Preaching Politics

Hiatus

2006-01-27T12:00:00.000-06:00

With my education becoming a priority it has necessarily meant that my time previously spent blogging is now spent reading and studying. While I do intend to return to this site in the future, until then I encourage anyone visiting to check out the worthy sites in the margin to the right.

Not enough money for education? It's a myth.

2006-01-18T21:19:00.000-06:00

If there's anyone at all I can respect at ABC, it's John Stossel. He's a libertarian, and the only person I know of at the network that's not sold out to the tired liberalism that pervades the "mainstream" media. He regularly takes on the myths the liberal establishment love to throw around. His latest target is education spending:

Not enough money for education? It's a myth.

The truth is, public schools are rolling in money. If you divide the U.S. Department of Education's figure for total spending on K-12 education by the department's count of K-12 students, it works out to about $10,000 per student.

Think about that! For a class of 25 kids, that's $250,000 per classroom. This doesn't include capital costs. Couldn't you do much better than government schools with $250,000? You could hire several good teachers; I doubt you'd hire many bureaucrats. Government schools, like most monopolies, squander money.

America spends more on schooling than the vast majority of countries that outscore us on the international tests. But the bureaucrats still blame school failure on lack of funds, and demand more money.

Unsurprisingly, he's getting clobbered with hate mail from the NEA.

I say abolish the US Dept. of Education. That includes the small percentage of money schools get from the federal government as well as 80% of the paperwork. Let each state and locality set their own rules. Eliminate the rules that forbid school choice. Let parents decide where to send their kids. Institute voucher programs (the only thing federal money should be spent on) to allow parents to send their kids to any private school they wish. In effect, make the dismal public schools compete with the phenomally more successful private schools.

Oh yeah, and bring back corporal punishment!!

Hat tip to Right Wing News.

First Our Homes, Now Our Churches

2006-01-18T20:54:00.000-06:00

The Anchoress has this deeply disturbing account of how a tax-hungry town in Oklahoma has taken the Kelo decision to new depths.

Since the Supreme Court’s controversial Kelo decision last summer, eminent domain has entered a new frontier. It’s not just grandma’s house we have to worry about. Now it’s God’s house, too. “I guess saving souls isn’t as important,” says Reverend Gildon, his voice wry, “as raking in money for politicians to spend.” The town of Sand Springs, Oklahoma, has plans to take Centennial Baptist — along with two other churches, several businesses, dozens of small homes, and a school — and replace them with a new “super center,” rumored to include a Home Depot. It’s the kind of stuff that makes tax collectors salivate. It’s also the kind of project that brakes for no one, especially post-Kelo. “I had no idea this could happen in America,” says Reverend Gildon, after spending Monday morning marching in the Sand Springs Martin Luther King Day parade.

This is today's America--a country with a judiciary-gone-mad that empowers people who think that the benefits offered by local churches don't measure up to the tax benefits of mini-malls.

I know it's not the height of political correctness to talk about God as if He actually cares about stuff like this, but I would be very afraid to live in Sand Springs if this plan is actually implemented.

PS. Don't forget, it was the liberals on the Supreme Court who voted to allow garbage like this.

Ted Kennedy: Children's Author

2006-01-18T16:56:00.000-06:00

Did you hear about Ted Kennedy's latest stunt? He wrote a children's book! Not a joke. Here it is:

Personally, I like these better:

Another Blow to Freedom of Religion

2006-01-18T16:48:00.000-06:00

No surprise that it comes from California:

Under legal pressure, a rural school district agreed Tuesday to stop offering high school students an elective philosophy course on "intelligent design," an advocacy group said.

A group of parents had sued the El Tejon school district in federal court last week, saying it violated the constitutional separation of church and state by offering "Philosophy of Design," a course taught by a minister's wife that advanced the notion that life is so complex it must have been created by some kind of higher intelligence.

Ayesha N. Khan, legal director for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which represented the parents, said Frazier Mountain High agreed to drop the class.

"This sends a strong signal to school districts across the country that they cannot promote creationism or intelligent design as an alternative to evolution, whether they do so in a science class or a humanities class," Khan said.

Once again Americans who wish to learn about anything other than the religion of evolution/atheism are slammed back into their place. Who exactly is trying to establish a religion here? Someone who wants to teach a philosophy class talking about evidence that points to intelligent design or those who refuse to allow any discussion on anything but their narrow view of the universe?

Our founding fathers would be calling for another revolution.

$5 Millions Bucks Saved

2006-01-18T16:03:00.000-06:00

While the media is droning on about possible civilian casualties caused by a recent US missile strike in Pakistan, you may have missed this tidbit:

ABC News has learned that al Qaeda's master bomb maker and chemical weapons expert was one of the men killed in last week's U.S. missile attack in eastern Pakistan.

Midhat Mursi, 52, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, was identified by Pakistani authorities as one of three known al Qaeda leaders present at an apparent terror summit conference in the village of Damadola.

Score one more for the good guys, and that's a cool 5 million (the reward money for Mursi) in the bank (or the bottomless pit known as government spending, but we won't go there right now.)

Oh, and about those civilian casualties. While I grieve for any innocents killed, especially children, I can't fault us for making the strike. The world needs to understand that in our war against terror, we are going to kill terrorists, wherever we find them. So going to a meeting, or a dinner party, or whatever that has known terrorists attending or planning to attend is a very risky move. And Pakistan in particular needs to pick up the pace in letting her people know that they can't harbor these murderers.

Ray Nagin -- You Decide

2006-01-17T21:29:00.000-06:00

I tried coming up with a catchy description for the Mayor of New Orleans but had to give up. To me he's an enigma. For example:

In the last Louisiana governor's race, he endorsed the Republican. This while serving as the mayor of the Democratic stronghold of the state. In a city that knows no limits in the lengths it will go to to get Democrats elected (see the fraud committed to get Mary Landrieu elected), the chief executive comes out for a Republican?!?

He demonstrated total incompetence and the typical liberal blame-everything-on-the-evil-racist-conservatives during hurricane Katrina.

Today he came out with a strong statement, claiming America was enduring God's wrath via the numerous hurricanes. He partly blamed this on our presence in Iraq (typically liberal.) But he also had some atypical (and interesting) stuff to say about race:
[God] is upset at black America also. We're not taking care of ourselves.

Why is black-on-black crime such an issue? Why do our young men hate each other so much that they look their brother in the face and they will take a gun and kill him in cold blood?

We as a people need to fix ourselves first.
And then some wacky stuff about New Orleans being a "chocolate" city again.

Overall, the media is treating him as a harmless aside. There's been no firestorm over his daring to claim that God may not be happy with us. (If only Pat Robertson were black! Or a Democrat!) Of course, he's apologized, leaving us to wonder if there is anyone in America who is willing to talk about God without immediately afterward bowing before the altar of political correctness.

Personally, I’m with LaShawn Barber in calling on all the bloggers (especially the conservatives) who thrashed Robertson for his observation to hold Nagin to the same standard. Plus I’m still waiting for a politician who demonstrates a greater fear of God than of the media. But I’m not holding my breath.

New York Times Fakes Photo to Hurt Bush Administration

2006-01-17T19:39:00.000-06:00

Always in a rush to score points against their favorite antichrist, the New York Times put up the following photo and caption on their website:
Of course anyone who does not harbor a virulent hatred of the bush administration and isn't completely ignorant of all things military (2 traits common to most liberals) might have noticed that the object in the picture is not a missle but an artillery shell, probably a decade or more old.

After being called on their latest hit piece, the photo has since been removed, but not before being picked up by other news sites. Who knows how many newspaper readers will be shedding tears for the little boy in the misleading photo before all the damage is done?

My Sandman points out some other inconsistencies.

Hat tip to Michelle Malkin.

ACLU Sides with Terrorists Against National Security

2006-01-17T19:19:00.000-06:00

The ACLU filed a lawsuit today to bring an end to the NSA program targeting terrorist phone calls. They were joined by organizations such as Greenpeace and CAIR. Part of the reason for their lawsuit is that they claim that George Bush has been listening in on their communications. Which of course begs the question, are they more concerned with letting terrorists plan attacks on America without having to deal with the irritation of actually getting caught or at least having their plans foiled, or do they just enjoy the privilege of calling up terrorists to chat?

From Stop the ACLU:

The left are in full attack mode. So, while our military fights the good fight, the ACLU are sueing over an inconvenience in its ability to talk to the very people who want to kill us all. Like I said before, the ACLU’s slogan of “Keep America Safe and Free” is an absolute lie. They care more about the imaginary rights of our enemies than any kind of safety for America. They have done absolutely nothing for America’s safety, and everything in their power to fight the efforts to protect America!

Michelle Malkin has a list of the plaintiffs, plus some good links.

On Martin Luther King Jr

2006-01-16T18:16:00.000-06:00

Today is a holiday in memory of a very great man. Martin Luther King Jr's courage and ideals should be honored by all. He helped bring our nation away from the shame of racism. His murder was a tragedy.

Unfortunately his legacy has been hijacked by self-serving shysters intent only on accumulating political power as they lead minorities to wallow in self-pity and self-destructive behavior. Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, Al Sharpton, and Kweise Mfume together don't make up half the man King was.

Your Tax Dollars Helped to Pay for This

2006-01-15T19:59:00.000-06:00

Planned Parenthood, the nation's leading provider of baby-killing services is a billion dollar company. It's also subsidized by the federal government. Which of course means that you and I help to pay for garbage like this:

Yep, that's God handing Adam a condom ala the Sistene Chapel. Kinda gives you a warm feeling all over to think of how our hard-earned money is going to provide vital services like this in addition, of course, to helping to murder little babies by sucking out their brains just as their about to take their first little breaths.

Other goodies offered by the abortion mill giant:

Another key chain...has a caricature of a baby crying loudly, accompanied by the Planned Parenthood slogan, "Condoms are cheaper than diapers."

One is a takeoff on the "Uncle Sam Wants You" poster from World War II, replacing Uncle Sam with a condom. The second has an American flag with the stars in the field of blue replaced with the words, "Wear with Pride." The third is a picture of the Statue of Liberty holding a condom instead of a torch.

As a Christian I shudder at the thought of the judgment we are screaming for. We're snuffing out God's most precious creations at the rate of over 3 million a year, all in the name of convenience. I pray that Sam Alito and the other Supreme Court justices will have the courage to do what is right and overturn Roe v. Wade. Our nation's very survival depends on it.

Another Reason to Send Surrender our Kids to Public Schools

2006-01-15T18:17:00.000-06:00

They get to download internet porn for a grade...

A high school research assignment on Internet pornography was canceled after parents in this Cleveland suburb complained.

Superintendent Jeff Lampert said that although the teacher's apparent goal _ to discuss the harmful effects of pornography _ was well- intentioned, he agreed with parents that the assignment was inappropriate for 14- and 15-year-old freshmen at Brooklyn High.

The assignment asked students to research pornography on the Internet and list eight facts about pornography. Students also were asked to write their personal views of pornography and any experience they had with it.

Yeah, let's assign a bunch of 14 year olds to get on the internet and look up porn, but only to see how harmful it is. I guess common sense isn't a requirement to teach in some Ohio public schools. And typically...

Lampert said he doubted the teacher would face any punishment.

Does anyone know if Ohio has a school voucher program? I bet there are a number of Cleveland parents researching that right now.

Application to Join Al-Qaeda -- ROUNDUP 1/14/06

2006-01-14T23:33:00.000-06:00

*Application to Join Al-Qaeda

It asks for your hobbies. Not a joke. Check out Jose Padilla’s application produced by the prosecution yesterday and partially reproduced at Michelle Malkin’s site. Reading the application is surreal. Why do they care if a would-be suicide bomber is widowed or divorced? I can just picture the AQ human resources committee talking over some applications. What about this guy? He listed ‘beheading infidels’ as his hobby. No, I like this one. He lists ‘conning gullible Western reporters as an intellectual ability.’

No word on whether they offered a good dental plan.

*The Slippery Slope

Canada’s Justice Department follows up on the legalization of gay marriage with a call for legalizing polygamy. This is where the tyranny of the courts is leading us in the US. Before long our children who are already suffering from the effects of no-fault divorce and adoptions by gay couples will be forced to live not only with two “daddies” but also three, four, or five “mommies.” Too bad there’s no border fence to protect us from this.

*Another great story from one of our guys in Iraq

A U.S. medic cuts through the red tape to save the life of a brave Iraqi soldier.

*The Real Culprits in Global Warming

Turns out it’s plants. The kind with leaves, not the kind with smoke stacks. Treehuggers everywhere must feel betrayed.

*Socialists Score a Hit on Wal-Mart

Proving once again that liberals have no idea how an economy that actually works is supposed to run, Maryland has enacted a law that forces big employers to pay for employees health insurance. Apparently the law is designed to apply only to Wal-Mart, however. Score one for idiot liberals and the unions. Score zero for the little guy who just wants to work for a decent wage (which Wal-Mart does offer) and like inexpensive goods.

*Court Defends Christian’s Free Speech

A high school principal's decision prohibiting a student from wearing his pro-life shirt in school has been overturned by a federal district court. Judge Elfvin of the Western District of New York signed a permanent injunction ordering Fillmore Central High School located in Fillmore, New York to allow the student to wear his pro-life shirt to school. ...

The student's shirt is distributed by the American Life League's Rock for Life group and displayed the following message: "Abortion is Homicide. You will not silence my message. You will not mock my God. You will stop killing my generation. Rock for Life." Fillmore Principal Kyle Faulkner told the student that he could not wear his shirt in school. The student was sent home for the day when he respectfully replied that he had a right to wear the shirt. The student then contacted the Thomas More Law Center....

Color me surprised. Pleasantly.

*Toon

From Cox & Forkum:

*Website Worth Watching: LifeSite

A great collection of news related to life and family issues.

A Marine's Perspective

2006-01-14T23:24:00.000-06:00

I love hearing the truth straight from the guys on the ground who are risking their lives to protect my freedoms. Here's a great interview with Capt B at Black Five. Here's a snippet to wet your appetite:

We had captured a weapons cache in Afghani, a BIG one and as we piled the weapons up the next door neighbor tribal leader showed up and “told” me he was taking those weapons from the feuding tribe we just confiscated them from. Being surrounded by 2 infantry Platoons he had these two girlie men (no kidding they were out of a very bad B movie) charge their AK’s as in an act to threaten us. I told my terp to translate to them “you just made a very bad mistake and you could have been killed “ as my Marines drew in on them as they charged their weapons. So after detaining him and his two girlfriends we sat them in a safe distance away from the pile of weapons on an adjacent hill but high enough for them to watch the fireworks show.

The rest is just as good. ;)

Another Jewel Brought to Us by Islam

2006-01-14T23:14:00.000-06:00

Iran to hang teenage girl attacked by rapists:

Tehran, Iran, Jan. 07 – An Iranian court has sentenced a teenage rape victim to death by hanging after she weepingly confessed that she had unintentionally killed a man who had tried to rape both her and her niece.

The state-run daily Etemaad reported on Saturday that 18-year-old Nazanin confessed to stabbing one of three men who had attacked the pair along with their boyfriends while they were spending some time in a park west of the Iranian capital in March 2005.

Nazanin, who was 17 years old at the time of the incident, said that after the three men started to throw stones at them, the two girls’ boyfriends quickly escaped on their motorbikes leaving the pair helpless.

She described how the three men pushed her and her 16-year-old niece Somayeh onto the ground and tried to rape them, and said that she took out a knife from her pocket and stabbed one of the men in the hand.

As the girls tried to escape, the men once again attacked them, and at this point, Nazanin said, she stabbed one of the men in the chest. The teenage girl, however, broke down in tears in court as she explained that she had no intention of killing the man but was merely defending herself and her younger niece from rape, the report said.

The court, however, issued on Tuesday a sentence for Nazanin to be hanged to death.

Hat tip to LGF.

"Religion of Peace" on Trial in Britain

2006-01-14T22:53:00.000-06:00

Little Green Footballs is always great for getting the goods on the side of Islam the media doesn't like us to see. This item is a good example.

Above you see followers of Islamic supremacist Abu Hamza, outside the court where he is on trial for inciting terrorism. In a tape aimed at young people he said: “When you meet Allah you will be asked who was killed at your hands?”

Britain and Western nations were “100 per cent anti-Islam”, he said in another tape, calling on his followers to spread Islam “by the sword” and adding: “European leaders only respect those that are strong.”

Hamza added: “We like blood and are addicted to it. When they say they love Allah they must ask themselves how much kafir blood they have spilt for Allah.”

Describing non-believers as “germs and viruses” in another tape he added: “There is no drop of liquid loved by Allah more than blood of Serbs, Jews or any other enemy of Allah.”

These are the guys the left says we need to understand, rather than simply call them terrorists.

Fixing the Criminal Justice System

2006-01-14T13:18:00.000-06:00

Based on the sheer number of people who’ve visited my blog as a result of searches concerning the Vermont judge who gave a child rapist only 60 days, I’d say people are pretty much fed up with the way our system coddles criminals and does very little to deter criminal acts. With that in mind, here is my humble proposal to “fix the system.”

I’m no lawyer or member of law enforcement. Many of the details of the system are beyond me. And I realize that my system could never be implemented the way our court system functions today. But still, this is the way I think things oughtta be.

First, we have to treat crime for what it is. It’s a willful, selfish act. One that places one’s own interests above the happiness, property, and even the lives of other individuals. It’s not a disease, or a learned behavior that needs correcting. It's not a product of upbringing that needs understanding. A crime is something that requires harsh punishment if our society is to survive as the beacon of light it’s been to the world for 200+ years.

Programs designed to “rehabilitate” criminals through education, etc. are fine, but not the job of the state. The state should only be involved in punishing criminals.

The death penalty needs an overhaul. In it’s current form, it provides little if any deterrence to crime. And it costs an arm and a leg.

Set an unmovable execution date for six months from the date of sentencing. All appeals have to be completed in that time. This would require the creation of a separate set of courts just to handle death penalty appeals. (Also this would require a serious overhaul of tactics that are tolerated in courts today, but that is an entirely different can of worms to open.) Quick executions would add heavily to deterrence. There’d be no more ridiculous please to Governors to stay an execution because the thug who murdered an entire family is now 70 years old and in a wheel chair.

Use a firing squad. There’s way too much emphasis on being humane to the condemned. Lethal injection is specifically designed not to hurt. Forgive me if I’m not concerned with the poor widdle bad guy gettting an ouchy during execution. On the other hand, bullets traveling into a person’s body DO hurt—a lot. Plus he might not die immediately, and have to live with some pain in his final moments. Electric chairs are also acceptable, but they cost too much. Bullets are cheaper than electricity. (If you think I’m being harsh, check out the Old Testament. God hates crime a lot more than me. He prescribed throwing rocks at someone until they died. Also burning.)

Televise the executions. I don’t like gratuitous violence on TV shows more than anyone else. It serves no purpose. But showing all potential criminals the reality of execution does. Give plenty of warning so that parents can shield their young children, but otherwise keep the cameras rolling until the limp body is drug off the screen.

Get rid of the life sentence. It’s useless. Plus it’s cowardly. It’s basically saying to the criminal, we don’t want you around anymore, but we can’t bring ourselves to give you what you really deserve. So any crime that calls for a life sentence should bring the death penalty. No more paying for room and board for 50-70 years. No more escaped murderers going on rampages.

Bring back corporal punishment. I’m not talking about paddling kids (though that would help prevent the need for the criminal justice system to act later.) I’m talking about public flogging. Again, we can deliver real punishment and save a ton of taxpayers’ money at the same time. Set up a post with shackles in the town square and start handing out the lashes.

Get rid of repeat felons. At some point criminals who refuse to take the hint need to be dealt with. After the third felony that hasn’t yet resulted in the death penalty, send them to the firing squad.

Make prison a place to fear. I envision areas of the desert fenced off with barbed wire. Tent barracks for the prisoners. Arm the guards with sniper rifles. Pile up the rocks and have the prisoners break them all day. Or else give them shovels and have them dig holes and fill them back in all day. Make it back-breaking labor that pushes them to the very ends of their bodies’ limits. Allow no outside contact. Anyone who tries to escape is shot. Anyone who starts a fight is shot. Everyone works. With such harsh punishment, there'd be no need for 20 year sentences. Five years would be the longest necessary time, and that only for the worst non-death penalty crimes, and repeat offenders. Thirty days to 6 months would be sufficient for most minor crimes.

Monetary fines for most “little” crimes. Fines could be paid through garnishing wages or seizing property for those without the immediate means to pay. Those who refuse to pay their fines face flogging. Any crime against property would require a repayment of the value of the property lost.

Make the sentence worthy of the crime. A few examples:
Pre-meditated murder or attempted murder – death.
Rape – physical castration (not chemical, which is a joke) for the first offense. Death for the second.
Child molestation of any kind – death. No more controversies out of Vermont.
Illegal drug dealing – flogging
Drug possession – fines.
Robbery, burglary – flogging plus fines.
Armed robbery, breaking and entering – prison plus fines.

Punishment would increase for repeat offenders.

Just a fantasy, I know. But this is the system I would work towards. Comments welcome.

Al Jazeera Wooed Ted Koppel

2006-01-14T11:20:00.000-06:00

Recognizing his past contributions as a left-wing propaganda artist, the world's mouthpiece for terrorism, Al Jazeera, tried to hire Ted Koppel.

PASADENA, California (Reuters) - Ted Koppel, an icon of U.S. broadcast journalism, said on Friday Arabic television news channel Al Jazeera was one of many news outlets that sought to hire him when he left ABC News in November, but he never seriously considered working there.

Perhaps the salary perk of first dibs on infidels' freshly-removed heads turned him off?

Of course he couldn't bring himself to denounce the terrorist collaborators.

"I know it's fashionable to look at Al Jazeera as just a propaganda outlet for al Qaeda," Koppel said. "I can tell you that al Jazeera is a huge step up from where the Arab world's journalism has been over the last 40 years."

Unless the "journalists" used to hold the hostages down while the thugs beheaded them, I'm not sure how they could have been any worse, Ted. Oh well, glad to hear you found new jobs with kindred spirits at those paragons of balanced journalism, the New York Times and NPR. I'm sure you'll fit right in.

Thoughts on the Supreme Court Nomination Process

2006-01-12T22:02:00.000-06:00

After watching a little of the nomination process and listening to endless discussion in the media, I’ve reached a conclusion about the whole sordid affair.

Before the Alito nomination I would have said the entire process was about nothing but politics. The Robertson nomination was fun to watch. He handled the hapless Democrats as deftly as a circus juggler. Biden and the gang came off looking like politicians at their worst, and everyone shook their heads, tsk tsking the way they were playing politics with the nomination.

But after watching the far more serious, far less entertaining Alito endure the same histrionics, I realize that the process is not about politics as much as it is about power. Before, I would have laid 1,000 to 1 odds that the primary motivation for the ridiculous charges leveled at Robertson and then Alito had everything to do with the Dems wanting to look good for their left wing financiers. Now I think I would have lost that bet. Because it’s not politics; it’s power.

What we saw in Kennedy, Biden, Schumer and the others wasn’t so much a show for their pals at Planned Parenthood and PFAW as much as it was the frustration of futility. Futility in the face of power that they can not match.

While our blessed Forefathers designed the government to have three branches of equal power, the last few decades have seen the balance of power shift significantly to the judiciary. More and more federal judges have taken more and more power for themselves content that their lifetime appointments inure them to any consequences. And they are right.

While judicial accountability has theoretically existed all along, it has atrophied through severe disuse. Constitutional amendments are so difficult to enact as to offer no deterrence whatsoever to judges who feel the need to create law by fiat. And since elections don’t come into play the only other form of accountability comes through impeachment. And while I find that judges who abuse their power by creating rather than interpreting law are more than worthy of impeachment, there are precious few Senators with the mettle to actually bring such an action to bear.

So the power of the judiciary grows. And nowhere has it grown more than at the peak—the Supreme Court.

So there the Senators sat, faced with a man whose unassuming presence belied the awesome power he holds—that of an unelected, unaccountable king. Already as a member of the federal appeals court he was beyond them. What’s the worst they could do? Not vote for him? Even if his nomination wasn’t practically guaranteed, they couldn’t do worse than send him back to his lofty perch. It was like sailors on the deck of the Titanic firing rifles at the iceberg, chipping away a few ice cubes before drowning in the shadow of its awesome mass.

So they wailed and moaned in the face of a power they’ll never have. In a few years the Senators face the electorate. Every week or month they face lobbyists and PACs and 50,000 people all with a list of wants and demands. All of whom they have to try to placate in order to maintain their meager position. Justice Alito will never have to deal with any of them. His black robe may not shield him from personal attacks and hatred, but his power is secure. For as long as he lives he and 8 other tyrants can make the law whatever they want it to be. And no Senator can stop them.

Indeed, it’s all about power.

For the record, while I chastise the Dems for their silly questions, I am not any more pleased with the Republicans. The Dems at least are somewhat ~~honest~~ straightforward about their intentions. They understand how the system now works, and they make no excuses for working it to the max. They don’t have a problem with activist judges, but they want one who will rule on the left side of the spectrum.

Republicans on the other hand also understand how the system works. And while they like to moan and groan about activist judges, they haven’t used their majority to do anything meaningful about it. No impeachment of power-mad justices, no proposed amendments to limit their out-of-control behavior. They just ask everyone to play nice and act like the system works. Don’t question the nominee about his politics because politics have no part in deciding cases. All the while knowing that politics play a huge role in deciding cases.

So while I’ve castigated the Dems on the committee, I believe the worse behavior is that of the Republicans. Lacking the courage to challenge the faulty system and fix the problem, they still refuse to play the game by the rules as they exist now. They’re the worst of fence sitters, rubber stamps for a new generation of black-robed despots.

I certainly hope that Justices Roberts, Alito, and the rest will resist the awful temptations of office. But should they decided to taste of the fruit, there will be no one to stop them. For they have all the power.

Note: I do have some ideas on how to fix all of this, but as this post has gotten so long already, I’ll contribute them later.

Getting Reaquainted with Liberals

2006-01-11T18:51:00.000-06:00

I haven't been posting quite as much this week due to a considerable change in my schedule. I've gone back to school. This time I'm taking on Computer Science. My goal is to flip-flop (wouldn't John Kerry be proud!) my career and hobby. To date my career has always involved teaching of some kind and my hobby has always involved computers. Now it will be the reverse.

In addition to having less time on my hands, I'm realizing I'm not exactly in Kansas anymore. The first day I saw a guy walking around carrying a book entitled The Republican War on Science. I had to chuckle as I remember being clueless enough to have fallen for a line like that when I was his age.

I'm also a bit long in the tooth compared to my fellow students. Yep, it's shaping up to be an adventure. ;)

PS. I'll try to keep up the posting, but please bear with me if it's a little light for a while.

Banning the Bible to Avoid Offending Muslims -- Roundup 1/10/06

2006-01-10T21:13:00.000-06:00

*Banning the Bible to Avoid Offending Muslims

A British airline banned its staff from taking Bibles and wearing crucifixes or St. Christopher medals on flights to Saudi Arabia to avoid offending the country's Muslims.

British Midland International also has told female flight attendants they must walk two paces behind male colleagues and cover themselves from head to foot in a headscarf and robe known as an abaya, the Mirror newspaper of London reported.

The employees' union wants staff members to be able to opt out of the flights, but the airline says the only option is to transfer from overseas staff to domestic flights, which could mean a loss of about $30,000 a year in wages. [Source]

You think the Muslim terrorists who hijack BMI planes will thank the stewardesses for not wearing their crosses before they crash the jet into a skyscraper?

*Al-Qaida Planning AIDS 'Suicide Bombers'

This almost sounds like an urban legend...but then again I wouldn't put it past monsters who target children with suicide bombers.

Al-Qaida is recruiting suicide bombers who are infected with the AIDS virus, according to Britain's Sunday Mirror.

The newspaper reported that terror chiefs are also targeting fanatics who suffer other lethal blood diseases such as hepatitis and dengue fever in order to increase their "kill rate" from an explosion. The chilling new threat is revealed in papers distributed to British military camps in Iraq and across Europe.

Will Blanco Pay the Piper?

After what can only be called an abysmal performance during Hurricane Katrina, inept Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco may be facing a recall. State election laws make this unlikely, but if ever one was needed, this is it.

*The IAEA Finally Starts to Think About Maybe Doing Something About Iran

From Cox & Forkum:

*I Bet the Animal Lovers are Cheering this One...

Vengeful Mouse Sets House Ablaze.

Devotional: Getting What You Give

2006-01-10T21:02:00.000-06:00

As Southern Baptists, we have a tradition around Christmas every year. Giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. It’s an offering devoted 100% to helping to spread the good news of Jesus Christ around the world. Without question one of the best things anyone can do with their money is to finance the spread of the gospel. And Lottie Moon has always meant a time of prayer and joyful giving for my family. Except this year.

I’m sorry to say that this year I let a hectic holiday schedule, a concern for having enough money for Christmas presents for all the family, and a general sense of business get in the way of our normal routine. Normally we begin praying a few months in advance and start budgeting for the offering around October. But this year I just let it slide until on the day before Christmas Eve, the last day to get a check in the mail, I just sat down and wrote a check based on my idea of our expected Christmas expenses. No prayer, no seeking God’s will. Just my own wisdom.

Well, my own wisdom led me to write a check for a much smaller amount than we usually give. And it also led me to a very poignant lesson from God.

If there’s ever been an area in my life that God has shown me repeatedly that He is in control, it’s finances. God has always taken care of me financially. I’m not saying that I’ve always had a good job or fancy things, because I haven’t. But God has shown me repeatedly that He will always make certain that I never go without anything I need. And if I will just submit to His will and trust Him, He’ll take care of everything.

Just a quick example comes from a few years ago. As the pastor of a small church, I was responsible for announcing a quarterly building offering we took up to help maintain our property. Our facilities were vital to reaching our community, and the funds were always needed for construction and maintenance. Every quarter our family gave whatever we could. But one day the Lord burdened me that we should start giving to that offering more than just “what we could afford.” Instead of giving what was left over, we should start budgeting a set amount each week. Looking at our budget, there really wasn’t any room for a weekly contribution, but after praying with my wife, we decided to trust God.

On faith, we wrote the first check. An interesting thing happened the next day. I opened the mailbox to find a card from an out-of-state loved one that had an unexpected surprise. A check for the exact amount we had written to the church. We hadn’t told anyone about our decision. God just took care of us. It was His way of telling us that we could trust Him, and He would make certain that our income was always sufficient. And for all the years that we gave that offering, we never ran short, never had to do without anything we needed. As long as we were faithful to give on faith, He always gave back. There are many more examples I could share.

Which brings me back to this year’s Lottie Moon offering. This year I wrote the check for a small amount, filled with worry instead of faith. Then we all packed up to visit relatives. During the fun of watching the kids open their presents and visiting with everyone someone handed me a Christmas card. Opening it, I found a little surprise. A check written for the exact amount that we had given to missions. God was letting us know again, that He would give to us like we were giving to Him.

It is with some shame that I wonder how big that check in the Christmas card could have been if only I had put aside my worry, put aside the budget, and led my family to pray together for God’s will for our Christmas missions offering. I wonder what God could have done with the money that I selfishly and fearfully withheld. And it is with a renewed commitment to faithfulness in giving that I remember His precious word:

Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you in return. (Luke 6:38 NASB)

Please don’t make the mistake I did of forgetting to pray about giving the resources God has entrusted to you back to Him. He’ll give like you give.

Copyright © 2005-06 Ron Ethridge.

View all devotionals.

OK, I lied...

2006-01-10T15:07:00.000-06:00

I am watching the Alito hearings. Sort of. I have it on in the background while I'm doing some other work.

Sam hasn't said anything about abortion that makes me happy. Since I would like to see Roe V. Wade overturned and regulation of abortion returned to the states, Alito isn't sounding like my ideal candidate. But the way he answers questions does leave a lot of wiggle room. So honestly, I have no idea how he'll rule one way or another.

On a side note...I have an idea for a new interrogation technique for captured terrorists. Make them listen to taped recordings of Barbara Boxer! Prisoners would be begging for a return of the belly-slap, even the Christina Aguillera music! But then again, since we don't torture prisoners in America, I doubt the lawyers would allow it. ;)

Why I'm Not Watching the Samuel Alito Confirmation

2006-01-10T07:33:00.000-06:00

As vitally important as the confirmation of Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court is, I'm not making it a priority to watch any of the actual proceedings. Why? Because they will make absolutely zero difference in the ultimate decision. Despite their grandstanding for the media, most of the Democrats will vote NO, because their big supporters, the abortion lobbyists, hate him. All the Republicans will vote YES (a RINO or two may defect). The only remaining question is whether or not the Senate Republicans can muster the backbone to go nuclear if some Dems decide to filibuster. Nothing said in the hearings will affect any of this.

For the record, I support Alito, and sincerely hope he is confirmed to the court. I also wish the Republicans would nuke the filibuster period. It's a stupid tactic that has no place in our government. It stymies the will of the majority, which is something that goes against the intent of the Constitution. Even if liberals were in the majority and naming a Ginsburg clone to the Court, I wouldn't want a filibuster. Just vote yes or no. If America is ever stupid enough to put the libs back in power then we deserve to face the consequences of being so ill-informed.

For updates on the Alito hearings, as always, Michelle Malkin's site is the place to go.

Another reason to support Alito (the top item.)

The President Needs to Answer this Letter

2006-01-09T20:41:00.000-06:00

From National Review Online:

This is a letter from Kenneth Stethem to President George W. Bush. Ken is a former U.S. special-forces operator and the brother of Robert Dean Stethem, the Navy diver who was brutally tortured and murdered by Hezbollah 20 years ago. Robert's murderer was just released by the German government (and fled to Lebanon) in an apparent exchange for a German hostage in Iraq.

The administration has falsely claimed (according to my sources) that we did not know in advance about the release and the administration has not acted to compel the Lebanese government to arrest Stethem's killer, Muhammad Ali Hammadi, and turn him over to face American justice. That is why Ken Stethem, on behalf of the rest of his family (including his and Robert's parents), has written this powerful letter. Let's hope the president is as moved by the letter as I am.

Please read the letter here. I think you'll agree with me that there is justice yet to be done.

The Media Lied! The Media Lied! – Roundup 1/9/06

2006-01-09T20:29:00.000-06:00

*The Media Lied! The Media Lied!

Ogre’s Politics and Views makes a good point:

If President Bush, when discussing the war in Iraq, relied on sources of information that were inaccurate, but no one knew at the time were inaccurate, and said some things that may not have been correct, lied, then...

When the media announced that the miners in WV were alive, by relying on information that was incorrect at the time, even if it was not known, doesn't that mean that the media lied? Now can we all run around repeating, "The Media Lied?"

*Where are the Feminists when We Need Them?

There’s a holocaust of sorts going on in India. This time it has nothing to do with religion but everything to do with sex. The female sex to be exact:

More than 10m female births in India may have been lost to abortion and sex selection in the past 20 years, according to medical research.

Researchers in India and Canada for the Lancet journal said prenatal selection and selective abortion was causing the loss of 500,000 girls a year.

Funny, but I don’t recall hearing the protests of NOW on this issue. Suppose that has anything to do with the fact that the feminist movement in America has no interest in helping women in any way that would do harm to their precious “right” to murder their babies on a whim?

*More Evil Republicans Brought to Trial

Oh wait, I’m sorry, these guys are all Democrats. I guess that’s why it took the Democrat prosecutor so long to bring them to trial, and why the mainstream media isn’t plastering them all over the screen the way they are the supposed “Republican” scandal involving Jack Abramoff and the hit-job on Tom Delay.

*Book of Daniel Debuts in Last Place

Screaming “Get a clue!” to the anti-religion bigots at NBC, millions of viewers decided not to tune in to the networks latest show about religion that bears no resemblance whatsoever to the vast majority of actually religious people in this country. It would probably behoove NBC to hire a writer who knows anything about people of faith that he/she didn’t learn on any of the other hateful productions Hollywood has churned out, but you won’t catch me holding my breath.

A Warning to Complacent Republicans

2006-01-09T06:52:00.000-06:00

I hope every Republican member of Congress reads this editorial in the Wall Street Journal today.

The real House GOP problem isn't about lobbyists so much as it is the atrophying of its principles. As their years in power have stretched on, House Republicans have become more passionate about retaining power than in using that power to change or limit the federal government. Gathering votes for serious policy is difficult and tends to divide a majority. Re-election unites them, however, so the leadership has gradually settled for raising money on K Street and satisfying Beltway interest groups to sustain their incumbency.

This strategy has maintained a narrow majority, but at the cost of doing anything substantial. The last year in particular was an historic lost opportunity. House Republicans were also the main culprit in watering down Medicare reform, while Ohio's Mike Oxley has run the Financial Services Committee more or less as liberal Barney Frank would. Beyond welfare reform and tax cuts (and perhaps health-savings accounts), the GOP has achieved little in the last decade that will outlast the next Democratic majority.

While this trend towards maintaining power and away from courageous leadership is much more obvious in the Senate, House Republicans can't expect a free ride back to Washington every 2 years at the rate their going. I and many other conservatives have already stopped giving to the RNC and instead only give to specific candidates that demonstrate a willingness to stand up to the status quo.

Our sense is that Republicans don't yet appreciate the trouble they're in. Confident of K Street money and gerrymandered districts, they think the voters will never turn Congress over to a party run by Nancy Pelosi. But that's also what Democrats and the media thought about Republicans led by Newt Gingrich in 1994. Eventually, voters may grow more disgusted with Republicans who care only about re-election than they are afraid of Ms. Pelosi's San Francisco liberalism.

Hopefully the Abramoff scandal will send a bunch of Republicans home to be replaced by younger reform-minded conservatives, and we can avoid a Democratic house. Hopefully.

UPDATE: Right Wing News thinks it will take term limits to solve the problem.

Casting Out Right Wing Demons -- Roundup 1/8/06

2006-01-08T21:04:00.000-06:00

*Casting Out Right Wing Demons

Liberals can’t win elections any more, so they’re reduced to this…

I’m here to watch a small group of United Methodist pastors who’ve come together to conduct a “Ritual of Social Exorcism” service to rid the White House of the demons that George Bush and his cronies have unleashed: deception, white male ego, greed, arrogance, fear, hubris, hegemony, and ignorance.

And I’m sure that Methodists everywhere are grateful for yet another demonstration of why people don’t take them seriously anymore.

*American Entertainers: Bush the “Greatest Terrorist in the World”

From LGF:

[UNICEF “goodwill ambassador” Harry] Belafonte led a delegation of Americans including actor Danny Glover, Princeton University scholar Cornel West and farmworker advocate Dolores Huerta that met the Venezuelan president for more than six hours late Saturday and attended his television and radio broadcast on Sunday.

“No matter what the greatest tyrant in the world, the greatest terrorist in the world, George W Bush says, we’re here to tell you: Not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of the American people ... support your revolution,” Belafonte told Mr Chavez during the broadcast.

I’d like to personally invite Mr. Belafonte, Mr. Glover, and anyone else who prefers the governing style of petty thugs like Hugo Chavez to American democracy to please stay in Venezuela!

Michelle Malkin agrees: HEY, HARRY BELAFONTE: DON'T COME BACK!

*The Florida Supreme Court Strikes Again

Shilling for Al Gore in 2000 and helping to murder Terry Shiavo wasn’t enough. Now they’re after parents who want to spare their children from the grist mills of public education.

The Florida Supreme Court struck down a statewide voucher system Thursday that allowed children to attend private schools at taxpayer expense - a program Gov. Jeb Bush considered one of his proudest achievements. It was the nation's first statewide voucher program.

In a 5-2 ruling, the high court said the program violates the Florida Constitution's requirement of a uniform system of free public education.

Read the rest at JackLewis.net.

*Sheehan: Bush Worse than Bin Laden

Yet another example of how screeching liberals like Sheehan do not reside in the same solar system as normal people:

"I would say 30,000 more or less have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing violence against Iraqis," said George on December 12, 2005. Even if one accepts this very low guess-ti-mate by George, his policies have been responsible for ten times the 3000 deaths on September 11, 2001. By his own admission, he is ten times the terrorist that Osama ever was. If George says 30,000…who knows what the truthful total is.

I actually shudder to link to such a site, but the more exposure loonies like Cindy Sheehan get, the easier it will be to avoid suffering through a Democrat in the White House. The more people who get the real version of what these moonbats are saying (unfiltered by the sympathetic media) the better. For instance do you think CNN will report that to Sheehan, the terrorists being killed in Iraq are morally the equivalent of American citizens? Or that she doubts that terrorists are being killed at all? She said it:

Bill O'Reilly and George Bush define a terrorist as someone who "kills innocent men, women and children." Am I the only one who sees the irony and stunning hypocrisy in this statement?" Who do Bill and George think are being killed in Iraq? Well-trained and an organized Army? Terrorists? We all know that is false. This is who is being killed in Iraq: living breathing human beings, identical to Americans, or any other human beings on earth, who are just trying to go about their lives trying to survive in a war torn country that was no threat to America or our way of life.

This is the base of the Democratic party. Spread the word.

*Louis Farrakhan as BET.com’s 2005 Person of the Year

In defending the ridiculous choice, BET blames it on the viewers:

They agreed that he has done what no other Black leader has: “mobilize hundreds of thousands of Blacks around the issues of atonement and empowerment, and to convince the masses of our people that we must be the primary catalysts and engines for positive change in our communities,”

Is that what he does? I thought he just ran around promoting crazy conspiracy theories, stirring up racial prejudice, and generally embarrasing Democrats who have to put up with him if they want to keep the black voters under their thumb.

Jack Lewis:

The essence of an Uncle Tom is a Black person who looks to white people to ask "How'm I supposed to act" and then does it. Liberals tell Blacks they're supposed to by whining, victims who always support Liberal causes, and BET portrays that. Farrakhan is a bigot, and who else can people, who volunteer to be victims, look up to but a bigot that loudly blames others for any problem Blacks have.

*Another Veteran Vs. a Defeatist Democrat

SATURDAY AFTERNOON, I attended an "Out of Iraq" forum at a local church, featuring a keynote address by anti-war Congressman Bob Filner. After his speech, Filner opened up the floor for questions. He fielded a few softballs from the largely friendly crowd.
Then he called on me...

Read it all at The Indepundit.

I love reading about confrontations like this. Dems generally live their lives free from having to confront actual veterans after they’ve spent their 15 minutes on TV trashing them or their mission. So on the few occasions when they expose themselves at town-hall type meetings, it’s great fun to watch them squirm.

*Website Worth Watching: JackLewis.net

Lots of great pro-family and religion items.

A Match Made in Moonbat Heaven

2006-01-07T23:02:00.000-06:00

Cindy Sheehan and Sean Penn both spoke at an anti-war rally in Sacramento, CA.

Rallying the faithful, Sheehan railed: "You have to wash the blood off your hands and get off your apathetic butts and do something!”

What exactly are they to do? "Anybody could do what we did in Crawford, Texas. We just went down and sat down," Sheehan said. "We have to get so freakin' fed up with what's going on that we all go and sit down."

Ok, I’m confused. Do you want us on our butts or off?

Sean Penn tried to be funny.

He read his brief remarks from a single crumpled piece of paper he said "probably looks like the administration's war plan."

Yeah Sean, you’re the master of making plans.

Like your stint as a human shield in Iraq?

Or how about that boat rescue in LA?

Maybe they'll run away together to become human shields for Iran's nuclear weapon facilities. Or better yet, maybe they'll both become major advisors for the dem's presidential candidate in '08. We can only hope. ;)

Murdered for Refusing to Convert to Islam -- Roundup 1/7/06

2006-01-07T22:41:00.000-06:00

*Murdered for Refusing to Convert to Islam

A mother described yesterday hearing her son shot dead after he refused to convert to Islam.

Ruth Marriott told an inquest into her son's death that she heard gunshots on the day Adrian was shot five times in the head a few weeks before his 21st birthday. Mr Marriott, an accountancy student and gang member, was killed in a park near his home in Brixton, south London, in June 2004.

"Adrian was told on the Sunday prior to his death that he would be killed if he did not become a Muslim by the Wednesday, which was the day he died."

Somehow I missed this on CNN. But if it had been a Muslim kid and a Christian gang...

George (Get a Clue)ny: We need to understand* terrorists, not label them.

From Fox News via Newsbusters:

The movie Syriana is based on the true story of a CIA operative sent to assassinate Saddam Hussein, an agent's near murder by Palestinian terrorists from Hezbollah. But in the hands of actor/producer George Clooney, the story changes Saddam into an benevolent Arab prince. And Hezbollah saves the agent's life. Americans are shown to be greedy and corrupt, while suicide bombers are presented as freedom fighters."

Clooney: "They are, in a way, the most sympathetic, but I think that's important.

Because if you are going to fight a war on terror, which is not a state that you can go and bomb, then you need to understand what it is that creates the people that would do such horrible things, rather then just saying- labeling them as evildoers."

With all due respect, George, if you don’t understand them after 9/11, you ain’t never gonna.

*Who said this – Murtha or Al-Zawahri?

Regarding your withdrawal timetable ... you have to admit, Bush, that you have been defeated in Iraq and are being defeated in Afghanistan and will be defeated in Palestine

Who can tell anymore, but for the record it was Al-Zawahri.

*Planned Parenthood Targets Minorities as Abortion Customers

From its 'Negro Project' of the 1930s to today, we see evidence that the abortion chain works hard to prevent and limit the births of minority children.

More at Pro-Life with Christ.

*Website Worth Watching

The Mudville Gazette.

Proof that Terrorists Trained in Iraq Produced

2006-01-07T18:42:00.000-06:00

THE FORMER IRAQI REGIME OF Saddam Hussein trained thousands of radical Islamic terrorists from the region at camps in Iraq over the four years immediately preceding the U.S. invasion, according to documents and photographs recovered by the U.S. military in postwar Iraq. The existence and character of these documents has been confirmed to THE WEEKLY STANDARD by eleven U.S. government officials.

The secret training took place primarily at three camps--in Samarra, Ramadi, and Salman Pak--and was directed by elite Iraqi military units. Interviews by U.S. government interrogators with Iraqi regime officials and military leaders corroborate the documentary evidence. Many of the fighters were drawn from terrorist groups in northern Africa with close ties to al Qaeda, chief among them Algeria's GSPC and the Sudanese Islamic Army. Some 2,000 terrorists were trained at these Iraqi camps each year from 1999 to 2002, putting the total number at or above 8,000. Intelligence officials believe that some of these terrorists returned to Iraq and are responsible for attacks against Americans and Iraqis. [Source]

...not that this is surprising. Anyone that doesn't hate George W. Bush and isn't part of the blame-America-first crowd has already known this for a long time. The big story here is that finally the Bush administration is allowing access to some of the thousands of documents we've found in Iraq that have just been sitting in filing cabinets waiting to be translated. I have no doubt that be the time we've gone through them all, there will be no doubt about the fate of Saddam's WMD stockpiles. At this rate, however, the war in Iraq will be long over by then and it will be a moot point.

More at...
Captain's Quarters -- "Even now, Hayes tells us, only 2.5% of these documents have been translated, and even those rarely get used to investigate anything but the failure to find WMD. Rep. Peter Hoekstra, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has expressed frustration that the only response he gets when he demands to know the status of expoiting these documents is "we're getting around to it". Yesterday, he got an additional response from John Negroponte, the new Intelligence czar -- it's at the top of Negroponte's list. And that check? Yeah, it's in the mail, Pete."

Michelle Malkin -- "'Iraq was not a breeding ground for terrorism. Our invasion has made it one.'--Sen. Ted Kennedy. 'Iraq was not a terrorist haven before the invasion.'--Sen. John Kerry. This is important news. It ought to be on the front pages. It won't be. So spread the word."

Right Wing Nut House -- "This represents an extraordinarily troubling dysfunctionality at the top levels of our intelligence apparatus. Even with the most technologically sophisticated satellites and signals intercept equipment known to man, our “analysts” at the CIA were still unable to uncover a training program from which 2,000 hardened jihadists graduated every year. Could they have been blind to this danger because of stupidity? Or was there something more at work here?"

Another Reason We're Winning in Iraq

2006-01-07T15:10:00.000-06:00

I'm sure scenes like this (from The Officers Club) send America-hating groups like the ACLU and People for the American Way into fits of weeping and gnashing of teeth.

I for one am very grateful that there is a God in heaven there to answer the prayers of our brave soldiers. May God bless them mightily, make them victorious, and bring them home safely!

Murtha Runs His Mouth Again and Gets an Earful!

2006-01-07T14:33:00.000-06:00

It started out as what has become the typical Murtha media event. He had been invited to attend VA congressman James Moran Jr's town-hall meeting. While there he remained true to form:

In an emotional two-hour public forum in Arlington last night on the Iraq war, one of the Bush administration's chief critics, Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), renewed his call for an immediate pullout, saying, "We've become the enemy."

Before a crowd of about 600 people that spilled out of the auditorium and into an overflow room and the street, Murtha accused the Pentagon of ignoring a drop in recruitment levels and tolerating such problems in Iraq as low morale and shortages of body armor and other equipment.

"Instead of taking on the real problems, they face it with rhetoric," he said. " 'Murtha's hurting recruiting,' " the congressman said. "They say, 'You're hurting the effort and hurting the troops.' That's what so frustrating to me."

Frequent applause from the mostly liberal crowd followed this garbage. But when it came time for the audience to speak Old Cut-N-Run and Moran had to listen to some soldiers put them in their place.

Sgt. Mark Seavey gave them both an earful:

I keep hearing you say how you talk to the troops and the troops are demoralized, and I really resent that characterization. (applause) The morale of the troops that I talk to is phenomenal, which is why my troops are volunteering to go back, despite the hardships they had to endure in Afghanistan.

"And Congressman Moran, 200 of your constituents just returned from Afghanistan. We never got a letter from you; we never got a visit from you. You didn't come to our homecoming. The only thing we got from any of our elected officials was one letter from the governor of this state thanking us for our service in Iraq, when we were in Afghanistan. That's reprehensible. I don't know who you two are talking to but the morale of the troops is very high."

Later a vietnam vet, General Wagner said it like it is:

I visit Walter Reed [Army Hospital] and talk to the young soldiers with their legs blown off. I know you do, too. I can't find one in a dozen that don't believe that they are fighting for a noble cause and are fighting to go back. And I think it's a disgrace when members of our Congress --just as they did in 1975 when they sold out the south Vietnamese--are selling out our soldiers today in Iraq!

How I wish I could have been at that meeting to hear those brave men speak up while vastly outnumbered by the liberals in the crowd. Congressman Murtha was once a brave soldier and he deserves recognition for that, but his behavior lately and reprehensible statements have made him unworthy to be in the same room with Sgt. Seavey and General Wagner.

Michelle Malkin has video of both Sgt. Seavey and Gen. Wagner.

The Mudville Gazette has a great summary in Murtha vs. the Army.

Black Five: "Rep. Murtha has used up his good will and is rapidly looking at a boot in the a**. When you allow your politics to push you around the bend and declare the military not a fit or decent place to serve you lose any respect I had for your service."

Pat Robertson' Remarks -- The REAL Issue

2006-01-06T15:03:00.000-06:00

By now you've probably heard every single media outlet along with practically every politician that can get his face on a TV screen screeching about the latest "inflammatory" remarks from evangelist, Pat Robertson. This time it concerned Ariel Sharon's stroke.

"The prophet Joel makes it very clear that God has enmity against those who, quote, 'divide my land.' God considers this land to be his.

"You read the Bible, he says, 'This is my land.' And for any prime minister of Israel who decides he's going carve it up and give it away, God says, 'No. This is mine.'"

Robertson, who frequently provokes outrage with his remarks, said he was "sad" to see Sharon fall sick, and that he was a "very likeable person."

"I prayed with him personally. But here he is at the point of death. He was dividing God's land, and I would say woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the EU, the United Nations or the United States of America."

This isn't the first time Robertson has provoked condemnation. Remember the intelligent design brouhaha in Pennsylvania? Every time it happens, Robertson ends up having to clarify or apologize for his remarks.

Frankly, I wish he'd stop. No, not stop making the remarks, but stop apologizing for making them.

Guess what? If you are offended by what Robertson has said, you're problem is not with Pat Robertson. It's with something else altogether. You have a problem with the nature of God.

Many people today who are not overly religious, but aren't antagonistic to the idea of God are comfortable with certain qualities of our Creator, but not all of those qualities. For instance, they are fine with the verse "God is love."¹ That's nice. It gives you a warm fuzzy feeling just to think about it. But that's only part of the nature of God, and not His primary characteristic, either. If you take the whole Bible and look for the one word that describes God the most, it's not love, it's HOLY. God's primary attribute, His most important characteristic is His holiness. So much so that the Bible describes angels standing near Him whose only mission is to proclaim over and over again "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts..."² That's holy!

Holiness is often described as referring to being worthy of worship, but a better definition is the absence of sin. That God is holy means that He does not sin. Nor does He tolerate sin in any way. Referring to this, John writes, "God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all."³ God has not the slightest presence of or allowance for sin.

But that kind of God makes most people today uncomfortable. They want a "grandfather" God. One who winks at a little sin committed now and again, who doesn't mind sweeping things under the rug. They're wholly unprepared to accept One who states that "the wages of sin is death."⁴ So when Pat Robertson refers to God's promise of judgment on those who divide His land (Israel) he's simply affirming that God is, indeed, holy.

So the problem here is not that Pat Robertson is insensitive or deranged. It's that the world is unprepared to accept the idea of a holy God. So Pat, stop apologizing already.

¹ 1 John 4:8
² Isaiah 6:3
³ 1 John 1:5
⁴ Romans 6:23

Idiotarian of the Year -- The Finals

2006-01-06T14:48:00.000-06:00

The top 3 candidates for Little Green Footballs' Idiotarion of the Year are up. The choices are Hugo Chavez, Cindy Sheehan, and the New York Times.

Each one has their strengths. Chavez is the impotent strongman. Sheehan is the poster child for raving moonbats. But I think I'm going to have to vote for the Treason Times just for sheer consistency.

Vote here.

Newsweek Reporter: Saddam's Trial a "Show Trial"

2006-01-06T14:39:00.000-06:00

As if we need more evidence of the liberal bias of the so-called "mainstream" media. But sometimes it is mind-boggling just how clueless they can be. This is from the "web-exclusive commentary" of Newsweek foreign correspondent Christopher Dickey:

We ended 2005 in a time of trials--show trials, in fact. Saddam Hussein was in the dock for allegedly ordering massacres in an Iraqi Shiite village...

Show trials are about raw power, of course, not blind justice. They’re spectacles put on by winners to humiliate losers, cover up other crimes and intimidate the opposition. Nobody understands that fact better than Saddam...

Reading further down, you'll see that he calls the impeachment of Bill Clinton a "farse." But if the dems somehow win the house and impeach George Bush, it will be "to hold the Bush team accountable for numerous crimes against common sense and decency as well as the Constitution."

Honestly, if the dems had to pay for campaign ads like the Republicans do, they'd never win an election. (Source)

Existence of Jesus on Trial in Italy

2006-01-06T14:23:00.000-06:00

Looks like Italy has it's own version of Michael Newdow. From Reuters:

An Italian court is tackling Jesus -- and whether the Roman Catholic Church may be breaking the law by teaching that he existed 2,000 years ago.

An atheist (and former priest,) Luigi Cascioli, is suing Enrico Righi, a priest from the same town who writes for the parish paper.

"I started this lawsuit because I wanted to deal the final blow against the Church, the bearer of obscurantism and regression," Cascioli told Reuters.
Cascioli says Righi, and by extension the whole Church, broke two Italian laws. The first is "Abuso di Credulita Popolare" (Abuse of Popular Belief) meant to protect people against being swindled or conned. The second crime, he says, is "Sostituzione di Persona", or impersonation.

"The Church constructed Christ upon the personality of John of Gamala," Cascioli claimed, referring to the 1st century Jew who fought against the Roman army.

"In my book, The Fable of Christ, I present proof Jesus did not exist as a historic figure. He must now refute this by showing proof of Christ's existence," Cascioli said.

The defendant is baffled by the lawsuit.

"Cascioli says he didn't exist. And I said that he did," he said. "The judge will to decide if Christ exists or not."

With all due respect, Christ doesn't need some two-bit court to help prove His existence. And regardless of the decision, Cascioli, Newdow, and every other atheist are going to learn the truth, one way or the other.

Hey Murtha! CHOOSE A SIDE! -- Roundup 1/5/06

2006-01-05T18:12:00.000-06:00

*Choose a Side
It’s really sad how the moral equivalence crowd can get away with making our soldiers actions out to be anything similar to that of the terrorists. The Mudville Gazette demonstrates the striking contrast here. So Murtha (who recently said he would not join today's military,) Kerry, Pelosi, and all the rest—CHOOSE A SIDE!

*Islamic Killers Decapitate Teacher in Front of His Family

Islamic killers sliced off the teacher’s head as his wife and eight children were forced to look on.

It was in Afghanistan where Muslim murderers global still sneak in to do their horrendous deeds in the name of the Koran’s Allah. This is just another murder in a litany of killings against instructors in Afghan schools where females study. Killers are intent on females not being educated as males.

Malim Abdul Habib was stabbed eight times, then his head was cut off in the courtyard of his home in Qalat, according to AP.

The killers forced his wife and four sons and four daughters to stand in the open to see the atrocity. The children range in age from 2 to 22.

Liberals love to theorize about what causes people to become terrorists. Invariably they find a way to blame America for creating the armies of Muslim thugs that regularly torture and murder innocents. Stories like this one get swept under the rug because they don’t fit with the views of Ivory Tower liberals who can’t comprehend the evil inherent in militant Islam. I daresay also that we’ll hear nary a peep from the likes of NOW either.

*Amazing Sniper Shot!

Gazing through the telescopic sight of his M24 rifle, Staff Sgt Jim Gilliland, leader of Shadow sniper team, fixed his eye on the Iraqi insurgent who had just killed an American soldier.

His quarry stood nonchalantly in the fourth-floor bay window of a hospital in battle-torn Ramadi, still clasping a long-barrelled Kalashnikov. Instinctively allowing for wind speed and bullet drop, Shadow's commander aimed 12 feet high. A single shot hit the Iraqi in the chest and killed him instantly. It had been fired from a range of 1,250 metres, well beyond the capacity of the powerful Leupold sight, accurate to 1,000 metres.

So when are we sending this guy to Iran?

*Katrina Hit More than New Orleans
A little reminder to the media that has basically ignored any hurricane-related damage outside of politically-charged New Orleans:

Katrina's toll in Mississippi
Damage caused by Hurricane Katrina -- $125 billion
Identified dead statewide -- 231
Unidentified dead -- 5
Missing -- 67
Houses in South Mississippi destroyed -- 65,380

Hat Tip: Black Five.

*Hillary’s Campaign Busted for Lying About Contributions

A fund-raising committee for Senator Clinton's 2000 campaign has agreed to pay a $35,000 civil penalty and to concede that reports it made to the federal government understated by more than $700,000 donations to a California celebrity gala held to benefit her Senate bid.

Hat Tip: Captain’s Quarters

*“40 of 45 members of the Senate Democrat Caucus have taken money from lobbyist Jack Abramoff, his associates and Indian tribe clients.”
But wait! I thought this was a Republican scandal!

*Yet another reason NOT to watch the Oscars this year.
Jon Stewart is the host. What a perfect choice for a night when all of clueless Hollywood will be slavering over garbage like Brokeback Mountain and Syriana.

**Updated -- Scrappleface says Rumsfeld to give the GOP response. ;)

*Another Network TV Show About Religion: The Book of Daniel
And once again every single religious person in the show is either a closeted homosexual, a drug addict, or a hypocrite. Yep, Hollywood has us Christian types pegged, alright. Sheesh.

*More Shots Fired at U.S. Agents on Mexican Border
Am I the only one who would love to see the National Guard units of each border state sent to the Mexican border with orders to use deadly force against anyone who so much as thinks about pointing a weapon at us?

*Website Worth Watching: The Religion of Peace
This one doesn’t pull any punches.

Vermont Judge Gives Child Rapist 60 Days

2006-01-05T13:10:00.000-06:00

Just when you think the left has drug this country down as far as it can, something like this happens. A judge from the most liberal state in the nation sentenced a man who repeatedly raped a girl over a four year period (beginning when she was seven!) to only 60 days in jail:

The judge said he no longer believes in punishment and is more concerned about rehabilitation.

Prosecutors argued that confessed child-rapist Mark Hulett, 34, of Williston deserved at least eight years behind bars for repeatedly raping a littler girl countless times starting when she was seven.

But Judge Edward Cashman disagreed explaining that he no longer believes that punishment works.

"The one message I want to get through is that anger doesn't solve anything. It just corrodes your soul," said Judge Edward Cashman speaking to a packed Burlington courtroom.

Judge Cashman also also revealed that he once handed down stiff sentences when he first got on the bench 25 years ago, but he no longer believes in punishment.

"I discovered it accomplishes nothing of value;it doesn't make anything better;it costs us a lot of money; we create a lot of expectation, and we feed on anger,"Cashman explained to the people in the court.

The rapist should get the death penalty. The judge should be imprisoned for being an accomplice. Hat tip to Never Yet Melted.

Related: My plan to Fix the Criminal Justice System

Palestinians React to Sharon's Health Crisis

2006-01-05T12:54:00.000-06:00

How are those heroes of the left, the Palestinians, reacting to the news that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had collapsed with a stroke? Why, the same way they reacted to news of 9/11--they're celebrating!

Boker Tov is right. There are No Words.

Despicable!

2006-01-05T12:39:00.000-06:00

Night after night we see news reports about events in Iraq that glorify the death toll, ignore the importance of the mission, and belittle the historic contributions of our heroic soldiers. What do our men on the ground think of this? Here's a sample of a soldier's words at Black Five.

I watched CNN last night while I was eating dinner. They ran a story about my battalion on there that was originally run 5 weeks ago when we were in the middle of combat operations in the area. It was a story about a family that was killed by American bombing runs in the city of Husaybah. The family had been kidnapped by insurgents and held inside their house while the insurgents shot at Marines. Air strikes were called in and the family was killed inside the home when the bombs dropped. The video showed people wailing and crying and talked about how Americans had caused the deaths of the family. This story was 5 weeks old. When we were doing offensive operations out here, we had 25 plus reporters from CNN, USA Today, the NY Times, Time Magazine, among others. Now that the bombs aren't dropping and the cities have been stabilized... we had 1 reporter here for the elections. She is from the Christian Science Monitor. Not exactly the most widely read publication in the US of A. So, instead of CNN coming out here to report on the current situation and the success of the elections, they ran a 5 week old story showing wailing and crying and dead children. CNN has it out so bad for George Bush, that they cannot even bring themselves to accurately report the gains that are being made by us out here. They are complete misinformation artists - and I have seen first hand how they warp and manipulate the "truth" to fit their agenda. I have been on the scene and witnessed a situation with my own 2 eyes, while CNN was standing right next to me (Arwa Damon and Jennifer Eccelston have been our 2 offenders by the way). Then, the story that I read on their website or saw on CNN International did not even remotely resemble the actual scene. The video had been altered, edited out of order, and the narration used in such a way to warp the situation and twist it into what they wanted it to be. It is amazing and despicable.

Most Annoying Liberals Named

2006-01-05T12:25:00.000-06:00

Right Wing News has posted their annual "The Twenty Most Annoying Liberals In The United States" awards (only 20?). I notice that on the list Hillary Clinton only made honorable mention. That seems to be pretty common with these kind of lists this year. She's still arguably one of the most liberal American politicians alive, but she's been so determined to pretend to be a centrist in the run up to her 2008 presidential bid that she's gotten a little under the radar of some conservatives. And if we're not paying attention, what does that say of the American people at large?

Heads up America! Hillary is ultra-liberal, ultra-ambitious, and corrupt to the core. Don't forget about stuff like this.

A Sad Day for the President and National Security

2006-01-04T22:24:00.000-06:00

Proving that he learned absolutely nothing from the Michael Brown debacle at FEMA or the Harriet Miers fiasco, President Bush today made a recess appointment of the 35 year-old neice of Richard Myers and wife of Michael Chertoff's chief of staff. Julie Myers will serve as the head of the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security with virtually no law enforcement experience. While I would like to give both Myers and the president the benefit of the doubt, this looks like yet another example of cronyism. And while I'm the last guy in the world to take away from the President's prerogative to choose his own people, could he at least look at a few resumes when it comes to positions so vital to national security?

Michelle Malkin had a caustic review of Myers' qualifications back in September when her name first came up. Her opinion hasn't changed.

ROUNDUP -- 1/04/06

2006-01-04T15:19:00.000-06:00

There’s too much good stuff out there to limit this to once a week. So for your viewing pleasure, here is a listing of some of the good stuff I’ve run into lately:

The latest 12-step program. Overcoming Liberalism.

Cartoon by Cox & Forkum – One Man’s Whistleblower:

Matthew Heidt at Froggy Ruminations has an interesting take on the correlation between the activities of Democrat leaders and the raving president of Iran.

A little dated, but have you seen the poll showing how the majority of Americans support the President when it comes to spying on terrorists’ phone calls, not the "shocked, shocked!" dems?

Getting tired of the endless economic gloom and doom the media feeds us because they hate the president? Check out Michael Barone’s excellent column.

This is almost enough to make me start watching CNN. Almost. Bill Bennet to replace Robert Novak.

Hippies rejoice, as pot is now legal in Rhode Island.

An hilarious item from Scrappleface: White House Releases Bush’s New Year’s Resolutions.

Bill O’Reilly vs. David Letterman!!

Not the usual stuff: What Blacks Owe Themselves. Hat tip to LaShawn Barber.

The Robb is back from Christmas vacation at The Perspective with another great collection of quotes.

Website Worth Watching: Gaggle
Here’s today’s cartoon:

Format Change

2006-01-04T01:17:00.000-06:00

In order to save space on the main page here at Preaching Politics, I've made a slight change to the way posts appear. From now on, you'll see only the first few paragraphs of each post followed by "READ THE WHOLE POST..." at the bottom. By clicking that link you'll be taken to the archive page where you can read the entire item. This prevents lengthy posts from taking up too much space. I hope this won't be too much of an inconvenience for my regular readers.

Older posts have not all been truncated. Also, due to either the shortcomings of blogger or my own html ignorance, the "READ THE WHOLE POST..." link appears on every post, even when there's actually no more to be read. For that I plead ignorance and ask forgiveness for any unecessary clicks. :)

Jack Abramoff Pleads Guilty

2006-01-03T23:55:00.000-06:00

Today was a big day for the Jack Abramoff scandal.

From the AP via Breitbart.com:

Lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal charges of conspiracy, tax evasion and mail fraud, clearing the way for him to cooperate in a massive government investigation of influence peddling involving members of Congress. He faces 30 years in prison if convicted of the charges.

As always, the place to go for details is Michelle Malkin’s blog.
For the record, my 2 cents is this:

There needs to be some real clarification made on what constitutes a legal campaign donation with all the expectations that go with it (I don’t give money to politicians that I don’t expect to vote my way.)
If it was up to the mainstream media we’d have never known that Democrats are involved in this as well.
I hope every single politician that is guilty of a crime (whether Republican or Democrat) goes down with Abramoff.

A Little Insight into the NEA

2006-01-03T23:34:00.000-06:00

Just in case anyone has been on vacation to Mars for the last 10 years or so and isn’t aware of the true agenda of one of the left’s most powerful arms, the National Education Association – LaShawn Barber has dug up some of their spending records. Turns out that the NEA has been spending the dues paid by public school teachers across the nation in some interesting ways. Last year they gave more than $65 million to left-wing groups including:

National Council of La Raza (advocates government benefits for illegal aliens, among other things): $7,900
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Awards: $5,000
Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN): $5,000
Wellstone Memorial Fund: $5,000
Rainbow PUSH Coalition: $5,000

I would imagine this is news to many of the teachers who blithely thought that their dues were going towards liability insurance or promoting better working conditions for teachers. But for those of us who’ve been paying attention, this unfortunately isn’t news.
More from the Opinion Journal:

We already knew that the NEA's top brass lives large. Reg Weaver, the union's president, makes $439,000 a year. The NEA has a $58 million payroll for just over 600 employees, more than half of whom draw six-figure salaries. Last year the average teacher made only $48,000, so it seems you're better off working as a union rep than in the classroom.

"Pregnant Guerillas" Endure China's Tyrrany

2006-01-03T19:32:00.000-06:00

China's "One Child Policy" is reasonably well-known here in the United States. After having one child, many expecting mothers are forced to abort their subsequent pregnancies. What's not so evident are the harsh realities that Chinese families face in light of such a barbaric policy.

Zhang, 26, is a typical “pregnant guerilla,“ the mainland term for women who contravene the one-child policy. She almost lost her life while on the run from a forced abortion. Her trials began after an ultrasound revealed she was carrying a boy. “To be the wife of a farmer family, I have the responsibility to give birth to a boy,“ she said.

To hide her pregnancy from Hunan officials, Zhang left her family to live in a string of farmers‘ homes in neighbouring Jiangxi for five months. But at eight months, she was caught and sent to Liuyang People‘s Hospital for a forced abortion.

“In order to save my boy, I fled from the operation table and ran away alone with my potbelly and bare feet to Jiangxi when my family raised a ruckus at the hospital,“ she said. “To avoid being recaptured, I gave birth one month early through Caesarean section in a small clinic because no hospital in Hunan would have dared to accept me.“

Unfortunately, another unborn baby was not so fortunate:

Another 26 year old couple, Tang Jian and Liu Guixiang from Cangfang village in Hunan, were victims of the one-child policy. Liu was forced to abort her eight month old fetus by local family planning officials in January when she was also caught hiding in Jiangxi. Read the whole story at Asian Pacific Post.

It would be very nice to see our elected leaders address these types of atrocities instead of hiding behind the perceived need for engaging China through economics.

Hat tip to Pro-Life With Christ.

Helping Make the "RINO" an Endangered Species

2006-01-03T18:44:00.000-06:00

This post was inspired by Captain Ed of Captain's Quarters.

It's bad enough these days that many conservative Republican Senators have lost their backbone and have caved in to liberal media demands on such issues as ANWR and the Patriot Act. But some "Republicans" have gone too far. The truth is that the only thing they have in common with the party of Reagan is the name, Republican. That's why they are called RINO (Republicans In Name Only.)

Take the Senator from Rhode Island, for example. Lincoln Chafee has voted against many major bills that conservatives support, including tax cuts and the war in Iraq. If ever there were a RINO, Chafee is it. Yet despite his liberal standing, the National Republican Senatorial Campaign is actively campaigning for Chafee in his reelection bid. This despite the presence of a more conservative opponent.

This is why I no longer give any money to any Republican group other than individual campaigns. They simply cannot be trusted to spend it on conservative candidates. Republican "realists" will answer that Chafee is the only Republican who can win in Rhode Island. I say it's more important to vote for conservatives than Republicans. Republicans have had a majority in the Senate for years and practically nothing has changed from when they were the minority. Democrats still call whatever shots they wish. Tax cuts are still not permanent, ANWR's oil wealth is still untapped, Social Security is still doomed, and passage of the Patriot Act is balanced on the ever dwindling spines of the "majority party."

For those of you who still give money to the National Republican Senatorial Campaign and other such groups, let me urge you to look into where your money will be going. Rather than allowing them to spend it on maintaining a dysfunctional majority, send your contributions to individual candidates who will uphold conservative ideals. When conservatives become focused on political power rather than doing what is right we enter the same moral playing field as liberals. And the well-being of the greatest nation in the world is far too important to allow that to happen.

Federal Despot Forbids Legislature to Pray in Jesus' Name

2006-01-02T10:17:00.000-06:00

From WorldNet Daily:

An Indiana federal judge yesterday reaffirmed his decision to forbid prayers to be offered that use Jesus' name in the state House of Representatives. Ruling on a suit brought by the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, Hamilton said that "using Christ's name or title" or referring to a "savior" amounted to a state endorsement of religion.

First, is it any surprise that the ACLU (Anti-Christian Liberties Union) is behind this? Also, Notice that this is specific to Christianity. There's no ban on praying to Buddha or any of the millions of Hindu gods. It's only Christianity that has the judge worried. Representatives can sing and dance while chanting "Hare Krishna" all day if they wish, but mention the word "Jesus" and you've gone and endorsed a religion.

The judge was especially adamant that Jesus not be mentioned in a prayer, even circuitously:

"If the speaker or those offering prayers seek to evade the injunction through indirect but well understood expressions of specifically Christian beliefs, the audience, the public and the court will be able to see what is happening. In that unlikely event, the court will be able to take appropriate measures to enforce" the injunction.

So according to the court, if a prayer ends with "in the name of your precious Son," or "in the Savior's name," then a crime has been committed, and punishment will be meted. No, this did not take place in Tehran, where converting to Christianity is illegal, but in the United States of America, where we supposedly have a Constitution that guarantees freedom of religion.

Actually these accounts of judicial tyranny leave me with mixed feelings these days. On one hand, as an American, I am irritated to see our democratic government usurped by these little Neros on the bench. And I recognize that the ACLU is clearly an organization hell-bent on destroying the country I love so much, and should be stopped.

But on the other hand, as a Christian, I am not dismayed. Rather I am encouraged to see even more evidence that the faith I hold is real. If Christianity was just another made-up religion like Buddhism or Hinduism, then no federal judge would be specifically attacking it as are Judge Hamilton and so many of his black-robed brethren. Christmas wouldn't be under attack, and public school students wouldn't be suspended for bringing Bibles to school or writing reports about Jesus. Since these types of attacks are occurring (frequently,) I am encouraged to see the words of my Savior fulfilled: "Beware of men; for they will deliver you up to the courts...and you shall even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them."¹

So to Judge Williams, the ACLU, and all other Christianity-hating individuals, I encourage you to take to heart that Jesus forewarned His followers about people like you. He didn't tell us to fear you. Instead he reminded us, "Do no fear them, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known."² In other words, He's watching. And there will be an accounting in the end.

¹ Matthew 10:17-18
² Matthew 10:26

An End-of-the-Year List Worth Reading

2006-01-01T23:10:00.000-06:00

These days seems every blogger and his one-legged brother are creating lists about everything from the best movies of the year to the most patriotic liberal Americans (a very short list, granted.)

This one at Riehl World View is probably the best: 2005: The Year in Military Heroism.

Devotional: Standing Before the Judge

2006-01-01T11:47:00.000-06:00

The courtroom is packed. Every seat is taken and many are standing in the back. Reporters are busy scribbling away on their notepads. Cameras are clicking away. And over everything hangs an air of tense anticipation. Today is a day of judgment. Today the fate of a man will be settled.

The side door opens abruptly, and he enters. His fists are clenching and unclenching, rattling the chains that hang from his wrists to his ankles so that he hobbles as he walks. A grotesque muzzle has been placed over his mouth to quell the obscenities he would otherwise be shouting. Four hulking guards accompany him. Their determined gazes add to the electrifying tension in the air.

As the procession slowly approaches the defendant’s table, the silence is thick and heavy. Pencils and cameras alike have stopped. Every eye is on the beast before them. With surprising speed, he suddenly lunges toward the crowd. Though the alert deputies immediately restrain him, his eerie cackling is unchecked as every person in the audience lurches back in terror. A killer is among them.

Now the judge is in the courtroom, and an old man in an officer’s uniform wearily begins to read the charges. The list is long. Burglary, extortion, assault, and murder…after murder…after murder.

Finally the bailiff finishes his task and returns to attention. With a trembling voice, the judge addresses the defendant, “Never before have I had such a loathsome creature in my courtroom. Never before has such a list of charges been read against one man as they have been here today against you.”

As the judge continues, the trembling in his voice is now revealed as barely controlled rage. “…and no one has ever had the sheer audacity to appear before me in such a—a state as you!” Every eye in the courtroom is riveted on the object of wrath to see exactly what has so inflamed the judge. Is it the unkempt hair? The haughty eyes? The unseen, but no less evident, sneer beneath the mask? No…it is something else altogether. Something unusual, even unheard of—in a way that leaves even those with the strongest of constitutions feeling decidedly queasy. It is his hands.

At first glance they appear merely dirty—grimy even. But on closer inspection this is not so. The filth in the cracks and crevices, and especially around the chipped and broken nails, has a dirty reddish tinge. With merciless horror, realization dawns on the observers. His hands--hands used over and over in personal, brutal acts of violence—are stained with blood! With a complete lack of remorse, he stands before the one entrusted with his fate…with the blood of his victims crying out on his hands!

Eyes glaring, the judge rises from his chair. His black-robed hand reaches out to point at the criminal, “Of these despicable crimes you have been found guilty. And for your evil sins I now sentence you to—“

“Stop! Please!” a voice sounds from the rear of the courtroom. There in the startled silence stands a woman. Her features are instantly recognized by all present. She is a woman of prominence in the community, a successful businesswoman and member of the city council. Normally her mere presence inspires great respect wherever she is. But today her figure is not imposing, but subdued. And rather than strong, she looks old and weak. She has none of the characteristic confidence in her walk as she deliberately makes her way to the front to stand before the judge.

Hand still in the air, the judge does not quite know how to respond to such a surprising turn of events. So, closing his gaping mouth, he sits down.

“Your honor,” begins the old woman, “I apologize for my intrusion. But I’m here to ask a favor. I wish to ask you…” She pauses and looks down. “No. I’m here to beg you,” there are tears in her eyes now, “to have mercy on this man whom you are about to sentence.”

Were she to pull out a gun and shoot the judge, she could not shock the room more. What is going on? they think. How can anyone, much less a person of such high esteem, dare to ask for any leniency for such a monster? Doesn’t she know who he is?

The judge finally finds his voice. Stumbling with the words, he asks, “Madame, why?”

Her sigh seems years in coming, and again she seems to age in front of them. “Sir, what you see before you today is not a man, but an animal. You see his hate, his violence. You’ve heard all the horrible details of the crimes he’s committed. And you have seen that, even today, he is unrepentant. What you see,” she says, “is a man worthy of your harshest punishment. And your honor,” almost whispering she looks down at her feet, “you are right.”

She pauses, and the judge gently interjects, “Madame, I know all this. I was about to hand down that sentence before you entered. But why…”

Raising her head, the cuts him off. The tears are flowing freely now, but there is strength in her voice, “Your honor. What you see is a guilty man, worthy of death. What I see--what I see…is my son.”

Pandemonium! Yet again, the entire room is rocked with surprise. How could this be? That hideous monster is the child of such a respected woman? Gradually everyone looks once more at the criminal. Something has changed. Where before sat an arrogant, smug killer, now there is a broken man. His shoulders are no longer erect but hunched, heaving with barely contained sobs. The chains that had rattled ominously with the enraged clenching of his fists now shake with the trembling of his entire body. Every shred of arrogance is gone, whisked away by the heartfelt words of his mother.

The judge’s gavel bangs down repeatedly, finally subduing the hushed conversations. He faces the woman. “Madame—I—how? I do not understand.”

With quiet reservation she replies, “I do not expect you to understand. I do not deny that my son is an evil man or that he committed those crimes. I only know that he is my son, and therefore, in spite of him…I love him. And I ask you here now, as one who loves him, for mercy.”

********************

The scene described here is fictional. But there is a judgment that we all must face. The Bible says, “It is appointed unto all men to die once, and after this the judgment.”¹ And in that courtroom, we too will stand guilty, even with the “blood” from our crimes still on our hands. And into that scene will come One who knows us better than even a mother knows her child—the Lord Jesus Christ.

He will not make excuses for our sins, nor will He deny them. He simply loves us, in spite of us. But Jesus does not merely ask for mercy. He has already provided it. Two thousand years ago, when we had rejected Him, despised Him, and betrayed Him, He willing went to our execution and died in our place. When He rose from the grave, the nail-holes were still in His hands, a testimony for all time to the greatest act of love ever committed.

And one day, by His grace, I (and all those who have trusted Christ as Savior) will stand before Him—guilty, but not condemned; a sinner, yet forgiven; unrighteous, but made righteous. And I will touch the holes in the hands of One who loves me…in spite of me.

¹ Hebrews 9:27

Copyright © 2006 Ron Ethridge.

Idiotarian of the Year

2005-12-31T20:30:00.000-06:00

Vote now at Little Green Footballs. I voted for Cindy Sheehan, Ramsey Clark, and the New York Times.

Weekend Roundup 12/31/05

2005-12-31T17:17:00.000-06:00

Not as much this time, since I was internet-less (shudder) for most of the week. Actually, I guess you could call this the "year-end roundup."

Michelle Malkin has several great posts worth reading:

A great collection of video clips of liberals at their unhinged ‘best’ this year.
Once again, the ACLU is determined to make America harder to protect.

Editorial: The Gray Lady Toys with Treason. Actually I think we’re way past the "toying" part.

65% of Palestinians Applaud Terror Attacks on US and Europe. I’m so glad my tax money doesn’t go to support these people. Oh wait, it does. Well then, I’m glad my president isn’t trying to help these people form their own country where they can help terrorists carry out the attacks they like so much. Oh wait, he is. Sheesh…

Looks like Dr. Sanity has uncovered some inside information at the DNC: THE IDIOT’S GUIDE TO VICTIMHOOD - Getting It and Keeping It.

Website of the week: Cox & Forkum Editorial Cartoons.

Happy New Year!

For the “Religion of Peace” This is Honor

2005-12-31T16:25:00.000-06:00

President Bush has occasionally referred to Islam as the Religion of Peace. This has been his way of saying, "It doesn’t matter that 9/11 was perpetrated by Muslims or that 99.99% of the world’s terrorists are Muslims, or that you barbarians are always murdering each other in horrific ways. We want you to know that we know that followers of Islam are very nice, peaceful people. Some of my best friends are Muslims!" (OK, maybe I’m going overboard, but you get the point.) It’s too bad that reality doesn’t match the platitudes, however, as this story illustrates. Here are a few tidbits:

Nazir Ahmed appears calm and unrepentant as he recounts how he slit the throats of his three young daughters and their 25-year old stepsister to salvage his family's "honor" — a crime that shocked Pakistan. The 40-year old laborer, speaking to The Associated Press in police detention as he was being shifted to prison, confessed to just one regret — that he didn't murder the stepsister's alleged lover too.

Ahmed's killing spree — witnessed by his wife Rehmat Bibi as she cradled their 3 month-old baby son — happened Friday night at their home in the cotton-growing village of Gago Mandi in eastern Punjab province. It is the latest of more than 260 such honor killings documented by the rights commission, mostly from media reports, during the first 11 months of 2005.

Bibi recounted how she was woken by a shriek as Ahmed put his hand to the mouth of his stepdaughter Muqadas and cut her throat with a machete. Bibi looked helplessly on from the corner of the room as he then killed the three girls — Bano, 8, Sumaira, 7, and Humaira, 4 — pausing between the slayings to brandish the bloodstained knife at his wife, warning her not to intervene or raise alarm. "I was shivering with fear. I did not know how to save my daughters," Bibi, sobbing, told AP by phone from the village. "I begged my husband to spare my daughters but he said, 'If you make a noise, I will kill you.' The whole night the bodies of my daughters lay in front of me."

"I thought the younger girls would do what their eldest sister had done, so they should be eliminated," he said, his hands cuffed, his face unshaven. "We are poor people and we have nothing else to protect but our honor."

Ahmed, who did not resist arrest, was unrepentant. "I told the police that I am an honorable father and I slaughtered my dishonored daughter and the three other girls," he said. "I wish that I get a chance to eliminate the boy she ran away with and set his home on fire."

Ronald Reagan used to call Communism evil. Will George W. Bush ever come up with a more realistic term for Islam than "Religion of Peace?"

Also see Honor Killings, Up Close and Personal.

Even a Child Can See the Truth in Iraq

2005-12-31T15:40:00.000-06:00

A 16 year-old boy somehow managed to take a solo trip to Baghdad this Christmas. He was apparently going the extra mile in fulfilling an editorial assignment for school. He chose to write about the war in Iraq. Se he went. Literally.

Reflecting on what he'd learned in the country liberals love to think of as not worth the effort, he wrote:

There is a struggle in Iraq between good and evil, between those striving for freedom and liberty and those striving for death and destruction. Those terrorists are not human but pure evil. For their goals to be thwarted, decent individuals must answer justice's call for help. Unfortunately altruism is always in short supply. Not enough are willing to set aside the material ambitions of this transient world, put morality first, and risk their lives for the cause of humanity. So I will.

If his mom ever lets him leave the house again, maybe he can clue in Murtha, Reid, Pelosi and the rest.

Happy Racist Made-Up Holiday to You, Too, Mr. President

2005-12-31T14:11:00.000-06:00

President Bush sent Kwanzaa greetings earlier this year. I'm disappointed that he recognizes this PC silliness, but to his credit it wasn't much of an address. But even that is too much, in my opinion.

Why does it bother me that the president recognizes Kwanzaa?

It's racist. It doesn't have it's roots in Africa at all. It was made up by a black racist, Ron Karenga who thought the Black Panthers were going easy on whites. So he created an even worse group, the United Slaves. In the same spirit of "racial harmony" he made up his own holiday, just for black people. If there were a whites-only holiday that celebrated made-up European stuff then everyone would rightly denounce it as racist. But Kwanzaa gets a pass, even a presidential address.

It's rooted in socialism. The seven principles of Kwanzaa are exactly the same principles of the revolutionary group, The Symbionese Liberation Army (the nutcases who kidnapped Patty Hearst.)

It's more PC garbage forced down our collective throats. Every year some poor public school kids are forced to study this mess. A few years ago it was my wife's 3rd graders. In a unit that saw each class study a different country's Christmas time customs, my wife got stuck with Kwanzaa. It didn't matter that there was no actual African country associated with the "African" holiday, it would have been the height of intolerance to exclude it. At the time we were unaware of the racist, terrorist roots of the "holiday." But I doubt the politically correct school administration would have allowed her to teach the truth behind the make-believe.

So, Mr. Bush, since you have felt the need to pander to blacks with a Kwanzaa address, I will return the gesture and also wish you a very happy Politically-Correct-Racially-Pandering-Make-Believe-"African Holiday" to you, also.

For more of the truth behind Kwanzaa, see Ann Coulter's updated column.

Also, worth reading is LaShawn Barber's Kwanzaa with Commentary.

For even more, see The Truth About Kwanzaa

Vacation Over

2005-12-30T20:01:00.000-06:00

The family and I got back this afternoon. It was a good vacation, and due to an insanely slow internet connection at my in-laws', I didn't so much as even check my email while I was there. In fact I hardly even watched the news. It's amazing how much more relaxed I am when I don't know about all the terrible things that are going on in the world. I can see why so many people choose to stay ignorant rather than keep up with current events. But as nice as the break was, I couldn't bear to stay away much longer. ;)

I'll post a little this weekend, then get back to business on Monday.

Christmas Vacation

2005-12-24T20:54:00.000-06:00

I'll be taking my family out of town to visit relatives for Christmas. I should be able to resume posting on the 30th. Everyone please have a very merry Christmas. May Christ be with you and yours this week. :)

Elementary School Hires Scrooge as Substitute Teacher

2005-12-24T09:58:00.000-06:00

From the Lebanon (PA) Daily News. Here are a couple of tidbits.

Tim and Beth Rittle said they found their 7-year-old daughter, Holly, in tears in the back seat of their car after they picked her up from school that day. “All of a sudden, Holly just started crying,” Beth Rittle said. “She said she had a substitute in music class, and she told the class there’s no such thing as Santa Claus.” ..............
“The teacher stopped reading and told us no one comes down the chimney,” Jamey said, curling into a ball on the couch, bracing her chin on her knees, her voice shrinking away like melting ice cream. “She said our parents buy the presents, not Santa.”

I can't even begin to say how angry this would make me as a parent. In our home, Jesus is the center of Christmas, but we also allow the children to have the fun of Santa Clause and the whole mystery of listening for sleigh bells on Christmas Eve and just enjoying the time as only a child can. It's a wonderful time for our family to spend together.

I completely understand if others disagree with me. I know plenty of Christian families that do not incorporate Santa into the celebration. You can argue with me about allowing my children to believe in Santa all you like. You can even lecture me if you like. But don't go behind my back and "educate" my kids. Let me be the parent to my own children.

This goes right along with one of my biggest pet peeves with public education--the widespread attitude that somehow the education establishment is more qualified than I am to raise my children. How did the PA school administration handle the parents' complaints after their employee decided to "enlighten" the poor kids? The superintendent was very helpful, "We do not have a Santa Claus policy," he said. "It’s unfortunate, but I really can’t say anything about it." In other words, he did nothing. Which, unfortunately, is pretty typical. Parents may complain about school policy, but ultimately we'll let those with the proper credentials decide what your children should be learning.

My two children are at the moment attending a public school. While no one has yet tried to re-educate them on Santa Clause, there have already been a number of episodes that have convinced me that the least qualified people in the world to set policy for teaching our children all work for the government. The minute we achieve the financial means, our kids are going to private school. I may be stuck with paying taxes to support the failure of public education, but I don't have to sacrifice my children to it.

We've also been praying about home schooling. But it's not feasible at the moment.

Weekend Roundup -- 12/23/05

2005-12-23T19:49:00.000-06:00

The Roundup's early this week, due to the upcoming birthday of the Divine Lord of all the universe and Savior of mankind, Jesus Christ. (Take that, liberals!)

The Media Research Center released has released The 18th Annual Awards for the Year’s Worst Reporting. Click here for some really outrageous examples of unabashed liberalism and clueless reporting from the mainstream media.

Dr. Helen psychoanalyzes liberals. The results will probably not surprise you.

Not convinced there’s a liberal media bias? Yet more evidence at Real Clear Politics.

Check out this hilarious (old) item at Right Wing News: If The Media Treated Basketball Games Like They Treat The War On Terror.

Black Five points out that even Jamie Gorelick, the infamous 9/11 commissioner and Clinton appointee thought warrantless searches were just fine. Not that liberals today care…

Someone over at More than Right is on to the Democrats...

Republican candidate for Hillary Clinton’s NY Senate seat has dropped out. To which I say, "Great!" The last thing we need in the Senate is another pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage spineless Republican. We’re full to capacity as it is.

Praying in Jesus’ name gets military chaplains "counseled."

Syria pledges to store Iran’s nuclear weapons. Think they’ll put them in the same bunkers as Saddam’s WMD? Via Officer’s Club.

A federal court rediscovers common sense. There’s no such thing in the Consitution as a "wall of separation" between church and state.

The War on Christmas: Comedy Central serves up "Merry F***ing Christmas."

Iraq the Model has first hand accounts of the protests over alleged voter fraud in the Iraqi elections. Much to the chagrin of liberal defeatists, the protesters are employing chants and signs rather than violence. Kinda sounds like a democracy, huh?

Blog of the week: La Shawn Barber's Corner

A Merry Christmas to all! And to all a good night! Yes, you too, liberals! ;)

Liberal Deception on ANWR

2005-12-23T19:33:00.000-06:00

Drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) has been a sticking point for dems for years. In their opinion protecting the "pristine" region is much more important than saving money at the gas pump or even reducing our dependence on foreign oil and thus improving our national standing in times of crisis or war. To bolster their claims, they regularly produce pictures like the one below that was displayed on the Today Show this morning.

Only a heartless evil conservative would ever think of plunking down a nasty oil drilling rig in the middle of such a beautiful scene, right? The only problem is that these lovely mountains are nowhere near the proposed site for drilling in ANWR. In fairness to Democrats, most of them have no clue where the drilling has been proposed, either. Their tree-hugging special interest groups have told them to jump, and they are still in the process of getting the height right. They don't have time to do any actual research into where drilling might actually take place.

Fortunately, a reporter from the National Review not beholden to the environmental lobby took the time to travel to the desolate coastal area that would actually be home to the oil drilling infrastructure. His sample photo of the area looks a tad different. But of course, photos like this don't help liberals fool anyone about the beautiful country that would be laid waste by Haliburton and greedy Republicans. Read more at News Busters.

U.S. Navy Names Latest Carrier After Bill Clinton

2005-12-23T00:18:00.000-06:00

Ok, so maybe this is tongue-in-cheek, but when I saw this at Return of the Conservatives, I just had to laugh.

The US Navy welcomed the latest member of it's fleet today. Pictured above the USS William Jefferson Clinton CVS1 set sail today from it's home port of Vancouver, BC. The ship is the first of it's kind in the Navy and is a standing legacy to President Clinton and his foresight in military budget cuts. The ship is constructed nearly entirely from recycled aluminum and is completely solar powered with a top speed of five knots. It boasts an arsenal comprised of one F-18 Hornet, which although cannot be launched or captured on the 100 foot flight deck, forms a very menacing presence. As a standing order there are no firearms allowed on board. The twenty person crew is completely diversified and includes members of all races, creeds, sex, and sexual orientation. The ships purpose is not defined so much as a unit of national defense, in fact in times of conflict it's orders are to remain in hiding in Canada, but will be used extensively for social experimentation and whatever worthless jobs the Commander-in-Chief and his wife can think of. It is largely rumored that the ship will also be the set for the upcoming season of MTV's "The Real World."

More Liberal Hypocrisy -- This Time it's Katrina

2005-12-22T16:57:00.000-06:00

Remember when George W. Bush was deliberately ignoring the victims of the flooding in New Orleans specifically because they were black? Remember how he and the other evil Republicans in government allowed those stranded on rooftops to rot because of the inherent racism that comes with being a conservative?

Actually, I don't remember any of that either. But I sure do remember liberals screaming about it everyday in spite of what whas actually going on. One of the groups that screamed the loudest was the Congressional Black Caucus. They promised, as responsible and caring liberals, to raise money for the hurricane victims, and were bragging about how much they had raised. However, as LaShawn Barber points out, they're even slower than the evil conservatives in getting aid to vicitms:

The CBC, which railed the loudest against the federal government, President Bush in particular, for its “slow” response to help the black victims of Hurricane Katrina, hasn’t given away any of the money purportedly raised to help the evacuees. From CNSNews: The [Congressional Black Caucus Foundation] CBCF then launched its own relief fund on Sept. 21, with a stated goal of raising $1 million to help Gulf Coast residents rebuild their lives. As Cybercast News Service previously reported, the CBCF claimed immediate success, telling reporters on Sept. 21 that it had already received $700,000 in corporate pledges.
But on Wednesday, exactly three months after the news conference launching the CBCF relief fund, Rice told Cybercast News Service that the Foundation has actually raised “somewhere in the neighborhood of $350 to $400,000.” She added that the distribution of the money would not begin until January or February of 2006 at the earliest. (Source)

So while refugees are still living in tent cities and cheap hotel rooms across America, the CBC is sitting on hundreds of thousands of dollars in supposed aid money. Does this mean that the Congressional Black Caucus hates black people more than President Bush?

Clinton and Carter both Used Authority to Order Warrantless Searches

2005-12-21T12:47:00.000-06:00

Just in case you've been at all swayed by the liberal attack machine accusing our President of being a tyrant, dictator, etc. in allowing the NSA to monitor conversations between U.S. citizens and terrorists...

Bill Clinton's Executive Order Allowing Warrantless Searches, Feb. 9, 1995.

Jimmy Carter's Executive Order Authorizing Electronic Surveillance to Acquire Foreign Intelligence Information Without Court Order, May 23, 1979.

Of course none of this will matter to the NYT (which spent a year "investigating" this story) or the Democratic Senators who are shocked, shocked at this revelation (in spite of being briefed on the program over a dozen times without complaining about it's supposed illegality.) It doesn't matter because the legality of the President's actions has never been in question, and they know it. They're just trying (as usual) to make George Bush look bad, so that they can score political points in the next election. This is, and has always been, the sole motivation for all Democratic activity since the "stolen" election of 2000.

UPDATE: NYT Reporter James Risen apparently wasn't so concerned about warrantless eavesdropping when he wrote about it during Clinton years. Big surprise.

Devotional: In Daddy's Arms

2005-12-21T12:30:00.000-06:00

A few days ago, my boys and I completed one of our weekly rituals. We went shopping at Wal-Mart. It’s something we’ve done together for years. I’ll carry the list and point out to Michael or Gabe which item to grab off the shelf, and they’ll put it in the buggy, often with less dexterity than I’d like, but with an enthusiasm I certainly can’t fault. They’re my helpers.

Every time we go, there’s always a discussion right after we walk in. It never fails. As soon as I grab a cart, the questions start. “Can I ride in the buggy?” “No! I wanna ride!” And on it goes. Usually I tell them they’re big boys and they can walk beside me and help me shop. But occasionally I’ll give in and take them for a ride. And then for a little while all three of us are little boys, because you can’t just walk slowly along with two pre-schoolers in a Wal-Mart shopping cart. You’ve got to go fast! You have to make sudden stops and starts over and over until the giggling is heard three aisles over. You’ve got to get a running start and then let the cart go so the passengers think they are out of control and are laughing uncontrollably with excitement and (a little) fear. You’ve got to make riding in the buggy fun! Well, at least I like to anyway.

Yes, the buggy is usually their first choice, but sometimes even the buggy is not enough. There are times when one of them is not feeling well, or maybe he’s just managed to fall down and hurt himself for the 4th time since we got here (something both of my boys excel at.) Or maybe it’s just been a long day for a 4-year old. On these occasions, they don’t ask to ride in the buggy. They want Daddy to hold them. Walking is a great time to be a helper, the buggy is always fun and exciting, but sometimes you just have to be in your father’s arms. And while I love to see their eyes get wide when we’re racing down the aisle in the cart, nothing quite compares to having their little arms wrap around my neck, feeling them squeeze me tight, and then just relaxing completely, knowing that they are completely safe in my strong arms. I love those times more than anything. More than that, keeping them safe is my job. I’m the daddy. And I’d fight the whole world and hell itself just to keep my little ones safe and happy.

I also know that there are times when, even as an adult, I need some time “in Daddy’s arms.” On days when the world has just whipped me black and blue, when the hours in the day don’t quite contain all the hours spent at work, in traffic, and then wearing all the other hats my family needs me to wear. When it seems like the stack of bills is going to completely overwhelm my meager pay, and my children can’t understand why we can’t buy all the things their friends play with. When my strength as daddy is completely gone, I need my “Daddy” too. Sometimes I need to climb up into His arms and just know that everything will be all right. Sometimes I need a little break from life, and it’s at those times that I’m so grateful that Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. My father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”¹

How wonderful to know that I’m always in His hands. And anytime I want, I take a step back from the world, and just let myself relax, completely safe in His strong arms, in “Daddy’s” arms.

¹ John 10:27-29 NASB

What Cindy Sheehan Should Have Been

2005-12-20T20:46:00.000-06:00

Mudville Gazette has a very moving letter from the father of a Georgia National Guardsman killed in Iraq:

...thought I'd share my thoughts as the dad of an American Soldier killed in action four months ago. My son was standing cover flank for two buddies checking out a suspicous location in the roadway while on patrol at 2:20 A.M. 16 Aug when an IED exploded. He was the only one killed. Two soldiers suffered serious injuries and are now home on permanent medical leave, but both will live normal lives after they finish med rehab and surgery.

Grab a kleenex and read it all.

Then compare that with the antics of Cindy Sheehan.

She not only leads anti-war protests in the name of her son, (who believed in the war he was fighting) here at home, she heads to Europe to protest U.S. actions on foreign soil while our soldiers are daily laying their lives on the line to protect us.

At protest after protest, she links up with communists, socialists, and other America-hating groups. Getting arrested just adds to her enjoyment as she basks in the radical left's limelight.

All the while, she's steadily cashing in on her son's death. The book deal was practically guaranteed from the beginning. Though outside of the lunatic leftist fringe, it doesn't look like anyone's buying.

Staged events are the rule. She never misses a chance to pose as the grieving mom. Whatever will get her picture in the paper as the left's anti-war posterchild, she does it.

It seems there no depth to which she won't sink to exploit her son's death. Here she is pretending to sleep on her son's grave for a Vanity Fair layout. Yep, she's really honoring his memory. How sad.

Devotional: Surviving the Fire

2005-12-20T18:47:00.000-06:00

The park ranger walked quietly, surveying the damage. A wild fire had recently swept through the forest, consuming all the grass and brush and leaving the trees everywhere little more than blackened spikes. The ashes crunched under his boots with each step. Before he’d gone very far, he came upon a small black mound in the path. As he got closer he realized the "mound" was in a fact a burnt chicken. It appeared that the bird had been unable to escape the fire and had burned to death hunched there on the ground.

Absently, the ranger kicked the blackened body, and as he did something amazing happened. Out from under the ashen husk ten perfect yellow chicks came running. Shocked, the ranger quickly gathered up the baby birds, wondering aloud, "How in the world?" Then it dawned on him. The hen must have realized she couldn’t escape the fire and still save her chicks. So she’d gathered them up underneath her and hunkered down, letting the fire kill her while protecting her brood. To save the chicks, she sacrificed herself.

Long ago, Jesus Christ made a similar decision. The Bible says that "Christ died for sins, once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit."¹ Jesus knew that God’s judgment was coming our way, and that it was a fire we could not escape or survive. He knew that "the wages of sin is death."² So he went to the cross in our place, dying the death that our disobedience to God had earned. And as the Bible says, "All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."³

Thank you, God for providing protection from the fire of your judgment through your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank you that He was willing to sacrifice Himself, so that we might live.

¹ 1 Peter 3:18
² Romans 6:23
³ Isaiah 53:6

Federal Judge Rules Intelligent Design is Unconstitutional

2005-12-20T17:10:00.000-06:00

Yet another unelected individual is creating national policy. This time we are told that biology teachers cannot even mention the theory of intelligent design. This comes months after an unelected individual in Georgia ordered that stickers on textbooks that simply said evolution is a theory were also in violation of our Constitution.

So despite the facts that macro-evolution has never been observed, cannot be reproduced in the laboratory, has virtually no physical data to support it, and has a history of fabricated evidence being disproved, it is a violation of our children's rights under the Constitution to even mention that it might not be true. Hmmmmm....

I seem to recall learning somewhere that believing something that you could not prove existed was called "faith." Looks to me like the government, though the federal judiciary, is establishing a religion, one called Evolution.

NYT "Spying on America" Story was Just Another Bush Hit Piece

2005-12-20T16:43:00.000-06:00

According to the New York Times, our President is a tyrant who illegally abuses his power to spy on innocent Americans. The Times apparently received classified information concerning the activities of the NSA, but withheld reporting it until they could spend more time researching the subject. Now that the year is over, they've printed the story so that all the world can see what a monster America has in office and terrorists everywhere can frantically change their communication methods.

However, it might be of interest to note that in the year of "investigation" the Times reporters never bothered to look so far as the pages of their own newspaper. If they had taken at least the 7.5 minutes it would have taken to do that, they might have run across this story from 1982:

COURT SAYS U.S. SPY AGENCY CAN TAP OVERSEAS MESSAGES
By DAVID BURNHAM, SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES (NYT) 1051 words Published: November 7, 1982
A Federal appeals court has ruled that the National Security Agency may lawfully intercept messages between United States citizens and people overseas, even if there is no cause to believe the Americans are foreign agents, and then provide summaries of these messages to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Because the National Security Agency is among the largest and most secretive intelligence agencies and because millions of electronic messages enter and leave the United States each day, lawyers familiar with the intelligence agency consider the decision to mark a significant increase in the legal authority of the Government to keep track of its citizens.

But of course, if they had bothered to do any real research, then they couldn't have launched this story

In connection with the release of yet another Bush-bashing book by a NYT reporter...

To bolster liberal opposition to the Patriot Act, despised by liberals and terrorists everywhere...

At the same time as the amazingly successful Iraqi elections, which if they were allowed to dominate the headlines would mean righful praise of the Bush administration, and of course, we can't have that now...

Yep, I'm so glad the NYT is looking out for me.

Democrats Vote NO to Victory in Iraq

2005-12-19T23:03:00.000-06:00

I missed this one Friday. The House voted on a simple resolution "Expressing the commitment of the House of Representatives to achieving victory in Iraq." That’s all. No laws passed. Just the House letting the country and the troops know, "We’re with ya!" You’d think such a resolution would be a slam-dunk, right? Unanimous consent? Wrong! The Democrats have gotten so ingrained in their defeatism that they couldn’t even get behind a simple call for victory.

Out of 230 Republicans, 220 voted "Yea," none voted "Nay," and 2 voted "Present."
Out of 199 Democrats, only 59 voted "Yea," while 108 voted "Nay," and 32 voted "Present."

So 140 Democrats couldn’t bring themselves to vote in favor of winning the war in Iraq. Disgusting! They really are the "defeatocrats."

Devotional: No Fear

2005-12-19T16:24:00.000-06:00

Years back (and even today) a popular slogan for t-shirts and bumper stickers was "No Fear." It was a brazen declaration. "I’m bigger and badder than you. I can handle it. Bring it on!" It gave a verbal outlet for the American youth’s inability to grasp his own mortality. Which is why you never saw a bumper sticker like this on grandma’s station wagon. People who have lived a while know better. There are things out there that are much bigger and badder than you. There will be times when you can’t handle what life throws at you. Trials like illness, death, and judgment all require more to face than the empty bravado of "no fear."

I once had the pleasure of meeting someone who was able to face these events in such a way that everyone around her marveled that she seemed to be able to endure anything with "no fear." And it had nothing to do with a bumper sticker.

I met Pauline when she was in the last stages of cancer. She was an elderly lady, a former school teacher who loved to talk about her students and children in general. When I first saw her, she’d already lost all of her hair from unsuccessful chemotherapy. Yet her smile betrayed none of the continual pain she endured. As we sat in her living room, talking openly about medecine’s failure to heal her and the doctors’ grim prognosis, she smiled and entertained me as if nothing at all worried her. I could have been in any one of a hundred living rooms in the neighborhood surrounding us where no one was ill (and certainly not about to die) from the cheeful reception I got that day.

A few days later she was admitted to the hospital. She had been a regular for the last few months, and the nursing staff knew her well. On my first occasion to visit her in the hospital, I asked a nurse where her room was. The nurse realized that I must have been her pastor, and asked if she could talk to me for a moment in private. In all the hospital visits I’d made over the years I’d never had anyone do this before or since. But I was about to see some real evidence of "no fear."

The nurse told me that Pauline was, due to her advanced cancer, in a lot of pain every day, even with the medication she took. But she never complained to the nursing staff, not even once. In fact, she would often inquire about the nurses’ days and showed genuine interest in her caretakers’ well-being. But best of all, the nurse explained, Pauline always wanted to pray for the nurses, a request they never turned down. And she never failed to tell them why it was she was always so full of Joy, even knowing that her death was coming soon. It was because, she said, Jesus was in her heart. He was the source of her amazing "no fear." Long ago, Pauline had trusted in Christ to save her from her sins. She was now in His hands, and knew that nothing could take her from Him.

It wasn’t long afterward that I preached at Pauline’s funeral. She had passed peacefully one night, her body finally giving in. There was no question at all about what text I would choose. It was Psalm 27:1-2 "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" No fear. Not empty bravado, but a real faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that is stronger than any illness, stronger even than the fear of death and judgment. Pauline showed us all how to live a life truly without fear.

Press Conference a Win for the President

2005-12-19T13:11:00.000-06:00

Today's press conference featured a very tough and angry President Bush (we've missed you, big guy!) in a room full of clueless liberal reporters. This is generally the recipe for a clear conservative victory, and that's what we got. The only thing missing was a declaration by the President that prosecution will be brought against the FISA leakers and reporters that published the classified information.

Full transcript here.

Ankle Biting Pundits has a blow-by-blow.

Mr. President, Tell it Like it Is!

2005-12-18T20:58:00.000-06:00

The President addressed the nation tonight, and it was probably his best teleprompter delivery. He was much more animated and realistic as he spoke into the camera than he normally is. Personally, I'd prefer that he address the nation in front of a crowd, because that's when he's at his best, but it's tradition.

He made a good case for staying the course in Iraq. This is basically the same thing he usually says. He was a little tougher on the dems than normal, but barely. As is too often the case lately, the speech left me wanting more.

I'd love to hear a real barn-burner. I'd love to see the President completely dispense with the polite respect he's always shown the democrats. They regularly call him Hitler, a murderer, a traitor, a deserter, AWOL, you name it. The worst name he ever calls them is "politician." Not that I want him to descend to the left's 3rd grade name-calling tactics. But I like to hear a spade called a spade. Remember when Dick Cheney said, "The president and I cannot prevent certain politicians from losing their memory, or their backbone -- but we're not going to sit by and let them rewrite history?" That's what I want to hear. Not from a surrogate. Not from someone who's been cleared to use rhetoric. I want my President to tell it like it is!

It is so frustratingly and blindingly obvious that the Democrats clearly have their own political interests ahead of national security. Please, Mr. President, bluntly point this out to the nation.

After 9/11 the dems held up key legislation because union bosses who fill liberals' campaign coffers wanted to make it harder to fire lazy security workers. Tell it like it is!

Now they refuse to renew key parts of the Patriot Act because they are worried about the government having access to potential terrorists' library book records. Tell it like it is!

John Murtha, Howard Dean, John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, and a great many others call for us to cut and run because we can't win. Mr. President, you know the only reason they call for the to come back is to put up a good show for thier liberal Hollywood donors and to make you look bad. If a Democrat was in office, they'd be singing the troops' praises right along with the liberal media. Tell it like it is!

On a related note, please take the muzzle off the military. When reporters ask the soldiers questions, let them respond to what they see back home. I know the liberal media will hunt high and low to find the disillusioned soldiers, but they are going to have to ignore a lot of comments to find soldiers who aren't disgusted with the democrats and the media. Let them tell it like it is!

Liberals are screaming bloody murder over secret intercepts of international phone calls. Mr. President, I'd like to know why exactly they are so eager to protect individuals who are calling terrorists. Tell it like it is!

All this politeness and letting the liberals make up whatever reality they want and present it to the American people unfiltered has harmed our nation. People who should know better because their President told them so are starting to believe the defeatists. Look at the polls! The public is steadily being brainwashed. And look at what your Republican colleagues in the Senate are doing. They've completely lost their resolve. They need a strong leader to bolster their morale (and kick them in the pants!)

If you don't lose the kid gloves, this actually could turn into another Vietnam--a war we lost without losing a single major battle except the political one at home. It's not enough to tell us we're winning and leave it up to the public to ignore all the negatives constantly pouring out of their TV screens. You've got to give us the goods. Tell it like it is! And the sooner the better.

"Cord Blood" Bill Passed by the Senate

2005-12-18T10:21:00.000-06:00

Almost seven months after it was first introduced, a bill that would provide for the collection and storage of umbilical cord blood for research passed the Senate. Despite the fact that the House overwhelmingly approved, Senate Democrats initially refused to vote on any measure that did not also overturn President Bush's limits on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. The bill eventually passed by voice vote.

Why is cord blood important? Because it is a very promising source of stem cells. And unlike in the case of embryonic stem cells, no human being has to die during collection. Cord blood is available every time a baby is born, it just has to be properly gathered and stored after the birth.

Proponents of embryonic stem cell research have long claimed that the cells from unborn babies are the most promising in terms of potential for future disease cures. In fact, listening to them, you would think there's no other source of stem cells whatsoever.

However, as is so often the case, the left has once again succeeded in politicizing science to push it's social agenda. In order to further dehumanize the unborn, virtually no mention has been made in the media of far more promising research into adult stem cells (such as those found in cord blood.) We are led to believe that if we will only publicly fund the research, in no time at all scientists will cure every conceivable disease and everyone in a wheelchair will get up and walk again! (cue former Senator Edwards) This despite the fact that embryonic stem cell research is not illegal in America. Embryonic stem cells have been available to private researchers all along. Yet despite this fact, no wonder cures have arrived. Instead, while attention is shifted from adult stem cells to embryonic stem cells, public perception is twisted to gradually accept that unborn babies should be killed for the greater good, people grow even more numb to the culture of death in America, and Planned Parenthood gets even richer.

So please thank your Senator for standing up to Democrats whose only interests is to keep the pro-abortion special interests groups happy. To find our more, read What the Media Won't Tell You About Stem Cell Research.

A Soldier's Words to Murtha and the Rest of the Cut-And-Run Crowd

2005-12-17T23:24:00.000-06:00

The milblog, Froggy Ruminations, has a great response to all the dem defeatists:

I wonder if Congressman Murtha remembers what it felt like to be engaged in combat with a persistent but never victorious enemy while leftists in America screamed from the rooftops that he was fighting for no purpose in a losing effort. Surely from his position behind the trigger he could see how wrong they were; especially when they said he and his fellow Marines murdering innocents and torturing captives. Was it so long ago that he returned from war to see his compatriots spit upon and cursed that he can’t remember the bewilderment and perverse shame of being called a baby killer? Read the whole thing.

Also check out yet another great story of our troops helping the helpless in Iraq at 365 and a Wakeup. Here's a hint:

So What are you Going to do About it?

2005-12-17T23:02:00.000-06:00

The President responded rather forcefully to the leak about the monitoring of on international communications by the NSA. Here's his speech:

In the weeks following the terrorist attacks on our nation, I authorized the National Security Agency, consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution, to intercept the international communications of people with known links to al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations. Before we intercept these communications, the government must have information that establishes a clear link to these terrorist networks.
This is a highly classified program that is crucial to our national security. Its purpose is to detect and prevent terrorist attacks against the United States, our friends and allies. Yesterday the existence of this secret program was revealed in media reports, after being improperly provided to news organizations. As a result, our enemies have learned information they should not have, and the unauthorized disclosure of this effort damages our national security and puts our citizens at risk. Revealing classified information is illegal, alerts our enemies, and endangers our country.
As the 9/11 Commission pointed out, it was clear that terrorists inside the United States were communicating with terrorists abroad before the September the 11th attacks, and the commission criticized our nation’s inability to uncover links between terrorists here at home and terrorists abroad. Two of the terrorist hijackers who flew a jet into the Pentagon, Nawaf al Hamzi and Khalid al Mihdhar, communicated while they were in the United States to other members of al Qaeda who were overseas. But we didn’t know they were here, until it was too late.
The authorization I gave the National Security Agency after September the 11th helped address that problem in a way that is fully consistent with my constitutional responsibilities and authorities. The activities I have authorized make it more likely that killers like these 9/11 hijackers will be identified and located in time. And the activities conducted under this authorization have helped detect and prevent possible terrorist attacks in the United States and abroad.
The activities I authorized are reviewed approximately every 45 days. Each review is based on a fresh intelligence assessment of terrorist threats to the continuity of our government and the threat of catastrophic damage to our homeland. During each assessment, previous activities under the authorization are reviewed. The review includes approval by our nation’s top legal officials, including the Attorney General and the Counsel to the President. I have reauthorized this program more than 30 times since the September the 11th attacks, and I intend to do so for as long as our nation faces a continuing threat from al Qaeda and related groups.
The NSA’s activities under this authorization are thoroughly reviewed by the Justice Department and NSA’s top legal officials, including NSA’s general counsel and inspector general. Leaders in Congress have been briefed more than a dozen times on this authorization and the activities conducted under it. Intelligence officials involved in this activity also receive extensive training to ensure they perform their duties consistent with the letter and intent of the authorization.
This authorization is a vital tool in our war against the terrorists. It is critical to saving American lives. The American people expect me to do everything in my power under our laws and Constitution to protect them and their civil liberties. And that is exactly what I will continue to do, so long as I’m the President of the United States.

All of this sounds great. But what are you going to do about it, Mr. President? Are you finally going to go after the leakers? We're not talking about "outing" a desk-jockey at the CIA that everyone already knew worked there. We're talking about informing the terrorists and would-be terrorists that we are listening to their calls. People need to start going to jail for all of these leaks of highly classified information. The CIA is long overdue for a wholesale cleaning-out. Defending the nation means more than just killing terrorists on the ground in Iraq. It also means going after those who are determined to harm us here at home as well.

Weekend Roundup -- 12/17/05

2005-12-17T00:24:00.000-06:00

Some great stuff this week.

Captain’s Quarters has yet more evidence that unilateralism is the only way to go. And yet one more reason to be thankful John Kerry is still a flip-flopping senator instead of a flip-flopping president.
At Decision ’08 there’s a very sad collection of quotations of the reactions to the Iraqi election by the ultra-lefties over at The Daily Kos.
One of my favorite actors, Morgan Freeman, talks sense about race to CBS.
The War on Christmas: A New York state politician angrily objects to the name of Jesus used at an official Christmas tree lighting ceremony. Hat tip to The Perspective.
A heart-warming story about some American soldiers helping out (er…I mean terrorizing) some Iraqis in need at Iraq: The Good Stuff.
Heard about the government eavesdropping on U.S. communications without a warrant? As usual, you have to go somewhere other than the mainstream media to find the whole story. Michelle Malkin has it.
It’s true! The government response to Katrina was racist! Against white people! Just check out these statistics on who actually died. It would be nice if this would shut the race-baiters up, but since they’ve never paid attention to reality in the first place, I’m not holding my breath.
A retired Israeli general believes Saddam’s WMDs were moved to Syria prior to the invasion. But of course, this guy is probably on Karl Rove’s payroll, since we all know Bush lied about the WMDs, right?
Check out this comic at Speck Blog. You’ve gotta love the global warming believers!
The Dawn Patrol reveals how Planned Parenthood boasts it covered up an 11-year-old’s rape. It’s scary to think how often this probably happens in the name of abortion profits.
South Korean stem cell scientists admit they faked their data. (And here I thought it was supposed to be George Bush and the evil conservatives that were distorting scientific data.) You think a story like this will cause stem-cell research proponents to back off of their ridiculous claims about the benefits of harvesting unborn babies for research? Not on your life. Embryonic stem cell research is a cornerstone of the pro-abortion lobby’s efforts to further erode the value of human life in this country.
Web site of the week: The Perspective. Note: After checking out this great site, please don’t forget about us here at Preaching Politics! :)

Enjoy!

Devotional: Your "Life Binder"

2005-12-17T00:16:00.000-06:00

When I was in college I was a little compulsive about staying organized. Before the start of every semester I made certain that I had everything in order. And one thing that always found its way into my backpack was the binder. The binder was crucial. Without it I couldn’t function as a college student. Because the binder held everything that had to do with my education. Class schedule, paper, pens, everything was in it’s proper place in the binder.

Most importantly, the binder held my class notes. Every class had it’s own section, with each clearly identified by tabbed dividers. If I needed to study American History, I just flipped to the 'American History' tab. When it was time for Calculus, I turned to the divider marked 'Calculus.' The divisions helped me keep it all together in college.

The binder idea works great for school, but when it comes to our lives as Christians, it doesn't work very well at all. Too many times we try to subdivide our lives just like in the binder. This part of my life deals with my career. This part concerns my family. This part should be labeled entertainment. And so on. Finally have, usually somewhere in the back, a tab for God. Far too often, God is a part of our lives only when we have "flipped back there" to find Him, usually on Sunday morning at church or during Christmas or Easter. The rest of the time, we try to keep Him safely out of the way, neatly separated from our careers, our families, and any other part of our lives in which He might become inconvenient.

With a "life binder" like this, it’s no wonder that we so often find ourselves without direction or lacking strength to be obedient servants and loving witnesses. But the Bible tells us that if we’ll order our lives differently, then all the guidance and strength we need will be ours. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3:5-6 NASB) What all of us need to do is take that "God tab" out of the back of our binder and place it on the front cover. Every part of our lives needs to involve God, better yet, to be submitted to God. Our career decisions, our family lives, even our choice of entertainment should acknowledge Him. And if we will reorganize our lives like this, then all those questions about purpose in life, and where to go next will be answered—answered by the One who’s been waiting for us to stop relegating Him to the back corners of our lives.

I encourage you to take a look at the "binder" of your life. Is God a part of every area of your life? If not, then begin to submit all of the things you do to His sovereignty, from the little decisions at home, to the major ones at work. And watch as things begin to change as He begins to make your paths straight.

The Senate Refused to Renew the Patriot Act

2005-12-16T15:20:00.000-06:00

Doggedly refusing to admit that something called "9/11" ever happened, the Senate rejected attempts to reauthorize several provisions of the USA Patriot Act as infringing too much on Americans' privacy and liberty, dealing a huge defeat to the Bush administration and Republican leaders.

Basically what that means is that the Democrats and a handful of RINOs (Republican In Name Only) threatened to filibuster any call for a vote on renewing the act. How nice to know that our elected leaders hold the sanctity of a terrorist's library book records in higher esteem than the lives of American citizens. And Proving once again that being the leader of a so-called majority party means absolutely nothing if you lack a backbone, Bill Frist meekly backed down.

So liberals are once again using the security of the United States to take pot shots at Republicans and the President. Maybe what they're hoping for is that if they can tie the hands of our intelligence agencies once again, the terrorists will strike again, but this time with a Democrat in the white house. That way they get to have all the cool pictures taken of a president rising to the occasion, leading America to victory over her enemies. Oh, wait. They already had their chance with Bill Clinton when the World Trade Center was bombed, and when the U.S.S. Cole was attacked, and the embassy bombings. But he was too busy fondling interns to do anything about it. So now all of us have to suffer so the dems can get their second chance.

Devotional: Enduring a Son's Suffering

2005-12-16T14:44:00.000-06:00

Out of all the things I have in my life I don’t think there is anything that I am more proud of than my boys. I am the father of two strapping young men, ages 5 and 4. Everyone tells me that Michael, my oldest, looks exactly like me. (Hopefully the poor thing will grow out of that before it’s time to start dating.) He and I are very close. And nothing in this world hurts me more than seeing him in pain. Last year (when Michael was four), unfortunately, there was a day when I had to see my precious son suffering.

Michael has always had a strange condition that causes his toenails to grow not quite straight, and as a result both of his big toes had ingrown and gotten infected. Poor Michael was limping around and groaning with each step by the time of the appointment with the Podiatrist. The doctor had recommended that both toenails be cut out so that they could grow back properly shaped. In order to perform the procedure, both of my 4-year-old’s toes would have to be stuck many times with needles to deliver the anesthesia.

Suffice it to say, my little boy hated needles. And just going to the doctor in general scared him, so he was like a little deer in the headlights sitting on the table just waiting for the doctor to enter the room. The doctor and nurses were all very kind and friendly, used to working with children, but as soon as those needles came into view, Michael began screaming and kicking, terrified of what he knew was coming next. It took three nurses and myself just to hold him in place.

At first I was strong, doing my best to speak calmly to Michael, reassuring him. I knew that the procedure had to be performed; the infection had to be stopped. But as the needle penetrated his skin over and over, my little boy, my precious son who followed me around, who loved to please me and cherished my approval, was crying and begging, "Daddy, it hurts! Please make it stop! Daddy, please make it stop!" There was no reasoning with him, he was just a child, and scared to death. And because he was kicking so much, a procedure that should have been over in a few minutes drug on and on. And every moment saw my strength draining away in the face of seeing my precious son in pain.

After the first toe was numbed, the doctor stood back. He and all the nurses looked whipped. Michael’s pain was getting to them almost as much as it got to me. He even asked me if I wanted to wait and try to get the other toe another time. But I knew it had to be done, so we went through it all once again. By the time the second toe was finished, I could barely stand. And I’m not normally one to be weak. I’ve never fainted, never been squeamish about needles or the sight of blood. But seeing my son, terrified and hurting, begging me to make it all stop, was almost more than I could bear.

It reminds me of a time when another Father had to endure seeing his Son in pain (far, far more than in my little example.) As Jesus was blindfolded and mocked. As his beard was ripped from his face. As the flesh was torn from his back by the whip. As not one single person stood up for him to defend him as the crowd screamed, "Crucify him!" And as he hung, nailed to the cross, crying out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" I can only imagine what the Father must have felt as He saw all of these things, but refused to stop us from hurting him, from crucifying his Son because He knew that we needed him to die for our sins.

I thank God that on that day in the doctor’s office that my son’s pain in the end was really not that bad and that he left there on the road to healing. But I think Him so much more that when it came time for Jesus to suffer, He endured, and did not stop his precious Son from experiencing pain and even death for my sake.

"…and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed." 1 Peter 2:23-24 NASB

Iraqis Triumphant Once More

2005-12-15T22:50:00.000-06:00

For the third time since the fall of one of the most brutal dictatorships in the world, free Iraqis went to the polls in spite of terrorists, insurgents, and all the forces at the disposal of the mainstream media and liberal American politicians. With a turnout that may reach 90%, a number unheard of in any Western nation, the Iraqi people demonstrated that they are ready for freedom and democracy. Especially good news came in the form of tremendous numbers of Sunnis voting, hurting any remaining insurgents' chances of continuing support from disenchanted Sunnis. They've got a new dog in the hunt now in the form of elected representatives.

Not surprisingly, the media was very quiet about everything today. (Actually the strongest evidence that the elections had gone well was the lack of news coverage--you know how they are about giving us good news from Iraq.) That's probably just the natural reaction to once again having the world see just how wrong they are about everything. Also, I don't recall seeing Jimmy Carter on hand in Baghdad to certify the election, so it's probably a good bet that everything was on the up and up.

It's days like these that make me very proud to be an American. The world owes our President and our troops a debt of thanks for making this possible.

Iraq the Model has detailed reporting of the entire day.

All Things Conservative has plenty of interesting details also.

Bush Caves on Torture Ban

2005-12-15T22:13:00.000-06:00

Terrorists worldwide patted each other on the backs today at this news item.

President Bush reversed course on Thursday and accepted Sen. John McCain's call for a law banning cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of foreign suspects in the war on terror. McCain's amendment would prohibit "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" of anyone in U.S. government custody, regardless of where they are held. It also would require that service members follow procedures in the Army Field Manual during interrogations of prisoners in Defense Department facilities.

Regardless of what anyone says, if this bill becomes law, then our ability to gain any useful intelligence out of terrorists is effectively ended. Why? Because within minutes of this law passing, preselected courts will have lawsuits filed in their jurisdictions challenging everything from waterboarding to holding cell room temperatures to the existence of the holding facilities at Guantanamo Bay. Even Christina Aguilera's music will be declared cruel and inhumane. In short, we will no longer have any effective tools to crack terrorists cells. Every terrorist we capture will spend his time eating better food than he's ever had, sleeping on a softer bed than he's ever seen, and growing fat and lazy on the American taxpayer's dollar.

If only George Bush had a tenth of the backbone he's repeatedly shown with foreign tyrants when congressmen back home start a fuss. This was a battle he could have and should have won hands-down.

Enemies of America: 1, America: 0.

To Liberal Nutcases Tookie was Just Like Jesus

2005-12-14T23:44:00.000-06:00

Check out this story at Right Wing News. Just when you thought the left couldn't get any further away from reality...

DNC Hires Baghdad Bob

2005-12-14T23:07:00.000-06:00

Buckeye Pundit has dug up the secret to the Democrats recent flurry of attacks on the war in Iraq.

It's uncanny how all of those quotes go so well with the picture. You'd think someone at the DNC would have caught on to this by now, but hey, they support the troops!!

All Devotionals

2005-12-14T22:52:00.000-06:00

Here are all the devotionals available so far here at Preaching Politics.

Getting What You Give -- January 10, 2006

Standing Before the Judge -- January 1, 2006

In Daddy's Arms -- December 21, 2005

Surviving the Fire -- December 20, 2005

No Fear -- December 19, 2005

Your "Life Binder" -- December 17, 2005

Enduring a Son's Suffering -- December 16, 2005

It's Your Heart, Stupid! -- December 14, 2005

Ambassador or Grumbler -- December 13, 2005

It is Well, Indeed! -- December 12, 2005

Finding the Harvest -- December 10, 2005

Enjoying the Meal -- December 9, 2005

Making Tracks for Christ -- December 8, 2005

Loving (and Weeping) Like Jesus -- December 7, 2005

Devotional: It's Your Heart, Stupid!

2005-12-14T22:46:00.000-06:00

Jeremiah 7 contains one of the Bible’s harshest proclamations against those who would call themselves followers of God. It’s not the godless pagans, but the Jews who worship at the temple regularly that Jeremiah accuses in verse 9 of theft, murder, adultery, swearing falsely, and worshipping other gods, including Baal. These aren’t little sins. And while it may not be surprising to find these practices in the bloody halls of Nineveh or Babylon, the last place you would expect such a list would be the very temple of God. Yet, it’s precisely there Jeremiah was sent to share his message. How could such a place become the target of such condemnation? I believe that it came about in large part because a focus on the importance of the ritual gradually replaced a focus on on the heartfelt relationship with God.

Every day I get in my car, I have a ritual. I sit down, put the keys in the ignition, close the door, start the car, lock the door, and put on my seatbelt. At that point the next thing I do may vary, but the starting ritual is almost always the same. I’ve gotten so used to doing these things in that order, that I rarely remember actually doing them. It’s a series of movements I’ve practically perfected through repetition. As far as getting into a car goes, mindless ritual is good—I never forget my seatbelt, for instance. But for worship, a mindless adherence to ritual can be disastrous. Because when we do exactly the same things every time we "worship," no matter how organized or efficient, we run the risk of letting the "doing" trump the meaning of the actual "worship."

The sins Jeremiah lists are deadly serious, and I seriously doubt any of them were committed the first time the temple’s doors were opened. Or the second, or the third. But over time, more and more people got into the "habit" of worship instead of allowing each day to be a new encounter with God Almighty. Only then were these sins allowed to enter.

Remember how Jesus defined murder? Hating someone in your heart. Adultery? Lust without ever coming into physical contact. Jesus said don’t bother going to the altar if you have something in your heart against your brother. Instead, go ask for forgiveness first, then go worship. He was teaching us that the status of our hearts always trumps the physical matters of worship. But too many times, we are focused on the doing (or the image we portray to others while we are "doing") instead of having an obedient heart before God.

It reminds me of one Sunday morning (ok, more than one) when my family and I were getting ready to go to the church house. My young children, being children were focused on anything but getting into their nice Sunday clothes on time, so we were running late. And their childishness at a time when I was in a hurry was not sitting well with me to say the least. Suffice it to say that by the time we pulled into the parking lot, I was angry, my wife was subdued, and my two kids were crying in the backseat. As we got out of the car, a church member recognized us and asked how we were, to which I replied with a big smile on my face, "Just great!" Obviously that morning I was much more concerned with all the physical parts of our worship ritual rather than the state of my heart. I remember one election year when everyone was saying, "It’s the economy, stupid!" I needed someone that morning to tell me, "It’s your heart, stupid!"

Each of us should take a close look at Jeremiah 7 and see where not keeping our focus on our hearts before God will lead us—theft, adultery, lying, and worse, all right there in the pew on Sunday morning. Next Sunday morning, or whenever it is you worship, instead of spending 30 minutes in the mirror, spend 30 minutes in the Word and get your heart right first.

The Next War, Part Two

2005-12-14T15:48:00.000-06:00

A number of news items out of Iran support the statement I made earlier that the next war we’ll see will involve Iran. According to The Drudge Report, even the Europeans are starting to think the Iranian president has gone too far with his rhetoric:

By repeatedly calling for Israel's destruction and slamming the door on a nuclear compromise, Iran's hardline president has put Tehran on a collision course with the West, diplomats and analysts warned, AFP reports. In his latest anti-Israeli assault, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed the Holocaust as a "myth" and said the Jewish state should be moved as far away as Alaska -- views that one European envoy posted in Tehran described as "way beyond political incorrectness"." At first, we were tempted to put it down to inexperience or a simple gaffe," he said of the firebrand president's string of outbursts, which began in October with a call for Israel to be "wiped off the map"." But there is now a clear pattern of confrontational, extremist rhetoric apparently designed to upset the international community. And he's succeeding," said the European diplomat, who asked not to be named.

However, that the world community disapproves of Mahmood Ahmadinejad’s words doesn’t mean they’ll do anything about him. Consider that at a recent U.N. commemoration of "International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People" a "map of Palestine" that excluded the nation of Israel was prominently displayed, and all members present including the Secretary General rose at these opening words from the chair, "I invite everyone present to rise and observe a minute of silence in memory of all those who have given their lives for the cause of the Palestinian people..." (Can you say suicide bombers?)

How all of this officially sanctioned U.N. behavior differs from Ahmadinejad denying the holocaust or calling for the state of Israel to be moved to Europe is beyond me. The point is that the U.N. isn’t too worried about his rhetoric because they largely agree with him. And as long as limits his hatred to the Jewish state, there will be precious little done to quiet him.

The big question remains what will the United States do about him? Although various U.S. officials have condemned his remarks, there’s been no clear indication of what we will do if Ahmadinejad backs up his words with actions. Will we be willing to stand with Israel militarily at a time when our troops are stretched thin, or will we allow Israel to shoulder the responsibility themselves (and catch the heat for it)?

In my opinion we are approaching another critical moment for George W. Bush. He has risen admirably to the occasion both after 9/11 and with Iraq. Will the third time be a charm?

Also see: The Next War, Part One

Iraqi Pre-Election Signals

2005-12-14T07:06:00.000-06:00

A report over at Power Line from an unnamed US officer. For some, it's a glass half-empty news item, but to me it's encouraging.

pre-election polls indicate that the next national assembly will have four power blocks, with no single group dominating. If the polls are accurate, the Shia religious alliance will have the largest block, but less than 40% of all the seats. The Kurds and Sunnis each will have 20%, and the Allawi List, a secular block led by former PM Allawi, should take 15%, while minor parties split the rest. Since the new constitution requires a two-thirds majority for many decisions, this means that cross-ethnic, and cross-sectarian compromise will be essential. With power split four ways, a domineering, centralizing government centered in Baghdad - a requirement for a new dictator or strongman - is unlikely to return. Of course, such fractured power can also hamper forward progress on many national issues, especially when considering that the Shia religious alliance has at least two major factions, as does the Sunni block and the Kurdish block.

So, you'll have diverse points of view, every minority group represented, and compromise will be essential to getting anything done. Sounds a lot like America's government to me.

Of course, the enemies of democracy are determined to put in their 2 cents as well...Truck seized hauling load of bogus ballots (Thousands of voting forms found in tanker driven from Iran) (Oops, looks like this is a myth.)

Undoubtedly this election will be a lot like the last ones. The Iraqi people will ignore the defeatists in the media, brave the threats of the terrorists, and vote in droves. Even though their turnout will dwarf anything the US ever sees on election day, the democrats will moan and groan about every tiny little problem, and Iraq will be well on it's way to becoming a lighthouse of democracy in the Middle East.

So good luck, Iraq! Here's to purple fingers!

Iraqi Voter to Doubters: "Go to..."

2005-12-13T22:00:00.000-06:00

Looks like conservatives in America aren't the only ones completely fed up with the naysayers in the media and Democratic party.

Check out the video at The Political teen and listen to what this lady had to say about it.

I nominate her to be the next Iraqi foreign minister. ;)

Devotional: Ambassador or Grumbler?

2005-12-13T17:03:00.000-06:00

"Now all the tax-gatherers and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. And both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’" Luke 15:1-2 NASB

Grumbling. Every pastor has heard it. Every pastor hates it. And far too many churches today are filled with it. To be sure, the words used today are different than those of the Pharisees, but the meaning is often the same. What do I mean? I’m talking about the focus that many churches have today. In Luke the Pharisees and scribes wondered openly why Jesus would waste His time on the least of religious people when He could be spending His time with devout people like themselves. Why hang out with the sinners when you could dine with the saints? They failed to understand that Jesus didn’t come to build up the faith of the righteous. He came to seek and to save that which was lost.

Many modern church members have similar attitudes today. Instead of understanding that as followers of Jesus, they must also become ministers and reach out to the lost as He did, they have fallen into the rut of the Pharisees—why waste time on the wretches when I have spiritual needs of my own? When I was a pastor, I saw this attitude too many times in even the most sincere and faithful church members.

Christians who complain that their church needs to focus less on the lost people around the world and focus more on the people here at home. The handful of neighbors and relatives in our community (who have likely already heard the gospel repeatedly) become more important than millions who have never heard the name Jesus before and have no idea how to be saved.

Committee members who object when someone proposes increasing the missions portion of the church budget to the detriment of locally-focused programs, preferring that 95% or more of the church’s resources go towards serving the current membership.

Believers who will never ever complain that a pastor doesn’t lead the church on enough mission trips but will fill the ears of anyone who will listen every time he fails to show up at their house whenever they have the slightest of ailments.

Prayer request times during worship where the names of the lost are never lifted up but no relative’s broken arm or sprained ankle is ever left unmentioned.

In each of these cases, otherwise obedient Christians have never made the transition from the early days of salvation when they were primarily being taught and ministered to, to becoming mature believers who undertake the God-given mission of taking the gospel to all the world. There must come a point in our spiritual growth when we realize, as Paul did that "He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ." 2 Corinthians 5:19-20
Let me close with an illustration shared by a Southern Baptist missionary to Salt Lake City, Utah.

As you know, Utah is home to a lot of Mormons. Their beliefs our different than ours, so when a Baptist ends up moving there because of a job change or whatever, they often feel uncomfortable surrounded by so many people who practice a different religion. Then they find a Baptist church in their area, and all of a sudden they feel comfortable again, because they are once more surrounded by people they like and understand. And once they’ve joined these churches they quickly forget their job as ambassadors for Christ, and everyone kind of "huddles up" and focuses on staying comfortable in the strange land of Utah instead of sharing Christ with the lost people around them. In effect what they’ve done is tell everyone outside of their comfortable "huddle" of a church, "The rest of you can just go to hell, and don’t bother us while you’re going."

These were harsh words when I heard them, and I’m sure they are to you as well. But rather than get offended, ask yourself if you have fallen into the rut of the Pharisees. Are you an ambassador for Christ, focused on sharing the gospel with the whole world? Or are you instead one of the grumblers, content to let the world perish as long as you're comfortable?

A Picture Worth a Million Words

2005-12-13T13:58:00.000-06:00

Michael Yon is an amatuer photographer who has spent time covering the war in Iraq, offering honest, unbiased reporting at his weblog. Unlike so many mainstream reporters, he doesn't spend his time safe in a hotel rewording whatever the AP happened to put out that day and calling it a "live report." Because he does risk his life to bring us the truth he was able to take the following photo:

Michael describes the events that led to this scene:

It was an instant of clarity in a blur of chaos that, for many of us, frames and defines the nature of this war. Any US soldier who has ever served in combat can probably give countless examples of moments like this. I just happened to be on the scene that day when a terrorist who had been trailing a Deuce Four patrol in a car packed with explosives waited until a crowd of children had gathered around the soldiers and selected that moment to drive into the crowd and detonate. Although little remained of him to be shown in this frame, the image somehow still reveals the true nature of our enemy in this war.

All the while liberals safe here at home are calling our men and women in uniform occupiers, torturers and murderers, American soldiers are enduring days like this, seeing the absolute evil of terrorists who target little kids who love our soldiers and just wanted to run up and say hello and maybe get a treat since they know that our guys love to shower the kids with gifts. In the liberals' twisted world, the bad guy isn't the one who murdered the little girl, he's the one holding her, comfortering her in her last moments of life, desperately wishing he could save her.

Dems Show Their Anti-Christian Bias

2005-12-12T21:45:00.000-06:00

Looks like someone at the Washington state Democratic party headquarters doesn't mind showing his disdain for Christians. You've seen the little metallic fish Christians frequently put on their vehicles to signify their faith? Well check out the magnetic car decal offered for sale on the Washington Democratic party website:

You think maybe there's some hostility here? Maybe just a tad?

After Best of the Web publicized it, the item has been removed from their website, but this intrepid blogger has preserved an image of the page.

The Next War

2005-12-12T14:15:00.000-06:00

Will once again be in the Middle East, but this time it will be with Iran. The only question is who will fight them?

The Sunday Times yesterday claimed that Israel is gearing up to hit Iran’s nuclear sites.

Defence sources in Israel believe the end of March to be the "point of no return" after which Iran will have the technical expertise to enrich uranium in sufficient quantities to build a nuclear warhead in two to four years."Israel — and not only srael — cannot accept a nuclear Iran," Sharon warned recently. "We have the ability to deal with this and we’re making all the necessary preparations to be ready for such a situation." The order to prepare for a possible attack went through the Israeli defence ministry to the chief of staff. Sources inside special forces command confirmed that "G" readiness — the highest stage — for an operation was announced last week.

Today, the Jerusalem Post denies it. It wasn’t the kind of denial that would make Iranian nuclear scientists feel any better, however.

Sharon's spokesman Ra'anan Gissin did say, "Israel has no intention of launching an attack against Iran, definitely not before all diplomatic options have been exhausted."

My own opinion is that Iran will not stop working towards building nuclear weapons, and war will be the definite result. Here’s why:

1. The president of Iran, Mahmood Ahmadinejad, is not Saddam Hussein.
In fact he’s nothing like him. Saddam was a brutal, sadistic thug. There were few limits he wouldn’t press to keep himself in power. (That he is currently on trial with his country taken from him demonstrates that he underestimated the current American administration, believing that, like Clinton, Bush was full of hot air and useless missile strikes.) Ahmadinejad is different. He’s not just power-hungry, he’s also a believer. Unlike other Middle Eastern leaders who have seen the light of American determination, this guy is unswayed. Eye-witnesses have pegged him as one of the kidnappers at the American embassy in Tehran during Carter’s finest moment. If that’s true, then his experience with America is one of bold words but no backbone. Iraq doesn’t count because to this guy the fall of his nation’s long-time enemy fits right into his view of It’s-Allah’s-will.

A nuclear Ahmadinejad would also be different than a nuclear Saddam would have been. Saddam most likely wouldn’t have launched a missile against another nation. He would have used the threat of a nuclear strike to push Europe and America (under Democrats) around. It’s also extremely likely that he would have sold nuclear materials and technology to terrorists or other rogue regimes like North Korea. But Saddam was too much in love with his own power to casually throw it away with an Iraqi nuclear strike.

Ahmadinejad on the other hand scares me, more than Saddam or Kim Jong Il by far. He strikes me as the kind of guy who thinks that Allah is on his side, and therefore his country couldn’t be stopped in war. And nuclear weapons will make it that much easier for him to blot out that scourge to true believers everywhere, Israel. So not only would he sell (or give away) his nuclear technology to terrorist groups, he'd gladly hit the button himself. And should an allied bomb someday find him, and he himself doesn’t get to see the glorious ending of his crusade, then it’s just that much quicker to the fabled 70 virgin orgy in the sky.

2. Ariel Sharon will never let Iran become a nuclear threat. Period.
Although Sharon has never been the war-mongering hard-liner against the Palestinians that the main-stream media all hissed that he would be when elected, he will not waver on this issue. Although the Bush administration has (shamefully) forced him repeatedly to stay his hand against the terrorists who constantly assail him, he won’t be budged when it comes to a mortal enemy like Iran gaining the ability to destroy his whole nation with a few missile launches.

So there you have it, Ahmadinejad will not be dissuaded from making nuclear weapons. Sharon won’t let him have them. War is coming. What kind of war it will be remains to be seen.

Iran most likely won’t make the same mistake of putting all it’s eggs in one basket with one nuclear site like Iraq did in ’81. So Israel will have to successfully destroy all of the sites. Is their intelligence good enough to gaurantee this?

While Israel has Iran outgunned and can handle them militarily, Russia has recently been selling Iran some anti-air missile defenses (Russia also knows Israel won’t stand for Iran’s ambitions and has cashed in.) This will prolong the conflict and may prevent the quick destruction of all the sites.

Will Israel have to go it alone? With so many American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, will the Bush Administration be willing to commit forces to stopping Iran in time? Will political pressure from Democrats and the media who are already screaming about Iraq stop him from pushing his luck? It’s a safe bet that no other nation (except maybe Britain) will participate in a preemptive strike against Iran.

Will Iran have developed a nuclear bomb by then? Most likely not. But our intelligence was abysmally inept when it came to Iraq’s nuclear capabilities. Perhaps Iran is further along than we think.

There are tons of other questions, and it’s too early to answer many of them. But watch this situation. Iran will not be stopped by an anemic European Union or even America under a president like Bush. War is coming yet again. What kind of war remains to be seen.

SEE ALSO: The Next War, Part Two

Devotional: It is Well, Indeed!

2005-12-12T07:32:00.000-06:00

The other day during worship our church was led in singing the timeless classic hymn, "It is Well with My Soul." I know that I’ve sung this song countless times over the years, but this time I was especially moved by the last two verses:

My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought—
My sin not in part, but the whole
Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

And, Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll,
The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend,
"Even so," it is well with my soul.

What a day that will be to stand and see Him coming with the clouds and know that, in spite of me and all my failures as His servant, He still comes for me—not to punish, but to welcome me home as His eternal brother and friend. And as the dust of all my earthly accomplishments drifts away in the wind, I’ll know that I have all of eternity to thank, to worship, and to love Him. Then when ten thousand years have passed, maybe I’ll have an inkling of understanding as to how He could have ever chosen me.

What a Savior! What a friend we have in Jesus Christ, our Lord!

"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words." 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 NASB

Liberals Up In Arms Over Billboard

2005-12-11T21:52:00.000-06:00

You can't get liberals to take up arms against the enemy, but you can sure get them riled when you point that out to America. Recently this billboard went up in the Atlanta area, and the kids over at the liberal website Daily Kos aren't too happy about it. The comments posted are hilarious to read. They are either miffed that someone would be so mean as to impugn a distinguished (read non-conservative) veteran like Murtha or they are endlessly speculating about what the real motive is (the consensus seems to be that it's part of the vast right wing conspiracy designed to win votes in Atlanta. Their evidence is that they've dug up the names of the owners of the company that runs the billboard--they may be republicans.)

The funniest (and saddest) thing is that no one there seems to be able to imagine that real Americans do indeed believe this. Real Americans are disgusted when a politician (veteran or not) gets up and says that our troops should retreat from the battle they've been risking their lives to wage because they just can't win. They don't understand that this billboard isn't simply part of some political campaign. It's an expression of a very real rage that many Americans feel when they see the Democrats using our soldiers lives as tools for political gain.

When I first heard about Jean Schmidt's comments on the house floor quoting the outrage felt by our soldiers (the inspiration for the billboard) I cheered! When I heard just a moment later that she had retracted her comment I felt dismayed. This billboard needs to be replicated all over the country. The Democrats need to realize that we will not allow them to turn this very successful effort in Iraq into another Vietnam just so they can win more seats in the mid-term elections! They can't use our soldiers as pawns! If they want to cower and call for a retreat, then be prepared to deal with the consequences! This billboard is only the beginning.

New Comment System In -- Old Comments Lost

2005-12-11T17:25:00.000-06:00

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Unfortunately this means all previous comments on the site have vanished. :(

But I Support the Troops!!!

2005-12-10T23:59:00.000-06:00

From Best of the Web

Our item yesterday on the Democrats' antimilitary attitude prompted this response from reader Scott Wallace:

Your discussion reminded me of a friend's decision to follow anything negative he said with, "But I support the troops!" If he didn't like the meal he just ate, he would follow his complaint with "But I support the troops!" Complaints about a bad parking spot? "But I support the troops!"

It reminds me of an episode of "Seinfeld" in which Jerry and George were suspected of being gay. Throughout the whole show, anytime anything potentially negative towards homosexuals was mentioned, someone would say, "Not that there's anything wrong with that!" This would give them coverage to be as vicious or insensitive toward the gay lifestyle as they were toward anything else. In later interviews, Jerry Seinfeld admitted that the phrase was added in to the scripts late just to give them coverage. It was a wink to political correctness, and it was funny because you knew it was just a wink.

Today's Democrats feel free to say anything they want about this war--including John Kerry's recent claims of war atrocities by the troops, and Howard Dean's feeling that the war is unwinnable--as long as they follow up with, "But I support the troops!" Every time I hear them say they support the troops I think of that "Seinfeld" episode. Both phrases ring hollow and insincere, calculated to give them coverage. Seinfeld's "coverage" was funny because you knew he didn't really mean it, and such is becoming the case with the Democrats.

Democrats don't seem to understand that they're in danger of becoming a tag-line joke.

Recommended Book List

2005-12-10T21:13:00.000-06:00

I'll update this list periodically as I encounter more excellent books.

----------HISTORY----------

Castles of Steel -- A lengthy but engaging history of WWI naval warfare. By Robert K. Massie.

To the Last Man : A Novel of the First World War -- A telling of WWI through the eyes of such figures as General Pershing and the Red Baron. By Jeff Shaara.

Away All Boats (Classics of Naval Literature) -- Excellent fiction based on the real-life experience of Charles Dodson aboard Navy attack transports in WWII.

----------POLITICS----------

When Character Was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan -- An honest look at the life of one of America's greatest presidents, from someone who knew him and isn't trying to destroy his legacy. By Peggy Noonan.

State of Fear -- Technically fiction, but filled with footnotes of real data that demolishes the so-called Global Warming myth. By Michael Crichton.

Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds -- Essential text for anyone wishing to understand the truth of the weakness of the theory of evolution and how to explain it to others. By Philip Johnson.

The Final Days: The Last, Desperate Abuses of Power by the Clinton White House -- The disgusting behavior of the Clintons brought to light by the late Barbara Olsen, who was onboard one of the crashed planes of 9/11.

Hell to Pay: The Unfolding Story of Hillary Rodham Clinton -- Another expose by Olsen, this one a chilling look into the life of the most ruthlessly ambitious woman in America.

Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism -- Trust me. Unless you have read this book, you have no idea who Joe McCarthy really was. Hint: he's not who the liberals say he was. By Ann Coulter.

High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton -- Ann Coulter demonstrates that Clinton's crimes were far more serious than anything Richard Nixon ever dreamed of doing.

Unlimited Access : An FBI Agent Inside the Clinton White House -- Unfortunately the media buried this best selling book. But if the general public could have read it, Bill Clinton's legacy would be unanimous: the most shameless president in American history. By Gary Aldrich, the FBI agent assigned to the White House during Bill Clinton's presidency.

Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News -- Shows just how badly tilted to the left the mainstream media truly is. By Bernard Goldberg, formerly with CBS news.

----------CHRISTIANITY----------

Gospel According to Jesus, The -- Excellent explanation of the gospel of salvation, by John MacArthur.

----------MARRIAGE----------

The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands -- By Dr. Laura Schlessinger. This book is a must have for all married and engaged couples!

----------SCIENCE FICTION----------

Starship Troopers -- Robert Heinlein's classic is nothing like the movie. It's much better!

Armor -- by John Steakley. Much like Starship Troopers. Excellent read.