Happy New Years

The people are responsible for the character of their Congress.  If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption.  If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities...  If the next centennial does not find us a great nation... it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces. 
                - Rev. James A. Garfield, 20th President of the United States and Minister of the Gospel

Let all of us Americans strive to restore our nation to greatness and, more importantly, to goodness in the next year and all the years to follow.

Happy New Years to all and may God continue to bless America!

The Logic of God and Science

A professor of science & philosophy begins his school year with a lecture to his students.

The professor pauses before his class, 'Let me explain the problem science has with religion.'

He then asks one of his new students to stand. 'You're a Christian, aren't you, son?'  

'Yes sir,' the student says.  

'So you believe in God?'  

'Absolutely.'  

'Is God good?'  

'Sure! God's good.'  

'Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?'  

'Yes.'  

'Are you good or evil?'  

'The Bible says I'm evil.'  

The professor grins knowingly. 'Aha! The Bible!'

He considers for a moment. 'Here's one for you...Let's say there's a sick person and you can cure him. Would you help him? Would you try?'  

'Yes sir, I would.'  

'So you are good...!'  

'I wouldn't say that.'  

'But why not say that? You'd help a sick and maimed person if you could.  Most of us would if we could, but God doesn't.'  

The student does not answer, so the professor continues.

'He doesn't, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good, Hmmm? Can you answer that one?'  

The student remains silent.  

'No, you can't, can you?' the professor says. He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax.  'Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?'  

'Er...yes,' the student says.  

'Is Satan good?'  

The student doesn't hesitate on this one. 'No.'  

'Then where does Satan come from?'  

The student falters. 'From God.'  

'That's right. God made Satan, didn't he? Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?'  

'Yes, sir.'  

'Evil's everywhere, isn't it? And God made everything, correct?'  

'Yes.'  

'So who created evil?' The professor continued, 'If God created everything, then God created evil, and since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil.'  

Again, the student has no answer.

'Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?'  

The student squirms on his feet. 'Yes.'  

'So who created them?'

The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question.  'Who created them?'

There is still no answer.

Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace in front of the classroom. The class is mesmerized.

'Tell me,' he continues onto another student. 'Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?' 

The student's voice betrays him and cracks. 'Yes, professor, I do.' 

The old man stops pacing. 'Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen Jesus?' 

'No sir. I've never seen Him.' 

'Then tell us if you've ever heard your Jesus?' 

'No, sir, I have not.' 

'Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelled your Jesus?  Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that matter?' 

'No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't.' 

'Yet you still believe in him?' 

'Yes.' 

'According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?' 

'Nothing,' the student replies. 'I only have my faith.'

'Yes, faith,' the professor repeats. 'And that is the problem science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith.' 

At the back of the room another student stands quietly for a moment before asking a question of His own. 'Professor, is there such thing as heat?' 

'Yes,' the professor replies. 'There's heat.' 

'And is there such a thing as cold?' 

'Yes, son, there's cold too.' 

'No sir, there isn't.' 

The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The room suddenly becomes very quiet.

The student begins to explain.

'You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don't have anything called 'cold'. We can hit up to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold, otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest: 458 degrees.' 

'Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy.  Absolute zero (-458 F) is the total absence of heat. You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold.  Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.' 

Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom, sounding like a hammer. 

'What about darkness, professor. Is there such a thing as darkness?'

'Yes,' the professor replies without hesitation. 'What is night if it isn't darkness?' 

'You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not some thing. It is the absence of some thing. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? That's the meaning we use to define the word. In reality, darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?' 

The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him. This will be a good semester. 'So what point are you making, young man?' 

'My point is this professor; your philosophical premise is flawed to start with and so your conclusion must also be flawed.' 

The professor's face cannot hide his surprise this time. 'Flawed? Can you explain how?' 

'You are working on the premise of duality,' the student explains. 'You argue that there is life and then there's death; a good God and a bad God.  You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it. Now tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?' 

'If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do.' 

'Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?' 

The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where the argument is going. A very good semester, indeed.

The student continues; 'Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now, not a scientist, but a preacher?' 

The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has subsided. 

'To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let me give you an example of what I mean.' The student looks around the room. 'Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor's brain?' The class breaks out into laughter. 'Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's brain, felt the professor's brain, touched or smelt the professor's brain? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all due respect, sir. So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?' 

Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student, his face unreadable.  Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers. 'I guess you'll have to take them on faith.' 

'So, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life,' the student continues. 'Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?' 

Uncertain, the professor responds; 'Of course, there is. We see it everyday.  It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.' 

The student replies, 'Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself.  Evil is simply the absence of God.  It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.' 

The professor sat down.

The Society of Professional Journalists Calls on Members to Not Use the Term "Illegal Alien" in Their Reporting

Note: It would seem that a "clarification" that I either missed or more likely which was added after my having read the original source material for my posting states that the Society of Professional Journalists has not endorsed the restraining of the usage of this terminology.  Rather, the clarification states that a member of the SPJ has written an opinion piece encouraging such  constraints on members of the SPJ in their reporting.  The Society as a whole has not endorsed this at this date.

It would seem that the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) is trying to improve their "objectivity" as their Diversity Committee is calling on news reporters nationwide to drop the term “illegal immigrant” and "illegal alien" from their news coverage in an effort to “inform and sensitize” people on how “offensive” the phrase is to Latinos.

I would submit to the SPJ that their current efforts to restrain journalists' usage of the terms "illegal alien" and "illegal immigrant" only goes to show their distinct bias and lack of objectivity in their own reporting.  First, the fact that they claim that the need to change these "pejorative labels" to the milder term "undocumented worker" as the former terms are offensive to Latinos strikes me as quite stereotypical and subjective of the SPJ.  Are all illegal aliens in this country only of Latino heritage?  Are they they the only sub-group of illegals that are offended by these terms?  I am quite certain that there are tens of thousands of non-Latino people in this country that would also accurately be classified as "illegal aliens" and similarly take offense.

Further, the fact that the SPJ finds it necessary to have a "diversity committee" smacks of having a pre-disposed bias in protecting or being supportive of minority groups.  I rather thought it was a journalist's professional obligation to report without editorial comments or implications only the facts of a story.  Who, what, where, when, and why should be the guiding principles to any stories, not changing a "label" (particularly an accurately used label) in order to offer no offense to a certain person or group of people in a story.

Indeed, it would seem that we are further losing our language in America and political correctness has driven us to the point of fearing to use "labels" on people at all.  I would suggest that accurately descriptive labels are a part of our language and are necessary for conveying an explanation or dissemination of a given characteristic of a person.  Of course, it is imperative that such labels be accurate in their attribution towards a given person or group.  It would seem that political correctness has indeed run amok though when fear of "labeling" anyone, particularly of a minority status, is deemed not only inappropriate but exceptionally rude.

Ironically quoted, “[T]his is not about being politically correct,” SPJ Diversity Committee chairman George Daniels says, but about aiming to “minimize harm” when reporting.  I find it interesting that the altruistic SPJ group has concerns about "minimizing harm" to politically-correct-protected sub-groups of people but seemingly show no such similar restraint when it comes to interviewing grieving parents about the loss of their child in combat or other similar situations.

It has been painfully obvious that objective and accurate journalism has long been on the decline and indeed may be close to death.  The SPJ's latest pronouncement places one more nail into the coffin of the once venerable journalistic watch dog for the people.  Is it any wonder why most major newspapers, magazines, and news broadcasts in the mainstream media continue to hemorrhage consumers of their "news"?

Piers Corbyn Gets Last Laugh on Global Warming Forecasters that Mocked Him

Piers Corbyn, the renowned astrophysicist and meteorologist and one of the world's chief critics of what he calls the "failed science based on fraudulent data" of global warming was roundly mocked by "scientists" around the world and the UK government forecasters in particular when based on the sun's activity, Corbyn predicted a very cold winter this year.  They proclaimed that this winter would be very mild in contrast.  Corbyn predicted east and northeast America in particular "would suffer the most horrendous blizzards for decades" in December. 

When asked by the interviewer in this clip whether the global-warming-theory-supporting scientists claim that weather extremes of cold and hot are indicative of global warming are accurate, Corbyn emphatically stated,

"No, it is complete nonsense.  It's fiction.  It comes from a cult ideology.  There is no science in there; no facts to back them up.  Historically the only correlation between carbon dioxide and temperatures over millions of years is that world temperatures drive carbon dioxide levels; not the other way around.  What they have is they fiddle the facts in order to justify political attacks, carbon trading, extra taxation on the public."

Once again, despite the global warming believers statements that this is "settled science" and the only ones that disagree are crackpots, it would seem that they continue to be wrong in their predictions and forecasts.  Meanwhile such global warming deniers as Piers Corbyn continue to predict our climate and weather forecasts with considerably high degrees of accuracy.  It would seem that Piers Corbyn and his fellow scientists of like mind are thus far indeed right regarding this mythical anthropogenic global warming.

For more by this brilliant scientist see my earlier post on Piers Corbyn's interview with Russia Today at the link here.

Celtic Woman Performs "O Holy Night"

This is a beautiful rendition of O Holy Night and seemed quite appropriate for this Holy Christmas season!  Enjoy friends!

A Christmas Card to My Conservative and Progressive Friends

To My Progressive Friends:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or explicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2011 but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that  America  is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only  America  in the Western Hemisphere . Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

To My Conservative Friends:

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

America's Constitutional Republic Explained to a Progressive

Conservative Neil explains the Constitution to progressive Betty.

Berkeley Finds a Soldier to Admire

I came across the following article in The Scrapbook from December 20th's The Weekly Standard, and thought it worthy of sharing.  Enjoy!

The civic carnival that is the Berkeley City Council is at it again.  The members of the council, who wrote a letter to the U.S. Marine Corps in 2008 saying they were "uninvited and unwelcome intruders" to their shining liberal city on the Bay, have finally found a man in uniform (an American uniform, that is) to admire.  According to The San Francisco Chronicle, the council will vote this week on a resolution supporting Private First Class Bradley Manning (U.S. Army-under arrest), widely believed to be the source of the purloined State Department cables, as well as other classified intelligence and military information, turned over to WikiLeaks for worldwide dissemination.

The drafter of the resolution, Berkeley's "peace and justice commissioner" Bob Meola, told the Chronicle that Manning is "a patriot and should get a medal."  While it's certainly a landmark moment when the Berkeley city council positively recognizes any member of the armed services, The Scrapbook looks forward to the day when said member is one who is fighting for his country rather than against it, preferably serving under arms, rather than languishing under armed guard, awaiting trial in the Marine Corps brig at Quantico, Va.

A Review of The State of the Nation for 2010

With the rapidly approaching end of 2010 being a little over a week away, I thought I would look back at the results of what has happened in the United States of America this past year. Unfortunately many transformational issues were enacted that will have and indeed some already have had a huge negative impact on the country. On the other hand, the awakening of millions of Americans politically in our country and their desire to finally hold those that govern in our name accountable gives one a sense of hope that has been absent for well over a generation. With that being said, let us look at some of the major issues that have or will have a dramatic impact on our nation.

Unemployment
Despite billions of tax payer dollars spent and several extensions of unemployment benefits passed through congress, we still have held fast to a near 10% unemployment rate for the country for nearly the entire year. Of course the real unemployment number is significantly higher as one takes into account those people that have stopped looking for work or are under-employed. Meanwhile, the federal government has done nothing to help ease the economy so as to be able to create new jobs. Indeed, their actions have largely exacerbated the problem.

Gulf Oil Spill
The Obama administration dithered and refused domestic and international help in containing this oil spill and looked only to fix the blame rather than to fix the problem. President Obama only made the economic impact of this oil spill worse by issuing a moratorium on off shore drilling, all the while he provided billions of dollars to help Brazil’s Petrobas Oil begin offshore drilling in their waters, while Democratic donor, George Soros, benefitted financially from this arrangement. See HERE.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
DADT was finally passed and is supposedly to be signed into law today. This social engineering program from the left removes a working policy that was a seemingly good compromise and enacts a politically correct program that will cost millions of dollars to implement, degrade troop morale, ruin unit cohesion, and weaken good discipline within the military.

Affordable Health Care Act
Obamacare was passed ostensibly to provide health insurance to millions of Americans that were without coverage and to stop the rising costs of our health care. Instead, this travesty of a law has already created increases in health care costs and is well on the way to ensuring that rationing of care will be the norm as many doctors leave the field of medicine. The only bright spot thus far was the recent federal court ruling that stated what we Americans already knew. The law’s mandate that all Americans must buy insurance is indeed un-constitutional.

Financial Reform
This is one of those feel good sounding pieces of legislation which effectively gives control to the president to decide if he should seize control of any private company if the president deems its “imminent collapse” to be detrimental to the nation’s economy. In other words, the president unilaterally now has the power to decide who is too big to fail and act upon it as he deems necessary.

Student Loans
One of the often overlooked parts of the Obamacare Act was the section that also removed the power for banks to provide student loans to prospective college students. Now, only the federal government has the power to provide such loans. The potential for misuse or future indoctrination through “government-approved colleges or courses of study” just increased remarkably accordingly.

START Treaty
The pending likely ratification of this nuclear reduction treaty with Russia leaves the Russians with a significant nuclear missile strategic advantage over the United States and has some concerning verification issues. In its current form, this treaty is not in the best interest of the United States and weakens our nuclear deterrent accordingly. The utopians in congress are seemingly oblivious to this fact.

Border Security
The federal government still has done nothing but pay lip service when it comes to securing our national borders; indeed, they have actively tried to thwart states such as Arizona when that state sought to enforce existing federal law on the issue. Obama’s justice department spent more time harassing those trying to secure our borders than it did trying to actually do its job of protecting America’s borders.

Quantitative Easing
The federal reserve has begun buying our debt through quantitative easing which effectively will create very damaging inflation. Quantitative easing is typically a move done by third world countries right prior to total economic collapse. Hardly a peep has been mentioned about this while congress continues to spend our tax-payer dollars with reckless abandon.

On the good side though there is indeed a few bright spots and some hope that the future is not all doom and gloom. Some of these bright spots include:

DREAM Act
This bad legislation which would effectively grant amnesty to untold numbers of illegal aliens was denied passage in congress.

Terrorism
We have luckily been able to thwart any major terrorist attacks in America, with the exception of one involving a Muslim Army Major killing soldiers at Fort Hood.

Bush Tax Cuts
Congress finally realized the necessity to reauthorize the Bush tax cuts rather than letting them expire and further hurting millions of Americans while still deep in the arms of this recession.

The Conservative Ascendency
The awakening of millions of Americans to the foolishness of our government and the desire of We The People to finally start holding some of these knuckle-heads accountable is very encouraging. Congress has at least taken notice, and many members are appropriately scared that they cannot continue their corrupt business as usual now without reaping the consequences of being thrown out of office. The fact that people are now more politically aware than they have been for decades is a wonderful thing and gives me some hope that we can restore America to its greatness and derail the associated Marxists, progressives, and corrupt politicians to the sidelines where they no longer will be a danger to our representative republic. Hopefully 2011 will be the year where we begin to restore America and save it from plunging into the abyss. We shall see.

Rush on College Indoctrination and the Lack of Critical Thinking

Rush Limbaugh, in this excerpt, asserts something that I have long held as truth.  Colleges today, especially in the more subjective, non-hard science matters and liberal arts fields do not encourage critical thinking, but rather insist upon students accepting the views and theories posited by their professors.  Dissent or opposing viewpoints, particularly in political science fields, are often not only discouraged but are actively ridiculed as being foolish, un-enlightened, or fundamentally wrong.

Indeed I have had the "pleasure" over many years of meeting more than a few graduate students that were educated far beyond their intelligence levels.  The typical condescension and inability for many of these folks to even consider opposing viewpoints based on sound theories and facts speaks exactly to their lack of critical thinking abilities and serves precisely as proof of Rush's assertion that in many cases a college education today represents an indoctrination of leftist pogroms rather than an ability to analyze and actually think with consideration of all aspects of the data presented.

Once again, Rush is right...

A Parable For Our Students Regarding Wealth Redistribution

I have seen this following story before and thought it was an excellent parable in explaining the unfairness of wealth redistribution to our "enlightened, liberal students".

A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be very liberal, and among other liberal ideals, was very much in favor of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words redistribution of wealth.

She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch conservative, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs.

The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing in school.

Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened and then asked, "How is your friend Audrey doing?"

She replied, "Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she's too hung over."

Her wise father asked his daughter, "Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA."

The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, "That's a crazy idea, how would that be fair! I've worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!"

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, "Welcome to the conservative side of the fence."

H/T: Carrie

Michael Moore Pledges to Post Wikileaks' Assange's Bail

On his website, Michael Moore has posted a legal statement promising to post Julian Assange’s $20,000 bail to get him out of a UK jail, where he is being held on sexually-related charges originating in Sweden.  Julian Assange is the founder of WikiLeaks, the internet site that purportedly received enormous amounts of highly classified material from Army Private Bradley Manning and proceeded to post these highly damaging releases on the public internet via the WikiLeaks site. 

Some of the information released has or may potentially cause severe damage to our national security and will almost assuredly endanger key allies and sources of information in our battle against terrorists.

Moore's thoughts to these actions is that we owe the Wikileaks founder a “debt of gratitude” for his acts.
Moore's goes on to acclaim Assange as a "journalist" who has worked tirelessly to expose "the follies" of the United States government and has even gone so far as to calling Assange’s actions “an act of patriotism.”

The statement notes that while Moore is out out of the country, he has already deposited the money into a specific account for Assange's bail.  A key excerpt of the statement reads as follows:

I support Julian, whom I see as a pioneer of free speech, transparent government and the digital revolution in journalism. His commitment to exposing the follies of government and business offers the greater society a chance to protect itself from these follies. Some aren’t just follies. Some are crimes. What do we do with someone who informs the authorities — and in this case it is the free people in a democracy who are the “authorities” — that a crime has been committed? Do we arrest HIM? Do we try to shut his mouth? Do we hound him, threaten him, track him down and hunt him as if HE is the criminal? He bravely informed the citizenry of what was being done in their name and with their tax monies. That is no crime. That is an act of patriotism. He should be thanked and honored, not abused and jailed. It dishonours this court to be used in this way, holding this man without bail. Julian has made the world, and my country in particular, a safer place. His actions with WikiLeaks have put on notice those who would take us to war based on lies that any future attempts to do so will be met by the fierce bright light provided by WikiLeaks and intended to expose those who commit their war crimes. His actions will make them think twice next time — and for that we all owe him a debt of gratitude.

Ironically in all of the classified information leaked to Julian Assange, nothing has been posted thus far that gives any credence to Moore's assertion that the Iraq war was based on lies by the Bush administration.  Further, does giving up essential data of identities and whereabouts of informants that have helped us against our terrorist enemies rise to the level of patriotism?  I would strongly argue that it certainly does NOT make our country safer. 

Assange is not a whistle-blower that brought egregious actions on the behalf of our government to light.  He is an anti-American blow-hard that is hell bent on harming our nation and its interests if possible, and embarrassing us at least if not.  He is a clear and present danger to our nation and should be treated as an enemy accordingly.

As for Private Bradley Manning, if he is indeed found guilty of his crimes under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, I hope he is convicted and punished for the treason he has committed.  Of course, the city of Berkeley, California has proposed a resolution out of the city's "Peace and Justice Commission" to honor and support him as well. 

I am all for free speech, even such nonsense as has been spouted by Michael Moore and the city of Berkeley, but it is a dangerous thing indeed to call evil, good and to call good, evil.  What Manning and Assange have done has endangered and will likely end up costing friends of America their lives.  These are not heroes.  The former is a traitor and both are an enemies of our great nation.  Michael Moore is once again sorely misguided in finding honor in such people.

Federal Judge Declares Key Part of Obamacare Unconstitutional

Yesterday,  U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson released his ruling on the case brought before his court by Virginia's attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, that challenged the legal mandate within the Obamacare law that stated that individuals must purchase health insurance at pain of penalty otherwise. 

Judge Hudson stated that the law's requirement that most Americans carry insurance or pay a penalty "exceeds the constitutional boundaries of congressional power."  Further, requiring Americans to buy insurance "would invite unbridled exercise of federal police powers," wrote Judge Hudson.  "At its core, this dispute is not simply about regulating the business of insurance—or crafting a scheme of universal health insurance coverage—it's about an individual's right to choose to participate."

Now this is only the first victory in restoring constitutional sanity in regards to the egregious Obamacare Act and many court battles remain until this case eventually ends up in front of the Supreme Court for final adjudication on what any objective constitutional scholar can decipher as being an exceptionally poor law.  It is unlikely that this case will end up before the Supreme Court before 2012, however.  The fight has only begun.

In the meantime, the pernicious effects of this horrible law are already manifesting themselves to average Americans, despite huge parts of the law still yet waiting to take effect.  The law was sold to the public as being vital to insure those without health care and as a necessary way to hold down medical costs.  The latter part of that was known to have been a pipe dream by anyone that had a rudimentary understanding of free-market economics, and unfortunately has proven to be just as we had feared, especially in my own anecdotal situation.

Indeed, my co-pays have all gone up by 50% for 2011; my hospitalization costs have risen by 500%; my premiums have also dramatically increased, while covered procedures and tests have been severely cut back or have had their costs also increase significantly.  So much for the Affordable Care Act helping us in saving our health care dollars.

Indeed, in a conversation I had with my primary care doctor yesterday (a man that I have seen way too much of lately) said that he is very worried.  He said that insurance companies love the Obamacare Act because until this recent ruling, everyone was going to have to buy insurance, and yet the deductibles and co-pays for most plans would be such that many Americans still would see the doctor far less than necessary due to their inability to even afford these high co-pays and deductibles.  Thus, insurers collect the premiums and have far fewer pay-outs.  More money stays in their coffers accordingly.  My doctor fears a 30% reduction in his business next year just for this very reason.  Further, he said if it exceeds that number than he is likely out of business.

This is why it is absolutely vital that all aspects of Obamacare be repealed as soon as possible. Real reforms that will allow competition across state lines for insurers and meaningful tort reform must be enacted soon so as to reduce costs.

It will be interesting to see what the political fallout will be in this regards, as the Obama administration is holding fast to their fictional account that the Affordable Care Act is a good law that is reducing costs.  Indeed, Kathleen Sebelius, Obama's Health and Human Services Secretary sent out a warning letter to America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and the National Association of Health Insurers telling them they had better cease and desist from telling the truth. 

In the September 9th letter, Secretary Sebelius wrote, "It has come to my attention that several health insurer carriers are sending letters to their enrollees falsely blaming premium  increases for 2011 on the patient protections in the Affordable Care Act... [T]here will be zero tolerance fro this type of misinformation and unjustified rate increases..." 

So the costs go up, as we knew they would, doctors plan on leaving their dying practices, and the Obama administration threatens anyone that dares speak the truth about the situation.  At least we have won the first critical battle in the dismantling of this horribly un-Constitutional law yesterday.  I only hope that the country can withstand the buffetts it will face before we finally have a WORKING law in place that actually does what this travesty of a law was supposedly crafted to do.

The Media's Double Standard for Governor Palin vs. President Obama

“This speaks to a bigger picture here that certainly scares me in terms of our national security policy. But obviously we’ve gotta stand with our North Korean allies.”  - Sarah Palin making a verbal slip on the Glenn Beck Show. 

Of course the "gotcha" state-run media immediately ran with this story further "justifying" Palin as not up to the caliber of a presidential contender.  Never mind the fact that Palin throughout the very same interview, including just seconds before the above slip had correctly stated our relationship with South Korea and North Korea as she has done continuously in many previous interviews in the past. 

Evidently the press, once again, has double standards when it comes to broadcasting her simple slip of the tongue, and yet one rarely if ever hears of the doozies from our current president from that same media.  Governor Palin responded with a fantastic post on Facebook that points out the hypocrisy, accordingly.  Following is an excerpt from her posting that clearly makes her point, complete with links for the millions of Americans that might not ever have heard of these silly slips of the tongue from President Obama:

"My fellow Americans in all 57 states, the time has changed for come. With our country founded more than 20 centuries ago, we have much to celebrate – from the FBI’s 100 days to the reforms that bring greater inefficiencies to our health care system. We know that countries like Europe are willing to stand with us in our fight to halt the rise of privacy, and Israel is a strong friend of Israel’s. And let’s face it, everybody knows that it makes no sense that you send a kid to the emergency room for a treatable illness like asthma and they end up taking up a hospital bed. It costs, when, if you, they just gave, you gave them treatment early, and they got some treatment, and ah, a breathalyzer, or an inhalator. I mean, not a breathalyzer, ah, I don’t know what the term is in Austrian for that…"

United Kingdom Member of European Union Parliament Excoriates Their Corruption

United Kingdom Independence Party Member of the European Parliament Nigel Farage pulls absolutely no punches when excoriating the corruption and incompetence of the European Union.

Mr. Farage is absolutely correct in his assessment, and I find it ironic that as many European countries are now beginning to see the dire consequences of their practices of socialism and one world governance, they are now starting to make changes to correct these problems, all the while the progressives in America rush to emulate what is obviously and absolutely not working in Europe. And they consider themselves the "enlightened ones".

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to my family, friends, blog readers, and indeed, to all Americans.  May God continue to bless all of us and to have us be aware in our hearts, minds, and souls so that we are always grateful for His abundant blessings in our lives!  May God continue to bless America!

The Anti-Semitic United Nations Seeks to Erase Jewish History in Israel

The United Nations has once again reared its anti-Semitic head.  This inept and corrupt organization has long been nothing more but a platform for anti-Semetic nations to spew their hatred for America and for Israel, in particular.  America should have long ago resigned from this useless and dangerous world governance body.  Former American Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, was correct when he said that the top five floors of the UN building in New York could be removed and the world would not know the difference.  Now, once again, the UN, through its UN Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's, (UNESCO)  has absurdly attacked the very fabric of Jewish culture which is at the soul of Israel.

The Executive Board of UNESCO has declared 2 of Judaism's holiest sites (The Tomb of the Patriarchs and the Tomb of Rachel) to be mosques and demand that Israel remove the sites from its National Heritage list.

In an effort to erase Jewish history and supersede Jewish religious sites with Islamic institutions, Muslims have intentionally built mosques upon numerous synagogues and Jewish holy sites.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office decried the ludicrous nature of the UNESCO decision:

“The attempt to detach the Nation of Israel from its heritage is absurd. If the nearly 4,000-year-old burial sites of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of the Jewish Nation – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah –are not part of its culture and tradition, then what is a national cultural site?”

In cooperating with efforts to erase Jewish historical ties to Israel , UNESCO is aiding and abetting those who hope to and obfuscate Israel ’s Jewish past and undermine Israel ’s Jewish future.

I strongly encourage you to please sign the petition  below to let UNESCO know that this is absurd and will not stand.
 http://www.petitiononline.com/rabbiv/petition.html

Barney Frank Laments Having to Enact Tough Spending Cuts in Coming GOP-Controlled House

When the 112th Congress convenes this coming January and the Republicans take control of the House of Representatives, evidently Representative Barney Frank D-MA is worried that he won't have any fun because instead of trying to find ways to spend the American taxpayers' money, the GOP is going to be looking for ways to cut such spending.

Indeed, Barney Frank, who is the current House Financial Services Chairman, has said that serving on the Appropriations Committee in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives will be a “great pain in the ass."  He continues, “Fascinating fact, apparently for the first time in anybody’s memory, members of Congress have declined seats on the Appropriations Committee,” Frank said Nov. 18 during a CATO Institute panel on defense spending.

“The Appropriations Committee, which has been a great plum, is now going to be a great pain in the ass because you’re going to be expected to come up with cuts in things that are very popular, et cetera," said Frank.

Don't you feel badly for one of the chief person's responsible for the gross mismanagement and the ensuing collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, thus providing the catalyst for the decimation of America's housing market and the economy on whole?  He laments that it won't be fun being on the appropriations committee anymore because instead of reckless abandon spending, congress will now have to make some serious and sometimes difficult choices in spending cuts.

Congressman Frank, you are an embarrassment to the House of Representatives and the American people.  It does not speak well of your constituents that they foolishly decided to return one of the architects of our nation's economic decline to his seat in congress. 

Judging by this recent statement of yours, evidently you still do not get the message either.  Evidently the people of your district in Massachusetts have insulated you from the consequences of your actions directly, but the nation as a whole has taken notice and intends to fix what you and other tax and spend progressives of both parties have broken.

The DREAM Act Amnesty Bill To Be Brought Up For Vote In Lame Duck Senate

The so-called DREAM Act (The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act) was originally an amendment attached to the Defense Authorization Act that the Republicans were able to successfully thwart passage of previously.  Now Harry Reid is promising to bring up the DREAM Act as a stand alone bill in the Senate in a lame duck session of congress as early as next Monday.  This bill has already met with successful passage in the House of Representatives under Nancy Pelosi's leadership there.

Reid and the Democrats realize that this is likely their only remaining opportunity to pass this type of amnesty legislation before the Republicans take control of the House and narrow the Democrats' majority in the senate to near parity with the convening of the 112th congress this coming January. 

The DREAM Act, which was originally proposed by Republican Senator Orin Hatch of Utah and Democrat Dick Durbin of Illinois, is little more than an amnesty package that covers illegal alien "children" up to 35 years of age.  It would effectively grant amnesty to these illegal aliens who have either graduated from high school, earned their GED, or served in the U.S. military well into their adulthood.

Personally, I oppose Harry Reid’s desperate attempt to pass his backdoor amnesty plan during the Lame Duck session of Congress.  The DREAM Act is little more than an educational initiative that would allow millions of illegal aliens who meet a very loose definition of the term ‘student’ to qualify for green cards.  Additionally, the DREAM Act would funnel taxpayer monies away from legal residents and into the pockets of illegal aliens. 

Already in my current state of Utah, illegal aliens are granted in-state tuition rates for college education.  I find this to be ludicrous.  A United States citizen living right across the border in Idaho would have to pay out-of-state tuition, but someone that is not even in the country legally gets the same benefits as an American citizen and legal resident of the state of Utah.  Now with the possible passage of the DREAM Act, not only will illegal aliens get in-state tuition, but will be granted green cards with a path to citizenship. 

This is absolutely preposterous and it is such concern for illegal aliens at the expense of Americans that has precipitated a lot of resentment from a large majority of the American populace.  This disregard for doing the will of the American people is also the exact reason why Senator Hatch's colleague from Utah, Senator Bennett, was beaten in a GOP primary earlier this year and is slated to be replaced by conservative Senator-elect Mike Lee.  Senator Hatch, with his similar disregard, has similarly been put on notice that he likely will be challenged for his seat in 2012 accordingly. 

According to Grassfire Nation, a grass roots conservative organization that fights to protect our Constitutional rights, has stated that their  contacts suggest that there are a number of Republican fence sitters who haven't yet committed their voting intentions on the DREAM Act.  Unfortunately, they did not identify who these specific senators were.  I would strongly encourage everyone to contact your own two senators and ensure that they do not vote for passage of this backdoor amnesty bill accordingly.  If passed, the DREAM Act will be little more than the proverbial camel's nose under the tent wall.  The next resulting action will be a herd of camels in our American tent.

North Korea Attacks South Korean Island of Yeonpyeong Today

Today, starting around 2:00 PM local time, North Korea escalated rising tensions precipitously by opening up with an artillery barrage on South Korea's Yeonpyeong island, about 75 miles west of the coast near the disputed border between North and South Korea. 

South Korea returned artillery fire and scrambled jets to protect the area.  Sources say that approximately 200 shells were fired between the two sides until approximately 3:30 PM local time.  In addition to the people killed or injured, several houses and buildings were destroyed as columns of black smoke were reported rising from the island which has a population of 1,200 to 1,300 people.

Latest reports said that two South Korean marines were killed and twenty other people, both civilian and military, were injured in the attack.  There was understandably no report on casualties inflicted on North Korea by South Korea's retaliatory barrage.

This is the second major incident and act of war perpetrated by Kim Jong Il and North Korea upon the South Koreans this year.  Earlier on March 26th, a South Korean naval vessel was sunk by what is assumed to have been a torpedo from a North Korean submarine.  Many South Korean sailors died in the unanswered attack.  North Korea, characteristically, denied having done so.

The White House issued a statement on today's attack through Press Secretary Gibbs saying, "The United States strongly condemns this attack and calls on North Korea to halt its belligerent action and to fully abide by the terms of the Armistice Agreement."  Further, Gibbs continued, "The United States is firmly committed to the defense of our ally, the Republic of Korea, and to the maintenance of regional peace and stability." 

Currently there are approximately 30,000 United States troops stationed in South Korea to protect the good people there and maintain security along the border with North Korea that had been established in the armistice during the cease fire at the end of the Korean War in 1953. 

Earlier this month, President Obama stated in a speech given to American troops stationed there that, "Pyongyang should not be mistaken: The United States will never waver in our commitment to the security of the Republic of Korea. We will not waver."

So as the escalation of tensions in the region increase due to the unpredictable dictator Kim Jong Il, who recently announced that his son Kim Jong Un would be his heir to the leadership of North Korea, the world watches as North Korea now has committed inarguably at least two acts of war against its southern neighbor just this year.  Further, Kim Jong Il has stated that North Korea now has a new uranium enrichment facility, presumably to create more fuel for nuclear weapons.

The situation here is indeed delicate, but these unprovoked attacks warrant a strong and unambiguous response from South Korea, the United States, and the world.  Placating or de-escalating the situation through concessions and/or appeasement of this rogue regime will ultimately only invite more of the same behaviour in the long run. 

Already, Japan is on high alert in the region and fears of this situation spreading out of control are not unreasonable.  China, which is pretty much the main benefactor of North Korea and by far the most important nation responsible for what commerce and goods that the isolationist regime has, must condemn these actions in clear and absolute terms.  The United States must use all influence to ensure that China does so, otherwise sooner or later the stakes will be too high and South Korea and 30,000 American service members will be in extreme jeopardy.

Code Pink and Pax Christi Join in War Protests

I ran into this interesting post over at Lisa Grass' blog regarding the alliance between the militant leftist group Code Pink and the ostensibly Catholic group Pax Christi USA in protesting America's use of drone attacks in the war in Afghanistan.  These groups have tried to bring attention to the "indiscriminate" use  of lethal force against terrorists by staging mock drone attacks in several U.S. cities to draw public and media attention to their cause.

I am perplexed and a little taken aback that any "Catholic" group would join with Code Pink, since it is so outwardly hostile to the United States and the military that defends it.  I can understand and appreciate people of good conscience protesting war, despite the fact that the absence of war does not typically denote peace and is frankly rather naive; however, aligning with a group that is often at odds with the basic tenets of our nation is frankly highly detrimental to their ultimate cause of that elusive peace.

Code Pink has intentionally been inflammatory in their language to the point of being absurd for a group that ostensibly wishes for peace.  Their hateful speech towards the military and America in general can almost always be found at their rallies or demonstrations.  Note the pictures in this posting as typical of the type of hateful rhetoric that these "peace activists" spew.

Anyway, Lisa, as always, does an excellent job with the posting and I highly recommend checking out the rest of the story at her blog here.

ALERT: United Nations CEDAW: Open Assault On Everything We Believe In

In light of my recent research I have been doing lately on the pernicious United Nations, I received an ironically well-timed email  from a fellow blogger on a similar UN topic.  I thought it quite worthy of posting his article here as well accordingly.  ~ T. Paine

Guest Post by Spencer.  You can read Spencer at Books, Bones, Bricks, and Bullets

I need everyone's attention on this one, so please, listen up.

Sorry I'm late on this; I hope it isn't too late to call now. As of this afternoon, I was able to make my calls (one attendant even asked me before I got a word out, "Are you opposed to CEDAW?"), so it was at least undecided then.

It's called the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? Anti-women ideology is something I particularly hate; few things disgust me more. So might I be in favor of this international treaty? Should you be?

The answer is as easy as one word: NO! Let me tell you why; please bear with me. This is some of the most important information you've heard in a while.

First and foremost, you need to get informed on this issue, and fast. See this article here; please check it out, it's quick and informative.

Second, I have a copied-pasted email from PRO below (yes, the good folks at ParentalRights.org are making moves on this issue as well, due to its massive implications on all families everywhere); it has the calling information.

Third, if you aren't convinced yet, let me condense the issue for you. Or rather, let me allow Michael Farris to condense the issue for you, via an excerpt of the article.

The Preamble of the CEDAW treaty boldly proclaims: “A change in the traditional role of men as well as the role of women in society and in the family is needed to achieve full equality between men and women.”

That is not the only megalomaniacal goal of this treaty. Its Preamble also calls for a “new international economic order” and “general and complete disarmament” both of which are deemed necessary to “contribute to the attainment of full equality between men and women.”

It is a “modest” agenda. Restructuring the family. A worldwide socialist economy. Total disarmament. All neatly packaged in a handy little treaty on women’s rights.

The UN CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women)

A "complete disarmament" (this time, they actually came out and said it). A reversal of Biblical family life, a reversal of Biblical family roles. An enforced feminist and socialist agenda. All conducted from the oversight of the United Nations (which means the sacrifice of American sovereignty). Is this what you want?

If that doesn't convince you, then nothing will. I don't know the status of CEDAW as of Friday night/tonight, but perhaps some calls Monday morning are in order? (And how about some prayer, as well?)

After all, it's only everything that's at stake.

And here's the original PRO email, with accompanying calling information:

The United Nations’ Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is being considered today in a Senate foreign relations sub-committee hearing. ParentalRights.org urges you to call your senators and instruct them to oppose this treaty.

Here is a link to Michael Farris’ paper regarding the dangers of CEDAW, in which he warns, “Feminist internationalists intend to use international law to coerce the restructuring of the institution of the family and the role of every man and every woman on the planet.”

Understand, this is not the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), of which we have been warning you for so long. Like that treaty, however, CEDAW seeks to establish U.N. authority over American domestic law, and to redefine forever the role and function of the family in American society. Like the CRC, CEDAW also contains obligations far beyond its beneficent title. And like the CRC, CEDAW is part of a net of international human rights treaties which strengthen and play off of each other, so that ratification of any one leads in part to the adoption of all the others.

For instance, the CRC’s aim to make “reproductive health services” an undeniable right of adolescent girls regardless of parental involvement would be realized just as securely through ratification of CEDAW as it would through ratification of the CRC.

Perhaps most dangerous, the CEDAW committee has claimed, just as the CRC committee has, that their convention is a “dynamic instrument,” and that the committee has the ability over time to clarify the broad obligations of the treaty with an increasing degree of specificity as they progress toward their own world-wide agenda.

While the ratification or defeat of CEDAW is not the primary focus of ParentalRights.org, we must acknowledge that its ratification would be damaging to parents in the United States, while its defeat would be a victory for ourselves and for our allies.

So please, take a moment and read Michael Farris’ article here.

Then, call your senator if he is on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Human Rights Law, or chairman Senator Durbin if yours is not. Urge them to oppose ratification of CEDAW and any other U.N. human rights treaty.

The members of the Subcommittee on Human Rights Law include:

Richard Durbin (IL), Chairman: (202) 224-2152
Russell Feingold (WI): (202) 224-5323
Benjamin Cardin (MD): (202) 224-4524
Chris Coons (DE): (202) 224-5042
Arlen Specter (PA): (202) 224-4254
Al Franken (MN): (202) 224-5641
Lindsey Graham (SC): (202) 224-5972

Senators Tom Coburn (OK) and John Cornyn (TX) are also on the subcommittee but do not need to be called, as they both oppose CEDAW already.

Sincerely,

Michael Ramey
Director of Communications and Research

So please, take a moment to call on Monday (or, if you like, leave voicemail messages over the weekend). If you do call, then I thank you heartily, and I'd ask you to please let me know in the comments section. If you do not comment, I will have to assume that you did not call.

Also, I beg you all to please tell everyone you know about this, ASAP, via whatever method you choose (blogging, email, facebook, twitter, or anything else you use).

Let's cut off this viper's head, shall we?

Spencer