The Irish Rican

What's the Matter with America?

2010-11-22T01:07:00.001-06:00

Uncle Milty

2010-11-13T00:15:00.000-06:00

Election 2010

2010-11-02T14:34:00.003-05:00

Two years ago, America elected a man with no experience in running anything but a campaign and his mouth. It was a momentous occasion to be sure. It was for many Americans a moment of healing. America had elected the first African-American President. It proved that America is not a racist nation. Sure there are still many racists in America, and work still needs to be done with regards to race, but all in all America proved she is colorblind. What happened though, is that all of President Obama's rhetoric was not backed up with results. When he said that he wanted to change America, most people who voted for him thought he meant change for the better. He promised to fix the economy and his policies have made the economy worse. He promised to fix race relations (which his election proved wasn't that bad) and race relations are now worse. He promised to have a transparent, bipartisan administration. It has been neither.

Liberals also have reason to be angry with him. He promised to close the terrorist prison at Guantanamo Bay, it is fully functioning and I might add, rendition programs have been ramped up. He promised to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has ramped up the war in Afghanistan with very limited success and troops are still in Iraq. Currently, they are in a "support" role. This is an inaccurate description and the only reason it isn't being talked about is the media never tries to destroy a Democratic President on war policy. The President's push for a single-payer health care system has fallen far short of liberal expectations. (even though the American public wanted nothing to do with government health care) His promises of bringing amnesty for illegal aliens and pushing for gay "equality" have fallen short of his promises as well.

I think the reasons for his failures from a liberal perspective are very easy to understand. These liberal agendas are so far outside of what mainstream America wants that it is a tough sell, even for Obama's teleprompters. He did a good job of selling "Hope" and "Change" but Americans do not have hope in his abilities to correct America's economic woes, and his goal of 'fundamentally transforming America' is not what America wanted.

So what do we have two years later? $3 trillion more in debt. New and expanded entitlement programs. 10% unemployment with at least 15% real unemployment. A business community that is scared to death of his economic policies and therefore are sitting on record amounts of capital. Class warfare. And...a new Congress.

President Obama, you had the most lopsided presidential victory in recent history and in two years, your failed policies were responsible for the most lopsided midterm election tidal wave since the 1940s. Republicans now have a 51 seat majority in the House of Representatives. Senate Democrats won only 11 of 37 Senate races. (at the time of this posting, likely to be 12) In short, big government policies got smoked at the ballot box.

However, it wasn't long ago that Republicans had this kind of opportunity...and they screwed it up. Soon to be House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was clear in stating that, "We have to deliver." Yes you do, because the TEA Party is watching you. We are not taking your word for it that you have our best interests at heart. When the White House has a new occupant in two years, we DEFINITELY will be watching. Don't screw this up, or the GOP will be gone, and a new conservative party will rise.

Give unto Barry?

2010-11-01T15:09:00.004-05:00

"Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be sincere. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” He saw through their duplicity and said to them, “Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. He said to them, “Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent." Luke 20:20-28

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’" Matthew 25:34-40

It is often taught by Statists that Jesus was for paying taxes and his statement, "Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's" is a statement supporting higher taxes. It is nothing of the sort, clearly. Jesus was simply stating that we should do what we are required and pay what we are supposed to pay to the government. He never advocated paying more, and he didn't advocate government intervention in helping the poor. Jesus advocated individual intervention in helping the poor. He said each individual will be judged on how they treat and serve those less fortunate than themselves. When we help the poor, (with a proper attitude I might add) it is considered a righteous act in the sight of the Lord. When we do not, the scripture goes on, we are not considered righteous in the sight of the Lord.

Now there is this notion out there of "Collective Salvation" that I'm not really going to get into in great detail. (If you want to know more about it, listen to Glenn Beck) But this idea drives the Statist. The Statist believes that if, as a people, we give more to the government, the government can do what is right (laughable) and help the needy and then we all are "saved" collectively. This teaching is from Satan. It is designed to lead astray those with "good" hearts who don't really want to change. There is a clear path to salvation, and that is through Jesus. (John 14:6) Any other teaching, merely leads people astray.

Finally, I'll say this. I think that if we as a people (and Churches in particular) did a better job of helping the poor and needy, there wouldn't be a need for government involvement in helping the poor. There would be no government Welfare program because local churches would be providing that service. We wouldn't need Food Stamps, because Churches would be providing that service. The government would automatically be smaller which would mean there are more private sector jobs and opportunities for entrepreneurship, meaning less poor people. Why do we have the Federal Government involved in education? When parents couldn't teach their children back in the 1600's, community schoolhouses developed. When these didn't do their job, local government had to intervene. When this didn't work, regional governments got involved until you get to the point where we are spending trillions of taxpayer dollars on something that should be taken care of by parents. Because we have failed to do what we are supposed to, we have the Federal Government involved in every aspect of our lives instead of the limited role the founders had assigned to it. Why was this necessary? We didn't do our job as a people, and got bailed out by an ever increasing government. When people don't do what they are supposed to, government is usually seen as the solution, instead of the real solution: God. Then instead of worshipping the Creator, we start worshipping the government that we created out of our own laziness and irresponsibility. Americans need to again be responsible, get back to worshipping God and tell the government, "Thanks but no thanks. I created this mess, I can get myself out of it."

Back in the Saddle

2010-10-31T01:45:00.002-05:00

I've been away from writing for a long time. I'll be getting back soon. I think I'll probably throw in some video blogs as well. I'm considering having days when I release certain things, deadlines, etc. Maybe book review Friday, politics Monday, Religion Wednesday or something like that. Anyhow, have a great day. If anyone has any ideas on how to advertise properly, not just using google's adsense, please leave a comment because I'd like to advertise, but I don't like google's random ads.

Lean Forward

2010-10-07T12:34:00.001-05:00

"

Lean Forward...and disregard the fact that I'm leaning back." - Keith Olbermann

Quran burning

2010-09-08T08:13:00.004-05:00

Anderson Cooper takes an interesting position here. Is this his position on the release of classified documents? Is this his position on Guantanamo Bay? The families of 2800 Americans killed due to the attacks by Radical Muslims are overwhelmingly against the "Ground Zero" Mosque, yet the MSM backs that up as a first amendment right. Cooper's assertion that if one American soldier is killed by this Quran burning it is somehow immoral. 2800 Americans were killed in the WTC attacks, but the mosque there is moral? Both the mosque and the Quran burnings are protected by the first amendment and when journalists release classified information, they hide behind the first amendment as well. Are journalists somehow morally superior to churches? If so, then according to the actions (or inactions) of the media is Islam > Media > Christianity? If someone could explain this I'd love to hear it.

Personally, I think it's not a good idea for Terry Jones' Church to burn Qurans. I also think it's a bad idea for the Ground Zero Mosque to be built at a location where landing gear fell. However, it is reprehensible that a Media Outlet which blasts classified information all over the world would be upset that a church exercising its first amendment rights could be responsible for the death of American Soldiers when CNN has blood on its hands. Wash the blood off of your hands CNN. The finger you're pointing at Terry Jones is stained red.

2010-08-23T02:42:00.000-05:00

Double-Dip Recession

2010-07-02T12:02:00.003-05:00

I keep hearing about this "Double-Dip Recession." Here are my thoughts on it. If there is actual growth going on in America right now, we will go back into another recession starting in January. I don't believe the "growth" we have seen over the last few months is so much true growth as much as the wealthy and corporations trying to spend money now before oppressive taxes return next year. Couple that with an economy that has lost millions of jobs over the past two years, a stock market that was cut by 40% (I'll admit that the stock market was probably a little overinflated before the crash) and runaway spending from an Administration and Congress that was so infuriated by the last Administration's spending spree.

The Democrats who control the White House and Congress are so worried about what George Bush did, that they are not leading. The reason why many moderates and independents voted for President Obama is that they saw someone whom they believed to be a leader. They were wrong. President Obama has failed to lead our nation in anything except apologizing for our former greatness.

If President Obama truly wants to help Americans, here is what he'll do. Extend the Bush tax cuts for ten more years. If he does this alone, it will bolster the economy because corporations and the wealthy will feel that they can safely invest their money without being raped by the IRS. This will lead to job growth on it's own. If he TRULY wants to bring us out of this recession (or depression) he will add more cuts in addition to those cuts and couple that with a real commitment to reducing Federal spending. Here's a tip; cutting Federal spending does not mean cutting the military, police or firefighters. It does mean not funding abortion in foreign countries and funding things like pickle research and other immoral and wasteful spending.

He also needs to secure the border. Mr. President, the overwhelming majority of Americans, and a significant number of Hispanics, like me, stand with Arizona in its attempt to enforce Federal Immigration Law. Arizona is trying to protect its citizens, and since you won't do your job, Jan Brewer has to do it for you.

I'll close with this. Support our troops. Not with words, but with action. End the insane rules of engagement. Allow our military to use its full might to quickly end the wars and bring our troops home victorious. Neither President Bush nor yourself have had the guts to fight the wars the way we should be fighting them. If you change that, you'll earn the respect of the troops and the American people.

There are many more things you SHOULD do, but if you did these, America would make a turn for the better and the people would love you. But you're too much of an ideologue for that aren't you? Please Mr. President, stop reacting and lead.

2010-06-28T12:16:00.003-05:00

I just found this guy, and he's like an Alfonzo Rachel/Steven Crowder hybrid, but his videos are actually better.

Random Thoughts

2010-06-16T09:16:00.002-05:00

I've been thinking about the oil "spill", and I'm really frustrated. You have BP, which was one of the largest contributors to the Obama campaign, who is proving themselves to be brutally inept. Then you have Obama, who was supposed to be a leader, who is even more inept. Unless of course he's intentionally allowing the spill to continue going. With the revelations of the Dutch company which offered to help clean the spill days after the accident being denied, Louisiana's attempts to build barrier islands to protect the wetlands being denied and a total breakdown in leadership, I wonder if Obama is actually inept or if there is more. Perhaps he wants this to be a disaster so that he can call for the nationalization of the energy sector in the United States. He would understand that you need a disaster to do something like that in America. Americans won't stand for a government takeover of an industry unless there is a perception that the industry is corrupt. This is interesting because most Americans believe government is corrupt, yet we'll allow the corrupt government to take over a sector of the economy that is perceived to be corrupt.

Keyes on Immigration

2010-05-24T01:26:00.003-05:00

I like his statement concerning Mexico's stance on people entering Mexico illegally: "They are really very perimitery when it comes to this question."

Puerto Rico, el Estado Cincuenta y Uno?

2010-04-29T15:25:00.002-05:00

So I haven't been listening to the radio for a long time, and I just caught a piece of Glenn Beck talking today about a push by the "regime" as I heard Rush calling the Obama administration today to make Puerto Rico the 51st state. The way it would be done is by imposing a vote that would take the current status of the island (territory) off of the table. This would lead to independence or statehood. Consistently, the people of Puerto Rico have voted against both options. But, if the current status is off of the table, it will essentially push Puerto Rico into becoming a state, and very likely adding two Democrat Senators and 4-5 Democrat Representatives. If that happens, I think Texas seriously should consider splitting into 5 states, which it can do, adding 7-8 more Republican Senators.

What are your thoughts on this?

Just for Stan

2010-03-28T02:25:00.001-05:00

Here is an open post just so that Stanley Rosenthal can post his liberal tirades on my blog without being moderated for the next two weeks. Yer Welcome!

Call your Congressperson and Senators ASAP!

2009-10-20T02:51:00.004-05:00

I heard about this on my way home from work on the Mark Levin Show. This treaty MUST be stopped. Please post this on your Facebook, YouTube and wherever you can to get as many people as possible bombarding our Representatives. We must not let our sovereignty be handed over to the international community or we will one day, as Ronald Reagan said: "...spend our sunset years telling our children, and our children’s children, what it once was like in America, when men were free.”

What I'm working on

2009-09-01T00:39:00.003-05:00

"As I was thinking about this, suddenly a goat with a prominent horn between his eyes came from the west, crossing the whole earth without touching the ground. He came toward the two-horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and charged at him in great rage. I saw him attack the ram furiously, striking the ram and shattering his two horns. The ram was powerless to stand against him; the goat knocked him to the ground and trampled on him, and none could rescue the ram from his power. The goat became very great, but at the height of his power his large horn was broken off, and in its place four prominent horns grew up toward the four winds of heaven." Daniel 8:5-8

The Ram here is the Persian-Median Empire. The Goat is Alexander the Great. Daniel writes this in the 6th century BC and these battles don't take place until late in the 4th century BC.

Right now I am back in school, taking Western Civilization I, American Literature I and Art History I. I put that quote there because my Western Civilization class has extra credit based on movies from the time period we are covering. I will be doing one of these on Alexander. I have been fascinated by him for a long time, but more so since studying the bible, and specifically the book of Daniel. Alexander is of tremendous biblical importance because he spread Greek culture and most importantly the Greek language throughout much of the known world. The New Testament was written almost primarily in Greek, and Greek is an excellent language to communicate a message. There are many different words in Greek for many different emotions that in English might be combined into one word. The classic example of this is the word: Love.

We love our spouse, our children, our friends, our country, our sports teams, cars and even TVs. In Greek there is Agape, Eros, Philia, Storge and Thelema. It is very clear if one says to another "s'agapo", that this is not referring to sexual love. But in English, context is necessary to derive the true meaning. The point though, is that Greek was an amazing language to write down the greatest story ever told, that of the Gospel.

So this is kind of what's been on my mind. In addition to watching the 3 and 1/2 hour long Oliver Stone movie on Alexander, (which I think focuses too much on a kind of love that it is uncertain if Alexander partook in) I've been watching History channel videos (via YouTube) on the battle of Gaugamela as well as videos on Philip and Alexander. Pretty cool stuff.

My Art History class has led me to think of a really cool approach to talking to atheists about God. I don't know if it will work, but let me throw it out here.

This sculpture, called the Venus of Willendorf, is very primitive. It is dated at about 30,000 BC. Even though it is primitive, anyone who looks at this sculpture would say that it was created. An intelligent being "designed" this sculpture. A rock was taken, and some sort of tools were applied to make this rock look like a woman.

Now if this poor quality (though not for its time) sculpture is evidence of its creation and design by a creator, then how is the universe and everything in it, including the zenith of all designs, the human body the result of millions of "beneficial accidents"? It is quite simply preposterous to think that humans could have developed by accident or luck. I'll conclude with this quote:

"“To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.”
- Charles Darwin

Complete Lives System

2009-08-08T10:59:00.003-05:00

This video from a recent Glenn Beck Show talks about two of Obama's advisers, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel (Rahm's brother) who is a health policy advisor in the Obama administration and Cass Sunstein who is Obama's regulatory czar. From the statements of Dr. Emanuel and Mr. Sunstein, it is clear that they believe in a Darwinist/Eugenics style approach to the rationing of healthcare. I have read other writings of Sunstein which show heavy influence of Marxist thought as applied to taxes. In an Op-Ed, Mr. Sunstein wrote about how taxes are essentially owed to the Government, and property owners owe the Government more than those who don't own property. These are some of the men who have the ear of the President. How can we keep saying that the President may have some bad friends (William Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farrakhan, Tony Rezko, Louis Gates, Charles Ogletree, Cornel West, James Cone, Rahm Emanuel, Ezekiel Emanuel, Cass Sunstein etc, etc.) but he's a great guy himself? He may have distanced himself from Wright, but he continues to be surrounded by radicals. He is, plain and simple, a Marxist. I can only hope that enough people wake up to this fact by the November 2010 elections and I hope that the nation hasn't been totally rocked from its foundations by that time.

Back on track

2009-07-31T01:23:00.002-05:00

Well, it's been a while since I've posted anything consistently. There have been a myriad of reasons for this ranging from not having the heart for it to being too darn busy. I'm hoping to change this and write more consistently. I have shifted gears in my life from pursuing a career as a pharmacist (which I kind of liked) to pursuing a career as a writer. (which would be a dream come true) So if I want to be a writer, I need to write. I will continue to write here, probably in journals, and I'd like to post videos at my youtube channel, CTYankeeinTexas. Anyway, hopefully I'll have the time to stick to this. I Hope to have more soon.

In his own words: Obama's agenda from before the inauguration

2009-07-29T00:28:00.003-05:00

This video from Glennbeck.com throws together a bunch of videos I've posted here in the past with some good commentary mixed in.

Obama's Trojan Horse

2009-06-17T01:16:00.002-05:00

He has specifically said that his health care plan is not a "Trojan Horse". This video put together by Verum Serum would seem to refute that claim. Barack Obama in his own words, has said in the past that he wants a single payer (that payer being TAXpayer) system, but it will take time. The first step is getting the government in the business of insuring the uninsured. After that many businesses drop their health care coverage adding millions more to the rolls of government insurance. When the government is the single largest insurer, it can take out the other insurance companies one by one, until you have a single payer system. This is the goal of President Obama and the Ivy League crowd.

Justice Sotomayor

2009-05-27T00:01:00.003-05:00

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life”

Sonia Sotomayor, from a 2001 speech at the annual Judge Mario G. Olmos Law and Cultural Diversity Lecture at the University of California, Berkeley.

I think it's a foregone conclusion at this point that Sonia Sotomayor will be confirmed as Supreme Court Justice to replace David Souter. (barring any tax problems) But I thought a post on her was warranted. Originally, I believed that she was a good pick, from a certain point of view. She was spun as a moderate, a slightly more liberal version of Sandra Day O'Connor. I thought: "It could be a lot worse." But she seems to be worse than I originally thought. Her racist comment from above shows that to her, in 2001 at least, justice is not blind. Below is a video of her speaking at the Duke University School of Law, and she states that the appeals court, (and eventually the Supreme Court) is a place for policy to be made. Call me crazy, but I've read Article III of the Constitution and it says nothing about policy being made in the courts. But maybe her copy is different than mine.

Spiritual Encouragement

2009-05-21T10:22:00.003-05:00

I've had a rough week at work, surrounded by two extremely encouraging weekends. This weekend coming up, we'll be going to the Texas Christian Conference put together by the Greater Houston Church. It should be an awesome weekend. I'm real excited to hear Gordon Ferguson speak. I've never heard him speak before, but I have a couple of his books. I've also heard great things about Sam Powell, and he will be one of the other guest speakers. We will also be making a trip down to Galveston to check out Moody Gardens. I'm pretty excited about the whole trip.

This past weekend, we had Dr. John Oakes from San Diego come to Austin. He was teaching from his book on Daniel, available at www.ipibooks.com. On Friday evening he talked about the portions of Daniel dealing with Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and Nebuchadnezzar. Saturday, he dealt more with the prophecy, or what he called, (I'm paraphrasing) "The accurate history of the future". Daniel predicts accurately the history of Middle East for the next 600+ years. He predicts the Median/Persian Empire's defeat of Babylon, the divided nature of the Empire, and that the weaker part of the Empire (Persia) would become the stronger part of the Empire. He also prophesied the Greek defeat of Persia and the division into four portions of the Greek Empire after the death of Alexander the Great. He also predicted that one of the four, (the Ptolemaic Dynasty in Egypt) would grow another Kingdom. (The Seleucids) Daniel also predicts with accuracy the time of the coming of the Messiah into Jerusalem. He predicts the persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Domitian, predicting that Domitian would overthrow three Roman Emperors, (Otho, Galba and Vitellius) and change set times and laws. Domitian changed the names of the months of September and October to Germanicus and Domitianius after his own names. He also changed the Roman laws significantly. These were changed back promptly after his death.

Daniel also predicts two Desolations that cause Abomination. The first is the desecration of the Jewish temple by Antiochus Epiphanes who sacrificed pigs in the temple, splatter the blood of pigs on the walls and put up a statue of Zeus with his own face. (Antiochus) The second was the destruction and subsequent desecration of the Jewish temple in 70 AD by General Titus (brother of Domitian and Emperor before Domitian) ending forever the sacrifices and traditions of the old covenant.

There were so many other great moments from the past weekend, but what really stuck with me more than anything else, was that God is in control. Dr. Oakes asked those of us who were in the class: "Who believes that God was in control?" Of course everyone raised their hand, but he asked, "Do you always believe that?" This made me think. It's very easy to believe that God is in control when things are going well. But when things are bad, when you're having a hard time, God is STILL in control. When you look at the lives of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego you see their fervent belief that God is in control. Total control, whether things are good or bad. (from our perspective)

After midweek last night, I was forced to remember this, and it put my bad Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday into perspective, and made me remember that God IS in control. I'm looking forward to this weekend and tons of spiritual encouragement.

Beware "The Story of Stuff"

2009-05-13T15:52:00.005-05:00

I had seen the video: "The Story of Stuff" a while ago, and I knew their Defense spending numbers were garbage, but I had no idea that the majority of the numbers used in the video are garbage. This video is being widely shown in classrooms. It's important to be aware of what kids are learning to be able to properly educate them. I had a conversation with Ryan about "the green movement" today. He gets Ranger Rick, and while I like most of the stuff in RR, there is definitely a "green" agenda. I consider myself an environmentalist, but in the true sense. Not some whacked out anti-capitalist sense. Anyway, back to the point of the post. Pay attention to what your kids are learning.

Here's the link that "How the World Works" included on YouTube to a NYT article about "The Story of Stuff."

More Bumper Stickers

2009-05-12T09:33:00.003-05:00

I saw this bumper sticker recently and it really ticked me off. I've recently seen some funny (contradictory) combinations, but this one just burns me up. It's not the first time I've seen the sticker either.

It goes: "Jesus was a community organizer, Pilate was a governor".

Now let's start with defining what the sticker was talking about. Barack Obama was a community organizer and Sarah Palin is a governor. So this is comparing Barack Obama to the Messiah, Jesus Christ and Sarah Palin to Pontius Pilate, the governor who authorized his crucifixion. There are serious problems with this analogy however. This also compares Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, FDR, Kathleen Sebelius, Bill Richardson and many other heroes from the left to Pontius Pilate.

Now let's get to the real point. Calling Jesus a community organizer is like calling WWII a small regional conflict. But it's more than that. Jesus never really did any 'community organizing'. Jesus was king, teacher, prophet, exorcist, healer, spiritual guide and carpenter. (among other things) Jesus taught many, trained twelve and intensely trained three men; Peter, James and John, teaching them everything. But, most importantly, who was and is Jesus? Jesus was not a community organizer, HE IS A KING! But not just any king, he is a right-wing extremist king. Now he is the only right-wing extremist leader who has been able to successfully balance love and compassion with his right-wing extremism, but you can't debate the teachings.

"For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:20)

"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell." (Matthew 5:21-22)

"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matthew 5:27-28)

"It has been said, 'Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.' But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery." (Matthew 5:31-32)

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19:21)

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." (Matthew 6:24)

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" (Matthew 7:21-23)

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:26-27)

Jesus has very high standards. He is King, and failure to comply with his precepts has severe eternal consequences. He loves everyone, but will not fail to reject those who do not measure up to his standards. But getting back to the real point of this post, Jesus was not a community organizer, and calling him one is insulting.

Media Bias

2009-04-22T00:40:00.001-05:00

More from the Chicago Tea Party. This is the video that I posted earlier, broken down, with some behind the scenes thrown in as well.

Chicago Tea Party

2009-04-16T11:09:00.003-05:00

I saw this live yesterday during lunch at work and I was stunned. She sticks with the guy who can't articulate his points (which are valid) and she cuts off the guy who can articulate his points, then she has the gall to say dissent is "not family viewing". Does CNN really have to guess why Fox annihilates them in the ratings?

Austin Tea Party

2009-04-16T10:03:00.003-05:00

Gosh Governor Perry. You're making me feel all warm and fuzzy. I couldn't make it to the tea party because I had church last night and the logistics would have been pretty crummy. But I'm wishing I could have made it there.

The re-election should be pretty interesting. Perry and Hutchison. It should be a Battle Royale. I like certain aspects of each, and I dislike certain aspects of each.

New Post

2009-03-31T11:01:00.002-05:00

I feel like I need to put up a new post. Usually I find some kind of inspiration. Lately I haven't really felt any inspiration. I suppose I could rant for awhile, but really I don't feel like it. But with the nationalization of GM, I just feel much like Senator Amidala commenting on the creation of the Empire in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith; "So this is how liberty dies; with thunderous applause." Our Republic is being destroyed by the Obama Administration, and far too many Americans are happy about it. It will be too late before we realize that we have given power over not to a benevolent dictator, but an evil one. But I pray that I am wrong. I hope that our leaders make the right decisions for America and I hope they can keep us safe.

St. Patty's Day

2009-03-17T10:54:00.001-05:00

“An Irishman is never drunk as long as he can hold onto one blade of grass and not fall off the face of the earth” - Old Irish Toast

Moderated Again

2009-03-12T10:40:00.003-05:00

I'm getting pretty irritated at being continually moderated at CNN.com. The last time I ranted about it, they actually posted my comments, but they've been 'moderating', aka repressing free speech, my comments fairly regularly. Especially Jack Cafferty. Now on CNN, you can say something like: "Sarah Palins evil she kill Caribou" or "Sarah Palins dum" and they don't moderate that. But if you have an insightful comment that goes against the viewpoint of their moderator, then you can't get your comments through.

So I put up this comment which was 'awaiting moderation' on the Michael Steele-Abortion thread on the political ticker.

"The liberal philosophy; Killing babies is OK, but the death penalty for convicted murderers and rapists is not.

I like Michael Steele, but he's not a very solid conservative, he's a moderate. Chairman Steele, you need to get some convictions on this issue. Your base has convictions on it. Abortion is not a state's right issue.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

It doesn't say we are BORN equal, it says we are CREATED equal. Created by God in the womb. Every man (and woman) was created by God and has the RIGHT to LIFE. It is not a choice. If someone is innocent, death can not be imposed as a sentence, but that's what abortion does, imposes the death sentence on a human who has committed no crime. Their only fault is being created in a woman with no convictions, and a country with no convictions.

Roe v. Wade has killed 50 million Americans. More than Hitler, more than Stalin, more than Mao. Wake up Chairman Steele and develop some conviction on this issue."

OK, so in the middle of putting this post together, I decided to check back at CNN and it went from 'awaiting moderation' to being posted. I think I should turn my posts into blog posts every time and maybe I wont be moderated anymore.

Ant Cemetary

2009-03-03T12:26:00.002-06:00

Well, we ran into a little problem with our vegetable boxes. One of the boards was ridiculously hard and I'll have to scrap it, meaning another trip to HD. I also used the last nail on the last box I put together, which also means another HD trip. (well I'll get them both on the same trip of course) The last problem was the fire ant colony right in the spot of one of the boxes. The way we usually deal with fire ants is to get a big pot of boiling water and pour it on the mound. Then we use the hose to destroy their tunnels and hit with another pot of boiling water. Usually this will get them to move, but they usually come back. After two days and four pots of water, the and casualties were in the tens of thousands, but they were still fighting for survival. Death from Above (aka, boiling water) had failed to root out the most hardened and well dug in ants, so I had to resort to biological warfare. Keep in mind however that we plan to grow food on this spot in which I am using the most ruthless eminent domain tactics. So what did I use next? Instant Grits! You heard me correctly, Instant Grits. But not any old instant grits, Hill Country Fare Instant Grits. Apparently when the ants eat them their digestive juices cause the grits to expand and well, bye bye ants. So far it looks like they are going for it, and I see many more dead ants piled up than yesterday. But it's hard to tell if its from the grits or residual from the 'Napalm' Death from Above. Anyway, I just took 3 packets and poured a circle around their mound and they are going after it. We'll see soon how well it works.

The Worst Economy since the Great Depression?

2009-02-28T22:57:00.002-06:00

Well today I experienced how bad our economy is. First, while my daughter had her first ballet class, we went to the shoe store next door. There were only a few people in there when we walked in, but by the time we left, it was packed. After the class, we went to Home Depot, to get the wood for our vegetable boxes. When we purchased our wood, there was a mild crowd, but to get the wood in the van, I had to take out all of the seats. So we paid for the wood and went home, and when I returned (minus the seats) to Home Depot all chaos had broken loose at the shopping center. It probably took 15 minutes to navigate through the shopping center to get to Home Depot. This time around, HD was really packed as well. In addition to the wood, I also needed to get a wheel barrow and I didn't like the prices at HD, so I went to Costco for the WB. The price was better, but I think I needed a train, a bus and a cab to get from my parking spot to the store. Once I finally had my wheel barrow, It was about 30 minutes in line. Now you'll say that I'm exaggerating, and you'd be right. But I'm not exaggerating very much. The shopping center with HD and Costco were packed. Business was booming today for whatever reason.

Now I understand we are undergoing an economic slowdown, but to call this "The Worst Economy since the Great Depression" is sensationalism. Drive-by media, please calm down and get a grip upon yourselves and stop trying to create a sense of panic. Fortunately though, on this day in Austin, TX, the economy was rip-roaring.

Go Piyush!

2009-02-23T11:13:00.003-06:00

This was my response that probably won't appear on the CNN Political Ticker. Some of the comments were trying to insinuate that Republicans are 'using' Bobby Jindal because he is of Indian descent. Or that they feel like Republicans won't vote for him because of Indian descent. Really? A whole lot of people in Louisiana voted for him. That's DEEP SOUTH if you ask me. It really irritates me that Democrats are quick to call Republicans racist, but like to forget about the real history of race relations and the two major political parties in America. The Democrat Party is the party that has persecuted minorities throughout it's history. The Republican Party has been the party of advancing the cause of minorities.

Now, the Democrats have tried to flip this on its head, yet they still do everything they can to keep minorities down. They talk about being 'for' minorities, but want to keep them in the projects longer. They want minorities to stay on welfare longer. They want to raise taxes on businesses so that there are less jobs. Democrats continue to perpetuate this state of helplessness of minorities. They say to Blacks and Hispanics; "You can't get ahead because the White Man and the Republicans are keeping you down. But don't worry, we'll get more money for you. We'll raise taxes on those evil rich people." (the people who create jobs) Republicans say: "We'll keep taxes low so that there are more jobs available, and if you work hard, you'll be able to move into the next tax bracket. Then, when you're in the next tax bracket, you won't be paying as much in taxes. You can keep more of your own money!" The Republican Party is the party that says; "It doesn't matter what your skin color is, if you work hard, you can be successful." The Democrats say: "You don't have to work hard or be successful. We'll tax the snot out of those who are successful and give it to you."

The following is the contents of my post at the Political Ticker:

It's amazing that conservatives are always seen as racist. Conservatives don't bring up race, liberals do. Why are conservatives excited about Bobby Jindal? Because he's of Indian descent? NO! It's because he's a conservative. At 37, he has 10 times the experience of Barack Obama, he's charismatic and stands for what he believes in unlike the flip-floppers on the left. People are irritated that Jindal, Rick Perry, Haley Barbour and Mark Sanford are going to refuse the unemployment provision in the "stimulus" bill. They have chosen States Rights. They are not selling the souls of their states to the Federal Government. If the states accept the unemployment provision in the stimulus, it is a short term help from the Federal Government with the mandate that they continue to extended increased levels of unemployment insurance long after the Federal money has dried up. So essentially it is a tax increase on the taxpayers and businesses of any state that accepts the funds. Watch corporations move to the states that decline this money, and continue to flee from states like KaliFORnea, and Michigan that think the answer to their problems is raising taxes on the increasingly shrinking number of businesses and workforce.

Chad Vader's Oscars

2009-02-19T00:58:00.002-06:00

This is for Linda. An uncanny representation of the Oscar Nominees...even though I haven't seen any of them. I'd like to see Benjamin Button...some day...when I have 3 hours to kill. I'm intrigued by Slumdog Millionaire, maybe I'll see that as well...someday. The other three...eh, not so much.

The Heart

2009-02-17T00:11:00.003-06:00

This started as a comment at Stan Rosenthal's blog, and then began taking a life of its own, so I decided to post it here. Stan said; “Organized religion is a farce.” After reading this comment, I began writing:

I agree slightly with your premise. (Organized religion is a farce) When religious groups begin making rules and regulations outside of what the bible says, they begin entering into dangerous territory. The Pharisees did this (and most religious groups today do it) and it is what kept them from the true point of religion, which is to draw people closer to God; to love God and others. By creating external laws outside of what is taught in the bible, religious groups create more obstacles to what is truly important; love. If we become so focused on following rules, we don't get to the heart, which is what God really wants. But if our heart is a heart that loves and wants to please God, we will follow the rules automatically. We'll still sin, because we're sinners, but most of the time we'll follow God's commands without trying.

If we love God more than anything else, and focus on Him, we won't worship idols or use His name in vain.

If we rid ourselves of anger and malice, and focus on peace and love, we will not murder.

If we rid ourselves of greed and envy, and focus on gratitude for what we have, we will not steal or covet.

If we rid ourselves of lust, and focus on purity, we will not commit adultery.

Now for most people, the commands may not be too difficult to follow, but the heart behind them is. The commands are supposed to be boundaries, but the focus too often is on staying within the boundaries. We shouldn't focus on staying in the boundaries. We should focus on walking in the footsteps of Jesus. If we get too close to the boundaries we need a serious heart check. If we're walking in Jesus' footsteps we'll never get close to the boundaries.

But getting back to the comment about organized religion being a farce. If religion doesn't focus on God's Word as its standard for Christianity, it is a farce. If it places more emphasis on staying within certain boundaries than it does on walking with Jesus, then it is a farce. If it creates rules and traditions which supersede the Word of God, then it is a farce.

But religion which has a goal of bringing the members of The Body closer to Christ, in an environment with a primary goal of worshiping God, growing in knowledge and wisdom and knowing nothing more important than; " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind' ; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' " (Luke10:27) , that religion is no farce.

Kerry wants your money

2009-02-16T11:47:00.005-06:00

John Kerry 'knows' how to take care of your family better than you do. To think I actually voted for this guy. Well, I'm glad I've seen the light.

Hattip to www.marklevinshow.com

48 Hours

2009-02-14T00:46:00.003-06:00

The most transparent administration in history. RIIIIIGGGHHHTTT! Just like San Fran Nan runs the most ethical congress in history. I'll quote Stanley Rosenthal, quoting someone else here. "What's black is white, what's up is down..." and so on and so forth. The Democrats live in backwardsville, where they mean the opposite of whatever they say, except on the rare occasions where they mean what they say, which is usually a flip-flop to cover up for something they didn't see, but might want to fix, if the polls say they should, unless of course it promotes, or goes against their far-left doctrine. (Confused? Me too.)

Black History Month

2009-02-13T02:03:00.003-06:00

February is Black History Month and yesterday was the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth so I'll post this video that I found through Macho Sauce.

Test me Lord

2009-02-10T00:11:00.003-06:00

Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have led a blameless life; I have trusted in the LORD without wavering. Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind; for your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth. (Psalm 26:1-3)

A few weeks ago, Jakob Jukovski came from Tel Aviv to preach here in Austin. He is originally from the former Soviet Union (either Russia or the Ukraine, I'm not sure) and moved to Israel a few years ago. Though he claimed his English wasn't that good, it was very good in my opinion. He also had insights into the Hebrew mind. He talked about how important genealogy, like the one in Matthew 1 is. Genealogy to the Jew is like having a passport or driver's license. It's ID. The scripture that he used that really struck me though is the one above from Psalm 26. What was David's relationship with God like that he asked to be tested? I can't remember ever asking God to test me. I've asked God to STOP testing me. But to say to God, "Father, I want to prove to you that I love you. Please, test me. I want to be sure, and want you to be sure, that my love for you is pure." Well, I've never prayed that prayer. I'm not sure I really want to. I'd like to be able to someday. But I feel like I've been tested for the past few years since I've moved to the Austin area. I feel like I'm done being tested. Surely, I need to be tested again, but I'd like a little break...please.

Jakob shared how this scripture moved him, and he prayed this prayer. Well, he got the test. His apartment in Tel Aviv burned down. They lost everything except their lives. But like God proves time and time again, He will work through tragedy. We just have to let Him. I just hope I can get to that mindset someday soon. Thanks Jakob, you're a true hero in the faith! And thanks be to God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom all things are possible! Give me this kind of heart Father, and to You be the glory!

Why Obama's "Stimulus" is a bad idea

2009-02-09T09:37:00.003-06:00

I just caught this article on Yahoo!. The problem I noticed with most of these companies mentioned, which employ over 300,000 employees and includes the giants Rite Aid, Chrysler and Blockbuster is twofold. First, they are suffering from a lack of liquidity. They could probably survive, and eventually thrive, if they can hold out for a year or so. Second, consumer spending is down. Americans have decided, or have been forced, to spend within their means as credit has frozen up. Spending within your means is honestly a good thing, but when most Americans haven't been doing it, and then all do it at the same time, it's bad for the economy. The Bush/Paulson stimulus package has done little to unfreeze the lines of credit and have only made America's credit worse. The answer to this is obvious to real conservatives. Cut taxes. Across the board. Cut corporate taxes, cut the marginal rates, cut capital gains taxes, cut inheritance taxes, etc. By cutting these taxes, corporations and regular Americans, from the poor all the way up to the rich will have more money to spend. If the corporations and the people had more money, consumer spending would tick up slightly, and corporations would have more money to work with, and would be more likely to ride out the recession. Lower taxes would also mean more heavily in debt Americans would be able to pay their debt down faster. This means credit and lending will open up more quickly.

The problem to this of course is government. Government and the liberals believe the answer is more government. If we expand the size of government, which is already obscene, it means we have to raise taxes to cover the cost. If we raise taxes to cover the cost, it means corporations and consumers have less money to spend. If we spend less money, it will turn the recession into a depression. My question is, why doesn't Obama and the left-wing leadership know this? Or do they know this? If we pass the Obama/Geithner stimulus it doesn't provide much for tax cuts, it just provides for a whole lot of programs that do not have lasting impacts on the economy, and provides for the furthering of the liberal agenda. Things like abortion and "green" technology. (I've come to hate that word) I'm all for clean energy, but the government will do a better job of promoting it by removing free market obstacles. By throwing money at the problem we are going to encourage the companies who make "green" technologies (ugh!) to take their sweet time in producing a good product. Look at Cancer and AIDS research, and Education if you want to see how throwing tons of money at a problem with no restrictions works at solving problems.

We want Conservatives, not Mavericks

2009-02-04T00:38:00.005-06:00

I found this video from the Gray Ghost blog over at Townhall.

He makes some good points. I think conservatives definitely need to hit the ground for the next two and four years. I foresee the fairness doctrine (or some form of it) coming soon. Informed Americans can dictate American policy, and the liberals can't have that. They are going after Rush right now, but I think they will really go after the local conservative hosts, and the smaller national ones. They will then attack the internet and churches. I believe their goal will be to legalize the 20,000,000 illegal immigrants before 2012 and to do that, they need to shut down talk radio. If they legalize the 20,000,000 illegals they will be nearly unstoppable in 2012 and beyond, even with a great conservative running. If conservatives want to save this nation, we need to work hard. I plan on writing Senators Cornyn and Hutchison as well as my Congressman, Michael McCaul on a weekly basis to keep the pressure on the Republicans to do their job, and lobby for conservative principles in Washington. Retake the House in 2010! Jindal '12!

Super Bowl

2009-02-01T08:19:00.004-06:00

So last year I made a prediction that was right. I wasn't really close as far as the score, but I picked the right team. It was an emotional decision more than a logical one. Well there's no emotion in this one as I really don't care either way about either team. I'd rather see the Cardinals win, and I'll probably root for the Cardinals, but I think it'll be Pittsburgh. My prediction, Stillers 27, Cardinals 20.

Now is not the time for profits

2009-01-30T09:08:00.002-06:00

President Obama yesterday was complaining about the $18 billion in bonuses that were received by Wall St. executives and had this to say:

“There will be time for them to make profits, and there will be time for them to get bonuses. Now is not that time.”

What was not stated is that the $18 billion in 2008 is 44 percent less than in 2007. He claimed that the bonuses were irresponsible, but what is more irresponsible, the $18 billion in bonuses paid out to companies, (some successful, some unsuccessful) or the $800 billion + (more than a trillion with interest) that our children and grandchildren will be paying for and is not going to fix the economy?

The question is this, what did the President mean? Was he letting the truth slip out here or did he simply misspeak? Rush Limbaugh was recently taken out of context and his statements were misrepresented. I don't want to do the same to the President, but I'm thinking that this is another example of how the socialist side of President Obama comes out when he's not in front of a teleprompter.

So far...

2009-01-27T01:12:00.004-06:00

I've really tried to be optimistic about President Obama and wait until he does something before I really jump on his case. I've hoped that he would govern as a moderate as the RINO's have said he would. But unfortunately that hasn't been the case so far. He's planning on holding off on the stimulus package, so to speak. As of right now, the plan is to slowly release bits and pieces of the stimulus over the next 3-8 years. The thing about STIMULUS is that it's supposed to STIMULATE. Unemployment continues to rise and the President is not using the money designated to stimulate the economy to stimulate the economy. Over the next few years he plans to slowly release this money into special projects which do not provide long term benefits to the economy. He wants to build infrastructure, which is a one and done type of stimulus. Once the infrastructure projects are completed you will have those people involved in the projects out of a job. If you want LONG-TERM job creation, you need to cut taxes. The problem with cutting taxes is that the liberals will lose power so President Obama is unlikely to do that. But if I were a restaurant owner thinking of expanding my business, (and creating 10-20 new jobs) I wouldn't do it if I knew my taxes were about to go up. The only industry that will not be affected by this increase in taxes and spending will be the government industry which is the only industry that SHOULD be downsizing.

Next, in all of his wisdom, with his military and diplomatic experience the President has decided to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Many of the detainees who have been released from this facility have gone on to return to the front lines against our military forces and have been involved in further terrorist activity. I agree that the detainees should receive a form of due process. They should be given a fair trial by military tribunal as would be given to any enemy combatant or prisoner of war. As terrorists who are not fighting for any nation, these terrorists are not guaranteed protection under the Geneva Convention. With that said, there should still be a trial which would release those held falsely and convict those who are truly terrorists. However, our soldiers and marines should not have to read terrorists Miranda rights, and terrorists do not deserve a trial in US civilian courts at US taxpayer expense. The other question is: What do we do with the guys that we can't convict and can't send back? My proposal is to let them stay at the Obama's home in Chicago. But seriously, the president at the press conference was referring questions regarding this Executive Order to his lawyer. Mr. President, you are the Chief Executive. You shouldn't be asking your lawyer questions about an order you just signed, especially in front of the media. But none of those empty suits called you on the fact that you didn't know what was in your own order did they?

The last thing that burned me up (well there's more, but this is the last one I'll talk about) is that the President signed another order to loosen restrictions on abortion. It allowed US tax dollars to be spent on abortions overseas. I don't really like the idea of my tax dollars going to murder babies. I don't want to say more because blood is about to shoot out of my eyes.

The one bright spot (if you can call it that) is that the President signed an order to freeze high-level executive pay in the government. I like the idea that we are freezing unnecessary spending, but this is a drop in the bucket. So he saves the taxpayers a couple of million (yea) and raises the deficit by about $500 billion and doesn't even get the stimulus where it's supposed to go. So he gets props for the one good measure, albeit a minor one, and a whole lot of thumbs down for just about everything else he did over the past week.

Worst Guest in the World???

2009-01-15T12:20:00.002-06:00

I saw a CNN video where one of the CNN gossip shows was discussing how Ann Coulter was the worst guest in the world. (or something like that) The people who make a living talking about what other people do, and the producers and hosts of 'The View' should know what most people know about Ann. She is extremely opinionated and she believes what she believes and doesn't really care who it offends. This is quite the opposite of the bleeding hearts on 'The View'. The only time they get opinionated is if it has to do with attacking George Bush or Sarah Palin. Then they can attack away.

At any rate, as I watched this video, I didn't see anything wrong with Ann Coulter's appearance on this show, except the 5 women who kept interrupting her. Ann makes some statements in her book which are strong statements, and she backs them up with her sources. (I haven't read her book, but she quotes a few sources just during the interview) One of the sources is a progressive 'think tank'. (a bit of an oxymoron if you ask me) So as they are questioning her about her strong statements, they keep interrupting her answers. She makes a statement they don't like. They call her on it. She tries to explain why she said what she said and they cut her off. I thought the premise of 'The View' was to be a discussion program, where topics, light and heavy, are DISCUSSED. Apparently the only discussion allowed is what the liberals on that show want to talk about.

But the bottom line is this question: Was Ann Coulter out of line during her appearance on 'The View'? I don't think so. She was Ann being Ann, with strong opinions and not backing down from anyone, even 'saint' Barbara Walters.

It's My Potty

2009-01-15T12:08:00.002-06:00

Ok, I'm sure a hundred other bloggers will use this title for this story, but it jumped in my head, and I had to go with it. Today, on Glenn Beck's radio show they did the numbers of expected Inaugural guests, (4,000,000) and the number of port-a-pottys at the inaugural event. (5,000) That means, if the expected 4,000,000 people show up, there will be 1 port-a-potty for every 800 people. According to the research on the Glenn Beck Radio Show, a private event would require, one P.P. for every 75 guests. A government event requires one for every 300. I don't know why there's such a disparity, but nevertheless there is seemingly a big gap between the estimates, and the number or P.P.'s available for the event. How did they resolve this dilemma? They just gave a low official estimate. Just like they do with their government programs. They say this will cost 1 trillion dollars, and it usually costs about 5 trillion. Very useless information I know, but it at least made me laugh.

Britain's Finest Hour

2009-01-10T01:25:00.002-06:00

The conversations with Stanley Rosenthal and ReckNHavic on my Gaza post inspired this video post.

Gaza Conflict

2009-01-03T10:43:00.005-06:00

This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Gaza, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. Because she took captive whole communities and sold them to Edom, I will send fire upon the walls of Gaza that will consume her fortresses. Amos 1:6-7

I don't believe this scripture really has any relevance as far as God's plan is concerned anymore. Jesus was the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. However, I'm sure there are people in Israel that are reading this. I don't really know what to say when it comes to Israel. I am truly on the fence. They appear to be a free and democratic, tolerant society, and compared to the rest of the middle east, they are. However there isn't true religious freedom there. Not if you are a Christian who is trying to fulfill the Great Commission:

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20

If you are trying to fulfill the Great Commission in Israel, you will likely be barred from reentry into the country if you leave. I don't believe that it is God's plan for a physical state of Israel in the Middle East anymore, at least not in the sense of His twelve tribes. God's Kingdom is now a Spiritual Kingdom.

Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place." John 18:36

With that said, I feel that there is a great need for a strong democracy in the middle east. I also think that it is good that in Israel there is a chance to see the great historical sights from the bible. There is a big difference between reading the constitution in a book, and seeing the actual constitution. There is a big difference between seeing the White House on TV, and actually walking through it, or walking through the US Capitol. In the same way, but greater, it is important to have access to the physical historical sights spoken of in the bible. I also believe that as a nation whose borders have international recognition, Israel has a right to defend itself from foreign aggression.

Palestinian terrorists are firing rockets from Gaza into sovereign Israeli land. Israel doesn't have very much land to spare and every time that there is a flare-up between Israel and terrorists, the terrorists, be it Hamas or Hezbollah seem to be able to carry out more destruction than the last time. Their weapons systems become more and more advanced. If Israel does not defend itself, it will very soon cease to exist. Theodore Roosevelt said: "Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft." Israel may be the best in the world at doing this. They negotiate and negotiate, they give land back to their enemies and are thanked with rockets. The Israeli responses to their enemies would probably make TR proud. Israel annihilates the infrastructure of their enemies, and the capability of their enemies to strike Israel (at least for a few years) and they do so with surprisingly few civilian casualties. In any war, civilians will be hurt, but Israel is very good at keeping collateral damage to a minimum, especially considering that the terrorists hide among civilians.

I am torn in this conflict. As you see the devastation in Gaza, it is impossible to not feel sorry for those in harm's way; the innocent people who were unfortunate enough to be born on the wrong side of a border. But if Israel relents, if Israel doesn't defend itself, there will be no Israel left. They will be wiped out forever. I think there needs to be peace, but there needs to be international pressure put on Syria and Iran who are likely supplying Hamas with weapons to stop supporting them or it will be considered an act of war. But the United States seems to be the only nation defending Israel internationally, and I fear that on January 20th they will have no allies left. If Israel loses it's last ally, I suspect they will begin launching pre-emptive nuclear strikes. I hope I'm wrong. I hope this conflict can come to a peaceful resolution, and I pray for peace in the middle east. But somehow, I don't think it will happen.

Barack the Magic Negro

2008-12-29T12:54:00.003-06:00

There was a CNN blog post about Chip Saltzman and the Paul Shanklin parody song, 'Barack the Magic Negro'. For some reason this is now an issue when the song came out nearly two years ago. It came from an LA Times column which was questioning whether Barack Obama was 'black enough'. The song is sung by Shanklin, as Al Sharpton, and it is taking the angle of Sharpton claiming that Obama isn't 'black enough'. If we get off the PC train, and take all of these things into account, the song is pretty funny. Here is the contents of my CNN comment which will very likely not be posted there:

"The Democrats need to come off their high horse and realized that the Democrat party is the party with racism issues. The Republican Party was founded as an abolition party. The Republican Party had the the first delegate cast a ballot for a black man, Frederick Douglass. The Republican party got civil rights passed, since a majority of Dems voted against civil rights. The Dems are the party with a sitting Senator who is a former member (not likely reformed) of the KKK.

Conservatives believe all men (and women) are created equal and it is our actions that separate us. Liberals want to force equality on everyone.

The song "Barack the Magic Negro" was taken from an LA Times column and is clearly satirical. The libs need to come off of their high horse and get over themselves. It was not a diss aimed at Obama anyway, it was a diss aimed at the irreverent Al Sharpton and the other 'race hustlers'.

"There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do do not want to lose their jobs. "
Booker T. Washington"

Merry Christmas! 2008

2008-12-24T23:14:00.003-06:00

Ok, so I just realized that the tree is not lighted in this picture so there's that. But another bit of info is that the tree in the picture (at the tree farm) is not the same one that we brought home. We have gone for three years to the same tree farm to get our Christmas tree. This year, we found our tree took some pictures and cut it down. We put the tag on it and the guys take it to where you pay, they shake it out, bag it up and you grab it and pay by the height. Sounds simple right? That's what I thought so we went into their Christmas Cottage and looked at their merchandise. There was lots of cool stuff, but what I really liked were these boxes that have gold, frankenscence and myrrh. Really nice. Anyway, some time later we go to get our tree, but it's not there. There was a tree with a ticket that was almost the same as ours, I don't remember the exact numbers but it might have ended in 378 and ours was 387. At any rate, if someone had a moment of dyslexia, they might have paid for, and taken, the tree that we took our picture in front of. I was pretty upset and frustrated and frankly ready to go home, but I knew we didn't have another day where we'd be able to go. I work most weekends and with Carmen working days and me working evenings, it was really the last day to reasonably get a tree. So we trudged back out, searched for another tree, cut it down, and followed it the whole way this year.

As a note to Linda, there are tree stands which will adjust your tree for you. You lock the tree into one part which sits in the base. The base has a certain amount of swivel to it so that you can adjust as necessary. It's the best $30 investment on Christmas supplies that we've made.

Three Woes for Babylon, by Andy Confer

2008-12-12T23:43:00.004-06:00

Andy’s book, Three Woes for Babylon: Revelation the Same, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, is excellent for anyone new to the book of Revelation, as well as those who’ve read many commentaries on Revelation. While delving into the hidden points that can be difficult to understand, (or even notice) buried in the scriptures, Andy never forgets what is truly important about Revelation or any other book of the Bible. What is the core of Revelation? What did John attempt to communicate to those who were to receive this wonderful revelation of encouragement? What did God want to communicate to every disciple from the late first century, to today, until the Day of the Return of our Lord? So many books on Revelation will break down the scriptures in an impractical or inaccurate fashion. Andy’s exegesis gives the reader insight without confusion. He does not; “Miss the forest for the trees”. The trees are lovely, and we should examine them, but not at the expense of admiring the beautiful forest that is Revelation.

If you have never studied Revelation, you will get a great deal out of this book as Andy explains some of the finer mysteries of John’s Apocalypse. If you’ve read many commentaries on Revelation, you will almost certainly discover something you’ve never read or noticed before. Not only does Andy look at the symbolic and historical aspects of this great work, he makes the scriptures relevant to the reader. Whether you are a layman or a scholar, there is something new for you to discover. This book also addresses some of the alternative viewpoints on Revelation, and makes an excellent case as to why the ‘Mainstream’ theories on Revelation are inaccurate, or just plain false. Andy speaks to a number of the false doctrines that Denominational ‘Christianity’ has inaccurately derived from passages in Revelation, as well as scriptures which are inappropriately fused with other scriptures in the Bible. Andy does not mince words, and writes with a conviction that has been forged over decades of dedicated service to the Lord.

After spending many years working on this book, Andy has compiled a commentary which not only addresses the details of Revelation, but also seriously and clearly discusses what is truly important about this beautiful work of God. After you finish reading, you will understand what God really meant for you to understand, and you will discover many wonderful and fascinating details along the way.

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-04T11:38:00.006-06:00

I saw this video on CNN and I challenge ReckNHavic to come up with a better Christmas light display.

I know Reck goes to great lengths to make his Christmas display 'complete', but I don't know if I've seen a better one than this. It seems even better that the one that one of the beer companies used in a commercial.

hattip to CNN's iReport.

Non-Violent Protest???

2008-11-18T01:02:00.002-06:00

William Ayers was recently on "Good Morning America" and was interviewed and questioned about his relationship with President-Elect Barack Obama, and about his involvement with the terrorist organization, The Weather Underground. In the interview, Ayers does not deny his involvement, continues to say that the group did not do enough and has the audacity to say that the bombings of the US Capitol, Pentagon, NYPD Headquarters and other bombings (some of which targeted individual citizens) were non-violent. I don't know what kind of parallel universe this guy lives in, but blowing up buildings, killing and injuring innocent Americans is violent. He was 'angry' about the Vietnam War. Unfortunately nations take up arms against other nations. It is unfortunate that wars happen, but at times they are necessary and wars have existed since before recorded History. However, saying that bombing a building such as the NY Police Headquarters is non-violent and saying that soldiers in combat fighting to stop tyranny IS violent is ridiculous. How this man is allowed to be a college professor is beyond me. I can understand his disagreement with the Vietnam War, though I think the Vietnam War was a just war that was fought bravely and honorably by America's finest and poorly by bureaucrats in Washington. However his claims that the Weather Underground's actions were more noble than the men and women of the United States Armed Forces defending the freedom of South Vietnam are deplorable.

The Race

2008-11-16T00:18:00.002-06:00

I'm reading a book called, Dare to Dream Again, and it is an encouraging book for anyone, but especially anyone who is down. If you are feeling depressed, attacked, accused, etc., the book is a great one to read. This poem by D.H. Groberg is in the book, and I really like it, and wanted to share it here.

Whenever I start to hang my head in front of failure’s face,
my downward fall is broken by the memory of a race.
A children’s race, young boys, young men; how I remember well,
excitement sure, but also fear, it wasn’t hard to tell.
They all lined up so full of hope, each thought to win that race
or tie for first, or if not that, at least take second place.
Their parents watched from off the side, each cheering for their son,
and each boy hoped to show his folks that he would be the one.

The whistle blew and off they flew, like chariots of fire,
to win, to be the hero there, was each young boy’s desire.
One boy in particular, whose dad was in the crowd,
was running in the lead and thought “My dad will be so proud.”
But as he speeded down the field and crossed a shallow dip,
the little boy who thought he’d win, lost his step and slipped.
Trying hard to catch himself, his arms flew everyplace,
and midst the laughter of the crowd he fell flat on his face.
As he fell, his hope fell too; he couldn’t win it now.
Humiliated, he just wished to disappear somehow.

But as he fell his dad stood up and showed his anxious face,
which to the boy so clearly said, “Get up and win that race!”
He quickly rose, no damage done, behind a bit that’s all,
and ran with all his mind and might to make up for his fall.
So anxious to restore himself, to catch up and to win,
his mind went faster than his legs. He slipped and fell again.
He wished that he had quit before with only one disgrace.
“I’m hopeless as a runner now, I shouldn’t try to race.”

But through the laughing crowd he searched and found his father’s face
with a steady look that said again, “Get up and win that race!”
So he jumped up to try again, ten yards behind the last.
“If I’m to gain those yards,” he thought, “I’ve got to run real fast!”
Exceeding everything he had, he regained eight, then ten...
but trying hard to catch the lead, he slipped and fell again.
Defeat! He lay there silently. A tear dropped from his eye.
“There’s no sense running anymore! Three strikes I’m out! Why try?
I’ve lost, so what’s the use?” he thought. “I’ll live with my disgrace.”
But then he thought about his dad, who soon he’d have to face.

“Get up,” an echo sounded low, “you haven’t lost at all,
for all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.
Get up!” the echo urged him on, “Get up and take your place!
You were not meant for failure here! Get up and win that race!”
So, up he rose to run once more, refusing to forfeit,
and he resolved that win or lose, at least he wouldn’t quit.
So far behind the others now, the most he’d ever been,
still he gave it all he had and ran like he could win.
Three times he’d fallen stumbling, three times he rose again.
Too far behind to hope to win, he still ran to the end.

They cheered another boy who crossed the line and won first place,
head high and proud and happy -- no falling, no disgrace.
But, when the fallen youngster crossed the line, in last place,
the crowd gave him a greater cheer for finishing the race.
And even though he came in last with head bowed low, unproud,
you would have thought he’d won the race, to listen to the crowd.
And to his dad he sadly said, “I didn’t do so well.”
“To me, you won,” his father said. “You rose each time you fell.”

And now when things seem dark and bleak and difficult to face,
the memory of that little boy helps me in my own race.
For all of life is like that race, with ups and downs and all.
And all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.
And when depression and despair shout loudly in my face,
another voice within me says, “Get up and win that race!”

D.H. Groberg

One More Reason to Homeschool

2008-11-08T10:05:00.005-06:00

The election is over. Barack Obama won, and congratulations to him and his supporters. So long as his policies don't conflict with the constitution or my moral compass, I will support him. I will point it out when he is wrong, but he will very soon be MY President, and as such deserves every respect of the office to which he was elected. It is unfortunate that too many people did not give George Bush the same courtesy. I hope that all people on the right will do the same, and support their new president.

With that said, here is a video, which shows how tenure is a bad idea in schools. Spending in schools over the last 40 years has more than doubled, yet the results are the same. In 1970 we were spending an average of $4,060 per student in 2006-2007 dollars. In 2005, we were spending $9,266. (Heritage Foundation) While there have been slight improvements in performance by age 9, by age 13 and 17 those gains in performance drop off to at or below performance levels in 1970. Obviously throwing more money at schools is not working. But tenure and the teachers unions have made it nearly impossible to get rid of teachers that are not performing. Here is a video of a teacher who is an Obama supporter, who needs to be let go from her teaching job. What she does to the little girl who says she supports John McCain is embarrassing, and alone should be cause for administrative discipline at a minimum. But that's not how it usually works in American public schools nowadays. Most kids get stuck in liberalism factories and are taught WHAT to think, not HOW to think. I know this is not representative of all teachers, and I know not all schools are bad schools. But there are too many for the next generation to come out better than they were 40-50 years ago.

Hattip for the video to www.Glennbeck.com

2008-10-30T16:28:00.005-05:00

If you are an avid reader of my blog, (all three of you) you might be wondering what happened to my advertising. Well I amassed a grand total of about $6.00 in advertising revenue, and they don't cut you a check unless you get at least $10.00. So the money wasn't really an issue, but even if my blog was bringing in significant revenue, I would have had to stop the ads after the ad that was up today. In the past, there had been ads that I didn't care for, but today, google crossed the line. Now I know that they just pick keywords, but there should be some sort of context assigned. There was an ad for a Pro-Death website, howmuchtime.org. I really don't know how they get a .org web address, but it is what it is. Anyway, here is a copy of my e-mail to the website, which asks how much prison time a woman should get who gets an abortion.

Your question is; "How much time?" I'd say life. Life in prison for the life she chose to destroy. Life in prison for the doctor who actually carried it out. A woman's right to privacy does not trump the child's right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. No person's right to privacy trumps the health and welfare of another. Since you decided to advertise on my blog, you will get an earful from me. 45,000,000 murders in the United States alone, all sanctioned by the radical, left-wing agenda, and allowed to go on by the silent masses. I will be silent no longer! Roe v. Wade will be overturned, or this nation will be torn apart, either from within or by our enemies. Abortion has no place in a moral, civilized society, and every nation that permits it will eventually be torn apart. The question should be; "How much time before God passes His judgment on this nation?"

So maybe you can tell I was a little ticked off. But I feel that unless we overturn abortion, which has taken more lives than Hitler, Pol Pot and Mao Tse Tung combined, just in America, this nation will be torn apart. Now as the election approaches, there is a choice for those who are Pro-Life. While this issue is not the only reason for my McCain vote, it is one reason. Obama's record on abortion is monstrous. But I think it goes to a bigger issue of character. Obama seems to do whatever he wants to gain power. He said he would take public financing, and then he reneged. This may seem like a small thing, but it is just one more little bit of proof that his word means nothing. If his word means nothing, how can we believe him when he says he cares about the middle class. And if he is willing to let a child suffocate or starve to death, who's next? The elderly? The handicapped? If he won't stand up for the innocent, who will he stand up for? When analyzing his past, I foresee an Obama Presidency (I think McCain still has a shot, and stands a good chance of pulling this election out BTW) as leading us down the path to a socialist or fascist state.

I know the useful idiots on the left don't believe this, but Mussolini was a Communist. He used fascism as a means to gain and hold power, and the roots of fascism, in Italy at least, were a leftist brand of fascism. I previously thought that Obama reminded me more of Jimmy Carter and even entered this as my answer to the poll question I had up last week. But I'm starting to think that he is more like Mussolini, and will be the last nail in America's coffin if we don't wake up. The brand of liberalism Obama prescribes to is the type that nearly destroyed Europe. An Obama Government is not likely to be any different, unless he is stopped. Nevertheless, he could be the result of our nation's indifference to abortion. I hope this is not the case, and we wake up soon. It's not too late to end Obama's run. Vote McCain now! McCain is not perfect, or even a real conservative, but Obama is the most radical Presidential candidate in the history of the United States. He needs to be stopped, and so does abortion. Call or e-mail your congressman and tell them to put forward legislation to make abortion illegal. Even if it doesn't get out of committee, it needs to be put forward, before it's too late.

Redistribution of Wealth

2008-10-28T08:59:00.002-05:00

This is from an interview with a Chicago radio station in 2001. If you listen carefully (well maybe you won't have to be so careful) you'll notice that Obama thinks that the constitution is flawed. He says that the constitution says what the government and states can't do, but doesn't say what they have to do for the people.

"Ask not what uh, er, you can do for your uh, country. Uh, Ask what does my uh, government, owe ME?"

Joe Biden puts his foot in his mouth...again.

2008-10-28T00:44:00.004-05:00

I've heard this story from so many places I don't really know who to give credit to. Beck, Limbaugh, Boortz, Levin. I don't know, you pick.

Senator Obama, speaking to Joe (the plumber) Wurzelbacher:

OBAMA: It's not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they have got a chance at success, too. I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody.

Senator Biden, speaking to Barbara West at WFTV News:

WEST: You may recognize this famous quote: From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs. That's from Karl Marx. How is Senator Obama not being a Marxist if he intends to spread the wealth around?

BIDEN: Are you joking? Is this a joke?

WEST: No.

BIDEN: Or is that a real question?

WEST: That's a question.

BIDEN: He is not spreading the wealth around. He is talking about giving the middle class an opportunity to get back the tax breaks they used to have.

Eh? Senator Biden, anyone in the nation who is paying attention to this election heard Obama tell Joe the plumber that an Obama Administration would 'spread the wealth around'. Where have you been? I know your foot is almost permanently placed in your mouth, but, MY GOODNESS! You are either a liar, an idiot or ignorant. In the position you are running for, I don't know which is worse, but none of the above would be good for America.

Just a fact check for Joe Biden. The Bush Administration gave EVERY American a tax break. Senator Obama will allow the Bush tax cuts to expire, which will be a tax increase for every American family making over $25,000. But Obama's not going to raise taxes....riiiiggghtttt.

Jindal '12

2008-10-27T02:15:00.004-05:00

Why John McCain did not pick Bobby Jindal for his running mate is anyone's guess. Though many conservatives have fallen in love (figuratively and in some cases literally) with Sarah Palin, let's look at Bobby Jindal's credentials: (from US News & World Report.com )

1. The son of immigrants from India's Punjab state, Jindal made history when he became the first U.S. governor with roots in India.

2. Born Piyush Jindal in Baton Rouge in 1971, he gave himself the nickname Bobby—after the youngest son on The Brady Bunch—when he was 4.

3. Raised a Hindu, Jindal converted to Catholicism as a teenager. As a young convert, he wrote of the emotional and intellectual struggles of his spiritual journey in several articles that were published in the New Oxford Review, a Catholic magazine.

4. Jindal graduated from Baton Rouge High School in 1987. He attended Brown University, graduating with honors in biology and public policy. He turned down admissions to medical and law schools at Harvard and Yale to attend Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar.

5. While attending Oxford, Jindal contemplated joining the priesthood. He ultimately decided that it was not for him.

6. In 2006, Jindal and his wife, Supriya, delivered their third child at home. Barely able to call 911 before the delivery, Jindal received a nurse's coaching by phone. Just as he was completing the umbilical cord procedure with a shoestring, paramedics arrived. The Jindals have a daughter and two sons.

7. Before he turned 30, Jindal headed Louisiana's Department of Health and Hospitals and became president of the University of Louisiana System. He served in the Department of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush and was executive director of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare in the late '90s. Prior to public service, Jindal worked for the consulting firm McKinsey & Co.

8. In 2003, Gov. Mike Foster, who was finishing his second consecutive term and therefore could not run again, encouraged Jindal to run for governor. Defeated by Democrat Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, Jindal's first bid for governor was unsuccessful.

9. In 2004, he sought the congressional seat from Louisiana's First District. He won with a whopping 78 percent of the vote and was re-elected in 2006 with almost 90 percent.

10. In 2007, Jindal ran for governor again and won. The victory was largely attributed to old-fashioned politicking, which included Jindal "giving testimony" in Pentecostal and Baptist churches in rural and remote sections of Louisiana.

While Sarah Palin DOES have more executive experience than Obama, McCain and Biden combined, so does Bobby Jindal. He has legislative experience and a little executive experience. But he has such a broad scope of experience that it would be hard for him to be attacked by the likes of the liberals who are attacking Sarah Palin currently. But perhaps it is destined to be. Some have said that we needed Jimmy Carter to get Ronald Reagan. Maybe we need Barack Hussein Obama to get the next great conservative, Bobby Jindal.

Congratulations 'My Friend'

2008-10-16T10:30:00.003-05:00

To Senator McCain:

Congratulations my friend. You did well in the debate, last night. I think you finally won outright. I think, substance wise you have been winning, but you have come across as robotic, cantankerous, and choppy and have said, 'my friends' far too often. Last night, you articulated your points better, taking Senator Obama to task on many occasions. Probably not enough for my liking, but probably as much as the debate format would allow. There are still people out there who do not yet understand that Senator Obama is the second coming of Jimmy Carter, or even worse, Benito Mussolini. His desire to socialize everything is plain wrong and un-American.

Senator McCain, you said last night that you are a Federalist. This was a profound statement. Stating the differences between Federalism and Socialism could win you the election. The federal government has grown too big for its britches, (much like many of the American People) and has exceeded its constitutional mandate. We need to get it in check. Please go back in the direction of true constitutional government, and draw the line between yourself and Senator Obama on these issues. As much as the American people should be shocked and appalled by Obama's connections with William Ayers, Tony Rezko, Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farrakhan and Raila Odinga, they, for some reason do not care. But I believe that Americans do believe in the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, they just don't know what the documents say. These two documents along with the Magna Carta are probably the greatest documents in the history of the world with the only exception being the Holy Bible. People respect these documents, tell them what was written 225 years ago, how you will uphold these documents, and how Senator Obama will not.

The Other "Fairness Doctrine"

2008-09-19T12:13:00.003-05:00

Glenn Beck, in an interview with David Freddoso, author of "The Case Against Barack Obama" asked Freddosso about Obama's tax plans, which are constantly changing by the way. Here is a copy of the transcript of the interview.

GLENN: David, can we start with the economy with Barack Obama and the difference of what Barack Obama sees in the economy. How is he different than the politics of old as he calls them, the politics of failed policy?

FREDDOSO: Well, I would say and thanks for having me again, Glenn.

GLENN: Sure.

FREDDOSO: I would say that he, on economics he has rose from a typical populist anti free trade sort of position in a higher tax position that pretty much ignores the incentives involved in government tax policy. As you know, when you raise marginal tax rates, you are basically making it more difficult for small businesses. You are creating extra expenses for them and that means that wages tend to go up more slowly and perhaps even people get laid off if you have a major shift upward in the upper marginal rates. Because the people who hire other people are the ones making the large income. That is part of Obama's tax policy is to raise the top marginal rates.

GLENN: Okay, now wait a minute. Hang on just a second.

FREDDOSO: Yes.

GLENN: A lot of people don't understand, and I know you just explained. A lot of people don't understand that this is bad. Have you and I know this is past when your book came out but can you document here at all on how Barack Obama has changed his position?

FREDDOSO: Yes.

GLENN: on that top marginal rate.

FREDDOSO: Well, you know, he even he went on Stephanopoulos just a couple of weekends ago and when asked about if we go into a recession, would you raise taxes and his answer was, well, maybe not if we go into a recession. So he's already implying here that he understands raising taxes hurts people but he is willing to do it anyway as long as we're not in a recession already.

GLENN: And he's doing it for a reason of what he calls basic fairness.

FREDDOSO: Yes.

GLENN: Do you remember when he was go ahead.

FREDDOSO: Of course, you are referring to when he was asked by Charlie Gibson, I believe, about the capital gains tax, and he wants to raise the capital gains tax. He said he wants it to go up to maybe 28%. Right now it's 15%. When you raise the capital gains tax, historically revenues go down because people engage in fewer transactions when the marginal when the capital gains rate is high. So in fact, every time that rate has been cut, the government revenues have increased and so Charlie Gibson asked him, well, if raising this tax doesn't actually raise more money for the government, why are you going to do it. And Obama's answer was fairness. So now we have a government I mean, and this is you could say this is a great indicator of socialism. You have the government trying to make the economy more fair by hurting some people and not helping the others. It's a kind of laughable situation you could say.

END TRANSCRIPT

So essentially, Obama knows that raising taxes is bad for the economy. It doesn't bring more revenues, it doesn't create jobs. Raising taxes lowers revenues if anything. It also is a surefire way to lose jobs. If you raise taxes on small business, small business owners will lay people off, making more people dependent on the government, yet the government will have less money to take care of the additional people who need government assistance. So Obama wants to hurt the rich, (of which he is a member) without helping the poor all in the name of 'fairness'. I suppose it's fair if he screws everybody. (except the Marxists, I'm sure his plans include tax breaks for the Marxists) I thought Obama's supporters were the 'educated' class in America. I'm not sure what kind of education his supporters have, but it must not have included research.

Born Alive Truth

2008-09-15T23:08:00.004-05:00

I've heard about Obama's 'work' in the Illinois legislature where he stopped a bill from coming out of committee that would have ended the disgusting practice of infanticide. I believe all abortions are infanticide, however Obama opposed providing care even to children born ALIVE due to failed abortions. Even the Pro-Abortion group NARAL did not oppose this legislation, either the Illinois bill or the Federal Bill, which were virtually identical.

I've only just today found out about this website http://www.bornalivetruth.org/. There is a video on the website with ads that will be running. I also have posted a video here from the O'Reilly Factor in 2000 with Jill Stanek, who has spearheaded this fight to give rights to those who need it most, to those who can't fight for themselves; victims of failed abortions and subsequent suffocation due to indifference and political posturing from people like Barack Obama.

If you call yourself a Christian and you plan on voting for Obama, think again. He is not a Christian! No Christian could possibly allow children born alive to suffocate for hours until they die! If you vote for Obama, this is the tip of the iceberg. I'll leave his radical socialist and communist policies for other posts. This issue is too important and crucial to just leave alone. People need to know how far he is willing to go to gain, and keep power; even to abandoning infants, leaving the to die like an insect. If this were done to a dog or a cat, it would be a felony, but apparently a human life isn't as valuable to a certain Senator from Illinois.

This video was from before the bill was kept from a vote in Illinois, and before the Federal Law passed. Obama would not allow the Induced Infant Liability Act (the Illinois bill), which would protect children born due to failed abortions, out of his committee. When babies are born alive, (due to these failed late-term abortions) they are left to die. Senator Obama is lying about his record on this, and Christians who are considering voting for him better wake up! Obama does not answer tough questions directly. He stutters and stumbles around, talks for a few minutes and never answers the question. He has no convictions! You may disagree with John McCain. I do on many issues. But McCain knows what he believes, and he has convictions. Obama is not as forthcoming; hiding his motives behind empty rhetoric in his slick speeches and stuttering ramblings during face-to-face interviews. If he is willing to sit idly by and watch an infant die a death of suffocation, left alone like a piece of trash, what makes anyone think he really cares about the middle class and the poor? He doesn't. Here is one of MANY articles which show his disdain for human life, and gives more details of his despicable actions in the Illinois Legislature.

New York: Day Six

2008-09-11T12:09:00.006-05:00

You may be thinking; "What happened to Days 3, 4 and 5?" Well be patient grasshopper, they'll be coming soon. But on today, September 11th I felt that I needed to post this. I didn't know if we'd get to go to ground zero, but the night before we left, we had an opportunity to go. We went with with Carmen's sister and her husband. He works for a construction company so he had some cool insight into the crane incidents and he had worked on a few projects near the ground zero. The last time I went to New York, over 7 years ago, the towers were still standing, and I even got a good look at them as my plane flew into JFK from Seattle over Giants Stadium and lower Manhattan. I had no idea that would be the last time I'd see them that close. On that trip 7 years ago, besides my flight, I would only see the towers from the Whitestone Bridge.

The picture to the left is the 'progress that has been made so far. It's pretty pathetic if you ask me. But the politicization of the process of selecting a memorial and a new design for the freedom tower have apparently bogged down construction significantly. Hopefully they will have it finished by the 10th anniversary as Mayor Bloomberg is pushing for. We'll see.

The pictures at the top are on the fire station next to ground zero. It was a pretty impressive memorial and the pictures don't do it justice. As a side note, I think all the firefighters at the station were Irish because they talked like the policeman at the zoo in 'Lady and the Tramp'.

After we left, we went to the South Street Seaport and took some pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge (which didn't come out) and the waterfalls around the city which they have temporarily put up. It was pretty cool. The day was generally a cool day. We pretty much relaxed that day and hung out before we went to Manhattan. I may go into more detail about that later, but I really wanted to get something up today, before I go to work.

New York: Day Two

2008-09-06T23:24:00.009-05:00

Day two started off slower than I'd have liked. We were up a little late, but of course we stayed out late the night before. We finally got going and headed to the subway to take the train to the Museum of Natural History. We got to the museum which I didn't realize had it's own entrance from the subway, gave our donation (which was significantly less than the suggested donation) and began looking around. We saw the Earth science section which unfortunately had its own section designed by an Al Gore acolyte, but had some really cool stuff otherwise. As Carmen and I were talking about it, some people were giving us strange looks. Oh well, liberals.

Next we went to the North American Mammals exhibit which had some impressive displays of caribou, moose, bears, mountain lions and any other wild animal you can think of in North America. The detail was fantastic, and having not been there since I was a kid it was a great experience seeing it again.
We also went to see the sea creatures, African Mammals and Dinosaur exhibits, and they were all done in spectacular fashion. About half-way through our museum tour we went outside to get some lunch and we had more hot dogs, again good, but no crunch and a pretzel and went across the street to the shade of Central Park. From there, and upon going back into the museum I got these pictures.

One of the TR quotes in the entrance hall didn't come out, but I love all of the quotes. I especially like the endings.

I'll write them out here. In speaking of manhood TR said: "Only those are fit to live who do not fear to die, and none are fit to die who have shrunk from the joy of life and the duty of life."

In speaking of the State TR said: "If I must choose between righteousness and peace, I choose righteousness."

On Nature he said: "Conservation means development as much as it does protection."

On Youth (the picture didn't come out right) he said: "Character in the long run is the deciding factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike."

After we left the museum we were waiting for Carmen's sister to come pick us up. Carmen hadn't seen her in about 12 years and even though they didn't grow up together, they have a lot in common. We hung out in Central Park until she got there, and we lied in the grass, (which you can't do most places in Texas right now) and watched the kids play.

After her sister picked us up, we made the drive out to Yonkers and hung out at their apartment for the afternoon. Isabella and her cousin Andrew hit it off and we talked to Carmen's sister and her husband for awhile. We took the kids to the playground down the street and hung out for awhile. Eventually we had to leave because they were going to Pennsylvania the next day and we had yet another busy day lined up. I paid excellent attention to the route Sasha (he's Russian) took back to Queens and we talked for awhile while Carmen and the kids watched a movie in the back of their 'fancy van'. The way to get to the part of Queens where Carmen's mom lives is different from
the parts of Queens I used to go to, and we were going to Connecticut the next day. But we finally got back home, went to bed and were getting ready for day three.

Reagan Redivivus???

2008-09-06T10:20:00.004-05:00

I don't know, I'm still not sold on Sarah Palin. I think conservatives are treating her almost like liberals are treating Obama. She is not being scrutinized enough. It's not enough to feel good about a candidate, we have to also make sure that what we are being fed by the media is accurate.

There's no question that the left is on a mission to destroy her, but conservatives are on a mission to paint her as Reagan Redivivus. I really don't know about her. She's not terribly experienced. I admit that she has more executive experience, which is what counts at this point, than Obama, McCain and Biden combined. I don't know that that's saying much though.

Now getting to the issue of family. I know that every Republican is staying away from this subject but I can not, because it does give a glimpse into her character, if even a small one. I believe that the most important relationship outside of the relationship with God is with your spouse, and then with your children. I also know that kids will be kids, and kids will be rebellious, but I'm not sure about this situation. In talking about Jamie Lynn Spears, the tool Bill O'Reilly classically said it's the parents fault. (hattip to lafin gas over at TBSN) Now certainly there is a much different dynamic in the Spears family than the Palin's. But shouldn't we even question it? Why is this getting a pass? Imagine if Chelsea Clinton turned up pregnant during Bill Clinton's time in office. There would have been a media firestorm.

I'm not saying that she's necessarily a bad choice, she could turn out to be a great choice. But I'm not sold yet. I don't get how people like James Dobson are not even questioning her on this. Now, because we're talking about a conservative candidate, teenage pregnancy is a 'family' issue. If it was a liberal though, the same people would be questioning the parenting and family values in that home, and say how it's a reflection of society in general. Family values in America have been thrown out the window and have been trampled and stomped on. The Spears' family is probably part of the problem, and certainly a reflection of the problem. But, the overall lack of parenting in America is primarily to blame.

We let daycare, schools and TV raise our kids nowadays. What they see as normal is the rot that comes in through the TV. Even if you raise your kids properly, if they go to school, they are still subjected to that filth by the kids whose parents don't care. The vast majority of schools are not helping. They either are contributing to the problem by not teaching kids critical thinking skills or they are indoctrinating kids into liberalism outright.

Back to Sarah Palin. I believe that she is a mother who truly cares about her kids and wants the best for her kids. But I do wonder if her parental choices would be getting a pass from conservatives if she was a Democrat. Are 'values voters' really convinced that her parenting is what it should be, or has the full-frontal assault by conservative pundits and commentators guilting conservatives into believing that she's the real deal? I don't mean to bash her, but there are serious problems that are visible. Our culture has devolved to the point that you are a hate-monger for asking serious questions. I know that there is no perfect candidate, and in this election cycle there were certainly fewer decent ones than usual, but my question is this: Should we be looking into her personal life for insight into what kind of Vice President she will be? I say yes. Rudy Giuliani's failed marriages have been brought into question and no one complained about that. As have Fred Thompson's and John McCain's. While I don't think her family situation should disqualify her, I think it should be debated. Debate is not bad. Questioning is not bad. It should either refine the candidate and make them better or show them to be unqualified. Either way, it is better for America.

New York: Day One

2008-09-05T01:19:00.003-05:00

Day one started at midnight. I worked the evening before we left and when I got home, it was time to pack, get about 3 hours sleep and head to the airport. The flight was smooth except the landing was rougher than I'm used to, but all in all, pretty good. We were waiting for awhile after we landed, because my mother in law was at the wrong terminal to pick us up. If anyone has ever been to JFK, you may know that it is a labyrinth and an airport that was designed a long time ago, struggling to make it into the 21st century as the busiest airport in the most important city in the world. Anyway, she finally found us, we went to her place, had lunch, got settled in and I took a nap as Carmen took the kids for a walk around the old neighborhood. Awwww Yeahhhh! Hollis Son! (Insert RunDMC song here)

That night we went on a date to a raw food restaurant. The prices were high, but I attribute that partly to the cost of the ingredients and partly to the fact that the restaurant is in a trendy neighborhood in Manhattan. The food was incredible and quite honestly worth every penny. If you're ever in Manhattan and want to try excellent food, go to Pure Food and Wine. After that, we decided to walk the 25 blocks or so to Times Square. It was a great walk and a nice night. (it was in the 70's :D )

On the way I was thinking that I haven't had a real New York Hot Dog in a long time and there's nothing better to top off a great dinner of raw fruits, vegetables and nuts formed into delectable goodness than a common NY Hot Dog, from your friendly Sabrett street vendors of course. I have to admit though, I was a little disappointed. I remember that the thing I loved about the Hot Dogs from the Sabrett vendors is that they would crunch when you bite into them. I don't know why, and I probably don't want to know why, but there would be a very distinct crunch. The crunch was not there, and after 7 years of waiting I was of course very disappointed.

When we got to Times Square, it was probably about 11 at night, but you couldn't tell. The city there is lit up like it's 4 in the afternoon with massive ads all over the place. One thing that our family is sensitive to is advertisements. We don't have TV so our advertisement load is limited to the Internet (which I don't pay that much attention to advertisements on) and billboards. But New York takes advertising to the next level. In Times Square I suppose I expected it, but what really shocked me on this trip was ads on bridges, in subways and anywhere else that is conceivable (or even inconceivable)

We walked around for a little while and went into the massive Virgin Records store, looked around for awhile and decided to make the trek back to Queens. On the way to the Subway, we saw some impressive art. A guy with a can of spray paint was creating some impressive skylines of NY, complete with WTC 1&2. (More on the WTC later) Then we hit the subway and a bus back to Hollis. Anyway that's Day One.

Who's Right?

2008-08-25T10:05:00.003-05:00

I caught this article on Yahoo!, which talks about the Farmer's Almanac predicting a much colder winter this year which is at odds with what is being said by the global warming Kool-Aid drinkers (The National Weather Service) . Now I'm betting that the Farmer's Almanac is right, because the Kool-Aid drinkers have been wrong for that last 3 hurricane seasons and the Almanac is right about 80-85% of the time.

Thank You Obama

2008-08-23T10:23:00.002-05:00

On Thursday, August 21st Barack Obama gave us this little nugget of wisdom:

"Everybody's watching what's going on in Beijing right now with the Olympics , Think about the amount of money that China has spent on infrastructure. Their ports, their train systems, their airports are vastly the superior to us now, which means if you are a corporation deciding where to do business you're starting to think, "Beijing looks like a pretty good option."

I would like to say thank you to Barack Obama. Thank you for making it clear to us what you really want. You continue hinting at your push for socialism. This is just one more example. So you want the government to control healthcare, you want government control of energy, and you want a communist style government to work on infrastructure? Thank you Barack for not hiding who you really are.

I do have a question for you though Senator. Why does China look like a good option for business? Is it because wages and tax rates are lower? But you want to raise taxes Senator. Do you want to make China look like an even better option for business? Or will you deny that when you become Grand Exalted Premier? You have also said that you think we shouldn't even have elections, this one from a speech in (where else) San Francisco this past week:

“Now, you want to win. And saying it doesn’t make it so,” he said. “It would be nice to think that after eight years of economic disaster, after eight years of bungled foreign policy, of being engaged in a war that should never have been authorized and should never have been waged, that cost us a trillion dollars and thousands of lives, that people would say, ‘Let’s toss the bums out. Toss the bums out, we’re starting from scratch, we’re starting over. This is not working.’ ”
and “So I understand why a lot of folks are saying, ‘This should just happen. Why are we having to run all these television commercials? Why do we have to raise all this money? Just read the papers. These are the knuckleheads who have been in charge. Throw ’em out.’ But American politics aren’t that simple.”

No Senator, American politics aren't that simple. We have these things called elections. In elections, the American people get an opportunity to vote. What's funny is that unlike places you like to look up to, like China and the Soviet Union, there is usually more than one person running in the election. Yes, you do have to go through the primary process, because people have to make sure that whoever they vote for is the best person for the job. Sometimes we get it right, sometimes we don't, and sometimes there isn't a good choice, (like this year) but we always have a say, and an opportunity to vote for who we think is the best. That is unless you become President with a Democrat majority and then you'll just work on getting rid of those pesky elections won't you?

Time Magazine's Man of the Year invades Georgia; Yanks watch Atlanta burn...wait.

2008-08-16T01:03:00.007-05:00

On December 26th 2007, I put up a post about Vladimir Putin, or as George Bush likes to say, "Pootey Poot". As some of my readers know, Putin was selected as Time's "Man of the Year". So how does our esteemed "Man of the Year" follow up last year's success? He says; "Let's take back Georgia." So Soviet aggression is returning now that America is spread thin.

I didn't know a whole lot about the region so I asked the brother who leads our church for some insight. He lived in Russia, the Ukraine (I think you say "the" Ukraine, kind of like "the" Bronx) and Latvia. Apparently the area of South Ossetia is heavily ethnic Russian. It isn't really surprising though as the Soviets would deport a large portion of the population of the countries they conquered, and import Russians. He (our minister) just returned from a few weeks in Latvia and he said that it is best to speak English first, then speak Russian because even though most Latvians speak Russian, they don't like Russians. I'm sure something similar happened in Georgia, making this "war by proxy" far easier due to the ethnic tension inherent in most former Soviet Republics.

So Putin attacks a region of Georgia, a US ally, that is heavily ethnic Russian. The Kremlin is saying that they were provoked. (Yes Comrade! They shot at us! really? no not really.) I highly doubt that, but if it is true, it is probably only because Russia was putting its troops along the Georgian border. It is a messy situation for the US though, because we don't want to be meddling in a situation that could possibly be perceived similarly to the Kosovo situation in Serbia, but we also don't want to let down our ally, Georgia. I almost wonder if this is payback for the prickly situation that the Russians were put in in Kosovo.

I was in Kosovo immediately after the air war, and the Russians were treated far worse than the Americans. The ethnic Albanians were grateful for the US intervention, and the ethnic Serbs were so irritated at the Russians (who were supposed to be allies of Serbia) that they mostly attacked the Russian peacekeepers instead of messing with the American troops. What America is facing in Georgia is a diplomatic, military and strategic nightmare. We don't really want to provoke Russia as our forces are stretched thin, but neither do we want to abandon our ally, and one of the few capitalist societies remaining on Earth, especially considering its location. Strategically, if Georgia falls, we are losing an allied foothold in the East and a symbol of Freedom, Democracy and Capitalism in the face of 'The Bear'.

Very possibly in response to the Russian action in Georgia, Poland, no doubt remembering its fall at the hands of Hitler's Germany and later at the hands of Stalin's Soviet Union took quick action to allow US defensive missiles into the country. The second Cold War could be brewing, and Poland wants to make sure it is on the right side. But is something even more sinister brewing? Could WW III be on the horizon? Iran, North Korea, and Russia have allied themselves. Are they preparing for war against the West? Is the rest of the world ready? And are we going to send Barack Obama to 'negotiate' with these tyrants. Many conservatives have called Obama "Jimmy Carter II". But I'm even more afraid that he'll be "Neville Chamberlain II".

The Death Penalty

2008-08-05T01:56:00.003-05:00

If I could ever be accused of flip-flopping, it would be on this issue. I have a hard time with this, because I would hope that every person would have the opportunity to be saved, even rapists and murderers. However, when reading about heinous crimes, like this, and this it makes me think that maybe the Death Penalty is a good thing. Right now, I am for the Death Penalty. I believe the government does and should have the right to make the penalty for certain heinous crimes death. The Medellin case is certainly one. I also believe the Cooey case is one. I was not a juror in either, but a jury did hear these cases and appeal after appeal after appeal allowed these executions to go forth. Should they be stopped over a technicality? I don't think so, especially as these technicalities are not of the tampered evidence sort, they are stupid technicalities.

In the case of Cooey, they are saying he is too fat for lethal injection and he might 'suffer' from the effects of the potassium chloride. He might be too fat for the drug that is used to sedate him to work properly. ( BTW, I know an anesthetist who said; "If it doesn't work, I'll just use more.") I'm sure it won't be as bad as the rape and murder of the two young women whose lives he ended. But, if you really want to go down that path, that you're too fat for lethal injection, I have a few alternatives for you; Old Sparky, the Gallows, the Guillotine, a Firing Squad, Concrete Boots, etc. Maybe you should be put on The Rack for a little while before your meeting with the Gallows. Then I think it should all be on Pay Per View, with part of the proceeds going to the victims families, and the rest going to law enforcement and crime prevention. I think if executions were public again, crime would drop significantly.

In the case of Medellin, the (most likely) ACLU lawyers are saying that the Mexican Consulate was never contacted. So they waited 15 years to determine that this illegal immigrant, rapist, murdering scumbag should get a chance to speak to the Mexican consulate? I'm sorry, too late. You should have thought of that 15 years ago. Or 10 years ago. Or 5 years ago. Your time's up pal. As far as listening to international courts, I have this to say; Stay in Europe and call us when you're ready for us to save you again and maybe we'll help you out. Just stay out of American affairs when it comes to the execution of the scum who have voluntarily come here.

I've gotten pretty fired up about this issue because when you see the crimes, any sane person would demand justice. What justice can a state or nation truly give in these types of cases? There is only one justice I can think of here. That is death. If these rapists and murderers repent of their sins and truly come to Jesus, then I say; "Welcome Brother, I'll see you on that Day!" But even if they do TRULY repent, it doesn't change their crimes on Earth, or the consequences that come with their crimes.

One last thing, the arguments against the death penalty are usually that it violates the Eighth Amendment. Specifically, cruel and unusual punishment.

The Eighth Amendment:

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel AND unusual punishments inflicted. (emphasis mine)

I would argue that death for murder is not cruel OR unusual. Most nations throughout history (until recently) have used death as a punishment for certain crimes. I would say death as a punishment is normal. Therefore if a death sentence WAS cruel, (such as being tied to two Hummers going in opposite directions, pulled in half and left for vultures to pick at you) it would still not violate the eighth amendment. It would be cruel, but not unusual. If the penalty for rape was death, it might meet the qualifications of unusual, (though I honestly doubt it) but if it was carried out in a humane manner, ie. lethal injection, it also would not violate the eighth amendment. Just a few things to chew on and start some discussion.

Referendum on Obama?

2008-08-03T08:26:00.006-05:00

I'm not sure who I've heard say this on talk radio, perhaps it's a number of hosts. I'm pretty sure Rush and Levin have both said that this election is not about McCain, but is a referendum on Obama. Surely the journalist who wrote this article picked up on this. Well, I do agree that this election is all about Obama. Obama is hailed as the messiah for the Democrats, but he isn't even cracking 50% in the polls. Perhaps Americans aren't as blind as the Mainstream Media thinks they are. On the outside, it would appear to be a two man race, but really it is just a "Referendum on Obama". Are Obama and his radical policies what America needs (no) or even want? (I hope not)

Even though McCain is the one who picked up the nomination for the Republicans, he was not the choice of conservatives or even of a majority of Republicans. However with no clear-cut conservative candidate, McCain emerged as the guy the largest segment of Republicans (and Democrats who decided to vote in the Republican Primary) chose to vote for. Conservatives were split trying to figure out who, between Romney, Thompson, Giuliani and Huckabee, fit the mold they were looking for. None of them were the star that conservatives hoped for, and McCain emerged as the winner almost by default. It was almost like a 'Battle Royale' and McCain hid in the corner as all the other guys were fighting it out. Once Romney had his back turned, McCain snuck up and pushed him out of the ring.

Coming back to Obama, as he is what this election is about anyway. He is not running away with this election, and the Democrats are stunned. He has received Rock Star treatment and has women swooning over him. Why isn't he running away with this election then? I believe that the more people find out about his policies, the more he scares the crap out of them. His policies sound a whole lot like a watered down version of Marxism. He is so set on raising taxes on the rich to make things "fair" he misses the point. The rich already pay WAY more than what is "fair", but Obama wants to increase it. If Obama wanted the tax structure to be "fair", he would be pushing for the Fair Tax, or some sort of flat tax. No, he wants wealth redistribution. The problem is, wealth redistribution ALWAYS FAILS. If we redistribute wealth, we will lose jobs. Big Business will be forced to move overseas, and small businesses will go out of business. The businesses that stay and survive will not be able to hire as many employees because their tax burden is too high. People will have to work more hours to make ends meet, (if they can find a job) cutting time with family which already is too low in America.

His energy policies are laughable. He (and his party) has done nothing to attempt to bring down oil prices. He says we just need to use less. Well here's the problem Barack, we ARE using less. But at $4.00 a gallon it crushes our wallet no matter how much we cut back. If we all lived in Chicago or New York, it wouldn't matter quite as much, but where regular Americans live, we sometimes have to drive to places like work. Increased fuel and food prices mean we have to cut back on spending, (which hurts the economy) saving and investing, (which hurts our future as well as the economy) or paying bills, which hurts quality of life. The average joe has had to cut back to make ends meet and Obama has offered nothing but this little nugget of wisdom; "put air in your tires". Brilliant, if that is the kind of leadership we can expect for four years of an Obama administration, there's no wonder he isn't cleaning McCain's clock.

I really hate the idea of voting against someone I don't like. I really would like to vote FOR someone I do like. But in order to do that, I'll have to write someone in. I just 'hope' Americans will come to their senses and pay attention to the 'change' that Obama wants to bring to America. It looks a whole lot like Marxism.

Did you vote for these losers?

2008-08-02T01:20:00.002-05:00

Congress today has adjourned for five weeks. The vote to adjourn was 213-212. EVERY Republican voted to keep going until a vote on oil exploration came up. The Democrats say that a vote on drilling won't do anything. Well, I say that's crap! Since President Bush removed the executive ban on drilling, I've seen gas drop 24 cents a gallon. That means when I filled up my tank today, I saved over 3 dollars. That may not sound like a whole lot, but what if Congress opened up drilling? I think the price would probably drop another 50 cents or more. Americans would be saving 10 dollars or more per fill-up. But that's just the beginning. Almost every product from food to toys to clothing gets shipped using gasoline. (or diesel) Bringing down the cost of gas, brings down the cost of food as well. But Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats today said resoundingly, "Screw the American People, and let them pay for the fuel in my jet at $3.80 a gallon!"

I also find it interesting that Congress gets a 5 week summer vacation, when they get all kinds of other vacations throughout the year. I'm curious if the President has the power to call them back. In Texas, the Governor can call the Legislature into session for certain reasons. It is one of the few powers the Governor has. Why doesn't the President call them back, and make them do the job they begged and pleaded with their constituents to do? Truly though, the President shouldn't even have to plead with them, they should be doing it willingly. There is no reason for them to take a 5 week vacation. Maybe 100 years ago, they needed to, so they could get back to their districts, but now they can be back in their districts every weekend if they want, and most of them probably are. No wonder their approval rating is 19%.

Baptism: Condition of Grace

2008-07-24T01:18:00.003-05:00

I hope to be able to properly address the question about: "What is a condition of grace?"

God pours out his grace freely to those willing to accept Jesus as the "way and the truth and the life". (John 14:6) However, believing is not enough. The condition is baptism. Much like if you were given a very large check, but you had to go to the bank to receive it; action is required. Belief alone does not get you all the way there. As Jesus' brother James says; 'I will show you my faith by what I do' (James 2:18) and, 'faith without deeds is dead'. (James 2:26) Simply believing is not enough, your actions should confirm your belief.

While there are a great many scriptures which speak to our salvation being by grace, there are also a number which say that our sins are washed away at baptism. How do we reconcile this? Well, both are true! It is only because of God's grace that we can be saved! We deserve death as a punishment for our sins. However, through Jesus, we can be reconciled to and enter into a relationship with God. If we have faith that Jesus is the Messiah who died for our sins, and then are baptized, our sins will be washed away. Many people will call this a 'work', but I'd have to disagree.

As Gordon Ferguson states in his book Romans: The Heart Set Free (pg 86) the basis of forgiveness is the blood of Jesus, and the condition is baptism. We are saved by grace through the blood of Jesus; this is the basis. The condition to accepting God's grace is baptism. If someone writes you a check and tells you to pick it up at the bank, is it really 'work' to go to the bank and pick it up? Or as Ferguson points out, would you brag to people about 'how hard you worked'? Or would you say, 'I received this check by grace, all I had to do was drive to the bank and pick it up!" I think it's clear that the check is received by grace and not works. But it does take faith and action to go to receive that check just as it takes faith and action to be baptized; "in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins." (Acts 2:38)

I believe the entire (or at least most of the ) problem with the watering down (no pun intended, well initially at least) of baptism is that interpreters of the scriptures have forgotten, disregarded or not paid attention to the original context of the scriptures. It has been said, though I'm not sure by whom, "Scripture can never mean what it never meant." The point is, it can't mean something to us that it didn't mean to the original hearers. God knew that we would be reading Paul's letters to Corinth, Rome, Ephesus, etc. but it DID have meaning to them as well. It wasn't written solely for us. What good would that be to those Christians, and how would that encourage them? Along those lines, if Paul is writing to Christians who have already been baptized, would he really need to go into the details of baptism? It is highly doubtful.

Much like Jesus' rebuke of the CHURCH in Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22) was written to Christians and not non-believers, Paul's letters to Rome, Corinth, Thessalonica, etc. were written to Christians. They may have been children who still needed spiritual milk, but they had already been born again. (John 3:3, 5-7) There was no need for Paul to discuss how one became a Christian, but discussion was necessary as to how one STAYED a Christian. (Paul did bring up baptism throughout some of his letters, but it wasn't a focal point) Paul emphasized grace because the Judaizers were emphasizing observance of the Mosaic Law as necessary for salvation. He was reminding them that death came by the law, and salvation came by God's grace, and observing the Jewish Law would not, and could not save them, but would instead condemn them. He did not need to focus on baptism, because it was moot, as his audience had already been baptized.

Here are a few scriptures which address baptism as a CONDITION of salvation:

"And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name" (Acts 22:16)
Paul is recounting his conversion experience. Paul's sins were washed away at baptism.

"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." (Galatians 3:26-27)
Paul reminding the Galatian churches that they were clothed with Christ (saved) at baptism.

"In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead." (Colossians 2:11-12)
Paul telling the church in Colossae that they died to their former life and were raised to a new life during baptism.

"But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life." (Titus 3:4-7)
Paul tells Titus that we are saved; "through the washing of rebirth" (baptism)

"For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him." (1 Peter 3:18-22)
Here Peter says that the flood of Noah's day symbolized the water of baptism. As the Great Flood purged the world of sin, so does baptism (through faith in Jesus, by the power of God and by His grace) cleanse the individual of sin.

Thanks for help on this post go to Gordon Ferguson (who I've yet to meet, but will certainly someday) and his book; Romans: The Heart Set Free and convesations with my friend Andy Confer as well as his book; Three Woes For Babylon: Revelation; the Same Yesterday, Today and Forever of which I have an advance copy.

Why Islam?

2008-07-23T00:52:00.004-05:00

I just read this article on CNN.com and it got me to thinking. Why not Christianity? I don't have $48000, but that's not a great deal of money for advertising on 1000 subway cars running in New York City for a whole month. A typical billboard can run around $1000 dollars per month. This program is running at $48 per month per ad. That is a steal in any market, but New York!? We are talking a population of 8,000,000 and a Metro population in the 20,000,000 ballpark. Add in millions of visitors and you are talking about a huge audience for $48 per ad. So if the question IS why Islam? The other question should also be, why not Christianity? A personal note to this post is, our family is expecting to be in New York around the times this ad will be running. I don't know if we'll be able to go, but we are trying to make it happen. If I do go, I'll be sure to take some pictures.

Refined by Fire

2008-07-13T22:37:00.003-05:00

"But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver."
(Malachi 3:2-3a)

The brother who preached at church today finished out his sermon by mentioning this scripture and the one at the end of my blog post. He was in the ministry for 15 years and while he was in the ministry this scripture came up during a bible discussion. A sister at that discussion decided to make an appointment with a silversmith to get some insight into this. She didn't tell him why she wanted to see his work other than general interest. The silversmith explained to her that you have to hold the silver in the hottest part of the fire to make sure all of the impurities are burned off. You have to watch it carefully however, because you can ruin it if it isn't in the hottest part of the fire. Also if you aren't careful, and keep it in the fire too long, you will destroy the silver as well as burning off the impurities. She asked him; "If you can't keep it in too long, how do you know when it's ready?" He replied; "When I can see my reflection in it."

Isn't this how God treats his children? He holds us in the hottest parts of the fire, not to hurt us, but to purify us. It's certainly not easy for us, but God is right there, watching, feeling the heat as well, and making sure we are right where we need to be, until He can see Himself in us. This world brings trials, but God does not disappoint us. He is always there, always caring, always watching, allowing us to go through trials, yet keeping His eyes on us the whole time, purifying us. The purification process is not always pleasant, but it is good. I have been feeling this heat of purification for awhile now. I need to be reminded (and was today) that God is always there, always watching. He is making sure we are right where we need to be, to eventually show His likeness in ourselves. I need to remember that Abraham waited until he was as good as dead (from Hebrews 11:12) to receive the son God promised him. Moses spent 80 years away from the palace that he could have lived in, and 40 years in the desert leading God's people to the Promised Land that he would never enter. David, who spent his whole life fighting for God, would never see the temple that he planned feverishly for. These men (and many other men and women in the bible) never saw, or waited a VERY long time to see, what God really had in store for them. But they trusted that God knew what He was doing, and that the trials they endured were God's plan for their life, even if they struggled through it. The next time you are fighting through a difficult challenge in your life, remember that God is there, watching carefully. Making sure you are right where you need to be. Hopefully you'll be able to say as Paul did shortly before his death:

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing." (2 Timothy 4:7-8)

Independence Day

2008-07-04T02:42:00.002-05:00

Independence Day is not just the day (or weekend) that Will Smith releases his new $200 million movie every year. It is the day we remember when our forefathers declared independence from England. They declared independence from tyranny. They decided they would not stand for being treated as less than human without a say. It is a day we remember those who said no to tyranny, and a day to remember those who have died to defend our freedoms. Yes there is Memorial Day and Veterans Day to remember our troops. However, on Independece Day, July the fourth, it is good to remember the Soldiers, Marines, Sailors and Airmen who have fought, and those who have given their lives to preserve the freedom that was declared 232 years ago.

Books

2008-06-28T14:23:00.002-05:00

I am going to be writing a book. I have a few ideas in my head for different books that I want to write in the future, but I want to get some input as to what people would like to read. Perhaps, I'll get an idea that I didn't have before. I am hoping that I can get input from a lot of different sources. Here is the deal. I'm going to write a spiritual book and I am curious to see what would be most helpful to people on their spiritual walk. Now I know not everyone is in the same place as me, but that's OK. I'm going for more mainstream anyway. I'd like to eventually make a living from writing, so I'd like the book (and probably most of the books I'd write) to have a broad audience. Not necessarily all-inclusive, but broad enough that it can be helpful across denominational lines. I'm sure I'll write some books that are more specific to my family of churches in the future, but for now, I'm looking at a broader audience. That's my goal, and any input would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Nestor

T.R.

2008-06-18T01:34:00.004-05:00

Theodore Roosevelt is probably my favorite president of all time. I don't think he was the best, that would probably be either Washington or Lincoln. However, he is right up there. He led the nation in a time of relative peace, even though he served honorably in the Army. He was a young Governor, Vice President, and President. Though conservative, he cared about the environment. (in a true sense, unlike hypocrites like Al Gore) He believed in the free-market, yet didn't allow big business to run amok. While I believe that Winston Churchill was more important in the grand scheme of the 20th century, America needs a President much like T.R. today. Here are a few quotes from T.R. that I enjoy.

A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.
Theodore Roosevelt

A typical vice of American politics is the avoidance of saying anything real on real issues.
Theodore Roosevelt

A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.
Theodore Roosevelt

Believe you can and you're halfway there.
Theodore Roosevelt

Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.
Theodore Roosevelt

Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the country.
Theodore Roosevelt

Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering.
Theodore Roosevelt

Order without liberty and liberty without order are equally destructive.
Theodore Roosevelt

Rhetoric is a poor substitute for action, and we have trusted only to rhetoric. If we are really to be a great nation, we must not merely talk; we must act big.
Theodore Roosevelt

The pacifist is as surely a traitor to his country and to humanity as is the most brutal wrongdoer.
Theodore Roosevelt

The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life.
Theodore Roosevelt

There can be no fifty-fifty Americanism in this country. There is room here for only 100% Americanism, only for those who are Americans and nothing else.
Theodore Roosevelt

On the Meez bandwagon

2008-06-11T22:37:00.001-05:00

OK, I was finally able to get this to work. I can't say I'll do this again, but I won't say I won't either.

Slavery

2008-06-09T00:46:00.003-05:00

This post is a response to Diana's question about the slavery portion of Exodus directly preceding the scripture I quoted in response to Reck's question on my Personhood Colorado post. The scipture she referred to was; Exodus 21:20-21. I will start by saying this: I don't believe it is God's desire for men to own slaves, however, it is not sinful. It is not God's desire for a man to have more than one wife, however that is not sinful either. Everyone in the bible I can think of who had more than one wife had issues because of it. Similarly, slavery was permitted, yet probably wasn't a good idea.

I would argue however, that Israel took far better care of their slaves than most other (if not all) ancient peoples because of scriptures like that one (Exodus 21:20-21) as well as:

"If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, sells himself to you and serves you six years, in the seventh year you must let him go free. And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed. Supply him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today." (Deuteronomy 15:12-15)

"If a slave has taken refuge with you, do not hand him over to his master. Let him live among you wherever he likes and in whatever town he chooses. Do not oppress him." (Deuteronomy 23:16)

"Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this." (Deuteronomy 24:17-18)

Now there are many, many more scriptures which refer to how Israel was to treat slaves, foreigners, servants, etc. The heart of God was that all people should be treated well. Were slaves property? Yes. The Israelites were reminded MANY times that at one time, THEY were the property of the Egyptians, and that they needed to remember that when they dealt with their own slaves.

Where does this go to? A better question may be, what is the point of the Old Testament and its teachings? The purpose of the Old Testament was to proclaim the coming of Jesus, the Messiah. It is also the story of God's relationship with his Kingdom, primarily the physical kingdom of Israel. I would have to write many books to go into all of the intricacies of the Old Testament and how they play out into God's Spiritual Kingdom that began around 33 AD. (Indeed, many have been written)

Actual slavery is a metaphor for our slavery to sin. When we are not in a relationship with God, we are slaves to Satan and this world. When we ARE in a relationship with God, when we have been washed of our sins through the blood of Christ, then we are no longer in slavery. Just as Israel's captors were washed away and defeated in the waters of the Red Sea, so is Satan defeated and our sin washed away in the waters of baptism. When Israel crossed through the Red Sea they were freed from slavery, but had a new perspective on slavery that they needed to be reminded of. A Christian needs to be reminded of his/her former life of slavery to sin, and look compassionately on those still in sin. However, those in sin are not God's people, as their sins separate them from God. This doesn't mean that God doesn't love them. It does mean that they are lost in sin, and need salvation. They need to be set free.

Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy have the rules that God set out for His physical Kingdom on Earth; Israel. Because they were his chosen people, sin could not be among them, and the penalties for sin had to be swift and harsh. Sin not only separates the individual from God, but unchecked can destroy the entire Kingdom. Because the physical Kingdom of Israel no longer exists today, things have changed, slightly. We are not under law, but under grace. That does not mean, however that we can 'sin it up'. (Romans 6:1-2) We need to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. We need to rid our lives of all sin. To bring this to a close, as this has gotten longer than I intended (it was intended to be a comment) those in slavery to sin are separated from God, and will not see heaven. Those who have been freed from slavery WILL see heaven. If God chooses to reward and treat as better those who are not slaves in this more perfect Spiritual Kingdom, then why would he have not treated his chosen people Israel, better than those who were their slaves?

Personhood Colorado

2008-06-07T09:10:00.001-05:00

People are finally taking on the bogus ruling in Roe v. Wade. Personhood Colorado, has added an amendment up for vote on the November ballot that would state; "The term "Person" or "Persons" shall include any human from the time of fertilization." This would rule out all abortions in the state of Colorado and while it will certainly be challenged by some activist judge, there is a conservative majority on the US Supreme Court. Let's pray and hope that the Colorado voters don't give in to the inevitable bombardment by the pro-abortion lobby which is estimated to be spending $10,000,000 to sway Colorado voters on this amendment. (Far more than Personhood Colorado has) If this goes through, more and more states are likely pursue similar amendments and appeals to the Supreme Court may eventually overturn Roe v. Wade. The website is: http://www.coloradoforequalrights.com/

From the mouth of the man who saved Western Civilisation

2008-06-05T09:24:00.003-05:00

Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has no heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains.
Sir Winston Churchill

A love for tradition has never weakened a nation, indeed it has strengthened nations in their hour of peril.
Sir Winston Churchill

However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.
Sir Winston Churchill

It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.
Sir Winston Churchill

It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required.
Sir Winston Churchill

One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half.
Sir Winston Churchill

The price of greatness is responsibility.
Sir Winston Churchill

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.
Sir Winston Churchill

The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.
Sir Winston Churchill

But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age.... Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say, This was their finest hour.
Sir Winston Churchill

Are you kidding me?

2008-06-04T11:37:00.004-05:00

I've linked to a 'Yahoo!' News story that really got under my skin. I think I will have to do research on the writer because she is either working for Obama, or she bumped her head, or she is taking some serious psychedelic medications.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080604/ap_on_el_pr/campaign_analysis_6

John McCain and Barack Obama are polar opposites? What planet does this woman live on? John McCain is as liberal as you can be and still be considered a 'moderate'. He isn't a moderate, he's a liberal. Since we keep changing the definition of the terms moderate and conservative however, I guess by the new (but not improved) American definition of 'moderate', McCain fits.

McCain has the liberal view of immigration, global warming, energy policy, freedom of speech (or lack thereof) etc., etc. The only thing he has a somewhat conservative viewpoint on is the war on Islamic Terrorists. I don't believe that he is a true believer on taxes, but he knows he needs to throw a little bone to true conservatives. How about throwing a REAL bone, like changing your liberal viewpoints, and also picking a conservative running mate. How about after picking your running mate, throwing out conservatives for cabinet positions as well. Conservatives are not buying that McCain is the second coming of Ronald Reagan, and please stop using Reagan's name in your speeches. This is what we want Senator McCain:

OR

OR

EVEN

These men may not be perfect, but they are far better than you Senator, and if you want conservatives to trust you, we need to know that the next in line IS a conservative, and will stand up for conservative principles.

Who is this Jesus?

2008-06-02T19:33:00.004-05:00

See, my servant will act wisely;
he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
Just as there were many who were appalled at him-
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man
and his form marred beyond human likeness—

so will he sprinkle many nations,
and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
and what they have not heard, they will understand.

Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken.

He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 52:13-53:12

This Jesus bore the sin of the world so that we do not have to die an eternal death. He paid the price though we did not deserve it. Still, to those called by God, we are worth the sacrifice of Jesus in the eyes of God the Father. Jesus was mocked, ridiculed, persecuted, beaten beyond recognition as anything human and tortured to death on a cross while bearing the pain of being separated from Our Father at his weakest moment. He was fully human and fully God. Because of His love for us, he suffered a pain that no one can imagine, and did it willingly for our sakes. Praise be to God through Jesus Christ his Son!

Discipleship

2008-05-29T23:21:00.003-05:00

"Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings." (1 Peter 5:8-9)

I just read a book again that I hadn't read in a long time. It's called The Lion Never Sleeps, by Mike Taliaferro. Mike now leads our sister church in San Antonio (where Carmen and I became Christians), the Mission Point Christian Church. But for a long time he lead churches in Brazil and Africa. The point of the book (which is a quick read but impacting nevertheless) is that as a Christian, you are going to face attacks from Satan. If we are not prepared, we are easy prey for Satan. When lions attack, they look for the weak animal, the animal that strays from the herd, the old or the injured animal. They know that if they are injured during the hunt they could die.

Satan is compared many times throughout the bible to a Lion. He is hunting, looking for those Christians who are not close to their bible, not close to God in prayer, not close to other Christians and those who have weak convictions. He wants the easy target. When someone is a new Christian, Satan is even more alert, looking for the opportunity to find that new Christian that strays from the herd so he can destroy their faith, tempting them with a taste of their old life before their convictions are too strong. Mike says in far more eloquent fashion how Satan can attack, using real stories of lion attacks in Africa, as well as real stories of how Satan has attacked Christians. He tells how some have been destroyed because of the attacks, and also, how some have won the victory in Jesus.

This video shows lions in attack, and a very lucky buffalo narrowly escaping with the help of the herd.

Go ahead Liberal, say what you mean.

2008-05-25T01:31:00.003-05:00

Let the liberal tell you what she's all about...Socialism. From the mouth of Maxine Waters (D) CA.

Congresswoman, you do your job, and let the oil companies drill for oil so we can do our jobs without our gas prices doubling in the time frame of 1 year.

Memorial Day

2008-05-25T00:12:00.012-05:00

This is Memorial Day Weekend. Our Congress is bickering over how much money to send to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and trying to send as little as possible or at least attach wasteful earmarks onto Defense Spending Bills. In the meantime, our soldiers are trudging away. Fighting for the freedom of others and fighting to preserve our freedoms here in America. They don't have all of the tools they need, but they fight anyway. They don't have all of the equipment that they need, but they fight anyway. They aren't always able to contact their loved ones, but they fight anyway. To ensure we have freedom here.

Our media will undoubtedly tell us how many soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and truly I wish there were less killed than have been killed. But there were more killed in many of the battles of the Civil War and World War II than have been killed in 6+ years in Afghanistan and 5+years in Iraq.

The war dead of some of the major conflicts in US History. (Source http://www.militaryfactory.com/american_war_deaths.asp )

Revolutionary War 25000

War of 1812 20000

Mexican-American War 13283

Civil War 623026

Spanish-American War 2446

Philippine War 4196

World War I 116708

World War II 407316

Korean War 36914

Vietnam War 58169

Gulf War 269

Afghanistan 482*

Iraq War 3975*

Ongoing conflicts. This data is probably not current up to the time of this post. It is 2008 data however.

While everyone of these men and women is valuable, and while it is unfortunate that they had to pay the ultimate sacrifice for their nation, they did not die in vain. They died for freedom. Freedom for America and freedom for others. I hope that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will be over quickly with those nations able to defend themselves against aggressors and with a democratic government which supports freedom for its people. When Iraq and Afghanistan can stand on their own two feet, our men and women can come home. But, if we leave before those nations can defend themselves, it is likely that we will have to go back later with many more dead in the future. So please, this Memorial Day, pray for our troops, and pray for the President and Congress. Pray that our nations leaders will make good decisions. Think of the troops who have died in the past, and those currently in harms way. Remember their sacrifice, and the freedom their sacrifice has paid for.

More Bumper Stickers

2008-05-20T17:00:00.004-05:00

I saw a vehicle with 2 bumper stickers today. One said "Obama '08". The other one said, "When Bush took office gas was $1.46"

It's the second one that made me scratch my head. While it may be true that gas has gone up while Bush has been in office, it has skyrocketed in the last year and a half under San Fran Nan's Democrat controlled, 'Most Ethical Congress'. In Bush's first 6 years gas went up about 75 cents. Since the Democrats have been running Congress, gas has gone up well over a dollar. The reason gas is so expensive is simply supply and demand.

China and India have massively increased the demand on oil, and the supply hasn't increased to keep up. We have somewhere between 6 and 16 billion barrels of oil in the ANWR. Billions and billions more on the Pacific and Gulf Coasts and an estimated 1 trillion barrels of shale oil in the Rockies. Tapping these oil resources, increasing the use of nuclear energy, clean coal and other sources of energy would lower gas prices and buy us time to find real alternative fuels without having to rely on Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Venezuela and other nations for our oil. We could and should get most of our energy from here in America, not get it from countries who hate (or at least dislike) us.

The bottom line is, if you don't like gas prices (which no one does, except maybe the Democrat leadership) the blame doesn't lie with Bush. It lies with the Congress which has consistently blocked the creation of new refineries and has stopped all expansion of drilling for oil here in America, while still blaming George Bush, the Republicans, and 'Big Oil'. My challenge to Democrats and liberals (and conservatives as well) who don't like the price of oil, tell your Speaker, Congressman/woman and Senators that you want exploration and drilling to begin in America so that in 5 to 10 years we can begin to cut ourselves free of foreign oil.

California, RINO's and the Demise of Democracy

2008-05-18T15:29:00.004-05:00

Linda mentioned this, and while I considered posting about it, I wasn't sure. Honestly, part of me didn't want to touch this subject which is why most conservatives probably stayed away from it. The only conservative talk show host that I know touched on it was Michael Savage, though others might have commented on this subject. I had another post in my head a few days ago, but since my internet was down for a few days, I never did post on it. Anyway, I don't have anything else, so I'll post on this.

Secular Commentary:

In California, where liberalism is alive and well, the supreme court overturned a ballot initiative which defined marriage as between a man and a woman. This initiative had been passed by 61%. Not 51-49, but 61-39 a fairly large margin, especially in a liberal state like California. The voters of California said resoundingly that marriage should be between a man and a woman, and I wholeheartedly agree. Now before the leftists label me a cold-hearted hate-monger, let me say that I do believe that in the United States, the free nation that it is, there should be allowances made that provide for EQUAL protection under the law. Meaning that there should be recognition of relationships as a legal contract between two individuals if they so choose. Two men or two women who have committed themselves to each other for life should be allowed to give powers of attorney, medical decisions, life insurance etc. to each other. Every American should have the freedom to designate another person of their choosing as their 'significant other'. However, having civil unions is not the same as marriage. I truly believe that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman.

Religious Commentary:

There is significant religious and historical precedent for marriage being a union between a man and a woman. I don't know of any major world religion which would sanction marriage between two persons of the same sex. It could be argued that there are 'Christian' churches which are doing this, but they are spitting on God if they are sanctioning these 'marriages' and claiming to be 'Christian'. If they claim to follow the bible, they need to rip out a few scriptures; Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13, Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, and probably others that I can't think of right now.

A big deal was made about a US soldier shooting a Koran recently. It made me think of something that I will eventually use as an illustration for a bible study one day. My wife told me about a campus bible talk she attended where the brother leading the talk started ripping pages out of one of his older bibles. Some people were aghast, but really if you are not following the bible, it is just another book, like the Koran, or Aesop's Fables, you might as well rip out the pages you don't like. It has no meaning if you don't put it into practice. When 'Christians' sanction marriage that is in direct opposition to the bible, they are saying that the bible is not the Word of God, but merely a book with 'some good principles'. I believe that the bible is the inspired Word of God (2 Tim 3:16) which is living and active. (Hebrews 4:12) This being the case, I have to say that as a Christian, I am against same-sex marriage. This is not in a holier-than-thou sense because I recognize that I am a sinner. Homosexuality is not a sin I struggle with, but I do struggle with other sins. As a sinner, I have compassion on others who are in sin and instead of passing judgment as most Christians do, (even those I'd call real Christians) I'd like to say to those who struggle with the sin of homosexuality; "Let me show you God's way, let me help you to repent."

Getting back to the secular part of my post, I'd say that activist judges need to be stopped and Arnold Schwarzenegger needs to be recalled the way Gray Davis was. The 'Governator' has done a worse job managing the state of California (if that is possible) and has driven it further to the left. Now the 'Republican appointed' Supreme Court has told the citizens of California, 'Screw You! We'll do what we want (and what the far-left extremists tell us to do). Activist judges are the reason for this ruling, for Roe v. Wade, for rulings against illegal immigration etc. The courts are destroying America, and have overstepped their mandate as outlined in the Constitution. But then again, the Legislative and Executive branches have as well. Maybe someday we'll get our country back.

Faith

2008-05-13T02:41:00.004-05:00

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1)

It's interesting how Satan attacks us right after we have a 'mountaintop experience'. When Elijah was raining fire (really God, through Elijah) on the prophets of Baal, he was experiencing an amazing amount of God's power. Yet, right after that he was running for his life from Jezebel, hiding in a cave. Yesterday, Carmen and I shared for communion at church. I'm not sure how well it went, even though Carmen and I had lots of compliments, but I'll listen to it in the next few days. But I felt really good about how it went. My prayer was that it would be encouraging, and go well with the rest of the service. It actually fit very well with the service. No one told us what to share, but God gives us the direction. Carmen talked about her life up until studying the Bible and becoming a Christian, and I shared about our baptism, and the peace I felt afterward. It was a good experience, and I felt good afterward and in the days leading up to it as I was preparing my thoughts.

But Satan had other plans. Those 'mountaintop experiences' are when he likes to attack. He sees us doing well, and he can't have that. The bottom line is that I had a terrible day today, one of the worst I've had in a long time. It followed a week where I was feeling so in step with the Spirit, and I could see God's blessings right in front of me. God takes care of those who love Him, and I know this. We have had a challenging last 3 or 4 months. We have been in a tough financial situation which has forced me to put school on hold. I have been waiting for a response from the Army as I am planning on going back onto Active Duty. I believe wholeheartedly that this is God's plan for our family, but it is taking too long for my liking. We have continued to get by (barely), but we have received a lot of help. While I have been struggling, God put the ultimate signature on His assistance this week. I was riding high and thinking even though this is a tough situation, God is right here with me. Well, I had a big helping of Satan slapping me in the face today, and it took most of the day to get over it.

But I have to go back to my faith in God. Satan tried to shake my faith, but I know what God's promises are, and God does not disappoint, no matter how much Satan tries to convince us otherwise. I have to go back to the Bible to straighten my head out, and here are some scriptures that usually encourage me in times of trouble.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11)

"Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. " (Ephesians 6:11-18)

"I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS." (Revelation 19:11-16)

Bumper Stickers

2008-05-03T18:02:00.007-05:00

It's been my observation that when someone has 4 or more bumper stickers on their vehicle, there is usually some contradiction going on. On the way home from the park yesterday we saw this, and I just had to post it. It is a Clif Bar pick up truck that runs on BioDiesel. I know this because it proudly says running on BioDiesel all over the truck. It also has a bumper sticker which says 'No Farms No Food.'

Maybe I'm the only one who finds this funny, but running a vehicle on fuel that essentially gets rid of farms and having a bumper sticker that says 'No Farms No Food' is pretty darn humorous. Maybe they only want to take away the farms that fuel their truck. Or, (conspiracy theory here) maybe Clif wants to destroy our regular food supply so that we will have to subsist on nothing but Clif Bars. ;) The only farms left will be used to make their lovely bars. (I'm partial to the Oatmeal Raisin one) Now I understand that they could possibly be running this vehicle simply on waste oil from McDonalds. (Or any other restaurant) However, widespread use of biodiesel would cause further food shortages such as is being seen due to the increase in ethanol usage. It seems like a good idea, until you start having riots in third world countries and you have food and fuel prices skyrocketing here in America.

Planned Parenthood

2008-04-23T16:48:00.003-05:00

I heard about this on Laura Ingraham's show. It is pretty disturbing.

Where are the Democrats on this. Where is Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson? Where is Barack Obama? Where is the Mainstream Media?

Oprah's Church

2008-04-20T01:36:00.011-05:00

"In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. (2Timothy 4:1-5)

I'm going to start this by saying that I respect Oprah on many levels. She is one of the few liberals who actually does a lot to give back. She backs up what she believes in by using what she has worked hard for to give back to those who are less fortunate. However, I have to disagree with this. My wife found out about her 'church' and brought it to my attention.

It is no church at all really, but teachings of YOU being God. I really try to tell myself that the times we are living in aren't the literal last days. I know that in God's mind it has been the last days since Jesus was on the earth. But it almost seems like the end will be soon. I know it could be in 10,000 years, but it could be tomorrow. Times are getting scary. America is the last best hope for the world, but it is crumbling internally. Our 'culture' is trying to destroy God. If we make ourselves out to be God, there will be no moral law left. If we are God, who is to stop us from doing whatever we want?

The concept is ridiculous really. If we are God, then how did the universe come to be? Is the universe and all of its perfection the result of an accident? The number of accidents necessary for life to exist on earth are just unimaginable. It has been compared to shooting an arrow at a target on the other side of the universe, and hitting the target...blindfolded. It's quite simply not possible without God. If there is no God, then what was happening before the Big Bang? Was all matter in the entire universe being contained in a tiny speck the size of an atom with nothing to hold it together? Then for some reason it is released and it forms a system that has order and physical laws that can't be broken? (except by the Writer of the laws) If you examine the world around you and the universe, the only logical conclusion is that it was created by God. A God who loves every person, even those who don't love Him. In fact, it is preposterous to believe that it happened by accident.

Oprah comments in the video that she didn't like her preacher when she was 27 or 28 saying that God is a jealous God. Well, yes Oprah, God is a jealous God, but you need to understand the context of when God says this, and what He is referring to. He is not jealous of YOU. He is jealous of other gods. All of the scriptures that refer to God being a jealous God refer to Him being jealous of idols and other gods, not men. (or women) Look how much God loves you. He created everything in the Universe, and the things in this world that are special to you so that you would see how much He loves you. When you worship other gods, He becomes jealous of that. He wants your love in return, and He deserves it.

Who's out of touch?

2008-04-15T08:13:00.003-05:00

I saw this video on Stan Rosenthal's blog, http://tbsn.thesequencers.us/ and he got it from some other blog. Here is my initial feelings upon listening to Barack Obama's explanation of his statements.

Senator Obama,

YOU are out of touch. You talk about the politicization of your words...you're a politician, duh. Your words are going to be politicized. However your pastor, and spiritual mentor, politicizes the gospel. You defend his politicization of the Bible, yet you don't think it's right that your words as a United States Senator who is running for President of the United States ought to be scrutinized politically?

You bash the Bush tax cuts which helped ALL Americans, not just the wealthy. (of which you are a member Mr. Obama) You're against tax cuts, yet high taxes are destroying and have been destroying the industries in the Midwest sending manufacturing jobs overseas. This is where you are focusing your campaign, yet you are out of touch with the root causes of their job losses, and miserable economy. Either you are out of touch or you don't care. Those middle class, blue collar voters you insulted don't need you to patronize them with your half-hearted attempt at an apology. Give a REAL apology. Tell them that you're sorry that you said what you said. Say you didn't mean it the way it came out and that's it. Don't use it as a lead in to attack your political opponents.

You claim that your opponents are out of touch. But where President Bush, John McCain, Hillary Clinton and 98% of congress is out of touch is that most Americans DON'T want higher taxes. They don't want our borders wide open, they don't want a $60 billion trade deficit. They don't want to see a $400 billion budget deficit when the US treasury is taking in record revenues, and they don't want us to lose a war that was started by Radical Islam and that is of vital interest to US national security.

The American people want to see spending reduced. They want government out of our lives, they want borders protected, they want to stop seeing our jobs outsourced and they want to defeat the terrorists and see democracy flourish in the Middle East. They don't want the first amendment minimized to protect all religions except Christianity. They don't want to see freedom of speech impinged upon when it comes to Radical Islam and in our schools and universities.

The American people want real alternative fuels and they want us to use the oil we have in America. Maybe if we weren't importing so much oil from Mexico, we could close off our borders. Maybe then, Americans would get paid enough to do those jobs that 'Americans won't do'. But you and politicians like you don't actually want real solutions do you Senator? You claim to be the candidate of 'Hope', yet you tell young blacks that you attained your wealth and position due to luck. No, you got it by hard work. But you want power, and you want to take care of the people who helped you attain that power. Telling Democrats that they can make it without the government won't keep the votes coming in long term will it? No Senator, you are out of touch. Stop attacking hard working Americans and make a real effort to get in touch.

Expelled: The First Amendment

2008-04-11T02:42:00.005-05:00

I have recently been hearing about a documentary by Ben Stein called 'Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed'. It focuses on how Darwinian Evolution is being taught as fact, and dissension by people who even want to discuss the POSSIBILITY of creation are silenced, run out of universities and trampled by their 'peers'. It's amazing that college used to teach people how to think, now it teaches people what to think, and what it is teaching is in most cases far-left doctrine. The trailer mentions how the greatest minds in science, from Galileo to Einstein and even Darwin operated with some belief in a creator. It is hard to believe that the universe was not created, given the mathematical precision required for the universe to exist as it does.

But Darwinian Evolution as is taught in schools, silences all dissenting views, (much like climate change) and threatens dissenters with firing, failing, criticism and ridicule, all to promote a secular progressive agenda, eroding free speech. What is sad is that the argument FOR Darwinian Evolution has MANY holes in it. It is shaky at best, unlikely and in many cases unbelievable. Yet most of those who believe in creation, do not want to silence those who believe in evolution. In fact many believe (as I do) that evolution has had a significant effect on life as we know it today. Without evolution, plants, animals and microorganisms would not be able to adapt to an ever-changing planet. I believe that not only are the organisms evolving, but so is the planet, the solar system and the universe. I see it as part of an incredibly designed system. God knows what He is doing.

"This is what the LORD says—your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself" (Isaiah 44:24)

God created all things, and if you don't believe that, it is your right to disagree here in the United States of America. However, those who disagree with me, DO NOT HAVE A RIGHT to silence anyone. You can disagree, that is what America is about. America is about freedom. Let's stop being like those dictatorships that we have been fighting for hundreds of years, and start standing up for freedom again. Let's stand up for our own freedoms, AND the freedoms of those we disagree with.

For more information and to find a theatre near you, go to http://www.expelledthemovie.com/

What's Wrong With America: Part III - The Merchants of Cool

2008-04-10T02:02:00.005-05:00

We heard about the PBS special recently, 'The Merchants of Cool'. You can catch it on YouTube. If you are a parent of teens or even of young children, this should scare your pants off. Children are being targeted and marketed to like never before. Because parenting in this nation is so terrible nowadays we throw money at our kids. We are so busy working to try to pay for our 4000 square foot house that we throw money at our kids instead of spending time with them. We give them cell phones, laptops, iPods, etc. They spend 50 times more time plugged into television and the internet than they do talking to their parents.

But they are not alone. There are people making millions and millions of dollars to figure out how to best target the kids today, so that our kids will spend money on the coolest new thing. But what is cool? Pimps, ho's, drugs, sex, violence. All of this on a scale not seen in a long time. What is cool is always on the edge. Always pushing the limits of our sensibilities. Yet, since we feel bad that we have neglected our children what do we do? We turn a blind eye and give our kids more money so they can buy that new game, gadget or new fashion trend. We let our daughters buy the pants with something written on the butt. Forget the fact that those pants are not made for girls but for guys, so that guys can stare at her butt. You don't worry about that. She knows better right? Your son knows better right? Well Dad, if you haven't been spending time with your daughter, she'll get the male attention that is supposed to come from daddy from anywhere she can get it. If your sons don't have an example of real manhood at home, their example will be 50Cent. Then we ask, 'Why is my daughter pregnant'? Or 'Why does she have an STD'? We ask why our kids don't talk to us.

I personally need to do a better job of spending time with my children. Not just spending a few minutes. I'm talking about REAL, QUALITY time with them. This year has been better, but not as good as it should be. Most Americans need to do the same. If this does not apply to you, the reader, then that is wonderful, I hope it doesn't. But do you know what your kids are doing? Do you know their friends? Are they open with you? If not, spend time with them. They want it, whether they will admit it or not. They need to know that they are accepted by their parents, and the sooner the better. If not, they will search for acceptance elsewhere, and what is being offered by the world is downright scary.

The Greatest Commandment

2008-04-07T01:55:00.003-05:00

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)

Where's Patton when you need him?

2008-04-04T02:22:00.004-05:00

"We need more Patton, and less patent leather!" - Michael Savage

I couldn't agree more. Political correctness is destroying this country. 40 years ago there was a real need for political correctness and affirmative action, however today America is about as fair as I can imagine it being. While I'm sure that there are pockets in America that still have racial issues, most Americans have moved beyond these issues. I know America is not perfect and I know what it's like to be pulled over for being a young Puerto Rican driving an Acura. I also know what it's like to walk into a store and be followed because I look like I might steal something. But honestly, while these things used to bother me they are no big deal. I wasn't lynched. I don't know what it's like to be beat up for the color of my skin. No one I know has been murdered for whistling at a white woman. (or any person of any race for that matter) While that is part of America's ugly past it is past.

We are in the middle of a war for western civilization. Call it World War III. Or if you like calling the Cold War WWIII, call it WWIV. Radical Islam is dangerous. They do not desire compromise. They are not willing to stop with the pull out of our troops from Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. They want to remove Israel. (who have a much greater historical claim to the land by the way) They want all of Africa, all of Asia, Europe, and what's next? America's move to the left and our compromises with socialism have set us up for defeat by the radical islamists. There are many great men and women in the United States Armed Forces. I have served with many. Many of my friends are still serving. A very good friend, a 'brother from another mother' is in serious danger every day. Personally, I am considering very seriously putting the uniform back on. Honestly, the primary reason is financial, but I feel a pull back to the military. There is something that I miss. I miss working with the greatest men and women in the world. I miss working for people who put my needs before theirs, and I miss taking care of my own soldiers.

I know that there are great men and women in the US Armed Forces. Even though most of our political leaders are self-serving hypocrites, the US military will be there until we are defeated by our politicians. We can not be defeated militarily. But I'm coming back to the quote from Michael Savage. Where is General Patton? You see, Patton didn't buy in to political correctness. He saw a soldier who he thought was weak and slapped him. I don't think he was right for doing that, but he either thought that the soldier was a coward, or he thought slapping him might get him back to being battle ready. Probably number one, but who knows. But he was not afraid to do whatever it took to win the war. He was the one man feared by Hitler and for good reason. Patton's forces inflicted over 8 enemy casualties for every 1 received. In comparison, the rest of the Allied forces received about 1.4 casualties for every enemy casualty inflicted.

When fighting an enemy on foreign soil, you must crush the will of the enemy to resist. What happened in Vietnam and what is happening now is this. Our enemy is not on the same level as us skill wise, but they don't have to be. They simply have to wait us out. They have learned that we will not do whatever it takes to win. In the US Civil War, the North crushed the will of the South. Militarily, the North was stronger yes, but they were fighting on 'enemy' soil. The South merely had to wait the North out. In order to win, the North had to be brutal. This is an unfortunate consequence of war, but wars are won on enemy soil by being far more brutal than who you are fighting. Since we were fighting the Nazi's in WWII, Patton had to be extremely brutal. But scary as it seems, the enemy we face now is more dangerous. General Petraeus has done an excellent job fighting the terrorists in Iraq. But the 'empty suits' in Washington need to get out of the way, and let our military crush the terrorists. It needs to be devastating, and it absolutely CAN NOT be politically correct. If we try to fight a P.C. war, we will lose. But we will not lose it on the battlefield. We will lose it in courtrooms and in Washington D.C.

Washington! America is asking for leadership! Please, stop trying to fight this vermin with good will and crush the head of the snake. Stop fighting the politically correct war, fight ugly and you WILL bring our troops home in a year, but you'll bring them home in victory instead of defeat. Fight like Patton, decimate our enemy, and THEN bring our troops home.

Is the fair tax right for America???

2008-04-02T12:52:00.004-05:00

I recently signed the Fair Tax petition at http://www.fairtax.org/ and am not totally sold on it. However getting rid of the IRS and tax lawyers sounds pretty good to me. If you're reading this and you're one of the honest tax lawyers, or an employee of the IRS, I'm sorry but I think it would be wonderful if you found a new line of work. Again, I don't think the fair tax is perfect, but it is way better than our current system that only taxes honest people and not drug dealers, illegal immigrants and all others who 'work under the table'. It's time everyone, even the criminal elements, pay their fair share of taxes. Anyway, take a look at it, and if you want to, sign the petition by April 15th. They are going to bring the petition before congress and are looking for 100,000 signers. The last I checked they were at 70,000. Have a great day!

Let's talk...

2008-03-30T16:54:00.003-05:00

To this guy? I don't think so Mr. Obama.

October 30 2005
Also see:Iran's Threat to Israel Was Ahmadinejad Misquoted? Iran's Leader Calls for Israel's Destruction World Leaders Condemn Iran's Threat to Israel Iran's President Wishes Sharon to Die Ahmadinejad Threatens Israel Again Eye on Iran: Why Israel? Why Now?
This is a translation, by Nazila Fathi in The New York Times Tehran bureau, of the October 26 speech by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to an Islamic Student Associations conference on "The World Without Zionism." The conference was held in Tehran, at the Interior Ministry.The text of the speech was posted online, in Persian, by the Iranian Student News Agency (www.isnagency.com). Bracketed explanatory material is from Ms. Fathi.

I thank God that I have had the opportunity to participate in the event today ….We need to examine the true origins of the issue of Palestine: is it a fight between a group of Muslims and non-Jews? Is it a fight between Judaism and other religions? Is it the fight of one country with another country? Is it the fight of one country with the Arab world? Is it a fight over the land of Palestine? I guess the answer to all these questions is ‘no.’The establishment of the occupying regime of Qods [Jerusalem]was a major move by the world oppressor [ the United States] against the Islamic world. The situation has changed in this historical struggle. Sometimes the Muslims have won and moved forward and the world oppressor was forced to withdraw.Unfortunately, the Islamic world has been withdrawing in the past 300 years. I do not want to examine the reasons for this, but only to review the history. The Islamic world lost its last defenses in the past 100 years and the world oppressor established the occupying regime. Therefore the struggle in Palestine today is the major front of the struggle of the Islamic world with the world oppressor and its fate will decide the destiny of the struggles of the past several hundred years.The Palestinian nation represents the Islamic nation [Umma] against a system of oppression, and thank God, the Palestinian nation adopted Islamic behavior in an Islamic environment in their struggle and so we have witnessed their progress and success.I need to thank you for choosing this valuable title for the conference.Many who are disappointed in the struggle between the Islamic world and the infidels have tried to spread the blame. They say it is not possible to have a world without the United States and Zionism. But you know that this is a possible goal and slogan.Let’s take a step back. We had a hostile regime in this country which was undemocratic, armed to the teeth and, with SAVAK, its security apparatus of SAVAK [the intelligence bureau of the Shah of Iran’s government] watched everyone. An environment of terror existed. When our dear Imam [Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder the Iranian revolution] said that the regime must be removed, many of those who claimed to be politically well-informed said it was not possible. All the corrupt governments were in support of the regime when Imam Khomeini started his movement. All the Western and Eastern countries supported the regime even after the massacre of September 7 [1978] and said the removal of the regime was not possible. But our people resisted and it is 27 years now that we have survived without a regime dependant on the United States. The tyranny of the East and the West over the world must should end, but weak people who can see only what lies in front of them cannot believe this.Who could believe that one day we could witness the collapse of the Eastern Empire? But we have seen its fall during our lives and it collapsed in such a way that we have to refer to libraries because no trace of it is left. Imam [Khomeini] said Saddam must go and he said he would grow weaker than anyone could imagine. Now you see the man who spoke with such arrogance ten years ago that one would have thought he was immortal, is being tried in his own country in handcuffs and shackles by those who he believed supported him and with whose backing he committed his crimes.Our dear Imam said that the occupying regime must be wiped off the map and this was a very wise statement. We cannot compromise over the issue of Palestine. Is it possible to create a new front in the heart of an old front. This would be a defeat and whoever accepts the legitimacy of this regime [Israel] has in fact, signed the defeat of the Islamic world. Our dear Imam targeted the heart of the world oppressor in his struggle, meaning the occupying regime. I have no doubt that the new wave that has started in Palestine, and we witness it in the Islamic world too, will eliminate this disgraceful stain from the Islamic world. But we must be aware of tricks. For over 50 years the world oppressor tried to give legitimacy to the occupying regime and it has taken measures in this direction to stabilize it. About 27 or 28 years ago they took a major step and unfortunately one of the leading countries made a mistake which we hope will correct it.[an apparent reference to the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel].Recently they [the Israelis] tried a new trick. They want to show the evacuation from the Gaza strip, which was imposed on them by Palestinians, as a final victory for the Palestinians and end the issue of Palestine with the excuse of establishing a Palestinian government next to themselves. Today, they want to involve Palestinians with mischief and trick them into fighting with one another over political positions so that they would drop the issue of Palestine.They want to convince some of the Islamic countries that, since they evacuated the Gaza strip with good intentions, the legitimacy of their corrupt regime should be recognized. I hope Palestinian groups and people are aware of this trick.The issue of Palestine is not over at all. It will be over the day a Palestinian government, which belongs to the Palestinian people, comes to power; the day that all refugees return to their homes; a democratic government elected by the people comes to power. Of course those who have come from far away to plunder this land have no right to choose for this nation.I hope the Palestinian people will remain alert and aware in the same way that they have continued their struggle in the past ten years.If we get through this brief period successfully, the path of eliminating the occupying regime will be easy and down-hill.I warn all leaders of the Islamic world that they should be aware of this trick. Anyone who recognizes this regime because of the pressure of the World oppressor, or because of naiveté or selfishness, will be eternally disgraced and will burn in the fury of the Islamic nations.Those who are sitting in closed rooms cannot decide for the Islamic nation and cannot allow this historical enemy to exist in the heart of the Islamic world.

The Irish Rican

What's the Matter with America?

Uncle Milty

Election 2010

Give unto Barry?

Back in the Saddle

Lean Forward

Quran burning

Double-Dip Recession

Random Thoughts

Keyes on Immigration

Puerto Rico, el Estado Cincuenta y Uno?

Just for Stan

Call your Congressperson and Senators ASAP!

What I'm working on

Complete Lives System

Back on track

In his own words: Obama's agenda from before the inauguration

Obama's Trojan Horse

Justice Sotomayor

Spiritual Encouragement

Beware "The Story of Stuff"

More Bumper Stickers

Media Bias

Chicago Tea Party

Austin Tea Party

New Post

St. Patty's Day

Moderated Again

Ant Cemetary

The Worst Economy since the Great Depression?

Go Piyush!

Chad Vader's Oscars

The Heart

Kerry wants your money

48 Hours

Black History Month

Test me Lord

Why Obama's "Stimulus" is a bad idea

We want Conservatives, not Mavericks

Super Bowl

Now is not the time for profits

So far...

Worst Guest in the World???

It's My Potty

Britain's Finest Hour

Gaza Conflict

Barack the Magic Negro

Merry Christmas! 2008

Three Woes for Babylon, by Andy Confer

Happy Holidays!

Non-Violent Protest???

The Race

One More Reason to Homeschool

Advertisements

Redistribution of Wealth

Joe Biden puts his foot in his mouth...again.

Jindal '12

Congratulations 'My Friend'

The Other "Fairness Doctrine"

Born Alive Truth

New York: Day Six

New York: Day Two

Reagan Redivivus???

New York: Day One

Who's Right?

Thank You Obama

Time Magazine's Man of the Year invades Georgia; Yanks watch Atlanta burn...wait.

The Death Penalty

Referendum on Obama?

Did you vote for these losers?

Baptism: Condition of Grace

Why Islam?

Refined by Fire

Independence Day

Books

T.R.

On the Meez bandwagon

Slavery

Personhood Colorado