Hannity states "Obama Will Go Down In American History as the Worst President We Have Ever Had"

Admittedly Hannity can be obnoxious. That being said, he is also correct about 95% of the time. I strongly suspect that, as per the case he lays out in the following video, Mr. Hannity is correct once again.

Scandals in the Catholic Church

Jennifer Fulwiler over at Conversion Diary eloquently addresses and helps to place into context the scandals in the Catholic Church and how God can allow this to occur in His church.

She does an excellent job here, as is typical with nearly all of her writing. Go here to read her posting on this.

The Quest of Lieutenant Colonel Larkin

I have now heard from multiple people, and invariably and even understandably these folks are rabid supporters of President Obama, that Lieutenant Colonel Larkin is a racist because he is what they derogatorily refer to as a "birther". That is to say that LTC Larkin is one that does not believe that Barrack Hussein Obama was born as an American citizen on American soil.

Colonel Larkin has served eighteen years in the United States Army and has already served a tour of duty in Afghanistan. He is refusing orders, including those to deploy again to Afghanistan until he is sufficiently convinced that President Obama is Constitutionally qualified to serve as President of the United States. Colonel Larkin wishes to see an original birth certificate signed by the delivering doctor for Mr. Obama as proof of this qualification. If such is presented, he claims he will fulfill his duties and follow his orders, including those to deploy.

He is in the process of being court-martialed because of his stand on this and his resulting refusal to follow what he feels may be illegal orders.

Colonel Larkin's argument is that if President Obama is not Constitutionally qualified to be President then he as commander in chief of the armed forces is also not legal. This makes all orders, especially those regarding the war in Afghanistan as illegal and illegitimate.

Now I am not one that put much stock in this argument that President Obama is not legally qualified to be President. I tend to think that he has been vetted legally to hold the office, regardless of the fact that President Obama routinely has violated multiple other tenets of the Constitution since having taken office.

That being said, I understand Colonel Larkin's argument and see no signs of racism attributable to this man. He is simply following his conscience, in my opinion.

Further, a man of immense intellect that has served our nation with honor also agrees. This man is also a man of color. He has gone so far as to write a posting in support of Colonel Larkin on his own blog. He is definitely someone that would not be supporting Colonel Larkin if there was even the semblance of racism in Larkin's motives behind his disobeying what he considers are illegal orders. The name of this man of color that is in vehement support of the Colonel is Ambassador Alan Keyes.

Those that claim racism on behalf of LTC Larkin are absolutely mistaken. They have a right to disagree with Colonel Larkin's stance on the issue, but that does not give them the right to assume motives of racism as the cause when there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever to support this claim.

I am frankly tired of being called a racist myself when I exercise my Constitutional right to free speech in criticism of President Obama in many of his un-Constitutional and Marxist policies. It is not President Obama's color that abhors me. It is these policies. Further, I voted for a man of color for president long before I ever even knew the name of Barrack Hussein Obama. That man is the very same Alan Keyes.

Obama Plays The Foolish Dove

President Obama is seemingly on a course to fundamentally change every aspect of our nation that has made it strong, prosperous, and safe. He has routinely ignored Constitutional restrictions on his powers and grown the size and scope of the executive branch and the federal government on the whole to no good end. He has, along with the progressive sects in congress, done much to hinder or out-right dismantle the free-market capitalism that has been the bulwark of America's innovative spirit, and stoked the desire to improve one's self through upward mobility, and indeed to savor and cherish our very freedoms.

I now read in a story in today's New York Times how President Obama wishes to fundamentally change our nuclear weapons policies that have managed to keep us safe since their invention. It is bad enough that Obama has stated how he wants to unilaterally cut back on our own nuclear arsenal and scrap theatre missile defense shields, but now he also wants to weaken our nuclear weapons policies too.

As per the NY Times story, "For the first time, the United States is explicitly committing not to use nuclear weapons against nonnuclear states that are in compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, even if they attacked the United States with biological or chemical weapons or launched a crippling cyberattack."

So basically, President Obama has taken nuclear weapons off the table against possible enemies even in the event of a direct attack on the United States with weapons of mass destruction used against our people. This is absolutely amazing.

Now I understand that much has changed since the Cold War ended, but a basic tenet in a fight is not to telegraph your moves to your enemy or in this case, tell him that your most effective attack against him is something that you won't consider using.

I dearly would love to see the day come when the need for nuclear weapons and other WMD's no longer exist, but unfortunately until the second coming of our Lord, that day is not going to happen on this planet. By unilaterally disarming the United States, removing the ability to defend against other nations' nukes (via the scrapping of missile defense systems), and then invoking new doctrines stating that certain elements in our defense are now off the table, all this does is embolden our enemies as they will certainly see this not as a sign of our commitment to peace but rather as a sign of our weakness and a lack of intestinal fortitude when it comes to defending our nation and its interests.

President Reagan understood this. He was hugely responsible for our winning the Cold War, accordingly. Reagan understood that peace is achieved through having superior fire power. You can have the best of intentions for peace, but unless you are prepared to fight a war, that peace will likely be very ethereal.

In the school yard, a bully will generally not pick on the biggest and strongest boy there, even if that boy is typically good natured. The bully will rather pick on the kid that portrays weakness or shows an unwillingness to fight back when the bully demands his lunch money.

Human nature is consistent in this matter pretty much across most cultures and nations that would be threatening towards us. This is definitely true with adversaries in the Middle East who only respect strength, and will see Obama's overtures as a huge sign of weakness and lack of resolve on behalf of the United States of America.

One does not make the world safer by disarming one of the few nations that abides by the rules and generally respects the rights of other nations. Evidently this is not a lesson that Obama is willing to learn without doing it the hard way. Our country is decidedly less safe for his foolishness at being the Dove and supposed peacemaker accordingly.

A Man of Faith

A few weeks ago, a good man and friend of mine that has returned to the Catholic faith decided to join the Knights of Columbus, which is a fraternal organization of Catholic gentlemen dedicated to Christ, Church, and service to the community.

Well during the first degree ceremony to initiate my friend into the Knights, I heard one of the other Knights speak about the "Romanian" that would be joining that evening as well. I had the privilege to shake my friend's hand after the ceremony as well as the hand of the "Romanian". I thought little more about it until this last weekend.

You see, we had a short retreat early Saturday morning for the 43 members of RCIA that would be officially joining the Catholic Church during the Easter Vigil Mass later that evening. (The Mass was beautiful and very joyous to watch as these good people glowingly went through the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and first communion, by the way.) Anyway, after the retreat, I noticed the "Romanian" was helping some other volunteers to prepare the church for the Easter Vigil that evening.

At one point, I went up to him to thank him for his work in helping to prepare the nave for that evening. It was something that I did as a spur of the moment after-thought as I was walking past him. I am so glad that I stopped and took the time to talk to the "Romanian", who goes by the name of John. Our conversation that transpired was amazing and inspiring.

John began to tell me his story of how he came to America. He had grown up and lived in the Transylvania region of Romania for most of his 61 years behind the iron curtain of the cold war.

John lived under the very brutal dictatorship of Nikolae Ceausescu. Ceausescu was one of the very evil rulers of this Soviet Union satellite nation that seemingly delighted in the persecution of his people. In particular, there was no place for God and Christianity in Ceausescu's Romania, just as there was not in any nation trapped behind the iron curtain.

Well, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the people of Romania overthrew Nikolai Ceausescu and his wife Elena and executed them both for their crimes perpetrated against the Romanian people; A people that were severely punished or killed for choosing to worship God during Ceausescu's reign.

John said that he always believed in Christ though, even despite the knowledge that should that become public, he would possibly suffer a horrible fate.

Well John relayed how he eventually came to the United States seven years ago. He did his best to tell his story in his broken and poor English. (Unfortunately my Romanian skills are non-existent). John spoke of his faith and the magnificence of God, Christ, and the Church and how lucky we are without even knowing it that we are free to worship God as we please. It is something that seemed to amaze him how many people took this basic tenet of freedom for granted here.

John further told me and showed me pictures of his two stunningly beautiful daughters, who both are professional models in California, and of his beloved twin grand-daughters. He is exceptionally proud of his family and the fact that his daughters have taken advantage of America's blessings and have availed themselves of good college educations as well.

He inspired me with his marveling at our nation's freedoms and blessings. Although I am very aware of the exceptionalism of this last great nation that still is a shining city on the hill, admittedly I too take many of our freedoms for granted. John in his broken English and with emotion in his eyes and his hands clasped as if in prayer reminded me that our freedoms are indeed blessings from God and that they must be fiercely defended. And he is a man that knows of which he speaks. I am grateful to him and to God for this divine reminder!

He is Risen!

After a very beautiful three hour Mass last night to celebrate the Easter vigil, I awoke this morning to find that the world outside has been blanketed with a gleaming pure white cloak of new snow. The sun is bright and shining and the air is cold, fresh and crisp. It is a day that is full of promise.

It is beautiful and I am so very thankful for this beauty and all of the blessings that our Lord has given to me, no matter that I am undeserving. I am especially grateful for his ultimate sacrifice of death on the cross as atonement for my sins! The celebration of His resurrection and rising today destroyed death for all those that believe in Him... and I do believe, Lord Jesus Christ!

The Last Supper

Today is Holy Thursday and marks the celebration of our Lord's last supper as He celebrated the passover meal with His disciples on the day before His crucifixion and death for our sins. Tonight's Mass is a beautiful one and I am looking forward to it greatly.