Much has been written about Barak Obama's positions on the issues.  Obama himself has repeatedly lied about his positions, calling others liars when they accurately quote positions he has taken and things he has done and said.  In an attempt to show in irrefutable form what Barak Obama has really done and said, Guy Benson, Mary Katharine Ham, and Ed Morrissey at Hot Air have assembled "The comprehensive argument against Barack Obama" profusely illustrated with videos of Obama.  Topics covered include:

ABORTION
TAXES
RADICAL ASSOCIATIONS
FOREIGN POLICY JUDGMENT
DISDAIN FOR THE HEARTLAND
THE RACE CARD
LACK OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS
MILITARY POLICY

This is not a 90 second summary, but if you really want to know more about Barak Obama, take the time to read this article and watch the many video clips it contains.

Bumped to top.

Michael Ramirez's latest:

HT Power Line

The following is Dr. Dobson's October newsletter in its entirety.

Dear Friends,

Can you feel the tension in the air? The nation — and indeed, the world — is holding its collective breath as the final days of the presidential campaign wind down and the candidates engage in one last round of electioneering and debating. By this time next month, we'll know whether Senator John McCain or Senator Barack Obama will be inaugurated in January as the 44th President of the United States.

Considering the stark differences between the two presidential candidates and the critical issues that are hanging in the balance, it's not difficult to understand why Campaign 2008 has been such a spirited affair. I'd like to take a few moments to consider what is at stake in this year's election, particularly for those of us who embrace a biblical worldview. Please understand that I will share these thoughts under the umbrella of Focus on the Family Action™, which has supported the preparation and distribution of this letter. Focus Action is, in turn, supported by contributions from those who do not receive tax deductible receipts for them. Thanks so much to you who made it possible.

Let's start with the need to elect a pro-family, pro-life President. The importance of this objective cannot be overstated. Between 2009 and 2012, there will likely be two or more opportunities for the President to nominate new justices to the Supreme Court. Some court watchers say there could be as many as four resignations. That alone should give us serious pause as we consider for whom to cast our votes. In the months ahead, the Supreme Court will likely hand down rulings that will impact America for generations to come. We need a President who will nominate conservative, strict-constructionist judges to the Court. If that doesn't happen, the highest court in the land could become stackedóeven more than it already isówith justices who will endeavor to legislate from the bench and impose a liberal agenda on the nation. It will likely affect the definition of marriage, religious freedom, and the protection (or lack thereof) of life in the womb.

It's probably obvious which of the two major party candidates' views are most palatable to those of us who embrace a pro-life, pro-family worldview. While I will not endorse either candidate this year, I can say that I am now supportive of Senator John McCain and his bid for the presidency. This is not because I am beholden to the Senator from Arizona or to the Republican Party. Anyone who has even a passing familiarity with my views knows that I have agonized at times during this election process, and have been strongly critical of Senator McCain and the Republican Party on numerous occasions. My concern is for the biblical and moral values that I and millions of Americans hold dear. I will gladly support politicians of any stripe who are willing to defend the sanctity of human life, support the institution of traditional marriage, protect the country from terrorism and advance the cause of religious liberty. While certainly not perfect, the 2008 Republican platform comes closest to embracing those ideals by a wide margin.

In recent weeks, I have received some measure of criticism from those who feel that my "change of heart" toward John McCain is unwarranted. I understand those views and concede that the Senator continues to embrace positions that concern me. I don't apologize, however, for reevaluating our options in this election year. John Maynard Keynes, whose views I have disagreed with strongly, said this about reversing course: "When the facts change, I change my opinion. What do you do, sir?"¹ In this instance, Keynes' perspective is correct. Every thinking person will eventually have reason to change his or her mind as circumstances evolve, as they have done during this long political ordeal.

There are four primary — and I believe compelling — reasons why I now view the McCain presidential candidacy favorably:

1. During the "Saddleback Forum" on Aug. 16, Sens. Obama and McCain fielded questions from the Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren. Senator McCain gave very solid and encouraging answers to questions about the sanctity of life and the institution of marriage, whereas Senator Obama came down at the other end of the argument.

   You will recall the following interchange during the forum:

   Pastor Rick Warren: "At what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?"

   Senator Obama: "...Answering that question with specificity, you know, is, uh, is, above my pay grade."²

   With all due respect, Senator, if this question is above your pay grade, then so is the job attached to it.

2. The Republican Partyís 2008 national platform is a remarkably conservative document.³ Indeed, it is the strongest pro-life platform in the history of the party, surpassing even the pro-life advances of the Reagan years. It was approved and sanctioned by the McCain campaign.
3. Senator McCain selected an astonishingly strong pro-life, pro-family running mate in Governor Sarah Palin. Although he could have embraced a liberal Vice Presidential nominee, such as Senator Joe Lieberman or Tom Ridge, he made the bold decision to join forces with a VP pick whose views reflect those of the party's conservative base. I'll discuss Governor Palin's candidacy in greater detail in a moment.
4. The longer the campaign continues, the more concerned I have become with Barack Obama's liberal views. Certainly, he is an attractive and very charismatic candidate who has embarked on a campaign of historical proportions. However, the majority of his policies represent the antithesis of principles I hold dear. Senator Obama's record is more liberal than that of any other Democrat in the Senate⁴ — and that's saying something! For example, when he was a state senator in Illinois, he voted four times in three years against legislation that would have saved the lives of babies that managed to survive the abortion process.⁵ The U.S. Senate subsequently passed similar legislation called The Born-Alive Infant Protection Act by unanimous consent.⁶ (Obama was not a U.S. Senator at the time.) State Senator Obama was chairman of the committee that opposed this protection of babies, and in 2001 and 2002 was the only legislator who rose to argue against the Illinois Born Alive Act.⁷ That is an undeniable fact!

My good friend, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum published a scathing analysis of Senator Obama's pro-abortion record earlier this year. Here is an excerpt of what he wrote:

In March 2001, [Senator] Obama was the sole speaker in opposition to the bill on the floor of the Illinois Senate. He said: "We're saying they are persons entitled to the kinds of protections provided to a child, a 9-month child delivered to term. I mean, it would essentially bar abortions, because the equal protection clause does not allow somebody to kill a child."⁸ So according to [Senator] Obama, "they", (babies who survive abortions or any other preterm newborns,) should be permitted to be killed because giving legal protection to preterm newborns would have the effect of banning all abortions.⁹

To further underscore Senator Obama's radical devotion to abortion rights, he has promised that "the first thing I'd do as president" would be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act.¹⁰ The FOCA is a devastating piece of legislation that would overturn nearly every local, state, and federal anti-abortion law passed in the last 40 years.¹¹ In fact, it's so broadly written that legal analysts suggest the bill may prevent institutions and physicians from refusing to provide abortion services by invoking the conscience clause.

Earlier this year, while talking about sex education and abortion, the Senator said the following: "I've got two daughters, 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."¹² In other words, a pre-born baby is viewed as a form of punishment, and can therefore be murdered in the name of convenience.

It is a matter of historic significance that Barack Obama has become the first African-American to capture the nomination of a major political party for the office of President of the United States. I applaud that remarkable accomplishment. Nevertheless, I cannot support his candidacy because the positions he holds on moral, social and family issues place him at the extreme left of the political spectrum. What the Senator believes and the policies he would seek to implement are on a collision course with the biblical principles and beliefs I have fought to defend for more than 35 years.

Turning the corner, the significance of Governor Palin to the 2008 presidential race is also worthy of further consideration. Here is a woman who is a deeply committed Christian, and who is pro-life not only with regard to her policies, but in her personal life. She and her husband welcomed their latest child, Trig, into the world even though he was diagnosed with Down syndrome while still in the womb. Approximately 90 percent of babies with Down syndrome are aborted,¹³ but Governor Palin carried her precious child to term and now loves and cares for him despite the challenges associated with a special needs child. Similarly, her teenage daughter, Bristol, who became pregnant out of wedlock, could have bowed to cultural pressure to seek an abortion. Instead, she and the father plan to get married and raise their child together. Governor Palin has been married for 20 years, and by all accounts, she is a portrait of Christian motherhood and womanhood.

As for Governor Palin's qualifications to be Vice President of the United States and to assume the mantle of President, should that ever become necessary, she is much better suited for the job than the talking heads on the liberal Left would have you believe. She came out of nowhere to win the Alaskan gubernatorial race against a powerful incumbent. While in office, she bravely fought widespread corruption — including that within her own party — in the face of great opposition. Govenor Palin's critics suggest that her experience as mayor of a "small town" is somehow a liability, but it is an asset. In fact, her time as Mayor of Wasilla and then as Governor of Alaska gives her a greater degree of executive experience than Senator Barack Obama can claim. Her qualifications to be Vice President, I would submit, exceed those of Senator Barack Obama, who spent only 143 working days in the U.S. Senate prior to announcing his run for President.¹⁴ He authored no significant legislation during that time.

I'm sure you have heard the shrill voices from the political Left decrying Mrs. Palin for any and every reason under the sun. They gloat over the pregnancy of her daughter Bristol and claim it as "evidence" that abstinence education, which Sarah Palin strongly supports, is somehow a sham. They criticize Governor Palin for daring to hold political office and run for Vice President while having a baby at home, even though the Left has for decades supported a woman's right to do just that. The attacks on Governor Palin and her family in recent weeks have been astonishingly unfair and mean-spirited. If she were a liberal Democrat, she would be praised and lauded for making the same decisions for which she is now being criticized. The double standard is obvious.

Governor Palin's decision to run for Vice President while raising a baby with special needs has given pause to some conservative voices as well. Some have even questioned my enthusiasm over Governor Palin's candidacy in light of these circumstances. It's important to note that although I have often said stay-at-home moms are vitally important to raising the next generation, I have never suggested that it is wrong for mothers to work outside the home. Indeed, Focus on the Family® has hired thousands of mothers over the years. I have said, however, that if a mother is going to enter the workplace, she and her husband must first find a way to meet the needs of their children. Sarah Palin appears to have done that. Todd, her husband, is actively involved in the raising of their children, and it seems obvious that Sarah will continue to be a positive force in her children's lives even as she carries out her duties in the political arena. Regardless of your political views, may I suggest that the Palins need our prayers, not our disdain, at this critical moment in our nation's history.

Senator Obama's selection of fellow liberal Democrat Joseph Biden (Del.) is also extremely revealing. While the National Journal ranked Obama the most liberal Senator last year, Senator Biden was ranked 3rd on their list — just ahead of Vermont's Bernie Sanders, a self-avowed socialist.¹⁵ While the Senator of 36 years from Delaware stands in blatant opposition to the pro-family movement, many of you will remember him from his vociferous opposition to several of our finer Supreme Court justices, namely, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Alito and Thomas.

Returning to our theme, America's future seems to hang in the balance at this time. Our next President will have a dramatic impact on countless legislative issues. Since being relegated to minority status in 2006, Senate Republicans have skillfully used the rules of parliamentary procedure to frustrate many of the Democrats' attempts to pass bad legislation. To this point, that effort has almost always been backed by a President who is willing to use the veto pen when necessary. The threat of President Bush's veto on hate crimes legislation and issues regarding the sanctity of life have kept a Democrat-controlled Congress from implementing its liberal agenda. Will our next President stand up to Congress in the same manner, or will he side with them, thereby giving the Democrats free reign to impose their liberal values on America?

It is likely, say the pundits, that both the House and the Senate in the 111th Congress will still be controlled by Democrats. If that party also takes the White House, a wave of anti-family, pro-homosexual legislation is almost guaranteed to pass in 2009. The bills put forward and advanced this year by Democrats reveal where they want to take the country. For example, they inserted hate crimes language into the 2008 Defense Authorization Bill, but were forced to remove it in conference, again under the threat of veto.¹⁶ While in the Illinois Senate, Senator Obama voted for a bill authorizing "comprehensive" sex education beginning in kindergarten. Defenders have attempted to downplay its significance, citing the fact that it called for the content to be "age appropriate" and "medically accurate" — dubious and subjective qualifiers given the sensitive nature of the topic and innocence of the audience!¹⁷ (When criticized for supporting this legislation, the Senator was dismissive and said proudly, I quote, "It's the right thing to do."¹⁸)

Large portions of the agenda promoted by homosexual activists will also be enacted. The implications for a federal hate crimes law are clear. People speaking against homosexuality have already been prosecuted under hate crimes laws both in the United States and abroad. If a federal hate crimes law passes, there will be little to prevent the government from endeavoring to control and curtail religious speech, especially from the pulpit. It is entirely possible that a pastor could be charged with inducing a federal hate crime simply by preaching from one of the many biblical passages that address homosexuality.

Congressional Democrats will also seek to pass the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, meaning businesses will be forced to accept and condone homosexuality — and possibly transgenderism — in making employment decisions. Further, business owners, including religious businesses, will not be able to make hiring and firing decisions based on their religious convictions. Earlier this year, Senator Barack Obama said, "I will place the weight of my administration behind the enactment of the Matthew Shepherd Act to outlaw hate crimes and a fully inclusive Employment Nondiscrimination Act."¹⁹

Finally, I am deeply concerned about the tax and spend policies Senator Obama will impose on the American people if he is elected, especially in light of the current financial crisis. This is not the time to be taking money out of the economy, yet, he has proposed enormous new federal programs and entitlements that will cost multiple billions of dollars. These initiatives cannot be effected without huge increases in taxation on businesses, which will be passed on to the public and to individual families. This will almost certainly require a return of the odious marriage penalty tax that plagued families for 32 years!

The races for the White House and the Congress are hardly the only matters worthy of concern in this election cycle. At the state and local levels, numerous policies and pieces of legislation are being put to a vote, and many of them are directly related to family and moral issues. For example, the definition of marriage is on the ballot in Arizona (Proposition 102), California (Proposition 8) and Florida (Amendment 2). Voters in Colorado will be given the opportunity to expand the definition of "personhood" to include all human beings from the moment of fertilization (Amendment 48). In South Dakota, voters will be asked to ban all abortions except those involving cases of rape and incest, or when the pregnancy seriously jeopardizes the life or physical health of the mother (Measure 11). Michigan is considering whether to legalize embryonic stem cell research, which would result in the killing of tiny human beings. In California, voters will also get the chance to decide whether minor girls should be required to give 48 hoursí notice to a parent or adult relative before having an abortion (Proposition 4). Arkansas voters will decide whether to prevent couples living together out of wedlock — heterosexual or homosexual — from adopting children or serving as foster parents.

These are just a few of the important issues that, depending on which state you live in, will be on the ballot next month. I implore you to spend the few days remaining before the election researching the various amendments, ballot measures, and local and national candidates. Then, exercise your responsibility before God to vote on or before Nov 4. Please, let your voices be heard. For more information, visit Focus on the Family Actionís Web site at focusaction.org.

Regardless of your political views, I want to urge Christians everywhere to be in prayer about this election. There are many scriptural references wherein King David "inquired of God" when he was faced by troubling circumstances (1 Samuel 23:2,4; 30:8; 2 Samuel 2:1; 5:19,23). It is time for Christians everywhere to turn to Him for guidance and wisdom. Find some time to be still and listen to what He wants to tell you. The National Day of Prayer Task Force, led by my wonderful wife, Shirley, has embarked on a national campaign entitled "Pray for Election Day." All around the country, individuals and groups are being encouraged to gather every Thursday leading up to Nov. 4 between 12 noon and 12:30 p.m. Spend time with the Lord, asking Him to guide and direct those privileged to cast a ballot. If you are able, I would also encourage you to fast and pray immed"ately before the election. After all, it was the Reverend Billy Graham who once said that ìTo get nations back on their feet, we must first get down on our knees."²⁰ Amen, Dr. Graham.

This election is about the future of the nation, but it will also go a long way toward determining the culture your children and grandchildren will come to know. I know you will vote with your children and your children's children in mind. That certainly puts the election in a different light, doesn't it?

You know my heart on these issues, and I hope you understand that I am less concerned with politicians and political parties than I am with the timeless biblical principles that those parties have the power to either strengthen or damage. No candidate is perfect, whether in this election or any other. Please don't make your decisions lightly. There is simply too much at stake. May God grant each of us wisdom as Nov. 4 approaches.

Sincerely,

James C. Dobson, Ph.D.
Founder and Chairman

P.S. Since I began researching and writing this letter, the economic meltdown on Wall Street and congressional reaction to it has occurred. These are, indeed, difficult times for American families and businesses. Thank you for continuing to support this ministry, even though in many cases it has required sacrificial giving. You are helping to keep us afloat during this financial crisis, and we appreciate your contribution and prayers more than I can tell you.

Please share this with your friends and family.

This letter may be reproduced without change and in its entirety for noncommercial and nonpolitical purposes without prior permission from Focus on the Family Action.

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ENDNOTES

¹ Louis Uchitelle, "2 Mavericks in Economics Awarded Nobel Prize," The New York Times, Oct. 12, 2004, http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/aml6/econ001/pdfs/nobel2004.pdf (Sept. 29, 2008).
Also: Alfred L. Malabre, Lost Prophets: An Insider's History of the Modern Economists (1994), p. 220. (Responding to criticism when changing monetary policy in the midst of the Great Depression.)

² Saddleback Presidential Candidates Forum, CNN Transcript, Aug. 16, 2008. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0808/16/se.02.html (Sept. 29, 2008).

³ Republican National Committee, 2008 Republican Platform, gop.com/2008Platform/ (Sept. 28, 2008).

⁴ "National Journal's 2007 Vote Ratings," National Journal Group Inc., 2008, nationaljournal.com/voteratings/sen/lib.htm (Sept. 29, 2008).

⁵ bornalivetruth.org/obamarecord.aspx (September 2008).

⁶ frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getpage.cgi?dbname=2002_record&page=S7084&position=all (Sept. 29, 2008).

⁷ bornalivetruth.org/obamarecord.aspx (Sept. 30, 2008).

⁸ "Obama Blocked Born Alive Infant Protection Act," Illinois Federation For Right to Life Daily News online, April 3, 2008, ifrl.org/ifrl/news/080403/1/ (Sept. 29, 2008).

⁹ Rick Santorum, "The Elephant in the Room: A Harsh Ideologue hidden by a feel-good image," The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 29, 2008, http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/rick_santorum/20080228_The_Elephant_in_the_Room__Obama__A_harsh_ideologue_hidden_by_a_feel-good_image.html (Sept. 28, 2008).

¹⁰ youtube.com/watch?v=uUl99id2SvM (Sept. 29, 2008).

¹¹ aul.org/FOCA (Sept. 29, 2008)

¹² "Ballot Bowl 2008: More Campaign Happenings," CNN Transcripts, March 29, 2008, transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0803/29/bb.01.html (Sept. 29, 2008).

¹³ Patricia E. Bauer, "What's Lost in Prenatal Testing: Why Encourage Testing for Down Syndrome," Jan. 14, 2007, Washington Post. washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/12/AR2007011201954.html

¹⁴ "Days in Session Calendars," Thomas, The Library of Congress, thomas.loc.gov/home/ds/ (Sept. 29, 2008).

¹⁵ National Journal online, 2008, Ibid.

¹⁶ Paul Kane, "Hill Negotiators Drop Hate-Crime Provision," Washington Post, Dec. 7, 2007, washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/06/AR2007120602453.html (Sept. 29, 2008).

¹⁷ Byron York, "On Sex-Ed Ad, McCain Is Right," National Review Online, Sept. 16, 2008, article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NzI3ZDUzOTE0ZThlMTU3MTY0MDI4ZTY0MTZhY2I2MGY= (Sept. 29, 2008).

¹⁸ "Obama on Sex Ed in Kindergarten: 'It's the Right Thing to Do,'" Free Republic online, Sept. 10, 2008, freerepublic.com/focus/news/2079415/posts (Sept. 29, 2008).

¹⁹ Michael Foust, "Obama: If elected I will use the bully pulpit for gay causes," Baptist Press, Feb. 28, 2008, bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=27510 (Sept. 29, 2008).

²⁰ Chuck Spinner, A Book of Prayers: To the Heavens from the Stars, (AuthorHouse: 2008), p. 225, excerpts online at: books.google.com/books?id=cfgSFGcC_n0C&pg=PA225&lpg=PA225&dq=%22To+get+nations+back+on+their+feet%22+and+%22get+down+on+our+knees%22+and+Graham&source=web&ots=HjqHwcw-mT&sig=OYFZAIONNVb_Ff138BCi2TmH1yo&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result (Sept. 29, 2008).

Many folk have been asking me about all the Amendments and Referendums on the Colorado ballot.  Amendments are put on the ballot by citizen initiative, while Referendums are put on the ballot by the State Legislature.  Kevin Lundberg the state representative from House District 49 has his suggestions for voting on the state wide Amendments here.

Boulder County has two ballot issues 1A and 1B.  1A would cost the County taxpayers nearly $100,000,000.00 in order to pay for solar and other renewable energy projects.  I will be voting NO on 1A.  1B will extend a sales tax surcharge to 2018 that would otherwise expire.  This is being billed as causing "no increase in any County tax" which is dishonest as it will extend the time of the tax if not the dollar amount.  I will be voting NO on 1B.  Boulder County is very corrupt and has been in one party hands for years.  I don't want to give this bunch more money to play with.

Wall Builders has the best short voter guide for the Presidential race.

Colorado Right to Life sent questionaires to the candidates for state office.  The responses are here.

Colorado Family Institute has a voter guide that covers all the Federal and State races in Colorado.

Family Research Council Action has their Presidential Voters Guide here.

Family Research Council Action and Focus on the Family Action have published their guide to how all the members of the US House and US Senate voted this last year.

BJ Nikkel has some interesting suggestions on how to vote for the judges here.

Bumped to top.

Much has been written about Barak Obama's positions on the issues.  Obama himself has repeatedly lied about his positions, calling others liars when they accurately quote positions he has taken and things he has done and said.  In an attempt to show in irrefutable form what Barak Obama has really done and said, Guy Benson, Mary Katharine Ham, and Ed Morrissey at Hot Air have assembled "The comprehensive argument against Barack Obama" profusely illustrated with videos of Obama.  Topics covered include:

ABORTION
TAXES
RADICAL ASSOCIATIONS
FOREIGN POLICY JUDGMENT
DISDAIN FOR THE HEARTLAND
THE RACE CARD
LACK OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS
MILITARY POLICY

This is not a 90 second summary, but if you really want to know more about Barak Obama, take the time to read this article and watch the many video clips it contains.

Bumped to top.

At last a look at Barak Obama's convicted Felon buddy Tony Resko:

 

I am glad this is getting out.  As Gateway Pundit writes:

Obama likes to play pretend moderate but the long list of Marxists, Jew-haters, America-haters, criminals and racists in his past make him the most radical candidate to ever run for president.

It is easy in this day and age to discount let another story of "media bias", but we should not get complacent about this stuff since it is destroying our country.  Bill Dyer at Hugh Hewitt's blog recounts how Joe Lieberman gave a straightforward statement:

Lieberman said he was confident that Palin, whose foreign policy background has been questioned by Democrats, could step in and handle the chief executive's job.

"If, God forbid, an accident occurs or something of that kind, she'll be ready," Lieberman said. "She's had executive experience. She's smart and she will have had on-the-job training."

So what headline does the Associated Press, Washington Post, USA Today, ABC News, CNBC, San Francisco Chronicle and others put on this story?

"Lieberman skirts issue of Palin's readiness."

This is not just media bias, this headline is an outright lie, and contradicted by the story that follows.  As Dyer writes:

This sort of headline, ladies and gentlemen, is another bald-faced lie brought to you by the Associated Press and by mainstream media editors across the country. They are so cynical that they're willing to completely prostitute their journalistic credibility — by using headlines to tell obvious lies contradicted by the very stories they accompany — because those headlines fit their pre-existing pro-Obama narrative. They're willing to live with the likelihood that most people will either just read the headlines or won't read the actual text closely enough to spot the lies.

Agentina recently confiscated the retirement funds of their workers to "protect" them.  Now Democrat leaders are proposing similar plans for your 401K here in the USA.  These plans include eliminating the tax break for your retirement funds, and requiring you to "contribute" even more to a new retirement plan run by Social Security.

 

Bill Dyer has a post on Hugh Hewitt's blog that should be must reading by every Democrat.  Here are some excerpts:

But to my honest and patriotic Democratic friends, I must say this forthrightly, and I must say it now:

There is a criminal element that is infesting your Party to a degree unprecedented in American history, and they are trying to buy the White House for your candidate through overtly criminal means.

Fraud and dirty money have been involved in politics, of course, for generations — but never on a scale and with a brazenness remotely close to this year's fraud committed for the benefit of Obama-Biden.

For a start, every honest Democrat should demand that everyone associated with the decision to disable the most basic anti-fraud mechanisms from the Obama-Biden campaign's credit-card donations systems be publicly identified and immediately fired. Every honest Democrat should demand the immediate and full cooperation from the campaign — pointedly beginning with Barack Obama — in seeing them prosecuted and convicted.

I ask this of you because I value your integrity, as I know you always have in the past. Disappointing your conservative or Republican friends is far from the worst of what's at risk for you. Let Saint Mark's words in the title of this post be your guide.

More background is in my post here.

Read Bill Dyer's entire post.

UPDATE: More here.

I asked, "well what is going to happen to those people we can't reeducate, that are diehard capitalists?" and the reply was that they'd have to be eliminated.

And when I pursued this further, they estimated they would have to eliminate 25 million people in these reeducation centers.

And when I say "eliminate," I mean "kill."

Twenty-five million people.

I want you to imagine sitting in a room with 25 people, most of which have graduate degrees, from Columbia and other well-known educational centers, and hear them figuring out the logistics for the elimination of 25 million people.

And they were dead serious.

This was the testimony of FBI informant Larry Grathwohl in the 1982 documentary No Place to Hide.

The 25 people plotting the extermination of the 25 million Americans who would bitterly cling to the American way of life?

The Weather Underground, led by Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn.

The same Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn who hosted Barak Obama's political introduction party in their home when he ran for the Illinois Senate.  The same Bill Ayers who was on the board of directors of a foundation Obama was chairman of.  The same Bill Ayers that ran the Small Schools Workshop that Obama led foundations gave almost $2,000,000 to.  The same Bill Ayers that Obama now claims he hardly knew and was just "some guy in the neighborhood".

Barak Obama has had amazing success in raising funds over the Internet in amounts that John McCain has not been able to match.  It now turns out that one reason for this success is that the Obama campaign has turned off all the common checks on fraudulant donations via credit cards on their website.  Donations made to Obama from John Galt, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and Bill Ayers at obviously phony addresses but billed to a common credit card were accepted, while attempts to make similar donations to McCain were rejected.

Federal campaign law requires donors to campaigns to be citizens of the USA, and places a cumulative limit of $2300 on the donations from anyone to a given campaign.  Since Obama has turned off the usual credit card fraud protection checks on their on-line donation system, there is nothing to stop anyone from making donations far in excess of the federal limit as long as the donation amounts are kept small and different names are used.  Obama's system will also accept donations from persons outside of the USA, which is contrary to federal campaign law.

A donation from Della Ware of 12345 No Way was accepted by Obama.

Obama even accepted a donation from Mr. Fake Donor, address 1 Dollar To Prove A Point, Fraudulent, AL 33333, email allmyinfoismadeup@mediabias.com, phone 2125551212, employer Mainstream Media.  An attempt to make a similar donation to McCain was rejected.

This would be a huge story, if the MSM were doing their job.

UPDATE from Mark Steyn here.

Denver's Catholic Archbishop Charles Chaput speaks for many Christians, not just those who are Catholic, when he wrote:

I believe that Senator Obama, whatever his other talents, is the most committed ''abortion-rights'' presidential candidate of either major party since the Roe v. Wade abortion decision in 1973. Despite what Prof. Kmiec suggests, the party platform Senator Obama runs on this year is not only aggressively ''pro-choice;'' it has also removed any suggestion that killing an unborn child might be a regrettable thing. On the question of homicide against the unborn child - and let's remember that the great Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer explicitly called abortion ''murder'' - the Democratic platform that emerged from Denver in August 2008 is clearly anti-life.

Prof. Kmiec argues that there are defensible motives to support Senator Obama. Speaking for myself, I do not know any proportionate reason that could outweigh more than 40 million unborn children killed by abortion and the many millions of women deeply wounded by the loss and regret abortion creates.

If you follow the link in the post below and watch the videos showing what Obama himself said on the topics of abortion, partial birth abortion, and the care of children that survived an abortion, you will see that Obama is on the far left fringe of even most who call themselves "pro-choice".

HT: Hugh Hewitt

Each year at the annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Dinner politicians get up and make fun of themselves.  This year John McCain gave a great speech, and had Obama laughing and Hillary almost falling out of her chair.  Enjoy!

 

Part 2

 

I don't want it getting out of this room, but my opponent is an impressive fellow in many way. Political opponents can have a little trouble seeing the best in each other. But I've had a few glimpses of this man at his best and I admire his great skill, energy and determination. It's not for nothing, but he's inspired many folks in his own party and beyond. Senator Obama talks about making history and he's made quite a bit of it already. There was a time when the mere invitation of an African-American citizen to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage and an insult. Today is a world away from the cruelty and prideful bigotry of that time - and good riddance.

I can't wish my opponent luck, but I do wish him well.

Classy.

Thanks to Hugh Hewitt for pointing me to Dan McLaughlin's series on "The Integrity Gap" between McCain and Obama.  It is an extremely well documented look at what may well be the key issue in this race,

Part I talks about Governor Sarah Palin:

One of the most basic ways in which a candidate can demonstrate the integrity voters are looking for is to build a record of standing up to corruption and waste - and doing so even when it appears in his or her own party, or on the part of his or her own allies or backers. This is not just a matter of honesty and prudence, but of toughness and courage.

Part II Chapter 1

Introduction

Chapter 2 Obama's Rootless Ambition

looks at the influences that shaped Obama before he ran for office.

Chapter 3 Obama and the Extremists

looks at his relationships with left-wing radicals and how they were an integral part of his rise in politics.

Chapter 4 Obama and ACORN

looks at his intimate relationship with a network of community organizers with a pervasive record of voter fraud and deep involvement in the subprime housing crisis.

Chapter 5 Obama and the Machine

looks at Obama's long, deep and multifacted partnership with machine politicians in Chicago and Springfield.

Chapter 6 Obama and the Favor Factory

looks at Obama's routine practice of trading favors with his political benefactors.

Chapter 7 Obama, "New Politics" and Principles

looks at the illusory nature of Obama's "new politics," his absence of a record of fighting tough battles on principle, and wraps up and concludes the series.

Part III is yet to come.

If Barak Obama is elected we might well find ourselves in a repeat of the Great Depression, because Obama wants to take your money and "spread the wealth around".

 

Hugh Hewitt makes a great point in his post President Barack Hoover, Part 2: Spreading Your Wealth Around On The Way To A Depression

We are almost certainly in a recession.  It could be short or long.  It could be shallow or deep.

A vote for Senator Obama is a vote for long and deep for the simple reasons that Senator McCain explained last night:  Raising taxes and restricting trade is the recipe used by Herbert Hoover and it is the program being pushed by Obama.

Read his entire post.

ACORN is a huge national pro-democrat organization that has registered millions to vote and has ties to Barack Obama.

The NY Post reported:

in the early '90s, Obama was recruited ... to run training sessions for ACORN activists

ACORN also got funding from two charities, the Woods Fund and the Joyce Foundation, when Obama served on their boards, and from the Chicago Annenberg Challenge - the radical "education reform" outfit Obama ran from '95 to '99.

Meanwhile, Obama was right there by ACORN's side all along.

"I've been fighting alongside ACORN on issues you care about my entire career," he told the group last November.

In 2006 the Wall Street Journal reported:

So, less than a week before the midterm elections, four workers from Acorn, the liberal activist group that has registered millions of voters, have been indicted by a federal grand jury for submitting false voter registration forms to the Kansas City, Missouri, election board. But hey, who needs voter ID laws?

We wish this were an aberration, but allegations of fraud have tainted Acorn voter drives across the country. Acorn workers have been convicted in Wisconsin and Colorado, and investigations are still under way in Ohio, Tennessee and Pennsylvania.

In 2007 the Seattle Times reported:

King and Pierce County prosecutors filed felony charges today against seven people who allegedly committed the biggest voter-registration fraud in state history.

The defendants, who were paid employees and supervisors of ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now

In 2008 the Detroit Free Press reported:

The majority of the problem applications are coming from the group ACORN, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which has a large voter registration program among its many social service programs. ACORN's Michigan branch, based in Detroit, has enrolled 200,000 voters statewide in recent months, mostly with the use of paid, part-time employees.

"There appears to be a sizeable number of duplicate and fraudulent applications," said Kelly Chesney, spokeswoman for the Michigan Secretary of State's Office. "And it appears to be widespread."

On 10/7/2008 the Washington Post (the radical left wing newspaper in Washington DC) reported:

The Nevada office of ACORN had planned a potluck dinner at its Las Vegas office Tuesday night to celebrate the 80,000 newly registered voters its staff had signed up in Clark County as part of its work with low-income communities nationwide.

Instead, their office was raided Tuesday morning by agents of the Nevada Secretary of State and Attorney General who alleged in an application for a search warrant that ACORN had hired 59 felons through a work release program as canvassers and submitted nearly 300 apparently fraudulent voter registration cards as part of the drive.

On 10/8/2008 the Associated Press reported:

Officials in Missouri, a hard-fought jewel in the presidential race, are sifting through possibly hundreds of questionable or duplicate voter-registration forms submitted by an advocacy group that has been accused of election fraud in other states.

Charlene Davis, co-director of the election board in Jackson County, where Kansas City is, said the fraudulent registration forms came from the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN.

On 10/8/2008 the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported:

ACORN's canvassers filled out forms with fake names, addresses, officials say 

Agents with the secretary of state and state attorney general offices served a search warrant on the headquarters of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, at 953 E. Sahara Ave. shortly after 9 a.m. They seized voter registration forms and computer databases to determine how many fake forms were submitted and identify employees who were responsible.

On 10/9/2008 the New York Post reported:

Barkley estimated he'd registered to vote "10 to 15" times after canvassers for ACORN, whose political wing has endorsed Barack Obama, relentlessly pursued him and others.

Claims such as his have sparked election officials to probe ACORN.

On 10/10/2008 The Post, from Ohio University reported:

Last week, they were everywhere.  They stood on the corners of streets, with tables full of Obama buttons and voter registration forms.  It was almost impossible to make it to a class without hearing, “Are you registered to vote?”  But behind the façade of cheery smiles and clipboards lurked something that few dare to acknowledge, something dangerous to our republic: voter fraud and suppression, enabled by a woman known as “the most partisan state official in Ohio”: Jennifer Brunner.

Association  of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), for which presidential candidate Barack Obama worked as a “community organizer,” is being investigated by the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.  According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, ACORN workers “often handed in the same name on a number of voter registration cards, but showing that person living at different addresses.”  ACORN also turned in registrations that “showed a number of people living at an address that turned out to be a restaurant.”

There are lots more stories about Obama's friends at ACORN and voter fraud, but I am sure this makes the point.  Even still I can hardly believe this report from CNN.  ACORN submitted 5000 new voter registration forms just before the deadline in Lake County, Indiana.  Officials there started checking the "new voters" registered by ACORN.  Of the first 2100 forms they checked, ALL WERE FRAUDULENT!!!  Watch this report from CNN:

 

Note that the lawyer for ACORN tried to blame the election officials saying they should have started checking the forms back in May.  CNN says, however, that these 5000 forms were all just turned in before the deadline.

This is a massive attempt by friends of Obama to try to steal the election for him.

 

BTW I'm Voting For Mccain / Palin

 

20 Republican Senators including John McCain signed a letter on May 5, 2006 urging action be taken:

We are concerned that if effective regulatory reform legislation for the housing-finance government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) is not enacted this year, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole. ...

Today, almost half of the home mortgages in the U.S. are guaranteed by these GSEs. They are mammoth financial institutions with almost $1.5 Trillion of debt outstanding between them. With the fiscal challenges facing us today (deficits, entitlements, pensions and flood insurance), Congress must ask itself who would pay this debt if Fannie or Freddy could not? [emphasis in original letter] ...

It is vitally important that Congress take the necessary steps to ensure that these institutions benefit from strong and independent regulatory supervision, operate in a safe and sound manner, and are primarily focused on their statutory mission. More importantly, Congress must ensure that the American taxpayer is protected in the event either GSE should fail.

John Hinderaker of Power Line writes:

One thing I hadn't realized is that McCain's reform legislation was passed through the Senate Banking Committee, but was not able to gain majority support on the Senate floor. All twenty Senators who signed the letter calling attention to the urgency of reforming Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac were Republicans. After May 2006, the Democrats continued to use Fannie and Freddy as their private slush funds until the inevitable collapse, which McCain had warned against so eloquently, occurred.

 

John Hinderaker of Power Line posts some interesting background on Obama:

it appears clear that as of 1996, the New Party and its parent organization the Democratic Socialists of America considered Barack Obama to be their guy--one of a handful of avowed socialists running for office at any level in the United States. It strikes me that Obama has some explaining to do.

They have screen captures showing both groups considered Obama as their candidate when he ran for State Senate in Illinois.

Those were the words of Missouri Governor Matt Blunt today regarding the Obama campaign's enlisting of Missouri law enforcement to threaten and intimidate his critics.  The Governor's statement on his official Missouri State website is here:

“St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch, St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer, and Obama and the leader of his Missouri campaign Senator Claire McCaskill have attached the stench of police state tactics to the Obama-Biden campaign.

“What Senator Obama and his helpers are doing is scandalous beyond words, the party that claims to be the party of Thomas Jefferson is abusing the justice system and offices of public trust to silence political criticism with threats of prosecution and criminal punishment.

“This abuse of the law for intimidation insults the most sacred principles and ideals of Jefferson. I can think of nothing more offensive to Jefferson’s thinking than using the power of the state to deprive Americans of their civil rights.  The only conceivable purpose of Messrs. McCulloch, Obama and the others is to frighten people away from expressing themselves, to chill free and open debate, to suppress support and donations to conservative organizations targeted by this anti-civil rights, to strangle criticism of Mr. Obama, to suppress ads about his support of higher taxes, and to choke out criticism on television, radio, the Internet, blogs, e-mail and daily conversation about the election.

“Barack Obama needs to grow up. Leftist blogs and others in the press constantly say false things about me and my family.  Usually, we ignore false and scurrilous accusations because the purveyors have no credibility.  When necessary, we refute them. Enlisting Missouri law enforcement to intimidate people and kill free debate is reminiscent of the Sedition Acts - not a free society.”

Emphasis added.

One bit of actual good news is this report on a 30 year old church run affordable housing program that actually works and has not resulted in the foreclosures that are behind our current financial crisis.

Many affordable housing programs and their proponents are to blame for this mess, including ACORN.

However, there's one notable example of an affordable housing program that has avoided the foreclosure fate thus far.

Read the whole article!

I don't know if this report is true but William Kristal passes on a report that:

The huge European bank Fortis is apparently about to fail. The ripple effect on the American banking system could be disastrous, with bank runs, liquidity crises, and stock sell offs possible Monday. Wachovia may well fail next week. As Larry put it, this really will be 1933 soon if we don't move rapidly to stabilize the banking system.

And here's the bad news: the current bailout bill, whatever its merits and likelihood of passage, does nothing to address this.

Lovely.

This video is almost entrely video clips from CSPAN showing the arguments made for and against fixing this problem before our banks and Wall Street melted down.

 

HT Gateway Pundit who also observed:

Former Fannie Mae Chairman Jim Johnson is still advising Barack Obama.

We still do not know what will happen with the the Bailout Bill being debated by our Congressmen and Senators in Washington DC.

Center right opinion as to what should be done varies all over the map.  The Wall Street Journal warns:

Above all, the risk is that the current panic will damage the overall economy and lead to a deep recession

They have a good point since the Great Depression was caused by bad government policies.  However they conclude:

our vote is that this government intervention is justified to defend the system.

The Wall Street Journal also warns of the Democrat's efforts to add things to the Bailout Bill that will actually make things worse.

Democrats have already decided to spin off potentially billions of taxpayer dollars from the bailout fund to their own political buddies

This needs to be stopped, and the House Republicans supported by John McCain are trying to do so.  Let there be no mistake, the Democrats have a majority in both the US House of Representatives and the US Senate, and therefore have the power to pass any bill they want.  The only reason the Republicans have any power to influence the end result is that the Democrats are scared and want to be able to share the blame when the problems with the Bailout become apparent.

Michelle Malkin is one of those on the Center Right that most strongly opposes the Bailout.  Her commentary can be read here.

Hugh Hewitt has been a strong supporter of the idea that a Bailout is required, even if it is less than ideal:

without it the financial crisis will spread and the small businesses of America and the people who own and staff them will be deeply injured.  These businesses are the backbone of the economy, and they are in danger.  This isn't just a bailout of Wall Street; it is a breakwall for Main Street.

Dr. Jerry Pournelle writes:

As I surmised, the bailout -- good idea or poor -- can't be made to happen until Barney Frank and Senator Dodd are allowed to wet their beaks. The Democrats want part of that pie. Obama's leadership abilities were put to the test, and apparently found wanting ...

It's a horrible bill. It gives arbitrary power to executive officials and absolves them from blame (barring actual theft). It potentially saddles every taxpayer (which is not the same as every citizen!) with several thousand dollars in debt. ...

There isn't a hell of a lot of leadership being shown here. ... That is probably not going to work. I sure hope something does before it's too late and nothing will work.

Dr. Pournelle's point about taxpayers versus citizens is that a very large percentage of the population don't pay any taxes and therefore only those who actually pay taxes will get the bill for paying for this.

Glenn Reynolds speaking of home ownership for the masses:

I agree, but it needs to be homes that people can actually afford.

Here in Boulder County Colorado and worse yet in the city of Boulder, our Democrat elected officials are doing their best to keep housing prices high by buying up every available scrap of land for Open Space.  Those same officials are shocked shocked when there is so little affordable housing in the city of Boulder and Boulder County.  They don't seem to get the concept that when they take land off the market, all housing will go up in price including affordable housing.

Rick Newman in US News and World Report writes:

How to Punish Wall Street, Protect Main Street

Federal loan sharks: what a concept. In exchange for its deep pockets, the government funded by you and me could keep our financial-service providers in business and either make money on the deal through fees and high interest rates, or cause its borrowers so much discomfort that they race to get out of hock. Now, there's a deal that's too good to refuse.

We can only hope that the Bailout does more good than harm.

Thanks to Power Line blog for the lead to this video.  It provides an understandable explanation of the mess we are in.

 

Newt Gingrich delivers a powerful history lesson in this video clip, and in the process shows how much of an idiot Charlie Gibson is.

George Santayana said:

Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

May we learn.

HT GatewayPundit

La Shawn Barber tells the story today of Gianna Jessen:

Jessen’s teenage mother attempted to kill her via a saline solution procedure when she was seven and a half months pregnant. During this despicable procedure, a so-called doctor injects saline into the woman’s stomach, and the solution poisons the baby as he swallows and burns his skin. The baby dies, and the mother goes into labor, delivering a dead baby. ...

Jessen miraculously survived but suffered injuries as a result of the abortion attempt. She developed cerebral palsy. Jessen’s mother put her up for adoption, which she should have done in the first place instead of trying to kill her. Today, Jessen is a Christian and pro-life advocate who has testified before the U.S. Congress and the British House of Commons. Since 2005, she’s run in two marathons.

 

I have posted before here and here about Obama's votes against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act.  As Obama said himself when denying he had done what we have multiple official proofs (including an audio recording) he had done, "It defies common sense and it defies imagination ..."  Of course he was speaking of those who were telling the truth about his actions, not the evil he had supported. 

I wonder what Obama would do if confronted by Gianna Jessen?  Andrew at Founding Bloggers writes:

I am not religious, or a card carrying member of the right. I am pro-choice! And this ad is absolutely devastating.

Gateway Pundit writes:

This is the defining ad of the campaign season...

How can any decent human being let alone anyone who calls themselves Christian watch this ad and read Gianna Jessen's story and still vote for Obama?

Here is a great example of media bias from tonight. Charlie Gibson was interviewing Sarah Palin on ABC ...

GIBSON: You said recently, in your old church, "Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God." Are we fighting a holy war?

PALIN: You know, I don’t know if that was my exact quote.

GIBSON: Exact words.

PALIN: But the reference there is a repeat of Abraham Lincoln’s words when he said — first, he suggested never presume to know what God’s will is, and I would never presume to know God’s will or to speak God’s words.

But what Abraham Lincoln had said, and that’s a repeat in my comments, was let us not pray that God is on our side in a war or any other time, but let us pray that we are on God’s side.

That’s what that comment was all about, Charlie.

GIBSON: I take your point about Lincoln’s words, but you went on and said, "There is a plan and it is God’s plan."

I have a link to the video in question down below. What she said at 5:49 in the video was:

"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right also, for this country. That our leaders, our national leaders, are sending them out on a task that is from God. That’s what we have to make sure that we’re praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God’s plan."

Allahpundit points out that Sarah Palin was not asserting as Gibson claimed that the US is doing God's will, but instead praying that we are. That is quite a different thing.

Gibson started by picking up the quote in a middle of a sentence, and doing so in a way that totally distorted the meaning.

When challenged by Palin he responded "Exact words" (which it almost was) but by chopping up her sentence he was lying by omission.

He then went on to compound his lie by once again chopping what she had said in half in a way that completely inverted her meaning.

Do you think either Gibson or ABC will apologize for the egregious way they treated Sarah Palin. Do you think they will admit they lied about her to her face on national television?

Liberals wonder why conservatives get so worked up about the lying media ...

9/15/08 Update: Today James Taranto posted what I think is the perfect footnote:

Obligatory Palin-style joke: What's the difference between a journalist and a watchdog? Rabies.

On 9/19/2001 Obama was quoted in the Hyde Park Herald as saying (in part):

We must also engage, however, in the more difficult task of understanding the sources of such madness. The essence of this tragedy, it seems to me, derives from a fundamental absence of empathy on the part of the attackers: an inability to imagine, or connect with, the humanity and suffering of others. Such a failure of empathy, such numbness to the pain of a child or the desperation of a parent, is not innate; nor, history tells us, is it unique to a particular culture, religion, or ethnicity. It may find expression in a particular brand of violence, and may be channeled by particular demagogues or fanatics. Most often, though, it grows out of a climate of poverty and ignorance, helplessness and despair.

Commenter James Felix on Michelle Malkin's website answers this well:

It is also indisputable that the majority are also male and have dark hair. A majority of them have also never attended a Star Trek convention. Are Y chromosomes, dark hair and a lack of appreciation for sci-fi also contributing factors?

Of course not. A basic tenet of logic is that correlation is not causation.

As I pointed out in an earlier post, there are a lot of countries that are much poorer and more desperate than any in the Middle East who somehow do not give birth to terrorist movements. Why not? If poverty and unemployment are contributing factors why aren’t they recruiting Americans who find themselves down and out? Surely AQ would dearly love to have some average-looking American citizens doing their work here within our borders. So where are the legions of Appalachian AQ operatives?

Unemployment and poverty aren’t the problems. The problem is that you have a demented society that teaches it’s children practically from birth that the road to paradise is paved with dead infidels. You have two generations now that have been trained to be receptive to the message that Bin Laden and his twisted ilk put out.

You can repeat the idea of a poverty/terror link till you’re blue in the face, it won’t make it true.

Barak seems to be very confused about the motivations of those that would attack us.  Of course he sat for 20 years listening to his Pastor Jeremiah Wright.  This is the same Jeremiah Wright who led Obama to Christ, at whose church Barak met his wife, who married them, and baptised their children.  Jeremiah Wright is a believer in and a leading teacher of "Black Liberation Theology" which lead him to preach about 9/11:

I heard Ambassador Peck on an interview yesterday, did anybody else see him or hear him? He was on Fox News, this is a white man, and he was upsetting the Fox News commentators to no end. He pointed out, did you see him John, a white man, and he pointed out, an ambassador, that what Malcolm X said when he got silenced by Elijah Mohammed was in fact true, America’s chickens are coming home to roost. We took this country by terror, away from the Sioux, the Apache, the Arowak, the Comanche, the Arapahoe, the Navajo. Terrorism. We took Africans from their country to build our way of ease and kept them enslaved and living in fear. Terrorism. We bombed Granada and killed innocent civilians, babies, non-military personnel. We bombed the black civilian community of Panama with stealth bombers and killed unarmed teenagers and toddlers, pregnant mothers, and hardworking fathers. We bombed Qaddafi’s home and killed his child. Blessed are they who bash your children’s head against a rock. We bombed Iraq. We killed unarmed civilians trying to make a living. We bombed a plant in Sudan to payback for the attack on our embassy, killed hundreds of hardworking people, mothers and fathers who left home to go that day not knowing that they would never get back home. We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon and we never batted an eye. Kids playing in the playground, mothers picking up children from school, civilians, not soldiers, people just trying to make it day by day.

We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and Black South Africans and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America’s chickens are coming home to roost.

So according to Jeremiah "God Damn America" Wright it is the fault of the white citizens of the USA that we were attacked on 9/11.  No wonder someone who attended his church for 20 years is a bit confused!

 

Today Democrat Steve Cohen standing on the floor of the US House of Representatives compared Barak Obama to Jesus and Sara Palin to Pontius Pilate.  For a while they managed to block YouTube from showing this but it is now available again.

 

Everyone in Alaska knows Sarah Palin blocked the wasteful "Bridge to Nowhere" and even the Democrat Party acknowledged this on their website.  Then the McCain campaign started mentioning this fact, and Barak Obama decided to claim it was a lie.  Suddenly the Democrats in Alaska removed mention of this from their website.  They had to remove the proof that Obama was lying.

The national Democrat Party website held several references to Sarah Palin as a lipstick wearing pig, one of them illustrated by a charming picture of a pig wearing lipstick, glasses, and a necklace.  Barak Obama in a speech compared Sarah Palin to a lipstick wearing pig and John McCain to an 8 year old stinking fish.  Reasonable people everywhere were revolted by Obama's remarks, so of course he tried to deny having made them.  Guess what, the references on the Democrat website suddenly disappeared ...

Here is McCain's response to the attacks:

 

My friend Scott Ross (I engineered his radio program back in 1970 - 1971) sent the following email to me today:

Here is a video link of Sarah Palin (forwarded to me by a pastor I used to pastor) being prayed for in her home church in Alaska, and commissioning some young people to go do missionary work. She in turn is prayed for by her pastors. She says nothing political & all this preceded her being chosen by John McCain as his running mate for VP.

Those of you who know me know that I'm apolitical. I do not support or oppose any candidate for public office, and neither does The Christian Broadcasting Network. In no way would I have you construe this to be a political endorsement of any candidate.

After all as Jesus said, "My Kingdom (Democrat, Republican, Independent or otherwise) is NOT of this world."

Praying that God's will would be done in this election season.

Thanks,

Scott

Click here to see this 14 minute video (requires Flash Player).

 

Left wing groups are offering cash to anyone who can come up with dirt on Sarah Palin's husband.  The New York Times today ran no less than 3 front page stories on Sarah Palin's daughter.  Where will it stop?

As Michelle Malkin put it:

If a Democrat mom chooses public office, she’s a patriot Wonder Woman imbued with Absolute Moral Authority on children’s, health, and social welfare issues.

If a Republican mom chooses public office, she’s the child-neglecting spawn of Satan who has no business debating any domestic public policy because of alleged hypocrisy.

Glenn Reynolds quips:

HOW THEY COULD HAVE KEPT THE PALIN PREGNANCY STORY OUT OF THE PRESS: Leaked it that John Edwards was the father . . . ..

 

The statement of the Palin family today:

“We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us. Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support.

“Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family. We ask the media to respect our daughter and Levi’s privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates.”

Obama said a little while ago:

“Look, I got two daughters — 9 years old and 6 years old,” he said. “I am going to teach them first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby."

As Michelle Malkin said:

"One ticket sees this as a blessing. The other sees it as a curse. Could the core differences between the two be any starker?"

 

John McCain selected Governor Sarah Palin (pronounced pale-in) of Alaska to be his running mate, and a lot of folk are asking "Sarah who?"  In an attempt to answer that question I have compiled the following bio.

Sarah Palin was born in Idaho and moved to Alaska as a child.

Known as "Sarah Barracuda" on the basketball court she helped her High School team win the state championship.  She also led the team in prayers before each game and is an evangelical Christian.

She married her high school sweetheart Todd Palin.  They have 5 children.  A strong Pro-Lifer, she refused to abort her youngest Trig, born while she was governor, when tests showed he had Downs Syndrome.  Her oldest Track, was named after the sport.  He has joined the Army and is about to be deployed to Iraq.

She was a "hockey Mom" who started in politics in the PTA then became mayor of Wasilla (her hometown near Anchorage).  She was Chair of the Alaska Conservation Commission from 2003 to 2004, and the Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, but quit in 2004 in protest against ethical violations by the Alaska Republican Chairman, a member of the Commission.  She went on to defeat the Republican Governor of Alaska in the primary on an anti-corruption platform, and then won the general election.

As governor she cut state spending in Alaska, killed the "bridge to nowhere", and is a big proponent of developing Alaska's oil and gas resources to help the USA become energy independent.  She is not, however, willing to give the big oil companies what they want when she sees that as going against the interests of her state and nation.  Her husband Todd quit his 17 year position with BP to avoid even an appearance of conflict of interest, when that company became involved in negotiations with his wife's administration over a gas pipeline.

She is opposed to same sex marriage, but vetoed a bill blocking health benefits for the partners of gay public employees.

When she needed money to go to college she entered beauty contests.  She won Miss Wasilla and was runner up in the 1984 Miss Alaska contest.

She hunts, ice-fishes, and is a crack shot.  She is a Life Member of the NRA.

She has sued the Federal government to stop the listing of polar bears as an endangered species, and has a grizzly bear her father shot covering the sofa in her office.

Back when pot was legal in Alaska, she tried it.  "I can’t claim a Bill Clinton and say I never inhaled."

Todd Palin is a Union Steelworker who worked part of the year in the oil fields of Alaska for BP.  The rest of the year he runs a small commercial fishing operation.  He is part Yupik Eskimo and a 4 time winner of the 2000 mile Iron Dog snowmobile race. Last year he earned $93,000 total.

We know this because as governor Sarah Palin pushed through a strong financial disclosure law.  There is far more detail in the Palin's disclosure forms posted on the Internet, than there are in the Federal forms of our Senators and Representatives.

Ed Morrissey gives the background on how McCain came to select Sarah Palin.

Professor John Mark Reynolds writes about how Sarah Palin's experience is being undervalued.

Here is a side by side comparison of Sarah Palin and Barak Obama.

Here is the comparison in pdf form for easy printing.

The Obama campaign can't contradict the facts in this short video, so they are trying to bully TV stations into not showing it and have asked the Department of Justice to investigate the American Issues Project who produced it.  Do you want a President who uses government agencies to try to silence those he does not like?

Watch the video.

 

HT Michelle Malkin

One of the things I disagree with McCain over is Campaign Finance.  On this subject I agree with Dr. Jerry Pournelle:

Aside on campaign financing: Harold Laski a very long time ago said that wealthy people and companies would defend their interests with money and no laws could be devised that would prevent that. I have seen no evidence that he was incorrect. One can regulate somewhat, but onerous regulations invite the wealthy to hire lawyers to find new ways. My inclination is to fewer regulations and more disclosure. I'd also act to make parties a bit stronger (and able to collect money more easily). I will concede that I am no expert on this but I have spent 50 years being involved in politics and I have some experience in both raising and spending political money. What is very clear is that the present system isn't working very well. As I said, on principle I prefer less regulation and more disclosure.

I don't have Dr. Pournelle's years in politics, but what he says makes better sense than our current system.  Let anyone spend any amount of their personal funds on politics that they wish, but every candidate and political action committee must post the contributions within 24 hours to a public website.

 

Andrew C. McCarthy has a powerful article on Obama's support for Infanticide.

"There wasn’t any question about what was happening. The abortions were going wrong. The babies weren’t cooperating. They wouldn’t die as planned. Or, as Illinois state senator Barack Obama so touchingly put it, there was “movement or some indication that, in fact, they’re not just coming out limp and dead.”

No, Senator. They wouldn’t go along with the program. They wouldn’t just come out limp and dead.

They were coming out alive. Born alive. Babies. Vulnerable human beings Obama, in his detached pomposity, might otherwise include among “the least of my brothers.” But of course, an abortion extremist can’t very well be invoking Saint Matthew, can he? So, for Obama, the shunning of these least of our brothers and sisters — millions of them — is somehow not among America’s greatest moral failings."

Read the whole thing!

Of course given Obama's obvious lack of concern for "the least of my brothers" why does it not surprise me that he has a half brother George Obama living in a hut in Nairobi, Kenya.  La Shawn Barber has the story.

"The Telegraph reports that George Obama, Barack Obama’s half-brother, subsists on less than a dollar a month in a hut in Nairobi, Kenya. He says he’s ashamed of his poverty and doesn’t tell people he’s related to America’s first black major party presumptive presidential nominee.

Assuming he didn’t know how his brother was living (benefit of the doubt, and all that), I wonder what Barack Obama will do to help him now, in light of his “we still don’t spend enough time thinking about the least of these” lecture on Saturday at the Saddleback Civil Forum."

 

The more folk look at Obama's claim that National Right to Life was lying about his record, the worse that record looks.

Erik Erickson posts a transcript.

Joel Mowbray looks at who is telling the truth.

David Reinhard looks at the coverup.

Guy Benson puts Obama's position this way:

"Put crudely, once a woman chooses to abort, she’s entitled to a dead baby."

Change & Experience has the audio of Obama arguing against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act.  Contrast that to his claim on CBN:

"He added that it was "ridiculous" to suggest he had ever supported withholding lifesaving treatment for an infant. "It defies common sense and it defies imagination, and for people to keep on pushing this is offensive," he said in the CBN interview."

 

Scott Johnson of Power Line just crafted a great way of putting Obama's position on abortion:

"Those who have dug into his record in the Illinois senate, however, have found evidence that Obama is a devout believer in what might be called the sacramental or positive good view of abortion: nothing can be allowed to interfere with the unfettered exercise of the purported right, including the accident of an infant born alive."

This was in response to Obama's refusal to give a straight answer to Rick Warren of Saddleback Church on abortion.

Obama also claimed over the weekend on CBN that:

"anti-abortion groups were "lying" about his record.

"They have not been telling the truth," Mr. Obama said. "And I hate to say that people are lying, but here's a situation where folks are lying."

He added that it was "ridiculous" to suggest he had ever supported withholding lifesaving treatment for an infant. "It defies common sense and it defies imagination, and for people to keep on pushing this is offensive," he said in the CBN interview."

However according to the voting records from the Illinois state Senate, it was Obama who was lying on CBN and not the "anti-abortion groups".

Listen to Obama's remarks before Planned Parenthood (the largest abortion provider in the USA) to hear him deal with the subject of abortion in a forthright way that stands in direct contrast to his response to Rick Warren and his claims on CBN.

No not Michelle Malkin's group, this Hot Air Tour is from the folk at Americans for Prosperity.

They will be in Broomfield and Fort Collins on Wednesday August 20, Pueblo and Colorado Springs on Thursday the 21st, and Glenwood, Grand Junction, and Denver on Friday the 22nd.  Sounds like a whole lot of fun!  Click on the Logo above to learn more and register for the events.

While addressing the folk at Planned Parenthood (the largest abortion provider in the USA) Obama said that his first act as President would be to overturn the ban on "partial birth abortion".  He said "On this issue, I will not yield."

La Shawn Barber comments:

    "In contrast, John McCain, a man I’ll reluctantly, with a strenuous effort, vote for in November, said this about partial birth abortion:

    'I will do everything in my power to ban that horrible procedure.'

    Now, it doesn’t matter to me whether McCain is a Christian or not. At the very least, he’s against so-called partial birth abortion, and that’s good enough for me. When it comes to unborn life, I will not yield. Any Obama supporter who claims to be a Christian ought to be ashamed."

I stand with La Shawn on this issue.

One of my all time favorite T shirts was made by my friends at Jesus People USA.  On the front it has a picture of Jesus, and the question "Liar, Lunatic, or Lord?"  On the back it has a quote from C.S. Lewis "You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God."

La Shawn Barber quotes the entire passage from C.S. Lewis's "Mere Christianity" the above is taken from and uses it as a springboard to examine Barak Obama's claim to be a Christian.  The key quote for me in her post is:

"Must our president be a Christian? In my opinion, no. I’d vote for an atheist, as long as he’s socially conservative. But I have BIG problems with someone who professes Christ and tries to appeal to Christians through “faith,” when his words and deeds indicate he is NOT a Christian."

Read the entire thing.

Real Clear Politics VP Watch points out today that Mike Huckabee is campaigning against Romney.  One of the more interesting observations they make is that "As Martin also notes, this is about presidential politics. If Romney is on the ticket and McCain wins, Romney is immediately heir apparent in 2012 or 2016, cutting out Huckabee."

Romney did extremely well here in Colorado, and as my post below shows, Colorado will be an extremely important state this election.

There are those who are against Romney because he is Mormon.  To them I can only point out that like Obama, the worst president in my lifetime, and maybe in history, was the self-proclaimed "christian" Jimmy Carter.  Carter never met a dictator he did not like, and never misses a chance to speak ill of the USA and Isreal.  Give me a President and Vice-President who love our country and support the right to life (even if less strongly than I might like) no matter what their religion, any day over a Carteresque candidate who is ashamed of our country and is OK with murdering children who survived abortions, but calls himself a "christian".

Remember the "Weatherman" (AKA "the Weathermen" or "Weather Underground Organization"?  They were home grown anti-USA terrorist bombers who blew up many goverment targets in the 1960's and 1970's.  Two of their leaders, the still unrepentant Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, are good friends with Barack Obama from his days in Chicago politics.  When a recent book pointed out this connection, the Obama campaign issued a rebutal that called Ayers and Dohrn "Members of the establishment with ties to the Mayor".  Other than showing how messed up Chicago politics is, this does not seem to be a good answer to Obama being friends with unrepentant terrorists.

A study was released today showing the correlation between microphone usage and global warming.  It should have been obvious, but before there were microphones there was no global warming.  Global warming is caused by the hot air released when microphones are used.

Now of course the solution to this crisis is microphone control.  Only elected politicians and those who can show a compelling need that is in the government's interest should be allowed to possess, transport, own, or use these dangerous instruments.  Licensing must be at the Federal level after a through background check.  Training in the proper use of microphones should be required, perhaps a class called Global Warming and Microphones with a special guest lecture by Al Gore.

Enforcing the new "microphone laws" will be one of the prime duties of Obama's new "Civilian National Security Force that's just as strong, just as well-funded" as the US military.  After all if we are to reduce the hot air that is the cause of global warming we must get these dangerous devices that threaten the entire world off the street.  Those who persist in trying to keep and hide their microphones instead of turning them in like honest folk will have to be found and locked up for the public good.  Every citizen will be instructed in the signs of secret microphone ownership and encouraged to turn their neighbors in to the Civilian National Security Force.

The Commissioner of Microphones

Power Line in a post today titled "Reverend Wright, who is that?" examines Obama's claim to be a Christian.  Some key quotes:

"It is undisputed that Obama was a non-believer until the latter half of the 1980s. After that, it is undisputed that Jeremiah Wright ... inspired Obama to join his church."

and

"Obama is distorting his religious views, either by pretending that he is a believer or by obscuring the radical nature of his religious beliefs.

"On its face, it seems audacious for someone who has been revealed as the follower of a fanatical, hate-mongering minister to be touting his religious faith."

Read the whole thing.

Dr. Earl Tilford writing in the Jewish Press has an excellent Op-Ed on the problem the "Christian Left" has with Israel.   The article is excellent and well worth your time to read.  One point he makes is that "Definitive truth, righteousness, and sinfulness are concepts alien to a Christian Left that denies the existence of evil (except as it applies to political and religious conservatives, “big oil,” and anyone who questions the left’s assumptions)."

This is similar to my often stated view that the Left does not believe in "evil" other than violence.  To many on the Left, all violence is EVIL and can never be justified.  This of course opposes all use of military force.  As Dr. Tilford writes "Further, Israel does something Christian leftists find incomprehensible: it uses military power to defend itself."  I believe things are even worse on the Left than he claims, as many of those on the Left believe that the mere fact that Israel has and uses military force PROVES Isreal to be evil.  This of course does not only apply to Israel, but also to the USA.  Much of the loathing of our country by those on the Left is due to the fact we have a powerful military and use it.

Of course the use of force by all the truly evil regimes and dictators around the world is excused by the Jimmy Carter Left who have never found a despotic government they did not favor.

HT to Free Republic for the link to the Op-Ed.

It is not too late to get your seat at the

 BoulderCountyRepublican

Lincoln Dinner!

Hear Bob Beauprez sing

and

Bob Schaffer's riveting recitation!

*NEW LOCATION*

Millennium Harvest House

5:00 Saturday, May12

 

Only $50 for a Rip Roarin' Time

To use your credit card call 303-443-7810

Deadline - May 9^th  Don't miss out!

Family Research Council Action has just published links to many Voter Guides, including the Colorado Voter's Guide published by Rocky Mountain Family Council. RMFC has taken positions on many of the Amendments and Referendum on the ballot this November.

Christian Coalition of Colorado has just published their Voter Guide in conjunction with Christian Family Alliance of Colorado.  The Alliance has voter guides for all 7 Colorado Congressional races available here.  Christian Coalition of America the national organization, has a Voter Guide for Colorado Congressional Districts 4 and 7.

Focus on the Family has lots of general information of interest, and their political action wing Focus on the Family Action has lots of voting information.  Focus on the Family Action together with Family Research Council Action has just published their 2006 Voter Scorecard.  It shows the votes of all members of the US House and Senate on key issues, and rates the members.  Here in Colorado, Bob Beauprez who is running for Governor received a 100% rating, as did Marilyn Musgrave and Thomas Tancredo, both of whom are running for re-election.

The Colorado Catholic Conference has just published a Letter to the Faithful signed by Archbishop Chaput urging support for marriage, and in particular voting for Amendment 43 and against Referendum I.

Gun Owners of America has just released their 2006 Congressional Candidate Ratings Guide.

The Hill has just published commentary on the NJ Supreme Court decision demanding the NJ legislature pass Gay Marriage or Civil Unions.

The hate mail and phone calls from groups opposed to our great representative Marilyn Musgrave have been coming regularly.  One recent mailing tries to smear Rep Musgrave as corrupt, and to try to fool folk into believing they are a pro life group, call themselves "Coloradians for Life".  Another mailing tries to falsely paint Marilyn as a tax and spender who is running up our national debt.  This mailing comes from a leading "Gay Rights" group.  Since Marilyn Musgrave is a strong supporter of traditional marriage, they will do anything they can to defeat her.  They could care less about the debt, but to try to get conservatives to not vote they put out misleading stuff like this.

Be sure to vote Tuesday!

I will be adding to this post new sources as I find them.

Brendan Miniter writing today in the Wall Street Journal's subscription only "Political Diary" tells us of the latest efforts of Michael Schiavo. When last heard from, Michael Schiavo had gotten a court to allow him to dehydrate and starve his wife Terri Schiavo to death. Now he has started what he calls "TerriPAC" to get back at those he feels opposed his efforts to kill his wife. As Mr. Miniter wrote "He might have just as easily have called it RevengePAC."

"His targets include Democrat Sen. Joe Lieberman and Republicans Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. George Allen, Sen. Jim Talent and Rep. Marilyn Musgrave."

With our own Rep. Marilyn Musgrave targeted, we can take comfort in the fact that the Democrats have "Friends like these ...". None the less this should make us work even harder to relect Marilyn. After all it is a badge of honor to have enemies like this!

Dean Barnett today posted 10 questions and answers about Israel and the situation in the mid-east.

"1) What would happen if all the Arab nations and their terrorist proxies like Hezbollah set down their arms and gave up their ambitions to drive Israel into the sea?

"There would be peace in the Middle East.

"2) What would happen if Israel disbanded the IDF, junked its nuclear weapons and declared to its neighbors that she would do anything to live in peace?

"Israel would be annihilated, millions of its citizens killed. The term genocide could be used to describe the ensuing holocaust, but since that term has been so hopelessly debased by American academics, a new term would have to be created like super-duper-mega genocide to really capture the nature of things."

That is about as good a short summary of the situation as any I have heard. Go read the whole post.

Marc Holtzman is acting like a spoiled child.

According to Ed Sealover writing in the Colorado Springs Gazette "After threatening to bypass the assembly, his campaign persuaded the party and Beauprez to agree to major changes in voting procedures." This in large part lead to the extreme delays in the voting. A Holtzman campaign worker said "I don’t think there’s any question that the delay worked to our advantage. Our people stayed in place."

Two months ago "Holtzman declared he had 2,500 of his delegates elected to state and county assemblies" so his workers assumed they would win. The reality was different, with Beauprez getting 2,340 votes to 902 for Holtzman.

After the voting was done, the Holtzman campaign refused to sign off on the results, even though they had gotten their way and hundreds had left (including friends of mine) without being able to vote.

Today some "independent" group I have never heard of started running attack ads against Beauprez on KNUS 710 AM during the Hugh Hewitt show. They were very careful to not mention any candidate other than Beauprez, but their talking points exactly followed the attacks Holtzman has been making against Beauprez. Holtzman may try to claim the mantle of Reagan, but he obviously has not been following Reagan's 11th Commandment "Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican."

If the official Holtzman campaign has been bad, his grass roots followers over at ColoradoPols have been far worse. They have been slandering Beauprez with comments like "Does anyone else think it is funny that Beauprez stood up there goin on about his hatred for them gays while gay disco music roared in the background" and "A failed P.E. teacher who became a failed dairy farmer, only to become a failed real estate developer who made the jump to corrupt banker who then became a corrupt and failed party chairman that then became the “both ways” bench warming congressman that we all know now will be the nominee." It seems the tune used when Beauprez was introduced had been played by a "gay" group 15 years ago. However, the vicious attacks on Beauprez's pro-marriage position as "hatred for them gays" by the obviously pro-homosexual supporters of Holtzman make me wonder how sincere Holtzman's almost identical pro-marriage position is. What do they know that we do not?

Of course, according to these Holtzman supporters, everyone who supports Beauprez is evil, even including Mike Coffman, and gets slandered in turn. You can tell much about a person by observing his friends and enemies. Reading these Holtzman supporters on ColoradoPols makes me want to have nothing to do with their favored candidate.

Today the Colorado Republican State Assembly met, and it was an embarrassment. At 10 AM the credentialing was closed, and we were supposed to approve the report of the credentials committee by 10:30 AM.

At 10:45 AM we were told to take a break and the credentials committee would be ready with their report by 11:15 AM. After many more delays they decided to start releasing counties to go vote on a county by county basis. I believe the first county was released around 1 PM. Boulder County was released close to 3 PM, and I don't think they were last.

Meanwhile I discovered that my wife and myself had not been given our delegate's information packages when we were credentialed by Boulder County, and therefore had no clue what the 20 resolutions on the ballot were. Since it was after 10 AM when we discovered we did not get our packets it was impossible to get copies. I managed to borrow a copy of the resolutions to study while waiting. Apparently this was a common problem as we saw many others who did not know how to vote on the resolutions since they were not printed on the ballots, but just the resolution numbers from 1 to 20.

Every delegate had a sealed envelope waiting for them with their name on the outside and two serial numbered ballots inside. This means this was not a secret ballot since they knew exactly which ballot serial numbers had been issued to you and how you voted.

UPDATE I have been told that the serial numbers on the ballots were unique to the County and not to the individual delegate. This was done to allow the results to be tallied by County.

To further mess things up each delegate was given two ballots, one for the candidates and one for the resolutions. After voting these had to be deposited in voting boxes, with one box for the candidate ballots and the other for the resolutions ballots. Ballots inserted in the wrong ballot box would not be counted. I wonder how many of the 357 delegates that were credentialed to vote but who did have recorded votes, lost their votes due to putting them in the wrong ballot boxes, and how many just left in disgust before being allowed to vote.

UPDATE Apparently after the initial announcement stressing the importance of getting the correct ballot in the correct box, it was later announced during the wait for the credentials report that either ballot could be placed in either box and still be properly counted.

One unconfirmed report said that part of the delays were due to Adams County not requiring their delegates to sign in when they picked up their credentials. Given what happened to use in Boulder County and to many others who did not get their delegate information packets when signing in, I could easily believe this.

UPDATE I now have confirmation from a second independent source that part of the delay was due to Adams County messing up. I also heard from two sources that Adams County had made a similar mess the previous day at the 2nd CD Assembly. According to a source with the Beauprez campaign the majority of the delays, however, were due to "the extremely convoluted process
demanded by the Holtzman campaign". To be fair I must note that the Beauprez campaign did agree to this process.

I can only hope that this State Assembly will serve as an object lesson in how not to run a State Assembly. Is anyone paying attention for two years from now?

Charles Krauthammer identified Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS) as "the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency -- nay -- the very existence of George W. Bush."

Dr. Sanity now exponds on Christianophobia or Christianity Derangement Syndrome (CDS) defined as "The excacerbation of acute and severe paranoia about the imminent imposition of a Christian theocracy in the U.S.; in an individual already suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome as a reaction to the very existence of (1) the Christian religion; (2) the practitioners of Christianity; and (3) symbols of Christianity anywhere within the culture; while simultaneously completely ignoring and dismissing any threat from the religious fanatics of Islam who repeatedly and clearly have stated that their goal is the imposition of a world-wide Islamic theocracy (or "Caliphate")".

While Dr Sanity has a point, I think those suffring from CDS have been around far longer than those suffering from BDS and that instead of CDS being a subset of BDS the other way around may be closer to the truth.

Two very recent examples of CDS are "The Da Vinci Code" and Time magazine's article by Andrew Sullivan "My Problem with Christianism". "The Da Vinci Code" of course is the virulently anti-Christian and anti-Catholic work of fiction which in book form clearly stated it was a novel, but Sony Pictures has refused to so label the movie version. "My Problem with Christianism" on the other hand is merely the latest example of someone who denies the doctrines of Christianity insisting loudly he is a better Christian than those who follow Christian doctrine.

For those who have questions about "The Da Vinci Code" a good place to start is Dr. Mark D. Roberts "The Da Vinci Opportunity".

For those with more basic questions about Christianity and Christian doctrine I recommend C. S. Lewis' "Mere Christainty".

Hugh Hewitt's 12 Words have now become 15.

Win the war.

Confirm the judges.

Cut the taxes.

Control the spending.

Secure the border.

These are words to the wise for any Republican running for the US House or Senate.

Cathy Jarrett has agreed to run as the Republican candidate for the Colorado House from the 11th Congressional District (parts of Longmont and Boulder).

Click for a map of the 11th CD.

Cathy is a retired schoolteacher, and was one of the founders of the Charter School here in Longmont, Colorado. She is Pro Life, and Pro 2nd Amendment, and I feel will make a fine representative for our district. I will have more in weeks to come about how you can help elect this fine lady.

Hugh Hewitt has 12 words the Congressional Republicans should be using as their guiding principles:

Win the war.

Confirm the judges.

Cut the taxes.

Control the spending.

Read Hugh's complete post!

Thanks to Bryan Preston of JunkYardBlog for the idea and graphic.

When the disgraceful Jimmy Carter was President, his CIA chief Stansfield Turner slashed 25% of the covert operatives (the folk who actually gather intelligence information) from the CIA payroll. This was one of the main reasons for the CIA's drastic decline in abilities that has lead to today's CIA which appears far from as capable as we need in gathering intelligence, yet fully capable of running covert operations against our own government in the hopes of destabilizing and overthrowing conservative governments such as we currently have.

With that in mind, Power Line notes "In the tradition of his former boss Jimmy Carter, ex-CIA director Stansfield Turner has gone abroad to stab his country in the back." Read the whole thing!

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." - 2 Timothy 1:7

Today Power Line has a post titled "Sound and Unsound Minds". In in John Hinderaker links to Dr. Sanity, a psychiatrist/blogger on Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS). In it he quotes Charles Krauthammer's definition of BDS "the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency -- nay -- the very existence of George W. Bush."

I was reminded of this yesterday by the comment I received on my Quote of the Day for 11/3/05. In the comment he took exception to the quote. I replied, but today would like to expand on part of my remark "This is the real problem for Christians in the Democrat party: How to justify supporting a party where the entire base is so far gone into the fever swamps of conspiracy, that they actually "believe a lie" (2 Thessalonians 2:11) and honor someone like Michael Moore."

Lest someone think this characterization of the Democrat base and much of their leadership is unfair, here are some examples:

On December 1, 2003, Howard Dean (now the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee) was asked by a leftist interviewer on National Public Radio "Why do you think he (Bush) is suppressing that (Sept. 11) report?" Dean's reply "I don't know. There are many theories about it. The most interesting theory that I've heard so far -- which is nothing more than a theory, it can't be proved -- is that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis. Now who knows what the real situation is?" Notice how Dean promotes this "theory" while trying to insulate himself from its obvious falsehood. This is the man who the Democrat party later chose as their national leader!

Disgraceful former President Jimmy Carter just claimed "President Bush's policies conflict with American values." This from someone who honored Michael Moore with a seat in the President's box at the Democratic National Convention, and accepted the Nobel Peace Prize after it was publicly stated that it was given to him as a way of attacking the USA.

Mary Mapes the former CBS producer of Dan Rather's infamous attack on President Bush based on fake documents, still pathetically tries to claim the story was true.

Rob Reiner the Hollywood actor, director and producer and leading Democrat spokesman claimed about President Bush "When I hear that on the weekend of the Super Bowl an Iraqi expatriate was explaining to him the difference between Kurds and Sunnis and Shiites, it makes me want to cry. I want to cry!" The only problem is other than Reiner's claim he heard "this anecdote on cable news or talk radio", there is no evidence that this is anything other than another example of BDS made up in Reiner's fevered brain.

Dr. Sanity comments:

"The number of things that Bush has been blamed for in this world since 9/11 (even acts of God like Tsunamis, hurricanes and other natural disasters) is the stuff of major comedy. You name the horrible event, and he is identified as the etiologic agent.

"He is blamed when he does something (anything) and he is blamed when he does nothing. He is blamed for things that occurred even before he was President, as well as everything that has happened since. He is blamed for things he says; and for things he doesn't say.

"What makes Bush Hatred completely insane however, is the almost delusional degree of unremitting certitude of Bush's evil; while simultaneously believing that the TRUE perpetrators of evil in the world are somehow good and decent human beings with the world's interests at heart.

"This psychological defense mechanism is referred to as "displacement"."

Scripture tells us that "God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." As we look at everything in life, political or otherwise, we should be mindful that a sound mind comes from God, but that the devil is the "father of lies".

"Democrats love to mock the Republican base for believing the Bible is true. Democratic basemen believe "Fahrenheit 9/11" is true!" - James Taranto writing in Best of the Web Today about the differences between the Republican and the Democrat bases.

Someone wrote to me offended by what I had written about Colorado C & D tax increases. This post is adapted from my reply.

The individual who wrote me is a MD who did not feel he could do what he does to care for the poor without the taxes that C & D would bring in. I replied:

It is the height of irresponsibility to pick the programs folk feel are most vital and threaten to cut their funding in order to try to blackmail the taxpayers into paying more taxes. It is not as though the state has been enduring economic hard times.

C & D are excuses for the legislature to not have to make real decisions about what is worthy of funding and what is not. I can't see how it benefits the residents of Colorado to reward legislators who refuse to do what we hired them to do with even more money with which to act irresponsibly.

This MD further correctly pointed out that we as Christians have a mandate to care for the poor. He felt I needed to temper my "rhetoric to include a Biblically based concern for the poor". I replied:

Concern for the poor has nothing to do with this situation (raising taxes at a time when there is a surplus).

Yes, as Christians we have a mandate to care for the poor. Both as individual Christians and as churches we are commanded to care for the poor.

However, we can't rob someone by force and claim God's blessing on what we do just because we happen to use some (very small) portion of what we take to fund what God commands us to do.

What if the Good Samaritan had setup a toll booth on the highway and charged everyone who wanted to use the road a fee to "help the poor man who was robbed and beaten". Instead of binding up his wounds and paying for his care and treatment himself, he made up posters with the likeness of the wounded man and told everyone the poor man would die if they did not pay the toll. Of course part of the money collected went to pay for a nice house for himself, a really nice toll station, assistant toll collectors, and armed guards for the toll facility. Even though he was collecting tolls there were still robbers attacking travelers so there was a never ending supply of new wounded folk to use for the posters to convince folk they should pay the toll. Those traveling the road knew they had paid a toll "to take care of those attacked" so they no longer felt they needed to take personal responsibility for those robbery victims they might happen to see. After all the "toll collector" was taking care of them. Thus their hearts were hardened and turned from God.

This is the dilemma of raising taxes to "do good". It is intellectually dishonest to use the commands of scripture to Christians to justify governmental action. Sorry it just will not wash! Government can only get the funds to do anything by taking those funds (by force if required) from the governed. You can look at it at best as "Robin Hood" and at worst as "Highway Robbery". In neither case can you justify this by quoting what scripture commands Christians to do, as not all the governed are Christians (and today very few are), and even God does not compel Christians to obey him. Government however compels obedience on pain of imprisonment or death.

This does not mean I am opposed to all governmental welfare programs, but it does mean I believe they must be justified to the taxpayers on their own basis as good things to do, without trying to twist scripture into supporting such programs.

I believe that caring for the poor and sick must start with the individual:

1) Christians must do what God leads them to do as individuals first.

2) Christians then should do what the Lord leads them to as families.

3) The local body of Christians must work together to follow God's commands.

4) Larger groups (state, national, and international in scope) of Christians should work as lead by God.

I truly believe that if Christians did all of the above there would be little left over for other groups to do.

In particular I believe governments should be cautious in what they do to "help folk" because of the danger of unintended consequences. The dangers of governmental action are the least when the control is local since folk can see what is going wrong and take action to fix things with the least bureaucracy. Therefore what can be done at the town or city level should be left for this most basic governmental unit to deal with. Only when things absolutely must, should they be bumped up to County, State, or Federal levels.

The most important issues on the ballot next week here in Colorado are Referenda C & D. The effect of these would be a massive tax increase.

Colorado's Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) Amendment passed by Colorado voters in 1992 has been one of the main reasons Colorado's economy is in as great a shape as it is, and why we have done better than many other states. Now Referenda C & D would in essence repeal TABOR and reverse the last 13 years of progress.

For more information on C & D read "The Dirty Dozen: 12 Reasons to defeat "C" and "D"" and TaxIncrease.org

Those in favor of these massive tax increases have tried to paint pictures of all the good things Colorado will no longer be able to afford if they don't get this huge tax increase. This is nonsense. First they assume there will be a massive budget shortfall. Then they assume that this entire shortfall will be taken out of the budget items of most importance to the average taxpayer, and not out of any of the massive amount of stuff the average taxpayer would be horrified to learn he has been paying for. This is the height of dishonesty and irresponsibility. We elect our representatives to make the hard choices and decide what is worthy of funding and what is not. If they can't make such choices in a responsible way then we need new representatives. We don't need to give then even more of our money to be irresponsible with!

If you want to help defeat C & D please contact Jon Reynolds or Dick and Sue Rehg. They can show you practical things you can do to help defeat C & D in your community and church.

Power Line among others posted House Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay's mug shot photo and said it would not be useful as Democrats had hoped for attack ads against DeLay.

I would like to add that not only is Tom DeLay smiling, and wearing a suit and tie, but also is wearing his pin which identifies him as a currently serving Congressman. (The pin design is revised every Congress.) I thought this last was a nice touch, and serves as a slap in the face to those who would love to use this incident for political attacks against the Congressman and the GOP in general.

The local attack machine is already calling homes to try to smear our excellent Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave by association with Tom DeLay. I don't believe it will work.

Over at Protein Wisdom there is a post disecting Newsweek's latest on Katrina and the response to it. I have rarely seen such a blatent example of media bias, and Protein Wisdom has done a service by (at least partially) responding to it. Newsweek casts President Bush as the uncaring fool, and Mayor Nagin and Govenor Blanco "a motherly but steely figure known by the nickname Queen Bee" as the heros even if they have to throw out all inconvienient facts and rely on slanders from "aides" who it is implied are fearful for their jobs, to attack the President. Newsweek also displays a total lack of understanding of how our Federal system of government operates under our Constitution, not to mention how disaster response and FEMA operates.

Read the whole thing! HT Michelle Malkin.

Unfortunately as I was posting this the Protein Wisdom site has been taken down, probably due to all the traffic this post has brought. Check back later if you can't get through.

Alvaro R. Morales Villa has posted a photo gallery of what it was like to stay in New Orleans through Katrina. These are some amazing pictures with commentary. 197 photos in all, and you will want to view them all. Among the interesting things are his take on the looters, police, firemen, and reporters. Any guess who he wound up with the least respect for? HT Mudville Gazette.

UPDATE: The link to the photos has now been updated to the new location.

Here is an inspiring story of how folk with no particular means saved themselves and others in their neighborhood in New Orleans. They planned ahead, worked together, and survived. What a great example! HT to Instapundit.

Major Garrett of Fox News reported that the Red Cross was prevented from delivering supplies it had wanted to bring to those in the Superdome, by the Louisiana Department of Homeland Security which is the state agency in charge of disaster relief in Louisiana. He then went on Hugh Hewitt's radio program and elaborated in more detail.

Power Line mentioned this on their blog, and readers sent in more confirmation of this story. If this is correct, then the state agency in charge of disaster relief made things far worse for 20,000 or more who were trapped in the Superdome and Convention Center, and may have been responsible for many of the lives lost there.

The Red Cross and FEMA have long preached to everyone who would listen how to prepare for disasters. Individuals and families are strongly urged to prepare to be totally on their own for at least 3 days, and 2 weeks is better. Similarly cities are told to be ready to fend for themselves for at least 3 days before any outside help is expected. FEMA even provides free courses to teach individuals and municipal officials how to best cope with disaster situations. They offer advanced disaster training programs through state agencies in a wide variety of critical skills.

Therefore, while individuals and families _should_ be able to take care of themselves for a few days, all communities and states should be prepared to help those who did not prepare. Everyone reading this should access the wonderful free materials available from the Red Cross and FEMA and be ready for emergencies so you will not be one of those in a "shelter of last resort" like the Superdome.

If it is true that the state intentionally blocked help from getting to those who most needed it that is criminal. I hope this is investigated.

For those who don't understand how the National Guard works, the units in each state are under the command of their respective Governors until and unless the President calls them up for National service. Therefore the Guard in both Louisiana and Mississippi were and are totally under the control of the Governors of their respective states. Under our laws the President can't send in the Guard or our military to do police work, however, a Governor of a state can legally use his own Guard to assist the police. Those who criticize President Bush for not sending in the Guard to restore order in New Orleans are either ignorant or intentionally trying to deceive the American public.

Today Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, chief, National Guard Bureau of the US Department of Defense gave a briefing to reporters about the National Guard and their efforts to rescue victims of Katrina, and restore order in New Orleans. HT to Michelle Malkin for the link.

One of the most interesting facts to come out of this briefing was that of about 1500 police in New Orleans, less than 500 are still doing their jobs. In other words there has been a massive breakdown of the police with at least 2/3 of the department missing or deserting their duty.

Read the whole thing!

DJ Drummond looks at some of the possible options for rebuilding after Katrina, and in particular the problem of rebuilding New Orleans. He looks at the example of Galveston Texas where a similar hurricane totally wiped out the city killing between 8 and 12 thousand people. Read the whole thing!

Power Line posts an email from a New Orleans native with interesting background on hurricanes and the warnings given every year so folk will know what to do. He also relates the harrowing story of an escape from New Orleans (and how the Police tried to prevent it!)

Check out John Hinderaker's post on Religion and the Democrats over at Power Line. He looks at the new Pew Research Center survey.

What passes for reporting from Iraq in most of our media has been nothing but a listing of our dead and wounded with no context about what our soldiers are doing and why. There is an old saying that the slickest way to lie is to tell just enough of the truth then shut up.

I you would like to read an example of real reporting from someone who is embeded with a group of our soldiers in a real hot-spot in Iraq, read Michael Yon's " Gates of Fire" report on his blog "Michael Yon : On Line Magazine". What makes his work all the more amazing is that it is totally self funded via donations from folk who read his blog. Read his report, and if it moves you consider making a donation.

Hugh Hewitt has a list of bloggers who have written about this report and a link to follow-up from BlackFive about the wounded men who are central to Michael's report.

Hugh Hewitt linked to a lengthy article in Foreign Affairs about avian influenza. The bad news is that this variety of the Flu has at least in theory the possibility of killing a huge percentage of the world's population. So far only 109 are known to have contracted this Bird Flu, but of those 59 have died. The good news is that at this time there is no evidence that it can be transmitted from one human to another although there are unexplained cases.

In 1918 - 1919 the "Spanish" Flu killed 50 million people. Scientists say this Flu known as "H5N1 influenza" has the potential to be much worse than the "Spanish" Flu. "In short, doom may loom. But note the "may." If the relentlessly evolving virus becomes capable of human-to-human transmission, develops a power of contagion typical of human influenzas, and maintains its extraordinary virulence, humanity could well face a pandemic unlike any ever witnessed. Or nothing at all could happen. Scientists cannot predict with certainty what this H5N1 influenza will do."

This has doctors concerned and uncertain what to recommend. Rushing out to "Do Something" such as the USA did in 1976 over fears of a possible flu epidemic that never happened would be a mistake. This lengthy article offers no real advice as to what the USA could do (other than give the doctors more money). It does make clear that if such an epidemic should happen you are better off living in the USA or another wealthy country as opposed to living in the third world where medical resources are far more limited.

So what should we as individuals do? First pray that the world will be spared this flu. Then do your best to stay healthy. Those with weakened systems will be more succeptible. Like for many other dangers in modern society, if you can move out of a major city and into a smaller town, that may tilt the odds in your favor. Of course stay informed. Information is one of the most powerful things we have going for us. If this does turn into a real danger there will be lots of information available as to how to minimize the risks of catching this. Look for sources like Flu News Blog as well as more conventional sources like the Washington Post.

I have not commented about Cindy Sheehan, and in truth this is not about her but about how she has been exploited by those on the left fringe of the Democrat party. Start with the invaluable Mark Steyn's piece, and then follow up with this letter from a soldier in Iraq with his reaction after he read Mark's piece. Thanks to Power Line.

Katherine Kersten has written a moving story "In Iraq, Grace takes amazing hold" for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. HT to Scott Johnson of Power Line.

I am not a movie goer. Typically my wife manages to drag me to one or two movies a year. However, after reading Scott Johnson's "To Bataan and Back" I think I will have to drag her to a movie! Scott is one of the three lawyers who run the Power Line blog, but this review was published by The Weekly Standard.

Michael J. Totten over at Tech Central Station has one of the best analysis I have seen of Islamic terror motivations. Seems to me most folk commenting on this issue start from the "why do they hate us?" point of view and develop their theories from that starting point. Totten has a more balanced view based on what I know about Islam (admittedly not a lot). Give him a read.

Anyone who follows politics in our country knows there is a minority on the far Left whose entire political viewpoint is defined by their hatred of President Bush. Political argument, policy differences, and rational discussion are all trumped by hatred of Bush. A classic example of this was sent to me today by a friend. E.L. Doctorow wrote a piece for the East Hampton Star (East Hampton, NY where millionaires are considered "poor") titled "The Unfeeling President".

Doctorow accuses President Bush without presenting any evidence of "not knowing what death is ... He hasn't the mind for it." Yet is is clear that Doctorow like many morally sick folk in our country does understand what hate is.

He is good at mocking "peering under the table for the WMDs he can't seem to find" about things he evidently knows nothing about. The radical Left in our country does not seem to care if they have facts on their side.

He likes to hurl accusations that are obviously and demonstrably false "He does not mourn. He doesn't understand why he should mourn."

He plays God and knows what is in the heart "he dissembles an emotion which he does not feel in the depths of his being because he has no capacity for it. He does not feel a personal responsibility for the thousand dead
young men and women who wanted to be what they could be."

He glibly lies about things anyone who will take a minor amount of time to study would know is false "his reason for going to war was, as he knew, unsubstantiated by the facts" What is truth next to the ability to beautifully phrase an attack on President Bush?

Doctorow claims "He does not regret that his bungled plan for the war's aftermath has made of his mission-accomplished a disaster." It is such a disaster that free elections were held in Afghanistan and Iraq, Libya gave up their WMD, and Syria pulled out of Lebanon.

He claims "He does not regret that rather than controlling terrorism his war in Iraq has licensed it." when thousands of terrorists are now dead, worshipers in Kuwait mosques are shouting down anti-American preachers, and the USA is now held in as much as 80% positive light in many Islamic countries.

He claims "He had not the mind to perceive" when President Bush had a higher GPA than Senator Kerry.

He obviously feels he is more knowledgeable than the bipartisan majority who voted to authorize the war, and better informed than our President who made the difficult decision after all other possibilities had been exhausted "He did not understand that you do not go to war when it is one of the options, but when it is the only option; you go not because you want to but because you have to."

Doctorow claims "he does not drop to his knees, he is not contrite". I suppose he thinks the President should bow down and worship the almighty Doctorow and beg forgiveness for doing what is right and keeping our country safe.

Hate comes so easy to Doctorow "he does not sit in the church with the grieving parents and wives and children" that all the photos and other evidence to the contrary just does not matter.

Doctorow so loves to hate President Bush "He is the President who does not feel. ... But he will dissemble feeling. ... this litany of lies ... terribly sad ... cry of protest" that his intense hatred blinds him. Fortunately for our country the majority does not agree with Doctorow's opinions. He claims "The president we get is the country we get." to try to twist the fact that the citizens of our country select the President and our other leaders not the other way around. How frustrating it must be for Doctorow when only a minority in our country see how brilliant and right he is, and the majority elect someone like our great President :>)

Doctorow does turn a great phrase "a figure of such moral vacancy" which of course applies best to himself.

Doctorow is to be pitied.

Hugh Hewitt drew my attention to this article on the WNBC (flagship NBC TV station in New York City) website:

"Ridgefield [NJ] police had to call in the National Guard to haul away 100,000 rounds of ammunition after finding nearly 500 guns in an elderly couple's home.

"The weapons range from pistols to machine guns.

"The home belongs to Sherwin and Elizabeth Raymond. Both are 82 years old.

"She suffers from Alzheimer's disease. He was a physician and gun enthusiast who was arrested in 1974 and charged with selling submachine guns, grenades and other weapons to two undercover federal agents.

"He's now charged with creating a hazardous situation and could face other charges.

"Federal officials plan to begin tracing the weapons to determine whether they were legally obtained and ever used in a crime."

From what little is said above there is good reason to suspect this is a gross violation of the civil rights of this couple. There is nothing in this article that indicates why the police invaded their home other than that they knew they owned guns.

There are many well to do firearms collectors with large collections like this. All this tells me is that he had more money to spend on his collection than I do. What possibly is criminal about this?

The fact that they apparently owned machine guns explains the large amounts of ammunition. If you have ever been to a machine gun shoot you would know that some shooters need large trucks to bring their ammo to the shoot. When you are feeding just one gun which shoots 600 rounds per minute, you can go through 100,000 rounds of ammo in less than 3 hours at the range. The machine gun shoots I have attended were 4 day events with hundreds of shooters. Do the math!

Another issue is that in order to own machine guns you need a special Federal permit that is not easy to get. This may explain why there has never been a case of a legally owned civilian machine gun being used in the commission of a crime.

This leads to the issue of Dr. Raymond having been charged with firearms crimes in 1974. Note it does not say he was convicted, only charged. If he was convicted of any such felony he would have lost his rights to own firearms. Therefore the mention of this is merely the anti civil rights police trying to score cheap points with the anti civil rights media in NJ. I lived across the river in NYC much of my life and know first hand the bias against the 2nd Amendment in that part of our country.

This sounds like a typical case of anti civil rights police trying to "make an example" of an elderly man who they clearly must hope no longer has the financial resources to effectively fight them in court. I hope he gets the backing in court from those who value freedom in our country.

As we prepare for Memorial Day, please remember not to expect any favorable coverage of the military, our servicemen, or veterans on TV or in our newspapers and magazines. If there is any that will be great, but such stories will be the exceptions against the background of anti-military slander that is the assumed truth by the vast majority of those working in the media today.

In a remarkable live interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt, ABC's White House reporter Terry Moran said "There is, Hugh, I agree with you, a deep anti-military bias in the media. One that begins from the premise that the military must be lying, and that American projection of power around the world must be wrong. I think that that is a hangover from Vietnam, and I think it's very dangerous."

John Leo expands on this theme "In all my years in journalism, I don't think I have met more than one or two reporters who have ever served in the military or who even had a friend in the armed forces. Most media hiring today is from universities where a military career is regarded as bizarre and almost any exercise of American power is considered wrongheaded or evil."

Why do Servicemen and Veterans get so little respect in our society? It just may be due to the average citizen being fed a continuous diet of stories in the news based on "the premise that the military must be lying". How can we expect people to respect members of an organization that is presented as always lying?

My church is helping to honor our Servicemen and Veterans next Sunday and is taking pains to say "This event is not intended to be political in nature or an endorsement of war." This is true, but if you start from the assumption that "American projection of power around the world must be wrong" it is impossible to honor those who wield that power in the military.

Of course this is merely a manifestation of the thinking of those in the "Peace Movement" who regard any American use of force as evil. This explains why their enemies are the US military, American law enforcement, private firearms owners, and conservative Christians who support any of the above. Note that their outrage is selective, and directed at American use of force, as opposed to the use of force by dictators around the world.

John Leo also commented "The disdain that so many reporters have for the military (or for police, the FBI, conservative Christians, or right-to-lifers) frames the way that errors and bogus stories tend to occur. The antimilitary mentality makes atrocity stories easier to publish, even when they are untrue. The classic example is CNN's false 1998 story that the U.S. military knowingly dropped nerve gas on Americans during the Vietnam War. On the other hand, brutal treatment of dissenters by Fidel Castro tends to be softened or omitted in the American press because so many journalists still see him as the romanticized figure from their youth in the 1960s. Another example: It's possible to read newspapers and newsmagazines carefully and never see anything about the liberal indoctrination now taking place at major universities. This has something to do with the fact that the universities are mostly institutions of the left and that newsrooms tend to hire from the left and from the universities in question."

This cultural background makes honoring our veterans next weekend even more important. It also underscores the importance of reforming our culture starting with the moral sickness in our universities today.

Back in February we noted the attack on James Watt and Christians in general by Bill Moyers based on fictionalized versions of Watt's statements and Christian's beliefs. After Power Line drew attention to Moyer's remarks and James Watt's response to them, Moyers called Watt and apologized and promised to print an apology.

What was printed fell far sort of an apology, however. At the time I wrote "After launching a vicious attack on Christians and claiming that Christians did not care about the environment, and then using James Watt as the poster child for all that is wrong with Christian beliefs, he now switches and tries to claim that he, Bill Moyers, and those that think like him are the true Christians, and James Watt is merely the poser who falsely claims to be Christian."

Scott W. Johnson wrote on Power Line "In other words, Moyers says the quote was fake but accurate, and in any event, Watt is a lousy Christian. Moyers is a disgrace. He not only misquoted Watt, he completely misrepresented his environmental policies. And virtually every other "fact" in Moyers' hate-filled tirade against conservative Christians was a lie, as was its central thesis."

Today the Washington Post published a column by James Watt about the attempts by the Religious Left to use the issue of the environment to divide the "coalition of Jews, Catholics and evangelicals" that had such a significant impact on the last election.

Watt quotes Barbara R. Rossing of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago where she fabricated a lie by among other things selectively quoting half of a sentence spoken by Watt in a way that made it sound as if he had said the opposite of what he actually said. This brings to mind the great "Screwtape Proposes a Toast" from 1962 in which C.S. Lewis pointed out the demonic trends in American education. "We now have an intelligentsia which, though very small, is very useful to the cause of Hell." Unfortunately things have only gotten worse in our "education system" since Lewis wrote this as evidenced by this sort of thing coming from a school devoted to training ministers of the Gospel.

Watt also quotes a statement from the National Council of Churches about a straw man anti-environment "false gospel" promoted by "proud preachers". However when asked by Watt, they could not name a single person who actually believed this "false gospel" nor name a single "proud preacher" who taught this.

John Hinderaker of Power Line writes:

"This would be shocking, if we were not so thoroughly accustomed to the mendacity of the left. A Lutheran theologian offers, as the key support for her attack on a former government official, a single sentence--from which she has removed the second half, thereby reversing its meaning. Is this really what they teach in the seminary? As a Lutheran, I hope not. Then, the National Council of Churches issues a press release attacking a purported body of theological opinion which is said to be associated with "emboldened political leaders and policymakers"--Republicans all, of course. Yet, when challenged to name a single person who holds these supposedly widespread views, the person who headed up the task force for the NCC is stumped. He can't name a single human being who holds the views he has so vigorously denounced. This is, apparently, the quality of scholarship we should expect from the National Council of Churches. Pathetic.

"Thanks to Jim Watt for pointing out today's article to us. Mr. Watt is a kindly gentleman who was enjoying a well-deserved retirement from public life, when he was dragged back into the political fray, against his will, by virtue of being relentlessly libelled by Bill Moyers and other liberals. It's good to see that, having been forced to participate once more in public debate, he is defending himself with the skill and determination that, decades ago, he brought to his years of public service."

A big thank you too to Power Line for calling attention to the attacks on Mr. Watt and other Christians.

Today a reader asked if I thought it was "morally wrong for a Christian to be a democrat"? In reply I said:

God is not a Republican or a Democrat :>)

The bible teaches us some moral principles that are routinely broken by people who are members of every political party. Note, however, that people make moral decisions as individuals, not as parties. There is no Christian political party just as there is no Christian company, just individuals who follow Christ however imperfectly.

Just to look at just one issue, I disagree with the position on abortion taken by the Democrat party in their platform, but so do many Democrats. While I like many things the Libertarian party supports, I also disagree with them on abortion, as do some Libertarians. The Libertarians are more extreme than the Democrats on this issue. However I am convinced there are true Christians who are members of both parties.

Humans are not perfect, so it would be unreasonable to expect any group of humans to be perfect. I and many other Christians have chosen to work within the Republican party as we feel that on balance it offends less against what we see as the teachings of scripture than the Democrat party. Others disagree.

To be effective within the political arena in the USA you must work within either the Republican or the Democrat party. On the national and state levels third parties have zero power, so working within them is the same as disengaging from the political process. We have to work within one of the two major parties if we are to change anything in our country.

I would love nothing more than to have two good candidates to choose from for each office in September. Therefore I hope that those within the Democrat party manage to improve it. Meanwhile I will work for issues and candidates I believe in. At this point in time most of those candidates are Republicans.

I hope this clarifies where I am coming from.

The invaluable Power Line today linked to a story about election fraud this last election in Milwaukee Wisconsin. A joint Federal / State investigation found that the number of ballots exceeded the number of voters by 4,609. As John Hinderaker of Power Line put it "There is no evident explanation for this other than ballot box stuffing."

Why should we care? Because John Kerry won Wisconsin by a mere 11,000 votes and the fraud investigation has yet to look at the suburbs of Milwaukee or other parts of the state. Further the investigators found over 200 felons voted illegally in Milwaukee, and over 100 voted twice or used fake names, addresses, or used the ID of a dead person. Investigators have focused on the over 70,000 people who registered to vote on election day in Milwaukee since the registration paperwork still existed and not on the over 200,000 other voters since Milwaukee's election records are in such bad shape they would not hold up in court! In other words the fraud could be far worse, but we will never know because of poor record keeping in this overwhelmingly Democrat city.

"U.S. Rep. Mark Green, a Green Bay Republican who has introduced a national photo ID requirement, said: 'People are having their faith in the election system shaken. This news will make it much, much worse.'" I hope that everyone who believes in honest government no matter what your political beliefs will realize our election system in this country is seriously broken. Requiring photo ID to vote is just one of many steps that need to be taken if we are to be confident in the election results. Minimum requirements for voter records would seem to be another.

As John Hinderaker wrote "it is only a matter of time until voter fraud determines the outcome of a Presidential election. (Indeed, this may well have happened in 1960.) It could have happened last fall; that it didn't was entirely a matter of luck." I would say this has been the grace of God.

Captain Ed of Captain's Quarters drew my attention today to an article in the New York Daily News about remarks by Pat Robertson on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" that are not helpful to the cause of trying to get good judges through the US Senate, even though Pat Robertson evidently was trying to support them.

At first I was cautious wondering if his remarks were taken out of context, particularly since the longest quote in the New York Daily News article was one which I could largely agree with.

"Over 100 years, I think the gradual erosion of the consensus that's held our country together is probably more serious than a few bearded terrorists who fly into buildings"

Some might feel that statement is wrong, but it can at least be debated by reasonable people.

The 9/11 terrorists did a lot of damage to this country, but they united us in a way not seen in a long time. Obvious external enemies tend to do that.

On the other hand "the gradual erosion of the consensus that's held our country together" has resulted in what Dennis Prager calls a civil war in our country. This is not to say our current culture war is anything less than an all out (cold) civil war, but thank God it is not a shooting war. I pray it never becomes a shooting war!

After I questioned the context of Pat Robertson's statements both Captain Ed and Derek Rose the author of the New York Daily News article provided the remarks in context:

" STEPHANOPOULOS: But sir, you have described this (inaudible) battle in pretty apocalyptic terms. You said: The liberals are engaging in an all-out assault on Christianity. The Democrats will appoint judges who don't share our Christian values and will dismantle Christian culture. And the out-of-control judiciary -- this was in your last book -- is the most serious threat America has faced in nearly 400 years of history: more serious than Al Qaida, more serious than Nazi Germany and Japan, more serious than the Civil War.

"ROBERTSON: Yes, I really believe that."

There is more which tends to moderate what he just said, but few will get past the above without dismissing Pat as a kook, and by inference all Christians and Republicans with him. The fact that Pat Robertson no longer has very large followings in either Christian or Republican circles will not matter.

Captain Ed wrote "Gee, Thanks, Pat" to which I can only add "with friends like these ..."

One of the main reasons I and so many other Christians supported President Bush and the Republican Senatorial candidates this last November was that we knew that one of the most important issues that will determine what sort of country our Children and Grandchildren will grow up in, is who will be our judges. The recent Terri Schiavo drama helped drive home this point.

Filibustering in the US Senate is a means a minority in the Senate can use to prevent the majority from passing a law, and it requires a supermajority of 60 out of the 100 Senators to break a filibuster. When it comes to blocking the creation of new laws the filibuster has in general been a good thing for the country. The filibuster is not in the Constitution, but has been part of the rules of the US Senate since the early days of our country.

The US Constitution gives the US Senate the duty to approve or reject the President's nominations for Federal Judgeships. It does not say this should require a supermajority.

Before President G. W. Bush entered office, never in the history of our country was a President's nominations for the Circuit Court or the Supreme Court filibustered. Exactly once there was a filibuster of a nomination of a sitting Supreme Court justice to become Chief Justice, and that was an unusual case of a nomination submitted at the end of the year when the Congress was about to go home, and the justice in question had serious ethical questions. That's it!

Our Constitution has a number of supermajority requirements in it including for doing things such as amending the Constitution, but the approval or rejection of a president's judicial nominations by the US Senate was not one of them. The Democrats are lying through their teeth and trying to tell the American public that all they are doing is upholding the traditions of the Senate, when really they are trying to ram though an Amendment of the Constitution without following the Constitutional provisions for such an Amendment.

Unfortunately there are Republicans who are siding with the Democrats in this unconstitutional Amendment attempt. Hugh Hewitt just reported on his radio program and his website that "Republican" Senator John McCain has declared he is going to support the Democrats in their unconstitutional filibuster of President Bush's judicial nominations.

There are also Republican Senators Alexander, Chafee, Collins, Hagel, Snowe, Sununu and Warner who are said to be thinking of joining Senator McCain in betraying the trust of the American people and of those who worked so hard to get them elected, by supporting the Democrats in this back door attempt to Amend the US Constitution.

Please call the Congressional Switchboard at 202-225-3121 and ask to speak with each of the above Senator's offices. Be polite, but ask them to please support the Constitution by voting against the use of the filibuster against the President's judicial nominations. If you are a past donor to Senatorial campaigns let them know that if they vote against the Constitution you will donate to their primary opponents next time around.

After you have left messages for the 7 waffling Senators above, call back and leave messages for Senators Frist and Specter urging them to take prompt action on the President's nominees. All of the President's judicial nominees currently before the US Senate would be approved, if they could only get a vote.

Senator's emails and direct phone numbers can be found here.

To learn more about the use of the filibuster against judicial nominations click here. To learn more about the history of judicial nominations click here.

Ed at Captain's Quarters has some choice words about Senator McCain and his history in the US Senate.

UPDATE: It was pointed out to me by Jarrad Shiver that my original wording "The US Constitution gives the US Senate the duty to approve the President's nominations for Federal Judgeships" could easily be read to imply that the Senate was under an obligation to approve the President's nominations, which is of course incorrect. Therefore I changed it to read "The US Constitution gives the US Senate the duty to approve or reject the President's nominations for Federal Judgeships" which I hope clarifies what I meant to say.

John H. Hinderaker of Power Line writes "We have expressed our disappointment, in several respects, with this year's Pulitzer awards." "Cartoonist Nick Anderson of the Louisville, Kentucky Courier-Journal was awarded the top prize in print journalism "for his unusual graphic style that produced extraordinarily thoughtful and powerful messages," according to the Pulitzer Web site.

"You can see Anderson's prize-winning cartoons here. Virtually every one is a vicious, hateful attack on President Bush, the United States, or Christianity."

Here is one example:

"Yup, that's right. The central symbol of the Christian faith, with its two billion adherents, is just a tool to ride herd on those poor Democrats. That's what happens to them, I guess, when they aren't being run over by construction equipment or set aflame by Vietnam veterans." [as depicted in his other prize winning cartoons]

"Am I missing something, or is this a pathetic body of work, as whiny, self-pitying and incompetent as it is hateful? It's of a piece, though, with the journalism that the Pulitzer committee found worthy of reward this year. Loyalty to the Democratic party and antipathy toward America are the only qualities that count."

Read the whole article.

I have known of and supported Spirit of America for about a year. They have done outstanding work helping the cause of freedom in Iraq and elsewhere. Jim Hake the founder writes:

"I'm in Beirut, Lebanon to kick off a project to support the pro-democracy demonstrators at the "tent city" in Martyrs' Square. Their goals are independence (i.e., Syria out of Lebanon) and free and fair elections. The tent city demonstrators are the center of gravity for Lebanon's pro-democracy movement. They are leading the charge. They put together the massive demonstrations 3 weeks ago. As they go, so goes Lebanon's independence. And so goes a great opportunity for democratic transformation of the Middle East and Arab world.

"They need our help to sustain their struggle. Our project is raising support for them (food, shelter, water, etc.) While I'm here we're looking into other things to help (e.g., Internet access at tent city)

"People can go here to help. 100% of all donations go directly to the things that will help the pro-democracy demonstrators.

"Syria is publicly acting like it is playing nice and withdrawing. Behind the scenes they are destabilizing the country, delaying the elections and intimidating the opposition. The good guys in Lebanon need our support.

"Please blog and help get the word out. This message is posted on our blog here."

Lots of people ask "but what can I do?" Well here is something you can do to help. Any donation large or small will help the cause of freedom.

This morning before the news of the Pope's death, Hugh Hewitt wrote: "With Reagan and Solzhenitsyn, John Paul II represents the three forces of opposition to communism that shattered the evil empire, the Soviet Union --the American-led West, the Eastern European resistance, and the Russian dissident movement. They also represented the three spheres of opposition: political, artistic and spiritual. Each man came into the field of his greatness later in life, and each has endured hard circumstances in their later years. I hope Solzhenitisyn is able to and inclined to write about his colleagues in the struggle that triumphed."

I am not a Catholic, but there is no denying the huge impact for good that Pope John Paul II made on the world.

UPDATE: I relied on what turned out to be a premature report of the Pope's death when I made this post. None the less it appears his time on earth is coming to an end.

Remember Sandy Burger, the Clinton White House Official who it was claimed removed the only copies of top secret documents "by accident" from the National Archives by hiding them in his socks? He claimed the documents were later misplaced or thrown out.

At the time the story was treated as one of those wild accusations coming out of what Hillary calls the "vast right wing conspiracy".

Now we learn due to his plea bargain that he intentionally removed the only copies in existence of these documents, and then personally shredded them with scissors in his office.

The liberal Washington Post leads off their story today this way: "Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger, a former White House national security adviser, plans to plead guilty to a misdemeanor, and will acknowledge intentionally removing and destroying copies of a classified document about the Clinton administration's record on terrorism."

As Bill at INDC Journal writes: "So, let me get this straight: Sandy Berger intentionally destroyed the only copies of top secret documents about this country's historical knowledge of looming terrorism threats for clearly political purposes, even though a bipartisan Congressional commission was requesting and utilizing all such documents in an effort to formulate recommendations about how to protect America from another terrorist attack.

"In my world, that's not a "$10,000 fine ... three-year suspension of his national security clearance" offense, it's in the parking lot of the ballpark of treason. Former NSA or not, this man should suffer a permanent revocation of any security clearance, and probably sample the cuisine at a federal prison. "

Ed at Captain's Quarters writes: "He should face obstruction of justice and contempt of Congress just for this action alone, both felonies. The Post, meanwhile, insists on calling these "copies". They were not exact copies; each memo started off as a copy of an original draft by Richard Clarke, but the memos had handwritten notes from each recipient as comments, requests for revision, and suggestions for possible action. Each document was unique, and their destruction by Mr. Scissors means that we will never know what some did with Clarke's information. All we know is that it must have reflected badly on Berger, Clinton, or both. Otherwise, why would Berger destroy them?

"This is a travesty. If a lower-level cleared worker had done a fraction of what Berger did in this case, he would face years in prison. Berger gets off with a fine that any of his well-connected friends will wind up underwriting, a gracious gesture of gratitude for pulling their chestnuts out of the fire."

Indeed. Clinton's buddy Sandy Burger has obstructed justice, and the joke is on us.

"The Nazis believed that killing was the highest form of treatment for disability." - Joe Ford a disabled Harvard student writing in The Harvard Crimson.

"Misery can only be removed from the world by painless extermination of the miserable." - a Nazi writer quoted by Robert J. Lifton in The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide

Joe Ford knows about the attitudes towards the disabled in today's society. He was born with severe cerebral palsy, and someone in the delivery room removed his endotracheal tube during resuscitation in his first hour of life. "This was a quality-of-life decision: I was simply taking too long to breathe on my own, and the person who pulled the tube believed I would be severely disabled if I lived, since lack of oxygen causes cerebral palsy. (I was saved by my family doctor inserting another tube as quickly as possible.) The point of this is not that I ended up at Harvard and Schiavo did not, as some people would undoubtedly conclude. The point is that society already believes to some degree that it is acceptable to murder disabled people."

"The reason for this public support of removal from ordinary sustenance, I believe, is not that most people understand or care about Terri Schiavo. Like many others with disabilities, I believe that the American public, to one degree or another, holds that disabled people are better off dead. To put it in a simpler way, many Americans are bigots. A close examination of the facts of the Schiavo case reveals not a case of difficult decisions but a basic test of this country’s decency."

Unfortunately we are failing the test. Read the entire article, and pray for our country.

UPDATE: Apparently this touched a raw nerve with many who would dehumanize others so they can justify in their own minds killing the unwanted. I am sorry for such folk, but will not provide a platform for them to spout their bigotry. Therefore comments on this post are closed.

Hugh Hewitt linked to a great article at The Mudville Gazette on why liberals seem so scared of Christians. He calls this "the Boogeyman of Jesusland" and I have noted it myself all over the Main Stream Media. I think for example this helps expalin why liberals were so scared of and willing to trash James Watt.

"It's an invocation of a liberal boogeyman, you see. Republican Senators pander to a right-wing, Christian, ultra-conservative base - Jesusland. Jesusland was last invoked in strength in the aftermath of the Democrat's November meltdown, a handy excuse for missing the mark, for failing to resonate with voters. Quality of candidates and platforms meant nothing - moral values were the hinge on which the elections turned. Iraq meant nothing to the average voter. The New York Times even went so far as to claim that gay marriage was the only issue that really mattered to GI's deployed there. The drooling fanatics of Jesusland, you see, are running this country. In fact, they are running it into the ground."

Greyhawk goes into much detail looking at reality versus the bogyman, and looking at what true Christians believe. He concludes:

"So where are the real Christians? If you aren't one of them, rest assured that although not a majority there are some within a few hundred yards of you. And Christians everywhere in America are busy this weekend praying. For America, for the world, and for peace for Terri Schiavo and her family. Yes, even for Michael.

"And celebrating a season of rebirth, and redemption."

Read the whole thing.

Ed Morrissey of Captian's Quarters has an excellent post today "Hijacking Terri" talking about how Randall Terry who calls himself the family spokesman is refusing to honor the family wishes and is creating a crisis outside the hospice where Terri is being killed.

The circus atmosphere has gotten to the point where the Communist Youth Brigades stole the microphones from Randall in order to get their message out.

"The emotions have run away with the argument, to the point where conservatives have now started to argue for the executive to outgun the judiciary and impose its will regardless of the law.

"It's time to put the signs down, and start praying for Terri. We need to fix the system, not trash it completely, and we need to stop giving air time to the most radical elements on both sides so we can determine the best way to do so."

Amen.

John Fund draws some interesting parallels between Terri Schiavo and Elian Gonzalez.

"On Thursday, April 20, [2000] the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals--the same court that rejected the pleas of Terri Schiavo's parents last week--turned down the Justice Department's request to order Elian removed from the home of his Miami relatives. Moreover, the court expressed serious doubts about the Justice Department's reading of both the law and its own regulations, adding that Elian had made a "substantial case on the merits" of his claim."

"clearly many of the people who approved of dramatic federal intervention to return Elian to Cuba took a completely different tack when it came to the argument over saving Terri Schiavo. Rep. Frank makes a compelling argument that Congress took an extraordinary step when it met in special session to create a procedure whereby the federal courts could decide whether Ms. Schiavo's rights were being violated. He may have a point when he accuses Republicans of "trying to command judicial activism and dictate outcomes when they don't like" rulings. But where were Mr. Frank and other liberals when the Clinton administration decided to sidestep a federal appeals court and order an armed raid against Elian Gonzalez? While Mr. Frank allowed that the use of assault rifles in the Elian raid was "excessive" and "frightening," he also defended the Justice Department's view that "of course [agents] had to use force."

"According to some reports, Gov. Jeb Bush considered seizing Mrs. Schiavo, à la Elian, and taking her to a hospital so she could be fed. But he did not do so. "I've consistently said that I can't go beyond what my powers are, and I'm not going to do it," the governor says. Janet Reno and the Clinton administration showed no such restraint when it came to Elian Gonzalez."

Read the whole article, and keep on praying.

Power Line brought my attention to "The Politics of the Schiavo Case" by Jeffrey Bell & Frank Cannon in the latest edition of The Weekly Standard.

Bell and Cannon make some very interesting points:

"It was a substantive policy victory for forces opposed to the right to life (it doesn't seem accurate, in this instance, to describe these forces as "pro-choice"), but it may be a victory they come to regret. For one thing, in content it was far more an extension of the implications of legalized abortion than of assisted suicide.

"Of the whole array of anti-life agenda items, assisted suicide receives the greatest level of support in public opinion polling, undoubtedly because it is seen as the least coercive. But in the end game of the Terri Schiavo case, the longstanding assertion by her husband that Terri would welcome what was being done to her seemed at most a formality. The courts all but made explicit that the killing was not really about her wishes but only about those of her husband and legal guardian. The implication that Terri's fate was to be the choice of the husband, and of him alone, followed the form of abortion law, which puts the choice in the hands of the mother, and of no one else.

"This matters because abortion, not assisted suicide, is the mother of all American social issues. We say American, and not Russian or Chinese or British, because it is the American founding document that guarantees the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and asserts as its only authority that of the Creator--the authority of Nature and of Nature's God. If you had to pick one reason that there is a pro-life movement in America and not Europe, it is the nature of our founding."

This observation of course is based on the Declaration.

Bell and Cannon then conclude by showing how this impacts the upcoming battles in the US Senate over President Bush's judicial nominations:

"For President Bush and the social conservatives who comprise the central rampart of his base, the courts' naked assertion of judicial supremacy in deciding the fate of Terri Schiavo represents an important moment. This is because the premise of the Democratic filibuster of the president's conservative judicial nominees is that the Roe v. Wade decision must never again be called into question.

"The judicial confirmation debate will now unavoidably be about whether democratic decision-making on abortion should continue to be prohibited by our courts and (effectively) by the American legal profession. From the beginning, those who believed Roe would corrupt the rule of law feared that state sanction of private killing would put all public order and all private restraint in doubt. The fate of Terri Schiavo makes clear that those fears were utterly on target."

As the death of Terri Schiavo grows near, let us not only continue to pray for Terri, her family, and our country, but also vow to do whatever it takes to reform the judicial system in our country.

Ed Morrissey of Captian's Quarters today writes on the calls of some for Jeb Bush to take Terri Schiavo by force and defy the courts. This would be an attempt to do right by doing wrong and would not help Terri, her family, the rule of law, or our country.

I find myself in agreement with his thoughts:

"But we have to draw a line here, and that line is the law."

"We cannot allow our passions for Terri and the Schindlers to overload our respect for the law which protects us from an overpowerful executive branch. Reverend Mahoney calls for little less than an armed coup d'etat in Florida, one in which Bush would make both the legislature and the judiciary completely irrelevant by the use of force. I cannot imagine a more dangerous and terrible outcome from this tragedy than that, especially since in the end it will have only the effect of momentarily delaying Terri's torturous death.

"It's time to cool the passions and start praying for mercy."

Amen.

Marianne M. Jennings has written one of the most powerful and moving pieces I have ever read on the Terri Schiavo situation. She does so from a unique perspective.

"Our daughter, Claire, has had a feeding tube for 10 years, and my mother is closing in on one year with hers. I am generationally sandwiched between feeding tube patients. Like Terri Schiavo, no one is really sure how much breaks through my daughter's or mother's neurological remnants. Also like Mrs. Schiavo, neither needs a respirator. To the clinical, the three are in a "vegetative state." The inexperienced callously refer to them as clumps of flesh that hover in a puzzling state for inexplicable reasons.

"But those of us who live with and care for these magnificent souls question the analyses hurled about as cherished life hangs in the balance. I offer my lessons from a decade of exposure to the "vegetative state.""

Marianne concludes:

"I fear for the clinical callousness of this tube removal. We turn our backs on the closest thing this world has to offer when it comes to angels. This removal is a giant leap backwards as mankind denies its spirituality and harms the helpless. I worry about the precedent for our Claire and my mom, but I fear for us."

Read the whole article, and please continue to pray for Terri, her family, and our country.

Hugh Hewitt today read on his radio program the affidavit of Dr. William Chesire a Board Certified Neurologist. Dr. Chesire examined Terri Schiavo on 1 March 2005. He discloses that to the best of his knowledge he was the first Neurologist to examine Terri Schiavo in nearly three years! He points out that studies have shown that there is a very high rate of false initial diagnosis of Persistent Vegetative State (PVS), and that scientific knowledge in this field has significantly expanded since Terri was diagnosed three years ago.

In particular since that time doctors have become aware of a different diagnosis that should be applied to some patients like Terri called "minimally conscious state". Like many other neurologists he says that a proper diagnosis must include PET or fMRI studies, which have never been done on Terri, apparently because her estranged husband has not permitted these tests to be done. He then goes into great detail why he feels that the original diagnosis of PVS is false.

He concludes "Based on this evidence, I believe that, within a reasonable degree of medical certainty, there is a greater likelyhood that Terri is in a minimally conscious state than in a persistent vegetative state. This distinction makes an enormous difference in making ethical decisions on Terri's behalf. If Terri is sufficiently aware of her surroundings that she can feel pleasure and suffer, if she is capable of understanding to some degree how she is being treated, then in my judgement it would be wrong to bring about her death by withdrawing food and water."

"When serious doubts exist as to whether a cognitively impaired person is or is not consiously aware, even if these doubts cannot be conclusively resolved, it is better to err on the side of protecting vulnerable life."

Power Line tonight comments that one reason so many have come to similar conclusions as this Doctor is that we have seen the video tapes of Terri reacting to those around her, and just can't believe she is not alive and at least somewhat aware inside her crippled body. They quote Groucho Marx "Who You Gonna Believe, Me Or Your Lying Eyes?" to explain the reaction of those who will not look at the evidence.

There may be very little hope left for Terri, but please still continue to pray for her, and the judges and politicians who could help if they wished to.

We are in day 5 of the court ordered torturing of Terri Schiavo to death. Soon we may have the answer to her estranged husband's question quoted above. Please continue to pray for Terri and our country, and help in the ways suggested by Focus on the Family and Terri's family.

In defiance of the law passed by Congress and signed by the President, the Federal District Court in Florida (Judge appointed by Clinton) and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals have both refused to hear the case on the merits and grant an emergency halt to the dehydration and starving of Terri Schiavo to death. An appeal has been made to the Supreme Court. If there ever was more dramatic evidence of that fact that our Court system is out of control and totally unresponsive to the will of the people as expressed by our elected representatives, I have not heard of it.

No matter what happens to Terri we must get the courts under control. This will start with President Bush's nominations to the Court of Appeals and the Senate Democrat's attempt to impose an unconstitutional supermajority requirement on their approval. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile keep praying.

This evening we are entering the 4th day of the court ordered torturing of Terri Schiavo to death. She may only have a few days left to live, and everyone should pray for her and our country. Terri will be in a better place if she dies, but our country will no longer be able to claim:

"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."

Our founding fathers believed "their Creator" gave us "unalienable Rights" and "that among these are Life". Our God given Right to Life is the most fundamental of all our human rights.

They further said:

"That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed."

The whole purpose of Government is securing these Rights, the first of which is Life. The government of the State of Florida and to a lesser degree the United States have failed in this most fundamental duty.

But so what one might ask. The founding fathers had an answer:

"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive to these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

This is not some radical call for "revolution now" or such nonsense. After all we must consider:

"Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shown, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed."

However when our government abuses the Rights of the innocent, it does so at great peril. Eventually "If This Goes On -" our government will lose all the respect of the citizens. Then we will find:

"But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security."

I pray our country never reaches that point. The current path is not hopeful, however.

So let us pray for Terri and our country. Let us also work to right the wrongs starting by calling those in Florida who could help but will not. Be respectful but strongly urge them to change their minds.

On Friday Hugh Hewitt called on all Christians to hold up Terri Schiavo in prayer, and as well pray for those who can help that they choose to do so. This is indeed the main issue here. Have we as a country been so taken in by a culture of death that we will stand by silently as evil persons torture and kill Terri Schiavo? Has the Christian Church been so taken in by political agendas that we can't oppose the murder of the inconvenient?

Terri Schiavo facts:

Terri Schiavo is not on "life support". She is living and breathing on her own without medical aid, and has lived the last five years in a Hospice not a Hospital. All she requires is food and water delivered by tube, since she can not eat normally.

There is grave doubt that Terri Schiavo is in a Persistent Vegetative State (PVS) since the tests required to determine this have never been performed. Her estranged husband has not allowed them, and a Judge has sided with the husband.

Terri has not been given good care. In fact under normal circumstances the care would be considered criminal neglect since she has had teeth rot due to lack of proper dental care, and has skin ulcers that would be easily prevented though simple basic care. The Judge has refused to remove the estranged husband as her guardian so she can receive proper care.

Terri has not been given therapy or rehabilitation since 1992 since her estranged husband has refused to allow it. It is possible she could eat without the tube if the effort to feed her this way was not too much bother.

The judge's order to starve Terri to death is nothing short of Judicial Murder.

It is shameful that those who call themselves Christian have in many cases acted like the Priest and Levite Jesus spoke of in the parable of the Good Samaritan and "passed by on the other side" rather than get involved. Almost none of the larger Christian denominations in the USA have supported Terri's right to live. Her support has come almost exclusively from the conservative evangelical churches and the Roman Catholic Church.

The lawyer for Terri's estranged husband issued a statement trying to justify her murder and attacking those who are trying to save her life.

Terri's situation needs to be viewed in the broader context of attacks on life such as the infamous Gronigen Protocol under which children in the Netherlands are being murdered because they are inconvenient.

Unfortunately there is a political side to this as well, with congressional Democrats trying to oppose any attempt to help Terri, as they have for days. Peggy Noonan points out that if Terri dies the Republicans will be to blame too since they have the power to do something. Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family points out that shamefully one of the obstructionists in Congress has been a Republican leader.

In this case as with so many others, the Main Stream Media has been lying through their teeth to the American public. Read Pete Winn of Focus on the Family's article "Tell the Truth!".

The best single article on Terri situation I have found was published in National Review Online by Reverend Robert Johansen.

Dr. Dobson urged listeners to Hugh Hewitt's show to check his website Family.org and in particular the CitizenLink page for suggestions for what we can do to help Terri.

I pray that Christians and all who support Life will do everything in their power to help save Terri Schiavo.

UPDATE: President Bush has signed emergency legislation that allows Terri's parents to go before a Federal judge and ask their daughter not be killed. It does not require that the Federal courts agree to hear the case, nor does it mean the Florida judge will accept being over ruled by the Federal courts (if indeed he is).

This does not end the struggle for Terri's life, or the political ramifications. While even Bernard Sanders the Socialist member of congress (who the news media always call the "independent" member of congress) abstained from this vote, and therefore did not vote against this bill, 5 Republicans and 53 Democrats voted against giving Terri Schiavo a chance at life. All those who value life need to remember them and donate money to their opponents next election cycle.

Voted Against Life

Tammy Baldwin - Wisconsin-2nd, Democrat

Shelley Berkley - Nevada-1st, Democrat

Timothy H. Bishop - New York-1st, Democrat

Ginny Brown-Waite - Florida-5th, Republican

G. K. Butterfield - North Carolina-1st, Democrat

Michael E. Capuano - Massachusetts-8th, Democrat

Benjamin L. Cardin - Maryland-3rd, Democrat

Russ Carnahan - Missouri-3rd, Democrat

Julia Carson - Indiana-7th, Democrat

Michael N. Castle - Delaware-At Large, Republican

Wm. Lacy Clay - Missouri-1st, Democrat

Emanuel Cleaver - Missouri-5th, Democrat

James E. Clyburn - South Carolina-6th, Democrat

John Conyers Jr. - Michigan-14th, Democrat

Jim Davis - Florida-11th, Democrat

Charles W. Dent - Pennsylvania-15th, Republican

Norman D. Dicks - Washington-6th, Democrat

Michael F. Doyle - Pennsylvania-14th, Democrat

Lane Evans - Illinois-17th, Democrat

Barney Frank - Massachusetts-4th, Democrat

Luis V. Gutierrez - Illinois-4th, Democrat

Alcee L. Hastings - Florida-23rd, Democrat

Rush D. Holt - New Jersey-12th, Democrat

Steny H. Hoyer - Maryland-5th, Democrat

Steve Israel - New York-2nd, Democrat

Marcy Kaptur - Ohio-9th, Democrat

Patrick J. Kennedy - Rhode Island-1st, Democrat

John B. Larson - Connecticut-1st, Democrat

Sander M. Levin - Michigan-12th, Democrat

John Lewis - Georgia-5th, Democrat

Doris O. Matsui - California-5th, Democrat

Jim McDermott - Washington-7th, Democrat

Cynthia McKinney - Georgia-4th, Democrat

Brad Miller - North Carolina-13th, Democrat

James P. Moran - Virginia-8th, Democrat

John P. Murtha - Pennsylvania-12th, Democrat

Jerrold Nadler - New York-8th, Democrat

John W. Olver - Massachusetts-1st, Democrat

Frank Pallone Jr. - New Jersey-6th, Democrat

Bill Pascrell Jr. - New Jersey-8th, Democrat

Donald M. Payne - New Jersey-10th, Democrat

David E. Price - North Carolina-4th, Democrat

David G. Reichert - Washington-8th, Republican

Steven R. Rothman - New Jersey-9th, Democrat

Adam B. Schiff - California-29th, Democrat

Allyson Y. Schwartz - Pennsylvania-13th, Democrat

Robert C. Scott - Virginia-3rd, Democrat

Christopher Shays - Connecticut-4th, Republican

John M. Spratt Jr. - South Carolina-5th, Democrat

Ted Strickland - Ohio-6th, Democrat

Bennie G. Thompson - Mississippi-2nd, Democrat

Chris Van Hollen - Maryland-8th, Democrat

Peter J. Visclosky - Indiana-1st, Democrat

Debbie Wasserman Schultz - Florida-20th, Democrat

Melvin L. Watt - North Carolina-12th, Democrat

Anthony D. Weiner - New York-9th, Democrat

Robert Wexler - Florida-19th, Democrat

David Wu - Oregon-1st, Democrat

Hugh started talking about Terri Schiavo and stated that he felt there was cause for hope. I sure hope he is right and will explain why later in the program.

Hugh just got off the phone with Govenor Bill Owens of Colorado speaking of the mess at the University of Colorado and of Bob Beauprez's run for Colorado Governor since Bill Owens is term limited. Bob Beauprez would be great for Colorado and I hope he runs.

UPDATE: Talking Colorado politics and the need to win the Governership with our Colorado House minority leader.

UPDATE: Back to Terri Schiavo and our out of control legal system with "The Beltway Boys". Talking about the US Senate and the President's nominations.

UPDATE: Dr. Dobson talking to Hugh about the Terri Schiavo case and the outrage that the US Congress has not been able to act. This is the prelude to legal Euthenasia. Dobson's website is Family.org where he has more info on what you can do at CitizenLink.

UPDATE: More on Terri Schiavo. "Even if he is the best husband in the world, we don't starve people to death in the US." - Hugh Hewitt

There will be a counter protest against the antiwar folk protesting at the Colorado Capitol tomorrow. If you have the time show up.

UPDATE: "I am not a legislator because I hate last minute stuff." - Hugh talking about the last minute actions of the legislatures in trying to defend Terri Schiavo's life. "It might not be very likely, but what if she dies this weekend?"

UPDATE: Joni Eareckson Tada is on with Hugh right now. She is barely back from the hospital and is calling from her bed. Hugh brings up that there is no credible evidence that Terri Schiavo is in a state from which she can't recover since the husband has refused to allow the testing to be done. Joni speaks from authority since she has been a quadriplegic for the past 38 years. Someone else has to feed her so she is in that way in a very similar to Terri. Hugh asked Joni if she would object if Terri had signed a written statement saying that she did not want to live if she had to be on a feeding tube. Joni said no, and Hugh agreed. The point is however that Terri never signed such a statement and we are relying on her husband's statements which are suspect to say the least.

UPDATE: Hugh talking about the University of Colorado and his desire to be President of UC. He said he would not fire Ward Churchill but instead give him a 24 hour cable show. Sort of like how he loved the MoveOn rally.

Throw the bums out. That is Hugh's message. He wants to start a national movement to vote all Judges out of office until they state speaking out publicly about the out of control judges such as the judge in the Terri Schiavo case. This sounds good to me as I have long advocated throwing the bums out in Boulder Country Colorado where I live.

UPDATE: Bloggers are helping shape public opinion, and Hugh hopes there will be a breakout into the Main Stream Media. Hugh repeated his call for citizens to take action using the resourses on Dr. Dobson's CitizenLink website.

Hugh mentioned Little Red Blog.

UPDATE: Hugh is calling for prayer for Terri, her husband, the judge, and all others involved in the situation. His first caller suggested people consider fasting and praying for this situation. The next caller had a son on a feeding tube and spoke powerfully about the sanctity of life. Hugh spoke against using civil disobedience in this case.

UPDATE: The show ended with a poem "A Life" read by Tarzana Joe.

Recently Dr. Andrew Jackson posted some comments by Mark Byron on theology and its resulting social implications. Mark claimed that in some areas the Democrats were closer to biblical teaching, while on others the Republicans were. This got me thinking about some of the confused theology used to support political positions, and in particular the confusion in the “Social Justice” wing of Christianity.

Jesus said “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” Matt. 22:37 – 40

Our duty is to love God and love our neighbors.

Scripture addresses our obligations to the poor, the widowed, our parents, and our neighbors. In the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30 – 37) Jesus goes into some detail about who is a “neighbor” to the man who was robbed. In it he asked who was the neighbor of the man who had been robbed? The answer was “The one who showed mercy towards him.” Jesus replied “Go and do the same.”

Please note that just as we can’t be saved by someone else’s faith in God (“God has no Grandchildren” – David du Plessis) we also can’t fulfill the Commandment to “love your neighbor” by pawning that duty off to someone else. This is an individual obligation and not an obligation of “society” or even worse “government”

The Good Samaritan paid the costs to help the injured stranger himself. What if instead he erected a toll on the road and forced everyone who traveled that road to pay part of the expenses for the injured man, plus the Samaritan’s salary for running the toll booth? Would this fulfill the Commandment?

Unfortunately those in the “social justice” wing of Christianity all too often forget that Jesus taught his followers to care for the poor, the widowed, their parents, and their neighbors, but never instructed them to take the funds for this by force from everyone against their will. When someone calls for government to be in the business of doing what we should be doing, they forget that the only way that government gets the money for all of these “good” things they want government to do is by taking it by force from everyone.

This twisting of scripture and Jesus teachings has multiple ill effects. It is bad for the “social justice” Christian because he is asking someone else (government) to do what Jesus called on his followers to do (not someone else). It is bad for the government because it forces the government to take more by force from the governed to give to those who are specially favored. This delegitimizes government and weakens its moral authority even in the areas government should be involved in. It is bad for the governed since it causes them to either resent government or to engage in the politics of envy. Lastly it is bad for the recipient of the governmental benefits since they come to consider the benefits to be a “right” rather than a gift given because of the giver’s belief that this is what God wanted them to do.

Mark wrote “you can see areas where the Democrats are stronger and areas where the Republicans are stronger”

The Democrats want a big government and those in the “Social Justice” wing of Christianity give them cover to claim this is “right” and “moral” when it really is a total twisting of what Jesus taught.

This is not to say the Republicans are without sin in this regard, but this sort of thinking is much more entrenched in the Democrat party than the Republicans.