legislation that results in a 75% cut in wages and a great reduction in his consumption of goods and services unless he first loses everything and lives in abject poverty for a while; then he will be grateful to a government that puts him in a three hour food line and allows him to live in a two room apartment that has electricity for five hours every day. During times of stress and deprivation he will gladly receive a mark upon his hand or his forehead by which he can buy food for his family.

My final word:
Don't look to politicians to save you. Jesus will bring in the kingdom and He will be the Kings of kings and the Lord of lords, bringing in everlasting righteousness. Until then, pray for those in authority so we can live a quiet and peaceful life until God tires of men trying to take the kingdom by force. That is His job and He will do it soon enough.


There it is, friends. One of the best critiques of "Liberal Socialists/Utopitarians" I've read in a while. I hope, friends, that you find it as informative and illuminating as I did. Knowing what the progressives are all about, what their motives are, will help us defeat them and their innocuous sounding agenda. And defeat them we must, to keep the America we've always known and loved. So arm yourselves with the truths in this articles and zealously fight the good fight. Nothing less than our liberty and our lives are at stake.

Trump For President?

Donald Trump wants to run for president. I wasn't keen on the idea of either a Trump candidacy or presidency. Then I watched The Donald's interview on The O'Reilly Factor last week and now I'm sort of liking the idea of President Trump.

What got me warming to the idea of Trump as America's Chief Executive was his largely forthright answers to Bill O'Reilly's questions. In particular, I was astonished that, without hesitation, Trump declared himself pro-life and anti-gay marriage. I'd always viewed Trump as a (stereo)typically liberal New Yorker. The reality that he takes the same position as I do on abortion and marriage was a refreshing discovery. And there were other refreshing discoveries to come.

In his interview, Trump revealed he's against illegal immigration and would militarize the border to halt it. He wants to deal decisively with China, saying he'd slap a 25% tariff on Chinese goods coming to America if China didn't stop manipulating its currency. Trump opposes the Ground Zero mosque, and his notion of what we should do in Iraq is really novel. Basically, he said we should take over the second largest Iraqi oil field and stay there. Trump said America needed to do what other countries do and keep what she conquers. There was no disdain toward or skepticism of American power in The Donald. President Trump won't go around apologizing for America and bowing to foreign leaders. All I can say to that is, yeah!

Did The Donald say--or not say--anything in his interview that gave me pause? Yes. Trump equivocated on Obamacare. He didn't say he opposed it, although he implied that other solutions, like individuals and businesses being able to buy health insurance across state lines, would work better than Obamacare. And Trump talked tough on Iran not getting a nuke but avoided saying how he'd stop that from happening. While I'm all for Iran not going nuclear, talking tough about it is useless. We've had that from politicians for years. What's needed is a bold plan including, perhaps, military action, and the will to carry it out. Trump's tough talk implied that he'd use force to stop Iran from going nuclear. If that's the case, I wish he'd been as forthright about it as he was on other things.

Oh, and Trump expressed some belief in the "birther" controversy which, I feel, could hurt his credibility among many voters.

Despite the few reservations I've listed here, I think I can take Donald Trump seriously as a candidate and even as president. I like that he's a Washington outsider. I like that he's a businessman who can tell the politicians how to really create jobs. And I'm thrilled with his unapologetically conservative position on two of the social issues most important to me. Yep, I think I can support a White House run by The Donald.

President Trump. It's sounding good.

"Sucker Punch" Rocks!

Hey friends! As most of you know, last Thursday was my birthday. To celebrate I took myself out to dinner and a movie. I'd done that two weeks prior to celebrate my birthday and saw Red Riding Hood, which was a disappointment. Not terrible, just not worth the full price I had to pay. So I decided to try the movies again, hoping to find one that was really good, and I did! It's called Sucker Punch.

Sucker Punch is great! How great? So great enough that I didn't mind haivng to pay full price for it; I'd pay full price to see it again, and I plan on buying it when it comes out on dvd. That's how great Sucker Punch is. That's how much I liked it!

Sucker Punch is cool, original, exciting, decked with great special effects, and suprisingly warm and thought-provoking. It has a moving twist at the end and, to top it off, a killer soundtrack! I won't say anymore as I'm not a skilled movie reviewer. I just wanted to do a post on how much I liked this film. If you want to have a blast at the movies this weekend, go see Sucker Punch. You won't be disappointed!

Here's a preview of Sucker Punch's awesome soundtrack. It's a video of the remake of Jefferson Airplane's classic, White Rabbit. I know, classics aren't supposed to be messed with, but leave it to Sucker Punch to get remake right. So here's White Rabbit, Sucker Punch style.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Today's my birthday. Woohoo! I'm 47 today. Wow! That's half a century! Kinda makes me feel old saying it that way, so I guess I'd better stop. Hee, hee. Seriously, this birthday is extra special because it's my first birthday as a cancer survivor. I am so grateful to see another birthday. I know that things could've so easily gone the other way. So I am very, very thankful. Thank you, God!

I didn't do anything really special for my birthday. I took myself out to dinner and a movie a couple of weeks ago and I'm going to do the same tomorrow. Actually, that is pretty special considering how tight my finances are right now. The movie I went to see on the 18th was "Red Riding Hood". It was just ok but it had a kick ass song in it. The song is called "The Wolf" and it's by Fever Ray, a band I've never heard of before. I'm including a video of the song on my birthday post. It was played during a celebration scene in the movie. I wish that scene was part of the video. Instead, all there is is a picture of Red. But it's the song, not images, I want you to focus on. So pull up a chair, relax, and enjoy!

"The Wolf", by Fever Ray



Told ya it kicked ass!

How To Handle A Liberal

Who knew we'd get a lesson in handlling self-righteous, bullying liberals from a young boy in Australia. Thank you, Casey Heynes!

Does Obama Want Gaddafi To Win?

Does Obama want Moammar Gaddafi to win the civil war raging in Libya? I'm pondering this question in light of the president's skittishness about imposing a no-fly zone over Libya.

Gaddafi's forces are crushing what had been a largely successful rebellion against his rule. The loyalists have superior equipment all around but one of their biggest strengths over the rebels is their air power. If that power could be grounded the rebels stand a chance of winning. A rebel victory would be good not only because it would free the Libyan people from a brutal dictator but also for a reason specific to America.

Moammar Gaddafi is a mass murderer of Americans. Before 9/11 and Al Quaeda Gadaffi had killed more Americans than any other terrorist. In 1986 he ordered the Berlin discotheque bombing which killed three US servicemen. And in 1988 Gaddafi masterminded the infamous bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland which killed nearly 200 hundred American civilians. If Gaddfi is overthrown he can be snatched by the US and put on trial for the Americans he slaughtered. That's the American reason why the no-fly zone must be imposed. It'll increase the likelihood of Gadaffi's fall and the chance of America snagging the butcher of Lockerbie. And I'm wondering if that's what Obama wants to avoid.

Barack Obama is a far-Left guy. Yes, he's done some good things in the War on Terror, but he's skeptical of American power and leadership, preferring to defer to the "world community". In fact, that is the "official" reason, articulated by Hillary Clinton, for his administration's reluctance to act first on the no-fly zone. There must be an international consensus on any action against Libya, Hillary Clinton said; America must not take the lead. With the "world community" in charge there's a greater chance that Gaddafi will crush the rebellion and stay in power, making moot any question of America apprehending Gaddafi. I believe that's the outcome Obama's hoping for.

Snagging Gaddafi and putting him on trial just doesn't mesh with Obama's worldview. In fact, being the far-Left guy that he is, it's safe to say that that would be a nightmare scenario for him. Obama would much prefer an end game that jibes with his progressive, "America the Bad" paradigm. So, does Obama want Gaddafi to win? In a word, yes. That would relieve him, at least partially, of the job of defending and avenging Americans, something he never really wanted to do. And he can save face by blameing his inaction on the "world community" which, in his paradigm, takes precedence over the needs of America. You see, in spirit Obama truly is a citizen of the world, just as he said in his Berlin speech in 2008. And those of you who voted for him thought you were electing an American. Silly you.

$3.29 A Gallon Gas?!?!

I can't believe this.

Yesterday evening on the way home from work gas was $3.18 at my favorite discount filling station. On my way to work at 5:30 this morning gas was $3.29 at the same filling station. Pardon my French, but, "WTF?!?!".

Yes, I know the Libyan crisis is partially responsible for the latest hike in prices at the pump, but gas has been rising for some time. When is all hell going to break loose over this? I mean, when gas prices were soaring just a few years ago the country was pissed off (pardon my French again). The price of gas was all anybody could talk about. That subject seemed to lead every news hour on tv. People eagerly supported exploiting America's domestic energy resources and "Drill, baby, drill!" was chanted across the nation. But now? Nothing. And I think I know why.

When gas prices were rising a few years ago Bush was still president. It was in liberals' political interest to hype skyrocketing gas prices--and anything else wrong in the country--then. They believed it would help them win in '08. The liberals got a boost from many ordinary Americans who were also fed up with Bush and expressed it in anger over the gas prices. Ordinary folks were truly upset about the pain at the pumps but liberals were engaging in manufactured outrage to achieve political ends. And it worked. Republican John McCain was defeated in the presidential election. Liberals got their man into the White House; now criticism and dissent were supposed to stop.

Liberals' guiding principle on Barack Obama's presidency is that he's not responsible for anything bad that happens on his watch. I beg to differ. Paying almost $4 for a gallon of gas is just as painful under a Black Democratic president as it was under a White Republican president. Again, I know that unrest in the Middle East is partially to blame for sticker shock at the pump, but only partially. Obama is to blame, too. He doesn't get a pass just because he's Black and liberal. Racial equality means people are treated the same, regardless of race. Right? So, if Bush was responsible for everything bad that occurred during his presidency, then so is Obama. And believe me, paying $3.29 a gallon for gas is bad. Very bad. Even under the Messiah.

Union Busting Or Party Busting?

I've been following the upheaval in Wisconsin, which is now spreading to Ohio, Indiana, and other states, and I think I've figured out what's really going on here.

Republican Wisconsin governor Scott Walker is being slammed for, among other things, making public sector union workers contribute to their health care plans and for limiting their collective bargaining power to wage and benefits issues. The unionistas are hysterically shrieking, "Union busting!", but I think they're really outraged about something else entirely. What's going on here isn't union busting but party busting, Democratic party busting.

It's no secret that unions are an extension of the Democrat party. For decades unions, public and private, have used their members' dues to finance the campaigns of Democratic candidates. The unionistas have done this while giving their rank-and-file members virtually no say in the matter. If you're a union member and you favor Republicans, too bad. Your money is going to elect the party you oppose. Governor Walker is putting an end to that.

A key change Walker wants in the union/state relationship is for the state of Wisconsin to stop automatically deducting public sector workers' union dues from their paychecks. In other words, Walker wants to give rank-and-file union members the choice of whether or not to pay upwards of $1000 a year in dues. If given that choice it's almost certain a high percentage of union members will opt out of paying dues. That would be financially catastrophic for the Democrats. The unions have been a cash cow for the Dems because of the dues paid by the members; take that away and the cash cow--and the Dems--become toast.

Wisconsin is broke. It's in the red to the tune of 3 BILLION dollars. Governor Walker says he wants sacrifices from the unions to help balance Wisconsin's budget. I believe that's true, but I also believe that Governor Walker knows that his proposal would severly hurt the Democrat party. I believe that hurting the Democrats is Walker's true objective and I say, more power to him!

In November the Republicans won an historic victory across the nation and they should use their new power the way the Democrats would had they won. Republicans have a shot at depriving the Democrats of their financial strength and helping to ensure their own re-election. They should take it. Union busting? No, this is PARTY busting and I say, BRING IT ON!

Ann Coulter On Conservative Gays

I love Ann Coulter. I know she often has a, shall we say, forceful tone but that's why I love her. Coulter is a fiscally and socially conservative, Christian woman and she's unapologetic and fearless about it. So, when I heard that Coulter had endorsed GOProud, a conservative gay group, participating in CPAC this year, I was surprised and a little concerned. I've always thought of support for the gay agenda as a social Left cause at odds with conservatism's traditionalism. When Coulter endorsed the Republican gay group I was afraid she'd turned against the fight for traditional values. I needn't have worried and the video below shows why.



I agree almost completely with Ann in this video. She says better than I ever could how you can be a "friend of the gays" without jumping on the gay agenda bandwagon. I've always felt that was true, but sometimes I get demoralized by the constant shrieks of "Homophobe!" flung at traditional people. Coulter shows how stupid it is to brand belief in traditional marriage, for instance, as homophobic. This is just what I needed to hear. I'm a social conservative. I believe in traditional values, especially traditional marriage. And I don't hate gay people. Thank you, Ann Coulter, for explaining that.

Where's Ben Jealous On This One?

If anyone wants to know where the real racism is in America, take a look at the video below. It'll shock you.



In case you didn't figure it out, these pleasant people are leftist radicals, the folks who're always angrily accusing conservatives of being racists. Here are White people calling for a Black man to be sent back to the fields, to be mutilated, to be strung up, to be hung. Where's Ben Jealous on this one? Why isn't he demanding that the Left expell these bigots from its ranks? Why the silence? If rhetoric half this hateful was merely whispered at a Tea Party rally Mr. Jealous and his leftists friends would've been all over it. White radicals, though, can spew rabid malice against a Black man without the liberal minority protectors batting an eye. Talk about things that make you go, hmmmmmm.

Here We Go Again

Brrrrr! I got so caught up in the big winter storm that's striking well over half the country and pushing temps in my area down to their lowest levels in decades, that I forgot that today is February 1st, the beginning of Black History Month. And I hate that.

I don't like Black History Month. I don't like any of these racial/ethnic history months, ethnic studies, etc.. Liberals would say that minority studies and history months are necessary to right past wrongs and enhance the self-esteem of minority people. I disagree. These things, in my opinion, undermine the whole idea of a shared American identity and are contrary to the spirit of Martin Luther King's assertion that people should be judged by the content of their character and not their race.

When we teach history in schools the accomplishments of Blacks and other minorities should be included as they actually happened, i.e. as an integral part of American history. If a class is learning about inventors, for instance, Black inventors should be included in the same way as White ones, i.e., without stressing their race. Teachers shouldn't emphasize Black inventors as Black inventors. That wouldn't be teaching kids history; that would be teaching kids to like Black people. And that's wrong...and racist. Schools should not promote one race over any other race, not even in the name of racial justice or equality.

If we want real racial equality then educational segregation has to go. We'll never create a colorblind society by constantly highlighting color. It's time to put content of character above race, for real. We can start by saying bye-bye to Black History Month and hello to American history. Period.

Shame

It's been a week since the deadly shooting in Arizona that left six innocent people dead and 14 others, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, wounded. It would've been nice if, during these seven days, the victims' families and the nation could've been left to mourn in peace. But that was not to be.

Before Arizona's dead were cold, before the survivors could be cared for, their horrific tragedy was being exploited by liberals for political gain. Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik started the indecency by blaming the attack on "hateful rhetoric" from the "hard right". The national Left followed Dupnik's lead and began hammering away at the it's-conservatives'-fault theme. Not content to blame conservatives generally, liberals launched attacks on prominent individual conservatives. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Sarah Palin were all assigned blame. Leftists' political needs drove them to blame everyone but the shooter for the Arizona tragedy.

Shameful is the only word that describes liberals' actions in the wake of Jared Loughner's rampage. Actually there are other words--disgusting, crass, insensitive, self-serving, to name a few--that accurately describe liberals' behavior, but shameful describes it best. Shameful! Shameful! Shameful! It's impossible to have any resepct for liberals after this.

Obama tried to calm things down during his speech at the shooting victims' memorial on Wednesday. He stated that Americans need to use words that heal in our political discourse. Americans? Obama would've been more honest addressing his plea for healing words specifically to his liberal base. Hateful rhetoric is liberals' modus operandi. And then, after the shootings, they had the nerve to call for civility in the public debate. Monumentally hypocritical.

Liberals have no shame.

Massacre In Arizona

There has been a horrific massacre in Tucson, Arizona today. The killing happened at a supermarket where Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords was holding a public gathering. Representative Giffords, who has suffered a critical wound to her head, appears to have been the intended target of the shooter. Eighteen other people were also wounded and six people, including a 9-year-old girl and Arizona's chief federal judge, were killed. The suspected gunman, a 22-year-old man named Jared Louughner, is in custody. Loughner may have had an accomplice, whom authorities are looking for now.

This is a shocking, horrific, and utterly senseless tragedy. And the worst part is that there've already been attempts to politicize it. Pima county sheriff Clarence Dupnik blamed the shootings on "certain mouths" spewing "prejudice and bigotry". Gabrielle Giffords' father pegged the Tea Party as his daughter's enemy. The Daily Kos, a far-left blog, also imputed blame to the Tea Party movement for the killings. Fox News has also been blamed. This is the height of irresponsibility, especially in light of emerging information that Loughner was mentally disturbed.

The disgusting practice of trying to destroy one's political opponents by exploiting tragedy must stop. The rush to judgment by the Left was particularly unseemly. What we need to be doing is expressing our condolences to the families of the dead while earnestly praying for healing for the wounded. In short, we need to come together as Americans, blaming no one but the killer(s) for this incomprehensible carnage and drawing strength from our commonality. In the face of horrors like the massacre in Arizona we are human beings first, Americans second, liberals and conservatives last. We should have the grace and compassion to act like it.

Happy New Year!

Happy new year, friends!

Today is the first day of the new year, 2011. Of course, I've seen many new years come and go but this one is a tad bit more special than the previous ones. After battling cancer during the last half of 2010 I'm bringing in this new year with a new appreciation of life and health. One of the first things I did this morning was give myself a breast exam. I'm going to do them twice a month from now on. I have a renewed commitment to my health after the events of 2010. With God's help, NO MORE CANCER FOR ME!!!!

Dear friends, I wish for all of you the happiest, healthiest, most prosperous, and most blessed new year. 2011's gonna be a blast!

Merry Christmas, Friends!

The Christmas Shoes

This one gets me every time. It'll bring tears to your eyes too and, hopefully, remind you of what Christmas is all about and what we have to be thankful for all year.



Merry Christmas to all! Goodwill to those of whom God approves.

(And I finished my cancer treatments on Friday, December 17th. That was the BEST Christmas present ever!)

Why Isn't This Racist?

Well, the Chosen One worked out a deal with Republicans on the Bush tax cuts. Obama agreed to extend the cuts for ALL Americans, not just the middle class and, exchange, the Republicans agreed to extend unemployment benefits for some people for another year and one month. As compromises go, this one was pretty mundane to me, but not to Obama's liberal base, and that's the interesting part here.

Remember when the Tea Party movement first started? What was the movement accused of? Racism, right? Most of the Tea Partiers were White and that was supposedly prima facie evidence that their movement was anti-Black. After all, what motive but racism could White people have for criticizing America's first Black president? White criticism equalled racism; that was the formula, until just a few days ago.

Obama's agreement with the Republicans on the tax cuts has enraged his liberal base. Even now, they are in a virtual revolt against their erstwhile messiah. For the last several days White politicians have been all over the tv lashing out at Obama. And no one's accusing them of racism. Indeed, the very people who were sanctimoniously yelling, "Raaaaacist!" at the Tea Partiers for criticizing Obama are now yelling, "F--k the president!". But the Congressional Black Caucus, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and Jeanane Garofalo are all silent.

This is solid proof that, for the Left, dissent isn't a right but a strategy to advance their agenda. And playing the race card is an intergral part of that strategy. Leftists originally saw criticism of Obama as a threat to their agenda and tried to discredit the critics by smearing them as racists. Now, though, Leftists see Obama's tax compromise as a threat to their agenda and are going after Obama for his heresy. But their angry revolt against the Chosen One will never be characterized as racist. You see, criticism of Obama or Blacks generally, is racist ONLY when it threatens the Left's objectives. That's why all those White liberals can unload on Obama without being smeared as haters. It's all about advancing the Left. And you actually thought liberals cared about stopping racism. Silly you.

The Guilt Tripped Rich

I'm sure everyone's heard about billionaire Warren Buffet saying that he and other megarich folks need to and should pay more in taxes. This has been on tv as if it were some sort of sacred pronouncement, but I'm not impressed.

If Warren Buffet wants to give more money to the government he's free to send the IRS as much of his income as he wants. Other the-rich-should-pay-more-taxes billionaries like Bill Gates can do the same. So, why don't they? Simple. THEY LIKE BEING RICH. If they didn't Buffet, Gates, and friends would give away all their money, but they won't. They love their wealth but they apparently feel tremendous guilt over it. So they anounce their support for higher taxes on the rich to try and assuage their guilt and look good to the public in the process. It's almost like their saying, "Hey middle America! We're the good rich. We know how bad we are for being successful and we want to pay for it by having the government take more of our money. So please, don't hate us!" Pathetic.

Warren Buffet and Bill Gates don't seem to understand that if they want to assuage their guilt they should do more good for the less fortunate themselves. Certainly helping the needy personally would be more satisfying and meaningful to them than empowering impersonal state bureaucracies to do so. Buffet, Gates, and other super rich people most likely do have charities that they generously support. But they seem to think such private efforts don't qualify as guilt-assuaging good works. Only governmental confiscation of their excess income can redeem them.

Wealthy Americans who turn against their own success are akin to traitors. Their prosperity, which often had humble beginnings, highlights the promise of capitalism and the American way. Instead of extolling that reality they've opted for the counter message that success is a sin for which you must do penance, preferrably in the form of having the state take your money. Like I said at the beginning of this post, I'm not impressed.

Here's my advice to Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and all other guilt racked billionaires. If you feel that bad about being rich then get a good therapist or just give all your money away. But please stop calling the government down on yourselves while you're enjoying your wealth. That just makes you look like hypocrites and frauds. And that's something for you to really feel guilty about.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Wishing all of you a wonderfully blessed holiday full of fun, food, family, love, and gratitude. Remember, we all have so much to be thankful for. Enjoy your day!

Just In Time For The Holidays

We've all heard about. Here's my take on what the TSA has in store for the travelling public just in time for the holidays.

I don't fly. I have flown in the past but I don't like it and haven't done it in about 10 years, so the TSA's new security measures aren't going to affect me any time soon. Still, I've been following the controversy and I think the body scans and pat-downs are a bit outrageous.

Yes, I want Americans to be protected from terrorism. As a supporter in limited government I believe that such protection is one of the federal government's few responsibilities, but the TSA's security measures just doesn't past the smell test to me. They're questionable on several levels.

First, the measures are just so intrusive. You have to submit to being virtually stripped by a machine or groped by a stranger in order to get on a plane. And if you refuse you can be fined $11,000! That's the second problem I have with this situation. The TSA is being quite heavy handed and arrogant toward the public. It reminds me of the way anti-Obamacare protestors were held in contempt by elected officials. Once again the government is copping an arrogantly paternalistic we're-going-to-force-you-to-do-what-we-know-is-best attitude. The TSA isn't listening to the people's concerns and that's creating as much anger as the intrusive security measures themselves.

The third problem with the TSA's new policy is that it puts TSA employees in an unfair situation. Imagine it's your job to "protect" the public by looking at the naked bodies of and/or fondling the "junk" of thousands of strangers. Now imagine that a lot of those strangers deeply resent what you're doing. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that TSA employees could come in for some abuse from those strangers. Now, that shouldn't happen. The TSA workers are just doing their job and they shouldn't bear the brunt of the public's ire. Unfortunately, the government has put them in this unenviable position, and it could've been avoided if the feds had some courage. And that brings me to the most offensive problem with these security measures: they're a capitulation to political correctness.

Let's face it. The current admininstration is obsessed with not offending Muslims. So obsessed that it'll design "security" policies for Americans with "sensitivity" to Muslims in mind. Thus, the TSA's new security actions treat all fliers as if they pose an equal threat to America; they don't. Muslims--especially young, Middle Eastern, male, Muslims--are the likeliest perpetrators of terrorism today. But rather than acknowledge that fact the TSA implements anti-terrorism procedures so that Muslims don't feel--gasp!--profiled.

Ah, yes. Profiling! The most heinous act of racial oppression known to man, based on the way liberals react to it. Profiling Muslims is certainly worse than Muslims actually murdering Americans. Even if the profiling is based on behavior and not race, as the Israelis do it, it's still unacceptable to the PC whipped crowd. Why? Most likely because behavior-based profiling would still nab a lot of terrorist wannabes named Ahmed. So, the TSA strains to avoid profiling of any type, and opts instead to subject all American fliers to fondling and/or a virtual strip search. Fondling, strip searches, and privacy violations. All brought to you by your friendly federal government.

Just in time for the holidays.

Happy Veteran's Day. We Remember.

Here's a video for Veteran's Day. This video is 4 years old. I first saw it, if memory serves, on The O'Reilly Factor. It is one of the most moving tributes to our troops I've ever seen. If you don't tear up when you see it you're not human. It's called, "Remember Me". And that's what we should do, remember. And say, thank you. God bless our vets, living and dead, active duty and retired, combat and peace time. God bless them all. We remember.

"Remember Me"

Awwwwwww!!!

Sometimes you just gotta put the politics aside. Is this adorable or what?

Judgement Day

It's finally here! 2010 election day, the day that's been looming in the minds of Americans for a year.

I did my civic duty after work and voted. It was a cold and rainy day today and it would've been much nicer to just go home after work and curl up with a cup of hot chocolate. But I was going to vote, no matter what. And not just because I believe voting is an important duty of citizenship and not just a right. No, I was determined to vote today because I wanted to be part of putting a stop to Obamaism. No matter how liberals will try to spin it, this election is a referendum on Obama's policies. I wanted to go on record with my disgust for the president's socialistic, fiscally irresponsible, and unconstitutional "change". Millions of other Americans did too. Now that we have, the results are coming in.

I've been glued to Fox News for nearly two hours now. I can't believe I'm following election results like a Cowboys game. I've never been this excited about an election, ever. So far, the election is breaking pretty much like all the polls said it would. The Republicans are poised to take over the House and to make gains in, but not win, the Senate. The exciting part, for me at least, is seeing by how much the Republicans are winning, what the unexpected wins and losses are, and how the Dems are spinning it all.

One of the most interesting races to me is the Senate race in West Virginia. The Democrat Joe Manchin defeated Republican John Raese which, at first glance, looks bad for the Republicans. But how Manchin won might make the Dems wish he'd lost. Manchin, a pro-life Democrat, won in West Virginia by running from Obama's policies like a vampire running from sunlight. That all but guarantees that Manchin will vote with Republicans on many issues. That will be a Republican gain by proxy and the Dems will NOT be happy about it. But I say, sweeeeeet!

This has been a great election for America. Even though the Republicans didn't take the Senate I'm going to bed happy. Tomorrow when I awake it'll be morning in America again. Obamaism will be on the ropes and Americanism will be on the rise. That's the kind of change I can believe in. Yes I can!

Pink Warriors!

In case you didn't know, October is breast cancer awareness month. October 12 was Cares Enough to Wear Pink (CETWP) day. On that day people were supposed to wear pink to work to show support for women who have or had breast cancer. In my town CETWP day was sponsored by the fire department, which is selling special pink T-shirts during October.

Since I have breast cancer my co-workers and I decided to participate in CETWP day, only we had ours on Friday. I was really touched by all the people who participated. The department where I work was pretty much a sea of pink yesterday. Almost all of the women wore shirts in various shades of glorious pink. Even a couple of the guys wore pink shirts, and those who were too "manly" to do so tied pink fabric squares around their arms or heads or let them dangle from their pants pockets. The show of support was very moving. I even got a few gifts given to me in a breast cancer awareness gift bag. My co-workers are such kind and compassionate people. I'm really fortunate to work with them. And I'm blessed to be doing well.

I'm getting along in my cancer treatments. I had my last round of chemo--YES!!!!--on October 6. I can't tell you how happy I am that that awful ordeal is now over. Like all of my chemo treatments, the last round had side effects. Most of them have gone away but I'm still dealing with some constipation and some neuropathy in my toes. The side effects are bearable, though, because I know that, once they're over, I'll never have to deal with them again because my chemo is DONE!!!!

My cancer treatments aren't entirely done, though. At the end of October or the beginning of November I'll start my radiation treatments which will last 6 1/2 weeks. After that, I'll be finished with my treatments and finished with cancer and I'll be going on with my life. I'm keeping a very prayerful and positive outlook. I'm not giving in to fear and worry over a possible recurrence. I'm going to live my life with the conviction that I'll be cancer free from now on. After all, that's what pink warriors do, we LIVE!!!!

Rescue Of The Chilean Miners

I'm watching FoxNews and those trapped Chilean miners are FINALLY being rescued. I haven't blogged about the plight of those trapped men but I've thought about them off and on ever since I heard about their plight. When their story first made the news the men's prospects for a fairly quick rescue were rather grim. It was reported that they wouldn't be saved for about four months. I remember shuddering at the thought of being trapped underground, where God knows what can happen, for four months. Now, however, the men are at last being rescued after being underground for "only" a little over two months.

I'm so happy to see this miracle unfold. And it's not just the miracle of the rescue; it's the miracle of people all over the world pulling and praying for these men, strangers to them, connected to them only by their common humanity. It reminds me of the rescue of Baby Jessica over twenty years ago. The world seemed to come to a stop then, too, and the only thing that mattered was the safe retrieval of an 18-month-old baby trapped in a well. Humanity showed its best face then, and it's doing so again now.

I'm one of those people pulling and praying for those 33 men in that mine. Their safe rescue will be a huge blessing to them and their families. God bless the rescuers, God bless the miners, and God bless the human race for acting human.

Socialism Saturday in the Capital

Oops! I almost forgot! Today was the day of the big One Nation Working Together, aka we-lefties-can-do-it-too-Glenn-Beck-!, rally. Liberals hoped to show the power of their ideology and the Democratic party by outdoing Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor rally held on August 28. They failed.

By the media accounts I've seen, turn out for the One Nation protest was far below the hundreds of thousands who attended Beck's rally. And no wonder.

Glenn Beck's rally was about just what its name says, restoring honor in America. It was about getting back to God, family, community, patriotism, decency, integrity, all the traditional values that made this nation great. Beck's rally wasn't about politics. It wasn't about rallying the party faithful to defeat their ideological opponents at the polls. On the contrary, attendees to Restoring Honor were specifically told NOT to bring signs to the gathering. Contrast that to One Nation.

One Nation Working Together was political to the core. How can an event featuring speakers like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and Ed Schultz be non-political? How can an event sponsored by groups like Code Pink, AFL-CIO, SIEU, NAACP, La Raza, Rainbow PUSH Coalition, International ANSWER, American Muslim Association of North America, Democratic Socialists of America, and the Communist Party USA, to name a few, be non-political? Simple answer: it can't!


Nope, no politics here!


Make no mistake. The One Nation rally was political. That's why NAACP president Ben Jealous called it the "antidote to the Tea Party". The purpose of the rally was to support and promote big government liberalism and even full blown socialism. If you doubt that take a look at this:



"Obama ain't no socialist! We are! We are!"

Yes, you heard the chant right. Those were the people at the rally supporting the Democrats and Obama. Hmmmmm. Socialists, communists, and radicals. That's the real base of the Democratic party. And they call the Tea Partiers extremists. No. The truth was on display today in Washington D.C. It was socialism Saturday. That's what the Democrats have become. And that's why they must be defeated in November.

Down with socialism!

Mile Wide, Inch Deep?

Conservatives are very excited right now. Midterm elections are less than two months away and all indicators predict that they'll be a tsunami for conservative Republican candidates. People like Sean Hannity and Dick Morris seem to think that not only will the elections be a huge victory for conservatives, but that they'll prove that conservatism is the real belief system of the American people. I understand why some conservative commentators think that, but I'm not so sure.

Things are looking great for conservatives and their philosophy but I don't think that means Americans have really adopted conservatism on principle. Remember, the people who now call themselves conservative by a margin of 2 to 1, put the Democrats in control of Congress in 2006 and voted in Obama in 2008. Were they conservative then? I don't think so. So what's going on now? To use a famous phrase, it's the economy, stupid!

Americans are fearful and fuming over the economy, especially unemployment which has hovered dangerously close to 10% for months. On top of that, they see a government that's spending money recklessly, driving up the deficit, and ramming through new entitlement programs in total disregard for the opinions of the people. In anger Americans are lashing out at the party that's in power, which happens to be the Democrats. But again, that doesn't mean Americans are truly embracing conservatism. If you doubt that ask yourself this: would the Tea Party movement exist if the stimulus had worked and unemployment had remained below 8% as Obama promised? No. The Tea Party movement, like Obama's falling poll numbers, is a reaction to the failure of Obama's policies. Had those policies succeeded even half as well as expected most Americans would now be enamored of big government and unconcerned about deficit spending. The voting public is fickle; that's just the way it is.

Americans' current shift to the right may not be grounded entirely in principle but it does present a golden opportunity for committed conservatives. Because of Obama's failures Americans are open to right-wing ideas. They're willing to listen to people who're offering free market, small government solutions to the nation's problems. If committed conservatives intelligently engage Americans in this crucial moment then conservatism may very well become the principled view of most citizens. Otherwise, Americans' "conversion" to conservatism may prove to be mile wide but inch deep.

The Plot Thickens

So, some more interesting information emerges on Ground Zero mosque imam Feisal Abdel Rauf. According to reports on The O'Reilly Factor this past Monday and Tuesday, it's been discovered that Rauf has a relationship with one Faiz Khan, a Muslim 9/11 Truther. Talk about things that make you go, hmmmmm!

9/11 Truthers, as you may know, are people who believe that the attacks on September 11, 2001 were an inside job. They offer various reasons for that belief but the general Truther line is that the US government wanted to eliminate our Constitutional freedoms by engineering a massive crisis that would cause ultimate fear and have Americans clamoring for more government protection. Faiz Khan believes that, and why is he more troubling than the average Truther? He's a Muslim and his commitment to the 9/11 Truth movement is almost certainly motivated by a desire to absolve his religion of any responsibility for the September 11 terrorist attacks. And that's bad news for imam Rauf.

Imam Rauf deeply offended Americans by saying that America was an accessory to 9/11 and that Osama bin Laden was "made in America". He didn't deny Muslim involvement in the attacks but by imputing some blame for 9/11 to the US Rauf greatly damaged his credibility. And now it's revealed he has ties to an actual denier of Muslim responsibility for 9/11. And we're supposed to believe that that has nothing to do with Rauf's insistence on building a mosque at Ground Zero. Yeah, right.

Americans overwhelmingly oppose building a mosque at or near Ground Zero because that's where Muslims slaughtered 3000 of their fellow citizens and loved ones. Americans are highly and rightfully suspicious of anyone, particularly a Muslim, who downplays or outright denies the Islamic identity of the 9/11 terrorists. Feisal Abdel Rauf's close association with 9/11 Truther Khan gives us more than enough reason to question his motives. It's not Islamophobia that's fueling opposition to the Ground Zero mosque. It's the cloudy funding, inflammatory rhetoric and, now, radical associations of the supposedly moderate Muslim cleric who's spearheading it. The plot thickens indeed.

Burn, Baby, Burn?

By now everybody has heard of the Florida church that plans to burn Korans on the upcoming 9th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The burning, planned by Dove Outreach Center (DOC) and its pastor Terry Jones, has created a huge backlash and has been condemned by everyone from Angelina Jolie to Gen. Petraeus. While I understand some of the concerns raised by the critics of DOC and pastor Jones, I'm also suspicious of those critics considering most of them are left-of-center.

Dove Outreach Center wants to burn Korans on September 11. I don't know what the church's motive is but if it's to expose the glaring hypocrisy of liberals and Muslims, especially the ones who support the Ground Zero (GZ) mosque, I think the church succeeded.

Think about it.

Every since the GZ mosque controversy erupted liberal and Muslim supporters of the mosque have posed themselves as gallant defenders of the Constitutional right to freedom of religion. They've insisted that religious freedom absolutely overrides the hurt feelings of Americans who are insulted by a symbol of Islam being built near the place where Muslims slaughtered their loved ones and fellow citizens. Yet, when it comes to the Koran burning these same liberals and Muslims aren't nearly so zealous and absolutist in defending another Constitutional right: the right to freedom of speech. Why not?

Is it due to the Left's corrupt "anti-racism" which says that any criticism of non-White people, which most Muslims are, can only come from hate? Or is it because of the Left's equally corrupt idea of appeasement which insists that we must brown nose Muslims even to the point of restricting certain freedoms so they'll like us and stop wanting to kill us? I think it's both.

In the "anti-racist", appeasement wracked, PC world of the Left the hurt feelings of Americans are irrelevant to the right of Muslims to practice freedom of religion, but the hurt feelings of Muslims trump the right of Americans to practice freedom of expression. Instead of a climate of hate coming from "Islamophobes", the real problem is liberals and Muslims creating a CLIMATE OF REPRESSION where our freedoms are stifled if Muslims find them in any way offensive.

I understand the dangers inherent in burning Mohammed's book. I share the concern that it could lead to reprisals against our troops BUT, in light of the context outlined above, I must come down on the side of BURN, BABY, BURN! Muslims need to realize that sensitivity, tolerance, and Constitutional freedoms work BOTH ways. If Muslims insist on exercising their undisputed right to religious freedom in a grossly insensitive way, then they have no right to expect sensitivity from non-Muslims when exercising their Constitutional rights.

I know that burning a Koran insults Muslims; I get it. I get that burning any book is almost always an expression of disgust with the book's content and/or author(s). But this is America and her citizens have the right to express disgust with ideas by torching the books--or CD's, flags or anything else--that contain or symbolize those ideas. If Muslims want to live in America and invoke her Constitutional freedoms in their own defense, then they must accept those same freedoms giving voice to disgust with or opposition to their faith. If they can't deal with that then I hear the Kingdom--and I don't mean the magic one--is nice this time of year. And the liberals can go there, too.

Guest Column: Obama Has Failed

Hey friends! While I'm out of sorts because of chemo a blogging friend of mine, Robert, has offered to do a guest column for my blog. I hope you enjoy Robert's insightful post and check out his blog, "Wise Conservatism", in the blog roll. Happy reading!

Obama has failed.......even as he is pushing his "so called" Summer of Recovery.

If you tell a lie enough times, eventually, the people will begin to believe it as the truth. That is what we have happening now. Obama, is saying over and over again, that this is the summer of recovery, when in fact it isn't happening. But, saying it over and over and over again, does not make it so.
-Robert Garding-

That quote tells it like it is. The Gaffe-o-Matic Joe Biden keeps doing that, too. It seems that the entire left end of the spectrum in our government are there only for progagating the same lie, in the hopes that we, the American people fall for it, as we always have in the past. I will explain this in a bit. But they do not stop there.

Even after a year of working the economy the way they want, they still turn to Bush bashing and blaming Bush for the troubles that they are having. Historically, it has been proven, that liberalism and Socialism do not work. Liberalism, if left to it’s own devices, implodes like we are seeing now. They start out with government programs to help the needy. This in itself is not a bad thing. No one ever said it was. But, like I said, it doesn’t stop there. Liberalism will not work unless it grows government. A big government, and our constitution are not compatible. Just like Sharia Law and our Constitution are not compatible.

This is something that bothers me, and I know it bothers Seane-Anna, and the rest of America who do not like what Obama is doing. The fact is the left is so disconnected from the American people, and that they do not care to get connected to us, is insulting. It's insulting because they feel we are too stupid to know what we want. It is really galling that Obama and his gang really think the American people are dumb enough to fall for their propaganda. And Propaganda is what it all is folks. It’s as if they think we can't see reality, even though we're the ones living it, not Obama and his limousine liberal friends. They cannot seem to tell the truth to us no matter what, but they think that their lies are not detected by us either.

Now it is like I said a few paragraphs ago. They think that we believe their lies, mainly because we have allowed them to be implemented in the past. I have a sort of historical perspective on this, because in my 58 years, I have seen freedom after freedom taken away from us in the name of bigger government and more governmental programs. Freedoms like being able to pray in school. Freedoms like learning America is a great nation. Freedoms like learning the truth, which for the most part isn't taught anymore in government schools. Freedoms like being able to put our children into private schools. That freedom isn't gone yet, but you can see the government trying to take that one too.

In Chicago, the second amendment of the Constitution does not apply anymore because the average person cannot own or possess handguns. This did not happen overnight either. It started out small, with a law to help the police fight crime. When that didn’t work they went to the next step. And on and on, always with the same pretext that if we do this, the desired effect will happen. The trouble is, the desired effect of the government, and the desired effect of the people soon parted ways, and the people didn’t speak up....and we ended up with the second amendment of our constitution being junked in Chicago by the usual thuggish style of politics, and criminal polticians, that has now hit the White House.

Chicagoans allowed their rights to bear arms to be taken away from them. We are now fighting it, because we see what is going on. The difference being is that Chicago had it happen to them over generations. We are seeing it happen in less than a decade. That is the other side of Liberalism. They start out slow, and when they get what they want, which is total power, they go power crazy and start implementing their ideals with no regard to what the people want. And there is the disconnect from the people. It is the same as the analogy of the Frog. Drop it into a boiling pot of water and it will leap out to keep from boiling to death. Put it in cool water, and slowly heat it up, the Frog will sit there and cook because it doesn’t see or feel the danger of what is coming before it’s too late. That is how the liberals have pushed they’re agenda since the beginning. Things that are seen as normal today would have been completely rebuffed 50 years ago if tried then.

We the people, still see the Constitution as the document that forms this Republic into the great nation that she is. They the liberal left, sees the Constitution as a document that is flawed and in the way of the things they want to do. Nancy Pelosi spoke it right out in the open a few months ago, when a reporter asked her if the Health care bill was Constitutional. Her reply was telling if nothing else, when she said, ‘Are you kidding???’ Fortunately, the reporter wasn’t kidding. UNFORTUNATELY, Pelosi wasn’t either. That is how these liberals believe. But there is more.

On October the 29th of 2008, before the election was voted on Thomas Sowell said this about an Obama Presidency. And his words have all but come true. Read them:

"........if Sen. Barack Obama wins, it is more likely to be historic — and catastrophic.
Once the election is over, the glittering generalities of rhetoric and style will mean nothing. Everything will depend on performance in facing huge challenges, domestic and foreign. Performance is where Obama has nothing to show for his political career, either in Illinois or in Washington.

Policies he proposes under the change banner are almost all policies that have been tried repeatedly in other countries — and failed repeatedly in other countries.
Politicians telling businesses how to operate? That’s been tried in countries around the world, especially during the second half of the 20th century. It has failed so often and so badly that even socialist and communist governments were freeing up their markets by the end of the century. The economies of China and India began to take off into high rates of growth when they got rid of precisely the kinds of policies that Obama is advocating for the United States under the magic mantra of change.

Putting restrictions on international trade in order to save jobs at home? That was tried here with the Hawley-Smoot tariff during the Great Depression.
Unemployment was 9 percent when that tariff was passed to save jobs, but unemployment went up instead of down and reached 25 percent before the decade was over.

Higher taxes to “spread the wealth around,” as Obama puts it? The idea of redistributing wealth has turned into the reality of redistributing poverty, in countries where wealth has fled and a lack of incentives has stifled the production of new wealth.

Economic disasters, however, may pale by comparison with the catastrophe of Iran with nuclear weapons. Glib rhetoric about Iran’s being “a small country,” as Obama called it, will be a bitter irony for Americans who will have to live in the shadow of a nuclear threat that cannot be deterred, as that of the Soviet Union could be, by the threat of a nuclear counterattack. Suicidal fanatics cannot be deterred. If they are willing to die and we are not, then we are at their mercy — and they have no mercy. Moreover, once they get nuclear weapons, that situation cannot be reversed.
Is this the legacy we wish to leave our children and grandchildren, by voting on the basis of style and symbolism, rather than substance?

If Barack Obama thinks that such a catastrophe can be avoided by sitting down and talking with the leaders of Iran, then he is repeating a fallacy that helped bring on World War II. In a nuclear age, one country does not have to send troops to occupy another country to conquer it. A country is conquered if another country can dictate who rules it, as the Mongols once did with Russia, and as Osama bin Laden tried to do when he threatened retaliation against places in the United States that voted for President Bush. But he didn’t have nuclear weapons to back up that threat — yet.

America has never been a conquered country, so it may be very hard for most Americans even to conceive what that can mean. After France was conquered in 1940, it was reduced to turning over some of its own innocent citizens to the Nazis to kill, just because those citizens were Jewish. Do you think our leaders wouldn’t do that? Not even if the alternative was to see New York and Los Angeles go up in mushroom clouds? If I were Jewish, I wouldn’t bet my life on that.

What the Middle East fanatics want is not just our resources or even our lives, but our humiliation first, in whatever sadistic ways they can think of. Their lust for humiliation has been demonstrated repeatedly in their videotaped beheadings that find such an eager market in the Middle East. None of this can be prevented by glib talk, but only by character, courage, and decisive actions, none of which Obama has ever demonstrated."

Now, after months and a few years since that was printed by Thomas Sowell, can you see that he was right? If you can’t, then you are still stuck in Obama’s mantra chant of “change change change” because you do not like America as a free nation. But if you are a Patriotic and Freedom loving American, then you can see it only too well.

Obama told us when the Stimulus was being pushed, that if we didn’t pass it, and spend those hundreds of billions of dollars, that we didn’t have, then Unemployment would continue to go up and the economy would crash and burn. He said if it was passed, unemployment would not go above 8%. It has and it continues to hover at or above 10% now. And the government is now telling us that is the new normal. HUH????

It’s just like in Chicago. For generations they were telling the people, get the guns off the streets. If guns are outlawed, there will be no crime. But crime flourished there. Why? Because the people’s ability to defend themselves against the criminals was taken away. When guns were outlawed, only the outlaws had the guns. Where there is no protection for the people, crime WILL flourish, with abandon. As it has in Chicago.

It is then, when they’re ideas do not work, that they turn to the other tactic that they have always used. And that is out and out lying. As with Chuck Schumer in 2008 said, when trying to help the liberal cause, that "Conservatism is akin to porn."

The evidences are all there to tell the American people that Liberalism will NOT work under any circumstances. Yet, the politicians on the left continue to push it on us, and like in the last election, we continue to fall for it.

They have pushed their socialistic health care bill on us, just as Europe is opting out of the same system because it didn’t work! And the same can be said about almost everything that Obama has tried to push on us since becoming president. And yet, even after more than a year in office.....he is still trying the same thing that the Liberals would not allow anyone else to get away with. And that is blame the previous administration, and not taking credit for the fiasco that He himself has caused. And that is the last thing I wish to talk about when it comes to the liberals. Their ideals will never work. But when they don’t work, they place the blame elsewhere. Always elsewhere. Never where the blame actually belongs. And that is the implementation of ideals that will never work. They have historically proven to never work, and those ideals at this very moment, all over the world, are not working and are being stopped because of it. But not here. Obama is pushing these same failed agenda’s saying that we need to do this to save the economy. He is so moronic at times. But so can we be.

When are we going to learn? America is a great country. America is a strong country. But America can be destroyed. The left right now, is on the path to doing just that. Is that what we Americans want? I mentioned to my children just the other day, that for the first time in my time, I can actually say, that if we do not change the path that the liberal government has placed us on, that that I can see a world, where America will NOT exist when they are adults. That to me is a sad thing to consider. I hope it is to all other patriotic Americans.....


"If we cease to be a nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under."
-President Ronald Reagan-

The Few. The Proud. The Marines.

Hey friends! I'm not posting regularly right now due to my chemo treatments, but while on YouTube this morning I came across this great tribute to America's greatest fighting force and had to post it. I love all the armed forces, but my late uncle was a Marine and so the Corp has a special place in my heart. Anyway, here's the video. Hope you enjoy it!

Update On Me

Hello everyone! I'm so sorry I've been away for so long. I haven't been here because I've been dealing with the effects of my first round of chemo. In a word, it was AWFUL.

I had my first dose of chemotherapy on Wednesday, June 30; talk about the cure being worse than the disease! I didn't have any nausea or vomiting thanks to some anti-nausea medicine, but I had something worse: a paralyzing, frightening, CRUSHING fatigue. Actually, "fatigue" doesn't begin to describe it but it's the only word I can think of. I've never felt anything like it in my life. It was as if the chemo was a pharmaceutical vampire sucking every ounce of energy from my body. All I could do was sleep, but it wasn't a restful sleep. Do you know how miserable it is to sleep 15 hours and wake up as drained as when you laid down? That first round of chemo was so bad that I seriously considered not taking anymore, but then I started coming out of it.

Saturday night I stopped feeling the chemo draining my energy and started to feel a "normal" exhaustion. From then on I slooooooowly climbed back to normalcy, feeling well enough to go to work on Tuesday, July 5. I lasted only half a day but it was still a big step forward. Since then I've worked every day and gotten stronger and stronger. I've gotten back into the rhythm of normal life, except for blogging. I don't know why, but I've had no desire to blog since I had chemo. I hope it's not a sign of "chemo brain", a condition where the ability to concentrate and remember is impaired. And I hope my interest in my blogs will return SOON!

So that's what's been happening, sweet friends, and that's why I've been away. I'm here for tonight but don't know when I'll be back. Be prepared for my postings to stay irregular during my chemo treatments which will end in October. I'll post as my physical, emotional, and mental health allows. Please keep your prayers and good vibes coming my way; I will need them. I'll receive my second round of chemo this coming Wednesday. The nurses said the second time will be a little easier. I so hope they are right; another round of that oppressive fatigue will be unbearable.

Pray for me.

The McChrystal Affair

General Stanley McChrystal, commander of American forces in Afghanistan, was fired today by President Obama for criticizing the president and members of his adminstration in an article in the left-wing magazine Rolling Stone.

When the news first broke that Gen. McChrystal was in hot water with the president I didn't know what to make of it. I know the military has rules governing what its members can and can't do and say. I know those rules can be far more strict than the rules applied to civilians. So, when I heard that Obama was upset with McChrystal I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, I had no way of knowing if what McChrystal said in Rolling Stone equalled insubordination. If the general's remarks did violate the military's code then Obama acted appropriately today. But I have a problem cutting Chicago BO some slack, and here it is.

Barack Obama is the most thin skinned president in recent history. His epidermis is flimsier than a wet Kleenex. The man does NOT like criticism. Consequently, it's almost impossible for me to believe that his sacking of McChrystal was anything but retribution for the general's dissent. Yes, Obama claimed that "personal insult" had nothing to do with McChrystal's firing, but c'mon. Barack Obama is the president who tried to discredit an entire news channel because he felt it wasn't "sufficiently supportive" of him. But now we're supposed to believe that General McChrystal's gone simply because Obama's devoted to order in the military. Again, come on!

Obama's star is fading fast. In less than two years he's gone from being a messiah to a false prophet. He knows he must salvage his image among the people. Perhaps Obama thought that sacking McChrystal would make him look strong and decisive and allay Americans' increasing doubts about his leadership. It won't. Instead, most Americans will probably see firing a great general when he's needed most as a vindictive act by a president childishly intolerant of dissent. The McChrystal affair could've helped Obama regain some of his lost mojo but the president sabotaged himself with his previous mishandling of criticism. And I actually think that's too bad.

Brave, Brave Obama!

Over the past few days I've been dwelling on the bravery of our dear leader, The Obama. He is very, very dauntless, y'know. It takes courage for a leader to stand against the people and pursue unpopular policies because he knows they're right. The Obama showed such courage when his administration chose to side with law breaking foreigners against fellow Americans.

That's right. Obama has decided to file a lawsuit against the state of Arizona over its strict new anti-illegal alien law. And rather than reveal this principled move to the American people himself, Obama the Brave had Secretary of State Hillary Clinton do it, on Ecuadorean television no less. You can't get more courageous than that!

I can't begin to tell you how thankful I am that America now has such an intrepid president. After eight years of that embarrassing cowboy George W. Bush, it's so refreshing to have a Chief Executive who knows that true courage is turning on your national brethren in order to appease failed Third World countries that ship their poor people here. Yes, this is soooooooo amazing! I wish I could tell the Big O in person how much his bravery has inspired me.

Oh, yes, my fellow Americans. We're in good hands now that Chicago BO is on the job. We can rest assured that The Obama's doctrine of security through appeasement will strike terror in the hearts of our enemies while simultaneously endearing us to our friends. Strength and peace will be the natural results. The Obama figured that strategy out by himself and that just makes me love him even more. Not only is he brave he's smart, too. He's got brawn AND brains. What a combo!

I feel so comfortable now. The sun's shining, birds are singing, and Arizona's gonna get kicked to the curb by the most fearless leader America's ever had. Yep, everything's right with the world and we all can rest easy. The Dauntless One is at the helm. What could possibly go wrong?

The Speech

I watched Obama's speech about the oil spill last night. I hadn't planned on watching it but when I heard Obama would be speaking from the Oval Office I decided to give it a listen. And I wasn't disappointed. The speech, though short, was as full of spin and crisis-exploitation as I thought it would be.

I really can't believe the arrogance of the guy who's occupying the White House.

The BP oil rig explosion happened two months ago. Obama rejected almost immediate offers of help from the Dutch to contain the oil spill. He rejected the use of spill-containing equipment from American companies. He refused to speak with BP CEO Tony Hayward, even though he's more than willing to speak, without preconditions, to some of the world's worst dictators. And he didn't travel to the Gulf states until a couple of weeks ago. Yet Obama swaggered into the Oval Office last night and expected the American people to believe his assertion that his administration has been on top of the crisis from day one. How dumb does he think we are? Very, apparently.

Unfortunately for Obama, however, we the people are not dumb.

We are not dumb! We don't believe his ridiculous claim that he's been on this from day one. And we're incensed at Obama's smarmy politicizing of the crisis, using it to push his big spending clean energy initiatives. Indeed, it seemed half or more of Obama's speech consisted of him hawking his eco-dreams of a future green economy rather than saying what he was going to do to stop the spill and help the Gulf states NOW.

Maybe that's why Obama gave this speech in the Oval Office rather than out in the Rose Garden with reporters present. Maybe he was avoiding having to answer embarrassing questions, like did he purposely drag his feet on tackling this disaster so as to make his demand for green energy look more urgent and justified? Cynical? Maybe, but I wouldn't put anything past this president.

Barack Obama is a left-wing zealot who believes his own messianic con. He truly believes he was elected to do great things and he's justified in using any means, exploiting any tragedy, to achieve his grand goals. That's what was on display last night; messianic zeal, not concern for ending a disaster. Unfortunately for Obama, fewer and fewer people believe in his messiahship or his presidency, and no amount of flowery speeches will stem the erosion of faith in his "change".

Obama's massive mishandling of the Gulf coast oil crisis has revealed his feet of clay, and almost certainly assured sweeping Republican victories this November and in 2012. Not exactly the "fundamental transformation" Obama thought he'd create but it's the one that more Americans understand we need. Obama's arrogant zeal has to be stopped.

Hurry up, November!

Cancer Free!

Well, friends, I got the results of my lymph node biopsy I had Monday and I'm thrilled to report that I'm officially cancer free! YIPPEE!!!! My treatment isn't over, however. I'm still going to have a few rounds of chemo and then radiation to reduce the risk of recurrence, and that's alright. I'm willing to do what ever it takes to defeat this monster. And I thank all my blogging friends for your prayers and support. I truly believe that your positive energy played a part in helping me beat this thing. Y'all are GREAT!!!! And being cancer free is GREAT!!!!! Watch out all you libtards. SEANE-ANNA IS BACK!!!!

Tribute To The Troops

This is my late D-Day and Memorial Day post. Sorry I didn't post anything on those actual days. I've had my mind on other things and yesterday when I finally got online in the evening Blogger was down. So I'm posting my ode to our gallant fighting men today. It's a song I wrote back in '07 and first posted on Sinistra's Bane--then PoorGrrl Zone--on February 20 of that year. The song is called "Hail Us Now Our Great Defenders!". It's sung to Beethoven's "Ode to Joy". Enjoy and honor the troops!

"Hail Us Now Our Great Defenders!"
(sung to Beethoven's "Ode to Joy")

by Seane-Anna

Hail us now our great Defenders!
Soldiers bold and soldiers strong!
Fighting with a fearsome splendor
'gainst the foes of Freedom's song!

Gun and tank and bomb and rifle
evil enemies do slay,
in the hands of our brave warriors
pledged to keep us free and safe.

Hail us now our great Defenders!
Guarding Freedom's Home with steel,
like the Lord of Hosts above us
saving with His righteous shield!

Strength and courage are their armor
and them both they proudly wear.
Knowing well the holy nature
of the Cause they chose to bear.

Hail us now our great Defenders!
Like the Spartans, we admire!
Standing firm and never falt'ring
'fore the awesome Gates of Fire!

Long and hard, with grit they struggle
for our precious Land to save.
We, their sons in spirit honor
those who fullest measure gave.

This song popped into my head almost fully formed when I was putting my day care babies to sleep. "Ode to Joy" was playing as the nap time music and the words just came to me. I'm rather proud of my little ode to the troops and I thought it was time to bring it out again. Hope you enjoyed it!

God bless America!
God bless our troops!

Invasive Ductal Carcinoma

Well, I now have a name for it.

I learned this past Wednesday that I really do have breast cancer, and I found out today what kind: invasive ductal carcinoma or IDC. IDC is the most common kind of breast cancer, accounting for 80% of all cases of the disease. I know some general things about this cancer but things that are specific to me are still unfolding.

The good news is that the cancer is now out of my body. I went to the hospital last Monday to have a surgical biopsy. This was necessary because the results of the initial needle biopsy were inconclusive. However, when my surgeon actually got inside my breast he saw that he could take the whole tumor out, which he did. So, I went in for a biopsy and came out with a lumpectomy. And the tissue around the tumor was cancer free. And that, to repeat, is good news.

So, what's next?

I go see my oncologist this Friday. I should learn from her the stage of my cancer and what my next round of treatment will be. My surgeon said I'll have to have radiation and most likely chemo, too. I really don't want chemo but if that's what it'll take for me to beat this then so be it. Whatever's next, I'm anxious for it to start because the sooner it starts the sooner it'll be over and I can go back to my normal life. My normal, cancer free life. That will be BEAUTIFUL!

Thank You!

I just wanted to send a shout out to all my blogging friends who've left me such sweet, kind, and supportive comments in my time of trial and tribulation. Your love has made my day. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!

Update On Me

Hello friends! I just wanted to update you on my health situation. I still don't know with 100% certainty that I have breast cancer. I hope to find that out by Wednesday of next week as I go in Monday for a surgical biopsy. It will be an out patient surgery and I'll be home the same day, thank God. Then will come that nerve wracking wait for the results; ditto with the results of the PET scan that I had today to see if there's been any spreading of the cancer (if it's there).

Whether or not I even have cancer...I just don't know what to think. As I wrote in my previous post I was told I have breast cancer but was later informed by my surgeon that my pathology report was inconlusive. Still, my surgeon, Dr. C, is 99% convinced that I do have cancer and we just need to find out what kind, hence the new biopsy. My oncologist, Dr. G, is more doubtful, telling me flat out that "we don't know" if I have cancer because the results of the first biopsy were "useless". Two good doctors; two different opinions. So, what to think? I don't know. All I can do is wait for the results, prepare for the worst, and pray for the best.

The next few days are going to be a little hard.

PS

I almost forgot. My genetic test results came back NEGATIVE for BOTH gene mutations that signigicantly increase a woman's chances for breast cancer. This is good because IF I do have breast cancer not having the mutations means that I won't have to consider a double mastectomy as my best or even only treatment option. If the lump is small enough--and Dr. C thinks it is--I can get by with only a lumpectomy followed by radiation and/or chemo. That's the treatment option I prefer if I have to have treatment. But I'm steadfastly praying that I won't.

Announcement

Hello blogging friends! This is going to be a very personal post. I hesitated to write it. Once I'd said what I want to say I was worried about getting nasty comments from any of my ideological opponents, most notably Jane. Plus, what I have to say isn't the most pleasant thing to talk about, but I decided that my loyal blogging friends deserve to know what's going with li'l ol' me. So here goes.

As of yesterday, Tuesday May 11, I'm 99% sure I have breast cancer. On Monday I was 100% sure I have the disease, but during my visit to my surgeon, Dr. C, on Tuesday I was shown my actual pathology report which was some what inconclusive. The report doesn't say my biopsy was positive for breast cancer; instead it says there was "extensive" dead cell proliferation "consistent with necrotic carcinoma" (necrotic means dead). Sounds like cancer, doesn't it? But the path report also says, twice, that "[n]o viable tumor was identified". So I'm a bit confused, though my surgeon is proceeding on the opinion that I do, in fact, have breat cancer. I understand and accept that.

Tomorrow I have to go for genetic testing. This was suggested to me by a nurse at my local cancer resource center. Dr. C concurred on getting the test. He said I need to know if I have a certain cancer-causing gene because that could have a bearing on the best way to treat my disease. But there won't be any treatment of any kind until after I see my oncologist on Friday. After that the next step is to have another biopsy, most likely a surgical one. If it comes back conclusively positive for breast cancer then I will have some serious decisions to make. And that's all there is medically, right now.

You might be wondering how I'm doing emotionally, and the answer is, fine. Finding the lump in my breast back in March and then finding out it's most likely cancer threw me for a loop. I'm doing ok, though. My outlook is totally positive. I'm praying hard and there are many other people praying for me, too. Despite the prayers, I get scared or depressed occassionally. Mostly, though, I'm in good spirits. I decided that it just wouldn't do any good to be bitter and wallow in self-pity. Having hope and faith and a merry heart is the way to go. And that's what I'm doing. No matter what happens I choose to believe that I will be alright. I have too many leftists to fight to let a little cancer slow me down!

Keep me in your thoughts and prayers!

Your blogging buddy,

Seane-Anna

The Great Liberal Hope

It wasn't a "teabagger".

Despite the Left's desperate hope that the terrorist wannabe who tried to blow up Times Square was a Tea Party devotee, he turned out to be a--surprise!--Muslim with the usual jihadi chip on his shoulder. It wasn't supposed to be that way. NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg opined Monday that the Times Square bomber was probably some home grown, disturbed individual upset about Obamacare. Not so much, and the Left is distraught. MSNBC anchorwoman Contessa Brewer gave perhaps the most eloquent voice to liberal dismay.

Speaking on The Stephanie Millier Show Brewer whined, "There was a part of me that was hoping this was not going to be anybody with ties to any kind of Islamic country. Because there are a lot of people who want to use terroist intent to justify writing off people who believe in a certain way or come from certain countries or whose skin color is a certain way. I mean they use it as a justification for really outdated bigotry."

First, who is this "they" who supposedly use "terrorist intent" to justify racism? Second, what race, religion, ethnicity, or nationality would Brewer have preferred the Times Square bomber to be? We know the answers to these questions. The "they" are Republicans/conservatives who dare to call Islamic terrorism what it is and lay the blame for it on Islam. And Brewer would've been estactic if TS Boy had been a white, male, Christian who had attended a Tea Party protest. That would've conformed perfectly to liberals' narrative of evil white, anti-Obama, Tea Partiers.

You see, liberals don't need proof of the wickedness of the Tea Party movement. They just know that the movement and its participants are dangerous. Still, proof would be nice. That is the great liberal hope, to find a smoking gun that reveals beyond question the violent, malicious nature of those white, Tea Party folks. Liberals thought they had such a smoking gun in Amy Bishop, the biology professor who murdered three of her fellow profs at the University of Alabama in February. Bishop, however, turned out to be an Obama supporter.

The next candidate for the great liberal hope was Joseph A. Stack, who flew his plane into an IRS building in Austin, TX in February. A ha! An anti-tax protestor! This guy had to be involved in the Tea--Taxed Enough Already--Party movement. The smoking gun at last! But it was not to be. Joseph Stack turned out to be a left-wing extremist who railed against capitalism and organized religion as much as against taxes. Stack had nothing to do with the Tea Party movement. The smoking gun the liberals longed for proved a dud.

And then came the Times Square almost attack.

Hope burned brightly again for liberals but the flame almost instantly flickered out. The Times Square bomber wannabe turned out to be a TOTALLY unpc suspect. A Muslim, an immigrant, a person of color, everything that their dogma orders liberals to embrace. And, as Brewer showed, they did.

The Times Square would be bomber has been given sympathetic treatment by at least some in the lame stream media. They can't help it. Their worldview won't let them treat TS Boy any other way. If a Muslim, immigrant, and/or person of color commits a crime it's never his fault, at least not his fault alone. White, Western, Christian culture is the real culprit, the real threat. Liberals know this; they just lack the proof that will convince the rest of us. So they keep on hoping for the advent of the unmistakable sign that they are right.

One day, liberals believe, a white guy with a Tea Party t-shirt will blow something up and they will be there to exploit the carnage for political gain. That's what liberals want. A terrorist attack by a white guy, someone they can condemn. That is their great hope, and it's sick.

Not Young, Not Black, Not Latino, Not Female...Not Important

Take a look at the picture above. It's Robert Krentz, the Arizona rancher whose murder at the hands of an illegal alien probably helped secure the passage of Arizona's tough new anti-illegal immigration law. But if Robert Krentz's murder propelled the new law into action, that's all it did.

It didn't move the oh-so-compassionate liberals to express sympathy for Krentz. It didn't prompt the Mexican government to issue an apology to Krentz's family for their suffering at the hands of a Mexican citizen. It didn't stir the lame stream media to demand the feds get in control of the border NOW! No, Robert Krentz's brutal murder didn't inspire any of the above because he was the wrong type of person. Robert Krentz didn't belong to any of the categories of people, articulated by Barack Obama, that it's fashionable for liberals to care about. Krentz was an unfashionable victim.

Take a look at the picture above. It's a picure of a human being: older, white, male, and in the mind of a frighteningly large segment of our population, expendable. That's REAL racial profiling. Why don't the liberals condemn that?

Gone, Baby, Gone! Part Deux

Everybody's heard about it.

Lance Baxter, aka DC Douglas, the voice actor for the Geico commercials, was fired by that auto insurance company after he left a hateful voice mail at FreedomWorks, a pro-Tea Party group. Apparently, Baxter/Douglas--who sounds very stereotypically gay on the voice mail--was angry at alleged anti-gay sentiment in the Tea Party movement. After FreedomWorks released Baxter's pseudo-civil tirade Geico handed the actor his walking papers. Adios muchacho!

Now I'm not sure if Baxter was fired specifically for spewing hate against FreedomWorks or for using the politically incorrect word "retarded" in his rant, but either way it's downright thrilling to see a denizen of the Left get his just desserts. I don't expect Baxter to be jobless for long. Hollywood's owned by liberals who'd love to have sweet Lance come and talk for them (or to them). So I'm sure Baxter/Douglas will be drawing a paycheck again soon. But for now Geico Dude is jobless and I, for one, couldn't be happier.

18 Seconds Of Truth

So the Tea Party is a racist movement, huh? This brief interview of Darryl Postell, a black man at a Tea Party rally, by white NBC reporter Kelly O'Donnell puts the kibosh on that liberal myth. The question that O'Donnell asks Mr. Postell exposes her liberal bias. Mr. Postell's answer is awesome. Listen and cheer!

God Bless The Tea Parties!

Well, today is tax day and I wasn't disappointed. Tea Party rallies were held all over the country just like last year, clearly demonstrating that this unjustly maligned movement is not just standing firm but gaining ground.

I didn't get to attend the local rally like I did in '09. I had to get my car fixed after I got off work. Also, the local rally wasn't held in my city but in a nearby suburb that I hardly ever visit. As I don't like to drive around unfamiliar places after dark, I probably wouldn't have gone to this year's rally even if my car hadn't been an issue. I'm thrilled, though, that millions of other Americans DID get to participate in the movement and make their voices heard.

I love the Tea Party movement. The people involved are the salt of the earth. They have, as stated above, been unjustly maligned. They have been smeared, trashed, mocked, derided, vilified, and demonized. The lame stream media has denounced them. Democratic officials have denounced them. Yet, despite all the hate and opposition the Tea Partiers have persevered, becoming the epitome of resolve, principle, and grassroots activism. They aren't burning the flag. They aren't demonizing our troops. They aren't chanting they want to kill the president, nor are they hanging anyone in effigy. They're simply using their God given right to speak out against criminal levels of fiscal irresponsibility and unconstitutional governmental expansion.

The Tea Party movement has it right. Spending is out of control and government is getting too big to be compatible with liberty. If that straight forward message is deemed hateful or racist by liberals then that only shows their intellectual bankruptcy. Tea Partiers have nothing to fear from those people. They should ignore them and keep on fighting for America to have a free and solvent future. They WILL do that, and that's why I love them and their movement.

God bless the Tea Parties!

God bless the Tea Partiers!

God bless America!

Gone, Baby, Gone!

Representative Bart Stupak has announced his retirement. The Michigan Democrat, I'm sure you remember, betrayed his pro-life views and the pro-life community in his desperation to vote for Obamacare. Stupak claimed his decision had nothing to do with anger over that betrayal. Instead, Stupak said that he's retiring because he's tired and wants to spend more time with his family. Yeah, right.

Stupak is the first in what will be a long line of post-Obamacare casualties. The American people, including those in Stupak's district, don't want the Dems' kind of health care "reform". They hate the way it was shoved down their throats by arrogant, we-know-what's-best-for-you politicians. And pro-lifers are NOT fooled by the executive order (EO) Stupak got from Obama in exchange for his vote. They know that said EO is just a fig leaf to give Stupak cover; it has no real teeth. And they are angry.

Stupak retired because he saw the writing on the wall. He wanted to avoid a humiliating defeat in November, a defeat that would be all he had to show for betraying his principles to support Obama and Obamacare. It's a bit frustrating that Stupak cheated his constiuents out of the joy of voting him out of his job. It would've been great to see his declining fortunes splashed across national tv on election night. Still, Stupak has gotten his just desserts. The voters didn't get to deliver the coup de grace but they, along with the majority of Americans, can cheerfully say of the Michigan traitor, "Gone, baby, gone!"