“God Forbid.”

Is anyone as tired of the hypersensitivity, the pandering to the “Religion of Peace”, and the political correctness in this country as I am? We have become a nation of cowards who wince at the slightest wisp of “controversy” and buckle at a single complaint.  Based on this I would strongly suggest our Islamic friends avoid Chic Fil A at all costs.

They should have sent them a Christmas ham as an apology. It makes you wonder what happens to Christians who make religious complaints in Muslim countries.

CAIR-MN Welcomes Long John Silver’s Apology to Muslim

In addition to a written apology, the company will send the family a gift certificate to any Yum! Brands location and a replacement, non-religious toy for their 3-year-old child.

“We commend Long John Silvers for its prompt and professional handling of this case,” said CAIR-MN Civil Rights Director Taneeza Islam. “This positive outcome highlights both the desire of the company to respond to customer concerns and the inappropriateness of distributing religious material in a commercial setting.”

CAIR, America’s largest Islamic civil liberties and advocacy group has 35 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

Perhaps an alternative toy for Islamic complainers should be kept stocked for such occasions:

There are many issues and concepts that could be addressed here. The reasons for “white flight”, the subsidization and exportation of poverty and crime with your tax dollars, the achilles heel of true multiculturalism, the obvious failings of the welfare state, an American sub-culture in collapse and an educational system that is a disaster etc.  But I will let you draw your own conclusions without a word of comment from yours truly.

Influx of black renters raises tension in Bay Area

ANTIOCH, Calif. (AP) – As more and more black renters began moving into this mostly white San Francisco Bay Area suburb a few years ago, neighbors started complaining about loud parties, mean pit bulls, blaring car radios, prostitution, drug dealing and muggings of schoolchildren.

In 2006, as the influx reached its peak, the police department formed a special crime-fighting unit to deal with the complaints, and authorities began cracking down on tenants in federally subsidized housing…

Longtime homeowners complained that the new arrivals brought crime and other troubles. In 2006, violent crime in Antioch shot up about 19 percent from the year before, while property crime went down slightly.

“In some neighborhoods, it was complete madness,” said longtime resident David Gilbert, a black retiree who organized the United Citizens of Better Neighborhoods watch group. “They were under siege.”…

Joseph Villarreal, the housing authority chief, said the problems in Antioch mirror tensions seen nationally when poor renters move into neighborhoods they can afford only with government help.

“One of the goals of the programs is to de-concentrate poverty,” Villarreal said. “There are just some people who don’t want to spend public money that way.”

Burris says “don’t lynch me”….

From Hamas’ Al-Qassam website (autotranslated):

The Brigades of the Martyr Izz el-Deen al-Qassam, the military wing of the “Hamas” movement bombed on Monday (29/12) the port of Ashdod with “Grad” rockets and the settlement of Nahal Oz with three mortar shells. The Zionist enemy admitted the deaths of four rapists, including an officer, and injuries to more than 20 others wounded by the Qassam rockets.

The group said in its “The Mujahduha bombed the Ashdod port, which lies 40 km north of the Gaza Strip, Grad rockets at 9:15 “which led to the death of Zionist rapists and injuring more than 20 others, three of them seriously.

The Mujahduha battalions have also shelled the settlement of Nahal Oz with three mortar shells at 9:40 and the Zionist enemy admitted the killing of two soldiers, one officer and wounding four others.

The statement said “We declare jihad on the work of shelling Zionist settlements with Grad rockets and mortar shells, which resulted in the recognition of the Zionist enemy of the killing of four rapists and wounding more than 20 others, three of them seriously.

The group said the bombing was a response to the continued Zionist aggression against our people in Gaza and the West Bank, in response to the Zionist massacre in Gaza, which led to the deaths of more than 350 people and injured hundreds, and on the continuing unjust siege on our people.

In reality, one of the “rapist” victims was a 39-year old mother of four, another was an Israeli Arab and a third was a 58-year old man sitting at home. Only one of these attacks hit a military target, and a career officer was killed – who was a Druse.

Colorado Avalanche Kills 2 Snowmobilers  -  headline, Associated Press, Dec. 28

Apparently coach Tony Granato couldn’t be reached for comment

Dolphins Found Dead at New Jersey Shore  -  headline, FoxNews, Dec. 26

Somehow they still managed to beat the Jets and make the playoffs

Dolphins’ Chad Pennington Gets shot to show Jets fans what they’re missing  -  headline, Palm Beach Post, Dec. 27

Plaxico Buress did the same thing.  I wouldn’t recommend it.

Of course it comes from Christopher Hitchens.  

A few weeks ago, DFV said of Hitchens that “there are precious few men in public affairs today who more zealously seek the truth than Mr. Hitchens, and none I’m aware of who possess his intellect and knowledge.”

I don’t know about the “seek the truth” part.  I do know there are few who more zealously seek to be critical of people of faith.  To him, all pastors and religious leaders are charlatans and the faithful are ignorant.  But his logic on a variety of topics is unflappable and his use of the written word is in the stratosphere of Victor Davis Hanson and George Will. 

So far, the only criticisms against Warren giving the inauguration invocation have been from the left.  They are upset that Warren doesn’t embrace the radical homosexual agenda and so this pastor must be unfit to offer a prayer to the Almighty.  *yawn*  But Hitchens gives us a reason to legitimately question Warren. 

In one of those Pelosi/Sean Penn moments, Warren travelled to Syria to meet with Bashar Assad in 2006.  Now generally, elites like Hollywood leftists or businessmen or legislators don’t travel abroad unless it advances some agenda of theirs.  So the first thing that popped into my mind was that Pastor Warren wants to tell the flock he was on the road to Damascus like Saul of Tarsus (Paul).  Hitchens thought the same thing:

“Syria,” he told his viewers back home by video, is “a moderate country, and the official government rule and position is to not allow extremism of any kind.” This is a highly original way to describe a regime that is joined at the hip with the Iranian theocracy, that is the patron of Hezbollah in Lebanon, and that is the official and unabashed host of the fugitive Hamas leadership whose military wing directs massacre operations from Damascus itself. . .

. . .I can absolutely see what Warren hoped to get out of this sordid little trip, the evidence of which he vainly tried to conceal when it threatened to become embarrassing. He wanted to be on video for his open-mouthed followers as he posed “on the road to Damascus.” And he didn’t care what deals he had to make, with Baath and Toothbrush Central Command, in order to bring off such a fundraising coup. But now it’s the sandals of Obama that are being exploited by the same tub-thumper, and one has not merely a right but a duty to object to having as an inaugural auxiliary a man who is a pushover for anti-Semitism, Islamic sectarianism, “rapture” theology, fascist dictatorship, 10^th-rate media trade-offs, and last-minute panicky self-censorship all at the same time.

It always bothers me when people cozy up to dictators and proclaim that “all is well” when the exact opposite is true.  When Nancy Pelosi acts as a pseudo foreign minister in the Middle East or when Sean Penn snaps photos of poor children in Iraq there is something disgraceful at play.  And when Rick Warren says that Syria is a moderate nation and oh by the way, turn to the Book of Acts for today’s message from God, there is also something disgraceful at work. 

Its okay for Warren to pastor a mega-church and be a best selling author.  But if in the pursuit of those ends he ignores the crimes of brutal gangsters posing as heads of state,  he endangers the mission of that work and undermines his own credibility.

I like it when Netanyahu gets a bit biblical…

Netanyahu on the current Israeli/Hamas war

In a special session called in the wake of the IDF operation in Gaza and the situation in southern Israel, Netanyahu called upon the citizenry of Israel, Jews and Arabs alike, to stand united behind the IDF’s actions in the south. He likewise called for a change in policy that would restore Israel’s deterrence. “For three transgressions of Gaza, I will turn away but for the fourth, I will not”, Netanyahu opened his address in the plenum session of the Knesset quoting from the Prophet Amos.

“For firing upon civilians, for taking cover behind civilians, for causing suffering to our citizens, and for causing suffering to their citizens, we will strike back at the terror in double measure , said Netanyahu and enumerated the crimes of the Hamas: “for destroying our communities, for destroying hope, we will pay them back with an iron hand, the hand of the Jewish people, as the Prophet Amos said: “I will send fire in the walls of Gaza.”

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A year’s intel gathering yields ‘alpha hits’

More than 170 targets were hit by IAF aircraft throughout the day. At least 230 Gazans were killed and over 780 were wounded, according to Palestinian sources. Officials said at least 15 civilians were among the dead.

The IDF released a list of some of the targets hit: the Hamas headquarters and training camp in Tel Zatar; the “Palestinian Prisoner Tower” in Gaza City that was turned into a Hamas operations center and armory; the Hamas police academy, which was bombed during a graduation ceremony, killing 70-80 people; training camps in southern and central Gaza; the former office of Yasser Arafat in Gaza City that is now used by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh; and the Izzadin Kassam Brigades headquarters in the northern Gaza Strip.  

Update: The Israeli assault on Hamas continues. I can only wonder what the response from the US would be if bloodthirsty terrorists calling for its extermination had launched thousands of rocket attacks from just over the border in Mexico. Would the world be wringing it’s hands and whining about “disproportionate response” and assorted nonsense? And would we care if they did? The answer is no. Israel is a modern, sovereign, civilized state that has every right to punish and destroy those who so eagerly seek it’s own destruction. There can be no peace in the Middle East until the Arabs decide that Israel has the right to exist, and the right to protect itself. Israel has said that they will not allow another Hezbollah type terrorist state to be established on their border. And I support their effort to prevent that from happening.  I do not necessarily cheerlead war. In fact, I hate the suffering, loss and misery that war causes. But I do cheerlead necessary and just wars and the destruction of the cult of Islamic jihadism wherever it rears it’s ugly head.

Defiant Hamas hits Israel with dozens of rockets

Intensified rocket strikes by Gaza militants, which triggered the Israeli offensive, have revealed the expanding range of missiles that are making larger cities farther inside Israel vulnerable.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) – Palestinian militants sent a deadly barrage of missiles flying deep into Israel on Monday, demonstrating that Hamas still had firepower three days into Israel’s punishing air offensive in Gaza. Three Israelis were killed and two seriously wounded. Palestinian health officials put the three-day death toll in Gaza at 364; the U.N. said the total included at least 62 civilians.  

In Monday’s attacks, Israel focused its bombing on the houses of Hamas field operatives in a campaign meant to tear at the roots of the extremist group ruling Gaza. Israel’s defense minister promised a “war to the bitter end against Hamas” and allied militants. 

 

4-5 Meter shark grabs 51 year old dad. “…disappeared in “a swirl of blood.”

This four-meter white shark chased two kaykers to a runabout, then circled it for ten minutes.

It’s been a rough weekend in Australian waters.

This month has been the second highest for shark sightings in Australia since aerial patrols began in 2005, and has already matched the entire year of 2007 – 2008. In the past week there have been ten sightings off metropolitan beaches, including five the day after Christmas.

With so many big fish coming so close to beaches an attack was inevitable, but nobody expected two in one weekend.

“Shark Season” has definitely begun.

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I have been working on a children’s story book off and on for quite a while. I plan for it to contain about ten stories and then also some “bonus” material in the form of some fun/silly songs, poems etc. at the end. The stories are all originals but some of the additional material is just my take and revisions of otherwise well known compositions. I plan to probably go through the print on demand company lulu.com. The book is tentatively titled “Tell Me A Story…”  Ten wonderful stories your child will cherish (or something like that).

I have my own “focus group” consisting of my three daughters (ages 5, 9 and 11) so I can usually tell by their feedback if a story is any good or not. Anyway, here is my version of the old favorite silly sing-a-long story “Little Bunny Fu Fu”. You have to kind of sing it to really get the full effect. It also has a way of sticking in our head all day so consider yourself forewarned. The jury is still out on how good these “revised” renditions are…

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And I have been waiting all year to post this picture.

I normally attempt to refrain from posting Ann Coulter stuff but this was too good to pass up. She does have her moments.

KWANZAA: HOLIDAY FROM THE FBI

Kwanzaa was the result of a ’60s psychosis grafted onto the black community. Liberals have become so mesmerized by multicultural nonsense that they have forgotten the real history of Kwanzaa and Karenga’s United Slaves — the violence, the Marxism, the insanity. Most absurdly, for leftists anyway, is that they have forgotten the FBI’s tacit encouragement of this murderous black nationalist cult founded by the father of Kwanzaa.

Now the “holiday” concocted by an FBI dupe is honored in a presidential proclamation and public schools across the nation. In Oregon public schools this year, Kwanzaa — but not Christmas — appeared on the official calendar.

Bush called Kwanzaa a holiday that promotes “unity” and “faith.” Faith in what? Liberals’ unbounded capacity to respect any faith but Christianity?

“People need to look at the history of Ronald Reagan when he lost his first attempt at the Presidency. He didn’t go back and say, ‘Let’s water down the conservatism. Let’s dilute what we’re saying. He made it even stronger. He made it even sharper. There’s a lesson there for potential candidates.”

“We need to be principled in our conservatism. We need to be unabashed, unafraid. We won’t always be popular with editorial writers and a lot of the members of the national media, and that’s okay. At the end of the day, it’s more important that we stick to our principles. ”

These two quotes have one thing in common. They are both by current Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal. I believe Jindal is “our Obama”. At least our answer to him and what he represents. Is it too early to look forward to 2012? I am an early “fan” of Bobby Jindal and though he has said he is not interested in running in 2012 I think he may be pulling “an Obama” who assured us just a couple of years ago he wasn’t going to run for the presidency. The era of the “old, white guy” as the candidate for the GOP (Dole, McCain, potentially Thompson etc.) needs to come to an end. Palin had the principle and the fire in the belly that is needed, but you have to be able to handle yourself in the meat grinder of modern day politics and excel when it comes to interacting with the media. She was unfortunately a disaster in that respect. I would like to see her in the Senate though. If for no other reason it would drive the Left bananas.

It is time for a new breed of uncompromising, unapologetic candidates on the federal level. The days of the RINO, surrender and capitulation to the Democratic and liberal agendas, and “reaching across the aisle” crap absolutely must be at an end or it will indeed be all over and we will be living in a de facto one party state with just a token opposition ran by the country club elite. Obamanism is not attractive enough for me to sit quietly by as that takes place. The “Reagan wing” of the Party must not allow itself a slow, self inflicted death by capitulation to the powers that be.

A personal look at the 2008 vice presidential candidate

In matters of faith on this site, I take a precarious role.  On one hand, I am often a vigorous defender of Protestantism and the Christian faith and I side with fellow believer and buddy Dave.  On the other hand, in my old age (37) I have grown somewhat tired of some blaring inconsistencies in the way believers exercise their faith and therefore find myself in agreement with the self-professed secularist, Damien. 

Today I take the role of the critic and for good reason.  It appears that since Rick Warren is giving the invocation at Obama’s inauguration, he is now doomed to hell.   Or punishment.  Or some undisclosed wrath from God that this guy thinks is coming:

Southern Baptist Pastor Wiley Drake bashed Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren this week, saying “God will punish” Warren for agreeing to give the invocation at President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration next month.

“I pray He is kind to you in this punishment that is coming,” Drake wrote in a widely-released e-mail. In it, the First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park pastor criticizes Warren’s “recent plan to invoke the presence of almighty God on this evil illegal alien,” a reference to Obama.

Drake, who made last November’s ballot as a vice-presidential candidate for the American Independent party, is a party to a lawsuit claiming Obama was born outside of the U.S., and is therefore ineligible to serve as president. Obama has a Hawaiian birth certificate, which Hawaiian officials have said is genuine.  Drake said Warren, also a Southern Baptist minister, is “hurting our denomination, and the Lord’s work.”  He continued: “God will deal with you on this … God will not wink at this.”

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticizing the faith here.  Just this ass clown and the morons that follow him.   He has positioned himself with silly rhetoric in a way that is inconsistent with the faith.  Like the overwhelmingly radical fringe we now call the homosexual community, he decries harmless acts of reconciliation and union as an affront to their political and social agenda.  And in the process, he only shows that he cares not about spiritual matters but political ones.  Pretending to know God’s will and future punishments for praying for a political foe is the height of arrogance and stupidity.

Merry Christmas Everyone

Christmas Night, 1776

On Christmas Day, 1776, nearly all thought the Revolution was lost, except for a valiant few who still believed in “The Cause.”  We owe our liberty today to those valiant few.   

Led by George Washington, most of his army, dressed in rags and barefoot, faced a winter gale of rain, sleet, ice and snow.  This band of patriots braved a midnight river crossing and a nine mile march over frozen roads to win a spectacular victory at Trenton, New Jersey, the following morning.  Those were indeed times, as Thomas Paine would write, that “try men’s souls.”

In a season that has become too commercialized and — worse yet — had much of its religious meaning driven from the public square, Washington’s Christmas crossing is a story that should be remembered and celebrated, this Christmas and every Christmas…

In case everyone forgot. It’s not all about presents and Santa. Could you even put this in a cartoon anymore?

From the bottom of my heart all of the best to all of you and your families this Christmas. Peace on Earth and goodwill to man.

“The Roman Republic fell, not because of the ambition of Caesar or Augustus, but because it had already long ceased to be in any real sense a republic at all. When the sturdy Roman plebeian, who lived by his own labor, who voted without reward according to his own convictions, and who with his fellows formed in war the terrible Roman legion, had been changed into an idle creature who craved nothing in life save the gratification of a thirst for vapid excitement, who was fed by the state, and who directly or indirectly sold his vote to the highest bidder, then the end of the republic was at hand, and nothing could save it. The laws were the same as they had been, but the people behind the laws had changed, and so the laws counted for nothing.”

- Teddy Roosevelt

For those who insist that Bush is some sort of heartless demon gleefully sacrificing American lives for Haliburton please be sure to read Bush Spent Hundreds of Hours Comforting Families of Fallen Soldiers.

If appears that Barack Obama is suddenly concerned about what evangelical type Christians think about him after his disastrous embracing of radical black liberation theology for the last twenty years and having a proclaimed spiritual mentor prone to frenzies of anti-American and racist rantings from the pulpit. His pick of the Rev. Rick Warren of Saddleback forum fame to deliver the inaugural invocation has caused yet another hissy fit from the militant homosexual movement who continue to insist on a complete capitulation by society to their radical agenda. It is interesting to see Obama dissing Wright for Warren. Rick Warren is a “socially conscious” evangelical and basically is a moderate who also happens to oppose abortion on demand and gay marriage. Oh, the horror. But the good news is that a gay marching band will march in the inaugural procession so maybe it’s all a wash in the end.

Now we can be Barack Obama’s myspace friend. YES WE CAN! Even here he goes out of his way to mention the word “Christian” twice on the page while at the same time trying to make it sound like all the feedback from the couch potatoes, rally cheerleaders and fainting welfare moms will be seriously considered in his crusade to save America from itself. If I was an Obama supporter I would honestly be offended by the dumbed down and pandering feel to the entire page. The attempt here is that “we”, meaning Barack Obama and you working hand in hand are going to save America and that working together we can hammer some solutions out on myspace to save the world. Gag. One can only speculate if this constant need for reaffirmation is directly related to Histrionic Personality Disorder.

We’ve pointed it out on Conclub before, it’s a simple but effective tool in a mob reliant ideology (in this case Obamanism) to use the zealotry of the common crowd to indoctrinate the youth, enforce the ideology, stifle dissent, and otherwise attempt to turn the Republic into a de facto one party state. This is standard fare in totalitarian societies and is currently used in a variety of countries around the globe and was a favorite tactic in National Socialist Germany, Communist Russia and the cultural revolution of Mao’s China to name a few. The tactics of ultimate control are simple: the Messiah like leadership figure, intimidation of the opposition, indoctrination of the youth, the encouragement of groupthink, the mobilization of the citizenry to enforce compliance of ideological aims, the manipulation of the masses so that they are convinced that they are an intricate part of the “Revolution”, and the domination of the majority of information outlets and focuses of power or influence (Internet, radio, media, Hollywood, academia, schools , all branches of government etc.).

As the year wraps up Ann Coulter has blessed us with her insights into Sarah Palin being HUMAN EVENTS’ 2008 Conservative of the Year, McCain has all but defected to the Obama camp, the inauguration of  The One is right around the corner, gas prices are still low but probably won’t stay there for long, there is a surprising horse race for Chairman of the RNC, Fred Thompson will be getting his own radio show, California will almost assuredly find a way to strip away it’s own constitutional provisions and insist on forcing its twisted view on the rest of us that marriage between two members of the same gender is some sort of inalienable, inherent, and basic civil right, China is preparing to use your made in China dollars to build an aircraft carrier, the soon to be Commander in Chief showed off his waxed chest while on vacation, the physical war on Christmas continues, the Iraqi ’shoe thrower” of recent fame turns out to be (despite early reports) an Iran loving follower of America hating Sadr, and anyone remotely qualified to fight the war on terror as the CIA chief in an Obama administration is being “vetoed” by liberal bloggers. Why don’t we just surrender now and get it over with?

As the sun sets on the American empire, be sure to remember to be extra nice to illegal immigrants. The Democrats want their votes and the Republicans want their labor. Both of them will be after you if you bruise one.  The border patrol is scared to do its job, the once vaunted “Fence” is riddled with holes, at least one eighth of the entire population has fled the failed state of Mexico and immigrated to the United States, and millions of native born white Americans are out of work or underemployed.  The echoes of the fall of the Roman Empire ring out from the dim halls of history for those who care to listen and I’m pretty sure that common sense lies buried somewhere in a shallow, unmarked grave.

Well folks, that just about covers it. Remember, the truth is often stranger than fiction and we are now preparing to enter a four year journey  into the land of fantasy, fiction and the beloved liberal nanny state. Hail Barack Obama (may peace be upon him) he is indeed, The One.

Here’s a little clip outlining the origins of Festivus. Let me just take a moment to wish a very Happy Festivus to all of  you and your families. May all of your grievances be aired and your feats of strength be impressive.

Here are three different versions of this hauntingly beautiful song. As the day that Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus rapidly approaches, it is good for us to remember the basis of the Faith, and the longing that the Church has to be reunited with the Messiah.

From “Boys Gregorian” by Boys Air Choir

Enya

Christini Sonnemann

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. – Isaiah 9:6

My guess is probably nothing truly great and worthy of mention. Now this guy on the other hand has spent four years and $3,000 building a giant Hoth battle scene from the Star Wars: Return of the Jedi movie entirely from legos. If that isn’t dedication to a cause I don’t know what is.

Behold, the Battle of Hoth

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Mom is coming up from NC today to stay with us over the holidays.
I’m sure she’ll get a chuckle out of this.

“In the final analysis, we, the people, are responsible for the corruption of our leaders by failing to demand a higher standard of conduct from our politicians. Increasingly, Americans have grown accustomed to a culture characterized by moral relativism and individualism. We have mocked Judeo-Christian values — humility, virtue, honor — and in the process, eroded restraints on social conduct. The results have become painfully obvious in the business arena and are becoming increasingly obvious in the political arena. When we do not demand honor, virtue, and accountability from ourselves, can we really expect more from our leaders? Have we merely gotten the leaders we deserve?”

 –Ken Connor, Chairman of the Center for a Just Society

The Beast is not sure which version he likes best of this lovely carol, but all three bring a tear to his rheumy eye.

Josh Groban – serves the song straight up and gutsy but seems to lack passion.

Celine Dion – lovely but maybe too pyrotechnic.

Celtic Woman – gorgeous in every respect, but their flutey voices can’t power the tune in at the end.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND GOD BLESS US ONE AND ALL.

Special Bonus Video: The Eric Cartman Rendition (with cattle prod) – the best of the lot, Eric brings a depth of feeling to the song unmatched by all others.

I heard this a couple/few years ago when Glenn Beck first aired it.
I’m glad he’s still keeping it alive because it applies EVERY year, of course.
Having purchased several of her CDs, I’ve always enjoyed Amy Grant’s talent, and have a special appreciation of Beck’s use of her music in this recording.

Transcript here.

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Let me open by saying that while a wintry mix may sound delicious it is quite annoying. Read the rest of this entry »

Well not me personally. Here’s a nice little tune that’s been stuck in my head ever since my days of wasting countless hours playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 on Playstation. Enjoy

“It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or that have failed in their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden.

“I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is “needed” before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible.”  

-Barry Goldwater

Just putting an “R” behind your name does not make yourself truly a Republican, and doing so simply to get a political position of power even less so. And it certainly doesn’t make you a conservative. There is a reason that the term RINO (Republican In Name Only) was coined and Powell has been the poster boy of that label for many years. His latest backstabbing of the Republican party by publicly endorsing Barack Obama while simultaneously insulting the small town, heartland values of conservatism and those who dare to propagate them on the radio was simply sad to see from the man who probably could have become the first black (and first black Republican) president if he had chosen to travel that path.

The Necessity of ‘Outing’ Colin Powell by Christopher G. Adamo

For starters, consider Powell’s convoluted and thus typically liberal approach to the issues of race and ethnicity in America. From the “multiculturalists” we have for so long heard the grand drivel that “Our diversity is our strength” that most people accept and believe it without question. Yet by his very words, Powell asserts that Republicans need to pander to differing minority factions, presuming no such common “strength” but an inherent system of weaknesses among them that require special attention.

To Powell and his political class, this “outreach” is of course comprised entirely of expanded government entitlement programs and increased social spending, as if all of the former massive expenditures ever yielded even a modicum of benefit to the nation’s increasingly segregated and balkanized ethnic subcultures. Rampant urban squalor and despair are all the nation has to show for its past fiscal orgies, so why not up the ante?…

…For too many years, the Republican Party has sought to further its political fortunes by attempting to simultaneously uphold both the high standards of its conservatives and the low standards of its liberals, who most often like to cast themselves as “moderates.” And for just as long, the “moderates” have proven to be a bunch of “Trojan Horses,” regularly undermining conservative agenda items to the delight of the Washington establishment. Ultimately, a party of numerous conflicting standards is a party with no standards at all.

I never cease to amaze myself at my own ability as a teacher to awaken the mind, dazzle the senses, sow the seeds of critical thinking, raise up future leaders, make great students feel as if they could have tried harder and not-so-great students feel as though they just reached the moon.

Okay, perhaps I’m overdoing it a bit.

But I gave this project where my sophomore World Study II students had to create a movie maker project that told the story of the Cold War in about three minutes.  The parameters were simple: learn the process, tell the story using words or voice overs, use images from history, set it to music for mood, etc.

Here is one student’s sample.  And why teaching can be very rewarding. . .

I took the liberty of posting this verbatum from Opiniontimes. 

Paul Weyrich: Rest in Peace

The conservative movement lost one of it’s founders and strongest advocates today.  Paul Weyrich died this morning at the age of 66.

I have seen a few articles about him so far with pictures of him in hislatter years when his health was failing.  When I remember him I see a strong leader with a clear and precise use of language and unfaltering stand for truth.  He was a confident advocate for conservatism.  And he engendered confidence in those he touched with sound advice and counsel.

I didn’t know him well, but I was around him on various occasions.  I met him the first time in 1984.  I was a young college student ready to take on the political world.  I had gone to Powhatan, Virginia for a conference of student leaders gathered to start a new campus conservative organization called Students for America.  Paul was helping a young up-and-comer who had a vision for active student conservatism start an organization designed to promote future leaders.  His name was Ralph Reed.   Paul Weyrich was one of a few leaders in the movement who made a path for a new generation of activists like Ralph who helped bring the GOP to majority status under the banner of standing for innocent life, free-markets and a strong national defense.

Paul helped found The Heritage Foundation and served as its first President.  Heritage came into being as a way to counter the pro-tax, big-government think tanks which dominated Washington, D.C. in the 1970s.  From a humble beginning in 1973, Heritage has become one of the largest, most influential think tanks in the world thanks to Paul’s early efforts and those which have been carried on by Ed Feulner.

As someone who was directly and indirectly influenced by Paul’s leadership, Christian witness and clear stand for truth, I am greatly saddended by his passing.  He will be greatly missed.

From Utpal Bhattacharya in today’s New York Times:

Say I convince my friend Elvis to invest $100 with me, promising to double his money in a month. Next I convince my friends Simon and Garfunkel. They each give me $100, and I use the $200 to pay off Elvis. Elvis is impressed and tells all his friends. I take $100 each from four of them — John, Paul, George and Ringo — and use the $400 to give back $200 each to Simon and Garfunkel. Suddenly everyone wants to invest with me. I take money from eight of them, then 16, then 32, and so on. When a lot of people are involved, I disappear with the money that I raised in the last round.

The scheme that I have just illustrated is called a Ponzi scheme. It is named after Charles Ponzi, who raked in $15 million in nine months in 1919 and 1920. At the height of his success, Mr. Ponzi was hailed by those he was cheating as the greatest Italian who ever lived. “You’re wrong,” he said modestly, “there’s Columbus, who discovered America, and Marconi, who discovered radio.” “But, Charlie, you discovered money,” they told him.

What is being called the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time was uncovered just a few days ago. The Wall Street legend Bernard Madoff is reported to have told influential investors that he could guarantee them a 1 percent monthly return. That promise probably sounded too good to be true — and it was.

Unfortunately people conveniently neglect the fact that the greatest Ponzi scheme of all time is perpetrated by the Federal government and affectionately called “Social Security.”  Right now, the people at the bottom of the pyramid are in their 30’s.

Joe the Plumber. Joe the Forum. Joe the Blogger. Joe the Reporter. Joe the Opportunist……

Not that I blame him, but really now, does he deserve this kind of notoriety?  This is obviously just an attempt to profit from his fifteen minutes of fame that was completely blown out of proportion to begin with. This is right up there with the Palin 2012 gibberish. It’s a flash in the pan but fun while it lasts.

Good grief.

Just a friendly reminder that we men are subject to certain mental lapses.  I’m sure Mo K would never send Mr. Mo K to the doghouse! 

Every guy will love and appreciate this video.

Tonight I took the family out for a short drive through a couple of neighborhoods to look at the various Christmas light displays. It’s fun to see some amazing decorating talent and then to also see the guy right next door to a masterpiece with just a strand of lights thrown over  a random bush and a half deflated Costco blowup Santa.

I have been adding more every year and this year I bravely crawled up on the roof to outline the peak of our home in lights. There are two places where you definitely will pray to a deity. One is in a foxhole under enemy fire. The other is perched on the edge of a steep, thirty foot high roof trying to string up Christmas lights without falling off or losing your footing. Sheer terror to those like myself who begin to feel uncomfortable on even that second to the top rung of a six foot ladder. I did a red and white light theme on three heavily overloaded extension cords with a total of now four lighted deer and one six foot spiral white light tree in the front yard. We have the hyperactive blinking icicle lights as well as the chasing lights around a couple of windows and then red lights around other windows and outlining my long wooden front deck. I also have three lighted white light wreaths hanging up various places as accents. Even with all that I don’t have anything on this guy. I do need to get a big lighted snowflake, wreath or star for the peak next year. It would be the icing on the cake.

Can you imagine living across the street from this? It would drive you absolutely crazy after a week or so.

This one is downright amazing and well done. You’d have to take a months vacation just to take the time to put it all together. There is a magnificent farm just outside of town that is “famous” locally for their amazing setup of lights but it is not done to music but there is enough lights on the property to probably be seen from space…

Just one more…

In 1573, the Parliament of Dole published a decree, permitting
the inhabitants of the Franche-Comte to pursue and kill a
were-wolf or loup-garou, which infested that province,
“notwithstanding the existing laws concerning the chase.”
The people were empowered to “assemble with javelins,
halberds, pikes, arquebuses and clubs, to hunt and pursue the
said were-wolf in all places where they could find it, and to
take, burn, and kill it, without incurring any fine or other
penalty.” The hunt seems to have been successful, if we may
judge from the fact that the same tribunal in the following
year condemned to be burned a man named Giles Garnier, who
ran on all fours in the forest and fields and devoured little
children, “even on Friday.” The poor lycanthrope, it appears,
had as slight respect for ecclesiastical feasts as the French
pig, which was not restrained by any feeling of piety from
eating infants on a fast day.

The History of Vampires, by Dudley Wright

I have to admit, the idea of a werewolf observing the Catholic restriction from eating meat on Fridays is pretty funny. “Giles, it is one thing to eat our little children on a normal weekday, but on Fridays? Zut alors, have you no shame?!”

The latest victim…. everyone’s favorite reindeer.  

Yes a disgruntled parent of a student at Murrayville Elementary School in North Carolina decided that she could not sit idly by while the children sang a song with such religious overtones as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in the school’s upcoming Christmas holiday show. Of course all of us  Christians remember the story in the bible of Rudolph. It was in the book of ummmm oh wait a minute that particular song is a fairy tale having absolutely nothing to do with the Christian faith except perhaps that it happens to take place at Christmas time.

We are talking about Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer here folks not Go Tell it on the Mountain or Onward Christian Soldiers. It is probably most secular, least offensive Christmas holiday song since Jingle Bells. There’s no pledge of undying love and devotion to Jesus just a silly kid’s song about a magic reindeer. Apparently this parent (only one by the way) objects to hearing the offensive words Christmas and Santa arguing that Santa is a religious character. I must’ve missed that story in the bible too.  Moreover the only time the word “Christmas” is used in the song it’s in the line “then one foggy Christmas Eve.” So it is only used in the context of describing what day it is.

So I’ve taken the liberty of doing a PC rewrite of Rudolph in an attempt to make one of the least offensive songs ever written even more so. Sing along with me won’t you?

Rudolph the special endangered quadruped                                                                   

Had a slightly different nose but he was just as smart and handsome as everyone else.

And if you ever saw him

And you even noticed it glows you would be an intolerant jerk.

All of the other endangered quadrupeds

Used to laugh and call him names because they were mean but it probably wasn’t their fault because they may have been abused by their parents or had some sort of genetic predisposition toward meanness.

They never let unfortunate Rudolph

Join in any endangered quadruped games

Then one foggy December 24th.

An overweight bearded man in a red suit came to say

Rudolph with your slightly different nose

Won’t you guide my eco friendly non carbon emitting vehicle tonight.

Then all of the endangered quadrupeds loved him

And they shouted out with glee

Rudolph the special endangered quadruped

You’ll go down in white christian male dominated history.

Has a nice little harmony to it doesn’t it?

I want one.

I have been in correspondence this week with Allen J. Duffis who is the editor of  The Conservative Independent. He describes himself as a “middle of the road” conservative (in stark contrast to yours truly). I do find him to have an interesting and intellectual approach to a variety of subjects. He sent me the following article which I believe is definitely worth reading and perhaps pondering a bit. His views on the end results of hyper-capitalism mirror mine in many ways. There are those of us on the Right who are often mercilessly pummeled for not cheerleading economic institutions or policies that are exploitative, economically unpatriotic or are dismantling the middle class, yet I sincerely believe in the old adage that in the end ‘the truth shall set you free’.

The Chemistry of a Dysfunctional Democracy

The end of the article makes a point that is worth repeating here:

Historically, youth as a political movement and force has an incredibly tragic and quite often bloody history. It is wise to remember that Russia’s Joseph Stalin, Germany’s Adolph Hitler, Communist China’s Mao Tse-Tung, Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, among others, were ushered into office and the power by a wave of predominately youth driven movements. All of these men (initially including Hitler) possessing charismatic and ingratiating character appeal and mesmerizing speech making capabilities, rode into power behind a Socialist banner and almost immediately began making sweeping changes to their country’s political and social landscape.

Think about those statistics for a moment and digest their implications carefully. In retrospect, when afforded the opportunity by history, very much enamored with ideals, youth has chosen very badly just about every time they have been handed the chance to make a difference in a society.

Now we have a new totally untested and inexperienced president, Barack Obama, who leans very much to the Liberal Left – almost to the point of positioning himself horizontal to a Socialist discipline. He has a charismatic personality that is ingratiating, and possesses a memorizing speech making capability. And he has advocated the making of sweeping changes to the American political and social landscape.

A scary comparison of historic parallels – isn’t it?

I am now being published by a site hosted by Backbone America Citizens Alliance whose chairman is the former President of the Colorado State Senate John Andrews. After an invitation and a couple of e-mail exchanges Mr. Andrews formalized my membership as a writer for the site today and I am honored to be a part of his “Backbone America”.

From the site’s “who we are” section:

“This site is hosted by Backbone America Citizens Alliance, John Andrews, Chairman. The alliance stands for America without apologies, America with steel in her spine, America as it was meant to be according to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. John is a fellow of the Claremont Institute, former Colorado Senate President, appointee of four US Presidents, US Navy veteran, Presbyterian elder, father and grandfather — as well as mayor-for-life of Backbone, Colorado, his imaginary hometown of the heart.

Backbone America is a nonprofit, nonpartisan voice that champions the principles of the American founding. Our vision foresees the 21st-century conservative movement reborn in the spirit of 1776. Our work applies the truths of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution to contemporary issues in the states. Our name evokes the high Rockies as a summons to individual honor and constitutional rigor in these times.”

Palin’s burned-out church holds services elsewhere

“The annual Christmas assault — In Olympia Washington, an atheist group named the Freedom From Religion Foundation has placed an anti-religious placard next to a nativity scene and ‘holiday’ tree in the capitol building. The message: ‘At this season of the Winter Solstice may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.’ Since the United States Constitution guarantees freedom OF religion as opposed to freedom FROM it, one might be forgiven for wondering exactly whose hearts are ‘hardened’ and whose minds are ‘enslaved.’”

-columnist Arnold Ahlert

”The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.’ 

- Cicero, 55 BC

Most of you are unaware that in Colorado’s second congressional district, a Democrat named Jared Polis was elected to replace Mark Udall (who is Colorado’s newest Senator).  CO-2, which includes Boulder, is second only to CO-1 (Denver) in it’s liberal leanings.  Naturally, when Polis got through the primary, the race was essentially over.  Polis is  wealthy, gay and ambitious.  So it is with pleasure that I report he already has established himself as a Democrat with a great degree of economic clarity and sobriety; a trait seldom seen among liberals.

In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal last Wednesday, Polis expressed exactly the type of economic thinking that has been missing from the Democratic party (and the Republicans of late).  Polis boldly swims against the tide of his own party to propose a cut in capital gains taxes on all investments in the automobile industry.  In doing so, Polis essentially concedes that such taxation acts as a disincentive to investment and curtails job creation.

If we as a society place a public premium on “saving” the automobile industry from its default reorganization under Chapter 7 or Chapter 11 bankruptcy — which has been good enough for the steel and airline industries, among others — then a better manner in which to express that premium might be to establish special tax consideration for those who are willing to take on the risk. One way of doing that is to provide an exemption from capital-gains taxation on all debt or equity instruments used in the next six months to invest in the troubled auto makers.

By waiving the future capital-gains tax on all investments in the automobile industry, we enhance the projected return models and therefore the likely occurrence of a privately funded “bailout.” There are turnaround firms and funds, and they are experts at what needs to be done. Tax exemption for gains would certainly get their attention. It also wouldn’t cost taxpayers anything because it only forgoes future government revenues that wouldn’t exist absent this incentive.

Though Polis is most assuredly a committed social liberal, it is refreshing to see a guy who hasn’t yet taken office weigh in on the economic issue of the day in an independent manner.  Though he is a businessman, he clearly understands the need for Congress to stay out of the business sector.

Most members of Congress and staffers on the Hill are smart people, but we should not pretend that we are better at what are so clearly other people’s jobs. One of the tremendously difficult tasks that we are ill-equipped to successfully orchestrate is restoring these three failing companies to health. As one of the members of Congress with a strong business background, I know what I don’t know in business. While I hold my colleagues in great esteem, I doubt their abilities as turnaround artists are very much superior to mine. Any pretension of a government bailout being a good deal for taxpayers should be abandoned for the insincere (or perhaps ignorant) rhetoric that it is.

Once upon a time there was a very happy couple. Their names were freedom and capitalism. They married and had many wonderful children. Their names were independence, self-worth, hard work, dignity, charity, faith and hope. They all lived happily for many years and the children respected their parents and loved them both very much.

But freedom and capitalism later had several naughty children, very naughty. They weren’t so respectful and never appreciated their parents. Their names were wealth envy, environmentalism, animal rights activism, racism, feminism, ultra liberalism. These evil children blamed their parents for everything and hated their parents’ freedom and capitalism. In fact, these unappreciative children began to hate their parents since they didn’t realize their parents gave them everything they had and didn’t realize that they wouldn’t even exist without their parents. They hated their parents so much, they began to plot with their neighbors to kill their parents and to keep their home.

Their neighbors’ names were socialism and communism who on the outside were a very lovely couple but inside they were very, very ugly. They and their children, whose names were despair, poverty, suffering, and repression had been welcomed into every neighborhood they had lived in. But then thrown out after years of suffering and the loss of many lives. So late one night in total darkness because socialism and communism did everything in darkness and the way from the light of the truth, while everyone was asleep, wealth envy, environmentalism, feminism, animal rights, by their younger obnoxious brother, Hollywood, disguised by socialism and communism and let them into the house, freedom and capitalism. It wasn’t hard, for the two parents, freedom and capitalism, always left their gates and their door open for everyone.

Wealth led the way because he knew the house oh, so well. The evil children led socialism and communism throughout the house, one room at a time. And one at a time they killed hard work, then dignity, then independence, self-worth, charity and faith. They finally found the room of freedom and capitalism and killed them as well. It wasn’t hard to do, since freedom and capitalism always left their door unlocked and open for everyone. Only hope survived. Hope survived hiding in the closet. She ran out during the ensuing celebration.

After socialism and communism moved in, things went well for a while but then they decided they didn’t like freedom and capitalism’s evil children, either. They wanted their own children to have the rooms in their new house. So late one night in total darkness because socialism and communism did everything in darkness and away from the light of the truth, they sent their children to kill freedom and capitalism’s remaining evil children. Poverty and suffering killed environmentalism and animal rights first, for they were so hungry, they had to kill all the animals for food and the trees for their wood. And besides, why should animals have rights if people don’t? Hopelessness killed liberalism, the retarded brother of communism. Then poverty, suffering, and repression killed feminism. The retarded sister of liberalism. And Hollywood, the young obnoxious son of freedom and capitalism, was also killed. Finally, wealth envy, who led the attack on his parents, died at the hands of poverty since there was nothing left to envy.

So socialism and communism and their children, poverty, despair, hopelessness, suffering, repression lived in the once beautiful home of freedom and capitalism which was now in great disrepair and they all lived sadly ever after. All that was left of the family of freedom and capitalism was hope who was quietly hiding in the woods.

-Dr. John Rossi

H/T: My brother-in-law, who saw this on Glenn Beck’s website.

By now you are probably aware that there have been a multitude of lawsuits filed in regards to the question of whether or not President-elect Barack Obama is in fact eligible under the “natural born” provision of the Constitution of the United States of America to be the President of the United States.                       

The Constitutional provisions are very specific when it comes to the minimal qualifications for President. One is to be over thirty-five. He is. Two, is being in the country fourteen years. He has been. Three, is to be a natural-born citizen. The latter remains unproven, a matter of contention, and appears to be increasingly unlikely to be true.

There are several variations on this theme, but the general and most often made argument is relatively simple and straightforward.

The Plaintiff in one of the filed suits put it this way.

Read the rest of this entry »