Sharp Knife

LINCOLN vs. OBAMA

Lincoln: "The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth. A. Lincoln" .................

Obama: "Good morning.

Nearly 150 years ago, in one of the darkest years of our nation's history, President Abraham Lincoln set aside the last Thursday in November as a day of Thanksgiving. America was split by Civil War. But Lincoln said in his first Thanksgiving decree that difficult times made it even more appropriate for our blessings to be -- and I quote -- "gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people."

This week, the American people came together with family and friends to carry on this distinctly American tradition. We gave thanks for loved ones and for our lasting pride in our communities and our country. We took comfort in good memories while looking forward to the promise of change.

But this Thanksgiving also takes place at a time of great trial for our people.

Across the country, there were empty seats at the table, as brave Americans continue to serve in harm’s way from the mountains of Afghanistan to the deserts of Iraq. We honor and give thanks for their sacrifice, and stand by the families who endure their absence with such dignity and resolve.

At home, we face an economic crisis of historic proportions. More and more Americans are worried about losing a job or making their mortgage payment. Workers are wondering if next month's paycheck will pay next month's bills. Retirees are watching their savings disappear, and students are struggling with the cost of tuition.

It's going to take bold and immediate action to confront this crisis. That's why I'm committed to forging a new beginning from the moment I take office as President of the United States. Earlier this week, I announced my economic team. This talented and dedicated group is already hard at work crafting an Economic Recovery Plan that will create or save 2.5 million new jobs, while making the investments we need to fuel long-term economic growth and stability.

But this Thanksgiving, we are reminded that the renewal of our economy won't come from policies and plans alone -- it will take the hard work, innovation, service, and strength of the American people.

I have seen this strength firsthand over many months -- in workers who are ready to power new industries, and farmers and scientists who can tap new sources of energy; in teachers who stay late after school, and parents who put in that extra hour reading to their kids; in young Americans enlisting in a time of war, seniors who volunteer their time, and service programs that bring hope to the hopeless.

It is a testament to our national character that so many Americans took time out this Thanksgiving to help feed the hungry and care for the needy. On Wednesday, I visited a food bank at Saint Columbanus Parish in Chicago. There -- as in so many communities across America -- folks pitched in time and resources to give a lift to their neighbors in need. It is this spirit that binds us together as one American family -- the belief that we rise and fall as one people; that we want that American Dream not just for ourselves, but for each other.

That's the spirit we must summon as we make a new beginning for our nation. Times are tough. There are difficult months ahead. But we can renew our nation the same way that we have in the many years since Lincoln's first Thanksgiving: by coming together to overcome adversity; by reaching for -- and working for -- new horizons of opportunity for all Americans.

So this weekend -- with one heart, and one voice, the American people can give thanks that a new and brighter day is yet to come.".......................

The first thing that stands out is that Obama never mentions God.

It's pushy enough that Obama is acting like he's already president by releasing his own proclamation, but the fact that he several times mentions himself prominently but not the Almighty bodes ill for my country.

Even the skeptic Lincoln immediately acknowledges God: "...we are prone to forget the source from which they come...the ever watchful providence of Almighty God."

Yet the professed Christian Obama never does. He says we should give thanks, but cannot bring himself to name the recipient of those thanks.

This matters because, spiritually, we cannot renew this country without giving thanks to God and being obedient. Obama seems to think that through simple human unity we can be renewed. This is the same tack he took in his famous "Jericho" speech, drawing from the Biblical story the lesson of human unity rather than obedience to God.

I don't expect a president to be our National Preacher. But I do expect a professing Christian who has freely sought leadership and who arrogantly fancies himself as a new Lincoln to at least act like a Lincolnian leader and thank God aloud on Thanksgiving.

We are not "the change we've been waiting for" nor are we the Thanksgiving Thanks Receiver we've been waiting for. We're not God and Obama's not Lincoln. And Thank God.

DON'T SEND A LIBERAL TO DO A MAN'S JOB

or a man to do a robot's.

Just One Minute quotes the NY Times:

ATLANTA — In the heat of battle, their minds clouded by fear, anger or vengefulness, even the best-trained soldiers can act in ways that violate the Geneva Conventions or battlefield rules of engagement. Now some researchers suggest that robots could do better.

Ho hum; just another day at the Times and just another way to call our troops war criminals.

This reporter evidently didn't get the memo Pinch sent around; it's okay to fake patriotism and be a Summer Soldier and Sunshine Patriot now that the Times Party "won" the recent [s]election.

(At TimesWorld, Democrats 'win elections' and 'assume office 'while Republicans 'steal elections' and 'seize power'.)

Here; let me fix that paragraph for you:

ATLANTA — In the heat of partisan battle, their minds clouded by fear, anger or vengefulness, even the best-trained reporters can act in ways that violate the Constitution's Treason provisions or journalistic rules of ethics, whatever those might hypothetically be. Now some researchers suggest that robots could do better.

They certainly couldn't do much worse. The New York Times tried to turn the Panty Raids at Abu Gharib into the new Holocaust. They provided the enemy with aid and comfort, pillows, warm milk and cookies. They repeatedly leaked vital secrets. They doctored quotes and manufactured photographs. They worked relentlessly to undermine the war effort, demoralize the public to manufacture an American defeat just as they did during VietNam...and all in the service of a naked partisan power-grab. I say bring on the robots--I've never seen a robot commit treason yet.

I'm a little tired of the pre-emptive invasion of the moral high ground by liberals. For example, Bill Clinton totally blew off the UN to bomb Serbia whereas George Bush went to the UN and gave the other Hussein a year-long bonus-round in which to hide his weapons. Yet liberals routinely claim that Bush engaged in an "illegal war" in defiance of the UN while Clinton "had the respect of the world". I guess if you can claim an "Authorization for the Use of Force" is not an authorization for the use of force, you can make words mean anything.

Those pilots who bombed Serbia were as brave as any who ever served. But Clinton had them bomb from stratospheric heights even though this meant more civilian casualties due to the imprecision. As in Somalia, Clinton did this not out of concern for the pilots, but out of concern for the politicians. He was willing to trade Serbian lives so he wouldn't suffer the unpopularity that would come with American casualties. I'm not arguing for casualties but I am saying that under Pres. Bush, our troops have often exposed themselves to danger in order to save civilian lives while under Clinton, civilian lives were expendable in order to protect politicians. Don't lecture me about the moral high ground.

Now to the meat; no machine will ever be more moral than its programmers. And that's assuming that the technology can even approximate it. Unlike a soldier, no machine will ever hear and translate in a nano-second the inflection in a voice or the furtive glance of a mother who signals with her eyes "Don't hurt me--they're hiding in the back".

Still, robots have their place. Our unmanned drones have performed remakably and have saved the lives of many soldiers by doing the job for them. Most of the shortcomings have been with the lawyers and politicians. Again, it was Bill Clinton, allergic to responsibility and bad poll numbers, who refused to be summoned from the false security of the golf course to focus on making a hard, life-or-death decision about bin Laden.

If only we'd put stockings and high heels on that Predator, we might have gotten him to focus and been spared 9/11. Put that in your hard drive, Pinch.

UPDATE: "You don't understand, they'll lift you up.":

"Attention to all who enter here. If you are coming into this room with sorrow or to feel sorry for my wounds, go elsewhere. The wounds I received I got in a job I love, doing it for people I love, supporting the freedom of a country I deeply love. I am incredibly tough and will make a full recovery. What is full? That is the absolute utmost physically my body has the ability to recover. Then I will push that about 20 percent further through sheer mental tenacity. This room you are about to enter is a room of fun, optimism, and intense rapid regrowth. If you are not prepared for that, go elsewhere."

When you get a robot to do that, then we'll talk.

Radio Address to the Nation on the Observance of Thanksgiving Day

November 22, 1986

My fellow Americans:

This coming Thursday we'll celebrate a holiday that belongs uniquely to our nation -- Thanksgiving Day. Millions of us will travel from all parts of the country to gather in family homes, observing the holiday according to longstanding tradition: turkey with all the fixings, pumpkin pie, laughter, the warmth of family, love, and, yes, a moment of prayer to give thanks. Yet, at the same time, many among us will be less fortunate. And just as Thanksgiving Day has always been an occasion for counting our blessings, so, too, it's always been a time for making life better among our fellow Americans. In churches and synagogues across the country, for example, food will be collected in the next few days for distribution to the needy, or on Thanksgiving Day itself. And with this spirit of Thanksgiving in mind, I thought I'd speak with you for a moment this afternoon about the goodness of the American people and our willingness to give each other a helping hand.

The spirit of voluntarism is deeply ingrained in us as a nation. Maybe it has something to do with our history as a frontier land. Those early Americans who gave us Thanksgiving Day itself had to help each other in order to survive -- joining together to plant crops, build houses, and raise barns. And perhaps they discovered that in helping others their own lives were enriched. In our own day, a poll showed most Americans believe that no matter how big government gets and no matter how many services it provides, it can never take the place of volunteers. In other words, we Americans understand that there are no substitutes for gifts of service given from the heart.

In our recent history, there was a time not long ago when this spirit seemed endangered, when philanthropy and personal involvement were giving way to bureaucratic plans and Federal programs. So, when our administration took office, we made it one of our main aims to encourage private sector initiatives, to reinvigorate the American tradition of voluntarism. And I have to admit, our success in this area is one of the accomplishments of which I'm most proud. For in the past few years, we've witnessed an unprecedented outpouring of the volunteer spirit, a tremendous reassertion of good will and neighborliness. Last year alone, individuals, corporations, bequests, and foundations gave nearly $80 billion to good causes -- a record high. You can see these volunteer efforts all around. Consider the United Way, founded a century ago next year. Today there are more than 2,200 local United Ways in communities throughout the country. Just last year the United Way raised more than $2.3 billion, supported more than 3,700 health and human care agencies and programs, and served millions of families.

In 1958, for example, Dr. William Walsh asked President Dwight Eisenhower for the use of an old hospital ship, mothballed after World War II. Ike provided that ship, charging rent of just $1 a year. And Dr. Walsh turned the old ship into Project HOPE, a seaborne hospital and medical school that traveled the world. Today Project HOPE has been modernized, and medical volunteers traveled by plane recently to El Salvador to help with the aftereffects of the devastating earthquake.

Then there's Just Say No, a largely volunteer organization that's teaching children around the world to say no to drugs. This organization got started when Nancy was visiting an elementary school in California. A little girl asked what to do if someone offered her drugs, and Nancy's answer was simple: "Just say no." Well, not long ago, Nancy hosted a Just Say No rally here at the White House. More than 2,300 children attended. Although Just Say No requires school officials, teachers, and especially parents to devote to it a great deal of time, Nancy told me that everyone she spoke to at the rally was convinced that it's not only worth it but of vital importance for the future.

Local efforts may be less well known than major undertakings like Just Say No and Project HOPE, but to the very heart and soul of the American volunteer spirit, many of you'll be able to think of good works being performed in your own communities. I think of a house for the homeless here in Washington founded by a young priest, Father Jack Pfannenstiel, and sustained by his own hard work and that of volunteers. McKenna House offers shelter, food, and human concern for the homeless men right here in our Nation's Capital. Of course, we must do more, striving always to give of ourselves to those less fortunate. But it's good to reflect that here in America, perhaps more than in any other nation on Earth, we have a tradition of giving -- of neighbor helping neighbor -- that makes life better for tens of thousands every day. And for this, too, on Thanksgiving Day, let us give thanks.

Until next week, thanks for listening. God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 12:06 p.m. from Camp David, MD.

From the Wall Street Journal, Ira Stoll:

"When was the first Thanksgiving? Most of us think of the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1621. But if the question is about the first national Thanksgiving holiday, the answer is that the tradition began at a lesser-known moment in 1777 in York, Pa.

In July 1776, the American colonists declared independence from Britain. The months that followed were so bleak that there was not much to give thanks for. The Journals of the Continental Congress record no Thanksgiving in that year, only two days of "solemn fasting" and prayer.

For much of 1777, the situation was not much better. British troops controlled New York City. The Americans lost the strategic stronghold of Fort Ticonderoga, in upstate New York, to the British in July. In Delaware, on Sept. 11, troops led by Gen. George Washington lost the Battle of Brandywine, in which 200 Americans were killed, 500 wounded and 400 captured. In Pennsylvania, early in the morning of Sept. 21, another 300 American soldiers were killed or wounded and 100 captured in a British surprise attack that became known as the Paoli Massacre.

Philadelphia, America's largest city, fell on Sept. 26. Congress, which had been meeting there, fled briefly to Lancaster, Pa., and then to York, a hundred miles west of Philadelphia. One delegate to Congress, John Adams of Massachusetts, wrote in his diary, "The prospect is chilling, on every Side: Gloomy, dark, melancholy, and dispiriting."

His cousin, Samuel Adams, gave the other delegates -- their number had dwindled to a mere 20 from the 56 who had signed the Declaration of Independence -- a talk of encouragement. He predicted, "Good tidings will soon arrive. We shall never be abandoned by Heaven while we act worthy of its aid and protection.

He turned out to have been correct, at least about the good tidings. On Oct. 31, a messenger arrived with news of the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga. The American general, Horatio Gates, had accepted the surrender of 5,800 British soldiers, and with them 27 pieces of artillery and thousands of pieces of small arms and ammunition.

Saratoga turned the tide of the war -- news of the victory was decisive in bringing France into a full alliance with America. Congress responded to the event by appointing a committee of three that included Samuel Adams, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia and Daniel Roberdeau of Pennsylvania, to draft a report and resolution. The report, adopted Nov. 1, declared Thursday, Dec. 18, as "a day of Thanksgiving" to God, so that "with one heart and one voice the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts, and consecrate themselves to the service of their divine benefactor."

It was the first of many Thanksgivings ordered up by Samuel Adams. Though the holidays were almost always in November or December, the exact dates varied. (Congress didn't fix Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday in November until 1941.)

In 1778, a Thanksgiving resolution drafted by Adams was approved by Congress on Nov. 3, setting aside Wednesday, Dec. 30, as a day of public thanksgiving and praise, "It having pleased Almighty God through the Course of the present year, to bestow great and manifold Mercies on the People of these United States."

After the Revolution, Adams, who was eventually elected governor of Massachusetts, maintained the practice of declaring these holidays. In October of 1795, the 73-year-old governor proclaimed Thursday, Nov. 19, as "a day of Public Thanksgiving to God," recommending that prayer be offered that God "would graciously be pleased to put an end to all Tyranny and Usurpation, that the People who are under the Yoke of Oppression, may be made free; and that the Nations who are contending for freedom may still be secured by His Almighty Aid."

A year later, Gov. Adams offered a similar Thanksgiving proclamation, declaring Thursday, Dec. 15, 1796, as "a Day of Public Thanksgiving and Praise to Our Divine Benefactor." He recommended "earnest Supplication to God" that "every Nation and Society of Men may be inspired with the knowledge and feeling of their natural and just rights" and "That Tyranny and Usurpation may everywhere come to an end."

These statements were greeted with cynicism and derision by some of Adams's younger political opponents, who saw them as archaic. One of them, Christopher Gore, wrote a friend that it would be an occasion for a real day of thanksgiving when Adams finally retired.

It turned out, though, that the ideas of thanking God for America's blessings -- and of praying for the spread of freedom everywhere -- would long outlast Adams's career. The concepts still meet with skepticism from time to time. But they are reason enough to pause during tomorrow's football game or family feast and raise a glass to the Founding Father who began our Thanksgiving tradition."

--Ira Stoll, author of "Samuel Adams: A Life"

by Robert Louis Stevenson

Lord, behold our family here assembled. We thank Thee for this place in which we dwell; for the love that unites us; for the peace accorded us this day; for the hope with which we expect the morrow; for the health, the work, the food, and the bright skies that make our lives delightful; for our friends in all parts of the earth.

Let peace abound in our small company. Purge out of every heart the lurking grudge. Give us grace and strength to forbear and to persevere. Offenders, give us the grace to accept and to forgive offenders. Forgetful ourselves, help us to bear cheerfully the forgetfulness of others.

Give us courage and gaiety and the quiet mind. Spare to us our friends, soften to us our enemies. Bless us, if it may be, in all our innocent endeavors. If it may not, give us the strength to encounter that which is to come, that we may be brave in peril, constant in tribulation, temperate in wrath, and in all changes of fortune, and down to the gates of death, loyal and loving to one another.

As the clay to the potter, as the windmill to the wind, as children of their sire, we beseech of Thee this help and mercy for Christ's sake.

...FLORIDA!

via Keys History, Jerry Wilkinson:

"French Huguenot Admiral Gaspard de Coligny sent Admiral Jean Ribault to North America. He landed at the mouth of a river they named "Mai" (the St. Johns River of Jacksonville) because they landed in the month of May. Ribault's arrival also provided the first Protestant prayer offered up on North America. The Indians were friendly to Ribault. He then sailed north and established a small settlement near present-day Port Royal, South Carolina and returned to France. At this time, all of the southeastern United States was called Florida.


In 1564 one of Ribault's officers, Rene Laudonniere, was sent back from France with 300 men and four women. They built Fort Caroline six miles up the St. Johns River. Again, the Indians welcomed the returning Frenchmen who survived with the help of Timucuan Indian's grain, fruit and wild game. With this apparent success, Laudonniere called for music and a feast to celebrate their good fortune on June 30, 1564. Of this celebration he wrote: "We sang a psalm of Thanksgiving unto God, beseeching Him that it would please His Grace to continue His accustomed goodness toward us." This was 57 years before the better known Thanksgiving celebration at Plymouth, Massachusetts. Laudonniere retrieved two Spanish sailors thought to have been ship wrecked with Fontaneda from the Indians in 1564."

EPHESIANS 5

18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,
20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

ROMANS 1

18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

PSALM 100

A psalm. For giving thanks.

1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

A happy Thanksgiving to all!

AND SOMETIMES, WHEN THE GOVERNMENT RUNS EVERYTHING,

there's no such thing as "lunch", period.

Gas up your Prius, starve a peasant by Mark Steyn (originally run April 27, 2008):

... [I]t has become the habit of progressive opinion to appropriate the language of war for everything but actual war. ...

In Haiti, Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis was removed from office April 12. Insofar as history will recall him at all, he may have the distinction of being the first head of government to fall victim to "global warming" – or, at any rate, the "war on global warming" that Time magazine is gung-ho for. At least five people have been killed in food riots in Port-au-Prince. Prices have risen 40 percent since last summer and, as columnist Deroy Murdock reported, some citizens are now subsisting on biscuits made from salt, vegetable oil and (mmmm) dirt. Dirt cookies: Nutritious, tasty and affordable? Well, one out of three ain't bad.

Unlike "global warming," food rioting is a planetwide phenomenon, from Indonesia to Pakistan to Ivory Coast to the tortilla rampages in Mexico and even pasta protests in Italy. So what happened?

Well, Western governments listened to the ecowarriors and introduced some of the "wartime measures" they've been urging. The EU decreed that 5.75 percent of petrol and diesel must come from "biofuels" by 2010, rising to 10 percent by 2020. The United States added to its 51 cent-per-gallon ethanol subsidy by mandating a fivefold increase in "biofuels" production by 2022.

The result is that big government accomplished at a stroke what the free market could never have done: They turned the food supply into a subsidiary of the energy industry. When you divert 28 percent of U.S. grain into fuel production, and when you artificially make its value as fuel higher than its value as food, why be surprised that you've suddenly got less to eat? Or, to be more precise, it's not "you" who's got less to eat but those starving peasants in distant lands you claim to care so much about.

Heigh-ho. In the greater scheme of things, a few dead natives keeled over with distended bellies is a small price to pay for saving the planet, right? Except that turning food into fuel does nothing for the planet in the first place. That tree the U.S. Marines are raising on Iwo Jima was most-likely cut down to make way for an ethanol-producing corn field: Researchers at Princeton calculate that, to date, the "carbon debt" created by the biofuels arboricide will take 167 years to reverse.

The biofuels debacle is global warm-mongering in a nutshell: The first victims of poseur environmentalism will always be developing countries. In order for you to put biofuel in your Prius and feel good about yourself for no reason, real actual people in faraway places have to starve to death. On April 15, the Independent, the impeccably progressive British newspaper, editorialized:

"The production of biofuel is devastating huge swaths of the world's environment. So why on Earth is the government forcing us to use more of it?"

You want the short answer? Because the government made the mistake of listening to fellows like you. Here's the self-same Independent in November 2005:

"At last, some refreshing signs of intelligent thinking on climate change are coming out of Whitehall. The Environment minister, Elliot Morley, reveals today in an interview with this newspaper that the Government is drawing up plans to impose a 'biofuel obligation' on oil companies ... . This has the potential to be the biggest green innovation in the British petrol market since the introduction of unleaded petrol."

The same Gumment that has given us "free Retirement", aka the bankrupt Social Security system, and "free Mortgages", aka the Fannie & Freddie Bailout, is now poised to "give" us "free Healthcare" and "free Energy"--too cheap to meter, I'm sure.

What could possibly go wrong? This, says Thomas Sowell:

Wouldn't it be wonderful to live in a world where there were no prices?

...There is such a world. It is the world of political rhetoric. No wonder so many people are attracted to that world. It would be a great place to live.

Politicians have more ways of escaping from prices than Houdini had ways of escaping from locks. When savvy pols want to hand out goodies, but don't want to take responsibility for raising taxes to pay for them, they can tax people who can't vote— namely the next generation— by getting the money by selling government bonds that future taxpayers will have to redeem.

...The most politically painless way to hand out goodies, without taking responsibility for their costs, is to pass a law saying that somebody else must provide those goodies at their expense, while the politicians take credit for generosity and compassion.

...While you are enjoying all the goodies that politicians are sending your way, you may notice that your taxes are going up or that the money you earn or the money you have saved won't buy as much as it used to.

Costs that are passed on to businesses can get passed on again to their customers in higher prices. Money that the government prints to spend itself reduces the value of the money in your wallet or in your bank account.

If you are someone looking for a job— maybe a young person entering the labor force or a woman coming back into the labor force after spending a few years taking care of a small child — you may find that there aren't as many jobs available as there used to be before employers had to pay for "social responsibilities," in addition to paying for the value of an employee's work.

"paying"?--don't be silly. It's a Free, Free, Free, Free, Free, Free, Free World, baby. It had better be since we're all now countin' on Paul to rob Peter on our behalf, without Peter getting mad, checking in to the Patmos Holiday Inn and going all apocalyptic on us.

Heaven help us. And not to the free lunch buffet, either.

That's the real reason the Three-Martini-Media were so flabbergasted by Gov. Palin's recent Great Turkey Shoot; they'd simply never seen a politician admit that for most turkeys, human or otherwise, there never has and never will be such thing as a "free lunch", Karl Marx and his dialectical HopeN'Changers be damned.

1 Corinthians 1

26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.
27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are,
29 so that no one may boast before him.
30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
31 Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

I supported the Bailout as a way to stop the untold misery that millions would suffer if we allowed the government to melt down the economy again with their idiot policies, just as they did in 1929.

Reagan put it well:

"I have a special reason for wanting to solve this [economic] problem in a lasting way. I was 21 and looking for work in 1932, one of the worst years of the Great Depression....No one who lived through the Great Depression can ever look upon an unemployed person with anything but compassion. To me, there is no greater tragedy than a breadwinner willing to work, with a job skill but unable to find a market for that job skill. Back in those dark depression days I saw my father on a Christmas eve open what he thought was a Christmas greeting from his boss. Instead, it was the blue slip telling him he no longer had a job. The memory of him sitting there holding that slip of paper and then saying in a half whisper, 'That's quite a Christmas present,' it will stay with me as long as I live....To be young in my generation was to feel that your future had been mortgaged out from under you, and that's a tragic mistake we must never allow our leaders to make again."

Well, the bleeding has stopped. There will be no bank runs. And if the stock markets can withstand the election of a SociaLite, they can weather the rest of this storm.

I'm with Larry Kudlow. Give it back. Put the money down. Know when to stop. That would be a much better signal to markets--that Washington still had a touch of fiscal sanity.

We shouldn't be in the business of getting mad everytime a big-wig takes an expensive tropical vacation on the taxpayer's dime--besides, that's Congress' job anyway.

These funds are rapidly devolving into a slush fund to reward allies, nationalize businesses and reward profligate mayors. There is no end to that road.

I still believe that we couldn't let the banking industry go down since all other industries depend on it. And it is beyond unfortunate that the very politicians who interfered in the free markets by ordering those banks to make bad loans are for the moment escaping justice.

But the bleeding has stopped, so stop bleeding us.

Again, Ronald Reagan:

Public servants say, always with the best of intentions, "What greater service we could render if only we had a little more money and a little more power." But the truth is that outside of its legitimate function, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector. ...Government does not tax to get the money it needs; government always finds a need for the money it gets.

Stop the Bailouts Now!

...but I am impatient with those Republicans who after the last election rushed into print saying, “We must broaden the base of our party”—when what they meant was to fuzz up and blur even more the differences between ourselves and our opponents.

It was a feeling that there was NOT A SUFFICIENT DIFFERENCE now between the parties that kept a majority of the voters away from the polls. When have we ever advocated a closed-door policy? Who has ever been barred from participating?

Our people look for a cause to believe in. Is it a third party we need, or is it a new and revitalized second party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people?

Let us show that we stand for fiscal integrity and sound money and above all for an end to deficit spending, with ultimate retirement of the national debt.

Let us also include a permanent limit on the percentage of the people’s earnings government can take without their consent.

Let our banner proclaim a genuine tax reform that will begin by simplifying the income tax so that workers can compute their obligation without having to employ legal help.

And let it provide indexing—adjusting the brackets to the cost of living—so that an increase in salary merely to keep pace with inflation does not move the taxpayer into a surtax bracket. Failure to provide this means an increase in government’s share and would make the worker worse off than he was before he got the raise.

Let our banner proclaim our belief in a free market as the greatest provider for the people.

Let us also call for an end to the nit-picking, the harassment and over-regulation of business and industry which restricts expansion and our ability to compete in world markets.

Let us explore ways to ward off socialism, not by increasing government’s coercive power, but by increasing participation by the people in the ownership of our industrial machine.

Our banner must recognize the responsibility of government to protect the law-abiding, holding those who commit misdeeds personally accountable.

And we must make it plain to international adventurers that our love of peace stops short of “peace at any price.”

We will maintain whatever level of strength is necessary to preserve our free way of life.

A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply to swell its numbers.

I do not believe I have proposed anything that is contrary to what has been considered Republican principle. It is at the same time the very basis of conservatism. It is time to reassert that principle and raise it to full view. And if there are those who cannot subscribe to these principles, then let them go their way."--Ronald Reagan, in the Wilderness, 1975

ARE YOU NOW, OR HAVE YOU EVER BEEN...

To work for Barry the Organizer, you must answer this question:

Have you had “any association with any person or group that could be used...to impugn or attack your character?"

Has Obama had any association with any person or group that couldn't be used to impugn or attack his character? I was actually glad when I learned that Tony Rezko wasn't a communist or a terrorist--just a good, old-fashioned Chicago crook who bought the president a house. Thank goodness.

"Do you or any members of your immediate family own a gun? If so, provide complete ownership and registration information. Has the registration ever lapsed? Please also describe how and by whom it is used and whether it has been the cause of any personal injuries or property damage.”

Q: What is wrong with that question? Is it ...

a.) It is prying into family privacy, and violates spousal privilege.
b.) You shouldn't ask if someone has exercised a Constitutional right nor keep an Enemies List of your friends.
c.) In most places, citizens are not required to register guns any more than they're required to register churches. At least until this Nov. 3rd.
or
d.) Why worry more about a gun's record than a candidate's? And Obama has entire years of his life he can't account for.

The answer is...
e.) a gun has never "been the cause of any personal injuries or property damage.” It's the person using the gun that "causes" damage. Otherwise, no one would ever work in a gun store. "The gun just went off, your Honor". Sure it did. And those french fries made me eat them. French bastards.

SENSING A PATTERN HERE

Politico excerpts :

Gregory B. Craig, a well-known Washington lawyer who quarterbacked President Bill Clinton’s impeachment defense, has been chosen White House counsel by President-elect Barack Obama, according to Democratic officials. His selection adds to the surprisingly large number of Clinton White House veterans who are at the top of the Obama roster.

He also was senior adviser on defense, foreign policy and national security to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). Craig, who had been friends with Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham at Yale Law School, was recruited for the impeachment job by John Podesta...

Among Craig’s other high-profile cases: successfully representing Elian Gonzalez' father, a Cuban, in his efforts to regain custody of his son;

and sucessfully representing Fidel Castro, a Cuban, in his efforts to regain custody of his stray chattel slave-boy;

and representing U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan in connection during the Volcker Commission's investigation of the Oil-for-Food Program at the United Nations.

That's SADDAM OBAMA HUSSEIN'S Oil-for-Food Program, Politico. Don't make me keep fixing your work.

Newsmax from 2001 :

Apologists for Castro told us repeatedly that returning Elian to the island prison his mother paddled him out of would somehow lead to a better, more normal relationsip between the U.S. and Castro.

What has happened since then?

Amnesty International reports that in the second half of last year, just after Elian’s return, repression in Cuba actually increased dramatically.

A statement issued by the left-leaning human rights organization this past January put it bluntly: "The increasing number of people jailed for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression clearly demonstrates the level to which the government will go in order to weaken the political opposition and suppress dissidents."

Who has Fidel been targeting? Trade unionists, journalists and other political dissidents.

Limousine liberals never learn.

Ted Koppel told us that after the pope's visit to Cuba we were witnessing a new Castro.

Gregory Craig suggested returning Elian would usher in a new era of reconciliation between the U.S. and Cuba. Craig was the de facto attorney for Castro in the U.S. who spearheaded the effort to return Elian.

After attending anti-law school with the Clintons, Craig was Ted Kennedy's National Security advisor--yes, there really is such a position! After all, they didn't say which nation.

In those desperate years, being Ted Kennedy's National Security preventer consisted of breaking the hundred-dollar bills into quarters so Ted could use the pay-phone outside Hyannis Drug & Liquor to call the Kremlin and offer his services in undermining Ronald Reagan.

You can almost understand Ted going limp on Communists and Terrorists after they murdered his brothers. But Craig has no such excuse. He just seems to like them.

That's quite a record; helping Uncle Ted paint the Kremlin even redder, throwing Sandanistas in the gears of fledgling democracies, assisting CEOs pawing their way through the secretarial pool, coming to the aid of dictators who have misplaced their human property and defending international bureaucrats taking bribes from ruthless tyrants.

It looks like Jimmy Carter's second term will be staffed by Bill Clinton's third-termers. Is there a dictator these guys haven't pimped for? They mean so well--yet always end up on the page as terrorists, thugs, dictators, criminals and bullies. It's one of life's little mysteries.

Craig Greg may be on the fast-track to the Supreme Court--he's already got Justice Taney's whole Dred Scot "Return the Runaway Slaves!"-thing down. He's like a reverse engineer on the Cuban Underground Railroad. He's Fidel Castro's railroad dick and proud of it.

Insert your own bad joke here.

Obama did.

BUT NOT ANOTHER ELECTION DAY

Steyn. Mark Steyn:

As for his plan to fly to Tehran to “go toe-to-toe” with President Ahmadinejad, one can’t but feel that 007’s famous exchange with Goldfinger pretty much sums up the cross-purposes:

'Do you expect me to talk?'
'No, Mr Bond. I expect you to die.'

Barack Obama expects to talk and talk and talk, while our enemies expect the west to die. I’m not sure Chat Another Day is a recipe for a satisfying Bond movie.

Steyn is both shaken and stirred:

If the default mode of a society’s institutions is liberal, electing GOP legislators eventually accomplishes little more than letting a Republican driver take a turn steering the liberal bus. If Hollywood’s liberal, if the newspapers are liberal, if the pop stars are liberal, if the grade schools are liberal, if the very language is liberal to the point where all the nice words have been co-opted as a painless liberal sedative, a Republican legislature isn’t going to be a shining city on a hill so much as one of those atolls in the Maldives being incrementally swallowed by Al Gore’s rising sea levels.

However the election had gone, conservatism’s fractious precriminations – David Frum vs Tony Blankley, Mark Levin vs Peggy Noonan – would be set to continue. But the lesson of the last grim year is that it’s not merely about candidates or policy or electoral strategy. We have to get back in the game in all the arenas we’ve ceded to liberalism – from kindergarten to blockbuster movies.

I left the funniest stuff there ...for your eyes only.

BEFORE UNITY

“But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”- Joshua 24:15

...WEAKENED UPDATE!

Making the News the Old-Fashioned Way--Like Laws and Sausages. Our Motto: "Trust Us; You Don't Want to Know!"

*(Berlin, Germishly) President-Select Obama took a victory lap around Berlin yesterday, thanking the Germish people for their votes and contributions, and making a brief speech in which he declared "Mr. Gorbchev; build this wall back up--we've changed our minds!"

In a press conference afterward, Obama explained to a stunned and silent press corps "While President Reagan saw his "Star Wars" SDI program as a way that could enable us to ban nuclear weapons, I want to ban both nuclear weapons AND the SDI program! What could possibly go wrong?"

After what seemed like hours, a visibly-shaken reporter found his footing, stood up and said "Sir, I think I speak for every reporter in this room when I ask you this: Have you decided yet on what kind of puppy you'll be getting?"

*(Washington, D.C.) After removing most of his controversial plans from his transition website, Change.gov., President-Elect Barack Obama has also removed all references to his name from the website. He is now asking the public to refer to him as "the Wonderful Wizard of Oz", and any citizens who wish to know his plans for the country are asked instead to recite the words "The Wizard knows best."

*(Guantanamo Bay, Cuber) The Amalgamated Brotherhood of Gitmo Detainees Local 911 realeased an Open Letter to the American public today:

The bin Laden Memorial Mezzanine,
The Honorable Dr. al Zawahiri Medical Wing,
Camp X-Ray, Cuba
Nov. 15, 2008

"Dear American Publics;

Whereas Joe the Plumber was subject to six different warrantless searches by Democrat public officials simply for asking the Wonderful Wizard of Oz a question;

And whereas an elderly restaraunt-owner in California was terrorized by an angry mob into making a public confession of her Thought Crime- supporting traditional marriage; not to mention the church invasions, the elderly beatings and the faux-anthrax letters;

And whereas the Oz Administration wishes to sentence schoolchildren to days and days of community service without benefit of charges, a trial or counsel, we in the terror-workers union do wish to express our solidarity with these innocent victims who have been randomly swept up in the chaos of the American electoral battlefield.

In short, you wouldn't treat Gitmo detainees like us the way you've been treating your own citizens. We demand that you cease and desist at once and grant these Americans Honorary Terrorist Status! Gotta go--the lamb kabob is getting cold!

ps; we noticed that the Wonderful Wizard voted behind a curtain in Chicago. If it's good enough for him, it's good enough for us--No Card Check!

Sincerely, etc., etc."

*(Tianmen, Oklahoma, Where the Wind Comes Whippin' Down the Plain) Gun-store owner Billy Bob Rothschild du Pont de Rockefeller Hargus-Haney has seen busy days before--but not like the jump in business he's enjoyed since the election.

He attributes the "boom" in sales to conservatives.

"Despite the almost total news blackout by the Guns-Are-Scary Media, the conservative folks around here were able to find out about that Obamer feller's gun-bannin', gun-grabbin' record. The liberals--well, they don't need a gun; they just hired Obamer to rob folks for them with a fully-automatic tax code," unloaded Haney.

So, we asked, are the increased gun sales really because of Obama, a.k.a. "the Wizard of Oz"?

"Yes--it's because, because, because, because--Because of the Gun-Awful Things He does!"

When asked what the Obama administration could possibly give to him and his fellow townsmen to sway their opinion, Mr. Haney replied "Oz never could give nuthin' to Tianmen that we didn't, didn't already have."

And that's America.

"Courage."--the Cowardly Lion.

RULE #1: GLOBAL WARMING IS HORSE POO!

Except Horse Poo Actually Exists

Hi, kids. After you get Uncle Noel a cold one out of the Global Fridge, gather round and let me tell you a story.

Once upon a time, there was a group of people who liked to boss other people around--let's call them "Remocrats". Now--what's that, little Billy? Why do Remocrats like to boss people around? Well, you know how your teacher gushes over your homework even though half the words are misspelled and there are grape jelly stains on it? She does this so your precious little self-esteem will not be damaged. Remocrats need to boss people around because it makes them feel better about themselves.

Anyway, the Remocrats decided that they would try to solve the problem of air pollution by controlling everything and everybody. But everything and everybody didn't want to be controlled. So instead of proposing common sense measures to fix the problem, Democrats--I mean "Remocrats"--came up with a plan to scare the pants off of everybody. Except for Bill Clinton--he was already ahead of the curve.

So they invented "Global Warming". And not just any old global warming, but "Anthropogenic" Global Warming. "Anthropogenic" is a big, sciency word that means "We Hate People". The Remocrats think people are "scars upon the land", except for themselves, of course. That's Rule #2: the "Remocrat Exception"--they just make rules, not follow them. They also think people control the weather just as primitive witch doctors claim. Because of the Science!

But people began to notice that the weather wasn't always Warming--sometimes, when Al Gore would give a speech, an Arctic cold-blast would hit town. So they invented "Climate Change". Under Climate Change, any bad weather--or good weather, for that matter-- is caused by men and their machines. When we asked "Why then has our climate changed many, many times before machines were even invented?" "Shut-up--that's why!" Which is Rule#3.

So, kids, what can you do to stop Global Warming? Nothing. Captain Planet is not coming--Underdog beat him up. And Princess Peach took his lunch money. punk.

Because on the outside chance that Global Warming is real and not just caused by opportunities for government funding, self-esteem issues, dirt-worship or an unspeakable UN control-fetish, global warming, like all the previous times it has occured is probably caused by the sun. And we, of course, cannot yet control the sun, although the Supreme Court is scheduled to take up the matter next term.

Now why does it matter? And why have you kids let my drink get empty? It matters because that while air pollution is indeed real, and should be dealt with, Global Warming and Climate Change are dubious at best. Yet Remocrats have proposed plans that are massively expensive and will divert precious funds away from good projects into an imaginary, futile and bottomless money-pit, like a Britney Spears Legal Defense Fund. Or Al Gore's vast, sprawling, energy-sucking mansion. Or his houseboat. Or his fleet of SUVs. Or his jet. Or his movie projects. Or his waistline. Or--well, let's not waste any more energy on this--that's Al's job!

They wish to keep closing industries and banning products until the Global Thermostat has been raised several degrees. We will all be living in caves long before that day arrives. The Good News: you kids will no longer have to make your beds! And you can have bats for pets!

To sum up, Remocrats invented Global Warming in order to do what they wanted to do all along; to tax people, to boss them around, to make mountains of rules for businesses and to take all your Nintendo Wiis and electronic video games and grind them into non-organic Malthusian mulch while forcing you to watch "Arthur" on PBS all day long until their regularly-scheduled power brown-outs force you to go to bed at dark just like the cavemen did. And they all lived happily--if nastily, brutishly and shortly--ever after. The End.

Now you kids run along and have a nice day.

Education is such a noble calling.

THIS TIME, IT’S FOR REAL

If you’re like me, you’ve had it up to here with vague, gasbag promises of “Hope” and “Change”, which only portend more dreary socialism and further entrenchment of the liberal status quo: “We are the Change we’ve been waiting for!”

Dude, I’m waiting for the 4:30 bus–now get away from me.

The Deeply Confused Media is claiming both that Reaganism is dead–a claim they also made in 1964, 1976, 1992 and 2006–and that Obama was Reagan-esque. Which is it, geniuses?

Reagan often commented that Democrats mimicked him to get elected and then returned to form afterward to govern as liberals. With his Berlin address, hard line on Pakistan and especially getting to the right of McCain on taxes, Obama did indeed mimic Reagan, even invoking him during the primaries–and will likely return to form in short order.

So many of the issues of Reagan’s era are back in the headlines; Iran, terrorism, nukes, energy, regulation, enviro-extremism, the Law of the Seas, America’s role in the world and the size and scope of our own government and so many more.

So it’s time–no, it’s way past time–that we Return to the Future, to learn and re-learn from the Gipper what real Hope and real Change really look like:

*“For I find in Berlin a message of HOPE, even in the shadow of this wall, a message of triumph. We welcome CHANGE and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace.”

*“You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best HOPE of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness.”

*“All great CHANGE in America begins at the dinner table.”

*“I HOPE the people on Wall Street will pay attention to the people on Main Street. If they do, they will see there is a rising tide of confidence in the future of America.”

*“Let us be shy no longer — let us go to our strength. Let us offer HOPE. Let us tell the world that a new age is not only possible but probable…What kind of people are we? Free people, worthy of freedom and determined not only to remain so, but to help others gain their freedom as well.”

*“The glistening HOPE of that lamp is still ours. Every promise, every opportunity, is still golden in this land. And through that golden door our children can walk into tomorrow with the knowledge that no one can be denied the promise that is America. Her heart is full; her torch is still golden, her future bright. She has arms big enough to comfort and strong enough to support, for the strength in her arms is the strength of her people. She will carry on in the ’80s unafraid, unashamed, and unsurpassed. In this springtime of HOPE, some lights seem eternal; America’s is.”

*“Faith and HOPE are being restored. Americans are turning back to God. …And I do believe that He has begun to heal our blessed land.”

*“For what I am describing now is a plan and a HOPE for the long term– the march of freedom and democracy which will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash heap of history as it has left other tyrannies which stifle the freedom and muzzle the self-expression of individual freedom.”

*…[W]hile I take inspiration from the past, like most Americans, I live for the future. So this evening, for just a few minutes, I HOPE you will let me talk about a country that is forever young.

*“Within a few short years, we Americans have experienced the most sweeping CHANGES of this century: the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of the global economy. No transition is without its problems, but as uncomfortable as it may feel at the moment, the CHANGES of the 1990’s will leave America more dynamic and less in danger than at any time in my life.”

*“That’s not the America we know. We were meant to be masters of destiny, not victims of fate. What they truly don’t understand is the principle so eloquently stated by Abraham Lincoln: ‘You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.’ If we ever hear the Democrats quoting that passage by Lincoln and acting like they mean it, then, my friends, we will know that the opposition has really CHANGED.”

*"Now it’s true: a lot of liberal Democrats are saying it’s time for a CHANGE; and they’re right; the only trouble is they’re pointing to the wrong end of Pennsylvania Avenue. What we should CHANGE is a Democratic Congress that wastes precious time on partisan matters of absolutely no relevance to the needs of the average American. So to all the entrenched interests along the Potomac – the gavel-wielding chairmen, the bloated staffs, the taxers and takers and congressional rule makers, we have a simple slogan for November 1992: clean house!

*“For you see, my fellow Republicans, we are the CHANGE! For 50 of the last 60 years, the Democrats have controlled the Senate. And they’ve had the House of Representatives for 56 of the last 60 years. It’s time to clean house. Clean out the privileges and perks. Clean out the arrogance and the big egos. Clean out the scandals, the corner-cutting and the foot-dragging. …You know, I used to say to some of those Democrats who chair every committee in the House: “You need to balance the government’s checkbook the same way you balance your own.” Then I learned how they ran the House bank, and I realized that was exactly what they had been doing!

Now, just imagine what they would do controlled the executive branch, too!” [Ruh-roh!]

*“And as they did then, the American people are clamoring for CHANGE and sweeping reform. The question we had to ask 12 years ago is the question we ask today: What kind of CHANGE can we Republicans offer the American people? Some might believe that the things we have talked about tonight are irrelevant to the choice. These new isolationists claim that the American people don’t care about how or why we prevailed in the great defining struggle of our age – the victory of liberty over our adversaries. They insist that our triumph is yesterday’s news, part of a past that holds no lessons for the future. Well nothing could be more tragic, after having come all this way on the journey of renewal we began 12 years ago, than if America herself forgot the lessons of individual liberty that she has taught to a grateful world.”

*“Many languish in neighborhoods riddled with drugs and bereft of HOPE. Still others hesitate to venture out on the streets for fear of criminal violence. Let us pledge ourselves to a new beginning for them. Let us apply our ingenuity and remarkable spirit to revolutionize education in America so that everyone among us will have the mental tools to build a better life. And while we do so, let’s remember that the most profound education begins in the home. And let us harness the competitive energy that built America, into rebuilding our inner cities so that real jobs can be created for those who live there and real HOPE can rise out of despair."

*“And whatever else history may say about me when I’m gone, I HOPE it will record that I appealed to your best HOPES, not your worst fears, to your confidence rather than your doubts.”

*“My fondest HOPE for each one of you – and especially for the young people here – is that you will love your country, not for her power or wealth, but for her selflessness and her idealism. May each of you have the heart to conceive, the understanding to direct, and the hand to execute works that will make the world a little better for your having been here.”

Next time, get your hot, fresh Hope and Change from someone who has already provided it.

As Reagan said to the surgeons as he entered the operating room following the assassination attempt:

“I hope you’re all Republicans.” To which Dr. Giordano replied: “We’re all Republicans today, Mr. President.”

I hope you are all Reagan Republicans today, or soon will be–for America’s sake.

FOR SERVING

on that aircraft carrier during Korea.

And thanks, my brothers and sisters. And uncles. And grandfathers. In-laws, too.

All of you.

Thank you, veterans.

AND OURS

What if they gave a Mommy Party and there were no Mommys?

The Washington Post:

"Bush's August 2001 decision pleased religious conservatives who have moral objections to the use of cells from days-old human embryos, which are destroyed in the process.

But Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) said that during Obama's final swing through her state in October, she reminded him that because the restrictions were never included in legislation, Obama "can simply reverse them by executive order." Obama, she said, "was very receptive to that." Opponents of the restrictions have already drafted an executive order he could sign.

The new president is also expected to lift a so-called global gag rule barring international family planning groups that receive U.S. aid from counseling women about the availability of abortion, even in countries where the procedure is legal, said Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. When Bill Clinton took office in 1993, he rescinded the Reagan-era regulation, known as the Mexico City policy, but Bush reimposed it."

In that way, voters can know that their tax dollars, earned by the sweat of their brows, are going to help kill little brown babies in the Planned Parenthood Camps all over the world. It's the Democrat version of No Child Left Behind: No Child Left.

Many voters are content to do so as long as Barack the Babykiller helps them economically. You may have heard that argument before; it's called "30 Pieces of Silver".

Can you disable the settings on your online contribution system to take campaign money from hell?

MASTER THE DISASTER

"Looking to the past in an effort to keep our country from repeating the errors of history is termed by them as "taking the country back to McKinley." Of course, I never found that was so bad -- under McKinley we freed Cuba."--Ronald Reagan, 1974

Around here, we supported Fred Thompson.

Fred understands the Constitution like we do, he looks and sounds presidential, and most importantly, he can explain his conservative philosophy in an elegant yet understandable manner. Never again should we nominate someone who is not a top-notch communicator.

Problem was, Fred didn't really burn to be president.

On the other hand, John McCain did--but not enough to do what it takes to win. That's the worst of both worlds--McCain wouldn't win, yet prevented someone else from coming forward who might have.

He lacked a coherent conservative philosophy, but had some conservative instincts mixed with pragmatism and a collection of personal crusades and compromise. For example, he didn't stick it to Democrats for causing the mortgage meltdown, even though their policies drove it. Result: the same bad actors who caused it now have even more money and power.

Nor do most people want their president to have friends and associates with their pictures on the post office wall. But McCain would not make the character case.

Yet I don't apologize for my full-throated support of John McCain, just as I would have expected others to support my candidate had he prevailed in the primaries. And especially given Obama's dangerous policies. Nor, by the way, do I regret supporting that stinking, rotten bailout bill as a way to stop Democrat politicians from melting away everybody's life savings into nothingness.

But now, conservatives are being taunted for "shrinking the tent", as if what we really need at this moment is some kind of "Draft David Gergen!"-movement, when the fact is we just got through nominating the most liberal Republican since Gerald Ford.

So much so, that McCain had to choose a popular conservative governor to help him secure the voters he should have had to begin with. The Long Knives now aimed at Sarah Palin only prove her worthiness.

We shouldn't shrink the tent--but we should acknowledge that clear conservative principle IS the tentpole that holds up the entire tent in the first place. AND NOMINATE OUR CANDIDATES ACCORDINGLY.

All elections are about getting your base out, hopefully expanding it, and then convincing the middle to support you as well. McCain didn't turn out his entire base, nor did he win the battle for the center even though he's a centrist, whereas Bush won both those fights narrowly.

But Reagan won both decisively. Why? Because he knew what he believed and why he believed it...and possesed the ability to make you believe it, too. Or, at least, to believe in his belief.

Although older, Reagan was still a man going places. Voters, even moderates, respond to that kind of leadership on a human level. As to age, Reagan was the exception that proves the rule; No More Septugenarian Candidates. The most Reaganesque candidate in this race was the youngest, and had the best legs, too--Joe Biden be damned.

In this election, Obama was seen as the man going places. We know they mostly won't be good places, but nonetheless that is the perception. At this point, let me associate myself with Bill Whittle's must-read remarks:

On Tuesday, the Left — armed with the most attractive, eloquent, young, hip, and charismatic candidate I have seen with my adult eyes, a candidate shielded by a media so overtly that it can never be such a shield again, who appeared after eight years of a historically unpopular President, in the midst of two undefended wars and at the time of the worst financial crisis since the Depression and whose praises were sung by every movie, television, and musical icon without pause or challenge for 20 months . . . who ran against the oldest nominee in the country’s history, against a campaign rent with internal disarray and determined not to attack in the one area where attack could have succeeded, and who was out-spent no less than seven-to-one in a cycle where not a single debate question was unfavorable to his opponent — that historic victory, that perfect storm of opportunity . . .

Yielded a result of 53 percent.

It was 52.5, Bill--don't push it. And some of those were actual voters!

Whittle says we're gonna whip 'em when we get our act together. He says we need to emulate Reagan and educate and inspire with a smile on our face and a song in our hearts. Whittle is exactly right; and if we can't figure out a way to beat these clowns, then we deserve to lose. Even if they cheat, which they do.

In the 1970's, Reagan was in a very similar situation to ours today. Democrats had convinced Americans to let them lose a war. In the wake of Watergate, they gained control of most of the government. In those days, you couldn't sell Republican if you put a gold-plated bikini on it.

Yet by 1980, Reagan won office solidly, defeating History's Greatest Monster and history's great monsters. Such was his stature that he even secured a third term for his vice-president. Go look at his speeches from those Wilderness Years of the 1970's.

And not as an exercise in nostalgia--screw nostalgia. But to relearn the ways of winning the hearts and minds of the American people, to move this country forward, both the 'how' and the 'why'.

In fact, nostalgia and a dollar won't even buy you a cup of coffee at Starbucks, a business that didn't even exist when Reagan said this:

The widespread disaffection with things military is only a part of the philosophical division in our land today. I must say to you who have recently, or presently are still receiving an education, I am awed by your powers of resistance. I have some knowledge of the attempts that have been made in many classrooms and lecture halls to persuade you that there is little to admire in America. For the second time in this century, capitalism and the free enterprise are under assault. Privately owned business is blamed for spoiling the environment, exploiting the worker and seducing, if not outright raping, the customer. Those who make the charge have the solution, of course -- government regulation and control. We may never get around to explaining how citizens who are so gullible that they can be suckered into buying cereal or soap that they don't need and would not be good for them, can at the same time be astute enough to choose representatives in government to which they would entrust the running of their lives.

Can you imagine if only John McCain spoke that way...

Common sense is on our side. If it's not quite as common as it used to be, then it's our job to make it more common. And we have one advantage that all the foreign money in the world can't buy and all the Media Propaganda can't sway: We're Right and They're Wrong.

There is a slow-motion disaster headed our way quickly. What they're selling is political crack--it makes you feel good before it robs you of everything.

And even if the Pants-on-Fire Media owned up to their complicity in foisting this disaster upon us--which they never will--that won't help us much. It's up to us now.

We're gonna come back from this. Yes, there will be some tears on the way, but we're gonna come back.

We're not going to flee to France or New Zealand like some big-mouth lame-ass Hollywood star. We wouldn't if we could. This is our country and we're going to fight for it. If freedom goes down here, it's gone from the world.

When our ancestors said things like "Live Free or Die!", it wasn't a multiple choice question. It was an honest statement of moral fact.

Oh, yeah--we're comin' back, alright. Tell everyone you know.

And it starts today.

HE'S GOT YOUR COMMUNITY SERVICE

"...swinging hand over hand along the bridge’s girder, with heavy loads of explosives slung over his shoulders. The odds against success seemed insurmountable.

As John observed later, “the idea that I would be able to even finish the job before the enemy got me was ludicrous.” However, “when you know you're not going to make it, a wonderful thing happens: You stop being cluttered by the feeling that you're going to save your butt.” But John never lost his sense of humor. In his report, he observed:

[The enemy,] rather than concentrating their fire on me — and I certainly couldn’t have made it through had they done so — they seemed to be watching incredulously as my body would appear, then disappear, hanging above the river. The enemy watched with a mixture of what seemed to be humor and amazement. In my judgment, they knew their massive assault would be successful and whatever I happened to be doing was relatively inconsequential; besides, I was providing them amusement.

Just as he selflessly provided us with our safety and security.

Mack Owens bids Semper Fidelis to Col. John Ripley, USMC.

A CONTRADICTION IN PRISON TERMS

No need to brush off those old Underground Railroad lines and flee north, north to freedom, kids! Change.gov has Changed.gov!

Someone must have held a séance with Lincoln because Obama has now issued an Emancipation Proclamation for Schoolkids; no longer does he propose to shanghai kidergartners to work in the government salt mines for free! You can tell already that this is going to be the Screensaver Administration; their words are written on the wind in the old Soviet airbrush style.

Newsbusters:

As of 8 AM this morning, Team Obama's cleanup operation is nearly complete, with almost all coercive language purged.

No more 'coercion'--just 'helpful suggestions'. You know; like the 'helpful suggestion' that banks had better make bad loans--or else. Welcome to Sub-prime Scholastics.

In fact, the criminal Obama/Biden junta now proposes to pay every college student $40. per hour--a $4,000 credit for 100 hours of service.

This would be a massive new budget-buster requiring a brand new bureaucracy to administer. It would be much cheaper to print wheelbarrows full of 100 dollar bills and place them at strategic locations in college towns throughout America--but of course, this is really about control, not money.

I especially liked this line:

"Obama and Biden will ensure that at least 25 % of all Work-Study Funds are used to support public service opportunities instead of jobs in dining halls and libraries."

Ooops! Sounds like someone's still miffed at Mommy and Daddy cos' they had to work their way through college while Biff and Buffy were sailing the yacht on the weekends.

"How dare you suggest that I take a menial position! Don't you know who I am? I have a Right to an education! You OWE me!" Seriously--what's wrong with doing honest work that really needs to be done as opposed to phony socialist make-work?

What that gobbledy-gook language really means is that a quarter of the money will be wasted on useless community organizing gigs in order to turn out students who will end up writing boneheaded liberal proposals like this one. It's the Perfect Socialist Circle, i.e. a square, the Endless Loop of Loopy Leftism. If your kid can master this, he could be president someday.

It occurs to me that there are a lot of parents who would also like to have $40.-an hour gigs walking around shooting the breeze with their neighbors, never accomplishing anything except cashing the checks and polishing their own self-esteem.

But we only have one president-select at a time.

THAT KOOKY KUMBAYAH KRAZE THAT'S SWEEPING THE NATION!

I was planning to offer my congratulations until I heard Obama insult Mrs. Reagan. If that's his idea of a joke, he needs some new dialectical material.

So in the spirit of planetary healing and national unity, let me offer this instead:

*OBAMA WAS SELECTED, NOT ELECTED!

*HE STOLE HALF THE ELECTION WITH PHONY PHANTOM ACORN VOTERS AND BOUGHT THE OTHER HALF WITH ILLEGAL FOREIGN CONTRIBUTIONS!

*DAVID AXELROD SHOULD BE FROGMARCHED FROM THE WHITE HOUSE IN CHAINS FOR AN EARLY FITZMAS CELEBRATION!

*THE CRIMINAL OBAMA/BIDEN JUNTA SHOULD BE IMPEACHED NOW! WRITE YOUR CONGRESSMAN!

*WORLD JUSTICE DEMANDS THAT BARKY McOBAMASTALIN BE HAULED BEFORE A TRUTH COMMISSION TO ANSWER FOR HIS CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY SO THE WORLD'S RESPECT FOR AMERICA WILL BE RESTORED!

*IF REPUBLICANS ARE NOT PERMITTED TO WIN IN 2010, THERE WILL NEVER BE FREE ELECTIONS IN THIS COUNTRY AGAIN! EVER!!!

*Oh, yeah--IT'S ALL ABOUT THE OIL CHANGE!!!!!!!!!!!!

I draw the line, however, at putting a "BUCK OFAMA!" bumpersticker on my car, even though I was reliably informed that "BUCK FUSH!" was the very soul of political wit.

And now I'd like to offer congratulations to the winners, to include abortionists, Hugo Chavez, Communist Party USA, People For the Animal Treatment of Ethics, criminals, Baby Assad, The Heinz Center For the Study of All 57 & 1/2 Gender Varieties, The Heinz Center For the Study of All 57 States, Jesse Jackson, Michael Jackson, Jackson Browne, Jackson Beige, Raila Odinga, slumlords, Handgun Control INC., NARAL, Franklin Raines, trial lawyers, union bosses, La Razists, Jeremiah Wright, Mayor "Shortshanks" of Chicago, Librarians for Censorship of Obama's Annenberg Files, A.N.S.W.E.R., I. D.O.N.'T. R.E.M.E.M.B.E.R. A.S.K.I.N.G., Democrats For Tasering Children '08!, Vladimir "Ray Charles" Putin, Future Farm Subsidies for Fetus Farmers of America, Inc., Code Pink, Code Mauve, Maude, Norman Lear, Norman Jets, the New York Jets, Gitmo detainees, the ACLU, bureaucrats everywhere, Badmood Ahmadinijad, the PLO, ACORN, Tony Rezko, Al Sharpton, The United Nations, Jimmy Carter's second term, the Myanmar Junta, Myanmar Shave, Dirt-Firsters!, Citizens For As Much Government Waste as Humanly Possible, The Human Fund, Deepak Chopra's New Age Thugee Centre for the Bilking of Lonely Widows, Rev. Dohrn's Focus on the Manson Family, Saul Alinsky and his terrorist pal Lucifer, the space aliens who refused to take Dennis Kucinich aboard their spacecraft, the illegal alien DMV, Dr. Andrew Sullivan Ob/Gyn-ophobe, Michael Moore, Sarah Jane Moore, the Weather Underground, the Weather Above Ground along with rising sea levels as they await the Healing Touch of His Hand and Big Oil Executive Fidel Castro.

Also the Students Organizing Committee for Wasting Our Parent's Perfectly Good Tuition Money, and Mick Gorbachev, who will finally get to kill SDI--with Ken Adelman's help! I'm sure the Prez would be so proud of you, Ken.

Congratulations one and all on your recent purchase. All sales are final and taxes are included. And included. And included. And included...

UNFIT TO MENTION THE NAME

"I only wish there was some way I could spare Nancy from this painful experience. When the time comes I am confident that with your help she will face it with faith and courage."--Ronald Reagan's Farewell Letter

From the latest Information Ministry Show starring the Present-Elect:

Q: "Have you spoken to any living ex-presidents? I was wondering what books you might be reading, everyone wants to know what kind of dog are you going to buy for your girls, and have you decided on a private or public school for your daughters?”

A: "In terms of speaking to former presidents, I've spoken to all of them that are living, obviously President Clinton--Hey, I didn’t want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about doing any séances."

Newsmax reports (note to "journalists"; actual reporting ensues!):

The remark garnered a laugh from the press, though the statement was not true.

In fact, it was First Lady Hillary Clinton who admitted to having at least one séance in the White House residence in which she and a small circle of friends summoned the spirit of Eleanor Roosevelt.

Nancy Reagan had consulted an astrologer during her White House years. Mrs. Reagan said she did so after her husband was shot almost fatally in 1981. She said she feared for his life and thought the astrological information might help protect him.

Mrs. Reagan has not responded to Obama's swipe. The former first lady was hospitalized last month after sustaining a fractured pelvis.

Ridiculing a frail elderly widow? She's done more for this country than you've ever thought of, Mr. Mouth. That's the only damn thing you've ever run except that Annenberg Charity for Commies by Commies.

And I wouldn't be ridiculing anyone's spiritualism if I were you, given that you spent 20 years in a Voodoo Hate Church listening to that Anti-Semetic witch doctor Jeremiah Wright damn America, preach black segregationism and condemn "middle-classness" while driving the Mercedes from the mansion to the designer dashiki store.

I've never heard you mock the wretched beliefs of our enemies or even the half-baked a l'Orange lunacies of your quack allies Huey, Dewey and Louie Farrakhan. But you'll pick on a little old lady. That's the mark of an arrogant bully. That's not 'Denzel'--it's Fidél.

I hope it was as good for you as it was for me, cos' the honeymoon's over, jerk.

ps: Did you catch that searing and trenchant, hard-hitting, Pulitzer-level 'truth-to-power' investigative journalism?:

"I was wondering what books you might be reading, everyone wants to know what kind of dog are you going to buy for your girls, and have you decided on a private or public school for your daughters?”

Well, he won't be buying a lap-dog, because he's already got a Lap-Dog Media.

And speaking of public or private schoolchildren, maybe next time you pet poodles in the press could ask him why he thinks it's okay to sentence schoolkids to 100 hours of community service without charges, a lawyer or a trial. He wouldn't do that to a Gitmo detainee.

As usual, he's confusing public with private, treating Other People's Children as Property of the State--Herr Obama's Achtung Babies!

A real President:

"I believe that communism is another sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages even now are being written. I believe this because the source of our strength in the quest for human freedom is not material, but spiritual. And because it knows no limitation, it must terrify and ultimately triumph over those who would enslave their fellow man."

You don't need a weatherman to tell you which way the wind is blowing and you don't need a gypsy to tell you why--Obamism is not the Wave of the Future, but the last gasp of the past.

Just like Ronnie said.

GET OFF YOUR BALLOT

and vote today.

Vote Early, Not Often. Vote Late if you must. And bring a friend, but not an Imaginary Friend--they vote Democrat.

Vote even if you live in a Deep Blue bastion; it sends a signal that you must be considered, it encourages others...and you may remember how Democrats tried to pry-bar popular vote totals for President Gore.

Vote to Stop the Lies. Vote to preserve the Constitution. Vote so America's enemies will not be dancing in the streets and in their caves and palaces tomorrow. Vote McCain/ Palin.

Vote like your freedoms depended on it. They do. If that polling place closes down and you're not with them, you'll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.

I'm lookin' at you, kid; go vote!

From the time I entered the Naval Academy at age seventeen I have been privileged and honored to serve my country.

Throughout my years of service, I've been faced with challenges where I could have taken the easy way out and given up. But I'm an American and I never give up. Instead, I choose to show courage and stand up and fight for the country I love. Today, I am asking you to stand with me and to fight for our country's future.

Our country faces enormous challenges and our next president must be ready to lead on day one. My lifetime of experience has prepared me to lead our great nation. I'm prepared to bring solutions to our economic challenges, bring our troops home in victory and improve our nation's healthcare system.

Time and time again, my country has saved my life and I owe her more than she has ever owed me. I have chosen to show my gratitude through a life of service to our country and tomorrow, you will have a choice before you.

I humbly ask you to make the choice that will allow me to serve my country a little while longer by casting your vote to elect me as your next President of the United States.

Finally, I ask that you never forget that much has been sacrificed to protect our right to vote. We must never forget those Americans who, with their courage, with their sacrifice, and with their lives, have protected our freedom. It is my great hope that you will exercise your right to vote as an American tomorrow.

I thank you for your kind support, your dedication to our cause, and most importantly I thank you for your vote.

With sincere appreciation,


John McCain"

BUT WHICH WALLS?

Barack Obama has famously given this "Joshua" speech several times in his career, using the Bible story of the Battle of Jericho. (It can be found here: http://sweetness-light.com/archive/repost-obamas-radical-socialist-worldview)

An excerpt:

"The Scripture tells us that when Joshua and the Israelites arrived at the gates of Jericho, they could not enter. The walls of the city were too steep for any one person to climb; too strong to be taken down with brute force. And so they sat for days, unable to pass on through.

But God had a plan for his people. He told them to stand together and march together around the city, and on the seventh day he told them that when they heard the sound of the ram’s horn, they should speak with one voice. And at the chosen hour, when the horn sounded and a chorus of voices cried out together, the mighty walls of Jericho came tumbling down. There are many lessons to take from this passage...Unity is the great need of the hour - the great need of this hour."

Obama goes on to make many points, most of them left-leaning. I will not refute them all here, but I will note a few I think are contrary to scripture.

He minimizes borders, even though Acts says the nations boundaries are set by God. He brushes right up against the Tenth Commandment's proscription on envy of private property. He advocates acceptance of homosexuality even both Testaments are quite clear about it. We are to love the sinner and hate the sin, but not celebrate the sin, thereby damaging the sinner and disobeying God.

And he speaks of a misguided war, even though a war's purpose can be either to enslave a people or towards justice and freedom. Let's remember: there are those who, to this very day, view the Battle of Jericho as a 'misguided war'.

Obama has also spoken of "the least of these", the small and powerless--yet we know he speaks death over the smallest of all--the unborn.

So when a politician, especially a liberal, quotes a source, hard experience has taught me to go to that source myself.

Joshua 6

1 Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.
2 Then the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in."
6 So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, "Take up the ark of the covenant of the LORD and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it." 7 And he ordered the people, "Advance! March around the city, with the armed guard going ahead of the ark of the LORD."
8 When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the LORD went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the LORD's covenant followed them. 9 The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. 10 But Joshua had commanded the people, "Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!" 11 So he had the ark of the LORD carried around the city, circling it once. Then the people returned to camp and spent the night there.
12 Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. 13 The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the LORD and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the LORD, while the trumpets kept sounding. 14 So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.
15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. 16 The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the people, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! 17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted [a] to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute [b] and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. 18 But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. 19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the LORD and must go into his treasury."
20 When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city. 21 They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.
22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into the prostitute's house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her." 23 So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.
24 Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD's house. 25 But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.
26 At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: "Cursed before the LORD is the man who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho:
"At the cost of his firstborn son
will he lay its foundations;
at the cost of his youngest
will he set up its gates."
27 So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land. ........

I draw an entirely different lesson from that story than Mr. Obama drew. The lesson he drew was unity of men. The lesson I draw is obedience to God.

All throughout the story, God commands Joshua. Joshua in turn commands the people. While unity has its place, it is like money or war; it may be used to good or bad purposes. But true obedience to God is always right.

There is another lesson implicit in that story. The good leader is first obedient to God. And then he can serve people because he was first a servant.

Obama gets it wrong; obedience, not unity, is the great need of the hour. Mankind was unified at the Tower of Babel and God scattered them. Obama says we should be unified to tear down walls--but those are walls that God himself has placed there.

Obama is using scripture to lead people astray, not into obedience. The walls that need to fall are not the ones God has set down, but the ones we have built against Him.

By this, he has disqualified himself from leadership.

Providentially, we have another choice available to us; the very qualified team of Cmdr. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin.

Give them you support.

AND THEN HE TOOK HER ILLEGAL FOREIGN CONTRIBUTION$ AMONG MILLION$ OF OTHERS

And Now He Says He Will Be Hiding From the Press Until Wednesday!

The Washington Post:

The Department of Homeland Security is investigating whether its privacy policy was violated after a news organization reported that an aunt of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama is an illegal immigrant from Kenya, officials said yesterday.

The woman, Zeituni Onyango, 56, lives in a public housing complex in Boston and is the half sister of Obama's late father, who spent most of his life in Kenya before dying in a car accident in 1982.

The Associated Press reported late Friday that Onyango was denied asylum by an immigration judge and that she was instructed to leave the United States in 2004. The AP cited two unnamed sources, identifying one as a federal law enforcement official.

Federal privacy law restricts U.S. immigration agencies from disclosing information about citizens and permanent residents, and DHS policy similarly limits disclosures about the status of legal and illegal immigrants. Asylum-seekers are granted greater protection, because of the sensitive nature of their claims and the risks of retaliation. ...

After Obama's campaign announced yesterday morning that it will refund a small number of contributions made by Onyango, two government officials confirmed that Onyango had sought asylum, citing violence in her native Kenya. One federal law enforcement official confirmed that a federal administrative judge ruled in 2004 she was not legally entitled to be in the United States and that a final order was entered for her deportation.

While such denials can be appealed, cases are generally decided within a year or two, according to federal statistics. Of about 12 million illegal immigrants estimated to be in the United States, about 550,000 are "fugitive aliens" staying in violation of deportation orders.

Reports filed with the Federal Election Commission show Onyango gave Obama's campaign a total of $265, including several contributions of $5 and $25. The latest recorded contribution, of $5, was on Sept. 19. Only U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents, known as green cardholders, can legally contribute to federal presidential campaigns.

"Given the information that has been brought to our attention, the contributions are being refunded," said Ben LaBolt, an Obama campaign spokesman. "Senator Obama has no knowledge of her status but obviously believes that any and all appropriate laws be followed."

Mark Salter, a McCain adviser, called the issue "a family matter."

It sure is. Aunt Zeituni is claiming asylum from the violence caused by one nephew and negligently abetted by another.

WTC prosecutor Andy McCarthy explains here.

When Obama's cousin, Communist Raila Odinga, lost the Kenyan election, he ordered his Islamist allies to burn churches until he was given some power. Obama went to Kenya in 2006 and campaiged with his cousin. Obama alone was horribly surprised when a Communist started killing people. It was his first solo foreign policy flight, and he crashed and burned disastrously.

The Post is trying to spin this as a campaign dirty trick, but the real story is Obama's massive foreign fundraising operation, in which foreigners try to buy us a president. His aunt's contributions are but the tiniest tip of a titanic, massive money-iceberg

And it's about Obama's horrible political judgement, unwittingly assisting a Communist thug, albeit a relative, who committed Ethnic Cleansing.

His Aunt Zeituni was forced to vote against Obama's dangerous policies with her feet.

We should vote against them, too.