Misha is a disabled Russian orphan who needs help so that he can be adopted by a very loving American family (my in-laws). Because foreign adoptions are so astronomically costly, they cannot afford the close to $27,000 for the adoption process. You can help by donating online today!
You can read more about his story on the site and watch the video below to decide if you would like to help Misha make a new life here in America.
Wow! Where did this guy get his theology? While I would agree with him that evangelicals need to give great attention to the poor and needy, however it should NOT be done through the government! Mr. La Tondresse completely misses what the role of the government is from a Biblical standpoint. It's not about the poor and needy, it's about justice, restraining evil, and maintaining law and order. Biblically, the poor and needy are supposed to be cared for by individuals and the Church, not the government. So while Mr. La Tondresse is calling for more focus on issues that the Bible does not say belong to the government, he is downplaying the very things that the government IS supposed to address... and that is to mete out justice and protect the innocent (i.e. unborn).
Chris La Tondresse on Religion and Politics... and why he voted for Obama.
Ah, the truth comes out, from a liberal no less! :) As nice is it is to have conservatives "vindicated" for their "heartlessness"... it's still striking to see the hypocrisy that most liberals will never admit is there. Time to wake up lib's and face the facts... your worldview is shallow and heartless and does less for the needy than even the worst of conservatives! So do as Arthur Brooks did and "change your view" of conservatives. ;)
Bleeding Heart Tightwads By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF Published: December 20, 2008
This holiday season is a time to examine who’s been naughty and who’s been nice, but I’m unhappy with my findings. The problem is this: We liberals are personally stingy.
Liberals show tremendous compassion in pushing for generous government spending to help the neediest people at home and abroad. Yet when it comes to individual contributions to charitable causes, liberals are cheapskates.
Arthur Brooks, the author of a book on donors to charity, “Who Really Cares,” cites data that households headed by conservatives give 30 percent more to charity than households headed by liberals. A study by Google found an even greater disproportion: average annual contributions reported by conservatives were almost double those of liberals.
Other research has reached similar conclusions. The “generosity index” from the Catalogue for Philanthropy typically finds that red states are the most likely to give to nonprofits, while Northeastern states are least likely to do so.
The upshot is that Democrats, who speak passionately about the hungry and homeless, personally fork over less money to charity than Republicans — the ones who try to cut health insurance for children.
“When I started doing research on charity,” Mr. Brooks wrote, “I expected to find that political liberals — who, I believed, genuinely cared more about others than conservatives did — would turn out to be the most privately charitable people. So when my early findings led me to the opposite conclusion, I assumed I had made some sort of technical error. I re-ran analyses. I got new data. Nothing worked. In the end, I had no option but to change my views.”
We heard this Casting Crowns song in the car today and I thought it was really good. It's called While You Were Sleeping... enjoy and Merry Christmas!!
the Bailout, Rick Warren, Post-Partisan Obama, etc....
Speaking of Obama's selection of Rick Warren to say the invocation at his inauguration Barney Frank said:
"But my one question is, I think he overestimates his ability to take people, particularly our colleagues on the right, and, sort of, charm them into being nice."
So all of this non-partisan stuff that Democrats say that they want, isn't really true - they want partisanship.
Here are a few pictures and short videos of a BMW X6 that I saw on the way into work today... all shot with the Samsung Omnia (pretty good quality if you ask me :).
A Gwinnett County police officer shot a suspect in an overnight robbery and kidnapping early Monday.
A caller told 911 operators that an armed man broke into a home on Thompson Mill Road and took several items, Gwinnett police Cpl. Illana Spellman said.
The caller said the suspect then left with one of the caller’s roommates in that person’s vehicle.
About 1:30 a.m., an officer spotted the victim’s vehicle and chased the car a short distance to Arden Drive in Buford, Spellman said.
“The suspect that was driving the victim’s vehicle … was still wearing a bandana that was covering his face when he was confronted by the officer,” Spellman said. “The suspect brandished a weapon and the officer was forced to shoot the suspect.”
Mr. Muntader al-Zaidi is very lucky that it was Mr. Bush and Mr. Maliki and not Saddam Hussein. Because, had it been Mr. Saddam Hussein he'd be (inaudible). Number 2, in our country, I know that people have told you that showing shoes at someone is an insult. But, it is a bigger insult to the host; in our culture anyone who insults a guest is insulting the host. So in our culture we believe that what Mr al-Zeidi did was reprehensible.
Ahh... the old "facts don't matter" statement. What's ironic is that he again reiterates his original inaccurate presupposition - "...you got to stop this kind of killing." Wait a minute, didn't the reporter just state that all but one have been cleared of any wrong doing? So what kind of "killing" is he talking about?
"Yes, I think it was, that’s my job. My job is due. Listen, the NCIS (National Criminal Investigation Service) came to exactly the same conclusion I did. They had a two-star general investigate it. General Hagee went over right after I spoke out and talked to all of the Marines in the field and said you got to stop this kind of killing."
"She said, 'Promise me, son, that you will never take bribes.' And I said, of course I'll never take bribes. Not only would that be dishonest, it would be illegal, and I would never do anything to dishonor the memory of my father." - Governor Blagojevich (D)
In light of Governor Blagojevich's arrest yesterday in Illinois...
"Nothing is more essential to the establishment of manners in a State than that all persons employed in places of power and trust must be men of unexceptionable characters."
Unfortunately President Bush revealed more here about his 'faith' than I would have liked to believed.
Q: Is it literally true, the Bible?
Bush: I mean, you know, probably not. You know, the idea, no I’m not a literalist. But I think you can learn a lot from it.
"When asked if he thinks that he prays to the same God as those with different beliefs, Bush said, "I do."
"I do believe there is an Almighty that is broad and big enough and loving enough that can encompass a lot of people," Bush said, but he drew a distinction when it comes to those who perpetrate terror.
"I think anyone who murders to achieve their religious objective is not a religious person," he said. "They may think they're religious, and they play like they're religious, but I don't think they're religious. They are not praying to the God I pray to ... the god of peace and love."
When asked if he believes the Bible is literally true, the president said that he's "not a literalist" when it comes to reading the Bible, but rather focuses on the important lessons he believes the Bible teaches.
As for whether one can believe in the Bible and believe in evolution, Bush said he does, adding that "I happen to believe that evolution doesn't fully explain the mystery of life.
"I think that God created the Earth, created the world," he said. "I think the creation of the world is so mysterious it requires something as large as an almighty, and I don't think it's incompatible with the scientific proof that there is evolution."
Kudos to technology! A British surgeon volunteering in the Democratic Republic of Congo performed a complicated shoulder amputation by following text messages from a colleague in London. Dr. David Nott had never before performed a forequarter amputation, a procedure done only about ten times a year in the U.K. and requiring the removal of the shoulder blade and clavicle.
His patient was a 16-year-old boy whose left arm had been ripped off and was developing a dangerous infection. Nott knew it was a do or die situation. So he texted Professor Meirion Thomas, a colleague in London who had performed the surgery before. Thomas texted back step-by-step instructions, explaining where to make the incisions and how to divide major nerves and arteries. The text instructions ended with “Easy! Good luck.”
I would contend that it will be the word of the century, as our children and grand-children attempt to pay off our stupidity and lack of restraint!
With politics and the economy foremost on the minds of many, it is no wonder that bailout—a word ubiquitously featured in discussions of the presidency and fiscal policy—took home honors as Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year for 2008.
Bailout, defined in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, Eleventh Edition as "a rescue from financial distress," received the highest intensity of lookups on Merriam-Webster Online over the shortest period of time. As evident from the 2008 Word of the Year contenders list below, the presidential campaign and financial issues factored heavily in the concerns of our online visitors throughout the year.
This is an intriguing article about data mining and who knows what about whom. We are definitely moving into a new age of information... it will be interesting to see how the issues surrounding data mining and personal privacy play out in the next few years.
Because of copyright restrictions from www.NewScientist.com I can't copy any of the article here - but you can view it in its entirety by clicking here.
Ladies, if you don't think that you need a gun at home and also know how to use it... think again. Notice that this took place in a million dollar home, not in the slums. Evil knows no bounds... it can happen anywhere, and unfortunately it can happen at your home. Don't let it... be prepared - Choose Your Tools Wisely
A nice story to hear the underdog win, when he ran on principle! A no debt campaign and outspent by $600,000 and he still won by 20 points! Good job sir!
Politico: So rather than renting an apartment in Washington, Rep. Jason Chaffetz will join the ranks of members who sleep in their offices at night and shower each morning in the House gym. He will take his suits to the House dry cleaner and will bundle together his “socks and undies” to take home every weekend to be washed.
You may ask why the "assaulted" headline... well if some stranger on the street did this to your kids, would you call it assault? The social worker assaulted these children and intimidated the mother to allow it... the social worker should be prosecuted for breaking federal law and should be immediately removed from their position.
A home school legal advocate is disturbed by the recent actions of a social worker in Florida.
According to Kris Klicka of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), a social worker in Miami, Florida, overstepped the boundary of law when she demanded to interview a home schooler's children. He says the social worker showed up at the family's home when the father was at work -- and out of fear and intimidation, the mother let the social worker into the home to interview her children, even though the worker neither had a warrant nor would disclose why she was there.
The social worker -- according to HSLDA -- then partially stripped the children and searched them, but found nothing.
During the ordeal, the mother called Klicka for legal advice. Klicka was able to talk with the social worker and inform her that she was violating federal law.
"[E]very family needs to realize that the Constitution of the United States has a Fourth Amendment that states that no one from the government can enter a home unless they have a warrant [that has been] signed by a judge," Klicka explains. "And the judge cannot sign it unless there is probable cause -- and most of the time these social workers do not have probable cause or credible evidence."
Klicka says the family is considering a civil rights lawsuit alleging the social worker broke the law by (1) entering the home and interviewing the children through intimidation; (2) not letting the family know the allegations at the initial visit; and (3) interviewing children whom the allegations did not concern.
We need more governors like Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina!
"I find myself in a lonely position. While many states and local governments are lining up for a bailout from Congress, I went to Washington recently to oppose such bailouts. I may be the only governor to do so.
But I suspect I'm not entirely alone, as there are a lot of taxpayers who aren't pleased with Christmas coming early for politicians. And I hope these taxpayers make their voices heard before Democrats load up the next bailout train for states with budget deficits.
Several questions led me to oppose bailing out the states. They are worth asking, even if you supported bailing out Wall Street.
Who bails out the "bail-outor"?
Washington is short on cash these days and will borrow every dime of the $150 billion to $300 billion for the "stimulus" bill now being worked on. Federal appetites may know no bounds. But the federal government's ability to borrow is not limitless. Already, our nation's unfunded liabilities total $52 trillion -- about $450,000 per household. There's something very strange about issuing debt to solve a problem caused by too much debt.
Do you now have to be a financial "bad boy" to win?
Community bankers tell me that they are now at a competitive disadvantage for being careful about who to lend to, because others that were less disciplined will get a federal bailout. This is also true for states. Those that have been fiscally responsible will pay for or lose out to the big spenders. California increased spending 95% over the past 10 years (federal spending went up 71% over the same period). To bail out California now seems unfair to fiscally prudent states.
Was the economist Herb Stein wrong when he said that if something cannot go on forever, it won't?
Medicaid grew 9.5% annually over the past 10 years. That's unsustainable. But if Congress opens the checkbook now, there will be no reform."
WOW!!! Listen to every one of these "economic experts" and out of all of them who was the ONLY one to get it right? Economic advisor to the Ron Paul Presidential Campaign, Peter Schiff. Absolutely amazing what this man was saying 1-2 years ago! If you listened to any of the other economic experts, at this point you would have lost 35% of your investments in the DJIA at this point. Not to mention the losses if you had listen to buy Bear Sterns or Merrill Lynch!!
Hmmm... I thought that Ayers was "just a guy who lives in my neighborhood"? Oh well... he's our President-Elect now, so I guess we shouldn't be bringing this up now should we...
In a new afterword to his 2001 book, Bill Ayers, former leader of the 1960s radical group Weather Underground, describes President-elect Barack Obama as a “family friend” and denies he wished his group had set off more bombs in the 1960s.
Ayers, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, adds few new details about his relationship with Obama in the afterword to Fugitive Days: Memoirs of an Anti-War Activist. The book is being reissued this month.
“We had served together on the board of a foundation, knew one another as neighbors and family friends, held an initial fund-raiser at my house, where I’d made a small donation to his earliest political campaign,” he writes.
LOL... nice! "We" try to elect our nominee for President, then immediately after he loses we file a suit against his most prized legislation!
The Republican Party will file federal lawsuits Thursday seeking to overthrow the McCain-Feingold federal campaign finance regulations, Republican National Committee Chairman Robert M. "Mike" Duncan revealed Wednesday night at a private dinner with the nation's Republican governors.
The move is considered a slap in the face of the Republican Party's failed 2008 presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who was dramatically outspent by Democrat Barack Obama, and of President Bush, who signed McCain-Feingold into law in 2002.
Mr. Duncan said one suit will be filed in the District of Columbia to strike down the soft-money ban that is the central tenet of the McCain-Feingold Act — formally known as the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. "Soft money" is largely unrestricted contributions from wealthy individuals, corporations and labor unions.
The second suit will be in a Louisiana federal court to strike down the limits under the law Mr. McCain co-sponsored with Sen. Russ Feingold, Wisconsin Democrat, that control coordination between parties and their candidates.
A few excerpts from Ted Nugent's latest article...
There are really only four things I have a strong aversion to: unloaded guns, dull knives, banjos, and Republicans in Name Only (RINOs).
RINOs are Fedzilla punks who feign support for conservative principles only when it serves their political interest. RINOs are also known for their moderate positions such as supporting tax increases, federal “bailouts”, “comprehensive immigration reform”, advocating more counterproductive gun control that guarantee more innocent victims, opposing the death penalty, and growing and sustaining Fedzilla and all its toxic mongrels by going along with the liberals. RINOs have forgotten President Ronald Maximus Regan's admonition that government is the problem, not the solution.
RINOs reach across Fedzilla's aisle to cut deals and build consensus with the liberals. Consensus building means compromising values and cutting deals with the socialist prankster punksters whose goal it is to turn America into EuroAmerica.
Consensus building is for wimps and soulless people who stand for nothing. Compromise is not about being tolerant: these days, it’s about giving up conservative principles.
My specialty is making Fedzilla punks squirm and turn into a puddle of sweat and drool. Therefore, in the spirit of famous butt kickers Generals Chesty Puller and George Patton, I say we launch an attack on all fronts. Uncle Ted hereby declares it is open season on RINOs. No bag limits or permits required. Conservative ideas, arguments and votes are the weapons we will use. Hunt them down and shine a blazing light on these RINO turncoat cockroaches. Zero in the "we the people" crosshairs of your voting assault weapon and aim for the RINO pumpstation. Double tap center mass. Whack em and stack em, track em and hack em, pack em and give em no slack. Let's do to the RINO beasts what we did to the passenger pigeon. Force out of the Republican Party out the subspecies known as RINOs.
"Now, in the last seven years we've had the highest corporate profit, ever in American history! Highest corporate profit! We've had the highest productivity. The American worker has produced more per person than at any time. But it hasn't been shared, and that's the problem! Because we've been guided by a Republican administration, who believes in this simplistic notion, that people who have wealth are entitled to keep it. And they have an antipathy towards the means of redistributing wealth. And they may be able to sustain that for a while, but it doesn't work in the long run."
“I think women have established a role that is new to America’s eyes,” she told me. “And I think if you want us to play infantry, why not afford us an opportunity to become infantry ... so I definitely think it’s time for a change, a big change.”
Feminism has a firm grasp on the American Military, which would have been amplified even more had Sarah Palin been elected as Vice President, thus making her as second in line as Commander in Chief of the military. Unfortunately if things are not turned around quickly, it will only be time before women are added to selective service requirements.
“It’s the longest few seconds before you pull the trigger, seems like it’s all in slow-mo,” 27-year-old Shannon Morgan, a former Army Specialist in Iraq, told me in an interview. “But you just got to keep telling yourself it’s either you or them.”
“American needs to know what’s going on over there, that we are over there and we are doing this,” she says in the film. “Doing the exact same thing as males are doing now.”
The Pentagon has since made Lioness an official program and now trains women to operate combat weapons but still bans them from direct combat roles.
“They need to be able to use women in this way and they will probably need to in future conflicts,” said Meg McLagan, the film’s other co-director/producer.
Apparently he's not backing away from all of his statements, just the ones comparing Obama to Hitler. Ok, so maybe that was a little bit of political rhetoric :).
But as for the Marxist statement on Obama, Rep Broun is right on that and should stick to his guns! I don't care how many people complain or bellyache about calling Obama a Marxist... if the truth hurts, tough. Obama has consistently espoused Marxist philosophies - so comparing him to Marx is completely accurate and acceptable.
WASHINGTON — Georgia Congressman Paul Broun Tuesday backed away from comparing the policies of President-elect Obama to those of Hitler or a Marxist dictator.
After stirring a controversy that was grabbing national attention, the Republican lawmaker from Athens apologized for making such references.
“I regret putting it that way,” Broun told WGAC radio in Augusta. “I apologize to anyone who has taken offense at that.”
"The point I tried to make is that he is extremely liberal, he has promoted a lot of socialistic ideas, and it just makes me concerned,” Broun said Tuesday.
County Republican chairman James Box of Clarke county, which is in Broun’s district, also defended his congressman’s earlier comments.
“President-elect Obama has a background — and some of his statements he’s made — that lead many of us to believe that he has very socialist orientations,” Box, 77, said, adding that the national press has not examined the incoming president vigorously enough.
“I wouldn’t say he’s going to be a Hitler, but what Paul Broun says is that he has a potential for being a Hitler.”
Got to love his courage! :) I may not agree with Rep Broun on everything, but on this I certainly do! And it's time more people in Washington started calling it the way that it is. Keep up the good work Representative Broun!
AUGUSTA - U.S. Rep. Paul Broun attacked president-elect Barack Obama's agenda as "Marxist" and derided fellow Republicans for abandoning conservative principles Friday during his first speech since he was re-elected in Georgia's 10th Congressional District.
"In my opinion, we've elected a Marxist to be president of the United States," Broun, R-Athens, said during a luncheon of the Martinez-Evans Rotary Club at the Doubletree Hotel.
WASHINGTON — A Republican congressman from Georgia is calling President-elect Obama a Marxist and warning that he might be planning to form a Gestapo-like security force so he can rule as a dictator.
Two-term Rep. Paul Broun of Athens cited a July speech that has circulated on the Internet in which Obama called for a civilian force to take some of the national security burden off the military.
Broun said he was not fear mongering but wants to warn people that the nation could be going down that path.
He's been a body-builder, a movie star and leader of the most populous state in the US. But could Arnold Schwarzenegger, now nearing the end of his days as California's governor, be offered a place at Barack Obama's side in Washington?
Speculation is swirling that Schwarzenegger will be offered the role of energy czar in the incoming Obama administration. There has been Beltway chatter about the prospect ever since he was named as a contender for the job by the authoritative politico.com website.
This is scary stuff... but kudos to Neil Cavuto for sticking it to him for as long as he did. It definitely took restraint not to go completely nuclear on this guy! :)
Senator Robert Menendez (D-Nebraska) on Neil Cavuto's show.
And we wonder why he chose William Ayers as his friend...
"To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist Professors and structural feminists and punk-rock performance poets."
- Barack Obama (from his book, Dreams of My Father)
"Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature ... If the next centennial does not find us a great nation...it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces."
"Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers. "
"I have one great political idea... The best expression of it, I have found in the Bible. It is in substance, 'Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people' [Proverbs 14:34]. This constitutes my politics - the negative and positive of my politics, and the whole of my politics... I feel it my duty to do all in my power to infuse this idea into the public mind, that it may speedily be recognized and practiced upon by our people."
"...the time has come that Christians must vote for honest men, and take consistent ground in politics, or the Lord will curse them. They must be honest men themselves, and instead of voting for a man because he belongs to their party, Bank or Anti-Bank, Jackson or Anti-Jackson, they must find out whether he is honest and upright, and fit to be trusted."
In this clip John Piper does an excellent job of vocalizing some of the things that I have been thinking about this election. He talks about the need to rely on the Sovereignty of God and not to be fearful of what one man’s election may bring.
So, if somebody wants to build a coal plant, they can — it’s just that it will bankrupt them, because they are going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted. - Barack Obama
I think the founders put something into the Constitution to address this... what was it!? Oh that's right!! The 2nd Amendment!! You know, one of the Bill of Rights that Obama wants to take away. :)
"We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded." - Barack Obama, July 2008
"Our job is to tap the discontent seething in many sectors of the population, to find allies everywhere people are hungry or angry, to mobilize poor and working people against imperialism."
"We have an urgent responsibility: to destroy imperialism from within in order to help free the world and ourselves from its grasp. "
"Socialism is the total opposite of capitalism/imperialism. It is the rejection of empire and white supremacy. Socialism is the violent overthrow of the bourgeoisie, the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and the eradication of the social system based on profit. Socialism means control of the productive forces for the good of the whole community instead of the few who live on hilltops and in mansions. Socialism means priorities based on human need instead of corporate greed. Socialism creates the conditions for a decent and creative quality of life for all. "
"Our final goal is the destruction of imperialism, the seizure of power, and the creation of socialism. Our strategy for this stage of the struggle is to organize the oppressed people of the imperial nation itself to join with the colonies in the attack on imperialism. This process of attacking and weakening imperialism involves the defeat of all kinds of national chauvinism and arrogance; this is a precondition to our fight for socialism. "
"Revolutionary war will be complicated and protracted. It includes mass struggle and clandestine struggle, peaceful and violent, political and economic, cultural and military, where all forms are developed in harmony with the armed struggle. Without mass struggle there can be no revolution. Without armed struggle there can be no victory."
It's quite ironic that Senator McCain is playing the socialist card, when he is teetering very close to socialism himself. Don't misunderstand me, I certainly don’t believe that McCain is nearly as far down the socialist road as Obama. However remember - the road to hell, is still the road to hell - regardless of how far down the road you are.
I know that many of you will say, yes but we have a "better chance of pulling McCain back out of hell than we do Obama." To which I would disagree and ask… what evidence can you present that would lead you to that conclusion? I would assert that it’s just your desire to “want to believe in him” and your “hope” that he will do what is right when he gets into office. I hate to be the one to break it to you, but Senator McCain isn’t believable when it comes to conservatism and never has been.
If you listen closely to the two McCain clips below, McCain very clearly advocates a large socialistic government philosophy – “…wealthy people can afford more” and “giving people new mortgages at the new value of their home…” and lastly “…here's what I really believe, that when you are -- reach a certain level of comfort, there's nothing wrong with paying somewhat more.” Folks, there is no "pulling him out" of that philosophy! He's entrenched himself in this liberal socialism for far too long... and as they say "he is his own man". So if you think that YOU or anybody else will be able to turn him around, you are, by Einstein’s definition, insane.
" Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" - Albert Einstein
Conservatives have tried many a time to pull liberal Republicans back “out of hell”, but I would challenge you to name ONE whom they have succeeded in doing so.
As a further challenge, I challenge you to listen to either of these two bites and replace McCain's voice with Obama's. If it were Senator Obama speaking I’m sure that you would be very adamant that he was a full-fledge socialist wanting to “redistribute the wealth” as Joe the Plumber so wonderfully brought to the national forefront. However, because it is Senator McCain, you are going to give him a pass because he is the “lesser of the evils” and “we must keep Obama out at all costs”. Even at the cost of the future of the Republican party, conservatism’s last great hope. I firmly believe that the election of Senator McCain will ensure the suppression of conservatives in our party for at least the next 4 years, if not much much longer than that.
I know I will get a barrage of emails, phone calls, death threats, etc… for these statements :). However I am tired of carrying water for the weak, spineless, and uncourageous politicians that masquerade as “real men” of courage who will stand for what is right, yet have NO intention of doing so! These are men who refuse to take their oath of office seriously and refuse to uphold the Constitution.
So, all that said, John McCain will NOT be getting my vote. He has NOT EARNED it and does NOT deserve it! If you choose to waste your vote on him, so be it. But please DO NOT tell me that I am wasting my vote when I vote for a third party candidate who, imperfect as he is, stands on principle and has the courage to stand in the gap when it is needed most. In my opinion a vote for anyone else is a wasted vote, a vote that causes the blood of our forefathers to be spilt in vain. If we will not exercise our rights as free men to vote according to conscience, then what have we gained by their sacrifice?
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." - Edmund Burke
If good men will not draw a line in the sand and say, enough is enough, then evil will surely triumph in America. As long as men cower in the face of danger and uncertainty, freedom will continue to vanish from our precious soil.
Lastly, when you go vote, remember that on January 20th, 2009 our next President will “solemnly swear (or affirm) to faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of their Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” If you knowingly vote for a man (Obama or McCain) whom you KNOW will break the Constitution, does that make you complicit in their crime of breaking their oath of office?
From the Hardball College Tour, October 12, 2000:
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. Since I've been studying politics, I've had this question that I've never fully understand. Why is it that someone like my father, who goes to school for 13 years, gets penalized in a huge tax bracket because he's a doctor? Why is that -- why does he have to pay higher taxes than everybody else, just because he makes more money? Why -- how is that fair?
MATTHEWS: You mean...
MCCAIN: I think your question -- questioning the fundamentals of a progressive tax system where people who make more money pay more in taxes than a flat, across-the-board percentage. I think it's to some degree because we feel, obviously, that wealthy people can afford more. We have over the years, beginning with John F. Kennedy, reduced some of those marginal tax rates to make them less onerous.
But I believe that when you really look at the tax code today, the very wealthy, because they can afford tax lawyers and all kinds of loopholes, really don't pay nearly as much as you think they do when you just look at the percentages. And I think middle-income Americans, working Americans, when the account and payroll taxes, sales taxes, mortgage pay -- all of the taxes that working Americans pay, I think they -- you would think that they also deserve significant relief, in my view...
MATTHEWS: How many -- how many people here believe that the people who made the highest level of incomes in this country should pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes?
Miss, do you want to follow up? Miss, do you want to follow up, do you want to follow up, do you want to follow up? Go ahead.
MCCAIN: Do you want to follow up? Please...
MATTHEWS: Go ahead, please, go ahead.
MCCAIN: ... you were dissatisfied with Chris's comment, I could tell.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I still don't see how the -- how that's fair. Isn't the definition of slavery basically where you work and all your money goes? I'm not saying this is slavery, I'm saying that isn't the defin -- are we getting closer and closer to, like, socialism and stuff, when you have -- you have some people paying 60 percent overall in a year of their money to taxes. That's their money, not the government's. How is that fair? I haven't understood it.
MCCAIN: Could I point out, one of the fundamentals of a town hall meeting is, we respect the views of others, and let them speak. So, look, here's what I really believe, that when you are -- reach a certain level of comfort, there's nothing wrong with paying somewhat more. But at the same time, that shouldn't be totally out of proportion. There's some countries such as Sweden where it doesn't pay anything to work more than six months a year. That's probably the extreme.
But I think the debate in this country is more about tax cuts rather than anything else. And frankly, I think the first people who deserve a tax cut are working Americans with children that need to educate their children, and they're the ones that I would support tax cuts for first.
Transcript:
WALLACE: In your radio address yesterday, you raised the "S" word, socialism.
MCCAIN: Sure.
WALLACE: But you did it indirectly, so let me ask you for some straight talk. Do you think that Senator Obama is a socialist? Do you think that his plans are socialism?
MCCAIN: I think his plans are redistribution of the wealth. He said it himself, "We need to spread the wealth around." Now, that's one of...
WALLACE: Is that socialism?
MCCAIN: That's one of the tenets of socialism. But it's more the liberal left, which he's always been on. He's always been in the left lane of American politics.
That's why he voted 94 times against any tax cuts or for tax increases. That's why he voted for the Democratic resolution, budget resolution, that would impose taxes on — raise taxes on some individual who makes $42,000 a year.
That's why he has the most liberal voting record in the United States Senate.
WALLACE: But, Senator, when we talk...
MCCAIN: So is one of the tenets of socialism redistribution of the wealth? Not just socialism — a lot of other liberal and left wing philosophies — redistribution of the wealth? I don't believe in it. I believe in wealth creation by Joe the Plumber.
WALLACE: But, Senator, you voted for the $700 billion bailout that's being used partially to nationalize American banks. Isn't that socialism?
MCCAIN: That is reacting to a crisis that's due to greed and excess in Washington.
And what this administration is doing wrong, and what Paulson is doing wrong, isnot going out and buying up home loan mortgages, home mortgages, and giving people new mortgages at the new value of their home so they can stay in their home.
They're bailing out the banks. They're baling out these institutions.
WALLACE: But you voted for that.
MCCAIN: Of course. It was a package that had to be enacted because the economy was about to go into the tank.
During the — during the Depression, we had a program to take care — where they went out and bought homeowners' mortgages, and then over time they even made money as the values of homes began to increase.
If we don't turn — the housing market was the catalyst — the greed and excess, and Fannie Mae and Freddie, which some of us proposed legislation to rein in — the Democrats were in charge of Congress for most six — for the last couple of years, and they did not act, and so — and Senator Obama did not act.
But the point is that, of course, when a — when a — that's the reason why we have governments, to help those who need help, who can't help themselves, and when time of crisis to step in and do what's necessary to preserve the lives and futures of innocent people.
It wasn't Main Street America that caused this. It was Washington and Wall Street."
In this 2001 Chicago Public Radio Interview Obama is discussing the best way to bring about the Redistribution of Wealth, not whether it's right or wrong, but HOW TO IMPLEMENT IT!... and his conclusions?
Ok, this is pretty scary stuff. I know we've all joked about the people who seemingly place Obama at the same level of Jesus Christ (i.e. Messiah)... however this is the first that I've really seen everyday citizens so open about their idolatry of Barack Obama. Quite scary indeed...
In the video they are "envisioning" Obama as President, while the Worship Song, Sanctuary is being sung in the background.
"President Barack Obama.
Envision it. Say it. Feel it. Believe it.
Make it a reality!
You have the power to change this country. And it all begins with your positive vision. Watch this video and join thousands of Americans who are prepared heart and soul to embrace Barack Obama as our next president.
Spend just one minute a day imagining Barack Obama as your president. Click the “I Envisioned It “ button to let the world know that this shared vision of a renewed America is your vision, too. Watch as our numbers and our vision grow." - http://www.manifestobama.com/
Sanctuary Lyrics Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary, Pure and holy, Tried and True, With thanksgiving, I'll be a living Sanctuary For You
And If I'm Holy, As you are Holy, Someday I'll see you, Face to Face. Melt and Mold Me, Into your Image, And take me to your Holy Place.
It's called taxing YOU!! The Federal Government is very good at cost recovery from it's "customers", er um, slaves. Make no mistake about it... the "rich people" that Barney Frank is talking about is Joe the Plumber making $250k or more a year. This is the same socialism that Obama spouted the other day to Joe the Plumber, I guess now Democrats are more comfortable saying what they really believe since their "leader" has come out of the closet on socialism.
"I think at this point, there needs to be an immediate increase in spending, and I think this is a time when deficit fear has to take a second, uh, a second seat. I do think this is the time for a very important kind of dose of [unintelligible]. Yes, I think later on, there should be tax increases. Speaking personally, I think there are a lot of rich people out there who we can tax at a point down the road to recover some of this money."
"It is of course not enough that a public official should be honest. No amount of honesty will avail if he is not also brave and wise. The weakling and the coward can not be saved by honesty alone; but without honesty the brave and able man is merely a civic wild beast who should be hunted down by every lover of righteousness. No man who is corrupt, no man who condones corruption in others, can possibly do his duty by the community."
"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any bands of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States. A military force, at the command of Congress, can execute no laws, but such as the people perceive to be just and constitutional; for they will possess the power, and jealousy will instantly inspire the inclination, to resist the execution of a law which appears to them unjust and oppressive."
- Noah Webster, "An Examination into the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution," 1787, a pamphlet aimed at swaying Pennsylvania toward ratification, in Paul Ford, ed., Pamphlets on the Constitution of the United States, at 56 [New York, 1888]
Remarks at the Bicentennial Observance of the Battle of Yorktown in Virginia
October 19, 1981
Mr. President, Mrs. Mitterrand, Lord Chancellor [Rt. Honorable Lord Hailsham, Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom], Governor John Dalton -- and I thank you very much for that most gracious introduction -- Members of the Congress, members of the Cabinet, distinguished guests, and my fellow citizens:
I open with something of an announcement before my remarks. Since today is a day to celebrate freedom, I feel it only appropriate that I exercise one of the more pleasant powers of the Presidency. After consultation with Governor Dalton and with his approval, by the power vested in me as President of the United States, I hereby grant amnesty to the corps of cadets of the Virginia Military Institute under the terms and conditions to be specified by the superintendent. [Laughter]
And now, this field, this ceremony, and this day hold a special meaning for people the world over, whether free in their lives or only in their dreams. Not long after the battle of Yorktown, Lafayette wrote home to France. ``Here,'' he said, ``humanity has won its battle, liberty now has a country.''
It was an extraordinary moment in history. The Continental Army, as you've been told, had marched more than 400 miles from the Hudson River in New York to the tidewaters of Virginia. They surprised and stranded Lord Cornwallis on the tip of this peninsula. When Admiral de Grasse and his French fleet blockaded the Chesapeake, the trap was sprung. There could be no rescue by land or by sea.
Nearly 8,000 British soldiers had swept from Charleston to Richmond to this spot between the York and the James Rivers, with far more victories than defeats. But as they were encircled and besieged by the Continentals, as they withstood day after day of grueling bombardment, they must have known in their hearts they were fighting for a cause they could not win.
Their enemies were a band of colonists with bandaged feet and muskets that couldn't be counted on to fire, but the British were thousands of miles from home and the Americans were fighting where they lived. Those rebels may not have had fancy uniforms or even adequate resources, but they had a passion for liberty burning in their hearts.
In a masterly execution of a textbook siege, General Washington and his grab-bag army defeated the finest troops King George could field.
The morning of the surrender must have been very much like this one today. The first real chill of autumn was in the air. The trees were turning brilliant with the hues of red and gold and brown. The sky was bright and clear. Quiet had finally returned to this lovely countryside. How strange the silence must have seemed after the thundering violence of war.
And then the silence was broken by a muffled beat of British drums, covered with black handkerchiefs, as the Redcoats marched to surrender. The pageantry was spectacular. The French in their spotless white uniforms lined one side of the road. The ragged Continentals were brown and dreary on the other side. But the journals of those who were present mention that the Americans stood every bit as straight and equally as proud as any army could. They had, on that day, a military bearing that was not to be outdone by their comrades in white and blue nor by King George's men in their brilliant red.
As the British marched between the allied armies to the field of surrender, tears streamed down many of their faces. Their musicians played a tune popular in England at the time, yes, ``The World Turned Upside Down.'' And that's just what the colonists had done.
But those Americans were not professional soldiers at all. They had fought for freedom from Quebec to Saratoga, from Camden and Cowpens to Germantown, Valley Forge, and Monmouth -- towns and countrysides once so anonymous that King George complained he could neither pronounce them nor find them on the map.
By Yorktown, they were veterans, but they were still not soldiers. They were farmers, backwoodsmen, tradesmen, clerks, and laborers -- common men from all walks of life, anxious to return to their families and the building of a nation. On that day in 1781 a philosophy found a people, and the world would never be the same.
We who have traveled here today -- and I'm told we number more than 60,000 -- did not come just to admire the strategies, battlements, and trenches of a siege. We did not come to idealize human suffering.
The wounds of this battle have long since healed. Our nations have matured, and bonds of friendship now exist between one-time enemies. The same has been true of other wars since, which makes you wonder if after all the hatred, all the pain, and all the sacrifice, we find ourselves able to be friends and allies, why couldn't we find ourselves able to be friends without first going to war?
We have come to this field to celebrate the triumph of an idea -- that freedom will eventually triumph over tyranny. It is and always will be a warning to those who would usurp the rights of others: Time will find them beaten. The beacon of freedom shines here for all who will see, inspiring free men and captives alike, and no wall, no curtain, nor totalitarian state can shut it out.
The commemoration of this battle marks the end of the revolution and the beginning of a new world era. The promise made on July 4th was kept on October 19th. The dream described in that Pennsylvania hall was fulfilled on this Virginia field. Through courage, the support of our allies, and by the gracious hand of God, a revolution was won, a people were set free, and the world witnessed the most exciting adventure in the history of nations: the beginning of the United States of America.
But we didn't win this battle or this war by ourselves. From your country, Mr. President, came men and ships and goods. Generals Rochambeau and Lafayette and Admirals de Grasse and de Barras were among those without whose help this battle and this war could never have been won. France was first to our side, first to recognize our independence, and steadfast in friendship ever since. We are bonded in spirit and, in fact, by freedom. ``Entre vous, entre nous, a la vie, a la mort,'' Rochambeau said -- Between you, between us, through life, or death.
And others came to our aid -- Poles, Spaniards, Scots, Canadians, Swedes, Germans, Dutch, Irish, and still more.
Our Revolution was won by and for all who cherish the timeless and universal rights of man. This battle was a vindication of ideas that had been forming for centuries in the Western mind.
From the Mediterranean had come the philosophies of Greece and the laws of Rome. England contributed representative government, and the French and the Poles shared their dreams of equality and liberty. On our own frontier, we learned dependence on family and neighbors, and in our Revolution free men were taught reliance on other free men.
We of the West have lived the central truths, the values around which we now must rally -- human dignity, individual rights, and representative democracy. Our nations share the foundation of common law, separation of powers, and limited government. We must unite behind our own common cause of freedom.
There are those in the world today, as there always have been, who recognize human rights as only selective favors to be doled out by the state. They preach revolution against tyranny, but they intend to replace it with the tyranny of totalitarianism.
Once again, today, thousands of free men and women have gathered on this battlefield in testimony to their beliefs. Let the struggle that took place here remind us all: The freedom we enjoy today has not always existed and carries no guarantees. In our search for an everlasting peace, let all of us resolve to remain so sure of our strength that the victory for mankind we won here is never threatened.
Will we meet the challenge, will we meet the challenge Joseph Warren put forth to Americans 200 years ago? Will we act worthy of ourselves?
Each generation before us has struggled and sacrificed for freedom. Can we do any less?
The men and boys who fought on this field somehow understood that government must be close to people and responsive to them; that if all men are free to prosper, all will benefit.
Today in our country those concepts are threatened by government's bloated size and the distortion of its true functions. Our people are struggling under a punishing tax burden many times heavier than that which ignited our first rebellion. Regulations that inhibit our growth and prosperity would be incomprehensible to the colonists who revolted because of the Stamp Act.
Our Founding Fathers devised a system of government unique in all the world -- a federation of sovereign States, with as much law and decisionmaking authority as possible kept at the local level. This concept of federalism has been the secret of America's success and will be a priority again as we restore the balance between the Federal, State, and local levels that was intended in the Constitution.
But of equal concern to me is the uncertainty some seem to have about the need for a strong American defense. Now, that is a proper task for the national government. Military inferiority does not avoid a conflict, it only invites one and then ensures defeat. We have been trusted with freedom. We have been trusted with freedom and must ensure it for our children and for their children. We're rebuilding our defenses so that our sons and daughters never need to be sent to war.
Where are the voices of courage and vision that inspired us in the past? Are we ever to hear those voices again? Yes. Thomas Paine, a voice of patriotism, said, ``Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, . . . , undergo the fatigue of supporting it.'' We always have, and we always will. That's just part of being an American.
Our Declaration of Independence has been copied by emerging nations around the globe, its themes adopted in places many of us have never heard of.
Here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights. We the people declared that government is created by the people for their own convenience. Government has no power except those voluntarily granted to it by we the people.
There have been revolutions before and since ours, revolutions that simply exchanged one set of rulers for another. Ours was a philosophical revolution that changed the very concept of government.
John Adams wrote home from Philadelphia shortly before signing the Declaration of Independence, and he said, ``I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom, I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means -- and that Posterity will triumph -- ''.
It is that vision we recall today. We have economic problems at home, and we live in a troubled and violent world. But there is a moral fiber running through our people that makes us more than strong enough to face the tests ahead. We can look at our past with pride, and our future can be whatever we make it. We can remember that saying Thomas Paine said, ``We have it within our power to begin the world over again.'' We only have to act worthy of ourselves.
And as has been said already today, God bless America.
Note: The President spoke at 12:23 p.m. from a reviewing stand overlooking the battlefield.
Following his remarks, the President returned to the White House.
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